And Now, for Something Completely Different: Two Minutes of UP

"UP: Stuff I'm Going to Do"

DisneyPixar, YouTube (December 16, 2009)
video, 2:00

"...Carl looks through Ellie's 'Stuff I'm Going to Do' scrapbook."

This video makes a little more sense if you've seen the movie UP: but the Lemming thinks it'll do as a stand-alone vignette.

Tangled Trailer: Grounded for Life

"Tangled: Grounded For Life"

disneyanimation, YouTube (November 5, 2010)
video, 1:22

"...What happens when the greatest thief in the Kingdom accidentally stumbles on its longest-grounded resident? Check out the latest trailer for TANGLED and get ready to join Flynn Rider and Rapunzel on an epic adventure!"

This trailer for the new Disney film (coming November 24, they say) is in the style of those old fifties 'educational' films. It's pretty good entertainment by itself.

For the Lemming. I also like Pixar's Toy Story movies, the Buzz Lightyear of Star Command animated series, and Meet the Robinsons - so your experience may vary.

Evil Masterminds! Colossal Thefts! Minions and a Photocopier!

"Despicable Me"
IMDB.com (Universal Pictures, 2010)

"...When a criminal mastermind uses a trio of orphan girls as pawns for a grand scheme, he finds himself profoundly changed by the growing love between them...."

" 'Despicable Me' turns Universal into a digital animation film player"
MiamiHerald.com (July 23, 2010)

"For Universal Pictures, all it took was some puny yellow minions to tackle the giants of animation.

"The studio's movie 'Despicable Me,' about a villain who enlists an army of yapping subordinates to assist in his nefarious deeds, racked up $118.4 million in its first 10 days at the box office, granting Universal something that has long eluded it: a family-friendly animated blockbuster.

"Such a windfall represents a turning point for the General Electric Co.-owned studio, which has lagged behind rivals Pixar Animation Studios, DreamWorks Animation and 20th Century Fox's Blue Sky Studios in establishing a foothold in the increasingly popular genre of digitally animated movies...."

I saw "Despicable Me" over the weekend. IMDB.com shows the film's rating as "Rated PG for rude humor and mild action." Fair enough. The humor is rather rude, and the action is mild - although that roller-coaster ride, wearing 3D glasses, was just short of gastrologically unsettling. Moving along.

I agree with the Miami Herald's assessment, that it's "family-friendly" - but that's me, and my family. With well upwards of 6,000,000,000 people around, there's probably someone, somewhere, who's offended, appalled, affronted, or insulted by the movie. What off-duty Minions were doing with the photocopier, for example, will almost certainly set somebody off.

The rest of us, I think, can sit back and enjoy the show. I'd call it "heartwarming:" but first, the term's been overused; and second, with all those flammable chemicals in Gru's lab, somebody might get the wrong idea.

Sort-of-related posts:

• "Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: Reset"
  (June 25, 2010)
• "Killer Tomatoes: How Could I Have Missed This Classic?"
  (May 3, 2010)
• " 'The A-Team' is Back - With Pretty Good Casting"
  (February 8, 2010)
• "The Neutrinos are Coming! 2012 and Hollywood Science"
  (November 16, 2009)
• "Minnesota Cuke and the Search for Noah's Umbrella: What's the Big Idea?"
  (July 28, 2009)

Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: Reset

"Toy Story 3 - Spanish Buzz"

DisneyPixar, YouTube (June 22, 2010)
video 2:10

Buzz Lightyear of Star Command. Spanish dance. Dancing with the Stars. Pixar.

And a cartoon hat that was too wide.

DisneyPixar's YouTube video is definitely a promotional piece for "Toy Story 3:" and fun to watch. My opinion. One thing I appreciate about it is the quick glimpses at the production process for the film.

'Toy Story 3' - Buzz? No, Really: That was in the Headline

"'Toy Story 3' lives up to buzz with $41M opener"
The Associated Press (June 19, 2010)

" 'Toy Story 3' has become the favorite plaything for moviegoers as the animated sequel heads to a $100-million-plus opening weekend.

"The latest hit from Disney's Pixar Animation took in $41 million in its first day Friday...."

I know that "buzz," in this context, can mean "a confusion of activity and gossip." (Princeton's WordNet) But considering that a key character in the Toy Story movies is Buzz Lightyear of Star Command - that headline is one of the more delightfully painful plays on words it's been my pleasure to read in the news for a long time.

I'm planning to see "Toy Story 3" soon, by the way: and looking forward to the experience.

Birds, a Power Line, Another Bird, and Logical Consequences

"For the birds"

alej223, YouTube (January 12, 2008)
video, 3:24

"corto realizado por PIXAR" ("short film produced by Pixar")

As my oldest daughter said, "I have to wonder if the large bird is really as stupid as he appears."

Pinball: WALL-E Style

WALL-E Pinball
Disney/Pixar

It's fun, it's free, and if you play you'll be encouraged to buy the DVD or BlueRay Hi-Def version. But you won't have to.

The background music is likely to drive you nuts, if you sit and do nothing: but who'd play a pinball game that way? There are enough clicks, pings, whooshes, and other sounds set off by things on the table to keep the game acoustically interesting.

I thought there were enough chutes and targets to keep the play interesting: but I'm no pinball wizard.

And, WALL-E is in the sidebar, folded into a box. He unfolds himself when you play, and packs up again when the game is over. Cute, as is just about everything WALL-E does.

The "Visit the Official Site" button didn't work on my computer, but maybe this widget will get you there. I'm told there's another game, involving scrap, I think, that's fun, too.



I've posted about WALL-E's Web page before:

• "WALL-E: 'It's the Seven Hundredth Anniversary of Our Five-Year Cruise' "
  (June 29, 2008)

WALL-E: 'It's the Seven Hundredth Anniversary of Our Five-Year Cruise'

In the company of my son and oldest daughter, I have seen "WALL-E."

It won't replace Shakespeare, but it's a very good movie.

You probably know the basic story line of the Disney/Pixar release by now: An automatic trash compactor gets left behind when humanity leaves Earth; WALL-E and his pet cockroach meet EVE, a high-end robot on a secret mission; WALL-E falls in love.

WALL-E is a movie with A Message: Don't Litter. Recycle. Be careful with the environment. Also, don't live a strictly online life of chatting on the couch, or you'll become like the passengers and captain of the Axiom, floating around on their anti-gravity lawn chairs.

The Message of WALL-E is delivered with all the subtlety of a pile-driver: but in a fun way.

One of my favorite lines in the movie are the captain's "We've got to go back...I don't want to survive, I want to live!"

A good story: and ultimately, an optimistic one.


(Click on the lower right corner of this widget: There's an alternate background.)

My son got one of those free watches they were giving away for the first few showings.

He's rather pleased with his. Although it's far from the highest-quality time piece, it does have a band that's embossed with the likenesses of WALL-E and EVE.

Finally, WALL-E is dedicated to Pixar storyboard artist Justin Wright, who made quite an impression in his 27 years of life.