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• "The Pixar Touch" shares seldom-told tales about the early days of this animation studio

  Jim Hill talks with author David A. Price about how he went about writing this unauthorized history of Pixar Animation Studios Read More... Posted Thursday, May 15, 2008 12:00 AM | 4 Comments Filed under: book, movies, Pixar, John Lasseter, Leslie Iwerks, Pixar Animation Studios, Emeryville, "The Pixar Story", "To Infinity and Beyond: The Story of Pixar Animation Studios", Karen Paik, Steve Jobs, movie, animated feature, 1980s, Chronicle Books, coffee table book, Lucasfilm, short, "Tin Toy", shorts, David A Price, SEC, "The Pixar Touch : The Making of a Company", "Monkey", Microsoft, Hallmark, Knopf, authorized history, Alvy Ray Smith, revisionist history, 1985, 1986, Shogakukan, Pixar archives, Pixar saga, Japanese legend, Chinese legend, Hollywood gossip

• "To Infinity and Beyond!" is an entertaining look back at Pixar's first two decades

  Jim Hill reviews Karen Paik's inspired (more importantly, inspiring) new history of Pixar Animation Studios. Which offers a lot of insight about how John Lasseter became the Big Kahuna of the CG world Read More... Posted Thursday, November 29, 2007 12:00 AM | 4 Comments Filed under: animation, book, Disney, movies, Pixar, computer animation, CG, John Lasseter, John Musker, "The Little Mermaid", "Cars", "Ratatouille", Leslie Iwerks, Brad Bird, "Aladdin", Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar Animation Studios, Ron Miller, "Toy Story", "Toy Story 2", WDAS, featurette, "Monsters Inc.", "The Pixar Story", "To Infinity and Beyond: The Story of Pixar Animation Studios", Karen Paik, Ed Catmull, Steve Jobs, Walt Disney Studios, film, movie, Mouse, Disney / Pixar, 2007, "Tis the season" , feature film , Chronicle Books, "The Art of Animation", Bob Thomas, cartoons, epiphany, coffee table book, hardcover, church, pew, gourd, sermon, pencil, pencil time, award, The Headless Horseman, "The Adventures of Ichabod & Mr Toad", station wagon, Casper the Friendly Ghost, California Institute of the Arts, CalArts, character animation, Walt Disney Feature Animation, Disney Feature Animation, calcified, middle management, "The Fox and the Hound", old guard, Tom Wilhite, Maurice Sendak, picture book, "Where the Wild Things Are", Thomas M Disch, "The Brave Little Toaster", Marin, Lucasfilm, "The Adventures of Andre & Wally B", SIGGRAPH, animated short, short, character comedy, cutting-edge technology, money pit, Jane Eisner, Roald Dahl, "James and the Giant Peach", human costs, keyboard, repetitive-stress injury, "The Art of Ratatouille", aspiring animator, holiday shopping list

• "Walt Disney's Cinderella" is a picture-perfect picture book

  Jim Hill reviews this new hardcover from Disney Press. Which features a spectacular selection of Mary Blair's concept art for Walt Disney Productions' 1950 release Read More... Posted Thursday, October 04, 2007 12:00 AM | 4 Comments Filed under: animation, book, Disney, DVD / Video, movies, Walt Disney, traditional animation, Disney Press, "Peter Pan", Walt Disney Animation Studios, Walt Disney Productions, "Walt Disney's Cinderella", "Cinderella", "Alice in Wonderland", Mary Blair, concept art, Newbury Medal, Cynthia Rylant, Animation Research Library, ARL, Jon Scieszka, WDAS

• 17,000 nights at the movies with Leonard Maltin

  On the eve of the release of the 2008 edition of his best-selling "Movie Guide," Jim Hill talks with this noted author & critic about what actually goes into the creation of this 1600-page paperback. Maltin also reveals what Disneyana fans can expect to find on the upcoming "Disney Treasures" DVD sets Read More... Posted Wednesday, August 01, 2007 12:00 AM | 5 Comments Filed under: book, DVD / Video, movies, Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Disneyland, Leonard Maltin, Disney Treasures, "Entertainment Tonight", Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Ub Iwerks, Leslie Iwerks, USC School of Cinema-Television, University of Southern California

• "Walt's People -- Volume 5" is an entertaining addition to this ongoing Disney history series

  Jim Hill reviews Didier Ghez's latest book, which features a fascinating collection of interviews with various Disney Legends Read More... Posted Wednesday, July 25, 2007 12:00 AM | 1 Comments Filed under: animation, book, Disney, movies, other, theme park, Walt Disney, Visual Effects, Imagineering, traditional animation, Walt Disney Pictures, WED, Disneyland, Walt Disney World, Ron Clements, John Musker, Ward Kimball, Marc Davis, "The Little Mermaid"

• "The Art of Ratatouille" gives its readers a glimpse of the picture that Pixar Animation Studios almost made

  Jim Hill reviews this handsome new hardcover from Chronicle Books. Which features a surprising amount of artwork from Jan Pinkava's version of "Ratatouille" Read More... Posted Wednesday, June 27, 2007 12:00 AM | 24 Comments Filed under: animation, book, Disney, movies, Pixar, computer animation, CG

• Tune Tuesday : By playing it safe, did Disney Theatrical miss the chance to turn "Tarzan" into a real Broadway spectacular?

  As this poorly received musical gets ready to vacate the Richard Rodgers theatre, Jim Hill talks about the ambitious version of this show that we almost got to see. Where the audience would have literally found itself seated right in the middle of the jungle Read More... Posted Tuesday, June 26, 2007 12:00 AM | 20 Comments Filed under: book, movies, music, theater, musical

• "Cartoon Modern" takes a witty & informed look back at animation's not-so-distant past

  Jim Hill reviews Amid Amidi's award-winning book. Which pays tribute to the many studios as well as individual artists that helped to revolutionize the look & style of 1950s-era animation Read More... Posted Wednesday, June 06, 2007 12:00 AM | 6 Comments Filed under: animation, book, Disney, movies, other, TV, Broadway, musical, Walt Disney, traditional animation

• "The Art of the Pirates of the Caribbean" pays tribute to this film trilogy's talented production design team

  Jim Hill checks out Disney Edition's beautiful new coffee table book, which features an amazing selection of pre-production artwork from "The Curse of the Black Pearl," "Dead Man's Chest" and "At World's End." (WARNING : This article does contains some mild spoilers for the "Pirates of the Caribbean" film trilogy as well as some preliminary info on the proposed storyline for "Pirates 4") Read More... Posted Wednesday, May 30, 2007 12:00 AM | 27 Comments Filed under: book, Disney, movies, theme park, Visual Effects, attraction, Pirates of the Caribbean, Jerry Bruckheimer, Johnny Depp, Gore Verbinski, Walt Disney Pictures

• Monday Mouse Watch : Meet the Pirate Lords from "At World's End"

  "Pirates of the Caribbean" fans be warned ! There be spoilers aplenty in today's JHM update. So if you don't want to know anything about a particularly entertaining sequence from this upcoming Gore Verbinski film, I suggest that you abandon ship now Read More... Posted Monday, May 14, 2007 12:00 AM | 12 Comments Filed under: book, Disney, DVD / Video, movies, Pirates of the Caribbean, Jerry Bruckheimer, Johnny Depp, Gore Verbinski

• Monday Mouse Watch: Is Gore Verbinski looking to bail on "Pirates 4" ?

  Ah, the things you can learn while attending a children's book signing. Jim Hill reveals what Berkeley Breathed said about Gore Verbinski's current attitude toward pirates as well as what Robert Zemeckis' first big project for Walt Disney Pictures may be Read More... Posted Monday, May 07, 2007 12:00 AM | 37 Comments Filed under: book, Disney, DVD / Video, movies, Pirates of the Caribbean, computer animation

• Kermit the Frog reveals what you need to do "Before You Leap"

  Jim Hill reviews this new Muppet-related book, which offers "A Frog's-Eye View of Life's Greatest Lessons" Read More... Posted Thursday, April 26, 2007 12:00 AM | 13 Comments Filed under: book, movies, other, TV, Muppets

• "The Dream Team" serves up some intriguing insights about how the New Hollywood really operates

  Jim Hill reviews Daniel M. Kimmel's new book. Which tracks the rise & fall of DreamWorks SKG, that ambitious entertainment company that Steven Spielberg, David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg founded back in October of 1994 Read More... Posted Wednesday, April 18, 2007 12:00 AM | 11 Comments Filed under: animation, book, Disney, movies, TV, Pixar, DreamWorks, ABC, traditional animation, computer animation

• "The Animated Man" offers an intimate, more immediate look at the life of Walt Disney

  Jim Hill weighs in on the "Which is better: Neal Gabler's "Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination" or Michael Barrier's "The Animated Man: A Life of Walt Disney" controversy. And finds that Barrier's bio touches on a number of stories that the Gabler book seems to have missed Read More... Posted Wednesday, April 11, 2007 12:00 AM | 6 Comments Filed under: animation, book, Disney, DVD / Video, movies, Walt Disney

• A special behind-the-scenes version of Why For

  Jeff Lange shares photos of a bizarre WDW structure that few Disneyana fans ever got the chance to see. Plus Jim Hill talks up some fun Disney-related events that will be happening around the country over the next few days Read More... Posted Friday, March 30, 2007 12:00 AM | 7 Comments Filed under: animation, book, Disney, DVD / Video, movies, theme park, TV, Why For