Positive comments from JHM for a change.

I'm worried American Dog will be American Cars...  Fish out of water in middle america... hmmm.

I'm so excited!  I've been anticipating "American Dog" from the get-go, and have not worried once about how it'll turn out.  "Rapunzel", on the other hand, I have been worried about.  I've been a big Glen Keane fan since I was 4 or 5, and for once I was having trouble trusting his work.  Thanks, Mr. Lasseter, for straightening out this film!  Now Rapunzel, and hopefully not "Claire" will be a great addition to the Disney Princess line.  I can't wait for all three of these movies (I wonder what new characters, if any, will be introduced in "Toy Story 3".  And, thanks for all the pictures, Jim and Nancy!  I thought I had seen all that was out there, but no!  You've hid away these pictures for over a year!  Which was a good thing!  This article made my year.  Thanks!

It's all so exciting, Disney's really getting it's groove back and I can't wait to see the other studios (ahem, Dreamworks) shake in their boots when Rapunzel comes out and they realise how poor their films have been. God bless Iger and Lassetter.

datbates said:
"I'm worried American Dog will be American Cars...  Fish out of water in middle america... hmmm."
blackcauldron85 said:
"I'm so excited!  I've been anticipating 'American Dog' from the get-go, and have not worried once about how it'll turn out."
---
Well, I was worried:  I've never been a fan of Chris Sanders (L&S Movie needed one more script redraft, to figure out what the heck it was doing, and just what -was- that weird-looking Jumba-experiment puppy doing in "Mulan"?)  So I wasn't amazed or thrilled that the boardroom had handed him the money for a second pet project without asking questions...Say, isn't that what happened to Mark Dindal after "Emperor's New Groove"?  ;)
The character sounded like the dog from "Family Guy", and the early descriptions lost me at "Oversized radioactive rabbit"--But from the looks of it, if they are playing it safe with "Cars Jr.", well..."safe" is better than "self-indulgent".  Whew, we've actually got a plot, after all.

As for Rapunzel, it's becoming more and more clear that the Old School is enjoying being able to use their lead "old-style" project to ram the earlier "new regime" back down its own throat, just for the sake of being a poor winner, now the Old Stuff is cool again--"How about *this* new project change?..90's enough for ya??"  I'm so lovin' it.  :)
Toy Story 3, though, I'm going to need some information:  I keep hearing about how Lasseter wanted to give Cowgirl Jessie her own movie...Although that was back before the peace talks, and may have just been a tantrum against the in-house "Recalled" thing, but he's just unhinged enough to actually do it.

DerekJ said:
"and just what -was- that weird-looking Jumba-experiment puppy doing in "Mulan"?"

I've always thought Little Brother is cute!  And, Chris Sanders *did* work on him, so I guess he has his style, but I don't think he looks like one of Jumba's experiments!

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing... I fully expect that, by the end of the movie, this dog decides that he really likes middle America better than Hollywood.

American Dog looks great.  Chris Sanders has a more modern, sly sense of humor.  Lilo and Stitch was somewhat the cartoon version of Arrested Development.  As opposed to, say, Shrek, which was kind of the cartoon version of a Wayans Brothers movie.

"I'm worried American Dog will be American Cars...  Fish out of water in middle america... hmmm."

Exactly what I was thinking.

"FYI: Disney's "Rapunzel" is no longer a "Shrek" - like project, full of pop culture-related gags."

Thank God! When you really think about it, is Shrek even worth coyping?

I'm very much looking forward to seeing Rapunzel, even if it's three long years off. The screen captures has some of the best-looking computer art to date.

As for Toy Story 3, I just hope they don't go the way of DreamWorks and start announcing MORE sequels before this one is even done. They could've just stopped at TS2 and it would've been fine.

I wouldn't get my hopes up about seeing Toy Story 3 anytime soon...certainly not by 2008.  The next project after Rataouille is something called W.A.L.E...which will be Pixar's 2008 release...TS3 could see a 2009 slot....but perhaps not..

I don't think American Dogs' similarity to Cars is going to be much of a hindrance. For one thing, Cars own formula of a cocky guy who learns about friendship etc is very similar to Emperor's New Groove and yet no distinctions were made between the two. Another thing to consider is that American Dog seems to be more of an 'adventure' film whereas Cars essentially took place in one location for most of it's running time.

American Dog has a pretty good plot going for it at first.  when the rabbit and pirate cat came in I became a little lost.

Rapunzel looks VERY good.  I am so glad it is not going to be a Shrek knock off.  Shrek may be funny, but it is not timeless with all the current pop culture stuff.  I look forward to seeing this movie.

Toy Story 3 - I liked the recall plot, so it will be interesting to see the new direction.  I wonder if there will be some mention of what happened to Slinky dog.

Frankenollie said:
"I don't think American Dogs' similarity to Cars is going to be much of a hindrance. For one thing, Cars own formula of a cocky guy who learns about friendship etc is very similar to Emperor's New Groove and yet no distinctions were made between the two."
---
Probably because ENG didn't take place in classic old convertibles along iconic middle-America highways of Route 66...  :)

And the only good thing Lasseter did have to say about Toy Story 3 was Pixar's idea to "wrap up" the story with what eventually happens to the toys now that Andy's growing up--
Originally, that was going to be their contribution to rescue Disney's "recalled" storyline at the end with a little bit of Pixar cuddliness...But even if they're not going with Lasseter's "spinoff" idea, sounds like they might be thinking the Final Chapter might be a good main plot idea after all--Wouldn't worry about that TS4, semaj.

Wow, I'm absolutely loving the gorgeous shots of both American Dog and Rapunzel. The animation in both films looks very distinct from the uninspired CGI designs we're seeing nowadays from wannabe animation studios (Hoodwinked, anyone??). Cars' love for a long-lost Middle America might have contributed to its poorer overseas performance, but I think the focus on Americanized NASCAR racers, as well as the fact that machines aren't nearly as lovable contributed to that as well. AD features cute animals, and who around the world doesn't love cute animals?! I mean, that pirate kitty looks like something out of a Japanese anime! I think AD will fare very well. And I'm glad to Disney's return to magical fairy tales and eschewing  hipper-than-thou pop culture gagfests. There's something magical and timeless about fairy tales, and those are traits that have always characterized Disney!

As a mother of a 4 y.o. boy who loves and lives for Buzz Lightyear, I think that a new TS3 movie would be great.  But the time it takes to get the movie out may be to late and he may be over Buzz by then.  But to wrap up the story line would be a great idea, long enough for a trilogy but not so long that it gets worn out.  In my opinion, most sequels are for money making and tarnish the original (TS2 being an exception).  I liked Shrek 2 but not as much as the original.  I think that Chris Sanders did a great job with Lilo & Stitch.  I didn't think I was going to like L&S and it turned out to be one of my favorites.  I would be willing to bet that he can work his magic again and American Dog will be a good movie.  I enjoy taking my kids to see a movie that they will enjoy and understand and I won't have to worry and cringe when I hear something off color or just plain crude/rude.

Hmm, well, at least they abandoned the "twisted fairy tale" take for Rapunzel that's been so overplayed lately. My only concern is with "Enchanted" hitting next year, and "Frog Princess" in the pipeline, "Rapunzel" might steal their thunder a little bit. It might be jarring to audiences to see Disney doing fairytales in both 2D and 3D fairly close to each other.

And I'm glad that TS3 is being rightfully done by the Pixar crew, but I hope that Lasseter is involved in the production for more than "coming up with the storyline". Although I doubt he'll find time to direct with his new Disney duties on his plate...

Interesting stuff, and some good news. "American Dog" didn't win me over based on this description, but Chris Sanders has definitely earned a free pass for now thanks to "Lilo & Stitch". I like that he has a demented, "everything but the kitchen sink" approach to making animated films--he doesn't stick religiously to a single concept but seems to throw in whatever ideas he thinks will be fun. Still, this does sound WAAAAAAAAY too much like Cars--I hope there's more to the story. Maybe if they play up the "tinseltown" angle and ditch the "egotistical star reconnects with middle America" stuff. (Speaking of which, it's pretty clear that that's something Hollywood itself is trying to do these days...in a pretty condescending manner, of course, but still...)

Anyway, Toy Story 3 is a project I've been ambiguous about, even with Pixar reattached, but if it's true that the story deals with Andy actually growing up and the consequences thereof, then the movie just vaulted from superfluous to outright neccessary. Obviously the TS movies have always had, at heart, some pretty brutal subtext (aging, mortalilty, obselescence) beneath the shiny, fun exterior, but they've so far dealt with the characters planning for the worst, not actually having to DEAL with the worst. If they tackle that subject in part 3, then these will officially be the ballsiest animated films ever made. (Well, heck, they already pretty much are. But still.)

And Rapunzel, at the very least, looks gorgeous. Thank God we're seeing some people who want to experiment visually in animation again. Count me among the people who breathed a sigh of relief that the "Shrek"-ness has been dropped, too.

Just playing devil's-advocate here, but I kind of wondered what Keane could have done with the "modern-day" Rapunzel storyline, now that he was let loose to take it seriously, and not have Stainton and Eisner (and almost-xprod. Reese Witherspoon) breathing down his neck to make it "more Shrek-ish".

Don't get me wrong--I like the classic post-Mermaid princesses, and new-Disney's style of making them individually memorable...
But--like Disney worrying over the "not enough story" in Beauty/Beast, and making a mess of it (IMO) in trying to "fix" it--I'm just worrying how the heck and on what territory they're going to do a straight Rapunzel for 75 minutes, now that Barbie's already stunk up the playing field.

A "pro" approach to "Modern-day couple stuck in Rapunzel" could have celebrated a new, upbeat message about fairy tales (and teaching the characters how there was a lot more to the princesses' struggles in the tales than "marrying the prince by getting the right shoes", etc.), and been a perfect antidote to the post-Shrek "fractured" cynicism that the industry's been mired in...
As it is, Keane now wants to play the story straight Because He Can, After All These Years...And that's nice and all, but I do have to wonder what else has been brought to the table, without Katzenberg's Broadway-dreams to give the whole production a little polish by accident.

I am SO excited.

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