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In honor of William & Kate's wedding today, I thought that it might be fun to circle back on a royal-related story that I briefly mentioned on this site back in November of last year. As part of a Why For column that talked about a sequence that was originally considered for " Fantasia 2000...

I was on the phone with Simon Wells last Friday morning as those first post-quake / tsunami images were coming in from Japan . And as the director of Disney's "Mars Needs Moms" put it: "Here in Hollywood, everyone seems obsessed with how much your movie cost to make or how much your...

Drop what you're doing right now. Seriously. Why For? Because truly cool things like this have a way of disappearing on the Web. Lawyers suddenly swoop in and something simply amazing that was there a minute ago is then gone forever. Which is why you need to head over to the Bob & Rob "Professional...

Did you catch that piece about Michael Barrier that the Huffington Post ran last week? Where this noted animation historian said that the films that Pixar produces " ... are emotionally manipulative in a fundamentally dishonest way." Well, no disrespect to Mr. Barrier (By that I mean: I'm...

It is the film that - when Andrew Mooney of Disney Consumer Products revealed that this project was in the works back in June of 2009 at the Licensing International Expo in Las Vegas - made a lot of people go "Huh?" By that I mean: A hand-drawn, feature-length Winnie the Pooh . Which was something...

So when Mickey's Toontown Fair closes for good this Friday night to make way for the next phase of the New Fantasyland construction project, what happens to all of the characters that used to greet WDW visitors inside of the Judge's Tent & the Toontown Hall of Fame ? Well, they'll be...

Are you looking forward to " Rango " ? Copyright 2010 Paramount Pictures. All rights reserved I know that I am. And not just because this project reunites Johnny Depp with his " Pirates of the Caribbean " director, Gore Verbinski . Or because this Paramount Pictures will be ILM 's...

Dorse Lanpher has a real eye for detail. Which is just what you'd expect from one of the top effects artists in feature animation. But as it turns out, Lanpher was able to use his eye for detail for more than just creating all those fire, water and shadow effects that you've seen in most Disney...

What was the toughest part of riding herd on all of the CG artists at Rhythm & Hues who worked on " Yogi Bear " ? According to Alex Orrelle , the Animation Supervisor on this new Warner Bros ' live-action/computer animated 3D adventure, it was actually when he had to persuade his crew...

Yesterday, Jeff posted a not-so-Holly-Jolly comment in response to Monday's "On Stranger Tides" article . If i had a dollar for everytime Jim promised to do a story or complete a series of stories I would be one rich guy. Okay, fine. So I'm the prince of procrastination. To be fair...

When you watch Disney's "Prep & Landing: Operation Secret Santa" tonight following ABC 's annual airing of " A Charlie Brown Christmas ," keep a sharp eye out for ... something. Sorry that I can't be more specific here. But there's an Easter Egg hidden in this...

Greetings from Beantown. Where Nancy and I joined several hundred D23 members at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts yesterday night for a special celebration of "Fantasia" & "Fantasia 2000. " Photo by Nancy Stadler Even before this event officially got underway, attendees could...

You hear that whirring sound? That's the steel door descending on your chance to visit Pixar Animation Studios at the 7 th annual Cartoon Art Museum benefit . Pixar University dean Randy Nelson welcomes Sybil Lockart and Margot Johnson to this benefit for the Cartoon Art Museum. Photo by Robert Binka...

So what's the very best way to break into the biz? Does going to some four year school like Emerson College or CalArts (which specializes in Communications and the performing arts) really give you an advantage? Or would it better in the long run to just hook up with some outfit like pabootcamp and...

Walt Disney once said "For every laugh, there should be a tear." But there's another unsaid rule when it comes to the animated features & shorts that Disney Studios produces. Which is that -- for every smile -- there should be a shriek. I mean, think about it. Is there another studio...

Did you catch that terrific profile of Michael Giacchino that " Variety " ran yesterday? I mean, if you thought that this Academy Award-winning composer was busy in 2009 - 2010 (i.e. that's when he composed & conducted the music for " Prep and Landing ," " Day & Night...

Nancy and I were just watching "The Purdum Reel." Which is this Special Feature on the Blu-ray version of the Diamond Edition of Disney's " Beauty and the Beast ." Which hits store shelves yesterday. Concept art from the Richard Purdum version of "Beauty and the Beast."...

I have been writing professionally about The Walt Disney Company for over 25 years now. Which is why I can tell you what it felt like to be in a theater on November 17, 1989. Which was the night that " The Little Mermaid " was first released to theaters. As the credits rolled, I remember turning...

"Book publishers send me out to schools all the time. And the kids there always ask me how they can get a job like mine. And my answer is: Put your stuff up on the Web. Because you never know who's going to see it." Trust me, folks. Noah Z. Jones knows of what he speaks. You see, this illustrator...

Remysthe14me writes in to say: Copyright Disney Pixar. All rights reserved I saw Jon Nadelberg 's story about the " Pixar: 25 Years of Animation " exhibit at the Oakland Museum of California and was wondering if this is the same exhibition of art that was presented at the MOMA in 2005?...