General

“What’s Opera, Doc?” celebrates the marriage of animation and classical music

Michael Giacchino, Pete Docter and Bruce Broughton came together this past Friday Night in Beverly Hills as part of the A.M.P.A.S.’s annual Marc Davis Celebration of Animation

Published

14 years ago

May 17, 2010

Jim Hill

As the lights went down in the Samuel Goldwyn Theater this past Friday night, the curtain rose to reveal Leopold Stokowski taking the conductor’s stand in Fantasia. But the first notes of
the evening were not from that 1940 classic feature. But – rather — from the tinny, half-destroyed instruments that Goofy and the gang played in that Mickey Mouse favorite, “The Symphony Hour.”

This was then followed by a rapid-fire musical montage (which had been lovingly stitched together by Alexander Rannie and Les Perkins) which deftly wove together clips from 28 different cartoons. Among them Popeye’s The Spinach Orchestra, Andy Panda’s The Bandmaster, Tom and Jerry’s The Cat Concerto, Clara Cluck in Orphan’s Benefit, Peter and the Wolf, Rhapsody in Blue and Who Framed Roger Rabbit’s dueling piano scene.

This reel played as if it were one massive cartoon symphony. And even though most of these clips are well over half a century old, they still received huge laughs and recognition
applause the instant they appeared on screen.

As this clip reel wrapped, it received a huge round of applause from the capacity crowd. And – with that – the Marc Davis Celebration of Animation officially got underway — exploring this year’s theme: “What’s Opera, Doc? Animation and Classical Music.”

(L to R) Oscar-nominated composer Bruce Broughton; Alice Davis, widow of Marc Davis; and Oscar-winning composer Michael Giacchino at the reception preceding Friday night’s “What’s Opera Doc?” presentation. Photo by Ivan Vejar. Copyright 2010 A.M.P.A.S.

Before the guest speakers took to the stage, this A.M.P.A.S. event’s producer, Randy Haberkamp, acknowledged some of the special guests in the audience. Among them the daughter & great granddaughter of Chuck Jones, as well as the official hostess of the evening, Disney Legend Alice Davis.

Randy also noted that “What’s Opera, Doc?” was being held in conjunction with the Los Angeles Ring Festival 2010. During which the LA Opera will present its production of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen. Haberkamp noted that this production of the Ring cycle would take four nights to see in its entirety. Mind you, Chuck Jones’ version of Wagner’s epic (which would close Friday evening’s programming), would take just four minutes to see in its entirety. Shakespeare once said “brevity is the soul of wit.” Perhaps Wagner didn’t know how many laughs he was missing out on.

Haberkamp then brought out tonight’s host, the Oscar-winning composer of Up, Ratatouille, The Incredibles
and Star Trek, Michael Giacchnio. Michael is fresh from finishing 88 minutes of original music for the Lost series finale just one week ago and a Lost concert at Royce Hall just 24 hours before tonight’s event. “If Michael isn’t the busiest man in show
business,” said Haberkamp, “I pity the person who is.” As Giacchino took the stage, he added
“I thought this was going to be a discussion of possible endings to Lost …“

Michael Giacchino during Friday night’s “What’s Opera Doc?” program. Which was presented as part of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Marc Davis Celebration of Animation. Photo by Ivan Vejar. Copyright 2010 A.M.P.A.S.

Giacchino started by screening the 1935 Silly Symphony Music Land, and the Mickey classic The Band Concert, to boisterous laughter and applause. Giacchino then threw the discussion to panelist Bruce Broughton – legendary composer of films such as Silverado, The Boy Who Could Fly, Homeward Bound – The Incredible Journey, Young Sherlock Holmes, The Rescuers Down Under, Tombstone
and television’s Tiny Toon Adventures. Broughton should be familiar to Disney park fans, as the composer of the soaring scores to The Timekeeper, Ellen’s Energy Adventure and the playful music to Honey, I Shrunk the Audience. Broughton was especially taken with the wit of Music Land’s score, which not only had to precisely punctuate the action and emotions, it also had to provide the characters’ voices. “The young prince of Jazz Land was voiced by a saxophone, while the old king was voiced by a baritone sax. The minister spoke through the sawing of a bass. It’s very cleverly worked out.” Broughton observed that the extraordinary thing about these cartoons is that they “pre-suppose that people knew what this music was. This was a time when people went to concerts, and knew the classics.”

Giacchino talked about Music Land in particular as evidence of a time when the old guard of music was giving way to the new guard. Giacchino, whose boyish enthusiasm for these films and their scores positively beamed, added that he first became aware of these classical music pieces through the cartoons.

It was at this point that they were joined by Oscar-winning director of Monsters, Inc.
and Up Pete Docter – who valiantly fought his way through air travel and LA traffic to be here tonight. Docter asked the audience “How many of us learned classical music from these cartoons and The Muppet Show
?” The audience responded strongly. Docter’s insight is especially unique, since he hails from a family of accomplished musicians, and himself plays the violin. Pete talked about his music background playing into his animation, working out the rhythms temporally in his mind as if to music.

Docter, Giacchino and Broughton analyzed cue sheets from the era, and the ways the composers would annotate the notes with specific beats tied to on-screen action. They noted that in the old days, the cartoon’s director, the composer and the layout artist would sit in a room together to work out the timing, the story and composition. As Broughton noted, “these
composers had to know the timing of the action and gags just as well as the story men did.” Pete remembered a story about the director of Music Land utilizing a metronome to illustrate to Walt how the tempo would change throughout the cartoon.

Giacchino screened the comical ballet “The Dance of Hours” from Fantasia. The panel shared
anecdotes they had heard about the limitations of sound technology at the time these classics were made. Michael Giacchino related a story he had heard, during the production of Fantasia, Walt referred to the single-channel audio of the day as “tinny” and in need of something to recreate the rich sound of being at the symphony live. This led to the development of the first
multi-channeled audio for what would be known as “Fantasound.” It would take theaters decades to catch up with the idea of stereophonic sound. Docter shared an anecdote from PIXAR / Lucas Film sound designer Gary Rydstrom. There were so many tracks, that the tape hissing was audible. So they recorded everything loud, then played it back to re-record the audio, keying the volume
up and down live to suit the volume required. As Bruce Broughton added, Walt once said of Fantasia, “Gee, this’ll make Beethoven.”

One of the highlights of the evening was the screening of three separate cartoons, each utilizing the venerable “Hungarian Rhapsody” – Rhapsody in Rivets, The Cat Concerto and The Backyard Oproar. The panel observed the differences in the orchestrations and the ways they interacted with the on-screen action. Broughton rhapsodized on the quality of the musical performances themselves, a product of the age in which studios had staff orchestras. These gifted musicians would spend the day recording with Max Steiner for a major live action score,
then Carl Stalling would jump in at the end of the day and get them to record one of the cartoons.

Docter made perhaps the most profound observation of the evening, noting that classical music in cartoons functions much like Margaret Dumont in the Marx Brothers films. “The classical music was there for the cartoon to make fun of.”

Giacchino treated the audience to a rarity from the production of Up – the scene following “Married Life,” in which Carl gets up in the morning and we see the routine of his life after losing Ellie. He screened the scene twice. The first time the scene was played, we saw
the action as seen in the released film, but accompanied by an original piece of music by Michael Giacchino. It starts small, almost clockwork-sounding, and adds instruments as the scene
progresses. The final jaunty assemblage of instruments contrasts the stark banality of Carl’s actions, almost going out of its way to punctuate the comedy. It fits beautifully with the rest of the Oscar-winning score, and definitely foreshadows some of the instrumentation in the later Paradise Falls scenes.

But as wonderful as Giacchino’s music was for that scene, the filmmakers decided that it just didn’t play as the moment needed. They then screened the finished scene from the film, with the selection from Bizet’s opera Carmen in lieu of the original composition. Docter noted following the heavy “Married Life” sequence, you needed something to give you permission to laugh. Giacchino said that familiarity of the classical music put you at ease.

The night closed with a screening of What’s Opera, Doc? In this legendary Chuck Jones short, Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd gad about an Agnes de Mille dream ballet landscape, playing a Wagner-type opera fairly straight. It is rendered absurd by the intensity with which Bugs and Elmer carry out the melodrama. The only wink to the camera is the final shot of the film, when Elmer carries Bugs’ lifeless body into Valhalla’s rays of sunlight. Bugs turns to the audience and states “What did you expect from an opera, a happy ending?” As Broughton stated earlier in the evening, “comedy is serious business.”

After Friday night’s presentation, the audience streamed back into the lobby. Not only to ooh & aah at all the original Chuck Jones art that adorned the wall. But also to scope out the one-night-only display that had been set up at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in conjunction with this year’s Marc Davis Celebration of Animation event. Which featured some incredibly rare animation artifacts. Among them a studio memo from Walt Disney to composer George Bruns about his adaptation of Tchaikovsky’s music for Sleeping Beauty.

It’s displays like this – not to mention events like “What’s Opera, Doc? Animation and Classical Music” – which is why film fans should make a point of regularly dropping by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences website to see what else they’ve got in the works. For this particular Marc Davis Celebration of Animation was truly a one-night-only, must-see event.

General

Seward Johnson bronzes add a surreal, artistic touch to NYC’s Garment District

Published

9 years ago

June 23, 2015

Jim Hill

Greetings from NYC. Nancy and I drove down from New
Hampshire yesterday because we'll be checking out
Disney Consumer Products' annual Holiday Showcase later today.

Anyway … After checking into our hotel (i.e., The Paul.
Which is located down in NYC's NoMad district), we decided to grab some dinner.
Which is how we wound up at the Melt Shop.

Photo by Jim Hill

Which is this restaurant that only sells grilled cheese sandwiches.
This comfort food was delicious, but kind of on the heavy side.

Photo by Jim Hill

Which is why — given that it was a beautiful summer night
— we'd then try and walk off our meals. We started our stroll down by the Empire
State Building
…

Photo by Jim Hill

… and eventually wound up just below Times
Square (right behind where the Waterford Crystal Times Square New
Year's Eve Ball is kept).

Photo by Jim Hill

But you know what we discovered en route? Right in the heart
of Manhattan's Garment District
along Broadway between 36th and 41st? This incredibly cool series of life-like
and life-sized sculptures that Seward
Johnson has created.

Photo by Jim Hill

And — yes — that is Abraham Lincoln (who seems to have
slipped out of WDW's Hall of Presidents when no one was looking and is now
leading tourists around Times Square). These 18 painted
bronze pieces (which were just installed late this past Sunday night / early
Monday morning) range from the surreal to the all-too-real.

Photo by Jim Hill

Some of these pieces look like typical New Yorkers. Like the
business woman planning out her day …

Photo by Jim Hill

… the postman delivering the mail …

Photo by Jim Hill

… the hot dog vendor working at his cart …

Photo by Jim Hill

… the street musician playing for tourists …

Photo by Jim Hill

Not to mention the tourists themselves.

Photo by Jim Hill

But right alongside the bronze businessmen …

Photo by Jim Hill

… and the tired grandmother hauling her groceries home …

Photo by Jim Hill

… there were also statues representing people who were
from out-of-town …

Photo by Jim Hill

… or — for that matter — out-of-time.

Photo by Jim Hill

These were the Seward Johnson pieces that genuinely beguiled. Famous impressionist paintings brought to life in three dimensions.

Note the out-of-period water bottle that some tourist left
behind. Photo by Jim Hill

Some of them so lifelike that you actually had to pause for
a moment (especially as day gave way to night in the city) and say to yourself
"Is that one of the bronzes? Or just someone pretending to be one of these
bronzes?"

Mind you, for those of you who aren't big fans of the
impressionists …

Photo by Jim Hill

… there's also an array of American icons. Among them
Marilyn Monroe …

Photo by Jim Hill

… and that farmer couple from Grant Wood's "American
Gothic."

Photo by Jim Hill

But for those of you who know your NYC history, it's hard to
beat that piece which recreates Alfred Eisenstaedt's famous photograph of V-J Day in Times Square.

Photo by Jim Hill

By the way, a 25-foot-tall version of this particular Seward
Johnson piece ( which — FYI — is entitled "Embracing Peace") will actually
be placed in Times Square for a few days on or around August 14th to commemorate the 70th
anniversary of Victory Over Japan Day (V-J Day).

Photo by Jim Hill

By the way, if you'd like to check these Seward Johnson bronzes in
person (which — it should be noted — are part of the part of the Garment
District Alliance's new public art offering) — you'd best schedule a trip to
the City sometime over the next three months. For these pieces will only be on
display now through September 15th.

General

Wondering what you should “Boldly Go” see at the movies next year? The 2015 Licensing Expo offers you some clues

Published

9 years ago

June 10, 2015

Jim Hill

Greeting from the 2015 Licensing Expo, which is being held
at the Mandalay Bay
Convention Center in Las
Vegas.

Photo by Jim Hill

I have to admit that I enjoy covering the Licensing Expo.
Mostly becomes it allows bloggers & entertainment writers like myself to
get a peek over the horizon. Scope out some of the major motion pictures &
TV shows that today's vertically integrated entertainment conglomerates
(Remember when these companies used to be called movie studios?) will be
sending our way over the next two years or so.

Photo by Jim Hill

Take — for example — all of "The Secret Life of
Pets" banners that greeted Expo attendees as they made their way to the
show floor today. I actually got to see some footage from this new Illumination
Entertainment production (which will hit theaters on July 8, 2016) the last time I was in Vegas. Which
was for CinemaCon back in April. And the five or so minutes of film that I viewed
suggested that "The Secret Life of Pets" will be a really funny
animated feature.

Photo by Jim Hill

Mind you, Universal Pictures wanted to make sure that Expo
attendees remembered that there was another Illumination Entertainment production
coming-to-a-theater-near-them before "The Secret Life of Pets" (And
that's "Minions," the "Despicable Me" prequel. Which
premieres at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival next week but
won't be screened stateside 'til July 10th of this year). Which is why they had
three minions who were made entirely out of LEGOS loitering out in the lobby.

Photo by Jim Hill

And Warner Bros. — because they wanted "Batman v
Superman: Dawn of Justice" to start trending on Twitter today — brought
the Batmobile to Las Vegas.

Photo by Jim Hill

Not to mention full-sized macquettes of Batman, Superman and
Wonder Woman. Just so conventioneers could then see what these DC superheroes
would actually look like in this eagerly anticipated, March 25, 2016 release.

Photo by Jim Hill

That's the thing that can sometimes be a wee bit frustrating
about the Licensing Expo. It's all about delayed gratification. You'll come
around a corner and see this 100 foot-long ad for "The Peanuts Movie"
and think "Hey, that looks great. I want to see that Blue Sky Studios production
right now." It's only then that you notice the fine print and realize that
"The Peanuts Movie" doesn't actually open in theaters 'til November
6th of this year.

Photo by Jim Hill

And fan of Blue Sky's "Ice Age" film franchise are in for an even
longer wait. Given that the latest installment in that top grossing series
doesn't arrive in theaters 'til July
15, 2016.

Photo by Jim Hill

Of course, if you're one of those people who needs immediate
gratification when it comes to your entertainment, there was stuff like that to
be found at this year's Licensing Expo. Take — for example — how the WWE
booth was actually shaped like a wrestling ring. Which — I'm guessing — meant
that if the executives of World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. didn't like
the offer that you were making, they were then allowed to toss you out over the
top rope, Royal Rumble-style.

Photo by Jim Hill

I also have to admit that — as a longtime Star Trek fan —
it was cool to see the enormous Starship Enterprise that hung in place over the
CBS booth. Not to mention getting a glimpse of the official Star Trek 50th
Anniversary logo.

Photo by Jim Hill

I was also pleased to see lots of activity in The Jim Henson
Company booth. Which suggests that JHC has actually finally carved out a
post-Muppets identity for itself.

Photo by Jim Hill

Likewise for all of us who were getting a little concerned
about DreamWorks Animation (what with all the layoffs & write-downs &
projects that were put into turnaround or outright cancelled last year), it was
nice to see that booth bustling.

Photo by Jim Hill

Every so often, you'd come across some people who were
promoting a movie that you weren't entirely sure that you actually wanted to
see (EX: "Angry Birds," which Sony Pictures Entertainment / Columbia
Pictures will be releasing to theaters on May 20, 2016). But then you remembered that Clay Kaytis —
who's this hugely talented former Walt Disney Animation Studios animator — is
riding herd on "Angry Birds" with Fergal Reilly. And you'd think
"Well, if Clay's working on 'Angry Birds,' I'm sure this animated feature
will turn out fine."

Photo by Jim Hill

Mind you, there were reminders at this year's Licensing Expo
of great animated features that we're never going to get to see now. I still
can't believe — especially after that brilliant proof-of-concept footage
popped up online last year — that Sony execs decided not to go forward
with production of Genndy Tartakovsky's
"Popeye" movie. But that's the
cruel thing about the entertainment business, folks. It will sometime break
your heart.

Photo by Jim Hill

And make no mistake about this. The Licensing Expo is all
about business. That point was clearly driven home at this year's show when —
as you walked through the doors of the Mandalay
Bay Convention Center
— the first thing that you saw was the Hasbros Booth. Which was this gleaming,
sleek two story-tall affair full of people who were negotiating deals &
signing contracts for all of the would-be summer blockbusters that have already
announced release dates for 2019 & beyond.

Photo by Jim Hill

"But what about The Walt Disney Company?," you
ask. "Weren't they represented on the show floor at this year's Licensing
Expo?" Not really, not. I mean, sure. There were a few companies there hyping
Disney-related products. Take — for example — the Disney Wikkeez people.

Photo by Jim Hill

I'm assuming that some Disney Consumer Products exec is
hoping that Wikkeez will eventually become the new Tsum Tsum. But to be blunt,
these little hard plastic figures don't seem to have the same huggable charm
that those stackable plush do. But I've been wrong before. So let's see what
happens with Disney Wikkeez once they start showing up on the shelves of the
Company's North American retail partners.

Photo by Jim Hill

And speaking of Disney's retail partners … They were
meeting with Mouse House executives behind closed doors one floor down from the
official show floor for this year's Licensing Expo.

Photo by Jim Hill

And the theme for this year's invitation-only Disney shindig? "Timeless
Stories" involving the Disney, Pixar, Marvel & Lucasfilm brands that
would then appeal to "tomorrow's consumer."

Photo by Jim Hill

And just to sort of hammer home the idea that Disney is no
longer the Company which cornered the market when it comes to little girls
(i.e., its Disney Princess and Disney Fairies franchises), check out this
wall-sized Star Wars-related image that DCP put up just outside of one of its
many private meeting rooms. "See?," this carefully crafted photo
screams. "It isn't just little boys who want to wield the Force. Little
girls also want to grow up and be Lords of the Sith."

Photo by Jim Hill

One final, kind-of-ironic note: According to this banner,
Paramount Pictures will be releasing a movie called "Amusement Park"
to theaters sometime in 2017.

Photo by Jim Hill

Well, given all the "Blackfish" -related issues
that have been dogged SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment over the past two years, I'm
just hoping that they'll still be in the amusement park business come 2017.

Your thoughts?

General

It takes more than three circles to craft a Classic version of Mickey Mouse

Published

9 years ago

June 9, 2015

Jim Hill

You know what Mickey Mouse looks like, right? Little guy,
big ears?

Truth be told, Disney's corporate symbol has a lot of
different looks. If Mickey's interacting with Guests at Disneyland
Park (especially this summer, when
the Happiest Place on Earth
is celebrating its 60th anniversary), he looks & dresses like this.

Or when he's appearing in one of those Emmy Award-winning shorts that Disney
Television Animation has produced (EX: "Bronco Busted," which debuts
on the Disney Channel tonight at 8 p.m. ET / PT), Mickey is drawn in a such a
way that he looks hip, cool, edgy & retro all at the same time.

Looking ahead to 2017 now, when Disney Junior rolls out "Mickey and the
Roadster Racers," this brand-new animated series will feature a sportier version
of Disney's corporate symbol. One that Mouse House managers hope will persuade
preschool boys to more fully embrace this now 86 year-old character.

That's what most people don't realize about the Mouse. The
Walt Disney Company deliberately tailors Mickey's look, even his style of
movement, depending on what sort of project / production he's appearing in.

Take — for example — Disney
California Adventure
Park's "World of Color:
Celebrate!" Because Disney's main mouse would be co-hosting this new
nighttime lagoon show with ace emcee Neil Patrick Harris, Eric Goldberg really had
to step up Mickey's game. Which is why this master Disney animator created
several minutes of all-new Mouse animation which then showed that Mickey was
just as skilled a showman as Neil was.

Better yet, let's take a look at what the folks at Avalanche Studios just went
through as they attempted to create a Classic version of Mickey & Minnie.
One that would then allow this popular pair to become part of Disney Infinity
3.0.

"I won't lie to you. We were under a lot of pressure to
get the look of this particular version of Mickey — he's called Red Pants
Mickey around here — just right," said Jeff Bunker, the VP of Art
Development at Avalanche Studios, during a recent phone interview. "When
we brought Sorcerer Mickey into Disney Infinity 1.0 back in January of 2014,
that one was relatively easy because … Well, everyone knows what Mickey Mouse
looked like when he appeared in 'Fantasia.' "

"But this time around, we were being asked to design
THE Mickey & Minnie," Bunker continued. "And given that these Classic
Disney characters have been around in various different forms for the better
part of the last century … Well, which look was the right look?"

Which is why Jeff and his team at Avalanche Studios began watching hours &
hours of Mickey Mouse shorts. As they tried to get a handle on which look would
work best for these characters in Disney Infinity 3.0.

"And we went all the way back to the very start of Mickey's career. We began
with 'Steamboat Willie' and then watched all of those black & white Mickey shorts
that Walt made back in the late 1920s & early 1930s. From there, we
transitioned to his Technicolor shorts. Which is when Mickey went from being
this pie-eyed, really feisty character to more of a well-behaved leading
man," Bunker recalled. "We then finished out our Mouse marathon by
watching all of those new Mickey shorts that Paul Rudish & his team have
been creating for Disney Television Animation. Those cartoons really recapture
a lot of the spirit and wild slapstick fun that Mickey's early, black &
white shorts had."

But given that the specific assignment that Avalanche Studios had been handed
was to create the most appealing looking, likeable version of Mickey Mouse
possible … In the end, Jeff and his team wound up borrowing bits & pieces
from a lot of different versions of the world's most famous mouse. So that
Classic Mickey would then look & move in a way that best fit the sort of
gameplay which people would soon be able to experience with Disney Infinity
3.0.

"That — in a lot of ways — was actually the toughest
part of the Classic Mickey design project. You have to remember that one of the
key creative conceits of Disney Infinity
is that all the characters which appear in this game are toys," Bunker
stated. "Okay. So they're beautifully detailed, highly stylized toy
versions of beloved Disney, Pixar, Marvel & Lucasfilm characters. But
they're still supposed to be toys. So our Classic versions of Mickey &
Minnie have the same sort of thickness & sturdiness to them that toys have.
So that they'll then be able to fit right in with all of the rest of the
characters that Avalanche Studios had previously designed for Disney Infinity."

And then there was the matter of coming up with just the
right pose for Classic Mickey & Minnie. Which — to hear Jeff tell the
story — involved input from a lot of Disney upper management.

"Everyone within the Company seemed to have an opinion
about how Mickey & Minnie should be posed. More to the point, if you Google
Mickey, you then discover that there are literally thousands of poses out there
for these two. Though — truth be told — a lot of those kind of play off the
way Mickey poses when he's being Disney's corporate symbol," Bunker said.
"But what I was most concerned about was that Mickey's pose had to work
with Minnie's pose. Because we were bringing the Classic versions of these
characters up into Disney Infinity 3.0 at the exact same time. And we wanted to
make sure — especially for those fans who like to put their Disney Infinity
figures on display — that Mickey's pose would then complement Minnie.

Which is why Jeff & the crew at Avalanche Studios
decided — when it came to Classic Mickey & Minnie's pose — that they
should go all the way back to the beginning. Which is why these two Disney icons
are sculpted in such a way that it almost seems as though you're witnessing the
very first time Mickey set eyes on Minnie.

"And what was really great about that was — as soon as
we began showing people within the Company this pose — everyone at Disney
quickly got on board with the idea. I mean, the Classic Mickey that we sculpted
for Disney Infinity 3.0 is clearly a very playful, spunky character. But at the
same time, he's obviously got eyes for Minnie," Bunker concluded. "So
in the end, we were able to come up with Classic versions of these characters
that will work well within the creative confines of Disney Infinity 3.0 but at
the same time please those Disney fans who just collect these figures because
they like the way the Disney Infinity characters look."

So now that this particular design project is over, does
Jeff regret that Mouse House upper management was so hands-on when it came to
making sure that the Classic versions of Mickey & Minnie were specifically
tailored to fit the look & style of gameplay found in Disney Infinity 3.0?

"To be blunt, we go through this every time we add a new character to the
game. The folks at Lucasfilm were just as hands-on when we were designing the
versions of Darth Vader and Yoda that will also soon be appearing in Disney
Infinity 3.0," Bunker laughed. "So in the end, if the character's
creators AND the fans are happy, then I'm happy."

This article was originally posted on the Huffington Post's Entertainment page on Tuesday, June 9, 2015