One of the box-office surprises of 2005 was a little film called Hoodwinked — the first independently produced CGI film, which went on to make a rather tidy little profit. Talk began almost immediately about sequel for the film — and now, that sequel is coming to theaters on April 29th. Hoodwinked introduced us to Little Red Riding Hood, her rather resourceful (and butt-kicking) Granny, and a big-but-not-so-bad Wolf. All three of them return in the new film, Hoodwinked Too: Hood vs. Evil. They’re joining up with an outfit known as the Happily Ever-after Agency (HEA) on a mission to save Hansel and Gretel from a wicked witch. Some things have changed — Hayden Panettiere (Alpha and Omega) replaces Anne Hathaway as the voice of Red, and the director this time is Mike Disa, previously known as a director of video short films. But once again we have Patrick Warburton as the Wolf, Glenn Close as Granny, and David Ogden Stiers as the frog Nicky Flippers, head of HEA. You can view the current trailer for the film on YouTube here.
CGI
If you like Talking Cars, try Talking Planes
Cartoon Brew recently put up an article letting us know about a new project from Disney’s Movietoon Studios (creators of A Goofy Movie and other works). It’s a new direct-to-DVD CGI called Planes, and it’s all about — you guessed it — anthropomorphic airplanes. Here’s the Press Release from DMS: “Planes will introduce an entirely original and hilarious crew of daredevils from every corner of the globe and draws inspiration from the immensely popular Disney/Pixar’s Cars world. ‘We had such a great time exploring the world of Cars over the course of two films, so it seemed only natural for us to see where our imaginations would take us in a film where planes were the main characters. By expanding the Cars world, Planes gave us a whole new set of fun-filled situations and a great opportunity to introduce some fantastic new characters,’ commented John Lasseter, Chief Creative Officer, Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios. Planes takes off with an international cast of the fastest air racers around, in a comedy packed with action and adventure starring Dusty, a small town dreamer who longs to enter the most epic around-the-world air race … despite his fear of heights. With the help and support of a fleet of new and hilarious characters, Dusty wings his way into the biggest challenge of his life.” Look for Planes to take off in the spring of 2013.
Little Pedro c. Walt Disney Pictures
WE3 Return. Run!
WE3 was a well-known and well-received 3-issue comic book miniseries written by Grant Morrison (Animal Man) and illustrated by Frank Quitely (New X-Men). This full-color comic was first published by DC Comics’ Vertigo imprint in 2004, and was first gathered together as a trade paperback graphic novel in 2005. Now, the graphic novel version returns, again published by Vertigo. This time it’s a brand-new hardcover edition, featuring new story pages by the creators. It’s scheduled for release this coming June 15th. The story of WE3 follows three stray animals — a dog, a cat, and a rabbit — who are captured by a secret military organization and transformed into cybernetic weapon-animals. Now they have limited speech, they are covered in body-armor, and they are armed to the teeth with deadly weapons. When they learn they are to be decommissioned, they make a break for freedom — pursued not only by the military, but by other cybernetic animals. Interestingly, the WE3 entry on Wikipedia mentions that in 2006 WE3 was optioned for development as a CGI film by New Line Cinema. Then came the word (in late 2008) that New Line was no longer involved in the project, but that John Stevenson (co-director of Kung Fu Panda) was now attached to the film as director.
The Gruffalo
Another in the “how’d we miss this?” category… The Gruffalo is an award-winning children’s book from the U.K., written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler. It was first published in 1999 by Macmillan Children’s Books. It tells the tale (via a mother squirrel giving her children a bedtime story) of a mouse walking through the woods. When he is threatened in turn by a predatory fox, snake, and owl, he scares each of them off by telling them he is on his way to meet his friend the “Gruffalo” — a monstrous creature who is much more dangerous than any of them. He’s making it all up, of course, and he thinks he’s so clever… until he runs into the real Gruffalo. After the book became enormously popular in the U.K. and elsewhere, Magic Light Pictures and Studio Soi made The Gruffalo into a 30-minute CGI film, which was broadcast on U.K. television for Christmas 2009. It featured (among others) the voices of Helena Bonham Carter (as the mother squirrel), John Hurt, and Robbie Coltrane (as the Gruffalo). The BBC has a trailer for the show on-line, and there’s also a making-of video from Magic Light.
image c. 2011 Axel Scheffler
Hello Everyone. Peabody Here.
Cartoon Brew is reporting that Robert Downey Jr. has been tapped to play the voice of none other than Mr. Peabody in a new live action/CGI film from Dreamworks, Mr. Peabody and Sherman. For you young folks who don’t know: Mr. Peabody is a genius-level talking dog, and Sherman is his loyal human boy assistant. The original animated cartoon was part of the Rocky & Bullwinkle cartoon series, animated by Jay Ward Productions. This new version is being written by Jeffrey Ventimilia and Joshua Sternin (from the recent Yogi Bear movie) and directed by Rob Minkoff (from The Lion King). There’s a wait to see how this turns out: The film isn’t due until 2014.
image c. 2011 Jay Ward Productions
Cinderella in the Old West
More CGI news from across the Atlantic… French director Pascal Herold (The True Story of Puss ‘n’ Boots) is working on a new anthropomorphic version of the story of Cendrillon… known to the English-speaking world as Cinderella. Here’s a quick re-cap from Animation World Network: “Based on Charles Perrault’s novel, this Cinderella story is set in the American Wild West and follows a cute tomboy named Cinderella who loses a tooth during a fight with pirates at Prince Charming’s ball. The characters are humanoid animals.” Animation Magazine recently had a character portrait of the “cute tomboy” antelope who stars in the film. It’s set for release this June. A company in Toronto, Canada is representing the film for world release; no word yet on if that includes the USA.
Animation from South Africa
Triggerfish is the name of a successful animation production house in South Africa near Capetown. Originally founded by Jacquie Trowell and Emma Kaye in 1996 to produce short films and commercials, Triggerfish are celebrating their 15-year anniversary in 2011 by announcing two upcoming CGI animated films. The first out of the starting gate is Zambezia, slated for world-wide release this year. It’s the story of a young falcon named Kai, who seeks freedom from his over-bearing father by escaping to a legendary paradise of birds… where he soon discovers that paradise may be more complicated than he thought. Up next is Khumba, the story of a strange “half-zebra” who journeys across South Africa to “earn his stripes”. Triggerfish have the trailers for both these films on their web site (Triggerfish Animation), as well as show-reels for their many short works.
Animals United
Slipping under the radar for a lot of folks — including, yes, yours truly! — is the CGI animated film Animals United, recently coming out of Germany. It’s directed by Reinhard Klooss and Holger Tappe, known among fans of European animation for Impy’s Wonderland. In this new film, animals of various species must work together when the effects of human industrialization (read: Global Warming) threaten their supply of clean water. And yes, it’s a comedy. One look at the trailer will tell you that. So far there’s no word on a North American release, but an English language version has been created for the U.K., featuring well-known voices like Jim Broadbent, Dawn French, and Stephen Fry.
And with that bit of news: Let us wish a Happy and Joyful New Year to all you furry fans the world over! We hope to see you back here all through 2011… and beyond!
The Easter Bunny Is Coming… To Stay
By now you might have caught wind (or teaser trailer) of Hop, a new live action/CGI film coming next spring from Universal Pictures. If not, here’s the run-down: It seems that one day the Easter Bunny (voiced by UK comedian Russell Brand) is accidentally run-over by Fred (James Marsden), an out-of-work slacker. Now Fred is forced to keep the bunny in his home until he heals enough to complete his job — a fact that both of them find terribly annoying. The film is directed by Tim Hill, best known for Alvin and the Chipmunks, Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties, and Muppets from Space. The animation was created by Illumination Entertainment, who created this year’s film Despicable Me. Oh, and that trailer? You can find it on You Tube, or find out even more at Hop’s official web site, I Want Candy. Check out the film when it premiers on April 1st, 2011.
