DisneyPixar’s Ultimate Collector’s Edition of Brave is available to own on November 13, 2012. Courtesy of Disney Pictures
Standards have been set extraordinarily high for animated films over the last decade. We’ve been spoiled with spectacular work from DisneyPixar studios, with movies that went far beyond the usual fairy tales of the old days (Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Wall-E, Up). After the pitiful Cars 2, Disney and Pixar have returned to glory with their latest film, Brave.
In Brave, we follow a young Scottish princess named Merida’s desperate battle for freedom from the claws of tradition and her unrelenting mother.
Surely enough, a simple story with phenomenal attention to detail and a talented production team make this movie an absolute delight.
All of the voice actors squeezed everything out of their acting arsenal to deliver the perfect trio of humour, emotions and fantasy. Most impressive of all is 36 year old Kelly MacDonald (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2), who plays the young and feisty Merida. She managed to perfectly portray her adolescent character, without becoming a caricature of an annoying teenager. Luckily, the studio avoided a disaster when they lost out on their first choice of Reese Witherspoon for the lead character.
This jam packed Ultimate Collector’s Edition features stunning 3D and 2D Blu Ray copies, DVD and a digital copy. On top of that, the special features list is as impressive as the film. Here’s a list of the features that you’ll want to check out:
• “La Luna” Theatrical Short
• “The Legend of Mor’du” Short
• Brave Old World
• Merida & Elinor
• Bears
• Brawl in the Hall
• Wonder Moss
• Magic
• Clan Pixar
• Once Upon A Scene
• Director Commentary
• “Fergus & Mor’du” An Alternate Opening
• Fallen Warriors Montage
• Dirty Hairy People
• It is English…Sort Of – One of the funniest features!
• Angus
• The Tapestry
• Promotional Pieces
Hours of fun stuff for fans to dive into.
Bottom Line: This Ultimate Collector’s Edition is a must own for fans of DisneyPixar animation!
Movie Grade A
Blu Ray Grade A+
Runtime: 93 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1
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Kodi Smit-McPhee stars as the “parNormanly” gifted in ParaNorman. Courtesy of Alliance Media
Like Cole from The Sixth Sense, Norman has the paranormal ability to speak to the deceased. Norman’s story differs as he tries to help the friendly ghosts break an ancient curse that threatens to destroy his town and its inhabitants.
ParaNorman pioneers new and innovative techniques in stop motion animation taking on massive sets and action packed sequences never seen before in this medium. It also tells a heart-felt story combining laughter, horror and poignant social commentary regarding the way people are treated when they don’t fit the “norm” (hard not to pun).
Chris Butler and Sam Fell successfully bring Butler’s massive dream to the screen. The movie powers forward with wonderful pace, only slowing down at stirring moments to deliver their impactful message.
The talented Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Road, Let Me In) delivers a solid voice-over performance alongside his cast members. There are only a few moments when the dialogue suffered from feeling read and not acted.
Speaking of the visuals, you’re in for a real treat with easily one of the best stop-motion animation experiences you’ll ever have alongside Coraline. On top of that, you’ll definitely want to immerse yourself in the palpable 3D option that really helps draw you further into the already first-rate film.
Bottom Line: Without a doubt, you’ll definitely get your money’s worth from ParaNorman.
Courtney, Alvin, Mitch, Norman, and Neil in PARANORMAN, directed by Sam Fell and Chris Butler, the new stop-motion comedy thriller from LAIKA and Focus Features.
ParaNorman tells the story of a young man gifted (or cursed, depending on your point of view) with the ability to talk to ghosts. The movie strikes an excellent cord between, comedy and horror, while instilling a sense of heart and morality.
I’m very lucky to have sat down with one of the directors, Sam Fell (The Tale of Despereaux, Flushed Away), to find out how this great story came to be.
Do you believe in the paranormal?
I believe there is more to us than flesh and bone. There’s obviously something in our consciousness that’s beyond what we see. I haven’t seen a ghost, but I’m happy to just know that there’s more. I’ll come back and haunt you to let you know that they do exist.
How would you react to having Norman’s ability to see and speak to ghosts?
I think it would be cool to see those ghosts that he sees because they’re friendly ghosts. I’d probably go look a few people up. I never got to meet one of my grandfathers, so I’d like to talk to him.
Can you briefly describe what differentiates the way you shot ParaNorman versus other stop-motion animated movies?
At its heart, it’s the same process. Build a miniature world, light it, build miniature puppets out of clay, and then it’s one frame at a time. You start in frame one and days or weeks later you’re finished that shot. One of our shots was about 1000 frames long and that took about ten weeks to shoot!
That’s insane!
Tell me about it! It’s a living performance, captured very slowly. What made our process different is we used a 3D colour printer to create thousands of faces to switch for each frame. Amazingly innovative stuff!
I’ll let the pros show you how they did it:
Is this the future of animation?
I think there are multiple futures for animating a film. I’ll never forget that moment when I saw Toy Story on the big screen for the first time, when CG animation was new, exciting and novel. It blew me away! I don’t get that feeling very much anymore. Don’t get me wrong, I really like a lot of animated films. It just feels like the genre has been dormant for a long time. It wasn’t until Coraline where we got to see this tactile world in stereoscopic 3D for the first time that I got a similar sensation again. Felt uncanny. I actually hope hand-drawn animation makes a comeback.
Me too!
So far in your career, you’ve only directed animated films. Do you have any interest in taking on some living actors?
I would consider it. Actually, before this movie came along, I had been dabbling in writing and had some live action stuff in development. So I’ve touched on that world. In many ways, shooting ParaNorman has been sort of a live action film on a smaller scale. I think you should want to tell a story more than just entering a medium for the sake of it.
Are you very selective when it comes to the projects you take on?
I’m as selective as I can be, you know. It’s tricky, because on one side it’s a business and I’m a working director who wants to work. I want to make films. So I hold off as long as I can and read a ton of scripts. I actually develop my own work too. But somewhere along that road, you’re just itching to make another film and you grab the best one you’ve been presented with and you go with it. Directors aren’t built to sit around, you see.
For the voice work, did you do the traditional method of every actor doing solo recordings or did you manage to get them together to record?
We were lucky to get some of them together, actually. We got Leslie Mann and Jeff Garlin, the Babcock parents together. They were great at ad libbing. We also got Casey Affleck and Anna Kendrick together, which was great since neither had done animation before, so they got to find their way together. And we got Kodi Smit-McPhee (Norman) and Tucker Albrizzi (Neil) together. They were so good together, that we didn’t even edit out their mistakes. It just made it more beautiful.
Were there any whacky mishaps that happened during production?
It’s weird, but there weren’t any big mishaps that happened on this movie. The only difficult aspect of this movie was the ambition of it. Crazy ambition! In the first year when we were planning and storyboarding it, we got carried away. We were so excited about doing car chases with multiple cameras and the big storm in the sky to connect to the zombies. On top of that, we wanted a mob! Halfway through, it all started to hit us just how much we wanted to push everything. That was the only moment when we gulped at the vastness and scale of the project.
Did the final product deviate from the original script in anyway?
No, actually. We just turned a great script into a great movie.
That you did, Sam! Check out ParaNorman in 3D in theatres everywhere on August 17, 2012.
Here’s another look at how they brought this movie to life:
Kelly MacDonald voices Princess Merida in BRAVE. Courtesy of Disney Pictures
Standards have been set extraordinarily high for animated films over the last decade. We’ve been wonderfully spoiled with spectacular work from DisneyPixar studios, with movies that went far beyond the usual fairy tales of the old days (Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Wall-E, Up). Fast Forward to 2011 where we witnessed the less than impressive sequel, Cars 2. Are Disney and Pixar returning to greatness or diving deeper into the pit of reckless disaster with their latest movie Brave? The conclusive answer is: They’re back!
In Brave, we follow a young Scottish princess named Merida through her desperate battle for freedom from the claws of tradition and her unrelenting mother.
Sure enough, a simple story with phenomenal attention to detail and a talented production team make this movie an absolute delight.
All of the voice actors squeezed everything out of their acting arsenal to deliver the perfect trio of humour, emotions and fantasy.
Most impressive of all is 36 year old Kelly MacDonald (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2), who plays the young and feisty Merida. She managed to perfectly portray her adolescent character, without becoming a caricature of an annoying teenager. Luckily, the studio avoided a disaster when they lost out on their first choice of Reese Witherspoon for the lead character.
Three directors/writers worked on bringing their script to life and it looks like they may have the Oscar for Best Animated Film in the bag.
Complementing the filmmaker’s vision is the jaw-dropping animation. Not only are the detail-rich backgrounds a photo-realistic heaven, but the movement is incredibly smooth – Particularly with Merida’s gorgeous red curly hair.
Bottom Line: The best animated movie of the year!
Grade A
Runtime: 100 minutes
IMAX: No
3D: Yes
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Having worked on some of DisneyPixar’s biggest hits, including Toy Story, Monster’s Inc., Ratatouille, and my all-time favourite The Incredibles, the pressure to deliver the next hit movie for the number one animation studio in the world was set on the shoulders of director Mark Andrews and Producer Katherine Sarafian.
I recently sat down with the lively duo to talk about their latest production, Brave.
What were some of your major challenges in making Brave?
Mark: Katherine was one of my major challenges.
Katherine: Yeah, he wouldn’t say I’m not difficult to work with. I think every director, producer, writer, etc. would give the same answer—Story! You can never assume you’ve got it right, and even when you do, you always want to make it better. With these films taking four to six years to make, right up until the end, we’re trying to make the story better.
Mark: Yeah, no matter how much time you think you have, it ends up being no time at all. You spend so much time in the development phase working with different permeations of ideas, “Should we do this? Should we do that? I don’t know…” By the time you finalize one idea and you put it up on storyboards, you look at it and go, “Gaaa, NOOO!” After multiple tries, all of a sudden the release date approaches and the pressure is on. We have a motto: Work is story and story is hell.
Tell us what led you to Scotland.
Mark: Sure! My fellow director and I, Brenda Chapman, have Scottish ancestry and I’m a huge myth and legend buff. Scotland being so rich in their history, myths and everything that surrounds it, combined with the Celtic tradition of telling stories as life lessons naturally gave us incentive to build this teen angst film around it. Basically, we write what we know. My only other thing is I wanted to put the whole thing in space, because I love sci-fi. You know, bring in a spaceship and basically that’s what happens with the curse (in the movie).
Katherine: There wasn’t a day that went by that he didn’t consider adding a spaceship.
Once we decided that it was going to be in Scotland we went on our research trip. If we got to Scotland and discovered that the landscapes and history weren’t conducive to storytelling, we would have changed it.
Mark: Or if we were smart, we would have set it in Italy and got some fantastic trips there. Or someplace warm like the Caribbean, because Scotland’s not warm!
You wouldn’t like Canada’s winters very much.
This is Pixar’s first female lead and princess. How did this develop?
Katherine: We didn’t start out thinking about delivering the first Pixar female heroine. We started talking about who would be the best possible character: Someone who is teenaged, and happened to be a royal girl. But those were all secondary and tertiary plans. Now I’m really happy that Merida will be looked at as a role model for being true to you and not just following a mold. If the world doesn’t quite see you the way you want to be seen, you can bravely face up to that and speak your truth.
Mark: I think that’s the big issue in this land and era of tradition (old Scotland), there are so many preconceived notions of what a woman or anyone needs to be – Even boys. I have a girl and three boys just like King Ferguson does in the movie, so for me it’s great that this movie tells you to be brave enough to be who you are. Don’t let anyone dictate who you’re going to be.
I love that message!
Did the cast ever get to record their dialogue together, or is this like most animated films where they never saw each other through production?
Mark: All done separately!
Katherine: They interacted when they were shooting other films together, but not on our film.
Mark: It’s too difficult. I would love to get everyone in there and have them work together. But it’s hard to build the performances, which is why we do several different takes. That way, if you’re coming on strong in your reading and I have multiple takes from the other actors reading their lines at different levels in the scene, I am able to form a rhythm and a pattern out of all the different takes.
How did you develop Princess Merida’s character without making her another annoying teenager?
Mark: We know this person is head strong and willful, but she also has to be appealing. I want to like her in the beginning and like her in the end, understanding why she had to do what she did as she transitions from adolescence to adulthood. The way Kelly MacDonald played the character made us fall in love with her from the first line out of her mouth.
Katherine: Throughout the entire process of making this movie, we were trying to get appeal. Whether it’s how big the eyes are, or how big the smile is, you’re going for appeal with character design. Then you’re going for appeal in character movement and animation before you even have the voice. By the time you get to casting, you’re only thought is appeal, appeal, appeal!
BRAVE’S Director Mark Andrews and Producer Katherine Sarafian.
Mark: All of the appeal comes from your gut. When I was talking to Emma Thomson (Queen Elinor), I told her we have to be able to laugh at the queen and not just think of nasty words to call her, which I did as we were writing the character.
Last question from fans and myself: If and when will you return to The Incredibles franchise to give us the sequel we’re dying for?
Katherine: Mark and I would both love to make The Incredibles 2 happen, but the studio has so many projects in the works right now it may be a while.
Awww shucks!
You can check out Brave in theatres this Friday June 22, 2012.
For now, save and print this fun banner challenge and maze for your wee ones to enjoy!
Amy Price Francis stars as Jessica King in the hit TV show, King. Season 1 available on DVD March 6th. Entertainment One
Amy Price-Francis moved with her family from England to Canada when she was 7 years old. Growing up in our very own York Region, Amy attended Unionville high school and later was accepted at the National Theatre School of Canada.
After landing roles in many of television’s most popular shows, including Grey’s Anatomy, 24, Nip/Tuck, The Cleaner, Criminal Minds, and Californiacation, to name a few, Amy now stars in the crime drama, King. In this relatively new show, Amy plays Jessica King, a homicide detective who has a knack for finding the finer details that are often overlooked. This new witty, interesting drama takes place in our very own Toronto, Ontario showcases our beautiful city and our law enforcement.
I got a chance to sit down and ask Amy a few questions about her career and the release of King – Season 1.
You’ve appeared in so many hit shows, which is remarkable. Could you describe your experience on these blockbusters?
It was phenomenal. What struck me immediately was the amount of money going around. Those shows obviously make an insane amount of money and cost a lot to make too. With a lot more money comes more luxuries and a lot more time. In the end, I don’t think that’s necessary for me to do my job. It was definitely a pleasant experience and I got to work with some remarkable actors.
Where do you currently live?
I’m back and forth between Toronto and L.A. Currently I’m in Toronto shooting the second season of the show [King], but I do have a place in L.A. I’m very lucky to be able to work in both places.
Did you have to do any training for your role as Jessica King?
The cast has been very fortunate in both seasons of the show with the police schooling, which took us through the various procedures of assessing a crime scene or murder, and even gun training and shooting. I mean, it’s not like in the big American movies where they go to police school for 8 months, but we did receive training. We even have retired police officers that keep us informed and guide us along the way.
What is it like shooting a strong Canadian show that takes place in Toronto?
It’s wonderful. Toronto has become its own character in our show. It looks great and we get to showcase the city much more in the second season. We’re playing local people and we are shooting at recognizable locations.
A little fun question for you, and be honest now: Which of your co-stars do you love working with and which one would you love to give a left hook?
[She laughs] … Oh my god. In all honesty, there’s nobody I’d want to give a left hook to, but I would love to hear how anyone else would answer.
There’s a lot of hugging and laughing. It really is a love-fest around the set and I feel very lucky to work with such a tremendous group of people. It feels like a big family behind “the little show that could” and we’re all really proud of it.
I think you should be. There’s great production value, good humor and a solid sense of family in the show.
I’m glad you perceived that!
What kind of fun do you have the set?
Alan Van Sprang, who plays Spears, is one of the funniest people I’ve ever met and he brings out the best and worst humor from me. Sometimes it’s inappropriate, but he keeps everyone up and lively. In the end, it doesn’t get much cooler than getting to play for a living.
How do you feel about King – Season 1 being released in stores on Monday March 6th?
I think it’s FANTASTIC! It’s a sign of success, I think. I haven’t actually seen all the episodes from season 1, so maybe I can get my hands on the show and I can watch it [Laughs].
Season 1 of King hits stores on March 6th and features all eight episodes. It also includes an interesting 7 and a half minute “Behind-The-Camera Featurette” that gives insight on the making of the show and its characters from the cast and crew.
You can also catch Season 2 episodes of King Wednesdays at 9pm EST.
DVD Specificaations:
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Audio: English and French Dolby Digital 5.1
Caption: English SDH
Total runtime: Approx. 360 minutes
Chloe Grace Moretz stars as "Hit-Girl" in Kick-Ass.
Sitting down with Kick-Ass star, Chloë Grace Moretz, was an absolute pleasure. The 13-year-old actress, who plays “Hit Girl” in the action film, entered the room and examined our audio recorders, telling us which ones she thought were the best. She knew a surprising amount about them and decided that mine looked the cheapest – which it was.
Chloe began by describing her training for the film. It was really fun. I actually trained at the Toronto Circus School. It was really awesome. I did martial arts, gymnastics, ballet, circus training and tumbling. I did a bunch of stuff.
With the stunts, how much of it was you and how much was your stunt double? Basically, all of it was me except for running up the wall and slamming on the table. Stuff like that, which was a little too dangerous. One of my stunt doubles was supposed to run up a bookcase, but he fell and smacked his head and lost his memory for about a week. It was so scary, but he’s okay now.
Tell us about how you went about figuring out your character? Well, my brother is my acting coach. What we do is we treat it as if we’re painting a canvas. First we outline it and I learn my lines, giving my take on it. Then Trevor (her brother) goes over it and really paints it in, giving it the fine detail. That’s basically what we do and I hope you guys like it.
Did you read the Kick-Ass comic book before you began filming? Actually, by the time we had already finished the plot line, and the comic was only on Issue 2. So we couldn’t really get too far in the comics. Mark Miller (comic author) told us what he was thinking and that he was planning on changing the comic book a little more, compared to the movie. He was also on the set a lot.
How important is your brother in your life? My brother is a key part of my life, because without him, how would I be here. I want him to direct me in a movie one day that my other brother writes with my mom, which she can also produce.
With all the controversy involving your character, how are you and your family dealing with it? Well, there’s controversy everywhere. My mom actually read the script before I did and so did my brother, so we knew what the role was. They both thought it was an amazing role, so we went with it. Everything that was in the movie was in the script and I knew that I wanted to do it, so we put our heart and soul into it. I knew that this character was different from most kid roles and that’s really why I wanted to do it. We talked about every [curse] word in it and my parents had to explain to me what some of them were. I can honestly say in real life that I have never uttered a curse word, even behind closed doors. I have been raised to know that cursing makes you look like an unintelligent person.
If you had a chance to say something to those people who criticise your character for being foul-mouthed and violent at such a young age, what would that be? It’s a movie! It’s something that you have to pay to get into the theatre to see; you’re not forced to watch it. Even if you see it for free, you make the decision to go see it. I honestly don’t care about your opinion unless you see the movie.
Well said, Chloë!
Seeing as how you’ve played a victim in The Amityville Horror and an action hero in this movie, which role do you prefer? I definitely don’t like being the damsel in distress. I rather be the role that takes charge and is for girl empowerment.
Are there any films that you would like to star in, past or present? Yeah, definitely. Gone with the Wind as Scarlett O’Hara, Pride and Prejudice as Elizabeth Bennett, and Breakfast at Tiffany’s as Holly Golightly.
Who do you admire and want to emulate in your career? Natalie Portman and Meryl Streep. Definitely, those are the No. 1 careers that I like most, because they pick very unique roles and don’t stick to the same thing. I have a fantasy film, a street kid role, a role as a vampire, and an action hero. I try and make my roles very diverse to balance my career out in good ways.
Are there any plans for a sequel to Kick-Ass? I don’t know, but I’ll tell you if there is a sequel, you’ll see me on a purple Ducati.
This promising young actress shows an unbelievably high level of maturity at the age of 13. Look out for her to be one of the fastest rising stars in Hollywood with an upcoming role in Martin Scorsese’s next film, Hugo. She delivers the most memorable performance in Maple’s incredible new action flick, Kick-Ass.
WARNING! This video contains coarse language and brutal violence.
