February 28, 2010
 

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Sunday February 28, 2010

'Tron Legacy' trailer secret event
Disney's Dangled Teaser Trailer
Alice in Wonderland
Disney Label Donald Duck Review
Disney Apps Tie In With Movies
'Tron Legacy' trailer secret event

THR - The new "Tron Legacy" trailer doesn't come until March 5, when it will be seen prior to Disney's "Alice in
Wonderland," but some lucky people were given an advance look Saturday in select cities around the world.

Diehard fans of the movie (Tronheads? Trononites?) had to look for clues and go an scavenger hunt in cities like Sydney,
Berlin, New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, then work together via the Internet to piece together what would eventually
tell them where the sneak peek would occur.

And they did not leave disappointed.

The trailer starts off on the slow side, building a mystery. Bruce Boxleitner, reprising his role of Alan Gartner, is telling
Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund) about his missing dad, Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges). He had discovered something that was
going to change the world two days before he went missing. Now Boxleitner gets a phone call from a phone from Flynn's
Arcade...a line that should be dead! Soon enough, Hedlund, with an appropriate chip on his shoulder from not having a dad
in his life, is at the arcade (he gets there by motorbike, speeding down late night streets and jumping his motorbike from
the highway to an off-ramp) and...

...before long, he's in the computer world. Here the trailer's pace jumps up a notch, giving us a series of quick and very
teasing images of the world fans have been waiting to come to since 1982: a massive city, a blocky transportation machine, 
Olivia Wilde lounging sexily in a glowing suit, gladiator games, more gladiator games with sexy sirens, Bridges with a retinue
of underlings, a blink-and-you-missed-him Michael Sheen, maybe a meeting of father and son, and the kicker ending, a
lightcycle race with an explosion (the last image eliciting whoops and hollers).

The trailer still feels more on the teaser side than a full blown trailer (but what do you expect from a movie that doesn't come
out until December 17?) but the packed theater in Los Angeles was definitely into it. This was not a surprise since these were
the diehard geeks who came dressed in "Tron" or Daft Punk (the band is scoring the music and made music especially for the
trailer) T-shirts.

The Los Angeles crowd was treated to a Q & A with director Joseph Kosinksi and original producer Steven Lisberger.
The fans were literally jumping out of their seats to ask questions, some putting not one but both hands in the air in their efforts
to ask questions.

One asked if actress Cindy Morgan from the first movie was going to be in the movie. Kosinksi said she is not in this movie
but it does not mean she is not in the world of "Tron." ("Ahh," went the crowd.) How long was the shoot? (70 days.) How
did Daft Punk become involved? (Kosinski had an in with the band.) Is there going to be a Tron ride at Disneyland? ("Many
things are coming," said Kosinski.)

Kosinski got in a question of his own, asking if there were any girls in the room. He got huge laughs and a response from over
a dozen geek girls.

But just because there was "Tron" love in the room doesn't mean Kosinski got away scot-free. One fan asked, "Why you?
Why now?" worried that the film will turn out to be just another Hollywood retread. Lisberger stepped in, saying, "We should
all be glad that this happened, 'cause that was a miracle."

Saturday's event builds on Disney's "Tron" event at last year's Comic Con, where it held a scavenger hunt leading to a
small warehouse where the movie's Light Cycles were unveiled. It's interesting to see how the studio, not known for handling
genre and geek properties like some of the other studios, is slowly building the awareness for a movie that will be courting
those who fondly remember the original and still attract an entire new generation of filmgoers.

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Disney's Dangled Teaser Trailer

/FILM - The upcoming The Princess and the Frog Blu-ray from Disney is going to feature the first teaser footage
for their upcoming toon Tangled, formerly Rapunzel. Interestingly, the teaser itself features no title at all, which gives
us some idea of when it was finalized and sent for mastering.

Below the break are three screen captures. They reveal a great look, I think, which has a lot in common with the typical hand
drawn aesthetic despite being CG rendered. There’s not a lot of plot information in the teaser, to say the least, but there’s
definitely a hint or two that Rapunzel herself is something of a “force to be reckoned with” - ie. the directors are going to be
carefully sidestepping borderline misogynist clichés.  

 

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Alice in Wonderland

Sunday People - Walt Disney has reputedly invested $250million in this 3-D version of Lewis Carroll's classic children's novel.

But Disney and director Tim Burton's big gamble on a combined live action and animated fantasy adventure fails miserably in every department.

The cast includes Mia Wasikowska as Alice, Johnny Depp as The Mad Hatter, Helena Bonham Carter as The Red Queen and Anne Hathaway as The White Queen.
A host of famous British actors including Stephen Fry, Christopher Lee, Michael Sheen, Alan Rickman, Matt Lucas, Timothy Spall, Barbara Windsor, Michael Gough, Paul Whitehouse and Frances de la Tour add their vocal talents to the movie.

But for all that Alice In Wonderland left me cold - it is dull, relentlessly slow and hugely overblown.

The pace and flow of the movie is a major problem - but by far the biggest drawback is the strange marriage of the live action elements and the computer trickery. It just fails to meld together.

The use of utterly pointless 3-D effects also makes the film feel tired - as if Burton was trying too hard by throwing everything bar the kitchen sink into the mix.

Depp is simply terrible, as is Bonham Carter, and it is left to young Mia as Alice to deliver a performance with grace, charm and screen presence.

She is by far the only redeeming feature in the whole movie.

The children at the screening I attended seemed not to be enjoying it, as they fidgeted constantly. It left me wondering about the film's target audience or whether indeed it has one. It is certainly a little too dark for the younger ones and I'm sure that Avatar geeks will find the 3-D effects way below par compared to James Cameron's box-office juggernaut.

The movie follows 19-year-old Alice as she returns to the whimsical world she first encountered as a young girl.

She is reunited with The White Rabbit, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the Dormouse, the Caterpillar, the Cheshire Cat and, of course, Depp's Mad Hatter.

Alice then embarks on a fantastical journey to find her true destiny and end the evil Red Queen's reign of terror. The live action sequences filmed in Cornwall at Antony House, near Torpoint, and Charlestown Harbour will no doubt encourage people to go there - but there is not much else in Alice In Wonderland I can recommend.

After his epic Batman movies I feel that Burton has lost his way as a director and Alice proves without a doubt he needs a map and compass to find his way back.

The over reliance on Depp and Bonham Carter in his projects is also a huge hindrance for him as a film-maker.

Time to get back to basics Tim!

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Disney Label Donald Duck Review

seibertron - Japan Resident and Seibertron.com member Diem has gotten his hands on the latest Disney Label figure
- Donald Duck. Disney Label mixes Transformers and Disney characters into one. The first was Mickey Mouse and
Optimus Prime, while this time around Bumblebee and Donald Duck are as one. However the third figure in Disney
Label line, Buzz Lightyear does not resemble a Transformer, but simply transforms. Check out what Diem has to say
about the Takara figure below.

Like his precursor Mickey-Robo he's a scout-sized figure with a voyager-sized pricetag and has been designed more
for display or novelty.

 

He's got a couple of fun features in robot mode. His snorkel can slide up onto his forehead, and pressing a button on
the top of his hat makes his mouth open and close for traditional Donald-style incoherant ranting. The "real" Donald is
inside Donald-Robo's head and automatically pops up when the head is turned. Unlike Mickey he comes with an
accessory: a surfboard which is rather awesomely styled to look like Donald's body with a yellow beak-like section and
a red cross on a blue background. The surfboard (or skateboard, I guess) has a minicon-esque button on it; plugging
the board into Donald's foot causes the engine and exhaust pipes to pop up.

The figure itself is fairly hit-and-miss. He boasts only modest articulation (ball-jointed shoulders, rotating neck, waist and ankles,
flip-down feet) and suffers from kibble-issues. His car doors are stuck on his arms and his headlight farings are stuck to his legs.
Worst of all, his car mode bonnet, roof and boot all end up on his back as kibble. It's not an unforgivable problem since Donald
canonically has a lot of junk in the trunk and the silver used for the car parts is the same as the silver used for his hands, face and
lower torso (ie. what would be white on the "real" Donald) so the kibble does look kinda like a tail. It restricts his waist
movement though. Also his hands are moulded open.

Transformation is way tricker than on Mickey. I would have felt confident that a young child could easily transform Mickey but
Donald is nore elaborate. He's something of a shellformer and folding his various little tabs and pegs in. It'll present no problem
to anyone who's transformed a movieverse figure or Universe Sunstreaker but it may be worth noting for anyone planning to buy
this for kids.

The car mode is very small and neat with a small amount of undercarriage kibble but no other real problems. The driver Donald
pops up semi-automatically and is seated in the middle ofvthe car, oddly enough. The surfboards mounts neatly to the top of the
vehicle. I like the faction badge on the front

I guess his paint scheme in vehicle mode is one of the big points of contention for most fans. The bonnet, roof and hood appear
to be styled after Herbie the Love Bug while the doors and wheel-arches are yellow. I'm not going to go into possible explanations
or excuses as to why this is but I think the colours will grow on people. It's not unusual to see real life cars (especially beetles, and
especially at the beach) having paint jobs like this.

In summary, it's a cute novelty and a fun if flawed figure but it's up to you whether you can afford to drop that kind of money.
The figure is obviously far less TF inspired than Mickey who was more or less half Disney, half Optimus Prime, so it may be
harder to justify fitting it into your collections.

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Disney Apps Tie In With Movies

iPhone-Codes - Alice in Wonderland – An Adventure Beyond the Mirror is $4.99. This app is a tie in to the
Tim Burton Disney production of Alice in Wonderland. Play as Alice and solve a series of puzzles with help from
the Mad Hatter, White Rabbit and other memorable characters from the movie. Explore the world filled with
whimsical settings, optical illusions, challenging puzzles, and formidable adversaries. Master unique abilities with the
help of Alice’s friends. Freeze time with the White Rabbit. Make objects disappear and reappear with the
Cheshire Cat. Use Telekinesis with the March Hare. Transform objects from one world to another with the help
of the Mad Hatter. Unlock hidden objects in Alice’s Journal with your Camera, GPS, Photo Library and by
playing the game. There are hundreds of puzzles and curious challenges.

Disney Fairies Fly is $4.99 and is from Disney. In this game you explore the changing seasons and excitement
if the heart of Never Land, Pixie Hollow. Fly with the water-talent Fairy in the cool waters above Spring Valley.
Help Iridessa, the light-talent Fary, light fireflies in the Summer Glade. Help catch flower petals in the Autumn
Forest with Rosetta, the garden-talent Fairy. Soar over the Winter Woods with Fawn, the animal-talent Fairy.
Fly with Tinker Bell and find things lost in Beach Cove. Explore Tinker’s Nook and see video trailers, images
and collect exclusive wallpaper from the Disney Fairies movies. Tilt your device to guide your Fairy. Pick up items
as you fly and collect Pixie Dust points to unlock new surprises.

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