Last night I had the privilege of attending the world premiere of Pixar’s latest short film, Hawaiian Vacation, starring our friends from Toy Story 3. Needless to say, I had a blast.The sold-out event, which also featured a special presentation by Pixar animator Don Crum, officially opened the 14th Annual Sprockets Toronto International Film Festival for Children and Youth.
Over 500 attendees filed into Cinema 1 at the Bell Lightbox, the spectacular new home of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). The screening room has some of the best presentation equipment around and a spacious stage for live events.
After introductory comments by TIFF organizers, Crum took the stage to introduce Hawaiian Vacation—the first ever Toy Story Toon—directed by Gary Rydstrom.
Similar to the Cars Toons series, a Toy Story Toons title card with Woody and Buzz appears, then the short begins and... (no spoilers) you know it would be a shame to give away much more.
Let’s just say 'Vacation' reaches a level of hilarity we haven't seen in a Pixar short before. It's all gas and no brakes on the gags, all the way through. That's a good thing here, because the comic timing is spot on.
Another thing: the 3-D was excellent. In part I credit the better-quality 3-D glasses (Dolby 3D), but also the stereoscopic effect seemed more pronounced than in Toy Story 3 or Day & Night.
Despite my hopes for a ‘Vacation’ encore, the latest domestic Cars 2 trailer and “secret” clip followed. While I was disappointed that no new footage was shown, it was actually the first time I’d watched scenes from the movie in 3-D on the big screen, so I enjoyed that.
Don Crum returned to the stage to begin his presentation, centered around his ‘path to Pixar’ and responsibilities as an animator. He began by showing some expressive drawings he did as a kid and photos from his time designing concepts for police bikes, of all things.
He went on to talk about the production pipeline on an animated film, showing a scene progression from Cars and finally a demo reel of shots he animated on the film. Audience questions followed; all came from kids. ‘Isn’t the director annoying’? was the best of the night.
Crum isn’t among the best-known Pixarians (not yet), but its easy to see why the studio had him be the face of this event. He handled the presentation with the greatest of ease, even during unexpected moments.
Despite my hopes for a ‘Vacation’ encore, the latest domestic Cars 2 trailer and “secret” clip followed. While I was disappointed that no new footage was shown, it was actually the first time I’d watched scenes from the movie in 3-D on the big screen, so I enjoyed that.
Don Crum returned to the stage to begin his presentation, centered around his ‘path to Pixar’ and responsibilities as an animator. He began by showing some expressive drawings he did as a kid and photos from his time designing concepts for police bikes, of all things.
He went on to talk about the production pipeline on an animated film, showing a scene progression from Cars and finally a demo reel of shots he animated on the film. Audience questions followed; all came from kids. ‘Isn’t the director annoying’? was the best of the night.
Crum isn’t among the best-known Pixarians (not yet), but its easy to see why the studio had him be the face of this event. He handled the presentation with the greatest of ease, even during unexpected moments.
Everyone will have a chance to see Hawaiian Vacation when it opens in theatres with Cars 2 on June 24. Heading towards a cliché here, it’s worth the price of admission alone and I can’t wait to see it again.
Stay tuned for photos from the Toronto stop of the Cars 2 “Agents on a Mission” Tour.
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4 comments:
Thanks for that write-up. I'm really excited about seeing this one, along of course with Cars 2. Love the TS characters in the vacation getups!
Is it just me though that I cannot at all get excited about seeing movies in "3D" anymore. The Pixar movies, and How to Train Your Dragon have all done the effect quite well, but honestly, you loose a whole step in the brightness and color unless it's in Imax and over time I just don't see it bringing any real extra value.
What about the Toy Story cartoons they had back in the 90's? Did they say if they count those as official Toy Story shorts? They were very short cartoons. I just read about it on my friends website (it's cartoon #8): http://www.fromscreentotheme.com/SaturdayMatinee.aspx
I'm sure this new short is going to be amazing though! Can't wait! Great write up!
I do agree, the novelty has worn off here as well, but I do think that it's something that can be utilized well.
I prefer the kind of 3D that was used in HTTYD for example because it was used more to illustrate depth and height, much the way that different camera settings are (through lens changes, wide angles, etc.)
There is a time and a place for 3D, but the surcharge really needs to go, or be considerably lowered. Most theatres have paid back their projectors by now, and as for the thing about it costing more to make, we pay the same price for a low-budget indy as a 300 million dollar blockbuster, so ticket prices never have been decided in terms of how much it costs to make.
The 3D is just another studio cost, much like the choice of using lots of helicopter/crane shots, or using CGI effects. We don't have to pay more for that...
I don't inherently mind 3D (and I suspect Cars 2 will be able to do something cool with it). I just think it can be overused as a gimmick and as an excuse to charge extra.
IMAX is cool though - shame it's so expensive, although it does cost more than regular 3D to run, because of the reels and stuff. That's how I saw HTTYD and it was awesome!
My 8-yr.-old son Max attended this! Here's his review: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbMGobMqTUI&feature=channel_video_title
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