Tag: Dan Scanlon

Review: Onward

Disney-Pixar’s ONWARD will be remembered for a number of reasons, but the main one was the timing of its release. Like many Hollywood productions due out in the first half of the year, a global pandemic led to a historic fast-track of its digital release.

Up until then, we were looking forward to it being the first of two original releases (alongside Soul) from the studio. Since 2017’s Coco, Pixar’s output has been primarily sequels, including the blockbuster releases for Incredibles 2 and Toy Story 4. ONWARD is Pixar’s first foray into fantasy, the multitude of references in their other films not withstanding.

In director Dan Scanlon (Monsters University) and co-writers Jason Headley and Keith Bunin’s world, magic was once the dominant force in a land filled with mystical creatures but technology has replaced it. In the modern day, Elf brothers Ian (Tom Holland) and Barley (Chris Pratt) Lightfoot set off on a quest to find the items they need to magically restore their late father for just one day.

Using the trappings of the fantasy genre, ONWARD still retains the core quest elements of every Pixar film. Here it just makes the choice to call them out from the start, even if it doesn’t stray too far from a path well travelled in the past. Like Toy Story or Finding Nemo before it, the barebones of the story is essentially a buddy comedy in pursuit of a beloved family member.

For the most part, this works as well as it always has for the studio. It’s also pleasing to see some truly weird turns for the script, from an angry Manticore/restauranteur (voiced by Octavia Spencer) to a collective of angry pixie bikers who have forgotten how to fly. It’s a shame that the script doesn’t do a bit more with the world, focusing instead on tributes to other franchises. There’s a climactic scene that is a straight recreation of an iconic moment from Raiders of the Lost Ark, for example, that barely skirts the line between parody and retread.

In ONWARD‘s favour is Pixar’s typically excellent selection of voice talent, not least of which is Disney-Pixar veteran Julia Louis-Dreyfus (A Bug’s Life, Planes). Much has been made of the importance of Lena Waithe’s appearance as an openly gay cop, but this diverse cast also includes Tracey Ullman, Wilmer Valderrama, Mel Rodriguez, and Ali Wong. As with every Pixar film, John Ratzenberger has a small but memorable role.

The animation is gorgeous, with the character leads getting to cut loose on some decidedly non-traditional designs. Mychael and Jeff Danna’s score is an interesting mixed bag, often giving off sound-a-like vibes and only a few shades away from the arena rock stylings of Journey. (I swear there’s one song that’s basically ‘Any Way You Want It.’)

Former Disney CEO Bob Iger always spoke about a willingness to embrace innovations that might intentionally disrupt their own models, and Disney+ has been a step in that direction. From a business point of view, the almost simultaneous (and necessary) digital release of ONWARD in US markets is a signal of where things might go in the future. As a film, it’s a comfortable step to the left into a new genre for a creative outlet that keeps entertaining us.

2020 | US | DIRECTOR: Dan Scanlon | WRITERS: Dan Scanlon, Jason Headley and Keith Bunin | CAST: Tom Holland, Chris Pratt, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Octavia Spencer | DISTRIBUTOR: Disney (AUS)| RUNNING TIME: 103 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 21-22 March 2020 (AUS Previews), 6 March 2020 (US), 20 March (US Digital) , 3 April (AUS Digital)

April 1, 2020
D23: Pixar announces new film set in a ‘suburban fantasy world’

The D23 Disney Animation panel, held today on 14 July 2017, announced THE UNTITLED PIXAR FILM THAT TAKES YOU INTO A SUBURBAN FANTASY WORLD.

The film will be from the creative forces of Dan Scanlon, co-writer and director on Monsters University. It is said to be a particularly personal film for Scanlon, who lost his father when he was one year old. “I have always wondered who my father was and how I’m like him,” said Scanlon. As such, the film follows two brothers who are on a quest to learn more about their father.

The concept is around a suburban world where humans don’t exist, and magic has been the dominant force that shaped society. Scanlon described the film as containing elves, sprites, trolls and “anything that would be on the side of a van in the 70s.” Unicorns, for example, are said to be so common that they’re considered pests.

No release date has been indicated yet.

July 15, 2017
Review: Monsters University

Pixar returns with a crazy tribute to college films, returning to form and reminding us why they will always have the power to make us smile.

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Director: Dan Scanlon

Writer: Daniel Gerson, Robert L. Baird, Dan Scanlon

Runtime: 102 minutes

Starring: Billy Crystal, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, Helen Mirren, Joel Murray, Charlie Day, Alfred Molina

Distributor: Disney

Country: US

Rating: ★★★★

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Once the undisputed masters of the animated medium, Disney/Pixar has given us some cause for concern these last few years. Even with the magnificence of Toy Story 3, the abysmal cash-cow of Cars 2 and the lukewarm rehash Brave tarnished that hard won reputation. Indeed, the appearance of another spin-off film, this time a prequel, may have elicited enough screams of horror to power a monster factory for several decades to come. After all, the Academy Award-winning Monsters Inc. is an almost universally beloved film, featuring not only groundbreaking animation but, like the best of Pixar’s work, a beating heart as well. It gave us all permission to believe in the monsters under our beds and in our wardrobes, the same way that the Toy Story films gave us a glimpse into what happens when the humans aren’t looking. With Monsters University, Pixar go a long way towards restoring our faith.

Set about a decade before the original film, young Michael “Mike” Wazowski (voiced by Billy Crystal) can’t wait to start college, working hard and refusing to see any obvious impediments towards becoming a champion “scarer”. James P. “Sulley” Sullivan (voiced by John Goodman) is the complete opposite, a laid-back son of an all-star scarer who chooses to coast on his name and some of his natural ability. When the duo is kicked out of college by Dean Hardscrabble (Helen Mirren) due to a mishap, they must put aside their differences and team up with the forgotten members of Monsters University to compete for re-entrance via a series of gruelling tasks.

The problem with prequels is that we ultimately known how things are going to turn out. This foreknowledge often undercuts any potential for drama. However, this isn’t a problem when the storytelling is compelling and the characters are engaging. Crystal and Goodman’s interplay was one of the highlights of the original film, and despite a slight shift in their relationship, it remains the central appeal of Monsters University. Likewise, Pixar’s messages of inclusiveness and unlikely camaraderie have been staples of their films since Toy Story, and here Pixar filters it through every college film from National Lampoon’s Animal House to Revenge of the Nerds, right down to a scene in which Mike rides a pig-like creature across campus. Monsters University is just about accepting others for who they are (“Oozma Kappa! We’re O.K!”) and finding your own place, and it’s this positive power that gives the film an enormous amount of infectious energy. Director and co-writer Dan Scanlon, who is unique (for Pixar) in that his previous credits including a short animation and a live-action mockumentary, throws in a number of gags that will sail over younger audiences, but rest assured: there really is something in there for everybody.

It goes without saying that the animation is gorgeous. The original film was known for refining the technology by which fur could be rendered in detail on screen, but Pixar are never content to rest on their laurels. Sully, for example, now has over 5.5 million individual hairs (we counted), with the hundreds of people working on the film also doubling their “render farm” to produce this monolith in a lean four years. Individual flags and blades of grass sway in the breeze, and thanks to a process they developed called “global illumination”, light behaves the same way it would in the real world. A scene where Dean Hardscrabble descends from the rafters of the classroom is beautifully lit, creating an effortlessly sinister atmosphere. However, like The Muppets, the monster characters are scary-looking but strangely appealing, so the little ones will find them funny and cuddly. It’s a beautiful marriage of technology and art, and here none of those technological advances are had at the expense of its indelible charm.

So few films this blockbuster season are filled with a simple “goodness”, that trait often misjudged for tweeness or substitute saccharine by lessor studios (or Pixar on a Cars day). Monsters University has all the irreverence of a college caper, but the warmth of its predecessor. Welcome back, Pixar: we’ve missed you.

Monsters University is released in Australia on 20 June 2013 from Disney. It screen in the US from 21 June 2013.

June 17, 2013