Cannes Film Festival: Walt Disney & Disney.Pixar Animation Presentation by John Lasseter

On May 20th, Walt Disney and Disney.Pixar Animation Chief Creative Officer John Lasseter gave a two-hour presentation on the future projects of the animation studios.  Presented at the 68th Cannes Film Festival, Lasseter humorously began by presenting his own brand of Rosé wine, before taking the audience through the studios’ impressive film plans for 2015 and beyond.

Pixar

Inside Out

The film has been positively received at Cannes Film Festival and is slated for a release in June.  Inside Out stars the vocal talents of Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith, Bill Hader, Mindy Kaling and Lewis Black as the emotions who live inside and control the personality of 11-year-old Riley.

The Good Dinosaur

The premise of Pixar Animation Studios’ next film is simple – what if the meteor missed earth and the dinosaurs survived?  The film centres on Arlo, a young dinosaur who lives with his family until one day his father passes and Arlo gets swept away in a river, far from his village.  He encounters Spot, a young human whom he befriends and journeys with.  This is very much a man and dog story, with the dinosaur as man, and the human as dog.   Early footage suggests the film has that classic Pixar heart, and also the stunning visuals the studio has become known for.  With The Good Dinosaur, the studio is pushing their visuals even further, going for a believability in the nature that rivals live action footage.  The Good Dinosaur is scheduled for a Christmas 2015 release.

Finding Dory

The long-awaited sequel to Finding Nemo is finally underway and scheduled for the summer of 2016.  The story focuses on Dory, with Ellen Degeneres returning to voice her iconic role. Taking place six months after the adventures in Finding Nemo, Finding Dory focuses on Dory’s search for her family, with her mother voiced by Diane Keaton, and her father by Eugene Levy – a casting choice that looks to be perfect according to test footage.  Finding Nemo director Andrew Stanton returns to direct.

Toy Story 4

Not much is known about the latest in the franchise except that John Lasseter himself will return to direct and it is scheduled to be released in the summer of 2017.  In addition to the exciting news of another Toy Story, Lasseter also declared that Pixar have seven more films in development, sequels and new.

Walt Disney

Zootropolis

Giving Pixar a run for their money is Walt Disney Animation Studios and their latest film Zootropolis.  Early clips from the film garnered the strongest laughs of the presentation, proving that Disney Animation is once again a force to be reckoned with.  Zootropolis sees a society of animals, living as though they were human – wearing clothes, working jobs, and struggling with society’s preconceptions of diversity.  The central character is bunny Judy Hopps, voiced by Jennifer Goodwin.  In order to work a case for the police force, she must team up with sneaky fox Nick Wilde, voiced by Jason Bateman.  Nick will do everything he possibly can to stall Hopps on the case, including taking her to the DMV, the infamous clip that got some hearty laughs from the audience.  Apparently the reason the DMV is so slow is because it’s run by sloths – adorable, hilarious, painfully slow sloths.  I am genuinely excited for this film.  Roll on February 2016!

Moana

Lower down on the excitement scale is Disney musical Moana.  The musical focuses on a princess named Moana as she journeys through the Pacific Islands.  The music is strongly influenced from the region, and by the score heard at the presentation, it could either be stunning or underwhelming.  It’s currently hard to tell at this point, but either way, the visuals are beautiful.  We will find out if Moana succeeds or fails during Christmas of 2016.

Sanjay’s Super Team

To end on a high note, Lasseter introduced the latest Pixar short – Sanjay’s Super Team.  The short film will make its official world premiere during the Annecy International Animated Film Festival in June, but we were lucky enough to see an advanced screening – It is fantastic.  The film will screen with Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur, Christmas 2015.