Latest news with #ToyStory
Daily Mail
12 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Young Sheldon fans left baffled at secret reunion they never knew about on the show
Three veteran Hollywood stars who were affiliated with the CBS hit series Young Sheldon were also linked with the Toy Story franchise, and Daily Mail is taking a closer look at the casting connection. Annie Potts, Wallace Shawn and Richard Kind each had recurring roles on the Chuck Lorre spinoff of The Big Bang Theory, which ran for seven seasons from 2017-2024. Potts, 72, played the role of Connie 'Meemaw' Tucker on 139 episodes of the CBS comedy. She also portrayed the role of Bo Peep in the Pixar franchise's 1995 debut film Toy Story, followed by 1999's Toy Story 2 and 2019's Toy Story 4. Wallace Shawn, 81, portrayed Dr. John Sturgis on Young Sheldon over 53 episodes from 2018 until the series finale last year. Shawn provided the vocals for the Rex character in all of the films and a number of adjacent projects as well. Kind, 68, played Ira Rosenbloom on Young Sheldon over three episodes from 2018-2019. He played the Bookworm in Toy Story 3. The veteran character actor has also appeared in TV shows such as Only Murders in the Building and The Goldbergs; in films such as Wolfs and tick, tick... BOOM!; and in voice roles including Inside Out, A Bug's Life, Cars and Cars 2. Potts chat with Variety in June of 2019 about her comeback to the animated series after she didn't appear in Toy Story 3 in 2010. 'I was invited back in November 2014, and I honestly didn't realize how big my role would be until I saw a screening about six weeks ago,' she said of reprising her role as Bo Peep. She continued: 'We had a script, but it kept evolving, and I never saw a whole script. None of us did. So I was clueless. 'And then, of course, when I saw it, I was gobsmacked.' Potts told the outlet that she believed the 2019 sequel Toy Story 4, in which Shawn also appeared, might 'the most emotionally satisfying of all of them in terms of both humor and heart. She added: 'You laugh, you cry - you cry, you laugh. You just keep cycling through that rinse and repeat throughout an hour and 40 minutes, and it's a good ride.' Kind and Shawn pictured exchanging lines during an episode of the show in 2018 Kind, 68, played Ira Rosenbloom on Young Sheldon and the Bookworm in Toy Story 3. Potts spoke on the evolution of the Bo Peep character and preparation being put into it, as Pixar earmarked a dozen team members to assist in further developing the character and its appearance coming into the fourth film in the franchise. 'Honestly I was so amazed that they even had a team of 12 people whose job it was to define her every gesture and the way her eyes turned and in what direction and how her hand would be extended,' Potts said. She added: 'I mean, that's usually the work that's up to me as an actress, you know? 'But I met them and I thought, "You guys are super on it! Awesome, I can just kind of sit back and let you guys make me!" And the proof is in the pudding.'
Irish Examiner
16 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
'It's four or five seconds a week per animator': The maker's of Pixar's new film, Elio
Three decades ago, a new animation studio prepared to release their first-ever feature film in cinemas, a buddy movie featuring a quirky cowboy and a space superhero. The fledgling studio was called Pixar and their first release — Toy Story —broke the mould for animated storytelling and changed the course of movie history. Almost thirty years after the world fell in love with Andy's toys and other Pixar classics, their 29th feature film comes to our big screens. Elio, the tale of a space-obsessed boy who finds himself accidentally beamed into outer space — where he's mistaken for Earth's chief ambassador — sends its protagonist on a intergalactic voyage of self discovery. While it might not quite scale the heights of classics like Monsters, Inc, Up or Wall-E, Elio again blends the intimate with the universal in a richly detailed tale. It all comes about through years of story building and preparation, attention to detail and animators who spend dozens of hours creating just a few seconds of film footage over the course of their work at Pixar's studios in California. 'The logistics are a big part of my job,' says Elio's producer Alice Mary Drumm. 'For Elio, we probably had about 250 people at the peak of the crew, but we had over 400 people involved throughout the film. Almost everyone at Pixar touches the film in some way, and there are 1,200 of us. The average animator is animating about five, five and a half feet a week, which is basically one shot. It's four or five seconds a week per animator, maybe a little less. At our peak, we are probably going through one or two minutes of animation a week.' It's the kind of painstaking craftwork that makes Pixar best in show in a golden era for animated filmmaking. Featuring subtle nods to sci-fi classics like Alien and Close Encounters, and a backstory involving Nasa's Voyager space probe, Elio tells the story of a recently orphaned boy who has a loving but testing relationship with his aunt. He's a space-obsessed boy with a lively imagination who has long dreamed of encountering alien life - so he's thrilled when he's accidentally beamed up into outer space. Elio arrives at the Communiverse, an interplanetary organisation with representatives from various galaxies, and is mistaken as Planet Earth's leader. But when he's tasked with helping prevent the fearsome and powerful Lord Grigon from seizing control of the Communiverse, he needs to get savvy fast with the help of his eccentric sidekick, Glordon. When Elio's wish to be abducted by aliens actually comes true, he meets an array of space inhabitants, including Glordon, the tender-hearted son of a fierce warlord ruler. Taking on a sci-fi movie means creating two very different worlds within one movie, and Pixar's production team got to work, says director Domee Shi. 'Tackling a sci-fi movie, you can basically design the alien world to look like anything, the sky's the limit, and that's kind of daunting. Production designer Harley Jessup and his art team did such an amazing job with finding the look and feeling of the Communiverse. He really challenged himself and the team to design a space that we've never seen before in any of our movies at Pixar, but also in other sci fi movies from other studios. 'A good North Star for us was thinking about space as this aspirational wish fulfilment for Elio, a lonely boy on Earth who feels like an alien. The moment that he arrives in space, it has to be the opposite feeling of how he felt on Earth. If Earth was desaturated, cold, and he felt visually boxed in, then space is huge, colourful, vibrant, full of organic shapes and alien designs that are not humanoid at all, but still feel quite friendly and appealing.' From the antics of superhero family The Incredibles to the happy/sad emotional rollercoaster that was Inside Out, as the studio approaches its 30th year, almost everyone has an opinion on the former movie they hold closest to their hearts, which tale resonated with them the most as they watched on the big screen for the first time. They include, it emerges, the filmmakers themselves. 'I grew up watching Pixar movies, and they were some of the first times I experienced cinema that could change me,' says Madelaine Sharafin, making her feature directorial debut with Elio, who was a toddler when Toy Story debuted in cinemas. 'I hadn't realised that a person can watch a movie and come out feeling incredibly different about themselves and about the world, or even that a movie could make somebody cry. 'The one that really changed things for me was watching Monsters Inc, which I think is one of my favourite movie endings of all time (when Sully and his best friend Boo are reunited). I think it's brilliant. I would finish the movie, and then I'd immediately restart it, because I was so moved. I didn't want to leave that feeling.' Mary Alice Drumm, Domee Shi and Madeline Sharafian attend the UK gala screening of Elio. Picture: Tim P Whitby/Getty Looking back for director Domee Shi, it was the opening moments of Up, in which a grumpy and heartbroken widower takes to the skies — not knowing he had a stowaway on board — that first resonated. 'Pixar films, they just felt different than other animated films,' says Shi. 'Because they always have such an emphasis on good story, and they really treat animation like a medium, not a genre. They never shy away from telling stories with deeper or more adult themes, and you always walk away from a Pixar film feeling a little bit changed in some way, and that's our hope with Elio too. 'The film that impacted me the most was probably Up just because I bawled my eyes out when I watched the first 10 minutes of it. There were no words spoken, but you got the sense of an entire relationship, marriage, a life. It was just amazing to see, like pure visual storytelling on the big screen.' For producer Alice Mary Drumm, it was the studio's imagination in bringing audiences a movie where the central character was a rat that resonated. 'There are so many great movies,' she says. 'Ratatouille, for me, was one — it's just incredible that any studio would make a movie about rats in a kitchen. It's such a crazy idea, and I think that encapsulates Pixar for me, that there's such creative freedom and such belief, while also holding the bar. It's about story and character, whether it's a rat, whether it's aliens, as long as we're focusing on that, and then we use animation, because we can do anything in animation. Those are the things that I think help us keep our compass at Pixar.' Elio is in cinemas from Friday, June 20
16 hours ago
- Entertainment
Elio is Pixar's best, most beautifully brilliant movie in a decade. Too bad it will probably bomb
As a film, Elio is gorgeous. In short, it's a somehow equal parts miraculous and original wonder — so good it feels a bit out of place among a summer of adaptations, remakes, sequels and remakes of adaptations of sequels. Perhaps not that last one. But it is hard to ignore the benefits of Elio : Pixar's animation style (which seemed stuck in a perpetual state of diminishing Toy Story returns) has never looked more fluidly beautiful — especially when used to create a tapestry of glittering nebulae and spaceships. Its characters come to life with originality and heart — none more so than its heart-breakingly damaged namesake, 11-year-old Elio Solis, a space-obsessed child trying his very best to provoke an alien abduction rather than running from one. Brushing past some of its almost too kidd-ish qualities, Elio achieves almost shocking levels of originality, beauty and terrifying tragedy that do more than earn it the title of modern classic. That said, it's probably going to bomb. There are more than a few reasons why that's the case for Pixar's latest release, and buckle up, because it all comes quickly. We're introduced to the movie's heroic, pint-sized namesake with the narrative equivalent of a sledgehammer to the skull. Elio is a silent, terrified child hiding under a restaurant table, worrying the laces of oversized shoes as he tries to spontaneously phase out of existence rather than acknowledge his aunt's futile attempts to coax him back to his chair. It's a lost cause though. We soon learn that Elio (Yonas Kibreab) has just been orphaned, and his aunt Olga (Zoe Saldaña) is the unfortunate, too-young-for-this stopgap, burdened with unwanted parenthood she doesn't have the life skills to handle — especially while juggling her job as a major in the U.S. Air Force, overseeing an array of telescopes scanning the skies for space debris. But Elio's no slouch. As he wanders off into the base, he's more than aware he's the one thing a child fears most — the primal, instinctive fear that eventually evolves into the scattershot assortment of neuroses we call a personality: being unwanted. And as he stumbles into a conveniently-placed exhibit on Voyager 1 — the 1977 probe (new window) launched with a golden record, information about life on Earth and hopeful greetings for alien species — we suddenly get the animated equivalent of Citizen Kane 's Rosebud. Lying on his back, gazing slack-jawed at a glittering star-show about humanity's search for friendly intelligence in the lonely and infinite cosmos while a single tear pools on his cheek, he understands: if no one wants him on this planet, he'll go looking for one that does want him. Elio's brilliant animation feels like a step forward for Pixar, despite maintaining the CGI style the studio has been known for since 1995's Toy Story. (Disney/Pixar) Photo: (Disney/Pixar) But it also does more. This latest offering from Pixar has finally arrived in theatres after a year-long delay and a wildly shifting strategy, possibly resulting from its fraught behind-the-scenes trajectory. The result is a disparate, possibly alienating tonal melange of a UFO movie — somehow even more disorganized than that congressional hearing on UFOs (new window) we are all somehow fine with having happened. For example: Jokes, storylines and even its sometimes stilted, always hand-holdy plot beats ring of a grade-school reading level — perhaps even more childish than Pixar's increasingly tween-focused fare. But that's at cross-purposes with Canadian co-director Domee Shi's sci-fi/horror allusions (new window) that, though geared toward a younger audience, still manage to make grown-ups shiver. How one scene depicting a disintegrating clone — almost directly lifted from Rick & Morty 's horrifying "melting clone babies" (new window) moment — will manage not to inspire a juvenile nightmare epidemic is a mystery for the ages. Delays, rewrites To be fair, these moments are infrequent; a scriptwriting vestigial limb of what was likely a whiplash-inducing envelope push for Pixar. Given that the once dominant-studio's last big non-sequel success was 2017's Coco , it makes sense that they'd be swinging for the fences while trying to recapture the cultural zeitgeist with Elio , at least with the initial version. Speaking to The Wrap (new window) , Pixar chief Pete Docter claimed Elio 's delay from last year was due largely to the SAG-AFTRA strike, but behind-the-scenes changes saw the departure of much of the creative team (new window) , ushering in replacements Shee and co-director Madeline Sharafian. That shift means the story is sometimes at odds with itself, and elsewhere obviously fractured and awkwardly reassembled. The final version of the film has been so fundamentally altered that virtually every moment from its original trailer was purged — including one of the riskiest, genre-pushing, jokes: I'm trying to get abducted, Elio says (new window) , before quickly clarifying: "By aliens!" But even after the loss of some of the more risque asides, there's a seriously mature plot under the surface, one that reflects Disney's wonderfully inventive, surprisingly unsuccessful (new window) 2007 time-travel comedy Meet the Robinsons. In that movie, there's a scene in which one character gives a singular reason for his relentless villainy. In a flashback, we see a rage-filled, pint-sized orphan with bags under his eyes, skulking through a middle school hallway. Other children smile and wave as he passes and enthusiastically ask if he'd like to hang out after class while complimenting his cool, flowery-pink unicorn binder. They all hated me, he narrates. In Elio , our hero's Meet the Robinsons -esque trauma-borne impulse to wall himself off from love or intimacy adds the last ingredient to this frankly bizarre hodgepodge: devastating tragedy. While it's maybe a little subtextual for the toddlers, anyone who's heard the phrase male loneliness epidemic will see the beginnings of mental health issues that too often morph into isolation, depression and rage. Few children's movies have grappled with this before — let alone while vesting it in such a crushingly sad character arc. The hardest thing about watching Elio becomes keeping yourself from jumping through the screen to protect him at all costs. And there's also another complicating plot conceit: a 1985 interview with astronomer Carl Sagan (new window) , initially about space exploration and his book Contact . The search for life elsewhere is remarkable in our age, because this is the first time that we can actually do something besides speculation, we hear Sagan's sage voice intone. It touches to the deepest of human concerns: Are we alone? This is quickly reinterpreted through Elio 's more Earth-bound theme, as the voiceover tellingly bookends his flailings toward and away from love and acceptance, both from the aliens and Olga. In short, it's a lot. The movie's originality is something to be marvelled at. Unfortunately, like Meet the Robinsons , it's probably too original and too divisive to find a massive audience. A polarizing study in loneliness that, unlike the intentionally tame and wildly successful Lilo & Stitch remake (new window) , is anything but conventional, Elio is a joyous, tragic, miracle of creativity. What's most sad is how unlikely it is to be rewarded for that. Jackson Weaver (new window) · CBC News
Tom's Guide
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Tom's Guide
10 best Pixar movies, ranked
There are no truly bad Pixar movies. I'll stand by that assessment even when presented with some of the Disney-owned animation studio's weakest efforts ('The Good Dinosaur,' 'Lightyear,' the 'Cars' sequels). Not every Pixar movie is great, but the level of detail, craftsmanship and feeling that goes into each production means that there's a baseline standard of quality to everything the studio releases. Plenty of Pixar movies actually are great, starting with their very first feature film nearly 30 years ago, 'Toy Story.' It's tough to narrow the list down to just 10, but these selections represent the best of Pixar and thus some of the best in all animated films over the past several decades. With Pixar's new movie 'Elio' hitting theaters on June 20, here are my picks for the studio's 10 best movies, ranked. The opening 10 minutes of 'Up' are often cited as one of Pixar's crowning achievements, but the rest of the movie is quite good, too. There's no denying the power of the early montage that charts the lifelong relationship between Carl and Ellie. That dialogue-free sequence comes after a more upbeat introduction of Carl and Ellie as kids, and the rest of the movie is similarly energetic. Carl (Ed Asner), now a crotchety old man, goes on an adventure to a hidden region of South America and befriends his eager young neighbor Russell (Jordan Nagai). It's obvious that the grumpy Carl will open his heart to friendship, but the journey is still creative and entertaining. Carl's house floats to South America powered by helium balloons, and his strange encounters show him the value of home. Watch on Disney Plus Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. Just because Remy (Patton Oswalt) is a rat doesn't mean that he can't be a brilliant chef. That's the simple premise behind writer-director Brad Bird's lovely film about artistic integrity, in the form of a rodent with a masterfully refined palate. Remy stumbles into one of Paris' most renowned restaurants and finds a way to communicate with bumbling busboy Alfredo Linguini (Lou Romano), who channels Remy's talents and becomes a culinary sensation. The movie's visions of both Paris and gourmet dining are lush and inviting, and Remy is a likeable protagonist with a genuine love for cooking. Bird makes a larger point via the presence of ruthless food critic Anton Ego (Peter O'Toole), but the message of 'Ratatouille' never gets in the way of its engaging story and endearing characters. Pure artistry wins out, both in the restaurant and in the movie. Watch on Disney Plus One of Pixar's greatest strengths is presenting complex existential concepts in ways that will still captivate a young audience, and there's no concept thornier than death itself. Director and co-writer Pete Docter confronts that topic head-on by having his main character perish in an accident and end up in the afterlife. That's where jazz musician Joe Gardner (Jamie Foxx) rebels against the order of things, refusing to move on and instead escaping to the realm of souls who have yet to be born, and later back to Earth, albeit in the wrong body. Docter offers up a meditation on mortality that's also a goofy buddy comedy between Joe and the stubborn unborn soul known as 22 (Tina Fey). The movie faces life's biggest questions with openness and charm. Watch on Disney Plus A celebration of Mexican culture and the Dia de los Muertos holiday, 'Coco' brings a welcome new perspective to the story of a young boy learning to appreciate the bonds of family. After unwittingly invoking a family curse, Miguel (Anthony Gonzalez) is transported to the underworld, where he must seek out the spirit of a legendary musician so that he can return to the land of the living. Miguel's musical ambitions are embodied in the Oscar-winning song 'Remember Me,' and he's easy to root for as he yearns to express himself in the same way as his musical idol, despite the objections of his family. The movie is fantastical but grounded in time-honored cultural traditions that it treats with respect. Miguel gains a greater understanding of his heritage, and the audience does, too. Watch on Disney Plus Perhaps the only children's movie ever made about the value of sadness, 'Inside Out' envisions a vibrant world within the mind of moody tween Riley (Kaitlyn Dias), where personifications of her emotions vie for prominence. The bubbly Joy (Amy Poehler) wants Riley to experience only happiness, but when she goes on a journey to restore Riley's core memories, she discovers that a range of emotions is necessary for a healthy internal life. That may sound like a therapy pamphlet, but director and co-writer Pete Docter makes it into a funny and thrilling adventure, with plenty of joy and sadness for the viewer to experience along with Riley. The message is all the more powerful thanks to the inventive and affecting presentation of familiar emotional milestones. Watch on Disney Plus Director and co-writer Domee Shi was inspired by her own childhood experiences in creating this exuberant movie about the awkwardness of adolescence, and that personal touch always shines through. Set in 2002 Toronto, 'Turning Red' embraces its specific time and place, with a substantial subplot about a dreamy boy band, and it also embraces main character Mei Lee's Chinese-Canadian identity. Mei (Rosalie Chang) has enough trouble dealing with puberty before she discovers that she's also inherited the family legacy of transforming into a giant red panda when experiencing heightened emotion. It's a blunt metaphor for the body changes that teenagers go through, but Shi takes a playful approach that keeps the movie from feeling heavy-handed. As mortified as Mei might be about what's happening to her, it doesn't stop her from asserting her own unique identity, no matter what her family or friends think. Watch on Disney Plus Produced at a time when superhero movies hadn't yet reached their current level of pop-culture saturation, writer-director Brad Bird's first Pixar movie remains one of the best and most clever deconstructions of the superhero genre, while working wonderfully as a superhero movie itself. The title characters are a superpowered family who've been legally prohibited from using their superpowers, but when a new villain threatens their city, they defy the restrictions and spring into action. Bird stages exciting action sequences that rival any live-action superhero movie, and he balances those with smart comedy and sweet family bonding. The message about individual exceptionalism elevates the concept of the superhero to a sort of philosophical ideal, which gives 'The Incredibles' a distinctive point of view that's lacking in most action blockbusters. It's a large-scale act of personal expression. Watch on Disney Plus There could probably be multiple 'Toy Story' movies on this list, but the second installment marks the high point for Pixar's signature franchise. This sequel takes the oddball crew of sentient toys on a bigger adventure, while further exploring the theme of what happens to childhood attachments when people grow up. Cowboy doll Woody (Tom Hanks) and action figure Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) are no longer at odds, and Buzz is determined to save Woody after he's accidentally sold to a greedy adult toy collector. The toys are still worried about being discarded as their owner, Andy, gets older, but they band together to rescue Woody so their makeshift community can remain intact. 'Toy Story 2' mixes a riveting, suspenseful rescue operation with melancholy reflections on the passage of time, improving and expanding on the first movie in a meaningful, rewarding way. Watch on Disney Plus One of the earliest indications of the emotional depths that Pixar movies could reach, writer-director Andrew Stanton's story about a neurotic clownfish's search for his missing son remains just as moving now as it was when it was first released. Marlin (Albert Brooks) panics when he realizes that his sheltered son Nemo (Alexander Gould) has gone missing, and he sets out on an oceanic odyssey to find his lost child. Marlin's love for Nemo is touching and honest, as is Nemo's love for his father, as both fish do everything they can to reunite. Despite the potentially heavy subject matter, 'Finding Nemo' is lively and joyous, with both father and son making new friends and exploring the world beyond their comfort zones. Sometimes the scariest experiences can lead to the most positive life changes. Watch on Disney Plus There may be no purer embodiment of the power of animation than conveying an entire rich, multifaceted story without any dialogue at all, and that's what Pixar's best film accomplishes. Director and co-writer Andrew Stanton takes both of the top spots on this list thanks to this gorgeous love story between two robots. On a post-apocalyptic Earth, the recycling bot known as WALL-E dutifully stacks the massive amounts of trash that humans have left behind. His routine is shaken up by the arrival of the sleek robot designated EVE, an emissary from the spaceship that contains what's left of humanity. The courtship between WALL-E and EVE plays out like a vintage silent film, and even when they end up on the human ship, their expressive dynamic remains at the center of the movie. It's a beautiful romance that anchors a fable about simple connection — with others and with the world around us. Watch on Disney Plus
CairoScene
a day ago
- Entertainment
- CairoScene
This 'Lanunu' Is Free When You Order Drinks At Riyadh's Whoa Tea
Who is Lanunu and does she have Saudi Arabia carved into her left AirForce like a once famous Andy? Does she make the matcha she rests upon from scratch? In what can only be described as Toy Story meets late capitalism, the Labubu - an aggressively cute, sharp-toothed fur gremlin that looks like a raccoon who's inhaled multiple cortados - has taken the Gulf by storm. Originally spotted in Hong Kong (and definitely not the ancient Egyptian cat god's intern, despite what ChatGPT might suggest), the Labubu has found a second home dangling from luxury bags and haunting the dashboards of G-Wagons everywhere. But now, Riyadh's Whoa Tea has entered the chat. Unable (or perhaps unwilling) to casually hand out $300 collectible dolls with every mango yakult, they've birthed a pocket-sized local variant: Lanunu. She's pink, she's perplexing, and she comes free with your order - because nothing says 'refreshing tapioca treat' like a sentient puffball with fangs. Originally dismissed as a "fricative fashion statement" (which, honestly, sounds like something you'd need antibiotics for), the Labubu is now crossing into F&B territory. Next stop: Michelin-star kitchens? Petting zoos? Until then, sip carefully. Your drink might come with a side of tiny chaos - and a plush toy that looks like it might bite you in your sleep.
