Awards Season Recap: Monsters University

This awards season, unfortunately, has been a rather disappointing one for Pixar, as their brilliant but underrated feature Monsters University has been largely ignored by most notable award organizations. The film was downright snubbed by the Golden Globes and the Oscars this year, who for some reason preferred arguably weaker films like Despicable Me 2 and The Croods.

The Monsters prequel has, however, received some recognition from less-known organizations, and it did win a couple awards at the Annies, where it had a total of 10 nominations and ended up taking home the awards for Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production and Editorial in an Animated Feature Production. It was nominated for, but ended up losing, the following Annie Awards:

• Best Animated Feature
• Animated Effects in an Animated Production
• Character Animation in an Animated Feature Production
• Character Design in an Animated Feature Production
• Music in an Animated Feature Production
• Production Design in an Animated Feature Production
• Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production (Billy Crystal as Mike Wazowski)
• Writing in an Animated Feature Production
• Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production

Way back in October, the film also won a Hollywood Animation Award at the 17th Hollywood Film Awards. Unfortunately, it hasn't won anything outside of that and the Annies, but it has at least been nominated for several other awards including:

• Best Edited Animated Feature Film - American Cinema Editors
• Best Animated Film - British Academy Film Awards
• Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for Motion Pictures (Animated) - Cinema Audio Society Awards
• Best Animated Feature - Critics' Choice Movie Award
• Best Animated Feature Film - Denver Film Critics Society
• Best Animated Film - International Cinephile Society
• Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures (Kori Rae) - Producers Guild of America Award
• Best Animated Feature - San Francisco Film Critics Circle
• Best Motion Picture, Animated or Mixed Media - Satellite Awards
• Outstanding Animation in an Animated Feature Motion Picture and Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature Motion Picture - Visual Effects Society Awards
• Best Animated Feature - Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association

Awards are marvelous things, it's never a bad thing to give recognition to a filmmaker, actor, artist, or studio for their outstanding work. However, let's not forget that a film's (or a director's, actor's, etc.) greatness is not really determined by the number of accolades it earns. Films are meant to entertain, so shouldn't their greatness instead be determined by the joy they bring to people across the world? As the wise Doc Hudson would say, an award is "just an empty cup".

Congratulations to Dan Scanlon and the entire cast and crew for crafting a truly remarkable film with an exceptional message, a film that I hope will gain more recognition as it ages.

First Look at 'Party Central'

With just about a month to go until the release of Pixar's latest short film, we've got our first detailed look at the new Monsters University-themed short.

Check out the brief 36-second short clip that was revealed earlier this month (don't worry, it's spoiler-free):

Moviefone got the exclusive first look at the short and premiered some sweet stills alongside an interview with director Kelsey Mann, which I highly recommend you check out here.

This looks all set to be yet another classic from the folks who brought us the likes of Toy Story and Monsters, Inc. - I can only begin to imagine all the criminally clever and inventive gags that they've conjured up for this fast-paced party-centric (pun intended) short film. It's also great to be able to revisit Mike, Sulley, and the rest of the Oozma Kappa fraternity for the first time since we last saw them last summer in MU.

Mark your calendars, Party Central romps into theaters March 21 alongside Muppets Most Wanted!

Pixar Announces Plans for 2014

Apologies for the blog silence this month, January has been incredible busy for me. Now that the month is over, however, let's take a moment to recap on the exciting announcements that were dropped over the past few weeks in the world of Pixar.

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It looks as though us fans will no longer have to wait until 2015 to get a healthy yearly dose of goodness from the studio since Pixar announced this month its two latest (non-feature-length) projects and when we can expect to see them.

Looking back at 2011, you may recall that when the fantastic Muppets "revival" film, The Muppets, opened in theaters in November, it was accompanied by the Pixar Canada-produced Toy Story short Small Fry. Well, Pixar seems to have formed a nice partnership with everyone's favorite felt oddballs, as this year's Muppets Most Wanted will be preceded by another short film from the folks in Emeryville. This time around, we'll get to catch up with Mike, Sulley, and their Oozma Kappa brothers as they come together to throw an unforgettable party in Party Central. The new Monsters University short was announced back in August at D23 Expo and was originally supposed to debut in May with Pixar's The Good Dinosaur, but that film, of course, was pushed back to the fall of 2015, so it's great that the studio found an alternative way to get the short to audiences this year.

The official synopsis for the short reads:

Mike and Sulley are back at Monsters University for a fun-filled weekend with their Oozma Kappa fraternity brothers. The gang is throwing their first party, but no one’s showing up. Luckily for them, Mike and Sulley have come up with a plan to make sure “Party Central” is the most epic party the school has ever seen.

Don't miss Party Central when it romps into theaters on March 21 alongside Muppets Most Wanted (which, by the way, also happens to look absolutely brilliant).

This past October, ABC aired the first ever Pixar television special, Toy Story of Terror, which, unsurprisingly, was met with rave reviews and high ratings. And why wouldn't it? It's a Toy Story television special; audiences love these characters and want to see more of them. So it should come as no surprise that this week the studio announced their next television special - Toy Story That Time Forgot.

While no specific air date has been given, the special will debut around the holiday season this year. Brave co-director Steve Purcell will direct, while Galyn Susman, who produced Toy Story of Terror, will serve as producer. Here's the official synopsis:

During a post-Christmas play date, the “Toy Story” gang find themselves in uncharted territory when the coolest set of action figures ever turn out to be dangerously delusional. It’s all up to Trixie, the triceratops, if the gang hopes to return to Bonnie’s room in this “Toy Story That Time Forgot.”

Similar to how Toy Story of Terror delved deeper into the character of Jessie, it looks like this time it will be the quirky Trixie the triceratops (voiced by the hilarious Kristen Schaal) that gets her turn in the spotlight. Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, and the rest of the original cast will reprise their roles, and we'll be hearing some new voices also. Kevin McKidd (who voiced Lord MacGuffin and Young MacGuffin in Brave) will be voicing a character named Reptillus Maximus.

It's still a while away, but mark your calendars and don't forget to tune in to ABC this holiday season to catch Toy Story That Time Forgot!

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So how about it, folks? We may not be getting a feature-length Pixar flick this year, but a short and a television special should be enough to fill that void, don't you think? Share your thoughts below!

A Look Back at 2013

Here we are, once again at the end of yet another year. While not without its fair share of saddening tragedies in the Pixar realm, this year has nonetheless seen the release of not one, not two, but three fantastic new works from the folks down in Emeryville.

Unfortunately, this hasn't quite been the best year for Pixar. We saw the removal of Bob Peterson as director from The Good Dinosaur - making this the fourth time a director at the studio has gotten the boot. This eventually lead to nearly 5% of the staff being laid off.

Then in October came the headline that probably devastated me most of all - Pixar Canada was shut down. It's a real shame; the Vancouver-based satellite studio had made some remarkable shorts since opening in April 2010, and the studio itself was filled to the brim with talented artists. Those who have followed this blog for a while now may know that I was fortunate enough to visit Pixar Canada this January and tour the studio (you can read about my visit here). I'm more thankful for that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity now than ever before, so a big thank-you is due to Amir Nasrabadi (general manager and vice-president of Pixar Canada at the time of its closure) for allowing this dream of mine to become a reality. The studio itself may have closed, but it built quite the legacy in the short three years that it was operational. So long live Pixar Canada!

Now let's talk about some of the more exciting things that happened this year.

Of course, Monsters University, the studio's fourteenth feature-length film and prequel to fan-favorite Monsters, Inc., hit theaters in June and its reception was generally quite warm, despite a select stubborn few still riding that old bothersome 'Pixar is losing it' bandwagon. Oh well, you can't please everybody. Let them keep riding that bandwagon while we look forward to the studio's future wildly ambitious projects.

The latest short film to be pumped out by Pixar, The Blue Umbrella, also made its debut this year alongside MU. While perhaps not as groundbreaking as, say, Day & Night or La Luna, it's arguably still a splendid and very creative work of art, accompanied by an irresistibly catchy soundtrack, not to mention its gorgeous photo-realistic visuals.

More recently, in October Pixar released its first ever television special! Toy Story of Terror saw the return of Woody, Buzz, Jessie and co. and delighted audiences across the globe, proving that the folks at Pixar are more than capable in handling the half-hour special format. Needless to say, Toy Story of Terror left audiences hungry for more Pixar TV specials, so here's hoping they're cooking up some more for us to enjoy in the near future.

All in all, it's been another great year. 2014 will likely be quite a quiet year in terms of Pixar news, what with no new feature film until 2015, but who knows, maybe the studio will surprise us with another television special later in the year. Whether that happens or not, let's make 2014 another memorable year.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Pixar Kicks Off 'Monsters University' FYC Campaign

We've come full circle once again. As the year comes to a close, awards season is in full swing as we look back at the year's greatest accomplishments in film. Despite being inexplicably robbed of a Golden Globe nomination for Best Animated Feature this year, Pixar is pushing hard to earn Monsters University some recognition at the 86th Academy Awards, focusing primarily on the Best Animated Feature and Best Original Score categories.

Here are two For Your Consideration posters that have been released:

The Oscars will take place on March 2, 2014 and will be hosted by Dory herself, Ellen DeGeneres. Stay tuned for more awards season updates!