"Mars Needs Moms" Trailer #1

It's been a wild ride and as of Tuesday, November 23rd, Simon Wells approved the last shot in "Mars Needs Moms".

While that seems surreal and hard to believe, the production of this film has gone so much smoother than "A Christmas Carol". I personally think that Disney will be missing out on what would have been some great films from IMD.

"Mars Needs Moms" hits theaters in 3D, 2D and IMAX 3D March 11, 2011.

New Image from Disney's MARS NEEDS MOMS

via geektyrant

Disney had released a new image from their upcoming CGI animated sci-fi adventure film Mars Needs Moms. As you can see the image gives us a good look at the two main alien characters in the film. The movie is a comedy adventure based on the 2007 children's book by Berkeley Breathed.

The film tells the story of nine-year-old Milo (Seth Green), who finds out just how much he needs his mom (Joan Cusack) when she's nabbed by Martians who plan to steal her mom-ness for their own young.

The movie is being directed by Simon Wells (The Prince of Egypt/The Time Machine), and produced by the same team that developed Disney's A Christmas Carol and The Polar Express. The film also stars the voice talents of Dan Fogler, Elisabeth Harnois, Mindy Sterling and Kevin Cahoon.

Here's the official movie plot description:

Take out the trash, eat your broccoli – who needs moms, anyway? Nine-year-old Milo finds out just how much he needs his mom when she’s nabbed by Martians who plan to steal her mom-ness for their own young. Milo embarks on a quest to save his mom – a wild adventure that involves stowing away on a spaceship, navigating an elaborate, multi-level planet and taking on the alien nation and their leader. With the help of a tech-savvy, underground earthman named Gribble and a rebel Martian girl called Ki, Milo just might find his way back to his mom – in more ways than one.

The movie is set to hit theaters on March 11th 2011 in Digital Disney 3D and IMAX 3D.

The November page of my "Scotland by Rail" calendar

The November page of my "Scotland by Rail" calendar, a gift from a colleague at IMD. 

"Galloway, the Southern Highlands of Scotland"

by Norman Wilkinson, 1927

London, Midland & Scottish Railway poster.

Tintin: First Look

I was on the set of ImageMovers Digital / Disney's motion capture shoot of "A Christmas Carol" in Marina del Rey when Steven Spielberg was shooting the motion capture for "The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn" right next door. For me, this was interesting news because growing up I was a big fan of the Tintin comic strips. Coincidentally, Peter Jackson and Weta Digital are also doing the work for one of my other childhood favorites, "The Hobbit". 

 

I guess I feel that not everything needs to be transformed by Hollywood, some things are better left alone. I worry that in some way, this transformation will degrade the original work, at least in the sense that future generations may be more familiar with the (inevitably lesser) Hollywood creations than the original material. Then again, perhaps it could potentially expose more people to it than before.

 

I have to say, I think that contemporary motion capture films fall far short of the photo realism they promise, evidenced by these images and, ahem, other recent films. This is partly due to the uncanny valley, but, I feel, is just a limitation of current technology / capacity and we will eventually reach the other side. One of the reasons I joined IMD was in the hope that we were going to be pushing that envelope. Plans change.