May 2009

Newsletter SMS Alerts Version française
FIND A THEATRE FIND A MOVIE FIND IN STORE

Site Navigation

  1. Theatres
  2. Movies
  3. Events
  4. Buy Tickets
  5. Blog
  6. Video
  7. Contests
  8. Corporate Sales
  9. SCENE.ca
  10. DVD Store
 

May 2009 

Return to Table of Contents May 2009

editorial_MAIN_may09.jpg

Editor’s Note

One Giant Leap for Mankind

Are Pixar fans ready for a hero who’s…human?


Never mind that Carl Fredricksen, who flies his house to the wilds of South America where he must survive not only the jungle, but an eight-year-old boy, is a grumpy old man. Just the fact that he is from the species Homo sapiens at all is a huge change.


Pixar has had tremendous success by implanting the most sympathetic human characteristics into toys, bugs, monsters, fish, cars, rats and even a trash-compacting robot. In an upside-down way, it seems easier for them to evoke pathos and passion in inhuman characters. A tilt of WALL•E’s head or a twitch of Remy the rat’s whiskers serves as an express highway straight to the character’s soul.

 

The one exception prior to Up was The Incredibles, which did star a human family, but one with superhuman powers. Carl Fredricksen does not have superstrength, his limbs do not stretch like chewing gum, and he cannot fly — unless he’s inside his balloon-powered house. He is an old man who has lived an unremarkable life except for a rather special marriage that, sadly, now belongs to the past.

 

When I interviewed director Pete Docter for this issue’s cover story, he told me he’d always felt the human subset “grandparent” had a particular wealth of untapped potential for an animated film — in part because seniors do have a sort of superpower. “They can get away with being grouchy,” said Docter. “You sort of feel like the guys have earned it, they’ve been around and suffered enough over the years. If they have a little angry edge to them, well, they’re entitled to that.”


And thus Pixar’s first truly human hero was born…a grouchy old man. Turn to “Going Up,” to read about Docter’s next step in creating Up — a trip to South America where the artists studied the very real and dangerous landscape that morphed into the film’s meticulously animated world.

 

Speaking of grouchy... We have “Who Gave Christian Bale a Gun?,” our interview with the stormy star of Terminator Salvation in which he compares rebooting the Terminator flicks to that other blockbuster franchise he’s had a hand in reviving.


Remember when Bratz came out with Bratz Babyz — a line of Bratz dolls, but with even bigger heads? I’m embarrassed to say this, since I’m actually a Trekkie, but that’s what springs to mind every time I think about Star Trek, the prequel depicting the nascent adventures of the original series’ crew. In “Space Cadets,” three of those baby-faced versions of Star Fleet icons — John Cho (Sulu), Anton Yelchin (Chekov) and Simon Pegg (Scottie) — talk about doing justice to their iconic roles.


In “Speedy Comes Home,” Torontonian Scott Speedman details how he fought for his role in Atom Egoyan’s Adoration.


“Rachel Gets Her Quirk On” is my interview with Rachel Weisz about finding her inspiration for the eccentric Penelope in The Brothers Bloom.


And check out our Summer Movie Preview for the scoop on the season’s top movies.

—Marni Weisz, editor

 


  1. Top Movies and Events

  2. More at Cineplex.com

  3. In The DVD Store

  4. Escape Wth Us!

    As the largest motion picture exhibitor in Canada, Cineplex Entertainment operates 130 theatres with 1,347 screens serving more than 70 million guests annually. Headquartered in Toronto, Canada, Cineplex Entertainment operates theatres from British Columbia to Quebec and is the largest exhibitor of digital, 3D and IMAX projection technologies in the country.