Been busy, busy, busy, busy (that's four busys)-- It appears that nobody has a freaking clue on how to exactly apply to Copenhagen. I talk to the office here, they tell me to talk to the DIS office, and they tell me to talk to the office here. @#%$!

On a quick note, I've been seeing really good crowdpleasers lately, following Shaun of the Dead with a special advance screening of the Incredibles! Rest assured, the Incredibles was a wild ride but very different from Pixar's past movies. It wasn't Toy Story retold (grab two wacky, yet immensely entertaining, characters in a wackier, yet incredibly smart, adventure), rather, it was a comic action film with a Pixar sense of humor. Long and thrilling action set pieces, great strong characters, but awful villian (Jason Lee's great, but it sucks he gets stuck with the lamest character to come out of Pixar, even worse than .... hmm, what do you think is Pixar's weakest character so far?) It was a bit odd to see action movie cliches so prevalent in a Pixar film (the evil sidekick rescue, the sneaking into the enemy base, etc) but damn if they didn't do it so entertaining and fun. It was as if the Cold War never ended, with cadillacs everywhere and crazy James Bondian evil lairs (in a volcano!) never grew concious of their ridiculousness. And, of course, superheroes. Kudos for creating a superhero world distinct and enjoyable, creating a real grounding feel for the type of world that superheroes would still live and work beside us (the "cape montage" is the funniest joke of the film, if surprisingly gruesome [which only made it funnier, to me at least]). Which reminds me, the film is PG for a reason. It's an action film, and its not real possible to create a G-rated action flick; people die left and right, but never in detail... that's where it's comedy comes in and saves the day. It's definitely not my favorite of Pixar's, or even Brad Bird's (Iron Giant, baby), but I couldn't recommend a film more. And when it comes down to that, why feel the need to compare it to anything else?
Um, well actually, maybe because the teaser for Lasseter's newest project, Cars, looked terrible. I really hate to say it, but my feelings of intense excitement towards the teaser plummeted. The whole premise is, duh, cars, and it seems to adopt the same ol' Pixar dynamic (what do you mean Lasseter that your only fear is being complacent? ) of the buddy dynamic. Except this time it's a no-personality freaking Dodge Neon and a beat up pick-up truck with buck teeth (a-hyuk). Even worse, most of the thing was the Neon in some NASCAR race with some awful pop punk sum-fortysuck in the background. It then cut to the two cars watching the race on some drive through theater, ending on an amazingly unfunny one liner complete with buck teeth gleeking. Even the design was awful, with the windshield as really ugly looking eyes that aren't very expressive at all. Yes, it was cringeworthy, and even more so cause, c'mon, this is John Lasseter and Pixar. I know most Pixar teasers undersell their actual films but this was a new low. I still have hope, but this is the worst looking teaser and design to a Pixar flick I've seen (and I liked, no, loved A Bug's Life.)

But enough of this. Animation must be done and I should be off. And that debate last night did nothing to convince people one way or the other in my opnion. But maybe I should stop opnioning other people's opnions. What do youthink?