Going On a Quest with the Cast and Crew of ‘Onward’

March 3, 2020March 3, 2020 Mike Manalo

This Thursday, Pixar will unveil their latest adventure — a fantastical bromance of humor and emotion that will surely get your eyes soaking wet with tears, as par for the course from this studio. I’m speaking of course of their latest film, Onward, starring Tom Holland and Chris Pratt. You can check out our NOC review here. Additionally, The Nerds of Color was recently invited to the press conference of the film, to hear from Pratt and Holland themselves, as well as director Dan Scanlon, and producer Kori Rae. Here’s what the party had to say about the new film. Here’s what they had to say about the film.

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Animation, Movies, Reviews

NOC Review: ‘Onward’ is Mid-Level Magic for Pixar

February 21, 2020May 2, 2020 Mike Manalo

In the 25 years since Toy Story first hit theaters, the amount of unfavorable films to come out of Pixar versus the number of instant classics can probably be counted on a single hand. That is an insane and unprecedented track record for any studio, and frankly even their worst films are still infinitely better than the average piece of dreck to come out of, say, Illumination Entertainment. That being said, while Onward does not belong on the aforementioned single hand, it doesn’t quite hit the heights of Wall-E, Up, Inside Out, or Coco either. Don’t get me wrong, Onward is a perfectly fine movie — a good movie. It’s also just quite middle-of-the-road compared to Pixar’s usual quality for two-thirds of it.

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Animation, Movies

Arendelle Antics at the ‘Frozen II’ Press Conference

November 22, 2019November 22, 2019 Mike Manalo

We made it folks! It’s been a few months and our countdown is at last complete! Frozen II has arrived! That’s right, give yourselves a big pat on the back for sticking with us! To cap off everything, we wanted to take you all inside, perhaps, the most fun press conference we’ve ever covered here at The Nerds of Color. We got the chance to hear from (and bask in the glory of) national treasures Idina Menzel, Kristen Bell, Jonathan Groff, Josh Gad, Evan Rachel Wood, Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee, Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Bobby Lopez, and Peter Del Vecho! Here’s how the magic went down.

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Animation, Movies

Interviewing the Crew Behind ‘Frozen II’

November 18, 2019November 18, 2019 Mike Manalo

Well folks, after a month-long countdown on our site, we are in the homestretch leading up to the release of Frozen II, and we’ve only just begun to break the ice (Wow. That was bad. Sorry.). I would like to extend my humble thanks to everyone who counted down to the film’s release with us, and we have a couple more surprises in store for you Frozen fans this week! For one, we had a chance to talk to the Heads of Animation for the film (Becky Bresee and Tony Smeed), as well as the Head of Story (Normand Lemay) and Director of Story (Marc Smith) about the evolution of the project. Here’s what they had to say!

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Animation, Movies, Reviews2 Comments

NOC Review: ‘Frozen II’ is the Best Animated Movie of the Year

November 14, 2019December 25, 2019 Mike Manalo

The Oscar Race for Best Animated Feature is over. It’s going to be Frozen II. As someone who thought Frozen, now considered by many to be a classic animated film on par with The Little Mermaid, was a very good-not-great movie, it was going to be tough for its successor to melt my icy cold heart. Rest assured, this one is grander, deeper, more challenging, and even more gorgeous than its predecessor. Walt Disney Animation Studios has made a near perfect movie here, and they deserve to be proud. Frozen II outdoes the first in every respect! Heart melted!

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Animation, Movies

Exploring the Enchanted Forests and Dark Seas of ‘Frozen II’

November 5, 2019November 5, 2019 Mike Manalo

To countdown to the release of Frozen II, we are providing all of you with an inside look at the making of the movie, as well as interviews with the filmmakers and artists who worked incredibly hard to bring Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, Sven, and, of course, Olaf to life. Earlier this week, we brought you a look at how the talented team at Walt Disney Animation brought a future classic musical sequence to life. Today, we’re excited to reveal another new sneak peek at the magic to come!

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Animation, Movies

Letting Go: Deconstructing a New Musical Sequence for ‘Frozen II’

November 4, 2019November 4, 2019 Mike Manalo

To countdown to the release of Frozen II, we are providing all of you with an inside look at the making of the movie, as well as interviews with the filmmakers and artists who worked incredibly hard to bring Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, Sven, and, of course, Olaf to life. A couple of weeks ago we brought you a look at the production design of the film. This week we’re excited to reveal another new sneak peek at the magic to come!

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Animation, Movies

How to Create a ‘Frozen’ World: Inside the Production Design for ‘Frozen II’

October 14, 2019October 14, 2019 Mike Manalo

To countdown to the release of Frozen II, we are providing all of you with an inside look at the making of the movie, as well as interviews with the filmmakers and artists who worked incredibly hard to bring Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, Sven, and, of course, Olaf to life. Last week we brought you a look at the evolution of the sequel’s story. This week we’re excited to reveal another new sneak peek at the magic to come!

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Animation, Movies

Breaking the Ice: Evolving the Story of ‘Frozen II’

October 7, 2019October 7, 2019 Mike Manalo

To countdown to the release of Frozen II, we are providing all of you with an inside look at the making of the movie, as well as interviews with the filmmakers and artists who worked incredibly hard to bring Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, Sven, and, of course, Olaf to life. Last week we brought you just a sampling of what’s to come with a first look and panel discussion with directors Jennifer Lee, Chris Buck, and producer Peter Del Vecho. This week we’re excited to reveal another new sneak peek at the magic to come!

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Animation, Interview, Movies

Into The Unkown: A First-Look at ‘Frozen II’

September 30, 2019September 30, 2019 Mike Manalo

For the first time in forever (or at least 6 years), audiences will be returning to the kingdom of Arendelle, when Frozen II finally hits theaters everywhere this November. The Nerds of Color was recently invited to Walt Disney Animation Studios to take part in a special day (no, not Coronation Day) of festivities and panels to get a glimpse behind the icy scenes, and see what it took to bring this highly anticipated movie to life. And so, to countdown to this Fall’s biggest movie event, every month until November we’ll be presenting special inside looks at the movie, as well as interviews with the filmmakers and artists who worked incredibly hard to reunite us with Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, Sven, and, of course, Olaf.

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Animation, Movies, Reviews

NOC Review: ‘The Lion King’ — Slimy or Satisfying?

July 11, 2019September 8, 2019 Mike Manalo

The Lion King roars back into cinemas on July 19th–this time painstakingly brought to life by Iron Man, Chef, and Jungle Book maestro, Jon Favreau. Are we feeling the love tonight? Or is this one stuck in the elephant graveyard?

Find out by watching our NOC’s review of the movie here:

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Animation, Movies2 Comments

‘Mulan’ is Still the Wokest Disney Princess Movie Your Kid Hasn’t Seen 600 Times Yet

July 8, 2019May 15, 2023 Dominic Mah

Originally posted on Melancholyball.

The “Disney Princess” mythos is a genre as restrictive as it is globally-superpowered, but in terms of the Official Princess Movie with the most patriarchy-subverting politics, I think it’s no contest: Mulan is by far the most progressive-minded cel-animated Disney Princess film, while also performing its essential sedative-hypnotic function on your child’s developing emotional vocabulary. (Pocahontas has an argument too, but for my taste, the underlying colonization-conquest story is so far outside of Classic Disney’s natural lane, you kinda wonder what they’re even trying to say, and also the songs in Pocahontas are not my jam.)

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Movies

An Afternoon With the Crew Who Brought ‘Dumbo’ to Life

March 28, 2019March 28, 2019 Mike Manalo

The early years of Disney Animation are marked by some of the most seminal classics in the history of everyone’s childhood. Among one of the most dear and tearfully sentimental was 1941’s Dumbo. It came at a time when folks had never conceived of the possibility of seeing something as grand as an elephant flying. But Walt Disney, and the first generation of Disney animators, dreamed of what it would look like and brought it to life in vibrant colors and adorable designs. And the results have since become something of legend.

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Animation, Interview, Movies1 Comment

Of Cyberspace and The Sea: A Magical Afternoon at Walt Disney Animation Studios

February 12, 2019February 12, 2019 Mike Manalo

When I was 10, I wanted to be a Disney Animator. It happened around the time my single-parent mother, who was always working to make end’s meet for us, managed to scrounge up enough money to take us kids to Walt Disney World in the mid-90s. One of the parks we ended up visiting, the old MGM Studios Park, had this attraction called “The Magic of Disney Animation.” Sure that park also featured attractions for Star Wars and Indiana Jones, and not to mention the first-of-its-kind “Tower of Terror.” But for me, The Magic of Disney Animation was everything that made the park so special.

For 15-20 minutes, I got to see how true art was made. I learned about how the hundreds of talented artists came together and brought to life the iconic “Be Our Guest” sequence from Beauty and the Beast, and how those same people were working hard at that second to bring together future classics, Mulan and Lilo and Stitch. I went into that building a complacent boy who only watched movies, and exited a person inspired by a dream and a drive to make it come true.

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Movies, Star Wars, Television7 Comments

The Disney Triple Crown: Why Ming-Na Needs to Be in Star Wars

July 10, 2014November 4, 2019 Keith Chow

UPDATE: November 4, 2019

Vanity Fair has an exclusive first look at Ming-Na in The Mandalorian! She has the Disney Triple Crown, y’all!!

Earlier this week, Lucasfilm announced the addition of two more actors to the cast of Star Wars Episode VII. We do not yet know who the two relatively unknown actors — Pip Anderson, who’s British, and Crystal Clarke, who’s African American — will play in the movie, but I’m guessing their roles must be substantial enough to warrant a press release about their casting. If their characters are indeed prominent, Clarke will join John Boyega and Lupita Nyong’o in making this “the blackest Star Wars ever.”

Still, every time breaking Star Wars casting news comes across my feed, there’s always one name that I hope to see in the headlines: Ming-Na Wen.

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