HOLY COW!!! Disney concept art for Rapunzel

I was just shown this short slide show from MakingOf.com.

I have to say, I'm a HUGE fan of looking at concept art. Since I'm a writer and not an artist, this may not seem to make sense, but I do get a lot of inspiration from looking at books of concept art for movies. My favorites are The Art of Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, The Art of the Lord of the Rings, and The Lord of the Rings Sketchbook. It's inspiring, and sometimes kickstarts the old imagination when I'm "blocked".

Anyway, here's some AMAZING concept art from the new animated Disney princess movie, Rapunzel:

Isn't that just gorgeous? I cannot wait to see that on film!

In looking at that, I'm reminded of the original "Disney princess" movies, which were simply sumptuous in their design.

I'd love to see concept art from Sleeping Beauty. I love that movie, although to be honest it's not the most compelling of the Disney movies, it's the most beautifully designed.

Anyway, back to Rapunzel. It looks like a return to form for Disney, in style and tone anyway. Let's see if they are able to make it as compelling a story as well.

~ Ben

NARNIA: Bad News & Good News

Extree! Extree! Read all about it!

Disney dropped their funding of the film adaptation of C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader!

That's OLD news . . .

I've always been a bit miffed that they chose to put Prince Caspian on the weekend they did. It went up against Indiana Jones and Iron Man! It was almost as if they strategically placed it on the weekend it was most likely to fail on.

Here's the NEW news:

Fox has entered into an agreement to help fund C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader!

I was so disappointed when I first heard Disney was pulling out, because it possibly meant no more Narnia movies. (Merry Christmas!) And personally, I've been hoping that they'd actually do all of them. I just read Horse and His Boy to my kids, and think it would make a wonderful film, especially since it features Lucy, Edmund, and Susan!

Looks like they're planning on a smaller budget. That really doesn't matter. Dawn Treader is a quest film, with no epic battles. It's a fanciful journey through many different fantastic places, with fun creatures and, of course . . .

REEPICHEEP!!!

Narnia movie fans rejoice. We get at least one more!

~ Ben