BLUNT/entertainment411
DreamWorks
Animation 2012 Preview is Impressive and Fun!
By
Chickbabe Extraordinaire Lynn Barker
Coming
your way this year from the studio that brought you the
Oscar-nominated /Puss in Boots/ and /Kung Fu Panda 2,/
are our fave zoo critters once marooned in Madagascar:
Alex the lion (Ben Stiller), Marty the zebra (Chris Rock),
Melman the giraffe (David Schwinner), Gloria the hippo
(Jada Pinkett Smith) and those silly/cute side-kick penguins
and
monkeys. In /Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted,/
the gang is still trying to get back to NYC.
Jada, who voices Gloria, was on hand at our sneak peek
in L.A. to introduce some cool 3-D footage from the film
and a new trailer. Story goes: The “zoosters”
arrive in Monte Carlo searching for the penguins and monkeys
who have been playing the casinos to win money for their
own trip back home and they’re successful….until
hefty Gloria falls through the casino ceiling bringing
her pals with her.
All
heck breaks loose when the local animal control captain,
a meanie to
give Cruella DeVille a run for her money and voiced by
Frances McDormand
with a cool French accent,puts the gang on her most wanted
list and a
massive chase is on. This looked as ambitious as any /Fast
and Furious/
car-wreck-aganza!
It’s
fun when the critters take refuge in a circus train with
a bossy male
tiger, a silly sea lion and a gorgeous jaguar whom Alex
starts crushin’ on
immediately. Using the last of the penguins’ winnings
to buy the circus,
the expanded gang wants to make enough money to bring
the big top
extravaganza and all its animals to the USA.
A
short, really colorful and fun circus performance snippet
convinced us
that this movie will both have a great story and look
amazing, especially
in 3-D.
Part
2 of the presentation focused on a brand new animated
story Rise of the Guardians. This tale, in development
for 3 years already, is based on books by William Joyce
and inspired by his young daughter who asked him “What
if all the magical story heroes knew each other?”
The
film stars our classic childhood heroes of myth: Santa
Claus, The Tooth Fairy (a pretty female hummingbird-like
creature in this version), The Sandman and the Easter
Bunny (Hugh Jackman) who recruit Jack Frost (voiced by
hottie Star Trekker Chris Pine) to help them destroy The
Boogieman (voiced by Jude Law) who has returned to take
over Earth and lure everything to the dark side.
Chris
Pine took the stage in cute black glasses, plaid shirt
and jeans to
expand on the story. The actor told us that this is his
first animated
voice role and he really got into the character of Jack,
an outsider with
no friends who is searching for meaning in his life.
Seems
that Jack doesn’t know what his mission on earth
is and these
“Guardians” help him discover his past and
find his heroic future. As if
the Boogieman wasn’t enough of a problem, if kids
don’t believe in these
“Avenger-style” heroes, they will cease to
exist.
We
got to see the very first footage of the film ever shown
and it’s a
whole different look for the studio. It screen lights
up like a magical
storybook, all snowy and sparkly at the North Pole and
this Santa is a
hoot as he displays tatts with “Naughty” on
one forearm and “Nice” on the
other. This movie promises to leave us all with a strong
sense of wonder
and “belief”. The trailer, in 3-D looked pretty
awe inspiring.
Head
to theaters for /Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted/
June 8. You can
see the trailer for /Rise of the Guardians/ on April 6th
and the movie
comes out a month before Christmas on November 21st .
Emily
Blunt ads: As The Hunger Games excites
audiences world-wide...This reminds us all to remember
those for whom the hinger games are noe a cinematic fantasy.
This week, as excitement builds for the launch of the
highly anticipated film The Hunger Games (opening March
23rd), hundreds of young volunteers will fan-out to movie
theatres across the country, on behalf of Oxfam’s
GROW campaign and the Harry Potter Alliance, to build
a movement to fight hunger. The volunteers will gather
support for the GROW campaign’s efforts to tackle
the root causes of hunger by reforming Food Aid programs
in the US Farm Bill.
The Harry Potter Alliance uses the power
of story to inspire fans to work for social change and
have committed to helping the GROW campaign fight for
reform
to our food system. The two organizations will be
tapping into the energy and excitement around the launch
of The Hunger Games to build support for practical solutions
to hunger.
