Back again for another highly opinionated — some might even say downright cranky — look at some element of the fantasy genre. You’ve been warned!

TWO FANTASY MOVIES CLEARLY DESERVE TO BE NOMINATED FOR BEST PICTURE

Over a year ago, I wrote an article asking if the current “renaissance” in animated movies was possibly coming to an end.

We now know the answer: absolutely fricking not! 

This year saw the release of two animated movies, Toy Story 3 and Tangled, that are among the best the medium has ever released.

The year also saw a number of other animated movies that, while not close to being in the same league, were also pretty good: How to Train Your Dragon, Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole, and (to an even lesser degree) Shrek: Forever After.

Interestingly, all these movies were fantasy-themed.

And even more interestingly, most of these animated movies were considerably better than the year’s live-action fantasy movies. Twilight: Eclipse? Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1? Alice in Wonderland? The Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time? Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World?

Please. And don’t get me started on the monstrosity that was the Clash of the Titans remake.

Boy, is the animation renaissance not yet over!

But Toy Story3 and Tangled aren’t just two of the best movies in the fantasy or animated genres: they’re also clearly two of the best movies of the year.

They both deserve to be nominated for Oscars — and I don’t mean Best Animated Feature Oscars (though they’ll obviously get those nominations too).

I mean Best Picture Oscars — especially now that they’ve expanded the category to include ten nominees, up from five.

Will they be nominated?

Toy Story 3 almost certainly will be: Pixar is beloved by Academy members (much the way their now-corporate parent, Disney, used to be).

But Tangled seems like a much, much longer shot.

Why? In part, because of Toy Story 3’s seeming “lock” on a nomination: there may be an attitude, unconscious or not, that animated movies only deserve one slot among the ten nominees.

I also don’t think I’m going out on a limb to say that the Academy, which is comprised of established industry professionals (who tend to be both older and male), probably has something of an anti-”princess” (and kids’ movie) bias, and perhaps an outright anti-female bias. They definitely have an anti-”genre” bias, displaying a long track record that clearly indicates that they think “drama” is more important and award-worthy than anything sci-fi or fantasy.

Toy Story 3 seems to have threaded the needle perfectly: it doesn’t “seem” like straight fantasy or an outright kids’ movie. And, sure enough, both the humor and theme work on several levels: simple enough to appeal to kids, but with subtext and subtle cultural references that also appeal to (smart) adults.

And I can’t begrudge Toy Story 3 its success: it’s a flat-out terrific movie — the first wholly successful movie Pixar has produced in years, IMHO.

But Tangled is flat-out terrific too — simultaneously old-fashioned and contemporary, with a terrifically original visual look. Like Toy Story 3, it also appeals to both kids and adults.

Even apart from the Oscar race, the release of these two movies (and the year’s other fine animated movies) gives me reason for great optimism when it comes to film: at least I now know that Hollywood can still produce quality “popular” entertainment when it wants to.

Now if the town would only apply some of this obvious ingenuity to its live-action movie offerings — and stop their creativity-destroying reliance on remake, sequels, and “re-imaginings.”

Yeah, I know that’s crazy talk. But hey, a guy can dream!

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Five Torches (Out of Five)

Well, I’ll be damned: Pixar did it again!

Some eleven years after the release of Toy Story 2 –  a delay that came about due to a conflict between Disney and Pixar that was resolved when Disney bought the animation company outright in 2006 — we finally get the sequel.

Boy, was it worth the wait.

I’ll say it outright: I wasn’t looking forward to this movie. I am sort of anti-sequel in general, and with the first two Toy Story movies becoming classics of sorts, I just didn’t see the point of the third. I hate Hollywood’s attitude that you have to keep doing something over and over again until you completely ruin it.

But Toy Story 3 keeps the cleverness and heart of the first two movies while adding a richness and sophistication that makes the movie seem surprisingly fresh, even if the movie itself is also shockingly dark.

Andy, the boy who owned the collection of misfit toys from the first two movies, is grown up now and moving to college. Despite the toys’ best efforts, he’s no longer interested in playing with the playthings of his past. When they overhear him call them a bunch of junk and mistakenly think that he wants to throw them all away, the toys rebel, heading off to a nearby daycare center where they’re told they’ll be played with by kids all day long.

All except for Woody, of course, who remains ever-loyal to Andy.

But the daycare center is definitely not what it appears to be (to say more would be to spoil some satisfying plot-twists!). At this point, the movie becomes an outright satire of previous movies and cultural cliches, and the result — because these cliches are enacted by toys — is downright hilarious.

But it’d be a big mistake to call this movie a comedy. Toy Story 3 is about growing up, about the inevitability of change — and about how that change is simply a fact of life, neither good nor bad. Incredibly, in a scene that is as chilling as anything in Shindler’s List, the movie even touches upon the acceptance of death — and how it’s made better, maybe even bearable, by the company of loved ones.

Some will say that this movie and its themes are too dark and disturbing for kids — but I say that these people are idiots. Long before Disney started sanitizing everything for our kids’ protection, children’s literature, from Mother Goose to the Brothers Grimm, had long tradition of being a way for adults to communicate to children the uncomfortable truths about life.

There is absolutely nothing exploitative here, nothing put here to deliberately shock or offend or draw attention to itself. On the contrary, this is thoughtful, loving, and very enjoyable meditation on exactly what it means to be human — even if, in this case, the “humans” are all plastic toys.

Writing movie and TV reviews for a living, I sometimes get discouraged: why is there so much crap in the world of entertainment? Why do filmmakers even bother making pointless crap like Clash of the Titans or G-Force — and why do audiences even bother to go? Is there any inspiration at all other than money?

Then I see a movie like Toy Story 3, and I’m reminded of what it feels like when a movie makes me laugh and cry and think deeply about things — that contemporary entertainment doesn’t have to be all crap.

Is this too heavy a burden to place on a mere movie, to say that it’s restored my faith in humanity a little? Maybe so, but who cares? Just like a plastic toy, a movie is meaningful exactly to the extent that a person feels that it is.

Don’t you just love summer when you are able to find a splashy blockbuster almost every weekend? Summer is big for camping and vacations, but it’s also big for big movies.

Mostly, of course, summer is for the “fun” genres — science fiction, fantasy, horror, and action.

Contrary to popular belief, sci-fi and fantasy are not just about magic or scientific experiments gone bad. Most sci-fi and fantasy movies also have action and romance in them as well. All movies need elements of more than one genre to make it complete. As Shrek  says, “Ogres are like onions. Onions have layers. Ogres have layers…”

(Good) movies have layers too — multiple layers of genres, making the movie complete.

Sometimes those layers work … and sometimes they don’t.

Let’s look at the “pros” and “cons” of what are shaping up to be four of the summer’s biggest fantasy movies: Twilight: Eclipse, Toy Story 3, The Last Airbender, and The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.

Twilight will have a lot more action than the second movie (pro!) because the Volturi is coming, along with Victoria and her new clan of fresh vampire blood, and the Cullens need to stop them, with the help of some big, furry friends of Bella’s.

However, Twilight readers already know everything that’s going to happen (con). Does anyone see these movies who hasn’t already read the books? And since rabid fans have already scared the filmmakers from changing anything more than minor plot-points, this may be the first movie in history where the entire audience knows the entire plot before the opening credits.

According to the previews, Dakota Fanning needs to step over to the dark side and really express her sinister ways. This is a “con” because I don’t really find her menacing or evil in any way. Her eyes are just too sweet (although that’s also something of a pro…to me, at least).

“To infinity and beyond!” Buzz Lightyear, Woody, and the gang are — finally! — back in Toy Story 3. Andy, all grown up, is heading off to college — this is what happens when you wait more than ten years to do the sequel. All the old characters are back as are the actors who voice them (pro).

However, Toy Story 3 looks like it just adds more toys for Andy to “pack rat” up into his bedroom. Sometimes less is more. And what happened to Sid? Is he his neighbor still? Is he going to college? Is he a pretty little princess now after what Woody, Buzz, and the gang did to him in Toy Story? His absence is a con — unless, of course, Sid and Zurg at least make a cameo appearance.

The Last Airbender (sweet graphics!) is an M. Night Shyamalan movie. It’s true that Shyamalan’s record is spotty of late, but that just means the stakes are higher for him, and he has more motivation than ever to turn out something decent (pro).

Better still, this is a movie (with sweet graphics) based on a terrific animated TV show (pro!). It deals with magic and manipulation of the four elements of the Earth (sweet graphics!) combined with martial arts.

And did I mention the movie has some sweet graphics? (pro, pro, pro!)

Unfortunately, it looks like the movie is putting the entire first season into two hours. That’s a lot of stuff — and must, therefore, be deemed a “con.”

What of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice? It’s presented by Disney (pro), produced by Jerry Bruckheimer (pro, I guess), directed by Jon Turteltaub (pro), has famous actors like Nicolas Cage and Alfred Molina (pro), includes great storyline (based on the previews and synopsis), offers some great graphics, and has both comedy and action, along with lots of magic (pro!).

What’s the downside? Nicolas Cage has his detractors on this site — I’ll throw a “con” their way, along with another one for that ridiculous long hair he has in this movie. And while producer Bruckheimer has done his share of decent stuff (Pirates of the Caribbean, Armageddon, National Treasure), he’s also overseen loads of crap (Pearl Harbor, G-Force). Definitely a potential “con.”

Buzz Lightyear tells us to, “Reach for the sky!” A more appropriate statement might be, “Reach for your wallet.” Because that’s what we’ll all be doing this summer — I’m right, aren’t I? — regardless of what any article about the pros and cons of these movies might say!

There has never been a studio that has kept its promises like Pixar. What started out as a commitment to dazzling animation became a commitment to warm, fantastical storytelling centered not around pop culture zingers or recognizable voices, but around layered, authentic characters.

When Pixar announced its Monsters, Inc. sequel last week, I got excited. And I’m excited about Toy Story 3 coming to life this summer, too. But Pixar — perfect Pixar — where is our female lead?

Strong, funny female characters are not entirely absent from Pixar’s canon. Ellen DeGeneres‘ Dory from Finding Nemo, Sarah Vowell’s Violet from The Incredibles, and Bonnie Hunt’s Sally Carrera from Cars spring to mind. But, with the exception of “42 Wallaby Way, Sydney,” these aren’t the characters we quote, the characters our kids dress up as for Halloween, the characters whose action figures we collect. They’re memorable; but they’re not prominent.

And there’s no real reason for it. If there’s one thing Pixar has shown us, it’s that things like race (Russell from Up was Asian-American) and sexual orientation (Ratatouille was conceived as a coming out story) and even humanity (have you ever seen a love as pure as Wall-E and EVE’s?) are not the whole story.

Much like Scout Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird, Pixar’s mantra seems to be: There’s just one kind of folks. Folks. (And robots. And toys. And monsters.)

In 2010, Pixar plans to unveil Brave (previously The Bear and the Bow), and while its central character is meant to be an impetuous, tangle-haired girl named Merida (Reese Witherspoon), there’s a catch: She’s a princess.

I don’t know if you’ve heard, but Disney has kind of built a kingdom around its princesses. And yes, some of them are well-read (Belle) and brave (Pocahontas) and adventuresome (Ariel), but all of their stories — no matter how fun and sing-along-able — center around one thing: Marrying the prince. Even Mulan, perhaps the most courageous Disney princess of all, wrapped up her tale by getting the guy.

So, Pixar — perfect Pixar — how about giving us a female character as curious as Nemo and as fun as Buzz Lightyear and as talented as Ratatouille and as lovable as Wall-E and as layered as Carl Fredricksen. If anyone can create her and plant her somewhere fantastical and tell us something real and moving and enduring, it’s you.

Girls don’t want another knight in shining armor. We want girls with scars. We want girls like us. (Or robots like us. Or toys. Or monsters.)

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Q: Does the relative failure of The Wolfman mean the whole “werewolves are the next vampire” meme has been shot with a silver bullet? — MAGPIE, Toronto, Canada

A: Would that it were so.

It’s possible that it could jeopardize some of the werewolf films currently in preproduction: Benighted, First Howl, The Lost Girl, The Howling: Reborn, Wolves, a remake of An American Werewolf in London, and Full Moon Fever, but we’ll definitely still see the next Twilight movie, a movie called Cross, and the Fox TV show Howl — and we might possibly see an animated show, The Guardians of Luna.

Needless to say, Hollywood has a “herd” mentality — or should I say “pack” mentality? — and it’s going to take a lot a more silver bullets than The Wolfman bombing to put this particular genre down.

Q: Do you think that if Legend of the Seeker is canceled before it gets all of the books used as plots elements for the show that there is a possibility of movie adaptions to finish the series? — Grant, Proctorville, OH

A: Very unlikely — at least if the show gets no more popular than it is right now.

The show has never been the break-out success of its syndicated predecessors Xena: Warrior Princess and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, getting about half the viewers of those shows in their prime (a lot of this has to do with changes in the television landscape since then).

But if Rob Tapert, the producer of those shows and Seeker, was unable to put together a movie-deal for the break-out hit that was Xena, a movie for Seeker seems virtually impossible.

Hollywood tried giving a “failed” TV series new life as a feature film when they greenlit Serenity based on the Joss Whedon series Firefly. The movie was a critical hit and eventually earned back its production costs, and has also done well on DVD, but (unfair or not) it also created a general consensus in Hollywood that a passionate TV fan-base doesn’t necessarily translate to movie success.

Q: Why the long delay between Toy Story 2 and Toy Story 3? — Elliott, Newark, NJ

A: The only way Pixar was able to finance the first Toy Story in 1995 was with a three-picture deal with Disney, but this also gave Disney the rights to any sequels. Later, relations between the animation studio and Disney turned sour (in part, because of a dispute over whether the 1999 movie Toy Story 2, originally intended to be direct-to-DVD, counted as one of the “three” pictures in their deal).

Things got so bad that in 2004, Disney started production on a version of Toy Story 3 without Pixar. In 2006, of course, Disney ended up buying Pixar, which resulted in their shutting down their own production of the movie and transferring the project back to Pixar. In 2007, a new director and screenwriter were hired, but since animated projects take longer than live action, it’s only now, in 2010, that we’re seeing the finished product.

Q: Still no word on the sequel to The Dark Crystal? — Amy, Saltpring Island, Canada

Actually, Brian Froud, who helped design the original puppets and sets for The Dark Crystal, was asked this at a booksigning just last week, and he reported that there actually is some forward momentum:

How many years have they been trying to do that? [My wife and I] are involved, I have done some designs for it. I’ve been talking to the director, and we’ve been involved with the script. We don’t know when it’s going to go, but it’s inching its way forward.

The Oracle had pretty much assumed this project was dead (or would, at best, turn out to be a cable TV project), so this is the most encouraging news in quite some time.

Q: Having worked on Buffy, Caprica, Battlestar Galactica, Dollhouse, and Warehouse 13, is Jane Espenson God? –Tom, Seattle WA

A: Pretty much.

Have a question about something fantasy-related? Please send an email to thetorchonlineoracle@gmail.com and be sure and include your city and state and/or country.

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• Twilight fans will be mobbing Walmart stores March 20^th, and not just because it’s the release of Twilight: New Moon. MTV is reporting that the Walmart Special Edition DVD will have seven minutes of behind the scenes footage and a clip from the upcoming Twilight: Eclipse film. Sorry, Amazon.com shoppers, this looks exclusive.

• The International Toy Fair has been going on in New York City all weekend, and besides the Disney Toy Story 3 merchandise, Iron Man 2 and Star Wars seem to dominate the floor. io9.com has a great gallery of the toys, but can somebody explain the concept of the Iron Man 2 Mr. Potato Head?  Tangentially related: Twitter tells me that the Barbie folks will be putting out a Collector’s edition Mad Hatter doll for Alice in Wonderland, but no Alice doll.

• Young Adult fantasy author Carrie Ryan did an essay about how through her books, her own mother discovered a love of fantasy stories, and puts forward a rather bold theory that YA fiction is all fantasy. I see her point, but also feel it’s limiting what is one of the most vibrant genres in literature.

• This find I have to credit to io9.com, but the Canadian short film Lost for Words has released a trailer. There really isn’t a summary of the film, but the Sean Wainsteim, the writer/director describes it as an homage to the time he spent in the library as a youth. Visually stunning in this short trailer, it has all sorts of fantastic creatures. Just watch:

• Alien Invasion Week on British channel Watch brings us a brand new Torchwood web comic to commemorate their showing of Torchwood: Children of Earth.

• Legend of the Seeker has a lot more story to tell, and they need your help so that they get the chance to do it. Money is tight for syndication deals right now, and they have instructions on how you can help lobby to get them a third season to tell Richard and Kahlan’s tale.

• Chase Palmer has been hired to work on the Dune script for new director Pierre Morel and Paramount. His credits include Wild Wild East, Number Thirteen, and No Blood, No Guts, No Glory. Maybe now we can finally get some Bene Gesserit creepiness in our lives.

• Universal has signed Vin Diesel up for Riddick, the third installment of The Chronicles of Riddick. No word on plot, but it’s been hinted that it will resemble Pitch Black more than it will the second film.

• reddit has pictures of a tiny Indonesian lizard that’s been found that has wings. And isn’t a lizard with wings basically a dragon by definition? Do we really need the fire breathing and destruction of castles? As tiny as these guys are, they might be able to menace the Smurf Village.

• If you’ve been watching the Winter Olympics, you’ve no doubt seen the special, Olympic-themed spots for How To Train Your Dragon, the new Dreamworks 3D animated feature about dragons and Vikings. This isn’t one of them, so you might actually get something about the plot from it, which I thought was the point of a trailer.

• Also from the Olympics, some people are calling the Opening Ceremony “Tron on Ice” which is one of those things that once you’ve seen, you can’t un-see. Besides, since Tron is a Disney property, I’m really scared it might have given them an idea.

• Starting with Fantastic Four #579, the story will start to synch up Avengers with the Heroic Age comics. Details are a little sparse, but the gist seems to be Reed Richards beginning to understand his mortality and limitations and start planning for a future for his children when he’s passed on.

• Artist Francesco Francavilla has a weird idea that Batman should fight ducks in the comics, and wants you to help convinces DC Comics to do it. If you do nothing else from the column, indulge me and click over to his concept art for the cover and see if it’s not both disturbing and giggle-worthy.

• Stan Lee is tweeting that Edgar Wright might be making an Ant Man movie. It’s been talked about for years, and with Disney needing to start new franchises to justify their billions spent on Marvel, it may finally be moving forward.

• Indulge my love for all things Pixar with a little love for Toy Story 3, OK? Anything where toys come to life is a little bit of fantasy, right? Tons of info has been coming from from new characters of Mr. Lots ‘O Huggin’ Bear (Ned Beatty) to Toy Fair leaks of characters called Stretch, Rag Doll, and Buttercup. See if you can spot them in the new trailer.

• Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief managed a three day take of $31.1 million for a second place finish at the box office behind the celebrity studded Valentine’s Day, but expect the “weekend” numbers to jump after Monday’s holiday. I haven’t seen it myself, but I loved Allan Hyde’s (Godric, True Blood) Twitter review: “Did Percy the lightning thief just steal my money and two hours of my life?”