If you’ve been waiting for sweet details on the upcoming slate of films coming out of the house of Disney/Pixar, John Lasseter’s comments at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this morning are sure to excite you. During the two hour presentation, Lasseter showed off new clips and plot descriptions for Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur–which is out this Thanksgiving–Disney’s Moana, Toy Story 4, Zootopia and Finding Nemo’s sequel titled Finding Dory.
As for the films that were shown off, both The Hollywood Reporter and Variety were on hand to snag all the juicy details.
The Good Dinosaur
First up on the agenda was Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur directed be Peter Sohn. Sohn said that the film was “striving for a very unique tone, unlike any animated film ever made.” He continued, “I think our next movie asks the biggest what if of all. What if the asteroid that wiped out dinosaurs actually missed earth?” An interesting question indeed.
From the images and short clips shown, Variety noted that it was a cross between Tarzan and Lilo & Stitch, which sounds pretty interesting if you ask me. The film follows an Apatosaurus named Arlo (played by Lucas Neff) who loses his dad, falls into a river, and wakes up far away from all that he knows. On his journey back home to the Clawed-Tooth Mountains, he comes across human boy named Spot.
Lasseter describes it as a “boy and dog story, but the roles are reversed.” He elaborated, “Arlo, the dinosaur, is the boy in the story and Spot is the dog.” Though a dinosaur, Arlo is able to stand upright, while Spot, the human cave boy walks around on all fours like a hairless pup.
Arlo the “Good Dinosaur” will be joined by a cast of friendly dinos like T-Rexes, a Pterodactyl and even a shaggy Velociraptor who Lasseter joked, “The feathers on the Velociraptor look like the haircuts of famous football players.”
Finding Dory
Ahh, the long-awaited sequel to 2003’s underwater adventure Finding Nemo. Though the forgetful blue fish Dory (played by Ellen DeGeneres, who will be reprising her role) was the one helping a worried clownfish find his son Nemo in the first film, it is Dory’s parents–who Lasseter revealed will be played by Diane Keaton and Eugene Levy– that need to be located this time around.
With Nemo’s help (six months after being found by Dory and Marlin), Dory goes on an adventure to find her long lost mother and father. According to what was revealed at the event, their trip will take them through the Pacific Ocean where shipping containers have fallen off boats, through a kelp forest on California’s coastline, an encounter with a giant squid and will come with a couple of friends like a friendly octopus and a whale-shark named Destiny.
Toy Story 4
Not much was revealed on the highly anticipated next adventure in the Toy Story world except for the fact that John Lasseter will be directing again. “I am very excited to be directing again,” he said. “We’re in the early stages of the film, but it’s shaping up nicely. It’s funny. The story is not as much a continuation of the past films, but a brand new chapter in the Toy Story world.”
As of right now, the film is slated for release June 16, 2017. We’ve a good while yet before they reveal more about the film. It will be interesting to see what the brand new chapter brings to the table for Andy’s old toys.
Zootopia
This “classically Disney” film was inspired by anthropomorphic talking animal films like The Wind in the Willows. In Zootopia’s humanless universe, animals face prejudice and are divided into class based on species. The film follows Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) the first ever rabbit in the police force who ends up as a meter maid because she is the first of her kind to join up.
She meets a fox named Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman) who she teams up with to find a missing mammal. While some of the film’s gags got a couple of laughs, it’s unclear whether the story will wow viewers once it hits theaters next March. According to Variety, it seems like something out of one of Disney’s afternoon cartoons.
Moana
Last but not least, we have Disney’s Moana. This film is the musical tale of Disney’s first Polynesian princess takes place 2,000 years ago, where 16-year-old Moana wants to set sail to explore other islands in the surrounding area. Despite her father’s strict instructions to stay put, the princess takes off in a boat following her grandmother’s death. Much like Pocahontas and Ariel, she has animal companions. A pig named Pua and Hei the rooster will be joining Moana on her adventure. She also encounters a man named Maui (Dwayne Johnson) after getting stranded on one of the islands.
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Which Disney or Pixar film are you most excited to see? Let us know in the comments below!
