All we know on the plot so far is that The Smurfs will find themselves a magical portal which will lead them away from their middle ages village to modern day New York, definitely not original but The Smurfs looks like a fun movie, and I can’t wait to see all the old characters such as Gargamel, Smurfette and Papa Smurf back again.

Expect to hear lot’s of famous voices for the cast including Katy Perry, Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother), Hank Azaria (The Simpsons), and Anton Yelchin (Star Trek).

The Bandit, Flynn Rider voiced by Chuck’s Zachary Levi is running from the law and ends up taking refuge in a mysterious tower, he’s then taken hostage by Rapunzel (Mandy Moore) and her 70ft long golden hair.

I haven’t really been interested in many Disney flicks of late, but this one looks like it could hold my attention, looks like mighty impressive with plenty of laughs for the whole family.

Tangled is directed by Nathan Greno & Byron Howard who between them have worked on the movies: Bolt, Pocahontas, Lilo & Stich, Meet the Robinsons and more, let’s see if Tangled will meet the same great standards of some of their earlier work.

The Film Buzz Anticipation Rating: *******½~~ (7.5/10)

UK Release Date: December 2010/Jan 2011

Director’s: Nathan Greno, Byron Howard

Writer’s: The Brother’s Grimm

Links: IMDB, Official Site

I cannot wait for this to hit theatres it looks fantastic. Unfortunately we have to wait around a year or so to see this, but make sure you book your IMAX tickets as soon as readily possible, because this looks like one of those movies that has to be seen on a big ass screen.

Tron Legacy stars Oscar fresh Jeff Bridges, John Hurt, Michael Sheen and Garrett Hedlund.

UK Cinemas

Disney want to shorten the time it takes to release a film at the cinema to its DVD release. At present the interval from movie theatre to DVD is 17 weeks, Disney want to shorten this to 12 weeks.

So what does that means for consumers, well we get those films a few weeks quicker. What does that mean for Disney? They get more money in their pockets earlier a few weeks earlier. The cinema chains aren’t liking this idea, they want to keep the current interval between the releases as they feel this will reduce cinema goers appetites to see films at the cinema.

Alice in Wonderland

Just so you know these three cinema chains combined represent 95% of the UK’s 3D screens –  that’s an awful lot of cash Disney will be missing out on if Disney flicks don’t make it to the cinema. Disney distributors and the cinema chains are currently in discussions to resolve the situation.

So were you planning on going to see Alice in Wonderland at the cinemas upon its release from March 5th? Some have suggested that if UK cinema goers cannot see Alice on the big screen they may just turn to piracy instead.  Let’s hope they can resolve the situation.

TRON is one of those movies back from the 80’s that they show every now and again on TV. The likelihood is you’ve probably seen TRON and not even realised that you’ve seen it. Jeff Bridges (The Men Who Stare at Goats) played Kevin Flynn an arcade owner who wants to hack into his former company’s Encom computer system to find evidence that his former employer stole several of his game ideas. Flynn with the help of some friends manages to hack into Encom’s system but is thwarted by Encom’s powerful artificial intelligence program the MCP or Master Control Program. Flynn is then digitzied by the MCP and turned into a computer file….wait it does gets better, if you can get past all the 80’s cheese.

Flynn is imprisoned by the MCP along with TRON a security program written by Flynn’s friend, and the two together undergo tasks or games set by the MCP. Do they triumph and manage to stop the MCP? Well I won’t ruin it for you, you can find out by watching TRON which is available on DVD, for now let’s get back to Tron Legacy.

Tron Legacy Film Poster

So not great deal is known on the plot of Tron Legacy, but Disney did release a synopsis of Tron Legacy, to sum up: Kevin Flynn’s son Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund – Murtagh from Eragon) looks into his father’s disappearance and is himself thrown into the same world of computer programs and gladiatorial games that are far more advanced than what his father faced 25 years earlier.

Also revealed was that Tron Legacy will show us at least “three or four things that have never been seen before in this movie” says director Joseph Kosinski said. Ah Joe how we are going to hold you to your word. We now expect this film to not just be good but to be awesome.

Tron Still 1

Tron Legacy Poster 2

TRON was also recently immortalised in the popular role play game Kingdom Hearts 2, where Tron himself is playable character. So for those of you who can’t wait till next year for Tron Legacy you can immerse yourself in Space Paranoids, the name of the playable ‘world’ in Kingdom Hearts 2 that the TRON characters feature.

Tron Legacy looks stunning, just check out some of the stills alone. We’re excited for Tron 2 at TFB. It looks like a stellar cast, that joined with some notable writers and visionaries Tron Legacy will surely be a feast for the eyes.

The Film Buzz Anticipation Rating: 7.5/10

UK Release Date: December 2010

Director: Joseph Kosinski

Writer’s: Adam Horowitz, Richard Jefferies, Edward Kitsis, Brian Klugman, Steven Lisberger, Lee Sternthal

Links: IMDB, Official Site

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The Film Buzz Official Review

A Christmas Carol is an animated retelling of the classic Charles Dickens novel, directed by Robert Zemeckis who brought us the earlier Forrest Gump (1994), What Lies Beneath (2000)and Cast Away (2000). Since then he ventured into directing animated films only – namely The Polar Express (2004), Beowulf (2007) and this year’s holiday magic film – A Christmas Carol.

This is not just an animation film, but a 3D adaptation of the much-loved Charles Dickens classic and uses motion capture technology (which was previously used in Beowulf) which is the process of recording movement and translating it onto a digital model to create digitally animated characters, hence why the characters look so much like the actors who participated in this film.

The Plot

Set in Victorian era England, a miserable old man Ebenezer Scrooge absolutely detests Christmas, merry tidings and the holiday season in general. On Christmas Eve, he is visited by the ghost of Christmas Past, Present and Yet To Come, and is whisked away on an eye-opening journey revealing what Scrooge is reluctant to face – will he end up with a miserable ending or be able to open his heart to undo years of ill fate before it’s too late?

Jim Carrey plays a major role in this film, or should we say a multitude of roles, because not only is he the main character Ebenezer Scrooge but he is also all three of the ghosts that haunt Scrooge. The film also stars Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Cary Elwes and Robin Wright Penn.

The Thoughts

The world premiere of this film in London coincided with the switching on of the Oxford Street and Regent Street Christmas lights – which also have ‘A Christmas Carol’ theme to it. However I do feel that this film has been released rather early for Christmas – watching it so early in mid-November didn’t quite induce the Christmas-cosy feeling that it should have. Having said that, it was my first IMAX 3D experience and I have to say it was the most visually stunning cinematic experiences ever. Unrivalled motion picture technology and surround sound system full stop, anyone who loves the cinema needs to go to the IMAX if you haven’t already and experience it for yourself.

So onto the film itself.  The film doesn’t boast best efforts in paying tribute to the Charles Dicken’s classic and I almost got bored as Scrooge was dragged through his agonising moral self-reflection, until the ghost did something scary and uncalled for that jolted my senses in the wrong way. Not to mention the ghosts constantly whisking Scrooge off into the night with many long falls from high and low places – kind of like a rollercoaster ride which combined with the 3D graphics isn’t so bad if you’re into that kind of thing. The first half of the film opened quite well but ran out of steam pretty quickly when things got repetitive but the last half of the film redeemed itself a little bit when the true spirit of Christmas was realised and portrayed in a mediocre fashion.

Overall, I think it was unnecessarily scary for kids, the characters never really connected emotionally with the audience and the film didn’t have enough of the heart-warming and jolly factors which needless to say is essential during the holiday season.

Astro Boy originally started out life as a comic book series or Japanese manga in the early 50’s by creator Osamu Tezuka. Then followed by a popular cartoon series and has since been recreated in the 80’s and 00’s. Now we can see Astro Boy in all it’s CGI & 3D glory.

Astro Boy is voiced by an all star cast including Nicolas Cage, Kristen Bell, Samuel L. Jackson, Donald Sutherland and with the all-grown-up Freddie Highmore (Finding Neverland) as the voice of Astro.

We at The Film Buzz look forward to this retelling of an old favourite.

Astro Boy goes on general release this week in the USA and from January 2010 those of us in the UK can expect to see this re-telling of this 60’s cartoon.

Buzz Anticipation Rating: 7/10

UK Release Date: January 2010

Director: David Bowers

Writer’s: Osamu Tezuka, Timothy Harris, David Bowers

Links: IMDB, Official Site

Here at The Film Buzz we are major fans of Buzz and Woody and cannot wait for the next instalment. In this adventure the toys owner Andy is off to college leaving the toys worried that they will no longer be played with. The toys are then left in a day care for children.

The original  Toy Story story is now available to watch in 3D at your local cinema, and coming shortly will be Toy Story 2 in 3D.

The Film Buzz Anticipation Rating: 7.5/10

UK Release Date: July 2010

Director: Lee Unkrich

Writer: Michael Arndt

Links: IMDB, Official Site