Disney Countdown

Now let's take a look at Disney's live-action Alice in Wonderland. The Movie: This is the movie that kick-started Disney's string of live-action adaptations of their animated classics.  Alice in Wonderland was directed by Tim Burton.  It received mix reviews, but did incredibly well at the box-office, at the time become the 5th highest grossing film ever.  (It currently comes in at 31, which just goes to show how many blockbusters have come out in the last 8 years.)  Alice in Wonderland won two Oscars, Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design. Unlike some of the movies that came after it, this is not a remake of the animated version or retelling of the Lewis Carroll novels.  Instead, this movie functions as a quasi-sequel.  In this version, Alice is now a 19-year-old haunted by the same recurring dream and the recent death of her father, who owned a trading company.  She is brought to the manor of her father's former business partner Lord As...

With the sequel opening in theaters today, first let's take a look at the first film, The Incredibles. The Movie: The Incredibles is the 6th movie to come out of Pixar and the first to be directed by someone who was previously not affiliated with Pixar.  This director was Brad Bird, who also wrote the movie, and had previously directed the highly acclaimed by financially unsuccessful The Iron Giant for Warner Bros.  The Incredibles was also Pixar's first movie with human protagonists.  It went on to win the Oscar for Best Animated Film and the Hugo Award, the first animated movie to do so. In the movie's opening, "supers" are outlawed due to the rising cost of lawsuits and public backlash against their collateral damage.  Fifteen years later, the former Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl are living the married, suburban life as Bob and Helen Parr, with three kids, Violet, Dash, and Jack-Jack.  Bob has had a tough time adjusting to life as a regular person, a...