We all know him as the lovable bastard on Game of Thrones (who should have taken a roll in the snow with Ygritte (Rose Leslie)), but Kit Harington may soon lend his voice to a more villainous character.  Harington is up for a role in DreamWorks Animation’s How to Train Your Dragon 2.  The sequel to the 2010 hit features the return of Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, America Ferrera, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Kristen Wiig, Craig Ferguson, T.J. Miller, Jonah Hill and more in the vocal cast, in addition to the fine assortment of scaly beasts on screen.  Hit the jump for more on this potential casting addition.

A new clip from Pixar’s latest feature Brave has been released.  The story centers on Princess Merida, a young girl who accidentally sets loose an evil curse when she wishes for the freedom to escape her restrictive life.  This clip plays straight to the younger audience for the film, as a brawl breaks out between suitors that are trying to win the hand of Merida.  Slapstick abounds and I sincerely hope this kind of humor doesn’t permeate throughout the entire film.  We’ve come to expect a smarter and more nuanced type of humor from Pixar that skillfully plays to all ages of the audience, and this kind of funny business isn’t exactly striking the right chord with me.  That said, there’s a lot to love in the previous Brave trailers so I’m eager to finally catch the full film.

Hit the jump to watch the clip.  The film features the voices of Kelly Macdonald, Emma Thompson, Billy Connolly, Kevin McKidd, Craig Ferguson, Robbie Coltrane, and Julie Walters. Brave opens in 3D on June 22th.

Four clips from Disney-Pixar’s latest film, Brave, have gone online.  The story centers on Princess Merida, a young girl who accidentally sets loose an evil curse when she wishes for the freedom to escape her restrictive life.  All the footage released from this film has looked excellent, and I’m eager to be whisked away to the Scottish Highlands by another (hopefully) well-crafted and effective story from Pixar.  Moreover, this marks the studio’s first film with a female protagonist and their first fairy tale, so hopefully we’re in for a treat.

Hit the jump to watch the clips.  Brave features the voices of Kelly Macdonald,  Emma Thompson, Billy Connolly, Kevin McKidd, Craig Ferguson, Robbie Coltrane, and Julie Walters. Brave opens in 3D on June 22^nd.

The first round of the NFL Draft kicks off tonight, and while fans across the country are busy prognosticating/praying, Disney is capitalizing on the excitement with an NFL Draft-inspired TV spot for the upcoming Pixar flick Brave.  It’s actually a pretty smart product integration, as it’s been obvious from the previous trailers that the Mouse House has been trying hard to lure the male crowd to the female-centered movie.  It’s a bit ridiculous to think that young males won’t go to a movie just because a female is the main character, and we’ve learned from The Hunger Games that strong, independent female protagonists are an enormous draw when done well.

Nevertheless, this spot does have some fun jokes and is packed with NFL-related references.  Also, somewhat surprisingly, there’s a pretty racy gag involving a certain female body part.  I guess we can expect a scandalous PG rating for the latest Pixar pic.  Hit the jump to watch the spot.  The film features the voices of Kelly Macdonald, Emma Thompson, Billy Connolly, Kevin McKidd, Craig Ferguson, Robbie Coltrane, and Julie Walters.  Brave opens in 3D on June 22nd.

The full trailer for Pixar’s Brave has gone online along with a new clip.  The past trailers have tried to blend the comic and dramatic sides of the film, and done so with varying levels of success.  The latest trailer puts up a clear wall between the two, showing off the amusing antics of the protagonist Princess Merida’s family (I love her father’s impression of his daughter) and then making a jarring, abrupt cut to the dramatic, mystical side of the adventure where Merida makes a wish to change her fate of being married off to another clan and losing her freedom.  The first half of the trailer made laugh, and the second half gave me chills (I love the use of Julie Fowlis‘ “Tha Mo Ghaol Air Aird A’ Chuain”), but I’m still looking for the connective tissue that will bring the two tones together.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer along with the clip (which falls on the comic side of Brave‘s schizophrenic advertising).  The film features the voices of Kelly Macdonald, Emma Thompson, Billy Connolly, Kevin McKidd, Craig Ferguson, Robbie Coltrane, and Julie Walters.  Brave opens in 3D on June 22nd.

The first couple of trailers for Pixar’s Brave weren’t terrible, but they left something to be desired. The tone seemed a bit scattershot and the reliance on jokes and action over story and character felt uncharacteristic of a Pixar trailer. It made sense that Disney would be targeting young boys with the first trailers who otherwise might blow off “that fairy tale cartoon with a girl,” and I felt confident that the first peeks weren’t telling the whole story. A few days ago Disney released a full clip that I really enjoyed, and last night during the Oscars they debuted the film’s first TV spot. Both the clip and the TV spot are fantastic, and they hint at the kind of movie I was expecting when I first read the logline for Brave: “a young princess in the Scottish Highlands defies an age-old custom, inadvertently unleashing chaos and fury in the kingdom.” I really, really love the tone and the atmosphere of this TV spot and I can’t wait to see the full film this summer.

Hit the jump to watch the spot. The film features the voices of Kelly Macdonald, Emma Thompson, Kevin McKidd, Craig Ferguson, Robbie Coltrane, and Julie Walters. Brave opens in 3D on June 22nd.

A new trailer for Pixar’s Brave has gone online.  Rather than show off a bunch of scenes from the movie or even give an overview of the plot.  The movie follows Merida, young princess (voiced by Kelly Macdonald) in the Scottish Highlands who defies an age-old custom, inadvertently unleashing chaos and fury in the kingdom.  This trailer doesn’t explain any of that and instead ops to show one scene.  The scene has three less-than-desirable men trying to win an archery contest for Merida’s hand in marriage.  Merida, none-too-happy with the situation, eventually has to show everyone what an utter bad-ass she is.  I still want to see more of the film’s scope, but the new trailer does a good job showing the movie’s comic and dramatic sides.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer, and click here to see the poster that was released yesterday. The film also features the voices of Emma Thompson, Kevin McKidd, Craig Ferguson, Robbie Coltrane, and Julie Walters. Brave opens in 3D on June 22nd.

A new trailer for Pixar’s upcoming film Brave has been released. The pic is the studio’s first fairy tale and revolves around a young princess (voiced by Kelly Macdonald) in the Scottish Highlands who defies an age-old custom, inadvertently unleashing chaos and fury in the kingdom.  The tone of the trailer is a bit scattershot.  On the one hand, there are grand statements about changing your fate and wanting freedom.  On the other hand, there’s a guy in a kilt mooning his fellow Scot.  Tone aside, the visuals look fantastic. Overall, the trailer is alright, but I think Brave still has the potential to be a great movie.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer. The film also features the voices of Billy Connolly, Emma Thompson, Kevin McKidd, Craig Ferguson, Robbie Coltrane, and Julie Walters.  Brave opens in 3D on June 22, 2012.

A new synopsis for Pixar’s Brave has gone online.  We already knew the film was set in the mystical Scottish Highlands and revolved around a young princess (voiced my Kelly Macdonald) who defies a sacred custom of the land, inadvertently brings turmoil to the kingdom, and then makes an ill-fated wish in order to set things right.  The new synopsis adds a bit more color to the previous synopsis although it doesn’t add much in the way of new plot details.  However, it’s looking like that for everyone who was unimpressed with Cars 2 (i.e. everyone), Brave will be the terrific experience we’ve come to expect from Pixar.

Hit the jump to check out the synopsis.  Click here, here, and here for our Brave interviews at D23.  The film also stars Billy Connolly, Emma Thompson, Kevin McKidd, Craig Ferguson, Robbie Coltrane, and Julie Walters.  Brave opens in 3D on June 22, 2012.

With Walt Disney’s Winnie the Pooh opening July 15, we’ve been provided with six clips from the film. Narrated by John Cleese, the 2D “hand-drawn style” animated film follows Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, Rabbit, Piglet, Owl, Kanga and Roo on an all-new adventure to help Christopher Robin.   It’s directed by Stephen Anderson and Don Hall and features the voices of Jim Cummings, Craig Ferguson, Tom Kenny, Travis Oates, and Bud Luckey.  Hit the jump to check out the clips.

One thing I love about the way Pixar markets their original films is that the trailers show very little footage from the actual movie itself. You’re able to go in almost completely fresh, without feeling like you’ve already seen 2/3’s of the movie. The next original film to be released from Pixar will be Brave next summer, and now The Pixar Blog confirms that the first teaser trailer for the film will be attached to Pixar’s Cars 2 when it hits theaters next month.

The studio’s first fairy tale (and their first film with a female protagonist), Brave centers on Princess Merida, a skilled archer who accidentally sets evil upon the Scottish highlands when she is granted an ill-fated wish. The phenomenal voice cast includes Kelly Macdonald, Billy Connolly, Emma Thompson, Kevin McKidd, Craig Ferguson, Robbie Coltrane, and Julie Walters. Judging by the gorgeous concept art that Pixar released in March, we’re in for quite a treat. Brave is slated for a June 22^nd, 2012 release, while Cars 2 hits theaters June 24^th.

I’m already looking past Cars 2 and on to Pixar’s next film Brave.  That’s partially because Cars 2 looks awful and partially because Brave will feature the studio’s first female protagonist.  It was also going to be the studio’s first film with a female director (Brenda Chapman), but there was a bit of controversy last October when Chapman was replaced by Mark Andrews, who previously directed the Pixar short One Man Band.

Behind-the-scenes drama aside, Brave looks like it could be a great film.  The film is set in Scotland and centers on a tomboyish princess who accidentally unleashes evil on her kingdom and must save the day.  The princess was to be voiced by Reese Witherspoon but scheduling conflicts forced her to drop out.  She’ll be replaced by they actually scottish Kelly Macdonald (Boardwalk Empire).  Hit the jump for more details on the film plus a first look at the concept art.  Brave is set to hit theaters in 3D on June 22, 2012. [Updated: Disney has provided some high-resolution images of the concept, which you can check out after the jump]

As we reported back in October, Jay Baruchel, Craig Ferguson, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, T.J. Miller, and Kristen Wiig will reprise their roles in DreamWorks Animation’s sequel to How to Train Your Dragon.  Empire now reports that Gerard Butler, who played Hiccup’s father, Stoick the Vast, will return as well.  Dean DeBlois, who co-directed the first film, will go solo on the sequel.  Also, in his recent interview with Steve, cinematographer Roger Deakins (True Grit) revealed that he would be consulting on the picture.

Not much is known about the new film other than it will be “epic” and go far beyond the tiny Viking island of Berk.  The sequel to How to Train Your Dragon is set for release in 2013.

Patton Oswalt had a routine about adding ADR jokes to an animated film. He noted that it’s a virtually impossible task, but never said for what film. Since Pixar and Disney don’t seem to need that kind of punching up, the suspicions were it was for a Shrek movie. Shortly after that routine hit, he was contracted by DreamWorks to be an advisor for their animated films, and said in an interview that being involved at the beginning made it easier to fix things than after the fact. DreamWorks has always been a problematic animated studio, though recently -with films like Kung Fu Panda – they’ve shown that they can make good to great animated films. But every time they put something out, you can’t be sure if they’ve nailed it or not.

How to Train Your Dragon is one of their best. Jay Baruchel voices Hiccup, the son of Dragon-slayer Stoick (Gerald Butler), and decidedly not the aggressor his father is. He invents a catapult, and swears he nailed the rarest of dragons – the Night Fury. No one believes him, so when he finds his prey he’s enthused, but instead of seeing a villain, he sees a wounded animal. My review of How to Train Your Dragon on Blu-ray after the jump.

While some companies are turning to a live-action/CGI blend with their older properties, Walt Disney is sticking to what it knows best and will bring a brand new Winnie the Pooh film to screens for the first time in 35 years next summer.  At the helm are Stephen J. Anderson (Meet the Robinsons) and Don Hall (story for The Princess and the Frog), who are working off five short stories by A.A. Milne.  Joining the fray on voice cast for the first time are Craig Ferguson, Tom Kenny (SpongeBob SquarePants) and Bud Luckey (director of the Pixar short Boundin’). Zooey Deschanel will be performing the Pooh theme song, while Tony Award-winning songwriter Bobby Lopez will be providing seven new songs.

With all that, this certainly is shaping up to be a winning effort from Disney. I personally can’t wait. This will be hand-drawn wholesomeness that only Pooh can inspire.  Hit the jump for the press release that includes the first synopsis and the two brand-new images.