I'd Watch This . . . Or, Star Wars That's Cool

So, it's not often that I get excited about Star Wars anymore.  I'm interested to see what Disney has to offer, but I'm not excited.  This short anime by a fan makes me feel the same visceral pleasure that I experienced during my teens for all things Star Wars.  If Disney could reproduce this, I'd watch it.

Sugar Rush of Cute . . . Or, Wreck It Ralph Review

By Steven Mclain

I remember when Disney and Pixar were the closest of friends.  They'd make fun animated movies together that were heart-warming, delightful and just plain fun to watch.  Then the divorce happened, and Pixar got heart-warming and fun-to-watch in the settlement.  Disney was left with something shallow and it showed.  Then along came Dreamworks, and it seemed like they and Pixar would dominate computer-generated movies--heck, it seemed like they would dominate the fun-to-watch and well-made movie niches.  Wreck It Ralph seems to have put that notion to bed.  It's fun, heart-warming, and compelling.  It is tightly plotted and understands the genre.  It's been favorably compared to Toy Story and the comparison is relatively apt. 

The movie is about video game characters who come alive at night.  Like Toy Story, the mechanism for this change is never fully explained, we're simply dropped into a world in which video game characters in an arcade go home at night, have social lives, and grouse about their condition.  Which is the essential premise: Ralph is a bad guy, and he's tired of being ostracized by the other characters in his game.  Dared to win a medal by one of the pint-sized townspeople in his game, Ralph leaves his game for the chance to win one.  Things get messy quick here, and in the course of his adventure he lands in the middle of a candy and confection themed racing game called Sugar Rush.

Daring to help the underdog beat off bullies, Ralph injects himself into the politics of the game world, with disastrous results.  With a name like Wreck It, you know nothing good can come of it.  Yet, despite his bumbling attempts to be good, his dogged pursuit of the prize at the expense of the people around him, and the heart-breaking betrayal of the one person who trusts him, Ralph learns that to become a hero, one must make the hard decisions.  Often, in the tradition of the greatest myths, the hero must sacrifice himself. 

But this is a game, and every game has a reset button.  Even for Ralph. 

I was impressed with this movie on several levels.  I went into it expecting a lot of pop culture references from my childhood, and I wasn't disappointed.  I worried, however, that most viewers would understand them, and that they would detract from the movie.  Disney managed to pop culture coup in that regard.  None of the references are vital to the story, yet they improved my viewing experience and revealed a much deeper subtext.  Way to go, Disney.

All in all, this movie might be the most fun I've had in the theater this year, and I highly recommend this movie. 

When You Wish Upon A Death Star

Disney today announced the $4 billion acquisition of Lucasfilm, including the apple of George Lucas's eye, the Star Wars franchise.  According to USA Today, the acquisition concludes a year-and-a-half pursuit by Disney of the lucrative franchise.  Disney announced that they would begin production of a new Star Wars film immediately, with a release date sometime in 2015, with subsequent films every few years.  Three years turn-around isn't that much in the high-stakes world of multi-million films, and the expectation of something staggeringly good has created a surge of interest among fans.

io9 has already speculated about the possible direction future films could take, and have offered several thoughtful ideas.  Among the ideas for Star Wars VII are stories set in the Thrawn universe, following the exploits of a fledgling New Republic battling the deeply embedded forces of Admiral Thrawn.  The books offer ties to the Clone Wars, and having the benefit of a pre-existing story, are a strong bet for future films.  Written by sci-fi master Timothy Zahn, they're also the first foray by Lucasfilm into the Star Wars universe post-Jedi, what's come to be called the Expanded Universe.  I think this is the best bet for Disney story-tellers if they're looking for something quick and easy, with the benefit of "canon" status.

Other avenues, of course, are available, and speculation ranges from a Darth Vader centered movie, to a Boba Fett spin-off.  While I would love to see something featuring Mara Jada (Luke's eventual wife in the Expanded Universe), I can't imagine that anything set within a few years of Jedi would have the appeal of later stories.  An Old Republic movie might be appealing.  Seeing the Jedi in their prime sounds fun on paper, but stories of political intrigue are dubious at best.  Lucas already tried that route and it failed miserably; trying to recapture the grandeur and opulence of the Old Republic might be beyond Disney's grasp--although, they've surprised me before.

While I'm excited to see Star Wars go off in a new directions, I'm of two minds about the whole thing.  First, we know that Star Wars without George at the helm is not a bad thing.  In fact, neither Empire nor Jedi were directed by him and Empire is considered the strongest of the three.  But George represents a locus of vision; it's his world and we're all just playing in it.  Although he's said that he'll stay on as a creative consultant, the machinations of corporate greed will play a much stronger role.  Maybe we'll get something good, maybe we'll get Episodes I, II, and III.  But the fact that Empire and Jedi didn't have George at the helm gives me hope that something good will come out of this.  I've been saying for years that a Star Wars absent George, given the love and attention only a true fan can give, would make for better Star Wars films.

*Update:  According to The Hollywood Reporter, Lucas is donating all that money to education.  Who would have thought?  I wasn't really expecting that.

What do you think?  Excited, worried, irritated?  I've got room for rants in the comments section.