Unless you currently follow me on Twitter, it’s unlikely that you know how I spent the last couple of days. I’d like to tell you a little about my visit to the wonderful fun-factory known as Pixar Animation Studios.
As was the case last year, Pixar held an extensive press event for its upcoming feature length film. In this case, all eyes were on Cars 2. You’re probably eager to hear what I thought about the upcoming sequel— more on that later.
This post is designed to give you a rough overview of the activities we were fortunate enough to partake in. Look out for more images and elaboration on the following topics over the next couple of months, especially in the weeks 
approaching June 24.
Before any of the bloggers and other media outlets got to see any kind of footage, we were treated to a surprise celebration commemorating the studio’s 25th anniversary. Directors, producers and other well-known Pixarians mingled among the visitors to chat about, well, just about anything. Look out for images of the "soiree" soon and see how many faces you can recognize!
After the meet-and-greet, I couldn’t help but be a little starstruck. Keeping my composure, I headed to the main theatre in order to check out the studio’s brand new short film, Hawaiian Vacation. I think everyone will enjoy it— it’s hilarious, punny and fast-paced, but I’ll leave it at that for now.
The next day we screened 26-minutes of Cars 2. Since the film isn’t finished, we aren’t allowed to formally review the footage. However, I can say that I absolutely loved what I saw! Whether you’re a fan of the original or not, I’m convinced that you’ll love the sequel. In other words, it’s a big step up in many aspects.
Cars 2: The Video Game (which I thought was a lot of fun) was also available to demo. Can you believe they’re releasing a 3D version for PS3?! Look out for my full thoughts on that as soon as I can get my hands on the full game.
We wrapped up the day with demonstrations as well as roundtable and one-on-one interviews with the film’s cast and crew. I think everyone will really enjoy what the talent had to say about Cars 2 and Pixar in general. 
In the future, look out for write-ups on director John Lasseter, composer Michael Giacchino and Larry the Cable Guy, just to name a few.
So much cool stuff was packed into two days that I couldn’t possibly write it all in one post. Look out for in-depth articles as we get closer to the release of Cars 2.
To wrap this up, I’d like to thank everyone at Pixar and Disney publicity for making this event possible. I’d also like to extend gratitude towards all the Pixarians that made my visit extra pleasant by being all-around kind folks.
Last modified: April 2, 2011
I’m sure nobody else feels this way. But, I was starting to get a little bored with the articles done about Pixar whenever somebody from the press would visit the studio. The articles were always the same. The people at the studio would say the same things. There would be pictures of the same areas. It’s like, how many times are you going to talk about that secert room and the cereal bar? I can’t wait to see some pics of the expansion their doing. But what I found so interesting about this post was the awards case. I wonder if the people who win their awards leave them at Pixar. You only get one Oscar right?
Is Red in Cars 2? Does Mack go around the world with Lightning or does he stay in Radiator Springs? Does it mention Doc? because I know he’s not in the movie. What ends the 26 minutes, what scene are you on
“The articles were always the same. “
You are very correct. Most of this is because of lazy, unimaginative “writers,” most of whom are just not very good. But the events are very tightly controlled by the Disney publicity machine. If you ask a question that is out of line, or probe too deeply, you are excised from the proceedings and never invited again. Pixar director tweets are all either pre-approved, or written by the publicity department (this is the norm in Hollywood—most actors/directors do not write their tweets).
In the reviews of all films (Disney, in particular) you’ll notice certain phrases, ideas, and sometimes paragraphs, popping up again and again. That is because the “writers” usually just copy the press handouts given to them, adding their own bits and pieces here and there.
This has almost always been the case in Hollywood—since the very beginning. It’s all very controlled. Hence the “sameness” of all the articles.
Well, I’m not sure whether you guys are complaining about my post or not. With that said, there’s not much that you haven’t seen since most of that is off limits. What can I say— I’m sorry. :/ I hope you enjoy my blog and I hope I can bring you interesting content. I’m happy to be invited to events like these and sharing my experiences is the least I could do. Some notes: The awards case is relatively new in that location. I will not be posting images in the form of a tour– I did that last year. Look out for interviews and some reviews.
Anon #2– I can’t answer any of those questions right now, but I’ll have a post on the subject soon enough.
Incredibly lucky.
I’ve had the names of two Pixarians previously, but lost contact with one, and another was busy the day I was in town after being in Point Richmond and then heading down to Oakland.
I still wish I could be able to see the pointer that was once used by Joe Ranft, or have a picture taken of me trying to reach pitilessly, crawling on the floor towards the area that is off-limits to us ‘mere mortals.’
I also agree that it seems alot of entertainment articles are very ‘generic.’ I remember trying to come up with questions they wouldn’t think of when I covered the 2006 Cars premiere, like the one I asked Lasseter if Luigi was a reference to the yellow Fiat 500 Lupin the 3rd drove once…how many entertainment reporters would figure THAT reference?
I see never-seen-before Cars 2 posters in the hall…
I agree some articles about Pixar tours are a little generic, mostly because the writers are not allowed to visit almost anything besides the atrium and the staff is instructed to give away just a bit of information, since we´re talking about a movie that is yet to be released.
But I don´t see that when I´m reading this blog. I´m a Pixar fan from Brasil, which is a country where we have no Pixar material at all, and the refreshing moments of my days are those when I sneak out of whatever I´m doing at work to read some news about Pixar in the north american blogs.
I really appreciate your passion for Pixar – which I share – and your efforts to build a nice blog with all the information you get.
by Fernanda
Honestly, I didn’t mean to bash this post in anyway with what I said about being bored by the studio visit articles. It’s just something that’s been on my mind for over a year now. Especially after reading so much stuff about the making of Toy Story 3 in the press.
Fernanda— Thanks for the kind comments, I really appreciate it!
Last Anon— Good to hear. 🙂
I was just wondering something regarding The Toy Story short. What you meant by punny? Incase you don’t know in full, punny references to a ‘small and weak’ item. Also a few other questions over the short:
-Is it faithful to the films and the characters, does it have heart and was it what you thought it would be like?
-Did it end regarding the future shorts?
-Is the music original at all or all old Randy Newman classics?
I would really appreciate you replying to these questions as I grew up with the Toy Story films and they are classics in my eyes.
@last anon:
I guess “punny” was supposed to be “funny”…
I meant punny (not puny— small, weak, etc), as in, full of puns. Punny is a mildly punny word in itself. It’s sort of made up, but people usually know what I mean. 🙂
To answer your questions:
1) Yes.
2) No.
3) Not sure.