Disney delivered previews of
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian and
WALL–E
to the WonderCon lot on Saturday. Creature Supervisor Howard Berger was on-hand
to talk shop about the next cinematic adaptation of the C.S. Lewis fantasy
world, which he described as “darker and a lot more savage.”
Berger explained that the
film’s dark turn was due in part to a number of Narnia inhabitants having
disappeared to live in exile at the hands of the evil King Miraz (Sergio
Castellitto). Essentially, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
finds the Pevensie siblings pulled back to the magical land to combat the Miraz
so the rightful Prince can take leadership of the land.
“What was fun for us was that
we got to revisit that world again,” said Berger, who also worked on the set of
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
With a second opportunity to
return to Narnia, Berger discussed his efforts to expand upon the age
group of the inhabitants to create a fuller, more dynamic cast of characters
that would include a variety of dwarves, child centaurs and old minotaurs.
“One of the things we got to
do was really come up with some great dwarf characters,” he said.
The two stand-out dwarves,
recalled Berger, are Trumpkin (Peter Dinklage) and Nikabrik (Warwick Davis).
Berger went on to say that his team was able to have fun with the characters and
use makeup and prosthetics to bring the actors to a place that they’d never been
before.
As Berger’s introduction came
to a close, he mentioned that director
Andrew Adamson was unable to attend WonderCon because he was in London at work on the film. The director, however,
was able to piece together a five-minute rough cut of Prince Caspian
for attendees. The preview was indeed uneven with certain special effects
missing. Let’s just say some creatures were still rocking unfinished
green-screen legs and others were especially cartoonish. Despite the incomplete
presentation, fans of the Narnia series didn’t appear to be too concerned
as requisite swords-play and mythical beasts still were in full effect.
The second half of the Disney
panel went from talking animals to chirping robots with a sneak peek at Pixar’s
WALL–E. Writer/director
Andrew
Stanton shared details about the creation of the last robot on Earth and
admitted that WALL-E‘s likeness to the beloved Johnny Five was pure
coincidence, explaining that the inspiration for the futuristic trash compactor
came from a pair of binoculars he fiddled with at an Oakland A’s game. When a
WonderCon attendee posed the
Short Circuit similarity to Stanton, he
replied that he’d honestly only seen the movie once in his lifetime. Right…
So, what exactly is the gist
of Pixar’s animated sci-fi romp? Stanton summed up WALL-E — short for
Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class — as purely a love story. When mankind
bids adieu to Earth, WALL-E is left as the last robot standing and goes
about business as usual by systematically cleaning up the planet, one garbage
cube at a time. Over the course of hundreds of years, the wide-eyed machine
develops a personality of his own and builds a snazzy home that he shares with
an indestructible cockroach. Things don’t actually get steamy (we’re using the
term loosely; this is a Disney picture) until a flashy modern robot named EVE
makes her way to Earth to do some investigating. WALL-E immediately falls
head-over-heals for the green-eyed probe droid and the foibles of first love
ensue.
Stanton set up four preview
clips that each captures the brilliant work of the award-winning team at Pixar.
The first clip was pretty similar to the WALL-E teaser that’s currently
available online, which looks at a typical day for Earth’s lone robot. In the
second clip, WALL-E does his best to impress EVE at his pimped-out digs
by introducing her to a Rubik’s cube, light bulb and a VHS of a musical, which
results in the two robots momentarily cutting a rug. It isn’t until the third
clip, however, that the audience is able to truly grasp the beauty of the
animated feature. For fear of losing the only friend he’s ever had, WALL-E
leaves Earth behind and travels through space, hanging onto the ship
carrying EVE. The scenes of the squat robot flying through space are absolutely
stunning and evoke comparisons to Star Wars and 2001: A Space Odyssey.
In the final clip, EVE makes it clear that WALL-E must head back to
Earth, but the adorable little guy can’t fathom leaving his newfound friend.
Intrigued by a boot with a small plant sprouting from it, WALL-E suddenly
finds himself locked in an escape pod designed to self-destruct. EVE sets
out to rescue WALL-E and the two find themselves floating through space
together.
Click here for more images from WonderCon 2008!
