Little Prince Trailer is Beautiful, Surprising in the Best Possible Way

Le Petit Prince (or as it's better known in the anglosphere The Little Prince) is one of the most long-enduring and celebrated works of children's literature of all-time. The first trailer for the latest adaptation of this classic novella has been released, and it's beautiful and surprising in the best possible way.

Written by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and published in 1943, The Little Prince follows a young boy as he falls to Earth from a comet, stranded in a desert as he searches for safety and peace of mind in a harsh, alien world.

I never read the book as a child, but I did read it to my 5 year-old godson once and I can honestly say that we were both transformed for the experience. The decision to add a "real-world"story as a framing device in this film is an intriguing one. I'm looking forward to seeing how that culminates alongside the original. The Little Prince comes out October 7th of next year. I can't wait til this one makes it stateside!

E3 2014 - Insomniac Unveils "Ratchet And Clank" Movie

Following the reveal of the Sly Cooper film earlier this year and the recent announcement of a Ratchet And Clank film at this year's E3- It seems like Sony is intent on expanding some of their most popular franchises into the cinematic realm. Not a bad thing necessarily as Ratchet And Clank always had the stylings of an animated feature, especially in the most recent installments. Set to be released sometime in 2015, the movie appears to be an incredibly faithful adaptation of the franchise.

The multiple installments of the games games followed Ratchet, a cat like tinkerer with an affinity for gadgets hailing from an extinct race of intelligent creatures called Lombaxes. Driven from their home following a great war, Ratchet's hunt to find traces of his fellow Lombax became a reoccurring theme of the franchise since the release of the first title in 2002. Looking forward to learning more about this feature, which is slated to release sometime in 2015.

Ratchet and Clank tells the story of two unlikely heroes as they struggle to stop a vile alien named Chairman Drek from destroying every planet in the Solana Galaxy. When the two stumble upon a dangerous weapon capable of destroying entire planets, they must join forces with a team of colorful heroes called The Galactic Rangers in order to save the galaxy. Along the way they'll learn about heroism, friendship, and the importance of discovering one's own identity. 

Concept Art From The Canceled Live Action "Akira" Movie Surfaces

(Via)

Interesting. In a strange turn of events, it seems like fledgling director Ruari Robinson, best known for 2013's Last Days On Mars and the amazing Blinky™ short was set to direct an adaptation of Akira that unfortunately never made it into production. Originally intended to be produced by Leonardo Di Caprio's Appian Way and Warner Brothers as a two feature project (Perhaps meaning that it would draw from the manga source material as well), the feature ran into development hell with rumors of script problems, incredibly tight budget restrictions and other problems.



Following some creative differences with Warner brothers Ruari decided to depart the project, leaving us to speculate what caused the departure. After looking through the work that Ruari oversaw for the Akira adaptation though, it seemed like he was planning a surprisingly loyal take on Otomo's groundbreaking manga/feature. Concept art seemed to indicate that Chris Evans would take on the role of Kaneda with Joseph Gordon Levitt playing the tortured Tetsuo. That aside the designs stuck pretty close to the originals including Kaneda's iconic light bike, which I'd like to think would be hailed as 'f***ing genius' by ad placement executives on the project.

While we're left to speculate what could have caused the project to die on the vine I'm guessing it probably had to do with deviating too far away from the source material, which seems to be a common predicament with adapted films. Do people really want to see a live action adaptation of Akira? While the initial reaction would probably be a hell yes, the reality is that a botched adaptation would be most likely in the hands of Hollywood 'idea men,' who seem to always see it fit to deviate from something that was never broken to begin with. If you're craving your Akira live action movie just watch Chronicle instead, an underrated gem featuring the same archetypes present in Otomo's classic.

The Golden Bird

This very unique stop motion short was created by UK-based animator Cat Bruce.  It tells the story of a boy on a journey for a golden bird, after an initial brief encounter in the middle of the night.  However, things are not always what they seem.

The style and textures  are quite interesting, and looks as if she used the scraps from a variety of arts & crafts projects.  It works well, and really provides a whimsical look to a rather bizarre plot, which was based on a Brothers Grimm story.  One of the longer stop motion shorts I've come across in a while, I can't even imagine the time and effort put into such a piece.