Barbie: Thumbelina Now Available
Thursday, March 26th, 2009
“Barbie Presents Thumbelina” is a brand new tale with a classic character. Meet a tiny girl named Thumbelina who lives in harmony with nature in the magical world of the Twillerbees, hidden among the wildflowers. At the whim of a spoiled young girl named Makena, Thumbelina and her two friends have their patch of wildflowers uprooted and are transported to a lavish apartment in the city. Here they learn of construction plans that threaten to destroy the land of the Twillerbees! Harnessing the magic of nature, Thumbelina sets out to prove that even the smallest person can make a big difference.The KIDS FIRST! kid jurors who watched this were delighted with the animation and twist on the classic tale. They loved the friendship between the Twillerbees and Makena. “The dog was really funny,” laughed one young juror as he danced around the room pretending to fly like the Twillerbees. Adult jurors loved the messages of respecting the environment and remembering that little things can have big effects.Kids who love this DVD will also appreciate The official Barbie Thumbelina website, which has games, posters and activity ideas that are fun for all ages.
DRAGON TALES: OUR AMAZING PETS! Debuts on DVD on March 17, 2009.It includes fun and educational episodes that teach children the importance of caring for their special pet friends. Whether an orange furball, a leaping frog, a baby rhyming bird or a fuzzy pet caterpoozle, Dragon Land is full of many unique animals – each of which has its own set of special needs to discover! The DVD also includes a fun Dragon Tales song, “Come On, Let’s Blow,” which parents and kids can enjoy singing together DRAGON TALES: OUR AMAZING PETS! represents the 17th SPHE release of the popular brand. Like all other titles OUR AMAZING PETS! also contains Sony Pictures Home Entertainment’s unique “Quick-Start” auto-play feature.Episodes Include:Wheezie’s HairballEmmy and Max are greeted in Dragon Land by a strange orange fur ball, Zak and Wheezie’s new pet, Slurpy. They’re learning how to take care of him, and it isn’t easy! Since he can’t talk, Slurpy tries to communicate by bouncing twice and spinning around.Frog PrintsWhen Quetzal takes the gang on a ride through Dragon Lagoon, Max finds a new friend. He immediately loves “Hoppy,” a little uni-croaker frog, and decides to take him home to keep as a pet. But Quetzal gently explains that’s not possible.Bye Bye BirdieWhen Emmy finds a baby rhyming bird left behind by its family, she wants to keep it for a pet. She names it Cutie Pie and becomes attached to the little bird. Her friends and Quetzal help her realize she must return the baby bird to its parents. Emmy feels very sad knowing she’ll have to say goodbye to Cutie Pie, so her friends show her support, making the journey with her to find the bird’s family.Goodbye Little CaterpoozleEveryone loves to play with Cassie’s fuzzy pet caterpoozle, especially Cassie. When Cassie discovers a transparent cocoon in the cage, they all believe that Poozie has died. To help Cassie feel better, the friends share favorite memories of Poozie and offer tohelp find another pet. None will do, until a caterpoozle a lot like Poozie crawls up Cassie’s arm, nuzzles her neck and smiles at her.Green ThumbsWhen the group finds a lost baby plant, they have to figure out how to care for her properly on their long journey to return her to her family and home.
1.Martino’s journey from art school in Ohio to Monty Python to “Ice Age” to “Horton Hears a Who.”Martino was bitten by the animation bug in animation class in college while studying to be a designer. He realized that he could move an audience with moving graphics and he enjoyed making people laugh. In the early 1980’s, he worked for television stations doing animations for the Super Bowl, NFL and ESPN. He found himself moving along with technology and its leaps and bounds. Back in the 80’s he would never have dreamed of feature films with characters like today. One of Martino’s favorite parts of his job is that he is lucky to work with talented people A highlight of his career was sitting with Terry Giliam at studio and story-boarding. Martino thinks Giliam is “one of most creative guys out there.” He had a huge influence of Martino. For instance, Martino was inspired by stories on how Martino made “Brazil” and how they used clacking in “Holy Grail” as a necessity since the film budget didn’t include horses. Working on a variety of film from “Holy Grail” to”Ice Age” and “Robots,” where he was art director, Martino gained the experience necessary for co-directing “Horton Hears a Who” along with Jimmy Hayward.2. Goals for the filmMartino had three major goals for this film. First, they wanted to adapt the book by a beloved, respected author, and remain true to the work in storytelling while expanding what was between the pages.The second film goal was the animation. They wanted to create flexibility and movement. The character development team challenge. As a team they worked together to create the perfect tools for animators to move characters around mixing creativity with technology, making the animation fluid.Thirdly, they wanted to keep true to the style. Dr. Seuss was production designer in Steve’s opinion. They promised Audrey Geisel, the widow of Ted Geisel (a.k.a. Dr. Seuss) that they would stay true to the style. According to Martino, one of best moments in the project was when he had lunch with Geisel after the project was complete and they and saw it in a special showing in a theatre. Martino laughs about how his hands were clenched on seat throughout the film, as if her were in a dentist chair, wondering how she would react. Before the credits even rolled, she stood up and applauded and commented that they took the story and lifted it to a new place. Martino expresses that it was the pinnacle of the filmmaking experience to sit with Audrey and have her applaud what they had done.3. Animating “Horton Hears a Who”Hayward and Martino both sat down to talk about the book and discovered that they agreed on how it should be portrayed. They discussed what they imagined as they read the book when they were kids. Martino also factored in ideas he developed as he read to his own kids, who are now 14- and 11-years-old. Hayward and Martino wanted to depict a sense of imagination — not like this world. They felt the story needed to be more exaggerated and imaginative than our world and came to the conclusion that to depict this, they would create a unique two-dimensional animation style.Computers like to keep things on model and perfect form, and for this project the creators wanted to push character distortion –heads squashed or arms 3 times a natural length. The art team jumped on this challenge and embraced it although it was difficult.The animation project was huge. They had a special fur team whose entire job was to groom the fur digitally. This task encompassed the Who’s and the plants. There were very complex scenes, which pushed technical boundaries such as the field of flowers near the end of the film which had ½ billion clovers. The animators managed to fill space and even have clovers blowing in wind. In order to do this they had to intelligently render clovers based on the camera angle through some technologicalingenuity. Each individual frame for this scene took two to three days. Due to the complexity of the scene, it took months to render.4.ResultsMartino firmly believes the film became what it is because of the talent of the people working on it. The cast, in his opinion, was phenomenal and the recording sessions took the movie to a place he never would have conceived of as the actors improvised and all the talented people contributed with their expertise.Three years on a film is a long time to be working on one project. Especially when you are a parent with two children. In fact, his two daughters are in the movie as Who voices, and they were also part of the focus group. Martino loved the great story and great theme by Dr Seuss — no prejudice. He found that this was a great investment of time and life, stating that it was “so nice to work on a project where you can bring your family to the film without hiding your head in shame.”
Here’s an interview where Barbie gives us the scoop behind the scenes of her latest DVD release.1. What was your approach in making this film so it was different from all the “Scrooge” stories out there?No other classic “scrooge” story stars a singing diva played by Barbie®! This movie takes the classic Charles Dickens story and retells the it with fabulous fashions and lots of laughs. As any of my friends know, I always bring a special, unapologetically all-girl approach to everything I do.2. What can viewers look forward to in this film that is unique from the rest of the Barbie films?This movie is very special to me because it is my first holiday DVD! In addition, this is the first story which I get to sing my own versions of classic holiday songs!3. Please tell me a bit about the animation and why you chose that style?I can always count on the awesome behind-the-scenes team to ensure that the animation style is vibrant and high-quality. The movie’s animation worked perfectly to enhance my gorgeous, sparkling gown and winter wonderland scenery.4. Please tell me a bit about the music. Why did you choose those particular songs and styles?The music of the film consists of upbeat twists of some of my favorite Holiday classics such as “Jingle Bells”. I wanted to incorporate Christmas songs that every girl and her family could dance to and sing along with. Families can expect a great time with songs sung by me, my co-stars and even a bonus music video with the hilarious, Chuzzlewit, the cat!5. What was something interesting you learned through this filmmaking process?I never fail to learn something new and exciting with each new movie. Through filming “Barbie™ In A Christmas Carol” I was reminded of the importance of giving and helping others – not only during the holiday season, but every day. The holidays mean different things to different people, but we all need to take the time to give. And, giving comes in all shapes and sizes- from a simple smile or sharing a laugh to donating food or toys. While the holidays are a great time of year to give, you can keep on giving throughout the rest of the year too.6. Please give me an anecdote of something unique that happened while you were making the film that affected the final production.From day one, our star cat in the film, Chuzzlewit, refused to wear what he considered the “silly” costume designed for his character. “Cats don’t need to wear anything but fur,” he protested. On a blustery day in London, we were caught in a huge snow storm that took the entire cast and crew by surprise! As you can imagine, he had no problems embracing the hats and jackets after the storm. Silly Chuzzlewit.7. Is there anything you would like to add?One of my favorite parts in the making of this film was the beautiful, shimmering white satin and silvery gown I wore. I want every girl to know that they can enjoy the beauty of my gown in real-life with the magical 2008 Holiday™ Barbie® Doll, whose beautiful outfit is the same as the one I wear in the movie.8.Could you please send me a current image?Yes, attached are images of myself as Eden from the movie and shots of the DVD’s cover.
The race is on again for famous contenders Wally the Tortoise and Murray the Hare when 
Sure to be a family-favorite with the humor and heart that The Jim Henson Company is known for, UNSTABLE FABLES: TORTOISE VS. HARE features a celebrity cast including the voice talent of Emmy Award® winner* Jay Leno (Ice Age 2), Danny Glover (Dreamgirls), Vivica A. Fox (Ella Enchanted), Keke Palmer (Jump In!, Akeelah And The Bee) and three-time winner of Kid’s Choice Award for Best Actor, Drake Bell (Superhero Movie, “Drake and Josh”).According to Lisa Henson, co-chief executive officer of The Jim Henson Company, the creators of Unstable Fables goal was to create a bookshelf series of unique versions of fairy tales. They endeavored to portray loose adaptations of the stories, showing the characters in modern ways. Above all, the tales were made to get audiences laughing and, based on the group of children I watched the film with, the creators met their goal.“Why did they decide to use animation instead of your trademark puppetry?” I asked Henson. The answer is that the Henson company is taking interest in 3-D animation and perhaps 2-D animation in the future.
Henson has two children ages ten and eight who are already quite media savvy. She shares KIDS FIRST! values and the goal of providing quality entertainment for the kids. She also educates her children so they are media savvy and are informed viewers. Like many parents, Henson is concerned about what her kids watch, and she creates films such as TORTOISE VS. HARE with this criteria in mind. The Unstable Fables have a pro-family feel and use humor to engage children as well as adults. Her own children approved the film, especially since it starred some of their favorite actors (Keke Plamer and Drake Bell).As a producer, Henson was surprised at how well kids reacted to TV stars. According to her research, kids are much more likely to enjoy a film because of its TV stars than a film starring the voice of a movie star. In this series of Unstable Fables, they used stars kids could identify for the kids’ voices and stars parents enjoy for the adult voices to create all-age appeal.TORTOISE VS. HARE started out with a storyline very different from the final product. It didn’t have kids, and there was a lot more intrigue. Henson pointed out that when they began producing, they quickly realized that the series needed children in the stories. Families are a main focus with parents and children together. She also points out that she loves the new character designs, “Howard Baker did a really great job of developing an unstable way of finding characters—upbeat; cute, but not over-cute; modern—especially the tortoise with its jewel-encrusted shell.If you want a good laugh from a great story with superb visuals, check out TORTOISE VS. HARE, now on your store shelves. Fans of the series will also be pleased to know that the next Unstable Fable, GOLDILOCKS AND THE THREE BEARS hits the shelves later this year. What will the three bears do when Goldilocks moves in with them in a reality TV situation similar to “The Simple Life”?
