We have a tradition that the weekend following Thanksgiving we head to the movie theater to see one of the new releases.  If you too plan on seeing a movie this weekend I highly recommend seeing Disney’s Moana!  I’m not just saying this because I am a huge Disney fan, I am saying it because it is THAT good.  I’ll always be honest and let you know my true thoughts.   In fact, I’ll be honest right now and let you know that I actually didn’t like Finding Nemo at all  (I have been told this makes me heartless).

Here are a few of the things I loved about Disney’s Moana

• The is animation is stunning, seriously amazing!  I totally feel like I need to take a vacation to a Polynesian island now.
• The music is awesome!  The songs will be stuck in your head (You’re Welcome!).  The first thing we did when we got home was buy/listen to the soundtrack.
• The message is great, it’s about family and following your dreams.
• The actors they chose for the voices are spot on.   Dwayne Johnson and Auli’i Cravalho couldn’t be more suited for the parts.

Seriously, go see it and bring the whole family!   Even though 1/2 of our family saw the movie last week at a sneak peek we will be taking the WHOLE family to see it this weekend.    Come back and let me know what you thought.  For me, it’s right up there with Frozen.

I was provided with a free screening of the movie for me and my family in exchange for sharing a review.  All my thoughts and opinions are my own.

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My son and I had the opportunity to preview Disney Pixar’s Inside Out at the Seattle International Film Festival. I told my son that there was also going to be a Q&A with the director and producer.  My son being a total Disney nerd knew exactly who the director was (Pete Doctor) and all the other Disney movies he has directed like Up, Monster’s Inc. and Toy Story.

Inside Out is now in theaters nationwide.  You will want to make sure to add it to your summer “must see” movie list.   It’s a great feel good movie for the whole family.   Seeing this movie will tug at all you emotions, you will laugh, you will smile, you may even cry.   Disney and Pixar have created a wonderful, colorful movie with a great message.   It get’s 2 thumbs up from me and my family.

As usual, there is a Pixar short at the beginning of the movie.  This one’s called Lava, it’s about volcanoes and love (weird combo, right?)  The music is awesome and the song has been sung at our house for two week now.  My son can even play the tune on his ukulele now.   You will be humming the tune at your house too (or you may be singing the fun and annoying commercial jingle from Inside Out instead).

Here are some fun things we learned about the making of Inside Out from Pete Doctor (director) and Jonas Rivera (producer):

With the cast being so big, was it challenging to find the right person to fit each character?  They actually found Riley fairly quickly, she was a local girl that came in to help them with the reading and she fit the part so well she got the job.  Bill Hader (Fear) actually flew up on his own dime so he could check it out.    They told him “you have to be Fear” and he took the job.  Amy Poehler (Joy) seemed to be perfect for the role of Joy, it seems to me they could have fit the entire movie around a character just for her.   I personally think they hit the nail on the head casting each and every one of the actors.

Were there any major changes made to the film than when it first was pitched:  Originally the film had Joy paired with Fear throughout the movie.   Pete mentioned that fear was with him through his junior high years so it seemed like a perfect fit.  Later they changed it to pair Joy with Sadness to get the movie you see in the theater now.

Were any characters based off of anyone in real life?  Pete mentioned that the thought of the movie and Riley came from his own daughter Elie when she turned 11, he often thought “what is going on in her head”?

Did you choose the colors of the emotions for certain reasons?  Both Pete and Jonas mentioned that some emotions were easy to choose, like blue for sadness and red for anger, because we associate those colors with emotions anyway.   Green came disgust because of the broccoli and yellow seemed like a joyful happy color.  Which kind of left fear to be purple.   They joked that they hope everyone now associated fear with purple.  Just like when you say you are “blue” when you are sale you will say you are “purple” when you are scared.

You can check out what the video video featuring the cast of INSIDE OUT explaining what they think goes into making a Pixar animated movie.

Stay up-to-date on Disney Pixar’s Inside Out on the following social media channels:

Like INSIDE OUT on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PixarInsideOut 

Follow INSIDE OUT on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PixarInsideOut

Follow INSIDE OUT on Instagram: https://instagram.com/PIXARINSIDEOUT/

Follow INSIDE OUT on Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/disneystudios/inside-out/

Visit INSIDE OUT on Tumblr: https://insideoutheadquarters.tumblr.com/

Follow Disney/Pixar on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/DisneyPixar

I was provided with movie tickets in exchange for posting information on Disney Pixar’s Inside Out, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

The post Disney Pixar’s Inside Out Screening & Filmmaker Q&A appeared first on Gather Lemons.

Now that you understand the fascination and love I have for Walt Disney you will understand why I am positively giddy to see this new film coming out towards the end of the year – “Saving Mr. Banks”

Two-time Academy Award®–winner Emma Thompson and fellow double Oscar®-winner Tom Hanks topline Disney’s “Saving Mr. Banks,” inspired by the extraordinary, untold backstory of how Disney’s classic “Mary Poppins” made it to the screen.

When Walt Disney’s daughters begged him to make a movie of their favorite book, P.L. Travers’ “Mary Poppins,” he made them a promise—one that he didn’t realize would take 20 years to keep. In his quest to obtain the rights, Walt comes up against a curmudgeonly, uncompromising writer who has absolutely no intention of letting her beloved magical nanny get mauled by the Hollywood machine. But, as the books stop selling and money grows short, Travers reluctantly agrees to go to Los Angeles to hear Disney’s plans for the adaptation.

The post Disney’s Saving Mr. Banks Movie Trailer (I can’t wait to see this movie!) appeared first on Gather Lemons.

Disney Pixar’s Monsters University is hitting theaters on Friday, June 21st. Me and a few of my family members got an opportunity to see a sneak peek of the movie last week. We only had 4 tickets and since there are 7 people in our family, we had a “rock, paper, scissors” battle to see who would get to go. The winners were our youngest, Dallin and one of our older boys Austin (who is probably the BIGGEST Disney fan in our family). Don’t worry, we will take the other kids too!

We made sure to get their early enough so we didn’t miss the Pixar Short before the movie started. Does anybody else look forward to those as much as the feature presentation.

This movie is a prequel to Monster’s Inc. and it was a lot of fun. We get to see just how Mike and Sully came to be friends. We viewed the movie in 3-D. The 3-D of today is so much better than the 3-D of when I was a kid. I loved how colorful and fun the Monster’s University campus was and the fun new characters we get to meet in this one. Kids and adults should both enjoy this movie.

So, who’s headed to see Monster’s University? Are you a “see it the day it comes out” kind of person, or a “wait until it’s been out awhile, so it’s less crowded” kind of person? If you go, just make sure you stay for all of the credits.

I was provided with 4 tickets to see the movie in order to facilitate my review. All thoughts and opinions and my own.

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