As Jack Skellington’s gang would be chanting, “this is Halloween!” The sensationally silly and spooky holiday nears, and what better way to celebrate this terrifying time of year than by finding ways to incorporate Disney into the mix?

Here are 13 Ways To Add Disney To Your Halloween, all sure to bring about that Oogie Boogie side of you.

What do Jodi Benson, Jim Cummings, and Patrick Warburton have in common? They’re some of the greatest individuals to lend their voices to Disney animated films!

This final portion of my list of the 25 Best Disney Animated Film Voice Artists includes an eclectic mix of actors and actresses responsible for performing the studio’s most iconic characters. If you missed them, be sure to check out Part 1 and Part 2 first!

Periodically, Disney releases news photos from their Disney Dream Portraits series by famed photographer Annie Leibovitz, which takes celebrities and puts them in the roles of iconic Disney characters in their fantastical movie settings. For instance, for portion of the series, Olivia Wilde became the Evil Queen from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves; Penelope Cruz was Belle with Jeff Bridges as the Beast from Beauty and the Beast, and Queen Latifah was transformed into the evil Ursula from The Little Mermaid (see those images here).

Now, Disney has released a new portrait – this one is of singer/actress Jennifer Hudson as Tiana from Disney’s animated feature The Princess and the Frog. The photo shoot took place in an actual swamp, called The Great Swamp, and you can see the new portrait, titled “Where you always follow your heart,” as well as a behind-the-scenes video here below.

Wreck-It Ralph smashed box office records for a Disney animated film in its opening weekend, and won over critics and audiences no less. With its creativity, heart and passionate storytelling, Wreck-It Ralph signals Walt Disney Animation Studios is back in the game, so to speak. This edition of Disney In Depth will explore what has led up to this new hit for the studio, as well as what awaits.

Many individuals say the Disney Renaissance began with 1989’s The Little Mermaid, with following entries Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King reaching even greater heights – everyone seems to leave out the forgotten The Rescuers Down Under. Regardless, this represented a period of unparalleled imagination and inspiration within the studio, continuing for several years to follow. Then came the slump. Audiences were no longer interested in musicals, so it seemed, and Disney animation switched gears into the sci-fi realm with productions like Atlantis: The Lost Empire and Treasure Planet. Computer animation emerged, and with that advent Disney entered the new arena with misses like Chicken Little and the awkward-yet-smart Meet the Robinsons. None of these performed all that wonderfully. It had appeared as though Disney lost its touch. But the studio had some exciting developments up their sleeve.

At the bi-annual Destination D event at Anaheim’s Disneyland Hotel last week, the Disney D23 Official Disney Fan Club hosted a series of events that focused on the legendary history of Disney animated features. Hundreds of Disney fans gathered inside the resort’s convention center to obtain exclusive access to lectures, concerts and footage. Over the coming weeks inside Disney In Depth, I will cover some of those topics featured in the fascinating presentations held at Destination D. As for now, this edition will focus on the exciting future of the division we know as Disney animation.

Walt Disney Animation Studios appears like it is entering that third renaissance we have all been waiting for. With the beautiful The Princess and the Frog and delightful Tangled leading the way, the studio that suffered from creative missteps like Home on the Range is now producing hit films that resonate with audiences and appeal to critics to boot. During “Inside Walt Disney Animation Studios Today,” animator Darrin Butters hosted an appealing round-up of the studio’s newest projects.

Warning: This edition contains some spoilers of details mentioned at the event.

Now this is a treat.

Our friends over at /Film discovered a gem while searching the internet recently. To be specific, they discovered a trailer for a little movie called Beauty and the Beast. The only problem is, this was not our beloved Walt Disney classic, it was a new version of the movie completely ripped off by Thai company GM Toons. Even their opening logo is fairly similar to Disney’s.

The trailer is funny beyond all words; it’s identical to Beauty and the Beast, only the animation looks like a Saturday Morning Cartoon nightmare. Add to that some atrocious voice acting and you have yourself a wonderfully amusing little viral video in the making. Even better than that is the fact that the Beast in this mess happens to also look an awful lot like a certain character from The Lion King. And it doesn’t end there. There’s a pile of these ripoffs to be seen.

Click on over to the other side to see the trailer for this movie and many more now!

The Princess and The Frog
Three Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo
Directed by Ron Clements, John Musker
Starring Bruno Campos, Jennifer Cody, Keith David, Jenifer Lewis, Jim Cummings
Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
Release Date: March 16, 2010

With 3D animated films suffocating the market these days, it truly is a breath of fresh air to watch The Princess and The Frog. Walt Disney Studio’s eagerly awaited return to traditional animation is an impressive 2D animated feature for the studio that mastered the art form so many decades ago.

Directed by John Musker and Ron Clements (The Little Mermaid, Aladdin), The Princess and the Frog moves the classic fairy tale setting to a stylish version of 1920s New Orleans (finally an American fairy tale!). Tiana (voiced by Anika Noni Rose), the first African-American Disney heroine, is not a princess, but a young woman who hopes to fulfill her father’s dream of opening a restaurant to serve food that will bring together people from all walks of life. Tiana may wish upon a star, but she believes that hard work is the way to fulfill your aspirations. Her dedication clashes with the visiting prince Naveen (Bruno Campos). A voodoo spell cast by Dr. Facilier (Keith David) (in a showstopping number by composer Randy Newman) initiates the events that will bring the mismatched hero and heroine together. Tiana finds comfort and support in three supporting characters — Louis (Michael-Leon Wooley), a jazz-playing alligator; Ray (Jim Cummings), a Cajun firefly; and the 197-year-old voodoo priestess Mama Odie (Jenifer Lewis). Spurred on by a little bit of courage and a great big dream, these new friends come to realize what’s truly important in life…love, family, and friendship.

As always, we like to have the results of the big awards ceremonies here for all to see, and tonight was the biggest of them all: the 82nd annual Academy Awards.

This, the king of all awards shows, has faced much criticism the last few years, and their nominations this year did not help bring validity to their cause. Many of the films and actors were very deserving of their nominations, but many others were passed over in lieu of some big box office successes of questionable overall quality. And though they made a valiant effort to increase the excitement of the show with 10 Best Picture nominations, the end result was frustrating to we the film lovers of the world?

In the end, some fantastic films and performances were justly awarded, and as always, there were a few that rubbed the wrong way. Continue on over to the other side to see all of the final results!

For we the movie fanatics of the world, the Academy Awards are just as exciting as the Super Bowl. Many of us throw or attend Oscar parties, and even go so far as to print out that ballot and lock our picks into place.

Over the past few years, this and a lot of other awards shows have kind of lost their flare. It has become apparent that deciding nominees and voting for winners is not about who is the best and who is most deserving, but about what has the best side-story and what the popular names and titles are. This massive flaw is hard to swallow, and the appeal of the whole event is bordering on non-existent.

To help bring more appeal to the game, the folks behind the Academy Awards chose to make a few changes in the format of the show. The biggest of these alterations was of course changing the amount of Best Picture nominees from 5 to a whopping 10, which meant that all of the deserving but not-so-traditional contenders (The Dark Knight) could get their chance to be underdog heroes.

Continue reading on for more and to check out the full list of this year’s nominees!

Well, the 67th annual Golden Globe Awards were just handed out, and the winners and losers are now here for us to talk about.

The popularity and integrity of the Globes has consistently declined over the years as it became apparent that those who were voting were typically voting based on popularity and not so much on those who are deserving (a trend among awards shows, it would seem). Still, these are the awards that set the table for the big one, the Academy Awards, and what we can start to expect when those are handed out.

The show was actually better than it usually is. Ricky Gervais was a brilliant host, and even though he likely pissed a lot of people off with his edgy humor, it will be impossible to ignore the positive feedback you will hear from his job this evening. The awards played out as expected with a few pleasant surprises and the typical sickening winner from time-to-time.

For those of you who missed the Golden Globes or just didn’t watch them, click on over to the other side to see a rundown of highlights to seek out on YouTube and low points to avoid. Also to be found below is the entire list of nominees, with the winner in each category in bold if you don’t care and just want to peek at who won.