Friday, January 6, 2012

Mousey Movies - Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol

Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol is a Mousey Movie…there I said it.   Was it produced by a Disney studio?  Nope!  Is it based on Disney park or story material?  Nope!   Were the other three installments mousey?  Not really!  Not every Mousey Movie gets produced by the House of Mouse my friends.  Regardless of its origins, this Tom Cruise led Paramount Pictures blockbuster has plenty for Disney fans to enjoy: 
·     Brad Bird: It all starts with director Brad Bird.  Bird is a well established animator and director of animated films.  He both wrote and directed Pixar’s The Incredibles and Ratatouille.  And Ghost Protocol has a fast paced action packed feel that would be very familiar to fans of The Incredibles.  He is clearly someone that Disney fans know and appreciate.  Ghost Protocol is his first live action picture and it’s a success.  Bird identifies with his animation and Pixar past as can be seen in his twitter name @BradBirdA113.  A113 is a classroom at CalArts where many Pixar staff were schooled.  A113 can be found in every Pixar movie as an easter egg.  Bird has also used A113 in non-Disney projects including this one.  A113 is used as both a code name and most strikingly on a prop that dominates the movie screen.  With Bird’s fingerprints this movie has a mousey feel.      
·     Jeremy Renner: Marvel is slowly but surely becoming more and more mousey as this relatively new addition gains prominence with Disney fans.  Renner plays William Brandt an analyst that gets added to Ethan Hunt’s (Cruise) Impossible Mission Force (IMF) Team. Renner also plays Hawkeye in the Marvel movies leading up to The Avengers.  And we have already seen Renner as Hawkeye in Thor, giving us two of the best minutes of that superhero film.  And I’m not even a Hawkeye guy. 
·     Michael Giacchino:  Mr. Giacchino is there nothing you can’t score?  Giacchino also scored Mission: Impossible III.  But for us Disney fans he is the current go to musical guy with The Incredibles, Sky High, Ratatouille, Up, Cars 2 and the future John Carter all within his credits.  That impressive list does not even include his ABC television productions.  And we cannot overlook the Disneyland version of Space Mountain’s score which may be my all-time favorite of his work.
·     J.J. Abrams: I have never watched Lost or Alias but these Abrams’ productions have been hits for ABC.  Abrams directed Mission: Impossible III and was a co-producer on this offering.  Between Brad Bird and Abrams, this staff was very familiar with Giacchino who has frequently collaborated with them.  Between these three creative forces Ghost Protocol really is a mousey party.    
·     Laminar Fountains:  What is it with me and jumping water?  In one scene the IMF attends a party at the home of an Indian telecommunications giant.  What does this rich gentleman decorate with….laminar fountains of course!  It just proves, you can bring a piece of Epcot home with you for the right price.  Or at least build a piece of Epcot.  I wonder what the Between family would think if we added this water feature to the living room!    
·     BMW i8: I’m not a car guy, in fact some of you may be laughing thinking about me as a car guy.  I’m not a Tron guy, and now more of you are laughing.  But the BMW i8, a hybrid concept car, needs to be taken out of Ghost Protocol and dropped into the Tron franchise. 
BMW i8

      As Ethan Hunt drives through the streets of Mumbai in this set of wheels I kept looking for it to be trailed by a light wall.  There needs to be a law that you can only drive the i8 driving a glowing jumpsuit. 
It’s true, not every Mousey Movie comes from the House of Mouse.  Out here in Between Disney we have look everywhere to find our connections back to Disney.  And with a movie like Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol that can be pretty easy to do.   

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