Check This Out: Dug From "Up" Comes to Life in a Park Near You

Scene from Up

There's no denying that Pixar has made some great films. Among their very best is Up, which was best known for the elderly Carl (Ed Asner) tying balloons to his house and flying to a land of wonder. Among those wonders was one of Pixar's greatest characters: a talking dog named Dug. Over the course of the film, his heroic and comedic duties make him one of the most endearing canines in modern cinema. In a campaign launched by Disney (named Disney IRL), they have taken Dug to a place that they've taken most of their other properties: the real world. In a short video that should cheer any gloomy person's day, Dug comes to life in familiar adorable -- squirrel.

Why We Need More Kid Friendly Best Picture Nominees

Scene from Pete's Dragon

With August coming to a close, the general conversation has switched over to the familiar broad topic: was this a good summer at the movies? Most people would argue that everything was disappointing, and the three weeks of Suicide Squad topping the box office remains disconcerting for some. However, August has made a strong case against this being a total waste with the presence of Pete's Dragon and last weekend's phenomenal Kubo and the Two Strings. Despite middling box office for both, they reflect that best that blockbuster entertainment can be. In a time where the Oscars want to branch out and reflect a more diverse pallet of genre fare, there is one question that could be asked: Can family cinema get nominated for Best Picture? To be totally honest, I think that we should greatly consider these two movies when it comes time to fill out those ballots. 

The Top 10 Pixar Directors

This weekend marks the release of Pixar's 17th feature Finding Dory (review coming soon). Following the highly successful Finding Nemo after 13 years, it continues to see Pixar's influence on the zeitgeist being held strong and true. But what about the voices behind these now iconic films? With a strong and diverse roster of talents, it feels important to recognize the voices that brought the works to life. The following is a list of my Top 10 favorite Pixar directors based on how I ranked every entry. While the Top 5 features the familiar heavyweights, the bottom half manages to feature some lesser known talents that will hopefully continue to make quality work and find themselves further up on the list. For those missing, it was an often close competition and hopefully they will pose a threat as the studio enters its third decade of quality animated work.

Trivia: How Many Oscars Has Pixar Been Nominated For?

When it comes to the Oscars, few studios have had as unanimous a reputation with them as Pixar. Where many directors and actors have been known to get countless nominations, there hasn't been a studio with a release schedule in which audiences could pretty much not only predict a nomination, but also a win (specifically in Best Animated Feature). But how well does Pixar actually do at the Oscars? Is their reputation as great as you'd think? In honor of this week's release of Inside Out, here's a by the numbers look of each film and short that the studio has released and what their actual winning track record actually is.

Ranking Pixar's Best Animated Feature Winners

Pop Quiz: How many times has Pixar won Best Animated Feature? To some, the notion is to believe that it has won every time out of the gate. However, as noted yesterday, this fact may not be entirely true. While the studio has earned an impressive 7 of the 14 wins, there's been a few that have missed the cut, including Monsters Inc. and Cars - and some didn't even get nominated at all. However, with Inside Out coming out Friday and looking to be a strong contender for an eighth victory, it feels like a good time to not necessarily rank all of Pixar's films, but only those that have won an Oscar. Who comes out on top? You'll have to read on to find out.

My Top 10 Favorite Best Animated Feature Nominees

Ratatouille

This past weekend, How to Train Your Dragon 2 opened in theaters, and I was very ecstatic about it. I still consider it to be something of a masterpiece that will hopefully find more legs as its box office history continues. With the expectations of it topping next year's Academy Awards, it got me thinking: what are my favorite Best Animated Feature nominees? In the category's brief, 13 year existence, it has celebrated the growth of a style that used to be a lot cruder. However, it has also shown the progression effectively, especially as computer technology has trumped traditional technique and has taken some films into new artistic zones.