The Hong Kong Heritage Museum has proven, on a number of occasions, that it can host world class exhibitions that bring in long lines of enthusiastic visitors. First there was the wonderful Couture exhibition with the golden age of fashion in Europe during the 50s, and a few months ago they had another blast with “Pixar – 25 years of Animation”. The concept is brilliant, don’t you think? We all love the Pixar animation movies and I imagine we’re all naturally curious to learn more about the background stories to some of our favorite animation movie heroes.
So, on the last day before closing, I finally found to time to go visit…
The lines were absolutely insane, with an almost an hour of waiting outside for the tickets. If there’s one thing the museum needs to work on is dealing with this mess. Online ticketing and some ticketing machines could have saved us all some leg pain and stranger sweat agony.
The official museum website has the background :
Presented by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department
Organised by the Hong Kong Heritage Museum
Fully supported by The Walt Disney Company (Asia Pacific)Animated characters created by Pixar Animation Studios, such as Woody and Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story, Sulley and the human girl Boo in Monsters, Inc., the clownfish father and son in Finding Nemo and the family of superheroes in The Incredibles, have been appealing to and enchanting audiences of all ages.
In the infinitely malleable world of CG animation, Pixar has shown considerable creativity and presented numerous fascinating animated stories that successfully offer pleasure as well as visual enjoyment to a huge number of audiences.As a blockbuster exhibition hosted by the Hong Kong Heritage Museum in 2011, "Pixar: 25 Years of Animation" showcases different types of drawings by Pixar Animation Studios during the conception of CG animation works, which offer visitors an artistic insight into the studio’s hugely successful and most beloved films. Over 400 items, including traditional artwork in various mediums, maquettes, early animated short films, and one-of-a-kind media installations created by Pixar Technical Artists are on display in the exhibition. After a successful international tour and stop in California, the show has been re-curated and is now making its first stop globally in Hong Kong. Some of this new artwork has never been seen outside of the studio’s archives before!
Watch this video introducing the 25 years of Pixar achievements :
The exhibition itself didn’t allow photography, which – if you do a quick Google Images search – didn’t really bother most of the visitors with smartphones. But, there is still plenty for me to show you that was going on outside the main exhibition hall.
Upon arrival to the museum you get Woody and Buzz Lightyear welcoming you at the entrance…
Inside, just before the stairs, you got the Monsters Inc. folks ready for a photo opp…
Everything was tastefully decorated with an amazing attention for detail. The staircase leading up to the first floor where the exhibition was held had Toy Story and Ratatouille painted over them…
On the sides, long banners with more favorite friends and side-galleries showing sketches leading to the actual films…
You start out with a simple 2D idea, add some colors, toy around with 3D depth, bring in the animation, and walla – you’ve got a living creature.
While most of the Pixar movies have some very sophisticated humor that only adults would understand, it goes without saying that these movies have a natural appeal to kids. Kids all around the museum were absolutely mad with love towards all the Pixar characters on display…
The museum was clever to offer a large corner where parents and kids could try and sketch some of their favorite Pixar characters…
Some doing some really good work. Here, have a look …
Impressive, don’t you think?
A terrific exhibition, may there be more to come…
Also covering the Pixar exhibition event are :