Jason Surrell

I ordered this art book mainly as a way to continue to enjoy the Avengers film after seeing it. I rarely buy art books, but couldn't resist this one as a companion to the movie. I expected it to be mostly character designs, with pictures from the film complementing the artist renderings. Happily, it is much more than that, and truly is a journey through the film. There is a lot of concept art for props, vehicles, and general world-building, in addition to character design. The book has a lot show more to offer for any film enthusiast to enjoy. The section on the design of the helicarrier is particularly well done, as the book goes into depth on how they wanted to base it in reality while still being true to the comic origin. Physics, visual appeal, set design, and more were all taken into account. The exposition (text) enhances the art and photos rather than taking away from them (as I have noticed in other art books). The text incorporates quotes from the actors and filmmakers, as well as tidbits of Marvel comic history as it impacted the film, and more. I found I enjoyed reading the book as much as looking at the gorgeous imagery.

The production values for the book are top notch. The book comes in a hard slipcase with the cover art printed onto it, without dust jacket, as issued. The pages are thick and glossy, and the book is well laid out. The designers were careful not to have images broken across pages (one of my biggest gripes with art books), and there's a nice balance of screen shots from the film to contrast against the artist images. This turns out to be a great book for film fans and art fans alike. And I fully intend to get "The Art of Marvel Studios", which collects the art books from the previous films in one set. Highly recommended! show less

Pirates of the Caribbean is one of my all-time favorite Disney attractions so it was a lot of fun to get a behind the scenes perspective on the history of the ride. Surrell, who was a Disney imagineer at the time of writing, digs into how the original Pirates came to be at Disneyland in the 1960s (one of the final projects with Walt's direct involvement although he died a few months before it opened). Then he explores how the ride was adapted and changed for Florida, Tokyo, and Paris. The show more book also does a great runthrough of the ride experience in each location, with quotes from Imagineers who helped design them. Finally, the book concludes with a surprisingly interesting story behind the making of the first movie adaptation Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl. This coffee table sized book is lavishly illustrated with everything from artistic sketches to models to photos of the ride in operation. show less

This book is divided into three parts, and they are most definitely not equal.

The third part looks at the Haunted Mansion movie and is eminently skippable because 1.) No one remembers that film and 2.) Even if someone did like the film, this is a studio puff piece and doesn't give any insight into the making of it.

The first part is your history of the four Haunted Mansions that existed when the book was written and it's solid, if a little shallow.

The best part is the second part, which is a show more walkthrough of all four Mansions that existed when this was written. Its a great resource, and it's fun to really see the differences in the Mansions. For fans of the attraction, the book is worth it for just this section alone. show less

I am hereby instituting a new scale – the Disney Book Geek Scale – one to five. One means that the average person who is trying to find out a little something about Disney (or Disneyland, or whatever) would probably be interested and could enjoy the book. Five means you have to be so deep into Disney Geekdom you probably will never recover, spending the rest of your life searching to read every last scrap of paper that even has the word “Disney” on it (and right now, you are show more knee-deep in napkins that all read “Welcome to Disneyland”, but you have to read every one.)

This one is somewhere between a two and a three. It is an interesting book, and a casual Disney fan will probably find enjoyment in here. But, there is also plenty to keep the Geek happy. The text has some interesting nuggets. For example, this is the most information I’ve ever seen on the proposed ”Candy Mountain”. And there is some good, quick information on Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach. Which lead to one of the best things about this book. When you first hear it is about the mountains, you might think Matterhorn, Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, and Splash Mountain. But it doesn’t stop there, including the previous mentioned mountains as well information on those in Japan and France. And it ends with some very interesting details on the latest Disney mountain (which makes it feel a little like this was written to help hype that mountain), Expedition Everest in Animal Kingdom. But, it is interesting to note that the details and truly interesting information gets less and less as they begin to talk about the more recent mountains. It’s almost like there are stories that can’t be told until time has passed. (And, to be honest, I would have loved to have seen a lot more information on some of the less famous mountains, and a lot more on the Mount Prometheus in Disney Sea in Tokyo. From what little I know of the rides, this is some of the imagineers most innovative work.)

But, the true nuggets (as if often the case with this type of book) are the illustrations. I don’t know where people keep digging up new photos and drawings, but there are fascinating ones here that help provide the genesis and change of these projects.

A very good book, with fascinating insights (primarily in the pictures) and a definite for the Disney geek (and a possible for those who have not succumbed to the Disney Side.) show less