Disney mum on makeover of Canada film at Epcot

**Timbo** · 07-25-2007, 03:32 PM

From the Ottawa Citizen (Canada.com):
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Disney mum on makeover of Canada film at Epcot

Gatineau's Eva Avila, comedian Martin Short rumoured to be lending talents for Aug. 25 debut

Tony Atherton, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Tuesday, July 24, 2007

The year was 1982. Pierre Trudeau was prime minister, the Blue Jays played at Exhibition Stadium, Vancouver's False Creek was an industrial wasteland, and a film called O Canada! was the star attraction of the Canada Pavilion at the newly opened Epcot Center at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.
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Full story here: Disney mum on makeover of Canada film at Epcot

**wannabeella** · 07-26-2007, 11:42 PM

I am a little disapointed that a canadian idol winner is going to be singing the songs. I don't even know who she is, and I am sure no one will know who she is in a year so it will date the film. Otherwise I am really looking forward to the new version.

**InStitches** · 07-26-2007, 11:58 PM

I love the Canada pavilion and I have hoped for a new film. I still like the film but it is need of updating.

**Tinker Bell** · 07-30-2007, 05:49 PM

I just noticed this thread tonight. I am THRILLED that they are finally updating it. Eva Avila has a great voice, doesn't really matter to me that she was the Canadian Idol winner, her singing will be a major improvement, I would cringe at the French parts of the current song, I am so glad that it's going.

Can't wait to check it out next time, hope they make it a realistic representation of our beautiful country.

**InStitches** · 08-04-2007, 09:11 PM

Originally Posted by Tinker Bell

I just noticed this thread tonight. I am THRILLED that they are finally updating it. Eva Avila has a great voice, doesn't really matter to me that she was the Canadian Idol winner, her singing will be a major improvement, I would cringe at the French parts of the current song, I am so glad that it's going.

Can't wait to check it out next time, hope they make it a realistic representation of our beautiful country.

Your country is beautiful. At least the parts I have seen. I have been to British Columbia and the Yukon Territory. The Rockies are absolutely beautiful.

**Kellyn25** · 08-10-2007, 11:47 PM

I hope that the new movie is just as good as the old. And that they do it well. I love the movie now...i'm concerend..

**Timbo** · 08-21-2007, 02:41 PM

From MediaCaster Magazine:
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CTC and Disney Update Canadian Film

Daily News Tuesday, August 21, 2007

The Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC), Walt Disney World Resort and Walt Disney Imagineering are updating the travel and tourism promotion film, O Canada!

Since 1982, the film has run in the Canada pavilion at Epcot at the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, FL. It has traditionally postioned Canada as an exciting travel destination with beautiful natural landscapes and scenery.
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Full story here: mediacastermagazine.com - Mediacaster - 8/21/2007

**Tinker Bell** · 08-26-2007, 09:44 AM

Martin Short says new film at Epcot provides more realistic view of Canada

23/08/2007 4:57:00 PM

(CP) - Martin Short, one of Canada's funniest exports, may be just the man to illustrate this country's humour to foreigners.

Actor Martin Short (CPimages /AP-Richard Drew)
That's what Disney and the Canadian Tourism Commission counted on when they asked the Hamilton native to narrate a new film for the Canada Pavilion at Epcot Center in Florida. "I haven't even seen it," Short admitted in an interview Thursday from his cottage on one of Ontario's Muskoka lakes.
"I know I play different characters . . . I know at one point I play a cowboy and a guy from Cirque du soleil. They are all little vignettes talking about different aspects of Canada."
Disney's hope is Short's exuberant yet self-deprecating humour, as well as up-to-date images, will help cast off the country's image as the hokey, snow-covered northern neighbour to the U.S., as shown in the O Canada! movie that was seen by tourists up until this summer.
The 1982 film treated visitors to the Canada pavilion at Epcot to a taste of the country through a 18-minute, 360-degree film, which showcased fishermen, Mounties, the Snowbirds and the CN Tower.
But over the years, the footage of old cityscapes and cariboo looked embarrassingly dated and the Canadian Tourism Commission started to receive complaints.
"I'd say that in the last 10 years . . . we got a lot of complaints from Canadians who said 'I don't think this is reflective of Canada. We're not just about geese. We're not about flannel jackets and we're definitely not about just great, wide open landscapes,"'said Gisele Danis with the Canadian Tourism Congress.
"The letters just poured in."
Short said the new film will definitely give people a more realistic view of Canada.
"It's more of a comedic look . . . it's, shall we say, a lighthearted examination of Canada," Short said. "It's little vignettes and things, and I narrate it as well.
"There is a montage of all the kinds of, I guess, celebrity lights that have come from Canada 'cause it is an unusually disproportionate number when you think of it."
Short explained the international interest in Canadian comedians in the past 25 years has come about because the country has emerged with a sensibility somewhere between the absurdity of British humour and the political musings of American comedy.
"It's true we are an amalgamation of these two giants - you know kind of the middle sibling or the youngest sibling.
"It's like, as the youngest sibling, you can take a swipe at the big brother (the United States) and you can mock them for their deficiencies and somehow get away with it more so because it's all kind of part of the family."
He said a good comparison of humour between the U.S. and Canada can be seen in the "Second City" comedy forums.
"The Second City company in Chicago would be more political and often better written. And the Canadian version (in Toronto) was just funnier."
Short went on to say that because Canadian audiences were exposed to Britain's Monty Python players long before U.S. audiences, there is a definite British flavour to Canadian humour.
"There is a more absurdist character bent in Canadian comedy," he said. "It's satirical and 'more taking the piss out of,' as they say in Britain," he said.
The reworked version of O Canada!, which in addition to the comedic genius of Short, will feature new music and vocals by last year's Canadian Idol, Eva Avila.
Visitors will get to see the new film in early September.

**InStitches** · 12-25-2007, 03:04 PM

I enjoyed the new film. I think Martin Short is funny. I was so worried I would be disappointed with it, but I do like it better than the older version.