The science behind the magic

The magic of Disney always entrances the members of my family.  Whenever we have the chance to spend some time with the world of Disney, we are eager to join the fun. 

Recently, my husband saw that the observation deck at Mori Tower in Roppongi was hosting a Disney exhibit, "The Science Behind Pixar".  By title alone, we were intrigued and knew we had to check it out.  Although we have been there before, this new exhibit made the trek back up to the 52nd floor worth our time. 

After purchasing our tickets to the top (there is a slight discount when you specify you don't want to go up to the roof), we took the elevator up.  As soon as we exited the elevator, we found the entrance to the exhibit. 

We were greeted by a huge statue of Buzz Lightyear, as well as a short line to take your photo with the space ranger.  My son, a huge fan of the Toy Story series, was ecstatic to get his photo taken with Buzz.

Immediately to the left of Buzz was a round exhibit detailing how Pixar movies move from storyboarding to rendering.  It allowed us to show our son how a digital movie was made.  He is very familiar with how cartoons were made by hand, but we had yet to cover how they are made with computers.  It is so fun to see puzzle pieces come together in his head and he understands a concept previously a mystery. 

The rest of the exhibit expands on those basic steps.  Each station was so interesting and explained so much behind the creation on the studio's films.  This was one place that I did not feel left out due to my lack of Japanese competency.  There were lots of things to play with that anyone could figure out, as well as tons of phones to pick up and listen to information in either Japanese or English.  Many of the monitors placed around the observation deck were interviews of Pixar employees, which could be listened to in English, as well.

As we wandered through the statues, hands on activities, and videos, we were amazed at the size of the exhibit.  It filled most of the observation deck.  It took us almost an hour to wander through, touch, and take photos of the various artifacts. 

I was super impressed with The Science Behind Pixar.  As a fan of the company, it was fascinating.  I'm the person that watches all the bonus features on Disney and Pixar movies to learn more about how they create the movies and this was above any of those featurettes.