Disney’s “Planes” is out in theaters, and if you got caught my movie review, you’ll know one of my favorite characters is definitely El Chupacabra. Carlos Alazraqui is the voice that brings El Chu to life, and with a personality that rivals his character, interviewing him was as easy as pulling up to Taco Tuesday with a best friend. He makes you laugh, he makes you cry, but be warned – when he is mad, he is likely to “swish my cape at you!”

You may not recognize his name or face, but his voice is one you’ll recognize. As the voice for characters such as Rocko on Rocko’s Modern Life, Felipe from Handy Manny, King Magnus from Sophia the First, Deputy James Garcia from Reno 911 and Walden from Wow Wow Wubzy, you are sure to have heard his impressive talents on screen. Carlos spoke to us about his favorite qualities of his “Planes” character, “El Chu has valor and passion and is el luchador! He has vulnerability; everything you want in character.”

But truly, it was this Hollywood actor’s candid remarks about playing a Latino character in a Disney filmed that sparked a great conversation on bi-cultural life. “I don’t recall a prominent Latino character has been in one [Disney film], so it’s kind of a privilege. Also, because, he’s a good guy. He’s not a villain”.

As the child of Argentinian parents, Carlos grew up as a typical Southern California kid. Now, as a father himself, Carlos spoke openly about the difficulties raising his two year old daughter to be “more bilingual than me”. And while Carlos says he is not totally bilingual, I thoroughly enjoyed our Spanglish conversation.

Having the chance to meet Carlos Alazraqui and learn a bit about how the voice of El Chu developed was such a treat. If you have seen Planes already, did you enjoy the character as played by Carlos Alazraqui?

Disney “Planes” is in theaters now! To learn more, like Disney’s PLANES on Facebook. Follow Disney’s PLANES on Twitter @DisneyPictures and visit the Planes website.

One the endearing characters of the film is Dottie the mechanic, voiced by Teri Hatcher. Unfortunately, Teri was not feeling well (she was really sick!) and was not able to attend with us in person. However, she graciously phoned in for a conference call to answer all our questions on her experience voicing Dottie, her thoughts on “Planes” and even a little but about motherhood. Here are some of my favorite parts of this hour long conversation with Teri Hatcher, voice of Dottie the mechanic…

How is it playing an animated character versus an actress in a movie or on TV?

Teri: Having done a few of them now, and then a little bit of a range of voice characters in different projects, you know, I think initially, when you sort of imagine or fantasize about getting to be a part of a big Disney movie- at least as I did in, in my acting career before I had the opportunity- you kinda think you’re gonna end up doing some sort of cartoony, you know, squirrel voice or something, and which is really fun and would be fun to do. I think, for this character- for Dottie, you know, I’m being as authentic and trying to be as persuasive, and as empathetic, and listening, and just feeling from the emotions all the same sorts of traits in a character that I would have if you were filming my face and my body. The sort of divergence, I guess, is that I get to show up not in hair and makeup; not worrying about any physicality, and really just, you know, relaxing into my voice, and and just trying to tell the story through my voice.

Can you share with us your favorite part of “Planes”?

Teri: So I love [it] all, everything in it, but I think, my favorite scene for me of, for my character and what just makes me makes me laugh remembering the journey of filming it was the scene where Dottie is first telling him that he can’t he can’t fly, and then she just sort of does this demonstration of what’s gonna happen to him if he doesn’t fly. You know, he’s gonna go to the ground and smash all the kids in the orphanage.  It just, it makes me laugh and when I watch it with a group of people, everybody laughs, and so I guess that’s one of my favorites.

What was your daughter’s reaction to hearing that you were doing this role?

Teri: Oh, her first reaction is, I wanna be a voice animator! It’s a pretty fun job, I’ve gotta say. I also did all the mom voices in Coraline, and so I guess that was really my daughter’s first exposure to seeing her mom, or hearing her mom put a personality behind the image of a character. She’s just proud of everything I do.

What was it like being offered a Disney film?

Teri: Getting offered a Disney movie, one of your first thoughts is thinking, my child is going to love this, or my grandchild is going to love this. Or even my great grandchild when I am long gone is going to love this.  That is the quality that Disney offers.  I feel like kids even 50 years from now will still be entertained by Planes with their families.  That is pretty fun!  Voicing Dottie is a great way to be a little part of a movie that is going to bring joy to families all over the world.

The world of “Planes” is soaring above us and is scheduled to land on August 9th. During my Behind the Scenes visit at DisneyToon Studios, I got to catch up with two people that helped bring it all together: Director Klay Hall and Producer Traci Balthazor-Flynn. While I sincerely enjoyed screening the film and am excited to take my daughter to see it again, meeting these two film makers was definitely the highlight of #DisneyPlanesEvent. Little did I know that, as they welcomed our group to the pre-screening of the film, we were the first viewing of the final cut of Planes. How crazy is that! Later, Planes Director admitted that having “fresh eyes” on the finished film was kind of “nauseating”. That vulnerability is what, I think, makes this Disney movie extra special.

Meeting Disney Planes Director and Producer

The making of Planes took Disney a whopping four years, but Director Klay Hall has had a lifetime of appreciating the mechanics and beauty of them. Although he prefers trains best, being the son of a Navy pilot and having spent hours at airshows as a child, Klay Hall knows his way around a plane. To fully appreciate the experience that main character Dusty encounters in the film, Director Klay Harris and Producer Traci Balthazor-Flynn were flown out to the USS Carl Vinson where they were able to spend a couple of days with the men and women onboard. These filmmakers made every effort to ensure the movie retained authenticity to the experiences portrayed. It was a joy chatting with these two, as their enthusiasm and love for the project was evident.

Disney Planes Embraces Global Perspectives

With her soft spoken nature and henna covered wings, Indian plane Ishani was an instant favorite of mine. Planes’ main character, Dusty, was also quite smitten with her. Of course, I can’t wait to introduce SpanglishBaby readers to the wildly hilarious and equally charming, El Chupacabra – Dusty’s friend from Acapulco, Mexico. I have to admit, hearing his familiar accent with glimpses of Spanglish in a Disney film brought up many emotions. Hopefully characters like El Chu will continue to pop up on mainstream Disney films in the future!

However, what impressed me the most in our conversation with Planes filmmakers was their effort to “localize” Rochelle, the French- Canadian Plane (and El Chu’s romantic pursuit). This effort is the first of its kind for Disney studios, and one that I am excited to see done more of in future movies. Director Klay Harris explained the character of Rochelle was chosen because, although she is important to the storyline, her impact isn’t crucial to the outcome of movie. Filmmakers thought her character was perfect to “localize”, by changing her appearance and voice according to which country the film was being shown in. The concept of changing Rochelle’s colors is called “reskin” and well-known, local actresses were casted to voice her part. Rochelle will be “localized” in 8 different countries and I can’t wait to see the many versions of her!

My full review of Planes will be coming soon. I can’t wait to share more about this fun new Disney film! In the meantime, to learn more about the August 9th release of Disney’s Planes by liking Disney Planes on Facebook or by following on Twitter.

Disney’s new animated film “PLANES” is landing into theaters on August 9th, but SpanglishBaby readers get a first look at a behind the scenes making of the world above “Cars.” Disney invited us into their DisneyToon Studios for a full day of learning and to experience how our favorite films are made. We also got to preview the movie, which will surely be a family favorite! It was definitely one of mine. Not to worry, complete review will be coming soon!

If you’ve ever had a chance to visit the DisneyToon Studios, you were likely as in awe as I was. Right now, the entire lobby is decorated to resemble a landing strip, with Dusty and his friends hanging out at the hanger. The walls are lined with artwork created by Disney artists from many years past. It was like a walk down memory lane!

After escorting us into a private movie theater to premiere the final cut of “Planes,” we were invited to learn how Disney Storyboard Artists bring the script of “Planes” to life through sketch drawings, that are eventually made into animation, but we’ll get to that later. Art Hernandez is one of the lucky guys that helps mold a Disney movies – from script to movie screen. Art explained to us how the storyboard process for Disney animated movies takes anywhere between 1 to 2 years and 40-50,000 story panels because they are essentially creating a template for all the departments to follow. The Story Artists are also responsible for pitching the sketches and “selling the scene” to directorsm, making their jobs instrumental in developing the characters we have all come to love.

While meeting with Art, I got the sense that he really loved his job and, after I asked him if he was like a kid in a candy store, he opened up to us a little bit about how he achieved all this success. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Art always knew he wanted to be an artist. He loved to draw and was grateful for the influences in his life that pushed him to succeed. When asked what his number one tip that moms can do to help their child’s passion for drawing and art? “Provide lots of encouragement, opportunity for practice and many different kinds of materials. You never know what art form you’ll love best until you try!”

After story boards have been walked through, voice overs have been recorded, it was time to begin animating the film. Ethan Hurd is the Assistant Animation Director, having worked on Disney movies since “Toy Story 2,” he was very kind and patient with all my questions. I must have asked him a dozen times how a character was created from rough drawing to the animated version we were looking at, but I still don’t understand! The amount of technical precision and art within the DisneyToon studios is mind boogling. Ethan uses a program called Autodesk MAYA 3D to fill out the movie’s animation. He explained to us how he first will go through a scene and create broad strokes of animation after which he would then concern himself with the subtle animation. As he explained, the subtle animation is crucial to emote feeling and to help viewers connect with a character. In “Planes,” he noted that this was especially difficult because, without arms or hands, Ethan only has the eyes/eyebrows of the planes to create a sentiment.

I can’t wait to share more about this fascinating experience at DisneyToon Studios and the upcoming PLANES film. As always, it was an honor to represent SpanglishBaby!

You can follow PLANES on Facebook or check them out on Twitter to recieve up to date information on the film, which will land into theatres on August 9th.