Do you ever wonder what a typical day as a Pixar artist would be like? For the October Bear Essential News Young Reporter Zoom Meeting, we had Paul Topolos, a matte painter who has worked at Pixar Studios for 20 years, as our guest.

Animating a movie is a group effort—Topolos mentioned that there are 1,200 people who work at Pixar Animation Studios! Topolos really enjoys working on good films with excellent stories and highlighted that Pixar is a good place to work because employees are taken good care of and the environment is very creative.

 It’s the perfect time of year for a movie full of spooky characters, and that’s just what you get in “The Addams Family 2.” This time they depart their famously haunted house and take their family adventures on the road!

The plot was packed with action, taking you everywhere from Niagara Falls to the Grand Canyon, and had lots of moments where I was falling out of my seat laughing. Not just for kids, my mother and grandmother also had their laugh out loud moments through out the film. This wacky and exciting story will have you engaged the whole 93 minutes it’s playing.

 One day my mom heard an advertisement on the radio about The Arizona Milk Producers holding a contest to become a Half-Pint Judge at the Fiesta Bowl Parade! They asked for a video submission on what my favorite dairy product was and why. I made a video about how much I love chocolate milk and I even did a back bend to show how much energy it gives me!

 Have you ever seen best friends meet for the first time? What if they were sea monsters? Most likely not. But you can if you watch the movie “Luca.”

Luca Paguro lives with his mom, dad and Grandma. The family lives unseen underwater. And they’re perfectly okay with that. Except for Luca. Luca gets curious one day and finds land monster belongings. He also meets another sea monster who brings him to the forbidden surface! Luca gets curious and goes to the surface again! Alberto, his new friend, shows him how to walk. Luca and Alberto become good friends.

 This weekend, I got to watch the new “Cinderella.” The movie includes some familiar faces like Camilla Cabello, Idina Menzel and James Corden.

It was really cool, and I enjoyed hearing some popular songs from Queen, The White Stripes, Madonna and Ed Sheeran. The movie adds a twist to the classic Cinderella story we all know. This story takes the original Cinderella story idea—father dies, evil step-mother, meets a prince—and adds Cinderella becoming the hero of her story, not the prince.

 Do you like Animal Crossing? How about Super Mario? Well, you’re in luck. Nintendo decided to do a collaboration with Animal Crossing for Super Mario’s 35th anniversary.

 On Jan. 20, 2006, Disney introduced “High School Musical.” Gabriella is transferring to East High, Troy's school. There, Gabriella and Troy are encouraged to audition for the new school musical, rivaling the talented siblings Sharpay and Ryan. It was a hit.

 “The Croods 2: A New Age” was even better than the first Croods movie! It was full of adventure and humor as well as a lesson about building relationships.

 The movie builds upon the first movie, so you might want to watch “The Croods” before watching The Croods 2. I love the saying that one of the main characters, Grug says. He always tells his family that, “The pack stays together” as they travel and look for a place where the Crood family can be safe.

 As summer is rolling around, so are some of fans’ favorite conventions like Phoenix Fan Fusion, San Diego Comic-Con, Vidcon and MegaMania. Phoenix Fan Fusion is May 23–26 at the Phoenix Convention Center.

Cons and conventions are great experiences for those in fandoms. A fandom is generally a large group of people who post or support fan content made for things like TV shows, movies, books, YouTubers or comics. It’s obviously a great time for fandom dwellers.

I entered a Bear Essential contest and won tickets to see Disney on Ice, Dare To Dream. During the show, five Disney heroines made an appearance. In the first story Belle told the tale of Beauty and the Beast. She had to become friends with the beast to break the spell he was under in order to turn him back into a prince.