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Pixar in Concert

Cheer Woody, Nemo, and the tunes that lend their stories enchantment.

By Alysia Gray Painter

| Tuesday, Jul 31, 2012 | Updated 10:28 AM PDT

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Pixar in Concert

You love your Pixar? Get to the Hollywood Bowl for a celebration of the films' soundtracks. Aug. 3-5, 2012

Candy-colored? Overly festooned with bells, whistles, and things like bells and whistles? Ridiculously razzmatazzy?

Sure. The music in kids' movies can be all of those things, it is true, but far less than one might suppose. Film scores in flicks that appeal to children have matured and deepened greatly over the decades, forgoing the slide whistles and adding strings sections.

So when a three-nighter comes along at the Hollywood Bowl that celebrates the sounds of some of our modern family classics, we can all applaud that. Pixar in Concert is the name of the concert -- spoiler alert, it is celebrating Pixar music -- and the dates are Friday, Aug. 3 through Sunday, Aug. 5.

What will you hear and see? You'll likely hear the rich scores behind "Finding Nemo" and "Toy Story." You could experience the twang of "Cars" all over again, and "UP!" upbeat sounds. And will there be a hint of the bagpipes, a la "Brave," or of the accordions of "Ratatouille"? So much hoping.

Meanwhile, up on the screen? Film clips to go along with the music on stage. Please show Dug. Oh please oh please.

This is the "first time ever" for this concert, says the Hollywood Bowl, so you can bet Pixarians will be making the journey from far and further to experience it. Perhaps even WALL·E will zoom in, from whatever distant time or place he currently occupies (we hope EVE is with him, and that little cockroach, too).

(And yep, "Looney Tunes" and "Silly Symphonies" fans, cartoons were highly orchestral back in the day; many a child had never heard opera before Bugs and Elmer Fudd performed "The Barber of Seville." Perhaps, what we're saying here is that Pixar is leading a renaissance of this beautiful musical form. Good on that?)