Since I just reviewed my guilty pleasure Disney movie, Hercules, thought you guys might enjoy reading about some other movies fall into that category. Enjoy! And share some of yours.
Year: 2014
Movie 35: Hercules
I guess if there is such a thing as a guilty pleasure Disney movie, Hercules is mine. I know it’s got lots of problems and is probably drawn for Saturday morning airing more than a feature film but I love the music and it makes me laugh. What’s it to you?’ 😉
Production-
It should be obvious to any Disney fan that Hercules was trying to copy off of Aladdin- male lead, pop culture references, lack of regard for traditional story or setting, and bright colors. They even have the same directors with Ron Clements and John Musker at the helm.
Interestingly enough they made a deal with Jeffrey Katzenberg to make Hercules so they could get their dream project Treasure Planet greenlit (didn’t know that!).
Their goal was to put Disney’s stamp on a superhero movie- kind of a Disney comic book movie. That’s why everything is so bright and vivid like the comic books and comic book movies of the 90s (for better or worse! Batman and Robin- yikes!.
They also brought in Gerald Scarfe who had done Pink Floyd’s The Wall to help them get a new take on the characters, and I think they are unlike any in Disney history. Very angular and comic book-like.
Scarfe’s influence also helped them see outside the box and give a Greece by way of Las Vegas vibe with a little bit of gospel thrown in and I just find it fun and original. I can see why it might turn others off, but it worked for me.
The music is where I am completely sold. Who knew Alan Menken had gospel inside him? If you look at the differences between his music it is pretty remarkable. He can do reggae in Under the Sea, Broadway in Beauty and the Beast, pop in Aladdin, choral in Hunchback and now gospel. The man is amazing!
The singers are also excellent with the muses played perfectly by gospel singers Lillias White, LaChanze, Roz Ryan, Cheryl Freeman and Vaneese Y. Thomas.
I also love Susan Egan as Megura who Disney debuted as Belle in the broadway version of Beauty and the Beast in 1994. She’s a richer, fuller sounding woman than Disney had ever used and I love it.
Everyone sounds like they are from Brooklyn but again it’s part of the humor. For me Hercules did what the Shrek films couldn’t. It is funny without getting obscene or crass.
The Story-
The story is where the film is admittedly weak, so I won’t dwell on this. If you don’t love the music and think the writing is funny nothing in the story will convince you to stick around I can guarantee you that.
It starts with Charlton Heston narrating our Greek tragedy:
We quickly are introduced to our cast of characters. We’ve got Haedes, God of the Underworld who is voiced by James Woods in a hilarious homage to all the villains he’s played before. Everyone in this movie is very sarcastic so you have to like that kind of humor:
Hades has 2 goons and they are Pain and Panic personified. Literally that’s their names and what they are.
I thought they were very funny. They find ways of switching into sweet cuddly Disney creatures throughout, which I loved. (Disney takes a lot of cracks at its own image in this movie)
There are also 3 fates who work with Hades and they have a string and when it is cut a person dies.
Hades stumbles in on Zeus and Hera’s party welcoming their baby Hercules into immortality. I like that Zeus is friendly with Hades. He wants him to lighten up!
Instead Hades sends Pain and Panic to abduct Hercules and turn him into a mortal but he doesn’t drink the last drop of the hero potion so he stays strong like an immortal.
Just like with Superman a nice couple find Hercules and try to raise him but he can’t control his strength and literally topples the entire town columns and all.
Hercules goes to meet his real father Zeus and he talks to him as a statue. He finds out he must be a true hero to be a God like his father
Zeus tells Hercules to find Philoctetes or ‘Phil’ and he will teach him to be a ‘true hero’. We get our ‘Oscar-bait’ song Go the Distance which is ok. I wish it was the muses singing it instead!
The two meet but he is retired and not interested. He is too heartbroken by Achilles and his darn heel! Ha.
I can see if you don’t find Danny Devito’s performance funny than you will have issues. I liked it.
When he is about to finish his training Hercules meets Megura, who, again, I just love. She is sassy, smart, funny and pretty. Something new and unusual in a Disney female lead. Love it!
I also love that Hercules has the instant love but Megura totally doesn’t. She thinks he’s the ‘wonder boy’ for a long time and it takes a while to wear her down. Love that!
We find out why because she is working begrudgingly with Hades because she sold her soul to him to save her ex-boyfriend who left her afterwards! (Again, kind of a clever take on the Disney woman)
Finally his training finished, Hercules arrives in Thebes which is basically Greek Las Vegas with traffic and even guys trying to sell you cheap sundials.
At first the people reject Hercules as an amateur hero, and then he gets a chance to save 2 boys who are really Pain and Panic in disguise. This gives Hades the opportunity to corner Hercules with his Hydra monster. This scene does not hold up graphic-wise (whenever they relied on CGI in the 90s it doesn’t look great now. Makes me wonder how things like Avatar will look in 20 years)
Hercules becomes a hero, Disney style. There is even a theme park and merchandise. Pain and Panic are even shown sporting his gear.
For a stoic company like Disney to make so many jokes it is refreshing. There are quick moments you might not even notice like a scene where Hercules is wearing Scar from Lion King
Figuring being so well known, Hercules asks his Dad if he is a true hero and he is told no “being famous is not a true hero”.
Meanwhile Hades forces Meg to flirt with Hercules to try and discover his weak-spot. Trouble is she is falling for him. He’s so innocent and sweet that it is making her nuts. We get one of the best girl songs in all of Disney
Hades discovers watching the flirting that Meg is Hercules weakness and he says she must obey him as part of their deal. Phil overhears this conversation and he tries to warn Hercules Meg is up to no good. He becomes angry with Phil and the two part ways.
Hercules confronts Hades and agrees to give up his immortality for 24 hours as long as Meg isn’t hurt. Meg tries to stop him but does it anyway and then he finds out Meg and Hades have been working together.
With Hercules nullified Hades unleashes the Titans which are admittedly weak and their destruction goes on too long. He also imprisons all the Gods and takes over ruling the heavens.
The cyclops tries to kill Hercules and at first he is letting himself get beaten. Meg see’s this and gets Phil in hopes he can inspire Hercules to fight back. It works and Hercules fights and defeats the cyclops as a normal man but Meg is crushed by a pillar.
This breaks Hades promise of not hurting Meg so Hercules can defeat the Titans and release the Gods.
Unfortunately Meg dies before Hercules can get back to her so he goes to the Underworld to confront Hades. Hercules makes Hades an offer to swap places with Meg. I love the design of the Underworld . My guess is Scarfe had a big influence in this scene:
Hercules can’t be killed because he has proven himself a true hero who loves more than himself.
He puts the spirit back into Meg and reunites with his parents.
Of course, he realizes he wouldn’t be happy in immortal world without his love Meg and he agrees to live with her on earth instead.
And we get a very good Disney kiss!
And we get a closing out with a great song from the muses! It may be my favorite of the movie
Movie Review/Conclusion-
As I was typing up that analysis it made me realize there is a lot more going on in Hercules than I initially gave it credit for. Maybe the story isn’t so bad after all?
But I don’t think many people are going to like Hercules because of the story. It’s kind of like Robin Hood. If you find the one liners funny you will like this movie. If you don’t it will be rough going.
Same goes for gospel music. If you aren’t a fan than the movie won’t do much for you. It is kind of like Fantasia is to classical music. If it isn’t your favorite you probably won’t like the movie which relies so much on it.
I guess it’s something different from Disney which felt refreshing and it made me laugh. I know it isn’t the prettiest to look at and the story is Superman all over again but what can I say we all have our guilty pleasures and on that level it has a lot going for it.
So if it sounds like your cup of tea give it another watching. You might be surprised!
Overall Grade- B
ps, I can do without Go the Distance especially the Michael Bolton version…The 90’s and ballads were rough!
Movie 34: Hunchback of Notre Dame
If you had asked me going into this project what my least favorite Disney movie is I would have said Hunchback of Notre Dame. Indeed when I asked my friends on facebook and instagram what their least favorite was Hunchback and Pocahontas were at the top of the list:
To my knowledge I don’t know anyone personally who likes Hunchback (I’m sure they will come out of the woodwork since I said that but I did ask and nobody defended it). And yet online it has lots of fans. I have seen it on numerous top 10 lists and people claiming it is the best Disney ever made. On Amazon it has 230 5 star reviews and only 36 bad reviews.
So what is this separation between the people I know and the online community of Disney fans? I am not sure. It probably has something to do with my being very religious, conservative and family focused. Hunchback is not a great fit for any of those adjectives. It’s tough on religion, morally relativistic and definitely not family friendly, so I suppose it makes sense for it to be at the bottom of most of our lists.
When I first saw it I was 18 and just starting college. I was visiting a friend and we were watching her nephews. In an attempt to placate them we decided to put on a Disney film and Hunchback was there. Boy was I stunned! The kids were completely uninterested in the story and we probably should have turned it off but it was on and I watched in shock as we had a girl dance erotically, characters singing about rape, a deformed man mocked and tied down, and a family nearly burned in their house for no reason. I was stunned! This wasn’t the empowering Disney I had grown to love in Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast.
After that unpleasant experience I had no desire to watch it again but this project came and I turned it on last night with an open mind hoping to be dazzled. Unfortunately, while it does have its strengths, and I can see why people love it, it has serious problems and contradictions which make it hard for me to recommend.
You can’t serve 2 masters is the takeaway from this movie.
Production-
The strange idea to do an adaptation of Victor Hugo’s novel Hunchback of Notre Dame came from an executive reading the Classics Illustrated comic book version.
These comic books were published from 1941-1971 and were a fun way to introduce children to classical literature in a format they could absorb easily. I wish they had picked Jane Eyre. That would have been so cool to see with this same type of treatment. They had to know going into it Hunchback was going to be a tough sell at the box office.
Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise from Beauty and the Beast were approached with the idea and they ‘jumped at the chance’ to do something new.
I couldn’t find a ton of other production notes out there on the movie (the behind the scenes video is laughable and not in a good way). But my overall consensus from what I’ve read is the creative minds who had been successful were able to steamroll over the practical considerations of the studio, with a few exceptions.
It seems clear the production team wanted to make a film for adults where the studio wanted Burger King toys, sing along videos and even a ‘my first read along’ for toddlers…yes, Victor Hugo for toddlers!
I really wish Disney had just allowed its team to make a movie for adults because the end result of creativity and commerce mixed together is extremely uneven and frustrating.
Back in the early days of Disney they had darker themes mixed with commercial appeal (think Pleasure Island mixed with Jimminy Cricket) but such a mixture is tough to swallow when your kids are wanting to act out the scenes from a movie where Quasimodo is beaten and tied up with their Burger King hand puppets:
The music is gorgeous with songs and score by Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz. And the voicecast featuring Demi Moore, Tom Hulce,, Tony Jay and Kevin Kline, is all fine.
The Story-
I must admit up front to having never read the original novel by Victor Hugo. However, I do understand it enough to know this is a very loose adaptation. The biggest change they make is the villain Frollo is a judge not a priest, which doesn’t make any sense.
In the original story Claude Frollo, as Archdeacon of Notre Dame, had an all consuming power and righteous indignation to condemn anyone he didn’t agree with, and the authority to do something about it.. In the Disney version Frollo chases a gypsy woman to the cathedral and when she dies he almost throws the baby down a well because it is ugly (you know for kids!).
The Archdeacon stops Frollo and as penance for killing the woman and almost killing the baby he insists Frollo raise the child who will live in the cathedral of Notre Dame. Yes, that makes so much sense. An Archdeacon wants a baby to be raised by a madman who wanted him thrown down a well?
If Frollo was the Archdeacon instead of a blah judge it all makes so much more sense for him to take the child in out of guilt over the mother. In a way by ‘trying to not offend Catholics, they do more harm than if they were outright villains. The whole church in the film is an apathetic institution to the suffering of those living within its walls. At least in the novel Frollo is consumed by Satan, which is an interesting conflict for a holy man to have. The Disney version just left me dumbfounded at the Archdeacon’s choices.
Next we see Quasimodo as an adult who is basically a prisoner to the cathedral. Again, why would the Archdeacon allow such a thing? The film does not explain it well enough.
His only friends are 3 gargoyles who come to life making terrible puns. We never really know if they are imaginary or can only talk to Quasimodo or magic or what they are because nobody else can see them but they can shoot people? Even reviewers who love this movie usually agree the gargoyles are the weak spot. It so screams ‘we are trying to make this is for kids’ which is off-putting when the rest of it is so not for kids. Got to pick one or the other Disney not both. Worst of all, they just aren’t funny.
The story gets going when we learn there is a Festival of Fools which Quasimodo has long dreamed of attending but Frollo won’t allow it. Why? Wouldn’t it make more sense for him to abandon Quasi now that he is an adult? He is 20 years old so why does Frollo bother with his charge? I guess just to get a feeling of power but that is never really explained adequately. And again would the Archdeacon allow such treatment of someone in his church? It’s very strange.
Nevertheless, the gargoyles encourage him to go and Quasimodo sings a gorgeous song called Out There
.
I love that Quasimodo’s voice is normal, unprofessional sounding. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a voice like it in a musical but it is beautiful.
For the first time Quasimodo ignores Frollo’s counsel and goes down for the festival (and why they gave Quasimodo spiderman like abilities to climb up and down the cathedral is beyond me.) Nevertheless, he makes it and is immediately picked by the gypsy Esmeralda as having “the ugliest face in all of Paris” because they think it is a mask. I think we are supposed to like the gypsies but it is hard when they are so cruel to our lead character.
Esmeralda eventually saves Quasimodo after he is tied up, beaten, mocked and thrown food at (you know, for kids!)
Esmeralda then dances for Frollo and the other men in a strange scene. The movie can’t seem to decide if Esmeralda being a sexual object to men is a good thing or bad? Frollo is clearly in the wrong for his lustful reaction but Phoebus can say ‘what a woman’ with no sense of condemnation at all?
Frollo chases Esmerelda but Phoebus refuses to arrest her and she appeals to the Archdeacon for sanctuary in the cathedral. (Again, why does the Archdeacon not do anything more than give sanctuary? In that day and age they had tremendous power!).
Stuck in the church Esmeralda sings the best song in the movie- God Help the Outcast (singing voice Heidi Mollenhauer).
Quasimodo is able to help her escape using his spiderman skills and she gives him a necklace with a map to the gypsies hideout “The Court of Miracles”.
We then get the oddest but well done song of the film where Frollo sings to Mother Mary about his lust for Esmeralda. Tony Jay is very good and it is filled with creepy animation. Perhaps I would like it again if this movie was not marketed to children, but even for adults a song about rape is a tough sell.
The song is called Hellfire and he says
It’s not my fault… I’m not to blame.
It’s the gypsy girl. The witch who sent this flame….
Protect me, Maria
Don’t let this siren cast her spell
Don’t let her fire sear my flesh and bone
Destroy Esmeralda
And let her taste the fires of hell
Or else let her be mine and mine alone
Hellfire
Dark fire
Now gypsy, it’s your turn
Choose me or
Your pyre
Be mine or you will burn
Hmmm…So he wants to have sex with her but she doesn’t, but he’s going to kill her if she doesn’t. Great we’ve got rape and murder in my Disney movie marketed to kids…(for the record I don’t enjoy adult movies about rape and murder but one even marginally marketed to kids is even worse)
When Frollo finds out about Esmeralda’s escape he does a massive search burning down homes, setting Paris ablaze. (What kind of judge is this? I’m not expert on medieval France but I don’t think this was how it went down? Not even Napoleon could have burned down France looking for a woman)
As captain, Phoebus (a thoroughly undeveloped character) must help Frollo, but we get to a scene where Frollo literally wants to burn a family in their home for being gypsy and nothing else. (you know for kids…)
The fact this movie got a G rating with that kind of violence should convince anyone the rating system is a total joke. Do not pay attention to it!
http://smilingldsgirl.com/2014/01/20/508-swears-hollywood-ratings-are-ridiculous/
So Phoebus gets shot with an arrow for not burning down the house and Esmeralda brings him to the cathedral for refuge.
Before they arrive we get a little comic relief that sadly is not comical. The gargoyles are trying to convince Quasimodo that Esmeralda will fall in love with him. It actually comes across as kind of cruel and at best patronizing.
Esmeralda arrives with Phoebus and Quasimodo helps them but also see’s them kiss and his heart is broken. (you know for kids…).
Esmeralda leaves and Frollo comes causing Quasimodo to hide Phoebus under a table while Frollo lies about attacking the Court of Miracles. Again where is the Archdeacon in all this? You would think he would have a lot to say but not until the very end do we see him again.
Quasimodo goes with Phoebus to find the Court of Miracles where the gypsies capture and almost hang them (Aren’t the gypsies supposed to be the moral good in the story or is just everything corrupt except for Quasimodo?)
Frollo follows Quasimodo and arrests all in the Court of Miracles (again do I feel that sorry for them when they were minutes away from hanging our heroes?).
But Frollo wants to burn Esmeralda at the stake and even starts the fire. Quasimodo breaks the chains which Frollo has bound him with in the tower and he and the gargoyles start attacking the crowd watching the burning (I guess they aren’t imaginary then. They are like the toys in toy story who only move in certain conditions?).
The whole final battle is really slapsticky and so off the established adult tone. It’s almost like Home Alone with bricks falling on people’s heads and teeth coming out. It feels so discordant from the rest of the picture. 
And then out of nowhere Quasimodo has turned Notre Dame into a molten ore refinery with lava spewing from giant vats out all sides of the tower. It’s bizarre.
The death of Frollo is pretty well done but again not appropriate for children. It’s too scary. It’s too religiously confusing and too tense.
At least the movie has the guts to have Phoebus and Esmeralda together and not Quasimodo. That would have been so lame and I do like the optimistic tone we are left with.
Movie Review/Conclusion-
This movie is very hard to grade because it is a failure at what it is trying to do but it has some wonderful moments. I just wish they had made an animated movie for adults and forgotten all the softened edges for kids. As it is, I feel frustrated. The violent moments are too much for kids, they will be bored by a lot of the story and the commentary on religion, madness of crowds and power gets diluted out of a fear of offending people and institutions. But then the comedic moments are all wrong for adults so it is a miss for them too.
The messages in the movie are very muddled. Power is bad, except for when it is used to save others. Discrimination is bad except when it is done by the minority. A hero can oogle a woman dancing but a villain cannot. An Archdeacon can jump in when needed and then be absent when literal crimes are being committed under his roof. How am I supposed to explain even one of these things to a child?
People say ‘well, it’s not for kids’. Well, then don’t market the movie for kids or have kid-friendly elements. Don’t put it on kids meals and make plush toys. Don’t have wise cracking gargoyles and slapstick home alone violence thrown in.
And I’m sorry when you have a song where the lead character is singing about wanting to rape another character that is where I draw the line. I do not want to have to explain such a thing to my child, and especially have to tell her that bad people think rape isn’t their fault but the fault of the vixen who tempted them. Are you kidding me Disney!
Hunchback actually makes me kind of mad because it has so much potential. I wish it was a grand movie just for adults. The animation is certainly stunning. It is layered and beautiful. The stained glass alone is awesome.
The music is also wonderful. If I heard it in a Broadway show meant for adults I would probably love it. But sadly the picture is both too grown up for kids and too childish for grown ups leaving me frustrated. The rape undertones and burning the people in the house were just too much for me to support given the silliness of other elements. Got to pick an audience Disney!
In the end, I admire what they were trying to do but I think it was a failure.
Overall Grade- D
Movie 33: Pocahontas
A few days ago I did an informal poll amongst my friends asking ‘which Disney Renaissance movie is your least favorite?’. While it had a few fans, the overwhelming choices were Pocahontas and Hunchback of Notre Dame and I’d probably be right there with them. We will see what I think of Hunchback next but Pocahontas is not a strong film. In fact, if I was going to give an F this might be it. I’ll think about it while I’m writing this review.
Production-
It’s kind of a mystery why Pocahontas doesn’t work with all the resources that were thrown into it. As I mentioned in my last review after Aladdin the Disney team split into two projects with some going to Lion King and a larger share going to Pocahontas. Most of the big names like Alan Menken, Mike Gabriel and Eric Goldberg, Glen Keane, Joe Grant and Chris Buck all went with Pocahontas because they thought it was a more promising project.
While nobody is going to a Disney film for a history lesson it is at least worth noting the long list of things they got wrong in their first attempt to tell the story of a real person.
Most of these inaccuracies I don’t care about but the one I find most confusing is why did they age Pocahontas? It’s a Disney movie. Wouldn’t it be better to have it be about a little girl who jumps on the fire and fights for peace over war? That sounds very interesting. Instead they took the Titanic route and made a by the numbers romance inspired by Romeo and Juliet more than what actually happened.
The reason I believe they went the way they did is the project was started in 1990 and what was a big hit in 1990? Dances with Wolves. A film that has not aged particularly well with the stoic natives teaching the white man the true way to live…
But it was a huge hit back then both critically and financially so it makes sense Disney would want to create Dances with Wolves Jr and that Pocahontas being a well known folk-lore it is a natural choice.
The story went through a lot of rewrites, which is why it took so long to make. At one point it was to be a comedy with the animals talking and John Candy playing a turkey. I loved him in Rescuers Down Under so I would have been curious to see what he could have done with it. Unfortunately he died in 1994 so a new direction was taken on the film.
The voice cast is interesting. I like that they got a number of Native American actors to do the tribe-members but I wish they had coaxed better performances out of them. Russell Means is a wonderful Native American actor but his line readings to me felt very stale, like he was reading off of cards not having a real conversations.
I felt the same way about Irene Bedard as Pocahontas but Judy Kuhn is stunning as her singing voice. One of the best in all of Disney. Mel Gibson is fine although why they didn’t have him do a British accent I will never know (we know he can do accents from Braveheart). It makes no sense to have an American with the Jamestown settlers…
I tried to look into why they made the animation choices they did but didn’t find anything good. Everything feels very geometric with hard lines and shapes. This can work in a fantasy world like Alice in Wonderland, but for a movie which is supposed to be a real world setting I found it very distracting.
Even the design of the characters is very geometric. Governor Radcliffe is a giant rectangle:
Pocahontas looks like 2 triangles and her face is very rectangular. I found all the characters to be unpleasant to look at. Some have also said all the indians have too almond shaped eyes and look more like Southeast Asian than Native American. I can see their point. She does have a Laotian, Cambodian, Malaysian look about her more than Native American.
The music was done by Alan Menken and new to Disney lyricist Stephen Schwartz who would go on to write the mammoth hit Wicked. My favorite of the songs is Savages about the prejudices of both the white and Indian groups but the rest are fine but kind of forgettable.
Native Americans, in general, were not happy with the film. Chief Roy Crazy Horse of the Powhatan tribe wrote a piece called ‘The Pocahontas Myth’ which is worth reading.
http://www.powhatan.org/pocc.html
He says:
“In 1995, Roy Disney decided to release an animated movie about a Powhatan woman known as “Pocahontas”. In answer to a complaint by the Powhatan Nation, he claims the film is “responsible, accurate, and respectful.”
We of the Powhatan Nation disagree. The film distorts history beyond recognition. Our offers to assist Disney with cultural and historical accuracy were rejected. Our efforts urging him to reconsider his misguided mission were spurred.”
If you watch the Behind the Scenes Disney makes it seem like they are doing a noble thing by sharing this great story and culture when in reality those of that culture, for the most part, felt it was a denigration to their history. I understand films need artistic license but when a true good story exists and they choose to veer so far away from it than I have an issue.
At the very least it is disheartening to hear the tribe’s offer to help was rejected.
The Story-
The movie begins with our introductions of the ship and crew leaving the new world. I like the immersion into the painting and the aerial pan and zoom to the boat.
I wish more was made of the crewmembers families we see in these opening shots. It would have given so much more heart to the scenes that come.
Next we see a storm which evidently reused some of the shipwreck scenes from Little Mermaid but it is very effectively done so I don’t mind. John saves Thomas’ life creating a bond between the two.
We also get our first taste of Radcliffe and our first mention of ‘gold’. I read they were starting with Gaston as their mold for Radcliffe and I wish they had kept on that vein. Gaston works because he isn’t bad at first, just conceited. As his vanity is wounded he grows more and more mad until he is a monster and murderer. Radcliffe starting from the first sentence about savages and gold is like wearing a ‘hey look at me villain hat’.
He literally has a line where he says “This new world is going to be great. I’m going to get a pile of gold. Build a big house and if any Indian tries to stop me I’ll blast him” It took 5 years of rewrites to come up with that bit of subtle writing? Sigh…
Next we get our first introduction to the tribesmen and women. The men have returned from battle and guess who is off scampering around the forest? Why Pocahontas of course. We get a preposterous dive off of a waterfall for no reason but to prove she’s headstrong.
It’s Pocahontas the super woman!
Now I can hear a few of you saying “wait, Rachel. You love Little Mermaid and she’s super headstrong”. Here’s the difference. Ariel is 16, a mermaid and is legitimately not at home in her own body. Pocahontas is a grown woman and she hurts a lot of people in her quest to stay the same as she is at the beginning. Ariel wants change. Pocahontas doesn’t.
Anyway, Powhatan wants her to marry the great warrior Kocoum. Pocahontas doesn’t want to because ‘he’s too serious’. He just got back from war. Shouldn’t we do a little more to establish such a trait before he is discounted as an ineligible mate? He has like 2 lines of dialogue in the whole movie.
So Pocahontas sings about what could be coming for her but again she really doesn’t want change. She wants to remain as free and prancing as she is forever. It’s a pretty song though.
Next the settlers land and I’m not kidding you right off the boat start digging for gold and sing a song called ‘Mine, Mine, Mine’. Again, way to be subtle why don’t you! Why not establish some of the actual reasons for conflict and hunger the settlers faced. Why not make them a tiny bit sympathetic and give the story some wonder and mystery? As it is, it is so predictable.
We also get introduced to Grandmother Willow- a tree that gives Pocahontas advice. It is strange that only this tree talks and yet none of the animals or other trees?
She is supposed to be the conduit for our modern audience like the Genie in Aladdin but it comes off as trite and silly.
The thing that is strange is they have a Shaman in the story who isn’t used. Wouldn’t it be natural for Pocahontas to seek guidance from him? Why not make him the spiritual core of the movie? Strange choice
There is also Pocahontas’ friend Nakoma, who I liked but is underused. She has to make harder choices than Pocahontas and is a more interesting conflicted unpredictable character. I wish the movie was about her.
Next John Smith and Pocahontas meet in a very cheesy scene with Pocahontas appearing out of the mist like a ghost.
For literally 2 lines of dialogue they can’t talk to each other but then that’s done with and she’s busy teaching him why his ways are wrong and loving nature is good…Groan.
There is also a major ridiculous moment where John teaches Pocahontas about gold. These are characters which now speak the same language. Certainly a woman like Pocahontas would be familiar with valuable items used for commerce such as beads, stones, and other forms of currency used by most tribes. It’s just another moment where the whites love gold (gold is the 4 letter word of this movie) and the pure natives don’t need such superficial things….Double groan.
Like I said, subtlety is not this movies strong point.
Our next scene is back at the fort (which appears overnight) and Radcliffe shoots Manatuk causing Powahatan to prepare for war.
There is also a moment where Radcliffe tells Thomas ‘Learn to use a gun properly”. Hmmm wonder if that is going to prove prophetic…
We get a little comic relief here with Meeko the racoon, Percy Radcliffe’s dog and Flit the hummingbird.
John and Pocahontas have one of Disney’s best kisses
Unfortunately both Thomas and Kocoum see their kiss and Thomas shoots Kocoum. This is a pretty good scene with great sound effects. If feels like two people fighting
Then we get the best number in the movie called Savages. Some take offense to it but it isn’t approving of the views of the characters but merely saying that’s what some people think of others. I actually think it is a good thing for children to understand and be watchful for as racism and hatred will always exist.
The geometric graphic style in the picture also works well for Savages. Great scene!
Then we get to the climatic moment we all know is coming but it is gone and over so fast it is a little deflating.
Pocahontas tells the people “this is the path that hatred has brought us”. I don’t think that is true. Thomas didn’t hate anyone. Neither did Kocoum. They were just trying to defend their friends. You could make the argument ignorance or a lack of understanding created this scene but hatred I don’t know if that’s been established except for Radcliffe.
Radcliffe ends up shooting John by mistake and his men turn on him and in the end decide to take John Smith back to England to recover. Pocahontas has the chance to go with him but she chooses to stay where she belongs.
I like that ending. Not the happy ending we might expect.
Movie Review/Conclusion-
So clearly this is not my favorite Disney movie; although I don’t think I can give it an F because Savages is a good number and I do love Judy Kuhn’s voice.
It’s just frustrating because they had an opportunity to take actual events and make them into a great movie. Instead we got more of the same in a predictable story told by boxy characters with wooden vocal performances.
Some of the backgrounds and scenery is nice. I will give it that.
Most tribes have pretty thick skin and for the Powhatan chief to say:
“It is unfortunate that this sad story, which Euro-Americans should find embarrassing, Disney makes “entertainment” and perpetuates a dishonest and self-serving myth at the expense of the Powhatan Nation”.
Need I say more?
You also have a heroine who is infallible and doesn’t want to grow up or change her behavior unlike Belle and Ariel who will do anything for a change. A lot of people are hurt by Pocahontas’ selfishness but I don’t see real growth or change in her.
Radcliffe and the ‘gold’ is such a lame villain. There’s no nuance or depth to him. Nothing that makes him different or unique. He just wants gold…
Kocoum, Nakoma and Thomas are all more interesting than John Smith or Pocahontas but I barely remembered their names they are so briefly used.
The dialogue is not well written in almost every scene and every action is completely predictable.
The music is fine but the animation is boxy and unappealing. They create characters like Grandmother Willow that doesn’t need to be there when a character like the Shaman already exists within Pocahontas’ culture. Imagine how insulting that must be for a tribesman to see their true spiritual guidance tossed aside for a tree…
I know the movie has fans but I’ve watched it 3 times and don’t get its appeal. To me at best it is bland and at worse it paints caricatures of a whole race of people, which is not okay in my book.
If you like it that is awesome just not my cup of tea, and got to keep it real on this blog or no point in my reviewing them at all.
Overall Grade- D-
Next 17 Movies
Just a quick little interruption now that I finished The Lion King.
With Pocahontas we get into my high school years where I was hit and miss with Disney and then in 98 I started college and liked Mulan, Tarzan and Emperor’s New Groove but that’s all I remember. I went on a mission in 2003 so no movies till 2005. Then after that I was really more into Pixar than Disney. It wasn’t until 2010 that I got excited about Disney again with the release of Tangled.
It had been probably since Emperor’s New Groove that a Disney movie had come out I had liked as much as Tangled, so 10 years.
When I blogged about Tangled I said:
“Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast are the only movies I remember seeing as a child…I was mesmerized by them- by the characters, the romance, the animation and of course the music! I am excited that with Tangled a whole new generation will have a Disney princess experience. I hope Disney keeps up the good work and doesn’t rely only on the brilliance of Pixar”
So the next 17 movies should be interesting because for the most part I either haven’t seen them at all or it’s been a long time. Here’s how it breaks down:
Pocahontas- saw recently on netflix
Hunchback- haven’t seen since release
Hercules- own
Mulan- own
Tarzan- own
Fantasia 2000- haven’t seen
Dinosaur- haven’t seen
Emperor’s New Groove- own
Atlantis- haven’t seen since release
Lilo and Stitch- haven’t seen in long time
Treasure Planet- haven’t seen since release
Brother Bear- haven’t seen
Home on the Range- haven’t seen
Chicken Little- haven’t seen
Meet the Robinsons- haven’t seen
Bolt- saw a few years ago on netflix
Princess and the Frog- haven’t seen since release
Tangled!!
So there are 6 I haven’t seen, 6 I haven’t seen since release or a while, 5 I either own or have seen recently.
Always fun to try something new or reexamine something from the past. After all, I am very different in some ways than I was in high school and college (and in other ways I’m exactly the same).
So there you go. Just wanted you guys to be aware of the perspective I am coming from in this section of the project!
Thanks for reading!!!!
Any of these particular favorites of yours? Any I haven’t seen which you like?
Movie 32: The Lion King
Some Pop Music…
Do you find yourself deciding whether to watch the Lion King? Ask yourself this- how much do you like pop music?
In pop music there is a device called ‘the hook’. This is a line, melody, riff or performance, usually in the chorus that hooks the audience in to the rest of the song. Sometimes there are more than one hook like the huge hit Blurred Lines there are hooks in melody and even the hey, hey, hey’s at the beginning. How many of the fans even know what the words are to that song? There are a million examples of hooks.
The reason I mention hooks is it can certainly be used in movies as a way to draw people into the characters or story. Pixar loves hooks in all of their movies. They almost all start with a bold intro that draws you in and hooks you emotionally into the story. Think beginning of Up, Wall-e, Incredibles, Cars etc.
The Lion King is the best Disney use of hooks I can think of (although Tarzan and Tangled both use them very effectively and have a pop music feel). I don’t know if it is pop singer (yes, he’s pop not rock star) Elton John’s melodies but nearly every song, every scene in fact, has a strong hook. You have the one idea you are supposed to be getting from the scene or song and the rest is kind of non-essential.
Think of the difference between our intro to Lion King, Circle of Life, and the song Belle in Beauty and the Beast. In Belle there really isn’t a chorus. It’s just her singing about the poor provincial town and through the song we learn a ton about several characters and get the beginnings of the story laid out for us. In contrast, I couldn’t even tell you the rest of the words to Circle of Life besides ‘it’s the circle of life’. All we need to take away from the song is there are animals and a baby has been christened.
Does that mean it isn’t a good movie? No, I was actually quite blown away by it but I can also see how, just like some don’t like pop music for being contrived, people could feel manipulated and annoyed with The Lion King. And just like pop music can get a little grating after the 30th listen through The Lion King may not be a good choice for repeated viewings.
But I loved it! But I love pop music so go figure.
The Production-
What’s interesting is after Aladdin the studio split into projects. Instead of all the top talent working on the next film together as had been done for a few years people could choose between Pocahontas or The Lion King, and surprisingly most picked Pocahontas feeling it was ‘more important’ of the two films.
Even Alan Menken moved over to Pocahontas, leaving The Lion King with kind of the Bad News Bears of Disney animation. Tim Rice had taken over for Howard Ashman on Aladdin and won the Oscar for Whole New World. Rob Minkoff and Roger Allers were first time directors, Thomas Disch had written the strange The Brave Little Toaster, Hans Zimmer had never done a score for animated film etc.
Elton John was recruited by Tim Rice and he had this pop music mentality from the start:
“Let’s do it for kids, because it’s just a great story” but most of Disney animated movies have a kind of Broadway score, and I said “Let’s not go for that, let’s go for a completely different feel and just write ultra-pop songs kids would like; then adults can go and see those movies and get just as much pleasure out of them” I mean, adults buy a lot of pop records” (Billboard, Oct 4, 1997)
You see! That’s why there are all those hooks!
They certainly spared no expense in their voice cast which also feels like pop celebrity type thing to do. We’ve got James Earl Jones, Matthew Broderick, Jeremy Irons, teen king Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Moira Kelly (ala Cutting Edge fame), Nathan Lane, Rowan Atkinson, Cheech Marin and of course Whoopi Goldberg. It is definitely the most ‘famous’ Disney cast ever assembled and they do a terrific job with the material.
The Lion King was also the first original story (takes inspiration from the Bible and Hamlet but not straight adaptation) and first movie to use no humans (Bambi had the hunters).
Unlike Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast which took 2 years to execute, The Lion King took 6 years from initial concept to release date. It went through scores of animators and writers and from what I’ve read nobody was expecting it to be a big hit.
However, Disney marketing was brilliant, releasing the first 4 minutes instead of a trailer in November 1993 when only 1/3rd of the movie had been completed. The intro is such a great hook it did it’s job and producer Don Hahn was actually “afraid of not living up to the expectations raised by the preview”. They weren’t! Lion King is the highest grossing hand drawn film in history so it did pretty well for itself!
The Story-
As I already mentioned we start off with a bang. A huge hook of The Circle of Life. It is a background song with African chanting and huge pan shots of baby Simba being presented (it’s basically a lion christening).
I can totally see why people saw this in 1993 and were counting down the days to see it in 1994 (1993 was a rare year with no annual Disney offering).
We then right away get another hook with the introduction to our villain, Scar.
The conversation between Mufasa and Scar kind of reminds me of the beginning of Sleeping Beauty. First of all both Scar and Maleficent have obvious villain names and they are dripping with disdain for all around them. It is very effective in drawing you into both characters and the story.
If anything the scene could have been longer. We also get the first Moses/Ramseys biblical reference. It probably goes without saying the voice work by James Earl Jones and Jeremy Irons in the movie is perfect.
Then we lighten things up in our next section introduces us to the baby lions Simba and Nala and the hornbill bird Zazu. Zazu is voiced by Rowan Atkinson and it is a very funny performance and character. He’s a big nag but most of the time he is right to nag so it is funny.
Zazu’s nagging makes a nice comedic foil for ‘Can’t Wait to be King’ a song right out of a boy band pop album but I like it. I think it is fun.
Simba and Nala sneak away to see an elephant graveyard Scar had told Simba about earlier (practically every scene in the movie is prophetic of future scenes to come). The hyenas almost take out the cubs but Mufasa comes to the rescue and defeats them.
Afterwards he has some very biblical sounding advice for his son:
The whole stars thing is kind of corny but those kinds of father son moments are usually like that and they do a good job establishing plot and a bond with little time spent together on screen.
Next we are back to our villain in the strongest song of the movie (and the only one actually sung by the voice talent). With the Nazi hyenas (who would have thought of that!) and the green boiler room atmosphere Be Prepared is one of the best villain songs. It is also nice to have another movie with a male villain because usually in Disney it is female.
The Hans Zimmer score is perfect. It brings emotional intensity into even rather trite scenes. I have it on my ipod and it is one of my favorites to listen to when I’m working. I love the choral and tribal elements. It reminds me a little of On Bald Mountain in Fantasia. Beautiful.
So Scar puts his dastardly plan into action tricking Simba into being in the path of a stampede. I remember seeing this scene and being blown away and it totally holds up. The computer graphics, music and sound effects are stunning.
Mufasa has died and Scar becomes the master manipulator. Some people don’t like that Simba runs away but if you listen Scar doesn’t actually say anything which isn’t true. Mufasa would be alive if Simba wasn’t in that gorge. The King is gone and it wasn’t supposed to happen. And remember Simba is little, the lion equivalent of a toddler who would be easy to manipulate. So it is no wonder he is scared and runs away.
I like the heart in these segments. Yes is it pulling at our heart strings pretty heavily but it’s all been so epic it works. Plus, his Dad has just died. If there was ever time for an over the top cry that is it.
So Simba runs away and that’s where we get to the charming but admittedly weaker section of the movie. In a lush jungle Simba meets Timon and Pumba who agree to teach him a new way to live. (It’s actually an interesting thought study for kids. It’s a softer version of what is presented with Pleasure Island in Pinocchio. Timon and Pumba believe in being happy and only living for yourself, for what pleases you, just like the boys at the island were only concerned with having fun and sinning.
And it is here we get probably the most famous song from the movie (so the kid pop thing totally worked out). I am not a big fan of potty humor so it was never my favorite but it is catchy no doubt about it.
Simba grows up in the song and we can assume has completely bought into the lifestyle of Timon and Pumba, basically forgetting his other life.
Then he meets Nala, his cub girlfriend, and she tells him how much they need him. He refuses and to me it makes sense. Most of his life has been spent living a hakuna matata lifestyle so why would he want to go back to all that hurt?
We then get a forgettable musical number Can You Feel the Love (won the Oscar. They loved those syrupy romance ballads in the 90s). It’s also a background vocal and the scene could be cut out no problem. Some people hate the comedic intro they decided to use but as I’m not a big fan of the song I don’t really care about that.
Then he meets Rafiki, the wise but silly monkey, and this scene is just masterful storytelling. It is epic and subtle and anyone who has grieved can relate to all of the emotions involved.
The past hurts but we can learn from it. That is a great lesson for all of us. How tempting is it to take the path of least resistance but sometimes in so doing we are denying who we are what makes us special.
So Simba arrives at Pride Rock to find it like the elephant graveyard of earlier. No food, everything gray and wasted away. Simba confronts Scar and again he is very good at saying the truth but not being truthful. He tells all of the lions that Simba is the reason why Mufasa is gone which Simba cannot deny.
The other lions do not support Simba at first but can you blame them? He’s been gone all this time, abandoning them. They are under the rule of a dictator who will use any such assertions against them and Simba has just said he is responsible for Mufasa’s death. Why should they think otherwise? In fact, they have every right to be upset and unforgiving of him.
It is only when Scar admits he was the one who is responsible for Mufasa’s murder that they come to Simba’s defense. Again, to me this makes total sense and is probably the way I would behave if confronted with similar betrayals, accusations and knowledge. Yes, you learn from the past and move on but people need a decent enough time to absorb new information. Even Simba wasn’t ready to accept the change in one conversation with Nala.
As we close we get a new king of pride rock and the kingdom is restored. (I wonder if Simba keeps being a vegetarian lion?)
Movie Review/Conclusion-
I was 13 when The Lion King came out so I was just starting to get into the ‘cartoons are for kids’ phase and so I liked Lion King but it wasn’t the transcendent experience Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast were. But, I can totally see how if you were 8-10 when it came out it would be huge.
Unlike Aladdin which really made the entire film for adults and kids, The Lion King has segments like Hakuna Matata and Just Can’t Wait which are geared to literally hook kids into them. I find them cheerful and fun but what moves me is the dramatic sections that probably bore kids (but I don’t think so much so they won’t enjoy the movie).
The score makes the movie. It is perfect. The songs are mostly good pop songs and I like them.
The animation is beautiful with segments reverting from the lush 2D animation to geographic tribal motifs. 
The stampede is still impressive from all angles and Scar is a great villain with a great villain song. All in all it is a very satisfying movie to watch. I really found myself moved and excited by it. (I probably hadn’t seen it in 15 years before yesterday despite owning the score. That’s how much I love the score!).
If I was going to be a little critical it would be the middle section lags a little bit and when push comes to shove I do like Broadway music better than pop music. It’s kind of amazing it was made into such a great Broadway musical given it was trying to not be Broadway but that wouldn’t have happened without the creative vision of Julie Taymor. When I saw Lion King in New York I said it was like watching a living painting. The music wasn’t the standout although it was fine.
So maybe The Lion King isn’t perfect but it has tons to like and a message I’m still pondering after all these years. Plus, some catchy songs and visuals that draw you in. I loved it!
Overall Score- A
Movie 31: Aladdin
Next up we have one of the most popular Disney animated films ever made- their 31st film, Aladdin. While it is not as artistically special or as epic as the movies it is sandwiched between (Beauty and the Beast and Lion King), it is one of Disney’s best comedies and I think that is why it is remembered so fondly. We all love what makes us laugh!
I have now watched Aladdin 4 times in recent weeks. When Robin Williams died I felt so sad so I hunted down Aladdin and watched it. I kind of forgot about it and even said in my Disney Tag video I thought it was a little overrated. I don’t know if it was just the passing,but I left that viewing completely charmed. Now I watched it again and then with 2 commentaries and am still charmed.
Do I like all the choices they made? No, but I think it is a ton of fun.
The Production-
Aladdin was released on Thanksgiving in 1992 (I remember going to see it as our Thanksgiving movie!). It was suggested as a concept by Howard Ashman in 1988 when the ‘Gong Show’ had occurred and ideas like Oliver and Company and the Little Mermaid had been approved.
It was a return to the Disney tradition of making movies for boys but it starred a grown man (or teen) which had never been done before. Every other male figure had either been an eccentric, a bore or a little child. I had heard on a number of audio commentaries that male adults were harder to draw and I finally heard an explanation on the director’s commentary with Ron Clements and John Musker. One of them said:
“Male leading men are harder to do in animation than the women because you can slightly caricature the female figure and look and a slight exaggeration makes it more appealing but when you do that with the male figure that slight exaggeration is a little off-putting”
So there you have it! Originally Michael J. Fox was used to create Aladdin but then when they decided to make the character older they went with Tom Cruise as their inspiration!
I wonder if the exaggerated style needed for a man, made them go with the even more exaggerated inspiration of Al Hirschfeld drawings from the New Yorker? His comics had ‘swooping lines and elongated faces.
It is also interesting that Disney made no attempt to tie the movie back to its original source material or the Arabic culture. It kind of makes me laugh that people were offended by a line by the peddler/narrator ,’where they cut off your ear if they don’t like your face’ when a million other things are done that directly fly in the face of Arabic customs and culture.
How about the fact that none of the characters actually look Arabic? I would think that is more potentially bothersome than a funny line in a song. Seriously it’s the most white Arabs ever put on-screen.
As much as I like the film I kind of wish they had been a little braver with their skin colorings and not only been tan on Jafar’s face (but oddly enough never his neck?). It is such a cliché to have the people of darker complexion be the bad guy. Sigh…
But Aladdin is not the movie for such discussion. It is a comedy!!! It has one job and that is to make you laugh and it does that job very well. And pretty much all the laughs come from one man- Robin Williams. He owns this movie. There was talk after it was released that he should be the first person to be nominated for best supporting actor for an animated movie and I agree. (I really wish they would have an award for voice work because it is such an art).
Clements and Musker said they wrote the part of the Genie for Robin Williams and it was quite the labor of love for him to participate at all. At the time he was filming Toys and Hook and would spend hours on set for those films and then come at night to record for Aladdin.
At one point in the commentary Clements says ‘people often ask me how much of the material was ad-libbed vs scripted? And I say none of it. It was all written’. This caught me off guard but then Musker says ‘he’s lying!’.
Evidently they would give Robin Williams boxes of props, costumes and concepts and he would go from there. For one of the songs he came up with 59 different characters! Just the one’s included in the film are amazing. with everything from Ed Sullivan to John Wayne to Ethel Merman- all people most kids don’t know but they didn’t need to. We knew it was a funny voice, which made us laugh. The adults, for instance, could laugh at the Groucho Marx imitation, while kids thought it was a silly looking character.
They also said on the commentary Williams was nervous about his singing, which I guess he had never done before, and considering he does 2 of the 4 songs he’s great!
There was some ugliness between Disney and Williams because he had taken the SAG minimum to be in Aladdin on the agreement they would not use his likeness or make the genie more than 20% of the marketing in respect for Toys which opened the same month. Disney did not live up to their side of this bargain (on one hand can you blame them but still a deal is a deal) and it angered Williams, which is why he is not in the 2nd Aladdin film but things were made up for the 3rd.
Unlike Beauty and the Beast or Little Mermaid there are only 6 songs in Aladdin, 2 of which are reprises. 3 of the songs are written by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken and a Whole New World is by Tim Rice and Menken. I wonder if this song scarcity was partly to appease boys who would be less interested typically in musical numbers? However, the songs we get are well written and once again very funny. There is not a villain song except for the Prince Ali reprise by Jafar but this works very well so no issue from me.
Artistically it is simple with mostly color blocking as backgrounds. Evidently blue is used to convey good in the film and red evil. In fact, in the final scenes everything is red even the characters and their clothing.
Some of the CGI in the film does not hold up very well. Things like the cave of wonders looks pretty corny to a modern audience but the film is so over-the-top I don’t really care.
Let’s actually talk about the story-
The Story-
We start out with our narrator setting the tone with the song ‘Arabian Nights’. It is a very effective number. Robin Williams does not sing this song but he does do the other voice work for the narrator:
It does a very good job setting mood and tone. We get the gravitas of the music with the silliness of the peddler selling us tupperware (Evidently they brought a box of junk for Robin Williams from the $1 store and he ad-libbed all of it).
The narrator was actually supposed to be revealed to be the Genie at the end but it had to be cut because the ending with Genie leaving felt complete.
After the narrator we see Jafar and a thief. They have found the cave of wonders but it takes a ‘diamond in the rough’ to enter.
Next we meet Aladdin. What a great way to be introduced to a character. We know from the beginning he is special, “our diamond in the rough”.
How rough is he? Well, he is a thief and the next song shows us that. It is one of the most ‘Broadway’ Disney songs, so of course I love it.
So, 2 out of 4 songs done in the first few minutes. Again, that feels very ‘please the boys’ to me but I’m ok with it. It does take too long to get to the Genie (almost 40 minutes!) but it’s not terrible.
A lot of the scenes in Aladdin feel like a good sitcom. Think of a show like The Office. There would be a tender hearteded scene with Michael Scott immediately followed by ‘that’s what she said’ or other silly punchline. It’ never gets too sentimental but it also doesn’t leave the viewers cold.
These tender moments start early in Aladdin with a Prince riding into the castle repulsed by Aladdin. He says he is a ‘street rat’ and nobody will remember him.
Then we meet Jasmine . She is portrayed as a modern woman who wants to get out of the castle and live for herself. Much to her father’s chagrin she rejects suitor after suitor (including the Prince who insulted Aladdin). A lot of the time she is shown holding a bird symbolizing feeling caged in and lonely. Jasmine is a little bland but I liked her. Again, it does not matter that she is completely implausible for an Arabic woman (even today in some cultures) because they’ve already established the movie is its own enchanted world, with its own rules and customs.
Jasmine decides to run away and Aladdin saves her from getting her hand chopped off by a merchant. They have some nice moments together and there is genuine chemistry. (Like The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast the couple in Aladdin have significant screen time together and form a realistic bond).
Our next scene is with Jafar and his hilarious pet parrot Iago voiced by Gilbert Gottfried. Some find him shrill and annoying but he was funny to me (but I love Fran Drescher so I guess I don’t mind shrill). I don’t think he is in the movie too much. Just enough to provide some good comic relief especially when the Genie is nowhere to be found.
If parents have issues with words like ‘shut up’ or ‘moron’ they probably will not care for Iago as he uses them a lot.
Eventually Aladdin is captured and Jasmine is returned to the castle. To her dismay, Jafar tells her Aladdin has been beheaded for hurting the Princess. In truth, he has actually been taken to the dungeon and tricked into entering the Cave of Wonders with his monkey Abu (who is super cute).
In the cave they find the lamp but Abu triggers the alarm and the cave starts turning into lava and they have to use a magic carpet (which has tons of personality for a rectangle) to get out of the cave.
Jafar thinking he has the lamp leaves Aladdin and Abu inside the cave but Abu steals the lamp. That’s when we finally get our Genie!!! I can’t imagine anyone not liking the Genie or Friend Like Me. It’s perfect. Evidently it was the first number they animated so certain features are different (longer ears, Aladdin looks younger) but none of that matters. It is so funny. You forget most of the time it is just the Genie with blue background. It’s so manic that’s all we need.
Eventually Aladdin wishes to be made a prince so he can woo Jasmine and we get the next musical number, Prince Ali. Robin Williams is hilarious as if he is commenting on a Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade.
In a surprise to Aladdin, Jasmine is not impressed with Prince Ali (neither is Jafar of course!). She won’t even meet with him, but he convinces her to try a magic carpet ride. I know A Whole New World won the Oscar for best song but I think it is just okay but the animation is lovely and it provides one of the movies only softer extended moments.
After the ride Jasmine is smitten with Aladdin and has basically figured out he is the street rat from earlier despite him continuing to lie about it. He tells her he dresses as a commoner for fun, but I don’t think she really believes him.
She is smitten enough to get one of the best Disney kisses ever!
After the date Jafar traps Aladdin and tries to drown him in the ocean. The Genie is unleashed and uses one of Aladdin’s 3 wishes to save him.. This is a pretty intense moment for a Disney lead and probably the closest any actually come to dying.
Aladdin comes back to the palace and exposes Jafar as the crook he is but he is unwilling to come clean to Jasmine about who he is. He also tells Genie he can’t give him his freedom because they want him to be Sultan and he needs to remain a Prince with his wishes.
Just then Iago steals Aladdin’s lamp and brings it to Jafar who makes himself Sultan on high. The red coloring on these scenes is great at establishing mood (and contrast from the all blue of Aladdin’s scenes when he is master of the lamp). We also get the reprise of Prince Ali which is Jafar’s villain song.
Aladdin get’s sent to the ‘ends of the earth’ and we know it is somewhere with snow. Again the CGI in some of these scenes doesn’t age particularly well but it is a nice emotional segment for Aladdin who feels terrible about Abu and The Carpet.
Getting free we get to Jafar imprisoning Jasmine and her father. Her outfit is very slinky in these scenes which may be a problem for some Christian viewers.
Aladdin returns and he and Jafar have a wonderfully executed final battle that feels like Aladdin may have met his match. The Genie is also helpless because Jafar is his master.
For the finale we get one of the best moments of friendship in all of Disney and a great message about being yourself and loving others more than self. Especially with Robin Williams passing it is a very tender scene.
Movie Review/Conclusion-
My thoughts on Aladdin are very simple. What I look for in a comedy is ‘did it make me laugh?’ and this did. It did as a child and it did now. The schtick by Robin Williams still holds up and is full of energy and happiness, which is hard to resist. The genie is one of the best Disney characters ever and it is one of the best examples of a side character stealing the show in a movie- live action or animated.
It also has some nice action segments that will entertain boys and girls.
I think the villain is fine but not one of Disney’s best (although it is nice to have a male villain for once). I like Iago and think he is used just enough to not be wearing.
Jasmine is a little bland but charming. The music is a lot of fun if sparingly used. The artistry is fine, does the job it needs to do.
I wish we got to the Genie sooner and the Whole New World sequence is a little forgettable, but not bad.
Like all the great Disney there is genuine heart mixed in with the humor and some nice messages about friendship and honesty.
So all in all, I really enjoy Aladdin. Is it in my top 10? I don’t think so but it is probably my favorite Disney comedy, so maybe…not sure . Ask me in a couple years when Robin Williams passing isn’t so fresh.
For now I give it an
Overall Grade- A-
I made donation to St Jude in Robin William’s memory after his passing (I just felt like doing something, not simply talking) and I’d like to make another contribution. $1 for every view this post gets up to $150. I feel very sad at his loss.
Depression, Anxiety, Robin Williams
I thought before I post my review of Aladdin I would share with my Disney readers what I wrote after Robin Williams passing. It made me so sad. This surprised me a bit because he hadn’t made a movie I liked for a long time. But it wasn’t really about movies. It’s about a life, a human being. I had a dark time in my life and feel a great empathy for those struggling with depression. I wish there could be no more goodbyes.
But I am grateful for Robin Williams and all the other sufferers of depression and anxiety who push through for so long and do their best to lift up others. God bless.
Movie 30: Beauty and the Beast
I know at the end of this project people will want me to rank all 54 in order from greatest to worst and I don’t know how I am going to do it. It feels impossible. Take The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast . Both are masterpieces. Perfection. Little Mermaid probably means more to me personally, where Beauty and the Beast is probably more of a universal story but they are both sensational. I said it with Winnie the Pooh and immediately a chorus of detractors surfaced, but who cannot like Beauty and the Beast?
Who knows but I love it!
Here’s how I know it is a great movie. The other day I was thinking about it and it occurred to me there are some major plot holes. For instance, we know the Beast has till 21 to break the spell but he has 10 years so he was rude at 11? If time stood still in castle and he is 21 forever (which would seem to be the case given Chip who is probably 7ish?) than how does he know he is 21 yet and if he is 21 wouldn’t that still make him very young when the spell was given? Or has he been 21, 10 times?
Also when you think about Be Our Guest, all the flatware and napkins and everything else, if each of those things is a person that is a lot of servants at the castle? Thousands! Finally, is the whole kingdom under the spell? Is that why there are so many items? Because wouldn’t people notice their prince is gone? Also how long are Belle and the Beast together because Lefoux and Maurice are outside the whole time but their courtship seems like many months?
So plot holes, yes? But here’s the thing…None of that matters AT ALL! Even a little bit! The characters are so rich, the writing is so sharp, animation stunning and the music- oh is it perfect. To me it is like Up in that regard. Yes you can nitpick plot points but all the pieces are so strong it carries the viewer away with it if they will allow it to.
Beauty and the Beast became the first animated film to be nominated for Best Picture and it sure deserved it.
Production-
It’s hard writing this blog because I have tons of information on this and it is all very interesting stuff. The audio commentary has so many great tidbits from Allan Menken, Gary Trousdale, and Kirk Wise.
Like Little Mermaid, this film was treated like a traditional Broadway musical and much of that emphasis came from lyricist Howard Ashman who I have grown to have such immense respect for when doing my research for this project. He tragically died from AIDS before Beauty and the Beast could be released but this was not simply a song writer. This was a man who acted out the characters and had definite opinions about casting, dialogue and everything else. They said on the Gaston number Ashman had sheets and sheets of lines of funny prose that had to be trimmed out. He could have gone on for days.
He was so crucial to Beauty and the Beast that they moved production to an upstate New York Radisson Inn so they could be near him as he was sick. What a creative gift to give the world as you are on your death bed. Quite touching really.
I think we forget how bold the traditional musical structure was in 1991. Even with The Little Mermaid precedent, to do a Broadway musical was basically unheard of. We are more used to it now because we get a musical release every year or so but that would not have happened if Menken and Ashman and Disney had not kept the medium alive in the 90s.
They said in the audio commentary that the New York Film Festival gave a standing ovation to a rough draft version of Beauty and the Beast and part of that is because it is so great but another is because it hits every nostalgic musical button without being corny.
The casting went a long way with the film’s success. Jodi Benson, from Little Mermaid was considered for Belle, but they decided to go with an older, more mature sounding voice of Paige O’hara. The Little Mermaid needed a girl who is uncomfortable in her own skin. Beauty and the Beast needed a woman. Belle has already figured out what she wants and it is not just a thing like legs or a man. She wants adventure and a spiritual belonging.
What takes Ariel probably 40 minutes to realize when she sings on the rock, Belle has announced in the first 15 minutes. Both are important characters but just at different phases and ages. I love that.
All the other casting is brilliant with Richard White as Gaston, Robby Benson as Beast, Jerry Orbach as Lumiere, and Angela Lansbury as Mrs Potts. I went to a concert of Angela Lansbury and she felt great ownership over playing Mrs Potts. She said after 9/11 she would talk with kids and her voice was a comfort to them because of Mrs Potts. You can feel that kind of connection in all the performances. Mrs Potts is a great example of how perfect the characters are developed. With her we have a character with no arms or legs and yet she is warm and maternal. Pretty remarkable.
What amazed me this time around is how every character in Beauty and the Beast is established in the first 30 seconds of them talking. The Beast is the only one we don’t understand and have to see change. Usually this wouldn’t work but when the writing is this sharp it does. It is kind of like the Justice League of animation. Individually they may be a boring character but together they work great.
Allan Menken’s score contributes so much too. The way scenes build to crescendos and the way storytelling is done within songs is amazing. this is not a action, stop and sing, and more action type of musical. The music tells the story and introduces us to the characters flawlessly.
Think of The Mob Song. We start out with Gaston proposing to Belle and by the end they are practically at the castle and that all happens convincingly with the lyrics, vocals and music. (And each reaction totally makes sense when given the behavior of the Beast at the beginning and what little we know about each of the townspeople and Gaston).
It also took the CAPS work of Rescuers Down Under and combined it with special effects in a new way. Remember in my Rescuers review I said the computer graphic sequences like the Sydney Opera House didn’t really hold up for modern audiences? These do. The ballroom scene is just as beautiful now and sweeping as it was then. There isn’t a moment of the film that feels antiquated or tired to me.
There is personal value to Beauty and the Beast for me as well. I responded to the story of course but I have always loved Broadway since I was in High School. When I was in college my dear cousin Lisa and I conceived of a plan to take a trip out to New York with our Grandma. While we were there we saw Beauty and the Beast and were blown away. We also saw Music Man and the Rockettes (it was a Christmas trip). 4 months later Lisa passed away of a long-term illness, so I can’t help but watch it and think of her.
I’m sorry if that seems sentimental but it’s true. For me movie-going is not just images on the screen but stories and stories matter in my life.
The Story-
Normally in my reviews I go over the story talking about what I like in one character or another, what songs I like, how the story moves and flows. I literally have found that to be impossible for Beauty and the Beast. I’ve tried 4 times and each time ended up with so much material nobody would ever read it. My last attempt at keeping it simple had 10 pages and I had only gotten to Something There. I know some people enjoy my writing but 20 pages on Beauty and the Beast might be a little much.
So, basically it’s a story about a girl who feels out of place named Belle
The town jock Gaston is in love with her because she’s pretty but she wants more
Her father gets lost and finds an enchanted castle where he is imprisoned by a beast
She agrees to go in the place of her father so that he can be free
The house is full of enchanted objects created by the spell changing not only the beast but all in the household
They do their best to make Belle happy
Gaston is depressed about Belle’s rejection and his pubmates try to cheer him up
Belle’s father tries to get help, everyone thinks he is nuts and that gives Gaston an idea to manipulate Belle into marrying him
Meanwhile in some amount of time Belle starts to see a softer side to the Beast and he indulges her love of reading
Beast and Belle have a night dancing where he is ready to tell her he is in love with her
But she learns her father is in trouble and despite the enchanted rose wilting Beast allows her to go
When home Gaston tries to have Belle’s father committed unless she will marry him, she refuses
Gaston and the townsfolk learn about the Beast and storm to the castle to kill him
The household objects defend themselves but Gaston finds his way to the Beast
At first the Beast doesn’t care because Belle is gone and let’s Gaston win at the fight
Then he see’s Belle and Gaston and Beast fight, with the Beast letting him go. Then in return Gaston literally backstabs the Beast and then falls to his death
Beast dies in Belle’s arms but just before the pedal drops Belle tells him she loves him. This love is enough to reverse the curse and bring Beast back
All the household objects are returned to their pre-curse state and Belle and Beast are happy forever.
Movie Review/Conclusion-
Phew! I’m exhausted. I must have written that 5 times and I’m not entirely happy with a clip show summary (I have so much I could tell you!) it was the best way I could come up with to simply let the story talk about itself.
Like I said at the beginning Little Mermaid has more personal meaning to me but Beauty and the Beast is a close 2nd. It had great impact and is one of only 3 movies I remember seeing as a little girl and loving. So, if I could give a co-champion of my youth it would be Beauty and the Beast.
Every aspect is perfect. Villain? Perfect. Heroine? Perfect. Animation? Perfect and still looks great in 2014. Backgrounds? Stunning works of art. Side Characters? Perfect. Humor? Perfect. Musical score? One of best ever written. Songs? Perfection. It really has the feel of someone’s master work and that is probably because it was. Thinking of Howard Ashman working on the lyrics when he was on his deathbed had to give special meaning to the whole project for all who worked on it. I have a feeling that is what made it so special.
I have seen the stage musical probably 15 times and it is a delight. Whenever they do it at local theaters by me it is sold out quickly. They had so much interest a few years ago they had like 6 performances on Saturday.
It has lessons of redemption, forgiveness, vanity, pride, ambition, dreaming, and fun but it doesn’t beat you over the head with any of them. It has us so attached to every character including the Beast that when they transition to humans it feels like a bit of a letdown. We are so used to them as candlesticks and clocks.
I honestly had forgotten how great this movie was until it was released in 3D (and I could do without the added scene for the 3D release) last year and I saw it on IMAX and sat in my chair for about 10 minutes after and marveled.
I would say it is not only one of Disney’s best but it is one of the great movies ever made.
Overall Grade- A+
No wonder it was the first animated movie to be nominated for Beast Picture and won for best score and song for Beauty and the Beast.
Hey, and it also introduced us all to Celine Dion so there’s that 😉
Oh and the other great thing is for most viewers we want to be Belle because she’s smart, kind and beautiful, but we also want to be the beast because we hope someone will love us even with all our flaws. To have that kind of relatability with one character is hard for a writer, but to do it with two is really hard. Perfection!