Movie 33: Pocahontas

| Rachel's Reviews

pocahontas posterA 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.

pocahontas inaccuraciesMost 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:

radcliffe2

 

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.

pocasidebarThe 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.

Thomas-from-Pocahontas-Saved

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.

pocahontas diveIt’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.

kocooum

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?

willow tree

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

shaman

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.

friend

Next John Smith and Pocahontas meet in a very cheesy scene with Pocahontas appearing out of the mist like a ghost.

mist

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.

gold

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.

powhatan

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.

pocahontas-and-john-smith

John and Pocahontas have one of Disney’s best kisses

kiss

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.

sacrifice scene

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.

backdrop

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.

beautiful scenerySome 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

| Rachel's Reviews

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

| Rachel's Reviews

The_Lion_King_poster

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.

circle of life

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!

lion king collage

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.

mufasa and 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

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.

simba criesSo 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.

hakuna matata

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.

new king of pride rockAs 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. justcantwait1The 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!).

timon and pumba

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.

broadway

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

| Rachel's Reviews

aladdin posterNext 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.

Aladdin

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.

bob hope hirschfield
Here is a Hirschfeld drawing of Bob Hope

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.

aladdin

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).

Robin-Williams-AladdinClements 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!’.

ed sullivan aladdin

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.

kiss

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.

aladdin and red

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.

caveLet’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.

street ratThen 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.

jasmineJasmine 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.

iago

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).

abu

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.

aladdin carpet rideJafar 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!

aladdin and jasmine

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.

prince ali scene

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.

red jasmine

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

| Rachel's Reviews

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

| Rachel's Reviews

BeautybeastposterI 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!

stained glass
The stained glass introduces us to the legend

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.

howard ashman

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.

beauty-and-the-beast-cast-disney-couples-23625095-400-550

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.

chip and mrs potts

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.

lisa

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

beauty and beast books gaston

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

BeautyBeastCharacters

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

letting Belle go

When home Gaston tries to have Belle’s father committed unless she will marry him, she refuses

Monsieur_D'Arque

Gaston and the townsfolk learn about the Beast and storm to the castle to kill him

gaston and people

The household objects defend themselves but Gaston finds his way to the Beast

lumiere and cogsworth fight back

At first the Beast doesn’t care because Belle is gone and let’s Gaston win at the fight

sad beast

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.

End-of-Beauty-and-the-Beast

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!

My View on Disney Princesses and Feminism

| Rachel's Reviews

This post is another little interruption from my reviews to answer a question I’ve gotten from friends and on social media.  I clearly have issues with female Disney characters who only exist to make bug eyes at boys and have them fall instantly in love with them- or instant love as I have coined it.  The end of the Jungle Book makes me nuts.  The girl fox, Vixey in Fox and the Hound I hated especially because Tod was acting like a real idiot and she hears a song and goes right back to the old batting the eyes…

vixey

These characters annoy me because they are only there as a love object and that is it. It’s like the Disney equivalent of porn.  Just look at me and you are hooked, hypnotized by my feminine wiles…

jungle book
She sings about cooking and cleaning, bats her eyes and…
mowgli
and Mowgli is hooked, hypnotized by her. Why? This scene bothers me much more than any princess scene.

Evidently that view makes me a raging feminist.  I’m actually a Conservative Mormon pro-lifer, so politically I do not share much in common with current feminist public policy or organizations like the National Organization of Women.  Do I want women to be treated fairly?  Of course but in most of my life people would probably not think of me as a feminist.

But I do think societal trends in language, media and storytelling can influence the self esteem and behaviors of both men and women and are worth analyzing.  As they are more likely to be objectified this is especially true for women.

Probably the most famous lyric when I was in high school warned against our ages willingness to be entertained and not think about what messages we were receiving:

Here we are now, entertain us
I feel stupid and contagious
Here we are now, entertain us

So, I like being entertained but I don’t think it is bad to take a step back and wonder- what are they saying with these characters?  What does this tell young girls or boys?  The answers can be different and debated but simply noticing the way women are portrayed or men are portrayed does not make me feminist.  It just makes me someone who noticed a trend and is concerned.

For years Disney executives were fearful of making ‘girl movies’ and so  how can that not have an affect on girls!  It certainly seems like a natural question to ask when a massive demographic is specifically discouraged in films, especially for children who are so impressionable.

It all comes from an old idea that it is easier to get girls to like boy things than boys to like girl things.  If Frozen did anything let’s hope the 1 billion dollars in sales puts that to a rest!  (And Hunger Games.  Not all girls in the seats).

Disney-Princess-Kida-disney-princess-30168400-2560-1117
I realize this has more than the official princesses

So does this mean I hate princess movies?  Some feminists I’m told do but even my sister who is pretty hard core doesn’t hate princess movies and loved Frozen and Tangled.  So, I think that’s a bit of a stereotype on feminists.  In fact, Slate.com, a very liberal site, had a great article recently called “The Problem with your Problem with Pink”.  It is a brilliant article and I highly recommend reading it.  One of its points is that by demonizing princesses and pink we are actually reinforcing gender stereotypes rather than eliminating them:

““Chill out” is very good advice. The pink phase will pass like anything else, and if it doesn’t, well, then, you have raised a human being who really likes pink. Which is the same as raising a human being who really likes green. The meaning of the color is what we make it mean. By steering our daughters away from the pink aisle to subvert dangerous gender norms, we’re reinforcing them”

Disneyland_2012-02-14_Princess_and_Princesses_a

I think you can say the same thing about Princesses.  A Princess is not inherently bad for a child just like a wizard, warrior, knight, king, queen, human, alien, are inherently bad or good.  It’s what the character does which makes them either a good example or not.  Most of the time I think the Princesses are great in Disney movies.  They are confident, happy, elegant, loving people. Some I like better than others such as Belle because she is a reader, or Ariel because she is a fighter (same with Mulan).  Rapunzel is great because she is so optimistic, Cinderella works hard.  All of them have positive attributes which I am more than happy to see reflected in my nieces or daughters if I have them.

I would certainly rather have a princess, Cinderella, who is dreaming of greater things than a common girl getting water who has resigned to cooking and cleaning for her life.  That to me is a much greater hurdle in a Disney film to leap than explaining a princess to a little girl.

In some ways I feel grateful to Disney because in much of other storytelling women are few and far between.  We have what is called by some ‘The Smurfette Principle’.   In the world of Smurfs there is one female character who is there typically to gasp and sigh over any event which is happening.  smurfetteBut the Smurfette can be the smart girl too, but she is always the girl surrounded by male characters.  And to be clear these can be great characters but it is a definite storytelling trope, which is worth noting and discussing.

harry potter

fantastic-four big-bang-theory-cast-290x160You could argue that such trends in storytelling doesn’t matter and it is certainly true that all-girl movies can be atrocious.  I hated Austenland last year and that not only had mostly female cast but a female director, writer and producers.

What we have to be concerned with is overall trends in storytelling. and the way I see it the trends of Princess stories have been consistently positive and progressing in the last 2 decades.  It has certainly been many years since we had a Disney princess who was a complete nothing- Black Cauldron maybe or Sleeping Beauty?  For the most part they are independent, free-thinking, ambitious, positive women.  What’s wrong with that?

So I think we are perhaps a bit tough on our Disney Princesses.  They are usually pretty good examples and can be used as tools to help girls feel confident and beautiful.  Where we get into trouble is when we don’t take a second to talk with our girls about the positive traits of the princess they admire and allow them to only focus on the beauty.  Sometimes that is the fault of the Disney Princess branding of merchandise and products which tend to focus on Belle’s ample bosom and less on her love of libraries. princessesAs adults we can also sexualize things we loved as children and then can carry those grown up perceptions over to our children, forgetting they are seeing them with innocent eyes.  When we think of Tinker Bell we may see a sexy girl in a green dress.  Where our daughters see a simple green fairy.  I’m not saying we shouldn’t encourage modesty but we can be over-cautious and throw out stories and characters who have many good things to teach our children, out of a fear we picked up later in life.

sexy princesses

So, no.  I have no problem with girls wanting to be a princess or loving princesses.  In fact, when the royal wedding came along I threw a party and celebrated a girl becoming a princess.  I don’t see anything wrong with that.  From all evidences she’s a good person who was elevated to a princess, which had never happened before.  For a woman who loves fairytales it was like one had come to life!

This is me with my hat at the Royal Wedding party
This is me with my hat at the Royal Wedding party

I guess with most things in life it is all about balance and how it is approached.  But in my experience kids find their own form of balance.  We played house and pirate ship and boxcar children (always some kind of orphan…) as much  if not more than we played Princess.  And like I said it has been some time since there has been a princess which wasn’t a pretty tough cookie.

frying panI actually think live action films could take a lesson from animation and have more strong female characters.  Look at the superhero genre which has failed miserably to provide a single watchable female superhero movie.  The Xmen and Black Widow are as close as we’ve gotten but eventually I hope we can get good writers who can translate some of the great female comic book characters onto the screen in leading roles.  I don’t know why it is so hard (and I am very skeptical of the new Wonder Woman but we will see…)

Because just like people thought ‘girl movies’ wouldn’t sell at Disney, they have thought ‘girl movies’ in dramas, comedies and anything non-romantic wouldn’t make money.  I hope films like The Heat, Bridesmaids, The Blindside (and Frozen) have shown women can carry a picture and people will go if the writing is good. That’s always the key in any genre.

disney_women_by_nuts4books9-d3j5stn

So what does my rambling mean?  Well, basically that I hate it when women are objectified in film and only present to be beautiful love objects that transfix men.  However, that does not mean I hate Princesses or Princess stories.  I like girlie things.  There is perhaps no more girly person than myself.  I have a chandelier for goodness sakes in my bedroom.  Princess movies can in fact be a tool to help encourage the right kinds of lessons in our girls and boys, so by discounting and discouraging them we miss out on stories which have lasted for generations partly because of their teaching ability.

Regardless girls deserve characters like Anna and Elsa in Frozen who have personalities, make mistakes, feel uncomfortable and insecure, have happy moments, fall in love and a range of other traits.  And all girls do not have to be strong.  They can be shy or withdrawn (the warrior woman can be an equal cliche) but give her something to say or do but to be oogled at by men.  Boys deserve fleshed out characters too but they get it far more frequently in Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, all the Pixar movies but Brave, Star Wars, All Superheroes shows and movies, I could go on…

anna and elsaIt’s a sad thing when something as simple as the Bechdel test is failed by many movies or passed by technicalities.  The Bechdel Test asks the question does a movie have 1. 2 named female characters who 2.  have a conversation about something other than a man.  It is shocking how many movies fail the test and to be fair many terrible, demeaning movies pass the test.  It is merely a way to look at trends not individual pictures.  In life females talk to females about things other than men and movies should show that.  I guess if that makes me a raging crazy feminist than so be it…

So I say embrace pink.  Embrace your Disney Princess and strong women in film.  Not because you are or are not a feminist but because you are human and want to tell and see stories about half of the human race.

The Nostalgic Critic had an interesting editorial on this topic and he did bring up a good point about why are girls never queens, but princesses?   I had never thought about it and it is a valid thought.

Movie 29: Rescuers Down Under

| Rachel's Reviews

RescuersduposterWhen I started this blog I was hoping I would be surprised by movies and really love something I had previously discounted.  Up until now that hadn’t really happened.  But I think Rescuers Down Under may finally be that moment!

Compare to the First-

What? You ask?   But, Rachel you hated The Rescuers how can you like the sequel?

Well, as it turns out there are a lot of reasons.  This is one of the few times in movies when a sequel is far superior to the original in every way.  I seriously can’t think of a single way I liked the original better.

My main problem with The Rescuers wasn’t the set up. It was the tone.  To me it had a mean spirit about it.  First of all, it starts off the movie with Penny already captured.  We don’t see her get abducted but just hear about it morosely from Rufus at the orphanage. We hear about how miserable and lonely Penny was and from the beginning it feels hopeless and sad.  There is never a moment where Penny is free from her kidnappers.   In Down Under there are extended sequences of Cody with Marahute the eagle before he is abducted which helps us feel more hopeful than a desperate message in a bottle.

We also get WAY more of Madusa in the original than we do of the villain Mcleach in Down Under . In fact, I would bet that Mcleach and Cody are in the same scene for less than 10 minutes of the finished film.  Mcleach actually isn’t in the movie all that much, and there is almost always a comic element to his scenes whether it is Joanna stealing his eggs or Frank and the other animals trying to break free.   (more to come on that later).  Wilbur gets more screne time than the villain.  Some may see that as a weakness but I need very little of Mcleach to know exactly who he is.

Mcleach is also not as emotionally cruel to Cody like Medusa is with Penny.  He tells him to shut up and tries to intimidate him but it is more procedural and less personal than in the original.  Plus, there is no tearjerker song telling Cody to be brave despite the evil he is among.   And Cody has a mother who loves him and is looking for him.  The loneliness the characters experience is not the same.

In the end it comes down to tone.  In the little writing I’ve done I have learned tone is huge.  Down Under is full of light and hope where The Rescuers felt dark and cruel.  Again, this is just my opinion but that’s how the two came across to me.

So let’s actually talk about the movie instead of comparing to the original…

Production-

For some reason Disney had wanted to make a sequel to The Rescuers for some time.  In fact, Oliver and Company was supposed to be a continuation of Penny with her adopted family.  That was eventually scrapped and around 1988 production started on The Rescuers Down Under.

At the time there was an Australian trend with movies such as Crocodile Dundee being popular.  In the dvd extras Disney animators went to Australia and spent time at the San Diego zoo to get the feel for the animals and it is definitely the most life-like animals since Bambi. Marahute is stunningly drawn.

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Although it is often forgotten (even by me!), Rescuers Down Under was important because it was the first film to use all CAPS (Computer Animation Production System).  This was developed by Pixar and instead of xerox which had been used since 101 Dalmatians copying the cells, the computer scanned the drawings and colored them in digitally.  The CAPs work in this movie is stunning.  Compared to the sketch xerox era it is so alive with color and movement.  Even more so than Little Mermaid.

There is also CGI in the movie which is completely created on the computer and that does not hold up as well.  Segments like the Sydney Opera House look dated when I bet when they were released it was pretty spectacular.

This kind of computer look of the opera house and the ocean turning purple and flat doesn't hold up well
This kind of computer look of the opera house and the ocean turning purple and flat doesn’t hold up well

But these scenes are few and far between.  Most look fabulous.

The voice cast is excellent.  Bob Newhart and Eva Gabor (her final role. I met her right around this time in the Beverly Hills Hilton and she was exactly you would think she would be. Even had a fir and hat like Bianca!) returns as Bernard and Bianca and both of them are given more to do in this telling.  Bernard isn’t a total bore but actually does things to propel the story and there are lots of terrific side characters.

Rescuers-down-under-disneyscreencaps.com-7446

My favorite was Wilbur who is the albatross brother of Orville from the first film.  John Candy does the voice work and he is hilarious.  There are repeated scenes where he is in this mouse operation clinic where I laughed about as hard as I have in a long time .  It’s a shame Candy didn’t do more voice-over work because he is so good.

The other interesting thing about the film is it is only the 2nd Disney film with no songs.  The first being The Black Cauldron.  The rest of the Disney Renaissance pictures would be full on musicals but Rescuers doesn’t even have a song in the credits, and you know I’m actually ok with it, which is surprising with how much I love musicals.

They were clearly going for an Indiana Jones vibe with Rescuers Down Under and in every way they succeeded including Bruce Broughton’s John Williamesque score.  I loved it! Here’s the closing number.  Listen to it and see if you don’t hear the Indiana Jones feel:

There is even a map with arrows just like in Indiana Jones:

mapAnd the kangaroo rat Jake has an Indiana Jones feel about him except he isn’t scared of snakes!

jake mapOne of the animators said they were trying to share the message that “someone small can conquer evil” and that really comes through.  What a great message for kids who are of course little.

It’s a shame it didn’t do better at the box office because it is routinely ignored by Disney and its fans.  It had the bad luck of opening the same weekend as Home Alone which monopolized the family audiences leaving Rescuers with 4th place.  Jeffrey Katzenberg pulled all marketing for the picture after that and it was left to the wayside.

The only good thing which came out of it is Disney decided to not release any of the sequels they would produce in theaters.  The direct to video sequels by Disney are one of the grossest cash grabs ever perpetrated by the studio.

The Story-

Like I said, it actually takes a while for the abduction and crime to happen (at the 13 minute mark).  Before that we meet Cody who lives with his Mother in the Australian outback, which looks a lot like a lush Grand Canyon.  The vistas are magnificently drawn.

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Cody is notified by some of his network of animal friends that a creature is in trouble.  When he arrives he finds out it is a magnificent golden eagle called Marahute.  At  first Marahute is suspicious of Cody, but he is kind and cuts the ropes that bind her which thrusts him off the cliff.  In a very dramatic scene Marahute rescues Cody and gives him the ride of his life.

When the ride is done Cody notices a small mouse tied up and not realizing it is a trap tries to free it.  When he does he gets thrust into a pit and we meet Mcleach who is voiced by George C Scott.  He is a greedy poacher something Cody is eager to accuse him of.  Still he is willing to let Cody go until he see’s a golden feather from Marahute on his backpack.

featherMcleach also has his pet ‘goana’ or giant lizard named Joanna.  She is constantly fixated on eating eggs. evil lizardWanting Marahute, McLeach takes Cody and throws his backpack to the crocodiles to throw off the rangers who will search for him.  The mouse who was the bait on the trap see’s the abduction and sends word to the Rescue Aid Society.  This fun scene almost reminded me of an international version of the Twilight Bark from 101 Dalmatians.

Eventually Bernard and Bianca are assigned to the case but it interrupts Bernhard’s proposal to Bianca.  This scene of the mice restaurant reminds me of classic Disney short.

The animation is also fabulous with the snow coming down in the background (think of the original with the static backgrounds that looked so corny.  Quite the contrast!)

So off they go to find Albatross Air but it turns out it is no longer Orville but his brother Wilbur and like I said every scene with him is hilarious.  In an homage to the original we get another rocky take off which is a lot of fun.

His arrival in Australia is equally funny.

Bernard and Bianca meet Jake in this scene and he agrees to be their guide.  This is also where Wilbur get’s taken to the mouse hospital which is so funny.

Then we get the scariest scene in the movie with McLeach trying to get information from Cody using knifes.  This is the closest the film gets to the tone of the Rescuers but it is about a minute long so it is more palatable.

knifesBefore you know it we are back to Bernard and Bianca with Bernard trying to propose again, but he is interrupted by Jake and  a snake.

Cody is then put into a cage downstairs with the rest of the animals Mcleach has poached including a cellmate lizard named Frank.

lizard

This is another character that keeps things light and fun when they could be dark and disparaging.   The gang tries to get the key from the wall to set themselves free but Joana catches them and destroys their attempt putting the key back.

We then get another funny scene of Wilbur in the hospital.  Maybe you guys won’t think it is a good scene but it really made me laugh

We also get a humorous scene with Joana stealing Mcleach’s eggs and he gets the idea of how to manipulate Cody.  The next morning he pretends to let Cody go but tells him he has killed Marahute and ‘too bad about those eggs…’.  Knowing Cody will go to the eggs he follows him with Bernard and Bianca on the tank/truck contraption he is driving.

There is a scene that is right out of the tank scene from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade which was released in 1989. I have to believe this was added or changed to be an homage to that scene they are so similar but in a good way!

What kid isn’t going to like that kind of adventure?  There is nothing about Rescuers Down Under that is going to scare kids, make them nervous around strangers like the Rescuers did for me at 9 years old.

Mcleach traps Marahute but Bernard is left behind with the eggs.  He cleverly hides them from Joanna and just then Wilber shows up.  He says he will not sit on the eggs but there he is at the end of the scene.

Now that Mcleach has Marahute he needs to ‘tie up the loose ends’ meaning get rid of Cody.   All the hope lies in Bernard saving the day.  Jake doesn’t think he can do it but Bianca believes in him ‘you don’t know Bernard like I do.  He will never give up’ .  I like this moment of faith in a tiny mouse under such odds.  It goes with the theme the animators were trying to achieve.

To everyone’s relief Bernard does save the day and turn off Mcleach’s truck and causing him to be thrown into the river.

Marahute saves Cody and before another minute has gone by Bernard proposes to Bianca and she accepts creating our happy ending .

proposal2

with one final word from Wilber sitting on the nest (I just love that guy!).

Wilber sitting on eggsMovie Review/Conclusion-

This movie is the reason why you should always go into a film with an open mind.  Even if you didn’t care for the original, maybe they will fix the problems in the sequel? It’s rare but it does happen, and it happens with Rescuers Down Under.  I loved it!

The voice acting is fabulous.  The comic relief is hilarious.  The Indiana Jones moments are great fun.  The side characters like Jake and Frank are developed and a delight to watch.  The music is perfect even without any songs!

Some of the animation looks a little dated but it is only a shot here, and a shot there.  Most of it looks gorgeous.  The flying scenes totally hold up.  The characters look so much more alive and vibrant than the original and more than anything we had seen in previous films (yes, even more fleshed out and illuminated than Little Mermaid).

The villain is a mean dude but you hardly get any of him, which is perfect.  We know he is a bad guy.  We don’t need to dwell in it till it becomes shrill and unpleasant.  He’s in and out and done.  Maybe not the greatest Disney villain ever but it works for the story.

Bernard and Bianca were a lot of fun this time around, and we got to see way more personality from both, especially Bernard who saves the day!   I loved that.

And Wilber is my new favorite.  He was so funny I could watch his scenes over and over again laughing each time.  The crazy doctors almost reminded me of a Pinky and the Brain skit.  That’s how funny they were.

So, I don’t know if going in with low expectations made this work for me but whatever it is I really liked it.   I can’t imagine a kid not loving this movie.

Overall Grade- A

54 Disney Films- The How and Where Behind the Project

| Rachel's Reviews

A few people have asked me some questions about my project and I thought I would take a second to answer them.

WHERE DID I GET 54 MOVIES TO WATCH?

Disney is divided into segments.  There are segments for Pixar, Studio Ghibli, Tim Burton animation (Frankenweenie, Nightmare Before Christmas), stop motion animation (Christmas Carol and Mars Meets Mom), and then there is the Disney Toons Dept.  This last segment makes films many times associated with their television franchises such as The Ducktales Movie, or the Tinker Bell movies.

When we say something is ‘Disney cannon’ what we mean is it is from the Walt Disney Animation Studio and is deemed by them as an ‘animated classic’.  That can be confusing because we hear classic we think old but it is actually just movies produced by Walt Disney Studios that they put on the list of animated classics.  Why for instance are 2 of the Winnie the Pooh movies included but others like The Tigger Movie are not? I don’t know?  I guess it just comes to where the movie is made in the company and the resources which go into it.

My friend over at The Lawn Gnome explains it better than I could.

HOW DO I WATCH ALL OF THE MOVIES?:

Perhaps I should add this to all of my reviews so you know how to watch it if the film sounds interesting to you.  Basically there are a number of ways.

1. My Blu-ray collection-  I don’t have that many Disney Blu-rays because honestly they aren’t that great.  Unless you especially want to see it in HD and have a TV that will make a big difference there is no need to upgrade a film from a DVD to a Blu-ray.  On most of them the special features and films are identical (and some feel the blu-rays are worse because they clean up images in pictures and take away some of the original earthiness. I’ve heard that about the blu-ray for Sword in the Stone).  That said, if you don’t have them on DVD and you find a good price go for it!  Disney is not keeping as many movies ‘in the vault’ like they used to (probably because of digital copies getting out to the public anyway) so you can find good deals if you are on the hunt for them.

disney blu-rays2. Disney DVDs Collection- Like I said the DVD sets are basically identical minus the HD as the blu-ray so over the years I collected a bunch of those.  I have more than pictured but I went through a misguided phase where I threw cases away to save space.  Stupid!!

disney dvds3. Stream It- There are lots of methods for streaming Disney movies which you can even get in HDX now.  (Some claim there is a huge difference between digital stream and blu-ray but I haven’t noticed it with Disney at least. There is a website called CanIStreamIt.it   where you can look up any movie and see if it is available for free stream, rent or own.  Before I started my project I went through all 54 and checked them on CanIStreamIt.it and knew which one’s I would need to acquire from different sources.

can I stream it

Three of the biggest sites are vudu, amazon and netflix.

Vudu you purchase and rent on an individual basis but they have some great deals including daily rental discounts and an entire Disney Collections storefront.  Most rentals cost between $2.99 and $4.99 depending on how picky you are about HD.  My blu-ray players have apps for vudu which makes it easy.  I can even watch vudu and netflix on my phone if I want.   There is no monthly cost for vudu it is per purchase.

Vudu also gives you the rotten tomatoes score and review blips for any movie you look at which is nice, and you can share your experience on social media easily.

vuduAmazon is similar to vudu but they have a large library of free viewing films for prime members (a yearly fee that covers your 2 day shipping and other usage of the site).  It is an app on my downstairs blu-ray but not upstairs and it is not available for viewing on your phone (but really Disney deserves bigger than a 4 inch screen!).  You can also load your digital hd copies that come with most blu-rays onto either amazon or vudu (and you can watch them at disneymovierewards.com).

Amazon gives you reviews from fans if that helps you decide to view a movie or not.

amazonNetflix is the other major way to watch Disney films.  Their streaming services are charged by the month and I think it is $7.99 in the US.  They sometimes rotate a movie out so if you love it probably best to procure it some other way as it is not like vudu where once you buy it it’s in your library for good.   But if you are not a rewatcher of movies than it is a great, affordable solutions.  Right now they have The Rescuers movies, Pocahontas, Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Sword in the Stone and other Disney films on Netflix.

netflixIf you were curious I do not have a fancy TV.  It is a plasma Philips I bought on craigslist in 2009 but it seems to do the job just fine.

plasma tvIf you are a Comcast subscriber they have a ‘Disney Family Movie Channel’ that is a premium on demand channel and those films rotate as well.  They do a good job getting odd or unusual films in there and I watched Saludos Amigos and Three Cabelleros on the channel.  It is $5.95 a month where I live.

family movie channel

4. VHS it!-  I know it’s old school but I have a TV/VCR combo (2 actually in different rooms) and for harder titles to find like Aladdin VHS can still be a good method.  Again I’m not too picky about the HD angle.  I actually watched Snow White, Pinocchio and Melody Time on VHS for this project and I was able to get them for .50 each.  Not half bad.

vhs

 

HOW DO YOU HAVE THE TIME?

Well, first of all I have been a blogger for 7 years and a youtuber for about 2.  I love social media and interacting with people from all over the world, especially about something I love like Disney.  I have done movie reviews on both my old site and my channel (in fact, I just posted reviews on my channel of Boyhood and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes).

http://smilingldsgirl.com My Regular Blog

To read a written review I did on a movie I did not care for this summer called Austenland-

http://smilingldsgirl.com/2014/06/22/austenland-a-review/

My Channel

http://www.youtube.com/user/smilingldsgirl

My review of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes-

I have loved criticism my whole life.  I was a huge Siskel and Ebert fan growing up and find it fascinating how individuals can see art and have such differing responses . My parents raised me to ask questions and not just be an absorber of art.  So it is the perspective I am coming from.  To me noshing over a movie with friends, even online friends, is part of the fun of going to a movie.

For a long time I have wanted to watch all of the Disney cannon because there were films I had heard about like The Black Cauldron but never seen.  I was curious but never could find the time . Then in July my MCL tore and I found myself with limited mobility.

knee2It was also screwing up my already problematic sleeping schedule (you have probably noticed a lot of 2-4am posts.  I’m a terrible insomniac). I figured I needed something to feel productive because I was literally sitting around all evening once work was finished.  So, I decided to dive in and finally watch the Disney cannon.  At first I was confused and thought it was 57 movies because the list I had included The Wild, Christmas Carol and Mars Needs Moms.  Then I figured it out and changed it over to 54.

One of the nice things about Disney is most of the movies aren’t very long.  Usually around 75 minutes so really it is just a few minutes longer than a tv show like Project Runway or Survivor . Most of my shows are in between seasons so that worked out perfectly too.  It was easy for me to watch a 75 minute film and blog about it daily or every other day depending on my schedule.  These next 26 are going to be harder because most of them are longer but once I start a project I never stop so we will get all 54 for the Big Hero 6 premiere in November!

As far as my knee I am probably 80% healed but still some pain and not able to do a lot of standing or walking.  Hopefully I can get back to swimming soon.

HOW DO YOU WRITE A REVIEW?

For me it is a process writing a review.  I do as much research as I can before watching the movie, even for a movie I know pretty well.  The wikipedia on Disney films is actually pretty good, Disney wiki, other bloggers, articles, reviews etc are also helpful.  If I have one I will watch behind the scenes and audio commentaries.

I also take notes both of my research, the plot and my responses.

disney notesSome of the package films I will have a tab for each of the segments so I can keep them straight.  With Little Mermaid I had 2 tabs because there was so much in the audio commentary I wanted to keep that separate.   I couldn’t capture all my notes on a screen capture.  They are pretty in depth.   As a grad student I learned how to take detailed notes quickly and I find I enjoy the films better when taking notes (super nerd I know).

One thing that helps  is I am a very fast typist and writing the prose of the review isn’t difficult for me.  In fact, as much as I enjoy youtube I find editing a video to be more challenging.  Plus, once you’ve uploaded it is harder to make corrections like I can with my blog entries.  Youtube is also more restrictive on copyright rules than blogging and if I get strikes against my channel even though it is fair use it cold be a big pain.

In June I also ended 10 years of accounting and was hired to work as a digital marketing specialist so anything I learn on any social media isn’t just for fun but helps me with my career as well.

MY VIEW ON CRITICISM

It’s been a lot of fun and I’ve tried my best to be open minded to every movie, even one’s I previously did not care for.  I also have tried to be positive and not trash any films.  This is Disney and they all have some good traits.  I haven’t given an F to any film because nothing has deserved an F.  An F would be for a total failure like The Smurfs or The Lorax (2 least favorite animated movies).  I know when I read a review I like to see the reasoning behind the critique and even if I disagree I can respect it.  That’s what I’ve tried to do in the blog.

I hate internet reviewers who give blanket statements like ‘I hate this movie’ or ‘it sucks’ or ‘it is so boring’.  That’s a starting point but tell me whey.  Even if your ‘it sucks’ reviews are meant for humor,in the jokes tell me why you don’t care for the film.  Did the characters not work for you?  Did the plot meander?  Did you find the animation unpleasant?  I try to comment on all of those factors whether it is positive or negative in my reviews because those are the types of reviews I find fascinating.  People have dedicated years of their lives to these projects and we owe them a thoughtful response.

A while back I had posted that I didn’t really get the movie The Graduate.  The performances were good but I didn’t like the ending, and I explained why.  A friend told me why it made sense given the time and characters and it opened my eyes to the scene.  While I don’t think The Graduate is a masterpiece, I like it much better after that conversation, so I am always open to others insight and analysis.

In a way it is funny because my parents are not movie people at all.  My Dad is lucky if he see’s one movie a year but all of his kids love them.  Other than the Simpsons, nothing got us talking as siblings more than movies.

I believe movies are the great storytelling device of our era and if you miss out on going to the movies you miss out on understanding yourself, others and the age we live in.

So that is the 411 on the blog and how you can watch all of these great movies.  Thanks for reading and making it such a fun experience!

mickey