Movie 20: The Aristocats

September 3, 2014September 3, 2014 | Rachel's Reviews

When I started this project I was hoping I might find some hidden gems or perhaps grow to love movies I had discounted as a young child.

I guess that kind of happened with Pinocchio and Fantasia but I had already grown to like them as an adult. I just like them even more after this project.

With our next picture, The Aristocats, we are diving into the 70s and 80s which were rough for Disney animation. There were some gems but there is a reason they call 1989 to 1994 the Disney renaissance.

Unfortunately now on this blog we are in the dark ages…

Let’s talk about Aristocats.

This movie in basically every way is an attempt to merge everything we liked about Lady and the Tramp with 101 Dalmatians and the result feels pretty mediocre.

Lady and the Tramp elements-

We have a high brow female pet

A tough talking street pet

The Plucky Friends Who Save the Day

Borderline Offensive Asian Stereotype

101 Dalmatian Elements-

Villain who doesn’t like pets- (And just to be clear Edgar is no Cruella. I’m just showing how the copy was attempted)

Cute Kittens/Puppies-

Long Journey to Get Back to Owners (they even both have a little one who can’t make it in the cold scene)

Finally a European city local

And you throw in a fun score from the Sherman Brothers with Phil Harris ala Jungle Book and you’ve got the Aristocrats….

The Story-

So, we know what it is derivative of. Does it do those things well?

It’s not terrible but the Aristocats is very forgettable. Here’s the story:

A rich Parisian woman named Mademoiselle Adelaide has 4 cats- a mother named Duchess (awfully similar name to Lady don’t you think?) and 3 of her kittens named Marie, Toulouse and Berlioz. They give the cats French names although none but the mother have a french accent. Why?

Duchess is voiced by Eva Gabor and to be honest I had a hard time understanding anything she said. I had to put it on subtitles. I think Disney fixed this with Gabor in The Rescuers but we will see. She is less interesting than Lady because we never feel any sense of growth or anxiety from her. Indeed when she is away from her madame she seems to be in a good mood, if a little worried about her owner. When Lady has the muzzle on her and is in the pound it feels much more desperate than anything we see out of Duchess.

Just woke up from and am in a basket in the middle of nowhere but expressions are just the same as before?

Oddly enough, the Duchess and Madame are the only characters that speak with a french accent.

The Madame decides to give all of her money to her butler Edgar but only after her cats are taken care of. This angers the Butler, so he decides to be rid of the cats.

My question is wouldn’t this make the most sense to do once the Madame is failing? Once she isn’t able to search for them or be of any help in finding them? Also, could he really not share a mansion with some cats? I mean most people would assume it was his house. I’d put up with some cats for a mansion.

Even if abducting the cats made sense for Edgar, he is just not the presence and character that Cruella was. He has very little personality and Cruella cared about looking good in furs which is so much more twisted and interesting than just wanting an inheritance sooner. Cruella has more personality in her driving than Edgar has in his whole character (which they also try to copy with Edgar as a crazy motorcycle driver to much less effect).

However, before they are abducted we get a song. It’s little Marie practicing her lessons and it’s okay not great. It kind of reminds me of the Tremaine sisters practicing in Cinderella.

In this story nobody knows the animals can talk or behave like humans and yet nobody in the story is amazed when they play instruments throughout. I find that a strange touch. At least in Lady and the Tramp the one Italian guy thinks it’s strange they are talking to dogs. In Jungle Book there is just one human and he has lived amongst the animals so he doesn’t know it is strange for them to be playing music and singing.

So, Edgar drugs the cats and puts them by the river; although, he is chased by 2 dogs named Lafayette and Napoleon, who were pretty good together. They are no Jock and Trusty, who had a lot more heart but they are pleasant comic relief.

At least they have some spunk in them. Honestly most of the time the Duchess looks bored. Even when they meet a tough talking alley cat named Thomas O’Malley she looks disinterested. There is no spark between the two cats like with Tramp and Lady or Pongo and Perdy.

I know I’m over thinking this but if you aren’t going to have an alley cat in France speak with a french accent, and you are going to name him O’Malley shouldn’t he have an Irish accent? Thomas O’Malley is an Irish name if I’ve ever heard one. I think they just had Phil Harris as the voice because he was so great as Baloo. They put him in without caring if his character or performance made any sense.

It’s an ok song but it ain’t no bear necessities….

There’s no sense of real danger for any of them like with the dalmatians. Cruella comes very close to killing the puppies and it is tense. They have to be a step ahead, smarter and luckier than their foe to make it back home. If you have both films compare the 101 scene getting onto a truck to the Aristocats getting on to a truck and there really is no comparison. The Aristocats scene is a walk in the park compared to 101.

Just as in 101 we have relief from the horse, colonel, and sergeant Tibbs, the Aristocats are helped by a cute mouse and 2 British geese (3 if you include a drunk geese uncle who is briefly seen and then forgotten about). These three side characters are the best parts of the movies. I wish the movie was about them to be honest.

Pretty quickly and with nothing but sore feet they make it to Paris and meet a group of scat musician cats. (Again nobody thinks it’s strange all these animals playing music?). But they sing and while the flashing colors during the song gets old quick it is a fun number and well written by the Sherman brothers.

I hate to keep harping on the accents but it is so distracting to have everyone else sounding like Americans with Duchess tough to understand she is so strongly French. I wish they didn’t have the little girl singing in the song because I don’t think she is good but the song is a lot of fun even if the chopsticks cat is pretty bad…

Without the Duchess even breaking a sweat they make it back home with the Madame and send Edgar to Timbuktu. Next we get a scene of Thomas domesticated just like in Lady in the Tramp. This feels hollow because there hasn’t been any chemistry between Thomas and Duchess. I guess they danced but there was no spaghetti magic!

I know I’m overthinking things again but in Lady and the Tramp and 101 Dalmatians we have 2 couples that don’t have puppies till after they are basically married (quite literally in 101). But in Aristocats the Duchess has 3 kittens at the start of the movie. The journey from kitten to cat isn’t that long so we can assume the Duchess must have had some kind of cat relationship (can’t believe I’m writing that) where she was abandoned or left with the 3 kittens. Isn’t that strange? You would think she had procreated by osmosis by this movie!

Another somewhat nitpicking point-

They are at the most beautiful city in the world and yet nearly every shot looks ugly and gloomy. Here’s an interesting contrast.

Take a look at Paris from Ratatouille (I realize different technology but hear me out)

In their version of Paris it is light and bright and your eyes are drawn right to the skyline and the Eiffel Tower. It looks magical.

In the Aristocats version

In this version the Eiffel Tower is a part of a distant blur and the skyline is cloudy and gray. It’s the smokestacks and rooftops which are most prominent. You would think the great thing about Paris was the smokestacks and the soot!

You see what I mean? The sketchy xerox style of this era already makes things look dark and dreary and the choices the artists made enhanced that not made it better. And when they did add color it wasn’t in a sparkling magical way like in Lady in the Tramp, it was distracting, like an assault to the eyes. It’s like a cat rave.

I don’t know if it was just the netflix version I was watching but some the animation was alarmingly bad on this as well. There were times when characters spoke where it didn’t quite match up to the images on the screen, especially when the Madame was speaking.

Look at this scene and see if you agree with me they are slightly off. Like when she says ‘you’re a shameless flatterer George’ her lips don’t match up with what she’s saying. It kind of reminds me of anime when the translators get really close but not quite with the English dubbing.

Movie Review-

So if you haven’t gathered this is not my favorite film. I suppose it is harmless fluff but in a world where you can watch the real deal why watch the mediocre copy of the better Disney films? I guess since it’s on netflix right now it will entertain small children. The music is fun and it isn’t offensive just kind of lazy. Even on Netflix there are better Disney films like The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh or Robin Hood. Put on one of those and then only after you have watched everything else put on the Aristocats.

I guess it was a big hit for Disney so they knew what they were doing in that regard but as a lover of Disney art this fails to impress. The music is fun but not the Sherman Brothers best.

In a way I kind of feel the same way about the Aristocats as I felt about Fun, Fancy and Free. Both felt very lazy and derivative of better films.

Plus, Aristocats has such bland characters, a boring villain and no real tension with the cats journey. The lack of accents bugged me and other story flaws like Edgar’s motivation for killing the cats at that moment didn’t make sense. Also, why is the Duchess an unexplained mother?

Those are just some of the objections but all in all it’s just a boring, lazy film.

Overall Grade- D- (my lowest grade so far because it is the movie I would least want to rewatch of all the movies I’ve seen to this date)

This is what I call Disney phoning it in…

Movie 19: Jungle Book

September 2, 2014September 2, 2014 | Rachel's Reviews

Today we get to talk about one of my all time favorites- The Jungle Book. I just watched it and it is every bit as bright and colorful as I remember.

Released in 1967 Jungle Book is the last film Walt Disney produced before his untimely death of lung cancer in 1966. He didn’t get to view the final product but did see some nearly completed drafts.

Just a quick bit of trivia. My friend Jim has studied lemurs and monkeys in Madagascar, so I asked him whether there are bears in the jungle. He said not in India. These type of bears are in Vietnam and there are no apes! It’s obviously not a realistic picture but I just thought that was funny.

Production-

It is interesting to compare Jungle Book to Sword in the Stone, which didn’t work for me. The same xerox method was used but this picture is much more pleasant to watch.

If you recall, one of my issues with Sword in the Stone is that everything looked blue and gray. In Jungle Book we get the thick outlines from the sketch xerox style which isn’t my favorite but at least it is light and colorful.

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But even the brightness wouldn’t save the picture on its own. The sharp writing and the music make it work so well.

According to the dvd extras Walt asked the storyboard writers if they had read Rudyard Kipling’s book The Jungle Book. They said ‘no’ and he said ‘good because we are doing it our own way’.

I don’t know if as an older man Disney grew weary of the darker themes in Pinocchio, Dumbo and Bambi but the later films of his life are much lighter and comedic in tone . He told the animators to take the dark scenes of the book and ‘turn them on their ear. Have fun with them’.

Originally Terry Gilkyson was hired to write the songs but Walt felt they were too dark in tone, so all of the songs except for bare necessities were turned over to the Sherman Brothers.

Sherman Brothers had written Mary Poppins and Sword in the Stone for Disney at this point and Jungle Book really shows their versatility. They could easily go from broadway style in Mary Poppins to swing music and jazz for Jungle Book.

The idea for the jazz feel came partly from Gilkyson’s song but also from thinking about the monkeys (who are much darker in the book). What do they do all day? They swing! So the king of the monkeys had to also be the king of the swingers.

Jungle Book is also the first time in a feature film Disney used ‘celebrity voices’ for it’s characters.

Phil Harris was a comic and singer of the era and Walt met him at a party and signed him on to play Baloo. Then we had Sebastian Cabot, Sterling Holloway, Louie Prima and George Sanders.

It is the final Disney appearance by the great Verna Felton. I wish they gave an Oscar for best animated vocal. They deserve it and get no recognition.

Like Sword in the Stone, Jungle Book is clearly marketed to boys with only 2 female characters- Verna’s matriarch elephant (which is her second time voicing an elephant. First time being in Dumbo), and the girl who gets the water.

I really like the watercolor feel to the backgrounds. It reminds me of Dumbo. I am sure Jungle Book was also attractive to Walt Disney because of the popularity of The Jungle Cruise in Disneyland and the easy ties which could be built into the park.

What’s strange about this period of Disney is they could produce the animation in half the time but it took longer to make the films. I’m not sure why. Walt’s priorities shifted a bit to the park and his TV show but still it shouldn’t have taken so long with the xerox process? Jungle Book took 4 years to complete but at least it did very well at the box office. 22 million in it’s first release!

Story-

But really this movie sinks and swims on the strength of it’s songs and writing. The story is very simple. Mowgli is a ‘man cub’ or human who has been raised by wolves. The wolf pack is worried about having a man cub when the great Shere Khan, the tiger, is back prowling around.

Bagheera, the panther, agrees to take Mowgli back to the man village for his safety. So, most of the movie is like a road trip (or walking trip) in the jungle with animal characters.

The first characters Mowgli and Bagheera meet on their journey are a band of militarized elephants that are very funny.

Next we meet the snake Kaa who likes to hypnotize his victims before the kill. It’s a pretty gnarly character and I like the look of his eyes. It feels hypnotic. Sterling Holloway gives another great vocal performance. He was so versatile as a voice actor. Hard to believe it is the same voice that is so warm and sweet in Winnie the Pooh.

Further down the jungle they meet Baloo the bear. He is free-living and easy with just the bare necessities. As Baloo explains his life philosophy to Mowgli we get treated one of the best Disney songs ever written. It is so much fun. I dare you not to tap your feet and smile!

Unfortunately in the middle of the song Mowgli gets taken by some monkeys to their leader, King Louie. They abduct him because Louie wants to find out how humans make fire. In order to charm Mowgli into telling the secret we get another great song.

It’s not only the songs which are engaging but the dialogue is also very sharp and funny. As a small example

Bagheera: This will take brains, not brawn.

Baloo: You better believe it, and I’m loaded with both.

That’s a funny line and so many of the laughs work. It kind of reminds me of a Pixar movie in that regard. The jokes feel natural and part of the plot.

One of the things that annoyed me about Sword in the Stone is there was too much teaching good lessons and not enough showing. Jungle Book does a much better job weaving those lessons into the story. I love the tender scenes where we see how much Bagheera and Baloo really care about Mowgli and vice versa. This helps give us a reason to be rooting for them. They are good friends, which is the main message of the movie. the vultures even sing about it! I love this conversation between Bagheera and Baloo:

Mowgli flees from Bagheera and Baloo and ends up with a band of vultures. They are very funny and clearly based on the British invasion bands of the 60s.

Like I said in the Dumbo review I really don’t think this scene is that different than the crows but this is clearly referencing white people not black.

Shere Khan voiced by George Sanders coming in at the end is fabulous. What a bass!

Then Kaa comes back and sings the longer version of Trust in Me and it is actually Shere Khan that saves Mowgli this time. I love that the gave a snake sinus problems and a lisp. There is something inherently funny about a hissing snake with ssssinus issues.

I also like they added two villains. Where the Sword in the Stone had only a few minutes with a villain with confusing motivation, Jungle Book has two villains with clear motivations. They want to eat Mowgli. It’s as simple as that.

Both Shere Khan and Kaa remind me of good James Bond villains- all sleek and full of vibrato.

Baloo then reappears and takes on Shere Khan. For a second we think Baloo is dead in a scene that actually recites scripture but it works, which is surprising in such a silly movie. They’ve had just enough heart with the characters to pull this scene off.

Baloo is also funny when he says ‘I wish my Mother could have heard this…’. That’s good writing!

Finally they get the village and Mowgli has the instant love trope which Disney always uses when he see’s a girl getting water . She sings a pretty song but the lyrics I could do without. I like my female characters to have a little bit more free choice in their life. Everything is pretty mapped out for this girl. (It really makes sense that I responded to Little Mermaid so much. There aren’t a lot of strong, good women in Disney films from 1960-1989.

Our final scene of the film is Bagheera and Baloo walking off arm around arm much like the end of Casablanca. You can almost hear him say ‘ I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship”

Conclusion and Review-

Much like Fantasia and its classical music, it is unlikely you will enjoy The Jungle Book, if you don’t like jazz music.. I enjoy jazz music, so I love the movie. The songs make me want to dance!

In fact, when I was 14 my Dad took my sister and I to France. We were there on Bastille Day and went to a restaurant with a band playing. To our delight they did a cover of ‘I wanta be like you’. We bought the CD and it was a favorite of our family for many years. It’s just such a happy, fun song.

But if it is not your taste you will probably find the movie rough going; although, the characters are a lot of fun and there are 2 great villains.

The male-centric messages and characters is a little annoying but I forget about that when I’m immersed in the story. The writing is sharp. Managing to be both tender-hearted and funny.

The backgrounds and character animation are the best of the Xerox films with lots of bright colors and movement. It’s not as artistically interesting to me as their more ambitious projects but just like 101 Dalmatians and Lady in the Tramp, it does what it is trying to do very well, and like I said it all comes down to good writing and music.

Jungle Book may be the Disney classic I rewatch the most. It is cheerful, sweet and has a nice message. Plus, it is appropriate for all ages with only one brief sad moment. So check it out!

Overall Grade- A (I’d give it an A+ if there was a better female character).

Best and Worst of Disney 1937-1959

August 30, 2014August 31, 2014 | Rachel's Reviews

As I have been doing my reviews people have asked me ‘what is your favorite of what you’ve reviewed so far?’ It’s tough because I like all of them for different reasons. But I thought it would be fun to give some highlights of the first 20 years of Disney which I just finished by reviewing Sleeping Beauty.

Overall Best Film- Cinderella

It’s really hard to decide but I’d pick Cinderella because it has the whole package. It’s got a likable heroine who we actually get to know, great songs, it’s got artistry in scenes like Sing Sweet Nightingale, a terrific villain in Lady Tremaine, brilliant voice work and just the right touch of humor.

Overall Worst Film- Three Cabelleros and Fun and Fancy Free

I gave 2 films D grades, Fun and Fancy Free and Three Cabelleros. FFF I thought was just lazy. The Bongo story is odd and kind of slow. Mickey and the Beanstalk is fine but not great. If it was a little tighter with a better villain I would have enjoyed it more. Three Cabelleros is in my opinion worse than Saludos Amigos because it only has 2 shorts and then there are songs where the characters are shouting and lots of Donald chasing human women. They aren’t awful but just for Disney they are weak entries.

Best Artistry- Fantasia

Alice in Wonderland is amazing but Fantasia is like a combination of the greatest art gallery in the world and symphony in one experience. It blows me away.

Fantasia isn’t really entertainment . It’s goals are bigger than that. It is trying to inspire creativity in hopes the viewer will not simply absorb art and music but give their own spin on it, their own interpretation. It inspires me every time I watch it and I think people who don’t like it just don’t like classical music.

Strangest Scene- Dumbo

Pink Elephants on Parade

It’s like every bad dream you’ve ever had jumbled into one crazy sequence. It is also comes from Dumbo and Timothy getting drunk which is strange and has absolutely no purpose in the story. I love it!

Strangest Character- Make Mine Music- Willie the Whale who sings Opera

Is that not one of the oddest images you've seen? — Is that not one of the oddest images you’ve seen?

Make Mine Music was full of strange moments but Willie the opera singing whale was the strangest.. He just looks so strange. He looks like a giant chalkboard eraser. And why did he have to die?The narrator actually tells the children watching “Willie’s singing was a miracle and people aren’t used to miracles. And you faithful friend don’t be too sad because somewhere in whatever heaven is reserved for creatures of the deep Willie is still singing” That’s such a strange message for kids. ‘people don’t like miracles and so they kill them and send them to whale heaven.”

Scariest Scene- Pinnochio Pleasure Island.

As terrifying as The Headless Horseman is nothing will ever top little children being turned into donkeys to be sent to salt mines. And it is even scarier to know it is never resolved. Pinocchio escapes but that’s it. Nobody saves the kids or turns them back or anything. It’s nuts!

Best Villain- Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty

From Captain Hook, to the Devil, to Lady Tremaine all the early villains are good, but Maleficent is all of those villains put together in as she puts it ‘the mistress of evil’. She’s over the top, funny, creepy, and gives the best fight of any villain in any Disney movie. It actually feels like she might get away with everything when she enchains Prince Philip in her dungeon. It isn’t until the 90s we get such a great Disney villain.

Best Song- When You Wish Upon a Star- Pinocchio

I could have also picked ‘A Dream is a Wish’ from Cinderella but it is very similar in message to When You Wish. They are both great melodies and have words about hoping for goodness and happiness in life.

Worst Song- Say it with a Slap- Bongo from Fun and Fancy Free

Here’s a great message for kids- when you really love someone slap them as hard as you can… (Red Man song from Peter Pan is probably the worst but the melody is actually catchy, just the words super uncomfortable)

Best Original Score- Bambi

Clearly Fantasia should be the winner but since it is using classical music, Bambi wins because it’s music actually becomes a character within the story. It animates the forest with wind, rain, and other sound effects in the score.

Saddest Moment- Dumbo- Baby Mine

Bambi’s mother dieing is very sad but we haven’t gotten to know her very well and it all happens quickly, not giving us much time to process it before we are moving on to love in the Spring. Dumbo’s encaged Mother singing him a lullaby is a long scene, a beautiful song and a tender moment. It’s sad but not in a bad way. Dumbo is such a satisfying picture because it has moments of all different emotions- fear, anger, laughter, sadness etc.

Funniest Moment- Peter Pan- Hook and the Crocodile

I had forgotten how much slapstick is in Peter Pan and it is all done very well. I laughed throughout the film.

Most Romantic Moment- Lady and the Tramp- Spaghetti

I think spaghetti became romantic food because of this scene. Great song, and about as romantic as dogs could be. Such a lovely little movie.

Most Underrated- Melody Time

Melody Time is the strongest of the package films. Make Mine Music is entertaining in a ‘so bad it’s good way’ but I genuinely liked Melody Time. The Johnny Appleseed short is sweet with nice songs and Pecos Bill is fun, if a little bit too long. It was tough for me to find but if you can hunt it down give it a watch. It’s gentle and sweet and I liked it.

Most Overrated- Peter Pan

There is a lot to like in Peter Pan. Don’t get me wrong. I just wasn’t as enamored with it this go-around for some reason. I don’t like the way Wendy is treated, especialy by the other female charcaters when she hasn’t done anything wrong. The slapstick is funny but nothing too memorable. The artistry and music aren’t great. Love Tinker Bell and Hook but other characters are kind of bland. It’s a lot of fun but not the masterpiece I remember it being. Plus, we have the awkward Red Man song.

Trippiest Movie- Alice in Wonderland

This movie is so trippy it doesn’t even worry about a plot. It just introduces Alice and the viewer to character after character and I love it!

Conclusion

I enjoyed watching every single one of these movies. And more importantly I learned a lot along the way. Even a movie I didn’t love like Three Cabelleros was interesting because of it was requested by the US Government, and it was quite effective in winning the loyalty of the South American countries to our cause. It makes the choices made in the movie interesting. So, there is always things to like about any Disney.

Mostly I love the artistry. I love movies but I think animation has a special ability to combine mediums and challenge the limitations of human actors in live action. You can have a child turning into a donkey where in live action the scene would be very expensive.

I also feel inspired by Walt Disney to take some risks and try new things. He was certainly willing to leverage years of hard work over risky propositions and I admire that. Of the first 16 films what are your favorites and have my reviews made you curious to watch any of the movies? I hope you do and let me know what you think!

Coming Up Next

Now on to 60’s and 70’s. Both of these periods would be less productive for Disney. In 60s Disney made and released 3 films:

1. 101 Dalmations

2. Sword in the Stone

3. Jungle Book

1970s

1. The Aristocats

2. Robin Hood

3. Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

4. The Rescuers.

So that will be my upcoming reviews. Thanks for reading! I’m having a blast!

Movie 11: The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr Toad

August 23, 2014May 26, 2016 | Rachel's Reviews

We’ve made it my friends. The end of the package films!!

And I’m glad to say this last one is the best, and it continues Disney’s great tradition of taking risks and doing things that are unexpected. Next we have:

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr Toad was released in 1949 and did well at the box office but became a fixture of the 1980’s and 90’s airing on Disney channel around Halloween. Both of the stories of Ichabod Crane and Toad are pretty dark for Disney but then again Disney has often been pretty dark. The devil in Fantasia. Pleasure Island in Pinocchio. The haunted forest in Snow White.

One of my favorite critics on youtube, the Nostalgia Critic, has a great series Disneycember which is worth checking out and he has this video on why we so often scare children in movies. It has some foul language but his points are solid.

Return to Oz was too much for me but the other scenes and movies he mentions I remember being scared by and Ichabod and Mr Toad was one of the first to have that effect, especially in Ichabod’s story.

We start off in a library where we hear the first of our narrators, Basil Rathborne. He is going to take us into the trevails of Mr Toad. He says he is one of the greatest characters of British literature. As good as ‘Robin Hood, King Arthur, Oliver Twist- all subjects of later Disney movies!

Wind in the Willows

We start off with the story of Mr Toad. We meet his friends- badger, rat and mole who are trying to help Toad with his finances.

I’m sure it’s no accident that rat and mole look a lot like Sherlock Holmes and Watson which of course narrator Rathborne played for many years.

Toad has these obsessions or manias. Usually things that go fast and as soon as he see’s a motorcar he must have one.

Despite his friends locking him up in his room he makes a deal with some weasels to sell the car but ends up getting framed for stealing said car. He goes to court in a pretty intense and scary scene

He is framed by the weasels and their friend and goes to jail and loses Toad Hall. His friends are devastated but they do not give up hope to find a way to free their friend.

Jailbreaks, chases and even a little bit of Christmas time come into play and it is all very exciting and well done. It never loses the slightly odd dark, eccentric style that makes a Disney movie stand out.

Eventually Toad is vindicated and all is well…until the next obsession!

I kind of like that things aren’t made perfect in the end. That’s good for kids to see not all problems are tied up in a bow at the end and not everyone we love will behave the way we want them too. Sometimes you can’t help but be a little nuts!

Also a side note all of the characters of Wind and the Willows will appear in the short Mickey’s Christmas Carol in the Fuzziwig scenes and the merchants asking for donations.

It is also worth nothing Wind and the Willows did create one of the best Disneyland rides. In that ride Toad not only goes to jail but to Hell as well!

Legend of Sleepy Hollow (Icabod Crane)

The next segment is one of the first ghost stories I think I ever heard. It is narrated by Bing Crosby (who I just love!) and the characters actually don’t have much dialogue but the emotions are shown through narration and exaggerated gestures.

There is Ichabod Crane, the gangly school teacher. Katrina the pretty daughter of the richest man in town and Brom Bones the town bully. Brom would be eclipsed years later by Gaston but I can’t help but wonder if at least his character design was influential in Gaston’s design.

In the world of Disney villains Brom really isn’t that bad. He just wants to win the heart of Katrina just like Ichabod but he is by no means a real villain. That comes with the Headless Horseman!

It is interesting that Ichabod’s motives aren’t exactly pure with Katrina. He fantasizes about what he will do with all her money. In fact, he really doesn’t think about her and how beautiful she is much. There is not the instant love we see in nearly every early Disney fairy tale (but then again neither of these stories are actually fairy tales).

Brom is feeling jealous of all the attention Ichabod is getting from Katrina so knowing Ichabod is superstitious he starts telling the tale of the Headless Horseman. On his way home from the dance Ichabod sees:

Now that is pretty scary!!! Certainly scary enough for Ichabod who runs far away, marries some other rich person and Brom gets the girl. Kind of an odd ending but I like it!

What about you? Did you think either of these stories were good as a kid? Did you like ghost stories and to be scared?

The animation in both are smooth and the music is a lot of fun especially the Bing Crosby numbers. It is a fitting way to end out the package films with a bang!

So which of the 6- Saludos Amigos, Three Cabelleros, Make Mine Music, Fun Fancy Free, Melody Time and Ichabod and Mr Toad, sound the most interesting to you? Have my reviews made you curious to watch any of them? I must admit I am ready to go back to fairy tales and full length movies but it’s been fun to learn about a whole era of Disney animation and artistry. Thanks for reading!

And on to one of my favorites Cinderella!

Overall Grade- A

Movie 9: Fun Fancy Free

August 21, 2014April 29, 2016 | Rachel's Reviews

Phew! These package films are rough going. 2 more after this. The end is in sight…

I think for the first couple I was a little bit nicer than I should have been. They really are awful but I figured they had little to work with with the war, but I was thinking today recently I watched the Looney Tunes gold collection boxed sets and their golden era was also during the war and they were much more creative and funny and well done than any of these package films. My thoughts on Looney Tunes can be found here

So, I’m afraid I’m going to be tougher on Fun and Fancy Free, Ichabod and Mr Toad and Melody Time. I can tell you one thing I have never looked forward to watching Cinderella more in my life.

But today we are talking about Fun and Fancy Free. I don’t know if it is better or worse than the other package films or I’m just getting tired of them but certainly it is very thin gruel and in a way Make Mine Music took more chances so was more entertaining.

First of all, the name Fun and Fancy Free is a misnomer because there is nothing fancy or free. Fun is a toss up. It consists of two longer animated stories with Jiminy Cricket narrating and then it changes to a party with Edgar Bergen, Charlie McCarthy and kids.

Released in 1947 Fun and Fancy Free was an attempt by Disney to keep the studio afloat after being basically co-opted by the US Government for propaganda films. However, as I will show later other studios are still producing good animation at this time period so I am less forgiving of that excuse.

I am also so tired of music like this with the choral singing and long swaying loud instrumentals. It’s so boring and forgettable. It worked in Bambi because it was used in a few songs that were part of the plot but these 40s choral introductions are the worst. (I guess this is Dinah Shore and I’m not a fan)

Bongo

The first segment Jiminy introduces us to is called Bongo and it is a strange piece of work but where Make Mine Music did strange for 6 minutes this is 30 so it tried my patience more

Bongo is a circus bear that yearns to live in nature outside of his circus cage. Eventually he breaks free and struggles with the forest where all the bears are three times bigger than Bongo except for one girl he immeditely falls in love with.

Disney at this point is big on the instant love but that is so boring. Even for an animated short it is boring.

But then it takes an unexpected and perplexing turn when the girl bear slaps Bongo as hard as she can. He feels sad but then he learns that evidently bears in the forest show love for each other when they slap. There is even a song about it…

I’m sorry Disney but I can’t endorse your Say it with a Slap song unless it’s a Saturday Night Live parody…

So that’s all of Bongo

Then Jiminy gets invited to a birthday party. And at this party is a little girl, Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy (and other puppets). I know that Bergen is practically the father of ventriloquism and a comedic genius in the minds of many. However, I don’t think this particular movie is a good showcase of that ability. I hate to say it but I could see his lips moving every time the puppets spoke. Sometimes very visibly making the words with his mouth. I wish I could find a clip to show you.

Like I said, I’m sure he is brilliant but just not in this movie. It ends up coming off as kind of strange bordering on creepy.

After chit-chat we get to the best but still frustrating part of the film

Mickey and the Beanstalk

In this piece we tell the story of Jack and the Beanstalk but with Mickey as Jack. Mickey is living as a farmer in Happy Valley. They are happy and everything is growing because of a magic harp that plays peaceful music.

The harp is stolen and then the town turns to ruin. This leaves Mickey, Goofy and Donald with basically no food. The situation is bleak and low.

The starvation makes Donald have crazy eyes and do strange things with a hatchet.

Then Mickey goes and trades the last cow for magic beans which of course become our beanstalk leading the giant who in this film is a big duffas.

In a strange choice they decide to make fee, fie, foe, fum a magic spell where the giant can change into anything he wants; although why he picks a giant pink bunny is never really explained. I might pick a dragon or eagle. Just saying

Mickey and the gang find the harp and need to take it from the giant which they do relatively easily. And seriously it all resolves in like 5 minutes. The harp is rescued and Happy Valley is back to it’s happy self.

Oh and the giant ends up in Hollywood looking down at Edgar and the little girl’s party. (A little strange to have a man, little girl, and 2 puppets at a child’s party…)

Mickey and the Beanstalk is fine but not especially memorable. Aside from the giant having magic there is no attempt to make it different and even those powers aren’t really used in an interesting way. If there ever was a phoned in fairy tale this was it. The only thing that makes it of real note is it is the last time Mickey is voiced by Walt Disney.

To see a much funnier and original version of Jack and the Beanstalk watch the Looney Tunes Jack Wabbit and the Beanstalk.

I think most people would agree Looney Tunes for the win.

It’s funnier. It’s shorter. It’s stranger. The iconic characters get more to do. It’s just more creative and interesting.

So, that’s it for Fun, Fancy Free. A bear that learns to slap women to show love (great message for kids…) and a 40 minute fairy tale bit that Warner Brothers did better in 7 minutes.

Conclusion-

I hate to say it but this is my least favorite Disney so far. It’s not creative, funny, beautiful or unique. Bland, bland, bland and the live action sections don’t work and are awkward.

I’m giving this my lowest grade yet D-

Movie 6: Saludos Amigos

August 19, 2014August 19, 2014 | Rachel's Reviews

Now we are up to the feature films of animated shorts from Disney and Saludos Amigos is the first of two aimed at Latin American audiences.

At the beginning of 1941 before Pearl Harbor and US entry into the war Disney was asked by the state department to do a goodwill tour of South America. Saludos Amigos and The Three Caballeros were a result of that effort.

The state department was worried the Latin American countries might be sympathetic to the Nazi’s so it was crucial to do something.

While getting the needed grant from the government to make these shorts Disney was also changing strategy. Instead of the ambitious artpieces of their first 5 films they went with bankable stars like Donald and Goofy and shorts that could be easily put alongside other movies in a theater. Gone was the Fantasound and other expensive theater strategies. This was make something fun and charming using the characters everyone loves. Nothing wrong with that but it has made the movies from 1943-1950 kind of forgettable.

Here’s a trailer

Saludos premiered in August 1942 in Brazil and in 1943 in the US. Part of the reason Disney agreed to these films is they were part of a federal grant and the loss of the European market in the war had been a huge blow. Combined with a strike that year they needed the funds.

The movie is kind of like a travelogue of Latin America sometimes in live action and then 4 animated sets. To a modern day audience it seems out of date and corny but at the time it was very popular.

Film historian Alfred Charles Richard Jr. has commented that Saludo Amigos “did more to cement a community of interest between peoples of the Americas in a few months than the State Department had in fifty years”.

An article I read in Time magazine January 1943 said people in Rio de Janeiro “screamed so loudly for an encore that another feature had to be halted in mid-reel and Saludos Amigos run off again”

I found a review from the New York Times from 1943 and it called Saludos Amigos “charming” and “a gay 40 minute potpourri”

The movie has four segments that are introduced with live action shots:

Lake Titicaca- Donald Duck visits the lake and deals with a llama in the funniest skit

donald llama — Donald dealing with a llama!

Next we have

Pedro- A story about a small plane in Santiago who must take the mail when Papa Plane and Mama Plane can’t do it. Pretty much a Rudolph storyline.

El Gaucho Goofy- Set in Argentina Goofy must learn to be an Argentine Cowboy- or a gaucho. This is very similar to the other Goofy ‘how to’ videos such as the one on photography.

There is also a scene where Goofy and the horse are dancing which looks strange…

Aquarela do Brasil- Set in Rio this short is as if the characters and ideas for the story are being drawn by an artist and those paintings come alive.

We also get introduced to Jose Oliveira who is a Portuguese parrot. He is a cool looking character but tough to understand sometimes.

And that’s about all there is to it.

The soundtrack sold well and is fun and includes samba and other latin inspired dances.

I couldn’t find the box office results but from what I’ve read it sounds like it did pretty well.

My Review

So how does it hold up? Not very well I’m afraid. It’s harmless and kind of fun to see what propaganda films looked like in the 40s. The music is engaging and some of the cultural attractions are neat to see (some of them also seem way outdated).

The animated sets are cute but nothing mind blowing. Unlike previous Disney products these are not art but sprightly entertainment. And it’s only 41 minutes so hard to be too tough on it but it didn’t feel like a feature film. However, it’s on Disneys list of animated classics so I watched it.

It’s not horrible just not one of my favorites.

Incidentally it seems you could write an interesting screenplay about this goodwill tour Walt and the animators took, these movies, the enthusiastic response and the dealings with the state department. Just a hunch.

I am a little surprised they didn’t use Mickey since it was a goodwill tour. Still always enjoy seeing Donald and Goofy. The animated segments hold up better than the live action which feel dated partly from the trappings of 40’s technology and dress (and film). The whole project kind of feels like an episode of Sesame Street with humans and animation instead of puppets.

Kids will enjoy each of the animated sections especially if you come from a Latino background and the story of the Goodwill mission is interesting. The war would have been much different if South and Central America had gone with the Nazis.

Overall Grade C Generic but pleasant enough.

57 Disney Project Introduction

August 14, 2014August 16, 2014 | Rachel's Reviews

Today I am starting a fun project that I’ve wanted to do for some time. In 2012 I watched the first 5 Disney animated films and it was a fascinating experience. Seeing films like Pinocchio and Fantasia back to back helped me to understand how bold a visionary Walt Disney really was. I could also see how the events and culture of the day figured into both the films creation and reception.

I’ve always loved Disney. In fact, as a child movies basically equaled Disney as 9/10 it was one of their films I was going to see. The only movies I remember seeing in the theater were Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and Home Alone. I know there were many more but those stick out.

Animation has the ability to dazzle with it’s storytelling and be inspired by this project to be more creative myself. I also hope to learn something about each film and to perhaps reexamine some films I may have written off as a young adult.

This project will only include the Walt Disney Studio animated features. So, Disney Toons Studio (Such as Ducktales) is out. Pixar and Studio Ghibli is out but I will review Mary Poppins (but no other mixed live action/animation films). If there are any of those you would like me to review I can do that on my other blog or on my youtube channel.

So join in this journey and let’s have a magical time!

To give you an idea of where I am starting from this is a Disney tag I did a few weeks ago for my youtube channel smilingldsgirl.