Miserable, Darling, As Usual, Perfectly Wretched

Sleeping Beauty was a failure at the box office, so Disney had to scale back on the scope of their animated films and 1961’s One Hundred and One Dalmatians was the result. Experimenting with the new Xerox process allowed the animators to skip the step of hand inking when transferring their drawings from paper to cell. With the artist drawing being directly translated on the cell the animation became sketchy, with visible pencil marks all over the movie. While the look is very messy, there is something to be said about the fluidity and life these movies have over the rigidity and structure of the Disney Animated movies of the 1950’s. So I usually see this movie as a successful experiment the studio tried that would dictate the look of the next two decades of movies.

This is the story of Songwriter Roger, his wife Anita, and their Dalmatians Pongo and Perdita. Anita’s old college friend, Cruella DeVil, is a fabulous fashionista obsessed with fur and wants the new litter of puppies to make a new fur coat. It’s a really simple, straight forward story that I would describe as cute and entertaining enough.

The biggest highlight of the movie is, again, its villain. Cruella is an absolute hoot to watch. She’s animated with such gusto by Marc Davis. Her body looks so pale and weak yet she has the movement and attitude of someone three times her size. And she’s not one of those calm, collected villains whose emotions turn on a dime, she is just always mean and in a bad mood. I think she’s actually the first Disney Villain to wield the weapon of passive aggression as she is never slow on a backhanded compliment. Being set in a modern time of the mod 60’s, it’s pretty fun to see a car chase in a Disney Movie. Another fun touch is that you can almost see Cruella delve deeper into insanity as she’s chasing the puppies in her car. Her eyes become wilder, her hair is more disheveled. It’s a super fun sequence. 

As I grew older and started to get a fondness for graphic design of the Mid Century, I notice that these backgrounds are wonderfully 1960’s. When you look at the 50’s and 60’s you’ll notice the colors are simple and they usually bleed over the lines due to the printing process of the time. The artist who painted the backgrounds of the movie achieved this same effect. It’s pretty fascinating considering this the backgrounds were most likely hand painted. 

It’s not that I dislike the movie. Not by any measure. In fact, I used to watch this movie over and over again when I was a child. It’s a fun movie with lots of cute doggy characters and a fun villain. There’s not much to say other than it’s a whole lot of fun. The simplistic nature of the movie helped Disney recoup its losses from Sleeping Beauty, thus keeping the Animation Department from dissolving. Seems like a big trend with the Studio, Fantasia bombed and little Dumbo saved the day. So the 60’s ushers in a new era for Walt Disney Animation Studios. Goodbye to the polished looking fairytales and hello to hipper, more free flowing stories.

A Crown to Wear in Grace and Beauty; as is Thy Royal Duty

It took nearly a decade to complete 1959’s Sleeping Beauty and is easily the artisitc crowning achievement of the beautifully animated movies of the 1950’s. Production designer Eyvind Earle hand painted many of the elaborate backgrounds, so detailed that you can see the leaves from trees miles away. Live action footage of many of the characters was filmed so that the animators could make the movements as life like as possible. A beautiful score was used, adapting and repurposing the music of the famous Tchaikovsky ballet of the same name. This was obviously an epic undertaking to deliver an epic product. But after all the hard work the movie is just OK. It’s a grab bag of really good and really mediocre. 

Starting with the Princess Aurora herself, she is what every cynic thinks of when they think of the typical Disney princess trope. She is really nothing more than a plot device for the story to story around. Sure, her design is spectacular and has the stunning singing voice, provided by Mary Costa, but she only has about 20 minutes of screen time and literally does not have one line after the first half of the movie. I do like the little bit of character they give her when the Three Good Fairies tell her she is betrothed, she is genuinely upset that she is a princess and has to fulfill her royal duties, but after that she silently goes to the castle to fall asleep. Prince Philip is in the same boat, given small development when he doesn’t want to wed his betrothed, but after that he’s just there to wield a sword and kiss the girl. 

The movie makers were clearly in love with the supporting cast as evident by the fairies in the film. The Three Good Fairies (Flora, Fauna, and Merriweather) are the true protagonist. First off, they’re damn funny. I can watch the famous “Pink/Blue” scene over and over. They interact just as you’d think 3 old ladies with conflicting personalities would in this situation. Sort of a medieval Golden Girls, if you will. When they fail to protect Aurora, they feel so ashamed that they put the entire kingdom to sleep to cover their failure. Then it is them who rescue our “hero” from the clutches of the evil fairy Maleficent. And then, it’s the fairies that guide Phillip in the defeat of Maleficent. These old ladies rock! In a time where there might have been few female protagonists it’s amazing they made these women of age so powerful. 

Speaking of powerful, Maleficent is possibly the most popular villain in the Disney canon. And it’s a title that she whole heartedly deserves. Is she my favorite Disney Villain? No, but I can totally see why she gets the distinction of villainess supreme.  She’s elegant. She’s insane. She’s subdued. She’s over the top. Given that she has the flimsiest reason to be mad (she didn’t get invited to a baby shower), it’s all thanks to the awesome animation and character design of Marc Davis and the delicious vocal performance from Eleanor Audley that she became the evildoer we all love to hate. Who am I kidding? No one hates Maleficent. One particular scene I love is after she captures Prince Phillip she reveals her plan to keep him locked up for 100 years and release him to wake Aurora, who will not age in her slumber. She wants Aurora to wake up to a frail old man. That’s evil. Not one for subtlety, she summons all the forces of HELL and turns herself into a dragon and gives us one of the best climaxes in any animated film. 

Even though this film is extremely uneven, it’s one that I’m always up for watching. It’s gorgeous to look at. It’s lovely to listen to (Side note: I’ve always been curious if Disney could pull off adapting Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker in the same way they did this movie. I know that they used a lot of the music in Fantasia, but I’d love to see a good animated Nutcracker for once.) And it’s got a superb supporting cast. All hail to the Princess Aurora Mistress of All Evil, Maleficent.

One Thing That Money Can Not Buy… To Wit – The Wag of a Dog’s Tail

1955’s Lady and the Tramp, or Everything I Learned About Romance I Learned From 2 Dogs. Beauty and the Beast is often sighted at the first Date Movie released from Walt Disney Animation Studios but I tend to feel that this is more appropriate. Sure there were princess falling in love at first sight and even twitterpated deer, but never has a relationship been developed from meet-cute to making babies before Lady and the Tramp. And of course there is the iconic spaghetti scene that is synonymous with a perfect date. 

This is your typical uptown girl and wrong side of the tracks (literally) guy fall for each other but told through the eyes of a dog. What I really love about the way this story is told is that they don’t like each other at first. Lady learns that her family will soon welcome a baby and as the Tramp simply strolls into the conversion she is having with her neighbors Jock and Trusty, uninvited. Noting that life will never be the same once the baby arrives, Lady takes immediate dislike to him and he just leaves. Throughout a series of events they meet up again and eventually fall in love. 

Tramp has a wonderful arc from a carefree bachelor to a family man. He’s got this great speech where he looks onto the world as a big place to be explored as a opposed to being tied down the leash of one family. And Lady could have actually used a little more devolvement.  She learns to like the Tramp, but she didn’t really learn much else. This is very much more Tramps story than hers.

Trusty and Jock are a great set of supporting characters. I have a Scottish Terrier, and they got the personality of the little Scottish Die Hard down pact. He’s a loyal friend but as protective as Hell to Lady. There is an odd innuendo where they infer that Lady might have gotten pregnant by Tramp and Jock steps up to the plate to offer his paw in marriage. Despite watching this movie many times as a kid I didn’t realize what this interaction was until I was much older. And I still find it kind of strange. And then there’s old Trusty the Blood Hound. He has a great running gag about him regaling stories about his uncle, Old Reliable, but never remembering if he has mentioned him before. Trusty has lost his sense of smell in his old age. At the climax of the movie, the Tramp is redeemed in the eyes of Jock and Trusty after killing a rat that entered the house and threatened the baby but is apprehended by the dog catcher shortly after and it’s Trusty who is able to track down the truck, nearly sacrificing himself, and save the Tramp. 

I also really appreciate the lack of a defined protagonist in the film. Aunt Sarah is more of a busy body and her cats, Si and Am, are just mischief makers. Neither of them are really trying to get anything out of their dislike for Lady or the Tramp. And a rat is introduced as more a plot convenience than a villain. 

Animation wise, the artist are still at the height of their game. As I mentioned, I am a dog lover, and I’ve seen my own dogs make so many of the same expressions that the characters on screen make, only my pets never had the defined eyebrows. I strike that, my Scotty has very pronounced, old man eyebrows. This was also the first Disney Animated feature presented in Cinemascope so the backgrounds are gorgeous and rich with detail. One of my favorite being the neighbor where Lady lives, with Lady and her family living in a quaint Victorian home, Jock living a brick Tudor style home, and Trusty living in an southern plantation style manor. It reflects their background and it’s something that didn’t really have to be there. Not to mention many of the Disney Artist were probably rushing to complete Disneyland, which would open not even a month after the release of the film, so to put out this caliber of art on film at the time was quite an accomplishment.

I know that there are plenty of romantic comedy clichés, but it’s really hard for me not to love this movie. Next time you want to cuddle up with your loved one, be it human or canine, I would highly recommend putting this gem of a movie on and make it a perfect bella notte. Spaghetti and Chianti bottle candle holder not included.

The Good, The Bad, and The Quasi

(In a quick departure from my Disney Movie Recaps, I’d thought I’d bring you a quick theater review from the US premier of Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame currently playing at the La Jolla Playhouse, La Jolla CA. Be advised, thar be spoilers ahead)

Picture it, California, 2000. A young man at the dawn of the Internet Is Useful age learns that a production of Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame has made it to the stage. And if there were ever a Disney film to be put on Broadway, it was definitely Hunchback. Lo, and behold, it’s a success on the stage, only problem, it’s playing in Berlin. In this dark time of internet, YouTube and Wikipedia had yet to be born. We weren’t Googling yet, we were using Yahoo. And back then, that young man was lucky enough to find a single Geocities site that had the vaguest information about this production of Der Glöckner von Notre Dame. That young man was me, and I became obsessed with this show. I grasped at the tiniest of straws of information about the show. New songs were written by the original team of Stephen Swartz and Alan Menken. A new, darker book had been written by James Lapine. The tone of the show was much more mature and echoed the Victor Hugo novel much closer. Frollo was an archdeacon, Quasimodo was deaf, and Esmeralda died. My best pal Ricky gifted me an imported CD of the Original Cast Recording one Christmas, and it was everything I wanted it to be (except in German). The Berlin production ran from 1999 to 2002 and rumors began circulating that a US premier would not be far behind. After years of waiting I gave up hope. I’d occasionally listen to German soundtrack and dream about what might have been. 

You can imagine my excitement when I heard that an English production was starting workshops, with a new book written by Peter Parnell,  and would have its premiere in the San Diego area! My personal Ticket Master Ricky snatched up tickets as soon as he could get his grubby paws on them and I was going to finally see The Hunchback of Notre Dame on stage.

And, boy was I not disappointed.

Just like the Berlin production, the show retains the darker tone of the novel and ditches many of the light touches that Disney added when they animated the movie. The 3 sidekick gargoyles were removed all together. In the Berlin the gargoyles were renamed and given a more serious role in the show and were, most importantly, firmly established as figments of Quasimodo’s imagination. Here, the role of the gargoyles was given to all stone figures in the cathedral’s bell tower, and the bells themselves, and played by the ensemble cast. I though this worked out wonderfully with the only hiccup being the replacement for the A Guy Like You number with a new song, the Act 2 opener, Flight Into Egypt which felt too silly for the show that had been presented to the audience up to that point.

The ensemble was just fantastic with all of them portraying multiple roles and filling in with narration, sometimes too much narration. When show opens with the stirring Bells of Norte Dame, instead of Clopin taking the lead, the cast takes turns with the exposition heavy song. I would have preferred Clopin keeping the lead role as narrator but for the most part I wasn’t bothered with this. Where it fell apart for me was when the cast started to narrate the action that was unfolding on stage. The show was told in a gorgeous setting, but very minimal sets and props. The narration filled in gaps such as “he walked into the pub” or “he slid down the parapets” and at that point it felt childish and theme parky. If you’ve ever seen Beauty and the Beast Live On Stage at Disney’s Hollywood Studio in Orlando, you know that when Belle reaches the Beast’s castle an omnipresent voice explains it as “a series of events that leads Belle to the castle.” This narration felt just like that, awkward and forced. 

Rounding out the ensemble was a full choir doing the backing vocals, and man, did this sound spectacular. The sound was so full and rich, haunting and ethereal. They remain on stage the whole time and add to the spiritual setting of the show.

The main cast is outstanding as well. Ciara Renee is pitch perfect as Esmeralda. Michael Arden brings the house down with every song as Quasimodo. He is still deaf in this production and some of the words are still sung with a slight slur. In Berlin, Quasi’s songs are sung with clarity and I think it better drives home that the songs are his inner monologue and it makes it a tad more powerful. And I really mean just a tad. I have nothing but praise Arden’s powerful voice. His 11^th hour number, Made of Stone, gave me chills and pretty much deserved a mid-show standing ovation. Frollo, played by Patrick Page, is given a back story about being orphaned with his brother Jahan and brought up in the cathedral. Jahan runs away with a gypsy and gives birth to Quasimodo before dying, making Frollo his uncle. It humanized the normally foul villain and the beginning of the story became just as much his tragedy as it was Quasimodo’s. Not until his big number Hellfire does he go full villain, and his booming voice is everything you want it to be in that song. Andrew Samonsky’s Phoebus was the dimmest star in this constellation, but it’s not saying that he’s bad at all. He had the right swagger for the character, made more morally ambiguous here than dashing hero as in the movie, and his voice were just fine. He just lacked that presence the other three leads had.

After years of anticipation I’m so glad to have finally seen this show live. The music and scenery were all goose bump inducing. Performed in a very small space, it was very intimate despite its grand score and themes. Personally I could have used a slightly bigger stage to accommodate a bigger dance number for Topsy Turvy.  The story changes were all for the better, and what I’d give to see the finale Bells of Notre Dame live again. With a few tweaks, this show will be a huge hit when it gets the spot on the Great White Way it has deserved for so long.

Now if only I could go back to tell 2000 self to be patient and not waste so much time looking for bad .jpeg images of the show. Oh, and tell him that cargo shorts are a mistake.

All It Takes Is Faith And Trust…

If there was ever a movie I wanted to live inside of when I was a little kid it was 1953’s Peter Pan. Peter Pan had it all for a young, imaginative boy like myself. There were swashbuckling pirates, flights, mermaids, pixies, racially insensitive depictions of Native Americans. The film had it all. As an adult, I couldn’t help but get swept away with the romanticism of fantasy of it all. The film opens with my all-time favorite mood setter opening credit sequence song, The Second Star to the Right. This song sounds like the feeling of drifting off into a dream land. The opening strings are just the pixie dust you need to lift you off the ground and send you on a grand adventure with Peter and his Lost Boys. 

The scene is set in London where we see the home of the Darling Family, parents George and Mary, and their children, Wendy, John, Michael, and their nursemaid/dog Nana. As George and Mary are getting ready for a night out, the boys are playing a game of make believe pretending they are Peter Pan and Captain Hook under the tutelage of the expert of all things Pan, Wendy. After things get a bit too rough, George decides that is was time Wendy grew up and this would be the last time she’d sleep in the nursery with her brothers. Mary, on the other hand, this George is being a bit too harsh. I’ve always had a certain affinity with Mrs. Darling. I’ve always seen her as the ultimate mother. She’s so caring and nurturing. She’s beautiful and you can tell that her hug is like a warm blanket. As she tries to comfort the children while tucking them into bed, Wendy ask that the window be left open in case Peter Pan comes back for his shadow. Mary shares her concerns with George, rightfully so, but George brushes this off as the imagination of a little girl.

Enter Pan.

Our titular hero has been waiting on the roof top to retrieve his shadow as it turns out he’s been listening to the stories Wendy has been telling the boys about him. Peter Pan is full of himself. If Peter Pan were any cockier he’d definitely be really annoying but he comes across more has an extremely self-confident fella than a total douche. He’s accompanied by his companion and iconic Disney symbol, Tinkerbell. I adore the original depiction of Tinkerbell. Here she is spiteful and petty. Walt once described her as so tiny that she only has room for one emotion at a time. When she feels happiness, jealousy, or rage, she feels it to the fullest. She’s been so watered down as the years go by, she’s now just a sassy symbol of all things magic. And why is she always depicted with a wand? For Ollivander’s sake, she never carries a magic wand in the movie. But I digress… The two sneak into the Darling’s nursery  for the shadow and successfully convince the kids to fly off to Neverland where Wendy will not have to grow up so she can continue to tell stories about Peter Pan to Peter Pan and his band of Lost Boys. With a happy thought and a sprinkling of pixie dust the children are off. I’d like to think that every Disney Animated film has one iconic scene that is magic at its purest and You Can Fly is it. You literally watch the children fly over London and into another world, but you feel that you are transported with them. 

When they reach the beautiful island planet of Neverland they have their first encounter with Captain Hook and his ship, The Jolly Roger. The 1950’s were a good time to be a comedic Disney Villain. The interactions Hook has with his First Mate, Mr. Smee, are hilarious. Captain Hook is wonderfully foppish and Mr. Smee joyously bumbling. Mr. Smee has always seemed too kind hearted to be mean. It’s like he’s the little brother that just wants to hang out with the big boys. There is a Crocodile lusting after Hook’s other, probably even tastier, hand and hilarity ensues. But in all honesty the comedy between Hook, Smee, and the Crocodile is some of the funniest physical comedy Disney has put out even to this date. And it’s not to say that Captain Hook isn’t dark, he attempts to kill Pan several times and successfully kills one of his crew members in cold blood. 

When they reach mainland Neverland Tinkerbell tells the gullible Lost Boys that Wendy is a bird and must be shot down. Wendy has her first brush with death and Tinkerbell admits to the attempted murder. Peter Pan banishes Tinkerbell from the island… for 2 weeks. 

During a seeming routine game of hide and go capture with the Neverland Indians (Native Neverlandians? Is that more politically correct?) the Indian Chief informs them that they will not be released until the princess Tiger Lily is set free.

 After an encounter with some deliciously bitchy mermaids (I get the sinking sensation that Peter Pan is quite the ladies man-child), Peter and Wendy, whom is on brush with death #2, see Hook with a captive Tiger Lily. Tiger Lily is captured for information on Peter’s secret hideout, but she remains tightlipped. Peter saves the princess with the help of a clueless Smee, a hungry Crocodile, and some pretty awesome impression skills. 

The Indian camp celebrates the return of Tiger Lily with the infamously inappropriate song, What Makes the Red Man Red. Now, to be honest, I still don’t see the song as that bad. Musically it’s great. It’s got a great beat with pounding drums and the chorus of singers deliver it effectively. What I try to keep in mind is that this is a 1950’s interpretation of a British Victorian view of the Native Americans. It could have been worse. 

In the midst of the revelry, Wendy is completely through with the excess and heads back to the hideout in preparation to return home. Meanwhile, back at the Jolly Roger, Hell hath no fury like a pixie scorned when Tinkerbell is manipulated by Captain Hook into revealing Pan’s hideout. 

Back at the hideout Wendy gathers the rest of the Lost Boys so they can return home to London with the movie halting song Your Mother and Mine. I thought this song was horrendously boring when I was a kid, the main saving grace being some comedy provided by the pirates who are preparing to kidnap the kids and set a bomb trap for Peter Pan. Now that I’m a bit older, the song is a bit of a sentimental one as I seem to appreciate what my mommy did more and more  now that I see all she’s done for me during my childhood. The kids get apprehended, and Tinkerbell barely escapes the Jolly Roger with enough time to save Peter from the bomb, and redeeming her treachery.

Peter rescues the Darling Children and Lost Boys and leaves Hook to fend for himself against our pal the Crocodile. Peter and the children sail back to London and the Darlings are left with memories of a grand adventure. 

Even though J.M. Barrie’s 1904 play and 1911 novel have been adapted many times over the years, there is good reason the Disney version is the one that comes to most people’s minds. It’s a colorful, wildly imaginative, and beautifully animated movie.  It’s not to say it’s a perfect film, the Lost Boys really have no character other than “Boy” and Your Mother and Mine kills the pacing, but this along with fantastic 1993 Fox animated series Peter Pan and the Pirates have kept me dreaming of never growing up in Neverland all my life.

If I Had a World of My Own, Everything Would Be Nonsense

So, I have to admit that I was not originally a fan of the Alice in Wonderland story. My basis to Lewis Caroll’s Alice in Wonderland is the 1951 Disney Studios Film. As a kid I thought it was a little dull and it lacked any story that really sucked me in. Then I met my husband. He was always a huge fan of Alice’s adventures and during the course of our relationship I have seen many, many, many, many iterations of the tale. From my nostalgic favorite TV Special from 1985 to a really surreal British Alice Through the Looking Glass from 1998 staring Kate Beckinsale. My main issue with Alice is that the episodic nature of the tale does not lend itself to a 3 act narrative very well. To solve this most of the adaptations give Alice some contrived reason to wander away and flee something, anything, just to give her a goal. This is where the Disney movie differs, sure she’s bored with her real life, but she’s just a curious little girl who follows a rabbit in a waist coat into Wonderland. Even though it combines elements from both Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, I find the Disney version to be one of the more faithful adaptations and have really grown to appreciate it. 

Alice, voiced perfectly by Kathyn Baumont, is our point of view character, the blank slate that helps us experience the craziness of Wonderland. As she daydreams of a world of her own she notices the White Rabbit and naturally follows him down into the Rabbit Hole. What should be a panicky moment for anyone, Alice tries to make sense of the situation. That’s what makes this character so charming. She’s always trying to find logic in a land where nonsense rules. 

When reaching the bottom of the rabbit hole, Alice changes size by trying different food and drink to enter Wonderland and meets the vast cast of crazy characters. Among the first she meets is Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. Though these characters are fun in their own right it’s the story of the Walrus and the Carpenter they recite that I’ve always loved. It’s possible the catchy melody and rhyming, but it’s a really dark anecdote. And I’m not a dark guy. It’s tragic and deliciously twisted. 

Alice stumbles upon the White Rabbit’s home and finds him but is immediately swept into frenzy as he mistakenly takes her for his housemaid Maryanne. I always wanted to know more about Maryanne. Does she look anything like Alice? Is she possibly a rabbit? It’s so strange, yet makes perfect sense in this world. Inquisitive Alice eats a biscuit she found in the White Rabbit’s room, as is natural for any curious personality, and grows to the size of a giant. Eating a carrot she shrinks to the size of an insect and spends a golden afternoon with the flowers. An encounter with a hookah smoking caterpillar leads her to grow back to her normal size and she meets my favorite character in the movie, the Cheshire Cat.

Cheshire Cat is one of those characters that can only successfully done in animation and the whimsical style Disney went with here gives the character an iconic look. What might be a silly man in a costume in live action, animation allows this guy to disappear and reappear in sections effortlessly. Voiced by Disney All Star Sterling Holloway the performance is what gives most the inhabitants of Disney’s Wonderland this great edge warm crazy. They are insane, never quite too threatening, but I still wouldn’t turn my back on them. 

The Cat directs Alice to the film’s most memorable scenes, the Unbirthday Party. Again, another set of great characters with the Mad Hatter and March Hare. The highs and lows in mood these characters achieve at breakneck speeds are incredible. It’s another great example of not ever knowing where these characters are going to go. And it’s just a well written comedy act. Hilarious wordplay and timing, it’s totally worth a viewing as an adult just to see how well-crafted the comedy in this scene is. 

Moving on to the Royal Grounds, Alice meets the Card Army and The Queen of Hearts. The Queen of Hearts is one of the great comedic villains in Disney’s rouge gallery. I love her childish temper. She goes from the extreme of femininity one second to a raging lunatic the next. Things don’t go her way and her solution is to behead someone. And her poor little King just rolls with it. Voiced by Disney veteran Verna Felton and Animated by Frank Thomas we’re given a tyrant that’s a lot of fun to watch. The Queen finally takes Alice to her breaking point after a nonsensical trial and Alice flees Wonderland realizing life needs structure and balance. 

The only real low point of the movie is when Alice laments in the Tulgey Wood. There is a song called “Very Good Advice” that totally stalls the film and doesn’t really match wacky tone of the movie. But the rest of this film is just about Alice touring Wonderland, meeting up with one loon after another. It’s more about experiencing the insanity with Alice than it is about Alice reaching the end of a goal.

Stylistically Wonderland is a knockout. What could have been a typical cartoony tableau of bright colors are mostly black backgrounds with accented colors. This really makes all the colors in the foreground pop and is a technique Disney Legend Mary Blair uses often yet it never gets boring. 

So I concede that I underestimated this movie. It’s not just the trippy, drug induced film everyone makes it out to be. It is in fact a really creative and fun movie.  Alice in Wonderland is a great adaptation of a great literary work and has proven to be one of Disney most treasured animated classics.

Anyone Can See A Throne Would Be Your Proper Place

After nearly a decade of the package films 1950’s Cinderella was a grand return to the three act narrative. This film is a nostalgic favorite of mine as I remember watching this film over and over again with my great grandmother. She spoke very little English, and after living in the US for over 60 years I think she understood more than she let on, but she always loved watching Cinderella with me. She loved how beautiful the film looked, and she was right. This film is stunning.

Our story begins in a storybook prologue where we learn that Cinderella’s father married Lady Tremaine but passes away shortly after. Being a cruel woman and jealous of Cinderella’s beauty, Tremaine forces our titular heroine to a life of servitude to her and her 2 daughters. Cinderella herself is often criticized as being another damsel in distress but I always admire her strength given the situation that she’s in. She’s tenacious, she’s sarcastic, and she should get a lot more credit than she gets. As I stated in my write up of Snow White, I see Cinderella being another product of her times, the 50’s. This is probably what a young, strong, and independent woman was back that, and I think it still holds up.

Helping Cinderella along are the animals that inhabit the manor led by Jaq and Gus the mice. As lovable as these characters are, Gus especially providing a lot of great laughs, this is where the film falters a bit. When Cinderella is feeding the chickens in the yard she gives a few extra pieces of feed to the mice and they scramble to get their share. This scene runs a little long when I’d rather be spending more time with Cinderella and her step sisters. But it’s all forgiven when they help Cinderella make a dress for the upcoming royal ball from a vintage gown that once belonged to her mother and scraps from discarded clothing from the sister in the utterly entertaining The Work Song.

Keeping Cinderella in rags is one of my top Disney Villains, Lady Tremaine. She tries to destroy Cinderella with just and icy glare and a few choice words. She has so much power over Cinderella. My blood boils every time she is on screen. She’s just so nasty and petty for no reason other than being cursed with obnoxious, spoiled, and plain daughters. Balancing out Tremaine’s cruelty is the buffoonery of the wicked step sisters Anastasia and Drizella. During a fantastic scene, the girls are in the midst of a music lesson to Sing Sweet Nightingale, Anastasia is completely off key and Drizella is delightfully oblivious, hitting Anastasia with her flute any chance she gets. Downstairs, Cinderella is scrubbing the floor and singing along. I didn’t know until recently that Walt Disney pioneered the method of doubling up the vocal track so that Cinderella could harmonize with her image in the soap bubbles. I learn something new about that man every day.

Though thoroughly comedic the step sisters show some true rage in my favorite sequence in the film. Cinderella strikes a deal with Lady Tremaine that if she can complete her chores and finish fabricating her dress she can attend the ball. Tremaine manipulates her daughters into noticing that the dress is made up from old scraps and jewels they threw out and they proceeded to rip the dress into shreds. The opulent chateau becomes a void of crimson and black as the girls tear the dress apart. It is both striking and terrifying.  Lady Tremaine leaves the situation so smug. I get so angry, I could spit!

This is the only time that Cinderella feels she’s lost all hope and who could blame her. In her time of need her adorably absent minded Fairy Godmother comes to her aid. Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo has become as pseudonymous as a magic word as Abracadabra, and for good reason. The sequence is so magical that even Disney himself has claimed that the gown transformation was his favorite single piece of animation.

When Cinderella arrives at the ball I love how massive everything looks to her. The scale is fantastic, when she enters the castle, you can feel her trepidation as the long stairways and vaulted ceilings suck you in with her. She meets a handsome and under developed Prince Charming. The King and the Duke get more time to become full characters, the Prince, he just needs to stand there and look bored until Cinderella arrives. They dance, they fall in love, midnight comes and Cinderella has to flee leaving behind a glass slipper. The search is on for a maiden to fit it. An elementary school teacher once told me that this was in the time of the cobbler, so all shoes were custom. I guess that should debunk the whole idea that someone else could have fit the shoe… but I still don’t buy it. Surely at least one other woman could have put the shoe on. And why stop at one girl if the shoe fits? What if it wasn’t Cinderella?

Logistics aside, Lady Tremaine realizes the mystery girl is Cinderella and locks Cinderella up in her room before the Duke arrives for the fitting. The mice retrieve the key and as the duke is about to fit the slipper on Cinderella, Lady Tremaine trips the Duke’s Valet and the slipper shatters. Luckily our heroine was still in procession of the matching slipper and Lady Tremaine gives the best reaction of all time. Of. All. Time. I dare you not to love the zoom in on her face. 

Cinderella marries the Charming and the scullery maid becomes a princess. This post is already longer than I intended but it’s because I love the movie. Great visuals, great storytelling and one of Disney’s best baddies, it’s just wonderful. This movie has stood the test of time and can be enjoyed by all, from little boy to an 88 year old woman who claims not speak a word of English. Disney’s Cinderella, the sweetest story ever told.

If You Were Asked to Choose the Most Fabulous Character in English Literature, Who Would it Be?

In the last of the I-Didn’t-Know-This-Was-A-Movie package film series is 1949’s The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad. Based off Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows this is another feature that is more famous to my generation has being two separate cartoons as opposed to one film. The tale of the Headless Horseman seems to be the more famous of the two shorts. Most likely because it’s one of the few outright spooky and dark cartoons that Disney produced and it became a staple of Halloween viewing. For those of you who don’t know, I spent a decent chunk of my career as an Attractions Host in Disneyland’s Fantasyland and you’d be surprised how many times I would hear people wonder who Mr. Toad was when I operated his beloved attraction. Most people didn’t know he had a film (not to mention an entire work of literature written about him).

Setting the tone of the film is a disembodied narrator in a lush library. The Wind in the Willows is the first story we hear, narrated by Basil Rathbone. J. Thaddeus Toad Esq. is our lead character, a wealthy toad with a penchant for anything new and trendy, in this case Automobiles. He sells the deed to his mansion to a sleazy bartender named Winky in exchange for a stolen car. Toad is falsely accused of the car theft and the resulting trial is absolutely hilarious as it parodies the justice system. Toad’s horse Cyril is a scene stealer as he recaps the events. Speaking of the horse, one oddity in this short is the scale of the characters. Toad is the size of a toad, so Cyril, being a horse, towers over him. The world is inhabited by humans, so they are much larger than our animal cast. You’d think it’d look strange but the color pallet and general madcap style make it work. Anyway, Toad gets incarcerated and breaks out of prison. It’s up to his friends Ratty, Moley, and MacBadger to help get Toad Hall back from Winky and his band of Weasels. It’s obvious that this Mr. Toad was supposed to get a full feature as the story is a bit rushed. The frantic pace sort of works in its favor, but I would have liked it to be slowed down to learn more about the characters. Ratty and Moley seem like they’re good people and their relationship is adorable, but I could have used more time with them. A full 90 minute feature could have fixed that. 

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow was always meant to be a short and it shows. The story is much tighter and flows much better. The tale of Ichabod Crane is narrated by Bing Crosby and what’s pretty cool is that it’s all done in song and pantomime, none of the character have any dialog. We mostly follow the daily life of the new schoolmaster as he takes advantage of most of the women in town. He may be lanky and pretty socially inept, but he’s quite the lady’s man. What struck me the most when viewing this was what a jerk Ichabod was. We normally see him has this frail victim, but he’s just not here. When he meets his eventual demise you don’t exactly feel sorry for him. Back to the plot, he falls for one of the riches women in town, Katrina, for her looks and her money. Local bully Brom Bones is jealous and regales superstitious Ichabod the legend of the Headless Horseman, riding the night woods at night looking for replacement heads. The legend comes true as Ichabod rides home and he comes face to face (?) with what is possibly one of the most scary villains in Disney history. His laugh still gives me chills. The mood set during the chase is great as the atmosphere is dark and heavy, but the action is more often funny and fast paced. In the end we don’t see if Ichabod survived as all that is found is his hat.

This is the final of the anthology films of the 40’s and as much fun it was to revisit this series of films the second Golden Age of Disney Feature Animation couldn’t come soon enough. The Adventure of Ichabod and Mr. Toad isn’t the strongest of the package films, but it’s not the worst by any measure. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is strong and the best version of the story I’ve seen but there is a want for a single narrative film. And that want is more than met in 1950 when a curtain scullery maid makes her entrance to the ball.

There’s Drama, There’s Excitement, There’s Harmony

1948’s Melody Time could have easily been the sequel to Make Mine Music. They follow the same format of animated shorts set to popular and modern music, 1940’s modern, some of the shorts leaning toward the abstract and some telling a straight story. This less-ambitious-than-Fantasia concert film format succeeded for Make Mine Music and it’ll succeed again for Melody Time.

A narrator sets up the sequences and the love story Once Upon a Wintertime kicks off the film. A really sweet Mary Blair styled short about 2 pairs of lovers, one pair human and the other rabbit, is a gentle little tale. But what is most memorable about it is the gorgeous art. Damn it, Mary Blair, why you so talented?

Bumble Boogie is great in all its abstractedness. Animated to a jazzy version of Flight of the Bumblebee, a little bee is just trying to escape the music. The surrealism could have easily been a part of the Pink Elephants scene in Dumbo, and the breakneck speed of the animation is only rivaled by the breakneck speed of the music. Fun fact: this was an abandoned scene from Fantasia and could have worked perfectly as juxtaposition against all the pomp and pageantry of the film.

The Legend of Johnny Appleseed tells the story of the titular hero roaming The United States planting apple trees, in song of course. Miss Blair hit it out of the park again with the art direction. There is so much great, poetic imagery. As the piece comes to a close and orchard of apple blossomed trees melds with the pink, dusk sky to lead an old aged Johnny to Heaven. It’s just breath taking.

Little Toot is sort of a letdown after all we saw coming before it. The story of a rascally little tug boat is cute and all, but that’s about it. The animation is your standard, albeit quality, Disney animation. If it wasn’t for the tight harmonies of the Andrews Sisters telling the story, Little Toot would be rather stale in comparison to this line up.

Thankfully Trees picks up the feature with a poem about the life of a tree. Sounds dull, but it moved me. The short is beautifully animated and gave me a lot of deep thoughts about how important trees are. To be fair, I might have been on my 3^rd glass of wine when watching.

Blame It on the Samba plays like a reject from the Good Neighbor movies but that doesn’t mean it’s not a lot of fun. Donald and Jose Carioca are mixed a samba cocktail by the Aracuan Bird. There is live action footage of an organist and she’s phenomenal! Her fingers move at lightning speed and there is actually minimal animation going on around her. She didn’t need it, the playing is that captivating.

Finishing up the film is Pecos Bill. It’s got fun music and animation but I can’t help but feel that if they wanted to end on American Folklore, they should have ended it with Johnny Appleseed. The wacky animation is fine, but Appleseed’s imagery has so much more atmosphere and story is way more powerful.

If I had to pick a favorite of the less-ambitious-than-Fantasia concert films, I think Make Mine Music has a little more going for it but Melody Time is definitely worth a watch.

Never Saw Such a Dismal Pair

Being the huge Disney fan that I am, I often get asked what my favorite Disney movie is. That’s like asking me to pick a favorite child. That is if I had children. It’s my Sophie’s Choice as I like so many of them for so many different reasons. On the other hand, if you were to ask me what my least favorite Disney movie was I now have a firm answer: 1947’s Fun and Fancy Free.

What’s strange about me not liking it is that this package film contains one of my favorite Mickey Mouse cartoons, Mickey and the Beanstalk. I get great nostalgic feels from this one, I remember it was always paired with Dumbo when it aired in syndication. It has some really great character moments with Mickey, Donald Duck, and Goofy, a fun villain in Willie the Giant, and tells a classic fairy tale. Telling the story of Jack and the Beanstalk, Mickey and pals are on a quest to rescue the Magic Harp from Willie and restore happiness and the harvest to Happy Valley. The Harp falls under the underrated Disney beauties list, she’s gorgeous! But what I didn’t know was that in the feature film, this short is bookended by a really creepy birthday party for a little girl that only attended by Edgar Bergen and his ventriloquist dummies Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd. While I appreciate the snarky comments made by McCarthy, the whole endeavor becomes really odd. Does this little girl have no friends her age? Where are her parents? The live sequence last too long and all you want them to do is get to the damned cartoon.

Preceding Mickey and the Beanstalk Jiminy Cricket sets the stage for the story of Bongo, a circus bear who longs to live in the wild and gets his wish by breaking free while traveling on a train. He meets a female bear by the name of Lulubelle and they both form an attraction to each other but he also has to win her hand from a rival male, Lumpjaw. Lulubelle chooses Bongo by slapping him. Yes, slapping him. Square in the face. Bongo misinterprets this bit of violence because in the bear community a slap is how one shows affection. We are treated to a marathon length song about smacking the one you love. Lulubelle accidently slaps Lumpjaw and he takes her away as her own. After Bongo realizes the slap means I Love You, he challenges Lumpjaw. Spoiler Alert: Bongo wins and can finally slap Lulubelle. This is all lovingly narrated by Dinah Shore. Not only is this whole slapping thing really weird and disturbing, but the short as a whole is a little boring. I think my head scratching from all the slapping is what kept my interest.

This is one jumble of a mess of a movie. Mostly, the package films of the 40’s work pretty well, but Fun and Fancy Free really feels disjointed. The connecting threads don’t make sense and the first half is a total snooze. Glad I saw it, but I probably won’t be watching it again for quite a while.

Yes, Swing ‘Till the Rafters Ring

Even though Fantasia received an official sequel in Fantasia 2000, 1946’s Make Mine Music could be an appropriate sequel as well but with Popular Music being showcased instead of classical. The third package film of the 40’s, this one featured a lot of my childhood favorite shorts that I had no idea were part of a full length feature film. My generation of Disney Channel had very little original programming and consisted mostly of old Disney shorts spliced together to make various half hour programs. All the Cats Join In,  Peter and the Wolf, Johnny Fedora and Alice Bluebonnet, and The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met being some of my all-time favorite cartoons happen to originate from this film.

The similarities to Fantasia start from the beginning with the short Blue Bayou. In fact, the animation is recycled from a cut segment from Fantasia. It’s a beautiful opening with a stunning tracking shot in the middle of the piece. Sweeping shots like this never cease to amaze me in animation.

Next in the program is the fantastic All the Cats Join In. Done in the distinct style of Disney Animator Fred Moore, this short follows a set of teenagers living it up at a local dinner. Everything about it screams fun. From the swing music to the bright color palate, so much energy is comes out that you can’t help but want to party with this group of kids.

The short titled Without You is a great atmospheric piece about love lost. The perspective is of one staring out a window on a rainy day looking out to a weeping willow. It goes one to get pretty abstract before returning back to the starting point. There was so much mood and emotion that I actually got a bit choked up.

I’m sure we’ve all seen Casey at the Bat, and it’s just as hilarious as ever. Strange choice as I don’t see the connection to the music theme other then it being a recited poem? Other than that, I could watch Casey strike out over and over again.

Two Silhouettes features, oddly enough, two silhouetted live action ballet dancers performing against an animated backdrop. It’s kind of a stalling point in the film, it’s a bit dull but luckily pretty short.

The classical piece of Peter and the Wolf features some brilliant character animation. You can tell they had a lot of fun bringing these characters to life using only the instrument assigned to each one as their voice. Sonia the Duck has always been a favorite of mine, his low, lazy oboe perfectly fitting his carefree but oblivious personality.

After You’ve Gone is another short little interlude, but is a bit more fun while we watch the instruments featured in the song do their thing in a cartoon land.

If you ever wondered if you could buy a love story between two anthropomorphized hats, then look no further than Johnny Fedora and Alice Bluebonnet. Told through song by the tight harmonies of the legendary Andrews Sisters, this short has always had a little spot in my heart. I don’t know if it’s the beautiful tones of the Andrews Sisters or the fact that this story can only be told in an animated world but the moment I saw that department store window I was always glued to the screen.

The finale short is the tragic The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met. Without giving too much away, the story takes you to fantastic highs as we see the meteoric rise of Willie the Whale as he becomes an opera star, but takes us to a really low, dark place. There is still a happy ending, but not the happy you normally associate with Disney. It’s pretty sophisticated storytelling for a little short. Mention has to be made to Nelson Eddy who provides all the vocals.

As you could probably tell, this is definitely my favorite of the package films, probably due to a huge case of nostalgia since so many of these were already among my favorite Disney cartoons and seeing them all together is a treat. If you haven’t revisited these ones in a while, I high recommend giving the film a view. You’d be surprised that they work well separately as shorts but work harmoniously together as a film.

 

Three Happy Chappies, with Snappy Sarepes

Have you ever wanted to see Donald Duck try his best to get tail feathers ruffled for a good 2/3rds of a movie before? Well, 1944’s The Three Caballeros is the film for you. You heard me right, for a good portion of this movie Donald is chasing women around south of the border.

The Three Caballeros is probably a more known in title than Saludos Amigos, and I’m sure that more than a handful of people think of them as the same movie, but being films about Latin America is pretty much where the similarities end (besides sharing Donald Duck and Jose Carioca). Where Saludos Amigos showcases the continent of South America during a goodwill tour with the Disney Artist, The Three Caballeros follow the complex storyline of Donald Duck opening birthday presents sent to him his pals in Latin America.

The feature starts simple enough with 2 short films; The Cold-Blooded Penguin, a cute story of a Penguin named Pablo from Argentina looking for warmer weather and The Flying Guachito , where a little boy from Uruguay races his winged donkey named Burrito. Caballeros really kicks in when Jose Carioca burst onto the scene with a rousing samba number in the Brazilian state of Baia. As Jose talks about the coastal state his silhouette is bathed in this gorgeous, warm pink light and we dip our toes in the pond of Surreal Land. There is a fantastic part of the sequence where a 2 man dance becomes a cock fight and back again. It is a great example of what I love most about animation, it is art in motion.

Upon returning from Baia Panchito Pistoles, a rooster representing Mexico, is introduced and we are treated to the Mexican celebration of Las Posadas via still paintings by Mary Blair. It’s quiet, it’s beautiful, and it’s touching. Then from here on out Donald Duck is in full horn dog mode as he tours Mexico on a magic Sarape! There is some really great Animation/Live action mixing in the sequences where the Caballeros learn about regional Mexican dances, which is odd since I’m pretty sure that Baia was not mixed, but the live actors were acting in front of a screen with the animation projected on it. Donald Dances with Women Patzuaro, he dances with women in Veracruz, and then he chases SEVERAL women on what seems to be the beaches of Acapulco but is most obviously a soundstage in some angles.

Donald seemingly falls in love with a singer representing the stars of Mexico and our foot now firmly planted in the Surreal Ocean. Donald moves his affection to a strange dancing flower woman hybrid and then falls for a Mexican woman conducting dancing cacti with her rider’s crop. Jose and Panchito join in the finale in an explosion of color and firecrackers.

The character animation in this one is fast and loose, almost Looney Toonsian. It’s a whole lot of fun to see them go off the animated rails a little but the very little story in it is a bit too fragmented. Are we watching an educational travelogue? Are we watching a cast of zany characters running around south of the border? Are we watching Donald Duck sow his wild oats whilst on a break from Daisy? What we do get is some really great imagery and fantastic music.

 

Aquarela do Brasil

1942’s Saludos Amigos is a bit of an odd duck in the Disney Animation Studio canon. It’s only 42 minutes long and a good portion of it is live action. I didn’t expect to enjoy it as I don’t have a great memory of the package films of the 40’s, but I thought this was a great little gem of Disney History.

We get to tag along with Walt Disney and a group of hand selected artist on their good will tour through South America. Sure, it reeks of the Good Neighbor Policy but it is so much fun to see parts of the world that were foreign to the eyes of a pre internet world. The Disney animation buff in me is totally delighted in seeing favorite artist like Frank Thomas and Mary Blair do their sketching and doodles in living color.

Playing more like a travelogue than an actual film, the shorts are tied together with the story of the animators getting inspiration from the surrounding lands and cultures. You’ve most likely seen the first 3 stories as standalone shorts and the animation, though consistent in quality, is no more groundbreaking than any other Mickey Mouse/Silly Symphony that was released in the past. We get to see Donald Duck being tourist in Lake Titicaca. We see the first installment of the Planes franchise in Pedro, the little mail plane who bravely flies through a storm over the country of Chile. We visit El Gaucho Goofy as he learns how to turn from an American Cowboy to a genuine Argentine gaucho with hilarious results.

The fourth short, Aquarela do Brasil, is where animation gets to do what animation does best: be wonderfully surrealistic. Translated to “Watercolor of Brazil”, a paint brush is animated painting landscapes of the country with each splattering of paint becoming something alive. A dash of blue paint becomes a flowing river. With a few drops of yellow a palm tree becomes an exotic jungle bird. Magically, a bunch of bananas are transformed to a flock of toucan with a mere splash of black paint. It’s beautiful, fantastic, and awesome. Once the scene is set Jose Carioca, the green parrot most associated with the Three Caballeros, is introduced to samba the night away Donald around the color streets of Brazil.

Not the best feature out there, and I probably wouldn’t recommend it as a must see to the casual fan, but if you have any interest in the Disney Animators of the 40’s, it’s a real treat. Bonus points for any anthropologist out there as all the live action footage has some great stuff from the native cultures of South America and Mid Century era Brazil.

“Recalling thrills of our love, there’s one thing I’m certain of. Return, I will, to old Brazil.”

… He Is Known As the Great Prince of the Forest

Mister Walt Disney sure gave us the 1-2 punch with the motherly tragedy when he released Bambi in 1942. Quite possibly one of the most beautiful of the animated films, Walt Disney set out for a more realistic look than the previous films that had been animated by the studio. Animators were instructed to study the anatomy of real animal and the hard work paid off. Animator Eric Larson is quoted as saying the previous attempts at deer in Snow White were more “like big flour sacks” than actual animals. It’s pretty amazing that you can actually see the back muscles moving when the deer walk around the forest. A forest made all the more lush thanks to the eye and hand of animator Tyrus Wong. The visuals of this film are true masterpieces of the medium.

Not only is this Disney’s first attempt at realism in a feature film, but this is really the first coming of age tale they tried to tell. There is more emphasis on the daily life of Bambi than there is on a clear cut narrative. The villain in the story is only identified as Man, and he is never seen. The death of Bambi’s mother is one of the most iconic parts of the film, and surely traumatized a fair share of children around the world, but it hurts mre because Bambi and his mother have such a wonderful relationship. The fawn cares for his mother so deeply that you want to believe that she’s right behind Bambi in the safety of the thicket. I don’t think I’m alone in hoping that she makes it every time I watch the film.

Not to be overshadowed by the tragic death of the mother, the movie is just chock-full of super intense moments. From the battle Bambi has with a competing Deer over the hand (hoof?) of Feline, to the forest fire and dog fight in the climax, there is almost no time to breathe in the second half of the film. My favorite moment in the film is actually one of the more frightening scenes, involving a quail and her fear of the approaching hunter. Against the advice of her friends to stay hidden in the brush, she succumbs to her fear induced madness and flies away only to get shot down has she tries to flee. And no punches are pulled here; you actually see her body fall and hit the ground.

Luckily there are plenty of light moments with cute animals frolicking around the meadow, skating an iced over pond, and finding the sensation of Twitterpation and romance. But best of all there’s Thumper. I love Thumper. He is so adorable and has so much personality. He is great when he’s getting scolded by his mother by reciting the wisdom of his unseen father.

I’m glad this film gets the respect it deserves, as it can be easily forgotten in the pantheon of fantasy and princesses normally associated with Disney. The Great Prince of the Forest is a crowning achievement for Walt Disney and his studio.

Did You Ever See an Elephant Fly?

The little film that could, Dumbo was released in 1941 as a means to recoup the losses accrued by Fantasia. Clocking in at only 64 minutes Dumbo provides enough emotional punch for film twice it’s length. It’s no wonder it became the most successful film for the studio in the 40’s.

Nostalgically, this movie is really dear to me as I remember many a Sunday evening at home when they would broadcast it on our local TV station. I was captivated by the story of the little elephant from the circus that was made fun of just because of his enormous ears. One of my first Disneyland souvenirs was a Timothy Q. Mouse plush. Maybe it was the bright colors, the simple story, or even the plain fact that it took place at the circus, something about Dumbo just did it for me. Still does to this day.

Everything about Dumbo’s mother is so incredibly heart breaking. The film opens up storks delivering newborn baby animals to the entire circus as Mrs. Jumbo looks on hoping one will be hers, and is crushed when he child is not delivered. Lucky for her one of the storks, played hilariously by Sterling Halloway in his first of MANY great Disney characters, was just running a little behind. She only enjoys a few moments of bliss before the troupe, led by a matriarch voice by another Disney Voice All Star Verna Felton, begin to poke fun at Dumbo’s big ears. Then she gets put in the clink after she’s protecting her poor baby from some cruel kids visiting the circus. No wonder Baby Mine is universally known as a “If-This-Song-Doesn’t-Affect-You-You-Have-No-Soul” moment. This poor character goes through so much it makes her happy ending all that more satisfying.

I always knew that Pink Elephants on Parade scene was trippy and weird, but it’s really great watching it as a learned adult and see how it’s a surrealist dream/nightmare. There is such trippy and frightening imagery in the sequence. I think has a child I ignored the fact that Dumbo and Timothy are completely drunk.

Now for the elephant in the room: The Crows. Say what you will about this controversial aspect of the movie, but I never saw the crows as racist or offensive (Song of the South is a different story, that can be offensive). These crows were the cool kids in the movie; they seemed to me like they were part of a really cool jazz ensemble. They are one of the few characters that are sympathetic to Dumbo and give him the confidence to fly. The worst thing about them is that the lead crow is unfortunately named Jim Crow.

At the end of the film Dumbo triumphs and becomes a star, and quite possibly a war hero? Dumbo is one of the most inspiring and magical films in the Disney cannon that will have you cheering louder than the crowd under the big top. I’d believe and soar with this pachyderm any day.

What You Will See Are the Different Things That Might Pass Through Your Mind If You Sat In a Concert Hall Listening To This Music

If there was any doubt that Walt Disney was an ambitious man (and there shouldn’t be… at all) look no further than 1940’s Fantasia. I always found it so cool that just after 2 films, Uncle Walt goes balls to the walls with an abstract feature film with no storyline. Meant to be an ever evolving Concert Feature, this one was always kind of lost on me has a child. The imagery was fun, but in all reality I was just waiting for the Mickey Mouse part. Oh, and dinosaurs, because dinosaurs are awesome. In re-watching, the film is just pure eye and ear candy.

Toccata and Fugue in D Minor starts the program with everything that Fantasia sets out to be, what you might see in your head as you hear music. I love how the backlit orchestra melts away to abstract patterns. When the sounds gets fuller so do the images, it’s such an astounding exercise in art and imagination.

Instead of going for the obvious Christmas scene, this Nutcracker Suite features the changing seasons. The fairies are particularly beautiful, and who can forget the funny little slightly racist mushrooms?

Sorcerer’s Apprentice is pretty much Mickey’s most famous and memorable role. It’s hard to think of a time that Mickey dropped so hard in popularity that Walt had created this vehicle to showcase him again. It worked spectacularly as this is really one of the best Mickey Mouse shorts. One of my favorite scenes is Mickey Mouse getting all murderous toward the runaway brooms with an ax all in silhouette. Some imagination, huh?

Oh, boy, do we get heavy during Rite of Spring. Depicting the Earth’s beginning to the extinction of the dinosaur, this segment always dragged on a little long for me. It’s strange since it featured one of my all-time favorite things in the entire world, the might dinosaur, and it is pretty action packed, but it is the longest segment and it feels it. It is pretty fascinating that it’s very honest with the life and death struggle of the time with some haunting and gruesome images of the dinos dying of dehydration and starvation.

Pastoral Symphony was a favorite as a kid obsessed with Greek Mythology. I wish there was a few more scenes featuring the gods, the image of Diana shooting a bow and arrow to fill the night sky with stars is striking.

Dance of the Hours is another comedic delight setting the beautiful ballet music to our ample starlet, Hyacinth Hippo. There is some really great character animation here.

Night on Bald Mountain/Ave Maria is possibly the 2^nd most famous segment mostly due to the powerful presence of Chernabog. Not very many characters have been created that are so intimating. He is pretty much the embodiment of evil. I feel a lot of people forget that it’s paired with Ave Maria, and it beautifully closes out the feature as the sound of bells announce the dawn and the camera pans into the sunrise.

Way ahead of its time, Fantasia was a failure during its first run but now there is no disputing that thisa masterpiece in film and animation. Bravo, Maestro Disney.

The Gift of Life is Thine

 

How much do I love 1940’s Pinocchio? Enough to watch it a million times and write a blog about it, that’s how much. But really, the story of a little puppet learning right from wrong in an effort to become a real boy is a perfect film in my opinion. All the technical aspects of it are wonderful, how this was only the 2^nd feature to be produced by the Studio is beyond me, they learned so much in such a little time. There is a sweeping shot of the mornings activities of Geppetto’s Village that is so beautifully shot you completely suspend belief that these are drawings and not a camera moving on a rig through a physical set. Every shot is so full of details; it takes multiple viewings to fully absorb Geppetto’s Workshop.

Pinocchio is such a great little protagonist. He’s so relatable, possibly due to his morally simplistic journey. He fails in doing right in effort to become a real boy. He lies to cover his tracks, but a simple lie grows until it’s as plain as the nose on your face. We’ve all had to learn such lessons. This makes his sacrifice to save his father from the jaws of Monstro the whale all the more powerful, supported by the heartbreaking image of his dead body in the water. This movie gets dark, friends. I still get nightmares from the scene where Lampwick transforms into a donkey after a night of debauchery on Pleasure Island. And I don’t even want to know what happens to the boys that can still speak after turning into jack asses (Cursing in a Disney movie!).

Our semi-narrator of the story, Jimminy Cricket, ends up being one of the greatest sidekicks of all time. Little did they know when they gave him the song When You Wish Upon a Star that it would become synonymous with the company itself. I love his little winks at the camera and his commentary to the clock figures.  It’s great that this imperfect vagabond gets the role of Pinocchio’s conscience and learns along with him. 

Now to be purely indulgent, I HAVE to talk about the Blue Fairy. She is, without a doubt, one of my favorite Disney Characters. She’s so beautiful and regal and radiant and graceful and elegant and stunning and exquisite.... you get the point. Just something about her always fascinated me. The way she was designed, the way that she carries herself and a perfect vocal performance makes my face light up brighter than the wishing star whenever she appears on the screen.

What could have been a disjointed, episodic mess, with a multitude of side characters, villains, and situations, the story is told seamlessly. Not one scene is wasted. Beautifully animated and designed with a tight, simple story, it’s no wonder that this film gets praise it deserves. Pinocchio goes down as one of the best animated movies ever made and one of my personal favorite movies of all time.

The Fairest of Them All

One of Walt Disney’s biggest gambles and biggest payoffs is 1937’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.  Still an amazing achievement today, it’s almost hard to believe that this was the very first feature length animated movie.  So much care was made into the making of this movie, that watching the restored Blu-Ray you can almost see each paint stroke on each cell.  It’s truly a painting brought to life thanks to the vision ofconcept artist Albert Hurter.  You can imagine living in that lush, Bavarian-esque forest.

Snow White as a character is often criticized for being bland, but she’s sweet and kind.  Where she falters is that she is a complete product of her time.  As the movies progress, you’ll definitely notice that the heroines reflect the time they were created, from the dainty damsels to the strong women of today.

Where the film shines like a million diamonds is in its supporting cast. Each dwarf is named after their main personality trait, and that could have come off cheesy but it works by bringing them to their cores making each as lovable as the next.  They bring the obvious comic relief and cut the tension but they bring a large amount of emotional punch, especially in the funeral scene.  Each one of them cries and cries hard for their fallen princess, but the moment the viewer completely loses it is when Grumpy sobs. Grumpy’s arch is a delightful surprise as he goes from disliking everything about Snow White to caring for her so much as to warns her about the Wicked Queen’s trickery to possibly being the one that cries the hardest for Snow White. 

Finally, the Wicked Queen, though Snow was the fairest, I have always found the Queen to be so damn sexy.  That killer stare, those pouty lips, those dramatic eyebrow, oh man!  The animation of her walking down the dungeon stairs is breath taking.  I could live in that cape. Her transformation scene is horrifying and really highlights the power of animation with visuals that could have never been created in the live action cinema of the day.  She’s so cruel that she wants proof of Snow White’s death by asking the Huntsman to bringer her heart back in a jeweled box.  She taunts a dead prisoner with a drink.  Than is practically salivating before Snow White takes the infamous bite of the poisoned apple.  If you couldn’t tell, I love this villain.  It’s so powerful that her last line in the film is, “Now I’ll be the fairest in the land!” has she’s disguised as the disgusting old crone as she is crushed in the thrilling climax.

OK, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is not perfect.  The love story quick and under developed ( hey, it’s a fairytale) and some of the character designs are planted firmly in the 30’s (Huntsman, I’m looking at you) but it still holds up really well.  We have the success of the little princess and her 7 little heroes to thank for a paving the way for Disney and for the animated art form.