My Random Ramblings

Walt Disney Animation Studios: Part 46: Chicken Little

2012-01-28T17:04:00.000-05:00

Series Intro: This is Part 46 of a multi-part retrospective of Walt Disney Animation Studios' endeavors.

Official Title: Chicken Little
Release: October 3, 2005
Running Time: 81 minutes
Estimated Cost: $150 million
Estimated Revenue: $314.43 million
Overall Rating: 1 stars out of 5

Plot Summary:
Story of Chicken Little, plus a fat pig that made me feel uncomfortable and aliens.

Songs:
It there were any, I was distracted by the bad animation and iffy plot.

Plot Rating: 1 stars out of 5
I am happy to never watch this movie again.

Animation Rating: 1 out of 5
WDAS had such a beautiful movie in Home, and here the cartoony animation reminded me of when Walt himself brought the feature length to the big screen. There just was too much “Saturday morning” for my tastes.

The Test of Time:
Happy to not see this movie standing the test of time.

Through the Modern Lens
That fat pig really did make me feel awkward. And why couldn't the fish talk?

Next Up:
Meet the Robinsons

PIXAR Animation: Part 6: The Incredibles

2012-01-10T20:36:00.000-05:00

Series Intro: In my purposeful retrospective of WDAS I couldn’t ignore it’s younger sister: PIXAR. This is Part 6 in the retrospective of PIXAR

Official Title: The Incredibles
Release: November 5, 2004
Running Time: 115 minutes (pushing two hours!)
Estimated Cost: $92 million (about $10 million less than Home On The Range
Estimated Revenue: $631.44 million (about$500 million more than Home on The Range
Overall Rating: 5 stars out of 5

Plot Summary:
The movie opens in the 1920s, the heyday of the superhero! However, times change (as times often do) and the “Supers” are no longer allowed to practice vigilante justice, as ordered by federal law. Mr. Incredible (the hottests “Super” of the day, settles down for a civilian life with his new bride, Elastagirl, and they have a few kids. Times continues to move forward and Mr. Incredible, now just Bob, finds himself itching to be a Super again. And he takes a highly suspicious job that requires him to fight robots on a tropical island. The job turns sour as it is revealed that Mr. Incredible’s new “boss” is really a spurned lacky who has now turned evil, wanting to be the only and most power Super – he goes by the name, Syndrome. Mrs. Incredible discovers that Bob is in trouble and she hauls to the island to find him (with the older children as stowaways – these children also have super powers). The family works together to escape the island, and back in the city they work together to defeat the robot (who is no longer under Syndrome’s control). After defeating the robot, they return home to find that Syndrome has kidnapped the baby (who up until now has not shown any super powers). The baby, saves himself, with the newfound powers and Supers are welcome back into society.

Plot Rating: 5 stars out of 5
Wow! What a great movie! The story was enthralling, and the characters were three dimensional (and I’m not talking about the animation). One of the best parts of this movie, were how real the characters are – Mr. and Mrs. Incredible have a domestic dispute!

Animation Rating: 4 out of 5
The hair, the faces… all wonderful. The movie really pushed the envelope for animation. It’s going to be really interesting watching what Disney will do with their first CGI movie as compared to this.

The Test of Time:
A few years ago, when I was at WDW, the Incredibles characters has one of the longest waits (just about the same as the Up characters. However, I don’t see continued use of the franchise since the movie’s ended.

Next Up:
Cars

Goodbye Costume

2011-10-31T21:55:00.001-04:00

Final costume update:

Costume all packed away.

Perspective as to how much room the costume takes up!

Costume! At NYCC

2011-10-24T17:43:00.000-04:00

So here are some pictures that I've found of me in costume!Update: I forgot to say, that I won the costume contest!!! Huzzah!

Walt Disney Animation Studios Part 45: Home on the Range

2011-10-09T15:51:00.000-04:00

Series Intro: This is Part 45 of a multi-part retrospective of Walt Disney Animation Studios' endeavors.

Official Title: Home on the Range
Release: April 2, 2004 (side note: I turned 20 that day). This date also broke away from either a Christmas or Summer release
Running Time: 76 minutes (short!)
Estimated Cost: $110 million
Estimated Revenue: $103.95 million
Overall Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Plot Summary:
Maggie, a show cow, voiced by Roseanne, has to leave her home after all the cattle are stolen and the farm has to go up for auction. She is sold to a neighboring farm, A Little Patch of Heaven. No sooner then when Maggie arrive does the sheriff tell Patch of Heaven’s owner that the mortgage must be paid up, a whole $750.
Maggie convinces the other cows on the farm, Grace and Mrs. Calloway, to go into town and ask for an extension on the mortgage so all the animals can enter contests at the fair. No extension can be given, so Maggie decides that the cows should capture cattle thief Slim (the same man who stole Maggie’s friends) and use the money to pay the mortgage. Reluctantly, bossy Mrs. Calloway and dim-witted Grace agree.
Their misadventure begin and along the way they meet a thick headed horse, Buck, and a wooden-legged rabbit, Lucky Jack.
The cows discover that Slim can yodel, which is intoxicating to all cow except Grace (she believes this is because she has perfect pitch, however the other cows and the audience know that she is tone deaf). They use this fact to their advantage during the big fight scene between the cows and Slim.
The fight goes down as planned, except Buck ruins things, and Slim escapes to buy Piece of Heaven. However, just as he is about to sign the deed, the cows come home on a run away train and capture him, collect the reward and save the farm.
Mrs. Calloway tells Grace how great Maggie has been, and wishes she could stay – despite Mrs. Calloway and Maggie being at odds throughout the movie. Maggie hears this and decides to stay.
In the epilogue, all the animals won 1st place at the fair, thus giving Piece of Heaven a buffer of money comfort zone.

Songs:
So nice to have a musical again (though this was more like Tarzan in the way of most of the music was sung by a narrator.
(You Ain't) Home On The Range - Chorus
Little Patch of Heaven - k.d. lang
Yodel-Adle-Eedle-Idle-Oo - Randy Quaid and Chorus
Will The Sun Ever Shine Again - Bonnie Raitt
(You Ain't) Home On The Range - Echo Mine Reprise - Chorus
Wherever The Trail May Lead - Tim McGraw
Anytime You Need A Friend - The Beu Sisters

The music was very reminiscent of old west. Great job to Alan Menken (of Little Mermaid) for breaking out of the musical theatre genre.

Plot Rating: 4 stars out of 5
This was a great story. As I’ve said before, the buddy movies usually have wonderful plot and a good story to tell. This really broke the mold of buddy movies by having all three leads be female.
The only thing I didn’t like about the plot was how Maggie was so gun-ho about saving Little Piece of Heaven, when she was there only after one day. What did she do to try to save her farm? (Watching the behind the scene answered my question. Originally, Maggie was supposed be part of the Piece of Heaven farm, but the story people decided they wanted her to be the new girl, to give Mrs. Calloway more reasons not to trust her. The movie was about half finished when they made this choice, and there are scenes where you can see the gaps of where Maggie was/would have been).

Animation Rating: 4 out of 5
Beautiful. This film evoked feelings of the West, with it’s colors and lines. It even looked like previous Walt cartoons about the same period. Not much CG stood out, meaning it blended nicely in with the matted colors and simple designs.
This was the last WDAS film to use the CPAS system first used in The Rescuers

The Test of Time:
Nothing. This movie sits with other forgotten movies. The only reason I can guess, is because it’s about cows. That was my hesitation about this movie. Who wants to watch a movie about cows?
If it had done better in the box office, I could imagine seeing Maggie, Mrs. Calloway and Grace as staples in Frontierland in the Disney Parks.

Through the Modern Lens
Marketed as the LAST hand drawn animated film, WDAS did leave on a bang. Granted, it wasn’t the scope of a Beauty and the Beast but a great film. However, we know that this was not the last hand drawn film. After three movies, WDAS returned to hand drawn for Princess and the Frog
Also note, this was the last WDAS movie to be released on VHS.

Next Up:
Chicken Little

Walt Disney Animation Studios Part 44: Brother Bear

2011-10-09T15:12:00.000-04:00

Series Intro: This is Part 44 of a multi-part retrospective of Walt Disney Animation Studios' endeavors.

Official Title: Brother Bear
Release: November 1, 2003
Running Time: 85 minutes
Estimated Cost: unavailable
Estimated Revenue: $250.40 million
Overall Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Plot Summary:
Kenai, an American Native in a pre-historic North America, has trouble accepting his spirit guide, a bear for love. He tries to prove that he is stronger than “love” and chases after a bear, that results in the death of his oldest brother, Sitka.
Sitka, from the spirit world, turns Kenai into a bear after his fight with the bear. Kenai’s other brother, Denahi, thinks the turned Kenai is the bear that killed Kenai, and vows revenge against it.
Kenai discovers he must go to the mountain to where the sprits can be found and ask Sitka to return him to his human form. On his way to the mountain he befriends a young bear, Koda, and some moose, Rutt and Turk. The four are on the run from Denahi.
The four split up so the bears can meet the other bears for the salmon run. Kenai realizes that he killed Koda’s mother. And when he tells Koda this, Koda leaves him. Koda runs into Rutt and Turk (who had been fighting) and they make up encouraging Koda to make up with Kenai.
All is revealed in a big fight between Koda, Kenai and Denahi. Sitka turns Kenai into a human at the last second, before being stabbed by Denahi. But when Kenai sees how sad Koda is, he asks Sitka to return him to the bear form.
Kenai is now considered a man by his tribe and his paw print is placed on the wall of all the hands of the men. Kenai has truly learned how to show love through his animal spirit.

Songs:
Not a musical but some really nice songs by Phil Collins

Plot Rating: 4 stars out of 5
A buddy movie with a much more serious plot that Emperor’s New Groove. these buddy movies are really good.

Animation Rating: 4 out of 5
Most of the film was beautiful. I enjoyed watching it (there were just a few places where the CG effects became distracting – the fish is the most stand out place). This was the final fillm to be drawn at Disney MGM Studios in Orlando.

The Test of Time:
A direct to video sequel and a few video games, but I don’t see this around the parks or in merchandizing.

Through the Modern Lens
It was a nice movie, with a great plot. Not much to say about it.

Next Up:
Home on the Range

Costume Update: Finish!

2011-10-08T16:06:00.002-04:00

Ninja MegaFalconZord:

Falcon wings, back

Falcon wing back, close up.

Other wing

Toy wing, back

Toy wing, front

Front of wings

Front detailed view

Wings on the bear.

I attached the wings using screws and anchors. This should do a much better job than glue.
I also anchored in the ape (and wolf).

I used the anchors to attach the Falconzord to the bear.

Torso from the back

Torso from the front.
I've got to say, the wings are looking might nice!

Old Navy flip flops make great knee pads.

He's chillin' on my recliner.

Maxin' and relaxin'

Ninja MegaFalconZord toy

Chibi and Mecha, bff's

Costume Update:Falcon Day 5

2011-10-07T22:58:00.001-04:00

Ninja MegaFalconZord:

Sorry I missed a day, but I was angry with Falconzord, his head just won't stay on!

Falconzord legs

Falconzord neck (see the wooden dowell?) Hopefully I'll wake up tomorrow to an attached head.

Tbe wings! (First day on the wings, there's a lot of progress though).

I'm happy that I'm almost finished. I can't stand the mess in my apartment anymore. I'm tired of being covered in glue... etc. I'm ready to just wear the costume!

Costume Update: Falcon Day 3

2011-10-03T21:35:00.001-04:00

Ninja MegaFalconZord:

I missed yesterday's update, so this is the falcon at the end of the 3rd day.

Still needs wings. I think I might make flat legs. There really isn't any room on the costume for 3D legs.

Toy

Face, close up.

Tail, close up.

Toy tail, close up.

Costume Update: Wearing the Megazord

2011-10-02T22:43:00.000-04:00

Ninja MegaFalconZord:My friend came over for dinner tonight and I made her help me into the costume:

Still working on the falconzord!

Costume Update: Falcon Day 1

2011-10-01T15:34:00.000-04:00

Ninja MegaFalconZord: Well, I'm hitting the home stretch. The final zord, and some might argue the most important zord of season 3: Falconzord!

Costume back.

Falcon toy, back.

Full back

Costume Update: Wolf Day 4 & Ape Day 4

2011-09-29T19:19:00.001-04:00

Ninja MegaFalconZord:Major update today!

Mid-day wolf progress!

To remind you of what the toy looks like.

Wolf with glove, side

Wolf with glove, top

Ninja Megazord, ape side (no falcon zord yet)

Ninja Megazord, wolf side

Ape glove.

Wearing the bear/frog, wolf side.

Wearing the bear/frog, ape side.

Ape side with glove. I couldn't manipulate the camera to take the wolf side with glove.
I also can't get the crane on while wearing the bear.

Costume Update: Wolf Day 3

2011-09-28T20:37:00.000-04:00

Ninja MegaFalconZord:

Toy Side

Wolf costume, hind legs

Wolf toy

Costume Update: Ape Day 3 & Wolf Day 2

2011-09-25T16:59:00.001-04:00

Ninja MegaFalconZord:
I'm waiting to have the gloves finished before cutting arm holes in this thing.

Two parts stacked, front.

Toy front

Costume side/back

Toy side

Close up feet (shoulder on costume)

Close up chest (forearm on costume)

Chest back

Gloves for ape and wolf. Details for wolf.

Costume Update: Ape Day 2 & Wolf Day 1

2011-09-21T21:06:00.003-04:00

Ninja MegaFalconZord:

Doesn't look like much, but was a couple hours of detail work.

Ape side

Wolf side (that oval is the detail I'm working on)

Costume Update: Ape Day 1

2011-09-19T20:53:00.001-04:00

Ninja MegaFalconZord:

Ape toy front

Ape feet

Costume Update: Crane Day 5

2011-09-18T17:52:00.002-04:00

Ninja MegaFalconZord:

Wearing the crane, bear and frog (head).

Mask. I made the eyes out of plastic cups.

Finished front

Toy Back

Finished side

Finished back. There were surprisingly a LOT of details in this small zord.

Pixar Animation: Part 5: Finding Nemo

2011-09-18T16:55:00.000-04:00

Series Intro: In my purposeful retrospective of WDAS I couldn’t ignore it’s younger sister: PIXAR. This is Part 5 in the retrospective of PIXAR

Official Title: Finding Nemo
Release: May 30, 2003
Running Time: 100 minutes
Estimated Cost: $94 million
Estimated Revenue: $867.89 million
Overall Rating: 5 stars out of 5

Plot Summary
Nemo, an Australian clown fish, doesn’t like being controlled and reprimanded by his farther on the first day of school. Marlin, Nemo’s dad, is over protective of his only child because Nemo’s mom and all of the eggs were killed before Nemo’s birth.

Nemo, showing off to his new friends, goes to touch a boat, but is captured by “P. Sherman 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney. Scared for the fate of his son, Marlin sets out to find Nemo.

Along the way, he meets a regal tang named Dori, who has an incredibly short memory. Dori and Marlin have several misadventures while Nemo discovers a new group of adult fish friends in a dentist office. Nemo and his friends try to escape so Nemo doesn’t do home with the dentist’s fish-killing niece. After several failed attempts, they are able to free Nemo back to the ocean.

Dori and Marlin, after successfully avoiding sharks, jelly fish and being eaten by a whale, meet up with Nemo, only to be caught by a commercial fishing ship. Nemo takes what he learned with his friends “just swim down together” to save Dori.

Dori, Marlin and Nemo successfully make it back to the reef, and begin a new, less protective life.

A cut scene shows the fish from the dentist’s tank escaping, but soon they realize they are trapped in plastic bags.

Plot Rating: 5 stars out of 5

This movie has everything that one can ask for: comedy, drama, action, suspense and Ellen DeGeneres! From the moment the movie begins until it ends, I was actively engaged in the plot.

Animation Rating: 5 out of 5

The way the fish moved, the colors, the different ways the water moved/reflected. Once again, PIXAR uses 3D animation nearly flawlessly to tell a story.

The Test of Time:
Multiple theme park attractions – including the rethemed EPCOT pavilion, millions of dollars in merchandize, and my favorite reason to go to Animal Kingdom (Find Nemo the Musical) shows that Nemo is with us for the long hall!

Final Thoughts
Nemo was awesome!

Next Up:
The Incredibles

Costume Update: Crane Day 4

2011-09-16T23:11:00.002-04:00

Ninja MegaFalconZord:

Toy Front

Costume Front

Side

Detailed symbols

Costume Update: Crane Day 3

2011-09-15T22:21:00.005-04:00

Ninja MegaFalconZord:So after a few days, here's the next update:

Crane Toy Front

Mask so far.

Crane toy side, in front of crane costume side.

Costume side.

Costume Update: Bear Day 3

2011-09-11T23:09:00.001-04:00

Ninja MegaFalconZord:

HUGE Progress today! A lot of new things happening. Today I painted with a paint brush, used thinner card board and began to figure out how this thing is going to stay up.

Bear toy front

Bear toy side.

Me wearing the bear and full frog.
I was waiting for things to dry.

From side.
Notice how the costume is staying up by itself.
Bear uses tension, the frog now has suspenders.

Completed bear front!

Closer view of the front.
The face was all thin cardboard (think cereal boxes), as to not make the costume so front heavy.

Bear costume from back.
Not quite sure how the falcon zord will fit... eek.

Me in completed bear.
The top is on and holding the bear in place.
The top is removable, using velcro, to make it easier to get on and off.

Costume Update: Bear Day 2

2011-09-07T21:28:00.002-04:00

Ninja MegaFalconZord:

Bear Toy from side

Bear costume from side. It has legs now (and a chest)!
I'm nervous about the head. This is going to be some of the most intricate details in the zord.

Costume Update: Crane Day 2

2011-09-07T21:23:00.002-04:00

Ninja MegaFalconZord:

Toy Model

Mask with white spray paint.

Costume Update: Bear Day 1

2011-09-05T22:00:00.000-04:00

Ninja MegaFalconZord

So I had some luck today, a down-the-street neighbor was getting rid of a boat load of boxes, so I was able to get started on the bear.

Ninja Bear Zord toy, front

Costume front.
Not much to show yet. I need more cereal box type cardboard to make the bear face.
I'm making the shoulder cover detachable to allow me to take the costume on/off more easily. I plan on attaching it with velcro.

Costume Update: Frog Day 4!

2011-09-05T19:53:00.003-04:00

Ninja MegaFalconZord Costume Update:

Frog Part of the Costume is complete!

Finished head with details.

Finished head, back.

Costume Update: Crane Day 1

2011-09-04T19:52:00.001-04:00

Ninja FalonMegaZord Costume progress:
When I ran out of paint for the frog, I moved over to the crane. I'm making the mask part first.

Crane Toy

Paper mache over a costume hockey mask. This was a messy job. It probably still needs some more layers.

Costume Update: Frog Day 3

2011-09-04T19:49:00.002-04:00

Ninja FalonMegaZord Costume progress:

So it wasn't until day three that I actually decided to take pictures as photo evidence of the "fun" I'm having.

The first two days were fraught with dead ends as I figured out how to make this monster. Duct tape wasn't strong enough to hold the shape and the all purpose glue I bought did nothing.So a trip to the craft store and I bought a glue gun and that has held everything together.

Here are the pictures of Frog on Day 3. One more day and it should be finished.

The Toy, front

The toy, side

Toy and Costume Front

Toy and costume side

Costume front, without eyes

Leg front

Leg side

Head front. I ran out of black paint... :(

Head back. Note the little box inside... for my cellphone/wallet

I still haven't figured out how I'll be holding it up. I saw one Megazord with ropes to hold up the midsection. I think suspenders might do the trick, and be more secure.

Ninja Mega Falcon Zord Progress

2011-09-04T19:05:00.001-04:00

Ninja FalonMegaZord Costume progress:

So for Halloween/Con-Season this year I've decided to make my own costume. And in honor of Netflix offering all of the Power Randers series for streaming, I've decided to make my favorite megazord, the Ninja Megafalconzord.

Considering I've never made a costume before, I think this might be a bit lofty, but I'll keep updating the blog with pictures.

Walt Disney Animation Studios Part 43: Treasure Planet

2011-07-12T13:06:00.000-04:00

Series Intro: This is Part 43 of a multi-part retrospective of Walt Disney Animation Studios' endeavors.

Official Title: Treasure Planet
Release: November 27, 2002 (Second release this year!)
Running Time: 85 minutes
Estimated Cost: $140 million
Estimated Revenue: $109.59million (we haven’t seen a box office flop since Black Cauldron)
Overall Rating: 3 stars out of 5

Plot Summary:
Jim Hawkins, a rebellious teen, finds a map to Treasure Planet where pirate Captain Flint has buried all of his treasures. Jim’s mom allows him to go on this adventure with her explorer friend, Dr. Delbert Doppler.

Doppler hires a space traveling ship and a crew – including Captain Amelia, First Mate: Mr. Arrows and cook: John Silver. Amelia makes Jim Silver’s cabin boy. Silver, who’s right side was mostly robotics, is revealed to be the leader of the mutinous crew. Mr. Arrows is the first victim of the mutiny as the crew pushes him overboard during a solar storm.

Jim, Doppler and Amelia escape from the mutiny onto the treasure planet, but the map was back on the ship. Jim gets kidnapped in trying to rescue the map, as do Amelia and Dopper.

After discovering that the map can create a dimensional transport, Jim leads Silver and the crew to Flint’s treasure. The place was booby-trapped, a fact then B.E.N. – robot guard – only remembers at the last possible second. Silver abandons his crew and the loot to save Jim.

The planet starts to self destruct, but Jim recalculates the map to send them back home. Jim also lets Silver free, as opposed to being tried for mutiny. Silver gives Jim whatever booty he had; which Jim gives to his mom to rebuild her inn.

An epilogue, shows a slightly older Jim return from the Interstellar Academy to a party at the inn. Dopper and Amelia have kittens/pups.

Songs:

Not a musical.

Plot Rating: 2.5 stars out of 5

Didn’t I just watch this movie? Wasn’t it the basic same plot as Atlantis? What this plot had going for it, was that it got me hooked much sooner than Atlantis

Animation Rating: 3 out of 5

The 70/30 rule was liberally applied to all aspects of this film (both in its design, 70% old/ 30% sci-fi/tech; and in the way it was drawn). That allowed this to be a very visually appealing movie. I must say the best 3D animation from WDAS yet, was Silver’s CG arm! It seamlessly blended with the rest of his body, I had to second guess myself many times.

The Test of Time:

Lost, just like the treasure.

Through the Modern Lens
Retellings, rebootings and sequels are what rule the box office in the early teens. This wasn’t quite the rule in the early aughts.

Through the modern lens, I say WDAS has a lot to live up to for the rest of the their life, making CG segments as wonderful as those in this movie.

Next Up:
Brother Bear

Walt Disney Animation Studios Part 42: Lilo & Stitch

2011-06-19T13:23:00.001-04:00

Series Intro: This is Part 42 of a multi-part retrospective of Walt Disney Animation Studios' endeavors.

Official Title: Lilo & Stitch
Release: June 21, 2002
Running Time: 77 minutes
Estimated Cost: $80 million
Estimated Revenue: $273.14 million
Overall Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Plot Summary:
Dr. Jumba Jookiba created an indestructible killing machine named 626 (Stitch). 626 has escaped imprisonment and lands on Planet Earth (Hawaii to be exact). He gets captured by the dog pound. Jumba and Agent Pleaklet are sent to retrieve 626.

At the same time, a little girl, Lilo, is traveling around unattended, and it is revealed that she is friendless. She has been living with her older sister, Nani, since the death of their parents. However, social worker Cobra Bubbles doesn’t believe Nani is properly taking care of Lilo.

Lilo adopts a “dog” (Stitch), who makes things worse for the family. Nani looses her job because of him (and Jumba and Pleaklet) and can’t find a new one with Lilo and Stitch in tow.

Captain Cantu, sent by the galactic governing body that imprisoned Stitch, comes to retrieve Stitch no matter what the costs. To him that includes kidnapping Lilo, after Bubbles takes her away.

After a fun chase scene, it is revealed that Bubbles knows about the Galactic Council and is able to convince them that Stitch rightfully belongs to Lilo and can not be removed from her possession. Gantu leaves Earth, Jumba and Pleaklet help Lilo and Nani rebuild their house.

Songs:

Not a musical.

Plot Rating: 3 stars out of 5

The plot was hard to sell at first. I was watching the movie and didn’t care for Stitch, I wanted that creature to be captured because he was just causing too much chaos for Nani and Lilo. Even by the end, although I was happy for Lilo that she got to stay with Nani, I wasn’t sure I wanted Stitch to stay.

Animation Rating: 5 out of 5

The water color backgrounds gave this film a tropical feel. It also harkened back to Snow White and Walt’s early films. So far this animation has been the best since the end of the Renaissance.

The Test of Time:

Stitch has taken over the Magic Kingdom. Yes, the movie was highly successful and yes the characters could be loveable, but I find that Disney keeps trying to shove this character down our throats.

Through the Modern Lens

More David is fine.

This movie lacks one thing most other WDAS movies focus on. The love story. Although there was a bit between David and Nani, this was no where near the main plot at all.

Grant it, I would have loved to see more of David. His character was sweat and as attractive as animated characters can get; but it was a buddy movie, in the vain of Fox and Hound.

Next Up:
Treasure Planet

Walt Disney Animation Studios Part 41: Atlantis: The Lost Empire

2011-05-30T16:14:00.002-04:00

Series Intro: This is Part 41 of a multi-part retrospective of Walt Disney Animation Studios' endeavors.

Official Title: Atlantis: The Lost Empire
Release: June 15, 2001 (Six months between releases)
Running Time: 95 minutes (pretty long)
Estimated Cost: $120 million
Estimated Revenue: $230.05 million (much better than Groove
Overall Rating: 2 stars out of 5

Plot Summary:
Milo Thatch is a nerdy linguist who works in the basement of a DC museum [Smithsonian?]. His obsession with the lost empire of Atlantis has made him the laughing stock of all the researchers. He tenders his resignation when the board refuses to hear his latest proposal.

Luckily, Milo’s deceased grandfather’s old friend (Preston Whitmore) just happens to be a financier and has recently decided to hand over a book he was supposed to give to Milo “when he is ready,” according to the grandfather. Milo accepts the offer to find Atlantis using the book (written in Atlantean).

Preston puts together an ethnically (and sexually) diverse group of explorers (keep in mind this is 1914!):

Commander Rourke (aging former military)
Claudia – second in command (blonde vixen)
Mole – geologist (Smelly, creepy and French)
Vinny – demolition expert (Italian)
Sweet – doctor (African American)
Audrey – mechanic (Puerto Rican)
Florence – telephone operator (old nay-sayer)
Cookie – cook (cowboy-Western)
additionally dozens to hundreds of unnamed crew for the high-tech submarine

After the sub is attacked by a leviathan (where dozens to hundreds of people die), the team is on there way through the underground highway to Atlantic. Milo uses the book to guide them through. Several misadventures, and Milo finds himself face-to-face with an Atlantean. Kida (and Atlantean Princess) guides Milo around the country and discovers he can read the language (a skill lost to her people hundreds of years ago when the country sank into the ocean).

Suddenly, Milo discovers Rourke and crew are there to take the Atlantean power source. They succeed in stealing it (which has manifested itself in Kida). The crew, except Claudia, decide this is wrong and help Milo retrieve Kida before Rourke can take her to the surface. An epic battle occurs, where both Claudia and Rourke die. The crew return Kida to Atlantis. The Atlantean’s thank them by giving them untold amounts of gold for them to return with to the surface. Milo stays behind with Kida. Whitmore and the wealthy crew meet to debrief, and decide to never mention Rourke’s betrayal and never say that the energy source was ever found. Milo and Kida live happily ever after.

Songs: Not a musical. (current trend since the end of the Renaissance). The score was not memorable.

Plot Rating: 2 stars out of 5
By the end, I was hooked into the plot, but the slow movie beginning; the adult themes (sex, death and violence); and the stock characters really made most of this movie drag. However, if this move were produced by a different company it might have received a higher rating. This type of violence and action are not what I expect from a WDAS movie. Here is one of those poor choices they make (like Black Cauldron) when they are trying to break away from the fairy tale/princess theme and they fail.

Animation Rating: 2 out of 5
I applaud WDAS for trying the new style, more comic book and angular, and if the entire movie were hand drawn, it would have received a higher rating. However, the movie wasn’t all hand drawn and the CG graphics were poor at best. They stood out and were distracting. Where Groove animators had worked hard to make their CG effects look cartoonish, Atlantis animators just didn’t seem to care. This is one of the problems of working on five films in 2 years (Tarzan (released ’99), Fantasia 2000 (’00), Dinosaur (’00), Groove (’00), Atlantis (’01)) (and they were already working on Lilo before the release of Atlanis). The problem is they didn’t give themselves time to fix mistakes from previous movies, or make the next movie better based on what worked with previous ones.

The Test of Time:
None. This movie was supposed to spawn a TV series and an attraction at Disneyland, but the poor reception made that fall to the wayside.

Through the Modern Lens
Last movie I was calling WDAS out for hiring a famous actor for a voice, but here I very much enjoyed Michael J. Fox as Milo.

I made a comment above about the diverse group. I understand that by 2001, WDAS was trying to make up for the fact that most characters were white, but this seems a bit unbelievable. 1914 wasn’t that far from the American Civil War and although DC was a “Free ‘state’” there was still a lot of hostilities toward non-white people. Women still did not have the right to vote, but here a group of soldiers are taking orders from Claudia? Very few Disney films give both an historic time and location, and that is what keeps them timeless: this film gives both a time and location, and drew me out of the movie, because I continued to think about the time period the movie is supposed to take place. (Not to mention the crazy machinery/technology that they were using and the gigantic submarine that went miles under the sea!)

Next Up: Lilo & Stitch

Pixar Animation: Part 4: Monsters Inc.

2011-05-04T21:35:00.000-04:00

Series Intro: In my purposeful retrospective of WDAS I couldn’t ignore it’s younger sister: PIXAR. This is Part 4 in the retrospective of PIXAR

Official Title: Monsters, Inc.
Release: November 2, 2001
Running Time: 92 minutes
Estimated Cost: $150 million
Estimated Revenue: $525.37 million
Overall Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Plot Summary
The monsters in our closets are real. They come into our children’s rooms at night to scare them and collect the energy of the scream to power their city. And the number one scare-er, Sully, is about to a mile-stone at Monsters Inc.

After doing so he and his partner find themselves in a hilarious situation where a small child (who Sully calls “Boo”) enters Monstropolis. Knowing that monsters at terrified of the germs on children Sully and Mike try to find a way to safely return Boo back to her world.

However, in doing so, they discover a secret plan to steal the screams from children, and hurt them in the process. After a long chase scene through many closet doors, Sully and Mike successfully evade capture from Randle (Sully’s work rival); and leave him stuck in the real world. The manager of Monsters Inc., Waternoose, is also revealed to be the mastermind of the scream stealing.

Boo returns home and her door is destroyed in a tear jerking moment between her and Sully.

Roz, who up until now was just there for a gag, is revealed to be a agent for the CDA and remove Waternoose into custody.

Throughout this ordeal, Sully learns that children’s laughter makes for better energy. He converts the Scare Floor to a Laugh Floor, where Monsters Inc. is more successful than ever.

Mike gives Sully a present. He put Boo’s door back together!

Plot Rating: 4 stars out of 5

PIXAR seemed to missed a bit with this movie. It had everything one could ask for, but I was left wanting something. Perhaps an ending a bit further in the future, where Boo can be a bit older. Also how long was Boo missing in her world?

Animation Rating: 5 out of 5

Sully’s hair rocked. I was pleased to see such great animation here. Most of the animation was great. I think PIXAR has taken their game to a new level.

The Test of Time:
Three theme park attractions and a Prequel due out next Summer ’13. Again PIXAR makes movies that stand the test of time. I don’t find myself watching a dated movie with outdated ideas of equality.

Final Thoughts
This is was a fun movie. But my final thoughts have to deal with the most recent time I visited WDW. When I met Sully, he silently raised his hand above my head to signify that I’m tall. I took that to mean that he was commenting on how old I was to be so excited to meet these monsters.

Next Up:
Finding Nemo.

Too Many Character Rides at Walt Disney World?

2011-02-14T20:03:00.000-05:00

Magic Kingdom August 2008

Since “The Disney Decade” (circa 1989 – 1999) there has been a lack of originality and creativity when it comes to attractions at Walt Disney World (WDW). Most, if not all, new attractions (and/or their refurbishments) have relied on characters from movies and television shows as the main force behind the story.

Of course Walt himself did this; and many opening day attractions at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World were based on cartoons and TV shows within the Disney company. WDW’s character based opening day attractions were: Swiss Family Robinson Tree House, Dumbo Flying Elephants, Snow White’s Scary Adventure, Peter Pan’s Flight, Cinderella’s Golden Carrousel, and [of course] Cinderella’s Castle (all opening in ’71). Walt was alive during most of the planning stages of WDW, and only planned something like a third of the attractions (nee rides) to be character themed. A list of current (and planned) attractions at WDW that are character based would be extensive and read like a park map (especially at Disney’s Hollywood Studios).

Let’s take a look at the last non-character attraction to open at each of the parks.

First stop, the newest park: Disney’s Animal Kingdom (DAK). DAK opened in 1998 with very few character related attractions (save the Camp Mickey/Minnie Meet and Greet Land). DAK still remains mostly character free, with its newest non-character edition also being its last major edition: Expedition Everest. Opening in 2006, this thrill ride took the Disney tradition of hiding roller coasters in mountains and added a twist of a GIANT audio-animatronic (AA) housed within the tracks.

Over at Disney’s [MGM] Hollywood Studios (MGM), (with its theme of the “Hollywood that Never Was”) one expects a different type of philosophy about attractions based on movies and TV. When MGM opened it only had two attractions: the Studio Backlot Tour (’89) and The Great Movie Ride (’89) (both TV and movie based attractions). As the park grew, it foreseeable added more and more character based attractions. Its most recent, non-character attraction was Lights, Motor, Action! Extreme Stunt Show, which opened in 2005. This behind the scene’s look at an action movie’s chase scene being made is movie based, but not based on any movie in particular.

Looking only at ride based attractions Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith (’99) was the last new attraction to open at MGM that was non-character based. Another indoor roller coaster, RnR Coaster puts riders into a stretch limo with Aerosmith on their way to some event.

EPCOT Center/Epcot consists of two separate themes: Future World and World Showcase. World Showcase has seen little updating and extension since the openings of Morocco (‘84) and Norway (’88). One of the movies has changed: Reflections of China (’03), but focusing only on rides; Maelstrom (’88) in Norway was the last non-character ride. Maelstrom is a log flume type ride that takes the riders through a history of Norway, including some folk tales (and a not-so-scary troll). World Showcase remains very character free (save the Gran Fiesta Tour starring The Three Caballeros (’07) in Mexico and character meet-and-greets spread throughout).

Future World has begun it’s transition to character attractions (The Living Seas Pavilion(’86) is now called The Seas with Nemo and Friends(’03)). The last non-character attraction (outside of the rotating attractions at Innoventions) to open was Soarin’ (’05); however this being a clone from Disney’s California Adventure, let us consider Mission Space (’03) as the last NEW, non-character ride. Mission Space offers riders two modes of space travel simulators (mild or intense).

At Magic Kingdom, one has to look deep in its past to find a new ride that wasn’t related to characters. 1980 brought Big Thunder Mountain Railroad to Frontierland, a runaway train through a southwestern desert mountain.

Walt Disney Imagineers have been working hard on the Fantasyland Forest expansion (leaving just one ride non-character based – it’s a small world (’71) (although rumors suggest that once the expansion is over, WDW’s version will match Disneyland’s newest rehab to include characters). Imagineers have also been working on updating cues to be interactive and NextGen. But where are the new non-character attractions? Tomorrowland is becoming PIXAR-land. Adventureland has The Magic Carpets of Aladdin (’01) cluttering up its courtyard.

Many great attractions were non-character based when they were created and remain so today (Jungle Cruise (’71), Haunted Mansion (’71), Space Mountain (’74), Spaceship Earth (’82), Journey Into Imagination with Figment (’02), Kilimanjaro Safaris (’98) and Kali River Rapids (’99) just to name a few). Imagineers need the freedom to create new attractions based on nothing but their imagination (like Soarin’ (’05)).

Walt Disney Animation Studios Part 40: The Emperor's New Groove

2011-02-05T12:22:00.002-05:00

Series Intro: This is Part 40 of a multi-part retrospective of Walt Disney Animation Studios' endeavors.

Official Title: The Emperor’s New Groove
Release: December 15, 2000 (Third Release this year!)
Running Time: 78 minutes
Estimated Cost: $100 million
Estimated Revenue: $169.33 million
Overall Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Plot Summary:
Kuzco is a vain emperor who loves his “groove,” and in the opening number he winds up throwing an old man out the window because he threw off Kuzco’s groove. After the opening number, we are simultaneously introduced to the two plot lines that run through the story: Pacha’s farm is going to be turned into Kuzcotopia (a summer house); and Yzma (Kuzco’s advisor) being fired and enacting her revenge. She turns Kuzco into a llama (thanks to the blundering Kronk who mixed up the poison with the llama potion). Llama Kuzco is knocked out and winds up going home with Pacha.

Pacha only agrees to help Kuzco return to the palace if Kuzco agrees not to tear down Pacha’s house. Kuzco doesn’t agree but Pacha’s good heart leads him to do the right thing. Kuzco and Pacha have several misadventures (almost being caught by Yzma and Kronk in a diner).

Once back at the palace, Kronk changes sides and is almost killed during a hilarious chase scene where Yzma’s potions turn Kuzco into several different animals (including Yzma into a kitty cat). After being returned to normal, Kuzco decides that Pacha’s farm isn’t the best location for Kuzcotopia (but he buys the neighboring farm). Kuzco, Pacha and Pacha’s family play in the farm land while Kronk is leading a scout troupe (with kitten Yzma as one of the scouts). And they all lived happily ever after.

Songs:

Not a musical.

The score was great though, it still felt like a musical with the music actually still moving the plot along.

Plot Rating: 4 stars out of 5

This was a great movie! It was much more character driven than plot and the “buddy/buddy – film” was a nice break from the love stories that dominated the 90’s during the Disney Renaissance. There wasn’t an ounce of romance (other than Pacha saying he loved his wife, and even that was made fun of by Pacha himself).

In many ways this harkened back to Peter Pan. It was about the adventure of the heroes!

Animation Rating: 5 out of 5

WOW! Just wow! The traditional animation was, of course, on par with those of the 90’s, but the CG effects were absolutely amazing! I just couldn’t believe that this was the same company that just earlier this year released the horrid Fantasia 2000 and their crappy flying whales.

The Test of Time:

A sequel and two seasons of a prequel TV show, shows that Disney was still running on the Renaissance formula that their movies were hits and everyone wanted more. That just wasn’t the case with this movie (it barely broke even).

Despite the fact that this was my first viewing of this movie, I had seen the TV series and enjoyed it.

Through the Modern Lens
David Spade, really? Here is when Disney knew their films were heading south and were trying to bring in big names to voice their characters.

Although historically inaccurate (which Disney is actually accurate), I thought this film presented a socially enjoyable movie.

Next Up:
Atlantis: The Lost Empire (I’ll finally figure out why it’s not just “Atlantis” - I always thought this was some sort of sequel.)

Walt Disney Animation Studios Part 39: Dinosaur

2011-01-17T20:22:00.000-05:00

Series Intro: This is Part 39 of a multi-part retrospective of Walt Disney Animation Studios' endeavors.

Official Title: Dinosaur
Release: May 19, 2000
Running Time:82 minutes
Estimated Cost: $127.5 million
Estimated Revenue: $349.82million
Overall Rating: 3 stars out of 5

Plot Summary:
Baby Aladar, the Iguanadon, gets adopted by a family of Lemurs and they live a happy life until a meteor nearly destroys their secluded island. Aladar and his family safely make it to the mainland and find themselves in the middle of a herd of herbivores making way to their nesting ground.

Aladar also finds himself in a power struggle with the herd’s leader, Kron (who is the older brother to Aladar’s love interest – Neera). Kron’s Darwin philosophy is that only the strongest survive, while Aladar makes sure that his new friends (elder dinosaurs) make it to the nesting ground.

Aladar, his family and the old biddy dinos separate from the herd. They find a short cut to the nesting ground, thanks to the attack of the Carnotaurs. Aladar goes back to save the herd and lead them to the short cut. Kron fights off the Carnotaur with the help of Neera and Aladar. Kron dies and Aladar seems to take on the roll of alpha of the herd.

Neera and Aladar mate and have their own baby, who also becomes adopted by Aladar’s Lemur family.

Songs:

Not a musical.

The score was decent, but I was never moved enough to notice it.

Plot Rating: 3 stars out of 5

The entire plot was that of Land Before Time, I honestly couldn’t believe how similar the two are!

I didn’t have any connection to any of the main characters, however I love the old biddies. This movie also didn’t have a recognizable villain. Yes, the Carnotaurs were bad, but they weren’t motivated by revenge or money like most of the previous Disney villains. Kron wasn’t a villain per se either, he was just doing what the herd had always done.

Animation Rating: 4 out of 5

The CG only stood out once or twice against the live backgrounds. The characters movements were fluid and the design was realistic (as far as the science of the time is concerned). All of the practice CG WDAS has done had really paid off!

The Test of Time:

WDW’s Animal Kingdom has a ride that was retro-fitted to be rethemed to match this movie (though the timeline suggests that the ride was intended to be themed to the movie from the beginning (with the ride opening just over two years before the film was released).

Beyond this attraction, I don’t think many children know about this film and it doesn’t have the following the Fairy Tale movies currently have.

This was the last Disney film I would see in theaters until Princesses and the Frog

Through the Modern Lens
This movie seems pretty flawless. Neera works hard to break traditional roles and even fights the Carnotaur! I guess my only problem was the way Kron treated the biddies, but he was of that type of mindset.

Next Up:
The Emperor’s New Groove (thus beginning the decade of Disney that I’ve never seen).

Walt Disney Animation Studios Part 38: Fantasia 2000

2011-01-06T18:11:00.001-05:00

Series Intro: This is Part 38 of a multi-part retrospective of Walt Disney Animation Studios' endeavors.

Official Title: Fantasia 2000
Release: December 17, 1999
Running Time:75 minutes
Estimated Cost: $80 million
Estimated Revenue: $90.85million
Overall Rating: 2 stars out of 5

Plot Summary:
Sigh, I HATE the packaged films… here are the pieces that are presented

* Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 in C minor-I. Allegro con brio
* Ottorino Respighi's Pines of Rome
* George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue
* Dmitri Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Major-I. Allegro
* Camille Saint-Saëns's The Carnival of the Animals, Finale
* Paul Dukas's The Sorcerer's Apprentice
* Edward Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance - Marches 1, 2, 3 and 4
* Igor Stravinsky's Firebird Suite - 1919 Version

Plot Rating: 1 stars out of 5

What made this movie much better than the original are the celebrity hosts. These were more impressive than the silhouetted conductor. The only segment worth its time was the Firebird sweet.

Animation Rating: 1 out of 5

Poorly CGed flying whales in a mediocre background. I was not impressed with the animation. It just doesn’t hold well with the movies before it.

The Test of Time:

When I watched this with my friend, I announced that this would probably be the last VHS movie I ever watch! That was before it was released on Blu-Ray. With it’s current release, I wonder how well it is doing.

It performed poorly for a movie riding the tales of the Disney renaissance, just barely breaking even.

Through the Modern Lens

Celebrities of the time haven’t really held up. I have difficulty identifying some of them today, and this movie is barely 10 years old.

Next Up:
Dinosaur

Pixar Animation Studios: Part 3: Toy Story 2

2010-12-28T18:39:00.000-05:00

Series Intro: In my purposeful retrospective of WDAS I couldn’t ignore it’s younger sister: PIXAR. This is Part 3 in the retrospective of PIXAR

Official Title: Toy Story 2
Release: November 24, 1999 (Only one year after Bugs Life)
Running Time: 92 minutes
Estimated Cost: $90 million
Estimated Revenue: $485.015 million
Overall Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Plot Summary
Andy is still in love with his toys and furiously plays with them, so much so that right before leaving for cowboy camp, he rips Woody’s arm. Through a series of unfortunate events Woody winds up in the clutches of a toy collector instead of the loving arms of Andy.

The toys: Buzz, Rex, Hamm, Slinky Dog and Mr. Potato Head figure out where to find Woody. As they are heading to save him, Woody meets his fellow cast mates from his old TV show: Jessie, Prospector and Bullseye.

The collector fixes Woody and sells him and his mates to a toy museum in Japan. Jessie and Prospector are excited to be in use again after years in storage. Woody goes back and forth between wanting to go with them or return to Andy. Whenever he tries to leave, he finds something [one] stopping him.

Buzz and the toys enter a toy store and get separated, and the rest of the toys find a new Buzz toy (and it takes them a long time to realize that he is not their Buzz). They meet back up in the apartment building where Woody is. And just as they are going to leave with Woody, the Prospector reveals that he is not Mint in Box and has been trying to keep Woody there.

Woody and his mates get separated once again from Buzz and crew on the way to the airport. Woody, Jessie and Bullseye escape from the Prospector and return to Andy’s room with Buzz and the crew just in time for Andy to see the new toys and thank his mom.

Plot Rating: 5 stars out of 5

PIXAR has once again, hit it out of the park. The toys are back for another adventure and it was great. What makes a PIXAR film great is not the animation it is the story.

Animation Rating: 4.5 out of 5

The only thing that looked weird in the movie was the dog, Buster. Andy’s dog just looked odd. PIXAR hasn’t yet mastered the look of fur. While Andy’s hair remains as one unit (or several large units), the dog’s fur is short and in many different strands. Buster’s discourse with his surroundings reminded me of Tarzan’s parents during the tempest; beautiful animation against CG that’s not as great. Hopefully when I return to the toy in TS3, PIXAR will have advanced enough.

The Test of Time:
One more sequel 10 years later… I don’t think I even need to further talk about the Toy Story series’ Test of Time

Final Thoughts
TS2 was a great follow up, and a wonderful sequel. I surely hope other PIXAR sequels are just as wonderful.

Next Up:
Monsters, Inc.

Happy 100th Post: Top 10: Rejected Ideas

2010-12-24T22:17:00.000-05:00

Celebrating 100 Posts

Top Ten List #10 (Items 91- 100)

Top Ten Rejected Ideas for the 100's List

10. Top Ten Video Games - I only play like 5 or 6 games.
9. Top Ten Vacation Spots - I could only put Disney World on it once.
8. Top Ten Graduate Classes - They were all a bit too similar to distinguish a favorite.
7. Top Ten Super Heroes - They change too often.
6. Top Ten Over Used Words On My Facebook - Don't know why.
5. Top Ten iTunes Apps - My favs are just website apps.
4. Top Ten Websites - They are probably your favorite ones too.
3. Top Ten Characters in Harry Potter - Very viable, possible future list.
2. Top Ten Favorite Movies - After the top 3, it gets hard to figure out given the sheer number of movies there are.
1. Top Ten Disney Movies/Princesses - I feel that I need to hold off on this until my WDAS series is complete.

Happy 100th Post: Top 10: Harry Potter Books

2010-12-23T16:23:00.000-05:00

Celebrating 100 Posts

Top Ten List #9 (Items 81- 90)

Top Ten Harry Potter Books

	10. Quidditch Through The Ages - A book mentioned in HP that didn’t translate well to the muggle world.
	9. Fantastical Beasts and Where to Find Them - Slightly better “text” book.
	8. Tales of Beetle the Bard - The best of the text books. Uses by Hermione to solve the mysteries of Book 7.
	7. Chamber of Secretes - A poor excuse to start the horocrux story line.
	6. Order of the Phoenix - Harry whines a lot.
	5. Sorcerers’ Stone - Middle of the list blahs.
	4. Prisoner of Azkaban - A great break from Voldy; introducing a fan favorite character: Sirius.
	3. Goblet of Fire - A fun, solve the puzzle. It was nice to see the other schools.
	2. Deathly Hallows - wonderful ending of the series. What kept it from number 1? I wish there was more Hogwarts.
	1. Half Blood Prince - Just surprised me that it was number one!

Happy 100th Post: Top 10: Courses in Undergrad

2010-12-22T17:36:00.000-05:00

Celebrating 100 Posts

Top Ten List #8 (Items 71- 80)

Top Ten Courses I took at American University

	Title	Semester	Description	Final Project	Final Grade
10.	EDU-371 Foundations of Reading Instruction	S04	Beginning foundations of how to teach reading to young children.	Group Project: Author Study of Roald Dahl	A-
9.	PERF-115G Theatre: Principles, Plays and Performances	F02	Introduction to theatre history and play criticism.	My computer crashed after my first term and I don’t have any records from this class.	A
8.	LIT-125G Great Books That Shaped The Western World	F03	Introduction to the 3’x3’ shelf of great Western fiction (from The Bible through Shakespeare).	Final Paper: What Shakespeare thought of Women: A Comparison of Enlightenment Ideologies and Women in Shakespearean Tragedies	B
7.	EDU-519 Uses of Technology In Education	F04	The uses Fireworks, Dreamweaver, Power Point, iMovie and Inspiration as tools for teaching.	Final Project: Create a unit connecting tech to curriculum and “student samples.” Students will use Dreamweaver to make a title, Power Point to show story board and iMovie to edit an acted piece of Shakespearean text.	A
6.	ANTH-235G Early America: The Buried Past	S05	A look at Colonial America through houses, privies and family lineage.	Final Paper/Project: Family History/Tree and research model	A-
5.	EDU-212 Methodology of Sign Language	S05	Sign Language level 1	Final Paper: Double Pleasure: An Inside Look At The Deaf/Gay Community Final Project: Sign a Song: Boys and Girls by Good Charlotte	A
4.	ENVS-396 Selected Topics: Non-Recurring Natual History Of The Florida Keys	S05 (seems like a good semester)	We went snorkeling in the Florida Keys… that’s about it.	Final Project (while still in the field): A Power Point presentation of some of the fish we saw and details of their natural habitats.	A
3.	EDU-319 Children’s Lit: The Multicultural and International Approach	S04	A guide to evaluating Children’s Lit for cultural bias and relevancy to modern education.	Final Project: Create a children’s book: I wrote Cinder Elmo a gay retelling of Cindrella.	A
2.	PERF-252 Fundamentals of Acting II	S03	Shakespeare monologues, contemporary monologues, contemporary scenes.	Final Presentation: Serenading Louie with write up	B+
1.	EDU-552 Teaching Methods: Teaching Mathematics In Elementary Education	F05	Math skills and their pedagogy.	Final Project: Practical application of a Math lesson plan.	A
0	EDU-499 Student Teaching	S06	Full time internship in 3rd grade. This “class” had to be included because it was the best semester of undergrad, but wasn’t quite a class.	Final Project: ePortfolio and evaluations.	A

Happy 100th Post: Top 10: Buffy Characters

2010-12-21T18:28:00.000-05:00

Celebrating 100 Posts

Top Ten List #7 (Items 61- 70)

Top Ten Buffy Characters

	10. Giles – Watcher/Father Figure – He served as a great figurehead, until we learned that he was just a pawn. Then he became to look like a pawn and act like one. Then when Buffy left high school, even though she still needed him far after then, he left her to flounder. His yo-yoing between the states and the UK in the later seasons made him more reminiscent of Buffy’s actual dad (dead beat starting in middle seasons) than the positive role model he was supposed to be. Best Episode: A New Man.
	9. Joyce – Mom. Jocye was a great character. She served a wonderful purpose as an oblivious adult. Once she discovered Buffy’s secrete she seemed like a new ally, until Buffy all but cut Joyce out of her life. Best episode while alive: Band Candy; while dead: The Body.
	8. Cordelia – Cheerleader/Bane. Coridelia started off as a minor character, she was just there to annoy Buffy and remind Buffy what life was like before being the Chosen One. Then she found out about vampires and such and grew into a great character. After grad, on Angel, Cory really began to show why her life was worth saving. Best Episode on Buffy: Homecoming; On Angel: Birthday.
	7. Faith – The Chosen One/Bad Girl. Buffy dies. Kendra’s called. Kendra dies… we get Faith. Faith was an unloved Bostonian who didn’t have boundaries. She fell in with a bad crowd (The Mayor) because she didn’t quite fit in with the Scoobs. Best Episode on Buffy This Year’s Girl (Part 1)/Who Are You (Part 2); On Angel Five by Five.
	6. Angel – Vampire/Love Interest. Angel was sexy and broody for the first few seasons. He was Buffy’s first true love and I still believe the two of them are destined to be together (although I’m not too far into Season 8). He turned tale too soon and seemed to be happier without Buffy on Angel. The worst trait of Angel, David aged. Angel on Season 5 of Angel looks SOOO much older than Angel on Season 1 of Buffy. Best Episode on Buffy: Amends; On Angel: I Will Remember You
	5. Glory – Big Bad (Season 5). Glory was the Big Bad to end all Big Bads. She had the best reason to want the end of the world: it was just a side effect of her wanting to return to her home dimension. She also had the most personality of them all. The best part of her character was the duality of her and Ben. Best Episode: Blood Ties
	4. Willow – Nerd/Witch/Best Friend. Willow loved Buffy (not in the romantic kind of way). Those two are how I model all of my friendships. Willow was smart and intuitive. Her rise into magic seemed like a natural occurrence. However, it was a big shock when she came out! Best Episode: Dobblegangland. This marks Willow's second appearance on the meta list.
	3. Buffy – The Chosen One. Buffy was an amazing character in the series (a bit too whiney in Seasons 7 and the comic Season 8). Her character arc was very organic as she went from despising her job to accepting it and then handing it off (until Season 8). Buffy showed us girl power at it’s best, when the Spice Girls were showing a different type of girl power. Best Episode: The Body
	2. Evil Willow – Big Bad (Season 6). Evil Willow is completely different from regular Willow (who is completely different from vamp Willow). Evil Willow is just a vessel for magic and rage. She showed no remorse and HAS a soul! She rocked as a Big Bad. Best Episode: Two to Go Willow's third appearance.
	1. Xander – Comic relief/Best Friend. Xander, although useless in the later seasons, was incredible funny at the start (and sexy!). He gave the show some groundedness. He gained no magical power as the women around him moved into higher plains. He remained human. He struggled to maintain his friendships. He was normal. Best Episode: The Zeppo

Happy 100th Post: Top 10: Broadway Musicals

2010-12-20T18:57:00.000-05:00

Celebrating 100 Posts

Top Ten List #6 (Items 51- 60)

Top Ten Broadway Musicals

	10. Wizard of Oz – The musical that started my love of musicals. (I’ve seen this show live like 5 or 6 times).
	9. Jesus Christ Superstar – The “true” story of Jesus and his life of sin with Mary. (Haven’t seen this live, but the music is so wonderful!)
	8. Spring Awakening – Sex, drugs and rock-and-roll all in pre-war Germany.
	7. Les Mis – The story of a former prisoner seeking redemption during the French Revolution.
	6. A Chorus Line – A behind the scenes looks at musical theatre auditions.
	5. Hairspray – The first truly campy musical on this list but with a meaningful moral; racial tensions during Civil Rights era Baltimore.
	4. RENT – Second appearance on the celebration list. Dark and depressing; AIDS and gay; rock and love: all wonderful things in a musical.
	3. Beauty and the Beast – The first musical I saw on Broadway. A wonderful movie made better by the Disney on Broadway folk. I love DISNEY!
	2. Legally Blonde – I saw opening night of previews. I said to my friend “Screw theatre for social change, sometimes you need camp!
	1. Wicked – Where to begin? Where to end? This musical has been life altering. “I’d sooner try, Defying Gravity!”

Happy 100th Post: Top 10: Christmas Things

2010-12-19T10:43:00.000-05:00

Celebrating 100 Posts

Top Ten List #5 (Items 41- 50)

Top Ten Things I Love About Christmas

	10. The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus - A Rankin and Bass claymation Christmas special based on the L. Frank Baum’s Ozian story of the same name. Klaus was a babe left in the woods of the immortals. An imp adopted him and has he aged, she remained the same. Klaus sets out on his own and begins to make toys for the needy children, however the Og-wa have other ideas and kidnap him. The Great Ak and the other immortals fight the Og-was and win. Klaus is getting old and dieing so The Great Ak has called all the immortals together to decide if Klaus should receive the Mantle of Immortality. They do.
	9. Love Actually - I came to it much later than I should have, but I’ve made up for it. I love this movie, it’s such a feel good movie!
	8. Decorating the Christmas Tree – I love putting up the Christmas tree. I mostly love seeing how it has evolved over the years. When I first started with my own tree (probably 16 -17 years ago) it looked exactly like my mom’s. Now it’s barely resembles my mother’s (except for ONE ornament that I took from her tree.
	7. Christmas Songs – They are either campy and happy or sad and depressing, never in-between. Either way, they rock.
	6. Poppy (the puppy) – There is an old Christmas song about a puppy that helps Santa. I received this dog on my first Christmas, so he became Poppy based on the song. He used to have felt eyes, which have since fallen off.
	5. Snow – If it snows on Christmas, it’s truly is a wonderful day.
	4. The reason for the season – You know what I’m talking about, the whole reason for celebrating Christmas: presents.
	3. Garfield Christmas Special - Garfield joins John and Odie at John’s family farm for Christmas. I still cry when Grandma tells about her husband and their past Christmas’ together.
	2. Festivus – Back in undergad we started calling our holiday celebration Festivus (the holiday for the rest-of-us [thank you Seinfeld]). We do something holiday-like and just have a good old fashion Christmas.
	1. Muppet Family Christmas - A mid 80’s Christmas special, where the Muppets, Sesame Street characters and the Fraggles all meet at Fozzy’s mom’s house for Christmas. They sing a LOT of songs and make me feel good about family. I think one of the best thing about this special, is that many of my closest friends also love this special.

Happy 100th Post: Top 10: iTunes Songs on Shuffle

2010-12-18T09:28:00.000-05:00

Celebrating 100 Posts

Top Ten List #4 (Items 31- 10)

Top Ten Songs on my iPhone when I hit “Shuffle”

	10. You Can Be As Loud As The Hell You Want When You’re Making Love – from Avenue Q I first saw this musical with two blind friends and their dogs. We had asked for accessible seating, the theatre gave us the last row in the theatre with no leg room for the dogs!
	9. Secrets – by Anastacia I downloaded this song as part of the Freak of Nature album, that includes “One Day in Your Life.” I had forgotten about Anastacia for years, then fell back in love with her just a few months ago.
	8. Love Will Turn Back the Hands of Time – from Grease 2 I love this movie. It is possibly one of my favorite movies! I know that this is supposed to be a bad movie, but I enjoy it. I enjoy the retelling of the original; and the updated rock music. This song also rocks because it’s sung by Michele Pfeiffer while wearing a Christmas Tree!
	7. Be A Clown – from De-Lovely An awkwardly placed song in an generally good movie. I wasn’t a big Cole Porter fan before watching this movie, and since, I can usually enjoy his music in revivals, not originals.
	6. Straitjacket – by Alanis Morissette Alanis rocks. No more to say.
	5. Beautiful, Dirty, Rich – by Lady Gaga I was late to the Gaga table, but once I sat down to eat, I’ve gorged myself on all things Gaga. Gaga got me in drag for the first time!
	4. Let’s Light the Christmas Tree – artist unknown I have a LOT of Christmas music (so much so that I’m surprised it only made one appearance on this list). I also have a lot of Christmas music from my mom’s 45s (the single version of a record). One Christmas I recorded these 45s into Garage Band and digitized them; so most of them remain without an artist.
	3. I’ll Cover You – from Rent (Broadway) Such an amazing song. I’ve had this soundtrack since the mid-90’s. (Over a decade before I actually got to see the show).
	2. Self Inflicted – by Katy Perry I got caught up in Perry right about the time “Hot and Cold” came out as a single. She has such great songs, but is a bit too socially conservative and Transphobie. I wish another artist would release her songs.
	1. Straight To…Number One – from Queer as Folk (Season 1) QuaF makes a third appearance on this list. I started watching QuaF with the first episode. I had just been permitted to have a cable box in my bedroom, and I would keep it really low so the man-on-man sex wouldn’t wake up my parents.

Happy 100th Post: Top 10: Walt Disney World Attractions

2010-12-16T20:21:00.000-05:00

Celebrating 100 Posts

Top Ten List #3 (Items 21- 30)

Top Ten Walt Disney World Attractions

View from Hollywood Blvd.

10. Tower of Terror – Free fall for 13 stories, Twilight Zone overlay, creepy trackless elevator cars. This ride has it all for a thrill seeker.

Inside the cue

9. Dinosaur! – Disney’s Animal Kingdom doesn’t have much going for it, but one reason to visit is Dinosaur!. It has great animatronics a wonderful story and pretty good scares.

Exterior to "The Land" which houses "Soarin'"

8. Soarin’ – This would have been higher on the list had Disney Imagineers actually changed the movie, it just doesn’t make sense for an Orlando attraction to be “Soaring over California.”

Exterior to "Universe of Energy"

7. Universe of Energy – Ellen’s making a second appearance in this series. I think Ellen’s humor is timeless and despite the ride needing major updates on the feasibility on alternate fuel sources, it remains one of my “Must Dos.”

Eric in cue at "Haunted Mansion"

6. Haunted Mansion – When I first rode this (when I was 13), I couldn’t believe the omni-movers. This technology was so foreign to me. Add into that the wonderful story and great sight gags (despite watching a “how’d they do that” on the dancing ghosts I’m still not 100% clear on the workings of it).

Not my photo

5. Carousel of Progress – This is another ride in need of an update. (Either scrap it all and start it from the 1980’s or revert back to Walt’s original and have it as an homage to times gone by – possibly move it to Main Street then). It’s slow but the tells an interesting story and the animatronics were amazing for the time!

View of "TTA" and "Space Mountain" from "Astro Orbiters."

4. TTA/Wedway People Mover – The best attraction in Magic Kingdom because: bird’s-eye-view of Tomorrowland; inside view of Space Mountain; scale model of EPCOT City; and once again great ride vehicle technology.

Inside pre-show area.

3. Voyage of the Little Mermaid – The props have seen better days, as have the technology used to make this show in the early 90’s, but nothing is better than a 20 minute show with the musical highlights of my favorite Disney movie and all under some funky black lights!

Pre-show screen.

2. Finding Nemo: The Musical – Once again, Animal Kingdom leaves me wanting never to return, but this musical is great. It quickly retells the story of the movie, but with new songs and great puppets.

Eric and I in front of "Spaceship Earth."

1. Spaceship Earth – This is omni-mover technology at its best. The tales of communication from cave drawings to the Internet! How amazing! Throw in Dame Judy Dench and we have a winner!

Happy 100th Post: Top 10: Gay Character in Television

2010-12-15T20:13:00.001-05:00

List Number 2: The Top Ten Gay Characters in Television (or widely thought to be gay)

10. Will Truman from Will & Grace – One of the first gay men I saw on television, holding a steady job and has a “normal” life that mimics other sit-coms.

9. Willow Rosenberg from Buffy The Vampire Slayer – Last I had left Willow she was still wearing Sears’ overalls, when I returned she was a full blown lesbian! I miss Oz, but am totally happy with Tara and evil Willow!

8. Andew Va De Kamp from Desperate Housewives - When Andrew came out, it was as revenge against his mom, but he quickly became a staple in my gay character love. He’s now relegated to one off, bit scenes but I still get excited to see him on the screen.

7. Ellen Morgan from Ellen - She came out and it seemed so natural to me. I was too young at the time to truly understand it, but I loved Ellen before and even more after.

6. Stewie Griffin from Family Guy - I’m not sure if he’s completely out , but he continues to play with audiences and making side comments (usually breaking the fourth wall) about his infatuation with men.

5. Brian Kinney from Queer As Folk - He exudes sexiness. He lingers in awesomeness. He is exponentially hot. However, his bitchiness wasn’t always welcome. His cold heart kept him away from mine.

4. Kurt Hummel from Glee - He’s so adorable. I love that he loves musical theatre. I wasn’t as flamboyant as him in high school, but he reminds me so much of myself.

3. Tenoh Haruka and Kaioh Michiru from Sailor Moon - I don’t think these two ever appeared without each other for more than a few moments. They rocked my world and when they died instead of fighting death, they reached for each other and talked about how much they love each other.

2. Michael Novotny from Queer as Folk - Adorable to Brian’s hot. Ying to Brian’s Yang. Michael kept me coming back to QuaF, he is relationship minded, trying to fit in while being completely different. I saw a lot of myself in him (other than being short and cute).

1. Scotty Wendell-Walker from Brothers and Sisters - I love how he started as a one off character, and just continued to make appearances. I love how he hasn’t allowed himself to be wrapped up in the Walker world, while still being just off to the sidelines if we need him. I love his face and body. Period.

Happy 100th Post: Top 10: Power Rangers

2010-12-14T20:15:00.000-05:00

In order to celebrate my 100^th blog post, and in honor of the time honored traditions of New Year Top 10 Lists, my next ten posts will be Top Ten Lists

Top Ten Mighty Morphing Power Rangers

10. Trini – Lack of characterization and centralized plot AND the fact that Yellow was a man in the Japanese version, leaves Trini with a lot to be desired. I wasn’t upset when she left the show.

9. Aisha – Replacement for Trini, Aisha might have had more character, but still so far removed from the central plot, that the only reason she remained interesting was because of her friendship with Kimberly.

8. Zack – Here’s where the list is kind of ‘eh. I have no opinion either way with Zach. However, I’m always excited when I see Walter Jones in anything.

7. Rocky – Middle of the list again. I was happy when he was demoted to Blue Zeo Ranger (although I was sad when Billy was no longer the Blue Ranger).

6. Adam – To quote Adam himself “I’m a Frog.” Actually he’s quite an attractive man and one of my crushes as a child.

5. Kat – Kat to over for Kimberly as the Pink Ranger, and really got my blood boiling because she was so good at being bad (under Rita’s control) and was Australian!

4. Jason – swoon. His macho muscles and monosyllabic retorts have made him what I think when I hear someone say “masculine.” When he returned in Zeo Rangers as the Gold Ranger I probably creamed myself.

3. Kimberly – God, I wanted to be Kim. She was a gymnast (my secret desire). And she dated Tommy. She was one of the first original characters to stop being a caricature.

2. Tommy – His hair, his earring, swoon. Everything I found attractive in a male as a child (before I knew men where attractive).

1. Billy – I felt the most like Billy; a nerd and outcast who was more interested in books and learning than most anything else.

I loved the Power Rangers.

Walt Disney Animation Studios Part 37: Tarzan

2010-12-01T21:06:00.001-05:00

Series Intro: This is Part 37 of a multi-part retrospective of Walt Disney Animation Studios' endeavors.

Official Title: Tarzan
Release: June 18, 1999
Running Time: 88 minutes
Estimated Cost: $150 million (over twice the cost of Mulan)
Estimated Revenue: $448.19 million
Overall Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Plot Summary:
In the middle of a tempest, a young white couple’s boat catches fire off the coast of Africa. They safely make it to land with their infant and successfully make a life here for themselves (a tree house and everything).

Elsewhere in the jungle a female gorilla, Kala, is mourning the lost of her child when she hears a baby’s cry. She finds the babe in the tree house alone, his parents apparently killed off screen by a leopard. Kala and the leopard fight with Kala winning and rescuing the babe. Despite Kerchak’s (the tribe’s alpha leader) warning, Kala insists on raising the babe, giving him the name Tarzan.

As Tarzan is growing up, he and his friends Turk – a gorilla – and Tantor – an elephant, have several misadventures while Tarzan both tries to fit in and figure out why he is so different.

As Tarzan is entering adulthood, a short babbling scientist, Professor Porter; his daughter, Jane; and their gun toting, jungle guide, Clayton, invade the jungle. Tarzan saves Jane from an angry pack of baboons. Enthralled by each other, Tarzan and Jane spend all of her remaining time together, teaching each other. When the boat comes, Jane, her father and Clayton are upset that they still haven’t seen the gorillas. Clayton tricks Tarzan into revealing this secrete location.

Upset by Jane leaving, Tarzan is despondent about either leaving the jungle with Jane or her leaving forever. Kala, shows Tarzan his first home and he decides that since he is human, he should go with Jane.

Clayton attacks and captures Jane, her dad and Tarzan and revisits the gorillas, this time with cages. Terk and Tantor rescue Tarzan, who goes back to save the gorillas. Clayton and Tarzan fight, and despite Tarzan’s warning, Clayton gets hanged. Kerchak, wounded in the fight, finally accepts Tarzan as a son and the leader of the tribe.

Jane decides to remain in the jungle with Tarzan and the gorillas. Her father has a last minute change of heart, and remains with them too.

Songs:

Two Worlds
You'll Be in My Heart
Son of Man
Trashin' the Camp
Strangers Like Me

This was NOT a musical. Only one song was partly song by the characters, while another was musically improvise by them.

The sound track was amazing! Phil Collins’ music was emotional and powerful and led to a deeper connection to the characters. I loved how each song had several reprise, which is a very Broadway thing to do.

Plot Rating: 5 stars out of 5

I had only seen this movie twice (once in theatres and once on VHS). I hadn’t liked it as a child.

But now, I love it. I can’t believe how wonderful this story was. It was so heart wrenching and endearing. I truly felt connected with all of the characters, and believed their reactions to their situations.

Animation Rating: 2 out of 5

I couldn’t believe how horrible the CGI was in this film. Right from the get go, Tarzan’s parents were just hand-drawn blips in a CG ocean. Many times throughout the first half of the movie I felt that the characters were just lost in the CG backgrounds.

Now, I don’t think the CG were all bad. I felt that the detail and artistry in the backgrounds were impressive, but too distracting. Their majesty rivals that of Sleeping Beauty, but where Beauty was all hand-drawn and the characters matched their background, Tarzan stood out as something that just didn’t belong.

The Test of Time:

A short stint on Broadway. An attraction at Disneyland in California. A sequel. A midquel.

Pretty nice, but Tarzan’s timeliness has fallen the same way that many “hero” movies go, he’s not a princess so the marketing department doesn’t bring him back.
Through the Modern Lens

This movie seemed to be an accurate portrayal of the white explorers in Victorian Africa; some there for academic pursuits, others for monetary gain. But I just can’t help but wonder why there were no native Africans anywhere to be found in this movie.

Next Up:
Fantasia 2000

Walt Disney Animation Studios Part 36: Mulan

2010-11-07T15:25:00.000-05:00

Series Intro: This is Part 36 of a multi-part retrospective of Walt Disney Animation Studios' endeavors.

Official Title: Mulan
Release: June 19, 1998
Running Time: 90 minutes
Estimated Cost: $70 million
Estimated Revenue: $304.32 million
Overall Rating: 3 stars out of 5

Plot Summary:
Mulan, a young maiden, is set to meet the town matchmaker, so she can continue to honor her family by bearing sons. However, Mulan is not ready for the tests and tries to cheat her way through, as she does early with her chores. She bombs at the matchmaker, but a bigger upset is about to occur, when the Emperor announces that every family must send one male to the arm. Mulan’s father – the only Fa male – is old and has already been injured in a war. Mulan, in drag, steals her father’s armor and goes as his son “Ping.”

The family ancestors – ghosts – meet and decide to send a guardian to help her. The dragon (nee lizard) – Mushu – sent to wake up the guardian, accidentally destroys it instead and decides to go and protect Mulan in its place. He is accompanied by Mulan’s lucky Cricket.

Mulan and company meet up the army, she immediately falls for her commanding officer – Li Shang - after she is almost discovered. Shang tells Ping to go home because he will never become a man (in the masculine, hyper-competitive, testosterone driven kind of way). Ping proves him wrong (as do the other recruits).

Shang’s army comes head to head with the Huns on a snow topped mountain, all was almost lost until Ping takes the last cannon and instead of aiming it at Shan Yu, as ordered, he aims it at the peak of the mountain. This caused an avalanche that almost takes the life of Ping, Mushu, the Cricket, Mulan’s horse and Shang, but thanks to the efforts of the rest of the recruits, they are all saved, injured but safe.

Ping’s injuries are bad and the doctor finds out his secret identify as Mulan. Shang is supposed to kill her for the trick, but because Ping saved him, he saves Mulan and leaves her on the mountain top with her horse (Mushu and the Cricket remain hidden with Mulan).

Mulan discovers that the Huns are still alive and she returns to the city where Shang is being honored by the Emperor. Everyone ignores Mulan, until the Huns arrive. Then they begin listening to her ideas and she is celebrated by the Emperor for defeating (and assumed killing) Shan Yu.

Mulan returns home with her honor restored. Mushu’s honor is also restored by the ancestors. Shang arrives at Mulan’s to return her father’s helmet and he stays for dinner.

Songs:

Honor to Us All
Reflection
I'll Make a Man Out of You
A Girl Worth Fighting For

And a closing credit song: True to Your Heart (which I don’t count because it isn’t sung by any characters!)

Limited offering here for it being a cartoon musical, have we begun to see the end of the Renaissance approaching? The end of the grand musical?

Plot Rating: 4 stars out of 5

I loved this movie so much as a child, I thought it was great to see a “Princes” in a comedic role and truly fighting (both against the fact that she is a woman and against the Huns). Girl Power!

Animation Rating: 2 out of 5

I believe we’ve lost some of the greatness in animation that we saw just a mere decade ago with Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast. There was a bit of over reliance on CG effects that really took me out of the world of the movie.

The Test of Time:

Mulan? Who?

Although sometimes grouped (inaccurately) with the Disney Princesses, Mulan hasn’t had the staying power of some of the other lead characters from the Renaissance.

Mushu has a bit part in a WDW attraction that reveals the inner workings of animation, at Disney’s [MGM] Hollywood Studios. Mulan was produced in Orlando so it would only make sense that a Mulan character would host this attraction.

Through the Modern Lens

Another non-white heroine!

I’ll admit I don’t know too much about Chinese culture, but I had a feeling that a lot was inaccurately portrayed, until further research showed that China actually allowed the movie to play! Could WDAS have stuck close enough to Chinese traditions that the people of China weren’t insulted?

I love how Mulan stands up for herself and takes action into her own hands. I also appreciate the fact that although she finds Shang attractive, she doesn’t do stupid things for love, but the her country!

Next Up:
Tarzan

Walt Disney Animation Studios Part 35: Hercules

2010-10-15T13:48:00.001-04:00

Series Intro: This is Part 35 of a multi-part retrospective of Walt Disney Animation Studios' endeavors.

Official Title: Hercules
Release: June 27, 1997
Running Time: 93 minutes
Estimated Cost: $85 million
Estimated Revenue: $252.71 million (big loss from Hunchback)
Overall Rating: 3 stars out of 5

Plot Summary:
Hercules, son of Zeus and Hera, is kidnapped by Hades (God of the underworld). Hades is in the process of overthrowing Zeus but according to the fates, Hercules is the only one who will be able to stop it. So Hades has his henchmen Pain and Panic kidnap the child and remove his immortality to kill him. Pain and Panic blunder and leave a mortal child with super strength. Herc is then adopted by a mortal family.

As a young teen, Herc has a lot of trouble fitting in and soon discovers he is the son of Zeus and wants to take his place among the Gods, but he has to prove himself worthy. With his old pal Pegasus in tow, he goes to satyr Phil, the hero trainer.

After several years, Phil takes Herc out to start “heroing.” He saves Meg from a centaur and heads to Thebes to be the town hero. After several false starts, Herc becomes the almighty hero of Thebes despite Hades attempts to kill him.

Meg turns out to be just another pawn used by Hades until both she and Herc reveal their feelings towards one another and Herc gives up his super strength to save Meg from a lifetime of servitude.

Hades plans backfire and Herc saves Olympus from the Titans and rescues Meg. He turns down God-hood to be with Meg.

Songs:

Long Ago
The Gospel Truth/Main
Go the Distance
One Last Hope
I Won't Say (I'm in Love)
A Star Is Born

Some fun pop songs, but nothing too powerful.

Plot Rating: 3 stars out of 5

Straying from the original Hercules myths, this was a fun movie to watch, but not one of the best. Again, I was very happy as a child to have another Hero movie, and am still happy to have this one in the cannon. I found the score a bit too pop and gospel for the movie, and I didn’t enjoy some of the jokes that were out of place (like the Hercules action figures).

Animation Rating: 4 out of 5

WDAS’ over reliance on CGI didn’t show too much for this movie. It was subtle and more enjoyable to only see the Titans as CG characters while the rest of the movie was clean and clear. It was interesting how bright the colors were verses the previous movies. The colors harkened back to the brightness (and style) of the movies between Cinderella and Lady and the Tramp.

The Test of Time:

Again we see that another renaissance movie doesn’t quite stand the test of time. As one of my favorite as a child I love this movie, but it has easily fallen to the wayside in my memories.

Where is Herc’s presence in the parks? And outside of the short lived “Heroes” line of merchandising, Herc hasn’t had much play.

Through the Modern Lens

A coming of age story, where one person has to pretend to be something they are not in order to get their mate! Wait a second, doesn’t that sound like most of the WDAS movies of the past ten years? Not that I would ever get tired of musicals, I can see how audiences are about to wane away from the Disney musical. They’ve truly started to just rehash the same archetypes over and over again.

Next Up:
Mulan

Pixar Animation Studios: Part 2: Bugs Life

2010-09-29T22:11:00.001-04:00

Series Intro: In my purposeful retrospective of WDAS I couldn’t ignore it’s younger sister: PIXAR. This is Part 2 in the retrospective of PIXAR

Official Title: A Bugs Life
Release: November 25, 1998 (Three years after Toy Story)
Running Time: 96 minutes
Estimated Cost: $60 million (double that of Toy Story)
Estimated Revenue: $363.40 million
Overall Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Plot Summary
Flik, inventor ant, has inventions that go awry and cause the oppressive Grass Hopper Army to become angry and force the ants to work double time before the winter comes in. He is forced to go find other bugs to help the ants fight against the grass hoppers. He mistakenly returns with circus bugs.

After several mishaps, the ants successfully defeat the grass hoppers. Flik is celebrated for his inventions and is chosen as a mate for the new ant queen!

Plot Rating: 4 stars out of 5

PIXAR has outdone themselves with this movie. It has the loveable characters that made Toy Story great. It has comedy and laughs (reminding me of Walt’s movies that had a lot of comedy to help relieve the tension of the plot). I had moments of tears and moments of giggle fits. I like that PIXAR has focused on male leads, where WDAS focused on female leads.

Animation Rating: 5 out of 5

OMG, the background art was the most fantastic piece of art I’ve seen yet! It was so life like, but yet the characters truly belonged in the world. The character art was great too, for the leads, but not for the hundreds of ants. Even PIXAR made fun of the fact that all the filler ants looked the same (one of the extras of the BluRay has one character talking to the card board cut out of the same ant).

The Test of Time:

Eric, Flik and I at Disney's Animal Kingdom in WDW

Kind of slid into PIXAR vaults, not to say anything was really wrong with the movie, but just not much has been happening in it.

Final Thoughts
Aside from the Toy Story series, I have not seen any PIXAR movie in theatres. And many not at all. I do have a problem with CG movies (as you might have be able to tell with my WDAS reviews and I highly criticize the CG effects). I truly miss hand drawn animation and hope to see a return to it. However, knowing that PIXAR has dedicated itself to CG animation, I can appreciate the art and characters they have created.

Next Up:
Toy Story 2

Walt Disney Animation Studios Part 34: Hunchback of Norte Dame

2010-08-31T21:47:00.000-04:00

Series Intro: This is Part 34 of a multi-part retrospective of Walt Disney Animation Studios' endeavors.

Official Title: The Hunchback of Norte Dame
Release: June 21, 1996
Running Time: 91 minutes
Estimated Cost: $70 million
Estimated Revenue: $325.5 million
Overall Rating: 3 stars out of 5

Plot Summary:
Judge Frollo loathes Gypsies and kills one on the steps of Notre Dame; after seeing the woman’s baby he vows to drown the hideous creature until the Archdeacon guilts Frollo into raising the deformed baby; Frollo agrees under the condition that the monster live at the cathedral.

Twenty years have passed and Quasimodo has gone slightly mad locked in the bell tower with only the Archdeacon and Frollo for human company. Quasi imagines three of the gargoyles into friends and they encourage him to visit the Festival of Fools in the courtyard of the cathedral.

Once down there, in direct defiance to Frollo, Quasi gets wrapped up in the revelry and is revealed to be the monster that rings the bells. Esmeralda, a gypsy, helps save Quasi from the angry mob but finds herself in hot water with Frollo. She is forced to claim sanctuary in the cathedral by Phoebus, the captain of the guard.

Quasi, falling in love with Esmeralda, helps her escape the cathedral. When Frollo discovers her disappearance he goes crazy with lust, longing for Esmeralda. He and his guard (including Phoebus – also in love with the gypsy) start burning Paris in hopes of finding the Gypsy people’s hide out.

After saving a family from Frollo’s wrath, Phoebus is shot with an arrow by the guard under Frollo’s orders. Es saves him and hides him at the cathedral. Quasi, realizing he and Es have no future, continues to be her friend, and takes care of Phoebus. However, Frollo, knowing of this friendship tricks Quasi into showing him the location of the Gypsy hideout.

Es is threatened with burning at the stake, unless she recants and gives herself to Frollo. She doesn’t and a battle ensues with Quasi not saving Frollo as he falls to his doom from the top of the cathedral. Es and Phoebus kiss with Quasi’s aprroval.

Songs:

"The Bells of Notre Dame"
"Out There"
"Topsy Turvy"
"God Help the Outcasts"
"Heaven's Light"
"Hellfire"
"A Guy Like You"
"The Court of Miracles"

Although not my favorite soundtrack, I believe the song these to be the most powerfully moving songs of the cannon. Unlike those from Pochahontas and Lion King and the others of the renaissance, these all had much deeper connections to the plot and the story truly was told through the music!

Plot Rating: 4 stars out of 5

The story was the most interesting yet. I believe WDAS truly outdid themselves with creating this plot. As with any movie based on a book, it was almost a completely different story, but taken as a separate entity, this movie wonderfully mixed the worlds of literary fiction and classical animation and musical theatre.

However, despite retaining a “G” rating, this movie was very adult! More so than any previous release (save for Black Cauldron (the red headed bastard of the Disney cannon). Every male character in this movie was lusting over Esmeralda. The movie had many religious overtones (how could it not taking place in a cathedral?), but mostly the concept of hell. Frollo even sings an entire song about his lust for Es and how she (and possibly he) will wind up in hell for her lack of Christianity and his carnal desire.

And look at how sexy he is!

Despite its adult themes, Hunchback had a lot of the comic elements that were missing from Pocahontas. Phoebus was just one big walking double entandre that kept jokes for the adults (such as commenting on a wines vintage), while the kids would have enjoyed his machismo always ending badly (when Es punches him below the belt with a candelabra). Also, the cute friends were back; this time in the form of the gargoyles (Quasi’s imaginary friends).

Animation Rating: 2 out of 5

And here is where this movie failed! The CG effects were too simplistic for the movie and WDAS relied on them too much. All of the crowd shots were obviously poorly rendered characters. How can PIXAR, be creating believable movements for their characters in Toy Story that look like actual moving pieces, while WDAS can barely make a crowd look realistic?

WDAS has come to over rely on CG effects. Most of the backgrounds in Hunchback were so poorly rendered that the characters (who were finely drawn) stood out and looks as if they didn’t belong in the world (it reminded my of my high school days in front of a green screen and we were never able to edit the film to quite make it look natural.

The Test of Time:

Another movie that hasn’t quite stood up against time as some of the other movies from the renaissance. Where are all the Quasi costumes on Halloween? Or the Notre Dame cathedral in the new WDW Fantasy Land? Having one direct to video sequel didn’t do enough to keep this movie in the lime light.

I saw this movie in theatres, then was inundated with it by my three year old cousin, where I was forced to watch it hundreds of times in a month. I never watched it again until a day ago!

Through the Modern Lens

The anti-classic story that doesn’t end with the guy getting the girl. Not that I expected Es to end up with Quasi, I was still hoping for it, the entire time. But here WDAS shows us that you have to be beautiful to find true love (a running theme in the WDAS cannon). Considering how much WDAS changed from Hugo’s original novel, couldn’t they have allowed Es and Quasi to wind up together. She was the only person in Paris to not judge him by his looks.

I also wonder about the modern technology through which I view these movies. How much does that play into the enjoyment of it. When I was watching the extras of this DVD, with the darker animation, the CG effects looked slightly better than they did during the remastered DVD. Will they look even better when Hunchback is remastered again for the Platinum/Diamond editions?

Next Up:
Hercules

DC AIDS Walk

2010-08-22T12:56:00.014-04:00

On Saturday, October 2nd, 2010, I will join thousands of other people in the 24th annual AIDS Walk Washington. This event is a 5K fundraising walk and timed run, benefiting and produced by Whitman-Walker Clinic.

I would greatly appreciate your support for this worthwhile cause. My personal fundraising goal is $100 Would you please visit my personal AIDS Walk Washington website and make a donation today?

If you have any questions about AIDS Walk Washington or Whitman-Walker Clinic, please don’t hesitate to contact me or visit AIDS Walk Washington for more information.

Thank you so much for your support and generosity.

Every little bit helps, me reach my goal.

Follow This Link to visit my personal web page and help me in my efforts to support Whitman-Walker Clinic

Thanks a lot,
Future World

Pixar Animation Studios: Part 1: Toy Story

2010-08-18T14:23:00.001-04:00

Series Intro: In my purposeful retrospective of WDAS I couldn’t ignore it’s younger sister: PIXAR. This is Part 1 in the retrospective of PIXAR

Official Title: Toy Story
Release: November 22, 1995
Running Time: 81 minutes
Estimated Cost: $30 million ($25 million less than Pocahontas which was released by WDAS earlier in ’95).
Estimated Revenue: $361.99 million
Overall Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Plot Summary
Andy is having a birthday, when he receives a new toy: Buzz. All of Andy’s other toys are happy about Buzz, except Woody. Woody is being replaced as Andy’s favorite and is not happy about it.

After Buzz and Woody are held hostage by a toy destroying creep – Sid – they become best friends and work together to make Andy happy (and the rest of the toys trust Woody again).

Songs:

Unlike WDAS, PIXAR does not create musicals, so this section will no longer be used.

Plot Rating: 4 stars out of 5

What do toys do when you are not playing with them? Where do they go when you can’t find them? This movie “answers” all the questions children might have about the fabulous world of toys. It has heart breaking scenes and high comedy and sight gags in the tradition of hand drawn animation.

Animation Rating: 5 out of 5

Completely ground breaking, a fully computer animated movie! Walt himself would have been proud. With nothing before it to compare to, I must only compare to the use of CG in traditional animation. Of course this was obviously CG! In former WDAS endevours they would try to disguise the CG in a more traditional style, however it hasn’t worked yet. But Toy Story doesn’t try to mask the effects and just goes all out in an ubber cartoon style. The eyes and bright colors hearken back to Snow White.

The Test of Time:

A second sequel was released 15 years later to become the highest grossing animated feature of all time! Right there, it proves it’s test of time.

Toy Story has inspired theme park attractions (Toy Story Mania in WDW’s Hollywood Studio and Disneyland’s California Adventure; and many other) and entire lands (Toy Story Playland in Disneyland Paris and Disneyland Hong Kong). Buzz has even had his own TV series.

Final Thoughts
Toy Story was a huge success when it first came out, and truly opened the door to some great animation and animation techniques (although I know these words will bite me when WDAS starts creating CGI movies).

I saw this movie three times in theatres. It was the first of only 3 movies I seen that many times in theatres.

Next Up:
A Bug’s Life

Walt Disney Animation Studios Part 33: Pocahontas

2010-08-07T20:50:00.001-04:00

Series Intro: This is Part 33 of a multi-part retrospective of Walt Disney Animation Studios' endeavors.

Official Title: Pocahontas
Release: June 16, 1995
Running Time: 81 minutes
Estimated Cost: $55 million
Estimated Revenue: $346.07 million
Overall Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Plot Summary: Abridged
John Smith, Ratcliff and the crew for the Virginia Company set sail for the new world for gold. Pocahontas, the daughter of the Powhatan Chief, in an arranged marriage with Kocoum, asks her guardian spirit – Grandmother Willow – for guidance. Afterwards, she meets Smith and shows him how wonderful nature can be, without hurting it. Pocahontas and Smith begin to fall in love, and he is captured while kissing her and is sentenced to death for accidentally killing Kocoum.

Ratcliff uses the situation of Smith’s capture to begin a war with the Powhatans. On the day of the execution/battle, Pocahontas prevents Smith’s beheading, and Smith takes an gunshot from Ratcliff that was meant for the Powhatan Chief. Smith has to return to the old world, to seek medical attention, he offers for Pocahontas to return with him, but she says with her family!

Songs:

"The Virginia Company"
“Steady As the Beating Drum
"Just Around the Riverbend" - Judy Kuhn
"Listen With Your Heart I"
"Mine, Mine,
"Listen With Your Heart II
"Colors of the Wind
"Savages (Part 1)”
"Savages (Part 2)”

These songs are the most epic yet! They truly behave like musical theatre, and honestly push the plot along (much more that Lion King).

Plot Rating: 4 stars out of 5

The story was so moving! It had great elements of a Broadway play, with characters that were the most human of all the Disney characters.

Animation Rating: 5 out of 5

The animation was unparallel. Throughout the entire movie, I just kept saying to myself how impressed I was. The style was reminiscent of Native American art while still portrayed everything in a believable setting. The richness of the backdrops and characters have not been seen since Sleeping Beauty.

The Test of Time:

I don’t think this movie has stood the test of time. There isn’t much push to include Pocahontas in the “princess” line. Most (if not all) of the stage show in Disney parks are closed. I don’t remember ever seeing young children dressed up as her on Halloween (at least not in the past ten years).

I did see this movie in theatres. I bought the VHS (as I was thoroughly in my “collection” by now, but only watched it once! I did not like this movie as a child, as was so surprised that I liked it so much as an adult. And I think that was this movie’s problem, why it did so poorly in box office. It was very adult: characters die from guns! Also, there weren’t any lovable characters (Flit, Meeko and Percy might fit this, but they aren’t as relatable as say Timon and Pumba).

Through the Modern Lens

This was the first Disney film based on historical events. It totally romanticized the events of the settlers coming to America (which is what Disney does to all of its movies – did the Evil Queen have to dance on hot coals with metal boots until she died? No. Disney takes sad/horrific events and turns them into happy endings). Does this mean I am happy about the way the movie glosses over the true relationship Smith had with Poca? No, I wish WDAS would have been able to find some middle ground between the horrific truth and the “Disney-fied” version we got.

I do have to applaud WDAS’s choice to make Poca stay with her family! This strange turn of events (the opposite of Ariel’s) was probably the most bittersweet moment of the movie and in fact, touched me more that any other part. WDAS finally broke their pattern after several decades of the love conquers all philosophy!

Next Up:
The Hunchback of Notre Dame

The Ecstasy and Agony of Steve Jobs... Or What should I do with my iPhone?

2010-07-22T22:24:00.003-04:00

Employees work on the assembly line at the Foxconn plant in Shenzhen, China. Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg

This is a cross post between My Theatre Ramblings and My Random Ramblings.

I recently had an opportunity to purchase cheap seats to the World Premier Preview of Woolly Mammoth’s Theatre Company’s: The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, written and performed by Mike Daisey.

I didn’t know what to expect when I read the Tweet Seat call for $10 tickets, but I knew that I wanted to go (I’ll go to any cheap seat theatre). Due to the timing of the tweet and my commute to Chinatown, I had just made it to the theatre about three minutes before curtain, when I found out there wasn’t an intermission. I was then expecting a 60 – 90 minute show.

On stage sat a frosted glass top desk and a glass of water. Out comes Daisey to a round of applause. With an outline to guide him, Daisey began telling us the story of his trip to China. He would alternate “chapters” of the story in China with the story of Steve Jobs and the Apple Computer.

I started taking notes on the story and theatrical notes as I normally do when reviewing a show, but I was quickly enthralled! When Daisey was talking about his trip to China, he was recounting his investigating reporting of trying to visit Foxconn – a giant manufacturing plant in the city of Shenzhen that produces hundreds of different electronics including Apple iPhones, iPads, Intel motherboards, Dell computers, Hewlett-Packer computers, Wiis, Playstations, Xboxes, Kindles and dozens of other cell phones. Daisey, a Mac junkie since the Apple II came out in the late 70’s, had decided to visit the plant that created some of his favorite products, for recently this plant is in the middle of a suicide plague.

Daisey’s story telling was amazing! I couldn’t believe that an actor, not a journalist, was scooping the story. Daisey met dozens of people who were willing to talk to him about the sweat shop like factories that they were working in, making just pennies a day (about $131^1 (American - USD) a month: a quick look up of the purchasing power parity^2 shows that in China this is about equivalent to a monthly income of $483^3).

One stand out story was about a man who had lost a hand in the factory line while making iPads. Daisey showed the man his iPad and the man, using his injured arm to swipe the screen, called it magic. According to Daisey, all completed iPads are shipping out of Shenzhen.

Daisey told a story of line workers forced to stand for hours on end; unable to speak, unable to move, just doing the same repetitive action over and over again with only one “break” in sight: “accidentally” dropping a item. The relief a line worker would have during the new movement was well worth the verbal assault they would receive from their superiors for slowing down production. The financial group Bloomsberg report similar findings “About 80 percent of the front-line production employees work standing up, some for 12 hours a day for six days a week… ‘We get yelled at all the time. It’s very tough around here’[ –Ah Wei, factory worker] ” (Wong^4).

Ironically, this reminded me of Walt Disney! During production of Snow White, Pinocchio, Bambi and Fantasia Walt Disney ran the Ink and Paint department very similarly. The women, underpaid compared to their male counterparts, were working in silence, standing around doing their job:

We tried to keep from talking,” says Yuba—since speed and accuracy were closely monitored. (Ruthie confessed she would sometimes drop her board on the floor “just so it would make noise.”) (Kohn^5)

Of course, this was a different time, and a different situation, but I couldn’t help draw the parallel between Disney and Foxconn’s practices. However, they span over 80 years and are oceans away. During the 20’s and 30’s in America, women were still fighting to get jobs and were treated like second-class workers. In modern Shenzhen, all workers are looked at as second-class and are easily replaceable with the hundreds of other people waiting in line to get a job. This however, hasn’t stopped 11 people from jumping off the roof of their dormitories.

Long days and little pay. I recently spent 12 hours at camp (I arrived at 7:30 to enjoy a leisure hour of prepping and catching up on my internet sites. I talked with a friend until about 9:00 when I began teaching; I took a bathroom break sometime between classes; taught two more classes; ate lunch with friends. Then I performed in a talent show; taught a couple more classes; had an hour to relax before my shows began; had one show; squeezed in a dinner; had two more shows; watched the dance concert and finally went home). That was my twelve-hour day. A twelve-hour day for a worker at Foxconn: arrive at 9, work two hours; 10 minute break (no talking); work two hours; 10 minute break; etc. Can I truly complain about my twelve-hour day when I had a plethora of down time and more interaction between peers and students than I could count?

For most of Daisey’s performance I kept questioning: “What can I do?” Would ditching my iphone make a stance? But what product would I use instead? If it’s not made by Foxconn, it’s most likely made by another factory in Shenzhen or in another factory with horrible human rights practices.

Three hours later, I couldn’t believe it was over! Daisey took me and the rest of the audience on a journey that I don’t think I can ever return from. As I sit here and type this on my iBook, with my iPad and iPhone right next to me, I can’t help but wonder what the costs of these devices truly is. I think I would happily pay more, knowing that every person along the way was treated like a human!

Please go check out this show when it returns to Woolly Mammoth from March 21 through April 10, 2011. Tickets can be purchased here. Also check out Daisey’s blog. As his monologue changes from performance to performance (for it is just spoken from an outline), I can’t wait to go back during the regular run to see what it has turned into!

^1 Pay rate found at 9 to 5 Mac
^2 Purchasing Power Parity is the idea that although an exchange rate between money is how much the money is worth in gold, it does not take into account the price of goods and services. So if $1.00 USD can buy you a loaf of bread, and 3.69 Yuan buys you that same loaf of bread, then the PPP between USD and Yuan is 3.69 (despite the fact that 1 USD would buy you 7 Yuan^2a)
^2a Conversion rate: Coinmill
^3 Purchasing power parity was figured by taking the monthly income ($131) and mutilplying that by the PPP of the yuan 3.69 per USD. Wiki Answers: What is the PPP in China?
^4 Wong, Stephanie; Lie, John; and Culpan, Tim; Bloomberg: IPhone Workers Say `Meaningless' Life Sparks Suicides; June 2, 2010
^5 Kohn, Patricia; Vanity Fair: Coloring the Kingdom; March 2010

Walt Disney Animation Studios Part 32: The Lion King

2010-07-22T20:08:00.001-04:00

Series Intro: This is Part 32 of a multi-part retrospective of Walt Disney Animation Studios' endeavors.

Official Title: The Lion King
Release: June 15, 1994 (A Summer release)
Running Time: 89 minutes
Estimated Cost: $45 million
Estimated Revenue: $783.84 million
Overall Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Plot Summary
The birth of a male heir, Simba, to the lion kingdom of The Pride Land, brings all animal subjects to celebrate King Mufasa and Queen Sarabi’s joyous occasion. Time jumps a bit as Simba is a young cub. He travels around Pride Land with Mufasa training him in the ways of being king; and forbidding him from entering a shadowy valley.

Simba, and his betrothed Nala, ditch their babysitter (hornbill Zazu) after Simba’s uncle – Scar – tells Simba that the valley is home to an elephant graveyard. While there, Scar has his hyena henchmen attack Simba (for Scar wants to be the heir to the throne), but Simba, Nala and Zazu are saved when Mufasa enters.

Not discouraged, Scar tries again to kill Simba and Mufasa, by starting a wildebeest stampede, which doesn’t do it’s job, so Scar gets his paws dirty by throwing Mufasa into the stampede. Scar encourages Simba to run away so he doesn’t get blamed for the death of the king.

Simba meets up with Pumbaa (a wart hog) and Timon (a meercat) and after they perk Simba up with their Hakuna Matata (no worries) life philosophy time jumps again and Simba is now a young adult. Nala, also grown, finds Simba and between her and Rafiki (the monkey who oversaw Simba’s birth) Simba is convinced to return to the Pride Land and dethrone Scar and his band of hyenas.

Simba and Scar battle, and Scar is tossed off of Pride Rock into a pit of angry hyenas. Time jumps again and Rafiki is once again on the top of Pride Rock, this time overseeing the birth of Simba and Nala’s son, the next heir to the throne.

Songs:

Circle of Life
I Just Can't Wait to Be King
Be Prepared
Hakuna Matata
Can You Feel the Love Tonight

I can’t believe how wonderful the music is again. At this point, WDAS has had four great musicals; and puts us half way through the Renaissance.

Plot Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Calling on almost all of the previous Renaissance directors was a good call to rewrite the ending of this movie. The plot of this animated classic (although highly influenced by Hamlet and controversially influenced by the anime Kimba The White Lion) was WDAS’ first completely original story.

Animation Rating: 3.5 out of 5

I’m kind of getting upset with WDAS with their reliance on CG effects. I understand that it is much more cost effective, but it seemed almost a bit lazy in this movie. While the wildebeest scene was great for its use of many different animals on many different travel paths, the hyenas in “Be Prepared” are barely more than CG skeletons walking in a nondescript CG environment. However, WDAS’ traditional animation continues to make great leaps and bounds!

The Test of Time:

To this day, Lion King remains the highest grossing traditionally animated movie! Lion King is in the top ten longest running shows on Broadway; has a long running acrobatic show at Disney’s Animal Kingdom in WDW; has a movie attraction at The Land Pavilion in Epcot; spun off two direct to video sequels; had a television series based on Pumbaa and Timon (who are WDW’s unofficial spokes-animals for public safety).

I saw this movie in theatres!

Through the Modern Lens

There was not a Princess in sight (although Nala becomes the queen, she was never a princess)! As WDAS continues to struggle with modern audiences accepting their movies and trying to branch away from the princess theme (thanks to the marketing department over saturation of the line) they needn’t look to re-titling their works and shelving fine movies, but look backwards, what made Lion King the best animated movie of all time? It wasn’t based on anything! It was new(ish).

Off my soap box now.

Watching this video (yes the last one I needed to watch on VHS), I was surprised how violent it was. Not to say I disapprove of the violence that is portrayed, but the on screen death of Mafasa would never be created by WDAS today. Koodos to WDAS for pushing the boundaries of what a “cartoon” means.

Next Up:
Pocahontas

Walt Disney Animation Studios Part 31: Aladdin

2010-07-15T21:09:00.000-04:00

Series Intro: This is Part 31 of a multi-part retrospective of Walt Disney Animation Studios' endeavors.

Official Title: Aladdin
Release: November 25, 1992
Running Time: 90 minutes
Estimated Cost: $28 million
Estimated Revenue: $504.05million
Overall Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Plot Summary: Expanded
A traveling salesman travels on camel back and once he notices the audience, he breaks the fourth wall and tries to sell us various broken products, until finally he comes across a lamp, and begins to tell us the story of Aladdin and his lamp.

Jafar, vizier to the Sultan of the fictional city of Agrabah, and his parrot Iago have taken a street man out into the desert and convinces the street man to go into the Magical Cave of Wonders; trying to retrieve the magic lamp. The cave devours the man and says only a “diamond in the rough” will be able to successfully open the cave and retrieve the lamp.

The next morning, street rat, Aladdin, is stealing bread (with his adorable monkey companion Abu). The palace guards chase them both to the catchy tune of “One Jump Ahead.” Just as Aladdin and Abu are safe from the guards, Aladdin sees children scrounging for food; he gives them some of his bread, as does Abu, however reluctantly.

Jasmine, daughter of the Sultan, is sick of meeting princes, as she is to marry a prince according to the law. So she decides to run away from the palace. In the city market she meets Aladdin (after running into some trouble with a merchant). Al and her escape only to find themselves under arrest from the guards accompanied by Jaraf (who had cast a spell to reveal that Aladdin would be able to enter the Cave of Wonders). Jaraf arrests Aladdin under the pretenses of kidnapping the Princess.

While under lock and key, Aladdin is hook winked by Jaraf in the disguise of an old man into escaping the prison and entering the Cave of Wonders. The Cave allows Aladdin to enter and to only touch the lamp. But greedy Abu touches some of the treasures and the whole place turns into magma. Luckily, they had befriended a magic carpet who takes them to the mouth of the cave, where Jaraf – in disguise – takes the lamp and throws Aladin back into the disintegrating cave.

Abu reveals that he stole the lamp back from Jaraf, and after rubbing the lamp (to see what’s written on it), Aladdin meets the Genie, whom gets tricked into taking Aladdin, Abu and Carpet out of the collapsed cave.

Once safe, Al tells Genie of his wish to be a prince so he could marry Jasmine, and his wish is granted. And he reenters Agrabah in style to the song of and under the misnomer of “Prince Ali.”

Just before Ali enters the royal palace, Jaraf has convinced the Sultan that the law said if a suitable husband cannot be found for the princess, she is to marry the Grand Vizier! Jaraf uses magic to hypnotize the Sultan.

Jasmine is unimpressed with Ali, and only once she realizes that he is Aladdin from the street (though he says that was his disguise and Ali is the real one) does she trust him and they go on the infamous carpet ride.

Jaraf attempts to kill Ali, but luckily Genie saves Al from drowning. Then Jaraf steals the lamp, reveals Aladdin as the true identity; and enslaves Genie, Jasmine and the Sultan by using his wishes.

Aladdin, Abu and Carpet find there way back from where cold place Jaraf has sent them, and he tricks Jaraf into wishing he had genie powers, but is then tethered to his own lamp (with Iago) and flung into the Cave of Wonders (by Genie).

Aladdin, still left with one wish, does not wish to be a prince again (to marry Jasmine) but wishes to set Genie free (as promised). The Sultan changes the law so Jasmine can marry whomever she wants. And everyone lives happily ever after.

Songs:

• Arabian Nights
• One Jump Ahead
• Friend Like Me
• Prince Ali
• A Whole New World
• Prince Ali (Reprise)

Almost every song from this movie is a Disney classic!

Plot Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

OMG! As a child, I loved this movie more than Mermaid! It is not a Princess movie at all, and truly had the action/adventure to lure in the boys, while still keeping the girls interested with cute animals and musical romance. It was a truly endearing story.

Animation Rating: 4 out of 5

Colors were bright. Lines were clean. The biggest issue with the animation of this film was it’s reliance on CGI. I remember watching this as a child and thinking that the Cave of Wonders seemed really weird, and now I’ve come to learn that it was CG. I guess I just wonder why? Wouldn’t the scene at the front of the talking tiger head cave been just as powerful if it was hand drawn.

The Test of Time:

Aladdin spawned two straight to video sequels and even a TV series! It won several awards including an Oscar for best score.

Aladdin has an attraction (Dumbo-like flying carpets) in The Magic Kingdom in Florida and a long running stage show in California. Jasmine is part of the Disney Princess marketing.

I saw this movie in theatres.
Through the Modern Lens

Just like Belle before her, Jasmine is a more progressive female. She doesn’t want to just marry, she wants to experience life first. However, her plans change once she meets the man of her dreams and he is head over heals in love with Aladdin! I wish she had been more skeptical of him or that he hadn’t lied to her!

At the time, many Arabian people were offended about the style of animation for the heroes (who look Anglo with tans) verse the villain (having a much more Arab look). I can understand that completely and had to side with them! (In fact when I met Al and Jasmine in WDW, they looked like white actors!)

Next Up:
Lion King

Walt Disney Animation Studios Part 30: Beauty and the Beast

2010-06-29T20:20:00.002-04:00

Series Intro: This is Part 30 of a multi-part retrospective of Walt Disney Animation Studios' endeavors.

Official Title: Beauty and the Beast
Release: November 22, 1991
Running Time: 84 minutes
Estimated Cost: $25 million
Estimated Revenue: $377.35 million
Overall Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Plot Summary: Expanded
An introduction to the happenings of the Beast and his transformation by a hag is presented in stained glass. The prince turned an old woman away when she offered him a rose, but when she transformed into a beautiful woman, the enchantress curses the prince to be a beast and his servants into household objects. And only once the Beast learns to love and earns her love in return, will the spell be lifted.

In a golden age of Hollywood style, the camera pans across a “little town” in pre-industrial revolution France, as it follows a beautiful girl into the town. While there, Belle sings as she greets her neighbors on her trip to the bookshop. However, the entire town is singing about how she is odd (always reading, not interested in the hunky Gaston, and spending all her time with her father, the inventor, Maurice). She returns home to ask her father about being odd, while he is tinkering with his newest invention: a fire wood cutter.

When he successfully cuts the wood he loads up his cart and hitches the family horse, Philippe, to get to the fair. After being harassed by Gaston, Belle sings again about being different and wanting more from life than this small town.

Maurice gets lost and stumbles upon Beast’s castle, where he meets some of the enchanted servants (Lumière– the candelabra, and Cogsworth – a clock). Beast captures Maurice and throws him in the castle’s prison.

Philippe returns to Belle without Maurice and she goes to look for him. She finds her father locked in the dungeons and stands up to Beast as she offers her life imprisoned for her fathers. Beast and Belle fight for quite some time, especially about dinner that night.

Meanwhile, at the local tavern, Gaston and his lacky, Lefou, sing about how wonderful Gaston is, when Maurice comes in talking all crazy about the Beast. He gets thrown out of the inn and Gaston begins to form his evil plan. Maurice goes off to defeat the Beast himself.

Back at the castle, Belle enjoys a grand dinner and explores the castle until she is scared by Beast (for entering the forbidden wing) and runs away, needing to be save from wolves by Beast. Over the next few days, Belle and Beast become closer and the servants begin to believe that she will be the one to end the curse. This time includes the famous ballroom dancing scene.

But after sharing his magic mirror, Belle sees her father in trouble from exposure to the harsh winter, so Beast releases her, with the mirror. Belle rescues her father and returns them both to their home; where Lefou and Gaston attempt to take Maurice to the loony bin. But Belle sets the whole town straight by showing that the Beast is real, on his magic mirror. Gaston takes this opportunity to turn the mob against Beast and they storm the castle! The servants fight back, and save the castle. Gaston and Beast fight to the death on a high placed balcony. Just then Belle enters the scene and pulls Beast to safety, but Gaston stabs him right before falling to his death.

Belle announces her love for Beast just as he is about to die, just as the last petal from the rose that held the curse fell. Magic rain falls on the castle and transforms everything/one back to their former glory. Belle and Beast (no more) dance again to the applause of all of the servants and Maurice.

Songs:

• Belle
• Belle Reprise
• Gaston
• Gaston Reprise
• Be Our Guest
• Something There
• Beauty and the Beast
• Mob Song

What great music again! Bell, Be Our Guest and Beauty and the Beast would quickly enter the Disney cannon as great songs.

Plot Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

A smart princess who isn’t looking for love but finds it in a beastly place was a great change of pace from all the princesses so far. Belle and Beast truly represent a more realistic example of falling in love, as it takes time for them to get to know each other, first.

The servants, Lumière, Cogsworth, Mrs. Potts and Chip added a great human problem to the spell and this Disney villain, Gaston, was truly evil without the help of magic!

WDAS produced this movie in two years, versus the normal four years. This gave them the luxury of taking a lot of what was learned from Oliver and Mermaid to make a wonderful story. This movie also was the first animated feature to start with a script, as previous movies started with storyboards. I believe this (in combination with Ashman and Menken’s score) is what made this movie standout against the rest of WDAS’ movies.

Animation Rating: 4 out of 5

Back at the top of their game. Despite watching this on an almost 20 year old VHS copy of the movie, I was still able enjoy the rich details and vibrant colors (although they were much muter on this copy than movies that have been digitally restored). These bright colors are owed to the fact that all the painting was completed by computers, as were several scenes (such as the background of the ballroom, where Beast and Belle were hand drawn and then manipulated against the background). This was much cleaner then the CAPS from Down Under.

The Test of Time:

Belle became a spokesperson for reading. Beast has spawned two midqueals, a live action television series and a long running Broadway musical (which itself was the forerunner of the “Disney on Broadway” brand). Bell is a staple of the Disney Princess brand, although I think misguidedly so (see below).

Beast was nominated for many Oscars and won a few and many other awards. Including the hornor of being only one of two animated movies to be nominated for Best Picture (Up holds this honor too).

I saw this movie in theatres!

Through the Modern Lens

My problem with this film doesn’t lie with the fact that it is yet another princess film. Belle really isn’t your typical princess, waiting for her prince to come. Belle is an intelligent woman, not ruled by her emotions, but her logic. She is longing for something different (like Ariel) but not to change who she is, but just wanting more. Who can’t relate to that? Belle isn’t a princess in the standard terms, she doesn’t fall madly in love with the prince the first time she meets him; and actual doesn’t fall in love with him because he’s beautiful, but because his soul was gorgeous. She isn’t your princess’s princess. And I kind of feel bad for her that she is now left to hang out with Ariel, Cinderella, Brier Rose and Snow White who’s lives were all drastically changed once they were married.

Next Up:
Aladin

Winning an iPad from the Smithsonian!

2010-06-28T22:57:00.005-04:00

Me holding the iPad as if it is an iPhone Photo Credit: @vintagehope

“Why are we up this early?” my boyfriend asked me this past Saturday morning.
“For the scavenger hunt on the mall!” I replied excitedly as I prepped myself in comfortable shoes and a lightweight shirt, for I knew the temperature would be scorching (as anyone who lives in DC right now can tell you).
He scoffed at me when I invite him to join me and he went back to sleep as I began my trek downtown on the Red Line.

I got off at Chinatown and hiked in the heat (already hot at 9 o’clock) down towards The Mall. Once I made it to the castle, I checked in with the Go Smithsonian and Scvngr people (who were co-sponsoring the event). I then found out I would be competing for an iPad (for up until this point, I thought I was just playing a game). That’s when things got serious.

The rules were simple: Using an iPhone or Android, you had to solve riddles and clues by exploring the Smithsonian museums on the National Mall and answer them on the Scvngr app. The person with the highest score at 2 o’clock would win the iPad! Scvngr and Go Smithsonian people would be monitoring our progress.

And off we went at exactly 10 o’clock. With just under four hours of battery life, I knew it was a race against the clock. So I slowly, but steadily, completely the six tasks for the Smithsonian Castle. Some challenges were extremely easy (Who’s buried in the castle?); others were harder (What animals were kept in pens behind the castle?).

Then off to Freer Gallery Of Art, for my plan was to complete a clock-wise circle around The Mall. Most of these tasks were easy, until I was asked to find a “sun” (the icon of the Smithsonian). As I won’t be giving away any of my answers, let me just say, this was my most creative answer of the whole game. There were four tasks here.

Twenty-five minutes in and I feel like I’m moving too slow, so I pick up the pace as I trek across The Mall towards the National Museum of American History (with a quick stop to complete one of “The Mall” challenges by snapping a picture of myself in front of the Washington Monument.) At the American History Museum, I began to feel time crunch on me again, as I waited in the bag check line! (Why did I bring a bag with me? Why was I carrying the heavy tome: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince?) But of the ten tasks, I only had to search for six of them, as I knew the answers to the rest. I was rude to the people who were standing in line at the First Ladies’ Dress exhibit, but I was on a deadline.

I snapped another picture of a sun (a running theme), and head out. That’s when I mistakenly checked the leader board. I was in 39th place! I was never going to win! So by 11 o’clock I was in the Natural History Museum. A much better pace and the best understanding of the layout of this museum granted me the ten answers in just under twenty minutes.

I then thought I was off to the National Gallery of Art, but to my surprise these museums are not part of the Smithsonian! Score, two less museums to visit! But the schlep from Natural History to American Indian was long and hot, and I wondered if I was going to make it!

During this time, my phone was at half battery, and I had received a phone call, which I promptly hung up on, and a text; which I stupidly replied to (wasting precious battery with six museums still to go!)

I completed another “Mall” task of a picture of me lifting up the Capitol Building. (Thank you stranger who has no clue how to work an iPhone!)

These six tasks were the hardest, as the app wanted an exact word order for many of the answers! Also, being the least familiar with this museum I had a hard time finding my way through the exhibits but thoroughly enjoyed them once I got to the correct place.

Then came the museum I was least excited to go to. I enjoy, in fact love, the National Air and Space Museum, but loath it on the weekends in the summer. The line wasn’t too bad to get in, but the lobby was crowded (as was the whole museum). I felt rushed here for the first time in about an hour. The crowds were making me anxious. This was also the first time in a long time that I had run into several people playing the game. But I soldiered on and completely the eleven tasks.

Then into the heat of the Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden and the Hirshhorn Museum, probably my least favorite museum on the mall. But still easy to navigate (as the clues told me where to go!) Seven tasks completed; including a great haiku about the gift shop.

Final task on “Mall:” finding the odd animal on the carousel.

12:30, and I have plenty of time to find the last two museums (which I had never been in). The National Museum of African Art had some great exhibits that I can’t wait to see again, when I don’t have a time crunch. Six tasks in about fifteen minutes.

Arthur M. Sackler Gallery had some great Asian art, and six challenges, done in fifteen minutes also!

Then I had one more task to complete: give this trek a tagline! I sat for the first time at one o’clock, outside, when I wrote the five words that won the iPad: “Trek Through History With Technology.” And I checked the leader board one more time, and I was first! So, I rushed back inside the castle, found the person from Go Smithsonian, Beth Py-Lieberman, to whom I announced that I was Thom F. (the leader). And at 1:10 pm I was finished.

I sat around talking to the people in charge of the trek, as we waited for the 2 o’clock deadline. I nervously watched the leader board as I slipped from 1st to 8th. But, as they deliberated on the results, they announced that some of the pictures didn’t count or the haiku’s weren’t written properly or some tasks were completed more than once! When they returned from deliberation, they announced their favorite haikus (mine was not one, and I feared that I just wasn’t a favorite to win). Then it was announced that the tie breaker (the tag line) was used! One of the Go Smithsonian people looked at me a moment before it was announced and I knew then, I had won!

I sat and talked with the runner up for a few minutes, and we walked across The Mall for a bit, until I finally ate some food at the American Indian Museum and schlepped back north to Silver Spring.

I had an amazing time in the trek. I got to experience new museums, such as the African Art and the Sackler, and revisit ones I hadn’t been to since they opened: American Indian. I have recommended this trek to all my friends (not ever just for the iPads that are still available, but for the sheer fun I had exploring something that I normally just take for granted).

The people at Go Smithsonian are incredibly nice and I hope to interact with them more! Check out the trek’s homepage here.

Walt Disney Animation Studios Part 29: Rescuers Down Under

2010-06-20T19:32:00.001-04:00

Series Intro: This is Part 29 of a multi-part retrospective of Walt Disney Animation Studios' endeavors.

Official Title: The Rescuers Down Under
Release: November 16, 1990
Running Time: 74 minutes (a bit on the shorter side)
Estimated Cost: n/a
Estimated Revenue: $47.4 million
Overall Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

Plot Summary:
Cody, an adventurous Australian boy (though he does lack an Australian accent), saves a giant, golden eagle, Marahute. He has a network of native animals that help him in making sure all the outback animals are safe from poachers. This time however, after a flight on Marahute, he gets caught in a poachers trap. Percival C. McLeach discovers that Cody knows where the golden eagle nests and kidnaps Cody until he reveals the location.

Halfway around the world, the Rescue Aid Society headquarters in New York has heard about this kidnapping and request that Miss Bianca and Bernard (made famous by rescuing Penny in Rescuers) fly directly to Australia to solve this case. Bernard puts his planned engagement on hold as he and Bianca fly on Wilber (Orville seems to have retired) to Australia.

They arrive, worse for the wear, and meet up with Jake who leads them across the outback to McLeach’s hideout, while Wilber is being looked after by a crack-pot mouse doctor.

Cody, trapped at McLeach’s with several animals that McLeach has poached, tries to escape to no avail. That is until McLeach releases Cody, and lies to him, saying the mother eagle was shot and wonders what will become of the eggs. Cody wondered this too, and led McLeach straight to Marahute and her nest. Luckily Bianca, Jake and Bernard had finally caught up with Cody; but Cody, Bianca and Jake were all captured with Marahute. Bernard, again left behind (a running theme where he feels like a third wheel and wonders if Bianca likes Jake more than himself) saves the eggs from being eaten by McLeach’s pet lizard, Joanna. Wilbur rejoined Bernard by accident and is assigned to sit on the eggs.

Bernard followed the truck while on the back of a wild boar, to a crocodile watering hole, where McLeach is going to throw Cody. After some scary moments and some comical relieve Cody, Marahute, Jake, Bianca and Bernard are reunited on Marahute’s back! Bernard finally proposed to Bianca who gives him a resolved “Yes!” And Wilbur remained on the eggs as they hatch.

Songs:

Another movie with no songs, but a wonderful score.

Plot Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

The plot was amazing! It was similar enough to the original, as it put our beloved characters in o situations that we knew they would eventually be able to get out of; yet different enough that it did not feel at all like watching the same movie from thirteen years ago.

The exotic setting of the Australian Outback also gave it a renewed feeling. As hard as it was to believe that there were no other qualified members of RAS closer to Cody, the location really upped the anti and Bianca and Bernard had to rely more on their new friend Jake.

Animation Rating: 3 out of 5

I was very disappointed with the animation of this movie. First off, take a look at the following to pictures.

The one on top was from Rescuers and the one on the bottom is from Down Under. The characters, although similarly designed, have completely different coloring and do have a much more cartoony feel. It was like watching the mice from Cinderella versus the mice in Rescuers.

This was the first movie to skip ink and painting! The APT process is gone; replaced with CAPS (Computer Animated Production System) which completely digitizes the whole post production process. In CAPS, the animators drawings are scanned into the computer, as are the backgrounds, and are colored digitally. Then (using the techniques from mutlipaning) CAPS artists would layer the characters on backgrounds and move them accordingly. CAPS was also used to create several scenes/props. It is a noteable effect, the CAPS drawn scenes (such as the opening flower bed) and props (McLeach’s truck), have a much darker feel and stand out against the hand drawn art that surrounds it.

The worst example of CAPS comes from the simplistic renderings of the Sydney Opera House. While the flower bed and the truck as least seemed real in the world of the movie, the Opera House stood out like a sore thumb; it honestly looks like they only did the initial renderings and said “hey the building’s white, let’s just leave it like that!”

The Test of Time:

So one of the problems with releasing one film a year is that WDAS doesn’t have the opportunity to learn from the previous film. Down Under was in production while WDAS was also producing Mermaid, Roger Rabbit and probably Oliver. So WDAS couldn’t see that musicals were selling. I’m not saying that this was a bad thing, but might explain why the movie wasn’t a box office smash like Mermaid

As I’ve said before about Rescuers I believe that WDAS doesn’t know what they’ve got. Bianca and Bernard have many more stories to tell, but are ignored by WDAS, Home video, Imagineering and Merchandizing. This holds true to this movie too. I had wanted to be Cody when I was growing up but my wants were ignored. Is this movie ignored because it doesn’t have a princess? Aren’t the suits trying to get away from princesses? Couldn’t Cody become a spokes person against animal cruelty (like Ariel against dumping in the oceans and Balou in support of recycling)?

Through the Modern Lens

Plot wise, the movie doesn’t seem to have any stand out flaws (other than Cody not having an accent). It was a strong movie with not too much to complain about from a social perspective.

Next Up:
Beauty and the Beast

Walt Disney Animation Studios Part 28: The Little Mermaid

2010-06-18T16:40:00.001-04:00

Series Intro: This is Part 28 of a multi-part retrospective of Walt Disney Animation Studios' endeavors. They will mostly be in release date order, save for those that are not available on DVD at Netflix. (Numbers skipped will note missing movies that will be out of order).

Some background information: (compiled from Wikipedia and imdb and my own knowledge of the movie).

Official Title: The Little Mermaid
Release: November 17, 1989 (Let the yearly releases begin!)
Running Time: 85 minutes
Estimated Cost: $40 million
Estimated Revenue: $211.3 million
Overall Rating: 5 stars out of 5

Plot Summary: Expanded
King Triton, king of the merpeople, is holding a musical evening to display both his daughters’ singing talents and Sebastian’s (the crab) musical/conducting talent. The only problem is that Ariel (his youngest daughter) doesn’t show up, despite having the best voice of all her sisters.

Ariel has forgotten about the concert and is instead exploring a sunken ship with her fish friend Flounder. After a narrow escape from a hungry shark, Ariel and Flounder take their finds to Scuttle a bird-brained sea gull.

Triton reprimands Ariel for missing the concert, and more importantly, going to land where a human could see her. Ariel mopes in her hidden trove, where she has hidden her human finds and sings about longing to be part of the human world. Sebastian, having been assigned to watch over Ariel, breaks into the cavern and tries to convince Ariel that the human world is bad. However, a ship passes by during Sebastian’s big number and Ariel swims away. She sees the gorgeous Prince Eric as he captains his vessel for a birthday outing, when suddenly a storm tosses him overboard.

Ariel rescues him and sings to him on land, he catches a glimpse of her as she swims away and is enamored. Meanwhile Ursula, the sea witch, decides that Ariel will be her next prey, and convinces Ariel to trade her voice for legs, so she can get together with Eric. The caveat begin, that if Eric doesn’t kiss her by the sun set of the third day, Ariel will belong to Ursula!

Eric has trouble believing that Ariel is his mysterious singing savior, but treats this mute girl with respect. They spend her first two days exploring his kingdom. Ursula sends her pet eels to ruin what could have been Ariel and Eric’s kiss, where Sebastian has really set the mood. Ursula takes matters more into her own hands and uses Ariel’s voice and a powerful spell to deceive Eric into thinking that she is his savior! He agrees to marry the disguised Ursula and comes close, but Ariel’s friends step up again and prevent the marriage. However, they are too late, Eric and Ariel kiss after the sun sets and Ariel is turned back into a mermaid.

Ursula steals Ariel back to her lair, but before she completely transformed into one of the undead unfortunate souls, Triton takes Ariel’s place and Ursula becomes ruler of the sea! Eric, refusing to loose Ariel again, destroys Ursula, who in her expansion of power, becomes several hundred feet high.

As the last act closes, Ariel, in the sea, sees Eric laying on the shore and Triton says to Sebastian and Flounder that there is only one more problem… how much he will miss Ariel. Triton turns Ariel into a human and she and Eric proceed to get married. Ariel says good-bye to Triton and her sea friends as he sails off into the sunset with her love.

Songs:
* "Fathoms Below"
* "Daughters of Triton"
* "Part of Your World"
* "Part of Your World (Reprise)"
* "Under the Sea"
* "Poor Unfortunate Souls"
* "Les Poissons"
* "Kiss the Girl"
* "Vanessa's Song"
* "Part of Your World (Finale)"

What can I say about the greatness of these songs. “Part of Your World” is possibly the best Disney song!

Plot Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Alan Menken and Howard Ashman bring to life the Han Christian Andersen story of the little mermaid in this all singing, all dancing Broadway like musical. Taking it’s cues from the success of Oliver WDAS brought on Menken and Ashman to add music to Mermaid since they just wrote the hot Broadway musical Little Shop of Horrors

This story told about a girl who didn’t actually belong and was longing to find the right place. I will comment more on the plot in “Modern Lense”

Animation Rating: 5 out of 5

Mermaid would be the last film to hand paint each cell (actual it would be the last one to use cells!) The animation of this movie was amazing. Taking cues from Oliver stray lines have completely disappeared, and not since Sleeping Beauty have we seen such amazing back ground art.

If I had to complain about anything, it would be all those bubbles. WDAS continues to tout that were over a million bubbles in the movie, (so many so that bubbles were outsourced from the two production studios: Burbank and Orlando’s Disney/MGM Studios). Look at any nature doc and tell me if when underwater animals are swimming if they make bubbles? Where is the air coming from?

The Test of Time:

Who hasn’t pretended they were Ariel longing to be part of the human world? Ariel and Mermaid revitalized the industry of animation (and sadly brought in the Princess genre).

Having just past the 20th anniversary of this hit, it still has the staying power it had then. Little children watch this movie and long to have the happy ending it shows. Ariel has no ride [yet] in a park, but has meet and greets and has one of the longest running shows at WDW: The Voyage of the Little Mermaid (playing at Hollywood Studios since early 1992).

Mermaid received many award nominations and won many also.

Mermaid also had a short run of Broadway (with the addition of several songs). I saw this show the second night! (Opening sold out before I could get tickets.)

P.S. I saw this movie twice in the theatres... I was 5/6!

Through the Modern Lens

Here’s the biggest problem with Ariel as a princess, most of the other princesses have little or no family that truly loves them, so when they leave their former lives to live with the prince, they aren’t leaving much behind. But Ariel has to leave everything! Everything! She gives up all that she is for Eric (someone she’s known for less than a week). How anti-feministic is that? I just don’t think that could happen today without the internet being up in arms about it.

Sorry for such a long post, but Mermaid is my absolute favorite WDAS movie!

Next Up:
The Rescuers Down Under

WDAS 27 and a Half: Roger Rabbit

2010-06-17T21:53:00.000-04:00

Official Title: Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
Release: June 22, 1988
Estimated Cost: $70 million
Estimated Revenue: $329 million
Overall Rating: 3 stars out of 5

Detective Eddie Valiant lives in the real world, but in this fictional Hollywood of the 1940s cartoons are real! They live in their own community called “Toontown.” Valiant is hired by a studio exec to prove to Roger Rabbit (an anthropomorphic, cartoon rabbit) that his long time wife, Jessica Rabbit (a cartoon pin-up girl) is cheating on him.

Valiant gets wrapped up in Roger’s world as he tries to discover who wants to knock down Toontown so badly that they would kill! Valiant has to put his differences with toons aside as he works to solve the case. Only when he lets go and behaves like a toon, does he successfully take down the judge (a toon in a human costume) and save Toontown.

Toontown is populated by every toon drawn of the time and even places Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny on the same screen twice!

Plot Rating: 3 stars out of 5

Animation Rating: 2.5 out of 5

It was very interesting watching the behind the scenes on how they had animated the characters and how they used robots to give the live actors something to look at. However, I found the animation a bit off, and all of my favorite childhood characters looked just a bit weird.

The Test of Time:

Why include this Torchstone movie in my WDAS retrospective? Well, Torchstone is just a subsidiary of Disney and Rabbit was drawn by Disney animators. I also have to include this movie because it simply fast tracked the Disney Renaissance. Although Oliver did much better than the previous films, I believe that Rabbit truly set the stage for successful animated movies. This film reminded the execs that there was money to be made in animation.

Thank you Roger for setting the stage for the future of WDAS!