Walt Disney Animation Studios Part 19: Jungle Book

Series Intro: Series Intro: Here is Part 19 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 skilled 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: Jungle Book
Release: October 18, 1967
Running Time: 78 minutes
Estimated Cost: I couldn’t find anything concrete
Estimated Revenue: $73 million 1967 ($479,157,355.62 (2010))
Overall Rating: 1 stars out of 5

Plot Summary:

Mowgli, a boy left in the jungle, is raised by a wolf pack, until Shere Khan – a tiger – decides to hunt the boy – for Khan is anti-human and believes Mowgli will ruin the jungle. So Bagheera, a black panther, takes on the task of removing Mowgli from the jungle.

But Mowgli will have none of the man’s village. He refuses to leave, and misadventure ensues as Mowgli is persued by Kaa, the python, meets a troop of elephants, befriends sloth bear Baloo and is kidnapped by the ape, King Louie.

Baloo and Bagheera go at it, as Baloo insists he’ll take care of Mowgli, that is until Bagheera inform Baloo about Shere Khan. That’s when Baloo agrees that Mowgli needs to go the man’s village.

Shere Khan attacks Mowgli as he is encountering four vultures. Baloo helps save the day and almost dies. But finally they arrive at the man’s village where young Mowgli gives into temptation (his carnal desires that is) and follows a young girl back while Baloo and Bagheera watch on as two parents seeing their child off to college.

Songs:
Colonel Hathi's March
The Bare Necessities
I Wan'na Be Like You
Trust in Me
That's What Friends Are For
My Own Home

Bare Necessities and Be Like You move into the Disney musical cannon as they are songs of hope and desires that can be found throughout many of the movies.

Plot Rating: 3 stars out of 5

Despite the low overall rating, this plot wasn’t too bad. The short vignettes were carried well as Bagheera and Mowgli traveled through the jungle for Mowgli’s own safety. The story was well written. I would have totally scrapped the “Beatles” bit (especially since they weren’t able to provide the voices).


Animation Rating: 1 out of 5

I wish I had decided to rate from zero instead of one. This movie was so poorly drawn.

For example, look at the two stills below. The one on top is from Bambi and below is Jungle Book. Do you notice the lack of depth and design? It’s crazy how poorly drawn this movie is. Bambi's art is more clear and light, has more character and texture. Jungle Book is darker (because they dedicated less time to it). Notice how each scene has a dark tree in the forward left; in Bambi you can see the bark, while in Book it's just shadow.The background art was just one of the many things that made this movie unwatchable.

The use of Xeroxing really took away the cleanliness of previous
films. While endearing in 101 Dalmations it was sloppy and lazy in Jungle Book.

The Test of Time:

Why isn’t this movie more represented in the parks? Adventureland is supposed to take place in a jungle, but no Jungle Book. Although I ran into Baloo and King Louie in Animal Kingdom, there could have been many more references to this movie.

I don’t think this movie has stood the test of time. It was the first of several movies that started recycling characters, voices and plots.

I also couldn’t relate to Mowgli, he was being a spoiled child and I felt frustrated the entire movie as I felt more connected to Bagheera and his desire to keep Mowgli safe.

Through the Modern Lens

Again, I think the Beatles reference really dated this movie, but I don’t think there was anything inherently wrong with it. I am please for Disney to have shown a non-white character as a lead. Although during the “shorts/packaged” films there were several Latino/Latina characters, this was the first time to have a feature length movie with an ethnic character (and one that wasn’t just a stereotype)! Kudos to Walt and WDAS for finally breaking their “white” mode.

Next Up:

In the WDAS timeline would be: Aristocats; because of a Netflix mistake, it’s Sword In The Stone.

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Walt Disney Animation Studios Part 4: Dumbo

Series Intro: Series Intro: Here is Part 4 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 skilled 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: Dumbo
Release: October 23, 1941
Running Time: 64 minutes (I happily applaud the shortness of this film)
Estimated Cost: $831,000 (1941) ($12,451,527.45 (2010))
Estimated Revenue: $1,600,000 (1940) ($24,504,851.06 (2010)
Overall Rating: 2 stars out of 5

Plot Summary:

I honestly can’t remember much of this short plot. But here goes… Mrs. Jumbo receives her baby elephant from the stork, Dumbo. Dumbo is constantly mocked by the circus goers (and other elephants and animals) because of his extra large ears. Mrs. Jumbo goes crazy and attacks humans when they are making fun of Dumbo. She is locked in isolation, and giving us one of the most heart wrenching scenes in the Disney cannon. Quickly followed by one of the most effed up scenes in the Disney cannon: The Pink Elephants, where Dumbo hallucinated because of drinking alcohol.

Then Dumbo, and Timothy (the circus mouse) wake up in a tree. Timothy assumes they flew up there in their drunken haze. Some racist black crows make fun of Dumbo but eventually help him believe that he can fly.

Finally, Dumbo performs a flying act at the circus; his mother is freed from isolation; and they get their own circus cart.

Songs:
Baby Mine
Casey Junior
Look Out for Mr. Stork
Song of the Roustabouts
The Clown Song
Pink Elephants on Parade
When I See an Elephant Fly

Plot Rating: 3 stars out of 5

With the short plot, this movie moved at a great speed not seen with many of the other earlier films (or many of those to come). But I still wonder the necessity of the Pink Elephant song.


Animation Rating: 3 out of 5

Some of the “cartoony-ness” of the earlier films was lost for this one. Not to say it was a realistic representation of what elephants look like, but it wasn’t trying to be either. Some of the big eyes were toned down a bit. The reduced budget, although made the background art suffer a bit, I found that this really forced the characters to the forefront, and their animation was a bit cleaner.

The Test of Time:

I did not like this one as a child. It always freaked me out that Dumbo didn’t speak, and those Pink Elephants didn’t help me like it anymore.

But Dumbo’s plight is one that most people can understand, so he remains a very popular character. Dumbo has representation in every Magic Kingdom park (and in WDW’s Fantasyland redo, he will have twice the presence, with a whole circus land dedicated to his honor!).


Through the Modern Lens

Those crows! Oh my, those crows! At the time, the sambo character was a popular tool to “accurately” portray Black Americans, but looking at them today, they are just caricatures of stereotypes that are laced with racism.

Next Up:

In the WDAS timeline would be: Bambi; because of the “vault" Jungle Book.

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New Orleans: Part 3: Walking, Walking and More Walking

The Muddy Mississippi

From March 6 through March 8, 2010 I had a fabulous trip to New Orleans.

Here is Part 3 of a 3 Part Diary Series of the Weekend:

Monday, March 8, 2010

I woke up much later than I normally do, approximately 10:30. I packed up my backpack and checked out, left by bag with the bellhop and set off for my last day.

The weather was overcast, but I decided I needed to check out the Mississippi during the Day. So I walked on the river front, contemplated going into the aquarium (decided against it, because I can see the Baltimore one whenever I’d like. The river was muddy and it was odd to see so much industry on the other side (as opposed to my view from my parent’s house of NYC).

As I continued up the river, I realized I was starving and decided to leave the river front and find a place to eat. I left the raised promenade and ran back into Joan (from the dinner cruise)! We caught up a bit, and separated. After parting, I stopped at the River’s Edge Restaurant, for a late breakfast.

As a side note, I had a hard time finding healthy looking eggs while, both of the places I went to for breakfast didn’t offer egg white, and once the eggs came out, they were usually covered in grease! Very unappetizing.

I followed a city tour from the “Eyewitness” series produced by DK. I had used this guide series when I went to Sydney and found it most helpful finding new and interesting places to visit. But here, in New Orleans, it seemed to be a disappointment, it kept building up some of the places, only for my to be let down.

Part of the let down is due to the fact that Monday is the “off” day for many museums in the area, but even as the Eyewitness book would comment on the architecture, I would find myself saying “Yes, it’s impressive, but it’s exactly like the dozens of other building that surround it.”

The sun kept playing hide-and-seek and I decided that after lunch (at the 24 hour gay dinner) that I’d rather hang around the airport than get caught in the rain. I hopped back on the trolley walked to the bus and headed to the airport.

Then began waiting. I ate at a crappy airport bar, and read a lot of Harry. I transferred planes in Tennessee, read more Harry and boarded towards my final destination of Baltimore. I finished Harry, while enjoying all my extra legroom.

Got to my car drove home after midnight! Waking up the next morning was hard!

All-in-all, it was a great trip, and well worth it to see of the original art work from many of WDAS’ early work! But I can’t even imagine this place during Marti Gras (it was a bit overwhelming on a regular weekend).

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New Orleans: Part 2: More Drinking, More Boys and Disney

Streets are cleaned using powerful machines that leave behind soap everywhere.

From March 6 through March 8, 2010 I had a fabulous trip to New Orleans.

Here is Part 2 of a 3 Part Diary Series of the Weekend:

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Last we left off, I was going to reveal that naughty thing that I did twice, after sending Nigel off in a cab to his unknown hotel!

Well, if you know me at all in real life, I’ve been on South Beach for just under a year (and have been very successful with it). I take it serious, but do cheat every now and then; but after Nigel left, instead of turning back upstairs to my room to get some well deserved sleep, I headed across the street and got in line at the pizza place! I ordered two slices and a diet coke (yeah, because at that point the diet coke was really helpful). I waited in line with several extremely drunk co-eds and their boys, then got my slices and returned to my hotel room.

Now, as 3:30 quickly approached, I snuggled down into my pillow-top, king bed and ate two slices of some of the worst pizza I have ever had. Then quickly fell asleep with the pizza plate still on the bed!

I would love to say that I slept soundly in a drunken/food-induced coma but since my hotel room was right above a bar, loud music drifted into my room all night, and despite all my efforts, I didn’t fall asleep until about 6 am!

At 10, I had a rude wakeup call. Maid service couldn’t get into the room, since my security lock was on, so the maid was knocking loudly. I’m actually glad that she did this, as I had slept through my alarm!

So I quickly hopped in the shower, to wash away the sins from last night and begin my quest to find a place that is not a bar, a place where I can get coffee and food. My I-phone came in handy again, with its “Near Me” app, so I searched for “breakfast” and found the Café Fleur De Lis, a little eatery, where I waited about an hour for my omelet (they had lost my order – at least I had Harry with me to keep me entertained).

Hanging moss at the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA).

The weather was so nice in the early afternoon that I stopped back in my room to drop off my sweatshirt. Then I hopped back on the trolley away from the river towards the New Orleans Museum of Art (my review can be found here Dreams Come True: Art of the Classic Fairy Tales from the Walt Disney Studio

After spending several hours and $70 at NOMA I began my walking tour of New Orleans!

I started by walking past the Saint Louis cemetery, my original plan was to go in and visit some of the older grave stones. (I have a great interest in old cemeteries. I’ve even gone to several lectures about the importance and significance of tombstones). But hunger won the battle over intellect and I stopped at a café, Santa Fe.

I asked to be seated outside and had a great table in the sun. That’s when I met him. He was tall, dark and handsome! He was my waiter. I ordered a glass of wine and a salad, and began talking to him (first just about the weather and such). We continued to chat with each other, as he would check in on my status during the meal. After the meal, I continued to stay and drink (still that same glass of wine), and read Harry while continuing to chat with my waiter. He joined me at the table, and we finally introduced ourselves. His name was Eban (yes, with a “b”).

As I’m about to finish my wine I asked about the end of his shift, which is coming soon! So I hung around a little longer… Then he says “I’d offer to show you around a bit, but I have a boyfriend.” I’m a little disappointed at this point, but he continued to sit with me. He hemmed and hawed as he tried to decide if he should take me around! I tell him there’s no pressure, and he asked me to stay until his last table left so he could show me the park.

Night was fast approaching (as we had been talking on and off for about three hours) and his boss told him that he needed to stay for the next shift. We had a sad moment and I gave him my card. I told him to give me call, but that I wasn’t expecting it, given his boyfriend and all. Then he asked when I was leaving, and when I told him “tomorrow” there seemed a bit disappointment in his voice and body language. I was sad too, but knowing that I was only in town for a few more hours, I got over it.

My entire plan for the rest of the day was essentially ruined, as most museums and such were closed by now. I began a long walk back to my hotel; a little upset that Eban didn’t even give me a last name, but felt good about all the flirting that happened.

Back at the hotel, I did my own hemming and hawing as I decided whether or not I’d go out tonight. I said to myself “screw being lazy, I’m in New Orleans!” So I changed into some “going-out” clothes and headed back down Bourbon Street.

At La Bayou Restaurant, the host sat me at the bar, but the New Orleans Iced Tea and Long Island Iced Tea and eggplant made the bar seat worth it.

Then I begin where I left off last night, on my gay bar crawl. I started with Oz, which was dead tonight. I got one shot and moved on my way, afraid that all the bars would be like this given the fact that this was Sunday night.

Cafe Lafittes in Exile
I spent several hours here making friends, talking up strangers and hotties, and dancing a bit too. Until finally, I get pulled into this picture, by a gentleman that called himself Violet! I wound up spending the rest of the night hanging out and drinking with this group of twenty-somethings from NYC and DC! We danced to the songs on the video screens, as I continued to drink (mostly vodka/crans but some shots thrown in too). Tonight was the first time I made friends with the bar tender. Tonight was also, the first night that I’ve truly lost track of how much I drank.

Nigel called at some point during this night, but I don't remember what we talked about, other than me telling him where Café Lafittes in Exile was, but he never showed up.

Some time around midnight (after about 3 hours at Café Lafittes in Exile) I thought it would be a good idea to head home; but not before I stopped back in Oz and got a drink. (I actually don’t have much recollection of stopping in Oz, but foursquare says I was there for 15 minutes!) Then I stopped across the street at Bourbon Pub and Parade. I ran into someone that I had met in Café Laftittes in Exile, ordered a drink and left the bar with my drink in hand.

As I walked down Bourbon back to my hotel, I thought to myself, that I needed food. Well what is better than bad pizza? (Yes, I was that drunk) So I got in line at the pizza place near my hotel and ordered two slices of pizza again! (No need for the diet coke tonight, I still had my glass of vodka/cran!)

Back in my hotel, I placed the “Do Not Disturb” sign on the door, and sleep soundly in my food-induced, drunken come! (Huzzah for sleeping through the night).

Stay tuned for a way less interesting part 3 of my New Orleans adventure.

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Dreams Come True: The Art of Disney

Front of New Orleans Museum of Art

Here is the long awaited review of the New Orleans Museum of Art’s (NOMA) Dreams Come True: Art of the Classic Fairy Tales from the Walt Disney Studio:

To begin, there was a short (8 minute) film produced for this event, that introduced audiences to the exhibit and some background into for WDAS (Walt Disney Animation Studios).

Right from the get go, I was slightly disappointed. I was kind of expecting something that could have been in WDW (Walt Disney World) or at least something produced by WDAS or Disney Imagineers. But the video seemed to be produced by the NOMA and I was left without that wonderful Disney feel.

I waited, rather impatiently, in a line for the audio guide listening devices. They ran out, just in time for me to have to wait. After an entirely too long three-minute wait, I got into the line at the exhibit entrance and started talking to the women behind me. We discussed our favorite movies and then they thought of the great idea that instead of holding the device to our heads, we should put headphones in. This was a great idea, and I will forever check listening devices for a headphone jack. It kept my arm from being awkwardly placed up near my head.

So head phones in my ears, I listened to John Goodman (who voiced the Marti Gras king in Princess and the Frog) introduce the exhibit and explained how to work the device. Then I entered the first room, the Silly Symphonies room. This room had some great artwork from Three Little Pigs and Ugly Duckling. There were some great cells (ones that could be salvaged from the washings when it was common practice to reuse the cells). There was also an interesting display case showing many of the books Walt had brought home with him from a trip Europe (they were open to several fairy tale pages that seemed to act as one of the many spring boards that influenced Walt to create the Silly Symphonies and his feature length animated tales.

In the rear of the this room was a wall with cells and info from Mickey and the Beanstalk, which was out of order, as Beanstalk was not produced in 1947 and was included in a package film entitled Fun and Fancy Free. It was interesting to learn that Beanstalk was supposed to be a feature length animated movie, but due to the war, it was drastically cut down.

The next room was dedicated to the movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. This room opened with a quick intro to how cartoons were made at the time; and the many different concept drawings for Snow White (one of the most interesting was seeing her in a Betty Boop style). This room had some interesting cells and original art. It also showed the massive amount of marketing and merchandizing that came with White.

This room also included a few stills and concepts from deleted scenes. John Goodman continued to narrate additional information through the listening device. The device would continue to provide more behind the scenes info that wasn’t always included on the wall plaques.

Then we jumped a couple decades into Cinderella. Again, there was some great concept art, most notably from Mary Blair (who’s art can be seen all around the world in the “it’s a small world” ride, and the dolls are completely based off Blair’s style). The room included a great shadow box that illustrated the multi-pane camera and explained how the cinematographer would manipulate the plates to create depth and movement in a rather stagnant picture.

Jump again to Sleeping Beauty. If I could I would have spent much more time in the room enjoying the art. Eywind Earle, art director on Beauty, created such a distinct style for this animation, and created such rich drawings. One display showed original cells that Earle had painted; in different phases, he would paint each cell more than 5 times, adding many different layers and textures. This new style of animation, in my opinion, led to a revolution of WDAS animation.

As the Beauty room was closing, there were some fabulous concept pieces for Maleficent. While staying there, listening to John Goodman talk about Maleficent, I heard the melody of “Part of Your World” and got a little “vaclemped.” (This song means a lot to me (check out my post about Musical Theatre for why this song means so much to me http://futureworld84.blogspot.com/2009/09/gotta-sing-sing-why-musical-theatre-is.html).) I refrained from running into the next room and finished learning about Beauty. < The Little Mermaid room began as they all did, with a comparison of the Disney version to the original tale. Then I followed along the wall that housed many pieces of concept art and finished cells from the movie. In the center of the room was a display for models that the animators used to help draw all the details.  This room was somewhat small compared the several movies that came before. (Although it might have just been that I was devouring this room so it seemed to go much faster).

Next was another small room for Beauty and the Beast. Some of the best art in the whole exhibit was on display here, in the form of the stained glass cells from the intro of the movie. This room was a disappointment though- through no fault of NOMA- by this point in WDAS’ history, they were no longer painting cells by hand, but on computers, and many of the “cells” were “prints” instead, and I felt a little cheated, as if I could have just looked at these images on the computer.

Finally was the giant four room space for Princess and the Frog. After standing and reading for about three hours I was getting a bit fatigued and let John Goodman do a lot of the talking. What made this room so much different was that instead of discussing the movie as a whole, this wing was broken up into characters and settings.  Worst of all, this time, even the concept art was digital!

The final room had some books about the art of Disney and a teaser poster for the then called Rapunzul (Now called Tangled).  Outside of the exhibit, there was a short timeline of WDAS.

I wish something like this was included in the exhibit proper as a connection between each room, to show the growth of animation between the big princess movies. 

In the other direction, was the gift shop, where I met with some more disappointment. Many of the books that were on display were no longer on sale. I was also hoping for from prints by Blair or Earle, but there weren’t any prints at all! I purchased the exhibit book and had another book (Hippo in a Tutu: Dancing Disney Animation) and a poster shipped to me.

Over all, I really enjoyed the beginning of the exhibit and loved looking at some of the art in the second third of the exhibit. I could have done with less Frog but since it was in New Orleans, this is understandable. I’m happy I made the trek down to New Orleans to check this out. This was a exquisite exhibit, and I can only hope that after it travels down under for a while, it makes its way a bit more local to the east coast of the US.

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