Disney Movies

whatthedeuce wrote:I'm way behind the rest of the planet and just barely saw Frozen two weeks ago. Why didn't Olaf suck, guys? He looks like he should have been irritating and smackable, but OMG, he was so freakin' ADORABLE. I wanted to hug him til he melted.

Olaf was my favourite thing about it!

Yes! I rolled my eyes every time I saw Olaf in the advertisements and now all I want to do is snuggle him. He's the best.

Why didn't Olaf suck, guys?

Right? I never saw Frozen in the theatre because the commercials kept emphasizing Olaf, and I thought "Geez, he's going to be irritating as hell." I wasn't prepared for him to be cute and hilarious and kind of poignant.

QueenSix wrote:

I only realised that young Aurora was played by Vivienne Jolie-Pitt when I saw it in the credits. I thought the child looked familiar but couldn't remember where I knew her from (which just goes to show that that tabloids have not been doing their job right!!)

I read an interview where Angelina Jolie said that they had to use Vivienne, because every other little girl they tried was afraid of her in her Maleficent costume.

I watched it this afternoon, and will vote with the crowd - it was good, but not great. Well, Angelina Jolie was great - she was born to play Maleficent. But it starts on a high note and gradually just runs out of steam.

I read an interview where Angelina Jolie said that they had to use Vivienne, because every other little girl they tried was afraid of her in her Maleficent costume.

I feel like this is Angelina doing a bit of humorous overstatement, but it works - I find the image of little kids running in terror from her in costume hilarious.

Those stories just makes me wonder what she wears around the house if Vivienne wasn't freaked out.

So I finally got around to seeing Frozen, and while I did enjoy it, I actually prefer Tangled. I know that makes me a heretic, but I'm not sure WHY people love Frozen so much. I did like that the story was primarily about the power of family, and I certainly liked the characters, but I didn't connect with it like I did with Tangled.

No, I liked Tangled better, too. Even the songs. Olaf vs. Pascal is a wash, I think, but the villain in Tangled is more developed and disturbingly believable, whereas the whole thing with Hans felt like someone went, "Ooops... we have no third act here!" I've had people tell me that Love is an Open Door sounds more sinister once you know Hans is a villain, and you know, I guess that's true, but really, it just sounds to me like they wrote the song and then later decided he needed to be evil, and any sinister connotation in the song is the audience projecting rather than anything planned.

And as duets go, I'll take Moore and Levi on "Now I See the Light" any day. That song is gorgeous, and the moment where they cut to the King and Queen getting ready to go out for the lighting kills me.

I agree with you both. The surprise to me was how underdeveloped Elsa was. Prior to watching the movie a couple of months ago, I knew almost nothing aside from "Let It Go" and the character name Elsa. So I assumed she was the lead. I was delighted that KBell's Anna was the lead instead, but confused that Elsa was such a flimsy character. I mean, she gets the big song in the first third of the movie, but otherwise, her powers are the real character.

I did like it--just found it a little overrated, especially compared to Tangled, which I think is sort of superior in every way (except Anna and Rapunzel are equally great in my view). But I appreciate the sister stuff because I have a lot of little girls in my life who seriously ADORE this movie, and I'm glad they have a story about two women whose love for each other saves the day, rather than the standard love story.

Speaking of, I had a rather sweet conversation with my cousin's Disney Princess-obsessed 7-year-old about "princesses who fight," because she's taking karate and was showing me some of her moves while wearing her Elsa dress. She went through every Disney princess she could think of with me, and described how, when, and why each of them fight. She was so amazed to learn that Mulan and Pocahontas were based on real people.

I think Frozen went through quite a number of re-writes before they settled on the current version. Apparently Elsa was the villain at one point, which given the story of the Snow Queen makes sense.

Carrie Ann wrote:I did like it--just found it a little overrated, especially compared to Tangled, which I think is sort of superior in every way (except Anna and Rapunzel are equally great in my view). But I appreciate the sister stuff because I have a lot of little girls in my life who seriously ADORE this movie, and I'm glad they have a story about two women whose love for each other saves the day, rather than the standard love story.

Anna and Kristoff's storyline is such a rip-off of Rapunzel and Flynn's and yet I like the former better for some reason. Just think they're cuter I guess. I think Tangled is the better movie - it has a tighter, better focus - but I guess I just like Frozen better because of the music and the art, although I do really love the Kingdom Dance sequence music from when Rapnuzel and Flynn first enter the city. I think that's the case with most people - a lot of people I've talked with say that the music made up for the plot holes.

whereas the whole thing with Hans felt like someone went, "Ooops... we have no third act here!" I've had people tell me that Love is an Open Door sounds more sinister once you know Hans is a villain, and you know, I guess that's true, but really, it just sounds to me like they wrote the song and then later decided he needed to be evil, and any sinister connotation in the song is the audience projecting rather than anything planned.

Yeah, I think it would have been a better choice for Hans to kiss Anna and it didn't work because she wasn't really in love with him. And it makes me be annoyed that they wasted a love duet on a couple that isn't really a couple, but that could just be because I don't like/care about "Love is an Open Door".

ooooooooooooh, how could I forget to mention it? the Hunchback of Notre Dame is making it's U.S. stage debut at the Papermill Playhouse next March I believe!

Looks like it actually starts at La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego in October.

Hmmm... it opens later in the month, but October has mine and my wife's birthday/anniversary/birthday week. A leisurely (kid-free?) drive down I-5 for a long weekend, take in a show....

I know this point has been made eleventy billion times, but...dude, seriously, Hunchback is not a movie for kids. I was 14 at the time and I took my 7-year-old sister. I thought it was awesome (although at certain points, especially "Hellfire," I would look at the screen like this, because seriously, NOT FOR SEVEN-YEAR-OLDS) but my sister was alternately bored and terrified. Like, what group of grown people thought this was solid toddler-to-tween entertainment? (I suspect that the same will be said of Maleficent, eventually.)

eta why specifically I was side-eyeing it

Hunchback floats near the top for my pick of "favorite Disney Classic". But the reason it never stays there consistently is that eventually I remember, "Oh yeah. Those fucking gargoyles."

Because narratively and emotionally, everything about the movie *besides* those three pandering toyetic monstrosities works. Not as a kids movie or a family movie, but just as "a movie" - even "Hellfire" is a beautifully rendered bit of villainous creepitude.

laddical wrote:Hunchback floats near the top for my pick of "favorite Disney Classic". But the reason it never stays there consistently is that eventually I remember, "Oh yeah. Those fucking gargoyles."

Because narratively and emotionally, everything about the movie *besides* those three pandering toyetic monstrosities works. Not as a kids movie or a family movie, but just as "a movie" - even "Hellfire" is a beautifully rendered bit of villainous creepitude.

I hadn't seen the movie in a really long time (I was also almost 14 when it came out), and I watched it again not all that long ago, and I had honestly forgotten how GOOD it was. I liked it at 14, but I appreciated it even more as an adult. It has some of the best songs, and the music overall is fantastic. But the story is on the dark side, and kids really don't get it. The only thing in the movie for them to really "like" are the gargoyles, and they annoy most people. I actually don't mind them because they do make sense in a Disney-fied version of the story. Plus I like the vocal performances. But I completely understand why they bug a LOT of people.

Maybe now that the movie is almost 20 years old (man, I am OLD) its place in the Disney canon will be re-assessed.

Frollo definitely ranks along with Mother Gothel as tied for my favorite Disney villain. Maleficent is a close third, but she loses out because she's a very typical fairy tale villain whereas Frollo and Gothel are evil in very real and destructive ways.

laddical wrote:Looks like it actually starts at La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego in October.

Hmmm... it opens later in the  month, but October has mine and my wife's birthday/anniversary/birthday week. A leisurely (kid-free?) drive down I-5 for a long weekend, take in a show....

Heh. There's actually a school production of it on youtube (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzvdeRjhZpVkhPWk_LL8Vnhk0DaZ77Aw5) which gives a nice feel for the music. It's not bad for a school production. The singing is better than the acting though.

http://blogs.disney.com/insider/2014/08/14/aladdin-to-air-on-tv-this-weekend/

aw. That's very nice.

That's what we should have played in class today. I need to find an Aladdin DVD immediately.

We watched it with our daughters Saturday night. I was doing fine until Aladdin said "Genie, you're free" - then I turned into a sobbing mess.

I managed to hold it together right to the end when they placed the tribute card at the end and then I was a mess. Robin Williams death is like a repeated punch to the stomach. Every clip you see of him he's laughing. It's just impossible to imagine someone who appeared so happy, and brought so many people so much joy and laughter, being so unhappy. It was nice of Disney to air Aladdin in his honor. Especially given the fact that Williams wasn't always on the best terms with them over that movie.

It makes me happy to know that Robin's death has hit his fans so hard. It means he made a deep impact on people all over the world and of so many generations. I like to think he's at least smiling about that wherever he now is.

So, Disney decided that what was missing from Marvel movies was some good old fashioned tear-jerking.

Then they made Big Hero 6.

I'm torn between apprehension that it looks like a Marvel movie's going to try and make me cry and giddy joy at almost everything Baymax does.

I watched The Hunchback of Notre Dame two days in a row on ABC Family, and damn, that movie is excellent! I feel like the songs are really beautiful and thoughtful and can totally imagine hearing them in an actual Broadway musical. I don't understand why Disney would choose to animate such a dark tale in the first place, but it's definitely the most underrated Disney film of the '90s. Frollo is an incredible villain, and one of the scariest, IMO. Esmeralda is just plain badass, outrunning Frollo's henchmen at every turn and helping/saving Phoebus and Quasimodo instead of being some lame damsel in distress. That said, I still find it hard to watch the scene where Quasi is publicly ridiculed and bombarded with garbage. To be perfectly honest, it almost makes me physically sick. The pain and humiliation in his voice when he calls out to Frollo just sound so genuine.