Disney Movies

Just out of curiosity, does anyone else love Robin Hood and The Sword In the Stone as much as I do? I even had a crush on Robin Hood...I knew he was a fox, but I didn't care. And Madame Mim has got to be one of the best villains of all time.

HELL YEAH! Robin Hood was foxy, dude! I wanna cry when Friar Tuck gets arrested. Seriously, every Disney movie has the ability to make me cry now.

The Sword in the Stone is absolutely EPIC, and I used to be quite frightened of Madame Mim.

"If I gave Pudge tuna, I'd be an abomination!"

Pudge controls the weather. And Scrump, her head is too big so she pretends bugs laid eggs in her ears. Ha, what a kid!

Lilo and Stitch and Lilo herself are without a doubt my favorite Disney movie/heroine combo. Just so wonderfully original, and imperfectly real. It makes me laugh and cry in equal measure.

You know the other one I liked a lot at the time but rarely hear much about is Hercules. I loved James Woods as Hades ("Whoa, is my hair out?"). That one is also on sale so I'll be getting that this week, too.

Ohmygod YES. Everything about that movie clicks for me. The gospel chorus, the character design, Megara (Disney's first out and out femme fatale I believe)... and the silly, stupid, anachronistic humor.

"Somebody call IX-I-I!"

Crowbridge wrote:Just out of curiosity, does anyone else love Robin Hood and The Sword In the Stone as much as I do? I even had a crush on Robin Hood...I knew he was a fox, but I didn't care. And Madame Mim has got to be one of the best villains of all time.

I used to loved The Sword in the Stone as a kid, but I haven't seen it in ages.

You know the other one I liked a lot at the time but rarely hear much about is Hercules.

I have always thought that this movie was ahead of its time. Its pop-culture parody, the Greek mythology jokes, all these things are very meta and stuff like that goes over much better today. I prefer Hercules to something like Shrek, because Hercules still manages to have a lot of heart underneath. (I don't personally get that feeling from Shrek). The music is great, I love Meg, Pegasus is the best non-speaking animal in a Disney film since Prince Philip's horse Samson, and it's just plain fun.

I also love The Sword in the Stone. It has its problems: three different voice actors for Wart, for example. But I love the "to and fro" song. The scene where Wart actually pulls the sword from the stone (both times) is very well done. Archimedes and Merlin crack me up. Sword in the Stone was storyboarded by the great Bill Peet, and I find all his work on the Disney films to be enjoyable. Probably his greatest achievment was 101 Dalmatians, which I'll go ahead and say was better than the book (don't stone me!). If you haven't read Peet's autobiography, I highly recommend it. It captures the Walt period at Disney very well--though Peet covers his whole working life, I noticed that so much of his adult career was dominated and influenced by Walt. I think he had that effect on everyone.

Thank you, Crowbridge, I will now be singing "Mad Madam Mim" under my breath all evening. The Sword in the Stone was one of my favourites when I was a kid. For ages it was the only movie my sisters and I could agree on, so we watched it again and again. I remember the part where Wart (in squirrel form) gets romanced by a female squirrel used to really upset us, because of how bad the other squirrel felt when he changed shape!

allochthonous wrote:Thank you, Crowbridge, I will now be singing "Mad Madam Mim" under my breath all evening. The Sword in the Stone was one of my favourites when I was a kid. For ages it was the only movie my sisters and I could agree on, so we watched it again and again. I remember the part where Wart (in squirrel form) gets romanced by a female squirrel used to really upset us, because of how bad the other squirrel felt when he changed shape!

Oh man, that was so sad. I feel bad now and I haven't even seen the movie in ages. We used to watch it all the time, particularly the "Mad Madam Mim" sequence. So good.

whattheduece, you should probably stay far far away from Lilo and Stitch. It took me about 4 times before I could watch it without bawling the whole way through.

Thanks to you guys I am now picturing a horse poker night, where Samson, Pegasus, and Maximus get together to complain about their heroes.

blixie wrote:

"If I gave Pudge tuna, I'd be an abomination!"

Pudge controls the weather. And Scrump, her head is too big so she pretends bugs laid eggs in her ears. Ha, what a kid!

Lilo and Stitch and Lilo herself are without a doubt my favorite Disney movie/heroine combo. Just so wonderfully original, and imperfectly real. It makes me laugh and cry in equal measure.

I think it says something about how much we love that movie that my sister had that entire opening monologue memorized for awhile and her kids went as Lilo and Stitch one Halloween.

Robin Hood has one of the best soundtracks, IMO. I love "Oo-De-Lally" and "Not in Nottingham".

I watched Lilo & Stitch many years ago and don't remember liking it one bit, unfortunately. I should give it another shot though since Stitch is so ridiculous and cute.

Other than the Elvis songs on the soundtrack, I also did not like Lilo & Stitch when I first saw it. I found Lilo to be an insufferable brat. However, I do like the adorable Stitch and can do a mean impression of his goofy voice.

I recall thinking it was boring and didn't feel like a Disney movie at all.

It is possibly my most favorite Disney movie... which is saying something. I just found it very moving and it still makes me cry when I watch it.

Lilo and Stitch is so much more "real" for lack of a better word than a lot of the other Disney movies. Even with some of the same elements (dead parents especially) it just hits harder than the fairy tale types because it happens in a recognizable world. I really like that it doesn't feel like other Disney movies, but I can see how it wouldn't be for everyone. Also I love "He Mele No Lilo."

That movie BROKE me. It was so underrated. I expected it to be in the bad group of later Disney movies a la Hunchback/Pocahontas because no one was really talking about it when it came out (plus the marketing seemed pretty weak), but I adore this movie.

I really like Hunchback, but then again, I haven't seen it in years. I remember trying so hard not to fuckin' bawl in the theater when Quasimodo had food tossed at him towards the start of the movie. And then again when he sees Phoebus and Esmeralda kiss. Damn, that movie was painful for my childhood self to watch!

There are parts of Hunchback that work really well, Hellfire anyone? Aaaand then there are the gargoyles.

Pandora has reminded me of two of the forgotten movies I truly love by breaking my heart playing Phil Collins' "Look Through My Eyes".

Both Tarzan and Brother Bear are so much better than their placement at the turn of the century would lead one to believe. Tarzan in particular was amazing for the way it stayed pretty faithful to the first Burroughs' story. There were a few changes, like removing the Greystoke angle, but the way they treated animal vs. human communication was subtle but inspired by the story. Then there was the physical representation of Tarzan, far more ape-like than any human performer could make him.

Brother Bear wasn't necessarily anything special, but I think it gets unfairly overlooked sometimes. The themes were really dark - even moreso than Hunchback (which I love unreservedly) - and I found the redemption arc to be very moving. But I have to admit, I'm a sucker for redemption stories. When Koda tells the story about his mother protecting him from the monster, I cry almost every time.

Putting Phil Collins in charge of songs seems like a bald ploy to catch lightning in a bottle like they did with Elton John on The Lion King, and if so, it didn't work out as planned. But I think he did some great work - particularly "Son of Man", the song that underscores Tarzan learning to speak English, and "Look Through My Eyes", which breaks my heart to hear as I mentioned above because it always recalls Koda's story. And even though I don't like Rosie O'Donnell or *nSync very much, I love the scatting they do on "Trashin' the Camp".

I loved Strangers Like Me, and yeah, Son of Man was awesome. Hmm. I think we've got the CD of the soundtrack lying around somewhere - time to do some rippin'.

whatthedeuce wrote:I really like Hunchback, but then again, I haven't seen it in years. I remember trying so hard not to fuckin' bawl in the theater when Quasimodo had food tossed at him towards the start of the movie. And then again when he sees Phoebus and Esmeralda kiss. Damn, that movie was painful for my childhood self to watch!

Hunchback is second to Beauty & the Beast in my mind. I know not a whole lot of people like it, but every time I watch it, I'm mesmerized. It's beautiful and heartbreaking.

I like Hunchback, Tarzan AND Pocahontas. The latter has a lot of issues but the songs are great, its beautiful to look at and I have fond memories of loving it when I was a wee one.

laddical, I forgot all about "Trashin' the Camp." That is an awesomely fun track, and I too love everyone scatting in that song!

I'd really like to watch Hunchback again and see how much I enjoy it a decade and a half later. There's no doubt in my mind that it'd make me bawl like a baby in the same places I already mentioned even if the rest somehow didn't live up to what I remember of the film.

I love the song "Savages" - which is not to say I love the attitude of the characters in the song, just that I feel it is a tremendous bit of musical theater. All of the songs for Pocahontas are - if Disney weren't going to be pilloried merely for acknowledging her again, I would say that rather than trying to go for spectacle by finding a way to stage The Little Mermaid or Aladdin on Broadway (in a way that works, I should say, since they tried one of those already and the other has been turned into a play not-for-Broadway)... way off on a tangent there. Long story short: Pocahontas would work very well as a stage show.

The popular opinion on Hunchback is that the movie would work better without the gargoyles; that may or may not be true. I think what they needed to do was really push the angle that the gargoyles aren't real - that they're either simply imaginary friends or Quasi's broken self-image or what not. They do play to that by not having the gargoyles interact with anyone but Quasi, I just don't think it was particularly clear that they weren't just that movies "playful animal friend".

Yeah, much as I love Jason Alexander, I didn't like the gargoyles much. They seemed to be there solely to provide toys for the inevitable Happy Meal tie-in.

Oo, I'd forgotten about the song "Savages" from Pocahontas. That was good stuff. *sigh* Back when Mel Gibson was still one of the top-grossing stars in the world and not, well, one of the grossest guys in the world.