I can hear you saying, “WHO?!” and you probably have a right to say that. Hopefully, everything can be explained as we progress.
We are visiting Walt Disney’s 18th animated feature film, “The Sword in the Stone” (or as I like to call it, “How Many Times Can You Hear Wart Say, ‘Wha..?Wait. Whoa!’?“).
Released in 1963, it was the last animated Disney film released during Walt Disney’s life. Continue reading “Disney Canon-Forgotten/Minor Characters #18: Hobbs”
The “Twilight Bark” can bring you the canine-related news, but “The Animation Commendation” will bring you the Disney canon-related news! And today, we venture into Disney’s 17th animated feature, “One Hundred and One Dalmatians”. Released in 1961, the film was a great success and became loved by us all. It was a thrilling film of how far one goes to save one’s family. Continue reading “Disney Canon-Forgotten/Minor Characters #17: Towser and Lucy”
Come once upon a dream with me as we investigate Disney’s 16th animated feature, “Sleeping Beauty”. Released in 1959, this film was meant to be a masterpiece. Intricate detail was put into the animation and backgrounds. Two versions of the film were made: a widescreen version and a regular version. And to top it all off, this was the most expensive animated Disney film to date! Walt and his crew were hoping for this to be a success! Was it? No!
Like “Alice in Wonderland”, this film was not an initial success, but rather saw box office profits through future re-releases. The underperformance of this film was the reason that Walt decided not to make another animated film based on a fairy tale again. And the Disney Studios would not make an animated film based on a fairy tale until 1989’s “The Little Mermaid”. Continue reading “Disney Canon-Forgotten/Minor Characters #16: Queen Leah”
Traveling along the Disney Canon, we have to embark at the 15th stop: “Lady and the Tramp”. Yes, released in 1955, the love story about two dogs of different statuses has made its way into the hearts of many! The story is an interesting one: it’s based on a story man’s dog, based on a short story in “Cosmopolitan Magazine”, inspired by an actual event involving Walt Disney and his wife, and/or possibly plagiarized from feminist María Lejárraga.
Whatever the main inspiration of the film, we all have to agree that this movie is pretty much perfect! I personally have no problems with it. The animation, backgrounds, and character designs are perfect and beautiful. The characters are lovable. The voice acting is admirable (even if including, arguably, the first use of a celebrity voice in animated films),
the story is precise, and the movie keeps you entertained. I honestly wouldn’t consider it to be one of my favorite Disney films, but it’s still an amazing work of art!
With that said, let’s focus on the…umm…well…the …focus of this project: the forgotten/minor characters! This case was similar to “Peter Pan” in which my choice of forgotten/minor character was one I really didn’t want to go with; but in the end I gave in. Continue reading “Disney Canon-Forgotten/Minor Characters #15: The British Polyglot Professor”
Let’s fly to Neverland, folks! We are viewing Disney’s 14th animated feature film, “Peter Pan”. Released in 1953, the film was a commercial success after the somewhat failure, “Alice in Wonderland”.
The film’s story, again extremely well-known, is about a boy who doesn’t want to grow up named Peter Pan. He lives in a fantasy world called Neverland where he has fun with the Indians, talks with the mermaids, and battles the villain Captain Hook and his gang of pirates. After Peter Pan loses his shadow in the house of the Darling family,
he goes back to retrieve it and decides to bring the Darling children along to see Neverland. And that’s basically the story. Continue reading “Disney Canon-Forgotten/Minor Characters #14: The Hot Water Pirate”
I hope you’re not late, not late, for a very important date; because we have to venture into Disney’s 13th animated feature, “Alice in Wonderland”. This was a film that Walt Disney had wanted to make for a long time, even before “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”; but due to various reasons, the film was finally made and released in 1951. Sadly though, it was not a box office success and had to wait over 20 years to be re-released in theaters! During its re-releases, the movie became a financial hit and an animated classic; possibly due to people seeing it as an LSD trip of sorts!
Whatever the reason, we all can agree that “Alice in Wonderland” has got to be one of the most strangest books and films that we’ve ever read or seen in our lives! And in my opinion, what makes this movie so likeable and perfect are its characters: its PLETHORA of characters; its PLETHORA of ODDBALL characters; its PLETHORA of MEMORABLE ODDBALL characters! So picking a forgotten one was a bit of a challenge, but I managed to complete that task! Let’s follow the Mad Hatter and March Hare’s advice by starting at the beginning and when we arrive at the end, stop! Continue reading “Disney Canon-Forgotten/Minor Characters #13: The Mome Raths”
I want to apologize for being a bit late with this post. It took me a while to obtain a copy of this film; because unlike the others, this was one I hadn’t seen in a long time and I needed to re-watch in order to determine its forgotten/minor characters. With that said, let’s waste no further time and dive right in!
After the 6 package films and the end of WWII, Walt Disney decided to return to feature animation. Now because of losses made by the earlier movies and the war; Walt had to make a movie that would be a hit. If this movie flopped, Walt Disney Studios would have most likely gone bankrupt and been shut down! So based on the fact that Walt Disney Studios is still around today, you can guess that his 12th animated film was indeed a massive hit! We are of course talking about the 1950 masterpiece, “Cinderella”! Continue reading “Disney Canon-Forgotten/Minor Characters #12: The Palace Guards”
Yes! We’re finally at Disney’s last package film and probably my personal favorite amongst them! Applause, people, applause!
Released in 1949, we have Disney’s 11th feature, “The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad”! The film is similar to “Fun and Fancy Free” in the fact that it only consists of 2 segments: “The Wind and the Willows” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”. Continue reading “Disney Canon-Forgotten/Minor Characters #11: Mr. Winky”
Firstly, I want to apologize for not being as active on the blog as I used to be. I had final exams in college; but now they are done! So, I plan to spend more time on this blog working on this project and some other projects that I plan to do. So for now, let’s continue down our Forgotten/Minor Characters Project.
Next up is Disney’s 10th animated feature and 5th package film, “Melody Time”. Released in 1948, “Melody Time” is basically the exact same thing as “Make Mine Music” except with different shorts; so I won’t get into much detail explaining what it is. Continue reading “Disney Canon-Forgotten/Minor Characters #10: The Ocean Buoys”
When I started this project, I mentioned that the characters that I’d choose would be major, but forgotten; or minor and unmemorable; or just in the background and caught my attention. Today’s entry is mostly of the latter category. Continue reading “Disney Canon-Forgotten/Minor Characters #9: The Yawning Trees”
The Animation Commendation 