animated film – Page 30 – The Animation Commendation

Disney Canon-Forgotten/Minor Characters #24: Tod’s Mom

Disney’s 24th animated feature, “The Fox and the Hound”, is an important one from a historical perspective. It’s the film that had the baton figuratively passed down from the old animators to the hands of the new generation of animators and colleagues including future famous names such as Glen Keane, Ron Clements, Richard Rich, Don Bluth, Henry Selick, John Lasseter, and Brad Bird.

It’s also the film during which Don Bluth left the Disney studios with a handful of other animators and went to form his own animation studios which would become Disney’s biggest competitor for a while.

Sorry, I still consider you a Disney traitor!

But anyway, this post isn’t meant to be so much about the historical significance of the film as it about the film and its characters themselves. So let’s take a closer look. Continue reading “Disney Canon-Forgotten/Minor Characters #24: Tod’s Mom”

Disney Canon-Forgotten/Minor Characters #23: Euripedes Mouse

In a fix? In a bind? In a jam? In a scrape? Maybe you need the assistance of the Rescue Aid Society!

Disney’s 23rd animated feature, “The Rescuers” introduces us to this wonderful (and hopefully fictitious) organization of United Nations mice! Oh, I’m getting ahead of myself, let’s start with the background info. Continue reading “Disney Canon-Forgotten/Minor Characters #23: Euripedes Mouse”

Disney Canon-Forgotten/Minor Characters #22: Mr. Sanders

I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I know I’m going obscure again!

But come on, who the heck is forgotten or minor from the “Winnie the Pooh” franchise?! Everybody all over the world knows about Winnie the Pooh and his friends. All kids know about them! All adults know about them! Heck, I’m sure extraterrestrials know about them!

That would explain Pooh's odd choice for a helmet! — That would explain Pooh’s odd choice for a helmet!

Sigh…well let’s begin this post, shall we? Continue reading “Disney Canon-Forgotten/Minor Characters #22: Mr. Sanders”

Disney Canon-Forgotten/Minor Characters #21: The Rhino Executioner

Trudging along the post-Walt Disney era of the Disney canon,

It's ok! You may cry! — It’s ok! You may cry!

we find that Walt still hasn’t really left us! Released in 1973, “Robin Hood” was the Disney Studios’ 21st animated feature. It was based on the legend of Robin Hood, the outcast who “stole from the rich to feed the poor”. The studios had originally wanted to make a film about Reynard the Fox,

Hmm...antisemitism in a children's book! — “Hey Walt, how about we make a film about an antisemitic children’s hero?”
“Uh….no!”

but after Walt deemed the hero a bad role model, they ended up using elements of Reynard the Fox in “Robin Hood”. So this film still shares some connection to the deceased Walt Disney. Continue reading “Disney Canon-Forgotten/Minor Characters #21: The Rhino Executioner”

“Escape from Planet Earth” opens at #4

Well, the first theatrical animated film of the year has received many negative reviews and opened with $16 million at the weekend box office! Do the people who actually make these bad films actually think that these films will be hits?

Oh, btw, this is my 50th post 😀 !

My Top 13 Favorite Animated Disney (Canon) Songs!

Well, due to the popularity of my last “Top 13” list, I decided to make another one! And today’s post takes a dive into an aspect of Disney’s animated films that is loved by everyone: its songs!

The vast majority of the Disney Canon films are musicals, or at least feature a song or two. And the magic of Disney along with the magic of many of Disney’s songwriters including the Sherman Brothers,

Alan Menken and Howard Ashman,

"We're...second....awesome!" — “We’re…second….awesome!”

and many others whose names are relatively unknown to the majority of the world, make these songs enjoyable, cherished, and memorable to us all!

So the question is, “Which of the songs are my favorites?”. To find that out, I went through all the songs of the Disney Canon films and picked out the ones that I really loved…all 40 of them!

Yeah, then came the nigh impossible challenge of shortening that “shortlist” to 13! (This was soooo much harder than figuring out my top 13 favorite animated Disney canon films)! So if you don’t see your favorite Disney song on here, don’t be mad! It most likely was in my shortlist to begin with and didn’t make my top 13!

Oh, why top 13? Because I’m not superstitious!

Note: I personally believe that one’s favorites can change over time, so this is my list as of February 2013. With that said, I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it! Continue reading “My Top 13 Favorite Animated Disney (Canon) Songs!”

My Thoughts: ROCK-A-DOODLE (1991)

Oh boy, we’re back to watching Don Bluth movies! That just goes to show you how bored I’ve been recently. For those of you who don’t know, I’m not exactly the biggest fan of Don Bluth, nor would I even call myself a small fan of the man! Nonetheless, being an animated film fanatic, I felt it my duty to watch all his movies! True, they’re not terrible, but I don’t love any particular one of them! I will give him credit though that his animation always is top-notch and there are some enjoyable things in all his movies! An example of a movie portraying top-notch animation and some enjoyable things is this one: “Rock-A-Doodle”! Continue reading “My Thoughts: ROCK-A-DOODLE (1991)”

Disney Canon-Forgotten/Minor Characters #20: Georges Hautecourt

Well, even though Walt Disney has left us on our journey, his legacy still remains! Disney’s 20th animated feature, although not worked on by Disney, was given the approval to go ahead before Walt had passed away! “The Aristocats”, released in 1970, was the beginning of the post-Disney years and what I term the “Iffy Era”. I don’t really consider the ’70s and ’80s as a “Dark Age”; but they definitely weren’t lucrative years! Continue reading “Disney Canon-Forgotten/Minor Characters #20: Georges Hautecourt”

Disney Canon-Forgotten/Minor Characters #19: Akela and Rama

Sorry for the long delay! We are now at Disney’s 19th animated feature and the last one that he personally worked on before he died!

Don't hold back those tears now! — Don’t hold back those tears now!

Released in 1967, “The Jungle Book” was both a commercial and critical success. It was so good that Gregory Peck tried his hardest to get this film to be nominated for the “Best Picture” award at the Oscars! Unfortunately, the erroneous idea that animated films are “kiddie flicks” and incomparable to live-action movies was present and his efforts were shut down.

"Members of the Academy, if you grant me that nomination, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you!" — “Members of the Academy, if you grant me that nomination, that’ll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don’t, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you!”

It wouldn’t be until 1991 that an animated film would get nominated for the “Best Picture” Oscar! We’ll come to that one when we get there in our project. Continue reading “Disney Canon-Forgotten/Minor Characters #19: Akela and Rama”

“Wreck-It Ralph” Wrecks Competition…Again…at the Annie Awards!

Well, the Disney feature won 5 awards including “Best Animated Feature” and “Voice Acting in a Feature Production (Alan Tudyk as King Candy)”! I still have yet to see this film, and all this hype just makes me want to see it more!