disney animation – Page 15 – The Animation Commendation

Disney Canon-Forgotten/Minor Characters #13: The Mome Raths

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!

There's no knowing where we're going! Or which way the river's flowing! — There’s no knowing where we’re going! Or which way the river’s flowing!

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”

Disney Canon-Forgotten/Minor Characters #12: The Palace Guards

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”

Disney’s “Planes” Is Cleared For a Theatrical Release

Disney Toon Studios’ “Planes”, originally meant as a direct-to-DVD release, has been allowed a theatrical release on August 9, 2013. The CGI film takes place in the world of Pixar’s “Cars” franchise, but instead focuses on the vehicles of the air! Current attached voices include Jon Cryer, Stacy Keach, Brad Garrett, and Carlos Alazraqui.

More can be found at http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=98312 . So are you excited about this film, dreading it, indifferent to it? Let me know in the comments!

Disney Canon-Forgotten/Minor Characters #11: Mr. Winky

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”

Disney Canon-Forgotten/Minor Characters #10: The Ocean Buoys

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”

Disney Canon-Forgotten/Minor Characters #9: The Yawning Trees

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”

Disney Canon-Forgotten/Minor Characters #8: Johnnie Fedora and Alice Bluebonnet

Next up is Disney’s 8th feature and 3rd package film, “Make Mine Music”. Released in 1946, the film is somewhat like “Fantasia” in that it’s a collection of unrelated shorts set to music. This time, most of the music is actually lyrical and popular (for the time, at least). And like I’ve said before, I actually prefer this film over “Fantasia”.

ANYWAY, this film is composed of 10 segments in its entirety. Continue reading “Disney Canon-Forgotten/Minor Characters #8: Johnnie Fedora and Alice Bluebonnet”

Disney Canon-Forgotten/Minor Characters #7: Burrito, the Flying Donkey

Wow, first Pinocchio’s talking donkeys and now a flying one! What’s with donkeys being portrayed with impossible characteristics in Disney movies? And why are they somewhat forgotten? Oh, well! Continue reading “Disney Canon-Forgotten/Minor Characters #7: Burrito, the Flying Donkey”

Disney Canon-Forgotten/Minor Characters #6: Mt. Aconcagua

We now arrive at Disney’s 6th animated feature-length film, “Saludos Amigos.” And when I say feature-length, I mean it BARELY makes it with a runtime of 42 minutes! (A feature-length film by definition is 40 minutes.) Heck, even when I say animated, I don’t mean fully animated, because this film has a good amount of live-action in it!

Released in 1942, this is the first of 6 consecutive animated Disney films that will be known as his “package films”. Package films, or anthology films, are movies that are just a bunch of shorts, unrelated mostly, put together to make a movie. Arguably, “Fantasia” and its sequel can be considered package films as well as the “Winnie the Pooh” films, but generally the term is used to refer to these 6 films during the ’40s. There were a number of reasons why Walt had to make these package films instead of a usual story-driven coherent film. Some include that these were inexpensive to make and hopefully would cause the studio to regain their money from previous flops; these films were made during WWII and many of his animation studio were drafted; and that the American government wanted Walt and other animation companies to focus on making nationalistic cartoons rather than waste time and money on films. Whatever the main reason, let’s talk about our first package film, “Saludos Amigos.” Continue reading “Disney Canon-Forgotten/Minor Characters #6: Mt. Aconcagua”

Disney Canon-Forgotten/Minor Characters #5: Bambi and Faline’s Twins

We arrive at Walt Disney’s 5th animated classic, “Bambi”! Released in 1942, it originally didn’t fare well in the box office due to the fact that it was released during WWII. But, the film has gone on to become a financial success due to many re-releases. It also received mixed critical reviews when it came out; but now is considered a classic and has even been selected by the National Film Registry to be preserved in its collection of films deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.

The story is well-known. It’s a sort of coming-of-age story of a deer named Bambi from his birth into adulthood. The film was Disney’s foray into a more realistic animation approach and taught valuable life lessons and emotions along the way. Now, I have to say that this film is one of the most memorable of the Disney classics in terms of its characters. I honestly couldn’t find any character who was forgotten/minor in this film. Everybody knows Bambi, his mother, Faline, her mother, Thumper and Family, Flower and Family, Friend Owl, Bambi’s father, Bambi’s rival, Man, and even the background animals! So far, this has been the hardest decision for me to make in this project, so I had to go with the last characters to be introduced in this film: Bambi and Faline’s twins! Continue reading “Disney Canon-Forgotten/Minor Characters #5: Bambi and Faline’s Twins”