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!
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!”
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!
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!’?“).
Disney’s animated classic, “Aladdin”, is coming to Broadway in 2014! The show will feature music and lyrics by Alan Menken, Howard Ashman, and Tim Rice of course as well as by Chad Beguelin. Are you excited for this? Do you think this show is a good idea?
Well folks, it’s about time that I open up my latest section of this blog: my “Top 13” Lists! Face it, we all love lists and love reading other people’s opinions, and I’m no exception. So I thought to myself that I should start making a few lists and hopefully some people would be interested in reading them!
I’m stuck reading this, aren’t I?
So I went ahead and decided my first list to be, “My Top 13 Favorite Animated Disney (Canon) Films”! It seemed an appropriate list to start with seeing as I’m already doing a project involving the Disney Canon. Maybe some of you were curious as to which films are my personal favorite?
“Simply, (yawns)…Ecstatic!”
After looking through the list of the Disney Canon films and after much painstaking editing and re-arranging (I never realized how hard ranking things can be! To those of you who make lists often, I tip my hat to you!),
“Darn, I can’t make the joke about the hat being the fastest piece of clothing because it goes on a head!”
I’m ready to share the results with you all!
Note: I personally find one’s favorites and preferences can vary over time, minutely, if not majorly! So keep in mind that as of January 2013, this is my list! Maybe when I look back at this list in the future, I’ll wonder why my #6 film was not #12? Or why my #10 film was not my #3? Or why my #7 film was even on the list to begin with?
Also, I have not seen “Wreck-It Ralph” yet, but I have seen all the other films in the Disney Canon! Hopefully, I don’t love “Wreck-It Ralph” so much that it affects my top 13! Oh, you’re probably wondering to yourself, “Why top 13?” Well, it’s because I’m not superstitious!
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.
“Walt, if you grant me accreditation, 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!”
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),
Blue Sky Studios’ Inspiration!
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!
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,
Sneaking off to Dreamworks Animation to sell a story idea!
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!
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”
The Animation Commendation 