Disney Movie Discussion

[Dong Zhou]

Watched Jon Favreau's 2016 version of The Jungle Book. Visually very very impressive work to create the jungle and the animals in such a beautiful way which was mentioned a lot at the time this came out. Favreau and co clearly have a lot of love for Disney (can't comment on what they took from Kipling) with some delightful touches

loved the book at the end like the old films

and nods while they avoided the trap of copying too closely, only time I felt nods didn't work were the songs which were lacking for me, things like the Bare Necessities were better as part of the incidental music rather then sung. Mowgli (Neel Sethi) felt like an actual child rather then a Hollywood version of a child, very good voicework generally, just about enough humour.

I did feel it's baddies were lacking with the exception of Kaa's (Scarlett Johansson) one scene, they tried hard with Shere Khan (Idris Elba) and did all the right things (bar his scar isn't noticeable on a small screen) but there was a lack of power for me. King Louie (Christopher Walken) they had an intresting idea or two with him but I felt Walken was poor and didn't fit the general theme of the movie. I did feel second half had a few moments that drifted but overall felt it was a nice movie but one whose visuals were better then the overall content.

[Sun Fin]

I disagree about King Louie, I thought he was terrifying for a kids movie. Would definitely agree with the music, I thought Bare Necessities' was the only one that kinda worked.

[Dong Zhou]

I thought the idea behind him worked , I just blame Walken or whoever told him to do it in that style

[Dong Zhou]

Gah lost my post

Watched Disney short Olaf's Frozen Adventure, a half hour Christmas adventure which did not go down well in cinemas. We watched it on TV at a time of our choosing which may have helped but we quite liked it. Songs are forgettable at best and not a particularly good setup but we enjoyed the humour, particularly poking fun at some Christmas traditions

Had been looking forward to Moana, it had good reviews at the time though slipped off the radar quickly, it was covering a tale I hadn't heard of a pacific island culture rarely covered (though not without controversy), I tend to enjoy Dwayne Johnson's work. It starts badly, not the little round up of the history one needs but afters like setting up our heroine (Auli'i Cravalho). It is visually beautiful and remarkable how good animation is nowadays, there was humour from the animals (so much so, some of the family were annoyed one got left out of the main adventure) and the grandma (Rachel House) but songs in that section are poor, Moana and her family struggle to hold the attention and it feels like it takes awhile for the adventure to begin.

Once it does, it does go better. There is plenty of humour be it situational comedy, Moana herself, Maui (Dwayne Johnson) and his tattoos, the hilarious chicken, it was still beautiful, it is a decent enough adventure, most songs forgettable but Maui's introduction one is fun and they have a good villain song thanks to visual effects. Yet when Moana herself is meant to be leading the film, she can't quite do it and there is a sense of the film being longer then it is due to bad pace, ending has one nice scene but lacks punch.

[Dong Zhou]

Watched the remake of Beauty and the Beast, the 91 animated version always has had magical memories for us so this was going to have to combat this. I'm sure writers Evan Spiliotopoulos and Stephen Chbosky were fully aware of this danger so their strategy seems odd: take the old script including dialogue and songs, use it word for word bar a few minor tweaks then add new scenes to flesh out characters and background. Once the audience realizes it isn't a few nods like the clothing or the three pink girls but scenes almost exactly the same it invites comparisons that it will find very hard to win.

It does not win. It isn't bad, it is a capable movie but rarely wins out in the battle with nostalgia. The songs are nice but lack a little spark bar the end one, the animated objects visually and in terms of dialogue/delivery lack flair and charm while the style leaves little room for some of the humour of old. The leads Emma Watson and Dan Stevens do a good job but don't have a strong chemistry and delivery can be erratic. This is a film that looks good, has nice songs, a decent romance, delivers its end phase well but lacks a bit of magic and had passages that just fell flat.

When it wanders off the old script, it is more hit then miss. Belle is a given a bit more personality and fire, some decent new songs and humour from the varied lines, and the only miss tends to be certain backstories. Maurice (Kevin Kline) benefits from a bit more time and Kline's performance. Gaston (Luke Evans) and Le Fou (Josh Gad) really benefit bar the end phase where Gaston goes into paper thin baddie. They get more time, the relationship is evolved, dialogue is tweaked to good effect including their big song and they built up Gaston's suit of Belle. We felt that Gaston and Le Fou scenes provided a fair bit of humour and fun.

I remember publicity of first gay something or other pre this coming out, turned out to be extremely extremely weak and wish they hadn't bothered if they weren't going to do it even semi properly.

[Dong Zhou]

Watched Aladdin and the King of Thieves, a direct to video sequel (we got the wrong one as sky got the dates confused) as we needed a short film. Animation is worse then the film and Jasmine particularly looks different, there is a lack of sparkle and lip doesn't always synch with what is being said but it looks decent enough. Songs are alright, humour with most characters falls flat but Robin Williams as the genie manages some fun jokes including a lot of nice nods to Disney, adventure lacks excitement, didn't warm to characters.

[Sun Fin]

It's better than the 2nd one, Return of Jafar, as Robin Williams is in it! That said I did love the animated series of Aladdin they did and that had a different voice actor!