Disney Movie Discussion

[Sun Fin]

Tried Sword in the Stone, can see certain Disney traits like use of animals for humour, the old style of animation and so on. The idea for Merlin's character isn't bad but they don't quite pull it off and humour doesn't work, struggled to be interested in the characters. Did love Fred Darian's sung opening narration

This is one of my favorites from classic Disney!

I finally saw Inside Out the other day! I thought it was very clever and thoroughly enjoyed it!

[Dong Zhou]

Watched Tangled again, still think the best of the modern Disney princess movies but I can see why Frozen became the cultural hit instead. Ending a bit rushed and romance starts a bit arbitrarily but otherwise really enjoyed it, fun songs with it's big setpeice being moving, the mother is awesome with some really cutting lines, some fun characters but the animals are superb.

[Dong Zhou]

Watched the 1940 film Pinocchio. It is dated in terms of colour fade, some of the humour around Mr Cricket, things like the gypsy baddie, it is far far far darker then modern Disney would do (and a lot darker then some modern dark movies). I found the film boring in terms of sheer entertainment, scenes tended to drag for much of it, the humour doesn't quite land. I recognise the songs and they are iconic in their way but mostly becuase Disney has reused them better. Visually it is still good despite colour issues, there is a nice ruddiness to humans and the Blue Fairy is beautiful.

What is intresting is the cleverness of the film. The all sorts of different clocks and how they are used, building a sense of the characters having been around for years, the little moral fables in the storylines, some inventive storylines. The one area it is arguably not clever is that Pinocchio is a complete innocent and completely gullible yet none of his carers seem to have taken that into account.

[Gray Riders]

My brother and I watched Zootopia this weekend. An excellent film that handles it's themes on prejudice and racism a bit more maturely than many films do. Nick and Judy played off each other very well and they did an excellent job of building a world around the idea of numerous species of varying size and abilities reaching sapience.

[Sun Fin]

Watched the 1940 film Pinocchio. It is dated in terms of colour fade, some of the humour around Mr Cricket, things like the gypsy baddie, it is far far far darker then modern Disney would do (and a lot darker then some modern dark movies). I found the film boring in terms of sheer entertainment, scenes tended to drag for much of it, the humour doesn't quite land. I recognise the songs and they are iconic in their way but mostly becuase Disney has reused them better. Visually it is still good despite colour issues, there is a nice ruddiness to humans and the Blue Fairy is beautiful.

What is intresting is the cleverness of the film. The all sorts of different clocks and how they are used, building a sense of the characters having been around for years, the little moral fables in the storylines, some inventive storylines. The one area it is arguably not clever is that Pinocchio is a complete innocent and completely gullible yet none of his carers seem to have taken that into account.

As a child I found the film terrifying, both the bit where he got turned in to a donkey and got swallowed by a whale seriously freaked me out.

[Dong Zhou]

My brother and I watched Zootopia this weekend. An excellent film that handles it's themes on prejudice and racism a bit more maturely than many films do. Nick and Judy played off each other very well and they did an excellent job of building a world around the idea of numerous species of varying size and abilities reaching sapience.

I have heard really good things about that but not enjoyed the trailers

As a child I found the film terrifying, both the bit where he got turned in to a donkey and got swallowed by a whale seriously freaked me out.

Yes, I remember the donkey thing being creepy

[Shen Ai]

I'd recommend Pete's Dragon (2016). I just saw it and it is quite a solid little movie. I've never seen the original, but I know it had some musical numbers (this one doesn't) and was seen as being a little too cute and charming (didn't know that was a thing people didn't like in kids films).

But the remake is a very touching, innocent, soulful movie. Great for families, well acted, well made. It might be my favourite live action Disney film remake yet.

[Dong Zhou]

Watched Peter Pan, famed for it's attitude towards native Americans but it's treatment of females isn't much better. In terms of overall quality, well drawn but Tinker-bell feels like she is drawn flat (as are the mermaids), songs tend to be chorus with the pirates having some catchy ones and the one really good song is the uh... controversial Indian one. Good at creating sense of characters from all the kids, the baddies, the parents (all hail George), the use of animals like Nanny and the crocodile was excellent, loved the crocodile. Hook's costume is more memorable then himself but the crocodile is a great character!

I do wonder how deliberate Peter Pan being sinister is. The way he is drawn, his temper, treatment of others, enjoying mutilating others and driving someone into a break-down, it is either a really clever glimpse at the nasty side of children or inadvertent.

[Dong Zhou]

Saw Black Cauldron and I agree mostly with Shen Ai. It isn't bad but it is flat, it has nice moments but a lot of it drifts. The main three aren't intresting, voice acting is pretty good but are moments where it feels odd, narration is contradicted quickly in movie, drawn well, adventure jumps about between too many area's without building. Gurgi/Gollumn and the witches are fun though and I did like the pig.

[Dong Zhou]

Watched Zootopia which was highly hyped in reviews though wasn't fan of trailers. It started really strongly then fell away a bit, lots of things I loved: the world and the glimpses of that wider world which was full of lovely touches, side characters like the bunny father (Don Lake), Chief Bogo (Idris Elba), assistant Mayor (Jenny Slate), Officer Benjamin Clawhauser (Nate Torrence) were fun, the sloth scene was awful in trailers but brilliant in the actual film, it attempted to tackle some heavy themes and pulled some of them off.

The thing that stopped it being Up level for me was the main mystery was a little lacking and the chemistry between the main two Hops (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Nick (Jason Bateman), at times it really sang and there were good quips and moments between the two, other times it just didn't do much. It never dragged but there were plenty of moments when focused on the main adventure where it was just fine.