Disney Movie Challenge: Big Hero 6 (2014)

Disney Movie Challenge

Big Hero 6 (2014)

WHAT IS THE DISNEY MOVIE CHALLENGE: With Disney+ making available almost all of their films from the vault I thought it was a good time to watch all the theatrically released feature length Disney Studio Animated films. That’s a lot of qualifications so what does it all mean? It must be a film developed and released under the Walt Disney Animation Studios (so no PIXAR or Tim Burton stop motion films). Must have been released in theaters (no direct to video releases). And feature length (no shorts that played prior to the features). Currently there are 59 films. Starting with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937 going to Raya and the Last Dragon in 2021. 

After Disney bought Marvel Studios in 2009 everyone knew it was only a matter of time before they cranked out a Marvel Animated movie, but no one would have expected one based on the obscure comic “Big Hero 6”.  When Don Hall was working on Winnie the Pooh he started going through the Marvel Archives looking for a comic he could adapt.  For some reason the title of “Big Hero 6” stood out to him and started looking at the story.  While some of the characters are the same as in the comic a lot of their backstory changed.  The biggest example is Baymax who is a lovable robot in the movie, in the comics he was designed to be a bodyguard and was implanted with human memories

The film takes place in a fictional land called San Fransokyo where 13 year old Hiro is a genius but uses his talents to win money scamming people at robot battles.  His older brother Tadashi is in college trying to convince Hiro to use his brain for more than bot fights.  One night after rescuing Hiro from an angry mob, Hiro's brother Tadashi takes Hiro  to his school to introduce him to his friends (Gogo, Wasabi, Honey Lemon, and Fred) and show off all the cool tech they are building.  It’s there that Tadashi shows Hiro the robot he built called Baymax.  Baymax is designed to be a healthcare assistant and used to help people.  Hiro falls in love with the school, the cutting edge tech they are developing,  and everyone there.  He makes it his mission to get into the school.  To get in he has to enter a science fair and show off something great.  For the fair he uses the concept from his fighting robot to make microbots.  Microbots are tiny robots that can be controlled with the mind and combinted to do anything.  He wows everyone and gets a spot in the school.  But as they are leaving the science fair an explosion happens and Tadashi runs into the fire to save the school principal.  Unfortunately Tadashi dies in the fire and Hiro believes his Microbots have been destroyed. This leaves Hiro hopeless and he gives up on his dream to go to school.  But he soon discovers that Baymax is still functional and that someone is using his microbots for nefarious purposes.  This sets him on a collision course with the Kabuki Mask wearing villain.  But he will need a team to help him win and get his revenge for the death of his brother.  He recruits Gogo, Wasabi, Honey Lemon, and Fred to join the team and uses their inventions to turn them into superheroes.  He also converts Baymax from a health care assistant into a fighting machine.  Together they will have to learn how to work as a team and decide what they are actually fighting for.  

As I mentioned this movie is loosely based on the comics.  Outside the character names and some of their personalities everything was changed.  It probably helped that it was an obscure comic so not many were going to be super upset about the major changes.  While there are lots of fantastical elements in the film it feels more grounded in reality then the comics sound like they were.  Don Hall and his team went to a Robotics Lab at Carnegie Mellon University to see what the cutting edge of robotics looked like.  There they were working on making robots with vinyl which became the inspiration for Baymax’s design.  They also based the powers of each hero in the group on technology instead of having backstories that involve superhuman powers (in the comics GoGo could turn into a fiery blast just by saying her name).  As with a lot of Disney animated films they pushed the limits of technology once again.  They used a new rendering program that gave them new lighting possibilities that were used to make Baymax look more translucent.    They also used new programs to create the cityscape and add people.  

For some reason the first time I saw it in theatres I thought it was fine but didn’t like it that much.  But with each subsequent viewing I like it a little bit more.  There is a lot going on in the film and I think it wasn’t what I was expecting when I first saw it.  I still feel there is something in the beginning that doesn’t quite work but I can’t put my finger on it.  It might be because it’s hard to believe that something like microbots could actually exist (of all the technology in the film this one feels the most far-fetched) or that a 13 year old kid could invent them.  There is also something about Hiro's personality that is a bit off putting.  I'm not sure if it's arrogance or something else but he is very unlikable in the beginning.  That all changes after Tadashi dies and the film starts clicking for me.  I love that the movie starts as a tale of revenge but is really about grieving the death of a loved one.  We see Hiro go through different stages of grief and with the help of Baymax learns that he has friends to help him.  In addition to being about grieving we have the more fun superhero team building story.  We follow as each team member learns to use their weapons in addition to learning how to work together as a team.  All the elements work well as individual story lines but come together in fun and surprising ways. 

Stealing every scene he is in, Baymax is the real star of the film.  There are so many memorable robots in film history that to create a new one that stands out is pretty amazing.   Since Baymax was programmed to help, that is the only way he sees every situation.  This naivete leads to some funny interactions.  They also use every aspect of Baymax for comedic effect. There is the way he deflates to get through a window, the scotch tape gag at the police station, and then the drunk Baymax when his battery starts to run out. The most incredible thing of all is that Scott Adsit is able to inject Baymax with a personality while delivering all his lines in a monotone robotic voice.   

Overall: A fun action packed film that has lots of laughs but isn’t afraid to deal with the deeper emotion of grieving.  Kids will certainly get a kick out of the action hijinks but the film also gives adults something to think about.  

Random Facts

The first Disney animated film I saw in theatres since Pocahontas in 1995.  It’s also the last Disney animated film I have seen in the theatres.  

A post credit scene was added late in production after Don Hall watched Guardians of the Galaxy and realized that fans would expect it.  

While not said in the movie the history of San Fransokyo is that after the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake the city was rebuilt by Japanese immigrants.  

Second year in a row that a non-Pixar Disney movie won Best Animated Film at the Oscars (Frozen won the year before)

Disney Movie Challenge: Frozen (2013)

 

 Disney Movie Challenge

Frozen (2013)

WHAT IS THE DISNEY MOVIE CHALLENGE: With Disney+ making available almost all of their films from the vault I thought it was a good time to watch all the theatrically released feature length Disney Studio Animated films. That’s a lot of qualifications so what does it all mean? It must be a film developed and released under the Walt Disney Animation Studios (so no PIXAR or Tim Burton stop motion films). Must have been released in theaters (no direct to video releases). And feature length (no shorts that played prior to the features). Currently there are 59 films. Starting with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937 going to Raya and the Last Dragon in 2021. 

I don’t think there’s been a bigger animated movie than Frozen in the last 10 years. You can not overstate the phenomenon that it was. It was everywhere and even became a major talking point on Fox News for it’s supposed Liberal propaganda. There’s been so much written about it (the Wikipedia article has to be the longest for any Disney movie I’ve researched) that I’m not sure if I have anything new to contribute to the conversation. But that’s part of the challenge. 

If you haven’t heard, Frozen is about two sisters, Anna and Elsa. They are both princesses in the fictional kingdom of Arendelle. Elsa has a magical gift that allows her to create ice and snow on demand. After she accidentally shoots Anna in the head with a frost beam their parents take them to see the trolls. The leader of the trolls uses magic to make Anna forget what happened and instructs the parents to conceal Elsa’s powers. Elsa goes into a forced isolation and no one is allowed into the castle. After their parents die (it’s a Disney movie so of course they die) Elsa is set to become Queen and a big celebration is held. When Anna says she wants to marry a guy she just met Elsa says no and they get in an argument. It’s then that Elsa reveals her powers. She runs away but not before dooming Arendelle to eternal winter. Anna sets out to find her sister and make things right. On her journey she teams up with Kristof, his Reindeer friend Sven, and a Snowman named Olaf. 

The movie originally went into development as the “Snow Queen” with Elsa as the villain. The story bounced around in development for a long time.  It was when it was decided that Elsa and Anna were going to be sisters the story got changed around and started to gain momentum. But it was the song “Let it Go” written by married couples Kristin Anderson-Lopez  and Robert Lopez that really changed the course of the movie. “Let it Go” is a power ballad written for Elsa and when the Producers heard it they decided that they couldn’t have the villain sing the best song in the movie. So they changed the story to make Elsa more sympathetic. This change left a hole of a villain that was later filled by Prince Hans who Anna wanted to marry in the beginning of the film.  

Originally planned as a traditionally hand drawn movie and one of the reasons John Lasseter brought back Chris Buck who left Disney when they stopped making hand drawn animation.  But after Buck came back it was decided that some of the visuals were too complicated to do with traditional animation and the movie was done with computer animation.  One of the things I love about Disney is their willingness to push the envelope. When the technology wasn’t there to create realistic snow and footprints they created new technology.  Art director Michael Giaimo also focused a lot on clothing. Something that wasn’t a big focus on other Disney animated films.  Giaimo saw the film as a costume film and wanted authentic looking fabrics.  Since computer animated films allow costumes to be drawn separately from characters for the first time a Disney Animated Film had a “Costume designer”. This job went to Jean Gillmore who was a character designer normally.  They used real world examples to help build the very detailed costumes they were looking for.  The results of all of this was an amazing looking film.  Everything just popped off the screen.  

Undeniably one of best things about the film is the music.  Kristin Anderson-Lopez  and Robert Lopez wrote a total of 25 songs during the production of the film, only 8 of those songs made it into the finished film.  As mentioned earlier their songs ultimately drove the story of the film.  While “Let it Go” is the most popular song, songs like “For the First Time in Forever”, “Do You Want to Build a Snowman” and “In Summer” are all super catchy and fun songs.  The first 30 minutes of the film is almost entirely told by music and almost feels like it’s going to be a full opera.  The music recalls the early movies of the Disney Renaissance and there is a good reason for that.  Whenever the Lopez’s were stuck on a song they looked to Howard Ashman’s work on The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin for inspiration.  The one song that I feel doesn’t work at all is “Fixer Upper”.  Maybe that's because I really dislike the trolls (more on that later), but the film has some of the best songs of any Disney film.  

The story itself is mixed.  First let me just say I love the twist at the end that it’s not "true love’s kiss" that saves the day and the story of Elsa’s rejection of society and redemption to good as both are different from other Disney movies. Most of my issues lie with two aspects of the story.  First is the villain of the film and that twist, the second (as mentioned earlier) are the Trolls and the parents.

When it was decided that Elsa wasn’t going to be a villain Disney decided they needed a different villain.  At some point they decided that Prince Hans was going to be the villain. I am not sure how much of Prince Hans was written before they decided that, but it feels like it was a very late change.  There is nothing in the beginning of the film that even hints he might be evil. His turn to a villain comes out of left field and seems that the writers felt they needed a villain and just changed his character.  I love twist endings but you can’t just change a character mid movie like that.  It also seems like he had a half assed plan to marry the younger sister of the Queen and then kill them both. It's almost like when Elsa turned evil he just lucked out.  I think the film would have been better if they just left out his villainous turn and just focused on the sisters which is the heart of the story anyway.  

Now let's get to the parents and the trolls.  This is the biggest thing that irks me about this film.  When they discover that Elsa has dangerous magic powers they just lock her in her room, isolate her from everyone, and tell her to “conceal it, don't feel it".  Why would the troll king even suggest that?  That’s like the worst advice ever.  Instead of trying to teach her how to use her powers he tells them to just lock her away.  For someone that is supposed to be old and wise he seems pretty dumb.  Which brings us back to the parents.  Why would they even listen to him?  Did they not realize that what they were doing was hurting their daughter?  I know they try to make the trolls lovable creatures but to me they are the real villains in the film.  When Kristof brings Anna to the trolls for help all they do is try to get them married.  They don’t even care.  And when they decide that only true love’s kiss will cure the spell the Troll King doesn’t even correct them and say it could be any true love.  It’s obvious they are the worst.   

Overall: It’s a film I feel is overrated.  I always thought people loved the great music and made them nostalgic for the Disney Renaissance era.  While the animation and music are great it’s the story choices that really bug me.  

Random Facts

The scene where Elsa builds the ice castle was so complex it required 30 hours to render each frame, with 4,000 computers rendering one frame at a time.

Jennifer Lee was brought on to be a screenwriter but was so instrumental to the film she was given a co-director credit also.  She became the first female director of a Walt Disney Animation Studios feature film and the first female director of a feature film that earned more than $1 billion world wide at the box office.  

Originally Olaf was going to be Elsa’s evil minion.  

The movie was Disney’s first non-Pixar animated film to win Best Animated Feature at the Oscars.  The only PIxar movie released that year, Monsters University, wasn’t even nominated for an Oscar.  

The movie is based on "The Snow Queen" by Hans Christian Andersen. There is a nod to this with the names of the characters, Hans, Kristof, Anna, Sven.

Disney Movie Challenge: Wreck-It Ralph (2012)

 Disney Movie Challenge

Wreck-It Ralph (2012)

WHAT IS THE DISNEY MOVIE CHALLENGE: With Disney+ making available almost all of their films from the vault I thought it was a good time to watch all the theatrically released feature length Disney Studio Animated films. That’s a lot of qualifications so what does it all mean? It must be a film developed and released under the Walt Disney Animation Studios (so no PIXAR or Tim Burton stop motion films). Must have been released in theaters (no direct to video releases). And feature length (no shorts that played prior to the features). Currently there are 59 films. Starting with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937 going to Raya and the Last Dragon in 2021. 

Wreck-it Ralph is a movie that sounds like it shouldn’t work.  It’s about a video game villain who sneaks into other video games.  The movie is filled with random references to other video games and seems to want to tap into that 80’s nostalgia by making the main game an 80’s like arcade game.  Despite everything going against it the movie works.  

The movie starts with Ralph (John C. Reilly) at “Bad Anon” lamenting how he is tired of being a bad guy.  We then learn that it’s the 30th anniversary of his game “Fix-it Felix Jr”.  Jealous that Felix (Jack McBrayer) gets all the credit, Ralph sets out to find a medal.  When he hears there is a new first person shooter game called “Hero's Duty” that hands out medals if you win he jumps into that game.  Causing total chaos in the game he eventually gets his medal but is chased out of the game by psy-bug and he crashes into a different game called “Sugar Rush”.  “Sugar Rush” is a car racing game that takes place in a land full of candy.  After Ralph crashes there one of the bugs from “Hero’s Duty” gets sucked into a taffy swamp and a character from “Sugar Rush” named Vanellope (Sarah Silverman) steals his medal.  The other racers in her game consider her a glitch and won’t let her race.  With the medal she is able to enter the race.  Meanwhile with Ralph missing, his game is threatened to be shut down for good.  Felix heads out to find Ralph and teams up with Sergeant Calhoun (Jane Lynch) from “Hero’s Duty” to get Ralph and the bug that escaped with him.  Back in “Candy Rush” Ralph finds out that King Candy (Alan Tudyk) rules the land like a dictator and he teams up with Vanellope to take him down.  Everything collides at the end with a big race,psy-bugs that begin to eat all the candy, and an evil secret about King Candy comes out.  

The idea of making an animated movie about video games goes back to the 80’s.  Disney’s first attempt at a story was called “High Score” in the 90’s it was changed to “Joe Jump”.  Finally they started working on a story with Fix-It Felix as the main character.  Eventually they came to realize that a bad guy looking for redemption would make a compelling story and made Ralph the central character and was tentatively called “Reboot Ralph”.  According to director Richard Moore they didn’t want to base the movie on an actual game because "there's so much mythology and baggage attached to pre-existing titles that I feel someone would be disappointed,". It turns out that it was probably the right idea as most movies based on video games fail. Being able to make their own mythology lets the story be more freeing.  But also filling the film with other video game references lets the audience have fun with the familiar.  The balancing act with that is to not do too many references where those that don’t play video games would get bored.  They walked that thin line perfectly and those that know will get some jokes but there's so much other stuff going on that those that don’t know can still stay interested.  

Setting the movie in a world of video games let the animators create a bunch of unique worlds.  From the 8 bit world of “Fix-it Felix Jr” to the frenetic energy of “Hero’s Duty” and the ultra colorful world of “Sugar Rush” each had a feel all their own.  Not being tied down to one look makes Wreck-it Ralph stand out among other Disney movies and really adds to the world building and mythology of the movie.  

What truly makes this movie work is the clever writing by Phil Johnston and Jennifer Lee.  They were able to take video game caricatures and not only give them personalities but also give each one a backstory.  These three dimensional characters really came to life and you felt a connection with each one.  Obviously the friendship between Ralph and Vanellope takes center stage but you never feel like any of the other characters get the short end of the stick.  The writing team also came up with clever bits.  One of my favorites is the opening bit with all the bad guys.  It is so much fun and the bad guy's affirmation cracks me up.  

Overall: A fun movie with clever writing and great visuals.  While those familiar with video games will get a kick out of some cameos (I personally love the Q-Bert cameo) you don’t have to have any knowledge of video games to enjoy the film.  

Random Facts

The animators spent all their life learning how to animate motion so it looks smooth that they had to unlearn everything to animated the 8-bit jerky motion of 80’s video games. 

Disney had permission from Nintendo to use Mario but they couldn’t find a place to make it work without it feeling forced. 

Made $49 million on its opening weekend.  At the time it was the largest opening weekend for any Disney animated film. It was also the 12th biggest film of the year. 

Lost to PIxar’s Brave for Best Animated FIlm at the Oscars.  This was considered an upset as most thought Wreck-It Ralph was better.  In fact most people felt that Wreck-It Ralph felt like a Pixar movie and Brave felt like a typical Disney Princess movie.  

King Candy’s voice and design was based on Ed Wynn’s Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland

  

It has been reported that there are 188 classic video game characters in the movie. 

The high score on Fix-It Felix Jr is 120501 which is a reference to Walt Disney’s birthday of 12/5/1901

Disney Movie Challenge: Winnie the Pooh (2011)

 Disney Movie Challenge

Winnie the Pooh (2011)

WHAT IS THE DISNEY MOVIE CHALLENGE: With Disney+ making available almost all of their films from the vault I thought it was a good time to watch all the theatrically released feature length Disney Studio Animated films. That’s a lot of qualifications so what does it all mean? It must be a film developed and released under the Walt Disney Animation Studios (so no PIXAR or Tim Burton stop motion films). Must have been released in theaters (no direct to video releases). And feature length (no shorts that played prior to the features). Currently there are 59 films. Starting with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937 going to Raya and the Last Dragon in 2021. 

As we enter the 2010’s Disney is at the start of their “Revival Era”.  But they had one more traditional animated film ready to go that doesn’t really fit in with the rest of the films.  In 2011 Disney released Winnie the Pooh. As of 2021 it is the last traditionally animated film Disney has released. At 63 minutes it is also the shortest film in Disney Canon.  

Similar to The Manny of Adventures of Winnie the Pooh in 1977 Winnie the Pooh tells a collection of Pooh stories.  Unlike the earlier film this one tells it as one continuous story instead of using an anthology format. The three A.A. Milne stories the movie is based on are “In which Eeyore Loses a Tail and Pooh Finds One”, “In which Roo Meets a Heffalump”, and “In Which Rabbit Has a Busy Day and We Learn What Christopher Robin Does in the Mornings”.   We follow Pooh as he searches for honey, then finds out that Eeyore’s tail is missing. All the animals in Hundred Acre Wood get together to try to find a replacement.  But nothing seems to work.  Later Pooh goes to find Christopher Robin and finds a note that says he will be back soon. Owl misreads it as Backson and thinks that Christopher Robin was kidnapped by a monster and all the animals attempt to rescue Christopher Robin.  Tigger decides that Eeyore should have a spring for a tail and recruits him to be his sidekick in the hunt for the Backson.  Eventually everyone falls in a pit and Piglet needs to rescue them.  In the end Pooh finds Eeyore's tail and they have a big celebration with lots of honey.  

There isn’t much to say about the movie.  It’s what you would expect from a Winnie the Pooh movie.  Low stakes, not much drama, and very little action. Craig Ferguson’s Owl took a little getting used to, but the rest of the voice acting was pretty spot on.   The songs are catchy and fun. They were written by married couple Robert Lopez & Kristen Anderson-Lopez.  Disney leadership liked their work so much on this film that they asked them to write the music for Disney's next Princess Musical Frozen.

Overall: A movie good for little kids and Pooh fans. Not sure anyone else would get much out of it. It's not really boring but nothing happens. The music is the best part.

Random Facts

The Lopez's had a young daughter at the time and some of the songs were made after sleep deprived nights. In "The Backson song" there is a line that says the Backson will "wake up babies at one and three". Appropriately this line was sung by Kanga who was voiced by Kristen Anderson-Lopez.

While the Winnie the Pooh theme song is pretty similar to the original version except the lyrics were slightly changed to include Tigger.

The Backson doesn't appear in the film it does appear in an end credit scene.

As of 2021 the movie was the last G-Rated animated film to be released by Disney.

The movie did poorly at the box office despite mostly positive reviews. This is most likely due to the fact it opened up against the juggernaut that was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2.

Random personal fact. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh came out in 1977 the year I was born. Winnie the Pooh came out in 2011 the year my son was born.

Disney Movie Challenge: Tangled (2010)

 Disney Movie Challenge

Tangled (2010)

WHAT IS THE DISNEY MOVIE CHALLENGE: With Disney+ making available almost all of their films from the vault I thought it was a good time to watch all the theatrically released feature length Disney Studio Animated films. That’s a lot of qualifications so what does it all mean? It must be a film developed and released under the Walt Disney Animation Studios (so no PIXAR or Tim Burton stop motion films). Must have been released in theaters (no direct to video releases). And feature length (no shorts that played prior to the features). Currently there are 59 films. Starting with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937 going to Raya and the Last Dragon in 2021. 

After The Princes and the Frog failed to “Ignite the Box Office” the title and marketing of Disney’s next movie changed.  Originally going to be called Rapunzel the folks at Disney thought it would be dismissed as another “Girly Princess” movie so they changed the title to Tangled and marketed it as an action adventure movie. The trailers focused more on the male character Flynn Rider to help appeal to boys.  

Tangled retells the Grimm fairy tale of Rapunzel.  In this one princess Rapunzel (Mandy Moore) is born with a magic gift that lets her hair heal people and keep them young.  Because of her special gift the evil witch Mother Gothel (Donna Murphy) kidnaps Rapunzel and locks her in a tall tower that no one can enter.  Every year on her birthday the king and queen release lanterns in the hopes that their daughter will return.  Rapunzel sees these and while she doesn’t know they are for her she senses the connection between them and her birthday.  On her 18th birthday she asks Mother Gothel to let her go see the lanterns. Of course Gother says no, but does leave Rapunzel alone while she goes to get a birthday gift.  Meanwhile Flynn Rider steals a crown from the King and Queen and is being chased by guards.  While trying to escape he finds the tower and climbs up it.  After Rapunzel knocks him out with a frying pan she agrees to let him go if he agrees to take her to the lanterns.  It's then their adventure begins.  While both keep secrets from the other they begin to fall in love and with the help of a horse Maximus and a chameleon Pascal they reunite Rapunzel with her family. .  

Glen Keane had been working on a version of this story since 1996.  In 2001 Michael Eisner told Keane he could make it but it had to be computer animated.  At the time Keane didn’t think computer animation would do the movie justice, but in 2003 it was announced that Rapunzel Unbraided would be released in 2007 and would be computer animated. But Keane just never felt the story was quite right.  They had developed a more irreverent Shrek like version of the story but that was eventually scrapped. When John Lasseter took over as Disney Animation supervisor the film was restarted as a more traditional telling.  Still not happy doing it as a computer animation, Keane held a conference with the Disney Animators he called “The Best of Both Worlds” to look at the best way to combine traditional and computer animation.  Keane also pushed technology with the goal to get the computers to "bend its knee to the artist".  Eventually they came up with a way to keep the Disney aesthetic and again used non-photorealistic rendering and some new technology to give it the look they were looking for.  The hardest part to animate was Rapunzel’s long hair and new technology had to be developed to give that a natural look especially when it was floating in the water.  Unfortunately for Keane he suffered a heart attack in 2008 and had to step down as director but remained as executive producer.  

While it’s reported to be the most expensive animated movie of all time the hard work paid off.  The movie looks great.  The lantern scene in the beginning is just breathtaking.  Knowing the hair would probably be difficult to animate, I expected it to be kind of flat, but they managed to make it look natural.  While the idea of using non-photorealistic rendering seems odd it actually makes sense.  Disney films have never looked real and part of the magic of animation is that it doesn’t have to look real.  

The Princess and the Frog saw Disney return to the musical format it occurred to me while watching the film that Tangled was a return to the Broadway style music of the Renaissance era.  After I watched it and looked up who wrote the music it became clear why that was.  Turns out Alan Menkin (Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin) wrote the music for the film.  While some may feel that it’s derivative of his earlier Disney stuff it still packs an emotional punch.  The song “Mother Knows Best” is a great villain song and Donna Murphy just seems to have fun belting that one out.  

The story itself is a bit so-so.  From the start you kind of know where it’s going to go and has very few surprises.  Although the scene in Snuggly Duckling did take a fun and unexpected turn.  Despite being a pretty standard story it’s still fun and keeps you interested.  The most fascinating thing to me about the movie was the villain Mother Gothel.  While she has a fairly typical motive of everlasting life at all costs, her methods are different. While she isn’t physically cruel to Rapunzel her use of gaslighting and manipulation sets her apart from other villains. She is one of the most diabolical characters in the Disney cannon.  

Rapunzel herself is also an interesting character.  I love the way we feel her internal conflict and it’s something we don’t see often in a Princess movie.  Most princess movies have a Princess that has an external struggle but not much of an internal one.  Rapunzel on the other hand show she is physically capable of almost anything but she begins to question everything she believes.  We see the illusions that Mother Gothel put up slowly crumble and Rapunzel begins to see the real world.  Unfortunately how she figures out the truth that Mother Gothel had been lying to her for 18 years feels rushed and out of nowhere.  I wish we had more time and really got to see her figure things out for herself.  Instead it feels more coincidental and magical.  

Overall: An enjoyable movie.  Has great animation, good music, and the voice cast works really well together.   While the ending felt rushed I loved the internal conflict and Mother Gothel is the perfect example of someone gaslighting a character.  

Random Facts:

The first Disney Princess movie to be PG. 

Mandy Moore and Donna Murphy never met while making the movie.  Mandy Moore only met Zachary Levi once to record the duet.  

Was nominated for Best Song but not nominated for Best Animated Feature.  The movies nominated for Animated Feature that year were Toy story 3, How to Train Your Dragon, and The Illusionist.

Both Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel audtioned for Rapunzel. While neither of them got it they were both cast in the next Disney Princess movie Frozen.

 

Disney Movie Challenge: The Princess and the Frog (2009)

 

 Disney Movie Challenge

The Princess and the Frog (2009)

WHAT IS THE DISNEY MOVIE CHALLENGE: With Disney+ making available almost all of their films from the vault I thought it was a good time to watch all the theatrically released feature length Disney Studio Animated films. That’s a lot of qualifications so what does it all mean? It must be a film developed and released under the Walt Disney Animation Studios (so no PIXAR or Tim Burton stop motion films). Must have been released in theaters (no direct to video releases). And feature length (no shorts that played prior to the features). Currently there are 59 films. Starting with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937 going to Raya and the Last Dragon in 2021. 

After the failure of Home on the Range (2004) Disney said they would never make a traditional hand drawn animated movie again.  Five years later and under the supervision of John Lasseter things changed.  

The Princess and the Frog is an updated version of the Grimm's fairy tale The Frog Prince.  This version takes place in New Orleans and involves a waitress and a prince who get turned into a frog.  Tiana (Anika Noni Rose), a waitress in New Orleans is working extra hard to raise money to buy a restaurant.  When she gets real close to succeeding at her dream it gets snatched away from her.  At this low moment a talking frog seems to magically appear from nowhere.  The frog says that he is Prince Naveen (Bruno Campos) and that he was turned into a frog by a witch doctor (Keith David).  Remembering fairy tales she was told as a kid she figured what's the worst that could happen if she kisses the frog.  Well unlike the fairy tales this kiss turns her into a frog also.  They embark on a journey to turn themselves back into humans and along the way meet a variety of friends and of course fall in love.

When John Lasseter moved from Pixar to Disney everyone expected that was the end of traditional animated films.  But as a film lover in general he knew that traditional animated films were Disney's signature and decided he wasn't going to give up on that.  Since many of the traditional animators had left Disney in the 5 years since Home on the Range, Lasseter had to go and rehire them.  The top of his list was John Musker and Ron Clements who had directed some of the biggest hits during the Disney Renaissance, including The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, and Hercules. Lasseter made them a deal, come back to Disney and make the film however you wanted.  They came back and chose hand drawn animation.  The biggest problem was that a lot of the technology they had pioneered during the renaissance was now outdated (specifically the CAPS program) so they had to look for new ways to make the films. After making a few shorts they decided their best was to hand draw it and scan it into a program called Toon Boom which they could use to manipulate the drawing similar to the way CAPS did.  In the end it had a classic feel but still felt fresh.  

Originally Musker and Clements wanted to work with frequent music collaborator Alan Menken, but Lasseter wanted Randy Newman.  Newman had worked with Lasseter on the Toy Story films and was from New Orleans . Lasseter felt that Newman could bring some authenticity to the music.  Mixing the score with Jazz, Zydeco, and Blues the music really had a distinct New Orleans feel. As the first musical in years it definitely felt like a return to form for Disney. My biggest complaint is that the song "Friends on the Other Side" sounded a lot like "Friend Like Me" from Aladdin.     

This is the first Princess movie that takes place in a modern city in the U.S and it surprisingly worked really well.  I had my doubts because it doesn't make sense for a Princess to be in New Orleans, but the story sold it to me.  I loved the independent spirit and drive of Tiana and how she doesn't fit the normal mold for Disney Princesses.  The Prince on the other hand is the one that comes off ditzy and out of touch with the normal world. At first, Tiana wants nothing to do with him and he is the one forced to change if he wants to marry her.  The rest of the characters were fun and loved their little quirks, like the alligator that wanted to play the trumpet.  The voice cast was top notch.  I loved everyone involved in it.  

Being the first Disney Black Princess the film had a lot of controversies prior to being released.  First thing that was changed was the name of the film.  During production the movie was called The Frog Princess, but many people felt that it felt a bit degrading that the first black princess was referred to as an animal in the title.  Also changed was the name of the character and her occupation.  Originally she was named Maddy and worked as a maid.  This was felt to be too close to the racial stereotype of "Mammy" being a maid.  Her name was changed to Tiana and she became a waitress.  Another controversy surrounding the film was that it took place in New Orleans.  Some felt that it was insensitive to the city as it was still struggling rebuilding post Katrina. To me the film felt like a celebration of the city and more I'm glad they kept that aspect.

Overall: A fun music filled movie that has good songs and a great cast.  Definitely more similar to the Renaissance films of the 90's and maybe it felt too out of date when it was released, but looking back on it it's a really good film that deserves more attention.  

Random Facts

While the movie was a critical success it didn't "ignite the box office" the way Disney thought it would.  There were some in Disney that thought having Princess in the title affected the box office. Their thought was that it turned away the male demographic because they all assumed it was a "girly" princess movie.  This thinking would affect the names and marketing of their next two princess movies.  Rapunzel title was changed to Tangled and marketed as an action movie not a Princess movie.  The Snow Queen title was changed to Frozen 

Another factor affecting the box office was that it was released one week before Avatar which pretty much sucked up all box office money.  

The movie was nominated for 3 Oscars. Best Animated Feature Film, and 2 Best Song nominations.  This was the most nominations any Disney film had received since The Lion King received 4 nominations.  

According to IMDB Tiana and Naveen kiss each other five times which is more than any other couple in a Disney princess movie. I didn't count to verify this fact.  

Beyoncé and Jennifer Hudson were both at one time considered for the role of Tiana, before Anika Noni Rose was cast.  Alicia Keys actively campaigned for the role. 

Oprah Winfrey was brought in as a consultant but ended up taking a role as Tiana's mother.  

Disney Movie Challenge: Bolt (2008)

 Disney Movie Challenge

Bolt (2008)

WHAT IS THE DISNEY MOVIE CHALLENGE: With Disney+ making available almost all of their films from the vault I thought it was a good time to watch all the theatrically released feature length Disney Studio Animated films. That’s a lot of qualifications so what does it all mean? It must be a film developed and released under the Walt Disney Animation Studios (so no PIXAR or Tim Burton stop motion films). Must have been released in theaters (no direct to video releases). And feature length (no shorts that played prior to the features). Currently there are 59 films. Starting with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937 going to Raya and the Last Dragon in 2021. 

With Bolt it feels like Disney finally figured out how to do Computer Animation.  The movie looks great and has a lot of good action sequences that feel like they wouldn’t have been able to pull off in past movies.  

The movie is about a dog named Bolt (John Travolta).  Bolt is an acting dog and has his own TV show.  The problem is that Bolt doesn’t know he is in a TV show and thinks he really has superpowers. When he thinks his owner Penny (Miley Cyrus) is really kidnapped he escapes. While running around the studio he gets lost and ends up being placed in a box and shipped to New York.  There he begins a perilous journey back to Hollywood with some new friends, a cat named Mittens, and a hamster named Rhino.  Along the way Bolt learns that he isn’t a superhero and other valuable life lessons. 

Bolt had a similar development as Meet the Robinsons.  Both movies started production prior to John Lasseter joining Disney and both underwent significant changes based on suggestions by Lasseter.  Director Chris Sanders (who previously directed Lilo and Stitch) did not appreciate the suggestions and didn’t want to change anything.  Lasseter removed Sanders from the project and the directing duties went to Byron Howard and Chris Williams.  Also similar to Meet the Robinsons Lasseter told the production they had an abbreviated timeline to finish the project (it’s reported that he told them to do what normally takes 4 years in 18 months). 

Somehow in the compressed timeline they put together a good looking movie.  It has the best action sequences in a Disney computer animated movie up to this time.  Pushing the limits of computer animation, new technology was developed for the movie.  Instead of trying to make the movie photorealistic as most computer animation does, this technology did the opposite. The program was used to make the background look like painting and added brush strokes into animation.   They also used different styles to show the difference between the fictional world of the Bolt TV series and Bolt’s real world adventures.   The finished product has a unique look that still holds up. They also decided early on that this film would be in 3D and was animated with that in mind. Previous films were made in 2D and upgraded to 3D. Making the movie with 3D in mind from the beginning gives a more sharper look as the animators can spend time getting the details right.

Probably the weirdest thing about the movie is the premise.  It’s like someone saw The Truman Show and said let's do that except with a dog.  But once the movie turns into a road movie it feels more organic.  I love the ragtag feel of the team he gets together.  It’s still bizarre to me that Rhino would just run away from home to join Bolt, but the whole Bolt and Mittens dynamic works really well.  

Overall:  Despite all the retooling and a weird premise the movie works pretty well.  The action is fun and the cast has some great interactions.  

Random Facts

Even though Chris Sanders was removed from the project he ended up a Dreamworks and helped create the popular How to Train Your Dragon series so things turned out pretty well for him.  In a weird twist of fate his first live action film was Call of the Wild  at Fox.  After Disney bought Fox the movie was technically released by Disney.  So even though Disney fired him he still found a way back.  

Chloe Grace Moretz did all of Penny’s dialogue but then was replaced by Miley Cyrus.  They did keep her as young Penny.  

Both James Lipton and Randy Savage have small parts in the film. This would be the last film for both of them.   

At one point Arnold Schwarzenegger was considered for the role of Bolt.