Disney Movie Challenge Bonus: Lady and the Tramp (2019)

LADY AND THE TRAMP (2019)

2019 was a big year for Disney adaptations.  First there was Dumbo, then we had Aladdin and The Lion King, and finally Lady and the Tramp.  The biggest difference was Lady and the Tramp was released on the newly formed Disney+ instead of in theaters.  Disney had really built up anticipation for Disney+ which was going to have  classic Disney Animated films, Marvel Films, Star Wars films, and Pixar films.  In addition they were trying to promote brand new original films and shows that were premiering on the platform.  One of the biggest original movies they were promoting was the live action adaptation of Lady and the Tramp. The biggest obstacle it was facing was trying not to feel like a lesser direct to video film.  

The plot of the film is basically the same. It’s still a classy girl who meets a boy from the wrong side of town. The update moved the location to Savannah, Georgia from London. It also expanded Tramp’s back story, expanded the role of the dog catcher, and switched up the type of cats from Siamese Cats to Devon Rexes.  The most noticeable difference is that Lady’s owners are a mixed race couple which based on IMDB reviews is the worst thing ever. 

It’s not really fair to compare this to the original but when you watch them pretty much back to back it’s hard not to do.  So let's just get it out of the way.  The two things I think they did better in this adaptation are the expansion of Tramps backstory and the introduction of the rat early in the film.  One of the things we never got from the animated film is really what happened to Tramp.  We can guess what happened but this film really gets into it and helps us better understand him and also makes the romantic relationship more believable.  Introducing the rat early on makes sense from a storytelling perspective.  In the animated film it just pops up out of nowhere. Here there is at least foreshadowing. On the flip side there is something about this film that doesn’t quite capture the magic of the animated version.  When the photorealistic The Lion King came out one of the big complaints is that the lions didn’t really show emotion.  And maybe that's the problem with this film.  The voice acting is fine but it just doesn’t match with the emotions you are seeing on screen.  It’s kind of that uncanny valley when what you are hearing and what you are seeing doesn’t match up.   I will say the CGI work did a pretty good job. There were a few scenes where it was obvious it wasn’t a real dog but the big scene of them eating spaghetti looked fantastic.  

Overall: The movie was fine.  It didn’t capture the fun or magic of the animated film, but it wasn’t awful.  I was hoping for something more from the first big Disney+ feature film but we got what looked like a straight to video adaptation.  Obviously the modern sensibilities will trigger some that feel Disney is just promoting SJW values and if you read the IMDB comments you will see what I mean.  

Disney Movie Challenge: Lady and the Tramp (1955)

DISNEY MOVIE CHALLENGE

Lady and the Tramp

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 58 films. Starting with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937 going to Frozen II in 2020. 

As the 1950’s rolled along Disney kept turning out would be classics.  Cinderella was a huge hit, Alice in Wonderland a huge disappointment, and Peter Pan somewhere in the middle.  Then 1955 came along and Lady and the Tramp came out.  This would go on to be Disney’s most profitable movie to date.  It is also one of the rare original stories for a Disney Animated film.  

The story itself is pretty generic.  A girl from an upper class family meets an orphan boy who lives on the wrong side of the tracks.  Just swap the characters out for cute dogs, a villainous dog catcher, and some mischievous cats and you got Lady and the Tramp.  Sticking to familiar story elements without having to be bound by preexisting material freed the animators up to be as creative as they wanted to be.  Lady is a female Cocker Spaniel who lives in a loving home. Things start to change when a baby comes and the Aunt that is there to watch the baby and Lady brings her cats.  The cats make Lady look bad and the Aunt takes her to the pet store to get a muzzle.  But Lady escapes and runs into Tramp who shows her how the other side lives “without a leash”. They have a memorable spaghetti romantic dinner and begin to fall in love.  Lady then learns that Tramp has had many loves in the past and decided to go back home.  Tramp comes to tell her that this time is different.  When a rat gets into the baby's room and Lady can’t get it because she is on a leash Tramp goes and kills the Rat.  When everyone realizes what Tramp was doing he is adopted by the family and they live happily ever after.   

The characters are fun and suck you into the story.  Lady and the Tramp probably has some of the most fully formed characters in a Disney film yet.  While it’s a quick romance you still feel that both Lady and the Tramp have personality, and while we don’t know a whole lot about Tramp’s history we can discern a lot by what he says. Even the side characters like Jock, Trusty, and Peg, while cliched, still feel authentic and characters  you could connect too.  Earlier Disney movies mostly focused on one or two characters and the side characters were even more one dimensional.   

The animation does a good job of creating the world.    The first thing you notice in the film is that it is shown from a dog’s point of view so you never see the human’s faces.  I thought it was a clever way to show perspective.  To do this the animators got creative and made a replica of the house so they could study what it would look like from a dogs perspective.  As the movie progresses it doesn't keep up the perspective and eventually you see Lady's owners faces.  The animators also did a great job of creating two distinct worlds. There is the  world of privilege with backyards, loving family, and plentiful food contrasted with the world of street dogs living by themselves and scrounging for meals.   

Part way through the animation process a decision was made to release the film on Cinemascope widescreen.  This created an extra challenge for the animators because they had to go back and fill up more screen so it didn’t feel stretched out.  They also had to redo it again because when it came time to release the film there weren’t many Cinemascope Cinemas around and to get a wide release they had to release another cut in traditional Academy ratio.    

Overall: This is one of the first Disney VHS tapes I had as a kid so it’s one of the Disney Films I am most familiar and have the strongest connection too so nostaligia might play a factor in my feelings for this movie.  I thought it was a fun movie that moves along well and the animation does a great job of creating a world that feels lived in. I really liked the beginning with the dogs point of view and kind of wish that they kept that up for the whole movie. I enjoyed this one as a kid and still enjoyed it as an adult, nothing earth shattering but simply enjoyable.  

Random Facts:

The first Disney Animated Feature released by Disney’s new distribution company Buena Vista Distribution. 

Hugely popular at the time. Second highest grossing Disney movie at the time of release, second only  to Snow White. Yet most critics did not like it.  

First animated film released in Cinemascope

Disney didn’t like the spaghetti eating scene but it has gone on to become one of the most memorable scenes in film history.  

Peggy Lee wrote and performed songs for the movie.   She sings: "He's a Tramp", "La La Lu", "The Siamese Cat Song", and "What Is a Baby?". The character Peg who sings “He’s a Tramp” was named and designed to look like her.  

Peggy Lee sued Disney in 1988 for royalties from the sales of the VHS release. She ended up winning the court case and won $2.3 million when the case was finally over in 1991. Here is a great article about the court case. https://www.cartoonbrew.com/disney/peggy-lee-war-disney-lady-and-the-tramp-113688.html  

  

Listomania Sunday: Dog Movies

I have been thinking about this list for a while. And I know there are probably lots of older movies I could have included. The obvious ones that isn't included are the Lassie Movies and that is basically because I have not seen any of them.  But I decided to make my list anyway.  I have a feeling there are some other good ones I am missing. Let me know what they are.

1.  Marley and Me- one of the few movies that had me crying at the end.
2.  Best in Show-One of the funniest movies around and I love how the dogs are the more normal then their owners.
3.  Antarctica-I know that very few people have seen it but I loved it as a kid. The remake version 8 Below is not as good but still not bad.
4.  Lady and the Tramp-even though the Siamese cats stole the movie for me. It is still a nice romantic movie about dogs.
5.  Cujo-I figured I had to have at least one horror movie on this list.