Tarzan

Liam and I recently watched Disney's Tarzan, which I hadn't seen in forever.  Let me just say that I cried 3 times in the first 10-15 minutes of the movie, and that by the end I had cried a total of 6 times.  I don't remember my heart aching so many times before, I am turning into my mother.

Tarzan was released in 1999 by Walt Disney Animation and is considered the last of the Disney Renaissance films.  It is the 37th Walt Disney Animated Classic and the first animated feature of the story of Tarzan, based off of the book Tarzan and the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Tarzan is a story about a British couple who are shipwrecked on an island with their baby and cannot survive the wildlife.  An ape who has recently lost her own baby hears Tarzan crying and raises him as her own with the gorillas.  As an adult, other humans come to explore the island and Tarzan is torn between wanting to be with his own kind and staying with the family that raised him.


Voice talents include:
Tony Goldwyn as Tarzan (Scandal, Divergent, Law & Order: CI, Last Samurai, Ghost)
Glenn Close as Kala (Simpsons, Damages, Hoodwinked, The Shield, Stepford Wives, Air Force One)
Brian Blessed as Clayton (Peppa Pig, King Lear, Star Wars Episode I, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves)
Minnie Driver as Jane (Good Will Hunting, Grosse Point Blank, About A Boy, I Give It A Year, Riches)
Nigel Hawthorne as Professor Porter (Amistad, Demolition Man, Yes, Prime Minister, Black Cauldron)
Wayne Knight as Tanto (Seinfeld, Jurassic Park, Space Jam, The Exes, Hot in Cleveland, 3rd Rock From the Sun)
Rosie O'Donnell as Terk (Flintstones, Now & Then, League of Their Own, The View, Rosie O'Donnell Show)

It's production budget of $130 million made it the most Expensive animated film of all time at the time of its release.  Disney's Treasure Planet finally topped it t $140 million in 2002.  Tarzan gross $448 billion worldwide as was the first Disney film to open at #1 since Pocahontas.

For the movie Tarzan, the production team developed a new CGI concept called Deep Canvas, which allowed artists to created CGI backgrounds that looked like a painting.  This technique was awarded a Technical Achievement Award in 2003 from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science.  The songs for the film were written and performed by Phil Collins.

I loved this movie, and although it has some disturbing emotional scenes for adults, my toddler didn't seem to be negatively affected.  He loved the movie and keeps requesting to watch the "movie with the baby" which is what Tarzan is now called in our house.  4.5 out of 5 stars. 

You can visit the official site: Tarzan

Frozen

This was the first movie that Liam ever saw in the theater.  Grandma was here and insisted on taking Liam to his first movie, and auntie Shayna came along as well.  I was very worried about Liam going to see a movie and actually sitting still through it at his age (he is three in case you don't know).  He actually did remarkably well...  Now as far as the movie selection, the big Disney movie showing at that time was Frozen.  It started off kind of awkward with the new revival initiative of Disney to try to add on snippets of old black and white Mickey cartoons at the beginning of movies.  Now Disney makes a living on mostly children's movies, and in so doing you think they would have picked a bit more of a tasteful excerpt.  Instead we had a cow flashing her udders and someone kidnapping and trying ti simulated take advantage of Minnie Mouse....  Now I didn't have a problem seeing it myself, but I did think that Disney studios have to know the society of parents and children right now and that it probably wasn't the greatest choice to show before a kid's movie....  With that being said let's move on to the actual movie.
Frozen is about two sisters Anna & Elsa.  Elsa is the elder sister and has a magic with ice, winter, snow.  This is something that can be used by evil if anyone were to find out and so her parents force her to hide it from everyone so that no one will ever be hurt, forcing her to look herself away while growing up.  Anna is the littler sister that has no idea why her sister is locking herself away and is spending her life being lonely.  When Elsa accidentally released some of her power on her coronation she runs away leaving Anna to fend for herself.  Anna only wants to find love and to have her sister as a friend, so they set out on a treacherous journey with unlikely allies in an attempt to save her sister and her kingdom.

Voices featured in this movie:
Anna is voiced by Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars, Sarah Marshall, Gossip Girl)
Elsa is voiced by Idina Menzel (Rent, Enchanted, Glee, wife of Taye Diggs)
Kristoff (an unlikely ally) is voiced by Jonathan Goff (Glee)

Frozen is a 3D computer animated musical fantasy comedy movie.  It was released in 2013 and is the 53rd Disney movie to be released.  It is loosely based on the story the Snow Queen by Hans Christian Anderson, which may explain why it has a bit of an older feel to it.   So far is has grossed $764 million worldwide and has won several awards.  The awards won include Golden Globe & Critic's Choice for Best Animated Feature as well as Critic's Choice award for Best Original Song for "Let It Go" also sung by Idina Menzel.  Frozen became Fandango's top advance ticket seller among animated features beating out Brave.  It is the 4th highest grossing 2013 film.


Disney has been looking at producing their version of the Snow Queen since the 1940s but had trouble getting the story to a place where they felt that the audience could relate to it.  They had a hard time modernizing it and trying to lighten up an originally dark and seemingly inhumane story.  One main way in which this happened was by making Anna & Elsa sisters.  In the late 1990s Disney picked the story back up and worked on it for almost a decade before it was scrapped again in 2002.  In 2008 a new idea with the film was pitched by director Chris Buck under the title of Anna & the Snow Queen with plans to use traditional animation and portray the Snow Queen as light-hearted as opposed to a villain, but by early 2010, there were again complications with making the story work.  In December of 2011 after the success of Tangled Disney decided to again pick up the story and move forward with 3D and a new development team.  With the character Anna now being written by Chris Buck as the Snow Queen's little sister they were able to show new dimensions in the relationships of the characters while subtracting a lot of the darkness away from the story.  Jennifer Lee (one of the screenwriters from Wreck-It-Ralph) was brought onto the team.  Her work and involvement became so involved and extensive that she ended up being promoted from screenwriter to songwriter and pre-devlopment and was brought up to director alongside Chris Buck.  This was a major accomplishment as in all of these years Jennifer Lee became the first woman to direct a full-length animated motion picture by Walt Disney Animation Studios. 

Frozen had a very nice clear and crisp picture.  It was definitely a musical and seemed like there were more songs than dialogue.  The songs were quite pretty though and easy to sing along.  I did however feel that the theme of the movie was more directed at the tweens-pre-teen age group as opposed to the younger crowd.  There wasn't much for a young child to relate to like there is in some Disney movies.  Liam was definitely enthralled with the snowman Olaf and I myself found Sven the reindeer to be the best character in the movie.  I did notice that with the older theme, that when the sister Anna finds her independence and possibly older, slightly darker stage that her whole appearance changed, her hair was now in a messed braid instead of in a tight orderly braid, and she was wearing a lower cute almost sheer dress, it was definitely showing that becoming darker is sexier and more appealing...  but perhaps I was reading too much into it.  On a positive note it did a great job of showing the independence of women and was the first Disney film to question a woman marrying a man that she just met.  There was the grand theme that true love comes in many forms.  My adult self sees Disney movies in a different light and as a mother knowing how much every little detail is sponged into the minds of youth.  Overall I give this film 4 out of 5 stars.  I would give it 5 stars because it had great songs and great characters, but it seems like there were a lot of holes in the story and if given more time it could have told more about the story instead of just touching upon elements such as Anna's power and the Trolls.

You can visit Disney's Official Site here: Frozen

I suggest not watching this hilarious unnecessarily censored video of excerpts from the movie unless you have seen it already,  It could ruin it for you.

Disney's Robin Hood

It has been many years since I last watched Disney's version on Robin Hood.  I must admit that I was very excited when I saw that it had been added onto Netflix's instant watch.  This is the Disney version of Robin Hood as told my animals.

  It was released by Disney in 1973.  It was the 21st animated feature to be released by Disney.  The film is narrated by a singing rooster telling about the story of Robin Hood and Little John and the Sherwood Forest.  It was finished after Walt's death and was as such the first film to be continued on without him. 
Originally Disney considered doing a movie abotu Reynard the fox but there were concerns about whether or not he would be a suitable hero.  Reynard was a trickster fox from European folklore that was based primarily around satirical stories....  Using anthropomorphic tales (animals instead of people) which was probably the base inspiration for anthropomorphic telling of Robin Hood, using a similar casting of a wolf and a lion against the fox.

As the film was made during Disney's financial slump following the completion of Phase One of the Florida Project and therefore allotted a small budget, the artists reused footage from previous animated features. This is most noticeable during the song-and-dance number, "The Phone King of England"; the characters' movements strongly resemble those from The Jungle Book, The Aristocats, and Snow With

In particular, the section where Little John and Lady Kluck dance together mirrors part of the song "I Wanna Be Like You" from The Jungle Book with Baloo and  king Louie respectively, and Robin Hood and Maid Marian mirror the dancing movements of Thomas O'Malley and Duchess during the song "Everybody Wants to Be A Cat" from The Aristocats (from which some of the musicians also mirror the movements of Scat Cat and his gang) and Maid Marian mirror dancing the movements of Snow White during the song "The Silly Song".  The animation of Little John, the bear in Robin Hood, is nearly identical to that of Baloo but Little John more closely resembles a brown or grizzly bear (Baloo was based on an Indian Sloth Bear). At one point, one of the elephants who acts as heralds for Prince John attempts to trumpet a warning. Lady Kluck grabs the trunk, preventing the trumpeting and leaving the elephant flapping his ears ineffectually.The movie also reuses the same animated shots several times, including those of the rhinos walking and running and those of Sis, Tagalong and Toby laughing. Several animated clips of the Sheriff of Nottingham are also recycled at different points in the film.

At the time of it's release it was received with mixed reviews, overall consensus being that it was on par with The Jungle Book, but could not touch some of Disney's greats.

I have to say that although this was definitely NOT Disney's finest work.  I still love it all the same.  I have always loved the story of Robin Hood and I always loved it being told in a an anthropomorphic way.  I think that the songs are catchy and generally fun for the time being.  It had a good ol' Disney Love song, that was actually reused in the "The Fantastix Mr. Fox."
Liam was definitely into it.  It would be in the top half of his attention getting movies, but wasn't the best one yet.

With that being said, it is definitely worth watching and fun to relive.  I give it 4 out of 5 stars.  I love what it had to offer for the 70s.  Enjoy.

To Visit Disney's website dedicated to Robin Hood go to: Disney Robin Hood

The Many Adventures of Winnie The Pooh

I know I watched and loved Winnie The Pooh as a child and it has been so great to share it with Liam and watch him become completely attached to it.  So haven't watched it multiple times recently I decided to do a review on it.

I was very surprised by how old it was and how relevant and recent it still seems when you watch it.  Netflix informed me that I was way off base and that it was actually released in 1977.  How crazy that it can still be so timeless and wonderful.  Having loved this for as long as I can remember I always love Tigger, but it was Eeyore that really stole my heart and in high school and right after I started collecting Eeyore's each time I went to a Disney Store.  Unfortunately I have lost some of the most awesome special edition ones in moves :(  But I still love Eeyore all the same and will buy one if I find any different than I already own.  Liam has also taken to loving the many wonderful characters of the movie.

Liam especially loves the songs, most notably "I'm Just a Little Black Raincloud."  I catch him around the house and in the car saying "Tutt Tutt Looks Like Rain."  This movie is great for little attention spans because it is really just a compilation of shorts linked together to create the movie.  The topic changes help keep smaller people more interested throughout the entirety of the film.  I love the way that the story is a part of a book at times :)

The characters are wonderful and loveable-even if they have been linked to the faults of man in each character, which only a negative person would look for in the film.  Although the timeless question of whether Eeyore is a boy or a girl with the pink bow on his tail, is definitively answered, at least in this movie with a deep many voice for him, leaving no other option. I love that Pooh sings a song about being "short fat, and proud of that."

The songs are catchy, there are Heffalumps & Woozles, many lessons about friendship and sharing.  Overall I definitely recommend this movie with 5 stars.  Don't miss this, due to it's age especially if you have children of your own now.  They are sure to love it, just as much if not more than you did as a child.  If you ever missed out on this 1970's classic, be sure to add it to your repertoire.  It is definitely worth the time to sit down and watch it! 

Here is a link to the official site: Winnie The Pooh: Disney

Alice in Wonderland Review

Last night I watched Alice in Wonderland the 1951 Disney version with Liam for the his first time.  He was really into all of the different songs and noises and interesting characters.  I had the general sense as a mother at how much darker and different children's movies were in the 1950s than they are now.  I wasn't sure if it was good to have my son see the part that always bothered me with the Walrus and the Carpenter leading the oyster babies into the house and gaining their trust and than eating them.  It always bothered me and despite all of the craziness within the movie, it seemed like the most messed up part to me.  However I am also aware that my son is young and may not grasp this, but we did call the Walrus a bad man and talk about the oyster's being sad and going bye bye.  The movie score was actually not bad and definitely fit in well with the movie.

I have always thought that Alice in Wonderland really looked a lot of the dark personas and the character flaws of society by putting them into each of the characters, we see forgetfulness and time management issues, lack of responsibility, vanity, liar, etc.  Of course becoming older and becoming a parent makes you look at movies (especially kid's movies) in a whole other light.
Alice in Wonderland is based off of the Novels "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass" by Lewis Carrol.  I have always wanted to read these books, and definitely need to add them onto my list of classics to acquire.

I found a lot of VERY interesting information about the Disney version of the story when I was researching it for example that parts of this film were created as early as 1923 when Walk Disney was merely 21 years old and was working for a different movie studio.  Before finishing the short comedy series the studio was closed and Walt Disney went on to use the adapted short film as a sort of pilot to show to new prospective distributes.  The Alice's comedies series was on air from 1924-1927.  Now remember the movie version wasn't actually released for another 24 years after that.
In 1932 Walt was toying with the idea of making Alice into a feature length film but ended up turning his priorities to Snow White & the Seven Dwarves instead.  However Lewis Carrol's books still resonated with him as he made the Mickey Film "Through the Looking Glass" in 1936.  (Still 15 years before the film came out).
 In 1938 Walt officially registered the title of "Alice in Wonderland" and started working on it, but did not like the dark and grotesqueness of the script and the way that the animation was turning out.  This was also during the economic devastation of WWII and Walt decided to shelve Alice and created instead the films Pinocchio, Fantasia & Bambi.

In 1945, after the war had ended Walt decided to revive Alice but found that the scrip had taken on too literal of a translation of the book.  He had it changed to focus on comedy, music and the whimsical side of the book.  It almost became a live-action animated version but ended up all animated due to the difficulty of doing justice to the book.
Alice did not do well and was one of Disney's lowest grossing films.  British critics felt that Walt Americanized the story and ruined it and Walt felt the film failed because the character of Alice had no heart.  It was the 13th film released by Disney.

 Another interesting fact was that Alice was voiced by Kathryne Beaumont who later went on to voice Wendy Darling in Peter Pan. 
So what is the story of Alice in Wonderland?  Loosely it is a dreamland created by Alice in which nothing is at is seems and everything is as it is not.  Alice falls asleep and ends up in this psychedelic dreamland, where flowers talk and she is about tall, although sometimes growing and shrinking due to mushroom, pill and liquid substance use.  She is constantly chasing the white rabbit who she sees to lead her into the world, and she meets lots of interesting characters.  In the end it was all a dream.