The Chronological Animated Disney Canon: The Bronze Age
Movie the Thirty-First: "The Great Mouse Detective"
I think I saw this one at a very early age. Even back then, I felt as if these characters were familiar - but in a good way. They're fresh and amicable from the start.
It's as if the new generation of Disney people got the sense slapped back into them. This is a delightful movie with a fun atmosphere, wonderfully scary villains, and a brilliant hero. Honestly, the fact that I didn't remember to start taking notes until 45 minutes in tells you how compelling it is.
This is another highly underrated movie that tends to get lost in the shuffle, but it's well worth revisiting. Who knew (outside of "Thriller" of course) that Vincent Price had such an excellent singing voice? (The fact that I just pointed out that the people cast as the speaking voices were willing to sing will become important later; this isn't a policy they'd stay with.)
Movie the Thirty-Second: "Who Framed Roger Rabbit"
You tend to forget how freakin' AMAZING this movie is.
Twenty years ago (man, twenty years), right from the prologue, "Roger Rabbit" was a hard kick in the face. Nobody had ever seen anything like this before. Nobody had really ever attempted anything like this before. And twenty years ago, who'd ever think that the special effects pioneered here - not to mention the even more important "there isn't anything we can't do" attitude - would be taken for granted today. No live-action/animation film since has been half as good as this one.
It's a damn shame we'll never see the oft-teased sequel. It's worth it to note that this film lent it's design aesthetic to what was until very recently the Disney/MGM Studios. It's very weird to realize that park peaked in it's first five years or so.
Movie the Thirty-Third: "Oliver & Company"
I would have sworn this was released well before "Roger Rabbit". Hell, I have a hard time remembering that it came out around the same time as "The Land Before Time" (and I know I'm not supposed to compare studios at this point, but score one for Don Bluth there.) The songs are pretty good and some of the characters are fun; Glen Keane headed the character design units and his confidence in his considerable skill is starting to show. It's also interesting to point out that once again, all the actors sing (and the singers act). Honestly, the most entertaining thing on the DVD isn't the movie itself but the making-of features. They are very, very 80's and a total trip.
Movie the Thirty-Fourth: "The Little Mermaid"
And now we're into the REALLY popular movies. I only point this out because it directly affects this project: Netflix did not have some of these available. I had to -horrors- watch my old, first-edition videos of some of them! Worse yet, the ones that Netflix did have had waits! I had to wait for them! Which means -oh the humanity- I had to WATCH THESE OUT OF ORDER!!!
The preceding paragraph was only written to bitterly make fun of myself, as I was freaking out about this. I'm absolutely sure nobody would have noticed if I hadn't said anything. *sigh*
It's hard to believe it but "The Little Mermaid" is nearly twenty years old. How many of us have the dialogue memorized? Anybody remember reenacting key scenes up at the lake (or, more accurately, IN the lake)? Remember when there were aisles and aisles of "Mermaid" toys in the toy stores for YEARS after the fact? (Personally, that was my first memory of realizing that Disney tends to milk their latest cash cow until it dies, then they start grilling the steaks, then they start making burgers, THEN they start selling the bones and the leather, ad infinitum.) This may all have to do with the fact that this is the very first fully animated film that Disney released on video shortly after it's premier in theaters, something we take for granted today. Disney obviously saw the advantage in keeping the characters in the public consciousness, as they haven't kept a new release in the "vault" before it gets a video since.
All pop-culture criticism aside, for many of us, "The Little Mermaid" is still the greatest Disney movie because we saw it at JUST the right time. The DVD is excellent; Ariel looks and sounds better than ever before. The sight gags lost to video pan-and-scanning are back, as are the throw-away one-liners muttered by the minor characters, which were illegible in the old video dub. So yes, it turns out that "Mermaid" is funny as heck. Directors Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale honed their humor in an all-but-forgotten show at Epcot's late, lamented Wonders of Life pavilion entitled "Cranium Command". The screamingly funny misadventures of a newly appointed conscience, it's well worth a look for "Mermaid" fanatics.
I think this is Disney's last hand-painted movie; everything since has been colored by computer, lending a distinctive look and better integration of special effects. I'm also pretty sure that this is the first feature to have had segments finished at the late, lamented Studio part of the Disney /MGM Hollywood Studio.
Movie the Thirty-Fifth: "The Rescuers Down Under"
I'm actually happy to see that this one had a wait; I thought I was the only person in the world who liked it. It does mean that I had to skip it and review it later. I'm hoping this doesn't happen again (I've been extremely lucky in that respect so far), as it was a little disorienting to watch this in the middle of the movies from the 2000s.
During the insane popularity of "Little Mermaid", I was always a cheerleader for "The Rescuers Down Under". Having seen it on DVD, where it looks and sounds amazing, I still think it's one of the downright best looking Bronze Age movies. It definitely needs more love (and a better DVD release too - this is the most bare-bones Disney DVD I have ever seen) because all the new animation techniques used to make "Beauty and the Beast", "Aladdin", and "The Lion King" started here.
No film has ever given me a greater sensation of flying. If the Marahute scenes do not give you a rush, I've no idea what to say to you.
Movie the Thirty-Sixth: "Beauty and the Beast"
Belle is my homegirl. Dark-haired girls who read books for the waffles!
I love this movie. I saw it at just the right age (if you can't tell, the Bronze Age movies are the Disney movies best remembered from my youth), and it's the one Disney movie I saw the most times in the theater. I was struck by how emotional it is; it's very dark but it's the cool kind of dark. All of the especially sad moments come out of the careful character development. It isn't at all like the original "The Rescuers", where they basically stuffed a bunch of high-tearjerk-quotient elements into the script. Here, I felt as though all of the times I got misty-eyed were well-deserved.
This is easily Disney's best integration of music, songs, animation, effects, character, story, and art. And in case "Little Mermaid" didn't convince you, in case "Down Under" didn't do it for you, here it's absolutely clear that Glen Keane is the man.
Movie the Thirty-Seventh: "Aladdin"
I have to comment on the "Aladdin" teaser trailer that appears on my copy of "Beauty and the Beast". It doesn't say a WORD about Robin Williams. Instead, the clip promotes the animators (there's Glen Keane again) and the directors as the stars of the movie. Can you imagine? I hate to pick on Dreamworks again -they really are awful about this- but consider how "Flushed Away" lists the voice actors in the opening credits as if they ever appear on screen - or had anything to do with the film other than providing voices. And then look at the end credits for "Aladdin", which puts all the animators on equal-footing with the actors.
The roots of the "guess the celebrity voice-over" trend start here with "Aladdin". This is also the first Disney movie with of-the-moment cultural references as the jokes. With these unfortunate facts in mind, I was expecting I'd have a hard time watching the movie again.
Well, forget all that. "Aladdin" is the most downright fun movie of the Bronze Age; it doesn't feel dated at all, the characters are wonderful, it's bright and full of sight gags and parental bonuses. The action scenes are amazing as well; props to PIXAR! I had forgotten how much fun it is.
It's hard to say which movie in this set is the best. At this point, they're all the best!
Movie the Thirty-Eighth: "The Lion King"
If the Box Office Numbers count for anything, then this is the most popular of all Disney animated features. Being the most popular, of course, "Lion King" has gotten a lot of backlash through the years. Some of it isn't exactly unfounded; this is indeed when they started going a little crazy with the celebrity voices. It's especially distracting when they start singing - there's no way anybody could have thought that other guy sounded anything like Matthew Broderick. Some of it is a little nuts (my favorite is the "it's a big, long pro-neocon tract" theory). And then, of course, there's the "Sex in the clouds" thing. (How come we weren't more worried about the guy who spent so much time going through Disney movies looking for stuff like that?) With all this baggage, how does "The Lion King" hold up?
Very, very well. Sure, it's an epic, mythic masterpiece with fart jokes, but the prologue is easily the greatest piece of animation Disney has done since the tracking shot over the village in "Pinocchio". "I Just Can't Wait to be King" is a wonderful Mary Blair tribute, and all of the songs are terrific.
Unfortunately for Disney, this movie set a standard that they've never been able to top...
Movie the Thirty-Ninth: "Pocahontas"
You see, this is right about where Disney started believing the hype. Ouch.
This has the dubious distinction of being the most disappointing and boring of the Bronze Age movies (less generous fans consider "Pocahontas" the start of the Dork Age) and the first movie I watched after my surgery. The painkiller they've got me on is a mild narcotic, so at least the stuff about the "Colors of the Wind" and the talking tree make some sense now.
Actually, no. They really don't. This is the kind of movie that turns a historical figure into a smelly hippie chick with amazing hair (woo dark-haired girls), and has such clearly drug-induced imagery as talking trees and Mel Gibson singing. The songs are actually pretty good and the production design takes many a cue from good old Mary Blair. But really, it's amazingly, embarrassingly boring.
It didn't help that "Toy Story" would arrive this same year…
Movie the Fortieth: "The Hunchback of Notre Dame"
Now this is more like it. I'm one of the six or seven people who like this movie. But then, there you go: six or seven people.
I thought this was brilliant, especially coming right on the heels of "Pocahontas", which was engineered not to offend anyone. It may seem an odd book for Disney to adapt but, really, have you ever sat down and read any of their other source materials? ("Sword in the Stone", I'm looking at you again.) It is essentially a rock opera, one that acknowledges that everything is better with Latin chanting. The songs are amazing. Once again, it's emotional (the use of emotional color gets a workout here), but once again the emotion is well-earned.
There is one big flaw, however: whomever came up with the gargoyle comic relief characters really needs to sit and think about what they've done. I find them a little easier to take if you assume Quasimodo is hallucinating everything they do. Of course, that makes the movie even darker than it already is. Thankfully, the next movie's a light one.
Movie the Forty-First: "Hercules"
Lighter than a feather, really. Disney fans debate when the Bronze Age turned into Disney's Dork Age. For me, personally, it was with this exact movie. Tellingly, "Hercules" was the last of these films I saw in a theater. I wouldn't see another Disney movie in a theater in earnest until "Lilo and Stitch" ("Dinosaur" couldn't count even if it wanted to - my fiends and I went to that movie purposely to make fun of it.)
"Hercules" isn't that bad, really. The songs are very good and it's nice to see the Pastoral Symphony scenes in "Fantasia" get knocked down a few pegs. I also like how they took the theory that the "Superman" mythos is based mostly on the tales of Hercules and run all over town with it.
On the other hand, the weird, heavily stylized characters (by Gerald Scarfe of all people) take a long time to warm up to. More importantly, this is the kind of movie where they have a joke about overenthusiastic self-promotion with Hercules' officially licensed sandals and fast food... And then you walk through the mall on your way out of the theater and see those EXACT sandals and fast food toys for sale in reality. Talk about trying to have your cake and eat it too.
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