Disney Movie Marathon Challenge

So I just came across this, what a great thread... I wish I had been able to follow along in real time, as you folks have had some excellent commentary going and I'm really a huge fan of everything in here, but anyway I'll be following along now, and @BrianL @RSandRS @Micca can be expecting a bunch of retroactive "likes" as I read back through in reverse-chronological order. Keep up the good work!
Welcome to thread! We've sorta been the 3 Mouseketeers(!) but it's a pleasure to see another Disney movie fan.:)
 
Lilo and Stitch (2002)

Lilo and Stitch is a sweet and heartwarming 2002 movie about two sisters, young adult Nani and little sister Lilo, and their attempts to build a family after the death of their parents. The relationship between the two sisters, both of whom are strong-willed, grief-stricken and fiercely loyal and loving toward one another, is beautifully rendered and developed in the film, and has you both laughing and crying throughout. The film is also set on a Hawaiian island and has some wry and humorous commentary on the island’s tourism and the way that tourists engage, and fail to engage, with the native culture.

And there’s also this alien, but the less said about that the better.

I joke, obviously, but Lilo and Stitch is a weird one. I really do like this movie; it affects me emotionally in the way the really good Disneys do, but I can’t help being frustrated by it. If the movie had just been called Lilo, or had been called Lilo and Nani, I’d probably love it, but as far as I’m concerned Stitch doesn’t belong and doesn’t earn his place.

Although the innovative and cool design of the film attempts to bring the alien-world and the human world together, and does so to a certain extent, it never really bridges the gap. This is perhaps most noticeable with the (very long) opening sequence. People walking into the cinema for the first time must have wondered whether they’d gone into the correct theatre. Expecting a film set in Hawaii they’re instead plunged into a weird alien world with spaceships and illegal genetic experiments, and the credits don’t roll until 10 minutes or so into the film. This opening really jars with the rest of the film, and the continued presence of the two aliens, Jookiba and Pleakley, unfortunately continues to jar.

The main problem with the movie that I can see, however, is Stitch himself. I think they got the balance between annoying and cute wrong for this character, and if this had been different I might have been more willing to accept the weird juxtaposition of action-packed alien adventure and bittersweet examination of a family in crisis. But Stitch is just mean. I genuinely don’t find him or his destructive ways funny. If he had been a bit less destructive, and a bit more willing to accept Lilo’s love, or if there had been more of a sense that the family needed someone like him in it, I think the movie would have been stronger. It would have helped to ground the story in the little family of Lilo, Nani and Stitch a bit more. As it is I find myself wishing Stitch would get lost and stop messing things up for the two sisters, who have already been through enough.

As I said though, this all doesn’t make me dislike the film. I love Lilo and Nani - they are both such charismatic characters. I think Lilo would have been funny enough as a character by herself; there was no need to add in the madcap Stitch. I also love the design of the film, particularly the characters, who look different from characters in any other Disney movie, and the soundtrack which mixes musical styles really well.

This is all (even more than most of my reviews I think) very much a personal opinion however. I watched Lilo and Stitch for the first time as an adult and I have no idea how a child would react to Stitch. His prevalence in the parks and the mountains of Stitch-related merch (plus the sequels and the TV show) suggest...pretty well. :p But the movie seems like a movie of two parts to me - one part is for kids and the other part is for adults, and they haven’t managed to marry the two together as smoothly as with other Disney films. I’m just left, at the end of the film, wishing I’d spent more time with Lilo and Nani and less time chasing Stitch.
 
I would love to see this as I never have. I had a friend back when it came out who was obsessed with it and saw it a bunch of times. She had a tendency to do that with movies she really liked, and this was one of them. I always assumed it was a bit better than the typical straight-to-video Disney sequels as it was done by different studios. I can't say much about it, but I'd like to give it a watch sometime.

The Disney sequels fascinate me, though I haven't seen that many of them. They seem like they're not worth paying much for, so I kinda see them when I can. I have a few blu-rays that will have the sequel, and they didn't cost much so it's basically a bonus feature. I have seen both Mulan II and Pocahontas II. They are not that bad. They come off as television animation, which, if you take it for what it is, they're fine, not great. The music definitely suffers the most. Mulan has a follow-up song to "Girl Worth Fighting For" which is reasonably fun. Otherwise, they are more like codas or side-stories, and as such, they work ok. Pocahontas is weird because it draws from real life where she meets her actual husband, so it's strange that she doesn't "end up" with John Smith (in the context of the movie, not real life). Anyway, I think the sequels get more hate than they deserve, though they're not amazing or anything. I saw a Tarzan one which was basically a long version of the TV series, and that TV series wasn't bad or anything.

I still want to see Return to Neverland.

I've not watched Mulan II or Pocahontas II, I guess they were straight to DVD/VHS? Although Mulan II is later in the 2000s so it may appear on this list. Our next review is actually Jungle Book II (which-spolier alert! WE LIKED!) I cannot recommend Return to Neverland, its not a good movie, but for the purposes of Disney education maybe worth a watch!
 


So I just came across this, what a great thread... I wish I had been able to follow along in real time, as you folks have had some excellent commentary going and I'm really a huge fan of everything in here, but anyway I'll be following along now, and @BrianL @RSandRS @Micca can be expecting a bunch of retroactive "likes" as I read back through in reverse-chronological order. Keep up the good work!

Great to have another contributor! :) Hope you enjoy the further reviews!

Jungle Book II up next!
 
I've not watched Mulan II or Pocahontas II, I guess they were straight to DVD/VHS? Although Mulan II is later in the 2000s so it may appear on this list. Our next review is actually Jungle Book II (which-spolier alert! WE LIKED!) I cannot recommend Return to Neverland, its not a good movie, but for the purposes of Disney education maybe worth a watch!

They were indeed straight-to-video. Jungle Book 2 was theatrical, and usually DisneyToon studios did better when they had a theatrical budget. Many people don't realize that animation is very expensive and the quality can definitely suffer when the money isn't there. I always feel like DisneyToon did the best with what they were given, but obviously that is why the quality of the straight-to-video releases is criticized. They also can't afford to produce songs that are of the caliber of the Theatrical films, and that can put a damper on them. Still, of the few I have seen I have found them to be mostly fun if you consider them more like a TV series than a movie (some of them were intended to be TV series and are stitched together from elements produced for such). Here's a quick rundown of the D-Toon straight-to-video movies that I have seen:

Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World: Not that bad. It has some nice action sequences but is nothing special. I can't believe they showed a bear baiting!

The Hunchback of Notre Dame II:
This one is pretty wacky. I don't even know what to think about it, but Quasi gets a girlfriend. It's short too, but it's fine because it's really just a bonus feature on my Blu-ray disc.

Atlantis: Milo's Return:
From a movie I love to a TV series that would have been a mediocre Scooby-Doo type of thing apparently, this one isn't that great. The TV series was scrapped when the movie bombed. It could have been interesting but it takes place mostly on dry land. What?

Mulan II:
This is probably the best that I've seen. It follows the characters forward and even has decent music.

Tarzan & Jane: This is also stitched from some unaired episodes of an actually released TV series. It's actually pretty decent and it seems that the show probably was as well. It expands the world and even has nods to The Jungle Cruise in it, which I appreciate. Obviously, the animation is of a lower caliber and the voices are different, but it's not bad. It has a great song, The Song of Life, for the finale and end credits!
 
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Lilo & Stitch: I have seen it several times, I even own a copy. I will no longer watch it because Stitch creeps me out. I recognize some nice animation and love the tropical setting, I can't get past how gross Stitch is.
 


Lilo and Stitch (2002)

Lilo and Stitch is a sweet and heartwarming 2002 movie about two sisters, young adult Nani and little sister Lilo, and their attempts to build a family after the death of their parents. The relationship between the two sisters, both of whom are strong-willed, grief-stricken and fiercely loyal and loving toward one another, is beautifully rendered and developed in the film, and has you both laughing and crying throughout. The film is also set on a Hawaiian island and has some wry and humorous commentary on the island’s tourism and the way that tourists engage, and fail to engage, with the native culture.

And there’s also this alien, but the less said about that the better.

I joke, obviously, but Lilo and Stitch is a weird one. I really do like this movie; it affects me emotionally in the way the really good Disneys do, but I can’t help being frustrated by it. If the movie had just been called Lilo, or had been called Lilo and Nani, I’d probably love it, but as far as I’m concerned Stitch doesn’t belong and doesn’t earn his place.

Although the innovative and cool design of the film attempts to bring the alien-world and the human world together, and does so to a certain extent, it never really bridges the gap. This is perhaps most noticeable with the (very long) opening sequence. People walking into the cinema for the first time must have wondered whether they’d gone into the correct theatre. Expecting a film set in Hawaii they’re instead plunged into a weird alien world with spaceships and illegal genetic experiments, and the credits don’t roll until 10 minutes or so into the film. This opening really jars with the rest of the film, and the continued presence of the two aliens, Jookiba and Pleakley, unfortunately continues to jar.

The main problem with the movie that I can see, however, is Stitch himself. I think they got the balance between annoying and cute wrong for this character, and if this had been different I might have been more willing to accept the weird juxtaposition of action-packed alien adventure and bittersweet examination of a family in crisis. But Stitch is just mean. I genuinely don’t find him or his destructive ways funny. If he had been a bit less destructive, and a bit more willing to accept Lilo’s love, or if there had been more of a sense that the family needed someone like him in it, I think the movie would have been stronger. It would have helped to ground the story in the little family of Lilo, Nani and Stitch a bit more. As it is I find myself wishing Stitch would get lost and stop messing things up for the two sisters, who have already been through enough.

As I said though, this all doesn’t make me dislike the film. I love Lilo and Nani - they are both such charismatic characters. I think Lilo would have been funny enough as a character by herself; there was no need to add in the madcap Stitch. I also love the design of the film, particularly the characters, who look different from characters in any other Disney movie, and the soundtrack which mixes musical styles really well.

This is all (even more than most of my reviews I think) very much a personal opinion however. I watched Lilo and Stitch for the first time as an adult and I have no idea how a child would react to Stitch. His prevalence in the parks and the mountains of Stitch-related merch (plus the sequels and the TV show) suggest...pretty well. :p But the movie seems like a movie of two parts to me - one part is for kids and the other part is for adults, and they haven’t managed to marry the two together as smoothly as with other Disney films. I’m just left, at the end of the film, wishing I’d spent more time with Lilo and Nani and less time chasing Stitch.

Lilo and Stitch is pretty good, though Stitch never really spoke to me too much as a character. I don't really find him annoying, but I just don't really engage with him. Honestly, I don't engage much with Lilo either, so that's why this one has never been a favorite of mine. I certainly don't hate it of anything, but it's not a top-tier one for me. What is top-tier, and not mentioned in your review, is the great music by Mark Keali'i Ho'omalu. "Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride" is tremendous! I could have done with more songs like that and "He Mele no Lilo" than the Elvis stuff. Stitch was immensely popular though, probably because he makes a pretty cute plush toy, but he's not a favorite of mine.
 
Hello everyone! Sorry I haven't been on in a while I hope you guys had a good christmas and enjoyed the New Year's celebrations and all that. Anyways things I've missed:

Monsters Inc - I wouldn't say this one is my favourite when it comes to Pixar but my god is it good. I definitely agree that the dynamic between Mike and Sulley is well done, the animation isn't completely there with the humans since this was 2001 when it came but the animation in general does look stunning and it's definitely something I've appreciated it more with age. For some reason I didn't think too much of Monsters Inc when I was a kid but nowadays I regard as one of the better films that Pixar ever made.

Disney Direct to Video Sequels - Ooh where to start? There are Disney Direct to Video Sequels that people like, some that people don't like, some that people are just indifferent about and pretty much some people just saying that these in particular weren't needed at all. I could go on about them but hey we would be here all day talking about them.

Stitch the Movie! - I do remember watching this one it's not really a Disney "Sequel" per say but more of a pilot episode to the TV series that I watch quite a bit when I was younger. It was fairly OK from what I remember, animation is obviously not as amazing as the original movie but does the job just fine, there's not really that much of a plot other than Lilo and Stitch go searching for Sparky or Experiment 221 that they accidentally unleashed onto Hawaii and have to get him back before Gantu and Dr Hamsterviel can get their mitts on the electric experiment. Otherwise this is far from the worst I've seen.

Aladdin: Return of Jafar - This is definitely one of the proper sequels that everyone thinks of when you talk about Direct to Disney Sequels. I have no idea why I kept on watching this one when I was younger. As much as I love Dan Castellaneta as a voice actor, he really is no Robin Williams when it comes to the Genie. But I can forgive him a bit more seeing as this sequel was a way to lead in to the Aladdin TV series at the time and I think after he did Return of Jafar I feel he took the role of the Genie and made it his own over time but here? Ehhh the humour is a bit on the forced side of things with the Genie. Animation feels too much like it belongs in a Saturday morning cartoon. Is it a terrible sequel? Well yes and no. Yes it's not good but it's not terrible either. I just feel like it, it just missed the mark and it's more tolerable than dreadful honestly.

Aladdin: The King of Thieves - King of Thieves on the other hand? Definitely an improvement over Return of Jafar. The animation is loads better and I would be lying if I didn't say the story between Aladdin and Cassim kept me invested throughout, Saluk's definitely a good villain and kind of reminds me a lot of Wolverine with his claw gauntlet. Though I must say it's a little weird to hear Lumiere's voice coming out of him when he talks. I definitely find the songs in this really catchy especially Welcome to the Forty Thieves. I really think it adds to the world of Aladdin and the quest to seek out the Hand of Midas is a great payoff. I really enjoyed this one.

Beauty and the Beauty: The Enchanted Christmas - I do remember owning not only Return of Jafar on VHS but the Beauty and the Beast christmas one as well. I really feel this one kind of just shoved the message of: "Christmas is great, festive cheer and good tidings to all, blah,blah,blah." so much that it feels really hamfisted and really pales in comparison to the original film in particular. I think the best part of the movie is probably Tim Curry as Forte but other than that, I dunno I really don't think I would want to return to this one any time soon.

Again I'd be here all day with this but I honestly feel that Disney did focus way too much on the Direct to Video sequels and they were more concerned with quantity over quality for some of them. Not all of them are bad but they probably the worst thing that ever come out of Disney.

Lilo and Stitch - Speaking of Lilo and Stitch this is definitely something I grew up watching. Stitch is one of my favourite Disney characters because he's so mischievous and cute and I've always wanted to have a Stitch plushie in my room but never have. I love that the lesson of Ohana is an important thing and that you should never ever forget what's important, I adore the soundtrack to no end, the animation is so crisp and remember watching it a lot.

Treasure Planet - I really don't understand why it was considered a bomb at the box office as I consider it an underrated film at most. And I agree the animation is very steampunk-ish, I feel like Jim and Long John Silver kind of drove the story and their chemistry was believable. And yes...B.E.N was annoying in that film, I have nothing against Martin Short but really every time B.E.N spoke it was just so grating to my ears. It's like they were trying to go with The Genie from Aladdin but they ended up more like Jar Jar Binks and plus he was just useless and just made the situation worse when he was around. If you were to take him out of the movie, the plot would've continued just fine without him. Otherwise I quite like this one.
 
RS 2 wanted me to add the following: Just wanted to pop up to say I totally agree about the Aladdin sequels. Return of Jafar is watchable but a bit weird - who thought it was a good idea for the story to revolve around Iago's redemption arc? Still, it's quite funny. King of Thieves I remember enjoying a lot as a kid and it's definitely a step up from Return of Jafar. Having Robin Williams back is of course great and the songs are pretty good too.

I have seen Mulan II and Pocahontas II and they were both...meh. Mulan II is probably a bit less forgettable. I've also watch the Little Mermaid sequel about Ariel's daughter which is about as average as a movie could be.

Also wanted to throw another one into the mix: Lion King II: Simba's Pride, which I adored as a kid. I still think it's one of the better ones and I'm actually surprised it didn't get a theatrical release. The songs are waaaay better than in any of the other direct-to-video sequels. I think it suffers by having such big shoes to fill.

I really want to watch Beauty and the Beast The Enchanted Christmas because I've heard it's truly dreadful, and the Hunchback sequel for the same reason. Maybe we'll need to do another marathon..
 
The Jungle Book 2 (2003)


The Jungle Book 2 is certainly unimaginatively named, and the plot is hardly Inside Out in terms of creativity but that’s kind of where the bad points end. This was another example (along with Dinosaur, Treasure Planet etc.) where we were pleasantly surprised. It may be that our expectations were low and that’s why we came away with such a favourable impression, but overall I’d say this is definitely worth a watch.

The animation is of a decent quality, certainly as good as the original, with some pretty backgrounds and nice use of CGI when it comes to things like animating the river. The characters look very similar to how they did in the Jungle Book, with maybe a bit of improvement in how human characters appear.

And there are a lot more human characters in this film. Mowgli has a whole family and friends in the man-village, including the little girl he meets at the end of the original film. You might remember that we found Mowgli’s going to the man-village at the end of The Jungle Book a little unconvincing after his insistence throughout the film that he wasn’t going, and the little girl (who is called Shanti) who lures him in a little...um...problematic. These issues are explored very sweetly and effectively by The Jungle Book 2. The issue of ‘Shanti’s big brown eyes’ is dealt with via a good-natured joke, and though it’s clear Mowgli has a crush on her, it doesn't seem quite so age-inappropriate, especially since they are now friends and their relationship develops throughout the movie. Plus, Shanti is awesome.

Mowgli’s continued love for the jungle is the main theme of the film, which seems a wise choice considering the somewhat abrupt ending of The Jungle Book. The plot obviously involves his going back to the jungle and having some shenanigans, before having to make a (more informed) choice about whether to go back to the man-village. It’s obviously a thinly-veiled excuse for Disney to trot out well known characters and rehash a lot of the plot points from the original film, but they do it with a lot of charm, and manage to shape the events into more of a proper story than in the Jungle Book, while exploring a central conflict for the main character.

The characters are mostly the same as they were in the original film and have the same charm; Baloo especially, as he is now voiced by John Goodman, who of course does great work. The guy who voices Shere Khan (who is Frollo in Hunchback) is also a great replacement for the original. In terms of new characters the best addition is probably a new member of the vultures group, who is a fan of puns and voiced (who knows why) by Phil Collins.

The new songs sound in-keeping with the music from the original film and are reasonably catchy, but of course don’t come near to capturing the brilliance of the Sherman bros.

When compared with the straight-to-video sequels that we grew up with (the Aladdin sequels, Lion King 2 etc.) this is definitely a step up. I would recommend it to people, with the obvious caveat that it’s a sequel and so not to expect the earth. It’s definitely 10 times better than Return to Never Land!
 
The Jungle Book 2 (2003)


The Jungle Book 2 is certainly unimaginatively named, and the plot is hardly Inside Out in terms of creativity but that’s kind of where the bad points end. This was another example (along with Dinosaur, Treasure Planet etc.) where we were pleasantly surprised. It may be that our expectations were low and that’s why we came away with such a favourable impression, but overall I’d say this is definitely worth a watch.

The animation is of a decent quality, certainly as good as the original, with some pretty backgrounds and nice use of CGI when it comes to things like animating the river. The characters look very similar to how they did in the Jungle Book, with maybe a bit of improvement in how human characters appear.

And there are a lot more human characters in this film. Mowgli has a whole family and friends in the man-village, including the little girl he meets at the end of the original film. You might remember that we found Mowgli’s going to the man-village at the end of The Jungle Book a little unconvincing after his insistence throughout the film that he wasn’t going, and the little girl (who is called Shanti) who lures him in a little...um...problematic. These issues are explored very sweetly and effectively by The Jungle Book 2. The issue of ‘Shanti’s big brown eyes’ is dealt with via a good-natured joke, and though it’s clear Mowgli has a crush on her, it doesn't seem quite so age-inappropriate, especially since they are now friends and their relationship develops throughout the movie. Plus, Shanti is awesome.

Mowgli’s continued love for the jungle is the main theme of the film, which seems a wise choice considering the somewhat abrupt ending of The Jungle Book. The plot obviously involves his going back to the jungle and having some shenanigans, before having to make a (more informed) choice about whether to go back to the man-village. It’s obviously a thinly-veiled excuse for Disney to trot out well known characters and rehash a lot of the plot points from the original film, but they do it with a lot of charm, and manage to shape the events into more of a proper story than in the Jungle Book, while exploring a central conflict for the main character.

The characters are mostly the same as they were in the original film and have the same charm; Baloo especially, as he is now voiced by John Goodman, who of course does great work. The guy who voices Shere Khan (who is Frollo in Hunchback) is also a great replacement for the original. In terms of new characters the best addition is probably a new member of the vultures group, who is a fan of puns and voiced (who knows why) by Phil Collins.

The new songs sound in-keeping with the music from the original film and are reasonably catchy, but of course don’t come near to capturing the brilliance of the Sherman bros.

When compared with the straight-to-video sequels that we grew up with (the Aladdin sequels, Lion King 2 etc.) this is definitely a step up. I would recommend it to people, with the obvious caveat that it’s a sequel and so not to expect the earth. It’s definitely 10 times better than Return to Never Land!

I haven't seen this one, but regarding the animation, that's what a theatrical budget'll get ya! Good to know that this one is pretty solid.
 
Piglet’s Big Movie (2003)

The second surprise in a row! This third sally into the Poohniverse is...really not bad. We were somewhat dreading yet another ‘sequel’, especially after the disaster that was The Tigger Movie, but this one was certainly an improvement. The film is still definitely for a much younger audience, but Piglet has proved that that doesn’t have to equal a terrible, childish plot and annoying characters. Mentioning no names (TIGGER!).

Piglet’s Big Movie is mostly made up of mini-stories within the bigger story, where Piglet’s friends remember times he’s been helpful or brave. Disney made the wise choice in this movie to refer back to the original source material - the Pooh books - and though it’s many many years since we read those books, both of us remembered some of the stories about Piglet from them.

There’s a really cute one where Rabbit replaces Roo with Piglet and Kanga pretends not to notice and gives him a bath. In the film this is because Rabbit is planning to hold Roo hostage until Kanga agrees to leave the Hundred Acre Wood, because he’s terrified of her. I’m not sure if this is the reason in the book, but Rabbit is definitely a bit Brexity! :/

In my opinion, the return to the source material is a very good decision. Where Tigger’s film seemed contrived, childish and over the top, Piglet’s is (mostly) grounded and sweet, without being too saccharine.

Piglet is of course a much less irritating central character than Tigger, who is luckily used somewhat sparingly in this movie. The other main character is Winnie the Pooh, which again seems like a wise decision, because he’s endlessly adorable. The other characters are all quite well established at this point, so if you don't like them you’re stuck with them (mentioning no names - TIGGER!), and the voice acting is all of a good standard.

The most obvious negative aspect of the film is definitely the music; it may be the weirdest of any of the films we’ve seen so far. For some reason they chose to have Carly Simon write the songs and though this isn’t a bad idea on paper, the end result is just too weird. It doesn’t gel with either of the other Poohniverse movies (not that The Tigger Movie was any pattern to follow) and the folk-rocky sound doesn’t work for the plot or the setting. The worst song is ‘Mother’s Intuition’, sung when Kanga is giving Piglet a bath - the lyrics are genuinely revolting and it almost ruins one of the cutest bits of the movie. The film also ends with a sort of music video for one of the songs (‘With a Few Good Friends’), where clips of Pooh and friends are intercut with clips of Carly rocking out to an acoustic guitar that she conspicuously isn’t playing. It. Is. WEIRD!

Overall however, I am happy to give a positive review to Piglet’s Big Movie. It’s for younger children and is definitely wholesome and bit sentimental, but it isn’t silly, has some genuinely funny moments and pays good homage to the original Winnie the Pooh stories.
 
Finding Nemo (2003)

So we’re way behind with reviewing - I’m really sorry. Usually I find time to dash off something about the movies during the day, but there’s been a lot going on lately. We’re four movies behind so it’s time for some quick reviewing!


First up is Finding Nemo, which obviously we’ve both watched many many times. Maybe too many at this point - although I love it and think it’s a beautiful film, it’s not as special to me as some of the other Pixars. However, it is very sweet and unbelievably beautiful. Pixar seem to set themselves challenge after challenge and each time they meet and exceed expectations. Their challenge this time was animating water; under it, on it, both at the same time...we’re a long way from the waxy-looking ants in A Bug’s Life at this point! Some of the shots of water are so realistic you could swear it was real. The ocean is a completely different world that most of us don’t get to experience much of the time, and Pixar really bring that to life in Finding Nemo.


As far as characters go, this is another great ensemble. Pixar’s other tough challenge on this movie was to anthropomorphise fish - I mean, bugs must have been hard but at least they have legs! They totally pull it off though, of course, with the characters coming to life through their eyes and mouths. Marlin is another of Pixar’s unusual main characters, being a mixture of likeable and unlikeable. Dory is maybe a tiny bit annoying, but mostly she’s really great and voiced very well. The other characters are very funny, though there may be one or two too many for them all to make a strong impression. Clearly a lot of people had a lot of great ideas for this movie and they didn’t want to sacrifice anything! My favourites are probably the sharks, as that sequence is completely hilarious. Overall the movie is very funny, though perhaps not quite as sharp and canny as Toy Story or Toy Story 2.


This is yet another Pixar where we’re reminded that ‘following your dreams’ is more complicated than it sounds, especially if you happen to be disabled or disadvantaged. It’s a great message, though it could maybe be dwelt on a little bit more in the film. Nonetheless this is yet another Pixar classic and deserves all the love it gets; it’s just not my personal favourite.


This having been said, I do love some of the Finding Nemo representations in the parks. I love the Animal Kingdom musical version (of course I do), which takes all the funniest moments and turns them into super-catchy songs. Go With the Flow sung by Crush is my favourite song and is on my swimming playlist on my underwater mp3 player! The Seas with Nemo and Friends is a cute and relaxing ride, but the best Nemo-themed ride is in Disney Studios at DLP - the fantastic Crush’s Coaster!
 
Brother Bear (2003)

Brother Bear is not a terrible film, but it’s certainly not a good one either. It’s best described as ‘uneven’, but oddly it feels like only a few simple changes could have saved it. Sort of.

Good things first: the music is pretty good. This is Phil Collins again, pulling out most of the tricks we saw in Tarzan, though a bit less successfully. Nonetheless, the music is probably the best thing about the movie. The only other positive I can think of is that the movie does take the risk of not depicting a traditional man and woman love relationship - Frozen gets a lot of credit for depicting a relationship between siblings (which I’m not sure it entirely deserves), but this movie did it first and that’s good and interesting.

Or would be if we were in any way invested in the relationship of these brothers.

One of the biggest problems of Brother Bear is that the main character, Kenai, is irredeemably awful. At the beginning of the film he basically causes his own brother’s death due to childishness. This would be a hard enough thing to forgive, but he learns nothing from it, and having been a total jerk to his real brothers, then proceeds to be mean to his ‘brother bear’ for most of the rest of the film. This isn't helped by the fact that the wee bear is possibly the only nice character in the whole thing and is extremely cute. Anyone who could be mean to poor little Koda is not fit to be the main character of a movie.

The unpleasant Kenai and his brothers are not the only problem in the film though. Attempts at offbeat humour (e.g. the two moose) fall a bit flat and the sniping between the two ‘brother bears’ is too mean-spirited to really be funny. The film suffers a bit from the problem in older Disney films, where the comic business felt separate from the main plot and didn’t add much to it.

A lot of the film feels recycled from other, better films; comic sidekicks that add nothing, pretty backgrounds and boringly rendered characters, the main character going on a ‘journey’ (seriously, does no one ever learn anything by just staying in the same location in movies?), music that’s supposed to be stirring and epic when the movie hasn’t really earned it etc. It’s also interesting how many plot points revolved around people and animals falling to their deaths from cliffs, or nearly doing so. The movie even recycles within itself! And none of the falling off of stuff is played for laughs - we’re meant to take it all completely seriously. In fact the movie in general took itself a bit too seriously; pretending to be engaging with the Inuit culture by talking about ‘great spirits’ and ‘totems’ and things, without really trying to understand them, but just using them as paper-thin plot devices.

At the beginning of the review I said that a few changes might have saved the film - maybe elevated it from actively bad to just forgettable. The changes I would make would be first to make Kenai’s older brother’s death an accident that appeared to be the bear’s fault and had nothing to do with him at all, so he would have a more valid reason for his crappy behaviour and attitude, and secondly to make Kenai’s relationships with all his brothers (especially the bear one) less based on being mean and bickering. Just in general make him less of a ****ty main character so I didn’t actually want him to fall off a cliff.

Next up, Home on the Range. :/
 
Home on the Range (2004)

Yikes, this is not a good time for Disney animation. Seriously, we gave Jungle Book 2 a positive review, that’s how starved we are for good Disney movies at this point. And Home on the Range is no respite from the terrible. In fact this movie is credited by some as being what killed off traditional 2D animation at Disney (though it isn’t the last traditionally animated film before The Princess and the Frog, you’ll be happy to hear). Riiiight, sure. It’s because 2D animation is dead that this movie failed, not because it thoroughly sucks.

I’d never seen Home on the Range before last weekend and I honestly think I was a happier, more well-balanced woman back then. This is one of the worst movies we’ve had so far - up there with Tigger and Black Cauldron - though maybe not quite as bad as those two.

There is so little to recommend this film that I barely even know where to begin. The one thing, I think, that saves Home on the Range from the bottom two of Disney movies is that the animation is occasionally pretty stunning. I’m talking backgrounds here, not the characters themselves, though they’re not bad. If the movie was any good otherwise I might be raving about the brave artistic choices that were made for the character animation, but it isn’t so I’m not. I’m tough - I play for keeps. :p

And while we’re talking animation I must have a brief whinge about the awful use of computer animation in the film. It’s almost like the film had too high a budget, or that Disney wanted to remind us that they could do computer animation too, just like Pixar (or probably more accurately, Dreamworks).

‘We’re not just 2D animation, guys - we know what all the cool kids are into these days!’ - Disney c. 2004 (probably)

So there are several completely out of place moments where computer animation has been shoved in. Their choice of what to render in 3D (things like the unadorned interior of a house??) is bizarre and adds nothing to the realism or depth of the visuals. In fact, the computer animated environments often end up looking like environments in a cheap computer game. From 2004.

And the story and characters are no better. Much like in Brother Bear these characters again spend most of the movie griping and bickering, meaning it’s impossible to like any of them. The main three cows are all annoying, each for her own special reason (Roseanne Barr is brash and crude, Judi Dench is unnecessarily mean and judgemental and the other one is just stupid); the horse adds nothing to the plot except to make it longer, and the rest of the characters fail to make even the slightest impression.

And the villain? Oh dear oh dear. Alameda Slim is right up there (down there) with poor Edgar vying for the Worst Disney Villain award. And Edgar couldn’t wait a few years for some cats to die of natural causes! Slim is underdeveloped with almost non-existent motivations and his superpower is...wait for it...yodelling. He is never invited to villain parties. If he shows up uninvited Maleficent and Ursula pretend to be having a really important discussion and Scar pretends to be looking for a bottle opener so they don’t have to talk to him.

Here’s an interesting fact about this movie: the songs are by Alan Flippin Menken! And they’re terrible! I can find no excuse for this other than that nobody else involved in making the film seemed to care how it turned out, so maybe Alan thought this wasn’t a real movie or something.

I actually can’t begin to tell you all the things that are wrong with this film, so I will just try to communicate why it failed, which is really for the simple reason that it didn't do what it set out to do. This was no Pocahontas or Atlantis - a movie with lofty ambitions that ultimately overshot itself - no, this was supposed to be a simple, funny film about learning to get along. And that’s where it failed. The film is simple alright, but it is NOT funny, and the characters do NOT learn to get along. Apart from the OK sequence where the cows are following the yodelling villain while he sings (which is ripped straight from Dumbo - Disney, don’t remind us of your better movies during the really bad ones, it’s not going to work in your favour) the attempts at ‘humour’ in the film consist of the characters being mean and trying to tear each other down for no reason at all. And as for learning to get along, well, yes the cows do end up friends at the end, but since they’ve been sniping at each other up until five minutes before, it’s a little unconvincing.

If you haven’t watched Home on the Range, just don’t. Your Disney education will not suffer; and trust me, you don’t want to remember Disney 2D animation this way.

At least we know the next film is AMAZING!
 
Oh my god Home on the Range....God this movie sucks. Why did I watch this one in the cinema when I was a little boy? To quote Roger Ebert: I hated this movie, hated, hated, hated, hated this movie. Hated it, hated every stupid simpering moment of it. It's insipid, it feels like if Barney the Dinosaur were to smoke crack and then give us this abomination.

Why does Alameda Slim yodel? Why is it a power that he possesses? Why is Dame Judy Dench in this? And what was the point of that not Pink Elephants sequence?! So many questions and yet none of them will be answered. Never again just never again.
 
Welcome back!

Finding Nemo
- I only saw this for the first time recently. I had seen the stage show at Animal Kingdom, but never the actual movie. Something about it never really spoke to me. It's okay, but not a favorite. I think the performances are strong though, especially Albert Brooks. The movie is beautiful. I don't have much else to say about it. I have not seen Finding Dory either and it stands as one of two Pixar movies I have not watched.

Brother Bear - I've seen this once. I generally agree with your assessment. The movie is not great, but it does have some pretty animation and the music is really good. The opening song by Tina Turner - magnificent! I understand the point about the main character messing up early on, but the point of the movie is that he is not irredeemable. your mileage may vary on that of course.

Home on the Range - This is also one of the few WDAS movies that I have never seen. It sounds like I shouldn't be in a hurry. One day I'll watch it out of sheer curiosity.
 

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