Disney Movie Marathon Challenge

Tinker Bell and the Legend of the Never east - No this was the last one in the series! :worried:

I don't know why Fawn needed a new design to fit with her book counterpart as well as a new voice especially if she has the same voice as Judy Hopps. I like that they gave Fawn a movie of her own and I liked her dynamic with Gruff but it was noticeably darker than the other films I mean Fawn almost dies at the end. Nyx was an interesting character and upon me saying this I really do miss those movies. Sure they look girly but they have been far from it in my opinion.

Another good one and again I really wish this one wasn't the end for Tink and her friends but it was sadly for me. Poor doll sales meant they got canned which is a shame cuz I really wish they had one where Tink met Peter Pan to at least tie in with the original film but it wasn't to be.

Inside Out - This one surprised me. I don't know what I was expecting from Inside Out but it was so impressive how it tackled the emotional of our childhood down to a tie. Riley is so relatable and we all have probably gone through a similar moment when we had to move from our old home to our new home. Very funny, very creative and one great thing about this is that the emotion characters are all just extensions of Riley herself.

My favourite line from it is probably Anger's line of:"Congratulations San Francisco, you ruined Pizza! First the Hawaiians and now YOU!" Always makes me laugh that one.

Overall I'd say Inside Out is one of the better Pixar movies of the late 2010s but unfortunately the same can't be said about the next one however.
 
Where have I been??? Sorry to lag so far behind but I'll keep it short and just comment on the few of these titles I've seen (no Tinkerbell for me.) I saw Planes on a Disney cruise, pretty lame. I didn't like Frozen at first, but it turned out to be "The movie" for my little granddaughters. Like their mother was for The Little Mermaid, Frozen was the movie that was basically on a loop for about 18 months around here. The more bits of it I saw, the more I liked it. Also as a lifelong Disney fan it was good to see the whole world fall head over heels for a Disney movie again. Inside Out is excellent of course. BH6 is another one that's been lurking on my DVR for a couple of years, need to see it :)
 
I really liked Wreck It Ralph until Vanellope showed up. If there is a more annoying Disney character than Vanellope Von Schweetz, (even the name is annoying) then I've yet to come across them! The only good thing is the other characters area so good that they sort of make up for her. Sort of! On the movie front I must have at least 15 movies that I own and have yet to watch. I may be the only one not to see the last Avengers. So I really need to do that before I even consider paying to see Endgame. I'm not a huge proponent of Live Action remakes ever since I saw Alice in Wonderland LA. Since that debacle, I've been very hesitant about dipping my toe into that trend. On that front though, I'm very surprised that Disney didn't take advantage of Snow White's 80th Anniversary by doing a LA remake. It has such creative potential just with the 7 Dwarfs alone.
 
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I really liked Wreck It Ralph until Vanellope showed up. If there is a more annoying Disney character than Vanellope Von Schweetz, (even the name is annoying) then I've yet to come across them! The only good thing is the other characters area so good that they sort of make up for her. Sort of! On the movie front I must have at least 15 movies that I own and have yet to watch. I may be the only one not to see the last Avengers. So I really need to do that before I even consider paying to see Endgame. I'm not a huge proponent of Live Action remakes ever since I saw Alice in Wonderland LA. Since that debacle, I've been very hesitant about dipping my toe into that trend. On that front though, I'm very surprised that Disney didn't take advantage of Snow White's 80th Anniversary by doing a LA remake. It has such creative potential just with the 7 Dwarfs alone.

Hey, welcome to the thread Disneydreamer! This thing's been going a while and there has only been a handful of us participating. We let RS&RS set the pace as they have been working through every Disney animated film ever, but feel free to read through the backlog and post thoughts if you want. I certainly didn't see all the ones they have, but it's been fun to follow along. Were actually pretty close to the end now. Maybe live-action movies are next!
 


Hey welcome. As BrianL says, we haven't seen everything that RS has seen thus far but we can tell you that we have now on Zootopia and The Good Dinosaur right now. I already know what I gotta say for the former but Good Dinosaur? I dunno personally.
 
Hey, welcome to the thread Disneydreamer! This thing's been going a while and there has only been a handful of us participating. We let RS&RS set the pace as they have been working through every Disney animated film ever, but feel free to read through the backlog and post thoughts if you want. I certainly didn't see all the ones they have, but it's been fun to follow along. Were actually pretty close to the end now. Maybe live-action movies are next!

Thanks for the :welcome: BrianL! Yes, I'll be sure to check back from the beginning! Interesting thread!
 
You nailed it. Inside Out is a masterpiece, plain and simple. It is probably my second favorite Pixar movie behind Ratatouille. This movie exudes charm, and has such a powerful message and lesson. Some have labeled Joy as "the villain" of the movie, but I disagree. All of the emotion characters are just aspects of Riley and are beholden to their environment (Riley's brain). Some say Joy is suppressing the other emotions, but really, Riley has just been a very happy kid for a long time and now she's at a delicate age and facing a big change in her life. All of the emotions are simply trying to figure out how to re-stabilize their environment, but all of it is Riley just doing it, figuring it out, and finally having an epiphany about what she really wants. It really is quite beautiful.

Of course, my favorite little Easter egg in any Pixar movie is when Riley imagines the haunted house - got a little Haunted Mansion music right there! Nice.

I never heard the Haunted Mansion music! Will be looking out for that! I can guarantee I will rewatch this film within the year!
 


Hey welcome. As BrianL says, we haven't seen everything that RS has seen thus far but we can tell you that we have now on Zootopia and The Good Dinosaur right now. I already know what I gotta say for the former but Good Dinosaur? I dunno personally.

Coming up now...
 
The Good Dinosaur (2015)

Got to admit, I've watched this once before and was not enthusiastic for a rewatch

If I could choose one word to describe my overall impression of The Good Dinosaur it would be mystifying. This making of this movie involved a series of very weird decisions that I cannot for the life of me understand, and which have resulted in a weird, disjointed and for me unlikable film. I will list the decisions I find so weird here and you can draw whatever inferences you like from the list (though I would encourage you to infer that I think this movie is a depressing mess and that I can’t understand how it got made the way it was).

  • The decision to make the dinosaurs - particularly Arlo - look cartoony and blobby while the background looks almost ridiculously photorealistic. This is the most glaringly weird decision in the whole movie. It's the first thing you notice. What was the thinking behind it? The backgrounds are SO beautiful that it makes you literally catch your breath sometimes, and then Arlo is almost comically unrealistic in the way he looks and moves. He climbs up things that he shouldn’t be physically capable of climbing; he’s constantly falling from great heights and getting serious head injuries, which he just bounces back from; his weird close together eyes and featureless face are weirdly unexpressive - it’s just so jarring!

  • The decision to make Arlo so unlikeable and to do so many things that double-down on his unlikeableness. Arlo is a cowardly kid, and that’s very understandable - he’s small and weedy and, most of all, he’s a kid. But as he gets older, the things that scare him are so stupid (the weird chickens etc) that you stop sympathising with his being small and just start to find him a bit irritating. Then throughout the film he continues to be a coward and to be unlikeable, and uses Spot for protection when Spot is smaller and more vulnerable than him. You definitely feel he doesn’t deserve Spot, who is cute as hell. Spot is the saving grace of this movie. The final instance of Arlo’s unlikeableness is when he stops Spot from joining the other neanderthals when they first see them. This indirectly leads to Spot nearly being eaten and is just very bad form in general. Arlo, you suck.

  • The decision to have Arlo’s dad die through drowning and then literally about two minutes later, Arlo falls into the same river and is swept away and nearly drowns, thereby kicking off the plot. This is just terrible plotting! I mean it’s pretty cliche at this point to have a dad dying be the start of the ‘hero’s’ adventure anyway, but why on earth did they both get swept away by separate instances of fast-moving water? Why didn’t they have Arlo be swept away by the first wave, instead of a second plot-convenient one two minutes later? And the way it happens is so clunky too - he literally just isn’t looking where he’s going, hits his head (as per) and falls into the river. Why? How was this plotpoint signed off by the higher-ups, did no one notice how painful it is?

  • The decision to have a series of weird bit-part characters who make very little impression and then disappear. Seriously, name me a character in The Good Dinosaur other than Arlo or Spot. *Waits* *Hums tum tee tum* Don't feel bad, I can't do it either and I watched the film a couple of days ago. The only character you get to know is Arlo, and you don’t like him so…*shrug* The t-rexes are alright I suppose, but they’re more stereotypes there to deliver unsubtle messages while being ‘quirky’ than actual characters. The overall plot has the same problem in fact. It’s just a weird set of vignettes rather than a proper plot where everything that happens is tied back to a central theme or idea (something that Inside Out does so incredibly well). Maybe this could have been one story of several set in this alternate timeline where the dinosaurs survived. That’s quite a good idea - it’s just what they did with it that doesn’t work.

  • The decision not to bring down the wall. The overall feeling of the movie is so negative and depressing, an unlikeable main character meeting quirky characters and going through harrowing situations, in order to learn how to be brave...so far so Pixar I guess...but this is brave in a very traditional sense of the word. Brave as in physically strong and willing to do things that are dangerous - superhero brave. Marvel brave, not Pixar brave. In Pixar films, characters are brave in that they’ve learned how to face up to their own limitations, how to live in a hard world and how to make their lives mean something. You may remember that one of the recurring themes in the film is that Arlo’s dad measures his children against each other by only allowing them to put their pawprint on the wall when they’ve ‘proved themselves’ in some way. And the aim of the Pixar film should be to force Arlo’s dad to realise that the wall is wrong and you shouldn’t measure people by their physical strength, or measure them against each other. He should be forced to see that we all have our limitations and that that’s OK. The aim of the Pixar film should be to bring that wall down, but that’s not what happens. Instead, in a somewhat rushed ending, we see Arlo’s pawprint up there with the rest of his family - and he only had to risk his life a dozen times to earn it. What is this movie trying to tell me??

So yeah, I do not like this one. I can’t believe it came out the same year as Inside Out. I don’t understand how it happened and I don’t understand the message of the film. Hard pass.
 
The Good Dinosaur (2015)

Got to admit, I've watched this once before and was not enthusiastic for a rewatch

If I could choose one word to describe my overall impression of The Good Dinosaur it would be mystifying. This making of this movie involved a series of very weird decisions that I cannot for the life of me understand, and which have resulted in a weird, disjointed and for me unlikable film. I will list the decisions I find so weird here and you can draw whatever inferences you like from the list (though I would encourage you to infer that I think this movie is a depressing mess and that I can’t understand how it got made the way it was).

  • The decision to make the dinosaurs - particularly Arlo - look cartoony and blobby while the background looks almost ridiculously photorealistic. This is the most glaringly weird decision in the whole movie. It's the first thing you notice. What was the thinking behind it? The backgrounds are SO beautiful that it makes you literally catch your breath sometimes, and then Arlo is almost comically unrealistic in the way he looks and moves. He climbs up things that he shouldn’t be physically capable of climbing; he’s constantly falling from great heights and getting serious head injuries, which he just bounces back from; his weird close together eyes and featureless face are weirdly unexpressive - it’s just so jarring!

  • The decision to make Arlo so unlikeable and to do so many things that double-down on his unlikeableness. Arlo is a cowardly kid, and that’s very understandable - he’s small and weedy and, most of all, he’s a kid. But as he gets older, the things that scare him are so stupid (the weird chickens etc) that you stop sympathising with his being small and just start to find him a bit irritating. Then throughout the film he continues to be a coward and to be unlikeable, and uses Spot for protection when Spot is smaller and more vulnerable than him. You definitely feel he doesn’t deserve Spot, who is cute as hell. Spot is the saving grace of this movie. The final instance of Arlo’s unlikeableness is when he stops Spot from joining the other neanderthals when they first see them. This indirectly leads to Spot nearly being eaten and is just very bad form in general. Arlo, you suck.

  • The decision to have Arlo’s dad die through drowning and then literally about two minutes later, Arlo falls into the same river and is swept away and nearly drowns, thereby kicking off the plot. This is just terrible plotting! I mean it’s pretty cliche at this point to have a dad dying be the start of the ‘hero’s’ adventure anyway, but why on earth did they both get swept away by separate instances of fast-moving water? Why didn’t they have Arlo be swept away by the first wave, instead of a second plot-convenient one two minutes later? And the way it happens is so clunky too - he literally just isn’t looking where he’s going, hits his head (as per) and falls into the river. Why? How was this plotpoint signed off by the higher-ups, did no one notice how painful it is?

  • The decision to have a series of weird bit-part characters who make very little impression and then disappear. Seriously, name me a character in The Good Dinosaur other than Arlo or Spot. *Waits* *Hums tum tee tum* Don't feel bad, I can't do it either and I watched the film a couple of days ago. The only character you get to know is Arlo, and you don’t like him so…*shrug* The t-rexes are alright I suppose, but they’re more stereotypes there to deliver unsubtle messages while being ‘quirky’ than actual characters. The overall plot has the same problem in fact. It’s just a weird set of vignettes rather than a proper plot where everything that happens is tied back to a central theme or idea (something that Inside Out does so incredibly well). Maybe this could have been one story of several set in this alternate timeline where the dinosaurs survived. That’s quite a good idea - it’s just what they did with it that doesn’t work.

  • The decision not to bring down the wall. The overall feeling of the movie is so negative and depressing, an unlikeable main character meeting quirky characters and going through harrowing situations, in order to learn how to be brave...so far so Pixar I guess...but this is brave in a very traditional sense of the word. Brave as in physically strong and willing to do things that are dangerous - superhero brave. Marvel brave, not Pixar brave. In Pixar films, characters are brave in that they’ve learned how to face up to their own limitations, how to live in a hard world and how to make their lives mean something. You may remember that one of the recurring themes in the film is that Arlo’s dad measures his children against each other by only allowing them to put their pawprint on the wall when they’ve ‘proved themselves’ in some way. And the aim of the Pixar film should be to force Arlo’s dad to realise that the wall is wrong and you shouldn’t measure people by their physical strength, or measure them against each other. He should be forced to see that we all have our limitations and that that’s OK. The aim of the Pixar film should be to bring that wall down, but that’s not what happens. Instead, in a somewhat rushed ending, we see Arlo’s pawprint up there with the rest of his family - and he only had to risk his life a dozen times to earn it. What is this movie trying to tell me??

So yeah, I do not like this one. I can’t believe it came out the same year as Inside Out. I don’t understand how it happened and I don’t understand the message of the film. Hard pass.

Yeah, The Good Dinosaur is a bit of a mess and probably the weakest of all Pixar movies. To start with the positives, yeah, the backgrounds are astonishingly beautiful, nearly photo-realistic. They are gorgeous! Now, I actually get what they were trying to do by juxtaposing the cartoonish characters over the realistic backgrounds, but the design for Arlo just doesn't work. I don't think it's because he clashes with the backgrounds, I think it's just a too bland, simple, and slightly-off design. The cartoonishness isn't the real problem as I have loved lots of movies that had 2-D animated characters over more realistic backgrounds. Even Spot works better than Arlo - it's just him. He's just off-putting, and that pretty much ruins the whole thing. The story beats are pretty by-the-numbers, and nothing interesting happens, but I think if Arlo were more visually appealing, we would probably think of this movie as "just okay" rather than a train wreck.
 
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Never saw TGD because I don't like dinosaurs. All the dino craze, Jurassic Park, etc. is lost on me. I know that kids do like it and that's fine, I don't even like Dinoland at AK.:duck: As always the thoughtful comments by others are appreciated.:)
 
Never saw TGD because I don't like dinosaurs. All the dino craze, Jurassic Park, etc. is lost on me. I know that kids do like it and that's fine, I don't even like Dinoland at AK.:duck: As always the thoughtful comments by others are appreciated.:)
I like dinosaurs how dare you. :tongue:
 
Zootopia (2016)

This is my favourite Disney movie EVER! I can appreciate its probably not the best Disney movie, that medal for me probably goes to The Lion King, but I absolutely adore this film. It’s an absolute blinder of a film and I love it to pieces.


Overall I love the message of this film. It was brave and awesome of Disney to make a film about racism and discrimination, and even more powerful when it’s such a gentle and understanding message. Even the best of us can find ourselves making assumptions about others because they are different, even someone as wonderful as Judy Hopps! It is subtle, complex and not a common theme, and is explored beautifully through the characters and the narrative. I love the way it is introduced early on through Judy’s school play and then through her parents’ well-meaning but ignorant remarks about sly foxes. There are continual references throughout the film, focusing on all the ways, small and big, that we tend to discriminate and make assumptions about one another, until the final reveal and Assistant Mayor Bellweather’s pronouncement that ’Fear always works!’ The movie makes the wise choice to not portray people with prejudices as ‘evil’, but as products of the environment they live in; even though I’m laughing out loud all the way through, I still find myself thinking what a wise film this is.


I love the characters. All of them. Judy and Nick especially are truly fantastic creations, and their friendship is built up believably and sweetly throughout the film. Judy is the ultimate Disney heroine: brave, kind, clever, a fount of positivity...but also capable of making mistakes. Her superpower is being able to learn from her mistakes and do better and I love that! Nick is instantly lovable because he’s so cool, and then becomes more so when you see his vulnerability. And the way both of them have something so important to teach one another makes their relationship so much stronger and more believable. This is how to do C-H-A-R-A-C-T-E-R-D-E-V-E-L-O-P-M-E-N-T, y’all! The two of them together... solid gold! I know they are friends, but I am sure there is some chemistry there too - just look at how flirty they are!. I totally like the idea of a Zootopia 2 where those two are figuring out how to be in a mixed relationship. The rest of the characters (Chief Bogo, Assistant Mayor Bellweather, Clawhauser, Jude-the dude’s parents) are also really well realised and all contribute to the humour of the film, but they’re always something more than just funny side characters. They’re all trying to break out of the roles that society has set down for them - Chief Bogo feels like he has to be such a ******* all the time, Clawhauser doesn’t fit the normal profile of a cop and is a predator as well and Assistant Mayor Bellweather...well, she’s got issues for sure - they’re all experiencing prejudice but also reflecting that prejudice back on other people. It is one of the film’s strongest elements that every word and action by every character reaffirms the overriding message.


Of course one of the strongest aspects of Zootopia is the humour; it’s completely hilarious. I remember I wasn't very excited to watch it at the cinema until I saw the Dash trailer and then thought 'great that looks fun, but it is probably the only really funny joke in the movie'. Boy was I wrong! From naked Yaks to 'It’s called a hustle, sweetheart' to the whole sequence with Mr Big this movie has me genuinely roaring with laughter all the way through.


It may not be the strongest aspect of the film, or the strongest song in the Disney canon, but damn I love Try Everything. The best Disney movies have amazing songs and so you would think with only one song Zootopia would lose out, but no way. From the first time we see Judy put on her earphones and listen to her music to psyche herself up for her new life (such a girl/woman thing to do - who’s not listened to a Disney tune on the way to a new adventure!) it’s a total hit! Songs come and go on my swimming playlist, but Try Everything has been on there for years, and it always gets me pumped.


Because of the humor, I feel Zootopia is probably more ‘edgy’ than other recent Disney flicks, such as Big Hero 6, Frozen and Wreck-It Ralph, and probably more adult, which is perhaps why it appeals so much. It is still a film for all the family though. Most of all I love this film because of Disney’s more daring approach and choice of topic, and I hope the success of the movie encourages them do more films like this in the future. And I don't mean sequels, Disney (though I wouldn’t say no to a sequel)! I mean thoughtful, hilarious films with likeable characters and an important message. And bangin theme tunes. I would much rather see a Zootopia every four years than a live action remake every 3 months..oh wait..isn’t it like a month between Aladdin and The Lion King?

Try harder, Disney, we know you've got it in you. When you do it like Zootopia, you are making not just the best animated films ever, but the BEST films ever!
 
Never saw TGD because I don't like dinosaurs. All the dino craze, Jurassic Park, etc. is lost on me. I know that kids do like it and that's fine, I don't even like Dinoland at AK.:duck: As always the thoughtful comments by others are appreciated.:)
I get Dinoland might not feature highly (although Dinosaur the ride is AMAZING) but what no love for Jurassic Park!!!:)
 
Finding Dory (2016)

  • Can definitely see what they were going for. I like Finding Dory, but I don’t love it. It’s definitely a really good film, thoughtful, funny, sweet, but not as blindingly creative as some of Pixar’s others.

  • The film is strongest when they’re sticking to their original theme (growing up with a disability or a disabled person) - The bits with young Dory and her parents are really successful

  • Overall I think the film is too much like the previous one - maybe we could have examined Dory’s difficulties in some other way than through her going on a journey of discovery that is too similar to Finding Nemo

  • Characters like Bailey, Destiny and the seals are cute but a bit forgettable - they are there to help move the plot along and, in the case of Bailey and Destiny, to be examples of people living with disabilities, but not well-developed examples. New characters don’t make much of an impression and in some cases seem to be quirky for the sake of being quirky and not because it has anything to do with the theme.

  • Hank is definitely the most interesting new character and is very likeable, though they maybe could have gone a bit deeper into his issues to make you understand him more?

  • The animation is of course spectacular...there’s not much more to say. This is Pixar, nobody does it better, and their ability to bring so much life and personality to their non-human characters is amazing.

  • Another example of Pixar shooting itself in the foot by being too damn good - from another studio this would be one of their best, but Pixar has already made this movie and made it better
 
I get Dinoland might not feature highly (although Dinosaur the ride is AMAZING) but what no love for Jurassic Park!!!:)
No love for Dinosaur (the ride or JP.) I've experienced them both several times, just not my cuppa tea:)

Totally agree about Zootopia, a most excellent piece of work. Finding Dory, it's another one on the DVR waiting to be watched. Nemo was terrific, I can't really get into watching a movie that's sort of same-y, but not as good.:confused3
 
Zootopia (2016)

This is my favourite Disney movie EVER! I can appreciate its probably not the best Disney movie, that medal for me probably goes to The Lion King, but I absolutely adore this film. It’s an absolute blinder of a film and I love it to pieces.


Overall I love the message of this film. It was brave and awesome of Disney to make a film about racism and discrimination, and even more powerful when it’s such a gentle and understanding message. Even the best of us can find ourselves making assumptions about others because they are different, even someone as wonderful as Judy Hopps! It is subtle, complex and not a common theme, and is explored beautifully through the characters and the narrative. I love the way it is introduced early on through Judy’s school play and then through her parents’ well-meaning but ignorant remarks about sly foxes. There are continual references throughout the film, focusing on all the ways, small and big, that we tend to discriminate and make assumptions about one another, until the final reveal and Assistant Mayor Bellweather’s pronouncement that ’Fear always works!’ The movie makes the wise choice to not portray people with prejudices as ‘evil’, but as products of the environment they live in; even though I’m laughing out loud all the way through, I still find myself thinking what a wise film this is.


I love the characters. All of them. Judy and Nick especially are truly fantastic creations, and their friendship is built up believably and sweetly throughout the film. Judy is the ultimate Disney heroine: brave, kind, clever, a fount of positivity...but also capable of making mistakes. Her superpower is being able to learn from her mistakes and do better and I love that! Nick is instantly lovable because he’s so cool, and then becomes more so when you see his vulnerability. And the way both of them have something so important to teach one another makes their relationship so much stronger and more believable. This is how to do C-H-A-R-A-C-T-E-R-D-E-V-E-L-O-P-M-E-N-T, y’all! The two of them together... solid gold! I know they are friends, but I am sure there is some chemistry there too - just look at how flirty they are!. I totally like the idea of a Zootopia 2 where those two are figuring out how to be in a mixed relationship. The rest of the characters (Chief Bogo, Assistant Mayor Bellweather, Clawhauser, Jude-the dude’s parents) are also really well realised and all contribute to the humour of the film, but they’re always something more than just funny side characters. They’re all trying to break out of the roles that society has set down for them - Chief Bogo feels like he has to be such a ******* all the time, Clawhauser doesn’t fit the normal profile of a cop and is a predator as well and Assistant Mayor Bellweather...well, she’s got issues for sure - they’re all experiencing prejudice but also reflecting that prejudice back on other people. It is one of the film’s strongest elements that every word and action by every character reaffirms the overriding message.


Of course one of the strongest aspects of Zootopia is the humour; it’s completely hilarious. I remember I wasn't very excited to watch it at the cinema until I saw the Dash trailer and then thought 'great that looks fun, but it is probably the only really funny joke in the movie'. Boy was I wrong! From naked Yaks to 'It’s called a hustle, sweetheart' to the whole sequence with Mr Big this movie has me genuinely roaring with laughter all the way through.


It may not be the strongest aspect of the film, or the strongest song in the Disney canon, but damn I love Try Everything. The best Disney movies have amazing songs and so you would think with only one song Zootopia would lose out, but no way. From the first time we see Judy put on her earphones and listen to her music to psyche herself up for her new life (such a girl/woman thing to do - who’s not listened to a Disney tune on the way to a new adventure!) it’s a total hit! Songs come and go on my swimming playlist, but Try Everything has been on there for years, and it always gets me pumped.


Because of the humor, I feel Zootopia is probably more ‘edgy’ than other recent Disney flicks, such as Big Hero 6, Frozen and Wreck-It Ralph, and probably more adult, which is perhaps why it appeals so much. It is still a film for all the family though. Most of all I love this film because of Disney’s more daring approach and choice of topic, and I hope the success of the movie encourages them do more films like this in the future. And I don't mean sequels, Disney (though I wouldn’t say no to a sequel)! I mean thoughtful, hilarious films with likeable characters and an important message. And bangin theme tunes. I would much rather see a Zootopia every four years than a live action remake every 3 months..oh wait..isn’t it like a month between Aladdin and The Lion King?

Try harder, Disney, we know you've got it in you. When you do it like Zootopia, you are making not just the best animated films ever, but the BEST films ever!

Zootopia is indeed another great entry in this Disney "second renaissance." It really does handle a complex topic with uncommon subtlety, and it never comes off as preachy. You hit on most of the story points, but I would also like to point out the gorgeous animation. The scene in the jungle with the rain? That is some next-level stuff right there! Two things are tough in CG animation - water and hair. Zootopia's furry critters make for a lot of hair. Of course, this is just laying the groundwork for Moana. Disney's Hyeprion Engine is working overtime!

I also really like Try Everything, despite never being a huge Shakira fan. It's funny how the right association can give one a different perspective.
 
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Finding Dory (2016)

  • Can definitely see what they were going for. I like Finding Dory, but I don’t love it. It’s definitely a really good film, thoughtful, funny, sweet, but not as blindingly creative as some of Pixar’s others.

  • The film is strongest when they’re sticking to their original theme (growing up with a disability or a disabled person) - The bits with young Dory and her parents are really successful

  • Overall I think the film is too much like the previous one - maybe we could have examined Dory’s difficulties in some other way than through her going on a journey of discovery that is too similar to Finding Nemo

  • Characters like Bailey, Destiny and the seals are cute but a bit forgettable - they are there to help move the plot along and, in the case of Bailey and Destiny, to be examples of people living with disabilities, but not well-developed examples. New characters don’t make much of an impression and in some cases seem to be quirky for the sake of being quirky and not because it has anything to do with the theme.

  • Hank is definitely the most interesting new character and is very likeable, though they maybe could have gone a bit deeper into his issues to make you understand him more?

  • The animation is of course spectacular...there’s not much more to say. This is Pixar, nobody does it better, and their ability to bring so much life and personality to their non-human characters is amazing.

  • Another example of Pixar shooting itself in the foot by being too damn good - from another studio this would be one of their best, but Pixar has already made this movie and made it better

I haven't actually watched Finding Dory yet. I have it on my DVR. I never quite realized that Dory was mentally deficient. I always thought she was a play on the myth that "a fish only has a 3 second memory" and assumed all of her kind of fish were like that. Anyway, this is one I hope to check out sometime, even though Nemo isn't one of my favorites.
 
Zootopia is indeed another great entry in this Disney "second renaissance." It really does handle a complex topic with uncommon subtlety, and it never comes off as preachy. You hit on most of the story points, but I would also like ot point out the gorgeous animation. The scene in the jungle with the rain? That is some next-level stuff right there! Two things are tough in CG animation - water and hair. Zootopias furry critters make for a lot of hair. Of course, this is just laying the groundwork for Moana. Disney's Hyeprion Engine is working overtime!

I also really like Try Everything, despite never being a huge Shakira fan. It's funny how the right association can give one a different perspective.

I really love the articulations of the environments. It will be amazing to see what the animators do with it at Shanghai Disney...

Incidentally, just watched a short doc on the making of Moana's hair last night!

Moana up soon...
 
I really love the articulations of the environments. It will be amazing to see what the animators do with it at Shanghai Disney...

Incidentally, just watched a short doc on the making of Moana's hair last night!

Moana up soon...

Yeah, just watch the credits for Moana and see the number of animators dedicated to working just on the hair and also the water effects for that movie. It's amazing!
 

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