I've had this strange hankering for Disney canon lately.

[timepiececlock]

Two days ago I rewatched Beauty and the Beast, which was every bit as lovely and fun as I remembered. It also had a very "Broadway" feel, which I only recognized now as an adult who's been to more live performances. The way the songs were written, especially the opening piece "Belle" and the time-lapse love song "Something There" have that effect of multiple characters talking and then singing then talking then singing, and condensing serious plot and exposition into the song itself, rather than having the Plot | Song | Plot | Song | Plot format that some Disney films, like the Little Mermaid, do.

I rewatched The Little Mermaid a few months ago. I also watched Lion King 2 for the first time this year. Right now I've got a desire to rewatch The Hunchback of Notre Dame which I saw once on video and remember not liking, possibly thinking I was too old for it. Although I checked the date and it came out when I was 12 so I really shouldn't have been too old... maybe I watched too long after its release and had passed that magical "line" of being the target age group verses being an appreciative adult audience member. Anyway, it got a lot of reviews so I should probably give it a chance.


Here's where the Disney feature films fall for me, in terms of my childhood experience.

KEY:
blue = seen and loved it as a child
green = seen it, didn't care much
red = seen it and loved it as an older teen / adult
gray = never seen it


1 -27 ....all other classic Disney movies made before I was a sentient move watcher
28 The Little Mermaid 1989
29 The Rescuers Down Under 1990
30 Beauty and the Beast 1991
31 Aladdin 1992
32 The Lion King 1994
33 Pocahontas 1995
------------------------------------ the magical line of my Disney childhood experience ending
34 The Hunchback of Notre Dame 1996
35 Hercules 1997
36 Mulan 1998
37 Tarzan 1999
38 Fantasia 2000
39 The Emperor's New Groove 2000
40 Atlantis: The Lost Empire 2001
41 Lilo & Stitch 2002

It appears I hit "the line" at 10-11 years old, which is, well, young. I probably took myself too seriously. Though whether it was before Pocahontas or after I'm not sure, because I remember I didn't particularly go ga-ga over Pocahontas , but I put the line after because, I reasoned, Pocahontas was the last Disney film where I memorized the lyrics to the major ballads.

I haven't seen any of the feature films since Lilo & Stitch , probably because most of them were CGI and weren't musicals. I like the musicals. The exception to that being Lilo & Stitch which was not a traditional musical but which I adored to insane little pieces anyway. It's the only Disney animated feature I've seen twice in theaters.

I'm also probably one of the few people who hasn't seen Fantasia 2000. I never went when it was on IMAX (I wanted to though) and now it's not playing anymore, that I can find. And I don't think I want to see it on a regular tv size.

Am I the only one who feels like it's not a "real" Disney animated feature if its not 2-D style animation? Not that they can't use CGI to support it (Beauty and the Beast was the first to do so), but to me "Disney" is a musical cell-style hand-drawn animated film. CGI movies or Pixar movies are in a category of their own, especially since they tend to not be musicals. Did I mention I liked musicals? I was subjected to a great many as a child.


EDIT: There have been many non-Disney animated films that I loved, some even past that line in my childhood, which I put down to simply good quality film-making:

The Secret of Nimh, An American Tail, The Brave Little Toaster, The Land Before Time, All Dogs Go To Heaven, Duck Tales, Jetsons: The Movie, Fern Gully, | Anastasia, The Iron Giant

Comments

[faoiltiamatani.livejournal.com]

Those non-Disney films you listed are mostly Don Bluth, with the exception of Duck Tales, Jetsons, Toaster, and Iron Giant - Don Bluth owns my childhood, I've decided. He also did Thumbelina, Rock-a-Doodle, and a Troll in Central Park.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame is one of my top Disney movies. I'd give it another chance! It has some of the best songs, the darkest themes and what might be my favorite Disney girl.

My all time favorite Disney movie remains Aladdin, although I have a huge soft spot for the Emperor's New Groove.

It's a good thing Disney's going back to hand-drawn films! The Princess and the Frog and Rapunzel, their two next, are both being hand drawn.

I'm a big Disney nut, there are few Disney movies I don't actually like. I would hate Hercules for how it screws with Greek mythology, but I find I can't - Hades is too fun, and the music is awesome.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

6/10 Don Bluth, yep.

I watched Thumelina, in theaters actually, and remembered thinking it was a really terrible movie. I was bored. I barely remember it now. I vaguely remember RockaDoodle, but I think I only saw it once. Never saw Troll in Central Park.


It's a good thing Disney's going back to hand-drawn films! The Princess and the Frog and Rapunzel, their two next, are both being hand drawn.

Rapunzel, from what I read, is going to be a sort of hybrid-- partially hand drawn and then CGIed to look like the style of classical artists. From what I've read Princess and the Frog will be mostly hand-drawn, though. I'm excited, especially since I love New Orleans and can't wait to see how it's done for Disney.

[faoiltiamatani.livejournal.com]

Mm, you're right about Rapunzel. I'm more excited for that one, although I am definitely looking forward to the Princess and the Frog as well.

I loved Rock-A-Doodle as a kid, and the troll from A Troll in Central Park was my imaginary friend, haha.

[fani.livejournal.com]

Naaaaw, Rapunzel's FULLY 3D. Quoted from director Glen Keane: The film will be made in CGI, though Rapunzel will resemble traditional oil paintings on canvas: "There’s no photoreal hair. I want luscious hair, and we are inventing new ways of doing that. I want to bring the warmth and intuitive feel of hand-drawn to CGI

Full article: http://news.awn.com/index.php?ltype=cat&category1=Events&newsitem_no=17907

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

My all-time favorite is somewhere between B&B and Lion King. I love B&B for art style and music and for the fact that it's a romance before anything else, and I love Lion King for the epic story and the sheer ambition and beauty of it.

[faoiltiamatani.livejournal.com]

Mm, I love the Lion King a lot too. I'm not as big of a fan of B&B, even though I was told I was 'Belle' as a kid because I had the same habit of walking around with my nose in a book ignoring everyone else.

Aladdin was the first time I really enjoyed the main male character, though - which makes sense, as it was the first Disney film to have the main character be male (and not just serving as the love interest who has to save the day, although B&B broke that role too, even if Belle was the main character). It was also the first Disney film to not be based in Europe, which was something I enjoyed a lot.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

I assume you're talking about "first film" in the sense of the list above, correct? Because there have been many main male characters and many settings for Disney in totally of Disney film canon. Even the one before Little Mermaid--Oliver, was set in America I think, and had a male lead.

[faoiltiamatani.livejournal.com]

You're right, but that was still a setting familiar to American filmgoers. Aladdin was smashed by critics at first for setting in it an Arabian country, because that "was not Disney".

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

The Three Caballeros and The Jungle Book also pop into mind, but I do see what you're saying. The vast majority of Disney films in the past and even till today are in settings familiar to western audiences.

[faoiltiamatani.livejournal.com]

Ahaha, yes, but those also deal with a child and with birds, not someone who could potentially have a romance, which is what I think of with major Disney films. (I had totally forgotten about the Three Caballeros!)

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

not someone who could potentially have a romance, which is what I think of with major Disney films

Now that is interesting-- thinking about how we each define what our idea of classic Disney films includes. For me, The Jungle Book is part of the fabric of epic Disney movies of my childhood (I only saw The Three Caballeros once and barely remember it) even though it doesn't have a romance. Pocahontas, on the other hand, did have a romance but is by no means one of the films I felt particularly attached to. On the other hand, the most purely "romance" of the movies (amend: of the ones I've seen) was for me Beauty & the Beast, because it had no other other storyline, plot, or adventure outside the romance, and that's one of my favorites.

[faoiltiamatani.livejournal.com]

I think I may also be influenced by the fact that I didn't watch The Jungle Book much at all (I actually watched The Three Caballeros more), and it seems to be generally considered a Disney classic by people who are not me, haha. Pinocchio is also a Disney classic but doesn't have a romance, which may be why I often forget it, hah. Also Alice. In my mind, the classics tend to have romantic heroes, starting out with mostly main female characters falling for princes and then moving over to having main male leads. I'm not sure why I define it this way - maybe just because those were the ones I was most exposed to. In many of the early Disney films, the male love interest wasn't fleshed out at all - in fact, you could practically trade them in for one another, haha. Cinderella and Snow White were certainly this way. Prince Philip in Sleeping Beauty is the first one I remember showing signs of individuality, which then got stronger in The Little Mermaid's Prince Eric.

I don't tend to like movies as much when all it has is the romance as a storyline, which may be why while I like B&B, it isn't one of my favorites. My favorites all have a lot of other stuff going on at the same time.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

*although now that I think about it, Lady & The Tramp was also a romance. ...Okay, and so was Snow White. I suppose. Though Snow White was to me as much about getting out of the house and about the relationship between the girl and her stepmom, and the guy was incidental, being only around at the end to kiss her. Snow White and The Little Mermaid had major romances but I never felt that romance was The Point--rather it was escaping an oppressive environment. For Beauty & the Beast, I thought romance was The Point, and that's why it basically had two protagonists instead of one.

[faoiltiamatani.livejournal.com]

Right, exactly. Snow White hadn't hit the point yet where the love interest was important besides being the necessary love interest. Cinderella was the same way. It was her story, not his.

[fani.livejournal.com]

Aladdin was smashed by critics at first for setting in it an Arabian country, because that "was not Disney".

The time Disney tries too hard to be "Disney" they get criticized by moron critics too. There's really no pleasing people.