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

[hecatehatesthat.livejournal.com]

Am I the only one who feels like it's not a "real" Disney animated feature if its not 2-D style animation?

No! That's totally how I define a real Disney movie, too. Actually I define it as 2-D animation with singing. I love Lilo & Stitch too, but as you said, it's an exception. I consider Tarzan and Emperor's New Groove kind of borderline real Disney movies because they're musical, but the majority of the songs aren't sung by the characters. (But I second the opinion that you really must see ENG because it is HILARIOUS.)

My list would look a lot like yours, although I cannot recall anytime that I ever took myself too seriously to openly love animated movies. Actually I remember when I saw The Lion King I thought I was old enough that I'd come out the other side of being too old for kid stuff and could like it in a cool, patronizing way.

But I would draw my line after Mulan (which is sometimes my favorite and always in my top 3) because I consider it the last real Disney animated movie, 2-D and with singing. Also I would (duh) have to put Mulan in red because it always makes me so happy inside. I think it's the only one I saw in the theater twice, actually. I'm just a sucker for girls who crossdress and kick ass! Plus I like that her dad is neither a body builder nor roly-poly, and that her relationship with him is so important while the romance is kind of in the backseat. And Shang is totally hot.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

My list would look a lot like yours, although I cannot recall anytime that I ever took myself too seriously to openly love animated movies.

I'd say for me it was more of a lack of interest than than being worried about "openly" loving them--if I'd loved them I would have been open about it. In fact, anime was the first and only kind of tv or movie or I ever felt self-conscious about loving. It's just that around Pocahontas I stopped caring, and then didn't like Hunchback, so my general interest disappeared.

If you don't mind me asking, how old are you? I was born in 1984, so the first movie I really remember being released is the Little Mermaid.

[hecatehatesthat.livejournal.com]

Ha, I just reread what I wrote and realized I forgot to mention that I was like ten when Lion King came out. Actually now I think about it I was totally taking myself too seriously, just in a very selective way.

We're the same age! Little Mermaid is the first movie I ever saw in a theater, actually. It made an impression.

anime was the first and only kind of tv or movie or I ever felt self-conscious about loving

Yeah, me too. I think that's why I stayed away from it so long, aside from what got dubbed and aired in the US (and I watched pretty much everything that aired for a long time, even though I could tell much of it kinda sucked). I just didn't let myself like it as much as I could have. I guess I thought that's what you meant about taking yourself too seriously to like Disney movies for a while. But the Pocahantas-Hunchback-Hercules period was one of vague disappointment for me, too, so at least you picked a good time to lose interest. *g* I liked all those movies, but I didn't love them like the earlier ones. But then Mulan happened and I knew Disney still had the stuff.