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