Why I am 100% on Tangled

Ok so I just got in from Tangled.

Oh MY GOD.

Ok so...this ...this is just amazing...actually I dont think I can write a real review yet..I am too excited.

The Mary Sueness of Buzz Lightyear

Lets talk abit about Toy Story....

Lets talk about Buzz Lightyear...

Now I will preface by saying I enjoy all three Toy Story movies. And I don't know if it's because I am a girl but I think the second is my favorite. I will admit this may have to do with the hardwiring of the male majority in the first, the fact that Jesse is pretty kick ass, and well...I don't know...I just thought it was a good movie.

Now that that is out of the way let us talk about our good friend Mrs Nezbit....I mean Buzz. And don't get me wrong I like Buzz generally, but there is a mechanic that the writers return to in each film: Delusional Buzz. Yes it was so funny the first time lets do it again!....And AGAIN! Oh but that might be repetative...LETS MAKE HIM SPANISH!!! Oh my that will be HILARIOUS!!!!!. Granted one of the ways it was used in 3 was useful and good, the bad guys use it to their advantage.

Now the need to return him to the place where he was most interesting/fun is born out of a need created by what made him an effective threat: He's a Mary Sue.

Think about it. He's awesome...he's the coolest toy ever! AND top it off he's a great guy. He's sweet, he's helpful, but when he's delusional it's hard to notice. He's a threat to Woody with Andy because he's such an awesome toy who has all these cool things Woody doesn't, he's a threat to Woody's position amongst the other toys because he's so cool, so new, and he's nice too...he wants to help them all. He's got everything! He don't notice it because well frankly...Delusional Buzz doesn't care about toy status...he's not a toy! He's a SPACE RANGER! But once the delusion is gone he's just a run of the mill perfect guy. So in order to liven him up they return him to delusional. I can understand the appeal of writing it, and acting it. And I enjoy Spanish Buzz to some extent but in the light of story telling the repetition is just...yawn inspiring.

Using the term Mary Sue...well it's like 4 letter word. But it's true. Buzz could have been saved but it would have taken a lot of time to develop him the amount everyone else got while he's been stuck in la la land.

Just something to think about

See ya real soon

DVD review: The Black Cauldron

Ok so on September 14th the 25th anniversary edition of Disney's 25th animated feature film The Black Cauldron was released in the US and UK. Now there's something special about this movie that made me desperate to own the DVD (yes Steven and I collect Disney DVDs and own just about all of them but there's something more). I have never seen this movie. Well...now I have but before yesterday it is the one animated Disney film I have never seen-not even a clip, had no idea of the plot or premise. So I went into the movie blind.


The film is the 2nd film directed by Ted Bergman and Richard Rich (Rich is well known as the man behind those Swan Princess films-possibly the epitome of mediocre animation). The first being Fox and Hound. No other Disney films were directed by the pair, presumably due to the Black Cauldron's not so successful run. It is one of a small number of darker movies using imagery not associated with Disney (One scene cut featured a man being dissolved by mist), especially considering the fact that Disney's great 80's revival came two films after it. The movie has a very Bluth feel to it though by this time he was no longer at Disney you can't shake the feeling that his influence is there, but a Bluth film without Bluth just isn't up to much. A lot of Rich's work has a Bluth feel to it and Rich did work with Bluth while he was still at Disney so I doubt I'd lose a bet if I wagered he influenced the man. The film lacked clean up in some major areas, for instance in a scene toward the end they have to open a gate. Taran, the main character successfully gets the gate open but in the next cut the gate is still very much shut. A lot of the work on Fflewddur is lacking clean up which makes him stand out in a bad way. There are slight inconsistencies that are just enough to make you feel like there's something visually off about the film. It is, however, the first film that Andreas Deja worked on, incidentally the most obnoxious character in the film-Gurgi, but you all know how I feel about furry sidekicks.


As story progression goes the film seems to rush through, not surprising as it's based on a book series so they are trying to get a few novels of info into a mere 80 minutes. They try to hint at a romance between Taran and Eilonwy but they get so little real screen time and she gets so little development the viewer feels just as awkward about it as they appear to. The characters also seem to just roll with the punches, they never seem that afraid when running for their lives, we only see a small moment of traveling in a film that implies quite a journey, and never really get to see bonding between the characters...I suppose we are to just trust it happened during all that walking we didn't get to see.


The credits reveal that the film had many people working on the writing of it, many contributors. This in itself shows us why the film feels so weak. Honestly it's hard to condense a series of books into one film, a short film at that.


While darker films where out and about at the time that this film was conceived the public just wasn't and sad to say never will be willing to accept such a thing from Disney. People have a false image of Disney. If they ever actually sat down and watched a Disney movie, really watched it-especially the older ones- they would find that the sugar coated happy fun clean Disney they picture isn't real. Plenty of Disney films have had dark moments, dark themes, death, and even GASP! sex. These are not films for children, they are simply films. But before I wear myself out preaching about animation simply being one of many formats and having no age setting on it anywhere I will get back to the task at hand- the DVD.


The menues are light and bright, implying none of the actual content of the movie, the cover even removes Taran's sword, which used to be a main focus of art for the film. It's almost like they are trying to trick you into watching this movie. Every person featured on the box is smiling. The quote on the back is even "A Rip-Roaring Tale Of Swords, Sorcery And Magic!" Doesn't this look like fun! Then you sit your 5 year old down and they have nighmares fr a week because you didn't bother to find out about how the titular object is actually made out of an evil being so evil they couldn't be killed so they turned him into a cauldron. Not very well thought out if you ask me....maybe a table....tables can't kill people or create an army of the dead.


Most features are from the 2000 release of the film, though now it is presented in widescreen and has a deleted scene. Though it's more of an alternate version of an existing scene than a deleted scene. There are art galleries which are usually never a disappointment and they even have the development art Tim Burton did, but you can tell right away they didn't use any of it. Though unlike most art galleries on DVD releases they actually have photo galleries from development. It's nice to see the people behind the paper. The menus of the galleries leave much to be desired and feel quite phoned in. Akin to Great Mouse Detective release with the exception that they actually did add one or two features to it, though there is nothing truly special about the special features.


All in all it wasn't ground breaking, but I did enjoy it. You have to give props to a film that's not afraid to be different, and cost alot doing it. Before it's time? After it's time? It seemed to miss the boat on edgey animated films, probably would have done better in the late 70's or just a year or two earlier(but I have the feeling that was the goal and all the rewriting it went through pushed it back). Don't feel too bad though, it has a loyal following.


In the end my verdict is to pick it up if you are a Disney afficianado, but if you're looking for a film for your kids rent it first and watch it on your own. But hey I reccomend that for anything you want to show your kids. It's no power packed DVD but considering the fact that it's a black eye on the company books this is probably the best you'll be getting.


Of course all it made me want to do is read the books...The Black Cauldron actually got a Newberry...so it seems worth picking up. It is usually true what they say, you know. The book is usually better. Maybe I'll get my character development I always wanted.

I'll let you know


See ya real soon!

Thoughts on the cancellation of newt

Alright so today let's talk about the formerly in the works and now officially canned Pixar film:





To be perfectly honest I wasn't super excited about this one. If you don't know, the premise is these two newts who are the last of their kind (blue footed), and science has decided that they will save their kind.


It sounded so overdone to me that's probably why I didn't feel too attracted to it, I think part of it is that their hands and feet are poisonous and I'm sure that factored into things.


Well honestly I didn't find out about the official cancelation until today but apparently it was official as of May. But for a while Steven and I had wondered why we hadn't heard anymore about it outside from a few mentions on some Simpsons comentaries by one of the writers involved. I was on facebook today and saw that Pixar had posted on their facebook an album of concept art for the cancelled project.


And the art is in usual Pixar fashion-beautiful. I told Steven about the offical axe and we pondered together, over the phone, why they would do something so uncharacteristic of Pixar. Well we all know that many original works have been pushed back in lieu of sequels such as the "I'm not convinced until I see it isn't crap" Cars 2, and now the "That's certainly dangerous territory" Monsters Inc 2. And as much as I love Disney and Pixar if they so much as go near trying to make me sit through another Finding Nemo I might just give up on all animation everywhere (worst Pixar movie EVER). I'm just hoping they do not repeat this with Brave which has already been moved back and I am so genuinly excited for.


Back to newt.

So as I said I was never excited about this film but I certainly didn't want it cancelled. I figured Pixar would surprise me and they never got a chance. After relooking through the concept art and thinking about the formulaic nature of romantic comedies (which I love the route that would have been ineveitably taken, I am a HUGE Pride and Prejudice nerd.) Think about it: The last of their kind..they HAVE to mate to save their kind. Well if they like each other no prob right? So the obvious route is they're thrown together, do not get along, but have to work together to get out of whatever mess they're in, and fall in love along the way. There are tons of examples of this hate turns to love formula and I can throw a few out- Anastasia, Road to El Dorado, Shrek, French Kiss (love this movie), and most recently a big sore spot for Disney...The Princess and the Frog.


So just to help illustrate the point have a look at this art of the female newt:





Looks an awful lot like a certain frog we know, right? Brown eyes and everything.


I think, and this is just speculation here, I think that TPatF had alot to do with this movie getting the axe. Sending people to a theater to watch a movie that does little more than evoke de ja vu of a movie that while not bad didn't wow people like everyone had hoped.


So along with the hefty workload they are under I assume they took the route of not trying to kill themselves for a movie that might not fair so well.


Lets face it no one wanted to have this:





Turn into that:







Alot of good work was done for this film and hopefully it gets either picked back up later or by some other studio that will do it justice...that being said I'm still not entirely enthused by the concept. But I never want to see someones brain child go the way of the blue footed newt as it were.

See ya real soon.

Why I'm 50/50 on Tangled

Ok so since this is the latest CG thing to shoot out of the hit and miss (well mostly miss) factory of Walt Disney Animation Studios; and being as I am a die hard fan, of course I hold some hopefulness that this will not be another Chicken Little...or even Bolt cause come on people...it was cute but at the end of the day that film was just a mess.


Ok so lets start with the pros, shall we?


It's a Disney movie.


It's a classic fairytale.


It's one of my fav fairy tales-Rapunzel.


Glen Keane? HELLO!


The concept art is AMAZING.-honestly if I have to wait till it comes out on DVD and just buy an artbook(please let there be an art book) and suck it up for however long it takes, I will.


The art direction in general looks wonderful.


Now I've heard a few people compare the style to the Shrek style but honestly if you really look it's apples and oranges. There's an organic feel to this that the Shrek style doesn't have. With the Shrek look things look stiff and shallow. And even though you get the soft plastic look that most of these CG animated films that do not try for the creepy realism look, it still has this bright, soft appeal that Shrek didn't have. That being said I'm sure there's going to be more pop culture references than I'd prefere to sit through. Sadly though the industry in general seems to be mistaking dated humor for actual content.


And premptively I don't really give two figs about the name change. People complain about the change from Rapunzel to Tangled and the new focus on the male hero but honestly they admitted it was doen to widen the appeal to boys. They admitted that the lack of attention to male audiences was one of the highest factors in the perceived faliure of The Princess and the Frog. Remember all that focus on the PRINCESS and the ignoring anything even remotely appealing to a boy in the marketing and advertising. Yes they had increased appeal from her being the first black princess but it wasn't enough. Girls drive the market but children as a whole drive it more and boys are not a thing to be messed with...look at Pokemon for goodness sakes. So my comment about it is why is there an issue with wanting the film to do well. You can complain that it should stand on it's merit but lets face facts folks, if you market lightening in a bottle as New Coke, it doesn't matter how good the actual product is, everybody hates New Coke.


When I got married I changed my name....But I'm still amazing...so shut up already.


Now for the cons:

Really?

Oh well, see logic and previous experiences tell me this film will be a tour de force of mediocre...but lack luster it will not be...the film practically oozes luster.


But I mean c'mon-

Time will tell...

See ya real soon!

Whoops

Sorry for the lack of posts


Content is coming

Off to Disney we go!

Well in just a day we'll be off for our latest trip to the world.  I wont say much now other than I intend on renaming the blog when we return.  And of course a HUGE post.

See ya real soon.

Disney Memories

           My most beloved Disney treasure would most definitely have to be a treasured memory.  When I was in high school I went on a big vacation with my family to Disney World.  I was a standard teenager who decided I would not enjoy the trip, so I took it for granted.  When I was older I was privileged enough to go back to Disney World with the man who would become my husband, and his family.  In the time between my teenage visit and my early 20’s visit, my attitude had evolved and so had my love of animation and all things Disney.  I had developed a deep love of animation; I even wanted to become an animator some day.  I had learned a lot about the wonderful life of Walt Disney and all the amazing things he had accomplished and set into motion through the power of imagination.  On our first day the first park we visited was EPCOT.  Upon entering the park and passing by what has become one of my favorite Disney landmarks, Spaceship Earth, we heard the sounds of music being played by the car Mickey and Friends rode around on to go to their character meeting spots.  Riding off on the bus, my eyes met with Mickey’s and as he waved I felt a pull at my heart.  Mickey Mouse was waving at me.  My eyes swelled with tears and I hung back at the rear of our group.  There I stood, 20 years old, tearing up like a 5 year old kid.  Ever since that day, since that moment, it was official.  I was hooked, I was a Disney fan. 

 See ya real soon!

Sacrificing cinema integrity for sidekicks

Been a while!
Having students learning about architecture and stained glass(rose windows) watch The Hunchback of Notre Dame.  Repeated viewing of this movie brings about the contradiction this movie has to live by.  In it's soul it is a sweet story about finding your place.  It tackles themes of struggling with ones inner self, sex, murder, corruption, emotional abuse, and morality.  Not things that come to mind when people say Disney but honestly it's because of the other side of the story elements.  Comic relief...sidekicks....in and of themselves these elements are not bad.  A drama with no humor is too heavy.  And movies aimed at all ages need this to hold the interest of children.  This movie was brave and acknowledged that animation does not have to be flowers, buttercups, and low brow humor(though it has some pretty low brow humor). 
But WHY did the sidekicks have to be gargoyles?

WHY!

It is one of the few Disney movies without real "magic" occurrences and the only way to rationalize(and I use the term loosely) them is that Quasi is in truth quite mad....I mean you can't blame him...and the voice actors do a marvelous job but they really take me out of the film.
It is said in literature the audience needs a willing suspension of disbelief. Of course this is true for film, theater...all things of this type really. 
But this really tests my suspension.  Why are they there? Disney formula? But this movie isn't high on formula. 
Really they're there to lighten things, to appeal to the part of the audience that the dark themes would alienate.  I just wish they'd handled it better.

But this also brings about the factor of the latest useless Disney sidekick.  Louis the trumpet playing alligator.  Being from Louisiana I see what they wanted to do...I know why he's there.  But while watching the film and more so while listening to the commentary you just get the feeling that the story would have been fine...maybe even better, without him.

Originally he was also a human turned animal.  They threw that out in the intrest of streamlining the plot the and the speed of the film.  They mention that alot, speeding up the film...maybe I'll talk about that in another post.
Then they comment about how originally you met Ray, then Louis and it caused Louis's presence to be kind of...unimportant.  I think that should have been an indicator to them right there...He was unimportant.  He serves no REAL purpose in the movie, he's not even really comic relief, he's just kind of annoying.  By the end of the film he's seriously testing my suspension.
The inclusion of a useless character takes time away from ones who could have used more screen-time.  Mama Odie and Dr. Facilier were both built up significantly in promotional material and interviews and yet we know nothing about them.. I give the Shadow Man the benefit of the doubt but honestly I seem to be the only person I've talked to who saw him as a worthwhile villain....again something to expand upon later.  Maybe this week I'll write a review of the movie/DVD release.
These characters are essential to the plot but get little to no coverage, while Louis gets significant screen coverage and a song(they too get songs but Louis' song is just as useless as he is)
Once again a movie sacrifices substance for sidekicks.  Anyone else have an example? These are just two.

Well...just something to think about...


See ya Real soon!

Happy Post Easter Post

Here's hoping everyone had a lovely Easter Holiday!  Over at Disney World they did things up as they always do.  Man I wish I was ages 3-9 and able to go on an egg hunt in EPCOT.  At least no age restriction on Trick-or-Treating at Mickey's Not so Scary Halloween Party.  Nothing like a Disney holiday right?

Well, to be perfectly honest it really all depends.  Steven and I have been blessed enough to be able to be in Disney World for Christmas once and for the Not so Scary Halloween Party twice. 
Now honestly for the Halloween Party it wasn't actually Halloween but as I mentioned before there was Trick or Treating! Non age restrictive Trick or Treating!  For Christmas we really were there for Christmas.  And it was nice enough being surrounded by Disney's idea of Christmas.  I don't know what it was, maybe it was the unseasonable warmth, even for Florida, but really being from Louisiana unseasonable warmth doesn't really mean much (Anyone from Louisiana can tell you there is no such thing as seasons in Louisiana).   It was beautiful, don't get me wrong, but with something like Christmas...what bleeds tradition more than Christmas?  So while Disney is great I don't think we'll be doing something like Christmas there again, the crowds were huge, the resorts were packed and Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party wasn't even on anymore, and I was very much hoping it would have been.  Considering the Christmas decorations go up in November and the Christmas Party is usually earlier in December anyway(Steven and I have birthdays and our anniversary in early December).  I honestly think it'd be just as well to plan and go in a less busy time, you get all the benefits and you get to spend your normal holiday time the way that you normally would. That was the best thing about going during the Halloween Party was we had Halloween fun in the parks, later nights and light crowds, all the events, and then you can go home and have your normal holiday to dos.  In the case of something like Easter, there are day specific things things you can only do on these days.  I certainly would like to go to a Disney Park at some point on these kind of days.  As it is it isn't in the cards at the moment but hey holidays are about family, right? So I hope everyone had a great Easter holiday, no matter your religious standing, just enjoy a day of candy munchin' and big food eatin'.

See ya real soon!

I just realised something!

So I have...tons-I mean TONS- of Disney CDs.  Park music, movie music, compilations, just oodles.  And I love It's a Small World.  It really is one of my favorites, it's cheesy and just infinitely made fun of but I do I just love that ride.  So I thought, as I have found, most of the CDs I have with the Small World theme on it the song is the same one, sometimes shorter but obviously the same track.
Well a couple of months ago I was at a city wide garage sale at the local Civic Center and stumbled across this:

I had no idea really what it was but it was old, and it was Disney.  The date was roman numeral and I'll admit my roman numeral memory was a bit rusty. It couldn't have cost more than $10, I don't really remember off the top of my head, but I knew I had to buy it-I mean look at it! It's so old!  So I called Steven and read the roman numbers to him and he (at work at the time) guessed '98.  Yay my first Disney World trip was in 99! So that made it special, this was the music in the park when I went on the only trip with my family(all trips since have been with Steven and his family), and since my brother passed away a year ago it made it more of a special thing.  Well come to find we were off a decade, it's actually '88.  Not special in the way I originally thought but still special, it has music from rides that are no longer there, some of which were in '98 so it's still kinda the same.  But really at the end of the day it's Disney, it's park music, it's worth it.

The point to all that is, of course, I bought it-along with the cutest Classic Pooh paperweight.

What does this have to do with It's a Small World? Well the CD has a version that I didn't have, most of the CDs I have have the same song, albeit different lengths, with the exception of one Disney DDR dance mix version that I have.  But the version on the CD-it's different! And that makes me SO EXCITED!...Silly thing to be excited about I know but...well...not if you know me, not if you love Disney like I do.  Better yet it's a version I've been looking for!  Of course it has been months until I've discovered this because as I have many copies of the song I never sat down and listened to the one off this CD.  I usually just listened to the tracks I didn't have others of and went on my way.  Today while working on a teaching portfolio for my upcoming graduation I just kinda hit play on the album in Zune and went to work (I was in the mood for Minnie's Yoo Hoo and Maple Leaf Rag to be specific).

When It's a Small World came on my ears perked up.  Normally the singing voice sounds kid like-like on the ride-but this was different, this sounded more blatantly like adults, the music was arranged a bit differently, sure it was basically the same song but it had a different flavor and then it came on, my favorite verse, the one you never hear. You know the one...or maybe you don't.  The line about the moon and the sun and the oceans and mountains.  This version has a deep richness to it, it has those voices, you know those voices, the ones you feel you hear in every old Disney song, that light female voice, that one deep male voice.  I'm not going to try and falsely impress you by throwing out names of singers that I honestly don't know but I bet Wikipedia would probably tell you.  I lie...I will be nerdy...The deep male voice, Thurl Ravenscroft, you know, Tony the Tiger? Famous Grinch song? Anyone? Anyway that one is kind of obvious, he did tons of stuff for Disney (the man was inducted as a Disney Legend in 1995).  This version didn't have other languages singing, and though the Four Parks One World CD set does have my favorite verse it has the kiddy voices, sounds of Small World "people" having fun, other languages, the whole shebang.  But this...this is classic Disney. 

This CD provided the name for this blog.  Steven and I were just stuck on a name, I was really leaning toward WEDway and that was the best I could think of.  I was sitting there and looked over and saw the CD case.  I picked it up and there it was Laughin' Place Splash Mountain. There it was.

So with all of these revelations I finally looked up the CD on the web and found this info on an Amazon comment:

This CD is catalog #CD-007 as originally released in 1988 on the "Disneyland" label. At the time this was only available for retail sale at Disney theme parks. BUT, it was re-released under a different title in it's entirety as the 1991 CD "Official Album of Disneyland and Walt Disney World", catalog #60820.

So  that means this CD, because it definitely is the original release, this CD was bought in the parks.  It's from a time when I was only 4 years old, when CD's were relatively still a new format for the mainstream.  This was bought in a Disney park by someone who was captivated by at least one of these songs enough to want to take it with them when the trip was over.  Many of the rides featured either have new music now, or do not exist anymore.  One Little Spark for the Journey into Imagination...completely different now!  Same basic song but completely different.

In closing it was such a great find, you never know what you'll find out there...for under 10 dollars no less.  I found a new again old version of one of my favorite Disney songs (it's my ring tone even! Can you imaging the stares I get!)  I've been able to become a fan of songs for attractions that are now only memories for people.

Always keep your eye out for something special!
See ya real soon!

Welcome to the Laughin' Place!

Hey there, Hi there, Ho there!

Welcome to the Laughin' Place, a Disney blog about all things Disney by two Disney fans.  Husband and Wife team Steven and Mary are both big Disney fans-the movies, the animation, the parks, the history-just everything Disney!  We spend a fair chunk of time discussing Disney things, taking Disney trips, and for everything thing we share we also have areas that we enjoy individually.  I, for example, am a huge animation fan.  Before I decided to become an art teacher I had Disney dreams of being an animator.  Steven can tell you more about the areas in which his fandom excels.
We've decided to start this blog where we can expand our discussions and knowledge out into the "blog-o-sphere".  We'll share reviews, thoughts, photos, and more.  Here's hoping for a bang up blog!
See ya real soon!