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.