Fifty-eight—58—films. Thirty—30—sources. Plus some very disturbing revelations about Daisy Duck.
Now that the Disney Read-Watch is over, the powers that be at Tor.com and I thought it might be fun to do a review of the series. Starting with:
What did we learn from all this?
(1) That for a studio that spent a good two-thirds of its existence under the threat of bankruptcy or shutdown, the Disney Animation Studios managed to churn out an impressive number of films—at least one film per year in the 1940s, the 1990s and the 2000s, plus films in the intervening decades. This is even more impressive when you consider just how labor intensive animated films are, with nearly every Disney film taking at least three and often four to five years to complete, with the exception of the package films.
(2) As a result, going through these films became not just a story of the development of animation in feature films, but a story of constant struggle to keep down costs for the studio—a struggle that regrettably led to the delay or even cancellation of multiple projects, but also led to the development of new animation techniques, ranging from watercolor to xerography to the CAPS system to, finally, computer animation—with a tiny return to hand animation in the latest release, Moana.
(3) Although only a few films—Victory Through Air Power, Saludos Amigos, and Bambi—were created as direct responses to current events, like all art, Disney films remain very much a product of their times, shaped not only by commercial and artistic concerns, but contemporary politics. This can be seen in everything from the large environmental themes of The Lion King and Pocahontas, to the small detail of allowing the entire continent of Africa only one representative in the 1970s The Rescuers while later showing multiple African countries in its early 1990s sequel, The Rescuers Down Under.
In other cases, Disney films can be seen, in retrospect, to be reflecting the traumas and anxieties of the times that created them. Thus, the 1937 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs contains several scenes echoing the labor concerns of the Great Depression; the 1941 Dumbo deals with the reality of the often violent, forced family separations of wartime Europe (and ends on a war note); the 1951 Cinderella, created after the collapse of most aristocracies in Europe, believes in hard work more than it believes in princes; the 1997 Hercules uses a Greek myth to mock U.S. consumer culture.
(4) Disney in the 1930s and 1940s was not exactly a model of racial integration; nonetheless, until the 1990s, the three Disney films with the largest numbers of non-white characters were all from the 1940s: Saludos Amigos (1943), The Three Caballeros (1945), and Dumbo (1941)—the last of which, incredibly enough, held the record for the most black characters in a Disney film until The Princess and the Frog (2009). That is partly because between The Three Caballeros and Aladdin (1992) Disney released a grand total of one film featuring non-white characters, The Jungle Book (1967), unless we’re counting the international mice in The Rescuers (1977)—most of whom are from Europe.
(5) Disney’s idea of “adapting” source material could vary wildly, from reasonably close adaptations of the original (One Hundred and One Dalmatians), to transforming pretty much the entire plot and quite a bit of the ethics (Hunchback of Notre Dame; The Fox and the Hound), to keeping a couple of character names and not much else (Oliver and Company.) In one case, departing from the source material inadvertently created a film fairly close to the spirit of the original (Frozen); in another case, the result was a profound distortion of the original source material (Pocahontas). In general, however, it seems fairly safe to say that Disney takes the word “adaptation” rather loosely.
(6) The Disney Animation Studio kept changing its official name so often that trying to figure out what to call it in any given post was an entertaining struggle. The parent company also changed its name frequently over the years, but, after abandoning the name of “Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio,” pretty much stuck to names that had “Walt Disney” somewhere, making that a lot less of a struggle.
The current official names, assuming Disney CEO Bob Iger doesn’t change them before this post gets published, are:
- Walt Disney Animation Studios, part of
- The Walt Disney Studios, part of
- The Walt Disney Company
(7) Prior to agreeing to do a series like this, a blogger should check to see that the source material will not include (a) source materials generally only available through academic libraries, if at all (Mulan, Lady and the Tramp), (b) source materials where the problem is less the Shakespearean English and the bad poetry and more the colossal and constantly dishonest ego of the writer (the various writings of Captain John Smith on Pocahontas and the settlement of the Jamestown colony in Virginia), and (c) source materials discussing dead puppies (no, not One Hundred and One Dalmatians. That’s a great book without a single dead puppy. I meant The Fox and the Hound.) Failure to do so will lead to some miserable moments for the blogger.
It will also save a lot of time if the blogger first checks to see if the source material has anything to do with the final film (looking at you, Oliver Twist/Oliver and Company).
(8) Films like The Three Caballeros and Mickey’s Magical Christmas strongly suggest we all need to be worried about the relationship between Donald and Daisy Duck. Not just worried, very worried. Hopefully Disney includes marital and duck counseling in its benefits package.
(9) I can’t tolerate yodeling. Particularly classical music yodeling.
Notes from the Community / Comments Section
Post that generated the most comments: Tangled.
Post that generated the most “YOU’RE SO WRONG” comments: Also Tangled.
Runner-up: Robin Hood, a nostalgic childhood favorite of many readers.
Post that generated the most hate mail: Also Tangled.
What can we conclude from this? Tor.com readers have very passionate feelings about Tangled.
Post that generated the best attempt to get me to buy a product I really don’t need: Home on the Range, which led to two (2!) attempts to get me to purchase DVDs about yodeling.
Only post to generate an attempt to get me to buy a product that I really don’t need: Home on the Range. Saying this because the other post that generated an attempt to get me to buy something was something that I CLEARLY NEED: Lilo & Stitch, Stitch slippers.
Post that generated the most questions about my personal life: The Three Caballeros, which led to three separate people asking just how much time I’ve spent at the tequila bar at Epcot’s Mexico pavilion. (The answer is: not quite as much as it sounds.)
Post that generated the most emails written in Spanish: The Black Cauldron, from readers wanting to know if the 2010 DVD release has a Spanish dub. Answer, yes, though I haven’t listened to it and can’t vouch for the quality.
Notes on the Books
Best book/source material: Rather an unfair comparison/category, given that the source material ranged from lengthy works by two of the greatest novelists of the 19th century to a picture book with almost no words at all, in between including two 17th century works from a pirate attempting to save his deservedly sullied reputation, a story told mostly in ancient vase paintings, a meditation on responding to death and terror, a tale filled with donkey violence, a pulp work churned out for quick cash, various fairy tales, and books about mice.
Within this category, however, one work stood out: Notre-Dame de Paris/Hunchback of Notre Dame, which despite the multiple digressions about CHURCH ARCHITECTURE was one hell of a read, in the full sense of that word. Recommended.
Book that most surprised me: Pinocchio. I was expecting an adorable little story about a puppet. What I got was a lot of donkey violence.
Runner-up: The Fox and the Hound. Again, I was expecting an adorable story about a fox and a hound. What I got was dead puppies.
Most irritating source material: The writings of Captain John Smith. After reading them, I began to feel considerably more sympathetic towards Disney’s decision to ignore virtually everything Smith wrote.
Most disturbing source material: Another difficult choice. Let’s call it a tie between Sleeping Beauty, what with all of the rape, cannibalism and adultery, and The Fox and the Hound, with the dead puppies.
Notes on the Films
Best Disney animated film? This question is too hard. Instead, let’s try:
Favorite film of small me: The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, aka BOUNCING TIGGER IS THE BEST FILM EVER. My four year old self remains firm on this point.
- Runner-up: Cinderella. That dress! My six year old self remains firm on this point.
- 2nd runner-up: “Duck Dodgers in the 24 ½th century!” Ok, technically that’s the wrong franchise and wasn’t covered in this Read-Watch, but it’s a great cartoon and everyone should go see it.
Favorite film of grown-up me: Lilo & Stitch.
- Runner-up: Also Lilo & Stitch. Look, there’s a reason those slippers were necessary.
- 2nd Runner-up: Sleeping Beauty
Favorite films of Tor.com commenters: Quite a lot of disagreement here, with votes in for Fantasia, Sleeping Beauty, Robin Hood, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, The Emperor’s New Groove, Wreck-It-Ralph, Moana, and probably a few I missed.
Worst film: Chicken Little.
Trying to choose between Chicken Little and Home on the Range was a tough call, what with the massive plot holes of the first and the yodeling in the second. In the end, though, I had to go with Chicken Little, for sheer overall offensiveness and ugly character design. At least Home on the Range has a few lovely backgrounds, and some of the animals are cute. It’s not a huge saving grace, but it’s a lot more than Chicken Little has.
- Runner-up: Home on the Range.
- 2nd Runner-up: From the classic period: a tie between the package films Fun and Fancy Free and Melody Time. The first suffers from a dull first half and an even duller bridging section, which even puppets can’t save, and the second features the weakest collection of cartoons of any of the package films, with virtually no standouts. Both films have their moments, but not enough moments to save them.
- Dishonorable mentions: The Sword in the Stone, probably the weakest non-package film from the Walt Disney years; The Black Cauldron, featuring unusually sloppy animation, a whiny hero, a bland love interest, a bland villain, and plot holes galore; and Atlantis: the Lost Empire, another ambitious film filled with plot holes and clichés galore.
Most unintentionally horrifying film: Mickey’s Christmas Carol, wherein we learned that (a) Daisy Duck may very well be having a thing with Donald’s Uncle Scrooge and (b) even worse, Daisy Duck may be killing her neighbors and serving them up for Christmas dinner YIKES DAISY.
Most intentionally horrifying film: Victory Through Air Power, intended to convince already convinced viewers that major German and Japanese invasions of the United States were imminent and could only be stopped by a strategic focus on air power.
Most genuinely horrifying film no matter what the intentions: Dumbo. Between cruelty to a small cute elephant and that demented pink elephants sequence, Dumbo has understandably left generations of small children quaking in terror.
- Runner-up: Bambi. Between the death of Bambi’s mother (sniffle) and that forest fire, this film would probably win the award for “Most Traumatic Disney Film Ever,” if not for Dumbo.
- Is this a case where small me is influencing the final results? Nope. Since I didn’t see Dumbo until I was slightly bigger and able to handle it, the film that terrified small me the most was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which for reasons of artistry and taste decided not to show the dead body of the witch, leaving small me convinced that the Evil Witch was going to climb out of that cliff and EAT EVERYBODY including the dwarfs and Snow White. So THAT WAS TERRIFYING THANK YOU DISNEY.
- Dishonorable mention: The trailer for Cars 3 which made several small children waiting to see Moana burst into tears.
Biggest box office, not adjusted for inflation: Frozen, $1.276 billion, not including ticket sales for special 2014-2016 summer matinee releases, placing Frozen in the top ten grossing films of all time as of this writing.
- Runner-up: Zootopia, $1.024 billion.
(Note: both numbers are expected to increase slightly thanks to limited theatrical matinee releases in summer months, but remain ahead of Moana, which has currently taken in a respectable $402 million at the box office, but is expected to see falling ticket sales in coming months. Much thanks to Brad Brevet of Box Office Mojo for these estimates and predictions.)
Biggest box office, adjusted for inflation: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, still the only Disney animated film to make the “Top Ten Box Office, Adjusted for Inflation” all-time list, partly thanks to multiple theatrical releases.
- Runner-up: The Lion King, which has also benefited from multiple theatrical releases. This does not include revenues from the Broadway musical based on the film, The Lion King, which as of this writing is Broadway’s third longest running show (beaten only by The Phantom of the Opera and Chicago), and its most profitable.
Biggest box office disappointment: Treasure Planet, as of this writing still one of the biggest bombs in Hollywood history, let alone Disney history. It has yet to regain production costs. Disney has not bothered to make a Broadway adaptation.
- Runner-up: The Black Cauldron, a major box office bomb which failed to earn back production costs in its initial release, and regained only some of that ground in the later VHS/DVD releases.
- Honorable box office disappointment mention: Victory Through Air Power, which was not intended to earn a profit for the studio, and didn’t.
Film that took the longest to earn a profit: Fantasia, which needed five separate theatrical releases before it earned back its costs, and only became a moneymaker after its VHS release decades after its original release in World War II.
Film that became a blockbuster money maker decades after its original release: Sleeping Beauty, a major flop on its initial release, needed two more releases to start earning back its costs. The launch of the Disney Princess franchise, however, which placed Aurora in a prominent role, has turned the previous failure into one of Disney’s biggest assets.
Most profitable franchise/biggest overall revenue generator: As of late 2016 reports, Frozen, with merchandise sales estimated at $107 billion and climbing.
- Runners-up: The Disney Princess franchise and Winnie the Pooh.
Biggest tearjerker: Dumbo. That poor little elephant.
- Runner-up: The Lion King. Poor little Simba.
Biggest laughs: The Emperor’s New Groove. “Why do we even HAVE that lever?”
- Runner-up: Hercules.
Greatest/best animated sequences: Another unfair category, given that the films not only span close to 90 years of film and technical development, but also include multiple techniques, from lavish hand drawn art to the later computer assisted and computer art. So I’ve broken down this section into three categories: the classic period, the Renaissance period, and the Revival period, ignoring the various films that appeared between those films since for the most part, they did not stand out for particularly good, let alone great, animated sequences.
Classic (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) to The Jungle Book (1967); hand pencils/coloring, hand inking or xerography)
Tie: The Nutcracker Suite sequence from Fantasia and the caravan sequence from Pinocchio.
Even choosing just two scenes for a tie was difficult. But for sheer beauty, nothing done in the classic Disney period can match The Nutcracker Suite sequence. And for sheer ingenuity and complexity, nothing until Zootopia, created with the assistance of computers, came anything close to the caravan sequence in Pinocchio, featuring a moving Pinocchio in a swinging cage in a moving caravan with a separately moving Jiminy Cricket, all of which had to be carefully planned by animators to mimic both the bounce of a caravan and the swing of a cage.
With a terrified puppet.
- Runner-up: The Night on Bald Mountain sequence from Fantasia.
- 2nd Runner-up: The final confrontation with Maleficent in Sleeping Beauty.
- 3rd Runner-up: The pink elephants sequence in Dumbo, a sequence that Disney animators continued to reference and play homage to in a number of later films.
- Honorable mentions: Maleficent summoning Aurora to the spinning wheel and the dancing imps from Sleeping Beauty; mastering the look of animated flight in both Victory Through Air Power and Peter Pan; and the first mastery of dancing characters in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, a sequence that worked so well that Disney animators later traced it for Robin Hood.
- Honorable technical mentions: The development of the multiplane camera for Snow White, allowing animation to give mere drawings the illusion of camera movement and depth, and xerography, which not only kept production costs feasible, but started the slow movement towards computer animation, eventually bringing us to the Pixar and Disney Revival films.
Renaissance (The Little Mermaid (1989) through Tarzan/Fantasia 2000; hand pencils, CAPS system, some computer generated imagery)
Almost no contest here: the opening sequence and the wildebeest stampede sequence from The Lion King, the hands down greatest animated sequences Disney produced between the classic period and their first mastery of computer animation, Tangled. The sequences are remarkable not only for their beauty, but for their technical accomplishment, a mingling of revolutionary animation camera angles, special effects work (note the lighting and the dust clouds) and hand drawn animation.
- Runner-up: The “Be Our Guest” and Belle explores the castle sequences, Beauty and the Beast.
- 2nd runner-up: The “Hellfire” sequence, Hunchback of Notre Dame.
- 3rd runner-up: The Firebird Suite sequence, Fantasia 2000.
- Honorable technical mention: The CAPS system, initially developed for The Rescuers Down Under, which not only allowed animated films to mimic the look of moving cameras and helicopter shots, but also helped pave the road for computer animation.
Revival (Bolt (2007) to the present day; mixture of hand pencils and computer animation)
Maui’s sentient tattoos in Moana, an artistic and technical highlight.
- Runner-up: The “Let it Go,” sequence, Frozen.
- 2nd runner-up: The floating lantern sequence, Tangled.
- 3rd runner-up: “We Know the Way,” sequence, Moana.
- Honorable Technical mentions: The addition of Hyperion rendering software for Big Hero 6, which allowed both Zootopia and Moana to achieve previously unheard of realism in lighting, shading and coloring; Rapunzel’s hair in Tangled.
Weirdest Disney film: The Three Caballeros. I don’t know what anyone was thinking at the end there, but… it was different.
- Runner-up: No runner-up, though the pink elephant sequence in Dumbo is a better animated distant second.
Best use of music in an animated Disney film: Fantasia.
- Runner-up: Fantasia 2000
- 2nd runner-up: The Elvis songs in Lilo & Stitch
Worst use of music in an animated Disney film: All of the yodeling in Home on the Range.
- Runner-up: Chicken Little crooning “WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!” in Chicken Little.
Those two were so bad, nothing else—even the dinosaurs mournfully shuffling their way to death to the sounds of Igor Stravinsky in Fantasia could even come close, but if I did have to pick a second runner-up….
….No. It’s those two. Hands down.
Best Disney song: I suspect that Disney would probably suggest their signature “When You Wish Upon a Star,” from Pinocchio, or “Be Our Guest,” from Beauty and the Beast, or “Circle of Life,” from The Lion King, or “Bare Necessities,” from The Jungle Book.
Nah.
“Under the Sea,” from The Little Mermaid.
- Runners-up: The songs mentioned above.
Best Disney villain song: A tie between “Poor Unfortunate Souls” from The Little Mermaid, and “Be Prepared” from The Lion King.
- Runner-Up: Hellfire, from The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
Worst Disney song: Most bad Disney songs fall into the category of “unmemorable” rather than “bad,” with one outright exception, “What Made the Red Man Red,” Peter Pan, a song memorable for all the wrong reasons: it’s one of the most racist moments in any Disney film, barring the films/sequences currently buried in the Disney vaults.
- Runner-up: “A Guy Like You,” Hunchback of Notre Dame, a song intended to showcase the many talents of Jason Alexander, one that instead introduces arguably the single most callous moment in a Disney film: as the city of Paris starts burning down around them, the gargoyles sing this cheerful little number to assure Quasimodo that sure, sure, Esmeralda loves him. Two minutes later, Quasimodo catches Esmeralda kissing another guy, so like, YES, THAT WENT WELL.
- 2nd Runner-up: “Fixer-Upper,” Frozen. On its own, not a very good song; in context, HEY ANNA IS DYING AND THE ENTIRE KINGDOM IS FREEZING TO DEATH PERHAPS WE COULD SING ABOUT THIS LATER, THANKS. It doesn’t quite tarnish the entire film, the way “A Guy Like You” does, but it’s certainly out of place.
Worst Disney villain song: “Yodel-Adle-Eedle-Idle-Oo,” Home on the Range. As this post has shown, I still haven’t recovered.
Most foreseen use of a Disney song for a commercial: “Be Our Guest,” from Beauty and the Beast, a song Disney continues to use to advertise its various cruise ships, theme parks and resorts.
Least foreseen use of a Disney song for a commercial: “I’ve Got No Strings,” from Pinocchio, that 75 years later was used by Beats Wireless to show us that celebrities are as into electronic devices are we are.
Least necessary update to a discussion generated in the comments for Pocahontas, but one I’m making anyway: As of now, at least, the success of the Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular fireworks show at Disney’s Hollywood Studios has not led to any announcements of upcoming changes to Fantasmic.
Ok, ok, so after all that time wasted explaining that Fantasmic is not actually changing that much…
Best Disney film? Despite the bland heroine, I’m going to go with Sleeping Beauty, for a combination of exquisite, lavish animation, background art, glorious villain and dramatic use of Tchaikovsky’s original ballet score.
- Runners-up include, from the classic period, Fantasia and Pinocchio, from the Disney Renaissance, The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast, and from the Revival period, Wreck-It-Ralph and Zootopia.
- Honorable mention: Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, which if not technically a product of the Disney Animation Studios, remains one of the most innovative films in animation history, and continues to hold up remarkably well decades later.
What’s coming up next: Two related projects—a journey through fairy tales, myths and their retellings, and a monthly Pixar rewatch!
Mari Ness lives in central Florida.
A Pixar rewatch?! I am excite!
Mari, thank you for writing a great weekly post. Thursdays are the highlight of my week between you and Alice Arneson’s posts. I’m glad you’ll be continuing on here at tor.com!
(PS: I still think you should check out the Alice in Wonderland TV show from the early 90s Disney Channel lineup. It’s delightful.)
I’m currently working my way through the Funk & Wagnall’s Standard Dictionary of Folkore, Mythology, and Legend, which is an amazing resource for a proto-look at fairy tales and legends. I highly recommend it for your next venture.
With respect to Daisy, I’ll give her role as Belle (in Mickey’s Christmas Carol) a pass, as it’s basically understood that all the characters within that film are playing a role, and putting Scrooge’s love interest Goldie O’Gilt would have been counter to the down-to-earth quality of Belle.
The serving goose for dinner, though. Well… that would explain why Scrooge’s sister Matilda McDuck is no longer married to Goosetail Gander (in the Carl Barks family tree), and is free to marry Ludwig von Drake (in the Don Rosa family tree) (von Drake also seems to have a thing for Daisy, if the countless episodes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse I’ve seen are any indication). The DuckTales universe is definitely a quite interesting place.
After the Pixar rewatch could you do a read watch of Buck Rogers and then Duck Dodgers?
Looking forward to the Pixar rewatch! I’ve found myself coming back to this one more than once for it’s excellent discussions on how these movies came to be. We just watched Big Hero 6 a few days ago and during the credits I had the read-watch article open to see what it had to say.
As far as the ducks go, I’m going to give Daisy a pass. I mean Donald doesn’t even wear pants. Daisy is entitled to her quirks.
Ha, I love this post. I was thinking about this whole thread after seeing an article about Disney finishing 2016 with 6 of the top 10 grossing films of 2016. Only 1 of those was covered in this thread specifically (Zootopia) but it’s kind of interesting to see how far they’ve come given some of the truly rocky history they’ve had (if anybody cares, the others were Finding Dory, Captain America: Civil War, Rogue One, The Jungle Book and Force Awakens (based on 2016 sales alone) – although now that I’ve tried to look up the article again, I’ve found other articles with slightly different rankings so I guess it depends on how you calculate it).
I also really love Tangled (and Robin Hood!), but I didn’t send you any hate mail over it!
When we went to Disney this Christmas, we did not get a chance to stop at the tequila bar, sadly – it would have been too much with the kids. But, Panchito and Jose DID appear at the Magic Kingdom for the Christmas themed stage show before the fireworks! And thanks to this read, I recognized them :)
I actually still have yet to watch Home on the Range and Bolt, but those are next on my list. But so far I’d say my favorite of the new movies I’ve finally been pushed to watch (they’ve been on my list for years) is Meet the Robinsons. I really loved that movie and soundtrack, and I wish it got more recognition. I was kind of sad that there seems to be nothing Robinson themed in Tomorrowland! It would fit right in! And I actually enjoyed Treasure Planet quite a bit, although I haven’t rewatched it like I have Meet the Robinsons.
Rearding the favorite films, I think you forgot Tangled :D Sleeping Beauty is still my fave ‘classic’ film (with Cinderella in a close second), Little Mermaid and Aladdin are my favorite ‘renaissance’ films (I really can’t pick), and Tangled and Wreck-It Ralph are my favorite of the more modern films (for very different reasons).
Worst films: OMG Chicken Little is the bane of my existance, and as it turns out is one of my son’s current favorite movies. We’ve had to watch it several times. But I definitely agree that Fun and Fancy Free is just eh – although I would actually say Make Mine Music is weaker than Melody Time. I would say Dinosaur should probably been an honorable mention too.
Yes, the lantern sequence is beautiful…and also has one of my favorite songs :D
Chicken Little utterly brutalizing Queen is probably the worst thing I’ve seen in any Disney movie ever. Just, no. I have seen a few small parts of Home on the Range (including some of the yodeling) so I’m pretty confiident this is still my worst musical moment.
OMG A PIXAR REWATCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (I mean, I know academically I should be more excited about reading about fairy tale retellings over time, because that’s really cool but PIXAR REWATCH!!!!!)
Also – my own category. Favorite hero/heroine and villain. I’d have to think about the hero/heroine for awhile, but Maleficent will always be my favorite villain :D Ursula is possibly a close second (and I agree she gets a great villain song. If not the best.)
Someday, I hope you come back to this for just a few more Disney films: you skipped all the Disney theatrical animated films that weren’t also part of Walt Disney Animation Studios! (Not to mention all the terrible DVD releases, but better everyone skips those.)
If you ever want to come back to this after your Pixar rewatch, here’s the list that I built for my own as-yet-uncompleted Disney rewatch (I elected to live vicariously through you instead). Some of these had very short or limited theatrical releases, but they all appeared in theaters at some point. Some of these are the Pixar films post-Disney purchase which would are doing anyway.
—
DuckTales the Movie
The Nightmare Before Christmas
A Goofy Movie
James and the Giant Peach
Doug’s 1st Movie
The Tigger Movie
Recess: School’s Out
Return to Neverland
The Jungle Book 2
Piglet’s Big Movie
Teacher’s Pet
Pooh’s Heffalump Movie
Bambi 2
Ratatouille
WALL-E
Tinkerbell
Up
Tinkerbell and the Lost Treasure
A Christmas Carol
Toy Story 3
Tinkerbell and the Great Fairy Rescue
Mars Needs Moms
Cars 2
Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension
Arjun: The Warrior Prince
Brave
Frankenweenie
Secret of the Wings
Monsters University
Planes
The Pirate Fairy
Sleeping Beauty is astounding, but also terrifying. I don’t know when I’ll be able to show it to my daughter, if ever. She’s pretty sensitive. She teared up when I sang “On Top of Spaghetti” and lamented “That poor meatball!”
I’m bummed you didn’t dig up a copy of Song of the South. I would really enjoy your analysis of it and it’s place in Disney history and theme parks.
Thanks for your thoughtful and insightful reviews and the discussions they provoked. Good luck with your next ventures!
Great read-watch, I really enjoyed reading it! As for best Disney song, I wish Aladdin’s “Friend Like Me” could have snuck in there somewhere.
@@@@@6. Lisamarie
I think they’re two different categories.
Best Villain: Maleficent (she does summon “all the powers of Hell!” after all)
Favorite Villain: Ursula (hard not to love a villain with such a great song)
Loved this whole series, was glad you did the Readless Watch too, and loved this summary post. I have recommended this series to friends interested in Disney animation, and it brought them to Tor.com for the first time. (They’re not commenters, so they left no trace, unfortunately.)
I probably disagreed with you most on Moana, not on Tangled (as I had expected I would, since I like Tangled). But whether I agreed with your assessments or not, I always learned something and always enjoyed your writing.
Re: Daisy Duck–as has already been said, all the Disney characters were playing a role in Christmas Carol, so there’s that. Daisy did not canoodle with young Scrooge; she wasn’t even alive when Scrooge was young. True, serving goose is a bit more uncomfortably close to home than even serving turkey. But the Carl Barks comics Disney Ducks were far more anthropomorphized than, say, Daffy and Bugs. They work at people jobs or go to school, they live in people houses, they eat people foods, including Thanksgiving turkey. They need planes to fly. They are humans who happen to look like large ducks.
For the Most/Least Foreseen use of a Disney song for a commercial: Do movie trailers count? I’d suggest the use of “I Got No Strings” in the Marvel “Age of Ultron” teaser trailer as both the least and most foreseen. It completely caught me off guard when I first saw it and yet, it makes complete sense.
Also, can I say a huge thank you for such a great series. This has been so much fun to read, especially learning so much of the background history about the studio, animators, and directors and the troubled times they had trying to make these film.
Joe P –
I covered James and the Giant Peach back in 2013. I’ll be covering all of the post-purchase Pixar Disney films in the Pixar watch.
In general, though, I feel the sooner the planet forgets that Disney ever made Bambi 2, the better.
@12 – ooh, I totally agree. I was going to mention that, but I forgot.
Pixar rewatch, wooo!
Also, fantastic recap, Mari! Well worth the reading.
Regarding box office gross receipts for 2016: The discrepancy depends upon which source the lists are using – that is, U.S. domestic receipts, some by worldwide box office receipts.
If you are using U.S. domestic receipts, currently Finding Dory is at the top of the 2016 charts. If you are using worldwide box office receipts, Captain America: Civil War is currently at the top of the 2016 charts, and Zootopia is still on some international screens.
Both Zootopia and Moana will also benefit from increased box office receipts starting next summer, when they are released for special domestic matinee performances, along with other full length feature animated films.
Regardless, by any measure, Disney had five of the most successful films of 2016: Zootopia, Captain America: Civil War, Finding Dory, The Jungle Book, and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, with Doctor Strange also appearing on some top ten box office receipts in some countries. In virtually any other year, I suspect Disney would also be crowing about Moana, which has more than earned back its $150 million reported budget ($405 million worldwide as of last weekend); it’s just that Moana is probably not going to break into any of these top ten lists.
(Again, much thanks to Box Office Mojo for all of this.)
Thanks Mari! The research was what made it head and shoulders above the other similar projects on the web. Thanks for all that and I can’t wait for the new projects!
Thanks again for all the thoughtful analysis and the wonderful prose to entertain and enlighten us. I came to this journey part-way, but have enjoyed the ride very much. I too look forward to your next ventures.
However, I am disappointed to see that one very impressive achievement was left off your list primarily because it fell between two stools, your Classical (pre-1968) and Renaissance (1989) periods. It is the animation inside Big Ben during the fight between Basil of Baker Street and Ratigan in The Great Mouse Detective. The intricacy achieved was truly impressive for its time, the mid-1980s. I have always viewed GMD as a harbinger of the renaissance so brilliantly begun with The Little Mermaid.
Mari, thanks for all the hard work on these posts. I always learned something new. I’m looking forward to the Pixar re-watch too. Would you ever consider doing something similar with Disney live action pictures? There are a lot of movies to choose from maybe by decade? My favorite kid Disney is Cinderella my favorite big me movie is Beauty and the Beast. I’m also partial to Aladdin and the Little Mermaid but Lion King is in there too. It’s a bit like picking your favorite cookie. I agree about the Villains there just harder to choose just one.
Thanks very much Mari for all this work. Could you share your thoughts on some of the live action versions of Disney’s animated classics? I thought the recent Cinderella was one of the best movies ever (Lily James was fantastic!), and I’m really looking forward to the upcoming Beauty and the Beast. Can’t wait for the Pixar rewatch. Thanks!
Again, I was expecting an adorable story about a fox and a hound. What I got was dead puppies.
And dead puppies aren’t much fun.
Thank you for the Disney read-watch! I’ve enjoyed your posts and looking forward to the new ones!
BEST INTERNET EVAR
LOVED the Disney re-watch! However, one quibble with your final rankings…
Greatest/best animated sequences – Renaissance –
should be THAT scene in Mulan! It might not look so good on YouTube or video, but in the movie theaters back in 1998, it was spec-bloody-tacular!
Mari, Thank you from the bottom of my heart for this series; following it has been as fun as anything I have encountered on the internet. I am glad you are continuing, and Pixar is a good place to go next. And live action Disney movies might be a logical follow-on to that. But because some of those movies are remakes of animated movies that are reworking of old stories, I suppose you might call them read-watch-rewatch reviews! ;-)
Outstanding work done on these posts. I’m really looking forward to the next ones about fairy-tales and myths.
At the moment, supporting youngheart80 @12 and Lisamarie @14 regarding using the “no strings” song in the Avengers’s teaser. Basically, just what youngheart80 said about it :)
@7. You forgot the Legend of the NeverBeast, the LAST Tinker Bell movie.
That being said, the Tinker Bell films (and short films) may be worth a Watch, Mari. I particularly enjoyed The Great Fairy Rescue and The Pirate Fairy (though The Secret of the Wings was total ugh and retconny, and borked Pixie Hollow as far as I’m concerned). Lost Treasure felt like a shaggy dog joke, and Tinker Bell was okay. Pixie Hollow Games is one of those feel-good 30-minute extravaganzas. So, there’s some gems in there.
Meanwhile, I’m wondering how Moana will impact my stay at the Polynesian Resort this spring.
Any chance this could get compiled into an e-book? There’s a lot of good stuff here and it’d be nice if it was more accessible than blog posts.
My favorite film of the Disney Renaissance – and one of my favorite films of any kind and any time – is Beauty and the Beast. I think it’s partly that its story of the unlovable Beast managing to find love anyway resonates with me. It should have won Best Picture (sorry, Silence of the Lambs) and the Best Dramatic Presentation Hugo (sorry, Terminator 2). You don’t appear to love it QUITE as much as I do but that’s OK. At least we share a love of Lilo & Stitch.
My favorite scene from the Renaissance is also from BatB, unsurprisingly. But despite my love of the ballroom scene (I can’t watch it without crying), I think the best scene of all is the opening scene of the town, with its dramatic “dolly” shots and the delightful song “Belle”.
Although The Rescuers Down Under was the first film to use CAPS throughout and included some scenes designed to show it off, BatB was the first to take full advantage of its cinematic possibilities. That opening scene moves the point of view in ways that could not have been done with the multiplane camera. The ballroom dance repeats that theme, plus integrating computer and hand-drawn animation almost seamlessly. (“Almost” because the drawing styles don’t quite match.) Be Our Guest is not quite as successful at that; I find the difference of style between the hand drawn and computer rendered elements jarring.
My favorite classic Disney? Pinocchio. The story, animation, and music are all working well together.
Favorite of the current era? Frozen. But Zootopia comes close.
I would love a Studio Ghibli read-watch.
Glad for the many technical nods you’ve given to the Fantasia movies, which was really their purpose. I think your subjectivism is showing in making Lilo and Stitch a runner-up for music though, lol, with so many great sequences choreographed to music since Little Mermaid. Citing Cars 3 preview was funny but unfair since it’s Pixar. Speaking of which – so glad Pixar’s next.
I was re-reading this entry to look something up, and I completely missed this part the first time: “Dishonorable mention: The trailer for Cars 3 which made several small children waiting to see Moana burst into tears.”
HAHA! We went and saw Rogue One a few nights ago (which we knew not to bring our kids to) and amidst the gritty Power Rangers trailer and a few gritty WWII type trailers, the Cars 3 trailer was shown. My husband leaned over and said, “Now I’m REALLY glad we didn’t take the kids!’ I mean, come on, gritty Cars? (Okay, I’ll be honest, I’m actually really excited for that movie!)
So, I have to ask this because I do kind of wonder. In light of the fact that you found ways to only have to mention two Disney movies for both your child and current me favorite Disney movies, but didn’t seem to come up with any shortage of least favorite movies: what is your opinion on Disney movies as a whole? While reading your various posts, it always seemed to me that you were not overcome with affection for the material in many cases, although I couldn’t tell if it was just due to wanting to keep the reviews mostly about the history and objective criticism of the movies, and a discussion of how they were inspired by/differed from the source material and the way the culture of the time influenced the adaptations (all of which I found fascinating to read and this remains one of my favorite columns on Tor). But aside from Lilo and Stitch, I can’t remember any posts where it seemed like you really were excited about the movie.
I’m still disappointed about Treasure Planet being /that/ unpopular, poorly sold…. I loved it and still do. Which is why I’d say that a worthy addition to the runner up list for those great animated scenes was the escape sequence from the planet itself, with the planet breaking apart around them, Jim building a make-shift Solar Sailer from a cannon and hunk of metal, and that killer moment when he comes ROARING out of the chasm that he almost died in just in time to open the right door and…. Okay, I’m biased, I admit it. But it was, and remains a fond memory from my pre-teen years.
Thanks again – great series! Though I had never realised they came out regularly on Thursdays…
I just finished reading the Disney read watch in order for the first time (hence me popping up in a few of these with some late comments) and I wanted to say thanks and that it has been a great and truly informative series from a number of different angles. I can’t say I agreed with you on everything, but nothing you wrote made me angry. I’m surprised the Tangled post generated as much indignation as I never took your comments as being all that hostile.
If asked which is the best Disney film, I would have to say Beauty and the Beast for the combination of sheer artistry and probably, still, the best soundtrack of any Disney film. Pinnochio and Sleeping Beauty from the early era also deserve mention for technical brilliance.
My personal favourites are all more recent: Mulan and the Emperor’s New Groove. Though I have found myself revisiting Zootopia (I’m in the UK) a lot and really like Moanna.
I’m also glad to see I’m not the only one with a soft spot for Meet the Robinsons. I really enjoyed it the first time round and bought the DVD. Haven’t watched it much since, so perhaps I should dig it out.
For the future, I have enjoyed the Pixar rewatch so far and your articles on Fairy stories. Would you consider taking a look at some non-Disney animated films. Don Bluth was mentioned a couple of times in the read watch and I would be interested to see you tackle his films in depths, particularly the Secrets of Nimh which could justify a read watch of its own. I’d also be intrigued to see what you had to say about Shrek and How to train your Dragon.
In the mean time, I’ll keep of with the rest of your writing and thanks again.
Wooh! Sleeping Beauty all the way! I am so glad you ended with many of the conclusions I did!