To whoever’s in charge of distribution at Disney’s motion picture department, an open letter. Rather, a note. Okay, just one scream of frustrated rage:
Enough with the sequels already!
Popularity: 9% [?]
We’ve all known the feeling of being a tiny fish in a very big ocean. One way or another, we can all relate to the plight of the little clownfish in Finding Nemo - his desire to explore places he knows are forbidden, and the danger that ensues.
Finding Nemo was equally popular with kids, teenagers, and their parents, due to its charming humor and relateable themes. Featuring voice talents like Albert Brooks, Ellen DeGeneres, Willem Dafoe, Geoffrey Rush, it quickly became a Disney classic.
Popularity: 7% [?]
Recently I subjected myself to a whole lot of Disney movies. Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Pocahontas…you know, all those movies that make the Disney Corporation richer than astronauts and that they release and re-release a dozen times over to make more cash?
Well, I came to an important realization while sitting through a soul-crushing session of The Little Mermaid–very many Disney movies have a lot in common. And not just the catchy musical numbers, either…I’m talking at their very fundamental cores.
Popularity: 7% [?]
The first time I saw Aladdin was on my seventeenth birthday. I think everyone has a few Disney classics that they just miss somehow; for me, it was Aladdin. Maybe my mom thought lamp-genies were Satanic or something. (Ironically, it was my youth group that hosted the party and Aladdin-viewing.)
During the famous musical sequence “A Whole New World,” my friend Brian leaned over and whispered to me, “this song is about drugs.”
Popularity: 7% [?]
For many of us, the single most painful tragedy we experienced before the age of ten was the death of Bambi’s mom.
We might have lost a few goldfish and maybe even a cat, but Bambi lost his mommy! A whole generation of vegetarians was born out of Disney’s semi-innocent effort at anthropomorphizing a fawn. We were all affected by Bambi, and many of us went years before we watched it again.
Bambi is trippy. Remember that lovey-dovey sequence, where Bambi prances through a fantasy world of pink clouds and has a bizarre, horrific fight with another male deer over mating rights? Just plain odd.
Popularity: 7% [?]
It’s been seventeen years since the first animated feature was nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. It was Beauty and the Beast, one of the enduring Disney classics, but it lost to the dark horse candidate The Silence of the Lambs.
Yes, The Silence of the Lambs was great. Yes, it’s a culturally significant film. But why can’t Disney get any love?
Popularity: 7% [?]
Toy Story was one of the few movies I saw in the theater as a kid. I was skittish and shy, easily frightened by loud noises, skeletons, and death. But Toy Story seemed safe, so Mom dragged my reluctant self down to the Regal Cinema for a good time.
I was instantly hooked. I went home and started drawing pictures of the characters, the surest sign of devotion my thirteen-year-old mind could conceive of. When the sequel finally came around four years later, I was less excited about the whole thing, but was still taken in by the charming story and appealing characters.
The first massively successful CGI-animated Disney feature, Toy Story helped to make Pixar the production giant it is today. And, more than that, it’s just a really great film, and its legacy is carried on in Toy Story 2. And now, finally, we have news of the long-awaited Toy Story 3.
Popularity: 6% [?]
On the heels of ripoff artists like The Asylum comes Dingo Pictures, from - where else? - Germany.
About a week before a major Disney film is released, have you ever noticed the cheap ripoff DVDs in the grocery store? The ones with titles like Aladin and Little Dalmatians? These guys are one of the biggest culprits. If you’re childless, you might find yourself at the checkout stand thinking, who buys this crap? Parents, of course - the parents of kids who don’t know the difference between Disney and Dingo.
Popularity: 5% [?]
When The Lion King first went into production, it was pitched as “Bambi in Africa meets Hamlet,” or, as one animator dubbed it, “Bamlet.” Drawing heavily on past stories, The Lion King still managed to create something entirely new. It was wildly successful among children and adults alike, and many Disney connoisseurs and critics insist that The Lion King reached heights that Disney has yet to match with another film.
Did You Know?
Popularity: 3% [?]
Nelson Mandela once said, “our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.” It’s a difficult, controversial, and important message - not exactly the type of moral you’d expect from an animated kid’s movie.
Then, The Incredibles came along.
Popularity: 3% [?]
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