Beauty and the Beast

Out of all of the Disney princesses, Belle is probably my favorite. Because the movie has such a great main character it gets to be known as one of my favorite Disney movies. I have always thought of this one as my mom's favorite, because she likes it so much, but after watching it again I decided it's definitely one of my favorites as well. The characters, the music, and the story are all fantastic.

Belle is one remarkable Disney princess. There is something about her that is just great. She has more spunk that the meek, earlier princesses, like Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, and she's a smart cookie. She's kind of dorky too - I like a girl that walks around town reading books all day! And watching it this time around, I am also moved by her bravery. The fact that she follows her father out to this spooky castle, and then volunteers to take his place, is quite impressive for a young girl.

There are so many fun characters in the castle. Lumiere, Cogsworth, Mrs. Potts, Chip - all of them are quite fun. And the beast is pretty adorable, in a frightening sort of way. In some sense he becomes the awkward teenage boy who manages to do and say all of the wrong things when he's around the girl that he likes.

Finally, I love the ending of the movie. The bad guy gets what he deserves (and truly gets what he deserves, not just tied up and thrown into a boat *Pocahontas, cough cough*), and true love breaks the spell just before it's too late.

The Music
Beauty and the Beast continues the tradition of this time period (apparently known as the Disney renaissance, according the wikipedia) with an amazing soundtrack. Again, it's not just one or two great songs, it's all of them. It's hard to pick a favorite - I love both "Belle" and "Be Our Guest." But I would suppose that "Be Our Guest" is probably the most iconic and the most Disney-esque. And, of course, the song "Beauty and the Beast" is a beautiful one. Apparently, in the 2002 special edition they added the song "Human Again," but since I have the old school VHS I'm not familiar with that one, so I don't know if it's any good. Overall the soundtrack is great, which is probably why it makes such as good stage play as well.

The Villain

Actually, I think Gaston is kinda lame as far as Disney villains go. I mean, he's so arrogant and completely obnoxious, but he lacks the true evilness of other villains. It's just obvious that everything he does is because of love for self and his foolishness as a result of that, instead of more evil motives (though arguably, being that pompous and disrespectful of other people is evil in and of itself). But still, he's not some sorcerer and he doesn't have any crazy powers. Of course, his most evil moment comes at the very end. The Beast spares his life and Gaston returns the favor by stabbing him in the back. So Gaston completely deserves the end that he gets. I'd probably rate him in the middle/mid-high level on the scale of greatest Disney villains.

The Disney World Connection

Beauty and the Beast is pretty popular in WDW. Hollywood Studios has a whole 30-minute show dedicated to it, which is basically a condensed version of the movie. In the Magic Kingdom, you can get snacks at Mrs. Potts' cupboard. Belle is a popular character around the park, making frequent appearances in shows and at certain dining venues. Apparently, Disney is planning a big expansion of the Magic Kingdom in 2012 and 2013, and it will include a whole "land" dedicated just to Beauty and the Beast. Jason and I will have to plan another trip once they've finished adding all this new stuff :)

My rating: 9.5 out of 10

Jason's rating: 8 out of 10

Aladdin

Aladdin was always a particular favorite of mine, and one that my brother and I enjoyed watching again and again and again. It's one of the few Disney movies that I actually can vividly remember almost every detail of. Overall, Aladdin has a great story and great music. It also has the added genius of Robin Williams as the genie.

This movie has struggles, it has romance, and it has smarts. Aladdin's way of outsmarting Jafar at the end is a fun twist, and he's a likable guy. Jasmine is also very likable and arguably a pretty decent role model for young girls (sexy outfit aside). The morals are pretty clear (tell the truth, be yourself, don't judge others on wealth or appearance). And it's just gosh darn funny. That genie is pretty good for a laugh. There isn't much to not like about Aladdin.

One interesting thing that did come up when we were watching it was the fact that it was considered somewhat racist when it came out. My brother watched it with us, and he told us that in his third world politics class they learned a little about it. Apparently when the movie was first produced it had a line in the first song that went "where they cut off your ear if they don't like your face." This was considered racist against Arabs and they decided it had to be changed. When the movie went to video the line was changed to "where it's flat and immense and the heat is intense."

Now, if you ask me, I think Disney tends to overreact a lot of accusations of racism. It's seems a bit of a stretch to say that Aladdin is racist against Arabs. Sure, maybe it had that one line, but let's face it - that really is what they did there during that time. But Disney tends to be hypersensitive about these things - hence why it's impossible to find a copy of Song of the South. But then again, when so many people in the the world can be crazy with the accusations and seeing racism everywhere, it's bound to affect the media and Disney as well.

The Music
I love the music from Aladdin. It's got lots of good songs so it's really hard to pick one. "A Whole New World" is a classic now. And personally, I always had a particular fondness of Aladdin's song in the marketplace, "One Jump Ahead." But ultimately, the best song in the movie has to go to Robin Williams with "Friend Like Me." Jason and Tommy agreed that it may be one of the best songs in Disney history - I'm undecided on that. But overall there really isn't a bad song in the movie. Though not as high up, "Arabian Nights" and "Prince Ali" are also great songs. This is definitely one of the best Disney soundtracks.

The Villain

Aladdin also has a truly evil villain going for it. Jafar is a creeper who will stop at nothing to get what he wants. He's also pretty insane, which adds a degree of scariness to a villain. Someone who doesn't have the normal limits and ideas of what's right is bound to be more frightening if they choose the path of evil. And he's got one of the best villain sidekicks ever. I would certainly put him in the top five of Disney villains, and consider him a contender for the top. He even spawned his own sequel, The Return of Jafar.

The Disney World Connection

Aladdin finally received its own ride in Walt Disney World in 2001, and that's "The Magic Carpets of Aladdin." It's basically a Dumbo style ride, where you go around and up and down on a magic carpet. The scenery around it is very nice and "Aladdin-y", and there's even a small section of souvenir carts reminiscent of the marketplace. You can also find Aladdin and Jasmine wandering around the parks for pictures and autographs, usually in Morocco in Epcot or by the Aladdin ride. You can also find Abu, the genie, and Jafar.

Jason's rating: 9 out of 10

Becky's rating: 9.5 out of 10

Pocahontas

Pocahontas is one of those movies that I'm fairly sure I watched a bunch of times when I was little, but I can only recall certain details about it. I vividly remember the scene right before "Colors of the Wind," but remember almost nothing about the opening scene. I remember liking it so I was excited to watch it again. Overall I feel it's a great Disney movie, though it had no chance of living up to The Lion King, which came before it. My major problem was with the ending, but I'll get to that in a minute.

Yes, this movie is based on a true story, though it does stretch the truth quite a bit. If you're not familiar with the history, Pocahontas did exist, and she did befriend the settlers, though she was probably about ten years old at the time. So there was no romance between her and John Smith, and historians debate the story about whether or not she actually saved his life. Regardless, it makes for a good Disney movie.

Pocahontas has lots of the elements that I love about an animated Disney film. It's both fun and serious. There are funny moments and funny characters (most notably Percy, the dog, and Meeko, the raccoon). It has some good music. I both like and admire the main character. And finally, it has some mystical/magical elements to it as well. We have Grandmother Willow, the talking tree, and Pocahontas's amazing ability to speak English. Maybe that's a bit of a cop-out on Disney's part, but the movie certainly wouldn't be as exciting if we had to sit around and watch Pocahontas learn English. And finally, the movie has a good message - not only about respecting nature, but also about how we judge other people.

Despite all of this, Pocahontas is not one of my favorite Disney movies, and that's because of the ending. This Disney movie doesn't have a happy ending, and for me that's one of the things I need in a Disney movie. I love Disney because they're feel good, happy movies. Sure, John Smith doesn't die, but he and Pocahontas aren't together. And yes, the settlers leave, but if we think about the history and what we know, all the future holds is more bloody battles, more settlers invading, and the Native Americans losing almost everything. The least Disney could do would be to spare John Smith, or have the Native Americans cure him, or something so they could be together! With a Disney movie, I want a sappy romance and the happy ending.

And don't even look at the straight to video sequel to Pocahontas. That's a whole different rant.

Music

Pocahontas has pretty good music. The score is by Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz. It doesn't have quite as many hits as, say, The Lion King or Aladdin, but there are a few good ones. "Colors of the Wind" is by far the best song in the movie, next I would say "Just Around the Riverbend," with the rest being not so memorable. Though I will add that apparently Mel Gibson did his own singing, and it wasn't bad.

Villain

As far as villains go, Ratcliffe is just so-so. Yeah, he's greedy and he's a jerk, but he doesn't do much till the very end, when he accidentally shoots John Smith. But also, nothing much really happens to him at the end - no dramatic death scene, just tied up and thrown in the boat. Really as far as Disney villains go he's pretty lame, but I suppose much of the "evil" in this movie actually comes from how we judge one another and how we treat people that are different from us, so they didn't need as much of a villain.

Later in this blog I plan to keep track of rankings of the best (worst? Most evil?) Disney villains. I don't think Ratcliffe will be making the top five. Or even the top ten.

Disney World Connection

There used to be a show in the Animal Kingdom called "Pocahontas and her Forest Friends," which taught about the importance of animals and nature, but it stopped in 2008. Pocahontas does makes an appearance in Hollywood Studios' show Fantasmic! You can also find her wandering around the parks for meet and greets.

Overall

My rating: 7 out of 10

Jason's rating: 7 out of 10

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on Pocahontas!