The Little Mermaid

This movie is the one that really started the Disney renaissance of the 1990's, and for good reason.  Ariel is a fun princess, the music is fantastic, and the story is exciting.  The Little Mermaid was never my personal favorite, but it is really good.

Ariel is extremely likable.  She has more depth than a lot of the earlier princesses, with her rebellious tendencies and desire for something more.  She's also a bit foolish - I mean, what sort of deal is it to not only give your voice away, but agree that you will become some creepy little green thing in the ground if you can't get a guy to call in love with you in three days?  And a guy you've never even really met before?  But she's so cute, and charming, and innocent in her own way.

I do think that this movie is one of the ones that deviates the most from the original fairy tale.  The basic premise is the same, but most of the story is way different when Han Christen Andersen wrote it.  For one, the Sea Witch doesn't take Ariel's voice, but the "punishment" is that every time she dances it feels like she is dancing on swords.  And if the Prince marries anyone else, Ariel will die.  He does indeed marry another woman, but Ariel is given one last chance.  She can stab the Prince and become a mermaid again.  However, she cannot bring herself to do it and ends up instead throwing herself into the ocean and dissolving into sea foam.  Then supposedly she is able to become a "daughter of the air" and eventually go to heaven. Not exactly the happy ending of the Disney movie.

The romance in Disney's version is a little sudden.  But if you buy the whole "love at first sight" argument then it works.  Personally, I prefer to see the romance develop, like in Beauty and the Beast, but if you can accept it then you have a beautiful love story about two people that would do anything for each other.

The Music
The songs in this one are really fantastic, thanks to Alan Menken.  You just have a lot of really excellent tunes that are catchy, fun, and beautiful:  "Under the Sea" (my personal favorite), "Part of Your World," and "Kiss the Girl."  Even the villain's song "Poor Unfortunate Souls" is pretty good.  And then there's "Les Poisson."  There is a bit of an inside joke about this one because of something called the poisson distribution in statistics, and my brother showed me this clip from The Little Mermaid after he learned it.  I honestly did not remember anything like that scene at all in the movie, but sure enough, it's there!  The song isn't too memorable though.

The Villain
Ursula is icky and evil.  One of the creepiest things about her is her "garden" of souls, which are deformed little green things.  It seems sicker to keep them around in that form instead of just killing them.  She's also after revenge, though we're not exactly sure why.  She's cruel, but she's also tricky.  She tries to act nice to Ariel, but then she is completely deceitful behind her back.  At least she got what was coming to her - a ship through the stomach.

The Disney World Connection
The Little Mermaid is pretty popular in WDW.  Hollywood Studios has a live show/musical version.  A large attraction called The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Adventures is supposed to open within the next few years in the Magic Kingdom.  It will be a dark ride taking you through the story.  Ariel and Prince Eric are available for meet and greets around the park.  There also used to be a meet and greet section called Ariel's Grotto, but it was closed sometime last year.

Becky's rating:  9 out of 10
Jason's rating:  8.5 out of 10

101 Dalmatians

I thought I had a pretty good memory of 101 Dalmatians, but there were a few surprises.  Cruella DeVil is as deliciously evil as ever, and the song featuring her name is truly excellent.  However, I was surprised that there weren't really any other songs in the film - because of that one memorable song, I guess I just assumed that there were more.  And I may be a cat person rather than a dog person, but those little dalmatian puppies are so cute!  I love that so many of them have their own personalities.  Lucky is adorable:  "my nose is froze.  My toes are froze" - favorite line from the movie :)

But for all of the good points of the film, it's just not all that memorable.  It's cute, and it's fun, but it doesn't have the power of some of the other films and doesn't really teach a lesson or grapple with any important questions.  Not that every Disney movie has to do that, but I've found that many of the ones I like have more interesting challenges - and still have happy endings.  But 101 Dalmatians does what it does quite well, so that's a good thing.  I do think it would have benefited greatly from a few more songs, though.

The Music
This film has one really memorable, fantastic song, "Cruella DeVil."  I think that probably everyone knows this song.  However, there really aren't any other songs in the movie.  There's a small piece of some little cutesy song at the end called "Dalmatian Plantation," but other than that the characters don't shame.  It's surprising since Roger is a songwriter, and Disney has music in so many of their movies.  So the movie gets points for one fantastic song, but lacks anything else.

The Villain
Cruella DeVil is so evil, because she's not only greedy and cruel, but she's cruel to harmless, adorable animals who haven't done anything wrong.  Plus, the idea of hiring someone to sneak into her supposed "friend's" house and steal their dogs is just appalling.  She's also got such a personality and look to her.  While every human in the movie is fairly realistic looking, Cruella is pretty grotesque.  And that signature fur coat.  Pretty high up there on the list of villains due to her horrid actions and her memorable appearance and personality.  And it's a shame she doesn't really get what she deserves - no death for this villain, unfortunately.

The Disney World Connection
The only trace of 101 Dalmatians that I can find in WDW is at one of the hotels, the All-Star Movies Resort.  Each section of that hotel is themed with a different Disney movie, and one section has a Dalmatians theme.  Other than that, there are no rides/attractions/restaurants that I know of which have any connection to this movie.

Becky's rating:  8 out of 10
Jason's rating:  7 out of 10

Pinocchio

Disney's second outing into full length animation was not, in my opinion, a huge success.  Apparently the critics disagree with me but the folks of the 1940's agree.  The film was produced in 1940 and by 1947 had only made back about half of its production cost (tidbit courtesy of the wikipedia page).  Here's the thing:  I felt like Pinocchio was by far my least favorite of all of the movies we've watched so far.  I mean, I was a bit harsh on Sleeping Beauty, but I ultimately enjoyed the film.  Pinocchio, I just have no desire to ever watch again.

Let's start off with the positives: the animation is quite good for its time.  It's got some good, memorable songs.  Jiminy Cricket's character is fun, and there are some funny moments.  Jason and I noticed that there are a lot of "butt" jokes.  Seriously - if you don't believe me,watch it again and look for them.  They're especially in the beginning.  Someone's always getting kicked in the butt or something.  And Jiminy Cricket himself was a lot funnier than I remembered.  I never thought of him as being so obsessed with the females, but he ogles every woman he comes across - even the ones made of wood!

However, funny bits aside, I was really not that thrilled with the movie.  First of all, I feel like Geppetto is completely crackers and should never be entrusted with the life of a child, even if it is one made of wood.  He's crazy to begin with for wanting his puppet to turn into a real boy, and then when it does he just lets it skip off to school all alone, on its second day of "life."  And Jiminy Cricket, while I love him, is an awful conscience and being a cricket, he isn't much of a guardian.

The other thing I didn't really like about it was that nothing felt believable or like it made sense.  Okay, I understand it's fantasy, and not everything is real life.  I love fantasy... but I prefer for it to be rooted in some sort of reality.  Even within a fantastical world, things need to happen for a reason.  The bit with Stromboli is fine, it makes sense, but after that everything goes crazy.  At Pleasure Island, for instance, what exactly is making the boys turn into donkeys?  I mean, apparently it's some sort of curse, but what exactly triggers it?  Why do Pinocchio and Lampwick stay human so much longer than the other boys?  And this part makes me sad because even though Pinocchio escapes, all of those other boys are left to their fate as donkeys.

Finally, the whale.  Forget about the fact that Jiminy Cricket can breath underwater.  Never mind the fact that Monstro apparently never digests his food and it all just sits in his stomach for days and days.  No, the part that gets me is How does Pinocchio die??  This is never explained in the least bit, and keep in mind that he is not a real boy.  If he's not a real boy, I would think that the only way to "kill" him would be to chop him up into firewood or something.  It makes no sense.  Feel free to try and explain it to me if you'd like.

Figaro the cat is my favorite.

The Music
The one thing that this movie does have going for it is some good music.  You've got a lot of memorable tunes, including "I've Got No Strings" and "Give a Little Whistle."  And of course, there is the beautiful "When You Wish Upon a Star."  The songs work well with the movie and many of them have become Disney classics.

The Villain
No "main" villain in this one.  You have a few bad guys, including Stromboli, Honest John, and of course Monstro.  But none of them are around long enough to really make any sort of impression.  The main conflict isn't the villains themselves, but Pinocchio's inexperience with life and how he deals with them.  Granted, some of those people listed are pretty horrible, but they're just not that interesting or even vitally important to the plot.

The Disney World Connection
Like many of the other movies, Pinocchio has several characters walking around.  He's also got his own quick service restaurant called Pinocchio's Village Haus, where you can get pizza and other fast food like items.

My rating:  5 out of 10
Jason's rating:  6 out of 10

Robin Hood

I feel like Robin Hood is kind of like The Sword in the Stone - it's not really as well known or remembered as many other Disney films.  It's a shame, because it's a really cute one.  The plot is fun, but somehow it just doesn't capture the magic of some of the other Disney films.  I would suspect it's because it's not so much a musical as many of the others.  Like Sword in the Stone, it has a few songs, but they aren't very catchy or memorable, and they're mostly background, not featured.

Still, it's got lots of Disney charm, and it's funny too.  The "poor people" of Nottingham are endearing, but for the most part the bad guys are just silly.  The group of little kids is super cute.  The romance is an interesting one here between Robin Hood and Maid Marian, because they apparently have some sort of history that happened before the movie takes place.  We never really find out the details.  Also - who exactly is Maid Marian?  Someone important in the court, but a daughter of someone important?  And why is she the only fox around?  And what kind of children will Little John and Lady Kluck have?

This movie also has a bit of a "false ending."  Everyone dances around, happy that they escaped Prince John and Robin Hood got his lady, and it seems like the movie's over - but it's not!  Prince John wants revenge, and now he's worse than ever.  The real ending is still very dramatic and shows a much crueler side to Prince John and Sir Hiss - not only do they want to get Robin Hood, they punish everyone in the town by making them pay ridiculously high taxes.  They will even kill Friar Tuck, a man of the church, to try and get Robin Hood.  The high point of the movie has a castle on fire, suspense, all that good stuff.  And apparently the special edition DVD has an alternate ending that they were considering for the film, though I haven't seen it I heard that it's even more dramatic.

The Music
As I said earlier, the music in this one doesn't do too much.  We have the rooster, a minstrel who provides a song or two, but other than that it's really background music.  None of the characters sing except for the rooster.  Apparently the song "Love" was nominated for an Academy Award, but it wasn't too memorable to me.

The Villain
Prince John is a bit of a pathetic villain - always sucking his thumb!  He's still capable of cruelty though.  All he seems to care about is money and he will do anything to get it.  That includes locking up poor, innocent people, and even killing them.  He's a villain that shows that you don't have to be big and powerful to cause mayhem, even the slimy weak ones can do it.  His sidekick, Sir Hiss, is pretty hilarious.  While he's also rather evil in the same vein as Prince John, like many villain sidekicks he gets mistreated by his master and comes off as comical.  He's actually quite a bit smarter than Prince John, but always gets into situations where he looks like the dumb one.

The Disney World Connection
Not too much going on with Robin Hood in Disney World.  You can see some of the characters around the parks, including Robin Hood, Maid Marian, and the Sheriff of Nottingham.

My rating:  7.5 out of 10
Jason's rating:  7.5 out of 10

Peter Pan

A fun Disney film that dates back a bit further than I thought - it's from 1953.  Ever since Jason and I started re-watching all of these Disney movies, some of them I knew like the back of my hand and could sing all of the songs and say all of the lines with them (The Lion King, Aladdin), and some of them I could hardly remember at all and actually found myself in suspense (Hercules, The Jungle Book).  I don't remember watching Peter Pan over and over again as a kid, but when we watched it I found I could say many of the lines by heart, so I must have watched it more than I remembered.  Plus, when I was in 6th grade I was in the play version and I got to play Tootles, one of the Lost Boys.

Overall it is a really excellent movie.  I find it to be quite enjoyable, funny, and emotionally touching.  One of the nice things about this movie is that it keeps a good pace.  They go on lots of adventures but it doesn't feel too rushed, and it never really drags at all.  The only slight downfall to the movie is Peter himself, because it can be hard to like a character that is so selfish and immature.  However, if we can accept the fact that we aren't necessarily supposed to like the main character, even though the kids in the movie adore him, it adds a really interesting dynamic and brings out an important message that Barrie wanted to convey in his original book/play.

Tinker Bell, though, is a complete b*tch.  It's kind of funny how she's become such an icon of the Disney franchise, and super popular with little girls now.  In the new TinkerBell movies and TV shows she has a completely different personality than she does in Peter Pan.  In Barrie's original work he explains that because fairies are so small they can only contain one emotion at a time... so when she gets jealous she's just jealous and doesn't have any pity or kindness to temper it.  Interesting little tidbit.

The ending to the film is what you'd expect from Disney, and I like it - they defeat the pirates and Wendy, John, and Michael are delivered safely home.  And even though Disney keeps everything light and happy, there is still a small tinge of sadness to the story.  It's sad because Wendy, Michael, and John will grow up, and Peter Pan will not.  If you've read the book you know that the ending has a much different feel, and I still think of that even when I watch the Disney version.

The Music
I think Peter Pan's got a lot of great songs - with the exception of Fantasia, which was focused on music, I might even say that Peter Pan is one of the few "early" Disney films to have a really memorable and overall good soundtrack.  "The Second Star to the Right" and "You Can Fly!" are both really good numbers.  There are also some good character songs, with "A Pirate's Life" for the pirates and "What Makes the Red Man Red?" for the Indians.  "Your Mother and Mine" is a beautiful lullaby, if not a little boring.  And the crocodile's tune is both fun and catchy.

The Villain
Captain Hook is a fabulous villain because he is just such a character.  In terms of being evil or villainous he's often so pathetic that you feel sorry for him rather than hate him.  He's got a lot of humor to him, which makes him a fun one.  However, that's not to say that he is completely innocent - despite the fact that he seems like a big baby, he mercilessly kills a few pirates in the movie that annoy him and he tries to kill Peter Pan with a time bomb.

The Disney World Connection
Peter Pan has quite an honor in WDW, as it has it's own ride called "Peter Pan's Flight."  This is an indoor, dark ride where you are suspended from the ceiling in cars and you "fly" over various scenes from the movie.  Peter Pan, Captain Hook, Wendy, and Smee are all characters that can be found throughout the parks, and they also make an appearance in the Fantasmic! show.

My rating:  8.5 out of 10
Jason's rating:  8 out of 10

Tangled

Jason and I finally got to see the newest animated Disney film, Tangled.  From the previews I wasn't really expecting much, but it was actually much better than I anticipated.  Basically, for those of you that have yet to see it we have the story of Rapunzel, but changed and spiced up a bit.  I won't ruin the ending, but here's a general summary (Small spoiler alert) - an old witch finds a flower that can heal you and also make you younger.  She uses it to keep herself young and beautiful, but eventually the King takes her flower to save his dying wife, who is pregnant.  When the baby is born, she (Rapunzel) has the same magical properties of the flower in her hair, but if it is ever cut she loses the magic.  To keep herself young the witch steals Rapunzel away and keeps her locked up in a tower so she can use her hair whenever she wants to.  One day a bandit named Flynn Rider comes to Rapunzel's tower to hide from the palace guards, and he ends up making a deal with Rapunzel that he will take her to visit the city for a day, then bring her back to the tower.  Of course, various adventures occur, Rapunzel's "mom" plots on how to get her back, there's romance, sadness, and ultimately a happy ending - everything that a Disney movie should be!

The animation in the film was beautiful.  Rapunzel's hair was all sorts of awesome.  It was CGI, making the style look a lot closer to a Pixar movie than what we traditionally think of as Disney animation, even from recent films (such as The Princess and the Frog).  While it was wonderful I hope that isn't a sign that Disney has given up on the more traditional style of animation completely.  I just checked and Disney's 2011 animated film is a new Winnie the Pooh one, which will be done in traditional animation, so there's hope.

There are certainly some humorous parts, such as the scene in The Snuggly Duckling.  There are also some sad parts and those that are very emotionally touching.  One thing that both Jason and I were impressed with was that none of the characters felt too one-dimensional, which can be an issue with children's movies in particular.  And I absolutely loved the ending.  Obviously I won't say anything to ruin it, but it was the perfect mix of everything and it worked well, though completely unexpected (at least for me!).  There were a few rather cliche moments within the film, but I think it's to be expected at this point from a Disney film/fairy tale.

The Music
While the music was overall good, and I'm glad that they did make it a legitimate musical, none of the music was all that memorable.  That's to say, the next day I couldn't recall the tunes to any of the songs they sang.  I've refreshed myself with clips from amazon, and I will say that the opening song, "When Will My Life Begin," was a super fun one, probably my favorite in the movie.  "Mother Knows Best" was an all right villain song, and "I've Got a Dream" was extremely silly - little kids will love it.  "I See the Light" is the typical love song, pretty good, and nominated for an Academy Award.

The Villain
I thought Rapunzel's "mom" was an extremely interesting villain, and I wish there could have been a way to see more of her thoughts and motives.  She pretends to love Rapunzel and visits her every day for 18 years... even though you know it's just for the magic her hair has, you wonder if there's any chance she could truly care for Rapunzel after all of those years.  But no, though she does seem more real than many villains, she is completely malicious but puts on a caring face.  She obviously does not care what happens to Rapunzel personally, she only cares about maintaining her hair.  She ruins Rapunzel's life in multiple ways, all so she can be young and beautiful.

The Disney World Connection
Rapunzel and Flynn Rider have started making regular appearances in WDW.  They've got tons of Tangled merchandise in the parks and little girls can be "styled" as Rapunzel at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique.  No rides or shows yet, but since the movie seems pretty popular I wouldn't be surprised, especially since Magic Kingdom is really amping up the princess offerings with their new expansion.

My rating:  9 out of 10
Jason's rating:  8 out of 10

The Sword in the Stone

The Sword in the Stone definitely feels like one of the lesser known Disney movies, and while it's cute there isn't anything too remarkable about it, so I'm not surprised.  I personally have been very into Arthurian legends recently and have  read a lot on the subject, so I was looking forward to this one.  The film is based on the first section of T.H. White's book The Once and Future King, which I just read a few months ago.  Disney stays surprisingly close to the original story - with the exception of Mim, who is not in the book and, as far as I know, is not from legend but from Disney.

Perhaps Disney should have spiced things up a bit more, because as fun as The Sword in the Stone is, the problem the movie has is the same problem I had with the first part of the book - not much happens.  There is very little plot.  The important events in this section can be summed up in about one sentence.  Disney actually greatly benefits from adding in Madam Mim, who makes the film interesting and exciting.  Otherwise it's just turning into different animals and exploring, and sort of but not really feeling bad for Arthur who is picked on by his foster brother Kay.  "Sort of not really feeling bad for him" because we all know that Arthur is going to triumph in the end.

That said, Merlin is a great character.  His whimsy and fun is captured perfectly, and he's quite humorous as well.  The film has a very British feel throughout, which makes sense and they did it well.  The film is extremely lighthearted and enjoyable, the animation is good, but it's probably not the sort of Disney movie you would want to watch again and again.  At the ending of the movie is when I really want it to keep going, and to get into the knights of the round table and all of that, but alas, being a kid's movie, that is when it ends.

The Music
This one is woefully low on good music, with just a few songs which are easily forgotten.  There is a very short, but beautiful opening number sung over the opening credits, and then most of the songs are Merlin's, though they are often spoken lyrics, which does not always make for great music.  Mim also has a song.  I have three volumes of CDs with Disney's Greatest Hits (around 60 songs total), and nothing from The Sword in the Stone appears on any of them - which kind of shows you the popularity and quality of the music.

The Villain
The original story didn't have a villain, so Disney added in Mad Madam Mim - a smart move for them.  Though she isn't all that scary and mostly comes off as quite silly, she is entertaining and makes things interesting.  There are a few moments where we greatly dislike her - after all, who creates rules for a game and then immediately breaks them herself?  Overall, however, we know Merlin will outsmart her in the end.  She also doesn't come into play in the movie until the very end, and then she just has a quick scene.  Unlike other Disney villains, she is not a lingering force throughout the film.

The Disney World Connection
For some reason, The Sword in the Stone did not really catch on very well, though it was popular when it came out in 1963, so it's not all that prevalent in the parks.   Merlin may be seen walking about the parks, and there is also a sword in a stone located in the Magic Kingdom.

My rating:  7.5 out of 10
Jason's rating:  7 out of 10