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| The Disney Feature Cartoons | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Sep 29 2005, 11:04 AM (2,577 Views) | |
| Laughing Gravy | Apr 14 2007, 11:07 AM Post #31 |
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I agree about Aladdin, except that it's so darn wonderfully crazy once the genie shows up... But then, I have a soft spot for it. The snowiest winter on record in NYC, and our local $2 bargain movie theatre was playing it. And playing it. And playing it. We lived near the train, and the theatre was one train stop away. The film played for 12 weeks at the local theatre, and I took son Bone Gravy to it every dang weekend. We sang along with the songs, spoke along with the dialog, and asked each other trivia questions about the film all the way home. One of my fondest movie memories, for sure. The winter of Aladdin. |
| "I'm glad that this question came up, because there are so many ways to answer it that one of them is bound to be right." - Robert Benchley | |
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| Laughing Gravy | Jan 17 2008, 08:56 AM Post #32 |
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Okay, having recently read Alice in Wonderland, I opened the Disney DVD for the first time and fell asleep midway through the film, reminding me that the last 2 or 3 times I tried to watch it, I fell asleep. It's like a Technicolor cartoon Charlie Chan film. In any case, I watched the ending this morning -- that's the best part, easily. I wonder how many people don't stick around for the Queen, the cards, the painted roses, and the croquet game? Everything before that was rather dull compared to the book. I found myself wishing Disney had made this a few years later; it begged a UPA 1950s style art approach, rather than the "stuck in the 1940s" look it has (it was released in 1951). Pretty much a drag. I liked the character designs, though, and Jerry Colonna and Ed Wynn as the March Hare and the Mad Hatter. Sterling Holloway as the Cat is good, too. Considering Disney worked on this thing on and off for 20 years, it's really a big disappointment. Until that last 20 minutes, which is marvelous. "Off with their heads!" |
| "I'm glad that this question came up, because there are so many ways to answer it that one of them is bound to be right." - Robert Benchley | |
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| rodney | Jan 17 2008, 09:15 AM Post #33 |
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I disagree. I love this one, and think that Disney never did get the UPA look right. Features with that style, Sleeping Beauty in particular, appear cold and lifeless. |
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| Frank Hale | Jan 17 2008, 10:43 AM Post #34 |
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Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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I'm trying to picture Mister Magoo as a pot-smoking caterpillar. |
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| thadk | Jan 17 2008, 01:07 PM Post #35 |
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Resident Curmudgeon
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I love "Alice"!!! I know it isn't his best film, just my favorite. I just love the nightmarish insanity of it, reinforced by the beautiful drawing and animation. And yes, Rodney, I am also glad that the UPA influence wasn't there yet. "Alice" is truly an artful and beautiful film, unlike features that would follow shortly after. |
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| Paul | Jan 17 2008, 09:36 PM Post #36 |
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I agree with Thad. Of all the Disney features, the two I would be most likely to take off the shelf at a moment's notice to have a good time would be Alice or Peter Pan, and in each case due in good part to their beautiful design. In both, and especially Alice, Mary Blair's work was very influential. Here's a sampling of her stuff from Google Images. Also check out John Canemaker's book The Art and Flair of Mary Blair. Actually, I think just about everything about Alice is fun. I don't get the "cold" business at all. That charge was leveled by some at the time because, I suppose, there weren't enough fuzzy cute critters or egg-laying birds in it, or dying princesses to cry over. The finale certainly is a spectacular capper, no doubt. |
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| Paul | Jan 17 2008, 09:57 PM Post #37 |
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Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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Well, though the art in Sleeping Beauty is stylized, it certainly isn't in a UPA way. The style was intended to allude to illustrations from the medieval period, with, among other things, their flat perspectives. The overall look was largely the work of production designer Eyvind Earle, who also did most of the background paintings. I personally find them nice to look at. It's never been one of my favorites, due mainly to the insufferably annoying three fairies. Sleeping Beauty herself is rather boring (though she sings nice, thanks to Mary Costa), the prince is insipid, but Maleficent is satisfyingly nasty, and the final confrontation between her in dragon form and the prince is excitingly done. Plus let's put in a word for Piotr Illich Tchaikovsky. Closer to what's often termed the "UPA style" from Disney would be "Melody" and "Toot Whistle Plunk and Boom," but I think what Ward Kimball did with these was much more appealing that anything that came out of UPA. |
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| rodney | Jan 18 2008, 05:40 AM Post #38 |
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Yeah, I agree completely. Sleeping Beauty doesn't have the UPA look, persay, but I do think it attempts to do something that they would've attempted by trying to do something completely un-cartoony. It reminds me of some of the stylized moodpieces that UPA would turn out like Tell-tale Heart, which while beautiful to look at, is horribly pedestrian and comes across as terribly pretentious. |
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| Laughing Gravy | Jan 18 2008, 06:35 AM Post #39 |
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"The two I'd be most likely to take off the shelf at a moment's notice to have a good time..." I love that thought! The first Disney that leaps to mind, believe it or not, is Saludos Amigos, which was Kid Gravy's fave for some reason when the Disney films started coming out on DVD. He wanted to watch it all the time, and it was okay with me 'cause it's so darn short. The second one that I might pull out at a moment's notice would be The Reluctant Dragon, which has Benchley, Frances Gifford in Technicolor, and some good cartoons. Thirdly, The Little Mermaid, for its wonderful score. |
| "I'm glad that this question came up, because there are so many ways to answer it that one of them is bound to be right." - Robert Benchley | |
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| igsjr | Jan 18 2008, 07:12 AM Post #40 |
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Nostalgia blogger
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I'm willing to cut the fairies a little more slack, I guess, because they're portrayed by Barbara Luddy, Verna Felton and Barbara Jo (Vera Vague) Allen. Must be the old-time radio fan in me, I suppose. |
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"Life is in color--but black-and-white is more realistic..." -- Samuel Fuller, director So many DVDs...so little time... | |
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| Laughing Gravy | Jan 18 2008, 08:11 AM Post #41 |
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Flora, Fauna, and Merriwether never bothered me, either. Like Fantasia, watching Sleeping Beauty on a big screen with a good sound system makes a colossal difference. |
| "I'm glad that this question came up, because there are so many ways to answer it that one of them is bound to be right." - Robert Benchley | |
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| thadk | Jan 18 2008, 09:30 AM Post #42 |
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Resident Curmudgeon
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I actually think "The Tell-Tale Heart" is a good short, it's just not really animated. Just a lot of really beautiful background pans. It's not something I constantly look at. I've never liked "Toot, Whistle, Plunk, and Boom" at all. It tries to be a psuedo-Hubley, but it's just stupid. But if you got rid of the annoying owl teacher and his students, it'd be a better cartoon (maybe it's Charles Nichols at fault more than Kimball).. |
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| Sgt Saturn | Jan 18 2008, 02:03 PM Post #43 |
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I would rate Fantasia as Walt's masterpiece. The sequel is good, too, but if I could only haver one, I'd take the first. |
| The Ol' Sarge | |
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| Black Tiger | Jan 18 2008, 04:11 PM Post #44 |
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If I had to pick only one favorite Disney, it would probably be Snow White. As a kid, it captivated me and the scene of her running through the forest of no return at night gave me nightmare material. Also at the time, the ending would bring a tear to a glass eye. Other favs as a kid were Lady & the Tramp and Pinnochio. A later one, Beauty & the Beast. Oddly, I haven't gotten many Disney's on dvd. A project for the future. |
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| copperhead | Jan 18 2008, 08:49 PM Post #45 |
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Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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beauty and the beast and alice----my two favorites---ralph g |
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