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The Disney Feature Cartoons
Topic Started: Sep 29 2005, 11:04 AM (2,575 Views)
Laughing Gravy
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Well, I was answering the supposition of what 2 Disney films I'd take off the shelf to suddenly have a good time. Certainly, the 3 I mentioned aren't my favorites... My favorites are Snow White and Fantasia.
"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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Sgt King
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My Disney picks--
perfection: Pinocchio;
funniest: Aladdin, Emperor's New Groove, Hercules;
best voices: Jungle Book
story: Little Mermaid;
favorite songs: Jungle book, Little Mermaid.
most boring: Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan.
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thadk
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Resident Curmudgeon
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Favorites: Dumbo, Alice in Wonderland, Bambi, Peter Pan, Fantasia, Ichabod & Mr. Toad
Hate: Sleeping Beauty, Sword in the Stone, The Black Cauldron, Aladdin

I also have to add that Pinocchio is a movie I like less every time I watch it.
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panzer the great & terrible
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Mouth Breather
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I agree about Pinocchio; the animation is wonderful but the story is condescending and moralistic. I won't watch it again.

My fave will always be Dumbo.
Life is just a bowl of cherries, it's too mysterious, don't take it serious...
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Stony Brooke da Mesquiteer
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Hey Paul.....I didn't know I was your fave......*blushes*
It's like Rodney King used to say, "Can't we all get a bong."
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Laughing Gravy
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So tonight, after fiddlin' around with the Blu-ray player for a week or so, I finally decided to watch a film all the way through, and opted for the first "Disney animated classic" to be released in that format, Sleeping Beauty (1959).

Just to recap this film's standing with me... I saw it once and didn't care for it much, but when the widescreen DVD came out and I saw it, I was very impressed. I've seen it a couple times since then, and love it for its scope (it sure is W I D E) and color. Now, in HD, it's wider and more colorful than ever; the Blu-ray is 2.55:1, and has depth and movement that are always impressive and often jaw-dropping. In particular, the sequence with the dull Prince Philip fighting the smokin' Dragon is incredible, and one imagines a whole theatre full of little kids wetting their pants 50 years ago. Hell, I wet MINE a little tonight.

The sound comes in several mixes, including 7.1 HD. There is a full disc of bonus material; of most interest is the Grand Canyon widescreen short that orginally played with Sleeping Beauty in 1959, and the Disneyland TV show bio of Tchaikovsky.

As for the film itself, well, it's nearly a remake of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, nearly, and is pretty well padded with a lot of stuff about the three plump little colorful faeries. "Once Upon a Dream" is the only good song in it, but that's magnificent, so what th' heck. Apparently, there were a lot of probs in making this film, as detailed in the numerous featurettes and commentary track - so much so that its intended 1957 release date (to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the release of Snow White) was missed by 2 full years.

This is a beautiful film, and I can think of no Disney film made after it where you can turn the sound off and just enjoy the artistry of the drawings feel satisfied for its entire running time.
"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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CliffClaven
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Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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For a good time, dig out Melody Time and Make Mine Music.

They're not up there with the masterworks by any stretch -- They are, very simply, two batches of musical shorts with a bit more gloss and interesting stars. And if you grew up on the old Sunday night Disney shows, you've probably seen all the individual numbers. That said, they're mostly a lot of fun.

This is where you find Casey at the Bat (Jerry Colonna), the Whale who Wanted to Sing at the Met (Nelson Eddy), Pecos Bill (Roy Rogers), Johnny Fedora (Andrews Sisters), All the Cats Join In (Benny Goodman) and more. Even the clunkers, like Trees, offer interesting visuals.

Purists are not happy with the DVDs because Pecos Bill's cigarette has been digitally removed (doesn't do any harm) and one whole number about feudin' hillbillies is gone (sad, but not a great loss. The whole joke was the last surviving feuders fall in love and get married -- and THEN they start a'fightin').

Fun and Fancy Free is in the same category, but with only two stories: the peculiar Bongo (an escaped circus bear learns that courtship in the wild involves a lot of slapping) and the semi-classic Mickey and the Beanstalk (fun, but it's hard to watch our starving heroes making tissue-thin sandwiches from a single bean). What's interesting is host Jiminy Cricket getting to do the title song, plus Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy narrating the Beanstalk portion -- those parts are almost never seen outside of the feature.
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Laughing Gravy
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The Walt Disney Movie Club is now offering an exclusive two-fer of Saludos Amigos (1942) and The Three Caballeros (1944) on Blu-ray. I found a friend of a friend who actually belongs to the club, who ordered it for me. Yay!

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"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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CliffClaven
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Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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Laughing Gravy
Jan 31 2018, 10:01 PM
The Walt Disney Movie Club is now offering an exclusive two-fer of Saludos Amigos (1942) and The Three Caballeros (1944) on Blu-ray. I found a friend of a friend who actually belongs to the club, who ordered it for me. Yay!

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Good excuse to revisit "Walt and El Grupo", the documentary about the goodwill tour that led to the films.
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