I'm going to split this up into two parts since it's probably going to get long when I start talking about Fantasia. I did technically watch Fantasia first, but let's cover all the other ones before I dive in to the big "F".
I thought my theme for the day was going to be the classics and their crappy direct-to-video sequels, but after my first set, I was done with that idea. I was still kind of riding that 60's-70's animation style high, so I went with Jungle Book. This is another one of those great classics that I watched dozens of times in my childhood. I adore this movie, probably more so for the music versus the story, but I adore it nonetheless. As much as I love Baloo, I think it's the Beatlesesqueness (is that a word?) nature of the vultures that makes me laugh every single time. Unfortunately, no one was nice enough to share the link to the scene I love on YouTube, so we're relegated to the trailer.
It was the last film that Walt touched, so there are a ton of special features on the disc that are almost better than the movie! I love hearing the history of the animation on a film, but this disc is more special because there are also a lot of the last memories of Walt from the animators.
Next came Jungle Book 2. This movie is cute, from a story standpoint. The music, the animation, and the vocal changes were just sad and almost insulting to the original. Granted, there was nothing they could do about the recasting because a lot of the original actors were long gone, it has been 30+ years, but there is no excuse for the rest of it. Luckily, I was stitching while "watching", so I tried to not pay too close attention. I like John Goodman as Sully, but whatever casting director thought he would make a good Baloo should be taken out back and whipped with a switch!
Thus ended my quest to watch classics and their modern sequels. I didn't think I could take another one, so I moved in yet another direction, Finding Nemo. If Hercules was the movie that changed my mind about the loss of hand-drawn animation, Finding Nemo was the movie that changed my mind about full-on computer animation. Although the stories were strong with other earlier Pixar movies, the animation was cold. Nemo was not only brilliantly animated, but the missing warmth was added to both the characters and the backgrounds enough to make me finally love the medium. I can literally get lost in looking at Bruce's skin and I absolutely love everything about Dory! They couldn't have cast her better if they tried, Ellen Degeneres was perfect and I can't wait for Finding Dory!
There was one short on this disc, but for the life of me I don't remember what it was now.
Since I was loving where I was, I went with Ratatouille next. Again, this is another great Pixar movie both in animation and story. They really did a good job on the Parisian background (not that I've ever been there, but it's what I imagined it was). I don't think this movie gets the credit it deserves and I wish our Disney World had the cool ride that Disneyland Paris has, but I digress...on with the trailer.
There are two shorts on this disc and a really cool interview with Brad Bird (the director) and a famous chef (I don't know who he was). The interviews were separate, but they were asking them questions about their fields and it was really funny how they pretty much gave the same answers!
I watched Fantasia 2000 last, but let's save that one as an add-on to Part 2. Here are the new totals (minus Fantasia and Fantasia 2000):
MOVIE TOTALS:
Live Action: 16
Full-Length Animation: 45
Mixed-Medium: 3
Animated Shorts: 214
Live Action Shorts: 5
Mixed-Medium Shorts: 1
Animated Series: 13
Mixed-Medium Series: 2
I thought my theme for the day was going to be the classics and their crappy direct-to-video sequels, but after my first set, I was done with that idea. I was still kind of riding that 60's-70's animation style high, so I went with Jungle Book. This is another one of those great classics that I watched dozens of times in my childhood. I adore this movie, probably more so for the music versus the story, but I adore it nonetheless. As much as I love Baloo, I think it's the Beatlesesqueness (is that a word?) nature of the vultures that makes me laugh every single time. Unfortunately, no one was nice enough to share the link to the scene I love on YouTube, so we're relegated to the trailer.
It was the last film that Walt touched, so there are a ton of special features on the disc that are almost better than the movie! I love hearing the history of the animation on a film, but this disc is more special because there are also a lot of the last memories of Walt from the animators.
Next came Jungle Book 2. This movie is cute, from a story standpoint. The music, the animation, and the vocal changes were just sad and almost insulting to the original. Granted, there was nothing they could do about the recasting because a lot of the original actors were long gone, it has been 30+ years, but there is no excuse for the rest of it. Luckily, I was stitching while "watching", so I tried to not pay too close attention. I like John Goodman as Sully, but whatever casting director thought he would make a good Baloo should be taken out back and whipped with a switch!
Thus ended my quest to watch classics and their modern sequels. I didn't think I could take another one, so I moved in yet another direction, Finding Nemo. If Hercules was the movie that changed my mind about the loss of hand-drawn animation, Finding Nemo was the movie that changed my mind about full-on computer animation. Although the stories were strong with other earlier Pixar movies, the animation was cold. Nemo was not only brilliantly animated, but the missing warmth was added to both the characters and the backgrounds enough to make me finally love the medium. I can literally get lost in looking at Bruce's skin and I absolutely love everything about Dory! They couldn't have cast her better if they tried, Ellen Degeneres was perfect and I can't wait for Finding Dory!
There was one short on this disc, but for the life of me I don't remember what it was now.
Since I was loving where I was, I went with Ratatouille next. Again, this is another great Pixar movie both in animation and story. They really did a good job on the Parisian background (not that I've ever been there, but it's what I imagined it was). I don't think this movie gets the credit it deserves and I wish our Disney World had the cool ride that Disneyland Paris has, but I digress...on with the trailer.
There are two shorts on this disc and a really cool interview with Brad Bird (the director) and a famous chef (I don't know who he was). The interviews were separate, but they were asking them questions about their fields and it was really funny how they pretty much gave the same answers!
I watched Fantasia 2000 last, but let's save that one as an add-on to Part 2. Here are the new totals (minus Fantasia and Fantasia 2000):
MOVIE TOTALS:
Live Action: 16
Full-Length Animation: 45
Mixed-Medium: 3
Animated Shorts: 214
Live Action Shorts: 5
Mixed-Medium Shorts: 1
Animated Series: 13
Mixed-Medium Series: 2
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