There is going to be a (roughly) weekly feature popping up soon called The Disney Challenge. This feature will involve me watching every theatrical animated release by Disney from Snow White to the upcoming Princess and the Frog in chronological order and then commenting on each.
I have been a huge Disney fan all my life. I have already seen most of the films that I will be talking about, but there are a few that I have never gotten around to so this should be exciting. There is a lot of negativity surrounding Disney (the studio and the man) and it really makes me sad. Not every one is a classic, but Disney has easily produced at least a dozen of the best films, animated or otherwise, over the last 70 years. The quality of the animation, the storytelling technique, and the sheer imagination on display is undeniable. This is a body of work worth revisiting and celebrating. There is nothing better, on a rainy day, than laying on the couch with a blanket watching a Disney film. That is how I like to spend my winter days.
Disney's Famous Nine Old Men
I will not be covering any films that mix in live action (including Pete's Dragon and Mary Poppins, but excluding the famous story book scenes that start and end many Disney films), any sequels (Lion King 2, Cinderalla 3, etc.), any properties based on a television series (Teacher's Pet), or any straight to video releases (The Three Musketeers). I am also going to focus on the traditional 2-D animation, though that may expand. Really, I am just not interested in watching Chicken Little again and Pixar deserves it's own challenge some day. There are some nebulous releases such as The Nightmare Before Christmas which was released theatrically under the Touchstone label, though in home video, it was released under the Disney banner. I will make decisions about these films as they come up. I am also on the fence about animated features that includes Mickey, Donald, Goofy, or the like as primary characters, but my fondness for A Goofy Movie makes me hesitate to institute a rule to skip these. Basically, I will stick fairly close to this list.
Stay tuned. My commentary on the first ever animated feature, Snow White, should be up soon.
Interesting. As I once worked for the House of Mouse, I would like to add some additional, more cynical commentary.
ReplyDeletealso i can help you with some of the html stuff like pictures and the like.
ReplyDeleteCommentary is always welcome. Also you should have an invite in your gmail account now so feel free to go crazy. And yeah I am obviously still figuring out how to make html work here and could definitely use some help. I figured out the WIDTH/HEIGHTH business, so after this one the pictures should at least fit into the space.
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