…or: cinematic adventuring from my couch.
The fruitful Golden Age of Walt Disney Studios in the 1930s and 40s is a period of critical success unrivalled by most studios. In the space between 1937 and 1942 they released five powerhouses in a row in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo, and Bambi. Each of those movies are iconic in their own right and instrumental …
First things first: One should not take one's daughter to this movie on a daddy-daughter date without mentally preparing oneself for Pixar's penchant to deliver devastating emotional gut punches. Otherwise that same hypothetical person should also be prepared to give an explanation for why her daddy is a blubbering mess. Speaking entirely hypothetically and not …
Bambi is the final film in this series and the final great film in Disney's original golden period. As with most of the first five films, it was a tremendous creative risk for the Disney company especially since it was a film with no human characters, no typical magical elements, and with a firm focus …
Dumbo came at an interesting time in the Walt Disney company. It followed two critical successes but commercial flops in Pinocchio and Fantasia. In addition World War II was raging, and with it a huge chunk of foreign box office revenue (about 45% of total box office revenue at the time) was cut off. Desperate to keep the financial …
If Snow White was the coming out party for Walt Disney and for feature animation, then Fantasia is the wild, slightly drunk, and fearless after-party in which all caution is thrown to the wind and the Walt Disney company simply decided to go for broke. It is hard to understate just how bizarre a movie Fantasia is. There was nothing …
There is a reason why it's a cliche to call something a "sophomore slump". As every artist knows it's incredibly hard to follow up whatever made you successful in the first place. Try to stick with what went well the first time, and people accuse you of simply retreading old grounds. Try to venture too …
My love for all things Disney is no big secret. Over this last weekend my wife has indulged me tremendously as I sat on the edge of my seat refreshing Twitter repeatedly so that I could get the latest updates from the D23 Expo (official Disney fan club convention) as Disney announced the newest animated …
Continue reading Disney’s First Five #1: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Fair warning: my ability to be objective on this little review is going to be just a little bit compromised. The reason being is that on a little bit of a whim I decided that it was finally time to take my 2-year old to see her first movie on the big screen which is …
