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Old 10 Mar 19, 11:23 AM  
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Day 77: Tangled (2010)

So we watched Tangled last night, and I thought I might grab a few minutes to write about it this morning, as it’s unlikely to happen during the week. The end is almost in sight with these reviews now, and I don’t want us to run out of steam too much!

Day 77: Tangled (2010)



Tangled is a nice film. It’s fine. Erm...that’s kind of it. You need more? OK.

As far as story goes, it’s very traditional, holding all the familiar beats of a Disney-style coming-of-age story. Rapunzel is the traditional naive Disney heroine (in the style of Ariel or Cinderella or whoever) who wants something ‘more’, sings about it, and then meets up with plot (in the form of a handsome man) in order to be ushered along to her happy ending in the form of love and marriage, defeating the villain along the way. They certainly weren’t trying anything new here, and though they made some interesting choices that make the film very watchable, it’s too by-the-numbers and unambitious to really stand out among Disney’s greats.

The main three characters of the film are good, but let’s deal with them in a second. The second-tier characters of Tangled are very forgettable indeed. Although the idea of the Snuggly duckling ruffians is a fun one, none of them makes much of an impression - they are just a group of ugly people who are useful to our good-looking heroes. Pascal is maybe the least interesting Disney sidekick yet - he doesn’t even really have a personality. He’s just there to sell accessories. Maximus is a bit better, but he’s not enough. Of course Tangled is a very simple story, and maybe doesn’t need loads of interesting characters, but it does contribute to the overall lack of ambition about this film.

The three main characters are much better. Rapunzel is cute and certainly isn’t a damsel in distress - she’s very likeable, though that may be it in terms of her personality. Flynn Rider and Mother Gothel are the really good characters in this movie. Flynn is one of the hottest Disney princes (apart from Li Shang because dayummm) and provides the acerbic humour the movie needs to stop it from being too nicey-nicey. Mother Gothel is interesting because she’s an altogether evil, traditional Disney villain, like Ursula or Maleficent, but doesn’t have powers or grand ambitions like them. She doesn’t want to rule the Kingdom or kill anybody, she just wants to stay young and hers is a much more grounded and believable type of evil, based on manipulation of a child. And although the woman who voices her makes her delightfully evil (especially in Mother Knows Best, which is a fantastic song), she also gives her moments of chilling believability that make her really quite scary.

The animation of the film is probably one of the most bla things about it. Disney seems to have more trouble creating an individual look and feel for computer animated films than it did for its 2D animated ones. When you think about how much character The Princess and the Frog’s artwork has when compared to Tangled, the bland prettiness of it stands out even more. Tangled could easily take place in the same universe as Frozen (and does according to many internet theories) or even How to Train Your Dragon - which isn’t even from the same studio! It’s good animation, and worlds away from what they achieved only a few years before in Meet the Robinsons, but it’s nothing to rave about.

In terms of the music, this is a pretty good one. Alan is once again in charge and comes up with a clutch of great songs, that move the story along, help us understand the characters, and just feel so...Disney! It’s very satisfying. Again these songs could maybe be accused of being a tiny bit safe, but they suit the tone of the film perfectly and the cast perform them very well. Or am I just allowing my love of musicals to run away with me? The soundtrack music is far better than it needed to be - that sequence where they dance in the town square is absolutely gorgeous!

Overall Tangled is a nice and very sweet movie. I’ve watched it quite a few times and will probably watch it again. It requires nothing from me, except to enjoy it, to sing along and to go ‘aww’. Definitely a successful Disney film, but not one of their masterpieces.
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Old 10 Mar 19, 05:20 PM  
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You are getting close to the end now 😀 . We love Tangled, feel it is a traditional style of Disney film but the 3 main characters make it more interesting. My DD feels Rapuzel is similar to her in nature and so found her relatable. Flynn is definitely the hottest Prince ever 😂 and Mother Gothel is one of my favourite villains ever. I think possibly because she just wants to stay young and is using Rapunzel to keep her young, it is scarily believable.

Added to the three great main characters is the brilliant music. When Will My Life Begin, I See the Light and Mother Knows Best are favourites and we are always singing along to them at home or in the car 😀
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Old 12 Mar 19, 02:24 PM  
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Originally Posted by DisneyDaffodil View Post
You are getting close to the end now 😀 . We love Tangled, feel it is a traditional style of Disney film but the 3 main characters make it more interesting. My DD feels Rapuzel is similar to her in nature and so found her relatable. Flynn is definitely the hottest Prince ever 😂 and Mother Gothel is one of my favourite villains ever. I think possibly because she just wants to stay young and is using Rapunzel to keep her young, it is scarily believable.

Added to the three great main characters is the brilliant music. When Will My Life Begin, I See the Light and Mother Knows Best are favourites and we are always singing along to them at home or in the car 😀
It really is a fun movie. It's got all the ingredients that go to make a great Disney film (especially the music and the fabulous villain), but it doesn't really stand out to me. Maybe it's a bit too by-the-numbers? I think I would have adored Rapunzel if I'd seen this as a kid though.
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Old 12 Mar 19, 02:29 PM  
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Day 78: Cars 2 (2011)

Day 78: Cars 2 (2011)



Cars 2 is a bit of a letdown. Not that I was expecting much from a Cars sequel, as Cars itself is so average, but any film that is so underwhelming and ill-thought out from such a brilliant studio as Pixar is extremely disappointing.

In terms of positives, there’s really only one that I can think of: the movie looks spectacular. The backgrounds are gorgeous, and setting the film in various visually-exciting cities is a great opportunity for Pixar to really show off what they can do. There’s lots of big wide shots that linger just a moment or two too long, as if to say, ‘Look how clever we are!’ And they are very very clever.

Not so much in terms of story or character for this movie, however. Cars 2 definitely bucks the Pixar trend of creating a grounded, realistic dilemma that people can identify with and then making it about fish or something, and not in a good way. One of the biggest crimes of Cars 2 is that you could replace the cars with literally anything else and the film would be exactly the same. At least Cars 1 used the metaphor of Route 66 to discuss themes like the decline of small-town living and dealing with the pace of change.

We also certainly didn’t need to involve any of the characters from the first film. Or motor racing. Honestly Cars 2 has nothing to do with Cars. It doesn’t develop the themes of the first one, it doesn’t take the characters on new journeys and challenge their views...in fact it’s quite difficult to put your finger on what Cars 2 is about at all. A massive amount happens, but none of it seems to be in service of any particular message. Someone wanted to make a spy caper. That’s it.

Another big mistake of the film is to base it around Mater. Mater is a bit irritating in the first movie, but not overly so, and though he seems like a dumb hick, he actually proves to be cannier than he appears. This is not the case in Cars 2. Not only is he even dumber than in Cars throughout the whole movie (meaning that the joke really wears thin), but he lucks into a lot of solutions to problems, and the other characters are constantly telling him how brilliant he is. The movie really wants us to think he’s great, and that Lightning McQueen is a d-bag for trying to get rid of him, but the truth is that he’s just very annoying, and if he were your friend you’d want to get rid of him too.

And not to keep going on and on about the Mater problem, but the two main additional characters that have been added for this movie, the two British spies, unfortunately only end up making him even more irritating. They infuriatingly keep thinking he’s lying when he says he’s just a tow-truck, and not a spy, just because the plot requires it, and of course his simple wisdom ends up saving the day, because dumb tow-truck Mater can apparently do things that British Intelligence isn’t capable of. It means that the film ends up becoming one of those annoying narratives where a free-spirited American comes and rescues the Brits from our stiff upper lips and teaches us all how to see the world in a way that had never occurred to us before. Yuck.

So yeah, Cars 2: bad. Pixar, we expect better. See me after class.
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Old 20 Mar 19, 01:44 PM  
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Day 79: Winnie the Pooh (2011)

Day 79: Winnie the Pooh (2011)

Sorry as usual for the delay, folks. I've got a couple lined up now so that will buy me a bit of time.



Yes, there is another movie in the Poohniverse, and yes it is animated using traditional 2D animation, making this officially Disney’s last 2D animated film SO FAR!

This is the Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban of the Poohniverse movies though because...this is the one where sh*t gets dark! Pooh and friends...kill a guy.

Nah I’m just kidding. Tbh we didn’t watch this one all the way through because it was just too boring. It’s still probably not as bad as The Tigger Movie, but I think we’re just a bit fed up with these by now, as they have become very formulaic. The formula is thus: pull a couple of stories from the original books for B plot material (so parents can have a nostalgic sigh or two) and then pad out the rest of the runtime with a repetitive story where the characters become unreasonably terrified by the prospect of change, in the form of some kind of foreign element. They then hatch a plan to capture the offending foreigner, which inevitably goes wrong. In previous movies this immigrant backlash was directed against Kanga and Roo and then the heffalump; in this movie it’s the ‘backson’. The climax of the story is always that the terrifying foreigner turns out to be nice, so we can all learn a valuable lesson about xenophobia. And there’s usually a bit where Pooh gets into some hijinks with a beehive.

As I said, we didn’t watch Winnie the Pooh all the way through, but I’d be willing to bet decent amounts of cash that the plot is pretty much the same as the one I’ve outlined above.

The only difference in this movie is that you don’t actually see the ‘backson’, and assume that it is something that owl has invented (owl takes the place of rabbit in this movie as chief racist), until the post-credits sequence, where the backson appears and falls into the trap that the 100-Acre-Wood gang have created, where he will likely starve and die. So TWIST! Maybe they do kill a guy!

I only know this because I looked it up on YouTube, because as I said above, we didn’t watch the film all the way through. We had a bit of a fast-forwarding mishap (DisneyLife really is difficult to use) and couldn’t be bothered to try and find our place again. It’s our first real failure...I sincerely apologise, but there’s only so much Tigger a woman can take!

Apologies also that this review a) isn’t really a review and b) is a little on the dark side - I must have eaten some bad honey.
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Old 21 Mar 19, 02:15 PM  
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Day 80: Brave (2012)

Day 80: Brave (2012)

80! 80! 80? !



On the same evening that we decisively failed to watch Winnie the Pooh, we watched Brave. Both of us had watched it a few times before, and as usual we felt that, while it’s a stunning film in a lot of ways, there’s something lacking about Brave that you can’t quite put your finger on.

Of course the film is stunning to look at. It really captures the beauty of Scotland, including what must be some real locations, or at least inspired by them. The movie really leans into this, with various montages accompanied by stirring folk-inspired music to help you appreciate them. The look of the film is its defining feature, which makes me wonder if perhaps this movie is more of a technical exercise, showcasing what can be done with 3D animation, than an organic, holistic whole, comprising story, visuals, music etc.

This having been said, the two main characters are extremely well realised. Bex has a soft spot for Merida because they both have uncontrollable manes of long hair, and she certainly is an interesting character, her mum too. Both are extremely self-reliant and strong-willed but in opposite ways, which is a nice touch. It’s good to see truly flawed and complex female characters, representing real-world issues that women face. It’s also quite unusual to have a mother-daughter relationship be the central focus of a movie, especially in a kid’s movie. I think maybe they made Merida a smidge too young, as her mum trying to persuade her to get married at 16 does seem a bit crazy, but the movie seems to be set some time before the Norman Conquest, so it’s probably historically accurate. I’m never sure whether Disney films are trying to be historically accurate or not, and I think this might be Pixar’s first specifically historical film. It’s one of the ways the film sometimes feel a bit more like a Disney than a Pixar. Still, the movie is supposed to be teaching Merida a lesson about pride etc. putting her on the same side as Mor'du, and you can't help feeling that she's actually quite sensible for not wanting to get married when she's still a child.

The music is pretty good and hits all the right beats. I really like folk music, so this should thoroughly appeal to me, and for the most part does, but some bits are maybe a bit too ‘Disney does folk’ for me.

The issue for me is the story - it’s just too weird. I’m not sure where the bear idea came from - is it a metaphor? There is a powerful message in there somewhere about not forgetting to communicate, or parents and children will stop being able to understand each other, but the bear thing is maybe a bit too extreme. We slightly lose the communication message when the ferocity of the Elinor-bear starts taking over. Is she turning savage because she’s a bear, or for some other reason?

I also feel that apart from the Merida-Elinor relationship, the movie doesn’t really have much going for it. The comedy antics of the clan chiefs are not very funny, the joke mostly boiling down to: ‘Look they’re Scottish! Isn’t that hilarious? Haggis! Kilts! Funny accents! Billy Connolly shouting!’ Some of it lands, but some of it’s just silly, and none of it has very much to do with the central conflict. The three brothers are definitely funnier, but again don’t have much to do with the story.

Overall I like Brave, but I can’t bring myself to love it. The message of the film doesn’t quite land, and it feels like a bit of a missed opportunity or, ironically, a failure to communicate. The story about mothers and daughters is one that resonates with me, and I’m sure with a lot of girls and women, but the waters have been muddied by somewhat undercooked and confused ideas.

I think it's another Tinker Bell next - oh joy.
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Old 26 Mar 19, 05:42 PM  
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Day 81: Secret of the Wings (2012)

Day 81: Secret of the Wings (2012)



We’re back with (a slightly less irritating) Tink again for The Secret of the Wings, which is a somewhat bizarre title. Yes, there’s wings in the movie, but...I dunno, I would have gone with The Secret of Winter, or The One Where Tink Has a Sister, or something.

The quality of the animation takes a noticeable dip in this film. The backgrounds in The Lost Treasure weren’t half bad, but they look like a cheap video game in Secret of the Wings. And the characters all look like plastic dollies rather than actual people, which, as we all know, is their ultimate destiny anyway! 7-year-old Rosie is excited to add some winter fairies to her barbie collection.

The big improvement in this movie is Tink herself. She has stopped cocking everything up and then being told how wonderful she is for once, and actually has quite a nice, relatable character arc. Her sister is quite sweet too. The other characters are basically cardboard cutouts so there is nothing to say about them. Apart from sexy-Timothy-Dalton-voiced Lord Milori, who is performed by Timothy Dalton and therefore has a sexy voice. (That’s it - the character is still boring as hell, I just thought I’d mention his sexy voice.)

The story is unfortunately a MESS! At least Tinkerbell and the Lost Treasure was coherent. The main problem is the ending, where a big storm appears out of nowhere, promising to be a cause of drama and conflict, but then disappears as suddenly as it appeared for no apparent reason, because who wants drama and conflict in a movie, I mean come on? I’d probably complain about this a bit more, but I didn't really expect much in the first place, and also I probably liked this one best out of the three TinkerBells we’ve watched so far, so...whatevs.

You know where you are with a TinkerBell movie, I guess. If you’re hoping for something to keep the kids occupied for a bit while you make the tea (or if you’re looking for ideas on what toys to get your 7-year-old for her birthday), I’d choose Secret of the Wings over the other two we’ve watched, but if you’re looking for quality animated film-making...look elsewhere.
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Old 26 Mar 19, 09:17 PM  
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You've posted a few updates recently.

I'm not a big Cars fan and never bothered with cars 2, given you think it's a let down I'm not sure I'll race out to watch it.

My kids loved all the Pooh movies, I think they must have them a lot on the Disney channel? I certainly don't think we ever owned the dvds and so I can't think how else they would have seen them.

It was really interesting to read your review of Brave, I really like the movie. It's funny to read your thoughts on the Disney portrayal of Scottish clan leaders! I agree the central theme of the mother daughter relationship is a little odd as you're right Merida is barely more than a child and is being married off, since when did Disney allow historical accuracy to dictate the story of a movie in any case (Pocahontas) but I still quite like it and I find the movie quite charming. Perhaps I'm just taking it at face value and not letting the odd dynamics and bizarre coincidences get in the way of a mediocre story...I can't quite put my finger what it is I like about it, just that I do.

Tinkerbell and all her franchise just doesn't do it for me, but then I have not seen the Secret wings movie so can't pass judgement on that.
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Old 5 Apr 19, 04:16 PM  
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Originally Posted by Goldia View Post
You've posted a few updates recently.

I'm not a big Cars fan and never bothered with cars 2, given you think it's a let down I'm not sure I'll race out to watch it.
Yeah I'd say you could skip that one. Cars 3 is pretty good though.

Originally Posted by Goldia View Post
My kids loved all the Pooh movies, I think they must have them a lot on the Disney channel? I certainly don't think we ever owned the dvds and so I can't think how else they would have seen them.
I'm not convinced that all the Pooh movies we've watched actually had a theatrical release. Our list is supposed to be all the movies Disney released in the cinema, but I wouldn't be surprised if some of the Pooh movies just went straight on the Disney Channel! I'm sure they're great for kids, and I think our problem may have been that we watched them all too close together and started to notice how samey they were.

Originally Posted by Goldia View Post
It was really interesting to read your review of Brave, I really like the movie. It's funny to read your thoughts on the Disney portrayal of Scottish clan leaders! I agree the central theme of the mother daughter relationship is a little odd as you're right Merida is barely more than a child and is being married off, since when did Disney allow historical accuracy to dictate the story of a movie in any case (Pocahontas) but I still quite like it and I find the movie quite charming. Perhaps I'm just taking it at face value and not letting the odd dynamics and bizarre coincidences get in the way of a mediocre story...I can't quite put my finger what it is I like about it, just that I do.
I like it too! Maybe my review sounded a bit harsh. It's definitely a good movie, I just feel like maybe some of the themes are a bit undercooked. It still looks spectacular and Merida is a brilliant character.

Originally Posted by Goldia View Post
Tinkerbell and all her franchise just doesn't do it for me, but then I have not seen the Secret wings movie so can't pass judgement on that.
It is the best one - not that that's saying much.

Thanks for replying!
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Old 5 Apr 19, 04:20 PM  
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Day 82: Wreck it Ralph (2012)

Sorry guys - it’s been ages since I posted, and ages since I watched Wreck it Ralph (and the other two movies I’m going to be posting) too. I will try and do better - I really want to get to the end of this marathon now!

So...onto Wreck it Ralph.

Day 82: Wreck it Ralph (2012)



Oh hey Disney! We missed you, where you been, grrrrl? It doesn’t matter because you are back with a bang!

Wreck it Ralph is really really good. It’s everything a Disney movie ought to be and has so seldom been over the decade or so preceding it: funny, cool, sweet and most of all creative! There is creativity oozing out of every pore of this movie, from the way the different environments look, to the story, to the score to the excellent punnage (seriously, this movie’s pun game is on point )...it’s just all so innovative and brilliant.

I love the way Wreck it Ralph handles the nostalgia factor too. Yes, the movie has lots of references to old video and arcade games, which would probably have the middle-aged men sighing wistfully, but it doesn’t rely on those references for humour or story beats. They take this idea and make something new and cool out of it (familiar and unfamiliar at the same time), with Fix it Felix Jr and the other games feeling like games you might have played as a kid, but also like totally new worlds. This is also a very joyful version of nostalgia; not the sometimes heart-wrenching version that you see in Pixar movies. Not that that’s a bad thing, but it is nice to have some guilt-free nostalgia every now and then - as I’m sure people on this thread would agree!

I can’t bang on for ages about this because, basically, I haven’t got ages, but let me say that the final thing I love about Wreck it Ralph is the attention to detail. This is something that’s always set Disney apart in everything it does, from Snow White up until the present day, and it’s nice to see we haven’t lost it in the move to computer animation. Little things like the brilliant names for the racers in Sugar Rush, the fact that everything in the Fix it Felix Jr world is made up of squares, the fact that King Candy’s cops are made of donuts, the puns (man, I love a pun)...there’s so much to enjoy, and it means you can watch Wreck it Ralph over and over again, and find something new to enjoy every time.

I think that’s it for me on Wreck it Ralph. I’d love to spend longer and talk about how much I love the two main characters etc. but I need to move on.

Love ya. X
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