Month: April 2020

Shark Tale 5/10

Nick SheedyLeave a comment

PG, 90m, 2004

With the Voice Talents of Will Smith (Oscar), Renée Zellweger (Angie), Jack Black (Lenny Lino), Robert De Niro (Don Edward Lino), Angelina Jolie (Lola), Martin Scorsese (Sykes), Ziggy Marley (Ernie), Doug E. Doug (Bernie), Michael Imperioli (Frankie Lino), Vincent Pastore (Luca), Peter Falk (Don Ira Feinberg), Katie Couric (Katie Current) and David Soren (Shrimp). Directed by Vicky Jenson, Bibo Bergeron and Rob Letterman. Produced by Bill Damaschke, Janet Healy and Allison Lyon Segan. Screenplay by Michael J. Wilson and Rob Letterman. Music by Hans Zimmer.

            When this film was in production, a great debate was brewing in the animation industry. There was an ever-growing belief that hand drawn animation was dying and that it was going to be replaced with computer animation. This idea stemmed from the financial failures of hand drawn animated films released at the time like Home on the Range, Treasure Planet and Sinbad and the Seven Seas. While films like Shrek 2, Finding Nemo and Monsters Inc. were highly successful both financially and critically. Jeffrey Katzenberg was the CEO of DreamWorks Animation at the time and he said that hand drawn animation was dead and that the company was no longer going to produce hand drawn animated films again. This mindset infuriates me to no end and I often point to this film and films similar to it as an example of why the medium one uses to create an animated film, if the characters and story suck.

            The film opens in a rather imaginative fashion. The DreamWorks Animation logo casts a screaming worm into the ocean where two sharks slowly appear while (what else) the theme for Jaws plays. The two sharks are brothers Lenny (Jack Black) and Frankie (Michael Imperioli). Frankie is your typical vicious shark that eats first and asks questions later, while Lenny is a kind and timid vegetarian. After the two swim away, the nearby fish city quickly swims with life as the danger has passed. The audience is then bombarded with pop culture references as the camera zooms around the underwater city. One joke that made me chuckle was when the camera flashed to a sushi shop, which is empty much to the dismay of the owner. We are then introduced to the film’s main character, Oscar (Will Smith), who is a worker at a whale wash. Oscar’s boss, Sykes (Martin Scorsese), loses favor with Don Edward Lino (Robert De Niro), who runs the reef as the head of an underwater mafia. Sykes, now owing the shark mafia, protection money, calls in Oscar and tells him he has to pay back his massive debt, so he can afford to pay the mafia off. Oscar gets the money by selling a pearl given to him by his friend, Angie (Renée Zellweger), who works at the same whale wash as Oscar. Oscar greedily loses all of the money betting on a seahorse race, and Sykes orders his Rastafarian jellyfish enforcers, Ernie (Ziggy Marley) and Bernie (Doug E. Doug), to get rid of him. Meanwhile Don Edward Lino is frustrated about his son Lenny’s eating habits, since Lenny’s soft nature is making the family look weak. Don Edward orders Frankie to take Lenny out and show him how to be a real shark. They stumble across Oscar tied up and deserted. Lenny tries to set Oscar free and trick Frankie into thinking that he ate Oscar, but the plan fails. Having grown sick of it all, Frankie chases Oscar and is about to eat him when an anchor falls on him, killing him. Lenny is horrified and runs away, leaving Oscar alone with the body of a dead shark. Ernie and Bernie return and assume Oscar killed the shark, and Oscar seeing a way to become famous, brags relentlessly and soon he garners the title of “sharkslayer”. Oscar runs into Lenny and the two team up to continue the con. Naturally, the mafia gets ticked that Oscar “killed” the Don’s son and openly brags about killing him, so they kidnap Angie, since she’s one of the few fish Oscar cares about. Now it’s up to Lenny and Oscar to rescue Angie and make it out alive.

            This film feels like one of those cheap and ugly knock off films that companies mass produce in the hopes that poor gullible people will buy them in leu of the actual good product. Examples include Rattatooing, What’s Up and The Little Panda Fighter (Please, for your own sake, do not watch these films. They are without a doubt some of the worst films I have ever seen in my life.). Now granted the animation in this film is not nearly as bad as these films, but it feels just as lazy. It looks like a cheap, tired, dirty version of Finding Nemo, which was released a year prior.

            The characters from this film are largely recycled from better gangster films like The Godfather, which the film is trying to be a parody of but, it fails spectacularly. Oscar is one of my least favorite characters in this film. He’s extremely cocky and he acts like the world owes him a living. His main concern is what others think of him and becoming a “somebody”. He becomes infatuated with another female fish named Lola (Angelina Jolie), but she tells him early on in the film that she’s very superficial. Why would anybody want to be with a person like that? Angie has an obvious crush on Oscar, and I do not see why. He exhibits almost no remediable qualities and after he becomes famous, it isn’t long before he begins to neglect her, despite her being there for him when nobody else was. There was only two characters I had positive feelings for and that is Lenny and Angie. This mainly comes from a place of pity since Lenny is viewed as a loser by his father, and is a social outcast in the mafia world, and Angie is such a nice girl, but she for whatever, reason falls for a guy who is obviously wrong for her. Now granted, Oscar does get Angie back her grandmother’s pearl with several other pearls, he very quickly abandons her for the majority of the film. I did have a major problem with the way the film handled Lenny however. The film treats being Lenny a vegetarian as a metaphor for homosexuality. One hardly has to squint it. The movie is chockful of gay symbolism and if that’s not enough to convince you, there’s a scene where Lenny comes out to Oscar as a vegetarian. I’ve had people come out to me using very similar dialogue. This could have proved to be an emotional scene as Lenny is highly sensitive to being different and is even ashamed of being a vegetarian. Instead it’s treated as a joke, with Oscar, who the audience is supposed to root for, suppressing a laugh, and at one point he refers to Lenny as “veggie boy”.

            This film introduces some good ideas, that would have been excellent morals to teach to kids. The first is just because you were born into a certain situation, it doesn’t mean that you have follow the status quo. You are who you choose to be. This is best personified through Lenny. Lenny wants nothing to do with the mafia life and eating fish. Instead he wants to live life the way he wants to. Now this is a good message to teach to kids, but the message gets blotched and the emotional climax between the two is not executed properly. The film touches briefly on the shallowness of fame. This is another good message to teach to kids. Being rich and famous, doesn’t mean that you’re necessarily happy. This message is lightly touched on during the scene that is supposed to be the low point of the movie, but it just feels so manipulative. Oscar sadly swims around a barrage of product placement featuring him while a “sad” song plays. I say “sad” because I felt no emotional response to the images on screen and the song did not make me feel a thing. The scene in Toy Story 2, when Jessie sings about being abandoned is sad because the audience has emotional investment in the character and the song “When She Loved Me” is performed beautifully. The scene in The Fox and the Hound when Widow Tweed has to leave Tod in the forest is sad because the audience gets her motivation for doing this and the audience also knows that now both characters are all alone. The song “Goodbye May Seem Forever” heightens the emotional impact of the scene. This does not occur with this scene and I was left feeling mildly bored.

            The jokes in this film are a hit or miss. I’m almost never a fan of pop culture references or bad fish puns, especially when it makes no sense for the characters to make said reference, but I will admit I grinned a bit at the opening homage to Jaws. I also found a few of a few other jokes mildly amusing, such as the exchange between Lenny and Oscar, after Lenny accidentally eats him. The rest of the jokes left me either rolling my eyes, or cringing. Some people will find this movie to be very funny, which is fair since comedy is objective. I, however, didn’t find this film to be particularly funny.

            The best way I can describe Shark Tale is cringy. This movie thinks it’s being funny and appealing to kids, but in reality, it’s neither. Every film has its audience and I know there are some people out there who enjoy this film, but I am most certainly not one of those people.  While I don’t think this is DreamWorks Animation’s feature, I definitely think it ranks among the worst of them. Somehow this film was nominated for the Best Animated Feature category along with Shrek 2 and The Incredibles, with The Incredibles winning the award. this means that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences thought that this film was one of the best animated films to come out in 2004. This means that according to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Shark Tale is better than Ghost in the Shell II: Innocence, The Polar Express, The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie and The Place Promised in Our Early Days. I do not agree with this assessment and I’d recommend all of these animated film over Shark Tale. This is one film that should have stayed out to sea.

Dumbo 8.5/10

Nick SheedyLeave a comment

G, 64m, 1941

With the Voice Talents of Edward Brophy (Timothy Q. Mouse), Cliff Edwards (Jim Crow), Verna Felton (Elephant Matriarch, Mrs. Jumbo), Noreen Gammill (Elephant Catty), Dorthey Scott (Elephant Giddy) Sarah Selby (Elephant Prissy), Sterling Holloway (Mr. Stork), Herman Bing (The Ringmaster), The Hal Johnson Choir (Crow Choir), Billy Bletcher (Clown) and John McLeish (the Narrator). Directed by Ben Sharpsteen, Norman Ferguson, Wilfred Jackson, Bill Roberts, Jack Kinney and Samuel Armstrong. Produced by Walt Disney. Screenplay by Otto Englander, Joe Grant and Dick Huemer. Music by Frank Churchill and Oliver Wallace. Based on Dumbo, the Flying Elephant by Helen Aberson

            The story of Dumbo began at a time of extreme turbulence at the Disney Studio. On May 29, 1941, the Disney animator’s strike began. The strike began because the artists felt that they weren’t being given what they were promised and that they weren’t being treated properly. This strike occurred during the early stages of Dumbo, causing the film to suffer several setbacks. The strike was eventually resolved, but it caused a massive damper on the atmosphere surrounding the Disney Studio and many talented artists and storytellers eventually left the studio.

            The film opens with an assortment of baby animals being airdropped on a traveling circus by storks. However, one expecting mother Mrs. Jumbo (Verna Felton), does not receive her bundle of joy. This is because Mr. Stork (Sterling Holloway) is running behind. He eventually catches up to Mrs. Jumbo and delivers a baby elephant who, Mrs. Jumbo names Jumbo Jr. When a sneeze reveals that the newborn has extraordinarily large ears, the other elephants begin to mock the poor lad and even start calling him Dumbo. After some kids mock Dumbo, with one going so far as to blow directly in his ear followed by grabbing his ear, Mrs. Jumbo gives the boy a well deserved spanking, but she goes too far by attacking the crowd and the circus has her chained in a lone boxcar, labelled as a mad elephant. Dumbo is all alone in the world until a well-dressed mouse named Timothy Q. Mouse (Edward Brophy) befriends him, subverting the age-old stereotypical animosity between elephants and mice. With the help of Timothy, Dumbo learns to overcome his physical difference and even use it to his advantage.

            While some may look at this film and think the same thing that is commonly said about Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. “Deviation from the norm will be punished, unless it can be exploited.” In some respects, this statement is true in regard to Dumbo. With the exception of his mother, Timothy and later the crows, all of the characters see Dumbo and his ears and make a mockery of him. However, the film does take moments to show the harmful effects of bullying and the isolation that the victims endure. This film has a simple story of a character overcoming looking different and being true to oneself.

            The relationship between characters is astounding in this film. Naturally being an elephant Dumbo is terrified of Timothy when he first meets him. Dumbo does come around to trusting Timothy when he realizes that Timothy really does care for him. In several scenes in the movie, Dumbo is depicted walking behind Timothy holding his tail with his trunk, just like a baby elephant holds on to its mother’s tail. The relationship between Dumbo and his mother is also particularly powerful. No words are ever exchanged between the two, but one can tell that there is deep seeded love between the two. The scene where Mrs. Jumbo reaches her trunk through the bars and caresses her baby, during the “Baby Mine” number, is absolutely gut wrenching.

            One thing I noticed about this film is it doesn’t have a true villain. True, one could point at the Ringmaster as a villain (he even appeared as a villain in the game Disney Villain’s Revenge), but I disagree with this notion. I say this because the Ringmaster never really mistreats the animals or the staff working in the circus. The reason why many people classify the Ringmaster as a villain is because he locked Mrs. Jumbo in an isolated cage, but here’s the thing, while Mrs. Jumbo did give a beastly little boy a spanking for harassing her son, she also threw objects at innocent bystanders and realistically the boy’s parents and several other people would have called for Mrs. Jumbo to be put down. Instead, the Ringmaster keeps her alive, however he does put her in a cramped cage and separates her from her baby that is only a few days old at best, even though Dumbo being a mammal needs his mother’s milk or at the very least some form of milk supplement. However, I feel this film doesn’t need a villain. I say this because at its heart, Dumbo is a simple tale about an elephant that is mocked relentlessly for looking different. But through sheer will power (and a little bit of luck), Dumbo is able to use his uniqueness to succeed.

            This film is absolutely perfect for animation. Dumbo never once utters a word, but the audience immediately knows that this character is thinking and how he feels. This is due to the tremendous job the animators did on animating Dumbo’s facial expressions.  When studying film, one of the first things that a film student is taught is the notion “show don’t tell”. This film employs this method masterfully. My favorite scene of this film is when Mrs. Jumbo reaches her trunk through the bars to hold her son (needless to say, I recommend having tissues on hand when this scene comes on). The background of the film was painted using watercolors, this was done in order to save money because the studio really didn’t have the funds to make the backgrounds as sharp as Pinocchio or Fantasia. Some might find this as a flaw of the film, I however felt it suited the film. At its heart Dumbo is a fairly straightforward simple story and I feel the water colored background reflects that.

            Of the five films released during the Golden Age of Disney Animation (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo and Bambi), I find Dumbo to be the best emotionally driven story. One could make an argument for Bambi, but that huge tonal shift with the “Let’s Sing a Gay Little Spring Song” bit following an extremely powerful emotion scene is a little too jarring for me.With its great simplicity and cartoonish heart, it’s no wonder this film has gone on to touch the hearts of audiences and will continue to do so for many generations to come.

Waking Sleeping Beauty 9/10

Nick SheedyLeave a comment

PG, 86m, 2009

Starring Don Hahn, Michael Eisner, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Roy E. Disney, Frank Wells, Peter Schneider, John Musker, Ron Clements, John Lasseter, Glen Keane, Howard Ashman, Alan Menken, Steven Spielberg, Robert Zemeckis, Rob Minkoff, Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise. Directed by Don Hahn. Produced by Don Hahn and Peter Schneider. Screenplay by Patrick Pacheco. Music by Chris P. Bacon.

Peter Schneider, Roy E. Disney and Jeffrey Katzenberg

            For my entire life I’ve been a massive animation fan. As a kid I watched a lot of films released by the Wald Disney Animation Studios, on VHS. Sure, I had other animated and live-action films I enjoyed that weren’t Disney such as Babe, The Land Before Time and the Pokémon films, but the films by Disney and Pixar were by far, my go-tos for entertainment. I consumed so much Disney knowledge, that I was an ace at Disney trivia games. One source where I used to get some of my Disney knowledge was from the documentaries that some Disney VHS tapes had. I was born in 1996, so I remember a time when bonus content was rarely released on home video, since DVDs, weren’t super popular yet. These documentaries weren’t particularly long but, I enjoyed watching them because I liked learning more about my favorite movies. There was only one problem, these documentaries only came with films that were released way before I was born. Sure, I liked learning about the making of The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Fun and Fancy Free and The Jungle Book, but I wanted to learn about newer animated films like Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King. I’d eventually get my wish when DVDs and Blu-rays offered tons of content about my favorite animated movies, but by then my taste and changed a little. I’ve retained my love for learning about films into adulthood and this is part of the reason I became a film critic. As I got older, and as I actually started studying the history of the Walt Disney Animation Studio, I learned of a time period known as the Disney Renaissance. The Disney Renaissance lasted from 1989 to 1999, The films released during this time were The Little Mermaid, The Rescuers Down Under, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hercules, Mulan and Tarzan. As I learned more about the Walt Disney Studio during the Disney Renaissance, I found out that there was a documentary called Waking Sleeping Beauty. It’d be several years before I obtained a copy of the film, but when I did, I was reminded why I fell in love with studying animation in the first place.

            During Walt Disney’s lifetime (1901-1966), the Disney Studio had its ups and downs. However Following Walt’s and later his brother Roy O. Disney, the studio started to decline in quality. This is most notable in their animated features. Compare films like The Rescuers, Robin Hood and The Aristocats, to films like Fantasia, Dumbo and Bambi, and you’re going to notice a major difference in quality. The time period from the death of Walt Disney in 1966, to the release of The Little Mermaid in 1989, is sometimes known as the “Disney Dark Age”. It’s during this time that the film begins. The film covers the events from 1984, a year prior to the release of The Black Cauldron, to 1994, with the release of The Lion King. This time period was a tumultuous time in the Disney Studio. The animators who had worked with Walt Disney since the 1930s, and who had worked on some of the most iconic films in animation history were retiring, leaving the animation department to a group of younger people, who would go on to change animation forever.

            This film utilizes mostly stock footage filmed inside the Disney Studio, so as a result the film makes its audience feel like they’re actually at the story meetings and inside the recording booth. The director of this film is Don Hahn, who was a producer for films such as Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid. He along with Peter Schneider were working at the Disney Studio at the time and as a result, they’re able to bring in a personal insight that would have been lost, had somebody not involved with the Disney Studio during the time of the Disney Renaissance, created this film. This makes the events going on in the film, seem that much more personal and at times, even touching When the film uses clips from outside the Disney Studio such as news reports or programing from other television shows, it’s to serve a point. When the documentary is focusing on the name change for The Great Mouse Detective, they talk about the decision and the impact it had inside the studio. This incident became so well known that it was even a category on the game show Jeopardy. The filmmakers were actually able to find the clip of that question being asked on Jeopardy and include it in the film. It may seem inconsequential to some people, but when you know how much work and effort had to go into finding this clip and putting it into your movie, it just makes it even more astounding.

            A lot of people seem to think that most documentaries are dry and boring, and if they’re not about a tragic event, the documentary isn’t going to have any real emotional depth to it. Waking Sleeping Beauty suffers from none of these things. It shows everything exactly how it was back then, and it doesn’t hold back. This documentary clearly shows that the people working on these films had to sacrifice a lot in order to get these projects done. Towards the end of the documentary Jeffrey Katzenberg, the then Chairman of Walt Disney Studios, has a conversation with the animators, and he asks them what it’s like to work at Disney. They reveal while they love what they are doing, many of them had to make sacrifices in their personal lives, which sometimes caused strains on their relationships with their families. This shows the sacrifices the people who worked on the films of the early Disney Renaissance had to endure. There are two people who are featured throughout the documentary, that died during the time period this documentary is discussing, and when they die it’s almost heart wrenching because you get to feel like you knew the person who died, and you got to hear humorous stories about them and what they were like while working. When a documentary can make you react emotionally to events or people that you never knew, that’s when you know you’ve got a good product on your hands.

            I only have a few problems with this documentary. At the start of the film they mention Don Bluth, who was an animator at the studio before he left in 1979, during the production of The Fox and the Hound. Bluth also took several other animators with him, and together they made their own animated films including The Secret of Nimh, The Land Before Time and An American Tail. For a time, the films made by Don Bluth were outgrossing the Disney animated films and was were even given more praise than the films produced at Disney. This competition with Bluth helped spark the Disney Renaissance and I would have liked to see some more scenes dedicated to the battle between Bluth and Disney, and who it ultimately ended. It also would have been nice to have the people on the competitors side like Don Bluth, featured in interviews as I believe that a few outside sources would have proved beneficial to getting a better look at the world of animation while all of this was going on. This could have also allowed for people who worked in other animation studios, to talk about how this affected their work and what kind of inspiration did it bring, I realize this is a documentary about the Disney Studio but, I would have liked to see how their work was impacting the world of animation.

            There’s actually a bit of irony at the timing of this film’s release. This film was released in 2009, and at the time the Disney Animation Studio wasn’t producing the great material they once were. However, later that year The Princess and the Frog was released and that ushered in a new period known as the Disney Revival, which is still ongoing as of the time I’m writing this review. The time period of when this film went into production and was released, in some ways mirrors the events of the documentary, and I just find that to be simply interesting.

            Foe people who love learning about how movies are made or the Disney Studio, Waking Sleeping Beauty is a must watch. It provides vast amounts of information on the Walt Disney Animation Studio, from 1984 to 1994. Several critics have referred to this film as “One of the best comeback stories in show business history.”, and I completely agree. The film not only touches on the production of some of the films released during this time, but the driving political forces by Disney executives to “reawaken” the Disney Studio. I normally don’t like inspirational films, but films such as this one touch me on a personal level and instills in me a desire to create new and better content.

South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut 8.5/10

Nick SheedyLeave a comment

R, 81m, 1999 

With the Voice Talents of Trey Parker (Stan Marsh, Eric Cartman, Gregory, Satan, Mr. Garrison, Mr. Hat, Phillip, Randy Marsh, Clyde Donovan, Tom, Midget in a Bikini, Canadian Ambassador, Bombardiers, Mr. Mackey, Army General, Ned Gerblansky, The Mole, Big Gay Al (singing voice) and Adolf Hitler), Matt Stone (Kyle Broflovski, Kenny McCormick, Saddam Hussein, Terrance, Big Gay Al, Ticket Taker, Stuart McCormick, Jimbo Kearn, Gerald Broflovski and Butters Stotch), Mary Kay Bergman (Liane Cartman, Sheila Broflovski, Sharon Marsh, Carol McCormick, Wendy Testaburger and Clitoris) and Isaac Hayes (Chef). Directed by Trey Parker. Produced by Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Screenplay by Trey Parker, Matt Stone and Pam Brady. Music by Trey Parker and Marc Shaiman. Based on South Park by Trey Parker and Matt Stone.

            Adult animation for television has certainly come a long way since it was popularized in the late 1980s and early 1990s with titles such as Beavis and Butt-Head, The Simpsons and The Critic. These titles attracted quite a bit of controversy and many parents forbade their kids, including yours truly, from watching them. However, a new animated show would come along in 1997, that pushed the envelope of what can be aired on television even further. That show was of course South Park. South Park was created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, who started the series with the 1992 short Jesus vs. Frosty, and the 1995 short Jesus vs. Santa. These shorts garnered massive attention and soon Parker and Stone were picked up by Comedy Central to produce a show based on the shorts, and the rest is animation history. South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut marks the third feature film to be produced by Parker and Stone the first being Cannibal! The Musical in 1993, and the second being Orgazmo in 1997.

            The film opens with Stan Marsh (Trey Parker) gathering his friends Kyle (Matt Stone), Cartman (Trey Parker) and Kenny (Matt Stone) to go see the new movie based on their favorite Canadian show Terrance and Philip. The movie is rated R, so the boys have to pay a homeless guy to pretend to be their guardian. The movie is a musical filled with obscenities so disturbing, they cause many members of the audience to leave in disgust “Well what do you expect, they’re Canadian.”. The boys on the other hand, love the film and leave the theater singing the song “Uncle Fucka”. This incurs the wrath of the parents of South Park and they set out to ensure that Terrance and Philip pay for the crimes of corrupting the minds of their children. Kenny dies after a bet with Cartman goes horribly wrong and he’s sent straight to hell, where he meets Satan (Trey Parker) and his sadistic lover Saddam Hussein (Matt Stone), who in this universe died when he was killed by a pack of wild boars. Satan reveals if Terrance and Philip die on U.S. soil, he’ll finally be able to rise to Earth and wage war. Kenny manages to warn Cartman about the events that are about to transpire, and together with Stan and Kyle, the three boys set out to stop their parents from executing their beloved comedic duo.

            The central themes of this movie are the dangers of censorship as well as bad parenting. South Park is no stranger when it comes to the issue of censorship, as they have dedicated several episodes, most notably in the episodes 200 and 201, to this controversial issue. When this film was in production, the MPAA tried to give this film as NC-17-rating. Trey Parker and Matt Stone were finally able to get the R-rating that they wanted, but at the cost of changing some things in the film. This is really ironic when you stop and think about it given the central theme of this film. When the boys go to see the Terrance and Philip movie, Asses of Fire, their vocabulary become laden with profanities that they picked up from the film. This eventually leads to the parents of South Park, most notably Kyle’s mother, who make it their duty to make the ones responsible for creating the film pay. This plot is an obvious reference to the real-life reaction parents had to South Park. Despite the parents of South Park leaving their kids, for what they claim is to protect the children, they’re actually doing more harm than good. Not only are they forcing their will on other people, they’re also leaving their kids for an extended amount of time, when they could have used that time to spend time with their kids and gotten to know them better and explain why they don’t want them to see certain content. My parents took an active role in the media I consumed, and I believe I turned out for the better because of this. It’s not the job of filmmakers to tone down their work for the sake of children. Some movies might be really good and have a good message, but at the same time it may not be appropriate for children. It’s the job of the parents to monitor what their kids watch, because as the boys put it “Off to the movies we shall go, where we learn everything that we know, because the movies teach us what our parents don’t have time to say.”.

            The animation in this film is largely done in the style of the show, which is in the style of paper cut out animation. The only time it doesn’t utilize this technique is the special effects for the hell sequences, and this is where my only fault in the animation lies, as the film’s special effects were used with computers and they have no aged particularly well. The rest of the film’s animation looks nice, for what’s it’s trying to do. This is even used as a visual gag in several scenes of the film. The area where the animation truly shines is during the musical numbers, where the animators pulled out all the stops to make them as entertaining as possible, giving quite a few of them a nice Broadway feel to them.

            This film is obviously poking fun at the animated musical that had been popularized in the 1990s, during the Disney Renaissance. In fact, quite a few of the songs are satires of some of the songs from the Disney Renaissance or from musicals such as Les Misérables. “Mountain Town” is a visual and lyrical parody of “Belle” from Beauty and the Beast. The song “Up There” is a parody of the trend in Disney Renaissance movies where a character sings about what they want out of life. “Blame Canada” was originally supposed to be a parody of a Disney villain song, instead it satirizes how quick parents are to blame media when their kids do something they don’t approve of. “Eyes of a Child is a parody of adding pop versions of Disney songs, at the end of their movies. “La Resistance” is a parody of “One More Day” from Les Misérables. However, unlike the musical numbers in Disney films as well as in Disney rip-offs, this film features songs that should not be sung by children. Now that isn’t to say the musical numbers in this film are bad, on the contrary, the musical numbers in this film are as entertaining as many of the musical numbers from the Disney Renaissance. The song “Blame Canada” was considered to be so good, it was nominated for an Academy Award in 2000, but it lost to “You’ll be in my Heart” from Tarzan. The songs in this movie are of two kids. The first is to progress the story along and tell what a character is feeling, and the others are centered around the film’s central theme, which is censorship.

            South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut was released during the show’s third season. Fearing that their show would be cancelled in the near future, Parker and Stone, decided to put everything they had in this film. Parker and Stone have since stated that they dislike the early seasons of South Park, often times citing the episodes from the first three seasons to be the worst in the show’s history. The same could not be said about South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut. This film is a brilliant satire and an amazing movie. While some will find this film to be too offensive and will view it with the same level of contempt as the parents of South Park did towards Asses of Fire, the rest will find a highly enjoyable film that is one of the greatest animated films based on a cartoon.

Spirited Away 9/10

Nick SheedyLeave a comment

PG, 125m, 2001

With the Voice Talents of  Daveigh Chase (Chihiro Ogino/Sen), Jason Marsden (Haku), Suzanne Pleshette (Yubaba and Zeniba), Susan Egan (Lin), David Ogden Stiers (Kamaji), Paul Eiding (Chichiyaku), Bob Bergen (No-Face and Aogaeru), Rodger Bumpass (Bandai-gaeru), Tara Strong (Boh), Michael Chiklis (Akio Ogino), Lauren Holly (Yūko Ogino) and John Ratzenberger (Aniyaku). Directed Hayao Miyazaki and Kirk Wise. Produced by Toshio Suzuki. Screenplay by Hayao Miyazaki. Music by Joe Hisaishi.

            Japanese animation or anime is often dismissed by misinformed people, who have misguided notions on the medium. They believe anime to be perverse or overally violent. When someone tries to make this argument to me, I ask them what their source is and what anime series or movies have they seen? Usually the misguided had seen some form of hentai (animated porn) or they picked a title like Elfen Lied, School Days or Master of Martial Hearts, why anybody would choose these as their first anime is beyond me. When faced with these types of people I have a list of gateway anime, that I feel are great representations of the medium. One of these titles is Spirited Away. I absolutely adore this film; this is the kind of film I can watch and then immediately watch again. Spirited Away is a magically animated fan that will thrill audiences young and old and is sure to inspire animators just as much as the animated films made by Disney and Pixar.

            The film opens with Chihiro (Daveigh Chase) and her family driving to their new house. As many children would be, Chihiro is upset about the move and complains during the entire car trip. The father (Michael Chiklis) makes a wrong turn and the family come across an abandoned building. Curiosity gets the better of them and her parents, as they enter the building with Chihiro fearfully clinging to her mother (Lauren Holly). They come across a seemingly abandoned amusement park, where her father quickly discovers the aroma of delectably food that is commonplace in anime. Unable to stop themselves Chihiro’s parents indulge their ravenous appetite, much to Chihiro’s protests. Leaving her parents to their glutinous desires, Chihiro stumbles across a magnificent bridge leading to a towering bathhouse. Suddenly a strange boy by the name of Haku (Jason Marsden) appears and demands that she leave before the sun goes down. Chihiro hauls tail back to the booth where she left her parents only to discover a startling sight. Her parents had been transformed into pigs and no longer recognized her. Chihiro tries to make it back to her family’s car only to discover a body of water now blocked her path. Chihiro then notices that her body is beginning to fade away. Naturally she freaks out and is only comforted when Haku appears and gives her some food that stops her from disappearing. Haku guides Chihiro back to the bridge and tells her not to breathe, lest she out herself as a human. They almost get across when Chihiro gets startled and gasps, this causes an immediate reaction from the other beings who cry out that there is a human in their midst. Haku quickly gets Chihiro out of harms way and instructs her to go to the boiler room and to find Kamaji (David Ogden Stiers) and to beg until he gives her a job. Despite Kamaji’s initial objections, Chihiro proves herself quite the diligent worker. Realizing that a boiler room is no place for a young girl Kamaji calls for Lin (Susan Egan), a worker at the bath house bribes her to take Chihiro to Yubaba (Suzanne Pleshette), the owner of the bath house. Yubaba gives Chihiro a job at the bath house, where Chihiro must reside until she can find a way to transform her parents back into humans.

Chihiro is one of the most realistic kid characters depicted in animation. At the start of the film she’s rather obnoxious and she complains a lot, but this is completely understandable. She’s forced to move with her family to a new environment leaving beyond everyone outside of her parents that she knew, given these circumstances many children would act out. When her parents are turned into pigs, Chihiro rolls up her sleeves and tries her best to make things normal again. Chihiro also has moments when she gets so frustrated, she breaks down and cries. The character of Chihiro is further enhanced by the addition of little subtleties that will go over the head of many audience members. For example, when Chihiro is putting on her shoes, the back of her shoe folds into the shoe and she has to pull it out using her fingers. Upon putting her shoes on, she taps her left foot on the ground with the tip of her foot. In another scene, Kamaji finds Chihiro fast asleep curled up clutching her normal clothes to her chest. This scene shows her holding on to the one piece of normality she has left in this new environment, as she was given work clothes, and her clothes were supposed to be destroyed. This is all subtle movements that make the character seem that much more real. One complaint I have with the character, is some may find her English voice actress to be a little grading. I personally don’t have this problem, but I know a few people who do.

Released at a time when hand-drawn animation was dying, Spirited Away demonstrates just how beautiful hand-drawn animation can be. Even the food in this film, looks absolutely delicious to the point where it has no business looking that scrumptious. The character animation of this film is wonderfully imaginative and at times, visually astounding. The design of the River Monster is partially grotesque, and I find his design so revolting, I can practically smell the stench radiating off of him that causes the other characters to practically hurl. The monster is the result of years of pollution from humans, who just dump their garbage into his river. During his bath, Chihiro and the rest of the bathhouse band together to try and dislodge an object that is causing him some discomfort. It turns out that the object was a bicycle and after it is removed, a bunch of debris is expelled from his body and the river spirit is able to revert to his original form, thank Chihiro and company, and depart the bathhouse. Director Hayao Miyazaki found inspiration for the character when he was helping clean out a river and they found a bicycle. The film’s animated highlight occurs when Chihiro and Haku are soaring in the sky in the moonlight. This scene to me, stands out as one of the finest in animation. Haku’s dragon form is some of the finest character animation I’ve ever seen. Despite being sweet to Chihiro his face is just as ferocious as those of the wolves in Princess Mononoke.

Spirited Away often gets compared to Alice in Wonderland, and it’s extremely obvious why this is. Both films put a young girl in a wonderous environment, where they come across many bright and colorful characters, that are unlike anything audiences have ever seen before. While it’s easy to single out characters like No-Face or Haku, as examples of imaginative characters, I find that some of the most unique designs come from some of the background characters. With many having roots in Japanese mythology and folklore. The only repeat characters I could see were the Soot Sprites, who also appeared in My Neighbor Totoro. However, I’m not going to dock points from the film, for this little repeat. The Soot Sprites in this film have a different purpose than they did in My Neighbor Totoro. In this film, the job of the Soot Sprites is to keep adding coal to the fire in the boiler room. The film also utilizes characters from Japanese mythology and folklore in the backgrounds. This gives the design of the backgrounds and the design of the characters a traditional Japanese aesthetic, with some background being highly detailed and extravagant and others having a much simpler design.

At the time of this review, Spirited Away is the only anime film to win an Academy Award, which it did so in 2003, beating out films such as Lilo and Stitch, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron and Ice Age, and this film completely deserves the award. Released during a time when hand-drawn animation was dying in the United States, Spirited Away stands as an excellent example of what hand-drawn animation is capable of.

Over the Hedge 7/10

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PG, 83m, 2006

With the Voice Talents of Bruce Willis (RJ), Garry Shandling (Verne), Steve Carell (Hammy), Wanda Sykes (Stella), Eugene Levy (Lou), Catherine O’Hara (Penny), William Shatner (Ozzie), Avril Lavigne (Heather), (Vincent), Allison Janney (Gladys Sharp), Thomas Haden Church (Dwayne LaFontant) and Omid Djalili (Tiger). Directed by Tim Johnson and Karey Kirkpatrick. Produced by Bonnie Arnold. Screenplay by Len Blum, Lorne Cameron, David Hoselton and Karey Kirkpatrick. Music by Rupert Gregson-Williams. Based on the comic strip of the same name by Michael Fry and T. Lewis.

            Over the Hedge is the type of animated film that completely plays it safe. This film hits all of the boxes that normally equals a successful animated film for kids. Cute talking animals; check, wise-cracking modern dialogue; check, an all-star studded cast; check a soundtrack that features popular music at the time; check. This film is not as smart as the satirical comic strip, on which it was based on, but the film certainly has its own charm.

            The film opens with RJ (Bruce Willis), a crafty racoon trying to retrieve a bag of chips that is stuck inside a vending machine. Spying the cave of a black bear called Vincent (Nick Nolte), RJ makes the rash decision to steal all of Vincent’s food. RJ neatly packs all of Vincent’s food, which is mainly compromised of human junk food, complete with packaging, onto a little red wagon. Seeing that RJ has now amassed a collection of food that is taller and wider than he is, one would think that he has enough food. Spying a can of “Spuddies” potato chips in Vincent’s hands, RJ stealthily replaces the can with a cup. By the law of comedy, Vincent can sleep through RJ nosily crunching through pie pans and the crunching sound of a loaded wagon hitting the ground after a fall from several feet, but once RJ opens up that can of Spuddies, Vincent immediately awakens. Vincent is rightfully angry at RJ for trying to steal his stuff. RJ defends himself by saying that the food is still in the cave so technically, it’s not stolen, and wouldn’t you know it? An accidental nudge calls the wagon load of food to fall from the cave onto a highway, where it is then demolished by a truck. RJ buys himself some time by promising to get everything that got destroyed back, by the time Vincent wakes up from hibernation in a week’s time. We then cut to a group of forest animals awakening from hibernation. The group is led by Verne (Garry Shandling), an ornate box turtle, and the group sets off to find enough food to last them through winter. While searching for his nuts, Hammy the squirrel (Steve Carell) come across something gigantic and scary that he has never seen before. He leads the others to his discovery, and the other animals are mystified by the thing they call “Steve”. By this point, RJ has found the little group of foragers and decides that these gullible animals might make it easier to get everything he needs to repay Vincent. Vincent crosses through “Steve” and comes across a horrifying sight. A modern suburban neighborhood. Throwing away the improbability of constructing an entire suburban area, in the time span of a few months aside, Vern doesn’t fare too well in this new environment and after some comedic slapstick, Vern finds himself back with his friends. Vern then tells them of the horrors on the other side of “Steve”, and that half the forest is gone, thus making it much more difficult for them to find food. RJ then introduces himself and begins to enlighten the forest animals about the beauty of suburbia, starting with clarifying that “Steve’, is really a hedge. Things go relatively well at first until the President of the Homeowners Association, Gladys Sharp (Allison Janney), calls a bumbling exterminator named Dwayne LaFontant (Thomas Haden Church) to exterminate the “vermin”. “No, not humanly, as inhumanly as possible”, what a sweetheart. The rest of the film centers around RJ’s quest to get enough food for Vincent, as new thoughts of what really matters in life, begin to take shape in RJ’s mind.

            In theory, I should hate this film. It has a clichéd plot, including the loathsome liar revealed trope. The woodland critters aren’t particularly well developed, RJ could arguably be considered the vilian of the film as he tried to steal Vincent’s food, and Vincent was right to be angry when RJ destroyed his stockpile of food. RJ manipulates a group of naïve starving creatures, who take him in when he has no place to and treat him like one of the family. Despite all of these acts of kindness RJ still goes through with his plan, causing the woodland animals to get captured. Granted he does go back and help them out in the end, but the fact that RJ would do such manipulative and selfish acts to characters that showed immense kindness to him, should make RJ seem like an irredeemable character, and yet I don’t find myself disliking him. I think this is mainly due to Bruce Willis’ performance as the character. Willis provides RJ with a suave confident charismatic voice that allows the character to hoodwink the other characters. A lot of actors were considered for the role of RJ and I find Willis to be the perfect match for the character. As for the plot, while it is predictable, I had fun watching it and the characters just added to my enjoyment of the film, despite their clichéd personalities.

            One aspect I enjoyed about this film is the sense of scale. Like films such as A Bug’s Life, Oliver and Company and Antz, the film remembers that the primary characters are small, and things that may seem small or average size will seem gigantic to a turtle or squirrel, a large toy car would be large enough for them to ride on, and an actual size car would look like an oncoming wall of death. This adds a sense of realism to the feature as we get to view the world of Over the Hedge from the point of view of characters that are only a few feet tall. As such, there are a lot of low angle shots, that are used creatively and make the movie more entertaining to watch.

            This film does play rather loose with logic, utilizing some aspects of animal behavior and completely dismissing others. This is normally played for gags, for example, a running joke throughout the film is Verne constantly getting knocked out of his shell. In real life, a turtle’s shell is built into its skeleton, with most turtles only having enough room to pull their heads and limbs in. On could say the decision was made because it symbolizes Vern coming out of his shell, and becoming more accepting of new things, but let’s face it. The real reason Vern can be separated from his shell is so the film could have numerous shots of Vern’s butt. Turtle butts, hysterical. The woodland critters would also have varying degrees of hibernation, so some of the characters would wake up from hibernation earlier than others. However, the film does feature several realistic aspects. For example, when a squirrel senses danger, its first instinct is to stand motionless, which Hammy does several times throughout the film. Another realistic aspect is turtles can feel a vibration that warns it when a predator is near, this happens to Vern several times throughout the film, although the “tingle” is normally set off when Vern is worried about something. I know these little tidbits are rather moot, as the film is aimed at an audience that wouldn’t pick up on these little details, but I find it rather fascinating when a film that is geared towards kids actually takes the time to conduct actual research.

            Is this one of the greatest animated films of all time? No, not by a long shot, but with interesting characters and a humorous story, Over the Hedge is a fun film that is sure to delight kids and adults that just want to see a simple fun film. This film may not posses the majesty or grace of other animated films such as Finding Nemo, Lilo & Stitch or Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, but I still find this film to be enjoyable despite its flaws. If you’re looking for a film that has emotional depth or characters that will leave a deep lasting impact on its audience, this film is not for you. However, if you want a fun enjoyable film that gets a few laughs and has an amazing score, I’d recommend checking this film out.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit 9/10

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PG, 104m, 1988

Starring Bob Hoskins (Eddie Valiant), Christopher Lloyd (Judge Doom), Charles Fleischer (Roger Rabbit, Benny the Cab, Greasy and Psycho), Stubby Kaye (Marvin Acme), Alan Tilvern (R.K. Maroon), Lou Hirsch (Baby Herman), Kathleen Turner (Jessica Rabbit), Amy Irving (Jessica Rabbit’s singing voice), Joanna Cassidy (Dolores), Mel Blanc (Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Tweety Bird and Sylvester.), Wayne Allwine (Mickey Mouse), Tony Pope (Donald Duck) Mae Questel (Betty Boop), Russi Taylor (Minnie Mouse), Nancy Cartwright (Toon Shoe), Richard Williams (Droopy) and June Foray (Wheezy and Lena Hyena). Directed by Robert Zemeckis and Richard Williams. Produced by Frank Marshall and Robert Watts. Screenplay by Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman. Music by Alan Silvestri. Based on Who Censored Roger Rabbit by Gary K. Wolf.

            The Disney Studio is no stranger when it comes to combining animation and live-action. One of Walt Disney’s earliest projects was the Alice Comedies, which featured a live action girl, in a cartoon world. As time would go on, Disney would attempt to perfect this technique with film like Song of the South, Pete’s Dragon and Mary Poppins. With Who Framed Roger Rabbit, the Disney Studio truly perfected the art of combining live action with animation.

            Set in 1947, in Los Angeles, the film opens with a cartoon short featuring Baby Herman (Lou Hirsch) and Roger Rabbit (Charles Fleischer) in Somethin’s Cookin. The short is an excellent callback to cartoons from the Golden Age of Animation, and the care and love that went into the making of this segment truly shines through. During the filming of the short, Roger accidentally has birds flying over his head, when the script called for stars floating above his head. Roger tries to convince the director that he can produce starts, when Eddie Valiant (Bob Hoskins) walks in. Eddie is a detective, who has a prejudice against toons, ever since a toon killed his brother by dropping a piano on his head. Eddie is hired by the head of Maroon Studios, R.K. Maroon (Alan Tilvern) to investigate reports of infidelity against Roger’s wife, Jessica Rabbit (Kathleen Turner). Eddie goes to a nightclub, where he sees Jessica Rabbit perform. He secretly stakes out her dressing room and takes several incriminating pictures of Jessica and the head of Acme Corporations and the owner of Toontown, Marvin Acme (Stubby Kaye) playing patty-cake. Eddie and Maroon show the pictures to Roger and he naturally gets distraught. After a drink he runs into the night screaming that he and Jessica will be happy, no matter what. The next morning a drunken Eddie is awoken with the news of Marvin Acme’s murder. Eddie goes to the scene of the crime and learns that somebody had dropped a safe on Acme’s head. While at the crime scene, he meets the cryptic Judge Doom (Christopher Lloyd). Doom is well known as a quick dispenser of harsh justice, as he has figured out a way to kill a toon, using a concoction known as “the dip”.  The demonstrates the potency of the dip by dipping an innocent sentient cartoon shoe (Nancy Cartwright) into the vat, while it screams and slowly melts away. Eddie returns to his office where he finds Baby Herman, who tries to convince Eddie of Roger’s innocence, as Roger is a close friend of Baby Herman’s, and he knows that Roger would never actually kill anyone. Baby Herman then tips off to Eddie that Acme’s murder might have something to do with his murder, as Acme had promised to leave Toontown to the toons after his death. Eddie grows tired of this and pushed Baby Herman’s baby carriage away causing him to drop his cigar, which Baby Herman then wails in despair. Inside Eddie’s office Eddie finds Roger, who begs Eddie to help him and clear his name. Eddie reluctantly agrees and the two set off to clear Roger’s name and uncover the mystery of Marvin Acme’s death, as well as the location of Acme’s will.

Some may find the best elements of this film to be the compelling characters and engaging story. Others will find the best aspect of this movie to be the flawless combination of animation and live action. While I see where these people are coming from, my taste are far simpler. I love how they feature Warner Bros, Disney, Fletcher and other classic carton characters all living together in the same world. Seeing Daffy Duck and Donald Duck play off each other always brings a smile to my face and seeing Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny in the same scene is highly entertaining. This also plays into another pleasure I get out of this film. I really enjoy spotting and recognizing obscure animated characters that make an appearance in the background. I understand this is an extremely niche thing to say, but I just get a kick out of seeing obscure characters such as the Reluctant Dragon and José Carioca, as well as a ton of characters from The Silly Symphonies and Merry Melodies shorts. Although to be fair, this can lead to nitpicking as the film is set in 1947, and characters such as Tinker Bell, Mr. Toad, Marvin the Martin and the Penguin Waiters from Mary Poppins. However, this is only a minor nitpick, as only major animation buffs will notice these errors, and one could make the argument that the characters existed in the Toon World, but had yet to be discovered and cast in the roles that would make them the icons we all know and love. I also enjoy doing this while watching The House of Mouse, and while playing the Epic Mickey games.

One message this film has is overcoming one’s prejudices. In the beginning of the film Eddie despises toons, and it’s perfectly understandable why he feels this way. Eventually Eddie comes around and learns that not all toons are bad. Before his brother died, Eddie and his brother were well known in Toontown, as detectives who were kind to toons and would treat them with respect. After his brother died Eddie refused to take another case involving toons again, and the only reason he agreed to work for take the pictures of Jessica, was because it was a human, R.K. Maroon, who had hired him. Eddie only initially helps Roger, because he got roped into the conspiracy and only later does he begin to open up to Roger, and toons in general. One could also note a parallel between the treatment of toons as second-class citizens and minorities in the show business during the 1940s. In the opening scene the director halts production of the short, because Roger can’t get stars to hover over his head, after a refrigerator falls on his head. Roger claims that the refrigerator doesn’t hurt him, and he can continue doing takes, to which the director replies, “I’m not worried about you getting hurt, I’m worried about the refrigerator” (the fridge is not sentient). This shows the general disregard for the well-being of minorities during this time period, as many minority workers had to take demeaning jobs, just to be in a feature.

Bob Hopkins does a fantastic job in this film. He has to convincingly portray a character that in interacting with characters that he himself can not see, and he pulls this off masterfully. He also has great range in this film. For the majority of the film he plays a stern washed up alcoholic detective, but when he tries to be funny, he really knocks it out of the park. This is most notable when he performs an improvised song and dance, slapstick routine. Another notable performance is Christopher Lloyd as Judge Doom. He plays a no-nonsense Machiavellian character, and he is by far one of the creepiest and most threatening character to be brought to film. I know people who were terrified of him as a kid, and this is a testament to how great of a vilian he truly is. One minor side note I have is the addition of Mae Questel as Betty Boop. This is the first time since 1938, that Mae Questel voiced her iconic character. I don’t really have anything real to say about this, other than I find it to be an excellent reference.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a wonderful film and it instilled a new interest in animation that helped usher in the Disney Renaissance, as well as showing that animation doesn’t have to cater to a strictly children’s demographic. This is the type of film that I always wanted to see as a kid. I loved the characters featured in Disney and Warner Bros animation and I always wanted to see them play off one another. This film satisfies this desire by delivering a suspenseful story, compelling characters and powerful performances. This film proves that when studios put aside their differences and collaborate, something magical occurs.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame 8.5/10

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With the Voice Talents of Tom Hulce (Quasimodo), Tony Jay (Judge Claude Frollo), Demi Moore (Esmerelda), Kevin Kline (Phoebus), Paul Kandel (Clopin Trouillefou), Charles Kimbrough (Victor), Jason Alexander (Hugo), Mary Wickes (Laverne), Heidi Mollenhauer (Esmerelda’s singing voice), David Ogden Stiers (Archdeacon), Frank Welker (Djali and baby bird), Corey Burton (Brutish Guard and Miller), Bill Fagerbakke (Oafish Guard), Gary Trousdale (The Old Heretic) and Mary Kay Bergman (Quasimodo’s Mother). Directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise. Produced by Don Hahn. Screenplay by Tad Murphey. Irene Mecchi, Bob Tzudiker, Noni White and Jonathan Roberts. Music by Alan Menken. Based on The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo.

            Following the disappointment of Pocahontas, the Disney Studio hoped that their next film The Hunchback of Notre Dame would do better, it didn’t. While not a box-office failure, or even a critical failure, this film didn’t make as much money as Pocahontas did, what’s worse is this film had almost twice the budget Pocahontas did, and it still had the directors of Beauty and the Beast at the helm, so what went wrong? While I personally like this film, I find that the general public doesn’t want to see a film with such a dark subject matter. Which is a real shame as Disney has had dark material in their films in the past and it turned out great. Examples include Fantasia, Pinocchio and Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. I also find this film the wrong film to try and bounce back with, however this film was already well into production by the time Pocahontas was released, so I guess it was just poor timing on Disney’s part.

            The film opens with a beautiful panning shot of 1482 Paris. We then cut to Clopin Trouillefou (Paul Kandel), who is a Romani puppeteer. He tells a group of children the origin of the mysterious bell ringer. Twenty years prior to the events of the film, a group of Romani people attempts to enter Paris illegally. They are captured in a trap set by Judge Claude Frollo (Tony Jay) and his cronies. Seeing that Quasimodo’s mother (Mary Kay Bergman) trying to hide a bundle, the soldiers assume that the bundle is stolen goods, when they try to take the bundle from her, she flees. Frollo gives chase on his horse and eventually catches up to her. He grabs hold of the bundle, while Quasimodo’s mother desperately clings on. Frollo delivers a kick to her face, causing her to fall and break her neck on the stone steps of Notre Dame. Seeing that the bundle is a baby hunchback, Frollo attempts to drown the baby in a well. He’s stopped by the Archdeacon (David Ogden Stiers), and Frollo agrees to raise the child as his own, on the condition that the baby is to be kept in the bell tower. Twenty years later, Quasimodo (Tom Hulce) has grown to a kind young man, who desperately wants to join the denizens of Paris. Frollo warns Quasimodo that if he was to be seen by the common people of Paris, they’d mock him and treat him as a monster. Quasimodo’s friends, the gargoyles, convince him to attend the Feast of Fools, in a disguise. Esmerelda (Demi Moore) unwittingly exposes Quasimodo and the crowd soon turns on him, tying him to a wheel and throwing food at him. Esmerelda, seeing a coloration between Quasimodo’s ill-treatment, to the ill-treatment of her people, frees Quasimodo. Seeing this Frollo orders his men to arrest her, as he had intended for Quasimodo to learn a lesson from his ill-treatment. She escapes and Frollo orders a city-wide lockdown in order to find her. She manages to escape via the help of Quasimodo, promising to return to visit him sometime. Consumed by lust, Frollo sends his troops all over Paris in order to find Esmerelda. In the process her rounds up many gypsies and arrests them in a manner eerily similar to the Nazi’s methods centuries later. Frollo goes to far in the eyes of Phoebus (Kevin Kline), the captain of the guards, when Frollo sets fire to a Miller’s (Corey Burton) house, with the Miller’s wife and two small children trapped inside. Phoebus helps the family escape and is about to be executed for insubordination, when he’s helped by Esmerelda. During his attempt to flee, Phoebus is wounded by an arrow and is rescued by Esmerelda, who beings him to stay with Quasimodo. Frollo pays Quasimodo a visit and informs him that he plans on raiding the Court of Miracles, which is the hideout of the gypsies, and capturing everyone inside, including Esmerelda. Now it’s up to Phoebus and Quasimodo to try to warn the gypsies of the impending threat and rescue Paris from Frollo’s, fascist grasp.

            The animation on this film is for the most part amazing. The backgrounds are especially beautiful and truly represents the beauty of Paris. The Gothic architecture and the beautiful stained-glass windows inside Notre Dame, serve as a testament to how beneficial the Disney Studio’s research trips are to capturing the beauty of the 15th century Parisian landscape. The backgrounds are further enhanced by the use of CGI angle shots, which really brings out the beauty of the backgrounds. The only real flaw, I have with the film is with the film’s use of CGI. This is most notably in crowd shots. I get that this was a method meant to save money, but the effect do not hold up to today’s scrutiny. However, the use of CGI was used brilliantly in bringing to life the stained-glass windows inside Notre Dame, as well as the hauntingly beautiful flame dancing Esmerelda.

            The characters of this film, while vastly different than their book counterparts, are highly entertaining. Quasimodo is a compassionate young man, who’s been forced to spend most of his life in isolation due to his physical appearance. His character is so compelling because audiences can instantly relate to him, and his want for social acceptance. Esmerelda is one of the stronger female leads in Disney’s history. She saves both Quasimodo and Phoebus several times, and she only has to get rescued a few times, leading to some truly awesome moments. Her relationship with Phoebus is believable and doesn’t fell forced, hey actually talk with each other and help each other out, allowing each person to seethe admirable qualities of the other, allowing for a stronger relationship. Frollo ranks among one of the greatest Disney villains. He is the physical embodiment of a self-righteous person, who believes that because they are serving something that is bigger than themselves, they can do no wrong. The weakest and most annoying of all the characters is the gargoyles. They largely serve as the film’s comedic relief, while serving as companions to Quasimodo. This would have been fine, had they been figments of Quasimodo’s imagination, brought on by years of isolation. At first the film frames them in this light, but it’s revealed in the final battle that they have actual sentience and can interact with real objects.

Like several of the animated films released during the later part of the Disney Renaissance, this film suffers from a massive tone problem. While films such as Pocahontas and Hercules, suffer from tone problems, I find this film suffers the most from tone problems. The film flip flops between comedic antics, often involving the talking gargoyles, to the harsh realities of the injustices of the world, as seen through the eyes of Quasimodo and the gypsies. This is especially notable when you compare the songs “Guy like you”, where the gargoyles dance and sing about how great of a guy Quasimodo is, to “Hellfire”, where Frollo openly sings about his burning lust for Esmerelda, and if he can’t have her, then she’ll burn at the stake. This film is defiantly one of the darkest in the Disney canon, ranking among films like The Black Cauldron and “The Night on Bald Mountain” segment from Fantasia. Some parents will see the dark themes present in this movie, and they won’t let them watch it. My parents heavily censored what I was allowed to watch as a kid, and yet they allowed me to watch this film. As a kid I enjoyed this film, and as an adult I enjoy this film even more, due to its willingness to go into darker territory.

With gorgeous animation, compelling characters and an amazing score, The Hunchback of Notre Dame should be one of Disney’s greatest films. Unfortunately, the film is riddled with tone problems and annoying characters, that seriously serve as a detriment to this film. However, the short comings of this film are easy to overlook when one looks at the big picture, and in this critic’s opinion, the big picture looks truly spectacular.

Pocahontas 7.5/10

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G, 81m, 1995

With the Voice Talents of Irene Bedard (Pocahontas), Judy Kuhn (Pocahontas singing voice), Mel Gibson (John Smith), Christian Bale (Thomas), David Ogden Stiers (Ratcliff and Wiggins), John Kassir (Meeko), Russell Means (Chief Powhatan), Jim Cummings (Chief Powhaten’s singing voice), Billy Connolly (Ben), Joe Baker (Lon), Linda Hunt (Grandmother Willow), Frank Welker (Flit), Danny Mann (Percy), Michelle St. John (Nakoma), James Apamut Fall (Kocoum) and Gordon Tootoosis (Kekata). Directed by Mike Gabriel and Eric Goldberg. Produced by Jim Pentecost. Screenplay by Carl Binder, Susannah Grant and Philip LaZebnik. Music by Alan Menken. Based on the life of Pocahontas.

            Pocahontas marks the first time the Disney Animation Studio attempted to create a film based on the life of characters that existed in real life. This film was released during the Disney Renaissance, and I find this film to be the beginning of the end for the Disney Renaissance. Following the Best Picture nomination for Beauty and the Beast, the Disney staff set out to win the Oscar gold. The film went into production around the same time as The Lion King, and many in the Disney Studio initially thought that Pocahontas was going to be the stronger feature and finally win the Oscar gold. So much so, that some people had to be practically bribed to work on The Lion King. When The Lion King was released in theaters in 1994, the film became a monster financial and critical success. It became the highest grossing film of 1994, and the highest grossing film until 2003, when Finding Nemo surpassed it. So, when Pocahontas was released in 1995, many thought this film would surpass the success of The Lion King. The result was disappointing, while the film was a critical and financial success, the film didn’t garner the same amount of success as earlier Disney Renaissance films such as The Little Mermaid, The Lion King or Beauty and the Beast.

            The film opens with a ragtag group of explorers setting sail for the New World. The expedition is led by Governor Ratcliff (David Ogden Stiers), whose main goal is to (what else?) get rich. The rest of the crew have their own reasons for journeying to the New World, they all look up to John Smith (Mel Gibson), who is a famous explorer, noted for his ability to fight. Meanwhile Chief Powhatan (Russell Means) and a group of warriors have returned from a successful campaign against a rival tribe. Like any good father, as soon as he gets back Powhatan immediately asks about the whereabouts of his daughter. Like most of the Disney heroines of the 90s, Pocahontas (Irene Bedard) is a free-spirited young woman who isn’t satisfied with her mundane life and wants to experience something new. Something new does arrive in the guise of the European explorers. While the majority of the crew starts digging for gold (no, not like that) and setting up camp, John Smith goes exploring. He eventually comes across Pocahontas and is quick to point his gun at her. He lowers his weapon when he sees how beautiful she is. They stare at each other while a whimsical score plays, and then Pocahontas rightfully high tails it out of there. John eventually catches up to her, and through the power of plot convince, they are able to understand each other and start to develop a friendship. Meanwhile, back at the settlers’ camp, Powhatan has sent a few Native American scouts to try to understand more about the invaders who have come to their shores. The scouts get discovered and a fight ensues, this results in one of the Native Americans getting shot and the others carry him back to their village. This enrages Chief Powhaten and he calls for the other chiefs from other tribes to band together to take down their common enemy. As tensions flare, it’s up to Pocahontas and John Smith to halt the hostilities before things get out of hand.

            In theory this film’s premise should have worked out great. It takes the idea of star-crossed lovers from works such as West Side Story and Romeo and Juliet and sets it in Colonial America. Add a dash of racism on both sides, showing that racial hatred hurts both sides, and in the end, nobody wins, and you have the making of a potential masterpiece. In practice the film ends up with a massive tone problem, that serves as a massive detriment to the film. This is most notable in the parallels of racism as portrayed by Meeko and Percy, to the Native Americans and the Colonists. The relationship between Meeko and Percy is played for laughs, but the relationship between the Native Americans and the Colonists is played for grim realism. The film also has way too many comedic moments, for a film that is supposed to have such a serious tone. I get when serious films have a few moments that is played for laughs, but it only works if the jokes are used sparingly and at appropriate moments.

            One of the areas the film truly shines, is in the animation. The animation of the characters is drawn with a more realistic feel, than is commonplace in Disney animation. This is most notable in the facial region, where even the eyes are drawn smaller than the typical Disney style. The place where the film’s beauty truly shines is in the backgrounds. The Virginian landscape is just visually breath taking and it really captures the unspoiled beauty of the land. The animation isn’t without its flaws, however. In several scenes some of the background characters will be standing idly by and they end up looking more like statues or background scenery, as they don’t even blink in some scenes.

            Taken together, Pocahontas and John Smith do have some chemistry together, but when you pull them apart, they’re come off as bland. John Smith is just your basic white guy; whose seeking adventure and Pocahontas is your basic free-spirited young woman who wants more out of life than the standard status quo. What makes them stand out is their relationship and its meaning. Their relationship serves to show that through the power of love and friendship, the evils brought by hatred and prejudice can be defeated. Governor Ratcliff is the embodiment of European colonist greed. He doesn’t care if an entire people’s way of life as well as their livelihood is destroyed, what he cares about is making himself wealthy and climbing up the British social ladder. This results in a rather stale vilian as we’ve seen the greedy vilian trope played out so many times, that it’s become cliched. This wouldn’t be so bad if the character was interesting. Ratcliff really doesn’t have any qualities that make him stand out as a great vilian, and his status of a vilian is further diminished with lines such as “see how I glitter”.  The side characters like Thomas, Wiggins, Ben and Lon are interesting, but they get practically no character development, and most are just there to serve as comedic relief. I do feel there was a missed opportunity with the character of Thomas, as the film built him up as a young naïve character, who still has much to learn and looks toward John Smith for guidance. The film could have had Thomas overcome his shortcomings and take up a leadership role and possibly have him have a larger role in the climax.

            While this film was made with a great deal of care and passion, I actually find this film to be the weakest in the Disney Renaissance. The story is boggled down with tone problems, and several weak characters, most notably in the vilian Ratcliff. The film’s saving grace is its fantastic animation and stellar songs. However, this film does have its audience and the relationship between John Smith and Pocahontas is one of the most believable in the studio’s history.