My reaction: We’re getting into this tradition of pointing out the familiar names in the credits (which, of course, play before the movie). It’s fun. It’s also fun that it’s been like 7 weeks and we’re still doing this. I don’t know if either of us thought it would last very long.
I actually really liked Make Mine Music, which I’ve never seen before, especially after the last two weeks. This is like Fantasia-light. Like a few little musical stories: “Peter and the Wolf,” “Johnnie Fedora and Alice Bluebonnet,” “Casey at the Bat.” It was really fun, and not too long.
I liked that the music that wasn’t chosen wasn’t all classical. It was a good mix of musics and animations. I would watch it again.
My reaction: is best summed up by this side-by-side comparison:
Halfway through the movie:
Drew: Do you like this?
Me: It’s okay.
Drew: I like this.
Half an hour later, the movie is still going:
Drew: We can stop, if you want.
Me: I’m kind of over it.
Drew: We don’t need over an hour of this.
Sorry, Three Caballeros. There are, as Drew put it, bound to be “some lame weeks” during this project.
B’s reaction: He was having An Evening. So he spent a lot of time walking around crying, or throwing himself on the floor. Alternating between that, and cracking up at some of our antics.
Next weekend, we should go back to watching these in the mornings.
My reaction: This is the first in a line of more obscure Disney movies which I have never seen. The next month or so is going to be interesting. Saludos Amigos is only about 45 minutes long. It’s a mix of live action and animation, but no matter the medium, the vague racism is sprinkled throughout. I’m not sure that I was captivated by this one the way I have been by the other, more conventional, Disney films.
B’s reaction: He did watch a little bit, or at least, he sat where he could see the TV and practiced stacking blocks. Good enough for me!
My reaction: First of all, when was the last time you watched Bambi? I had forgotten how much I like it. It’s such a pretty movie. The animation is really beautiful. All the animals are just so freaking cute. And it’s fully orchestrated – all the rain drops and steps and falls and leaves blowing – all set to music.
Possibly when Bambi’s mother named him, and then called him “My little Bambi,” and licked his head as he fell asleep…possibly I teared up a little bit.
There were a lot of parenting jokes to be made. Like when all the animals come to see Bambi, and then the owl says “Looks like someone’s getting sleepy,” I was imagining that perhaps Bambi’s mom finds that annoying. Or when they’re out for a walk, and the quail mother says, “And where’s the young prince this morning?” Maybe Bambi’s mom wishes she could say, “He’s right behind me, and you know what? If I did need some time alone, that’s fine too. Why don’t you just parent your own brood of quailings?” Just…you know, haha.
Also, I think our DVD was restored or something, because the disappearing raccoon that I remember from the island (after the fire) was no longer disappearing…
B’s reaction: Oh, I think he really enjoyed it.
It’s getting harder and harder to get a nice calm picture where the DVD, the child, and the parent are all in focus.
Inversely, I have more and more belly pics on my phone.
My reaction: The longest Disney movie (Fantasia) is followed by the shortest Disney movie. Dumbo weighs in at 64 minutes. Love it. I haven’t seen this movie in ages, but Drew and I both remember it like it was yesterday. I love the beginning, where the baby animals are all being “delivered.” (Ha! see what I did there?) Dumbo is from early enough in the Disney years that there’s still un-PC stuff (like the faceless roustabouts putting up the big top; or the crows, led by Jim Crow). “Baby Mine” is still a tear-jerker, although honestly at that point in the movie my baby mine was freaking out about something so I missed most of the song.
B’s reaction: Eventually I’m sure I’ll have some comment besides “He didn’t really watch this one.” But for now…he still didn’t really watch this one.
My reaction: So much nudity. A drunk donkey. So many things that wouldn’t be in a movie made today. It’s really a bummer that the need to be politically correct has made it impossible that Disney would ever make another movie like this. And that’s all I’m going to say about that.
I remember seeing this in the theatre – according to the internet it must have been the rerelease in 1990. That is a long movie for a 6-year-old (and her 4-year-old brother) to sit through. I remember the live-action parts being really long…but actually they aren’t.
There are a lot of segments in Fantasia. I’m not crazy about the abstract stuff at the beginning. But other than that, I like pretty much everything. I would say, the Nutcracker Suite stuff is near the top. So is Night on Bald Mountain. And Beethoven’s Pastoral.
Although, rewatching Fantasia with fresh eyes made me realize that it was significant inspiration for what I used to draw when I was a kid. The abstract stuff in particular. But also ponies and fish.
B’s reaction: Dang, this is a long one. Did you know Fantasia is 2-plus hours? And there’s a lot of downtime with the live-action segments.
As per usual, B didn’t watch much of it. But we’ve gotten smart enough to watch them on weekend mornings, rather than trying to do it at night, so at least he’s happy while he’s running around not watching the movies.
Covering up the Fantasia 2000 half of the DVD cover
My reaction: How could I have forgotten that this is, hands down, the scariest Disney movie? Kidnapping (multiple instances); slavery (multiple instances); boys turning into donkeys and being sold to the salt mines; Monstro…this movie would never be made in 2014.
This guy might be the scariest thing I’ve ever seen:
Please note: I deliberately resized this picture so it’d be smaller (less scary), and I didn’t use the screen grab of the really terrible face (“They never come back…as BOYS!”) because I didn’t want myself to have to see that whenever I scroll down. This was practically the only part of the movie where B plopped down in my lap, and I totally covered his eyes for this scene.
Aside from being scary, some other things we found jarring were:
Geppetto is a weird guy. Like, he is so co-dependent on Figaro, and when he goes to find his “son,” he takes his goldfish with him. Strange.
PS. He’s only known that son for about 12 hours.
Pleasure Island all around. Like, they’re all drinking beer and there are giant Indian statues hurling handfuls of cigars out to all the “stupid little boys.”
You could never use the phrase “stupid little boys” like that in a move anymore.
B’s reaction: We watched in the morning this time, instead of the evening, so he was way more playful and active. He paid less attention to this one than to Snow White. Of course, given how scary Pinocchio is, that’s probably best. I’m ready to get into some harmless, fluffy, song-and-dance Disney movies. So, what’s next?…oh. Dumbo? Okay.
Frozen is Disney’s 53rd animated feature. We think this is a (slightly mathematically incorrect) sign that we should spend 2014 watching all the Disney movies, in chronological order, one per week (ish). We actually own most of them, and this will be a good excuse to take the shrink wrap off of some of those that are still in mint condition.
So we started tonight.
Movie: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Release year: 1937 My reaction: One time in college, Drew and I were watching this movie, and in the last like 20 minutes of it, we both fell asleep. It felt like we slept for hours, but when we woke up, it was still the part where the Queen is at the top of the mountain right before she falls off (spoiler alert). I don’t know how that happened. B’s reaction: He spent most of the time wandering around, and only sat down to watch with us a couple times. I’m okay with that. It’ll come in time.
There was A LOT of hype around Disney’s latest film, Frozen. So when Drew and I finally saw it, we were both like, “Oh, okay…I mean, okay.” Some reviewer was running around calling it “The best Disney film since The Lion King,” which…no. And our friends were really talking it up.
But we walked out of the theatre with a lot of questions about a lot of plot holes.
WARNING: There be spoilers ahead.
For instance:
1. Wait, why is Kristoff’s family the trolls? Wasn’t he the son of one of the ice men in the opening number? If he wasn’t someone’s kid, what was he doing there? Where’d he get a sled and a reindeer?
2. I’m not sure I understand why the trolls have to modify Anna’s memory. There’s no other way to fix her? Why do they have to create this big fear in Elsa and her family? (See number 6)
3. At the end. How does Elsa suddenly understand how to thaw everything with love? What the heck does that mean? And how does one project it onto a frozen kingdom?
4. Why do the villagers suddenly accept Elsa and her sorcery, when they were previously so scared of her? But now it’s ok because she made us an ice rink?
5. Okay. So Elsa is a sorceress, Anna takes off after her, and leaves Hans in charge of the kingdom. He rules benevolently, handing out food and blankets to people. And then he mourns Anna when they all believe she is dead. No one in the kingdom knows about his treachery…So why do they all applaud when Anna punches him?
6. Do the trolls have to apologize for ruining so much of Elsa’s life with their fear mongering?
So, like I said, Drew and I both walked out of the theatre a little bit blah. We were both glad that Disney had made this movie, found it enjoyable if not thrilling, happy it’s part of the Disney oeuvre, etc etc.
But then, a crazy thing happened. Over the next 5 days, we must have watched the video of Elsa’s (Idina Menzel’s) coming-of-age song, “Let It Go,” a total of 2000 times. That is only a slight exaggeration. The view count for this video goes up by, like, millions every day. It’s insane.
Here, watch it now:
And now tell me that you’re not like, drooling to see this movie (even if you’ve seen it before). The more I watched that video, the more I was like, “Yeah! I can’t wait to see Frozen again!”
I started spotifying the soundtrack, and making coworkers watch the “Let It Go” video with me.
For our holiday gift exchange at work, someone gave me a CD of the soundtrack. And I wasn’t disappointed.
One night, I just searched out scenes from the movie on YouTube, then watched some behind-the-scenes footage with Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel…then just watched some Kristen Bell videos. (She is adorable, by the way.)
So now, yeah, I’m a fan of Frozen.
But I’d still like to get answers for the questions above.
(Or am I being too picky? Should I just…LET IT GO??)
New York Thanksgiving 2006: Drew, our then-roommate JP, and I were just going to forego Thanksgiving entirely, until about 2pm when we decided that was nuts, and we ran to the closest grocery store (which closed at like 3pm) to assemble a makeshift Thanksgiving feast. The oven in our tiny Brooklyn apartment didn’t work, so we only bought things that we could cook on the stovetop or in the microwave. Drew thinks it was kind of sad, but I think it was just a mess. We’d only been in New York for like 3 months, and we just hadn’t gotten our sea legs yet.
New York Thanksgiving 2007: My parents came out, and we drove to their friends’ place in New Jersey. Apparently I still didn’t have my sea legs, as I rented a car from a place in Hoboken, and we had to go pick it up the day before, and then on Thanksgiving morning we tried to drive through Manhattan. Idiotic. I would do it so differently if I were doing it again.
New York Thanksgiving 2008: What are a bunch of crazy kids in their mid-20s to do, living in the Big Apple, three thousand miles away from their families? Have the franciest Thanksgiving of them all, of course! Thanksgiving 2008 started with us getting up early to start cooking, and start drinking while were at it. I believe Drew and I ran out of wine and had to walk down to the liquor store to buy more, and we got there before it even opened, and kind of hung around outside for awhile. CLASSY. Despite being completely inebriated by 10am, we put together quite a spread for six people. I have very fond memories of drunk Thanksgiving. (Not that I could handle that these days.)
That’s our door! And the elevator! And Erin excited that Joe is arriving.Checking the turkey – look at our weird kitchen.All three Chicago posters were Thanksgiving-ized. That’s some Disney level decorating.A pilgrim (Drew) and an Indian (Joe) at the first ThanksgivingLots of food. Lots of wine.
Happy Thanksgiving 2013! Make some memories, so that 5 years from now you can TBT this Thanksgiving.
The Cameraphone Diaries 