Day 43: Treasure Planet

Treasure Planet (2002)

Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Brian Murray, Emma Thompson, David Hyde Pierce, Martin Short, Michael Wincott, Laurie Metcalf, Roscoe Lee Browne

Songs:  "I'm Still Here," "Always Know Where You Are"

Treasure Planet is the forty-third Disney animated feature film, inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island.  It tells the story of young Jim Hawkins, who joins the crew of a spaceship and goes on an adventure across the galaxy.

The idea for the picture came about in 1985, when The Little Mermaid was pitched.  Then studio executive Jeffrey Katzenberg wasn't interested at the idea at the time, and the technology to make the film as envisioned didn't exist at the time, so the project laid dormant until it went back into development in the late 90s and began production in 2000.  The goal with Treasure Planet was to blend traditional animation and CGI, as well as to blend classic and futuristic.  Visually, they took inspiration from sci-fi films and classic storybook illustrations.

A 1911 Treasure Island illustration titled "One More Step, Mr. Hands" by N.C. Wyeth

This movie was exciting and really unique looking.  It's got this steampunk thing going on, so that's pretty cool.  The "Treasure Island in space" concept is cool, too.  I didn't see this movie as a kid (or, I should say, as a teenager, since I was 14 when it came out) because it looked like "a boy movie" to me at the time.  I liked it well enough when I saw it much later.  Not a favorite, I'm afraid, but a reasonable way to pass the time.

What I Liked: Captain Amelia, who is perfectly voiced by Emma Thompson.  Also the ending scene is really well done.

What I Disliked: While I didn't hate him, I have to admit B.E.N. is a tad on the annoying side.  I'm just humorless and heartless enough to say that.

Should You Watch This Movie: I'd give it a shot.

Day 42: Lilo & Stitch

Lilo & Stitch (2002)

Starring: Christopher Michael Sanders, Daveigh Chase, Tia Carerre, David Ogden Stiers, Kevin McDonald, Ving Rhames, Kevin Michael Richardson, Zoe Caldwell. Jason Scott Lee, Liliana Mumy, Kunewa Mook, Amy Hill, Susan Hegerty, Frank Welker

Songs: "He Mele No Lilo," "Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride" 

Lilo & Stitch is the forty-second Disney animated feature.  Set in Hawaii, it tells the story of an offbeat little girl who lives with her older sister and ends up getting what she thinks a dog but is actually a destructive alien.  

This movie was sparked by a desire to do an animated feature that wouldn't require a huge budget, like the studio had done with 1941's Dumbo, after the large budgets on Pinocchio and Fantasia. The movie's director Chris Sanders created the character in 1985 with the intention of publishing a children's book about him, but the book never came to be.  This seemed like a good use for the character, and when the studio made the realization that they'd never done a film set in Hawaii, the story turned in that direction.  Part of this film's unique look comes from the fact that they took inspiration from Hawaiian art and architecture, and unlike previous Disney films, the backgrounds were all done in watercolors.  

This movie is a lot of fun.  It's so pretty, it's got awesome music, and the animation is really skillfully done.  The character designs are even fantastic.  Nani is nothing like any of the other Disney women in the way she looks and the way she's built, and that's awesome.  I like this movie a lot and I always have.  This was the first Disney movie of my teenage years, but I did go see it in theaters.  I believe this was the last one I owned on VHS though before everything became more about DVDs.

What I Liked: The relationship between Lilo and Nani.  They're believable both as sisters and as a tight, loving little family.  It's really touching.  And despite the fact that diehard fans of a certain later Disney movie about sisters will claim otherwise, this is the first Disney movie that focuses on the love between siblings -- two sisters who have a great bond.

What I Disliked: When the lady at the animal shelter told Lilo that "Stitch" wasn't a real name.  Like, c'mon lady, let the girl name her weird alien dog what she wants to name him.

Should You Watch This Movie: Yes, I would recommend it.

Day 41: Atlantis: The Lost Empire

My apologies for posting this a day late and then editing the time stamp so it looks like I got it up on time.  Lol, anyways...

Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)

Starring: Michael J. Fox, James Garner, Cree Summer, Don Novello, Phil Morris, Claudia Christian, Jacqueline Obradors, Florence Stanley, David Ogden Stiers, John Mahoney, Jim Varney, Corey Burton, Leonard Nimoy

Songs: A score by James Newton Howard

Atlantis: The Lost Empire is the forty-first Disney animated film.  It tells the story of young explorer Milo Thatch, who takes a crew in search of the lost city of Atlantis.  This was Disney's first animated sci-fi adventure film.

Development began on this movie after the completion of 1996's The Hunchback of Notre Dame.  The studio wanted to do something different than the musicals they had been producing, and they took inspiration from Jules Verne's A Journey to the Center of the Earth.  Visual inspirations included Raiders of the Lost Ark, and the film was styled after comic book artist and graphic designer Mike Mignola's work.  Marc Okrand, the linguist who developed the Klingon language for Star Trek, created an Atlantean language.

The production was difficult and expensive, and unfortunately box office performance was modest and critical reviews were mixed.  To me it seems like that was probably because the movie was very different than what Disney had recently been doing and what people were used to.

This is a movie I didn't see in theaters.  I actually didn't see it the first time until I was a little older, but I did like it when I saw it, and still like it now.  I think it's really cool and enjoyable.

What I Liked: This is a really unique film in the Disney canon, and that's very cool.  Also the characters are really well developed and likable.  Well done there.  And also the score... perfect for a film like this.

What I Disliked:  My usual complaint for the films of this era... sometimes the CGI elements stick out around the traditionally animated elements like a sore thumb.  But to be fair, other times they're blended really well, really cohesive.  And this movie used more CGI than any previous traditionally animated Disney film, so it was an admirable effort.  It works really well in most places, but when it's rocky, it's noticeable.

Should You Watch This Movie: I'd definitely give it a shot.  It's really enjoyable... don't let the mixed reviews deter you.

Day 40: The Emperor's New Groove

The Emperor's New Groove (2000)

Starring: David Spade, John Goodman, Eartha Kitt, Patrick Warburton, Wendie Malick, Kellyann Kelso, Eli Russell Linnetz, Bob Bergen, Tom Jones, Patti Deutsch, John Fielder, Joe Whyte, Frank Welker

Songs: "Perfect World," "My Funny Friend and Me"

The Emperor's New Groove is Disney's fortieth animated feature.  It tells the story of selfish and spoiled young Emperor Kuzco who gets turned into a llama by his adviser Yzma and her bumbling henchman Kronk, and must make his way home with the help of peasant Pacha, despite the fact that he's planning to kick Pacha and his family out of their home so he can build a pool there.

This movie had a long and difficult development.  The idea dates back to 1994, when the story was to be called Kingdom of the Sun.  The story was going to focus on a selfish young emperor who meets a peasant that looks just like him.  The two pull a Prince and the Pauper and switch places, and sorceress Yzma turns the peasant into a llama in an attempt to protect her scheme for eternal youth.  This version of the story would have been more serious and also would have been a musical like previous Renaissance era Disney films.  But due to the fact that the last few films like that hadn't made as much money as the studio would have liked, they decided to retool the film into a buddy comedy.

An interesting fact is that while production on this film was shut down for the story to be retooled, the animators were kept busy working on the "Rhapsody in Blue" segment of Fantasia 2000, which was a late addition to that film.

This movie is really nice.  The art styling looks really cool -- the animation is sharp and the backgrounds are really pretty.  It shows the Incan influence really well.  It really only has the two songs (at the beginning and the end) but they were both good.  And it's just in general a fun film.  The characters are all great.  Their relationships are believable and their interactions are perfect.  The voice acting works really well.  It just all came together.  

I liked this movie a lot as a kid.  I believe I went to see it in the theater, and I do remember really enjoying it from the first time I saw it.  I still really love this movie.  It's one of my favorites.

What I Liked: The fact that this movie is so funny.  It's honestly the funniest one so far, maybe the funniest of them all.

What I Disliked: Nothing really.

Should You Watch This Movie:  Do yourself a favor and watch it now.  Like yesterday, even.

Spotlight on The Land Before Time

In light of the fact that the last post was about Dinosaur, a movie that many have compared to The Land Before Time, and also in light of the fact that I really liked that movie as kid but could not remember anything about it since it had been so long, I decided to watch it.  And though this is a Disney blog and that's not a Disney movie, I decided to do a little post about it, since there's a connection there.

The Land Before Time (1988)

Starring: Gabriel Damon, Candy Hutson, Judith Barsi, Will Ryan, Helen Shaver, Burke Byrnes, Bill Erwin, Pat Hingle

The Land Before Time is a Don Bluth film, produced by his company in conjunction with Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment.  It tells the story of Littlefoot, an orphaned Apatosaurus dinosaur who has to go to the Great Valley where there is food and water with his four friends Cera, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike.  The film was a huge critical and financial success and spawned over a dozen direct to video sequels.

In comparing this movie to Disney's Dinosaur, I have to admit, there are some major story similarities!  They both feature packs of dinosaurs migrating to find safety as well as food and water.  The main characters in both films are orphaned.  They even both have eggs rolling away in opening sequences, which are both more moody and realistic than the rest of the film.  Both films star talking dinosaurs though they originally did not intend to.

Overall, this movie is fun and cute, and though there are similarities between this and Dinosaur, I wouldn't call Dinosaur a rip-off.  I don't think having both films in your DVD library would be redundant, either.  Especially if you like dinosaurs.

Day 39: Dinosaur

Dinosaur (2000)

Starring: D.B. Sweeney, Ossie Davis, Alfre Woodard, Max Casella, Hayden Panettiere, Samuel E. Wright, Peter Siragusa, Julianna Margulies, Joan Plowright, Della Reese, Frank Welker

Songs: score composed by James Newton Howard

Dinosaur is the thirty-ninth Disney animated film.  It tells the story of Aladar, an Iguanodon dinosaur adopted by a family of lemurs.  When a meteor strike destroys their home, Aladar and his lemur family migrate and join up with a pack of dinosaurs in search of some place with water.  Released in 2000, it wasn't considered an official part of the Disney animated canon until 2008.

The idea to make a CGI film about dinosaurs dates back to 1988.  The first idea for the story was going to be much darker and end with the meteor that would cause the death of all the main characters.  The project was shelved until the '90s, when technology began to catch up with the original vision for the film. 

I don't have a lot to say about this one.  It was nice enough, cool looking and pretty entertaining.  It's a really unique entry in the Disney canon, so I appreciate that a lot.  I did feel like there was a bit of similarity between this and stories like Tarzan and The Jungle Book where an orphan from one culture is adopted into another.  That was neat.  And though the movie was a success, reviews were mixed.  The films critics have said the plot was predictable, which sure, it probably is somewhat but that didn't bother me.  The story is told well, so I could appreciate it.  And being Disney, there are a number of inaccuracies in the way the dragons and lemurs are portrayed.  I'm not an expert in that area, so I don't really feel comfortable commenting on that.  Another complaint is that there were too many similarities between this and The Land Before Time, which was made by Disney ex-pat Don Bluth.  While I loved that movie as a kid, I don't really remember it, so again I can't comment.  Though I do plan to revisit that film soon.

This is a movie I never saw as a kid.  I actually never saw it before today!  I did enjoy it though.  I would watch it again.

What I Liked: Aladar playing with the "kids."  And actually, Aladar is pretty sweet and cool in general.  He's a good character.

What I Disliked: As cutting edge as I'm sure this was in 2000, the CGI characters stick out noticeably on the live action backgrounds.  Part of me does feel it's unfair to criticize a movie for taking advantage of then current technology, but when it serves to make the movie look dated, I think that's fair.

Should You Watch This Movie: It's an enjoyable movie, but you could probably get away with skipping it.  If you want to see them all or you love dinosaurs, go for it.  Otherwise, I wouldn't call it a must see.

Day 38: Fantasia 2000

Fantasia 2000 (1999)

Starring: James Levine and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Steve Martin, Itzhak Perlman, Bette Midler, Penn & Teller, Eric Goldberg, James Earl Jones, Quincy Jones, Angela Lansbury, Wayne Allwine, Tony Anselmo

Songs: see below

Fasntasia 2000 is the thirty-eighth Disney animated feature.  Premiering in December 1999, it did the same thing as the original Fantasia and did a tour to several major US cities before its general release.  And like the original, it can be attributed to two different years because of this.  This film finally fulfilled Walt Disney's vision for Fantasia by taking a familiar segment ("The Sorcerer's Apprentice") and adding new ones.  The idea was for Fantasia to be a new experience for the audience every time they saw it.

The idea for this film, again, dates back to that original vision of Walt Disney's.  However when the original film lost money at the box office, the plan had to be abandoned.  Walt's nephew Roy pitched the idea of revisiting Fantasia again in the 1970s, and for a while the project was called "Musicana" and would focus on different cultures around the world.  The idea was again abandoned until around 1990, when production began in earnest.  

For the purposes of this blog, I'll treat this movie as a package film.

• The opening segment features beautiful colors and patterns with shapes that look like butterflies and bats, all set to Beethoven's "Symphony No. 5."  The colors here are so pretty and so enchanting.  It's a really beautiful opening for the film.
• Ottorino Respighi's "Pines of Rome" tells the story of a family of flying whales.  The music here is lovely, and the animation is beautiful.  The underwater sections are a big technological advancement over previous films that feature water -- even The Little Mermaid.
• George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" accompanies a story set in 1930s New York City.  The scene features intertwining stories about several separate people.  The art for this one is really cool, taking inspiration from Al Hirschfeld, much like Aladdin's Genie, whose supervising animator Eric Goldberg directed this piece.
• Han's Christian Andersen's "The Steadfast Tin Solider" is set to the tune of Dmitri Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 2.  It tells the story of a one legged toy solider who falls in love with a ballerina doll.  This piece is nice, but a bit darker in tone.  The animation, however, has an interesting look and is very pretty.
• "The Carnival of the Animals" by Camille Saint-Saëns is a really cute little segment about a flock of flamingos and a yo-yo.  This was the funniest and most fun piece of the lot.
• "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," with its music by Paul Dukas, stars Mickey Mouse as the titular character who gets himself into a ton of trouble by trying to experiment with magic.  This is the only piece that carried over from the original Fantasia.  It is just as much of a highlight here as it was in the original film.
• "Pomp and Circumstance" is an interesting piece.  It marries the music we traditionally only hear at graduation ceremonies and the story of Noah's Ark, with Donald Duck playing the part of Noah.  It sounds crazy but it all works perfectly.
• Igor Stravinsky's "Firebird Suite" tells of a Spring Sprite who awakens a Firebird and must watch it destroy the forest before she can restore it to its former glory.  This piece was beautiful and evocative, and the music and animation went together perfectly.

Overall, this movie is really nice.  One thing I said about Fantasia was that it was more art than entertainment.  Fantasia 2000 tries to add more fun, but it is still more of an experience than a diversion.  If you look at movies like Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King, they are certainly finely crafted pieces of art, but they're also accessible as entertainment.  While that's not really the case with movies like Fantasia and Fantasia 2000 (and some of the package films, for that matter), that isn't necessarily a bad thing.  These films can still be fun to watch because the music makes you feel things, and you get to be "told" a story without words.  That's where these movies succeed.

I liked this movie a lot when I first saw it.  I was eleven or twelve years old when I went to go see it at an IMAX theater, and it was a really cool experience that I still remember fondly.  I still like these movie today... and as a Disney nerd like myself it might be sacrilege to say this, but I like this one a bit better than the original. 

What I Liked: The animation is truly stunning.  This might actually be the most beautiful film thus far, or certain in a number of years.  Plus the moment when Mickey speaks to the conductors and goes and tells Donald he needs to go on stage.  Ahhh, wonderful.

What I Disliked: Nothing in particular jumps out at me.

Favorite Segment: "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" aside, because picking that would be way too obvious, I'd have to say "Rhapsody in Blue."  It was the most unique and also the most charming, plus I just love that song.

Least Favorite Segment: I did like all of them, so this is a tough question.  But if I had to pick, it would be a toss-up between "Pines of Rome" and "The Steadfast Tin Soldier."  Neither was terrible, and the animation and music were beautiful on both, but they didn't click quite as well as some of the other segments.

Should You Watch This Movie:  If you liked Fantasia, you'll likely like this.  If Fantasia's length put you off an otherwise enjoyable movie (like it did for me, especially as a child) you may find you prefer this film.  So yes, I would recommend this movie.