What I'm watching

#501/#52 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

In 1868, a mysterious sea monster has been apparently sinking ships all across the Pacific Ocean. Attempting to study the creature, French Professor Pierre Aronnax (Paul Lukas) and his assistant Conseil (Peter Lorre) join an American naval vessel charged with looking into the matter.  When the creature attacks however, they are amazed to find it is actually a technologically advanced submarine helmed by the strong-willed Captain Nemo (James Mason). Along with the naval ships only remaining crewman, Ned Land (Kirk Douglas), the pair are invited aboard to marvel at life beneath the waves but it quickly becomes apparent they are more prisoner than guest.

Having never read the book I can’t comment on how well they keep to the story, but Disney’s live action version is a fairly enjoyable watch. It’s quite slow in a number of places, which does really drag down the whole feel of the film, but the locations and set pieces are grandiose and impressive. The look of Nemo’s ship, the Nautilus, and the battle with the giant squid during a thunderstorm are truly iconic and particularly well done. The underwater elements, while really dragged out, must also have been notable to a 1950’s audience.

From the cast, Lukas was probably the least interesting, having to work as the audience surrogate, but he does well enough as the go between for Nemo and his fellow captives. Lorre gives a good comedic performance as the loyal but put upon assistant and works particularly well when interacting with Douglas’ character Ned. Douglas himself however, is what keeps the longer boring sections from becoming unbearable. He just brings a lust for life to the character and it’s hard not to smile along with him as he gets from one antic to the next.

Nemo is also enjoyable but in a totally different way. He has some depth to him, which is revealed as the story progresses and Mason portrays perfectly, but he’s at his best when he’s acting like a James Bond villain. He genuinely doesn’t give a damn about anyone on land and it really comes across when he’s interacting with Ned. They hate each other and it’s fun to see them spar. Mason allows you to see glimpses of the good man that was once beneath the veneer but now he has clearly gone off the deep end.

There are certainly a great deal of other live action Disney movies which are a lot lower than this early contribution to the genre but at the same time I don’t think I’d be rushing to rewatch it any time soon. Pleasant, with a good cast, but nothing special nowadays. 3/5

#490/#41 Blackbeard’s Ghost

New high school track coach Steve Walker (Dean Jones) inadvertently casts a spell which lets him, and only him, see the ghost of the pirate Blackbeard (Peter Ustinov). In order to let Blackbeard’s soul move on from limbo he must perform one good act and he decides to help his descendants save their home/hotel by wagering on the outcome of Walker’s track team at the county’s annual relays. The local gangsters however have other plans for the hotel and set out to hamper the team’s chances.

I watched the second half of this film when I was a kid, and I just loved it, but I could never find it again to see the entirety of the movie. Sky’s new Disney movie channel finally gave me the opportunity to rectify this however. It’s not as good as I remember it being but it’s still quite enjoyable in that quaint, live-action 60’s Disney sort of way. It’s no Mary Poppins, but it’s up there with Bedknobs and Broomsticks.

Jones and his love interest Suzanne Pleshette play off of each other well, maintaining an easy chemistry throughout the film and gaining a few laughs of their own, but the real buddy act of the piece is Jones and Ustinov. Ustinov is great comedic actor and Jones makes talking to the empty air still feel believable and entertaining but it’s when they’re a pair, and bouncing off of one another, that the comedy really shines through. It’s this ‘odd couple’ mentality which keeps the pace going but the slapstick and physical humour derived from having an invisible character which made me remember this as fondly as I did even years on for a half viewing. This is most apparent in the track meet, restaurant and gambling hall scenes as each makes the best use of Jones looking like a crazy person to everyone who can’t see Blackbeard, while Ustinov casual saunters around messing with everyone he comes in contact with.

Maybe not the pick of the litter from older live-action Disney, but it’s full of likeable characters, good comedy and is short enough to be worth a shot anyway. 4/5

#487/#38 Atlantis: The Lost Empire

(Rewatch)

Fringe archeologist Milo Thatch (Michael J Fox), believes has has finally unearthed the book which will allow for the rediscovery of the sunken city of Atlantis. Scoffed at by his University, but believed by an old family friend, Milo and a diverse crew of expedition experts set off in a newly created submarine to find the lost city. Atlantis, however, might have been better left lost.

(Light spoilers throughout)

Disney’s Atlantis feels like it should be better than it is. By premise, It feels like it should be counted amongst the great renaissance films of the 90’s, with the likes of the Lion King and Beauty and the Beast, but it never quite reaches that level of greatness. There are elements of it scattered throughout the film but they never knit together properly to give one cohesive whole, and as such never really lets the film become more than just alright.

Firstly, the animation is beautiful in places. All of the backgrounds, especially when the crew are traveling to and then reach Atlantis, are really quite lovely to witness. The character models, while a little angular, were an interesting stylistic choice over the more conventional Disney designs and different if nothing else. The CGI as well, while not seamlessly integrated, holds up well enough and gives the movie another little something different to it.

Secondly, the music is also quite pleasant. When blended with the animation in the crystal merging scene you end up with one of those great moments I mentioned earlier. There’s little to no dialogue throughout this scene and yet the power of the emotion and the event are still conveyed.

What’s stopping it from being up there with Disney’s finest then? The plot and most of the characters unfortunately. The narrative starts off strong with Milo’s interactions with the University and then getting underway with expedition but cracks begin to appear after they lose the sub and by the time the events taking place in Atlantis transpire, things are just getting silly, the plot’s riddled with holes and the audience is just supposed to accept a number of things which are ridiculous. Things like the Atlantians having all forgotten how to use their own tech even though we see at least two characters which were present at the sinking of the city and we’re told Atlantians live for thousands of years. It’s just lots of little inconsistencies like this which chip away at the good elements.

From the characters, Milo is a fine leading man and Kira, the Atlantian princess and Milo’s sort of love interest, is an interesting female lead but the main villain and the majority of the supporting characters/comic relief are just annoying. There’s too many of them to get any real depth of character and, while they have their moments, this leaves you largely uncaring about what happens to them. That’s pretty much the kiss of death for me I’m afraid. If I don’t relate to, or at least understand, a character then I can’t get invested in their story.

I want to like Atlantis more than I do, and it was definitely one of the only post Millennium Disney movies that seemed to still be reaching for that Disney magic of yester-year, but it just falls short in too many aspects to be anything more than just okay. Easily watchable but sub-standard when compared with its peers. 3/5

Hercules is 11, Pocahontas is 12 and Beauty and the Beast is 13 so excluding Little Mermaid all of the Disney Renaissance films are in my top 15. I was in fact raised in the 90’s alright but I also had a little sister who watched Pocahontas on loop and would wake up early so it was all we would ever watch. Didn’t matter how enjoyable it was initially, I kinda loathed that film for a while. It took some distance to enjoy it on its own again.

As for Hercules it’s still awesome (I used to recite Hades’ lines a lot) but I just liked Tangled a little bit more. Herc’s had more time to age and, while great, it’s not as seamless as some of the others from the same period.

What would your top 10 be then?

#475/#26 Winnie the Pooh (2011)

More adventures in the Hundred Acre Woods with Pooh Bear, Tigger, Piglet, Eeyore and the rest of the gang.

Like a lot of people, I suspect, I had completely forgotten this movie was a thing. I love the original ‘Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh’ Disney did back in 1977 but this just wasn’t on my radar at all and probably with good reason. Disney is very good at making animation and stories which can appeal to the whole family but this was purely designed for the little ones. That said lets look at this from an adult’s perspective.

The voice acting is off on everyone put Pooh and Rabbit. I know we can’t have the original voice actors (namely because they’re all dead) but given the voices are the main way we interact with these characters you’d think they’d want to completely nail that aspect of the movie. The muppets did it when most of their original voice actors didn’t come back, so you’d think Disney could do it again with these characters. Eeyore and Tigger especially sounded like someone doing a bad impression.

The animation was also too good (if that makes any sense). The original had this hand drawn softness to everything, which is done for the backgrounds in this film, but the characters are all just too sharp and well defined. It took away that home spun quaintness Winnie the Pooh should always have.

There were some good elements to the film as well though. John Cleese worked very well as the narrator, maintaining the same sort of tone that Sebastian Cabot did. Most of the songs sounded very much like Winnie the Pooh songs, even if there wasn’t anything as interesting as Helffalumps and Woozles among them. Lastly I thought Kanga was very good in this. She’s always very motherly, and fairly boring, in most of her portrayals but she was actually quite funny in this. I even laughed out loud at one of her lines.

This movie would have fit in perfectly with all of the direct to video movies, like the Tigger movie or the Heffalump movie, but it really didn’t need a theatrical release. It’s perfectly fine for the kiddies but there’s not a lot here for the adults. Kids 4/5 adults 1/5

#474/#25 Lilo & Stitch

Experiment 626 is an alien creature created against intergalactic law to be completely destructive. Escaping custody and crashing on Earth, it pretends to be a dog in order to hide from those hunting it, while using the humans that care for it as a protective shield. Those humans are a young girl named Lilo (Daveigh Chase) and her guardian/older sister Nani (Tia Carrere) who have recently lost their parents and are trying to keep their family together. Now named Stitch, Lilo and the experiment begin to bond and Stitch questions if there is more to life than just destruction.

Lilo and Stitch is one of those Disney films from the period after the Disney Renaissance which actually got a lot of good word of mouth. Other than Emperor’s New Groove this was rare, as the majority of those movies were mediocre at best, so I was interested to see if this one was actually better than it initially looks.

The good in this primarily comes from the relationship between the two sisters and their handling of the fallout from losing their parents. This was a type of relationship I hadn’t seen Disney dealing with before and they seem to represent it pretty well. Lilo acts out at times, but it never comes from a place of malice, while Nani is trying to be the responsible one but hasn’t become a saintly mother character overnight. She still reacts like a sister would in a couple of situations when pushed too far, which makes their relationship feel more natural. The social worker is also handled very well, as he is not portrayed as evil just because of his job. He genuinely feels like he wants to see Nani do well but he will take Lilo away if he deems it’s not the correct environment for her. Also he’s voiced by Ving Rhames so that’s just awesome.

The bad however, is most of the remaining film. Stitch is just an annoying character and all of the alien/space stuff feels silly and tacked on to a more interesting family dynamic story. I know it’s Disney, and they’re not going to do a straight animated drama, but by doing the sister’s relationship and grieving so well it actually tarnishes the rest of the film as a result by making it look childish and ridiculous.

I understand why people would be hyping this movie up, and it is a more interesting film than a lot of the others Disney was producing at the time, but it can’t really compete with classic or 90’s Disney. I think maybe really young kids would enjoy it but I don’t think it’s one which will withstand the test of time well. 3/5

#472/#23 Melody Time

A selection of animated shorts including the tall tales of Johnny Appleseed and Pecos Bill, as well as scenes of a snowy romance, a poem about trees, a disgruntled bee being attacked by musical instruments and a mischievous little tug boat named Toot.

As Doug Walker put it, this could be Make Mine Music Part 2. It’s got the same feel and pacing to it as the previous film, along with some good shorts and a couple of really mediocre ones.

The bee sequence was reminded me a lot of the bat/butterfly section of Fantasia 2000 just in the chaotic and fast paced nature of the animation and sound. The snowy romance section, while wonderfully drawn, was a bit long and just twee enough that it felt grating to watch after a while. The tree poem was also well animated and the most like the original Fantasia of this film, while Toot the tugboat was really dull.

The real meat of this movie though, was Pecos Bill and Johnny Appleseed. Bill’s section was funny and captured that really wacky style of animation Disney could produce for their Goofy and Donald Duck cartoons. Johnny’s section was more sombre but it contained a really nice song and some really wonderful looking animation throughout. The last shot of that sequence is just beautifully drawn.

Again I’d be more likely to look up individual shorts and rewatch them than I would this entire film, but it’s pleasant enough for what it is. 2/5

#471/#22 Fun and Fancy Free

Disney’s fourth package film following the circus bear Bongo escaping into the wilderness to find love and also sees Donald, Mickey and Goofy re-enacting Jack and the Beanstalk.

The main advantage of Fun and Fancy Free is that there is a more focused look at two specific stories. This helped the movie feel a lot more like it was actually designed at some point to be a full length feature film rather than a collect of what ever the animators happened to be working on before being drafted. This is kind of a double-edged sword however, because where you were only with a boring section of Make Mine Music or Amigos for a couple of minutes it means you’re stuck with a boring section of Fancy Free for half the film.

Bongo’s story just isn’t that interesting. It plays out almost like an overly long Goofy cartoon but without any of the charm. The animation is to Disney’s usual caliber but the characters, songs and story just aren’t appealing. Mickey and the Beanstalk, on the other hand, is quite enjoyable. The golden harp character provides a number of lovely lilting songs, the comedy of the trio is funny and the giant can be both a little threatening but also rather silly. Had it been an entire film on it’s own I don’t think it would have worked but at the length it is it works perfectly. Had it had a stronger pairing I think this film would have held up better.

There’s also an odd through story with Jimmy Cricket, a little girl and some creepy looking puppets but I’m putting that on the era it was produced in. It’s the most like a full movie of the package films I’ve now seen but I can’t see myself ever watching this one again despite this. 2/5