D52 - Week 11 - The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad

[This post is incomplete until Amanda adds her bit, but perhaps pre-posting it will coax her into sharing the project she made for this week.]

Kevin's bit
The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad is comparable to Fun & Fancy Free in that each film is made up of two half-hour (ish) cartoons. But the introductory/connecting segments in TAoIaMT are much shorter than the ones in Fun & Fancy Free, and I'm happy with that difference. The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad wastes little time in getting to the point, just like its title!
Mr. Toad's adventures isn't altogether very adventurey. I haven't read The Wind and the Willows but going by this version I'm surprised it passes as a children's story. Not that there's anything naughty. I just can't imagine children being interested in a story based mostly around legal proceedings. Unless it's the kind of kid who'd have a copy of Robert's Rules on his shelf next to his teddy bear. The only real action comes when Toad and friends have to get the deed back from Winky and the weasels, which is unfortunately ruined with clichés (count them!) such as the back-and-forth opposite-direction-running-as-the-sought-after-item-constantly-switches-hands. Were they clichés at the time? Maybe not? But that doesn't change how it's watched today. And it's a bit of a shame that a couple of them (mainly Toad and Mole) do seem to have the potential to be likeable characters (I find Mole more memorable in Mickey's Christmas Carol), but just don't have enough to do. I do, though, enjoy the depiction of Toad's mania, in that he's so enraptured by the idea of motorcars that he bounces along the road sputtering madly. I find it funny.
The best thing about The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is its main character. Let's compare Ichabod to another animated short film star who was silent albeit for narration - Bongo the Bear. The problem with Bongo's design is that, well, he's just an average cartoon bear wearing some clothes. He might as well be one of the extra bears in the forest crowd. Ichabod, by contrast, has an interesting-ass design. So I have to wonder even more why Ichabod is seen barely, if at all, as merchandise or a park presence. As far as I can find there is no DisneyPark costumed Ichabod Crane meet-and-greet character. How hard can it be to find someone with ridiculously exaggerated proportions? But Mr Toad got his own ride (that still exists in Disneyland)! Why couldn't Ichabod be incorporated into The Haunted Mansion (which seasonally sports a Nightmare Before Christmas motif), or say, a cameo in Snow White's Scary Adventures? It's not that Crane is one of the best characters ever, but compared to Toad...come on.
And though I get that's - I think - played as a joke, it is off-putting how concerned he is with his potential wealth accumulation from marrying Van Tassel. Because he's supposedly the guy we're rooting for to get the girl, right? And supposedly we don't want Brom to get the girl, because...uh...because he's not the good guy we're focusing on. I didn't even get that Brom was even really a jerk, up until the point where he winds up to punch Ichabod square in the face, anyway. Because until then, what exactly does he do to make him an unsuitable suitor? Just that he competes with Ichabod for her affection? That he enjoys a drink? Oh, I know. It was when he prompted a dog to howl, much to Ichabod's chagrin! THAT INSENSITIVE ARROGANT JERKHOLE.
I wonder how the climactic scene manages to be scarier than most adult-oriented "horror" movies. Is it because the uncertainty of something horrific happening is scarier than some dude in a mask swishing a knife in front of your face? Is it because Ichabod's expressions of fear are more engaging to watch than some lady screaming as loudly as she possibly can? Or is it just that the former half of the cartoon is filled with the opposite of spookery?

Favorite character: Ichabod would be a great (non-speaking) spokesperson for hard-boiled eggs. The hand-drawn pies and turkey legs don't really do anything for me, but man, whenever I see that hard-boiled egg, I want one something bad.
Least favorite character: Darn it, Katrina. Stop stringing along two very different guys who are both competing for your love and make a choice. Who do you think you are, Bella Swan?
Overall: "The Adventures of Ichabod Crane" easily wins over Mr. Toad's mild ride.



Amanda's bit
Boy howdy, I'm late in my posting here!  So this was yet another although the least chopped up of the chopped up movies in our line-up.  I am first to admit that I was unaware for a very long time that The Legend of Sleepy Hollow was ever paired up with something else!  In my mind, it is easily entertaining and memorable enough to stand on its own.  I found myself less than surprised that I could sing along with Bing Crosby as he crooned not only as the voice of Ichabod himself, but also as the narrator.  That's some memorable stuff right there.  Does this segment stand up to the test of time? Yes.  Does it deserve to be coupled with Mr. Toad? No.

Toad, Mole, Rat and What'sisname... the Badger guy... Along with Cyril the horse and the many unnamed weasels just never managed to get much of a story across to me.  There was clearly some sort of plot line and a bunch of gags, but I was never given much of a reason to care about anyone.  Like Kevin said, legal proceedings are boring.  While horses cross-dressing might be funny, jail breaking is less so.  Going strictly by the plot, why am I sad if Toad Hall is lost?  Does anyone live there besides Toad?  He seems to want to travel the world anyway, so what difference would it make.  And for crying out loud, Toady, is it really necessary to get as excited about any new fangled thing?  I was under the impression that you were an adult with a house and bills and whatnot.  Are you actually a 7 year old boy who obsesses over the next trading card/trading figure battle game and you need to buy them all? No.  Shame on you. Geez, at least Ichabod left a legend in his wake.  What did you leave, Toad?  Smog. Thanks a lot.

Favorite Character? Chubby Girl in Sleepy Hollow.  She wants a man and she's putting some effort in.  Good for you, woman!  Go Get'em!
Least-Favorite Character? Toad.  Grow up and get a job, geez man.
Amusement: I like to imagine that Mr. Rat is Basil of Baker Street's great great uncle.  I imagine that pipe smoking and deerstalker hat wearing runs in the family.

D52 - Week 10 - Melody Time

[Amanda suggested I go ahead and post this even though she hasn't written her bit yet, so...here goes!]

Kevin's bit
Instead of reviewing these shorts in the order in which they're shown in Melody Time, I'll review in order of the one I liked least to the one I liked most.
-"Trees" is dull. For what it is, a poem set to gently moving images, it's done well. If it were to be seen among a series of other similarly paced animations, it might be easier to appreciate it, but when surrounded by other much more energy-filled scenes, it just comes off as boring.
-I'm not sure what I'm supposed to like about The Legend of Johnny Appleseed. The legend itself is interesting enough to hear or read about orally, but what's to be gained from seeing it played out? With Pecos Bill, we get to see a larger-than-life character do the impossible. With Johnny Appleseed, you see...a kid tend to apples. And plant them. Then befriend forest animals. And then there's that hootenanny that I'm still not convinced has anything to do with his story. Again, the problem here too might be a case of comparison - the other tall tale seen in this package clearly overshadows this one.
-Blame It on the Samba also suffers with the context in which I'd seen it. It's pretty much more of the same that I'd already seen in Saludos Amigos and The Three Caballeros. But in this one there isn't even much Donald comedy. It makes me wonder why he gets a very prominent spot on the cover of the VHS I watched. It is very lively and colorful animation, but I can't help but think it should've been in Saludos Amigos in the first place, if that were chronologically possible.
-Little Toot (as a short) is cute, but...again with the comparisons, I just have to judge it alongside little flying Pedro and Susie the Blue Coupe. It's a bit harder to sympathize with Little Toot himself since he is rather a brat. It is a great short to watch as far as animated water is concerned. The song itself is also fun.
-If you don't mind the weird relationship implications of Once Upon a Wintertime, it is a charming little piece that'd be great to bring out during the appropriate time of year.
-It probably does have a lot to do with my remembering fondly but not having seen this segment for a very long time, and being excited to see it again, but I get a kick out of seeing that little Bumble Boogie bee. I actually wish it went on longer.
-Pecos Bill does what The Legend of Johnny Appleseed didn't. I am partial to the use of animation's potential to show the fantastic. For my money I want to see a folk tale legend accomplish Chuck Norris-esque feats (and really, aren't tall tales just older "Chuck Norris jokes?"). And that is exactly what I get to see here. But I would still only call it a favorite in the context of this set. I wonder if I would've liked it more if Bill were played by Goofy?

Favorite character: The Bumble Bee! Just because.
Least favorite character: Spooky waves with creepy water hands!
Overall: It won't take long for me to get mixed up which bits were in Melody Time and which were in Make Mine Music or some other compilation. So I'd probably rate it at about the same overall level as MMM, which is to say, passably entertaining.

Amanda's bit
[To be posted....soon??] [Amendment... NOW!!]

Okkay so is there such a thing as being anti-inspired? I don't mean just the blah uninspired feeling, but the feeling that any inspiration you might have had has been crushed out of you forcefully? This seemingly never-ending march of package features is doing that to me.

I'm left wondering if this is how audiences felt back when these features were fresh. Were they spaced out enough that people appreciated them and I only feel this way because there are so many so close together? Perhaps they though the Disney Studio had made their two hits with Pinocchio and Snow White and were gradually going to fade out. Perhaps Disney was at this time more solidly making a name with live action features instead. They do usually seem to be less expensive and less time consuming. Perhaps I'm just too eager because I know about the classics that are coming up soon.

Favorite Character: Wid-uh-maker. (Yes, I know it's Widowmaker, but the drawl is part of the character!) He sure is a jealous fool.
Least necessary character: Male Snow Bunny. He seriously started the entire ice danger and didn't have any part in the rescuing.
Overall: As before, each of the individual pieces are good, but trying to string them together just feels disjointed to me.

Amanda's Extra: Phoning it in for this one, folks. Once Upon a Wintertime was the most memorable section of this feature partly because during my childhood every Disney holiday special seemed to include this short. I loved watching Scott Hamilton and Kristie Yamaguchi ice dance to Disney songs and this short was always one of the interludes.

Anyway, enjoy this snowflake.

D52 - Week 9 - Fun and Fancy Free

Kevin's prattling-on:

The thin thread that connects Bongo with Mickey and the Beanstalk is Jiminy Cricket. But it isn't about Jiminy telling us these stories, but rather leading us to places where the stories are told by someone else. Which is kind of weird when you think about it. But not really.
Supposedly, Bongo was at some point proposed as a feature-length film itself. Surprising, since I thought the half-film version was rather padded out as it was. Did we really need the scene where Bongo just sits there, in the flowerbed, doing nothing but looking around and taking in his surroundings for a while?
But I feel kind of bad for Bongo - not for what he went through in his short, but how he's practically been left in the dustbin of forgotten Disney animated characters. Searching through Google and eBay for any Bongo merchandise that's ever existed, I only find the video, the book, pins, and the odd figurine. Has there really never been a plush Bongo? Compare him to another Disney bear: Duffy the Bear, who currently is available at many, many Disney retailers, along with a plethora of clothes and accessories. You can even have your picture taken with a "Character Greeting" Duffy. But whereas Bongo was one of the stars of an early full-length animated (package) feature, Duffy started out as a thing-for-you-to-buy. And he still gets all the glory nowadays. Poor Bongo. Maybe somewhere out there right now he's riding the unicycle from Pixar's "Red's Dream."
The second half features a grown man who has invited a young girl and nobody else to attend a "party" of just him and his handful of puppet friends. Ye-e-ep. If you like that old vaudevillian style of comedy where every other line is either a set-up to a joke or the punchline to it, you'll like these segments. Me, I have to be in the right mood for it.
I'm sure I had seen the cartoon before but I don't remember the live-action bumpers at all. Perhaps I'd seen it in some truncated form by itself? Or I just blocked the Bergen antics from my memory. There are definitely bits worth remembering though, like Goofy's experience with gelatin. I'll choose to gloss over the narrative cheat of the three heroes adventuring into the castle simply because, eh, they felt like it and were curious.


Favorite character: Who else but Donald would be driven so mad as to make an impromptu sandwich out of plates and cutlery and chomp a big shattery bite out of it? [Note: Amanda thought I laughed too hard at that.]
Least-necessary character: The Bergen puppet we first see, which is to say his drawn-on hand. I realize the (intentional?) irony of having a famous ventriloquist who regularly uses intricately designed puppets first being shown using the simplest version of one, but it still was rather unnecessary.
Overall: While Mickey and the Beanstalk has its worthwhile moments (and this can be said of many non-package-feature shorts), Fun and Fancy Free is front-loaded with a cartoon starring a not-loveable-enough non-icon, making the entire presentation more fancy-free than fun.


Tiddlybits:
-I don't know what the bear/doll thing was all about. Maybe it was supposed to be whimsical. But a doll or pair of dolls being perfectly lifelessly still one moment and in a different pose and different expressions on their faces after you look away and back again ... that's a horror movie scene right there.
-The name "Mickey & the Beanstalk" sure does seem to snub Donald and Goofy. I realize "Mickey, Donald, Goofy and the Beanstalk" is not quite as punchy, but still. At least it's not as bad as "Mickey's Christmas Carol," which only showed Mickey a bit at the beginning and end. I wouldn't be surprised if Willie the Giant had more screen time than Mickey in that one.
-I think of Mortimer Snerd as the Tow Mater of his era.



Amanda's part

I can't say I'm a fan of these package features or so they are apparently called. I like all of the individual shorts that get put together in them. Growing up in the 80s and 90s I have seen all of them. The little tidbits were always part of various Disney specials particularly around Christmas and each was extremely memorable on their own. The unfortunate part for me is that when they are all strung together, I get a case of ADD and at the end, I have trouble remembering ANY of them.

There was something about a bear. There was a baseball game... no wait, that was another package feature. OH Mickey and the Beanstalk! I honestly thought that was something that was released on its own. I know Jiminy Cricket was in it singing a friendly little song and I was jarred readily by the live action sequences.

Bah. I just am so so ready to watch some nice full length movies that aren't a stream of unrelated shorts.

I'm not sure I can even do Favorite, Least necessary and Overall because I just don't remember anything that happened.

Amanda's Extra
Mickey and his buds were forced up the beanstalk because they were all heavy sleepers, but once there, they found themselves in a good position to save the very pretty and very valuable harp. It's not as pretty, and not as valuable, but here's my version of the harp.

D52 - Week 8 - Make Mine Music

Kevin's more-than-two-bits:
There's a disclaimer at the beginning of the DVD of Make Mine Music that we watched which mentions that it has been edited for content. It turns out that an entire 7-minute segment called The Martins and the Coys was cut. If one watches Make Mine Music without seeing that short, does it still count as having watched Make Mine Music? How does that work canonically? Having just watched it illegitimately on YouTube...I wasn't missing much. The Wikipedia entry says that it was cut due to comic gunplay, but I imagine the hillbilly stereotypin' and spousal abuse wasn't looked on too well either.
Blue Bayou one-word review: Boring.
All the Cats Join In: Was anyone else disappointed that this didn't feature felines? And when you think of jazz music, what comes to mind? White kids, right? Animation-wise, I've gotta admire it. I'm a sucker for cartoon characters being drawn by and interacting with cartoon pencils (and the erasers of those pencils). It's fun and has a great energy to it (though I guess anything would seem fun and energetic after Blue Bayou). But in terms of humor, it certainly shows how much comic sensibilities can change over many decades. Whereas the sight of a teenage boy dancing with his girl holding her upside-down as if she's a mop might have been funny at the time, now it's just plain baffling.
Without You one-word review: Depressing.
Casey at the Bat one-sentence review: Oh, why can't real life baseball be as fun to watch as cartoon baseball?
Two Silhouettes one-word review: Nice.
Peter and the Wolf: I can't help but wonder if putting this to moving images defeated the purpose of the piece itself. I thought the whole point was to use the sounds of each instrument to visualize the action in your mind? As I watch the cartoon after time I find myself paying more attention to the animation and absent-mindedly ignoring the instrument-character associations. I think I rather prefer experiencing Peter and the Wolf with just my mind's eye. Even if now I find it hard to not imagine them all in that Disney style.
After You've Gone one-word review: Neat!
Johnny Fedora and Alice Blue Bonnet: Near the end of this short, when (SPOILER ALERT?) scissors are taken to Johnny Fedora to create ear holes, I find myself thinking, "AAH! Doesn't that hurt?!" Then it occurs to me. I'm sympathizing with a cartoon hat. It's weird how I care more about this fedora than any of the human or animal characters in the rest of the feature (yes, even Peter). Maybe it's because it's a non-human-or-animal. For a moment I think, "What if the hats I've worn throughout my life had feelings? Have I mistreated them so badly? I'm so sorry if I have!" Then, again, I realize how incredibly silly that is. Still, the story is charming and the song is great. It's easily, as far as I care anyway, the best reason to watch Make Mine Music. It should've been the very last short of the set, to leave you with that ooey-gooey happy feeling. Instead, there's The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met. It's funny how I remember this one. I'd seen it twice (the second time as recently as last year, I reckon), and I remembered full well that Willie (spoiler alert...) dies at the end, but I thought that he dies after getting to live out his dream career. What a bummer that it only happens through a fantasy sequence. It's not sad just that he dies, but that he dies without ever getting to sing at the met. And how disappointing that there's no follow-through on the set-up of the title itself. Imagine if you watched a movie called, I don't know, The Search For the Golden Orb, but they never actually find the golden orb. Also, another example of the comedic change of the times: Willie's separate vibrating uvulas were possibly funny then. But now... more unsettling. Wouldn't you agree?
Favorite characters: Note to self: Shop for one fedora and one blue bonnet.
Least-necessary character: Oh yes, thank you Mr. Seagull, for leading the harpoon-happy hunter to your "friend" Willie the Whale.
Overall: We're still going through the shorts-collection period, folks. If you can compare Saludos Amigos and The Three Amigos to eating at a couple of ethnic restaurants, Make Mine Music would be more of a potluck. Not everything is great, but the variety is the strong point itself, since you're bound to find something you like in it.

Amanda's bit

I'm a little curious, possibly enough to research it further, as to how the Disney Studio managed to grow during this shortstravaganza period. Is there profit to be had in making short films? Were each of the shorts run separately before features? Were each of the shorts run in rotation on television? In any case, I'm very impressed with the business aspect during this era.

I speculate that the studio is continuing its endeavors to experiment and embrace new technologies as well as find ways for the new to work beside the old, and I respect that a great deal. Beyond Fantasia however, which comes right to the forefront and admits that it is a concert, I feel that cohesion is still so very important to making a successful, memorable feature. On the other hand, this collection had a few very strong stand out chapters which easily grew greater than the whole. Johnny Fedora and Alice Bluebonnet has been burned into my brain since before I can remember. Casey at the Bat was a classic poem that I knew as a child and chuckle about still today. While I agree that I prefer Peter and the Wolf in my imagination than played out for me, I cannot deny that little Russian Petey is the one that I think of first.

Favorite Character: I'm sorry Constable Hat! I thought you were someone I knew!
Least necessary character: I must admit, I found the Two silhouettes so incredibly boring, I very nearly fell asleep. I'm not sure how my favorite animation studio took a piece of ballet (which I normally find very engaging) and made it a snoozefest.
Overall: The bits justify the whole, but if I could give you the edited for Amanda's taste version, you'd probably enjoy it even more.

Amanda's Extra: This era of Disney is a modge podge of little bits with barely any theme. It seems appropriate here then to add to my always growing stash of afghan squares. Nothing is more bits and pieces than your classic Granny Square. It's got the little scraps of yarn to remind you of the original project that you loved so dearly...possibly right next to that awful hand me down yarn that you made into an itchy hat when you couldn't say "No thank you Auntie; that sort of yarn doesn't suit my taste." Either way, it'll make a kitchy cute blanket someday.

D52 - Week 7 - The Three Caballeros

Kevin's bit
When the Disney crew took business trips to ... countries south of the United States, did they always intend that there would be not one but two feature films made from of? Was all of Saludos Amigos and The Three Caballeros together originally intended to be one longer feature, but later split into two? Or did they, after creating Saludos Amigos, decide that they enjoyed it so much they would do a very similar project for the next time? At least in this case, the live-action documentary-style bits are replaced with the much more entertaining Donald Duck. Even though they're movies-within-the-movie, at least we get to see Donald interacting with some of the bits.
The Cold-Blooded Penguin is made cute enough solely because Sterling Holloway serves as narrator. But after having seen a film like March of the Penguins, you can't help but realize the actual lives of real-life penguins are much more interesting. The Flying Gauchito would've fit in Saludos Amigos quite nicely (and would help balance the overall running times of each feature). Baia seems to be the type of segment mostly impressive for the novelty of combining live action with animation. Those who've seen the trick done often enough, however, have little else with which to be entertained. All of that excitement is then followed by the abruptly low-key tenderness of Las Posadas. Then Donald sexually harasses some ladies and some of the maddest of all Disney madnesses ensues. I don't even know where they were going with the insanity or why it was there, but...I rather like it, on its own. How did they even storyboard or draft out scenes like that?
Tidbits:
-Where exactly do the Donald present-opening scenes take place? Donald's very empty bedroom of uncertain volume? Purgatory? An alternate dimension in which no other matter besides Donald and his friends and their possessions exist?
-Why are there no men on that beach? Do/did such female-only beaches exist anywhere in the world? If so, how inappropriate for T3C to have intruded on them from the skies!
-Nice cameo appearance from Fantasia's "The Soundtrack!"
Overall: Compared to last week's it does seem like more of the same, but at least wrapped in a nicer (and more substantial) package. Again, I enjoy it primarily out of Donald fandom.

Amanda's bit

Once again, I just can't get behind having a crop of short films being referred to as a movie. I appreciate each of the short segments on their own as really cute and entertaining bits of animation. I appreciate that the filmmakers at least tried to have a running theme to connect the segments (although I do have to mention that "our filmmakers taking a trip" and "receiving a box of presents intended to take you vicariously on a trip" seems a bit too similar for my taste), and I appreciate that it wasn't filled up with documentary style live action sequences. I absolutely appreciate that the many countries to the south of the United States had enough vitality to fill up a huge number of short films and movies.

Yet in the long run though, I would have appreciated it more if all these short films were allowed to shine separately. At the time, there was no Disney Channel and no VHS and so the studio was probably concerned about the longevity of each of these shorts as well as the monetary value they would each bring forth. This makes sense. Uncle Walt had by this time been discussing the idea of a theme park with family and close colleagues and in only one short decade Disneyland would open. On the other hand, perhaps the studio was simply bowing to demands. The many short films that preceded features at the theater were very popular. It's not so farfetched to think that at the time people were willing to pay full box office prices to see just the short films as long as there were enough to make the price and the travel worth the trouble. Seems like this might be an interesting thing to research in the future.

Tidbits-
-Donald... can't fly?
-Even though this could easily have been just Panchito and Donald's film the way Saludos Amigos was Jose Carioca and Donald's film, it was a nice unifying image to see a figure representing all three sections of the New World. Donald as North America, Panchito as Central America and Jose as South America. Someone needs to get to work on something to unify the other continents. And then we can have world peace when someone then unifies those other movies. (No, I'm not so naive to believe that it will work, but it's a fanciful thought.)

Favorite Character: Definitely Panchito. I can't figure out why a lighthearted, energetic, party animal with a heart of gold like him never really caught on. Jose too is quite a lot of fun and yet both of them seem to have been banished to the Mexico pavilion at Epcot never to be seen anywhere else again. Shame.
Least necessary Character: Woman-faced Flower Hallucination. Donald really needs to lay off the partying. He never can just go out and have a good time. He always seems to go way way overboard.
Overall: Entertaining if you're particularly interested in Mexico, Central American and South America. Amusing if you like to watch a bunch of shorts in a row. Don't call it a movie. It's just so vain. Be proud to be a collection of cartoon shorts! There's no shame in it!

Amanda's Extra:
"We have the stars to guide us/ Guitars here beside us/ to play as we go."
And sure enough, a guitar is here beside me, but I needed a strap to play it comfortably. Why not give it a Central American flare by embracing and mixing the dark colors so that you might match "three happy chappies with snappy sarapes"?

D 52 - Week 6 - Saludos Amigos

Kevin's bit
It's another shorts compilation! This one is segmented with live-action documentary-style pieces about the Central American culture. The animated shorts are fun enough, pretty much on par with Disney animated shorts of the time that weren't packaged as movies. Being partial to Donald Duck, I enjoyed the first cartoon about Lake Titicaca. Pedro is the most likeable animated plane you could hope to see, but the short as a whole is no "Little Suzie Blue Coupe." Hm, I wonder if Pedro might make a cameo appearance in the upcoming Disney (sans Pixar) Planes feature? El Gaucho Goofy is classic Goofy. Try not to even chuckle at the slow-motion scene! Aquarela do Brasil plays a bit like Saludos Amigos's answer to Fantasia, but it's not much on which to end. The whole movie kind of...just ends there. As for the live-action segments... if you're fascinated by Central America, then....well, you should probably watch a more up-to-date film, I imagine. Even if the featured countries haven't changed all that much since Saludos Amigos was first made, the quality of documentaries has improved enough since then that you'd be better off with one made from this century. And it's really more of a sampling than a comprehensive look.
Favorite character: The llama.
Least necessary character: Is José Cairoca only here to set up his appearance in the next movie?
Overall: It's at least worth seeing if you're a Donald Duck fan.

Amanda's bit

Well, what's there to say that I can say without wasting the exact same commentary for the upcoming Three Caballeros? Not a whole lot.

I like short cartoons! I really do! The thing is, when I go to see a movie, I expect to see a movie. Call me crazy, but I expect some sort of plot. And no, I don't think "these travelers visited here and then here and then here" a plot; that's more like an itinerary at best. It's not that it's not entertaining as a whole, but there's no resolution aside from a lame getting through customs joke that tells us our entire film crew made it home in one piece and with more souvenirs than the average person can afford.

Favorite Character: ... There were characters in this? Uhhh... hm. Pedro the plane was cute.
Least Necessary character: ... There were characters in this? Uhh...The customs man. I really could have done without that customs joke.
Overall: It's very entertaining if we call it a compilation of shorts, but let's not try to pull the llama wool over my eyes any more; calling it a feature is kind of insulting.

Amanda's extra: The Goofy short in which he is dressed as a Gaucho showed a fun looking slingshot that I thought could translate well into a non-dangerous around the house plaything. Basically it's a ladder toss toy without the target. Of course who is to say that I won't also make a target now? In the meantime, I'll be tossing these at Kevin and hoping for minimal retaliation.

D52 - Week 5 - Bambi

Amanda's bit:

---

What's this? Kevin's making ME go first? Well, I have to admit that as a child I thought Bambi was rather boring. I wasn't much of a girly girl and I thought cute things were only for the wimpy mean girls. Now that I'm older I appreciate this movie much more.

We follow the maturing of a young deer from birth to adult witnessing his first steps, first words, first kiss, and first children. The story is fairly straightforward and yet carries the weight of a number of heavy themes.

First and foremost is death. Bambi in fact includes the very first Disney death and audiences were shocked. Current popular culture has us believe that seeing this movie as children is a recipe for trauma, but I can't remember every feeling that way. I recognized the loss and I was smart enough to know that Mother wasn't returning, but Bambi was an excellent role model. He mourned his loss and continued with life.

The second big theme that I felt was suffering. Because Bambi runs like a nature film in which the animals have personalities of their own instead of personalities thrust upon them by a narrator's script, the struggles of every day life in the wild are clearer and more relate-able than ever.

Not only are there a host of other heavy issues to be taken in, but there is a lot of beauty on the screen. It's clear that Fantasia had a lot of bearing on the use of music for Bambi. Whereas most Disney films use music to add to the story, Bambi has score and lyric to set the atmosphere and relate the passage of time. It's as if the score were an entirely different character in the movie, perhaps the voice of Mother Nature. Personally, I approve.

Favorite Character: The Mole "Nice, sunny day!"
Least necessary character: As much as I hate to say it, Flower. Flower is beyond cute, but really had nothing to do with plot.
Overall: Beautiful artistry. Beautiful music. Heavy adult themes. Cute kiddie animals. I recommend it highly and is certainly way up high on my list of favorites.

Amanda's Extra: I have had the pleasure of reading the book on which this movie was based and if you haven't, I intensely recommend that you do. It requires a lot of imagination to truly feel the tone that is laid down in the book and can't be read from the point of view of a human. One really has to get into the skin of the wildlife and try to understand an animal's instinctive actions.

I was most inspired by the conversation between two leaves reduced to a few moments of score in the movie, but original and moving dialog in the book. It's easy to relate to fellow members of the animal kingdom when it comes to the circle of life, and it's so easy to overlook the suffering of the flora which happens in tune with the animals. The book describes the conversation between the last two leaves as they hang on the branch. They ponder the fate of their fallen brethren as well as their own future. What will happen to them when their stems can no longer hold? As they lose their grip from the tree, the conversation ends abruptly and life in the forest continues as if it had never taken place.

Kevin's bit

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It's a very, very cute movie. Achingly cute - maybe too cute? At least there's death (even if it is followed by more cuteness immediately afterward)! And fire!
As already said it has great art and animation and important themes. And as much as I enjoyed seeing it for the first time in a long time, I don't find myself wanting to see it again and again. I guess I feel about it the same way I do most well-made nature documentaries - interesting the first time but little rewatchability.
Favorite character: Friend Owl adds the right amount of sour that this sweet dish needs.
Least necessary character: Ronno kind of came out of nowhere and was vanquished rather easily. I guess it just bothers me that he wasn't set up at all earlier in the film.
Overall: Let the kids watch it. How else are they going to relate to all of those "Bambi's mom" jokes they'll inevitable come across later in life?

Kevin's extra: I just had to share this. It turns out there's a "Cine-Manga" version of Disney's Bambi. Basically, it's stills from the movie with word balloons and sound effects passed off as graphic novel frames. It's as silly and lazy as it sounds. So, how does the picto version handle the iconic emotional moment? Maybe for the sake of taste it simply lets the pictures speak for themselves to reflect the somber moon and...no well anyway this is what it actually does:













...ACTION SOB!