"We call this making the best out of what we can control!" - Thoughts on "Frozen 2"

Note that this review will contain some spoilers for both "Frozen", "Frozen 2", and their various spin-offs.  For now, just know that "Frozen 2" is awesome, and may even be that rare sequel that not only equals but exceeds the original.  I really can't wait to do a deep-dive into it for the Princess Project when it hits home media.  Go see it.

Back when I first reviewed "Frozen", I dedicated an entire paragraph to Olaf.  As you might recall, most of the marketing for the first film centered around him and suggested he'd be a Jar Jar Binks-esque annoyance.  And then it turned out this weird little snowman was in fact a good emotional support buddy who is trying his best.  I'd go right ahead and consider Olaf a top ten Disney Sidekick.

And that status is pretty much sealed by the end of "Frozen 2", because our dear little ugly-cute snowman friend goes through an entire existential crisis.  Seriously.  To the point where Olaf's solo song has a bridge (I guess?) that is just him screaming in blind terror.  Having the cute little sidekick character suffer from extremely relatable anxiety is, if you will excuse me, a bold f-ing choice.

Especially when you consider, and I'm not the first Disney fan to make this joke, that back in the day, "Frozen 2" would've been direct to video with dodgy animation, only one good song if even that, and at least one wrong-sounding character and probably two.  The plot would be maybe Hans has magical powers and is back for revenge, or Anna and Kristoff have kids and they go on their own adventure that feels very familiar somehow, or, I don't know, Sven wants to join an all-deer country band but that'd mean leaving all his friends so he doesn't.  The best scene, unintentionally and by a long shot, would be when Kristoff yeets his entire self out a window.

Instead, "Frozen 2" is a story about getting older, dealing with change, suffering with grief, learning of the ecological and political nightmares caused long ago by your foolish ancestors and finally atoning for them, and ultimately finding the place your heart wants to be in.  It's an intense journey; "Frozen" was already pretty dark and complex, and I think that's the reason for it's enduring popularity.  But once the plot of "Frozen 2" kicks in, all our old friends are -as the young people say- Going Through A Lot.  I was half-expecting the end credits gag (which is cute, to be sure) to be Anna in group trauma therapy.  Her solo song late in the picture; man...

Speaking of, the songs!  I've more or less sold this movie to skeptics by simply stating, "This time, Elsa gets two big solo numbers."  They're both excellent, I love them both, and they're destined to be anthems.  That said, the very best song might be the haunting folk ballad lullaby we hear throughout the film that's full of spooky Fairy Tale imagery (and that, if you're like me and are inclined to notice such things, sneakily foreshadows the whole movie.)  I love that they've brought back "Vuelie" as a theme, and... I'm guessing you've already heard about Kristoff's big number...

Most of all, my very favorite aspect of "Frozen 2" is Elsa's journey, which is really the one thing I needed them to not screw up.  I will not spoil it but it is beautiful.  And not just for the fact that a long time ago I argued that while political powers are awesome, magic powers are objectively better and having both is The Best, and I'm astonished and delighted that this movie agrees with me, so there.

For more posts in this ongoing series, go here, or click the Chronological Disney Animated Canon tag below.

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Art of the Day!

Here's a question posed by a little kid I know and... I did not know how to answer.  I mean, I couldn't, because I haven't seen "Ugly Dolls" (and I probably will not; I'm betting most of you completely forgot there was an "Ugly Dolls" movie too).  But now I'm wondering what would've happened if we could've watched "Frozen 2", where the one very definitely a villain/bad guy character is long gone and the antagonistic forces at work are more internal and abstract.

I'm also wondering what they'd think of "Wreck-It Ralph"...

"I've been singing you songs all day! I'm not a bloody jukebox!?!" - Thoughts on "Mary Poppins Returns"

By all means, I shouldn't like "Mary Poppins Returns."

I was really dreading this one.  The whole idea of a decades after the fact "Mary Poppins" sequel left a sour feeling in my gut.  This was intensified by the fact that we got "Saving Mr. Banks" a few years ago, and in hindsight, doesn't it feel like the Disney studio was testing the waters for interest in more Mary Poppins?  A lot more Mary Poppins.  Not as much more Mary Poppins as more Star Wars but still, more Mary Poppins.

(Side note that "Saving Mr. Banks" is also, just as a reminder, an almost completely fictionalized and, so help me God, masturbatory depiction of historical events.  Where it turns out the Disney Studios version of P.L. Travers' stories is just the best and wasn't Walt Disney right all along and Travers was wrong and it's very good and right that Disney ignored all her criticisms and did his own thing despite her reservations, and by golly Travers even ended up loving the movie -she loved, loved, LOVED it!  This is true because the Disney studios say so in their movie about the making of "Mary Poppins" and that's now the version of events everyone is going to assume is true and there's nothing you can do about it!  I am not for even half of a second going to pretend that "Saving Mr. Banks" isn't gross.)

So anyway here we are with "Mary Poppins Returns".  And it's... good!  Look it was never going to be able to hold a candle (or gas lamp) to the original, but it is, all things considered, pretty good.  I'll never understand why Rob Marshall is The Musical Guy at Disney (I mean I know why, it's cause of that one weird year "Chicago" swept the Oscars, but I'll never understand why), and I cannot fathom why you'd hire Lin-Manuel Miranda and not have him write a single song (and the songs are fine, mind, they got me laughing and crying and humming along and everything), but it's all good.

For sure the reason all of this works is Emily Blunt.  The key is that her version of Mary Poppins is not different from Julie Andrews'; it's different from how everyone remembers Julie Andrews.  Even in the original film, Mary Poppins was a bit of a trickster, gently sarcastic, mischievous, magical, and terribly mysterious.  Chaotic Good, if you will.  "I never explain anything," she says.  Blunt's Poppins has a bit more of an edge though, and I can't help but wonder if it's because the adult Banks children don't seem to remember any of their wondrous whimsical adventures.  (Which is a plot point that sticks in my craw.  I don't think a tea party on the ceiling or a day out in an animated painting is something you just forget about.)

So how about the traditionally animated sequence then?  It's absolutely wonderful!  It's got a whole theater full of excellent character designs, a couple terrific songs, and it's over way, way too soon.  It left me yearning for more.  Man, some day some American studio's going to be brave enough to do a traditionally animated feature, I can only hope.

For more posts in this ongoing series, go here, or click the Chronological Disney Animated Canon tag below.

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Art!

"My God... it's full of *ads*!" - Thoughts on "Ralph Breaks the Internet"

I finally watched "Ralph Breaks the Internet", and thanks to my obligation from the early, early days of this blog to review every Disney Animated Canon feature film, I must now review it.  Thing is, I've got a lot of conflicting thoughts here, so I guess I'm going to just transcribe my internal dialogue, kind of like I did with "The Muppets" all those years ago.  Strap in...

First Thoughts: "It's good!  'Ralph Breaks the Internet' is very good!  It's as funny and heartwarming as the first film and it does everything a good sequel should do.  It brings back the characters we love, sets them off on an exciting new adventure with fun new characters, and has them grow and change and learn from their new experiences.  This is a damn good movie."

Second Thoughts: "I know right?  We know fellow Disney nerds who were wailing about the end of the world (or at least the end of this recent streak of good Disney Animated Canon films) when this movie first came out, so it's really nice to finally see it.  Goodness, this is that not-quite-as-rare-as-everybody-thinks sequel that's as good as the first movie.  Heck, we might even like it a little bit better than the first movie!

"... ... ...But..."

FT: "I'll let you get to that 'But' in a minute.  We need to talk about sequels, and Disney sequels specifically.  Even though we live in a world of franchises, there seems to be a particular feeling of dread associated with 'Ralph 2' and 'Mary Poppins Returns' and 'Frozen 2'."

ST: "We're all still traumatized by the DTV Disney sequel era."

FT: "Right, right."

ST: "A lot of that dread seems to be building off all the damn Live-Action-For-An-Extremely-Strange-Definition-Of-Live-Action Remakes.  Which, by the way, we will not be considering part of the Disney Animated Canon.  Direct theatrical sequels to films we've already reviewed here are fine, but remakes?  Ugh, no.  Anyway, this can be a nice segway into my 'But...'"

FT: "Yes, go ahead."

ST: "But on the other hand, this very funny and heartwarming movie is also very definitely what Disney has been referring to as a Brand Deposit.  So are all the sequels and remakes and whatnot.  Hell, 'Ralph 2' is particularly blatant about it: There is a whole sequence set inside the official Disney website and so help me if the opening to that sequence, taking in a vista of everything Disney owned the rights to circa last Thanksgiving, doesn't feel like 'Look upon how much pop culture we control, ye mighty, and despair!'"

FT: "I mean, that's true.  But didn't the first 'Ralph' have a lot of (ahem) Brands involved as well?  All those officially licensed video game characters hanging out?  And anyway, without that visit to the Disney website, we wouldn't have the amazing Princess hangout scene, which we loved!"

ST: "It is a great scene, but consider this dismaying observation: Disney's not only all about Brand Deposits but about Brand Integrity; the fear is that if they don't take all their property super seriously, nobody will.  That means no more 'Star Wars' characters shaking their butts to pop songs and a 'What if all the Disney Princesses had a slumber party' scene that feels like a really heckin' neutered version of a killer idea.  And it cost us a scene where Vanillope would've been all, 'Ah, shut up, Emo kid' to Kylo Ren and tell me we wouldn't do anything within reason to see that."

FT: "Oh damn.  But we still really like this movie, even with all this... this stuff that's making us slightly uneasy."

ST: "Yes, yes we do.  Still, uneasy is a good word for it.  Heck, we have 'Mary Poppins: 2 Practical, 2 Perfect' up next and, honestly, the fact that it seems to have had NO pop culture impact at all, good or bad, is worrying.  I don't think we're going to like it as much as 'Ralph 2'."

FT: "Probably not, but if it sucks, we'll have fun ranting about it."

ST: "Same format as this?"

FT: "God, no."

For more posts in this ongoing series, go here, or click the Chronological Disney Animated Canon tag below.

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Art of the Day!


I saw a trailer for another movie about video game characters getting into various shenanigans and made this regretful thing:

"The Good Dinosaur" Tweetmentary!

This one was way weirder than I expected. 

It's Twitter Moments time to post screenshots from a particular website that... I'll be gentle and say we've become disillusioned with it!  Since these are screenshots, the posts couldn't be edited for spelling or anything but they have been shuffled around a little for clarity.  Thank you, everyone who watched along and contributed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(There's supposed to be a screenshot of Arlo in his egg here but Blogger hates that one picture for some reason.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Drawing of the Day! Just a little pet portrait.