"Life is a Kumquat!" - Let's watch the Grand Opening of Walt Disney World!

You didn't think I'd head down to the 50'th Anniversary Celebration of Walt Disney World without sharing a vintage Disney Parks special did you?  Well strap in, because what better special to watch for the anniversary of Walt Disney World than the Grand Opening of Walt Disney World?

I love this.  It's not as insane as the Tenth Anniversary special (what could be?) but it is very close.  That running subplot about the campers is extremely special.  So is the catchy song about how, if you think you do not have to visit WDW because you've been to Disneyland, you are very wrong, because WDW has MORE!!!  We get extended looks at the Country Bears and the Hall of Presidents, and rare footage of the Mickey Mouse Review.  Arthur Fiedler conducts a huge marching band, Bob Hope gives a weird speech, Glen Campbell sings existential songs in the woods, and Julie Andrews sings and watches a good chunk of the Animated Canon!  All this and the amazing Vault Disney bumper!

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Art of the Day!

It's still Faebruary, so here's a portrait of the best Disney Fairy.

Grim, Grinning Osmonds Come Out to Socialize! - Let's Watch "Disneyland Showtime"!

"Trish," you ask, "I know you like sharing the weird vintage Disney Park specials you like to watch before heading down to Disney World to get yourself hyped.  But why in the world are you sharing one from 1970 set in Disneyland?"

Oh, boy.  Just watch:



So the main point of this here weird vintage Disney Park special from 1970 is to advertise the debut of the Haunted Mansion in Disneyland.  And eventually we do get there but not before one of the very oddest Disney specials I've ever seen.  The thing is, I know I saw this as a little kid and it almost certainly was my first encounter with nearly all the songs included in it.  Including the unforgettable "Oh, Please Be Him", which has to be one of the most hysterical-in-every-sense-of-the-word songs ever created. 

And I'm almost positive this was the first time I ever encountered The Osmonds.  Whew boy...  

Unless you're a huge Osmonds fan, this gang of smiling white 70's boys with unsettling teeth are by far the least interesting aspect of the special.  They sing smiling white versions of contemporary songs, they are among the first people to ride the Haunted Mansion (I promise we're getting there), and they emphasize the crucial importance of having a designated spot to meet when your party gets separated.  Then again, this is a version of Disneyland where the costumed characters openly kidnap people.

I think this must have been made smack in the middle of what would eventually be unofficially known by Disney nerds as the Walt Disney Presents Weird Sh*t Happening to and/or Around Kurt Russel Series (not to be confused with the John Carpenter Presents Weird Sh*t Happening to and/or Around Kurt Russel Trilogy, which is generally considered better), because Kurt is our host here.  And he narrates the very best part of the special where we get a look at the effects and characters that populate the Haunted Mansion.  He also gives a STORY for the beloved ride that's much nicer than any business with rings stuck in the sidewalk.  We get to ride the ride along with the Osmonds and get a reminder of how mind-blowing those effects must have been for the first visitors.

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Art of the Day!

Cute, Mary Blair-esque birds



 

"Hocus Pocus" and "Beaches" Tweetmentaries

Our first Inktober Film Festival Halloween Tweetmentary is a doozy: 1993's "Hocus Pocus"!  I hadn't watched this movie since 1993, so this was a heck of a time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 While I'm rescuing things from Twitter, why not have a little Bette Midler film festival?  Because it turns out I did a Tweetmentary on "Beaches" the year before I did "Hocus Pocus" and, honestly, the world needs to be reminded of "Oh, Industry".

"We wish that we didn't have to leave / this wonderful world of make-believe!" Let's Watch 25 Years of Disney Television!

We've watched a lot of Disney television specials together here at the Blog.  Every time, I think I've finally found the weirdest one they ever made.  And boy do I love being proven wrong, as is the case with this 1978 special celebrating 25 Years of Disney on Television.




Now, I will never waver from my position that "Kraft Celebrates Twenty Years of Walt Disney World" is The "Star Wars Holiday Special" Of Disney, but boy does this special do everything it can to make it hard.  First of all, it's cut down from a nearly two-hour special that ran over two weekends.  That explains some of the jarring editing, but I honestly don't know if more context would help.  The whole thing is '70's variety show Hell, but I must direct special attention to that courtroom scene and the scene where we're suddenly in "Mad Monster Party?"

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Art of the Day!

Have a little Mary Blair study why not?

"I Will Carry You Here in My Heart You Remind Me!" Thoughts on Moana

Disney Animated Canon Movie #70*: "Moana"

Succinct review first: 😍

More so than any other animated Disney film of this new era, more so than even "Frozen", "Moana" hit me right square in the childhood.  It is damn near perfect.  I love everything about it.  Everything.

Okay, this could easily turn into a gush-fest, so let's get into specifics.  Above all else, I love Moana herself.  She's a fantastic character and such and awesome heroine.  The songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda are terrific.  The animation is gorgeous.  I love the themes of redemption and the triumph of love and life.  And my goodness, I love Maui!  I love my magic wrestler genie grandpa!

Ron Musker and John Clements are officially The Best and I eagerly await whatever they want to do next. 

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

* - Subject to change. See Friday's post.

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Art of the Day!

The Traditional Dog Show Studies!

"Fraggle Rock" Month - Season 1, Episode 18: "The Minstrels"

One of the reasons why "Fraggle Rock" is so acclaimed has a lot to do with the music.  Music had always been part of Muppet productions, whether it furthered the story, helped define a character, or was sung just for fun.  "Fraggle Rock" took Muppet music to a whole new level.  By the time we hit "The Minstrels", the first episode of the show explicitly centered on Fraggle music, we've heard songs written in the style of every imaginable popular genre and even a few unpopular ones.

You probably already know this, but Cantus was Jim Henson's signature character on the show (though he performed a few other characters, including Convincing John).  Henson could only work directly on "Fraggle Rock" a few times, since he was busy with other productions at the time, most notably "Labyrinth".  And Cantus, who only shows up for maybe one episode per season, almost feels like he's entering the Rock from another world entirely.  Now we'd had a couple of mysterious, dreamy moments before in the first season of "Fraggle Rock", particularly in "The Lost Treasure of the Fraggles", "Finger of Light", and "Capture the Moon".  Here we're confronted with a mysterious, dreamlike character. 

And here I hate to admit it, but as a very young child watching "The Minstrels" for the very first time, I was right with Red in her frustrated cries of "Who IS this guy?"  Weren't older characters supposed to give straight answers?  Or explain everything?  Cantus broke the rules and blew my mind to smithereens.  I'd never seen a character like this before in a kids' show and I wasn't entirely comfortable with him the first time I watched this episode; he was too cryptic and strange.  Of course, by the end I was totally on board with him.  To this day, I think he's one of the best characters on the show. 

The writers of "Fraggle Rock" were in the middle of a streak of amazing episodes.  I was lucky enough to find the old "Fraggles Search and Find" VHS back in college, and I used this episode and the next one I'm reviewing to introduce people to the series.

"Fraggle Rock" Month - Season 1, Episode 11: "Catch the Tail by the Tiger"

As I said before, there are lots of excellent episodes in the first season of "Fraggle Rock", and it almost pains me to skip over nearly half of them.  But we have lots of ground to cover here and I'm only one person, so here comes the first of my favorite-favorite episodes.

By now, the major characters in "Fraggle Rock" have been fairly well-established.  Red is the action girl with something to prove, Mokey is the dreamy introspective den mother who wants the best for everyone, Boober is a pessimist whose life revolves around laundry, Wembly is the innocent fool who's trying to please everyone, and Gobo is... well, Gobo is the leader.  For a long time, that's more or less where Gobo's character was set.  I remember that because of this, I never found him terribly interesting as a kid.

Then we got to this episode, and I finally started to "get" Gobo.  It's one of the first episodes that focuses on the well-hidden vulnerability within our leader of the Fraggle crew.  Now, there had been episodes where a main character was put in a crisis where they had to face their secret fears (as early as the third episode as a matter of fact).  But this one feels different.

For one thing, we learn just how much Gobo secretly worries about his Uncle Matt.  The reality is, Matt's exploring what might as well literally be outer space, a place that's huge and scary and unfamiliar to any Fraggle and downright dangerous, and the danger inherent in his quest has been kind of treated as a nonissue in earlier episodes.  So Gobo is understandably willing to head out into the unknown to find his uncle (a daunting task in itself) and rescue him.  We also see how Gobo's friends react to his stress.  There is a fantastic sequence where they do everything in their power to make him feel more confident about the coming adventure... without knowing he has already decided against leaving.  See, he's painfully aware of the terrifying prospect of leaving the good old familiar Rock for the enormous human world.

This episode also closes out with one of the first really effective tear-jerker moments in the series.  It was one of the first real indications that there'd be a healthy dose of pathos mixed in with the humor of "Fraggle Rock".  This would reach its peak in a future episode...

My Summer Of Sequels: "The Jungle Book 2" (2003)

Okay it's time for some audience participation.  Think back to Disney's "The Jungle Book" for a minute.  What do you remember?  You probably remember a few specific sequences, maybe a line of dialogue or the terrific character animation.  But most likely, the first thing you remember is the music.  In particular, you remember "The Bear Necessities", a song that is sung no less than three times in the duration of "The Jungle Book 2".

Yeah, let the record show that this is the first time I started genuinely questioning why I am making myself watch all these Disney sequels.  "Jungle Book 2", another DTV sequel that got a theatrical release for reasons that are unclear aside from the obvious and extremely cynical ones, seems to be nothing more than an excuse to put new animation and voice acting to "The Bear Necessities".  A few other songs from the original movie end up in here too, and honestly it might have even be easier just to post a link to what Roger Ebert had to say about the film (which, like so many of Ebert's reviews of terrible and ill-conceived children's films, is magical) and this picture in lieu of a review:



Here's the plot.  Mowgli is a human and thus belongs in the human village where he will get a job and work all day.  But his best friends are all wild animals and he longs for the freedom and excitement of jungle life.  This is complicated by the fact that the vicious tiger Shere Kahn would very much like to eviscerate the boy.

If you are at all paying attention, you may notice that, uh, this is THE EXACT SAME PLOT AS THE ORIGINAL FILM.

Which, granted, is not unusual in sequels.  Usually the mark of a bad sequel is that instead of giving us anything interesting at all, like continuation of the story or further character development or world-building, it instead just gives us more of everything people liked in the first movie.  However, repeating the plot is especially stupid here because (finale spoilers for an almost ten-year-old Disney sequel), as the characters eventually figure out, the jungle is right outside the village.  Baloo essentially lives in Mowgli's backyard, and they can visit each-other whenever.

So does "Jungle Book 2" bring anything new at all to the table?  Well, the new voice actors are perfectly fine.  The animation is the best in all the sequels I've watched so far.  This is the second sequel in a row where a character from the first film whom many consider to be an offensive stereotype simply does not appear onscreen - but is acknowledged somehow anyway, which actually makes things more awkward. There are some impressively mediocre new songs.

Oh, and "The Jungle Book 2" includes my winner for the hotly contested title of Worst Disney Sidekick and quite possibly the Worst Character Ever:



This is Ranjon.  He is the reason why "Jungle Book 2" is so tedious, and why I started calling this whole project into question.  His personality is exactly like that of the youngest and most badly-behaved member of the Big Box Store Wacky Family of the Day I always seem to run into over and over while shopping and eventually end up stuck in line behind for what feels like forever.  The biggest problem with this picture of Ranjon is that it is silent.  When casting voice actors, Disney decided to cast the most ear-splitting little kid voice they could find.  This makes him the first Disney character since the lemurs in "Dinosaur" and the Goddamn Martin Short robot in "Treasure Planet" that I wanted to flat-out cold murder.  But, you see, those characters are not annoying hyperactive children with voices that sound like a hot spike being driven into you ear.  Therefore, little Ron Jon Surf Shop here is the Worst Disney Sidekick.

The sequels I will be watching next week are (for Disney DTV sequels) well-liked.  Let's hope so; I could use a breather.  Until then, I recommend this episode of the very nice "Rotoscopers" podcast, in which a letter from a listener and the release of "Madagascar 3" prompt the gang to discuss animated sequels.

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Sketch of the Day!

Older HMNH fish study.

"Gay Purr-ee" - the feature-length Chuck Jones involving film you've never heard of

It will be some time before I can get a Disney World trip report ready for you (I will probably start writing it as a series of subject-specific blog posts after I finish catching up on my various internet type things). So here's a quick review of an animated film I found on Netflix, gawked at, screamed "THAT'S what it was called!", rented, and watched."Gay Purr-ee" is an oddly-named animated film made by United Productions of America in the early '60s, based upon a short-story written by Chuck and Dorothy Jones, and directed by Abe Levitow. And boy does it look like it. I must say that Chuck Jones' style doesn't often mesh well with the ultra-stylized UPA style. It's often jarring to see such fluidly animated characters against such psychedelic backgrounds. Then again, that means that this is an animated film that really doesn't look like anything else out there.The plot concerns the adventures of Mewsette, a farm cat living in the French countryside who dreams of a better, more fabulous life. Her suitor Jaune-Tom is content to live out in the country. Mewsette overhears some humans talking about Paris and she stows away in a Paris-bound suitcase. Jaune-Tom runs after her with his Obligatory Sidekick in tow. Before they can catch up with her, Mewsette falls in with a conman (or concat, whatever) and... you can guess the rest.

Except, perhaps, for the part about the Alaska gold rush.It's funny how this movie could very easily be confused with "The Aristocats", with a dash of Don Bluth's "All Dogs Go To Heaven" (in that it is another movie where you also must not ask why the animals are conning each-other out of money -- what do animals even *want* with man's money?) But this was made almost a full decade *before* "Aristocats". Hmmm...So is the movie any good? Well, it's always fun to watch something Chuck Jones was involved in, but there is one major thing to consider: The leads are voiced by Judy Garland and Robert Goulet. Now ask me, a person who it has been established does not enjoy musicals, if they EVER STOP SINGING...



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Sketch of the Day!