And now, a very special episode of Bebop's intellectualist claptrap
So after several months of hype and a pushed-back release date, Disney's "Princess and the Frog" is hitting theatres sometime next week. And while much has been made about adding a woman of color to the arbitrary cabal of Disney Princesses, perhaps just as significant is that it marks Disney returning to their comfort zone (and where they've always been among the very best) of traditional 2-D cel animation. If nothing else, Disney deserves credit for having mastered the art of making something disappear the second it loses a bit of attention only to bring it back after a fad (in this case, CGI animation) has all but worn out its welcome.
Consider for example, the infamous 'vault' into which many of the most popular of their films vanish into only to resurface a few years later so they can justify charging full-price for the DVD with a few tacked-on new features, but I digress.
Anyway, in honor of Disney's first real animated film in the better part of a decade, I've decided to look back into their long and illustrious history as pioneers of feature film animation and pick out ten of their absolute best works.
So, without further ado...
A fondly remembered piece from the so-called Disney Rennaissance, "Aladdin" left its mark not by being the most meaningful or most visually striking Disney film out of the 1990's, but by being easily one of the funniest. Seriously, the writing here is so varied and works so well that even perpetual hit-or-misser Robin Williams is pretty much on the ball, even when slipping into incongruous pop-culture referencing. But even when it's goofing around it still does a great job of pulling you into its Arabian Nights-fairy tale world, and knows how to be serious when it needs to be-- something that's really a lot harder than you'd think.
While "Aladdin" gets plenty right, it's not above stumbling a bit-- Genie, while usually funny, can get pretty damn annoying at times, and our leads are easily some of Disney's blandest (Aladdin comes off as saintly straight-man eye candy, and other than pole-vaulting and being eye candy herself Jasmine doesn't leave much of an impression). But with a memorable villain in Jafar, great setpieces and of course, solid humor, "Aladdin" is still among Disney's best.
Click to view
Well, any 'best of Disney' list is pretty much required by law to include this one, so here we are. Coming out at the height of the Disney Rennaissance, "Lion King" is certainly a fantastic film-- beautifully animated, packed with memorable characters, and a catchy nigh-unforgettable musical score (if nothing else because "Hakuna Matata" will never ever ever ever EVER go away no matter what you try to do).
An extremely loose adaptation of "Hamlet," Simba's journey isn't nearly as dark and twisted but certainly not without a measure of traumatic psychological depth (how many characters in children's movies spend most of the running time thinking that they are DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE for a parent's death, anyway?). What results is certainly a dramatic and often funny film, one rightly remembered as a classic and though not quite perfect, it definitely earns its spot on this list.
Back in 2002, traditional animation was all but left for dead in the eyes of the major studios who'd originally thrived on it-- or at least it was to Dreamworks Animation-head Jeffery Katzenburg, who formally abandoned it after the commercial failure of "Sinbad" in favor of the much more profitable CGI path headed up by "Shrek." And with Disney's own animation department heading towards the previously unfathomable chopping block itself, "Lilo and Stitch" was intended to be their last hurrah, a desperate Hail Mary that would make or break the studio's fortunes. Hyping it up with an admittedly clever (and surprisingly self-depreciating) ad campaign, "Lilo and Stitch" was a big risk that ended up paying off big time.
Bringing with it gorgeous animation, a witty script and a fun Elvis-heavy soundtrack, "L&S" was and is easily the most energized and original Disney film in years, bringing a modern sensibility while still retaining the heart and honesty that had once made them king of the hill in the first place. It does all this without any sense of smarmy, Poochie-esque pandering to some abstract concept of 'coolness' too, though Disney has always been able to be self-aware without being insincere or obnoxious(this is also why "Enchanted" worked and every other fractured-fairy tale movie besides the first "Shrek" didn't). Both laugh out loud clever and surprisingly sweet, it's no exaggeration to say that without "Lilo and Stitch," "The Princess and the Frog" might never have been made, and that certainly counts for something.
Disney's sojourn into the realm of Chinese historical myth is admittedly uneven-- Mushu is annoying, there's more than a little racefail, and oh yeah MUSHU IS FUCKING ANNOYING SERIOUSLY EDDIE MURPHY WHAT THE FLYING FUCK, but if nothing else it deserves credit for being one of the few Disney movies to tell little girls that while being a pretty princess is all well and good, there's nothing wrong with being an ass-kicking HBIC too. Yes, our titular female lead manages to essentially turn the tide of war with little more than a rocket-launcher and her own wits-- I'd say that's a message I'm more than inclined to pass onto my kids.
In all seriousness though, "Mulan" of course looks gorgeous and the music is very nice, but what really set it apart is that it's one of the few Disney movies to actually consider issues of gender and feminism without being obnoxious about it. The Nostalgia Chick recently detailed this movie and there's little I can say that she hasn't hit on better. It's certainly not Disney's best by a long shot, but there's no denying it works, it's fun, and Mulan, of course, is totally awesome.
Also yes, good luck NOT singing along to "I'll Make a Man out of You." Seriously.
Simplifying dark and disturbing stories to make them more marketable to a children's audience is no stretch for Disney (have any of you ever actually READ the original Hans Christian Anderson version of "The Little Mermaid?" Jesus fucking CHRIST), but doing the same to a pillar of literature like Victor Hugo's "Hunchback of Notre Dame" raised quite a few eyebrows and drew some understandable scorn from the well-read. And while Disney's kid-friendly(ish) musical adaptation is a far cry from the original work, it still manages to stand as a masterstroke in its own right and bring with it a fair share of intelligently handled themes and dark imagery. Hell, seeing it again it's hard to tell-- some juvenile humor and cute sidekicks aside-- if it's really for kids at all.
And really, it's no small task to take something like this and somehow make it PG, let alone still have a brain in its head. Featuring-- of course-- gorgeous animation with a wonderful score, and bolstered by stellar voice acting along with one of Disney's most chilling villains in Judge Frollo (and really, that's saying something), "Hunchback" is the rare animated movie that's not afraid to challenge as well as entertain.
European fairy tales are to Disney as soul-crushing depression is to the movies of Don Bluth-- the vital lifeblood and heart of the machine, something so inextricably linked to its existence and success that it just wouldn't be the same without it. And in many ways, "Sleeping Beauty" is still the finest example of this mythical form-made-film that the company's ever produced. Featuring what is easily the most striking art direction of any 'traditional' Disney film (nearly every frame looks like it was ripped from Midieval tomes or tapestries, and the character design is immediately distinct from the softer lines and forms of something like "Snow White" or "Pinocchio"), it's an absolute treat to look at but it also brings with it a haunting and memorable score (though its most recognizable musical setpiece is pulled straight from the Tchaikovsky ballet of the same name).
It's interesting to note that-- like the Legend of Zelda games-- just because it's called "Sleeping Beauty" doesn't mean she's really the focus of the film. While she is certainly IMPORTANT, Aurora is more an incidental Macguffin for the much-more-interesting Good Fairies and Maleficent to fight over; an epic battle of Good and Evil triggered over a christening invitation snub, of all things. "Sleeping Beauty" is definitely a classic-- Disney's quintessential love letter to princesses, knights, high fantasy and good old fashioned fairy tales.
Oh, and of course sexy dominatrices who turn into fucking dragons. Can't forget that.
While certainly well-recieved upon its release and fondly recalled since, it's still hard to appreciate just what a miraculous anomaly "Tarzan" is. If "Hunchback" is an example of Disney taking something complex and simplifying it, the adaptation of Edgar Rice Burrough's infamous myth is the exact opposite-- it takes a fairly basic pulp adventure novel and instead of simply parroting it, manages to infuse it with a rare degree of subtlety and even intellect; there's a definite layer of psychological woe and complexity to our hero, but it's never pushed enough to get in the way of its thrilling sequences, solid writing and well-rounded characters.
There's a modern sensibility at work here but it never feels too jarring or at odds with a distinctly period story, and they even got Phil Collins-- a guy who arguably no one cared about since Genesis-- to do some of his best work here by writing and performing all the musical numbers. That's gotta count for something.
While "Tarzan" is certainly a fun movie, it's also one with a lot going on under the surface, and that always makes for a real treat worth revisiting time and again.
It's hard to figure out where to begin with this movie (other than maybe stating the obvious first-- TIM BURTON IS THE PRODUCER/WRITER, IT'S ACTUALLY DIRECTED BY HENRY SELICK, GIVE CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE), mainly because its importance and enduring footprint on animation in general is hard to overstate. From its imagery that shifts gracefully to lighthearted whimsical to black-comedy nightmarish and back to its catchy songs to its twisted-clever premise, "Nightmare" takes a lot of chances and succeeds on a lot of levels.
Like many Disney films, it's inherently a story about identity and while the concept itself is nothing new, it certainly plays out here with a lot of freshness and occasionally even tragic turns-- it's less, our hero discovers, about wanting what you can't have as much as appreciating what IS yours-- though it certainly doesn't begrudge him the effort. The debate rages on about whether or not it should be shown on Christmas or Halloween, but there's no debating that "Nightmare" is a witty, bizarrely charming gem of stop-motion animation and a welcome addition to the Disney legacy.
Disney's musical-cartoon formula is so well established (and certainly felt in this list) that in some ways "Fantasia" is both the refinement of this concept to its core essentials and a slap in the face. Eschewing both traditional narrative structure and nearly all acting to speak of, "Fantasia" represents Disney at its ballsiest and most experimental (yet considering the original structure of cartoons as essentially wordless stories told in music, perhaps also its most introspective), yet instead of merely being an exercise in 'art for art's sake' it carries with it an almost primal power and beauty in part BECAUSE it uses simply pictures and music to carry it.
From lighthearted comedy to unsettling Gothic horror and even outright abstraction, "Fantasia" covers a variety of animation styles with a little help from some of the most beautiful music ever penned, all without a hint of pretension or overbearing ambition. Less a musical than a ballet told in gorgeous drawings, "Fantasia" transcends languages, ages and cultures to deliver something both deeply human yet oddly ephemeral, a testament to the potential of animated storytelling without ever saying a word.
As long as Disney exists, for all its slight variations there are a few constants: there will invariably be a beatiful young girl (preferably a 'princess' by some arbitrary designation), a handsome young man of presumably royal lineage, some kind of curse, a dastardly villain, animal/magical sidekicks and show-stopping musical numbers. While "Beauty and the Beast" does indeed contain all of these things, what keeps it from being just another Disney film is that every aspect of this tried-and-true formula has been refined and polished to near perfection. Like so many of the best movies period, time hasn't diluted its beauty or honesty, and in some ways it only appreciates more with age, whether you're a child seeing it for the first time or a film buff analyzing it for the fiftieth or a parent re-experiencing it for the first time in many years.
If "Fantasia" is Disney's rebellion against the animation norm, "Beauty and the Beast" is Disney settling down to pen its master's thesis on animation itself, on it as an expressive art form and a powerful unifying medium.
So much of it works-- a wonderful script, some of the company's absolute best songs, atmospheric and breathtaking imagery, unquestionably its best male and female leads (Belle is refreshingly smart and independent and brave yet still relatable, while Beast not only has PERSONALITY but some real flaws as well) and a surprisingly human villain (sure, he goes the same way as the rest of them, but Gaston really doesn't start out a bad guy as much as an amusingly self-centered fratboy douchebag)-- that it's hard to really consider anything that doesn't. And its emotional pull is so subdued yet undeniably effective that you almost have to be made of stone to not be moved by it. In retrospect, it's interesting to consider how much effort Disney went through to recapture the Best Picture nomination that "Beauty and the Beast" earned them-- an honor no other animated film has ever earned or likely ever will recieve again-- without quite regaining the effortless craft that made it so special in the first place.
Maybe not the most original, but undeniably brilliant, "Beauty and the Beast" is just about perfect-- not simply one of the best Disney films ever made, but just as importantly one of the best films ever made.