Decoding Disney: movies

Showing posts with label movies. Show all posts

Friday, August 28, 2020

Kelly Marie Tran To Voice Raya in _Raya and the Last Dragon_

Woke up to this news this morning:

Star Wars star Kelly Marie Tran is voicing the main character in Disney’s newest animated film, “Raya and the Last Dragon”
Posted by Variety on Thursday, August 27, 2020

And honestly? I am here for it. 👏 👏 👏

While I'm not the biggest Star Wars fan, I did really enjoy Tran's role in Rian Johnson's Episode VIII; to see her "more than sidelined," to use Julia Alexander's words, in Episode IX, was more than disappointing.

But what's interesting to me is that this film, despite the plot summary, is being billed (and marketed, I'm sure) as a princess film.

Let's take a look at the plot summary from IMDB:

"In a realm known as Lumandra, a re-imagined Earth inhabited by an ancient civilization, a warrior named Raya is determined to find the last dragon."

And from Wikipedia:

"A lone warrior sets out to find the last dragon in existence and save the kingdom of Kumandra from the villainous Drunn."

With the exception of Mulan, and *maybe* Moana, Disney movies don't usually focus on warriors. That is, typically, Disney Animations studios films skew female-centric, with the Disney Princess, Disney Fairies and Frozen franchises anchoring the studio. Pixar, on the other hand, skews predominantly male. While there are exceptions to both of course (e.g., The Lion King for Disney; Brave and Inside Out for Pixar), the generalizations hold true.

And, for better or for worse (and people love to point out the "worse"), Disney princess movies are a staple of American childhood and culture. So it's interesting to me that Raya and the Last Dragon is being billed as a princess movie.

Look at this post from The Mary Sue, for example:

Get money!
Posted by The Mary Sue on Thursday, August 27, 2020

This movie, then, has the potential to be groundbreaking for Disney. Awkwafina, who will co-start with Tran, has already praised the movie's "sisterhood":

Awkwafina teases the sisterhood at the heart of #RayaAndTheLastDragon #D23 pic.twitter.com/AdNSKtlmjr
— Variety (@Variety) August 24, 2019

Two things to note:
(1) the clip features Cassie Steele, a British-Filipino actress who was originally cast in the role -- wonder what happened there? and

(2) sisterhood, on the heels of Frozen, is nothing new for Disney. It's worth pointing out that of 14 (un)official princesses -- only four of them have biological siblings (Ariel, Merida, and Anna & Elsa) and only three of them have sisters (Merida has brothers). The only film where sisterhood features a significant role is, of course, Frozen, as Ariel's sisters are largely irrelevant to the plot. And even in Frozen, Anna was intended to be the lead, with Elsa originally slated for the villain role. Jennifer Lee, thankfully, updated that narrative, and we have the two empowered characters we know and love today.

And while I don't think that Raya and Sisu are biological sisters (plot twist?!), this might actually be *more* important -- because Disney Princesses don't really get "friends." Sure, they get animal sidekicks and they may even get magical helpers, but not *real* friends. The only two princesses who have female friends are Pocahontas (Nakoma) and Tiana (Charlotte) and I would argue that only Tiana and Charlotte are *real* friends (Nakoma is largely a plot device), however historically unlikely their friendship would be.

So if this film deliberately features two female leads (as opposed to an accidental female lead with Elsa), who aren't biologically related, and focuses on their friendship/dynamic and both of them are Asian women? Like I said -- groundbreaking.

But here's where it gets a bit tricky for me...in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Kelly Marie Tran revealed,

"She is someone who is technically a princess, but I think that what's really cool about this project, about this character specifically, is that everyone's trying to flip the narrative on what it means to be a princess...Raya is totally a warrior. When she was a kid, she was excited to get her sword. And she grows up to be a really badass, gritty warrior and can really take care of herself."

Okay, what's the problem? How could this be anything less than great?

Fair question. I agree -- Tran's points about Disney trying to "flip the narrative on what it means to be a princess" is important -- and definitely in line with their recent marketing campaigns for the Princess franchise. And trust me -- I am all for strong, empowered, warrior characters.

My concern is that Disney has a tendency to Otherize its Princesses of Color -- to mark them as different from the typical white, European Princesses in significant ways. As early as 2004, Celeste Lacroix was pointing out that Disney's non-white heroines -- Pocahontas, Esmeralda, and, to some extent, Jasmine. Lacroix's point is that the non-White Princesses are often more sexualized and more associated with nature than the White Princesses, reinforcing the normative superiority of Whites. That is -- non-white Princesses don't get to just be princesses: they don't get to wear floofy ballgowns and have servants.

We can see this trend continue in the films that were released even after Lacroix's publication: Rapunzel, Merida, and Anna & Elsa, while all more active and empowered women, still wear ballgowns and live in castles. While Tiana and Moana may not be hypersexualized, they are definitely associated with Nature (Tiana turns into a frog and spends a good deal of time in the Louisiana bayou, and Moana is chosen by the Ocean to restore the heart of Te Fiti and give new life to a barren lava field) and don't wear ballgowns or live in castles.

Raya, it seems, would continue this disparity: I'm guessing she won't be wearing a ballgown as a warrior or living in a castle, as Entertainment Weekly also reveals that "Raya (voiced by Tran) is the daughter of the Chief of the Heart Lands, one of the five lands in the fictional kingdom of Kumandra. Years ago, dragons and humans lived in harmony, until monsters known as Druun invaded, forcing the dragons to sacrifice themselves and save humanity. Raya's father was also killed, and the film follows her journey as a warrior to find the last dragon, who she believes can save Kumandra."

This is where it gets tricky: on the one hand, I'm definitely not advocating that we continue telling solely European fairy tales, and the fact that this is a story deeply rooted in Southeast Asian culture is so very important. I'm also not saying that we should impose cultural inaccuracies as an empty gesture just for the sake of "equality." That is, we shouldn't impose castles and ballgowns and pretty passive princesses on a culture where castles and ballgowns simply don't exist. And I'm also not necessarily advocating for a return to pretty princess stories.

But I would maybe like to see some blurring of the boundaries: a White warrior Princess in the vein of Mulan and Moana and a Non-White Princess who does live in a castle and maybe doesn't wear ballgowns, but is unabashedly royal. And those Princesses of Color don't necessarily have to represent a real culture: while Pocahontas and Mulan are based on real people/people of legend, and Moana seeks to explain The Long Pause in Polynesian culture, Jasmine's Agrabah is fictional (sort of) as is Naveen's Maldonia.

Disney can create fictional worlds which can be ruled by characters of any color -- which I think I would like to see a bit more of. Maybe it would raise questions I haven't yet thought of...

The bottom line is that I'm still really excited about this movie, and I'm probably even more excited about Kelly Marie Tran's starring role. After all the hate and vitriol she received from toxic Star Wars fans, she's deserves a bit of pixie dust.

Thursday, November 29, 2018

Review: Wreck-It Ralph 2: Ralph Breaks The Internet

It's #ThrowbackThursday today, so let's rewind to last week when my in-laws watched our kids for the day so we could go Black Friday Shopping and continue our annual tradition of eating grilled cheese sandwiches at Pop's Soda Shop and watching a movie at The Grandin.

We deviated a little from tradition last year -- we chose Murder on the Orient Express over Coco -- but we're back on track:

And y'all?

It was SO GOOD.

Clarification: if push came to shove, I'd have to say the first one was better -- but in a different way, if that makes any sense. Wreck-It Ralph was so filled with nostalgia for me -- a child of the late 80s/early 90s -- and I loved the newness of it. This, IMHO, was the start of Disney Renaissance II's original stories, those not based on any previous source material (see also: Zootopia). It was also so smart, and clever, and the villain reveal was refreshing, something so different from Disney's long line of obvious, usually offensively stereotyped villains -- as was the way Disney toyed with the idea of villainy and what it means to be bad.

But Ralph Breaks The Internet was just as good, just in a different way. The nostalgia factor wasn't there, nor was the commentary on villainy. But there were other things, equally new and refreshing for a Disney movie -- especially a Disney princess movie. Because I think it's important to remember that Vanellope is, technically, a Disney princess.

📷: Disney

More, spoilery thoughts beneath the cut!

This Is Not A Drill: The Lion King Teaser Trailer

After an unscheduled 2-month hiatus (😳#momlife #professorlife #whatworklifebalance 😳) of course it would take The Lion King teaser trailer to get me back into blogging.

Fun fact: my husband is a die-hard Dallas Cowboys fan. So, of course, Thursday night after Thanksgiving dinner, he was glued to the TV watching the Cowboys-Redskins game. I was mostly checked out, watching the kids, chatting with relatives, glancing up at the screen every now and then out of habit. It was hard to hear much since I was sitting pretty far away from the TV and multiple conversations in a small space make a fair amount of noise.

So when I looked up at the TV and saw "And the Director of The Jungle Book" -- I had a moment. It went something like, "Disney's The Jungle Book? Or do they mean Andy Serkis' version that's going to straight to Netflix release? Jon Favreau directed the Disney version...that's how he got The Lion King gig. I wonder when we'll see a trailer for that. My students have been clamoring for a trailer for that. It has to be soon right? WAIT. Cowboys/Redskins is a big event with a lot of viewers...would Disney drop a trailer for one of their biggest hits during a high-traffic TV event on a family-centric holiday? OMFG YES THEY WOULD EVERYBODY HUSH AND BE QUIET." [<--This last bit was actually said outloud to the bewilderment of my husband's family.]

Oh well. I watched it and then Googled it and watched it again. Maybe 5 times.

And, yes. It looks (and, TBH, sounds) like a shot-for-shot remake of the original and I DON'T EVEN CARE. Don't come at me with your negativity, bro.

There's a part of me -- a tiny part -- that wonders, "Why remake a movie if it's just going to be the exact same?" so I do hope they do something different with the film.

But then there's another part of me that just doesn't care because there are cute baby CGI lions and James Earl Jones intoning those iconic lines in Mufasa's voice. Don't get me wrong -- there is literally no one else who could have filled those shoes but...that had to be a super easy day at the office for him, amirite?

Watch (and rewatch) the trailer below:

Friday, September 7, 2018

Let's Go To The Movies: Disney Princesses Back In Theaters!

So, I don't have a lot of spare time to go to the movies -- still waiting to see Crazy Rich Asians. And Mission Impossible. And Mamma Mia 2. -- but this is tempting. If only my daughter was a little older, these would be perfect to take her to! While Disney movies can hold her attention like nothing else can -- except maybe Dora the Explorer -- I don't think we're quite at the point where we can sit in a movie theater.

I'm hoping Frozen 2 will be her first theater-movie, but I don't know how she'll do with a movie she's never seen before. Honestly, she's more likely to sit through Moana because she knows the movie by heart.

Our local AMC theater is at Southpoint mall, y'all! Happy Fall!

Tuesday, August 28, 2018

More Updates on the Live-Action Lady and the Tramp

Apparently, there's a lot more news about this live-action Lady and the Tramp than I realized.

Let's break it down:

1. Justin Theroux will be the voice of Tramp.

TBH, I don't have a lot of thoughts on this casting choice. It seems odd to me, but not an interesting way...more of a "meh-shrug-your-shoulders-and-move-on" kind of way. I don't know if I expected more star power (my husband literally said, "Who?" when I shared this with him) or a more dynamic personality...Meh.

2. Ashley Jensen will be the voice of Jackie:

📷: ComingSoon

To me, this is more interesting news because (1) Jensen is actually Scottish (Bill Thompson who voiced Jock in the original animated film was not), so good move there, Disney; (2) we're gender-flipping the character (Jock was originally male) which...not to say that women can't have male friends, but I always thought it was odd that Lady had no female friends*; and (3) I've been a fan of Ashley Jensen since her Ugly Betty and Extras days, so I approve of this.

3. Kiersey Clemmons will be Darling and Thomas Mann will be Jim Dear.

Okay. I didn't actually know who either of these actors were -- and browsing their IMDB page didn't really help -- but, FWIW, it's interesting to note that Disney will be portraying an interracial relationship (which, unfortunately, is still a big deal for the media giant). That is, of course, if only the animals are CGI.

4. The most interesting bit of news from this People article, though, is how the film will be released: it won't be released in theaters, but rather directly through Disney's unnamed streaming service. (Which is, temporarily at least, known as Disney Play, thanks to an off-hand comment from Iger.) What this means, though, is less clear. Historically, films that weren't released in theaters were straight-to-DVD releases -- see, for instance, Cinderella 2 or any of the multitude of sequels -- and were generally considered inferior (re: not box office successes). A tricky appellation, and something of a misnomer. While, yes, the animation is generally inferior (more time, effort, and skill is placed into the films that can earn the most revenue -- usually: this didn't really work with Pocahontas and The Lion King) the story sometimes isn't. Since these films aren't subject to as much scrutiny -- their intended audience is much smaller -- their stories can be a little more progressive and their characters are little more dynamic. (My favorite example of this is probably the Tinkerbell movies which boast amazing voice actors and Tink is a girl in STEM! She's a "tinker," an engineer.)

But the viewing landscape has changed: this year's Emmy nominations fascinatingly (but not shockingly) favored non-cable networks, with the exception of NBC's This is Us and ABC's Blackish. Companies like Amazon Prime, Netflix, Hulu and HBO are generating outstanding original content, so why shouldn't Disney follow suit? We know their storytelling and movie-making is, arguably, in a class of its own, so their own streaming platform to house that content could be a bold move.

Could be. Will the content suffer? Will people pay to see it -- especially once Disney's catalog is gone from places like Netflix? (I mean, I will, but I'm a weird Disney fanatic.)

Sunday, May 13, 2018

Newsies on Netflix!!!

THIS IS NOT A DRILL:

I logged into my Netflix account the other day and was browsing the New Releases. I was looking for Thor: Ragnarok (it wasn't there, womp womp) and, instead, I found this.

Apparently, you can watch a taped broadcast of Newsies -- with, I think, the original cast.

My reaction:

I love, love, LOVE Newsies. The first time I watched it was in freshman year of high school, in ELP (lawd, I don't even remember what that acronym stands for...Economics, Legal, and Politics? Something like that?). We also watched Dave, which is a delightful (if not dated) movie, so clearly my ELP teacher's movie game was on point.

But I loved Newsies -- before I even knew it was Disney movie or that Christian Bale was in it. The music was infectious (of course, it's Alan Menken), it was informational but entertaining, and sure, it ran a little long, but it was just...fun.

So when they made a musical and, arguably, improved it -- yay girl power! -- I was there for it. I never made it to NYC to see the original cast, but bought tickets when the tour came to DPAC. And now I can watch it whenever I want.

And, can I just say? If this is what we can expect from Disney's new streaming service...

Take my money now, Disney.

Monday, February 19, 2018

GO SEE BLACK PANTHER.

I'm not usually one for Teh Capslock, but in this case, I feel like it's warranted: go see Black Panther.

This weekend, my husband and I visited my in-laws up at Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia. It's a bit of a touristy spot in the Blue Ridge Mountains of rural Southwestern Virginia, so it's nice and quiet in February. My mother-in-law loves quality time with her grandbabies, so we were able to sneak away for a few hours in the afternoon to see Black Panther at a local cinema -- where it was not difficult to get tickets. We walked up about 20 minutes before an afternoon showing and had walked right in. There were...maybe 20 people in the theater?

But it was fascinating -- it was wonderful -- to overhear the conversations of the people sitting around us. There was an African-American couple sitting a few seats down from us who frankly admitted that they didn't know anything about comic book characters or the other Marvel movies -- but they'd been to see this movie Friday night, were here again on Saturday afternoon, and couldn't wait to take their grandbabies on Sunday after church.

That's the power of this movie, y'all.

There are cultural cinematic events that happen every so often. “Jaws” broke open the tentpole. “Star Wars” redefined the blockbuster. “Wonder Woman” gave us a heroine 4 the ages. And something tells me #BlackPanther is about to carry the torch & set the whole thing on fire again
— Josh Gad (@joshgad) February 12, 2018

I'm going to try and post non-spoilery thoughts, because this is a movie that shouldn't be spoiled.

Disney's The Nutcracker and the Four Realms Trailer

So, this dropped the other day:

And, yes: that is Keira Knightley.

I have mixed thoughts about this.

On the one hand, it's a Disney movie that looks absolutely gorgeous. So of course I'm excited.

Also in the "plus" column -- my daughter's name is Clara (she was named after a Doctor Who companion though; not the character from The Nutcracker) so if this Clara is a princess (1) she can share a name with a Disney princess and (2) we'll buy ALL the Clara merchandise because, Hi. I'm a good little Disney consumer.

Another plus: this looks like it has a lot of girl power. Clara looks like she undergoes some sort of warrior princess transformation which could bode well from a gender studies perspective.

And, of course, Misty Copeland.

But on the other hand....I don't know. It seems a little too Alice in Wonderland to me. Curious girl enters fantasy land with a cast of magical creatures and characters and undergoes a journey of self-discovery which results in her empowerment and subsequent victory over Evil.

Now, don't get me wrong. I love Alice in Wonderland (the Carroll book -- not so much the Disney adaptation, although it was creative in its own way) but that doesn't mean I want the story to become a formula for media companies to use for every coming-of-age story with a female protagonist who travels to a fantasy land. It's been a while since I've seen The Nutcracker (and I'll admit that I've never read the original Hoffman story) so perhaps the story does need some updating. I have vague recollections of the Mouse King fighting the Nutcracker....but Clara saves him by throwing a shoe? And then he whisks her away to the fairy-tale land of flower dances and sugar plum fairies...so, not terribly problematic, but perhaps there's room for improvement/updating. And, after all: that's the true litmus test for a new adaptation of a beloved story: what is the "something new" you're doing with the story?

Wednesday, November 8, 2017

Early Reviews of Pixar's _Coco_ Seem To Be Positive

While researching articles on race in The Princess and the Frog, I stumbled across this -- "What Mexican and American critics are saying about Disney/Pixar’s groundbreaking film “Coco."

Now, Coco has been a long time in the making -- and the making hasn't always been good. After all, it seemed to start with this controversy over trying to copyright "Day of the Dead" and ScreenRant offers a nice history of the making of the film.

So now that early reviews are starting to come in, I'm curious to see if their work paid off. And while the reviews excerpted here acknowledge that the film isn't perfect -- will a Disney film ever be? -- the reviews do seem to be largely positive and seem to praise Disney for the efforts they made:

Friday, October 20, 2017

The Little Mermaid -- Broadway Version

Last night, my husband and I had Date Night (rather a big deal when you have "two under two"). We're season ticket holders at DPAC, and last night was Disney's The Little Mermaid.

Now, y'all should know by now that The Little Mermaid is my favorite Disney Princess movie, so to say I was excited is probably a bit of an understatement:

But I was even more excited by the fact that, after seeing a regional production in Raleigh, I was pretty sure the Disney Powers-That-Be had their writers read academic criticism of The Little Mermaid and fix most of the issues critics had with it.

And after seeing the National Tour, I'm convinced of it. (There's a paper/conference presentation in here somewhere...) Here are some of the things I noticed:

The Broadway version (BV) establishes fairly early on that Eric feels more at home at sea than he does on land -- he specifically says that he'd rather be a sailor than a prince -- and he wants a girl who can swim/would feel at home on the ocean.
Given that this is paralleled by Ariel's desire to be a part of the human world, I think it works to establish their similarities -- they both feel out of place in their world, and long to be a part of the other's world -- as well as emphasize how well-suited they are for each other. When they end up together, Ariel won't have to completely give up her family, because Eric feels so at home at sea.
Triton has more depth as a father. Whereas in the film he comes off as a domineering ruler first and a father second, here he's humanized a lot more. His role as the single-father-of-7-teenageish-girls is heightened, and you get to see that he's struggling with how to raise them -- especially the rebellious Ariel. He wants to do right by them, and protect them, but they're at an age where he just doesn't know what to do.
The whole play takes place over a year -- bookended by Eric's birthdays. IDK if that helps much, in the grand scheme of things, but it does make Ariel's decision to join Eric a little less impetuous.
The theme of tolerance-of-differences and prejudice is super-heightened: there's a lot more talk of "hating humans" and "all humans are evil" based on the actions of a few.
We do get an answer as to why Triton hates humans so much -- he believes they killed his wife -- so cross that off the list of criticisms.
We also get an answer as to why Ursula was banished and why she hates Triton so much -- and this is probably my favorite improvement from the animated film. While I still don't get why Ursula is an octopus if she's related to Triton and the other merfolk -- maybe it's like a Wicked thing, where Elphaba is born green? -- their familial connection does explain the tension and animosity. And "Daddy's Little Angel" is the best musical addition to the BV -- it's a whole song about how Ursula killed her 6 older sisters in order to inherit the throne, but forgot about her baby brother (Triton) who grew up to take it from her because, you know, she was intent on evil misdeeds.
Sidebar: in the original version of the BV, Poseidon had just two kids, Ursula and Triton. Upon his death, he gave Ursula the shell and Triton the trident and told them to split the oceans and each rule half. Ursula got greedy, wanted to be sole ruler, so Triton banished her. Apparently, this wasn't well-received -- or well-conceived? -- so they tweaked the backstory. I gotta say: I like the tweaked version better. After all, it heightens the parallels between Ursula and Ariel -- the 7th daughter, different from her sisters, misunderstood by her father...
In the end, there is no melodramatic scene where Ursula steals the trident and Eric goes after her and they have the weird, dramatic sea battle while Ariel lies helpless at the bottom of the sea. It's a little clunky and rushed, but Ariel definitely has a more active role and saves herself: she steals Ursula's shell -- the source of her power -- and smashes it, breaking the spell and destroying her power.

Lots of improvements, at least based on academic criticisms. In fact, the only thing that I wasn't a huge fan of was this whole "Cult of the Good Mother" thing -- the idea that the dead mother is this pure, powerful figure who would make everything better if she were there and whose absence drives a surprising amount of character actions. Triton invokes her -- only by her role: he refers to her as Wife and Mother, not by her name -- when he's turning to Sebastian for help: he says something like, "If only their mother were here, she'd know what to do, what to say to her, how to make everything right." And then again, at the end, when it's revealed -- Spoilers -- that Ursula was the one who actually killed Triton's wife (why or how remains unclear), this is what motivates Ariel into action. Not being tricked by Ursula, not her father giving up his power -- the invocation of the dead mother.

Which...sure. On the surface not a bad thing...but I feel like I'm more aware of how mothers are portrayed in the media these days and anything that excessively glorifies motherhood as this natural, easy thing....makes me twitch a little. I appreciate movies like Bad Moms and TV shows like American Housewife because they de-romanticize motherhood and get at the idea that motherhood is hard. For some people, motherhood may come easily -- but the level of selflessness and self-sacrifice that parenting -- and especially motherhood -- requires is glossed over quite often. There is no magic moment that, once they put that baby into your arms, you suddenly know how to do everything and you have all the answers. So, sure. Ariel and her sisters probably would have benefitted from having their mom around, but that doesn't mean she would have had all the answers or known exactly what to say to Ariel or how to "handle" her rebellious nature. Maybe Ariel's mom would have been just as frustrated as Triton was. Maybe -- okay, probably -- she would have been constantly fighting over something with her SEVEN daughters: the only semi-perfect mother/daughter relationship I know is the one between the Gilmore Girls.

But, hey. This is Disney, so maybe Ariel and her mom would have gotten along just fine.

Friday, September 29, 2017

Hocus Pocus Remake -- sob

I've said this before, but Fall is my favorite season. (I really think it's because I grew up in New York, in the Hudson Valley, where we have *actual* Fall, with cool temperatures, stunning foliage, and apples and pumpkins galore.) And while I'm not a huge fan of Halloween -- my dad hated the holiday and I prefer Thanksgiving -- October mainly means one thing: a socially acceptable time to watch Hocus Pocus.

If you haven't seen Hocus Pocus, stop reading, go to your DVR and set this up to record. Because you're missing out. I could go into all the reasons why it's awesome, but the fact that it's one of Bette Midler's favorite films is really all you need to know. And, if you still need convincing, it was directed by Kenny Ortega, who also did High School Musical so...you know.

So, when I heard that they were making a sequel, I was ecstatic.

Only...FAIL. There's no sequel -- despite the fact that the Sanderson Sisters are all on board -- just a remake for Disney Channel.

Which....NO. Just no.

One, the original film is a cult classic, SO WHY REMAKE IT?

Two, part of what makes the original so great is it's glorious '90s vibe -- something that you just can't replicate now. *coughJumanjicough*

Three, if it's going to air on Disney Channel -- and that's nothing against Disney Channel movies; I love them -- that pretty much shows how high on the priority list it is for Disney. In other words, it's probably just a shameless money grab.

I love you Disney, but when you pull stunts like this, it gets really hard to defend you.

Wednesday, September 20, 2017

Same.

I don't normally advocate for (tolerate?) talking during movies, but if you watch a Disney movie with me, you'd better be prepared for me to sing-along (probably off-key) and/or finish the lines of dialogue with the characters. (Especially during the first Pirates of the Caribbean. At one point, I think I genuinely had that movie memorized. #teamcommodorenorrington)

Monday, July 17, 2017

D23 Expo Recap

io9 has posted a great recap of all the news from the D23 Expo with links to each individual story. They've also helpfully divided it up into 3 major categories: Marvel, Star Wars, and "Disney" (which I guess is just an umbrella category).

Check out the link to get more information.

Sunday, March 19, 2017

Review: Beauty and the Beast (2017)

Confession: The Little Mermaid will always be my first Disney obsession, and Ariel will always be my favorite Disney princess, but I have no memory of seeing the movie. I have memories of my obsession, and wanting All The Happy Meal Toys, but not watching it.

I do, however, have a very strong, very vivid memory of seeing Beauty and the Beast in the theater. I remember watching the opening scene, as it zoomed in to the castle, and leaning over and asking my mom if we were at the right movie because the movie couldn't start this way. (Little Me didn't know about prologues and backstory.) She said something like, "of course we're at the right movie," because obviously not every movie was animated (but that's all I knew when I was 7). And I remember loving the fact that Belle read books, because even little Lisa was a total bookworm, and that she was a little different. Adult Me has been a little disenchanted with the movie, but I was so excited for this version. And, thankfully, I didn't have to wait too long to see it. (#godblessbabysittinggrandmas).

There's a very spoiler, full review below the cut, but, spoiler alert, I loved it. Accurate gif of me walking out of the theater yesterday afternoon:

Emma Watson as Belle -- New Images Leaked Online?

Okay. By now, you know how much I'm looking forward to Disney's live-action version of Beauty and the Beast starring ~~Hermione Granger~~ Emma Watson as Belle.

This weekend, new images from the film were allegedly leaked online -- specifically, images of Emma Watson as Belle which aside from that one shot in the trailer, have been unsurprisingly scarce.

[I say "allegedly" because I'm not entirely sure that they aren't Photoshopped/fan-creations. My first few hits on Google (e.g. ComicBookMovie and Harpers Bazaar led me to broken links....maybe because they're not as legit as fans want them to be?

This is the "still" that makes me the happiest -- if I had to guess, I'd say it's from the opening sequence where Belle is wandering through the town and ends up in the bookstore, only to pick out about "far-off places, daring sword fights, magic spells, a prince in disguise!" I suppose it could be the Beast's library (although she wears the green dress for that scene in the animated movie), but it's almost identical to the town bookstore (the ladder helps).

Emma Watson is so perfect to make "The beauty and The beast" 😍😍 pic.twitter.com/wIYwV05KKv
— Lorena Alves (@lorena_alves04_) September 30, 2016

This one...I am less excited about. Not sure why. It looks very stiff and posed, and an odd image to "leak." The one above could almost be a trailer shot or movie still, but this one...looks like it should be a promotional image. This is the one that concerns me about doctored photos -- we've been fooled before!

Emma Watson’s Belle Dances With Beast in New Beauty and the Beast Images pic.twitter.com/xlgqtnm0Od
— Great-Stuff (@Splurgehub) September 30, 2016

At the very least -- her hair is styled consistently in both photos (center part), so that's something.

Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Lin-Manuel Miranda + Disney's The Little Mermaid

Yes, you read that right. Current It-Boy Lin-Manuel Miranda is teaming up with Disney on a live-action adaptation of The Little Mermaid.

BRB. I need to go die of fangirl-excitement.

via EW

According to Deadline, Miranda will (1) co-produce the film (he's not writing the story but will "supervise" it) and (2) will write songs with Alan Menken.

The article mentions that it's an adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid" but...I'm pretty sure it's just going to be a remake of the 1989 Disney film (a.k.a. my first Disney love and obsession) as Andersen is a bit too dark for Disney. (Also, Chloe Grace Moretz is starring in that film -- and she's been adamant about it is darker and it's not the Disney version.)

All that being said...I have no idea what a "live-action" adaptation of a story about mermaids and evil sea witches and set largely underwater even looks like. I mean...I would imagine it's something akin to a "live-action adaptation" of The Jungle Book where by "live-action" they mean "largely CGI." Although, Annie Leibowitz made a bunch of Olympic swimmers look like convincing merpeople, so it could happen. (Still one of my favorites things EVER.)

I'll end with this final thought: I have complete trust in LMM. I know he's not writing the story (yet), but if anyone can pull off a live-action adaptation and make it new and fresh, it's him. After all, if you'd told me that Broadway's hottest ticket right now would be to a rap-musical based on the life of Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, I would have laughed and epically eye-rolled.

Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Moana News! Voice Actors & Character Details

Some interesting news about the upcoming Moana film!

First--there's some news on characters other than Moana and Maui.

Perhaps most importantly we know that Moana has both parents alive (hopefully for the whole film):

Her father, Chief Tui, is voiced by Temuera Morrison (notably, a New Zealand actor of Maori descent) and is described as a "gregarious and well-respected" leader who wants his daughter to follow in his footsteps.

Her mother, Sina, is voiced by Nicole Scherzinger (Hawaiian) and is described as "sharp and strong-willed" and having her daughter's back.

Moana's paternal grandmother is also present in the film:

Gramma Tala is voiced by Rachel House (also a New Zealand actor of Maori descent) and is described as Moana's "confidante and best friend" and as "dance[ing] to the beat of her own drum."

A couple of interesting things to note:

Gramma Tala is Chief Tui's mother. This isn't necessarily a strictly patriarchal tribe (Chief Tui wants Moana to rule after him, after all), so it would be interesting to see if Gramma Tala ruled before Chief Tui--which would be kick-ass indeed.
I think it's important to note that, in what is definitely a strategic "we-don't-want-to-be-accused-of-whitewashing" move, all of the actors have Pacific Islander heritage (be it Hawaii or New Zealand) which should (1) mitigate white-washing criticism and (2) bolster claims of diversity.
As I mentioned above, hopefully all of Moana's family remains alive -- I think it's pretty rare in Disney princess (or, human) films for a parent to die onscreen: obviously, Mufasa dies in The Lion King (a move which is mirrored in Pixar's The Good Dinosaur) and Bambi's mother (thankfully not on-screen, although during the movie) but in the fairy-tale films, one or both parent(s) are absent from the beginning.
(The only quasi-exceptions to this, that I can think of, are Cinderella's father who is briefly depicted and then mentioned as passing in the voice-over and Tiana's father who is, again, depicted on-screen and then it's implied (not directly stated) that he died during WWI).
Regardless, the family unit seems to be doing much better in this Third Wave of Disney Princess films, and being a Disney Princess Parent doesn't automatically seem to be a death sentence.
The family unit of daughter-mother-father-grandmother, while relatively rare in Disney Princess films, isn't unprecedented: the same structure was apparent in Mulan, although we don't seem to be dealing with the same issues of gender privilege in this movie. (In Mulan, males/sons are seen as "more" as females/daughters -- although, whether that's the actual message or the false premise of the film is up for debate.)
Likewise, the character descriptions seem to indicate that Moana's parents will be actual, round characters rather than stock fairy-tale characters: more like Merida's mother and father than even Rapunzel's parents (who are actually flatter characters than Sleeping Beauty's King Stefan and his Queen). Chief Tui will also, hopefully, be a King/Father who doesn't fall victim to the pitfalls of the Second Wave Disney Princess fathers -- either strict and overbearing (like King Triton) or weak and ineffectual (like the Sultan).

Finally, Alan Tudyk will voice HeiHei who is literally the village idiot who stows away on Moana's boat.

What's interesting though is that The Nerdist calls Tudyk "Disney's lucky charm" -- a fact which my husband and I gleefully pointed out, kind of made him the "John Ratzenberger of Walt Disney Animation Studios."

Apparently, we were not alone in this realization:

Alan Tudyk is becoming the John Ratzenberger of the Disney Animation side. pic.twitter.com/VMTJLadfN5
— Disney Film Facts (@disneyfilmfacts) February 27, 2016

Either way--we didn't need the Internet to tell us that he was a good-luck-charm: Alan Tudyk has so much nerd-street-cred already (he's Wash on Firefly!) and I've been rooting extra-hard for him ever since I him at the Central Park Zoo with his (I assume) parents.

I'm really looking forward to this movie now -- so many good movies coming out in November!

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

New Moana Trailer!

You guys. I've said it before -- I'll say it again. Moana is going to be a beautiful film.

It's more of a clip than a trailer -- showing baby Moana (merchandise gold, amirite?) discovering she can control the ocean -- but it's beautiful and gorgeous and I can't wait for this movie.

Please, please, please give us a strong heroine, Disney.

Tuesday, July 5, 2016

Finding Dory (Review)

**Disclaimer: Less of a review; more of a meditation on certain characters.

This past weekend was the Fourth of July, and we were lucky enough to go down to my parents' condo at the beach. We were even luckier to have my mom go with us -- and babysit Cricket Bug while we had "Date Night." And, like the mature, adult couple that we are, we went to go see Finding Dory.

Photo via TeaserTrailer.com

Truth Talk: I know a lot of people were super excited for this movie but we...weren't. I'm not sure why. Maybe because I prefer Disney Animation Studios movies to Pixar ones -- even though I acknowledge that Pixar films have traditionally been superior in terms of originality, message, and stye. (I really do believe that recent films like Wreck-It Ralph and Zootopia are challenging that. Especially since I didn't think that The Good Dinosaur was very good. At all.)

Maybe it was because Finding Nemo was released during my "Disney meh" phase and while I enjoy it, it's not a film I have a deep emotional connection with.

Maybe it's because I thought Dory was a great supporting character, but I didn't feel a strong need for a stand-alone movie devoted to her.

Maybe it was because the trailer seemed like it was basically Finding Nemo all over again. (It wasn't--I think maybe that was a deliberate choice to capitalize on the nostalgia for Finding Nemo.)

But, we see every Disney movie that comes out, so this was a no brainer.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, but when I see a Disney movie, it's very hard for me to turn my "academic" brain off. Even when we went to go see Frozen, there was the part of me that was excited to see a Disney Princess movie, and then there was the part of me that was evaluating the film as part of the Disney Princess franchise.

Same goes with Finding Dory. Finding Nemo is popular with my students, and I've had several students write about the characters and their various differences? Handicaps? I don't want to call them "disabilities," because the great thing about the film is that the characters aren't limited. So I was curious to see if and how Finding Dory would approach the same issue.

Going in, I didn't know much about the plot. I really only knew what I had read from two posts/articles. One, was a Facebook post that a friend of mine shared about the film being a trigger for adopted children. I'm not an adopted child, so I can't pretend to understand or predict what reaction a child would have--so I won't comment on that. The other, though, was an article from The Huffington Post, titled "The One Glaring Problem With Finding Dory." (I later read a similar piece, "Finding Dory Is Perfect, Except When It Isn't.")

Moana Teaser Trailer!

It's finally here! A teaser trailer for Moana!

I am beyond excited for this movie -- despite the fact that I know very little about it.

Thoughts:

LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA. That is all.
I love, love, love the sequence with the tattoos. It's done in the "traditional Disney" 2D style, and it kinda reminds me of the muses and the Grecian urns in Hercules.
The computer animation is gorgeous as well -- this is going to be a beautiful film.
It's interesting that the teaser trailer features The Rock's character, Maui, rather than the titular protagonist....I'll try not to read too much into that.
Many people are already commenting on how The Rock is of Samoan descent--very important since this is one of Disney's "diverse films." (This hasn't really been an issue for Disney lately -- in their more recent films they have used voice actors that match the ethnicity of the characters, like Asian-American actors for Mulan, but still.

I *really* hope that this princess movie continues Disney's forward progress. They have a great momentum going from Frozen, and I'd love to see Moana be a spirited, independent princess with agency.

And wouldn't it be great if there was no love story?