Disney Animation Reviews #25 - The Black Cauldron

Disney Movie Review: 25/53 - The Black Cauldron

Ryan Dosier - Word of warning, The Black Cauldron (1985) is the only Disney animated feature I completely despise. It is the weakest film of the Disney canon by far and easily the most forgettable. It is no wonder that it is hidden away and one of the few Disney animated features that has little to no representation in the Disney family.

Before I start my harsh rant on the film, I will mention its one redeeming quality: the background layouts. There are some really striking and beautiful layouts in the film, especially in the Horned King’s castle. It’s a pity that the animation in front of the backgrounds is so poor and the story so dull.

The film’s animation is shockingly weak for Disney standards. The beautiful standards of Disney films prior to this are lost in The Black Cauldron. The film was notoriously over-budget, and the animation clearly suffered because of it. The lifelike realism of previous Disney characters is gone on the forgettable, uninteresting Black Cauldron characters.

These characters are so forgettable, in fact, that I cannot remember any of their names. The names are so complicated and most of them sound like mumbles. These characters are so weak, so humorless, and so lame throughout the entire film. Nothing about any of them is appealing or interesting. They have no quirks, no sense of humor, and no bravery... By far the worst of the Disney protagonists is Taran, the main character, who is not heroic, just lucky.

The only somewhat memorable character in the film is Gurgi. The little furry weirdo is slightly entertaining from time to time. He notably sacrifices his life for the other characters at the climax, but this moment is not earned by any means. We have no reason to care for Gurgi since he is just a constant annoyance. He has a few funny moments, but Gurgi is just as weak as the other characters.

The Black Cauldron's story is ridiculously dense, complicated, and confusing. The first act (a term I use very loosely) is jam-packed with a magic pig, a horned king, evil minions, dragons, and Gurgi. Everything is rushed and nothing is given time for exposition. Characters fly in and out of this film for no reason. The whole thing is exceptionally dark—and not in a good way. It is violent, scary, and just depressing. There is no humor, no heart, and no Disney magic in The Black Cauldron.

The film tries to be action-packed and exciting, but it never succeeds. For every striking sword fight, there is an overly long scene of sitting and talking with no humor and forced character development that does not work. The Black Cauldron is riddled with crappy dialogue, a comatose story, and characters that have no purpose, no drive, and no reason to be cared about.

None of the story points are earned in this film because none of the characters are sympathetic. We are given no reason to care for any of them; they just exist (barely). Even the villain, the Horned King, is nothing but a scary design. He is just evil without the enjoyable character traits of the good Disney villains.

I cannot stand The Black Cauldron. Disney tried, I suppose, but they failed miserably with this mess of a film. It is far and away my least favorite Disney animated feature. It lacks everything that makes Disney animation great and it holds no entertainment value. I can’t even come up with a handful of redeeming qualities for the film. I would be happy to just forget The Black Cauldron completely.

.5/5 Oracle Pigs

NEWS UPDATE: April 25th 2014

Starting off the news this past week is the (official) fiftieth anniversary of Disney's It's A Small World attraction which first appeared at the 1964-65 World's Fair on April 22nd. To celebrate, Disney held a celebration across the globe, and this video appeared on Good Morning America. This was posted a week ago, but we forgot to share it earlier. Celebrate fifty years of the happiest cruise that ever sailed with this wonderful video:

Got a good baseball arm? Today might be your lucky day. Disney is offering $1 million dollars to any amateur baseball players who can throw a ball at 100 mph in promotion for their next film, Million Dollar Arm, which hits theaters May 16th 2014. More info is available at http://movies.disney.com/million-dollar-arm/special-event

As of this week, Disney World is adding the option of including one extra FastPass for their new FastPass+ system, now moving the limit from three FastPasses per day up to four, but only if you already used all three FastPasses that you reserved on that day. This is great news for fans of the old system of FastPass, and hopefully Disney World will continue to raise the limit on FastPasses throughout the park. 

"The 7D" is set to premiere on Disney XD on July 7th, Stitch Kingdom Reports. Joining the cast is Whoopi Goldberg ad Jay Leno. "The 7D" is a modern re-design of the classic Seven Dwarfs from the famous Snow White story (character design for the series can be seen below)This quite possibly is a tie-in to the opening of the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train in Disney World is just a few weeks, but we can confirm that the Dwarfs in the attraction look the same as they did in Snow White in 1937. It is unclear why Disney XD chose not to go with the original designs for the series, but the show airs July 7th 2014 on Disney XD. 

Seven Dwarfs Re-designed for 7D series

Speaking of the Seven Dwarfs, the construction walls have come down surrounding the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, speculated to open sometime in the next month. The entrance area in front of the attraction has been revealed, and the good folks over at Inside the Magic got the full scoop. Read the article right here. 

"Feast" an all new short from Disney is set to premiere before Disney's next animated film, Big Hero 6. The short shows one man's love life through the eyes of his dog, and revealed bite-by-bite of the meals they share. The short and the film release in North American theaters November 7th 2014. 

Disney's Hollywood Studios is celebrating 25 years since park opening back in the year of 1989, where it opened under the name of Disney's- MGM Studios. Many other attractions came to open in that time and built up to what it is today. Of course, in true Disney fashion, this calls for a major celebration! On May 1st, here's the things you can see and do if you're in the park: 

• At 10 a.m., Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse will take the stage with Disney’s Hollywood Studios Vice President Dan Cockerell honoring members of the 25-year cast members at a re-dedication ceremony. 

• “Stars of the Studios”, a brand new special motorcade, will make its way down Hollywood Blvd. beginning at 7 p.m. and feature Mickey and Minnie, Captain Jack Sparrow, Darth Vader, Doc McStuffins, Wreck-It Ralph, Venellope, Sofia the First and stars featured throughout the park. 

•  Special merchandise (although it has not been announced what specific merchandise will be for sale.  

• After the motorcade, the front of the park’s Sorcerer Hat Stage will host a special dance party and a fireworks show finishes the day at 9:30 p.m. The pyrotechnics show, which will be high in the sky above the Sorcerer Mickey Hat, will pay tribute to 25 years of show business stories that have been told throughout the park.

 There you have it! Happy Birthday MGM- er, Hollywood Studios! 

Frozen is unstoppable. Every week, Frozen gets higher on the highest grossing film list, and at the moment of this report, it is currently at the sixth highest grossing film mark of all time, tickets prices un-adjusted, recently surpassing films such as Lord of The Rings: Return of the King and Transformers: Dark of the Moon.

Congratulations to the entire team who worked on Frozen! 

And for the final bit of news this week: Idina Menzel is hosting a live chat on Frozen's Facebook page later today, Friday April 25th 2014. Visit https://www.facebook.com/DisneyFrozen to submit your questions for Idina Menzel to answer. The chat will start at 6 PM EST/ 3 PM PST. 

That's all for now. Have a magical week! 

The Mickey Mindset: mickeymindset@gmail.com

GIVEAWAY: The Pixar Character Encyclopedia

Just a couple of day ago, we reviewed Disney and DK Publishing's latest wonderful book, The Pixar Character Encyclopedia, which you can read right here. The book is apart of DK's Movie Maniacs boutique, featuring character encyclopedias and guides to over a dozen films, including the Muppets, Marvel, Frozen, Star Wars and many other Disney franchises. Make sure to check out their entire movie section right here.

Today we're super excited to announce that we'll be giving away one special copy to one lucky winner, courtesy of the good folks over at DK Publishing. All you have to do to enter is by following one of the steps in the Rafflecopter link below. You can enter by liking our Facebook page, following us on Twitter, and other easy tasks that will give you more entries to win this wonderful new book.

We'll also be posting games and trivia on our Facebook page and Twitter this week, so make sure you follow to learn how you can earn more chances to win!

RULES AND CONDITIONS:

No purchase necessary. Contest is open to all residents of the United States and Canada. Must be 12 years or older to enter. Winner will be announced on Facebook and Twitter on May 5th 2014. Winner will have one week to respond for shipping info. If no response is received in that time, another winner will be chosen.

Now that you got the rules, make sure to enter below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Mickey Mindset: mickeymindset@gmail.com

A Call For Article Submissions!

Here at The Mickey Mindset, we work daily to bring you discussions and reviews of both classic and current Disney films and as it will continue to do for hopefully many years to come. Unfortuantley, with other personal things currently taking up our time, we find it hard to post every day to bring you the best of the Disney universe, daily. That’s where you come in.

Much like our companion site, The Muppet Mindset, we gladly accept all submissions from YOU, the reader. Have something Disney-related in your brain that you think would make a good article? Chances are that other readers will find it interesting as well! 

There’s many opportunities for you to voice your opinion about various different Disney films, television shows, theme parks, and much more. Everyone is welcome to contribute, so if you have something you’d like to add to the site, entries are always welcome through our email at mickeymindset@gmail.com.

Have we already reviewed the film you were planning to? We welcome all opinions to the site, so don’t feel discouraged if your favorite film has already been covered.

There are various different ways to contribute to the Mickey Mindset. Have you been to one of the Disney Parks lately? Tell us about your trip! What are your favorite locations/attractions in the Disney theme parks? Have you watched a new or classic Disney film lately? Feel free to send your review and your opinions to feature in our “Retro Reviews” segment. What’s your favorite Disney TV show? You can tell us your answer, and why you love the show when we showcase TV shows in our “TV Show Spotlight” posts! Plus, feel free to send your Disney artwork to be featured on our Disney Fan Art Showcases! 

The Mickey Mindset reserve the right to edit or refuse any articles that are submitted, but we’re usually very accepting of all articles, so chances are, your article will be well accepted, and many fans would be happy to read it too. Feel free to send us an article!

Got any more questions or comments? Send us an email and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.

Thanks, Disney fans! We can’t wait to hear from you and read some of your wonderful articles! 

Book Reviews: Pixar Character Encyclopedia, Monsters University Guide

Book Review: Pixar Character Encyclopedia

Ranging from thousands of Pixar characters throughout the years, The Pixar Character Encyclopedia takes a look and spotlights many of these memorable characters from many different Pixar films since Toy Story to Brave (the book’s first publishing was before Monsters University was released).

Much like the other previous Disney-DK Publishing books, this takes a look at a lot of various Pixar characters in a fun, easy to read, and enjoyable way. A few weeks ago we reviewed DK’s latest, The Muppet Character Encyclopedia which follows in much of the same style of the DK character books.

The book features dozens of characters in chronological order of the Pixar films release dates, with sequels like Toy Story 2 & 3 and Cars 2 included with the original and takes a very ‘in-universe’ look at the films, such as instead of saying “Remy is voiced by Patton Oswalt” but rather treating the characters like actual living people, giving us a glance at their lives and sometimes a bit of a back-story, which is good and keeps to the story beyond the films. 

In some character pages, the references go beyond the movies, with a tongue-in-cheek reference to some of Pixar’s other work, such as Needleman playing Randall Boggs in Put That Thing Back Where It Came From or So Help Me, and BURN-E getting trapped outside of the ship in WALL-E, just before a hyperspace jump (which is a reference to the Pixar short, “BURN-E”, which appeared on the DVD release). Plus, we learn the names of some backaround characters, who some I've never heard of, and I’m a pretty big Pixar fan.

If you’re a big Pixar fan like myself (and who isn’t?) make sure to check out this book soon!

Monsters University: The Essential Guide

Out of the Pixar franchises, my all-time favorite would have to be the Monsters franchise. Monsters Inc. was a great film, with great story, characters, and humor and it’s prequel Monsters University delivered well to the fans of the original film, and introduced a whole cast of new characters.

The Monsters University Essential Guide handles itself as a University guide, and showing you, the new student, all of the basics to the University and what you have to know. Okay, so maybe University guides wouldn’t showcase specific students (Mike Wazowski, James “Sulley” Sullivan) but it would be inappropriate to have a Monsters book and not include the memorable characters in it. 

The book is written by Glenn Dakin, who has a history with Disney-DK, writing books such as Disney Villains: The Essential Guide and DisneyAnimals: The Essential Guide. This book delivers well to a life-long Monsters Inc. fan, not quite up to the standards of the Character Encyclopedia levels, but works as a good companion to the other Essential Guide and to the film. It’s also a very good read for kids, as it’s easy to read as well.

Another job well done by the Disney and DK Publishing team! 

Disneynature's Bears Film Review

Mitchell Stein- Well, they’ve done it again. DisneyNature’s latest film, Bears is a wonderful ture-story adventure, following very much in the wonderful footsteps that DisneyNature has built itself on throughout the past ten years.

The film begins by introducing us to our main stars of the film, a mother bear named Skye and her newborn cubs, Amber and Scout, who just woke up from their long winter hibernation. In order to be able to survive the next winter, Skye and her cubs must journey to find food to stock up on to last them through their next hibernation. On the way, they encounter lots of dangerous obstacles and predators that will question their survival. The movie is narrated by John C. Reily, known well in the Disney circles as the voice of Ralph in Wreck-It-Ralph. Reily adds much comedy to the story, making this a really fun and enjoyable experience, besides being somewhat educational. 

It’s a really beautiful film, filled with emotion and beautiful cinematography. Some shots are so beautiful and breathtaking, and I applaud the entire camera crew on this wonderful achievement, as they follow these bears and other animals they encounter along the way. The film is directed by Alastair Fothergill and Keith Scholey both known for their work in previous Disneynature films.

Even though Disneynature was only launched in 2008, it stays far ahead of all its competitor documentary film industries. Although the movie could have been chopped down by 10-15 minutes, at no time did it become boring or unenjoyable. Very often it felt very much like a real movie, rather than a documentary style film. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this film very much. It’s beautiful story and highly entertaining. I also wasn’t expecting there to be such a large amount of comedy, which was a major bonus. Disneynature has not yet disappointed with a film yet, and this one lives up to its predecessors. Keep up the good work Disneynature! Here’s to waiting an entire year until their next film, Monkey Kingdom hits theaters. 

Make sure to stay through the credits to see a behind-the-scenes look at how they filmed some of the scenes in the movie! 

Disneynature’s Bears hits theaters on Earth Day in North America. 

Disney TV Show Spotlight: Tron Uprising

Mitchell Stein- Another important show in Disney Television history is Tron: Uprising. Coming off the success of 2010’s Tron Legacy, Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz (known for their work on Lost and Once Upon a Time) returned to the Tron franchise to produce the series as well as writing the first four episodes. Charlie Bean directed every episode for the series, with the exception of “Welcome Home”. 

In the days of the awful shows that Disney airs on both Disney Channel and the fairly new Disney XD channel, Tron: Uprising was one of the greatest things to enter the current days of Disney television shows. I really loved Tron Legacy, the 2010 sequel to the original 1987 film, which brilliantly reimagined the entire video game world of TRON. The cinematography in Tron Legacy really beats out the designs and special effects it used in the original and created a truly brilliant fictional world, built with streaks of various different colors to make up this entire world. The designs seen in Tron worked as a major inspiration for the new designs for the revamped Test Track in Epcot, or as I refer to it, Tron Track.

Since the possibilities in the world of Tron are just fantastic and endless, it only made sense for Tron to

be greenlighted for a TV show. Tron: Uprising premiered on May 18^th 2012. The series is meant to take place between the time of Tron and Tron Legacy, much like Star Wars: The Clone Wars had been, where the story was to take place between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. The story of Tron Uprising centers a young program named Beck, who becomes determined to take down General Tesler (an officer under the control of the diabolical Kevin Flynn look-alike, Clu) and Tesler’s army after one of the army’s members “derezz” his friend Bodhi. He realizes that the city of Argon is now being taken over by Clu’s armies and no one is able to help them, especially since the hero, Tron, is dead. Beck decides to rise above that and disguise himself as Tron to try to prevent further drezzments and to save his friends from being sent to “The Games”, and will continue to fight Tesler and his army until justice is brought to the city of Argon. 

Following in the steps of Tron Legacy, the animation in this series is so fantastic and jaw-dropping. The artwork is in this genius new style which I’ve never seen previously in a television series, and blends it with the already existing fantastic world of Tron. In fact, there’s this scene in the fourth episode during the Argon tunnel races that should have won an Annie for outstanding animation in a single episode, or series for that matter. The story-line in the show is so exciting and gripping, and the cast of characters are fantastic, and include voice actors from the original films. 

Overall, I really enjoy this series a lot, so therefore it upsets me to hear that it was cancelled after only nineteen episodes. Sadly, the ratings didn’t do too well and was pulled before Disney gave it a second season, but the ratings obviously shouldn’t reflect on the franchise. Tron Legacy made over $400 million in it’s domestic run in 2010 and it’s rumored that a Tron 3 will be coming to theaters sometime soon, so the ratings were really beyond my understanding. But this show is truly one of the greatest shows to ever hit Walt Disney Television, and if you haven’t already watched the series, I strongly suggest you give this one a look. It’s short, and it’s the best nineteen episodes you’ll ever watch.

Disney Animation Reviews #24 - The Fox and the Hound

Disney Movie Review: 24/53 - The Fox and the Hound

Ryan Dosier - The first Disney animated feature of the 1980s, The Fox and the Hound (1981) is also one of the strongest Disney features of the period. It has the elements of great story, great animation, and striking realism. It truly stands out among the other animated features of the 80s.

The film has an incredible and interesting sense of realism throughout. None of the more “adult” story points are spared. We see the Amos the hunter with a truck full of dead animal pelts, we see Todd and Copper turn into bitter enemies, and many other images and ideas that might be restrained in animation today. There are only a few comic relief characters, which also helps maintain the realism, but at times makes the film less fun than some of its predecessors.

The story of The Fox and the Hound is very distinct when compared to other Disney movies. It is surprising and unexpected at times, never falling into cliché. Todd and Copper’s friendship divulges into them becoming enemies quickly, and they are enemies for much longer in the film than they are friends. If anything, this very short showing of their friendship doesn’t give the audience enough time to feel for the characters when they become enemies... but for the most part, it works.

The other issue that hurts The Fox and the Hound is that none of the characters truly stand out or transcend the piece. Much like The Rescuers, the characters are not broadly drawn (pun intended) and fail to be anything more than adorable or animalistic. Thankfully the story is strong enough to make up for the weak characterization.

One final fault in the film is the music. There is one fantastic song (“The Best of Friends”) but the few other songs in The Fox and the Hound just don’t work. Perhaps that’s why there aren’t many other songs to go around, but it seems like there should have been. When you’ve got the fantastic Pearl Bailey doing a voice for you, you should ask her to sing more.

Perhaps The Fox and the Hound's strongest element is the once-again stellar Disney animation. This was the last feature film worked on by any of Walt Disney's “Nine Old Men,” including the incredible Ollie Johnston, who animated young Tod and Copper in the strongest part of the film. There is also a scene with a vicious bear animated by Disney newcomer Glen Keane that stands out brilliantly. Keane would go on to animate the Beast in Beauty and the Beast and you can tell this bear was just a warm-up for that. Animation in a Disney feature would not be this excellent again until The Little Mermaid eight years later.

While The Fox and the Hound is not one of the timeless, franchised Disney classics, it is still a warm, charming, wonderful film. Its many strengths outweigh its weaknesses and elevate it to a realistic, heartwarming work. It may not have the resonance of Bambi, but The Fox and the Hound is another great animated representation of nature from Disney.

3.5/5 Fuzzy Worms

The Pirate Fairy Blu-Ray Review

Mitchell Stein- I have to say out of all the young children’s Disney franchises, the Disney Fairies franchise is the one I’ll never understand. I’m obviously not the target audience for these films and television episodes, but it’s not one that I find the most enjoyable.

In The Pirate Fairy, we are introduced to a fairy named Zarina (Christina Hendricks) a fairy who is amazed by the powers of the Blue Pixie Dust and takes her ‘experimenting’ a little too far and causes much trouble on the entire fairy community, she decides to leave Pixie Hollow and joins up with some ruthless pirates led by James (Tom Hiddleston) and promises the pirates some things that come to backfire in the end. 

The film isn’t bad by any means, but it’s by far not one of my favorite of the Disney children franchises. The film sort-of acts as a prequel to Peter Pan, as some characters will develop into the characters well-known from their performance in Peter Pan. It's actually quite surprising with the amount of productions that surround the world of Peter Pan, including Disney Junior's Jake and the Neverland Pirates. 

There’s a great cast of voice actors, including Tom Hiddleston, fresh off his performances in Disney films Thor: The Dark World and Muppets Most Wanted. There’s a brand new song by Natasha Bedingfield which is named “What I Am” which is a pretty enjoyable song and sets the mood for the film well. Overall, if you’re a fan of Peter Pan you may want to give this one a look, and if you or your younger ones are fans of Tinker Bell and the rest of the fairies, this new film will not disappoint. In all honesty, it's got a much more enjoyable story-plot than the never ending franchises of arrogant talking vehicles with eyes on their windshields. At this point in the franchise, it holds up the best than any other previous long-standing Disney franchises and stays true to it's predecessors.

The bonus features stack up well too. There’s a “Crock-U-Mentary” which is a short documentary of real-life crocodiles and alligators, and possibly even more entertaining than the actual film. There’s a few deleted scenes and animated shorts starring Tinker Bell and fairies, A Legacy of Never Land special, taking you on an adventure through Never-Land with stories and other wacky elements and a few sing-alongs on top of that. There’s lots of fun to be had in this for the fans of the Disney Fairies.

One thing that had me really puzzled, (and a head’s up to parents!) is the fact that Disney chose to put in a trailer for the upcoming film, Maleficent on the Blu-Ray and DVD. The film is rated PG-13 for violence and frightening scenes, so why they chose to include it on a film that’s geared towards very young children is beyond my understanding and was an awful decision if you ask me. I never find myself commenting on the choice of trailers on a DVD, but this one really had me scratching my head. Other than that, everything was G-rated on the release.

The Pirate Fairy is now available wherever Blu-Rays are sold

News Update: April 11th 2014

Starting off the news this week, the first teaser trailer for Disney Channel's Upcoming show, Girl Meets World has surfaced the internet. The show is a spin-off of the Disney Channel show which ran from 1993 to 2000. Characters Cory and Topanga return to the spin-off show, this time playing the parents of the main child characters. Watch the first teaser here:

Season two of the new Mickey Mouse shorts premiere on Disney Channel today, April 11th! Make sure you keep you DVRs running at 9:00 EST to catch the new wonderful shorts! 

This week, the Disney Parks celebrated fifty years of the famous "It's a Small World' attraction with a major worldwide celebration. The folks over at Inside the Magic have the full scoop, which you can read right here. Coverage of the entire event can also be found over at The Disney Blog as well right here. 

Toughpigs.com published this great article setting the record straight: The Muppets are still puppets, and no CGI was used in Muppets Most Wanted, contrary to internet rumors of the Muppets being replaced by CGI in some scenes. You can read that great article right here.

Speaking of Muppets, our friends over at This Happy Place Blog raised an excellent idea. What if the abandoned "Wonders of Life" exhibit became "Muppet Labs?" Make sure to check out their creative and exciting new ideas of what could quite possibly be of use for the abandoned building in a new, fun and creative way. You can read the article here: 

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D is the show on TV that just keeps getting better and better. This week, ABC aired an episode leading directly off of last week's new film, Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The episode includes spoilers of the film, and this seems to be the new direction that the show will be taking from now on. Marvel released this all-new video where the cast and crew of the TV series talk about the new direction the show will be taking. Spoilers ahead. 

An all-new Mickey Mouse Clubhouse adventure will be hitting DVD shelves May 20th 2014! Around the Clubhouse World takes the Fab Five on a journey through France, China, Italy and more, and learn about different countries and cultures, with lots of song-filled fun, and will feature a slew of bonus episodes from the series. 

The date draws closer for the opening of the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train in New Fantasyland in Walt Disney World, and today, Disney Parks released a thirty-second video taking a look at some of the impressive new Audio-Animatronics that will be featured in the attraction. 

UPDATE: Disney Parks ALSO released this 16-second CGI ride through of the attraction. Now we'r really, really excited. 

Disneynature's Bears opens next Friday, and in anticipation for the release, Disney released two more clips from the film, two of some of my favorite clips from the movie. In fact, the whole film is wonderful. We'll be reviewing the movie in it's entirety later this week. 

Speaking of Disneynature, the trailer for their next big film has been released yesterday online. The film, Monkey Kingdom will swing into theaters Earth Day 2015.

For the final bit of news this week, Disneyland Paris announced that Marvel's Spider-Man will start making meet-and-greet appearances starting April 19th in the Walt Disney Studios park! Disney also released this artwork to anticipate the upcoming appearances.

That's it for this week's short weekly news roundup! Be on the lookout for some special brand-new reviews this week, including our review for Disneynature's new film: Bears. 

The Mickey Mindset: mickeymindset@gmail.com

It's a 50 Year Old Attraction After All....

Mitchell Stein- Today, thousands of Disney fans across the globe will celebrate fifty years since the opening of It’s A Small World at the 1964 World’s Fair. The ride, which was one of the four main attractions presented by Disney at the World’s Fair, remains one of the most legendary and one of the most memorable of attractions in Disney history, and the incredible thing is that it still remains today, in each Disney theme park. 

Throughout the years, the attraction has entertained millions of guests who passed through the gates of the Disney parks and successfully got the song stuck in their heads on repeat for the remainder of the day. After riding many times throughout all my visits to Walt Disney World, I development a deeper appreciation for this ride.

This attraction is not just a funny boat ride with a catchy tune. This ride really has a much deeper message attached to it, and that message is unity. We all live in separate countries and we all have our differences, but we can all get along, just like the 24-7 singing dolls in it’s a Small World. They’re all entirely different, but they somehow all get along and sing together, and I figure this is the goal that Walt and team had in mind, to show people at the “World” Fair that we’re not all so different after all and we all share the same Earth, so why can’t we get along?

The attraction was such a success that it was decided to add it to Disneyland when it opened two years later, and the ride has been entertaining millions of people ever since, with other versions opening up in other Disney parks like Walt Disney World and Disneyland Paris, and they still remain open today.

In essence, that’s what I found It’s A Small World means to me, and that’s why it remains one of the most iconic Disney attractions of all time. 

 I’m curious to find out if the Disney Parks are planning a 50 year celebration for Carousel of Progress and Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln which opened at the same time, or even any future events related to the fiftieth anniversary of the World’s Fair would be highly received by fans.

Happy 50^th to the Happiest Cruise that ever sailed!  

It's A Small World at the 1964-65 World Fair

Retro Review: Buzz Lightyear of Star Command

Mitchell Stein- Out of all the Disney direct-to-video films throughout the decades, I would have to say Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins is one of my favorites.

The film begins with Andy’s Toys, Woody, Buzz, Rex, Hamm, Jessie etc. waiting for their VHS copy of Buzz Lightyear of Star Command to arrive, being delivered by the green army men, as usual. Rex is too excited and nearly faints as the group continues to mess with him, such as the VHS is broken and the box not opening. Finally, once they pop it in and the film gets rolling is where our adventure begins.

The film transforms into the CGI 3D animation in Andy’s Room to the traditional hand-drawn 2D animation seen on screen. The entire screen becomes filled with the 2D animation and we are filled in with our first Star Command mission: Locate the three missing “Little Green Men” (the aliens from the Toy Story franchise). 

After a sad series of events, Buzz decides to never work with a partner again. Star Command disagrees and pulls out the Star Command regulations which clearly state that every Space Ranger must be teamed up with an assistant. He is first teamed up with Princess Mira Nova, a new cadet who seems to be just as self-centered as Buzz. She’s come a long way to her position and would do anything to get the respect she deserves, even if it means breaking the rules. 

Next, he’s teamed up with XR, a robot built by the Little Green Men to assist and learn from Buzz. After being destroyed, XR is rebuilt as a much smarter, quirkier robot, who easily steals the show and provides most of the film’s comedy relief. As well as that, there’s Booster, a big red creature (species unknown) who works on the Star Command janitorial staff and has always wanted to be a Space Ranger like Buzz.

Evil Emperor Zurg (voiced by Wayne Knight, strangely enough) is a perfect villain. His self-centered evil plans are so diabolical and he’s willing to crush anyone in his way and provide some hilarious moments while arguing with his moronic staff. He places his trust in “Agent Z” to exterminate Buzz Lightyear, as Zurg moves onto the Little Green Men planet to steal the UniMind, which is ultimately a way for the L.G.M to communicate with one another through mind powers. Zurg plans to use this for his own benefit and to control everyone’s minds, in true super-villain fashion. 

Actor Tim Allen, well known for his work as the voice of Buzz in all three Toy Story films returns to voice Buzz in this exciting story, along with Nicole Sullivan (Meet the Robinsons) as Mira Nova, Larry Miller as XR, Adam Corolla as Commander Nebula and Stephen Furst as Booster. The voice actors are great and they all give life to every character, and really add to each scene. It’s also good to see Allen back as Buzz, as things are always better with the original voice actors, even though they usually cost a lot of money.

Overall, I love this film, especially as a fan of the Toy Story franchise, and it puzzles me why Disney hasn’t re-released this movie on DVD and Blu-Ray. The Toy Story franchise has proven to be a big money-maker for Disney and Pixar, and I can only see money signs coming out of this re-release. If they’re going to release it, I hope they do it soon. I would love to own this on high-definition. It would definitely look a lot better than my current copy on VHS.  

Disney TV Show Spotlight: Darkwing Duck

Mitchell Stein- Out of all of the original classic Disney Afternoon television programs, Darkwing Duck by far by absolute favorite. With voice actor Jim Cummings as the title hero, the character is an incredibly fun character to watch and Cummings brings a lot of life into him and forms him into the hilarious comedic character that we know him as. Launchpad McQuack, fresh off his debut from DuckTales serves as an assistant to the quirky hero, and provides a lot of the slapstick comedy himself, and I love how the running gag between the two concerning Darkwing’s name (“It’s Darkwing, not DW!”) and Dawrkwing even refers to Lauchpad as LP in one episode. It’s a funny running gag, and it’s done quite well.

Darkwing’s newly adopted daughter, Gosylyn is a good character, while not my favorite, she adds a lot to the show along with Honker, her friend. To be honest, Darkwing is hilarious enough, and could easily carry an entire show by himself, I never feel any of these characters are necessary in that sense, but the other characters are fun to have around and play off well of the terror that flaps in the night.

The villains are so wacky and zany, they’re just perfect. I love Negaduck, Darkwing’s evil diabolical doppelganger. Negaduck is the leader of “The Fearsome Five”, which is probably my favorite villainous element to this series. Some of the other villains of the fearsome five include Dr. Bushroot, Megavolt, and Quackerjack. Other characters Steelbreak is a fun villain, as well as the other agents at F.O.W.L. Many of the show’s elements feel like parodies of other well-known superhero stories, especially with some of the familiarities between this show and other comic book characters, such as Batman and Spider-Man.

I also enjoy the somewhat continuing story in this series. Not many children’s/family cartoon shows take the time to create an entire backstory to the series, but Darkwing Duck has a fantastic two-part pilot episode named “Darkwing Dawns the Duck” where it establishes the entire backstory of DW, and his adoption of Gosylyn and other facts mentioned throughout the show.

Overall, I really enjoy this show a lot. It’s a shame more shows like this don’t dominate the current Disney Channel. I think its fun, quirky and good clean entertainment with a lot of really hilarious slapstick humor. It’s one of those shows that I still enjoy watching today and probably enjoy it more than I did previously. I think it’s safe to say out of all of the classic shows, Darkwing easily comes out in first place. 

The Mickey Mindset: mickeymindset@gmail.com

Disney Animation Reviews #23 - The Rescuers

Disney Animation Review: 23/53 - The Rescuers

Ryan Dosier - Disney’s 23rd animated feature, The Rescuers (1977), is an interesting beast. There are a lot of strong elements in it, yet it has an overwhelming sense of something missing. Very little about the film actually works and every time I watch it I fail to see the appeal.

A lot of this can be attributed to the weak characters, which lack the patented Disney charm and usual brilliance. Bernard and Miss Bianca, the protagonists, are harmless enough, but they never succeed at being anything but bland despite their various quirks. The blandest character by far is Penny, the little girl. She fails as a character when compared to phenomenal Disney children characters such as Mowgli, Bambi, or Pinocchio.

The villain of the film, Madame Medusa, is also hard to enjoy. She lacks the subtlety and brass wit of Cruella De Vil, whom Medusa is clearly inspired after. Medusa does not build up to being completely unhinged and crazy—she starts that way. Most Disney villains have some sense of style or panache that makes them entertaining characters and Medusa has none of that.

Story is also notably lacking in The Rescuers. Very little is surprising in the film and everything is easily predictable. Even the pairing of Bernard and Miss Bianca can be seen from the very beginning. The Rescuers lacks the element of pleasant surprise and excitement that makes Disney animated features so wonderful.

The little music that is present in the film is only good for sedation. Gone are the upbeat, sing-and-dance-along songs of The Jungle Book and Robin Hood. Instead, The Rescuers drones out three or four completely dull and lifeless ballads that have nothing to do with the plot or the characters. Music is such an essential Disney element that the lack of it in The Rescuers obviously makes the film suffer.

For all its bad qualities, The Rescuers still possesses some extremely strong animation. As one of the final films with animation from most of Walt Disney’s “Nine Old Men,” The Rescuers has a place of distinction. Unfortunately, the brilliant animation deserves a severely better film—which, of course, it never gets.

Overall, The Rescuers does not even feel like a Disney feature. It lacks so many of the traits that make Disney features incredible. While watching, I was increasingly reminded of Don Bluth animated films (e.g. An American Tale), not Disney. The Rescuers kicked off the weakest period in Disney animation by far.

1.5/5 Albatrosses