Hey, guys! I ran across this intersting article from Entertainment Weekly. It was published shortly after the release of Hercules. The aothor feels that the reason why Hercules was underperforming at the box-office was because it used the exact same formula since The Little Mermaid - stock characters. He feels that every character matches one of several molds - Hero/Heroine, Love Interest, Mentor, Sidekick, Villains, and Minions. He then proceeds to rate every character in every movie based on four mouse ears. Some of my favorites scored high, but I think he was a little harsh on some. What do ya'll think?
http://www.ew.com/ew/report/0,6115,281838~2~0~,00.html
EW rates the Disney Characters
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Prince Eric
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indianajdp
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Here's what THEY think:
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Last edited by indianajdp on Sun Oct 12, 2003 2:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
" There's no Dumbass Vaccine " - Jimmy Buffett
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RoyalNatalie
Since you can only reach the article if you're a subscriber to Entertainment Weekly, here is a transcript of it.
Sum Of Their Parts?
When they made Hercules they didn't break the mold. Every Disney cartoon musical since The Little Mermaid has put its stock in stock characters. by Jason Cochran
The box office performance of Hercules, Disney's seventh animated musical in eight years, was hardly what you'd call Olympian. Not that it's a particularly flabby film; it's as brisk, buoyant, and bombastically energetic as any of the studio's other recent extravaganzas. So what's the problem? Maybe the feeling that we've seen it somewhere before.
With 1989's The Little Mermaid, Disney made animation cool again by combining the most successful elements of 50 years of pen-and-ink fairy tales. Six musicals later, there have been minor variations (some movies have love songs, others don't) and optional elements such as narrators (Hercules has the Muses, who leap off pottery to sing narrative gospel songs). But for the most part, Disney's been using a formula that can enable anyone -- even, say, the makers of Anastasia -- to paint a coming-of-age movie by the numbers. Sometimes it works. In Aladdin, the elements blend so seamlessly that the stock characters seem organic. Other times, as in Pocahontas, they seem ordered into the script by executive decree. It had us wondering: Of Disney's recent batch, which characters fill out their roles the best -- we give the Genie and Belle a perfect score of four mouse ears -- and who just takes up space?
THE LITTLE MERMAID (1989) $26.99, AVAILABLE MARCH 31 RATED G
HERO/HEROINE JOB: Embody nascent all-American sex appeal, mope around, sing at scenic viewpoints, heed call of duty, leave home.
ARIEL is everything a heroine should be: headstrong, playful, sexy, angel-voiced. Everything that is, except her own person. [3 mouse ears]
LOVE INTEREST JOB: Incite villain's lust, have great hair, start as perceived enemy of hero/heroine, be an individual (females only)
Silly ERIC, falling for Ursula because she sounds like the mermaid who saved your butt. You're just stupid enough to be endearing. [2 1/2 mouse ears]
SIDEKICK JOB: Behave like hero/heroine's naughty younger sibling, eat anything in sight, provide comic relief
Unmemorable FLOUNDER and SCUTTLE (left) are strictly Old Disney: Think Orville in The Rescuers. Who? Exactly. [1 1/2 mouse ears]
MENTOR JOB: Be reluctantly pressed into service by hero/heroine's worthiness, come across as ethnic, pour tea (Mrs. Potts only)
SEBASTIAN's advice is ignored, but the crab's songs are classics. And don't forget his performance as dinner in the sidesplitting ''Les Poissons.'' [3 1/2 mouse ears]
VILLAIN JOB: Crave control of universe, keep nose in air, be either huge or emaciated, collect mortal souls, perish by falling
URSULA proves female villains were once just as nasty -- and twice as big -- as the boys. [3 mouse ears]
HENCHMAN JOB: Get clonked on the head, spar with sidekick, furnish ineffectual support that sinks villain's plan, escape scot-free
Eels FLOTSAM and JETSAM are the only henchmen to buck convention and do their jobs well. And they're creepy, not cutesy. [3 1/2 mouse ears]
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (1991) FOR RENTAL ONLY RATED G
[HERO/HEROINE] Winsome BELLE is brainy, gutsy, and puts others first. Best of all, she doesn't need a guy--the guys need her. [4 mouse ears]
[LOVE INTEREST] BEAST is petulant, selfish, and responds only to rebukes and threats. Isn't that just like a man? You gotta love him. [3 1/2 mouse ears]
[SIDEKICK] COGSWORTH, LUMIERE, and MRS. POTTS illuminate the movie with tenderness, chuckleheaded cynicism--and some great numbers. [4 mouse ears]
[MENTOR] The enchanted household items are ideal matchmakers--but only because they want to become human again. [3 mouse ears]
[VILLAIN] GASTON's vice is his grotesque ego, which makes him howlingly amusing. And the most human. [3 1/2 mouse ears]
[HENCHMAN] This little guy loves to praise Gaston's manhood, then gets beaten up by him. Apart from this curious fetish, LEFOU's impression fades. [1 1/2 mouse ears]
ALADDIN (1992) FOR RENTAL ONLY RATED G
[HERO/HEROINE] ALADDIN's a close second to Belle. Okay, he's a tad feral. But you might actually want to hang out with him. And women dig a scamp. [3 1/2 mouse ears]
[LOVE INTEREST] JASMINE claims she isn't a prize--so why is she still Daddy's little girl? In retrospect, not as liberated as we thought. [2 1/2 mouse ears]
[SIDEKICK] ABU's mischief is over-the-top. His ravenous greed, though good for the plot, makes him unworthy of the job. [2 1/2 mouse ears]
[MENTOR] With a barrage of pop-culture refs and a whiplash of Hirschfeld curves, Robin Williams' accommodating GENIE makes the movie. [4 mouse ears]
[VILLAIN] Prickly JAFAR is no one to mess with. When he turns into a cobra, let the nightmares begin. But stuck on Jasmine? Hard to buy. [2 1/2 mouse ears]
[HENCHMAN] Stop yelling already! Why does Jafar suffer Gilbert Gottfried's useless IAGO? Thanks to fast-forward, we don't have to. [1 mouse ear]
THE LION KING (1994) FOR RENTAL ONLY RATED G
[HERO/HEROINE] SIMBA's guilt-ridden conscience makes him sympathetic (if a little tiresome), but who is he really? Just a stand-in for ourselves. [2 mouse ears]
[LOVE INTEREST] NALA. A fearsome hunter? Yup. Personality? Zip. She's a mere plot catalyst. [1 mouse ear]
[SIDEKICK] PUMBAA and TIMON win the popularity vote (despite that insipid song) but appear late in the game and aren't central to the plot. [2 1/2 mouse ears]
[MENTOR] At first, RAFIKI's just another dumb baboon. On closer inspection, he's the thematic glue that makes the film's symbology stick. [3 mouse ears]
[VILLAIN] The Shakespearean SCAR is cool because he manages to commit filthy fratricide without superpowers. Truly rotten. [3 mouse ears]
[HENCHMAN] The HYENAS bungle the job. Then they go after Scar. Man, maybe they should be the villains. [3 mouse ears]
POCAHONTAS (1995) FOR RENTAL ONLY RATED G
[HERO/HEROINE] POCAHONTAS may be a soulful hottie, but she doesn't change from the first frame. She's all about the hair. [1 1/2 mouse ears]
[LOVE INTEREST] JOHN SMITH. The name says it all. He's even too boring to get the girl. What saves him? Three words: Mel Gibson singing. [2 mouse ears]
[SIDEKICK] It's painfully forced for an earth mama like Poca to be shadowed by a chubby, biscuit-munching raccoon like MEEKO. [1 1/2 mouse ears]
[MENTOR] GRANDMOTHER WILLOW. Give us a break. She's a tree. [1 mouse ear]
[VILLAIN] We know GOVERNOR RATCLIFFE is crooked because he's fat and British (see Ursula and Scar), but what self-respecting scoundrel just wants real estate? [2 mouse ears]
[HENCHMAN] PERCY the lapdog is too spoiled to assist his master, but his antics do keep Meeko out of the action. And for that we're grateful. [2 mouse ears]
THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME (1996) FOR RENTAL ONLY RATED G
[HERO/HEROINE] Because of his deformed features and self-image, QUASIMODO's pathos far surpasses any prior Disney hero's. It's depressing. [2 1/2 mouse ears]
[LOVE INTEREST] She vindicates the underclass. She spits on authority. She stage-dives. ESMERALDA's not just a dame--she's another heroine. [3 1/2 mouse ears]
[SIDEKICK] Quasi has such angst he doesn't need joshing from the homebound gargoyles VICTOR, HUGO, and LAVERNE... [2 mouse ears]
[MENTOR] ...but they provide sound moral support. Otherwise he might throw himself from the tower. [3 mouse ears]
[VILLAIN] FROLLO's terror is chilling: He's tormented, pious, and insidiously gentle--and he's the hero's adopted father. Brrrr! [4 mouse ears]
[HENCHMAN] SPACE FOR RENT How scary is Frollo? No one will work with him.
HERCULES (1997) $26.99 RATED G
[HERO/HEROINE] He may have a godlike body, but HERCULES' gee-whiz personality isn't defined. You end up staring at his weird nipples. [2 mouse ears]
[LOVE INTEREST] Susan Egan's MEG is Hercules' biggest surprise. She's a mouthy dish, all right, but she's also teamed with the villain. Too bad her song's boring. [3 mouse ears]
[SIDEKICK] When someone needs to fly, PEGASUS shows up. Otherwise, he's not worth his oats. [1 mouse ear]
[MENTOR] More like a sidekick, Danny DeVito's PHIL is squat, hairy, and incorrigibly adorable. Functional but unpleasant. [2 1/2 mouse ears]
[VILLAIN] Though he's got a really short fuse, James Woods' flame-haired HADES isn't as malevolent as the name implies. But why the Jewish delivery? [3 mouse ears]
[HENCHMAN] PAIN and PANIC are standard-issue smart alecks. They seem designed to be plush toys at The Disney Store. [1 1/2 mouse ears]
Sum Of Their Parts?
When they made Hercules they didn't break the mold. Every Disney cartoon musical since The Little Mermaid has put its stock in stock characters. by Jason Cochran
The box office performance of Hercules, Disney's seventh animated musical in eight years, was hardly what you'd call Olympian. Not that it's a particularly flabby film; it's as brisk, buoyant, and bombastically energetic as any of the studio's other recent extravaganzas. So what's the problem? Maybe the feeling that we've seen it somewhere before.
With 1989's The Little Mermaid, Disney made animation cool again by combining the most successful elements of 50 years of pen-and-ink fairy tales. Six musicals later, there have been minor variations (some movies have love songs, others don't) and optional elements such as narrators (Hercules has the Muses, who leap off pottery to sing narrative gospel songs). But for the most part, Disney's been using a formula that can enable anyone -- even, say, the makers of Anastasia -- to paint a coming-of-age movie by the numbers. Sometimes it works. In Aladdin, the elements blend so seamlessly that the stock characters seem organic. Other times, as in Pocahontas, they seem ordered into the script by executive decree. It had us wondering: Of Disney's recent batch, which characters fill out their roles the best -- we give the Genie and Belle a perfect score of four mouse ears -- and who just takes up space?
THE LITTLE MERMAID (1989) $26.99, AVAILABLE MARCH 31 RATED G
HERO/HEROINE JOB: Embody nascent all-American sex appeal, mope around, sing at scenic viewpoints, heed call of duty, leave home.
ARIEL is everything a heroine should be: headstrong, playful, sexy, angel-voiced. Everything that is, except her own person. [3 mouse ears]
LOVE INTEREST JOB: Incite villain's lust, have great hair, start as perceived enemy of hero/heroine, be an individual (females only)
Silly ERIC, falling for Ursula because she sounds like the mermaid who saved your butt. You're just stupid enough to be endearing. [2 1/2 mouse ears]
SIDEKICK JOB: Behave like hero/heroine's naughty younger sibling, eat anything in sight, provide comic relief
Unmemorable FLOUNDER and SCUTTLE (left) are strictly Old Disney: Think Orville in The Rescuers. Who? Exactly. [1 1/2 mouse ears]
MENTOR JOB: Be reluctantly pressed into service by hero/heroine's worthiness, come across as ethnic, pour tea (Mrs. Potts only)
SEBASTIAN's advice is ignored, but the crab's songs are classics. And don't forget his performance as dinner in the sidesplitting ''Les Poissons.'' [3 1/2 mouse ears]
VILLAIN JOB: Crave control of universe, keep nose in air, be either huge or emaciated, collect mortal souls, perish by falling
URSULA proves female villains were once just as nasty -- and twice as big -- as the boys. [3 mouse ears]
HENCHMAN JOB: Get clonked on the head, spar with sidekick, furnish ineffectual support that sinks villain's plan, escape scot-free
Eels FLOTSAM and JETSAM are the only henchmen to buck convention and do their jobs well. And they're creepy, not cutesy. [3 1/2 mouse ears]
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (1991) FOR RENTAL ONLY RATED G
[HERO/HEROINE] Winsome BELLE is brainy, gutsy, and puts others first. Best of all, she doesn't need a guy--the guys need her. [4 mouse ears]
[LOVE INTEREST] BEAST is petulant, selfish, and responds only to rebukes and threats. Isn't that just like a man? You gotta love him. [3 1/2 mouse ears]
[SIDEKICK] COGSWORTH, LUMIERE, and MRS. POTTS illuminate the movie with tenderness, chuckleheaded cynicism--and some great numbers. [4 mouse ears]
[MENTOR] The enchanted household items are ideal matchmakers--but only because they want to become human again. [3 mouse ears]
[VILLAIN] GASTON's vice is his grotesque ego, which makes him howlingly amusing. And the most human. [3 1/2 mouse ears]
[HENCHMAN] This little guy loves to praise Gaston's manhood, then gets beaten up by him. Apart from this curious fetish, LEFOU's impression fades. [1 1/2 mouse ears]
ALADDIN (1992) FOR RENTAL ONLY RATED G
[HERO/HEROINE] ALADDIN's a close second to Belle. Okay, he's a tad feral. But you might actually want to hang out with him. And women dig a scamp. [3 1/2 mouse ears]
[LOVE INTEREST] JASMINE claims she isn't a prize--so why is she still Daddy's little girl? In retrospect, not as liberated as we thought. [2 1/2 mouse ears]
[SIDEKICK] ABU's mischief is over-the-top. His ravenous greed, though good for the plot, makes him unworthy of the job. [2 1/2 mouse ears]
[MENTOR] With a barrage of pop-culture refs and a whiplash of Hirschfeld curves, Robin Williams' accommodating GENIE makes the movie. [4 mouse ears]
[VILLAIN] Prickly JAFAR is no one to mess with. When he turns into a cobra, let the nightmares begin. But stuck on Jasmine? Hard to buy. [2 1/2 mouse ears]
[HENCHMAN] Stop yelling already! Why does Jafar suffer Gilbert Gottfried's useless IAGO? Thanks to fast-forward, we don't have to. [1 mouse ear]
THE LION KING (1994) FOR RENTAL ONLY RATED G
[HERO/HEROINE] SIMBA's guilt-ridden conscience makes him sympathetic (if a little tiresome), but who is he really? Just a stand-in for ourselves. [2 mouse ears]
[LOVE INTEREST] NALA. A fearsome hunter? Yup. Personality? Zip. She's a mere plot catalyst. [1 mouse ear]
[SIDEKICK] PUMBAA and TIMON win the popularity vote (despite that insipid song) but appear late in the game and aren't central to the plot. [2 1/2 mouse ears]
[MENTOR] At first, RAFIKI's just another dumb baboon. On closer inspection, he's the thematic glue that makes the film's symbology stick. [3 mouse ears]
[VILLAIN] The Shakespearean SCAR is cool because he manages to commit filthy fratricide without superpowers. Truly rotten. [3 mouse ears]
[HENCHMAN] The HYENAS bungle the job. Then they go after Scar. Man, maybe they should be the villains. [3 mouse ears]
POCAHONTAS (1995) FOR RENTAL ONLY RATED G
[HERO/HEROINE] POCAHONTAS may be a soulful hottie, but she doesn't change from the first frame. She's all about the hair. [1 1/2 mouse ears]
[LOVE INTEREST] JOHN SMITH. The name says it all. He's even too boring to get the girl. What saves him? Three words: Mel Gibson singing. [2 mouse ears]
[SIDEKICK] It's painfully forced for an earth mama like Poca to be shadowed by a chubby, biscuit-munching raccoon like MEEKO. [1 1/2 mouse ears]
[MENTOR] GRANDMOTHER WILLOW. Give us a break. She's a tree. [1 mouse ear]
[VILLAIN] We know GOVERNOR RATCLIFFE is crooked because he's fat and British (see Ursula and Scar), but what self-respecting scoundrel just wants real estate? [2 mouse ears]
[HENCHMAN] PERCY the lapdog is too spoiled to assist his master, but his antics do keep Meeko out of the action. And for that we're grateful. [2 mouse ears]
THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME (1996) FOR RENTAL ONLY RATED G
[HERO/HEROINE] Because of his deformed features and self-image, QUASIMODO's pathos far surpasses any prior Disney hero's. It's depressing. [2 1/2 mouse ears]
[LOVE INTEREST] She vindicates the underclass. She spits on authority. She stage-dives. ESMERALDA's not just a dame--she's another heroine. [3 1/2 mouse ears]
[SIDEKICK] Quasi has such angst he doesn't need joshing from the homebound gargoyles VICTOR, HUGO, and LAVERNE... [2 mouse ears]
[MENTOR] ...but they provide sound moral support. Otherwise he might throw himself from the tower. [3 mouse ears]
[VILLAIN] FROLLO's terror is chilling: He's tormented, pious, and insidiously gentle--and he's the hero's adopted father. Brrrr! [4 mouse ears]
[HENCHMAN] SPACE FOR RENT How scary is Frollo? No one will work with him.
HERCULES (1997) $26.99 RATED G
[HERO/HEROINE] He may have a godlike body, but HERCULES' gee-whiz personality isn't defined. You end up staring at his weird nipples. [2 mouse ears]
[LOVE INTEREST] Susan Egan's MEG is Hercules' biggest surprise. She's a mouthy dish, all right, but she's also teamed with the villain. Too bad her song's boring. [3 mouse ears]
[SIDEKICK] When someone needs to fly, PEGASUS shows up. Otherwise, he's not worth his oats. [1 mouse ear]
[MENTOR] More like a sidekick, Danny DeVito's PHIL is squat, hairy, and incorrigibly adorable. Functional but unpleasant. [2 1/2 mouse ears]
[VILLAIN] Though he's got a really short fuse, James Woods' flame-haired HADES isn't as malevolent as the name implies. But why the Jewish delivery? [3 mouse ears]
[HENCHMAN] PAIN and PANIC are standard-issue smart alecks. They seem designed to be plush toys at The Disney Store. [1 1/2 mouse ears]
Last edited by RoyalNatalie on Sun Oct 12, 2003 1:32 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Boring!?! Boring!?! This article has lost all credibility then and there.[LOVE INTEREST] Susan Egan's MEG is Hercules' biggest surprise. She's a mouthy dish, all right, but she's also teamed with the villain. Too bad her song's boring. [3 mouse ears]
Most of my Blu-ray collection some of my UK discs aren't on their database
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Tangela
SIDEKICK JOB: Behave like hero/heroine's naughty younger sibling, eat anything in sight, provide comic relief
Unmemorable FLOUNDER and SCUTTLE (left) are strictly Old Disney: Think Orville in The Rescuers. Who? Exactly. [1 1/2 mouse ears]
If they ask me of Orville in the Rescuers I would say, "...Yeah, I remember Orville, but who are Scuttle and Flounder?..."
Unmemorable FLOUNDER and SCUTTLE (left) are strictly Old Disney: Think Orville in The Rescuers. Who? Exactly. [1 1/2 mouse ears]
If they ask me of Orville in the Rescuers I would say, "...Yeah, I remember Orville, but who are Scuttle and Flounder?..."
That list was interesting, but I disagree with so much of it. I mean, come on, Scuttle and Flounder 1 star?! Quasimodo 2 and a half?! Then they give the gargoyles a way too generous 3 stars yet give Grandmother Willow 1. The people who voted were obviously very biased. If they gave one character high marks, they gave everyone else in the movie high marks, as well. Likewise with low marks. Hmmph.
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Tangela
Those guys have no idea wht they're talking about, insulting Orville that way... 1 1/2 Stars...Disneykid wrote:That list was interesting, but I disagree with so much of it. I mean, come on, Scuttle and Flounder 1 star?! Quasimodo 2 and a half?! Then they give the gargoyles a way too generous 3 stars yet give Grandmother Willow 1. The people who voted were obviously very biased. If they gave one character high marks, they gave everyone else in the movie high marks, as well. Likewise with low marks. Hmmph.
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RoyalNatalie
It's another effort for media to try and explain what cannot be explained. All of those movies were amazing, but no one really knows why some were successes and other were not.
Pocahontas was beautiful to look at and much of an "event movie." It did very well for its time, but not as well as the company had hoped, I think. The story was a little slow and dull and the movie seemed to be more about show than feel. Not to mention how Disney doctored and glossed over the actual historic event. (When you learn that Pocahontas was likely 10 and John Smith was more like 40, you should feel a little queasy.) I just don't think the actual movie stayed memorable to as many people as it could have.
As for The Hunchback of Notre Dame, I personally think that the movie was a bit too dark for general audiences. And, of course, questioning Christianity and its motives is going to make some people uncomfortable.
Hercules was more stylized and had more pop culture jokes inside it that probably went over most children's heads. Since this was still a time that animation was considered to be mostly a kid's medium, the adults just were not as drawn to the movie as they could have been. And then I think the topic of religion may have made some consumers uneasy again.
Pocahontas was beautiful to look at and much of an "event movie." It did very well for its time, but not as well as the company had hoped, I think. The story was a little slow and dull and the movie seemed to be more about show than feel. Not to mention how Disney doctored and glossed over the actual historic event. (When you learn that Pocahontas was likely 10 and John Smith was more like 40, you should feel a little queasy.) I just don't think the actual movie stayed memorable to as many people as it could have.
As for The Hunchback of Notre Dame, I personally think that the movie was a bit too dark for general audiences. And, of course, questioning Christianity and its motives is going to make some people uncomfortable.
Hercules was more stylized and had more pop culture jokes inside it that probably went over most children's heads. Since this was still a time that animation was considered to be mostly a kid's medium, the adults just were not as drawn to the movie as they could have been. And then I think the topic of religion may have made some consumers uneasy again.
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Prince Eric
- Anniversary Edition
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- Joined: Sat Sep 20, 2003 9:27 am
I think the writer based his judgements on how good each character filled his or her "stock" role. I think the four mouse ears for Belle and Genie were acurate: They were the epitome of what a heroine and mentor should be. However, how Frollo got a perfect score and Ariel and Simba were lower is beyond me. Important Note: Pocahontas has always been shunned by Entertainment Weekly. In fact, they've given rave reviews to all the Disney musicals, including Mulan, while labeling Pocahontas with a mediocre "C."