Flanger-Hanger wrote:Out of curiosity Laz, what is your opinion on 101 Dalmatians (another animal film), The Great Mouse Detective and The Black Cauldron (the two films from the 80's you didn't mention)?
I don't know why but I find 101 Dalmatians to be a bit boring. I never used to as a kid. But the last time I watched it, I felt the suspenseful scenes were a little less exciting. I can tell you exactly where I lost interest in the movie: The Twilight Bark scenes. It's definitely not one of my favorites. Because, perhaps it's a lack of a fantasy angle, but again there was something less magical about it. Maybe it was too English. And the fact that Jasper and Horace were in the same vein as villains as Captain Hook. But to me, the film has few moments of danger, great music, quirky humor, or art. The images on the screen were much less interesting as a whole.
Although there are a few elements that bring it up above the 10 I mentioned. I love the "Kanine Krunchies" part, which is one of the only examples of strange humor in the movie. And for me, moments like this harken back to the best of the funny moments in Disney movies past - especially Fun and Fancy Free, where Donald becomes "not well," if you remember that part of the movie. Also, Cruella's driving and her comments on other people are funny. The scenes at that old house had a slight air of creepiness to them. I remember as a kid when I had a collection of Disney movies on book-on-tape, 101 Dalmatians was actually one of the scariest tapes I had. I remember the vivid feeling of dread and fear when they talked about that old house and how much danger the puppies were in, trying to escape. But anyway, the look of the house was great. As was the "What's My Crime?" thing. Another stray bit of interesting humor.
And of course, there's Cruella DeVil(le). She's truly one of Disney's most entertaining villains. Not only is her hair crazy and yeah, she's a truly iconic image of cinema- skinny as a toothpick, cigarette holder always in hand, fur coat dripping off of her, intense expressions of anger tight on her face, and, if I remember correctly, doesn't she have really bizarre cheeks? Like she may have had some plastic surgery, back before it was widely known about? She is the ultimate definition of the villain you love to hate. Not because she's glamorous. But because she is mean and funny at the same time. I think she is one of Disney's first physical-comedy animated villains. She is established as Queen of the Snobs, right? She's elitist, judgmental, but she also looks very sophisticated, and acts in a fairly reserved manner. Which makes the moment where she sticks her cigarette into the pink cupcake very blackly comic. But then, not much later, she's leaping up, and darting around in a completely crazed and deranged state. Getting her hands dirty, so to speak.
In terms of how magical it is, The Great Mouse Detective is not. And it does feel like a huge departure for Disney in terms of mood and music. I still don't think it feels like trademark Disney. But I like the movie. It's very entertaining. That's probably because it is quirky, though in a lowkey way, and it's smart. It's sort of like Monk- very procedural, quirky (again), and cerebral in the fun way that it lets you get inside Basil's detective brain. It's good fun, all the way through. And there are some surprises along the way. The songs aren't great, again lowkey will kill you every time. But they're short and high energy. And they lead to something happening. They have a direct mainline right into their scenes. Like Ratigan's evil "Farewell" song, or his other song, which is one of those "getting to know you" moments, where instead of just being a meaningless song for the heck of it, there is actual information in the song about the character. As far as other people having as good a time as me watching it... I'm not overly interested in detective stuff, but I think anyone can enjoy this movie.
The Black Cauldron is one of those movies where if you
really don't like the beginning, your viewing experience could be tainted for the rest of the movie. The beginning is boring. We meet this boy and he is very unhappy about not being allowed to be "a great warrior." I find that hard to relate to, and kind of boring for 1985. Not too much sword and sorcery stuff going on then- except am I wrong, or was there some show about King Arthur in the 1980's? Anyway, is there a moral lesson here somewhere? Because they just keep running this into the ground. The kid won't be quiet about it. He keeps going on and on about it.
And then, of course, dragon comes flying out of the sky so quickly that I think most people are confused somehow. It was hard to adjust to the new tone of the movie, though it was well-supported by the grandfather character's very cool warning-speech about dark forces searching for the cauldron. For me, though, the movie gets much better when he goes to the Horned King's castle, meets the Princess, then the Harp Player, and of course Gurgi is cute. I like the characters, the writing is good, the scenes with Taran using the sword were exciting and felt well-earned. Finally in all these movies about powerful villains, the hero has an equally powerful weapon. The animation is great, the production values are big, and I enjoy watching the movie. Even if it doesn't feel like Disney.
I don't know why I found that funny. But... I think I must have been thinking about that when I decided and said I didn't like the color. So...someone said it.
