Worst Disney Film Title? (Animated or Live)

[Super Aurora]

Make Mine Music

Fun and Fancy Free

These two are perfect engrish the Japanese can say correctly.

[BelleGirl]

Speaking of weird translated titles, wanna know what is the Japanese name for Up?

Grandpa Carl’s Flying House.

For real...

While poor 'grandpa' Carl didn't even have kids!

[rs_milo_whatever]

Not to mention that in Puertorican slang bichos means "penis", so having a film called "La Vida de un Bicho" would be fine in Mexico, but in Puerto Rico people would be laughing their butts off XD .

That's hilarious, I had no clue that slang existed. So no doubt "Bichos" alone gets a few laughs as well.

There's some titles that get lost in translation, like the Japanese "Up" but if it's better to translate them loosely or strictly rather than just not translating them, that's just lazy. It worked for Monsters Inc., but not translating the word "Atlantis" in "Atlantis: El Imperio Perdido" or Tinkerbell's name to "Campanita" (Her loosely trsanslated name in Spanish that means "little bell") in her starring sequels was just lazy. Yeah, there's something about Campanita that doesn't sound cool enough for a movie title, but it's her cute name in the movies.

[Disney's Divinity]

The Emperor's New Groove is the only title that's ever bothered me. I actually always like Atlantis: The Lost Empire's title. To me, Atlantis would sound like a Scyfy movie without it. And, yeah, Basil the Great Mouse Detective is much better.

As for live-action, the Pirates of the Carribeans sequels' subtitles always annoyed me. Dead Man's Chest and especially At World's End seem like kiddy novels.

[Goliath]

Translations from English to Dutch:

The Great Mouse Detective = De Speurneuzen ('The Searchers'?)

The Fox and the Hound = Frank & Frey (the names of the main characters in Dutch, but also a wordplay on being 'frank en vrij', meaning being totally honest)

The Emperor's New Groove = Keizer Kuzco ('Emperor Kuzco')

Home on the Range = Paniek op de prairie ('Panic at the prairy')

The Sword in the stone = Merlijn de tovenaar ('Merlin the sorcerer')

Brother Bear is really strange, since it's the only film which has kept its distinctively English name in the Dutch market (when you don't count films with titles that refer to the main characters).

Pixar-films always retain their original English titles, with the exception of A Bug's Life. It was dubbed 'Een luizenleven' in Dutch. Literally translated it means: 'A lice's life'. But it's a wordplay, because 'luizenleven' also mean: a very easy life.

[Flanger-Hanger]

I thought Make Mine Music was a reference to Make Mine Mink?

If you're referring to the film, didn't that come out many years after Make Mine Music?

You are correct, it was released some 14 years later. I guess I was thinking of something else? This is what happens when you're bored and just flip through Leonard Maltin's film guide to see what's inside and you forget the details.

[rs_milo_whatever]

It's kind of fun finding out names for Disney movies in different languages.
The Rescuers in Spanish is simply "Bernardo y Bianca"
The Rescuers Down Under is "Bernardo y Bianca en Cangurolandia" which is not even a word, it's pretty much "kangarooland".
Brother Bear is "Tierra de Osos" which means the land of the bears
Home on The Range got robbed though, guess it wouldn't mean anything because there is no song in any other language but "Vacas Vaqueras" is just too stupid, it means "cowgirl cows".

.

[Goliath]

The Rescuers Down Under is "Bernardo y Bianca en Cangurolandia" which is not even a word, it's pretty much "kangarooland".

That's funny, that's how it's called in The Netherlands, too. I totally had forgotten to mention it (that's because I try to forget the film).

[rs_milo_whatever]

I love The Rescuers Down Under. And according to my parents it's the first Disney video owned so it makes it that much more special

[pap64]

Yes, it's like Latin American people are so oblivious to Australia's existence that they named it "Kangaroo Land".

I think "Los Rescatadores en Australia" would have worked just fine, but "Cangurolandia"? Ugh.

[KubrickFan]

Pixar-films always retain their original English titles, with the exception of A Bug's Life. It was dubbed 'Een luizenleven' in Dutch. Literally translated it means: 'A lice's life'. But it's a wordplay, because 'luizenleven' also mean: a very easy life.

Monsters, Inc. was changed into Monsters en Co., which basically means the same thing.

And about De Reddertjes in Kangoeroeland, it took me a while to realize as a kid that Kangoeroeland was actually Australia.

The Emperor's New Groove was Keizer Kuzco (Emperor Kuzco) here, and frankly, both of those titles aren't very good.
But the top one has to be The Black Cauldron, which was changed into Taran en de Toverketel (Taran and the Magic Cauldron). But I saw that more international versions carry this translation, so I think the change into The Black Cauldron was made late in the game. The Black Cauldron also sounds better to me.

[Scamander]

It's funny to see, how the translations in different languages are often pretty similar.

In german they're:
Taran und der Zauberkessel
Bernard & Bianca - Die Mäusepolizei (B&B - The Mouse Police)
Bernard & Bianca im Känguruhland

so the Germans and Dutch also don't have Australia on their maps.^^ Did you have also this ending song which was not in the original? I know it was in the german and the french version:
Bernard et Bianca au pays des kangourous
I loved this as a kid

The Emperor's New Groove is a funny title imho. It fits the humour of the film itself and it's in any case better than "Ein Königreich für ein Lama" which means "A Kingdom for a Llama". That's almost worse than "Himmel und Huhn" (Skies and Chicken).

EDIT: I searched Imdb and found out, that german's the only language (of all mentioned), where TPatF got no literal translation. It's "Küss den Frosch" (Kiss the Frog) here^^

[carlossilva]

There's no such film as 'Make Mine Melody'.

Ok, this is driving me nuts now, but I swear someone told me a couple years back about a little-known Disney release that repackaged certain segments from Make Mine Music and Melody Time, and was called either something like "Music Time" or "Make Mine Melody." I've been scouring the internet and can't find a trace though. Somebody tell me I'm not crazy?

You are not crazy.
That film was released in 1955 and it's called Music Land ( not to be confused with the Silly Symphony of the same name ). If you can read French, you can find about it at

http://www.zuzudisney.com/compil-CI/1955-musicland.htm


About the kangarooland thing ( It's the same in portuguese, title is " Bernardo e Bianca na Cangurulândia"): While it doesn't sound good, I think there may be a logic behind it. Just as the original title used an expression people in the US associate with Australia ( Down Under ), but not the actual name of the country, they tried to do somehing similar in other languages. At least here in Portugal, nothing similar to "Down Under" is used to refer to Australia, but the kangaroo is commonly thought of as a typical australian animal. So, it makes some sense to refer to the country as the land of the kangaroos.


Cheers

Carlos

[blackcauldron85]

Oaky, I've never heard of Music Land, but I'm interested now!

Here's some info in English:

http://www.awn.com/mag/issue4.01/4.01pa ... nmake.php3

I'm not trying to say that this is the greatest Disney feature...it has many faults but so have many other Disney films. It is uneven in quality but it has great virtues too and should be seen in its entirety. It contains much that later Disney lacks. The studio has never been happy with it as a feature and it has not been re-released, though parts were shown as shorts with features, and some sections were lumped together with parts of Melody Time (1948) and released as Music Land in 1955 [not to be confused with the Silly Symphony (1935) of the same title]. It has only had a limited video release -- at least in Britain -- and its sections are often confused with those of Melody Time which, after all, is also a package film and released only two years later.

http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid ... gory=Notes

Unlike the majority of other Disney animated features, the package features were not theatrically re-issued in their original formats. Instead the segments were released as individual shorts for television and theaters and in 16mm for schools. Re-releases of segments from Make Mine Music included "Peter and the Wolf," which was issued in 1955, as well as "The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met," which was re-titled "Willie the Operatic Whale" and re-released in 1954. The two segments featuring Benny Goodman were combined into another short entitled "Two for the Record." In 1955, "Johnny Fedora and Alice Blueblonnet," "After You've Gone," "All the Cats Join In" and "Casey at the Bat" were combined with five segments from Melody Time into a sixty-nine minute feature entitled Music Land, released in November 1955.

http://books.google.com/books?id=YiBP4b ... 22&f=false
(from Walt Disney and Europe: European Influences on the Animated Feature Films of Walt Disney by Robin Allan, p. 188)

This film has never been revived, and apart from some sections being shown on TV, is forgotten or confused with another package film released by the studio two years later, Melody Time (1948). Indeed, some of its parts were united with Melody Time and released, only in the United States, as Music Land (1955). At a rare screening of the entire film at a retrospective Tribute to WAlt Disney at the National Film Theatre in 1970, David Rider said, 'Of the ten sections, secen are perfectly satisfactory...and in some cases they are quite excellent'.

http://www.cartoonbrew.com/disney/disne ... 57-59.html

It began in 1953. The hand-writing was on the wall, Disneyw as growing unhappy with his 18 year arrangement with distributor RKO. In protest, Buena Vista was created to market a single film (The Living Desert). Once established, plans were quickly made to expand Disney's annual release slate with live action features and shorts, documentaries, comedies, dramas, esterns and fantasies- and to get out of the RKO deal as quickly as possible. After several additional British costume dramas (The Sword and the Rose, Rob Roy The Highland Rogue), 1955's Music Land, a pastiche of segments culled from Make Mine Music and Melody Time, fulfilled Disney's obligation to RKO- and was the company's final RKO release.

[toonaspie]

Forgot to mention...there's an upcoming PIXAR film called "NEWT"

Three guesses as to what that's about

[KubrickFan]

Forgot to mention...there's an upcoming PIXAR film called "NEWT"

Three guesses as to what that's about

Another chapter in the Alien saga?


Off-topic, that would turn out to be a great movie, though. Throw in a Predator and you have another original Pixar buddy movie in which they have to find a human to survive, and grow closer as the movie progresses .

[Goliath]

Forgot to mention...there's an upcoming PIXAR film called "NEWT"

Three guesses as to what that's about

Why would Pixar make a film about Newt Gingrich?

[Margos]

The Emperor's New Groove is a funny title imho. It fits the humour of the film itself and it's in any case better than "Ein Königreich für ein Lama" which means "A Kingdom for a Llama".

I'd never heard of that before! Y'know, personally, I think "A Kingdom for a Llama" would have made a much better title! It sounds really funny! Or maybe "My Kingdom for a Llama!" Yes, just like that. With the exclamation point. I think it's amusing....

[DisneyFan09]

The Princess and the Frog is a bland title, in my opinion. Mainly because I find the title un-creative, un-original and doesn't justify the story. (SPOILERS) Tiana wasn't a Princess before she married Naveen as human.

[toonaspie]

The Princess and the Frog is a bland title, in my opinion. Mainly because I find the title un-creative, un-original and doesn't justify the story. (SPOILERS) Tiana wasn't a Princess before she married Naveen as human.

Same here. But I have no idea what would've been a better title as the novel "The Frog Princess" wasnt any better title.

I did like the german title for this film, I think it translated along the lines of "Kiss the Frog"