DVDizzy Forum

Whether or not this turns out to be a good movie, enough with the adjective titles!

To be honest, I consider the title change to be idiotic, though not as cringe-worthy as "Tangled" was (though I was never one of those who created a huge havoc for that title in the first place). But it's still not the biggest change. I though Inma's design was passable enough, though. But since the plot has been changed, will a love subplot be excluded? I like that the setting is Spain, hence Disney has never really explored it besides the Ferdinand short. And is Jack supposed to be an English settler, due to his name?

Oh, I'll hope that's not the final logo. It's generic.

^No, Jack is Spanish. And I'm talking to Brendan Conelly right now. Apparently, Jack's giant was always a kid. But, it seems like mixing Imna and the giant together was a recent thing (NOT his word).

RyGuy wrote:I think this song will be the "Do You Wanna Build a Snowman?"

It sound more like a "In Summer" or "Fixer-Upper" type of song than that.

PatrickvD wrote:But Kristen Anderson Lopez is still a mediocre lyricist.

Finally, someone said it. Both of the Lopezes are overrated, IMO.

pinkrenata wrote:Whether or not this turns out to be a good movie, enough with the adjective titles!

At least Moana didn't get a title change. I think we're all grateful for that.

disneyprincess11 wrote:^No, Jack is Spanish. And I'm talking to Brendan Conelly right now. Apparently, Jack's giant was always a kid. But, it seems like mixing Imna and the giant together was a recent thing (NOT his word).

Really? Why not having a Spanish name for him?

DisneyFan09 wrote:

disneyprincess11 wrote:^No, Jack is Spanish. And I'm talking to Brendan Conelly right now. Apparently, Jack's giant was always a kid. But, it seems like mixing Imna and the giant together was a recent thing (NOT his word).

Really? Why not having a Spanish name for him?

Oh, I like that idea! I wonder if it even crossed the directors' minds? Apparently the "Spanglicized" form of Jack is Juan, which if familiar enough to Anglo ears. Jack's fine, too, but in for the penny, in for the pound, I think.

You know, I actually like the title. Perhaps I've drank the kool aid, but it seems to me that these movies diverge from their source material much more than the classic Disney fairy tales of the Renaissance and the like. If Jack is a twenty something soon to be father who befriends giants rather than kill them, is it really "Jack and the Beanstalk" anymore? In fact, after yesterday's panel, I think I'm more excited for "Gigantic" than anything else on Disney or Pixar's slate. I particularly like the Spanish conquistador thread they seem to be leaning to.

CONCEPT ART FOR SPAIN:

http://take-her-to-the-moon-for-me.tumb ... n-gigantic

It reminds me a bit of the kingdom in "Tangled".

PatrickvD wrote:But Kristen Anderson Lopez is still a mediocre lyricist. Frozen has nice songs, but they don't exactly make you think about the words/meaning for more than 1 second. Howard Ashman she is not.

Other than that I agree the response is similar to Tangled and Frozen. The movie should fall in line with those probably. Though I hope more Tangled than Frozen.

Yeah Lopez is definitely no Howard Ashman, he was a freaking genius. But Lopez is still a much, MUCH better lyricist than Randy Newman and Glenn Slater who is better than the former but his lyrics veer towards okay to flat out average and bland.

Seriously, this was the guy who wrote:

"And then I'll brush and brush and brush and brush my hair, stuck in the same place I've always been"
"And I'll keep wondering and wondering and wondering and wondering just when will my life begin?"

When Lopez wrote this in the 2011 Winnie the Pooh film:

"Everything is honey there's a honey Pooh, he's just made of honey so I guess I'll eat him too."

"They swipe your stripes, they clog your pipes"
"They dig up your garden, they won't beg your pardon"
"They eat your snacks, they won't relax!"
"They chip your tooth, they steal your youth!"
"And now you know the horrible truth!"

And this opening lyric I like from Frozen's "Let it Go":

"The snow glows white on the mountain tonight, not a footprint to be seen"
"A kingdom of isolation, and it looks like I'm the queen"
"The wind is howling like the swirling storm inside, couldn't keep it in heaven knows I've tried"

But different strokes for different folks i guess. Can't wait for Gigantic and Moana though.

Musical Master wrote:
Seriously, this was the guy who wrote:

"And then I'll brush and brush and brush and brush my hair, stuck in the same place I've always been"
"And I'll keep wondering and wondering and wondering and wondering just when will my life begin?"

Far be it for me to defend this guy, but I always thought that the reason why they had the repeated words was to signify the repeating scheduled days Rapunzel was having... So I kinda like that..

But I was not a fan of the lyrics for "I see the light". I find them very mediocre and not emotional enough for the scene they're representing. The music by Menken was great though. Especially the music for the Mother Knows Best Reprise.

So I guess Gigantic joins Epic as the new member in the line of presumptuous movie titles.

aww, Im so disappointed the giant is... a little blonde girl? I wanted Jack to bromance a hot giant dude. sigh..
movie still looks good though...

They also gave context for the departure from the main story which is that it's set in Spain during the Age of Exploration and how the new world of giants above parallels the new worlds that others in Spain were sailing out to explore.

yeah I love that they kept that setting, but does anyone get a Norse/Greek god feel from the storm giants in that one concept art?

oh yeah, the title: I dont know which one's worse, that or "Coco"?

@DisneyEra: I have no doubt this movie'll be successful. There's no guarantee it'll actually be, you know, good though until having seen the film, but going off the other films in this era financial success is likely. Disney's live-action remakes are doing great numbers, too, but that hasn't stopped people from hating them.

disneyprincess11 wrote:I am still disappointed that they changed Imna from this great warrior to a giant that is a little kid....that plays dollie with Jack (The tea party scene does sound very funny/cute though) and that their version of J&B is not this epic

I've never thought of "Jack and the Beanstalk" as epic myself...?

DisneyFan09 wrote:To be honest, I consider the title change to be idiotic, though not as cringe-worthy as "Tangled" was

Personally, I think they finally cleared the bar this one. They've officially topped "Tangled" in the stupidest title department.

PatrickvD wrote:Frozen has nice songs, but they don't exactly make you think about the words/meaning for more than 1 second.

Maybe not for you, but I think many people would disagree with that. "Love Is An Open Door" alone disproves that, imo. Besides, nobody's reached Ashman level since he died, so might as well let it go.

Howard Ashman was a once in a lifetime talent. His passing was truly a shame.

I don't think Frozen is the best lyrical work from the Lopezes, but the music as a whole is pretty top notch imo. For the first half of the film I truly felt like I was actually watching a full-fledged musical instead of a movie with some songs and it was a nice feeling.

I hope they're a little more daring after Frozen's success.

Disney's Divinity wrote:Personally, I think they finally cleared the bar this one. They've officially topped "Tangled" in the stupidest title department.

Indeed.

DisneyFan09 wrote:

Disney's Divinity wrote:Personally, I think they finally cleared the bar this one. They've officially topped "Tangled" in the stupidest title department.

Indeed.

Yes!

Lady Cluck wrote:Howard Ashman was a once in a lifetime talent. His passing was truly a shame.

I don't think Frozen is the best lyrical work from the Lopezes, but the music as a whole is pretty top notch imo. For the first half of the film I truly felt like I was actually watching a full-fledged musical instead of a movie with some songs and it was a nice feeling.

I hope they're a little more daring after Frozen's success.

I think the Lopez's might try something different with it, after all Winnie the Pooh and Frozen, two films they composed the music and lyrics for, are vastly different from one another. I agree, as much as I strongly admire Kristen Anderson-Lopez as a lyricist, Howard Ashman could never be topped at all. He was such a gift for Disney back then it's not even funny.

Can we leave all composers that came after Alan Menken alone? From reading some comments, I think some people are unrealistically comparing the modern films to their favourite Disney Renaissance films and associating new talent being used on films with current corporate meddling. As great as Alan Menken's work is (and a good deal of it truly is), I think it's fair to let other songwriters write for Disney projects. Let's wait until we have a full soundtrack performed by professional singers as opposed to somebody on the Internet posting lyrics recalled from memory before we make a full judgment.

UmbrellaFish wrote:

DisneyFan09 wrote: Really? Why not having a Spanish name for him?

Oh, I like that idea! I wonder if it even crossed the directors' minds? Apparently the "Spanglicized" form of Jack is Juan, which if familiar enough to Anglo ears. Jack's fine, too, but in for the penny, in for the pound, I think.

Juan is the Spanish equivalent of the English name John. Considering that Jack was originally a diminutive/nickname for John in English, Juan does seem an appropriate translation for Jack into Spanish. Indeed, it appears that many Spanish translations of the story do that: http://www.amazon.es/s/ref=sr_nr_n_2?fs ... 1703620031

In any case, I've been pondering a bit on the Spanish setting. I currently find it a bit weird given how they still call the hero Jack (a very English name) and that the original story has a clearly English setting and has clearly English origins (I don't believe many if any folk versions exist much outside of the British Isles, plus the giant in the traditional version says "I smell the blood of an Englishman"). That said, Spain has an intoxicating culture, so I'm sure I'll come to accept it eventually.

Wonderlicious wrote:Can we leave all composers that came after Alan Menken alone? From reading some comments, I think some people are unrealistically comparing the modern films to their favourite Disney Renaissance films and associating new talent being used on films with current corporate meddling. As great as Alan Menken's work is (and a good deal of it truly is), I think it's fair to let other songwriters write for Disney projects. Let's wait until we have a full soundtrack performed by professional singers as opposed to somebody on the Internet posting lyrics recalled from memory before we make a full judgment.

Seriously. Like the Sherman Brothers were abandoned after Winnie the Pooh. It happens. This is the case with Menken. This time, the Lopezes are doing the music for the Disney Revival, featuring the incredible Lin-Manuel Miranda (whom I was just thinking of as an potential Disney songwriter) & Opetaia Foa'i like Elton John & Phil Collins. plus, some people are acting like Disney totally abandoned him. We have still Tangled the TV Series, Galavant, & Broadway shows.

Plus, look how happy Lin-Manuel Miranda is in his announcement! He's like a kid in the candy store!

https://twitter.com/Lin_Manuel/status/6 ... 2434223105

disneyprincess11 wrote: Like the Sherman Brothers were abandoned after Winnie the Pooh. It happens.

I disagree that they are comparable. For one, the Sherman Brothers more of an exclusivity at Disney in their day that Menken didn't have. For another, the Sherman Brothers didn't really fit with the change to a Broadway sound found in O&C, TLM, and onwards. The new films are still Broadway, so the change doesn't really make sense. I don't think there's anyone who thinks Disney shouldn't explore new composers like the Lopezes (who I was happy to see were involved with Frozen when they were first announced) or other new talent, but that there's no reason Menken can't still occasionally do a film here and there either. I guess I could understand them not using him if he doesn't fit the sound they're going for (like Moana going with the Polynesian vibe, for instance), but on the whole they aren't going for a different sound, and he could do score even if not songs. It feels more like, "You're leftover from the old regime so we don't want you."

There've been some strange ageist overtones to this discussion about Menken. I guess most of you think regular workers should basically be fired for no other reason than management decides "they've had their time"...