Disney Countdown

Now for the first Pixar film of this countdown, one of their recent gems, Inside Out. The Movie: Since this is the first Pixar film on this blog, let's start with a bit of studio history.  The early Pixar films were produced under an agreement in which Pixar made the movies and Disney distributed them.  But in addition, Disney owned all story and character rights, including the right to make sequels on their own.  However, after their initial success, Pixar wanted more control over their films, both rights and profits.  If they split from Disney, though, they would lose any connection to some of their most beloved characters, with everything from all movies made from Toy Story through Cars.  Eventually, Disney reached an agreement to buy Pixar, so long as both studios remained as separate entities.  Also, John Lasseter would take creative control of both Pixar and Walt Disney Animation. Before the deal went through, Pixar had begun work on what would have been their first

Today's movie is something completely different, perhaps the least "Disney" of all the movies in the Disney Animated Canon.  Here's The Emperor's New Groove. The Movie: The Emperor's New Groove is the 40th film in the Disney Animated Canon and one of the early post-Renaissance films.  Although it received mostly favorable reviews upon its release, it wasn't given a huge marketing push and performed only modestly at the box office. The movie takes place in South America during the time of the Inca Empire.  The main character is Kuzco, a bratty young emperor who is turned into a llama by his vindictive advisor Yzma and her assistant Kronk in a failed attempt to kill him and take over the kingdom.  As Kuzco attempts to return to the palace and become human again, he finds he needs the assistance of villager Pacha to help him on the way. I absolutely love this movie because it is hilarious.  I first encountered this film during the summer of 2001 w

On an evening in which I got home from a rehearsal for Romeo and Juliet, we turn to a Disney movie that is loosely inspired (among other sources) by another Shakespeare play, Hamlet.  That movie would be one of Disney's crown jewels, The Lion King. The Movie: The Lion King is the 32nd film in the Disney Animated Canon and the last of the big four films of the Disney Renaissance.  (Technically it is the fifth film of the Renaissance era because The Rescuers Down Under came out between The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast.)  It is the highest grossing traditional animated film of all time and consistently listed as one of Disney's best movies. The Lion King tells the story of the Simba, the young lion cub of Mufasa, the king of Pride Rock.  Young Simba just can't wait to grow up and become king himself, but between his nefarious uncle Scar and a pack of hyenas, danger looms on the horizon.  Along the way, Simba interacts with Nala, his childhood sweetheart, th

Let's wrap up the Captain America trilogy with Captain America: Civil War The Movie: This film kicked off MCU's Phase 3 and is the 13th MCU film overall.  From a narrative standpoint, it is more a follow-up to The Avengers: Age of Ultron, though the character of the Winter Soldier plays a crucial part in the story and is the biggest element to come out of the last Captain America movie.  And while you won't be completely lost if you haven't seen either of those films, it definitely helps make the story more interesting. Where the last two Captain America films are prominently featured around Steve Rogers, this one at times can feel almost like an Avengers movie.  The character roster includes heroes from the Captain America films (Captain America, Winter Soldier, Falcon, Black Widow), the Iron Man films (Iron Man, War Machine, and once again Black Widow), the Avengers films (besides those already listed, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, Vision), and Ant-Man, who only ha

For part 2 of 3, let's get going with Captain America: The Winter Soldier The Movie: The third film of the MCU's Phase 2 and the ninth overall, The Winter Soldier serves as a follow up to both the first Captain America film and The Avengers, though pretty much all of its plot points pick up from the former.  And in case you never saw the first film, this one has enough flashbacks and other narrative devices peppered in that you can get the basic idea. Now in the present day, Captain America is working with Nick Fury and Black Widow at S.H.I.E.L.D., which is based out of Washington, D.C.  However, all is not right within the agency, as an old threat returns along with a mysterious new enemy, the Winter Soldier, a dangerous assassin. Appropriately enough, especially with the Washington setting, the movie plays mostly like a political thriller.  And being that, the inclusion of Robert Redford to the cast as a leader within S.H.I.E.L.D. makes it that much better.  The st

Today, I decided to go for a rare triple-header.  Since today is Memorial Day, it seemed fitting to watch the three Captain America movies from Marvel Studios. Now before we get into the usual rundown, I will start with my introductions to comic book movies and all things Marvel.  I didn't grow up reading comics, so my familiarity with the comic book universes mostly comes from the various movies, though I have read about a lot of the material from the comics, so I have a passing familiarity with the larger history of these characters. When it comes to the whole Marvel vs DC thing, I tend to be more of a Marvel fan.  While the quality of the MCU helps, I believe it goes back further than that.  You see, other than possibly the worst Batman movie of the bunch, my main introduction to superhero movies came with films like the X-Men franchise, Spider-man, The Fantastic Four, The Hulk, Blade, Daredevil, and Elektra, so I became more interested in the Marvel side of things, espec

And now for the second film of our double feature, Saving Mr. Banks. The Movie: Saving Mr. Banks is a movie about the making of Mary Poppins.  It intertwines the visit of P. L. Travers to the Walt Disney Studios in 1961 with the story of a young Travers, aka Helen Goff, growing up in rural Australia. While some parts of the story have been dramatized for the sake of storytelling, it is no secret that the production of Mary Poppins was indeed fraught, especially due to the cantankerous nature of the author of the original Mary Poppins books.  The movie cleverly moves between the two stories, helping us to get some insight into Travers and the genesis of her books. This is one of my favorite movies to come out in the last several years.  As a movie fan, I enjoy seeing a movie about the making of a famous movie.  I also am a big Tom Hanks fan, and he does a nice job in this movie.  As a Disney theme park fan, I enjoy seeing the period recreations of 1961 Disneyland.  And as a m

Today we have a double feature.  In fact, it is the same double feature that I did on the final day of my 2015 countdown.  The first half of this double feature is the iconic Disney film Mary Poppins. The Movie: You are probably familiar with this film, but in case you aren't, here we go.  Based on the books by P. L. Travers, the movie features Julie Andrews in the title role, a nanny who arrives on the "winds from the east" to the Banks household.  There she is brought on to care for the children, Jane and Michael, and the three of them, along with one-man band/street artist/chimney sweep Bert, go on several adventures around London.  However, some of the biggest lessons from Mary Poppins and Bert are for the children's father. Even after more than half a century, this movie is still a technical and visual masterpiece.  The scenes combing live-action and animation are incredible, and most of the practical effects look great even by today's standards.  Wi

And I am underway!  Sorry for the delay. It may seem like an odd choice to start a Disney movie marathon, but since the movie opens this weekend, it just made sense.  Also, Star Wars has long had a presence in the parks, predating Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm in 2012. The Movie: Solo is the second in Disney's Star Wars "Anthology" series, movies that take place outside the main "episodes" of the Skywalker saga.  This movie tells the story of a young Han Solo, showing how he first meets the established characters of Chewbacca and Lando Calrissian.  It also introduces a variety of new characters, including his childhood flame Qi'ra and the smuggler Tobias Beckett. Owing to reports over the last year, I came into this movie with really low expectations.  And as a result, I was pleasantly surprised.  Was anyone really asking for this movie?  No, not really.  But what we got was actually a fun war/western/heist movie with some nice nods to the

Countdown to Disney: Introduction Welcome!  Allow me to give an explanation for this blog. 1. Over the past 35 years, I have been to Walt Disney World 9 times.  This summer will feature my 10th trip.  Therefore, I provide a prospective of someone who is a visitor, but also of someone who is familiar with the park. 2. On my last trip to WDW, in May 2015, I did a countdown, listed on my Facebook page, in which I watched a Disney movie each day.  I tried to include recent movies and movies that would have a relevance to my trip. 3. I decided that since I will be visiting once again this summer, I will do another countdown.  However, this time, given my experience, I will provide two things. 4. The first thing will be a review of each movie.  I didn't provide any reviews before, but this time, I will make sure to provide my thoughts on each film. 5.  The second thing I will include is a guide to the connection to the park.  Last time, I made sure to include films that had a