Disney Countdown

Now we turn to the live-action version of Cinderella. The Movie: Despite the box-office success of the live-action 101 Dalmatians, Disney didn't return to their library of animated classics for source material until 2010, when a live-action Alice in Wonderland was released to much financial success.  That movie though was a quasi-sequel, and the next Disney live-action re-imagining was the perspective flip of Sleeping Beauty with Maleficent.  Cinderella, though began Disney's formula of straight-forward remakes.  This movie garnered critical praise and performed well at the box-office, and it was nominated for an Oscar for costume design. This Cinderella pretty faithfully follows the tale as portrayed in the 1950 animated version, but it also fleshes out the story.  In this version we actually start with Cinderella as a young girl and both her parents.  The entire sequences of events from her mother's death, her father's remarriage, and then his subsequent dea

Now we come to one of the all-time bests and the jewel of the Silver Age, Cinderella. The Movie: Cinderella is the 12th film in the Disney Animated Canon and the one that kicked off Disney's Silver Age.  It marked the return to form for Disney following the Package Film Era and was Disney's best received film since Snow White.  Cinderella is still listed as one of the best animated films of all time, and it pretty much re-invented the standard for Disney for years to come. Based on the fairy tale by Charles Perrault, Cinderella tells the story of an orphaned girl who works in servitude to her stepmother and stepsisters, with only the mice as her friends.  When the king holds a ball in order to find a bride for his son, the prince, Cinderella wishes to go.  Though her step-family impedes her attempts, some magic from her fairy godmother gives Cinderella the opportunity to attend the ball, as long as she leaves by midnight. So there's a reason this one is so highly

Long before Disney got on the live-action remake train in the 2010s, they first tried it in the 1990s with the movie 101 Dalmatians. The Movie: Coming just five years after the last re-release of the animated version and still riding on that movie's popularity, 101 Dalmatians was released to mixed reviews but commercial success, enough so that a live-action sequel was released four years later.  (That movie is not on the docket today.)  Though being credited as another adaptation of the Dodie Smith book, the movie clearly draws much inspiration from the 1961 animated film. 101 Dalmatians uses almost all the major beats and even several chunks of dialogue from the 1961 movie.  The setting is updated to (at the time) the present day.  Roger (who is given his book last name of Dearly instead of the animated movie's Radcliffe) is now an American video game designer living in London.  Anita's relationship to Cruella de Vil is now that of an employee, and Cruella is made

Now we come to a series of double-features of Disney classics and the live-action remakes, sequels, and re-imaginings inspired by them.  First up is the animated classic One Hundred and One Dalmatians. The Movie: One Hundred and One Dalmatians in the 17th film in the Disney Animated Canon.  It is one of the later films in Disney's Silver Age, but it is also known for being the first to heavily rely on xerography.  This process, a way to cheapen production costs, utilized the photographing of cells and necessitated the use of heavy black lines that would become come through most of the Dark Age films.  Because of the cheaper production costs, the movie was a financial success, and that was further buoyed through four re-releases, with the last coming in 1991. One Hundred and One Dalmatians is based on a book by Dodie Smith and is considered to be one of Disney's more faithful adaptations.  Pongo is a dalmatian living in (for the time of the movie) present-day London wit

From one recent hit to another, today's movie is Zootopia. The Movie: Zootopia is the 55th movie in the Disney Animated Canon, and one of two released in 2016 (the other being Moana).  It was well-received and went on to be the fourth highest grossing film of the year worldwide.  (Of note, Disney had the top 5 spots in 2016 with Captain America: Civil War, Rogue One, Finding Dory, Zootopia, and The Jungle Book.)  It is also the second highest grossing film in the Disney Animated Canon after Frozen.  Zootopia also was named the best animated film at the Oscars, Golden Globes, Critics Choice Awards, and the Annies. Zootopia takes place in world where anthropomorphic mammals have evolved past their wild natures and live together in a single society.  However, this world is still filled with stereotypes and prejudice.  Judy Hopps dreams of being the first rabbit police officer, and upon achieving that dream is assigned to the central precinct.  She takes on the job of tracking

For our awesome movie of today, we turn to Disney's superhero movie, Big Hero 6. The Movie: Big Hero 6 is the 54th movie in the Disney Animated Canon.  The movie came about after Disney's acquisition of Marvel, in which they scoured the later's library for little known characters, and the result was Disney's first comic book superhero movie.  Big Hero 6 performed well at the box-office and was well-received by critics and audiences.  It won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature, the second Disney movie to do so (after Frozen the previous year). Big Hero 6 is based on characters from the comic book created by Man of Action and published by Marvel, but the movie does not tie-in into any other Marvel film and draws only a little from the comic's mythology.  The movie features Hiro Hamada, a 14-year-old tech genius and high school graduate living in the fictional city of San Fransokyo with his older brother Tadashi and their aunt.  Tadashi wants Hiro to find some

Today's awesome movie is a recent Disney classic, the musical Tangled. The Movie: Tangled is the 50th movie in the Disney Animated Canon.  (As part of the promotion of this movie, Disney put out a video counting up each of their 50 movies up to that point.  Check it out on YouTube, it's a great video.)  Due to a protracted production period, Tangled is by some accounts the most expensive animated movie ever made.  Luckily, it is also one of Disney's highest earning films, and it was well-received by critics and audiences.  As a follow up to The Princess and the Frog, Tangled also solidified Disney's return to the animated musicals that were the hallmark of the Disney Renaissance and kicked off their second and current Renaissance, also known as the Revival period. Tangled is based on the fairy tale of Rapunzel as told by the Brothers Grimm, but with some new twists.  This version begins with a magic flower that sprouts when a drop of sunlight falls to the earth

Ok, so I just finished up my Romeo and Juliet performances, and I am trying to avoid being hit too hard by the post-show funk.  So, the only theme for the time being is that I am choosing movies that I find awesome.  That brings us to Mulan. The Movie: Mulan is the 36th movie in the Disney Animated Canon and part of the period of the Disney Renaissance.  The movie was well-received and performed well at the box office, but like the other later Renaissance movies did not earn as much as the earlier films.  Mulan won several Annie Awards, including Best Animated Film.  It is also slated to have a live-action remake in the near future. The movie begins with the Huns, led by Shan Yu, invading China.  In response, the emperor conscripts one member of every household into the army to add numbers.  Mulan's father, the legendary Fa Zhou, has no sons or other male relatives, and he is old and in poor health.  To save her father, Mulan steals his armor and conscription papers, and d

Our final dinosaur movie of the weekend is the movie appropriately titled Dinosaur. The Movie: Dinosaur is the 39th movie in the Disney Animated Canon, though notably it is left of the list in Europe in favor of The Wild, a film not made by, though produced and distributed by, Disney.  (The Wild is the first and only film from C.O.R.E., a now defunct CGI special effects company.)  Dinosaur had originally been in development before The Little Mermaid, but the success of that movie placed Dinosaur on the back burner.  The film was originally intended to use stop motion, but after Disney had some success with 3-D CGI animation during the development of Fantasia 2000, they decided to go that route.  The movie ended up combining CGI characters and effects with filmed backgrounds of actually scenery, mostly shot in South America.  Dinosaur was the most expensive movie of the year 2000 and also the fifth most profitable.  It received generally favorable if not exactly glowing reviews,

Let's complete the trilogy with Toy Story 3. The Movie: Toy Story 3 is the 11th movie from Pixar and their first part 3.  Like it's two predecessors, it was very highly received, even garnering an Oscar nomination for Best Picture and winning Best Animated Feature. In Toy Story 3, Andy is grown up and heading off to college.  He places his toys in a bag to take them to the attic, but they are accidentally taken to the curb instead.  Thinking they are no long wanted, the toys, with the exception of Woody, allow themselves to be donated to a daycare, where they hope to be played with again.  Woody, though learns that all is not as it seems at the daycare, and sets out to rescue his friends. Once again, a Toy Story movie hits all the right notes, telling a great heartfelt story.  It is also amazing to see just how far Pixar has taken the technology of computer animation between the first movie and this one.  Storywise, the climax starts to get a bit contrived, but the f

Next lets look at the second movie in the franchise, Toy Story 2. The Movie: Toy Story 2 is the 3rd movie from Pixar.  During the 1990s, while Disney was producing many highly received theatrical films, they were also producing many direct to video sequels to those and other earlier films.  Following the success of Toy Story, Disney began to do so with that movie, since their agreement with Pixar gave them the rights to the characters.  During production, Disney felt the movie could be strong enough to get a theatrical release, but Pixar was unhappy with the direction of the movie, and they took over the project.  Upon release, Toy Story 2 was as well received as the first movie.  It was also the only Pixar movie to win the Golden Globe for Best Picture - Musical or Comedy before animated films became ineligible upon being given their own category. Toy Story 2 starts off shortly after the first movie, with Andy's toys still enjoying a fun life of play.  Woody is supposed t