Disney Countdown

We're down to our last movie in the Disney Canon, and we're ending on a high note.  Let's look at Lilo and Stitch. The Movie: Lilo and Stitch is the 42nd movie in the Disney Animated Canon.  The movie was the brainchild of longtime Disney animator Chris Sanders, who wrote and directed it.  (Sanders left Disney after being replaced on the production of Bolt, and he went on the create How to Train Your Dragon for Dreamworks.)  Lilo and Stitch received positive reviews and was a modest box-office success.  The film would spawn a franchise that includes 3 direct-to-video movies and a TV series. The film opens in space with Dr. Jumba being arrested by the Galactic Federation for illegal genetic experimentation.  His creation is Experiment 626, which escapes from custody, steals a ship, and crash lands on the planet Earth.  On Earth, on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, the young woman Nani is struggling to care for her little sister Lilo, who is in Nan...

Ok, so it has to be done at some point.  Let's get to Home on the Range. The Movie: Home on the Range is the 45th movie in the Disney Animated Canon.  For many Disney fans, this is considered the low point for Disney, though in reality, the movie just before (Brother Bear) and after (Chicken Little) received far worse reviews.  In many minds, though, this is the worst Disney film, and the fact that it was a box-office bomb helps their case. Home on the Range begins with Maggie, a show cow, being sold to another farm after all the other cattle on her ranch are rustled by Alameda Slim.  This farm is called Little Patch of Heaven, and it is home to two other cows, Grace and Mrs. Caloway.  When the sheriff drops by, he says the farm will be foreclosed on by the bank in three days unless the owner can pay $750.  It just so happens that is the reward for bringing in Alameda Slim, so the three cows set out to capture him and save their farm. Oh boy, thi...

Let's continue to the next film in the Disney Canon, Brother Bear. The Movie: Brother Bear is the 44th movie in the Disney Animated Canon.  Following the success of The Lion King, Disney CEO Michael Eisner pushed for more animated movies featuring animals.  This push eventually led to Brother Bear.  It was originally slated to be released in 2004 with Home on the Range opening in 2003, but the two were switched so that Brother Bear could be promoted on the Platinum Edition home video release of The Lion King.  Brother Bear had a rare Saturday release date, opening on November 1 instead of the day before, which was Halloween.  It was also the first animated movie to switch aspect ratios in the middle of the film, switching from 1.75:1 to 2.35:1 at the end of the first act.  Brother Bear received mixed-to-poor reviews, ending up as one of Disney's lowest rated films, and it was only moderately successful at the box-office. Brother Bear is set in Alas...

We're down to four films in the Disney Canon, all hand-drawn 2D films.  Let's kick today off with Treasure Planet. The Movie: Treasure Planet is the 43rd movie in the Disney Animated Canon.  This was the passion project of directors Ron Clements and John Musker, who first pitched the idea to the studio back in 1985, at the same time they also pitched The Little Mermaid.  The latter was chosen as the duo's follow-up to The Great Mouse Detective.  Following their movie Aladdin, the two pushed strongly to make this movie, and only agreed to do Hercules on the promise that Treasure Planet would be next.  Although the movie is primarily 2D animation, 3D CGI was used for a lot of the backgrounds.  Treasure Planet was the first major studio film to be release simultaneously in both standard format and IMAX.  Although critical response to Treasure Planet was fairly positive, it was a bomb at the box-office.  The losses pretty much wiped out the pro...

Let's turn to our last remaining 3-D animated film in the Disney Canon, Bolt. The Movie: Bolt is the 48th movie in the Disney Animated Canon.  Though it was not a huge box-office success, Bolt received mostly positive reviews and marked the beginning of an upswing in quality of Disney movies, leading into the current revival period.  It was nominated for an Oscar for Best Animated Film, but lost to WALL-E. Bolt tells the story of the title dog, who is owned by a 12-year-old girl named Penny.  Penny and Bolt are actually stars of the TV show "Bolt," an action show in which the dog is shown to have superpowers.  In reality, these are all done through special effects, but Bolt believes them, and the events of the show, to be real.  Following an episode that ends on a cliffhanger where Penny is "captured," Bolt breaks loose from his trailer to find her.  However, he is accidentally shipped across the country to New York City.  There, Bolt is confu...

Let's take a look at Disney's follow-up to Chicken Little, Meet the Robinsons. The Movie: Meet the Robinsons is the 47th movie in the Disney Animated Canon.  Though still considered a part of the Post-Renaissance/Pre-Revival era, the movie is considered a turning point for Disney, as it was the first film of the John Lasseter era, laying the foundation for the improved storytelling of the Revival Era.  Meet the Robinsons received fairly positive reviews, though it wasn't without its detractors, and the movie was a failure financially. Meet the Robinsons is loosely based on a children's book by William Joyce entitled A Day With Wilbur Robinson.  The main character is Lewis, a highly intelligent 12-year-old boy living in an orphanage, where he was left by his mother as a baby.  Lewis is constantly rejected by potential adoptive parents, so he sets out to invent a memory scanner that he can use on himself to identify his birth mother in the hopes that she would...

Because I feel like punishing myself, let's take a look at Chicken Little. The Movie: Chicken Little is the 46th movie in the Disney Animated Canon and the first to be done entirely with CGI 3D animation.  Surprisingly the movie was somewhat financially successful, being Disney's first movie to open at number 1 in the box office since Dinosaur and Disney's biggest opening since The Lion King, though it's final totals would be more modest.  The movie received mostly negative reviews and has faced backlash from Disney fans for being too mean spirited.  (This notably was Michael Eisner's attempt to out Dreamworks Jeffery Katzenberg, and was one of the final nails in the coffin for Eisner as studio head.)  Chicken Little's reputation hasn't improved, and given Disney's more recent success with 3D animation, has actually gotten worse. Chicken Little is somewhat inspired by the folk tale.  In an anthropomorphic world, Chicken Little causes a commotion...

The only films in the Disney Canon we have yet to examine are all from the post-Renaissance era, so let's get it going with Atlantis: The Lost Empire. The Movie: Atlantis: The Lost Empire is the 41st movie in the Disney Animated Canon and one of the early films in the post-Renaissance era.  Eschewing the musicals that were a hallmark of the Renaissance, Disney wanted to reach a more adult audience with a sci-fi/adventure film.  However, the resulting movie was met with mixed reviews and was a box-office disappointment.  The movie's failure practically ended the directing careers of Beauty and the Beast directors Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, and it was one of the first misfires that would lead to Michael Eisner's ouster from Disney four years later.  A follow-up TV series and a theme park attraction were also canceled. Atlantis was partially inspired by the Jules Verne work Journey to the Centre of the Earth and the famous myth.  In the movie's prologue...

And now for the other American princess, with The Princess and the Frog. The Movie: The Princess and the Frog is the 49th movie in the Disney Animated Canon, and many people consider it to be the start of the current Disney Revival.  After three straight movies using 3D animation, this movie marked the return to 2D animation, with what was supposed to begin a trend of alternating 2D and 3D movies.  However that trend didn't hold.  Despite positive reviews, The Princess and the Frog was only a modest box-office success, outperforming the previous Disney hand-drawn films of the decade, but not matching the success of the films of the Disney Renaissance.  The movie did receive three Oscar nominations, one for animated film and two for songs. The Princess and the Frog is loosely based on the "Frog Prince" fairy tale and the book The Frog Princess by E.D. Baker.  The story is set primarily in 1920s New Orleans.  Tiana is an African American young woman ...

And now we look at one last film from the Disney Renaissance, Pocahontas. The Movie: Pocahontas is the 33rd movie in the Disney Animated Canon and the 6th movie of the Disney Renaissance.  The film was in development at the same time as The Lion King and was seen by many at the studio to be the more prestigious product, with then studio head Jeffery Katenzberg envisioning a movie that could even do what Beauty and the Beast couldn't, win the Oscar for Best Picture.  However the resulting movie was one that met with mixed reviews and much criticism from historians and many Native American groups.  Although the film did fairly well at the box-office, Disney considered it a disappointment coming off the heels of The Lion King. Pocahontas is very loosely based on the historical figure, deriving more from the legend as later told by John Smith.  In Disney's version, Pocahontas is a young woman (rather than the 10-12 year-old she was in real life at the time) who ...

Keeping in the Disney Renaissance, let's look at one of their darkest films, The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The Movie: The Hunchback of Notre Dame is the 34th film in the Disney Animated Canon and the 7th of the Disney Renaissance.  This was the follow-up film for Beauty and the Beast directors Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise.  The movie was met with generally positive reviews and performed well at the box-office, though it did face some criticism for the darker tones and from fans of the book for the changes made.  Notably, The Hunchback of Notre Dame is the only movie in the Disney Animated Canon to ever be nominated for a Razzie (in the one-off category " Worst Written Film Grossing Over $100 Million.") The Hunchback of Notre Dame is (somewhat loosely) based off the novel by Victor Hugo.  Set in Medieval France, the movie opens with Judge Claude Frollo capturing a group of gypsies.  A mother tries to escape to save her baby and dies.  The baby is def...

Let's look at another Disney Renaissance film, Hercules. The Movie: Hercules is the 35th movie in the Disney Animated Canon and the 8th movie of the Disney Renaissance.  This movie was directed by John Musker and Ron Clements to get one more commercial hit to please Jeffery Katzenberg and allow them to do their pet project, which would be Treasure Planet.  Though Hercules received positive reviews, it didn't do as well as the early Renaissance films at the box-office. Hercules is based on the Greek myth of Heracles.  (Yes, the story set in Greece went with the Roman spelling.)  Disney's version is an anachronism stew that plays fast and loose with Greek mythology.  In this version, Hercules is the newborn son of Zeus and Hera, rulers of the gods.  Meanwhile, Hades, god of the underworld, is given a prophecy that his plan to take over the world in 18 years will be stopped by Hercules, so he sends his minions Pain and Panic to kidnap Hercules, turn h...

Let's return once again to the Disney Renaissance with Tarzan. The Movie: Tarzan is 37th movie in the Disney Animated Canon and the final movie of the Disney Renaissance.  The movie was well-received and Disney's biggest hit since The Lion King.  Tarzan's popularity led to a spin-off TV series, a direct-to-DVD midquel, and a short-lived Broadway musical.  While still a 2D animated film, Tarzan notably used an innovative new computer system called Deep Canvas to create complex 3D backgrounds. Tarzan is based on the novel Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs.  The story begins with a shipwreck stranding the baby Tarzan and his parents in the jungles of Africa.  When his parents are killed by the leopard Sabor, Tarzan is rescued by the gorilla Kala, who raises him as her son.  As he grows up with his friends Terk (a fellow gorilla) and Tantor (an elephant), Tarzan struggles to gain the approval Kerchak, the leader of the gorillas.  Tarzan's...

And now to the recent follow up film, we have Winnie the Pooh. The Movie: Winnie the Pooh is the 51st movie in the Disney Animated Canon (unless you are in the UK, which for some reason doesn't include it).  It falls near the beginning of Disney's Revival Period, smack between the hits Tangled and Wreck-It Ralph.  As of today, it is the last 2D animated film in the canon.  Though the movie received almost universally positive reviews, it underperformed at the box-office, owing in part to opening the same weekend as the final Harry Potter movie. Winnie the Pooh is once again based on the characters from the A.A. Milne books.  This movie also has three main plot points, but in this movie they are intertwined into a single narrative.  The first plot thread is Pooh being hungry and trying to find honey.  (That almost seems like a given.)  The second plot thread is that Eeyore has lost his tail, and the others try to find different objects to be a ...

Our final Dark Age film is The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. The Movie: The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh is the 22nd film in the Disney Animated Canon.  In essence, this movie is a variation of a package film, in that it took three previously released Winnie the Pooh shorts, one of them an Oscar winner and another an Oscar nominee, and placed them together with new material to connect them and a new ending.  Today the movie is almost universally praised and held up as the definitive adaption of the books. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh is based on the book Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne.  As it is a compilation of three shorts, there are three distinct stories, although as presented here they aren't labeled as such.  The first section is Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree, in which Pooh attempts to get some honey from a tree.  The second section is Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day, in which a strong wind and rain causes problems f...

Now for the red-headed stepchild of the Disney Renaissance, The Rescuers Down Under. The Movie: The Rescuers Down Under is the 29th movie in the Disney Animated Canon and the 2nd movie during the Disney Renaissance.  Despite mostly positive reviews, it is also the only box-office bomb of the Disney Renaissance.  (This movie opened the same weekend as Home Alone, the highest grossing film of 1990.  And to make matters worse, studio head Jeffery Katzenberg pulled all advertising after the opening weekend due to that poor performance.)  Modern audiences, if they are even familiar with both films, are split on which Rescuers film is the better movie. Also, it should be noted that this is the first sequel in the Disney Animated Canon.  Out of all the movies to get a sequel, The Rescuers seems like an unlikely choice, but when this film was being developed on the heels of The Black Cauldron, The Rescuers was Disney's most success film of the preceding two and...

Today we wrap up the Dark Age films, beginning with The Rescuers. The Movie: The Rescuers is the 23rd film in the Disney Animated Canon and the last Disney's four films in the 1970s.  The movie was praised by critics and was successful at the box-office, making it the studios biggest hit since the death of Walt Disney.  The Rescuers was also popular in European markets, with its initial run out-grossing Star Wars in France that year and for a time becoming the highest grossing movie in West Germany.  At the time many critics thought this marked a turning point for Disney, though frustration among the staff during the production of this movie, in particular Don Bluth, would contribute to their eventually walkout during the production of The Fox and the Hound, which ultimately set Disney back for most of the 1980s. The Rescuers is based on the book of the same name and its sequel Miss Bianca, the first two in a series of books by Margery Sharp.  This is anothe...

And now we come to the one that's the most 80s of them all, Oliver and Company. The Movie: Oliver and Company is the 27th film in the Disney Animated Canon and the final film of Disney's Dark Age.  Despite opening the same weekend as Don Bluth's The Land Before Time, which beat it at the box-office that weekend, the film did well at the box-office long-term, besting the beloved dinosaur classic in total take.  The majority of critics didn't care for the film, but the movie's success prompted Disney to continue to release movies on an annual basis, a trend that for the most part continues to this day. Loosely based on the story of Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens, Oliver and Company tells the story of a kitten in 1980s New York City.  Oliver is the only kitten in his litter that isn't adopted, and he is left to the streets.  There he meets Dodger, a streetwise dog, who uses Oliver in a scheme to get food.  After Dodger refuses to share the take, Oliver fo...