Disney Countdown

Let's take a look a Disney owned franchise we haven't discussed yet, with The Muppets. The Movie: The Muppets is the first movie featuring the title characters since Disney acquired the franchise in 2004.  The characters of the Muppets were first created by Jim Henson in the 1950s, and they appeared on various TV shows including Sesame Street starting in 1969 and The Muppet Show from 1976 to 1981.  They also made their first movie appearance in The Muppet Movie in 1979.  The movie The Muppets in 2011 was the first Muppet film since 1999.  The movie was strongly pushed by Jason Segel, who starred in and co-wrote the script for the movie.  The Muppets was met with critical acclaim.  It was considered a modest box-office success despite being the highest grossing of any Muppet movie. The Muppets stars Jason Segel as Gary, who along with his brother Walter, a muppet, grew up in Smalltown as fans of the Muppets.  Gary is taking a trip to Los Angele...

Since we've finished up the Disney and Pixar animated films, let's return to some live-action films that have a presence in the parks, beginning with Swiss Family Robinson. The Movie: Swiss Family Robinson is an adventure film directed by Ken Annakin.  It was filmed on the island of Tobago in the Caribbean and is the first Disney movie shot in Panavision.  The stars of the movie include Oscar-winner John Mills, Oscar-nominee Dorothy McGuire, a pre-Hawaii Five-0 James MacArthur, and Disney regulars Janet Munro, Tommy Kirk, and Kevin Corcoran.  Swiss Family Robinson received positive reviews and was the highest grossing movie of 1960, beating out other popular films such as Psycho, Spartacus, and Exodus. Swiss Family Robinson is based on the novel by Johann David Wyss.  The movie, set in the early 19th century, begins with the Robinsons (William, Elizabeth, and their three sons Fritz, Ernst, and Francis) on a ship headed to New Guinea that is chased into a sto...

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...

From a movie with a famous ride to a movie based on a famous ride, we have Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. The Movie: Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is a 2003 summer blockbuster directed by Gore Verbinski and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer.  It was the first movie rated PG-13 to be released under the Walt Disney banner instead of  a subsidiary studio.  Given the recent failures of pirate-themed movies and the fact the movie was based on an amusement park ride, expectations were low for the movie.  In fact, during production, it was debated whether the project would be for a theatrical movie or a direct-to-video one.  However, Pirates of the Caribbean surprised everyone, becoming a critically acclaimed movie and a box office hit.  The movie garnered five Oscar nominations (Makeup, Sound, Sound Editing, Visual Effects, and Actor for Johnny Depp). Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is ...

It inspired one of the most popular rides at the Disney parks, so let's take a look at the controversial Song of the South. The Movie: Song of the South was Disney's first movie incorporating live-action as part of the narrative storytelling.  (Disney had several earlier releases that incorporated live-action, but this was done in a documentary style.)  Though the animated segments were generally praised, the live-action segments were thought to be more lacking in Disney magic.  Also, even upon the film's initial release, the film faced some criticism for telling a generally upbeat story taking place during the Reconstruction Era.  Because of the controversy, Song of the South was last released in theaters in 1986 and has never been release on home video of any sort in the United States, though the animated segments have appeared in other anthologies. Song of the South is essentially two different narratives, one live-action and the other animated.  The...

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...

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 ...

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...

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...

Let's head over to another movie based on an English legend, Robin Hood. The Movie: Robin Hood is the 21st movie in the Disney Animated Canon and one of the early films in Disney's Dark Age.  It was the first movie in the canon that had no input from Walt Disney whatsoever, the second he didn't produce, and the third released after his death.  Initial reviews of the movie were mixed to positive, and it did well at the box office.  However, Robin Hood is not as well remembered today and contemporary views are still somewhat mixed. This story is basically a take on the legend of Robin Hood with all characters portrayed as anthropomorphized animals.  While King Richard is away during the Crusades, his brother Prince John (a lion) controls the throne.  John excessively taxes the people, so Robin Hood (a fox) and Little John (a bear) steal from him to return to the citizens.  To capture Robin Hood, with the help of the Sheriff of Nottingham (a wolf), Jo...

Here's our last remaining Silver Age film, The Sword in the Stone. The Movie: The Sword in the Stone is the 18th film in the Disney Animated Canon and the 7th of Disney's Silver Age.  It was a box-office success despite receiving mixed reviews from critics.  It did earn one Oscar nomination for its musical score. The Sword in the Stone is based on the book of the same name by T. H. White, which tells the story of a young future King Arthur before the legends as told by Sir Thomas Malory.  (White would later write three other books based on the Arthurian legend and combine them into the work The Once and Future King.)  In this tale young Arthur is known as Wart, a ward of Sir Ector and the squire of Ector's son Kay.  While the two boys are out hunting, Wart goes into the woods to retrieve and arrow and meets the magician Merlin and his talking owl Archimedes.  Merlin, knowing Wart is destined for greatness, travels with him back to Ector's castle to...