Halloween: Fairest of All: A Tale of the Wicked Queen

Momma, can I please have my heart back?

Hello  & welcome  back to  A Look at Disney and today, we continue  the Halloween  celebration as we take a look at a book about Disney's original villain.  The Evil Queen.  Today,  we are taking a look at  Fairest of All:    A Tale of the Wicked Queen.  For those expecting this book to be like Maleficent, you'd be half right.  The Queen does start out as a kind and caring person but this book is about her descent into wickedness and becoming the Queen, we know in the movie. There be no redemption here.



Author


Serena Valentino

Serena Valentino  got her start writing comic books and you can since from her biography on her website that she  has a taste for the darker stuff as she has written about zombies and werewolfs.   And she has just released her second book for Disney Press,   The Beast Within: A Tale: A Tale of Beauty's Prince.  Though, I'm reluctant to read that one as I've heard mixed things about it and I have more of a connection to that film than Snow White and she is currently working on a novel for Disney Press focusing on Ursula.

Cover

The cover is just okay.  There's really nothing all that special to it.  It's let you know what you are in for though.  Though  I do like the touch of the back cover being the Hag.

The Plot


As I said up top,  the  main plot of the book is watching the  Queen  go into her descent of madness.  The book opens  on her wedding to Snow's father and reflecting back on her life before marrying the King and that she did not have an easy life. Her father hated her,  because her mother died while giving birth to the young girl that would become the Queen.  Now,  it takes a while before we get to  the actual descent of madness because we spend the early chapters with them as a happy family.  Though, things start to go awry, when she is given one of the wedding gifts.   Being a mirror and it causes her a fright. Even more so, when we learn that the mirror is home to her father that is now her slave and  this starts to scare her.   This will play a part in her descent into becoming the Evil Queen.   There are quite a few factors that play into this, one losing her beloved king and there are other factors.  Her father hated her and always told her that she was ugly but now he is her slave and becomes her drug that feeds with the words that she always wanted to hear from her. The other big factor in turning the Queen into the  villain, we know from the movie are  the King's three cousins, Lucinda,  Ruby, and Martha that happen to be witches and are the ones that gave her the gift of the mirror and they were the ones that trapped him in the mirror. They meddle with the relationship and from the moment, they show up in the book, you get the sense that something is off about them. Considering how the three always finish each others' sentences.  And it just seems as though that they like messing with people and don't want people to know happiness. 


I think the moment, where you first get a true taste  of the Queen starting to become who we know is when we see her send her trusted maid, Verona to another land.  Verona had been by her side since the day, the Queen married the King and as the Queen herself says at one point in the book was like a sister to her.   Now, I don't want to give too much away about the book because I'd like to keep this spoiler-free because  unlike film & TV,  I'd rather not give away too much of a book unless it's something like a picture book.  However, I will say that the Queen's  demise is quite fitting as she dies as the Hag and has her spirit trapped in the mirror that her father once inhabited.  Though as the book ends, you get the sense that   she still loved Snow White.

"I love you, my beautiful little bird,"

Little bird  was the Queen's  loving nickname for Snow White throughout the book and that opening quote that I used comes from quote a haunting nightmare sequence that takes place, when Snow White is now a teenager.   The Queen sees her daughter as the 4 year old that she was, when the Queen married the King and was dripping blood as the Queen took her heart out.   Now, that's not the only creepy thing.  The box that the Huntsman was given according to this book was the box that contained letters from  her biological mother that the King had asked his Queen to read to Snow White, when she was older.   In her blind rage, she had forgotten that. All in all,  I thought this book was okay.  It took  a while  to get into but  it's worth a look, if you like this character and seeing how she became  the iconic villain that paved the way for all Disney Villains that followed her.




Characters


Main Character


The Queen


The Queen starts  out  as a sweet and caring mother to Snow White but through the course of this book, we see how she became the Evil Queen.  (That is a point of contention I have with  the book mislabeling her).  Watching her descent into madness is eerie as you see her become evil  and  you just  see how vain she  had become.  That she needed to hear that she was the Fairest of All.   The mirror telling her that she was beautiful was her drug and drove her to downfall and she is now what she valued the most, the mirror.




Supporting Characters


The King


The King  gets  killed off pretty early in the book but through the interactions with the Queen, you got the sense that he truly loved the Queen and that was something that the Queen was not used to as she had never been shown true love because  of  how much her father hated her.



Snow White



Again,  The Queen did truly love Snow White and even when the thought crossed her mind to off Snow White, she had to fight the urge because she still viewed her as a daughter but couldn't stand the thought of her daughter being more fair than her.


Magic Mirror


The Magic Mirror was an interesting spin in making him the spirit of  the Queen's dead father.  This is an interesting idea considering what we know of how the  Queen's father treated her growing up and how he despised her.  Now here he is as a slave to his daughter and being forced to tell her the things, he never told her as a young girl.



Lucinda, Ruby, & Martha



These  three  characters are perhaps the most crucial to the story as they pretty much set the Queen's descent into madness in motion.  They're creepy and you never truly know what they are after.  They don't really seem to have any motive  other than messing with peoples' lives for their own fun.   I use plural for that because Valentino  brought them back in her book about the Beast.   Here though,  it's interesting,  when we first meet them,   the Queen  hates  them and  asks  them to leave the castle for scaring a young Snow but over time,  it becomes a reluctant respect as they are the ones that provide the  Queen with the magic and elixirs that allow her to become so skilled in magic.  (Personally, I prefer the idea of her training under Rumpelstiltskin)  and she uses those skills to turn herself into the Hag that tries to dupe Snow into eating the famed poisoned apple.



My Final Thoughts


All in all,  this was a good read.  And  if you like Snow White and The Seven Dwarves or  The Evil Queen,  I'd say that you should pick it up.  I read it on my IPad.  If you can't find a physical copy, you can get it from there and  it does the idea of exploring the past of a villain and what led them to become evil.   It's quite a good read for this time of year. Join me tomorrow for  my first entry for 31 Days of Halloween.   And I don't want to say too much.  Here's a hint....

And no it,  has nothing to do with the TV Show or the books.  

Villains Profile: Dr. Facilier

Don't you disrespect me, little man! Don't you derogate, or deride! / You're in my world now, not your world, and I've got friends on the other side...

Hello & welcome back to  A Look at  Disney.   Earlier,  this year I had originally planned for all this month to take a look at all the Disney villains but then I came to the realization that would be over fifty villains.  So instead,  Villains-A-Day has become Villains Profile and I've decided to take a look at the 4 newest Disney villains,   Dr. Facilier, Mother Gothel, King Candy,  & Hans.  And if this does prove to be successful,  this year,  I may bring Villains Profile back next year but instead of attempting to cover all  Disney villains,   there will be a theme.    Something like  Hunters,  which  would  include characters like Man,   McLeach,  Gaston, & Clayton.  Anyways,   here is what we will be looking at with this series,  Voice Actor, Entrance, Personality,  Grand Desire,  Lackey,  Villain Song,  Most Evil Deed, Demise,  Are They  A Good Villain?  





Voice  Actor


Keith  David

Keith David was already a well known and established voice actor by the time,  Princess and The Frog hit the theaters.   He has  quite a few roles  with Disney besides  Dr. Facilier, most notably  Goliath in Gargoyles.

Oh, and as a Once Upon A Time fan, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that Keith David  voiced The Cheshire Cat in the pilot episode of the Once spinoff,  Once Upon A Time In Wonderland in a role, that was sadly nothing more than a cameo as Cheshire didn't appear in any further episodes.

And  if I'm  to be honest,  Dr.  Facilier  is the role, where I truly  took  notice of Keith David.  Keep  in mind,   I never watched Gargoyles as a kid.  And therefore,   Facilier is the role that I most associate  with Keith David and  he  does  a great  job with the role  on selling the charm and suave of   the  Shadow Man.







Entrance


We  first  see Facilier  making a deal with a bald man that does  not go  the way, the man wishes  as he gets hair everywhere  and you can see him,  when Naveen  arriving in New Orleans starting to form a plan  on  how  to take over the Big Easy.

 

One thing that you'll  notice about Facilier's entrance into the film is that unlike villains that had come before him,  it's sly and quiet.  He's  just a part of the background during Down In New Orleans painting the picture that he cons people everyday.

Personality 

Facilier  is a bit of  a charmers,  he's  suave,   a bit of a smooth talker.   He  knows  how to work  people  into  making deals  that he knows will  end badly  for the other party.  That is the biggest  thing  that Facilier has going for him  is his charm.   His charm  is so seductive  that lures  his clients  into  making the bad deals  with him.   That is the biggest thing  that  the  Shadow  Man  has going  in his favor,   his charm.    Of  course,  like a lot of other Disney villains,   we see that  Facilier  can be a bit  greedy but that comes with the package  and we also  see that  he's  clever  and thinks   his plans  through.   So,   he is clearly not someone to be messed  with.  Another  thing  that you'll notice with  Facilier is that he is a bit of a showman,  you especially  get a taste  of this during "Friends On The Other Side".    

Grand Desire

Going by  the DisneyWiki,  Facilier's  Grand Desire as it were is to take over New Orleans and to become the wealthiest and most powerful person in the Big Easy.  However as I brought up in my review of the film,  in order to do this, he wanted to off Big Daddy but there is very little interaction between the two.  I guess that you could say that Facilier was working behind the scenes but still,  I think it would've been fun but ah well.  Still, he does go about getting what he wants.

Lackeys

Facilier technically has two lackeys,  his shadow and Lawrence. One could argue he also has the demons, which is true but the most prominent two that we  saw throughout the movie.   Let's start with Lawrence,  since he is  the more  prominent of the two.



Lawrence

   







Lawrence  is  driven  to the side of evil  by  the lack of respect that Naveen has shown him over the years.  He at best is treated as nothing more than a bumbling fool and when we first meet him,  you think that he'll be a comic relief character and while that is partly true.  You can see that him turning on Naveen was a long time coming as he had a lot of pent up anger and rage for being so disrespected.   Now  another thing to take notice of here is that while  Lawrence and Facilier made a deal,  it was not a partnership. Facilier was the one in charge and Facilier pushed  Lawrence around. Funny considering what Facilier says in"Friends On The Other Side".

On you little man, I don't want to waste much time
You've been pushed around all your life
You've been pushed around by your mother and your sister and your brother.
And if you was married, you'd be pushed around by your wife
But in your future, for you I see
Is exactly the man you always wanted to be!

When you look at it,  Facilier continues the trend of   pushing  Facilier around and you  can see that Lawrence truly fears Facilier, even though he was lured in with the promise of a better life.  Even though, at first,  Lawrence blew off Facilier as a fraud.




Facilier's Shadow

Facilier's Shadow  has a life of it's own and it very loyal  to Facilier  and you  can  see that  and I love  how  it  is able to communicate  with Facilier  through  it's movements  and   the Shadow  truly shows  Facilier's  dark side and how  far , he is willing to go.   But  as  pointed out,   he also   fears   the punishment that'll come if Facilier is not able to pay  his  debt to  his Friends.




Villain Song

 Friends On The Other Side

Oh I love this song.  Easily,  one of my favorite villain songs.  Again, this song plays on Facilier's charm and you can just hear how enticing his voice is and I attribute that to Keith David's excellent performance.  Oh, and listen closely to the lyrics and you'll realize that Facilier is foreshadowing what is going to happen to Naveen later on in the movie.   

Most Evil Deed

Killing Ray

Now I went back and forth on this one between this or  striking the deal with Naveen but the more I thought about it,   I really think that killing Ray  is the  most evil thing that Facilier did in the movie.   I mean, sure we are used to characters dying.  We've seen that before with Bambi's mom and Mufasa but Ray's death is one of the most shocking because here we have  the villain killing off one of the supporting comic relief  characters and Facilier just pops his collar and walks off like it was nothing but leaving the audience in shock and some angered at Faciler's reaction to killing off Ray.  

Demise

Being Dragged to Hell.

Let's not beat around the bush.  Facilier was dragged to Hell.  Sure,   it's called the Voodoo Realm and that fits with using voodoo magic but after his talisman is broken that he had used to cast the curse on  Naveen,  he was dragged to Hell.  

Also  did anyone  else catch  Faciler's tombstone and how it appears to have been influenced by The Haunted Mansion.

And you'll also notice that a reprise  of "Friends On The Other Side"  is playing again asking

Are you ready?

Turning the tables on Facilier. 

Is  Facilier A Good  Villain?

I'd say yes.  Facilier shows how one can use charm, persuasion and the power of smooth-talking to get what he wants.   He's a deceptive villain that will stop at nothing.  So yeah, he's a great villain. Join me next week as I take a look at Mother Gothel.

Halloween: Halloween With Hades (House of Mouse Episode Review)

Maleficent babe, I'm going to show you  A Whole New Underworld

 Hello & welcome back to A Look at Disney and today, we head on down to the House of Mouse to take a look at one of the many House of Mouse Halloween episodes.  It  was tough choosing which one to review  and I may have picked the least Halloween centric episode but there is one reason I chose this episode.

This image,  Hades dressed as Mickey Mouse.   That  one sight gag  just  sold me on reviewing the episode. 


The Plot


It's Halloween at the House of Mouse and Hades  is there is getting disgusted by all of the romantic couples with their Happy Ever After's but he is soon twitterpated by the sight of Maleficent and makes a move on her but it doesn't end well as Maleficent bonks him on the head.

Mickey suggests   that  maybe if  Hades were nicer, things would go better for him.  And he demonstrates this by being nice to Maleficent and things seem to go well.   And  Hades decides to let Mickey teach him to be nicer.

Which leads to this great image.

Seriously, this image made the entire episode for me.   I got the biggest laugh out of this.  Because it's just so absurd and ridiculous and as you can imagine Mickey's Nice Guy Makeover for Hades doesn't work as  Maleficent loathes nice and this sends Hades chasing Mickey through the club and declares that he's going to turn Mickey into a roasted mouse.   Apparently,  Maleficent likes roasted mouse and this gets Hades on Maleficent's bad side and they share a date.   The pairing of Maleficent and Hades is just so random and absurd that it works so well.  They play so well off each other that you don't think that it would work but it  was just so  funny.  And hey, Disney beat shippers to shipping on this.   Also, there was a minor subplot with Donald trying to scare the guests but it ended backfiring and he tried to scare Hades at the end, who was left offended by this and Donald running.  



Characters


Hades voiced by James Woods

Hades was a lot of fun in this episode and that image is just such a great contrast between his personality and what he isn't.  Hades is anything but nice and trying to turn him into a nice  guy is something that will never work.   And I'm sorry, I just can't over the image of Hades dressed as Mickey Mouse.  That is the funniest thing that I've seen from House o Mouse.



Mickey Mouse voiced by  Wayne Allwine

Again, the contrast of Mickey and Hades worked so well because here you have the Lord of the Underworld,  a guy full of hate and rage trying to learn to be nice and being taught by one of the nicest Disney characters ever and of course, it backfired but we will forever have this glorious image.

Yeah,  I'm getting a lot of mileage out of that.



Maleficent voiced by Lois Nettleton

Maleficent was really nothing more than Hades'  object of affection and I would love to see a follow up date between the two. Personally, I don't think it'll last.  I'll give Lois Nettleton credit as her voice for Maleficent was spot-on as Maleficent sounded like, she just stepped out of the movie.


My Final Thoughts


Let's be honest,  I only reviewed this episode because of the image of Hades dressed as Mickey Mouse. That's a great moment in of itself and as for the episode,  it's all right. Probably not one of the best House of Mouse episodes but it's a lot of fun. Join me tomorrow as we take a look at...


Donald's  Halloween Scare

Music Fridays # 139: Poll Results # 1

Hello & welcome back to A Look at Disney and I know that I haven't been posting much lately.  Well,  I do apologize in advance for that as I've been working all of my articles for next month as I have a lot planned for the Halloween season. Anyways,  I promised you that I would do a Music Fridays featuring the results of the polls that you had voted on. Well, I delayed the blog for a while because of things popping up but now, here it is. 



Hooked On A Feeling


We start with Star Lord's Awesome Mix Tape from this summer and most popular song from Guardians of The Galaxy, Hooked On A Feeling and despite what Todd In The Shadows may say this is great song and so worthy of being of Peter Quill's mix tape. This song is just pure fun and just so catchy. Not my favorite song used in the film, that'd be O-oh Child but this is a good runner up. Quite a fun song and just a joy to listen to.  



Power Rangers Wild Force


There was a tie on the Power Rangers Music Fridays and while  Jungle Fury was my favorite theme,  I was convinced after seeing Second Opinion vote for this as the best theme to give it a second chance and it has grown on me over time and it's not bad. Not one,  that'd I listen to  frequently but it is enjoyable.



Seize The Day


Once again, we had a tie on the Newsies Goodbye Music Fridays, which remains one of my favorites.  In the end, I had to give it to Seize The Day as this is the song that sums up what Newsies is all about as it gives you the idea that these young men aren't afraid to stand up for what they know is right and that is something that I strive for in life.  And plus this is just one of those songs that  just pumps you up, each time you hear it and is just one that you want to hear again & again.




Part of Your World


Yeah,  I was not at all surprised, when this  won the poll on the Ariel Music Fridays as this is Ariel's song.  This is the song that we associate with the Little Mermaid.  When people think of Ariel, they think of Jodi Benson singing this song and it's not to see why.  It's a beautiful song that perfectly captures who Ariel is.


I See  The Light


And we end with a song from Tangled.  Can't go wrong with that,  this is a beautiful love song that is  just so uplifting as Flynn and Rapunzel finally realize their love for one another.  It's a beautiful moment that just puts a smile on my face every time, I listen to it. 



There you have it, the first winners of the first Poll Result.  This will start anew next week with some villainous songs as we look at songs sung by one of my favorite Disney Villains.  Peace!

Halloween: A Recess Halloween (Recess: Taking The Fifth Grade)

Hello & welcome back to A Look at Disney.  Recess,  that was one of the greatest shows that was a part of Disney's One Saturday Morning.  In 2003,  Disney released a DVD set of shorts titled Recess: Taking The Fifth Grade that served as the series finale to the beloved show. The DVD contained three shorts that were interconnected such as No More School, where T.J. quits school because of new policies put in by the school board, Fifth and Sixth Graders Club, which is perhaps the weakest of the three shorts and the subject of today's review, A Recess Halloween.  Now, this is technically the second Halloween special that Recess has done because in season 6,  the showed aired The Terrifying Tales of Recess,  an anthology episode of three horror-comedy shorts.And while that episode is good and a lot of fun for Halloween,  I found this one to be more poignant as  it took me back to that awkward time in my life, where I thought I was getting too old for Halloween.  That is the central theme for this DVD, growing up.




The Plot


The main focus  of this segment is on Spinelli.  The segment  starts out with Spinelli and her parents going to a pumpkin patch for Spinelli to pick out a pumpkin and gets the strangest and ugliest pumpkin that she can find. And then who should show up but the bully of Third Street,  Lawson starts  picking on Spinelli and saying carving Jack-O'-Lanterns and  going trick or treating is for babies.   And Spinelli lets this get in her head.  And the next day at school, we see that Lawson's comments are still affecting Spinielli.  So much so, that she doesn't have the spirit for a Halloween party being thrown by Miss Finster. Granted, she brought cupcakes with prune icing.  But we see that even lunch,  that Spinielli is down in the dumps and has given up on Halloween. Even, when the rest of the gang try to cheer her up with the memories of Halloween's past such as a nice lady, just being cheerful when giving them candy,  walking an old abandoned prison and a haunted house.   All of these will come into play later on Halloween night.  Later, that night at Spinelli's house, we see that her parents are going out to a party and  the gang comes by and still can't convince Spinielli to come trick or treating.   So, the gang goes out by themselves and soon learn that everything that they loved about Halloween wasn't.  Such as the nice old lady that always been giving them bags full of candy was a dentist giving them sugarless candy or that the old abandoned prison is actually a DMV. Their Halloween with these revelations and many others seem to be putting their Halloween in the dumps.   Spinielli is slowly remembering  how the good times, she had Halloween, when trick-or-treaters show  up and there is a cute moment, where there are two little kids show up dressed as dinosaurs and Spinielli gives them advice on to roar from the stomach and covers them in ketchup to use as fake blood, so that people know that they are carnivores. 


Later, Miss Finster dressed as werewolf shows up and Spinielli talks to her about how she feels too old for Halloween but Miss Finster says that some people never get too old for the holiday. She was looking for Spinelli's parents for a party but they weren't home but instead, Miss Finster gave her this advice.   I liked the scenes between Miss Finster and Spinelli as I got the impression that there was still a relationship there from the episode, Weekend at Muriel's from season two of the show.  It's a small moment that you get the impression that these two still have a relationship outside of Third Street.  After talking with Miss Finster,  Spinelli decides to go out trick or treating and has to catch up with her friends.  Who had gone home.   She calls them to go to an old house that is rumored to be haunted and this is is the first year that no one is living in the house,  so Spinelli dares them to go into the house and they can get a scare as Spinelli had called Miss Finster, who had gotten the other school faculty there to turn the house into a haunted house and Spinelli tells them, they can still enjoy Halloween as they aren't too old for it.


Seeing as this was to serve as the finale in the Recess franchise,  I'm okay with that as it serves as a good sending off point for these characters.  




Characters


Main Character


Spinelli voiced by Pamela Adlon

This was Spinelli's  story through and through and you could see how  much Lawson's  comment effected her and  she let get inside her head.  It was entertaining to see her come to terms with the fact that  you are only too old for things such as Halloween, only to come  the realization that you are only too old for something, if you decide that you are.  And as someone that still dresses up for Halloween and  loves  seeing the various costumes, I love this message.




Supporting Characters


T.J.,  Gretchen, Vince,  Mikey,  & Gus  voiced by  Myles Jeffery,  Ashley Johnson,  Rickey D'Shon Collins, Jason Davis, & Courtland Mead

Again,  the central theme  of this segment was coming to terms with thing aren't  what you  believe they are and it deals mostly with growing up and while you  may get older, you can't still enjoy things that you've always liked such as Halloween and while there may come a time, when you have to put up the buckets, you can still the window of time, that you have to be a kid.



Miss Finster voiced by April Winchell

As I mentioned in the plot, I really liked the moments between Miss Finster & Spinelli as  it seemed to build upon their previous interactions in the show and you could see that there was genuine relationship between the two.  And Miss Finster doesn't get the credit she deserves.  Sure,  she could be tough on the kids but you could see that she cared about them.  And that was clear in the interactions with Miss Finster and Spinielli.



My  Final Thoughts


This was a great Halloween special and perhaps my favorite segment from Recess: Taking The Fifth Grade.  If you are a fan of Recess and have not seenTaking The Fifth Grade, I'd say track it down as it is a very good send-off to these characters and with this being the final short featuring the Recess gang,  I say that they went out on a good note. Join me tomorrow as we head to the House of Mouse to celebrate...


Halloween with Hades

Classic Shorts Showcase: Mouse Mania

Hello & welcome back...  No,  I can't do it.   You guys gotta watch this one for yourselves.  I give you Mouse Mania.  


I'll wait, while you watch the short.  It's going to take some time to digest.  Okay,  I imagine that for some of you that your reaction to that was probably along the lines of something like this...

WHAT WAS THAT????????????????????

To be honest,  I have no idea, myself.   Here's  what I can gather,  Mike  Jittlov,  who  had gained fame for his work in stop motion with films such as The Wizard of Speed and Time was commissioned by Disney to make this short for the prime time special, Mickey's 50th.

And you may have noticed that I ditched the usual format of review for this article. Well, that's because I have no idea what was going on in that short.  From what I could gather,  it seemed as though, a man was meeting at a psychiatrist's office and had a deep obsession with Mickey Mouse that caused him to see Mickey toys and things with Mickey on them come to life. 

 (Oh no, that could be in the future... nah)   It's impressive  what was pulled off in this short.  I'm  particularly  intrigued by what was done with the toys.

In particular, this set and how it was building itself.   Again,  it seems like it was coming from this person's mind and at the end,  it seemed as though, he came to accept that liking Mickey was okay and saw the Mouse come to life and decided to leave the Psych office with Mickey.

If  I'm to understand, this is one of the only times that Mickey has offically appeared in  a  stop motion short.   Also,  I do like this little touch of Jittlov sunk in his and his partner's name into the short in a way, to where they could not  be edited out.

Since Disney did not usually allow individual creators to receive credit on their television productions (preferring a generic thanks to "the many Disney animators who made this possible") Mike put his and partner Deven Cheregino's name on the toys in the final production number, where they couldn't be edited out.

That's  kind of cool.  A creator should get credit for the work, they did and especially with something as unique as this short.


My Final Thoughts


This is clearly not your typical Mickey Mouse short but looking at it,  it's not about Mickey but rather about his fans and how much of an impact Mickey  had (and still has) on his fans.  I think that Mouse Mania is showing that sometimes, we  can take it a little too far and let our fandom drive us crazy but  also to never forget that we love what we love and we shouldn't let it drive us crazy. I don't know, I'm just guessing here.  Any of you have a better guess on what this short could be about?  If so,  I'd love to hear to it. Peace!

My Thoughts on Walt Before Mickey & As Dreamers Do

Hello & welcome back to A Look at Disney.  A couple weeks ago,  I stumbled upon some pretty exciting news.   Not one but two biopics depicting the early life of Walt Disney are being released this year.  (Edit:  As Dreamers Do has already been released).  This year, we have Walt Before Mickey and As Dreamers Do coming out this year.  And I've decided in this article to look at the trailers for both of these films and give my impressions on them.  We will start with Walt Before Mickey.

Before we see the trailer,  I think that it is important to note that  Walt Before Mickey is based on the book of the same name that came out  a few years  ago.

Walt Before Mickey Trailer


Now, this  is one  biography that I have not read but from the trailer,  I am picking up on  things that were brought up in other books that I've read about Walt.  Though, this trailer does commit one sin that a lot of modern trailers do.  It shows too much of the movie. Look, I get that you want to hit the high notes and get people (especially Disney fans interested) but we don't need to every beat of Walt's early life. I will say though  that  this  film  really does seem to be trying hard and I like what I'm seeing from this film.   I have to admit that there are two casting choices that intrigue me in this film.  Jon Heder as  Roy O. Disney and Jodie Sweetin  as Charlotte Disney.

So, we have Napoleon Dynamite and Stephanie Tanner in a movie about Walt Disney?  Ah, why not?   And  I'll  have to be honest and say  that  I had to look up, who  Charlotte Disney was.  Because  it's been awhile since I've read about  Walt  and  I don't remember all of his family.  According to a forum post on WDWmagic.com,  she was Walt's  aunt.

Jodie is playing Charlotte. Charlotte was Walt's aunt, married to Robert, Walt's father's brother. It was Robert who funded the money for starting the Disney Bros. Studio. When Walt packed up and moved to California he moved in with Robert and Charlotte because Roy was recovering from tuberculosis in a veteran's hospital.

And  the production value does seem to be high and sure, they may be taking a few creative liberties with the story but I feel that the people behind this movie are truly interested in telling the story of a young Walter Elias Disney and they seem to know their Disney history.  Perhaps,  it's just me but I do think that a mention of Oswald in the trailer would've been nice but  that's  just me.    Overall,   I'm  excited to see this film but I do have one concern, I like that they showed Walt's father but I think it would've been important to show  his mother as well to show the different relationships, he had with both of his parents. Though, I do like that they show  his early drawings,  the studio, and  it seems to go into some of the problems that came after the studio was started up.   And  I'm happy to see UB Iwerks  was not forgotten as he was crucial to the early days of the studio.  Now let's move onto the other film.

As  Dreamers Do Trailer


Yeah....  no hit on the film makers as it's clear that even when compared to  Walt Before Mickey, they did not have the same budget.  But the biggest thing that I noticed about this trailer other than  some  of the fallacies that this trailer had and the stinger bugged me  because  Walt  went through many names for the park before settling on Disneyland.  The biggest thing that I take away from this trailer has nothing to do with the  story or how factual it is because we all know,  "Based On A True Story" is not a true statement.  The biggest thing that bugged me is that this film just feels empty.  And  from what I understand,  a somewhat popular YouTube Star,  Olan Rogers  is playing Walt Disney.   Now,  no disrespect to Mr.  Rogers (or his neighborhood) but his acting seems well,  so-so.

 

 

 Everything about this trailer to me screams that this movie should be posted online as a fan project and that's it  or air  on the Hallmark  Channel.  And  not  available in all the formats  that do include YouTube,   Dish,  FIOS,  and ITunes to name a few.   I applaud the effort that was put into this film and I do think that their heart was in the right place but I just feel like if I were to see this film, I would be disappointed.



At the end of the day,   I have film about Walt Disney that I think looks pretty good and another that I may watch for the blog in the future.  Hey maybe I could convince Les to do a cross over on Who Played The Best Walt Disney in the  distant future.   Walt  Before Mickey to me looks pretty good whereas  As Dreamers Do,  I dunno just seems hollow.  What are your thoughts?  Let me know in the comments.  And remember it all started with a mouse.

My Thoughts On The Frozen Attraction Coming to EPCOT

Hello & welcome back to A Look at Disney.  Recently,  it was reported that a Frozen attraction will be going in the Norway Pavilion replacing Maelstrom.

 












And my reaction when I heard this news was...



I saw it coming.  Disney had been for a long time talking about adding in a Frozen attraction and it was always reported that it was pretty well known that it would be going here.   And why  wouldn't Disney  put it here.  Let's  look at a few things here,  Norway  was the inspiration for Arendelle and  this was the original  meet and greet  area for the sisters.

Now  I know that  some  hardcore  EPCOT  fans are going to cry that putting in a Frozen attraction goes against what World Showcase is about.  Teaching the guests about the cultures of other worlds.  Here's the thing,  World Showcase is boring for little kids.  Little  kids  would rather be in Future World, where all the cool stuff like Test Track, Soarin' and  Mission Space are.  Not in some pavilion,  where they feel  like they are back in school.  I'm not saying that guests can't be educated while at Disney World but we have plenty  of other pavilions for that and I say let them have a ride on a movie that they've probably watched a million billion times. After all, we go to Disney World to have fun.


In that regard,  I see nothing wrong with adding this attraction to this area of the park.  I know that some people might get up in arms about it but hey, I'll take a Frozen attraction in EPCOT over an entire based on Avatar in Animal Kingdom.  (Why is that still happening?)  If you'll excuse the pun,  Disney  is not letting go of Frozen anytime soon.  It was a huge money maker and it's already quite a bit of exposure in the parks with Frozen Summer Fun at Hollywood Studios.

And as reported by Variety, there are other plans to use the Royal Sisters in the other parks such as they'll be appearing in Mickey's Once Upon A Christmas Parade, this year.  At the end of the day,  a  Frozen attraction was  going to happen.  I can't  be surprised by this news or even shocked.  At best,  my reaction is it took Disney long enough to officially announce this attraction.  I'm excited to see what comes of it and hope to ride it in the future.   Let me know, what are your thoughts on a Frozen attraction coming to Disney World in the comments. Peace!