Christmas: All I Want For Christmas (Disney Christmas Storybook Collection)

Hello & welcome back to the Christmas celebration here on A Look at Disney and today, we continue our look at the Disney Christmas Storybook Collection as we head to Arendelle to get All I Want For Christmas.   Hold it,  All I Want For Christmas.   Hey, it was an obvious joke and it helps that Idina Menzel put out a Christmas album, this year.

The  Plot



It's   Christmastime  in Arendelle  and Elsa  has decided that after the years  of neglect  and of ignoring  Anna,  she wants to give her little sister,  the best Christmas ever.   I see nothing going wrong with this at all.

So, Elsa  gets started  planning  a  perfect  Christmas celebration all while keeping Anna out of the blue as she doesn't want to Anna know but I think you all know, where this is going to lead.

Okay,  the scene of Anna knocking at the door is clearly inspired by  "Do You Want to Build A Snowman?"  It's  just so obvious.   As we see throughout the book, Elsa  gets so caught up in planning the perfect Christmas and even gets help from Olaf baking cookies  and help from Sven decorating the tree and hiding presents.  In the hustle and bustle of all this,  Kristoff suggests that maybe the thing that Anna wants most is to spend time with her big sister.

Just as Elsa is stirring  Christmas punch,  Anna pulls her aside and decides that they need to have some time together and have a snowball fight.  Elsa reminds  her younger sister, that one of them has magical snow powers.

And the story ends with the two spending tome together by the fireplace.  All in all, this was  an okay story.  It's cute and  enjoyable  but  it retreaded too much of what we saw in the movie.



Characters



Elsa

This was for all intents  and purposes,  Elsa's story and it's not bad but I feel like that she has already learned this lesson.   I can see why, they chose to use her and it was sweet that she was going out of her way to give Anna, the perfect Christmas. When in reality,  Anna just wanted more time with Elsa.



Anna

With Anna being my favorite character from Frozen, I was bummed that this story just like Elsa ignored her.   Now yes, that had to be done for the story that was being told but I don't like that this story didn't have much Anna until the very end with the snowball fight.

My Final Thoughts


As a Christmas story, this is fine but as a Frozen story, it's rather disappointing.   I don't dislike it but focusing so much on Elsa and ignoring Anna  bums me out because  A. the movie was about Elsa and Anna, B.  this sadly reflects what has actually happened in pop culture with people loving Elsa so much, they push Anna aside and C.  Anna is a great character and one of my favorite Disney characters.  I like Anna more then Elsa and to see  a story ignore her is heartbreaking.  Yes, the lesson of the story is that Elsa shouldn't ignore Anna but we've already been through that lesson.  A Christmas story set in Arendelle can work with both Anna and Elsa. I don't dislike the story but it's just annoying that this is the type of story that they chose to go with.  And you know what a story about Anna being ignored could have worked without actually ignoring Anna. You know why, we saw how she felt in Frozen with Elsa ignoring her. Jeeze,  this  is just frustrating.  As a Frozen fan,  I know that there is a better story in here somewhere than the one they gave us. Because at the end of the day, this story is quite frankly disappointing.  Alas,  this is the end of our look at  the  stories.  Join me tomorrow as we head to Equestira to look at a fan project, that places Luna in one of the most popular Christmas stories of all time as we take a look at the audio drama...

A Princess Carol.

Christmas: Ghosts of Christmas Past (Disney Christmas Storybook Collection)

Hello & welcome back to A Look at Disney and it's Christmas. Yay.  And that means a month of Christmas reviews starting this week with 4 Christmas stories reviews.   As you may recall in the past past, I have reviewed Christmas stories starring Disney characters such as Ariel's Christmas Under The Sea or last year, Mater Saves Christmas.  This year, we are going to look at one of the Disney Christmas Storybook Collections. A children's book that contains 4 Christmas stories (However, we will only be looking at three).   starring Disney and Pixar characters and the first one takes us to the land of Corona as we see what Rapunzel's first Christmas with Flynn Rider was like as we look at Ghosts of Christmas Past.

The Plot

It's Christmastime in the kingdom and everyone is excited and happy to celebrate the joyous holiday. All but one person that is. Rapunzel doesn't like Christmas because she doesn't understand what it is as she never celebrated it with Mother Gothel and instead Gothel made her fear the holiday.

Telling her things such as St. Nicolas kidnapped children and that left Rapunzel up in fear on Christmas Eve that someone would take her away or that presents would explode in her face and that they had to put charms on trees to keep away the angry elf that would kidnap children.   After hearing this, Flynn took it upon himself to teach his princess, what Christmas is truly like and that Christmas isn't something to be scared of. So, he took Rapunzel around the kingdom to learn that caroling is not something such as spooky noises that Mother Gothel had taught Rapunzel or that charms she had thought were to keep the angry elf out were actually ornaments.   And Rapunzel even received a present from one of her younger subjects that was a crown made out of evergreen.  And afterwards,  Flynn took Rapunzel back to the castle as he taught her what St. Nicolas was really like and that he was a jolly fellow that children waited up for in anticipation.  

And after learning of what Christmas is really about, Rapunzel embraces the holiday with baking and learning all the songs and wrapping presents for all of her family including Pascal and the story ends with Rapunzel and her family having a party with her parents happy to be spending the holiday with their daughter and the notion that Rapunzel and Flynn had a great Christmas and there will be many more to come.

All in all, this was a cute story and I was happy to start out with a Tangled story in this book and it was quite an enjoyable read and I felt bad for Rapunzel in the beginning because no one should ever be afraid of Christmas and  that builds upon Mother Gothel instilling fear into Rapunzel of the outside world and that the only thing that Rapunzel could trust  in her life was Mother Gothel.  Jeeze, even in death, Gothel  is still a very loathsome character.



Characters



There are only two characters that we really need to focus on here.  So, I won't be breaking it down any further.


Rapunzel

I liked Rapunzel's journey in the story of learning what Christmas actually is and coming to love it and embracing all the traditions of it.   It's a long step from when she was with Mother Gothel as the story showed us.

And I like that the story said it happened over weeks,  Sure Rapunzel first got intrigued by Christmas after learning what it really was from Flynn and over the weeks leading up to Christmas, she came to love the holiday.  It was nice to see a story touch upon the fear that Mother Gothel had instilled in Rapunzel and watch Rapunzel overcome that and learn the truth of the joyous holiday.



Flynn

I also really liked Flynn in this story as you could see that he really enjoyed showing Rapunzel what Christmas is really like and that there is no need to be scared of it and as he said, this felt like his first real Christmas because even though, he celebrated the holiday at the orphanage, he didn't have a family to celebrate with.  Well, that's changed.

My Final Thoughts


All in all, this was a cute little story that I greatly enjoyed and tackled something that I don't often see in stories like these, people being afraid of Christmas and overcoming their fear of the holiday and learning that it's a for a lack of a better word, safe holiday.  And in many ways, Rapunzel's fear of Santa Claus is very real as I've known many children that were scared of Santa and this story seemed to build upon that and asked what would it be like for someone that was afraid of Christmas altogether.  And I find that this story explores that question rather well.   Join me tomorrow as we continue our look at the stories from the Disney Christmas Storybook Collection as we head to the arcade to....

Wreck The Halls

Music Fridays # 144: Proud of Your Boy

Hello & welcome back to A Look at Disney. And if you are wondering, where the Poll Results are. Well, chalk that up to being a failed experiment.  So, we won't be doing that anymore. Now, I'll still include the Polls for you to vote on as I love hearing your opinions but the whole Music Fridays thing is no more with the polls.   Today, instead we turn to one of my favorite Disney songs that was originally cut from Aladdin and well, be taking a look at some different versions of it.  This is Proud of Your Boy.

Proud of Your Boy Demo






The first time I heard the demo  of this song, I was in tears.  This is one of the most heartbreaking songs ever  and  my heart just breaks  hearing Aladdin put himself  down  like that but this is something that I think any child can relate to as we want our parents to be proud of his but there is always that lingering fear that  our effort  isn't just enough and we will never measure up




Proud Of Your Boy - Clay Aiken






For one of the DVD re releases of Aladdin,  Clay Aiken  did a cover of Proud of Your Boy and he does quite a good job.  His voice really seems to suit the song quite well and  it  is  just such a fantastic listen hearing him sing it.



Proud of Your Boy  (Broadway)






In the new Broadway musical,  Proud of Your Boy was worked back into the story and  Adam Jacobs (Aladdin on Broadway really sells  it and delivers what is in my opinion  one of the best performances of this song out there.  This  song  hits  on all of the right notes that you need to sell this song to understand that Aladdin  doesn't believe he will ever be the perfect child that he expects his parents want him to be.


Proud of Your Boy (Reprise (Broadway)


I like this short little reprise  as you hear Aladdin come clean  and knows that  his parents  wouldn't be happy with the decisions that he has made and that he needs to change.  And it's just sad how much, he keeps  putting himself down but he knows that his mother wouldn't be proud of what he has done to be with Jasmine.




Proud of Your Boy (In Studio ) With Alan Menken





Our  last version  is   once Adam Jacobs  but  stripped down  to just  being in studio with Alan Menken on piano  playing the instrumental as he sings along.   And   just like the Broadway version,  Jacobs'  vocals  are what sell me on this song  being so beautiful and working so well as you feel every line, he is singing.



There you have it,  my  look at  different versions of one of my all time favorite Disney songs.  I hope that you've enjoyed this Music Fridays and which version was your favorite. Let me know in the comments, peace!

My Thoughts on The Cinderella Trailer

Hello & welcome back to A Look at Disney.  And oh man, I'm so excited.  Disney has just released the first trailer for Cinderella.  And it looks so good.

I love  everything about the look of the movie from this trailer.  The costumes and the sets are just so gorgeous in their fairy tale nature.   This is what I want to see in a live action fairy tale. Now, there are some things that I noticed that stood out to me such as that the step sisters are still named Anastasia and Drisella. And if I remember correctly,  Disney came up with those names.

And  some  other ideas that are being thrown  in that I like, which come from different tellings of Cinderella are the idea of the Fairy Godmother watching Cinderella as an old woman before revealing her true form and that Cinderella meets the Prince before the ball.  Oh, and the other big thing that sets this apart from the animated movie is that Cinderella's name in this version is just Ella.  From what I know in most other versions of this tale, that is the case and Cinderella is a cruel nickname put upon her by her step family and that is what this trailer is portraying.

And I was pleasantly surprised to see that include the scene of Cinderella's dress being torn but with two big changes.  Also, regarding the Fairy Godmother,  it appears that this film is going for a more youthful approach to the character as she is most certainly not the grandmother figure that we had in the animated movie.

 One, Lady Tremaine is the first to tear the dress and secondly, Cinderella's animal friends did not make the dress. It belonged to her biological mother, who we see in flashbacks throughout the trailer.  I like that as it adds a bit of weight and more emotion to what is happening as Cinderella is something be torn apart that belonged to someone that she truly loved.  

Now for all the good, I have to say about this trailer,  I do have one small concern.  I don't know how well, the animals will work in live action. This fear came into play, when I saw the coachman turn back into a goose.

This is perhaps my only concern with the trailer but otherwise.  It looks really good.  Now, I know some people are going to say that there is nothing new as we've seen this all before and it's telling the entire story in the trailer. On both of those accounts, people are correct  but to the latter, Cinderella is one of the classics and most people know this story or a variation of it, so I see nothing wrong with the trailer showing the key moments and as for having seen this all before.  Also true but  there is nothing wrong with a new take on it and I do believe that director, Kenneth Branagh is giving us an excellent new Cinderella movie that I am highly looking forward to.  What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments, peace.

Top 6 Ariel Moments (Happy 25th Anniversary The Little Mermaid)

Hello  & welcome back to A Look at Disney and this month, we celebrate the 25th anniversary of one of my all time favorite Disney movies and this gave me the perfect opportunity to do a Top 6 that I've wanted to do for the longest time. Join me today as I countdown my Top 6 Ariel Moments. Ariel is one of my all time favorite Disney characters, so this was not an easy list to come up with but I am happy with the moments that I have chosen.



6.  Swimming Away from The Shark

Straight from the beginning of the movie, we were given the impression that Ariel was going to be a different type of Disney princess. This is not a knock on her predecessors as I am a fan of Cinderella but  from seeing Ariel explore the shipwreck looking for treasures and then here swimming away from the shark that Ariel would be your type of princess that was willing go into the action and get her hands dirty and actually have fun and do the active exploring herself.  And  also, this has  has to be one of the most tense moments from any of the Renaissance era movies  as we see Ariel swim away from the shark and it is just a great moment to open with as we get to see that Ariel will be a different type of princess.



5.  Using The Dinglehopper to Brush Her Hair

 












Okay, this scene is is just so funny from Ariel's excitement at seeing the dinglehopper (Yes, I'm using that word and not fork).   To using it as a comb.  It's  such a funny moment and sure, it plays on the fish out of water thing great but it is so funny and just makes me chuckle each time I see it.

This is probably my favorite comedic moment in the movie.




4. Ariel's Transformation (The Latter One)

This is what Ariel had wanted throughout the entire movie and to actually see Triton give it to her is just so touching as he knows that his daughter will be happier on land and this  is what she wants.  And yes part of it was to be with Eric but as many have pointed out, Ariel's   interest in humans  was around long before her crush on Eric and now she what she most desires.  It's a sweet moment to be sure.



3. Saving Eric

This ties back into what I said up top.  Yes,  Ariel did have quite the obvious crush on Eric but that's not why she saved him.  Ariel saved Eric because it was the right thing to do and   he would've  died  otherwise  and Ariel  is able to see past him being a human  as she  doesn't see that prejudice and just sees someone that needs saving.



2.  I Love You Daddy

At the heart of the film was the relationship between a father and daughter.  They often butted heads over things as we saw on my Halloween list but as we see at the end of the day,  the two do care about each other and these four words may be simple words but they mean so much and carry the love that Ariel has for father so much.



1.  Part  Of Your World & Reprise

This  is THE Ariel  moment.  Whenever someone  thinks  of Ariel ,  this is most  likely the first image that pops  up in their mind.  It's  just that iconic   and why not,   it's  the best "I Want"  song that Disney  has produced  as you really get  into  what Ariel  wants and  again, it's  more than just being with Eric.  Yes, that was the driving force but she has always had an interest in our world.  This  song  has gone  to become  a Disney staple  because  it is such a good  song  and Jodi Benson  delivers such a solid performance, when  singing  right  here, right  now that  you buy  into  every word that Ariel   is signing.




There you have it, my Top 6  Ariel  Moments.   If there are any that  you'd  like to add, let me  know  in the comments  below as Ariel is great character that I love deeply and what better way  to celebrate  one of my favorite movies turning 25 then by counting down  my favorite Ariel Moments.  Peace!    

Classic Shorts Showcase: Soup's On

Hello & welcome back to A Look at Disney and today, we are looking at a short that I've heard  that some people like to watch on Thanksgiving, even though it is not set on Thanksgiving,  Join me as we look at the Donald Duck short, Soup's On.




The Plot

Donald and his nephews are on vacation in a log cabin and Donald has made a nice turkey dinner and calls the boys to the table for dinner. The boys had been playing outside in the mud and come to the table all dirty.  Donald sees this and sends them upstairs to wash up but being the little troublemakers that they are, they don't completely wash up as their hands (wings?) are still dirty.

The boys go up to their room without supper and  get the idea to trick Uncle Donald by fake crying and he decides to come up to check on the boys, only to have his hand caught in a mouse trap while the boys try to steal the dinner.

Things take an odd turn as the chase between  Uncle and nephews leads outside the cabin and the boys trick Donald into thinking that he's an angel and has passed.  And this is after Donald falls a cliff and nearly has a boulder crush him. Geeze, these three were brats in the early days.  Okay, that's a bit extreme.  They have their tearful goodbye by Huey gives Donald a harp and they place a pillow with Donald's shirt and brooms on the ground underneath a rock to make it look like Donald had died.

After the boys use the mechanism they built to trick Donald into thinking  he was an angel and hoist it up into the sky. Donald accepts his fate and tries to fly to Heaven to show that he is ready to move on. Only to crash and have the table fall on him and his halo break. Donald catches on and goes back to the cabin seeing the boys eating and there turns into the devil.   And the short ends where it began with another chase.  All in all, this short isn't bad. It's a little weird with the angel thing. It is another typical Donald Vs. nephews short but this does seem to take it to an extreme with this being one of cruelest things that I've seen Huey, Dewey, & Louie due to Donald.   And  it again shows  that in the early days like their first appearance, they were brats.



Characters


Huey, Dewey, & Louie voiced by Clarence "Ducky" Nash

It appears in the earlier shorts featuring these three, they really didn't have any likable character traits. Their sole purpose was to make life miserable for Uncle Donald at every turn and that's it.   Also,  their personalities weren't well defined yet in this short. And as you can see here, they are all wearing red,   you can't tell them apart. Unlike in later shorts, where the roles would be reversed and it seemed that Donald was picking on his nephews,  in these early shorts, they boys are the ones causing the torment and agony.




Donald voiced by Clarence "Ducky" Nash

I find myself in a position, I never thought possible when I watch these early Donald vs. nephews shorts in that I actually feel sorry for Donald as  he is just trying to be paternal figure but the boys are causing him to snap.   Something interesting to note here is that Donald's Nephews (the first short featuring Huey, Dewey, & Louie) came out in 1938 and this short came 10 years later.  By 1948,  Huey, Dewey, & Louie had still not been well established and were just tormentors for Uncle Donald.



My Final Thoughts 


This short is alright.  Nothing special.  It's fun but it does take a rather odd turn with the boys tricking Donald into thinking that he has died. And watching these early Donald vs. nephews shorts,  you understand why Donald snaps at his nephews.  They're brats and they deserve whatever Donald is going to do to them.  Peace!

My Thoughts On The Hunchback of Notre Dame Coming To Broadway

Hello  & welcome  back to A Look at Disney.  The Hunchback of Notre Dame,  a movie that many consider one of the most underrated Disney films of all time and well, they aren't wrong. What if I told you that this year, Disney had adapted Hunchback to stage.  Yes, that's  right.  Hunchback is now a stage musical.  Technically,  this is not the first time as the movie was adapted for German stages back in 1999.

But this is the first time that an American production has been staged of the musical and it is currently playing at the La Jolla before being transferred to the Paper Mill Playhouse and if I remember correctly, that is where Newsies got it's start.  Alan Menken has  returned to write some new songs for the musical but he is not alone as joining him is Stephen Schwartz,  the man who wrote the classic songs of Wicked such as "Defying Gravity".   So, we know the music should be good.   And of course with any musical adaption,  liberties will be taken and from what I've read,  they changed a few things in this adaption for one, Frollo is no longer a judge but rather just a man of the cloth and secondly, if I have read correctly, Esmeralda does die in the stage version and lastly,  I heard tale that the gargoyles had been cut from the story. I imagine that last bit of news will make people happy as many people thought that brought the movie down.

Just looking at the pictures that have been released of the production thus far, I'm in awe of the set design.  It is just so gorgeous.  And don't you worry,  "Hellfire" is still in the musical but according to people on Broadway World, who saw a preview, it had been moved to the end of Act One instead of being later in the story like it was in the film.   I would actually need to see this in person to see how this works but I imagine that this was done as to set up the struggles that Frollo will face with lusting for the gypsy.  And now of course, one cannot have  Hunchback without Quasimodo.

Not bad but there is one thing that I've heard that I'm not sure I'm a fan of.  Apparently, you see the actor who plays Quasimodo become a hunchback onstage.   Apparently,  he walks out on stage as a normal actor and is then handed a pillow and hunches over and transforms into Quasimodo.  That seems like a really silly idea.  I don't know how well that will work but I imagine that is something that has to be seen in person to understand how it works.   All in all, I'm excited for this and can't wait to download the soundtrack.   It's funny as this is my opinion, a rather dark horse candidate to be adapted. Not because of the source material but when you compare it to the other adaptions that Disney has done, this is certainly far darker than say The Lion King or Aladdin but I'm still excited to see what they do with this onstage.  What are your thoughts on The Hunchback of Notre Dame coming to stage? Let me know in the comments, peace.