Disney Films

[Trini]

So there will be a one-hour special on ABC for the 30th anniversary of Beauty and the Beast, airing December 15.

I believe this was the film that prompted the Oscars to create a separate Best Animated Film category, after it was nominated for Best Picture.

[GHScorpiosRule]

15 minutes ago, Trini said:

So there will be a one-hour special on ABC for the 30th anniversary of Beauty and the Beast, airing December 15.

I hope to see Angela Lansbury in it. 

I just watched this again over the weekend, and yup, 😭 when Belle was telling Beast he would be okay, and whispered "I love you" as he lay dying.

Edited November 7, 2022 by GHScorpiosRule

[Trini]

More info about the Beauty and the Beast special:

Quote

In honor of the 30th anniversary of the beloved Disney animated classic and its Academy Award(R) nomination for Best Picture, The Wonderful World of Disney and ABC present "Beauty and the Beast: A 30th Celebration." This two-hour animated and live-action blended special will pay tribute to the original Disney Animation's "Beauty and the Beast" and its legacy by showcasing the fan-favorite movie, along with new never-before-seen musical performances, brand-new sets and breathtaking costumes inspired by the classic story. "Beauty and the Beast: A 30th Celebration" airs THURSDAY, DEC. 15 (8:00-10:00 p.m. EST), on ABC and will be available the next day on Disney+.

H.E.R. and Josh Groban lead an all-star cast full of award-winning and beloved actors and musicians, including Rita Moreno as the narrator, Joshua Henry as Gaston, Martin Short as Lumière, David Alan Grier as Cogsworth, Rizwan Manji as LeFou, Jon Jon Briones as Maurice, Leo Abelo Perry as Chip and Shania Twain as Mrs. Potts.

Jon M. Chu will executive produce the special, with Hamish Hamilton set to direct, taking viewers on a memorable, magical journey through the classic enchanted tale.

[andromeda331]

3 hours ago, Trini said:

More info about the Beauty and the Beast special:

There's some good actors and actresses cast. I'll have to watch especially for David Alan Grier. I love that guy.

[BetterButter]

[AimingforYoko]

Pete Docter's record at Pixar is pretty impeccable. This definitely has me intrigued.

[Anduin]

The four classical elements, I see. Fair enough, they may have been superseded, but they're still good enough in stories. Hey, now there's an idea. The old guard vs all the new ones. Hydrogen, iron, gold, etc. That would probably be a kind of 'we all learn to live together in harmony' affair.

Anyone else have more info? This looks interesting.

[Trini]

3 hours ago, Anduin said:

...

Anyone else have more info? This looks interesting.

Article at EW: https://ew.com/movies/pixar-elemental-avatar-the-last-airbender-comparisons/

[Anduin]

3 hours ago, Trini said:

Article at EW: https://ew.com/movies/pixar-elemental-avatar-the-last-airbender-comparisons/

Thanks! I'm looking forward to seeing more.

[tv echo]

[Spartan Girl]

Anybody watch Disenchanted? While both the plot and the songs weren’t as good as Enchanted, it was still fun. Amy and Maya clearly had a ball playing evil queens, and Idina Menzel got to sing a power ballad. Also the costume porn was fabulous.

My only real complaint: not enough James Marsden. He was the best part of the first movie.

[Bill1978]

I 

4 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

Anybody watch Disenchanted? While both the plot and the songs weren’t as good as Enchanted, it was still fun. Amy and Maya clearly had a ball playing evil queens, and Idina Menzel got to sing a power ballad. Also the costume porn was fabulous.

My only real complaint: not enough James Marsden. He was the best part of the first movie.

I watched it last night Australia time, and my feelings are basically the same as yours with the movie overall. I had listened to the songs on the way to work that morning, and I would say most of them improved with the visuals but overall, they aren't as memorial as Enchanted's song with Menzel's being the best. But I was just happy to have new songs from Menken. I thought the movie really picked up around the time Andalasia was featured. And I still think it deserved a cinema release - even though the producers said they filmed it like a cinema release rhere were time when it seemed the creators' thought was 'Oh don't worry too much, it's for streaming'

[twoods]

Disenchanted was so much fun. Amy and Maya were having a blast playing evil characters, and Idina’s singing made me cry like it always does. I wish they had Jayma Mays sing- she was go good in Glee. Can’t wait to watch it again.

Edited November 20, 2022 by twoods

[Browncoat]

I watched Disenchanted this afternoon, and I agree -- it was fun!  I loved the Evil Queen dance-off between Amy and Maya.  They really did look like they were having a blast, hamming it up.  Amy's peacock dress was fabulous.  Her red dress was pretty fantastic, too.  

Oscar Nunez is always a treat.  

It's a decent sequel, but I think the first one is better.

One minor quibble -- toads are amphibians, not reptiles.

[tennisgurl]

Disenchanted was a ton of fun! Not as good as the first one and the songs were generally less memorable, but I still really enjoyed it. You could tell how much fun Amy and Maya were having hamming it up as villains and I liked seeing a little bit more of Andalasia near the climax. 

I cracked up at how Giselle could tell that she was becoming evil because her hair was getting higher while her neckline was getting lower. And Pip became an evil cat! 

I'm so glad they gave Idina a big song this time, I would have been happy seeing a bit more of her and James Marsden, but I get that they wanted to focus on Morgan and Giselle. I also feel like Robert's story could have been developed a bit more, but overall I thought it was a really cute sequel. 

Edited November 21, 2022 by tennisgurl

[Guest]

 Brandy is back as Cinderella in new 'Descendants' movie for Disney+

Malia Baker who played Mary Anne on Baby-Sitters Club is playing Cinderella’s daughter. 

[Spartan Girl]

21 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

I'm so glad they gave Idina a big song this time, I would have been happy seeing a bit more of her and James Marsden, but I get that they wanted to focus on Morgan and Giselle

We did get to see Edward and Nancy being a couple, since their happy ending in the first movie was a little abrupt. She balances out Edward’s goofiness, even though she’s happily adapted to Andalasia given how happily she breaks out into song. 

One of the things I loved about the first movie was how it successfully avoided vilifying Edward/Nancy just for the sake of getting Robert and Giselle together. Edward might be pompous but there wasn’t a mean bone in his body, and Nancy was a genuinely good person. And both of them gracefully stepped aside, so while it is corny, I did like that the four of them were all friends now, even being Baby Sophia’s godparents.

Some expressed disappointment that the movie completely forgot Giselle starting her own boutique, but given the fact that it’s 10 years later, it’s probably believable that Giselle franchised off Andalasia Fashions so she could start a family. Or maybe she’s on maternal leave. Either way.

[jah1986]

I watched both Enchanted (for the first time) and Disenchanted this weekend and really liked them both. I think it helped me watching them back to back not to be too disappointed in the second film. While watching Enchanted my mom kept saying "are they really not going to let Idina Menzel sing?". They sure made up for it in the second film, her song was awesome. I also loved the "dance-off" between the two evil queens. I love Amy Adams in just about anything and thought she did the differences between good/evil Giselle nicely. I'm always rooting for James Marsden so enjoyed seeing him again.

Just a fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

[BetterButter]

[Bill1978]

Why have I never noticed the colour of Pocahontas' eyebrows before? Now I can't unsee it. Thanks Honest Trailers.

[Browncoat]

We'll just add to that that there are no big-ass mountains in eastern Virginia.  It's maybe a little hilly at best.

[dmeets]

7 hours ago, jah1986 said:

While watching Enchanted my mom kept saying "are they really not going to let Idina Menzel sing?". They sure made up for it in the second film, her song was awesome. 

In my UO, "Love Power" is Idina's best Disney song to date. I love that for the end credits, they didn't go get another singer/song (no offense to Carrie Underwood) and instead had Idina perform a pop version.

[kiddo82]

I could be totally misremembering so grain of salt but I vaguely remember Idina Menzel saying she was happy to take a non-singing role in the first one because it meant they wanted her just for her acting.  That said, after Let It Go, no way they don't give her a big song for the sequel.  

[Chyromaniac]

4 hours ago, dmeets said:

In my UO, "Love Power" is Idina's best Disney song to date. I love that for the end credits, they didn't go get another singer/song (no offense to Carrie Underwood) and instead had Idina perform a pop version.

Elsewhere I described it as having “future Disney pyrotechnics display finale” energy, and that “love is the power created by the magic of our memories” sung by freaking Elsa is heroin strength Disney parks marketing.  Yep, solid tune.

[tv echo]

[Notwisconsin]

Strange World is the worst original Disney film of the 21st century. the Cheapquels don't count. 

The script is horrible. The allegory is immoral, and the ending is horrific. This may be the Mouse's biggest flop since it it ended 2d.

Edited November 28, 2022 by Notwisconsin

[Browncoat]

I have to agree about Strange World.  It was pretty, and colorful, and I did like that a lot of things were just matter of fact (Grandpa didn't freak out when Grandson talked about the boy he liked), but other than that, the biologist in me just couldn't wrap my head around things. 

Doesn't that turtle ever go below the surface of the water?  Why hasn't everyone drowned?  How is there snow on a turtle? And that's just the tip of the iceberg of questions I have!

[Sarah 103]

On 11/22/2022 at 10:31 PM, Chyromaniac said:

Elsewhere I described it as having “future Disney pyrotechnics display finale” energy, and that “love is the power created by the magic of our memories” sung by freaking Elsa is heroin strength Disney parks marketing.  

"future Disney pyrotechnics display finale” is my favorite sentence that I have read on the internet today. It is the perfect description of the song. 

[Josh371982]

On 9/20/2022 at 6:17 AM, Hiyo said:

As long as she is a redhead and has a happy ending, then they're doing the Disney version justice.

I remember watching the 70's Japanese cartoon movie as a kid in the early 80s, and since that version was more faithful to the story, it was definitely more of a downbeat ending...

Holy crap LOL, I remember watching this version of The Little Mermaid when I was like 10 or 11 and being shocked at how different it was from Disney's Version.  Haven't seen it since then until now. I remember reading a few years back that Universal was planning a Little Mermaid movie more faithful to this version and thinking " Holy crap there will be young ones that would be scarred seeing it not realizing the Disney Version is not the original story" Apparently it was going to Star Chloe Grace Moretz but they shelved it which is kinda a bummer cause I would've watched it 

[Cress]

Spoilers for Strange World:

On 11/28/2022 at 9:55 AM, Notwisconsin said:

The script is horrible. The allegory is immoral, and the ending is horrific. This may be the Mouse's biggest flop since it it ended 2d.

Wait, how is the allegory immoral? It said the people were living on the back of the giant turtle, and that when they traveled underground, they were in its stomach, heart, immune system, etc. They destroyed the Pando to save the turtle. (Actually I don't think they knew it was a turtle, just a giant living creature.) They had to learn to live another way without the fuel. How is that immoral?

I liked it. At first I wasn't going to see the film because I was weirded out by the blobby creatures I saw in the ads, but then I heard about the gay character, so I watched it. It's a nice family dynamic, and I loved that Jaeger didn't miss a beat when he found out his grandson was gay. He immediately moved into advice about how to win over the guy Ethan liked.

I also liked the way the father/son problems got resolved. Ethan told everybody "there's no bad guys", you just have to figure out how to live cooperatively in the environment. Callisto was a good character, and I didn't know Lucy Liu played her until the end credits.

Edited December 7, 2022 by Cress

[Notwisconsin]

On 12/7/2022 at 9:20 AM, Cress said:

Spoilers for Strange World:

Wait, how is the allegory immoral? It said the people were living on the back of the giant turtle, and that when they traveled underground, they were in its stomach, heart, immune system, etc. They destroyed the Pando to save the turtle. (Actually I don't think they knew it was a turtle, just a giant living creature.) They had to learn to live another way without the fuel. How is that immoral?

Wanting people to live in extreme poverty is immoral. Living without fuel is extreme poverty (unless you have slaves). wanting everyone to be miserable (you know, without any power) is immoral. You want to go back to the 17th century?

[Scarlett45]

On 10/12/2022 at 10:59 AM, Wiendish Fitch said:

Actually, it's not that hard for me to believe. Some women get "matronly" figures earlier than others, and it's possible Mrs. Potts, as someone who worked in the kitchen, gained a few pounds from tasting the cooking (not judging, it happens). Plus, premature grey hair is a thing. Jamie Donnelly, who played Jan in Grease, had to dye her greying hair black in order to convincingly play a teenager onscreen (a wasted effort, but JMO).

Or, assuming Mrs. Potts really was Chip's grandma, it's not unusual at all to call grandmothers "Mama" (I did).  "Son" is something we used to call boys in general, regardless of whether or not they were our offspring.

I just assumed Mrs Potts had Chip later in life, so she may have been a more matronly 50, having had him at 41. 

[Browncoat]

4 hours ago, Notwisconsin said:

Wanting people to live in extreme poverty is immoral. Living without fuel is extreme poverty (unless you have slaves). wanting everyone to be miserable (you know, without any power) is immoral. You want to go back to the 17th century?

But if the turtle dies, they all die.  In saving the turtle, they save themselves.

[Cress]

20 hours ago, Notwisconsin said:

Wanting people to live in extreme poverty is immoral. Living without fuel is extreme poverty (unless you have slaves). wanting everyone to be miserable (you know, without any power) is immoral. You want to go back to the 17th century?

That's a very extreme take. They didn't say they had no fuel at all, just that using Pando as a fuel was killing the turtle. It's like how fossil fuels are killing our planet, but there are alternatives like solar, wind, geothermal energy. They can invent a new fuel or make new technology. They can't make a new turtle.

No one needs to go back to the 17th century, and they most certainly did not look like they were in poverty, much less needing slaves.

[Notwisconsin]

20 hours ago, Cress said:

That's a very extreme take. They didn't say they had no fuel at all, just that using Pando as a fuel was killing the turtle. It's like how fossil fuels are killing our planet, but there are alternatives like solar, wind, geothermal energy. They can invent a new fuel or make new technology. They can't make a new turtle.

No one needs to go back to the 17th century, and they most certainly did not look like they were in poverty, much less needing slaves.

In other words, it was bad fantasy. In general, in order for fantasies to work, only an extremely few (no more than two or three) absurdities are permitted. Everything else must be logically built around them. Here it wasn't. Except for the generational conflict resolution subplot, this was entirely idiot plotting.

[Cress]

I still don't understand what "absurdities" or "bad fantasy" you're talking about. But I'm not going to argue with you. To me, it's just the mythical World Turtle standing in as an allegory for climate change. I liked it.

[Notwisconsin]

On 12/12/2022 at 9:29 AM, Cress said:

I still don't understand what "absurdities" or "bad fantasy" you're talking about. But I'm not going to argue with you. To me, it's just the mythical World Turtle standing in as an allegory for climate change. I liked it.

The giant turtle on a spherical planet. it isn't a "world turtle." It's the size of a continent, sure, but it's not discworld.

[BetterButter]

 

[tv echo]

Anticipation for The Little Mermaid...

2023’s Most Anticipated Movies: ‘Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3’ Leads Fandango Survey
Anthony D'Alessandro   December 20, 2022 
https://deadline.com/2022/12/top-movies-2023-guardians-of-the-galaxy-vol-3-fandango-1235203078/ 

Quote

Digital movie ticket retailer Fandango has unveiled the results of its 2023 Most Anticipated Movies Survey....
*  *  *
Most Anticipated New Performance on the Big Screen:

1. Halle Bailey (The Little Mermaid)
2. Viola Davis (The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes)
3. Jonathan Majors (Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania)
4. Christopher Walken (Dune: Part 2)
5. Margot Robbie (Barbie)

*  *  *
Most Anticipated Villain:

1. Melissa McCarthy as Ursula (The Little Mermaid)
2. Bill Skarsgård as the Marquis (John Wick 4)
3. Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror (Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania)
4. Jack Black (voice) as Bowser (The Super Mario Bros. Movie)
5. Jason Momoa as Dante (Fast X)     

Most Anticipated Family Film:

1. Spider-Man Across the Spider-Verse
2. The Super Mario Bros. Movie
3. The Little Mermaid (May 26)
4. Haunted Mansion (Aug. 11)
5. Pixar’s Elemental (June 16)

Edited December 21, 2022 by tv echo

[Spartan Girl]

I am really annoyed by all the review bombing comments of The Little Mermaid trailer on YouTube where they say “My favorite part was (a part from some other movie). Gave me chills.” And apparently these nimrods started the trend because they accused Disney of deleting their original nasty comments and branding them all “racists.”

You know, if you don’t want to see another Disney remake, that’s fine. But if you’re going out of your way to troll something that a lot of people ARE legitimately excited about just because your opinions are so important that they simply must be made public…maybe that doesn’t automatically  make you racist, but it does make you an asshole.

[Anduin]

13 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

I am really annoyed by all the review bombing comments of The Little Mermaid trailer on YouTube where they say “My favorite part was (a part from some other movie). Gave me chills.” And apparently these nimrods started the trend because they accused Disney of deleting their original nasty comments and branding them all “racists.”

You know, if you don’t want to see another Disney remake, that’s fine. But if you’re going out of your way to troll something that a lot of people ARE legitimately excited about just because your opinions are so important that they simply must be made public…maybe that doesn’t automatically  make you racist, but it does make you an asshole.

If they're the kind of people who also still respond to the Rings of Power twitter account just to say how they didn't watch it because of whatever, then actually, at least some of them are racists. Though some of them are probably just regular trolls too. Don't give them any benefit of the doubt, you'll only set yourself up for disappointment when it turns out they're total assholes.

[Spartan Girl]

33 minutes ago, Anduin said:

If they're the kind of people who also still respond to the Rings of Power twitter account just to say how they didn't watch it because of whatever, then actually, at least some of them are racists. Though some of them are probably just regular trolls too. Don't give them any benefit of the doubt, you'll only set yourself up for disappointment when it turns out they're total assholes.

Oh, I’m pretty sure they are racist if the comments were vile enough for Disney/YouTube to delete. I hate how they’ve found a way around it with such an unbelievably stupid meme.

[JustHereForFood]

22 hours ago, Anduin said:

If they're the kind of people who also still respond to the Rings of Power twitter account just to say how they didn't watch it because of whatever, then actually, at least some of them are racists. Though some of them are probably just regular trolls too. Don't give them any benefit of the doubt, you'll only set yourself up for disappointment when it turns out they're total assholes.

Yes, that trend started with Rings of Power and while I got very infuriated over them, it's ultimately useless. Plus, most of them are bots, I got convinced of that when I replied to some and received no reply - regular trolls usually reply to you.

I don't want to get too political, but there are other reasons behind dividing a fanbase like this (hint: other countries have great interest in dividing people in the western world), so I try not to mind it much and give them what they want.

After all, it's very pathetic.

[Anduin]

19 minutes ago, JustHereForFood said:

Yes, that trend started with Rings of Power and while I got very infuriated over them, it's ultimately useless. Plus, most of them are bots, I got convinced of that when I replied to some and received no reply - regular trolls usually reply to you.

I don't want to get too political, but there are other reasons behind dividing a fanbase like this (hint: other countries have great interest in dividing people in the western world), so I try not to mind it much and give them what they want.

After all, it's very pathetic.

Absolutely. Depending on the site, I either mute or just don't read the comments. Life is too short to expose yourself to too much BS. Frankly, I feel sorry for a lot of content moderators out there.

Some people need to learn that some entertainment is not aimed at them, and to ignore it. To fill yourself with toxicity, express it over something as innocuous and harmless as a Disney film? I suppose some of them lack self-awareness about what they're doing. If there's any of those types outside the trolls and outright racists. Either way, they aren't proving a point or helping anything.

[JustHereForFood]

I rewatched Beauty and the Beast (animated) today. 

How does the poor bookseller make living? Belle seems to be the only person in the town who reads and she is always just borrowing books from him, not buying them. And he gives her one for free! Pay for those books, Belle, it's not a library!

[Scarlett45]

On 12/26/2022 at 2:26 PM, JustHereForFood said:

I rewatched Beauty and the Beast (animated) today. 

How does the poor bookseller make living? Belle seems to be the only person in the town who reads and she is always just borrowing books from him, not buying them. And he gives her one for free! Pay for those books, Belle, it's not a library!

I’m sure Belle isn’t the ONLY villager who reads, but she reads A LOT and doesn’t seem to do much else besides the household chores. Belle probably does buy from him as well, but reads so much and so quickly it’s easier for her to borrow and return the books in good condition. 

[Spartan Girl]

On 12/7/2022 at 9:20 AM, Cress said:

Spoilers for Strange World:

Wait, how is the allegory immoral? It said the people were living on the back of the giant turtle, and that when they traveled underground, they were in its stomach, heart, immune system, etc. They destroyed the Pando to save the turtle. (Actually I don't think they knew it was a turtle, just a giant living creature.) They had to learn to live another way without the fuel. How is that immoral?

I liked it. At first I wasn't going to see the film because I was weirded out by the blobby creatures I saw in the ads, but then I heard about the gay character, so I watched it. It's a nice family dynamic, and I loved that Jaeger didn't miss a beat when he found out his grandson was gay. He immediately moved into advice about how to win over the guy Ethan liked.

I also liked the way the father/son problems got resolved. Ethan told everybody "there's no bad guys", you just have to figure out how to live cooperatively in the environment. Callisto was a good character, and I didn't know Lucy Liu played her until the end credits.

I just watched it, and I’m echoing all of this. It’s a travesty this didn’t get promoted more. You can’t bitch about Disney never doing anything original anymore if you’re going to poo-poo all over their original ones. And it was made pretty clear that the people were going to look into other alternative energy sources that wouldn’t harm the turtle. Nobody is going to be poor or living in the Stone Age FFS.

[BetterButter]

Disney Sets Sequels for ‘Frozen,’ ‘Toy Story’ and ‘Zootopia’

 

[Browncoat]

Oh, good god.  While I didn't hate Toy Story 4, I didn't think it was necessary to the franchise.  I can't imagine a Toy Story 5 will add anything of value.  However, being Pixar's bitch, I'll see it.

However, I wouldn't mind a Zootopia sequel at all, assuming it's a reasonable story.

Frozen?  Eh.  

[Trini]

I thought a Zootopia sequel had been announced already.

I mean, *I guess* we can have yet another Toy Story, but I really think they need to move on from the original gang.