Which Disney Renaissance Film is THE BEST? Finale

All artwork in the introductions is courtesy of knightbusdriver on livejournal.com

It should come as a surprise to no one that the greatest era in Walt Disney's Feature Animation department is arguably the most beloved era of a single company's film making in motion picture history.  After all, not only was Disney at the height of their creative development, but the studio continued to release hit after hit, without any glaring failures in anyone's eyes.  To many who are reaching adulthood today,. these films are what we grew up on.  My first film watching experiences were at least five of the top movies pictured above.  These films have had a profound impact on how we act, how we think, and how we tell our life stories.  

But which of these high ranking movies is the most superior?  How can one masterpiece be better than another?  That is what I will be focusing on for the next several posts.  Which film was the most structurally sound, which was the most superior in one area, and ultimately, which was the best.  Feel free to argue for one of your movies on this list or if you think my list is incorrect, but please understand that this is all opinion based, so it doesn't make someone stupid if they agree or not.  

Here is how the list will be determined.  All 10 films of the Disney Renaissance will be judged on the following categories:

Hero

Heroine

Villain

Supporting Cast

Songs (The Rescuers Down Under gets a pass here)

Musical Score

Animation

Story

Special Effects

Theme/ Message

Each film will be scored on a 1-10 scale.  The higher points you score for a category, the greater the chance is that film is ranked the best.  But please note that just because a film could get two or three 10's in a row, doesn't mean that it is guaranteed a victory.  Keep a close eye on the consistent films.

At the end of the competition, the films will have their scores divided by 10 (nine for Rescuers Down Under), and a winner will be determined when the math is completed.  The winner will receive the next King's Analysis and a special surprise for it on my YouTube channel, NintendoMan64.

Here we are, the Grand Finale of the Contest.  Which film is the most superior?  Let's find out, shall we?  Let's take one last look at these masterpieces as they were meant to be viewed, as incredible masterpieces to be loved by generations, forever.

10. Hercules (1997)

Not much of a surprise here, right?  I figured Hercules would be in the bottom tier of Disney Renaissance films, mostly because outside of a few elements which are fairly impressive (such as Hades and Megara) the rest of the film is boringly predictable and doesn't offer much except a bizarre retelling of the ancient Greek myth of the muscular son of Zeus.  Still, while Hercules doesn't offer much in terms of competition with the bigger films of the era, please note that Hercules is the worst of the best in terms of an era of animation dominance.  It's still leagues better than the vast amount of competition made around the same time.  This film just couldn't go the distance with the big boys.  Sorry, guys.  Better luck next time 

Final Score: 30

Average: 3

9. The Rescuers Down Under (1990)

Unfortunately, even getting a pass in the Songs round (due to not having any songs) did not help propel this solid sequel up the food chain.  It's a shame too, because there are few animated films that can really contend with The Rescuers Down Under in terms of realism, quality of animation, and overall enjoyment.  We can easily get into the story about protecting Marahute and her eggs from the poacher named McLeach, but we seem to be unfazed by the RAS subplot, which doesn't come into contact with the main plot until about 60% of the way through the movie.  Despite not being as potent as other Disney Films in the era, this sequel to The Rescuers is far more palatable than it's predecessor, and superior than most animated sequels ever made.  

Final Score: 31

Average: 3.4

T-8. Pocahontas (1995)

I fully expected Pocahontas to slide into the  #10 slot.  Very few people like this film and believe that it is one of the worst Disney ever made.  While I disagree with that, I find it surprising that this former apple of Jeffery Katzenberg's eyes, which is ridiculed and despised by so many, ranked tied with another on my list.  There is much to love about this film, from the wonderful Alan Menken music, to the beautiful animation.  But there is a lot to dislike about this film, ranging from the bland characters and the predictable plot, to the weak and boring villain.  Still, despite these flaws, Pocahontas is still an elite caliber animated film, giving us sheer beauty in animation and well written music.  Good, but not great.  

Final Score: 36

Average: 3.6

T-8. Mulan (1998)

As I said in my review of the film, Mulan is more of a clusterfuck of things that made previous animated films good rather than bringing anything new onto the scene, with the glaring exception of the message.  But for the most part, Mulan brings nothing new to the table.  We've seen progressive female leads, comedians placed into sidekick roles, bland and boring villains, good but not great music, and we've seen men who are more looks than brains.  Mulan as a character is better than some of the female leads, but not exponentially.  The rest of the film is fairly good, though I think it is highly overrated.  The numbers do not lie.  Mulan is a good film according to the ratings, just not an elite one.  

Final Score: 36

Average: 3.6

6. Tarzan (1998)

Tarzan is viewed by the General Public as the last breath of brilliance of the Disney Renaissance.  That seems to fit alongside my thinking.  The film does do things that other Renaissance films had done, but it also adds onto the legacy.  Tarzan is a strong protagonist along the lines of a Simba or Aladdin, Jane is a perfect example of a Damsel in Distress, and Kala is the motherly equivalent of Mufasa.  The film also has a good musical score, with songs written by Phil Collins and score music by Mark Mancina.  But the film lags behind several others in terms of villain development, supporting cast quality, and has a confusing theme which isn't fully clarified until it's too late.  Nevertheless, Tarzan was Disney's last truly amazing film until 2009, when the second Disney Renaissance began.  Well done, Disney.

Final Score: 37

Average: 3.7

5. The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Disney often never takes risks in terms of their animated films.  They are usually very risk-free and never challenge any levels of adolescence.  This is where The Hunchback of Notre Dame clearly stands as direct contrast.  This film is nothing but risks that pay off in a brilliant way that few expected to work.  While it may not be as dark as Victor Hugo fans would have liked it to be, the film is significantly darker than the Disney faire of the time (with the possible exception of The Lion King).  You have several well thought out and executed themes, a chilling villain, and overall solid performances all across the board.  While the animation is at times questionable and the songs aren't Menken's best, the rest of the film manages to dominate over the weaker elements, giving us one of Disney's finest. 

Final Score: 66

Average: 6.6

4. The Little Mermaid (1989)

Disney's first Fairy Tale since Sleeping Beauty definitely did have some baggage behind it.  It suffered from the same "Boring Prince" disease that plagues most Disney Fairy Tales.  Aside from Eric's blandness, the film has a wide variety of things to offer, from a beautiful and enchanting lead, a wickedly delightful villain, and breathtaking animation to go alongside one of the greatest musical scores ever written.  The Little Mermaid is a perfect example of what happens when you pour your heart and soul into a project.  The results are quite often magical.  Without the enchantment we all gained when we first saw this film in 1989, there might never have been a Disney Renaissance.  A true blue Disney Classic if there ever was one, The Little Mermaid continues to dazzle audiences even to this day, as if they'd just seen it for the first time.

Final Score: 74

Average: 7.4

3. Beauty and the Beast (1991)

Everything that was done brilliantly in The Little Mermaid was, to quote Walt Disney, "plused" when it came to the telling of one of the most famous Fairy Tales ever written, Beauty and the Beast.  A film with virtually no flaws to speak of, this magical film consists of a brainy yet kind heroine in Belle, an enchanting supporting cast of enchanted objects, a pained and tormented Prince, and a villain as unique to Disney as they come.  These characters are blessed with the best group of songs anyone at Disney has ever written, a mysterious and solid underscore, and the best animation from the best animators in the business.  There was almost a guarantee that this film would be an Oscar Nominee in 1992, and boy was it.  A story that proves true beauty comes from within, Beauty and the Beast also shows us that love and kindness will bring out the best in people.  And if this was the best 1991 had to offer, we couldn't wait until the rest of the decade ensued.  

Final Score: 77

Average: 7.7

2. The Lion King (1994)

Without a doubt, The Lion King is the film on this list I've seen and studied the most.  It's a film that refuses to treat it's audience like children and is more than willing to show us just what it takes to create a truly legendary animated film.  It is one of those rare animated films that can make children think and behave more like adults, even though not a single human ever appears on screen.  As we grow older, we not only still appreciate the epic narrative and message, but we learn to appreciate just how realistic the animators made the continent of Africa, and just how marvelous the acting performances in the film are.  The Lion King is indeed the cream of the crop of the 1990's, taking in all of the lessons learned in all of the previous Renaissance films, topping it off with a timeless theme, a terrific villain and a sensational musical score that is still as majestic as it was back in 1994.  There can be no argument, The Lion King is Disney Animation at it's best.

Final Score: 80

Average: 8.0

1. Aladdin (1992)

But there can only be one Disney Animated Film atop this list.  And, much to my surprise and the surprise of all of you, the animated classic of Aladdin managed to upend all of the other animated powerhouses in this lineup and jazz step it's way all the way to the top of the Disney Animation pyramid.  But just what is it that makes Aladdin so sensational?  Is it the superb animation, which put all of Disney's rivals to shame?  Is it the music, which transcended Howard Ashman's death and Tim Rice's anointment so well that it's actually scary?  Is it the dastardly villain Jafar, who finally gave Disney a male villain performance to write home about?  Is it the enchanting leads, Aladdin and Jasmine, who probably have the most chemistry of all of the Disney Couples with the possible exception of Belle and the Beast?  Is it the story, which modernized the classic fable so well that it's fairly hard to find a significant hole in the plot?  I think, personally, it was all of the above, combined with the sensational Robin Williams as the Genie that make Disney's 31st installment in the Animation Canon it's best.  There can be no contest.  It stacks up so well in almost every category that it's pretty darn intimidating a task to dwarf this film's enormous, yet shadowed legacy.  Aladdin, despite not being as emotionally potent as Beauty and the Beast or The Lion King, holds on it's own in every other category, giving us all a film we can enjoy for generations to come.  

Final Score: 82

Average: 8.2

That settled the debate for me, but I'm more than sure the arguing and debating will go on forever, or at least until these treasures disappear through thought and time.  The Lion King will reign supreme to some, while Mulan or The Little Mermaid will be the most potent to others.  Feel free to speak out for your favorite film from this era in the comments below, or to even ask about what my next review or contest will be.  The beauty of film is that no one can ever be right, even if popular belief is that one film is better than another.  I'm SimbaKing94 (NintendoMan64), and I'll see you guys next time.

Which Disney Renaissance Film is THE BEST? Part 10: Themes

All artwork in the introductions is courtesy of knightbusdriver on livejournal.com

It should come as a surprise to no one that the greatest era in Walt Disney's Feature Animation department is arguably the most beloved era of a single company's film making in motion picture history.  After all, not only was Disney at the height of their creative development, but the studio continued to release hit after hit, without any glaring failures in anyone's eyes.  To many who are reaching adulthood today,. these films are what we grew up on.  My first film watching experiences were at least five of the top movies pictured above.  These films have had a profound impact on how we act, how we think, and how we tell our life stories.  

But which of these high ranking movies is the most superior?  How can one masterpiece be better than another?  That is what I will be focusing on for the next several posts.  Which film was the most structurally sound, which was the most superior in one area, and ultimately, which was the best.  Feel free to argue for one of your movies on this list or if you think my list is incorrect, but please understand that this is all opinion based, so it doesn't make someone stupid if they agree or not.  

Here is how the list will be determined.  All 10 films of the Disney Renaissance will be judged on the following categories:

Hero

Heroine

Villain

Supporting Cast

Songs (The Rescuers Down Under gets a pass here)

Musical Score

Animation

Story

Special Effects

Theme/ Message

Each film will be scored on a 1-10 scale.  The higher points you score for a category, the greater the chance is that film is ranked the best.  But please note that just because a film could get two or three 10's in a row, doesn't mean that it is guaranteed a victory.  Keep a close eye on the consistent films.

At the end of the competition, the films will have their scores divided by 10 (nine for Rescuers Down Under), and a winner will be determined when the math is completed.  The winner will receive the next King's Analysis and a special surprise for it on my YouTube channel, NintendoMan64.

This Round: Characters, Music, Story, and Animation are indeed vital to the conception of an animated film.  But what do we truly take out of these films?  What are the most significant aspects of all of these movies?  That would be theme.  Do we recall the story of the Tortoise and the Hare more than moral?  I highly doubt it.  That is why, with respect to the other elements of Disney Animation, I must say that the lessons and themes of these 10 movies outweigh the plots (or at least they should).

10. The Rescuers Down Under

Unfortunately for one of the big underdogs on this list, The Rescuers Down Under seems not to have a truly comprehensible lesson or moral.  As with the original, the film is more about the journey than learning a lesson, much like an Indiana Jones film or The Lord of the Rings.  I guess you could say the moral is poaching is wrong, but I'm pretty sure kids already knew that.  I may be going out on a limb when saying this, but if there is a lesson in this, I think it might be don't value your own goals before the goals of others.  But this can be easily misinterpreted.  I guess I wish I could give more points to this fantastic sequel to an otherwise below average movie.

+1 point 

9. Tarzan

Yet there is another high caliber Renaissance film with a mixed or confused message.  You have to delve deep into the story and plot of Tarzan to fully comprehend just what the movie was trying to convey.  It took me almost an additional 20 watches to see for myself.  I think the film has multiple messages it's trying to convey.  Instead of focusing on the first/ most important lesson, the film attempts to juggle one too many things.  The basic message the movie speaks is how you should learn to accept who you are before trying to gain the acceptance of others, which would otherwise have been an extremely powerful message and would have easily warranted the message.  But the film also pushes us through the Clayton plot, the conflict between Tarzan and Kerchak, and another message a previous film used.  But more on that later...

+2 points

8. Hercules


The themes and morals that Hercules teach us has it's own share of flaws.  For example, it shares with Tarzan the distinction of having to juggle a couple of different themes.  In Hercules's case, they are learning to accept who you are before you look for acceptance from others and a true hero is measured by the strength of his heart, not by the size of his strength.  The other flaw is that is wears the latter like a toga.  One can see this theme coming from a mile away, and there really isn't some kind of unique twist or turn of events.  It really is a basic children's film.  Yet, with a message more clearly defined than the previous two films listed, I guess Hercules gets a pass here...

+3 points 

7. Pocahontas

Each of the films listed as of this point share a fault in the conception of this theme.  In this case, Pocahontas bears a similar flaw to Hercules, in that the theme is so easily picked up, that you can pretty much predict everything that happens to everyone in it.  You know very well that each of the opposing sides will deem the other savages and try to destroy them and that it will be up to John Smith and Pocahontas to mend the wounds and save their people.  You know very well that there are several different ways to use the term "uncivilized" because each civilization has it's own customs and traditions and what one does could effect another in a destructive way.  Hell, you can hear it by the time "Colors of the Wind" plays in the movie.  If you saw the teaser trailer on The Lion King VHS back in 1995, you could have made an easily informed decision not to see the film.  And yet, the theme is very clear, and while not original, it's still a very good and meaningful theme.  But this list rewards uniqueness and originality.

+ 4 points 

6. Mulan


I had an extremely hard time deciding between placing Mulan at #6 or Aladdin at #6.  Both have very good, well constructed themes and are executed almost flawlessly.  I gave this slot to Mulan because Aladdin executes two themes well instead of focusing on the one.  This in no mean makes me think Mulan's theme is a terrible one.  In fact, this theme is probably one of the few that can affect daily life for almost everyone here on Earth.  Just because society deems us destined to take one path, does not mean that we have to follow that.  When someone challenges society's predetermined roles, that is whne true change happens.  This could includes promoting the rights and privelges of all discriminated people in the world, from Women, African Americans, Latin Americans, Homosexuals, and various other prejudice driven people who change culture and customs almost overnight.  And Mulan does a solid job at this, showing us a girl who could not only dress up and look beautiful, but also fight for her father and her kingdom.  Kudos to Mulan, for once more exceeding my expectations.

+5 points 

5. Aladdin

One of the greatest animated films also has the distinction of juggling two separate but equally important messages.  The main theme of Aladdin is that the people that mean the most to you will love you for who you are, not how much stuff you have or what your title in life is.  And this theme directly relates to both Aladdin and Princess Jasmine, who learn to love each other for the person, not the title of Prince or Princess.  Yet it's the other theme that brings us to tears: putting others needs before your own.  Genie was willing to forgo his own desire for freedom in order to let Aladdin and Jasmine stay together, but Aladdin took the bigger step and decided to free Genie, knowing now that if he was going to use Genie's magic to make his own desires come true, he would be no better than Jafar.  This not only shows just how much Aladdin and Genie have grown to care for one another, but also just how much Aladdin has evolved as a person.  He knows he could be risking his one and only chance at happiness, but he also understands that friends and family are forever.  And when you have someone who was willing to give up their happiness for you, you should feel you must do the same.

+6 points 

4. The Little Mermaid

Many who criticize Disney's retelling of the classic Hans Christian Andersen often cite that Ariel doesn't change or learn any lessons.  They say that Ariel wants something, there are obstacles, she endangers everyone she cares about, but still gets her way in the end.  But here is the question to ask those who question this film: Was Ariel really the one who had to learn a lesson?  After all, Ariel is a teenager, who are allowed to make dumb decisions and make mistakes.  The one person in the whole story who truly had to mend broken bridges and learn a lesson was Ariel's father, King Triton.  Triton comes to understand several things a father must always know: eventually, Ariel was going to grow up, and eventually, he had to let her go.  Triton learns to put his own prejudices and anger to the side to make sure his daughter, arguably the child that means the most to him, take her own steps and chart her own course for happiness.  This makes Ariel and Triton's sorrowful fair well all the more powerful as The Little Mermaid nears it's finale, showing us that children and teenagers aren't the only ones who make mistakes, but at the same time, they also aren't the only ones who can change for the better.

+7 points  

3. Beauty and the Beast

Here is the perfect example of what I was talking about before with regards to Hercules and Pocahontas.  Beauty and the Beast's message is probably the most predictable of all of the other films on this list: true beauty comes from within or don't judge a book by it's cover.  Yet, the film gives us so much time with these two together that we forget about just how easily this film could be predicted, because we're enveloped in the story.  Belle and the Beast do not like each other at all in the beginning.  In fact, they are downright hostile towards one another.  But as the Beast stops acting coldly and maliciously towards Belle and as Belle let's her guard down and begins to see the Beast for just who he was, the two form a powerful friendship that eventually blossoms into a romance that few could see coming in the beginning.  There is also the dramatic parallels Beast and Gaston go on, whereas the monster becomes more human, the human becomes more monstrous.  Belle is able to fall in love with the Beast because of who he was on the inside, not by simply looking at him for his gruff exterior, and it's her undying devotion to the Beast that rewards her when he is transformed back into a Prince.

+8 points 

2. The Lion King

One could go on for hours talking about just why or how The Lion King is revered as the greatest Disney Animated film of all time, and in many cases, the arguments would be very valid.  The theme of this magnificent picture is pretty much the most adult and most thought provoking of them all.  But what makes The Lion King stand out is not just the theme, but also how the theme was depicted to children.  Death and loss is a subject few children't films dare to challenge and if they do, it is often subdued (cough Bambi cough).  Certain animated films do challenge these themes.  A few of the most prominent include The Land Before Time, Up, An American Tail, Big Hero 6, among others.  But The Lion King is one of the few that dared to take that bigger step.  Upon seeing his father plummet to his death, Simba is forced to sit beside his father's dead body and literally grieve over his dead body, something kids almost never deal with until they are adolescents at least.  But the theme is not "Loss will happen, be ready for it", but that no matter how much you are separated from someone, be it by miles or death, they will always be with you, so long as you remember what they taught you and live your life the way they wanted you to.  This could entail friends, parents, siblings, grandparents, significant others, it could really mean whomever you hold close to your heart.  In the case of Simba, he remembers that so long as he follows the teachings of his father, he will always be with him.  And that is almost #1 worthy...

+9 points 

1. The Hunchback of Notre Dame

But almost every single main character in The Hunchback of Notre Dame must learn a lesson of some kind, and each are different in their conception and results.  The absolute best part, however, is this notion that each lesson gets progressively more adult and thought provoking the deeper you go into the film.  Quasimodo, for example, learns to accept who he is and fight for the people he loves, even though some may never consider him handsome or normal.  Esmeralda, one who was admittedly never one to be too religious or faithful, learns just how efficient praying is and how selflessness is more appreciated by the Church than selfishness.  Phoebus must overcome the burdens of prejudice and the cold machinations of Frollo in order to protect Esmeralda, the woman he loves.  And Judge Frollo, who represents all of the prejudice, corruption, and wickedness that the devil has to offer, is forced to endure pains far worse than death as all of his twisted schemes and plans fall apart and he is swallowed by the very pits of Hell.  These lessons and emotional turns make The Hunchback of Notre Dame a superb animated film, and a criminally underrated film in my eyes.  Simply superb...

+10 points 

Tune in for the Finale...

Top 10 Biggest Failures of the Star Wars Prequels

Much like how Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs influenced and entire generation of people to get heavily involved in animation, the release of the Star Wars trilogy in the 70's and 80's influenced an entire generation of people to get involved in filmmaking.  We were heavily involved in the plot, we were entranced with Industrial Light and Magic's state of the art Special Effects, and we loved all of the characters.  

That being said, the general consensus is the exact opposite with regards to the second trilogy Lucas made in the 90's and 2000's.  We complained that the characters were flat, uninteresting and boring.  We whined that the story often went all over the map and wasn't consistent.  And a fair amount of us didn't like the digital effects Lucas put in, making the film look more like a video game than a movie.  By Revenge of the Sith, it had gotten so bad, I often looked down to make sure I wasn't playing a video game when I watched it.  

The Star Wars Prequels have surprisingly split the internet down the middle.  Personally, I thought there were far more people that hated them than liked them, but I was wrong.  Sure, the films gave us a few good elements, and some of the performances were okay to a point, but the films were so devoid of humanity that it almost felt as if a robot had made them.  But what are the trilogies BIGGEST crimes?  Which are the ones that slaughter and destroy the universe millions grew up with virtually beyond repair?  Well, let us delve into this, and see just what it is about these films that irks me so...

10. Jar Jar Binks...

I guess that goes without saying...

9. The Politics of Doom...

One of the nice things about the Original Trilogy was how little it felt it needed to focus on the politics of the universe.  The general focus of all three movies was the Rebel Alliance seeking freedom from the Empire and the subsequent return of the Jedi to prominence.  There was no need for political debates and the only few things we ever got involving politics was condensed to it's barest essentials, such as that scene in A New Hope where Tarkin informs his officers of the Senate's dissolution.  We didn't need to know about galactic laws or anything of those regards, because the story was focused entirely of the struggles of the Rebels and Luke's ascension to Jedi knighthood.

But in the prequels, George seemed to think we desperately needed to understand the politics of the Galactic Republic.  So, in several scenes that rival your average C-SPAN broadcast in boredom, we are forced to witness just how dull and dreary the legal system is.  In what could have just as easily been recounted or told to us in a sentence, we are instead treated to debates, filibustering to the point of no return, and the overall stupidity filed into each of these so called "senators".  Any amount of common logic could have seen that Palpatine was not only a power-hungry tyrant, but also a manipulative monster who was pulling strings on both sides of the galactic affairs.  Each of these scenes makes us hate these stupid senators more and more and we lose far too much sympathy for them in their struggles to be the dumbest species in the galaxy.

8. Kids...

This may seem like a weird thing to harp on, considering all George Lucas defenders out there claim that these movies are made for children, but I really do need to address this one fact.  By the time Return of the Jedi was being made, the focus on the plots of these respective movies was less emphasized and George became more motivated by toy sales and popularity than telling his story in the way it had been originally written.  This also meant all of those obnoxious parents got to drastically tone down the darkness and overall epicness of the Original Trilogy and, to a fair extent, "Baby Proof" this franchise and water it down considerably.  The results ultimately gave us several scenes with kids who are almost too obviously children of the producers and various members of the production team.  Kids, who cannot act by the way, and have little to no attention spans or coordination at all.  The two big instances of annoying children actors were on Tatooine in The Phantom Menace, and the youngling training scene in Attack of the Clones.  These scenes not only slowed the pace of the movie, but also made some of us vow to never ever let our children act for anything.  It's bad enough that the scene setup is so awful, but we also slowly continue to undermine the Original Trilogy with almost every second of film.  But more on that later...

7. No "Poster Boy" Villain...

It's safe to say (if you've seen the entire saga, that is) that the main force of evil in the galaxy is Emperor Palpatine, the ruthless Sith Lord, Darth Sidious.  But we didn't need to see much of Palpatine in the OT because the Empire already had a face of malice and cruelty in Darth Vader.  Vader was the one who personified the very soul of the Empire and was often the one who enacted the main acts of ruthlessness personally, such as being involved the the destruction of Alderaan, the obliteration of the Rebel Force on Hoth, and of course the subsequent takeover of the Bespin mining facility.  We didn't need to know how powerful the Emperor was until it came to be his time to shine.  We had Vader and we relished in his evil.

But in the Prequels, we have a severe lack of a poster boy for evil.  We had three very good options before Vader's ascension in Revenge of the Sith: Darth Maul, Count Dooku, and General Grievous.  Maul is disappointingly axed off at the end of The Phantom Menace, while both Dooku and Grievous are dead long before the Jedi are massacred by the Clones and Palpatine.  This kept the focus of the picture drastically watered down, and we are not as involved in the plot as we should be because the villains are kept in so much mystery that we cannot be told who they are and what they want.  This is especially evident in Maul and Dooku, who both could have had easily tragic backstories as to how they had become seduced by Palpatine and could have been the stepping stones that the Emperor would eventually lead Anakin down.  But that didn't happen...

6. The Jedi Order

There are many things that I should bring up with regards to the Jedi Order and the way they handle things (such as their lightsabers), but I'm keeping it to just the basic ways with which the Council rules over the order.  We are told in the movies that Jedi are forbidden to love, because love is a path to the dark side.  But there are literally an infinite amount of ways a Jedi can fall prey to the machinations of the Sith, so I would think love would not be high on that list, especially when it's revealed in various novels and TV series that many Jedi do fall in love and attempt to be with people they care for (even Obi-Wan).  I think this was just another pathetic attempt on Lucas's part to make us care about the relationship between Anakin and Padme without giving us anything serious to work with (TRUST ME, WE'LL GET TO THAT TRAVESTY LATER).

The Jedi must also be questioned in their decisions and logic patterns.  And these are not just minor decisions that impact a trivial amount of the trilogy.  Every single solitary decision and step the Jedi Order takes in it's efforts to "maintain peace and justice" ultimately brings about none of that at all.  I have a quite an alarming number of highlights for you.

A. After Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan report of Darth Maul's existence, the Council agrees to look into the matter.  And yet, by the time Queen Amidala decides to return to Naboo, the Council just sends Jinn and Kenobi to fight Maul, even though they NOT ONLY THOUGHT THE SITH WERE EXTINCT FOR A MILLENIUM, BUT ALSO THAT NONE OF THESE JEDI HAS FOUGHT A SITH LORD IN THAT TIME FRAME!!!!!!

B. Yoda and the vast majority of the Jedi Council senses that there will be GRAVE DANGER in the training of Anakin, and yet allow it anyway.  Why?  Reasons of course...

C. As Anakin and Obi-Wan report on the second assassination attempt on Padme's life, the Council randomly decides to give Anakin the assignment of guarding Padme on Naboo and keeping her safe (alone mind you), even though Obi-Wan knows damn well that Anakin is madly in love with her.  Why?  Reasons!

D. The Council uncovers an enormous conspiracy that links the Clone Army on Kamino to a bounty hunter named Jango Fett, who is in league with the Separatists (chiefly Count Dooku, a fallen Jedi), and has been behind the assassination attempts on Padme, the CHIEF SENATOR OPPOSED TO THE CREATION OF AN ARMY FOR THE REPUBLIC!  And what exactly do these idiots do?  They play right into the conspiracies hands!  Even when Dooku tells them practically everything there was to know about the plot, they still ignore it.  C'mon George!  A three year-old can write better than that.

E. Three years into the Clone Wars, with the entire Jedi Order spread thin across the galaxy, why do the Jedi then decide it's time to begin questioning the legitimacy of Palpatine's reign?  Reasons of course...


5. All of the Pointless Callbacks...

Now, I think it's safe to say we all know Lucas is, at best, a highly overrated writer and perhaps a bit narcissistic when it comes to Star Wars.  Yes, he is the one who created it, but he isn't the only one who executed that dream out onto screens.  I think that George wants to be a good writer, but he never takes the time to second guess himself or even hire people to call him out on some things.  If anything, the people around him are so enamored by him that it's kind of disgusting.  This is why so many annoying scenes like these exist.  Fan service is the only reason these absolutely unnecessary moments occur throughout this trilogy, and trust me, most of these callbacks are just unnecessary:

"I have a bad feeling about this"
R2-D2 working on Queen Amidala's ship (could have just been a cameo, but Lucas isn't smart enough to make those)
"This is where the fun begins"
Anakin building C-3PO (completely irrelevant)
"Set S-foils in Attack Position"
Jar Jar reenacting the stupid Ewok scenes
Obi Wan saying: "Hello, there", even though he could have silently killed Grievous and ended the war.

I could keep going, but I don't want to...

4. The Prophecy...of DUMBASSNESS!


I could go on for hours about any singular aspect of this nonsense George made up just to become another cliched writer in the Fantasy/Science Fiction genre, but I'm going to try and keep my main points about this nonsense down to it's essentials.  As with most prophecies, there is a very slant line the character and plot must walk in order for this to come to fruition.  Here, you have Anakin Skywalker, whom many in the Jedi Council believe to be the "Chosen One" of prophecy.  Well, who wrote this prophecy?  Who first told it?  What exactly does it say?  Why does the prophecy suddenly change in-between The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones?  From what I gathered in the first prequel film, the smallest bit of the prophecy we got was that there would be a being that would bring balance to the Force.  Then, it changed to "Destined to Destroy the Sith."  Wouldn't the destruction of the Sith bring the Force out of balance?  Shouldn't light and dark be wielded in equal shares?  Wouldn't the excess light in the galaxy bring about an even greater darkness?  Did Yoda and the rest of the Jedi not see this coming when the rumor of Darth Sidious rose up?

Here's another question: Just how can one deduce just who is the one of prophecy?  And shouldn't the Jedi obey this prophecy instead of constantly questioning it?  If the prophecy dictated that Anakin Skywalker was destined to destroy the Sith and bring balance to the Force, why did Mace Windu attempt to kill Emperor Palpatine?  And here's one last caveat to this nonsense?  If this prophecy was so important, WHY DID NO ONE IN THE ORIGINAL TRILOGY MENTION THIS?  Not once do I remember Obi-Wan, Vader, Yoda, or the Emperor recalling any kind of Prophecy of any kind.  This feels like it was just pulled out of Lucas's ass, as was most of the PT.  But I digress...

3. Ugh...


There is so much wrong with this singular aspect of the storytelling that I can't even bring myself to talk about it.  Yet, I must.  I think it's safe to say George just doesn't get love, or women for that matter.  And yet, this could have been one of the most epic and darkest tragedies in the history of storytelling.  Anakin should not have been the instigator of their relationship.  I know that having the girl fall for the guy first is very cliched, but if Anakin was indeed supposed to be a tragic character who would fall into darkness, would it not have made more sense for Padme to be the "Forbidden Fruit" in the Garden of Eden?  Even if it wasn't intentional for her to be that, Padme should have definitely been the one tempting Anakin over he tempting her.  After all, who was the "Main Character" again?  And Padme really has no reason to not want to be in a relationship.  She isn't the one who is supposed to be sterile and emotionless.  She may want to focus on her work, but I'm more than certain that she would want to have a family and romantic life outside of her politics.

But the worst part of the "Love Story" is how little we care for their relationship.  Lucas failed to plant the seeds of romance in between them, because Anakin was 8 or 9 when they met, and Padme looked at him like a little brother more than as a potential love interest.  Wouldn't it have made more sense to start Anakin off as a 13 or 14 year old, around the same age as Padme?  Would that have made us care?  Maybe, but when the two have little to nothing in common outside of their mutual respect/ attraction to each other.  Is this why we cannot care about this "Romeo and Juliet" among the stars?  Is this why I couldn't be less involved when Anakin choked Padme and she "Lost-the-will-to-live?"

2. Anakin Skywalker


Finally, we come to the aspect of this trilogy that almost everyone despises.  One of the biggest failures of any saga is if we cannot connect/care about our main character.  You had Bella Swan in the Twilight Saga, and now you have Anakin Skywalker in this new Star Wars saga.  We find it hard to connect to Anakin because he is a completely different character in The Phantom Menace.  He's this characterless, obnoxiously wide-eyed child who has no personality outside of his not knowing about the world he has been brought to.  By the time we reach Attack of the Clones, he is this angst filled, whiny, selfish, constantly complaining, short tempered little runt who cares little for anyone but himself.  He often doesn't give Obi-Wan or Padme the time of day and it's really surprising that these two can care for such an awful being.  Let's list all of the heroic and wonderful things this truly marvelous character had done, shall we:

1. Calls out his boss in the middle of a conversation to show off in front of his "girlfriend"
2. Recklessly leaps out of a vehicle thousands of feet in the air
3. Relentlessly stabs at a driver, while not knowing if this is indeed the assassin or not
4. Whines about Obi-Wan and the Jedi 
5. Looks at Padme very much like a stalker does
6. Interrupts and insults Padme during her conversation with the Queen
7. Makes a horrible analogy about sand
8. Admits he supports a Fascist Dictatorship (Mussolini style, baby)
9. Shows off his Force Powers in front of Padme
10. Is willing to give up his once in a lifetime opportunity to be a Jedi just to be with Padme
11. Cries like a little girl when she refuses
12. Is willing to abandon his Jedi mission to go look for his mother
13. Leaves Padme in the care of three strangers
14. Slaughters a village of Tusken Raiders ("And not just the men, but the women and the children too!")
15. Brings a corpse of his mother home
16. Goes off on a megalomaniacal rant
17. Is reluctant to go rescue Obi-Wan, even though he's already defied the Council by leaving Naboo anyway
18. Recklessly brings Padme into a Droid Factory
19. Destroys what is so obviously his 27th lightsaber
20. Is willing to jeopardize the lives of Obi-Wan and the clones just to find Padme
21. Stupidly rushes at Dooku on his own (one of the few times he gets what he deserved)
22. Allows Dooku to chop his arm off.  Seriously, slow mo the end of that fight
23. Marries Padme despite the brewing war and the fact that he'd be expelled from the Jedi Order
24. Coldbloodedly murders Dooku
25. Throws a temper tantrum when the Jedi Council doesn't make him a Master
26. Yells and complains at Padme for no apparent reason
27. Stupidly refuses to question Palpatine on his Sith knowledge
28. Doesn't kill Palpatine when he has the chance
29. Disarms (figuratively and literally) Mace Windu and does nothing to help him when he's electrocuted to death by Palpatine
30. Switches sides as quickly as the Flash can run to China and back
31. Slaughters children II
32. Deliberately lies to Padme about his deeds
33. Slaughters the Separatist Leaders
34. Chokes Padme with the force

What a nice guy, right?

1. Ruining the Original Trilogy

But the biggest crime of George Lucas's biggest F*** Up since "Howard the Duck" is by far how much this trilogy ruined the Original Trilogy.  Not just in terms of continuity, trust me there's so much wrong in that department.  The mood, tone, feeling, and just the overall happiness and originality of the OT was tragically ruined by this schlock.  Almost every minute detail of this trilogy either ruins or contradicts the entirety of the Original Trilogy.  Call me a loser, but I always felt that training with Yoda was a very special privilege for a Jedi apprentice.  He was so wise and could have done anything he wanted to with his time, but devoted it to training just a small handful of Jedi students (such as Obi-Wan).  He didn't run a stupid training class with dumb kids who can't even hold lightsabers properly.

Another thing that I noted from reading the novelized version of Revenge of the Sith is this notion that Yoda had truly failed the Jedi Order.  Not because he had failed to kill the Emperor, but because he had trained generations of Jedi to fight the same war they had fought when he was younger, while the Sith had spent the last 1000 years adapting and turning war into their weapon.  Therefore, when Obi-Wan brought up the fact that Yoda and he could train Luke and Leia in the ways of the Force, I was surprised when Yoda shot that down and said that Luke and Leia needed to be raised in an environment of love and caring.  And yet, in the OT, why does it look like Yoda is training Luke in a similar way he trained other Jedi?

There are other questions that got me to thinking.  Such as...

1. How could the Senate not have guessed that Palpatine was a ruthless dictator?  Follow up question: How did the Imperial Senate last 19 more years, when it only took Palpatine 3 years to render their powers completely worthless?

2. What motivated Yoda to chose Dagobah as his location of exile?  And why did he feel the need to go into exile when they had damning evidence of Palpatine's betrayal recorded in the Jedi Archives?  

3. Why did Obi-Wan not walk over to Darth Vader and kill him?  Isn't it a bit illogical to assume that Vader would die on Mustafar, when he had proven to Obi-Wan all those years he could survive pretty much anything?  

4. Why in the freaking universe would Padme up and "lose the will to live" when she had two children to take care of?  Shouldn't that make Luke extremely unhappy with his mother?  

5. On that note, how the hell does Leia claim she remembered her mother, when Padme died minutes after she was born?  

6. What ever happened to all of those battle droids scattered across the galaxy?  And what about the other various commanders and leaders of the Separatists?  Wouldn't they need an acknowledgement of the war ending?  And don't give me any of that nonsense that it already happened, because we never see Anakin do just that after Gunray is killed?  

You guys don't have to answer these questions, but feel free to.

Which Disney Renaissance Film is the BEST? Part 9: The Stories

It should come as a surprise to no one that the greatest era in Walt Disney's Feature Animation department is arguably the most beloved era of a single company's film making in motion picture history.  After all, not only was Disney at the height of their creative development, but the studio continued to release hit after hit, without any glaring failures in anyone's eyes.  To many who are reaching adulthood today,. these films are what we grew up on.  My first film watching experiences were at least five of the top movies pictured above.  These films have had a profound impact on how we act, how we think, and how we tell our life stories.  

But which of these high ranking movies is the most superior?  How can one masterpiece be better than another?  That is what I will be focusing on for the next several posts.  Which film was the most structurally sound, which was the most superior in one area, and ultimately, which was the best.  Feel free to argue for one of your movies on this list or if you think my list is incorrect, but please understand that this is all opinion based, so it doesn't make someone stupid if they agree or not.  

Here is how the list will be determined.  All 10 films of the Disney Renaissance will be judged on the following categories:

Hero

Heroine

Villain

Supporting Cast

Songs (The Rescuers Down Under gets a pass here)

Musical Score

Animation

Story

Special Effects

Theme/ Message

Each film will be scored on a 1-10 scale.  The higher points you score for a category, the greater the chance is that film is ranked the best.  But please note that just because a film could get two or three 10's in a row, doesn't mean that it is guaranteed a victory.  Keep a close eye on the consistent films.

At the end of the competition, the films will have their scores divided by 10 (nine for Rescuers Down Under), and a winner will be determined when the math is completed.  The winner will receive the next King's Analysis and a special surprise for it on my YouTube channel, NintendoMan64.

This Round: What may very well be the deciding round in this contest is arguably the one element that the great Walt Disney generally despised the most.  As the 1980's approached, the animators kept the tradition of drafting storyboards over script writing, resulting in good natured but otherwise clustered messes that ultimately didn't satisfy audiences.  Jeffery Katzenberg put a stop to this and began hiring scriptwriters to draft the stories for these legendary films.  In the end, it worked out MOSTLY for the best.  

Here's my criteria:

• You don't have to follow the story/historical event completely if you have your own interesting twist to put on it.  
• Original Stories or scenario ideas are highly recommended (Jiminy Cricket in Pinocchio or the plot to The Jungle Book)
• No severe plot holes or easily predictable stories
• The more dramatic, the more likely you'll score high

With that said, let's begin...

10. Pocahontas

If Pocahontas was to successfully follow the heavy succession of Disney Films that preceded it, it needed to be able to stand out on it's own in terms of it's storytelling approach, yet at the same time, feel at home in the Disney Canon.  Unfortunately, Pocahontas's plot is very predictable, it's conflict forseeable before you even begin to put the DVD in the player, and it's resolution is arguably the most famous moment in the history of the colony of Jamestown.  Granted, it was pretty sweet to finally see Native Americans properly brought to life (to a very small extent), but the whole "Who's the real savage?" narrative has been done so many times it's bordering on cliche.  And this was supposed to be the film that netted an Oscar nod like Beauty and the Beast?  C'mon Jeffery, even you know better than that.  

+1 point 

9. Hercules

I'm not one who delves so deeply into Greek Mythology.  In fact, when I once had a conversation with someone who absolutely despises this movie due to it's sheer ignorance of the Mythology it was based on, I simply uttered "I don't really care about it either way."  I don't really care if Hera actually wasn't Hercules's biological mother, nor do I care that she in fact despised him (though that would have made a kick ass story for Disney to do).  But what I do care about is the twist Disney did put on it.  And that is where my criticisms go.  As I stated in my review, the only thing this film lacked from ripping off the story of Superman was the cape.  Hercules is a handsome young man with quirks who is just so nice that it's almost disgusting (Clark Kent), he battles a nemesis who is clearly smarter than him and outwits him only because of his powers (Lex Luthor), and he falls in love with a snarky woman who has to take her time to really grow to care for him (Lois Lane).  How in the Underworld did the writers of this movie also write Aladdin and The Little Mermaid?

+2 points 

8. The Rescuers Down Under

One of the few things that didn't improve between the first and second installments in this saga was the pacing and overall plots of the story.  Of course, we care far more for about the fate of Cody and Marahute over the fate of Penny and the Devil's Eye, but here is a basic run over of the plots of both movies:

• Child in trouble in remote area
• Reported to Rescue Aid Society
• Bernard and Bianca leave to help them, recruiting an Albatross to take them
• Run in with various locals
• Find the child and villain but are, for the most part, unable to aid the child in escaping properly. 

The problem with both Rescuers movies is that the mice are unfortunately unable to do much of anything for a good portion of the time they are trying to save both children, really making them ineffectual to the film's plot until the climax.  Nevertheless, the story as a whole is a bit more solid, and isn't just about the escape.  It does delve into the protection of Marahute and her eggs, which is certainly more interesting than recovering a diamond.  Just not Top 5 worthy...

+3 points 

7. Tarzan

Tarzan is a film full of missed opportunities.  A film that could have gone deep into the psyche of one of literature's most complicated characters would have definitely been the crowning achievement of the Renaissance.  But the film tries to juggle Tarzan's inner conflict (Human or Ape?), with the weak comedy with Terk and Tantor, the dangers of the Jungle, the human's desire to see the gorilla nests, Clayton's ambitions, and Tarzan's relationship with both Jane and his adopted parents, Kala and Kerchak.  It ultimately becomes too much for the film to bear, and it becomes, unfortunately for it, just another good Disney Renaissance film.  Aside from that big flaw, Tarzan does avoid many cliches that would have driven the film off the cliff, such as keeping the first half of the film completely with Tarzan and his jungle brethren and really staying consistent with the whole "Gorilla Talk vs Human Language" barrier, which was totally botched in Pocahontas.  It should get points for that...

+4 points 

6. Mulan

There is a distinct lack of flaw in Mulan's general conception as a Disney film.  It doesn't have many glaring plot holes, if any, and it really doesn't have to fully change much from the legend.  Unfortunately, it doesn't have much that really stands out, save for Mulan herself, but you don;t get points for something I already praised in another round.  It's a well rounded story, and doesn't exactly make any serious errors in judgement (though the American view of China is clearly depicted over a Chinaman's view of China).  It's a good plot that isn't too complicated.  In fact, it's a good Disney plot.  

+5 points 

5. The Little Mermaid

The plot of The Little Mermaid, or more importantly, the way the plot is told to us is in stark contrast to not only the original source material, but to what was generally conceived as Disney's fair.  Ron Clements and John Musker took clear liberties in the conception of the story, electing not to kill off Ariel at the end and expanding more upon the role of the Sea Witch and Ariel's father, King Triton.  And unlike in previous films, where the girl and boy instantly locked eyes and fell in love, Ariel as a mute really has to work to win Eric's heart.  A wide variety of characters are allowed to have their own needs and desires, and one in fact learns a critical lesson, but more on that in another round.  On it's own, The Little Mermaid took a lot of risks in terms of modernized Fairy Tale storytelling and began the line of more complex and innovative plots and storylines moving forward. 

+6 points 

4. The Hunchback of Notre Dame 

If The Little Mermaid took liberties with the plot of the original fairy tale, The Hunchback of Notre Dame practically rewrote Victor Hugo's dark tragedy of religious corruption.  Frollo isn't a priest in the film and isn't the source of intolerance, and most of the characters besides Esmeralda and Quasimodo were, for lack of a better term, assholes.  Disney's take on the film isn't exactly a watered down version of the story, though.  There are certainly some poorly constructed elements, but they are mostly underplayed.  In fact, for children, this film is a very dark and thought provoking film.  Frollo is a more menacing and realistic villain when compared to Ratcliffe or Jafar, because he can represent our elected body and the very people we trust to protect us when they are corrupted by their greed and lust for both power and...well...gals.  Quasimodo's story is more about acceptance from the people of Paris, and Esmeralda is actually more than just a hot woman that several men want to bang.  Despite not following the book perhaps more than any film since The Jungle Book, Disney's take on the most adult book they've ever looked at is an incredibly insightful look into just how a society works and operates.  Well done.

+7 points 

3. Aladdin

The original Arabic folktale of "Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp" takes more of a 1980's Oliver Stone movie.  The boy is born and lives with nothing, finds riches, finds girl, loses both, and gets both back while losing a bit of his humanity along the way.  In Aladdin, the characters are properly fleshed out and the story is likened to more like a 

romantic comedy.  The boy is poor, meets girl, finds a way to date her by lying, his secret is revealed, and he decides to show her who he really is.  And yet, the story has so much payoff and delight in it's confines that it really surprises me that nobody really loves this film as much as I do.  The villain isn't killed like in most Disney movies.  Instead, the movie allows Jafar to really do himself in and trap himself in his own "itty bitty living space".  Aladdin, unlike Ariel, causes a ton of problems in Agrabah, yet manages to save the day and even decides to give up his dream to marry Princess Jasmine in favor of freeing Genie from his lamp.  While I will admit the whole "Let's just change the law" stuff the Sultan does at the end is a fair plot hole to bring up, the rest of the film is so solid that it borders perfection.  Another job done well, Aladdin.  

+8 points 

2. Beauty and the Beast 

One of the things that I find to be incredibly overrated with regards to the original Fairy Tale of "Beauty and the Beast" is this notion that the Beast and Beauty's relationship was one of the most dynamic.  From what I've read of the original tale, the Beast was only moved by her beauty and the girl by his caring for her.  In Disney's retelling, the film takes a TRULY dynamic approach, not only having Belle and the Beast acting downright hostile towards each other, but also gradually allowing the Beast and Belle to care for one another by getting to know each other.  Belle learns to overlook the Beast's temper and gruff exterior and see the kindness and innocence he has inside, while Beast overlooks Belle's beauty to get to know just how smart, intelligent and spirited she is.  The film is also clever enough to not tell us how much time has passed between Belle being imprisoned in the castle and her falling in love with the Beast.  It could be weeks, or even months.  But the best element the story provides is the opposite tracks our hero and villain walk.  While the Beast is vicious and cruel in the beginning, he is warmed by Belle's heart and caring.  Gaston starts out as a handsome, muscular buffoon, then transforms into a bloodthirsty monster hellbent on getting what he wants.  And this is the reason Beauty and the Beast is truly Oscar worthy, NOT Pocahontas!!!!

+9 points 

1. The Lion King

It's one thing to have a character that isn't the villain die.  After all, several Disney films do that.  It's another thing to have a character die during the movie.  Disney has also done that quite a few times.  But it is a completely different thing entirely when the character's death triggers not only a serious emotional response from the audience, but also drives the emotional workings of a character AND the plot.  The Lion King is a film of many firsts and many of the things that this film has ushered in has been foolishly attempted to be duplicated.  Mufasa's death and the subsequent exile it forces Simba into allows Disney to reach new levels of emotional depths in their storytelling.  But the story is more than just about Mufasa's death.  We also mustn't forget all of the inspiring lessons that Mufasa bestows upon both his son and the audience, the contrasting conditions the Pridelands are forced into when changing kings twice, and the subsequent journey Simba takes into his own subconscious, makes The Lion King the most well rounded and all around sensational Disney story ever told.

Current Standings:

1. Aladdin                                               76 pts
2. The Lion King                                    71 pts
3. Beauty and the Beast                         69 pts
4. The Little Mermaid                            67 pts
5. The Hunchback of Notre Dame        56 pts
6. Tarzan                                                 35 pts
7. Pocahontas                                         32 pts
8. Mulan                                                  31 pts
*9. The Rescuers Down Under              30 pts
10. Hercules                                            27 pts

Next Round: The final round of the Tournament is a cage match of nothing but the timeless messages and morals these legendary films give us.  Which of these Ten morals was the best and which left us scratching our heads?  Which were the most original and which were the most cliched?  Which of these films can beat Aladdin?  Find out when Part 10 is ready to go!  

King's Analysis #2: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

        This sheer significance and importance of this film is so mind-boggling, that it surprises me that so many people find it to be a bore or not truly good when compared to films of the 1950's or 1990's.  People seem to forget just how many filmmakers, executives, storytellers, musicians, and so many others have been affected by the simple existence of this movie.  Without Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the following films/books would never have been made or known as significant as they are now:

The Wizard of Oz

Citizen Kane

Pinocchio

The Lord of the Rings

Fantasia

Star Wars

Indiana Jones

The Lion King

Beauty and the Beast

Harry Potter

The Chronicles of Narnia

along side dozens of others...

This film was the Titanic of it's day, garnering over $8,000,000 in revenue in a time when a child could get into the theater for 20 cents.  In fact, some doubt that the record this film set for the most tickets sold in the film's life time has or will ever be matched.  To draw some comparisons, an adult ticket for Gone With the Wind cost $2.50 for an adult because the film was so long and so expensive.  The reason Gone With the Wind outgrossed this film was because of the sheer expense of the film (also don't forget that people still didn't want to release Snow White in their theaters because of a prejudice against animation).  

It was a critical darling, winning the hearts of almost every single living being who watched the film.  The film ushered in an entirely new era of movie making, and paved the way for an entire menagerie of animated films, cartoons, video games, and an assortment of many other various entertainment mediums.  To put it bluntly, without arguably the greatest gamble in motion picture history, the world would be an entirely different place.

Welcome to a behind the scenes look at the One that Started it All, and is even to this day, still the Fairest One of All...The King's Analysis of Walt Disney's epic masterpiece, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

1. Depression Era Disney

At the start of the Great Depression, there seemed to be but one medium that remained largely unaffected by the downward spike in economic prosperity: Motion Picture.  At a time, some studios employed nearly 1,000 workers who found new ways of expanding the medium to include many specific things into films that were deemed impossible before, from simple things like sound and color, to more drastic things like camera depth and action scenes.  While the rest of the Motion Picture world prospered, the Walt Disney Studios in California was busy trying to find ways to make animated films more appealing.  Walt Disney and his partner Ub Iwerks had already created Mickey Mouse in 1928's "Steamboat Willie", the first cartoon to use stereophonic sound.  By the 1930's, the studio had expanded upon Mickey Mouse and had created a host of other characters to stand alongside him, including his girlfriend Minnie, his best friend Donald Duck, his rival Pete, or his trusted pal Pluto.  Walt had even created a new kind of cartoon, Silly Symphonies, which were being used by Walt to further push the boundaries of animation to never before reached heights.  Whether they were used to push forward the art of storytelling ("The Ugly Duckling", "The Cookie Carnival") or were being used to push the technology forward ("Flowers and Trees", "The Old Mill") these cartoons were all being made with the best in the business.  

Despite the enormous amount  of praise and adulation he was getting, Walt and his brother Roy both realized that the short subjects were not making enough money to profit much or to survive.  The Disney Brothers both had the clairvoyance to see that the cartoon medium would not survive simply getting paid minor amounts for work that would get more and more expensive as time went on.  In Walt's own words:

"The Short Subject is just a filler on any program.  I figured if I could crack the feature field, I could do something..."

2. Disney's Folly 

As Walt began to ponder the unthinkable in the early 1930's, he began to search for the perfect story to turn into an animated film.  By 1932, he had several stories in mind, including "The Jungle Book", "Peter Pan", "Alice in Wonderland", "Jack and the Beanstalk", "Beauty and the Beast", "Cinderella", "Mary Poppins", and "Bambi", most of which would be made into feature length films in the future.  But in the end, Walt chose the story of "Snow White" as written by the Brothers Grimm.  He felt strong ties to Snow White, because the first movie he saw in theaters was a silent movie version in 1916.  He hoped to adapt Snow White from that version into the movie he hoped to make of the classic Fairy Tale.  As he began to prepare his artists for the adventure of a lifetime, even he didn't know exactly what he was in for.  He estimated that Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs would cost a then reasonable $500,000 dollars.  He let Roy budget out the movie, while he focused on making Snow White as wonderful a story as possible.  

For the last several years, Walt had been bringing in many different animators and artists to help make his films more believable.  These artists included the likes of European artists Gustaf Tenggren and Albert Hurter, who all contributed in many ways to the successful style that Walt needed for Snow White and later on for Pinocchio.  And these artists would in turn pass on their expertise to many of the future leaders of Walt Disney Animation.  One such animator was Grim Natwick, who had originally worked at the Fleischer Studios.  Natwick was a specialized animator, who often animated female characters, giving them more depth and realism than was customary for characters at the time.  Natwick was ultimately the animator chiefly responsible for the creation of Betty Boop and was hired by Walt to give the character of Snow White more feminine wiles and styles of animation.  

But while many of the animators in the studio were overjoyed at the thought of making a movie, almost every person in Hollywood mocked the idea of an animated film being made, making up excuses that the animators would run out of jokes and that the bright colors would hurt the eyes of the audience.  Barely a few months into production, people began calling the film "Disney's Folly", almost psoitve that regardless of how good the film was, that the studio would implode with such an enormous undertaking being made.  

3. Storyboards...

Walt Disney is known to many as a man who could turn rocks into diamonds, being arguably the best Storyman the studio had to offer.  But few know just how shrewd an editor he was, even with his most beloved project.  In fact, it was only 6 or 7 months before the release of the film in 1937 that Walt had decided on the names of the Seven Dwarfs.  But there were nearly a dozen scenes and concepts cut from the final film because Walt viewed them as irrelevant to the final story.  Some of the ideas he used were used in later films.  For example, before they began to seriously struggle with the animation of the human characters (Snow White, the Queen, or the Prince), there were many other scenes that had been written for these characters.  The Prince was supposed to arrive to woo Snow White midway through the picture, and the Queen would have her guards kidnap him and chain him up in the dungeons while the Queen tried to win his heart.  The Prince would perform a Doug Fairbanks routine and try to fight his way to save Snow White.  Sound familiar?  Well, this concept was used for Sleeping Beauty 20 years later.  

Other scenes that were cut from the film included:

A Dream sequence for "Someday My Prince Will Come" with Snow White and the Prince

A Bed Building scene for Snow White

A Bedroom fight between Doc and Grumpy

The Death of the Huntsman

A Fully animated musical number of the Seven Dwarfs eating soup

Two other attempts on Snow White's life by the Queen

4. The Human Problem...

Walt had anticipated many issues with the production of his dream project, but never did he anticipate the drawing of realistic humans to be such an enormous issue for his young crop of animators.  Most of his animators were used to drawing cartoons, be they Silly Symphonies or Mickey Mouse cartoons and had never been forced to be realistic with their art.  This provided a serious problem for Walt, who was still trying to make the world in Snow White as believable as possible.  Most of the original concept art for the three main humans was cast aside for being too unrealistic (the Queen looked more like the Queen of Hearts than her regally cruel persona she had adorned in the final film).  While Grim Natwick was able to animate a believable Snow White and save the princesses character, and Art Babbitt and Woolie Reitherman animated the Queen and her Magic Mirror quite well, the animation of the Prince was so poor that his role was cut back to its barest minimum, unintentionally causing a curse on the concept of Princes in Disney Fairy Tales that would not be perfected in Walt's lifetime (Aladdin was the character who was the result of an incredible breakthrough that took years to perfect).  Nevertheless, the animation of humans would continue to hamper Disney Animation until well into the 1940's, when the studio resumed theatrical releases after the conclusion of World War II.

5. The Villain Effect

One thing that Walt himself realized while making his magnum opus, was that he could not afford for his villain to be anything short of absolute soulless cruelty.  He had done good comedic work with his villains like The Big Bad Wolf and Peg Legged Pete, but even he knew that Snow White required a truly diabolical villain.  The Wicked Queen is the first in a long line of wonderful collaborations between animators and voice actors to help make the villain as truly heartless as possible.  Lucille La Verne was the actress who voiced both the Queen and her hag form.  In order to voice the Hag, La Verne volunteered to take out her dentures and speak without them.  Art Babbit, Norm Ferguson, and Albert Hurter were the lead animators who perfected the Queen, in making the woman as shrewd, calculating, and diabolical as possible.  Her most imfamous scenes are when she demands that the Huntsman brings her Snow White's heart in a box, and her sheer joy in watching Snow White succumb to the poisonous apple.  The Queen was a huge breakthrough in the history of Disney Animation, because of just he subtlety of her character.  She is beautiful, yet vain, and in her efforts to be deemed the Fairest in the Land, she forces herself to become a form equal to her soul.  But while the Queen is more reserved in her evil behaviors, the hag is extremely over the top in her attitudes with regards to her cruelty, which is sheer brilliance.  But the Queen is also a breakthrough, because her cruelty and malice with which she acted gave way to a plethora of other diabolical baddies, including Maleficent, Ursula, Lady Tremaine, Cruella De Vil, Jafar, Claude Frollo, and Scar.  

6. Musical Magic

Most movie historians inaccurately give Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Oklahoma" credit for creating the idea that music could be used to guide the story.  This is untrue for many reasons, but mostly because six years prior, Snow White was released and utilized the same formula.  Disney Animation was no stranger to music, having already had a successful song written: "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?".  The songs for Snow White were not songs that halted the story or slowed the pace of the film.  Rather, the songs set the pace for the film themselves.  If the pace needs to speed up, a brisk and cheerful song like "Whistle While You Work" or "Heigh-Ho" is plugged in to move the pace along.  If the scene was slower and needed more emotional depth, the musicians plugged in "Someday My Prince Will Come".  This immediatelty impacted two other major movie musicals that followed it: Pinocchio and The Wizard of Oz, both of whom adhered to this formula before "Oklahoma" even left the ground.    Frank Churchill and Larry Morey wrote the lyrical music, giving the film the emotional depth it required.  Meanwhile, Leigh Harline and Paul J. Smith wrote the score, which often ranged from innocent and light to dark and heavy, utilizing the art of music to sheer perfection.

7. Crisis

As production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs began to gain momentum in the winter of 1936 and spring of 1937, Walt and Roy both realized they were in a serious crisis.  Not only had the film dramatically exceeded it's budget of $500,000, but it was also in serious danger of being shut down because the studio was practically out of money.  The Bank of America was incredibly reluctant to give Walt the money he so desperately needed to finish the film before it's December 1937 release, primarily because none of the executives had seen a hint of the film's completion and feared they wouldn't get any money back.  Roy set up a meeting for Walt and a banker named Joe Rosenberg to run what was finished of Snow White.  The film was hardly colored and some scenes were still using storyboards.  Walt would have tp plug in many different times to show Mr. Rosenberg just how wonderful the film would be.  Little is known about what exactly piqued Mr. Rosenberg's curiosity, but what is known is that Rosenberg got into his car, pulled back to Walt and said: "That thing is gonna make you a pile of money" and drove off.  Against the wishes of the financing leaders of the world, Snow White cost an astonishing $1,500,000, which was the modern day equivalent of $250 million dollars.  

8. The Premiere

Time replaced money as Walt Disney's greatest foe in 1937.  With barely two weeks to go, the animation team finally finished the last scene.  But nobody had taken any time to market the picture.  Walt ultimately sent the boys around town, nailing signs to telephone poles for audiences to see Snow White.  

In December 1937, an enormous premiere was held at the Carthay Circle Theater.  Simple down to earth animators like Frank Thomas, Art Babbitt, and Milt Kahl were sitting a few seats away from Clark Gable, Shirley Temple, and dozens of various Hollywood starlets and screen personalities who were eager to see for themselves just what Walt was cooking up in his studio.  As Walt and his animators had hoped, the audience laughed in the right moments, gasped in the right moments, and to the surprise of Ward Kimball, cried in the right moments:

"Half of these people had been ridiculing the movie a week before.  Everybody was crying over a cartoon..."

And when the film concluded, the audience erupted in applause.  Cheers rained down on the animators and Walt Disney for the most significant animated cartoon ever made.  "Disney's Folly" had become Disney's Triumph.  Snow White was beloved by critics and audiences alike and even to this day is still one of the most revered films in all of the history of motion picture.  

9. The Legacy

In November 2014, the Walt Disney Animation Studios released Big Hero 6, their 54th animated film in the pantheon of animated feature film releases.  Between Snow White and Big Hero 6, we have been treated to elephants who learn to fly, puppets who come to life, mermaids who dream of life on shore, young lions who would be kings, young boys who would unleash genies, and dozens of other animation ideas and stories that all owe their existence to the biggest gamble Walt Disney would ever take in his career.  And, much to my surprise, the last 7 entries to the legacy:

Bolt

The Princess and the Frog

Tangled

Winnie the Pooh

Wreck It Ralph

Frozen

Big Hero 6

...have all been animated films that could perhaps one day motivate an entire generation to get involved in animation and to love the medium as millions of kids and adults in my generation have with our films.  And yet, none of us truly grasp that without Snow White, none of these other films would have been possible.  And Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs deserves nothing but praise, love, and adulation from the billions of people on earth as we come close to celebrating the film's 77th birthday.  We will forever be in debt to the animators, musicians, technicians, actors, and of course, the dreamer at it's epicenter: Walt Disney.  Our childhoods would never have been the same without him and them...