Film Snark

A white old man with a black jacket, white collar, black hat with a red feather, and white hair and a mustache looks on as a young white boy with a yellow shirt and orange hair and a smiling green dragon with a napkin wrapped around its neck look at a plate of red and yellow fruit.
D+
Disney Animated Features

The Reluctant Dragon
Released: June 20th, 1941

I didn't know this existed until today.

This starts slowly, and to be honest I can't believe this had a theatrical release. I almost turned it off. But then they got to the sound effects room and I couldn't be torn away. Watching them mix paints, and use a zoom camera on multiple layers of transparent animations was mesmerizing. I wish every 10 minutes I didn't get my wonder interrupted by something offensive :sigh:

Notable Grossness

Ethnic slurs, inappropriate flirting in a professional environment, another appearance of the black women centaurs from Fantasia (ugh ugh ugh)

It also has one of my favorite Goofy cartoons, and another old favorite cartoon (which is actually the titular The Reluctant Dragon). Disney Channel used to show these ones in isolation, so I didn't realize they were part of a movie. I honestly consider the cartoons themselves to be sidecar content to the main film, which is mildly interesting when it's not tossing ethnic slurs around. This is why I'm giving it a low grade. Given the content (it's basically a "how animations are made at Disney" feature), I'm not sure it's got a lot of rewatch appeal. Especially if Disney+ has managed to separate out the Goofy cartoon into its own streamable thing.

I especially liked the parts about color mixing, and the multiplane camera, because the technology is interesting. But one of my favorite things is when you get to see voice actors doing the voices for their characters. Donald Duck! But some of these contrived scenes with the animators have a "gee whillikers" sort of tone to them that I doubt is representative of real animation work. A white man in a green suit with black hair leans over a drawing table facing away from us. At the table is a white man with light brown hair in a white shirt, red patterned tie, and dark suspenders. He is panting like a dog and opening his eyes wide. The caption reads 'srs work'

November 17th, 2020
Pete's Dragon
A movie release poster shows a group of white people, 4 men, a woman, and a young boy, surrounding a green animated dragon with pink wings and red hair. The poster says "Coming at Christmas, Walt Disney Productions' Pete's Dragon"
Bedknobs and Broomsticks
Five human actors, a woman, a man, and three children of various ages, sit on a flying brass bed with a floral blanket, with the moon and clouds behind them. Below them, illustrated animals are in various poses: two fish dance together (one in a suit); two fish and an octopus play in a band together with the words "The Briny Boys" on the front of the drum kit; an alligator, a rhino, and a gorilla run around a soccer field in yellow and green athletic outfits; a lion in a crown and red royal robe stands with one foot on the soccer ball; and a secretary bird in a suit with glasses stands watching.

Recent Snark

Bert, a chimney sweep, Jane, a young blonde child in a red dress and yellow overcoat, Michael, a young strawberry blonde child in short pants and a button coat, and Mary Poppins, a nanny in a red dress with a black hat with white flowers, stand on a rooftop, covered in soot.

Mary Poppins

Julie Andrews is a genuine delight, whether she's being fun or she's irritated. It's not just her voice, her whole presence is just delightful. George and Winifred Banks are excellent side characters, and the kids are as adorable as they need to be. Dick Van Dyke is a national treasure and I won't hear a word against him.

Structurally, there's not really a plot, but that makes sense given that it's based on a series of kind of episodic books. It's also very long. I think the length and episodic nature takes away from the character study of stuffy, cross Mr. Banks and how he learns from his children (and Mary Poppins and Bert) how to retain a sense of wonder and joy. But it's consistently fun. The music is delightful, the dancing is wonderful, and the adventures Mary Poppins and Bert and the kids go on are spectacular. I'm sure I have nostalgia for it but I think this stands up, to be honest.

The dings on the grade are for occasional bad costumes, bad makeup, the length, the imperialist nonsense. I'm honestly tempted to raise it back up because of the flawless animation/live action melding.

September 13th, 2022
Bigfoot, a giant humanoid creature with red fur, sits in front of a cardboard box with a downward pointing arrow on the side, wearing a pair of white men's briefs underwear on his head. He holds the crotch hole open with his fingers so he can look out. Goofy, a dog-like humanoid cartoon with black skin and a pale face, and long ears, watches from his yellow car several hundred feet behind Bigfoot, with his son Max in the passenger seat; Max looks similar to Goofy.

A Goofy Movie

I know this is shameful for someone my age but I've never seen this movie before. I may have caught bits of it when my brothers were younger, but the only thing I remember is Pauly Shore doing the leaning tower of cheese-a. I'm pretty much going into this one blind.

March 1st, 2022