Film Snark

Baloo, a gray bear, Mowgli, a young boy with dark bronze skin, black hair to his chin, and Bagheera, a black panther, peer over large green leaves in a jungle next to a tree.
B-
Disney Animated Features

The Jungle Book
Released: October 18th, 1967

I just like this stupid little film. I love all the characters, and the story goes along quickly, and the music is interesting and memorable.

Stream of consciousness thoughts:

Notable Grossness

Welp. I'm sure you could have guessed. And it was definitely the monkeys. Not all of them use traditional AAVE, but a lot of them sure do. And having the orangutan be a jazz/scat musician is just....not appropriate. I love how Disney wanted to cast Louis Armstrong but wanted to avoid the implications of casting a Black man as an orangutan, but instead cast Louis Prima, who was a white appropriator of jazz music, particularly that of Louis Armstrong. There's an incredibly good breakdown of the racial implications of this particular bit of casting here: https://theaporetic.com/history/the-strange-career-of-king-louie I honestly love "I Wanna Be Like You" - it's a problematic fave, I acknowledge. Also - why is the 11-year-old Indian girl sexy with bedroom eyes? So gross.

Bagheera: "HERE HAVE THIS MAN CUB" :hides in a bush:

Goddammit, Rama is voiced by Grimsby from The Little Mermaid. My heart. Mowgli sticking out his tongue at Kaa is such a sweet tiny detail, it makes me fall in love with his stupid tiny boy face. Then, Mowgli punching Baloo in the guts. Just friggin' choice.

Poor Baloo 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 HE'S ALIVE <-- me every time

I do really adore most of the characters in this movie - the action is intentional, the story is interesting, and the humor is great. "I'm putting in for a transfer to another herd!" "Here it comes. The Victoria Cross bit again." Poor, put-upon Bagheera. Has to deal with a whiny boy raised by wolves. He wasn't cut out to be a babysitter. Haha. Bagheera, a blank panther, runs through the jungle to the edge of a pit, but stops and panics, flailing his limbs and tail and falling on his butt as Baloo, a gray Sloth bear sticks his head out of the pit and yawns or hollers. The caption on Bagheera says, 'My cat' and the caption on Baloo says, 'A box I'm opening'

I love that Kaa's voice is Winnie the Pooh... Basically I like anything Sterling Holloway voices. To be honest, this is some really excellent voice work across the board. Not just because they're familiar ones but also because they're so well cast. Really, all the sound design and editing is excellent. It really supports the narrative flow and the score helps to carry the story along.

There's a lot of repeated bits of animation in this film, but it's not egregious. Tons of this music is memorable, mostly for good reasons. This animation isn't revolutionary, but it's pretty, and it supports the story - you can tell they're getting better with this copying sketches to cels technique.

March 30th, 2021
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