I can’t believe it’s actually been twenty five years since “Beauty and the Beast” actually came to theaters. It’s one of the many Disney films I went to see as a child, and loved it for its amazing animation and fantastic tale. Disney offered up their own twist on the fairy tale many read as children, and it’s a unique iteration that managed to be a huge hit in the 90’s. It is also the last animated movie to be a serious Oscar contender before the Oscars stuffed animation in to their own category away from live action fare. “Beauty and the Beast” thankfully still holds up as a moving and charming tale that takes a very epic tone toward the classic fairy tale.
Tag Archives: Disney
The PC Thug: In The 90’s, “Darkwing Duck” is the Superhero We Needed
The nineties were a peculiar time. The comic book industry was coming out of the huge success of Alan Moore’s “Watchmen,” and Frank Miller’s “The Dark Knight Returns,” while a bunch of young artists formed Image Comics and gave us a slew of new superheroes and avengers, all of whom were dark, bloody, brooding, and hairy. All the clean cut awe of Superman and Captain America went out of style giving way to a decade of muscle bound heroes with pouches, giant guns, massive swords, and a lot of angst that came with their back story. Even a very nineties hero like Spawn was made even more nineties being transformed in to a gun toting bad ass in his own movie. For a decade where superheroes were all doom and gloom, Disney seemed to play off of that trend by offering up a goofy satire called “Darkwing Duck.”
Adventures in Babysitting (2016) (DVD)
What a difference from 1987 to 2016, isn’t it? In the original “Adventures in Babysitting,” our intrepid heroes led by their babysitter are evading a group of car thieves anxiously trying to get back their notes that they scribbled on a playboy that one of the characters stashed accidentally. Here, the group runs afoul two inept pawn shop clerks that want the camera character Lola has after taking a picture of their illegal exotic animal. Disney’s newest stars Sabrina Carpenter and Sofia Carson are charming in their co-starring roles as high schoolers competing for a photography internship.
Both girls end up in a variety of misadventures as babysitters caring for a small group of rambunctious kids after a cell phone mix up. Over the course of the night, they cross criminals, mean car towers, and even have to talk their way out of a police station when they’re accused of committing a crime. They now have to get their car back home before midnight hoping to beat the parents of their charges home. While I’d still watch Columbus’ original with my family, Disney takes great lengths to tone down a lot of the menace and hazards from the original. This means no college party, no drunken girl hitting on one of the characters, no gang war in a train, and no one mistaking one of the babysitters for a Playboy centerfold.
Considering co-star Sabrina Carpenter is barely eighteen, that’d be painfully creepy, so that’s not a huge omission, all things considered. That said, “Adventures in Babysitting” is a solid diversion with some neat adventure and antics, even if it isn’t one of Disney’s best original films. It garners solid performances, kid friendly antics, and includes a lot of its own twists on the original film’s events, including a huge chase through a Laundromat, and an impromptu performance that results in a rap battle. With Disney Channel Original Movies, you have to take the good with the bad, and thankfully this remake offers a lot more good than bad.
It’s certainly better than “The Descendents.”
The DVD only comes with a two minute blooper reel, and a fridge magnet that doubles as a picture frame and a check list for babysitters. Frankly, I’m surprised Disney didn’t make a bigger deal out of their one hundredth television movie for this home release. If you’ve watched the Disney Channel for the last three months, they’ve had behind the scenes segments, interviews with Sabrina Carpenter and Sofia Carson, a music video with the pair, and a “making of” with the pair recording the film’s theme song.
Adventures in Babysitting (2016)
“Adventures in Babysitting” was a highly talked about remake being developed over the course of half a decade, as there were talks of a big screen release with Raven-Symone starring, then Miley Cyrus perhaps taking on the lead. After years in gestation, it was finally dropped on to the Disney Channel as their 100th Original movie. Sure enough, now that Symone is a self-parody, and Cyrus is doing her own adult things, Disney hands the notable remake over to two of the current Disney stars Sabrina Carpenter, and Sofia Carson. Disney has been very good about casting their films for the last decade, so Carson and Carpenter aren’t just talented, charismatic actresses, but also attract their own loyal fan base.
My Top Five Favorite Fictional Babysitters
With the remake of “Adventures in Babysitting” coming to Disney Channel on Friday, I thought I’d go over some of my favorite babysitters from pop culture. I went through a ton of potentials, including the ladies from “The Babysitters Club,” but I admittedly never read any of the books, so this is more cinematic babysitters. Some of these are babysitters I wish I had as child. It would have made staying home so much easier.
Finding Dory (2016)
I, like many other people, were wondering why there even needed to be a sequel to “Finding Nemo” that focused on Dory. Granted, Dory was a charming supporting character, and Ellen DeGeneres was great, but Dory always seemed like a character you could quickly get bored with. Surprisingly, director Andrew Stanton not only proves that Dory is worth focusing an entire film on, but that her story deserved to be told just as much as Marlin and Nemo’s did. Stanton and co. follow a very non–linear storyline for the sequel; “Finding Dory” goes back in time to follow the blue Tang we know as Dory, then cuts off as she meets Marlin, and begins a year later where she’s now living with Marlin and Nemo and acting as Nemo’s surrogate guardian alongside Marlin.
Dory, much like Nemo, was born with just as much of a disadvantage. While “Finding Nemo” conveyed the trials, tribulations, and worries of raising a child with a physical disability, “Finding Dory” uses Dory’s short term memory loss as a metaphor for the trials, tribulations, and worries that come with raising a child with a mental illness or mental disability. Raising Dory isn’t so much a burden for her parents Jenny and Charlie, as they approach her lack of memory with as much patience and consideration as possible. They’re well meaning and lovely parents that do everything in their power to help Dory channel her disability in to an advantage all while turning it in to a fun game.
But they can only do so much, since they don’t really seem to accept that Dory’s condition is permanent and may be a part of who she is for the rest of her life. Plus, as she ages, the world is looking more and more appealing to her, so it soon becomes a race for her parents to make her handicapable before their worst fears of the ocean swallowing her up come to fruition. Sadly, Dory does get lost, and her short term memory becomes a constant pitfall in her efforts to reunite with her parents. Before long, she’s forgotten that she’s even lost, and years have passed on. Thus she meets her fate with Marlin and Nemo, which gives her a newfound perspective and the confidence that she can find her parents once again. “Finding Dory” opens up the world we saw in “Finding Nemo” by adding a new slew of fun and lovable characters.
I especially loved Hank the Septopus, Destiny a near sighted Whale Shark, and a pair of Walrus’ comically protective of their perching rock. “Finding Dory” isn’t just a callback to the original film, but the narrative literally centers on Dory trying to find her memories and her family which ultimately represents herself. DeGeneres is even better here than in the first film as Dory, as she injects a lot of complexity and true emotions in the character and her journey to find her family which she is convinced will help improve her memory in the long run. “Finding Dory” is fantastic as director Andrew Stanton and co. give Dory brand new obstacles and dimensions, and comprise a funny, exciting, and incredibly heartbreaking tale of overcoming a handicap and leaning on family when the world is at its darkest.
Zootopia (2016) [Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital]
Disney’s newest “Zootopia” is a very heavy and complex movie that can be appreciated by a broader audience. Sure, it has a lot of ideas about heroism, courage, and features a slew of really charming cute animals, but it’s also a tale about prejudice and stereotypes. It’s an inverted exploration of biases and conclusions we draw with others that can be dissected and analyzed by virtually anyone. I don’t think “Zootopia” is about a specific issue in the modern social and political climate, but it does hold an interesting function in helping us to take a second look at racism and the ideas of stereotyping a specific sub-set of individuals and how damaging it can be to us as a society and personally.
Ginnifer Goodwin is fantastic as Judy Hopps, a rabbit who has been told all of her life that she’s incapable of being anything but a farmer. When she beats all the odds and tries for her role as a police officer, she eventually proves everyone wrong and ends up earning a job as an officer in Zootopia. Zootopia is a series of small communities and cities made up animals, most of which are prey. The predators are reserved for more side roles in the society that are influential but not totally intimidating. Judy is underestimated mainly for her size and gender, and is sadly relegated to being a Meter Maid.
After stopping a theft from a local flower shop, she begs her commander Chief Bogo (Idris Elba) for a chance, and volunteers to find a missing Otter. With only forty eight hours given by Bogo, Judy begins cracking the case and blackmails local con artist, Nick Wilde, a sly Fox who may be able to help her. With their uneasy pact, Hopps learns about a grander scheme involving other missing animals, and the unnerving idea that local predators may begin hunting prey and ruining the harmony of Zootopia. Goodwin is charming and fun as heroine Hopps, who manages to disprove a lot of assumptions about her from her department and fox Nick Wilde, who sees her as literally nothing more than a dumb bunny who’s bitten off more than she can chew.
With courage and old fashioned determination, Hoops paves her way in to the annals of Disney heroines with ease. The voice work is fantastic with folks like Idris Elba and JK Simmons lending their voice talents, while Jason Bateman is a wonderful foil to Hopps. With his calm and smug deliver, Bateman turns Wilde in to a complex anti-hero, who garners his own ideas about stereotypes and the often inescapable pigeonholes society can put us in to. Wile just accepts his fate as a lower class predator, while Hopps is eager to prove she’s so much more than prey destined to reproduce and farm. Like the former Disney smash “Frozen,” the writers take its audience seriously and offer complex and very adult overtones that will allow them to give second and third thoughts about what “Zootopia” is trying to convey.
Along the way there are some genuinely funny moments, including the visit to the DMV run by Sloths, the fun jabs at previous Disney films, and shockingly compelling dynamic between Nick and Judy. “Zootopia” is another stellar Disney film that begs for a second look thanks to its evocative overtones and commentary.
The Disney release of “Zootopia” comes with a DVD and Digital Copy alongside the Blu-Ray. Among the features, there’s “Research: A True-Life Adventure,” a ten minute look at how the filmmakers dropped themselves in to the animal kingdom to research wildlife and bring them to life for the film. “The Origin of an Animal Tale” is a nine minute look at filmmakers discussing ideas for the movie during development, along with inspirations, themes, and whatnot.
“Zoology: The Roundtable” is a three part feature clocking in at almost a half hour, covering various facets of the film. There’s “Characters” about the film’s primary characters, “Environments” about the bigger and more minute details that comprise the film, and “Animation” revolving around the film’s fantastic animated sequences. “Scoretopia” is a look at the film’s fun score, “Z.P.D. Forensic Files” is a three minute look a the Disney East Eggs throughout the movie. There’s a music video by Shakira, a look at the characters removed from the final film, and a slew of deleted scenes and an alternate opening with an optional commentary by Byron Howard and Rich Moore.