Search Results for: blog alice in turmoil

“Alice” in Turmoil

Today Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland” adaptation hits the screen, but not all the buzz surrounding the film is positive. Disney executives recently stirred up controversy over the film when they announced that they’ll release it on DVD only 12 weeks after its debut in theaters. The short, unprecedented gap between the cinema and home release of “Alice in Wonderland” begs the question whether many fans will bother to see the movie in theaters. Why fight crowds and pay exorbitant ticket prices when one can buy or rent the film after a small wait? That’s exactly what has many theater … Continue reading →

Disney’s Recent Racial Controversies

Disney might be considered a family-friendly company, but that doesn’t mean it’s free from all controversy.  When it comes to its own properties, Disney is far from perfect, and there have been some big examples in the past year. The first has to do with “Princess Sofia,” and it’s not over whether or not she’s teaching princess obsession to toddlers.  I didn’t comment on the story for a while because the details kept changing, but things have seemed to settle down.  In the fall, promotional images of the film were released.  They revealed that Sofia’s mother had darker skin, eyes, … Continue reading →

First Glimpse of Angelina Jolie’s Maleficent

I’ve reported less on forthcoming Disney movies than I used to, now that I’ve learned how the whole studio machine works. I don’t believe rumors of a film until filming actually starts and we see some production photos. That’s why I’ve said very little about Disney’s live action Maleficent film. I first heard rumblings about Disney wanting to make a live action movie about one of their most popular villains back when Tim Burton made his feature length “Alice in Wonderland.” At the time the rumor was that Burton wanted to direct. After hearing that I assumed that Helena Bonham-Carter … Continue reading →

Walt Disney’s Wonderland

“Alice in Wonderland” is that rare Disney movie for which the source text is more beloved than the animated adaptation. Today I’m only looking at the 1951 Walt-Disney-overseen animated adaptation of the famous stories by Lewis Carroll, not Tim Burton’s recent live action film; perhaps I’ll return to that another day. Disney did something interesting with this film: it’s an adaptation of both “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and “Through the Looking Glass.” Bringing both stories to the screen is possible because, well, both are just the tales of Alice’s many adventures in Wonderland. Neither have a specific plot; Alice falls … Continue reading →

Breaking into the Disney Vault

The Disney Vault is famous. We’ve explored the concept of the Vault before, so any of those not in the know can find a primer here. In short: Disney wants to make more money on its movies. They think the value of a film will go up if it’s only available to purchase for a limited time. The Disney Vault has been getting more attention lately as Warner Brothers Studios has just employed a similar concept with another institution: Harry Potter. Despite the fact that “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2” only just became available for purchase four … Continue reading →

Mary Blair’s Disney Legacy

Last year for Women’s History Month I introduced the women of the Pen and Ink Department in the Golden Era of Walt Disney Animation. Today, on the 100th anniversary of Women’s History Day, his year I want to take a look at a woman who stands out in the following generation of Disney work in the 1940s. One of the most notable of these female Disney animation trailblazers is Mary Blair. Inducted into the Disney Legends Hall in 1991, Mary Blair revolutionized the artistry of the Disney Company. Her biography on the Legends website has the scoop on Mary Blair’s … Continue reading →

Beauty and the Beast Sing-Along

Last February I spent a weekend visiting my sister-in-law baking cookies and watching Disney movies; our husbands both weren’t included (though hers was in the house, but he mostly hid from us). We first made plans for our Disney weekend discussing “Beauty and the Beast.” We both love the movie so much we always sing along with the songs, and usually follow along with the dialog as well. We talked about how we can never watch the movie with anyone else, because others usually find our tendency to recite the whole film annoying. So we figured we’d match each other … Continue reading →

Disappointed in Disney’s Summer Offerings

Why doesn’t Disney have me excited this summer? That’s the question I keep asking myself, and one to which I just can’t find the answer. My first major shock of the summer is that I’m not interested in seeing Pixar’s newest film. For the past three or four years, one of the few trips I actually take to the movie theater is to see Pixar’s latest. As soon as I found out that 2010 meant “Toy Story 3” my enthusiasm waned. What surprises me even more is that I still feel the same after hearing and reading the film’s rave … Continue reading →

Biggest Disney Baddies

At the beginning of March I made an assertion that Maleficent was one of the best Disney villains. I wanted to back up my statement. I decided to make a top 5 Disney villain countdown and see how Maleficent ranks among them. At first I thought Maleficent would take the top spot. But considering the list made me wonder just how evil Maleficent was compared to Disney’s other antagonists, and so I decided to make the list about the most evil Disney villains: not necessarily creepy, or memorable, or interesting, but whose actions were the most deplorable. So here it … Continue reading →

Tangled Up in Blue and Pink

Recently Disney had a problem, and her name was Rapunzel. After spending years locked away in the Disney animation studio, Rapunzel was finally scheduled to come down from her tower around Thanksgiving 2010. But “Princess and the Frog” didn’t do well at the box office, and Disney execs discovered it was due, in part, from boys not wanting to see a movie about a princess. The House of Mouse didn’t want to fail again, so it decided to disguise Rapunzel a little, trick boys about her true nature. Specifically, it changed her name. Disney’s latest animated feature, releasing on November … Continue reading →