In 1990 Disney released their 29th full-length animated feature: the sequel The Rescuers Down Under. On its theatrical release, the film was accompanied by the 25-minute featurette The Prince and the Pauper, directed by George Scribner. It is an odd little piece … Continue reading REVIEW: The Prince and the Pauper (1990)
Pixar’s 25th animated feature Turning Red hits Disney+ this Friday. One would think its owner Disney, never afraid to celebrate an anniversary, would be making something more out of that. Then again, Pixar seems relegated to a strange place of … Continue reading REVIEW: Turning Red (2022)
If there is a spine to the history of American animation, against which all of the varying short and feature works can gather in some semblance of order, it is clearly the Walt Disney Animation Studios. Since Snow White and … Continue reading REVIEW: Encanto (2021)
Please note that some quotes included in this essay contain outdated and potentially offensive language. They have been included to reflect the language and culture of the time. There is no argument that, in 1937, the film producer Walt Disney … Continue reading “You can’t run away from trouble” | Song of the South (1946)
In 1994, in an attempt to better profit from its intellectual property, Walt Disney Pictures released a direct-to-video sequel to their hit 1992 animation Aladdin. The Return of Jafar was a low-budget production but also a runaway hit, grossing US$300 million from … Continue reading REVIEW: Return to Neverland (2002)
From the 1950s through to the late 1970s, Walt Disney Pictures worked a hugely successful formula for generating a regular stream of family-oriented adventure and fantasy movies. Rather than follow the director-centric model of other American studios, it continued to … Continue reading REVIEW: The Island at the Top of the World (1974)
Nothing burns through ideas faster than a film industry: in a constant battle to find pre-existing intellectual property to adapt for cinema, Disney once hit upon the idea of turning their Disneyland rides into blockbuster movies. It was, all in … Continue reading REVIEW: Jungle Cruise (2021)
During the Second World War, many of Walt Disney’s animators were conscripted to serve in the US armed forces. Those who continued to work at the studio were more often than not required to animate propaganda films, including a series … Continue reading REVIEW: Melody Time (1948)
Reviewing Luca, Pixar’s latest animated feature, sadly leads to a case of damning with faint praise. For most other animation houses around the world, describing a film as ‘reasonably good’ or ‘moderately entertaining’ might be a case for celebration: if nothing … Continue reading REVIEW: Luca (2021)
Disney’s live-action adaptations of their animated back catalogue has now expanded so much as to come full circle: returning to the ghoulish villain Cruella de Vil, famously played by Glenn Close in the two 101 Dalmatians remakes in 1996 and … Continue reading REVIEW: Cruella (2021)
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