#6 Saludos Amigos

Title: Saludos Amigos (Hello Friends)

Release Date: August 24th, 1942

Voice Cast: Clarence Nash, Fred Shields, Pinto Colvig, Jose Oliveira

Plot: Four segments all centrally themed in the culture of South America.

Review: Saludos Amigos was the first of six "package" films released by Disney in the 1940s. It is, at least as I consider it, the first film in the Disney classics series not to have "classic" status today. It was also a cultural side effect of the Good Neighbor Policy, promoting better relations between the U.S. and Latin America. So naturally, the film feels forced, like Disney only made it just for propaganda reasons.

Even worse, Saludos Amigos doesn't follow previous Disney format. It's pretty much a dull, half-animated documentary on South American culture. And I hate to say it, but Disney should stay away from education. I felt like I should have been taking notes on the Spanish vocabulary listed off for me. It became one of those boring, cheesy movies you watch in history class when your teacher is too lazy to do their job.

The first segment is a shame to Donald Duck's debut in the animated classics series. There are no funny moments, and the narrator doesn't do Disney justice. He drones on and on; and unfortunately, he has the burden of entertainment. While the second segment sheds some elements of documentaries (it's a story of a tiny plane whose duty is to take mail from Chile to Argentina; also, there was some Goldilocks and the Three Bears in there...), it doesn't fill that void with amusement.

The third and fourth segment follow generally the same pattern, so it's a bit of a waste to really dive into them. The third is Goofy's Disney classic debut, and it isn't any better than his duck friend's. The fourth tries to rely on colors and music to captivate you, which is something that Disney can get away with a lot of the time-- but it falls flat here.

I can only say two things: 1) if you haven't seen this movie, don't bother; 2) thank God it was only 43 minutes.

Crocodile "Tick Tock"

#5 Bambi

Title: Bambi

Release Date: August 13th, 1942

Voice Actors: Donnie Dunagan, Hardie Albright, Paula Winslowe, Peter Behn, Cammie King

Plot: A princely deer grows up in the woods and experiences love, friendship, pride, the loss of his mother, and the danger of man.

Review: And it is "a great love story", right? It's all about Bambi and those he loves. Thumper, Flower, Faline, his mom, the Great Prince-- everyone. Disney wove a large web in this 70 minutes, believe it or not. There is no central plot of Bambi, but only a central theme: love.

It's really only the first half of the film that I truly love though. Young Bambi puts all previous Disney animals to shame. That's right. Those cleaning critters from Snow White, the dancers from Fantasia, even Dumbo; none of them compare to how precious and lovable Bambi is. I watched the scene where he learned how to talk about a total of 5 times, because it was that treasurable.

Alas, Bambi's portrayed innocence comes back to haunt you soon enough. Disney will never get a moment as heartbreaking as "We made it, mother! Mother?" followed by the chilling line, "You're mother can't be with you anymore."

But Bambi lives on. That's where the second half is: an adult Bambi secures his love for Faline. And while it still retains it's "Disney greatness", I feel that some magic has been lost. An adult Bambi just isn't as cute! However, I cannot let that affect how I rate this movie.

A Dream Is A Wish

P.S. I apologize; I scrambled to write this review. I hope to not make a habit of reviews as short as this.

#4 Dumbo

Title: Dumbo

Release Date: October 23rd, 1941

Voice Cast: Edward Brophy, Verna Felton, Cliff Edwards

Plot: A circus elephant with unusually large ears overcomes ridicule and learns to fly with the help of a confident mouse.

Review: Ah, Dumbo. Appropriately, this will be a shorter review, as this was one of Disney's shortest animated films at only 64 minutes.

This film just screams "Golden Age of Animation." The animation, as I don't have to tell you, keeps getting better and better, and Dumbo is where you see it in the style most reminiscent of 40s-60s animation. Simple, bold colors have overshadowed watercolor and guoache tones, giving a much more eyecatching appearance. (Ironically, the Disney animators were on a strike during the production of Dumbo. Go figure.)

In keeping with the animation, Dumbo is a simple story that doesn't trickle too deep into cluttered plots. The messages are evident: opportunities in disguse exist, and people (or in this case, all beings) shouldn't be judged by their appearance. And all the while, it keeps you intrigued. That makes sense, though. If a story walks along a solid surface, theres little chance for you to, say, trip or sink, detaching yourself from the plot.

One minor complaint: "Pink Elephants on Parade". What? Just... what??? The song was clever, sure, but wouldn't this scene scare the living daylights out of a smaller kid? The elephants here look like ghosts; its undoubtedly haunting. Also, Disney, I'm giving you another slap on the wrist for drug references. I suppose a 21st century Dumbo would be more politically correct. (We won't even delve into the notions of racism here...)

Long story short-- or rather, short story shorter, Dumbo doesn't disappoint. (2 triple alliterations there!)

Under the Sea (Darling, It's Better...)

#3 Fantasia

Title: Fantasia

Release Date: November 13th, 1940

Cast (if you call it a cast): Deems Taylor, Leopold Stokowski, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Walt Disney

Plot (if you call it a plot): Fantasia is an anthology of 7 (technically 8) animated avant-garde masterpieces accompanied by famed orchestra scores performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Review: This film is difficiult to review, both in writing the actual review and scoring it. I suppose the best way to write this is on a segment-by-segment basis. And as for scoring, after long debating, I've decided to ignore the fact that this is a no-dialogue movie and rate it like I'd rate any other movie-- by how much it entertained me.

So let's get to it. (It's hard to make this review not boring.) The film opens with host Deems Taylor describing that there will be three types of segments shown in Fantasia: those that tell a story, those that paint pictures with no definite plot, and those that are abstract in nature and are based around the fancies of the mind.

The first segment, Toccata and Fugue in D Minor is of this third type, and as much as I appreciate avant-garde work, I was not too impressed. The color imagery was mildly amusing in some moments, but my interest was hardly held. Luckily, this segment was followed by the Nutcracker Suite, which was much, much better. Disney retained its cuteness with the mushroom sequence, which had to be my favorite part. (The little mushroom tries to stay in line with the bigger mushrooms; it's adorable. :)) Afterwards, Disney proved it had a way with plants, as both flower sequences and the leaf sequence were visually exciting.

And then came probably the most recognized segment of the film: The Sorcerer's Apprentice, staring everybody's favorite mouse. This is what a like to see-- it proves that music is most interesting when it tells a story, and that stories are most interesting when accompanied by music. Unfortunately, it was followed by probably the worst segment of the film: the Rite of Spring. This details the evolutionary history of Earth, along with the existence and extinction of dinosaurs. And talk about boring. The animation was muddy, and the music couldn't stimulate the doldrums of the dinosaurs' lives. It took a T-Rex attacking a stegosaurus to get me interested, but that didn't last long. Honestly, I'd rather watch the "Meet the Soundtrack" intersequence 100 times over than watch this one more time.

What follows next is better (though it's hard not to be). The Pastoral Symphony accompanies a story amongst mythological creatures and deities. I've always been interested in mythology, so I was easily entertained by this, but not much. The animation is probably best here. It's simpler, and the scenery is candy-like. A weird phenomenon seemed to occur during this segment though. The music was still there, but it now felt like background music. I felt that the music was there to fit the animation, and not vice versa. I thought that the whole point of Fantasia was to animate to the music; either way, Disney never needed to prove that they could be exceptional in music (though they didn't write the score).

The last two sequences keep with the "entertainment" level of the Pastoral Symphony. Two very interesting concepts are introduced here: animals representing the parts of the day, and evil coming into conflict with good (musically). The Night on Bald Mountain is frightening, and the Ave Maria is just beautiful. Definitely the best way to end this film.

Again, I couldn't take into account that this movie was a no-dialogue film. It wouldn't be fair. For what it was, it was sensational. However, I honestly wasn't entertained all that much. The most I can give this film is a...

Hakuna Matata (It Means 'No Worries!')

#2 Pinocchio

Title: Pinocchio

Release Date: February 7th, 1940

Voice Cast: Cliff Edwards, Dickie Jones, Christian Rub

Plot: A happy wooden puppet, turned to life as a wish from his maker, has several (mis)adventures that include a greedy Italian, a cunning fox and a mute feline, an abusive coachman, and a monstrous whale. All the while, he is followed by a flustered cricket who tries to steer this new "boy" from right and wrong.

Review: Let me just start by saying that, unlike Snow White, I never saw Pinocchio as a little kid. That's a fact I only thought when I started the movie, but became dang sure of as the film progressed. How can I be so sure? Had I saw this movie as a kid, I think I would have remembered all the super-ridiculous events that occurred. Now then, on to the review.

The film starts off rather slow, really. The first 10-15 minutes are hardly anything to get excited about. Don't get me wrong, Jiminy Cricket's a fine storyteller; but there's barely a story to tell until the moment Pinocchio comes to life, which is where everything truly begins. And to much contradiction of this muted start, the plot is VERY eventful from there. In fact, it's almost too eventful. At first, it wasn't that bad. It was amusing to see John steer Pinocchio to Stromboli, and near heartbraking to see Pinocchio get puppet-napped with Gepetto searching for him in the dark, rainy night. It wasn't until the Pleasure Island-Monstro intersequence that I began to struggle to keep up. It wasn't difficult to understand what was going on, it was just a bit too much to comprehend. Prime example: Pinocchio's turning into a donkey, and goes home to find a note that his "father" has been eaten by a whale. For me, that was purely absurd. Despite clarification and even justification of this, I was still a bit critical of this part.

It's easy to see a nice, steady improvement in animation from Snow White. (The budget for this film was a little bit over $1 million more than that for Snow White.) Pinocchio is absolutely adorable. I couldn't get over it. His behavior kept me amused throughout most of the film. (This is probably because he reminded me a bit of my little cousin.) Musically however, the movie is a bit lacking. DON'T SHOOT ME YET. The major exception here is "When You Wish Upon A Star". This is probably one of my favorite Disney songs ever, and it's definitely a huge plus for the film. But as I said, the rest is nothing to get excited about. Even "Give a Little Whistle" feels a bit empty despite its catchy tune; the same goes for "I've Got No Strings".

One feature of this movie that cannot go unmentioned is its superabundance of moral values and messages. Just to list a few: fame is deceptive, temptations must be resisted, say no to drugs and mischief (or you'll turn into a donkey!). The two largest ones, without a doubt, are "keep your hopes up" and "lies grow." Ironically, the latter is what most people (or as it seemed to me) remember about Pinocchio. His growing nose is extremely iconic, as represented in all the Shrek films. However, similar to the Snow White princess scenario, Pinocchio's growing nose only appears in one short scene, which surprised me.

Speaking of surprises, the ending cutely threw me for two loops: Pinocchio's courage, selflessness, and honesty made him a real boy, and Jiminy finally got his badge. It's very small, but I didn't expect those details of the fairy's promises to make a return and manifest. But I love that they did-- in fact, the ending was probably my favorite part of the film, and one of the few parts I truly smiled. But, time to rate...

Hakuna Matata (It Means "No Worries!")

This was a difficult rating to give. I almost wanted to give it an "Under the Sea", but the clustered plot and lack of impressive music really gave it a hit.

#1 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Title: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Release Date: December 21st, 1937

Voice Cast: Adriana Caselotti, Lucille La Verne, Roy Atwell, Pinto Calvig, Harry Stockwell

Plot: An innocent princess, who longs for true love, flees from her evil stepmother to a cottage of seven little men who provide shelter in exchange for cleaning, cooking, and merriment. Little does she know that her wicked stepmother is using magic to find her... and kill her.

Review:
The first thing I noticed about this film is that the audio is entrancing, if not haunting in some moments. Honestly, I found Adriana Caselotti's voicing of Snow White to be a little bit eerie because of how small it was. Also, I was creeped out by how the Queen wanted Snow White's heart in a box. Though I suppose a small child wouldn't be too disturbed, and it does hold that part true from the original Brothers Grimm tale, storytellers notorious for their macabre style. (In fact, in their version, the Queen eats the heart brought to her by the hunter.) On another note regarding sound (pun very intended), the score was sensational. Background music was delightful, and the songs are extremely catchy. My favorites were "Whistle While You Work" and "Heigh-Ho", though the iconic "Someday My Prince Will Come" certainly reigned supreme in beauty.

The foreground animation is Disney's most delicate, and the scenery was extravagant (as expected). The furry critters were so darn cute! They were probably my second favorite characters of the film; the first were definitely the dwarfs. The dwarfs just made it for me. They were incredibly entertaining, every single one of them. Probably the greatest five minutes of this movie occurred when the dwarfs were arriving home to the "monster" that had taken shelter in their home. Though I suppose the main focus of this film was meant to be the princess herself, I felt that she took a major back seat (at least in terms of amusement) to these seven little guys.

That's another odd feature of this film. For as much as it serves as a beacon of a princess tale, it doesn't spent too much time on developing that in its 84 minutes of runtime. In fact, the only times you see the prince are the beginning and the end. It's almost as if it was a sideplot; at least, if it were the main purpose of the film, Disney didn't do agreat job of portraying that. But I didn't mind!

The movie certainly did invoke emotions though. I honestly couldn't stop smiling whenever the dwarfs were in action (especially Dopey!). And I truly believe that the Queen's disguise as the hag was quite unnerving.

That's all I have to say about "his first full length feature production." I didn't take to the princess bit, but I loved what I was shown. It was phenomenally amusing throughout the whole story. Overall, I'm giving it a...

A Dream Is A Wish

Extension (and Miscount)

I've decided to extend the project to include Fantasia 2000, so it, not Tarzan, will be the last movie in the project. Wanna know something ironic though? You would think that that would make 40 movies in the project total, right? Wrong. Turns out I miscounted/misread, and the project includes (with Fantasia 2000) 38 films instead. Interesting. Ah well. Again, check back tomorrow for Snow White!

Welcome!

Welcome to my project!
Hi, my name is Chris, and I love movies. I also love writing. Oh, and most of all I love Disney! (But who doesn't??) However, I've never actually seen ALL of the Disney Animated Classics, and the ones I have seen (the popular ones, such as The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, etc.) were back when I was too young to really sink into them! So, I've decided to use my summer to do just that; go through all of the Disney Animated Classics (up to Tarzan -- that's 39 movies!) and truly analyze them. And who is this blog meant for? Well, to put it bluntly, everybody who wants to read it! Whether you love Disney movies too or you just stumbled in here on accident, I hope you might enjoy what I have to say. And if you don't, well, no harm, no foul! I'll be starting with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs tomorrow (or possible Friday), so check back!