A Short Conclusion

Well, we've/I've reached the end. 38 movies have been finally watched. For a while, it seemed like I wasn't going to finish, but I did. And despite not being on time, I am happy to have had this experience these past few months.

This conclusion should be more or less focused on the reviews themselves and my general feelings of the Disney Classics in the 20th century. It serves no purpose but to kind of add closure to this project, so I can finally look at this page and say, "it is finished. It is complete."

I believe the history of the Disney Classics in the 20th century can be divided into five phases: The Golden Age, the Package Age, the Silver Age, the Muddy Age, and the Renaissance. Each of these stages were unique in that they each showed us a different side of Disney-- a different way of seeing the world of animation and entertainment.

The Golden Age began with, of course, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and ended with Bambi. That's only five films, but they are five of the most treasured films in the entire collection. The animation was raw; the comedy was very low brow, but very amusing; the music was vintage and cheerful; and these films stole our hearts indefinitely. Looking back on these movies, I can only label them as the most open. That is to say that they could hit any demographic with ease and give them something to enjoy and love forever.
Best films from this age: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Bambi, Dumbo

The Golden Age was followed by six films all following the same format: 70-minute features broken into segments ranging from five minutes to forty. The effects of the war on the animation became obvious: less dynamic characters and a downsized general effort into the works of art. By Disney's standard, they were not at all fantastic movies. They could function as television shorts if produced three decades earlier, but they could hardly suffice as cinema classics.
Best films from this age: Make Mine Music, Fun and Fancy Free, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad

After muddling through the 40s, Disney resurfaced in 1950 with Cinderella, launching the Silver Age of animation. The Silver Age would dominate the next 25 years or so, producing an assortment of phenomenal princess tales and family films. This, without a doubt, is my favorite of the five stages. The stories are incredible from Sleeping Beauty to 101 Dalmatians to The Jungle Book, and they produce what I believe to be the best characters of the whole series. Music illuminates these wonders, the best songs coming from The Jungle Book, Peter Pan, and Cinderella. Never again would Disney see something as incredible as the Silver Age. This, despite the title, was its prime.
Best films from this age: Peter Pan, The Jungle Book, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, 101 Dalmatians, The Aristocats

What came next was a Disney era with no defined united characteristic. That's why I call it the Muddy Age-- not because all films produced during this time were terrible, but because the quality was inconsistent. For example, some films, though nothing compared to the Golden/Silver Age films, were pretty darn good. Others stooped to lows unseen since the Package Age. So while this era was a short and undefinable one, it still exists because I know for a fact the films included belong neither in the Silver Age nor the Disney Renaissance.
Best films from this age: The Fox and the Hound, Oliver & Company

And then we come to the Disney Renaissance, the "rebirth" of all good things Disney. And what a rebirth it was. I still cannot believe how amazingly super-fantastically drastically the animation quality increased. That is the beauty I saw in films like The Lion King and Tarzan. The Renaissance is also noted for being the turn into the modern era of entertainment of Disney. This change is most reflected, undoubtedly, in the soundtracks. New age pop songs became the standard, best exemplified in Hercules. In general, the films became more musical-- Beauty and the Beast, Pocahontas, and Aladdin, all largely reliant on the music. So while I only put a few of these films up there with Silver/Golden Age films, I don't deny that the changes made were revolutionary and overall a great step up for Disney.
Best films from this age: Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, The Little Mermaid, Hercules

So there you have it! The Disney Classics Project has come to an end, I hope you enjoyed it. I know it required patience, but I hope you thought it was worth it. If you have any comments, questions, or requests for another project, e-mail me at citycolour@live.com.

And now I look at this site and I say with a smile: It is finished. It is complete.

#38 Fantasia 2000

Title: Fantasia 2000

Release Date: December 31st, 1999

Cast (if you call it a cast): Steve Martin, Penn and Teller, Bette Midler, Angela Lansbury, Quincy Jones

Plot (if you call it a plot): Fantasia 2000 is a "sequel" to the early Disney film Fantasia that follows the same concept: several (eight) segments of classical music set to animated pieces.

Review: I guess you wouldn't think it to be ironic that the night I posted my last entry (the regrets), my computer crashed and everything was wiped clean. It took till about Wednesday to get everything back the way I wanted, even though it's still far from the way it was before. That event, combined with two big assignments this week and my birthday, made it difficult to find room for Fantasia 2000: the last film of the project. But I did.

It sure brings back memories of the early days of this project, but that's nothing I want to bore you with. Although, I do want to say that I just took a look at the Fantasia review, and I realized how long it was, so I'm going to condense this a bit. It works, though-- my feelings were generally the same throughout the whole film.

The film is very, very artsy, just like its predecessor. But yes, it's extremely, extremely boring. While the producers tried to deliver segments worthy of commendation equal to the first, they went overboard on the artsiness. There's a fine balance: avant-garde beauty on one side, entertainment on the other. I'd say seven out of eight segments fell to that first side. The one that didn't: "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" from the original Fantasia. That still remains a classic as ever.

Don't get me wrong: the animation is stellar, of course. It's the late 90s, and Disney has come a long way in 60 years. But that's nothing new; the last several films produced by Disney had fantastic animation of the same calibre. So while I praise this film for wonderous art, I can't help but feel it can only be beyond great in anything other than IMAX.

I guess if any segment had to follow "The Sorceror's Apprentice" in the muddled heirarchy of quality, it'd be either "Rhapsody in Blue" or "Pomp and Circumstance"-- the first because of a jazzy, innovative song choice and the second because of Donald Duck. That's probably as close as Disney got to being entertaining. In other places, they wasted time showing me yo-yo tricks and flying whales. No, thanks.

It's a shame I had to give this last film such a rating, but I have no choice. As both a standalone film and a sequel, I think I am being generous in giving it a...

Bare Necessities

Please stay tuned; there will be a conclusion in the future!

7 Things I Wish I Could Have Done Differently

Well, we're nearing the end of this project, and it's time to state regrets. Please note that I don't regret doing the project as a whole, but how I did it. If I could do it again, I have a few things off the top of my head that I would have changed.

7. Proofread
Probably 95% of the reviews I posted were not proofread. As soon as I added in that last bit, I would save, publish, and go on to something else. A few times, my friend had to correct me on this. Other times went without such notifications, and, after reading over a random few just now, I noticed a good amount of typos and grammatical errors. Harmless, yes, but still something I could have done better.

6. Went More In Depth
Now, I do believe that I was not guilty of this for most of my reviews. I tried to get in a few good paragraphs for each that efficiently explained how I felt about the film in several aspects. However, there are certain reviews that lacked substance. The most recent, I believe, was Aladdin, a review which exists in short fragments and an effete disappointment. Sorry to any of you disappointed by this.

5. More Frequent Updates
Yeah, definitely. As you can see right now, I'm posting on probably on a one-film-a-week basis. That really disappoints me, and I'll explain that in a later item on this list. There was one time, I believe in early August, where my reviews came pretty frequently. However, in July, and especially in September, I was less dedicated. Granted I took two vacations in July, but I still believe I could have posted more frequently.

4. More Features
Oh, how this saddens me. This was one of my goals for this project from the very beginning. And I'm ashamed to say that over the course of this project, I only produced one feature. Just one. To me, that's extremely pathetic. Towards the end of this project, I was (and am) more concerned with just getting reviews done. Features were not necessary, so I kept focusing on the reviews. Unfortunately, that was a mistake.

3. No False Promises
I can think of two big ones in this category: features and two-a-day reviews. I feel really bad about this one, guys. It would be a different thing completely if I didn't even mention it, but I told you they would come, and they never did. I just couldn't keep up with everything, and August and September just got crazier. My sincerest apologies.

2. Started Earlier
I almost combined this item with the next item, but they are actually two different ideas. I started this blog in late June, if I recall correctly. I got off of school in early June, mind you. For the few weeks following that, I had absolutely nothing but free time on my hands. I chose to start this project at the end of that period of free time, just right before my summer classes were to start. Had I started earlier, I think I could have knocked out maybe 5-10 movies in that time. Sigh.

1. Finished On Time
Ah, the big one. I regret this more than the other 6 combined. When school started in late August, I had seven films left. It is now October 4th, and I still have one film left. What a pity. I completely underestimated how little time I would have left for this project, and as you can see, it went downhill. Extremely unfrequent updates and lacking reviews are the byproduct of not achieving a deadline. I cannot even explain to you how difficult it is to keep this going with school.

For all of this, I apologize. Please, stay for the last review and my conclusion. HOPEFULLY, they will be coming soon.