A Movie About Making Mary Poppins the Movie

I'm old enough to remember sitting in a movie theater as a small child and seeing Mary Poppins. I remember the movie kind of gave me the creeps - a lady with a funny accent flying around on an umbrella. As a kid, I put Mary Poppins in the same category as the Wizard of Oz with the flying monkeys that also gave me the creeps - not to mention more than a few nightmares. So I wasn't a big fan of Mary Poppins. PS. I read somewhere fairly recently that there was some kind of poll that said Dick Van Dyke gave the worst performance of any actor or actress presenting a fake British accent. I have seen clips of his role as Bert over the years and you know what.... the findings in that poll are right. It really was bad.

Anyway, flash forward to 2012 and Walt Disney Studios is just starting to film another Mary Poppins movie according to The Disney Post Blog (not Disney Parks Blog) but this time its a movie about the making of Mary Poppins which took more than 20 years to bring to the big screen as Walt Disney and Mary Poppin's author P.L. Travers wrestled over who would get control of the characters. Tom Hanks plays Walt Disney and Emma Thompson plays Travers. Why do I get the feeling I'm going to enjoy a movie about the making of more than the movie itself? Oh yeah, Hanks and Thompson are great actors in a movie that sounds more my speed than people flying around on umbrellas.

Walt Disney's Mary Poppins (starring Julie Andrews)

The Selling Of Frankenweenie

Frankenweenie Plush Merchandis
A Disney Parks Blog Photo

Disney is making a big park push to promote Tim Burton's Frankenweenie film scheduled for release on October 5. An exhibition of Tim Burton's Frankenweenie art will be displayed at Disney California Adventure beginning this month along with movie previews shown in the Muppet's 3D Theater in the evenings. And of course, Frankenweenie merchandise is hitting the store shelves. Am I the only one who finds this to be a little too weird and unsettling to actually be enjoyable? I've seen a couple of previews for the movie including what is being shown in theaters in 3D and I have to admit there is a bit of sad sweetness to what I saw on the screen but overall - unsettling seems to be the word, at least for me.

Disney's Wreck-It Ralph Trailer

I can't say I look forward to the release of too many animated feature films. Maybe I did when Toy Story 3 came out. I certainly look forward to the next release of the Despicable Me Minion's movie but that still is over a year away I think. But I do look forward to the release of Disney's Wreck-It Ralph set to come out November 2 if I'm not mistaken. Ever since I saw the trailer below with the previews shown before The Avengers, a mental note has been made to see Wreck-It Ralph in the theaters, in 3D, and maybe even IMAX if that is available. This looks like a lot of fun as Disney Animation takes a big step to make a movie Pixar probably should have made instead of their last two. Ralph has all the makings of being a major hit for Disney.

What Are You Doing May 1, 2015? The Avengers 2

The Mayans don't think we are going to make it to New Years Eve. There are some economists out there trying to sell books saying we are on the verge of a global economic collapse of biblical proportions. But that hasn't stopped Disney and Marvel from announcing a May 1, 2015 as the release date for The Avengers 2, the sequel to this year's 1.5 billion dollar juggernaut The Avengers. I'd circle it on my calendar (if I could find a calendar that actually has the year 2015).

May 3, 2013 seems like a date more within reason of an old guy like me. That is the release date for Iron Man 3 providing Robert Downey Jr. can recover from the foot injury he sustained while filming the movie and has forced a temporary shutdown. 

Still footage from the filming of Iron Man 3
Marvel

Suppose Disney Released A Movie And Nobody Came

No, we're not talking about Disney's movie albatross John Carter again. The problem with John Carter is people came but just not enough of them to justify its enormous cost. A couple of days ago, Disney released the movie The Odd Life of Timothy Green with almost no publicity or fanfare. I don't even know what it is about other than it is some sort of live action fantasy / fable. There is absolutely no buzz about this movie anywhere really. Kind of un-Disney like. I would imagine this movie may be in and out of the theaters within a couple of weeks time with Disney hoping that it has some life in home video and rental fees. Hoping. On the the plus side, it only cost about 40 million dollars which is chump change in today's movie market (less that 5 times the John Carter budget from Disney). Again, this movie was made under a previous regime at Disney Studios. Things will definitely change.

Next up is Disney and Tim Burton's Frankenweenie, another movie I have no desire to see. Salvation comes at the end of the year with Wreck-It Ralph which looks like a sure winner.

In The Battle Of Superhero Movies - The Avengers Still Wins

My personal summer superhero trilogy is now complete. I wasn't going to do it but in the interest of an excuse to get out of the house for a family outing, Mrs. DisneylandTraveler, the Boy, and me headed off to the multiplex to see The Dark Knight Rises. It was 107 degrees here at home yesterday, let's use someone else's air-conditioning for awhile (and with a running time of close to 3 hours, a very long while).

The Dark Knight Rises caps off the Warner Bros. and DC Comics latest Batman trilogy directed by Christopher Nolan. The quick review - The Dark Knight Rises is long, plodding, dark, and violent. Not that it isn't interesting or have it's moments but in the end, there is something unappealing about its bleakness. Glad I saw it. I will probably rent it when it comes to home video, but after that, I will quickly put it to rest and forget about it. No plans to go out and buy the movie when it becomes available which is always the truest measure of how much I like a movie.

So over the summer, we have seen Disney / Marvel's The Avengers, Sony / Marvel's The Amazing Spiderman, and now Warner Bros. / DC Comics The Dark Knight Rises. Guess what? The Avengers wins - easily. Am I prejudiced because The Avengers is a Disney produced movie and this is a Disney blog? Nope - The Avengers is flat out better than the other two and by a pretty large margin.

The Amazing Spiderman was somewhat surprisingly entertaining but brought nothing new to the party from the original 2002 Spiderman movie. It was basically the same movie - entertaining but pretty much forgettable. On the other hand, The Avengers advanced and grandly topped off the Marvel Cinematic Universe - Phase One series of films that began with the original Iron Man (and continued with The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor, and Captain America - The First Avenger). 

The Avengers delivered the goods - highly entertaining, sharply written and directed by Joss Whedon, and had nice performances from a cast of fine actors. Most of all, The Avengers was a fun movie, something that could not be said about the other two films.

Mrs. DLT is already chomping at the bit for when The Avengers hits the home video market (Sept 25, I believe is the day). The only question is whether to buy the blu-ray Avengers package or shell out the 140 bucks (an Amazon pre-order price now - about $220 closer to the release date) 10 disc set that contains the other four prequel movies and tons of special features loaded into its special briefcase packaging. Tempting.

Disney Releases First Oz Posters

Disney's Oz - The Great and Powerful
Official Disney Artwork

Trending now on Twitter are the first images of the promotional posters for the upcoming Disney film Oz - The Great and Powerful (release: March 2013) directed by Sam Raimi, the director of the original Spiderman trilogy and starring Spiderman veteran James Franco as Oz himself. The story is a prequel to the Wizard of Oz and shows Oz's rise to prominence and power. 

Now I'm having a rough time associating Oz with Disney after all those years of the original Wizard of Oz classic being the standard bearer for MGM (do they still exist?) but Raimi is a quality director and producer. Keep an open mind....keep an open mind....

A Couple more Disney images of Oz.

Original poster artwork from Disney for the film Oz - The Great and Powerful

Original poster artwork from Disney for the film Oz - The Great and Powerful

Waking Sleeping Beauty - A Review

Disney has always tended to be a private and secretive company operating in the very public world of show business, entertainment, and media. Much has been written about the behind the scenes world of Disney (check out the great book Disney Wars). Sometimes the behind the scenes stuff is better and more interesting than the movies they made (the most recent example is the John Carter debacle). Maybe for the first time ever in a movie released by Disney, they allow little bit of their dirty laundry to be made public with the wonderful documentary Waking Sleeping Beauty directed by Don Hahn who produced  the great Disney films - Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King now many years ago. Waking Sleeping Beauty was not a movie that was widely distributed so you will have to seek it out. I had to stream it.

Waking Sleeping Beauty is fascinating story of how Disney animation, the cornerstone of the company Walt Disney built, almost came to complete ruins by the early 1980's only to be resurrected by four executives who wouldn't let it die - Roy E. Disney, Michael Eisner, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and Frank Wells. Under their leadership and with a talented group of tireless animators, performers, and artists, Disney animation came back from the dead over a 10 year period that started a simple movie called The Great Mouse Detective and culminated in a succession of Disney animated classics that will probably never be duplicated - The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and finishing off with The Lion King. Ultimately the dynamic tension and friction of the egos of the men in charge brought the second golden age of Disney animation to its end. Waking Sleeping Beauty honestly describes how Roy Disney, Eisner, and Katzenberg all wanted primary credit and be visible front men for the 4 mega-hit movies but in reality it was a group of talented men and women who were the real heroes in the resurgence of Disney animation. This is as much their story as it is the executives who drove them.   

Just a great documentary. There's a lot people involved so its hard to keep them straight as to who does what but by the end of the movie, you will have gotten a pretty good overview on this period of time in Disney animation. It's a movie well worth seeking out.   

Bob Iger Names A New Number One For Studios Chief

For about the third time in 3 years, Bob Iger, CEO of The Walt Disney Co., has named a new Chairman for the beleaguered Disney Studios. Alan Horn moves over from a similar position as head of Warner Bros. Pictures where he oversaw production of some noteworthy franchises such as Harry Potter, The Matrix, and The Dark Knight. He gave the go-ahead from everything from Happy Feet to The Hangover. An impressive resume to be sure and also a pretty sure bet for Iger coming on the heels of the dreadful performance of former Chief Rich Ross that culminated in the John Carter disaster for Disney. Ross was a TV guy (like Iger) and never adapted as a Hollywood mover and shaker in the film industry. Horn is the complete opposite with connections everywhere.

Prior to his 12 years at Warner Bros., Alan Horn was a co-founder (along with Rob Reiner) of Castle Rock Entertainment which produced movies like The Shawshank Redemption, A Few Good Men, and When Harry Met Sally. Castle Rock also produced a TV series which I still continue to watch several times a week though its production ended years ago, a show about nothing called Seinfeld.

So Horn gets to control about everything on the movie side of the Disney company. He will oversee the activities and productions of the fairly autonomous and extremely profitable Marvel and Pixar Studios while trying to put Disney branded live action pictures and as well as the animated pictures back on a consistent even keel. He will also continue to oversee Disney's distribution of Steven Spielberg's Dreamworks live action pictures. Seems to be a lot on his plate and he seems to be the person to do it. Time will tell. Horn starts his new position on June 11.

Betting On Pixar - A 'Brave' Prediction

Merida from Pixar's Brave - A Disney Parks Blog Photo

I can't say that I have been particularly impressed with the still publicity photos and YouTube trailers for Pixar's new Brave movie which will open June 22nd. That changed yesterday when I saw the 3D preview in front of Marvel's The Avengers. The trailer was stunning and convinced me that Brave will be a winner. Brave marks the return of Pixar in bringing an original story to the screen. We last had the dreadful Cars 2 and previous to that was the astonishingly well made Toy Story 3 but Brave marks Pixar's first original film since Up. And if were I betting man, Up would be a good benchmark for Brave as would Ratatouille. A lot is made of animated movies that feature female leads and their relative success. I believe Merida from Brave will transcend that bias or at least put up a good spirited fight.

Up brought Pixar its customary Oscar for best animated film (Cars 2 was not even nominated). It was a solid box office performer with global appeal. So that is where I kind of seeing Brave ending up and that certainly isn't a bad place to be. When all is said and done, I think Pixar and Disney will pat themselves on the back for this film. A great story, beautifully filmed, with memorable characters is always the best place to start. I couldn't say it before yesterday but now I am looking forward to seeing Brave come to life on the screen.

Oh! By the way, Disney announced it was putting in a Brave Meet and Greet with Merida and friends over by it's a small world in Disneyland and adding a Brave promotional segment to World of Color in Disney California Adventure. This should come as a surprise to.... nobody.

Disneyland Traveler Finally Sees The Avengers

I've been excited to see Marvel's The Avengers for months now. I was not alone as 19 days after its world wide release and a week after its release in the United States, the movie has already raked in over a billion dollars in box office receipts. I had to hold off my viewing of the film at the theater because.....well.....I have a problem with crowded movie theaters and claustrophobia. Crowded theaters limit my ability to enjoy movies.

With that in mind, I saw the movie yesterday, a Monday afternoon. Mrs. DisneylandTraveler and I took in a 2:00pm matinee in a 3D theater with about 10 people watching the film including us. Just the way I like it. I had no doubt the movie would deliver the goods after reading other reviews the last couple of weeks. It did. Was it a great movie? Well, I wouldn't call it great but it was solid storytelling (almost like reading a comic book), very entertaining, and really pretty funny in spots since you can't take this stuff too seriously. Not a great movie but a very, very good movie that will keep most viewers riveted to the screen. 

The Hulk steals the scenes he is in with the mild mannered Mark Ruffalo giving the perfect counter balance to the raging monster. Robert Downey Jr. gets the best lines as always (though the wise guy act is wearing a little thin). The 2 Chris's - Hemsworth and Evans get to flex their muscles. And Scarlett Johansson is Scarlett Johansson for better or worse.

When the Blu-Ray home video packages come out in what my guess is mid September, Mrs. DLT has already said we are going to pick one up. This is the kind of movie where you just really want to see all the bonus features you can get. To get a large cast together to make a successful movie is never an easy feat. All credit goes to director Joss Whedon and Marvel producer Kevin Feige. Marvel runs a tight operation with their films and it shows with a classic movie experience that is The Avengers.

A billion dollars and counting. Disney's Bob Iger really did know what he was doing when he laid out the big bucks to bring Marvel Entertainment and Marvel Studios under the Disney umbrella. These are fine days to be a Disney accountant.

P.S. - The scene that is shown after the credits is priceless. That's the poster I want to see.

Marvel's The Avengers is a solid E-Ticket movie. Can't wait for the ride.

Countdown To The Avengers Opening

Let's see. Today is Sunday. The Avengers opens on Friday. I think that means we're down to 5 days for the eagerly anticipated return of Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, the Incredible Hulk and a few others. I'm spending my weekend doing homework by catching up on The Avengers prequels. I've already made it through Iron Man 1 and Thor with Iron Man 2 and Captain America still to go. I need to track down a copy of the Incredible Hulk but that movie isn't as readily available since The Avengers went a different direction and brought in a new actor to play Bruce Banner (sorry, unlike the old days, I think the big green fighting machine is probably computer generated). Maybe the last remaining Blockbuster by my house has a copy.

Whether its Marvel's idea or Disney's idea, some bright people thought some momentum could be generated by opening the picture overseas. This past weekend, The Avengers has racked up $178.4 dollars in foreign ticket sales. Add the $100 million plus that corporate partners have already put into their product placements in the movie and you can see why this promises to be a box office monster. How much will it make? Hard to tell but it all starts with how good the movie actually is. If it delivers then figures in the upwards of $600 million dollar range would not be out of the question. If the movie is great, plan on a billion.

I have no plans to see The Avengers next weekend but will study the film from a distance reading the reviews and the financial write-ups that will go along with the movie. I have no desire to see a movie theater that is packed wall to wall with people. I'll give it a few days, maybe a week then head to a theater. It's always easier for me to enjoy a movie when I can actually breathe.

Do We Really Need a Mr. Toad Movie?

Disney is dead on determined to movies based on their classic theme park attractions hoping to catch lightning in a bottle like they did with their Pirates of the Caribbean franchise which has made over two billion dollars for the company. So in the works are movies based on The Haunted Mansion and The Jungle Cruise.  Yep, they made a Haunted Mansion movie before with Eddie Murphy in the lead but I guess they are promising to do it right this time. Anyway, deadline.com reported last week that Disney is in the initial stages of putting together a movie based on the Disneyland legacy attraction dating back to 1955 - Mr. Toad's Wild Ride which in itself was a part of another Disney movie (and book) The Wind in the Willows. Are you kidding me? Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. Now this ride does have its legions of fans, fans to the point that when they removed the Walt Disney World version of the ride they organized formal protests, but really, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride a movie? The ride isn't even 2 minutes long.

It's a ride that is based on everything that is counter to automobile safety. So you get to crash your motorcar through Toad Hall, run amok in the countryside terrorizing a farmer and his sheep, piss off the cops, run through a warehouse full of dynamite down at the docks, stop off to have a few beers along the way from your friendly neighborhood pub, and finally get sentenced for the mayhem you have caused by a nice warm trip to.... hell, that's right, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride ends in hell. Great family entertainment, should make a wonderful kids movie. The only saving grace in all this is the ride is so short with so much going on so fast that most people don't even know what the "hell", excuse the expression, just went on.

Pretty tough to video a dark ride, especially a dark ride as dark as Mr. Toad but Disneyland videographer asianjma123 posted this video recently to YouTube. Enjoy a trip on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. Get back to me later on why this is a classic (and movie worthy material).

More on John Carter and Rich Ross's Demise

Has the final word been spoken on John Carter after Rich Ross exited as Chairman of Walt Disney Studios yesterday?  Not quite but we are probably getting closer.  Bob Iger will still have to spell out the financial details of the Carter losses in his quarterly report and there is the release to video which will most likely be done quietly.  Disney needs to distance itself from John Carter.  It has already admitted mistakes in the cost for the movie and Ross's removal is the biggest change made to date to correct the mistake and appease the investor community. 

There has been some buzz on the Disney discussion boards and forums about Ross and invariably they point back to John Carter's failure but there is more to the story.  John Carter was already in production when Ross came aboard as Disney Studios Chairman two and a half years ago.  He wasn't the one who made the decision to make the movie but he was the one who watched the cost of the production soar to the point where it may be the most expensive movie ever made (it's in the Avatar ballpark) and Ross was the one who didn't know what to do to market the movie once he had it.  My take is that the movie was marginally marketable to begin with and simply had to be spectacular on the big screen to gain any kind of box office momentum.  It wasn't spectacular, just a pretty good entertaining movie with flaws though there are those who outright hated it.  A movie that cost a quarter of a billion dollars needed to something more, something better and it just wasn't.  Carter came almost exactly a year after another huge expensive flop - Mars Needs Moms again, a movie that was already in production before Ross came aboard but failed under his watch.

Give Ross some credit though.  He did pull the plug on Robert Zemeckis Disney deal after the Moms flop.  The agreement had already been made but he did enter into the partnership for Disney's Touchstone Pictures to distribute the live action Dreamworks films which to this point has been marginally successful with Real Steel and War Horse but had a huge hit with The Help.  And Ross may have been the person behind the bringing of Chinese investment into the large scale Disney produced films that begins with Iron Man 3 when it starts filming later this year.  And Ross was also the person who stopped pre-production of The Lone Ranger when the projected costs began to run into the John Carter sphere.  Only when cuts were made by the Bruckheimer gang was the move put back on Disney's schedule.

Still, there were those failures, huge failures, and a price had to be paid.  There is also the back story that what is in the Disney Studios pipeline for the future is not very strong.  Iger (probably with the advice of John Lasseter) knew something had to be done to get the company's oldest foundational entity (film production) back on the right track.  Movies are not the biggest source of Disney's profits anymore.  Far from it.  But they are very important as movies tie into the theme park promotions and attractions along with the huge money made in merchandising.  Disney studios needs to at least match the success of its Pixar and Marvel subsidiaries.

As I've said it a few times elsewhere, the story of John Carter is more interesting than the movie itself.  It would make a terrific book and would even translate into a pretty good move, a kind of Moneyball in reverse where excess spending leads to the downfall of some high ranking people or used to be anyway.  

Walt Disney Studios Chief Rich Ross - Whacked

Well, who out there didn't see this coming?  Disney announced today that its Walt Disney Studios Chief Rich Ross is stepping down effective immediately.  Rich believed he was no longer the "correct fit" for the job he wrote in a statement announcing his resignation.  More likely Disney CEO Bob Iger and Chief Financial Officer Jay Rasulo told ol' Rich that he really didn't "fit" in with their plans after he was the main guy responsible for the debacle now known as John Carter.  You might even throw in John Lasseter in the mix as a co-conspirator in Ross's ousting.

Something had to be done.  Someone had to fall.  Bob and Jay will hold a conference call in a few weeks that will spill out Disney's huge loss on Carter.  Investors don't take big losses lightly.  They want answers.  They want solutions.  That ususally starts with the main guy in charge of the problem getting whacked at the knees and drug to the door.  So ends the career of Rich Ross at Disney.  Bob wished Rich well in his future endeavors (which is probably true as long as his future endeavors take him far, far, away from Disney).

The way studio chiefs have fallen at Disney the last few years, its not hard to imagine Bob Iger as a Darth Vader clutching the throat of his current guy while making a bunch of nervous executives tugging at their collars wet themselves wondering if they are going to get that tap on the shoulder that may make them the next victim.

Iron Man 3 Goes (Far) East

Iron Man 3 is set to begin filming later this year.  Today, Disney announced that they have brought in DMG Entertainment to co-produce the latest episode in the Iron Man franchise.  Disney has also announced that there will be Chinese elements to the casting and story line of the movie.  Why?  Because DMG Entertainment is a Chinese film company.  Not one to overlook a growing market that has barely been tapped, Disney (along with other movie studios and production companies) has set its sights on the potential of a huge new population of ticket buyers that live in China and other countries in the Far East.  While the American movie box receipts have dropped the last two years, China's has significantly increased and Disney like any smart business company wants a piece of the action.  No word on whether Iron Man 3 will actually shoot scenes in China but don't be surprised to see the human weapon of mass destruction fly through the skylines of Beijing, Shanghai, or Hong Kong.

The construction of Shanghai Disneyland was announced 2 years ago.  Disney's partnership with that vast and now quite wealthy country continues to grow.  Robert Downey Jr., Gwyenth Paltrow, and Don Cheadle are all returning for the third installment.

The Avengers - Preparing Myself To Be Avenged

So The Avengers had its Hollywood premiere a few days ago at the Disney owned El Capitan Theater.  The entire cast showed up for the red carpet treatment.  You can see a lot of the cast interviews and such on Marvel's YouTube page if that kind of thing interests you.  Seeing celebrities being gawked at while patting themselves on the back is not my thing really.

What I did see on YouTube this morning was the entire library of official Avengers videos from Marvel. I've seen bits and pieces over the last few months but Marvel has posted all 16 official Avengers videos that play one right after another.  Some are pretty short so you can see them all in about 15 minutes.  Go to the link by clicking HERE. 

Here are some random thoughts as I prepare for The Avengers which opens May 4th. Other than Chris Hemsworth as Thor and Samuel L. Jackson who isn't one of the superheros at all as Nick Fury, most of these actors who portray superheros are pretty small in size.  Ah, the wonders of the movies which years ago took a 5'7" Sylvester Stallone and turned him into a heavyweight boxer named Rocky.

I watched the first Iron Man last week including the DVD bonus.  In an interview Robert Downey Jr. said he believed he had a 5 -7 year run as Iron Man with him being 41 at the time the original Iron Man was made.  Seeing him interviewed on the red carpet at The Avengers premiere, he really looked like someone in their mid to late 40's.  He is signed on to do Iron Man 3 but you have to wonder beyond on that.  Will he just be too old for the part?  He said that after his 5 - 7 year run, his appearance may depend on advanced CGI technology.  So much for aging gracefully as an actor.

I wrote somewhere that it was hard for me to imagine a "sensitive" type actor like Mark Ruffalo portraying the big green fighting machine known as The Hulk.  Of course, I need to remember that Ruffalo plays Dr. Bruce Banner and that the Hulk is all computer graphics.  The Hulk was on TV many years ago and Bruce Banner was played by the late Bill Bixby - someone who embodied the word 'sensitive" in his acting.  Prior to The Hulk, Bixby's previous TV roles were in The Courtship of Eddie's Father and My Favorite Martian.  For TV's Hulk, Bixby needed the muscle bound body builder Lou Ferrigno to turn into the green monster with torn purple pants.

Even after seeing all the trailers and clips this morning, I can't say I was blown away but what I saw from The Avengers.  I believe it will deliver what it promises - rousing entertainment wrapped in special effects.  So why is an old guy like me excited to see The Avengers?  Though I wasn't a huge comic book fan as a kid, I probably went through a year or two where I religiously read about the adventures of Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, and The Incredible Hulk (also Spiderman and The Fantasitic Four but those are different Marvel properties not accounted for in The Avengers).  I knew the characters well, their heroics as well as their frailties, so the Marvel characters are a chance for me to revisit my youth as advancing years catch me from behind.  As a kid, you can imagine growing up , becoming a superhero, and saving the world.  As an adult you learn that the greatest villain of all that cannot be defeated by anyone is Father Time.  We all need superheros even if they come off pages of comic books or computer special effects.  We all need a chance to be young again. 

The Muppets: Music, Mayhem, Laughter, and Friendship

I really wanted to see The Muppets when it came out last Thanksgiving but for one reason or another, I just didn't get around to it.  It was released to DVD and Blu-Ray last Tuesday and after watching it here at home last night I now know that not seeing it in a theater was my loss.  It's a nice movie.  It's a kind movie.  It's happy movie.  You just can't say that very much about the movies anymore.  In a sense, The Muppets is an old-fashioned movie kind of like the Muppets themselves and they are the first to admit it.

You can tell The Muppets movie was made by people who care, especially Jason Segel who co-wrote the script with Nicholas Zoller. Segel (of TV's How I Met Your Mother) is also is the main star of the movie who isn't a muppet. What Segel and Zoller give is a wonderful opportunity to bring The Muppets (now owned by Disney) into the present while respecting and paying tribute to The Muppets created by the late Jim Henson more than 40 years ago. The movie serves as a bridge to see more of the Muppets in the future. Along the way, we remember, we laugh, we feel the warmth of getting the old gang back together once again. As for caring, I don't know of any character who cares more about everyone than a little green frog.

The movie isn't perfect. I wish the Chris Cooper (as the bad guy) and Jack Black characters were a little better written (which is a little ironic since Jack Black played himself) and Rashida Jones seemed a little our of place as a TV executive but most of the rest of the movie is a joy to watch complete with singing, dancing, and a lot of people seemingly enjoying what they do. A tip of the hat to Amy Adams (of Enchanted) who once again lights up the screen of a Disney movie reminiscent of the actresses of decades ago who could really sing and dance and put on a show. 

As you can tell, I really liked The Muppets. As you exit Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln at the Disneyland Opera House there is a wall of paintings and photographs that show people who provided a lasting vision that should always be remembered.  One of the largest pictures is that of Jim Henson and a groups of his friends who happened to be made from scraps of fabric. It's nice to know that Henson's Rainbow Connection continues to live on.

Jim Henson and friends at the Disneyland Opera House

Ranking Pixar Films - 2012

There are probably a couple of thousand of the lists like this one on the Internet in various blogs and web pages.  With Cars Land set to open and Pixar characters firmly entrenched in Disney California Adventure (along with Buzz and Nemo over in Disneyland), here are my rankings for the 12 Pixar films that have been made over the years.  It should be noted that all Pixar movies are successful and have made money (lots of money) but not all of them have exactly been works of art as the very best of them are.  So here is my list from worse to first.

12) A Bug's Life:  I saw the movie - on video - I don't remember a thing about it.  Not the movie's fault it came in last, more my fault (memo for the To-Do List - see A Bug's Life again).

11) Cars 2:  Visually stunning but one of the most lazy disappointing efforts I have ever witnessed from a group of people who should know better.  I am on a personal quest to rid Larry the Cable Guy and his buffoonery from show business.

10) Finding Nemo:  Along with Toy Story 3, Nemo is Pixar's most profitable movie. Never has the Pixar formula of cute little misfit in peril put more prominently displayed. I just didn't like it.  Ellen Degeneres voice annoys me (but not as much as Larry the Cable Guy).

9) Monsters Inc.:  My opinion of Monsters Inc. seems to waver.  I saw it in a theater and liked it a lot.  I remember being sick at the time so the movie was much better than I was.  When I saw it on video the first time, I didn't like it.  Then I watched it again last year and enjoyed it thoroughly.  I guess it depends how I feel.

8) Cars:  Mrs. DisneylandTraveler drug me to the theater to see Cars - she had already taken The Boy to see it and loved it - she thought I would too.  I was kicking and screaming all the way.  But guess what, I enjoyed the original Cars movie though I did think it was a little too long.  Cars had more Owen Wilson, Paul Newman, and Holly Hunter and less Larry the Cable Guy - a very wise choice.

7) Ratatouille:  This one may have been one of Pixar's best efforts with an Oscar to show for it and I did like Ratatouille.  Its just not a movie I can watch over and over again. Maybe its too good.

6) Toy Story 2:  Even the weakest effort of the Toy Story trilogy is a very, very good movie just not quite as good as the other two.

5) Up:  I kink of put Up in the same category as Ratatouille.  Excellent movies, great stories, and a visually stunning.  But like Ratatouille, I just can't watch Up over and over again.  It is a bit too emotionally fetching and yes, maybe too good.

4) The Incredibles:  Now you're talking.  A Pixar super-hero story.  A Pixar movie that doesn't intentionally try to make you cry.  Just good, fun, entertainment.

3) Toy Story:  I saw Toy Story in a movie theater and walked out in amazement at what I had just seen.  Pixar set the bar high right from the get go and created a truly American film experience with its Toy Story Franchise.  Having Tom Hanks in the lead doesn't hurt.

2) Toy Story 3:  Supposedly the TS trilogy ends here and if it did, it went out in grand style.  The ending of Toy Story 3 is about the most beautiful ending for a movie I have ever seen.

1) Wall-E:  If Toy Story 3 soared off into the sunset at the end, Wall-E blew me away from the beginning.  The love story of Wall-E and Eve is one of the greatest in movie history.  This movie did not need any of the humans that showed late in the movie.  The hearts of Wall-E and Eve, two robots, are greater than 99% of everyone on this planet. This movie did not need a spoken word to convey the richness of all emotions. Wall-E is one of the greatest movies of all time.

Mary Poppins Creeps Me Out

I posted an entry to this blog week or so ago acknowledging the passing away of Disney legendary classic songwriter Robert Sherman (link).  Along with his more visible in Disney circles brother Robert, the two songwriters crafted the music for Mary Poppins. The music of Mary Poppins is not exactly my cup of tea but its undeniable that the music of that movie is memorable and first rate.

I also went on to write that the movie Mary Poppins kind of gave me the creeps.  I caught a little flack for that from a couple of readers of this blog but let me explain.  I saw Mary Poppins in an actual movie theater as an impressionable young boy.  The immediate impression was it gave me nightmares.  For a young boy, there is something unsettling about seeing a nice lady flying around on an umbrella.  I saw it my dreams.  I don't remember dreams very well.  Here we are decades later and I still remember that one.

But I also confess, that I had the same reaction to the Wizard of Oz and the garish display of flying monkeys.  It too gave me nightmares probably worse than the Mary Poppins nightmares.  I didn't see the Wizard of Oz in a theater.  I'm not that old.  When I was a kid, before the days of cable and satellite TV, some network annually broadcast The Wizard of Oz on television.  Apparently it was "must see TV" for the time.  I did see The Wizard of Oz on TV - once - it gave me the creeps, gave me nightmares - that was it.  I never watched it again.  

Did I have something against people or animals flying?  I don't think so.  As a kid, I religiously watched The Adventures of Superman on TV and I was good with that. There was just something about a woman with dress and an umbrella and hideous flying monkeys that would wake me up in fear in the dead of night.

I can't understand why Mary Poppins (and Bert) are paraded around Disneyland the way they are.  Walk around characters are primarily aimed at kids, probably of the under age 7 demographic.  I wonder how many kids under the age of 7 have actually seen the movie Mary Poppins?  And if they did see it, how many did it actually creep out?  Then again, it could be just me.