146. DUMBO (1941)

Running Time: 64 minutes
Directed By: Ben Sharpsteen
Written By: Otto Englander, from book by Helen Aberson
Main Cast: (voices): Edward Brophy, Verna Felton, Herman Bing, Margaret Wright, Sterling Holloway
Click here to view the trailer

Note: For the curious, my watching of the seven movies that will make up "Seven Shadows Week" is finished. Therefore, I'll be returning to the blog full-time, so expect reviews to be fired at you at a fast & furious pace from here until 501.

TECHNICOLOR PACHYDERM

I figured I'd better go ahead and watch this before Disney yanked "Dumbo" by the trunk and threw him into their famous vault. It's an early Disney movie, so I pretty much knew what to expect going in and I got what I bargained for.

The setting is a traveling circus and the main characters are the animals. When the film opens, the stork is delivering baby animals to all their respective species. Infant tigers, lions, bears and kangaroos fall from the sky, attached to parachutes and into their awaiting mothers' arms. The only expecting mother who fails to receive her little bundle of joy is Mrs. Jumbo, the elephant (funny, there's no Mr. Jumbo). Later that night, as the animals board the circus train and head to the next town, the story, who had been running late, delivers to Mrs. Jumbo a baby boy, whom she names Jumbo Jr. The little guy is later dubbed Dumbo by his elephant peers, due to his extra large ears and when a crowd of people at the circus make fun of him, Mrs. Jumbo loses her cool and winds up in "the clink". With his mother behind bars, Dumbo is all alone. That is until Timothy L. Mouse sees him and decides to help him out. Timothy keeps Dumbo company as he's assigned to become the newest clown in the circus. One night, as they're coming from visiting Mrs. Jumbo, Timothy and Dumbo get drunk when they accidentally drink some alcohol from a washtub. Later, they awaken to find themselves in a tree and are helped along by a group of swingin' crows.

Here's my question: Are all Disney animated features (excluding Pixar) still told in musical form? I always forget when I go to watch one of these old Disney films that not only is it animated, but it's also loaded with songs. I haven't seen a new Disney movie since "The Lion King", perhaps and I know that too was a musical. What can I say about "Dumbo"? I'm a twenty-eight year old film lover and this is something that obviously wasn't meant to get me all giddy. It wasn't made for a man of my age and it's certainly not one that is aimed toward both adults and children. No, this one is strictly for kids or teenage girls who refuse to grow up. However, that psychedelic elephant scene is wild! Whoever came up with the idea to get a baby elephant drunk and then have him hallucinate pink elephants putting on a parade is quite possibly a genius. The only thing that could've made it better is if the scene was set to "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" by Iron Butterfly. And I'm not even joking when I say that if Disney had cut this down to a short film about the mouse and the elephant getting snockered and then their visions, I'd have given it a '10' and found a spot for it on my next TOP 20.

RATING: 4/10 But, as it is, it's about a '4' from me. I think the only Disney film left in THE BOOK is "The Lion King" and I better get on that one before the vault is opened.

MOVIES WATCHED: 423
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 578

April 9, 2012 3:51pm

138. Pinocchio (1940)

Running Time: 88 minutes
Directed By: Hamilton Luske, Ben Sharpsteen
Written By: Aurelius Battaglia, from novel by Carlo Collodi
Main Cast: (voices): Dickie Jones, Cliff Edwards, Christian Rub, Walter Catlett, Evelyn Venable


"I'M NOT A PUPPET...I'M A REAL BOY"

Moving right along in the "1001" book, we come to our third animated feature and in the same, our third movie produced by the empire that is Disney. I'll have to say that although I've been less than impressed by the previous two animated flicks, this one really surprised me and was a whole lot of fun.

Geppetto is a woodworker, who can make almost anything out of a few pieces of wood, including a bevy of clocks, resulting in one of my favorite moments when all of the clocks strike the top of the hour at the same time. However, when Jiminy Cricket wonders into Geppetto's workshop to get warm, he's just putting the final touches on a marionette, which Geppetto affectionately names, Pinocchio. Before going to sleep that night Geppetto makes a wish upon a falling star and wishes for Pinocchio to be a real boy. In the middle of the night, as Geppetto sleeps, the Blue Fairy comes down into his workshop and waves her wand over the head of Pinocchio, bringing him to life. She tells him that in order for him to be a real boy he'll have to prove himself to be brave, truthful and unselfish. She dubs Jiminy Cricket his conscience and leaves them. Geppetto is awakened by Pinocchio in the middle of the night, and after being startled at first, Geppetto is overjoyed to realize that Pinocchio is real.

The following day on his way to school, Pinocchio encounters a sly fox by the name of Honest John. With Jiminy Cricket running late as his first day is Pinocchio's conscience, Pinocchio falls under the slick words of John, as John entices him to come with him so that he can sell him to a puppeteer named Stromboli, putting ideas of fame and fortune into Pinocchio's head. However, Pinocchio is a big success on the stages of Stromboli's puppeteer show and ends up in a carriage to go on with Stromboli to perform all over the world. Stromboli, however, turns out to be a mean and evil man and locks Pinocchio in a cage, mistreating and abusing him. Jiminy Cricket, with a bit of help from the Blue Fairy save the day, however, and Pinocchio is set free, after he learns the consequences of telling a lie. After escaping Stromboli, Jiminy tries his best to keep Pinocchio in line, but alas, Pinocchio once again falls under the slick and sly words of Honest John, who has made a deal with The Coachman, to capture bad little boys and send them off to Pleasure Island so that they can be turned into donkeys. Honest John convinces Pinocchio to go to Pleasure Island and again Pinocchio is led astray and it's up to Jiminy Cricket to save the day...again.

I think there are a few elements that makes this Disney movie the best one I've watched so far. For starters, I loved all of the great villains. We start out getting introduced to Honest John and his companion, Gideon. Following them we get the slobbish Stromboli, followed by equally slobbish Coachman and finally at the bottom of the sea, we find Monstro the whale. On top of all the heels, we get the irresistible Jiminy Cricket, the lonely, yet lovable Geppetto and his companions Figaro the cat and Cleo the goldfish. The other thing I loved about Pinocchio is the fact that there was always trouble and it was all packed into an hour and a half. First you have the case of Pinocchio going away with Stromboli, then Pinocchio getting whisked off to Pleasure Island, then finally Pinocchio has to save Geppetto from the belly on Monstro. There was so much action and entertainment to keep you busy, the hour and a half just whip by and before you know it, you're a twenty-five year old man who just enjoyed a kids movie. I had a ton of fun with Pinocchio, in fact about ten times more fun than I expected to have. I think the reason that I'm sometimes so hard on Disney movies is because they're so commercial and so ordinary, that I'd much rather watch a foreign animated film, as those are usually down to earth and really a lot more enjoyable. "Pinocchio" reminded me of a foreign animated film, and made me forget that it was produced by the Disney empire.

RATING: 7.5/10 If you're looking for a really great animated flick then search no further than the puppet, who wanted nothing more than to become a real boy...Pinocchio

NEXT UP: The Mortal Storm...As I write this, I currently cannot find The Mortal Storm, which is a major bummer because its Jimmy Stewart.

July 4, 2010 12:00pm
Happy 4th of July!

134. FANTASIA (1940)

Running Time: 120 minutes
Directed By: Ben Sharpsteen
Written By: Joe Grant, Dick Huemer
Main Cast: Leopold Stokowski, Deems Taylor, Julietta Novis

WALT GOES CLASSICAL

The second of Walt Disney's entries into the "1001" book chimes in as the third movie from the decade of the forties, as a soundtrack of classical music set over seven different segments of animation. I can honestly say that I enjoyed some of the segments very much, while others left me bored and with a bit of a bland feeling.

I'll spare the plot, since there really wasn't one and just outline the different segments and give my opinions on each. The film opens with the narrator, Deems Taylor, a very soothing voiced man, talking about the process of putting classical scores over Walt Disney animation and the different types of pieces that we're about to see. We open with a piece called Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, which is basically just a smattering of colorful images, accompanied by the sounds of the Philadelphia Orchestra, and is really nothing to write home about, but still a suitable beginning to the film. Following that we get The Nutcracker Suite, which reminded me of a Busby Berkeley musical segment, which started very simplistic and built and built, until we were dealing with something far more grandiose than which we started. I enjoyed this piece fairly enough and the music and the animation flowed together pretty perfectly.

The third piece was the highly acclaimed and most famous The Sorcerer's Apprentice, which was probably one of my least favorite of the pieces and left me scratching my head and wondering why this was the piece that gets the most praise. Sure it was cute, with Mickey Mouse trying to tame his replicating brooms and the sight of the seemingly giant sorcerer was a bit of a grand sight, but still this piece didn't do a whole lot for me and there are far better segments throughout Fantasia.

The next piece may have been my favorite, however the book writes this one off as a segment that doesn't age well. I'll respectfully disagree with the authors of the book and say that The Rite of Spring provided some truly awesome animations, that consisted of dinosaurs, which moved in an almost lifelike fashion and were given very subtle and realistic mannerisms. I really enjoyed this piece and I really can't put my finger on why. There wasn't really anything truly great about it, but it captivated me and kept me tied to the film.

If The Rite of Spring wasn't my favorite piece then this next one was. It was The Pastoral Symphony conducted by none other than Beethoven and used various pieces of Greek mythology to show off a glorious little tale. Utilizing pegasi, cupids, centaurs, Greek Gods and fauns, this was an extremely colorful tale that grabbed my by the eyeballs and didn't let go until Beethoven struck his last chord and the fade to black was embraced. This was another one that started off light, but built into a glamorous showcase of Walt Disney animation and the music accompanied it brilliantly.

The next to last piece was the Dance of the Hours, and yet another one that left me quite bored. Using some of the most ungraceful members of the animal kingdom (ostriches, elephants, hippos) and throwing them into some very graceful situations and having them dance it out, as they represent different times in a single day. Didn't really do anything for me and like I said, left me feeling quite bored and ready to get to the finale of this film.

The final piece was Night on Bald Mountain/Ave Marie, which had the most eerie feel to it, as we dealt with gargoyles, devils and demons and very intense music and even more intense colors. I neither liked, nor disliked this piece and was quite captivated when the flames of fire transformed into three tiny dancers. The menacing and gigantic gargoyle was a bit of a sight, but by the time this piece was shown, I was honestly ready to send this movie home and finish it off already. Two hours for a Disney movie was a bit much for my twenty-five year old self to endure, and while some of the pieces were quite spectacular, as a whole the movie just seemed to drag a bit, during the segments that weren't as exciting.

RATING: 5/10 We'll go ahead and call it right down the middle, as I enjoyed just as much as I didn't enjoy.

NEXT UP: The Philadelphia Story...Grant, Stewart and Hepburn...Sounds interesting and fun, however I've seen it before and don't remember being that impressed...We'll see if time can change that.

June 26, 2010 2:00pm