Alice in Wonderland - 1951

Oh, sweet Alice. Silly Alice. Your film is…fine.

Honestly, fine. And I mean that in a good way. Similar to Mr. Toad, it’s clearly supposed to be silly and nonsensical and because that’s done so well with kooky characters, harsh lines and bright colors. It can definitely get frustrating with the dialogue that just goes in circle like at the Mad Tea Party but, I mean…that’s just Wonderland.

I think it’s at this point where it’s clearly indicative that there was/is an A-Team and a B-Team in the Animated Features department at the studio. They all have to reach a very high minimum bar, that’s obvious because it’s still a gorgeous film in its own way but, I don’t know if I’d consider Alice as picturesque and fine art-like as I do Cinderella. That’s not to say it’s crude or ugly. It’s just different. And that’s fine! I don’t think it would be nearly as good if it was stylized like Cinderella or even the original illustrations like Sir John Tenniel. Yes, it’s different. Comparatively, yes, it’s less than, but that’s the lane it’s supposed to be in and that’s why it works.

I’d say this is the first time Disney didn’t make something insanely painful to get through after a smash hit. Not to say there wasn’t some stuff I could’ve done without, specifically the story of The Walrus and The Carpenter but, I’m blaming the source material for that one. The ending felt a little unresolved as well. Alice is being chased from the Queen of Hearts and her crew and when it hits the climax, Alice just wakes up. I can’t hate that too much, as it’s no different in real life.

My stance remains unchanged. Alice is fine. It will never be a go to but I enjoyed it for what it is. It’s fine.

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Cinderella - 1950

Disclaimer: This film was taken in with the Childhood Favorite Filter on so bias is in full swing.

New decade, new look, new Disney. Wow, wow, wow. Cinderella saved this company and it shows. There’s a reason why that big ol’ castle in Florida is fashioned after the one in this film. This movie did a lot for Disney. The man and the company. The dress transition scene is iconic and that’s just one part of one scene. The animation in Cinderella sets a new bar for Disney animation at this point. The characters you’re supposed to like are likable, the characters you aren’t supposed to like are still fun to watch. Come on, Lucifer is a jerk but those expressions are something gif-worthy that every sassy person should have in their arsenal.

This story is nothing new. Everyone and their mother knows the story of the girl who leaves behind a shoe because she’s gotta make curfew. Yet Disney does a fantastic job of making a compelling story that pulls at your heartstrings. Plus, the music! Catchy, clever, creative. This movie was one of my absolute favorites as a kid. I cant explain why it just captured so much of my heart. I’m so happy I decided to do this rewatch because I haven’t visited this film in at least a decade. Even if Cinderella isn’t my favorite princess, I think it may be one of my favorite princess movies. I could continue to gush but that’s incredibly boring. Cinderella easily cemented itself in line up of timeless Disney classics. The thing I will always chew on from a historic perspective is what comes next.

Will the next entry in the Disney Feature Film Animation ledger top what comes before it? That’s certainly the case now a days with studios like Pixar. At the time Cinderella was being produced, 2 other movies were also in development: Alice In Wonderland and Peter Pan. Both would wind up being made, as we know but would either of them capture the magic or emotion that Cinderella has? Will the artwork of it be as awe-inspiring? From where I’m sitting, it’s a toss up. Disney did a damn good job with Snow White but was what came next as good or better than it? *checks notes* Hmm, Pinocchio…no. Well what about after that? Dumbo. Uh, also no. Try again? Oh it’s Bambi? Yikes.

We’ll see.

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The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad - 1949

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad 1949

Well, well. Another first time viewing for this babbler. What a…ahem…wild ride… Ichabod and Mr. Toad was! I am not sorry for what I just did there. Really, I’m not.

There’s a lot I didn’t really know going into this film. Everything I knew was from the select few times I’ve been on the ride. I will follow that statement up by saying I do not enjoy the ride. It’s in my top 2 of rides at Disneyland I absolutely will not go on. (The second being Snow White’s Scary Adventures which is alarmingly terrifying considering it’s a Fantasyland ride. It is worth mentioning however, that the ride is currently under a long overdue refurbishment that will get some of the same updating treatment that the Alice ride got and sources I follow on Twitter seem to indicate they will water down the spooky factor. Anyway….)

Some questions I had going into this film were:

1.     How will they depict Mr. Toad going to hell?

2.     How am I going to brace myself for the monster thing that’s at the end of the ride?

3.     What does Ichabod have to do with anything?

I discovered about a quarter of the way through the whole movie that the Ichabod thing was going to be a bigger enigma than I realized, considering I was significantly along in the story of Mr. Toad and there was no mention or indication of Ichabod being a factor at all. Not being able to stand it anymore, I busted out the Wikipedia article which explained to me the following, “The film consists of two segments—the first of which is based on the 1908 children's novel The Wind in the Willows by British author Kenneth Grahame, and the second is based on the 1820 short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", called Ichabod Crane in the film, by American author Washington Irving.”

WELL OKAY. So, this is literally a feature film of 2 different stories that have absolutely NOTHING to do with each other sandwiched into one thing. Question 3: answered!

On to the rest of the questions. It turns out that the 2 things I detest most about the ride, the scene going to hell and the monster at the end, ARE NOT IN THE MOVIE. Questions 1 and 2, basically answered. So, did I like sitting through the whole Mr. Toad portion of the movie on edge the whole time? No. But! That didn’t affect my enjoyment of it! I thought Mr. Toad was great! It was fun and silly and the characters were enjoyable. It didn’t take itself so seriously and was just a cute story illustrated through some classic Disney Animation.

TRANSITION TO…The Ichabod portion of the evening.

I’ll cut to the chase with this one. I HATED IT. Besides the fact that it dragged on, because you basically have to reset from one story ending and a new one beginning, the story of Ichabod is gross and…. say it with me…unfortunately a product of its time. Everyone in this story is a complete asshat. You literally have no one to root for. The titular characters only redeeming qualities are that he reads a lot, therefore being a teacher and can dance well. He spends the entire film being an opportunistic jerk, hopping from woman to woman, mother to mother of his students who have the best food so he can be fed, knowing all the while he’s some impressive so-n-so.

Once we establish that character trait about him, he literally leaves a picnic he’s on with a woman and her kid to dreamily follow the town hottie and daughter of the rich guy, Katrina, who is pitting Ichabod against the big brute in town, Brom Bones. He’s like Gaston: The Beta Version. Anyway, all of this culminates at the gal’s Halloween party which Brom uses as an opportunity to scare superstitious Ichabod into believing he’ll be hunted by the headless horseman on his way home. Ichabod is scared senseless, and then there’s a way-too-long sequence of him running away from a headless horseman. The ending is left open ended, not knowing what happened to Ichabod as the horseman caught up to him. All I can say is, good riddance.

I left this movie with 2 thoughts:

1) There is a reason we don’t hear about the Ichabod portion of this movie. It’s truly awful and aged horribly.

2) Why would these two stories get put together? Leonard Maltin explained in his book The Disney Films that these 2 stories “seem to complement each other quite well.” How?? I don’t see it. Toad is about a scallywag adventurer that needs to clear his name, save his reputation and get his home back. Ichabod is about a know it all douchebag seeking nothing but attention for his brilliance, a warm meal and to marry up.  

Would I watch this again? No.

Even the half of it I liked? No, probably not.

Sorry, Toad. Ichabod screwed ya. Still not going on your creepy ass ride either!

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Bambi - 1942

Well. I don’t really know how to start this one.

I’ll be blunt.

It was so boring.

A few minutes in, I was texting my friend who had also seen it recently and said, “oh my god are we still in the intro?! Enough with the scenery!” This film was very much Disney trying to show off its master artistry and the story as well as anything interesting kind of fell by the wayside.

All these characters, literally all of them, are so annoying. There’s no real story. Bambi is born. He learns to say “bird.” He grows up, understands the harsh reality of living in a forest with the introduction of the film’s (weak-ass) antagonist, “Man.” Meets his dad, runs into Man again, and then the forest gets set on fire.

I feel so stuck. I literally didn’t care at all about this movie. I wasn’t even sad when Bambi’s mom died. I’ll give it that it’s pretty. The picturesque nature scenery is nice. Not for me, but nice.

I wish I had more to say. I really do. Ah, well. Can’t all be winners.

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Dumbo - 1941

Oh man. Dumbo. Woof.

Another one I’ve never seen before and if I have, I can guess why I don’t remember it. Unfortunately, another product of its time. I was so uncomfortable the whole time watching this! The bullying, the racism, the problematic practices of a circus, the trippy drunken elephant dream. My god.

I will start this with something I liked. There is a small glimmer of good in this film. The best part about this movie was the equal parts beautiful and adorable relationship between cutie little Dumbo…ahem, excuse me, Jumbo Jr. and his mother, Mrs. Jumbo. (No Mr. Jumbo, by the way but 1940’s Disney isn’t about to have an unmarried elephant have a kid on her own!) The scene of Dumbo swinging in his mother’s trunk, reaching for her with his own trunk while the soft motherly tones of the song “Baby Mine,” brought a tear out of this viewer that hardly cries at anything in movies. It definitely made me think of and cherish my relationship with my own mom. She would definitely fight some punk a** kids should they ever harass me and make fun of my ears. Besides that, Dumbo got done dirty by his own movie. Poor kid doesn’t even fly until the last 4 minutes of the movie! But sure, let’s make a ride based on that entire premise.

I don’t need to go into the specifics of the issues with this one. We’re just going to chalk it up to what I said earlier. A product of its time. Plus, there isn’t very much “Disney Magic” to this one. It felt very rudimentary in every way. Story, visuals, characters, everything. It’s even short AF clocking in at just 1 hour, 4 minutes.

Upon some additional research, Dumbo was released to make up for the losses of its predecessors, Pinocchio and Fantasia. It was supposed to be low-budget and actually a cartoon short. Developing a simple story into a full length feature film isn’t easy, and it’s clear now that this production was plagued with problems and pressure that unfortunately, minds of 1940 had to solve. They weren’t thinking, “how do we make this timeless?” It was more, “how do we get this out the door and get our cash back?” Just write it, draw it, voice it, send it. No Disney magic, no fun, no fluff.

All that said, I do like the character of Dumbo. He’s a sweet innocent just trying to get by. He gets the last laugh in the end and we are left with the sweet notion that Dumbo and Mrs. Jumbo happily live as any circus animal can, but most importantly, together.

It is worth noting that modern Disney is CLEARLY aware of this film’s issues, and does not have it listed as one of its many tiles on the Disney Through the Decades section in Disney+’s search feature. The only way you can find this film is if you search manually and type in the title. The company clearly doesn’t want to actively promote this problematic film but had no problem making a live action version of it in 2019…go figure.

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Pinocchio - 1940

No beating around the bush on this one; I hated this movie. Sorry about it. Sort of.

The second installment of Walt Disney’s animated feature film legacy is the tale of Pinocchio. It premiered in theaters in 1940 and premiered in my life in 2020. Yep, I never saw this movie until this marathon. Do I wish I could turn back time? No. I think part of me wanted to see it considering I’ve been on the ride and I know about it in parts (cricket, puppet, fairy, fox, mean theater guy, nose, growing, island, donkeys, whale) I’ve just never had the parts connected.

Gah, I don’t want to spend the whole time bashing it. It was beautifully animated and these movies are truly pieces of art that are just, sadly, a product of their time. Okay, things I liked:

-       Blue Fairy animation: stunning, truly magical and ethereal and just all around lovely

-       Geppetto! This house stans Geppetto. I actually spent most of the movie feeling bad for him. Such a sweetie that just wanted a son to love. Too bad he got stuck with that dip Pinocchio.

-       Figaro and that sassy personality! I loved it so much. Another Disney side character that steals the show! (Plus, I read that Figaro was actually Walt Disney’s favorite character from the film! Do I have the same taste as Walt Disney? I meannnn….)

After watching this movie and struggling to recover, I decided to look at what real critics had to say. I was ASTONISHED that this version of Pinocchio is considered, as Wikipedia states, “to be the film that most closely approaches technical perfection of all the Disney animated features.” WHAAAAAAT?! Other critics and filmmakers consider it one of the best animated films of all time!! 

I don’t think this film comes close to riding Snow White’s coattails, yet here we are. To me, the technical triumphs of a film’s creation doesn’t mean it’s automatically good. Avatar is a great example. Sure, it’s cool to watch but at the end of the day that movie is not good. Same with Pinocchio, another technical maven for the age, but ultimately, it’s a hard no.

I’m willing to admit that I did myself a disservice for watching such a dated movie for the first time in the year of our quarantine 2020, where I am…er…how to put this… Not the target audience for a movie like this but, I think that only does a disservice this movie because SO many Disney classics are timeless and universally enjoyed still today. In my opinion, Pinocchio isn’t something that comes to mind quickly when I’m thinking of the best Disney animated classics, so say the critics. I guess that’s why I’m not a professional.

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Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs - 1937

Wow. What a classic to start with. I think I HAVE to say that because holy moly was this movie actually hard to get through. I had a really hard time suspending my 2020 brain and needed to keep reminding myself that This movie as made in the 1930’s! Truly an incredible feat that is still worthy of being celebrated today, especially considering they don’t even make movies like the way they made Snow White.

This film completely sets the bar for so many standards for that were made iconic by Disney and still hold true today. One that’s worth noting is the extraordinary development and involvement of side characters. While modern day viewers could see Snow White as prissy and annoying (not a lie), the iconic Seven Dwarfs still hold up! They’re unique, clever and fun to watch! Heck, I even squeaked out a legitimate laugh to one of Grumpy’s sassy comments. Is he the 1937 version of Squidward? Probably the other way around.

An adaptation:

[SNOW WHITE has awoken from her nap in the dwarfs beds and is greeted by 7 pairs of eyes watching her intently, highly curious.]

SNOW:

Oh! How do you do? 

            [The dwarfs do not respond.]

SNOW:

Well… How do you do?!

GRUMPY [gruffly]:

How do you do what?

Anyway, did I give this movie a thumbs up on my Instagram story? Yes. Did I want to? No. No matter what happens in the world this movie will still be the first full length animated feature film and that is an accomplishment that always deserves to be recognized and celebrated. That recognition and celebration can occur while it stays buried in my Disney+ library.

PS: I was today years old when I learned the plural for ‘dwarf’ is not ‘dwarves.’

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