Movie Magic Monday: The Disneyfication of Fairy Tales

Yesterday I had the chance to watch Disney’s Cinderella for the first time in… forever. And even knowing what was going to happen, I found myself thoroughly enjoying it. Sure, it’s a classic. We all know and love it for that reason. But watching it after so long was almost like watching it for the first time, or watching it with a new pair of eyes. I smiled and sung along, delighted once again by Gus the big and lovable mouse and disgusted by the idiotic, large footed stepsisters and their devilish cat, Lucifer (I would have skinned him alive).

But the more I watched it, the more I realized how different it feels from another telling of virtually the exact same story, something like Ever After: A Cinderella Story. While one difference between them is obvious, in that one is animated and one is not, the tone and telling of the stories vary vastly. Disney has sugar coated a rather ugly situation and made it palatable to children, meanwhile the more adult version of Cinderella is witty, heartbreaking and action packed.

They both share the central love story, but while  Disney makes it feel like holding hands and adoring glances, Ever After felt more edgy, sexy, and realistically impossible. While I love Disney cartoons, Beauty and the Beast and Little Mermaid being personal favorites, I feel many of their interpretations of classic fairytales fail to capture that darkness that all fairytales tend to have tucked deep inside. Sleeping Beauty might be the only exception, as that one is somehow remarkably dark, for a children’s film.

And really, let’s face it, that’s what they are, films targeted to children. It would be wrong to fill them with some of the sick undercurrents many genuine fairytales contain. Most times, I’m glad for that. There are times when I need the romanticism of it all, the very innocent magic of a Disney film.

But sometimes, I’m in the mood for something that’s true to form which is why I feel YA fiction has taken fairytales and turned them on its head. It’s great to see modern and edgy retellings of fairytales (like Beastly or Ash or A Curse Dark as Gold – RUMPLESTILTSKIN!) that speak to the familiar and yet take us to another place entirely.

So enjoy a classic Disney movie, but when you want the really meaty stuff, turn to a good book.

Movie Magic Monday: The Princess and the Frog

I have to hand it to Disney, this was a real attempt.  The Princess and the Frog was meant to be a return to classic Disney—think Disney Princesses Disney.  It was complete with a nefarious bad guy, mystical guide of a sort, kooky side-characters of various species, surprisingly dark elements, and lots of musical numbers, with a prince charming moment at the end…

But still, something was a little bit off.  It wasn’t quite the same.  It was a hash between a princess movie and The Emperor’s New Groove, and while I love both genre’s, and this did end up incredibly cute, it just wasn’t the swoony Disney love story I’d been kind of hoping for.  Even the musical numbers didn’t hit me as quite right.  It seemed as if they were added because Disney wanted this to be a musical, not because the songs actually fit into the story, particularly.

That said, I think if I’d seen this as a kid, I’d have probably enjoyed it… but give me Cinderella, please.  Or any of the classic princess movies.  My heart is locked up in those sweet, simple fairy tales.  This had too much spin to it, and not enough sweet, I think.  I have to give it a C.

Movie Magic Monday: Race to Witch Mountain

The selling point for me to watch this movie was aliens. Aliens with cool powers. I’m always down to watch humanoid aliens do neat things that we humans only dream about. I figured, it’s Disney, so I’m sure it’ll have a feel good element. And well, The Rock isn’t too bad to look at either.

Though I really enjoyed the logic of the storyline once it was explained, I was very disappointed that it happened in the form of an infodump, rather than through interesting scenes involving character discovery. Yes, I get that we only had so much time in the movie, but the alien kids remained very vague and unimportant to me. I cared about them only in so far as I couldn’t bear two kids getting caught by the government. As people, as characters, they failed to truly capture me.

The story seemed to focus much more on Dwayne Johnson’s character, the non-believing taxi driver who gets caught in all the action. His paternal instinct to protect is charming and his progression toward discovering the truth is amusing. The action scenes were fun to watch, particularly the one advertised in the commercials where the boy is standing in front of the SUV. If you haven’t seen it, I won’t spoil it for you, but I did get pretty psyched by it, visually.

I think the movie had a lot of promise but failed to deliver on most aspects. It was entertaining but not overly memorable. It was fun in a sci-fi meets pop culture kind of way, but not a genuine science fiction story, like ET or the new Avatar (which I am SO going to go see in 3d soon!).

Unfortunately, I have to give this movie a C+. But for light, family entertainment, it does what it set out to do. dwayne john

Movie Magic Monday: Disney’s Beauty and the Beast

Til this day, Beauty and the Beast remains one of my very favorite Disney movies. The iconic wilting rose is so meaningful. Beauty is fleeting, true love remains forever. And the very arrogant prince needed to learn that.

But life lessons aside, out of all the Disney princesses, I’m convinced Belle is the most relatable. She’s your every day woman. Intelligent, an avid reader, daughter of a working man (inventor), confident enough to turn down the advances of the most desired man in town because really Gaston- it would never have worked out between you two. Not enough depth in that long haired noggin of yours, despite your rippling pecs.

It also has one of the most unlikely heroes in the Beast.  I’ve made known my love for reluctant heroes in past posts, but this guy really just stole my heart. Seeing his transformation still brings a smile to my face. Watching Belle return his humanity by teaching him to love, not just her, but himself as well. It’s all so romantic. And I know I’m not the only one who was oddly disappointed when the Beast transformed into a prince.

Of course the movie is filled with memorable side characters and songs- my favorite still being ‘Be Our Guest’. I almost wish they would do a live action version of this movie. But I suppose that’s what the musical is for.

Overall Rating: A