Cinderella (1950)

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Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 97% IMDB Rating: 7.3
AMR Rating: Worth Watching.

Synopsis: Following the classic fairy tale, Cinderella, a kind mistreated girl, becomes a princess.

Review: Okay, this one isn’t as bad as Sleeping Beauty. However, there have been much better princess movies from Disney. Cinderella doesn’t have much of a personality, though I do like her hardworking qualities. This martyr personality endears her to audiences. Plus, the mice and the stepsisters are great. I love watching Anastasia and Drizella fight, and the cute little animals work together. It adds a lot of humor to this film, as does the cat. Cinderella’s meeting with the Prince was hilarious, too, since the king was just talking about it. It’s also a nice touch that Cinderella makes clothes for the mice by hand, so the animals decide to work together to make a dress for her. I’ve also always liked the idea of a pumpkin carriage. Yet it would have been nice if Disney kept those scenes that developed the Prince more. It would draw people further into the movie.

In this film there weren’t many songs I liked. “Sing Sweet Nightingale” was okay, but half of it was sung horribly by Cinderella’s sisters (though I did laugh, since Cinderella could do ten times better without lessons!) The animation is normal for a 1950 film. There’s nothing stunning about that.

Quite funny, Cinderella is Worth Watching. You might just laugh out loud in surprise, since you wouldn’t expect much humor in a 1950’s fairy tale film.

Background: Based on the fairy tale “Cendrillon” by Charles Perrault, Cinderella was the first full-bodied feature produced by the studio since Bambi in 1942. Both Helene Stanley (Cinderella’s live action model) and Ilene Woods (Cinderella’s voice actor, selected from 400 other candidates) heavily influenced Cinderella’s styling and mannerisms. In earlier drafts of the screenplay, the Prince originally played a larger role and had more character development than what he ultimately received in the final version of the film. For the first time, Walt turned to Tin Pan Alley song writers to write the songs. (Source)

The film received three Academy Award nominations for Best Sound (C. O. Slyfield), Original Music Score and Best Song for “Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo”. At the 1st Berlin International Film Festival it won the Golden Bear (Music Film) award and the Big Bronze Plate award. In June 2008, the American Film Institute revealed its “10 Top 10″— the best ten films in ten “classic” American film genres—after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community. Cinderella was acknowledged as the 9th greatest film in the animation genre. (Source)

Mars Needs Moms (2011)

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Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 37% IMDB Rating: 5.2
AMR Rating: Mediocre.

Synopsis: Milo, a nine-year-old boy, has his mother abducted by Martians, who want her to train their “children.” He understands the importance of family.

Review: Some films are so obviously meant to teach a moral that they get to be overdramatic. This movie is one of those. With such an old plot, the time limit, the escape by a hair (literally here!), you can easily predict the ending. However, the scenes in-between are quite exciting. Watching intently, you will be sucked into Milo, Gribble, and Ki’s adventures. Though not a very funny film, this movie does have some entertaining lines, especially Ki, who is obsessed with Earth’s “Flower Power” era. Yet once you get to the terribly maudlin end, the movie immediately pushes you out. There isn’t enough true emotion in this film.

The best part of this movie is the scenery. I love the martian landscape, the caves, even the dumps. The more muted colors are perfect. On the other hand, the film score doesn’t stand out very much in this film. The characters are very realistically animated and designed, and each person has a distinct personality. I also like the technology in this movie. It seems like things that advanced Martians would have.

A movie with beautiful scenery, but an old plot and perhaps over-dramatic and preachy, Mars Needs Moms can only be Mediocre.

Background: The title of the film is a twist on the title of American International Pictures’ 1966 film Mars Needs Women. Filming was done in performance-capture animation. The makers came up with their own alien language. The film is currently (unadjusted for inflation) the biggest box office bomb in film history, with a total net loss of $136,007,242. (Source)

101 Dalmatians (1961)

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Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 86% IMDB Rating: 7.2
AMR Rating: Absolutely Worth Watching! 

Synopsis: Dalmatians Pongo and Perdita meet and not only bring together their owners, but also save 99 puppies.

Review: When I saw Cruella De Vil, I shuddered. She is believably scary. However, that’s not all to this film. It’s also very hilarious. The bumbling Baduns (nice name ;-)), Pongo’s narration at the beginning, particularly the clever ways the dogs escape. My personal favorite was when the dalmatians covered their tracks and the Baduns remarked that dogs can’t be that smart. The entirety of the film is convincing. We have heard many dog rescue stories, but this one is enchanting in its own way. The premise _a composer trying to scrape up money, a family of dogs_ is sweet. I was cheering for Pongo and Perdita (and I’m more of a cat person!). The ending is also beautiful. After Cruella’s dramatic rage, the dogs all return home and bring Christmas cheer to Roger and Anita. Yet it would be nice if Roger and Anita had more appearances… oh well. 

Though this film only featured three songs, atypical for Disney, “Cruella De Vil” was extremely catchy. After the movie I couldn’t stop humming it! Also, the scenery is idyllic in the countryside and charming in London, especially when looking over the city during the “Twilight Bark.” Each dog seems unique and the new “sharp” style fits this amusing film.

An entertaining and lovable movie about family, 101 Dalmatians is sure to please many people. It’s Absolutely Worth Watching! 

Background: Based on the novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians by Dodie Smith, the movie was done with life action references (but drawn by hand) and the first to use Xerox in animating because the studio had to cut the budget due to the failure of Sleeping Beauty. (Reference)

The production of the film also signaled a change in the graphic style of Disney’s animation. Sleeping Beauty had a more graphic, angular style than previous Disney films, and the same look was carried over to One Hundred and One Dalmatians and in most subsequent films. (Source)

Sleeping Beauty (1959)

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Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 91% IMDB Rating: 7.3
AMR Rating: Not Worth Seeing.

Synopsis: Princess Aurora was cursed by an evil fairy to die at age sixteen, but three good fairies diluted the spell so that she would fall asleep indefinitely with the rest of the kingdom instead. Prince Phillip must wake her.

Review: Though this may be a “classic,” this is one of the worse ones. 1959 can’t be considered to be very early for animated movies; they were already extremely popular by them. Thus, I have higher expectations from Disney, and I blatantly disagree with the critics for this film. The movie was expensive to make, but the money wasn’t very well used. The evil fairy was scary, all right, but the film wasn’t very intriguing. Okay, so this perfect girl falls in love with a prince after one song, and the prince goes though that big battle shin-dig against a dragon with a great sword and shield. This may be the first movie that is so literally a fairy tale, but most people, including me, don’t watch animated movies in chronological order, so would find this quite boring. Maleficent is particularly scary, however, which added some interest to the movie. When she gave her curse I was shuddering. I also have to give credit to the slight twist of the prince being captured and taken to the Forbidden Mountain. The bumbling fairies find a solution to save and help the prince. I love how the clumsy fairies are so useful in the tale.

The songs are beautiful, especially “Once Upon a Dream.” Who can’t hum along? The score is great as well, with Tchaikovsky adaptations. The characters are also designed wonderfully, with the sharper visual style. You can tell each person’s personality by simply looking at them. However, I don’t like the animation very much. I have seen older movies that look more smoothly animated than this one. Though the backgrounds are intricate, they need to be animated, unfortunately, so sometimes the people in the back almost seem to have that effect of a wiggling paper cut-out.

A classic fairy tale, Sleeping Beauty is quite banal, but there are some good aspects. Still, it’s Not Worth Seeing.

Background: This movie is based on the fairy tale “La Belle au bois dormant” by Charles Perrault. It is the 16th animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, and the last fairy tale produced by Walt Disney due to its initial box office disappointment. The studio did not return to the genre until well after Disney’s death with the release of The Little Mermaid. Sleeping Beauty was the first animated film to be photographed in the Technirama widescreen process. The film was presented in Super Technirama 70 and 6-channel stereophonic sound in first-run engagements. Only one other animated film, Disney’s The Black Cauldron, was shot in Technirama. (Source)

The film’s musical score and songs, featuring the work of the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, are arrangements or adaptations of numbers from the 1890 Sleeping Beauty ballet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. This film has been nominated for Academy Awards Best Scoring of a Musical Picture, Grammy Awards Best Soundtrack Album (Original Cast), and a few other awards. (S0urce)

Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)

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Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 49% IMDB Rating: 6.5
AMR Rating: Worth Watching.

Synopsis: Based on Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth, Atlantis tells the story of a young man named Milo who discovers the hidden island with a crew, not knowing that his own people are conspiring against the undersea city.

Review: A fast-paced movie full of action, Atlantis is one of those that could be filmed well with actors. The jokes are hilarious, the lack of songs provides variety to Disney movies, and the film will definitely keep you at the edge of your seat. However, this movie falls to a common flaw among adventure films: it lacks depth. People simply glaze over the entire movie, completely aware of the screen. Perhaps this piece has too much action and the storyline moves too fast. There is no time to contemplate, only time to watch as the characters, which are not well developed, run about. You become excited for them, but you will not be excited for yourself. Despite all the dramatic scenes and many explosions, viewers don’t become part of the film.

As a non-Pixar Disney animated film with no musical numbers, Atlantis is a rare specimen. Besides, there’s no time to sing when your life is at risk every moment, anyway. Yet what I really love is the epic film score by James Newton Howard. It fits the movie. Also, the sharp angles in the art style complement the action, and is unique in animated films. The scenery of Atlantis is dynamic and intriguing.

If you seek only pure action, excitement, and an easy movie to watch that includes some nice jokes, Atlantis is the movie for you. On the other hand, if you want to be transported into Atlantis’ world, advanced in technology, yet primitive in design, awesome with explosions, unfortunately, you’re shut out. Therefore, Atlantis is worth watching, though it could use a lot more meat.

Background: Instead of another musical, the Disney production team decided to do an action-adventure film inspired by the works of Jules Verne. Atlantis was notable for adopting the distinctive visual style of comic book creator Mike Mignola. The production team did much research. (Source)

At the time of its release, the film had made greater use of computer-generated imagery (CGI) than any of Disney’s previous animated features; it remains one of the few to have been shot in anamorphic format. Linguist Marc Okrand created a language specifically for use in Atlantis. Atlantis was nominated for a number of awards, including seven Annie Awards, and won Best Sound Editing at the 2002 Golden Reel Awards. (Source)