Gerawallstar

Hey Guys! Gerawallstar here, and I am here to review the forgotten Disney film of all time. And that is the 25^th Walt Disney film, The Black Cauldron, which was released in 1985. This film was one of the films that almost killed Disney animation company at the time, and here are a few reasons why: critics hated the film, and it bombed hard at the box office while it was the most expensive Walt Disney film at the time. To make matters worse: it did so bad that even The Care Bears movie beated this film in the box office. That was when you know Disney was in BIG trouble at the time. The result of all of this led to this film not being released until 1998 on home video. In my opinion, while this film is not the worst film, that a lot of people claimed it to be, it does have a lot of problems.

Development/History

This film came out during the dark ages of Disney. The era after Walt Disney’s death. This was at the time when Walt Disney Company was not doing very well, with them producing bad to mediocre critical/financial films such as The Aristocats, Robin Hood, to average successes such as The Rescuers, and The Fox and the Hound. However, because of the success of both The Rescuers, and The Fox and the Hound, Disney wanted to return back to its glory days, by making a more darker, and mature film that was catered towards teenagers. And they did so by making The Black Cauldron, which was the first PG rated Disney film, the first film to be released widescreen since Sleeping Beauty, and the first film to have CGI.

Development

The Black Cauldron was in production in 1973, when they finally obtained the rights to Lloyd Alexander’s novels. The new generation of workers were working on this film, since all of the nine old men, have officially retired from the company. They wanted to return back to the glory days of Snow White, so they went along with producing this novel into their movie. Because there was a lot of characters, and storylines in the book, they were working and producing the film throughout the 1970’s, and they wanted to release this film in 1980. However, because of the advancement of animating the human characters, just as Ron Miller stated, the release date was pushed back to 1984. This all came downhill from here afterwards. What was going on throughout the early 80s was that the movie had multiple delays, because the animators had their animation strike in 1982, Roy E Disney left CEO, and was replaced by Michael Eisner as CEO, along with Jeffery Katzenberg as the head of the Walt Disney flicks. When screening was finally released, it didn’t do so well with the audiences, because it was too scary for children, resulting parents leaving the theaters. Because of this, Eisner immediately wanted 12 minutes of the film, edited out when it was finally done in production, to make it less scary, and more friendly. This caused to delay the movie even more from December 1984 to July 1985.

Story:

The story is about an evil Honrned King who creates a magical Cauldron that will help him to rule the world, and it is up to Taran, Princess Eilonwy, Gurgi, and Fflwwedur Flan to stop him. The story of this film is a pretty mixed bag. My biggest problem of the story is the execution. You have way too many scenes coming at you all at once. This is a character driven movie, and the biggest problem is that these characters have nothing interesting to have in store for this film. We’ll get to the characters later. But in the story, you have scenes where the characters go to a big castle, they meet some fairies that you will never get to see after that, there are three witches that they encounter to give some advice, there are some moments where the characters argue at each other. Not a pretty image coming from Disney. Am I right? You have an action scene where someone has to sacrifice him or herself by getting into the cauldron, and then there’s an ending where a character gives up his sword to rescue a friend. See? That’s what’s makes the story uninteresting. There are a lot of moments where not only the story could have bad execution, but predictable moments, too. The only good thing I can say about the story is the action scene with Taran and the Horned King, and the sacrifice, as well. Oh, and the ending was kind of stupid, and pointless, as well. I give the story five stars.

Animation

This movie definitely has its flaws with the writing, but the animation however is really good. This was made by a new generation of animators at the time, after the nine old men retired from Disney. I liked that with the setting taking place in the medieval times, the designs, and the environment looks pretty creative. The characters, like the Horned King, and the fairies look pretty decent as well. The effects look stunning as well. Fun fact: This was the first Disney film to have CGI aspects, since most of the animation was designed on computers. There is some CGI moments with Hegwig the pig running, the cauldrons/objects moving around, and there are some orbs that are computer generated as well. The only problems that I have with the animation are the human characters still look stiffy, and the backgrounds are kind of dull. I give the animation eight stars.

Characters

Oh boy. Here we go with the characters. I really do not enjoy the characters in this movie at all. The characters are either bland, or pointless. Lets start with the protagonist: Taran is a teenager that dreams to be a Heroic Knight. The problem I have with this character is that not only he is very unlikeable, but he is also the one that caused a lot of problems in the main story in the first place. He irresponsibly loses his pet pig while he is supposed to take care of it, and he acts like he is the hero just because he had a sword, while in reality, the sword was the one that did all of the work. He is also very whiny. He barely did anything in the film!, but that’s in the end of the film. Princess Ellionwy is supposed to be the Princess of the movie. My problem with her is that she is very, very boring. The movie doesn’t even give her anything Princessy, like a castle, or a dress, or anything like that. Gurgi, who is the comic relief, is the most annoying characters I have ever seen in an Disney film. He is not funny, nor he is enjoyable. His voice is so annoying. Fflwwedur is another bland comic relief that breaks his harp, whenever he says something. That’s not just the main characters, but this also applies to the main villain. While the Horned King is very cool design wise, he unfortunately doesn’t do anything in the film, except laze around in his throne throughout the movie. He only gets involved in the film, in the end. Despite all of the problems I have with the characters, the voice actors are the saving grace of the film. John Hurt did a terrific Job voicing the Horned King. I even liked Gurgi’s sacrifice in the end, even though I dislike his character. I also liked one decent thing that Taran did in the end of the movie. And what he did was to sacrifice his sword for his friend Gurgi. I give the characters four stars.

Verdict:

I can see why this movie bombed, and almost killed Disney. The Black Cauldron is an average Disney film that while has great animation, but sadly has a lot of problems with the plot, and characters. The film did succeed with the darker tones in the film. And despite the film losing a lot of money, it gave Disney the opportunity to make another film that would help them save the company from Bankruptcy, and that film was The Great Mouse Detective. I give this disappointing movie six stars out of ten.

6/10

Hey Guys! Gerawallstar here, and I am here to review the underrated, but the more important film of the Walt Disney Company, and that is the 49^th Walt Disney film, The Princess and the Frog, which was released in 2009. In my opinion, this is one of the higher quality Disney movies in a long time, after a lot of mediocre and bad Disney films that were around before this film occurred. This film also brought us into the current era we are in, known as the Revival era, the second Disney Renaissance. Here are some reasons why: This is one of the first Disney films that featured an African-American princess, this film returned to the classic, hand drawn 2D animation, after disappearing for five years, and it also brought a return to the Disney Princess formula that was missing for 11 years, as well as musicals.

Development/History

After the box office bomb of the 2004 film Home on the Range, Walt Disney officially closed its hand drawn animation department for good. What was also going on with the Walt Disney Company in the 2000s was that they were in another dark age (like the dark ages after Walt Disney’s death). They were releasing films with either modest critical or financial success. An example of this is the critical or financial failures of Treasure Planet, Brother Bear, Home on the Range, Chicken Little, and The Wild. Fortunately, when John Lasseter (chief of Disney/Pixar) went into The Walt Disney Company as the creative chief officer in 2006, he produced films such as Meet the Robinsons and Bolt that were step ups from the previous bad Disney films. For this film, he wanted to make a return to the traditional Disney Princess format, bring back Fairytales/musicals, and a return to 2D animated films with this film.

The Princess and the Frog was in development back in July 2006, originally titled The Frog Princess. There were some early concepts and songs presented at the Walt Disney’s shareholder meeting back in 2007. Unfortunately, there were some criticisms from the African-American outlet expressing their disapproval of the story’s elements, songs, and time setting. They also disapproved of the name “Maddy” which was similar to the “mammy” stereotype. There were also some protests about Maddy’s original character job as a Chambermaid. The choice of having the protagonist falling in love with a non-black prince, upsetted a lot of opponents of interracial romances on screen, and having the choice of having a black male portrayed as a voodoo witch doctor villain. There was also a slur portrayal of French people. And finally, there were some concerns on the location of the film due to the Hurricane Katrina back in 2005. So to avoid all of the racial tensions, the producers changed the name “maddy” to “Tiana”, as well as changing the occupation to a waitress, instead of Chambermaid. They even decided to stick the setting to Louisiana, despite the issues happening there at the time.

Story:

The story is about a hard-working waitress named Tiana who has dreams of opening her restaurant. After kissing a prince who has been turned into a frog by an evil voodoo sorcerer, she herself becomes a frog, and must find a way to become a human before its too late. Yeah, I have a few problems with the story. The biggest problem with the story is that while the film is supposed to be about Tiana fulfilling her dreams of opening her restaurant, we get to see the remaining of the film however seeing her and Prince Naveen as a frog. The frog aspect of the film feels a little forced, and a little boring. There were some other moments in the story that are rushed, and complicated/confusing as well. I feel like the story could’ve been handled better if the film was more about Tiana focusing on her goals, instead of the frog elements. I will say that there are some good moments in the story. I liked the beginning and the end of the film. The beginning where Tiana’s parents teach her about the value of hard work, the scenes with Mama Odie, and the wedding scenes in the end were very good. The battle between Tiana and Dr. Facilier was also very good, even though I wish it lasted a little longer. There’s also some subtle, but racist moments in the film. For example: There was a scene in the beginning of the movie where two white Bankers were denying a space for Tiana’s place, when she finally gets the money she needed for her restaurant, because of her background. I liked that Disney added racism in the film, because it makes the film look realistic, despite it being a fairytale. Especially since this is a film taking place during the 1920’s New Orleans. The death scene of Ray the firefly was very emotional, and the ending where Tiana finally got her own place was satisfying. The story is really decent, even though it has a lot of problems. I’m giving the story seven stars.

Animation:

While the story is the weaker element of the film, the animation however is phenomenal! The animation is hands down the best part of the film. The animation is designed by Toon Boom Studios. The animators put their all into the visuals. It really feels like watching a classic Walt Disney Film. For example: I loved the animation sequences in one of Tiana’s songs, which felt reminiscent of the harlem renaissance artstyle of the 1920’s.  This film marked as the return of 2D hand drawn animated films. Unfortunately, the success of the hand drawn animation didn’t last long. While it didn’t bomb thankfully, this film didn’t do so well at the box office, because another film James Cameron’s Avatar was released on the second weekend this film came out, which became, as of today, the highest grossing film of all time. Because of the modest success, along with the box office bomb of Winnie the Pooh two years later, Disney has decided to put 2D animation on hold for now, and stick to making 3D films, which is kind of disappointing. Despite all of that, the animation, and visuals are gorgeous. The animation is the winner of this film. I’m giving the animation 10 stars!

Characters:

The characters in the film are great and enjoyable. I loved Princess Tiana. Tiana is an underrated Disney Princess, who is a great character, because of her hard work ethics, as well as being a positive role model for children. Charlotte is one of the funniest characters, because of her energetic characteristics, and good humor. Not to mention that unlike the other spoiled Princesses, I liked how supportive she is to Tiana. Prince Naveen may be a spoiled Prince, he definitely does get better as the film progresses. Dr. Facilier is one of the great Disney Villains. He seems very threatening. I liked some of the funnier side characters like Mama Odie. The main problem I have with the characters are most of the side characters. I didn’t enjoy Ray the firefly very much, and while Louis the alligator is funny, he is just your typical comic relief. Fun fact: the producers were going to use him as a main cast of the film, but they cut his role down, to support more on Tiana and Naveen. I am kind of glad that they did that, because that would’ve dragged the film down even more. And as much as I loved Dr. Facilier, his motives for are kind of silly.

Let’s move on to the voice acting. The voice acting in this film is amazing. Anaki noni Rose did a good job voicing as Tiana, Jennifer Cody was great as Charlotte well. Bruno Campos did great voice acting Prince Naveen. Jim Cunnings, and Michael-Leon Wooley also did a Terrific Job voicing as Louis, and Ray. I give props from Jenifer Lewis who voiced Mama Odie. But The best of all the voice actors in the film is Keith David(the voice of Goliath from Gargoyles) who voiced Dr. Facilier. His voice in the film sounds menacing, which is definitely a good sign for a Disney Villain. There was even a song that shows his demonic portrayal, and David delivered a great voice acting in there. The characters and the voice acting is amazing in the film. Im giving the characters 8 1/2 stars.

Songs:

The songs in this film while they’re not memorable, are great. All of the songs are composed by the composer Randy Newman. Since the movie is based off of 1920’s New Orleans Louisiana, they fit into the New Orleans and African-American cultural setting of the film really well, mixing songs from R&B, Jazz and Gospel genre.  I found the songs “When We’re Human”, and “Ma Belle Evangeline” very forgettable. I did however enjoy the song “Down in New Orleans”, and “Almost There”. “Gonna Take You There” is a short, but catchy song. “Friends on the other side” is another great song, where it shows how villainous, Dr. Facilier is. It reminds you of the song “Poor Unfortunate Souls” from The Little Mermaid. One of my favorite songs in this movie is “Dig a Little Deeper” sung by Jenifer Lewis. I loved the animation, and the gospel setting in the song. This song also provides a good message too. The songs are very great. Randy Newman did a great job composing these songs. Im giving the songs 9 stars!

Verdict:

Overall, while it may not be a big box office hit, The Princess and the Frog is a great, and underrated film that provides stellar animation, great songs, and memorable characters. Yes, I have a few problems with the story, and it may not be on par with the Disney films from the renaissance, but it did however, bring Disney into a new renaissance, known as the Revival, and paved the way for monster hits like Tangled, and Frozen. I’m giving The Princess and the Frog a score of 8.5 out of 10.

Score:8.5/10