Posts Tagged ‘133’

Released during Disney’s late ’70s doldrums, when material like The Black Hole and Robin Hood was failing to connect with audiences, 1977’s The Rescuers actually didn’t do badly at the box office. The tale of two heroic mice who rescue a plucky orphan girl from a wicked villainess had everything going for it: star power (with voices from Bob Newhart and Eva Gabor), a terrific source novel written by Margery Sharp, and beautiful animation.

Yet over the years, The Rescuers has faded from attention. It’s ready for another look. The old-school animation is stunning; every bit as lovely as that from acclaimed indie art films like The Triplets of Belleville. The story, an adventure yarn about the ultimate underdogs rescuing a hapless human, is exciting without being nightmarish. Characters are vividly drawn, and unique: Miss Bianca, for example (Eva Gabor), one of the titular Rescuers, is high-class and elegant, yet doughty and courageous enough to volunteer to take on the dangerous task of rescuing orphan Penny from Madam Medusa. Medusa is intent on using the girl to find a mysterious diamond for her. Can you stand a spoiler? She doesn’t end up with the diamond.

The Rescuers is available on DVD and will be released on Blu-ray in March.

The Black Cauldron is the Disney movie that got away. Released in 1985, in the studio’s doldrum years before it was revitalized with 1989’s The Little Mermaid, and far darker than most Disney films, The Black Cauldron did poorly at the box office and slipped into obscurity. That’s a darned shame.

The film is based on Lloyd Alexander’s The Chronicles of Prydain fantasy series, not that you could tell, really, because Disney dumbed down the book’s complicated mythology, which was inspired by Welsh folktales. Nonetheless, the source material gives The Black Cauldron a cool plot: The evil Horned King is attempting to steal the Black Cauldron by any means and rule the world. Only our heroes Taran, Princess Eilonwy, and Fflewddur Fflam (you getting the Welsh thing now?) can stop him with a combination of (a little bit of) sword and (a whole bunch of) sorcery.

There are talking animals, magic swords, knights, and fairies. There is also some fairly creepy stuff, including skeletons that come to life and a murderous Horned King. There are no cute songs, and plenty of battles. This one’s better for fairly hardened school-age kids than toddlers, but those who are tough enough to take it will probably end up being enchanted.

The Black Cauldron is available on VHS and DVD. In fact, it just got a Special Edition treatment last year from Disney for its 25th anniversary.

Maurice Sendak, the author and illustrator of Where the Wild Things Are, was also a prolific set designer for ballets and operas. Who knew? Since stage shows are ephemeral, and the ones Sendak did were mostly in the ’80s and early ’90s, even Sendak fans (and they are legion after the success of the movie version of Wild Things) don’t know about his other career.

But one of his most highly lauded works, the Pacific Northwest Ballet’s film version of The Nutcracker, is now available on Netflix Watch Instantly. OK, so it’s not the right time of year. And everyone’s heartily sick of Christmas carols. Sendak’s sets are startlingly gorgeous, and instantly recognizable as his style, with elaborate curlicued lines and colors you’ll recognize from your well-thumbed copy of Wild Things. Sendak also designed the costumes; his Nutcracker has a grotesque face quite in line with one of the wild things. And, of course, the music is gorgeous.

Nutcracker: The Motion Picture is currently streaming on Netflix, and is available on VHS.

School vacation is in sway, and the weather outside is frightful. Holiday videos are the order of the day, but everyone’s seen the usual suspects one time too many. What do you watch? Babes in Toyland, the 1961 live-action movie that was one of Disney’s biggest flops.

Babes in Toyland is the kind of big, dumb musical you just don’t see anymore. The throwaway plot concerns Mary Quite Contrary (Annette Funicello) and Tom Piper (some Frankie Avalon-looking dude with giant hair), who are set to be married in storybook land, when their plans are thwarted by the evil Barnaby (Ray Bolger, yes, the Tin Man), who sends a couple of thugs to bump off Tom. And just about everything turns into a song-and-dance.

The dialogue is painful and the script is super-cheesy. But the action is simple and harmless enough for kids to follow, and gentle enough that they won’t freak out. The costumes, particularly the frothing-with-ruffles fairytale dresses on the female dancers, are absolutely eye-popping, and the music is cheery and catchy. And there’s plenty to look at, from the charming storybook set to the film’s most famous set-piece, a march of the wooden soldiers with stop-motion wizardry. It will kind of remind you of The Wizard of Oz, and Mary Poppins. It’s not as good as either, but it’s harmless fun that will entertain a wide swathe of ages, from preschoolers to young elementary schoolers, without getting on Mom and Dad’s nerves.

Vintage bonus: A young Sally Draper would almost certainly have been taken to see this movie in Christmastime of 1961. Babes in Toyland is available on DVD and Comcast OnDemand.

Finding a movie for younger and/or sensitive boys requires a careful balance. Too cutesy and fluffy and you risk getting a movie that’s too girlish or babyish. Too macho and you’re exposing a young child to something you’d probably rather not. The Iron Giant walks the fine line between sweet and brutal beautifully.

The Iron Giant is an animated movie set in Maine in the late 1950s. A lonely nine-year-old boy who lives with his single mom stumbles upon a huge robot in the woods eating metal. The boy, Hogarth, is terrified, but soon grows to love the giant robot, who proves to be a lot of fun. The world’s inevitable discovery of Hogarth’s friend, however, puts Hogarth, the Iron Giant, and Hogarth’s whole town in jeopardy.

Adults may be surprised to find themselves sniveling a little bit at the end of Iron Giant. (SPOILER: He dies) But they won’t regret the time they put in to watch this beautiful, heartfelt tale about loyalty and friendship, wrapped in enough adventure/sci-fi trappings to please picky boys and girls.

For every woman who squirmed her way through the anti-feminist messages in Disney’s The Little Mermaid, Ponyo is sweet relief. Based loosely on the same Hans Christian Andersen tale, Ponyo is a goldfish princess whose fierce determination to be with the human Sosuke causes a tsunami. Ponyo must then restore the balance between humankind and nature, saving Sosuke’s small fishing village.

The girl-power themes are many: Ponyo herself is a strong female character, while her mother the ocean queen is both powerful and kind. Most important of all, Ponyo is the center of the story, making a hero’s journey and not just fighting for her man.

Helmed by Hayao Miyazaki, this film is aimed at a younger audience than his Spirited Away or Howl’s Moving Castle. Kids as young as five will be able to appreciate the gentle fable, and the violence is subdued enough that all but the most sensitive won’t be frightened.

Ponyo is in theaters nationwide.

Once you’ve watched the Pixar oeuvre, and recycled all your favorite childhood movies, what’s left to watch that’s worth watching? A whole bunch of movies from the ’80s and ’90s that you probably missed, that’s what. One 1995 gem is The Indian In the Cupboard, an adaptation of the fantastic children’s fantasy novel by Lynne Reid Banks. In both, a boy named Omri receives a secondhand cupboard and a plastic Native American doll for his birthday. He discovers that an old key fits in the cupboard’s lock, and that when he puts the Native American doll in, it comes to life and turns into a Iroquois warrior named Little Bear.

But Little Bear is no storybook Indian, and his creator is thrown into turmoil. What debt does he owe Little Bear for bringing him to life in a world of giants? How can he keep Little Bear safe and happy in a dangerous world, and keep the secret of his magical cupboard to himself when he’s the youngest in a family of pushy, nosy brothers? The young actor who plays Omri, Hal Scardino, is wonderfully natural and his conflicts gripping and real. And Native American rapper Litefoot, who plays Little Bear, is dignified and shown respect, and gets to debunk some Native American stereotypes (for instance, he doesn’t live in a teepee and he’s never heard of a cowboy).

The Indian in the Cupboard is great for kids aged 7 and up; there are some realistic scenes of another brought-to-life small Native American dying that may cause younger kids some pause, but there’s little else to offend.

Despite their iconic reputation, a lot of Disney movies are too much for very little or sensitive kids. Parents are often offed, brooms transform themselves into menacing imps, and don’t even try watching Pinocchio with a kid under 7 because when the donkey-transformation scene comes on, you’re going to have one traumatized little sprout hiding behind you.

Barbie and the Diamond Castle, a direct-to-DVD 2008 film, is gentler stuff. It’s good for little ones 6 and under, but parents won’t mind watching too. The non-obnoxious plot concerns a pair of best friends who find a magic mirror and enchanted gems that lead them to a hidden castle that they must protect from an evil sorceress. There’s a dragon and a showdown, but it’s not too intense; and some songs that are actually not half bad. The story’s lesson, that loyalty and courage can triumph over evil, and that you gotta stick with your girlfriends, won’t make you gag (though it may make you smirk over the unintentional homoerotic subtext). And little girls go gaga over the princessy costumes, and femmie fantasy aspects of the story. Get this: The best friends live together in a cabin in the woods and work as flower sellers. I can hear the “Squeeee!” from here.

Barbie and the Diamond Castle, $11.49