The Rescuers Down Under
The 1990s was a huge decade for Disney. It saw nine theatrical animated films and each one, for the most part, was a financial success. It saw the rise of computer animated films in the formation of Pixar (whose films I will not touch here, but will in a separate category). Animated films became a force to be reckoned with in this decade. They began to be seen not only as children's entertainment, but as quality movie-making. However, the decade didn't start with a bang. Rather, it opened with one of their first sequels.
It is curious that they chose to make a sequel to a film 13 years old at the time. However, I find it one of the rare sequels that is a vast achievement over its predecessor. First of all, The Rescuers Down Under has a better setting, taking the action, as the title suggests, to the Australian outback, and it does an amazing job bringing the setting to to the animatrd screen, making it feel larger-than-life and yet rooted in an earthy realism as well.
It also has better characters. Bernard and Miss Bianca are as delightful here as ever, but Bernard in particular stands out a lot more, both as comic relief and as a lead character. And the new characters are all excellent as well. Wilbur, the albatross who is their 'airline' here, is hysterical and Jake, the Crocodile-Dundee-like kangaroo rat who may come between Bernard and Bianca's friendship, is a hoot too. The film also has a fantastic and menacing villain in the poacher, McLeach, who is voiced by the inimitable George C. Scott.
Furthermore, the film also succeeds in providing fully realized characters who don't speak at all. First, there is the magnificent golden eagle, Marahute, who, without saying a word, invites sympathy, awe, and majesty all at once. Then there is McLeach's lizard, Joanna, whose dog-like personality makes her a uniquely memorable villainous sidekick (the scene where the craftily eats McLeach's eggs under his nose is hilarious).
Finally, the story this time around is much stronger. The child kidnapped here, Cody, a boy this time, while perhaps not as sympathetic as the girl Penny, is headstrong, heroic in his own right and a just plain better, more rounded character. In a way, he carries the story as much as the two mice do. He is a 'rescuer', just like them, and, while his best moments are at the beginning of the film, he never allows his animal companions overshadow his character as Penny did.
Certainly the film has its faults. The scenes in which poor Wilbur is being 'cured' by a sadistic Dr. Mouse, while funny, feel out of place and several characters, introduced in a brief scene as other animals captured by Mcleach, come and go as quickly as they appeared and are never seen or heard of again, which also seems a bit odd. However, in the long run, The Rescuers Down Under is a fun, well made adventure and a good start to a great decade.
Favorite quote: McLeach, upon formulating a devious plan to capture the eagle, cackles - "I didn't pass the third grade for nothing."
Beauty and the Beast
Forgive me while I wax nostalgic, but I have fond memories of this movie. It is the first film I remember seeing from start to finish in a movie theater, and we saw it twice in one day too. I remember visiting Santa Claus in a mall or a bank later that year (I think this may have been the only time I can remember visiting Santa) and asking him for a copy of the film for Christmas, I was that big of a fan. I even recall his answer ("That will be up to your parents") and lo and behold, I did get a copy of the film for Christmas.
Beauty and the Beast captures the feel of a Broadway musical better than any Disney film before it (probably why it comfortably made the transition to stage years later) in that its musical numbers feel like genuine show-stoppers, with scads of random people joining in the song and dance. The townspeople, the enchanted objects, everyone becomes a part of the chorus, often only appearing to have a brief line in a song and never having any other role than that. Most Disney musical numbers before had always been more intimate, usually between two characters or sometimes only the lead character, singing to themselves as it were. Here, the musical numbers feel bigger, with the exception of the titular song, and even that doesn't feature the lead characters singing at all.
I like the themes that this film explores. Belle doesn't fall in love with the Beast from the first - in fact, the Beast is hardly lovable, even before he was put under the spell. In fact, both are equally stubborn and strong-willed, which provides for some well-written clashes of character. There is conflict between them and it feels natural. It takes Belle's kindness, courage, and selflessness to open the Beast's hardened heart to what it means to love and be loved. This is far from the relationships portrayed in previous Disney fairy tales, even The Little Mermaid, making them look trite and shallow in comparison.
The film follows the original fairy tale relatively well, with one major exception: it adds a villain. I like how Disney subverts a popular villain theme of theirs here, that of the great transformation. Up till then, and in many films hereafter, many of the great villains transform into something monstrous at the end, like Maleficent turning into a dragon or Ursula turning into...a giant version of herself. Here there is the same sort of transformation, but more subtle. Gaston doesn't even start as a villain; he is more of a self-absorbed jerk than anything else. But as the film progresses, his nature becomes more apparent, as he goes from being a nuisance to Belle to staging a surprise wedding for her to locking her father up to persuade her to marry him to finally going on a mad rampage to destroy whoever stands between them. He looks more or less the same as he did in the beginning, but it is clear, in the end, who has transformed into a Beast and who has shown himself to be a Man.
As you can see, I have a lot of admiration for this film and I could go on about it, but I will stop for now. It is a film that has definitely held up well over the years and was definitely deserving of being the first animated film to be nominated for a Best Picture Academy Award. It was a great film then and is still a great film today.
Favorite quote: Gaston shows his disdain for classic literature - "How can you read this? There's no pictures?"
Aladdin
Disney's followup to Beauty and the Beast can't help but seem like something of a let down in comparison and indeed, it is lacking in a lot of the strengths that its predecessor had. It's hero, Aladdin himself, is somewhat bland. He is one of those characters to whom things happen, but doesn't make things happen, until the very end. The heroine, Princess Jasmine, falls into the same 'oppressed but rebellious but still needing to be rescued by the male lead' stereotype started in The Little Mermaid and here perfected to become somewhat of a Disney staple for a few years. The villain, Jafar, lacks any subtlety whatsoever. His motive, to 'take over the world', is quite clear and rather unimaginative, although his final doom is surprisingly ironic.
However, this film does have something that its predecessor didn't have: Robin Williams. Yes, I do feel that Williams alone saves this movie from falling into monotony. His character, the Genie, is so hilariously over-the-top that you can't help but be entertained by him, even though his cultural references are anachronistic to the point of confusion and mostly likely go over most of the audience's heads, at least on first viewing. It takes more than one to catch all of them. He is, without a doubt, the most colorful, energetic, and wildly animated character to come out of Disney, and Robin Williams' performances, which was largely ad-libbed, adds a whole lot to it.
Another star of the show is the animation. Beauty and the Beast was among the first Disney films to make substantial use of computer generated animation, mainly in the ballroom dancing scene, and it was spectacular. Here, the Magic Carpet, a character who, with no dialogue, has more personality than most of his human counterparts, has the distinction of being one of the first fully computer animated characters in a film. Computers also help to add depth to the exciting Cave of Wonders chase as well as to the Cave himself.
So, in the end, Aladdin remains fun to watch and, in spite of itself, is still amongst Disney's more entertaining features, thanks in a large part to Robin Williams. It's animation holds up well, even if its cultural references don't, and while it never reaches the heights of Beauty, it is an okay successor.
Favorite quote: One of the Genie's many, to Aladdin, whom he calls Al for short - "Oh, Al, I'm gettin' kinda fond of you, kid. Not that I wanna pick out curtains or anything."
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