We are truly living in the modern Disney renaissance:
While maybe not as groundbreaking as some of those films were in the 90's we have a consistent stream of good quality movies. I have loved all the movies released from Disney when the Princess and the Frog assured in a new line of quality Disney again.
LOL. Princess and the Frog, Brave and Monsters U are all middling, while Toy Story 3 (along with Brave and Monsters U) is a Pixar production packaged by Disney - which itself isn't as good as something like Disney's own Tangled.
That's a terrible comparison that pretty much ignores a lot of context and simply go over the trailers without watching the film, like as though "you are a regular dog!" is a big issue.
That's a terrible comparison that pretty much ignores a lot of context and simply go over the trailers without watching the film, like as though "you are a regular dog!" is a big issue.
There are obvious thematic similarities. Both films focus on a character discovering that his existence was a lie before finding the worth in their diminished state.
Toy Story is a much better film overall. I will say, though, that the
Superbark is a superior moment to Buzz flying. In the latter case, the film is essentially cheating, Buzz is able to fly due to magic* whereas the Superbark worked on established rules and emphasized the worth of Bolt's normal abilities.
*I've rewatched the scene and it certainly seems to me as if Buzz should not have been able to fly like that. Could be mistaken, though.
But I do agree that it's simplistic just to call it an inferior Toy Story. I find that we tend to force comparisons like these too often. Also seen Bolt called a Truman Show rip-off before.
Saw this on Black Friday and was glad in the direction the story went, even though early on I completely eyerolled one of the early pieces.
Anna and Hans, though I'm glad it ended the way it did with the betrayal.
I do agree that more time should have been spent to better develop all of the characters, but there was so much going on the movie just felt way too short for what they were doing.
I haven't seen too many recent Disney animated features, but I will definitely say a negative for me were a few of the songs. I'm just not a fan of some of the overly pop-y stuff. Not saying that the music was bad, but I feel it could have been better. A few of the duets though were fantastic.
Bolt was really good, but I teared up at the end of Toy Story 3 and don't remember that at all with Bolt. I think there was a much bigger emotional connection there.
One knock on Toy Story 3 though is that I was completely taken out of the movie when
they were about to be incinerated. I knew Pixar and Disney wouldn't kill off the characters like that never felt like they were in any immediate danger, knowing they'd be saved before being burned.
I think I'm the only one who even thought that way.
Now you know how I feel when people compare Frozen to Brave.
I was mostly being honest, Toy Story and Bolt have strong similarities. John Lasseter was one of the producers after all. I did actually watch it, thank you very much.
The forced comparison feels shallow, is all I'm saying. Like it's missing the point. Yeah, people see there's that "Buzz Lightyear" comparison from Toy Story, but that's like, only 40% of the film. Same with the Truman Show plot. At best, those are merely tapping the pond water. At heart, Bolt is a road trip movie much like Homeward Bound where the characters in said roadtrip bond and act as a character exercise.
I still don't get how Frozen is compared to Brave though. One's a Pixar film and the other's a Disney Princess movie that toys with specific Disney Princess archetypes and storytelling tools.
I also think in general arguing that this isn't or is a new "renaissance" is completely pointless. Maybe we should just, enjoy the fact that WDAS is making movies that can be deemed good to great.
We are truly living in the modern Disney renaissance:
While maybe not as groundbreaking as some of those films were in the 90's we have a consistent stream of good quality movies. I have loved all the movies released from Disney when the Princess and the Frog assured in a new line of quality Disney again.
I also think in general arguing that this isn't or is a new "renaissance" is completely pointless. Maybe we should just, enjoy the fact that WDAS is making movies that can be deemed good to great.
I agree with this.
Especially considering that most of us have seen those Disney renaissance movies as children or young teens, so it's hard to be more objective or their relative quality anyway.
Got back from an early screening at the Disney lot today.
This truly feels like *old school* Disney, 90's Renaissance style. Princess and the Frog didn't capture it, Tangled didn't capture it. This captures it, whatever it is.
Music is solid if not utterly fantastic, dialogue is snappy, characters are decent. Due to the high amount of awesome snow particle effects, I recommend a 3-D viewing.
Alan Tudyk
is predictably awesome as the old guy.
The short before the film, Get a Horse, was also super rad.
GO SEE IT
Edit: Zed, were you at the same screening I was at? Burbank, 11 AM?
Ok, so I thought of avoiding this considering how overhyped Tangled was as I found that pretty cliched character- and plot-wise, but Moviebob's review kind of oversold me on Frozen now:
Shamelessly stolen from the Disney Blu ray thread. Not sure if it's been posted here.
You can get 10 dollars towards a Frozen ticket if you register one of the select blu ray's (Tangled, Mulan, Brave, Pocahontas, Princess and the Frog, Cinderella) on Disney rewards. Link here.
I finally registered Tangled after owning it for 6 months and got my ticket. Seeing Frozen this week for sure now.
Ok, so I thought of avoiding this considering how overhyped Tangled was as I found that pretty cliched character- and plot-wise, but Moviebob's review kind of oversold me on Frozen now:
Shamelessly stolen from the Disney Blu ray thread. Not sure if it's been posted here.
You can get 10 dollars towards a Frozen ticket if you register one of the select blu ray's (Tangled, Mulan, Brave, Pocahontas, Princess and the Frog, Cinderella) on Disney rewards. Link here.
I finally registered Tangled after owning it for 6 months and got my ticket. Seeing Frozen this week for sure now.
I also think in general arguing that this isn't or is a new "renaissance" is completely pointless. Maybe we should just, enjoy the fact that WDAS is making movies that can be deemed good to great.
Haven't seen Frozen, but Tangled *is* better than anything Pixar has ever does, easily including Incredibles.
Admittedly, stuff like Tangled and presumably Frozen are a totally different style. I find Pixar films just feel like straight-up adventure movies for kids, while the great Disney films from the late 80's and through the 90's mixed in humour, music and interesting characters.
Wall-E, or at least the first half, is the only Pixar film I thought was really interesting.
Sad but true. Disney Animation Studios has stepped up their game considerably while Pixar's latest feels like we're just going through the motions with half-hearted sequels (and Brave, which is the worse thing they've ever done behind Cars 2). Frozen is especially great; it's too soon to say, but I feel like it will go down as one of my personal top 5 Disney movies ever. Gonna see it again tomorrow, and probably again on Friday.
Ok, so I thought of avoiding this considering how overhyped Tangled was as I found that pretty cliched character- and plot-wise, but Moviebob's review kind of oversold me on Frozen now:
Ok, so I thought of avoiding this considering how overhyped Tangled was as I found that pretty cliched character- and plot-wise, but Moviebob's review kind of oversold me on Frozen now:
I shed quite a few tears during that movie as well.
the whine Bolt made during the burning studio scene sounded very much like my dog that had passed a few years prior and the tears were simply not controllable
Got back about an hour ago from finally seeing it....
They did it again! A lot of people in here know that I had really high expectations, and the movie managed to meet them and in a lot of ways even exceed them. It was all just so damn enjoyable with some seriously magical Disney moments that truly did feel straight from the renaissance. The thing that probably blew me away the most was the facial animation. Holy cow it was exquisitely done! It was great in Tangled and it's even better here. I lost count the number of times I was impressed with the amount of emotion they could convey by simply the way a character would move or talk/sing - especially with Elsa. No one in the industry does it better. God tier stuff!
Much like Tangled the movie is consistently excellent from the first scene till the very last scene with some incredible highs in between – like the highest of all Disney movies high! Of course 'Let It Go' was a highlight -
specifically the moment Elsa’s hair comes down.
And man don't even get me started on the animation quality during the scene. The animators over at Disney completely out did themselves! 'Let It Go' is unquestionably one of Disney's finest moments ever and is destined to be a classic over time. Another amazing moment was the reprise for 'For the First Time in Forever' including when
Anna gets struck accidentally by Elsa.
The last scene that really sticks out was
the siege on the palace.
Can you say epic!?! The moment the music kicked in and the camera showed
Elsa running up the stairs in fear overwhelmed me.
The emotion, visuals and music all came together to create an audio-visual orgasm of the highest order. It was such an incredible scene and one of my favourites from any Disney movie I’ve seen – and I’ve seen a lot. Yes, it was that good!
My biggest fear was the chemistry between Anna and Kristoff since I knew the main bulk of the movie was going to focus on them. About five minutes of seeing them together my fears were completely gone. Anna.....and especially Kristoff really surprised me with how much I ended up liking them as characters. They also worked wonderfully together, much like Rapunzel and Flynn did in Tangled. And I knew Olaf was going to be great, and he didn’t disappoint one bit - he’s humor kinda reminds me of SpongeBob the way he acts so innocent and oblivious to everything. As a whole all the characters gel well together, much like the whole movie does. You know a movie is great when you look at your watch during it and being sad when you realize the movie is nearly over. I liked it so much I wanted more – that pretty much never happens for me!
This is easily on par with Tangled, the best animated movie of the year by a landslide (I swear if this doesn't win the Oscar next year I'll be pissed) and my favourite movie of the year. Another home run for Disney!
Got back about an hour ago from finally seeing it....
They did it again! A lot of people in here know that I had really high expectations, and the movie managed to meet them and in a lot of ways even exceed them. It was all just so damn enjoyable with some seriously magical Disney moments that truly did feel straight from the renaissance. The thing that probably blew me away the most was the facial animation. Holy cow it was exquisitely done! It was great in Tangled and it's even better here. I lost count the number of times I was impressed with the amount of emotion they could convey by simply the way a character would move or talk/sing - especially with Elsa. No one in the industry does it better. God tier stuff!
Much like Tangled the movie is consistently excellent from the first scene till the very last scene with some incredible highs in between – like the highest of all Disney movies high! Of course 'Let It Go' was a highlight -
specifically the moment Elsa’s hair comes down.
And man don't even get me started on the animation quality during the scene. The animators over at Disney completely out did themselves! 'Let It Go' is unquestionably one of Disney's finest moments ever and is destined to be a classic over time. Another amazing moment was the reprise for 'For the First Time in Forever' including when
Anna gets struck accidentally by Elsa.
The last scene that really sticks out was
the siege on the palace.
Can you say epic!?! The moment the music kicked in and the camera showed
Elsa running up the stairs in fear overwhelmed me.
The emotion, visuals and music all came together to create an audio-visual orgasm of the highest order. It was such an incredible scene and one of my favourites from any Disney movie I’ve seen – and I’ve seen a lot. Yes, it was that good!
My biggest fear was the chemistry between Anna and Kristoff since I knew the main bulk of the movie was going to focus on them. About five minutes of seeing them together my fears were completely gone. Anna.....and especially Kristoff really surprised me with how much I ended up liking them as characters. They also worked wonderfully together, much like Rapunzel and Flynn did in Tangled. And I knew Olaf was going to be great, and he didn’t disappoint one bit - he’s humor kinda reminds me of SpongeBob the way he acts so innocent and oblivious to everything. As a whole all the characters gel well together, much like the whole movie does. You know a movie is great when you look at your watch during it and being sad when you realize the movie is nearly over. I liked it so much I wanted more – that pretty much never happens for me!
This is easily on par with Tangled, the best animated movie of the year by a landslide (I swear if this doesn't win the Oscar next year I'll be pissed) and my favourite movie of the year. Another home run for Disney!
Wow, I had thought you'd seen it (Multiple times too )
Yeah, the facial animation was great. Particularly "The cold never bothered me anyway" She looked great!
Your Spongebob comparison for Olaf isn't too far off too, he even has little giggles too like him. Best was when the camera zooms up on him and he says
I don't have a skull......or bones"
LOL his face looks so damn cute there <3
How did you like the music within the movie? I grew to love it far more the second watch. Especially "For the First Time in Forever. " Was shocked at how well Kristen sang.
Lol, yeah closed it before the halfway point, the dude was going through all the plot start to finish.
I mean, it's not like it's unpredictable or anything, but still...
We are truly living in the modern Disney renaissance:
While maybe not as groundbreaking as some of those films were in the 90's we have a consistent stream of good quality movies. I have loved all the movies released from Disney when the Princess and the Frog assured in a new line of quality Disney again.
How did you like the music within the movie? I grew to love it far more the second watch. Especially "For the First Time in Forever. " Was shocked at how well Kristen sang.
I found the music to generally range from good to OH MY GOD YES!!!!! Overall I’d say it’s quite easily a step up from Tangled.......which I thought was a solid effort, but I’m not sure If I’d put it with the all time greats like The Little Mermaid, Aladdin or The Lion King - which is an absurdly high bar. I need to give it time before I can really tell you for sure though. I will say that ‘Let It Go’ combined with the visual orgasm on display can sit alongside the best of the best. Even after listening to it a ton of times before I saw the movie it still wowed me. 'For the First Time in Forever' and the reprise for it were both really great too. The ending to the reprise was a real 'wow' moment.
This is easily on par with Tangled, the best animated movie of the year by a landslide (I swear if this doesn't win the Oscar next year I'll be pissed) and my favourite movie of the year. Another home run for Disney!
I found the music to generally range from good to OH MY GOD YES!!!!! Overall Id say its quite easily a step up from Tangled.......which I thought was a solid effort, but Im not sure If Id put it with the all time greats like The Little Mermaid, Aladdin or The Lion King - which is an absurdly high bar. I need to give it time before I can really tell you for sure though. I will say that Let It Go combined with the visual orgasm on display can sit alongside the best of the best. Even after listening to it a ton of times before I saw the movie it still wowed me. 'For the First Time in Forever' and the reprise for it were both really great too. The ending to the reprise was a real 'wow' moment.
I honestly thought you've already seen the movie lol, but anyway the back to back performance of Do you want to build a snowman followed by First time in forever really gave me goosebumps especially when I first heard the chorus.
This is easily on par with Tangled, the best animated movie of the year by a landslide (I swear if this doesn't win the Oscar next year I'll be pissed) and my favourite movie of the year. Another home run for Disney!
Have you seen The Congress? Trailer. Granted it's a mix of live-action and animation, but it's my favourite movie of the year (that hasn't gotten out of film festival circuits yet, though). The director's previous movie, Waltz with Bashir, was nominated for an Oscar.
I shed quite a few tears during that movie as well.
the whine Bolt made during the burning studio scene sounded very much like my dog that had passed a few years prior and the tears were simply not controllable
Bolt finally reached the studio, he saw Penny hugging another Bolt. The whole atmosphere and facial look as well as how it was animated hit the right notes for me.
Your Spongebob comparison for Olaf isn't too far off too, he even has little giggles too like him. Best was when the camera zooms up on him and he says
We've been walking around the house quoting that line for days now. It's amazing to me the sense of wonder that Josh Gad put into every one of Olaf's lines, it was really a brilliant performance. I particularly like the part where
he and Kristoff were going back down the mountain to rescue Anna and Kristoff tells Olaf to stay out of sight. Of course Olaf has to say hello to the first person he sees...
Loved that this movie took cliches and dumped them on their head. Great for fathers of daughters.
What I did not like were the songs, particularly the singing voice of the older sister. That song she sang when she got to the mountain drove me.insane. I eye rolled my way through the first twenty minutes until I realized what the writers were doing. The impact of the true act of love was also lost because I think they missed the boat on developing the characters individually and in relation to one another.
I also did not like the journey which amounted to nothing more than "lets leave to the mountains and back to the castle". It was really odd.
The only things I enjoyed were the dialogue and move away from the cliches. They need to keep that momentum going. Any movie that gets my daughter to ask why the main character didn't get married to the prince is good in my book.
I enjoyed the movie more than you did, but I could not agree more to the latter. We had a great discussion about how an act of love is more than just a gesture like "true love's kiss". And how important sisterly love is, rather than just romantic love.
My older daughter, at 11, is old enough to feel relief when tropes are subverted.
Yeah watch it for twisting the Disney princess cliches. It's really enjoyable when they do that (much like Mulan, because according to marketing apparently it's a Disney princess film).
You guys are joking that it's better than Tangled though, right? I mean, I know the trailers have been misrepresenting the film and all, but I need to hear this from somebody that watched Tangled recently and isn't just high on having just gotten out of the theatre with Frozen.
I'm a big fan of the direction Disney took with Tangled and had no problem when my son decided it would be his obsession for a few months, but Frozen is definitely better no question.
I've listened to "Let It Go" 38-40 times in a row if my calculations are correct.
The Menzel version, obviously. I really need to see this flippin' movie.
Edit: Also, this song is magic, I think. I was only scoring 56% on my online test about half way through it (they update you along the way). Kicked this song on, and my last half was 94%. Woo Frozen!
I've listened to "Let It Go" 38-40 times in a row if my calculations are correct.
The Menzel version, obviously. I really need to see this flippin' movie.
Edit: Also, this song is magic, I think. I was only scoring 56% on my online test about half way through it (they update you along the way). Kicked this song on, and my last half was 94%. Woo Frozen!
