Wade’s Favorite Animated Films Page II

#6

Mulan

• Mulan, released in 1998 toward the end of the Disney renaissance, is Disney’s 36th animated feature. Mulan performed slightly better than Hercules at the box office & received an Academy Award nomination for Best Musical Score. No attractions based on Mulan exist at any of the Disney theme parks, although the character of Mulan is prevalent, & Mushu is slightly less so.

• Strangely, for a film with a plot reminescent of Just One of the Guys & ribald as Disney films before this never were, Mulan & Captain Li Shang never kiss in the film.

• Eddie Murphy provided the voice of Mushu, Pat Morita voiced the Emperor, George Takei voiced the First Ancestor, & Donny Osmond provided the singing voice of Li Shan. Additionally, Lea Salonga was the singing voice of Mulan. Salonga had previously provided the singing voice of Princess Jasmine in Aladdin.

#7

The Adventures of Ichabod & Mr Toad

• The Adventures of Ichabod & Mr Toad, released in 1949, is Disney’s 11th animated feature & the last (& best) of Disney’s six “package” films of the 1940s. As the title suggests, this film consists of two disparate segments, each based on a classic work of fantastic literature—The Wind in the Willows by British author Kenneth Grahame & “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” by early American author Washington Irving. Mr Toad’s Wild Ride has been a staple at Disneyland since park opening in 1955. The Magic Kingdom version, however, closed to make way for The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh in 1998. Sleepy Hollow, a restaurant in Liberty Square at the Magic Kingdom is the only theme park evidence that Disney made “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.”

• The Wind in the Willows is narrated by Basil Rathbone, but other actors provide the voices of the various characters.

• “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” is narrated by Bing Crosby, & his voice is the only one heard in this segment. Crosby’s narration vastly condenses the Irving story, but a few phrases now & then are quoted verbatim or nearly so from the original tale. Overall, the Disney film makes Ichabod appear to be a less admirable character than Irving’s yarn. For instance, while the original story does say that Ichabod adminstered justice in his schoolhouse with discrimination, the hardiness of the child is the deciding factor, not the ability of the child’s mother to cook.

#8

Alice in Wonderland

• Alice in Wonderland, released in 1951, is Disney’s 13th animated feature. Upon its release, Alice in Wonderland was a critical failure & did not perform very well at the box office either. Alice in Wonderland was not re-released until 1974, 23 years after its original release & eight years after Walt’s death. In retrospect, Alice in Wonderland is now considered a classic that was ahead of its time. Alice in Wonderland received an Academy Award nomination for Best Musical Score. (Alice in Wonderland, in fact, incorporates more songs than any other Disney feature, although some of them are quite short.)
• Ironically, short films based on the Alice stories were among Walt’s earliest animated pictures, & Walt planned to release a version of Alice in Wonderland as his first full-length animated feature instead of Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs, but, purportedly, postponed the movie due to Paramount’s 1933 live-action Alice in Wonderland starring Cary Grant, Gary Cooper, & WC Fields.
• All five Disneyland-style theme parks feature the Mad Tea Party, a spinning teacups ride. Additionally, Disneyland has a dark ride called Alice in Wonderland, which recreates scenes & events from the film & is similar to Peter Pan’s Flight & Snow White’s Scary Adventures. Furthermore, Alice, Tweedledee, Tweedledum, the White Rabbit, the Hatter, & the Queen of Hearts are fairly common meet-&-greet characters at the parks.

• Alice in Wonderland is based on Lewis Carroll’s (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson’s) immortal classic Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland first published in 1865. The Disney version essentially follows this novel until the end, at which point a few characters & situations are omitted. In addition, Alice in Wonderland includes a few characters & lines from Through the Looking-Glass, & What Alice Found There (Tweedledee, Tweedledum, the Walrus, the Carpenter, & the Cheshire Cat’s few sung lines from “Jabberwocky”).
• In the illustrations by Sir John Tenniel in the original edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, the Hatter’s hat says “In this style 10/6,” but this is never stated in Carroll’s text. Moreover, Carroll never refers to him as the “Mad Hatter”—just the Hatter (Hatta in Through the Looking-Glass, & What Alice Found There).

• Kathryn Beaumont stars in Alice in Wonderland as the voice of Alice. Beaumont would go on to voice Wendy Darling in Disney’s Peter Pan, released in 1953. Alice in Wonderland also includes the voice talents of Ed Wynn as the Hatter & Sterling Holloway as the Cheshire Cat. Wynn is perhaps best known as Uncle Albert in Mary Poppins, while Holloway provided a number of voices for Disney films, notably Winnie the Pooh’s.

#9

Peter Pan

• Peter Pan, released in 1953, is Disney’s 14th animated feature. Peter Pan was extremely successful at the box office, the highest grossing film of 1953.
• Four of the five Disneyland-style theme parks (excluding Hong Kong Disneyland) feature Peter Pan’s Flight—a dark ride, which recreates scenes & events from the film. Peter, Wendy, Tinker Bell, Captain Hook, & Mr Smee are fairly common meet-&-greet characters at the parks.

• Peter Pan is based on JM Barrie’s classic play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up (1904). The Disney version makes several changes to the play. Peter Pan for the first time presents an anthropomorphic representation of Tinker Bell, who had always been shown in the play merely as a floating point of light. This version of Tinker Bell has become so popular that the pixie has become an unofficial secondary mascot of the Disney company (after Mickey & Cinderella Castle). In 2002, Disney released a sequel to Peter Pan, Return to Never Land, which was modestly successful & largely panned by critics. In 2008, Disney launched the Disney Fairies spinoff franchise, which so far consists of three direct-to-video, CGI-animated Peter Pan prequels: Tinker Bell, Tinker Bell & the Lost Treasure, & Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue.

• Kathryn Beaumont, who also voiced Alice in Alice in Wonderland, provided the voice of Wendy Darling. Tinker Bell was not based on Marilyn Monroe (as is often popularly claimed). Actress Margaret Kerry, who also voiced the red-headed mermaid, was the fairy’s live-action reference model. Hans Conried performed the voices of both George Darling & Captain Hook—after the tradition of the stage version which had the same actor portraying Hook & the Darling patriarch.

#10

Beauty & the Beast

• Released in 1991 toward the beginning of the Disney renaissance, Beauty & the Beast was Disney’s 30th animated feature. At the time of its release, Beauty & the Beast was the most successful animated film ever. Beauty & the Beast received six Academy Award nominations, the most Oscar nominations for any traditionally animated film. Moreover, Beauty & the Beast is the only traditionally animated film to be nominated for Best Picture. Beauty & the Beast won the Oscars for for Best Musical Score & Best Original Song for “Beauty & the Beast.” (“Belle” & “Be Our Guest” were also nominated.)
• Although no attractions based on Beauty & the Beast exist at the Disney theme parks, Belle is one of the most frequently encountered meet-&-greet characters. The Beast is much rarer.

• Paige O’Hara provided both the singing & speaking voice of Belle in Beauty & the Beast & all of its sequels, midquels, & other spinoffs. To date, O’Hara’s only live-action part was the small part of Angela in Disney’s Enchanted.

• Late-70s teenage heartthrob Robby Benson provided both the singing & speaking voice of the Beast in Beauty & the Beast. Angela Lansbury as Mrs Potts & David Ogden Stiers as Cogsworth rounded out the cast.
• The Beast himself seems to be an odd hybrid of lion, bear, & bull (oh my).
• The Broadway production of Beauty & the Beast ran from 1994 to 2007, featured seven new songs, & was the seventh-longest running show on Broadway.