Bingeing Disney Animation

Earlier this year, Carol and I were planning on watching all of the Disney animated films before we left on our Disney trip. Although we love going to the Disney parks -- we've been to Disney World in Orlando, Disneyland in Anaheim, and Disneyland Paris -- we've never seen most of the animated Disney films. The trip was a graduation gift for Ben, so our plan was to watch all the films while Ben was away for his last semester at college. Of course, when everything went kablooey, we didn't have the urgency, so we've been rolling them out a lot slower. The silver lining is that Ben has been able to watch them with us.

We're specifically watching all the Disney full length animated films, which may have some limited live action, released in theatres. Here's the list. We've also been including some of the  "related productions". I've been lazy at getting out this post, so I'm already several films behind.

 

Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (1937) - I was shocked at how beautiful this film is and it's easy to imagine how audiences in the '30s must have reacted to what is, clearly, a masterpiece. The only thing I found strange is how under-populated this world is; with no more than a dozen people. No extraneous villagers, servants, or royalty. Still, what an amazing debut film.

Pinocchio (1940) - Grander in scope than Snow White, you can see the animators stretching their muscles to play with new environments. I expected this to be a depressing story, but the "innocent gets exploited" elements were lightly handled. One "fun" note, the guy who voiced Gepetto was a Nazi sympathizer.

Fantasia (1940) - It's very easy to see what Walt was going for, and some of the animation is stunning, but without a narrative, at over two hours, Fantasia is beautiful, but just too long. Happily, it had a renaissance during the 1960s counter-culture.

The Reluctant Dragon (1941) - World War II hit the Disney studio hard, what with all the foreign markets closing, so for the next ten years Disney mostly released quick, cheap to produce films with limited narratives. TRD is mostly live action, featuring a tour of the studio (with actors playing the animators), and a pedestrian title short featuring the Reluctant Dragon. Audiences in 1941, expecting a full length animated masterpiece, were pissed.

Dumbo (1941) - The story of a little circus elephant with big ears who learns to fly, the modern controversy over Dumbo is the racist depiction of a murder of crows who appear late in the film. I was happy to see that however stereotypically the crows talk and behave, they were really sympathetic and kind to Dumbo. I also had no idea that Dumbo's friend, the mouse Timothy, was so great. He believes in Dumbo and helps him throughout the story. Dumbo really is a great affirmation of kindness.

I should note that in addition to groundbreaking animation, a willingness to take risks, and some minor misfires, these early Disney films all share a wonderful sense of humor and creativity.

Lots more to come.