The Fox and the Hound (1981) - The story of an orphaned fox who befriends a neighbor dog. It's a decent, if safe, story about prejudice and resisting societal pressures. As usual, the animation is beautiful, but for me the story was undercut by several questionable choices. Chief among these was casting 60+ year old Mickey Rooney to voice Tod, the young fox. There's also a key scene that should result in the death of an older dog to drive the plot, but Disney chickened out and the dog survives. Still, it's worth a look and the cast is unusual - Kurt Russell, Pearl Bailey, Jack Albertson, Sandy Duncan, and Corey Feldman.
The Black Cauldron (1985) - This dark fantasy has a cult following and I've heard it spoken of in reverent tones. This was probably at the top of my list of the Disney animated movies I wanted to see and I was not disappointed. The plot is a mess -- psychic pig, really? -- but the animation is spectacular and I really enjoyed the story of a small group of misfit adventurers (even the Jar Jar/Gollum character Gurgi) fighting the liche-like Horned King. Disney was trying something bold and cutting edge, and it's failure at the box office is unfortunate. It's here you will note some early computer animation, a tool that steadily becomes more and more important to Disney films.
The Great Mouse Detective (1986) - After the failure of The Black Cauldron, Disney wanted safer. So, mice as Sherlock Holmes and Watson. That's the story. The good news is that this is fairly charming, and features a wonderful villain, Ratigan, voiced by the great Vincent Price, fulfilling what was apparently a life-long dream. This was fun, if not spectacular, and contains one scene that actually shocked me, a suggestive song and dance called "Let me be good to you" sung by a female mouse in a skimpy outfit in a London dive. Seriously, probably the most sexual scene in anything we've watched so far.
Oliver & Company (1988) - Another favorite of my kids, and another English story, in this case Dickens' Oliver Twist, but set in 80's New York with cats and dogs. The villain is played by Robert Loggia as one of the most realistic and dark Disney villains; he kidnaps and tries to hurt a little girl and her kitten. But the spunky cat, Oliver, and Fagin's gang, lead by Billy Joel voicing the dog, Dodger, come to the rescue. The standout character is undoubtedly Tito, the funny, spunky chihuahua voiced by Cheech Marin. Unfortunately, the story is too short, and doesn't have a lot to say.
The Little Mermaid (1989) - And finally we come to it - the Disney Animation Renaissance.The animation is still very old school - very cartoony, actually - but the story, the great music, the winsome and charming Ariel, and a fantastic villain, Ursula, elevate this above everything Disney had been doing for decades. Remarkably, Ariel is the first proper Disney princess since Sleeping Beauty. This also marks a return to a focus on human, or human-like, characters. Look at the list above and my previous post covering the films of the 60's and 70's, and every single movie except one stars talking animals, with humans only featured as supporting characters. For the next ten years, Disney animated films would follow the formula laid down by The Little Mermaid and return to the groundbreaking glory of the first 20 years.
2 comments:
I cant understand why the first four of these movies bombed (relatively, of course!) at the box office, they`re all just as good as "The Little Mermaid" ! ! !.
I think it's because, except for The Black Cauldron, they were same-old, same-old for Disney. They were also more geared towards kids, than adults. The Little Mermaid and the films that followed had a broader appeal.
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