Disney

The Princess and the Frog

  • Title: The Princess and the Frog
  • IMDB: link

It’s been awhile. For more than a decade Disney has been, well, very un-Disney. In many ways, with the latest animated feature, the company returns to the roots. We’ve got a classic tale, a princess (of sorts), talking animals, big musical numbers, true love triumphant, a wicked villain, and a curse.

The Princess and the Frog, Disney’s 49th animated feature film, might not be in the same class as Sleeping Beauty or Snow White, but for the first time in a long time the studio has released a movie that feels like a Disney film (and not an animated feature that any studio could have produced).

That’s not to say the movie doesn’t have its warts. The Princess and the Frog is at least 15 minutes too long, the story meanders a bit in places, and the animation isn’t as crisp as I’d like. That said, over the course of the film you can feel (at least in places) the old-time magic being re-awoken. In many ways through the process of making this film it feels as if the studio is slowly rediscovering itself.

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Up

  • Title: Up
  • IMDB: link

up-posterPixar’s latest, Up, tells the story of a grump old widower (Ed Asner) befriended by a young kid (Jordan Nagai) who sets off on a wild adventure.

What could easily have been a paint-by-numbers tale is given the Pixar treatment. This isn’t Gran Torino; it’s so much more. In fact it’s arguably the most grown-up story the company has done, and quite possibly the best flick Pixar has ever made.

The film begins by giving us a brief history of Carl Fredricksen (Asner). Rather than simply giving us a grumpy old man the plot takes the time to let us get to know him and see how he became the person he is as the main story begins. This may seem like a small thing, and some may find it too much backstory, but it’s just one example of how Pixar goes the extra mile in terms of character, animation, and story. Could the movie still work without these scenes? Yes. Would it be as good a movie? No.

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Enchanted

  • Title: Enchanted
  • IMDb: link

Enchanted is every little (big) girl’s dream; the fairytale comes to life in New York, for reals. Princess Giselle (Amy Adams) is thrown down a well by the evil Queen Narissa (Susan Sarandon) to keep her from marrying her son and stealing her crown, the well just so happens to end in Manhattan, New York. Here is where the real adventure begins for the princess.

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