Disney

Luca, the Little Merboy

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  • Title: Luca
  • IMDb: link

Luca movie reviewSet on the Italian Rivera, in an era before cellphones and the Internet, Luca is a fish out of water story. Literally. Living his life under the sea, the curious Luca (Jacob Tremblay) is drawn to the world on the surface despite his parents’ (Maya Rudolph and Jim Gaffigan) warnings about the monsters lurking above. With the ability to assume human form when stepping onto land, Luca can’t help be curious about the humans whose bizarre garbage makes it way to the bottom of the sea. Meeting another teen sea monster who has been passing for human pushes Luca to exploring the surface further and leaving his life under the sea behind him for the seaside community of Portorosso.

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Cruella

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  • Title: Cruella
  • IMDb: link

Cruella movie review

I think if Disney made a movie about Hannibal Lecter it would be about how great a psychiatrist he was before he started indulging in other appetites. The ill-conceived, and lengthy, Cruella offers a look at the origins of the paper-thin villain from One Hundred and One Dalmatians who wanted to steal and murder dogs to skin for fur coats. Honestly, did anyone really need more than two-hours to explore extra layers and motivations of a character like Cruella De Vil?

The film is certainly stylish, and does offer its share of memorable moments over a 136-minute running time which also includes an unexpected The Devil Wears Prada plot about 70s fashion. Emma Stone stars as the orphan who would grow up to be a thief, a fashion designer, and eventually notorious celebrity known simply as Cruella. The screenplay also brings back Jasper (Joel Fry) and Horace (Paul Walter Hauser), the two henchmen from One Hundred and One Dalmatians, reimaging them as childhood friends and fellow thieves who she eventually takes for granted when Cruella’s ambitions get the better of her. And, because it is a Disney movie, we also get a pair of dogs with inspirationally long lifelines and their dog tricks.

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Black Beauty

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  • Title: Black Beauty (2020)
  • IMDb: link

Black Beauty movie reviewAnna Sewell‘s Black Beauty: His Grooms and Companions, the Autobiography of a Horse has been adapted a dozen or so times over the past one-hundred years to both television and film. Disney+’s new version centers mostly on the relationship between the wild mustang (voiced by Kate Winslet) and an orphaned teenager named Jo (Mackenzie Foy) who bond at her uncle’s (Iain Glen) horse sanctuary following the death of Jo’s parents.

Recasting Beauty as a mare rather than stallion allows for writer/director Ashley Avis to reframe the story, in part, as female empowerment (with a bit of class struggle thrown in for good measure). It also, not so subtly, highlights the comparisons between Jo and Beauty who create a lasting bond that continues long after they are separated. The script highlights the themes of animal cruelty from the book as the script touches on Beauty’s later owners, a ranger (Hakeem Kae-Kazim), a farmer (Jacques Wuister), a carriage driver (Greg Parves), and finally an unscrupulous carriage business owner (Deon Lotz) who treat Beauty with varying levels of care before the horse comes back into possession of Jo at the end of the film.

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Mulan

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  • Title: Mulan
  • IMDb: link

Mulan movie reviewWith 1998’s Mulan, Disney animated the Chinese legend of Hua Mulan about a young woman who dresses as a man to take her father’s place in the conscripted army. Making several changes to the source material, but staying true to the basic idea of the legend, we’re introduced to Mulan (Ming-Na Wen) who struggles with fitting in as the perfect daughter but finds a way to serve her family by sneaking off, stealing her aging father’s (Soon-Tek Oh) armor and sword, and assuming the role of a dutiful son to take his place in the upcoming war to fight off the invading Huns.

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Frozen II

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  • Title: Frozen II
  • IMDb: link

Frozen II movie reviewDespite the original not leaving much to follow-up on, Frozen II hits theaters this holiday bringing back the core cast of the first film for what feels like a straight-to-video adventure with an expanded budget. The sequel opens in a flashback which will have ramifications to the sisters’ current dilemma as the nearby enchanted forest, cloaked in a heavy mist since their grandfather’s time, begins to awaken.

Along with Olaf (Josh Gad), Kristoff (Jonathan Groff), and Sven, Elsa (Idina Menzel) and Anna (Kristen Bell) will journey into the forest where they will discover secrets about their family’s past and the source of Elsa’s power. While reusing themes from the first film, the script by Jennifer Lee introduces familiar elemental forces executed at least as well by any number of films or TV shows.

Although it lacks anything as memorable as “Let it Go” (or even the cuteness of “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?“), the sequel does have some fun with Kristoff’s big solo framed in the form of a music video and the climactic “Into the Unknown” where Elsa finds some answers.

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