I just like this stupid little film. I love all the characters, and the story goes along quickly, and the music is interesting and memorable.

Stream of consciousness thoughts:

Notable Grossness

Welp. I'm sure you could have guessed. And it was definitely the monkeys. Not all of them use traditional AAVE, but a lot of them sure do. And having the orangutan be a jazz/scat musician is just....not appropriate. I love how Disney wanted to cast Louis Armstrong but wanted to avoid the implications of casting a Black man as an orangutan, but instead cast Louis Prima, who was a white appropriator of jazz music, particularly that of Louis Armstrong. There's an incredibly good breakdown of the racial implications of this particular bit of casting here: https://theaporetic.com/history/the-strange-career-of-king-louie I honestly love "I Wanna Be Like You" - it's a problematic fave, I acknowledge. Also - why is the 11-year-old Indian girl sexy with bedroom eyes? So gross.

Bagheera: "HERE HAVE THIS MAN CUB" :hides in a bush:

Goddammit, Rama is voiced by Grimsby from The Little Mermaid. My heart. Mowgli sticking out his tongue at Kaa is such a sweet tiny detail, it makes me fall in love with his stupid tiny boy face. Then, Mowgli punching Baloo in the guts. Just friggin' choice.

Poor Baloo 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 HE'S ALIVE <-- me every time

I do really adore most of the characters in this movie - the action is intentional, the story is interesting, and the humor is great. "I'm putting in for a transfer to another herd!" "Here it comes. The Victoria Cross bit again." Poor, put-upon Bagheera. Has to deal with a whiny boy raised by wolves. He wasn't cut out to be a babysitter. Haha.

Bagheera, a blank panther, runs through the jungle to the edge of a pit, but stops and panics, flailing his limbs and tail and falling on his butt as Baloo, a gray Sloth bear sticks his head out of the pit and yawns or hollers. The caption on Bagheera says, 'My cat' and the caption on Baloo says, 'A box I'm opening'

I love that Kaa's voice is Winnie the Pooh... Basically I like anything Sterling Holloway voices. To be honest, this is some really excellent voice work across the board. Not just because they're familiar ones but also because they're so well cast. Really, all the sound design and editing is excellent. It really supports the narrative flow and the score helps to carry the story along.

There's a lot of repeated bits of animation in this film, but it's not egregious. Tons of this music is memorable, mostly for good reasons. This animation isn't revolutionary, but it's pretty, and it supports the story - you can tell they're getting better with this copying sketches to cels technique.

March 30th, 2021

More Disney Animated Features

A movie release poster shows a group of white people, 4 men, a woman, and a young boy, surrounding a green animated dragon with pink wings and red hair. The poster says "Coming at Christmas, Walt Disney Productions' Pete's Dragon"
Pete's Dragon
Five human actors, a woman, a man, and three children of various ages, sit on a flying brass bed with a floral blanket, with the moon and clouds behind them. Below them, illustrated animals are in various poses: two fish dance together (one in a suit); two fish and an octopus play in a band together with the words "The Briny Boys" on the front of the drum kit; an alligator, a rhino, and a gorilla run around a soccer field in yellow and green athletic outfits; a lion in a crown and red royal robe stands with one foot on the soccer ball; and a secretary bird in a suit with glasses stands watching.
Bedknobs and Broomsticks
Bert, a chimney sweep, Jane, a young blonde child in a red dress and yellow overcoat, Michael, a young strawberry blonde child in short pants and a button coat, and Mary Poppins, a nanny in a red dress with a black hat with white flowers, stand on a rooftop, covered in soot.
Mary Poppins
Bigfoot, a giant humanoid creature with red fur, sits in front of a cardboard box with a downward pointing arrow on the side, wearing a pair of white men's briefs underwear on his head. He holds the crotch hole open with his fingers so he can look out. Goofy, a dog-like humanoid cartoon with black skin and a pale face, and long ears, watches from his yellow car several hundred feet behind Bigfoot, with his son Max in the passenger seat; Max looks similar to Goofy.
A Goofy Movie

Recent Snark

The Lion King

February 22nd, 2022

This is a really epic movie, but it's less of my favorite than I remember. It still has some great moments and songs I like but basically, the half of the movie where Simba's away from Pride Rock is more boring than I remember, and I care a lot less about Simba when he's not a tiny baby.

The Nightmare Before Christmas

July 13th, 2021

Do I honestly even have to review this movie? I have a matching tattoo with my brothers where we each got Lock, Shock, or Barrel. I think it's safe to say I love the hell out of this movie. I've also seen it so many times, and so many times recently, that I ranked it before I even started it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Aladdin

July 6th, 2021

This is really just such a joyful piece of art, not ONLY because of Robin Williams but definitely a lot because of Robin Williams.

Beauty and the Beast

June 29th, 2021

I love Belle and the animated furniture is charming. I liked this a lot more when I was a kid.

The Rescuers Down Under

June 22nd, 2021

This is legit one of my favorite movies.

DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp

June 15th, 2021

What in the actual hell is this movie? Is this the trial run on Aladdin? But like.............a bad one? Also the literal best part of this movie is when they play the DuckTales theme. At the end. :sigh: