Disney Canon Conundrum

A year ago, I took a look at my own view of Disney animated feature films and explained my particular views on what is known as the Disney animated features "canon". What is the "canon"? An official line-up of sorts determined by The Walt Disney Company themselves, a line-up that says what counts as a …

The Beach Boys’ First Two Reprise Albums

In December 2018, I looked into the deep and convoluted history of The Beach Boys' album Sunflower, which of course will be turning 50 this coming August. All those words on the historical aspects of the album... Now what about the album itself? What about its follow-up album, Surf's Up? Sunflower's lengthy and often convoluted history does …

Elves, Trolls and Rules

So far, 2020 had been quiet feature animation-wise, before the uncertain times we have been plunged into. In a climate where a new animated feature seems to open every month, this seems rather unusual. January was without a feature, only showings of films released the previous month, like Disney Animation's Frozen II and Blue Sky's Spies …

Animation Perception ’20

Before I start, I've been meaning to post this since December. The bulk of it was written then. I fully understand that now isn't exactly the time to talk about the way animation is perceived by a lot of the public. Right now there are far more important things going on in the world, and …

MULAN, and The Ongoing Complications of ’90s Disney Animated Films

The arrival of Disney's new live-action Mulan has opened a few cans of worms, some that definitely relate to Disney's animated adaptation of the Chinese ballad that was released back in 1998... You may know that I've had a history of being very harsh on some of the features released during the esteemed Disney Renaissance period. …

Pixar, Or Just Four Guys?

Some early reviews of Onward, which got out mere weeks before its theatrical bow, haven't been so glowing. Some writers have expressed disappointment over the fact that it wasn't up to "Pixar standards". Even the blurb on the almighty Rotten Tomatoes, predictably, reads "It may suffer in comparison to Pixar's classics". Naturally, I wanted to …

The Life of the Animated Short

Last year seemed like just another year in family-friendly animated tentpole movies. A year with a near-alarming amount of sequels, even from the big houses... You had a single Pixar movie and a single Walt Disney Animation Studios film last year, and both were sequels, entries in popular, massively successful franchises. Other stalwarts, like DreamWorks, …

This Decade in Disney Animation: My Retrospective, Part 2

A recap... Instead of looking at the last ten years' worth of Walt Disney Animation Studios output, I decided to start off at where I thought their "revival" period began, and why it began in the first place. This entire decade is very much part of and a byproduct of the studio's resurgence as a …

This Decade in Disney Animation: My Retrospective, Part 1

This decade was a period of all-around success for Walt Disney Animation Studios. Much has been written about how the studio had entered a new revival, a Renaissance perhaps. I wouldn't say that the entirety of the 2010s encapsulates the revival of Walt Disney Animation Studios, for it was going on before this decade came …

Understanding Why ‘The Rescuers Down Under’ Flopped

Have you ever seen or heard of Disney's animated feature The Rescuers Down Under? Well-known amongst many a Disney or animation fanatic, The Rescuers Down Under was made and released during Disney's much-heralded Renaissance period. The era that produced critical darling megahits like The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King. Often times, whenever the Renaissance is …