Hit Me With Your Best Shot, or How trust Nat & Belle to wake me from my slumber

Over at The Film Experience, Nat has been hosting a weekly blogathon of sorts under the title 'Hit Me With Your Best Shot' wherein bloggers are invited to join in on a conversation about a given movie and choose their 'favorite shot' from said movie. Needless to say, it always yields interesting conversations. While I've let other films I would have loved to chat about pass (including Memento & Heavenly Creatures most recently), I knew I couldn't pass up piping in for the Beauty and the Beast evening.

This is one of the very first movies I was fixated on (I have it loaded on my iPhone for whenever I'm bored: read, whenever I'm waiting for transit, a doctor and/or my Starbucks coffee). It's a film I know by heart and thus any type of critical distance I would ever want to have from it is impossible. It's no surprise I've talked about it before (here and here - and oh! even my last post included a Gaston shot that could have easily made it as my Best Shot) and could go on talking about it forever, but for today, let's just focus on images (gorgeous, gorgeous images!)

One of the things I love most about Beauty and the Beast is its beautiful character animation. This is not surprising when you realize some of Disney's best animators were working on the main three characters. If nothing else, I want to spotlight the work of animators as a way to argue: look! you can make emotive characters out of thin air with no help from cutting edge motion capture technology. *Ed Note: no, there's nothing wrong with motion capture technology, but there's something endlessly fascinating to me about performances that come from mere paper and a pencil (and voicework!)

This is also another way of saying I'm going to cheat and give you 6 runner-up 'character animation' shots and then give you my fave shot:

Beast

Animator: Glen Keane

Glen gave us Ariel and would later give us Aladdin, Tarzan and Rapunzel

One of the challenges of a character like Beast is that he needs to at once look terrifying but at the same time elicit some sympathy/love from Belle/the audience. His entrance does great work for the first but I'm more interest in pivot moments like Beast and Belle's across-locked-doors conversation: Beast gives "grinding his teeth" a new name as he tries to 'woo' Belle out of her room with passive aggressive pleasantries.

Yet, his beastly exterior begins to crumble as 'something there' begins to emerge, showing us a softer side (even the birds wanna play with him!) [Ed Note: this if my mom's favorite moment in the film, I can't count the number of times she referred to it while I was growing up!]

Gaston

Animator: Andreas Deja

Andreas gave us Triton and would later give us Jafar, Scar, Hercules and Lilo

One of the joys of watching Gaston on screen is seeing him try to grasp simple concepts ("how can you reeeead, there are no pictures?") and grapple with harder ones ("Did you honestly think she loved you when she could have someone like me?"). The following comes right after Belle begins to advocate for Beast as a gentle creature. His amazement slowly grows to disgust in a matter of frames:

Few animated films have such an unabashedly vain and cruel villains (it's telling that most of the humor comes not from himself but from around him: "What's wrong with her? She's crazy! He's gorgeous!" whereas Ursula, Jafar and Scar have deliciously comedic roles) and this is particularly striking in his last battle with beast where his egomaniacal delusions get the best of him:

Belle

Animator: James Baxter

James would later give us Rafiki & Quasimodo

Ariel may have her voice, Rapunzel may have her hair, Jasmine may have her palace and Aurora may have her beauty sleep (and her ever-color-changing dress!) but Belle... Belle has her gorgeous eyes and her curiosity, the latter getting her in more trouble than she bargains for in the scene where she explores the 'West Wing' (not the Sorkin show, sadly) and finds Beast's portrait:

Keane nails Beast's rakish (read: beastly) good looks and charms despite his outer exterior while Deja milks Gaston's physique for all it's worth but my props always have to go to Baxter who makes Belle one of the most facially expressive characters in the Disney canon (it helps to Paige O'Hara's voice to work off of), especially in small moments where we see her self-doubt afflicting her as she finds herself attracted to a Beast:

But my all time favorite shot/sequence in the film comes right after Gaston has (unsuccessfully) proposed to Belle and she gets to sing her 'I Want' song (y'know, like Ariel's Part of Your World, Hercules's Going the Distance, etc.) in a beautifully lit 'hills-are-alive'-esque background where we see her yearning for so much more than this provincial life.

I want adventure in the great wide somewhere
I want it more than I can tell
And for once it might be grand
To have someone understand
I want so much more than they've got planned

Villains! or How Everything I know I Learnt From Animation

It's been a while since I've done one of these, and what better way to celebrate Donna Murphy's induction into the Disney Villains Hall of Fame (with her deliciously scene-stealing Mother Gothel in Tangled) than by telling you what I've learnt from Disney's villains?

And so I give you, with my tongue clearly planted in my cheek,

The Top 10 Things I've Learned from Disney Villains

1. Mother knows best (Tangled).

Sure, she's overprotective and only has selfish reasons as to why Rapunzel should stay in her tower, but this kernel of wisdom need not be underestimated.

2. Don't ever underestimate the power of body language! (The Little Mermaid).

Who knew that the film that taught me the word 'reprimand' would also be the one to give me guiding when hitting up the clubs? That said, this works as advice for us that aren't also gifted with beautifully alluring voices (or sumptuous red hair!)

3. Good looks and impressive pecs won't get you the girl (Beauty and the Beast).

Someone had to break it to me (I mean, Belle chose the bear/beast for god's sakes!)

4. Be prepared (Lion King).

Some would say that boy scouts taught us this, but... I was never one to seek out old men to get a new badge, so it took an effeminate lion to teach me the basic tenet of Life: be prepared!

5. With infinite power comes responsibility (Aladdin).

Yeah, I didn't need Tobey to lecture me on this because Jafar had already taught me that if you get unlimited cosmic powers, you also get unfashionable Wonder Woman-like bracelets that imprison you.

6. Fashion comes at a price (101 Dalmatians).

One which is much too adorable to pay.

7. You can be cool and be flaming (Hercules).

Another gay-themed lesson from the greatest Disney soul-trader around.

8. There's always some hot new white thing ready to take your 'fairest of them all' crown. Also: apples/fruits are deadly (Snow White and the Seven Dwarves).

I've outgrown that last one, but that first lesson still sticks with me to this day.

9. Evening wear and swamps don't really mix (The Emperor's New Groove & The Rescuers).

Who knew Disney was so intent on teaching me what's appropriate to wear in swamps? [Oh Yzma, so full of wisdom (see more here)]

& of course, the takeaway:

10. Evil is sexy, alluring, seductive, stylish, witty, hip and hilarious, but sadly, it does not pay off and if you follow these villains' path you'll end up incarcerated, eaten alive by your cronies, dead or worse...

The Princess and the Frog, or How the trailer's here!

My only qualm with the trailer? The fact that even though they tout "75 Years of Magic" they only show scenes from the last 20... 

Still looking forward to it, though. I love me some Ron & Jon (even though I've yet to watch Treasure Planet... but I'm sure they'd forgive me, no?)

The Lion King, or How Everything I Know I Learnt from Animation

Everything I Know I Learnt From Animation: The Lion King Edition

So clearly I'm a child of the 90s and with that comes the educational value of the Disney animated musicals. You've seen what I learnt from a tale of love between a beauty and a beast; what a mermaid taught me while under the sea, and the Herculean lessons I gathered from that Greek-myth based film. But if there was a gigantic runaway Disney animated success in the 1990s it was a Shakespearean story (psst... it's  Hamlet!) set in the African serengeti. So, what did we learn from spending time with a pack of lions?

'Hakuna Matata' 

It's a problem-free philosophy!

Frisky girls will always want to be on top. 

Ed note: this doesn't change with age (See older Nala)

Effeminate birds make for great assistants. 

That works on so many levels I'm surprised Disney would even teach that!

Unwed, childless men are evil. 

You can tell by their swagger and their icy cold dialogue delivery.

James Earl Jones's voice is heavenly. 

For good contrast see Star Wars.

Sun = Good. Shadow = Bad. 

It's Western Civ 101, really.

Hyenas are prone to fascism.

Or was it fascism = bad? I forget sometimes.

Babies are everything.

Yes, this film is 'heteronormativity' 101.

What did Simba & co. teach you?

Princess and the Frog, or How Disney needs to come back to form!

Gorgeous no?

[src]

Disney's The Little Mermaid, or How Everything I Know I Learnt from Animation

I love 1990s Disney movies. It's not for nothing they call it the Disney Renaissance - I mean, a decade that brings you Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King and Aladdin needs to be kind of amazing. Sure, the later movies couldn't live up to the apex that was that Shakespearean Savannah story but I do think there was still bristling brilliance in all and every Disney animated release: the colour palette in Pocahontas, the art direction in Hunchback of Notre Dame, the humour in Hercules, the character design in Mulan, and the action sequences and the soundtrack in Tarzan. But if there's one movie that foretold all of this animated goodness, it was Ron & Jon's The Little Mermaid, based on Hans Christian Anderson's tale (now being re-told successfully by Miyazaki in Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea). And so I give you:

The Little Mermaid (1989)

Dir. Ron Clements and Jon Musker

Everything I Know I Learnt from a Red-Headed Teenager who dreams of being part of our world...

- My hair needs no product under the sea to look good if I am a red-headed mermaid.

- Conversely, my hair needs no hair product out of the sea if I am an animated prince who seems to mousse his hair naturally.

- Forks make good combs.

- Statues make for good birthday presents (friends: take note!)

- Larger ladies with short hair cuts who have pets and no children cannot be trusted.

- Every teenage girl in the 90s learnt "reprimanded" from this film.

- My voice is an ethereal glowing little shiny cloud (and can be easily stolen!)

- "Never underestimate the power of body language!"

- Teen angst is not exclusive to... what's the word again? Humans.

- Crabs have Caribbean accents.
- Love at first sight is enough to trade your voice in a pact with a crazy sea-witch and leave all you've ever known behind.

- "The seaweed is always greener on the other lake"

- Seagulls are funny and kinda weird (and this was all pre-Nemo!)

Check out past "Everything I Know..."

Pixar Edition
Lilo & Sticth
The Smurfs
Beauty and the Beast (1991)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Hercules

Voice (Child) Actors, or How it's the Rugrats Blog-A-Thon

I had so much fun compiling this post on Voice Actressexuality for TFE that I figured I'd do something along the same lines for My Stuff and Cr*p's Rug Rats Blog-A-Thon (somehow the words "niche" and "specialization" are ringing in my ears... I have no idea why).

But it is true: when do people sit down and chat about Child Actors, let alone Voice Child Actors? That may be because there aren't that many VCA (yes, I'm coining the acronym as we speak) parts - did you know Lisa and Bart Simpson, all those Rugrats and even Disney's Doug (all lovable animated kids) aren't voiced by kids themselves? I guess it's easier to accommodate adults' schedules (and talents!) for a TV series, which is why I found more VCAs in films rather than in the tube.

And while great adult performances can make kid roles really entertaining, I give props to child actors whose voices go beyond merely what's on the page and you can really feel they are lived-in characters (This might also be a tip of the hat to the directors involved who knew what to get and how to use it). And so, this is why today, I'm I spotlighting the kids who stepped up to the plate and create lovable animated kids:

Judith Barsi
(Ducky, Land Before Time & Anne-Marie, All Dogs Go to Heaven)









Regardless of the tragic ending of little Ms Barsi (she was murdered by her father alonside her mother back in 1988, there's no denying what Don Bluth saw in her to have her voice two memorable characters in his late 80s movies. Ducky is just a wonderful creation (coming from a movie I adored while growing up) that helps give the film that innocence and wonderful playful nature that along with Petrie off-sets the more mature themes of loss and family, while Anne-Marie is the emotional core in a film that nicely balances her story with the antics of Charlie and Itchy.

Signature Line: Yep yep yep!

Jonathan Taylor Thomas
(Simba, The Lion King)











Oh JTT. What would the 90s have done without you? Seriously, was there anything Mr triple-named Thomas didn't attempt? Thankfully, his voice was the right combination of innocence and arrogance needed to make little Simba a wide-eyed cub before he learns to live by Hakuna Matata after witnessing his father's death (which I still stand by is the 'Bambi's mother's death of our time!). I adore in particular the scenes he shares with Jeremy Iron er... Scar, where the obvious pitch, style and tone of each creates the core tension in the film: JTT's childish though good-natured bravery matched by Irons' calm, cool and collected (if altogether cowardly) courage.

Signature Line: Oh I just can't wait to be king!

Mary Gibbs
(Boo, Monsters Inc.)











I dare anyone to watch Monsters, Inc. and NOT fall in love with the adorable Boo. Sure, most of the line readings are incomprehensible to both the audience and the monsters who take care of orphan Boo in their world but that's what makes the very vocal and tiny Boo so affecting - it's all in her shrieks and laughs that we are put in the same position as Goodman's Sulley and Crystal's Mike. Pete Docter deserves probably most of the praise for this performance, but in Boo I saw a young girl so true to life I couldn't pass up the opportunity to glorify a child performance (and a kid character) that doesn't need to be quipping and bantering, nor being innocent and wide-eyed, but instead being just herself: laughing when she wants to, pointing to what she needs and colouring whatever she sees.

Signature Line: Kitty!

Alexander Gould
(Nemo, Finding Nemo)











While the breakout voice performance might have come from a certain out blonde comedienne, Gould holds his own against the likes of Brad Garret, Willem Defoe and even Allison Janney, in that character-ful fish tank, creating a clown fish worth an entire film and an adventure across to sea. Continuing the motifs of the actors discussed before, Gould imbues Nemo with an optimistic and willful voice (again juxtaposed to Defoe's threatening but well-meaning Gill).

Signature Line: I have a bad fin...

Okay, I'll retreat to my animated bubble now and await the likes of Kristin Chenoweth (Disney's Rapunzel) and Anika Noni Rose (Disney's The Princess and the Frog) - because yes, I do enjoy a good voice acting gig in the muddled 'genre' (though people! It's actually a medium!) that is now plagued with Murphy just doing his thang and A-listers phoning it in.

Disney's Hercules, or How Everything I Know I Learnt from Animation

Continuing my love for animation (okay... some may call it obsession, I call it a "calling") I present to you the most recent entry for the Everything I Know I Learnt from Animation series. Joining us today is an adorably hunky Greek Hero (even if the Disney name is actually Roman... but really, who here cares about such petty details. And also, how much would it have sucked to market a movie called Herakles?): Hercules!

Hercules (1997)
Dir. John Musker & Ron Clements

Top 10 Things I learnt from Disney's Hercules:

1. Calling men WonderBoy does wonders to get them interested.
2. Girls are better are zinging (and singing!) than men ("So, do they give you a name along with all those rippling pectorals?")
3. I can go the distance. Now if only I knew exactly what that meant... or if I could frame it in a non-sports-oriented way...
4. Villains are/should be flaming! (More on that here)
5. Everything is cuter in baby-form. See Hercules and Pegasus.
6. Merchandising, celebrity culture and even Gospel singing (!) date back to Greek times. ("You give me a word, any word and I show you that the root of that word is Greek!")
7. D.I.D. stands for Damsel in distress. And not, of course Direct Inward Dialing.
8. The easiest way to get friends, fans and fame is to buff up and sound like Tate Donovan. Wait... no, was I supposed to get something else out of that?
9. The way to get your characters to look cool is to hire Gerald Scarfe (yeah, that guy who did the animation bits for the Pink Floyd movie The Wall!)
10. Disney is not to be taken as a reliable source when it comes to Greek Mythology (or Chinese folk stories, or Shakespeare, or Native American history, or Victor Hugo novels...)

Check out past "Everything I Know..."

Pixar Edition
Lilo & Sticth
The Smurfs
Beauty and the Beast (1991)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Happy Birthday Donald Duck Day! or How [insert unintelligible quacking here]

(June 9th 1934)

Because here, we celebrate diversity, and if a pantless, cantankerous sailor duck isn't 'diversity' I don't know what is.

[PopWatch source]

Beauty and the Beast, or How Everything I Know I Learnt from Animation

Singing with Belle Edition

Beauty and the Beast (1991)
Dir. Gary Trousdale & Kirk Wise

This might just be the greatest animated movie of all time (and, for all those who love statistics and trivia: it is the only animated feature to be ever nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars - how Toy Story didn't manage to repeat that feat in 1996 is beyond me, I have yet to see that pig movie, but I can't anticipate liking it more than John Lassetter's brilliant toy-movie; of course there are a couple of other animated features that might also (read: should) have been nommed. I am thinking of Ratatouille [which reaped a total of six nominations and one win!), but now that the Academy has ghettoized animation Beauty and the Beast's surprise (but well-earned) nomination might never happen again, though I have high hopes for Wall-E, which POP COLONY has got me even MORE excited for!) But I digress.
I have seen this film far too many times - it was a staple at home on lazy Sunday afternoons, and the VHS was constantly on top of the VCR throughout all my summer holidays. You probably don't understand how much I love this movie: I wished I had musical numbers happen around me, I wanted to be Lumiere, I longed for Belle's library, I dreamed of owning Beast's castle... and I wanted nothing else than to beat up Gaston (whoever said a good Disney villain makes a movie might not have been thinking of Gaston, but oh how I love to hate him!)
So, without further ado I give you 7 Things I Learnt from (re and re)watching Disney's Beauty and the Beast:

1. Reading is important - it teaches you everything you need to learn to be able to look down on 'simple townspeople' and fantasize about far out places, daring swordfights, magic spells and princes in disguise ::sigh::
2. Heterosexual men are dumb. Throw rocks at them (or maybe just their stinky muddy boots). Okay, maybe not all of them. Just the hunting type het-men who eat five dozen eggs for breakfast and have incredibly thick necks. 21st Century Gastons: protein shake gym/athletic jocks ::barf::
3. Brunettes > Blonds. Especially when brunettes read (See #1) and blonds just swoon and come in packs of three ::rolls eyes::
4. Servants want to serve me. They wish I were they guest! "For a servant who's not serving/ He's not whole without a soul to wait upon" sings Lumiere, and I'll believe anything a flaming (candle)stick tells me ::wink::
5. Beauty lies within. I know, it's a cliché, but if anyone has a patent on clichés, it's good old Walt - so I'll let 'im have this one ::smile::
6. It logically follows then that Prince Charmings come in all shapes and sizes. Yep, no need to wait for an Eric or a Phillip - B&B teaches us our Prince Charming might be buried under a rough and hairy exterior, y'cubs out there taking notes? ::smirk::
7. "If it is not Baroque... don't fix it" ::tongue in cheek::

Also, on the more practical side Belle and her friends taught me that
- books should be kept away from sheep (they'll chew on everything!)
- I shouldn't go out into the winter cold where wolves abound (unless I have a certified Beast bodyguard)
- mobs don't mesh well with such bizarre things like 'logic' and 'witness accounts'
- I shouldn't plan a wedding without proposing first
- everything is a weapon (scissors? okay true... boiling water? yah, I'll give you that... but a makeover in a closet? that's impressive!)
And many more...

Check out past "Everything I Know..."

Pixar Edition
Lilo & Sticth
The Smurfs