Cinderella

I’ve lost count on the times I’ve watched Cinderella. I’ve watched several versions of Cinderella, but I actually forgot what the first one I watched, the animated Disney version, was in terms of storyline. Although I’ve watched it several times before, I did not remember some details like the ball was one night instead of three or the insistence on the role of Lucifer, the cat, as a villain and the simplified heroic characters.

I had this storyline in my mind that I’ve seen several times in movies like Into The Woods where Cinderella went the ball consists for three nights and the prince is not portrait like the smart prince he is supposed to be.  What I mean is in other versions during the last day of the ball, he comes with an extremely intelligent plan, but here he is just one more character.

The development of the hero characters is also disappointing. We barely get to see Cinderella’s development. In other versions she consistently mourns for her family’s death several times EVERY day, but here she only does it once! I think the other versions are more interesting because they give Cinderella the character development she actually deserves.

On the other hand, let’s talk about Lucifer chasing mice for half of the runtime of the movie! I do remember that Cinderella was this long movie with interesting characters and maybe that was because of the amount of versions I’ve seen over the years that I have an incredible mashup of what the perfect Cinderella would be. I had really big expectations while re-watching the animated versions and I think that it was not as big as I imagined it and therefore I am a little disappointed. 

I remember that when I was a child I enjoyed the animated version a lot, but now, not so much. Maybe back when I was little I found entertainment in a protected animal running from a devastating and extremely dumb predator, but now I just think that the animators where only trying to get the children attention and not giving the movie a meaning as now a days great children movies have.

Cinderella is the classic Disney Princess movie. It is a movie that I watched and re-watched and enjoyed every time, but now I think it is not that good compared to more recent versions. Maybe I think this because the first movie of Cinderella is old and not as well developed like a small draft or maybe it is that movie that I’ve watched so many times that I need to see something new and different to be impressed. Something like rhyming glue and shoe in a smart way while creating an interesting plot just like it is done in Into The Wood. Or something like real character development which is inexistent in the animated version.

I would have enjoyed watching more dancing scenes between Cinderella and the prince and less scenes of Lucifer chasing Gus or more scenes of Cinderella and her true family building background information and making the audience more sentimental. In short I was disappointed and was expecting much more when it was not there, but still I think it is a great movie for bare children entertainment.

Beauty and The Beast

Ariana Grande and John Legend will be singing in the live action of Beauty and The Beast!

You MUST hear this song! They are amazing!!!

BAFTA news!

NO WAY! BOTH ZOOTOPIA AND MOANA LOST THE BAFTA AWARD TO BEST ANIMATED FILM!

The BAFTA, for those that don't know what it is, it is like, in three words, the British Oscars, and they are the best predictions for the Academy Awards (Oscars).

Although this is life shocking, I still think that Moana or Zootopia (I think that Zootopia has more chances) will win the Oscar for best animated film.

New Disney Prices

Last week I criticized how it was ridiculous that Henry Giroux was saying that Disney is evil for being capitalist.

Well here are the news! In summary, "Disney Parks are Getting Pricier!"

If you thought, just like me, that before this Disney was not a villain and now it is, let me know why changed your mind.

I think that no matter the slight changes in price (although it is unfair for some people who might have been saving money just to go to Disney World) it is fair game under the world of capitalism! After all, I think that that is how capitalism works!

So, what do you think? Is Disney evil for being more capitalist every day or is it fair game under our world of capitalism?

The Good Villain

This Buzzfeed quiz has the title, "Pick a Disney Villain and We will Tell you Something Good About Yourself".

This quiz claims that it can give a good quality for each somewhat "old" and famous Disney villain. I believe that the creators sent a lot of time searching for these qualities, but they eventually found them.

Some results are:
Maleficent - Mastermind
Evil Queen - Elegant
Gaston - Charismatic






Ursula - Independent
Captain Hook - Persistent

The definition of pure villains has been slowly breaking every time Disney releases a new movie. This definition breaks in the sense that pure villains cannot be easily found nowadays. They will have some good attribute. This attribute doesn't take them off the category of villains and neither does it put them under the category of heroes, but it at least changes the definition of what we perceive as villains

In Disney movies villains are not entirely evil. All villains have a good quality, no matter how hidden it is.

Some modern Disney villains are the entire way around. Let's take for example Te Ka / Te Fitti and Elsa!

1) Te Fitti:

She is not a villain (in general terms) at all! She might have been a villain for a small period of her life, but, just like any other, a couple of actions won't define her as evil compared to her greater goodness, specially now that we totally understand her actions.

2) Elsa:

She considers herself of the villain, but we all now that she ain't one!

When I say the other way around, I mean that no matter how hard you try, finding a bad characteristic is extremely hard, but if you look hard enough you might find one or two.

As results, I would say:
Te Ka - Heartless! LOL!
Elsa - Inner Darkness

The point is Disney is changing their conception of villains. The old villains are villains in their essence, but modern villains come in two types: the ones that start being good and end being bad, and the ones that start being bad and end being good.

From the second type I've already gave a couple of examples, so this only leaves the modern villains that start being good and end being bad.

Some examples are Bellwether from Zootopia and Hans from Frozen.

1) Bellwether

She starts as the most friendly of all, helping the protagonist whenever she needs it. Don't you remember when she stood up for Juddy (the bunny) at the police station (happened several times...)

2) Hans

His only concern is the people. He gives blankets away to the needed when some people go against it. He appears generous and kind! Both amazing qualities, but what he does towards the ending... No more spoilers! In short words, I HATE him!

In summary, Disney is changing the overall picture of villains. In old times, villains had one rare good quality, but in modern movies, they are heroes for at least half the time! (That's a lot in terms of time of the movie.)

The Good Villains are slowly appearing.

Is Disney a Villain?

In the last few weeks, I´ve been reading about Disney critics and why they think Disney is the Villain. Mainly, I´ve been reading the work of Henry Giroux.

Henry Giroux in his text criticizes Disney for being three thing:

1) Capitalist

Giroux claims that Disney has gone too deep in the realm of capitalism:

- "Disney threatens legal action against three day-care centers for using Disney cartoon on their walls." - Giroux

Yes, it might be true, but that couldn't be the entire story. Why would a company so big threaten three day-care centers so small! It didn't had any sense at all, so I googled and found why Disney was right in threatening to file law suits against three day care centers.

 - ¨Disney construct childhood so as to make it completely compatible with consumerism.¨ - Giroux

What is wrong with this? Consumerism together is the one thing that keeps Disney in the business. And this doesn't only apply to Disney, but to all companies but to every big company like Apple or Walmart!

Money is what allows Disney to keep creating movies for our entertainment and there is nothing bad or wrong with that!


2) Brainwashing Children

Giroux argues that as Disney controls what children see, they can show them whatever they want and teach them whatever they want jus like an educator: school teacher or parent.

I think that this might be true, but it might not be necessarily intentional.  Disney might be, without knowing it or directly implying it, teaching children a couple of lessons here and there, but are they doing it with a final purpose?

I agree with Giroux, when he says that there must be parent supervision over children watching Disney movies, because after all, Disney also has the free will to say what they want in the US!

3) Racism

Giroux argues that Disney has, sometimes, been racist! And he gives extremely convincing and true examples:

"Where they cut off your ear if they don´t like your face. It´s barbaric, but hey, its home." - Aladdin original opening song
Aladdin is an important case in Giroux´s piece because Aladdin is famous since it won TWO Academy Awards (Oscars).

Giroux quoted Yousef Salem - "All of the bad guys have beards and large, bulbous noses, sinister eyes, and heavy accents." and "Aladdin doesn't have a big nose, he has a small one. He doesn't have a beard or a turban. He doesn't have a turban. What makes him nice is they´ve given him this American character."

Without a doubt, Disney was racist in this movie, but not only in this one also in movies like Song and the South and many others!

Which others you ask?

Giroux argues that Song of The South, The Jungle Book, and The Lion King are racist in very convincing arguments like the ones for Aladdin, and he might totally right, but we must ask ourselves two question:

1)  Is it the history of the time the movie is released enough to excuse Disney's racist actions?

2) If the historical context is not a valid excuse, is Disney at least trying to change in an attempt to amend their errors? To fix those horrible decisions they made?

Zootopia vs. Moana!

Here is the question we are all anxiously asking! Who will win the Best Animated Film category in the Oscars in a couple of weeks?

Many say that Zootopia will win because they won the Golden Globes a few weeks ago!

Although, I like Moana more, I think Zootopia will win. Wait, what? That doesn´t make sense! But, if you think about it, it is not the best movie the one that wins, but the movie with the best animation!

And, you can clearly sea that creating an animated city is much harder than an island and an ocean! 

So yeah, I like more Moana, but I think Zootopia will win. What do you think?