Lurker > DoctorBIind

#26 – Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)

Best Character: Milo James Thatch
Worst Character: The Atlantians minus Kida and her father

Okay, so this film might be a little high. I concede. It’s not very well executed at times and the characters lack development. But it’s a fun, action-packed film that I’ve always enjoyed watching. Plot holes aside, it has a fantastic setting and the characters are interesting. The action sequences are animated and designed well, and I love the look they gave Atlantis. In fact I just love Atlantis. I’ve always been interested in the myth so a film focusing on it intrigued me from the start.

Alright, let’s get rid of the bad quickly so I can move on and justify why I like it so much. For starters, the pacing is a little off. For example, after Milo joins the team they immediately fight against the Leviathan, and then it goes back to being really slow in the cave when they’re all getting to know each other. It’s kind of like it never really happened. The characters are also a slight problem I had with the film, as though they’re all fascinating for the most part (scowlface aside), they don’t get any kind of development at all. Perhaps there were simply too many good characters to develop, but other Disney films have done so in the past so that’s not a good excuse. Disney probably placed more of an emphasis on action in this film, which is too bad because the characters had so much potential. These are really just minor complaints… the major complaints follow:

Major problem I have with the movie #1: how does an entire culture forget how to read their own language? It’s not like it was lost with new generations since everybody lives to be super old. Not to mention they all forgot how to use their weaponry… did everyone just decide not to fly around on their machines for years until they forgot how to drive them? #2: Did the Atlantians put up any kind of fight to Rourk and his thugs? There were like 20 guys with guns vs. all of Atlantis and they just let them take away the life source. Not to mention Milo already revealed what they had to do to get their weapons working again. This is why the Atlantians are the worst characters. They just laid over and gave up when they had (or should have had) the technology to easily stop them.

Huh. That was a lot of bad. Psh, whatever. I still like this film a lot. The characters are a lot of fun. Milo is awesome, and I’m planning to give him a better run in the next SMDC contest so be prepared. Even the side characters are fun personalities. Sweet, Vinny, and even Kida and Audrey I enjoyed. Mole was annoying, but hey, those characters usually are. They could have used some more focus, but I enjoyed them for what they were. I mentioned it briefly above, but I also really enjoyed the animation for the film. It had a wonderful setting to work with, and I think their vision of Atlantis was a good interpretation. Mike Mignola, the creator of Hellboy, worked on the film and helped create the look I enjoyed so much with Atlantis.

Anyways I want to like this movie more for its potential, but it falls short too many times to rank any higher. In hindsight I probably should have placed it lower, but I do enjoy watching it a lot so I probably wouldn’t change its placement even if I were to do it over again. I wish more people felt the same way! Maybe then more people would have gone to see it in theaters and Disney wouldn’t have been convinced to cancel an upcoming underwater attraction at Disneyland. That could have been amazing!

Next Up: This film primarily consisted of original ideas from the Disney staff

Dexter

Mystique
Light

Xanatos
Ganondorf
Woodland Critters

Joker
Hades (Hercules)
Oogie Boogie

Thankfully I've only seen Chicken Little once and I can't think of any of the characters' voices aside from Zach Braff.

Gaston
Jafar
O-Ren

vcharon posted...

Dumbo being mysteriously silent made little sense to me and turns me off from the movie after rewatching it. I agree he's a sympathetic mute lead, but it still makes the film not quite as good as it might could have been.

Most people view the Ringmaster as the main villain but he never really did anything "evil" outside of having Mrs. Jumbo locked up.

I excused it simply because I acknowledged that Dumbo was a baby, and babies shouldn't be able to speak. Even Bambi couldn't speak for a little while. Sure he did eventually, but the amount of time that passed with Bambi was much longer than Dumbo. Dumbo just never grew to be old enough to speak I guess. If he spoke throughout the film I don't think I would like it as much.

The Ringmaster is is seen as the main villain? Really? I don't remember him being evil at all. Locking up Dumbo's mother was just something he thought he had to do after she started a commotion. I don't think there was any malicious intent behind it. And yeah, the comparison with Cinderella's sister is a pretty good one; I can see the similarities.

Azula
Gogo
Mitsuko

#27 – Dumbo (1941)

Best Character: Timothy Q. Mouse
Worst Character: The b***** elephants

Dumbo is the fourth animated film released by Disney, and tells the story of a young elephant that experiences the lowest of lows and incredible highs (literally!) through his journey as a performing circus elephant. It’s an emotional tale that clocks in at just barely over an hour, making it the shortest Disney film ever released with a singular narrative.

This is one sad film. Dumbo is ridiculed basically from the instant he’s born up until he learns to fly at the end of the film. Though it’s a short film it's still sad to see what Dumbo has to put up with for 55 or so minutes. The saddest scene, and this I’d argue is one of the saddest scenes in the entire canon, is when his mother is taken away from him and locked up like some wild monster. If that doesn’t effectively move you emotionally I don’t know what will. From this one scene alone Disney created a likable protagonist and did so all without making him speak. Impressive.

Dumbo as a character is surprisingly sympathetic despite never uttering a single word throughout the film. In this sense Disney did a great job creating affection for the little guy. He didn’t need words for the audience to connect with him. We simply watched his heart-wrenching tale and naturally began to root for him. Having Timothy Q. Mouse as a friend definitely helped Dumbo’s predicament, as Timothy really was the only friend he had throughout the entire film. I like Timothy. He stood up for Dumbo when no one else would, chased off the b***** elephants, and created a powerful friendship between the unlikeliest of animals. He doesn’t have much of an arc or development himself, but he’s a welcome addition to what would have been a depressing film without his friendship and guidance.

One of the biggest flaws the film has is its lack of a villain. Although the film certainly includes antagonistic characters that give Dumbo trouble and ridicule him, I wouldn’t necessarily deem them as villains. The b***** elephants are awful, awful personalities who make fun of Dumbo for having super cute big ears. I suppose his ears are a little funny but they’re much more adorable than funny. And then they exclude the poor little guy, who just had his mother locked away, from their group by justifying that he’s not even an elephant anymore, but a clown! Cliquey b****** or no, doing that to a baby is pretty inexcusable. The clowns are bad at times as well, as are the rest of the humans in the film, but they hold only minor roles designated to ridicule Dumbo and help the audience empathize with him. Thankfully Dumbo gets the last word as he learns to fly and puts all the haters to shame with a great flying sequence near the end of the film.

This film is an incredibly emotional and well-paced tale revolving around a simple story with simple songs. None of the songs really stand out as being very good, and the Pink Elephants on Parade sequence in particular felt a little out of place to me. It seemed like a precursor to Heffalumps and Woozles – a much better song. That said, Dumbo, Timothy and even the stereotypical crows are fun enough to make up for the lack of extraordinary songs in the film. I would have liked it to be a little bit longer than it was, but overall it was very well done and a great example of Disney creating great, emotional story arcs.

Next Up: A film coming after the Disney Renaissance

Dexter

Mystique
Light

Facilier
Lust
Oogie Boogie

Vickers the best

Jafar
Frollo
Magneto

Hook
Light
O-Ren

Dexter

yes

Mystique
Light

Azula
Gogo
Mitsuko

StifledSilence posted...

Also, I'm surprised how generously ranked Lilo and Stitch was for you considering you aren't overly fond of it. On my list, anything above like 36 or 37 are things I like. So being in 28th on my list is still good even though it's not in the top half.

Don't get me wrong, I like the film as a whole. Since The Rescuers Down Under I've genuinely liked each of the films I've placed. My dislike for the two main characters aside it really is a great film. That's why I mentioned how I could easily see it ranking much higher on someone's list if they liked the characters.

One of my favorite things about the film isn’t actually in the film at itself. The marketing effort for this film was hilarious, and it was fun seeing Stitch interact with a number of great Disney characters and films.





All in all Lilo & Stitch is pretty good for humor, but it also has a surprisingly warm and sentimental side to it. It really is a good film, and I can easily understand someone placing it higher if they liked the characters of Lilo and Stitch.

Next Up: The main characters are not human

#28 – Lilo & Stitch (2002)

Best Character: Nani
Worst Character: Stitch

More than any other film on this list I came into this one looking to change my opinion of it for the better. I know it has become one of Disney’s most popular films, and I wanted to be as open as possible to it. If you’ve ever participated in the SMDC contests, you probably know I’m not a very big fan of Lilo or Stitch. Given their popularity in those contests I was hoping I would like them more during this watch-through so I wouldn’t be annoyed every time they made a deep run in the SMDC contests. Unfortunately my opinions largely remained the same, and this is about where I would have placed it had I not re-watched it.

Lilo & Stitch is a great film that suffers in my eyes due to the very characters that make up its title. Lilo is a brat, and would be a nightmare to raise on your own. She doesn’t really fit in with anyone her age and she constantly acts like a wild child, which in turn complicates Nani’s life immensely. Stitch is just mean. I really didn’t remember him being as mean as he was, but after watching it again I found his antics were usually at the expense of others. Even after he develops feelings for Lilo and Nani he’s still super reckless and destroys their home. He takes advantage of Lilo’s loneliness and naivety, Nani’s hospitality, and is exceptionally gross basically throughout the entire film. He’s not even cute. Like, I remain entirely perplexed as to his continued popularity. Sorry Stitch fans. I just don’t get it. Despite not liking them as characters, I do appreciate the effort Disney put into developing them. Both Lilo & Stitch have clear arcs and develop quite a bit, Stitch especially. The scene where Stitch ventures out into the forest at night trying to copy the children’s book is legitimately sad. His desire for family is sweet, but his antics are obnoxious.

Annoying characters aside, this film is sentimentally brilliant and does a fantastic job developing its characters. Nani in particular is very sympathetic. She has to put up with Lilo & Stitch, but still remains caring, nurturing and understanding. She has a spirit to her that I enjoyed watching, and seeing her financially struggle to stay afloat all the while supporting Lilo was very endearing.

In stride with having an endearing character like Nani, the film has a couple of really sweet, enjoyable songs in Hawaiian Rollercoaster Ride and He Mele No Lilo. Both of these were performed by a children’s choir and were perfect within the film. Unfortunately the rest of the songs don’t follow suit. I’m one of the few people who don’t like Elvis, and his presence in the film felt off to me. Or maybe I’m just looking for excuses because I don’t like Elvis. Whatever. The film should have stuck with the children’s choir and Hawaiian themed songs.

A few things in the plot irked me a little bit. Throughout the entire film we see Jumba trying to catch Stitch and trade him for his freedom. Immediately after he finally captures him however, Stitch simply asks to be let free and Jumba happily obliges. In fact, Jumba volunteers to lead a rescue mission to save Lilo. Uh, what? I thought Jumba was interested in his freedom. The ending was pretty weak as well. Stitch is made out to be some kind of ultra dangerous monster but the aliens just decide to leave him on earth at the end of the movie without any real punishment.. And this is just nitpicking, but in the very beginning of the film, when it’s revealed that Stitch has made contact with the earth, the aliens don’t seem to have any knowledge on the planet. They even go so far as to say the planet has no intelligent life forms. At the end of the movie however it’s revealed that the aliens and humans have already met before. A little nitpicky but it bothered me.

Gaston
GlaDOS
Lust

Hook
Light
O-Ren

I mean

Azula
Gogo
Mitsuko

Azula
Gogo
Mitsuko
O-Ren

Scar

*raises flame shield*

#29 – Fantasia (1940)

Best Character: Mickey Mouse
Worst Character: Hyacinth Hippo

Fantasia is a classic, and it surely was incredibly innovative for its time. It’s a beautiful film that holds up well even to this day. Fantasia is incredibly creative – to take existing music and add animated interpretations of what the listener might see in their head is incredible. Most of the segments are wonderfully animated, and the accompanying music is sublime. To think that such a film would come out today is beyond strange. Unfortunately I don’t think Disney will take such a risk ever again. During its time it was a box office failure but has since become one of the most beloved films in the Disney canon. I don’t share this feeling, but I can’t ignore the impact it had on films today, nor the beauty derived from the segments, nor the creativity and imagination used to create them.

This film contains eight segments, some of which are extraordinary, and others that are very boring. It’s thus difficult to place Fantasia on this list, as while it does contain some phenomenal segments, a few of the others dragged on for much too long. Fantasia runs for just over two hours, and frankly is one of the biggest reasons I’ve ranked it relatively low. While this means that the good segments are give plenty of screen time, it also means that the worst segments are also given plenty of screen time. It was during these segments that I found myself drifting off or impatiently awaiting the end of the segment.

I typically don’t like abstract segments devoid of plot. While I can appreciate the imagination it took to simply animate characters and the environment based off of a piece of music, it’s just not enjoyable for me to watch. Segments such as Toccata and Fugue in D Minor and even the intermission were very boring. The former in particular dragged on for much, much too long. To have such a film open Fantasia immediately had me worrying the rest of the film would follow suit.

Thankfully it doesn’t, and it’s instead filled with a few gems. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is of course the most well-known and beloved of the segments, and for good reason. It’s a beautifully animated story about Mickey Mouse serving as an apprentice to Yen Sid, the sorcerer. Mickey attempts to take a shortcut through his chores by using magic he can’t yet control, and things quickly get out of hand. I wish this were longer, as it’s one of my favorite animated shorts of all time and because I honestly believe it could hold its own as an expanded feature length film.

Night on Bald Mountain is my next favorite, and it’s an exceptional close to the film. It again is wonderfully animated, and there is clear tension between the characters. Chernabog summons evil spirits at night and they proceed to dance and fly though the air until dawn approaches to send them back. It’s an interesting segment for sure, and visually it’s stunning.

The only other segment that I enjoyed was The Pastoral Symphony. It contains a number of mythological creatures, each with their own story. My favorite of which was the one about the centaurs, but I found the cupids to be creepy. Nevertheless it was a sweet segment about love. I also enjoyed the portion with Zeus and Bacchus, the god of wine, but not as much as I did the portion with the focus on the centaurs. The rest of the segments were largely forgettable and honestly kind of boring. Hyacinth Hippo earns the status of worst character not because she’s an awful character by any means, only because she took the lead in an exceptionally boring segment titled Dance of the Hours.

Ultimately Fantasia is a film that I can respect and appreciate, but not one that I can necessarily sit down and enjoy watching. A few of the segments, sure, but I don’t want to sit through a two hour film where I’m subjected to segments like Tocatta and Fugue in D Minor.

Next Up: This film employed the use of watercolors in its design

Dexter

Albert Wesker
Oogie Boogie
Prince John

Mystique
Light

Azula
Jafar
Lust

Gogo
Mitsuko
O-ren

Mystique
Light

Probably won't be an update today bump

What a travesty. And here I was thinking she'd be my only favorite to make the top 10. Ugh, you people suck. She just had like seven votes the other day -_-

My interest in this contest is quickly draining

Gogo
Light
Mitsuko
O-Ren

Ugh what is happening right now

Dexter Morgan
Light Yagami

StifledSilence posted...

But Chicken Little...

Wait for it...

Unpopular opinion incoming...

Was good! I enjoyed it quite a bit. I'm gonna go reread the write ups about it to see what the hate was about.

Ugh I just saw this. Stifled how could you!?

BrettEagles posted...

Hey guys, if you get the chance to see The Lion King on Broadway or off-Broadway, don't miss it. I went to see it last night and it absolutely phenomenal. Mufasa & Scar top tier.

I've always wanted to. I've been itching to go but last time I checked it wasn't coming to the Northwest any time soon. The closest I've been to seeing it was the performance they put on at The Animal Kingdom, a 30 minute performance titled Festival of the Lion King. It was good, but I'm sure it doesn't compare to the real thing.

Well if it makes you feel any better MWC, it’s getting harder and harder to place these films. These next 10 films were very difficult to place, and could probably be interchanged with each other depending on my mood. This film is essentially the start of a new tier.


#30 – The Rescuers Down Under (1990)

Best Character: McLeach
Worst Character: Frank

The first sequel to join the canon (second if you count The Three Caballeros as a sequel, which I don’t), The Rescuers Down Under is also the first film from the Disney Renaissance to make an appearance on the list. It’s kind of odd in relationship with the other films from the Disney Renaissance, as it’s not a musical or fairy tale, and it’s set in a time and place familiar to us. It opens with a great sequence where the camera travels rapidly through the outback, ultimately coming to a halt when Cody’s house appears. It's probably my favorite opening to a Disney film without an opening song.

To me, this film improves on just about every aspect from the original. It has a more compelling story, is much better animated, has a better villain, a better setting, a more interesting kid, much better side characters, and Bernard is more tolerable.

As much as I disliked Bernard in the first film, I found him to be much less obnoxious here. Maybe it’s because he kept being upstaged by Jake, but he didn’t make me hate him here. He was still an overly cautious and nervous oaf, but his struggle with proposing to Miss Bianca was borderline sweet. It’s still not clear why Miss Bianca is interested in Bernard, but whatever. Miss Bianca doesn’t shine as much in this one as she does in the original, as we see things more from Bernard’s perspective as opposed to both of them as a team. It’s too bad since Miss Bianca is a great character and I wish there were more of her. Due to her relative absence, the honor for best character was up for grabs. I considered Jake, the mouse from the Outback who is better than Bernard at just about everything, for a while, but he really falls off near the end. He has a great introduction, but doesn’t get much more development after that. In fact, most of the mice seem to play second fiddle to the humans in this film.

This movie is a little strange in that despite The Rescuers being in the title, the film does not focus on them as much as it probably should. I’ve already mentioned how I wish Miss Bianca was shown more, and it’s odd how small of a role she had compared to the original. This film placed more focus on the relationship between McLeach and Cody, which was fine, but it needed more Miss Bianca. McLeach was a better villain than I remember, complete with both a cruel side and a humorous side to him. His abusive relationship with Joanna is pretty funny, actually, and a welcome addition after the utter lack of humor in the original. That said, some of the attempts at humor fell flat. Frank, the ridiculously annoying lizard found in captivity at McLeach’s base, is not funny at all. He’s just obnoxious, and I wish every scene with him in it were cut out.

Aside from the characters I also really enjoyed the setting for the film. It was wonderfully animated, and the scene where Cody is soaring on the eagle’s back is exceptionally well done. This was actually the first film to use the computerized CAPS system, allowing for the incredible vistas of the Australian Outback and sleek animation throughout.

Though not quite up to snuff with the rest of the films from the Renaissance, The Rescuers Down Under is one of the rare instances where a sequel is better than the original. It’s brighter, more exciting, and better animated than the original, and I was more invested in the story. Unfortunately this film often gets forgotten among the rest of the Renaissance films, but it’s really an underrated film I wish I could place higher.

Next Up: This film is often considered the best Disney film ever made

Mystique
O-Ren Ishii

Jafar

Gaston
Gogo
Mitsuko
O-Ren

Bourne
Sub-Zero

Dexter Morgan
Light Yagami

whhaaatt

The moose bros were hilarious

EmDubyaSee posted...

And it has UNQUESTIONABLY the best telling of Christmas Carrol.

I've never seen The Muppets rendition of Treasure Island, but I absolutely agree with this.