The Force Finally Woke Up

After delaying and delaying, I finally put in the Blu-Ray disc and watched Star Wars VIII:  The Force Awakens last Saturday morning.  I would have to say I enjoyed the film but wasn't exactly wowed over by it after all these years. Sure it was good to see some old friends, Hans, Chewbacca, Leia but some of the others had parts so small you wondered if they were necessary at all Luke, CP3O and R2D2.  All that was left of Darth Vader was a deflated mask.  But a new new fresh cast of characters, heroes and villains alike,, were allowed to get into the story and will carry the saga forward.  It was something that needed to be done as time doesn't stand still and some of the old characters are getting just that - old. 

The movie is still in the Blu_Ray player so I am hoping that sometime this weekend I can find the time to give it another viewing before putting it away.  

Johnny Depp's Mad Disneyland Surprise

As Disney is set to open it's new film Alice Through the Looking Glass, Disney Park's Blog posted a rather surprising visit of Johnny Depp to Disneyland in full Mad Hatter costume. Very surprising indeed. Check out Disney's video of Mr. Depp's rather sudden appearance.

Again, the Alice Movies aren't exactly my cup of tea but you have to admit this is a pretty fun video.

Go Ask Alice....

Gotta say......really not looking forward to this. 

Jon Favreau, The Jungle Book, Iron Man, and Eric the Clown

Disney posted a picture of director Jon Favreau in Disneyland (actually DCA) this week as part of the promotional activities for next week's premier of Favreau's remake of the Disney classic - The Jungle Book. In the promotional TV ads, it is also splashed on the screen that Favreau is the director of Iron Man (the first two anyway). Favreau also played the character Happy Hogan, Tony Stark's driver.

Though Jon Favreau is best known now as a film director, he has dabbled as an actor for years, mostly as a comedic actor. My best memory of Jon Favreau as an actor is his appearance in a classic episode of Seifeld as the menacing Eric the Clown.

Jon Favreau as Eric the Clown

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Hits Retail Shelves This Week

I'm probably one of the 37 people who did not see Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Star Wars VII) in the theaters when it came out in December.  Other issues had my attention for the last several months so I just never got around to visiting my local multiplex.  But that's about to change because the latest installment of the highly popular and profitable franchise is due to hit the retail shelves with DVD's and Blu-Ray discs this coming Tuesday (4/5).  Actually Mrs. DisneylandTraveler ordered my Blu-Ray from the Disney Movie Club because......well.......that's the last purchase we needed to make to fulfill our minimum purchase obligation when we joined the club in the first place.

Anyway, the film is available in only Blu-Ray and DVD when it comes out on Tuesday.  If you want it in 3D (which I don't) or 4K UHD (which I am probably going to invest in very soon) your are going to have to wait. I imagine we'll see new versions and packaging for years to come because that's the Star Wars (and Disney) way.

The Return of Indiana Jones

Disney and Lucasfilm (now owned by Disney) announced a few days ago that a 5th Indiana Jones film (currently untitled) would come out in theaters July 19,2019 with both Harrison Ford and Steven Spielberg returning as star and director. By my quick calculation, when Indiana Jones comes back again, Harrison Ford will be 76 years old. At 76, you probably don't outrun too many boulders or spears. You also probably can't take to many punches to the noggin. I'm not close to 76 and I'm trying to gather enough strength to go out and mow the lawn.

Olaf The Snowman: Cute Or Kind Of Creepy

Some things in life you just can't explain. I'm a Norwegian by heritage with both my parents coming from North Dakota. Snow is in my blood or at least it should be. There have been people in my family with the name Olaf. But I have an dislike for snow, necessary as it may be. Can't stand the stuff. And over the years, I've developed an aversion to snowmen. To me they are just kind of creepy characters no matter how lovable Disney or anyone else tries to make them out to be.

When we make our visit Disneyland in a few weeks, the Olaf character from the hit movie Frozen will have a significant presence throughout various park activities. I kind of dread this. Call it the creepy factor. I expect to see Olaf in my sleep.

But I know this is just me as this winter, children of all ages will be delighted by the presence of Olaf at the Disneyland Resort. I just know I won't be one of them.

Captain America Calling

The first Captain America film (Captain America: The First Avenger) was one of my favorites of the Marvel superhero series. That film was long on story and character development and perfectly mixed with action sequences. The other night we finally got around to seeing the second Captain America film (Captain America: The Winter Soldier) on Blu-Ray here in the comforts of the Disneyland Traveler living room. Well, it was rousing couple of hours of some pretty cool action sequences but .......

The plot was confusing and hard to follow and story was secondary to the action that was presented on the screen. Not that the film wasn't good, it just was missing some of the elements which made the first movie so good. The acting was good of enough, there were a few moments of humor and insight, and some of the action sequences were spectacular but still Captain America The Winter Soldier came up a little bit on the empty side. Maybe I need to see it again.

At Least It's Not Captain EO

Over in Disneyland's Tomorrowland, the Magic Eye Theater (host for many years to Captain EO and Honey I Shrunk The Audience and most recently the preview of Marvel's Guardians Of The Galaxy) went under refurbishment once again and there was speculation that the badly outdated Captain EO 3D film would make its way back into Disneyland playing to mostly empty houses in the large state of the art theater.

A few days ago Disney put that rumor on hold and announced in Disney Parks Blog that the theater will, beginning September 26, host a special preview for it's latest animated film effort - Big Hero 6 which premieres in theaters November 7. At least it's not Captain EO showing when we arrive for our trip in November (though admittedly outside of seeing one preview - I know nothing about Big Hero 6).

And what of Captain EO? Maybe we have seen the last of the old film. 2015 brings a new episode of the massively successful Marvel's The Avengers as well as the latest installment of Star Wars. Disney could spend a year or more just showing previews of their 2015 sure fire blockbusters in the Magic Eye theater and it might not be a bad idea so long as the extended previews that are shown are high in quality and designed to be crowd pleasers for Disneyland guests. It beats seeing the tired old Captain EO.

RIP Robin Williams: A Genius Who Played A Genie

Sad. Very sad news today about Robin Williams passing.....but the Genie lives on and a legendary animated performance will never be forgotten. By all accounts, he was a very nice man.

Maleficent and the Seven Dwarfs

Those that have read this blog through the years kind of know that when it comes to the history of classic Disney movies, I'm not your expert. I know its sacrilege but I am not a really big fan of the movies Walt produced in his lifetime. Though technically excellent - the stories themselves I never really was able to get into. I'm a Disneyland guy..... not so much a Disney guy.

With that in mind, Mrs. DisneylandTraveler was able to get me out to see Maleficent a few weeks ago. Inside I was grumbling and complaining and wishing we were on our way to Amazing Spiderman 2 but I went anyway.

I figured I was on my way to see a story about a wicked witch who gave Snow White the poisoned apple. In there somewhere I expected to see Seven Dwarfs. Yep, I had the the wrong fairy tale. It took me about 20 minutes to figure out I was seeing a story about Sleeping Beauty and not Snow White. What a putz..... like I said, I'm not a classic Disney kind of guy.

About the movie? The first half was pretty boring but the movie gained momentum toward the end especially when the dragon appeared. Good ending to what is essentially a children's fairy tale. Maleficent was better than I expected but not on my list to see again when it hits the video market.

Disney Released Films - 2014

If you look over to the right hand column you will see some new posters and theater release dates for three of the Disney (and Marvel) films in 2014.

 

First up is the Muppets Most Wanted as British comedian Ricky Gervais joins our life long pals for a European set adventure. Gervais can be a vile, profane, and contemptible character in real life. He can also be hysterically funny. Hopefully Kermit and the gang can keep Gervais tongue in check and the comic brings some much needed zing to the franchise. And hopefully Disney will do a better job of marketing the movie than the last lackluster effort back in 2011.

 

The first big release is Captain America: A Winter Soldier. I really look forward to this one as the first Marvel Captain America film is one of the best Marvel film releases. And even veteran war horse actor Robert Redford joins the cast in this one.

 

A big deal is made about Maleficent film with Angelina Jolie in the starring role as the evil whatever. I'm not much into classic Disney characters so the subject matter is kind of foreign to me. For the longest time I was thinking this was an animated film but no, this is live action with real actors performing. Refreshing. This movie is supposed to be a huge blockbuster. So was the Lone Ranger.

 

I didn't put up the posters for the Disney Nature film on Bears or another release due in the spring called Million Dollar Arm (which has a title that says flop written all over it - I could be wrong). Also coming up on August 1 is Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy as new characters are introduced to public for the first time including a well chiseled Chris Pratt who was last seen as a dufus in the TV series Parks and Recreation. Some of these "Guardians" are completely CGI animated and just use actors voices (Vin Diesel for one). It will be interesting to see if this Marvel effort catches fire like the rest.

 

Not sure about Disney releases next fall and winter yet so more movie information is coming. I do know Tomorrowland starring George Clooney and directed by Brad Bird is in production for a May 2015 release. The movie is not about the land in Disney Parks. Hopefully the movie has a little more cohesiveness than that piece of real estate.

A "Wouldn't It Be Great?" Candlelight Processional

Wouldn't it be great if Kurt Russell did his narration of the Candlelight Processional on Sunday night as his Captain Ron character?

The Who Framed Roger Rabbit Influence

Last weekend, I think it was late on a Saturday or Sunday night, I decided to watch Who Framed Roger Rabbit that I had stored up on the DVR. There has been a bit of uptick in the interest of the movie now that it hit its 25th Anniversary and over the years I have probably seen the Robert Zemeckis film probably 6 - 8 times, The live action film that prominently features multiple cartoon characters is nothing short of genius in creative film making. This was Zemeckis at his best as his Forrest Gump has not seemed to have held over time the way Roger Rabbit (and Back to the Future) have.

The film was enormously important for Disney. Disney animation in the late 80's had gone down the tubes and few people seemed to care about the weak animated efforts Disney put out during that time. The glory days of Disney Animation were long gone. But Disney thought they had something with Roger Rabbit and they proved to be right with the help of producer Steven Spielberg who was brought into the project. Because of some internal conflicts, much of the animation was done in England and the film went way, way over budget. But once the film was released, it was gold and a huge critical and commercial hit..

With Roy Disney leading the way and new success infused into Disney Animation, Roger Rabbit paved the way for the next Disney renaissance in animated films. The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast were all made because of the success of Roger Rabbit and the return of great Disney animation.

Now it is true, Who Framed Roger Rabbit is not pure Disney as many people know it. It was a murder mystery about an alcoholic detective that featured a swearing cigar smoking baby and female animated lead that had no issue in exposing her long curvy lines. I won't post them here but there are animated scenes in Roger Rabbit that would be considered a very hard R rated if you looked at the frozen stills. In the movie, the provocative scenes of Jessica Rabbit go by so quickly in animation that questionable scenes are invisible to the naked eye. You can see them if you dig into Google a bit. Since Roger Rabbit wasn't even close to G rating, it was released through a Disney's Touchstone Pictures (and Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment).

We all now about ToonTown in Disneyland and how it came to be after the success of Who Framed Roger Rabbit in the early 90's. As colorful and whimsical ToonTown looks and really captures the visual aspect of the film, I'm one of those guys who rather see the space be put to better use. With the exception of the great Roger Rabbit Cartoon Spin ride, the rest of ToonTown is more style over substance. There's just not that much there.

What surprised me the most after watching Who Framed Roger Rabbit is how much Buena Vista Street and Hollywood Land now reflect scenes from that movie. Some or the areas in the Disney California Adventure entrance are almost spot on with the movie which isn't really mentioned in Disney Blogs and websites very often. So it's not just ToonTown the carries the Roger Rabbit influence. Watch the movie and take a walk from the DCA entrance to the Tower of Terror. You will see the L.A. street scenes of the 30's that pop right out of the movie. Again, Disney's attention to detail is nothing short of amazing.

As I was watching the movie last weekend my father-in-law got up out of bed and came into the living room to watch the movie with me.  After about 5 minutes of viewing Roger Rabbit he blurted out "What the hell is this garbage...." It must be a generational thing. Despite his objecting, I kept on watching and we eventually got to a shirtless Bob Hoskins. "My god, that's the hairiest man I ever saw." He might be right about that.

Pirates 5: Dead Men Tell No Tales - Well, 1 Tale - We're Late

According to the terrific Blue Sky Disney Blog (link) the fifth Pirates of the Caribbean installment - Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales that was orignially set to sail onto the movie screens in July 2015 has been postponed due to script and problems getting the production off the ground. The movie will not be release till late 2015 at the earliest or possibly not until 2016 which may work on in its favor since 2015 is already loaded with potential blockbusters including the next installment of Marvel's The Avengers. 

To tell you the truth. I'm in no hurry for Captain Jack's return. I can wait.

In Search Of A Rainbow Connection

It's been a very rough week. It's been a rough week at home with stresses seeming to come from all sides at once. It's been a tough week here at work where various problems have had my days limping at less than full speed. I think I'm going to swing by Best Buy on the way home to meet up with some old friends. This past week Disney released the Blu-Ray version of The Muppet Movie - not the Muppet Movie of a few years ago - but the original Muppet movie from 1979, about 35 years ago. These are the Muppets lovingly guided by the hand (and voice) of Jim Henson. These are the Muppets of The Rainbow Connection, a group of characters with more humanity than most people I know.

 

Sometimes you just need a friend even if they are green, speak incoherent Swedish, or happen to be a narcissistic pig. Sometimes you just long for that wonderful rainbow connection in a world that seems pretty hard.

Disney Profits Saddled By The Lone Ranger

So the money juggernaut that is the Walt Disney Company runs merrily along. Theme park attendance - up, hotel occupancy - up, park spending - up, cable media revenue - up (ESPN remains the single most profitable entity of The Walt Disney Company - by far). Yep, it should have been great news as Disney reported their quarterly profits yesterday.

 

And then came the Studios Division.

 

And then came the Lone Ranger.

 

Crash.

 

When all is said and done, Disney will write down a $160 - $190 million dollar loss on The Lone Ranger just missing the epic $200 million dollar record loss of 2012's John Carter bomb. Combine that. with all the success of Iron Man 3, that movie still fell pretty well behind the previous year's box office champ -  The Avengers. The good news on the movie front is Pixar's Monsters University beat out Brave from the previous year. Overall, Disney Studios remains on a high risk, high reward or huge failure tight rope. Disney has given no indication that they will alter this direction because a single successful movie can lead to years of profitability in the realm of Disney through park promotion and merchandising.

 

Despite seeing all that Lone Ranger money go down the drain, don't shed any tears. Making money is what Disney does best and they do it from more angles than you can count.

Disney August - The Complaint Dept Is Now Open

Well, a new month has rolled around and we are officially in the midst of the dog days of summer. I should forewarn regular readers that this month may bring more than a few blog posts of the more critical type pointed at Disney with the big target being D23 and the D23 Expo at the Anaheim Convention Center starting in a little over a week from now.

 

But let's start with Disney's Planes which opens August 9. I saw an extended Planes preview before the showing of Comcast Universal's great Despicable Me 2 and the preview only confirmed my preconceived impressions of the movie - namely - it is an easy money grab for Disney devoid of any sort of typical Disney (or Pixar) quality whatsoever. Planes was intended to be a direct to DVD video made by a Disney company offshore (Disney Toon Studios). Don't be fooled. Planes is not made by Pixar, despite the resemblance to Cars, or Walt Disney Animation Studios. Planes was probably produced at a quarter of the cost of a typical Pixar movie and from what I saw on the big screen, the lack of quality showed in a big way. (And the preview was just "plain" boring)

 

But I'm not naive enough to think that Planes cannot be a major hit for Disney after the disastrous failure of the Lone Ranger movie. Planes has hit movie written all over it mostly because it looks like an extension of the massive popularity of Cars within the Disney realm. Hopefully people see through this and wonder where the quality went but I wouldn't count on it. Just count me as one person who wants no port of Planes just on a matter of principal. Disney is better than this.

The Way Cool Saving Mr. Banks Movie Poster

Disney's Saving Mr. Banks starring Tom Hanks as Walt Disney and Emma Thompson as Mary Poppins author P.L. Travers isn't scheduled to hit the theaters until December 13 of this year. But this past week Disney rolled out the official poster used to promote the movie - and it is one of Disney's best, and for Disney geeks, it may be worth seeking out to to put on some wall in your home. Certainly the simple figures of Hanks and Thompson may not seem like much but glancing down, you can see the rather large and magical shadows the two cast with Mary Poppins, a Disney classic (although admittedly, a movie I did not care for).

The movie centers around Disney, the forever creative pitch man, trying to obtain the rights from the somewhat difficult author of Mary Poppins and the author in turn seeing the creation of her classic book through the eyes of Walt Disney and the reflections of the relationship she had with her own father....or something like that.

In light of the massive failure of Disney's The Lone Ranger, one would hope there is great success with Saving Mr. Banks, a movie made for about a quarter of the cost of the disastrous western. Saving Mr. Banks just may be the kind of movie Disney needs to make more of and give up on these out of this world, shoot for the moon attempts at blockbusters which now have fallen like scuds from the sky on multiple occasions over the last few years.

Think Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, TRON: Legacy, John Carter, and now The Lone Ranger - boom, boom, a small boom, boom, boom.... Disney really needs to rethink their movies and move away from the high risk for potential high reward model because failure leads to ridicule of a company founded on great movies. Let's hope greatness returns with Saving Mr. Banks.

The Lone Ranger Vs. The Minions - It Just Wasn't A Fair Fight

Well that epic battle between Universal Studios Depicable Me 2 and Disney's The Lone Ranger didn't turn out to be much of a battle after all. The Minions will win the battle of the movie box office and the hearts of movie viewers hands down. It won't even be close.

Disney might have had a fighting chance if had actually made a good movie with the Lone Ranger but the reviews that have come out have been some of the most scathing movie reviews I have ever read (and quite entertaining as film critics try to one up each other in explaining just how bad this movie is). Check out the reviews on rottentomatoes.com

And as I posted of on MiceChat this morning, Bob Iger must have nightmares about hundreds goggle wearing yellow minions with pockets full of cash running a muck and destroying his 4th of July weekend.

Here is a sample of a Lone Ranger review from Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle.

"The Lone Ranger," produced by Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer, is an action-movie bloodbath for a children's audience. It has horse manure jokes for the kiddies, as well as scenes of an Indian tribe getting wiped out, a posse of rangers getting shot to death and an intimate interlude in which a man has his heart cut out. In the latter case, you don't actually see the heart being ripped from the body, just the sound of the cutting and hacking.

But put aside the notion that children shouldn't see this film. No one should. "The Lone Ranger" is a movie for the whole family ... to avoid. It represents 2 1/2 of the longest hours on record, a jumbled botch that is so confused in its purpose and so charmless in its effect that it must be seen to be believed, but better yet, no. Don't see it, don't believe it, not unless a case of restless leg syndrome sounds like a fun time at the movies.