Dreaming Disney - Stars Wars/Frozen Mashup

Let me just say this, yes there are a lot of Frozen parody videos out there.

But one is why the internet exists!

Go ahead, feel free to play it again!

Mousey Movie Review - Maleficent

With an opening weekend of $69.4 million in the United States, Maleficent, is a hit!  But should this retelling of Disney’s Sleeping Beauty deserve to be?  Maleficent is the strongest of the fairies and the protector of the Moors from the encroachment of man.  She learns about pain and love in this live-action take of a classic.  And really as I look at this Mousey Movie I cannot help but compare it to the animated original: 

• The Icon: Angelina Jolie is fantastic as Maleficent.  It is a Johnny Depp like performance.  And she does a good job mimicking some of the classic scenes, like the cursing, from the animated movie.  Now it is not a perfect depiction.  Jolie’s Maleficent is too white for me, with her creamy colored skin showing off her fresh lipstick. I would have preferred a green tone to the fairy’s skin.     

• Murdock: I am a huge fan of Sharlto Copley!  I love his depiction of Murdock in the 2010 A-Team, he does an excellent job channeling the original in a terrific fanboy homage.  And I can remember my introduction to him in District 9, where I kept questioning who this odd guy was.  By the end of the movie I was completely caught in his story.  And I am the guy who defends Elysium because I love his villain Kruger.  Copley’s Stefan has made it so I can never look at King Stefan in the same way again.  He is not quite as creepy as Kruger, but there were parts to Kruger that I could find redeemable.  Though honestly Stefan might be as brutal as Kruger.  I do not know if I feel that way about Stefan.  In reclaiming Maleficent, the cost has been the good name of Stefan.  I do need to add that in my house I am the Copley fan.  And some of the Between Family do not believe that his looks fit the role, with them wanting Stefan to be more traditionally handsome.  And I will admit Stefan does not seem to have the personality found in a character like Kruger or Murdock.  But honestly the writing probably limited one of my favorite current actors.  Or at least I am remaining his apologist.    

• The Frozen Playbook: I thought we were told that Disney was doing too much girl stuff and not enough stuff for boys.  Because Maleficent really is a movie about strong female characters.  And like in Frozen the male figures are firmly supporting figures.  Now as someone with several young women in his life, I am glad that not everything is male superheroes.  But it feels like Disney has done a better job balancing male and female characters in movies like Captain America: The Winter Soldier than in their fantasy line of animated and live-action films  I definitely felt that Merida and Elsa could relate to Maleficent and would easily enjoy a girls night out together.     

• Adventures in Babysitting: The kindly fairies are horrible.  Flora, Fauna and Merryweather may be silly but at least you feel like they love Briar Rose.  Knotgrass, Fittle and Thistlewit as presented in Maleficent are narcissistic, selfish, and entirely too self-centered.  There is little to indicate to me that they either love Aurora or like each other.  But worst of all they are incompetent.  Aurora is gone constantly from their protection both day and night and they never seem concerned that their charge is not firmly under their watch.  These fairies should be endearing to the viewer, and there is nothing likable about these magical ladies. 

• Avatarland: I still do not understand why Disney is paying a fee to build Avatarland.  I guess I might have said that years ago about Star Wars, but I like Star Wars.  But if I am going to say something positive about this movie is that the Moor seems to me to be the type of fantasy environment that would fit in well within Animal Kingdom.  I guess I just wish Disney would take a creation of their own like the Moor and use it instead of paying a license for another company’s fantasy world. 

• I Know You:  For me the most iconic song from Sleeping Beauty is “Once Upon a Dream” as Briar Rose meets Prince Phillip.  Maleficent mirrors this scene with Aurora and Phillip meeting each other in the forest.  I listened carefully hoping to find a musical homage to this classic.  It would have been perfect but it was nowhere to be heard.  Honestly, Disney owns the music so it is not like they had to free rights up to include the tune in the score.  Instead at the end we get Lana Del Rey’s version of the song in the credits.  And this darker version which I believe is coming from Maleficent’ s perspective failed for me with it seeming to lose the heart of the song.  This is reinforced by the fact that Jolie selected Del Rey to sing the classic, it is the title character’s view.  I think an opportunity was lost and the movie is worse for it. 

• Amazing Spider-Man:  In the end I may have wanted to like Maleficent but I found myself having to hold this movie to the same standards as Amazing Spider-Man 2, where my general pronouncement is sloppy, sloppy, sloppy.  A good example is when the humans have to face a dragon, they conveniently enough have the tools to fight a dragon.  Have these people ever seen a dragon?  Hey if you are going to burn every spinning wheel, make sure you only do the job 20%!  If you a peasant boy who wants to be king, well let’s have really no explanation to how you can receive the respect of the ennobled.  All I can say is sloppy, sloppy, sloppy!    

In the end I will not be buying on home video this live-action hit.  I do not need to see this film again.  And sadly it has made me less excited about a live-action Cinderella, which I did not know I could be less excited about.  And I kind of feel sad that I am so low on this film!

Mousey Movie Preview - Cinderella Teaser Trailer

Live action princess are hot right now.

Once Upon a Time uses them weekly.

Maleficent is coming complete with star power very soon (though personally I am more excited about Murdock in the production).

And somehow Disney's March 2015 release of live action Cinderella was under my radar until a teaser trailer dropped last week.  Here is that trailer:

Well that was that.  I have no idea what to think other than there is a glass slipper and I wondered if the sound was up on my speakers!

So hopefully this we be like Frozen where the first trailer underwhelmed me and the movie overwhelmed me.

Dreaming Disney - How Frozen Should Have Ended

I really love Frozen, it is a great movie.  And I guess most of you enjoy it too!

But I also love the funny, especially the funny that calls out the truth.  And the satire video "How Frozen Should Have Ended" is a perfect mix of funny and true.

Not to go into too much spoiler, because I actually have a friend who has not seen Frozen (that seems like it should be against the law), I really do love this.  Yes, Elsa's parent's reaction does seem to contradict the advice they were given.  And as a Marvel fan I find her new school to be inspired!  And everyone who should be singing is!  And here is the proof:

You have to love an early morning laugh! 

Goofy Gadgets - Disney Infinity To Add Marvel

Disney and Marvel collide pt.3 by ~lenlenlen1 on deviantART

Marvel and Disney this week announced the newest members of Disney Infinity, and it's Marvel right on the heels of the blockbuster Captain America: The Winter Soldier. 

My thoughts probably match a lot of others. And it is because I think this is very good.  First, it has been a long time since we saw a new Play Set added.  Phineas & Ferb and Frozen were added as Toy Box only features.  It is great you can play these characters, but the Play Sets have all pretty much been played through in my house and we need more.  Second, this opens the door to Disney's non-animation properties.  Third, as a giant Marvel fan I look forward to adding heroes and villains to the Toy Box mode and entering the Marvel Universe in another way.  Finally, these also seems to announce Disney Infinity 2.0 so maybe the software is getting an upgrade. 

Hey, can I get an Agent Coulson figure?

Are you excited?

Dreaming Disney - Honest Trailers: Frozen

Frozen is now out on home video release.  And my guess is most of you have seen it or own it.

So for those of you who have, here is a video by Honest Trailers that will surely give you some laughs and a whole whole different look at the movie!  Enjoy, but warning there is some adult humor.

I hope it gave you the same laugh I got, because sometimes the funniest thing is truth.

Now, go get that song stuck in your head!

Mousey Moview Review - Frozen

As I sit here at the computer, it is snowing. And I mean it is cats and dogs snowing. So it makes it a perfect time to reflect on the story of Elsa and Anna in Frozen, because it really looks like the landscape outside could have been crafted by Elsa herself.

In Frozen, Elsa and Anna are two close sisters who love to play together. But in an accident in their youth, Elsa withdraws from her sister. You see Elsa has the ability to make ice and snow and her (cough cough) mutant ability harms Anna. So she hides and seeks to control her power with the help of her parents the King and Queen of Arendelle. After their parents die, Elsa is crowned Queen of the kingdom when she comes of age. But her coronation goes poorly and her ability is exposed and she goes on the run. Anna, leaves her fiancé Prince Hans, to run the kingdom as she seeks out Anna. Along her journey she meets ice salesman Kristoff, reindeer Sven and snowman Olaf. Can Anna save her family and her kingdom in this Mousey Movie:

• Wide Eyes: What struck me most about the character models in Frozen? Why it was traditional large eyes of course! Disney has a tradition of models with eyes out of proportion to real people and this film follows that tradition. And it works, those eyes are super emotional and help convey the feeling of the story. Ariel would be proud!

• Fantasyland: Oh Arendelle, can I visit you? Wait maybe I have and your alias is Fantasyland! Arendelle (okay the whole movie) is gorgeous. And I really feel that the castle and the village made me feel like I was in a Fantasyland like setting. Yes, Fantasy Like. It is not a clone of the in park experience but I did feel like if they ever wanted to build a Frozen attraction themed to the movie it could easily fit in. Additionally, the Between Wife and I agreed, a lot of the big landscapes are majestic and would look really good in World of Color.

• Throw Out the Rulebook: Everyone knows the rules of the princess movie; good behavior and true love. Well, I will say that the behavior of Elsa and Anna are far from proper in every way. As children they actually were, well kids. In fact if anything is really causing Elsa internal struggle it is the need to be perfect in her behavior to avoid showing who she is (in today’s Marvel Universe she would be sent to the Jean Grey School of Higher Learning to learn about her power and controlling it not hiding it). And as adults Anna is silly, and honestly childish. But they still hold true to essentially having a heart for others, even a broken heart, and taking risks for those they care about. My favorite rule changer is True Love. Frozen openly mocks the idea of love at first site. And the eventual act of love needed to be seen on the screen is far from what Snow White, Sleeping Beauty or Cinderella experienced.

• King Candy: So is Alan Tudyk on studio contract now? Tudyk voices the Duke of Weselton, it is not pronounced the way you think! The Duke is creepy and definitely setup for comedy relief in the story, in the same sort of way that King Candy is in Wreck-It-Ralph. I hope like Ed Wynn, who Tudyk channeled in Wreck-It-Ralph, we continue to see Tudyk in Disney productions.

• Nick Fury: Marvel Cinematic Universe fans rejoice! Frozen has an end credit scene. Sure, it does not feature Nick Fury moving a franchise big agenda. But it is worth sitting through the credits to see it. And watch the credits carefully in the last minute or so of them running. There is a disclaimer that corrects a controversial generalization that the movie makes! Honestly as Disney has made clear this movie is full of Easter Eggs, from the cast of Tangled to the head cheese himself (maybe).

I really liked Frozen and I look forward to seeing it again. I honestly still liked Tangled a little better, but this film was still a hit with me. The fact that I liked it so much surprised me since I was not thrilled with the trailers at all, mostly because they first trailer really did not show me what the movie was really about. And it is a hit with the Between Kids. The oldest is pleased that we now have the Frozen Disney Infinity set, with Anna as the go to character. And the youngest has been running around telling us about the joy of warm hugs.

Yep, it is cold out here in Betweenland. The best way to deal with the chill is to get in the spirit and take in a showing of Frozen.

Mousey Movie Preview - Frozen's First Trailer

Disney has released the first trailer for Frozen to be released November 2013.

This movie has had a lot of excitement and hype around it..so let's see if it lives up to it.

You know what, I just feel like I have seen this before.

Yeah it seems to be something like that.  Scrat finds nut.  Scrat loses nut.  Scrat chases nut.

But this time it is a carrot.

The Between Wife says I am thinking too hard!

The Between Tweens says it is cute.

The Between Kid says, awesome.

A faithful blog reader says, " I've heard the Ice Age comparison. I will agree they are similar but the other part of me knows that Frozen will...be nothing like Ice Age."

As one who was interested but not yet excited by Frozen, I have become scared for the production.  Trailers should make you excited.  For me this one just lands flat.  And as someone who lived through John Carter, well trailers are important!