I’ve fallen behind, so let’s declare amnesty and just power through the past half year in reverse chronological order.
Bambi, Algar, Armstrong, Hand, 1942
OMG the animation is mind-blowingly gorgeous. The oil painted backgrounds are luscious and the hand animation holds up against anything you see today. It’s a natural outgrowth of the work the studio did in Fantasia. We watched it on Saturday and I could watch it again tomorrow.
The Muppet Christmas Carol, Brian Henson, 1992
Another classic on Disney+. This one’s status is dependent on the original story and time of the year. I gotta wonder what Michael Caine was thinking about his career as a A-list actor playing with dolls. Did he take in good fun?
Zootopia, Howard, Moore, Bush, 2016
Was fun when we watched it a few years ago, and fun again. The kids really enjoyed it too. Not a masterpiece like Bambi, but certainly in the top third of Disney’s esteemed catalog.
Luck, Holmes, Abad, 2022
The only reason I watched it was because Lasseter was involved. He might have been good in his heyday, but it’s obvious he needed the Pixar team more than they needed him. The story was drawn out and the animation awkward. Absolute mediocrity at best.
Wolfwalkers, Moore & Stewart, 2020
Lovely film to round out the trilogy with Secret of the Kells and Song of the Seas. A welcome respite from the Pixar-Disney-Dreamworks 3D hegemony.
Home Alone, Chris Columbus, 1990
Fun. I didn’t watch it until just a few years ago. I’ve always had something against rambunctious brats (I didn’t get into Calvin and Hobbes until I realized the peerless quality of the Watterson’s drawings). I could see this movie becoming a holiday staple until the kids are old enough to watch Tokyo Godfathers.
Toy Story 4, Josh Cooley, 2019
Pixar knows what their doing, even if I’m not totally sold on Bo Peep becoming an action hero.
Toy Story 3, Lee Unkrich, 2010
A fun caper. Slightly better than Toy Story 2, but the original still holds the crown in my heart, in spite of the dated graphics.
Frankenweenie, Tim Burton, 2012.
It’s OK as a stop motion full length movie. Maybe I didn’t enjoy it as much because we weren’t expecting a black and white film. I should watch the original half-hour show. I wonder if brevity might have shaped a better story.
Encanto, Bush, Howard, Smith, 2021
It was such a big deal the year before. After getting a Disney+ account we had to watch it. It’s fine. I enjoyed the wacky song and dance numbers but the movie just ran too darn long. Then again, they all drag out nowadays.
Kung Fu Panda (1-3), Osborne & Stevenson, 2008, Jennifer Yuh Nelson, 2011, Carloni & Nelson, 2016
Fun popcorn series. I can’t remember a ton from any given movie but I’ve watched each of these films at least twice and wouldn’t argue against watching them again. My wife isn’t fond of the chop suey orientalism, but I’m inured to it.
Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight, season 1, 2022
Awful TV show, but the kids liked it. My wife didn’t even bother to watch this.
Lucifer (ep 1 and 2), Tom Kapinos, 2016
The first couple episodes were fun, but I wasn’t going to invest hours of my life on this show.
Love Death + Robots (seasons 1-3), Tim Miller, 2019-2022
I love animation. This series fulfilled every bit of it’s promise. Each short is a banger so it’s hard to pick favorites. But to name four: “Sonnie’s Edge”, “Zima Blue”, “The Very Pulse of the Machine”, and “Jibaro”. I may have to re-up with Netflix when season 4 comes out.
Arcane, Pascal Charrue & Arnaud Delord, 2021
I finally got around to watching it long after the buzz from it’s release. It’s great. Didn’t realize that a video game company could produce such a good story. The fight at the end of Episode 7 of is one of the best fight scenes I’ve ever watched. Even though the nine episode series kind of runs out of steam at the end, I still spent the week after watching Arcane commentary on YouTube to process the journey.