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King Kong (1933)
King Kong is described by showman/director Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong) as “the eighth wonder of the word,” and the movie equivalent is living proof of that. The stop-motion animation may look...
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The Lion King (1994)
Better late than never, right? The Lion King is another feather in the Disney cap and the last as Disney’s grandiosity and need for awards caused them to enter shaky territory. The studios take on...
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Tenth Avenue Angel (1948)
Margaret O’Brien is scrambling up the ranks to becoming one of my favorite actresses, and in watching Tenth Avenue Angel you understand why she was so popular; she is able to elevate a non-existent...
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Mulan (1998)
We’re down to the final three films of the 90s – the Disney Decade – and it’s evident that the company was resting on their laurels. Everything from the animation, the songs, and the stories screamed...
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Gidget Goes Hawaiian (1961)
My expectations for Gidget Goes Hawaiian weren’t particularly high. The title is a dead giveaway to its cheesiness, and the fact that no one reprises their role other than Moondoggie (James Darren...
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Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948)
The second film of Cary Grant week is a memorable tale of man vs. house. Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House has inspired a slew of terror house films including The Money Pit and Are We Done Yet?...
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The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947)
The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer is worth remaking today, and by the same token it’s witnessed in every film made in Hollywood currently. The tale of an older man being forced to date a teenage girl...
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Tarzan (1999)
This, as well as the next two weeks worth of Disney movies, will be first-time viewings for me which should spark interesting discussions in the comments. I avoided Tarzan when it came out initially,...
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Fantasia 2000 (1999)
I reviewed the first installment of Fantasia last September (shocking that this feature closes by the end of this year) and felt that the 1940s experiment in music and animation was a “pretty...
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The Canterville Ghost (1944)
A quick update on that Laura post: We’ll celebrate Otto Preminger over the weekend that way i don’t break the flow of 24 hours devoted to one star. I promise I’ll be back on track next week. Margaret...
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Dinosaur (2000)
We’re back with the final films remaining in the Journeys in the Disney Vault series. The 2000s were a time of great upheaval, more so than the passing of Walt Disney or the hostile takeovers of the...
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The Curse of the Cat People (1944)
Cat People is one of my favorite horror movies, so when I culled together my list of actors/actresses for Summer Under the Stars I wanted to spotlight Simone Simon. Her output isn’t prolific or...
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Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
I belatedly close out my Summer Under the Stars with my favorite movie of all time: Singin’ in the Rain. This is one of the hardest movies for me to review because there is absolutely nothing I...
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The Emperor’s New Groove (2000)
We’ve seen Disney go through restructuring of a film before it ends up in theaters. The Black Cauldron has an insane backstory involving directing coups, detrimental cuts, and multiple scripts which...
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Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)
For being a lost empire, Atlantis certainly has kept up with technology. This whizz-bang action adventure was touted as Disney‘s foray into “serious filmmaking,” casting aside songs for adventure and...
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Lilo & Stitch (2002)
Lilo & Stitch has become a movie audiences love to hate due to Disney dumping the character of Stitch everywhere they possibly could immediately after release. He’s on merchandise, there’s...
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Bolt (2008)
Walt Disney Animation Studios hits another home-run after the lovely Meet the Robinsons. Sure, Bolt undoes the emphasis on smaller voice actors, but at its core it tells a rather substantial story...
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The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966)
We interrupt our weekly foray into the Disney Vault – which I’ll be posting later – to look at a live-action film starring one of Disney’s beloved actors, Don Knotts. While The Ghost and Mr. Chicken...
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The Princess and the Frog (2009)
Disney marked their return to princess territory with this 2009 film, after taking a ten-year break from all things girly (Mulan is considered their last “princess” movie in spite of the fact Mulan...
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Tangled (2010)
Look to Tangled as evidence of how Disney treats their animated films today. The 2010 CGI-animated feature is beautifully rendered, with a return to Broadway-esque songs and witty scripts, although...
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