Category Archives: Films

The Sword in the Stone “That’s What Makes the World Go Round” (1963)

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Over the course of The Sword in the Stone, Wart (the future King Arthur) is turned into several different animal forms. Later in the film he’s turned into a squirrel (as seen in “A Most Befuddling Thing”) but his first adventure into the animal world comes as a fish. However, as fun as it is to be a fish, Wart quickly discovers that he doesn’t actually know HOW to be a fish. So, Merlin takes it upon himself to teach the newly created fish a few things about how the world works. This is the basis for “That’s What Makes the World Go Round.”

Left and right
Like day and night
That’s what makes the world go round
In and out
Thin and stout
That’s what makes the world go round

For every up there is a down
For every square there is a round
For every high there is a low
For every to there is a fro

To and fro
Stop and go
That’s what makes the world go round
Thick and thin
Lose or win
That’s what makes the world go round

You must set your sights upon the heights
Don’t be a mediocrity
Don’t just wait then trust to fate
And say, that’s how it’s meant to be
It’s up to you how far you go
If you don’t try you’ll never know
And so my lad as I’ve explained
Nothing ventured, nothing gained

The song is all about how the world is full of different things and people. Merlin is trying to make the point that you don’t have to be big and powerful (like Wart’s foster brother Kay) to succeed in the world. The song evolves into an object lesson when the pair of fish draw the attention of a massive pike, who proceeds to stalk them in hopes of a meal. When Merlin becomes trapped in a helmet, it’s up to Wart to use his brains to outwit the pike’s brawn (which he does though not without the assistance of Archimedes).

Let me know what you think about “That’s What Makes the World Go Round” in the comments below and have a great day!

The Sword in the Stone “Mad, Madam Mim” (1963)

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The Rescuers “Rescue Aid Society” (1977)

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Moana “Know Who You Are” (2016)

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Moana “Know Who You Are” (2016)

The climax of Moana has one of my favorite twists in recent memory. For most of the story, we have been told that in order to restore Te Fiti, Moana and Maui will have to avoid and/or defeat Te Ka. However, while Maui distracts the fiery demon, Moana scrambles up a rocky slope and realizes the space where Te Fiti should be is empty. And that’s when Moana puts the pieces together and realizes that Te Ka IS Te Fiti, this is what happens when her Heart is taken from her. Moana knows what she has to do now, and in a beautiful scene commands the ocean to make a dry path so that Te Ka can come directly to her. As the enraged demon claws her way through the sand, Moana sings her realizations:

(Ou mata e matagi)
I have crossed the horizon to find you
(Ou loto mamaina toa)
I know your name
(Manatu atu)
They have stolen the heart from inside you
(Taku pelepele)
But this does not define you
(Manatu atu)
This is not who you are
You know who you are

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I take particular notice of the line “They have stolen the heart from inside you/But this does not define you.” A lot of people have interpreted the Te Ka/Te Fiti dichotomy to be an analogy for rape. While Maui can claim all he wants that he was trying to help humans, the fact remains that he forcibly took Te Fiti’s heart away from her, scarring her and filling her with rage. It’s easy to let the bad things that happened to you define your identity, but Moana’s song assures the goddess that it doesn’t have to be this way. Deep down, she is still Te Fiti, despite the pain she is in. The goddess clearly hears Moana’s message, because as she comes face to face with this mortal who holds her Heart, Te Ka slowly cools and is practically stone when Moana places the Heart back where it belongs.

What do you think of the song “Know Who You Are”? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below and have a great day!

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See also:

Moana “Where You Are” (2016)

Moana “How Far I’ll Go” (2016)

Moana “How Far I’ll Go (reprise)” (2016)

Moana “We Know the Way” (2016)

Moana “You’re Welcome” (2016)

Moana “Shiny” (2016)

Moana “I am Moana” (2016)

My Thoughts On: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)

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Animated Film Reviews

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Peter Pan “The Elegant Captain Hook” (1953)

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At its core, “The Elegant Captain Hook” is nothing more than an elaborate sales pitch designed to get the Lost Boys (and the Darling children) to join Captain Hook’s crew. I imagine Hook views this as one last opportunity to stick it to his longtime nemesis Peter Pan before he’s blown to pieces by a bomb left in his hideout. After all, what could be more satisfying than having Peter Pan’s followers become pirates? Also, given the cyclical nature of events on Neverland (“All of this has happened before, and all of it will happen again”), I can’t help but wonder how many times the Lost Boys have been made this offer in the past. Who knows, maybe there were a few times where the boys did join Captain Hook’s crew, for a while anyway. But I digress…

(the song is delivered while the children are tied to the mast)

Yo Ho, Yo Ho, Yo Ho, Yo Ho, Yo Ho
So, try the life of a thief
Just sample the life of a crook
There isn’t a boy
Who won’t enjoy
A-workin’ for Captain Hook
The World’s Most Famous Crook

In typical oblivious fashion, Mr. Smee tries to interject about how the crocodile is still after Captain Hook (“Crook, Crook, Crickety-Crockity-Crickety-Crook The Croc is after Captain-) but the pirate knocks him silly with his hook before he can finish the line.

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As a special offer for today
I’ll tell you what I’ll do.
All those who sign without delay…
Will get a free tattoo.
Why, it’s like money in the bank!
C’mon, join up, and I’ll be frank:
Unless you do, you’ll walk the plank!
The choice is up to you!

The choice is up to you!
Yo Ho, Yo Ho, Yo Ho, Yo Ho, Yo Ho
You’ll love the life of a thief
You’ll relish the life of a crook
There’s barrels of fun enough for ev’ryone!
And you’ll get treasures by the ton
So come and sign the book
Join up with Captain Hook!

It’s no wonder the boys are so eager to join: Hook has just threatened to make them walk the plank if they don’t (so it’s really not a choice at all). Fortunately, Wendy is there to bring the boys to their senses before any of them can sign up.

“The Elegant Captain Hook” is a rousing song (though rather short) and one that I’ve always liked. I do wonder from time to time why the song is called “The Elegant Captain Hook” as the phrase never turns up in the song!

What do you think of “The Elegant Captain Hook”? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below and have a great day!

See also:

Peter Pan “You Can Fly!” (1953)

Peter Pan “Following the Leader” (1953)

Peter Pan “What Made the Red Man red?” (1953)

My Thoughts on: Peter Pan (1953)

Disney/Dreamworks/Pixar/etc. Soundtracks A-Z

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My Thoughts on: Peter Pan (1953)

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Prior to getting a copy of Peter Pan for Christmas this year, it had been a number of years since I’d seen the film, so it was nice to sit down and revisit one of my favorite Disney films. Very loosely based on J.M. Barrie’s novel, Peter Pan follows the Darling children: Wendy (Kathryn Beaumont), John (Paul Collins), and Michael (Tommy Luske) as they fly off to Neverland with Peter Pan (Bobby Driscoll) and Tinkerbell for a series of adventures.

Upon arriving at Neverland Peter has to deal with his long-time nemesis Captain Hook (Hans Conried), who is bound and determined to get revenge on Peter for cutting off his hand some years ago and feeding it to the Crocodile, who has been following him ever since in anticipation of getting the rest of him someday. The scenes with the Crocodile are probably my favorite apart from the flying sequences. You’re never quite sure when or where the Crocodile is going to show up, and Hook’s reactions are priceless each time he hears the “tick tock” of the clock inside the Crocodile’s belly.

Speaking of Captain Hook, he’s one of my favorite Disney villains. Hook was created at a time when Disney took a more comedic approach to their villains, so despite his many, MANY threats (including shooting a pirate in the middle of his cadenza), you never really get the impression that Hook is a major threat, because Peter will always find a way to get the upper hand. Also, I have to add that Mr. Smee is also one of my favorite characters: he’s so nice and polite that one wonders how he ended up on a pirate ship. Throughout the story, Smee tries again and again to get Hook to give up his pursuit of Peter Pan and go back to sea, and finally at the end he gives up and heads off in his own boat.

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The film does contain a number of what are now considered troubling sequences with Indians (the film employs practically every stereotype associated with Native Americans). As a child these scenes didn’t bother me because I didn’t know any better, and even now I don’t let it bother me too much only because I remind myself that the film was made in 1953 when things were very different culturally. Years afterward the animators admitted that if they could do it all over again they would animate the tribe differently.

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I feel very badly for Wendy throughout this film: she’s so eager to head off to Neverland but her adventure is hardly what she expects. First of all, she gets shot down (literally) by the Lost Boys; then the mermaids (whom she expressly wanted to see) try to drown her while Peter laughs; and worst of all, Peter ditches Wendy to celebrate with Tiger Lily. It’s no wonder Wendy decides to head for home not long afterward. I do like the reveal at the end that George Darling (the father) vaguely remembers going on his own adventure with Peter Pan and the flying pirate ship. It’s a twist that breaks the trope of parents reassuring the child that whatever happened was “just a dream.” Because in this case both parents take notice of the flying ship, which means Wendy was telling the truth!

One last thought: I love the scene at the end when Tinkerbell covers the pirate ship with pixie dust and it flies into the sky.

What do you think about Disney’s Peter Pan? Was it a favorite when you were growing up? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below and have a great day!

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Animated Film Reviews

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My Thoughts on: A Fistful of Dollars (1964)

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I’ve known about A Fistful of Dollars for years from its reputation as a shameless rip-off of Kurosawa’s film Yojimbo (1961). I thought I’d seen at least part of it before, but it turns out I was remembering The Good, The Bad and the Ugly instead. So as it turns out, this was my first viewing of the film.

If you’ve ever seen Yojimbo, the similarities between that film and A Fistful of Dollars become obvious almost immediately. A lone gunslinger rides into a rural town that is being dominated by two rival gangs. The Man with No Name (Clint Eastwood) decides to eliminate both groups by playing them off against one another. Except for minor plot differences, this is the exact story presented in Yojimbo. One difference I couldn’t help but notice is that in A Fistful of Dollars, the gunslinger initially allies with the Rojo brothers (analogous to Ushitora and his brothers); in Yojimbo, Sanjuro initially joins Sebei’s side (analogous to the Baxter family).

Now excluding the fact that this film is a rip-off, A Fistful of Dollars is a really good film. It wasn’t the first spaghetti western ever made, but it was the first to become really big, which is why director Sergio Leone is often credited as the founder of the genre. Eastwood’s performance as the Man with No Name is really something to see: he doesn’t say much but his expressions say plenty. I’m still not quite sure if he enjoys what he’s doing or if he just sees it as something that needs to be done.

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Ennio Morricone’s score for the film provides a perfect complement to the action though, in atypical fashion, a large portion of the score was actually written before most of the film was created. I like how whenever the gunslinger does something like sits in a chair or shifts his cigar in his mouth, the music plays a little trill that comments on it.

If you’ve never seen a spaghetti western before, A Fistful of Dollars is a good place to start. One word of warning though: the film is obviously dubbed (it was filmed silent and the voices looped in after the fact) so yes you’re going to see mouths that don’t match up to the words. In fact the actors in this film spoke a plethora of languages: there were Germans, Austrians, Italians, Spaniards and Americans of course. And most if not all spoke their lines in their own languages (I can only imagine what filming a scene was like).

Let me know what you think about A Fistful of Dollars in the comments below and have a great day!

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My Thoughts on: The Favourite (2018)

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Having not seen any of Yorgos Lanthimos’ work before now, I went into The Favourite excited, but not sure what to expect. The film caught my attention because it’s set during the reign of Queen Anne of Great Britain (1665-1714), a royal that you don’t usually see depicted in film. The film is based on the true story of Queen Anne (Olivia Colman) and the struggle between two of her court favorites: Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough (Rachel Weisz) and Abigail Masham (Emma Stone), her cousin. The film traces Abigail’s rise at court alongside Sarah’s simultaneous fall along with the various intrigues going on at the British court in the early 18th century.

The film is undeniably beautiful, both visually and musically (the soundtrack features a number of classical compositions that would have been appropriate for the time period). I love the dresses that Sarah and Abigail wear. I also like the attire Sarah wears whenever she goes shooting or riding (the tricorn hat and the grey coat). Most of the costumes are black, white or shades of grey, and I like that generally muted color palette.

One thing that surprised me is how sexual the film was. I knew there was going to be some romantic intrigue from the previews, but I had no idea (or I wasn’t paying enough attention) that there would be so much between Sarah and the Queen (and later Abigail and the Queen!) Watching Sarah and Abigail each manipulate Anne in their own way leads you to feel nothing but sympathy for the unhappy monarch. Having lost 17 children, all Anne wants is to be loved but she certainly doesn’t get any from Sarah, who at times is downright abusive in her behavior. I’m not sure if we’re supposed to feel any sympathy for Sarah or not (I certainly didn’t).

Overall I enjoyed The Favourite very much, but I have some trouble with the ending. Given the story up to that point, the last scene felt like a strange way to end the film and I wasn’t quite sure what message I was supposed to receive from it (though I suspect a rewatch would help to enlighten me). That still didn’t stop me from enjoying the film and I highly recommend it if you haven’t seen it yet. Colman, Stone and Weisz fully deserve all of the nominations they’ve received thus far.

What did you think of The Favourite? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below and have a great day!

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My Thoughts on: Robin Hood (2018)

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Okay, right from the beginning I should clarify that I haven’t actually seen Robin Hood (and I probably won’t until it hits Redbox) but given what I know about this film, I HAVE to talk about it. I first heard about this film months ago when I heard that there was a really bad trailer circulating on the Internet. When I first saw it for myself, I was half convinced it had to be a joke; there’s no way they could have made a Robin Hood film THIS bad…right? Well, actually yes they did and the more previews I saw the worse it got.

The Middle Ages looked NOTHING like this

First let’s talk about the setting. As most people know, Robin Hood is traditionally set in or around the reign of King Richard the Lionheart (so between 1189 and 1200 CE give or take a few years), which places the story firmly in the Middle Ages. Knowing that, take a look at those previews again and tell me with a straight face that this film even loosely resembles that time period. Nottingham bears no resemblance to a medieval city, in fact in the previews it looks more like something from a post-apocalyptic future (or a generic fantasy film). I’m not saying a Robin Hood film has to be 100% period-authentic, but they’re not even trying with these locations OR the costumes. The machine-stitching is painfully obvious and nothing remotely resembles the era they should be in. I groaned aloud when I saw the footage from a party that Robin attended in his public persona as a nobleman. The costumes the ladies are wearing are totally inappropriate for the era (no woman would be caught dead in anything so revealing). I referenced the location looking post-apocalyptic before, I find myself wondering if they meant to make this a futuristic post-apocalypse retelling of the story and just forgot to tell the audience?

As cool as it looks, Molotov cocktails were NOT a thing in the Middle Ages

Second, we need to talk about those arrows. It goes without saying that arrows do NOT work like that! They’re not that powerful (not at that size anyway) and you can’t fire them THAT quickly (I don’t care if it is a Robin Hood movie, no one is THAT good). This was another thing that really bothered me about the film, and that’s the pacing, it’s much too fast. A Robin Hood story can be many things, but a fast-paced action thriller is not typically one of them.

Third, where is Prince John in all of this? One of the key components of the Robin Hood legend has always involved the outlaw fighting against the tyranny of Prince John until King Richard can return. The only reason Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves got away with excluding the character is because they had Alan Rickman playing the Sheriff of Nottingham. I’m not saying Ben Mendelsohn isn’t a good actor, it’s just I’ve seen him play this kind of role several times before and no offense but it’s starting to wear thin.

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Lastly, I have to comment on something I heard from reviews of the film. I read that Robin is sent to the Crusades via a “draft notice” pinned to his front gate. Are you KIDDING me?? This is not how the Crusades worked! There was no draft for noblemen in the Middle Ages, either you went on Crusade or you didn’t! It’s like they did no research whatsoever for this film and didn’t think anyone would notice (spoiler alert: we’ve definitely noticed). All reports indicate that Robin Hood is going to be the biggest box office bomb of the year and I’m not surprised in the slightest. I knew this film would bomb the moment I saw the first teaser. Hopefully I’ll get my own turn to eviscerate the film once I can rent it from Redbox sooner rather than later (and as it’s bombing badly that shouldn’t be a long wait). For now, those are my thoughts on Robin Hood but I’m very curious to know what you think about it. Have you gone to see it? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below and have a great day!

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My Thoughts on: The Ballad of Narayama (1958)

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The Ballad of Narayama (1958) is a film I’d not heard of before yesterday, but as I was searching for Criterion films to add to my collection, the film’s plot caught my attention. The film, directed by Keisuke Kinoshita, is modeled after a kabuki play (classic Japanese dance-drama) and tells the story of a remote village where anyone who reaches the age of 70 must be taken to Narayama (a distant mountain) and left there to die of exposure. Orin (Kinuyo Tanaka) is a 69 year old grandmother who has resolved to make the journey to Narayama when the new year comes, but first she wants to make sure her family’s affairs are in order.

From the start the film looks like it’s a stage play: a narrator introduces the story and narrates various sections through song. I was worried at first that I would find a narrator distracting, but it flows in and out of the film so seamlessly that after a while you don’t even notice. I also like how there’s not even a pretense of realism: the action is clearly taking place on a stage and when a scene is done, the background will literally fall away to reveal the next scene.

While the film shows various aspects of village life throughout the year, I feel that most of all the film displays the contrast between Orin, who happily accepts her fate, and Mata (Seiji Miyaguchi), a man past 70 who refuses to journey to Narayama, even though he shames his family (and himself) by refusing to go. The difference in how they meet their ends couldn’t be more different: while Orin is left serenely awaiting death on the mountain, Mata is dragged kicking and screaming by his son, and finally resists so much that he falls off a cliff. The message couldn’t be more clear: not following tradition only leads to heartbreak and pain. You’re also left feeling nothing but contempt for Mata after seeing how calmly Orin accepts what must be done.

The one thing about this film that confuses me however, is the ending. After Orin is left on Narayama, her son returns to his new wife and she consoles him with the knowledge that they can travel to Narayama together someday (as they are the same age). The scene abruptly cuts to a black and white shot of a train pulling in at a station, presumably where the old village used to stand. I’m sure we’re meant to gather something from this transition to the present, but I’m not sure what that message is supposed to be.

The Ballad of Narayama is a beautiful film that tells a very sad story. You’ll definitely be in tears by the end. Let me know what you think about this film in the comments below and have a great day!

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