Aug 16, 2010

Disney Marathon: a princess trible + a mytholocigal hero

The day before yesterday I sat down with my sister and we watched some Disney movies. Because we kind of like Disney movies. Here they are, in short.

 Beauty and the Beast (1991)

(Here's my earlier post about the film.) I'm very close to proclaiming Beauty and the Beast my favourite Disney animation. But I don't dare! However, I dare say that it is one heck of a movie and I just love it. We watched the old VHS version (which still worked surprisingly well!), and awww. I'd almost forgotten how great the Finnish voices are! Belle must be my favourite Disney princess (that I just dare to say) and Beast could very possibly be the best Disney prince. He's got some personality, unlike, say, Snow White's prince (no offence, your majesty, but what do do? Sing a song and kiss the girl, that's it).

"Well, there's the usual things: flowers... chocolates... promises you don't intend to keep..."


Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (1937)

Snow White was Disney's first full-lenght animation, which shows, if in nothing else, then in the princess. She's the archetype of all the Disney princesses to come: breathtakingly beautiful, clear-voiced, innocent, kind-hearted, charming, never giving up her dreams and always making friends with various little animals. And a bit boring, dare I say? I mean, there have certainly been more interesting personalities after Snow White. But, not to sound more harsh I mean to, Snow White is the mother of all Disney movies, the fairytale of fairytales, a truly wonderful story, a classic in the deepest sense of the word. And of course, it gave us Grumpy.

"Angel, ha! She's a female! And all females is poison! They're full of wicked wiles!"


Cinderella (1950)
Cinderella was my favourite princess growing up - it was her I would pretend to be in my little imaginary games, and yeah, she's great, isn't she? Despite some annoying animal friends (I'm not pointing at anyone in particular... but the mice, the talking mice), she's sweet, she has some amazing nerves, and optimism, too, and that ball dress, oh man, it's gorgeous. Except that the glass slippers can't be very comfy, can they? I love Cinderella, but the king is just disturbing. Man, he's got some problems. How about some anger management?

"You are the only ladies of the household, I hope, er, I presume?"


 Hercules (1997)

This is not quite comparable to the three classic princess tales, but there's something hugely hilarious about Hercules. The songs are groovy, the dialogue is wonderfully fast and witty, Greek mythology is fascinating and Hades is a great great Baddie, Herc is wonderfully awkward and sweet and Meg has that personality Snow White lacked. And here, let me present to you two of my favourite lines:

"We know everything - past, present and future. Indoor plumbing, it's gonna be big." (The Fates)

"Um... guys? Olympus would be that way." (Hades to the Titans, going to DESTROY ZEUS, FREEZE ZEUS, MELT ZEUS, CRUSH HIM.)


PS. I promise I'll watch a non-Disney, non-animated film, soon. Cross my heart. 'Soon' is relative concept, but anyway...

2 comments:

M-link said...

I don't get why people give Hercules such a bad rep. I really liked the film, especially because of the snappy sarcastic female character.

Hercules to Zeus "Look, Dad, I'm an action figure!".
This gets me every time!

Eeva said...

Yeah, Hercules is easily one of the funniest Disney films! That line really is hilarious. :D