Skummy's Disney Adventure

[Skummy]

I have mentioned a few times over the years that I've not really seen many of the "classic" animated Disney movies. The first movie I ever saw at the cinema was The Lion King, though beyond that, up until a couple of weeks ago I could probably count on one hand which others I had seen in full.

Despite this occasionally being brought up in conversation when people were unduly outraged by me not having seen whatever film was being discussed, I've not felt that this has really affected me in any way.

However, over the past couple of weeks, after much debate, the present Lady Skumfrog has managed to convince me to sit down and watch a few of them at the rate of roughly two a week.

In the name of SCIENCE, I shall record my thoughts on each in this thread, including whether or not I had seen the movie before, and so on and so forth. Chances are, you can all then tell me how wrong I am and how Skummy hates fun.

For the record, the first few films will be as follows;

1. Aladdin

2. Mulan

3. Hercules

4. The Hunchback Of Notre Dame

Current Ranking:

1. Mulan

2. Aladdin

3. Hercules

[Your Mom]

Fun! I envy you sir, Actually it may not be as fun. A lot of my disney love comes from a childhood attachment to them. Not sure some of these would hold up if I just watched them for the first time now

[stokeriño]

I didn't see Mulan or Hunchback until a couple of years ago. The first is excellent, the second is pretty decent.

In fact, I liked Hercules a lot more when re-watching it as an adult than seeing it in cinemas when it came out (though that was because I was an 11 year old boy and I was annoyed that the second half of the movie had too much icky romance in it ).

[Liam]

Yeah, Hercules is still good to me, dammit.

[TKz]

Hercules is great fun. Lilo and Stitch is potentially my all time favorite from my childhood. I showed my girlfriend it for the first time a year ago and she loved it, though it depends on how much you can appreciate adorable vicious space aliens, I guess. Definitely worth checking out too, even if it isn't a "Classic".

[Sousa]

I watched Aladdin last night, as it happens. It's funny the difference between what I appreciate as a kid and what I appreciate as an adult, because while Robin Williams's Genie was my favorite when I was a wee lad, I've grown so sick of Robin Williams in general that I found him unbearable (and the part is basically just Robin Williams doing a bunch of impressions over and over). On the other hand, there's a part near the end where every line Jafar says is a pun for like two straight minutes ("THINGS ARE UNRAVELING FAST NOW, BOY! GET THE POINT!? NYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!") and it's just pure magic.

Hercules gets a lot of help from James Woods just hamming it up and enjoying the part of Hades, and the shots it takes at celebrity sports culture make it pretty fun.

Mulan is just brilliant and aside from some questionable essentialist caricatures of Chinese culture (because Disney) it's a great flick.

[Liam]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6i5ZCu6akPA

I quite like this video, if only for the different lyrics for each country that more or less fit in with the meaning.

[stokeriño]

Hercules is great fun. Lilo and Stitch is potentially my all time favorite from my childhood. I showed my girlfriend it for the first time a year ago and she loved it, though it depends on how much you can appreciate adorable vicious space aliens, I guess. Definitely worth checking out too, even if it isn't a "Classic".

I'd call L&S a classic. I don't know if there's some unwritten rule that 'classics' can't be newer than the year 2000 because, say, that's when people deciding such things grew up (), but I'd say give any film a few years and it can become a 'classic' if it's good enough.

But the real question is - is Mickey Mouse an Icon or a Legend?

[Colly]

I'll be following this as I'm in a similar situation, outside Pixar I've seen Lion King, Pinocchio and Aladdin, and Mrs C insists I have to do the rest. No real objection, but our littlun isn't two til Christmas, I'd quite like to do them at the same time she does even if just to give me an excuse.

[Sousa]

Lilo & Stitch sort of gave birth to the modern "tiny engine of chaos" character trope (see also the Minions in Despicable Me) and I kind of resent it a little bit as a result.

[stokeriño]

See, Pinocchio is another one I didn't like as a kid. I rewatched it recently and...still don't like it.

This may have a lot to do with how much Pinocchio deserves to be slapped.

[Sousa]

If Geppetto had just been paying better attention then Pinocchio wouldn't have been playing Grand Theft Auto to begin with.

[Your Mom]

It's so hard to choose a favorite. I love Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin and Mulan and Lion King and... well a lot of them

[ndqw]

I know, Phil Collins, but Tarzan is the best.

[Josh]

Robin Hood. All day.

[Sousa]

Robin Hood is certainly a better shout than freaking Tarzan. My one complaint about Robin Hood is that there's not really much of a story, more of a series of capers and such, but it's still pretty great.

[Your Mom]

Was Robin Hood a fox? I'm not sure I remember that one

[Sousa]

He is! The opening credits lay out everyone's species.

[VerbalPuke]

I used to think Disney movies were silly kids movies, and now that I have kids, I still think they are silly kids movies. Difference is...I like these silly kids movies a bit more than I used to as a cynical teenager.

An obvious classic that I really like is Peter Pan, it's really fucking good. The song about What Makes The Red Man Red is pretty good even if it's a bit uncomfortable watching Native American caricatures hoot and holler around (because Disney of course).

I do like a lot of the newer stuff actually, Wreck it Ralph is probably my favorite of all the Disney movies. The Toy Story series, I think everybody loves those movies, and Tangled is actually another favorite of mine. My kid is watching Brave right now, which I haven't actually sat through yet so perhaps I'll check it out with him.

[Berober]

Robin Hood is the best and I will hear nothing else bad about it.