Disney Essays
A Study in Disney: ‘Chicken Little’ (2005)
Disney is as much a part of our lives as love and death. It’s wrapped around us, and not just in our childhood. There are thousands and thousands of Disney movies by this point but the one that really shape the company and the culture are the animated features. Disney busted out of the gate […]
A Study in Disney: ‘Brother Bear’ (2003)
Brother Bear may be the most beautifully made animated film to ever flounder under the weight of a badly written story. Here is a movie with a glorious visual style backed by narrative choices that feel unresolved, as if the film went into final edits with the writers still undecided on what they wanted the […]
A Study in Disney: ‘Treasure Planet’ (2002)
Pretty much the universal criticism that follows Treasure Planet is based around the ill-advised concept of relocating Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1883 novel “Treasure Island” into a futuristic steampunk science fiction landscape. And yes, it is a valid criticism. Why would Stevenson’s seminal work need rockets and laser beams? Aren’t the adventures on the high seas […]
A Study in Disney: ‘Lilo & Stitch’ (2002)
This is not going to be a popular opinion, but Lilo & Stitch seems to function much better without Stitch. Allow me to explain. When it comes to dealing with other cultures, Lilo and Stitch seems to be the first Disney feature to actually it right. The movie takes place in and among the people of […]
A Study in Disney: ‘Atlantis: The Lost Empire’ (2001)
Disney has been with us for almost a century now, and so it is safe to say that there might only be a finite number of people left whose childhood wasn’t touched by one of Walt’s confections. They’re part of our culture, part of our collective imagination. Over the next several months, I am going […]
A Study in Disney: ‘The Emperor’s New Groove’ (2000)
Disney has been with us for almost a century now, and so it is safe to say that there might only be a finite number of people left whose childhood wasn’t touched by one of Walt’s confections. They’re part of our culture, part of our collective imagination. Over the next several months, I am going […]
A Study in Disney: ‘Dinosaur’ (2000)
Disney has been with us for almost a century now, and so it is safe to say that there might only be a finite number of people left whose childhood wasn’t touched by one of Walt’s confections. They’re part of our culture, part of our collective imagination. Over the next several months, I am going […]
A Study in Disney: ‘Fantasia 2000’ (1999)
Disney has been with us for almost a century now, and so it is safe to say that there might only be a finite number of people left whose childhood wasn’t touched by one of Walt’s confections. They’re part of our culture, part of our collective imagination. Over the next several months, I am going […]