Goodbye to My Favorite Disney Villain

Today I say goodbye to my favorite Disney villain, Ursula, from The Little Mermaid. Actually, her voice was provided by the wonderful Pat Carroll. I remember seeing her on television in the 1960's and her terrific, iconic, one of a kind laugh. You could tell, she just couldn't have been a nicer lady.

Dare I say that Pat as Ursula and Jodi Benson as Ariel made the movie memorable. Yes, the music by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken is phenomenal, and yes, the animation superb. But the two main characters were charmingly dastardly and sweetly lovable, respectively. How great they played against each other!

At the opening of the Little Mermaid ride at California Adventure.

RIP, Pat! No one will ever have that great laugh!

Colorful Sindbad Poster

Here's the Sindbad's Seven Voyages attraction poster in living color.  From what I can tell, the design and color scheme provides little clue to the depth and beauty of the is original Tokyo DisneySea attraction. It's one that seems to be on everyone's "Favorites" list when they return from the Land of the Rising Sun. 

The other thing folks say is that Alan Menken's composition, Compass of Your Heart, is the best and catchiest attraction theme song since It's A Small World. Can it be?

(Art copyright The Walt Disney Company.)

Herb Ryman's Art for TokyoSea's Sindbad

Something a bit special to kick off the beginning of the week! How about something from the Japanese parks? 

Imagineer Herb Ryman has long been one of my very favorite artists. His artwork for theme park attractions stands equal to some of the more "serious" art seen on gallery walls. Here's a seldom seen slice of concept art for the beautiful and mysterious Sindbad's Seven Voyages over in the Arabian Coast. (Yes, the "D" is correct in the name.)

Oriental Land Company felt the original Tokyo DisneySea attraction was too dark, making it not quite the draw they wanted it to be for guests of all ages. It went under the knife. Sindbad lost his beard and gained an adorable tiger companion. Villains became less menacing or altogether cute, and a brand new song was commissioned to ground the attraction. Compass of Your Heart, a new theme song by Alan Menken is one catchy tune- and the attraction is still as good if a bit sugary instead of suspenseful and mysterious. 

(Art copyright The Walt Disney Company.)

Aladdin's Proud of Your Boy

Songwriters Alan Menken and Howard Ashman's incredible Proud of your Boy is an amazingly personal and deep character song that was excluded from the original animated version of Aladdin. It was later recorded by Clay Aiken and then even later finally added to the Broadway musical version of the show. Take a look at his heartbreaking plea-

[ALADDIN] (speaking):
I'm going to become somebody. I don't know how exactly, but I am. I have to... somehow

[ALADDIN]
Proud of your boy
I'll make you proud of your boy
Believe me, bad as I've been, Ma
You're in for a pleasant surprise

I've wasted time
I've wasted me
So say I'm slow for my age
A late bloomer
Okay, I agree

That I've been one rotten kid
Some son, some pride and some joy
But I'll get over these lousin' up
Messin' up, screwin' up times

You'll see, Ma, now comes the better part
Someone's gonna make good
Cross his stupid heart
Make good and finally make you
Proud of your boy

Tell me that I've been a louse and loafer
You won't get a fight here, no ma'am
Say I'm a goldbrick, a goof-off, no good
But that couldn't be all that I am

Water flows under the bridge
Let it pass, let it go
There's no good reason that you should believe me
Not yet, I know, but

Someday and soon
I'll make you proud of your boy
Though I can't make myself taller
Or smarter or handsome or wise

I'll do my best, what else can I do?
Since I wasn't born perfect like Dad or you
Mom, I will try to
Try hard to make you

Proud of your boy
-----

Do you relate to these words? I sure do! I was reminded of these words this morning as I was quietly praying, realizing that even my best efforts to please God fall short and how truly deep the impact of sin is in my life. Chasing after so many things to try to fill that gap. These things only bring pain instead as my spirit cries out when the attempt at peace is unsuccessful. But its never impossible to find peace as I sit and wait in His presence. Jesus only "falls short" in the places I do not give him access. When I do release that to him, whatever it is, His peace floods in.

Interestingly, the counterpoint unreleased Howard Ashman / Alan Menken song is called Humiliate the Boy, a song intended for the evil Jafar, sung when he reveals Aladdin to be just a street rat in disguise. The parallels to Satan and his role in our world can't be missed. He accuses, confuses, and leads astray to our destruction if we follow him. Now and at the end of time, Jesus stands as our defense and as the payment for our sins. There's no humiliation for those who follow Christ. Only temporary pain and struggle as we try to live out our faith in a broken world. Praise God for what He has done because of His great love!

(Art copyright The Walt Disney Company.)

This Mermaid Has Legs

With soft openings the last few days, we've finally had to chance to see the debut of The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Undersea Adventure in Paradise Pier at Disney California Adventure. OK, ok. Not in person but via several videos posted by the not so poor unfortunate souls who have had a chance to be there in person.

The consensus? It's a nice little "D" ticket ride full of Audio-Animatronics, special effects, and showstopping music by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken. The building is stunning- "E Ticket" worthy, the queue fairly elaborate, but by all accounts, the attraction is a bit too short with a truncated story. Picture, if you will, an attraction more on par with Epcot's Living Seas with Nemo but with better animatronics, somewhat longer, and with award winning music. What's not to like?

Apparently, plenty. Objective critics and die-hard fans alike seem to point out flaws big and small. From the style of Ariel's hair, the clunky transitions between show sets, and the abundance of simpler animated characters in the Under the Sea scene, there are aspects of the attraction that look like they could have been better. Yet, without giving the Imagineers a pass, this is California Adventure's first real old school Disneyesque attraction and given the limited budget and space, looks like they did one heck of a job.

This style of attraction is light years beyond the awful Golden Dreams with its politically correct presentation of California's history, with Whoopi Goldberg and her face projected creepily onto statues in a cut-rate theater. Ariel's Undersea Adventure is much more in line with the beautiful renaissance of Paradise Pier and ultimately more satisfying. With so much to see at every turn, families will line up more than once for this show- probably making Mermaid a must-do with every return to the park. That is a good thing.

Admittedly, I have yet to see it myself. But I'll take it over another film or carnival iron ride any day. This is the style of attraction California Adventure has been missing since its hip and edgy opening days, and I'm glad Ariel is finally here. Bring on more.

(With thanks to MintCrocodile for the image.)

Rapunzel's Fine Form: Tangled Shines Brightly

Finally had the chance to see Tangled Saturday night. The quick and dirty answer to the question is "Yes!", this new Disney animated film is clearly worth your time. While Princess and the Frog was a much heralded return to traditional animation, and hopefully the start of the third generation of animation excellence, it was sadly not as well received as it should have been. Tangled shouldn't have this problem.

The Rapunzel fable was ripe for a great story by Disney. Any long time viewer of animated films would wonder how Disney could pull off yet another princess story and not repeat themselves. Surprisingly, there's only the slightest feel of deja vu at the very end of the film. Absolutely everything else feels brand new and original.

The beautiful girl with the golden magical locks is only half the story, as her dashing counterpart Flynn Rider provides the male friendly action, giving the plot its excitement. Disney marketing may have changed the title to appeal to more male viewers, but in reality, it is a more accurate representation of screen time and story told. In fact, to its ultimate benefit, Tangled is filled with more action and better pacing than any Disney princess movie in recent memory. The previews would make you think the film is striving for a Shrek like ambiance, but this is actually a very traditional feeling film with one exception. Just a hint to those of you with small children: make sure you are there for the very beginning of the film. Flynn narrates the story and does it so quickly and covers so much turf, that the littler ones would need much explanation to understand the film. The same can be said for the ending wrap up to the story.

With their namesakes at Disneyland. 

With any great film, where story is king, it takes terrifically engaging characters to pull it off. This time, it only takes three. Secondary characters are wisely few and are unimportant to the story. 

In the princess role, Mandy Moore is the perfect fit for the movie, her Rapunzel is at once youthful and charming. Beneath the obvious differences in storyline, parts of our heroine's personality remind me of a younger Belle of Beauty and the Beast, maybe even a bit of Ariel from The Little Mermaid. There's more depth to her love interest Flynn Rider than you'd first expect. His story unfolds at just the right time and pace. Zachary Levi gives him the perfect balance of brashness and vulnerability. And he has a very good singing voice! I'd say he's a terrific match to Mandy Moore's actually. Their on screen chemistry is great, better than many modern day Rom-Coms.

A rival to Ursula.

The Disney Villainess, a staple of the genre, Mother Gothel is so well written, and she is so well played by Donna Murphy, that you almost expect her to redeem herself by the end of the film. Almost. This is Disney after all, and it would be a truly unexpected twist- and maybe a first- should an evil character repent and change their ways. (We should all repent and change our ways. We do really need Jesus more than we know. May we all see Him as He is- the Light of the World who died for our sins so we could have eternal life. He said this about himself: "“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”- John 8:12. See more of his words in John 14:6 in the Bible: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.")

Due to the smart dialogue between she and Rapunzel, highlighted by the "I love you more/most" exchange - and a less than stellar song for her to sing as her centerpiece- Mother Gothel initially is less apparent the villain when compared to those before her. Even less obvious than Cinderella's stepmother Lady Tramaine or Beast's brute Gaston. When the exchange gets heated between she and Rapunzel, like almost any mother daughter relationship, it seems as if the two actually do love each other. This brings the film a true to life complexity that is rather bold, more akin to a Pixar animated film. There's a good moral to the story that shows people are not always what they first seem to be and may even be evil to their core.

The animation of the film completes the film's package without overpowering it. Sleeping Beauty provided the most gorgeous background to any Disney animated film, but the characters seemed lost in that world. Here, the scenery is no less stunning, perhaps better and certainly more realistic, but the characters belong here and are not overpowered by the grandeur. (Watch the backgrounds in the movie closely. I think this is what Walt Disney World's new Fantasyland Forest should look like!) The landscapes are varied and traditionally rich looking. Such an accomplishment that I almost forgot this film was computer generated!

The character animation is very good, although at times Rapunzel's doe eyed look was a little too doe eyed. Computer generated humans are the shortfall of this tool and generally don't seem as warm to me as those drawn by hand. The work of Glen Keane is to be commended here as I could almost imagine he would press the animators for a more real look than those found in Toy Story, Up, or others. The film is all the better for his work.

Look closely.

It isn't the movie but the highlight of the new attraction

at Tokyo Disneysea.

Superbly executed chase scenes aside, when great characters meet stunning landscape meets great song, the result is Tangled's lantern scene. It is one of the finest moments in any Disney film in any era. Period. For this reason alone, go see the movie. There will be no in home screen large enough to capture its beauty. I won't ramble on here, although I could. It is that stunning.

Lastly, for a musical, I expected Mandy's singing to be wonderful, and it is- but the material she has to work with seems a bit subpar.  Her subtle and beautiful duet with Zachary Levi, "I See the Light", sung during the above mentioned scene, will stick in your head for years. Other than this song, the music itself may be the very reason I cannot give Tangled the A+ I'd like to. Alan Menken is a very gifted man. The songs here are good, but this is far from his best work. I've long thought Menken's strongest work ended with Howard Ashman's death, and sadly, this seems to prove me right.

If it is in fact true this is Disney's last animated fairy tale, which I think to say is a fairy tale itself, Tangled is the way to go out with style. The film is warm, funny, and unique. You won't leave the theater humming the songs, but you will leave thinking "Disney still has it!", and you'd be right.

(Art copyright The Walt Disney Company.)