Tag Archives: disney

In Defense of Pixar’s Elio

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The next Disney/Pixar movie, Elio, released on June 20th and by all accounts had dismal first weekend earnings. This can be attributed to several things, no doubt. For one, I’ve seen many complaints about the lack of marketing. I’ll be honest, I saw a decent amount of marketing for the movie, including internet ads and the trailer. But I suppose I’m not a good sample because I am chronically on the Disney+ app or watching reruns of Phineas and Ferb and The Owl House on the Disney Channel. In other words, I’m a massive Disney nerd and I always know about every single new release they have. On the other hand, apparently the average adult movie goer did not see much marketing and was barely aware what Elio was, let alone when it was releasing.

This has been a problem with a lot of media lately. Not just from Disney, though it is a major problem at Disney, which has seemed lately to be reluctant to market its Pixar releases. But its been a problem with a lot of recent productions, both film and television. I think, for instance, about a lot of Netflix releases that have come and gone almost without any notice at all. Netflix makes something, refuses to market it in the slightest, and then complains that it did not perform well. Almost as if they are trying to tank some titles.

Anyway, that is certainly a contributing factor. However, as SF author John Scalzi very effectively argued in a thread on BlueSky, this has often been the case for animated science fiction movies. Many excellent animated SF movies have underperformed in the box office through no fault of their own, for reasons I really cannot guess at.

So, for those who maybe weren’t aware this movie existed, or did not feel another underperforming Disney/Pixar movie is worth your time, let me just say: ELIO IS VERY GOOD, ACTUALLY.


I don’t always love what Disney has been doing lately, creatively or politically or economically. For instance, I’ve seen reports that Disney execs made significant last minute changes to Elio to remove a queer character. I hate that. But I’m not surprised by it. In the last few years, Disney has been backtracking the very LITTLE progress they had made in LGBTQ representation very quickly. I don’t like it, but I’m used to it. And while that frustrates me, I do not believe it takes away from the ways in which Elio was genuinely very good. It is beautifully animated, emotionally resonant, and just plain fun.

The basic premise is this: middle-schooler Elio’s parents have recently died (in an unspecified accident). Elio has gone to live with his aunt who works for the Air Force as a space debris analyst and hopes one day to join NASA. Elio is… an odd child, a quirky loner. His aunt feels overwhelmed and conflicted. He feels unwanted and alone. After sneaking into a museum exhibit about the Voyager Space Probe (narrating, to my delight, by Kate Mulgrew, Captain Janeway of the starship Voyager in Star Trek), Elio decides that aliens exist and will surely want him if no one else does. Thus launches his quest, aided by ham radio, enormous rock signals on the beach, and much mischief, to get himself abducted. To everyone’s shock, he succeeds! He makes contact with a group of alien ambassadors who mistake him for the leader of planet Earth. A series of misunderstandings, well-intentioned lies, and general shenanigans ensure. Elio makes friends, his aunt learns to appreciate his quirks, and several crises are averted.


Much like Lilo & Stitch (the original, not the abysmal live action), this movie is about the value of family, the importance of being yourself no matter the opposition, and learning not only to accept but to celebrate diversity, individuality, and general WEIRDNESS. It’s also about the wonder and potential of exploration and space flight, and the endless possibilities of life elsewhere. (It would also be amazing if the movie reignited interest in ham radio, as Contact a few decades ago, lol).

It was a delightful and joyful movie. I got uncomfortably emotional at parts (largely pertaining to wanting to go into space; see my review of Atmosphere for a similar discussion… In fact, the weird resonance between the two was unintentional and surprising). I really hope that people (particularly families) sit up and take notice before its too late.

Movie Review: Strange World

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Today, I want to talk a bit about Strange World, Disney’s newest full-length animated feature film.

Strange World released last November, and it did not do well in theatres. Very few people went to see it, which is a shame. Admittedly, I didn’t see it in theatres either. I waited until it was on Disney+ because of the continuing pandemic issues (which are particularly bad here in Texas where the idiots live). But from what I’ve heard the biggest problem was the lack of proper marketing/publicity. No one knew the movie existed! Or when it was out in theatres! There were almost no commercials for it on tv, only a handful of ads on places like Youtube (where most people still skip ads), no merchandise tie-ins with McDonalds or toys released ahead of the movie (which is standard practice! Sometimes the toys start popping up a full 6 months or year before the movie comes out!). NOTHING.

It is believed by many (including me) that this was probably an intentional decision by some of the higher-ups at Disney. ‘Cause here’s the thing: Strange World features the first interracial married couple/family in a full-length Disney animated film. It features a gay main character, whose gayness is not remarked on by a single other person in the movie as anything but completely normal (though I will say that after the fact, I saw several articles claiming that this was Disney’s ‘first gay romance’ and it is no such thing. That is really overstating the matter. The character IS gay. It’s not subtext. He very clearly states that he has a crush on a boy. But that element is background detail to the actual plot. There’s no ‘romance’ involved). It also features a plot that is a very blunt, hard-hitting, unapologetic allegory for our current environmental crisis and our over-reliance on fossil fuels.

Certain parts of Disney audiences (such as me) have been demanding, for years, better representation and diversity in Disney films, which Disney higher-ups have been pushing back against in various ways — mostly due to a fear of losing more conservative audiences in the US, and the entirety of the very lucrative and very conservative Chinese markets. It’s all about the money.

So, Disney finally gives us what we’ve been asking for, a very diverse and progressive story in which they clearly told the animators: “have fun! Go nuts!” and the animators totally brought it. And then they don’t ADVERTISE THE MOVIE AT ALL. And, unsurprisingly, the movie TANKS at the box office because no one knows it exists. But now Disney can point to the abysmal sales and wave their hands and say: “see! You said you wanted this, but then no one came to watch it and it failed, which means no one really wanted it at all and we can go back to what we were doing! We tried! Really! It’s not our fault the market isn’t there for this kind of thing! Back to the old standbys!”

The Disney higher-ups wanted it to fail, so that they would have an excuse to not do it again. I firmly believe that. And it’s a shame because the actual creators: the writers, the animators, the voice actors, etc. absolutely WANT to do this kind of thing, and want it to work and do well. And frankly, they KILLED it with this movie. It’s fucking GREAT. AND NO ONE SAW IT.

Let me expound on the actual movie now, for a bit.

Strange World, Disney’s 61st animated feature film, was written by Qui Nguyen, directed by Don Hall, and stars Jake Gyllenhall, Dennis Quaid, Jaboukie Young-White, Gabrielle Union, and Lucy Liu. The first thing that appealed to me when I finally DID see any trailers or commercials about this movie was the great 30s or 40s style pulp scifi feel of it. It’s even a hollow-earth story! And the movie as a whole really holds up to that early vibe.

The movie opens in Avolonia, a country completely isolated by surrounding impenetrable mountains, with an economy and culture that has grown stagnant. The great explorer Jaeger Clade (voiced by Quaid) has made it his mission to cross the wall of mountains to discover what exists beyond their lands, and bring new hope for the future to Avolonia. To that end, he drags his teenage son, Searcher (Gyllenhall), with him (very clearly against his will). But when Searcher discovers a strange plant in the mountains that releases electrical charges, he and the rest of their exploring crew realize that the plant is the key to their future prosperity and decide not to continue the journey. Infuriated, Jaeger continues on alone while Searcher returns home with the plant they call Pando.

Flash forward 25 years, and Searcher is a Pando farmer, who is regarded as a hero for bringing this plant back to Avolonia and thus ushering in a new era of modern technology including enormous airships and all the things one might expect with electrical power. His wife, Meridian (Union), and his son Ethan (Young-White) work the farm with him. However, Ethan longs for adventure, unknowingly very similar to Jaeger, the grandfather he has never met, and who is presumed dead somewhere in the mountains. Ethan also has a massive crush on his friend Diazo – a fact that is treated with the same kind of “isn’t he so cute” attitude as if the crush were a girl rather than a boy.

Everything changes when Callisto – once a member of Jaeger and Searcher’s exploring crew and now the President of Avolonia – arrives on a massive airship, and announces that Pando is dying. In order to save their way of life, Callisto asks Searcher (the expert on Pando) to travel with her to an enormous hole they have found in the mountains that appears to lead to a hollow-earth-type place and what they believe to be the SOURCE of Pando. Unsurprisingly, Ethan stows away, and Meridian follows, and when the airship descends into the hole to find a wondrous, bonkers world that exists beneath the mountains, the adventure really gets going.

From there, a lot happens. They are attacked by various creatures. They, of course, find Jaeger who has been trapped in the hollow earth for the last 25 years. Ethan becomes more and more enamored of adventuring, making Searcher feel as if he is being abandoned again, just like his father left him all those years ago. And throughout it all, there is a message of learning to coexist with the nature and creatures around you, rather than simply steamrolling over everything and believing you know what is best for the world. The conflict comes to a head when the travelers realize that Pando might be hurting everything, and will ultimately lead to their doom even if it is expedient in the interim, and must make a decision about how they will face the future not only for themselves but for all of their people.

It is not a subtle message. And frankly, GOOD ON THEM. Sometimes the themes need to be heavy-handed if you hope to get anyone to even notice, let alone pay attention. Especially these days. And it’s a message that works, and is worth hitting you over the head with.

On top of that, it’s also just a really fun movie! There’s a lot of humor and running gags throughout the movie. The family conflict between Jaeger, Searcher, and Ethan is touching, and relatable, and comes to a satisfying conclusion. The action sequences are enjoyable. And visually, it’s a joy to behold. Like I said, the studio clearly told the set and creature design animators to just got to town, go wild and they did not hold back! They went as bonkers as they could manage, and obviously had a blast doing it, and the visuals are just STUNNING. Colorful, and strange, and imaginative, and funny, and just so much fun.

So, all of this is just to say, essentially: if you missed out on this movie in theatres, like most of us did, and if you maybe didn’t even know it existed, I highly recommend you go check it out now! It’s on Disney+ right now. Make a family night of it – pop some popcorn, turn the lights down, grab the kids (if you have them, lol), or settle in by yourself with a glass of wine (like I did), and enjoy! I promise you won’t regret it!

Movie Review: Godmothered

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Last week I said I had a couple holiday movies I wanted to review, and I posted the first one (for Happiest Season), and then completely forgot to write the second one! So, here I present to you my movie review for the other new holiday movie I watched over Christmas break: Godmothered.

Godmothered is a Disney movie that was released directly to Disney+ on Dec 4th, starring Isla Fisher and Jillian Bell. It is clearly in the tradition of Disney holiday movies meant for whole families, and I frankly: I thought it was really REALLY cute!

The basic premise is this: Jillian Bell plays Eleanor, a fairy in training in “The Motherland” to become a Fairy Godmother, only she discovers that no new fairy has been made an official Godmother in YEARS because there are no more missions. And there are no more missions because people on Earth have stopped believing in magic and happily-ever-afters. The head-Godmother Moira, played by Jane Curtin (which was both strange and amusing), announces that the Motherland is officially going to be closed, and all fairies will be made into Tooth Fairies. Eleanor decides she won’t accept this: she finds a single mission, a wish from a little girl named Mackenzie, and goes to Earth to give Mackenzie a happy ending and prove that Godmothers are still needed.

Lo! And behold, however: the wish is old, and Mackenzie is now an adult woman with two children, working at a failing trash-news station. She is widowed, miserable, and has mostly checked out of her childrens’ lives. When Eleanor arrives, Mackenzie is understandably skeptical and then HORRIFIED when she discovers that Eleanor really IS magical. Mayhem and hijinks ensure, during which Eleanor decides that Mackenzie’s happily-ever-after must mean that she should fall in love with her attractive, charmingly-geeky coworker at the news station, aptly named Hugh PRINCE, who must SURELY be her TRUE LOVE. Eleanor causes several disasters and highly embarrassing situations (I am very sensitive to secondhand embarrassment and squirmed through a couple scenes). And the movie ends, of course, happily, but perhaps not in the way one might expect.

I really enjoyed this movie. It was sweet and charming and funny. Clearly, it must be safe for children, but I found for the most part that it played as much to adults who would understand and empathize with Mackenzie’s disillusionment with romance, happy endings, and life in general. Isla Fisher and Gillian Bell are wonderful in the movie. They’re funny and played off each other very well. Santiago Cabrera, who plays Hugh Prince, was (as I said) charmingly-geeky and adorably idealistic. Even the two children were pretty good (and I usually find child actors in these kinds of movies either FAR too twee, or just plain-old BAD). Quite a few scenes made me laugh out loud, and even the more cheesy scenes weren’t TOO cheesy. But what I really appreciated about this movie was the ENDING.

AND HERE WE GET INTO A SPOILER FOR THE ENDING OF THE MOVIE! CONTINUE AT YOUR OWN RISK!

At the end of the movie, following all of Eleanor’s failed attempts to get Mackenzie and Hugh together in the belief that this is the ONLY TRUE Happily-Ever-After, Mackenzie comes to a realization. Eleanor has succeeded in giving her a Happily-Ever-After (despite Moira’s claims that she has failed and therefore the Motherland will close as planned), NOT because she’s in love with Hugh, but because she has reminded Mackenzie how to enjoy the small things in life, and helped her reconnect with her children. She announces (to a rather large audience) that her True Love is her CHILDREN, that they give her life meaning and happiness. She says that there is no single kind of True Love, and no single kind of Happily-Ever-After. And then the  camera pans to a father looking at his son, a grandson looking at his grandmother, etc etc etc. And folks it was FANTASTIC. It was such a great message! 

The movie hints to possible future development between Mackenzie and Hugh, but the happy ending does not HINGE on that fact AT ALL. And it was WONDERFUL.

So yeah… I really enjoyed this movie. I think it’s a great movie for families, and possibly also a great movie for adults who are perhaps lonely or disillusioned with life in general. At the very least, I bet it’ll make you smile for a little while! 

Cross-Stitch Mania

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A few months ago, after years of saying I eventually would, I finally bought a little kit to teach myself how to cross-stitch. What with the quarantine and all, it seemed like the perfect time to try my hand at a new hobby. I even shared my first couple endeavors here on the blog. But then I kind of stopped talking about it.

Well, let me tell you, folks! I am hooked!

I have been trying increasingly difficult patterns. I have moved on from pre-made kits and have started downloading patterns from digital shops online and buying whole skeins of embroidery floss. I have quite a collection already! Approximately 80 colors and counting!

I have become so obsessed that I have been thinking about subscriber to a bloody cross-stitch magazine (who is this person I have become!?) and I found a wonderful blog that offers free geek-themed cross-stitch patterns here at Cross Stitch Quest. They are wonderful! 😍

I am currently working on Sleeping Beauty’s castle from Disneyland (I have mentioned before that I’m a huge Disney nerd!)— from this Etsy shop: Awesome Pattern Studio — and I will soon be starting a secret project for a Christmas present.

There is something delightful about doing cross-stitch. I have always liked working with my hands, I have an appreciation for fine detail work. I also love art, but I’m not a particularly good artist, so I feel like this is a bit like painting for me. The designs are pre-set, of course (though I’m already making plans to try making my own patterns), but still… The image comes together through my handiwork. And the motions are fine and repetitive, almost mindless, a little like some people say kitting or crochet is. So it can also be very meditative and therapeutic. And on top of all that, you have lovely creations you can frame or hang up, or make into a pillow case, or give as gifts!

So, yes, I just really love cross-stitch, ok? 😁

Nostalgia Kick

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I’ve been in a weirdly nostalgic mood lately, at least so far as my media/reading consumption is concerned. I keep thinking of more and more books and movies and tv shows I want to re-read/re-watch (some of them for the millionth time).

I am currently re-reading Lirael (the second book in Garth Nix’s Old Kingdom series). And I’m debating re-reading Watership Down, the first Abarat book (by Clive Barker), AND doing a MASSIVE Redwall series re-read.

On top of that, I have been re-watching the anime series Inuyasha with my best friend for a couple months now (we watch about 6-7 episodes over the phone together every sunday evening!), and I started a huge M*A*S*H* re-watch (thank you, Hulu!) And I’ve been thinking about re-watching both Yu Yu Hakusho (another anime), and all 10 seasons of Stargate SG-1! Because, you know, I have SO MUCH free time (*sarcasm*). I have also been re-watching a lot of Phineas and Ferb lately as I prepare for the new movie, Phineas and Ferb: Candace Against the Universe coming out in Disney+ at the end of August. (Yay!)

Despite all that, I am trying to keep up with reading for my “Storm the Castle” Reading Challenge – I just started Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente for the challenge. AND I still plan to read the ARC of Garth Nix’s newest book The Left-handed Booksellers of London in time to do a review before official release.

So, you know, just keeping busy…

Fowl by name, Foul by nature

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I was a junior in high school when the first Artemis Fowl book came out. Technically, I was not the target market – these are considered middle grade books, after all – but I still enjoy a good middle grade novel from time to time, and this book just looked FUN. So I didn’t “grow up” with Artemis Fowl the way some people did (I know some people who read the books starting in elementary school!), but I have loved them since they first came out. 

I have read all eight books (but I haven’t read the new spin-off about Artemis’s twin brothers yet). And I just recently finished going through all eight books on audiobook. If you like audiobooks, I would highly recommend checking out the Artemis Fowl books on audio. The narrator, Nathaniel Parker, does an excellent job for the most part (my one complaint is that I really don’t like the way he voices Opal Koboi – he does a pretty offensive stereotyped “Chinese” accent for her and it really bugs the hell out of me. There’s absolutely nothing in the text to justify this decision, and I can only assume he was trying to do something different enough to separate her voice from the other characters, but it is NOT GOOD).

Anyway: I LOVE Artemis Fowl.

I think most people are familiar with at least the basic premise, but just in case, let’s cover the basics: Artemis Fowl the Second is an 11-year-old super-genius criminal mastermind. In the first book, his father (Artemis Fowl Senior, who was a career criminal just starting to go straight at the behest of his wife, Angeline) has been missing for over a year. In order to keep the family estate solvent and to fund both his criminal enterprises and his search for his father, Artemis Fowl decides to do one massive heist: steal gold from the fairies. He has come to learn that fairies are not only REAL, but highly advanced and living in secret in an underground society. So he hatches an elaborate plan to kidnap a fairy and steal their gold.

The hapless fairy he manages to kidnap is Holly Short, the first woman-fairy to join the LEPrecon (the fairy police force “Lower Elements Police”  reconnaissance division – get it? LEPrecon = leprechaun? Expect many such puns…). Holly is smart, determined, and more than a little hot-headed. Her commander, Julius Root, is even more so. In the course of trying to rescue Holly, the LEP use time-freezing, release a troll, and recruit the help of a career criminal thief: a dwarf named Mulch Diggums. Meanwhile, Artemis and his faithful, long-suffering bodyguard Butler, discover they are slightly less in control than they first assume, nearly die a few times, and still somehow manage to win and keep the gold they stole.

And that’s just the first book. Each book brings Artemis and his entourage back into the affairs of the fairy peoples. Throughout the series, Artemis and Holly end up best friends pretty much despite themselves, and Artemis becomes an invaluable help and savior for the fairies on several occasions. By the end of it, the completely selfish, amoral Artemis has grown a heart and a conscience, and his character development is slow, complex, and well EARNED by the story.

On top of all that, the books are also exciting, action-packed, and utterly HILARIOUS. I think the funniest book is probably #7: The Atlantis Complex.

For the fun of it, here is the absolutely AMAZING art work for the Chinese edition of the books (which combine into one giant panorama, that I really want an enormous print of!):

by Shayudan on DeviantArt (click on image to go to high res version)

And for people who have already read the books, you should check out this tumblr which has a bunch of hilarious Artemis Fowl memes and other fun fanart: https://iesnoth.tumblr.com/

And if you really want, you can also check out my Artemis Fowl board on Pinterest, which is just a collection of any fanart and memes and silly shit that amuses me: https://pin.it/4QobV76

And now, this brings me to a painful subject. The movie.

When I first heard that Disney was doing an Artemis Fowl movie, I was cautiously optimistic. Almost two years ago they released an initial trailer, and I allowed myself to get more excited than I probably should have. The movie was originally supposed to be released in 2019. And then for unknown reasons, the release was pushed back and the movie was sent back to the drawing board for an extensive number of re-shoots and re-edits. Even the person who made the “Art and Making” of the movie book (which was apparently finished 18 months ago), says that the final product bears little resemblance to the movie HE saw while chronicling the process (that early version apparently was a bit closer to the book material, though it still had made many changes).

When the second newer trailer was released a few months ago, I was horrified. I could tell immediately that they had RUINED it. Ruined the character. Destroyed the story. It was obvious from just the one min trailer that they had removed everything that made Artemis Fowl a fun, interesting, and unique character and turned the story into the same repetitive cliche trite story about a helpless boy who discovers his father has some dangerous secret life, and how must be initiated into that secret to save his father when the father disappears. That story has been told a MILLION TIMES. And on very few occasions these days is it ever told with anything approaching originality or interest.

I had determined not to watch the movie when it came out, not to give my money to a theatre release. Then the quarantine happened and it was announced that the movie would go straight to Disney+ streaming. So, on friday my mother convinced me to just sit down and at least give it a chance.

I was annoyed in the first two minutes. I had to quit after about twenty minutes. I just couldn’t do it. The movie had absolutely NO resemblance to the books. The characters had been turned into practically their exact OPPOSITES. It wasn’t Artemis Fowl. Not even remotely. And what’s more: even if you watched the movie with no knowledge of the books holding you down, it was just a BAD movie, with stale lackluster acting, an awkward stilted script, cheap dumb-downed voice-over narration, and hack editing. It’s just NOT GOOD.

Don’t believe me? Here’s a BUNCH of articles decimating the movie: 

MarySue article: “Artemis Fowl is Terrible Because it Didn’t Trust Audiences”

Forbes Review: “One of the Worst YA Fantasy Movies Ever”

NYPost: “Disney movie destroys beloved books”

Tor.com article: “Artemis Fowl is a CGI candy-coated waste of time”

If you don’t think that’s enough, just check out the #ArtemisFowl and #ArtemisFowlMovie hashtags on Twitter. Because WOW people are NOT HAPPY. (In other words, it’s not just me!)

I just don’t understand why anyone would bother to PAY ALL THAT MONEY for a pre-existing property, if they were going to then turn around and write yet another painfully-trite, excruciatingly-cliche story about a hapless boy who is initiated into his father’s secret life when the father goes missing. Do you have any idea HOW MANY OF THOSE STORIES have been told now? (And very few of them are told WELL). I am absolutely devastated and infuriated and frustrated (but not remotely surprised) by all of this. I know these books could make AMAZING movies or tv if they were adapted well. But I’m not holding my breath waiting for that to happen any time soon. Or ever, probably.

In the meantime, in an attempt to make myself feel better, I am now working on an Artemis Fowl playlist on Spotify. Because that’s just what I DO.

Comfort Movies

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Do you have any comfort movies? Movies that you have watched over and over again until you can recite the whole thing word for word at the drop of the hate? Movies that you watch at 2am when you can’t sleep and need something to soothe you into drifting off? Movies that you watch when you are sick or stressed or upset?

I suppose you can guess by now that I do. I have a whole list of standards. Safe stand-bys. The usual suspects, as it were.

The first of these is Disney’s Robin Hood – yes, the animated one with the animals. I have been in love with this movie since I was a very little kid. I believe a lot of people around my age would admit that the fox Robin Hood was one of their earliest crushes (don’t lie! Admit it!). He was certainly one of mine. (And yes, Nick Wilde from Zootopia is on that list now too.) It’s Robin Hood’s VOICE, courtesy of Brian Bedford that really does it for me! It’s such a LIKEABLE voice! but the whole movie is just gold. Wolfgang Reitherman was one of Disney Animation’s greatest directors, and his direction for Robin Hood is no exception. The animation is fun, despite or perhaps even because of the amount of designs and sequences they recycled from previous productions. All the voice cast, not just Brian Bedford are fantastic. Especially Peter Ustinov, who plays Prince John – he is clearly having WAY TOO MUCH fun recording his lines, and he steals every scene he’s in. And the songs are some of the best Disney has done, in my humble opinion. “Oo-de-lally” and “Not in Nottingham,” in particular, are absolutely wonderful songs that have even been covered by contemporary bands.

My second favorite comfort movie is My Neighbor Totoro by Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki. I love all the Ghibli films, and I would agree with the assessment that technically the BEST of these movies are Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away. However, because of its gentleness, sweetness, comfort, and pure nostalgia, my favorite will definitely always be My Neighbor Totoro. When I can’t sleep, I like to listen to something soft and familiar to hopefully lull me into drifting off, and this is one of my go-to choices. If you are familiar with Studio Ghibli’s films, you know about the high quality of their animation, the beauty of their stories, the supremacy of strong girl characters, and the absolutely STELLAR scores always written by constant Ghibli collaborator, Joe Hisaishi. Totoro is just a perfect movie to me. I do not think I single line of dialogue or single animation cell could be improved upon. And, unlike some anime dubs, the English voice-over dubbing for this movie is phenomenal as well. Dakota and Elle Fanning play the two sisters and they proved very early on as children that they were both going to be fantastic actresses. And Tim Daly (best known as Joe from the sitcom Wings, and Superman/Clark Kent from Superman the Animated Series) is wonderful as their father. The score might be my favorite part though, and never fails to comfort and calm me.

My third favorite comfort movie is not TECHNICALLY a movie. It’s Over the Garden Wall, created by Patrick McHale (creative director for Adventure Time) and released on Cartoon Network. This was actually a mini-series released in November 2014 (I cannot believe it’s been that long!) and was 10 episodes of 12 minutes each. I bought the dvd version of it the second it was available, and when you use the “Play All” option, it runs through the whole series which, without commercials, is approximately 120 mins long. Thus, it works kind of like a movie. Like Totoro, I believe this show is one of the most perfect pieces of animation ever made. I do not believe you could improve on a single element. It is one of my most favorite things in any visual media. It has such a perfect folktale/fairy-tale style and tone. The animation style is wonderfully whimsical. The characters are funny and poignant and real. The voice acting is stellar (Elijah Wood is the main character and he’s fantastic!). Parts of it are delightfully strange and wonderfully creepy. And just like with Totoro, I think the music is my favorite part. The score and songs are composed/written by The Blasting Company and I love every single one of them. There was a period between 2016-2018 when my depression was really really bad (it’s still pretty bad) and I literally watched Over the Garden Wall every single night as I fell asleep. I am not exaggerating. Every single night for two years. It is still my most common late-night-watch, but I have mixed it up a bit in the last year or so. (I am, in fact, watching it as I type this…)

I have a few more comfort movies on my list. Pride and Prejudice (2005), Disney’s Tangled, The Labyrinth, and How to Train Your Dragon are all favorites, but the three above are definitely the ones I turn to most often.

How about you? Do you have any favorite movies you return to again and again?

Book Review: Disney’s Land

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Book: Disney’s Land: Walt Disney and the invention of the Amusement Park That Changed the World
Author: Richard Snow
Release Date: December 2019
Source: Hardcover bought At Barnes & Noble
Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars

I love Disney. Let me just be clear about that. I know it’s “cool” right now to criticize Disney (the company as a whole). I see comments and articles all over Twitter and Facebook and such about how horrible the company is, or how the Academy Awards are rigged to give them (more specifically Pixar) the Animated Feature Award every year, or how badly they treat their park employees, etc. I know all these things, and I agree with plenty (though not all) of them. There are many issues with the company as a whole that need to be addressed. Absolutely.

But I still LOVE Disney. Most little kids do, but many adults grow out of it. I never did. I never will. I have no wish to do so. It’s practically a religion to me. I love the movies (most of the time… no, I did not go see the live-action Aladdin nor the “live-action”-but-really-CGI Lion King). I love the tv programs. I love the Marvel movies (despite their many flaws). I haven’t entirely loved what they’ve done to the Star Wars films, but… *shrug* I ADORE the parks. I have loads and loads of Disney merchandise – art books and prints and dolls and pins and and and…

All this is to say: OF COURSE I was going to buy Richard Snow’s new book about the invention and design of Disneyland. And OF COURSE I was going to love it.

Now, Richard Snow is a well respected journalist, editor, and history writer. He has worked a quite a few documentaries including the Burns’ brothers’ The Civil War. And his last book, Iron Dawn: The Monitor, the Merrimack, and the Civil War Sea Battle That Changed History, won a prize for Naval Literature. So perhaps it was a bit odd that a history writer who has written about such serious topics would choose to write about something as “frivolous” as Disneyland. Thankfully, Richard Snow happens to be a HUGE fan of theme parks, and Disneyland in particular, and thankfully his editor and agent give him full rein to explore this topic, and thankfully he knew and PROVED that Disneyland is not such a frivolous topic after all.

His book Disney’s Land: Walt Disney and the Invention of the Amusement Park That Changed the World, is an enormously well-researched deep-dive into not only the park itself, but Walt Disney’s life and frame-of-mind leading up to and during the build of Disneyland, as well as providing snippets into the lives of the many many people (animators, designers, “imagineers”) who made Disneyland possible, all while also keeping the narrative deeply grounded and rooted in its context of post-WW2 1950s America.

To say this book is thorough and filled with more research – primary, secondary, interviews, etc – than you can shake a stick at would be a massive understatement. The bibliographies section is 7 pages long (in small print!) and has given me a mind-bogglingly huge new goal to find and read as many of the materials cited in the book as possible. But more than that, this book is also delightfully well-written: the prose is smart, and entertaining, and often very funny. And Richard Snow approaches the subject with so much respect and love, while remaining balanced, honest, and fair about Walt Disney’s (and others) faults and shortcomings, that I believe even the most hardened anti-Disney heart MUST come away with at least a LITTLE respect for the overall concept and project of Disneyland, and the men and women who made it possible.

If you, like me, love Disney. You absolutely definitely must read this book. If you are a tepid about Disney, I think even YOU might enjoy this read. I also believe that anyone in a creative business would find this book highly enlightening, inspiring, and possibly instructive. So get to it people!

(Next on my list of nonfiction – I read a LOT of nonfiction – is a book on a related topic to this one. It is The Queens of Animation by Nathalia Holt, which is about the women who worked for Disney Animation often with little or no recognition in the early days. One of my favorites of these women is Mary Blair. I’m really looking forward to this book!)

A Quick Note on Reading Progress

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This will be a short post for now, because I’ve been sick all week. I came home from work on last Thursday evening feeling pretty crappy and by Friday morning I was completely miserable and bedridden. I didn’t start feeling even semi-ok until this Wednesday afternoon. So I’m a bit behind on things, including drafting the next couple blog posts.

Still I thought I would drop a quick note, at least, to share a few reading updates.

For my 2020 “Storm the Castle” Reading Challenge, I have completed four books (Solaris, Lawrence in Arabia, Monster of Elendhaven, and Binti: Home). I am close to finishing two more books (Middlegame and Disney’s Land), which will put me close to ⅓ of the way through my 21 book challenge.

In addition, I have made some small progress on the 2020 “Finishing the Series” Challenge by completing books 1-4 of the Artemis Fowl series. Still, I have not made as much progress as I would have hoped in the first two months of the year (partly because I was sick, and partly because a couple of the books I chose – Lawrence in Arabia and Middlegame – are VERY long).

Next on my reading radar I have a few books lined up. First is The Queens of Animation by Nathalia Holt, which, like Disney’s Land, is a history/biography of those involved in the development of Disney, this time the women who worked in animation with little recognition. Second, is The Body in the Garden, an ARC I received from work (being released in April), which is a mystery set in 1815 and featuring a woman who takes it upon herself to investigate a murder (in other words this book was pretty much made for me). I also have an ARC for The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water (being released in June), that I’m going to try to get to. I may also jump into the next Artemis Fowl book – they are short enough and fun enough to get through while also working on longer books, and I’d like to say I finished at least ONE of the many series’ I hoped to for that reading challenge.

So that’s it from me for now! How are your reading goals coming along for the year? What books are on your radar for March?

Going to the Movies

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Photo by Myke Simon on Unsplash

Movies. I love them. I love going to the movie theatre and sitting in the dark in front of an enormous screen and allowing myself to be wholly absorbed. I love sitting in the comfort of my own living room/bedroom and watching movies (usually the same ones I always watch) while half-paying attention and scrolling on my phone or ipad. I love buying dvds (to the point that I still have a handful of dvds in their shrink-wrap a year or two later!). I love talking about movies. So much so that I sometimes wonder if I should have gone into film studies, or at least taken a few courses on the subject (if such an elective had existed during my undergrad, I probably would have!).

I enjoy going to the movies with friends or family. My most common movie-going buddy is my mother, actually. We go to the movies together quite a lot – probably a couple times a month. It helps that we have pretty similar taste in movies most of the time. And my mother doesn’t really like going to the movies by herself, so if I can’t go with her she just skips it altogether. 

I, on the other hand, really enjoy going to the movies by myself. There is something so therapeutic and calming about buying a small (or in my case, not-so-small) popcorn and settling into a dark theatre by yourself, and being completely invested in what you are watching and your own enjoyment in the experience without worrying if your companion is liking it as much as you are, or whatnot.

Photo by Erik Witsoe on Unsplash

There was a recent article on the Stylist website about going to the movies alone, in fact. You can find it here: “Scared of going to the cinema alone? Don’t be: it’s a brilliant form of self-care” by Kayleigh Dray

While I would not call myself a “cine-nazi” as the writer does in the article, I do agree with pretty much everything she says. If you’ve never gone to the movie theatre by yourself, I highly recommend it!

When I was working on my undergrad there was a tiny movie theatre on campus. It was mainly used for special events and presentations, but every Wednesday at noon and again at 7pm, they would show popular movies. Not current releases, of course – they didn’t have the kind of funds to get current movies. Instead they would show semi-recent movies (things released in the last couple years). I think it was kind of whatever they could get their hands on, but that was fine by me. I usually had classes or something during the noon viewings, but I caught several movies that way: Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Sahara, Hitch, etc. (I’m aging myself, aren’t I?) These were always movies that I would probably never have bothered seeing in theatres when they were released, but the movies on campus were like a $1 or $2, so… why not? 

More recently, I have gone to the movies by myself just a couple times in the last few months. I saw A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood by myself (and cried). I saw Frozen 2 TWICE by myself (and cried). But I have seen quite a few movies with my mother. And most recently I saw 1917 with my brother.

I go to the movies often enough that I have even considered buying AMC’s Stubs A-List membership (which is $20 per month!). My budget remains very tight right now, so I can’t really justify such an expense, but maybe if I can get my finances in more order in the next few months, I might actually do it. If you aren’t familiar with the A-List subscription: it’s a new-ish feature that AMC is doing. For $20/month you can see up to 3 movies per week! So, if your full-price ticket is ~$11 (this depends on where you live, of course), if you see at least TWO movies per month, the subscription has paid for itself. If you see just ONE movie per WEEK, you’ve doubled your value, etc. If you are a constant movie-goer, it is worth it, I think. Like I said, I’m seriously considering it…

Anyway, to wrap this up I thought it would be fun to list a few of my favorite movies from 2019 (these are not in any particular order):

  • Captain Marvel (this movie kicked serious ass! Girl Power ftw!)
  • Frozen 2 (I am a huge Disney nerd and I love Elsa, so…)
  • Knives Out (smart, darkly-hilarious, great Agatha Christie-esque mystery)
  • The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (a little-seen, very strange and amazing indie film by terry Gilliam)
  • Be Natural: the untold story of Alice Guy-Blache (an indie film documentary about the first woman director – I was a Kickstarter contributor for this movie and it was ASTONISHINGLY GOOD)

I’d love to hear what your favorite movies were for 2019! Or for that matter, what movies you are looking forward to for 2020!