29th Sep 202327th Jun 2024 by The Disney Purist

#13 Alice in Wonderland (1951)

BACKGROUND

Lewis Carroll’s original story, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, has been adapted for screen and stage numerous times over the years, however, despite seeming like a simple film to make, given the ample source material, Disney’s Alice in Wonderland actually took a number of years to develop and produce.

With all these adaptations over the decades, you’d think it would be difficult for a studio to make their mark with this story, yet Alice in Wonderland is likely to be the most memorable adaptation of Carroll’s famous stories, and for many, their first introduction to the story. This might lead viewers to believe that it was always a popular film, but in fact, it was not. When Alice in Wonderland was first released in 1951, its reviews were not kind, and it underperformed at the box-office.

I have always liked Alice in Wonderland, though it is not one that I revisit too often, but it does have a short enough running time – just 75 minutes – to make it easy to sit and watch whenever I have a spare hour. It is the best adaptation in my opinion as well. The 1999 made-for-television film Alice in Wonderland does stick in my mind, as it did feature an all-star cast, with actors like Martin Short, Miranda Richardson, Whoopi Goldberg and Gene Wilder, but it was just bizarre and not overly pleasing to the eye.

PLOT

Disney’s Alice in Wonderland begins with Alice, a little blonde girl, being read a history book by her sister in the park. Alice is not paying any attention to her lesson, and is distracted by her cat, Dinah, who is a very cute cat and doesn’t get nearly enough screen time, and everything else in the garden. Alice says she can’t possibly pay attention to a book with no pictures in it, and starts to imagine her own world, where everything would be backwards and not make sense. Soon, she sees a white rabbit with a watch and a waistcoat running nearby, shouting about being late for something. Curious, Alice follows the White Rabbit, wanting to know why he’s late. She crawls into a hole and tumbles down, leaving her cat and the world she knows behind.

Alice doesn’t fall, but floats downwards, passing by floating furniture, before turning upside down. Eventually, she hits solid ground, where she sees the Rabbit going through a door. Alice opens lots of tiny doors and steps into a hall, where she finds a door on the opposite side. She tries to turn it, but is surprised to find the doorknob can talk! The Doorknob tells Alice she is too big to get through the door and tells her to drink the bottle that’s on the table. Sure enough, she becomes small enough to fit through the door, but the Doorknob forgot to tell her that he’s locked, with the key up on the table that Alice can no longer reach. A box of “Eat Me” biscuits appears in front of her, which then makes her too big again. Alice cries, with huge tears falling down her cheeks, flooding the entire room. The Doorknob tells Alice to drink from the bottle again, which makes Alice too small and she falls inside the bottle. Luckily, as she floats down her sea of tears, the Doorknob swallows a bunch of it through the keyhole, including the bottle, and she gets through to the other side.

There, she sees a dodo, birds and lobsters swimming in the water. She soon hits dry land, tumbling out of the bottle, where these creatures are running around in a circle, called a “Caucus Race”, trying to dry themselves. Alice is told by the Dodo to join in, despite Alice’s protestations that they can’t possibly get dry this way as waves keep crashing on to them. She soon sees the Rabbit again, and follows him into the nearby woods, where she meets Tweedledee and Tweedledum. The twins introduce themselves to Alice, and want her to stay and talk to them for a while. Alice doesn’t, saying she is curious by the White Rabbit. This reminds the two of a story called “The Walrus and the Carpenter”, which features curious oysters. Alice sits down to hear it. The story goes that a walrus and a carpenter were walking along the beach, and sees loads of oysters in the sea. Thinking they’d be perfect for their dinner, the Walrus coaxes the young oysters out of the sea and leads them to a makeshift restaurant that the Carpenter has put together. As the Carpenter is told to get condiments and bread, the Walrus shocks the oysters by eating them all. The Carpenter returns to find the Walrus has eaten every last oyster and chases him down the beach. Alice decides as she’s not an oyster, she doesn’t need to worry about being curious and leaves.

Alice reaches a cottage, which turns out to be the White Rabbit’s. The Rabbit sends Alice in to find his gloves, but as she does so, she eats a biscuit which makes her grow so large that she fills the entire house and is stuck. The White Rabbit asks the Dodo and Bill, a lizard with a ladder, to help. The Dodo tells Bill to go down the chimney and pull the monster (Alice) out. As Bill falls down the chimney, soot flies into the air, making Alice sneeze and sends Bill shooting back out of the chimney. The Dodo then decides to burn the house down, “to smoke the monster out”, and starts to break up all of Rabbit’s furniture. Alice sees a bed of carrots nearby and pulls one out to eat. As she takes a bite, she shrinks down to a tiny size again, and rushes out of the house to follow the Rabbit again. This time, she finds herself in a garden, where the flowers talk and sing to her. They decide that Alice must be a weed, as she can’t say what type of flower she is, and chase her out of the garden.

Next, Alice meets a smoking caterpillar sitting on a mushroom. He wants to know who she is, but she can’t explain as she’s changed so much since she got to Wonderland. The Caterpillar insults Alice as she tries to recite, making her so angry she leaves. She is soon called back by the Caterpillar, and told to control her temper. He wants to know what is wrong with her. She says she wants to be taller, as being three inches high is a “wretched height”. It turns out the Caterpillar is this exact height. Furious, he suddenly turns into a butterfly, and tells Alice that the mushroom near her can change her size; one side will make her taller, the other shorter. After some trial and error, involving a bird and her nest of eggs, Alice gets back to her normal size and carries on. Alice goes back into the woods, but is confused by the poor signage. The Cheshire Cat materialises in front of her, and Alice asks him for directions. He tells her to talk to the Mad Hatter or the March Hare, telling Alice that “most everyone’s mad here”, annoying Alice who doesn’t want to talk to mad people.

She stumbles upon the Mad Hatter’s tea party and hears of him and the March Hare singing about their “unbirthday”. Alice finds it’s her “unbirthday” too! They celebrate with a cake, and invite her to join them for tea. Alice doesn’t manage to drink a drop of it, as the two question her, constantly move seats, and call her mad. She also scares the Dormouse, who sleeps in the teapot, by mentioning her cat, Dinah. The White Rabbit runs past, shouting about being late, so the Mad Hatter takes a look at his watch. The watch is two days slow apparently, but the Mad Hatter can fix it! He spreads butter, jam, tea, and lemon into the mechanics of the watch and closes it up. The watch goes crazy and starts to jump and snap all over the place. There’s no option but to break it with a mallet. The White Rabbit is upset, but the Mad Hatter and March Hare cheer him up with their “Unbirthday Song” and throw him back into the woods. Alice leaves shortly after, deciding she wants to go home.

She walks through Tulgey Wood, where she encounters many strange creatures, but finds herself hopelessly lost. The Cheshire Cat returns to her and tells her she must meet the Queen who rules this land before she leaves. He shows her a shortcut to the Queen’s castle and Alice goes in. She sees a pack of cards painting roses red, and asks why they are doing that. It turns out they planted white roses, and knowing that would anger the Queen, must paint them red, the colour she wanted, before she finds out. But she does find out, because the Queen and her Cards enter the gardens. The Queen of Hearts sees paint dripping from the roses and questions the cards, eventually sending them off to have their heads cut off. Alice is invited to play croquet with the Queen. The Queen wins by cheating, which upsets Alice. The Cheshire Cat reappears, this time on the Queen herself, and starts to talk to Alice. Alice looks rude and insulting as she responds to the Cat as nobody else can see it since the Cat disappears without warning. The Cheshire Cat manages to flip up the Queen’s skirts, exposing her underwear to everyone. Alice is blamed for this and the Queen begins to shout “off with her head”, when the King asks for a trial instead.

Alice is taken to the Court Room, where they hear pointless evidence from the Mad Hatter, the March Hare, and the Dormouse, none of whom were even there. They celebrate the Queen’s “unbirthday” and gift her a crown, except the crown is actually the Cheshire Cat. Alice tries to get everyone to see him, but he vanishes. The Dormouse freaks out again at the word “cat”, which leads to the Queen having jam thrown in her face. The Queen is furious and thinks it was Alice who did it, and starts to shout “off with her head” again, when Alice finds the mushroom from earlier in her pocket. She eats both halves and grows tall again. This gives her the confidence to call the Queen a “fat, old tyrant”, but shrinks down to her normal size just as she finishes. Alice runs away, and is chased by hundreds of the Queen’s Card Soldiers. She is chased all through Wonderland, where she sees characters from her earlier adventures, who all try to stop her. She finally gets to the Doorknob from the start of the day and asks him to let her through. He shows Alice that she is already through; Alice is asleep by the river in the park, where she was before she fell down the Rabbit Hole. It turns out it was all a dream. Alice shouts at herself to wake up, and we are taken back to the park, where Alice’s sister is telling her to wake up. Alice wakes up confused, and starts reciting the Caterpillar’s earlier phrases, explaining her visit to Wonderland. Exasperated, her sister simply says they should get home for tea.

CHARACTERS & CAST

Alice is a precocious little girl, who is easily angered and annoyed, having multiple arguments with Wonderland’s residents, including the Caterpillar, the Mad Hatter, the March Hare, the Cheshire Cat, and the Queen of Hearts! She doesn’t seem to know when she should and shouldn’t talk. Most of the film seems to be about teaching Alice how to be courteous and polite, as she is taught how to speak “correctly” by the Caterpillar; how to sing sweetly by the Flowers; warned of the dangers of being too curious by Tweedledee and Tweedledum; and taught to address royalty by the Queen. Unfortunately, these lessons fall on deaf ears for the most part as Alice is so confident and headstrong that she keeps barrelling in to more difficult situations, getting to the point where she ends up on trial for angering the Queen. It’s not good, is it? If I was stuck in Wonderland with no idea about their rules of society, I’d spend my time trying to work out how to behave correctly so I could keep my head on my shoulders. But not Alice; she does the complete opposite. Whether that’s a good thing or not, I’ll let you decide! Kathryn Beaumont voices Alice, and also provided the live-action reference material for the character. Beaumont would go on to voice Wendy Darling in the next Disney animated feature film, Peter Pan (1953). She would also reprise both these roles on occasion for Disney projects. Kathryn Beaumont was named a Disney Legend in 1998.

The real-life inspiration for Alice was a five-year-old girl called Alice Liddell. She met mathematician, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, who would later be known under his penname Lewis Carroll, at that age, as her father was Dean at Christ Church College at the University of Oxford where Dodgson was a maths tutor. He would soon become a friend of the Liddell family. The stories were created on 4^th July 1862 by Dodgson. He improvised the stories as a way of entertaining Alice and her sisters, Lorina and Edith. The first written manuscript of the story was given to Alice Liddell in November 1864, with illustrations also being provided by Dodgson; the book was titled Alice’s Adventures Under Ground. The story was then published widely in 1865, with illustrations by Sir John Tenniel, under the name Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. A sequel titled Alice Through the Looking Glass was later published in 1871. The books were a hit.

After the publications, Alice Liddell lived a life without fame. She married Reginald Hargreaves, who was a pupil of Dodgson’s, on 15^th September 1880. They had three sons and lived in Hampshire. It wasn’t until financial problems many years later, forcing her to sell Dodgson’s original manuscript to an American collector, that Alice Liddell would find fame. She visited the USA for Carroll’s centenary celebrations at Columbia University, and later received an Honorary degree from there for services to literature. She also consulted on Paramount’s 1933 film, Alice in Wonderland. Liddell died in November 1934. A few years later, in 1948, the original manuscript of the story was returned to the UK[1].

There are multiple other characters in Alice in Wonderland, so I won’t discuss all of them, but I will mention some of the more important ones. First, the Mad Hatter, the March Hare and the Dormouse feature in two separate sequences: the Tea Party and the Trial. It’s quite clear that, although the Mad Hatter and the March Hare are bizarre and odd, they are harmless and mean well generally. They just want to celebrate, have a good time, and seem to quite enjoy meeting new people. The Dormouse doesn’t feature too much; he’s mostly just sleeping in his tea pot, so he’s definitely harmless and not mad at all really. The Dormouse’s voice was provided by Disney Sound Effects Head, Jimmy MacDonald. MacDonald created contraptions to make the sounds for many characters in Disney movies, such as the Crocodile’s “tick-tock” in Peter Pan (1953); Dragon Maleficent’s snapping jaws in Sleeping Beauty (1959), where castanets were used; and the buzzing of Evinrude the dragonfly in The Rescuers (1977). MacDonald was also the official second voice artist to voice Mickey Mouse, after Walt Disney, and the original voice of Chip, from the duo of Chip ‘n’ Dale.

Musician, comedian and actor Jerry Colonna voices the March Hare. He had previously narrated the segment “Casey at the Bat”, which features within the package feature Make Mine Music (1946) for Disney. Colonna was also one of Bob Hope’s sidekicks in Hope’s radio shows and films during the 1940s and 1950s. The Mad Hatter’s voice is provided by Ed Wynn, who began his career in radio shows before moving into film. He hosted his own variety show, The Ed Wynn Show (1949-50) for which he won the Emmy Award for Best Live Show. Ed Wynn also appears as giggling Uncle Albert in the Disney film, Mary Poppins (1964). I really like the March Hare and the Mad Hatter as characters, with the Tea Party being one of the funniest scenes in the film. During the live-action reference shoot for this scene, Ed Wynn ad-libbed many of his lines. When it came time for Wynn to record his lines clean in the studio, the team found they weren’t coming across funny enough, so they went back to the live-action tape and used those lines in the film instead[2].

The Cheshire Cat is the most lovable of the characters in my opinion, but that’s probably just because he’s a big, fluffy, pink and purple cat! He’s a bit tricky to deal with though, not answering questions directly, vanishing at random, and seeming to want to get Alice into trouble with the Queen! I still like him though; he’s fun and the choice of voice actor probably helps with his likeability too. Sterling Holloway voices the Cheshire Cat, with Holloway having provided the voices for numerous characters for the Walt Disney Company throughout his career. Some of these include Mr. Stork in Dumbo (1941), Kaa in The Jungle Book (1967) and the original voice of Winnie the Pooh. Holloway has a kind, warm voice, so you can see why Disney hired him so often.

Another prolific Disney voice actor credited in Alice in Wonderland is Verna Felton who voices the menacing Queen of Hearts. It’s clear from the Queen of Hearts’ first entrance that she is difficult to please, high maintenance, and easy to anger, as she immediately sends three of her Cards to be beheaded from the first moment we meet her! She’s certainly not easy to get along with, though her voice may come across as sweet and kind when she wants to, just to lure you into a false sense of security. Verna Felton has provided the voices of characters such as Mrs. Jumbo and the Elephant Matriarch in Dumbo (1941), the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella (1950), Flora in Sleeping Beauty (1959), and Winifred the Elephant in The Jungle Book (1967).

But that’s not all because there are a few more actors who appear in Alice in Wonderland and many other Disney movies. English actor and singer J. Pat O’ Malley, who was born in Burnley, which explains the Northern accents in this film, voices the characters of Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the Walrus, the Carpenter and Mother Oyster, so basically all the voices in that sequence, except for Alice. I always liked watching “The Walrus and the Carpenter” story when I was younger, rewinding the VHS tape to see it over and over. I find Tweedledee and Tweedledum a bit annoying though! O’Malley also voiced Colonel Hathi in The Jungle Book (1967); Cyril Proudbottom, the horse in The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949); and Jasper and Colonel in One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961).

Bill Thompson, who voiced Mr. Smee in Peter Pan (1953), Jock in Lady and the Tramp (1955), King Hubert in Sleeping Beauty (1959) and Uncle Waldo in The Aristocats (1970), voices both the White Rabbit and the Dodo in Alice in Wonderland. The Dodo acts like he is incredibly intelligent, but in actual fact, his ideas and plans don’t make any sense and don’t really work. The White Rabbit is the catalyst for Alice even coming to Wonderland, so he’s important for the story, but he is quite high-strung; he needs to relax and stop running around so much! I like both these two characters.

The Mellomen, a singing quartet founded by Thurl Ravenscroft, the original voice of Tony the Tiger for Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes, featured as singers for large groups of characters in Disney animated features, such as the Pirates and the Indians in Peter Pan (1953), the dogs in the pound in Lady and the Tramp (1955) and the Dawn Patrol in The Jungle Book (1967). In Alice in Wonderland, the Mellomen are the singing Card Painters.

A couple of other actors to mention are Richard Haydn and Heather Angel who provide the voices for the exacting Caterpillar and Alice’s frustrated sister respectively. Haydn would later play the role of Max Detweller in The Sound of Music (1965) and Angel would voice the part of Mrs. Darling, Wendy’s mother, in Peter Pan (1953).

PRODUCTION

Walt Disney’s fascination with Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland goes back to his time at school, where he loved reading Carroll’s original stories. In 1923, as part of Walt’s original studios, Laugh-O-Gram Studio in Missouri, him and his staff made a short film titled Alice’s Wonderland, which involved a live-action little girl dreaming of Cartoonland, an animated world, where she interacted with various animated animals, before being chased off a cliff by hungry lions. It was a silent, black-and-white short film, which combined animation and live-action, lasting about ten minutes. After the film was completed, the Laugh-O-Gram Studio went bankrupt and shut down, leading Walt to go to Los Angeles and set up a new studio over there. Walt and his new studio then produced 56 more shorts like this from 1923 to 1927, which became known as the Alice Comedies. In 1933, Walt Disney considered making a feature-length movie based on the Carroll stories as an animation/live-action hybrid like his Alice Comedies, with Hollywood actress Mary Pickford in the starring role. However, partly due to Paramount’s own adaptation being released that year, nothing further happened with the idea and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs became the Disney Studios first feature-length movie release.

In 1936, a Disney short was released, titled Thru the Mirror, which involved Mickey Mouse stepping through a mirror, after Mickey falls asleep reading Alice Through the Looking Glass. In the mirror, Mickey eats nuts to make him grow tall and then small. Whilst small, he skips with a phone cord, dances with a pair of gloves, and then marches alongside a pack of cards. Mickey dances with the Queen of Hearts card, angering the King, who sword-fights Mickey and orders the cards to attack him. Mickey gets away, and races over the Globe in the room. He falls through the Globe, but returns to the surface, normal-sized again, so he can return in time for Mickey to be woken by his alarm clock[3].

This shows that the Alice stories were still very much on Walt Disney’s mind. Though it wasn’t until 1938 that Walt moved forward with the idea of producing a movie again, when he formally registered the title with the Motion Picture Association of America and bought the rights to the story and Tenniel’s illustrations. Story man Al Perkins produced a 161-page analysis of the book and analysed each chapter, thinking about how it would work in animation. In June 1939, British art director David Hall spent three months producing around 400 paintings, drawings and sketches using Perkins’ book analysis as a guide. A film reel of these concept drawings was filmed in November 1939 and shown to Walt, who was not pleased. He felt that the animators were not understanding the spirit of the story correctly, making it too dark, and that Hall’s sketches were too close to Tenniel’s illustrations and therefore would be difficult to animate. Although the film later went in a different direction, some suggestions of Perkins’ were used in the final film, such as the White Rabbit wearing glasses, something Carroll had envisioned but did not translate into Tenniel’s illustrations, as well as the watch being fixed by the Mad Hatter belonging to the White Rabbit, and the Cheshire Cat appearing more.

In April 1941, the movie was considered again with a live-action girl. This time, actress Gloria Jean was considered for the main role. America’s involvement in World War II in this year then halted production on the movie. After the war had ended, the idea of Alice in Wonderland was returned to. This time, Ginger Rogers was considered for another live-action/animated hybrid film, and later Luana Patten, who starred in Song of the South (1946) and So Dear to My Heart (1948) for Disney[4]. In 1945, Aldous Huxley, who wrote the novel Brave New World, was hired to write the script for the movie, but Walt found it too close to Carroll’s novel, as well as too difficult to understand. From this point, Walt decided to make Alice in Wonderland a fully animated movie, with production moving forward in 1949.

As the original stories involve over eighty characters, many characters and sequences were cut from the final film. These include the White Knight, who Walt Disney was fond of, but felt that by cutting the character, Alice would be able to figure things out for herself in Wonderland instead of relying on the White Knight to help her. Another scene titled “Pig and Pepper” involving the Duchess, her cook and a screaming baby that transforms into a pig when Alice tries to rescue it from the mad house, was also cut, with this scene later being available to view with David Hall’s original artwork on home releases. Another was an early version of Alice daydreaming of a world of her own. Alice would have laid on the grass, watching birds fly, and seeing animal shapes in the clouds and moving trees blowing before the White Rabbit appeared[5]. There was a planned segment on the Jabberwocky, with Stan Freberg, who would voice the Beaver in Lady and the Tramp (1955) for Disney, being chosen for the character. Some animation was completed for the segment, but it was removed as Walt felt the scene would be too scary for children. Original pressbooks from 1951 credited Freberg with voicing the Jabberwocky despite this edit. Concept art of the sequence by Tom Oreb was released in 1992[6].

One thing that was definite in production of the movie was that Mary Blair’s concept art would be used as the overall animation style for the movie; because of her work, Walt finally believed that they could make Alice in Wonderland and do the original stories justice. Blair’s art style influenced Saludos Amigos (1942), The Three Caballeros (1944), Cinderella (1950), and later Peter Pan (1953), as well as Alice in Wonderland. The Tea Party and the March of the Cards sequences are the most obvious examples of Mary Blair’s art styling making its way into the film, with her concept art being perfectly mimicked in the scenes[7].

The March of the Cards is similar to the hallucinogenic “Pink Elephants on Parade” from Dumbo (1941), as it uses bold, bright colours, which quickly change. It was seen as the big spectacular scene in the movie, making the Cards appear as soldiers and the villain’s minions. Walt was inspired by Carroll’s depiction of the Playing Cards in the original stories here. Sammy Fain, who was involved with composing many of the songs for the movie’s soundtrack, was playing a two-bar intro one day that Walt happened to hear. Walt asked for it to be considered for this particular scene of the cards marching[8]. I think it’s a mesmerising scene to watch and I like the music that plays with it.

MUSIC

Alice in Wonderland features the most songs of any Disney animated feature, with a total of sixteen original songs, though some of these are more sung-through dialogue, used for narration purposes. Alongside Sammy Fain, Bob Hilliard contributed lyrics to the majority of the Alice in Wonderland songs, the first of which is the title song, “Alice in Wonderland”, which plays during the Opening Credits. It is a quiet, calming song, performed by the Jud Conlon Chorus. After that, the movie characters sing the rest of the soundtrack. As Alice, Kathryn Beaumont sung two solos, both written by Fain and Hilliard, which are “In a World of My Own”, sung by the riverbank as Alice dreams of her very own “Wonderland”, and “Very Good Advice”, which she sings when she is lost in Tulgey Wood and can’t find her way home. I’m not a big fan of either of these songs; they’re nice enough, but not particularly memorable. Alice also sings part of the song “All in the Golden Afternoon”, with the chorus of flowers. This song is my favourite of all the Alice in Wonderland songs, probably because it sounds like a real musical performance, and not just story narration.

Other Fain and Hilliard songs include “I’m Late”, which is more of a ditty, performed by Bill Thompson as the White Rabbit, and “The Caucus Race”, also performed by Bill Thompson but as the Dodo this time, alongside the Jud Conlon Chorus. I really like “The Caucus Race”, even though it’s not a long song, and doesn’t mean much; it just sounds fun and upbeat! For J. Pat O’Malley as Tweedledee and Tweedledum, Fain and Hilliard wrote “The Walrus and the Carpenter”. This is a sung-through story, more so than an actual song, but again I very much like this “song”, and the sequence that goes with it. The final songs they contribute to are “Painting the Roses Red” and the reprise of sorts “Who’s Been Painting My Roses Red”, with the first song being performed by Kathryn Beaumont as Alice and The Mellomen as the Card Painters, and the second by Verna Felton as the Queen of Hearts. These are quite catchy tunes, and probably one of the more recognisable songs from the soundtrack. In some versions of the soundtrack, “Painting the Roses Red” is combined with “The March of the Cards” instrumental, which I mentioned earlier.

Long-time Disney composer Oliver Wallace, who had composed the scores for films such as Dumbo (1941), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Original Score, alongside Frank Churchill; The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949); and Cinderella (1950), contributed to Alice in Wonderland’s soundtrack, alongside Ted Sears, who was the first head of Disney’s story department, where he also contributed song lyrics for films like Peter Pan (1953) and Sleeping Beauty (1959). These songs are “Old Father William”, performed by Tweedledee and Tweedledum, albeit briefly; “We’ll Smoke the Blighter Out”, another quick tune, performed by Bill Thompson as the Dodo; and the song “A-E-I-O-U (The Caterpillar Song”, sung by Richard Haydn as the Caterpillar. No lyrics as such feature in the song; the Caterpillar just sings the five letters in different variations, but nevertheless, it’s a fitting introduction to the Caterpillar, and sounds very mysterious as Alice figures out who or what is making the strange sounds.

Don Raye, known for writing songs for singers The Andrews Sisters with hits such as “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy”, and songwriter Gene de Paul, who had collaborated with Raye to write the songs for “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” section of the film The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, wrote one of the final two songs to mention in the soundtrack. This was “’Twas Brillig”, a musical recitation of the poem “The Jabberwocky” by Lewis Carroll, which is performed by Sterling Holloway as the Cheshire Cat. I love this song; again, it’s catchy and memorable. It was actually a late addition to the movie, as there was a plan as late as 1950 to have the Jabberwocky as a character, with a whole scene and song called “Beware the Jabberwock”. When it was cut, they decided to at least reference the Jabberwocky, by giving a song, reciting parts of the original poem, to the Cheshire Cat, which meant removing the Cat’s own song “I’m Odd”, which was written in 1949[9]. I’ve heard the re-recording of the original song, and it’s catchy, but I prefer “’Twas Brillig”.

The final song to mention is potentially the most well-known from the film: “The Unbirthday Song”. It is performed by Alice, the Mad Hatter and the March Hare and explains exactly what an “unbirthday” is. It’s a fun, upbeat song, perfect at this point in the movie when Alice is becoming more and more confused and irritated by the people of Wonderland! It was written by Mack David, All Hoffman and Jerry Livingston, who collaborated on the songs for Cinderella (1950), Disney’s previous animated release. Parts of this soundtrack can be heard within certain attractions at the Disney Parks where the characters of Alice in Wonderland appear. Oliver Wallace was nominated at the Academy Awards for Best Scoring of a Musical Picture for Alice in Wonderland but lost to An American in Paris (1951).

Many more songs were recorded as demos, but did not make it into the final cut of the film, mostly because those characters or scenes were removed from the storyline, and therefore could not be used. These original song demos appeared within the Bonus Features on the 60^th Anniversary home release of Alice in Wonderland. Some of these include: “If You’ll Believe In Me”, written for the Lion and the Unicorn; “Everything Has a Useness”, originally meant for the Caterpillar; and “Beautiful Soup”, written for the Mock Turtle, which was to be set to the tune of “The Blue Danube Waltz” by Johann Strauss II[10].

Another interesting point to mention on the music is that “Second Star to the Right” from Peter Pan (1953) uses the melody of a song originally planned for Alice in Wonderland (1951). This song would’ve been called “Beyond the Laughing Sky”, to be sung by Alice in place of “In a World of My Own”. It was a slow ballad, and wasn’t seen to fit the tone of the movie particularly well. The music was written by Sammy Fain. As he worked on both films, he simply used his melody with new lyrics by Sammy Cahn for Peter Pan instead[11].

RECEPTION

As an early way of promoting the movie, a one-hour Christmas special by Walt Disney Productions, titled One Hour in Wonderland, aired on Christmas Day 1950. A few clips of the movie were shown, such as a brief clip of Tweedledee and Tweedledum and the full sequence of the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party. In June 1951, a short documentary titled Operation Wonderland featured further looks at the movie, including parts of “The Walrus and the Carpenter”, “All in the Golden Afternoon”, and the Mad Hatter fixing the White Rabbit’s watch. Other short clips and concept art were shown.

On 26^th July 1951, Alice in Wonderland held its premiere in London, which was attended by Kathryn Beaumont and Walt Disney himself. Two days later, on 28^th July 1951, the movie hit US theatres. Unfortunately, despite hopes that Alice in Wonderland would be as popular as Cinderella (1950) was during its first release, it received mostly negative reviews upon its general release, particularly in the UK, where audiences disliked the “Americanisation” of the Lewis Carroll story. It lost almost $1 million at the box office, against its $3 million budget, during its initial theatrical run. Reviews from the time stated that there was very little story, with lots of different sequences simply being thrown together. Disney did take the poem of the “Jabberwocky” and the characters of Tweedledee and Tweedledum from Alice Through the Looking Glass and put them into Alice in Wonderland, despite the fact the two Carroll novels have very different plots. Much of the main storyline of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was used in the film, with a few omissions, but by taking bits and pieces from both stories, the essence of the original stories was likely lost, which would have annoyed fans of the novels. Critics also did not like the characters, feeling that they lacked warmth and heart. Some did not like how much Disney deviated from the well-known Tenniel illustrations. It was generally agreed upon, though, that the film would be entertaining enough for children and anyone unfamiliar with Carroll’s original story. Many critics did think the music and colourful animation was pleasant.

LEGACY

Over the years that followed, particularly in the 1960s and the 1970s, Alice in Wonderland began to profit from its re-releases. The 60s and 70s were big for Alice in Wonderland due to its psychedelic artwork and music becoming part of pop culture at the time[12]. Since this point, Alice in Wonderland has become more and more popular, now being considered one of the best Disney animated feature films, which is evident from the number of references to it within the Disney Parks, as well as spin-offs to it on screen. Alice and its characters also appear in Disney video games, like Kingdom Hearts and Disney Infinity.

On screen, Alice in Wonderland was one of the first Disney animated films to receive not one but two live-action adaptations, though it is not right to call them “remakes” as the films feel completely different to the animated film and do not bear much resemblance to it. The first live-action film, titled Alice in Wonderland, released in 2010, was directed by Tim Burton. It follows a nineteen-year-old Alice returning to Wonderland, where she must restore the White Queen’s throne by fighting against the Red Queen. Even from this very brief plot description, it is obvious that this version of Alice in Wonderland involves different characters to those in the animated film, with many more characters from Carroll’s original stories being used. It features an all-star cast including Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter, Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen, Anne Hathaway as the White Queen, Stephen Fry as the Cheshire Cat, and Alan Rickman as the Caterpillar. I watched this film once for a university project and I found the story much too dark, and Tim Burton’s artistic style didn’t appeal to me! But it did well at the box-office and won Academy Awards for Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design. In 2016, the sequel, Alice Through the Looking Glass, was released, with much of the cast from the first film returning to reprise their roles. This time, the film was directed by James Bobin. The story follows a 22-year-old Alice travelling through time to help the Mad Hatter find his family. Alice Through the Looking Glass received mostly negative reviews for its plot, and did not do well at the box-office. It was Alan Rickman’s final film performance, as he died in January 2016, five months before the movie’s release.

On television, a computer-animated series titled Alice’s Wonderland Bakery (2022-present) is currently airing on Disney Junior. Its first season aired in February 2022; its second began airing in June 2023. It follows the great-granddaughter of the original Alice working at the Wonderland Bakery, exploring the kingdom on numerous adventures with creatures the same or similar to those from the original Alice in Wonderland film. A spin-off of the popular ABC television series Once Upon a Time (2011-18) took place in Wonderland with Alice and the characters of Wonderland. Once Upon a Time in Wonderland only aired for one thirteen-episode series, from October 2013 to April 2014, before being cancelled. Its reviews were mixed, as some disliked the confusing plot. One character from this spin-off, Will Scarlet / The Knave of Hearts, did later appear in the actual series.

Alice in Wonderland is also a popular story to use for school productions. Disney condensed their story into a one-act stage show entitled Alice in Wonderland, Jr. but as of 2018, it is no longer available to license. I was in a strange adaptation of Alice in Wonderland at school, called Alice @ Wonderland.com. It was a “modern” version of the story from the early-2000s. As I can only find a couple of references to it anywhere, from people who were also in a school production of it, it must’ve been very short-lived; I can still remember some of the songs vaguely though. I was Crusty Crab, an incredibly minor part, but my dad made me a huge crab shell costume out of cardboard that fascinated my teachers! It was a non-Disney version, but just shows the number of adaptations of the story, which no doubt take elements from Disney’s animated film as well as the original Carroll stories.

At the Disney Parks, Alice in Wonderland is a basis for at least one attraction in all six of the Disney theme parks. Disneyland potentially has the most interesting attraction, a dark ride, unsurprisingly called Alice in Wonderland, that goes through the story of the film. It is two-storeys, with a zig-zagging outside track on the top floor. It looks great; I’m very jealous of Disneyland for having that because I love a good Fantasyland dark ride. But sadly, Disneyland is just that bit farther to travel than Walt Disney World, so I have not been on it before. The original version opened in June 1958. As well as this, the Storybook Land Canal Boats and the Casey Jr. Circus Train go past a miniature English village, based on the one from Alice in Wonderland. A doll of Alice and the White Rabbit appear within the UK section of the it’s a small world boat ride. Disneyland also has the Mad Tea Party, a spinning “tea cups” attraction, which is the only Disney one to be uncovered, in the open air. As for Alice in Wonderland character meet-and-greets, Alice, the Mad Hatter, and the White Rabbit have been spotted recently, with the Queen of Hearts and the Cheshire Cat being seen in the Frightfully Fun Parade at the Oogie Boogie Bash for the 2023 Halloween Season. Tweedledee and Tweedledum have not been seen for a while. There is also a gift shop in Disneyland’s Fantasyland named The Mad Hatter, after the Alice in Wonderland character.

At Walt Disney World Resort, within Magic Kingdom, they have their own version of the Mad Tea Party tea cups attraction. This one is under cover due to the ever-changing Florida weather. It has a huge tea pot spinning in the centre of it; the Dormouse even pops his head out on occasion. At Epcot, Alice has a permanent meet-and-greet location at the UK pavilion. In terms of other characters, the Mad Hatter was the most recently seen but that was a few years ago. The White Rabbit and the Cheshire Cat are even rarer at Walt Disney World, though you can find the Cheshire Cat Tail chocolate pastry at the Cheshire Café refreshment stand over by the Mad Tea Party. The Queen of Hearts is a regular at Walt Disney World’s Halloween and Villains Events, and is available as a meet-and-greet location at the 2023 Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. You may see Tweedledee and Tweedledum here too. At the Grand Floridian Resort and Spa, you used to be able to meet Alice and the Mad Hatter at the Supercalifragilistic Breakfast character meal at their restaurant, 1900 Park Fare. The Wonderland Tea Party was also available for children to attend where they would also be able to meet Alice and the Mad Hatter, however, 1900 Park Fare has not yet reopened since its closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

At Disneyland Paris, there are two Alice in Wonderland-themed attractions, with the first being another “tea cups” attraction, this time called Mad Hatter’s Tea Cups. It also has a cover, like the one at Walt Disney World. The second is Alice’s Curious Labyrinth. It is a literal maze, with models of characters from the movie, such as the Caterpillar, the Dodo and the Card Painters dotted on, around and within the hedges. There is also a large flower bed shaped like the Cheshire Cat and a multi-coloured castle in the centre to explore. I vaguely remember going through this maze when I was younger on my first visit to Disneyland Paris; I can’t remember if we finished though, as I’m pretty sure I freaked out about getting lost in it! I don’t think it helped that I kept thinking of a 1990s advert for Disneyland Paris, which I must’ve seen on some VHS tape, where the Queen of Hearts is chasing children through this maze and was worried it would happen to me! The Queen is a terrifying walk-around character…The Queen of Hearts and Tweedledee and Tweedledum were seen in 2023 at Disneyland Paris, with the Queen and the Cheshire Cat also being around for Halloween Season. Alice, the Mad Hatter and the White Rabbit have been less visible in recent years, but are likely to be available for meet-and-greets around their attractions at some point. An Alice in Wonderland-themed BMX show arrived at Walt Disney Studios Park at Disneyland Paris on 25th May 2024, in the area that used to house Moteurs…Action! Stunt Show Spectacular, which ran from 2002 to 2020[13]. It has been named Alice & the Queen of Hearts: Back to Wonderland and is a BMX stunt show with musical performances by steampunk versions of the Disney characters. The show is currently listed as ending on 29th September 2024.

At Hong Kong Disneyland, Mad Hatter Tea Cups is the name of this park’s “tea cups” attraction and is another covered attraction. As for Alice in Wonderland characters, Alice and the White Rabbit were seen most recently, with the Queen of Hearts being available to meet throughout the 2023 Halloween Season.

At Tokyo Disneyland, their “tea cups” attraction is titled Alice’s Tea Party. It is also covered and has the tea pot with the Dormouse popping his head out, like at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom. Like at Disneyland, a doll of Alice and the White Rabbit appear within the UK section of Tokyo’s it’s a small world boat ride. As for character meet-and-greets, Alice and the Mad Hatter were seen previously, however, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the White Rabbit and the Cheshire Cat have not been spotted for a while. The Queen of Hearts also seems to be a no-show; however, Tokyo Disneyland does have a quick-service dining location named after her, Queen of Hearts Banquet Hall, which appears to be quite popular with park guests. It is a cafeteria-style restaurant, with Card Soldiers and garden sets in place throughout the location. At the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel, you can also choose to stay in one of their Alice in Wonderland rooms. They are designed with motifs from the film and its characters, as well as pictures of concept art and paintings from the movie on the walls. There is even a clever lamp shade that looks like the Mad Hatter’s hat!

At Shanghai Disneyland, there is another maze, this time called the Alice in Wonderland Maze, but in this case themed after the live-action 2010 film, not the 1951 animated film, meaning it is slightly darker, with less bright colours than Alice’s Curious Labyrinth in Paris. The centre features an area themed to the Red Queen’s castle, with a huge model of her head watching you as you pass! Unlike the other five Disney Parks, Shanghai’s “tea cups” attraction is not themed to Alice in Wonderland, but instead uses honey pots for its vehicles as it is Winnie-the-Pooh themed. It is unclear if Alice in Wonderland characters are available for meet-and-greets at this park.

It looks very likely that the Alice in Wonderland characters will be available for meet-and-greets, random or permanent, for many years to come. They are also featured in parades and nighttime shows at the Disney Parks, be that as a walkaround character or through clips from the movie. For example, the Mad Hatter and Alice make an appearance at the Festival of Fantasy Parade at Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World, whilst Alice, Tweedledee and Tweedledum appear in Tokyo Disneyland’s Harmony in Color Parade. Previously, Alice featured in the now-defunct nighttime parade SpectroMagic and in the Main Street Electrical Parade, which occasionally comes back to Disneyland every now and again. In SpectroMagic, Alice and the White Rabbit were standing on one float, but in the Main Street Electrical Parade, there were many floats dedicated to the movie, with two huge mushroom floats being the main attention-grabbers; one had Alice and the Cheshire Cat, whilst the other one had the Caterpillar sat on top. As Alice in Wonderland is quite an old movie from the Disney Animation catalogue, the characters from the film are not likely to have starring roles in any current or upcoming shows or parades, but at least one character should still be there.

FINAL THOUGHTS

In recent years, Alice in Wonderland has become iconic. Walt Disney was disappointed with the initial reaction to his movie, but did state that he felt it would become a valuable property for the company – and that it did. Alice in Wonderland features prominently at the Disney Parks around the world, which might have seemed odd considering the film did not do well around the time Disneyland was being planned and when it first opened in 1955.

But it wouldn’t be too much later, during Alice in Wonderland’s re-releases, that it would become popular and generate big profits for the Disney Studios. It has stood the test of time, having celebrated its 70^th anniversary back in 2021, with adults and children alike finding admiration and love for the movie today.

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Author Unknown, ‘The real Alice in Wonderland’, VAM.ac.uk, date unknown.

[2] Credit: Disney, “Reflections on Alice”, from Alice in Wonderland (1951) 1-Disc 60^th Anniversary DVD (2011).

[3] Credit: Disney, “Thru the Mirror (1936)”, from Alice in Wonderland (1951) 1-Disc 60^th Anniversary DVD (2011).

[4] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘The Disney “Alice in Wonderland” Never Made’, CartoonResearch.com, 24^th July 2020.

[5] Credit: Disney, “Deleted Scene: Pig and Pepper”, “Deleted Concept: Alice Daydreams in Park”, from Alice in Wonderland (1951), 60^th Anniversary DVD and Blu-Ray (2011).

[6] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘Animation Anecdotes’, MousePlanet.com, 1^st October 2014.

[7] Credit: Disney, “Reflections on Alice”, from Alice in Wonderland (1951) 1-Disc 60^th Anniversary DVD (2011).

[8] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘The Playing Card Characters in Alice in Wonderland’, MousePlanet.com, 14^th September 2016.

[9] Credit: Disney, “I’m Odd” Cheshire Cat Song”, from Alice in Wonderland (1951) 1-Disc 60^th Anniversary DVD (2011).

[10] Credit: Disney, “Original Song Demos”, from Alice in Wonderland (1951) 60^th Anniversary Blu-Ray (2011).

[11] Credit: Disney, “From Wonderland to Neverland: The Evolution of Song”, from Alice in Wonderland (1951) 60^th Anniversary Blu-Ray (2011).

[12] Credit: Brittany DiCologero, ‘Today in Disney History, 1951: Alice in Wonderland Premiered in the U.K.’, WDW Magazine (online), 26^th July 2023.

[13] Brittani Tuttle, ‘BREAKING: Disneyland Paris Confirms Alice in Wonderland BMX Show, Announces New Drone Nighttime Show and Daytime Character State Show’, WDWNT.com, 28^th August 2023.

22nd Sep 202327th Jun 2024 by The Disney Purist

#35 Hercules (1997)

BACKGROUND

With Hercules being released within the famed Disney Renaissance Era, it was automatically going to become popular, mostly with those viewers who were children at the time, who see all films within the Disney Renaissance time period as bringing them a feeling of nostalgia. That would make it seem like Hercules was always a big hit.

But that wasn’t really the case. Though the children of the day may have loved it, in actual fact, Hercules was the Disney Renaissance film that did the worst at the box-office, and was not considered to be particularly original or exciting.

I am firmly within the pack of kids that loved it as children, and I believe my family and I watched it at the cinema when it was first released. I love Hercules and I rewatch it often, being able to quote many lines and scenes from it. Hercules sits comfortably within my Top 5 Disney films, mostly because the film involves my second favourite Disney villain, a very close second, I might add, but not quite enough to top my list.

Hercules does not have the universal appeal of other Disney movies, such as Beauty and the Beast (1991) or The Lion King (1994). Disney executives had hoped that Hercules would be as well-received as Aladdin (1992), however, it was not. Still, Hercules remains a firm favourite especially with “90s kids”, who continue to speak fondly of the movie as adults.

PLOT

Hercules begins with an invisible narrator who starts telling the story of Hercules. Five women on a nearby vase suddenly come alive, and ask the narrator if they can take over, to make the story more interesting. These women are the Muses, and they state that many eons ago, the Titans ruled over Earth, creating chaos everywhere. That is until the mighty Zeus trapped the Titans underground, becoming the ruler of Earth instead. We then go to “present day” and head up to Mount Olympus, home of the gods, where we see that Zeus and his wife, Hera, have a son, called Hercules, with all the gods assembling for a party to celebrate the birth. Zeus fashions a flying horse out of clouds as a gift to his son, the horse being called Pegasus. Everything is going well – until Hades, Zeus’ brother and ruler of the Underworld arrives, clearly not wanting to be there, and not willing to marvel at the kid. Hades leaves soon after arriving, having been jeered at and/or ignored by the crowd.

Hades is annoyed at being forced to rule the Underworld, a job that leaves him constantly busy and mostly alone, with only his two minions, Pain and Panic, for company, though those two are completely useless and infuriate Hades most of the time. Hades is told that The Fates are here, the three who control the lives of mortals, cutting their threads at the end of their lives and sending them to the Underworld. Hades convinces the Fates to tell him how his plan to take over Olympus may or may not happen. They eventually tell Hades that in eighteen years, the planets will align and that the time will come to release the Titans and overthrow Zeus. Hades is thrilled, until they tell him the bad news – that if Hercules fights, he will fail. Hades comes up with a plan to bring Hercules to Earth and turn him mortal. Pain and Panic are sent to kidnap the baby and force-feed him a potion to turn him mortal, with him having to drink every last drop. Pain and Panic are disturbed by two mortals, and hide, leaving a crying Hercules and the bottle of potion, which breaks. Unbeknownst to Pain and Panic, there was one last drop in that bottle…Pain and Panic turn into snakes and go to attack Hercules, but as he didn’t drink the whole potion, he retained his god-like strength and easily defeats them. He is taken in by the mortals, Amphitryon and Alcmene.

Some years later, Hercules, now a teenager, finds that he doesn’t fit in with others, with his super-strength generally causing problems for everyone else. This is clear when Hercules tries to join in a game of discus with a group of boys, but as he catches the disc, he bumps into a column, sending the whole marketplace into chaos, with every building destroyed. Amphitryon tries to calm Hercules, but he doesn’t listen, thinking he doesn’t belong here and annoyed that he doesn’t know where he would. Later that day, his adopted parents give him a crest with the symbol of the gods on it, telling Hercules it was around his neck when he was found. Hercules decides to travel to the Temple of Zeus for answers. At the temple, the great statue of Zeus comes alive, and grabs Hercules, announcing that he is Hercules’ father. Hercules is shocked. Zeus tells him how Hercules ended up on Earth, and says that if he wants to rejoin them, he needs to become a “true hero”. Zeus asks Hercules to seek out Philoctetes, the trainer of heroes. He is also reunited with Pegasus.

On a misty island, Hercules finds a goat stuck in bushes and pulls him free. Except, it’s not a goat, but a satyr, half-man, half-goat, and that satyr is Philoctetes, or Phil, who is most annoyed that Hercules has now scared the nymphs away that he was ogling at. Good thing, really, because that’s kind of creepy, Phil! Anyway, Phil tells Hercules that he once trained heroes, including Perseus and Achilles, but that they never achieved greatness so he has retired and will not help Hercules. With some “persuading” from Zeus, Phil reluctantly agrees and they begin training. Some years later, Hercules is ready and Phil tells him they are going to Thebes, as that town is full of troubles and needs a hero. On the way, though, Hercules is distracted by the cry of a “damsel in distress”. They find a woman being harassed by a centaur, the River Guardian, Nessus. Hercules asks Nessus to release the woman, but he refuses, easily pushing Hercules away. Hercules battles Nessus and wins, with the woman free to go, despite her claims that she was handling it. The woman introduces herself as Megara, also known as Meg, and goes on her way, but Hercules is entranced by her. Phil scolds him for being distracted by a “pair of big goo-goo eyes” and they head to Thebes.

Meg walks through the nearby forest and comes across Pain and Panic, in disguise, along with Hades. It turns out Meg sold her soul to Hades and must work for him, helping him in his long-awaited uprising. She was meant to persuade the River Guardian to join Hades’ side, and did not, angering him. Meg tells Hades it wasn’t her fault, that some guy called Hercules disrupted the plan. Hades is furious, questioning Pain and Panic, as they never told Hades that their initial plan to kill Hercules had failed.

In Thebes, Hercules is laughed off quickly by the residents, who don’t believe him to be a hero. Meg suddenly rushes in, saying two boys are trapped in a gorge and they need saving. This is perfect for Hercules, who lifts the rock trapping the boys, freeing them. Then, there’s a noise; a monster comes out from the gorge and attacks. Hercules, caught off-guard, is eaten by the large snake-like Hydra. When all looks lost, Hercules cuts himself free from the Hydra’s throat. But then, the head grows back, along with two more. After a bad tactic of constantly cutting off the heads, only for more to grow back, Hercules is pinned to the rocky mountain-side. He hits the rock face hard, causing a landslide, which crushes the Hydra. We find that this was all part of Hades’ new plan to kill Hercules. Hercules is seemingly crushed in the hand of the Hydra, but frees himself. Hercules is proclaimed a hero by everyone, soon becoming one of the most famous people in Greece, with his own range of merchandise, huge villa and thousands of fans, defeating even more monsters that Hades throws in his way. He thinks he’s now proven himself a hero and goes back to Zeus at the temple, who tells him he’s on the right track, but not quite there yet.

Hades can’t believe Hercules has beaten everything he’s sent out to him. Hades decides he needs to send Meg to him, to find his weakness, and that if she can do this, then he’ll grant her freedom. Meg convinces Hercules one day to “play hooky” with her, and go out for the day, instead of doing his boring celebrity stuff. He tells Meg he has no weakness. Hercules is soon found by Phil, who orders Hercules to the gym as punishment. On the way there, Phil is hit by a branch and falls off Pegasus. When he awakens, he overhears Meg talking with Hades about Hercules. He realises she’s working for him. Phil goes to the gym to tell Hercules, but he doesn’t believe him, instead getting angry at Phil. Devastated that Hercules is not the hero he thought he was, Phil leaves. Shortly after, Hades arrives. He asks Hercules to give up his strength for 24 hours so he can enact his plan. Hercules refuses, until he sees Meg tied up, Hades using her as leverage. Hercules agrees on one condition: that Meg will be safe from harm. The two shake on it and Hercules’ strength is taken from him. Hades then reveals that it is true that Meg was working for him, crushing Hercules, as predicted. Hades goes off to release the Titans, who then attack Olympus; the Cyclops is sent to Thebes to deal with Hercules, but as Hercules hasn’t his strength anymore, he is overpowered quickly. Meg finds Pegasus, and they look for Phil together. Meg convinces Phil to come back with her to help or else Hercules will die.

Phil gives Hercules a pep talk, which encourages Hercules. He ties rope around the Cyclops feet, putting him off balance and he tumbles off the cliff. With the force of this action, though, a nearby pillar begins to fall. Meg rushes to push Hercules out of the way but is crushed instead. Hercules lifts the pillar off her, having gotten his strength back as the Hades’ deal is broken. Meg is alive, barely, and tells Hercules to stop Hades. He flies over to Olympus, and frees his father from the frozen lava he’d been encased in by the Titans. Hercules trapped all of the Titans within each other, throwing them into the sky, where they explode. Hades is defeated, but as his parting shot, he tells Herc that he got “one swell consolation prize”, and that is Meg’s death. Hercules flies to her side, but is too late; she’s gone. Phil and Hercules are devastated, with Phil telling Hercules there are some things you just can’t change, but Hercules thinks he can. He finds his way into the Underworld and orders Hades to let Meg’s soul go. He can’t do that and leads Hercules to the River of Death, where her soul resides with every other one. Hercules makes a deal with Hades, to take Meg’s place. Hades agrees, and as Hercules goes into the river to retrieve her soul, he shouts that Hercules will be dead before he gets to her. Sure enough, the Fates are ready with his “thread of life” but as they cut, the thread turns golden and cannot be cut through. Hercules comes up out of the river, holding Meg’s soul. Hades is shocked to find that Hercules is now a god, and tries to apologise for his actions, but Hercules doesn’t care and punches him with such force that he ends up in the River of Death.

Hercules returns Meg’s soul to her body and she is revived. A cloud appears to take them up to Olympus, where Hercules is given a hero’s welcome by Zeus, Hera, and all the gods, stating that as he risked his life to save another, he proved himself a true hero and now can come home. Meg is proud of Hercules but knows she must let him go now, and starts to walk away. Hercules sees this and realises that he doesn’t want to be without her. He tells Zeus that he wants to go back to Earth to be with her. Zeus agrees. The two return with Phil and Pegasus, and watch as the gods make a picture of Hercules in the stars, with everyone knowing that’s “Phil’s boy”, thus fulfilling a dream Phil had always had. And they all live happily ever after – though this is Greek mythology, so they probably don’t for long!

CHARACTERS & CAST

Hercules goes on a real “hero’s journey” throughout this movie. He begins the film as the newborn child of Zeus, the most powerful god on Olympus. Despite only just being born, it’s quite clear he was going to be a very spoilt child, praised and fawned over by everyone. But as he is then taken to Earth and becomes a mortal, he gets a more normal upbringing, though because Hercules isn’t “normal”, he ends up being bullied and berated by everyone he comes into contact with, as he is quite clumsy. He just wants to fit in though; it’s not his fault he’s super-strong. Then, as he becomes a hero, Hercules gets taken in by the fame and fortune that comes with his celebrity status, and must figure out for himself how to be a “true hero”, not just a star. Hercules goes through a lot to get that stage, not only physically with monster battles and evil villains, but emotionally and mentally as he has to figure out what he wants from life and how exactly he can go there. He hits many low points, before hitting the highs of finding Meg and finally being reunited with his family.

The team at Disney knew that although Hercules needed to be this strong superhero character, with all the charisma and brawn that goes with it, he also had to have a softer, emotional side to come full circle with his journey. They knew the best way to show this would be in his scenes with Meg, who he instantly falls for her and still forgives despite her ultimate betrayal of having seemingly used him to help Hades achieve global domination…Andreas Deja, the animator known for animating Disney villains such as Scar and Gaston, got to have the opportunity to be the Supervising Animator for a hero this time with his work on Hercules. Deja found Tate Donovan’s lively energy and strong vocal performance a big help in designing this naïve, innocent, yet charming, brave character[1]. Tate Donovan voices adult Hercules. Donovan has appeared on both television and film, with roles such as Rob Anders in Argo (2012) and Jimmy Cooper in The O.C (2003-07). Donovan has continued to voice Hercules for other Disney projects throughout his career. Josh Keaton voices young Hercules. Keaton has since had numerous voice-acting roles in film, television and video games.

To help Hercules on his journey to becoming a hero, he relies heavily on the trainer of heroes, Phil. Phil is impatient, difficult to get along with, blunt and grumpy at times. At least that’s how he appears when he first meets Hercules. But as the movie goes on, we see a friendship form between Phil and Hercules, with Phil telling Hercules that he’s got something special that he hasn’t seen before in any of the other men he’d trained, thinking that he can actually be great and “go the distance”. It’s especially touching when Phil returns to help Hercules defeat the Cyclops, as he tells Hercules he’s not going to give up on him, despite them having just had an argument over Meg. Phil gets Hercules to believe in himself again, giving him the boost he needed at that point. Phil is also the most comedic character, with many of his lines being the funniest, and most quotable, in the movie.

Supervising Animator for Phil was Eric Goldberg, known for his work on the Genie in Aladdin (1992). Goldberg was inspired by Danny DeVito’s own features when designing Phil. Danny DeVito was one of the first choices that Disney had for the character; I couldn’t imagine anyone else being a better fit for Phil. DeVito has had an incredible acting career spanning multiple decades. Some of DeVito’s best roles are: Louie De Palma in Taxi (1978-83), for which he won a Golden Globe and an Emmy; Mr. Wormwood in Matilda (1996); the Lorax in The Lorax (2012); and most recently, as Eddie in Jumanji: The Next Level (2019) and the Ringmaster in Dumbo (2019). Plus, DeVito has starred in the series It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (2005-present) since 2006. If you’re not sure what that show is because you’re British and it hasn’t aired over here, it’s that show created by Rob McElhenney, the “other guy” who co-owns Wrexham F.C. with Ryan Reynolds.

Meg, or Megara, is Hercules’ love interest, but she’s not the average cute, sweet, devoted romantic interest. Meg is incredibly strong-minded, brave and quite sarcastic. She is not bothered by Hercules at all when she first meets him, saying she may be a damsel in distress but that she can handle it – and I believe she could’ve done. Meg is sassy and feisty, and a fan-favourite amongst Disney film-watchers. The other added complexity to Meg is that this is the first time in a Disney movie that we’ve had the love interest actually working for the villain, which makes her even more fascinating to watch, as she fights against what she wants to do and what she has to do. I don’t think Meg wants to be deceptive and it’s clear when her betrayal is revealed by Hades that she feels incredibly guilty and wants to help resolve the mess she helped make. When Meg throws herself in front of the pillar to protect Hercules, that shows Meg’s love for Hercules and symbolises the end of her working relationship with Hades, no matter what that means for her.

Supervising Animator for Meg, Ken Duncan stated that, to fit in with the overall style of the movie and the Greek art that features heavily within scenes, Meg was designed to look like a column, in terms of her body shape and the vertical stripes of her purple dress, with her head made to be a vase shape, with a flowing, curled look to her hair[2]. It’s also impossible not to notice that Meg has a very small waist and quite a sexy walk; I’m not sure those are character features that Disney would be able to use nowadays! Susan Egan voices Megara. Egan originated the role of Belle in the Broadway musical of Beauty and the Beast in 1994, having also starred in other stage productions such as The Sound of Music in 1996 as Maria, and as Sally Bowles in productions of Cabaret from the late-1990s to mid-2000s. Egan also continued to do voice acting, such as various voices in the Cartoon Network series Steven Universe (2014-19), and Lin in the English dub of Spirited Away (2002). Susan Egan also frequently reprises her role of Megara for Disney.

Arguably, there are only really four main characters, those that the plot revolves around, so that leaves the best one until last: Hades, one of the most popular villains in the Disney Villains franchise. This is likely due to the fact that Hades is a completely unique take on any other Disney villain, because he sounds like a fast-talking car salesman, a total schmoozer, which makes him charismatic and charming, yet he is also menacing and evil in the movie. As Nik Ranieri, the Supervising Animator for Hades, stated, Hades has an appealing evil which draws people in, making him more dangerous, but also more attractive to those he interacts with. In the first few minutes of the movie, we see Hades charming the Fates into telling him how to enact his great plan to overthrow Zeus, and he also has a way with Meg, because, although she doesn’t want to work with him and only sold her soul to save her boyfriend’s life, you can see that she gets taken in by Hades easily. Hades is also incredibly funny at times, with James Woods, the voice actor for Hades, wanting to make the Disney team laugh at his performances, saying the funnier, the better. Hades’ mood shifts frequently in the movie, where his face and hair are generally blue, for when he’s cool and calm, but changes rapidly to be red hot whenever he’s angry, which isn’t too infrequently, especially if Pain and Panic are around[3]!

John Lithgow was originally cast for the role of Hades, even recording lines for a period of around nine months, before being replaced by James Woods, who changed the whole demeanour of Hades with his fast ad-libbing. Apparently, Jack Nicholson was also approached for the role[4]. But it went to James Woods, who has starred in movies such as Once Upon a Time in America (1984) as Max Bercovicz, alongside Robert De Niro; and as D.J. in the made-for-television film Promise (1986), for which Woods won an Emmy. Woods has also voiced other characters, like the Falcon in Stuart Little 2 (2002), who is the only good part of that film in my opinion, and Dr. Benedict in Recess: School’s Out (2001). Woods also has reprised his role of Hades for Disney numerous times as he loves the character.

For the minor characters, let’s start with Hades’ sidekicks: Pain and Panic. Both are small creatures who look a bit like devils, with Pain being the stouter pink one, always getting himself into scrapes with his clumsiness, and Panic, being the thin, green, anxious one, hence their names. They are the worst henchmen of any Disney villain, not having a clue what they are doing most of the time, and so scared of their boss that they’d rather keep their failures a secret from him and hope he never finds out. Except Hades always does find out so all they end up doing is delaying his wrath! At times, you feel a bit sorry for them as they are abused by Hades frequently, and only get a small bit of praise here and there; they try, but they’re just not good enough for him! Bobcat Goldthwait and Matt Frewer voice Pain and Panic respectively. Goldthwait was a stand-up comedian at the beginning of his career, before moving into acting with roles such as Zed in Police Academy 2, 3 and 4 (1985-87). Frewer became his career in films, such as Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989) as Russell Thompson, Sr. and went into further voice acting.

For the gods on Olympus, there are too many to mention here, but it’s worth mentioning that the animators made the effort to represent many of them, introducing a few to the audience who may not be familiar with Greek mythology. Hermes, the messenger to the gods, is the most prominent of the “background” gods. He is voiced by Paul Schaffer, who is probably most remembered as the band leader and sidekick on the entire runs of Late Night with David Letterman (1982-93) and Late Show with David Letterman (1993-2015). The design for Hermes included Shaffer’s rounded sunglasses, and even had the character play the piano for the final musical number in the film.

The most important of the gods are Zeus and Hera. Hera is the goddess of marriage and mother to Hercules. She is calm and gentle, with a voice to match. Apart from the beginning of the movie, and a brief glimpse at the end, Hera is not a major character in Hercules, with Zeus taking much of the parental spotlight, as would only be fitting for Zeus! Hera is voiced by actress Samantha Eggar, who starred in movies such as Doctor Dolittle (1967) as Emma Fairfax, alongside Rex Harrison, and The Collector (1965) as Miranda Grey where she was nominated for Best Actress at the Academy Awards, winning the award at the Golden Globes in 1966 and at the Cannes Film Festival in 1965. Eggar reprised her role of Hera in some of the Hercules spin-offs.

Rip Torn voices the loud, cocky ruler of the gods, Zeus. His booming voice fits the god well, and manages to make the character likeable, despite Zeus’ arrogance and clear disrespect for Hades at the start of the film. Rip Torn sadly passed away in July 2019 at the age of 88, but starred in numerous movies over a career of more than 60 years. Such roles included Marsh Turner in Cross Creek (1983) where he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor; Zed in Men in Black (1997) and Men in Black II (2002); and as Patches O’Houlihan in DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story (2004).

Finally, a few other interesting voice actors in Hercules are Frank Welker, who “voiced” Abu and Rajah in Aladdin (1992), as Pegasus; Jim Cummings, the current Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, as Nessus, the River Guardian; and Wayne Knight, Tantor in Tarzan (1999) and Al in Toy Story 2 (1999), as well as Dennis Nedry in Jurassic Park (1993), as Demetrius, the man struggling with his pottery in the marketplace.

PRODUCTION

Though Hercules is loosely based on Greek mythology, much of the story for the Disney animated movie came from taking pieces of the Hercules myths and putting them together. This is because much of Greek mythology is not child-friendly, and is quite violent and inappropriate in places. The name, Hercules, is not even the Greek name for the mythological figure; it is the Roman name. The Greek name is Heracles, however, Hercules has been more popularly used in Western culture for the same figure for centuries, so that is likely why Disney chose to use the name Hercules for their movie title.

Other changes between myth and screen are that Alcmene is Hercules’ adopted mother, but in the myth, she is actually Hercules’ real mother as Zeus seduced the mortal whilst disguised as Amphitryon, her husband. Another is that Nessus would have had a larger role in the film as he did in the myth. In the mythology, Hercules shot Nessus with a poisoned arrow, as the creature was harassing his wife. Nessus then tricked Hercules’ wife into getting Hercules to put on a poisoned tunic, which killed him. Zeus made Hercules a god to save his life. Another darker side to the myth is that Meg, along with their children, was killed by Hercules after being driven mad by Hera, who taunted him for years as she was jealous of Zeus’ affair with a mortal which resulted in the birth of Hercules and wanted him dead. He was then sent out on his labours to make amends for the murder of his wife and children. If he succeeded, he’d become a god. Greek mythology is dark. I think it’s plain to see why Disney amended some of these storylines for their family-friendly film!

Though the labours do not exactly feature in Hercules, many of the monsters that Hercules had to battle in the myth do appear in the montage of battles during the song “Zero to Hero”, including the Nemean Lion, which should’ve been his first challenge, with the Hydra being his second. In the movie, the Hydra is the first one. Some other lighter differences between the myth and the movie include the fact that Pegasus was not Hercules’ horse, but actually belonged to Bellerophon, and a centaur named Chiron was the trainer of heroes in Greek myth and unlike Phil as a trainer, Chiron was wise, patient and caring[5].

Another thing to mention is that Hades is the villain in Disney’s Hercules, as he is portrayed in many other screen adaptations of Greek myths. This is likely due to the fact that Hades is depicted as the embodiment of the devil, since in a Christian context, the Underworld is perceived as Hell, with Hades, therefore being the devil, an evil that we do not want to encounter. Another issue is that the most well-known myth featuring Hades is the one where he kidnaps Persephone and takes her to the Underworld, but even in that myth, it has been interpreted incorrectly in places as Hades asked Zeus’ permission, Persephone’s father, and just did not ask for the mother’s permission, Demeter. Persephone also voluntarily ate the pomegranate that confined her to the Underworld. Seeing Demeter’s distress at being separated from her daughter, Hades even allowed Persephone to return to Earth for half the year. Generally, in Greek mythology, Hades is not the villain, with Hera being the actual one who causes the most problems to Hercules. Hades even helps Hercules with his twelfth labour, where he must retrieve Cerberus from the Underworld[6].

The Disney version of Hercules stemmed from an original pitch to make an animated feature based on Homer’s The Odyssey, however, soon it was considered that it was too long a story to adapt, so an idea based around Hercules was pitched. Ron Clements and John Musker, who had already directed The Little Mermaid (1989) and Aladdin (1992), were approached to direct Hercules by then-Chairman of Walt Disney Studios Jeffrey Katzenberg. Clements and Musker were reluctant to direct Hercules, until Katzenberg agreed that he would greenlight their “passion project” of a space version of Treasure Island, which would become Treasure Planet (2002), if they directed Hercules first, so they said they would. Since Clements and Musker liked working on comedy, they decided to make Hercules into a funny superhero story, wanting to infuse a contemporary feel to the myth. Hercules was the first Disney animated feature to be based on mythology instead of a folk story or fairy tale[7].

For the artistic look of Hercules, Clements and Musker approached British cartoonist and illustrator Gerald Scarfe, who they had been longtime fans of, to be the Production Designer for the movie. Scarfe had produced graphics for the rock band Pink Floyd previously, as well as creating the opening titles for the British sitcoms Yes Minister (1980-84) and Yes, Prime Minister (1986-88). The directors felt that Scarfe’s style would work well in conjunction with the Grecian art style that would be needed to match the time and geographical setting of the story. The team, including Scarfe, went to Greece and Turkey to research classic Greek mythology, architecture and art to incorporate within the art style of Hercules. The movie includes many references to Greek art in the movie, such as murals, mosaics, vases, and sculptures, even the famous Venus de Milo, which Hercules breaks the arms off by skimming a stone across the pond it sits in front of.

At this point in Disney Animation history, computer-generated imagery was being used for scenes that would be difficult to animate by hand. In the case of Hercules, the key CGI scene in the movie is the battle sequence with Hercules and the Hydra. The Hydra was designed to look like a snake with two huge forearms. As the Hydra continues to grow extra heads throughout this sequence, it would’ve been difficult to achieve this with hand-drawn animation and would’ve been a continuity nightmare. Using the computer software meant that the Hydra could be animated correctly and then be controlled to achieve the necessary threat that was required in the scene.

There are a few “Easter eggs” in Hercules that are fun to spot, which include both Disney and pop culture references. Some of these include: the “Air Herc” shoes, which are an obvious reference to the Nike Air footwear; the Scar skin that Hercules wears as he is posing for his vase portrait – this is not only a reference to The Lion King, but also to animator Andreas Deja, who animated Scar as well as Hercules, and it refers to the first labour of Hercules which was to slay the Nemean Lion; and the two directors, Clements and Musker like to make a brief animated cameo in all of their movies; in this case, the two appear as the two Grecians stoneworkers building a gateway, as teenage Hercules barrels on through to the marketplace with the cart.

MUSIC

The soundtrack for Hercules is not the best of those within the Disney Renaissance period, despite legendary Disney composer Alan Menken being involved. Menken had written music for pretty much every other Disney movie within the Disney Renaissance era up until this point, except for The Lion King (1994) and The Rescuers Down Under (1990). After Hercules, Alan Menken would not work on another Disney picture until 2004’s Home on the Range. Lyricist David Zippel joined Menken to work on the soundtrack. Zippel had contributed lyrics to the soundtrack of The Swan Princess (1994) before working on Hercules, and would then go on to work on the soundtrack for Mulan (1998) afterwards. The styles of music used for the Hercules soundtrack were very different for Disney, as it was not a typical Broadway style, and also unexpected for a Greek story. The soundtrack combines gospel and R&B alongside the classical, heroic themes that are expected from Disney music. It was said that gospel would be a good choice for its storytelling qualities, songs about hope, and for its entertainment factor[8].

The soundtrack goes straight in with the gospel singing, as after a brief, dull introduction by Charlton Heston, known for his roles in epic movies such as The Ten Commandments (1956) and Ben-Hur (1958) amongst plenty others, the Muses interrupt and give the audience some backstory into what we are about to see, with the group continuing to return throughout the story. It’s been pointed out numerous times that in Greek mythology, there were actually nine Muses, but in Hercules, there are only five. This could be because too many characters, and singers, would’ve made the movie busy and complicated, potentially becoming a distraction, but could also be because British pop group The Spice Girls, which had five members, were initially approached to be the Muses, bur declined due to scheduling conflicts[9]. Now that would’ve made Hercules very different! So instead, a group consisting of singers Lillias White, LaChanze, Roz Ryan, Cheryl Freeman and Vanéese Y. Thomas became the Muses.

The Muses begin the movie with three separate songs that appear in quick succession, being called “The Gospel Truth I, II and III”. The first details the backstory to the gods and Zeus; the second describes Hades; and the third explains why Hercules is stuck on Earth after being turned mortal. Though these songs are good for narrative purposes, they don’t exactly standout and are not particularly interesting. The Muses really get their chance to perform with the songs “Zero to Hero”, which is performed once Hercules has defeated the Hydra and becomes a celebrity, and “A Star Is Born”, which plays for the ending of the movie and goes into the End Credits. These are big numbers with soaring high notes, and feature amazing vocal performances and harmonisation; these are the points where the singers really get to show what they’re made of, and I really like these songs, with “Zero to Hero” being a particular favourite of many Hercules fans. Singer Tawatha Agee is also featured on “Zero to Hero”.

For Hercules himself, he gets a hero song called “Go the Distance”, as Hercules tries to figure out where he belongs, plus its reprise which features just a few minutes later after he has spoken to Zeus. These two songs are actually sung by Roger Bart, who was not the voice actor for teenage Hercules. Roger Bart is both an actor and singer, who performed the role of Carmen Ghia in the original stage production of The Producers as well as its 2005 movie adaptation. Bart was also cast as Hades for the musical version of Hercules. On screen, Roger Bart has featured in various films and television series such as The Stepford Wives (2004), Trumbo (2015) and most recently, Good Trouble (2019-present) as Judge Wilson. “Go the Distance” was nominated for both the Academy Award and the Golden Globe for Best Original Song, but lost to “My Heart Will Go On” from Titanic (1997). Still, the song is frequently used within Disney projects, such as within fireworks shows like Happily Ever After and the now-cancelled Harmonious show at Walt Disney World. Michael Bolton also recorded a pop version of “Go the Distance” for the End Credits, and it was released as a single. Ricky Martin recorded a Spanish-language version called “No Importa La Distancia” for the Spanish version of Hercules.

One of the last two songs in the soundtrack is “One Last Hope”, half-sung, half-spoken by Danny DeVito as Phil. This is played during the training montage where Hercules is preparing to become a hero with the help of Phil. It’s a funny song, and the sequence features a lot of physical comedy, mostly at Phil’s expense! The final song to mention is the regular Disney love ballad “I Won’t Say (I’m in Love)” performed by Susan Egan as Meg, with backing vocals provided by the Muses. This is not a typical love ballad for Disney as instead of this being sung between the two main characters, like “A Whole New World”, “Can You Feel the Love Tonight?” or “If I Never Knew You”, Meg sings alone, as she debates whether or not she should be falling for Hercules, so that means you too can sing it alone and not feel awkward waiting around for some other character to sing their lines! The style of the song is also different as it mixes doo-wop music with a pop/R&B ballad. Belinda Carlisle, singer of “Heaven Is a Place on Earth”, performs a pop-rock version of the song for the film’s soundtrack. Her version has also featured on other Disney compilation albums.

That’s all the songs covered, but there are a few tracks within Alan Menken’s score that are worth a mention. One of those is called “Meg’s Garden” and plays just before “I Won’t Say (I’m in Love)” as Meg and Hercules walk around a garden and talk. It’s a nice, romantic piece that feels calming to listen to. Then, there is “Cutting the Thread”, which includes most of the sequence where Hercules frees Zeus, they defeat the Titans, and Meg’s “thread” is cut. The first part of the piece is heroic and fitting for a final battle, but then becomes sombre and tense as Hercules races back to see Meg before she dies. But my favourite piece within the score is “A True Hero”, which is pieced together alongside “A Star Is Born”. This track follows Hercules as he swims through the River of Death to get to Meg’s soul; we think he’s going to die but then his thread won’t cut as he has proved himself a hero. It’s a fitting end to Hercules’ whole journey to becoming a “true hero”; it’s triumphant. Though I enjoy most tracks on the Hercules soundtrack, it is not my favourite of the music from the Disney Renaissance Era, as it doesn’t hit me emotionally like many others do. I wonder if that is because I’m such a big fan of Broadway musicals that perhaps the styles used in Hercules’ soundtrack just don’t suit my tastes as well.

RECEPTION

As well as the usual marketing tie-ins, such as Happy Meal toys for McDonald’s, Hercules was also marketed with a five-month promotional travelling tour of the USA, a tool used for other movies such as Pocahontas (1995), where guests were introduced to some of the characters and story of the film. The tour began in February 1997, with the movie first being released on 13^th June 1997, with a wider general release from 27^th June. Hercules had its premiere over the weekend of 13^th-15^th June 1997 at Times Square in New York City, where the Disneyland Main Street Electrical Parade even made an appearance alongside Hercules-themed floats, to celebrate the 25^th anniversary of the original parade.

Sadly, Hercules only made $250 million worldwide during its initial release, becoming the lowest-grossing film of any Disney Renaissance film and making much less at the box-office than had been expected. Competition at the box-office was blamed for Hercules’ lacklustre performance, with other family-friendly movies such as Men in Black (1997) and Batman & Robin (1997) being released at a similar time. It was also thought Hercules did not have as wide an appeal as other Disney movies such as Beauty and the Beast (1991), which had appealed to adults without children. The general consensus was that the film was fun and entertaining enough, with James Woods’ performance as Hades being highlighted by critics, but that it did not live up to the reputations of other Disney films that had come before it. Hercules was not considered to be visually exciting or appealing, with Scarfe’s animation style being criticised, as well as their use of CG. I will admit that the Hydra does not fit seamlessly with the 2D animation, and it is glaringly obvious that two different animation styles have been used in that scene. The music was not generally liked either, with the soundtrack doing little to impress. Hercules was meant to have an open-air premiere at the Pnyx in Athens, but the Greek government declined as the film was panned by the Greek public and media, who said that this was yet another example of their history and culture being distorted for entertainment.

Hercules was nominated for Best Animation Film at the Annie Awards, but lost to Warner Bros Cat’s Don’t Dance (1997), which I had never heard of before, but it was directed by Mark Dindal, who would later direct Disney’s The Emperor’s New Groove (2000) and Chicken Little (2005) and had worked as an Effects Animator at Disney in the 1980s. Space Jam (1997) was also nominated in that same category. But Hercules did win Annie Awards for Directing, the Character Animation of Hades, and the Effects Animation. Hercules also won the Best Animation award at the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards and Best Sound Editing – Animated Feature at the Golden Reel Awards.

The movie would make more money for the Disney Company during its subsequent re-releases. For any fans of the original iteration of the British children’s programme Art Attack (1990-2007), hosted by Neil Buchanan, you’ll be pleased to know that he can teach you how to make a Greek Urn on the 2002 UK DVD Release of Hercules; I learnt that this week! I also found that Hades has a small End Credits appearance, just a voice-over where he says that everyone got something except him, but that nobody is listening to him; I had never heard that before this week. I don’t know why it was put in, unless it was to let everyone know that Hades didn’t die in the River of Death after being punched him into it…

LEGACY

After Hercules was released, an animated television series was created, which follows Hercules through his training to be a hero, called Disney’s Hercules: The Animation Series (1998-1999); it ran for two seasons. Many of the voice actors returned, except Danny DeVito so Phil’s voice was provided by Robert Costanzo, who reprised this role on many occasions after the series. Zeus was also voiced by Disney voice actor, Corey Burton. James Woods even won a Daytime Emmy award in 2000 for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program for his vocal performance of Hades; see, people really love Hades! A direct-to-video film was released in 1999, which featured three episodes of the television series with some linking narrative. The majority of the voice cast was involved again, as well as other names such as Brad Garrett, Eric Idle and Jodi Benson. Another direct-to-video sequel, titled Hercules II: The Trojan War, looking at the story of Helen of Troy, was cancelled when John Lasseter came in to Disney as the Chief Creative Officer in 2006; many other direct-to-video sequels were cancelled at the same time. Helen of Troy actually appeared in the animated TV series, being voiced by Jodi Benson.

Another potential screen appearance is the upcoming live-action adaptation of Hercules, which has been in discussion for years but has not progressed much further than that since! Guy Ritchie, director of the live-action Aladdin (2019), is attached to the project, along with producers such as the Russo Brothers, who have worked on the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In December 2022, Ritchie said that he was planning for Hercules to be finished within the year of 2023, but nothing has been filmed yet, with no cast even announced, with only rumours that Ariana Grande and Taron Egerton are in talks to be cast as Meg and Hercules respectively being discussed recently. Danny DeVito is expected to reprise his role of Phil. The Russo Brothers also recently said that they wanted the film to be “inspired by TikTok” and what TikTok audiences want from a modern musical, saying they want Hercules to be “experimental”[10]. I’m not sure what any of that means, but I’m hoping this live-action film never happens, personally.

A new adaptation of Hercules, this time a musical, did actually occur, having its premiere at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park from 31^st August to 8^th September 2019 during the Public Theater’s Free Shakespeare In the Park event. Additional music for the musical was provided by Alan Menken and David Zippel. Not only was the singing voice of Hercules, Roger Bart, cast as Hades, but James Monroe Iglehart, the originating performer of the Genie in the musical production of Aladdin, was cast as Phil[11]. A revised version of the musical was performed at the Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey, with Iglehart returning as Phil, from 16^th February to 12^th March 2023.

At the Disney Parks, when Hercules was first released in 1997, they had their own wave of promotional activities. My family went to Walt Disney World Resort in Florida for the first time altogether in 1997 and I was told that there was lots of merchandise for Hercules at the hotel we stayed in, the All-Star Sports Resort, and that it was where my sister got a Megara Barbie doll. We also saw the Hercules Victory Parade at Disney’s MGM-Studios, now Disney’s Hollywood Studios, that same year, in October 1997. The Victory Parade ran from June 1997 to 1998, when it was replaced by the Mulan Parade. It featured a Zeus float with the Muses, a Phil animatronic on another, the Cyclops on a bike, Hades on his own float, with Pain and Panic around it, a Hydra float and a final float with Meg and Hercules on top, with Grecian-style cheerleaders in front. Every other park that was open at this time had its own version of this parade. At Disneyland, the Hercules’ Victory Parade began in June 1997 and ended in 1998, being replaced by the Mulan Parade just like Walt Disney World, however, its floats were slightly bigger, and more impressive, including a couple of Titans floats, a huge mosaic Zeus, and a Pegasus puppet. At Tokyo Disneyland, the parade was called Hercules the Hero and only ran from July to October 1997, and again, the float formation and order was slightly different. At Disneyland Paris, it was called Hercules Happening and ran from Summer 1997 to 1998. It was only a five-minute performance, with just two floats, though Hercules and Meg were sat atop a Pegasus statue. Specific end dates for all these parades are unclear.

Hercules and Megara did used to meet guests at the Disney Parks, however, are much rarer finds these days, with them being most prominent around the late-1990s to early 2000s. I definitely remember meeting Meg at MGM Studios once around the 2000s, but I’m not sure about Hercules. It seems that Hercules was spotted at Disney’s Hollywood Studios randomly in 2020, and that Megara was meeting guests alongside Hades, Pain and Panic, at the Rock Your Disney Side 24-Hour Event in May 2014. At the Disneyland After Dark: Sweethearts Nite in February 2020, Meg and Hercules were available to meet, with Hercules also having been seen at the Opa! A Celebration of Greece event in May 2013. Phil has also been available for meet-and-greets at the US Disney Parks but not for many years. It is unclear when or if these characters were spotted at Disneyland Paris, Tokyo Disneyland, Hong Kong Disneyland, or Shanghai Disneyland. These rare characters are more likely to be spotted at Special Events these days, or perhaps just randomly. Sometimes, Meg and Hercules may appear on the end of show riverboat alongside other Disney characters at the end of showings of Fantasmic!

The one character from Hercules that you are most likely to see, or even meet, is Hades, as he is a real fan-favourite Disney villain, for obvious reasons. Hades is frequently seen, with and without his sidekicks Pain and Panic, at the Disney Parks’ Halloween events, most likely within the parades or stage shows and at the US Disney Parks, however Hades did recently feature within the Halloween parades at Shanghai Disneyland and Hong Kong Disneyland. In 2014, at the Villains Unleashed event, Hades even got his own stage show to host at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, alongside Meg, Pain, and Panic! Hades can be heard, or seen, during many of the Disney Parks’ nighttime shows, usually whenever there is a scene featuring villains. The most obvious one of these is his frequent appearances during Walt Disney World’s version of Fantasmic! Hades also used to have an interactive game at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, called Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom. Using cards and interactive screens, guests could defeat Hades and the other Disney villains by doing quests around different lands of the Magic Kingdom. I liked watching that game – I’d never play because I can’t fight villains, especially not Hades; I love them too much – so I’m sad it’s gone now; it also gave you something else to do in the park if it was a busy day and queues were too long…It debuted in February 2012 and officially closed in January 2021, though I think once COVID-19 shut the parks, it didn’t reopen with them. There is one book featuring Hades and Megara, following on from the events of the movie, that I did enjoy and would like to mention. It’s called “Go the Distance”, written by Jen Calonita. It’s part of the “A Twisted Tale” series of books based on Disney characters and villains, but can be read as a standalone novel. Some of the other books like this I have read and really did not like, as it changed the characters’ backstories too much and didn’t make sense with the film, in my opinion, but this one was actually really good, probably because it takes place after the film.

Something that would’ve been cool at Walt Disney World that would’ve featured Hades was the discussed attraction Bald Mountain, another addition to the Disney mountains, and log flume attraction considered to take over the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea attraction within that area of Magic Kingdom’s Fantasyland, with plans for a whole Disney Villains area as well. Ride vehicles would have been modelled after the boats that travel down the River Styx, the entrance to the Underworld, in the Hercules film. During this boat ride, guests would interrupt a meeting of the most notorious Disney villains deciding who will lead their take-over of the Magic Kingdom. Once discovered, it would be a race to escape the villains, ending with a massive drop down the side of the mountain. This attraction was never built as Disney Imagineering had plans to build a whole Villains Park as another Walt Disney World theme park[12]. Spoiler alert: that never happened either. *Sigh*.

FINAL THOUGHTS

This just shows that the movie did become more popular after its official release, particularly with those who grew up in the 1990s. It is also thanks to Hercules that one of the most popular Disney Villains, potentially the most popular male Disney Villain, Hades, came to be, and he continues to be a main figure within Disney’s Halloween celebrations. I’d be much sadder about the lack of representation of Disney’s Hercules if it weren’t for the huge following that Hades has gained and the number of appearances he makes at the Disney Parks and within Disney merchandise!

Though Hercules didn’t live up to the success of some of the other Disney Renaissance Era films, the movie has still amassed many fans, with the 25^th anniversary of the film being celebrated with various items of merchandise – I bought a statue of Hades and Meg, which sits proudly in my office, as well as a Christmas ornament of Hades towering over baby Hercules’ crib – along with special screenings of the movie, organised by the Official Disney Fan Club D23 in 2022. It’s one of my favourite Disney films, and I will continue to rewatch it and love it for many years to come.

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Disney, “The Making of Hercules”, from Hercules (1997), 1-Disc DVD (2002).

[2] Credit: Disney, “Hercules Video Art Gallery”, from Hercules (1997), 1-Disc DVD (2002).

[3] Credit: Disney, Movie Surfers: Go Inside Hercules (1997).

[4] Credit: Jim Korkis, Everything I Know I Learned from Disney Animated Feature Films (2015), ‘Hercules’, pp. 103-105.

[5] Credit: Emily Whittingham, ‘Disney’s Hercules: 10 Things That Would Be Different If The Movie Was Mythologically Accurate’, ScreenRant.com, 16^th July 2021.

[6] Credit: Carys Lloyd, ‘Disney’s Hercules and the false vilification of Hades’, TheBristorian.co.uk, 13^th February (year unknown).

[7] Credit: Disney, “The Making of Hercules”, from Hercules (1997), 1-Disc DVD (2002).

[8] Credit: Disney, “The Making of Hercules”, from Hercules (1997), 1-Disc DVD (2002).

[9] Credit: Jim Korkis, Everything I Know I Learned from Disney Animated Feature Films (2015), ‘Hercules’, pp. 103-105.

[10] Credit: Rachel Sofaer, ‘Disney’s ‘Hercules’ Live-Action Remake: Director, Plot Details, and Everything We Know So Far’, Collider.com, 7^th July 2023.

[11] Credit: Greg Evans, ‘’Hercules’ Musical Based On Disney Film Set For Shakespeare In The Park Staging’, Deadline.com, 6^th February 2019.

[12] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘A Friday Visit with Jim Korkis: The Missing Mountains of Walt Disney World’, YourFirstVisit.net, date unknown.

15th Sep 202327th Jun 2024 by The Disney Purist

#41 Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)

BACKGROUND

Is Disney’s Atlantis: The Lost Empire destined to be lost to time like the fabled city?

The 2000s were a difficult time for Disney Animation, as they sought to compete against the studios that were only making computer-animated movies, with their releases outshining any animated feature from Disney every time. I’m speaking mostly of Pixar, though DreamWorks would go some way with this medium in the early-2000s.

Disney were still holding on to their traditional 2D animation, and this time, they wanted to go against their usual formula of just making the fairytale or the musical; they wanted to make an action-adventure movie. So, in 2001, they released Atlantis: The Lost Empire. It failed to impress.

When I first watched Atlantis: The Lost Empire, I was quite young and not interested in adventure films. I wanted to watch princesses and their princes, and be able to sing along with them. So, it wasn’t for many years that I went back and rewatched it, I think because my sister wanted to watch it one day, and I actually found that I did like it. I had a similar experience with Treasure Planet (2002) around the same time, with both movies being quite similar in some aspects, like their genre and storyline. Despite Atlantis: The Lost Empire becoming somewhat of a “cult classic” in recent years, it is not remembered, fondly or not, by too many Disney fans.

Although the legend and mystery surrounding the Lost City of Atlantis continues to be revisited through either factual documentaries or fictional screen adaptations, the story and characters of Disney’s movie are slowly being forgotten. It’s about time that all Disney fans know about Milo Thatch, the heroic and brave explorer who discovered, and then saved, the city of Atlantis.

PLOT

Atlantis: The Lost Empire begins with a quote from the philosopher Plato, who said that the city of Atlantis disappeared into the sea all of a sudden one night. We then go that fateful day, in 6,800 BC, where we see the Atlantean Armada racing back to the city, trying to outrun the huge wave behind them. The citizens are in a panic, rushing to find shelter, including the King, Queen, and their daughter, the Princess. The Princess, Kida, is concerned by her teddy bear, but the Queen tells her to keep moving. Suddenly, the Queen is beamed up to an enormous light above. Kida is consoled by the King, who tells her to look away from the light. The light surrounds the city, as the wave crashes over, sinking the area.

Many years later, at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C., in 1914, we meet Milo Thatch, a linguist and cartographer at the museum. He is preparing a speech about his wish to fund an expedition to find Atlantis. He talks of a book called the Shepherd’s Journal, an artifact that should lead the way to the city. It talks of a power source that Milo thinks should be retrieved and brought to the surface. His meeting time arrives, however, unbeknownst to him, the time was changed. As Milo did not appear for the meeting, his request for funding was denied. He rushes out to find the board members of the museum, pleading with them to fund his mission, but they all thinks he’s crazy and decline.

Dejected, Milo returns home, only to find a woman in his house. She introduces herself as Helga Sinclair; she is there to take Milo to see her ‘employer’ who has requested a meeting with him. At the mansion of this entrepreneur/philanthropist, Milo meets Preston B. Whitmore. It turns out Whitmore was a friend of Milo’s grandfather, Thaddeus Thatch, who had found the Shepherd’s Journal and asked Whitmore to give it to Milo when he was ready. Milo is pleased to know that his calculations and research were correct, as the journal was found in Iceland, exactly where he thought it would be. Milo begins to plan an expedition to Atlantis, but Whitmore is one step ahead: he has assembled a crew, got a submarine, and paid for everything, after he bet the funding of an expedition if Thaddeus found the journal.

Milo meets all the members of the crew as he boards their submarine, The Ulysses. The team consists of: Commander Rourke; Lieutenant Helga, the same Helga who met with Milo at his house – well, broke into his house; demolitions expert Vinny; teenage mechanic Audrey; medical officer Dr. Joshua Sweet; geologist Molière, or Mole; radio operator Mrs. Packard; and chef Cookie, amongst other soldiers. Whilst presenting to the crew about what their path to Atlantis will look like, the crew hear a strange echoing sound. Milo had just mentioned the Leviathan, a mystical sea creature said to guard the gates of Atlantis, but he believes it is likely just a myth, and more likely to be some sort of carving. Well, he’s most definitely wrong, as the Ulysses is attacked by some sort of mechanical lobster. Despite firing at the creature, it cannot be stopped, and breaks the Ulysses in half, leading some crew to lose their lives. The others make it to dry land, and continue their journey on foot.

After much time, many wrong turns, thanks to Milo’s errors in translating the journal, multiple obstacles that either have to be blown up or dug through, a fire at their camp, and conflicts between Milo and the rest of the crew, they eventually arrive at Atlantis, making their way through a dominant volcano. Once there, they are found by a group of Atlanteans, who question the team’s reasons for being there. After an awkward, bumbling conversation between Milo and Princess Kida, they are welcomed to the city, which sits atop a huge waterfall, and taken to meet the King. The King is not happy about strange visitors finding their way to Atlantis, and is incredibly suspicious of them. Commander Rourke asks that they be able to stay for one night, before moving out the next morning. The King reluctantly agrees, but tells Kida in private that she should have slain them on sight. Kida is frustrated with the state of Atlantis, saying that their city is crumbling and way of life dying. Kida is hopeful that these visitors might be able to help them.

Milo is ordered by his crew to speak with Kida, to get some answers about Atlantis, specifically about their “power source”, but Kida gets to him first. As each of them has questions, they ask in turns. Kida first tells Milo of the day Atlantis flooded, with Milo being surprised that Kida was there as it happened almost 9,000 years ago – she looks good for an old lady! Milo then helps Kida get some of their vehicles to work as nobody in Atlantis can actually read their language. Later, Kida takes Milo to a mural underwater and asks him to translate it. It talks of a crystal, the Heart of Atlantis, the power source that Milo suspected was in Atlantis. As they come up to the surface, Rourke and the rest of the crew are ready to “greet” them. It turns out these guys aren’t explorers, they’re mercenaries, wanting to take the crystal back to the surface with them for money. Milo tells them if they take the crystal away, this whole city and its people will die. Rourke doesn’t care, and takes Kida and Milo as prison over to the King, where he tries to forcefully get the location of the crystal out of him. The King is elderly, and is injured in the attack, but he silently signals to the crystal being under the lake in his throne room. Rourke, Helga, Kida and Milo go down to it.

In the crystal chamber, Kida is summoned to the crystal, as it senses danger, mirroring the event that happened to her mother on the day of the Great Flood. She is brought down to the surface, but the crystal has bonded to her. Rourke imprisons Kida in a crate, with the crew about to set off for home. The majority of the crew feel guilty for their part in the soon-to-be destruction of Atlantis, and join forces with Milo, all except Rourke and Helga. Milo goes to see the King in his last dying minutes. The King asks Milo to save Atlantis and his daughter, giving him his crystal necklace, something all Atlanteans have. Milo uses the crystal to power one of the Atlantean vehicles and gets as many others as possible to join him. They follow Rourke to the dormant volcano. Rourke is about to escape with Kida in an airship, however, the Atlanteans and the crew start to fire at its balloons, making it lose altitude. Rourke throws Helga off the balloon, to “lighten the load”, where she falls. Just as she is about to die, she fires her gun at the airship, causing it to burst into flames. Rourke and Milo fight in amongst the mechanics of the ship, where Milo scratches Rourke’s arm with a piece of glass from Kida’s crate. It turns Rourke into a crystal monster. Crystal Rourke gets caught in the propellers of his ship, and shatters into millions of pieces.

These pieces free Kida’s crate from the airship and Milo attaches it to one of the vehicles, as it flies back to the city. With all the turmoil, the dormant volcano begins to erupt with lava hurrying towards Atlantis. At the city, Milo quickly opens up the crate, freeing Kida. With the crystal energy, she rises into the sky and awakens the ancient Stone Guardians, who appear from the flood waters. Together, they create a dome which protects the city from the lava. Once the lava has encased the city, it quickly hardens and breaks away. With the city back to its proper state, Kida is released from the crystal and is returned to the surface.

Milo decides to stay with Kida in Atlantis as they need “an expert in gibberish”. The others are rewarded for their heroism with some of the treasure of Atlantis and their own Atlantean crystal necklaces. On their return home, the now-rich crew review the trip with Whitmore, passing him the photographs from the journey that Packard had taken. Whitmore makes sure that all their stories are straight: that some of the crew died on the journey and others were lost, including Milo, and that they never found anything, to ensure that the secret of Atlantis is protected. Whitmore receives a gift from Milo, a crystal necklace as proof of their trip, wrapped up in the photograph Milo had of him and his grandfather. Back in Atlantis, Milo and Kida commemorate the death of the King with a giant stone structure, which is raised into the sky to join the past Kings which surround the crystal. The crystal is now residing above the city as it always used to, before the Great Flood, and Milo and Kida are happy together, ruling over the newly restored city of Atlantis.

CHARACTERS & CAST

Despite the awkward, geeky look of Milo Thatch, he is the hero of Atlantis: The Lost Empire. All of the museum board members pass him off as an eccentric kook, who should be using his brain to work on “real ideas”, not dreaming of finding some city that doesn’t exist. Even though this clearly bothers Milo, it does not deter him from his dream, as it was his grandfather who always wanted to find Atlantis, and he doesn’t want to let him down by not trying, no matter how many doors get slammed in his face – quite literally at times. Even the crew on the Ulysses don’t think much of Milo at first, especially Rourke. Milo is a linguist and cartographer, meaning he is the only person who can even read the Shepherd’s Journal and find the path to Atlantis, so he is incredibly intelligent. But this leads him to be isolated from the rest of the crew, who at first see him as annoying and a know-it-all. One night, they relent and feel that they had been treating him poorly by not speaking to him; this pleases Milo immensely who wanted to fit in with them from the start. Once Atlantis is threatened by Rourke, thanks to Milo’s heroism, bravery and fight for humanity, Atlantis and its people are saved. In a quote attributed to mathematician Alan Turing, rightly or wrongly, it states that “sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine”. I think that sums Milo Thatch up very well.

Supervising Animator for Milo, John Pomeroy, said that his character design for Milo felt very close to a portrait of himself, being a nerdy, intelligent, somewhat awkward guy, who sometimes gets things wrong! Pomeroy took ideas from different actors from movies he’d seen over the years, and eventually got to a design that the whole team liked. Michael J. Fox voices the role of Milo Thatch. Disney loved the youthful exuberance to his voice, and Fox was not afraid of getting the exact expression and emotion needed into every line. He felt it quite a freeing experience, voice acting, as he didn’t need to worry about what he looked like as he spoke the lines. Michael J. Fox is one of the most beloved actors in Hollywood, having starred in movies such as the Back to the Future trilogy (1985-1990), as well as voicing Stuart Little in all three films from 1999 to 2005. In television, Fox had great success on series such as Family Ties (1982-1989) and Spin City (1996-2001). He also recently released a documentary on his life and career to Apple TV+, Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie (2023), which I would highly recommend to anyone who has the means to watch it.

Princess Kida is Milo’s love interest in the movie, but don’t be fooled into thinking Kida is a typical Disney princess, because she is anything but! Kida is tough and strong-willed, with leadership qualities, as she will be the next ruler of Atlantis. She is respected in her city, and doesn’t tolerate fools gladly. At first, Kida is both fascinated and annoyed by Milo, teasing him quite often about his intellect and pale, weedy physique. I particularly like her line where she asks Milo: “You’re a scholar, are you not? Judging from your diminished physique and large forehead, you are suited for nothing else!”. It’s such a great line, and sums up her playful nature. Balancing that out, she can be very serious and passionate about saving her people at times, arguing with her father about what’s right for Atlantis and how they can heal their way of life. Kida is one of the earlier examples of a strong, brave woman in a Disney movie, after Mulan. For her design, Randy Haycock, Kida’s Supervising Animator, was inspired by one of the story ideas that the Atlanteans were a “mother race” that all others evolved from. So, Haycock used a mixture of characteristics from different cultures, such as Kida having white hair, full lips, and a wider nose. They didn’t want her to look like the girl-next-door, as many Disney princesses had done before her, but wanted her to be a tough warrior. The romance between Milo and Kida is a slow-burner, after their difficult introduction, but during the sequence of them discovering the mural and the history of Atlantis, they become much closer. Talented voiceover actress Cree Summer voices Kida. Summer was already known for her voice performance work at the time of her castling, as she had been the voice of Susie Carmichael in The Rugrats and All Growed Up and their spin-off movies from 1993 to 2008. Cree Summer also voiced the character of Miranda Killgallen in one of my favourite childhood TV series, As Told By Ginger (2000-04), amongst many other roles in Disney and non-Disney projects.

Commander Rourke was a different sort of villain for Disney at this point, as instead of being an obvious bad guy, inherently evil and wanting to destroy everyone, instead, Rourke is just greedy and the people of Atlantis unfortunately get in the way of his end goal of stealing the crystal and making a fortune. As Rourke says during the battle scene towards the end of the movie, “nothing personal!”. Rourke is just selfish and doesn’t really care about how his actions harm others. In this respect, he’s quite similar to Clayton from Tarzan (1999). Rourke starts off being quite charming, and generally only gets a little bit frustrated with Milo and his antics, but once it looks like Rourke will actually find Atlantis and its crystal, that’s when he goes crazy. Because of his experience in war and Western movies, James Garner was chosen to voice the part of Rourke. Garner’s career spanned numerous decades, with him being well-known for his roles as Flight Lieutenant Bob Hendley in The Great Escape (1963), as Bret Maverick in the Western series Maverick (1957-60), Old Noah in The Notebook (2004), and as Jim Egan, Cate’s father, in 8 Simple Rules (2003-05). Garner won various accolades throughout his long career, including multiple Golden Globes. In 2004, Garner received the Life Achievement Award from the Screen Actors Guild, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1985 for his role as Murphy Jones in Murphy’s Romance (1985). Sadly, Garner died in 2014 at the age of 86.

Dr. Joshua Sweet is a cool doctor. He is very tall, but a gentle giant, and one of the first of the crew to go against Rourke. Joshua Sweet goes from being enthusiastic and happy to solemn and serious quite quickly, with barely any middle ground between the two emotional states, but he is a kind, caring figure to everyone on the crew, and looks out for Milo right from the start, even when the others do not. Sweet is one of the first African-American characters to feature in a Disney film, and was designed by one of the first African-American Supervising Animators at Disney, Ron Husband. Phil Morris voices the role of Dr. Joshua Sweet. Morris is no stranger to the world of voice acting, as he has voiced roles in numerous television series such as The Secret Saturdays (2008-10), American Dragon: Jake Long (2006-07) and Kim Possible (2003-07). In person, Morris has acted in television series such as Smallville (2006-10) as John Jones and most recently, as Silas Stone in Doom Patrol (2019-present).

Vinny Santorini is the Italian demolitions expert in the group. He is kind of sarcastic at times, and is one of the worst for tormenting Milo at the start of their mission, as he convinces Milo that he’s drunk nitro-glycerine and that he’ll likely explode. Nice. But Vinny is one of the key players in battling Rourke and his henchmen at the end of the movie, and actually has a soft side, as we learn when Vinny tells the group that after the expedition, he wants to start his own flower shop. Russ Edmonds, Supervising Animator for Vinny, looked to The Godfather movies (1972-90) to look at the specific gestures of Italian actors, such as their hand movements, so they could be incorporated into Vinny’s design. Don Novello was chosen to voice the part of Vinny, and much of his performance was improvised. Novello is perhaps best known for his performance of the character Father Guido Sarducci which he created in 1973 and debuted on Saturday Night Live (1975-present) in the 1970s. He continued to perform the role in other shows in the 1980s and 90s.

Lieutenant Helga Sinclair was designed to look like a mysterious femme fatale from old 1940s movies. But there is a slight difference here, as though Helga is meant to be sexy and seductive, and Whitmore’s graceful Personal Assistant, she then becomes a tough, strong, though still beautiful, second-in-command on the expedition. It’s quite a mixture of characteristics but it works so well. Helga is probably my favourite character in Atlantis: The Lost Empire for these reasons. I especially love how she still manages to get her own back on Rourke even as she lays dying on the ground. The character of Helga was actually both animated, by Yoshimichi Tamura, and cleaned-up at the Disney Animation Studios in Paris so the team had to make sure her design still fit in with all the other characters who had been designed in the US. Claudia Christian voices Helga. From her credits, such as Commander Susan Ivanova on Babylon 5 (1994-1998), Captain Maynard on 9-1-1 (2018-present) and Hera on Netflix anime series Blood of Zeus (2020), it’s quite clear Christian plays strong women very well.

Audrey is the youngest on the crew and is a teenage mechanic, who learnt everything she knows from her father. It was decided that the expedition team needed to have a character closer in age to Milo, so tomboy Audrey was created. Because of Audrey’s tough demeanour, she demands, and gets, respect from everyone on the team, despite her age. Audrey is voiced by Jacqueline Obradors, who is known for her role as Detective Rita Ortiz in NYPD Blue (2001-05), but more recently has featured in the 2020 movie Palm Springs, and as recurring character Lucia in the miniseries Daisy Jones & the Six (2023).

Packard is the communications expert, but she is looks incredibly miserable and would obviously rather spend her time gossiping on the phone with her friend, Margie, than actually do her job. Though, to be fair, she does spot the Leviathan coming when she picks up the echoing sound. Packard is funny, as she is very deadpan and cynical. She balances out the team well. Florence Stanley, who has performed roles on both screen and stage, such as Yente in Fiddler on the Roof on Broadway from 1966 to 1971, voices Mrs. Packard.

Molière, or Mole, is the strangest one of the group. He is the geologist who likes digging, and looks almost like a rodent, which was a deliberate design choice by the animators, who wanted him to have buck teeth and a mouse’s mouth. He’s the comedy character of the movie, and is just so bizarre to everyone, not just the audience. Apparently, the animators used a profile of Charles de Gaulle for Mole’s face, and wanted him to have a bullet-shaped body and round head, so he’d look very different to the others. Apparently, Mole took ages to draw and clean up due to all the gadgets on his face and head. Corey Burton, arguably the king of Disney voice acting, is the voice of Mole. He has voiced characters such as Captain Hook and Ludwig von Drake for television and films, but has also voiced characters for Disney Park attractions, such as General Knowledge in now-defunct Epcot attraction Cranium Command, Figment in the current iteration of Epcot attraction Journey into Imagination with Figment, Doc Hudson in California Adventure’s Radiator Springs Racers, and so much more. Basically, any time Disney need a voice actor, Corey Burton might just be the man for the job!

Cookie is, oddly enough, the cook for the crew, though he has no concept of healthy eating, stating that the four basic food groups are beans, bacon, whiskey, and lard, and therefore, cooks food that pretty much everyone in the team absolutely hates. The team thought it would be fun to have a character who was old enough to have been involved in the settlement of the West and had worked for generals like Custer, basically creating a caricature of a Western sidekick. Cookie is a silly, wacky character, but good fun. Jim Farney voiced most of Cookie’s lines, but sadly died in February 2000 before the film was finished, though he did get to see some clips of what his animation was going to look like. Steven Barr provides the voice of Cookie in the final scene[1]. Jim Farney had voiced the character of Slinky Dog in Toy Story (1995) and Toy Story 2 (1999), and was well known for his comedic role as Ernest P. Worrell, who featured in television commercials, then television series, and finally films from 1980-1998.

So that’s all the crew on the Atlantis mission. They are quite an eclectic mix of characters and personalities, but they are also incredibly diverse in terms of their heritages and backgrounds, which was quite unique for a Disney movie at this time.

Preston B. Whitmore is that old eccentric man who has too much money. His backstory went along the lines of him having made his money from industry, potentially as a railroad tycoon and then had become a philanthropist, funding anything that took his fancy. In this case, Whitmore was fulfilling a lifelong promise to his friend, Thaddeus. Whitmore doesn’t feature too heavily in the movie; however, he is the one who makes the whole expedition happen, and is the person who ensures that the rest of the crew keep their whole journey and Atlantis a secret on their return, showing he wasn’t in it for anything other than to honour his friend. John Mahoney voices Whitmore, who found it very freeing to be as big and outrageous with his performance as he wanted. Mahoney had voice parts in both Antz (1998) and The Iron Giant (1999) before voicing Whitmore for Atlantis: The Lost Empire, but Mahoney is probably most known for his role as Martin Crane on the series Frasier (1993-2004), for which he was nominated for two Emmy awards. John Mahoney passed away in 2018 at the age of 77.

And last but not least, we have King Nedakh, the stoic, stubborn leader of Atlantis, who is wise and commanding, despite being old and nearing the end of his life. The King was the hardest character to design, according to the team at Disney, as he had lots of facial hair, tattoos all over his head, and a heavily designed robe. He also spoke in Atlantean for much of the movie, so the mouth movements had to fit this made-up language. Surprisingly, Leonard Nimoy, yes, that Leonard Nimoy, agreed to voice the role and was incredibly professional with his performance and mesmerised the Disney team[2]. Leonard Nimoy was famed for playing Spock in the Star Trek franchise (1966-2013), where his final film role was in Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) in a cameo as Spock Prime.

PRODUCTION

At the Disney Studios, the directors, Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, the producer, Don Hahn, and the screenwriter, Tab Murphy, had all worked together on Disney’s 1996 animated release The Hunchback of Notre Dame. After that movie was released, they went to a Burbank Mexican restaurant together to discuss a future project, as they wanted to get started on a new idea quite quickly to keep the whole team that worked on The Hunchback of Notre Dame together, as Trousdale, Wise, Hahn and Murphy liked the team they’d collaborated with. They began to talk about seeing the likes of Star Wars (1977) and Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) for the first time at the cinema, deciding that they “don’t make ‘em like they used to”. As this team had worked on two Disney animated musicals consecutively, the first being Beauty and the Beast (1991), they wanted to do something different, and decided to “head to Adventureland instead of Fantasyland” and make a movie like the live-action-adventure movies that they liked as young adults, and those of the 50s and 60s from Disney.

Therefore, the idea was to make a movie about explorers; no songs, just adventure. Originally, they looked at a more generic plot, about a group of explorers journeying to the centre of the Earth and finding a lost civilisation, before they then began to look into the mystery of the Lost City of Atlantis, which they felt would be a good storyline for their movie, especially as nobody knows whether or not Atlantis existed, or what may or may not have happened to it so the team at Disney could interpret the legend however they wanted[3].

Basing their story in a likely fictional place meant that the Disney animators and story team could have a lot of fun with the concept. They began by finding as much research as they could on Atlantis, from the scientifically sound to the craziest theories, to get inspiration for the story and the look and feel of Atlantis. The “Sleeping Prophet”, an American clairvoyant, claimed to have seen visions in the 1920s of crystals in Atlantis being some sort of energy. This gave the animators a focus for part of their Atlantean civilisation, thinking that crystal energy would look good on screen. The team also thought about the potential that within the hollow core of the Earth there could be lost areas underground that continue to thrive. With this in mind, they knew that Atlantis should be partly preserved underground. For more specific cultural elements of Atlantean culture, a whole dialect and language was created, both written and spoken. The creator of this Atlantean language was Marc Okrand, who also created Vulcan, Klingon and Romulan for the Star Trek universe[4]. The Shepherd’s Journal was another necessity for the movie, as Tab Murphy righty said that Milo needed to have a map to find Atlantis. Lots of development went into the idea for this journal, looking at binding and scrolls, before agreeing that it had to be a book that could be held. The team gave the journal its own history, that it had been fought over for centuries, with it travelling all over the world before ending up in Iceland, where Milo’s grandfather would find it[5].

The story took some time to organise. Tab Murphy crafted the concept and “spine of the story” before passing it over to the directors and story writers to flesh out further. One of the earliest visual images for the movie was of a pirate ship being taken down by mechanical tentacles that had popped out of the sea. This linked with an early story idea that Milo Thatch was going to be a descendent of Blackbeard and that he would be looking to discover his pirate heritage. But instead, the relationship with his grandfather and the explorer heritage was brought in, with the aim for Atlantis to be resurrected by Milo’s team.

At one point, they had two of the three “acts” ready to review, however, these two acts ran to roughly 80 minutes, so they had to make cuts. Characters were deleted, with the team being even larger at this point than the final film, where there are nine members of the expedition group! Other sequences, including many of strange creatures, such as squid bats and lava whales interrupting the group’s progress were also cut, as it was taking about an hour of the film to even get to Atlantis.

Another major story element that was changed was the original prologue. In the final movie, we see the sinking of Atlantis, however, initially there was going to be a prologue about Vikings. The Vikings would’ve had the Shepherd’s Journal and be on their way to discovering Atlantis in 997 AD, just off the coast of Iceland. But their progress was halted by stormy seas and a creature with huge tentacles pulling crew members into the ocean and drowning them, before sinking the ship. The journal would’ve been thrown into the sea. This may have given the audience an insight into the Shepherd’s Journal and how it came to be in Iceland, however, it was felt that, although the entire sequence had been fully cut into the movie and coloured, it wasn’t giving the viewer enough insight into Atlantis, potentially making them not care about the city and its people by the time they got there. Seeing Atlantis fall from Kida’s eyes not only showed what this traumatic event did to the people of Atlantis, but also showed the area as a thriving community, something that Milo and the team do not see when they first arrive.

The look at Atlantis: The Lost Empire is quite different to any other Disney animated movie, as one of the first things you’ll notice is the angular shapes and designs of the characters. Some of the best Disney animated movies had a unique artistic style that carried throughout the movie. In the case of Beauty and the Beast (1991), it was the storybook-look; for Sleeping Beauty (1959), it was the moving tapestry. For Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Disney wanted the movie to have a comic book design, hence the angular lines. Mike Mignola, known for the Hellboy comic series, and his creative style was a huge inspiration to the overall style of the movie, as Trousdale and Wise were already big fans of his, and were drawn to his high contrast, limited colour style. They actually went to Mignola to ask for his input on the movie and he willingly accepted the role as Production Designer on the film. Not only was he vital to the artistic design of the movie, but Mignola also had many ideas for the story. Disney animators were taught to draw in the style of Mignola.

The movie deals with two separate time periods and two distinct environments: the WWI industrial era and the magical, organic world of Atlantis. For the WWI scenes, the team were able to go inside submarines at harbours in Baltimore and LA, and travelled to Maryland to look at a large collection of armoured vehicles and tanks, giving realism to their vehicles and exploration details within the movie. For journeying through all the caverns and caves, the team went to Carlsbad Caverns as part of a research trip to get as close to the centre of the Earth as they could, seeing huge areas underground and thinking about how communities could be sustained there with the right resources.

Now that’s the easy part, recreating things that really existed. The difficult part, although more enjoyable, is creating something that we know nothing about! Trousdale and Wise knew that they wanted to avoid what they described as the “1950s idea of Atlantis”, that being crumbling Greek columns underwater. Instead, they asked their team to look at Mayan and Southeast Asian architecture, such as the Mayan pyramids and Cambodian temples, for the physical basis of Atlantis. Disney Artist Lisa Keene even went so far as to paint a whole concept of what their Atlantean ecosystem could look like, with Atlantis being a bubble sitting under the ocean, with the crystal being their power source. As Atlantis would be near to the centre of the Earth, it would be near magma and lava, with those being able to create steam as the heat came into contact with the water, which would water plants and provide oxygen. It was an intensive look into this fictional world, but this dedication to the project is plainly visible in the final film.

For the Visual Effects, Marlon West was asked by Don Hahn to work on Atlantis: The Lost Empire. It was initially a daunting prospect for West as it was going to be a big job for the Effects team, as he was shown images of lava, sea monsters, and fireflies setting tents on fire. There was also going to be lots of weapon fire, guns, and explosions, alongside the more natural elements like mist, bubbles, clouds and rain. Not only that but Atlantis: The Lost Empire contains more digital production than any other Disney animated movie that came before it. Kiran Joshi in the CGI department split these digital elements into four areas: digital characters, such as the Stone Giants at the end and the Leviathan; Vehicle Effects; Organic Effects; and CG environments. All of these digital elements and effects still had to fit within the Mignola comic book style of the movie. It was a lot of work, but it adds so much to the story and atmosphere of the environments that Atlantis: The Lost Empire would’ve felt empty without all this.

Atlantis: The Lost Empire was one of Disney’s first movies for a while to use CinemaScope, as many of the previous movies that had used it before, such as Sleeping Beauty (1959) had lost money because a larger screen meant larger drawings, and therefore more production costs. But Atlantis: The Lost Empire is a big action movie, an epic story, like Indiana Jones’ movies, and not only that but a comic-book style movie so it would suit a widescreen format well. To avoid the extra costs, although the scenes were 30% longer, they could cut from the top and bottom of the scenes, so they would end up a similar ratio to a non-widescreen production, and therefore didn’t end up being 30% more expensive.

After all that, did the supposed Lost City of Atlantis actually ever exist? Well, according to historians, it’s not very likely that it did. The location of the supposed Lost City of Atlantis is one of history’s big mysteries, as its disappearance has been theorised for years, with its legends of advanced technology and mythical monsters having been passed down for centuries. It is widely agreed now within historian circles that Atlantis did not exist, as there would’ve been earlier texts on the civilisation much before Plato wrote about it in 380 BC, almost 9,000 years after its supposed destruction. The Atlantis tale didn’t become mainstream until the late 19^th century when Ignatius Donnelly wrote a book about it called The Antediluvian World. Despite these writings, in more modern times, it has been stated that an earthquake or flooding event would likely have not been able to sink an area as large as Atlantis is claimed to be, though 73,000 years ago, there was a potential event that sent 38 cubic miles of land into the ocean. It is likely that the myth of Atlantis from Plato is likely to have been a warning about the nature of the planet, and the volatility of our environments. It was also a morality tale about greed, as Plato’s writing stated that the destruction of Atlantis came about as a punishment form the gods for their greed. Though historians have found that many ancient civilisations were more technologically advanced than first thought, there would still have been some evidence of these technologies existing in a place like Atlantis[6]. So sadly, it looks like Atlantis isn’t real, but that won’t stop people from exploring the legend further and wanting to discover more about it, as can be seen from the “factual” television documentaries to the fiction movies and television series that continue to air today.

MUSIC

As Atlantis: The Lost Empire is not a musical, the bulk of the soundtrack comes from James Newton Howard’s score. Howard had worked on Dinosaur (2000) for Disney before working on Atlantis: The Lost Empire, and would then go on to compose the score for Treasure Planet. For the city of Atlantis, Howard referenced Indonesian orchestral sounds, using instruments like chimes, bells, and gongs to be a real contrast to the WWI era that the explorers have come from and the dirtiness and difficulty of their journey. The score not only had to accompany the action on the screen, with Atlantis: The Lost Empire moving from industrial travel, to magical scenery, to intense battle scenes throughout the plot of the movie, but it also had to speak for the movie when dialogue was not used to express the thoughts and emotions of the sequence. There are many big moments like this, such as Kida being bonded to the crystal, the first reveal of Atlantis to the explorers, and the finale[7].

I have a few pieces from the score that I particularly enjoy. I think that the music that plays during the opening prologue, “Atlantis Destroyed”, is a good way of bringing the viewer into the action and intense emotional moments that they’re going to experience throughout the movie. It’s a horrifying scene as the Atlantean people fear the loss of their home and their lives, with the score perfectly complimenting that. It also sets up some motifs that will be re-used later on in the score. “The Submarine” is another great piece, as it plays as the Ulysses is being launched. It signifies the excitement that Milo is feeling at the start of the expedition. “Just Do It” and “Kida Returns”, which play during the finale of the movie, when Atlantis is saved by Kida, is incredibly fitting for this climatic sequence. But the best number in the score is “The Crystal Chamber”, the point where Kida is summoned to the crystal to eventually save the city. With the choral sounds and foreboding drums, it just shows the importance of this moment, and the uncertainty of exactly what the audience is seeing at this point, as we don’t know what this all means; it’s weird and confusing, but still amazing.

There is just one song on the soundtrack called “Where the Dream Takes You”, performed by Mya, which is played during the End Credits. This was supposedly only included as per a request from the Disney Studios marketing department as every Disney movie’s credits apparently has to have a song! It’s not the best song, it’s just a generic pop ballad really, and not worth watching the credits for, though I’m sure it has its fans.

RECEPTION

Atlantis: The Lost Empire was released on 15^th June 2001 in the US, after having its premiere at the El Capitan Theatre on 3^rd June 2001. It received mixed reviews, with some critics being kinder than others. Some stated that after seeing what Pixar could do with CG animation, they felt that Disney was being left behind with their 2D animation. Others did not think much of the plot or the characters, and were confused by the animation style used in the movie, which is unlike the style that many Disney movie-goers would’ve been used to. There were some that liked the fact Disney were doing something a bit different by creating an action movie, but that they didn’t believe it would ever replace the musical style that the studio was most known for. Basically, it was just ok to many people. The “higher ups” at Disney had even dampened down some of the action scenes to try to appeal to families, but that was clearly not enough to save it.

The biggest issue was that Atlantis: The Lost Empire was Disney doing something completely different, and something that would not necessarily appeal to young children and their parents, and may or may not appeal to teenagers. DreamWorks’ computer-animated film Shrek (2001) had also been released just a month earlier, so there would’ve been competition and comparisons between the two films. Though they are nothing alike, Shrek definitely has more universal appeal, and is much less serious than Atlantis: The Lost Empire. Not only that but it was an odd time for everyone at the Disney Studios as Michael Eisner, then-CEO of the company, was feuding with Roy E. Disney during this time over control of the company, so that would’ve taken focus away from Atlantis: The Lost Empire, though it was clear that Eisner was a fan of the film’s concept.

The movie grossed $186 million worldwide against a budget of $120 million budget, so it was not a total flop, but it wasn’t enough to change Disney’s animation direction, and the potentially large marketing budget may not have been factored in here. The upcoming movie Treasure Planet (2002) was a very similar idea to Atlantis: The Lost Empire, with directors Ron Clements and John Musker being concerned for the fate of their movie after the reaction to Atlantis: The Lost Empire. They would’ve been right to be concerned…[8]

Atlantis: The Lost Empire only won one award, the 2002 Golden Reel Award for Best Sound Editing – Animated Feature Film. At the Annie Awards, it was nominated for a few categories, including Directing, Storyboard, Music Score, and Voice Acting for Leonard Nimoy and Florence Stanley, and went away with nothing. It was not even nominated for Best Animated Feature there, or at the Academy Awards; unsurprisingly, that award went to Shrek (2001), becoming the first movie ever to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2002.

LEGACY

Because of the film’s lack of success, every idea, concept, and spin-off planned for Atlantis: The Lost Empire was immediately shelved or cancelled. The only thing that did come out of Atlantis: The Lost Empire was a direct-to-video sequel titled Atlantis: Milo’s Return. (2003). The sequel is almost a “package feature” as it consists of three episodes originally created for the planned television series Team Atlantis, where the characters from the movie would investigate mysterious creatures and strange phenomena, including the Kraken. Some linking material was added to make the standalone episodes fit into a whole feature film[9]. I’ll be honest, it’s not a good direct-to-video sequel, and it is only too obvious that the stories were never meant to fit together. But on a positive note, the majority of the original voice cast did reprise their roles in this sequel. Milo Thatch was voiced by James Taylor, instead of Michael J. Fox. A theatrical sequel, Atlantis 2, was also promptly cancelled after the weak performance of Atlantis: The Lost Empire, despite some early story work being developed.

Princess Kida was not even allowed to be included in the official Disney Princess franchise, despite being an actual princess, unlike Mulan who is not a princess but is still included on the list, likely due to the failure of the film, which is incredibly unfair.

To further add to the disappointment of Disney Atlantis lovers everywhere, the attraction Submarine Voyage at Disneyland was going to be rethemed to Atlantis: The Lost Empire, with a poster even being made and put up in the park for its planned retheme to open in 2003. It was to be narrated by Preston B. Whitmore, and would’ve seen guests encounter the Leviathan. Instead, a few years later, the ride was closed and the lagoon drained in 2005 so that the attraction could be rethemed to Pixar’s Finding Nemo (2003). Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage opened in June 2007, and continues to operate today.

A rollercoaster called Fire Mountain was planned to be constructed at Walt Disney World Resort in Magic Kingdom’s Adventureland. It would’ve revolved around the story of Whitmore making expeditions to Atlantis available to the public – which would’ve gone completely against the film, as Whitmore wants the explorers to keep Atlantis a secret, but there you go! The ride system would’ve had guests suspended in hang-glider-type vehicles with the track overhead, with the vehicles going through a lava-filled volcano[10].

Still, if you want an Atlantis-inspired theme park attraction, you could always go to SeaWorld Orlando, San Diego or San Antonio and ride Journey to Atlantis, a rollercoaster-log flume hybrid. The one in Orlando is fun anyway, though it has absolutely nothing to do with the Disney movie, obviously.

As was standard for pretty much every Disney animated movie that has ever existed, a live-action version of Atlantis: The Lost Empire was announced in 2020, however, since that point, there has been no further official news on it. That’s not usual, as so many live-action adaptations were announced in that same year and went no further than that. In a way, Atlantis: The Lost Empire might have been a good option for a Disney live-action remake as it would perfectly fit the live-action format and, as it is not particularly well-remembered by Disney fans, they could’ve done a lot with the story.

Other than that, at the Disney Parks, there has been the occasional merchandise item to buy that features Atlantis: The Lost Empire and its characters, such as a MagicBand featuring Milo, Kida, Vinny, Mole and Audrey, however, that was released in 2021, presumably only for the 20^th anniversary of the movie.

In terms of meet-and-greet opportunities, there are very few of these for the characters anymore. Around the time of the movie’s release in 2001, guests could meet Milo, Kida, and even Mole and Vinny, at the Magic of Disney Animation at Walt Disney World’s Disney-MGM Studios, now Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and at Disneyland. Milo and Kida were also a part of the Disney Stars and Motor Cars Parade at Disney-MGM Studios for the first year of that parade, which makes sense as the parade debuted in 2001. The most recent sighting of Milo and Kida seems to have been at Disneyland, during their special event Disneyland After Dark: Sweethearts’ Nite in February 2022. Even Bernard and Bianca from The Rescuers (1977) were meeting that same night. At Disneyland Paris, Milo and Kida were last spotted at the park in 2018 as part of the Disney FanDaze event. I can’t find any evidence of Milo and Kida being seen at Walt Disney World recently, or ever being available to meet at the Disney Parks in Asia.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Going through all the behind-the-scenes footage from the team who worked on Atlantis: The Lost Empire and seeing their passion for the project, as well as their desire to experiment and try something different in Disney Animation, it just makes me feel all the more disappointed for them that Atlantis: The Lost Empire was not successful. The amount of effort and commitment that went into the movie is evident, not only in its characters and story, but in its design aesthetic, visual effects and sound.

Unfortunately, it was a risk and it ultimately did not pay off. But around the 20^th anniversary of the movie in 2021, it was a surprise to all the filmmakers to find that Atlantis: The Lost Empire had found an extremely dedicated fan-base, and they were only too pleased to find that the movie had touched people, and been a part of their childhoods, with them still loving the film in adulthood.

If you’ve never watched Atlantis: The Lost Empire, completely missing out on it as a child, or you only watched it at a young age, I would encourage you to go back and give the movie another try. You might just find you actually enjoy it, and be able to understand why Atlantis: The Lost Empire is considered to be one of Disney’s most underrated treasures.

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Jim Korkis, Everything I Know I Learned from Disney Animated Feature Films (2015), ‘Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)’, pp. 121-123.

[2] Credit: Disney, The Making of Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2002).

[3] Credit: Disney, “The Journey Begins”, from Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) 1-Disc DVD (2002).

[4] Credit: Jim Korkis, Everything I Know I Learned from Disney Animated Feature Films (2015), ‘Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)’, pp. 121-123.

[5] Credit: Disney, “Creating Mythology”, from Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) 1-Disc DVD (2002).

[6] Credit: Cassidy Ward, ‘The Science Behind The Fiction: Is There Any Truth To The Myth Of Atlantis?’, Syfy.com, 16^th June 2021.

[7] Credit: Disney, The Making of Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2002).

[8] Credit: Drew Taylor, ‘How ‘Atlantis: The Lost Empire’ Almost Changed Disney Forever’, Collider.com, 17^th June 2020

[9] Credit: Jim Korkis, Everything I Know I Learned from Disney Animated Feature Films (2015), ‘Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)’, pp. 121-123.

[10] Credit: Drew Taylor, ‘How ‘Atlantis: The Lost Empire’ Almost Changed Disney Forever’, Collider.com, 17^th June 2020

8th Sep 202327th Jun 2024 by The Disney Purist

#60 Encanto (2021)

BACKGROUND

Encanto was the surprise blockbuster hit of 2021, being released in theatres in November 2021, before being brought to Disney+, where an even wider audience would see it.

As the movie was released during the COVID-19 pandemic, or at least when the world had not yet fully recovered, I don’t believe anyone expected Encanto to do as well as it did, especially not in a theatre release. The previous “pandemic” Disney and Pixar releases, like Raya and the Last Dragon (2021) and Luca (2021) had not received anything like the acclaim that Encanto did.

So, what was it about this film in particular? Perhaps it was that catchy soundtrack that played over and over on the radio for weeks, or maybe it was the strong sense of family that pulled people towards it as the pandemic had been a tough time for many, with months of not being able to see family members that did not live with you.

I’m assuming it was a combination of many things but what was clear was that Encanto became the new Frozen (2013), the big hit of the Disney 2020s – at least so far.

I watched it for the first time on Disney+ in January 2022, so I was aware of the buzz around it, and was actually quite excited to see it. On my first viewing of the movie though, despite tearing up at numerous points in the film, largely due to its soundtrack, I found myself disappointed and wondering “was that it?” as barely anything happened in the film.

After viewing it this week, that same feeling didn’t bother me so much, so I quite liked the movie. It’s not my favourite of even the more recent Disney releases, but it was so full of emotion and relatable family moments that I couldn’t help but feel connected to it this time around. Regardless of how anyone feels about the film, it would be silly to claim that Encanto was not a smashing success, for whatever reason.

PLOT

Encanto begins with a family who have been given an “encanto”, a miracle that has brought magic to themselves and their community. A grandmother sits with her granddaughter and tells her how the family came to have this “encanto”. The grandmother, her husband, and three babies were forced to leave their town suddenly many years ago as armed forces burnt their village, and the husband was killed by those men as they pursued those fleeing the area. In that darkest moment, the candle the grandmother was holding became magical, with a flame that never went out. A whole house and village were built at that moment, with each member of the grandmother’s family then receiving a magical gift when they “came of age”. Now, it is the granddaughter’s turn as tonight it is her ceremony, where the “casita” will give her a gift via a magical door.

We don’t see what happens next as we jump forward in time, about ten years, where the girl, Mirabel, is now about fifteen-years-old. We see that the family has grown in that time, with every member of the family using their special gift to help the whole community. Mirabel is asked to explain what all these gifts are to the local children. Here’s what she tells them: her mother, Julieta, has healing powers, which come from her cooking; her father, Agustín, is non-magical, and is very accident-prone; her sister, Luisa, has super strength, whilst her other sister, Isabela, can make flowers bloom and grow. Her aunt Pepa controls the weather with her emotions, whilst her husband Félix is non-magical, too, but a fun-loving man. Mirabel’s cousin, and Pepa and Félix’s daughter, Dolores, has super hearing; another cousin, Camilo, is a shape-shifter, and Antonio, the youngest cousin, gets his gift today. Bruno, Mirabel’s uncle, can see the future, but nobody knows what happened to him after he left the family a while ago. Abuela Alma is the head of the family, who protects everyone in the village. We then find out that Mirabel, for some reason, never received a gift.

But there’s no time to dwell on that as tonight is Antonio’s gift ceremony, and the whole house needs to be decorated and preparations made. Mirabel is told to stay out of the way as nothing can go wrong. Her parents try to make her feel better, but it’s difficult when the last gift-giving ceremony was hers and resulted in her not receiving a gift, so Abuela is anxious. Antonio is nervous too, concerned that the same thing will happen to him, but Mirabel tells him not to worry. At the ceremony, Mirabel walks Antonio up the long staircase to his door, where his gift is revealed: he can communicate with animals. As the village celebrates, Mirabel starts to feel incredibly left out and upset at not feeling like she has a place in the great “Familia Madrigal”. Suddenly, she sees huge cracks appearing in the walls and floors of their home. She rushes to tell the family, and leads them to the courtyard where she first saw them, but the cracks have inexplicably vanished. Abuela calms the village, telling them the magic is fine. Mirabel is confused, and when she hears her Abuela praying that the magic doesn’t go out, Mirabel sets out to save the “encanto”.

First up, Mirabel talks to her sister, Luisa, who is apparently struggling with all the pressure she is feeling over her obligations to the village and her family. Luisa says that when the cracks apparently happened, she felt weak and remembers that their Uncle Bruno, who left the family ten years ago, had a vision about the magic, a bad one, and suggests that Mirabel starts in Bruno’s room. Though it is off-limits, Mirabel goes in and after dodging some crazy obstacles, she finds the remains of a vision picture; it looks like pieces of green tile. She quickly picks them up and exits the room as it begins to fill with sand. As Mirabel returns to the rest of the house, she assembles the picture and is shocked to see it is of her, with the house cracking behind her. At the same time, Luisa has found that she is weakening and is scared about what is to come. Abuela once again warns Mirabel away from the magic, telling her that it is her sister, Isabela’s, engagement dinner tonight to a local man from the town, Mariano, and that nothing can go wrong.

Mirabel doesn’t stop though and asks her aunt, Pepa, to tell her about Bruno. But the family, they don’t talk about Bruno, as it causes a lot of mixed emotions. The town basically took a dislike to Bruno as his gift for visions supposedly made bad things happen to everyone, like rain on Pepa and Félix’s wedding day, a fish dying and the local priest losing his hair… He was considered to be a “jinx”, basically. Mirabel then goes to her father, who sees the completed vision picture, and tells her not to speak of it, at least not now, and to hide the tiles. Except Dolores heard everything with her super-hearing, and now most of the family are sitting around the dinner-table disturbed by what they’ve discovered. This ruins Isabela and Mariano’s engagement dinner as everyone freaks out about visions and losing their magical gifts. Abuela even sees the reassembled picture and tries to calm Mariano and his family. At the same time, Mirabel sees rats going into the walls of the house and follows them, where she finds her Uncle Bruno. He never actually left the house, as he loves his family and couldn’t bear to be apart from them, no matter what they think of him. It turns out Bruno “left” as he had a vision of the house breaking the night that Mirabel didn’t get her gift, and as he couldn’t work out what it meant, and as everyone would think it was his fault that it was going to happen, he left. Mirabel pleads with Bruno to continue the vision, to see if he can see how the magic can be fixed. He is unsure, especially as Mirabel destroyed his “vision cave” whilst she was in his room, but Antonio offers his jungle-themed room.

The two watch the vision and see that Mirabel can heal the candle if she hugs someone. And that someone is: her sister, Isabela, who she has a difficult relationship with. Mirabel doesn’t want to talk to her, but agrees to, saying that when she saves the miracle, she’ll bring Bruno home. Mirabel goes to see Isabela, and they quickly get off on the wrong foot, arguing about how Isabela has always been so perfect and Mirabel always ruining things. Isabela blurts out that she isn’t even happy with her so-called perfect life and conjures up a cactus, the first time her gift has ever planted something not beautiful and perfect. Mirabel encourages Isabela to be freer with her magic, and to not be perfect all the time. Isabela is happy for the first time in a long time, and the two watch as Isabela grows a variety of different plants and trees all over the house. It begins to heal the cracks in the house that began to reappear at the dinner the night before. Until Abuela comes over, and tells Isabela to stop acting so crazy, before turning to Mirabel, telling her that the magic is at risk because of her and that she is hurting the family. Mirabel is so upset and angry with the fact that her Abuela has pushed her aside ever since she didn’t get a gift that the emotional outburst causes the house to be completely destroyed. Mirabel tries to save the candle, but it goes out, signifying the end of their “encanto”. Mirabel is distraught and runs away.

The whole family look for her, but Abuela finds her first, down by the river. It turns out this is where the miracle first came to her, all those years ago when she fled her village and her husband, Pedro, sacrificed himself to save everyone. When the miracle came to Abuela it blasted the soldiers away and created a new start, a safe haven for everyone. Abuela was so afraid of losing it that she took control over all the family, forgetting who and what the miracle was for; she apologises to Mirabel, saying it was all her fault. Mirabel tells her Abuela that she found the miracle, for all of them, and made them all a family. The two reconcile. Bruno rushes over, ready to take the blame for all the chaos, and accepting of the fact that the family do not want him, only for Abuela, his mother, to hug him and insist he returns with them. The family reconvene at the ruins of the house, and reunite to begin rebuilding it. All of the village also come over to help, repaying the Madrigals for all their service to them and the entire community.

Slowly but surely, the house is rebuilt, and the family members are free to go about their lives as they want to. Bruno reunites with his siblings and the rest of the family; Isabela refuses to marry Mariano, who instead ends up with Dolores, and everything seems happy – even if they don’t have their magic anymore. As the house is ready to move back in to, the family present Mirabel with the door knob to the front door of their new house, so that she can be the one to open up the door. As Mirabel turns the handle, all the magic returns. A final family photo is taken, this time including everyone, even Mirabel and Bruno; it may not be perfect, but whose family is?

CHARACTERS & CAST

Mirabel is the key to the entire story of Encanto. As a person, she is quirky and awkward, quite headstrong, intelligent, and also kind and caring, having a particularly close bond to her youngest cousin, Antonio. Despite all these characteristics, she has been ignored and disregarded by her Abuela, the head of the family, all because she didn’t get given a gift on her ceremony night – like it was Mirabel’s fault. Mirabel’s parents, Julieta and Agustín, are always on her side though and constantly tell Mirabel she is still special to them, even without a gift. Julieta sees how her mother treats Mirabel and tells her a few times not to be so hard on Mirabel, but to no avail. The other members of the family make sure to include Mirabel and she has a good relationship with the majority of them, all except Abuela and her sister, Isabela, who is the complete opposite of Mirabel. Sisters don’t always get on! Even though, Mirabel doesn’t have a gift, it is only her who can save the magic and the miracle, because she can see what the pressure of having gifts has done to them, and it’s up to Mirabel to encourage the others to be who they want to be and ultimately fix everything. At the end, when Mirabel is given the doorknob to the newly rebuilt house, it shows the family signifying Mirabel’s importance to the Madrigals, and her becoming a new leader in the family, looking to replace Abuela as head of the family, when the time comes – this is supposedly why Mirabel never received a gift, as she would be the care-taker of it, like Abuela is. Though the reasons why Mirabel didn’t receive a gift are debated, and open to interpretation, but this is how I understood it.

Mirabel is a great role model to have within the Disney canon, despite being the antithesis of a Disney Princess. Mirabel is trying to find herself throughout this movie and has found that she is made up of so many qualities, good and bad, but they are all her; this is an important message for young people especially to see on screen. Mirabel is voiced by Stephanie Beatriz, who is perhaps best known for her role as Rosa Diaz on the series Brooklyn Nine-Nine (2013-21). Beatriz also played Carla in the movie In the Heights (2021), an adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hit stage musical; Miranda wrote the music for Encanto. Most recently, Beatriz starred in the Peacock series Twisted Metal (2023), alongside Anthony Mackie.

Mirabel’s parents, Julieta and Agustín, don’t feature too heavily in the movie, however, it is clear that they are supportive of all three of their daughters. Agustín seems to have a special bond with Mirabel as they are both non-magical, which probably helps Mirabel when she begins to feel left out for not having a gift at times. Julieta is the cook of the family, as she makes the best food, which not only tastes good, but heals everyone’s ills, physical or emotional. Julieta seems to be stuck in the middle of Abuela’s wants for the family and Mirabel’s struggles within the family, but ultimately, Mirabel does come first. Agustín was originally going to be quite strait-laced, but in the end, became a goofy dad, always getting himself into trouble, like being stung by bees frequently! This was a much better choice for the character; I can’t even imagine what a strict Agustín would have been like! Colombian actress Angie Cepeda voices Julieta. Cepeda has featured in a mixture of English- and Spanish-language films throughout her career, but mostly recently had a role in the television series Halo (2022). Wilmer Valderrama voices Agustín. For Disney and Pixar, Valderrama provided the voices of Gaxton, a college student, in Onward (2020) and Manny in the Playhouse Disney series Handy Manny (2006-13). As well as this, Valderrama has been a series regular on NCIS since 2016 (Season 14), as Nick Torres.

For Mirabel’s sisters, Luisa and Isabela, they couldn’t be more different to Mirabel. Luisa is the super strong one, completing tasks such as moving donkeys, lifting boulders, and righting houses around the community. She feels like she has a lot of pressure on herself, not just with the fact she has to lift really heavy things, but that she has too much responsibility and has to keep a brave face constantly so she doesn’t disrupt the family; something that has gotten more and more difficult to keep up, especially as cracks start to form, metaphorically and literally, in the family dynamic.

Isabela is the perfect one, who is beautiful, graceful, and elegant. She basically looks like a typical Disney princess, except Isabela is not particularly kind, at least not to Mirabel, who she frequently tells to keep quiet and not get involved in her life. But this is, again, due to the pressure she feels to be perfect and to go along with the wishes of Abuela, like marrying a man she doesn’t want to, to keep the miracle alive and family going, as she is the eldest of the three sisters. It turns out that when Isabela isn’t so uptight, she is actually a lot of fun and gets on with Mirabel much better. In a deleted scene, Isabela was actually going to run away from home as she was so upset with her life, and was going to go away with her secret boyfriend, before Mirabel discovered them and their plan. In this scene, Isabela seems like the oldest sister, which I don’t think she does in the final movie – I thought Luisa was the oldest one. She is much wiser than she is in the final cut, and instead of arguing with Mirabel, it would seem that Isabela is less mean and spiteful to Mirabel, trying to explain to her how she’s feeling and why leaving the family is best for her[1].

Jessica Darrow and Diane Guerrero voice the roles of Luisa and Isabela respectively. Darrow has recently played the role of Mikki Easton in the series Fifteen-Love (2023); Guerrero is likely most known for her recurring role as Maritza Ramos in Orange Is the New Black (2013-2019) and Lina Santillan in Jane the Virgin (2014-19). She is also “Crazy” Jane in the DC Comics-based series Doom Patrol (2019-present).

For Mirabel’s extended family, there are still many family members to mention! Let’s start with her aunt and uncle, Pepa and Félix. Pepa’s original gift was going to be indestructability, with Julieta being the one who controlled the weather, and Dolores being the healing one, but it was felt that an indestructible power was too close to Luisa’s super-strength so Pepa was then given the weather gift. Despite the fact Pepa’s emotions are so easily given away by the weather changes that either revolve around her head or the whole village, she does not do well at keeping those emotions in check, frequently having emotional outbursts and breakdowns, particularly whenever Bruno is mentioned! These are not only evident by the clouds that form over her head but if you look closely, you’ll see that Pepa’s hair also frizzes based on whatever weather she has conjured. I like Pepa for this very reason though, because why should anyone hide how they’re feeling, even if it does cause a hurricane? To balance out Pepa’s sometimes fragile emotional state, she is married to Félix, a calm and easy-going person who also loves to dance and be the life of the party. Colombian actress and singer Carolina Gaitán voices Pepa. Gaitán has featured in various Spanish-language television series, such as Celia (2015-16) as well as releasing her own music. Mauro Castillo voices Félix; he has recently appeared in the Spanish-language series Paro de mi corazón (2022).

For their three children, we have the shape-shifter Camilo, who is basically that annoying cousin-figure that most families have; the shy, kind-hearted Antonio, with his connection to animals and nature gift and my personal favourite, Dolores, the communicator who knows what’s going on with everyone as she can hear everything happening. I love Dolores; I think she has some of the funniest lines, and her expressions when she’s trying to hide what she’s heard about Bruno are great! Camilo is voiced by Rhenzy Feliz, who starred in the Marvel Comics-based series Runaways (2017-2019) and looks to have a part in the upcoming series The Penguin, based on the DC Comics character Penguin. The series is set to be released in 2024, but has been delayed due to the 2023 Writers and Actors strikes. Adassa, voice of Dolores, is predominately a singer-songwriter, having toured and collaborated with artists such as Pitbull and Daddy Yankee, and released her own music. Antonio is voiced by child actor Ravi Cabot-Conyers, who will star in the upcoming Disney+ series Star Wars: Skeleton Crew (2023), alongside Jude Law.

On another note, Mariano, Isabela and then Dolores’ “significant other”, is voiced by Colombian rapper and singer Maluma. Maluma has worked with various artists including Ricky Martin, The Weeknd, and Jennifer Lopez, who he starred alongside in the romantic-comedy Marry Me (2022). I don’t think Mariano gets nearly enough screen time in Encanto. I would’ve liked to have seen more of him, especially with Dolores; they seem like they’ll be a cute couple.

Then there is Bruno, the outcast of the family. He has spent years hiding himself away from the family, as his visions seem to have been nothing but trouble to the Madrigals and Bruno felt it was best that he disappeared and didn’t contact them again. Everyone seems to have thought Bruno went far away from their house and the village, but in actual fact, he is just living within the walls of their “casita”, so that he can feel close to the family still. It’s a heartbreaking moment when Bruno shows Mirabel his “home”. It wasn’t Bruno’s fault that he had these visions, and as he explains at the end, he never meant to upset anyone, and actually was trying to help. Like on Pepa’s wedding day, Bruno says that he only told her this vision about rain to calm her and let her know that Félix loves her regardless of what weather was going on around her, so she should just feel how she wants to, and “let it go”. Bruno is a great addition to the Madrigal family, and I think John Leguizamo, who voices the character, got a good balance of humour and warmth in his voice, to make us not just empathise with Bruno and his sad story, but to laugh with him too. Leguizamo has had previous experience with voice acting, having voiced Sid, the sloth with the lisp, in the Ice Age franchise from 2002 up until 2016. He has also featured in numerous films and television series, including Romeo + Juliet (1996) as Tybalt and most recently in The Power (2023-present).

Finally, we have Abuela Alma, the strict head of the family. She might be very particular with how she wants the family to be, but she believes she is doing it for the right reasons, i.e., protecting all of them and their village, as she lives in fear that one day, their miracle and magic will be gone and they may be forced to leave their home again, as she had to. Abuela Alma has one of the most horrific backstories of any Disney character in my opinion, as she saw her husband killed right in front of her, and she was suddenly left alone with her newborn triplets to look after. If it weren’t for the miracle, I’m not sure how Alma would’ve cope with that grief, so naturally, she is incredibly thankful for it, and wants nothing more than to keep it. In the end, though, Abuela learns the errors of her ways and lets go of all the control, deciding that it’s better to live in a happy family, even if that means not having magic. Because of this sacrifice and Mirabel’s drive to heal the family, they are all rewarded with the return of the magic anyway[2]. Colombian actress María Cecilia Botero voices Abuela Alma, who has featured in various Spanish-language television series.

All the voice cast in Encanto are of Latin American descent, with many being from Colombia, which adds to the cultural specificity of the movie.

La Casa Madrigal, lovingly referred to as “casita” by the family, could almost be a character all of its own. It is not only an amazing-looking house, created out of a magical moment, giving safety and solitude to Alma and her children, but it also picks up on the emotions of those that live there, and helps them out with their difficulties. As it is within an incredibly musical community, the “casita” is very rhythmic too, moving its tiles and furniture to the beat of whatever is playing. The house is the heartbeat of the community.

Within the house, each family member – apart from Mirabel – has their own room which seems to be designed by the “casita” to perfectly match their gift. For example, Isabela’s room is covered floor-to-ceiling with flowers, but has a lot of open space so that she can magic more flowers and plants, like vines, across the room. She has a perfect “floating” princess bed, tethered by garlands of roses, so it suits her gift very well. Antonio’s room is like stepping into Adventureland at Disneyland; it has a tall treehouse for Antonio’s bed, water slides, hammocks, animals everywhere. It’s the perfect children’s bedroom. Contrary to that, you’ve got the bland nursery that Mirabel sleeps in as she never got a gift, and therefore, no special room, and Bruno’s tiny area in the walls, which is a good hideout, though it is bleak and miserable, mirroring how Bruno feels about being isolated from everyone else. His actual room contained a whole cave suited for his visions though.

To represent the cultures of Colombia accurately within the house, many experts and advisors helped with the design, and different aspects were chosen from different regions of Colombia and combined to make this great house. For example, the kitchen was inspired by those from Cartagena, which is on Colombia’s Caribbean coast. The colourful buildings of Salento shaped the colour choices within the house, along with stonework from Barichara. Houses within Colombia’s Coffee Region also tended to have an indoor-outdoor style of living, so the courtyard was added, which is outside but has a staircase leading up to the magical bedrooms. The team at Disney were careful to make sure that, although the house can move in certain ways, the magic was grounded in reality, meaning that the materials of the house couldn’t bend in weird ways. For the cracking, the Effects team wanted it to look as realistic and believable as possible, whilst also being scary and representative of the family fracturing too. It was a complex challenge figuring out how to destroy the house, and that, and the design of the standing house, was a collaborative effort amongst every animation department. They felt that the “casita” was a way to honour and celebrate both the characters of the Madrigal Family and the country of Colombia[3].

PRODUCTION

Directors Jared Bush and Byron Howard had previously directed Disney’s Zootopia (2016), where they wanted to elevate the traditional “talking animal” movie to make it more sophisticated and deeper. After their success on that film, they decided, as musicians, that they wanted to turn their attentions to a Disney musical. In order to do this, they wanted to work with the best in the music industry so chose to collaborate with Lin-Manuel Miranda, who had worked on Moana (2016) with Jared Bush, who wrote its screenplay. They also asked Germaine Franco to compose the score; she had just worked on Pixar’s Coco (2017), which won the Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement for Music.

Bush and Howard didn’t initially have a story idea to work through, so along with Miranda, they began to discuss what the three of them had in common. That turned out to be large, extended families, so they looked at themselves and their own family dynamics, and decided that their new movie should explore the questions: how well do we know our families, and how well do they know us? Normally, those working on the movie soundtrack would not have such an involvement in the story, but as Lin-Manuel Miranda was involved in the story from early on in development, he did. Bush and Howard were also looking for someone else to join them as co-director and to help move the story along. After interviewing numerous writers, they wanted to work with Charise Castro Smith, who became co-director and co-writer of the screenplay; Encanto was her film debut.

Then, the team had to decide on a location. They found that as Latin America puts such strong emphasis on the importance of family that that would be the best area to base the movie, before choosing Colombia as the specific setting, as it is dubbed the “crossroads” of Latin America. As is standard for most Disney movies, the team went on a research trip in 2018 to look at the region more closely, studying its music, geography, culture and architecture. Whilst there, they were led to places of magic called “encantos”, which are usually in areas of natural wonder. These areas are is linked to the literary term “magical realism”, which was popularised by Colombian novelist Gabriel García Márquez, where magical elements and events exist in ordinary situations. This would be the style that Disney used throughout Encanto. Magic is vital to the beliefs of both the Indigenous Colombian community and the Caribbean communities that reside there.

As per Moana (2016) and Raya and the Last Dragon (2021), a cultural trust was created, as a means to include experts and advisors on the specific country and culture that was being represented in the movie. In this case, it was the Colombian Cultural Trust. Amongst that, they had a group of those working at the Disney Studios of Latin American heritage who were asked to discuss ideas for the story, bringing in their own family experiences and upbringings. This group were able to discuss and review early versions of the script, to ensure that cultural representation was accurate[4].

The crew didn’t originally plan to base Encanto in any specific country, but eventually, they decided it would be better for the story if they grounded into a specific place, and since Colombia is a country that has had difficulties and conflicts in the past, but is now a flourishing environment, as well as being a melting pot of Latin American cultures, Disney decided to choose Colombia. Raya and the Last Dragon (2021) had been criticised on its release in March 2021 for not choosing a specific Southeast Asian country as its setting. Encanto is specific to Colombia in even the smallest details, including the plants, trees, and animals, like those that Antonio can communicate with. When I first saw the teaser trailer for Encanto and saw the capybaras and tapirs, native to South America, I was so excited. I love those animals, especially capybaras; they’re so cute!

Thanks to the variety of experts and cultural advisors that Disney assigned to the project, Encanto successfully integrated the three main heritages of Colombia, those being Afro-Colombian, Indigenous, and Spanish. All of these are represented within the characters, as all of them have differing hair and skin tones; a stereotypical model was not used for each of them. This was something that many viewers picked up on and were pleased to see. Encanto is about appreciating differences, be that in people, architecture, or environments, and living together in harmony. Since there is so much in the world that divides us, especially in today’s society, this was an important message to incorporate[5].

Despite being able to do initial research in Colombia prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, once that hit, Disney staffers were no longer able to travel to that area, and instead had to continue their research and ask questions over Zoom calls. This was the same for the voice cast recordings, as you can see from behind-the-scenes footage. As Encanto would’ve been in production around the same time as Raya and the Last Dragon (2021), it can be assumed the Encanto team dealt with the same issues, such as Wi-Fi troubles, bandwidth increases, and those family and pet disturbances! The lockdown in California, where the Disney Studios are based, officially lasted from March 2020 until June 2021, with California being one of the last US states to “open up” again, so by the time they were out of lockdown, the majority of the production on Encanto would’ve been finished.

MUSIC

The soundtrack had to be recorded over Zoom, at least partly, because of the pandemic, with Lin-Manuel Miranda giving notes to the performers via video conferencing, as can be seen in behind-the-scenes footage. This must’ve been incredibly difficult for everyone involved, with Germaine Franco also having to record much of the score over Zoom. Yet, they managed to create a soundtrack unlike any other Disney film and one that surpassed many others in terms of popularity and diversity.

Lin-Manuel Miranda was well-known at the time of Encanto for having written the uber-famous musical Hamilton, as well as the lesser known but still celebrated In the Heights, along with working on Disney’s Moana (2016), so it came as no surprise that he managed to write a variety of songs that had universal appeal. Miranda stated that he began by finding the pulse of each character, working out which of the varying musical styles would fit that character best. This means that every song in the soundtrack sounds and feels completely different to the next. Due to the diverse cultures that exist in Colombia, there was a lot of styles to choose from.

“The Family Madrigal”, the movie’s opening song, performed by Mirabel to explain the family gifts to the village children, had to be entertaining as well as giving a backstory to each of the twelve family members. It was a complicated song to write for that reason, but Miranda liked writing for Beatriz’ bubbly musical voice. The end of song crazy-fast recap, where Mirabel is avoiding the question of what her gift is, built the character of Mirabel further. I like the song enough, however, as it’s more of a storytelling device, I don’t think too much into it. I struggled to understand much of it, as it is so fast, the first time I heard, so I didn’t know who everyone’s gifts were to begin with. But I have found that can be the case with some of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s songs, like those in Hamilton; that there is so much within them, that it can take a couple of times of hearing it to fully understand what all the lyrics are. This isn’t a criticism, just how I’ve experienced some of his music.

My favourite piece is actually “Waiting on a Miracle”, which wasn’t one that hit the music charts after Encanto’s release. It’s the typical “want” song of the main protagonist, something that is essential for any musical, and it shows how isolated Mirabel is feeling within the Madrigals at that point; she isn’t sure if she’s good enough or where she fits in with the family. I’m sure that’s a relatable feeling for many people. It’s full of heart and emotion, and that’s why I like it. When I watched Encanto for the first time, this was the first point, first of many, where my eyes filled with tears. Miranda said he used a waltz timing for the song to signify that Mirabel is literally out of step with her family.

“Surface Pressure”, a reggaeton-style number, was one of those songs that did hit the music charts, the most popular in the soundtrack, at least in the UK, after the obvious one I’ve not yet mentioned. Halfway through the song it suddenly switches to a slower, calmer bit, which signifies Luisa’s longing to be able to relax, before speeding back up. I understand the point of it, that Luisa is explaining how she’s trying to stay cool and calm on the surface, but actually, underneath she’s struggling to cope, yet, personally I don’t like it that much; it’s ok and has a nice beat though.

Mirabel’s other sister, Isabela, gets her own song as well: “What Else Can I Do?”. I like this song, probably because it has a Spanish pop feeling to it. It shows Isabela figuring out that she doesn’t need to be perfect all the time, and that she can have fun and just be herself, with her gift and her life. It’s a joyous, optimistic song, and is in complete contrast to the chaos and destruction that follows it. It’s nice to have this high point before the big emotional scenes come just a few minutes later. I also like how it shows the two sisters actually getting on and bonding over something for once. Isabela’s room even gets in on the action, growing huge stage settings like they are performing in a stadium.

Then there’s the tearjerker, “Dos Oruguitas”, meaning “Two Little Caterpillars”, performed by Sebastián Yatra, who also performs the song in English for the soundtrack. This Spanish-language song plays during the scene where we see Abuela Alma’s full backstory, of her meeting her husband Pedro, falling in love, getting married, having children, and then ultimately being forced to flee their home and Pedro sacrificing himself to save everyone else. Miranda wanted the song to have a folksong sound to it, so that it would sound like something that had been sung on the streets for a hundred years. Miranda was very pleased to have Colombian singer Yatra on board for the number too, and liked his clear storytelling. Apparently, this song and scene was meant to be the prologue for Encanto, but this decision was scrapped as the team wanted to save the song as a storytelling device for later in the film, as Abuela wouldn’t have shared this pain until something devasting had happened which meant she needed to have the big emotional moment with Mirabel[6].

Even though it is in Spanish, so many people will not necessarily understand the lyrics, it is clear exactly what is happening thanks to the animation. I can’t even listen to it anymore without crying; it’s the emotional crux of the whole movie, and it sounds both sad at the start before becoming hopeful. It’s just beautiful. “Dos Oruguitas” was nominated for Best Original Song at the Academy Awards in 2022, where Yatra also performed the song as part of the ceremony, but sadly lost out to “No Time to Die”, by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell from the Bond film of the same name. Unfortunately, “Dos Oruguitas” did not match the fascination of “We Don’t Talk About Bruno”, with many questioning why that was not up for the award instead, as it likely would’ve won. Disney did not submit the song for contention, as they could not envision it becoming such a hit!

The big finale song of Encanto is “All of You”, where the family come together to rebuild their “casita”. It includes many of the themes from the previous songs in the movie, matching to each character that is singing at that point. It’s a very sweet song, and if I’m not already crying at this point, as soon as the villagers come in to the ensemble, to help rebuild the house, I’ll be gone at that point! It’s a good song to wrap up everything, though less catchy than others on the soundtrack. The credits song, “Colombia, Mi Encanto”, which also features briefly during preparations for Antonio’s gift ceremony, is a party song, and it does make you want to get up and dance – and even sit through the credits! Miranda was inspired by the genre and style of Colombian singer-songwriter Carlos Vives, so naturally, he was ecstatic when Vives agreed to perform the song too.

So that’s all the songs from Encanto, right? I can move on? Oh wait, no, there’s just one little song left to mention: “We Don’t Talk About Bruno”. “We Don’t Talk About Bruno”. with choreography being designed by Jamal Sims and Kai Martinez, was filmed as a live-action reference sequence and completed in one take, using Latin dancers to accurately represent the fusion of dance and musical styles that feature in the song. The animators were very excited to work on the animation for the sequence after seeing the live-action modelling, and studied it from every angle, to look carefully at the movement of clothing, as well as the shapes of the hands and feet. “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” is the “family gossip” song of the film, where everyone gets to share their opinion on Bruno, as Mirabel is pulled between different people to hear their side of the story[7]. If you think about it, it’s not actually a very nice song; you shouldn’t have a whole village talking badly about one person, but there you go! I don’t quite understand why “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” was the main song that really captured listeners and viewers, so much so that many of the original cast performed a version of the song at the 2022 Oscars Ceremony, but then I feel the same way about “Let It Go”. It is a very fun song; I like how everyone’s own section sounds different and connects to their character’s personality in particular, before everyone comes together for the ending. It also includes a lyric that I find hilarious for some reason, which is when they all sing: “Time for Dinner!”. Like I said, I like the song, but I haven’t gone mad for it!

The score was composed by Germaine Franco, who took the role very seriously. She even brought in instruments specific to certain regions of Colombia, such as a marimba from the Choco region, as well as a Colombian harp, and played all the instruments to get a feel for them. Franco tried out many different rhythms and musical styles from the various regions, and chose and layered the best ones for the movie[8]. Franco also had to ensure that the instrumental pieces connected and flowed into and out of Miranda’s songs well, and never detracted from them. The score was nominated for Best Original Score at the 2022 Oscars but lost to Hans Zimmer’s score for Dune (2021).

The Encanto soundtrack topped the Billboard 200 chart for nine weeks, and each of its original songs charted on the US Billboard Hot 100. In the UK, it topped the album chart for fourteen consecutive weeks, sixteen in total. “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” and “Surface Pressure” were the two best-selling tracks. “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” was the second number-one song for Disney in the US, after “A Whole New World” from Aladdin (1992), and was the first-ever to reach number one in the UK, where it sat comfortably for a number of weeks. The soundtrack album won the Annie Award for Outstanding Music in a Feature Film and the Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack and Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media. It was a huge success, surprising many, and became a big social media craze.

RECEPTION

Encanto was released for an exclusive 30-day theatrical run in the US on 24^th November 2021, after having its world premiere in Los Angeles on 3^rd November, and its Colombia premiere in Bogotá on 23^rd November. It was then released on Disney+ on 24^th December 2021, just in time for Christmas. The movie was paired with the short film Far from the Tree (2021), written and directed by Natalie Nourigat. It follows a pair of raccoons, a parent and child, seeing a Pacific Coast beach for the first time and figuring out its dangers and wonders together. It’s was inspired by Nourigat’s family visits to Cannon Beach. It’s a cute short and received positive reviews, stating it complimented Encanto well.

Encanto itself grossed a worldwide total of $256.5 million, with it becoming the highest grossing animation film of 2021, beating out Sing 2 (2021). It then achieved wider success after its release to Disney+ and received very positive reviews, with some even considering it one of the best Disney animated movies of all time. Critics loved the animation, the music, and were particularly pleased with its representation and depiction of Colombians and their culture, as Hollywood has not been kind in their depictions of Colombia previously. Encanto certainly received much less criticism for this aspect than more contemporary Disney animated movies such as Moana (2016) and Raya and the Last Dragon (2021). Many felt Encanto was a great example of Disney successfully moving away from their usual “formula”, with the brief reference to Colombia’s difficult past and displacement of locals a welcome surprise. There were, however, a few negative criticisms which mostly revolved around the lack of conflict and action within the movie. It did, to me, feel like nothing much happened at times when I first watched it; Encanto was not what I had been expecting. I think if you are prepared for a movie that is more about emotions than actions, then it is not a disappointing watch.

Encanto received countless awards, winning the Oscar for Best Animated Film, against strong competition from Pixar’s Luca (2021) and Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon (2021). It also won the BAFTA and Golden Globe for Best Animated Film. It did not, however, win the Annie Award for Best Animated Feature, surprisingly. That went to Sony Pictures Animation’s The Mitchells vs. the Machines (2021).

The DVD and Blu-Ray of Encanto was released in 2022, but an interesting point to note is that the Blu-Ray and DVD covers call Encanto the 59^th Disney animated classic; mine does anyway. This is not true, as Encanto is actually the 60^th animated classic from Disney, being billed as that in multiple publications. Even on the Blu-Ray release, just before the movie itself, there is a graphic denoting Encanto as the 60^th animated classic. The reason for this is likely that Winnie the Pooh (2011) is not always included on lists of Disney Animated Classics, i.e., Walt Disney Animation Studios Films.

LEGACY

As Encanto was only released a couple of years ago, it has not had too much time to develop a franchise. Yet there is still plenty to talk about. Firstly, there have been talks around a sequel, Encanto 2, being in development. The latest update on this from Stephanie Beatriz seems to be suggesting that is not currently in the works, due to Jared Bush and Byron Howard working on Zootopia 2, but that she would be very happy to work with them and Disney again on a sequel. There were also talks around a Disney+ series at one point. Stay on the lookout for whether either of these projects come to fruition.

Just a year after Encanto’s release, on 11^th and 12^th November 2022, owing to the popularity of the movie, the original cast performed a concert of the movie’s soundtrack in front of a live audience at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. This concert was filmed and released on Disney+ on 28^th December 2022. It was Lin-Manuel Miranda’s first time at the Hollywood Bowl, as he hosted the event. The show featured minimal staging, with projections and some scenery being used to create the “casita”. The voice actors sang their songs dressed similarly to their characters, but were not dressed in exact copies of the outfits. There was also a screen showing clips from the movie, as connecting dialogue was used to connect each song together, as it was just recreations of the main songs, and a couple of additional scenes, not a retelling of the whole movie. A local youth choir was even chosen to come on stage and sing “Dos Oruguitas” alongside Andres Cepeda – Sebastián Yatra was not available for the event. Carlos Vives was though, and he sang his song “Colombia, Mi Encanto”. There was a shortened version of “The Family Madrigal” used for the cast’s curtain call, before a small fireworks display ended the show.

The Disney Parks are seemingly ever-changing. At the D23 Expo 2023 that took place at the Walt Disney World Resort in September 2023, it was teased that Animal Kingdom’s DinoLand U.S.A area is going to be rethemed soon, to Encanto or Indiana Jones. It has now been confirmed that this area will be replaced with the Tropical Americas Land, which will feature Encanto and Indiana Jones themed areas. No specific details of these new experiences have yet been announced, nor has a closing date for DinoLand U.S.A, but it will likely be announced soon. There are also rumours and questions over the area at Magic Kingdom that is looking to be developed called “Beyond Big Thunder Mountain”, but nothing has been confirmed for this “new land” so far.

There are multiple confirmed Encanto offerings at the Disney Parks, though admittedly these are either at Walt Disney World or Disneyland, with lots of merchandise offerings as well. At Walt Disney World, in Magic Kingdom, a meet-and-greet location for Mirabel opened on 15^th September 2023, the beginning of the celebrations for Hispanic and Latin American Heritage Month. This is a permanent location for Mirabel, though, called Fairytale Garden. It replaces the area that housed a meet-and-greet with Merida, and is located on a pathway to the side of Cinderella Castle. Previously, Mirabel had only been available to see as part of the Disney Adventure Friends Cavalcade, a mini-parade that comes down Main Street U.S.A a few times a day. But now, Bruno has taken her place and joined this cavalcade from 15^th September. It is unclear if he is a temporary or permanent addition to the cavalcade.

Elsewhere in Walt Disney World, there are scenes of Encanto that are shown during the Wonderful World of Animation show, and during the nighttime spectacular Fantasmic!, both at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. It is possible Mirabel will feature on the finale riverboat scene during Fantasmic! with other Disney characters at some point in the future. At Epcot, an Encanto-themed food booth, Vibrante & Vívido Encanto Cocina, with empanadas on the menu, debuted at the 2023 Epcot Festival of the Arts. At the 2023 Epcot Flower & Garden Festival, the front of the park featured topiaries of the characters Mirabel, Antonio, Isabela and Luisa. There was also a projection show on Spaceship Earth that debuted during the same festival, featuring the song “What Else Can I Do?”. At the 2023 Epcot Food & Wine Festival, a whole merchandise collection themed to Encanto was released. I am sure the movie and its characters will be a regular feature at the Epcot Festivals in some form. On 10th June 2024, in the CommuniCore Plaza area of Epcot, the show ¡Celebración Encanto! debuted. It involves sing-alongs, dancing, and an appearance from Mirabel and Bruno towards the end of the show, which is sure to be a hit with kids. It seems to just be a limited time offering for Summer 2024 with multiple shows throughout the day.

At Disneyland, from 11^th April 2022, a limited time projection show on the outside of the it’s a small world attraction debuted at the park. It ran until September of that year, but returned in February 2023, and is still going. The song “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” is used. A section on Encanto using “Waiting For a Miracle” features towards the beginning of World of Color – One, the nighttime show at Disneyland California Adventure. Mirabel also meets guests near Rancho del Zocalo in Frontierland at Disneyland. She has been listed as a specific meet-and-greet character as well during the Disney California Adventure Park Disney ¡Viva Navidad! celebrations for 2023’s holiday season. Encanto, and its song “Dos Oruguitas” also featured within the fireworks show Wondrous Journeys at Disneyland. Its final performance was on 31^st August 2023, as the show was created for the 100 Years of Disney celebration. It may or may not return in the future, but I’m sure Encanto will feature in whatever might replace it after the Halloween and Holiday shows are done for the year.

At both Disneyland’s Fantasyland, and at three locations at Walt Disney World Resort – Disney Springs, Magic Kingdom’s Fantasyland and Disney’s Grand Floridan Resort – an Encanto package is available at the Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boutique for little ones to be made over into their favourite Encanto character. This is a big deal as none of the Encanto characters are technically Disney Princesses; this just shows the wide appeal of the film.

I could not find evidence of a meet-and-greet location for Mirabel, or any Encanto character, at Disneyland Paris, Shanghai Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland or Hong Kong Disneyland, so this may or may not come in the future. As for other Encanto characters, despite not being a villain, Bruno debuted as a meet-and-greet character at Disney California Adventure’s Halloween Party Oogie Boogie Bash in 2022. He returned there in 2023. It is likely that Bruno will have permanent meet-and-greet locations in both parks eventually, with these already being rumoured. I wouldn’t be surprised if some other Encanto characters made meet-and-greet debuts at the Disney Parks either, even if just for a limited time.

Finally, Encanto was put into the Disney on Ice show in 2023, with the characters coming on to the ice to perform their songs. They even built a “casita” set for the stage. The Disney on Ice team made sure to get the cultural styling right, including some Latin specific dance movements in their ice and aerial performances.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Encanto was a surprise hit, much like Frozen (2013), with its popularity potentially not even hitting its peak yet. Despite the fact there is very little action, no villains, and no magical conflicts, the music energised people and the story touched viewers. Maybe a quiet film centred around our inner thoughts and feelings was all the public needed after two years of being shut in our homes, not able to do anything. Maybe this was a rare moment away from the vast array of action, thriller and crime adaptations that have become the general norm in the film and television industry as of late.

Most importantly, those of Latin American heritage finally felt seen in a Disney movie. I don’t know how many times I read or heard people say that Encanto was finally a good representation of Colombian and Latino culture in Hollywood, and that they look forward to showing it to their children, so they don’t have to grow up in a world as they did where they could not see positive references to themselves or their families on screen.

It is clearly a big moment for many people and means so much more than just another Disney animated film. Encanto has real meaning, and I’m sure the praise and impressive universal success of Encanto has been very moving for all involved.

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Disney, “Deleted Scenes”, from Encanto (2021) Blu-Ray Release (2022).

[2] Credit: Disney, “Familia Lo Es Todo”, from Encanto (2021) Blu-Ray Release (2022).

[3] Credit: Disney, “Our Casita”, from Encanto (2021) Blu-Ray Release (2022).

[4] Credit: Camille Jefferson, ‘A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Encanto’, news.disney.com, 26^th October 2021.

[5] Credit: Disney, “Discover Colombia”, from Encanto (2021) Blu-Ray Release (2022).

[6] Credit: Drew Taylor, ‘’Encanto’: How ‘Dos Oruguitas’ Was Brought to Life’, The Wrap (online), 19^th January 2022.

[7] Credit: Disney, “Let’s Talk About Bruno”, from Encanto (2021) Blu-Ray Release (2022).

[8] Credit: Disney, “A Journey Through Music”, from Encanto (2021) Blu-Ray Release (2022).

1st Sep 202327th Jun 2024 by The Disney Purist

#36 Mulan (1998)

BACKGROUND

After a couple of mediocre Disney animated releases following the incredible success of The Lion King (1994), Disney found their way back to their best with Mulan, released in 1998 towards the end of Disney’s “Renaissance Era”.

Mulan was the first Disney animated feature to have been produced primarily by Walt Disney Feature Animation Florida, within the grounds of the Walt Disney World Resort. Though this studio would be short-lived, Mulan was a big success for them, and led to the Florida department also animating Lilo & Stitch (2002) and Brother Bear (2003).

Quite unlike the “princess stories” that came before it, such as The Little Mermaid (1989) and Beauty and the Beast (1991), Disney’s Mulan is not focused on romance, but on finding your true self and choosing your fate, which, in Mulan’s case, means fighting in a bloody and violent war against some of the strongest and most brutal opposition. This is not something that the average Disney Princess would’ve been able to cope with. Mulan was the first Disney animated feature to be set in China, with a historic Chinese legend as its basis. Mulan was the first Asian Disney Princess as well.

Because of its release in the 1990s, arguably the most successful period of Disney Animation, Mulan is still talked about and remembered fondly by many. I’ve watched Mulan numerous times throughout my life, and, although I can’t count it as a “favourite” as there are many other Disney movies I would prefer to watch at any given time, it is still one I go back to for its touching moments, great music, and its powerful battle sequences.

PLOT

Mulan begins with an ink drawing of China and its landscapes, before inking in the Great Wall of China and its surrounding mountains. We then go straight into the animated story. A patrolling soldier on the Great Wall suddenly finds that the landmark is under attack by Hun soldiers. He lights a signal to alert the others on the wall, telling the Hun leader, Shan Yu, that all of China now knows he’s here. The Emperor is informed and asks that conscription forms be sent to all eligible men in China to fight against these intruders.

After that, we see Mulan for the first time. She is eating rice and inking notes on to her arm, something to do with proper values. Mulan soon realises she is running late, rushing to complete her chores on the family farm. Luckily, her dog, Little Brother, can help with some of them. Her father is praying to the ancestors that Mulan has a good meeting with the Matchmaker today, this being the meeting that Mulan is already running late for. She rushes off to her beauty appointments, where her mother has been going crazy waiting for her, with Mulan’s grandmother saying not to worry as they have a lucky cricket. Mulan finally arrives and is forcibly taken to get her hair done, her make-up done, and be dressed appropriately. It’s clear that Mulan is not too happy with all this fuss, and would rather not have to see the Matchmaker today. When she does meet the Matchmaker, the Matchmaker tells Mulan that she is too skinny and is “marked down” for speaking without permission. A list of other disasters happen, starting with the lucky cricket, who Mulan’s grandmother insisted she take with her, ending up in the Matchmaker’s tea, and culminating in the Matchmaker’s skirt catching on fire! Mulan is told that she may look like a bride, but that she will never bring her family honour.

Mulan returns home, saddened and unsure where this leaves her, as finding a good husband is the only real way that a woman of her age can bring honour to her family. Her father tries to comfort her, telling her that the last flower to bloom will be the most beautiful of all. Their conversation is interrupted by the Emperor’s Council, who start giving out army conscription scrolls to all families, stating that an eligible man from each family must attend army training so that they can fight the Huns who have invaded China. As Mulan is an only child, she knows her elderly, and injured, father will have to fight. Mulan pleads with the Emperor’s Council that her father not be forced to fight, thus speaking in a man’s presence, something women are not supposed to do here. Mulan is taken back inside. The atmosphere within the family is frosty at dinner, where Mulan tells her father that if he goes to the army, he will die. Her father responds that it is his honour to go and that at least he knows his place, whereas Mulan does not know hers. She walks away, devastated. After seeing her father fall using his sword for the first time in years, and her parents seemingly argue as she sits in the garden, Mulan knows what she must do. She takes her father’s armour, cuts her hair, takes the conscription papers and rides off. Mulan’s grandmother alerts her parents that Mulan has gone. Her mother says that they must go after her, but her father says that she’ll be killed if they reveal her. They know they must wait and hope she returns home safely.

The ancestors awaken after hearing Mulan’s grandmother’s prayer, that Mulan be watched over. The First Ancestor orders the Great Stone Dragon be awakened, that he will be Mulan’s guardian during this time. Mushu, a dragon who was a guardian but now just rings the gong to awaken the ancestors, is told to wake up the Great Stone Dragon. Mushu reluctantly goes, but the Great Stone Dragon is just a stone statue, and as Mushu hits the dragon with the gong, the statue crumbles to pieces. Mushu then decides that if he can go and make Mulan a war hero, then he’ll likely be made a guardian again. The lucky cricket from earlier, named Cri-Kee, goes with him. Mulan is found just outside the training camp, trying to figure out how to pass herself off as a man. Mushu comes to her, silhouetted as this great, all-powerful being, only to reveal himself to be a tiny red dragon, who Mulan mistakenly thinks is a little lizard. After some disagreements, Mulan agrees to trust Mushu.

They walk into the army camp, but Mushu’s advice makes matters worse, with her starting an all-out brawl with the other recruits. Captain Li Shang, the General’s son and designated trainer of the recruiters, orders the fighting be stopped, with him demanding that Mulan, now using the name Ping, explain what happened. They are all told to clean up the mess they’ve caused, and that tomorrow the real work will begin. The next day, Mulan is late again, but shows up in time to see their first task: to climb up a huge pole and retrieve an arrow, with two huge medallions, representing discipline and strength, in their hands. Nobody succeeds, and it does not get much better for Shang as they learn to shoot cannons, fish, run, dodge obstacles, and fight. Mulan is unfortunately the worst of all the recruits, with Shang not seeing any improvement and ordering her to leave the camp. Mulan knows that this will once more bring shame and dishonour to her family, so spends all night trying to get up the pole to retrieve the arrow. She succeeds just as the sun is coming up, where the other recruits have gathered to watch. She is allowed to stay and her, and the rest of the recruits, all start to do much better in all the tasks. Meanwhile, Shan Yu and the Huns continue to make gains in China on their way to the Imperial City. They plan to go through a village in the Tung Shao Pass, the quickest route to the city, and also where the Imperial Army is waiting for them. Shan Yu wants to attack them directly.

Mushu and Mulan, after an incident at the pond where Mulan is almost discovered to be a woman by recruits Yao, Chien-Po and Ling as she washes, overhear Chi-Fu, the Emperor’s Advisor, saying that Shang’s recruits will never see battle as they are not fit for war. Mushu takes matters into his own hands, and him and Cri-Kee forge a letter from the General, stating that Shang and the new recruits meet them at the Pass to help fight. They immediately head off to war, where they keep their spirits up by doing, what else, but discussing the women they hope will be waiting for them on their heroic return home. The camaraderie is cut short by the discovery of a burnt-out village, where hundreds of soldiers have been killed. This is where the “General” asked Shang to meet them; it turns out the Huns got there first. It is confirmed that the General, Shang’s father, is dead. Mulan seems disturbed by the horrors of war. Shang orders the army to move out again.

Whilst in the mountains, Mushu accidentally sets off one of their cannons, giving away the troops position. The Huns swiftly attack, firing flaming arrows in all directions. They are ordered by Shang to save the cannons and retreat to a safe place. They begin to fire cannons at the Huns, when all goes quiet. The Huns assemble themselves on top of the snowy mountain and charge at Shang’s troops. There is one cannon remaining. Yao is told to fire it at Shan Yu. Mulan sees the reflection of a snow-capped mountain in her sword and has an idea. She grabs the cannon and heads towards the incoming Huns. She struggles to light the cannon, but does so just as Shan Yu approaches her. The cannon hits the mountain and begins an avalanche, which engulfs the Huns. Shan Yu has just enough time to hit out at Mulan before he is overcome by snow. Mulan runs to safety, but sees Shang unconscious and about to head over the edge of the mountain. She goes to save him with her horse, Khan. The troops shoot an arrow over to them with a rope attached, managing to pull them to safety. Shang thanks Mulan for saving his life, when she sees she is bleeding and faints.

Mulan is seen by a doctor, where, naturally, he discovers she is a woman. Chi-Fu reveals her to all the other troops and orders Shang to kill her, as per the law. Shang doesn’t; a life for a life, his debt is repaid. Mulan is left alone in the mountains, with just Khan, Mushu and Cri-Kee for company. Mulan is unsure how she’ll be received back home, but they get ready to leave. Suddenly, Mulan sees the Hun Army alive, pulling themselves out of the snow. They are heading for the city, where Shang and the recruits have gone to proclaim victory in front of the Emperor. Mulan rushes over to warn them, but nobody will listen. Sure enough, Shan Yu and the Huns are already there, and forcefully take the Emperor, barricading themselves in the palace. Shang’s army plan to break down the doors to the palace, but Mulan has another idea. Yao, Chien-Po and Ling go with her, with Shang joining shortly after. Mulan has dressed the three men up as concubines, to distract the guards. Once distracted, Shang runs up to the balcony to fight Shan Yu and save the Emperor. Shan Yu and Shang fight, with Shang quickly overpowered. Chien-Po, Yao, and Ling, along with the Emperor, slide down one of the garlands of lanterns to safety, but Shang is unconscious. Mulan cuts down the garland and shows Shan Yu that she was actually the soldier from the mountains who “took away his victory”. He pursues her.

Mulan gets Shan Yu to follow her onto the roof. Mushu obtains a huge firework and straps it to himself. Mulan tricks Shan Yu and pushes him to the ground, where she uses his sword to pin him to the roof. Mushu lights the firework, which sets off, heading right for Shan Yu, where he is blasted into the fireworks station and presumably blows up. Mulan and Mushu jump onto a lantern and slide down a garland, falling onto Shang, and the stairs below to avoid the blast. Chi-Fu tells Mulan she’s a disgrace after the chaos she’s caused. The Emperor takes over, telling Mulan that, despite the mess, she has saved them all and that China is indebted to her. The huge crowd, who surround the Emperor’s Palace, bow to her. She is offered a position in the Emperor’s Council, but decides to head home instead.

Back home, Mulan presents her father with Shan Yu’s sword and the Crest of the Emperor as gifts to honour the Fa family. Her father doesn’t even care, pushing them to the floor and hugging her tightly, just pleased to have her home. Soon after, Shang arrives to return Mulan’s army helmet and is asked to stay for dinner. Mushu gets to be a guardian again, and all is right with everyone.

CHARACTERS & CAST

Mulan goes on a real journey of self-discovery throughout the movie. She begins by trying hard to be the “perfect bride”, so that she can bring her family honour by being matched to a worthy husband, despite not finding it easy to be elegant or graceful – or silent, almost subservient. Mulan is not at all like that. She is clumsy at times, outspoken, makes rash decisions, and is generally the opposite of how she’s supposed to be. When she chooses to protect her father by going to war, Mulan finds that not only did she make a brave decision by doing this, but that actually, being in the army seems to be exactly where she belongs and she feels this is the right path for her, even though it is not “right” for her to be there, and goes against Chinese law, apparently. Mulan is quite unlike any other Disney Princess; despite not actually being linked to royalty, she is part of the official list. Though some of the other Disney Princesses show moments of bravery, Mulan was the first to be a proper fighter and warrior, so the bravest of them all, in my opinion. It wouldn’t be until Raya from Raya and the Last Dragon (2021) that another official Disney Princess would be at all like her. I guess you could say Merida from Pixar’s Brave (2012) is similar to Mulan, but I like to treat Pixar and Disney as two separate entities. Mulan was the first modern feminist characters in any Disney film, but she is also likeable and funny, so has universal appeal.

Familial relationships are incredibly important to Mulan. Mulan has a particularly close relationship with her father, Fa Zhou, despite being constantly scared to let him down. Fa Zhou loves Mulan regardless of what she does or doesn’t do, as is clear at the end of the movie when he throws the gifts from the Emperor on the ground and hugs her instead. Mulan’s grandmother, Grandmother Fa, is quite feisty, like her, so they get on well, with Grandmother Fa not seeming to care that Mulan isn’t a quiet, gentle woman. She is also very funny, especially at the end when she says that Mulan should’ve brought home a man; when Shang arrives, she shouts: “Sign me up for the next war!”.

Mulan had to be portrayed with great honour and dignity, given her story. Mark Henn was the Supervising Animator for Mulan. Henn had a history of designing other Disney female protagonists, such as Jasmine in Aladdin (1992) and Belle in Beauty and the Beast (1991). Mulan is voiced by Ming-Na Wen, who used her natural voice for Mulan, and for Ping obviously had to lower the register so she’d come across as a man! Ming-Na Wen was very happy to portray the character of Mulan on screen as she had grown up with the story of Mulan and wanted to be just like her as a child. Recently, Wen has starred as Fennec Shand in some of the Star Wars Disney+ series (2019-2022) and as Melinda May in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D (2013-2020). She has also reprised the role of Mulan numerous times.

For Mulan’s comic sidekick, Mushu, he thinks he knows best a lot of the time, but ends up getting Mulan into trouble more often than not. His suggestion of Mulan punching and slapping Yao to show that she wants to be friends, as well as her ridiculous walk into camp, are just two examples of his misguided advice. He begins by being quite selfish, as he only wants to help Mulan so that he can be a guardian again, but once she is discovered to be a woman, Mushu admits that he was only risking her life to help himself and that his intentions were not good, feeling somewhat repentant. From that point on, he does start to be more helpful, proving himself invaluable in her plan to defeat Shan Yu. Because of the need for comedic relief in and amongst all the serious moments in the movie, Disney knew they needed someone funny to record the voice. In the end, Disney approached Eddie Murphy, who decided to take the role, with Supervising Animator Tom Bancroft getting lots of inspiration for the character from sketching Murphy’s facial expressions and gestures in his recording sessions[1]. I think Mushu is the funniest of all Disney “sidekicks”; he has the some of the best one-liners, and you’d still be entertained by this movie even if it was cut so that only Mushu’s lines remained. Eddie Murphy began his career as a stand-up comedian, before moving into a cast member position on Saturday Night Live in the early 1980s. Murphy went on to star in numerous movies, predominantly comedies, including the Beverly Hills Cops series (1984-present) and Dreamgirls (2007). Murphy went on to provide the voice for Donkey in the Shrek franchise (2001-2010) for DreamWorks after voicing Mushu.

Mushu was originally going to be a very different character as can be seen from the deleted song “Keep ‘Em Guessing”. It was a song that introduced Mushu to Mulan in the form of quite a jazzy, Broadway-esque number. It almost reminded me of Billy Flynn’s song “Razzle Dazzle” in the musical Chicago. With Eddie Murphy’s humour, it was decided that this was no longer necessary and that Murphy could sell the character in just a few words instead. That may have been disappointing for Murphy as he can sing well.

Another character that was designed quite differently at the start of production was the evil villain Shan Yu. It was planned that Shan Yu would’ve had a spiritual connection, whereby Shan Yu could be connected to his falcon’s sight, seeing whatever the bird saw even if he was not around. It was decided that this storyline moved the focus away from Mulan, so it was cut. I think it was the right choice because Shan Yu is still just a menacing without this idea. Shan Yu is incredibly terrifying. He is huge, has a scary, deep voice, and is so sure of his abilities that he wins every battle he faces. Well, until the end. And that end battle with Mulan is one of the best battle scenes in any Disney movie. Shan Yu is voiced by Miguel Ferrer, who appeared in multiple television shows and movies, including voice-over roles throughout his career. He starred as Owen Granger in NCIS: Los Angeles from 2012 to 2017, and his breakthrough role was as Bob Morton in RoboCop (1987). Ferrer sadly died in 2017 at the age of 61. Ferrer was brilliant as Shan Yu in this movie; his voice completely makes the character.

Captain Li Shang is Mulan’s commanding officer in the army. He has a strong army legacy to protect as we learn early on that his father is the General of the Imperial Army, and because of this, Shang seems quite cold and serious at the start of their training camp. Once the new recruits start to prove themselves more, Shang becomes kinder and warmer to them all. When Mulan rescues Shang, we see that Shang has a lot of respect for Mulan, or Ping as he knows her. After Ping is revealed to be Mulan, you can see how conflicted Shang is by the fact that he is now supposed to kill her because he saw Ping as a respected comrade. Once Mulan defeats Shan Yu, Shang is clearly in awe of her, but can’t describe how he feels. It looks like all is lost for the two of them, who are interested in each other, as Mulan heads home and Shang acts awkwardly. Luckily, he shows up at her home, though, and is invited to dinner, beginning their romance. I like it when Shang is awkward with Mulan at the end; it makes him seem much more human when he starts babbling and the only thing he can think to say to her is: “you fight good”!

Shang is voiced by BD Wong, who played Howard Weinstein in the Father of the Bride movies (1991-1993), and Dr. Henry Wu in the Jurassic Park franchise (1993-2022). More recently, Wong has been performing in television series such as in Mr. Robot as Whiterose (2015-19) and as Wally in Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens (2020-present).

Mushu may be the designated comic relief in Mulan but I can think of a trio that do just as much for that in the film: Yao, Chien-Po and Ling. They are three recruits that Mulan meets at army training. Their friendship gets off to a difficult start as a fight between Mulan and Yao ripples throughout the camp, but once they see that Mulan is a worthy soldier, they start to warm to her, and the three become a group of four, which is nice to see. They are also the only three recruits who stand by and trust Mulan to defeat Shan Yu at the end. Yao is perhaps the leader of the three; he certainly speaks his mind more and has the fists to back up his words! Yao is small, but fierce, and can take, as well as give out, the punches. Chien-Po is the calm, gentle one of the group, despite being huge; he is the stereotypical “gentle giant”. He doesn’t get violent at all, and likes to meditate to calm down others, like Yao, when they get angry. Chien-Po also likes to talk about food a lot. Ling is the lanky, skinny one, who likes to laugh and tell jokes; he’s always been my favourite of the three.

Yao is voiced by Harvey Fierstein, known for his distinctive gravelly voice. He is not only an actor, both on screen and stage, but also a playwright. He wrote and starred in the play Torch Song Trilogy which was also adapted into a film in 1988. Fierstein played Edna Turnblad in the musical Hairspray on stage in 2002-04 and again 2008-09, and Teyve in the musical Fiddler on the Roof in 2004-06 and again 2009-10. My favourite role of his, though, is as Robin Williams’ brother in Mrs. Doubtfire (1993). Fierstein may not be in the film for long but he definitely makes an impression! Gedde Watanabe voices Ling. Watanabe has had roles in both film and television, including voice roles. He played the role of Nurse Yosh Takata in ER from 1997 to 2003. Chien-Po is voiced by Jerry Tondo, with Mulan being his most well-known screen role.

The Emperor is an authoritative, but kind figure. He certainly has leadership qualities, but does not abuse his power. He doesn’t even flinch when he finds that his kingdom has been saved by a woman, and instead thanks her for her service to all, leading everyone in bowing to her. He is a gentle, caring person. The Emperor is voiced by Pat Morita, Mr. Miyagi in The Karate Kid series of films (1984-1994). Morita died in 2005, but worked right up until then. Mr. Miyagi is frequently referenced in the Netflix series Cobra Kai (2018-present). The Emperor’s self-important assistant, Chi-Fu, is voiced by James Hong, who went on to voice Mr. Ping, Po’s adoptive father, in the Kung Fu Panda series of films (2008-present). Most recently, Hong played Gong Gong in Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022), which won the Oscar for Best Film in 2023.

Some other voice artists that appear in Mulan are Miriam Margolyes and George Takei, who voice the Matchmaker and the First Ancestor respectively. Margolyes has had a prolific career, on screen and stage, including numerous voice performances. She played Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter film series. Margolyes has also begun to make various travel-related documentary series. As well as watching her incredible acting, you can also see Margolyes generally being funny, and rude at times, on various television chat shows! Takei voices the stressed and constantly harassed First Ancestor. Takei played Commander Sulu in the Star Trek franchise (1966-present), and has recently performed on stage in the musical Allegiance, which is inspired by his own personal experiences.

The dubbing for Mulan was an important part of the process for Disney, especially for this movie, as it is set in the very real country of China, so wanted to represent the languages with the best actors for the job. Actor and martial artist Jackie Chan was chosen to dub the voice of Shang for all three Chinese dubs; Chan had voiced the role of Beast in the Mandarin dub of Beauty and the Beast (1991). Singer and actress Coco Lee was chosen to dub the voice of Mulan in the Mandarin version. The part of Mushu was particularly difficult to find as they needed a comic figure to voice the role in the foreign versions of Mulan, so naturally, they looked to comedians to fill the position. Taiwanese television host and actor Jacky Wu was chosen to dub Mushu in the Mandarin version of Mulan[2]. Coco Lee and Jackie Chan also recorded music videos singing their characters’ respective songs: “Reflection” and “I’ll Make a Man Out of You”.

PRODUCTION

The original story for Mulan is based on the story, The Ballad of Hua Mulan, which became well-known during the Tang dynasty, in 618-906 AD. The tale tells of Mulan finding that her father has been drafted into the army, but knows that he will not survive the war. She joins instead, leaving her family home before anyone can notice she’s left. Mulan journeys everywhere with the army for twelve years. On her return, she is summoned to see the Emperor, where she receives the highest honour, being promoted to the top rank of the army. Except Mulan only wishes to go home, where she goes back to being “a normal woman” again, but does reveal to her army comrades that the man they fought beside was actually her. This story was then adapted into a play in the 16^th Century by playwright Xu Wei, titled “The Heroine Mulan Goes to War in Her Father’s Place”. A book was later published by Chu Renhuo in the 17^th Century, titled “Romance of Sui and Tang”. It was a new interpretation of the story, with Mulan being captured on the battlefield, and returning home to find her father had died and her mother had remarried. Mulan is ordered to become a concubine but instead takes her own life[3]… I have no idea why Disney wouldn’t choose that story to base their movie on, instead of choosing the original legend!

Though it is debated whether Mulan was in fact a real person, as it cannot be verified, it is also certain that, though Shan Yu is not a real historical figure, that the Huns did invade China during the specific time and place that the movie, and story, is set. It was also correct of Disney to state that crickets are a symbol of luck in Chinese culture, though the cage that Cri-Kee is placed in would not have been around during the time period of Disney’s Mulan. Tea-drinking is something else not from the correct dynasty. Also, Chinese dragons do not breathe fire as Mushu does, but if Mushu had not been able to breathe fire, it would’ve been difficult for Mulan to have gotten out of some situations she finds herself in in the movie! There is also evidence that women warriors did actually exist during this period of Chinese history, meaning that if Mulan had been a real person, she would not have needed to disguise herself. However, the original story states that she did, so Disney have stuck true to the legend with this plot point[4]. Some artistic and dramatic licence will always be taken in any movie or television series that is based on a story, real or otherwise.

But initially, Disney were not planning to stick to the well-known, celebrated Chinese legend. The first idea was for Mulan to be a romantic comedy of sorts, with Mulan being betrothed to Li Shang. In one of the deleted scenes, titled “The Betrothal”, Mulan would’ve been preparing to meet her future in-laws, and whilst the fathers were organising the “terms” of the betrothal, i.e., how many farm animals she is worth, Mulan was getting a sneaky peek at her husband-to-be, Shang – only for him to say to Mulan that she is worth at least five pigs, in a jokey way, which annoys her and she storms off. So, the awkwardness of Shang was always going to be a character quirk, apparently! Mulan would also have been presented with Ying and Yang necklaces for her and Shang; this idea later reappeared in the sequel to Mulan. Later, Mulan would’ve run away from home to take control of her own life. When Story Supervisor, Chris Sanders, who went on to direct Lilo & Stitch (2002), came on to the project, he wanted to scrap this idea and go back to the original story, though some of the romantic tension still remained between Mulan and Shang. It was felt that Mulan deciding to go to war for her father, instead of herself, was a more important plot point[5].

Another sticking point for the story team on Mulan was how the opening should be. The first thought was for traditional shadow puppets to be used, in order to ease the audience into this time and place, with shadow puppets being a historical method of story-telling. It would’ve told the story of why the Great Wall of China was built, to give some backstory to the history of war within China. It was cut as it did not move the story forward and was not entertaining enough. So, a new idea was conceived: to have Mulan daydreaming about her perfect life. Mulan would’ve been dreaming of a carefree life, where she could ride horses, be brave, defeat Shan Yu when he tries to break through the Great Wall, bringing peace to the Middle Kingdom; men would love her for her unique personality. After Mulan narrated her perfect life, where she didn’t have to fit into the societal role of women in China, she would’ve been interrupted by her mother asking her to get tea for her father, bringing us in to how women actually fit in society. Finally, the Emperor receiving a spiritual vision of Shan Yu taking over China, and being told that only the most loyal and devoted subject could save them, was another opening idea[6]. I’m happy with the opening idea they chose, with the ink painting, as it sets the correct atmosphere of the movie being set in Ancient China, and it gets straight into the action of Shan Yu invading China.

As this was the first Disney animated movie to be based in China, the team at Disney knew the importance of doing good research into the area, its art, geography, architecture, and its culture. Ten of them went to China for a three-week research trip, where they saw icons of China, with a big focus on the Great Wall of China. They found that when they walked the Wall it was so quiet that all they could hear were the sound of flags blowing in the wind, as there were so many around, so the number of flags in the film was inspired by that moment. They were also inspired by the headstones of their ancestors, making the ancestors are key part of the story. The team looked at the architecture of China, with their roof edges that curl upwards, designed to lift the onlooker’s eye up to the Heavens, as well as family homes that have rooms that are unconnected and in completely separate buildings, as we see in Mulan’s family home. They took hundreds of pictures of the landscape, to ensure accuracy in the geographical locations in Mulan, and knew how important this story is to the Chinese people, wanting to do right by them and their culture[7].

For the artistic design of the film, Disney did struggle at first to find the right art style to base the film on, as not only were they making a film about China, but it was to be set in Ancient China. They started out with watercolours for the backgrounds, but found that it was too difficult to train all the artists up to do it the same and to do it well. In the end, they chose to work with Hans Bacher, the Production Designer. He studied Chinese art styles and knew Chinese art to be quite flat, with an intense focus on the beautiful landscapes and less about the characters; the art is supposed to be about where you are, not what is there. It meant choosing a graphic and simple approach, without too many details. Their design choice was summed up neatly into this mantra: poetic simplicity. The artists also were able to use the China pavilion at Epcot’s World Showcase at the Walt Disney World Resort for inspiration for some of the Chinese architecture and landscaping; it would’ve been right on the doorstep of Disney Feature Animation in Florida, so a very useful resource for the animators and artists!

As there are multiple scenes of fights and martial arts, they brought in B.H. Barry, who became their martial arts advisor, taking them through the correct movement and positioning of action sequences. This was particularly useful for the training sequences in “I’ll Make a Man Out of You”, as well as the climactic battle scene with Mulan and Shan Yu[8].

During the 1990s, Disney had started to take small steps into the world of computer-animation, but had yet to do anything particularly ground-breaking, unlike studios such as Pixar. However, Mulan includes numerous CG elements, more so than in any other Disney animated movie that came before it. Just a few small details that used computer-animation were the swaying bamboo, the flaming arrows, the almost-7000 lanterns that appear in the scene around the Emperor’s palace, as well as many banners and flags blowing in the wind. Some of the bigger, more obvious uses of computer-animation come from the larger crowd scenes. For the Huns charging down the snowy mountain, the production team were inspired by the wildebeest stampede scene within The Lion King (1994). The CGI team began this scene by creating horses running, before putting Huns on top of them. Each Hun had different options in terms of their weapons, clothing, and even hairstyle. The terrain was then built up based on a sketch of the background, and a simulation of the Huns riding downhill on the horses was run. This sequence was tweaked until the mood was correct, that it looked like absolute chaos, and terrifying to see play out in front of you[9].

MUSIC

The music of any Disney movie is vital to the mood and atmosphere of the movie, as well as the story. But the Disney “Renaissance Era” movies were well-known for having some of the best and most iconic songs. Composer Stephen Schwartz, who had worked on the music for Pocahontas (1995) and The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) alongside longtime Disney collaborator Alan Menken, originally wrote three songs for Mulan but left to work on The Prince of Egypt (1998) for DreamWorks, the studio that former Chairman of Walt Disney Studios Jeffrey Katzenberg had gone to co-found in 1994. This led to Disney threatening to remove Schwartz’ name from the publicity for the two Disney movies he had worked on[10]. Luckily for Schwartz, though, The Prince of Egypt (1998) did very well financially and critically, with Schwartz winning the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1999 with “When You Believe”.

But back to Mulan. Lyricist David Zippel, who had contributed lyrics to the soundtrack of The Swan Princess (1994) as well as Disney’s Hercules (1997), which included the Academy Award-nominated song “Go the Distance”, and singer-songwriter Matthew Wilder were asked to write the songs for the movie. Five of their songs made it into the movie, with the Mushu song, “Keep ‘Em Guessing”, being cut during story development. Zippel and Wilder stated that they were able to collaborate well together, with “Reflection” being the first song written for the movie. “Reflection” describes Mulan’s inner thoughts as she returns from her disastrous meeting with the Matchmaker and fears she will always dishonour her family. It’s a beautiful scene and a lovely song, but for me, I feel I have heard it too many times in my life, so it is not one of my favourite Disney songs, though I know that it is to many others. I do like the movie version, sung by Broadway superstar Lea Salonga, who originated the role of Kim in the musical Miss Saigon, and also provided the singing voice for Princess Jasmine in Aladdin (1992). I very much dislike Christina Aguilera’s pop version of “Reflection”, which can be heard as the second song in the End Credits; it was also released as a single and is seen as the song that launched her singing career. Lea Salonga was very enthusiastic about providing the singing voice for another Disney princess, but did learn early on that Mulan is a very different character to Jasmine, with “Reflection” being quite a sad song, and not the love ballad that Jasmine’s “A Whole New World” is.

Another very popular song is “I’ll Make a Man Out of You”, which is sung by Shang during the army training montage. I very much like this song, and the sequence that accompanies it, especially when Mulan starts to become a good recruit and it becomes incredibly powerful and hopeful. Donny Osmond provides the singing voice for Shang. Osmond very much enjoyed singing this song for the movie[11]. “A Girl Worth Fighting For” is not the most beautifully sung song, but it is very funny, and a good comedic song to have, especially as the movie turns quite dark shortly afterwards as the army come across a burnt-out village and hundreds of killed soldiers. The men are all singing about what women they are hoping are waiting for them when they return home as war heroes, with Mulan finding this incredibly awkward to have to listen to, and its made even worse when she’s asked to tell the guys what her ideal woman would be!

The other song that is actually played within the movie is “Honor To Us All”, and this is my favourite of all of them. It is used for the montage of Mulan being dressed up for her Matchmaker appointment, and as I like that scene, I think it’s made me like the song! It details the requirements that “perfect brides” be, with the song being quiet, sweet, and graceful to match the attitudes of the women that are heading to the Matchmaker – well, all except Mulan. “True To Your Heart” is the final song in the movie which is heard right at the end of the film, mostly during the End Credits. It’s ok to listen to, but I’m not going to sit through the whole credits just to hear it, as I have done with other movies’ End Credits song! “True To Your Heart” is performed by Stevie Wonder and pop and R&B group 98°. The message of the song is quite nice though, and matches Mulan’s journey.

For me, the score is where the movie really shines. Composer Jerry Goldsmith composed the score for Mulan. Goldsmith also composed the original score to the Disneyland attraction Soarin’ Over California, an iconic piece of music from the Disney Parks. Goldsmith composed scores for numerous blockbuster-hit movies such as five films in the Star Trek franchise (1979-2002) and three in the Rambo franchise (1982-1988). The score uses a full orchestra, as well as synthesizers in certain songs, such as “Haircut”, when Mulan is disguising herself as a man and leaving home, my personal favourite instrumental in the movie, with my sister and I rewinding our VHS tape so many times just to hear it over and over again! Goldsmith’s score includes a mixture of gentler, more calming music, along with action-packed pieces, where we can feel the tension and fear of the characters in their encounters with Shan Yu. The tracks that play during Mulan’s final battle with Shan Yu, “Boo”, and his eventual defeat, “A Lucky Bug”, are also very good, and makes the battle scene one of the best Disney battles for me. The music that follows when the Emperor is praising Mulan, “Gratitude”, and her reuniting with her father, “The Pendant”, are very moving too. The soundtrack was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Musical or Comedy Score, but lost to Stephen Warbeck’s score for Shakespeare in Love (1998).

RECEPTION

Mulan was released in June 1998, and grossed $120 million in the US and Canada combined during its initial release. It made $304 million worldwide, making it the second-highest grossing family film of the year, after Pixar’s A Bug’s Life (1998)[12]. Unfortunately, but perhaps not unsurprisingly, Mulan received a lukewarm reception in China, making only $1.3 million at the box-office, a sixth of what Disney had hoped the revenue would be. The Chinese people deemed Disney’s Mulan “too Westernised”, though some did appreciate Disney’s attempts at trying to understand and portray Chinese culture accurately[13].

But overall, the movie did well and received mostly positive reviews, with many enjoying the artistic quality of the film, as well as the feminist icon of Mulan. Mulan received some of the best reviews for a Disney animated film since The Lion King (1994), with some critics even saying that Mulan matched Beauty and the Beast (1991) and The Lion King (1994) in regards to its story-telling. Mulan also dominated at the 26^th Annie Awards in 1998, winning ten of the twelve categories it was nominated for, including Outstanding Animated Technical Feature, Outstanding Achievement in Voice Acting for Ming-Na Wen, and Outstanding Achievement in Music.

However, a movie that is based in China but developed by an American company is never going to escape controversy, though there was more discussion over Disney’s portrayal of the story of Mulan when the live-action movie was released in 2020, rather than when the 1998 film was first released. This is because Mulan (2020) goes further in terms of its feminist storytelling, retelling the story in a new way, to match the expectations of today’s society. For example, the romantic subplot between Mulan and Shang, which I don’t think is overly relevant in the 1998 film, was entirely removed, along with the character of Shang. This was also partly to do with the implications of the #MeToo movement, and how a recruit being in a relationship with her Army General would not be appropriate. A new character Commander Tung, based on Shang, was introduced instead, however the removal of Shang, and therefore the LGBTQ implications of his relationship with “Ping”, was disappointing for some. The 2020 live-action remake also cut the character of Mushu, who was deemed to be both culturally inaccurate and offensive. Shan Yu’s character was also replaced with a new character, leader of the Rourans, Böri Khan, who is intent on avenging his father’s death, giving him more of a human quality and less of a typically villainous side. Böri Khan was portrayed by Jason Scott Lee, who voiced David in Lilo & Stitch (2002) and most recently starred as Benny Kameāloha in the Disney+ series, Doogie Kameāloha (2021-23).

In some ways the 2020 live-action movie received more criticisms than the 1998 version. The actress who played Mulan, Yifei Liu, was accused of supporting police brutality in Hong Kong after quotes from her were circulated online. There were then calls for the Mulan film to be boycotted. Yifei Liu did not appear at the D23 promotional event in 2019, where a five-minute clip of the movie was shown to fans. Also, though the film features an all-Asian cast, something that the 1998 film had tried to do and succeeded partially in doing so, like the 1998 film, the 2020 film was criticised for its lack of diversity in the production team which included not hiring an Asian director; New Zealand director Niki Caro was chosen instead. There were also comments when the trailer was released stating that the architecture and costuming did not match the time period or geography of the original story. Mulan (2020) did receive mostly positive reviews though, with many stating that it is one of the better Disney live-action remakes. It was released on Disney+, for a fee, on 4^th September 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is now free to watch on Disney+[14].

LEGACY

As well as the live-action adaptation, Mulan also received the “direct-to-video sequel” treatment with Mulan II being released in 2004. Mulan II follows on from the events of Mulan, with Shang and Mulan engaged to be married. They must navigate their relationship whilst on a mission to take the Emperor’s three daughters to a neighbouring kingdom, Qui Gong, to be wed to princes there. Mulan is against the idea of arranged marriage, whereas Shang just wants to fulfil his duties. Mushu’s status as guardian is at risk as if Shang and Mulan marry, his ancestors will become hers, so Mushu will lose his job, leading Mushu to try and break the two of them up. Many of the original actors returned to reprise their roles, though voice actress April Winchell, voice of Clarabelle Cow, and daughter of Paul Winchell, original voice of Tigger, voices the Matchmaker instead of Miriam Margolyes, and voice double Mark Moseley voices Mushu instead of Eddie Murphy. Some other interesting names to voice characters in Mulan II are Sandra Oh, of Grey’s Anatomy (2005-14) and Killing Eve (2018-22) fame, as Princess Ting-Ting, and Charlie’s Angels’ (2000-03) Lucy Liu performing the role of Princess Mei. I like this sequel a lot, with the song “Like Other Girls” being a highlight.

At the Disney Parks, Mulan has been featured many times over the years. At Disney’s MGM-Studios at Walt Disney World, now Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Disneyland, and Disneyland Paris, the Mulan Parade ran from June 1998 as a marketing and promotional tool for the movie. It replaced the Hercules Victory Parade, and was the last of the movie tie-in parades at the Disney Parks. The parade was different across the three parks, with Walt Disney World’s running for around 3 years, the Disneyland one only going for about a year and mostly being seen at night, and Disneyland Paris’ being just one float.

At Disneyland Paris, there was a stage show titled Mulan, La Légende, that took place in the Videopolis Theater. It featured a brief retelling of the movie, alongside acrobatic and juggling displays. It was a roughly 30-minute show that ran about five times a day, opening in April 1999 and closing sometime in 2002. I remember seeing this show on my first visit to Disneyland Paris sometime in December in the early 2000s, though I don’t recall much of it, only that we were eating chips inside the theatre, trying to find somewhere warm to sit as it was so cold outside!

Another defunct attraction related Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Mulan is The Magic of Disney Animation pavilion, as the movie was animated in Florida at The Disney Feature Animation Florida Studio, which was first set up in 1989, and was considered an annex to the official Disney studio in Burbank. It was originally based in trailers roughly where Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster is today, with just 40 artists. In 1998, the studio was moved into its own $70 million building, located just behind The Magic of Disney Animation pavilion. The number of artists was expanded to around 400. The Florida Studio was responsible for primarily making Mulan, Lilo & Stitch (2002), and Brother Bear (2003), though the artists did do pieces for many of the other Disney features released during the Florida studio’s lifetime. The Florida studio itself closed in January 2004 but The Magic of Disney Animation, which opened with the park in 1989, outran the lifetime of the Florida Studio, therefore, the chance to actually see artists at work was not as prominent or marketed after 2004, when an opening film was played that heavily featured Mushu telling the history of Disney Animation alongside a Cast Member or Animator, before guests were led into an exhibition-type space with some original artwork available to be seen. The Magic of Disney Animation pavilion closed in July 2015, where it became Star Wars Launch Bay, which still exists today, mostly as an exhibition area and meet-and-greet location for characters like BB-8, Chewbacca and Darth Vader[15].

Nowadays, Mulan continues to be a prominent meet-and-greet character at all the Disney Parks, seeing as she is part of the official Disney Princess line-up. At Walt Disney World, as well as the movie being featured within the Fantasmic! nighttime show at Disney’s Hollywood Studios with its own section, you can also meet Mulan at the China pavilion in Epcot’s World Showcase. At Disneyland, Mulan is predominately available for meet-and-greets alongside Mushu during their annual Lunar New Year events, which includes the Lunar New Year Procession. Mulan seems to be available for meet-and-greets occasionally at Disneyland Paris. It is unclear how often Mulan is available for meet-and-greets at Hong Kong Disneyland, Shanghai Disneyland or Tokyo Disneyland, but she seems to have been spotted in Shanghai and Hong Kong Disneyland in the last year or two.

In terms of the other Mulan characters, Mushu, Shang and Shan Yu are much rarer to spot in the Disney Parks, and are more likely to be brought out for Special Events. I remember seeing Shan Yu at the Epcot China Pavilion many years ago and I was too scared to go over to him; my sister ended up taking my autograph book over to him and getting it for me! I also remember meeting Mushu a few times, but never Shang.

At Shanghai Disneyland, as part of their daily parade, Mickey’s Storybook Express Parade, there is a section dedicated to Mulan, with the front of the float showing Mulan sitting atop her horse, Khan, and drummers, stone lions, and a temple featuring at the back. There are also soldiers and flag-bearers walking in front. Finally, also at Shanghai Disneyland, in their equivalent of the Storybook Land Canal Boats, the Voyage of the Crystal Grotto has a scene of Mulan, on the lefthand side about halfway in, just after the Tangled scene; it depicts Mulan standing in a pagoda, with Khan on a bridge just behind her.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Mulan was an important part of the Disney “Renaissance Era” as it was the first time that they had featured an Asian princess and an Asian story in one of their animated movies, meaning that a whole community were now represented, and not just as a beautiful, elegant princess, but as a strong, brave female warrior.

Mulan may not be one of my favourite Disney films, but I do still enjoy it, and feel that it has an important message to be yourself, and not feel trapped or confined to other people’s expectations of what you “should” be. It’s your life, and you should choose how to live it, no matter what anyone else thinks.

Disney did receive some criticism for their portrayal of Mulan both in their animated and live-action films, but this is not uncommon, especially these days when everything seems to be under constant scrutiny. Disney did their best, and the live-action film does appear to have gone some way to correcting misrepresentations in the story and culture.

Despite this, Mulan continues to be an incredibly popular Disney animated movie, and it celebrated its 25^th anniversary in 2023, with a new range of merchandise being released to mark the occasion. This, and its constant representation in Disney media and its theme parks, show the relevance of Mulan and her story, even by today’s standards.

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Disney, The Movie Surfers Go Inside Mulan (1998).

[2] Credit: Disney, “International Mulan”, from Mulan (1998) 2-Disc Special Edition DVD (2005).

[3] Credit: Sabrina Barr, ‘Mulan: The real story behind the legendary Chinese warrior’, The Independent (online), 4^th September 2020.

[4] Credit: Rebecca O’Neill, ‘Disney’s Mulan: 5 Things In the Movie That Were Historically Accurate (& 5 That Were Not)’, ScreenRant.com, 16^th June 2022.

[5] Credit: Izak Bulten, ‘Mulan (1998): 10 Behind-The-Scenes Facts About The Disney Classic’, ScreenRant.com, 13^th September 2020.

[6] Credit: Disney, “Deleted Scenes”, from Mulan (1998) 2-Disc Special Edition DVD (2005).

[7] Credit: Disney, “The Journey Begins”, from Mulan (1998) 2-Disc Special Edition DVD (2005).

[8] Credit: Disney, The Movie Surfers Go Inside Mulan (1998).

[9] Credit: Disney, “Production”, from Mulan (1998) 2-Disc Special Edition DVD (2005).

[10] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘Remembering “Mulan”’, CartoonResearch.com, 26^th August 2022.

[11] Credit: Disney, “Music”, from Mulan (1998) 2-Disc Special Edition DVD (2005).

[12] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘Remembering “Mulan”’, CartoonResearch.com, 26^th August 2022.

[13] Credit: Constance Grady, ‘The history of Mulan, from a 6^th-century ballad to the live-action Disney movie’, Vox.com, 4^th September 2020.

[14] Credit: Suyin Haynes, ‘The Controversial Origins of the Story Behind Mulan’, Time (online), 11^th September 2020.

[15] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘Disney Films Done at Disney Feature Animation Florida’, YourFirstVisit.net, date unknown.