1st Mar 20242nd Oct 2025 by The Disney Purist

#23 The Rescuers (1977)

BACKGROUND

The 1970s saw Disney Animation go into a bit of a slump.

Though The Jungle Book (1967) was praised by the majority of critics and viewers, this was at least partly down to the fact that Walt Disney himself ensured his full involvement in the story and development of the animated feature. The popularity of The Jungle Book was likely not because of a growing interest and appreciation for Disney animated films, since the 1960s were not a great time for Disney Animation either.

Sadly, after Walt Disney’s death in 1966, it was clear that the Disney Animation department was struggling and declining at the beginning of the 1970s. Their following two releases of The Aristocats (1970) and Robin Hood (1973) were considered to be “mediocre” and “low-quality” by many.

However, in 1977, the release of The Rescuers would change the direction of Disney’s Animation department. With its touching story and easy-to-follow plot, not to mention its humour and great voice cast, it was received very well by audiences.

Yet, although The Rescuers has been labelled one of the movies that “saved” Disney Animation – something that seems to have been needed every decade or so ever since Disney Animation began – The Rescuers is not a film that many people speak highly of, or speak about at all. It’s one of those Disney films that doesn’t have a huge fan base and is therefore forgotten about by those who don’t love it, becoming just one in a long list of Disney movies, good or bad.

I quite like The Rescuers. It’s not one of my favourites, but it is one that I revisit fairly often, although if The Rescuers was a full hour-and-a-half feature, as became Disney’s standard from their “Renaissance Era” in the 1990s, I probably wouldn’t like it as much. It’s a film that is good partly because it’s not particularly long, only about 75 minutes in total. I could say this about many other Disney films that I like, for example, Cinderella (1950), Fantasia 2000 (1999), and Alice in Wonderland (1951). In this case, it was a good idea for The Rescuers’ storyline not be pushed to fit a standard viewing time, otherwise I think it would’ve been tedious to sit through.

The Rescuers is not the most artistically spectacular or the most clever Disney animated film, but it has charming characters, a fantastically flamboyant villain, and some pretty background scenes, as well as a soundtrack of melancholic but enchanting music.

PLOT

The Rescuers starts with a brief opening scene of a little girl on a riverboat in the bayou, dropping a bottle into a lake. We see this bottle’s journey through the lake and the sea during the opening credits. The bottle is found with a message inside by a group of mice, who take it to the Rescue Aid Society, a team of international mice delegates who answer children’s cries for help. The Rescue Aid Society headquarters is based within the United Nations headquarters in New York City, and the mice delegates travel to the meetings in the bags of the human UN delegates. The Rescue Aid Society has set up an emergency meeting in order to read the message and discuss which mouse or mice should take the assignment should someone need rescuing. There, they find that a girl called Penny, missing from Morningside Orphanage, needs help, however, her message is water-damaged, so that’s all the information they have. Bianca, the beautiful delegate from Hungary, begs to take the assignment, with the Chairman allowing her to choose a co-agent to go with her. She surprisingly chooses Bernard, the nervous janitor, and they set off to find out where Penny may have gone.

After taking some wrong turns on the way to Morningside Orphanage, where Bernard manages to upset a lion at the zoo, Bernard and Bianca make it to Penny’s orphanage. They speak to the resident cat, Rufus, who tells them that Penny would not run away, but that a strange woman who owns a nearby pawn shop had offered her a ride a few weeks before.

Bianca and Bernard go to the pawn shop to look for clues. They find Madame Medusa, a sharp-tongued, easily irritated, gaudily dressed woman. They overhear a phone call: Medusa is complaining that her partner, Snoops, hasn’t managed to get “the girl” to find the diamond, and that she’ll be coming to Devil’s Bayou tonight to remedy that. Realising this girl must be Penny, Bianca and Bernard try and follow her in her car, but she drives like such a maniac that they lose her. The next day, they book a flight to Devil’s Bayou with Fly Albatross Air Service, where they literally fly on the back of an albatross called Orville in a sardine tin – not the safest way to travel, and Bernard, a safety freak, is not happy about that! After a dodgy take-off through the streets of New York, and with some convincing from Bianca, he settles into the journey.

On arrival at Devil’s Bayou, Orville is spooked by fireworks coming from a nearby riverboat and they crash-land into the swamp. They are spotted by Ellie Mae, a muskrat living the swamp, and some of the other swamp creatures who help get Bernard and Bianca to safety. Orville flies off home. Evinrude, a dragonfly and “boat captain”, takes Bernard and Bianca over to the riverboat in his leaf boat. It turns out the fireworks were set off by Snoops and Medusa as Penny has tried to run away again. She is brought back by Medusa’s alligators, Nero and Brutus. As Penny is returned to her room, and just about to give up hope of getting home, Bianca and Bernard finally find her room, and get to talk to her, after some mishaps with Brutus and Nero; Penny’s “guards”.

Penny tells them she’s being forced into a cave to find a diamond, the “Devil’s Eye”, by Medusa, and that she won’t let her go home until she gets it. The three come up with a plan to escape, however, their plan is delayed by the low tide coming in and Penny being forced into the cave again. This time, though, the two mice work with Penny to finally get the diamond for Medusa. Medusa is thrilled but back at the riverboat, she holds Snoops and Penny at gunpoint, telling them she is about to leave with Penny’s teddy bear, much to Penny’s dismay, because the bear is concealing the diamond.

However, Bernard and Bianca trip Medusa with a wire, giving Penny the chance to grab her teddy bear and run. Ellie Mae, Luke, and the rest of the animals come to help, trapping Nero and Brutus in a disused elevator, and Penny runs to Medusa’s swamp boat to escape. It won’t start though, so Luke is told to tip his alcohol concoction into the engine to get it running. Instead of destroying the engine as you’d expect, the boat starts running! Fireworks are set off inside the boat as a further distraction to stop Medusa and Snoops coming after Penny and she rushes away. The riverboat blows up, freeing Nero and Brutus, who Medusa tries to use as water-skis to follow Penny in the boat. Snoops paddles down the bayou slowly, and laughs as Medusa slams into a pipe and is trapped up it, and her alligators start snapping at her. Her plan has well and truly failed.

Back home in New York, Bernard and Bianca, and the rest of the Rescue Aid Society, watch a news report showing that Penny has handed in the diamond to the police, and it is going to the Smithsonian Museum. She also has finally been adopted by a nice couple. Bernard and Bianca are pleased with the result of the case, but Bianca quickly volunteers them for a new case, even though Bernard just wants a break! The movie ends with the two flying away, again on Orville, in a terrible snowstorm, seemingly to start work.

CHARACTERS & CAST

These two mice detectives, Bernard and Bianca, couldn’t be more different from each other. The Rescuers has strong female leads, with the female characters having, frankly, quite incompetent male counterparts. This is true of Bianca and Bernard to some extent, as Bianca is the Hungarian delegate of the Rescue Aid Society, and she is the strong, solid one within her partnership with Bernard. Bianca isn’t afraid of what may happen to them during the course of this assignment, and is just willing to go with the flow and keep going because rescuing Penny is the most important goal for them. She takes curveballs in her stride, and has the ability to just go with it. Bianca is also incredibly glamourous, not even wanting to buckle her seatbelt tightly on their “plane” so that it doesn’t wrinkle her dress. Bianca is voiced by Hungarian-American actress Eva Gabor. Gabor appeared in stage productions, television series, and films throughout her career from the 1940s until her death in 1995. Some of her credits include portraying Liane d’Exelmans in Gigi (1958), which won all nine of its Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, at the Oscars ceremony in 1959, and Lisa Douglas in the sitcom Green Acres (1965-71). She had previously voiced the also glamourous and beautiful Duchess in The Aristocats (1970) for Disney before The Rescuers, which goes to show that you can even be typecast in animation!

Bernard, on the other hand, is the nervous, superstitious janitor of the Rescue Aid Society. He’s not thrilled at having to go on an assignment, though he is pleased to spend time with Miss Bianca. We see he’s superstitious multiple times during the film, mostly related to the number “13”, like there being thirteen steps on ladders, and the final scene of the film, where Bianca volunteers them both for another case, taking place on Friday 13^th January. Bernard is very lovable though, despite being quite anxious and jumpy, wanting to choose the safer route over the riskier, but necessary, ones. Having said that, he isn’t afraid to protect Bianca, and saves her from drowning and from being eaten by one of Medusa’s guard alligators. Bernard is voiced by American actor and comedian Bob Newhart, who starred in his own comedy variety show The Bob Newhart Show (1961-62), for which he won a Golden Globe for Best Male TV Star, and went on to star in the sitcom The Bob Newhart Show (1972-78), a huge hit at the time. He won three Grammy awards in 1961 for his comedy albums. Modern audiences may remember him as Papa Elf in Elf (2003) and as Professor Proton, a recurring guest role, in The Big Bang Theory (2007-19) for which he won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series, and its spin-off show Young Sheldon (2017-24).

Then there’s Madame Medusa, a strong female villain, and her clumsy fool of a sidekick, Mr. Snoops, who is so scared of Medusa he tries to do everything she says to keep her happy, which has varying levels of success! I kind of feel bad for Snoops at times when he is constantly being belittled and talked down to. Mr. Snoops was designed as a caricature of animation historian John Culhane, who was given the nickname “Snoops” for his investigative work around the Disney Studios[1]. He was tricked into posing for drawings, and had no idea he was being used as source material until the film was released. Luckily, he was thrilled with the outcome! Joe Flynn provided the voice of Mr. Snoops. In the 1960s, he was well-known for his portrayal of Captain Wallace Binghamton in ABC’s sitcom McHale’s Navy (1962-66), before going on to appear in a long-line of Disney live-action movies: Son of Flubber (1963), The Love Bug (1968), and as Dean Higgins in the Dexter Riley trilogy of films: The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1969), Now You See Him, Now You Don’t (1972), and The Strongest Man in the World (1975), alongside Kurt Russell. Joe Flynn sadly passed away in July 1974, just after he had completed his voice work on The Rescuers.

If Medusa looks familiar, that’s because she is modelled after Cruella de Vil, at least partly. Even Medusa’s driving and her car look like Cruella de Vil’s. Originally, animator Ken Anderson had sketched Cruella in alligator-inspired clothing as early designs for Cruella to be the villain in The Rescuers, since she is a kidnapper and was already loved by Disney audiences after her appearance in One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961). In the end though, it was decided that The Rescuers should not look like a sequel to One Hundred and One Dalmatians, so instead Madame Medusa was merely based on Cruella de Vil.

Animator Milt Kahl designed the character, using his wife, Phyllis Bounds, as reference material, alongside Cruella. The two married in 1968 and would divorce in 1978; they had a bit of a tumultuous relationship. Madame Medusa is a good villainess, as she’s a greedy, selfish, vain woman, capable of kidnapping a little girl, telling the girl she’ll never get anywhere in life, forcing her into a cave where she almost drowns, and then threatening her at gunpoint – and with alligators! She’s a character you love-to-hate because she is funny to watch with her overly flamboyant nature and poor taste in clothes. She’s not magical or talented in any way; Medusa is simply truly evil and despicable. Kahl also used inspiration from the vocal performances of Medusa’s voice actor for the character, stage-and-screen actor Geraldine Page[2]. Page had many roles in screen productions, such as Interiors (1978), for which she won a BAFTA award for Best Supporting Actress, and The Trip to Bountiful (1985), where she won the Oscar for Best Actress. Page also appeared in the live-action Disney musical film The Happiest Millionaire (1967). Geraldine Page performed on stage in numerous productions. At the time of her death in 1987, Page was performing as Madame Arcati in the Noël Coward play Blithe Spirit; she did not appear for her performance on 13^th June that year and was later found dead in her Manhattan townhouse.

The most important character in The Rescuers, though, is little Penny. She has most of the heart-breaking scenes in the film. The first scene of her putting a bottle into the sea as a cry for help is upsetting, even from the outset. We also see her at her orphanage, talking to Rufus, the cat, about how she wasn’t picked for adoption that day and that she never thinks she will be, but Rufus tells her to have faith. Penny must have been terrified, being ripped away from her home by Medusa and being taken to some rundown boat in the middle of the bayou. She is then forced to search for a diamond in a tiny, dark cave, where the tide can rush in. Despite her terror, she continues to do it against her will, and tries her hardest to get free from her captivity and get home. I think she would’ve eventually been able to escape on her own, because Penny is very smart, but it’s good that Bianca and Bernard were able to help her get out quickly. Penny was voiced by child actor Michelle Stacy.

After all that, you need a bit of comic relief! There are a few characters who provide this: firstly, Orville, the albatross, who provides a flight service for small animals. He’s a bit absent-minded, not a particularly good flyer, especially around take-offs, but he’s an, albeit brief, bit of comedy for the audience amongst the darker themes. I do like the scenes we get of him and the mice on their journey to Devil’s Bayou though, as the sunset and landscapes in particular look magical. Orville was voiced by Jim Jordan, who passed away in 1988.

Husband and wife, John McIntire and Jeanette Nolan, both voiced characters in The Rescuers: Rufus and Ellie Mae. Rufus is a very kind, cute cat, who is Penny’s friend when she needs one most, and helps Bernard and Bianca find her by telling them about Medusa and her pawn shop. Ellie Mae is the muskrat who is forever nagging Luke – her muskrat husband, I think? – to be useful. McIntire and Nolan would go on to voice characters for Disney’s next animation film, The Fox and the Hound (1981), where Nolan voiced Widow Tweed, and McIntire voiced the Badger.

The rest of the creatures in the swamp who help Bernard, Bianca, and Penny escape at the end are another element of comic relief, as they come to help in full force, not with much of a plan, hitting Medusa with various things, pulling her hair – they might not know how to help, but they definitely give it a go! Luke and Ellie Mae are funny too as they are constantly arguing because Luke is only really interested in his bottle of strong liquor, getting characters to drink it to boost their energy. Luke’s voice may sound familiar to Disney animated film fans as his voice actor was Pat Buttram. Buttram voiced the characters of Napoleon in The Aristocats (1970) and the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood (1973) previous to The Rescuers. There is also Evinrude, the dragonfly, who drives a “leafboat” and even goes with Bernard and Bianca on their next assignment, having to right Orville’s failed take-off right at the end of the film. He is very much overworked, the poor fly. In an early draft of the film, the swamp critters were going to be part of the Rescue Aid Society, with their leader being a singing bullfrog voiced by Phil Harris, voice of Baloo in The Jungle Book (1967) and Little John in Robin Hood (1973), but this idea was cut.

PRODUCTION

Disney’s The Rescuers is loosely based on the novels The Rescuers and Miss Bianca by Margery Sharp, two of a nine book series, published between 1959 and 1978. Walt Disney optioned the two books that had been published in 1962, with development beginning shortly after. Originally, the first story idea was of two mice rescuing a Norwegian poet from an Eastern European prison after being wrongfully imprisoned, a similar plot to the first of Sharp’s books. The storyline was adapted again and would have followed the mice saving a poet from a Cuban prison, with their escape back to the United States involving an action-packed boat chase through the Bahamas in a hurricane. Walt did not like the political suggestions in either storyline, saying they were dark anyway, so the project was shelved.

A few years after Walt’s death, the idea was picked up again, but this time, it would have involved a penguin and a bear. A penguin ended up coming from the South Pole and being dumped in a zoo. At the zoo, the penguin would have met a performing bear named Willie. The penguin conned the bear out of escaping the zoo with him and going back to the South Pole. But back in the South Pole, the penguin set up a run-down entertainment venue and began to force the bear to perform for his paying penguin customers. The bear became unhappy and sent a message in a bottle, which was found by the mice and discovered to be a cry for help. There were a few issues with this story idea, with one being that a penguin doesn’t make an evil, believable villain. Trying telling that to Wallace and Gromit, and Aardman Animations! The Disney team struggled on this story for a year or two, changing the location back to America and just having it set in a zoo with this same bear, but according to animator Burny Mattinson, they couldn’t get the story to work.

Director Woolie Reitherman became exasperated with the issues around coming up with a decent story for The Rescuers, saying he just wanted a simple kidnap story like in One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961), so he looked at another of Margery Sharp’s books in the same series, Miss Bianca. There he discovered a new story idea, around an old lady who had kidnapped this young girl. The villain was the Diamond Duchess. The Disney team tried to keep the same bear character from earlier ideas, now naming him Louie with the aim to have Louis Prima voice him. The connection to the story would’ve been that the girl, named Patience in the book, had “befriended” the bear during her visits to the zoo, as it was to be near to her orphanage, and the bear would be able to give clues as to the girl’s whereabouts[3]. Louis Prima had recorded most of his dialogue for the film, as well as some songs, however, he became ill and never regained consciousness from brain surgery in 1975. Though the character of Louie the Bear did end up being scrapped, there is still a reference to the zoo in the final film, when Bernard and Bianca are trying to walk through it as a shortcut, but come across a “grumpy lion”, who scares them away.

One difference between the books and Disney’s The Rescuers is that the book series followed the organisation, the Prisoners’ Aid Society, not the Rescue Aid Society. Character names were changed as well, such as Patience becoming Penny, and Madame Medusa being the new name for the Diamond Duchess. Diamond Duchess also has an evil sidekick called Mandrake in the book, and Patience does not have to search for a diamond, instead being used as a slave. The alligators are bloodhounds called Tyrant and Torment in the novel, and Bernard and Bianca are not, and do not become, a couple in the novels, as they do in the movie. But even their relationship during the development of the film came out differently than planned. It was first thought that they had to be skilled sleuths, and that they would be married. It was soon discovered that with this idea, there would be little conflict and growth, so it was decided to make them unknown to each other before the case, and that they would also be amateurs. The setting is also different between the novel and film, as the novel is set within the “Diamond Palace”, a marvellous and majestic space, unlike the rundown bayou riverboat that Medusa occupies. For Medusa’s hideout, the Disney team thought of making it a pirate fortress, and then an Art Deco mansion, which would’ve more closely matched the story of Diamond Duchess and her palace. But in the end, the choice was for the hideout to be on a riverboat on the bayou[4].

The xerography process, where animators copied their drawings onto cels directly using a Xerox camera instead of having their work “cleaned up” and inked in by other artists, was used again in The Rescuers, despite being criticised by some for making the Disney movies of the 1960s and 70s look “cheap”, even by Walt Disney who was not a fan of the process. However, previously it had only been able to produce black outlines on characters. The Rescuers was the first Disney feature to use colour xerox, where the outlines could be grey instead. The xerography process gave the film a classic look, and looked less sketchy than some of the previous uses of this technology at Disney Animation.

Some animation sequences were reused from previous features, as was quite standard for Disney around this time. For example, the scene of Penny trying to escape through the swamp was reused from The Jungle Book (1967), where Mowgli is running through the forest[5]. Both these animation process choices would’ve kept the budget low, as was necessary to make a profit.

The Rescuers was the last Disney film to be worked on by the “Nine Old Men”, the term for Walt Disney’s original key team of artists, including Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston, Eric Larson, and Milt Kahl. They spent much of their time on this movie training newer animators, like Glen Keane. Keane was assigned to Ollie Johnston, who had him work on Penny and her small scene at the start of the film. Johnston helped show Keane how to simplify his work and make it look cleaner. The structure for the Animation Department at this time was for there to be an “A Team”, and a “B Team”, with the “A Team” being the more seasoned artists, working on a more prestigious project, and for the “B Team” to work on a simpler film, to train up newer animators. After Robin Hood (1973), the “A Team” were starting work on adapting a book called Scruffy by Paul Gallico, about the monkeys of Gibraltar, set during World War II, and the ancient legend that if the apes die out, the British Empire will lose Gibraltar. When production failed to move this story forward, both teams combined to work on The Rescuers instead, and the newer artists were mentored by the veterans. The Rescuers ended up being considered as the film that changed Disney’s approach to animation and was a transition from the Old Guard to the New Guard[6].

MUSIC

The music in The Rescuers is quite different to the majority of animated films that came before it, and that is because it is quite sombre. There are no songs that have been included for comic relief purposes, and none that could be described as “cheerful”. Nevertheless, I like the soundtrack for The Rescuers, despite its melancholy. Only one song is performed by the movie’s characters.

Carol Connors and Ayn Robbins contributed to all four of the soundtrack’s original songs. The two had previously co-written the lyrics for the song “Gonna Fly Now” from the movie Rocky (1976) before working on the music for The Rescuers. Connors was also known as the lead singer of the pop trio The Teddy Bears in the late 1950s and sang their only major hit “To Know Him Is To Love Him”.

Connors and Robbins co-composed three of the songs here. The first one to mention is “The Journey”, which appears during the Opening Credits. It accompanies the scene of the bottle making its way across the ocean to make it to New York and the headquarters of the Rescue Aid Society. It is a very sad song as it continuously asks “who will rescue me?”, and sets up the tone of the events that follow. It was performed by singer Shelby Flint, whose biggest hits were in the 1960s with “Angel on My Shoulder” and “Cast Your Fate to the Wind”. She also sang on the soundtrack of Clint Eastwood’s film Breezy (1973).

Another song is “Tomorrow Is Another Day”, my favourite song in the soundtrack, because, although it is not a bright and breezy kind of song, it does feel quite calming and almost dream-like. It plays during the scene of Bianca and Bernard flying on Orville the albatross over to Devil’s Bayou. After a panic-inducing take-off, the journey settles into a nice journey over pretty landscapes and a beautiful sunset. It also sees Bernard and Bianca begin to fall in love with each other; it’s a cute song. “Tomorrow Is Another Day” was again performed by Shelby Flint. There is also a brief reprise of the song at the end of the film.

The third song to mention is the theme song of the Rescue Aid Society, aptly named “Rescue Aid Society”. It is performed as a group number by the delegates of the society, but most notably we hear Bob Newhart singing as Bernard, and Robie Lester singing as Bianca, the only delegate running late for the meeting! Robie Lester had previously provided the singing voice for Duchess in The Aristocats (1970), another character that Eva Gabor had voiced for Disney. It’s quite an upbeat song and is also a song that will randomly get stuck in my head from time to time!

The fourth and final song is “Someone’s Waiting for You”. This time, the lyrics were written by Connors and Robbins but the music was composed by Sammy Fain. Sammy Fain had been hired as a lyricist on The Rescuers early on, and had written a couple of songs, but director Woolie Reitherman was looking for a more contemporary sound, so Carol Connors and Ayn Robbins were also approached. Fain had previously contributed to the music for Alice in Wonderland (1951) and Peter Pan (1953). He also won the Academy Award for Best Original Song twice, once for “Secret Love” from Calamity Jane (1953) and again for “Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing” from the 1956 film of the same name. “Someone’s Waiting for You” is not completely sad and depressing, because it is meant to be giving Penny hope that she will be rescued soon and that she can be happy again. It’s very sweet and made even better by the fact that shortly after, Penny meets Bernard and Bianca who help her escape. This song was again performed by Shelby Flint.

The Rescuers received an Academy Award nomination for Best Song, with “Someone’s Waiting for You”, but did not win, losing out to “You Light Up My Life” from the 1977 film of the same name. It was also up against “Candle on the Water” from Pete’s Dragon (1977), a live-action/animated hybrid film from Disney. This was the last time Disney would be nominated for any Oscar until the release of The Little Mermaid (1989).

The score was composed by Artie Butler. Within the score, I specifically like the instrumental pieces “The Swamp/Escape”, which plays when Penny has run away again and Medusa and Snoops are trying to bring her back; “In the Black Hole/It’s the Devil’s Eye”, because this is a particularly great moment in the film, as the mice and Penny search for this infamous huge diamond; and “Faster, Evinrude, Faster!”, the catchy theme for Evinrude the dragonfly as he is told to drive his leaf boat faster – over and over again…I did say he was overworked.

RECEPTION

The Rescuers was released widely in June 1977 in the United States, before being distributed out to other countries. It was received well by critics, who stated that The Rescuers seemed to signal a turning of the tide in Disney’s animation department, and felt that it was much more like the movies that Walt Disney had first produced in Disney’s “Golden Age”, in the late-1930s and early 1940s, unlike the animated movies that had preceded The Rescuers in the 1970s. Viewers liked its touching moments, simple story, and charming animation.

The Rescuers was also successful at the box office, despite being released just a month after the first Star Wars (1977) movie. It made around $48 million worldwide, against a budget of about $12 million, making it the first Disney animated success since 1967’s The Jungle Book. In some countries, such as France and Germany, The Rescuers actually outperformed Star Wars! The Rescuers even won a Special Citation Award in 1977 at the National Board of Review Awards for “restoring and upgrading the art of animation”.

The Rescuers would be re-released in theatres in both 1983 and 1989, before being released on video in 1992 – with an infamous VHS recall happening in 1999. Despite The Rescuers seeming to be a yet another harmless Disney movie, surprisingly, back in January 1999, it was discovered that 3.4 million copies of The Rescuers home video were recalled from the 1999 video re-release, due to two frames of footage containing an “objectionable background image”. This turned out to be a brief, blurry glimpse of a topless woman, which appears in the scene where Bianca and Bernard are flying through the streets of New York on the back of Orville the albatross; she appears in one of the windows. Disney made it clear that in ordinary viewing, these frames cannot be seen as the film runs too fast, however, with video allowing pausing, re-winding and fast-forwarding, this image was then discovered by viewers. Disney insisted on the recall to keep its promise to families of being a family entertainment brand that people can trust[7]. Clearly, some of these VHS tapes were not handed in by parents as part of the recall, as this unfortunate story has been revived again and again over the years, including in 2020.

This led to the Huffington Post interviewing former Disney animator, Tom Sito, to discuss some of these Disney “sexual messages”. The majority of these were hoaxes, or misheard dialogue, however, Sito was asked to discuss the “objectionable image” in The Rescuers. He claimed that all the animators knew about this image and that it had been added into the original 1977 cut as a joke. The executives who had been at Disney around the time of the first release of The Rescuers had left the company by the time the VHS re-release was planned. The new executives had no idea about the image, so used the 1977 negative for that, which is what caused the embarrassing error. Sito ended his comments by stating that the animators were not asked if there was anything in the original footage, otherwise they would have said[8].

LEGACY

But before all that happened, The Rescuers almost had a TV legacy, with a television series being proposed, however, the idea was replaced with Chip ‘n’ Dale: Rescue Rangers (1989-90) because The Rescuers already had a sequel in production, The Rescuers Down Under (1990), which was the first Disney animated feature to get a theatrical sequel. There was brief talk of there being a live-action adaptation of the film around the late-2010s, however, this was quietly dropped from the Disney slate[9].

In terms of a franchise, the sequel is really the biggest thing to have come from The Rescuers, as there is very little reference to the film in the Disney theme parks, and in the media. Bernard and Bianca were available as walkaround characters in the Disney theme parks a few years after the film’s release, but they are much rarer to see now. For example, Bernard and Bianca have only been spotted at Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland within the last few years. Bernard and Bianca appeared at the Disneyland after Dark: Sweethearts’ Nite in both 2022 and 2023, but did not return in 2024. Surprisingly, I have also seen pictures online of Orville the albatross and Evinrude the dragonfly as walkaround characters at Walt Disney World and at Disneyland, but these pictures must have been from just after the movie’s release and the two clearly did not last long. In 2022, The Rescuers celebrated its 45^th anniversary so new merchandise lines, such as pins and ornaments were released too.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The Rescuers was a bright light within a difficult period for the Disney Animation department. Its success may not have lasted into the present day, but it still had a purpose and helped Disney eventually get to their “Renaissance Era”.

I like The Rescuers, and I know there are others out there who do too. This was Disney trying something a bit newer, an action-adventure film, and it did well, even with competition from the likes of Star Wars. It’s a bit darker and more melancholy than other Disney features, but it has a good message: that anyone, big or small, is capable of doing great things – as well as a lesson to not go near strange women!

But the biggest message is about having hope, even in the most difficult and dark situations. As Rufus, the Morningside Orphanage cat, says: “Faith is a bluebird, you see from afar. It’s for real, and as sure as the first evening star. You can’t touch it, or buy it, or wrap it up tight, but it’s there just the same, making things turn out right.”

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Jim Korkis, Everything I Know I Learned from Disney Animated Feature Films (2015), ‘The Rescuers (1977)’, pp. 67-69.

[2] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘Remembering the Rescuers’, MousePlanet.com, 19^th January 2022.

[3] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘“The Rescuers” That Almost Was’, CartoonResearch.com, 20^th May 2022.

[4] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘Remembering the Rescuers’, MousePlanet.com,19^th January 2022.

[5] Credit: Mari Ness, ‘Rescuing More than Just Small Girls and Teddy Bears: Disney’s The Rescuers’, Tor (online), 17^th September 2015.

[6] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘Remembering the Rescuers’, MousePlanet.com, 19^th January 2022.

[7] Credit: BBC, ‘Disney recalls video over ‘nude image’, BBC.co.uk/news, 9^th January 1999.

[8] Credit: Bill Bradley, ‘Finally, The Truth About Disney’s ‘Hidden Sexual Messages’ Revealed’, HuffPost.com, 17^th December 2020.

[9] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘Remembering the Rescuers’, MousePlanet.com, 19^th January 2022.

23rd Feb 202414th Nov 2025 by The Disney Purist

#25 The Black Cauldron (1985)

BACKGROUND

The Black Cauldron is potentially Disney’s most controversial film.

It was barely referenced in the Disney theme parks, even back in the 1980s, was locked up tight in the “Disney Vault” for years, and it was one of those films that Disney would rather you just didn’t know ever existed – and if you were born after 1985, chances are many of you didn’t know it existed until many years later.

For those who were around in 1985, either you watched The Black Cauldron or you didn’t, and if you did, you may not have liked it so much. Then again, you may have liked it back then, and still like it today. Either way, I’m not judging but I think the Walt Disney Company would probably rather you just forgot all about it, because it is not their proudest or finest moment.

Opinions have always been split over The Black Cauldron and its strange concept. The mostly negative reviews of the film are down to two key reasons. The first is that this was the first Disney animated movie to be given a PG rating, meaning that it is much darker and more intense than the types of movies Disney had been releasing at the time, and therefore may have put parents off letting their children watch it – or they did let them watch it and potentially traumatised them.

The other reason is that The Black Cauldron was developed within a particularly difficult time for the Disney Animation department. In the 1980s, there was a huge shift in the management as people from other film studios came in to shake up the company, especially the animation department, which had been struggling with its movies even before then.

More on those difficulties later, but nowadays The Black Cauldron has gained a cult following, especially amongst those who are fans of light horror and fantasy. I am not one of those, which is probably why it doesn’t appeal to me so much, but even though I don’t particularly like it, I have still seen The Black Cauldron a handful of times. It wasn’t for years after its release though, and was actually in the late 2010s when the UK and some of Europe had access to an early version of Disney+, an app called DisneyLife that had many of Disney’s animated and live-action movies available to watch.

To be honest, I find The Black Cauldron kind of boring in places and I think it looks quite grotesque, which isn’t something that appeals to me. I struggle with the look of Pinocchio (1940) and this is much worse for me! However, I do like the lovable little sidekick Gurgi, and find the ending of the film quite moving, so even I can find some positives here.

PLOT

The Black Cauldron follows Taran, an assistant pig-keeper – that’s his actual job title – who works for a man called Dallben, looking after his clairvoyant pig Hen Wen. Dallben is trying to hide Hen Wen’s powers from The Horned King, who wants to use Hen Wen’s visions to find the long-lost Black Cauldron and use it to raise an army of undead soldiers, to make him an invincible ruler. Dallben sends Taran off with Hen Wen to go into hiding.

Taran, annoyed at his lesser state in life, with dreams of being a warrior, spends too much time daydreaming on this journey, and Hen Wen runs off alone. As Taran searches for Hen Wen in the forest, he meets Gurgi, a strange fluffy greedy creature who, in exchange for an apple, will tell Taran where Hen Wen went. Unfortunately, we see that Hen Wen is being chased by dragons, minions of the Horned King, and Gurgi runs away frightened, leaving Taran to retrieve her himself. He fails, but follows the dragons to a run-down castle, the home of The Horned King. Taran enters the castle and saves Hen Wen before she can reveal the location of the Cauldron to The Horned King. Taran throws Hen Wen into the castle moat so she can swim to safety, but Taran is captured and thrown in the dungeon.

Here, Taran meets Princess Eilonwy, a fellow prisoner, captured for her magical bauble which The Horned King thought would help him find the Black Cauldron; needless to say, it didn’t. As the two team up to escape the castle, Taran finds a magical sword which can vanquish any opponent, including the Horned King’s guards, and they find Fflewddur Fflam, a minstrel who is also being held captive by the Horned King.

They all manage to escape the castle into the forest, where we see Gurgi again. And he runs away – again – when Hen Wen’s tracks lead them to a vortex in a lake. Instead of taking them somewhere awful as Gurgi expected, it actually takes them to the kingdom of the Fair Folk, who are fairies living underground. It turns out they have rescued Hen Wen, and will return her home to Dallben. They also tell Taran that the Black Cauldron is in Morva, with a trio of witches, as Taran and the others seek to destroy it once and for all. The Fair Folk take Taran and his friends to Morva.

At the home of the three witches, Taran, Eilonwy, and Fflewddur Fflam find that these witches don’t like humans and like to turn them into frogs, however, Fflewddur has captured the attentions of one of the witches, so he is safe. The witches listen to Taran speak of the Black Cauldron, but they never give anything away, so they allow Taran to try to bargain for the Cauldron. They spot the magical sword that Taran possesses and want that in exchange for the Black Cauldron. Reluctantly, Taran gives up the sword and the deal is done; they have the Cauldron and the witches have the sword, except they forgot to tell Taran that the Cauldron cannot be destroyed, and that its dark powers can only be stopped if someone sacrifices themselves to it, which will kill them.

All look’s lost for the humans, as they find that their bargain didn’t get them any further, and worse still, The Horned King’s dragons have found them and take they back to the castle along with the Black Cauldron. Now, the Horned King can enact his plan. He casts a spell over the Cauldron, which allows him to raise an army of the undead. Taran, Eilonwy, and Fflewddur Fflam can do nothing but watch, horrified, as The Horned King wins.

Except, luckily, Gurgi returns to save the day, freeing the three of them from their shackles, but the Black Cauldron’s powers have not stopped. Taran decides that he must be the one to sacrifice himself, and tells the others to leave. However, Gurgi sees this and does not want his friend to die; Gurgi throws himself into the Cauldron instead, saying that “Taran has many friends, Gurgi has no friends” in a truly sad moment for the film… The army of the undead begin to die right in front of The Horned King’s eyes. He blames his henchman, Creeper, and goes to see what is happening by the Cauldron.

Instead of running out of the castle, Taran tries to retrieve Gurgi from the Cauldron, telling the others to run, but the spell is too powerful and Taran struggles against it. The Horned King, and his henchman Creeper, find Taran by the Cauldron and The Horned King plans to throw Taran into the Cauldron to finally defeat the boy so he can try the spell again. But The Horned King ends up being pulled into the Cauldron and is destroyed forever. But Creeper is free to not be tortured and tormented for the rest of his life, so a small win for him!

As the three finally leave The Horned King’s castle via a boat, the Black Cauldron reappears in the water in front of them. The witches of Morva plan to take it back as it has no use for the humans anymore. Fflewddur Fflam reminds them that they always like a trade. The magical sword is returned to Taran, but Taran doesn’t want it anymore and would rather have Gurgi back. The witches take the sword and the Cauldron back, but don’t seem to want to return Gurgi. After Fflewddur Fflam claims they don’t have the power to do it, they leave Gurgi in the Cauldron’s place and vanish in a cloud of smoke. It seems that Gurgi isn’t alive, but when Taran picks him up, he is revived, wanting some more “munchies and crunchies”. Typical Gurgi! Everyone is thrilled to see him alive again and in a final moment of annoyance from Gurgi, he pushes Taran and Eilonwy’s heads together so that they kiss. The film ends with the four heading home through the forest as heroes, with Dallben seeing this through one of Hen Wen’s visions, saying Taran did well on his quest.

CHARACTERS & CAST

Taran is the “hero” of the story, though I find him to be arrogant at times, and unfeeling towards others. Throughout the movie, he constantly moans about how he is just an assistant pig-keeper and wants to be a brave warrior, so he is overjoyed to find this magical sword that seems to have infinite powers, but he isn’t bothered by friendship at this point. In fact, he is rude to Princess Eilonwy when they first meet and he is cruel to Gurgi, calling him a thief and a coward almost every time he sees him. But eventually, Taran does seem to understand the value of Eilonwy, Fflewddur, and Gurgi’s friendship and it is quite a touching moment when Taran tries to stop Gurgi from throwing himself into the Black Cauldron and then when he bargains for Gurgi’s return. I guess Taran did learn a lot on his journey. He also finally understands why Hen Wen needs to be looked after by him, because she has powers that can be abused by evil people, so again, he learns that too! Speaking of Hen Wen, the name means “Old White” in Welsh, and is a character in Welsh mythology, however, in the myth, Hen Wen, or Henwen, is an enchanted pig whose offspring were meant to cause devastation to Britain. Obviously, that is not mentioned in the Black Cauldron but she is still enchanted. Taran was voiced by Grant Bardsley here, who was a child actor in the 1970s and 1980s, and appeared in the BBC television adaptation of Wuthering Heights (1978) and in a couple of episodes of The Famous Five television series (1978-79).

Of all the human characters in The Black Cauldron, Princess Eilonwy is generally the most likable, as she is confident, kind, and smart. She is the one who manages to get Taran out of the Horned King’s dungeon, with the help of her magical bauble, and she is kind to both Gurgi and Fflewddur Fflam when Taran isn’t. Although her introductory line of “I’m Princess Eilonwy” sounds just a bit precocious. Eilonwy was voiced by Susan Sheridan, who voiced the characters of Noddy, Tessie Bear, and Dinah Doll in the British children’s series Noddy’s Toyland Adventures (1992-94), and voiced Trillian in the radio series of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy in 1978. Sheridan continued to do voice work up until her death in 2015. In a behind-the-scenes documentary at the Disney Studios in 1981, Hayley Mills, who starred in the Disney live-action films The Parent Trap (1961) and Pollyanna (1960) as a child, stated that she was back at Disney to read for the part of the Princess Eilonwy in The Black Cauldron[1]. It is unclear why she did not end up voicing the part.

Fflewddur Fflam is the minstrel who is captured by The Horned King and seems to just be tagging along with Eilonwy and Taran for the ride, instead of escaping when he has the chance! He is a little bit annoying and kind of bumbling, so he needs to be saved much of the time by either Eilonwy and Taran, but in general, he doesn’t come across badly – he does help convince the Witches of Morva to do the right thing for example – but Fflewddur is just sort of there! Unfortunately, Fflewddur Fflam seems to have been unlucky with his portrayal in The Black Cauldron, as Fflewddur Fflam seems to have had a significant number of his lines cut from the movie, therefore, we don’t get to see, or hear, too much of him[2]. Fflewddur Fflam was voiced by English actor Sir Nigel Hawthorne, best known to Disney fans as the voice of Professor Porter in Tarzan (1999). He also starred in the British sitcoms Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister (1980-88) as Sir Humphrey Appleby, and won a BAFTA for Best Actor for his portrayal of King George III in the movie The Madness of King George (1994). Sir Nigel Hawthorne died in December 2001.

Then the final hero to talk about is Gurgi. Gurgi is my favourite character of them all, but again, he doesn’t appear all that much in the film, though he is the one who saves the day, and I’m glad he is revived at the end by the witches. We don’t really know what sort of creature he is, just some sort of fluffy thing! He runs away a lot, yes, but all he wants is a friend, because he seems so lonely out in the forest on his own. That’s why he’s hungry and steals food from people. Taran is just heartless for being mean to him; Gurgi is the best character in the whole film. John Byner voiced Gurgi, saying that he added child-like inflection to his lines because he is supposed to be fun and greedy, wanting to eat anything he can get his hands on! Byner is a comedian, actor, and impressionist, who voiced characters in the cartoon series The Ant and the Aardvark (1969-71). He went on to appear as a guest in many television series including the sitcom Soap (1977-81).

The Horned King is a terrifying villain. He looks terrible, with glowing red eyes, and a strange skeletal form. I’m not sure if he’s meant to be human or not – I think he is in some way, but he’s also very demonic. He’s the main reason for this movie being too scary for children. The Horned King was voiced by legendary actor, Sir John Hurt. Hurt stated that to get the voice of The Horned King he dredged the voice “from the bowels of the Earth” to get that really deep, evil sound[3]. Hurt played Ollivander in the Harry Potter film series and starred in major movies such as Alien (1979); The Elephant Man (1980), for which he was nominated at the Academy Awards in the Best Actor category and won the BAFTA for; and The Midnight Express (1978), where he was nominated at the Oscars for Best Supporting Actor, and won it at the BAFTAs. Hurt was no stranger to voice acting at the time of The Black Cauldron either, having voiced Hazel in Watership Down (1978) and Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings (1978). Later in his career, he also voiced The Great Dragon in the BBC series Merlin (2008-12). Sir John Hurt sadly passed away in January 2017.

The Horned King has many scary-looking henchmen, but then he also has his goblin sidekick, Creeper, who’s always being mistreated for his incompetence. I think Creeper is meant to be the comic relief in the film, because he is always getting things wrong and letting people escape. When The Horned King gets sucked into the Black Cauldron, Creeper realises he is now free, and at the end of the film, he flies away on the back of The Horned King’s dragons, knowing he no longer has to serve him and risk his wrath whenever he does something wrong! Creeper was an original character for the film and did not appear in the original books that the film is very loosely based on. Phil Fondacaro voiced Creeper in one of his earlier screen roles. Fondacaro went on to appear in the film Willow (1988) as Vohnkar, as well as appear in the television movie Double, Double, Toil and Trouble (1993), alongside Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. Later in the 1990s and early 2000s, Fondacaro had a recurring role as Roland in the series Sabrina the Teenage Witch.

Those are the characters who get the most screen-time, however, there are a few others to mention. Dallben is Taran’s employer and we only really see him at the start, when he is scared about Hen Wen’s powers being used by The Horned King. He doesn’t seem to think much of Taran at the start of the film, but sees that he did a good job on his quest by the end. Dallben was voiced by Freddie Jones who appeared alongside John Hurt in The Elephant Man (1980) and played Sandy Thomas in the soap Emmerdale from 2005 to 2018 in his final appearance before his death in 2019.

Then there are the trio of witches. In the original book series, the three witches resembled the Fates of Greek mythology. They used a loom to control the destinies of everyone living, but they were not good or evil. In the film, the witches appear only for a short amount of time, unlike the book series where there was more time to establish the characters, therefore making the film’s witches not particularly memorable characters. Yet the witches are involved in the two most important moments of the film, trading Taran’s sword for the Black Cauldron so it can be destroyed, and returning Gurgi to the group after the task has been completed. The Witches of Morva are named Orddu, the leader of the group; Orgoch who is the most disagreeable; and Orwen, the curvaceous, flirty one, who is in love with Fflewddur Fflam. The witches were voiced by Eda Reiss Merin, Billie Hayes, and Adele Malis-Morey. Hayes went on to voice characters in many animated series such as TaleSpin (1990-91), Rugrats (1991-2004), and Johnny Bravo (1997-2004); The Black Cauldron was her first voice role[4]. Hayes passed away in April 2021.

PRODUCTION

The really fascinating thing about The Black Cauldron isn’t the movie itself, but the production and making of it. It had so many difficulties and complications it’s a wonder it was even made at all. The troubles go back to the 1970s, when the Disney Animation department was still struggling after the death of Walt Disney in 1966. The lack of guidance was sorely missed, and as a result, the films of the 1970s, like Robin Hood (1973) and The Aristocats (1970) were criticised for missing the original charm of Disney’s earlier films. Therefore, Disney knew they needed to take a risk to try to get back on top.

Ron Miller, then-Disney president, and husband of Walt Disney’s daughter Diane, was looking for an idea for a new film. He believed that The Chronicles of Prydain, a five-part book series written by American author Lloyd Alexander and published between 1964 and 1968, had the potential to be the Snow White of their generation. The rights were bought around 1973 by Disney. The book series is a fantasy series based on creatures and characters from Welsh mythology. Despite having fantasy elements that could have rivalled those of Tolkien or C.S. Lewis’ books, The Chronicles of Prydain have only been adapted once for the screen, with Disney’s The Black Cauldron. Due to the amount of material and the complexity of the plotlines within the five books, story man Mel Shaw was tasked with reading all the stories and condensing the storylines and characters into a workable story for a screen adaptation. He made close to 250 coloured pastel sketches of key moments from the books and put them into a twenty-minute presentation to pitch his version of the story[5].

The original stories had over 30 main characters with the storyline encompassing many years. Producer Joe Hale planned to combine the story elements of only the first two books of The Chronicles of Prydain: The Book of Three (1964) and The Black Cauldron (1965) to deal with this. The originally minor character of The Horned King was made into the main villain of the story.

Despite the rights being purchased in 1973 and the early work of Mel Shaw, not much more happened with The Black Cauldron for many years due to issues around management and the differing generations of animators. In the 1970s and early 1980s, there were three different generations of animators. The youngest artists were overzealous and full of energy, wanting to get started and make their mark on Disney Animation. The older veteran artists were due to retire shortly, and the second generation felt they were underutilised and underappreciated, showing a lack of harmony between the three sets.

Ron Miller wanted a new style of animation for The Black Cauldron, but felt that the younger artists weren’t ready to tackle it yet, so they were assigned to The Rescuers (1977). They were then put back onto The Black Cauldron, with a release date of 1980 being chosen. But it was put on hold again in 1978, to then be released in 1984, because Miller felt the artists were still not ready for this assignment so they were put on The Fox and the Hound (1981), during which production the remaining members of Walt’s original animators retired. Don Bluth, one of the second generation of artists, was fed up waiting to be given his opportunity to show what he was capable of, and ended up leaving the Walt Disney Company, taking half of the animators with him. This pushed back The Fox and the Hound by six months[6]. Don Bluth would later go on to produce and direct such films as An American Tail, which would beat out Disney’s The Great Mouse Detective at the box office in 1986; The Land Before Time (1988); Thumbelina (1994); and Anastasia (1997). He also made his directorial debut with The Secret of NIMH (1982) during Disney’s production on The Black Cauldron; it was well-received, putting more pressure on the Disney artists.

The Black Cauldron was finally officially put into production in 1980, with a $15 million budget assigned to it, but the troubles were still not over as there were constant changes in the artists and directors working on the movie, due to clashes over “artistic differences”, delaying progress. John Musker was one of these people who left to make the (more successful) movie The Great Mouse Detective (1986). Another was Tim Burton whose character designs were considered too “out there” for Disney, so he left the company altogether. He seems to be doing well, from what I’ve heard…

Eventually, the movie seemed to be getting somewhere, though the budget had grown to $40 million, and they wanted to now use CGI to push their designs further, after The Black Cauldron producer Joe Hale saw it being using in The Great Mouse Detective, which was in production at the same time. CGI was therefore used on scenes of the Black Cauldron itself, as well as Eilonwy’s magical bauble. They had also decided to shoot The Black Cauldron in Super Technirama 70mm, the first Disney film to do this since Sleeping Beauty (1959), and 6-track Dolby Stereo sound, as well as introducing the first in-theatre holographic effect in an animated film, during the sequence of the raising of the undead army. This scene just looks blurry when watching on a home release now.

Then, plot-twist, Ron Miller was removed as CEO in 1984, with Frank Wells, who had previously worked at Warner Bros., and Michael Eisner, coming from Paramount Pictures, taking over. They became the first people to have been brought in to Disney management from “the outside”. Eisner and Wells then employed Jeffrey Katzenberg, also from Paramount Pictures, to take over the Animation Department, however, his background was in live-action, not animation, so he didn’t understand the process or the artists themselves. This caused issues between him and the animators, especially when, on seeing the work on The Black Cauldron, Katzenberg was appalled by the film’s length and the graphic, violent scenes. He wanted to edit the movie, but the animators said this couldn’t be done at this stage, however, Katzenberg disagreed and showed them that this could be done, by cutting twelve full minutes of finished animation from the final movie cut. These cuts included a scene of The Horned King’s henchmen dissolving, and a man’s throat being slashed with the sword[7]. Some of the edits are actually quite obvious, as sometimes the characters’ mouths do not match with the words; some are still talking when there is no sound coming out; and some of the jumps to new scenes are a bit clumsy.

Despite these edits, The Black Cauldron could not escape being given a PG rating, making this the first Disney animated feature film to have a PG rating. It was also the last to have been made at the animation building at the Disney Studios in Burbank, as the Animation Department was then moved to Glendale in December 1983 as their building became used for live-action productions. Glendale was a less than inspiring place to work and the animators spent a few years fearing for their job security…

MUSIC

The Black Cauldron was also the first Disney animated film not to have any songs within the movie. The score was composed by Elmer Bernstein, who was nominated for an Academy Award for his work on Trading Places (1983), and at the Grammy Awards for his work on Ghostbusters (1984) whilst working on The Black Cauldron[8]. Sadly, I don’t recall much of Bernstein’s score, probably because I’m too stunned by just how grotesque some of the movie looks, but listening to the score separately, it does highlight the fantasy and mystery elements of the story well.

RECEPTION

After almost five full years of work, yet another delay to the release date, and at an official cost of $25 million, which may actually have been closer to $40 million, The Black Cauldron was finally released in the US on 24^th July 1985. However, The Black Cauldron only managed to gross $21 million at the US box-office. It was even beaten out by The Care Bears Movie, which had been released in March 1985, this being a huge blow to the team who worked on The Black Cauldron[9].

Not only that, but it received mixed reviews. Some heralded it as a return to Disney animation, enjoying the more gruesome and perilous elements of the story, whilst others called it mediocre and thought it was a missed opportunity given the potential of the book series. It generally considered too dark to be a family film. Some said the plot was convoluted and the characters were dull. Lloyd Alexander, author of The Chronicles of Prydain series, said in an interview with Scholastic Inc. before his death in 2007, that Disney’s The Black Cauldron bore little resemblance to his books, but that he had enjoyed the film, just watching it as a movie, without the context of the source material. Alexander also said that there was a possibility of Disney making more movies based on his works, such as Time Cat, but this never happened[10].

For a brief time around 1990, Disney re-released The Black Cauldron under the new title Taran and the Magic Cauldron, in an attempt to brand the movie more “family-friendly”. It avoided mentioning the evil Horned King and the dark powers of the Black Cauldron too much, and chose to focus on the magical elements of the story, like Taran’s sword, and the hero’s journey. This was reflected in both the trailer and the movie poster, where The Horned King was no longer overlooking the heroes walking through a scary looking forest and the Cauldron was no longer pouring out green smoke. Instead, the poster for Taran and the Magic Cauldron is light and bright, with sparkles coming from the Cauldron and the sword. The movie was re-released in this way in some cities in the US and some international markets, but it did not help change audience opinion on the movie. The Black Cauldron then was not released on VHS until 1998, thirteen years after the initial release, where it found a new audience and became a “cult classic”[11].

LEGACY

You’d think a movie like The Black Cauldron would not have been featured at all in the Disney theme parks, given its reputation, right? Wrong! At the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World, what is now the food stand Friar’s Nook in Fantasyland used to be named Gurgi’s Munchies and Crunchies, from 1986 to 1993; “munchies and crunchies” is one of Gurgi’s catchphrases. Before being named after Gurgi, the outdoor quick-service location was named Lancer’s Inn, and after 1993, was named Lumière’s Kitchen, where it generally operated on a seasonal basis. It has been Friar’s Nook since 2009.

There is photo evidence that walkaround characters of Princess Eilonwy, Taran, and Gurgi did exist at some point after The Black Cauldron’s release in 1985, however, it is unclear exactly what year, or years, they did so, and in which parks, however, given the dates, it would have to have been either Walt Disney World, Disneyland, or Tokyo Disneyland, as these were the only Disney theme parks open in the 1980s. It is unlikely that the characters appeared after this decade, given the financial flop of the film.

Speaking of Tokyo Disneyland, the biggest and most surprising reference to The Black Cauldron is actually the Tokyo Disneyland attraction the Cinderella Castle Mystery Tour, which ran from 1986 until April 2006. I had never heard of this attraction until I watched a video on YouTube and it is so interesting. The “tour” was a guided tour by a cast member through the basement area of Tokyo Disneyland’s Cinderella Castle. It started off with a speech about various Disney heroes and heroines like Pinocchio, Aurora, Snow White – and Taran. The group would then be interrupted by the Magic Mirror from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)who would awaken the villains. The group would be led down tunnels, showing the Evil Queen’s lair, Maleficent’s goons, and a projection of Chernabog from Fantasia, before arriving at a tapestry about The Black Cauldron. At this point, the guide would have to recount the plot of The Black Cauldron because chances were not many of the guests had actually seen the film. A member of the group would also be chosen at this stage to hold the Sword of Light before going into the next room, to come face-to-face with a huge animatronic of The Horned King, standing over the Black Cauldron, saying how everybody in the room would be sacrificed to the Black Cauldron so he could raise his army of the undead. At this point, the Sword of Light would be pointed at The Horned King, shooting beams of light and defeating him, and then the tour group could leave the castle. It sounds bizarre but also kind of cool, especially if you are a fan of Disney villains, like me. I’m surprised this was designed for a Disney theme park given The Black Cauldron’s reputation, but to then run for twenty years is impressive. It was quite popular too, at least at the beginning, and it clearly didn’t matter if you’d seen The Black Cauldron or not[12].

As The Black Cauldron had its 35^th anniversary in 2020, naturally, a MagicBand was released that year that featured The Horned King, Taran, and Gurgi. As part of the 1980s Disney100 Decades Collection, for the Disney100 celebrations, a new MagicBand+ with The Horned King and Gurgi was then released in 2023. There are also Funko POP figurines of The Horned King and Taran available. However, merchandise around the film or its characters continues to be hard to come by for any fans of the movie, so milestone anniversaries are the best time to look out for some. For example, The Black Cauldron reached its 40^th anniversary in 2025, bringing with it some new merchandise, like a special ornament and a limited-edition pin.

Outside of the theme parks, clips from The Black Cauldron were used for part of the plotline of the direct-to-video film Once Upon a Halloween, which was released in the UK in September 2005. It featured clips and songs from many of the Disney villains as the Evil Queen planned to conquer Halloween. It also featured other under-appreciated villains such as Alameda Slim from Home on the Range (2004), Ratigan from The Great Mouse Detective (1986), and Frollo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996).

There has also been talk around whether The Black Cauldron will be remade as a live-action film, especially given how many remakes of animated films have been announced in recent years. It was said that Disney had re-acquired the rights to The Chronicles of Prydain in 2016 in order to look into developing a live-action series. There was then further talk around this in 2020, but no further news has been released since. Though many fans would like to see this remade, especially as fantasy films have been successful in recent years, like The Lord of the Rings franchise, and the fact that they could do so much more with the original stories for a modern audience, it is unlikely to happen because The Black Cauldron does not have a huge fanbase so would not be able to bring in the same number of viewers as big hits like Beauty and the Beast (1991) and The Lion King (1994).

FINAL THOUGHTS

The Black Cauldron is just ok for me. I actually don’t mind the plot so much; it is generally quite fast-paced. My main issue is just how horrible it looks at times, especially when compared to the majority of Disney animated films. You probably only get about ten minutes total of lush landscape in The Black Cauldron, with the majority of the film being quite dark and eerie, with lots of brown, yellow, and green, with detailed animated scenes of skeletons rising from the dead, and The Horned King’s flesh being torn from his skeleton, and his bones being burnt to nothing… That is a bit too much for me.

As I said earlier, The Black Cauldron is a cult classic and there will be some people who are fierce fans of it, whether that is for the artistic qualities, the fantasy themes, or the darker elements of the movie. If you’re looking for a family-friendly film, full of humour, bright colours, and enchanting magic, this is not one to watch. It is not one of Disney’s best animated films and they certainly could’ve done more with the source material.

However, it is still worth giving The Black Cauldron a go if you want to understand a bit more about the history of Disney Animation. It took a lot of work and a lot of hassle to finish, and let’s not forget that by making these mistakes, the Disney animators learnt from the experience and managed to give us some of their best work just a few short years later.

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Disney, Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life (1981).

[2] Credit: Mark Davies, ‘The Troubled History of Disney’s “The Black Cauldron” & The Lost Cut Scenes’, Yesterworld YouTube Channel, uploaded 17^th May 2021.

[3] Credit: Disney, The Disney Family Album: Voice Actors (1985).

[4] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘The Black Cauldron’s Witches of Morva’, CartoonResearch.com, 10^th July 2020.

[5] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘Animation Anecdotes #265’, CartoonResearch.com, 3^rd June 2016.

[6] Credit: Don Hahn, Waking Sleeping Beauty (2009).

[7] Credit: Jim Hill, ‘Why For did Disney’s “The Black Cauldron” fail to connect with audiences back in 1985?’, JimHillMedia.com, 10^th September 2010.

[8] Credit: Jim Korkis, Everything I Know I Learned from Disney Animated Feature Films (2015), ‘The Black Cauldron (1985)’, pp. 73-75.

[9] Credit: Don Hahn, Waking Sleeping Beauty (2009).

[10] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘Animation Anecdotes #144’, CartoonResearch.com, 3^rd June 2016.

[11] Credit: Mark Davies, ‘The Troubled History of Disney’s “The Black Cauldron” & The Lost Cut Scenes’, Yesterworld YouTube Channel, uploaded 17^th May 2021.

[12] Credit: Kevin Perjurer, ‘The History of Disney’s Scariest Attraction, Cinderella Castle Mystery Tour’, Defunctland YouTube Channel, uploaded 26^th October 2018.

16th Feb 20241st Oct 2025 by The Disney Purist

#5 Bambi (1942)

BACKGROUND

The release of Bambi in 1942 signalled the end of the Disney “Golden Age”.

After the success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937, everyone was waiting to see just what else Walt Disney and his artists could do with the medium of animation; Snow White had them all captivated and they wanted more.

Sadly, in 1939, many countries were enduring the impact and horrors of World War II, which began in September of that year. The United States of America did not join the war until December 1941, but this still did not make it an easy time to own a film studio.

The next Disney releases to come after Snow White were Pinocchio and Fantasia, both released in 1940. Because European markets were closed off due to the war, these films did not do particularly well financially, and their production budgets were even higher than that of Snow White. Pinocchio was received well by critics, but Fantasia was not, because of its new concept of setting animated scenes to pieces of classical music, an artistic concert of sorts, which did not appeal to the masses.

Dumbo (1941) would do much better just a year later, both critically and financially, but if Walt Disney hoped for a similar response to his realistically animated nature film Bambi, he was disappointed, as not only had World War II caused problems, but the Disney Animators’ Strike of 1941 had sullied the Studios’ reputation and disrupted their film production for around four months, plus Bambi annoyed and angered some viewers because of its anti-hunting stance. Back in the 1940s, it was not considered the beautiful, environmentally conscious masterpiece it is seen as by many today.

I’m not sure I’m allowed to say I don’t like Bambi, but… I don’t like Bambi.

I am not a fan of nature documentaries, and this feels very much like one, albeit a slightly more fun one. It details the life of animals, and it doesn’t always end happily for them – and that is certainly the case for poor Bambi. I think that’s my reasoning for not liking the film much, although I am happy to admit that it does have an important lesson attached to it, of being respectful of nature because it is as much alive and full of feeling as we are, and that’s a very good lesson to teach people of any age.

PLOT

I’m sure many people first watched Bambi as a child and were mildly traumatised by it, so let’s relive that trauma with a plot summary. Bambi follows the life of a young male fawn, and his two friends, Thumper, a young rabbit, and Flower, a skunk, as they grow up. One day in the forest, all of the creatures, like mice, birds, and the creepy-looking Friend Owl with his huge eyes, who go to see “the new Prince of the Forest-to-be” as Bambi’s mother gives birth to the fawn, Bambi. Almost immediately, Bambi tries to walk, but he struggles, and Thumper tries to help teach him how, despite the fact rabbits walk in a very different way to deer. The next day, Bambi tries again and succeeds. Thumper then teaches Bambi how to talk, learning the words “bird” and “flower”, at which point, they see a skunk in a flower patch. Bambi mistakenly believes the skunk is a flower, so the skunk becomes a new friend called Flower. It soon begins to rain with the “drip, drip, drop” of an April shower and the three friends return home. The rain shower becomes a huge thunderstorm, which scares most of the younger forest inhabitants.

Some time later, Bambi goes out to the meadow with his mother, where Bambi is warned by his mother to be careful not to run into open spaces as they can be unsafe. Bambi’s mother checks it is clear and they come out into the open. He then meets Faline, one of his mother’s friend’s children and is very awkward around her! But he begins to learn more about his species from the other deer, instead of learning how to do everything from either his mother or Thumper. They then see a group of stags running through the forest, where Bambi meets The Great Prince of the Forest, his father. The Great Prince tells all the deer to leave the meadow. Bambi becomes separated from his mother, but is helped by The Great Prince. A gun shot is heard… But Bambi’s mother is ok…for now. This is where Bambi first hears about “Man”, as he is told “Man was in the forest”.

Autumn comes and then turns to winter, and Bambi sees snow and ice for the first time. Thumper teaches Bambi how to ice skate, though he isn’t exactly a natural at it! The two also go and visit Flower, who is hibernating and probably shouldn’t be woken up. After a while, Bambi becomes bored of winter and there not being enough food. Luckily, he soon sees the first signs of spring coming in the form of fresh grass, but as Bambi and his mother are about to settle down to eat, his mother hears something and tells Bambi to run to the thicket and not look back. Another gun shot is heard… But Bambi keeps running like he was told to do. Eventually, Bambi stops and is concerned that his mother has not followed him. Cue one of the most well-known and most heart-breaking moments in movie history. Bambi cries out for his mother, searching, but she is nowhere to be found. The Great Prince tells him “Your mother can’t be with you anymore”, and tells Bambi to “come, my son”, as he leads him away in the snow.

One year later, Bambi, Flower, and Thumper learn about “twitterpations”, or “falling in love” to us humans, as they see all the birds twittering around as they find mates, being told by Friend Owl that it makes you weak in the knees, puts your head in a whirl, makes you feel as light as a feather, like you’re walking on air. All three thinks this sounds awful, confirming that it won’t happen to them but they soon find love interests of their own. Flower first, as he tries to ignore a female skunk, but finds he’s powerless to do so. Then Thumper, and finally Bambi with childhood friend Faline, after he fights a stag competing for her affections. We then find that Man is back in the forest, but this time not from the sound of a gunshot. Instead, Bambi is woken by the smell of smoke and follows it to find a campfire in the distance. Going deeper into the forest, Bambi learns that this is a hunter camp. Bambi is separated from Faline as everyone flees after a bird is shot, with dogs trying to hunt down Faline. Bambi fights them off but is shot. Meanwhile, Man’s campfire has spread and caused a huge wildfire. The Great Prince tells Bambi to get up and move. The two jump down a waterfall to the safety of a riverbank, where Bambi is reunited with Faline and his friends.

The next spring, Faline gives birth to twins. Bambi and his father share a glance as they watch over the scene at the top of a hill. The Great Prince then walks away, silently signalling to Bambi that he is now The Great Prince of the Forest.

It’s not exactly the most thrilling plot, with quite a lot of the action taking place “behind the camera”. It’s more or less a coming-of-age story, watching Bambi grow, with notes about how humans need to take responsibility for their actions within natural environments or risk damaging consequences for nature and the animals that live within it.

CHARACTERS & CAST

Though the film has many supporting characters, other animals living in the forest, the plot follows Bambi, his mother and father, and Thumper and Flower, so it benefits from this focus on core characters only. It also benefits from only having around 950 words of dialogue in total, which allows for moments of silence during those tense scenes and a time for reflection on the beauty of nature, as well as the threats to it.

Bambi begins life as an awkward, gangly young fawn, who doesn’t have much idea of how to act or behave in the forest. As a newborn, unsurprisingly, he can’t walk or talk so has to be taught how to do these things, by his mother and randomly by a rabbit, but this is a Disney movie after all. Over time, Bambi learns more about what life is like for animals in the forest, and is taught to be careful of his surroundings and not to trust that everything is necessarily safe; that Man could be in the forest and something bad might happen if he is. Once his mother dies, Bambi has to grow up quickly, as his future is to be The Great Prince of the Forest. He starts to take responsibility for others and the security of the forest, being the one to find the hunter camp first and trying to get the rest of the animals to safety. By the end of the film, Bambi has fully transformed into The Great Prince of the Forest, and watches over everything as the new protector.

Donnie Dunagan voiced young Bambi, when he was six-years-old, and he said that his lines were read by a voice coach and that he had to repeat them, with the same inflection to get the correct meaning across. He also stated that he was never told that Bambi’s mother was dead or that she was shot, only that she was injured and Bambi was trying to find her, when he was being given his “motivation” for the scene. Actor Hardie Albright then voiced Adolescent Bambi, with producer John Sutherland voicing Young Adult Bambi.

For Bambi’s mother and The Great Prince of the Forest, Bambi’s father, naturally Bambi’s mother takes on most of the parenting of Bambi. She is a caring mother, very protective of Bambi and very cautious when out in the open areas of the forest, as she is aware of the dangers of hunters. The death of Bambi’s mother is the most tragic moment of the film, especially when we hear Bambi calling for her, not realising how bad the situation is. Walt Disney’s daughter Diane was horrified to find that Walt had decided to keep the scene of Bambi’s mother being shot in his movie version of Bambi. She had read the original book, as Walt reminded her at the time, but she thought he would’ve changed it for his film as he had altered many elements of books and fairy-tales for his other film projects before[1]! Paula Winslowe voiced Bambi’s mother in this film, and she also voiced the Pheasant. She was married to John Sutherland, voice of Young Adult Bambi.

The Great Prince of the Forest is stoic and fairly emotionless, needing to keep himself calm in his role as the protector of the forest. He’s not exactly a great fatherly figure for Bambi though, not being particularly caring even when he tells Bambi that his mother “won’t be around anymore”. He also tells Bambi to get up and move after he’s just been shot in rather a harsh way, but I suppose he is just trying to keep him safe! Fred Shields voiced The Great Prince. Shields went on to narrate other Disney shorts, including those within the film Saludos Amigos (1942) and the segment “The Flying Gauchito” in its sequel film The Three Caballeros (1944).

Now to Thumper, who I personally find kind of annoying and overly energetic! Thumper was not an original character from the Bambi novel but was created for comic relief purposes. Animator Ollie Johnston liked the fact that Thumper is quite bossy when he’s trying to teach Bambi how to do things, and how he gets into trouble a lot. This is what I don’t like about Thumper but I’m ok disagreeing with Ollie on this one! Peter Behn voiced Young Thumper, and much like Donnie Dunagan, he had his lines recited to him and he just repeated the lines until he got them right. To be fair, Thumper does have some very good lines, such as him reciting his father’s talk about how good it is to eat your greens, though he thinks they taste awful, and “if you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothing at all”, which is actually a double-negative, but we get what Thumper means; he is just a kid! Tim Davis voiced Adolescent Thumper and Sam Edwards voiced Young Adult Thumper. Edwards later made a few appearances as banker Bill Anderson on Little House on the Prairie between 1978 and 1983, and also had supporting roles in some of Disney’s live-action films, such as The Absent-Minded Professor (1961) and Escape to Witch Mountain (1975).

Flower is the shy and soft-spoken skunk that I always used to think was a girl but that is most definitely not the case – oops, my bad. I think of the three “kids”, I like Flower the best, because he’s not running around all the time being crazy; he’s just sitting in his flower patch having a nice time. I also feel sorry for him when Bambi and Thumper are trying to wake him up during his hibernating time. Stan Alexander voiced Young Flower, with Tim Davis voicing Adolescent Flower also. Legendary Disney voice actor Sterling Holloway then voiced Young Adult Flower. Holloway voiced many well-known characters for Disney movies from the 1940s to the 1970s, including the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland (1951), Kaa the python in The Jungle Book (1967), and most notably, Winnie the Pooh.

One other voice actor I would like to mention is Cammie King, who voiced Young Faline in Bambi. She also portrayed Bonnie Blue Butler, Scarlett and Rhett’s daughter, in Gone with the Wind (1939).

MUSIC

All the songs in Bambi are played in the background, so none are sung by any characters, which is not unheard of in Disney animated films, but not particularly common. This was decided to be the best approach to the music due to the fact that, given its realistic subject and animation style, it would not be appropriate for the forest animals to burst into song, as it would disrupt the feel and mood of the film.

For the soundtrack, four original songs were written, with all lyrics being written by Larry Morey and all music for the film being composed by Frank Churchill. The two had previously collaborated together on the soundtrack for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Churchill had also contributed to the music on many other Disney projects from the time he joined the Studios in 1930, such as the song “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf” for the Silly Symphony short The Three Little Pigs (1933); “Baby Mine” from Dumbo (1941), co-written with Ned Washington, and the score for Dumbo, co-written with Oliver Wallace, both of which received Oscar nominations; and the song “Never Smile at a Crocodile”, which is a deleted song from Peter Pan (1953) and was co-written with Jack Lawrence. Churchill sadly passed away from suicide in May 1942, just three months before the release of Bambi.

The first song is the main title song “Love is a Song”, playing over the Opening Credits, and also appears as the finale song. This song was actually nominated for Best Song at the Academy Awards, where it lost out to Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas” from the film Holiday Inn (1942). The next number to appear in the film is “Little April Shower”, which is the most well-known song from Bambi and likely one that you’ve either sung yourself as it starts to rain outside, or someone else has sung it to you. The music slowly builds in volume and drama as the rain gets heavier and a storm begins. The animals are all scared of the storm and can’t wait for it to be over. Though I don’t generally mind the opening few lines, I really dislike the storm as the singers just wail like ghosts as a way of imitating wind and it doesn’t sound pleasant to my ears. Originally, an early song was meant to be sung from the point of view of the raindrops; it was called “The Rain Song”. It was an incredibly repetitive song, almost like the rain was chanting, so very weird too and I’m glad they didn’t use it! To animate the drops of rain, the artists studied slow-motion photography of drops of milk to show the detailed splash patterns, which would have vanished quickly in normal time. The animators drew many of these to create the shower[2].

Following on from that is “Let’s Sing a Gay Little Spring Song”, which plays when the birds are finding their partners during the spring. It annoys Friend Owl a lot, who tries to get all the birds to fly away from him and leave him in peace. It is a bit cutesy and sweet, not to mention repetitive, so I can see where Owl is coming from!

Finally, we have “Looking for Romance (I Bring You a Song)”, which is the love ballad for Bambi and Faline as they begin to fall in love with each other. It’s the customary love song that every film needs, but personally I don’t like any of the songs within Bambi. That is probably down to the fact they are not sung by the characters, and I can understand the reasoning for that, but it means I don’t end up connecting with the characters emotionally through their songs, unlike other Disney movies, such as Beauty and the Beast (1991) or The Little Mermaid (1989), something those Disney “Renaissance” movies are known for. The other reason is because all four songs are performed by a forty-voice choir, the Disney Studio Chorus, with Donald Novis, which gives the music that odd whispery sound that was particularly prominent in earlier Disney movies. I find it a bit creepy and haunting at times…

The score for Bambi was nominated at the Academy Awards for Best Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture, but lost to Max Steiner’s score for Now, Voyager (1942). The score does well to contribute to the atmosphere of the forest and the events surrounding the characters, without taking away focus from the central action. The instrumental that plays during Bambi and Thumper’s time in the snow and on the ice is probably the best of the score for me, though of course the scoring of the forest fire and Bambi’s mother do make those scenes seem more threatening and heartbreaking for the viewer.

PRODUCTION

Bambi took around five years to make, with development starting in 1937, when the film rights for Bambi, a Life in the Woods, a book written by Felix Salten, were passed over to Walt Disney after discussions with the original rights owner, Sidney Franklin. The original novel by Salten was first published in 1923. It is debated what the true meaning of the novel is as it has been lost in translations, however, some suspect that the novel is actually meant to be a parable about the inhumane treatment of Jewish people and other minorities. As Salten lived in Austria at the time of publication, around this time, the Nazi party was beginning to rise up within Germany and its influence would later spread outside of the country into Austria and surrounding areas. This threat of a more fascist world is seen by some as evidence that Bambi, a Life in the Woods was actually a political statement. Even more evidence of this is that in 1935, the book was banned by the Nazis, who saw the novel as a political allegory and copies of the book were burnt. Salten fled Austria in 1938 when Germany annexed Austria, and went to Switzerland. Salten had experienced discrimination and abuse as a Jewish person in Austria throughout his life. In a similar way to George Orwell’s Animal Farm, having the story be based around animals meant that the true meaning could be hidden within another layer of story. Salten later sold his film rights for $1,000 dollars to film producer and director Sidney Franklin[3].

The first English translation of the novel, by Whittaker Chambers, sold 650,000 copies between the years 1928, when it was first published, and 1942, when Disney’s Bambi was released. It was later translated again in 2022, when the original novel entered the public domain, and a new English translation was published under the name The Original Bambi: The Story of a Life in the Forest, by Jack Zipes. It’s been claimed that Chambers’ translation sanitised the novel and stripped it of its actual meaning.

There are many conflicting views on just what the original Bambi novel really means. It could have been political propaganda; it could have been anti-war in general; it could have been existentialist; or simply a coming-of-age story, or environmental story. Basically, it’s up to anyone who has read the original novel to decide what it means for them[4]. I have not read it, so I am not informed enough to discuss Salten’s novel, and nor do I need to because this is about Disney’s film. The only thing to be aware of is that Walt Disney and his children would have read Chambers’ original English translation of the novel.

Regardless of what Bambi was meant to mean, this translation remains bleak and gruesome at times, due to its references to injured animals, intense scenes of hunting, and general social commentary. It was up to Walt Disney and his story men to make the story more child-friendly and similar in tone to what audiences were expecting from the Disney Studios. Disney added in humour and lighter moments to tame the material, as well as new characters. Humans are referred to as “Man” and not “He”, as they are in the original story.

Bambi was intended to be the second Disney animated feature, to be released right after Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), but in actual fact, it became the fifth full-length animated feature film from the studio. This was down to the need for the animators to be able to capture the forest and its animals truthfully, as well as spending time dealing with the story to make it “more Disney”. Walt had realised that Bambi would require a different type of sophistication in the artwork that they had not done before, and to do it justice, the animators needed time to create and perfect this new style. Sidney Franklin, who owned the film rights to Bambi, had hoped to make a live-action film with voice-overs. After watching Snow White, Franklin contacted Walt to see if he would like to collaborate on the movie. It was decided that this live-action movie wasn’t going anywhere and that Walt Disney could make a better film if it was fully animated, so the rights were sold to Walt, however, Franklin remained an active consultant on the film and ensured the authenticity of nature remained. A dedication to Franklin appears at the end of the opening titles.

Story men were first assigned to the picture in 1938. Early attempts at the story included a scene of two leaves talking about the end of their life together as they are about to fall from their tree. This is an interesting scene in the novel that Walt particularly liked, however, it didn’t work in the context of the film, so it was cut. There were many other characters who were created but never used, such as a grasshopper and a colony of ants, and a rabbit called Bobo, who eventually became Thumper. There was also a different version of the sequence of Bambi seeing snow for the first time, where Bambi and the rabbits were chasing each other. This scene was re-worked to show Thumper teaching Bambi how to walk on ice instead. Real-life human models were used as reference material for this scene. Another story idea that never came to light on screen was to have a charred corpse of “Man” be discovered by Bambi and The Great Prince. At a test audience, this scene was shown to the audience and they did not like it so naturally, it was cut. They also considered showing Bambi’s mother injured on the ground, but again, decided against it[5]. It’s interesting that Disney chose not to show the death of their “first parent” in Bambi, but quite happily did so in 1994 with Mufasa’s death in The Lion King, traumatising an entirely new generation of children!

To correctly capture the authenticity of the animals as well as the environment of the forest, artist Jake Day was sent to Maine for several months to photograph and sketch animals and their environments. Artists also sketched animals at the Los Angeles Zoo[6]. They studied deer and fawns closely. Two fawns, named Bambi and Faline, were imported from Maine and housed behind the studio for this purpose. However, as they eventually began to act like pets, footage of wild deer in their natural environment, exploring and going about their day, was used to get the authentic action shots required. There needed to be a big leap in how the deer were represented in Bambi to how they were in Snow White, where animator Eric Larson described them as being drawn like sacks of wheat. They weren’t bothered by the anatomy of deer then, but this time, they had to study it and get it just right.

However, once they had drawn the animal characters true to their real-life anatomy, they then needed to get them to develop of range of emotion, as a Disney character is not just muscles and fur. The amazing characterisation of the animals in Bambi is great, and that is mostly down to the work of Marc Davis, one of the Disney animators, who went to a lot of effort studying child psychology books and children’s expressions, to replicate those same emotions within two-dimensional drawings of animals. He then showed the rest of the Disney animators how best to show this emotion on their animated characters[7].

In terms of capturing the essence of the forest, firstly, Walt Disney sent photographers to the forests of Maine, Oregon, Washington, and California. Some film was taken too, which would go on to inspire Walt Disney to make his True-Life Adventures nature documentary series in later years[8]. The problem with having such detailed pictures to use as reference points was that the animators ended up drawing the forest with too much detail, so that the action and the animals would not be as sharp on the screen as they needed to be. Artist Tyrus Wong was the one to create simple, impressionistic paintings for the backgrounds, which would create and suggest an atmosphere instead of being precise depictions of real-life. This suited the picture well and helped the team move forward. The multi-plane camera was used extensively for Bambi to move through these backgrounds, deep into the forest[9].

RECEPTION

Bambi opened in August 1942 with a US premiere at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The world premiere for Bambi had actually been held in London on 9^th August 1942, meaning this was the first Disney full-length animated feature to hold its world premiere outside of the US. The world premiere was meant to be held in Maine, however the State objected as they felt hunters would be offended by the film.

The State of Maine turned out to be right because when Bambi was first released, it received mixed reviews with some of those specifically about the hunting aspect of the movie. In a 1942 edition of Outdoor Life magazine, Bambi was denounced as “the worst insult ever offered in any form to American sportsmen”. It seemed as though the whole US hunting community had taken offence to Bambi, which was never Walt Disney’s intention; Bambi is not an anti-hunting film, but sought to show the dangers of irresponsible hunting.

Not only that but his depiction of animals in Bambi was blasted by some. In a story printed in the 22^nd March 1952 issue of the Saturday Evening post magazine it stated that Walt Disney had been confronted by a woman at a dinner party in Palm Springs. She claimed to be an expert on American wildlife and proceeded to tell Walt in great detail everything that was factually wrong in Bambi. Eventually, Walt was able to give his response: “How right you are. And do you know something else wrong with it? Deers don’t talk.”[10].

Other critics found the film was too dramatic and not as fantastical as Disney’s other fairy-tale stories, and felt that some of the scenes, such as the shooting of Bambi’s mother, were not suitable for children, hence why so many children over these last eighty years have remembered this scene as being one of Disney’s most traumatic and horrifying. Yet some enjoyed the fact that the Disney Studios had taken themselves away from their typical style of film, and the realistic animation was appreciated.

Alongside the Academy Award nominations for music, Bambi also received another nomination for Best Sound Recording, but did not win. Bambi underperformed at the box-office, which may have been partly due to the wartime era in which it was released. However, given the age of the movie, it has benefited from multiple re-releases both in theatres and on VHS or DVD and Blu-Ray over the years, which has boosted its overall takings in the US and worldwide. Bambi was the last Disney animated movie to be re-released during Walt Disney’s lifetime, in Spring 1966[11]. Nowadays, Bambi is considered a classic and one of Disney’s best films, both for its amazing animation, moving moments, and for being one of the first movies to have a message around environmental awareness.

LEGACY

As Bambi’s reputation as a film began to recover, it has been referenced in other Disney projects. One of these is its direct-to-video sequel, Bambi II (2006). This sequel takes place just after Bambi’s mother is shot, and shows Bambi being taken care of by The Great Prince of the Forest, Bambi’s father, during the spring that followed. Alexander Gould, voice of Nemo in Pixar’s Finding Nemo (2003), voices Bambi here, and surprisingly, Patrick Stewart, Captain Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-94) and Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men franchise, amongst many other roles, voices The Great Prince. What a strange choice of role for Patrick Stewart; I hope he had fun with it! Like all other direct-to-video sequels by Disney it received a mediocre response from critics.

At the Disney theme parks, there aren’t too many nods to Bambi or its characters unfortunately. Bambi has never been a walkaround character, however, his friend Thumper is – as is his girlfriend or wife, I guess, Miss Bunny. Thumper and Miss Bunny have been spotted at Disney’s Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World Resort, as well as at Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland, and Disneyland Paris. As they are rabbits, they may appear around Easter at the US parks and in Paris, however, over the years, the two have been less frequently spotted, so they are very much rare characters and may only appear at Special Events now. Bambi’s other friend, Flower the skunk, was a walkaround character for a time, but has not been seen since the 1970s apparently.

Outside of character appearances, at Tokyo Disneyland, at the Tokyo DisneySea Fantasy Springs Hotel, some of the main guest rooms are described as being decorated with characters from films such as Bambi on their website, however, I have not found anything concrete online that shows that. I assume it is small touches in their décor. There are similar touches like this at woodland-themed Disney hotels such as the Sequoia Lodge at Disneyland Paris, Grand Californian Hotel at Disneyland, Disney’s Hilton Head Island Resort, and the Wilderness Lodge Resort at Walt Disney World. There is likely to be some reference to Bambi, and other Disney nature-based films, at a new Walt Disney World resort, named Disney Lakeshore Lodge, set to open in 2027. This is basically a revamp of the original plans for Reflections – A Disney Lakeside Lodge, with construction initially beginning in 2020. It was later put on hold.

At the actual theme parks, within Hong Kong Disneyland’s version of it’s a small world, you can see figures of Bambi and Thumper skating on top of an icy mountain at the start of the attraction. At Shanghai Disneyland, within their Garden of the Twelve Friends walkthrough area, representing the Chinese Zodiac, Thumper used to be the representative for The Rabbit, however, in 2023, the Year of the Rabbit, Thumper was replaced with Judy Hopps from Zootopia (2016).

Elsewhere, at Walt Disney World, as part of the 50^th anniversary celebrations, fifty statues of different Disney characters were added to all four parks in a collection called the Fab 50. A statue of Thumper and Bambi, with a butterfly on his tail, was built and is currently situated at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. The Fab 50 statues all still remain at the parks. Also at Disney World, but this time in Epcot, for the Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival held in spring, there is normally a topiary scene of Bambi and his friends.

Alongside this, clips or music from Bambi may be included in other Disney shows, parades or fireworks shows, such as Fantasmic! at Disney’s Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World, during the water projections, and Disney Tales of Magic at Disneyland Paris, where some clips from the movie are seen on Sleeping Beauty Castle. There is also lots of Bambi merchandise available to purchase, including plush toys, pins, bags, and clothing.

Outside of the parks, Bambi has continued to build its presence. Bambi and other characters from the film were used for the original poster for the “Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires” campaign in 1944 by the United States Forest Service. Walt Disney had allowed these characters to be used in their campaign for one year. As the forest fire prevention campaign had proved popular with these additions, this led to the Forest Service creating Smokey Bear, their own character, to head future campaigns. This shows that the general public did take notice of the film’s message.

Another thing taken from Bambi is the phrase “Man is in the forest”. This phrase was used by some of the Disney animators to alert others to the fact Walt Disney was walking around the studio! [12]

Bambi is a favourite film of many people, including Walt Disney himself, and Osamu Tezuka, creator of manga series such as Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion. Paul McCartney also said that the film Bambi had a major influence on his attitudes towards animal rights. Not only that but the film’s off-screen villain, Man, was placed at #20 on the Villains list of the American Film Institute’s 100 Years… 100 Heroes & Villains list in 2003. Stephen King also named Bambi as the first horror movie he ever saw.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The message of Bambi, as well as some of its more controversial moments, have continued to stick with viewers for many years after the film was first released in 1942. It certainly should make people sit up and think about their attitudes to nature and how they can improve their own relationship with their surroundings.

As I said, Bambi is regrettably a Disney film that I just don’t like much. It’s not exciting enough for me, and I don’t feel I get as absorbed into the lives of the characters as I do with some of the other Animated Classics, though I do appreciate the meaning behind it.

But this was a key moment in the history of animation as they pushed even more boundaries with the release of Bambi. It is a favourite amongst nature-lovers – it’s just unfortunate that I am not one of them.

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘Bambi Fun Fawn Facts’, MousePlanet.com, 26^th July 2017.

[2] Credit: Disney, Bambi: The Magic Behind the Masterpiece (1997).

[3] Credit: Donna Ferguson, ‘Bambi’: cute, lovable, vulnerable…or a dark parable of antisemitic terror?’, The Guardian (online), 25^th December 2021.

[4] Credit: Kathryn Schulz, ‘“Bambi” Is Even Bleaker Than You Thought’, The New Yorker (online), 17^th January 2022.

[5] Credit: Disney, The Making of Bambi: A Prince is Born (1994).

[6] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘Bambi Fun Fawn Facts’, MousePlanet.com, 26^th July 2017.

[7] Credit: Disney, Bambi: The Magic Behind the Masterpiece (1997).

[8] Credit: Jim Fanning, 10 Facts from Walt Disney’s Bambi, D23 (online), 6^th September 2012.

[9] Credit: Disney, Bambi: The Magic Behind the Masterpiece (1997).

[10] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘Disney Animation Anecdotes’, MousePlanet.com, 14^th December 2022.

[11] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘Bambi Fun Fawn Facts’, MousePlanet.com, 26^th July 2017.

[12] Credit: Jim Korkis, Everything I Know I Learned from Disney Animated Feature Films (2015), ‘Bambi (1942)’, pp. 13-15.

9th Feb 20241st Oct 2025 by The Disney Purist

#19 The Jungle Book (1967)

BACKGROUND

After years of Disney animated films increasingly becoming average and uninspiring, Walt Disney decided to get his Animation Department back on track. Walt had been distracted with other pursuits, like his Disneyland theme park and the world of television, however, after the disappointment of The Sword in the Stone (1963), he wanted to be fully involved in their next picture: The Jungle Book.

This turned out to be a good call, as The Jungle Book was well-received on its release in October 1967, becoming Disney’s second-highest-grossing animated film in the US and Canada at the time; a much better response than the Disney Studios’ previous release of The Sword in the Stone.

With all that being said, though, The Jungle Book is also remembered for an entirely different reason. Sadly, The Jungle Book was the last animated feature that Walt personally oversaw, but Walt never even saw the finished picture. He died in December 1966, almost a year before the film was released.

The Jungle Book therefore signified an ending at the Disney company. Walt Disney had been such an important figurehead to everyone at the Studios that it meant, with his passing, they all felt a bit lost. Many people were affected by Walt’s death. They appreciated and needed his wisdom in overseeing their projects.

The Jungle Book was also the last film to be released during the “Silver Age” of Disney Animation, and was considered to be the last “good” one for a while, as both pre-1967 and post-1967, Disney Animation released some movies that entirely missed the mark, in terms of both their story and animation quality, especially as the “Bronze Age” began.

When I was younger, though I liked some of the songs, I never thought much of the movie. It is about animals, after all, and I’m much more interested in stories that predominantly involve people. But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve found I like The Jungle Book much more than I used to. It’s still not one of my favourites, but I do enjoy the music and the friendships between the characters. I have more appreciation for the history of the movie now, and know just how important it was to the Disney company, and to Walt Disney himself.

PLOT

As most people know, Disney’s The Jungle Book follows Mowgli, a “man cub” who is separated from his parents and raised in the Indian jungle by wolves. Ten years later, the wolfpack is made aware that the tiger, Shere Khan, is returning to their part of the jungle. As Shere Khan has a deep hatred for man, due to their hunting and his fear of fire, the wolfpack are certain that Shere Khan will try to kill Mowgli and insist he leaves the jungle for his own protection. Bagheera, a black panther, volunteers to take Mowgli to the “man village”. They leave on their journey, despite Mowgli’s constant protests about wanting to stay in the jungle. They sleep up in a tree on their first night, where Mowgli and Bagheera meet Kaa, a hypnotising python, who tries to eat Mowgli. Bagheera manages to stop him, and Mowgli then pushes Kaa out of the tree, to keep him away from them.

The next morning, Bagheera and Mowgli are woken by Colonel Hathi and his elephant patrol marching and singing “in a military style”. Mowgli wants to join them, and befriends the smallest elephant, Hathi’s son, however, Mowgli doesn’t have the discipline or military know-how to fit in and besides, Hathi doesn’t want a human in his patrol, so Bagheera takes him away again and continues the journey. The two argue as Mowgli still does not want to go to the village, so Bagheera, frustrated, leaves him on his own. Mowgli then meets Baloo, a sloth bear, who teaches Mowgli how to live in the jungle and just relax. Bagheera hears a bear growl and rushes back to help Mowgli, only to find that the growl was just Baloo, who he thinks is a “stupid jungle bum” anyway, and leaves them to it; Baloo can take care of Mowgli instead. Except he can’t, because shortly after, Mowgli is kidnapped by a group of mean monkeys, and Baloo has to ask Bagheera for his help in getting him back.

Mowgli is brought by the monkeys to King Louie, who lives in some old palace ruins. King Louie makes a deal with Mowgli that he can stay in the jungle if Mowgli tells him how to make “man’s red flower”, fire. Bagheera and Baloo soon come to rescue Mowgli, which is handy because Mowgli doesn’t know how to make fire, but in the chaos of this fight, King Louie’s palace comes crumbling down. Oops… Bagheera and Baloo then discuss Mowgli’s future, where Bagheera convinces Baloo that Mowgli must go to the “man village” for his own safety, to protect him from Shere Khan. Baloo reluctantly agrees and plans to take Mowgli there himself. But as they set off, Mowgli gets angry at Baloo for trying to trick him and runs away. Bagheera and Baloo try to find him before Shere Khan does, however, as Bagheera is asking for the elephant patrol to look out for him, Shere Khan is actually listening in on the conversation and now knows Mowgli is alone.

Shere Khan suspects Mowgli has been “detained” again by Kaa, the python, as he hears the snake singing to someone. Shere Khan warns Kaa off trying to keep the “man cub” for himself, and leaves. Mowgli escapes Kaa’s coils and pushes him out of the tree again, much to Kaa’s annoyance who thinks he’s too much hassle to eat now, and slithers off. Mowgli then finds himself in a deserted part of the jungle, where four vultures are arguing about what to do today. They spot Mowgli and go over to talk to him, teasing him, where Mowgli reacts angrily. The vultures apologise and offer to be his friend with a very catchy song. However, Shere Khan comes in at the end to spoil the party. Mowgli stands up to Shere Khan, saying he isn’t afraid of him, and won’t run away. Shere Khan doesn’t care, and lunges at him, only for Baloo to arrive at the perfect time to pull him back and away from Mowgli. Baloo tries to hold the tiger off, but soon Shere Khan viciously attacks Baloo. At that point, lightning strikes a nearby tree, setting it on fire. The vultures distract Shere Khan so Mowgli can grab a burning branch. Mowgli quickly ties the stick to Shere Khan’s tail who reacts in horror, and runs off scared, deep into the jungle.

Baloo is seriously hurt, believed to be dead by Bagheera, who laments his death. Baloo wakes up just as Bagheera has finished his speech. Despite the fact this should be a happy moment, Bagheera is furious and embarrassed that he has been caught saying nice things about Baloo! The trio find their way to the village, but Mowgli still doesn’t want to go. That is until he sees a pretty young girl collecting water from the lake just outside. Curious, Mowgli gets closer to take a look at her. The girl has already spotted Mowgli and “accidentally” drops her pot of water. Mowgli refills it and offers it back to her. The girl simply walks into the village, and Mowgli follows, carrying her water pot. He smiles back at Bagheera and Baloo and goes into the village. Baloo is upset at losing Mowgli, wanting him to come back, but Bagheera tells him it was the right thing to do. Baloo and Bagheera head home again, as friends, glad that Mowgli will be safe now.

Disney’s version of The Jungle Book is nice and simple, basically just Mowgli having funny encounters with different animals in the jungle on his way to this “man village”. The Disney movie has very little resemblance to the original source material: the novel The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling, first published in 1894, which consists of multiple stories and poems that link together. The vultures and King Louie are not characters in the novel but created by Disney for the movie. As King Louie is an orangutan, he shouldn’t even be in the Disney movie as they are not native to India, but oh well! Shere Khan arrives at the very start of the novel, being fought off by Mowgli’s wolfpack family. He is more of a scary presence in the movie as Disney needed to create a real villain for the story. Kaa has more of a use in the novel though, actually saving Mowgli from the monkeys that capture him. Mowgli also joins the human village about halfway through the novel rather than at the end, like in the film. There are many more characters in the novel than there are in the Disney movie, but the biggest difference is that the Disney film, unsurprisingly, is much lighter in tone, with the overall mood of the novel being quite dark and brooding[1].

CHARACTERS & CAST

Obviously, Mowgli is the central figure of both versions of The Jungle Book. He’s around eleven years old at the time of the movie, which means he’s a bit petulant and stubborn. Mowgli just wants to stay in the jungle, and nobody can tell him otherwise, even if it’s for his own safety. He doesn’t seem to like authority much, so he struggles to listen to Bagheera – even if it puts him at risk of being killed by a tiger with a grudge! The friendship he has with Baloo is very sweet though, and the end scene where he believes Baloo is dead is heart-breaking to watch. Mowgli just wants to be a kid and have fun, and because he comes across as being quite innocent, you can forgive him for being a bit difficult!

Bruce Reitherman voices Mowgli. Bruce is the son of director Woolie Reitherman, and had voiced the role of Christopher Robin in the Winnie the Pooh shorts, though he had no formal acting experience. He replaced the original voice actor, David Alan Bailey, whose voice had broken during the four years of production so could no longer voice the role. This is quite a common occurrence. Bruce Reitherman had fun recording his lines, and being involved in the movie, though he found the hardest part was laughing on cue[2].

Bagheera is a black panther, and the authoritarian figure in the film. Having said that, he is caring towards Mowgli as we see multiple times throughout the film, including at the beginning where he finds Mowgli the wolf family to live with, and when he volunteers to take Mowgli to the “man village” and protects him from harm numerous times on the journey. Bagheera gets frustrated with Mowgli, yes, and doesn’t think much of Baloo, who he thinks has too much fun and is too relaxed for his own good, but, by the end of the movie, Baloo and Bagheera actually become friends, and Bagheera learns to not be so uptight all the time. They are the two best characters for me. Bagheera is voiced by Sebastian Cabot, who voiced Lord Ector and narrated The Sword in the Stone (1963), as well as narrating the Winnie the Pooh shorts in the 1960s and 1970s. Cabot also narrates The Jungle Book.

Baloo is a fun-loving, carefree sloth bear, who spends most of his time just relaxing, eating, and sleeping! Him and Mowgli become close very quickly in the movie, and he becomes a sort of fun uncle figure to Mowgli, saying he can stay with him and Baloo will keep him away from anyone that’s forcing him to go to the village, though he does eventually recognise that Shere Khan is a threat to Mowgli and that he isn’t safe in the jungle. He doesn’t want to take Mowgli to the village, but he feels like he has to, and you can see just how devastated he is by it. Baloo protects Mowgli fiercely, even more so than Bagheera, as he throws himself into the path of Shere Khan and gets hurt quite badly from the tiger’s attack, and also barrels in to the palace of King Louie to try to distract the apes so Bagheera can rescue Mowgli. He’s quite impulsive but his heart is definitely in the right place.

Phil Harris is the voice of Baloo. The team had been struggling to find a convincing voice for Baloo the bear, until one day, Walt heard Phil Harris at a party, telling jokes, and instantly knew he’d be perfect for Baloo, so they brought him in. Initially, Harris was reluctant to voice the role, and ended up improvising many of his lines to make them feel more like something he’d naturally say. This was the first time that a Disney movie had used “celebrity actors”, and Phil Harris was one of those, as he had such a recognisable voice, thanks to his roles in radio comedy and from his time as a band leader. Phil Harris would go on to voice two more notable Disney characters: Thomas O’Malley in The Aristocats (1970) and Little John in Robin Hood (1973).

Louis Prima voices King Louie, the orangutan. King Louie is quite a flamboyant sort of character; he’s loud and talkative, always singing or dancing. He’s determined to find out the secret of how to make fire, even going so far as to kidnap the “man cub” to try to make a deal with him to find out. It’s a bit creepy if you think about it, but he’s so much fun and his song, “I Wan’na Be Like You”, is one of the catchiest in the movie, so you just have to go along with it all, like Mowgli does. The character was very much based on Prima’s own expressions when leading his band, and both his and the band members’ movements when recording the song were used as inspiration for many of Louie and the monkeys’ dance moves. Louis Prima was a famous singer, bandleader and trumpeter at this time, and was a frequent performer in Las Vegas in the 1950s, with his jazz, swing and “big band” music.

Then there’s the villain of the film, Shere Khan, the tiger. Disney decided they wanted to make him a straight, evil character, who is overly confident and calm, and feels superior to others. It’s a great idea for a character who is a tiger, as most people would think to make that character very vicious and angry. Shere Khan is completely different because he seems so above everything, and lets his reputation precede him. Walt Disney thought of George Sanders for the role instantly after seeing the drawings of the character and hearing about the personality choice. George Sanders was a British actor and singer, known for his bass voice and upper-class English accent. He is known for playing the role of Jack Favell in Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca (1940), and Addison DeWitt in All About Eve (1950), where he won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in 1951. He was another recognisable “celebrity voice” that Disney used for this movie[3].

Kaa the python is a funny sort of sidekick character. He isn’t menacing, though he frequently tries to hypnotise multiple animals into falling asleep so he can eat them; he’s just hilarious because he fails so often, and has a very soft sort of voice so you can’t even take him seriously as a villain. This is more evidence of clever character personality choices by the team at Disney, much like Shere Khan, by veering away from the obvious idea. Kaa is voiced by veteran Disney voice actor Sterling Holloway, who is best known for voicing the Cheshire Catin Alice in Wonderland (1951), and, of course, Winnie the Pooh.

Rounding out the cast, there is J. Pat O’Malley who voiced multiple characters in other Disney films such as the Walrus and the Carpenter in Alice in Wonderland (1951), and Jasper and Colonel the Sheepdog in One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961). O’Malley voices Colonel Hathi, the leader of the elephant patrol, obsessed with relieving his glory days in the service, despite the reluctancy and obvious annoyance of the other elephants, including his wife Winifred, who is voiced by Verna Felton, another known Disney voice actor, who brought us The Fairy Godmother in Cinderella (1950), the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland (1951), and Flora, one of the three Good Fairies, in Sleeping Beauty (1959). The Jungle Book would be her final film, released after her death in 1966.

MUSIC

As well as having memorable characters, the music is a vital part of The Jungle Book. The music was written by the Sherman Brothers, Richard and Robert Sherman. The duo had worked on numerous Disney projects before this film such as the live-action movies The Absent-Minded Professor and The Parent Trap in 1961, and Mary Poppins in 1964. They also wrote the music for The Sword in the Stone (1963). The Sherman Brothers had written some Disney attraction theme songs by this point too, such as “It’s a Small World (After All)” for the boat ride of the same name, and “There’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow” for the Carousel of Progress, both attractions at the 1964 New York World’s Fair.

The Sherman Brothers wrote five songs in total for The Jungle Book, with George Bruns composing the score. Kaa’s song, “Trust in Me”, came about from a scene that animator Floyd Norman had developed. Kaa is hypnotising Mowgli to sleep, and then moves Mowgli over his coils, turning them into stairs, a slide, and a hammock. I both love this scene and the song; it should be a scary scene as Mowgli is about to get eaten by a python, yet Disney made it funny. The song was inspired by an unused song that was originally written by the Sherman Brothers for Mary Poppins (1964), called “The Land of Sand”. It’s a mysterious tune that fits perfectly into this scene with the sneaky antics of Kaa.

“That’s What Friends Are For” is performed by the group of vultures that Mowgli meets near the end of the movie, who may seem familiar to some, with their floppy hairstyles and Liverpudlian accents. The song was originally meant to be recorded by the Beatles, so it was created as a soft rock song, however, when the Beatles’ schedule meant they could not be involved in the picture, it became a barbershop quartet instead, with other actors coming in to voice and perform the vultures’ lines. It was also thought that having a Beatles-style song included might date the movie. This is another great song, the harmonies are excellent, and I particularly like the final line that Shere Khan sings solo.

For “I Wan’na Be Like You”, the Sherman Brothers had Louis Prima in mind for the part of King Louie when they wrote the song. The Sherman Brothers specifically went to Prima to play him the song to try to get him on board with the role. Luckily, he didn’t need much convincing! They wanted it to feel very “Vegas”, and quite wild and crazy, which Prima and his band managed to do very successfully in their recording.

To round out the Sherman Brothers’ contribution to the movie, they also wrote “Colonel Hathi’s March”, for the elephant patrol scenes, which was inspired by both of the brothers’ military service, and “My Own Home”, the song sung by the girl from the village at the end of the movie. “My Own Home” became a reprise of George Bruns’ main theme of the score, which is woven throughout the film, so it became a fitting end to the story to write a song based on that. I actually like all of the songs in The Jungle Book, and some of them get stuck in my head for days!

The score by George Bruns is good too, never being too scary even in the final fight scene with Shere Khan, and upbeat in other places. The main theme is my favourite instrumental piece though. Bruns had composed the score for many other Disney movies, including Sleeping Beauty (1959) and The Sword in the Stone (1963).

PRODUCTION

Walt Disney first became interested in the story The Jungle Book in the 1930s, yet Disney only managed to get the rights to adapt the novel in 1962[4]. Walt Disney had leaned on one of his best story men, Bill Peet, to develop ideas for new animated features, especially when other things had taken Walt’s attention. Bill Peet was instrumental in the Animation Department, and was used to having to adapt storylines for the new features. He had practically storyboarded the whole of The Sword in the Stone (1963) on his own. Peet was given the go-ahead by Walt to start adapting The Jungle Book. Staff numbers had been reduced around this time so there was a Master Animator, Woolie Reitherman; Art Director, Ken Anderson; and four Supervising Animators, including Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas; and then Bill Peet, as the Story Man, as opposed to around forty people working in Animation during Disney’s “Golden Age”, so naturally, Bill Peet would have had much of the control around the movies at this time.

However, Walt was not going to let Peet take all the creative reins as he had done with The Sword in the Stone (1963), as that had not gone well and Walt was not happy with the final product. This was ultimately his reasoning for being so involved in The Jungle Book. Walt found out that Bill Peet had kept very true to the original novel, but Walt didn’t want that; it was too dark. They couldn’t agree on how to move forward so Peet left the studio and never returned. Larry Clemmons was brought it to put together the story instead, along with other new talents, such as Floyd Norman. Walt wanted to make his version of The Jungle Book that wasn’t focused on the book. He wanted it to be a fun adventure, without the heavy stuff, but with plenty of heart[5]. The Sherman Brothers took over the music from Terry Gilkyson, whose compositions had matched the dark, mysterious tone of Peet’s version of the story, though one of Gilkyson’s original songs remained in the movie by popular demand: “The Bare Necessities”, which embodies heart and fun, so fit the new tone well. I’m glad it was kept in the movie as it is one of the most recognised songs.

Floyd Norman said in an interview, along with Richard Sherman, that when they were brought on to the team to make The Jungle Book that Walt had initially asked everyone if they had read the original novel. They admitted that they had not, expecting Walt to be annoyed that they “hadn’t done the homework”, but he was glad they hadn’t so they wouldn’t be influenced by anything in the novel, and would be on board with Walt’s tone for the story, of being bright, full of story, music, sight gags, and strong characters with personality[6].

For the look of the movie, some previous methods from other Disney movies of the 1950s and 1960s were used, such as xerography and hand-painted backgrounds, which would’ve made the animation process easier and less costly. There was also strong emphasis on creating the right background styling, specifically requested by Walt Disney, as Walt had not been a fan of the styling in The Sword in the Sword (1963), as he felt there was too much colour in the backgrounds, and wanted the backgrounds to be more monochromatic for The Jungle Book to give a nice backdrop for the characters[7].

Furthermore, The Jungle Book reused previous footage from other Disney animated films, such as Mowgli being licked by the wolfs, which came from a scene in The Sword in the Stone (1963) with Arthur and the dogs, and the wolf cubs originally being puppies from One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961)[8]. This favour was returned though as Baloo would be used as strong inspiration for the character of Little John in Robin Hood (1973), as well as some of the dance sequences from “I Wan’na Be Like You” being copied into that film.

Production continued, and many comical sequences had been completed, with Walt’s vision for the movie being realised. However, as is natural, some scenes and ideas ended up on the “cutting room floor”. Firstly, there was a character called Rocky the Rhino. Rocky would’ve been in the scene with the vultures. Rocky was meant to be half-blind and dumb, with character actor Frank Fontaine to be the voice. The original idea was for Mowgli to meet Rocky, and for the vultures to coerce the rhino into attacking Mowgli. As the rhino was blind, he would keep missing Mowgli until Mowgli punched him, at which point, the vultures would ask Mowgli to be part of their group and they would sing the original version, the rock, Beatles-inspired version, of “That’s What Friends Are For” together, with Rocky joining in at the end. Walt did not like the character, and went off the idea of Rocky and the voice of Frank Fontaine so the character was dropped[9]. I agree; it doesn’t sound like the best scene!

Secondly, there was an alternate ending to the film, which involved Bagheera taking Mowgli to the village, where it was guarded by a man with a gun, who goes to shoot Bagheera, but misses and then tries to shoot Mowgli as he reaches the gates to the village. Luckily, the villagers protect him, as the hunter thinks Mowgli is a leopard enchanted to be a boy, and Mowgli’s real parents rush to him. One day, Mowgli hears the hunter lying about killing Shere Khan, and jumps in to say that it wasn’t true as he’d encountered Shere Khan and that he’d tried to kill him. Mowgli also recounts some other tales from his time in the jungle, though nobody believes him, so he runs out of the village, carrying a lit torch. He uses the fire to scare the other animals, including Shere Khan and decides to live in the jungle, using the fire to protect him. Bagheera and Baloo are horrified to find he’s brought fire into the jungle and leave him. Shere Khan waits for the fire to go out, but just as he is about to attack, the village hunter appears and orders Mowgli to take him to the treasure at the palace ruins, where King Louie lives. Mowgli is ordered to carry the treasure back to the village. Then, the hunter suddenly stops, and tells Mowgli to go into the jungle, where he will set it on fire. Mowgli grabs the torch and throws it into the lake. Then, Shere Khan attacks the hunter, killing him, before turning on Mowgli. Mowgli finds the hunter’s gun and shoots Shere Khan dead. Bagheera and Baloo find Mowgli and escort him back to the village, proud of what he’s done. Mowgli is now a hero, and spends time in the village and the jungle[10].

That sounds way too dark for a Disney film, so I’m glad they settled on the ending with the little girl. But this wasn’t an easy decision. They had struggled to think of an ending originally, not knowing how best to finish the story. It was actually Walt’s idea to have a little girl encourage Mowgli to follow her into the village. Not many people were convinced it would work, but Walt insisted they tried it and it did. Walt loved the ending and the song, but would unfortunately not be able to see the full movie[11].

Nobody knew Walt was as unwell as he was during production on The Jungle Book. They knew he was going into hospital, but they assumed it was for an old polo injury in his neck. Walt would actually be diagnosed with lung cancer. In December 1966, Walt visited the studio for what would be the last time. He was thin, gaunt and grey, and it was quite clear he was very ill. A week later, the team were told that Walt Disney had died. With Walt’s passing, the mantel of animation was passed onto the remaining “Nine Old Men”, with Woolie Reitherman taking over the Animation Department. They completed The Jungle Book in the way Walt had wanted[12].

RECEPTION

The Jungle Book premiered in theatres on 18^th October 1967, to overwhelmingly positive reviews, praising its simple storyline, use of colour, and for its music, with “The Bare Necessities” even being nominated for Best Original Song at the 40^th Academy Awards. It lost out to “Talk to the Animals” from Doctor Dolittle (1967). The Jungle Book grossed approximately $23.8 million against a budget of $4 million during its initial release. It is impossible to tell whether Walt’s death may have increased the popularity of the movie, with audiences wanting to see the last film he had been a part of, but either way, it was a hit.

LEGACY

The movie was such a success that its characters and music continue to feature at the Disney theme parks. At Disneyland Paris, during Summer 2019, they held an event titled The Lion King & Jungle Festival. For The Jungle Book, there was a show and parade that travelled all over the park with floats, dancers, and performances of some of the songs from the film, as well as characters like King Louie, Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Daisy. It was called The Jungle Book Jive. Also in Paris, in Adventureland, there is a restaurant named Colonel Hathi’s Outpost Restaurant, formally named The Explorer’s Club. Despite the vaguely jungle theming, it serves Italian fare, such as pizza and pasta.

At Disneyland in California, at the Fantasyland Theatre, there was a stage show titled Mickey and the Magical Map, which ran from May 2013 until 2020, when the park was closed due to the COVID-19 outbreak; it did not return. This show had King Louie sing “I Wan’na Be Like You” alongside dancers and a trumpet player in a short segment. Also as part of Disneyland’s version of the nighttime show Fantasmic!, King Louie appears on a floating barge with his monkeys, whilst a 100-foot-long puppet of Kaa slithers over the stage.

At Shanghai Disneyland, the stage show Mickey’s Storybook Adventure features a section themed to The Jungle Book. Within this “magic book” that Mickey finds, Baloo appears to perform “Bare Necessities”, followed by King Louie who sings “I Wan’na Be Like You”. This show opened in June 2021. The same show, but with the title Mickey and the Wondrous Book, also exists at Hong Kong Disneyland and opened in November 2015. Also at Hong Kong Disneyland, within their version of the it’s a small world attraction, you can see figures of Baloo and Mowgli. At Tokyo Disneyland, there is a shop named Jungle Carnival within Adventureland themed to The Jungle Book. The building features two different carnival-style games which guests can play to win prizes.

Finally, at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, at Epcot, during the now-defunct fireworks show Harmonious, during the “India” section of the show, the song “I Wan’na Be Like You” was re-recorded to give it more of an authentic Indian film, and dancing puppets of characters from the film were shown on the screens on the barges.

At Disney’s Animal Kingdom. there were multiple references to The Jungle Book, however, sadly they have all since closed. One of these was the hilarious KiteTails show, with The Jungle Book being one of two different stories reenacted via huge inflatable kites at the Discovery River Theater from October 2021 to September 2022. Guests particularly enjoyed seeing the kites crash-land on to the empty stands so they could be deflated!

There was also a stage show at Animal Kingdom in the Theater in the Wild, which now houses Finding Nemo: The Big Blue…and Beyond!, called Journey into the Jungle Book. It opened with the park in April 1998 before closing a year later in April 1999 to make way for a new show, Tarzan Rocks! There was also a brief show held over Summer 2016, which was a nighttime show, called The Jungle Book: Alive with Magic. It used lit-up barges, dancers, water effects, and musical performances of songs from the film. It was a temporary show to fill in until the delayed Rivers of Light nighttime show could debut, which it finally did, running from February 2017 to March 2020. Still at Walt Disney World, at the Pop Century Resort, within the 1960s area of the park, you can find a huge statue of Baloo and Mowgli outside one of the buildings. For any fan of the film, it makes a good photo opportunity.

In terms of character meet-and-greets, at Walt Disney World, you are most likely to meet King Louie or Baloo at Animal Kingdom. Mowgli even appeared here back in 2013, but this was an unannounced, very rare appearance. Baloo was also spotted in the lobby of the Art of Animation Resort in June 2022. King Louie and Baloo from TaleSpin have been announced as appearing at the Jollywood Nights event for the holidays in 2024 at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. At Disneyland, it looks like characters from The Jungle Book are only likely to be seen at Special Events, though again, it is likely to only be Baloo and Louie. At Disneyland Paris, there appears to be a dedicated meet-and-greet location for Baloo in Adventureland, though Louie has also been seen with him at times. At Hong Kong Disneyland, Baloo and Louie were seen in the last year or so, whereas at Shanghai Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland, it seems that these two are rarer characters, though at Shanghai, Louie and Baloo are listed on their website as characters that appear at the Meet Disney Jungle Characters at Happy Circle location in Adventure Isle.

When I was younger Baloo and Louie were so easy to meet at Walt Disney World, but it seems like they aren’t as prevalent now, perhaps due to other more recent movies having more in-demand characters. However, The Jungle Book does still feature in Disney merchandise, through clothing, bedding sets, mugs, accessories, and ornaments.

As well as this, The Jungle Book had a direct-to-video sequel in 2003, The Jungle Book 2. Since the sequel was released thirty-six years after the original movie, many of the original voice cast were no longer with us. John Goodman replaced Phil Harris as the voice of Baloo; Jim Cummings, current voice of Winnie the Pooh, replaced Sterling Holloway as the voice of Kaa, naturally, as well as that of Colonel Hathi; Tony Jay, voice of Frollo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), took over from George Sanders as the voice of Shere Khan; and child star Haley Joel Osment became the voice of Mowgli. Voice actor Bob Joles replaced Sebastian Cabot as the voice of Bagheera. The Jungle Book 3 was pitched in 2005 but was not made.

There was also the animated television series TaleSpin that aired from 1990 to 1991 originally. It primarily followed Baloo, and a cast of new characters, however Louie and Shere Khan also appeared at times too, as versions of themselves from the movie. Tony Jay and Jim Cummings voiced characters here. This was followed by another animated television series Jungle Cubs (1996-98), which was a prequel to the movie and showed all the animals of the jungle, Baloo, Bagheera, Kaa, and Shere Khan, as “cubs”. Jim Cummings voiced Kaa here. I remember watching this show on weekend mornings in the UK.

There were also three live-action films that followed the animated The Jungle Book. The first was the 1994 film Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, or simply The Jungle Book. It adapted the stories more closely than the animated film, and the animals here do not talk. It starred Jason Scott Lee as Mowgli, who later went on to voice the part of David in the Lilo & Stitch franchise. He also portrayed Böri Khan in Disney’s live-action Mulan (2020), as well as Benny, Lahela’s father, in the Disney+ series Doogie Kamealoha, M.D. (2021-23). The Jungle Book also starred British actors John Cleese, Lena Headey, and Jason Flemyng, as well as New Zealand actor Sam Neill.

In 1998, another live-action movie was made by Disney titled The Jungle Book: Mowgli’s Story. This time the animals did talk, as Eartha Kitt, voice of Yzma in The Emperor’s New Groove (2000), voiced the character of Bagheera. Wallace Shawn, Brian Doyle-Murray (as Baloo), and Stephen Tobolowsky also voiced animal characters.

Then in 2016, the big live-action remake happened. This time The Jungle Book became a live-action/CGI remake of the animated film. Voice and motion capture work was used for the animal characters, with big names voicing roles, such as Bill Murray as Baloo, Ben Kingsley as Bagheera, Idris Elba as Shere Khan, Scarlett Johansson as Kaa, and Christopher Walken as King Louie. The film was directed by Jon Favreau. It received positive reviews and grossed around $960 million worldwide, making it the fifth-highest-grossing film of 2016. The Jungle Book won the Academy Award, Critics’ Choice Movie Award, and the BAFTA for Best Visual Effects. It also won the Saturn Award for Best Fantasy Film, amongst other accolades. A sequel to this film is currently in development.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The Jungle Book is a big part of Disney Animation history with it signifying both an ending and a new beginning for everyone. It is one of those “must-see” Disney films, which everyone has seen, no matter their age. It’s a great movie, with catchy music, lovable characters, and an easy-to-follow plot; it doesn’t take itself too seriously. I think that is why it’s continued to stay popular throughout the decades.

It is plain to see that Walt Disney’s version of The Jungle Book embodied his love of story and characters with strong personalities, and his involvement and passion for the project come through strongly. That, along with the success of this movie, gave the company confidence in animation again, and the determination to move forward without their respected leader.

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Emily Whittingham, ‘Disney’s The Jungle Book: 10 Differences Between The Book And The Animated Movie’, ScreenRant (online), 6^th August 2021.

[2] Credit: Anna Tims, ‘How we made The Jungle Book’, The Guardian (online), 29^th July 2013.

[3] Credit: Disney, The Bare Necessities: The Making of ‘The Jungle Book’ (2007).

[4] Credit: Disney, Walt Disney’s ‘The Jungle Book’: The Making of a Musical Masterpiece (1997).

[5] Credit: Disney, The Bare Necessities: The Making of ‘The Jungle Book’ (2007).

[6] Credit: Disney, Music, Memories & Mowgli: A Conversation with Richard M. Sherman, Diane Disney Miller and Floyd Norman (2014).

[7] Credit: Bri Bertolaccini, ‘The Jungle Book (1967): A Disney Hand-Drawn Animation Masterpiece’, The Walt Disney Family Museum (online), 28^th September 2022.

[8] Credit: Brittany DiCologero, ‘Today in Disney History, 1967: ‘The Jungle Book’ Debuted in Theaters’, WDW Magazine (online), 18^th October 2022.

[9] Credit: Disney, Deleted Scene: The Lost Character – Rocky the Rhino (2014).

[10] Credit: Disney, Alternate Ending: Mowgli and the Hunter (2014).

[11] Credit: Disney, Walt Disney’s ‘The Jungle Book’: The Making of a Musical Masterpiece (1997).

[12] Credit: Disney, The Bare Necessities: The Making of ‘The Jungle Book’ (2007).

2nd Feb 20242nd Oct 2025 by The Disney Purist

#30 Beauty and the Beast (1991)

BACKGROUND

Ask anyone the question: “what is the best animated Disney film?” and I’m sure many people will say The Lion King (1994). The number of people who love that film is unreal…

But if you asked them again and told them to choose another one, I bet a large number of answers would be Beauty and the Beast. That’s not to say I mean that it is everyone’s favourite Disney film, because it’s not mine, though it definitely makes my Top 5, but nobody would argue with the fact that Beauty and the Beast is one of the greatest animated films of all time.

After Disney’s success with The Little Mermaid (1989), the company felt that just maybe they’d found the perfect formula for their movies: taking a fairy-tale, injecting it with some humour and a touch of Disney magic, and set it to a Broadway musical-style soundtrack. It had worked for Ariel, so let’s see if it worked for Belle.

But in the middle of the two films, Disney Animation actually released another movie: The Rescuers Down Under (1990). This film had very disappointing box-office results and because it was created digitally, its budget was incredibly high as well. This was not a fairy-tale, nor did it have a musical soundtrack though, so it just proved that perhaps they needed to replicate what they’d managed with The Little Mermaid.

And wow, did they succeed! Beauty and the Beast was even nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards, the first time an animated film had ever received approval like this, and it became a huge hit, with children and adults alike. At the time, Disney had not received attention like this for one of their animated movies before, which then set off a wild decade for the Disney company.

I personally think Beauty and the Beast is close to perfection. The animation is stunning; the music is typical of a Broadway musical style; the characters are comical and lovable, as well as complex and flawed; the story is romantic and full of meaning – it’s just overall a brilliant movie, and is one of my favourite Disney films. There’s not much else to say on it; Beauty and the Beast was a total phenomenon.

PLOT

I doubt many people in the world have not seen Disney’s Beauty and the Beast but here’s the plot anyway. As told in the prologue, a selfish prince refuses shelter to an old beggar woman one winter’s night. She turns out to be an enchantress who curses the prince, his castle, and all who live there for his cruelty. She leaves a red rose that will bloom until his 21^st year and will then start to wilt; if he can find someone to love him, and earn their love in return, before the last petal falls, then the spell will be broken; but if not, then he will forever remain a beast.

The film then jumps to a small French village, where Belle is dreaming of greater things for herself, as she doesn’t fit in with the others and wants something more than “this provincial life”. At the same time, she’s having to defend her inventor father, Maurice, from the others who think he’s crazy, and trying to avoid Gaston, the village hunk, who’s determined to marry her. Her chance comes when her father is captured by a beast on his way to the fair to show his latest invention, and she goes to the castle to save him. As the Beast will not let him leave, Belle offers to take his place. The Beast accepts and Maurice is taken back to the village. Maurice enters the village tavern, trying to find help to free Belle; instead, they all laugh at him and he decides to find her himself. Gaston uses Maurice’s outburst to his advantage by using him as leverage: Maurice will be sent to the asylum if Belle refuses to marry him. Now, he just has to wait for her to return…

In the meantime, Belle and the Beast constantly clash, though she does make friends with his “staff”, who have been turned into enchanted objects, such as Butler Cogsworth becoming a clock, Mrs. Potts the cook becoming a teapot, and Lumière the maître d’ becoming a candelabra. They want to help Belle settle in as they believe she could break the spell and turn them human again, however, things come to a head when she enters the forbidden West Wing, the Beast’s living quarters in the castle, and he scares her away. Belle rushes out of the castle, only to find herself in the middle of the forest with a pack of wolves hunting her. Luckily, the Beast comes to her rescue, and from this point, we see the two, slowly but surely, start to fall in love.

One night, after a lovely dinner and a magical dance in the Grand Ballroom, the Beast gifts Belle his magic mirror, so she can see the outside world and check on her father. Through the mirror, Belle sees her father is ill, lost in the woods; the Beast frees her from the castle so she can be with him – he doesn’t expect her to ever return to him. Belle and Maurice return home, where Gaston is waiting for her. Despite Maurice being forced into the back of a van to be sent to the asylum, instead of agreeing to marry Gaston, Belle just proves the Beast’s existence with the mirror, sending Gaston into a jealous tirade, as he believes she loves the Beast. Belle and Maurice are locked in their cellar, whilst him and a mob of villagers storm the castle to kill the Beast.

The Beast, heartbroken at losing Belle and his only chance to be human again, doesn’t fight back and allows them to enter his castle. Soon, Gaston finds the Beast and tries to goad him into a fight, but the Beast does not want to fight back – until he sees that Belle has returned to help him. Beast and Gaston fight on the castle roof. Beast has hold of Gaston, ready to throw him to his death, but decides against this, providing he leaves the castle. Beast climbs up the castle to be reunited with Belle, but Gaston, still jealous and enraged, stabs Beast in his side. Belle holds onto Beast and pulls him to safety; Gaston falls to his death. As the Beast lays dying, Belle finally realises her love for him, saying the words out loud just as the last petal falls. All looks lost for Beast and the servants, but suddenly, magic seems to fall from the sky, and the Beast is transformed back into his prince form. The curse is broken and the two stay together forever, living happily ever after. Aww.

CHARACTERS & CAST

The characters in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast are particularly likeable and memorable. Belle, along with Ariel, is one of the first modern princesses that Disney created, making her proactive in her story, instead of just waiting for something to happen to her as some of the earlier Disney fairy tales had done. Unlike Ariel, Belle is looking for adventure, not love, which makes her even more progressive, however, just like Ariel, Belle doesn’t feel like she fits in in her community; Belle prefers to read and dream, instead of just marrying and becoming a wife. Mark Henn and James Baxter were the main animators who worked on Belle, making sure she had heart and soul, and not focusing on making her the most beautiful character ever. I like Belle because she doesn’t follow the crowd; she was inspiring to me for not just doing what everyone else was doing, and not caring what people think.

Belle is voiced by actress Paige O’Hara, who started out her career on Broadway, playing the role of Ellie in Show Boat in 1983 and Ado Annie in Oklahoma! in 1986. After the success of Beauty and the Beast, O’Hara returned to the stage to portray Fantine in Les Misérables in 1995. Since 1991, she has returned to voice Belle for Disney. It makes such a difference to the movie by having a Broadway actress, instead of a “big name” like movies tend to do these days, in the voice cast. You really feel that this film is like a Broadway show, with the people involved knowing exactly how they should convey that atmosphere.

Beast was animated by Glen Keane, who successfully made him articulate without needing any words, as he managed to show signs of love and feelings of guilt and emotion purely through his eyes. Keane used inspiration from many animals he’d seen at London Zoo, while production was based there, and made Beast a combination of multiple animals, including wolf, bear, buffalo, and lion. The Beast, although having to seem menacing and terrifying at the start, goes through the most development in the story, gradually becoming kinder and less angry. It’s a clear journey that we see throughout the film, and he had to be the complete opposite to Gaston. Beast is voiced by actor Robby Benson, who began his career as a “teen idol” in movies such as the sports films One on One (1977) and Ice Castles (1978). I have only seen him as Sabrina’s father in Series 1 of Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996-97). I was so surprised to find he was the voice of the Beast; he’s so soft-spoken in real-life! Like O’Hara, Benson has also returned to Disney to voice Beast.

Andreas Deja worked on Gaston, and he said it took a while to find his look, as Gaston needed to look like a prince, but have this evil quality within him. Gaston is a good villain; he’s not particularly scary or menacing, but he becomes the way he does purely through jealousy at having lost Belle to the Beast. At the same time, he’s also completely clueless that he’s even the villain of this piece, because how could someone as handsome as him possibly be the bad guy? As much as I like him as a character, he definitely deserved to die for stabbing the poor Beast in the side. Gaston is voiced by another theatrical star, Richard White. White appeared as a performer in regional performances of musicals like Show Boat and Carousel in 1985, and Oklahoma! in 1992. On Broadway, in 2013, he appeared as Sir Danvers Carew in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. White has also returned to Disney to voice Gaston. I think White’s singing voice is particularly impressive in this movie, and I’m glad that, again, Disney avoided hiring a famous actor, because it makes Beauty and the Beast seem much more like a Broadway production.

The magical objects were the most fun to animate, as the animators got to figure out how each character would walk and talk without human limbs, as well as matching their personality, and job title, to the type of object they are. For example, Cogsworth, voiced by David Ogden Stiers, is the Head Butler, so naturally, he’d be a nervous, anxious clock, always wanting things done precisely and correctly. David Ogden Stiers had a long history with Disney, having voiced not only Cogsworth, but Governor Ratcliffe and Wiggins in Pocahontas (1995); the Archdeacon in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996); and Dr. Jumba Jookiba in Lilo & Stitch (2002) amongst others. He also starred as Major Charles Emerson Winchester III in the series M*A*S*H from 1977 to 1983. He died in 2018. I like Cogsworth, and I think him and Lumière are a great duo together, bouncing off each other constantly with their differing, often conflicting, personalities.

Speaking of Lumière, he is maître d’ of the castle, so he’s quite personable and eager to please the guests, even if that means going against the Beast’s orders. He gets a great song to show off his talents with “Be Our Guest”, and is entirely at odds with Cogsworth over both the song and giving the dinner to Belle, as the Beast has forbidden it. Jerry Orbach voices Lumière, perhaps best known amongst younger audiences as being Baby’s father in Dirty Dancing (1987) but he was also well-known for being a Broadway and stage actor before starring in movies, having appeared as Billy Flynn in Chicago from 1975 to 1977 and as Julian Marsh in 42^nd Street from 1980 to 1985. I don’t think any other iteration of Lumière has ever, or will ever, come close to Orbach’s brilliant accent. Orbach returned to voice the character up until his death in 2004.

Then there’s Chip and Mrs. Potts, the mother-son duo, who are a cup and teapot, respectively, as Mrs. Potts is the cook and housekeeper. She’s the motherly, kind figure of the movie, making sure Belle gives Beast a chance and that Beast controls his temper. She is voiced by Angela Lansbury, who brings typical British vibes to her role. Well, she is a teapot after all! Lansbury has appeared on both stage and screen, winning numerous Tony awards for her roles in musicals and plays, such as Gypsy (1975), Sweeney Tood (1979), and Blithe Spirit (2009). On screen, she is well-known for her performance as Jessica Fletcher in the long-running crime drama series Murder, She Wrote (1984-96). Lansbury later voiced the character of the Dowager Empress in 20^th Century Fox’s Anastasia (1997), but returned to Disney to introduce a segment in Fantasia 2000 (1999) and made a cameo in Mary Poppins Returns (2018). Lansbury sadly passed away in October 2022.

A final note on the voice cast, not for any particular reason, is that Tony Jay voiced the character Monsieur D’Arque, the warden of the Asylum. Jay would go on to voice Judge Claude Frollo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996).

PRODUCTION

The idea for a Disney version of Beauty and the Beast actually goes back to Walt Disney’s era. Beauty and the Beast had been attempted by Disney animation in both the 1930s and the 1950s, however, they hadn’t managed to do much with it, as it was a challenging story to adapt, so it never went any further – until it was found again in the 1980s, during a time when Roy E. Disney, Walt’s nephew, wanted animation to be reinvented and revitalised with fairy tales like The Little Mermaid. They kept going back to Beauty and the Beast to fit this new direction, even though it was daunting for this team of animators who thought: if Walt’s team couldn’t do it justice, then how could they?[1]

Disney’s version of Beauty and the Beast is very different to the source material, La Belle et la Bête, a fairy tale written by French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, published in 1756. This story follows a merchant and his daughters, the youngest and most beautiful being called “Beauty”. The merchant, struggling with debts from his cargo ships, becomes lost on his return from a voyage and seeks shelter in a castle. When trying to get a rose for Beauty as a present, the Beast threatens to kill him for stealing from his garden. The Beast allows him to take the rose if he returns with one of his daughters to take his place at the castle. Beauty agrees to do this, and the Beast caters for her every whim for months, giving her good food, fine clothing, and other luxuries. Every evening, he’d ask her to marry him, only for her to refuse. She dreams of falling in love with a handsome prince, and even when a fairy appears to tell her “not to be deceived by appearances”, she doesn’t change her mind. After months of this, Beauty asks to return home to see her family. The Beast allows this, providing she returns in two months. Beauty does not, only to have visions of the Beast dying alone in the castle, so she returns to him to find the visions were true. At this point, Beauty realises she does love him, and agrees to marry him that night. The next day, she finds the Beast has transformed into the prince of her dreams. Disney were very right when they said they had to make the story more interesting and exciting because it is mostly just about someone going to dinner and being asked to marry each time! We also find that the prince was turned into a beast in this version of the story because he refused the advances of an evil fairy…Um, ok…

Disney’s original version of the story, in the 1980s, was to be quite true to the original source, set in 18^th Century France, quite dark, and a non-musical. This was being worked on with Don Hahn as producer, and Richard Purdum as director in London. The first twenty minutes of the film was shown to Jeffrey Katzenberg and Peter Schneider, the heads of Disney animation at the time, who told them to scrap it and start again. Don Hahn relayed this back to the team, with the news that they were to go to France for a research trip to soften the blow! The production was moved back to Burbank from London, and the leadership was changed up, with Purdum leaving the project and Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise coming on as directors, after their latest work on the pre-show of the now-defunct Epcot attraction, Cranium Command. Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, off the back of their musical success on The Little Mermaid (1989) were also persuaded to join the team to take over the music. It was good to be given a fresh start, however, one year of the three-year production deadline had already been taken up with the first attempt, so they only had two years to complete it. Katzenberg brought in these release schedules, which hadn’t really existed before, as motivation.

A scriptwriter, Linda Woolverton, was brought in by Katzenberg with the animators being told just to animate Woolverton’s script. The animators had never worked that way before; Walt Disney had always gone off storyboards, not scripts, so it took a while for the two sides to mesh, with Woolverton becoming annoyed at her scenes being constantly changed from one day to the next, and the animators not informing her of changes. In the end, Woolverton knew she had to work more closely with the animators, and from then on, the process was much more harmonious[2].

In terms of the actual animation, Beauty and the Beast was technically ahead of its time as it was only the second Disney film to use the Computer Animation Production System (CAPS). It had first been used for Rescuers Down Under (1990), however, the investment in this technology had not proved itself with that movie. CAPS was designed by Pixar and allowed digital inking of hand-drawn cells and automation of a depth effect without the need for a multi-plane camera. The ballroom scene is the most obvious example of this technology use in Beauty and the Beast. The success of the scene gave Disney the motivation to continue to try out this new animation technology in their later films[3].

The look of the movie is beautiful. The prologue starts with charming animation of a forest before telling us the Beast’s backstory through colourful stained glass. I think this gives the scene more of a story-telling quality, and more historical feel, to show that this event happened away from Belle and her village, and a few years previous. The backgrounds are impressionistic, resembling paintings, which I like, whether they are dawn, dusk, night, or day scenes. The use of colour was important too, with the ballroom scene using a lot of gold and blue to create the right emotion for the romance of the scene. Belle is also dressed generally in blue for the very specific reason of making her stand-out against the townspeople in her opening scenes, to show that she doesn’t fit in. “Be Our Guest” was an opportunity to show more colour and fun, even though it is set within quite a cold, dark castle[4]. It’s in complete contrast to the scene that follows of Belle within the West Wing, with its blackness, and torn and broken furnishings. The final scene of Belle and the prince – who I thought was called Adam, but apparently not officially – is also lovely, with the two dancing in the ballroom with many people watching, though I did think it looked very familiar. It is actually the exact same sequence that ends Sleeping Beauty (1959) with Princess Aurora and Prince Philip dancing together. This was apparently done to save time as the film was nearing the end of its production deadline.

MUSIC

Ashman and Menken proved to be a vital component of the film-making process here. Ashman was key to the idea that Beast could be a kind of “anti-hero” with flaws, and that as he goes through the most development in the movie, it has to be his story[5]. The duo was able to comment on the story and characters being created, as well as write terrific music, because they understood how the music had to be, and brought their love for both animation and Broadway musicals into it. The music ties the whole story together in Beauty and the Beast. The songs are catchy, and very Broadway-esque.

“Belle” was the first song to be written and not only does it encapsulate some background to the story, but it introduces both Gaston and Belle to the audience, as well as their wants and dreams. It is an ensemble number, with solo moments for Paige O’Hara and Richard White as Belle and Gaston. Belle’s particular hopes and dreams are expressed by herself through the reprise of “Belle” just a few minutes later. Ashman and Menken were originally concerned that Disney would not be happy with the length of “Belle”, especially as an opening number, as it is around six minutes long. I really like it, and I feel it gets the viewer involved in the story right away.

On the opposite side, we have the song “Gaston”, another ensemble piece with solo moments for Gaston, which, although about the villain of the piece, is not the villain’s song, in my opinion. “Gaston” is really just a love letter to him from all of his sycophantic hangers-on. I do like “Gaston”, mostly for its ridiculous lyrics – “and every last inch of me is covered with hair” being one of them. Menken apparently laughed-out-loud at some of these lyrics when he first heard them. “Gaston” also shows that the villain doesn’t have a clue he’s evil, because he looks like a prince. This was a first for Disney. “Gaston”, like “Belle”, was also reprised just a few minutes later by the song’s title character, with his own “want” song; the reprise details Gaston’s devious plan to have Maurice imprisoned at the asylum so that Belle will have to marry Gaston to ensure Maurice’s release.

The actual villain’s song in my opinion is “The Mob Song”, where Gaston rallies all the villagers to go and attack the Beast. To the villagers, this seems to be a song of strength and bravery, but in reality, Gaston just wants to have the Beast killed so that the object of Belle’s affection can be eradicated; it’s all about jealousy, and also works as an ego boost for Gaston, as it proves that people will do whatever he tells them to without question. Well, everyone, except Belle and Maurice. I do like it a lot; it’s one of the better Disney villain songs, because it’s so dark and dramatic. There is even a reference to Shakespeare buried in the lyrics, a line from Macbeth: “Screw your courage to the sticking place”.

Now to the love songs. The most well-known and celebrated song is “Beauty and the Beast”, though I don’t like it all that much, probably because it’s been overused by Disney in so many shows and productions! I like the ballroom scene that goes along with it though, as well as the scene just after when Beast and Belle are talking on the balcony, because the scene is so romantic and elegant, with the night’s sky full of stars. Plus, no real-life version of Belle’s gold dress has ever come close to looking as lovely as the animated one. “Beauty and the Beast” is sung by Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Potts. It was recorded in New York, and on the way there, Lansbury’s plane had been forced to make an emergency landing for a bomb threat, but she arrived later that day for the recording after some delay! Lansbury recorded the whole song in one take, which she was pleased with, as she had not expected the first take to have been accepted[6]. But before this, we have another love song, “Something There”, which isn’t openly romantic, but talks of Belle and Beast’s developing feelings for each other. This is the best of the two love songs for me, because it clearly expresses the awkwardness and uncertainty of the early stages of a relationship. It’s also funny to see the two at this point having snowball fights and slurping on porridge together!

The final song to mention is the fun “song-and-dance” number “Be Our Guest”. As well as enjoying all the images of different dishes, I like how Lumière transforms into a proper showman, with everyone else, apart from Cogsworth, being there to back him up. Again, Disney do use this song a lot in their shows, but I still enjoy it, particularly when it builds to the big finale at the end. It feels like a whole Broadway show in just a few minutes.

But as well as the songs, Beauty and the Beast has a particular good score. “Transformation” is my favourite instrumental within the score, and one of my favourite Disney instrumentals in general, as well as the scene that accompanies it. When we think the Beast is dead, the music seems so hopeless, but then, all of a sudden, something magical happens and the Beast is lifted into the air and transformed into a prince. And then there’s the necessary happy ending back in the ballroom with everyone back to their human forms just to top it off. The prologue is great too, wonderfully narrated by David Ogden Stiers. It sounds so mysterious and almost haunting. Menken based the prologue on a riff of sorts on “The Carnival of the Animals” by Saint-Saëns[7].

The soundtrack was well-received and won numerous accolades, including Best Original Song for “Beauty and the Beast” and Best Original Score at the 64th Academy Awards; “Be Our Guest” and “Belle” were also nominated in the Best Original Song category. The score and “Beauty and the Beast” also won at the Golden Globes. The soundtrack received eight Grammy nominations, and won five awards, including Best Album for Children, Best Instrumental Composition, and Best Song Written for Motion Picture.

RECEPTION

The marketing was a big help to Beauty and the Beast being such a big success. A press event was help in New York to show some clips and play some songs from the movie. It was such a high for the Disney team working on the movie, however, after the event, some of the team rushed to see Howard Ashman in the hospital. He had been ill during the whole production of Beauty and the Beast, and would unfortunately die from complications related to HIV in March 1991, never having seen the full finished movie. He was wearing a Beauty and the Beast sweatshirt in the hospital and said he’d always known the movie was going to be a success[8]. The movie was dedicated to him.

To cement Beauty and the Beast’s future, an unfinished version of the film was screened at the New York Film Festival on 29^th September 1991. This was an incredibly risky move, not only because the film was only about 70% finished, and included some coloured footage, some black-and-white scenes, unfinished drawings, and storyboard sketches, but also because this was a prestigious showcase of movies, with a highbrow film enthusiast crowd to match, who would not have expected to see a “children’s cartoon” within the programme. The directors of the festival got a lot of flak for agreeing to do this, but it was to be the big test for Disney to see if the resurgence that had started with The Little Mermaid in 1989, and had slumped with The Rescuers Down Under in 1990, could really stick. Surprisingly, the response was overwhelming, and showing the inner workings of animation was a good move for this film-literate audience. The audience applauded multiple times, like they were watching a Broadway performance, and even gave the film a full ten-minute standing ovation at the end. This was such an iconic event to happen in the New York Film Festival’s history[9].

As well as grossing almost $430 million worldwide, Beauty and the Beast was met with critical acclaim, receiving some of the best praise for a Disney animated film since Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). The film was awarded multiple awards, including the Annie Award for Best Animated Feature, where Glen Keane also received an award for his animation, and the Golden Globe for Best Picture, the first full-length animated film to win this accolade. It was even nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards, which made Beauty and the Beast the first animated feature film to be nominated in the category – only Up (2009) and Toy Story 3 (2010) have equalled that since. It showed that Disney films were no longer considered just children’s cartoons, but could be enjoyed by adults without kids in tow. Unfortunately, Beauty and the Beast lost the Best Picture Oscar to The Silence of the Lambs (1991), a very different sort of film.

LEGACY

Beauty and the Beast has become a huge part of Disney history, and created its own legacy. This includes three direct-to-video sequels: Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas (1997), Beauty and the Beast: Belle’s Magical World (1998), and Belle’s Tales of Friendship (1999), all of which take place within the timeline of the original film. The best of all of these is The Enchanted Christmas which I make sure I watch every year. I love the songs “Stories” and “As Long As There’s Christmas”. Many of the voice actors, including Robby Benson, Paige O’Hara, Jerry Orbach and David Ogden Stiers returned to voice their characters; Angela Lansbury only returned for The Enchanted Christmas. There was also a live-action television series called Sing Me a Story with Belle, which ran from September 1995 to March 1997. Disney animated shorts were inserted into each episode.

Then, there was the live-action, heavily CGI-reliant, remake of Beauty and the Beast in 2017, which starred Downton Abbey’s Dan Stevens, and Harry Potter’s Emma Watson, as Beast and Belle respectively. I didn’t like this much at all, and didn’t like some of the casting. I also did not like the CGI look of the Beast, but it did very well at the box-office.

Beauty and the Beast celebrated its 30^th anniversary in 2021, and a special was aired on ABC in December 2022 called Beauty and the Beast: A 30^th Celebration. The show itself was a bit confused, with a mixture of storyboard images and scenes from the animated movie, as well as some scenes with a real-life cast. A particular highlight for me was Josh Groban singing “Evermore”, which, yes, was a song written for the live-action film, but I don’t even remember it in there, and Martin Short singing “Be Our Guest” as Lumière. As well as these two, the special starred H.E.R. as Belle and Shania Twain as Mrs. Potts. In 2018, a live concert celebration of the film took place at the Hollywood Bowl, with some of the cast including Zooey Deschanel as Belle, Rebel Wilson as LeFou, Taye Diggs as Gaston, and Kelsey Grammer as Lumière.

Beauty and the Beast has also been re-released multiple times, including being re-released in theatres in 2002 with a song cut from the original film, “Human Again”, where the enchanted objects sing about how they can’t wait to be human again; I’m not a fan of this song. The movie was also re-mastered in 3D in 2012, with another theatrical release.

Beauty and the Beast was adapted to a Broadway musical in 1994, with its premiere taking place at the El Capitan Theater. The musical included six new original songs, as well as the favourites from the original film; “Human Again” was revised and put in the Broadway show. The Beast in particular was given more struggle and sensitivity with his own songs, including “If I Can’t Love Her”. Susan Egan, who would later go onto voice Megara in Disney’s Hercules (1997), played the original Belle. Beauty and the Beast ran on Broadway from 1994 until 2007, but has also toured and been revived in many other countries, like the UK, where I had the pleasure of seeing it twice as two separate productions, Spain, Australia, Japan, and Canada, as well as many others[10].

Then, there are the number of references to Beauty and the Beast in the Disney theme parks. At Disneyland, there are two quick-service restaurants named for Beauty and the Beast. The first is Red Rose Taverne which resides in Fantasyland. This food location features murals of the characters from the film on the walls, as well as some props from the live-action movie, and the area has a vaguely French feel. The food is mostly just standard theme park fare, nothing very special, other than it sells “the grey stuff”. The other is a snack cart called Maurice’s Treats, named after Belle’s father, which sells pretzels and pastries.

Surprisingly, that it is for the Beauty and the Beast-themed areas of Disneyland. However, at Disneyland Paris, as part of Le Pays des Contes de Fées attraction, their version of the Storybook Land Canal Boats, you do go past miniature recreations of Belle’s village and Beast’s castle, something that is missing from Disneyland’s version. There is also a fine dining restaurant at Disneyland Paris named after Lumière, La Table de Lumière, which is at the Disneyland Hotel. The interior is inspired by The Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles but also includes some touches that reference Beauty and the Beast. This is also a character dining experience, where you can see royal couples including Belle and her Prince, who may or may not be called Adam, it’s never been confirmed. Regardless, it is rare to see him as a human and not as the Beast.

At Shanghai Disneyland, at the Shanghai Disneyland Hotel, Lumière gets another restaurant, this time it is a character dining buffet named Lumière’s Kitchen. There is also Be Our Guest Boutique, a shop in Fantasyland which seems to sell mostly clothing and accessories. At Hong Kong Disneyland, there is only a Beauty and the Beast section within their Fairy Tale Forest walkthrough attraction, which shows the Beast’s castle in amongst some perfectly manicured gardens, with a couple of moving displays.

Tokyo Disneyland has the only Beauty and the Beast-themed dark ride, housed within the Beast’s castle in Fantasyland, which opened in September 2020. Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast is a trackless dark ride, which takes guests through the story of the movie as they sit within huge teacups. It features some very impressive animatronics, with the dancing Belle and Prince at the end of the ride and the transformation scene being particular highlights. It does look like an incredible ride. Around this attraction, there is also a whole area themed to Belle’s village from the film and includes La Taverne de Gaston, a quick-service restaurant, and shops, with one even being themed to Belle’s favourite bookshop.

But the Disney theme park with the most references to Beauty and the Beast is Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, with Disney’s Animal Kingdom being the only one of the four parks to not have anything themed to the film or its characters. So, at Magic Kingdom, as part of the New Fantasyland expansion which took over the area that used to be Mickey’s Toontown Fair, a whole Beauty and the Beast area opened in December 2012. This area includes the shop Bonjour! Village Gifts and Gaston’s Tavern, a quick-service location which sells the iconic warm cinnamon roll, with a fountain of himself outside, much like at Tokyo Disneyland. More excitingly, the restaurant Be Our Guest allows guests “inside” Beast’s castle to dine on a quick-service breakfast or lunch, or a table-service dinner. The Beast even makes an appearance, parading into each of the three dining areas to welcome guests to his castle. These three dining areas are themed to different areas of the castle, with the main area being The Grand Ballroom, then The West Wing on one side, which houses the Enchanted Rose, and finally The Rose Gallery, which has artwork of Belle and Beast on the walls and a dancing figure of the two in the middle of the room. It is a great restaurant that everyone who visits Disney World should eat in at least once.

Also at Magic Kingdom, within Belle and Maurice’s cottage, you can take part in your own retelling of Belle and Beast’s love story in Enchanted Tales with Belle. As guests arrive in the cottage, they are soon taken into Beast’s castle via a magical mirror; it’s an impressive effect. Then they meet the Enchanted Wardrobe, who assigns certain guests different roles in the story. Then inside the library, Lumière directs everyone to reenact the tale with Belle appearing at the end to meet everyone. This experience is definitely more for children, but again, even adults should see it at least once, even if only for the magic mirror effect.

At Epcot, Belle has a dedicated meet-and-greet location at the France pavilion in World Showcase. During the holiday season, you may even see her in her dress from Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas (1997). You can also sing-along to a slight retelling of the Beauty and the Beast story within the cinema at the France pavilion. This used to house Impressions de France throughout the day, however, Beauty and the Beast Sing-Along now runs here for the majority of the day.

At Disney’s Hollywood Studios, since 22^nd November 1991, the general release date of Beauty and the Beast in the US, there has been a live Broadway-style show called Beauty and the Beast – Live on Stage. Since 1994, it has been housed within The Theater of the Stars down the Sunset Boulevard area of the park. The show has changed slightly throughout the years, especially with the reopening of the show in 2021 after its closure from the COVID-19 pandemic, however, the show continues to be popular with guests. There was a version of this show at Disneyland and Disneyland Paris, running from April 1992 to April 1995 at Disneyland, and from 1993 to 1996 in Paris.

Finally, at Walt Disney World’s Grand Floridian Resort hotel, you can further be immersed in Beauty and the Beast theming at The Enchanted Rose Lounge, as you enjoy vaguely French-themed snacks and drink fancy signature cocktails.

During Mickey’s PhilarMagic, a 3D show showcasing some of Disney’s biggest hits as Donald tries to return Mickey’s sorcerer’s hat, the song “Be Our Guest” is played. Mickey’s PhilarMagic exists at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, Hong Kong Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland, Disneyland Paris, and Disney California Adventure. At the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique locations, one of which exists in some form at each of the six Disney theme parks, children can choose to be made up to look like Belle, amongst other princesses.

In terms of character meet-and-greets, apart from the ones already mentioned, Belle, Beast, and Gaston have been seen at Special Events and randomly in the parks. Belle is most easy to find, as she is one of the Disney Princesses, so has been spotted at each park, but Beast may also appear with her on occasion. For Gaston, him and Belle have been known to be seen together at times, at Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland, for example, and Gaston also meets guests by his tavern at Magic Kingdom. He is also likely to be part of the Disney Villains line-up at Halloween events. Human Prince “Adam” seems to only have ever been seen at Disneyland Paris.

Clips and music from the movie are frequently used as part of Disney Parks’ fireworks and nighttime shows such as Disneyland Paris’ Disney Tales of Magic, and Momentous at Hong Kong Disneyland. You will also likely see Beast and Belle appear during parades, such as the Festival of Fantasy parade and the Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away nighttime parade at Walt Disney World, and the Paint the Night parade at Disneyland.

On the Disney Cruise Line, there are a few restaurants inspired by Beauty and the Beast, like the adult-exclusive restaurants Enchanté and Palo Steakhouse, the second of which is supposedly inspired by the character of Cogsworth, on the Disney Wish, Disney Destiny, and Disney Treasure; and Lumière’s on the Disney Magic. Royal Court restaurant on the Disney Fantasy is generally inspired by Disney Princess films, of which Beauty and the Beast is just one. For entertainment, a live musical stage show of Beauty and the Beast can be seen on board the Disney Treasure and the Disney Dream. Performances from the movie can also been seen in some of the other stage shows including Disney Dreams – An Enchanted Classic, on the Disney Magic and Disney Wonder, and Disney’s Believe on the Disney Fantasy and Disney Dream.

Merchandise for Beauty and the Beast has always been easy to find at the Disney Parks, due to the movie’s popularity, as well as the fact Belle is an official Disney Princess.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Beauty and the Beast touched a generation and cemented itself within movie history as not just a “good” Disney film, a “good” animated film, but as a genuinely brilliant movie for everyone to enjoy. Not too many Disney Animated Classics can claim to be a part of that history. I believe those that can include The Lion King (1994), Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), The Little Mermaid (1989) and Frozen (2013).

Along with these films, Beauty and the Beast is an incredibly special film to many, for the huge impact it had on its audience and the legacy it has built.

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Disney, Tale As Old As Time: The Making of Beauty and the Beast (2002).

[2] Credit: Disney, Beyond Beauty: The Untold Stories Behind the Making of Beauty and the Beast (2010).

[3] Credit: Stephanie Shuster, ‘Disney History: Beauty and the Beast’, WDW Magazine (online), 10^th March 2017.

[4] Credit: Katie Strobel, ‘Beauty and the Beast at 30: From Production to Classic’, D23 (online), 22^nd November 2021.

[5] Credit: Disney, Tale As Old As Time: The Making of Beauty and the Beast (2002).

[6] Credit: Skyler Caruso, ‘Fun Facts You Didn’t Know About ‘Beauty and the Beast’ In Honor of the 30^th Anniversary’, People (online), 22^nd November 2021.

[7] Credit: Disney, Menken & Friends: 25 Years of Musical Inspiration (2016).

[8] Credit: Don Hahn, Waking Sleeping Beauty (2009).

[9] Credit: Bilge Ebiri, ‘The Story of the 1991 Beauty and the Beast Screening That Changed Everything’, Vulture (online), 14^th November 2019.

[10] Credit: Stephanie Shuster, ‘Disney History: Beauty and the Beast’, WDW Magazine (online), 10^th March 2017.

26th Jan 20241st Oct 2025 by The Disney Purist

#18 The Sword in the Stone (1963)

BACKGROUND

“Whoso pulleth out this sword of this stone and anvil is rightwise king born of England”.

These words set the scene for the Disney animated classic The Sword in the Stone, the last Disney animated feature to be completed and released during Walt Disney’s lifetime.

Unlike other Disney animated features, where the timeframe that they were produced in has its own story, the 1960s weren’t a particularly exciting or painful time for the Disney Studios. Throughout the 1950s, they had been rebuilding after the impact of World War II and had some mixed results. Cinderella (1950) was a big success, but Lady and the Tramp (1955) and Sleeping Beauty (1959) received mixed reviews, the latter of the two being hugely costly to make and therefore, it took a while for it to make any money.

Because of the disappointment of Sleeping Beauty, the 1960s began an effort to make new movies cheaper. The Xerography process helped this and was instrumental in the creation of One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961), a very popular box-office release. So, The Sword in the Stone was going to go the same way, something quick and cheap to make.

Once again though, The Sword in the Stone could not mimic the results of its predecessor, and, although it got some good reviews and made a small profit, it has not been remembered like other Disney animated features have been. It’s another one of those that has been forgotten or trashed by some, and remains a favourite with a small number.

I personally really like The Sword in the Stone, but I believe I am in the minority there. I don’t think it’s even that this film is inherently bad. At the time of its release in 1963, it would have been compared to other Disney movies and felt that it was lacking some “Disney magic”. In current times, I think it has the additional trouble of being forgotten in amongst all the other King Arthur and/or Merlin adaptations, of which there are many, with a general feeling that the story has been “overdone”.

But for me, and most children who have seen it, The Sword in the Stone was my first introduction to the legend of King Arthur. Since then, I have watched many others, including the 1967 movie of the musical Camelot, Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975), and the BBC television series Merlin (2008-12) all of which take a different look at the legend. Disney’s The Sword in the Stone is a lighter, funnier version of the story, and that’s why I like it, because it is so different and pleasant to watch, whereas other adaptations can be a bit dark, delving into the story more with Black Knights, grails, and evil sorcery.

PLOT

Even though everyone knows the legend of King Arthur, The Sword in the Stone follows a unique story, so I will recount it anyway. The film starts with a short sung-through backstory, telling us how the old King of England, King Uther, has died with the heir to the throne unknown. An unseen narrator then tells us that The Sword in the Stone has been created in order to find the rightful king. Many try to pull the sword but to no avail, the sword being left to time and forgotten.

Then the story of Arthur can begin. In this version, Arthur is an 11-year-old orphan, living with his foster father Sir Ector and foster brother Kay, who have given him the “affectionate” nickname of Wart. Arthur has accidentally ruined Kay’s hunting trip by making him misfire his arrow. Arthur goes into the forest to retrieve it and in doing so, falls through a cottage roof, which happens to be the house of the wizard Merlin. Merlin has been expecting him, though he doesn’t know exactly who he is, only that he’s important for some reason. Arthur insists he must get home, so Merlin and his talking owl, Archimedes, accompany him back to Sir Ector’s castle, where Arthur is given “demerits” for running off and being late. Merlin introduces himself to Sir Ector, who is both suspicious and scared of Merlin’s sorcery. He leads Merlin to a room in one of the crumbling, leaking towers of the castle where he can stay. Merlin is not impressed, but wants to be able to educate Arthur to give him a better future, so Merlin and Archimedes stay. Arthur is being trained to be Kay’s squire, since Sir Ector has been informed of a New Year’s Day tournament, where the winner will be crowned the new King of England, so naturally Ector wants Kay to win and become king.

The next day, Arthur starts his lessons with Merlin. The first one involves them both becoming fish in the castle moat, where he begins learning how fish move in water. The two are attacked by a giant pike, with Merlin giving Arthur the chance to show that brains can beat brawn. With some help from Archimedes, Arthur succeeds and outsmarts the pike. Merlin quickly turns both of them back into humans. Because of this, Arthur is late once again for his training and Sir Ector tells him to get to the kitchen to wash dishes, ignoring all of the magical events that caused him to be late. Merlin finds Arthur in the kitchen and sets up a magical assembly line to get the dishes cleaned whilst they are both away. Merlin then turns them both into squirrels, to learn about gravity, but at the same time, the two are chased by female squirrels who have fallen in love with them. This is awkward and uncomfortable for Merlin and Arthur who try to outrun their fans. At the same time, a wolf, who has been following Arthur since the opening scene in the forest, returns and waits for Squirrel Arthur to fall to the ground so he can finally eat him. Arthur does fall, but luckily his new friend helps fight off the wolf. Once again, Merlin quickly turns him and Arthur human again, which confuses the female squirrels. Merlin angrily scares his off, while Arthur tries to let his one down gently. She doesn’t understand, being a squirrel, and runs up a tree to cry…

Meanwhile, Ector, Kay and the cook see the enchanted dishes in the kitchen and try to stop this “dark magic”. It doesn’t work, but Merlin and Arthur return and Merlin puts a stop to the spell. Arthur tries to defend Merlin from Ector’s tirade. As further punishment, Arthur is no longer allowed to be Kay’s squire; Hobbs will replace him. Arthur is upset, so to try to make it up to him, Merlin endeavours to teach him full-time, but because Merlin has time-travelled and seen the past, present, and future, his lessons confuse Arthur. Archimedes is tasked with taking over, and begins with the basics like the alphabet. Merlin wants to get involved again so begins a lesson on aircrafts and flight, but his model plane falls and crashes into the moat, with Archimedes confirming that “if man were meant to fly, he’d have been born with wings”. Arthur says how he’s always wanted to fly, so Merlin turns him into a sparrow. Arthur and Archimedes set out on a flying lesson.

During the lesson, Arthur is pursued by a hawk and falls down a chimney into a cottage in the woods. This is the home of Mad Madam Mim, an eccentric sorceress and Merlin’s nemesis. Arthur is about to be destroyed by Mim when Merlin comes to rescue him. Mim challenges Merlin to a wizard duel, where the two turn themselves into different animals to fight and outwit each other. However, Mim cheats, going against one of her rules about only turning themselves into real animals, not mythical ones; she turns himself into a dragon. To outsmart her, Merlin turns himself into a germ, called malignalitaloptereosis, which Mim catches, giving her a nasty, but survivable illness, where she needs lots of sunshine to get better, something she despises: “I hate sunshine, I hate horrible, wholesome sunshine!”

Just before the tournament, at Christmastime, Arthur is informed that Hobbs has mumps so he can be Kay’s, now Sir Kay as he has been knighted, squire in the tournament. Arthur is overjoyed and goes to tell Merlin and Archimedes the good news. Except Merlin is far from happy for Arthur, thinking he’s throwing away all their lessons and teachings, passing over education for a menial position. Merlin is so angry in fact that he blasts himself to 20^th Century Bermuda. Archimedes continues to support Arthur though, going with him to London for the New Year’s Tournament.

During the tournament, Arthur forgets Kay’s sword and must find him another one quickly. The inn, where he left the sword, is closed, so him and Archimedes go to a churchyard and see a sword set in a stone. Arthur touches it and a beam of light comes over him. Archimedes warns him not to touch it, but Arthur insists Kay must have a sword, and pulls it out of the stone. Arthur hands the sword over to Kay, where him, Ector, and everyone else present at the tournament finds it is actually The Sword in the Stone. Nobody believes that Arthur pulled it himself, so they order Arthur to show them where he found it. They all go to the churchyard, and place the sword back in the stone, asking Arthur to pull it out again in front of everyone. Kay decides that the sword will be easy to remove now, since it’s already been pulled out, so tries to pull it to become king. It doesn’t move, and despite Ector’s strength and those of some other knights, it won’t budge.

Someone in the crowd says Arthur should be allowed to pull it again. Arthur steps up to the stone and easily removes the sword, where he is proclaimed King. All the others kneel in front of him, including Ector and Kay, and Arthur is crowned. In the castle, Arthur feels he is not ready for this role and tries to run away, but he cannot as everywhere he turns, there are people watching him. Luckily, Merlin returns from Bermuda, and realises Arthur was special because he was going to be king. Merlin prepares to help guide Arthur through his new life, pleased to see how he has finally fulfilled his full potential.

CHARACTERS & CAST

Arthur – I can’t call him “Wart”, it seems too mean – is drawn to resemble a typical eleven-year-old boy. He is described as “scrawny” which you can see from his twig-like legs. But the whole point of Arthur is that he is the kid nobody expects anything of, he’s just an orphan with no life plan and not much of a future. He is teased and, frankly, bullied by his foster brother, Sir Kay, who thinks Arthur is just a pain, some kid he’s supposed to look after. He is used as a servant by Sir Ector, yet, he still seems pleasantly happy with his lot in life. Merlin tries to help educate him, but Arthur is happy enough training to be a squire, much to Merlin’s annoyance, though Arthur does enjoy Merlin’s magic and the adventures they go on. We see at the end when Arthur is crowned King, that he is terrified of his future, and how in the world do they expect him to be a king and rule the country. He thinks nothing of himself, until Merlin shows him, he can be so much more.

Arthur had three different voice actors during the three-year production of The Sword in the Stone. The original voice actor was Rickie Sorenson, who was known for his television roles at the time, such as portraying Tommy Banks in the television series Father of the Bride (1961-62). Sorenson had also voiced Spotty for Disney’s One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961). As his voice had started to change during the long length of production, he could not finish the lines by the end of it. Director Woolie Reitherman drafted in two of his sons, Richard and Robert, to finish the lines. The changing voice is quite evident during much of the film, but particularly in the final scene. Once you know about it, too, it can be a tad bit distracting…

Merlin is the cranky, intelligent, time-travelling wizard who helps Arthur. He is meant to be an old curmudgeonly sort of man, and he is at times in the movie, getting angry quite frequently, however, he is also kind and understanding. Bill Peet incorporated some of Walt Disney into the character of Merlin, as he was sort of the “wizard” of the studio. Facially, he used Walt’s nose for the character, and emotionally, used some aspects of his temperament, such as being cantankerous and demanding, but also playful and intelligent. Walt either didn’t notice or never commented on the similarities between himself and Merlin[1]. Karl Swenson voiced Merlin here. Swenson was particularly good at vocalisation after working extensively on radio during its “golden age”, before moving into screen roles. Swenson is probably most well-known for appearing as Lars Henson in the series Little House on the Prairie from 1974 to 1978. He also appeared in the Western film The Wild Country, produced by Walt Disney Productions, in 1970.

Archimedes is Merlin’s wise old owl, who is also quite cranky and grouchy at times! But he does have a caring side, as we see when he is the only one of him and Merlin to support Arthur in his dreams to be a squire, accepting that education can’t be forced upon someone. Archimedes is my favourite character because he’s so sarcastic towards Arthur when he doesn’t understand anything, even things Archimedes thinks are quite basic, and towards Merlin, when he mentions these crazy future inventions, like the aeroplane. This leads me to my all-time favourite scene. Merlin is trying to show Arthur that man will fly someday, and shows him a model aircraft which he picked up in the future at some point. He spins the propeller to wind-up the model, not realising that, when he goes to launch it out the window, that his beard has got tangled and the plane simply unravels his beard and crashes down to the ground below, to which Archimedes responds with: “Oh, man’ll fly alright, just like a rock!”, before proceeding to laugh hysterically. He reminds me of me – laughing way after everyone else has stopped and the joke is no longer funny! Disney legend and animator Ollie Johnstone loved this scene too. Junius Matthews, the voice of Archimedes, had to make sure that his laughter continued to feel sincere, not forced, for the full twenty seconds. By the end of it, both Matthews and Archimedes were exhausted! Junius Matthews would later be cast as the original voice of Rabbit in the Winnie the Pooh franchise. Matthews was actually recommended for a part in The Sword in the Stone by Karl Swenson, with them trying Swenson out as Archimedes and Matthews as Merlin, however, the two roles were later switched, which I think was definitely for the best[2].

Legendary Disney animator Milt Kahl loved animating The Sword in the Stone characters. He is particularly praised for designing Sir Ector and Sir Kay without any live-action or reference material. Those two characters both start off seeming harsh and uncaring towards Arthur; giving him the nickname “Wart” doesn’t help their case. They aren’t loving familial figures. By the time Arthur is proclaimed the new king, they become much more kind towards him, unsurprisingly. They aren’t all bad though, as they are quite bumbling and idiotic at times so that’s funny, like when they are trying to fight the “hexed” kitchen equipment that is washing itself after Merlin cast a spell on it. It’s a satisfying scene to watch, that assembly line. Kay and Sir Ector trying to ward off the “devilish magic” with swords is ridiculous; Ector gets smashed over the head several times, and ends up being washed himself, and Kay gets stuck in the fabric of the mop while it’s mopping the floor. These two are not true villains, but it is nice to see them get some sort of comeuppance! Some of this scene was actually reused animation of Horace and Jasper being attacked by Pongo and Perdita in One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961). The two characters can also be seen laughing at Arthur in a similar fashion to King Stefan and King Hubert in Sleeping Beauty (1959) earlier on in the movie.

Sir Ector was voiced by Sebastian Cabot, a British actor with quite a distinctive voice. Cabot had worked for Disney, starring in some of their live-action films, like Westward Ho, the Wagons! (1956) and Johnny Tremain (1957). After The Sword in the Stone, Cabot would again return to voice acting for Disney, performing as Bagheera the panther in The Jungle Book (1967) and then being The Narrator for The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977). Sir Kay was voiced by Norman Alden, this being perhaps his most well-known film role, however Alden did also voice the character of Kranix in the animated film The Transformers: The Movie (1986), alongside big names such as Eric Idle and Leonard Nimoy.

Artist Milt Kahl and Frank Thomas were assigned to design Madam Mim, making her suitably wacky and crazy with their design choices. It was decided that Mim could not be a tall, attractive woman and that she had to be eccentric and old like Merlin, so she was given a short, chubby body with thin arms and legs. However, there is one brief moment where Mim turns herself into a tall, attractive woman. Supposedly, this version of Mim resembles a layout artist who worked at the Disney Studios at the time, however, she never said anything about any similarities, nor did Milt Kahl confirm it!

I like Madam Mim, though again, she is not much of a villain, but just about the only one this film has, despite the fact she only appears in the movie for around ten minutes in total and she has no relevance to the overall film. Mim is the witch nemesis of Merlin. She’s mostly just eccentric, but she does try to destroy both Arthur and Merlin; Arthur by turning herself into a cat to eat him when he’s a bird, and Merlin through the wizard’s duel. The wizard’s duel is an impressive scene in the movie, kept in the film by Bill Peet and created only by him. He wanted the duel to be a big visual treat for the audience, which it certainly is. The duel involves fifteen different visuals of animals, which had to keep the signature colours of Merlin and Mim – blue and pink/purple respectively. They also had to keep the visual characteristics, like Merlin’s beard, and Mim’s lavender hair, along with their personalities; Merlin by outwitting Mim with his quiet, calm intellect, and Mim with her brash overconfidence in her powers[3]. She’s a funny villain, not properly devious, but mildly intimidating! She was going to have a darker role in the movie, according to an alternate opening, where she was plotting to find Arthur, the missing heir to the throne, to usurp his position as ruler, and kill him before he ever pulled The Sword in the Stone.

The idea for Mim was her to be a cross between a spoilt brat and a crotchety old hag, always wanting to win so she lies and cheats, never playing fair to ensure that. Martha Wentworth was chosen to be Mim’s voice actor. Wentworth had a long radio career from the 1920s, and was known for her amazing voice impressions. For Disney, she voiced Jenny Wren in the Silly Symphonies Disney short cartoon Who Killed Cock Robin? in 1935 and also voiced Nanny in One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961). She also voiced Granny Squirrel here, the one who seems to like Squirrel Merlin[4].

MUSIC

The music for The Sword in the Sword was written by the Sherman Brothers, Richard and Robert Sherman. This was the first animated feature they’d worked on, though they had already done some work for Disney in the movies The Absent-Minded Professor and The Parent Trap in 1961. The Sherman Brothers then continued to work on Disney projects for many years, including for more movies, such as Mary Poppins (1964) and The Jungle Book (1967), as well as Disney attraction theme songs, like “It’s a Small World (After All)”.

The first song in the film is actually more of a sung-through narration, where we learn the background of how and why The Sword in the Stone came to be, simply called “The Sword in the Stone”. I really like it as an opening number, as it gives us a bit of backstory explained in a more interesting way and sets the viewer up for what’s to come. The song was performed by Fred Darian.

After that, we have the song “Higitus Figitus”, performed by Karl Swenson as Merlin, when Merlin is magically packing all of his belongings into one small suitcase. It’s a little bouncy tune full of nonsense words so perfect for a film aimed at children. This is the most remembered song in the film, I’d say. The Sherman Brothers said they made up the title words using a mixture of what sounded like British words to match Merlin’s nationality and the setting of the film, and some Greek and Latin words to signify his intelligence and love of books. The Shermans thought just using “abracadabra” as the magic words would be too boring – which is true. Originally, they had written the song “The Magic Key” to be performed at this point, with Merlin telling Arthur about the importance of education, but it was replaced with “Higitus Figitus”. A good choice, I think.

Then we have two songs that are performed during Arthur’s lesson as a fish and as a squirrel. The first, “That’s What Makes the World Go Round”, is another bouncy tune that I like, but I can see why it’s perhaps not very memorable to most people. I sometimes just remember it randomly for some reason. Both Karl Swenson and Rickie Sorensen perform this one, but the next, “A Most Befuddling Thing” is just sung by Swenson as Merlin and is another that people might remember more for the squirrel sequence than the song because it is pretty hilarious. At this point in the film, the two are squirrels but Arthur finds himself being pursued by a female squirrel, who does not take “no” for an answer. Merlin is trying to tell Arthur that love is an odd thing that can’t be explained and just happens. Soon, Merlin finds himself being chased by a squirrel too and that’s where the song stops! Merlin’s one is not as “attractive”; she’s a bit bigger and more muscular so when she tries to “flirt” with Merlin by pushing him over, he slams into a tree trunk. It’s even better because he’s laughing at Arthur, telling him he’s on his own with that one, when his shows up. Arthur’s squirrel is much cuter, and she’s become a fan-favourite. I never fail to laugh at this scene of the two of them being chased around. However, the end of this scene is incredibly sad because the girl squirrel realises Arthur is not a squirrel, but a human, as he’d tried to tell her, so she runs away, scared, and cries to herself in the tree. The final shot is of her sitting on a branch at the very top of the tree, sniffling and sighing. Unrequited love, eh?

The “villain’s song” of The Sword in the Stone is performed by Martha Wentworth as Madam Mim and it is called “Mad Madam Mim”. She is basically showing off her magical powers to Arthur. I like it but probably more for Mim than the song itself; she’s just so strange but so confident about it! There is also a brief section of a deleted song that appears in the film. It is only a few seconds long, so I’m not classing it as a song, where Ector and Pelinore are singing around the table at Christmas. The song is “Blue Oak Tree”. The full song would’ve appeared in the movie being sung by the knights, talking about the oak tree on their crests, and how they fight for this meaningless picture[5].

The musical score was written by George Bruns, who had scored Sleeping Beauty (1959) and One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961) beforehand, but had worked on the music for some of the 1950s Disney live-action films before that as well. He went on to write the score for other movies such as The Jungle Book (1967), The Love Bug (1968) and Robin Hood (1973). Though I cannot pick out an individual part of the score that I really like, other than the main title, I like how it feels both medieval and magical, fitting the atmosphere and tone of the overall film. For his score for The Sword in the Stone, Bruns was nominated for Best Score – Adaptation or Treatment at the 1964 Academy Awards, but lost to André Previn’s score for Irma la Douce (1963).

PRODUCTION

The production of The Sword in the Stone took place during the “Silver Age” of Disney animation. After the “Golden Age”, Walt’s enthusiasm for animation had started to decline despite having acquired rights for new animation projects, partly because of the lacklustre performance of some of his passion project movies, like Fantasia (1940), and because of the reputation of the Disney company after the animator’s strike, and the impact of World War II. Walt was spending more time on other pursuits.

In the 1960s, when The Sword in the Stone was in production, Disneyland was open, so Walt spent his time working on ways to improve the park and its attractions. He was also focused on television and live-action films at this point. His brother, Roy O. Disney, had even asked him about closing down the animation department altogether around this time, as they had plenty of material that could simply be re-released. Walt did not want to do this, but did reduce staff numbers and looked at cheaper methods, like Xerography, where animated drawings could be printed directly onto cels instead of painstakingly inking and painting. This technique was first used by Disney for One Hundred and One Dalmatians in 1961, which did well and secured the short-term future of animation. But Walt was not very involved even in that film. The last animated film to take up much of Walt’s attention was Sleeping Beauty (1959) and despite being among the ten highest grossing films of 1959, it was not able to recoup its costs, simply because of how expensive the animation was.

So how did they end up with The Sword in the Stone? Walt Disney first obtained the rights to T. H. White’s 1938 original standalone children’s story The Sword in the Stone in 1939. White’s series was not complete at this point, so when White published his novel The Once and Future King in 1958, which consisted of several shorter novels that he had written between 1938 and 1940, some elements from the original story were omitted in the final novel, such as the appearance of Madam Mim[6]. Disney did not know the final tonality of the whole series until many years after the rights were first purchased and the full series of books took on a new tone altogether, darker, more adult, more political. As this would not fit the Disney way of doing things, Bill Peet, Disney veteran of thirty years, spent a lot of time sifting through the material to figure out what would work. He wrote the screenplay before storyboarding the film, against process, because of this. Bill Peet wanted to make the story fun and playful so avoided talk of the Knights of the Round Table, the Holy Grail, and Guinevere, for example[7]. I am glad that Disney didn’t stray into complex themes. As well as not fitting in with the Disney theme, I have found that the Arthurian legend gets complicated when it delves into wars and dark magic. With the BBC series Merlin (2008-12) I loved the first two series, but then by series three, Morgause and Morgana started being evil and that sucked all the fun out of it for me!

In 1949, the Disney Studios began completing their first storyboards for the movie, however, it wasn’t until Walt Disney saw the Broadway production of the musical Camelot in 1960, another adapted work based on the legend of King Arthur, that he felt confident enough to put The Sword in the Stone into production[8]. Also, Walt felt as Sleeping Beauty (1959) and The Sword in the Stone were so similar in style, both being set in medieval times, that a different style of film had to be released in between the two. This was One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961), which was written by Disney storyman Bill Peet.

After that, Bill Peet was then assigned The Sword in the Stone to work on by himself. At the same time, Marc Davis and Ken Anderson were working on their own movie, an adaptation of Chanticleer and the Fox. Davis and Anderson spent months working on their pitch to Walt and the concept was considered to be some of the best art seen at the Disney Studios in years. It would’ve been quite a different film to come from Disney Animation, as Floyd Norman stated in a later interview. Everyone at the studios thought it would be a guarantee that Walt would want to produce the film, but that was not the case. Walt said he didn’t like it and that was that. It was thought that Walt wanted to make a quick film with a low budget, in a similar fashion to Dumbo (1941), so he went with Bill Peet’s adaptation of The Sword in the Stone instead, where Peet was given a lot of freedom over the story.

Despite the disappointment that Anderson and Davis must have felt, the production of The Sword in the Stone was not marred with constant conflict and clashes. Though the story was difficult to adapt, given the source material, the animators worked together to devise clever characters; the Sherman Brothers were brought in to write the songs for it; and Woolie Reitherman was named as the sole director of the film, with The Sword in the Stone being the first Disney animated film to be directed by just one person. It was also only the second Disney animated film to be written by one person, Bill Peet. Walt Peregoy, lead background painter for Sleeping Beauty (1959), showed how much Disney Animation could push their colour palettes, with varied bright colours in The Sword in the Stone, where he practically painted all the backgrounds single-handedly.

But perhaps because of the lack of conflict, it resulted in a “bland” film that was lacking the Disney magic. Because of this, Walt Disney then made sure to be more involved in the following Disney animated film, The Jungle Book (1967), where he clashed with Bill Peet numerous times, leading to Peet leaving the Disney Studios altogether[9].

RECEPTION

The Sword in the Stone was released in December 1963, with it premiering in the UK a couple of weeks earlier than in the US. It made a small profit at the box-office, but nothing like the return of One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961), Disney Animation’s previous movie release. The critical reviews were not as good either, with many saying that the plot was thin, and that it strayed too far from the legend of King Arthur. I can see why this comment was made, as The Sword in the Stone does feel like a set of sequences strung together at times, but I still enjoy it. Others did find the movie funny and appreciated the smaller cast of characters, as Disney has been known to crowd their movies with too many. It was a mixed bag of reviews back then, but even audiences today don’t generally love it, probably for similar reasons. The Sword in the Stone was later re-released in theatres in 1972 and again 1983, before being available for home releases.

LEGACY

The Sword in the Stone did not receive any sequels or spin-offs, not even in the direct-to-video market, but, perhaps unsurprisingly, a live-action remake of the film was announced in 2015. A director was later attached to the project in 2018. Since then, there has been no further official news on the live-action film, so whether or not this will happen, I don’t know, but I will just say that there are so many live-action adaptations of the story of King Arthur that I’m not sure it’s worth Disney’s time and money to make it. The Disney Channel Original Movie Avalon High (2010) was based on a book by Meg Cabot, author of The Princess Diaries book series, which was itself loosely based on the Arthurian legend, and 20^th Century Fox, now owned by Disney, released The Kid Who Would Be King in 2019, which again is another adaptation of the same story. These are just Disney’s own versions of the story; countless other movie or television productions have also been created around King Arthur, Merlin, and/or Excalibur in just the last few years.

The Sword in the Stone, despite not being one of Disney’s “best” features, has left a legacy within some of the Disney theme parks. Five of the six parks have definitely had or currently have The Sword in the Stone, with Tokyo Disneyland seeming to be the only one that hasn’t; I am uncertain if they have had one in the past, but they certainly don’t have one now. There used to be an official ceremony in front of The Sword where guests would be given the opportunity to pull the sword. Normally, this honour went to a child, after some adults had already tried to pull it. Once the “worthy person” was chosen, The Sword would be able to be pulled just a few inches out of the stone, for safety reasons. A short Coronation Ceremony then took place, where the Ruler was given a crown and cape. They also received a “royal medallion” and certificate as a prize. For anyone who doesn’t want to believe in magic, The Sword is able to be lifted after magnets holding The Sword in place are disengaged by a cast member.

In the summer of 1983, the first The Sword in the Stone ceremony took place at Disneyland in front of the carousel, with Merlin appearing to officiate the ceremony. Variations of the show where also performed at Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World in Florida from 1993 to 2006, and at Disneyland Paris and Hong Kong Disneyland from their opening dates in 1992 and 2005 respectively. I don’t believe any of the ceremonies at any of the Disney theme parks are still going, but The Sword is available to anyone for a photo-op or just to test your strength. Nowadays, guests seem to be chosen at random to have The Sword lifted for them as they pull it; there isn’t a specific ceremony for this. Some have gone too far with this and managed to break The Sword though, so please be careful with it. In January 2020, at Disneyland, the sword was unavailable for a period of time as a guest broke the sword attempting to remove it and it had to be fixed. It was very old though, so probably not a big surprise that it broke! Shanghai Disneyland also has a sword in the stone, but doesn’t have a ceremony for it.

Alongside this, a Wizard Duel-inspired dark ride was considered for the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World when it was being constructed for its opening in 1971. This was so that the attractions were not simply copies of the ones over at Disneyland, with this dark ride being planned as a substitute for Snow White’s Scary Adventures, however, the idea was rejected by Roy O. Disney, who felt guests wanted some of the same attractions as the ones that could be found at Disneyland[10]. Also at the Magic Kingdom, Merlin used to be the “host” of the Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom interactive game, where guests used interactive screens and packs of cards to battle different Disney villains and help Merlin defeat Hades. It was a fun game, and something good to do when the park had very long queues for attractions. It ran from February 2012 until January 2021.

But that’s just one park. At Disneyland, the Magic Happens parade features Merlin and Arthur on their own float, complete with The Sword in the Stone. This is a random, but much appreciated, addition to the parade, as many of the other floats are themed to more popular Disney animated films, such as Frozen II (2019), Moana (2016), and The Princess and the Frog (2009). The Magic Happens parade first debuted at Disneyland in February 2020, but closed shortly after due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It then began again in February 2023 as part of the Disney100 celebrations and goes through months of running and then being replaced before coming back again. Disneyland’s carousel is named King Arthur Carrousel, due to the medieval faire surroundings of the carousel in Fantasyland, however, the carousel actually features scenes from Sleeping Beauty (1959) on the inside. The Sword in the Stone has been placed right in front of the carousel though.

At Disneyland Paris, along with their sword in the stone, there is a shop within the castle called Merlin l’Enchanteur (Merlin the Magician), which sells items such as jewellery, crystal, and glass displays. You can go past a miniature “The Sword in the Stone” during Le Pays des Contes de Fées attraction, their version of the Disneyland Storybook Land Canal Boats. Merlin and Arthur were also spotted recently for a meet-and-greet at the Annual Passholder Party at Disneyland Paris in March 2023. It is quite rare to see Arthur as a walkaround character. Disneyland Paris’ carousel is also named for the Arthurian tale – Le Carrousel de Lancelot, but as Lancelot isn’t mentioned in The Sword in the Stone, it isn’t a movie reference unfortunately.

At Hong Kong Disneyland, The Sword in the Stone was actually removed in 2023 to make place for their new “Dream Makers” statue, a statue of Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse sitting on a bench. It was located in front of the Cinderella Carousel. There are however two shops named after Merlin still, both situated in Fantasyland: Merlin’s Treasures and Merlin’s Magic Portraits. Merlin’s Magic Portraits is just a cart where you can pick up your Disney PhotoPass pictures, whereas Merlin’s Treasures is a souvenir shop housed in a cottage.

For meet-and-greets, it is difficult to see Arthur and Merlin at the parks now, especially after The Sword in the Stone ceremonies stopped. Merlin has featured at the Oogie Boogie Bash Halloween event as a meet-and-greet location, in 2022, and it seems that Arthur and Merlin have been spotted at some Special Events recently.

Thanks to The Sword in the Stone celebrating its 60^th anniversary in 2023, there has been more merchandise than usual related to the film in recent years, including pins, ornaments, and figurines. Disney had previously only tended to do big lines of merchandising for their most popular films, so with them now celebrating milestone anniversaries, and with the Disney100 celebrations in 2023, it’s good to see that fans of any animated Disney film can now find something related to their favourite film.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Although The Sword in the Stone did not span a great franchise or a huge fanbase, it has become one of the first introductions for many to the legend of King Arthur. Because it is aimed at a wide audience, it is accessible to many and is nice, light entertainment. Some of the animation is a bit basic in places, and the soundtrack is not one of Disney’s best, but I don’t care; that’s never been enough to take my focus away. I think The Sword in the Stone is funny and I find it sad that it may have been forgotten amongst all the big Disney hits.

Still, the never-ending fascination with the Disney Parks’ Swords in the Stone has kept the legend alive and people just won’t give up trying to pull them out!

Everyone knows we have a King of England already, right?

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Jim Korkis, Everything I Know I Learned from Disney Animated Feature Films (2015), ‘The Sword in the Stone (1963)’, pp. 52-54.

[2] Credit: Jim Fanning, ‘Did You Know? 10 Wizard Facts about Walt Disney’s The Sword in the Stone’, D23 (online), 21^st December 2018.

[3] Credit: Jim Fanning, ‘Did You Know? 10 Wizard Facts about Walt Disney’s The Sword in the Stone’, D23 (online), 21^st December 2018.

[4] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘Mad Madam Mim’, CartoonResearch.com, 21^st August 2020.

[5] Credit: Disney, Music Magic: The Sherman Brothers (2001).

[6] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘Mad Madam Mim’, CartoonResearch.com, 21^st August 2020.

[7] Credit: William Fischer, ‘How ‘The Sword in the Stone’ Pulled Walt Disney Back Into Animation’, Collider (online), 4^th August 2021

[8] Credit: Jim Korkis, Everything I Know I Learned from Disney Animated Feature Films (2015), ‘The Sword in the Stone (1963)’, pp. 52-54.

[9] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘Floyd Norman Remembers The Sword in the Stone’, MousePlanet.com, 1-8^th November 2017.

[10] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘Floyd Norman Remembers The Sword in the Stone: Part One’, MousePlanet.com, 1^st November 2017.

19th Jan 20242nd Oct 2025 by The Disney Purist

#24 The Fox and the Hound (1981)

BACKGROUND

The Fox and the Hound was the first Disney animated feature of the 1980s, and is the official moment that the “Nine Old Men”, Walt Disney’s original team of animators, retired from the Disney Studios, thus leaving the Studios’ legacy to a new crop of animators.

The 1980s in general were a transitional period for everyone involved, because after the new animators began to go it alone on new animated feature films, a major change to management would cause upheaval and tensions between the artists and the executives. But that wasn’t a problem during The Fox and the Hound, and yet it isn’t considered one of Disney’s best movies, with many stating that it was missing some of that charm and magic of their earlier films. It was a safe film to make, especially with this “changing of the guard”, but followed a similar pattern to those Disney films of the 1970s; they were nice enough, and entertaining for children, but they just weren’t exciting or anything new.

To be honest, I wasn’t looking forward to watching The Fox and the Hound. I hadn’t seen it in at least ten years, probably more than that. I don’t like nature particularly, and, like Bambi (1942), The Fox and the Hound was always a film I tended to avoid for that reason. I didn’t think I liked it; I thought I’d find it very boring, but in actual fact, it wasn’t so bad.

I agree that The Fox and the Hound is not ground-breaking, and some of the movie is quite dark. I hadn’t watched it in quite a few years, so I thought the bit where Chief fell off the train tracks was the ending, and I didn’t remember the bear fight scene at all. Whether I used to walk out of the room at that point when I was younger and hadn’t seen it before, I don’t know. But as someone who struggles to watch nature documentaries because nature is just horrible sometimes, this will never be one of my favourites. But I didn’t mind it as much as I thought I would, and the animation was more realistic and much less cartoony than some of the features that would follow in the 1980s.

Some parts of it were not particularly exciting for me though. I like the beginning, when Tod and Copper are young because they’re so cute, but I found the parts of them growing up to be a bit slow. The ending was good, in that it was dramatic, although it was perhaps too realistic to nature for me, but I think I am in the minority here as The Fox and the Hound seems to have a large number of loyal fans. I’m not as interested in other Disney films about animals like The Lion King (1994), and that’s because I connect more to stories about people than the animal kingdom, but, like I said, I didn’t really mind watching The Fox and the Hound; it was alright.

PLOT

As is clear from the title, this film is about a fox and a hound. The opening scene shows a fox carrying her young cub as she is being pursued by hunters and their hound dogs. The fox leaves her cub in some tall grass, near a fence by a farmhouse, before running away, only to be, presumably, shot dead. The fox cub is left alone. Luckily, a nearby owl, Big Mama, a woodpecker, Boomer, and a finch called Dinky, make sure that the farmer widow, Widow Tweed, takes the cub home to raise. At the same time, the farm next door, owned by hunter Amos Slade, brings home a hound puppy, telling his current dog, Chief, to train him to become a hunting dog. We find the fox has been named Tod, and the dog, Copper.

After Tod becomes bored one day, looking for someone to play with, he comes across Copper, and the two become unlikely friends, playing hide and seek together, and swimming in the nearby lake, neither aware of their natural rivalry to each other. However, Slade, annoyed at Copper constantly running off, places him on a leash, so when Tod comes over to play, he is unable to. Instead, Tod wakes up Chief accidentally and a chase ensues.

Slade, annoyed at this fox, tries to shoot him dead, however, Widow Tweed intervenes, with Slade warning her that if the fox comes on to his property again, he’ll kill it. Soon, Slade takes Copper and Chief away on a months-long hunt, while Tod waits patiently for his friend to return. Big Mama, Boomer, and Dinky try to tell Tod that when Copper returns, he’ll be a fully trained hunting dog and that they won’t be able to be friends anymore, but Tod doesn’t believe them. Sure enough, when Copper returns the next spring, both of them now adults, he warns Tod away from him, saying they can’t be friends now. During this conversation, Chief and Slade awaken and the two, plus Copper, chase after Tod, finally ending up near a railway track. Copper initially lets Tod escape, however, Chief does not, with both Tod and Chief getting on to the tracks, only for Chief to be hit by an incoming train, falling to the stream below, but, fortunately, only suffering a broken leg. But this is enough for Slade and Copper to decide to dedicate their time to solely hunting Tod.

Widow Tweed, realising she can no longer keep Tod safe, regretfully leaves him at a game reserve to live out the rest of his life. Tod has no idea how to look after himself and has a terrible first day there in the pouring rain, upsetting numerous other animals, including a very grouchy badger. The next morning, Tod is introduced to a young female fox, Vixey, by Big Mama. Vixey helps Tod learn how to live in the forest. However, soon the peace is ruined, as Slade and Copper trespass onto the reserve to hunt for Tod.

Tod and Vixey somehow escape Slade’s various traps and tricks, and get away. Slade and Copper encounter a bear, who attacks Slade, with him falling down the cliff, getting his foot caught in one of his own traps. Copper starts to attack the bear, but is quickly overpowered. Tod goes back to help him by attacking the bear himself. Tod and the bear continue their fight near to a waterfall, and both fall to the ground below. Tod is injured but alive – I presume the bear is killed; it’s not clear. As Slade comes up to Tod to finally shoot him dead, Copper stands in his way, wanting to protect Tod for saving them both. Slade accepts this and returns home with Copper, with Copper and Tod reconciling, at least briefly. The final scene shows Slade having to be nursed by Widow Tweed for his injured foot; Copper and Chief carrying on as normal with Chief having recovered; and Tod and Vixey are happy in the wild together, overlooking the farmhouses from the top of a nearby hill.

CHARACTERS & CAST

In the movie, Tod is quite a mischievous fox. He doesn’t initially warm to Widow Tweed but as soon as he gets inside the house and she starts doting on him, he becomes a bit spoilt. She can’t bear to stay angry at him, even after he upsets her cow by playing around in the barn because he’s bored. When he gets older, Tod still doesn’t seem to have learnt from his mistakes, continuing to push his luck with Slade and Chief, ultimately causing him to be given up by Widow Tweed and left at the reserve to fend for himself. If it weren’t for Vixey and Big Mama, I don’t know how long he would’ve survived because he’s never had to do anything for himself up until that point; it’s all just been having fun and playing around. We do see, though, that Tod is a very loyal friend. He’s not the one to turn his back on the friendship with Copper. Even when he’s being chased down and it’s quite clear Copper does not see them as friends anymore, Tod still risks his life to save Copper by going after the bear that’s attacking them, even though he’s unlikely to win that fight. References to Robin Hood and Maid Marian from Disney’s Robin Hood (1973) were made for the overall designs of Tod and Vixey. With both couples being foxes it made sense to do this, with Tod and Vixey obviously being made to look like real foxes that walk on four legs, instead of two.

Keith Coogan, credited here as Keith Mitchell, voices Young Tod, this being his first acting job. Coogan is the grandson of actor Jackie Coogan, who portrayed Uncle Fester in The Addams Family television series (1964-66), amongst other things. Adult Tod was voiced by acting legend Mickey Rooney, who appeared on stage and screen from the 1920s, as a child actor, into the 2010s. For Disney, he appeared in Pete’s Dragon in 1977 as the character Lampie, before voicing Tod here. He also made a brief cameo appearance in The Muppets (2011), during the song “Life’s a Happy Song”. Rooney was nominated for two Academy Awards during his career: in 1939 for his role in Babes in Arms (1939) with Judy Garland, and in 1980 for his part in The Black Stallion (1979). He won an Emmy and a Golden Globe in 1981 as the lead actor in the made-for-television film Bill (1981), alongside Dennis Quaid. In the 2000s and 2010s, Rooney reached a new audience playing the part of Gus, a retiring security guard, alongside Dick Van Dyke and Ben Stiller in the Night at the Museum trilogy of films (2006-14). Rooney passed away in April 2014 at the age of 93.

Tod’s love interest, Vixey was voiced by Sandy Duncan. She had appeared in Disney-produced comedy films, like The Million Dollar Duck (1971) and The Cat from Outer Space (1978), and later voiced the character of Queen Uberta in The Swan Princess (1994); that series of films was created by Richard Rich, co-director of The Fox and the Hound.

Copper, on the other hand, is torn as a puppy between being loyal to his Master, Amos Slade, and Chief, as well as wanting to be friends with Tod, his natural enemy. He has a relatively good balance between the two sides, I think, though he is forced to be more loyal to Slade and Chief when he gets put on a leash to stop him wandering off all the time. When Copper is grown, he realises that he can no longer be friends with Tod as his aim is to hunt now. He tries to let Tod down gently, but Tod won’t listen to him. Even when Copper lets Tod escape that night on the railway line, Tod’s stubbornness is basically what leads to Chief’s injury and Copper’s hatred towards him for injuring his mentor. Copper has to follow Slade’s orders as his Number 1 hunting dog, and a dog is always loyal to its human. Copper does value Tod’s friendship in the end, and is thankful to Tod for saving his life. They reconcile, but by this point, both of them know that things can’t go back to the way they were. Copper has fond memories of their childhood friendship, but knows it won’t happen again. I think both Copper and Tod are incredibly cute when they’re puppies, especially Copper when he’s trying to bark and howl! But I prefer Copper to Tod as adults, because he’s well aware of how the world is. Even though it’s not fair, he accepts it.

Kurt Russell provides the voice for Adult Copper. Russell has a long history with the Walt Disney Company, having first been cast by Walt Disney himself for a role in the film Follow Me, Boys! (1966) at the age of 14. He continued to appear in other Disney movies throughout the 1960s and 1970s, including in the Dexter Riley trilogy of movies. Russell would return to the Disney studios again in the 2000s to star in Miracle (2004) and Sky High (2005), and as Ego in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the 2010s. Outside of Disney, Kurt Russell is known for many movie roles, such as appearing alongside his wife Goldie Hawn in the comedy Overboard (1987), Mr. Nobody in some of the Fast and Furious films, and as Santa Claus in the Netflix film The Christmas Chronicles (2018) and its 2020 sequel. Young Copper also has a famous voice actor, this being Corey Feldman. As a child actor, he would appear in the likes of Gremlins (1984), The Goonies (1985), and Stand by Me (1986).

Chief is Copper’s mentor, essentially. He is Slade’s aging hunting dog, and knowing that he won’t be around for ever, Slade gets Copper as a puppy to take his place eventually. Chief is told to look after Copper and teach him how to act. At first, Chief is annoyed by this puppy, taking over his space, getting in the way, but soon enough, Chief grows to like Copper. I think the relationship between the two is quite sweet, and it’s clear that both of them are protective of each other – Chief, by telling Copper not to run off and to stay focused on what Slade’s orders and rules are, and Copper, by vowing to not let Tod get away with injuring Chief. Which is a bit dark, but still, it’s a nice sentiment! Pat Buttram voices Chief. Buttram was cast in Disney animated films through the 1970s, as the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood (1973), Luke in The Rescuers (1977), and Napoleon in The Aristocats (1970).

Then, there is Big Mama the owl, Boomer the woodpecker, and Dinky the finch. Big Mama is kind of like the conscience of the film, like Jiminy Cricket in a way. She finds someone to adopt Tod, when he’s left alone in the thick grass, telling him everything is going to be fine when he must be quite scared to be separated from his mother. She also encourages the friendship with Copper, at least initially when they are small, thinking it’s extraordinary that two natural enemies could ever be friends at any point in their lives. But then Big Mama is also the one who tries to tell Tod that when Copper returns from the hunting trip in the spring that he will be a different dog, and won’t be able to be friends with Tod anymore; that they are both rivals in nature and nothing can change that – not that Tod listens, of course! Big Mama also introduces Tod to Vixey, knowing that he needs someone to help him figure out how to live in the natural world. She’s a very important character in the film, helping to lead Tod to a good life, with or without the safety of Widow Tweed. Pearl Bailey voices Big Mama, as well as sings three of the movie’s five songs. Bailey was an American actress and singer, having appeared on stage in productions such as Hello, Dolly! in 1975 as the titular role, and on screen in films such as the musical Porgy and Bess (1959) and her own variety show, The Pearl Bailey Show, in 1971. The Disney animators liked how expressive Bailey was when performing her role as Big Mama and made sure to incorporate her movements into the character[1].

Boomer and Dinky aren’t overly relevant to the main storyline. They have their own sub-plot where they are constantly trying to catch a very sneaky and lucky caterpillar, Squeaks, by tricking it, coercing it, harassing it. Poor thing. The two birds are the comic relief in the movie, and I remember their scenes more vividly from childhood than the scenes of Adult Tod and Copper, so I must’ve wanted to focus on them and their silly antics more than the hunting storyline, unsurprisingly. In the end, though, Boomer and Dinky find that the caterpillar has become a brightly coloured butterfly, and they are entranced by it. The butterfly flies off, free from them at last. It’s a bit of a random subplot but I think it’s necessary for small children watching, to distract them from the horrors of nature. The voice of Dinky, Dick Bakalyan was Russell’s co-star in the Dexter Riley films, playing Cookie to Russell’s Dexter Riley. Boomer is voiced by Paul Winchell, perhaps most remembered for being the original voice of Tigger in the Winnie the Pooh shorts.

Amos Slade and Widow Tweed are the only two human characters in the film. They both have quite a lot in common. They are both older, single people; they are next door neighbours, both living on farmland – though Widow Tweed actually farms, and Slade uses his land for hunting purposes. They are both raising animals, though in different ways, with Slade being quite clear that Copper is going to become a hunting dog, and not a pet, and Widow Tweed almost using Tod as a substitute child. I’m reluctant to call Slade a villain. He’s a hunter and I don’t agree with hunting, but he’s not really the villain of the piece. He doesn’t shoot Tod at the end, when he could do; although Copper doesn’t want him to, that isn’t going to affect Slade’s decision making, so he must have accepted at that point that Tod did save his life and he should be spared. He’s also caring towards his dogs, so he’s not a bad guy, really. Widow Tweed is much more caring towards everyone though, even Slade. The relationship between the pair is quite tense at times, with Widow Tweed having to come to Tod’s defence often and protecting him against Slade. Slade is almost a bit fearful of Tweed, I think, as she can give it back as good as she gets it! I like them both as characters and the best part is at the end of the movie, when Tweed is bandaging Slade’s foot, being his nurse, even though he clearly wants to be left alone! They have a funny relationship. I wonder if they secretly like each other…

Amos Slade’s voice is Jack Albertson, Grandpa Joe in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971). Not that that’s all his known for, of course, but it’s what I know the voice from. Before this, he had won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in the drama The Subject Was Roses (1968), having already won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in the stage version in 1965. Albertson was also known for his role in the sitcom Chico and the Man (1974-78), for which he won a Primetime Emmy in 1976. The Fox and the Hound was Albertson’s final theatrical film role before his death in November 1981. Jeanette Nolan voices Widow Tweed. She is the voice of the character Ellie Mae in The Rescuers (1977). Her husband, John McIntire, also voiced a character in both The Fox and the Hound and The Rescuers. In The Fox and the Hound, he is the voice of the badger, and in The Rescuers he is Rufus, the orphanage cat. Another small voice appearance here is John Fielder as the voice of Porcupine. Fiedler is best known for being the original voice of Piglet in the Winnie the Pooh franchise.

PRODUCTION

There are a few intense scenes in The Fox and the Hound, with all that hunting, but the book this movie is based on is much worse. The book of the same name, written by Daniel P. Mannix, and published in 1967, is much more realistic to real-life, with more gruesome events. The book starts off with Copper and Chief fighting for rank in Master’s pack, with Copper not being a new addition to the hunting pack but being the favourite dog, until Master is attacked by a bear on a hunt and Chief fights back to save his life, thus becoming the new favourite. Tod has actually been spared by a different hunter who killed all of Tod’s family. The hunter, for some reason, decides to raise Tod for a few months. Unlike the movie, Tod returns to the wild, not for a safety reason, but purely because he’s older now and should live in the forest. Tod then starts to taunt Master’s hunting dogs, and the chase with Chief ensues, where he is actually killed by the train, and doesn’t just break his leg. Copper and Master decide to make it their mission to hunt the fox that killed Chief.

Tod’s life in the woods is explored in more detail in the book, with him having two litters of pups, both being killed by Master: one set are gassed to death, and the other are shot. The book then follows the change from rural to more urbanised settings, explaining that hunting is more difficult now, and that many foxes have become scavengers, with rabies rife among them. Every winter, Master and Copper continue to hunt Tod, but to no avail. After a rabies-ridden fox attacks a group of children, Master organises a hunt. This time, they do get Tod, with Copper relentlessly pursing him until he dies of exhaustion. Copper is close to death but is nursed back to health by Master. Eventually, Master gives in to his family and decides to go to a nursing home. The end of the book alludes to the fact that Copper is shot dead by Master as he wouldn’t be allowed to go with him to the home[2]…So, although the majority of the story was kept into Disney’s movie, at least in some form with some plot points being modified, it was toned down to be less dark and horrifying! I feel like the book was written to state the dangers of hunting, and the problems of destroying natural animal habitats, whereas the Disney movie’s message is about not conforming to stereotypes and tells us that friendships have no boundaries; they don’t need to be hindered by society.

The Fox and the Hound was the last film to be released during the time of the old management, when Ron Miller, son-in-law to Walt Disney, was the President of the Studios. It missed out on the cultural shift and clashes that would come from this change, especially when “outsiders” from other studios, became the ones in top management positions, however, The Fox and the Hound did not avoid all company politics.

The Fox and the Hound was always going to be a learning opportunity for the new crop of animators that were coming through, as the “Nine Old Men”, Walt Disney’s original team of animators and story men, would be retiring partway through production so the newer animators would have to finish it on their own. The likes of Woolie Reitherman, Eric Larson, Frank Thomas, and Ollie Johnston began the film by setting some of the characters and completing some animation before passing it over to the new animators, who had only been at the Disney Studios for a few years at this point and were eager to get started. It was also being used as a teaching opportunity before Ron Miller would let these animators loose on the production of The Black Cauldron (1985), which was being continuously delayed until Miller felt these new, young animators were ready to do the story justice[3].

This was a problem for some animators, who had already been working at the Disney Studios for a number of years, but were now not even the newest crop of animators nor were they the oldest – they were somewhere in the middle. Don Bluth, who had worked for Disney Animation in the 1950s for a few years, and then returned in 1971, had many creative differences with the team during production on The Fox and the Hound, and resigned from the Disney company in 1979 to set up his own company, taking fifteen other animators with him; this was around 17% of the total animation workforce. Naturally, this caused the release date of The Fox and the Hound to be pushed back by six months from Christmas 1980 to Summer 1981. Some of Don Bluth’s work, and that of the other departing animators, was used in the final film, such as Bluth’s animation of Widow Tweed and her cow, Abigail[4].

Wolfgang Reitherman, one of the “Nine Old Men”, was the person who advocated for the making of the film, after reading the original story by Daniel P. Mannix. He’d connected to the story as it made him think about the friendship his son had with the fox he was raising[5]. Reitherman would be the only one of the “Nine Old Men” to stay for the full production of the film. This may’ve been considered a good thing, however, Reitherman and Art Stevens, one of the co-directors, clashed numerous times on story issues, including over whether Chief would die or not. Stevens was against killing off Chief, going against Mannix’s original story, and upper management agreed, so he only suffered a broken leg. Woolie Reitherman felt that although the young animators made a good start with the animation for The Fox and the Hound, proving they were capable of replicating the “Disney style”, the approach to the film wasn’t unique or fantastical enough[6].

But this was a turning point in the history of Disney animation where “the baton was passed” to the younger animators, who would later be known for their involvement in the huge successes of Disney’s Renaissance Era, including names like Ron Clements, John Musker, and Glen Keane, with Keane animating the final bear fight. His staging of the scene was apparently inspired by Tramp battling the dogs in Lady and the Tramp (1955), that scene having been animated by Woolie Reitherman. Tim Burton even did some uncredited inbetweening animation on the character of Vixey, having been teamed up with Glen Keane to try and conform to the Disney style of animation. John Lasseter was also involved in his first animation for a Disney film on The Fox and the Hound, doing inbetweening work on the introduction of Copper and doing some work on Keane’s bear sequence[7].

Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, two of the “Nine Old Men” worked on many scenes of Copper and Tod, wanting to get across their own lifelong friendship into these characters and their relationship. They were both confident in leaving the legacy of the animation department to the younger animators, having taught them, many one-to-one, on the mechanics of animating, and the importance of developing strong personalities for characters. The older animators knew they would be retiring before the film was finished, and they felt it was almost reminiscent of the story between Copper and Chief in the movie, of the young pup effectively being trained to take over from the veteran hunting dog. The younger animators took every last opportunity they could to learn from these artists and story men, with them applying lessons like the importance of character to later films[8].

MUSIC

The Fox and the Hound does not benefit from an amazing soundtrack. There are five songs in the movie, but for me, these are not particularly exciting or memorable, and nothing compared to the music of later Disney films in the 1980s, going into the 1990s and beyond. Three of the soundtrack’s songs are sung by Pearl Bailey as Big Mama. The two least memorable are “Lack of Education” and “Appreciate the Lady”, both written by singer-songwriter Jim Stafford. I didn’t particularly enjoy either song. “Appreciate the Lady” was a bit too flirty for a Disney film, with Big Mama encouraging Vixey and Tod to become an item as she watches over them, singing from above. It is a bit of a weird scene, I think! But I don’t mind “Best of Friends”, the other song Big Mama sings. The song plays over scenes of Tod and Copper playing when they are young. It’s a sweet song, and is the most remembered song in the film. “Best of Friends” was written by Stan Fidel and Richard O. Johnston, son of the legendary Disney animator Ollie Johnston.

There is also the song “Goodbye May Seem Forever”, performed by Jeanette Nolan, mostly dialogue with a chorus coming in at the end. It’s a sad song for an equally sad scene, of Widow Tweed dropping Tod off at the reserve. It was written by Richard Rich, co-director of the film, and Jeffrey Patch. It shows how emotional both characters are by this ending to their relationship. This song wasn’t too bad either. The other “song” is “A Huntin’ Man”, written by Jim Stafford and performed by Jack Albertson as Slade. It’s just a short tune that Slade sings on his way back from hunts, and isn’t much of a song. I guess it’s more for atmosphere than anything else!

Buddy Baker composed the score for The Fox and the Hound. Baker was hugely involved in many of the musical compositions for Walt Disney Productions, having joined the studio in 1954 to work on some new TV productions that Walt Disney was planning. Baker arranged much of the music for the Winnie the Pooh shorts, and multiple live-action films by Disney. Baker was also involved in composing the scores for Disney theme park attractions such as The Haunted Mansion and Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln.

RECEPTION

The Fox and the Hound grossed more than $60 million worldwide against a $12 million budget on its release in July 1981, however, it divided critics. Some criticised the movie for its darker plot elements, feeling it was unsuitable for young children, but there were also those who felt the story was shielding the audience from the reality of the natural world, and that they could’ve gone further. Others said the movie was not ground-breaking, and was another cartoony feature from Disney, after a string of mostly disappointing animated films in the 1970s. The characters and the music felt familiar, and the message of the movie around how society determines our behaviour was satisfactory, but it was only deemed “good enough”. The only real accolade The Fox and the Hound received was to be nominated at the 9th Saturn Awards in 1982 for Best Fantasy Film. It did not win, losing to Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), however, this was before animated features received their own categories at awards ceremonies. Later reviews would be more favourable towards the Disney movie. It has since been re-released in theatres, and on VHS, DVD, and Blu-Ray over the years, usually for milestone anniversaries.

LEGACY

Although The Fox and the Hound is not a particularly popular Disney animated movie, it did receive a direct-to-video sequel: The Fox and the Hound 2. This sequel was released in 2006, and is set during the childhood of Tod and Copper, so around the first half of the original film. It follows Copper as he longs to join a band of singing stray dogs, called “The Singin’ Strays”, who he sees at the County Fair with Tod. Meanwhile, Tod struggles to accept that his friend might want to join a travelling band instead of play with him. Since The Fox and the Hound 2 came out 25 years after the original film, the voice cast is different. Young Tod and Young Copper were obviously not going to have the same voice actors, so this time they are voiced by Jonah Bobo, who appeared as Steve Carell’s son, Robbie, in Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011), and Harrison Fahn respectively. Interestingly, Patrick Swayze voices Cash, one of the strays in the band, in what is apparently his only voice role. Country music singer and actress Reba McEntire voices another dog, Dixie. Unsurprisingly, this sequel received mostly negative reviews, as many others have.

Not letting the initial reaction to the original film or the sequel put Disney off the franchise, in 2019, a live-action remake of The Fox and the Hound was announced, however, there has been no further news on this since then, so it looks uncertain whether this will be going ahead. Disney announced in 2025 that many of their live-action remakes had been put on hold, so this is probably what has happened here.

At the Disney theme parks, there is very little recognition for The Fox and the Hound, however, thanks to the 40^th anniversary of the film in 2021, and the Disney100 celebrations that went on in 2023, there has been more merchandising available in recent years. For example, two plush toys, one of Young Tod and another of Young Copper, have been available to purchase recently, along with a Loungefly backpack, mugs, and various Christmas ornaments. A Disney Traditions figurine of Tod and Copper playing on a log also exists, though new ones don’t seem to be currently being made.

A very small reference to The Fox and the Hound has been spotted at the Disney theme parks, this time at Walt Disney World Resort, but seemingly only comes out during the Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival. Starting in 2022, Squeaks the Caterpillar was first seen on Sneezy’s nose, as part of the Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs topiary display. There is likely to be some reference to The Fox and the Hound, and other Disney nature-based films, at a new Walt Disney World resort, named Disney Lakeshore Lodge, set to open in 2027. This is basically a revamp of the original plans for Reflections – A Disney Lakeside Lodge, with construction initially beginning in 2020. It was later put on hold.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Though The Fox and the Hound may not be Disney’s most well-known story, it came with an important message: that strong friendships do not have to be separated by circumstances or societal norms. Tod and Copper overcome prejudice and stereotyping over the years to reassert their friendship, with Tod, a fox, risking his life against a huge bear, with the odds not being in his favour, to save his friend, Copper, a hound dog. This lesson is still relevant and will remain relevant forever, so it is a shame that more people don’t look at The Fox and the Hound as a “worthy” Disney film.

The Fox and the Hound, after the surprise success of The Rescuers (1977), unfortunately did not kick-off a new era of brilliant Disney movies. In fact, the 1980s would become one of the most troubling times for Disney animation and the Walt Disney Company as a whole, but it was still important for other reasons, signifying some endings, as well as some new beginnings.

It signalled a new era at the Disney Studios, allowing the newer, young animators their chance to break free from the constraints of Walt Disney’s era, and be able to go forward with their own ideas, eventually giving the world the brilliant movies of the Disney Renaissance Era.

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Disney, Passing the Baton: The Making of The Fox and the Hound (2003).

[2] Credit: Mari Ness, ‘Well, I’m Traumatized: The Fox and the Hound’, Tor.com (online), 24^th September 2015.

[3] Credit: Don Hahn, Waking Sleeping Beauty (2009).

[4] Credit: Jim Korkis, Everything I Know I Learned from Disney Animated Feature Films (2015), ‘The Fox and the Hound (1981)’, pp. 70-72.

[5] Credit: Brittany DiCologero, ‘Today in Disney History, 1981: The Fox and the Hound Theatrical Debut’, WDW Magazine (online), 10^th July 2021.

[6] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘Animation Anecdotes #147’, CartoonResearch.com, 31^st January 2014.

[7] Credit: Jim Korkis, Everything I Know I Learned from Disney Animated Feature Films (2015), ‘The Fox and the Hound (1981)’, pp. 70-72.

[8] Credit: Disney, Passing the Baton: The Making of The Fox and the Hound (2003).

12th Jan 20242nd Oct 2025 by The Disney Purist

#31 Aladdin (1992)

BACKGROUND

After struggling through the troubling times of the 1980s, Disney animators were having a much better time in the 1990s because this was the so-named Disney Renaissance Era, a time when animation as a medium was not just being seen as silly cartoons, but an artform in and of itself – and the Disney Studios were the catalyst for this change in public perception.

Aladdin followed in the footsteps of The Little Mermaid (1989), which had entertained people with its fairy-tale format and Broadway musical style, and Beauty and the Beast (1991), which went one step further and entranced viewers with its magically romantic story. Beauty and the Beast set new ground as it became the first animated film to be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards.

It was quite a time for the artists and the company as a whole, as they set higher and higher standards for themselves in terms of the animation, the music, and the story of each of their full-length feature animated releases.

Luckily, Aladdin did not disappoint, although it was not nominated for Best Picture. Instead, Aladdin surpassed Beauty and the Beast with its box-office takings, becoming the highest-grossing film of 1992, and setting opening records in some countries. It beat out such 1992 films as A Few Good Men, Batman Returns, and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.

Aladdin and its characters continue to be popular to this day, with Princess Jasmine becoming one of the official Disney Princesses, and Jafar being a much-loved villain. Genie has always been a fan-favourite character, and “A Whole New World” is constantly being performed both in and outside of the Walt Disney Company. It has stood the test of time.

I have seen Aladdin so many times throughout my life. It’s one of those films that I revisit often just because I’ve liked it since I was little. It’s a typical Broadway-style Disney tale and those are the animated films I like the best. Disney’s version of Aladdin is likely to be most children’s introduction to the tale, although the story has been adapted for pantomimes and small theatre productions as well.

PLOT

The plot of the Disney movie begins with a small peddler trying to sell random products to the viewer, all of which either break or are not as he describes. Eventually, the man shows us a rusty old lamp, and tells us that this lamp once changed the course of a young man’s life and that others have sought to take it for themselves, taking us into the story. Some time ago, one night, a tall, evil-looking man finds the entrance to the Cave of Wonders, the area which houses the magic lamp. He orders a thief named Gazeem to go in after it, but the Cave, which has the face of a tiger, tells them that only one can enter the cave: a diamond in the rough. Gazeem is not this person and the Cave swallows him whole. The man is determined to find this one person so he can get his hands on the lamp.

We then meet Aladdin, an orphaned street urchin who is constantly dodging the city of Agrabah’s guards as he steals food for himself and his pet monkey, Abu. He dreams of living in the palace, with no worries, finally becoming someone worthy, but is constantly disrespected and ignored by society. On the other side of the city, we see Princess Jasmine, who lives in the palace with her father, the Sultan. He wishes that she marries a prince by her next birthday, but she wants to marry for love so is stubbornly rejecting every suitor her father presents to her. She hates life in the palace, feeling trapped and not in control.

One day, she decides to go into the marketplace dressed as a commoner to see what life is like – though Jasmine is still wearing her big gold earrings and a sapphire headband, so how she expected to blend in, I don’t know! Here, she meets Aladdin, and tells him part of her life story: that her father is forcing her to get married, but leaves out the part about being the princess. Aladdin tells Jasmine that his life is difficult but he tries to make the most of it. The two realise they have a lot in common and there is a spark between them.

As they about to kiss, Aladdin is captured by the guards and taken to the palace dungeon, under the illusion that he is being arrested for kidnapping Princess Jasmine. In actual fact, the Grand Vizier, Jafar, needs him to retrieve the lamp from inside the Cave of Wonders, as Aladdin is “the diamond in the rough”; he has worked this out by using magic and the Sultan’s diamond ring. The Sultan is regularly hypnotised by Jafar, using his cobra-shaped staff, to do things for Jafar. Aladdin agrees to go into the Cave of Wonders as Jafar, disguised as an old beggar, asks him to do. The deal is Aladdin gets the lamp for the beggar and then he will get a reward. The only rule, given by the Cave of Wonders himself, is to touch nothing but the lamp. Aladdin gets to the lamp, having made friends with a magic carpet on the way, but as he picks up the lamp, Abu, not having much self-control, being a monkey and all, picks up a large ruby. Though Abu replaces it when he is scolded by the Cave of Wonders, everything in the cave melts, and Aladdin and Abu must escape quickly; Magic Carpet helps them fly through the cave, but at the last moment, Carpet is hit by a rock and pinned to the ground. Aladdin and Abu are thrown at the entrance steps, but cannot get up. Jafar asks for the lamp; Aladdin hands it over, but instead of helping them out, Jafar attempts to stab Aladdin, to give him his “eternal reward”. Abu bites Jafar, who lets go of Aladdin. As he falls to the ground, Carpet wriggles free of the rock and catches him before he hits the ground. Jafar is about to leave, believing Aladdin to be dead and that everything has turned out great for him, but as he looks for the lamp in his cloak, he finds it’s gone!

In the dark cave, trapped underground, Aladdin tries to work out how they get out. Luckily, it turns out Abu stole the lamp. Aladdin takes it from him and rubs it to try and read the inscription written on it. A cloud of smoke starts to come out of the lamp. An all-powerful genie appears, telling Aladdin that he has been trapped in there for 10,000 years, but now works for him, and grants Aladdin three wishes. Again, there are more rules here, with those being the Genie can’t kill anyone, can’t make anyone fall in love, and can’t bring people back from the dead. Aladdin uses this to his advantage and tries to get a freebie; he says to the Genie that he can’t have much power if he’s limited by those three things and says he doubts the Genie can even get them out of the cave. Angry at Aladdin’s lack of trust, Genie takes Abu, Aladdin, and the Carpet out of the cave and to some random island.

Here, the Genie realises he was tricked. Annoyed for a minute, he soon calms down and asks Aladdin to make his first real wish. As Aladdin can’t ask the Genie to get Jasmine to fall in love with him, he decides to become a prince. After parading through the city on his way to the Sultan’s palace, showing off his riches and wealth, Aladdin, now Prince Ali, meets with the Sultan and asks to be introduced to his daughter, Jasmine. At the same time, Jafar has tried to convince the Sultan that the Grand Vizier is supposed to marry the princess if a suitable husband is not found within the correct timeframe. The Sultan would much rather have Jasmine marry Prince Ali so says he shall meet with Jasmine – except Jasmine hears all of this and angrily tells all three men that she is “not a prize to be won”.

The Genie says to Aladdin that he should just tell Jasmine the truth; he doesn’t but he does try to win her over. They go on a magic carpet ride all over the world, and Jasmine starts to like him. But she is suspicious and accuses him of being the boy she met in the marketplace. He says that he was, but that he is still a prince who sometimes dresses as a commoner to be normal, something he knows Jasmine will understand. Jasmine and Aladdin fall in love that night, but on Aladdin’s return, he is tied up and thrown into the sea by the guards to stop him interfering in Jafar’s plans. Luckily, the Genie’s lamp is in Aladdin’s hat and the Genie is called. He sees Aladdin drowning and saves him as the second wish.

Back at the palace, Jafar hypnotises the Sultan to tell Jasmine that Jafar will marry her. She is furious, saying she wants to marry Prince Ali. As Jafar is about to say Ali left Agrabah, Aladdin arrives to save the day. He smashes Jafar’s cobra staff, breaking the spell on the Sultan. The Sultan orders Jafar be arrested but he vanishes in a puff of smoke, but not before he sees that Ali has the lamp, now realising Ali must be that street rat, Aladdin.

As Aladdin wrestles with his conscience over the fact he is going to marry Jasmine because of a lie, he tells the Genie who cannot wish him free with his third wish as was agreed since he might need his help again. Understandably, the Genie is upset and retreats back into his lamp. Iago, Jafar’s sidekick parrot, throws his voice and pretends to be Jasmine to lure Aladdin away from his room so he can steal the lamp. Iago passes it to Jafar, the two hiding within their secret lair. The Genie is now under Jafar’s control.

Aladdin meets Jasmine as the Sultan is about to announce their impending marriage to the crowd, however, as Jafar’s first wish he wants to be sultan so the crowd scatters as the Sultan’s clothes are taken off him and the Genie moves the palace to higher ground. For his second wish, Jafar chooses to be the most powerful sorcerer in the world as he is not being accepted as Sultan. Now, Jafar makes the others bow to him and sends Aladdin to the ends of the world. Thankfully, the Magic Carpet was sent along with Aladdin and Abu so simply flies them back to Agrabah, away from that snowy, cold place.

At the palace, Jafar is making full use of his power and orders the Genie to make Jasmine fall in love with him, so she can be his “trophy wife”. The Genie is about to say that is something he cannot do, when Jasmine spots Aladdin in the palace. She pretends to be in love with Jafar as a distraction, but the kiss is a step too far and Aladdin is seen in the reflection of Jasmine’s crown. Jafar puts Jasmine in a full-size hourglass and uses his powers to battle Aladdin, at one point becoming a huge snake. Aladdin is caught but comes up with a new plan; he convinces Jafar that the Genie is more powerful than him, which makes Jafar consider things. Jafar decides to become a genie for his third and final wish, forgetting that that means being trapped in a lamp forever. Jafar grabs Iago as he is sucked into the lamp and the two are thrown into the Cave of Wonders by the Genie.

The Genie offers to make Aladdin a prince again, as he was revealed to be the street rat by Jafar and now is not allowed to marry Jasmine, but he refuses, instead doing as he promised and setting the Genie free. Genie gets ready to go off travelling and says goodbye to Aladdin, saying that he’ll always be a prince to him. This makes the Sultan realise that Aladdin is a worthy husband to Jasmine, prince or not, and that he’ll simply change the law, allowing Jasmine and Aladdin to marry. They are married shortly after and speed away on their magic carpet, as the Genie pops up from the bottom of the screen: “made you look”.

CHARACTERS & CAST

Aladdin is the hero of the story, but unlike previous fairy-tale Disney films, he is not a prince – and that’s the whole point. He’s meant to be an underdog figure in the movie. He spends most of the movie thinking that he needs wealth to be happy, and that he is not good enough or worthy of anything, which is one of the reasons he makes himself a prince, because then he thinks he’ll feel better about himself. Of course, he doesn’t, and when everything has gone wrong, and he has no-one to help him, Aladdin has to rely on himself to fix things, and he succeeds, proving he doesn’t need to be anyone but himself. That’s an important realisation that I think society has lost in today’s “social media age”.

Glen Keane was the key animator for Aladdin. Aladdin was redesigned a number of times, as they couldn’t figure out how tough, how tall, how handsome, how normal he should be. Disney didn’t want him to be the boring hero, or fall into the stereotypical look of a hero. Originally, he was meant to be quite small but Jeffrey Katzenberg, the chairman of Disney animation at the time, didn’t believe Jasmine would be with Aladdin if he looked like that. He was “too Michael J. Fox”, and “not enough Tom Cruise”, apparently. They figured out the right look for him in the end though, with Glen Keane saying that MC Hammer was even an inspiration for the design of Aladdin, especially with Aladdin’s trousers and his energetic movements during his scenes where he is running away from the guards.

Scott Weinger voices Aladdin. Weinger saw himself in the character at times, as he had recently moved to L.A. and felt like he was the underdog in a big, tough town, like Aladdin. He is good at communicating the vulnerability of the character. At the time, Weinger was appearing as Steve Hale in the sitcom Full House, which he did from 1991 to 1995. Since then, Weinger has continued to return to voice Aladdin in other Disney projects, and also returned as Dr. Steve Hale in the revival of Full House, named Fuller House (2016-20).

As for Jasmine, Disney wanted something new and fresh for the character, so she would stand apart from the other Disney princesses, who, at least back in the earlier days of the animation studio, had been relatively passive and just generally “sweet”. Animator Mark Henn actually used an old photo of his sister, Beth, as inspiration for the design of Jasmine. Linda Larkin, who voiced the character, wanted to make sure she brought something strong to Jasmine, to show that she is spirited and powerful, not a victim. I think Jasmine is a good character, and despite the recent critique she has had for “not having control of her future”, I think she does. Jasmine is not one to stand by and watch others decide her life for her. This is evident when she overhears Jafar, Aladdin, and the Sultan discussing her and she responds: “I am not a prize to be won.” Linda Larkin is most known for her continued commitment to the character of Jasmine, returning to voice her for Disney multiple times.

For the sidekicks, Abu, the monkey, was voiced by Frank Welker. Frank Welker has a long history of voice acting for Disney and non-Disney projects, with him voicing many animal characters. For Abu, Welker initially started by just making “monkey noises”, but then added in human emotion to the noises to make Abu seem more like he was aware of the action and emotion going on with the characters, unlike a regular monkey. In Aladdin, Welker also voices the deeply mysterious Cave of Wonders, as well as Jasmine’s docile pet tiger, Rajah, who is her only friend in the palace.

Another sidekick, the Magic Carpet was going to be completely computer-animated. Previously, Disney had just used the computer for backgrounds, like in The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast – or big action scenes, such as the escape from the Cave of Wonders in Aladdin – so a whole computer-animated character would’ve been ground-breaking. However, they tried this and it made the carpet look too “computer-like”, so they drew the carpet by hand, including human-like movements to make it seem playful and emotive. Then, they decided to layer a texture to the carpet via the computer to give it an authentic feel. The design of the carpet includes elements of the film’s storyline, instead of being a truly authentic Middle Eastern-style rug.

Now for the “sidekick” who became the central focus of Aladdin for many. The Genie was voiced by legendary actor and comedian Robin Williams, who died tragically in 2014, gone from the world much too soon. Genie is perhaps his most iconic and popular movie role; it certainly widened his audience anyway. Contrary to belief, Genie was not Williams’ first animated voice role as he had voiced the character of Batty Koda for FernGully: The Last Rainforest, released in April 1992, seven months before the release of Aladdin.

Robin Williams was always the person Disney had in mind to play Genie, as he was not only known in the 80s and 90s for his comedy, but also for his dramatic roles. These included the hugely successful sitcom Mork & Mindy (1978-82), where Williams played the alien Mork, and then the more serious Good Morning, Vietnam (1987) and Dead Poets Society (1989), where on both occasions he was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar. Jeffrey Katzenberg did not believe Williams would agree, as most famous actors would not go near animated films at the time, however, Eric Goldberg, the animator for Genie, went to one of Robin Williams’ stand-up shows and sketched some visualisations of his jokes to show Williams to convince him to voice Genie. He was impressed and agreed.

Robin Williams gave so much to his role that Disney had extensive amounts of footage, impressions, and improvisation to cut down. From watching the film, you can see how much fun he had with the character. Scott Weinger got to record some of his lines with Genie, including the scene on Jasmine’s balcony where Genie is a bee, and spent most of his time trying very hard not to laugh. Disney loved Williams’ comedic moments, but they were also pleased with his sincere emotional scenes. The artistic style of Al Hirschfeld was used as inspiration for the design of Genie, as his style captured dynamic energy well. One shape would lead into another, which worked perfectly for Genie and his shape-shifting, getting the pose to fit the essence of the personality being impersonated.

Jafar is the villain of the piece, and he is my third-favourite Disney villain. I particularly like his voice, which sounds both menacing and eloquent. Disney wanted Jafar to sound refined, as though he had spent his childhood in boarding schools, ignored by his parents so he ended up “misunderstood”. This general idea was put into a deleted song for Jafar called “Why Me?”, which would’ve taken place during his actual song “Prince Ali (Reprise)”. I listened to “Why Me?” and didn’t like it. It sounded too much like he was whining about his life. I prefer villains’ backgrounds not be specifically stated to the audience; it’s much better to think they are just evil for no reason than to make them too normal and relatable. Jafar was designed by animator Andreas Deja, who took a while to come up with the final design, as some of his initial sketches made Jafar look too silly or cartoon-y. He ended up combining the best parts of a few of those, like the idea for his wide mouth, and his pointy shoulders and cloak. In contrast to the swirly, free lines of Genie, Jafar is drawn with straight, deliberate lines to match his strict character. Jonathan Freeman, who voices Jafar, put on an oily, sneery voice for Jafar. Freeman is another one of this voice cast who has returned to Disney to voice Jafar, and for the Aladdin musical, he even played the role of Jafar in the original Broadway production, not departing the cast until January 2022.

Jafar’s sidekick Iago, the fast-talking, manic parrot, was voiced by Gilbert Gottfried, with his easily distinguishable voice! Iago was originally going to be a stuffy butler-type sidekick, but the character was changed when Gottfried came on to the project. Gottfried spent much of his recording time improvising and ad-libbing[1]. The look of Iago was inspired by animator Will Finn’s pet cockatoo, who alternated between moments of quiet and then loudness. Gottfried began his career as a stand-up comedian, before moving into film roles. Some of these earlier credits include Beverly Hills Cop II (1987) as Sidney Bernstein, and the 1990 film Problem Child and its 1991 sequel as Mr. Peabody; these also starred John Ritter. Gottfried continued to voice Iago for Disney, and voiced Berkeley Beetle in the Don Bluth film Thumbelina (1994). In 1994, he also had a small role as Bert Banner in Saved by the Bell: Wedding in Las Vegas. Gilbert Gottfried continued to appear in television and film projects throughout his life. Gilbert Gottfried passed away in April 2022. Also, very sad and gone too soon, like Robin Williams.

PRODUCTION

The original story for Aladdin comes from one of the tales included in One Thousand and One Nights, or Arabian Nights as it is generally known in English, a collection of Middle Eastern folk tales. The text was first translated from Arabic in the 1700s by Frenchman Antoine Galland, increasing its popularity and bringing further translations to the West. It has been said in recent years that Galland added “Aladdin and the Magic Lamp” to the collection, as it was not an original Middle Eastern tale, after hearing the story from a Syrian man called Diyab. He told Galland this story as well as others such as “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves” which was also not an original story. These stories made it into Galland’s translation of the One Thousand and One Nights, which was completed in 1717. It is unclear where Diyab first heard the story, and it is debated whether it is based on a real person or not[2].

There are a few differences between the original tale and the Disney film, as there normally are. Mostly notably, Aladdin was not an orphan; his father had died, but his mother was still alive, and played a big role in the story as she gave Aladdin the motivation to make something of himself. The Grand Vizier is not the villain of the story either; he wants the princess to marry his son, but a sorcerer is the real villain, who tricks Aladdin into retrieving a lamp but traps him in the cave instead – as Jafar does, so I guess Jafar is a combination of the two characters. There were also two genies – one from a ring that Aladdin has who frees him from the cave, and the other from the lamp. There were also no magic carpets, and no desire for Genie to be free at the end. That was an American value put onto the character by Disney, to give him more of an emotional arc, I suppose. Disney added the three-wish limit[3].

It wasn’t until 1924 that Hollywood first adapted the story for screen. This was the silent film The Thief of Baghdad, which was then remade several times, including in the Technicolor 1940 film of the same name. Even Disney took some inspiration from this story as they made the short film Mickey in Arabia, which starred Mickey Mouse, voiced by Walt Disney, and Minnie Mouse. It was released in 1932. Then, in 1992, we got an animated film[4].

Aladdin was in production at a time when the Disney Studios were booming, with the surprise success of Beauty and the Beast, which was up for the Academy Award for Best Picture during production on Aladdin, being a huge milestone. It was a time when Disney were commissioning lots of new projects, including the Beauty and the Beast Broadway musical production, which began in 1994, A Goofy Movie (1995), and Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), and their theme parks were pushing for more. The animators were working flat out and struggling with their workloads and deadlines.

Ron Clements and John Musker, directors of The Great Mouse Detective (1986) and The Little Mermaid (1989), joined production on Aladdin, writing a draft of the screenplay and screening an early version of the film for Jeffrey Katzenberg in April 1991. They were concerned as nobody liked it, including Katzenberg, and thought the movie would be cancelled. Instead, on a day to be known as “Black Friday”, Katzenberg demanded that the whole film be reworked and rewritten but still needed to be kept to the schedule date of November 1992. There was incredible pressure. They had eight days to restructure the film, and basically work out an entire new story. Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio were brought in as writers. Changes were made, such as Aladdin’s mother being removed from the film. It came together quickly, and the new outline was pitched to Katzenberg who said to go with that[5].

To authentically represent the location and time period of Aladdin, this being a movie set in the Middle East around the 15^th century, some of the Disney team visited ancient sites in countries like Iran to find architectural and cultural details that could be used in the animation of the film. Some of these included the onion-domed buildings, which we see as the Sultan’s palace in the film, as well as the recurring designs that resemble calligraphy brush strokes. They also looked at colour palettes carefully for the film, finding that blue matches the colour of water, a life-source especially in desert areas, so the heroes of Aladdin are depicted in blue, or similar “cool” colours, whereas the villains are “hot” colours like red and black[6]. Another example of this is the Sultan’s palace, which is quite open and airy, full of egg-shaped columns, however, when it becomes Sultan Jafar’s palace, it turns into this dark place with straight columns, almost resembling a dungeon, like his secret lair.

MUSIC

Since Disney had now become known for their Broadway-style musical soundtracks after the successes of The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast, there was pressure on the songwriting team of Alan Menken and Howard Ashman to deliver for Aladdin. Sadly, Howard Ashman died in March 1991 so was not able to complete his work with Menken on this film as he had with their two previous films. Lyricist Tim Rice, who had collaborated with Andrew Lloyd Webber on various stage musicals, was brought in to finish the music with Menken. Rice would go on to work with Elton John on the music for The Lion King (1994) and work on additional music for the Broadway musical of Beauty and the Beast in 1994. Some of Ashman’s original songs were cut from the film when the story changed.

The three songs that Ashman and Menken wrote for Aladdin and made it into the film are “Arabian Nights”, performed by Bruce Adler as the peddler, and “Friend Like Me” and “Prince Ali” performed by Robin Williams as the Genie. “Arabian Nights” is a good song to set the scene of the film. The song was extended and, for me, much improved as the opening song of the Aladdin musical, where it is performed by the Genie, but it’s ok here.

The two show-stopping numbers “Friend Like Me” and “Prince Ali” are fan-favourite songs from Aladdin, though I believe it is Robin Williams’ performance that actually makes these songs so popular with viewers! He has a lot of fun with his comedic impressions here. Of the two, I prefer “Prince Ali” but that’s probably because “Friend Like Me” is always being used by Disney in compilation albums and theme park shows so I think I’ve overheard it!

Tim Rice came in and wrote the lyrics for the songs “One Jump Ahead” and its reprise, “Prince Ali (Reprise)”, and “A Whole New World”. “One Jump Ahead” is performed by Brad Kane, singing as Aladdin instead of voice actor Scott Weinger. Kane continued to provide the singing voice for Aladdin in the two Aladdin sequels that followed the 1992 film. Though “One Jump Ahead” has some funny moments as Aladdin is running from the guards in the marketplace, such as his random and contrasting interactions with the women in the area, it’s not the best song for me. I do quite like the reprise though, as Aladdin wishes people wouldn’t just seem hims as a “street rat”. It’s a quiet, reflective song, which brings us closer to Aladdin as we find out just what he’s looking for in life.

“A Whole New World” is the big love ballad of Aladdin, performed by Brad Kane as Aladdin, and Lea Salonga as Jasmine, not Linda Larkin, her voice actor. Lea Salonga originated the role of Kim in the debut production of Miss Saigon in London in 1989, for which she won the Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical. Salonga then went on to star as Kim in the Broadway production of the show in 1991. She also returned to Disney to sing for the character of Mulan in their 1998 film. I like the song in the movie, however, this is the only version I like. Many singers and celebrities have since sung this song, with some being better than others. Again, this has led to me “overhearing” the song and not liking it so much anymore. Singers Peabo Bryson and Regina Belle recorded a pop version of the song for Aladdin’s end credits. This version topped the US Billboard Hot 100 chart in March 1993 for one week, replacing Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You”, and was the first song from a Disney animated film to top the US Billboard Hot 100.

“Prince Ali (Reprise)” is my favourite song in the soundtrack as it is Jafar’s villain’s song, performed by Jonathan Freeman. It shows Jafar using his power to destroy all of Aladdin’s dreams and he begins to go mad with power. It’s a short song, just over a minute, but it fully demonstrates just what lengths Jafar is willing to go to to get what he wants.

For Menken’s score, “Happy End in Agrabah” is a highlight for me, and is another one of Menken’s brilliant finale pieces. It moves you through so many emotions: triumph that Jafar has been bested; sadness that Aladdin and Jasmine can’t be together; happiness that Aladdin finally freed the Genie; and then more happiness when the Sultan allows Aladdin and Jasmine to marry. It’s a real rollercoaster and all in about four minutes!

The Aladdin soundtrack won numerous awards, including Best Original Score and Best Original Song for “A Whole New World” at the Academy Awards, where “Friend Like Me” was also nominated, and then two Golden Globes in the same categories. “Friend Like Me” and “Prince Ali” were also nominated for Best Original Song at the Golden Globes that year. “A Whole New World” won three Grammy Awards: one for Song of the Year, making it the first and only Disney song to win in this category so far; Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals; and Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or for Television. The soundtrack also won two Grammy Awards: Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media and Best Musical Album for Children.

RECEPTION

Aladdin did incredibly well on its release in November 1992, partly thanks to a good promotional campaign. After eight weeks, Aladdin became the most successful animated Disney film at the US box office, overtaking Beauty and the Beast. The Lion King (1994) would overtake Aladdin on its release two years later though. Worldwide, Aladdin grossed over $500 million and was the most successful film of 1992. Aladdin also won the Annie Award for Best Animated Feature, and Best Fantasy Film at the Saturn Awards. Scott Weinger and Robin Williams also won awards at the Saturn Awards for their performances as Aladdin and Genie. Robin Williams received the award for Best Comedic Performance at the MTV Movie Awards.

Though many reviews were positive, some were mixed, especially when comparing Aladdin to Disney’s previous two releases. Despite the soundtrack’s huge success, some did not find the music as good as the two previous films, and I would have to agree with this. Others said that the story was exciting, but that the Genie was really the highlight of the film. Many reviewers also criticised Disney’s Aladdin for their perpetuation of Middle Eastern and Asian stereotypes. This was further highlighted by the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, who said that Aladdin and Jasmine have Anglicised features, basically “whitewashing” them, whereas the villains of the piece, like Jafar and the street merchants have hugely exaggerated “Arabic” features. The merchants are the only characters to have Arabic accents, whereas the main characters all have American accents. None of the voice actors were from the Middle East either. Disney defended their choices as it was rare for a film to feature an Arab hero and heroine, and to tell an Arabic story[7].

Another big problem was with one of the lyrics in “Arabian Nights”, which Disney did agree to alter after its initial theatrical release, for the 1993 video release: “Where they cut off your ear if they don’t like your face/it’s barbaric, but hey, it’s home.”[8] I have never heard this lyric but it is truly awful and has no business being in any film, especially as it was meant for comedic effect. Disney did change it, admitting their mistake.

Because of the harmful depictions that appeared in the 1992 animated version of Aladdin, it was all the more important that these issues were highlighted and resolved for the 2019 live-action remake of the film, which was directed by Guy Ritchie, and starred Will Smith as the Genie. Although some casting choices were not considered “perfect”, such as Naomi Scott, who is a British Indian actress and not of Middle Eastern heritage, being chosen for the part of Jasmine, and a story breaking that white extras were being given make-up to change their skin tones, the diversity of the casting was much better than that of the 1992 film, with Egyptian-Canadian actor Mena Massoud taking up the main role. The Aladdin story as a whole is seen to be rooted in racism, given its unknown beginnings, and the difficult global political arena did not help the release of the 2019 film. Because of Aladdin’s standings as a quintessential Disney Renaissance Era movie, Aladdin (2019) did do very well at the box-office, though the film received mixed reviews, which is unsurprising due to the controversy surrounding the whole story. Many did like the greater characters arcs that were written for the characters of Jasmine and Genie in this film though[9].

I do think Disney are trying to be more progressive these days, though it can be difficult to be as forward-thinking when they have a mix of audiences, and a reputation for “wholesome family entertainment”. It’s not easy to please everyone, and it’s impossible to make a film that matches everyone’s views.

However, there was another controversy around the release of the original 1992 film, this time around the Genie. Supposedly, Robin Williams, after filming Spielberg’s Hook (1991) was tired and did not want to be the Genie in Aladdin, but as Jeffrey Katzenberg had asked him to take the role, and Katzenberg had cast Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society (1989), Williams felt he “owed” him. The part of the Genie was written specifically for him, with Clements and Musker desperately wanting him in the film. Williams also had some previous dealings with Disney Animation having been cast in Back to Neverland (1989), a featurette made for The Magic of Disney Animation pavilion at Disney-MGM Studios. As a tribute to this featurette, the yellow Hawaiian shirt that the Genie wears at the end of Aladdin is the same one that Robin Williams wore in that featurette.

After some persuasion, Robin Williams agreed to voice the Genie – but with some conditions. One of these was that neither Williams nor the Genie, who at the time was only a small supporting role in the film, could be used on any promotional materials for the film, so as not to conflict with Robin Williams other film of 1992, the live-action film Toys, which was being directed by Barry Levinson. Levinson had directed Williams in Good Morning, Vietnam (1987) and had spent fifteen years trying to make Toys, so Williams knew how important it was to him. Katzenberg agreed to Williams’ condition.

When the Genie turned out to be a big hit with test audiences, this condition was re-negotiated and Williams allowed for Genie to take up around 25% of promotional materials, but could not present the character as the “star of the film”. This turned out not to be the case and Williams was furious, demanding that posters showing solely the Genie be removed. Some were removed, around 300 in total from the Los Angeles area, but others remained across the country.

Toys did not do well at the box-office that year when it was released in December 1992, and Robin Williams partially blamed Disney for this, having heavily promoted him as the star role in Aladdin. Robin Williams was quite vocal in his distrust of the Walt Disney Company after the release of Aladdin, and despite Katzenberg trying to make amends, Williams stated that he would never work for Disney again, refusing to read any scripts sent.

Robin Williams was true to his word and did not return to voice Genie in the first direct-to-video sequel for Aladdin, the 1994 film The Return of Jafar. Instead, Dan Castellaneta, voice of Homer Simpson in The Simpsons franchise, came on to voice the Genie, and continued to voice the Genie in the subsequent animated television series, Aladdin: The Series (1994-95), despite many of the original voice actors returning.

In October 1994, Jeffrey Katzenberg left Disney and went to DreamWorks. He was replaced with Joe Roth, who had been in charge of film production at 20^th Century Fox. Roth had green-lit Robin Williams’ film Mrs. Doubtfire (1993). In 1996, to try to convince Robin Williams to take the role in the Disney-linked comedy Jack (1996), which I actually really like, Joe Roth apologised to Williams in a press conference, and then offered a public apology. Robin Williams agreed to star in Jack, and then agreed to voice the Genie again in the second direct-to-video sequel, Aladdin and the King of Thieves (1996). Williams continued to appear in movies for Disney after that, including Good Will Hunting (1997), produced for subsidiary Miramax Pictures, for which he won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. This only went on until 2000, when Joe Roth left the company and another controversy, this time around the film The Bicentennial Man (1999), arose[10].

LEGACY

Alongside the two direct-to-video sequels, the animated television series, and the 2019 live-action remake, Aladdin also became a Broadway musical. The stage musical premiered in July 2011 in Seattle, and was tested in other US cities, before making its Broadway debut in February 2014 at the New Amsterdam Theatre. Some changes were made, such as adding in the characters of Babkak, Omar, and Kassim, Aladdin’s friends who were originally meant to be in the 1992 film but were replaced with Abu, and Iago is a human, not a parrot. Rajah was also replaced with human handmaidens, Jasmine’s friends. Other changes to the plot and characters were also made. Additional music was of course written for the musical, but other deleted songs by Ashman and Menken were re-introduced in the musical. These included the songs “Babkak, Omar, Aladdin, Kassim”, a very fun song, “High Adventure” and “Proud of Your Boy”. Since its 2014 Broadway debut, the musical Aladdin has been staged all over the world, in countries such as the UK, Japan and Germany.

Aladdin was the first animated movie to gross over $200 million in the US and Canada, and it led to a lot of synergy in the Disney theme parks, with the parades and eventual attractions that would come from the film. To promote the film, a short parade named Aladdin’s Royal Caravan debuted at Disney-MGM Studios in 1992 and ran until 1995, consisting of dancers, characters from the movie, and even a 32-foot-tall Genie float. It was then replaced with a parade for Toy Story (1995). These parades were quite standard for Disney theme parks, especially in the US in the 1990s, in order to market upcoming movies, and were normally very similar park-to-park. Aladdin’s Royal Caravan debuted at Disneyland in 1993 and ran until 1994 when it was replaced with a new promotional parade for The Lion King (1994). Disneyland Paris seemed to run Aladdin’s Royal Caravan as well, debuting around 1993, but when it ended is unclear.

Going park-to-park, because there are quite a few Aladdin references at the Disney theme parks, let’s start with Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. At the Magic Kingdom, in the Adventureland area, there is a ride called The Magic Carpets of Aladdin, which opened in 2001. It is a similar concept to the Dumbo ride, whereby guests sit in magic carpets and can control how high or low they go. One difference at The Magic Carpets of Aladdin is that guests sat in the back row, as the carpets can sit four people, can tip the carpet back and forth, whereas only those in the front row control the height. Also at Adventureland, there is a permanent meet-and-greet location for Aladdin and Jasmine near their ride. As part of the Mickey’s PhilarMagic 3D show, there is a scene showing Aladdin and Jasmine singing “A Whole New World”.

At Epcot, you can meet Jasmine at the Morocco pavilion in World Showcase, and at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Jafar and Aladdin both feature in the nighttime show Fantasmic! A now-closed attraction that referenced Aladdin at Walt Disney World was DisneyQuest, which began with invisible host Genie taking guests into the building via the magical elevator. Inside were five levels of interactive games, with one of these being the virtual reality game Aladdin’s Magic Carpet Ride. I remember trying this once but I was terrible at it! At Magic Kingdom, between 1998 and 2011, The Enchanted Tiki Room – Under New Management show ran, which was hosted by Zazu from The Lion King and Iago from Aladdin. A fire in 2011 caused the show to be closed and has now been replaced with Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room.

At Disneyland, there are two figures of Aladdin and Jasmine that appear in the it’s a small world attraction, and Agrabah and the Cave of Wonders feature as miniature lands on the Storybook Land Canal Boats and are also visible from the Casey Jr. Circus Train route. Also, from 2003 until 2016, Aladdin: A Musical Spectacular ran at the Hyperion Theater in Disney’s California Adventure. This was replaced by Frozen – Live at the Hyperion.

At Disneyland Paris, there is a walkthrough attraction showing miniature scenes from the movie called Le Passage Enchanté d’Aladdin. There is also a buffet-style restaurant named Restaurant Agrabah Café in Adventureland. The Magic Carpets of Aladdin ride also exists here but under the name Les Tapis Volants, opening in 2002, as does the Mickey’s PhilarMagic show and scene. Paris’ version of the Storybook Land Canal Boats, Le Pays des Contes de Fées, takes guests through the open mouth of the Cave of Wonders and into the cave. Songs from Aladdin are performed in the Mickey and the Magician stage show.

At Shanghai Disneyland, guests go past an impressive fountain display of Aladdin, Abu, and Genie, the scene representing Aladdin in the Voyage to the Crystal Grotto boat ride. At Hong Kong Disneyland, “Friend Like Me” from the film is performed by Genie in the Mickey and the Wondrous Book show, and the figures for Aladdin and Jasmine are in their it’s a small world attraction. The scene in Mickey’s PhilarMagic also exists here. At the permanent meet-and-greet location, Meet Disney Friends at Karibuni Marketplace, you may get to meet Jasmine and Genie, though they may not always be present there.

At Tokyo Disneyland, there is a whole area of Tokyo DisneySea dedicated to Aladdin and other stories from the Arabian Nights: the Arabian Coast area. This area includes the rides Jasmine’s Flying Carpets and the Caravan Carousel, as well as restaurants and shops themed to Aladdin, such as Sultan’s Oasis and Abu’s Bazaar. There is also a 3D magic show which involves the Genie at The Magic Lamp Theater.

Though some Disney Parks have dedicated Aladdin character meet-and-greet locations, others do not, however, many Aladdin characters have been spotted in recent years. For example, at Tokyo Disneyland, it seems Jasmine and Aladdin are most likely to be seen either at the Arabian Coast or in Fantasyland. At Hong Kong Disneyland, Jasmine and Jafar have been the most recently spotted characters, and at Shanghai Disneyland, it is possible that Jasmine will meet guests around the castle along with the other princesses. At Disneyland Paris, all five characters – Jafar, Aladdin, Jasmine, Abu, and Genie – have been seen before, and at Disneyland, Genie, Aladdin, and Jasmine were all seen together a few years ago. Jafar was part of the Oogie Boogie Bash Halloween event and featured in the Frightfully Fun Parade. At Walt Disney World, Jafar is a regular in the Boo-to-You Halloween parade. Genie and Abu have been seen at Special Events, alongside the permanent Aladdin and Jasmine meet-and-greets. Jafar is most likely to be at any park around Halloween, and Jasmine may be present at any Disney Princess character restaurants.

For nighttime shows, Aladdin and Jasmine appear with the song “A Whole New World” during Disneyland’s nighttime show Fantasmic! and clips and music from the film are shown on the water projections. In Walt Disney World’s version at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Aladdin performs “One Jump Ahead”. Jafar is also one of the villains in this show, appearing on the water projections. Clips and music from the movie are also included as part of various fireworks shows, like Wondrous Journeys at Disneyland, and Reach for the Stars at Tokyo Disneyland. In terms of parades, there is an Aladdin section in Tokyo Disneyland’s nighttime parade, Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade: Dreamlights, and Genie, Aladdin, and Jasmine appear during Disneyland Paris’ Disney Stars on Parade.

On the Disney Cruise Line, there is a live musical stage show based on Aladdin called Disney’s Aladdin – A Musical Spectacular, available on the Disney Wish and the Disney Fantasy. Performances from the movie can also been seen in some of the other stage shows including Disney Dreams – An Enchanted Classic, on the Disney Magic and Disney Wonder, and Disney’s Believe on the Disney Fantasy and Disney Dream. There are also some vaguely Aladdin-themed guestrooms on the Disney Treasure ship.

Owing to the popularity of Aladdin and its characters, merchandise has always been easy to find at the Disney Parks, due to the movie’s popularity, as well as the fact Jasmine is an official Disney Princess.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Though Aladdin wasn’t reviewed as well as Beauty and the Beast, it did still do very well. Some critics claimed that the film did well because of the Genie, and that he was the only character who was memorable; I would debate that. Despite the struggle in the initial production, Aladdin continues to be one of the most remembered animated Disney films for its exciting story and compelling characters, all of which have merit and are routinely highlighted at the Disney theme parks and within merchandising.

Aladdin is just as popular as ever with both children and adults today. It is still one of my favourites that I will always go back to and rewatch without tiring of.

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Disney, Diamond in the Rough: The Making of Aladdin (2004).

[2] Credit: Olivia B. Waxman, ‘Was Aladdin Based on a Real Person? Here’s Why Scholars Are Starting to Think So’, Time (online), 23^rd May 2019.

[3] Credit: Caryn Robbins, ‘From Fable to Stage to Film – A Magic Carpet Ride Through the History of ALADDIN’, BroadwayWorld.com, 26^th August 2017.

[4] Credit: Disney, The Making of Aladdin: A Whole New World (1992).

[5] Credit: Josh Spiegel, ‘1992’s ‘Aladdin’ Barely Got Made – And It Only Proved How Unstoppable Disney Animation Had Become’, SlashFilm.com, 16^th July 2019.

[6] Credit: Jim Fanning, The Disney Book: A Celebration of the World of Disney (2016), ‘A Whole New World’, pp. 82-83.

[7] Credit: Sophia Smith Galer, ‘The Aladdin controversy Disney can’t escape’, BBC News (online), 14^th July 2017.

[8] Credit: Josh Spiegel, ‘1992’s ‘Aladdin’ Barely Got Made – And It Only Proved How Unstoppable Disney Animation Had Become’, SlashFilm.com, 16^th July 2019.

[9] Credit: Aja Romano, ‘The fraught cultural politics of Disney’s new Aladdin remake’, Vox.com, 28^th May 2019.

[10] Credit: Jim Korkis, The Vault of Walt 10: Final Edition (2021), ‘Robin Williams at Disney’, pp. 83-99.

5th Jan 20242nd Oct 2025 by The Disney Purist

#34 The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)

BACKGROUND

Probably the most forgotten and most under-appreciated animated musical film to be released within the Disney Renaissance Era is The Hunchback of Notre Dame, released in 1996, towards the end of this era when the hype of The Lion King (1994) had failed to materialise for any other animated release to come afterwards.

In the 2020s, thanks to the release of most of Disney’s film catalogue on Disney+, many Disney fans are now finding or re-discovering some of those movies from their childhood, with The Hunchback of Notre Dame being one of those that is now discussed more than it ever used to be. Today, it’s everyone’s long-lost favourite, which is fair enough, but I am one of those few people that has loved this film for years, and never had anyone to talk about it with for a very long time, as none of my school friends had seen it since they were little and had no desire to watch it ever again. Although whilst at university, I somehow managed to convince my friendship groups to watch The Hunchback of Notre Dame, sometimes its sequel as well, though what they thought of it, I am not sure.

I’m a huge fan of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. I have watched this film over a hundred times in my life; I can practically recite it. I’m sure many people are thinking “that must be an over-exaggeration”, but I have confirmed with family and friends that this is actually true, though I have no idea of the exact number of times I’ve watched it. I remember I was probably eight years old when I started to obsessively watch our VHS tape; my sister would be at some after-school club, so I would just sit and watch this film. This may have had something to do with having seen The Hunchback of Notre Dame show at Disney-MGM Studios, but I can’t remember exactly why I chose this film out of all others. Granted, I haven’t liked the movie since its release date, but give me a break, I was only three years old then. It wasn’t too long afterwards though. I don’t know how long I did this for, but it was a weekly thing for quite a while. I also have made sure that I watch it every year on 6^th January, “Topsy Turvy Day”, ever since then. I have never pretended to be “too cool” for Disney, despite the teasing from some people I’ve met, and I have made no secret of my love for this film, my favourite film of all time, not just my favourite Disney film.

PLOT

But enough about me. Let’s get to the film. The Hunchback of Notre Dame begins with a dark screen, where only the sound of choristers and bells can be heard. Suddenly, the bells chime louder and we move into the clouds, seeing the upper portion of Notre-Dame Cathedral, before descending through the clouds and down to the streets of Paris. In one of the city’s squares, Clopin, a jester and puppeteer, tells a group of children all about the mysterious bellringer of Notre-Dame. But don’t get too attached to this scene, because we never come back it. Instead, Clopin takes us back in time to see Quasimodo’s mother and two Romani men trying to escape from Paris. Quasimodo’s mother has her baby in her arms, when Judge Claude Frollo, a well-known enemy of the Romani people, halts their journey and arrests them. He orders that the baby be forcibly taken, falsely believing it to be a bundle of stolen goods, but the mother runs. She finally ends up outside Notre-Dame Cathedral, but despite claiming “sanctuary”, is unable to enter, and Frollo catches up with her, pulling the baby from her arms and pushing her down the cathedral steps, killing her instantly. Frollo sees that the “stolen goods” are in fact a baby, but a deformed one and goes to throw him down the well. He is stopped by the Archdeacon, who tells Frollo that the “eyes of Notre-Dame” have witnessed these events and that Frollo, a holy man, has sinned in his actions that evening. Frollo asks the Archdeacon how he can repent. He is told to care for and raise the child as his own. Frollo agrees, believing the child may be useful to him at a later date, and asks that the child reside in the bell tower of Notre-Dame Cathedral. We then reunite with Clopin who speaks directly to us, saying that as we watch the story unfold, we should consider this question: who is the monster, and who is the man?

Back in “present day”, I guess, Quasimodo is now 20 years old and has been the bellringer for the cathedral all his life, living in the bell tower. Quasimodo is a very sensitive, caring person, who encourages a small bird who has been nesting in a gargoyle’s mouth to fly and join his flock, because he doesn’t want to see anyone or anything cooped up in the cathedral like he has been. Although alone in the bell tower, Quasimodo has three “friends”, gargoyles named Hugo, Victor, and Laverne; they come to life occasionally to speak to Quasi and give him advice. On this particular day, they try to convince him to go and see the city’s festival, the Festival of Fools, in person for the first time, rather than just watching from above with them like he normally does. Quasi is scared that everyone will think he is a monster because of his unusual appearance, this being something that his master, Frollo, has convinced him of. Eventually, Quasi believes he can do it, until Frollo arrives, to deliver his next lesson and some food. Quasimodo lets slip that he is planning to go to the festival today, at which point, Frollo is horrified, telling Quasimodo that he is his only friend and confidante, the only one who can stand to look at him. Quasimodo apologises, but still wishes that just for one day he could be like everyone else, and decides he’ll go anyway.

In the city, a man, Phoebus, arrives in Paris. He sees a beautiful young woman dancing in the streets for coins with her goat. He is curious and interested in her, but soon sees two guards come over to the woman, accusing her of stealing. She manages to get away, in part thanks to Phoebus who blocks the guards’ way with his horse, Achilles. The guards quickly realise Phoebus is the new Captain of the Guard and take him to the Palace of Justice to meet with Frollo. Frollo tells Phoebus, who was summoned from the war for this position, that his job is going to involve helping to eradicate the Romani people and other “undesirables” from Paris, this being Frollo’s ultimate goal. Phoebus does not agree with this plan, but their conversation is halted by the start of the Feast of Fools, something Frollo must attend, though he hates having to mix with the commoners of Paris.

At the festival, Quasimodo has indeed attended, albeit wearing a large cape to disguise himself. The festival is full of colour, dancing, and singing, with a huge crowd, but Quasimodo is careful to make sure Frollo does not see him, and that nobody else is terrified by his “monstrous appearance”. Unfortunately, Quasi stumbles into a tent, which turns out to be that young woman, Esmeralda’s dressing room, and he walks in on her. She is surprised, but concerned for Quasi’s welfare, checking he is ok. As she tells him to be a little bit more careful, she tells him “great mask”. Quasi, not understanding this comment but thinking it to be a compliment, is thrilled; he thinks Esmeralda is wonderful. Later in the festivities, Esmeralda dances for the crowd, even going so far as to sit on Frollo’s lap, to mock him as she knows his stance on her and her people. Then, the competition to crown the King of Fools begins, where the winner is the ugliest person in Paris. Men wearing masks are pulled up on stage and reveal their true faces one-by-one. They just aren’t ugly enough, but then Esmeralda pulls Quasimodo up on stage and tries to pull his mask off – except it isn’t a mask at all. The crowd are horrified, but Clopin informs the crowd they shouldn’t panic as they were looking for the ugliest face in all of Paris and here he is! Quasimodo is crowned the King of Fools and paraded through the streets, in front of his new adoring fans.

This all looks to be going well, however, for one thing, Frollo has now noticed that Quasimodo disobeyed his orders by coming here, and secondly, guards start to pelt Quasimodo with tomatoes, leading to the crowd joining in, and throwing ropes over him, like he’s some kind of animal, tying him to the breaking wheel, a medieval torture device. They spin it madly, whilst eggs and more fruit are thrown in his face. Phoebus asks Frollo to give him permission to stop it, but Frollo tells Phoebus “a lesson needs to be learnt here”. Luckily, Esmeralda isn’t afraid to take a stand and simply walks up to the platform and over to Quasimodo. She wipes his face gently and apologises for the crowd’s behaviour. Frollo orders Esmeralda to get down but she refuses, telling him he shouldn’t allow people to be treated this way and throws Quasimodo’s crown at him, telling him he’s the only fool around here. Naturally, Frollo orders his guards to arrest her, but Esmeralda is too quick and smart for that and manages to outrun them, disappearing without a trace. Frollo assumes she must be a witch, giving him even more reason to track her down. Frollo then watches with disdain as Quasimodo makes his way back to the cathedral, clearly humiliated and saddened.

Esmeralda makes her way to the cathedral as well with her goat, Djali. Phoebus follows her inside, thinking her disguise of an old beggar is suspicious. He doesn’t intend to harm her or hand her over; he just likes her. The two flirt a bit and engage in hand-to-hand combat, because the two can totally co-exist, right? Phoebus asks Esmeralda for her name, and Phoebus tells her his to show he is not a threat. Frollo then enters the cathedral and tells Phoebus to arrest her. Esmeralda thinks this was all a trick, but Phoebus tells Frollo she claimed sanctuary and he can do nothing. Just as Frollo is about to drag Esmeralda outside so they can arrest her, the Archdeacon arrives and escorts Frollo, Phoebus and the guards out – except Frollo has hidden behind a pillar, and holds Esmeralda’s arm behind her back, so he can warn her that he will win, no matter how long he has to wait. He then strangely sniffs her hair, which Esmeralda rightly interprets as perversion and pushes him off her. Frollo tells her she is a witch, twisting everything to be seen as unholy. He then leaves.

A guard is posted at every door of the cathedral so Esmeralda is trapped inside. The Archdeacon tells Esmeralda that she “cannot right all the wrongs of this world by herself”. She laments how badly minorities are treated by others, her people included, despite everyone being human and more similar than different. Quasimodo comes down to see her, as he is appreciative of her actions that afternoon, but he is soon spotted by others and runs away in fear. Esmeralda follows him to the bell tower, and sees his crafted miniature version of Paris and its residents, who he has spent his whole life watching. Esmeralda is amazed by his talents and tells him he is a surprising person. Quasimodo shows Esmeralda all the bells and takes her to the roof to see an impressive view of Paris. The two bond over how they have been misunderstood by others; Quasimodo as a monster and Esmeralda as an evil witch. Quasimodo sees how scared and alone Esmeralda is, being trapped in the cathedral and offers to help her, by climbing down the side of it to the streets. After a few missteps that scare Djali the goat half to death, they make it down. Esmeralda gives Quasimodo a map that will lead him to sanctuary if he ever wants to leave the cathedral, but he is unsure by the outside world after the day he’s had so returns to his home.

Once back in the bell tower, Quasimodo is surprised to find Phoebus there. Phoebus asks Quasimodo where Esmeralda is. He believes Phoebus wants to arrest her and tells Phoebus, quite aggressively, to leave. He does so, and is pleased to see that Esmeralda has a friend like Quasimodo, willing to protect her at any cost. The gargoyles tell Quasimodo that Esmeralda must like him, but Quasi shuts them down, never believing he will ever find love, although he holds out a small bit of hope as she did kiss him. Over the other side of the city, at the Palace of Justice, Frollo is struggling with his conscience as he has also fallen for Esmeralda, but he despises this feeling, believing it to be unholy and that this must have been brought on by her witchcraft. He plans to either marry her or have her killed, so either way he will win. The next day, Frollo tells Phoebus and the guards that their only objective for the day is to find Esmeralda, whatever it takes. He tries to bribe and torment other Romani people in to giving away her whereabouts but they all stand firm. Soon, they arrive at the mill where Frollo interrogates the miller and his family, as he found a talisman on the property. The miller says he knows nothing about it, but he is placed under house arrest and are trapped inside. Frollo then orders Phoebus to burn the house down. Phoebus refuses, so Frollo does it himself, setting fire to the windmill first, which then spreads quickly to the house. Phoebus is horrified and rescues the family. This makes him an enemy of Frollo and he is ordered to be beheaded. Esmeralda has witnessed all of this in disguise and tosses a stone at Frollo’s horse, so that it bucks and throws Frollo off, distracting the other guards. Phoebus jumps onto Frollo’s horse and tries to ride away but he is shot by archers and tumbles into the river. Esmeralda rescues Phoebus and takes him away to get help.

Later that day, Frollo still has not found Esmeralda and has set most of Paris on fire trying to find. He figures that Quasimodo must have helped her out of the cathedral that day. In the cathedral, Quasimodo is scared for Esmeralda’s safety, but the gargoyles tell him that she’ll be back, because she likes him, and that she is too smart to have been caught. Sure enough, Esmeralda arrives at the cathedral and asks Quasimodo to hide Phoebus. This isn’t exactly what he expected but he agrees anyway. Esmeralda stitches Phoebus’ wound up, which was dangerously close to piercing his heart. Phoebus tells her he’s not so sure it didn’t and they kiss, right in front of Quasimodo who is devastated. Djali bleats to warn them all that Frollo is coming. Quasimodo tells Esmeralda to leave and he hides Phoebus under a table. As Frollo arrives, he questions Quasimodo about Esmeralda and tells him he knows he helped her escape. Frollo destroys Quasi’s miniature city and burns his new Esmeralda figure, informing Quasimodo that he knows where Esmeralda’s hideout is and that tomorrow at dawn, he’ll attack with a thousand men.

Phoebus tells Quasimodo they have to find the Court of Miracles first, before Frollo does. Quasi believes it’s too late and does not want to disobey Frollo again. Phoebus goes alone. After some thought, Quasimodo decides he must help and catches up to Phoebus. He shows Phoebus the necklace Esmeralda gave him that will apparently lead them to her. After some arguing, they decide it is a map and follow it to a graveyard. Quasi moves a stone off one area which reveals some steps, leading to the old catacombs. They walk through the ankle-deep water, before being ambushed by the Romani people, who think they are spies for Frollo and sentence them to be hanged. Esmeralda tells them to stop, that these two are actually their friends. Phoebus warns everyone that they must leave because Frollo is coming. However, it turns out Frollo was bluffing and followed Quasimodo to the Court of Miracles; he’s here with his thousand men, who imprison all the Romani. Frollo announces that there will be a bonfire in the square tomorrow and that they are all invited to attend. Quasimodo is chained up in the bell tower.

In the square, Esmeralda has been tied to a stake, with firewood around her feet. Frollo recounts Esmeralda’s crimes and gives her a chance to recant, telling her to choose him or the fire. Esmeralda spits in Frollo’s face, which gives Frollo all the answers he needs; he sets the wood alight. Quasimodo again thinks he cannot help, telling the gargoyles to leave him alone, but as soon as he sees the fire, he is so angry that he breaks the pillars he is chained to and swings down to the platform. He rescues Esmeralda and carries her up the cathedral, proclaiming “sanctuary” to ensure her safety. Frollo orders a siege on Notre-Dame. Him and his guards try to break the door down with a plank of wood. Meanwhile, Phoebus frees himself from his cage and rallies the crowd to take back their city from the tyranny of Frollo. A mob begins to attack the soldiers, and Quasimodo and the gargoyles attack from above, with birds, a poorly used catapult and, finally, a cauldron of molten lead, poured onto the streets. This deters Frollo’s guards, but not Frollo who manages to enter the cathedral. He throws the Archdeacon down a flight of stairs, tells him not to interfere, and runs up to the bell tower.

Quasimodo tells Esmeralda she is safe now, but she doesn’t stir. Quasimodo believes she is dead and cries over her body. Frollo arrives and tells Quasimodo it was his duty to kill her. Frollo then attempts to stab Quasimodo but Quasi sees Frollo’s shadow and turns on him, throwing Frollo against the wall and taking the dagger. He tells Frollo what he was taught was wrong, that the world isn’t dark and cruel; it’s only people like him who are. Esmeralda then wakes up, at which point Frollo pulls out a sword to finish them both. Quasimodo grabs Esmeralda and tries to hide by dangling from the cathedral, but Frollo spots them and chases them down one side of the cathedral, slashing at the stone gargoyles they are swinging on them. Quasimodo then throws Esmeralda to the safety and faces Frollo atop a gargoyle. Frollo says that Quasimodo is willing to die for a Romani, just as Quasimodo’s mother did for him, revealing that Quasi was not abandoned and was not saved by Frollo. Frollo pulls his cape over Quasi and tries to throw him off the cathedral, doing “what he should have done twenty years ago”, but Quasimodo grabs on to the side of the cathedral, and Frollo is pulled down with him, clinging on to the cape. Quasimodo can’t bear to let the cape drop, which would drop Frollo with it, and he passes out from exhaustion. Frollo swings and clambers onto a gargoyle, holding his sword aloft. He proclaims to Esmeralda that “He will smite the wicked, and plunge them into the fiery pit”, at which point the gargoyle Frollo is standing on begins to crumble; it comes alive briefly as Frollo holds on to it, seeming to be an act of God, doing exactly what Frollo said.

Esmeralda is unable to hold onto Quasimodo for long, and he falls down the cathedral. Thankfully, Phoebus is below and manages to catch Quasimodo and pull him to safety. Esmeralda runs down to meet them. The three celebrate their victory, and Quasimodo accepts Esmeralda and Phoebus’ love for each other, joining their hands together in a very touching moment. The next morning, Paris is strangely clean and free of the previous night’s debris, and a huge crowd is waiting. Phoebus and Esmeralda come out of Notre-Dame together, but Quasimodo is reluctant to join them. Esmeralda offers her hand and coaxes him outside, where Phoebus and Esmeralda stand with him, showing he is not a monster but a hero to all of them. The crowd are unsure, until a little girl walks up to Quasimodo. She is uncertain but touches his face, to show he is no monster. Clopin also returns at this point, now asking the viewer “what makes a monster, and what makes a man?”, showing that Frollo was in fact the monster, not Quasimodo. The film ends with the crowd rejoicing and warmly accepting Quasimodo, carrying him away on their shoulders.

There is a very brief post-credits scene which shows Hugo the gargoyle waving to the camera and saying “goodnight, everybody”. I didn’t know about it before this week, but it wasn’t really worth waiting for when watching it on DVD, let alone if you’d seen it in a cinema, but it is apparently the first Disney animated film to have a post-credits scene.

CHARACTERS & CAST

Quasimodo is the main protagonist of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. He is brought up to believe that nobody in the outside world will ever accept him because of his appearance, that Frollo saved him after his mother abandoned him as a baby, and that Frollo is the only person he can trust. This is emotional abuse that Frollo has inflicted on Quasimodo for twenty years, giving him a distorted view of the world and of society in general. Sadly, his only friends at this point are Victor, Hugo, and Laverne, the gargoyles, who try to advise him and encourage him to not just sit inside as Frollo orders him to. Though Quasimodo is loyal to Frollo, the gargoyles do not share this loyalty and are aware of Frollo’s cruelty and evil soul. When Quasimodo does go outside for the first time, to the Festival of Fools, it’s quite a rollercoaster of emotions for him, because he falls in love with Esmeralda first, is revealed to be “ugly” in front of the crowd, which is embarrassing, but then seems to be accepted by them, only for that to all fall apart because of a couple of sadistic guards. This only cements the lies that Frollo has told him, that the majority of people could never like him and he will never belong in the real world. Thanks to Esmeralda’s kindness, he learns that actually, maybe Frollo was wrong about him and the world. He is incredibly brave to stand up to the man who raised him, and it was all worth it in the end because it turns out that Quasimodo was right; Frollo had been lying to him.

Quasimodo is a sensitive, caring person, who wants nothing more than to help people and be accepted as a person. He is even kind to those who don’t deserve it. Finding an actor who could meet these requirements with their voice was a necessity. Meat Loaf auditioned for the role and was apparently very good, but contractually, this didn’t line up. Mandy Patinkin, who played Inigo Montoya in The Princess Bride (1987) and starred as Che in the original Broadway production of Evita in 1979, also auditioned for the role, but this time, his portrayal of the character differed from what the directors wanted. Tom Hulce then auditioned for Quasimodo, despite Disney originally wanting him to have an older-sounding voice, with a speech impediment, similar to how Quasimodo had been portrayed in previous live-action film adaptations. However, they agreed on Hulce’s young-sounding voice, since Quasimodo in this film and in Victor Hugo’s novel is only twenty years old. They also felt that Hulce brought in the much-needed emotion and heart to the character[1]. Tom Hulce had been nominated for both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for Best Actor for his portrayal of Mozart in the 1984 film Amadeus. Sadly, he lost out to his co-star F. Murray Abraham on both occasions, who himself felt that the awards should have been shared between him and Hulce. I watched Amadeus recently, because I wanted to see Hulce’s performance in the film; he was great and the film was very good. Hulce also appeared in the films Animal House (1978) and Parenthood (1989) before The Hunchback of Notre Dame. In recent years, Hulce has worked as a theatre producer, having produced, and won a Tony Award in 2007 for, the musical Spring Awakening, which starred Lea Michele and Jonathan Groff.

Esmeralda is the feisty and independent love interest of Phoebus, but also the object of desire for Quasimodo and Frollo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. She is stunningly beautiful but also caring, not wanting there to be any more racism against her people or anyone else, wishing that everyone could be accepted in this world. Unfortunately, that is not the case for the majority of the film, and, although Frollo is the main antagonist of the Romani in this film, there is prejudice from the other Parisians. For example, when Esmeralda is dancing on the streets, a woman tells her daughter to be careful because “they’re gypsies, they’ll steal us blind”, which is a ridiculous thing to say, but it shows the open distain for the Romani people. Because of this, the Court of Miracles is a “sanctuary” for Esmeralda and her people, where they can live in peace, away from those who seek to destroy them, even though it basically means they spend a lot of time in hiding. Esmeralda’s strong opinions around peace and equality lead her to develop a strong bond with Quasimodo, because they are both “outcasts”. She stands up to Frollo on numerous occasions to show that she won’t be persuaded to do anything that is against her moral compass. Oh yeah, and let’s not forget her sidekick, Djali, a goat, who is sometimes even more opinionated than Esmeralda is!

Demi Moore was chosen as the voice of Esmeralda. Moore was an original member of the so-called “Brat Pack”, actors all in their early twenties who had appeared in coming-of-age films in the 1980s. In Moore’s case, this was the movie St. Elmo’s Fire (1985). She also appeared as Jackie Templeton in General Hospital from 1982 to 1984. In the 1990s, Demi Moore was well-known for her performances in Ghost (1990) and A Few Good Men (1992). She appeared in the 2024 series Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans as American socialite Ann Woodward, and starred as Elisabeth Sparkle in the Oscar-nominated movie The Substance (2024). Moore was nominated for Best Actress for her role at the Academy Awards and the BAFTAs, and won the award at the Screen Actors Guild Awards and the Golden Globes.

Phoebus is the charming Captain of the Guard, who always has a joke ready for every occasion. He gets attacked by pretty much every main character: Esmeralda, Quasimodo, Djali, Clopin, Frollo, and yet, he still has a smile on his face and a comeback line every time. He’s not the main hero of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, even though he might look like it, but he does get the girl at the end. It’s not very often in Disney films that the hero or main protagonist doesn’t end up with the girl at the end of the film, but The Hunchback of Notre Dame is one such case. Curse you, Phoebus! No, not really. I like Phoebus; he’s funny, despite the fact his character doesn’t have all that much purpose. Sure, he fights on the bad guy’s side and then goes against him at the end of it, but this film is really about Quasimodo, Esmeralda and Frollo, let’s be honest! Phoebus does have one claim to fame though: he was the first Disney hero to have facial hair[2].

Kevin Kline was cast as the voice actor for Phoebus. Kline began to make a name for himself in the 1980s, performing as The Pirate King in the opera The Pirates of Penzance, first for the New York Shakespeare Festival in Central Park, before the show moved to Broadway. Kline won a Tony Award for his performance and reprised this role in the subsequent 1983 film. On screen, he starred in the drama Sophie’s Choice (1982) alongside Meryl Streep, and with John Cleese and Jamie Lee Curtis in the comedy A Fish Called Wanda (1988), for which Kline won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. More recently, Kline has voiced Calvin Fischoeder in the animated comedy series Bob’s Burgers (2011-present), being nominated for a Primetime Emmy for his role and in 2024, he was cast as Stephen Brigstocke, opposite Cate Blanchett, in the AppleTV+ series Disclaimer, being nominated at the Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild Awards, and the Critics’ Choice Awards for the role. Kevin Kline also voiced the character of Tulio in DreamWorks’ The Road to El Dorado (2000). He returned to Disney to appear as Maurice, Belle’s father, in the live-action remake Beauty and the Beast (2017).

The gargoyles are the comic relief of the film, but are also there to encourage Quasimodo to be more than just a recluse and to live his life without fear. Originally, the three gargoyles were going to be called Chaney, Laughton, and Quinn, the surnames of three actors who had played Quasimodo in other film adaptations of the novel, of which there are many[3]. Since gargoyles adorn the whole of the outside of Notre-Dame Cathedral, it was decided that three of these would be good characters to include and that of course they should talk. Charles Kimbrough voices the strong and wise Victor, who is also prone to panicking at times. Kimbrough had a long-running role as Jim Dial in the sitcom Murphy Brown (1988-99, 2018) for which he was nominated for a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in 1990. He also appeared in The Wedding Planner (2001) and did some voice acting roles. Charles Kimbrough passed away in January 2023. The goofy, silly, frat boy gargoyle (as described by the directors) is Hugo and he is voiced by Jason Alexander. At the time, Alexander was best known for his role as George Costanza in Seinfeld (1989-98) for which he was nominated for seven consecutive Primetime Emmys and four Golden Globes. Outside of this, Alexander also appeared in the romantic comedies Pretty Woman (1990) and Shallow Hal (2001), and has done further voice work for both Disney and non-Disney projects. He has performed on stage in various productions and won a Tony Award for Best Actor in the musical Jerome Robbins’ Broadway (1989). The wise and tough Laverne is voiced by Mary Wickes in her final performance. Wickes appeared in the musical White Christmas (1954) as Emma Allen, the housekeeper of the inn, and The Music Man (1962) as Mrs. Squires. She was also Sister Mary Lazarus in Sister Act (1992) and its 1993 sequel, and was a live model for the character of Cruella de Vil. As Wickes died during production on the film, Jane Withers was brought in to finish Laverne’s final lines[4].

Now on to the final main character of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, the evil Judge Claude Frollo. Supervising Animator Kathy Zielinski worked on the design for Frollo and she said she loved working on this super evil villain. In many lists ranking all of the Disney villains, Frollo frequently comes out on top. This is because Frollo is just a normal human, with no magical powers or access to sorcery. What he does have is status and power, and this film clearly shows just how dangerous that is in the wrong hands, and how it can be used to commit atrocious acts against humanity. Frollo makes Quasimodo believe that the world is cruel, when actually Frollo is one of the people that makes the world cruel. He has no sympathy for the orphaned, at Frollo’s own hand, Quasimodo, nor does he care about the Romani people, or any of the other citizens of Paris who are different to him. A very religious man, Frollo believes that it is his duty to God to rid the world of the people he deems to be unholy and unworthy. Frollo is a very dark character, and unlike many of the other villains of the Disney Renaissance Era, there is nothing remotely funny or silly about him. He is just pure evil – and that’s why people like him, oddly enough.

I’m in awe of his voice more than anything. It’s deep and smooth, charming one minute, terrifying the next, like all the best villain voices. It’s similar in a way to Jeremy Irons’ and Alan Rickman’s voices, which is why they also made great villains. Tony Jay voices Judge Claude Frollo. Jay appeared as the Narrator and as Professor Werner in the Arnold Schwarzenegger-Danny DeVito film Twins (1988) and was the Narrator in the second Austin Powers film… Jay also provided other voices for Disney including Monsieur D’Arque in Beauty and the Beast (1991), Dr. Rosenthal in Recess: School’s Out (2001), alongside James Woods, voice of Hades; the Narrator of Treasure Planet (2002); and Shere Khan in The Jungle Book 2 (2002), replacing George Saunders. He was also the voice of Dr. Lipschitz in the Rugrats franchise. Sadly, Tony Jay passed away in August 2006 at the age of 73. Just think what more he could’ve done for Disney….

On a final note, Clopin Trouillefou, the “leader” of the Romani, as well as being a brilliant puppeteer and jester, was voiced by Paul Kandel. Though Clopin is his most notable role, Kandel has also performed on Broadway numerous times, including playing King Herod in the musical Jesus Christ Superstar. David Ogden Stiers voiced the Archdeacon here. David Ogden Stiers had a long history with Disney, having voiced Cogsworth in Beauty and the Beast (1991); Governor Ratcliffe and Wiggins in Pocahontas (1995); and Dr. Jumba Jookiba in Lilo & Stitch (2002) amongst others. He also starred as Major Charles Emerson Winchester III in the series M*A*S*H from 1977 to 1983. He died in 2018.

PRODUCTION

The Hunchback of Notre Dame is based on the novel Notre-Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo. It was published in 1831 from a 200,000-word manuscript that was written in around six months. It was an instant success. In 1833 for the second English translation, the title was changed from Notre-Dame de Paris to The Hunchback of Notre Dame. It was written as a way of championing the Gothic architecture of the cathedral which was at the time being considered vulgar. The cathedral was also in a state of disrepair and there were even calls to demolish it. Hugo wanted to save the cathedral so that it could continue to be a symbol of Paris – and his plan worked! The cathedral was restored between 1844 and 1864, where many of the original Gothic elements were reinstated. In the novel, there are numerous lengthy descriptions of the cathedral’s architecture and design[5].

Whether you have read Victor Hugo’s original novel or not, it is clear that this was not the easiest of source material for Disney to adapt for a family-friendly animated feature. Disney were known for adapting well-known fairy tales or folklore and legends, not classic novels, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame is particularly grim.

In the novel, set in 1482, during the reign of Louis XI, Frollo is actually an Archdeacon, not a judge. Disney likely changed Frollo’s occupation so the religious aspect was not called in to question. In the novel, Frollo does not kill Quasimodo’s mother, nor does he name him that because it means “half-formed”. Though Frollo does use Quasimodo to his own advantage and is not particularly caring towards him, Frollo adopts the infant on Quasimodo Sunday, the first Sunday after Easter, hence the name, after his mother abandoned him. Frollo falls in love with Esmeralda and orders Quasimodo to kidnap her. Instead, Quasimodo is arrested and put in the stocks. Esmeralda is actually in love with Captain Phoebus, who is engaged to a beautiful woman from a rich family, but Esmeralda marries the poet Gringoire, who is not a character in the Disney film, after he wanders into the Court of Miracles accidentally, so that Gringoire is not hanged by Clopin. She only does this to be kind and does not love him. One day, Esmeralda meets with Phoebus and asks if he’ll marry her. He lies and says he will just to seduce her. Frollo has hidden himself in the room next door and witnesses the two kiss. Out of jealousy, he stabs Phoebus and kisses Esmeralda as she faints.

When she wakes up, Esmeralda is arrested for the wounding of Phoebus, who survives and returns to his fiancée, not even attempting to clear Esmeralda’s name. Nice guy, right? Under torture, Esmeralda admits to the attack and is sentenced to death. Quasimodo, who is also in love with Esmeralda, saves her from the gallows and takes her to the cathedral where she can claim sanctuary. The Romani are informed that Esmeralda’s right to sanctuary is to be revoked and they storm the cathedral to save her. The authorities come for her as well, but Frollo and Gringoire have helped her escape. Frollo becomes more obsessive and continually says that if Esmeralda stays with him, he can save her. She continually refuses. Eventually, Frollo gets fed up with this and passes her to the authorities, trapping her with Sister Gudule, a recluse who went mad after her daughter, Agnes, was stolen by Romani. However, in a twist, it turns out Esmeralda is Agnes and the two reconcile, albeit briefly. Esmeralda is led away to be hanged, with Gudule being forcefully pushed down a flight of steps as she tries to stop this; she dies on impact. Frollo watches Esmeralda hang from Notre-Dame Cathedral and laughs, causing Quasimodo to throw him from the tower. Many years later, two skeletons are found embracing. It turns out Quasimodo stayed next to Esmeralda’s dead body, letting himself die as he held her. As the two skeletons are about to be separated, Quasimodo’s skeleton “crumbles to dust”. What a cheery story!

Obviously, Disney could not make this story into an animated film for children, so they had to make some changes, which is completely fair enough. I’ve read the book as I asked for it for my birthday when I was at university. It was interesting to see where Disney got some of their ideas from, like Quasimodo’s mother dying on the steps in the same way Esmeralda’s mother does in the novel.

In 1993, David Stainton read a comic strip adaptation of the original novel and felt that Disney could adapt the story themselves. Writer Tab Murphy was assigned to write the script, quite a challenge seeing as the material was a classic novel and a dark one at that. Directors Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, who had co-directed Beauty and the Beast (1991), were asked to direct The Hunchback of Notre Dame. They were working on other projects at the time, however, those were not progressing well, so they were happy to direct this film[6]. In fact, many of the same people who worked on Beauty and the Beast were involved in the making of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, such as producer Don Hahn, and animators Glen Keane, supervising animator for Beast, and James Baxter, supervising animator for Belle.

As is quite standard for Disney animation projects, some of the creative and production staff got to go on a research trip, to France in this case. The group went to Notre-Dame Cathedral several times around the autumn of 1993. Because of the importance of studying the cathedral in detail, both the interior and exterior of the building, Disney were given unprecedented access to the cathedral, being able to tour passages, hidden rooms, and the towers. Animator Glen Keane used to go to Notre-Dame Cathedral to sit in the bell tower as the sun rose, drawing and thinking[7]. They also visited the Palace of Justice, Frollo’s main place of work in the film, and the Court of Miracles, which was a real area of Paris, but instead of it being a safe haven for the Romani people as it is in the Disney film, the Court of Miracles was the term used to describe the slum areas of the city, where the poor and homeless resided. The architecture and buildings of Paris are vitally important to the setting of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, for providing background areas as well as atmosphere. Notre-Dame Cathedral itself is a unique character in the film, as its statues and gargoyles are seen to be watching everything and even involve themselves in the events of the film[8]. Notre-Dame Cathedral shockingly caught fire in April 2019 where it was very close to being destroyed. Thanks to many brave firefighters, it was saved and is in the process of being restored.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame required the artistic talents of animators in all three of Disney animation’s studios, those being Florida, which only contributed a few minutes of animation, Paris, and of course, California. In fact, after years of using those lacklustre Glendale “offices”, the new Animation Building was opened in December 1994 in Burbank, making The Hunchback of Notre Dame the first animated feature film to be produced at this new building. At the Paris studio, around one hundred artists contributed ten minutes of final animation to the film, with many saying that the use of French artists who were accustomed to the city of Paris and the French culture, not to mention Hugo’s novel, gave the film authenticity[9]!

The animation medium used to create The Hunchback of Notre Dame was predominately traditional hand-drawn animation, however, with the increasing evolution of technology, the Disney team were able to use computer-animation for several elements of the film. This included some of the effects, like confetti, rain, and lighting, such as that beam of light that shines through one of Notre-Dame Cathedral’s famous rose windows during “God Help the Outcasts”. But one of the more impressive, for the time, usages of CGI in this movie is the crowd scenes. Huge crowds were needed to fill Paris and thanks to similar technology that had been used for the wildebeest stampede in The Lion King (1994), the effects team made a character model which could move, then multiplied it, changing some of the character’s accessories to make them unique, and then choreographed their movements. For today’s audiences, the CGI crowd may look a bit simplistic and basic, and, as a warning, if you go looking for it, you’ll never be able to ignore it again, but the technology hadn’t been used in this way before The Hunchback of Notre Dame, so it was quite ground-breaking for Disney animation.

MUSIC

The Hunchback of Notre Dame’s soundtrack is one of the more sophisticated Disney soundtracks, in my opinion. The score uses elements like bells, Latin chants, and choral sounds, which are specifically related to the religious aspects of the story; something that cannot be said for any other Disney animated feature. It gives the music so much depth, intensity, and emotion. Then there are the songs themselves, which are quite bold and daring for Disney, as well as including a few more light-hearted numbers, for a total of eight songs. The soundtrack for the movie reunited Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz, who had both worked together on the soundtrack for Pocahontas (1995).

Let’s start at the beginning. Clopin actually gets the most songs of any character here, having four in total, though one is just a reprise of his first song, “The Bells of Notre Dame”. Straight away, the movie launches us into this song, which is basically a way of giving us backstory into Quasimodo’s life and his complicated relationship with Frollo. We see how unfeeling and heartless Frollo is, to kill Quasimodo’s mother and almost drown Quasimodo, but we also see how God-fearing Frollo is, thinking his every move is being judged. The Gregorian chant, “Dies Irae”, which was used in part in Frozen II (2019) as well as in The Shining (1980), can be heard when Frollo kills Quasimodo’s mother[10]. “The Bells of Notre Dame” is good for giving us information, and for informing us that we need to pay attention to Quasimodo and Frollo’s actions to judge what makes someone a man and what makes someone a monster, but it is more of a narrative device than a fun number. Still, it’s never boring and gets a lot done. The reprise at the very end of the film of “The Bells of Notre Dame” is much more celebratory and brings the film to an emotional close, as we see that Quasimodo has been accepted and we learn not to judge anyone on their appearance because this can mask someone’s true intentions.

Another of Clopin’s songs, “Topsy Turvy”, is a real carnival song, full of party atmosphere. Though, during the scene, it is a bit strange to find Clopin following Quasimodo around and not allowing him to hide. I don’t understand why Clopin wants Quasimodo to get caught or noticed; maybe to give Quasimodo the chance to let his guard down for once and relax? The fun is paused when Quasimodo’s face is revealed and the crowd are repulsed, but it soon picks back up again to celebrate Quasimodo’s new title of King of Fools. Shame it doesn’t last…Clopin’s final song is “The Court of Miracles”, where he is telling Phoebus and Quasimodo that they should not have trespassed to their lair, thinking they are two of Frollo’s spies, so plans to have them hanged. Luckily, Djali sees this and alerts Esmeralda, so she comes in and puts things right, but it does look troubling for the two heroes for a moment or two. It’s not the best song of the film, but it’s a bit of silliness before Frollo arrives.

Esmeralda gets her own song, “God Help the Outcasts”, which she sings shortly after the turn of events at the Feast of Fools in Notre-Dame Cathedral, as she is saddened by how poorly the human race treat each other, even those in need. It’s a very heartfelt song, and I particularly like how the music builds as the other churchgoers pray to God for what they feel they most need from Him. Demi Moore did not provide the singing voice for Esmeralda so Heidi Mollenhauer was brought in to sing “God Help the Outcasts”. Though this was the original song written for this scene, at one point, the directors thought they wanted a more energising song here, so “Someday” was written. It was recorded by Heidi Mollenhauer again, and still involved Esmeralda walking through the cathedral, hoping that the world would become a better place “someday”. It was later decided that “Someday” was too big a number, so “God Help the Outcasts” was put back in to the film[11]. I personally feel this was the right choice, though “Someday” is still a good song. “Someday” is included on the movie soundtrack, in some parts of the score, and in the closing credits, where the full song was recorded by R&B group All-4-One. In the UK, female R&B trio Eternal recorded their own version. “Someday” is also used in the stage musical version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame and, in a surprise-but-appreciated move, was used as the finale song of Epcot’s now-closed fireworks show Harmonious at Walt Disney World Resort.

Let’s not forget the hero of the film, Quasimodo, who has two very heart-breaking musical numbers in the film. The first of which is “Out There”, which begins with a short duet between Frollo and Quasimodo as Frollo tells Quasimodo that he should not attend the Festival of Fools because he’ll be “reviled as a monster”, before moving into Quasi’s powerful solo, where he says that all he wants is to leave the bell tower for one day and live a normal life with everyone else. During this sequence, you can also see brief cameos of Belle, Aladdin’s Magic Carpet, and Pumbaa if you look closely enough. Tom Hulce is amazing in this song because we can feel how much Quasimodo wants this wish and just how isolated he has been throughout his life. This song is one of the movie’s most well-known having been used in some of Disney’s nighttime shows, such as Harmonious, Happily Ever After at Magic Kingdom, and Disney Dreams! at Disneyland Paris, and Wondrous Journeys at Disneyland, which have both ended but may return in the future. It’s a fan-favourite song, so I’m glad it keeps cropping up.

Quasimodo’s second song is called “Heaven’s Light”. This is a tragic song because it talks about how Quasi never thinks he’ll find love because of how he looks, but holds a bit of hope that perhaps Esmeralda will love him. It doesn’t turn out to be true, which makes it even more sad. I used to relate to this song when I was a teenager, because like Quasimodo, I was unlucky in love for many years and always felt it was because I was ugly.

This song then moves directly to Frollo’s song “Hellfire”, as a contrast to “Heaven’s Light”, with a few seconds of Latin chanting by the Archdeacon within the cathedral as we move from Notre-Dame Cathedral to the Palace of Justice. “Hellfire” is Frollo’s turn to sing about his love for Esmeralda, but this song is not a sweet ballad. It is an aggressive song which gets progressively worse as Frollo gets angrier about the “spell” that Esmeralda has put on him, and more scared about how God will judge him for his feelings, despite it not being his “fault”. It takes place in front of a fireplace, in a large hall, which at one point fills with red-hooded figures who chant “mea culpa” at him, meaning “my fault”. The figures then turn to flames, trying to take Frollo into the fire, signifying him being dragged to Hell. Frollo is then told that Esmeralda has escaped, and proclaims that he’ll find her even if it means burning down the city. He asserts that she will be his or she will burn, before collapsing in a heap on the floor… Dark stuff considering Disney is meant to make child-friendly films, not that I remember being bothered by it when I was younger, because I didn’t understand it back then. The Motion Picture Association of America got involved with this scene, though, insisting that the image of Esmeralda that appears in the fireplace was made to have more clearly defined clothes as she looked naked[12]. Disney were probably happy to make this adjustment as they may have been expecting this scene to be cut entirely from the film! “Hellfire” has become one of the most well-known Disney villains’ songs for its dark tone.

On a brighter note, the gargoyles get a song called “A Guy Like You” as they tell Quasimodo that Esmeralda does like him, and the fact that he is unique makes him all the more interesting. Some, even those at Disney, did not rate this song, and felt that it should not have made the final cut, however, I disagree. Though it is quite random, I think it was wholly necessary to keep the children watching entertained and also to break up the bleakness of the film’s events, because we’ve just had the burning of the miller’s house and most of Paris, and then we’re going to get to the big climatic battle scene where Esmeralda is burnt at the stake, so to have “A Guy Like You” brings some much-needed frivolity to the film before we go back to feeling scared and traumatised. It’s my least favourite song on the soundtrack, but I still find it funny in places. I like how they say that Quasimodo being shaped like a croissant is one of the reasons that Esmeralda likes him, because what person doesn’t rate their romantic interests on how much they resemble baked goods? It’s also interesting that a very small reference to Hulce’s role as Mozart in Amadeus (1984) is found in this song: when the gargoyles give Quasimodo a makeover, he ends up in a tall, white wig, which is what Mozart predominantly wears throughout that film.

There were a couple of deleted songs that didn’t make the final cut, both of which were meant to take place during “The Court of Miracles” sequence as a love song for Phoebus and Esmeralda. The first, “As Long As There’s a Moon” would’ve seen the two getting married in the Court of Miracles, with Quasimodo being asked to put their hands together. He does this at the end of the film instead. This story idea was perhaps inspired by the novel when the sixteen-year-old Esmeralda volunteers to marry playwright Gringoire to save him from being hanged by Clopin for trespassing. The other love song was called “In A Place of Miracles” and took place at the same point in the film. It was decided that these songs were placing too much focus on Phoebus and Esmeralda, when Quasimodo should be at the heart of the movie, so it became a song for Clopin and the others instead[13].

The score is where The Hunchback of Notre Dame really shines with its hauntingly beautiful use of choristers singing in Latin. This is used throughout the entirety of the score. Though I said my favourite Disney score is probably Pocahontas (1995) because of how quietly romantic it is, I find the score of The Hunchback of Notre Dame the most compelling and emotion-provoking. The whole movie is very intense, so the score had to have that same quality to it, and it certainly does. “Humiliation”, when Quasimodo is being tormented by the crowd at the Festival of Fools, is a fantastic piece of music, though the score through the whole battle sequence is amazing, especially when Quasimodo swings in to save Esmeralda and proclaims “Sanctuary!” at the top of his lungs. “Into the Sunlight” is also very sweet for showing Quasimodo being welcomed by the citizens of Paris at last.

RECEPTION

The Hunchback of Notre Dame was released to theatres in the US on 21^st June 1996 with a surprise G, or U, rating. Many felt, and still feel to this day, that The Hunchback of Notre Dame should have certainly had a PG rating, due to its dark content and intense scenes. How many Disney films can say that they managed to have a G rating despite a scene of someone being burnt at the stake, another being tied up like an animal, an old man openly lusting after a young woman, and a family home being burnt down with them inside? Not to mention the racism, plans for genocide, and the emotional abuse of a disabled person. It doesn’t sound great when you put it altogether like that, but I was never affected by the movie as a child. I’m sure if it had been released now, or even after the 2000s, it would have most certainly had that PG rating. Pre-2000 in Disney Animation, only The Black Cauldron had been given a PG rating, quite rightly too. Apparently, Roy E. Disney said The Hunchback of Notre Dame was too dark, as did the voice of Hugo, Jason Alexander, who said he would not let his young son watch the movie, despite Alexander being proud of the film.

In terms of reviews, some felt the film was too dark, with some groups even planning to boycott the film for its mature content, and that the stereotyping of the Romani people was hurtful. Others also felt that Disney had simplified the original novel too much. If Disney had adapted the novel as it was written, it would not even have managed a PG rating. However, some were very positive about The Hunchback of Notre Dame, including well-known film reviewer Roger Ebert, who called it the best Disney feature since Beauty and the Beast. Ebert said it was uplifting and thrilling, with a touching message about accepting everyone. I’m glad someone understood it.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame was nominated at the Academy Awards in 1997 for Best Original Musical or Comedy Score, but it lost out to Rachel Portman’s score for Emma (1996). It was also nominated for a Golden Globe for its score, but this time lost to Gabriel Yared’s score for The English Patient (1996). The Hunchback of Notre Dame was also nominated for many Annie Awards, including Best Feature, where it lost to Pixar’s Toy Story (1995). It did, however, win the Satellite Award for Best Motion Picture – Animated or Mixed Media, the first year that the award was given out. On the other side though, it was nominated for a Golden Razzie for Worst Written Film Grossing Over $100 Million, but this time luckily it lost to Twister (1996), though I like that film too, so ouch…

Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame was by no means a box-office failure, despite its mixed reviews and general lack of recognition for many years. It made over $300 million worldwide at the box-office, however, after the dazzling success of The Lion King in 1994, this was not deemed “good enough” by Disney executives.

LEGACY

Though it has not yet reached Broadway in the US or the West End in the UK, The Hunchback of Notre Dame was made into a musical, based on both the original novel and Disney’s 1996 film, including its songs and some of the film’s deleted songs such as “Someday” and “A Place of Miracles”, which is beautiful, as well as new numbers. The original musical premiered in 1999 in Berlin as Der Glöckner von Notre Dame: Das Musical. It was produced by Disney Theatrical Productions, with this being their first musical to premiere outside the US. It ran in Berlin for three years at the Berlin Theatre, now named Theater am Potsdamer Platz. I believe I stood outside it with my mum when we went to Berlin because I wanted to see the theatre where The Hunchback of Notre Dame musical had been many years before. In 2014, an American version of the musical was staged in San Diego from October to December 2014, before opening at the Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey in 2015, closing in April of that year. It did not move to Broadway, though it did receive positive reviews. It did finally debut in New York in December 2017, but not on Broadway. Other versions around the world have been performed in recent years, including in the UK, Japan, and Australia. The musical version of the story is darker than the Disney movie, including more details from the novel that were omitted or changed for the Disney film, such as Frollo being the Archdeacon of Notre-Dame, Quasimodo being deaf from the constant bell ringing, and Esmeralda and Frollo’s deaths matching the novel. Though thankfully, Phoebus is portrayed as he is in the Disney film, and not the novel.

In March 2002, fittingly of the time, a direct-to-video sequel was released, The Hunchback of Notre Dame II. Many of the voice cast returned, including Demi Moore and Tom Hulce, with child actor Haley Joel Osment, actress and singer Jennifer Love Hewitt, and comedic actor Michael McKean joining the cast as Zephyr, Phoebus and Esmeralda’s son, Madellaine, Quasimodo’s love interest, and Sarousch, the villain of the film, respectively. It received mostly negative reviews as many of these direct-to-video sequels do, but I love it. The animation is not good, I can accept that, but the story of Quasimodo finally finding love is very sweet and it gave me hope when I was younger that I would also find love. The songs are more simplistic than the soundtrack of the original soundtrack, with all of them being quite jokey numbers, but “I’m Gonna Love You”, the love ballad, that features in the credits is a highlight. I remember seeing the trailer for this at one of the shops in the Contemporary Resort at Walt Disney World, and being really excited about it.

Around 2019, a live-action remake of The Hunchback of Notre Dame was announced by Disney. Not surprising, really, as they did this with so many others. But as of 2023, it is thought that CEO Bob Iger has shut the project down, possibly due to the current social climate. I never thought I’d say this, but thank you, Bob Iger; you’ve done something I agree with! I dislike all Disney live-action remakes, but I was furious when the initial news came out about this for a couple of reasons. The first was that it is not necessary at all and I didn’t want them messing with “my film”. Secondly, I think if it had been, or is made, it’s opening Disney up to criticism, because they would have to either rewrite their animated movie to a point where it no longer resembles the 1996 film or the 1831 novel, or they would have to accept the tirade of comments that would come from making a movie in this day and age about someone persecuting entire groups of people, and someone being physically and emotionally abused for their disability. Sure, it all comes right in the end, but to get to that point, you’d have to show mistreatment and use unacceptable language, and I don’t think it’s worth it. There are already plenty of faithful live-action adaptations of the novel, so I think we should all just leave it there.

At the Disney theme parks, the heyday for The Hunchback of Notre Dame was definitely in the 1990s, shortly after its release. At Disneyland, the Big Thunder Ranch area was rethemed as The Hunchback of Notre Dame: Festival of Fools in 1996. The cabin there became Esmeralda’s Cabin and the Festival Arena staged a live-show between 21^st June 1996 to 19^th April 1998. This area became a corporate event space after that until 2004 when it was rethemed to Disney’s Home on the Range (2004) for a brief time[14]. Also at Disneyland, as well as at Disneyland Paris, there was a mini parade that ran as promotion for the movie between 1996 and 1997. The two parades at the two parks were different, as Paris’ one was also to celebrate the park’s 5^th anniversary so had quite a few more floats and was called the Carnival of Fools Parade. Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland Paris was also decorated in confetti and jester hats from 1997 to the beginning of 1998 to celebrate this milestone anniversary.

At Walt Disney World’s Disney-MGM Studios, as it was known then, The Hunchback of Notre Dame: A Musical Adventure ran from 21^st June 1996 to 28^th September 2002. It was held at the Backlot Theater, and was an abridged 30-minute version of the film, that even had a pre-show juggler. It used many of the film’s original songs, although “Hellfire” was cut for obvious reasons. It was a very popular show and I’m sure many people are sad that it is not still going; I remember seeing it many times on my earlier visits.

Also at Disneyland Paris, there was a special five-minute fireworks, drones, and projections show around Sleeping Beauty Castle. This was a limited-time show, titled Disney♥️ Notre-Dame de Paris, whereby Clopin briefly recounted the story of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, alongside clips and music from the film. This show only ran for a few days in December 2024, to coincide with the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral, after its lengthy renovation as a result to the fire that decimated parts of it in April 2019.

So those are the experiences that no longer exist, but there are a few current references to The Hunchback of Notre Dame to mention. One is at Fantasy Faire at Disneyland where this is a small window called Clopin’s Music Box. It plays the song “Topsy Turvy” as Clopin and the festival crowd move from side-to-side. At Hong Kong Disneyland, there is a restaurant location in Fantasyland called Clopin’s Festival of Foods, which is themed to the Festival of Fools, with tents, banners, and bright colours. At Walt Disney World, at Disney’s Hollywood Studios nighttime spectacular show Fantasmic!, Frollo still appears during the villains’ sections. I am so glad he was not removed during their redesign of the show, because I feared he may be. A figure of Quasimodo can be seen in one of the windows at the Disney’s Days of Christmas shop in Disney Springs.

Finally, for character appearances, though Esmeralda, Phoebus, Clopin, Quasimodo, and Frollo have all been spotted at times across the Disney Parks, they are rare characters to meet and do not have designated appearance times. At Disneyland’s Oogie Boogie Bash Halloween party, Frollo has regularly appeared with other villains during the Frightfully Fun Parade. During the Disneyland After Dark: 90s Nite in March 2025, Phoebus, Clopin, and Esmeralda were in attendance. Phoebus and Esmeralda had already appeared at Sweethearts’ Nite in February 2024. At Disneyland Paris in 2019, all five characters were available for meet-and-greets at their Annual Passholder Night; I have also seen Frollo at Disneyland Paris during Halloween events here. Esmeralda has also been seen at Tokyo Disneyland and Hong Kong Disneyland. At Walt Disney World, the characters are much rarer to see and I have never met any of them there before, but they have all been at Special Events in previous years.

Surprisingly, around the late 2010s, “Out There” from this film started being used in Disney nighttime shows, even though the movie is not particularly popular anymore. The song apparently is, because it is used as part of Happily Ever After at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, Wondrous Journeys at Disneyland, and of course, Disney’s Tales of Magic at Disneyland Paris. It is also performed during The Golden Mickeys live stage show on the Disney cruise ships the Dream and the Wonder.

There has been more merchandise around The Hunchback of Notre Dame in recent years. In the 2000s, it was rarely referenced and I used to get anything that had the smallest reference to The Hunchback of Notre Dame or one of its characters. For example, I bought the Disney Villains Monopoly game at Walt Disney World one year just because Frollo’s face was on the box, though I did find that one of the playing pieces is his hat, so that made it seem more of a worthy purchase! There have been pins, MagicBands, prints, dolls, and ornaments to buy in recent years. It is likely in 2026 more merchandise lines will become available as The Hunchback of Notre Dame celebrates its 30^th anniversary.

FINAL THOUGHTS

In recent years, I don’t watch the film as much as I used to, but I probably watch it at least three times a year still, and I still like to hunt for merchandise. It’s just such a great film, and I do appreciate the further discussion around it in recent years, but I am very protective of it and hate when things that are “trendy” for a couple of years then get passed over for something else, which will naturally happen here when another lesser-known animated film hits a milestone anniversary.

Some would say that Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) is Disney’s masterpiece. Others, especially 90s kids, might say the same about Beauty and the Beast (1991) or The Lion King (1994), but for me, the greatest masterpiece from Disney animation has been, is, and will always be The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

It’s hard to express exactly why or how much I love this film, but I guess I can try with these simple statements:

Frollo will always be my villain.

Esmeralda will always be my princess.

And Quasimodo will always be my hero.

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Natasha Lavender, ‘The Untold Truth Of Disney’s The Hunchback Of Notre Dame’, Looper.com, 25^th October 2023.

[2] Credit: Disney, “The Making of The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)”, from The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) Blu-Ray (2013).

[3] Credit: Jim Korkis, Everything I Know I Learned from Disney Animated Feature Films (2015), ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)’, pp. 100-102.

[4] Credit: Disney, “The Making of The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)”, from The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) Blu-Ray (2013).

[5] Credit: Disney, “History and Background of Notre Dame de Paris”, from The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) DVD (2002).

[6] Credit: Disney, “History of the Production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame”, from The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) DVD (2002).

[7] Credit: Jim Korkis, Everything I Know I Learned from Disney Animated Feature Films (2015), ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)’, pp. 100-102.

[8] Credit: Disney, “History and Background of Notre Dame de Paris”, from The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) DVD (2002).

[9] Credit: Disney, “The Making of The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)”, from The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) Blu-Ray (2013).

[10] Credit: Jim Korkis, Everything I Know I Learned from Disney Animated Feature Films (2015), ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)’, pp. 100-102.

[11] Credit: Disney, “Deleted Sequence: Esmeralda’s Prayer”, from The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) DVD (2002).

[12] Credit: Jim Korkis, Everything I Know I Learned from Disney Animated Feature Films (2015), ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)’, pp. 100-102.

[13] Credit: Disney, “Deleted Songs”, from The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) LaserDisc Deluxe Edition (1997).

[14] Credit: Author Unknown, ‘Little Patch of Heaven at Big Thunder Ranch’, Yesterland.com, 17^th February 2023.

15th Dec 20231st Oct 2025 by The Disney Purist

#20 The Aristocats (1970)

BACKGROUND

After Walt Disney’s death in 1966, the Disney Studios struggled to find their feet.

The Aristocats was the first film to be produced after Walt’s death, and began what came to be known as the Bronze Age of Disney Animation. Not a great name considering there had already been a Silver Age and a Golden Age. This just shows how much difficulty there was in recreating some of their more magical, charming movies of the decades before.

Though The Jungle Book (1967) was the first animated film to be released after Walt Disney’s passing, Walt’s involvement in The Jungle Book is evident and this contributed to the good box-office and critical results. Unfortunately, The Aristocats did not have this luxury, and was not able to benefit much from Walt Disney’s expertise, something that was plain to see at the time.

That’s not to say The Aristocats is awful and should never see the light of day ever again. In fact, though reviews were lukewarm, The Aristocats did perform well financially, both at the time and in its theatrical re-releases. It’s just that The Aristocats sits within the decade of the 1970s, a time where many of those Disney animated films are remembered for their “problems”, and not their good points.

Before this week, I hadn’t watched The Aristocats in years. I think the last time I watched it was probably when it was last shown on Channel 5 in the UK, where, for a time, a while ago, they used to show a Disney animated film on a Sunday afternoon. This was before Disney+ came out, so there’s no need to do this now, but anyway, the point is I’ve spent years believing that The Aristocats is terrible and that I don’t like, probably because no-one else really talks about it and no-one seems to reference it, so if no-one is mentioning it, then it can’t be good, can it?

Well, once again, I was wrong about this film – and therefore, myself. Though I hadn’t seen The Aristocats for a while, many of the scenes were very familiar to me, which suggests, like The Rescuers Down Under (1990), I must have watched it a lot on VHS when I was younger, and, as I grew up, decided it wasn’t worth my time to go back to. Although I can’t claim that The Aristocats is my new favourite film and regret all the years I spent not watching it, it was nowhere near as bad as I thought it was. The cats are cute, for the most part, the music is catchy and jazzy, and the story is quick and more entertaining than I remembered. There were some funny moments too, though a few did border on the line of ridiculous and almost “too silly”!

PLOT

The Aristocats begins with the standard, for this time, Opening Credits, which show pencil sketches of the cats from the movie, and sequences of animation that will be shown later in the film. Then, we get into the story, and see Paris in 1910. A lady with her cats is being driven in a horse and carriage by her butler, Edgar. The lady is a former opera singer named Madame Adelaide Bonfamille, and she has named her fluffy white cat, Duchess. Duchess has three kittens, a white kitten named Marie, a grey one named Berlioz, and a ginger one named Toulouse. It is clear Madame adores her cats as they are treated like royalty, with butler Edgar having to carry out specific instructions when taking care of them.

On this day, Madame Bonfamille says her attorney, the old but sprightly, Georges Hautecourt is coming round to discuss her will. Little do they know that as they are discussing this, Edgar is listening through a speaking tube from the servants’ quarters. Edgar is expecting to be left the whole of Bonfamille’s estate as he has looked after her for many years, and she apparently has no living relatives, however, this is not the case, and Edgar listens in horror as Madame says that her fortune will go to the cats, and only once all the cats have passed, will Edgar receive anything. Edgar believes that he will not be able to outlive the cats, as he thinks cats have nine lives so does his calculations all wrong, and plans to get rid of them. Meanwhile, the cats go through their day as usual, with Duchess telling her kittens they must work on their “self-improvement”. This is done through their different artistic talents: Marie likes to sing, Berlioz plays the piano, and Toulouse is a painter. Soon, Edgar comes in with the cats’ cream. The cats even share it with resident mouse, Roquefort. But what they don’t know is that Edgar has spiked the cream with sleeping tablets – and a fair few of them, probably enough to kill them…

But the cats aren’t dead, luckily, though whilst they are sleeping, Edgar bundles them into a basket and drives them out into the countryside on his motorbike. As he approaches a windmill somewhere in a field, two dogs attack him, because they like to chase vehicles that drive on to their turf. They chase Edgar around the lake, and up and over the under side of a bridge. Somehow, the bike separates from its sidecar, and the dogs claim that as their own, but Edgar quickly drives back home on his bike – even driving straight through the windmill. That can’t be structurally sound with a huge hole in it now… We see that the basket with the cats in it must have been thrown out of the sidecar and ended up under the bridge. Duchess was thrown from it and wakes up. She soon finds Marie in a tree, and Berlioz in the lake, being terrorised by a frog. They look for Toulouse, only to find he was still in the basket. He says he dreamt that Edgar did this to them, but Duchess doesn’t believe him. They get spooked by the thunderstorm and take shelter in the basket to wait for daylight.

The next day, it is bright and sunny. Duchess is woken up by singing and looks for the noise. It is a ginger cat, singing his own theme song. How pretentious. This cat is called Thomas O’Malley, and he starts flirting with Duchess, telling her about taking a ride on a magic carpet or something. The three kittens hear this and want to go too. Thomas is surprised to find that Duchess has children, but nevertheless, he tells the kittens to wait for the “carpet”. Thomas then jumps onto the windscreen of a van, scaring the driver so he stops the van. Thomas tells the others to get into the back, but as he waves them goodbye, Marie falls out and Thomas must retrieve her, so he ends up in the van too, going along for the ride. Thomas tells Duchess that she could stay with him, but Duchess knows it’s important they get back home, back to Madame, who will be missing them terribly.

Back at home, Madame is certainly upset by the disappearance of her cats, as are Roquefort, the mouse, and Frou-Frou, the horse. The two discuss the situation in the stables, until Edgar comes in. He starts bragging to them about how he was the one who took the cats away, even showing the front page of the newspaper, telling them that the police believe it was a criminal mastermind who did the job. Edgar is proud of himself, believing that there is nothing that could possibly link him to the crime – but he remembers, his umbrella and his hat, and the sidecar, are all still in the country. He sets out to get them.

Back with Duchess, Thomas, and the kittens, the van driver soon notices the cats in the back of the van, and shoos them away, quite aggressively. They get walking towards Paris, on the edge of a train track. Because that’s a safe way to travel! Sure enough, a train rushes towards them, and the cats duck underneath the rails, onto the wooden frame below. However, Marie falls into the river. Thomas dives in to get her. He successfully saves her, and passes her to Duchess who is waiting on the riverbank, but Thomas can’t get himself out. He keeps himself afloat on a log, but as he can’t swim, he tries to get himself to the edge by using tree branches and vines. This would probably have worked for him, if it weren’t for British geese, Abigail and Amelia Gabble. They see Thomas and think he’s trying to learn to swim. They swim over to him and tell him the best way to practise is to strike out on his own and let go of the vine. The geese cut the vine, leaving Thomas floundering in the river, grabbing on to anything he can to keep him afloat, even the Gabble’s tails, basically “goosing” them. The geese soon notice that Thomas is actually drowning, so they rescue him and swim him back to solid land. They meet up with Duchess and the kittens, where the Gabble sisters introduce themselves, saying they are on their summer holiday, and going to Paris to meet their Uncle Waldo at Le Petit Café. They all walk like geese to Paris together. Once in the city, they soon find Uncle Waldo, being chased out of the kitchen of Le Petit Café. It turns out he’s drunk – no, wait – “basted” in white wine, as per the café’s menu listing. The three geese all leave together, giggling, and go on their way.

In the meantime, Roquefort tries to follow Edgar on his journey back into the countryside, but falls off the bike, so cannot help find the cats. Edgar does get back to the windmill though, and after some difficulty, retrieves his umbrella, hat, and sidecar from the two dogs, Napoleon and Lafayette.

In the city, the kittens are too tired to make it all the way back home that day, but being in Paris is good progress. Thomas leads them to his apartment, only to find that the Scat Cats are there, a group of musical swingers, a literal band of cats. They sing, dance and party through the night, encouraging Duchess and the kittens to join in, which they do, with Marie singing, Berlioz playing piano, and Duchess singing and playing the harp at one point. Somehow, the noise causes part of the floor of Thomas’ “penthouse apartment” to give way, dropping all the Scat Cats through various floors of the building, into the streets. They dance away. Duchess puts her kittens to bed, and her and Thomas go out onto the rooftops to talk. Duchess says the area Thomas lives in is nice but needs a bit of tidying up. Thomas thinks this is Duchess saying she wants to stay with him. The kittens, who haven’t gone to sleep as they were told to, listen in. Thomas says he wants to be a father to the kittens and that they should all stay together right here, but Duchess says they must return to Madame. Thomas is hurt that she’d rather be a house pet, but he understands. He says he’ll miss her. The kittens are sad that Thomas isn’t going to be with them too.

The next day, the cats return home, with the kittens meowing at the door as they realise their cat flap appears to be locked. Roquefort ties Edgar’s shoes together to stall him, and goes to the window and tries to tell the cats to leave, but they don’t understand. At the door, Edgar puts them all in a sack. Thomas has already left so he doesn’t realise this has happened. Madame believes she’s heard the cats and rushes downstairs, but Edgar tells her she was mistaken, putting the sack of cats in the oven to hide them. The cats tell Roquefort to get Thomas to help and runs down the street to get him. Thomas rushes back to the house, telling Roquefort to find the Scat Cats and to mention his name so he doesn’t run into any trouble with them, since he is a mouse after all. But Roquefort struggles to remember the name, failing all three chances to tell it to the Scat Cats. Just as they are about to scratch him, Roquefort finally remembers the name and they rush to the house.

In the stables, Edgar has locked all the cats in a trunk, which will be sent to Timbuktu. Thomas attacks Edgar, who in turn tries to stab Thomas with a gardening fork, but he is slim enough to get through the spikes. The Scat Cats then attack Edgar as he opens the stables to take the trunk to the driveway. Roquefort works on breaking the padlock, even asking for a quiet, at which point all action stops, until they hear the click of the padlock unlocking, when it then resumes! Edgar shuts the lid closed again, but the animals manage to trap him in a saddle, giving Duchess and the kittens time to get out of the trunk. Edgar is then kicked into the truck by Frou-Frou and sent off to Timbuktu, which is a bit concerning since there don’t seem to be any air holes, so I don’t know if he’ll survive the journey. Bit grim…

The movie ends with Thomas now a member of the family, and a group photograph of the cats being taken by Madame. Georges removes Edgar from the will, as Madame says he has left, thinking perhaps he wouldn’t have if he’d heard about the will. Little does she know, right? Madame is pleased that her fortune will be able to provide for all of them now, for many years to come. The cats are told to run downstairs, and they see, and hear, that the Scat Cats are now at Madame’s home, as she has started a new foundation to give a home to all the alley cats of Paris. The three geese and the two dogs appear in this finale as well, seemingly suggesting that the Scat Cats’ music is so loud, it can be heard all across Paris, even the outskirts. I don’t know for certain, but that’s the end anyway!

CHARACTERS & CAST

So, let’s begin by talking about Duchess and her three kittens. Duchess is a regal, elegant, and well-spoken white, fluffy cat, apparently a Turkish Angora. She encourages her kittens to practise their artistic talents, and to behave properly, reprimanding them when the three kittens fight or argue. Duchess is a good mother to the kittens, and she is also very loyal to Madame, much more so than most cats would be, both fictional and real! Because of this, she is torn over her affection for Thomas O’Malley, choosing instead to go back to Madame. But in the end, Duchess doesn’t have to choose because Thomas is adopted into the family, and becomes her “husband” anyway. Duchess is voiced by Hungarian-American actress Eva Gabor. Gabor appeared in stage productions, television series, and films throughout her career from the 1940s until her death in 1995. Some of her credits include portraying Liane d’Exelmans in Gigi (1958), which won all nine of its Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, at the Oscars ceremony in 1959, and Lisa Douglas in the sitcom Green Acres (1965-71). After The Aristocats, Gabor would also voice Bianca in The Rescuers (1977) and The Rescuers Down Under (1990).

For the three kittens, the oldest one is ginger kitten, Toulouse. He likes to behave like an alley cat, hissing and spitting at his enemies, despite Duchess trying to turn him into a well-behaved gentleman. Toulouse is a painter, and is encouraged to practise his talent often. Toulouse is named after French painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Gary Dubin provides the voice for Toulouse. Dubin continued to act and voice act from the 1960s into the 2010s. He was best known for playing Punky, a friend of Danny Partridge, in The Partridge Family (1971-74), and for his role in Jaws 2 (1978), as Eddie Marchand, who is apparently mauled by the shark at one point in the film! Dubin passed away in 2016.

Marie is the middle kitten and the only girl, making her quite bossy and precocious. She wants the best and excepts everywhere to treat her as a queen, hence why she is named after Marie Antoinette, the queen of France from 1774 to 1792. She has two brothers though, so that’s not likely! Marie refers to herself as a lady, saying that “ladies don’t start fights, but they can finish them”, showing that, although she is elegant and graceful, like her mother, and they both enjoy singing, Marie is perhaps more outspoken and more feisty than Duchess! Marie is voiced by Liz English. Berlioz is the youngest kitten, who is a skilled pianist. I think he’s the most talented of the three. Berlioz is named after French composer Hector Berlioz. Dean Clark voiced Berlioz here. Clark and English did not seem to pursue further acting roles after voicing their characters in The Aristocats.

Thomas O’Malley is the love interest for Duchess. He seems a bit arrogant and full of himself when Duchess first meets him. Despite Duchess being a pure breed cat, and O’Malley being an alley cat, he is very confident and enjoys flirting with her. When he discovers that she has children, Thomas is not put off by this, and grows to love them like they are his own by the end of the film. Unfortunately, Duchess is unable to forget about Madame and start a new life with him, but, although Thomas is upset by this, he ultimately respects Duchess’ decision and helps her get home, which shows how much he loves her. And then they end up together anyway, so it ends well for everyone! Thomas O’Malley is voiced by Phil Harris. Disney fans will recognise Harris as the voice of Baloo in The Jungle Book (1967), and as Little John in Robin Hood (1973). Before these credits, Harris was known for his work on radio and as a band leader.

Moving on to the human characters, the villain of The Aristocats is Edgar Balthazar, Madame Bonfamille’s butler. At the start of the film, he seems to be a dignified butler, serving Madame and her cats well. But that all changes when he gets greedy and believes that Madame’s fortune, built up over a long career as a singer, should be his after she dies. By Madame passing the fortune to the cats first, it means Edgar would be expected to wait on the cats for the rest of their days, which would naturally be embarrassing for him. However, to choose to kidnap the cats and leave them in the middle of nowhere, instead of either sucking it up, or leaving his job, is a stupid decision, especially as he would’ve been likely to outlive the cats, and Edgar would have been aware of this had he been in his right mind to do the maths correctly. Frankly, he should have been thankful that Madame put his name in her will at all, because it’s not like she had to do it. Many feel that Edgar is one of the weakest Disney villains. I guess that’s accurate, but to even call him a villain is a stretch, because he doesn’t do anything particularly evil. He doesn’t actually try to kill the cats, and he is so dim and bumbling that it’s hard to take him seriously as a person, let alone a villain! Edgar may or may not survive his journey to Timbuktu, which is a harsh ending for him. Let’s hope the delivery men heard him crying for help, or he would’ve been in big trouble…Actor Roddy Maude-Roxby voices the role of Edgar, in his only voice role. He appeared in movies such as Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984) and White Hunter Black Heart (1990). Maude-Roxby was also one of the UK’s first performance artists and was a student at the Royal College of Art in the 1950s.

Then there are long-time friends, Madame Adelaide Bonfamille and Georges Hautecourt. Georges Hautecourt might be an elderly man, but he is certainly energetic, and doesn’t want anyone to think he is frail or infirm, as we see when Georges is trying to walk up the stairs to meet Madame. This is one of those silly-funny scenes that I mentioned earlier. Georges is about to fall down the stairs, having refused to take the elevator, so he uses his cane to hang onto Edgar’s braces, pulling back so much that Georges is able to spring onto Edgar’s back and get a piggy-back ride up the stairs. It’s such a ridiculous scene! Georges also sings a strange tune throughout all of this, and don’t even get me started on the glasses he puts on to do the paperwork! Georges also kisses Duchess’ tail believing it to be Madame’s hand, and Madame and Georges dance an odd tango to a song from the opera, Carmen. He’s so strange, but he’s the best character in The Aristocats for me. Charles Lane voices Georges Hautecourt. He had a long career in acting, having appeared in films such as Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) and The Music Man (1962), and frequently appeared in Lucille Ball’s television series. His final role was as the narrator of The Night Before Christmas 2006 short, which he did at the age of 101. He died the next year.

Madame Bonfamille is a kind and generous owner to her cats, and employer to Edgar. She is well-spoken, elegant, graceful, just as Duchess is, and she sees the good in everyone, even willing to open up her home to the alley cats at the end of the film. She dotes on her cats, and she is not ashamed to admit that her world revolves around them, and that she would struggle without them in her life. In fact, Madame is distraught when her cats are seemingly stolen and seems so relieved when they are returned to her. Hermoine Baddeley voices Madame, having already appeared in Mary Poppins (1964) for Disney as Ellen, one of the household staff for the Banks family. She also appeared in well-known British comedy films such as Passport to Pimlico (1949) and The Belles of St. Trinian’s (1954).

Those are the characters that make sense in the film. Now for a few familiar names that voiced characters that were strange additions to the story of The Aristocats! Firstly, Roquefort the mouse is voiced by Sterling Holloway, original voice of Winnie-the-Pooh, voice of Kaa in The Jungle Book (1967), the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland (1951), and many more for Disney. Roquefort is kind and willing to help, even risking his life with the Scat Cats to save Duchess and the kittens. Though he is a cute character, probably more for his voice than anything else, it is an odd choice to have a mouse be such a permanent resident of Madame’s mansion, and for Roquefort to be friends with Madame’s cats.

The Scat Cats are a band of alley cats that like to play jazz. Their leader is Scat Cat, who was designed to look and sound like Louis Armstrong, all the way from his physique, to the way he played his trumpet, to the gap between his teeth. Sadly, Armstrong was not well enough to voice the role himself at the time, so Benjamin Sherman “Scatman” Crothers, an actor and musician, came in to voice the characters. The other Scat Cats all come from outside France, such as an Italian cat, an English cat, and a Russian cat, named Billy Boss and voiced by Thurl Ravenscroft, voice of Tony the Tiger for Kellogg’s as well as being part of The Mellomen singing group who performed in numerous Disney projects. These are all quite stereotypical portrayals of natives of these countries, however, the most offensive of all is Shun Gon, the Chinese cat. At the time, in the 1970s, although still wrong, it was unlikely to have been considered a problem by audiences of that time period. Now, it is embarrassing to sit through at best, and horrifying to watch at worst. It’s really not good, and even worse, the original voice of Tigger, Paul Winchell, voices this character. Naturally, because of this character, many versions of “Ev’rybody Wants to be a Cat”, the Scat Cats’ signature song, that have been released since have edited out Shun Gon’s chorus, and on Disney+, a warning is played stating the film contains negative depictions and harmful stereotypes.

Moving on to the British geese, who don’t really need to be in this film. Carole Shelley and Monica Evans voice Amelia and Abigail Gabble respectively. Both starred as sisters Gwendolyn and Cecily Pigeon in the Broadway play of Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple, as well as the subsequent 1968 film and 1970s television series[1]. The two also voiced characters again for Disney, as Lady Kluck and Maid Marian in Robin Hood (1973). Uncle Waldo is voiced by Bill Thompson, who was known for his voice roles in other Disney animated films, such as White Rabbit and Dodo in Alice in Wonderland (1951), Mr. Smee in Peter Pan (1953), and King Hubert in Sleeping Beauty (1959). Uncle Waldo was Thompson’s final film role as he died in 1971.

Finally, the two dogs, Lafayette the basset hound and Napoleon the bloodhound, who are named after one of the leaders of the French Revolution, just watch Hamilton if you’re not sure who this is, and Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815. Lafayette is the more timid of the two, with Napoleon the leader, thinking his ideas are best even though that is not always the case. The two fights they have with Edgar are very comedic, but again, bordering on being too silly. They are an interesting addition to the story as they are not really needed; Edgar could have still carried out his plan without them, and they must have been included to give more comedic, action scenes to the film, so I guess the dogs are good for that, but that’s about it! Pat Buttram voices Napoleon and George Lindsey voices Lafayette. Buttram went on to voice the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood (1973), alongside Lindsey as Trigger, one of the vulture sidekicks, and then Luke in The Rescuers (1977), alongside Lindsey as Deadeye, the Rabbit. Buttram would also later voice Chief in The Fox and the Hound (1981). The two French dogs have very strong Southern US accents, since both voice actors were from Alabama. I guess audiences like to hear familiar voices, even if they make no sense to the story!

PRODUCTION

The Aristocats was first planned to be a two-part live-action show to be aired as part of Walt Disney’s television series. In December 1961, Harry Tytle, who had worked at the Disney Studios for decades at this point and produced many of their live-action films, was asked by Walt Disney to find animal stories that the Studios could use in their features. Tytle was asked to work with Tom McGowan, who was a director, whilst they were both in London. By the New Year in 1962, Tytle and McGowen had found many of these “animal stories” that the Disney Studios would be able to adapt into films or television spots. Supposedly, one of these was a children’s book about a mother cat and her kittens that was set in New York City, however, I have not been able to find the name or author of this book, and some say that The Aristocats was based on a true story, of a wealthy owner giving their fortune to their pet cats, but again, specifics of this story are hard to come by.

Regardless, it was decided that this story, wherever the inspiration had come from, would benefit from being based in the real-life location of Paris. So, Tytle and McGowen began planning out the story to fit this two-part television show format, with the aim being for the two shows to be combined and realised theatrically after airing on television. Tom Rowe, an American writer who lived in Paris and had been a film reviewer for Variety and would go on to write the script for Tarzan the Ape Man (1981), was brought in to write the script for this version of The Aristocats. The story written was based on the idea that a maid and butler were due to inherit their mistress’ fortune after the death of her cats. This not being enough for the maid and butler, they would try to get rid of the cats but found themselves unsuccessful as the mother cat continued to move her kittens throughout Paris to keep them safe. The original opening sequence was later added to a home release of the film, which included the original maid character, Elvira, and a deleted song. This version of the film still opened in Paris in 1910, but began at The Louvre Museum, where Duchess is telling her kittens about their ancestors at Le Galerie des Chats, as portraits of famous felines hang on the walls. They then go home to Madame Bonfamille’s mansion, where the attorney comes to talk about Madame’s will. Elvira and Edgar, still the butler, are curious about the details of the will, so Edgar listens in. Edgar hears that the two will inherit the estate and will share it between the two of them. Edgar wants it all though and decides to “propose” to Elvira, who is ecstatic at this point but says he’ll have to court her and give her time to plan the big wedding. Madame continues with the will and Edgar hears that actually, him and Elvira will not even benefit from the estate until the end of her cats’ lifespans[2]. Though this version of The Aristocats was meant to be live-action, Walt agreed that the animals could talk, in order to develop their personalities, but only when humans weren’t around.

This script was sent to the Burbank studios where it was rejected. However, as it was not rejected by Walt Disney personally, McGowan decided to send the story treatment to Walt who was in London at the time. Walt liked it, and asked Tytle to buy the story and make the live-action feature, with McGowan directing, and Tytle producing. Having said that, Walt did ask for some changes to the script, such as reducing the number of kittens, and editing out the family history of the cats, which he said was interesting but unnecessary to the overall story. Tytle made the changes and preparations to start filming began. However, Rowe was unhappy with the changes that were made to his script and felt that Tytle was simply being Walt’s “minion”. Tytle responded by saying that it was just a difference of opinion and that Walt had asked for the changes and was now happy to go ahead, so they would stick with it. Soon after, the story was shelved for various reasons.

Later, Tytle suggested that The Aristocats should become an animated feature film instead. Walt ran this by Woolie Reitherman, the supervising director for animation at the time, along with some of the animators, who agreed that animation would work for the story. In August 1963, The Aristocats was formally announced as Disney’s next animated feature, though work did not start on it until May 1964. Yet still, the project kept running into delays, which only worsened after Walt Disney’s death in December 1966.

Tytle was then told to focus only on live-action films, and was removed from the animated project, with Winston Hibler taking over. Hibler struggled with the film so he was removed, and Woolie Reitherman took over. The story was then changed again, with many of these changes annoying Tytle. In particular, he did not like the fact a mouse had been added to the feline story as he had deliberately avoided this, and Tytle felt the movie as a whole had lost its French charm because of the changes. The voice cast was changed, the maid role was cut, and additional odd characters, like the geese and dogs, were added to make up for the edits. Tytle stated that his version of the film would have worked much better. Rowe and McGowan did receive story credit for the final film[3].

Unfortunately, the resulting film is not as beautifully animated as previous Disney animated films, probably due to budgetary reasons, and the story is not as entertaining or as interesting as other movies from the Studios, potentially because of the huge changes made to the story, and the loss of Walt Disney. The Aristocats was animated using the xerography technique, which made animation cheaper as hand-painting was no longer required, but did give the imagery a sketched look to it. Xerography had been used since the 1960s, starting with One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961) and some say that it cheapens the look of the film, however, I don’t believe this is the case with The Aristocats.

What can be off-putting in The Aristocats though is the amount of borrowed story ideas and animation that appears in the film. One of the biggest story ideas, of Duchess, a pure breed cat, meeting Thomas O’Malley, an alley cat, is very much the whole storyline of Lady and the Tramp (1955), with Thomas also being adopted into the well-to-do family at the end of the film, as was the case with Tramp. Also, there are some discussions around whether Edgar’s fights with the animals are just like those that Horace and Jasper experience in One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961). I’m not sure I see all much that seems to be an exact copy, but I’m sure some of the scenes were used as inspiration. But for me, one of the most annoying reusage of animation in The Aristocats is one section of Toulouse, hissing and spitting like an alley cat. This is replayed at least three times in the film, and I just don’t think it was necessary! Some of the choreography within “Ev’rybody Wants to Be a Cat” could be seen as being quite similar to “I Wanna Be Like You” from The Jungle Book (1967), but if you really want to see excessive “borrowing” of animation, Robin Hood (1973) is the one to watch for that, not The Aristocats.

MUSIC

Speaking of “Ev’rybody Wants to Be a Cat”, this song was written by Floyd Huddleston and Al Rinker. The two had collaborated together on hundreds of songs whilst under contract with Decca Records. For Disney, Huddleston would go on to co-write the song “Love” from Robin Hood (1973), alongside Disney Studios composer George Bruns. This song was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song. “Ev’rybody Wants to Be a Cat” is the most well-known song from The Aristocats and has been included on Disney compilation albums for years, though as mentioned earlier, certain offensive lyrics have since been edited out. This song is performed by the Scat Cats and Thomas O’Malley, as well as Marie and Duchess providing some singing. Robie Lester provides the singing voice for Duchess throughout The Aristocats, not Eva Gabor. Lester also sang for Bianca in The Rescuers (1977); Eva Gabor voiced Bianca. The song is reprised at the end of the film.

Another song called “Thomas O’Malley Cat”, basically Thomas’ theme song, performed by Phil Harris as Thomas, obviously, and was written by Terry Gilkyson. Gilkyson had previously written the song “The Bare Necessities” for The Jungle Book (1967), which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song. He also wrote songs for live-action Disney television series and movies. Little did I know that “Thomas O’Malley Cat” actually states Thomas’ full name within it. It is Abraham DeLacey Giuseppe Casey Thomas O’Malley. I never had any idea what he was saying until this week, but I’ve always liked this song. It’s my favourite in the whole movie, because it’s so catchy and smooth. Duchess says that Thomas’ name covers all of Europe, because it is a mixture of names from different European countries, yet we don’t know where he actually comes from. Interestingly, in the Italian dub, Thomas’ name is Romeo and he is stated as being “the best cat in the Colosseum”. This is because, at the time, the Colosseum was home to many alley cats.

Outside of these songs, the other two that feature in the film were written by Richard and Robert Sherman, also known as the Sherman Brothers. The duo had worked with Walt Disney for years, including for movies such as The Parent Trap (1961), Mary Poppins (1964), and The Jungle Book (1967), and for themes for some of Disney’s longest-running theme park attractions like “It’s a Small World (After All)” from the boat ride of the same name, and “There’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow” for Carousel of Progress.

For The Aristocats, they knew that the music would need to fit the location and time period of 1900s Paris. This is reflected in the title song, “The Aristocats”, which is the other song in the movie that I most enjoy. The Sherman Brothers wanted French singer Maurice Chevalier to sing the song for them, however, Chevalier had already retired. Richard had the idea to impersonate the singer for the demo and to play it to him to try and convince Chevalier to come out of retirement. It worked! This was Chevalier’s last professional recording before his death in 1972. It is performed in English to begin with, before moving into French just as the animation of the story begins, however, on some versions of this song, I don’t think the French verses are always included. The song “The Aristocats” does evoke the feeling of being in France and even uses that quintessentially French, iconic instrument the accordion frequently.

Another factor that the Sherman Brothers knew had to be in the film was a song to introduce the kittens. This is done through “Scales and Arpeggios”, which shows Marie singing and Berlioz playing the piano, with Toulouse coming in to make a mess on the piano with his paint-covered paws! Duchess also sings alongside Marie at one point. As this song mentions the musical tools of scales and arpeggios, these make up the majority of the melody[4]. Though I’m not a huge fan of the song, I do like when Berlioz interrupts Marie’s singing with his piano solo. I would prefer to watch the animated sequence instead of just listening to the song.

This makes up the entirety of the songs in the final film of The Aristocats, however, the Sherman Brothers wrote many more that were not used. One of these was a song sung between Elvira, the maid, and Edgar, the butler, as part of that original opening sequence. This deleted song was called “How Much You Mean to Me/Court Me Slowly”, and details Edgar trying to convince Elvira to marry him, so he doesn’t have to share Madame’s fortune. The demo song was recorded by both Richard and Robert Sherman. It is apparently one of the few times the two sang together on a demo recording.

A two-part song was also written by the Sherman Brothers, but was also cut. The first sung was to be performed by Hermoine Baddeley as Madame Bonfamille and was called “Pourquoi?”. It was storyboarded to be included at the beginning of the film as Madame uses her new gramophone. She sings about how the cats are her family, with the kittens chiming in, meowing “pourquoi?” or “why?”. The second-part was called “She Never Felt Alone”, to be sung by Robie Lester as Duchess. It would’ve taken place at the point when Thomas is asking Duchess to go away with him, as they are sat in the milk truck heading to Paris. Duchess says she can’t as they can’t leave Madame alone because she adores them, and they adore her. Though the song was cut, the opening lines of the song were used as dialogue for Duchess in the final film instead[5]. The Sherman Brothers had also written a song to be the big show-stopping number of The Aristocats called “Le Jazz Hot”, however, it was decided that “Ev’rybody Wants to Be a Cat” should be used instead. Some of these deleted songs were re-recorded and included on re-releases of The Aristocats soundtrack.

The instrumental music was composed by George Bruns, who composed scores for multiple Disney animated films, such as Sleeping Beauty (1959), The Sword in the Stone (1963) and The Jungle Book (1967), as well as many live-action Disney movies, such as The Love Bug (1968). He also co-wrote the song “Yo Ho (A Pirate’s Life for Me)” with Xavier Atencio for the Pirates of the Caribbean theme park attraction.

RECEPTION

The Aristocats was first released on 24^th December 1970. It took four years to produce and cost over $4 million dollars to make according to Disney publicity. It was a box-office success, however, critically it was compared negatively to The Jungle Book (1967), which was the last animated film that Walt Disney had been specifically involved in[6]. For many critics, they felt his influence was sorely missed in The Aristocats, specifically in relation to the story elements and the character choices. Though others did say it was entertaining enough, and that the voice cast in particular were a highlight. The Aristocats was later re-released in theatres in 1980 and 1987, continuing to bring in audiences and higher box-office profits. It also benefited from multiple home releases over the years.

LEGACY

In January 2022, a live-action remake of The Aristocats was announced. It was presumed at the time that this would be a live-action/animation hybrid, much like the remake of Lady and the Tramp (2019). In March 2023, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson was named as the director of this remake. He is perhaps most known for appearing with the band The Roots on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, becoming the official house band of the show in 2009, and then moving to The Tonight Show when Jimmy Fallon became the host in 2014. Questlove also won numerous awards, including the Oscar for Best Documentary in 2022, when he directed the 2021 film Summer of Soul, focusing on the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival[7]. After this announcement, there was no further news or details on The Aristocats remake – until 2025. This is when Disney seemed to be pausing development on many of their previously announced live-action remakes. It was later confirmed in August 2025, by Questlove himself on a podcast, that the live-action remake had been scrapped. It was stated that this was partly down to constant management shake-ups making the development process difficult, however, Questlove did have some hope the project may still happen in the future[8].

Back in 2005, a direct-to-video sequel was proposed by the Disney Studios, however, it was swiftly cancelled in 2006, along with many others, when John Lasseter came on as Chief Creative Officer of the Walt Disney Animation Studios after the Walt Disney Company acquired Pixar. It was probably for the best that this sequel was cancelled, given how little praise is given to all those direct-to-video sequels of the 90s and 00s! In 2003, the Disney Channel considered making a television series focused on Marie, Toulouse, and Berlioz as teenagers, but again, this never happened[9]. There is, however, a series of graphic novels called The Aristokittens, which began in 2022. A fourth book was released in August 2023. The series follows the three kittens reopening an abandoned café for animals in Paris.

Generally, you can find merchandise lines based on The Aristocats and its characters, though Marie is the most popular of all of them, especially in Japan. Marie will likely feature the most on anything that can be bought. At the D23 Expo in 2022, a home accessories collection by Ann Shen debuted, which included images of Marie, Toulouse, and Berlioz on things like plate sets, teapots, and of course, pet accessories.

Specifically, at the Disney Parks, there are few references to The Aristocats, with no rides or attractions based on the movie. At Walt Disney World’s Riviera Resort, you can find Le Petit Café, which is named after the restaurant in the film. Apart from being themed as a French café, there is nothing specific linking it to The Aristocats in its theming or décor. At the France pavilion in Epcot, there may be The Aristocats merchandise and at certain times of the year, you can see a painting of the three kittens on the wall next to La Maison du Vin. These images of Disney characters used to be put in place at the Epcot World Showcase pavilions during Epcot Festivals, but I’m unsure if they are now permanent fixtures or are only around at limited times. Only at Hong Kong Disneyland, a small figure of Marie is visible towards the start of the it’s a small world attraction here.

For character meet-and-greets, Marie is the most popular one, although her brothers Toulouse and Berlioz have been spotted before. At Walt Disney World, Marie used to meet guests both at Magic Kingdom and at the France Pavilion in Epcot but this was years ago. She has been seen in the Adventure Friends Cavalcade at Magic Kingdom though, without her brothers. You’ll probably have more luck seeing all three kittens at Disneyland if you’re in the US, as they have appeared at Disneyland during seasonal events before, and were at Grad Nite in 2022. Outside of the US parks, Marie, Berlioz, and Toulouse were spotted at Tokyo Disneyland in 2022, which makes sense seeing as Marie has quite a following in Japan. Marie has been seen on the finale float of the Mickey’s Storybook Express parade at Shanghai Disneyland before, but it seems that the characters on this float are changed up fairly regularly, and it seems that she is not currently featuring here. At Disneyland Paris, they have been sighted in recent years, including at a character breakfast in 2016, and at Halloween and Christmas events until around 2018. At the Disney Loves Jazz event at the park in September 2018, the three kittens were available to meet once again, and for the first time, Edgar was a character meet-and-greet! It seems that the kittens are getting rarer to see and it is more likely that they will only show up at Special Events now.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The 1970s was another difficult decade for the Disney Studios after the loss of their visionary leader. Many of the other animated releases of the 1970s could be seen as “middling efforts”, but none of them are terribly bad; they just lack direction and charm. The Aristocats is not one of Disney animation’s best films, and seemingly, it is remembered for the character of Marie these days or for the song “Ev’rybody Wants to Be a Cat”, more so than its full story. These few elements of The Aristocats have kept it relevant enough that is not a film that is easily forgotten, yet not favoured by many.

But as I’ve said before, everyone has a favourite Disney film, and every Disney film is a favourite to someone. We can’t all enjoy the same movies or life would be boring, so whether or not The Aristocats is your favourite, like all the others, it has a history to it, and deserves to be remembered both for the things it got wrong, and for the things it got right.

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Jim Korkis, Everything I Know I Learned from Disney Animated Feature Films (2015), ‘The Aristocats (1970)’, pp. 58-60.

[2] Credit: Disney, “Deleted Scene: “The Lost Open””, from The Aristocats (1970) Special Edition Blu-Ray (2012).

[3] Credit: Jim Korkis, The Revised Vault of Walt: Volume 1 (2012), ‘Secret Origins of The Aristocats’, pp. 113-118.

[4] Credit: Disney, “The Sherman Brothers: The Aristocrats of Disney Songs”, from The Aristocats (1970) Special Edition Blu-Ray (2012).

[5] Credit: Disney, “Deleted Song: “She Never Felt Alone”, from The Aristocats (1970) Special Edition Blu-Ray (2012).

[6] Credit: Jim Korkis, The Revised Vault of Walt: Volume 1 (2012), ‘Secret Origins of The Aristocats’, pp. 113-118.

[7] Credit: Justin Kroll, ‘Questlove To Direct Live-Action/Hybrid Adaptation of ‘The Aristocats’ For Disney’, Deadline.com, 27^th March 2023.

[8] Credit: Armando Tinoco, ‘Questlove Says ‘The Aristocats’ Live-Action Adaptation Has Been Scrapped At Disney: “Just Wasn’t Meant To Happen’, Deadline.com, 29^th August 2025.

[9] Credit: Jim Korkis, The Revised Vault of Walt: Volume 1 (2012), ‘Secret Origins of The Aristocats’, pp. 113-118.