15th Mar 202428th Jun 2024 by The Disney Purist

#43 Treasure Planet (2002)

BACKGROUND

Ah, Treasure Planet. A futuristic coming-of-age story, complete with space pirates, space whales, hidden treasure, and a new cool sport: solar surfing – all the teens are doing it.

It was a project two decades in the making with two directors who had proven their worth throughout the Disney “Renaissance Era”. Plus, it combined all the magic of Disney’s traditional 2D animation style with all the amazement of technological advancements. It had all the ingredients to be the next big hit. And yet, Treasure Planet became one of Disney’s worst ever financial flops…So, what went wrong?

Well, in my mind, Treasure Planet is actually a very enjoyable film, with lots of heart and plenty of great art. I think it was a victim of bad timing and changing audience tastes.

After a whole decade of amazing movies that shaped an entire generation of children, with many of those still enjoying watching them as adults, Disney began to struggle in the 2000s. They were competing with the likes of Pixar, Blue Sky Studios, who released their first Ice Age movie in 2002, and DreamWorks, who were making full-length computer-animated films that weren’t just funny, but hilarious for children and adults alike. Disney, on the other hand, weren’t entirely sure what they were doing, and in changing their tried-and-tested formula of the musical fairy tale, they took some big risks that mostly didn’t work out.

However, in 2002, there was Lilo & Stitch, released in June, just five months before Treasure Planet. It was an original story and a non-musical, and it did exceptionally well, so that must’ve given the team working on Treasure Planet hope that their film would do well also. Yet it did not and Treasure Planet was left to struggle at the box-office. It was then forgotten for many years afterwards.

I remember when I first watched Treasure Planet. Not in the cinema, but once it had been released on DVD. Though we had watched a lot of the “Renaissance Era” films at the cinema, this must have been around the time where we weren’t that determined to watch Disney films as soon as they came out – because they were not as good as they used to be. I didn’t like Treasure Planet when I first watched it. My sister did, but I thought it was boring – and where were the princesses, and the songs? So, I never wanted to watch it again. It’s a science-fiction film, an action film, and a fantasy film all at once, and none of those genres used to appeal to me. It wasn’t until years later that I decided to re-watch and see what I thought of it. And you know what? I actually really liked it – I’ll happily admit that I was wrong and when I was younger, I’d completely missed the whole emotional grip of the film. If you re-watch Treasure Planet as an adult, you’ll also see that the film is full of brilliant quotes, and hilarious one-liners.

PLOT

For anyone not familiar with the plot of this or Treasure Island, as it sticks fairly closely to the original story, just with the obvious change of it being set in space, the film starts off with a young Jim Hawkins listening to his holographic, pop-up, audio storybook that tells the story of Captain Nathaniel Flint, a notorious space pirate who has been storing all of his treasure in a mysterious place called “Treasure Planet” that nobody else has found. The film then jumps to Jim as a wayward teenager, getting in trouble with the police, generally not having a plan in life, and spending a lot of time “solar surfing”, which is like a mix of hoverboarding and skateboarding. His mother runs an inn called the Benbow Inn, and is at her wit’s end trying to figure out what to do about Jim. Later, a pirate called Billy Bones crash-lands outside the inn and gives Jim a small golden sphere to keep hold of just as he dies. The inn is then broken into by a cyborg and his crew who Bones had warned was following him. Jim, his mother, and their family friend, Dr. Delbert Doppler, manage to escape; however, the inn is set on fire and completely destroyed.

At Dr. Doppler’s home, Jim discovers that this sphere is actually a map to Treasure Planet. Jim and Dr. Doppler decide to set off on a voyage to find this planet, with Dr. Doppler financing the trip. They board the RLS Legacy with feline Captain Amelia, her first mate Mr. Arrow, and a crew of ruffians. Jim is put to work on the ship, which I think is really unfair, because he was given the map and figured out what it was after all, why should he have to work when this is all happening because of him? Anyway, Jim is ordered to work under the supervision of John Silver, the cyborg cook, who Jim is suspicious of right from the start as Billy Bones had told him in his dying breath: “beware the cyborg”. Jim does, however, like Silver’s shape-shifting pink glob pet, Morph.

The RLS Legacy sets sail, though Captain Amelia remains concerned about some of the crew on board, not liking this crew that Dr. Doppler hired. The voyage is not without struggles, like the ship almost being sucked into a supernova and black hole which threatens to consume all of them. Jim and Silver have become close during their time working together after their initial dislike for one another, but in the chaos of the black hole, Jim is blamed for the death of Mr. Arrow. Jim is devastated, believing he checked all of the crew’s ropes that kept them attached to the ship, their “lifelines”. Little does Jim know that indeed some of this crew is dodgy, because the spider-like Scroop deliberately cut Mr. Arrow’s lifeline rope and sent him spiralling into deep space.

The dodgy crew becomes more dodgy shortly after the RLS Legacy begins to approach Treasure Planet. It soon becomes clear that Silver is actually running this crew and he is after the treasure. Him and the crew commandeer the ship, leaving Amelia, Doppler and Jim to escape quickly, grabbing the spherical map to ensure Silver can’t get it, and they crash onto a strange planet. Amelia is injured in the escape. Jim meets a crazy robot called B.E.N. who helps him figure out that this planet is actually Treasure Planet. Jim then works out that the map is actually Morph, who shape-shifted into the map during the chaotic escape. Jim realises that the real map is still on the ship. Jim, Morph and B.E.N. watch as Silver and his crew land on Treasure Planet and they steal a small boat to get back onto the RLS Legacy to look for the map. Jim is attacked by Scroop as he does so, but through some quick-thinking and some mis-steps by B.E.N. that cause him to disable the artificial gravity, Jim manages to push Scroop out into deep space.

On returning to Amelia and Dr. Doppler, Jim, B.E.N. and Morph see that the two have been captured by Silver and his crew, and Jim is forced to give up the map. They discover that the map is actually full of portals, with one of the portals allowing them to get to the centre of Treasure Planet. In the centre, they find the whole area covered in treasure and Silver’s crew begin to collect it up. For some reason, B.E.N. is reminded of something but as he does not have his memory, he can’t recall what is troubling him. Jim discovers the skeleton of Captain Flint, the hoarder of the treasure, holding B.E.N.’s memory circuit. Jim reinstalls it, which allows B.E.N. to remember everything. He tells the others that Captain Flint rigged the planet to explode if ever his treasure was discovered, and that his memory was pulled out of him so that this secret would never be revealed.

Everyone quickly tries to escape the centre of the planet as it begins to explode. Silver abandons his treasure to help Jim, who almost falls to his death, and they get everyone back on board the RLS Legacy again to leave the planet. However, the ship has been damaged and will not be able to outrun the explosion. Jim figures out that they can use the map’s portals to simply exit to a different location. He quickly builds a mini solar surfing board and makes his way to the map to change portal destinations as Dr. Doppler steers the RLS Legacy towards it. They succeed, returning to Montressor, as the whole planet explodes behind them. Later on, Jim sees Silver trying to leave without being seen. Despite Silver holding him hostage on Treasure Planet and tricking him into believing he was one of the good guys, Jim allows him to go, although it is clear that he will miss his newfound friend. Silver offers for Jim to go along with him, but Jim doesn’t want to, realising that Silver taught him to “chart his own course”. Silver heads away, but leaves Jim with Morph and half of the treasure he managed to steal, so that Jim’s mother can rebuild the Benbow Inn – that Silver just so happened to destroy… Silver also tells Jim that he is something special.

Back home in Montressor, the Benbow Inn has been rebuilt and B.E.N. is now a waiter; Dr. Doppler and Amelia have four children; and Jim has become a cadet at the Interstellar Academy. As the party at the Benbow goes on, Jim looks up to the sky and sees an image of Silver in the clouds, showing that Silver will always be watching over him.

CHARACTERS & CAST

In my opinion, all the characters in Treasure Planet are well-developed and all of them serve a purpose to the overall story. Jim is a typical teenager at the start of the film, albeit not one you really want to root for. He’s a trouble-maker, who gives his mother constant reason for worry, even though it’s clear Jim doesn’t mean to be a problem; he just doesn’t know what he wants to be or how to be himself. He represents a lot of teenagers, not knowing what to do or how to feel, struggling to deal with past trauma, and generally feeling quite confused and lost. Jim Hawkins was made to be slightly older in Treasure Planet than he seems to be in the book Treasure Island, and that was to widen the appeal of the movie to teenagers, as Disney is predominantly known for making “kids’ movies”, something that instantly uninterests most teens. Jim goes on an emotional “coming-of-age” journey throughout the film, with his relationship with Silver having much to do with that. Despite initial friction between the two, Silver ends up being a mentor and father-figure to Jim, something that he very much needs after his own father ran out on him and his mother.

Silver and Jim have some very touching moments during Treasure Planet, such as when they say goodbye at the end of the film and when Jim is blamed for Mr. Arrow’s death; he feels hopeless again after having gained some confidence, until Silver comes over and tells him that the incident wasn’t his fault, and “you’ve got the makings of greatness in you”. It’s a sweet and heart-warming scene – especially when you realise that Silver is actually the bad guy here! John Silver is a great “villain” in Treasure Planet, because he has hidden depths to his character. He’s torn between carrying out his mission, and obsession of finally getting his hands on the treasure, but he also ends up caring about Jim and doesn’t want him to get hurt, or get caught up in the middle of his scheme. Silver is also very funny at times, with his crazy cyborg mechanics and some great lines of dialogue.

Jim Hawkins is voiced Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Gordon-Levitt began his career as a child actor, starring in movies such as A River Runs Through It (1992) and Angels in the Outfield (1994), and in the television series 3rd Rock from the Sun (1996-2001) as Tommy. He later appeared in 10 Things I Hate About You (1999), before working on Treasure Planet. In more recent years, he has starred in movies such as 500 Days of Summer (2009), Lincoln (2012), Snowden (2016), in the title role, and The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020).

John Silver is voiced by Brian Murray, a South African actor, who had roles on stage, screen, and in radio throughout his career. He received three Tony Award nominations for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his performances in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead in 1968, The Little Foxes in 1997, and The Crucible in 2002. Murray directed stage productions as well, such as Blithe Spirit in 1987. On screen, Murray appeared in The League of Gentleman (1960). Murray was also nominated for an Annie Award for his voice acting as Silver in Treasure Planet in 2002. He passed away in August 2018.

Let’s not forget Silver’s little sidekick, the lovable Morph. Morph is the shape-shifting blob who doesn’t talk but fills the screen with such cheeky personality it’s impossible not to like him and laugh at the silly things he does to annoy or entertain Jim and Silver. Morph is so adorable and even though he doesn’t say anything, he really lights up the screen. Morph is meant to be like Silver’s pet parrot in the original Treasure Island novel. Morph ended up being a completely hand-drawn character, by animator Mike Show, as it was too difficult to transform Morph into all the objects and people he turns into using CGI. The character’s design was inspired by how water moves in zero-gravity. Morph is voiced Sound Editor Dane Davis, who won the Academy Award for Best Sound Editing in 2000 for The Matrix (1999).

Then, there is the odd couple of Captain Amelia and Dr. Doppler, who have a funny dynamic, but they are very likeable as a couple and as characters here. They start off hating each other, and end up falling in love. They both have some of the best lines, like Amelia saying “Cup of tea, and I’ll be right as rain” after she gets shot, which is so typically British, and “You can’t help people with a doctorate, you just sit there, and you’re useless.” Dr. Doppler is a bit square and awkward, a dog-like astronomer, so kind of nerdy as well, whereas Captain Amelia is the stoic and straight-talking feline captain of the RLS Legacy. She doesn’t suffer fools gladly – and one of those fools just happens to be Dr. Doppler at the start – and she is not afraid to use her authority to get things done right. If there had to be a love story within Treasure Planet, I’m glad it was between these two completely different personalities. It just shows that opposites do attract! Supposedly, there was actually a line cut from the final edit of the film that would’ve stated that Doppler had actually given birth to their four children; it was decided this was probably too much information for the kids!

Captain Amelia is voiced by Dame Emma Thompson, who made Amelia such a great character by voicing her lines with so much dry humour and sarcasm. Again, very British. She was very enthusiastic about voicing the character. Thompson was made a Dame in 2018 by Queen Elizabeth II, many years after her very successful career in acting began. Thompson has had numerous roles on stage and screen, both serious, dramatic and comedic roles. She was actually a member of the Cambridge Footlights, a comedy troupe, whilst at Cambridge University so began her on-screen career as a comedian. She was part of the comedy group at the same time as other well-known actors and comedians, such as Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie. Following on from this, she starred in numerous adaptations of Shakespeare plays, and period dramas, such as Howards End (1992), for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress, and The Remains of the Day (1993). Just a couple of years later, she wrote the screenplay for and starred as Elinor Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility (1995), for which she won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. From then on, Dame Emma Thompson has continued to light up our screens, with roles like Professor Trelawny in the Harry Potter film series; Nanny McPhee in Nanny McPhee (2005) and its 2010 sequel; and as one of the ensemble cast in Richard Curtis’ Love Actually (2003). For Disney and Pixar, Thompson voiced the character of Queen Elinor in Brave (2012), gave a heart-wrenching performance as P.L. Travers in Saving Mr. Banks (2013), and became the snobby, and “cruel”, Baroness von Hellman for Cruella (2021).

David Hyde Pierce voiced Dr. Doppler. He continues to be most well-known for his role as Dr. Niles Crane on the sitcom Frasier (1993-2004), for which he won four Primetime Emmy Awards for Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, along with two Screen Actors Guild Awards, one for Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series, and one as part of the Ensemble Cast award. In a way, Dr. Doppler is a bit like Niles! David Hyde Pierce was asked to voice Dr. Doppler whilst he was working on Pixar’s A Bug’s Life (1998), in which he voiced the stick insect, Slim. He loved the character of Doppler and was very happy to voice him. He has continued to work on screen and stage, in productions such as Spamalot from 2004 to 2006, where he played Sir Robin, and as Horace Vandergelder in Hello, Dolly! on Broadway from 2017 to 2018. Most recently, he appeared in the series Julia (2022-23) as Julia Child’s husband, Paul, and on stage is set to play the role of Major General in The Pirates of Penzance on Broadway in 2025.

The final main character to mention is B.E.N., the nervy, crazy robot. His name stands for Bio Electronic Navigator, but it’s just easier to call him B.E.N. He’s absolutely hilarious because he has no idea how to talk to anyone, having been isolated on Treasure Planet for so long, so he has no concept of how to behave in a social setting, and ends up talking super-loudly, even when Jim tries to shut him up, and is desperate for Jim to like him and be his friend. B.E.N. is an entirely CGI character.

B.E.N. is voiced by comedic actor Martin Short, who got his big break appearing alongside Steve Martin and Chevy Chase in the comedy film ¡Three Amigos! (1986), after starring in sketch comedy shows such as SCTV (Second City Television) from 1982 to 1983, and then in Saturday Night Live from 1984 to 1985. In the 1990s, he teamed up with Steve Martin again to be a complete scene-sealer as Franck Eggelhoffer in Father of the Bride (1991) and its 1995 sequel, and its 2020 short film. Short has also portrayed roles in numerous Disney projects, like for theme park attractions such as CinéMagique for Disneyland Paris, which ran from 2002 to 2017; The Making of Me for the Wonders of Life pavilion in Epcot – the less said about that, the better – which lasted from 1989 to 2007; and O Canada!, running from 2007 to 2019 for the Canada pavilion in Epcot; and in Disney’s films, like a voice part in 101 Dalmatians II: Patch’s London Adventure, as Jack Frost in The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause (2006), and as Lumière in Beauty and the Beast: A 30^th Celebration (2022). Short also continues to voice characters for animated children’s films that aren’t Disney, such as Stefano in Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted (2012) for DreamWorks and Father Willoughby in The Willoughbys (2020) for Netflix. Currently, Martin Short continues to perform shows with his long-time friend and comedy sparring partner Steve Martin, as well as act with him and Selena Gomez in the popular comedy-mystery series Only Murders in the Building (2021-present). Can you tell I’m a big fan of his?

There are a few other supporting characters to mention as well. One of these is Scroop, the “spider psycho” as Jim and Morph like to call him! He is a very scary character, with his deep, gravelly voice having a lot to do with that, as well as his spider-like characteristics, like huge eyes, fangs and claws. Michael Wincott voices the character, and some of his credits include Guy of Gisbourne in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991); Ed Gein in Hitchcock (2012); and hacker Adrian Cross on the TV miniseries 24: Live Another Day (2014). The secretive, dying pirate Billy Bones, who Jim Hawkins meets at the start of the movie and receives the map from, was voiced by Patrick McGoohan in his final film role. McGoohan had appeared in the British television series Danger Man (1960-68), for which he won a BAFTA award for Best Actor; Escape from Alcatraz (1979) as Warden Arthur Dollison; and as King Edward Longshanks in Braveheart (1995). Supposedly, McGoohan had a cold when it came time for him to record lines for Billy Bones. The animators weren’t concerned as Bones had to sound like he was unwell, so it worked for them[1]!

A few more actors to mention are the voices of Jim’s mother, Mr. Arrow, and the narrator of Jim’s bedtime story. Jim’s kind, but exasperated, mother is voiced by Laurie Metcalfe, known as the voice of Andy’s mother in the Toy Story franchise of films to Disney fans. The strait-laced Mr. Arrow is voiced by Roscoe Lee Browne, who had voiced Francis in Oliver & Company (1988) for Disney, and Tony Jay is the narrator of the bedtime story. He had voiced Monsieur D’Arque in Beauty and the Beast (1991) and Frollo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) before Treasure Planet. There are so many brilliant actors credited in Treasure Plant, I wonder whether many of them even remember doing this film, and if they do, whether they are proud of it…. I hope so. The script is so full of humour that it’s easy to stay interested and involved in the story, and I think the actors have a lot to do with that.

MUSIC

Moving on to the music. Treasure Planet, like most of the other Disney animated movies released in the 2000s, is not a musical, unlike the movies of the Disney “Renaissance”. Although it does include some songs, they are not sung by any of the characters. There are only two songs in the movie, both written by John Rzeznik, founder and frontman of the rock band The Goo Goo Dolls, who had hits with songs like “Iris”, “Slide”, and “Better Days”.

Rzeznik wrote the song “I’m Still Here”, which is also known as “Jim’s Theme”. It plays during the sequence where Silver is teaching Jim how to be a real space sailor and learn some responsibility, but we also see some backstory of Jim’s father leaving him and his mother without even saying goodbye to Jim. This shows the hurt that Jim has kept inside him for all those years and why he acts out, getting himself in trouble. This is Jim saying how lost he feels and wondering why no-one seems to see anything of worth in him. This is my favourite of the two songs, so there wasn’t much to choose from, but it is a very underrated song from a Disney animated movie, because there is so much emotion running through it. The lyrics actually mean something outside of the film. It’s a beautiful song and scene.

The other song written for the film which plays during the End Credits is “Always Know Where You Are”. It’s quite an upbeat song that ends the film nicely, as it shows that Jim is happy to be back home, and feeling more settled with an actual career path ahead of him. It is performed by the British band BBMak, who released the popular singles “Back Here” and “Still On Your Side”. It’s a perfect “walking-out-of-the-cinema-after-seeing-a-really-great-movie” sort of song, if that makes sense. Sadly, it doesn’t sound like too many people experienced Treasure Planet at the theatres, so it was perhaps a bit of a waste…

The score for Treasure Planet was composed by James Newton Howard, in his third for Disney Feature Animation. He had previously composed the scores for Dinosaur (2000) and Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001). James Newton Howard has composed scores for various film including The Hunger Games series of films, and the Fantastic Beasts trilogy, as well as Raya and the Last Dragon (2021) and Jungle Cruise (2021) for Disney.

Treasure Planet’s score combines the futuristic elements of the story with traditional instrumentals. I particularly like the piece “Silver Leaves”, which plays during that moving moment when Silver and Jim are saying goodbye, possibly forever. I also like “Silver Comforts Jim”, after Jim believes that he was to blame for Mr. Arrow’s death during the chaos of the black hole. Any piece of music playing during a scene with Silver and Jim is amazing. In terms of the more action-filled scenes, James Newton Howard’s score compliments those moments too, with that feeling of adventure and bravery. These moments sound quite similar to the instrumental pieces in Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001), I think, albeit Treasure Planet does sound more “piratey”, with a frequent use of pipes.

PRODUCTION

Looking at the animation for Treasure Planet, it is clear that the backgrounds are absolutely stunning. Disney wanted a “storybook” feeling to the artistic style of Treasure Planet. They ended up replicating an illustration style called the Brandywine School which had been taught by Howard Pyle to artists such as N.C. Wyeth’s, who created the original illustrations for the 1911 edition of the novel Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson. The style followed ideas like choosing warm colour palettes, making the scenes appear to be bathed in light, and not making everything so crisp in detail. They wanted to put that same type of illustration into this new modern, space adaptation. The space backgrounds feel really magical, and I think overall the film looks impressive.

The Disney team could also take advantage of technological improvements when designing Treasure Planet. Firstly, they were able to hand draw characters and place them onto 3D backgrounds, and they could make fully computer-generated characters, such as B.E.N. They created hybrid characters too, and one of these is John Silver. John Silver is a hand-drawn character by animator Glen Keane, with a computer-generated arm, leg, and headpiece animated by Eric Daniels. To see how the two different animation styles would work together, the team used Captain Hook for inspiration. They relayed a digital arm onto previous footage from Peter Pan (1953) so they could see just how it would look on screen.

They also took advantage of previous technological advancements at the Disney Studios by using their Deep Canvas technology. It had been used in Tarzan (1999) and won a Technical Achievement Academy Award in 2003. This technology allowed for CGI backgrounds to be produced that looked like traditional paintings. It was used to create about 75% of the environments in Treasure Planet. The Disney team also used Virtual Sets, which allowed for 3D, 360-degree sets to be created so that sequences could be staged and shot from different angles. One of these was the RLS Legacy ship, named RLS after Robert Louis Stevenson[2]. The Disney studios made the entire film using the “70/30 law”, which meant ensuring that not only the art styling and the characters, but also the sound and music, were 70% traditional and 30% science-fiction, though it could be argued the film is more science fantasy, as it is based in an alternative version of the future. The movie is not set in space as we would know it; in fact, it takes place in “the etherium”, an atmosphere that is more like a space ocean with breathable air and life. This meant that characters wouldn’t need oxygen tanks or spacesuits, and could freely move around space[3].

So, that’s all the good stuff about Treasure Planet. Now, let’s see what went wrong. Well, to begin with, it’s actually a very nice story. Ron Clements and John Musker first met during production on The Fox and the Hound (1981). The two then teamed up as story artists on The Black Cauldron (1985) during early stages of development, but were later removed from the project along with many others. Clements then pitched the idea of an animated picture based on the stories of Sherlock Holmes; this became The Great Mouse Detective, which both Clements and Musker directed, and was the next feature film to be released after The Black Cauldron. The Great Mouse Detective was a successful film.

This all took place during the difficulties that Disney Animation faced in the mid-1980s, when new executives were brought in from outside studios to manage the Walt Disney Company. Michael Eisner, the new CEO, and Jeffrey Katzenberg, the new Chairman of Walt Disney Studios, brought in a new way of pitching ideas, something they called “the gong show”, where anyone could pitch ideas for new projects that Eisner and Katzenberg would either approve, or “gong”, i.e., reject. Musker had an idea for an edgy retelling of Little Red Riding Hood and Clements put forward both The Little Mermaid and Treasure Island in Space during the “gong show” in 1985. Katzenberg hated both of Clements’ proposals, but specifically disliked Treasure Island in Space because he said Disney didn’t want to make a science-fiction or pirate film, and that a story following a teenage boy without a love interest would not be a good sell to potential audiences.

Katzenberg did eventually approve The Little Mermaid (1989), which was directed by Clements and Musker and was a massive hit, signalling the start of Disney’s “Renaissance Era”, a time when Disney Animation was booming. However, Clements did not want to let his idea of Treasure Island in Space be forgotten, so, along with Musker, they re-worked the proposal to become Treasure Planet. It was pitched to the executives again, and was rejected – again. Instead, the two directed Aladdin (1992), which was also hugely popular and a box-office smash. But the pair just couldn’t let go of Treasure Planet.

In 1993, the two pitched the idea again and it was, once again, rejected, but this time, Roy E. Disney said that he did actually like the idea, and brought it up with Michael Eisner. Eisner was more receptive to the idea, but Katzenberg was not, and was annoyed at Roy E. Disney seemingly going behind his back about it. In the end, Katzenberg made a deal with Clements and Musker, based on the fact that the two had directed some major movies for Disney Animation. The two had to make one more Disney animated movie and then they could work on Treasure Planet. They set to work on Hercules (1997). Katzenberg left Disney in October 1994, so to ensure Clements and Musker were still allowed to make Treasure Planet, the two signed a seven-year-contract with the specific stipulation that after directing Hercules, they were free to work on Treasure Planet or another project of their choice. So once Hercules was done and released, Clements and Musker got to work – finally – on their “passion project”. They didn’t mind the long wait to this point particularly, though, as it meant that technology had advanced significantly in that time.

The reason that setting Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel Treasure Island in space was so important to Clements and Musker was because they wanted it to be new, fresh, and exciting to a younger generation. It was first written as a serial story within the children’s magazine Young Folks in 1881 and 1882. It was first published as a book in November 1883. It has since been adapted in many media formats, including as a 1934 film, starring Wallace Beery and Jackie Cooper as Silver and Jim respectively, and Disney’s own live-action film in 1950, which starred Bobby Driscoll, who went on to voice the title role in Peter Pan (1953), as Jim Hawkins. It has also been adapted as a television series, with one being released in 2012 on Sky, with Eddie Izzard as Long John Silver. Let’s also not forget Muppet Treasure Island, released in 1996, where the Muppets were joined by real-life actors like Tim Curry and Billy Connolly, who played Silver and Billy Bones.

Apart from the change of setting and making the story more futuristic, the basic plot of Treasure Planet is similar to the original novel. The story was written by Clements and Musker, and Terry Rossio and Ted Elliott, who had all written Aladdin (1992) together. Rossio and Elliott had also co-written Shrek (2001) for DreamWorks, which won the BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, and the Annie Award for Writing in a Feature Production. Rossio and Elliott also wrote the screenplays for some of the Pirates of the Caribbean films. The screenplay was written by Clements and Musker, as well as Rob Edwards. The trio later worked on The Princess and the Frog (2009) together[4].

RECEPTION

After four and a half years of production, a reported $140 million budget, many delays, and a huge push in new animation developments, it was time for Treasure Planet to be released, in November 2002. It premiered in Paris on 6^th November, before having its US premiere on 17^th November; it was widely released on 27^th November, at both IMAX theatres and regular cinemas simultaneously. But unfortunately, even with all that money, plus a supposed $40 million marketing budget, and merchandise tie-ins with Hasbro and McDonald’s Happy Meals, Treasure Planet did not do as well as was expected. That might actually be a huge understatement.

It was deemed funny “enough” with some good supporting characters, but many did not like this futuristic take on Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic story. Some also considered it to be “gimmicky”, whilst others did praise the animation, so reviews were mixed, but not terrible. The problem was how little money Treasure Planet brought in, despite being released at the optimal time of the holiday season. It grossed only $16.6 million in its first five-days, becoming one of the biggest financial flops in Disney Animation. It would seem that two decades later, with the release of Strange World (2022), that Strange World might now be considered the worst flop, but back in 2002, Treasure Planet was considered to be Disney’s biggest financial failure, so yes, even worse than The Black Cauldron (1985).

To be fair to Treasure Planet, it was released at the same time as movies like The Santa Clause 2 (2002) and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002). My family did actually see Harry Potter at the cinema when it came out, but not Treasure Planet; we waited for the DVD…Great, now I have guilt…Die Another Day (2002), the new James Bond film, had also been released just a few days before, so it was likely to struggle with that competition. Disney executives reiterated that Treasure Planet was received well by test audiences, but this was not what the Walt Disney Company needed, especially as the tragic events of 9/11 had meant less footfall at their theme parks. The surprisingly positive response to Lilo & Stitch (2002) in June of that year may have given them some false hope about how Treasure Planet would be received.

Some like to say that the fact Clements and Musker’s dream project had been rejected so many times meant that it was doomed to fail from the start. Some Disney executives blame their marketing for not focusing enough on the fun elements of the story. However, some executives claimed to have foreseen issues months before its release but alas, it was too late to change anything as their release date was locked in with promotional tie-ins[5]. Another reason for its failure was that CGI had started to become immensely popular as an animation technique, as it was quicker and cheaper, and could achieve much more than hand-drawn animation. There were other studios using CGI brilliantly, like Pixar and DreamWorks, so it was hard for Disney to compete. Some would say that Disney did not understand the new and changing tastes of their audience, as Disney knew they had to move away from their “Broadway-style” as more animated features flooded the market, but were unsure where to go, and where to focus their attentions.

Surprisingly to everyone, Treasure Planet was deemed “good enough” to be nominated in the second ever Best Animated Feature Film category at the 2002 Academy Awards, along with Disney’s Lilo & Stitch, however, both lost to Spirited Away (2002). To be fair, these movies are completely different, and Spirited Away in particular has a unique style all of its own, that it’s not easy to compare them, and perhaps they shouldn’t be.

LEGACY

So, what happened next? Well, a follow-up film was actually being written before Treasure Planet was even released, so there could have been a time when a Treasure Planet 2 would have existed. It is said that Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emma Thompson, and Martin Short were already attached to the film to reprise their roles, and that the story would have followed on from the first movie, and looked at Jim’s time at the Intergalactic Academy and his work role after that. A new villain, called Ironbeard, was also dreamed up with Willem Defoe allegedly lined up to voice the character. There were also rumours of a spin-off television series around this time[6].

There were plans for Treasure Planet to be used as new story material for the Submarine Voyage ride in Disneyland’s Tomorrowland. There had been similar plans for this to be done with Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001), a previous Disney movie release, but despite mock-ups and some light promotional work, this idea was abandoned due to Atlantis’ poor reception. Disney hoped the same would not happen with Treasure Planet, but it sadly did. Submarine Voyage would finally be rethemed in 2007, to Pixar’s Finding Nemo (2003)[7].

Because of Treasure Planet’s disappointing box-office results, Disney announced that Home on the Range (2004) would be their final traditionally 2D animated film, moving into computer animation from that point onwards. Ron Clements and John Musker left Disney in September 2005, but after the acquisition of Pixar and the naming of John Lasseter as the new Chief Creative Officer at the company, Clements and Musker were invited back to Disney to direct The Princess and the Frog (2009), a movie that went back to Disney’s roots of 2D animation. Musker and Clements then directed Moana (2016), this being their first fully computer-animated film[8].

At the Disney Parks, Jim Hawkins was seen as a walkaround character at Walt Disney World Resort’s Tomorrowland in 2020 and at the Disneyland Paris FanDaze event in 2019. He was also seen as part of Disneyland Paris’ 25^th anniversary parade along with B.E.N., and even Kida and Milo from Atlantis: The Lost Empire. These are the most recent sightings of Treasure Planet characters that I could find. It is likely that Jim and B.E.N. did appear as meet-and-greet characters at Walt Disney World and Disneyland, at least around the time of the movie’s release in 2002. Generally, there is very little reference to Treasure Planet at any of the Disney Parks, however, for the Disney100 celebrations, there was a small amount of dialogue and footage from Treasure Planet that featured in Disneyland’s Wondrous Journeys fireworks show in 2023; it closed in August 2023. A brief glimpse of a scene from Treasure Planet can currently be found towards the end of the Wonderful World of Animation show at Disney’s Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World Resort. Other than a few pieces of merchandise, such as ornaments and pins that were released by Disney in 2022 for the movie’s 20^th anniversary, Treasure Planet is not normally recognised by the Walt Disney Company. A live-action remake has not even been officially announced – huh? Disney, are you ok? – though it is clear that fans of the movie want it.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The fact is Treasure Planet was a risk, a risk that did not pay off at the box-office, and was not received well at the time. However, it has since gained a reputation as a “cult classic”, especially popular with fans of science fantasy and those who were children around the time of its release. I think for my family there were too many choices at the time to make Treasure Planet seem like a worthy cinema choice, but times have changed. People change. I know I gave Treasure Planet another chance, and found I loved it, and there were so many things to like about it, and so much to praise here.

Treasure Planet has enough heart, humour, adventure, and artistic styling to prove popular for many years to come, and if anyone has not watched it since it came out, then please, give it another chance.

You might find it’s your new favourite.

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Jim Korkis, The Vault of Walt Vol 8: Outer Space Edition (2019), ‘The Strange Voyage to Treasure Planet (2002), pp. 158-175.

[2] Credit: Jim Korkis, The Vault of Walt Vol 8: Outer Space Edition (2019), ‘The Strange Voyage to Treasure Planet (2002), pp. 158-175.

[3] Credit: Jim Korkis, Everything I Know I Learned from Disney Animated Feature Films (2015), ‘Treasure Planet (2002)’, pp. 127-129.

[4] Credit: Jim Korkis, The Vault of Walt Vol 8: Outer Space Edition (2019), ‘The Strange Voyage to Treasure Planet (2002), pp. 158-175.

[5] Credit: Richard Verrier and Claudia Eller, ‘Disney’s ‘Treasure Planet’ an Adventure in Losing Money’, Los Angeles Times (online), 6^th December 2002.

[6] Credit: Zach Gass, ’10 Things You Didn’t Know About The Canceled Treasure Planet 2’, ScreenRant.com, 29^th February 2020.

[7] Credit: Kayleigh Donaldson, ‘The History Of Treasure Planet, Disney Animation’s Biggest Ever Flop’, SlashFilm.com, 27^th November 2022.

[8] Credit: Jim Korkis, The Vault of Walt Vol 8: Outer Space Edition (2019), ‘The Strange Voyage to Treasure Planet (2002), pp. 158-175.

8th Mar 202427th Jun 2024 by The Disney Purist

#29 The Rescuers Down Under (1990)

BACKGROUND

Thirteen years after the surprise success of The Rescuers in 1977 came Disney’s first theatrically-released animated full-length sequel, The Rescuers Down Under.

In that time, there had been only five other animated movies made and released by Disney Animation. The Rescuers Down Under was “lucky enough” to be sandwiched between two major successes within Disney’s “Renaissance Era”: The Little Mermaid (1989) and Beauty and the Beast (1991).

The late 1980s and 1990s were an exciting time for the Disney company. Their theme park division was going strong, the new management that came in to the company in the mid-1980s were settling in, and after The Little Mermaid, it seemed like the Disney animation department was finally back on track.

Or was it?

The Rescuers Down Under didn’t end up being a huge success and sadly it was seen as a bit of a zit on the face of the Disney “Renaissance Era”. And one that couldn’t be covered up easily and forgotten, because it was a hugely expensive movie to make, because it was the first Disney feature film to be made entirely using CAPS – Computer Animation Production System – which was quite a feat, because not only was the technology in its infancy at this time, but that no more than a few short sequences had been made using CAPS before, nothing even close to a full-length film.

Despite pushing boundaries in this way, the risk ultimately did not pay off. The movie did not make money at the time of its release. Just because it was a sequel to The Rescuers, its success should never have been guaranteed. Although many enjoyed some of the sequences within the film, which are indeed very impressive, for multiple reasons, it did not make the impact that was hoped for.

I didn’t think I liked The Rescuers Down Under. I hadn’t watched it in years, but as a child I must have preferred The Rescuers Down Under to the original, because on re-watching it, the scenes all felt very familiar, so we must have watched the video many times! I am pleased to say that, actually, I do still like The Rescuers Down Under, though not as much as The Rescuers. Having said that, it’s not fair to compare them as the films are very different and The Rescuers Down Under could almost stand-alone without its predecessor.

PLOT

Much like The Rescuers, The Rescuers Down Under follows the same idea: that the Rescue Aid Society receives a call for help about a child, and their mice agents are sent to rescue them from whatever danger they are in. This, however, doesn’t happen until about fifteen minutes in to the movie, unlike The Rescuers where we are introduced to the society almost right away. Instead, The Rescuers Down Under starts with an impressive opening sequence, following a boy called Cody, living in the Australian Outback with his mother. Cody spends much of his time outside with the wildlife. He is told by a kangaroo – he can communicate with animals, just go with it – that a golden eagle is trapped up on a mountain, caught in a poacher’s net.

Cody climbs the mountain ridge and frees the eagle, who then takes Cody on a glorious flight through the clouds, over rivers, and through the forest, before showing him her nest of three eggs. Cody understands the importance of keeping the eagle, called Marahute, safe from poachers. On his way home, Cody goes to save a mouse from another trap – Disney theme park fans might recognise this mouse’s voice; it is Billy Barty, voice of Figment in the Journey into Imagination attraction – but ends up falling into a hidden pit, dug by a poacher. The poacher, Percival C. McLeach, comes to retrieve his find, only to find a boy. He helps the boy out, who threatens to tell the rangers about his poaching activities, but he is about to let Cody go, when his sidekick, Joanna, a goanna, finds an eagle feather in Cody’s backpack. McLeach, having already killed the mate, wants to find this eagle, and kidnaps Cody, because he refuses to tell McLeach of her location, throwing his backpack into the nearby crocodile pit, so that the rangers will think he fell in and was presumably eaten alive.

Only now, thanks to the mouse that Cody saved, do we get to see the Rescue Aid Society again. An SOS signal is relayed across multiple countries until it finds its way to New York City, where an emergency meeting is held by the Rescue Aid Society. The two agents the Chairman wants to send, Bernard and Bianca, are out at dinner, at a fancy restaurant, where Bernard is trying to propose to Bianca. But before he can, the two are summoned to the society headquarters and immediately sent to Australia. They find that Wilbur has taken over Albatross Air from his brother Orville, who took them to Devil’s Bayou in the previous film, and convinces him to fly them to Australia, despite there being a snow storm in New York. Eventually, they get to the Australian Outback. All three have to transfer to a “bigger bird” at one point, actually a commercial jet where they hide in the cargo hold, only to dive out of it at Sydney and continue their flight to Mugwomp Flats. There, they meet Jake, a hopping mouse and a regional agent for the Rescue Aid Society who volunteers to be their guide and to help on their mission. Meanwhile, Wilbur is taken to a dodgy-looking mouse hospital, with an overzealous surgeon, after he hurts his back during landing.

From this point on, Bernard, Bianca and Jake traverse the Australian landscape, riding on snakes, and fireflies, on their way to find Cody. Jake flirts with Bianca right in front of Bernard, halting all of his attempts at proposing. Cody’s mother is told by rangers that he is presumed dead, but in reality, McLeach has locked Cody in a cage with his other animal finds, waiting for Cody to reveal the location of the eagle. Instead, Cody tries to free the animals but after a few attempts are thwarted by Joanna, McLeach has his own plan and “releases” Cody, telling him that the eagle has been killed by another poacher, so he has no use for Cody anymore. This is a trick by McLeach, as he knows Cody will go straight to the nest, as he believes the eggs have no mother now, so McLeach can follow him to the location. Bernard, Bianca, and Jake manage to find Cody at McLeach’s hideout just in time to hitch a ride on McLeach’s truck as he follows Cody to the eagle. The mice try to warn Cody, but it’s too late, and they are captured, including Marahute – except Bernard, who ends up separated from the group.

Wilbur manages to escape his medical team and finds Bernard, who instructs Wilbur to sit on the eagle eggs to keep them warm. The eggs were about to be eaten by Joanna, however, Bernard’s quick thinking meant he swapped the real eggs out for rocks. Bernard goes after McLeach, riding on a pig to get there quickly. Cody is being dangled over the crocodile pit, about to be dropped into the water, when Bernard cuts the power to the crane Cody is dangling from. McLeach resorts to shooting through the rope with his gun. Luckily, Bernard tricks Joanna into pushing McLeach into the water, and they both fall in, McLeach fighting off the crocodiles but ultimately falling to his death down the waterfall. Joanna swims to a rock and is unharmed.

Cody, at this point, has also fallen in as the rope has snapped, so Bernard goes in after him. Fortunately, Jake and Bianca have managed to free Marahute, and the eagle catches the two of them on her back as they cascade down the waterfall, saving them, and reuniting the whole team for a night-time flight over Australia, with Bernard finally proposing to Bianca to top off the happy ending. A final scene shows Wilbur still left on the nest, and the eggs hatch just as he is about to fly off.

CHARACTERS & CAST

Although Cody’s rescue is the central point of The Rescuers Down Under, surprisingly, Cody doesn’t need all that much help from Bianca and Bernard. He’s independent, and clearly knows his way around the Australian Outback. He’s not scared of anyone, so compared to Penny from the first film, he is much less likely to need, or want, help from Bernard and Bianca like she did. He is also a few years older than Penny. Cody is very brave, and clearly cares a lot about animals and conservation, judging by the number of times he risks his life to save others. Originally, the team working on the film were inspired by the aboriginal culture in Australia and wanted Cody to be an aboriginal. Jeffrey Katzenberg did not agree to this idea, as he was concerned it would decrease their chances at the box office. There was meant to be a dream sequence themed around aboriginal cave paintings too, but this idea was also abandoned. Funny thing about the cave painting idea is that the DreamWorks film worked on by Jeffrey Katzenberg, The Prince of Egypt (1998), uses a similar concept but with hieroglyphics instead. Pure coincidence, perhaps? Cody is voiced by child actor Adam Ryen here. It’s worth mentioning that Cody doesn’t sound remotely Australian, despite supposedly being from there. Nor does McLeach come to think of it…

Percival C. McLeach is an incredibly evil villain, much worse than Madame Medusa, as he is quite capable of killing anything he wants, whether that be a golden eagle, or a young boy. He keeps animals captive, he throws knives at Cody to try and scare him into giving away the eagle’s location, locks him in a cage. He’s just nasty, but like all Disney villains, he gets his comeuppance in the end, joining the club of those who fell to their deaths. Though it may’ve been more satisfying for us if McLeach had been arrested and thrown in prison for the rest of his life for his illegal poaching… McLeach is voiced by American actor George C. Scott, best known for being in movies such as Dr. Strangelove (1964), Patton (1970), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor but declined it, and A Christmas Carol (1984). Scott also received three other Oscar nominations throughout his career, for his roles in Anatomy of a Murder (1959), The Hustler (1961), and The Hospital (1971). He later won two Primetime Emmy Awards for some of his television work, in 12 Angry Men (1997), and Hallmark Hall of Fame, Episode: “The Price” (1997).

Some of Scott’s recording sessions for The Rescuers Down Under did not go particularly well. He was reluctant to give the big performances necessary to deliver voice-over lines, and in one case did not want to come in for a session as he’d been injured working on another film. Disney convinced him to anyway, and, unsurprisingly, he read every line once, and once only, before leaving the studio – oops! But there were other times when Scott went above and beyond for the role. During McLeach’s death scene, where he is in the river about to go over a waterfall, Scott got a bucket filled with water and dunked his head into it between lines to give the true feeling that McLeach was sort of drowning! Scott drew the line at singing though, so those scenes of McLeach singing a weird poacher version of “Home on the Range” were actually sung by Frank Welker, who also “voiced” Marahute the eagle, and McLeach’s sidekick, Joanna[1].

Speaking of Joanna, she is a goanna, who is very obedient to McLeach, despite the fact he doesn’t care much about her, if at all, and frequently scolds her. Joanna is like the security guard, making sure every one of McLeach’s captives stays in line, alerting McLeach to any trouble-makers. She actually reminds me a lot of the lizard in Toy Story of Terror (2013) that collects all the toys from the motel so the manager can sell them online, in both look and behaviour. Goannas are Australian monitor lizards that can grow to huge sizes. The Disney artists studied these animals at the San Diego Zoo, as well as other Australian creatures, like koalas and kangaroos, and some were brought to the studio for further study.

Those are the new main characters that appear in The Rescuers Down Under. But obviously, Bernard and Bianca make a comeback, though Bianca isn’t as strong and independent as she was in The Rescuers, potentially due to the fact that she doesn’t know Australia or its wildlife well, so is happy to let Jake, their guide, lead the way. The CAPS technology did allow Bianca to look as glamorous as she did in the first film though, even being able to apply her perfect make-up, with details like eyeshadow and rouge that would’ve been difficult to achieve perfectly in every frame with hand-drawn animation[2]. Bernard becomes more heroic in this film, more-or-less single-handedly saving Cody from his grisly almost-death at the crocodile pits, protecting Marahute’s eggs, and tricking Joanna into pushing McLeach off the cliff into the crocodile pits. He has the majority of the action scenes, plus, we spend the whole movie rooting for him to finally propose to Bianca, which he finally succeeds in doing at the very end.

Bernard is voiced by American actor and comedian Bob Newhart, reprising his role from The Rescuers. Newhart 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). Bianca is voiced by Hungarian-American actress Eva Gabor, also reprising her role from the first film. 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.

The other important mouse in The Rescuers Down Under is Aussie hopping mouse, Jake, who instantly falls for Bianca and spends most of the movie either flirting with her, or trying to impress her with his skills at navigation and neutralising animal threats. He makes Bernard immediately jealous, and though Jake isn’t openly trying to steal Bianca away, or being rude or mean to Bernard, you have to feel for Bernard at this point, and you just want Jake to leave the two of them alone. Jake doesn’t seem to be too well-developed as a character because we don’t get to see much of him, which is a shame. There could’ve been a lot more made of that love triangle dynamic, I think, but he gives another comedic element to the movie. Jake is voiced by Australian-American actor, Tristan Rogers, potentially best known for his recurring role as Robert Scorpio since 1980 in the ABC soap opera General Hospital (1963-present).

Then there is Wilbur, who flies Bernard and Bianca to Australia after they look for his brother, Orville, who flew them in the first film, however, Jim Jordan, voice of Orville in The Rescuers, passed away in April 1988, so the new character of Wilbur was created. These two albatrosses are named after the aviation pioneers, the Wright Brothers. Wilbur is voiced by John Candy and you can tell he had a lot of fun working on this film! He improvised many of the vocals for Wilbur. Candy provides much of the comical side of The Rescuers Down Under, something that was lacking in the original The Rescuers. I love John Candy, so I love Wilbur as a character, even though I don’t think many of his plot points were necessary, like his strange, held-against-his-will back surgery…But he’s a fun character nonetheless. Candy rose to fame in the Canadian sketch comedy show Second City Television (SCTV) in the 1970s, alongside many other famous Canadian comedians such as Catherine O’Hara, Eugene Levy, and Martin Short. He then began to appear in various comedy films, specifically in the 1980s, like The Blue Brothers (1980), Splash (1984), Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987), and Uncle Buck (1989). For Disney, he also starred in Cool Runnings (1993). John Candy sadly passed away in March 1994 at the age of 43. Gone much too soon…

There is also a collection of supporting characters of animals, such as Krebbs the Koala, a prisoner of McLeach who is incredibly pessimistic and a bit of a downer really, voiced by Douglas Seale, who went on to voice the Sultan in Aladdin (1992), and highly-strung, neurotic frill-necked lizard, Frank, another prisoner of McLeach, voiced by Wayne Robson. Their subplot is a bit thin too, so we don’t get to see too much of them, other than them trying to escape with Cody’s help, and then having no idea what happens to them in the end! Do they get released, or do they stay there forever?

Another supporting but very important animal character in this film is Marahute. Cody has a special connection with the golden eagle throughout the movie, after he rescues her from a trap at the start. The whole introductory sequence of Cody helping Marahute, and then him seeing her nest was always planned, however, originally, Marahute was going to speak, like the majority of the other animals in The Rescuers Down Under – Joanna is the only other one who doesn’t, which is a bit strange. Surely, they should all talk, or they all shouldn’t? Why are some more special? Anyway, that’s beside the point! The original scene included dialogue from Marahute, but it was then changed to see how it would look being wordless instead, and the animators found that the scene worked much better without the eagle talking, and I definitely agree[3]. How weird would that have been if Marahute had talked? Glen Keane was the animator for Marahute, who had animated Ariel in The Little Mermaid (1989) before this film, and went on to animate The Beast afterwards.

MUSIC

Luckily, the team working on The Rescuers Down Under decided to let the music do the talking in that scene. Like The Black Cauldron (1985), The Rescuers Down Under does not include any songs, making this only the second Disney animated film to do so. Instead, it relies heavily on its score, composed by Bruce Broughton. This was Broughton’s first score for an animated film, but he went on to compose other scores for Disney movies such as Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (1993) and its 1996 sequel, and Bambi II (2006). He also composed music for other well-known movies such as Miracle on 34^th Street (1994) and Silverado (1985); the score for Silverado was nominated at the Academy Awards. Broughton has also won Emmy Awards for his musical compositions for television, such as those for Dallas (1978-91), winning two in 1983 and 1984.

I have a few favourite pieces within the score that I’d like to mention. The first is the “Main Title”, which features as the camera is rushing forward towards Ayers Rock, or Uluru, and Cody’s home. When I was younger it felt like this scene went on for so long, but it actually only takes about a minute. Another is “Message Montage”, which plays as the call for help is being relayed all over the world to get from Australia to New York City, and we get to follow the map as the message travels across the Earth.

But probably the most well-known instrumental within the score is “Cody’s Flight”. It is played during the most popular and iconic scene in The Rescuers Down Under. It’s a visually stunning scene, thanks to the computer animation, as the landscapes look so lifelike. You can see the wind blowing through Cody’s hair, and the eagle has such fine details, down to the feathers and the eyes, that couldn’t have been sustained if it had been hand-drawn. So many of the landscapes look so real, and the animals so life-like, it is breath-taking in places. Wilbur flying over the sights of Australia, like the Sydney Opera House, is another highlight. The music here is called “Bianca’s Kiss/Arrival Down Under”.

PRODUCTION

The latest advances in technology helped Disney create a majestic Australian setting, like the sequences above, where you can feel how big the area is both generally, and for the mice detectives. As I’ve already mentioned, The Rescuers Down Under was not hand-drawn. It was made with the most important development to be used by Disney at the time: the use of CAPS. Not only did CAPS keep costs down, but it meant that shots that were not possible before could be made now[4]. Disney had only used this technology occasionally in the 1980s, but that all changed with The Rescuers Down Under. CAPS allowed the digitalisation of inking and colouring animated cels, eliminating the need for this process to be done by hand. It also allowed for zoom effects, tracking shots, and multiplane camera shots. CAPS had been developed by Pixar who had spent much of the 1980s doing small but interesting pieces with it, such as the Luxo Jr. and Tin Toy shorts, which are remembered to this day. Pixar had originally been a part of Lucasfilm computer division only to become its own corporation in 1986, with financial backing from Steve Jobs. This would be Pixar and Disney collaborating to make a full-length feature film using the technology, something that hadn’t been done before, and that Pixar would not achieve on their own until 1995 with Toy Story. There was immense pressure to make a full film using this very new system, but Disney wanted to explore what CAPS could do for their animation business[5].

Off the back of the disaster that was The Black Cauldron in 1985, Disney Animation President Peter Schneider was approached with an opportunity: to use CAPS to benefit the Animation Department. He was told that it would be able to capture more complicated shots, and could give as much depth and fluidity of movement as a live-action film. Schneider discussed the possibility of using CAPS with Roy E. Disney around 1985, who championed the idea and pushed it forward. However, the cost of implementing it would be around $10 million, so Disney had to try to sell it to the executives of Michael Eisner, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and, most especially, the Chief Financial Officer Frank Wells. Eventually, Wells agreed to sign the cheque to use the technology, although there is some debate around whether it was Eisner or Roy E. Disney who managed to convince Wells to do this!

One of the first examples of Disney using CAPS was in the opening sequence of an episode of The Magical World of Disney, which aired in September 1988. This sequence involved Tinker Bell flying towards Florida, with the camera then swooping around Spaceship Earth. Animated Sorcerer Mickey was on top of Spaceship Earth at Epcot, where he then shot magic out of his fingertips which materialised mouse ears on top of the water tower, dubbed the “Earffel Tower”, which was the original icon of the soon-to-be-opened Disney-MGM Studios theme park. The Disney Feature Animation Florida Studio that resided within the grounds of Disney-MGM Studios contributed around ten minutes of footage to The Rescuers Down Under, as well as ten minutes of the Mickey Mouse featurette that was released alongside it in theatres, The Prince and the Pauper (1990)[6].

After a few other small uses, it was boldly decided that CAPS should be used to make a full-feature. Peter Schneider brought in Thomas Schumacher, a theatrical producer who had worked on the 1984 Olympics, as a producer and asked Mike Gabriel and Hendel Butoy, who had just finished working on Oliver & Company (1988), to direct it. Gabriel was initially reluctant to accept. Though he was a fan of the original The Rescuers, he couldn’t understand why it would get a sequel and didn’t really believe it would work. Schneider simply said it was chosen because The Rescuers was Disney’s highest grossing film of the past ten years, bringing in around $200 million against a $7.5 million budget. Despite his concerns, Gabriel did eventually agree to direct The Rescuers Down Under. After some discussion, a research trip was greenlit for production to go to Australia for two weeks, where Gabriel and Butoy were joined by story artist Joe Ranft and animator Pixote Hunt. Research trips were not a common part of the production process at the time, so it was quite a big deal, especially to go to the other side of the world! Five members of production took a research trip to the Australian Outback, going on a 4,000-mile expedition to look at the landscapes and natural environments, such as Ayers Rock, to study them for use in the film.

The CAPS system was being built alongside the film being made, so there were a lot of setbacks and problems, like work having to start again, bigger computers being needed. It was a lot of stress and pressure to get it finished on time. In the end, it cost Disney more like $30 million instead of the $10 million that Wells had agreed to. This wouldn’t have been a concern had Disney known that the making of The Rescuers Down Under would lead to CAPS being used for bigger movies like The Lion King (1994), but they didn’t, so naturally, the executives were nervous.

RECEPTION

To offset any potential loss, The Rescuers Down Under was released with the 25-minute Mickey Mouse featurette, The Prince and the Pauper, which was the final Disney piece to use the traditional ink-and-paint process, as well as being the first animated short to be produced by Disney to accompany a feature film release. The twin-feature was released in November 1990 in the US, being warmly but not rapturously received[7].

The animation was praised, particularly the flight scenes, and some of the comedic scenes were enjoyed, but there are many more reasons why The Rescuers Down Under may not have done as well as hoped. Australia was believed to be the choice of location for the sequel to The Rescuers as there had been an increase in interest in Australian culture in the United States in the 1980s, perhaps in part due to the film Crocodile Dundee (1986) which was hugely popular in America, becoming the second-highest-grossing film of the year there. Paul Hogan, who played the titular character, won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy, and the movie was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. As well as Crocodile Dundee, the 1980s also saw the rise of Australian actors like Mel Gibson and Nicole Kidman, and the start of the Mad Max franchise. However, the interest in “Aussie culture” was not sustained into the 1990s, so The Rescuers Down Under may have just missed its mark[8].

Another reason was that The Rescuers Down Under was released at the same time as smash Christmas hit Home Alone (1990). This is incredibly unfortunate and cannot be predicted, much like The Princess and the Frog (2009) being overshadowed by Avatar (2009) at the box office. There were also comments over the lack of songs, as The Little Mermaid (1989) had just revitalised the Disney standard for making Broadway-style animated fairy-tale movies. The Rescuers Down Under was only the second Disney film at the time, after The Black Cauldron (1985), to not include any songs; a “mistake” Disney would not make again for many years! The Rescuers Down Under is also quite dark, with a particularly evil, real, villain. There are many threats to life in this movie, which I was surprised about when re-watching, though I didn’t notice it much when I was younger.

For whatever reason, The Rescuers Down Under did not do well at the box office. Mike Gabriel received a call from Jeffrey Katzenberg during its opening weekend. The results were not good. Gabriel was told it made $5 million, but that it was ok, and they would move on to a new idea. That weekend, all advertising was pulled for the movie. Gabriel was devastated[9]. Bob Newhart, voice of Bernard, apparently wrote a note to Mike Gabriel saying not to worry about the box office result and that he was proud of the film regardless. Not long after this disappointment, Gabriel did have a new idea – to base a new animated feature on the historical figure Pocahontas[10].

LEGACY

There is very little reference to The Rescuers Down Under in the Disney theme parks, and in the media. Bernard and Bianca were available as walkaround characters in the Disney theme parks in the 1970s after the release of The Rescuers in 1977 and the two reappeared in promotional events for The Rescuers Down Under, 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. No new characters from The Rescuers Down Under ever appeared. In 2020, The Rescuers Down Under celebrated its 30^th anniversary so new merchandise lines, such as pins and ornaments were released then.

There were plans for a third movie, but after John Candy’s death in 1994 and Eva Gabor’s in 1995, it was cancelled. Given the financial failure of The Rescuers Down Under, and the fact that this put off many Disney executives from ever releasing a sequel theatrically, this would probably have been a direct-to-video sequel[11].

FINAL THOUGHTS

The Rescuers Down Under is more action-packed, with more peril and life-threatening moments than The Rescuers. But it is also much more comical than the oftentimes depressing The Rescuers. I do like both plots; they are just incredibly different. There are a few unanswered questions by the end of The Rescuers Down Under though. One being does Wilbur get back to Bernard and Bianca, getting them all home to New York, or is he forever stuck on Marahute’s nest? Another being, does Marahute get back to her nest? As her eggs have just hatched, she really ought to be there! What happened to the animals that were being held captive at McLeach’s hideout? I can only assume Cody told the rangers that there were animals there, and the rangers released them. We also don’t get to see the reunion between Cody and his mother, which I think would’ve been a nice ending to really tie up some of the loose ends.

Despite the critiques of The Rescuers Down Under, I quite enjoyed watching it, especially for the beautiful landscapes, and daring scenes. Disney didn’t want to detract from the story or the imagery by making it a musical, and I still think The Rescuers Down Under has a place in the hearts of many children who grew up in the 1990s, many who would not have seen The Rescuers initially, showing it could stand-alone.

The strangest thing about The Rescuers Down Under is that it sits right in the middle of two major Disney successes: The Little Mermaid in 1989 and Beauty and the Beast in 1991. The Rescuers Down Under may not feel like it should be a part of the Disney “Renaissance Era” to some, but to me, it does. This wasn’t meant to be a time when Disney used a tried-and-tested formula and just repeated that. Find a book, stick in a song here and there, and you’ve got a hit Disney animated feature film? That’s not how it works.

They had to try new ideas, they had to try new technologies to fit in with the times, and that’s exactly what The Rescuers Down Under did. It was the very first digital film to be produced in Hollywood. If it weren’t for The Rescuers Down Under, half of the sequences that people love in the later movies of The Lion King (1994) and Beauty and the Beast (1991) may not have existed, because they tried something new; they took risks. Without that, no company can ever progress. They pushed the boundaries of computer animation with this movie – the first company to really do so.

And Disney should get plenty of credit for that.

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Drew Taylor, ‘’The Rescuers Down Under’: The Untold Story of How the Sequel Changed Disney Forever’, Collider (online), 16^th December 2020.

[2] Credit: Disney, The Making of The Rescuers Down Under (2003).

[3] Credit: Drew Taylor, ‘’The Rescuers Down Under’: The Untold Story of How the Sequel Changed Disney Forever’, Collider (online), 16^th December 2020.

[4] Credit: Jim Korkis, Everything I Know I Learned from Disney Animated Feature Films (2015), ‘The Rescuers Down Under (1990)’, pp. 85-87.

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

[6] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘A Friday Visit with Jim Korkis: When Disney’s Hollywood Studios was a Studio’, YourFirstVisit.net, date unknown.

[7] Credit: Drew Taylor, ‘’The Rescuers Down Under’: The Untold Story of How the Sequel Changed Disney Forever’, Collider (online), 16^th December 2020.

[8] Credit: Josh Spiegel, ‘’The Rescuers Down Under’ Remains The Weird Speed Bump Between Two Disney Masterpieces’, SlashFilm (online), 18^th June 2019.

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

[10] Credit: Drew Taylor, ‘’The Rescuers Down Under’: The Untold Story of How the Sequel Changed Disney Forever’, Collider (online), 16^th December 2020.

[11] Credit: Jim Korkis, Everything I Know I Learned from Disney Animated Feature Films (2015), ‘The Rescuers Down Under (1990)’, pp. 85-87.

1st Mar 202427th Jun 2024 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 202427th Jun 2024 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 named 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.

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).

On screen, there has 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 202427th Jun 2024 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 probably would’ve been more Bambi theming in the Reflections – A Disney Lakeside Lodge Resort at Walt Disney World that was planned as a new Disney Vacation Club Resort but was confirmed to be cancelled in 2022.

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. 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.

2nd Feb 202427th Jun 2024 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 amount 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. It seems strange to me to have a fine dining restaurant with character meet-and-greets, the two probably shouldn’t co-exist, but there you go.

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.

At Tokyo Disneyland, there is 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. Beast and Belle also appear during the Festival of Fantasy parade.

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, with the reopening of the show in 2021 after its closure from the COVID-19 pandemic being the biggest one, 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 drinks.

Generally, 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. Belle and Beast are likely to be featured in shows and parades outside of the ones I have mentioned. Gaston is likely to appear in any show or parade featuring villains.

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 recently, 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.

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.

19th Jan 202427th Jun 2024 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 numerous 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 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 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. Around this time, Disney announced that they would be remaking practically every Disney animated movie that had ever been made, so I think this is just one of many that will end up on the shelf, but who knows.

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. It was confirmed Squeaks returned in 2023.

There may have been an opportunity to stay in a The Fox and the Hound-themed hotel room at one point, however, sadly this project was cancelled. The resort, named Reflections – A Disney Lakeside Lodge was to be a new Disney Vacation Club resort at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida and would have been constructed on the former site of the River Country waterpark. The hotel planned to use characters from nature-themed animated movies, such as Bambi (1942), Pocahontas (1995), Brother Bear (2003), and The Fox and the Hound, with a restaurant themed to The Princess and the Frog (2009) as well. However, after speculation that the COVID-19 pandemic had simply delayed construction, it was confirmed by Walt Disney World in March 2022 that the project had been completely cancelled.

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).

5th Jan 202427th Jun 2024 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 appears in the 2024 series Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans as American socialite Ann Woodward.

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. He had starred alongside Meryl Streep in the drama Sophie’s Choice (1982) and 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. Kevin Kline had also performed as The Pirate King in the opera The Pirates of Penzance (1980-81), for which he won a Tony Award, and in the subsequent 1983 film. After The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Kline went back to voice work to record the voice of Tulio in DreamWorks’ The Road to El Dorado (2000), and more recently has voiced Calvin Fischoeder in Bob’s Burgers (2011-present). Kline also appeared 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 my favourite of the instrumentals, 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 never 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.

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. Recently, at Disneyland, Frollo was part of the Halloween parade at the Oogie Boogie Bash in 2023. During the Disneyland After Dark: 90s Nite, Phoebus, Clopin, and Esmeralda were in attendance. 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. In 2021 at Hong Kong Disneyland and in 2023 at Tokyo Disneyland, Esmeralda was spotted. 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. It is unclear whether any of The Hunchback of Notre Dame characters have been spotted at Shanghai Disneyland.

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! But recently, there have been a few Christmas ornaments that you can buy featuring Quasimodo and Esmeralda; a statue of Esmeralda and a doll were also found on the Disney Store recently. A MagicBand with Quasimodo and Esmeralda must have been released at one point because I randomly found it at the Beach Club Resort shop at Walt Disney World, and it was the last one. Paintings and prints of scenes from the film may also be available to purchase these days.

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.