21st Jun 202426th Jun 2024 by The Disney Purist

#48 Bolt (2008)

BACKGROUND

In the midst of the Disney “Post-Renaissance Era”, the Disney Studios were struggling, as you can tell from the uninspiring era name, suggesting a decade of movie releases that never hit the heights of the famed “Renaissance Era” of the 1990s.

Disney Animation had tried to move into comedy and adventure films in the 2000s; that hadn’t worked out. They then moved away from 2D animation, and threw themselves into the world of computer animation; that also hadn’t impressed audiences.

It was getting to the end of another decade and Disney Animation wasn’t matching up to outside animation studios like DreamWorks and Blue Sky Studios – just think of how popular Shrek (2001), Madagascar (2005), and Ice Age (2002) had been at this time, spanning long-running franchises, some of which are still going today.

Not to mention Pixar, who was way ahead of everyone in terms of their CG movies, full of humour, heart, and soul. But since Disney merged with Pixar in 2006, the success of those movies could almost be considered a success for Disney Animation.

A new animated movie had to show that Disney Animation was a force to be reckoned with once more. That movie which drove the company onwards to better days was actually Bolt. In some ways, anyway.

Bolt is an underrated Disney film, and one that is not usually talked about. I don’t personally know anybody that has watched it, or, if they have, they clearly didn’t like it enough to mention it!

The first time I watched it was purely so I could say I’d watched all the Disney Animated Classics. I didn’t choose to watch Bolt out of any interest for the story. I remember deciding that I didn’t like it at all after that first watch, and that I would never watch it again.

But I did watch it again, with some reluctance, and actually…. I kind of liked it.

Bolt doesn’t have the most interesting storyline, but it has some touching moments, and the relationship between Bolt and Penny, his owner, is sweet. I also found that I liked the “showbusiness” elements to the plot, both the behind-the-scenes moments, as well as those featuring the awkwardness between Penny and her uncaring agent, which is actually quite topical, given what we have heard from former child stars about their time in showbusiness, and what we are still hearing today.

PLOT

The story begins with us seeing a White Swiss Shepherd in the Silver Lake Animal Rescue Center, where he’s playing with his squeaky carrot toy. A little girl walks in to the centre and decides that she wants this little puppy. She gives him a tag, showing his name is now Bolt.

Five years later, we see this twelve-year-old girl, named Penny, still with her dog, Bolt. She gets a call from her father, telling her he’s in trouble and that she can’t go home, but not to worry because he has altered Bolt to give him powers so she will be protected. Penny and Bolt try to track down her father, coming across the evil Dr. Calico, who has captured him. They discover that Dr. Calico is in Bolivia so they head to the airport, however, they are being chased by agents of Dr. Calico. With the help of Bolt and his special power “the super bark” all the bad guys are thrown back and the two are safe to go on. We then find that this almost ten-minute sequence is actually not how the rest of the film is going to go because we discover this is all just a television show that Penny and Bolt star in together.

The Director of this TV show relays the importance of ensuring that Bolt doesn’t know that this is a show, as his belief that Penny is in danger makes his “acting” more real. However, the Network says that the show is getting too predictable and they need to do something about getting their ratings back up. Penny is upset that Bolt can never act like a normal dog, because of the Director’s rules; Bolt has to stay shut in the trailer and can never be taken home with Penny because he has to believe that everything in the show is real.

The next day, a new shoot for the show begins. The shoot ends with Penny being captured by Dr. Calico and shut in a huge box. The Director believes that ending the show on a cliffhanger will help ratings, but this traumatises Bolt who is not allowed to know that Penny is safe until they film the next episode. When Bolt is taken back to his trailer by a handler, he escapes and runs around the studio lot trying to find the box Penny was placed in on set. He finds it, but smashes into a window as he tries to get to it. Bolt then collapses into a box. This box is then sealed up and put in a van, with it eventually being delivered to New York City. Bolt breaks out of the box and begins to run around the city, not knowing where he is or where Penny is. At one point, he believes he’s found the real Dr. Calico, but it’s not him. Bolt then follows a Portaloo being taken across the city on a truck, believing this to be the box Penny is trapped in, but he finds she isn’t there. He then tries to ask for help from dogs on the street, but their owner thinks Bolt is lost and attaches a lead to him, so he runs away into the park, getting his head trapped between some railings. A trio of pigeons help him free himself from the bars.

Bolt then sees a Styrofoam packing peanut attached to him. He believes this has weakened him and that is why his powers aren’t working. Bolt tells the pigeons he needs to find one of Dr. Calico’s cats. The pigeons have no idea what he’s talking about but take Bolt to Mittens. This is some sort of act of revenge as Mittens coerces the city’s pigeons into getting her food regularly. Bolt threatens Mittens and holds her over a road until she tells him where Dr. Calico is. She has no idea what he’s talking about but claims she does just to get him to stop. Bolt attaches her to his lead, so that Mittens is like his prisoner. She shows Bolt a top-secret map of the entire Earth, which is actually just a map of Waffle World locations across the US. Mittens says he must get from New York City to Hollywood to find Dr. Calico. Thinking this is the end of her involvement with this strange dog, Mittens hopes she’ll be freed, but she’s actually dragged along for the ride – quite literally.

First, the two hitchhike in the back of a U-Haul van. Mittens tries to knock out Bolt with a baseball bat she’s found in the back of this van, but she falls and knocks over a box of Styrofoam onto Bolt who freaks out and jumps out the van, taking Mittens with him. They end up in Ohio. Mittens then teaches Bolt how to beg for food at a nearby trailer park. In one of these trailers is a hamster in a ball who loves TV; his name is Rhino, randomly. He spots Bolt and being a big fan of his asks to come along on Bolt’s mission; Bolt allows it.

Their next plan to get to Hollywood is to jump off a bridge and onto a moving train. It is at this point that Mittens realises that Bolt doesn’t actually have super powers, but that he’s on a TV show. She’s horrified and tells Bolt not to jump, but he doesn’t listen. The jump down onto the train, unsurprisingly, doesn’t work out as expected and after avoiding being decapitated by a railway signal, the trio roll of the train. Mittens angrily tells Bolt he’s not a super dog. Bolt doesn’t care what she thinks and starts barking at her, to get her to continue their journey, but the barking alerts a nearby animal control worker who catches Bolt and Mittens and puts them into his van. Rhino sees all this and follows the van. Rhino gets out of his ball and opens up Bolt’s cage, allowing him to jump out. Bolt is disappointed to find that he hadn’t been able to bust himself out of his cage, proving that he really doesn’t have powers. He touches his bolt-shaped “birthmark” and realises it is just ink… Mittens was right; he really isn’t a super dog. To try and motivate Bolt, Rhino tells him that he is a hero, because he still thinks Bolt is a super dog, and that they must go and save Mittens. Bolt knows it’s the right thing to do so they head to the animal shelter. With some clever distractions from Rhino, Bolt easily frees Mittens from her cage and the three leave the centre – after Rhino, back in his ball, knocks out one of the workers and then crashes into a helium tank which blows up a car in the parking lot…

They then get on another van where Bolt tells Mittens he doesn’t know who he is if he isn’t a superhero. She tells him about how easy life as a regular dog is, with all that food and warm fires to sit by. As they travel from Ohio to Las Vegas, Mittens teaches Bolt how to be like a regular dog, since she was a house cat once upon a time. In Vegas, Mittens shows Bolt the little homes she’s made for them both, hoping they can forget this quest and just have a life out in the wild. Bolt says he has to get to Penny. Mittens is upset and tells Bolt that Penny is just an actress and doesn’t care about him; no human cares about their pet. It turns out Mittens’ owners moved away one day and left her to fend for herself. Bolt goes on to Hollywood alone, leaving Mittens to tell Rhino that Bolt said he had to face Dr. Calico alone, to keep up Rhino’s delusional. Rhino insists they go after him, because you can never abandon a friend in a time of need.

Meanwhile, Penny is heartbroken, having still not found Bolt. Her agent tells her that they have found him, but it’s actually just a replacement dog who looks like him. The Network tells Penny she’ll have to continue the show with this dog, or else the show will get cancelled and many people will lose their jobs. Talk about emotional blackmail…

Bolt finally makes it to the studio, with Mittens and Rhino making it too. Bolt hears Penny and runs over to her – but is devastated to find her hugging a different dog who looks just like him. Believing Mittens to have been right about humans all along, Bolt leaves. In actual fact, this was all just a rehearsal for the show that Mittens has also overheard, but what Bolt didn’t hear is Penny saying how much she misses the real Bolt.

In a new scene for the show, Penny is tied up, hanging from the ceiling when new Bolt arrives, but he is scared of all the actors and the whole set and runs away, knocking over the scene’s lit torches, setting the whole stage on fire. Mittens catches up with Bolt by the studio entrance and tells him that Penny does care about him. Bolt then feels that something is wrong and runs over to the studio. He gets into the building thanks to Rhino, whose plastic ball keeps a door open long enough for Bolt to get inside. Penny has managed to release herself from the ceiling but can’t find a way out. Bolt hears her coughing and follows the sound right to her. The two are so happy to be reunited, but the whole set is coming down and Penny is struggling to breathe. Penny attaches a lead to Bolt and asks him to find a way out for them. He drags her to a vent, but she is too weak to move. Penny tells him to go without her, but Bolt, ever the loyal dog, refuses to leave her. He barks near the vent to try and get help, before passing out himself.

Luckily, the bark echoes through the vent and gets to the rescue workers outside. They get in to the studio and find the two of them. Penny’s agent tells her that they can get more work from this incident, but her mother angrily tells him they quit. Penny and Bolt are rushed to hospital, with Rhino and Mittens hitching a ride there too.

We then see a girl being told that her injuries were severe and that her face had to be reconstructed. Don’t worry; this isn’t Penny. Well, not really. It’s a different actress and this is another scene from the show, which ends with “Penny” and “Bolt” being abducted by aliens. We move to Rhino who is distraught about this new reboot. I feel your pain, Rhino. Who hasn’t been disappointed by the recasting of a character in a show or by a terrible reboot? We’ve all been there! We now see that Bolt, Mittens and Rhino are living together with Penny, who has retired from acting and living a happy, normal life with her favourite dog.

CHARACTERS & CAST

Bolt is made to believe that everything that happens on the set of the TV show is real: that he has a “super bark” that can knock people backwards; that he has laser beam eyes; he can jump long distances; he has super strength. This has got to be a form of animal cruelty, doesn’t it? It’s no wonder he spends much of his time being mocked by animals in “the real world” who think he’s completely delusional, when it’s not even his fault! I feel really sorry for Bolt when he eventually realises that he is just a dog, but it is nice watching Mittens teach him how to be a normal dog, like learning to beg for food from people’s RVs on the trailer park; telling him how dogs drink out of the toilet, which Bolt is grossed out by; and saying how dogs like to curl up and sleep by the fire, which Bolt much prefers, and he starts to accept his new status in life. With his heroics by saving Penny, because apparently nobody in the crew cared enough about their star to save her, Bolt shows how he is super in normal ways, not magical ones, and it’s very sweet and touching when the firemen figure out where they are in the studio from his real life “super bark”.

John Travolta was chosen to voice Bolt. It may not seem like the obvious choice for such a sweet, naïve character, but actually Travolta does a great job with the role, giving much emotion to some of the movie’s big moments, like discovering that he’s not actually a superhero, and finding out that Penny has supposedly replaced him. Travolta is known for his early roles in movies like Carrie (1976), Grease (1978) and Saturday Night Fever (1977), with him earning Academy Award nominations for Best Actor for that role, as well as for Pulp Fiction (1994). Around the time of Bolt, he had also appeared in Wild Hogs (2007) and the movie version of the musical Hairspray (2007). More recently, Travolta has appeared in television series like The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story (2016) as Robert Shapiro and in the comedy-action series Die Hart (2020), alongside Kevin Hart.

Mittens ended up being my favourite character, because we first see her acting like a mob boss, controlling the pigeons and making them get her food. The character of Mittens also reminded me a lot of Jessie from the Toy Story series, because it turned out she was abandoned by her previous owners who just moved away and left her too. In the scene when Mittens shows Bolt this little home she’s made for them and Bolt says he has to find Penny because she’s his “person”, Mittens cannot understand this and tells him how she was abandoned and that humans don’t care about animals. In the end though, she does get her forever home with Penny and realises that Penny does truly love Bolt.

Disney wanted someone with an authentic New York accent to voice the character of Mittens, with actress Susie Essman being given the part. Essman is best known for her role as Susie Greene in the series Curb Your Enthusiasm (2000-24), as well as for her recurring voice role of Mrs. Lonstein in American Dad! (2005-present).

Rhino, the hamster – who is “1/16 wolf with a little wolverine” – is a very energetic, crazy character! Rhino spends almost the entire movie in his hamster ball, constantly in awe of Bolt. He clearly doesn’t understand what TV is, so that is his excuse for continuing the fantasy that Bolt is a famous superhero. He’s a little bit too loud for me, but I know he was a favourite with some critics. John Lasseter brought in his pet chinchilla during production for the animators to use as inspiration for the design of Rhino. The animators also adopted a hamster called Doink! who lived at the studios[1]. Mark Walton had been a storyboard artist on Tarzan (1999), Home on the Range (2004), Chicken Little (2005) and Meet the Robinsons (2007). He was originally the “scratch voice” for the character of Rhino during storyboarding, but the team gave Walton the role as they felt no-one else could do the voice as well. Walton left Disney around 2009 and has worked at Illumination since 2023.

Then there’s Penny. She is a child actress, only twelve years old, and she clearly has a difficult time dealing with all the responsibilities that go with fame. Her agent seems quite pushy, not letting her spend time with Bolt and convincing her to give interviews on all these shows like The Tonight Show to publicise the series. It’s very sad to see Penny lose Bolt, who was seemingly her only access to any sort of normal childhood, and it’s obvious that she hates how Bolt is treated by the show and how it made him hypervigilant and unable to relax. It’s such a great moment when Penny and her mother stand up for themselves by quitting show business. They then get to live a happy life away from all that pressure.

Penny was voiced by Miley Cyrus. Cyrus does well acting in those dramatic moments, like the studio fire, delivering her lines with a lot of emotion. I teared up when Bolt decided to stay with Penny when she’d collapsed from smoke inhalation and couldn’t escape. It did take me a while to get used to her voice though, as it didn’t sound as young as I was expecting – Penny is meant to be twelve-years-old after all – but Cyrus admitted in a behind-the-scenes video on the making of Bolt that her voice is quite deep, so she had to make it sound younger[2]. I did get used to it in the end, but initially I was sceptical about her being chosen for the movie, believing it to just be a marketing ploy to get younger fans back to watching Disney movies, since at the time, Cyrus was best known for her starring role in the Disney Channel series Hannah Montana (2006-11). She later starred in the movie LOL (2012) and is now one of the most successful recording artists, with some of her most popular singles being “The Climb”, “Party in the U.S.A”, “Wrecking Ball”, and “Flowers”.

There are a few other “human characters” to mention, those being involved in the Hollywood side of Bolt. The first is The Agent. He is awful, not caring at all about what Penny wants, not being bothered by the fact that Bolt is being mistreated by the studio, replacing her dog like it’s no big deal, and then trying to capitalise on her near-death experience. He’s very pushy and he has the most annoying catchphrase: “let’s put a pin in this conversation”. Despite the terrible character, I’m actually a fan of the actor who voiced The Agent, Greg Germann. He had played the role of Richard Fish on Ally McBeal (1997-2002) and was recently cast as Dr. Tom Koracick from Season 14 to Season 19 in Grey’s Anatomy (2005-present). The reason I’m a fan of his, though, is because of his portrayal of Hades in Season 5 of Once Upon a Time (2011-18); I love Hades as a Disney villain and I was glad that someone lived up to James Woods’ voice performance in Hercules (1997).

Then there is The Director, who is another toxic reference to the world of showbusiness. All he cares about is making sure his show doesn’t get cancelled. It is on his orders that Bolt is left alone in his trailer at the end of the day and that he never gets to act like a normal dog. The Director says “if the dog believes it, then the audience believes it too”. Yeah, ok – whatever helps you sleep at night, bro. The Director was voiced by James Lipton, who produced, created, and hosted the Bravo TV series Inside the Actors Studio (1994-2019), which interviewed people in the entertainment industry, like actors and directors. Lipton passed away in 2020.

Finally, we have the actor who voices the actor who portrays the evil Dr. Calico on the Bolt TV show, who of course had to be English because all the best villains are voiced by British people! Malcolm McDowell voiced the character. McDowell is best known for playing the main role of Alex in Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange (1971). In more recent years, he played the part of Daniel Linderman in the superhero series Heroes (2006-10) and portrayed Rupert Murdock in Bombshell (2019).

MUSIC

Unlike other Disney animated movies, Bolt does not have a particularly memorable soundtrack, but that’s probably just because it’s not a musical, in the same way that none of the movies from 2000 to 2008 were the typical Disney musical.

There are only two songs in the movie, with only one being played in the actual movie, and the other being an End Credits song. “Barking at the Moon”, written and performed by Jenny Lewis, a former child actress, who appeared in the sitcom Brooklyn Bridge (1991-93). Lewis then left acting to focus on her music career, being the lead singer in the band Rilo Kiley in 1998 before launching a solo career. She provided the voice of the Assistant Director in Bolt as well. “Barking at the Moon” plays as Rhino, Bolt, and Mittens make their way from Ohio to Las Vegas, and Mittens teaches Bolt how to act like a normal dog. This song has a very country feel to it, which is appropriate for the road trip element of the movie, but I’m not a fan of this song, probably because I’m not a big fan of country music. I do like its lyrics referencing the importance of home though and I feel like it fits in well at this point in the movie. There is a brief reprise of the song at the end of the movie.

The other song is “I Thought I Lost You” performed by Miley Cyrus and John Travolta. It was written by Cyrus and Jeffrey Steele, who was the lead singer and bass guitarist in the band Boy Howdy in the 1990s and went on to co-write many hits songs for artists such as LeAnn Rimes, Billy Ray Cyrus, and Tim McGraw. I prefer this song to “Barking at the Moon” as it sounds more like a pop song and a typical song we’d expect to hear from Miley Cyrus during her Hannah Montana days. It’s also got a nice message about reuniting with someone you thought you’d lost. “I Thought I Lost You” was nominated for Best Original Song at the Golden Globes, but lost to “The Wrestler” from the movie of the same name.

The score for Bolt was composed by John Powell, who had co-composed scores for DreamWorks movies such as The Road to El Dorado (2000), Shrek (2001) and Kung Fu Panda (2008), as well as Animal Logic’s Happy Feet (2006) prior to working on Bolt. Powell went on to compose the score for the How to Train Your Dragon film series, as well as live-action movies including Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) and Don’t Worry Darling (2022). Powell is also known for his musical work on some the Ice Age films and the Bourne movies.

Within the score, I can’t say any instrumental pieces stood out to me whilst watching the movie, unlike my experiences with other Disney animated film scores. However, the ending piece “Home at Last” is probably the one I noticed most. The score does have a good mix of intense moments, like “Rescuing Penny”, and some more reflective ones, like “A Friend in Need”, so those match the tone of the movie.

PRODUCTION

Bolt started out as an original story idea called American Dog, written by Chris Sanders, who had co-written and co-directed Lilo & Stitch (2002). After the Disney-Pixar merger in 2006, John Lasseter came on board as Chief Creative Officer of Disney Animation and was tasked with overseeing production on the movie. Bolt happens to be the first Disney film to be produced completely under his guidance.

With that in mind, Lasseter gave Sanders notes on how the movie could be improved. These were rejected by Sanders who then left the Disney Studios and ended up working at DreamWorks where he co-wrote and co-directed How to Train Your Dragon (2010) instead, a movie that spanned a hugely popular franchise[3].

In February 2007, two new directors were assigned to the project. These directors were Chris Williams and Byron Howard. Williams had previously worked as a Story Artist for Disney animated films like Mulan (1998), The Emperor’s New Groove (2000), Lilo & Stitch (2002), and Chicken Little (2005). He went on to co-direct Big Hero 6 (2014) with Don Hall, as well as work on story for Moana (2016). Howard had worked as the Supervising Animator for Cobra Bubbles in Lilo & Stitch (2002) and Bear Kenai for Brother Bear (2003) before Bolt, and went on to co-direct Tangled (2010), Zootopia (2016), and Encanto (2021).

With a combination of Disney talent in the areas of story and character animation, it’s no surprise that Williams and Howard made sure to fully focus on these areas of Bolt. As is normal for any movie, some story ideas were originally conceived and then later cut, or reworked. Two of these were around Bolt’s realisation that he is not a super hero, and doesn’t have powers, like he’d been made to believe by the people behind his television series. The first idea was to have Bolt confront two mean dogs in an alleyway in Las Vegas. He would believe that his super bark and laser eyes will fight off the dogs, but it doesn’t work and he is brutally attacked. Mittens finds him hurt, but more than that, crushed that everything he thought was real and true was actually all a lie. This scene was potentially too traumatic to include in a family-friendly movie, so it was reworked. Another version of this scene was to have Bolt dive into a fast-flowing river to save Rhino who has somehow ended up in there, still in his ball. Bolt can’t get through the strong currents and hits up against rocks, needing Mittens to save him. Rhino believes Bolt did save his life, but Bolt knows he didn’t, touching the bolt on his back and knowing that he is not a super dog. Although this moment of realisation was again reworked, this moment of Bolt touching his bolt was kept[4].

As a tribute to Disney Animation’s days of 2D animation, the Art Department wanted to have painterly backgrounds that were realistic and simple, referencing a specific place or type of area, but without so much detail that it would detract from the actions of the characters. However, given that Bolt is a CG animated movie, a new type of software was created to allow for the computer-generated backgrounds to look as though they had been painted, by adding brushstroke and shadow effects to them. These backgrounds in Bolt clearly show the audience were in the US Bolt and his two friends are, such as parts of Ohio, Missouri, Kansas, and even Las Vegas, with a shot showing the Bellagio hotel and its famous fountains. The artwork is simple but realistic to the real world.

Art Director Paul Felix and Lighting Director Adolph Lusinsky also took a research trip across America, travelling 1,200 miles in two days so that they could look at the details of small towns as well as study the light in these different parts of America. For example, they looked at the Las Vegas desert to see how the heat affects how we see the landscape, and New York City has lots of buildings with floor-to-ceiling glass windows, so seeing the sunlight reflect off those gave the scenery a different light quality.

In contrast to this familiar world, we also have a few minutes of “TV world”, where we are brought into the filming of the Bolt television show. This is filled with action-packed scenes of explosions, bombs, and bad guys, as well as superhero powers, like Bolt’s super bark and his laser eyes. It’s a typical spy-style television show, but we get the added twist of seeing it being filmed, with random additional references to things like boom mics, effects teams, and dog handlers, to take us out of that “fake world” and back to reality[5]. Shame Bolt isn’t allowed to ever do that! Speaking of this studio lot, it was made to resemble the Riverside Drive entrance of the actual Disney Studios in Burbank[6].

Making Bolt was quite the learning curve for the two directors, as this was the first time either Williams or Howard had ever directed a Disney animated movie. They found it to be a very fun and collaborative experience, with ideas from all departments being taken into account for the movie’s plot, characters, animation, and effects. They even had to create a whole new technology to deal with the stretchy leash that ties Mittens to Bolt for the first part of their journey together! The team also had a huge inflatable hamster ball, or what we would now call a Zorb Ball, blown up in the Studios for the workers to run around inside, so that they knew what it was like to be Rhino the hamster – or it was just a way of goofing off, but I don’t blame them either way. Ten weeks before the end of their tight production schedule on Bolt, all the men working on the project decided not to shave their beards until the movie was completed, supposedly as some sort of motivational tactic[7]!

RECEPTION

Bolt was released on 21^st November 2008, a week before Thanksgiving. This also happens to be the exact same day that the movie Twilight was released. Awkward…

Given the bad timing of releasing Bolt that could never have been predicted, the movie did not do as well as expected at the box-office during its cinema run. It was outperformed by many other animated family-friendly movies of 2008, including Pixar’s WALL-E, DreamWorks’ Kung Fu Panda and Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, and Blue Sky Studios’ Horton Hears a Who! Bolt was also later beaten out at the domestic box-office by Marley & Me, coincidentally another movie about a dog, albeit a live-action rom-com. Bolt was even out-grossed by Chicken Little (2005), a Disney animated movie that was panned by critics and viewers alike.

Bolt later ended its run with a domestic total of $114 million, which, combined with $196 million from international markets, came to a global total of $310 million, which may have been a disappointment to Disney executives, but doesn’t seem too bad when compared to some of the box-office bombs that Disney experienced in the 2000s.

It is also worth remembering that Bolt’s reviews and audience scores surpassed those of both Disney’s Chicken Little and Meet the Robinsons (2007)[8]. Although some felt that the story was lacking in both action and humour, others did find Bolt funny and liked many of the characters, especially Rhino, who injected a lot of energy into the plot. Many said it was a step up from Disney Animation’s previous work and felt that it was a good sign for the future of the company.

Bolt was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 2008 Academy Awards, which is very significant, actually, as the last solely Disney, not Pixar, film to be nominated in this category was Brother Bear (2003). Bolt did, however, lose to Pixar’s WALL-E here. Not only that but Bolt was also nominated for Best Animated Feature at the Annie Awards, losing to Kung Fu Panda; at the Golden Globes, losing to WALL-E; and at the Kids’ Choice Awards, losing to Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa. It was clearly a very competitive year for animated movies, and perhaps many viewers had decided not to give Disney a chance at the time, given their previous track record in the decade.

LEGACY

Bolt did not receive tons of celebrations on its release, so it is not surprising that the movie has not been referenced much by The Walt Disney Company since then.

In 2009, a short spin-off movie was made called Super Rhino. It really is a short film, only around five minutes long, which sees Rhino get some super power upgrades, like laser eyes, to save Penny and Bolt from yet another encounter with the evil Dr. Calico. Rhino even goes to a concert at the end of the movie and sings that big Hannah Montana hit “The Best of Both Worlds”. But alas, it was all just a dream, and Rhino is still not a superhero[9]. Given that Rhino became the standout character from Bolt, it was a good move to make a short film based on him. Mark Walton, Miley Cyrus, Susie Essman, and Malcolm McDowell reprised their voice roles of Rhino, Penny, Mittens, and Dr. Calico here.

To promote the movie’s release at the Disney Parks, at Walt Disney World within the Magic of Animation building at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, which has since been replaced by Star Wars Launch Bay, Rhino, Mittens, and Bolt were all available to meet guests from November 2008. It is unclear how long the meet-and-greets lasted for, but it appears to have been for less than year. Ever since then, Bolt has been the only character to meet guests at Walt Disney World, and is not a regularly scheduled character – not a big shocker there. Bolt was seen as part of the Limited Time Magic: Dogs of Summer event at Magic Kingdom alongside Stitch, Pluto, and Doug in 2013, but was also randomly spotted at both Epcot and the Wilderness Lodge Resort in 2023. You can also catch a quick glimpse of a clip from Bolt as part of the Wonderful World of Animation nighttime show at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

At Disneyland, there was the Bolt Pre-Parade which began in 2008, with a float featuring Bolt, Mittens, and a few cheerleaders/dancers appearing before Walt Disney’s Parade of Dreams. When that parade stopped running in 2008, the pre-parade then moved to Disney California Adventure to run before the Pixar Play Parade. The Bolt Pre-Parade used the song “I Thought I Lost You” as its soundtrack.

At Disneyland Paris, Bolt and Mittens were seen together in 2017 for a Guest Star Day, but Bolt was also seen sometime in late 2023 as a random character find. Bolt and his friends do not seem to have ever featured at the Disney Parks in Asia.

Merchandise including pins and plush toys were available around the time of Bolt’s release in 2008, but ever since then, it has been harder to find. For any fans of Bolt, it is likely that looking for merchandise around a milestone anniversary is the best bet.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Despite being the most critically and commercially successful movie from Disney Animation since Lilo & Stitch (2002) at the time, Bolt seems to have been promptly forgotten by many. Whether that is because it has always been considered lesser to the big movies of the 1990s, or because it had already been surpassed by later movies from Disney just a couple of years later, it is not clear.

It may not have been a big fairy-tale musical, or even a strangely comedic movie like Shrek (2001), but Bolt was definitely quite a few steps in the right direction. Even if you don’t like Bolt, you have to admit that is true. It did take a while for Disney Animation to figure out how to make visually appealing, interesting, and funny movies with their new medium of computer-animation, but by the end of the 2000s, it looked like they were just about there.

Bolt was a lot better than I expected, or remembered, with much more emotion to it than I’d anticipated, and that’s what I look for in any movie. It’s definitely worth a watch, and I’d like to think that I will choose to watch Bolt again some time, just because I want to.

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Jim Korkis, Everything I Know I Learned from Disney Animated Feature Films (2015), ‘Bolt (2008)’, pp. 143.

[2] Credit: Act, Speak! The Voices of Bolt, Disney (2008).

[3] Credit: Jim Korkis, Everything I Know I Learned from Disney Animated Feature Films (2015), ‘Bolt (2008)’, pp. 143.

[4] Credit: Disney, “Deleted Scenes”, from Bolt (2008) DVD (2009).

[5] Credit: Disney, “Creating the World of Bolt”, from Bolt (2008) DVD (2009).

[6] Credit: Jim Korkis, Everything I Know I Learned from Disney Animated Feature Films (2015), ‘Bolt (2008)’, pp. 143.

[7] Credit: Disney, “A New Breed of Directors: A Filmmakers’ Journey”, from Bolt (2008) DVD (2009).

[8] Credit: Jim Hill, ‘Toon Tuesday: Disney tries to figure out why “Bolt” missed its box office target’, JimHillMedia.com, 6^th January 2009.

[9] Credit: Disney, “Bonus Short: Super Rhino”, from Bolt (2008) DVD (2009).

10th May 202428th Jun 2024 by The Disney Purist

#54 Big Hero 6 (2014)

BACKGROUND

Although the 2010s at Disney Animation started with a typical princess musical (Tangled (2010), the movies that followed would be a mixture of new ideas and different styles, from the video-game based Wreck-It Ralph (2012) to the comic book style of Big Hero 6.

Previously, Disney had tried to move away from their fairy-tale musicals but with little success. The 2000s spanned almost an entire decade of non-musical films, with many being classed as “adventure movies”, however, the majority of these movies flopped at the box-office with Treasure Planet (2002) even being such a financial disaster that it caused the Disney executives to ban the making of any further 2D animated movies – for a time, anyway.

Luckily, in the 2010s, non-musical Disney animated movies did resonate with audiences. That could be because audiences of today are more open to seeing a different genre of movie from Disney, or it could just be that viewing preferences have simply changed amongst younger age groups. Either way, I’m glad that Disney did, and continue, to move away from just the one format of film, and have the freedom to take us to new worlds.

I don’t read comic books and I don’t like superhero films. I’ve never seen any movie related to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the only films I like that are at all related to superheroes are Sky High (2005) and The Incredibles 2 (2018). So, you’d think I wouldn’t like Big Hero 6 – but actually, I really do.

I think my problem with superhero movies is that all of it seems so far away from reality that I can’t get interested in it. This is where Big Hero 6 is different. The villain isn’t some supervillain with a plan to take over the world or destroy it, and the superheroes are just normal people using science and technology as their superpowers, using things that really exist, instead of relying on super-strength, or invisibility, or other powers that they’ve somehow gained through some bizarre event or incident. Big Hero 6 just feels real.

Big Hero 6 was a big step for Disney, as it was the first animated film by Disney to use a Marvel property, after Disney purchased Marvel in 2009. Disney had numerous live-action films based on Marvel characters in the works at this time, a full slate spanning about a decade, but making an animated film based on a comic book or a superhero character was unlike most superhero films that had existed before.

It was a risk, but one that paid off.

PLOT

Big Hero 6 is set in the city of San Fransokyo, a hybrid of the cities of San Francisco and Tokyo. Hiro Hamada is a fourteen-year-old boy who is incredibly intelligent. He graduated high school at the age of thirteen and is wasting his potential by hustling people at “bot fights”, using a small but sophisticated robot to defeat his opponents. His brother, Tadashi, is a student at the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology and tries to encourage Hiro to do something more fulfilling with his life. He takes Hiro to his research lab to show him what he could be doing. Tadashi has built a healthcare companion, basically a robotic nurse, called Baymax, who looks like a giant walking marshmallow. Hiro warms to the idea of researching and studying, before deciding wholeheartedly that he must go to this school.

To do this, Hiro creates an invention to take to the Institute’s Showcase, showcasing his idea of microbots that can do anything that the mind wants them to do, via a neurotransmitter. Robert Callaghan, the professor at the Institute, loves the microbots and invites Hiro to join the school. Hiro accepts, despite Alistair Krei, CEO of Krei Tech, wanting to buy the microbots. However, just as Hiro and Tadashi are about to celebrate with their friends and Aunt Cass, who raises them since their parents died when they were young, a fire breaks out in the building and Tadashi runs in to save Professor Callaghan. Tadashi doesn’t survive, causing Hiro to go into a deep depression. Callaghan is presumed dead too.

One day, Hiro hurts himself while in his room, and Baymax activates, alerted by Hiro saying “ow”. Hiro doesn’t want anything to do with Baymax, but finds one of his microbots from his presentation, which is moving, seemingly attracted to the other microbots Hiro created for the Showcase. Hiro assumes its broken as the other microbots were destroyed in the fire, but Baymax follows where the microbot wants to go, to try to help Hiro feel better. Hiro and Baymax end up outside an abandoned warehouse. Breaking in, they find a whole production line of Hiro’s microbots, and have to escape an attack from a black-cloaked man wearing a Kabuki mask. Scared, Hiro reports the incident to the police, but is ignored.

Hiro decides to fight his attacker, upgrading Baymax with martial arts moves and 3D printed armour, and goes back to the warehouse, but it’s empty. They track the man to the nearby docks, using the microbot again as a tracker. Tadashi’s friends from the Institute, who are trying to encourage Hiro to attend school despite his grief, show up just in time to help Hiro and Baymax escape the guy for a second time.

Hiro decides to get the four friends involved to attack the guy together. Each friend creates their own superpower, based on their scientific research. Baymax can now fly, and him and Hiro fly up to a wind turbine to scan the city to find their attacker. They track him to an island, and all of them go so they can attempt to take the mask, to stop their attacker’s control over his microbots. They discover that the island was used for a teleportation experiment by Alistair Krei. The experiment went wrong, leaving a woman missing and the government shutting down the island. Suddenly, the group are attacked. Hiro knocks off the mask revealing that their attacker is – Robert Callaghan! He had used Hiro’s microbots to shield himself from the fire at the Institute that night, meaning Tadashi died for nothing. Enraged, Hiro removes Baymax’s healthcare chip, leaving only Hiro’s attacking one, and orders Baymax to kill Callaghan. The others stop this, returning Baymax’s chip, but Hiro is furious and leaves the island with Baymax.

Hiro tries to get Baymax to kill Callaghan but he reminds Hiro that Tadashi wanted Baymax to help people, showing Hiro videos of Tadashi testing Baymax. Hiro apologies to his friends, who forgive him, and tell him that they found out that the woman who went missing in Krei’s experiment was Abigail Callaghan, Callaghan’s daughter, so he must be trying to enact a revenge plot on Krei.

Sure enough, they find Callaghan at the opening of Krei’s new campus. He has rebuilt the portals from Krei’s original experiment, and uses them to destroy the building, before planning to throw Krei in too. The group help to save Krei and stop Callaghan by getting the majority of the microbots sucked into the portals through clever distractions. Eventually, Callaghan doesn’t have enough microbots to continue attacking the group.

Baymax then detects life from inside the portal. Hiro, assuming it to be Abigail, goes in with Baymax to retrieve her. On the way out though, Baymax is damaged by floating debris. The only way to get Hiro and Abigail out is to use his rocket fist, which Hiro designed, to push them out, but Baymax cannot go with them. Hiro accepts this is the only way and tearfully says goodbye to Baymax. Hiro and Abigail are return safely, and Callaghan is arrested. Hiro then decides to go back to the university with his friends, and finds Tadashi’s original healthcare chip for Baymax in the rocket fist that Hiro kept. He rebuilds Baymax, inserts the chip, and gets his friend back. The six of them continue to protect the city as a team, calling themselves “Big Hero 6”.

CHARACTERS & CAST

The movie Big Hero 6 starts out with Hiro Tamada “bot fighting” in the slightly dodgy streets and back allies of San Fransokyo. Hiro is quite cocky at this stage and the team at Disney knew they needed the right balance of cockiness and vulnerability to match Hiro’s age. If the balance edged too much towards cocky, I presume the audience would not have found Hiro likeable and wouldn’t have been bothered by his story, but luckily, they got it just right[1]! Hiro doesn’t think anything of hustling much older, and bigger, men than him, who no doubt have connections in this underground arena. That’s how he gets himself into trouble and has to be rescued by his older brother, Tadashi.

Tadashi clearly doesn’t approve of Hiro’s choices in life; he wants him to live up to his potential and continue to improve the world with his genius ideas and inventions, because Hiro is very intelligent. Tadashi shows Hiro what he could be doing with his time instead, and by showing Hiro Baymax and all the work he’s put into that goes a long way to convincing Hiro to use his talents for good. Their parents died about ten years before, so they are very close and protective of each other. They are being raised by their Aunt Cass, living above the Lucky Cat Café, that Cass owns and runs, with her cat Mochi. Cass is concerned she isn’t raising the boys well, especially when they end up being arrested for being involved in illegal bot fighting, but she is very supportive towards them and so proud of what they’ve accomplished in life. Mochi was actually not a part of the original script for Big Hero 6, however, story artist Kendelle Hoyer wanted Hiro’s family to have a pet. She continued to draw the cat in her storyboards and eventually it was decided that the cat could stay[2]!

Tadashi Hamada is voiced by Daniel Henney, who is currently cast in the Amazon Prime fantasy series The Wheel of Time (2021-present) as al’Lan Mandragoran. Aunt Cass is voiced by comedic actress Maya Rudolph, known for her roles in movies such as Grown Ups (2010) and its 2013 sequel as Deanne; Bridesmaids (2011) as Lillian; and Disenchanted (2022) as Malvina. She rose to fame as a cast member on the sketch show Saturday Night Live from 2000 to 2007. Rudolph currently stars in the AppleTV+ comedy series Loot (2022-present) as Molly Wells.

When Tadashi unexpectedly dies in the fire at the Institute, Hiro sinks into a deep depression which Cass tries hard to get him out of, by encouraging him to register at school. Not that Hiro really listens, until he meets Baymax. Baymax is the best character in the whole movie, in my opinion. He is the funniest, mostly because he has no filter, and doesn’t understand how people act. Like the “fist bump” scene. Hiro tries to teach him how to “fist bump”, so he can mimic what him and Tadashi used to do; it was their “thing”. However, Baymax doesn’t quite get it right, and after the “fist bump”, wriggles his fingers a bit and goes ‘ba la la la’, so not quite the same thing! The Disney team knew this would be a funny moment in the movie, so built in more opportunities for the audience to see it. Another hilarious moment is seeing low-power Baymax, who could also be called “drunk Baymax” if this weren’t a Disney film. I’m sad there aren’t more moments of this in the movie. Baymax is a great companion for Hiro, at a time when he needs someone most. Obviously, Baymax is a “personal healthcare companion”, so wouldn’t want Hiro to be in anyway unwell, but he goes above and beyond what would be expected to help Hiro grieve and come to terms with his brother’s death – like fighting bad guys, for example! I think everyone that watched Big Hero 6 came away from it wanting their own Baymax in their lives – I know I did, and still do.

To create Baymax, the face was inspired by a traditional Japanese bell called a Suzu seen at a temple in Tokyo whilst the Disney team were on a research trip there. On the surface of the bells, there are two circles with a line in the middle, exactly like Baymax’s face. The idea for Baymax to be a “huggable” robot, instead of the traditional robot that can be found in the comic series, came from a different research trip to technological institutes, specifically Carnegie Mellon, where the team saw work on “soft robotics” including a vinyl arm. They knew that was the perfect look for Baymax[3]. Baymax’s movements were influenced by real and movie robots, and even koala bears, as well as babies and penguins. Penguins have similar body dimensions to Baymax, as in long torso and short legs, so they were a good choice to look at how Baymax would walk[4].

Scott Adsit voices the lovable Baymax. He is perhaps best known for his portrayal of Pete Hornberger in the comedy series 30 Rock (2006-13). Hiro is voiced by Ryan Potter, who made his acting debut as Mike in Supah Ninja (2011-13) for Nickelodeon. For Disney XD, Potter was cast as Riker in Lab Rats: Elite Force (2016). After that, he appeared as Gar Logan / Beast Boy in Titans (2018-23), then voiced the character of Kenji Kon in Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous (2020-22).

Then there’s rest of the “Big Hero 6” team, Hiro and Tadashi’s four friends from the Institute. First, there is Go Go. She is a bit reserved and quite sarcastic; she doesn’t say much. Go Go is researching maglev wheels, wheels which are magnetically suspended, so not attached to anything, and these become her superpower, allowing her to speed-skate with them on her feet, and be able to throw them at opponents. Go Go is voiced by Jamie Chung, who has appeared in movies, such as Grown Ups (2010) and The Hangover Part II (2011), and in the television series such as Once Upon a Time (2011-18) in the role of Mulan, after being a cast member on reality show The Real World: San Diego in 2004.

Honey Lemon is the other girl in the group. She is bubbly and enthusiastic, almost too much so. Her speciality lies in chemistry, and her superpower is about creating balls of potent chemicals, which can change form, plus be shot out at speed. Genesis Rodriguez provides the voice for Honey Lemon. Rodriguez began her career with roles in telenovelas such as Prisionera (2004) and Dame Chocolate (2007) before moving in to roles in the later series’ of Entourage (2004-2011) and, most recently, she played Sloane Hargreeves in Season 3 of Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy (2019-present).

For the guys, there are Fred and Wasabi. Fred is the school mascot, so not a science student, though he is interested in science so hangs out in the lab frequently. He is also a comic book enthusiast, and spends a lot of time thinking about superpowers even before the group is formed. For his superpower, as the school mascot is a dragon and he doesn’t have any science talent, he has a super suit that can breathe intensely hot fire. Fred is childish and kind of gross – we hear about how many times he wears one pair of underwear, for example – but he is friendly, and not bothered by what people think of him. It also turns out that Fred has very rich parents and lives in a mansion. In an End Credits scene, we see that Fred’s dad is actually a superhero himself – and looks and sounds like Stan Lee. Nice comic-related Easter egg there! Comedian and actor T.J. Miller voices Fred. He had voiced the character Tuffnut Thorston in How to Train Your Dragon (2010) and its 2014 sequel, as well as some of the earlier spin-offs, and voiced the character of Gene in The Emoji Movie (2017). Miller also portrayed Weasel in Deadpool (2016) and its 2018 sequel. On television, Miller received a Critics’ Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in 2015 for his role as Erlich Bachman in Silicon Valley (2014-17). In recent years, Miller has been replaced in many of his recurring acting roles due to police matters.

Wasabi, on the other hand, is the complete opposite to Fred. He is incredibly organised, overly cautious, and reluctant to be involved in the group to begin with. Fred gave him the nickname “Wasabi” after he got some wasabi on his shirt one day – something that Wasabi finds annoying as it only happened one time. His superpower is based on his research around lasers, making plasma blades that are razor sharp and can cut through nearly everything. Wasabi is voiced by Damon Wayans Jr., known for starring in Happy Endings (2011-2013) as Brad Williams and for having the recurring role of Coach in New Girl (2011-2018). He also recently starred as Adam in the film Players (2024) for Netflix.

Then, there is the villain, “Yokai”, then found to be Professor Robert Callaghan, in one of those surprise villain moments that Disney and Pixar started doing in the mid-2000s. At the start of the movie, he doesn’t seem like a bad guy. He’s a bit stand-offish, and doesn’t say much, but he doesn’t seem evil, though it is clear he is one to hold a grudge; when he spots Alistair Krei at the showcase, he makes it quite obvious that he doesn’t like Krei at all, and warns Hiro away from him. It turns out Krei was the reason his daughter disappeared in a failed experiment, which seems like a fair enough reason to hold a grudge, really! Then, we see “Yokai”, who is not at all concerned that he could’ve killed all these kids who are actually his students. He is blinded to everything except his revenge plot and doesn’t care who might get hurt if they get in his way. Even when he is revealed by Hiro to be Callaghan, he isn’t apologetic at all and continues on with his plan. By the end of the movie, when he is thwarted by “Big Hero 6”, and his daughter is found to be alive, Callaghan just looks sad, as he is put into the police car. Maybe he shouldn’t have become so consumed by hate. Like most villains, Callaghan never saw himself as the villain of the piece; he felt that he was enacting some sort of justice. He is grieving in much the same way as Hiro is, and even Hiro almost resorts to violence when he sees how unfair it is that Tadashi died for no reason, and Callaghan doesn’t even care. It just shows what grief can do to a person. Hiro comes to terms with his, thanks to Baymax, who won’t allow Hiro to go down the dark path of hatred and revenge, unlike Callaghan[5].

Callaghan is voiced by James Cromwell. In recent years, Cromwell has had a recurring role in the drama series Succession (2018-23), receiving three Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Guest Actor. He also had a recurring role in Season 3 and 4 of Boardwalk Empire (2010-14). In the second series of the American horror anthology series, American Horror Story: Asylum, Cromwell was cast as Dr. Arthur Arden; he won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries for his performance. In film, Cromwell has appeared in a range of films, including Babe (1995) as Farmer Arthur Hoggett, for which he was nominated in the Best Supporting Actor category at the Academy Awards; I, Robot (2004) as Dr. Alfred Lanning; The Queen (2006) as Prince Phillip, Duke of Edinburgh; The Artist (2011) as Clifton, and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018) as Benjamin Lockwood.

Well-known Disney voice artist Alan Tudyk voiced Callaghan’s nemesis Alistair Krei. Tudyk had previously voiced King Candy in Wreck-It Ralph (2012) at this time, and has since gone on to have a voice part in every Disney animated feature since, including Duke of Weselton in Frozen (2013), Hei Hei in Moana (2016), and Valentino in Wish (2023), amongst many more Disney and non-Disney projects, Iike the series Resident Alien (2021-present).

PRODUCTION

The story of Big Hero 6 goes right back to the group of writers who created the original comic. The group all met while working at Marvel in the 1990s. They had been working on the X-Men series’, however, when Marvel went bankrupt, they moved over to DC Comics and worked on Superman. After a while, they decided they wanted to work on their own franchises instead, and set up their own company called Man of Action Entertainment, a writer collective. They had a big hit with Ben 10, which aired on Cartoon Network in 2006, and continued in some form, whether in television or gaming, until 2021. Man of Action were surprised to find out that Disney were making a movie based on Big Hero 6 but they were delighted with the final result[6].

When Don Hall had finished working on Winnie the Pooh (2011) as co-director, he decided to pitch an idea for an animated movie based on a Marvel property. He had always wanted to make a Disney movie based on a Marvel comic, and now that Disney had bought Marvel, he knew he had the opportunity. Hall stumbled upon Big Hero 6, which he hadn’t heard of before, but liked the style of. The characters from this obscure Marvel comic book called Big Hero 6 first appeared in a 1998 three-issue miniseries called Sunfire and Big Hero 6. They would then appear again in a 2008 five-issue miniseries called Big Hero 6. Both of these comic series use the same characters, but the second one would mostly be the basis for the Disney movie. However, Disney did not generally use much information from the original comic, apart from the character names[7]. They were told by Marvel to make it their own, so they used the original characters, but changed the story quite significantly. One of the first changes was for Baymax to be built by Hiro’s brother, Tadashi, who was created for the movie, instead of by Hiro’s father, so they could have a storyline about brothers. Hall held a “brothers’ summit” to learn about his team’s experiences with their brothers.

Much like with many Disney animated movies, the film was screened every twelve weeks to collect feedback and reaction, meaning that scripts had to be rewritten and new scenes would have to be drawn, and others thrown out. For example, some of the deleted scenes include a prologue which would’ve recounted Hiro’s journey as a prodigy child, skipping grades at school and graduating early, before making robots and new technology with his brother. Baymax was also originally going to be presented at the showcase by Tadashi, with Fred being used as the patient, however, Disney felt Tadashi introducing Hiro to Baymax in his lab would make it more of a special moment for the brothers, strengthening their relationship. The first introduction of “Yokai” was going to be more menacing too[8].

In terms of the location, the team wanted to use the US geography of San Francisco and combine it with the cultural feel and vibe of the city of Tokyo, especially as this would represent Big Hero 6’s comic anime style. This made the city of San Fransokyo, which was created as a futuristic thriving metropolis full of people. The team spent around three years developing a rendering tool called Hyperion, to provide realistic lighting effects to the scenes, and give huge levels of detail and artistry in each shot. They also developed software called Denizen to create their characters, as they had 14 main characters to bring to life, the largest cast of main characters in a Disney film at the time, as well as over 700 unique supporting roles, more than any other Disney film that had come before. The Visual Effects team was expanded to tackle the numerous anime-influenced action sequences, going from thirteen on Tangled (2010) to forty for Big Hero 6.

As well as recreating the cities closely, by using Hyperion to generate the 83,000 distinct buildings, and include additional touches such as 215,000 street lights, specific details, like milk bottle boxes being stacked on the sides of buildings in Tokyo, alongside all the characters, to make San Fransokyo to feel like a heavily-populated area, the Effects team spent an entire day sat on top of 555 California Street in San Francisco, the second highest building in the city, to study the light’s effect on the city and the landscape, as it progressed from sunrise to sunset[9].

MUSIC

For the music, Henry Jackman composed Big Hero 6’s score. Jackman had composed music for both action films and Disney films prior to Big Hero 6, including Kick-Ass (2010) and its 2013 sequel; Captain Phillips (2013); Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014) and its 2017 sequel, and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017) and its 2019 sequel. For Disney, he had composed the score for Wreck-It Ralph (2012), for which he won the Annie Award for Music in an Animated Feature Production in 2013, prior to Big Hero 6, and went on to compose for Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018) and Strange World (2022).

As the movie only contains the one song, Jackman’s score really had to sing here. The piece “First Flight” is particularly good, and accompanies the scene of Baymax and Hiro flying over San Fransokyo for the first time, after Hiro’s upgrade to Baymax, mimicking Hiro’s initial fear of flying for the first time before settling in and enjoying the ride. Disney knew they always wanted this scene to exist, even from the very start of production[10]. The piece “I Am Satisfied with My Care” is my favourite though, which plays as Baymax and Hiro say goodbye before Hiro leaves the portal with Abigail and says the heart-breaking line “I’m satisfied with my care”. Disney scores just have a way of making endings even more emotional with the music they use.

The only song in the movie and soundtrack is called “Immortals”, performed by American rock band Fall Out Boy. It’s quite out there for Disney, using a rock song, though it’s more electronic and pop than hardcore rock. It’s a great song, and gets stuck in my head often, but very different to most Disney songs, which is probably what they were looking for as Big Hero 6 is different to most Disney films. It suits the action feel of the movie well. It plays during the scene of the group testing out their strategies and superpower skills before they face “Yokai”.

RECEPTION

Big Hero 6 was released in November 2014, but debuted as the opening film at the Tokyo International Film Festival on 23^rd October 2014. In theatres, Big Hero 6 was released alongside a new Disney short, Feast (2014), about a dog and his owner’s shared love of food and how that changes with the owner’s new relationship.

Despite Big Hero 6 being quite a shift away from what audiences expect from Disney Animation, the movie did very well both at the box-office and with critics. It grossed over $650 million worldwide, making it the fourth Disney release of 2014 to do so, with the others being solely live-action films: Guardians of the Galaxy, Maleficent, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Three out of the four of these films were “superhero movies”.

Big Hero 6 also became the highest-grossing animated film of 2014, which is quite an achievement considering DreamWorks’ How to Train Your Dragon 2 was also released that year, as were The Lego Movie and The Book of Life. Within Disney records, in 2015 Big Hero 6 became the third highest-grossing Disney animated film release in the US and Canada, after Frozen (2013) and The Lion King (1994) for a time.

Critics were impressed with the action-packed storyline, but were also pleasantly surprised to find that Big Hero 6 dealt with difficult topics, like grief and emotional healing, so it didn’t just appeal to superhero fans, but was universally relevant. It was also funny and Baymax as a character was a huge hit with audiences.

Big Hero 6 won Best Animated Feature at the 87^th Academy Awards, which was good for the Disney Studios to see as, apart from Frozen (2013) winning the category the year before, Disney Animation had not won ever since the category began in 2001, with Pixar having a great track record there instead. Big Hero 6 also won five awards at the Visual Effects Society Awards; won Favorite Animated Movie at the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards; and won an Annie Award for Animated Effects in an Animation Production. It sadly was not able to win Best Animated Feature at the Golden Globes or the BAFTAs, though, with those wins going to How to Train Your Dragon 2 and The Lego Movie, respectively.

LEGACY

But this reaction to Big Hero 6 showed just how much of a success the movie had been, and continued Disney’s run of animated hit films. In terms of what came next, there have been talks about a theatrical sequel to Big Hero 6 since its release, however, nothing has been confirmed so far.

Still, Big Hero 6 did get a spin-off television series called Big Hero 6: The Series, which took place right after the events of the film, and ran from 2017 until 2021. Many of the voice actors reprised their voice performances for the series. This then spanned a comic book series. The film also inspired a Japanese manga adaptation. Then there was the series Baymax! released on Disney+ in 2022, which consists of six ten-minute shorts detailing Baymax’s encounters with other citizens of San Fransokyo and his attempts to help them. I just watched them this week; they were funny, cute, and sweet – I loved them. Unfortunately, it is unlikely to get a second series.

At the Disney Parks, just after the release of Big Hero 6 in 2014, Baymax and Hiro were meeting guests at The Magic of Disney Animation at Disney’s Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World Resort. At Disneyland, the two were seen in Tomorrowland, where a sneak peek of Big Hero 6 was also been shown at the Magic Eye Theater.

These meet-and-greets later closed, but Baymax could still be seen at Walt Disney World at Epcot Character Spot from 2015, however this area closed around 2019 as part of Epcot’s big refurbishment plans for its 40^th anniversary, so currently at Walt Disney World, there is nowhere that you can meet Baymax or any of the Big Hero 6 group.

Luckily, Disneyland have much more respect as they have a whole area dedicated to Big Hero 6, when they refurbished the Pacific Wharf area of Disney California Adventure and transformed it into San Fransokyo Square. It opened at the end of August 2023. Here, you can meet both Hiro and Baymax, and even go to Aunt Cass Café or the Lucky Fortune Cookery for some food. There are also shops such as San Fransokyo Maker’s Market, however, there are no rides or attractions here. Also at Disneyland, in 2023 a fireworks show debuted called Wondrous Journeys, which included a real Baymax flying over the castle, but when it returned in 2024, Baymax had been removed from the show. Yokai was seen as part of the Disney Villain franchise at the Oogie Boogie Bash Halloween Party in 2023. He was also seen during Disneyland After Dark: Villains Nite in 2021.

At Tokyo Disneyland, they do have an attraction, The Happy Ride with Baymax, which is a whip-around ride, much like Alien Swirling Saucers at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Florida, and Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree at Disneyland. During the summer season 2024 at Tokyo, there will be a roughly 30-minute performance where Baymax will be riding in a parade float spraying mist and water to cool down guests. Tokyo Disneyland seem to have a lot of these types of events during their summer season, and Baymax seems to have been involved in a similar show in 2023. It doesn’t look like Baymax has a dedicated meet-and-greet location here though.

Shanghai Disneyland doesn’t seem to either, but in recent years, there has been a stage show called Baymax Super Exercise Expo where Hiro and Baymax lead a mini exercise or dance class for guests. It is unclear if this is still going, but I’m thinking not. At Hong Kong Disneyland, Baymax and Hiro have met guests previously, but it would seem not recently.

Strangely enough, though Disneyland Paris does not have a dedicated meet-and-greet for Baymax, him and Hiro were seen at Disney+ Day in 2022, and in 2018 for the FanDaze event all six members of Big Hero 6 were seen, and so was the villain Yokai. For Halloween 2018, there was also a show called Big Hero 6: Yokai’s Revenge!

Merchandise for Big Hero 6 is quite popular, with items such as Funko POP figurines, mugs, pins and clothing being available previously. As 2024 is the 10^th anniversary of the movie, I’m sure more items will be released towards the end of the year.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Big Hero 6 is a movie with a lot of compassion, many strong characters, and an interesting and exciting plot. It was a new direction for Disney, and continued their long line of successes in the 2010s. When Big Hero 6 was released, it’s quite clear there was a lot of hype around it, especially given the fact that it was based on a Marvel property, after Disney’s heavily-publicised purchase of Marvel, and that it was Disney Animation’s first superhero movie. However, I feel like after a few years, it was overshadowed by other Disney hits, and hasn’t been given as much credit as it deserves.

It is a movie that talks about friendship and being able to do anything you want, being free to use your imagination to create anything. Like Disney wanted, it tells the audience that technology and science provide hope for the future. But mostly, the theme around loss and grief is what gives Big Hero 6 its heart.

As we see Hiro deal with his grief at losing his brother, we learn the most important message, which can be difficult to remember in the moment: that nobody is ever truly gone; your loved ones will always be with you as long as you remember them. Something I’m sure many people need reminding of from time to time.

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Author Unknown, ‘Deconstructing “Big Hero 6”’, Oscars.org (online), 2014, date unknown.

[2] Credit: Jim Korkis, Everything I Know I Learned from Disney Animated Feature Films (2015), ‘Big Hero 6’, pp. 160-162.

[3] Credit: Disney, The Origin Story of Big Hero 6: Hiro’s Journey (2014).

[4] Credit: Jim Korkis, Everything I Know I Learned from Disney Animated Feature Films (2015), ‘Big Hero 6’, pp. 160-162.

[5] Credit: Disney, The Origin Story of Big Hero 6: Hiro’s Journey (2014).

[6] Credit: Dorothy Pomerantz, ‘Meet The Guys Behind The Original ‘Big Hero 6’’, Forbes (online), 7^th November 2014.

[7] Credit: Joshua Rivera, ‘’Big Hero 6’ strays far from its source material – – and that’s great’, Entertainment Weekly (online), 10^th November 2014.

[8] Credit: Disney, The Origin Story of Big Hero 6: Hiro’s Journey (2014).

[9] Credit: Author Unknown, ‘Deconstructing “Big Hero 6”’, Oscars.org, date unknown.

[10] Credit: Disney, The Origin Story of Big Hero 6: Hiro’s Journey (2014).

3rd May 202427th Jun 2024 by The Disney Purist

#2 Pinocchio (1940)

BACKGROUND

Becoming just the second Disney animated classic to ever hit the movie screens, Pinocchio had a lot to live up to after the huge success that the Disney Studios had with their first ever full-length animated feature film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937).

Snow White was great, with its traditional fairy-tale format and plenty of additions of that magical storytelling, strong characters, and bright music that we all associate with Disney Animation today. It’s hard to imagine that acclaim being replicated so easily.

In actual fact, it really was that easy.

Pinocchio wasn’t just as good as Snow White had been; it was even better.

Pinocchio was released in 1940 to very positive reviews from critics, saying that Pinocchio surpassed Snow White in almost every way – the music was apparently not as great, but that is debated nowadays.

But the animation is where Pinocchio really shines, as the Disney animators knew they had made mistakes in Snow White, and found that they needed ways of improving those shortcomings for future movies. So, with the profits from Snow White firmly in Walt Disney’s pocket, he set about using those funds to make Pinocchio the most artistic and innovation film that those at the Disney Studios could make. It certainly shows off the quality of animation and proves that animation is just as impressive as any live-action movie, more so in some cases.

Now, that’s what the critics all say – back in the 1940s and even in retrospective reviews from the current decade. But that’s not me, because I have to admit something.

I have a big fear of dolls, anything with a human face that isn’t alive really. Therefore, unsurprisingly, I have an incredibly negative bias towards Pinocchio, and I really do not enjoy watching it. I have multiple theories of how I came to have this “strange” fear: maybe it was that episode of Sabrina, the Teenage Witch with the “Molly Dolly”; perhaps it was my sister moving my toys when I left the room and hiding under the bed so I’d think they moved by themselves; maybe it was seeing the adverts for the Goosebumps on old Disney VHS tapes; or perhaps it was from watching Toy Story.

I have no idea. It could’ve been from watching Pinocchio when I was younger for all I know, though I don’t remember seeing it, but I’ve been informed I did watch it back then.

Anyway, my point is I have major personal issues with Pinocchio. I appreciate that Pinocchio was a momentous moment in both the history of the Disney Studios and generally in the history of animation, but I really don’t like this film, and never will, no matter how many times I force myself to see it.

PLOT

For anyone that does not know the story, and I don’t blame you if you don’t or can’t remember it because you had to wipe any memory of it from your mind so as not to be scarred for life, Pinocchio revolves around a wooden puppet, carved by the wood carver Geppetto. Geppetto wishes on a star for this puppet to be a “real boy”, as he never had a child of his own, though he does have two pets, a cute cat named Figaro and a sassy goldfish called Cleo. As Geppetto sleeps, his wish partially comes true. Pinocchio is alive, but not a boy yet; he’s still a wooden puppet. As the Blue Fairy states, Pinocchio must prove himself to be “brave, truthful, and unselfish” for that to happen. Geppetto wakes up to find Pinocchio alive and is overjoyed. Jiminy Cricket, who basically broke into Geppetto’s home to warm himself by the fire, reveals himself to the Blue Fairy. She says that Jiminy should help Pinocchio on his way to becoming a real boy, to be his conscience and show him right from wrong. Jiminy readily agrees and he is given a smart, snappy suit to wear to match this new important position.

The next morning, Geppetto sends Pinocchio off to school, with a book, an apple, and of course, Jiminy Cricket. But on the way to school, “Honest” John the fox and Gideon the cat delay Pinocchio and tell him all about the wonders of becoming an actor. Jiminy tries to warn Pinocchio away from these two creeps, but it does not work, and Pinocchio is instead sold to puppeteer Stromboli to become a cabaret slave in his travelling show. To be fair to Pinocchio, Geppetto had not given him the whole “stranger danger” warning so no wonder he was led astray; that’s just bad parenting on Geppetto’s part. “Bad Dad” award.

Although everything seems great at Pinocchio’s debut show, as he is the star attraction and the crowd love him, it soon becomes clear to Pinocchio that Stromboli is not a good guy. Stromboli has made tons of money from Pinocchio’s show today and plans to take him on tour, so when Pinocchio asks to go home, Stromboli angrily locks him in a birdcage, saying he can never go home. Jiminy arrives and tries to free Pinocchio from his prison, but to no avail. Luckily, the Blue Fairy appears. Pinocchio, embarrassed by the predicament he’s got himself in, begins to lie to the Blue Fairy about what happened, causing his nose to grow and grow. The Blue Fairy tells Pinocchio she can free him and return his nose to normal size if he promises to return to his original mission: of being brave, truthful, and unselfish. Pinocchio agrees to this and is free to go home.

But once again, “Honest” John and Gideon intercept Pinocchio, as they have been ordered by the Coachman to round up young boys to go to a shady, mysterious place called Pleasure Island – in exchange for money, of course, not out of the “goodness” of their hearts. After some convincing and ignoring the advice of Jiminy yet again, Pinocchio agrees to go. He befriends a boy called Lampwick and the two experience the wonders of Pleasure Island together, where they can drink alcohol, smoke cigars, play pool, get into fights, and do all sorts of bad things. Jiminy eventually finds Pinocchio again, and tries to convince Pinocchio to leave this place, but he refuses as he’s having so much fun there. Jiminy is about to leave the island when he learns that the boys on this island end up cursed, becoming donkeys and are then used by the Coachman as slave labour. Jiminy rushes back to save Pinocchio. At the same time, Pinocchio sees his friend Lampwick turn into a donkey right in front of him. Pinocchio is horrified – and it gets worse, because Pinocchio soon sprouts donkey ears and a tail! Pinocchio manages to escape the island before the curse can fully transform him.

Jiminy and Pinocchio finally return home, but find the house empty. Outside, they receive a note from the Blue Fairy, saying that Geppetto, Figaro and Cleo all went looking for him on a raft but they were swallowed by a huge whale called Monstro, where he currently remains. Pinocchio and Jiminy jump into the sea and swim until they find the whale. Monstro swallows Pinocchio and Jiminy, where they are reunited with Geppetto. Pinocchio comes up with a plan to make Monstro sneeze, by starting a fire inside the belly of the whale, so that they can escape. As they are sneezed out of the whale – eww – Monstro chases after their raft and smashes it to pieces, leaving them flailing in the water. Pinocchio saves his father by pulling him into a cove. Monstro then crashes into the rock face, and Geppetto washes up on the beach, alive, with Figaro and Cleo. Jiminy then washes up on the shore too. Sadly, Pinocchio is found face-down in the water; he has drowned and died.

Back home, Geppetto, Jiminy, Figaro, and Cleo all mourn the loss of Pinocchio. However, as through this act, Pinocchio proved himself to be brave, truthful, and unselfish, the Blue Fairy turns Pinocchio into a real boy – minus the donkey ears and tail – at last. The group celebrates. Jiminy thanks the Wishing Star, which is also the Blue Fairy, and is rewarded with a badge for all of his good work, which certifies him as an official conscience.

After all that, you can hardly say Pinocchio is a feel-good children’s film, can you? It’s much more of a morality play than anything else. If you’re looking for family-friendly entertainment to escape from how terrible the world can be, this is not the Disney film to choose! I suppose, providing it doesn’t traumatise the children first, some of the messages about being a good, honest person might be absorbed, at least for a little bit, though.

Disney did their very best to tame their movie compared with the original source material, the book The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi. The name Pinocchio comes from the two Italian words “pino” and “occhio”, which mean “pine” and “eye”, an appropriate name for a wooden puppet. The Adventures of Pinocchio was originally published as a serial as part an Italian children’s magazine. Disney used some of the same plot points, for example, the boys turning into donkeys on Pleasure Island, though it is named the Land of Toys in the original story; Monstro swallowing Geppetto; the Fox and the Cat tricking Pinocchio, but other than, it is so much more terrifying! Pinocchio is incredibly badly-behaved too: kicking Geppetto as soon as his feet are carved; running away from home, where the police arrest Geppetto as they assume Pinocchio has been mistreated by him; having his feet burnt off by the fireplace; squishing the Talking Cricket with a hammer; being hung from a tree by the Fox and the Cat[1]. It just gets worse and worse! Although, Disney’s Pinocchio is already quite terrifying to watch, imagine if they hadn’t strayed from the original source. How awful would that have been….

CHARACTERS & CAST

Collodi’s version of the puppet Pinocchio was actually very unlikeable and cocky, nothing at all like Disney’s character because Walt Disney knew they had to make Pinocchio like an innocent little boy, so that the audience would want him to succeed in his journey to becoming a real boy, and that they should be concerned about the distressing situations Pinocchio ends up in. I don’t think I would’ve cared about Collodi’s Pinocchio at all if I’d read the book, but I certainly care about Disney’s little Pinocchio who is so naïve and easily persuaded that you have to feel sorry for him when all these terrible things happen. It is also clear that Pinocchio genuinely cares about his father and doesn’t want to disappoint him. Pinocchio becomes a real hero at the end of the film, sacrificing his own life to save Geppetto’s, for which he is given the ultimate reward: to finally be a real boy.

Originally, the character was designed to be very geometrically-shaped, like a real wooden puppet, but Walt Disney didn’t like that, so he asked for the character to be redesigned. Pinocchio had to look like a sweet little boy, so that is what the animators did; he became more boy than puppet. Child actor Dick Jones provided the voice for Pinocchio, but he had already been cast in numerous minor screen roles before then. In 1939, he appeared in the movies Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and Destry Rides Again. During voice recordings for Pinocchio, at one point the Disney team were struggling to figure out how to make it sound like Pinocchio was underwater searching for Geppetto, so they had the bright idea of having Jones lie down on a table and have he read his lines out as water was poured into his mouth! As he almost drowned from this, they soon worked out that putting a filter on the microphone would be a sufficient alternative to make the character sound like he was underwater[2]! After Pinocchio, Jones appeared in a few episodes of the series Annie Oakley (1954-57). In 1955, Jones starred as the title character in the Western television series Buffalo Bill, Jr. (1955-56). His final film role was in 1965 in the Western film Requiem for a Gunfighter. Jones passed away in 2014 at the age of 87.

Of all the characters in Pinocchio that have dialogue, Jiminy Cricket is my favourite. I also really like the suit he wears. I’d completely forgotten that he doesn’t start the movie wearing it; he actually shows up looking bedraggled and homeless, and the Blue Fairy gives him a new suit, the proper uniform to be a “conscience”, apparently. Jiminy isn’t overly helpful to Pinocchio throughout the film, though that is made worse by the fact that Pinocchio ignores him a lot…He tries his best but if someone just won’t listen to you, what more can you do! Jiminy also says what the viewers are likely all thinking, which makes me laugh. For instance, whilst in Geppetto’s workshop at the start of the film, he gets frustrated by the sound of the cuckoo clocks, which I agree are so annoying, and he has some great lines, like “Conscience is that still small voice that people won’t listen to.” That’s quite true!

The Talking Cricket as the character is known in the original book is a very minor character, who only shows up a couple of times in the story: once when he gets killed by Pinocchio after attempting to give him advice, and again when he comes back as a ghost. The team at Disney decided that having the cricket as a main character would give Pinocchio a sidekick, and bring some friendship and humour to the otherwise dark story. In the end, Jiminy’s wise-cracking ways dominate the screen, and as such Jiminy Cricket has become one of Disney’s most memorable characters. Being an official conscience will do that for you. Ward Kimball was assigned the task of designing Jiminy Cricket, which was quite difficult as crickets are not the cutest insects and Walt Disney wanted something cute. So, Kimball drew multiple designs of this walking-talking cricket, until eventually they got the design that we now know as Jiminy Cricket – who looks very little like an actual cricket.

Cliff Edwards, who was also known by the name “Ukulele Ike”, due to his performances playing the ukulele, voiced the character. Edwards first popularised the song “Singin’ in the Rain” after performing it in The Hollywood Revue of 1929 musical film, alongside The Brox Sisters. Edwards had a few movie roles, with one being in the comedy film His Girl Friday (1940). Edwards voiced one of the crows in Dumbo (1941) and reprised his role as Jiminy Cricket often for other Disney projects up until his death in 1971.

Geppetto is Pinocchio’s kindly father. He wants nothing more than to have a child of his own, and so Pinocchio coming into his life is a great gift. Geppetto doesn’t feature all that much in the film, just at the beginning and at the end, because this film is all about Pinocchio, but you can see how devoted he is to Pinocchio by the fact he goes out to sea to find him and ends up being swallowed by a whale… Although Pinocchio is an Italian story, Geppetto speaks with an Austrian accent. That is because Christian Rub was an Austrian-born actor. He made Geppetto soft-spoken and calm, even in the face of adversity, which is a nice contrast to all the evil villainous men in this film. Rub had appeared in numerous movies, with his film debut being in The Belle of New York (1919) and his final film role being in Something for the Birds (1952). Also in 1940, Rub was cast as Thoren in RKO’s Swiss Family Robinson, not to be confused with Disney’s 1960 live-action film. Apparently, Christian Rub was a Nazi sympathiser, which made working with him quite difficult, given the time of Pinocchio’s development.

Whilst on the subject of Geppetto, I also have to say that I absolutely love Figaro, Geppetto’s black and white cat. He’s so cute! Disney really got the temperament of the cat spot on because Figaro has two emotions: moody and needy. He’s the best character in this film, no question. Because Figaro was so popular, and supposedly Walt Disney’s favourite character in the film, Figaro became Minnie Mouse’s cat after this. Clarence Nash, famous for voicing the character of Donald Duck, “voices” Figaro here. Cleo, Geppetto’s goldfish, is also quite cute, but is no Figaro. I did see one of the deleted scenes though, which would have seen Figaro trying to eat Cleo whilst stuck in the stomach of Monstro; that wasn’t nice to watch. Bad Figaro.

Now let’s get to the despicable villains. I like Disney Villains, but I draw the line at these four. They are just awful and horrible to watch. “Honest” John, or John Worthington Foulfellow to give him his full name, which just sounds incredibly pretentious, and his mute sidekick Gideon are the two con artists who use Pinocchio to make themselves richer. They bother Pinocchio twice, and sell him to Stromboli and then to the Coachman, basically. You’d think Pinocchio would have learnt to stay away from them after the first incident, but nope! John is quite persuasive and charming, which is how he is able to convince Pinocchio to do bad things, but generally, the two of them are quite bumbling and relatively comedic. Apparently, “Honest” John was partly inspired by Walt Disney’s brother, Ray, who sold insurance. He wanted animator Ward Kimball as a client, but whenever Ray came to the Studios, Kimball always tried to hide from him, even hiding in an armoire at one point[3].

Mel Blanc, the voice of Bugs Bunny for the Looney Tunes, was originally going to be the voice of Gideon, but Disney decided that Gideon should be mute, so the only “line” that Blanc managed to voice here was Gideon’s hiccup[4]. Walter Catlett voiced “Honest” John. Catlett had appeared on stage in musicals like the 1920 production of the Jerome Kern musical Sally, and Lady, Be Good by George and Ira Gershwin in 1924. Catlett also appeared in various movies, including Bringing Up Baby (1938) as Constable Slocum, and Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) as Morrow, the Poet.

Finally, the last two villains are Stromboli and the Coachman. Both of them are greedy and abusive, with the Coachman happily sending boys to an island to be cursed so that he can get some cheap donkey labour, and Stromboli planning to use Pinocchio like some dancing slave. I really don’t like either of them and find them the scariest and most repulsive characters in the film. Charles Judels voiced both characters.

MUSIC

Let’s move on to something brighter, like Pinocchio’s soundtrack. The songs were composed by Leigh Harline, who also co-scored the movie, with Ned Washington contributing the lyrics. After Pinocchio, Washington went on to write the lyrics to the songs in Disney’s Dumbo (1941), earning an Academy Award nomination for “Baby Mine”, and won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for “High Noon” from the 1952 film High Noon. There are five original songs in Pinocchio, though more were written for the movie and ultimately not used. One of these is Jiminy Cricket’s song “I’m A Happy Go Lucky Fellow” which instead was used in the animated film Fun and Fancy Free (1947).

To be honest, I’m not a fan of any of the songs from Pinocchio, although if I had to pick a favourite it would either be “Give A Little Whistle” or “Hi-Diddle-Dee-Dee”. I remember hearing a variation on “Give A Little Whistle” in the former Walt Disney World parade Celebrate a Dream Come True so that’s probably why I don’t mind that song. It is performed by Cliff Edwards and Dickie Jones as Jiminy teaches Pinocchio how to whistle so that he can call for help, and reminds him to “always let your conscience be your guide”. “Hi-Diddle-Dee-Dee” is performed by Walter Catlett as “Honest” John as he tries and succeeds in convincing Pinocchio to be an “actor” in Stromboli’s puppet show. For a villainous tune, it’s quite catchy and bouncy. It is briefly reprised as John speaks to the Coachman in the inn.

There is also a short song called “Little Wooden Head” sung by Christian Rub as Geppetto, as he tries out his new wooden puppet Pinocchio and walks him around the room. I already find the scene creepy – because, puppets – and the repetitive mechanical sound to the music is a little bit irritating to me, so I don’t like this song. It’s also sad how little Figaro is being tormented by Geppetto as he moves Pinocchio towards him. Poor kitty. I also don’t like “I’ve Got No Strings” because there are even more puppets here! Pinocchio’s singing isn’t great either, but I can appreciate the different variations of the song that were written to match the nationality of the puppets that join Pinocchio on stage.

But the most remembered song is obviously “When You Wish Upon a Star”, which is performed by Jiminy Cricket at the very start of the film, during the opening credits and then the opening scene of Jiminy sat atop the Pinocchio storybook. There is also a reprise of it at the end of the film. It is a sweet song and it basically became the Walt Disney Company’s theme song from this moment on, as it sums up their message about wishes and dreams being able to come true. Sadly, I don’t love this song either, maybe because I’ve heard it too many times – or maybe because I just don’t like the film – but it is iconically Disney.

Leigh Harline had previously co-scored Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), alongside Paul J. Smith, with the two scoring Pinocchio together. Harline had also scored many of the Silly Symphonies cartoon shorts in the 1930s. Smith contributed to the scores of many of Disney animated feature films from this point on, including Saludos Amigos (1942), The Three Caballeros (1944), and Cinderella (1950), as well as some of the True-Life Adventures nature documentaries in the 1950s.

Within the score, I think “Clock Sequence” is quite clever, as it is a symphony of all the cuckoo clocks going off at once, but making them chime in harmony with each other. It is a bit annoying after a while though! “Coach to Pleasure Island” has quite a jazzy feel to it, which is in complete contrast to what we now know happens over there; it sounds fun and exciting, not like somewhere where these boys are ultimately going to meet their doom. It’s not my favourite score, but it adds tension, hope, and happiness when it needs to.

Pinocchio was the first Disney feature to win an Academy Award, actually winning two awards: one for Best Original Score and the other for Best Original Song with “When You Wish Upon a Star”. It wouldn’t be until Mary Poppins (1964) that these honours were received again, and then another thirty-odd years until The Little Mermaid (1989) would do so once more, from which point four other “Disney Renaissance” films also would[5].

PRODUCTION

After Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), the Disney Studios had to make another picture just as good, if not better. Initially, it was decided that the animators would set to work on Bambi (1942), and that that would become their second full-length animated feature. However, Walt Disney was unsure how to go about making that movie, as he wanted the animation to look as realistic to nature as possible, so Bambi was set aside.

Luckily, during production on Snow White, animator Norman Ferguson had brought in Collodi’s book, The Adventures of Pinocchio, and gave it to Walt to read. The book had become very popular since its publishing in 1883 and had been translated into numerous languages. Because of the story’s episodic nature, since it had been published in a magazine first and not as a full story, there were ample choices for their movie. They could choose to avoid the darker, crueller elements of the story, and focus on the moral message of the story, of how to become a better person, and recognising right from wrong, which would be especially good for the children who would be watching the movie.

This structure to the plot, giving Pinocchio many adventures and interactions with different characters, meant that the animators had even more opportunity to develop their character animation, giving each character a distinct personality. This was also the opportunity where many of those who came to be known as the “Nine Old Men” really got to shine. Frank Thomas, for example, animated the sequence of Pinocchio as a marionette at the start of the film, after being carved by Geppetto; Ollie Johnston worked on the sequence of Pinocchio’s nose growing as he is trying to explain his predicament to the Blue Fairy. As mentioned, Ward Kimball designed Jiminy Cricket after having his work on Snow White cut from the final edit; and Eric Larson animated Figaro. John Lounsbery did some animation of “Honest” John, whose animation was being supervised by Norm Ferguson. From this point on, the “Nine Old Men” became a huge influence in the animated movies that came afterwards. But older animators, like Bill Tytla, Art Babbitt, and Fred Moore also contributed to Pinocchio’s characters, animating Stromboli, Geppetto, and Lampwick respectively.

Snow White had given the world an animated fairy tale that looked magical. The team wanted to have the same artistic approach that had been used in that film for Pinocchio, to make the film reminiscent of Old-World storybook illustrations, many of which had been created by German artists. Gustaf Tenggren was the concept artist responsible for Pinocchio’s setting of an Alpine village. Tenggren had made many drawings of Bavarian town Rothenberg ob der Tauber as inspiration, with Geppetto’s house in particular closely matching the Hotel Altfrankische Weinstrube there. Tenggren was also influenced by Germanic architecture for the interior locations, such as Geppetto’s workshop with its numerous cuckoo clocks and music boxes. Too many if you ask me. How many does one man need? Has Geppetto struggled to sell them? This is why, despite Pinocchio being an Italian story, the backgrounds seem to replicate Bavarian and German areas[6].

However, despite taking some ideas from the making of Snow White, Walt Disney and the rest of the Studios’ staff knew that they had made mistakes, and knew how they wanted to improve the artform and cinematography. Using the profits from Snow White, Walt could now invest in new technology and more complex animation. One of their biggest technological advancements was their creation of the multiplane camera, designed by Disney Studio technician Bill Garity. At over twelve feet tall, the camera used multiple layers of back, middle, and foregrounds placed at different heights to add depth and space to the animated sequences. For example, one particular sequence known for its use of the multiplane camera is the sequence of Pinocchio going off to school, where the camera sweeps over the village, gradually getting closer and closer to the streets, before settling on Geppetto’s house. This was actually done using a horizontal plane instead of vertical, and replicates the action that a dolly track camera would do nowadays. This sole sequence cost $45,000 back then to make, which is almost $1.8 million today. Another good example of this type of shot is when the camera pushes through wisps of mist and moves closer and closer into the Red Lobster Inn, where John and Gideon are meeting the Coachman[7].

For character animation, maquettes, making 3D models of character designs, really became standard for the Disney Studios during the making of Pinocchio. They had been used a bit for Snow White, but the models were predominately first used on Pinocchio. These maquettes were useful for the animators to be able to accurately capture all angles of their characters. There were also other models made of things like Stromboli’s wagon and the coach to Pleasure Island, as well as Geppetto’s cuckoo clocks, with these models being useful to animate realistic movement of the objects[8]. Live-action reference material was also taken, of actors like Evelyn Venable as the Blue Fairy, who was also the voice of the character. Venable was also the original model for the “Torch Lady” logo that appears at the start of Columbia Pictures films. Disney’s live-action reference footage could be used as a guide for the animators, again, to capture realistic movement. A Pinocchio puppet was also built as an animation model, but was lost for fifty years. It was eventually discovered in one of the studio cabinets[9].

The Effects Department were able to push forward with more impressive techniques as well. The water effects are a particular focus during discussions around Pinocchio’s animation, as they were able to replicate the waves of the sea, splashes, bubbles, and foam, with all of these being used in the sequence with Monstro the whale. It was very complex work as it was all hand-drawn. The magic effects of the Blue Fairy were also hand-drawn.

All of these additional animation techniques pushed the artform forward, and now Pinocchio is famed for its innovations.

RECEPTION

Pinocchio premiered in New York City on 7^th February 1940 at the Center Theatre. According to Hollywood legend, as part of promotional activities for the premiere, eleven men were hired and dressed up as Pinocchio. They were placed on top of the theatre marquee for the day and were told to interact with the crowd. At lunchtime, they were given refreshments, including beer. A few hours later, the men were all naked, burping, shouting obscenities at the crowd, and generally behaving very “un-Pinocchio-like”. They refused to put their costumes back on and come down, so the police were called. They brought the men down using pillow cases to cover up their modesty[10]. I have no idea how true this story actually is or not, the veracity of this story is debated, but I have seen screenshots of people dressed as Pinocchio on top of the theatre, so at least that part was true. Actor David Niven wrote this story in his memoir Bring on the Empty Horses (1975), where it has taken on a life of its own. It sounds like a very funny publicity stunt gone wrong, but news articles from the time don’t go quite as far as Niven, instead simply saying that the men had just got bored, and started smoking and playing dice on top of the theatre.

After that possible disaster of a premiere, Pinocchio was released in theatres in the US on 23^rd February 1940, where it received outstanding reviews from critics, with many stating that Pinocchio was technically better than Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, as well as having a more powerful story. Although more contemporary critics have said that the story may be too heavy for a children’s film, they all agree that Pinocchio is one of the best animated movies of all time, with memorable songs and characters.

Randomly, after Pinocchio’s release, the nephew of Carlo Collodi, the author of the original book, Paolo Lorenzini apparently begged the Italian Ministry of Popular Culture to sue Walt Disney for libel for portraying Pinocchio in such a way that the character could be mistaken for American instead of his authentic Italian heritage[11].

Pinocchio cost $2.6 million to make, which, adjusted for inflation, would be over $50 million today. This means Pinocchio cost almost twice as much as Snow White did. Unfortunately, due to the start of World War II and a lack of access to European markets as well as those in Asia, Pinocchio did not do well financially on its original release, bringing in somewhere around $1.5 million. This would have been very disappointing at the time for Walt Disney. As Walt Disney put it in a 1956 archive interview, Pinocchio was released “at a time when the world was kind of collapsing”, which is unfortunate[12]. The Disney Studios then lost staff members when the US joined World War II in 1941, and were required to make propaganda films for the US government, so they had to slow down progress on their full-length feature films. Only three more feature-length films were released by the Disney Studios, between 1940 and 1942, and after that, the “package feature” films came to be.

Luckily, when Pinocchio was re-released in theatres for the first time after the war in 1945, and then many times after that including in 1954, 1962, 1971, and 1978, the movie was able to make the money it deserved to. It was also then released on VHS, followed by DVD and Blu-Ray re-releases on its milestone anniversary dates[13].

LEGACY

Considering Pinocchio was released over eighty years ago, the movie and its characters continue to have relevance at all the Disney Parks across the world. For example, the characters have featured in parades and as walkaround characters for years. Jiminy Cricket hosted the nighttime shows Wishes and the SpectroMagic parade at the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World in the 1990s and 2000s. Jiminy also appears in the Festival of Fantasy parade here, as does Pinocchio who is riding on the float that looks like Monstro the whale covered in the fabric of Aladdin’s magic carpet. Pinocchio has also been seen around the Walt Disney World Resort with Geppetto recently, and Jiminy Cricket has been known to meet guests at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Park occasionally. Gideon and Honest John have also been spotted at special events before, like at Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. Lampwick and Stromboli have been meet-and-greet characters at times here as well.

Let’s also not forget Pinocchio Village Haus quick-service restaurant in Fantasyland at Magic Kingdom. It was meant to look as accurate to the film as possible, and the Imagineers got the detail down so precisely that the view from above resembles the overhead opening scene of the village in Pinocchio. This would’ve been visible to guests riding on the Skyway from 1971 to 1999, when it closed. The dining location, serving Italian food such as pizzas and pastas, is themed to Pinocchio’s village both in its interior, where it looks like an outdoor village courtyard, and its exterior, which resembles multiple houses clustered together. There are many dining rooms themed to characters from the movie, and one even overlooks the it’s a small world attraction[14]. Similar dining locations can be found at Shanghai Disneyland, under the name Pinocchio Village Kitchen, and at Disneyland Paris as Au Chalet de la Marionette. There are slight differences in theming, but more obvious differences in food selection. At Shanghai Disneyland, alongside pizza and pasta, rice and noodle dishes are also available, whereas at Disneyland Paris, the food is vaguely German-themed, not Italian, strangely, serving hot dogs, pretzels sandwiches, and roast chicken.

Disneyland Paris doesn’t stop there with its Pinocchio theming, as they have La Bottega di Geppetto, a merchandise location made to look like Geppetto’s house and workshop, as well as the dark ride Les Voyages de Pinocchio, which opened with the park on 12^th April 1992, which takes guests through a shortened version of the movie’s story. In terms of character experiences, Geppetto and Pinocchio have been seen most recently in the park, as well as in the Disney Stars on Parade, with Pinocchio also being a possible character at the Plaza Gardens Restaurant character dining experience. Jiminy Cricket has been seen at this park before, as well as Gideon and Honest John.

At Disneyland, a miniature Alpine village scene from Pinocchio can be found on the Storybook Land Canal Boats, and on the Casey Jr. Circus Train. Pinocchio and Jiminy Cricket dolls were also added to the it’s a small world attraction here. The Blue Fairy and Pinocchio feature during the Magic Happens Parade, and the Blue Fairy even got to fly across the castle during the original run of the Wondrous Journeys nighttime show. For walkaround characters, Blue Fairy, Pinocchio, Geppetto and Jiminy Cricket were all seen together as part of Throwback Nite in 2023. Disneyland also has a dark ride based on Pinocchio, called Pinocchio’s Daring Journey, which opened in May 1983. It is extremely similar to the one at Disneyland Paris, and the one at Tokyo Disneyland. Tokyo Disneyland’s ride, which has the same name, first opened with the park on 15^th April 1983. The ride was designed to first be installed at Disneyland, however, the project was put on hold and not revived until designs for Tokyo Disneyland were being decided. Disneyland then received their ride a month and a half later as part of their “New Fantasyland” refurbishment.

Tokyo Disneyland also includes some small themed areas, such as the Pleasure Island Candies shop, Stromboli’s Wagon store, and Cleo’s food stand, named after the goldfish, but don’t worry; it doesn’t serve fish…I don’t think… The Blue Fairy has a featured float within the Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade Dreamlights, and Pinocchio, Geppeto, Jiminy Cricket, and Honest John have also been seen here in recent years.

At Hong Kong Disneyland, and similarly in Shanghai Disneyland, it is unclear how frequently, if ever, characters from Pinocchio appear to meet and greet guests. There was in 2017 during a Halloween event a walkthrough attraction called Maze of Madness: The Nightmare Experiment Continues at Hong Kong Disneyland which featured a “face character” Pinocchio, which looks even creepier than his costumed look…

In general, Pinocchio’s characters and music from the film are likely to appear during current or future parades or shows at the Disney Parks, as well as on the Disney Cruise Line, since this was such a big movie for the company that continues to be popular.

On screen, Jiminy Cricket reappeared in the Disney animated “package feature” Fun and Fancy Free (1947) and he also hosted a series of educational short films for the Mickey Mouse Club television series from the 1950s through to the 1970s. He also hosted the Disney Sing-Along Songs VHS tapes, and played the part of the Ghost of Christmas Past in Mickey’s Christmas Carol (1983). Jiminy is a popular choice of Disney character to host anything, since he is an official “conscience”.

There was also a live-action made-for-television movie which aired on ABC in 2000 called Geppetto, which told the story of Pinocchio from Geppetto’s perspective, with Drew Carey playing Geppetto, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus as The Blue Fairy. More recently, Disney made a live-action remake of Pinocchio, which was released straight to Disney+ on Disney+ Day on 8^th September 2022. It starred Tom Hanks as Geppetto, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Jiminy Cricket, and Keegan-Michael Key as Honest John, and was directed by Robert Zemeckis. It received mostly negative reviews. It should also not be confused with another Pinocchio adaptation released in 2022, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, which is a stop-motion animated film, and a darker version of the story, though it received much better reviews than Disney’s live-action remake, even winning the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. Outside of traditional Disney work, Pinocchio, Geppetto, Jiminy Cricket, and The Blue Fairy all appear as supporting characters in the ABC television series Once Upon a Time (2011-18), with their characters being used most in the first couple of seasons.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Pinocchio really showcased the artform of animation, and proved the high-quality of the artists at the Disney Studios. Although Pinocchio struggled on its release due to the outbreak of World War II, over the decades, it has been re-released numerous times both for home release and in theatres and has more than made up for that initial box-office floundering. Families have been watching the film together for over eighty years.

Although Pinocchio is not one of the Disney Animated Classics I treasure, or will ever like, I can appreciate just how well it was made and how much work went into it. Perhaps this movie would speak to me more if I was part of an older generation that had not been spoilt by the so-called “Disney Renaissance” era and their musical-theatre style, which I prefer. Everybody has a favourite Disney film, and we’re all different.

Pinocchio remains a favourite of many – just not with those with a fear of puppets, like me.

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Tom Chapman, ‘Pinocchio is a lot darker than the story you think you know’, DigitalSpy.com, 10^th December 2022.

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

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

[4] Credit: Disney, The Making of Pinocchio: No Strings Attached (2009).

[5] Credit: Disney, The Making of Pinocchio: No Strings Attached (2009).

[6] Credit: Jim Korkis, Other Secret Stories of Walt Disney World (2017), ‘Pinocchio Village Haus’, pp. 7-8.

[7] Credit: Lucas O. Seastrom, ‘A Machine for the Imagination: Walt Disney’s Pinocchio and the Multiplane Camera’, The Walt Disney Family Museum Blog, 18^th September 2016.

[8] Credit: Disney, The Making of Pinocchio: No Strings Attached (2009).

[9] Credit: Jim Korkis, Everything I Know I Learned from Disney Animated Feature Films (2015), ‘Pinocchio’, pp. 4-6.

[10] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘Animation Anecdotes #270’, CartoonResearch.com, 8^th July 2016.

[11] Credit: Jim Korkis, Everything I Know I Learned from Disney Animated Feature Films (2015), ‘Pinocchio’, pp. 4-6.

[12] Credit: In Walt’s Words: Pinocchio, Disney+, date unknown.

[13] Credit: Author Unknown, ‘Pinocchio Premiered’, D23.com, date unknown.

[14] Credit: Jim Korkis, Other Secret Stories of Walt Disney World (2017), ‘Pinocchio Village Haus’, pp. 7-8.

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.

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).

12th Jan 202427th Jun 2024 by The Disney Purist

#31 Aladdin (1992)

BACKGROUND

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

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

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

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

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

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

PLOT

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

CHARACTERS & CAST

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

PRODUCTION

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

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

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

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

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

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

MUSIC

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

RECEPTION

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

LEGACY

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

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

Going park-to-park, because there are quite a few Aladdin references at the Disney theme parks, let’s start with Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. At the Magic Kingdom, in the Adventureland area, there is a ride called The Magic Carpets of Aladdin, which opened in 2001. It is a similar concept to the Dumbo ride, whereby guests sit in magic carpets and can control how high or low they go. One difference at The Magic Carpets of Aladdin is that guests sat in the back row, as the carpets can sit four people, can tip the carpet back and forth, whereas only those in the front row control the height. Also at Adventureland, there is a permanent meet-and-greet location for Aladdin and Jasmine near their ride. Also at Magic Kingdom, as part of the Mickey’s PhilarMagic 3D show, there is a scene showing Aladdin and Jasmine singing “A Whole New World”. At Epcot, you can meet Jasmine at the Morocco pavilion in World Showcase, and at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Jafar and Aladdin both feature in the nighttime show Fantasmic! A now-closed attraction that referenced Aladdin at Walt Disney World was DisneyQuest, which began with invisible host Genie taking guests into the building via the magical elevator. Inside were five levels of interactive games, with one of these being the virtual reality game Aladdin’s Magic Carpet Ride. I remember trying this once but I was terrible at it! At Magic Kingdom, between 1998 and 2011, The Enchanted Tiki Room – Under New Management show ran, which was hosted by Zazu from The Lion King and Iago from Aladdin. A fire in 2011 caused the show to be closed and has now been replaced with Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room.

At Disneyland, there are two figures of Aladdin and Jasmine that appear in the it’s a small world attraction, and Agrabah and the Cave of Wonders feature as miniature lands on the Storybook Land Canal Boats and are also visible from the Casey Jr. Circus Train route. During Disneyland’s version of Fantasmic!, Aladdin and Jasmine sing “A Whole New World” whilst on a mechanical carpet, as locations from around the globe appear on water behind them. Also, from 2003 until 2016, Aladdin: A Musical Spectacular ran at the Hyperion Theater in Disney’s California Adventure. This was replaced by Frozen – Live at the Hyperion, however a version of this Aladdin show still exists on the Disney Cruise Line. Let’s also not forget that the two US parks’ Fastpass service is named after Genie.

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

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

At Tokyo Disneyland, there is an Aladdin section in their nighttime parade, Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade: Dreamlights. This is basically an updated version of the much-loved Main Street Electrical Parade. There is also a whole area of Tokyo DisneySea dedicated to Aladdin and other stories from the Arabian Nights: the Arabian Coast area. This area includes the rides Jasmine’s Flying Carpets and the Caravan Carousel, as well as restaurants and shops themed to Aladdin, such as Sultan’s Oasis and Abu’s Bazaar. There is also a 3D magic show which involves the Genie at The Magic Lamp Theater.

Though some Disney Parks have dedicated Aladdin character meet-and-greet locations, others do not, however, many Aladdin characters have been spotted in recent years. For example, at Tokyo Disneyland, it seems Jasmine and Aladdin are most likely to be seen either at the Arabian Coast or in Fantasyland. At Hong Kong Disneyland, Jasmine and Jafar have been the most recently spotted characters, and at Shanghai Disneyland, it is possible that Jasmine will meet guests around the castle along with the other princesses. At Disneyland Paris, all five characters – Jafar, Aladdin, Jasmine, Abu, and Genie – have been seen before, and at Disneyland, Genie, Aladdin, and Jasmine were all seen together in 2023, and Jafar was a part of the Oogie Boogie Bash Halloween event and featured in the Frightfully Fun Parade. At Walt Disney World, Jafar is a regular in the Boo-to-You Halloween parade, and Genie and Abu have been seen at Special Events, alongside the permanent Aladdin and Jasmine meet-and-greets. Jafar is most likely to be at any park around Halloween, and Jasmine may be present at any Disney Princess character restaurants.

FINAL THOUGHTS

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

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

REFERENCES

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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