30 Day Disney Challenge

Day 27: Saddest Death

Kerchak from Tarzan

When I was little, I didn’t like this guy at all. I never really saw him as anyone but the mean guy who hated Tarzan for no reason. Rewatching the movie, I feel guilty for thinking that. It wasn’t that he didn’t like Tarzan, there were some brief moments where it seemed like he was close to accepting him, he didn’t want Tarzan to replace the son that he lost. That was another thing that never quite registered with me as a child, that it was Kerchak’s son who was killed. This is just my opinion, but I feel that many of Kerchak’s actions in this movie can be traced back to the death of his real son. And when the moment finally comes when he accepts Tarzan as his son and appoints him as leader, it had me choking up big time. I wouldn’t put Kerchak on the same level as Mufasa as far as awesome Disney dads go, but his death affects me a bit more than Mufasa’s does.

30 Day Disney Challenge

Day 26: Your favorite scene from your favorite movie

(The screencaps come from disneyscreencaps.com. I don’t own them.)

The climax of The Great Mouse Detective

There’s a lot that I like about this scene, I could go on forever. One of the things I like the most, though, is that it’s almost silent, aside from a few grunts and sound effects. Barely any dialogue, hardly any background music at some points, nothing. It gives everything a much more edgy feel and brings more attention to the scene itself, where the characters communicate what they’re feeling with their actions and expressions as opposed to a tone of voice or a line. For instance,

I like this screencap in particular, because of the relief on Basil’s face. He sees Dawson and Olivia and her father, they’re all safe, he’s starting to think that maybe, just maybe, he’ll get out of this mess alive after all, when suddenly,

Not even an instant later, Ratigan’s caught him, and he’s got blood in mind. Ratigan’s transition from calm, sophisticated criminal mastermind to completely insane, wild, practically rabid animal just chills me. There’s been other Disney villains who’ve had a transition from cunning and evil to insane and evil (ie, Gaston) but Ratigan’s chills me even more because it showed earlier in the movie that he would get angry and almost seem to lose it, like when Fidget left the list behind, but he composed himself at the last second and handled things the cleanest way he could; allow Fidget to be tortured by Felicia until Ratigan had calmed down. In many ways, Ratigan giving into his animalistic side is pretty scary, and if I had seen the movie at a younger age (my brother rented it once from the library, and all I saw was the toy shop scene. Fidget scared me so badly that my brother had to stop the movie until I went to bed) I never would’ve been able to sit through this scene. There’s a lot of great Disney scenes, and in my opinion, the climax from The Great Mouse Detective ranks with the absolute best.

Honorable Mention:

Because I can’t make a favorite scenes from favorite movies post without mentioning this little gem:

I remember watching this movie with my parents, and when this scene started, I “conveniently” left to make popcorn. The song wasn’t even halfway through when my dad said, “This is in a Disney movie?” I just started laughing because I knew either my mom or my dad would ask that, but I was betting more on my mom.

30 Day Disney Challenge

Day 25: A movie that makes you cry

Up

No contest. No Disney movie has ever made me cry so hard in my life. Namely, the “Married Life” montage. Every time Carl and Ellie were forced to break into their funds for Paradise Falls kind of felt like a little knife twisting its way into my heart, not to mention the scenes that went along with it. I think the part that got me the most in that montage was where Ellie and Carl were getting a nursery set up for what they hoped would be a new addition to their family. And then it cuts to Ellie crying her heart out at the doctor’s office. When I brought this up, my mom said that she believed that Ellie just wasn’t able to have children, but I feel that it’s more than that. Something went wrong between the time they were fixing up a nursery and the time they were at the doctor. Now, as for the rest of the movie, I really don’t remember much about Muntz, but I know that Kevin was a girl and he wanted to capture/kill her so that he could prove her existence to the world or something like that. I do remember the ending, where Carl gave Russell the Ellie Badge had me tearing up something awful. And the part somewhere in the middle where Russell is talking a little bit about his parents and Carl asks why he calls his mother by her first name, the look on Russell’s face when he said, “Phyllis isn’t my mom…” got me a little bit. The movie as a whole is amazing, but all the little, subtle bits added in were what made it for me. It made the whole thing seem very realistic, and, although it makes me cry, Up ranks with some of my top Disney or Pixar films.

30 Day Disney Challenge

Day 23: An Underrated movie

Seriously? There’s like a million of ‘em! Fine…

The Great Mouse Detective

The Black Cauldron

Oliver and Company

Ironically, these are all movies I got for my birthday…Anywho. These movies all deserve more attention than they currently get. They’re all amazing movies and it seems like they get swept under the rug and pushed aside by everyone because they don’t live up to the Disney expectation of pretty fairy tales with magical princesses and happily ever after and such. They’re still really good movies and deserve attention.

30 Day Disney Challenge

Day 22: An overrated movie

Oh, jeez. I’ll have to say

The Little Mermaid

I’ll be honest, I do like this movie. It was one of my favorites growing up, it’s just, well…I don’t think it’s as good as people say. Sure, there’s a lot of controversy surrounding it, which makes more people interested, and it marked the beginning of the Disney Renaissance, but I just think it’s an okay film. I probably would like it a lot more, if it weren’t for one thing, and it’s a big thing; Ariel. I really don’t like her. Looking back, I think even as a little kid I only liked her for her singing voice. As my brother once told me, “Ariel is just a spoiled teenage girl who did nothing, learned nothing, hurt a bunch of people and ended up getting exactly what she wanted.” And he’s just as Disney obsessed as I am! All in all, it’s a good movie, but it doesn’t live up to the hype, at least in my opinion.

30 Day Disney Challenge

Day 21: Favorite sequel

Oh, brother. I really wanna say The Rescuers Down Under, but I haven’t seen that movie in years, and the only parts I remember are the clips used by Doug Walker in his top 11 underrated movies, so I wouldn’t really be judging too fairly. I never really watched any of the Disney sequels because even as a kid I knew they would never compare to the original. But if I have to choose…

Cinderella 3: A Twist in Time

My friend Emily got this for her birthday a year or two ago and we watched it together and we both agreed, as far as Disney sequels go, it was one of the good ones. To us, the second Cinderella doesn’t even exist. This is the true sequel. There’s a lot more character development, the story is enjoyable, all in all, it’s good, and I for one, enjoy it.

Honorable mention:

The Lion King 2: Simba’s Pride

It’s a good movie, and it is the one Disney sequel I watched the most growing up (even though I don’t own a copy) but it’s just not my favorite one. Although I will say it’s got some rocking songs. 

30 Day Disney Challenge

Day 20: Your least favorite Pixar film

Cars

Nothing too personal against it. I saw it once and it never really appealed to me. I think it was geared more towards younger kids or something. It was okay when I saw it, but its not something I’d want to see again anytime soon. And I seriously can’t believe they made a sequel for it.