janc
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response 4 of 269:
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Mar 26 16:26 UTC 2003 |
Lately Arlo has been hooked on two Disney films, watching them daily. Since
he needs me to fast forward through scary parts, I too have seen them daily.
Might as well review them.
"Lady and the Tramp" has long been my favorite of the Disney cartoons. It
breaks the mold of the Disney cartoons in a lot of ways. It lacks the
standard meglomanical super-evil villian character that the Disney studios
usually lavish such love on. Aunt Sarah and her cats stand in for villains.
Aunt Sarah is really rather nice, but has a prejudice against dogs that she
manages to get over in the end. The film is not really a fantasy. No magic
happens except that the dogs can talk to each other (and to a beaver - no
other animals seem to be able to talk). Dogs cannot talk to humans, and
their relations to the human characters (except maybe to Tony) are mostly
realistic. The animals are all drawn as animals, with many very naturalistic
animal behaviors. The human world is all drawn from an animal point of view,
mostly dog's eye view, with humans heads cropped off the top of the frame.
That's the source of the "magic" in the film - the world seen from a dog's
viewpoint becomes a new world.
The main story works pretty well as a love story. I've often seen the
spaghetti scene described as one of the most romantic moments in the history
of cinema. To modern eyes, however, it's rather hampered by blatant gender
stereotyping.
The story I really like is that of Trusty, the old bloodhound neighbor.
He starts out in the role of the standard goofy Disney sidekick, a humorous
foil for Lady (well, really he's the sidekick's sidekick). His one-time
ability as a tracker of criminals is dismissed - he has lost his sense of
smell. But in the end of the film, it is Trusty who rises to the occasion,
tracking a horse cart through the rain to save Tramp's life. The
transformation of doofus to hero is my favorite bit.
Lately Arlo has tranfered his obsession to "The Rescuers". I hadn't seen
it for a long time, and the opening scene of the UN was a bit of a shock
after recent events. This film is a story of the ability of faith to
transcend obstacles, and it treats the UN (and it's mousy analog) which
high regard, a vision of world unity. The "Rescue Aid Society" becomes
more effective than you'd expect mice to be through the power of faith
and teamwork.
The "Rescue Aid Society" (modified from the "Prisoner's Aid Society" in
the original book which was more of an Amnesty International for mice) is
a society of mice from all nations of the world devote to answering calls
for help. Eva Gabor voices the Hungarian representative, Miss Bianca. who
sets out to rescue a kidnapped child, Penny, with assistance of Bernard, the
RAS's janitor (voice by Bob Newhart). The story is entirely different than
the book, and the main characters have been sharpened and improved.
The theme of faith is articulated by Rufus the cat, but embodied by Miss
Bianca. Bernard is an amazingly capable mouse, reactingly cleverly in
difficult situations, but his faith in himself waivers and fails at every
obstacle. Only Bianca's belief in him lifts him out of his role as janitor
and drives him through the adventure.
I also like the fact that everyone is a rescuer here. Bernard and Bianca
rescue Penny, but Penny is a resourceful child who almost manages to rescue
herself before Bernard and Bianca answer her call, does rescue Bernard and
Bianca, and participates actively in her own final rescue. Bernard rescues
Bianca a few times, but Bianca also rescues Bernard. Well, nobody rescues
Evenrude, who rescues Bernard, Bianca, and Orville. He's got to get away
from the bats on his own.
I like the message of faith in each other and in yourself. Of little mice
being able to achieve great things. Much as I like L&tT, this has a more
uplifting message.
Both films have weirdly blatant continuity issues in the animation. Like
in the beginning of L&tT, newspaper is put down next to Lady's bed and it
is gone in the next scene, and the pattern on the teeth of the comb that
Bernard uses as a ladder varies wildly from shot to shot. It's hard to
imagine a modern animation studio letting such things stand. I guess these
were made in the movie theater days when people didn't watch a movie over
and over again every day, so little slips like that didn't get annoying.
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