Stubs - Batman (1989)

Batman (1989) Starring: Jack Nicholson, Michael Keaton, Kim Basinger, Robert Wuhl, Pat Hingle, Billy Dee Williams, Michael Gough, Jack Palance. Director: Tim Burton. Screenplay by Sam Hamm. Warren Skaaren. Characters appearing in magazines published by DC Comics, Batman characters by Bob Kane. Produced by Jon Peters, Peter Guber. Runtime: 124 minutes. USA Color. Superhero

By now superhero films seem to be everywhere, at least on the list of top grossing films. But back in 1989, when Warner Bros. released Batman, they were not. In fact, even an intellectual property like Batman was considered a risk. By the end of the 1970s, Batman’s popularity was waning. The last major adaptation of the comic book had been the 1960s campy Batman TV series, starring Adam West.

Stubs - Kiki's Delivery Service

Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989, version reviewed 1998) Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Phil Hartman, Tress MacNeille, Janeane Garofalo, Matthew Lawrence, Debbie Reynolds. Directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Screenplay by Hayao Miyazaki. Kiki's Delivery Service by Eiko Kadono. Produced by Hayao Miyazaki. Run Time: 102 minutes. Japan. Animation, Adventure.

Soon after the release of My Neighbor Totoro (1988), Hayao Miyazaki released his next film, Kiki’s Delivery Service, based on a novel by Eiko Kadono first published in 1985 as Majo no Takkyūbin. The first of a series of novels: Majo no Takkyūbin 2: Kiki to Atarashii Mahō (Witch's Express Home Delivery 2: Kiki and Her New Magic?) in 1993; Majo no Takkyūbin 3: Kiki to mō Hitori no Majo (Witch's Express Home Delivery 3: Kiki and the Other Witch?) in 2000; Majo no Takkyūbin 4: Kiki no Koi (Witch's Express Home Delivery 4: Kiki's Love?)  in 2004; Majo no Takkyūbin 5: Mahō no Tomarigi (Witch's Express Home Delivery 5: Perch of Magic?) in 2007 and Majo no Takkyūbin 6: Sorezore no Tabidachi Witch's Express Home Delivery 6: Each and Every Departure?) in 2009. It is no surprise that Hayao Miyazaki’s movie based on the first book plays like the first part of a longer series.

It was not Miyazaki’s intent to write and direct the film. He had chosen Sunao Katabuchi, someone he had worked with before, to direct the film. And Studio Ghibli hired Nobuyuki Isshiki to be the screenwriter. Since the book took place in a fictional European nation, Miyazaki and his creative team had gone to Stockholm, Sweden as well as the Swedish Island of Gotland to research settings and other elements for the project.

Upon their return, Miyazaki started to develop his own ideas. He had already been disappointed in the first script and his ideas would change the story from the book’s episodic approach to Kiki’s story and adding in elements not found in the book. Kadono was not happy with the changes and the whole project was on the verge of being shelved before the first frame was shot. But after she visited Ghibli at Miyazaki’s and Toshio Suzuki’s request, she decided to let the project move forward. Miyazaki ended up writing the screenplay and decided to direct the film itself.

Released in Japan in 1989, Kiki’s Delivery Service was a modest success in its home country, earning the equivalent of $18 million on a budget of a little less than $7 million. The first U.S. release came via Streamline Pictures, which used Lisa Michelson as Kiki, Kerrigan Mahan as Jiji, Alexandra Kenworthy as Osono and Edie Mirman as Ursula.

Like My Neighbor Totoro, when Disney got rights to the film, they redubbed the English version and actually made further changes to the film, which were approved by Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli. In place of Michelson, Kirsten Dunst was cast as Kiki. Phil Hartman, who would be making his final film appearance, was cast as her cat Jiji. Standup comic and actress Janeane Garofalo was cast as Ursula and Debbie Reynolds was cast in a smaller role as Madame.

Kiki (Kirsten Dunst) packs her things anticipating her leaving home.

The film opens on the verge of a full moon. Kiki (Dunst), who is thirteen, is anxious to get on with her trip. As a young witch, she is to leave home and spend a year studying somewhere else. Kiki’s mother, Kokiri (Kath Soucie), a practicing witch herself, seems unable to talk her young daughter from leaving. She explains to Miss Dora (Fay DeWitt), a family friend, that she has not had a chance to train her daughter at all, which makes her departure sound even more problematic.

Kiki’s father, Okino (Jeff Bennett), is unable to talk Kiki out of leaving.

Kiki’s father, Okino (Jeff Bennett), comes home from work and is also unable to talk Kiki out of leaving that night when there is to be a full moon. Kiki packs her belongings in a bag and plans to leave along with her black cat Jiji (Hartman) whom she communicates with. Jiji is not as anxious to leave as Kiki is, but he really has no choice in the matter.

Kiki's mother (Kath Soucie) insists Kiki take her broom.

At first, Kiki wants to use a broom that she herself has fashioned, but her mother insists that she take the broom she has been using instead. And with a group of friends there to wish her luck, Kiki and Jiji set off on their year-long adventure; destination unknown. The wind is strong and Kiki has to get Jiji to turn on her father’s transistor radio that she has attached to the broom handle. While they are flying they see another young witch, Senior Witch (Debi Derryberry), and a black cat also flying close by and try to engage her in conversation.

Kiki tries to make conversation with Senior Witch (Debi Derryberry), another witch she meets in flight.

This girl, who claims to be a fortune teller, is near the end of her training and is really not very encouraging to Kiki. As soon as she descends into her town, a major thunderstorm comes through, forcing Kiki out of the skies. She and Jiji take refuge in what they discover the next day is a cattle car on a moving train, making a bed in the hay that is suspended for the cow’s to eat in transit.

Tombo Kopoli (Matthew Lawrence) helps Kiki get away from a policeman.

The next morning, after the storm has passed, Kiki and Jiji get on their way and head towards Koriko, a fairly large city which is on the ocean, which appeals to her. Not really sure what to expect, Kiki descends into the city and gets caught up in the wind, nearly causing a major traffic accident. A policeman catches her and is about to book her when a boy, Tombo Kopoli (Matthew Lawrence), who is smitten with the girl, pretends to need the policeman’s help. This allows Kiki to escape. But when Tombo approaches her, she is not interested in speaking to him.

Osono (Tress MacNeille), a very pregnant baker, has a customer's forgotten pacifier which Kiki offers to return.

After trying to find a room for the night at a major hotel, Kiki catches a break. Standing outside a bakery run by a very pregnant Osono (Tress MacNeille) and her nearly mute husband, she overhears the store owner trying to get the attention of a customer who has recently left. The woman, who has a very young child, has left the baby’s pacifier. Osono is going to have to stop serving customers to take chase when Kiki offers to run the errand for her. Osono is surprised and amazed to find out that Kiki is a witch. When Kiki returns from the errand, Osono invites her in for hot chocolate and eventually offers the girl a room to live in and breakfast, as long as she’ll occasionally help in the shop. Kiki agrees to the terms.

Osono makes Kiki hot chocolate and offers her a job and a place to stay.

Because Kiki’s only talent is her ability to fly, she decides to go into the delivery business and Osono helps her there as well. In fact, she helps her get her first client, Maki (Julia Fletcher), who has a gift she needs to be delivered for her nephew’s birthday that she won’t be able to attend. The gift is a stuffed cat which looks just like Jiji in a cage. But the delivery does not go without incident.

Maki (Julia Fletcher) is Kiki's first delivery customer.

On the way, Kiki flies next to a flock of geese which Jiji is able to understand. He hears them warning about a big gust of wind which Kiki misses out on. As a result, she is blown off course and into the trees, falling next to a bird’s nest. She is called an egg thief by all the birds and she gets chased away. Only then do they realize that the stuffed animal has been lost in the fall.

Her first delivery isn't without issues.

Rather than go back and fight the birds, they go on to Ket’s (Julia Fletcher), the nephew’s house, with Jiji being used as a replacement for the doll. Under the cover of darkness, Kiki goes back to look for the doll. She does find it in the window of Ursula’s (Janeane Garofalo) cabin. Ursula, who is an artist, offers to give her back the doll, but they find out that the head has come off. Ursula offers to sew the head back on the doll in exchange for Kiki doing something for her. So while Ursula sews the doll back together, Kiki scrubs her floor. Even though Kiki isn’t done by the time Ursula is, she’s allowed to take the doll to rescue Jiji.

Ursula (Janeane Garofalo) helps Kiki out of a jam.

Meanwhile, JiJi has befriended the family’s Saint Bernard, who takes Jiji outside to where Kiki is waiting. The dog even takes the doll back inside.

Even though Kiki has given him the cold shoulder, Tombo hasn’t given up on her. He invites her to a gathering of his friends, who are all into flying. He doesn’t give her a chance to say no and promises to come to pick her up at 6. But Kiki gets another delivery job, this time to take a pie for Madame (Debbie Reynolds) to her granddaughter for her birthday. Madame has a friend, Barsa (Edie McClurg), who helps her around the house.

Kiki makes friends with Madame (Debbie Reynolds).

But the pie isn’t quite done, so Kiki helps the two load and ignite a firewood oven to cook the pie to completion. Madame and Barsa are both very impressed by the young girl.

This delivery doesn’t go any smoother than the first one, as a thunderstorm comes up and drenches Kiki and Jiji. When they do make it to the granddaughter’s (Sherry Lynn) house, she is nonplused, not liking her grandmother’s pies.

When Kiki gets back home, she has not only missed Tombo but she has also caught a cold. Osono tries her best to take care of Kiki, who does recover. Osono tells Kiki that Tombo has come by to see her, but that she had sent him away. Osono does have another delivery, though for Kiki to make. Turns out to be to Tombo.

Tombo shows Kiki his propeller-powered bicycle.

Given the chance, the two actually talk and seem to bond. He shows her the propeller-powered bicycle that the gathering was celebrating the night before. Tombo talks Kiki into going with him to see a dirigible that has landed on the beach. The two ride down there on his bike but they don’t make it all the way before Tombo loses control and the two are forced off the road. While they laugh about their incident, friends of Tombo come by on their way to see the dirigible. Even though he invites her to come along with them, Kiki turns down the offer and walks back to her home.

With his friends’ help, Tombo gets to ride on the dirigible. Kiki sees him from a distance and he waves to her, but she doesn’t reciprocate. Tombo even calls her to tell her about his experience, but she hangs up on him.

Kiki finds she's losing the ability to communicate with her cat Jiji (Phil Hartman).

Later, Kiki realizes that she is losing her ability to fly, the thing that she feels makes her a witch. She tries in vain to take flight, breaking her mother’s broom in the process. Further upsetting her is her inability to communicate with Jiji, who appears to have lost the power of speech while he pursues romantic interests with another cat. Depressed, Kiki stays in her room until one day when Ursula comes to town to do some shopping and to see her. She invites Kiki back to her cabin in the woods.

Ursula comes to town to visit with Kiki.

Ursula has been painting a mural about Kiki and needs the girl to pose for sketches so she can complete it. While they’re there, Ursula talks about the magic of art and how much she loves painting. She describes how one day she found that she couldn’t paint anymore and compares that situation to Kiki’s. She tells the younger girl that if she gives herself time away from worrying about it, she’ll get past the mental block. With that knowledge, Kiki returns home.

She gets another delivery job and is called back to Madame’s house. Barsa is pretty excited about the dirigible, which is on the television. There is a live report going on about the airship’s being buffeted by the wind that has once again begun to blow hard.

Madame bakes a special cake for Kiki.

The delivery is really more of a ruse, as Madame has baked a cake for Kiki, wanting to be friends with the girl. Kiki is happy and excited and the two plan to be friends.

Tombo gets carried away by a dirigible.

Meanwhile, things are getting worse with the dirigible. People on the ground are trying very hard to keep it moored, even going so far as to tie it to the bumper of a police car. Tombo is there, trying to help and unfortunately, he is the only one still holding the ropes when the dirigible is carried off the ground. He hangs on helplessly while the crew of the dirigible is helpless to help him. He slides down the rope and unfortunately dislodges the police car, sending it falling into a swimming pool below. When the dirigible is blown into the town’s clock tower, Tombo is left dangling.

Kiki takes it upon herself to rescue Tombo.

Kiki takes it upon herself to try and save him. Borrowing a street cleaner’s broom, Kiki manages to fly, but the rescue doesn’t go smoothly. Before she can get him, Tombo loses his grip and is sent falling to the ground. Kiki manages to fly down and save him before he hits. After saving him, Kiki is now renowned about town and is treated like a hero by the townspeople.

Kiki becomes a local hero as a result and even sees an imitator on the street.

The film ends with Kiki having sent a letter home to her parents, telling them that she’s settling in and feeling good about herself.

I have not read the original story, but I’m struck by the haphazardness of Kiki’s journey. One thinks of young witches studying with someone or someplace where they will be with others like them; Harry Potter had Hogwarts come to mind. Not sure what a young witch will learn going out on her own without guidance to a strange city or how making deliveries and working the counter at a bakery is going to sharpen her undeveloped skills. I know that’s not really the point of the movie really, but, as a parent, I had issues with the premise.

That doesn’t mean that I didn’t like the movie, I did, but I really am left wanting more. Kiki’s Delivery Service is more a slice of life and it leaves itself open for further stories. Rather than more films in the series, the story has since been remade as a live-action film, Kiki's Delivery Service (2014). While Miyazaki’s film is more universal in its appeal and perhaps truer to the original story, which is set in Europe, the live-action film is aimed more squarely at a Japanese audience.

The voice acting is good. I will admit that the only voice I recognized was Phil Hartman’s, who plays Jiji with more than just a hint of sarcasm. His is the most distinctive of the voices. Having watched this film since the passing of Debbie Reynolds, I didn’t recognize her as Madame. That doesn’t take away from the performances of the actors, which for the most part were very good and believable in their tone.

The look of the film is very much like My Neighbor Totoro, which used a very similar color palette and animation style. His research trip to Sweden really paid off as Koriko looks very European without being too specific to one city in particular. A grand background to place the story against. Unlike Totoro, Kiki’s world, save for the flying witches, is not populated with magical creatures, just humans. I really like how they capture the characters moving about, sometimes even stumbling, which makes it seem more real in a way.

A film should leave you wanting more and this film certainly did that. Not only do I want more stories about Kiki, but I’m looking forward to more movies by Hayao Miyazaki. I would highly recommend Kiki’s Delivery Service to anyone, though maybe not for very young children. While Disney may control the rights to the film, this is not a Disney film.

Stubs - The Little Mermaid

The Little Mermaid (1989) Starring the voices of: Jodi Benson, Christopher Daniel Barnes, Pat Carroll, Samuel E. Wright, Jason Marin, Kenneth Mars, Buddy Hackett, Ben Wright. Directed by Ron Clements, John Musker, Screenplay by John Musker, Ron Clements. Based on the novel by The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen. Produced by John Musker, Howard Ashman. Music by Alan Menken. Run Time: 83 minutes. U.S. Color, Animated, Musical, Fantasy

From Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) through The Fox and the Hound (1981), no studio dominated animated features the way the Walt Disney Studios had. The first 44 years and 24 animated features is an envious streak. So much of what it means to be a child dates back to these films. What would it be like never to have seen Snow White or Bambi or Alice or Peter Pan? It wouldn’t have been the childhood many of us remember.

Disney was also synonymous with high quality hand-drawn animation that both set the standard and pushed the envelope. The studio even seemed to survive the death of its founder and guiding light Walt Disney in 1966. However, the wheels seemed to come off with the release of The Black Cauldron (1985). The word flop was not something associated with Disney up to then, but The Black Cauldron cost twice as much ($44 million) as it made ($22 million).

The next film, The Great Mouse Detective (1986) was a moderate success, but the bloom seemed to be off the rose. The next theatrical release, Oliver and Company (1988) was a box office success, but did not get a great critical response, especially when measured against the legacy it was a part of.

A new rebirth of Disney animation would wait until the release of The Little Mermaid (1989). Disney’s interest in the story dates back to the man himself. The concept of vignettes from Hans Christian Andersen stories was worked on soon after the release of Snow White, but for whatever reason never made it off the storyboard. In 1985, Ron Clements, then working on The Great Mouse Detective, rediscovered the story and suggested it to then Disney CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg. Initially rejected in favor of a sequel to Splash (1984), Katzenberg corrected himself and greenlit the film the next day, along with Oliver and Company.

Interestingly, while Clements and John Musker were working on the film, the staff came across the original story and visual development Kay Nielsen had done for Disney’s original concept and found that many of the changes they were making to Andersen’s story planned in the 1930’s were the same ones writers in the 1980’s were also proposing.

The Little Mermaid may mark a new beginning for Disney animation, but it also marks the end of traditional hand-painted cel animation at the studio. Even then, computer animation was creeping into the production. A digital method of coloring and combining scanned drawings, known as CAPS (Computer Animation Production System), developed by some upstart called Pixar for Disney, was used experimentally in the film.

The story of the Little Mermaid starts with a concert being thrown in honor of the King Triton (Kenneth Mars) which features Triton’s daughters with the showcase reserved for his youngest daughter, the 16-year-old Ariel (Jodi Benson), only Ariel is missing.

Rather than sing at the concert, Ariel and her fish friend, Flounder (Jason Marin), are off exploring shipwrecks, something Ariel has done many times before. She has a treasure trove of salvage, including cork screws, utensils, books and assorted thingamabobs. She oftentimes doesn’t know what it is she’s found and takes them to Scuttle (Buddy Hackett), a seagull who is sort of know-it-all-know-nothing. But Ariel’s treasures make her yearn for more and above all to get out of the ocean.

Ariel and Flounder take items they find to Scuttle to explain.

King Triton is not a happy merman. He doesn’t want his daughter to be associating with humans, who are, after all, barbaric. He assigns his advisor, Sebastian (Samuel E. Wright) to keep an eye on Ariel and keep her out of trouble. But Sebastian gets drawn into Ariel’s world and ends up going with her and Flounder on their next trip to the surface. There they see the birthday celebration of Prince Eric (Christopher Daniel Barnes) complete with fireworks. What Eric is prince of is never explained, but he is handsome and Ariel falls in love with him on the spot.

A storm comes, quickly turning the celebration into near tragedy. Eric is thrown overboard and plucky Ariel comes to his rescue, dragging the unconscious prince to safety on shore. Naturally, Ariel sings to him, but must retreat when he comes to as to avoid detection.

Watching all of this is Ursula (Pat Carroll), an octopus/sea witch. She wants to control the undersea kingdom and sees Ariel as her best chance to take power from King Triton. She dispatches two eels, Flotsam and Jetsam (both voiced by Paddi Edwards) to keep tabs on her.

Ursula with her evil eels Flotsam and Jetsam.

Meanwhile, Eric tells his manservant Grimsby (Ben Wright) and his sheepdog Max (Frank Welker) about how fascinated he is by the voice of the woman who saved him and vows to find and marry her.

Prince Eric can't stop thinking about the voice of the woman who saved him.

Triton quizzes Sebastian about Ariel and he tells his king about her love for the human, Eric. Frustrated, Triton does the one thing that will certainly drive his daughter away; he goes to her treasure cave and, using his trident, destroys all the human artifacts she has collected.

Alone and hurt, Ariel is approached by Flotsam and Jetsam, who tell her that Ursula can help her. The deal Ursula proposes is that she’ll give Ariel legs in exchange for Ariel’s lovely voice, which she captures in a nautilus. She gives Ariel three days to get Eric to give her the “kiss of true love”.  If he kisses her before the sunset on the third day, Ariel can remain human. If she fails, Ariel becomes a mermaid again and belongs to Ursula (think prisoner/slave/polyp).

Ariel trades her voice for a pair of human legs.

With human legs, Ariel goes to the surface, accompanied by Flounder and Sebastian. Eric finds Ariel on the beach and takes her back to his castle. Eric is still thinking about the voice and since Ariel can’t talk, she has an uphill fight to win his love. And just when it looks like on day two she’ll succeed, Ursula shape shifts into the beautiful Vanessa (Jodi Benson) and, armed with Ariel’s voice, appears onshore singing. The voice captures Eric and he tells Grimsby that he wants to marry Vanessa the next afternoon.

Ariel goes to the surface, transformed into a human.

Ariel wakes up to the news that Eric is marrying someone else. Scuttle discovers that Vanessa is really Ursula and tells Ariel, who immediately goes to the wedding barge. Sebastian goes to tell Triton, while Scuttle does his best to break up the wedding with the help of other animals. The nautilus shell around Vanessa’s neck gets broken, giving Ariel back her voice and relieving Eric from his enchantment with Vanessa. Eric now realizes it was Ariel who saved him, but before they can kiss the “kiss of true love”, the sun sets.

Vanessa uses Ariel's voice to win Prince Eric's heart.

Ariel transforms back into a mermaid and Ursula reveals her true self and takes Ariel back into the sea as her prisoner. Triton confronts Ursula, but a deal is a deal, that is until Triton offers to take Ariel’s place. Ariel is released as Triton is transformed into a harmless polyp in Ursula’s garden. Ursula declares herself to be ruler over Atlantica. There is a struggle in which Ursula accidentally kills Flotsam and Jetsam.  Enraged, Ursula grows into enormous size.

Triton becomes one of the polyps in Ursula's garden to save Ariel.

 Ursula takes control of the ocean and creates a storm that causes shipwrecks. Just as Ursula tries to kill Ariel, Eric rams her with his ship, driving his bowsprit through her abdomen, killing her. With Ursula dead, her powers are broken. Triton, like all the other polyps, is turned back into their original forms.

Ursula is a formidable foe and takes control of the ocean.

Now seeing how much Ariel loved Eric, Triton turns her back into a human and lets them marry on the ship and they depart.

Ariel leaves everything behind for a happy ending with Eric.

The Little Mermaid was just what the doctor ordered for Disney, becoming the first animated film to earn more than $100 million. The film was Disney’s first animated fairy tale since Sleeping Beauty (1959) and heralded a return to musicals, something that had been de-emphasized during the 1970’s and 80’s. The Little Mermaid ushered in a new golden age of animation for the studio, with subsequent productions being even more successful. The animation division grew from 300 employees in 1988 to 2200 by 1999. The era from The Little Mermaid until Tarzan (1999) is often referred to as the Disney Renaissance, a return for the studio of making successful animated films.

The Little Mermaid has a lot in common with Sleeping Beauty, in that perhaps the most interesting character is the villain. Ursula is in many ways a waterlogged Maleficent. Like her predecessor, Ursula is a shape-shifter (though the expression didn’t exist in 1959) and like Maleficent she can grow into enormous size. And ultimately, she is killed when she is pierced through her torso. Pat Carroll’s portrayal of Ursula is definitely one of the highlights of the movie.

Ursula is reminiscent of an earlier Disney villain, Maleficent (Sleeping Beauty).

Until The Little Mermaid, Carroll was best known for her work on television starting with The Red Buttons Show (1952-1953). She won an Emmy for her work on (Sid) Caesar’s Hour in 1956, was a regular on Danny Thomas’ Make Room For Daddy and appeared as Prunella in the CBS production of Rodger’s and Hammerstein’s Cinderella in 1965. While she played some small bits in a few live action films, most of her recent parts have been working with Disney and mostly doing Ursula’s voice. As such she’s appeared in several Direct to Video features including The Little Mermaid II Return to the Sea (2000), Mickey’s Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse (2001), Mickey’s House of Villains (2002) and in the Kingdom Hearts video game series: Kingdom Hearts (2000), Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories (2004), Kingdom Hearts II (2005) and Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance (2012).

The other acting is good, but doesn’t rise to the level of Carroll’s performance. Jodi Benson, who voiced Ariel, also has continued to voice the character in many of the same productions as Carroll and has also voiced the Barbie character in Toy Story 2 (1999) and Toy Story 3 (2010). A versatile voice actress, Benson continues to voice Ariel in the Disney TV series Sofia the First, a 3-D animated spin-off of the Disney Princess franchise.

For a musical, the songs are all right, not great. The film did win for Best Score and “Under the Sea” did win the Academy Award for Best Song, beating out “Kiss the Girl”, also from the movie, for that honor. The other competition was “After All” from Chances Are, “I Love to See You Smile” from Parenthood and “The Girl Who Used to Be Me” from Shirley Valentine. (A virtual dollar if you can hum any other of the nominees not from The Little Mermaid.) “Under the Sea,” like “Hakuna Matata” from The Lion King (1994), was unavoidable when the movie was first released as it seemed to play everywhere.

Considering the movie mostly takes place under water, the animation is really very good. With a few physics exceptions aside, like pages of books turning underwater, I kept waiting for a clown fish to swim by asking if anyone had seen his son, Nemo. In order to get that look right, Disney had to use such processes as airbrushing, backlighting, superimposition and some computer animation.

Not all of the work was done at Disney or went according to plan. The drawing of the million or so underwater bubbles was farmed out to a Chinese animation house in Beijing. And an attempt to use the famed Disney multiplane camera for depth of field focus failed because the device had been allowed to fall into disrepair and that work, too, was farmed out to an outside facility.

Overall, The Little Mermaid is a film worth seeing, if for no other reason than to figure out why so many girls were named Ariel. While the film fits under the banner of “family entertainment” this is really more a movie for little girls than for little boys, though enjoyment is not restricted to gender.

Stubs - When Harry Met Sally

When Harry Met Sally (1989) Starring: Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan, Carrie Fisher, Bruno Kirby. Directed by Rob Reiner. Screenplay by Nora Ephron.  Produced by Rob Reiner, Andrew Scheinman. Run Time: 96 minutes. U.S. Color. Romantic Comedy

After surviving A Bruce Wills Christmas, the Mayan Apocalypse and Movie Day and with New Year’s Eve approaching like a speeding train, I thought it would be nice to review a film that not only uses the coming holiday as a backdrop, but would also be fun to watch if you’re not going out. When Harry Met Sally fills both bills quite nicely.

The film tells the story of two people who have known each other since 1977. Harry Burns (Billy Crystal) catches a ride from the University of Chicago to New York from Sally Albright (Meg Ryan), a friend of his girlfriend Amanda (Michelle Nicastro). Sally is on her way to journalism school and Harry to start his career. On a journey like this, the two would talk and one of their topics is relationships. Harry doesn’t believe that a man can be friends with a woman because he’ll want to have sex with her at some point. Even if they’re unattractive, Harry says “You pretty much want to nail them, too.” Sally disagrees, believing that a man and a woman can be friends without sex ever entering the picture. By the time they get to New York, they’ve had their fill of each other and part ways.

Five years pass before they meet again. They meet at an airport as they are about to board the same plane. Sally is dating Joe (Steven Ford, son of Pres. Gerald Ford) who happens to be an old friend of Harry’s. Harry is engaged to a woman named Helen, which surprises Sally. Harry suggests that they be friends and has to say that this is an exception to his earlier rule that men and women can’t be friends. But Sally doesn’t buy it and once again they depart concluding they will never be friends.

That is until five more years go by and they once again meet at a bookstore. They go to have coffee and talk. Both of their relationships have ended by then and they decide that they can be friends after all. We see them sharing late-night phone calls, dinners and in general spend a lot of time with each other. One of their topics of discussion is their dating experiences. Harry still has a different idea about sex than Sally. But at a New Year’s Eve party, they find themselves attracted to one another. But instead of acting on it, they try to set the other one up with their best friend. Sally brings Marie (Carrie Fisher) and Harry brings Jesse (Bruno Kirby). But instead of falling for Harry and Sally, Marie and Jesse fall for one another and quickly become engaged and move in together.

One night, Sally calls Harry in tears saying that she’d found out Joe was getting married to his legal secretary. Harry rushes over to her apartment to comfort her. One thing leads to another and the two have sex for the first time. This results in an awkward morning after, which carries on through their relationship. Things boil over at Jesse and Marie’s wedding night dinner. Following their fight, Harry tries to repeatedly make amends, but Sally repeatedly rebuffs his attempts.

When New Year’s Eve rolls around again, Sally feels alone without Harry by her side. Harry is trying to spend the night alone, but he can’t. He rushes to Sally who is just about to leave the party. There, Harry declares his love for Sally, they make up and kiss.

In the final sequence, an older Harry and Sally discuss their wedding.

The film has everything a good Rom Com should. It is funny, romantic without being schmaltzy and co-stars Meg Ryan, who made a career out of starring in romantic comedies for the next decade, including Sleepless in Seattle (1993), French Kiss (1995) and You’ve Got Mail (1998), the latter of which was a second remake of The Shop Around the Corner (1940).

The script, written by the late Nora Ephron is very quotable and memorable. One of the most famous scenes in the film has Sally faking an orgasm in Katz’s Delicatessen, following a discussion the couple has about a man’s ability to tell if a woman climaxes or not. After Sally’s screaming faux orgasm, a woman at the next table, played by Estelle Reiner, the director’s mother, tells a waitress, “I’ll have what she’s having.” That quote is listed as 33^rd on AFI’s list of 100 Movie Quotes.

Billy Crystal, who started out as stand-up comic, broke into television on Soap, in 1977, playing Jodie Dallas, one of the first gay characters on television. He later made movies, such as Rabbit Test (1978) directed by Joan Rivers, Running Scared (1986) a cop/buddy/comedy film which paired him with Gregory Hines and Throw Momma From the Train (1987) in which he co-starred with the film’s director, Danny DeVito. Crystal also had small parts in This is Spinal Tap (1984) and The Princess Bride (1987), both films directed by Reiner. Crystal would go on to direct films as well, Mr. Saturday Night (1992), Forget Paris (1995) and 61* (2001) an HBO movie about Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle chasing down Babe Ruth’s single season home run record. Crystal has also made a name for himself hosting the Academy Awards.

The supporting cast is also strong, featuring Carrie Fisher and Bruno Kirby. Fisher, who will forever be Princess Leia of Star Wars IV, V and VI, had also appeared in The Blues Brothers (1980) and Hannah and Her Sisters (1986). The daughter of the great Debbie Reynolds, Fisher would eventually turn to writing as both a script doctor and a screenwriter under her own name.

Kirby, who usually played the male leads’ best friend, played in both comedies City Slickers (1991), Good Morning Vietnam (1987) and This is Spinal Tap (1984), as well as dramas, including The Godfather Part II (1974) and Donnie Brasco (1997). Sadly, he died in 2006 from Leukemia.

While When Harry Met Sally might not prevent you from going out on New Year’s Eve, it is quite a nice way to spend an hour and a half if you decide to stay home. This is a feel-good film that still rings true to this day.

Stubs - Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure

BILL & TED’S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE (1989) Starring: Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter, George Carlin. Directed by Stephen Herek. Written by Chris Matherson & Ed Solomon. Produced by Scott Kroof, Michael S. Murphey, Joel Sosson. Music by David Newman. Run Time: 90 minutes. Color. U.S., Science Fiction, Comedy.

If you took TIME TUNNEL, a TV series from the 1960’s about two time-traveling scientists and mixed it with 
WAYNE’S WORLD, you would have BILL & TED’S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE. Keanu Reeves (Ted) and Alex Winter (Bill) are two want to be rock stars who are on the verge of failing their History class and therefore flunking out of school. They’ve already been told they’d have to get an A+ the next day on their oral presentation to avoid failing. It should come as no surprise that they haven’t even started it.

If they fail, Ted will be sent away to an Alaskan military academy, thus breaking up their would-be rock group before The Wyld Stallyns even learned to play their instruments. And if that happens, the world as it is known in 2689 would cease to be. And the San Dimas, California of the future is apparently quite a great place to live. In order to literally save their world, those in charge send Rufus (George Carlin) back in time to assist. Rufus brings with him a time-traveling telephone booth. With Rufus’ assistance, the boys grab all the people they need to do an oral presentation on the next day.

The cast is pretty good. I know I’ve already commented that Keanu Reeves acting skills are about as deep as a piece of paper, but in this case, he has a real good goofy appeal. The same persona he would show with a little more depth that same year in PARENTHOOD. Its part stoner and part surfer dude. Alex Winter’s Bill is not all that much different, but this is more a case of Dumb and Dumb than DUMB AND DUMBER. Ted and Bill are equal partners and each knows as little as the other one does.

George Carlin, for third billing, is really not seen all that much, though he does deliver a big slice of exposition pie that is required for this film to make any sort of sense. The apparently talentless boys have no way of knowing that their songs are the cure for all that is wrong with the world and that in future their lyrics would be treated like Bible verses. Rufus is there to tell them all that, so they will cooperate with his efforts to save them.

The rest of the cast is mostly made up of one-dimensional versions of famous people from history as Bill and Ted travel through time to grab them. The caricatures are somewhat like when someone is adlibbing a real-life character plays up the best-known thing they do, whether it is an attitude or an accent. That’s not to say the film doesn’t have fun with its premise. But it is a little surprising that all of these historical figures get into the groove so easily and no one really seems to object to being kidnapped by strangers from the future. I remember hearing in an old Time-Life commercial that Billy the Kid (Dan Shor) once shot a man just for snoring. But in BILL & TED, he’s game for being stuffed into a phone booth. The same is true for Abraham Lincoln (Robert V. Barron), Joan of Arc (Jane Wiedlin), Socrates (Tony Steedman), Freud (Rod Loomis), Ludwig Beethoven (Clifford David), Napoleon (Terry Camilleri) and Genghis Khan (Al Leong), But reality is not what this cult film is about.

As much fun as the film is to watch, it is surprisingly dated. When is the last time you’ve ever seen a telephone booth? Not only is the phone booth a nod to the TARDIS in Dr. Who, but it also shares it’s bigger on the inside than it looks on the outside quality, as it can hold up to nine adults. And the special effects, while suitable for the film, are probably something that could now be done on a personal computer with some software.

But the film is a fun view and any history that might be learned along the way (and there really isn’t very much) does not get in the way.

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