Stubs - Batman: Gotham by Gaslight

 

Batman: Gotham by Gaslight (2018) voices Bruce Greenwood, Jennifer Carpenter, Anthony Head, Scott Patterson. Directed by Sam Liu. Screenplay by Jim Krieg. Based on Gotham by Gaslight by Brian Augustyn, Mike Mignola. Produced by Sam Liu. Run time: 78 minutes. Color. USA. Animated. Superhero

The world of Batman has been transported to different times and places, take Feudal Japan in Batman Ninja (2018), which was released earlier the same year. In Gotham by Gaslight, Batman is transported back to the time of Jack the Ripper, but rather than the foggy alleys of London, the murders happen in Gotham perhaps a little later than they had actually happened.

Stubs - Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) Starring: Bob Hoskins, Christopher Lloyd, Joanna Cassidy, Charles Fleischer, Stubby Kaye, Kathleen Turner. Directed by Robert Zemeckis, Ian Sharp, Frank Marshall, Max Kleven. Screenplay by Jeffrey Price, Peter S. Seaman. Based on the book Who Censored Roger Rabbit? by Gary K. Wolf (New York, 1981). Produced by Robert Watts, Frank Marshall. Run time: 107 minutes. USA Color Animation, Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy.

The Disney that we know today, the large conglomerate that seems to own a lot of everything, owes its origins to what happened under Michael Eisner’s tenure. It was then that the company utilized its theme park profits to buy into sports, bought the ABC network and started a new label for more adult films, Touchstone. Things have only gotten bigger from there but that’s a topic for another blog.

One of Eisner’s hopes was to start a new legacy in animation by introducing new characters that he hoped would be loved alongside company staple and mascot, Mickey Mouse. This hope starts with Who Framed Roger Rabbit, known for introducing the title character and his wife Jessica Rabbit. Eisner envisioned them as new perennial characters for the studio and would march next to Mickey in the Disney parades down Main Street in Disneyland.

Monster House

In 2004, Robert Zemeckis’ ImageWorks began experimenting in motion capture animation with The Polar Express, which, despite uncanny valley criticisms, managed to do well enough for another film, Monster House, to be animated with the same technology in 2006. Though I had seen Monster House as a kid when it came out and liked it, I hadn’t really seen it since then, deciding to revisit it again nearly two decades later to see how well it holds up. Though the visuals are a little dated, it manages to hold up surprisingly well as a decent, timeless horror film.

Review Hub - Animated Movies

While animation as a medium and art form had been experimented with since the early 1900s, animated shorts would eventually see their way to becoming a popular form of entertainment attached to film screenings (long before the advent of television). The art of the animated short arguably became a lot more popular with the debut of the classic Mickey Mouse short Steamboat Willie in 1929, though Walt Disney had begun to sow the seeds for this runaway success (and entertainment juggernaut) with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit in 1927. Though animation had proven itself in the short form, Disney would prove the medium's potential as long form entertainment with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937. Though the success of Walt Disney's efforts helped spur the medium forward, animation lives on in the efforts of several major and independent studios, with its full potential as a powerful means of visual storytelling still being explored to this day.

Below is a list of links to every animated movie/short review on this blog, sorted in alphabetical order and by company where applicable (links to alternative reviews are listed next to the main link in parentheses).

Coraline - Be Careful What You Wish For

In 1978, claymation legend Will Vinton founded Will Vinton Studios, an animation studio dedicated to the art form. In need of funding in the late '90s, Vinton found an investor in Phil Knight, the co-founder of Nike, who would introduce his son Travis Knight to the studio as an animator. In 2002, Knight would acquire the studio and in 2005, would resurrect Will Vinton Studios, as Laika, named after the dog famously launched into space as a Russian flight test.

Based on the dark fantasy novel by Neil Gaiman, Coraline was adapted into then-upcoming studio Laika’s first major film production in 2009, directed by Henry Selick of The Nightmare Before Christmas fame. While I did not see this film when it first hit theaters (it was at a time when I was more sensitive to scary imagery such as those seen in the trailers), I have since gone back to it and have ended up seeing it three times, the first of which was through an underwhelming 3D home video release. While Laika’s animations have definitely improved over the years as they learn/discover new stop-motion techniques, it’s sometimes nice to go back and see where it all began, and after 9 years the movie holds up surprisingly well.

After moving to a new home (Pink Palace Apartments, a flat shared by other patrons) in a new state so her parents could pursue a book on gardening, Coraline Jones (Dakota Fanning) isn’t happy with the way things are; her parents generally ignore her as they hastily finish putting their book together to sell to a publisher and she meets a new kid named Wybie (short for Wyborne or “why born”) (Robert Bailey Jr.), whom she quickly grows to dislike. While exploring the house on the first day, Coraline discovers a small door hidden behind some wallpaper in the living room and gets her mother to open it with a special key inside the house, only to discover it had been bricked up. That night, Coraline is compelled to try the door again, this time entering a world where everything about the Pink Palace is exactly the same. However, she soon meets her Other Mother (Teri Hatcher) and Father (John Hodgman, singing voice by John Linnell), simulacra of her parents (except with black buttons for eyes) who will give her just about anything she wants. Though Coraline continues going back to the Other World at night, something sinister lurks within its inviting atmosphere.

The story is written well and is pretty easy to follow, making for a stronger narrative as a result. I have not read the book on which the film is based, though I will say the movie works well on its own, making it accessible to a wider audience. I do know, however, that the character Wybie was created for the movie, primarily so Coraline could have someone to talk to and make things more visually interesting. Whether not Wybie is a good addition to the story depends entirely on opinions from those who have actually read the novel, though I personally didn’t mind his involvement in the plot.

Coraline (Dakota Fanning, center) with her Father (John Hodgman, left)
and Mother (Teri Hatcher, right) in the real world.

The voice acting is also good, sporting some good talent from then-15-year-old Dakota Fanning as the titular Coraline, as well as a solid performance from the popular Keith David. Teri Hatcher (Coraline’s Mother and Other Mother) and John Hodgman (Coraline’s Father and Other Father) get points for being able to make each of their respective characters’ counterparts feel different from each other, adding to the sense of immersion in the film’s world. John Linnell from They Might Be Giants shows off his vocal talents when the Other Father sings, doing so in such a way that the shift between his singing and Hodgman’s speaking lines is almost seamless.

For Laika’s first movie, the animation holds up really well, setting the stage for future movies to come and proving the capabilities of stop-motion with the right talent. That said, the animation gets a little noticeably jerky at times, particularly in some scenes in the Other World, though considering the type of movie it is, it’s hard to tell whether it was done intentionally for atmosphere or if it was done by accident as a result of it being Laika’s first feature-length production. Fans of The Nightmare Before Christmas may find the art style to be somewhat reminiscent of that, although I chalk this up to both movies being directed by Henry Selick.

Coraline remains a great example of what can be done with stop-motion. The story holds up well and is backed by some amazing voice talent and animation, the latter of which would only be improved upon in future Laika films. I would recommend this movie to fans of stop-motion and/or Neil Gaiman’s body of work, particularly fans of the Coraline novel that have not seen the adaptation yet and want to form their own opinion. If you watch Coraline and enjoy it, I would recommend giving Laika’s other movies so far (ParaNorman, The Boxtrolls and Kubo and the Two Strings, as of this writing) a shot as well.

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 - Dumbo

Dumbo (1941) Starring the voices of Edward Brophy, Sterling Holloway, Herman Bing, Cliff Edwards, Verna Felton. Supervising Director: Ben Sharpsteen Sequences directed by Norman Ferguson, Wilfred Jackson, Bill Roberts, Jack Kinney, Sam Armstrong. Screenplay by Joe Grant, Dick Huemer. Based on the novel Dumbo, the Flying Elephant by Helen Aberson and Harold Pearl (New York, 1939). Produced by Walt Disney Runtime: 64 minutes. USA Animation, Musical, Children

It may be hard to imagine a time when the Walt Disney company was in financial troubles, but it was. After the phenomenal success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), the studio had two major box office flops: Pinocchio (1940) and Fantasia (1940). That’s why the company needed to hit on its next film.

Based on a little-known children’s book Dumbo, the Flying Elephant by Helen Aberson and Harold Pearl, Disney saw the potential. However, when the film version went into production, supervising director Ben Sharpsteen was given orders to keep the film simple and inexpensive. Most of the animation was done between August 1940 and May 1941. Soon after most of the rough animation had been completed, most of the Disney staff went on strike on May 29, 1941, and were out for five weeks to get Walt to sign with the Screen Cartoonist's Guild.

The film was originally meant to be a short, but Disney decided the only way to do justice to the book was to make it a full-length feature. However, full-length is a relative term and the film only runs 64 minutes. RKO, who was handling Disney’s theatrical distribution at the time, wasn’t happy. They either wanted the film to be made longer, cut down to a short or allowed to be released as a “B” movie. Walt Disney balked at the choices and on October 31, 1941, the film was reluctantly released.

The Storks out making baby deliveries at the beginning of Dumbo.

Set in a traveling circus, one-night storks deliver babies to the animals, that except for Mrs. Jumbo, an elephant. She is disappointed but her delivery is only late. As the circus leaves its winter quarters in Florida, a stork (voiced by Sterling Holloway) manages to find her and delivers, with some fanfare, her baby.

Dumbo is delivered to his mother, Mrs. Jumbo, by the stork (voiced by Sterling Holloway).

The other elephants, Prissy (Sarah Selby), Giddy (Dorothy Scott), Catty (Noreen Gammill) and the Matriarch (Verna Felton), are originally as overjoyed as Mrs. Jumbo is over her little bundle, that is until his extra-large ears are revealed when he sneezes. Despite her calling him Jumbo, Jr., the other elephants derisively nickname him Dumbo.

Because of his large ears, Jumbo Jr. gets nicknamed "Dumbo" by the other elephants.

Despite what others might say about her baby, Mrs. Jumbo is devoted to him. When the circus stops in a new town, Mrs. Jumbo protects Dumbo from a taunting human boy (Harold Manley), who pulls on his ears. She spanks the youngster, then tries to fight the ringmaster (Herman Bing) and others as they take Dumbo away from her. Ultimately, Mrs. Jumbo is locked up in a wagon, and Dumbo is left to fend for himself.

A taunting human boy (Harold Manley) goes too far when he pulls on Dumbo's ears.

As the other elephants ridicule and snub Dumbo, Timothy Q. Mouse (Ed Brophy), a tiny rodent, overhears and is outraged by their behavior. Timothy deliberately scares what he calls the "overstuffed hay bags” the way that only mice do. Timothy introduces himself to Dumbo and calms the frightened youth by telling him that lots of famous people have big ears.

Timothy Q. Mouse (Ed Brophy) befriends Dumbo.

Timothy dreams up an act that would showcase Dumbo and hopefully help free his mother. He whispers in the sleeping ringmaster’s ear that he should make Dumbo the climax of an elephant pyramid act. Not long after, the ringmaster introduces the act to an excited audience, but Dumbo trips over his own ears while running to jump onto the top of the pyramid of elephants. But in what should be his crowning moment, Dumbo inadvertently knocks over the pyramid and thousands of pounds of elephants tumble down, creating chaos that ends up destroying the big top.

As punishment, Dumbo is forced to join the clown act, in which he has to jump from a high, burning facade into a tub of plaster. The act’s apparent success prompts the clowns to decide to build an even higher façade and to demand more money from the ringmaster.

Dumbo is forced into a dangerous act with clowns.

Timothy takes Dumbo to visit his mother and the two share a bittersweet meeting.

Dumbo spends some quality time with his mother.

Afterward, Dumbo and Timothy both drink from a water bucket which has been spiked by the clown’s celebratory champagne. The drunken pals are confounded by visions of pink elephants.

Dumbo accidentally gets drunk. 

The next morning, when Timothy is awakened by a group of jeering crows (voiced by James Baskett, Jim Carmichael, Cliff Edwards, Hall Johnson and Nick Stewart), he is astonished to discover that he and Dumbo have spent the night on a high tree branch.

Timothy and Dumbo wake up being watched by a murder of crows.

On their walk back to the circus, Timothy realizes that Dumbo must have flown up to the tree. Timothy tries to prompt Dumbo to fly, but the little elephant is too frightened to try. Timothy shames the crows’ leader into giving Dumbo a "magic" feather and while clutching it tightly in his trunk, Dumbo takes off from a cliff and begins to fly.

Dumbo thinks the feather is what helps him fly.

Timothy is thrilled by his friend's ability and begins to plot their revenge on the uncaring clowns. After the clowns have placed Dumbo on their new higher facade, and he and Timothy jump off the platform, Timothy encourages Dumbo to fly. Even though Dumbo loses his magic feather on the way down, Timothy convinces him that he can fly and Dumbo soars gracefully above his tormentors and shoots peanuts at them.

It doesn’t take long before Dumbo is declared a "miracle mammoth," and while publicity over the wonderous elephant builds, he is content to cuddle with his adoring now freed mother in his luxurious new train car.

Unlike its predecessors, Dumbo was a box-office success thanks in part to its small budget of between $850,000 to $950,000, making it one of the least expensive feature-length cartoons produced by the studio. Released on October 31, 1941, the film made $1.6 million in its first release. Like all of Disney’s classic animated films, Dumbo would receive multiple releases. It would become a featured attraction at Disneyland, spawning two rides, Dumbo the Flying Elephant and The Casey Jr. Circus Train.

There was also a live-action/puppet television series that aired on The Disney Channel called Dumbo’s Circus. Aimed at preschool audiences, the show originally ran from May 6, 1985 – May 25, 1986. Unlike in the film, Dumbo spoke on the show.

Like any successful film, there was talk of making a sequel, though six decades later. Dumbo II, which was officially canceled by John Lassiter when he became the Chief Creative Officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios, was set to pick up the story the next day after the end of the original film.

In the sequel, Dumbo and his circus friends would have to navigate a large city after being left behind by their traveling circus. Dumbo II also sought to explain what happened to Dumbo's father, Mr. Jumbo.

Now the failure of the sequel doesn’t mean the Dumbo cinematic story ends there. Like most Disney animated classics, Dumbo is getting the live-action treatment with Tim Burton directing.

When it was originally released, the reviews were for the most part very positive. Cited were the film's pathos, its endearment, the appealing new animal characters, the music and its humor. Bosley Crowther, the film critic for The New York Times, said that the film was "the most genial, the most endearing, the most completely precious cartoon feature film ever to emerge from the magical brushes of Walt Disney's wonder-working artists." So popular was Dumbo that Time magazine had plans to name him its Mammal of the Year in its end of the year issue. However, the outbreak of World War II forced them to cancel having an animated elephant on its cover.

The film also received two Academy Award nominations, one that it won for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture: Frank Churchill, Oliver Wallace; and the other for Best Music, Original Song: Frank Churchill (music), Ned Washington (lyrics), for the song "Baby Mine". In 2017, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

As with many films from the 1930s and 1940s, the film has been criticized in more modern times for its perceived racist views. In the case of Dumbo, it is the depiction of the crows, which were all voiced by Black actors, who were all members of the popular all-black Hall Johnson Choir. This seems to be the basis for the controversy. However, the crows not only form the majority of the cast in the film, but they are also depicted as intelligent and sympathetic to Dumbo’s plight. They are the ones who sing the song "When I See An Elephant Fly", which uses intricate wordplay in the lyrics. However, if you want, you can see racism wherever you want to find it.

The animation is not as complex as other Disney films, but the story really doesn’t call for it. This was meant to be an inexpensive production and it is clear that every dollar spent made it to the screen. For simple, it is still very good.

The music is enjoyable and is used often throughout the film. For a film that is only 64 minutes, there are 18 songs, which means they are a constant, though they don’t really intrude on the story but rather enhance the film.

Not everything seems to be geared towards children, though they now make up the majority of the audience for the film. Clearly, Pink Elephants seen after getting drunk would not or should not be something little children can relate to. It’s one of those films that, even as a child, you don’t have to understand everything to enjoy it.

The nice thing about Dumbo is that you don’t have to be a child to enjoy it. The film isn’t dumbed down in order to appeal to children nor is it pocked with fart jokes and inappropriate behavior that seem to be the hallmarks of children's films these days. The film teaches a lesson that we’re all special in our own way, without preaching about it. This is one of those films that they don’t make anymore. You hear that expression a lot, but this really is an example of that adage.

Fun for everyone, this is a film that should be seen at least once or twice. And it's okay if you’re not a parent to a small child. Enjoy.

Stubs - Toy Story

Toy Story (1995) Starring the voices of Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Don Rickles, Jim Varney, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Annie Potts. Directed by John Lasseter. Screenplay by Joss Whedon, Andrew Stanton, Joel Cohen, Alec Sokolow. Produced by Bonnie Arnold, Ralph Guggenheim. Run Time: 81 minutes. U.S.A. Color. Animated, Adventure

Ever wonder what it’s like to be a toy? Well, you need to look no further than Tin Toy (1988), a CGI short directed by John Lasseter to show off the Pixar Image Computer's capabilities. Despite why the film was originally made, it would go on to win the 1988 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.

The short Tin Toy (1988) was the precursor to Toy Story.

Tin Toy got the attention of the Walt Disney company, known for its traditional hand-drawn animated classics like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Alice in Wonderland. Under the regime led by Michael Eisner, Jeffrey Katzenberg tried to seduce Lasseter, a former mouse house animator, back into the fold. But Lasseter felt loyal to Steve Jobs, then owner of Pixar, and decided to stay and make history with Pixar.

Undeterred, Katzenberg set in motion plans for a production deal with Pixar. Disney had made all their films in-house up until Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993). But negotiations were not easy between the two companies. Disney had a bad reputation for how they treated their animators, something those at Pixar already knew, some like Lasseter knew that first hand. The other problem was Katzenberg himself, who had a well-established reputation as a micro-managing tyrant, something he himself copped to in a meeting between the studios. But things between the two studios worked out.

Originally conceived as a Christmas TV Special, A Tin Toy Christmas, as a way to gain experience before making a feature film, that gave way, in 1991 to a Tin Toy movie with the working title Toy Story. Disney would own the property with an option to do Pixar’s next two films and to make sequels with or without Pixar involvement using the characters in the film. Pixar would receive 12.5 percent of the ticket revenues in return.

It was in the writing of the film that the story began to take shape. Originally, under Katzenberg’s supervision, the character of Woody was the main villain and Tinny, the musical toy from Tin Story, was paired with a ventriloquist dummy and the two set out on an Odyssey together. When Disney relinquished creative control to Pixar, the story began to more resemble what we know now.

Tinny, which Lasseter felt was not antiquated, went through a transformation ultimately becoming a space ranger named Lunar Larry on his way to becoming Buzz Lightyear. Woody also went through his own makeover as it were, starting out as a ventriloquist dummy and ending up as a pull-string toy. The name Woody was supposedly in homage to Woody Strode, a black football player turned actor who appeared in several John Ford westerns, including Sergeant Rutledge (1960) and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962).

Woody (Tom Hanks) holds court with the other toys, advising them to get a buddy for the pending move.

Inside six-year-old Andy Davis’(John Morris) room, his toys live in a world of their own when he’s not around. Their leader, and Andy’s favorite toy, is Sheriff Woody (Tom Hanks), an old-fashioned pull-string Cowboy doll. Woody, as he’s called, organizes the other toys, including Mr. Potato Head (Don Rickles); Slinky Dog (Jim Varney); Rex (Wallace Shawn), a cowardly dinosaur; Hamm (John Ratzenberger), a piggy bank; and Bo Peep (Annie Potts), a porcelain doll who is in love with Woody.

The toys paying attention to Woody's announcement include Rex (Wallace Shawn), Mr. Potato
Head (Don Rickles), Slinky Dog  (Jim Varney), Hamm (John Ratzenberger) and Bo Peep (Annie Potts).

Andy’s family, which includes his single mom (Laurie Metcalf) and a younger sister, are getting ready to move and Woody wants all the toys to find a moving buddy. During the session, Woody also announces that today is Andy’s birthday party, which causes anxiety amongst the toys. With the exception of Woody, they are all worried about being replaced. In order to keep an eye on the gifts,

The Army soldiers under Sarge's (R. Lee Ermey) command deploy to eavesdrop on Andy's Birthday party.

Woody sends a platoon of green Army men, led by Sarge (R. Lee Ermey), downstairs. Using a baby monitor, Sarge reports back to the other toys the presents as Andy opens them. When there is nothing to worry about, Sarge signs off, but quickly tries to get back online when Andy’s mom brings out a surprise gift. Again, the toys are anxious, causing Rex to knock the baby monitor to the floor, causing the batteries to fall out. While they are struggling to get them back in, Andy and his friends come running upstairs to his room. The toys become inanimate and fall to the floor; Woody takes his place on top of Andy’s bed.

Woody tries to figure out what to do after Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) lands on Andy's bed.

In the commotion, Woody slips off the bed as when the new present lands on the bed. When the boys run out of the room for cake and ice cream, the toys come back to life and wonder who has replaced Woody. It turns out to be an unaware Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen), who doesn’t know that he’s only a toy. He thinks he’s on a space mission and is trying to make friends with the indigenous species while he attempts to make repairs to his spaceship, the box he came in.

Buzz "proves" to the other toys that he can really fly.

The other toys are impressed by all of Buzz’s features and even think that he can fly once he demonstrates his prowess. Woody is unimpressed, saying that Buzz is merely "falling with style!" Andy is also impressed and begins to favor him over Woody. Even though the family is days away from moving, we see Andy’s room transform into a shrine to Buzz with new sheets on the bed.

Woody can’t help but notice his diminished role in Andy’s life. When the family is planning a trip to Pizza Planet, Woody tries to trap Buzz behind the desk, to keep him from being picked, but he accidentally knocks Buzz out the window. The other toys gang up against Woody, accusing him of killing Buzz out of jealousy. But before they can punish Woody, Andy takes him as a second choice.

Woody convinces Buzz that the Pizza Planet delivery truck is taking them to a spaceport.

Down in the car, Woody finds that Buzz has also found his way into the car. When they’re left alone, when the mother stops for gas, the two get into a fight and fall out and find themselves left behind when the mother drives away without them. Seeing a delivery truck for Pizza Planet, Woody convinces Buzz that it is a spaceship that will take them to Andy. When Woody climbs into the back, Buzz carefully takes his place in the front seat with seat belts on.

Once they get to Pizza Planet they sneak in as trash. Woody starts looking for Andy’s family, but Buzz starts to look for a rocket ship, thinking Pizza Planet is a spaceport. At about the time Woody spies the family, Buzz has discovered a rocket-shaped crane game and crawls in. The game is populated, these are sentient toys after all, by little green squeeze alien toys (Jeff Pidgeon and Debi Derryberry), who treat the game as a sort of purgatory. Being pulled up by the crane is the same as salvation.

Woody becomes the hero to the little green squeeze toys (Jeff Pidgeon and
 Debi Derryberry) who are waiting inside the crane game.

Woody climbs into the game hoping to pull Buzz out, but they both get trapped when Sid Phillips (Erik von Detten), a ten-year-old bully and Andy’s next door neighbor, grabs Buzz with the crane and starts to pull him out. In his attempt to pull Buzz free, Woody gets caught up and Sid thinks he’s hit the jackpot. But Sid isn’t like Andy, he doesn’t play nice with his toys.

Sid Phillips (Erik von Detten) doesn't play nicely with his toys.

When Woody and Buzz are left alone, they discover that Sid’s room is occupied by a bizarre group of mutant toys created by combining parts from unlike toys together. Woody is shocked and scared by what he sees. He is surprised to see them help repair Buzz rather than consume him like toy cannibals.

Sid's toys are mutant creations.

Sid’s plan is to strap Buzz on a rocket that has just arrived in the mail. But the launch is delayed by a thunderstorm. Woody tries to make an escape, but they get separated and Buzz ends up in a room with a TV blaring a commercial, narrated by Penn Jillette, about the toy Buzz Lightyear and all the wonderful things it can do. Hearing that, Buzz for the first time realizes that he, too, is a toy. This news sort of bums him out. He tries to escape by flying, but he can’t and falls to the floor, where he is found by Sid’s sister Hannah (Sarah Freeman), who takes him as compensation for the myriad of toys her brother has ruined of hers.

Despondent, Buzz, who had one of his arms pop out in the fall, is dressed up as a member of her tea party. Woody, who had been hiding in a closet to get away from the Phillips’ family dog rescues Buzz from the tea party. Back in Sid’s room, Woody finally convinces Buzz that as a toy, he can make Andy happy. The mutant toys fix Buzz and then help Woody work out an elaborate scheme to rescue Buzz when Sid straps him to the rocket and takes him outside to launch him. Before Sid can light the rocket that he’s strapped to Buzz’s back, Woody and the other toys come to life in front of Sid, scaring him into no longer abusing toys and allowing Buzz and Woody to make their escape.

Before he's stopped, Sid plans to light the rocket strapped to Buzz's back.

But they just miss the family car, because Buzz has gotten caught up in the fence. Buzz and Woody chase after the moving truck, but Sid’s dog, Scud, gives chase, capturing Buzz. Woody tries to save him using Andy’s remote controlled car, RC, but the other toys turn on him. Still believing he has eliminated Buzz, the others, led by Mr. Potato Head, throw Woody off the end, but not before Woody has grabbed RC.

Buzz and Woody are "falling with style," but together.

They succeed in rescuing Buzz and while the other toys see them together, there is nothing they can do as RC’s batteries begin to run out. Woody tries to use the match that Sid didn’t to light the rocket, but the wind from a passing car blows it out.  Using Buzz's helmet shield as a magnifying glass, Woody ignites the rocket with the sun's rays and the three of them take flight. They manage to throw RC, now missing his remote, into the back of the truck as they soar by. Then Buzz uses his wings to free himself from the rocket just before it explodes. Buzz and Woody then glide and drop through the open sunroof into the mother’s car and land in a box right next to an excited Andy.

In the end, Andy (John Morris) gets Buzz and Woody back.

Flash forward to Christmas Day and Sarge and his men are on another reconnaissance mission while the toys in his room listen keenly for what presents Andy receives. Just as Woody is joking with Buzz that there is nothing Andy could receive that would be worse than Buzz, they hear over the intercom that Andy’s new gift is a puppy.

Released after dual premieres by Disney in LA and Pixar in San Francisco, the film was released on November 22, 1995, and would go on to gross $350 million worldwide on a budget of $30 million. Toy Story would also go on to be nominated for three Academy Awards Best Music—Original Song, for "You've Got a Friend in Me", and Best Music—Original Musical or Comedy Score both for Randy Newman and Best Original Screenplay for Joel Cohen, Pete Docter, John Lasseter, Joe Ranft, Alec Sokolow, Andrew Stanton and Joss Whedon, the first animated film to be so nominated.

Unlike say a DreamWorks Animation film, there are no hip cultural references that will quickly age the film. The writing is solid, managing to engage both young and old without speaking down to kids or up to adults. A buddy film with toys had never been done before and really hasn’t been done better, despite the sequels.

While CGI pioneered by Pixar has come a long way in the twenty-plus years since its release, the film for the most part still holds up. What was bad about the film then was its depiction of humans. While Pixar excelled at everything else, human characters appeared to elude them. They have gotten much better over the years with that, as well as other innovations that have made Pixar the premiere animation house, even though it is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Disney. What was once cutting-edge animation now looks a little below the standards Pixar keeps setting.

Besides the Easter eggs that first appear in this film, like the ball with the star on it, there are other things that this film demonstrates Pixar does very well. One of them is to get the most out of their voice actors. While Tom Hanks and Tim Allen were both new to voice work, it is not really amazing that they were good at their parts. What is surprising is that Pixar could take someone like Jim Varney, who I would normally move across the street to avoid, into a likable character actor. They would do the same thing in such films like Cars and Cars 2, where they made Larry the Cable Guy a mainstream star.

In fact, Pixar has excelled over the years with ensembles made up of actors from a variety of backgrounds including film actors, TV actors and stand-up comics; accomplished and unaccomplished alike. Somehow they have always managed to make them work. Some of the selections like Don Rickles as Mr. Potato Head and Wallace Shawn as Rex are perfect.

The film was also the debut of John Ratzenberger in a Pixar film. Best known for his portrayal of the annoying Cliff Clavin on the long-running TV series Cheers, Ratzenberger would go on to appear in all of Pixar’s films to date. With him as a good luck charm, Pixar would have a very successful run of hit films, marred by only a few misfires.

Toy Story made Randy Newman, best known for his politically charged and satirical songs, into a more mainstream songwriter. While no stranger to writing film scores, his first was Ragtime (1981), it was songs like “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” that seemed to be a different offering for the accomplished songwriter. I don’t think he had many children fans before this film was released. Now the singer who was once known for such songs as “Short People” and “I Love L.A.” is also remembered for his song about friendship.

There is much to like about Toy Story. For a production company new to feature films, there is a certain feeling of magic surrounding their initial offering. The studio would certainly prove that it was no fluke with their next film, A Bug’s Life (1998).

Innovative, Toy Story is an interesting blend of talents from the producing, the writing, the voice acting and of course the animation and rendering. It was the first of its kind and the heralding in a change of animation from hand-drawn, which had been the tradition since film animation was first done. It also passed the baton, as it were, from Disney to Pixar as the premier animation house.

Toy Story is fun for children; it does not speak down to them. At the same time, the film is fun for adults as well and might even be a little nostalgic for some. Who didn’t have a favorite toy growing up that, at least when you were around, interacted with you like a real person? This film takes that a step further and tells they not only interacted with you, but with each other when you weren’t around. This is a film you can see several times, I have, and never grow tired of.