Skip to Content

Post-Walt’s Death: The Good, The Best, and The Rest

Walt Disney passed away December 15, 1966, and in the decade that followed, the Walt Disney Company struggled to define itself. Should the company stay beholden to Walt and his vision, asking themselves what Walt would do, or should they take the opportunity to try something new? The decades that followed Walt’s death were a …

Read More about Post-Walt’s Death: The Good, The Best, and The Rest

‘The Jungle Book’ and Racism in Disney’s Animated Features

The release of The Jungle Book on Blu-ray today has become, as when Saving Mr. Banks was unveiled a couple months ago, an unplanned forum on a most thorny issue for the Disney uber-fan: was Walt Disney a racist/sexist/anti-Semite, and if so, was he a super-racist/sexist/anti-Semite, or just your average, garden-variety racist/sexist/anti-Semite? Even though the …

Read More about ‘The Jungle Book’ and Racism in Disney’s Animated Features

The Walt Years

When the work of the Walt Disney Company is referenced in popular culture, it is often generalized and boiled down to princesses, Mickey Mouse, and fireworks over Cinderella’s castle as music swells. (“Get your Disney World vacation planning DVD today!”) Unfortunately, this is an extremely simplified image of the company and its legacy in feature …

Read More about The Walt Years

‘Saving Mr. Banks’ a hollow reminder of what made ‘Mary Poppins’ so special

Saving Mr. Banks Written by Kelly Marcel and Sue Smith Directed by John Lee Hancock USA, 2013 “They said only God could make a tree,” Walt Disney says proudly as he strolls down Main Street, U.S.A. in the Disneyland theme park, late in Saving Mr. Banks. Walt, as he prefers to be known, gladhands all …

Read More about ‘Saving Mr. Banks’ a hollow reminder of what made ‘Mary Poppins’ so special

‘Escape From Tomorrow’ and The Air Pirates

One of the most talked about films at this year’s Sundance Film Festival is Randy Moore’s Escape From Tomorrow. To shoot his film, set in Disney World, Moore purchased a season pass to the park and secretly filmed his actors without the park’s knowledge. There is no question that, at a minimum, Moore violated the …

Read More about ‘Escape From Tomorrow’ and The Air Pirates

Walt Disney: The Original Master “Imagineer”

Full disclosure: when I was a kid, I didn’t like Disney cartoons. My family took me to all of them, new and the regularly re-released: Pinocchio (1940), Bambi (1942), Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Lady and the Tramp (1955). And we went to see the live-action Disney flicks, too: 20,000 Leagues Under the …

Read More about Walt Disney: The Original Master “Imagineer”

Avengers! Assemble!

This past Saturday, July 24, at the San Diego Comic-Con, shall be marked as one of the most epic gatherings for a film collaboration in geek history. The full major cast of The Avengers appeared on stage at the end of the Marvel Studios panel with confirmation of Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, Mark Ruffalo as …

Read More about Avengers! Assemble!