In case I haven’t told you too many times yet, I’m getting married at the end of May. Eek! Wedding planning has kind of come to the point where if I even see a wedding happen in a movie or TV show, I want to sob hysterically into my multiple planners, so I’ve been trying to focus on our honeymoon lately, which is proving to be a nice break! We’re going back to New York where we got engaged for four nights, and then on to the West Coast for another ten. Part of that trip is going to be Disneyland! I’ve only ever been to Disney World in Florida, sixteen years ago, so I can’t wait.
In preparation, and to avoid wedding related movies, my fiance and I have been catching up on some Disney movies that we’ve either never seen, or haven’t seen in years. Rather than spam this blog with Disney reviews I thought I’d put together a longer post with them all together.
Disney California Adventure Park is home to the newly-opened Cars Land. They’ve literally built Radiator Springs into the park! Look at how pretty it is! Anyway, I know I’ve seen Cars (2006) but I could barely remember it, and my fiance had never seen it, so this was first on our list to catch up with.
Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) is a hotshot rookie race car who finds himself in with a chance to win the Piston Cup. Whilst en-route to California for the tie-breaker, he finds himself lost in Radiator Springs, an old, seemingly deserted town just off Route 66. Whilst there, Lighting comes to acquaint himself with the residents, and learns the meaning of friendship.
I think it’s fair to say that this is one of Pixar’s weakest movies, but it’s still a great watch. Even though the plot is a little tired and predictable, it’s the characters and the little details that make this movie so much fun. It was only on this recent watch that I could work out what some of the cars actually are, and I loved that Luigi is an old-style Fiat 500! That said, I haven’t heard great things about Cars 2, so I think we’ll avoid that one for now.
Mulan (1998) is Disney’s retelling of an old Chinese legend, where a family is torn apart by war. One man from each family is summoned to deal with the Huns, but Mulan’s father is the only male left in their family, and is too frail for war. He accepts his fate, but in the night, Mulan steals his gear and impersonates a man to take his place in the army.
For years I’ve sworn that I’ve never seen this, but I think I must have done once as a child, the songs sounded familiar! I really did enjoy this more than I thought I would, it’s very different to most Disney movies and doesn’t have that heartbreaking moment that most do. That probably came out worse than it should have done, but I hate how Disney movies make me cry! I managed to stay dry-eyed through this one, thankfully.
The loveable Mushu, voiced by Eddie Murphy kind of stole the show for me. Is this how he got the role of Donkey in Shrek? He’s just perfect! I’m definitely going to have to hunt down a stuffed Mushu in Disneyland...despite what my fiance has warned me (I own too many stuffed toys for an adult, but then he owns too much lego so we’re even!).
I don’t know how I’ve gotten away with not watching The Emperor’s New Groove (2000) for so long, because it’s my fiance’s 2nd favourite Disney movie ever! I don’t know why it’s never held much appeal to me, but once I noticed the voice cast including David Spade, Patrick Warburton and the legendary John Goodman, I was more than happy to give it a go!
Emperor Kuzco is a grade A douchebag, wanting to demolish the home of a gentle llama herder just to build himself another pool. When he scorns his assistant Yzma, she seeks revenge and inadvertently turns him into a llama. Pacha, the llama herder, agrees to help Kuzco as long as he promises to leave his village alone. What follows is a hilarious journey as the pair travel and attempt to avoid Yzma and her right-hand man, Kronk.
Whilst I don’t hold it with the same esteem as my fiance, I really enjoyed this one. It felt different to Disney’s usual style, with more jokes for the bigger kids. Definitely glad I watched this, and at least now I know what my fiance is on about when he starts quoting half the movie on impulse!
At the time Brave (2012) came out, I was in a job that sent me to Aberdeen in Scotland too many times. There’s nothing wrong with Aberdeen, let me just say! It’s just that whenever I went, my plane home was always horrendously delayed, and the event I was there for always had drama. We got evacuated from the venue once because the wind was so dangerous. Needless to say, my plane home was delayed. By 4 hours. Sigh. I reckon that’s why I couldn’t face watching Brave. The Scottish accent alone gives me flashbacks of that airport.
Anyway! Brave has a very Disney-esque storyline. Merida, a princess, has become of the age when her parents are finding a suitor for her, and her mother is attempting to teach her how to be a real ‘princess’. Merida doesn’t like boys, doesn’t like being a princess, and would be much happier shooting arrows. Tension builds, which leads to Merida turning her mother into a llama. No, wait. Wrong movie. A bear!
This was an enjoyable watch too, but it was missing something. I’m not sure what, it made me laugh, made me cry, but something just felt off! Most definitely worth a watch, though.
One thing is for sure, watching any Disney movie just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Wedding stress was definitely forgotten whilst we watched these. In fact, we’ll be trying to remember those happy moments whilst riding Mickey’s Fun Wheel...which we’ve learnt is not-so secretly known as Mickey’s Wheel of Doom, thanks to it’s free-swinging carts...gulp.
