For Disney Animation, the 60’s marked the sad end of an era
with the passing of the man who started it all. 1967’s The Jungle Book was the last official Disney animated film to be
produced by Walt Disney himself, who died in 1966, 10 months prior to the
film’s release, due to lung cancer. But thankfully Disney Animation managed to
move on despite the loss of the man who was responsible for getting the studio
to where it is today. Things weren’t always easy, but the company managed to
endure during these years, at least as far as their animated features were
concerned, even amidst all sorts of corporate changes behind-the-scenes. And
while it may not seem like it to some, there are plenty of noteworthy films
from this initial ‘post-Walt’ era. So today on Rhode Island Movie Corner, I am
continuing my ‘Disney Retrospective’ series with a special double-header post
as I’ll be covering the Disney animated films from both the 60’s and 70’s. The
main reason why I’m doing it this way instead of just doing one post for each
decade is simply because there were only 3-4 films that were released during
each of these two decades. So with that in mind, I decided to do just one post
covering both. And I’ll also admit that one of the reasons why this particular
post is being released earlier than anticipated is because this post is in direct
response to three recent videos from Screen Junkies’ Honest Trailers series, CinemaSins, and HISHE that harshly bashed
the original Jungle Book prior to the
release of its recent remake. I mean it’s bad enough to have one of these
videos tarnish the legacy of this animated classic but all 3 were released on
the same frigging day. So because of that, I immediately decided to fast-track
this ‘Disney Retrospective’ in order to give the original a much more positive
evaluation. So let’s not waste any more time and delve into the Disney animated
films of the 60’s and 70’s.
ONE HUNDRED AND ONE DALMATIANS (1961)
When it comes to One
Hundred and One Dalmatians, the most iconic part of this particular Disney
feature is its main villain, Cruella de Vil. This film, as well as the two
live-action Dalmatians films starring
Glenn Close in the role of Cruella, has turned the character into one of
Disney’s most iconic villains and rightfully so. Her madcap demeanor and
villainous plot to skin puppies for their fur make her quite the diabolical
baddie that we love to hate and also mock by singing that catchy melody that is
named after her. Aside from her, the main protagonists (in other words, the
duos of Pongo and Perdita and their owners Roger and Anita) are very likable
and the film also has its fair share of memorable side characters, most notably
Cruella’s bumbling henchmen Jasper and Horace. These characters, as well as plenty
of humorous moments during the second half of the film, make up for its
admittedly rather dull first half. For the record, I don’t ‘dislike’ this part
but even with that said, my favorite part of the film is the second half in
which Pongo and Perdita head out into the country to save their puppies with
the help of their fellow London dogs. This film was also the first of the
Disney animated features to utilize the style known as xerography, developed by
longtime Disney collaborator Ub Iwerks. Basically this meant that the
animators’ drawings were transferred directly to animation cels with the use of
a Xerox camera without having to go through the inking process, which proved to
be quite a cost-effective technique for the studio following the commercial under-performance
of Sleeping Beauty two years prior.
And while it does result in the animation being a little less polished compared
to previous Disney films, it’s still pretty solid for the time and does a
really nice job in regards to bringing the city of London to life in animated
form. All in all, 101 Dalmatians is a
very enjoyable flick, especially for dog-lovers, featuring one of the company’s
most iconic villainesses.
Rating: 4/5
THE SWORD IN THE STONE (1963)
Despite what the title might suggest, The Sword in the Stone is not full medieval swordplay. Instead, one
could say that the tale of how a young lad named Arthur became the ‘King
Arthur’ of legend by pulling the sword Excalibur from a stone is more
‘educational-based’ than other Disney films. A lot of the film consists of
Arthur learning various lessons from his ‘tutor’, the wise wizard Merlin. And while
some may argue that this means that the film feels a bit too much like
schoolwork, as someone who grew up with the Harry
Potter franchise I think that the film is quite enjoyable in regards to all
of the magical scenarios that Arthur and Merlin, a likable lead duo, get into,
from avoiding a carnivorous pike while as fish to turning into squirrels and
attracting the attention of a pair of female squirrels. Oh and by the way,
Arthur is voiced by three different actors in this film, which results in so
many damn voice shifts, sometimes even in the middle of a line of dialogue,
that you’d swear he was going in and of puberty. There’s no real ‘villain’ in
the film save for a rival magician of Merlin’s named Madam Mim. However, she’s
more or less an afterthought due to the fact that she doesn’t appear until the
final third and isn’t even really connected that much to the main plot of
Arthur’s kingship. Still, the fight between her and Merlin, where the two
continuously transform into different animals, is definitely a highlight. So in
short, The Sword in the Stone is
admittedly a more straight-forward affair compared to other Disney films and
the fact that the film focuses more on ‘learning’ may result in some finding it
to be rather boring. However, with a great lead duo in Arthur and Merlin and
some fun and zany sequences involving magic, this is still a pretty darn
enjoyable entry in the Disney canon.
Rating: 3.5/5
THE JUNGLE BOOK (1967)
As noted earlier, The
Jungle Book was the last official Disney animated film to be produced by
Walt Disney, who died ten months prior to the film’s release. But even with
that in mind, this film is a very entertaining adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s
classic tale of the man-cub Mowgli and his adventures in the jungle. The
animation is pretty darn good and definitely does its job of immersing you into
the world of the jungle. And yes, I’m well aware that this is one of those
Disney films that re-uses a lot of its animation in multiple sequences; heck,
certain shots were even used in other Disney films like Robin Hood. I’ve never been too bothered by this, for the record.
The film is full of memorable characters, from the lovable bear Baloo to the
wise panther Bagheera to the sinister snake Kaa to the zany ape King Louie to
the film’s intimidating villain, Shere Khan. But probably the best part of the
entire film is its soundtrack, with the majority of the songs written by the
Sherman Brothers*. This includes King Louie’s toe-tapping dance number “I Wanna
Be Like You” and Baloo’s iconic theme “The Bare Necessities”, which was
actually written by a different musician, Terry Gilkyson. In short, The Jungle Book is a very fun installment
in the Disney canon. This is mainly due to the film’s fun cast of characters
and a soundtrack that adds a fun sense of theatricality to it all. So while it
may be the last Disney animated film that Walt Disney ever produced, and one
that he unfortunately never saw completed, I believe that this film is an
excellent swan song for one of the greatest visionaries of all-time.
Rating: 4.5/5
(*I very much
disagree with the film’s Honest Trailer which claims that “Bare Necessities” is
the only noteworthy song in the entire film.)
THE ARISTOCATS (1970)
The Aristocats was
the first official Disney animated film released in the post-Walt era, though it
was actually the last one that he ‘approved’ prior to his death… and it’s one
of the weakest installments of the Disney canon. I hate to say it, but I really
didn’t get much out of this film. It’s one of the duller entries in the canon
and the characters are fairly bland, despite having a solid voice cast that
includes a few Disney regulars like Phil Harris (Baloo from The Jungle Book and Little John from Robin Hood) as O’Malley, Eva Gabor
(Bianca from The Rescuers) as
Duchess, and Sterling Holloway (the original Winnie-the-Pooh and Kaa from The Jungle Book) as Roquefort. It also
has one of the weakest Disney villains of all-time in the form of the cats’
owner’s butler Edgar, who’s basically just a bumbling moron who constantly
finds himself getting into slapstick situations because he’s so gosh-darn
inept. Actually, it really feels like this screenplay was severely
underwritten. There’s not much of a plot and none of the characters go through
any major arcs. Like what if Duchess and her kittens were forced to step out of
their comfort zone when they are taken from their life of luxury and are
stranded out in the countryside? Or what if O’Malley’s alley cat status was
more prominent in the story to the point where it strained his relationship
with Duchess and her kittens but he eventually decides to leave that kind of
lifestyle all behind because he has come to care about them? Well too bad
because there’s none of that kind of character development here whatsoever. I
mean if you’re one of those who has fond memories of this film as a result of
watching it a lot growing up, all the power to you. But aside from one decent
song (“Ev’rybody Wants to Be a Cat”), decent animation, and a pretty funny and
meta ending tag, this is definitely one of my least favorite Disney animated
features.
Rating: 2/5
ROBIN HOOD (1973)
Out of all of the Disney animated films that were rather
‘notorious’ for re-using animation from other Disney films, Robin Hood is probably the most
‘infamous’ of the bunch due to the fact that the film had a small budget of
only $1.5 million. The musical sequence ‘Phony King of England’ features
numerous re-used shots from films like The
Jungle Book, The Aristocats, and
even Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
But even with that in mind, Robin Hood is
still a very fun medieval adventure complete with some zany action sequences.
There’s literally one scene where Maid Marian’s attendant Lady Kluck takes on a
whole bunch of soldiers set to the USC and University of Wisconsin fight songs.
Ultimately though, the best part of this film are its characters. Robin Hood
and Little John are both likable and charismatic leads and Robin Hood (voiced
excellently by Brian Bedford, who sadly passed away recently) has a sweet
romantic relationship with Maid Marian, even though the film kind of forgets
about her during the climax. The real stars of the show, however, are the main
villains; Prince John, the tyrannical but cowardly ruler who constantly sucks
his thumb when things don’t go his way, and his assistant Sir Hiss the Snake.
These two are like an old married couple, constantly bickering with each other,
and as a result, they’re definitely one of the funniest villain duos in Disney
history, up there with duos like Yzma and Kronk and Captain Hook and Smee. In
short, Robin Hood may not be as
‘complex’ in story as some of the other Disney films but that’s not much of a
problem in my book thanks to the film’s fun cast of characters and its overall
light-hearted and zany atmosphere that will have you humming “Oo De Lally, Oo
De Lally” the whole time.
Rating: 4/5
THE MANY ADVENTURES OF WINNIE THE POOH (1977)
Who doesn’t love A.A. Milne’s iconic character Winnie the
Pooh? He’s one of the most lovable characters in pop culture history. A month
ago when I did my retrospective on Disney Animation’s post-2000 filmography,
which included the new Winnie the Pooh
film from 2011, I mentioned the many ways in which this franchise played a big
part of my childhood, from watching episodes of the animated series The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh on
VHS back when that was still a thing to a particularly fond childhood memory of
mine of getting to ride the ‘Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh’ ride at Walt Disney
World with Pooh himself in 2002. To reiterate what I had said in that post, I
strongly believe that this franchise should play a key part in every kid’s
childhood. Part of that, of course, should come in the form of Pooh’s 1977
feature film debut, The Many Adventures
of Winnie the Pooh. Actually the film is a series of featurettes that
Disney had produced back in the late 60’s and early 70’s. They are, in order of
how they are played during the film, 1966’s Winnie
the Pooh and the Honey Tree, 1968’s Winnie
the Pooh and the Blustery Day (notably the last animated Disney short that
Walt Disney himself ever produced), and 1974’s Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too. These three segments were followed
by an additional featurette, 1983’s Winnie
the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore, which ran before that year’s re-release of The Sword in the Stone. But as for the
first three featurettes, they were packaged together into a feature-length film
in 1977.
This film is just as great as it was when I was a kid. One
of the biggest reasons why, of course, is because the characters are so iconic
and lovable; the small-minded but cheerful Pooh, the timid Piglet who does try
to be brave whenever he can, the caring but occasionally temperamental Rabbit,
the gloomy donkey Eeyore, and the kooky and bouncy tiger Tigger
(T-I-double-guh-er) just to name a few. The film may not have much of a
cohesive ‘plot’ but that’s totally fine because you just love spending time
with these characters. And then there’s also the film’s memorable collection of
songs from who else but the legendary Disney duo that is the Sherman Brothers.
There’s the classic title song, Tigger’s zany anthem ‘The Wonderful Thing About
Tiggers’, and the song about those scary creatures known as ‘Heffalumps and
Woozles’ which, in true Disney fashion, serves as the basis for one truly trippy
as hell sequence where Pooh comes across them while dreaming. I mean I could go
on and on about this film but I’ll just say this. I love this franchise, I love
its characters, and I love this film. Some may not consider The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
to be one of Disney’s best films but as for me, this is definitely one of my
personal favorites in the Disney library and is most certainly a must-see for
kids that adults will no doubt enjoy as well.
Rating: 5/5!
THE RESCUERS (1977)
Back when I did my ‘Disney Renaissance’ retrospective back
in November 2013 before the release of Frozen,
one of the films that I had covered in that post was this film’s sequel, The Rescuers Down Under, in which I
noted that not only was it one of the best animated sequels of all-time but
also a highly underrated entry in the Disney canon due to it being a severe
underperformer at the box-office. I only briefly mentioned the first Rescuers there so now here’s a more
in-depth review of what I feel to be a ‘solid’ but not ‘terrific’ Disney
animated film. Like I said before when I reviewed the sequel, one of the
biggest strengths of these films is the lead duo of Bernard and Miss Bianca.
They’re such a likable duo and are excellently voiced by Bob Newhart and Eva
Gabor, respectively. This film also has a pretty memorable nut of a villain in
the wicked Madame Medusa and some noteworthy henchmen of hers as well,
including her bumbling lackey Mr. Snoops and her alligators Brutus and Nero. My
only real complaints with the film are that, especially when compared to the
sequel, this film’s story is rather ‘uneventful’ and the animation is a bit too
drab as it is primarily set in the Bayou. Sure it’s an interesting locale for
an animated film but it still results in a pretty darn gloomy-looking film,
especially when compared to the other Louisiana set Disney film, The Princess and the Frog, which was
released more than three decades late. So in short, I do think that this film
is good but I can’t really list it as one of Disney’s best as ultimately I
prefer its, to be perfectly frank, much better sequel.
And yes, the
original cut of the film had an infamous still of a topless woman in it… Just goes to show how weird animation can get sometimes.
Rating: 3.5/5
So that’s the end of this Retrospective on the Disney
Animated films of the 60’s and 70’s. Like I said in the intro, admittedly this
one came out earlier than expected and that’s because I was quite angry at all
of the videos that brutally bashed the original Jungle Book a little over a week ago. So in response to all of
those videos, I decided to get this post completed so that I could paint the
animated classic in a much more positive light. But as a result, that means
that I went out-of-order with these remaining Retrospectives. I originally
intended to start from the beginning of the Disney canon and end at the 80’s,
which would’ve been the last one to do seeing how I’ve already covered every
major Disney animated film since 1990. So with that in mind, expect the next
Disney Retrospective to be on the studio’s films from the 80’s. After that, I’ll
go back and start at the beginning with the Disney films of the 30’s, 40’s, and
50’s. Until then, what are your thoughts on the Disney films discussed in this
post? Be sure to sound off in the comments below.
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