Disney Movies - Day 18

I decided to take a different direction (yet again) last night...that's the good thing about having a large movie collection. Big Hero 6 has been sitting in front of the TV since the day it came out. I did open it, but only to get the Disney Movie Rewards code on the inside so that I can add to my points.

For those that don't know, every Disney movie, be it club bought or store bought, has a code. If you're registered with any Disney site, you're registered for them all, but if you're not, you can go to Disney Movie Rewards, register and add those points, even if they are old (but you can't register two of the same movie, unless they are different formats like VHS, DVD, or Blu-Ray). With the points, you can buy things. Some of my favorite collectibles have come from Disney Movie Rewards and, depending on your point count, they range from anything from stickers to really expensive figurines. The stock changes constantly, which is good, but also bad if you're saving up for something in particular. Usually, the better the collectible, the faster it goes.

But I'm digressing again. Big Hero 6 was my first movie. This movie was so well received and so critically acclaimed, I knew I wouldn't like it. It's the way I roll. I'm not sure why, but I figure it's hype related...if the hype is really big and I don't enjoy the movie at hype level, then it's a disappointment. In the same vain, it is pretty much a fact that I will thoroughly enjoy a movie that gets panned, probably because my expectation level is low and the movie surprises me. This isn't always the rule, but pretty much 9/10 (re: Frozen, I still don't get the hub-bub about this movie, it was cute, but not earth-shattering like people make it out to be). Big Hero 6 fell right into the over-hyped category, but I did try to approach it with open eyes (despite avoiding it like the plaque since I got it). I found myself stitching more intensely, wandering the house, playing with the pup more than usual, anything to keep my attention because this movie certainly wasn't. But hey, judge for yourself:

Where the movie failed, the short more than made up for. I absolutely adored it!


Even though Big Hero 6 flopped, it still put me in the superhero movie mode, so I went with The Incredibles next. I have only seen this movie once. It was OK back then, but again, couldn't hold my attention. It seemed to be better last night and I did enjoy it (well, at least better than before).

There were three shorts on this disc, including one of my favorite Pixar shorts, Jack-Jack Attack. This I have seen numerous times and it's always thrilling and always makes me laugh! Anyone that has ever babysat gets this short!


I decided that I also haven't seen Up in a while, and since I was on another apparent Pixar kick, it seemed logical. Even though I think I've only seen this movie once, I really did like it. One of my greatest secret wishes is to relocate to an area with absolutely no people, just me, my pup, and my stuff. Plus, I absolutely ADORE Dug. SQUIRREL!

There were two shorts on this disc, both of which were OK. There is another Up-themed short, but it's not on my disc. I have the Pixar Shorts Collection vols 1 & 2 and it's on that, but we're not quite there yet.

It was too close to bedtime to start another disc, so I instead went with another choice, The Adventures Of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, partly because it isn't too long and party because it's always sitting in front of my TV anyway and it was easy to reach.

My all-time favorite shorts (not including any with Donald Duck) are Ichabod and Pecos Bill (which isn't on this disc). I have seen each so many times, I've lost count. They are stored on every single device I have, right down to my iPod. They never get old no matter how many times I watch them (and they probably never will). Mr. Toad is not one of my favorites, but it's narrated by Basil Rathbone who I've always had a crush on (in that old black and white movie star kind of way), so I kind of enjoy it because of him. But Ichabod is a whole different story. I love the story, the animation, the narration, the singing, every bit of it (it's Bing Crosby, who also does all the voices and singing, so need I say anything else?).

I have them in this format on a disc together as well as their individual selves, which is why I'm kind of struggling to categorize it. The disc I watched last night has the two "sewn" together as one movie, but they are still two individual shorts, so do I refer to them as full-length or two shorts? I think, considering the context in which I watched them, I'm going to call them one movie:

I've been Headless Horseman obsessed since I was a little kid, mainly because of this movie. It's one of the main highlights of the Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party parade, Boo To You:
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Everytime I see him riding down the streets of the Magic Kingdom (well, actually more like slow-trotting, but still), I swear my heart flutters! It's so exciting!

There is also a short on this disc, a short which is my second favorite Donald Duck short of all-time (Trick Or Treat is #1), Lonesome Ghosts. One of my earliest memories of this movie is the old Fisher-Price movie viewer I had and this cartridge. It was one of only about five I owned (all of which, FYI were Disney). I would watch it over and over, forwards and backwards, slow and fast, till my arm would get sore.

I have told this story before, but when I turned 10, my step-dad decided I was an adult and took all my toys away. He subsequently gave them all to my sister right in front of me (she is his blood). Anything she didn't want either got put in the attic or thrown away. My Fisher-Price viewer, all my Disney Little Golden Books, my Barbies, the lot including Lonesome Ghosts was lost to me. Of course, I got my revenge...all the Barbies got "haircuts", the books got marked all over making them unreadable, etc. Nowadays, I would probably have a heart-attack at merely the thought of defacing something Disney, but I was a vindictive, spiteful little girl with un-diagnosed mental issues who just lost her most prized possessions...I was SCARY (and I still think rightly so, I just took it out on my sister instead of the real culprit, my step-monster).

Eventually, when I got older, I did focus my rage on the right person, but probably too late. My relationship with my sister was strained for long afterwards, but eventually evened out and did actually turn into the only family relation I actually feel a connection to (well, other than my father, but since we have no contact and haven't for many years, I guess that's a mute point, but again, I digress). When my sister married her husband, somehow he heard the story (I'm not sure if it was from me or her) and, for one Christmas, he bought me a Fisher Price Movie Viewer and Lonesome Ghosts off of eBay as a present. It was quite possibly one of the best Christmas presents I have ever gotten and I cherish it to this day! Granted, I don't watch it like I did when I was a kid (actually I never watch it because the labels are brittle and I don't want to mess it up), but it sits in a place of honor in my Donald Duck curio cabinet. You can see it below, on the far right:

But anyhoo, for your enjoyment, I found the entire short:

Oh, and for those that I have no idea what a Fisher-Price Movie Viewer is, another one of my favorite bloggers actually did a piece about it and Lonesome Ghosts. You can read it HERE.

I didn't watch Pecos Bill last night, I'm not sure which disc it is on (normally, I would just go to a device, but I'm trying to watch all these from discs), but I'm sure I'll get to it eventually, so I'll hold off raving about it until then (although I REALLY want to do it now!).

Which sends me back to The Incredibles for a minute. There was another short on the disc, which I wasn't expecting much from, called Boundin'. I LOVED this short! It reminded me so much of style Pecos Bill, something the Disney company did a lot back in Walt's day...the whole narrator tells the story, sings the songs, and voices most, if not all the characters. I couldn't find the whole clip (at least not in English), so I'm afraid we're relegated to the trailer:


And so, the totals are now thus (counting Ichabod and Mr. Toad as a full-length movie):

MOVIE TOTALS:
Live-Action: 16
Full-Length Animation: 31
Mixed-Medium: 4
Animated Shorts: 209
Live-Action Shorts: 5
Mixed-Medium Shorts: 1

Comments

Tiffstitch said…
omg... I love Feast. That is the best short ever. Thank you for the link, I'm all sappy inside now. :)
Linda said…
Love reading all of your reviews Keiley.

Linda
Oh wow, your brother in law is awesome! That's so thoughtful of him.
Vickie said…
I haven't watched Big Hero 6 yet....It is on my too watch list.