Shockingly, this will be the hardest chapter for me to write. When you love something as much as I love The Lion King, it’s hard to put into words—even for a writer. In addition to my immense LK love, I know so much about it. I could write an entire [...]
Month: March 2012
The Bear Necessities: The Jungle Book
During the many summers of my childhood spent in Pryor, Oklahoma, I regularly tried to watch The Jungle Book. Staying with my aunt meant lots of movie watching; as an elementary school teacher, she owned lots of great movies. I would pop one in on rainy days or while I [...]
Discovering Pocahontas
Like many kids, summer was always my favorite time of year in Oklahoma. No school, lots of swimming, plenty of time to read—what wasn’t to love? Every summer, my sister and I would spend a week alone in Pryor, with our aunt. This gave each of us a week of [...]
Brains over Brawn: The Sword in the Stone
A lot of important messages have been shared in Disney animation over the years. Both here and in Meet the Robinson’s the lesson is that it’s not uncool to be terrifically smart. Intelligence is important; if there’s one thing you take from The Sword in the Stone, it’s that. The flip side is that [...]
Darkness Descending: The Hunchback of Notre Dame
I get that Victor Hugo’s Hunchback of Notre Dame is a classic. I get that Disney once again took an amazing story and turned it into animation, to share it with the worldwide community and expose children to magnificent stories to read later in life. While I usually agree with Disney’s alterations in the name [...]
Paw Prints in the Snow: 101 Dalmatians
Released in 1961, 101 Dalmatians has yet to show its age. It’s actually older than my mom, but you’d never know it (well, you’d never know the age of either of them; they’re both young at heart, and young at heart-ers are a style that never fades). The animation does look a bit old, but [...]
Going the Distance: Hercules
As a Classics minor and someone who has a not-so-secret love for all things Greek, Roman or mythological, Disney’s Hercules is laughably off base. But as a Disneyphile, I love it. I used to rewind the VHS repeatedly to watch Meg’s song, “Won’t Say I’m in Love” over and over [...]
Aurora Chasers
Growing up in tornado alley, I was always enchanted by thunderstorms. Much to my mother's dismay, I would run outside and watch the sky at the first rumble of thunder. When the tornado warning sirens wailed, she drug me inside. I would run around, collecting pets and precious stuffed animals to take into the safe [...]
Waking Sleeping Beauty
Okay, I have to admit the title of this chapter is actually the name of an amazing documentary, Waking Sleeping Beauty, that chronicles the rise and fall of the Disney Golden Age (Snow White, Bambi, Dumbo, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty) and the Disney Renaissance (The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, [...]
Mulan’s Choice
Every tween girl should watch this movie. I know it may sound odd, but the underlying message of this movie applies most to them. Mulan’s struggle is in finding a balance between who her culture demands she be and who she herself wants to be. She has to choose: [...]
Paw Prints in the Sink 