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Once Upon A Forest (1993)

Studio: Hanna-Barbara Studios

Director: Charles Grovensor

Theme: Prejudice is Born From Ignorance- “Just like a hedgehog, with a big mouth and no brains.”

Theme: Science vs Faith- “We’re lost too, in our grief!”

Theme: Youth Vs Age- “No, you wrecked months and months of work!”

Once Upon a Forest, much like FernGully, was very much about teaching kids the importance of saving the planet. But unlike FernGully, there are a lot of interesting themes throughout the entire story. The first being the most interesting one that ties in with all of the others- the theme of Prejudice is Born From Ignorance. Uncle Cornelius is tasked with teaching the kids of the neighborhood how to forage and learn about nature and he basically works as their mentor. He teaches them science and is a nice guy in general, but he is actually incredibly prejudice against humans. While justified because he lost his family when he was a child, he unnecessarily scares the children and refers to the humans as monsters. While that may be so, not all humans are monsters. Like the entire reason the forest gets poisoned is a complete accident. Humans are the instigators and are cleaning up the mess after the fact. Prejudice also seeps into the lives of the other kids that the heroes meet. They are reaching the last leg of their journey and need to get up a mountain. They are approached by a bunch of kids who think that it’s impossible for land animals to fly. They even make fun of the two boys, calling them names and other derogatory language. When the flying machine actually works, they are actually impressed and take back what they’d said against the boys.

Science Vs Faith is also an incredibly big part of this story. The only way to save Michelle is through a very rare plant and the kids venture out to find it. While science tells them that the plant exists, they have to take a lot of their journey only on faith. They lose faith a lot through the journey. And faith is shown to be a weakness when science easily solves the problem of a little bird trapped in a quagmire. The other birds are holding a pre-funeral for the bird, thinking he is destined to die because he is stuck and make no efforts to rescue him. The Trio quickly realize that it is a simple task and simply use their science know-how to simple pull the kid out using leverage. And it’s viewed the other birds as a miracle. The real theme is balancing the two out. Science explains our world and helps us to understand it, but its okay to have a little faith about the world too. Maybe there are things that can’t be explained by science that faith can or having faith in science is perfectly natural.

The final theme and the one I always looked at was Age Vs Youth. As a kid, I actually always disliked Uncle Cornelius. I thought he was going to be the bad guy because despite being a scientist and incredibly kind of Michelle, he was actually really mean and short tempered with the other kids. He treated them badly, yelled at them and constantly corrected them without encouraging their curious nature. The kids actually are incredibly smart and use their own abilities to save Michelle. And Uncle Cornelius also lets his own past and his world view cloud his teachings to the kids, telling them to fear everything- especially humans, and when they set out on their own, the kids lost their way a lot. It was through their love of Michelle and their own friendship that they were able to get the flower that would save her life.

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Cats Don’t Dance (1997)

Studio: 

Director: Mark Dindal

Theme: Blind Optimism is Bad- “If we all work together, we can show them what we can do.”

Theme: Dreams Can Be Incredibly Trying To Achieve- “They can break your cookie, but you’ll always have your fortune”

Theme: You’re The Only One Standing In Your Own Way- “Give it up, you loser.”

Cats Don’t Dance is by far one of my favorite movies from childhood- I loved the animals and the characters and the music. And of course my favorite was Sawyer because she was witty, sarcastic and sang one of the greatest ballads I have ever heard in my life (”Tell Me Lies” still makes me cry). And like my other reviews, there are obvious metaphors on the surface like representation in the media and the trials that POC and women went through in the Golden Age of Hollywood, but I want to delve deeper.

Which brings me to the first theme- blind optimism is bad. Not optimism, blind optimism. The reason why I say that is because while I think it’s endearing how sweet and kind and funny Danny is, he is not at all realistic in any of his goals. He is a small-town boy who is incredibly talented and gets off the bus in Hollywood and expects to make it big in a week. Now there is nothing wrong with his dream at all, but he goes into his work as an actor with blinders on that end up hindering him. He isn’t able to see the weight of the world around him. He misses the signs that Darla is not being honest with him about wanting to help the other animals. When he finally realizes what he’s done and starts to leave Hollywood, the movie that was bright and vibrant suddenly turns cold and rainy and he has to think about everything that he’s witnessed. It is after he realizes that while being optimistic was a good thing, he let the world take advantage of him and he needs to make sure that the next chance he gets he doesn’t go in without thinking it through properly.

And that is why I appreciated the second theme the most as a kid. The movie doesn’t play around when it comes to dreams. Danny gets his ass kicked. He hits rock bottom and almost gives up on his dreams because it turns out that getting what you want in life is hard work and some people aren’t prepared for   that. Danny has to take what he’s learned and use it to his advantage and turn it into an opportunity for the other animals to take their place in the spotlight. The movie’s main antagonist Darla even says in her villain song that she has worked hard to cultivate her image and refuses to let anyone get in the way of what she wants. Our goals in life need to be fought for.

And the last theme ties all of this together- the only person standing in the way of you getting what you want is yourself. The biggest difference between failure of the animals and success is Danny standing in front of them and telling them that they can do it. They let themselves get pushed around, forced onto the back burner but they still live in Hollywood, hoping for a chance. They still dream of being back up on the stage in front of an adoring audience. It’s Danny warning them not to give up that really pushes them to perform their final number in front of the audience. I think that is excellent advice for kids. That they are more than capable of achieving their dreams as long as they are willing to work for it and that they are the only ones who will stand in their own way of getting what they want. Blaming the world for failings doesn’t get anyone anywhere in life. The only person who actually gets in their own way is Darla- she could have easily co-existed with the animals- but she stood in her own way and ended up losing everything because of it.

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Ferngully (1992)

Studio: FAI Films

Director: Bill Koyer

Theme: Magic Vs Technology- “Aren’t you a little old to believe in human tales?”

Theme: Ignorance Vs Malice- “Can’t you feel it’s pain?”

Theme: Communication is a Two-Way Street- “Guys, things have gotta change.”

FernGully is by far one of the more obvious tree-hugging, clearly anti-pollution and deforestation movie from the 90′s (a common theme at the time with such tv shows as Captain Planet and Once Upon a Forest), wherein the main lesson was pretty much beaten into the child rather than being a little more subtle. However, I am going to dive a little deeper into this particular film today because I feel like there are more interesting themes going on that aren’t on the surface.

The first is Magic vs Technology. Magic in this case comes directly from the forest itself and Crysta is able to use magic to basically do anything from shrinking a human to the side of a fairy, grow flowers, and create plant life. But the fairies have spent so much time in the forest and have no actual clue as to what a human being is right up until one walks right into their village. The fairies represent the Old World, they don’t have a concept of anything modern, which is why they don’t heed Batty’s warnings that humans are bad and can hurt you. Zak is then brought to them through Crysta and is basically their version of a myth- a unicorn. They don’t understand him or anything he does. He tries to be friendly and nice but they misunderstand him constantly. The only real way he manages to communicate with the fairies is through music- using his walkman as a means to get everyone do dance with him, one of the few things the fairies and humans have in common. This can be seen as a representation of old world views and new world views. The new world is different and scary and can be misunderstood because the old world is safe and understood. But Zak is able to bridge the gap by bringing his technology forward in a way that is universal.

Ignorance Vs Malice really ties into the first theme. Everyone in this movie is ignorant accept for the main antagonist Hexxus. In fact, Hexxus is the only one in the movie who actually understands what’s going on- he embraces progress and thrives off of pollution and knows that the fairies are his biggest threat because they have the ability to grow forests with their magic, so he targets them and uses to the humans to do it- also a part of his reasoning is revenge because they stuck him in a dead tree for eternity. It’s the humans and the fairies who are ignorant about each other and the world. The humans don’t know anything about magic and don’t see that destroying the forest is a bad thing. It’s progressive, it’s going to become a new home for people and houses and cities. The deforestation is not done with malice. And the fairies don’t understand why the humans want to destroy magic and the forests, they think that they are selfish and cruel and hate Zak when they find out that he accidentally let Hexxus loose on the world.

Which is what really provides the most important theme that really gets overlooked- Communication. The problem often associated with movies like this is the tropes that All Humans Are Bastards, which sure, there are some, but not all. The only three humans in the entire movie are all normal working-class guys following orders without much question and are ignorant of the problems that they are causing by their work. They don’t know. And that’s the real message. By constant communication and education, we can overcome ignorance and malice and anything that stands in the way of what each side wants. The men stand down when Zak stands up for the fairies and he even says at the end that they have to sit down and have a serious conversation about what they are doing. Through mutual communication, we can achieve anything. And the fairies weren’t just some kind of salvation pieces in the story either. Crysta and the fairies made a lot of mistakes and assumptions about the humans based almost soley off of what Batty told them. And while Batty did suffer at the hands of some human scientists, he didn’t actually know anything about all humans and created fear and perpetuated blind hatred of humans in many of the fairies. Batty in this case is a fear-monger who let his bad experiences with humans cloud his judgement. And instead of writing it off because honestly, he was mentally incapacitated, the fairies just choose to let him influence them and this leads to major problems in their fight against Hexxus. At the end of the day, Zak is the one who chooses to understand both sides and return to his world to try and make it a better place.

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The Princess and the Frog (2009)

Studio: Disney Animation Studios

Director: Ron Clements and John Musker

Theme: Want Vs Need- “what we want, what we need, its the same thing, yes?”

Theme: Balance- “I realized... I don’t know how to do anything...”

Theme: Wishing Vs Hard Work- “I just got to dig a little deeper work even harder!”

This is honestly my favorite Disney movie of all time- Tiana is my favorite princess, Naveen is my favorite prince, Dr. Faclier is one of the greatest Disney villains ever, and I love everything about this movie. So this is a love-letter basically.

The Princess and the Frog is an incredibly well-written piece of media that has a few major themes that drive the entire story. The biggest theme is actually sung about in the Mama Oodie song “Dig A Little Deeper” where she encourages the protagonists to look deeper into their lives and realize that there is a major difference between what we want and what we need.

Tiana is a waitress who has aspirations to open her own restaurant and has always worked hard towards that goal. Naveen is a prince who has lived idly his entire life and has had everything done for him. When he is suddenly cut off from his family financially, he needs to marry rich to get back to the lifestyle he is used to. Tiana and Naveen represent the major themes really well: hard work vs silver spoon. Tiana is an incredibly hard worker but at the sacrifice of her social life. She spends all of her time working and never enjoys herself, she doesn’t go dancing with friends and even when she is talking to her mother in a casual conversation, all she is thinking about is her future plans at her restaurant, She never lives in the moment.

Naveen is exactly opposite. He is a spoiled prince who has always gotten whatever he wanted. He never has to worry about money, or food and spends his days doing nothing, Which leaves him completely lost and alone in the world when he is cut off- he doesn’t know how to cook, clean, or work, and has no way of supporting himself- he was a total slave to his own lifestyle. And that’s where the theme of balance comes in. Naveen and Tiana are a perfect couple because they bring balance into each other’s lives. Tiana makes Naveen learn new skills, including mincing, and learning to take care of himself and Naveen makes Tiana stop and look at the world for a second, makes her dance and actually enjoy life. They bring their own strengths and weaknesses to the table and make each other better.

This also plays in the major theme of Want vs Need. Tiana and Naveen both have very clear goals. Tiana wants her restaurant. She wants to make her father proud. She wants to be a success. What Tiana needs though is different. She needs to find a balance. She needs to be able to share her burdens with someone else and not take it on all alone. She needs to have a little faith that everything is going to be okay without her constant worrying.

Naveen too has the same struggles. He wants to be rich again. He wants to keep being lazy and have fun and party all of the time. He wants to have an easy life. But what Naveen needs is someone who challenges him and makes him a better person. He needs to learn to work hard for what he wants. He needs to share the load with another person.

And the final theme of Faith vs Hard Work- the movie goes out of its way saying that you need both- not just one or the other. Charolette and Tiana are constrasting in this way- Charolette is only a believer, and wishes on the evening star because she isn’t willing to put in the effort it takes to get what she wants. She thinks that having faith will get her a prince. While that is played for laughs, it’s really important that Tiana think that the only way to achieve dreams is just through hard work. While hard work is important, sometimes you need to let yourself have a little faith in something- anything. Magic doesn’t fix Tiana’s problems (it creates a lot of them), but its through Tiana’s realizations that her dad may have worked hard but he had faith and love and family to sustain him- that she doesn’t need to make the mistake of letting her life pass her by for dream that may or may not work out. She realizes that she needs to have a little faith in sometime bigger than herself along with her hard work for the goal to be meaningful when achieved.

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Hercules (1997):

Studio: Disney Animation Studios

Director: Ron Clements and John Musker

Theme: What makes a true hero- “The strength of a hero is not measured by the strength of his actions, but the strength of his heart”

Theme: Belonging- “I will find my way, I can go the distance”

Theme: Self-Sacrifice- “People do crazy things when they’re in love.”

Hercules feels like an outsider no matter where he goes because he is incredibly awkward and shy and trying his best to fit in, but his strength is so overwhelming and scary. His parents decide its finally time to tell him that he is adopted and so he seeks out Zeus- who tells him that he is in fact a god and needs to restore his godhood by becoming a true hero.

Hercules’ motivation is to become a hero, which is a great motivation, until you realize that he only wants to be a hero because he will get the reward of becoming a god again and finding his place in the universe. And that was the importance of the theme.

There was nothing wrong with his motivation- he wanted to basically find out where he belonged, which is so completely human of him, but he thinks that by doing heroic things and performing heroic acts that he will get this. He fights monsters and performs heroic deeds because in his mind, that’s what a hero does so that he may earn his place with the gods. He’s not doing it because he is self-less, he is actually being pretty selfish. But Hercules isn’t a bad person by any means, he is actually incredibly sweet and genuine and misguided. And its through his love and devotion to Meg that he ends up turning everything around.

Meg is almost the exact opposite of Hercules in every way. She doesn’t want anything but her freedom and will do what she is told by Hades to achieve that goal. She doesn’t trust Hercules at first because she is jaded by men and society in general. She thinks that everyone is bad and Hercules believes that everyone is good. They end up balancing each other out.

Hercules ends up performing his most heroic deeds through his own self-sacrifice because of Meg. While it was easy for him to fight monsters and to do everything when he had his strength, when his strength was no longer a factor, he got to become the real hero that the movie needed. Hercules sacrifices his strength for Meg, even though it was a trick by Hades, and he realizes what he’s done when its too late. And when the townspeople are being attacked by the cyclops, he realizes that he needs to protect everyone, even though he might die. Without his full potential, he goes out to fight the Cyclops anyway. Meg realizes that she needs to help him and goes to find Phil in hopes that he will talk Hercules down.

Then when Hercules is about to be crushed, Meg pushes him out of the way and gets hit by the pillar, which leads to her ultimate death, and Hercules is devastated. He realizes that despite his anger with her, he still loved her and she loves him too. He promises to come back to her after his fight with Hades. When Meg dies, Hercules is so upset and outraged that he breaks into the Underworld to find Hades. He makes a deal for Meg’s soul, promising to take her place. He is able to get her soul back and thus restoring himself also to his true status as a god.

Hercules is finally allowed to return to Mt. Olympus and Meg realizes that he is better off there, so she quietly leaves him, but Hercules realizes that he doesn’t want to be a god, he already has his place in the universe and “finally knows where [he] belongs.”

In that last scene on Mt. Olympus we really get to see these three major themes hit home- Zeus tells Hercules that he was a true hero when he put Meg’s life and happiness before his own. He was willing to spend the rest of eternity in a river of death to make sure that Meg was okay. Meg was willing to go against Hades and not help him fight Hercules because she put his happiness and well-being above her own. Through their mutual love, they both made incredible sacrifices for each other to ensure that the other was happy with absolutely no thought to possible reward or consequence. And that is the most important theme for kids to understand.

It’s great to do good things, but not to expect a reward for it. It’s okay to be unsure of your place in the world and need to find out where you belong- but sometimes even then where you belong is exactly where you’ve been the entire time. And sometimes it’s important that we let go of what we want to let someone else be happy.

And also Hercules is adorable and one of my favorite Disney heroes and I love him.

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The Reason I Am Here:

I have decided to start this blog for the purpose of focusing on kids’ animated films and their importance to childhood development and the reasons why I think that these pieces of media are just as important as anything else.