#watching disneys ichabod crane as i do

[strawberrystainedd]

I LOVE WHEN OLD CARTOONS NOTICEABLY USE THE SAME ANIMATION SEQUENCE IN THE SAME SHORT

[just-kit-ink]

To my followers who love her, on the 100th anniversary of Walt Disney Studios, Kitty, (now in her 50s) and her family are invited as the guests of honour to a party for animators and their cartoon characters. Every character ever created by the studio is there. She's hesitant to turn up, she was an animator a long time ago after all but with some encouragement from her family she decides to go. She dresses smartly and to her surprise there is a fancy car waiting for her outside their house. The chauffeur explains that the escort is courtesy of Mickey and Minnie themselves. Maisie excitedly clutches her mother's arm and they arrive to a bustling reception.

She shakes hands with old friends, makes some new connections and embraces the toons she's known and helped since she was young.

•Prince Charming and Cinderella greet her at the staircase and Kitty asks how they and their mice are doing. In response, Jacque-Jacque and Gus run through riding Lucifer the cat like a horse.

•Dumbo swoops overhead and gives her a wave with his trunk.

• Baloo sings on stage with Thomas O'Malley and Scat Cat, dedicating a song to the guests of honour.

•Ariel and Moana are chatting in the foyer and smile brightly as she returns from touching up her make-up.

•She runs into Ursula in there who was reapplying her mousse and gossiping about which Prince and Villain look the most dashing tonight.

•She gets a similar gracious nod from Maleficent and the Wicked Queen.

•Hades pulls on the old "You look familiar kid, do I know you? Ah! Amazon chick, right?"

•She is given a warm reception from the animals: Scar, Shere Khan, Shenzi Banzai and Ed, Kaa, Bagheera, Robin Hood and Little John, Kenai, Iago, Sebastain, Louis, Ray, Bambi, Thumper, Big Bad Wolf, the Three Little Pigs, Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps are just a few of the animal toons she chats with that night.

•Anastasia and Drizella do fangirling over her outfit. They also praise how well she's aged.

•The Genie appears out of a nearby ink well to surprise everyone and when he sees her he gives the biggest smile. "Kitty Hawkins!" *transforms into a cat and a hawk in the space of a second* "I knew it was you Sweetheart, I never forget a face except my own!" *takes off his face* "I'd forget my own head if it wasn't attached!" He lifts it off his shoulders and Ichabod Crane faints.

•Elsa and Anna come up to speak to her when they sense her nerves. Elsa's a bit overwhelmed by the crowds too.

•Bruno Madrigal apologises profusely when one of his rats jump onto her shoulder and is pleasantly surprised when she doesn't mind and even asks how he got on with family group therapy.

•She gets a hug from John Silver.

•Milo Thatch is there with his wife Princess Kidagakash and they talk about languages. In Dutch.

•Mr Smee brings Captain Hook a drink. He's a surprisingly giggly drunk.

•Belle and her have a terrific catch up. She also thanks her very much for helping the Beast become comfortable with his drawn form.

•Lumier helps to watch Maisie and calls her "la petite madamoiselle."

•Merlin knows how to make everyone a good cup of tea and mix cocktails. The Mad Hatter is behaving more erratically than usual.

•Kitty's husband is shaking hands with a lot of anti-heros and even a villain or two. They are incredibly grateful to him for helping them clear their names and turn their lives around.

•Snow White recieves a standing ovation for singing. She invites Asha, the newest Disney character up on stage and gives her a hug to quell her fears about not being welcomed.

•Kitty and Meg roast the executives behind their back.

•At some point in the evening, a cake is wheeled out and Tigger jumps out of it holding a "Happy 100 Years!" sign.

Kitty is sipping her drink and enjoying the armosphere when a hush falls as Mickey and the organisers give a special toast to all who turned up tonight. He thanks Scrooge McDuck for the funding, Tiana's Place for the catering, Daisy Duck for the decorations...suddenly Kitty hears her name. And a round of applause. She's being honoured and thanked by all the cartoons she ever helped mentally and emotionally. Her family are cheering.

"Hooray Honey! Congratulations!"

"Yay Mom!"

She smiles. It's all worth it. It was always worth it.

[meadowpond-tearoom]

Halloween🎃👻🕯️

...Though we don't celebrate Halloween (October 31st, the eve of the All Saints' Day), I decided to come up with a special post on it now. It's like I will start with a digital celebration here and maybe, we'll throw a pleasantly spooky, real Halloween party next year:)

...Have you seen this movie yet? It's fun and full of Halloween spirit. So I will watch it again:)

"Magic is really very simple, all you've got to do is want something and then let yourself have it." - Aggie Cromwell, "Halloweentown", 1998

...image is via allingforleavesandpumpkins

...image is from fallowingautumn-blog

"The universe is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper." - Eden Phillpots, Victorian novelist, playwright, poet

...image is from virtuallyinsane-autumn.tumblr.com

...HALLOWEENish atmosphere in PAINTINGS

“There’s a little witch in all of us.” - Aunt Jet Owens, a minor character in "Practical magic"

I don’t know what this crazy picture is:)), but I do really like it!  This cool painting is by Philip Grözinger (German, b. 1972)

"Do you believe in destiny? That even the powers of time can be altered for a single purpose? That the luckiest man who walks on this earth is the one who finds ... true love?" - Dracula, 1992

Driftwood by Adam Oehlers …via  witchyteacups

"Just because I cannot see it, doesn't mean I can't believe it!" - Bram Stoker, "Dracula"

...a painting by Adam Burke @nightjarillustration, an artist based in Portland, Oregon.

“Monsters are real, and ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win.” - Stephen King

The Haunted Park by Richard Doyle (English, 1824–1883) .via oldpaintings

📚11 atmospheric books to read during Halloween (not my personal choice, just came across this list somewhere. so let's try it out together:)

The Haunting of Abney Heights: gothic mystery for Halloween by Cat Thomas

White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi

Dark stories and poems by Edgar Allen Poe

Drakula by Bram Stooker

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz

The Woman in Black and other Ghost stories by Susan Hill

Dark Matter by Michelle Paver

The House on Vesper Sands by Paraic O'Donnell

House of Shadows by Mair Unsworth

Blood Lite by Kevin J. Anderson

Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu

📚...and these are chosen by me:) Havent' read any one of these books yet, but I was attracted by the covers. So now it's my Halloween reading wishlist:

"Villainy wears many masks, none so dangerous as the mask of virtue." - Ichabod Crane, a fictional character in "Sleepy hollow."

...The Ghosts Haunting the Woods by LorelaiArtsiePartsie

I usually prefer horror comedy films and animation to real horror movies. They should be scary yet not containing anything disgusting, and of course, there must be a happy ending...

...so, my Must Watch Halloween Movies List looks like this :)

The Little Vampire (anim.)

Monster House (anim.)

Beetlejuice (1988)

Ghostbusters starring Bill Murrey (1984)

The Haunted Mansion starring Eddie Murphy (2003)

Disney’s Halloweentown II: Kalabar’s Revenge (2001)

Young Frankenstein (1974)

Vampire in Brooklyn starring Eddie Murphy (1995)

A Haunted House (2013)

Hubie Halloween starring Adam Sandler (2020)

The Curse of Bridge Hollow (2022)

The School For Good And Evil (2022)

...and that's not all yet! How can I wrap up the post without sharing this energizing song from my favourite Gravity Falls series?! ;)

...not yet! Now, even more shivers down your spine!

Now, Happy, Spooky, Scary, Eerie Halloween! Have fun! 🎃👻🕯️

[baronvonkrieger]

Twice Told Tales; The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

To celebrate September becoming October, what better way is there, then to watch the second half of Disney's 1949 animated feature film The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad., followed the next day by watching Tim Burton’s “Sleepy Hollow (1999)? 

A childhood favorite of mine, this animated version  may be unique in Disney animated films as having no truly likable characters. Brom Bones is a big bully and a self centered jerk. Ichabod Crane is a shameless opportunist, and Katrina is a Jezebel with the hots for Brom Bones, who decides to play Ichabod against Brom, for her affections. In the end it is Brom who wins hand of the “fair” Katrina, and do they deserve each other. 

The film is narrated by Bing Crosby, who’s easygoing charm fits in perfectly with the fluid animation. He sings three songs that are fun, and advance the story beautifully. My favorite of the three, is “The Headless Horseman” performed by  Bing Crosby & Jud Conlon's Rhythmaires. It beautifully sets up the wonderfully executed Ichabod Crane’s ride home from the party at the Van Tassle house, where he encounters the “Headless Horseman”. Although left to the imagination whether or not this is the spirit of the Hessian who lost his head to a cannonball in the Revolution, the way the Hessian keeps missing Ichabod’s head with his saber, it’s pretty clear the attempt is not to kill Ichabod, but to scare him out of town, and clear the field. As we see at Brom Bone’s wedding, as Katrina rushes to kiss Brom, Ichabod never stood a chance.

In 1999, Tim Burton did another take on the famous story, and as much as I like Tim Burton’s films with his original material, this may be Burton’s only adaptation of  someone else’s work that I enjoy. As close as the 1949 Disney adaptation was to the original story, Tim Burton's version is his fan fiction of the story, where he fixes what he didn’t like about the original story. It may be fan fiction, but it is very good fan fiction. It is very much inspired by the Hammer Horror films of the 1950s -70s, and some of the cast appeared in those films. Disney’s 30 minute animated version was just the right length for a faithful version of the short story it was based on. However, this is a feature film, and an attempt to stretch the story to 106 minutes, would have probably meant a film as bloated as Peter Jackson's Hobbit trilogy.

Burton’s sympathies are clearly with Ichabod Crane, who is now a detective called to Sleepy Hollow to investigate some decapitations the locals say were caused by a headless horseman. Ichabod is a man of science, due to a tragic backstory involving his father who was a cleric. Of course there’s a tragic back story, Tim Burton likes nothing more then a good tragic backstory, so his heroes can be wonderfully melancholic. Brom Van Brunt (which is the actual name from the original story of Brom Bones) is in love with Katrina Van Tassle, but Katrina is not the Jezebel of the Disney film, so she’s not exactly reciprocating his affections. That’s OK. The Headless Horseman can take care of Brom, so he is no longer a problem. That’ll teach him a  lesson about, forcing his attentions when they aren’t welcome. Although the hero of our story, Ichabod isn’t above hiding behind a boy if he thinks he’s entering a risky situation.

Christopher Walken plays the Hessian with a lot of aggression, who spends most of the film living up to his name by being headless. We do get a flashback where he’s Walken in a winter wonderland, and what led up to his becoming headless. This allows the character to be more then just Brom scaring up away an unwanted suitor, as he is used by someone in a plot for revenge over a great  wronged someone suffered by the town of Sleepy Hollow.

Being more a supernatural story, then the original story was, works for me, and I find Burton’s take on the Headless Horseman’s story, close to being as entertaining as the Disney version. Would I recommend seeing the Burton version? Absolutely. It is one of Tim Burton’s best.

[calliecat93]

Callie’s Disney Princess Retrospective: Beauty and the Beast

(Snow White) (Cinderella) (Sleeping Beauty) (The Little Mermaid)

The Little Mermaid was a huge success for Disney. It was such a big success that it began the Renaissance Era of Disney Animation and returned Disney to the top animation studio. While many people such as John Musker, Ron Clements, and Glen Keane can be credited for the film's success, the biggest player by far was lyricist Howard Ashman. He put his heart and soul into the film, and not just with song lyrics. He wanted the characters to connect to the audience. He wanted to play a part in the story. He wanted this film to be something special, and he succeeded. But he was also frustrated, could be argumentative when others didn't like his vision, and unknown to everyone, he was dying. After winning two Oscars for The Little Mermaid's music, Howard revealed to composer Alan Menken that he had AIDS, and he didn't have much longer to live.

However, Ashman wasn't going down before completing one more film. Though he had been writing music for Aladdin, he ultimately ended up as the lyricist of another film. A film that had been through many different iterations and was handed off to newbie directors. Little did anyone know just how impactful this film would be for Disney, and for the industry as a whole. Well, except for Ashman himself. The film that we are discussing today is the first animated film to ever, ever be nominated for Best Feature. That film is 1991''s Beauty and the Beast.

Overview

Belle is a beautiful young woman, but is seen as an oddity in her village due to her love of books and her utter disinterest in local heartthrob Gaston. When her father, an inventor named Maurice, leaves for a science fair, he ends up taking refuge in an old, abandoned castle. But the castle is actually enchanted and acts as the home to dozens of talking inanimate objects... and a fearsome beast. When Belle goes looking for her father, she offers to take his place as the Beast’s prisoner. But during her time in the castle, Belle discovers that this Beast may not be as much of a monster as he appears, and this may lead to both discovering true love...

Review

I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that this is by far one of Disney’s most beloved films. It got praise form both critics and movie-goers when it came out, and it’s only become more beloved in the nearly 20 years since. Belle is praised as a feminist's icon and the film for it’s themes of toxic masculinity, judging a book by it’s cover, and some of the darker aspects of society like those we blindly praise. I... like the film, but I never loved it to the extent as others. Not because it’s bad, that is a ridiculous notion. I just liked other films more and Belle just didn’t interest me as others like Cinderella or Mulan or Ariel. But seeing it again as an adult who has seen the darker aspects of society since I was a kid, it REALLY rings more deeply than it did back then.

One aspect that no one can argue about is the animation. The film is beautiful. It has some of Disney’s best animators at the time such as Glen Keene, Mark Henn, Andreas Deja, and so much more. There was so much life put into the film and it is a true visual spectacle.I meant hey managed to take inaminate objects, and bring them to life. Sure they have faces to help humanize them, but to make us believe that these are talking, moving objects that were once human is still a VERY difficult task. But they have so much personality like the suave, passionate candlesick Lumiere or the stuffy, orderly Cogsworth. The backgrounds andf settings are also great fromt he Sleepy Hollow-esque village to the gothic castle of The Beast, to the creedy woods that look even more terrifying when it snows. There’s so much color and lighting that is used so well, especially with the castle eminating so much mystery and intrigue compared tot he plain village that Belle is from.

But the setting we all remember most of all is the ballroom. While Disney has been using CGI some before, such as Big Ben in The Great Mouse Detective (yes,t hat WHOLE setting was computer graphics), this is probably the biggest use to date. The ballroom is a gorgeous golden color and looks so big and vast. It takes you’re breath away. There’s a reason why this is the most well-remembered part of the film. The animaiton for this film was very straining, especially due to conditios to accomodate Ashman that we’ll get to later. It was stressful, but they absoluteley put their all into it. When you watcht he ballroom sequence, added to the dance and Angela Lansbury’s lovely vocals, you forget that you’re even watching a movie. It feels like... well, love. It’s by far one of Disney’s best looking features.

As I said in the intro, the film ultimately fell into the laps of two relatively rookie animators; Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale. This was after several various attempts to adapt the film, with none successful. Wise and Trousdale’s biggest claim to fame at the time was doing animaiton for EPCOT’s now defunct Cranium Command attraction (look up Who Stole Buzzy, boy is THAT a story) and while they had worked on other features, they had never been in the director seats. To make it more difficult, due to Ashman’s health continuing to gradually decline, Katzenburg decided to move produciton over to New York to spare him from having to travel. Which is a VERY noble effort and it’s sweet that they were willing to do so to keep working with Ashman, but as you can imagine this was quite a strain on the production team and as before, they would sometimes clash with Ashman and his vision. Still, they along with Menken returning as composer and writer Linda Woolverton, they reworked the then-script into something that they were happy with.

The setting is very reminiscent of another Disney work, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. One of two segments from the Package Film Era feature The Adventure of Ichabod and Mr. Toad. We all know the story of Ichabod and his infamous ride where he encountered the Headless Horseman. Here we have a similar quaint village where people seem rather simple-minded. Like in Sleepy Hollow where everyone took notice tot he rather strange looking Ichabod Crane, we see a similar notice of Belle who is an anomaly to them. Though unlike Ichabod, who had pretty much everyone under his thumb and is kind of a gold diging jerk, Belle is ostracized and is a FAR better person. Gaston bears a striking resemblance to Brom Bones in both looks and social status (tough Brom isn’t as bad in comparison or even compared to Ichabod, though still a Jerk Jock) and the Bimbettes bear a bit of similarity to Katrina. I wouldn’t be surprised if the crew used Sleepy Hollow as inspiration for setting and character design. Only thing missing is the Headless Horseman, which that would have been interesting XD

The film deals with several topics. There’s the standard ‘don’t judge a book by it’s cover’ and ‘true love conquers all’ messages. Both of which are handled very well. But there are also some that IDT Disney had ever really tackled to this point. There’s encouraging women to make their own choices, which Disney HAS tackled but this one does it differently with Belle rejecting the standard good-looking man and falling for the monstrous looking one. In fact there is really a strong theme tearing down toxic masculinity and male entitlement. It says that no, men are not obligated to a woman and that women have the freedom to reject them no matter the societal pressure. Especially if they act as despicable as Gaston. With how much more aware we’ve become of how horrible some men in power can be and how they use that power on vulnerable women, this remains a relevant message to todays audience. It let’s women be empowered, confident, and enjoy things like reading as well as have the hope of finding those who will be accepting. These are all important things, and the film does an excellent job in showing it and what actual love should be like. The Beast especially starts as a jerk, but once he decides to become better and wants to be better for no ulterior reasons, he proves worthy of Belle’s love. That’s how love should be and how a person should change themselves. Again, very well done.

Despite his health and being downcast about not completing Aladdin, Ashman still put his all into the film. As I said, they outright shifted production to another state at a time when social media and things like Skype and Zoom were a distant dream. Still, Ashman along with Menken put their all into the soundtrack, and it paid off big time. This film, along with The Little Mermaid, really set up the precedent for Broadway-style animaed films and considering that they continue to be successful, I’d say that that says a lot. There are a lot of memorable songs int his fimlm, and there’s even some that didn’t make it in. One in particular, Human Again, actualy got animated and added back for the film’s IMAX release and various home media releases (sadly it’s not in the Disney+ version). The score is also very well done, especially at the end. Just listen to the music when the Beast finally turns human again. It added to the outright magical animation will leave you in awe as much as Belle was.

But what about the vocal tracks? Good question. Let’s go over them:

Belle/Belle Reprise: Our first song which as the name suggests, is about our leading lady. It does a lovely job establishing her character as a book-loving, intelligent young woman feeling that there was be more than this life ans village that she remains stuck in. It also establishes the village’s rather simple-mindedness and socital expectatons, finding Belle a beautiful but very strange girl because of her loving reading more than getting married. It also establishes Gaston’s smugness, entitlement, and holding the entire village’s admiration, The music is optimistic, but there’s a lot here that’s gonna take a dark turn a the film goes on. The reprise is short and more somber, but let’s Belle express her unwillignness to marry a man like Gaston, wanting to find love on her own terms. Little does she know what’s awating her right after.

Gaston: No one can have a song named after Gaston like Gaston! Yeah, this inspired plenty of meme’s, didn’t it? Even Disney itself has gotten in on the fun haha! But seriously, this is a fun villain song. I gotta give Gaston this, he’s a smug, horrible person but he shows that he can back up many of his boasts. I don’t doubt that he can eat dozens of eggs a day or is as strong as an ox. The song also further shows the town’s utter blind devotion to this brute, not being concerned about his entitlement to a girl who clearly isnt interest and more because of how handsome and grand he is. Isn’t society fun kids?! But then at the end, after Maurice is kicked out, it takes a darker turn as Gaston makes his plans to essentially blackmail Belle with her father’s safety... and right back to blind praise! I feel zero sympathy for any of the villagers in this film. But yeah, a song with a lot of dark implications, but still a very enjoyable villain song.

Be Our Guest: This is a true show-stopper, and I’m not just saying that. Lumiere wanted to create a show, and BOY did he succeed. The song is the most like a Broadway number in it’s composition and grand feeling. The fact that we have a huge number full fo singing, dancing, stuntwork, etc is being done by a bunch of dishes and pretty freakin’ impressive. Yet the animators gave it all so much life and Jerry Orback sings with so much passion and energy and it is just SO much fun to watch! Especially with poor Cogsworth at first trying to get everyone to calm down, but by the end he gets real into it... well until Lumiere knocks him to the side. The only negative is that for being a song about serving Belle dinner, aside form a bit of The Grey Stuff she didn’t even eat dinner. For shame! So 1 out fo 10 of food servive, but the show was worthy of two thumbs up!

Something More: This was the song that replaced Human Again. It’s a sweet song about Belle and Beast beginning to realize their feelings the more that they spend aroudn each other. Belle sees that Beast may not be very well-mannered or much of a looker, but he does have a good heart and the more they interact, the more it begins to show. Belle’s kindness, intellience, and willingness to look beyond the surface has Beast falling in love with her, yet his fear of being a monster is still holding him back. Still as we see the two do things like have dinner, play in the snow, or even Beast letting Belle read to him, the more we see that spark of love slowly grow, even if they haven’t fully grasped it. It helps advance the romance, and it’s just really sweet.

Beauty and the Beast: The song that won Menken and Ashman another Oscar. It’s not hard to see why either. The song is beautiful. It’s performed by Angela Lansbury, and her gentle vocals accompanies by the gentle orchestra is just lovely. The woman outright did the song in one take. One take. That is insane, yet it happened. And I can see why because the song is just beautiful. It adds to much to the already majestic ballroom scene, being about two unlikely individuals finding love and ultimately making the other a better person. It’s just a work of beauty. There’s also the pop version by Celine Dion and Peabo Bryson, which I also really love. It’s more commerical, but still very pretty especially with Celine’s gorgeous singing voice. Both versions are beautiful, and the first thing I think of when I think of this film... and no, not just beause of the name.

The Mob Song: This is exactly as you would expect with a song with that title. It’s dark, angry, and scary. Gaston rallies the troops to kill The Beast, convincing them that he is a danger to them all. They grab their torches, weapons, and there’s just this tense atmosphere throughout. This is the culminaiton of al the socital expectations and blind devotion to a person who doesn’t at all deserve it. It’s also a very accurate protrayal of the mob mentality, where you become a part of this hivemind following the rest of the crowd no matter how wrong it may be and despite your own senebilities. The only ones who don’t fall into it, Belle and Maurice, get tossed into a basement for their trouble. What makes this song sad though? In Disney+’s documentary Howard, produced by Don Hahn who also produced this film, it was explained how in the eyes of several of his colleagues, it seemed like Ashman was venting about the AIDS epidemic. That was a VERY dark time where the gay community was especially under fire, persecuted, hated, and so many other horrible things because the world chose to blame them for it. Ashman was a gay man. He had an ex partner die of AIDS, and had another partner at the time who talked about him in the documentary. Imagine being scapegoated just because of your sexuality, even though you never caused any harm, and society hated on you and others fell into he mob mentality, and they went as far as to either demand you to die or do the job themselves. All because you were different. Really adds a new perspecive to the song, doesn’t it? This can be applied to so many groups too, which makes the song even scarier, but also emphasize even more how dangerous the mob mentality is. Very effective song.

Sadly, Howard wouldn’t live to see all of his numbers to completion. With his health declining rapidly, Menken and various others went back and forth between Burbank and New York in order to work with him. Ashman worked until he psycially couldn’t anymore. He was even giving notes to performers like Paige O’Hara despite barely being able to talk. He managed to complete his work, at least to my knowledge, before his passing on March 14th, 1991, just a few months before the film’s release. After a screentest, which proved very successful, Don Hahn and some other colleagues went to see Ashman in the hospital to say their goodbyes. Hahn told him of the reception, and jokingly asked who would ahve expected that the film would have turned out so great? Ashman’s response? “I did.” The work he managed to do for Aladdin would be included in the film, which we’ll discuss when we get to that one. The soundtrack won the Oscar which was awarded to Ashman (as well as Menken) posthumously and a dedication to him was including at the end of the film. It’s always sad to see such a talented individual leave us far too soon, but his work truly brought new life to Disney and is beloved even all these years later. That is a legacy that will never fade.

Now we get to characters, and we have quite a good number of them. We have of course the village that Belle is from. On the surface, they seem like pretty plain people, satisfied with their way of life. But this also causes them to at least not think highly of those who break from that way of life. The men work, the women care for the children. If men don’t work, they’re jerk slobs. They all especially fall into blind admiration for the strong, handsome Gaston who is hailed as a local hero. So much so that no one gives ANY of his terrible actions an ounce of consideraiton. Selling Maurcie tot he looney bin? Well he’s alreafy viewed as crazy, so ah well. Belle trying to tell them that The Beast isn’t a monster? While their first imprression of him is defeniteley a bad one, the fact that they listen to Gaston and not the woman who actually interacted with The Beast says a lot about how simple minded they all are. I hope they learned their lesson after all was said and done, but even if not Belle doesn’t have to pay them any mind anyways.

The only person who is accepting of Belle is her father, Maurice. He’s viewed as a crackpot, but Maurice is a good-hearted, smart, and perfectly sensible man. He’s a bit of a goof with how his inventions can go haywire, but otherwise is no diferent from any other person. But like his daughter, his interests have him judged instead of what he’s like as a person. It’s especially sad when he tries to get help to save Belle, and he is merely laughed at and thrown out because of his status. Maurice is a loving father, accepting of Belle and of her interests and choices. She isn’t interested in Gaston? Fine with him. People view her as odd? That’s utterly ridiculous. It’s really nice to have a parent who is supportive and involved int heir kids life, especally compared to Triton last time who may be caring, but is utterly against everything that matters to Ariel. In fact it’s the firs ttime we’ve had this since Snow White and Cinderlla’s parents are dead and their stepmothers are horrible, Aurora grew up away from her otherwise caring parents, and Ariel... it’s complicated. Maurice is a good guy and it is good that Belle has someone who accepts her unconditionaly. She loves him so much that she sacrificed her happiness for him twice to protect him, which really shows how strong their bond is.

That brings us to our villain, Gaston. He is a hunter who is muscular, handsome, and has physical skills that he can back up. However he is also entitled, egotistical, sefish, and just a horrible person. He wants to marry Belle only because of her beauty and instead of trying to get to know her or shifitng atteniton to any of the girls who would gladly grovel before him, he pursues her despite her not liking him. It’s especially bad when he goes to her house, sets up a huge engagement party, and gets into her personal space in his attempts to charm her. She not only rejects him, but promptly humiliates him. Yet instead of thinking that he had tried far too hard and jumped the gun, he blames Belle for daring to reject him. He reflects exactly how society can view someone like him. No one thinks about the woman, they only see a good-looking man get rejected despite us not knowing anything about ther perosn or their relaitonship. Especially if that man is essentially a celebrity, which makes people look past anyhing.

But none of these things are indicitive of an evil perosn. An arrogant jerk yes, but not evil. That all changes when, after Maurice tries to get help, Gaston comes up with a new plan. He decides to have Maurice admitted to an asylum for being crazy, and to use this to force Belle to marry him. This is what shifts Gaston from a jerk to a true villain. This is how far his entitlement and selfishness goes. He is willing to take Belle’s own elderly father and use him and his freedom as blackmail to force her to marry him. Even compared to the four villainesses before him who committed horrible acts such as attempted murder, mental/emotional abuse, and even attempting world domination, this is utterly despicable. Then there's him deciding to kill The Beast. Despite what he says, it's not because of the potential risk to the town, it's solely because he sees that Belle loves him and can't stand it. He outright calls her crazy AND locks her and Maurice up out of pure entitlement and selfishness. He doesn't give a damn about Belle or her though and well-being. Only about his own.

Gaston is entertaining, but very much evil. As I said above he bears a lot of similarity to Brom Bones from Disney's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. A muscular jock-like figure often the most beautifiul girl in town. Only while Brom was a jerk, he was arguably less bad than Ichabod Crane depending how you looked at it. Gaston essentially has Brom's muscles an Ichabod's selfishness. He cares only for himself and his own pride. Admittedly he put up a decent fight against The Beast, but that's only because Beast wasn’t fighting back until he saw Belle. When he did, Gaston whimpered and begged like the pathetic man that he is. Then he stabbed him despite being spared out of pure spite. An act that cost him his life. Fun fact, originally he survived the fall and was truly killed via the wolves. They ended up saving that for Scar's death in The Lion King. But yeah, Gaston died in the undignifiedmanner that he deserved. A despicable but memorable villain who was perfect for this film.

Then we have the castle characters. You’d think that it would be difficult to give life to a bunch of furniture and appliances... and it probably was. But this movie makes it look easy. They do give most of them humanoid features, like eyes and a mouth, but not all of them and even then it would be so easy to make it look creepy. But the castle staff is just os much fun and beaming with personality. We’re gonna discuss the main four: Lumiere, Cogsworth, Mrs. Potts, and Chip.

Lumiere is a candlestick, which matches his passionate characterization. He’s a showman. A romantic. A more daring, out-going character compared to his frequent frenemy Cogsworth. Cogsworth is a clock and I think he’s implied to be the Beast’s butler or some other kind of advisor. He’s stuffy, nervous, and the most lawful of the characters. Though he CAN get into the fun of things with a little provoking as demonstrated in Be Our Guest and the big battle during the climax. Hoenstly, Be Our Guest is a great number to demonstrate the two’s contrasitng perosnalities. Belle has been banned from eating and Cogsworth doens’t want to both break the Beast’s orders nor cause a bunch of noise that would anger him. Lumiere however? He’s dead set on getting Belle to fall for the Beast, so she should be treated as their guest, not a prisoner. Plus he and the other staff are tired after ten years of being stuck as they are and all alone, so cue the extravagant show number. Lumiere is having the time of his life while Cogsworth tries to convince everyone to stop... but by the end gets caught up in it and joins in ont he fun. Too bad that Lumiere knocks him off the center stage at the end haha. But yeah, their constant banter is amusing but they are clealry friends, especially in the fight where Cogsworth saves Lumiere. They’re both also performed wonderfully by their VA’s, Jerry Orbach and David Odgen Stiers, the latter of whom would appear in several more Disney films, including one for this series that we’ll get to fairly soon.

Mrs. Potts is a teapot and her son Chip is a tea cup. I guess that Chip ended up that way to match his mother, which her being a teapot matches her mothelry persona. She’s very kind and consoling towards Belle and seems the most understanding about The Beast and why he acts ike he does. Which since I think that she was essentially the house caretaker, makes sense since she’d have likely been the one looking out for him. Plus she herself is a mother, and since Beast has the emotion coping skills of a child, she’d know how to deal with it. Chip is the token child character, though not a bad one. He’s a nice kid with a huge curiosity. It’s really cute how hen allt he adults are seeing the bloomign romance between Belle and Beast, he’s uttelry confused like any kid would be haha! He takes a liking to Belle quickly, though more like he sees her as if she were an older sister than any kind fo crush or the like. He’s also smart, figuring out how to use Maurice’s inveniton to free Belle and Maurice quickly...and him wanitng to do it again got a good laugh out of me haha! Mrs. Potts is a nurturing mother and her with Chip is so sweet,e specially when they’re truly human again. Plus her advice of how things will turn out alright in the end is advice that I look back on sometimes. it’s really comforitng.

So... as I’ve mentioned in these reviews, a big issue is how underdeveloped that the prince has been. The first two were plot devices only. Phillip and Eric were better int hat they were active int he plot and Eric had some more perosnality and motivation than the other three did. But it just didn’t feel like the male elads were... quite at their full potential yet. They generally didn’t recieve any character development and were mainly there for the sake of being a lov einterest to the heroine. That all changed in this film with our hero, The Beast.

Beast is one of the most well-developed male leads in a Disney Princess film. A few like Aladdin, Naveen, and Eugene rival him for overall best (though tbf the former IS the lead of his movie so that may not count) but Beast helped make the princes more equal to their princess without overshadowing her. Beast is the co-protagonist to Belle and the character that recieves the bulk of the character development. The opening tells us all that we need to know: Beast was once Prince Adam, a spoiled brat. When he turned away an elderly begger, it turned out that she was an Enchantress and she cursed him into his monsturous form. Since he looks like a monster, he subsequently acts like a monster... or more accurately, like the child that he never truly grew out of emotionally. He’s angry, lashes out constantly, and roars at the top of his lungs when at his limit. Like how a child screams and throws a tantrum when things don’t go their way because they lack the social and emotional coping skills to handle their feelings properly. Becoming a beast left Beast isolated and ashamed to face reality, and thus he didn’t learnt he proper coping skills. He accepted that he would forever be a monster, and succumb to acting like one.

That is, until the day that Belle arrived. When she offers herself to free her father, it’s the opportunity that Beast never beleived that he would get. If he can win her love before the rose petals all fall, he’ll be human again. He’ll be free. While he begins still acitng agressive and even bordeirng on emotionally abusive, e isn’t heartless. When Belle is crying about not getting to say goodbye to her father, Beast seems to legit feel bad for hurting her. It doens’t change his behavior, but it’s still a small moment that shows some humanization. It’s important to add moments like this and his despair when using the mirror to hear Belle talk about him. She’s justified in disliking him at that point, but it’s his reactions that matter. It shows his insecurity, his fear, his utter despair that he’ll be cursed for the rest of eternity. He’s already succumbed to acting the part of a monster and is already struggling to act more polite. As amusing as the scene of him yelling at Belle through the door is, it demonstrates just how hard this is for him but if he can’t improve his behavior, then he has no chance. He knows it, and views it as hopeless. It helps humanize The Beast, showing that despite his appearance there IS a human soul in there somewhere. Someone who on some level does want to be better, but he doesn’t know how. If not for these moments, Beast would have been utterly unsympathetic, but they pulled it off.

The turning point comes after Beast rescues Belle from the wolves. Remember, he’d already pretty much given up on winning Belle over and being human again and the confrontation on the third floor certainly didn’t help matters. He could have just let Belle to her own devices... but instead he went to save her. I sincerely do not believe it was because she was a prisoner or because he needed her. He had given up. He had succumbed. But he did it anyways, showing that he isn’t a bad person. It’s something that Belle sees and she gets him back to the castle to treat him. She called him out on his temper, but is sincerely grateful and Beast is stunned by this genuine act of kindness. She didn’t fear him. She wasn’t disgusted by him. She didn’t even leave him to die despite having pretty good reason to leave him and go. Belle still chose to save his life as he did her’s, showing Beast probably the first true act of love that he ever experienced in his life. We know nothing of his family and while I’m sure that staff members like Ms. Potts certainly cared for him, clearly they didn’t do much to quell his spoiled behavior. Belle was kind because she’s a kind person, and Beast finds that he wants to be kind to her in return.

From that point, we see Beast in a new light. He calms down significantly. He’s happier. He carries himself less like a wild animal and more like a person. He’s outright excited when he prepares the library to surprise Belle with. He’s still awkward as shown with his table manners and interacting with birds durign Something There, but he is trying. He’s trying for Belle. He activly enjoys her company. He sees how beautiful she is physically, but that’s not why he likes her. She’s kind, intelligent, independant, and she makes him feel in a way that he never has. He still feels that she can’t love him because of what he is, but the change that she has caused is so evident. He’s fallen in love and the ballroom scene only strengthens that with himt he happiest that he’s been all film. But the crowner that truly demonstrates htis? When Belle expresses missing her father, he lets her use the mirror. Not only does he seem legit concerned when they see Maurice freezing to death but when he sees Belle’s clear distress, he decides to let her go. He’s sad when he does so, knowing that she may very well never return. But Belle’s father needs her. he can’t force her to say and be miserable. He loves her so much that he decided to let her go. But it does mean that he gav up his final chance at being human after feeling more human than he had in ten years, and he is left in despair.

His despair is so strong that when Gaston and the mob arrives, he doesn’t even try to fight back. He just waits and is prepared to let whatever happens to him happen. Fortunately Belle coming back restores his will to live and he fights back. When Gaston grovels for his life, what does Beast do? He grants it, simply growling at him to leave. It is that moment hat shows how much of a better person that Beast is compared to Gaston. He was an angry man bordering on abusive, but he changed. He met someone who wasn’t willing to take his behavior, but was also willing to see the good that was in him. He changed for her, and it made him a kinder, more selfless person. The only thing that remains is his self-loathing, even saying that maybe him dying is for the best after Gaston has stabbed him. Fortunately Belle confesses her love, and it not only saves his life, but breaks the curse just in time. Beast is restored to Adam, having earned the right to having his humanity back. It was a lovely way to cap off his development, and allowed him to earn his happily ever after.

Beast was very much Belle’s equal. Even nowadays they’re both promoted and marketed pretty equally. One’s story would have been incomplete without the other. They gave each other what they each wanted and needed. I’ll go into specifics for Belle when I get to her below, but in the Beast’s case he needed someone kind, but also independent. Someone who wouldn’t tolerate his behavior and push him to change himself, but still kind-hearted enough to see that there is something there and be willing to help. Belle treated him in a way that no one else had. She was defiant, but also caring. She pushed him to rediscover his humanity. She got him to want to be kind. She got him to want to be a better person, and he not only treated her better but he was kinder to his staff as well. He finally grew up from the spoiled brat that he was before. He had found a reason to, and his love was so genuine that he let Belle go to be with her father again. It’s a beautiful story of growth and did enough to make Beast’s issues clear and not excusable, but sympathetic enough that we wanted him to be better and feel happy when he does so. He’s the best developed male lead in a Disney Princess film up to this point and helped pave the way for equally well done male leads. Ones not there just to fill out a plot beat and be the princesses’ reward, but to stand at her side as her equal.

Boy did THAT one get long. there’s other minor characters. Le Fou, The Bimbettes, the psyche ward keeper voiced by the late, great Tony Jay, various other castle characters, etc. all of them are entertaining, I just don’t have much to say about them. So then... we have one more to go.

Belle Analysis

https://youtu.be/M4ne1A1aNrI

Belle is one of the most praised and beloved Disney Princesses of all time. She is smart, playful, independent, and kind-hearted. I feel like she gets overly praised at times, mainly because some like to use her to bash her four predecessors since she didn’t have the goal of falling in love. I won’t repeat what I said about the four, you can read the reviews, but it’s a VERY unfair argument not just to them, but to Belle as well. She’s used as a tool to bash other female characters instead of being loved for herself. Then agains he also gets bashed for the Stolkholm Syndrome argument, which we’ll get to that aspect here soon. But for now, let’s just discuss Belle piece by piece and see where the path leads us.

Belle’s intro establishes everything right off the bat. So much so that the intro sing is literally titled Belle. She’s bookish and cheerful, but it’s clear from her interactions witht he villagers and their own gossip that she’s seen as weird. The only people who seem to like her as she is is the bookshop owner and her own father. The women are jealous of her beauty, the men only see her for her beauty, and both sides are confused at her lack of conformity. Belle lives in a town that clearly has very old-fashioned views regarding gender roles. The men work, the women get married and have babies. They all seem content with this... except for Belle. She enjoys books and adventure, musing about wanting more than the provincial life that she has. She strolls through the village with her nose stuck in a book, but has no trouble navigating at all depsite the distraction. Books provide her a source of adventure and thrill that her limited life does not. She breaks those old-fashioned norms and he village is uttelry baffled at to how she can be this way. But what truly makes her a bafflement to everyone? Her utter rejection of Gaston. While just about every other women swoons at his feet, Belle couldn’t be less impressed if she tried. She’s familiar with how he is and if she had’t recieved his advances before their first scene, she’s probably seen it enough times to know that she doesn’t like him. Him dismisisng her passion for books and insulting her father did him no favors.

On the surface, Belle does’t seem bothered by these things. But when home, she does express some hurt about ti to her father, the one perosn who loves her for her unconditionally. She knows that she doesn’t fit in. She knows that she’s not happy with her life. She wants someone to understand her besides her father. She wants more to life where she can be herself. She wants to find love on her own terms and not have to deal with the advances of men like Gaston. None of this stops her form being able to handle herself, as demonstrated when Gaston goes to her house to force a proposal. She handles kicking him out with utter grace and her “I don’t deserve you” line is icing on the cake. But none of that changes how she feels. If anything, it enforces it. The village is all on Gaston’s side and at that point, her father has left for the science fair. He won’t be there forever, hence why she wants to find someone who will love her for her. To control her own destiny. To those who feel forced into their gender roles or being forced into a relationship that they don’t want whether by an agressive person or by peer pressure, Belle’s struggle is very relatable. Her independant spirit is also admirable as while she is dismayed with where she’s at, she still is able to smile and live her life as she wants. She’ defiant. She makes do with what she has and is able to handle what’s thrown at her with pure wit and ingenuity. Gaston nor anyone else can bring her down... at least, not until her wish for adventure ends up unexpectedly granted.

Before we progress forward, let’s pause to discuss Belle’s VA, Paige O’Hara. When Beauty and the Beast was beginning casting, O’Hara was already a rising Broadway actress and Disney happened to be seeking Broadway talent specifically. After several call-backs, she finally earned the part. She’s credited Howard Ashman as a huge help in guiding her to finding her voice as Belle, and she performs the role beautifully. She captures Belle’s independence yet playfulness very well, as well as her defiance and heartbreak in certain scenes. And her singing? Beautiful. Maybe not on par with Jodi Benson, but you can tell why she was a rising Broadway star. Today, O’Hara works mainly as a painter with Belle very much being one of her main muses. Sadly due to how much her voice has aged, she rarely plays Belle herself anymore, the role nowadays being primarialy done by VA Julie Nathanson. While she also does a lovely job at the part, O’Hara will always be the first to bring the character to life. Fortunteley she still shows a lot of love for the role and has attended multiple events and even got to reprise Belle at least one more time during Ralph Breaks the Internet. She had reprised Belle multiple times between various DTV films, TV appearances, and other events. So even if she is limited nowadays, her large body of work will live on forever.

Back to the film, Belle discovers that her father is in danger and ends up at the castle. We all know what happens at this point. Belle offers to take her dad’s place, Beast agrees, and Maurice is kicked out before Belle can so much as say goodbye. She’s distraught at this, and who can blame her? In a matter of hours, her life as she knew it was ripped away from her. Now instead of her old provincial life, she’s a prisoner in an enchanted castle ruled by an angry beast. Even when given the nicer room, she doesn’t feel that much better. She’s never going to get to see her father again or even know if he’s safely back home. She has no reason to believe that a rescue is coming. Some may say that she should try and get out, but isn’t she allowed this? To be upset and at a loss of what to do? It’s not like she just cries the whole time, she calms down enough to refuse to go to dinner despite the others insisting that she does. Even when Beast yells at her to do so, she refuses. She may be a prisoner, but she’s not going to play the victim. She’s going to be as she normally is; however she wants to be.

Soon, Belle’s able to calm down enough that she decides to go explore the castle. She is ultimateley a curious, adventurous spirit. Regardless of the circumstances, she can’t help but want to learn more about this new, strange place and these new figures that she’s encountered. You can tellt hat she’s warming up reatly during Be Our Guest where despite not actually getitng to eat anything, she is just havng far too much fun to care. It gets her spirits back up and now she can’t resist exploring more. Even if it risks The Beast’s wrath, one her curiosity has peaked, she can’t resist it. It’s a great strength, but also probably her biggest flaw. Despite having been told not to and knowing by now how Beast will react, she slips away from Cogsworth and Lumiere to go explore the West Wing. This ends with her seeing the trashed area, finding the Enchanted Rose, and getting yelled at by an enraged Beast. That is the last push needed to make Belle decide to escape.

So now that we’re at this point, we have to talk about one of the big topics that comes up when discussing this film: Stockholm Syndrome. To put it simply, Stockholm Syndrome is when the victim becomes emotionally attached to their aggressor and doesn’t want to leave them and tries to justify their actions. So when the vicitm is rescued, they may react negativly or even aggressively towards the rescuers in favor of the agressor. it’s a psychological response. This is actually a case where I was able to go to a professional to ask about it,: my own mother. My mom is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and currently works as a therapist. I’m fairly sure that she’s never treated anyone with Stockholm, but it is something that she knows of. I did ask her about if the film did glorify Stockholm Syndrome as some accuse it of. The gist of what she told me is... well, there’s enough in-film that either side can use it to prove their case. After all she DOES develop positive feelings towards Beast while a prisoner, so one can take the context and use it as an example, and same for the side who don’t agree. Ultimately Belle is a ficitonal character. We can’t sit her down and give her a psychoanalysis because she’s not real, and most of us doing these analysis’ aren’t therapists, psyologists, or mental health experts anyways. I’ll leave some sources below if you’d like further reading on the topic, but doing research isn’t the same as being a professional trained to go over these kinds of things. My mom said at most, Beast can be viewed as emotionally abusive, though it is because of his own trauma and he did ultimately improve to be a better person.

I fully agree that yes, if someone wants to make the arguent that the film promotes Stockholm Syndrome, they can. It’s their opinion, this came out in a diferent time than now where we take things like emotional abuse in cinema far more seriously, and in the end it’s a piece of fiction and people are free to view it however they wish. But the same also applies to me and in my opinion, no. Belle does NOT suffer from Stockholm Syndrome nor does the film glorify it. Now I am not an expert by any stretch of the imagination. This is strictly my opinion going off my understanding of it. I may be wrong and if that’s the case, I apologize. But from what I know and understand, the case in the film is not a straight forward situation like the various case studies in the real world. Plus I think we see enough of Belle being defiant and not feeling positivly towards Beast to see that she certainly hasn’t developed any psychological attachment towards him to cope with her situation. We’ll be seeing her feelings towards him change, but I’ll explain why I don’t feel that it counts down below. But again, I’m not an expert. This is just my understanding of it.

So... why the long tangent there? Well we’re now at the wolf attack scene. The turning point in the relationship. Belle’s effort to escape ends with her cornered by a pack of vicious wolves. Fortunateley, The Beast rescues her and drives the wolves away... but he is inured in the process and passes out. As I said in Beast’s character breakdown, he didn’t have to do it at that point since he’d given up, but he did so anyways. It showed that he isn’t a bad person. Something that Belle also saw. The Beast had been aggressive and rude to her throughout, and she had every good reason to continue on her way now that the path was clear. But Belle didn’t. She got Beast onto her horse and took him back to the castle, the closest shelter, to treat his wounds. Is this because she feels compelled to do so after forming a psychological dependency or attachment to him? No. We see as she treats his wounds that she still isn’t going to tolerate his temper and rudeness towards her. She stands up for herself and talks back at him until he calms down. She very much retains her independence. So then... why did she save him? Because Belle is a good-hearted person who just saw this seemingly hateful beast save her life when he didn’t have to. She isn’t the kind of person to leave an injured person to die. She did it out of kindness and gratitude as we see when she genuinely thanks Beast for saving her life. She’s seen a new side to him now, and it’s made her reconsider her earlier stance. Thus Belle remains at the castle.

The characteristics of Stockholm Syndrome include positive feelings towards the captor and belief of goodness in the captor, no real effort in escaping, learned helplessness, and feelings of pity to the captor. You can read the list and learn more here, and the link will also be with the sources. So you’re probably looking at that and going ‘...uuuggghhhh’ at the movie right now. Which fair enough. However let’s also look at where we are now. This is the part of the film where Beast makes an honest effort to improve himself. He’s nicer, trying to be more polite, and treats Belle as a person. She’s really not a prisoner anymore at this point and while mybe theposisbility of being human again is motivating Beast, for the most part I think it’s because he genuinely grows to like Belle. As for Belle, I think that she likes the castle. It’s enchanted and full of intrigue and mystery, just like in her books. It’s the escape form that provincial life in the village that she’s been longing for. It’s a temptation that she just can’t resist. The staff all like her and treat her kindly and no one tries to force her to be something that she isn’t. Beast especially loves Belle’s love of books, even giving her the huge library to repay her earlier kindness. Belle is able to be who she is and be around those who are accepting of her. Even fi for the staff it’s for ulterior motives, IDT that they’re faking liking having her around and Beast certainly isn’t. This isn’t really a straight-forward captive or abuse situaiton that Stockholm Syndrome would apply to in my opinion, especially since Belle never once succumbs to the Beast’s terms. She only respects and acts friendly with him when he does so towards her, and they are both clearly benefiting positivly from it. We know that Beast has no malicious intenitons regarding Belle and it’s Lumiere and co. insisting on the relaitonship happening moreso, and that’s because they want their humanity back so it adds a bit of complexity. It’s just not a straight forward case where we can easily apply Stockholm Syndrome to and get an accurate reading, at least in my opinion. She certainly is FAR from helpless.

So then let’s discuss Belle’s feelings for The Beast. We know how much Belle’s influence changed The Beast. But what about Belle? She really doens’t change during the movie, nor did she realy need to. She’s already confident about herself, likes herself, and she knows what she wants with her life. Sure her curiosity can get her into trouble, but otherwise she didn’t realy need a character arc like Beast did. What Belle needed was acceptance. To find someone who would like her for who she is and not see her as weird for it. Beast doesn’t at all view her that way. He enjoys being around her because she’s smart and independant and even gets her to read to him. It’s that kind of acceptance that Belle hasn’t recieved from anyone outside her father. The more that she sees Beast try to be better, the more that she sees how sweet and endeairng that he really is and she’s more than happy to help him. I think that seeing this kinder side bloom and that acceptance and even enjoyment of her is what makes Belle fall in love with him. It’s what helps make the ballroom scene so magical. Two people considered outsiders coming together and dancing the night way happily together. It’s beautiful, magical, and the perfect culminaiton in everything prior. They brought out the best in each other. Made each other happier in a way that no one else had ever done. They’re better now because of the other, and it’s just lovely to see.

But of course, we know what comes next. While happy with Beast and being at the castle, Belle still misses her father. When she sees him in the snow and horirbly sick, she’s distressed. Seing this, Beast allows he to go. Honestly I think that Belle could have left whenever she wanted at that point and Beast wouldn’thave fought it, but she was staying willingly at that point because she was happy. But her father needed her now. If she truly had Stockholm Syndorme, I don’t think that she would have done so. But she doesn’t really give it any kind of thought here. While sad to leave The Beast, she has alreayd mad eup her mind when told that she could go. She leaves to save her father, The Beast giving her the mirror and unbeknownst to her Chip tagging along. Belle fortunateley gets Maurice home safely... and just in time for Gaston to initiate his plan to have Maurice locked away. Belle is of course shocked and outraged and in a panic, uses the mirror to confirm The Beast’s existence. Despite her insistence that he isn’t a bad person, it’s too late. Gaston realizes that she’s in love with the ‘monster’ and we get the iconic line: “He’s no monster Gaston, you are.” Beast treated her like a person and improved himself from his more toxic behavior. Gaston treated her like the prey that he seeks during his hunts, refusing to let up until he’s won. Beast had even kept his word about letting Maurcie go and returned him to the village safely, and of course let Belle go to help him and even seemed to feel guilty for what he had done previously. Gaston though? He shows no guilt over trying to use Maurice to blackmail Belle. He continues his horrible behavior not only by forming the mob, but locking Belle and Maurice in their own cellar for simply speaking against it. Belle didn’t call Gaston a monster because she’s been conditioned or due to a coping reflex. It’s because Gaston is a genuinely despicable person while Beast grew to become a good person. She saw this and stood her ground as she always has, but this time at the point where she won’t tolerate it anymore. Which if it was your parent being shipped off to the insane asylum by some jerk just because they want to marry you, woudln’t you call them a monster in comparison?

So we reach the climax. Belle and Maurice arrive after Chip frees them with Belle rushing to get to Beast. She makes it and seeing her reignites Beast’s will to live... but he’s stabbed by Gaston. Belle saves Beast from falling over the roof, but there’s nothing that she can do to stop him from dying. She’s devestated, blaming herself for it. Beast’s final words to her are that at least he got to see Belle one last time, and if she hadn’t figured it out before, I think that this was when Belle realized that Beast loved her... and that she loved him. We knew that Beast certianly loved her but we needed it confirmed from Belle as the curse was still intact. As Beast lay motionless, Belle cries and at last confesses that yes, she does love him... just as the last rose petal falls. With that confession, the curse breaks and Beast is ressurected/becomes human again. Belle is shocked as she sees not The Beast standing before her, but Prince Adam. You can tell how confused she is. is this reallyt he same person that she loved? Adam confirms it and Belle looks into his eyes... and that’s all it takes for her to finally smile. yes, it is the same man that she had fallen in love with. They kiss,a nd the curse is truly broken. Everyone becomes human again,t he castle is restored to it’s original state, and Belle and Adam dance happily, free to live happily ever after.

Belle is a role model character. She’s there for girls to look up to, and I think that the amount of fans that she has proves that she succeeded. She encourages girls to be themselves. To be independant and not bend to social norms or pressure. To find love for themselves and not succumb tot he pressure of unwanted admirers or the pressure to marry them. Something that happens far too much in reality. She doesn’t change, but there was no reason for her to. As I said, Belle’s not one of my favorites. Not because I dislike her by any means. if anythign I like her much more now as an adult now that I have a stronger understanding of the film. I just have princesses that I like more, and that’s really it. I also don’t like how some insist that she’s the best Dsney Princess compared to her predecessors because as I hope I made clear in those reviews, the previous four pricnesses are NOT badly done. If anything, I think it’s more anti-femenist to use a woman to bash other women without just cause. Saying that belle is better because she didn’t fall in love witht he guy at first sight or didn’t sell her soul for a guy without caring to analyze those characters isn’t empowering, it’s saying that if you don’t act a certain way as a woman, you’re anti-feminist. Which is a terrible stance. No woman is the same and women shouldn’t be used against women in this kind of way. Regardless, that’s an issue with certain ‘critics’, not Belle herself. She’s a great character and someone that I can admire. Maybe not as much as others, but I can certainly see why she’s left such an impact on so many and not even just little girls. To many people of all kinds. Who could be upset about that?

Final Thoughts

Beauty and the Beast is a lovely film. Is it my favorite? No. I didn’t watch it all that much as a kid. As an adult I have a greater appreciation for it. It’s beautfully animated, it’s themes are well-protrayed and still relevant, the characters are memorable and fun, and it’s music is phenomenal. I can absoluteley see why this as the first animated film to ever be niminated for Best Picture. It’s a tragedy that it lost, but it still proved that animation very much had staying power as Walt proved all those years ago. And of course the film is the final testament of Howard Ashman. He may not have been part of the Disney Renaissance for long, but his contributions single-handedly changed the company and their films for the better. Even today this style of musical films is very much going strong even over 30 years since it began with The Little Mermaid. We lost Ashman far too soon, and who knows what amaizng things he could have one if he were still alive. We can never know the what ifs, but we can always appreciate what came during his lifetime. He, Kirk Wise, Gary Trousdale, Alan Menken, Don Hahn, various animators, and so many more did so much to bring this film to life, and it will forever stand as a true Disney Masterpiece.

The film was a giant success, and Disney wasn’t slowing down one bit. The very next year, another animated feature would come out. A film about a dashing street rat who found a magic lamp and unleashed a magical genie who would make all his dreams come true. But wait you may ask, isn’t this a Disney Princess retrospective? Yep. So why am I talking about a dashing hero? Well there is a princess in it, but she occupies a bit of a unique place in the line-up. She is the first and so far only Princess to not be the main charater in her film. But she still left a huge impact and i included in the main lineup so we are NOT leaving her out. So next time, come along as we enter a whole new world to discuss 1992’s Aladdin, and in particular Princess Jasmine.

Image Source: Animation Screencaps

Further Reading on Stockholm Syndrome: Healthline, Medical News Today, GoodTherapy, WebMD,

[schibi12]

Mr. Toad and Ichabod Crane

Ooooh ok I was hoping to get this one because I had it in last year's Halloween-athon but I didn't had time to watch it but now I do and I watched it and I shall review it.

So before getting to the actual spooky scary part I do want to give a quick review of The Wind in the Willows part I absolutely love that part it was charming and whimsy and full of fun, I wished Disney used more of this property honestly I had a great time watching it and I highly recommend it. (P.s Mr Toad and Moley where my favorite characters)

Ok from an enchanting slice of life tale to a gothic horror legend (what a genre whiplash honestly)

So The Legend of Sleepy Hollow portion of the movie was great honestly, the animation is great, I like how the story is mostly told sung through narration and the characters don't really talk also that no one is a good person, Katrina is a flirt, Brom is a Bully and Ichabod is kind of a slimy fellow.

And I like how it starts a bit idyllic with a few jokes and slapstick moment and then we are told of the Legend of the Headless Horseman.

And that build up to that chase, that fake reveal and when we get the actual reveal the music the animation everything is in full drive for this chilling scene fun fact while I was watching this movie I was sewing a button and I got jumpscared so bad that I accidentally stabbed myself with the needle, don't worry I didn't bleed.

And that ending there is no happy ending in this story we don't know what happen and we shall never know and as the narrator said you better get out of there.

Overall a good entertaining movie I give this movie 3.5 jack-o'-lanterns out of 5 jack-o'-lanterns

🎃🎃🎃

[theamazingmrcat]

Halloween Movie Watch 2021

Since I'm currently unemployed, I started watching a ton of Halloween movies on the first day of Fall, with the goal of hitting 31 movies by Halloween.

1. Disney's Ichabod Crane

2. Scary Movie

3. Ghost Rider: Spirits of Vengeance

4. Justice League Dark

5. Plan 9

6. Saturday the 14th

7. Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie

8. Dracula Has Risen From The Grave

9. The Mummy, with Peter Cushing

10. The Curse of Frankenstein

11. The Mummy Returns

12. Fear Street, Part 1

13. Muppet Haunted Mansion

14. Halloween 3: Season of the Witch

15. Halloween

16. The Addams Family

17. Addams Family Values

18. Young Frankenstein

19. Ghostbusters

20. Fear Street, Part 2

21. Fear Street, Part 3

22. Scooby-Doo! Frankencreepy

23. Goosebumps

24. Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween

25. Halloweentown

26. Dracula: AD 1972

27. Ghost

28. Trick ‘r Treat

29. Jack Frost (the campy horror movie about a slasher snowman. Do not get it confused for the Tom Hanks one. One of my teachers did, and it did not go well.)

30. Nightmare on Elm Street 2010

31. Cannibal Women In The Avocado Jungle of Death

32. The Mad Hatter

33. Super Hot

34. Comedy of Terrors

35. Every single Simpsons Treehouse of Horror

36. Lego Star Wars: Terrifying Tales

37. The Mummy (Brendan Frasier)

38. Monster Squad

39. The Batman vs. Dracula

I beat my goal!

[justasimplesinner]

the legend of sleepy hollow came up in conversation earlier today and i had to keep myself from bellowing in triumph or throwing my phone on the floor like i had just scored a touchdown. the entire time my class watched it (it was a more recent live action production, not the disney short) i was getting super gatekeepy with the characterization of ichabod crane and his use as the comic relief of the film. what the hell has my life come to. do you think jon would like me now

i think jon would run the fuck away in terror if he saw what any of us think of him

[everydisneymovie]

Ranking Check In No.2

Post #50

8/10/2020

With that we are done with the 1950′s, 1940′s and 1930′s

I swear I lost brain cells watching some of these movies. While the earlier movies were offensive in that sort of ‘matter of fact’ way, these movies were offensive in a very aggressive and direct way.

Despite the absolute garbage we had to slog through, 

Let’s check in shall we?

Current Ranking from Best to Worst. (1930′s-1950′s)

Bambi [32/50]

Snow White [30/50]

Sleeping Beauty [28/50] *D*

20,000 Leagues Under The Sea [27/50] *D*

Treasure Island [27/50] *D*

Dumbo [27/50]

Fantasia [25/50]

Lady And The Tramp [25/50]

The Story Of Robin Hood And His Merrie Men [25/50]

Third Man On The Mountain [24/50] *D*

Old Yeller [24/50]

The Adventures of Ichabod Crane and Mr. Toad. [22/50]

Pinocchio [21/50]

The Great Locomotive Chase [21/50]

So Dear to my Heart [21/50]

The Littlest Outlaw [20/50]

Victory Through Air Power [20/50]

Alice In Wonderland [19/50]

Darby O’Gill And The Little People [19/50]

Saludos Amigos [19/50]

Davy Crockett And The River Pirates [18/50]

Rob Roy The Highland Rouge [18/50]

The Three Caballeros [17/50]

TONKA [17/50]

Make Mine Music [17/50]

Cinderella [16/50]

Johnny Tremain [15/50]

Davy Crockett, King Of The Wild Frontier [15/50]

Zorro The Avenger [15/50]

The Reluctant Dragon [15/50]

The Sword And The Rose [14/50]

Melody Time [14/50]

Fun and Fancy Free [14/50]

White Wilderness [14/50]

Perri [14/50]

The African Lion [13/50]

Song of the South [12/50]

Westward Ho, The Wagons! [12/50]

The Shaggy Dog [12/50]

The Secrets Of Life [11/50]

The Living Desert [11/50]

Peter Pan [11/50]

Academy Award Review of Walt Disney Cartoons [11/50]

The Vanishing Prairie [10/50]

The Light In The Forest [6/50]

Yeah Light in the Forest deserve to be all the way down at the bottom I could not stand that movie.

Bambi, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty are sitting pretty at the top, with 20,000 Leagues and Treasure Island not far behind. I am not surprised that the animated movies are constantly the best movies on the list. Animation can accentuate the story beyond what live action can do, especially in a time before CGI. On an interesting note, the two live action movies in the top 5 both use extensive props, sets and costumes to create a visual language that is fun to watch. Good visuals can elevate a good story and Disney really hasn’t grasped that yet. 

Movies of the same point value have been compared to on another and ranked on which one I would want to watch over another in the same ranking.

Time to move on to the 1960′s, wish me luck. 

With this, we are now 10.44% done with our list. My suffering must continue.

[elijones94]

👻🎃 I know it’s past Halloween, but this was something I really wanted to do: a drawing of characters from two horror-based stories , Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” and Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”. Back in fourth and fifth grade, my class read “Sleepy Hollow”. We even watched a short film version of the story narrated by Glenn Close. During my junior year of high school, my English class read “The Crucible” out loud together. I read as John Proctor. As I read my lines, I used a voice I had based on Judge Claude Frollo from Disney’s “Hunchback of Notre Dame”. Afterwards, we all watched the movie that starred Daniel Day-Lewis and Winona Ryder. The characters you see here are Ichabod Crane, Katrina Van Tassel, and John Proctor.

[crdenhart]

10 Movies You Should Watch This Halloween 2019

Another Halloween, another chance to check out some classic and unique movies perfect for the season! Halloween is my favorite holiday season with the most ideal weather, cool costumes and decorations, and the perfect time for scary movies. So grab some candy and enjoy these ten cinematic spooks (presented in chronological order):

The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

“To a new world of gods and monsters!”

I first saw this movie years ago as a kid when I received a Frankenstein DVD collection as a Christmas gift from my grandparents. I recently rewatched the film and now as an adult, I realize how brilliantly crafted the movie is especially for the 1930s and how way ahead of its time it is in its subtexts with characters and scenes having deeper meanings related to religion and sexuality. The best of the classic Universal horror movies!

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949)

“I’m telling you, Brother, it’s a frightful sight for what goes on Halloween night.”

This little gem is usually forgotten about in the canon of Disney Animation but everyone surely remembers the iconic scene in which Ichabod Crane is pursued by the frightening Headless Horseman, which has become a Halloween season staple. The film also celebrates its 70th anniversary this year so perfect time to watch it if you haven’t seen it (in a while).

Alien (1979)

“In space, no one can hear you scream.”

Ridley Scott’s horror sci-fi movie masterpiece just celebrated its 40th anniversary and recently was rereleased in a new 4K remaster so the film looks sharper and scarier than ever! The film is like a haunted house in outer space, and the Alien creature effects seem so realistic it has me to believe that aliens do exist in reality. There are few sci-fi movie that get as scary as Alien.

Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979)

“Listen. The children of the night make their music.”

This movie is a remake of the 1922 classic Nosferatu but the 1979 stands on its own as a master-class vampire movie. I had dinner with the film’s director Werner Herzog in Fall 2012. I was in production on my horror short film “The Masked Phantom” (you can check it out here: https://youtu.be/n_zFhMqHHao) and he gave me wonderful advice on how to craft a good scary movie and really frighten audiences. One of my favorite film career memories!

Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989)

“Michael, go home!”

This entry in the franchise often gets overlooked as “the one with Tina and the clown cops,” but Revenge is definitely the scariest the series ever gets after the first two films. The scenes with Michael in the woods and the laundry chute scene are among the scariest in the series and still give me chills whenever I watch it. I also really like the dark “smokey”-looking cinematography and the emphasis on the Halloween holiday setting itself with heavier use of costumes and decorations compared to most of the other films so it feels like it actually takes place on Halloween.

American Psycho (2000)

“I have to return some videotapes.”

Christian Bale may have won best actor this past year at the Golden Globes for his role as Dick Cheney in Vice but his performance as the menacing bank-exec-by-day/serial-killer-by-night Patrick Bateman is his finest performance. The film perfectly recreates the look and feel of 1980s New York. Christian Bale is scary and psychotic, especially in the scenes where he murders people and tries to hide his crimes! My favorite sequence however is when all the rich guys are in a meeting and get jealous of each others’ business cards even though they all look seemingly identical.

Fun Size (2012)

“My mom is going to kill me.”

This Nickelodeon movie is a fun Halloween film for the entire family. It reminds me a lot of Snow Day, which is my favorite non-Christmas winter movie. Love the Halloween atmosphere with all the costumes and candy and decorations throughout the film. Adults can enjoy it just as much as kids.

Mother (2017)

“Get out!”

I first saw this film in theaters a couple years ago and has since become one of my favorite scary movies. Jennifer Lawrence (my favorite modern actress) gives an incredible performance as do Javier Bardem and the rest of the cast. The film is rich in biblical symbolism which I love because I’m currently enrolled in a Bible study class. Some very scary and disturbing scenes that will tug right at your soul!

Halloween Cat (2018)

My animated short film has been making the short film circuit recently. It’s about a cat in search for candy on Halloween night and comes across a haunted house where spooky things happen. I’m really proud of the work by my filmmaking crew and hope this film will continue to be enjoyed every Halloween season. You can check it out here: https://vimeo.com/277177988

The Fanatic (2019)

“Moose is in the house!”

This new thriller starring John Travolta as a crazed horror-movie fan is by no means a great film, but it is so much fun to watch with Travolta’s terribly cheesy and over-the-top performance. It also makes several scary movie references that horror fans will pick up on. Most hilariously bad movie in recent years!

Happy Halloween 2019 everyone!

[tawneybel]

Happy holidays! Here’s “Santa Claus on a Helicopter,” a timeless Yuletide classic. I’ve watched a lot of movies these last few months but haven’t been discussing them. So one of my resolutions is to do that more lol. 

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad

This is a great Halloween movie. The “Wind in the Willows” segment was okay, but “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”! I’m compiling a villain song playlist and “The Headless Horseman” is fire. 💫 IMO, the Horseman’s more eligible a bachelor than Ichabod and Brom combined. Stupid sexy dullahan-descended bastard. 

Besides him, my favorite character is Tilda. She’s adorable! She was way too good for her “love interests.” :/ (I’m just going to casually ship her with the Horseman.) Give Tilda merch! This movie isn’t as popular as it should be, but I’m surprised Disney nerds on here haven’t given her more attention.

I nodded off during the 1999 film, can’t remember if I saw the Wishbone episode or not, and skimmed the short story. So I guess this is my favorite version. 

Watch classic Disney movies with family. You get more out of them.

“I think they’re discriminating against Toad because he’s an animal.” “It’s true. The cold-blooded get screwed over by the warm-blooded. The warm-blooded d!ck them over.” 

“Tawney, I want you to know this is nothing like the book. It’s not nothing, but the book’s better.” 

“Mr. Winky just straight up suck/s.”

“Does this do anything for you? ...Toad’s thicc.”

“Why are mongooses exalted but not weasels?”

“Why is the horse nak/ed?” “Would you like to be his friend?” “No, he’s a doucherama. I’d run his a/s/s over.”

“You know, they shouldn’t lend money to animals.”

“Ichabod’s quaint. Ichabod’s got an itchy… tisn’t.” “I’ve got an icky bod.” “Lick-a-bod Crane.”

“I liked this one better. Toad sucked. Toad sucked a wet sprocket.” 

The First Purge

Anarchy and Election Year are still my faves. The prequel got interesting about thirty-three minutes in, with the exploding toys. All the creativity that goes into Purge weapons and apparel is great. The “puss/y grabbing motherfucker” is the creepiest thing in the franchise. Either that or David’s “exhibit” from the first season. 

The Purge is known for being loud and clear about its message, and this installment is particularly blunt. At first, I totally did not notice the militia were wearing black face masks. Or that the General Smiley was a Naz/i. G!mps can be cute, but not if they’re channeling SS officers. 

The Hills Have Eyes 2 

Syfy on On Demand… Blurring out breast/s is asinine in general, but particularly during a labor scene where the woman was forcibly im/pregnated, held captive, then offed. Also, censoring swear words.  

Sleepwalkers

The reason werewolves are more popular than werefelines is because knotting is preferable to barbed pen/is pene/tration. Charles Brady is so hot, though. The whole thing with Mary would have been hot if they weren’t related. Sharing stolen life force energy via sex is hot. Having female vir/ginity as a prerequisite for prey is not. 

“Boadicea” is such a great ending song. I love Enya. Oh! And I loved Clovis. I wish I had an adorable cat who could summon a kitty army. 

Body Snatchers

I haven’t read Invasion of the Body Snatchers and I’ve only seen bits of the 1956 film. The novel was discussed in a nonfiction book whose title I cannot remember. 

Why did the mom think a teenager and a kindergartner should share a room?

I didn’t recognize Billy Wirth (The Lost Boys) with short hair. Or Christine Elise (Child’s Play 2). 

I ship Marti and Jenn. 

The spindly tentacles were cool but I couldn’t take the pod people’s shrieking seriously. 

Halloween: Resurrection

That’s my girl, Laurie. You hide those pills in Raggedy Knockoff. You’re one of my fave final girls. Michael’s also a smart cookie. Busta Rhymes’s character turned out cooler than I was expecting. It was nice that he didn’t get killed off. 

Halloween II

Grunting Michael Myers was not something I knew I wanted.

Why was Daenerys Tarygen standing in the road with a white pony? This came out in 2009 so I think in a couple years Michael’s favorite pony will be Rarity. 

Thir13en Ghosts

It’s nice to see a ghost movie that takes pride in its setting. 

JR Bourne! 💕 Is it weird I think he’s cuter in Teen Wolf and The 100? That man was born to play D!LFs. The Torn Prince is also cute.

[sammyday-everyday]

014: The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949)

Here we are, ladies and gentlemen, to the last ass-saver. Let’s get this down quickly, but believe me when I say that I’m relieved to present The Adventure of Ichabod and Mr. Toad.

Synopsis: In this feature, Walt Disney presents two stories based on classic literature, "Wind in the Willows" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow". The first story is about Mr. Toad, a wealthy frog with a problem for manias, and how his incurable behavior leads him to trouble with the law. The second is about two rivals in love, the odd Ichabod Crane and the strong Brom Bones, who are quarreling for the love of Katrina Van Tassel, which will lead Brom to frighten the superstitious Ichabod with the tale of the Headless Horseman.

If you saw any of my ass-saver reviews (here's the first one), you know why that film was made. You also know how I feel about the film-- unsurprisingly mediocre--, so I do not know what one would expect in this review. But I'll do my best to cover the essential without wasting anyone's time.

Overall, animation and songs as you might have guessed are fine but not memorable. The stories aren't as remarkable as previous Disney features, but compared to the other ass-saver, they did a good job. Many seems to enjoy the Mr. Toad segment according to reviews I’ve read, but I personally preferred the Ichabod Crane part of the film. It's simple, funny and, most importantly, amusing. I enjoyed the first segment a lot less, but that might only be because I'm more into the silly quarrel between Ichabod and Brom than a frog having to represent himself in court for a crime he didn’t commit.

I guess I'd recommend the film only to someone who's really into any of those two stories, because I doubt there's a lot of Wind in the Willows adaptations out there. Other than that, it isn't a forgettable piece of Disney film neither is it a memorable one. I guess it just stands in-between; it has that Disney charm but lacks anything iconic.

End note: Watch it if you want, but it's mediocre for Disney standards. Story-wise it's nothing impressive either. Like I said, you might be into if you like either Wind in the Willows or Sleepy Hollow, or maybe if you're just a really big Disney fan.

Star Rating: 3/5

[davidcarner]

Buy More High School Ch 10, Trick or Treat

A/N: Hey, how are you? Welcome back to the insanity that is Buy More High. Working with different authors has helped me realize part of the problem I was having with this fic and with Casey & Walker. I got it in my head that chapters had to be a certain length. What I've learned is get done what you're trying to get done, and it will be okay. So I think this is off hiatus. Also, your folks reviews to Pump Up the Jam made me get the itch again for my stuff (Not gonna lie the team up with SC is a blast) Don't know how regular this update will be but I know we've got at least three or four chapters left in this one, maybe more. Welcome to Ch 10, Trick or Treat

Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck, and I love this time of year.

"Really Miss Walker," Roan said with a smile taking in her costume. It was Halloween morning, and students and faculty alike were dressed up in some type of costume.

"You don't like it?" she asked, turning from one side to another to model the outfit. She was in the full Elizabeth Swann pirate costume, complete with brown vest, trousers and boots. The white shirt underneath had the puffy sleeves, and a long brown coat completed the ensemble.

"Oh, I think it's wonderful, my only question is has Charles had a heart attack yet after seeing you?" Roan's eyes were twinkling.

"I think he likes it," she replied coyly.

Roan raised an eyebrow, making Sarah grin. "I would say he's a fool if he doesn't.

Sarah leaned in towards Roan. "He said, and I quote, 'Shiver me timbers! I hope I'm getting pillaged later." Roan threw his head back and roared with laughter. "I have no idea what he means," she said innocently.

"I'm sure you don't Miss Walker, I'm sure you don't." Roan shook his head. "As for why I'm here, I think we finally have the diction right for Mr. Masters."

"I thought that was Cole's job?"

Roan rolled his eyes. "Mr. Masters struggled with Mr. Cole's accent. He was enunciating exactly as Mr. Cole, and that would have been fine, except Mr. Masters is American. I checked the rules, there a good chance points would have been deducted from Mr. Masters. I also sent an email to Mr. Quinn explaining to him all the hard work the students are doing."

Sarah smiled. "Thank you, Roan."

"Thank you, Sarah." He left and she went back to straightening the room.

"I'm so sorry I'm so late captain." Sarah turned around and saw her boyfriend with a cheeky smile. "I do hope you don't keelhaul me."

"I would never keelhaul you." She began to walk toward him slowly. "I mean you are my mate in almost every way of the word."

"Almost?" Chuck asked. Sarah stared at him for a minute and shook her head. "What?"

"Married, you numbskull."

"Ohhhh."

She tilted her head to the side. "Calm down, Chuck. I know both of us have had negative role models when it comes to marriage in our lives. I wasn't suggesting anything."

"Huh," he said, crossing his arms.

"What does that mean?"

"It means, earlier when you said you'd give me no quarter I didn't think you meant twenty-five cents." His eyes were twinkling.

She reached over to swat his arm. "Shh! You'll get us in trouble."

He grinned at her, and started to walk away, but paused. "You know sometimes when someone sees people screw up, they learn what to do and believe they can do it better."

"Oh, really, Mr Bartowski?"

"In fact, I would say, if you found someone you truly trust and rely on, you would be more than willing to take that chance."

"I take it you have someone in mind for that?"

"That's correct Miss Walker, or should I say Dread Pirate Walker."

"Keep that up Bartowski, and I'll shiver ye timbers."

He grinned at her. "You already cause me great emotion, Sarah," he said softly as he walked out. She put a hand down to steady herself on the desk in front of her.

"Blimey," she muttered.

-ooooo-

They were curled up on the couch, after the long day of school, and handing out candy. Sarah convinced Chuck to watch her favorite horror movie, Halloween. Chuck was trying not to scream every time the music changed.

"I think you did this on purpose," Chuck said to her with a glare.

She grinned at him. "Chuck, did you know that guys used to have this move back in the day where they took their dates to horror movies, just to have them cuddle into them."

He sat up, looking proud of himself. "AHHA! You don't really like this movie, you just wanted me to cuddle with you."

"Or I really like this movie, and I like you cuddling with me," she replied.

"I thought it was to make moves on women…are you trying to make moves on me woman?"

"I mean I am, but you seem to not notice."

"How can I notice that you're over there trying to hint at sexy time when I'm terrified? Huh? Tell me!"

Sarah threw back her head and laughed. "How about this? We finish this movie, you bury your head in my shoulder each time you get scared, and we'll finish with something less scary."

"We talking another movie or sexy time?"

She grinned at him. "Play your cards right, both."

"I hope not that Disney Ichabod Crane movie, that thing is scary."

She studied him a second. "You're serious."

"The Headless Horseman has a stupidly massive sword!"

"Chuck Bartowski, you can't sit here and tell me that movie legitimately scares you?" Chuck didn't say anything. "Fine, It the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown?"

"I do love the Great Pumpkin," Chuck said, leaning back into her. "That other thing should NOT be seen by kids."

"Would you let your kids see it, Chuck?" She couldn't believe those words had slipped out of her mouth but after the discussion earlier today…well, she just couldn't help herself now.

He turned his head to her. He was quite for a second, and then grinned. "Probably. I'm sure their mother isn't the scaredy cat I am." She looked into his eyes, and knew what he was up to. She nodded once turned back, and started the movie back. He hid his head into her shoulder again, making her laugh. "For the record, that comment about my kids' mother really isn't saying a whole lot."

"I'm aware, Chuck," she said, stroking his curls soothingly. "I'm well aware."

-ooooo-

Three and a half weeks later Sarah found herself in the store, shopping for Thanksgiving. Ellie and Awesome had to work, so they were having dinner at Chuck and Sarah's a few days early. Ellie had come into their house, taken over the kitchen, to Sarah's delight, and began to send Chuck to the store for some supplies. Sarah went instead of Chuck, telling him to spend time with his family.

She was in the spice aisle when her phone rang. "Hey, Ellie. No, it's fine. I'd rather go, plus we both know if we sent him there is no telling what he'd bring back. Ellie, I love him dearly, but we both know him. Okay, I'll see you soon."

She walked around the aisle, and bumped into a gentleman in his 50s. "Excuse me, Miss."

"My fault," Sarah said. He smiled at her and she noticed his eyes…eyes that reminded her of someone…two someones. "I'm sorry, I'm buying some supplies for our Thanksgiving dinner tonight."

"Uh, I don't think tonight is Thanksgiving," the man replied with a grin.

Sarah chuckled. She felt like she could be open and honest around this man and she had no idea why. "My boyfriend's sister is a doctor and has to work Thanksgiving."

"Well, that's Aces. You should always be with family while you can."

"You have any plans?"

He shook his head, a sad smile on his face. "My family and I are….estranged."

Sarah nodded. "Yeah, I'm the same way with my family. I'm Sarah," she said, reaching out her hand.

"They call me Mr. B," the gentleman replied, sticking out his to shake her hand. "Well, I don't want to keep you." Sarah smiled, nodded, and continued her shopping.

A few minutes later her phone rang again. "Ellie…yes, I have it. Nope, I'd much rather you call and make sure. Sorry I'm running late, I ran into this nice man and got to talking. He doesn't have a family to spend Thanksgiving with. Really? We don't really even know him. Sure, I have no problem with it. He seems to be a nice gentleman. Sure." She hung up her phone and searched for the man. She couldn't find him until she was out in the parking lot. "Mr. B!" she yelled. It seemed to take a second for him to realize she was talking to him. He turned towards her. "Would you like to join us for Thanksgiving Dinner?"

"I couldn't intrude," he replied. "Besides, you barely know me."

Sarah shrugged. "It's Thanksgiving, everyone deserves to be with family, blood or not."

He studied her a second, nodded, and helped her load groceries into the vehicle. He stopped before he got into the car. "Sarah, are you sure about this?"

"I'm positive, now get in." They got into the vehicle, and drove to her house. They got out, brought the bags in, with Mr. B lagging behind, Sarah not noticing. She went into the house, headed into the kitchen and began to sit things on the counter.

"Hey, Sarah," Ellie said. "Did he come with you?"

"Yep, he's right over there," Sarah said, nodding toward the doorway. "Mr. B, meet Ellie." Ellie turned toward the man and dropped the knife in her hand.

"Hello….Ellanor."

It dawned on Sarah at that moment, who Mr. B was. "When you say Mr. B?" Sarah began.

"It's Bartowski," Stephen replied. "Stephen Bartowski." Sarah looked over at Ellie, who was in shock. What had she done?

A/N: Wanted Halloween and that scene, plus I moved the story forward. Mission accomplished.….til next time…hope you enjoyed it! Reviews and PMs are always welcomed!

DC

[qsdblogging]

Another 10 TV Shows You Should Give A Shot If You Haven’t Already

This is the third installment of my recommendations of shows for you to add to your own lists. I watch a lot of television and I’ve got, what I consider to be at least, a wide variety of shows under my favorites.

If you haven’t seen the first or second list, you don’t need to unless you want to see another list of ten shows you may want to check out if you’re looking for anything new to watch.

Warning, though, some of these don’t end the best way and may end up more as a disappointment. I’ll leave that up to you to decide.

I. The Librarians.

Does this have to do with the movie franchise The Librarian? Yes. 

The Library has chosen a new group to help safeguard magical cursed artifacts throughout time and around the world. An art historian, a thief, a mathematician, and a warrior are tasked with finding and saving all the mysterious, ancient artifacts. (IMDB). 

This show covers action, adventure, comedy, horror, fairy tales, and much more. It’s a good choice of a new show if you’re a fan of Doctor Who and Warehouse 13, which then makes this feel like a strange mixture of the two shows. 

You might find some familiar faces in Rebecca Romijn who has played the older version of Mystique in the X-Men movies, Christian Kane who’s acted in Angel, Leverage, Supernatural, and is quite the Country singer, and Noah Wyle who is the original Librarian from the movie series reprising his role, Fallen Skies, ER, and Donnie Darko.

II. My Babysitter’s A Vampire.

Technically, this did air on Disney. However, it was a Canadian production if I’m remembering correctly. The show follows after the events of the movie by the same title, so I suggest giving the movie a watch first for some background before diving into the show. 

Now, because of the fact that it aired on Disney, it is a little more child friendly but it’s still quite a good show if you’re looking for a laugh. It holds more than just vampires and while things happen a little quickly (in the movie, at least) everything makes sense.

Unfortunately, it only has two seasons, but it’s worth a watch if you’re looking for something a little more light-hearted than most of this list.

III. Killjoys.

In the Quad, a planetary system on the brink of a bloody interplanetary class war, a fun loving trio of bounty hunters attempt to remain impartial as they chase deadly warrants. (Taken from IMDB).

Set in space with loads of action and adventure with all the added scifi bonuses. And while I haven’t gotten around to watching the show in full myself, I do quite enjoy what I’ve already seen of it. 

I highly recommend giving it a shot.

IV. Dark Matter.

Set in the 27th century, Dark Matter focuses on six people who wake up on a deserted spaceship with no memory of who they are or what exactly they’re doing there. The six of them reluctantly team up and set off to find answers regarding their presence on the ship together with the help of a female android.

If you haven’t noticed by now, I’m quite the fan of scifi and futuristic shows. Dark Matter was unfortunately cancelled, but not until it already produced three kickass seasons. 

V. Stargate SG-1.

If you’re a scifi fan, chances are you’ve seen this or heard of it. Maybe you’re like me, who grew up watching it over and over again because rewatching shows seems to run in the family. 

However, if you want to give this a go, be aware that there is a movie you need to watch first, Stargate (1994), that gives a bit of background before jumping into the show. Warning, actors were changed from the movie to the show but once the show started, those actors stay in those roles. 

Stargate SG-1 follows a secret military team formed to explore other planets through the discovered form of space travel, the stargate. It spans over 10 full seasons and a couple of movies too. Plus, two spin-offs.

I highly recommend watching this show if you’re a fan of scifi, ancient mythology, and just wacky goodness in general.

VI. Stargate: Atlantis.

Stargate: Atlantis is the first of two spin-offs to Stargate SG-1. This team is sent to a whole other galaxy in order to expand interplanetary communications and trade and end up coming across a whole new powerful enemy. You might see a familiar face or two pop up and I don’t just mean characters from SG-1. 

It’s a great spin-off and while the third spin-off (Stargate Universe) is not on the list, if you like the first two shows, you should give the third a shot. I, personally, have not seen or gotten around to seeing the third installment of the Stargate shows just yet, so I won’t recommend it until I do.

(Plus, Jason Momoa is in this one!)

VII. Sleepy Hollow.

When Ichabod Crane is resurrected and pulled two and a half centuries through time to unravel a mystery that dates all the way back to his founding fathers, things get a little crazy in the town of Sleepy Hollow.

While I’m a huge fan of sci-fi, I’m also quite the fan of fantasy. Sleepy Hollow was a wonderful show while it lasted and while it’s been a while since I’ve watch it on any screen, I know I’m still going to love it as much as I did when I first saw it. 

(Keep in mind, there are some issues that happened BTS with the lead Nicole Beharie [played Abbie, who is pictured above] and how they treated her alongside her character, so I completely understand not wanting to give this a go if that bothers you!)

And you might recognize a few faces amongst the cast. Orlando Jones who’s known for his role in American Gods, John Noble who’s known for roles in Elementary, Salvation, Legends of Tomorrow, and Fringe, Nikki Reed who known for the Twilight Saga, and Janina Gavankar who is known for her roles in The Morning Show, The Vampire Diaries, and The Mysteries of Laura.

VIII. Firefly.

Now, if you know underrated shows, there’s a high chance you know Firefly. Firefly is one of Joss Whedon’s works that unfortunately got cut way too short in its life span. 

Even with only 14 episodes to its single season and a movie that wraps up the story on the big screen (but don’t worry, there’s extra content available online to find to know more about the lovable Browncoats), Firefly is highly respected.

Set in the future, the show follows a ragtag team of renegades aboard a small ship named Serenity (Class: Firefly), they find themselves wrapped up in a bigger mess than intended and work their way out of it the best they can while still evading the authorities trying to hunt them down.

Now, Firefly had been aired out of order so I highly recommend searching up the correct order before giving the show a shot just so you understand everything going on. 

The cast is full of familiar faces that include Nathan Fillion who is best known for his roles on Castle, The Rookie, Big Mouth, A Series of Unfortunate Events, and Con Man, plus his upcoming role in the second Suicide Squad film, Gina Torres who is known for her roles in Angel, Westworld, Pearson, and Suits, Morena Baccarin who’s known for her roles in the Deadpool movies, The Flash, Gotham, and V, and a young Zac Efron even appears in an episode. 

I will always highly recommend this show to people looking for something quick to binge while also being highly entertaining and catching. 

IX. Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

If you’re a Whedon fan or was alive at any point in the 90s, or have a father like mine, you’ve probably seen this show. Hopefully, you’ve at least heard of it if you haven’t seen it. The title kind of explains it, but you get seven full seasons (plus a bunch of comics that continue the story afterward) plus a spin-off. 

The show follows Buffy Summers, the chosen Slayer at the time, and her adventures after moving to a new town (after burning down the gym at her old school to kill a bunch of vampires, but she can’t really explain that one to the authorities) that happens to be sitting above a Hellmouth.

Between the action and slightly disturbing relationships, Buffy the Vampire Slayer handles a lot of teen angst and comedy. 

I always laugh throughout the one scene from the episode Hush and if you know what scene I’m talking about, you know why. 

It’s truly a great show and had a great ending. Highly recommend starting to watch ASAP.

X. Angel.

Lastly on this list, Angel. If you don’t know, Angel is the spin-off to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It follows Angel, the vampire, after he leaves at the end of season three of Buffy and moves to the lovely city of Los Angeles. Along the way a few familiar faces show up and new ones get added to the mix.

Some soul-reading karaoke happens, and a few people get killed along the way. Maybe even get turned into a puppet once in a while. 

Overall, it’s one of the best spin-offs to exist and holds it’s own through action, comedy, and pure spite. 

I highly recommend giving it a shot. It’s up to you however if you try watching it at the same time it lines up with Buffy. My dad does it due to crossover episodes, but I know it can be quite the difficulty figuring out. 

It’s up to you when to watch it. 

[mearnsblog]

"The Fox and the Hound" (1981)

I am unsure how "The Fox and the Hound" became a kids' movie. Outside of a couple play scenes and the caterpillar subplot, it definitely does not behave much like a kids' movie! For all the infamy of the shooting of Bambi's mom, Tod's mother gets blasted within the first five minutes of this one. It sets the tone from the start that this is not going to be a good time.

The movie does this little trick where it lures you into some hope with this anthem of Tod and Copper's unlikely camaraderie, "The Best of Friends." By the time the movie reaches its climax, it has essentially flipped you the finger because Copper is now aggressively hunting Tod over a misunderstanding that badly injured his hunting mate, Chief. Isn't that sweet? The best of friends, now at each other’s throat! Yes, Copper eventually prevents his master, Amos Slade, from shooting Tod after the fox saves his life from a bear, but at that point, it's a small solace. As the movie ends, Copper is smiling and thinking about his old pal while Tod looks out at him from a cliff, but they're not really friends anymore. They'll probably never see each other again.

I am not of the illusion that every single kids' movie has to have a happy ending, or that it can't teach hard lessons about life. However, there's a fine line between, say, "Inside Out" reminding children that being sad is part of growing up and an important part of your emotions, and the savage sorrow of "Fox and the Hound."

To recap: Tod's mom gets shot and her fur is mounted. Slade is sometimes nice to Copper and Chief, but also emotionally abuses both of them and focuses more on vengeance against Tod than taking care of his injured dog. Tod's kindly owner, Widow Crane, is forced to release him into the wild preserve to protect Slade from hunting him. (Boy is that scene cutting.) The badger in the preserve shows no sympathy to Tod and isolates him yet again, pressuring the nicer porcupine into not helping Tod afterward either. A bear brutalizes Tod and Copper, who ultimately go their separate ways at the end. The only solace Tod can find is falling in love with Vixey, and I'm sorry, but that does not come close to making this movie palatable, especially since we only meet her with about 20 minutes left. Copper's still stuck with Slade anyway, and Crane is all alone unless you count her going out of her way to help Slade recover from a bear trap. Super.

Maybe the most distressing part of all this is that some on the Disney production team wanted Chief to die in that train accident, too (as he does in the book). Come on, now. We didn't need a dog death on top of all this. They argued that Chief simply being injured wouldn't have motivated Copper enough to turn on Tod, but I'd counter that it would push him too far and he wouldn't be willing to stand up for Tod to save his life at the end. Tod mistakenly thinking that Copper intentionally caused his friend's injury is enough.

A minor nit worth picking is that it's super distracting to have the woodpecker have the same voice as Tigger. I get that Disney reused voice actors, and that's fine. Everyone has to work. But that doesn't mean you should recycle key traits from past characters. Any time the woodpecker did the Tigger laugh, it briefly took me out of the movie, which wasn't helping since the subplot with the birds hunting the caterpillar was mostly a distraction. I kind of understood where Disney was coming from in mixing in another kind of hunter-prey relationship in the background of the Tod/Copper drama to show that nature often just works that way. But again, they're not interesting enough and they futz with the tone.

If Disney wanted to tell a story about how some friendships just don't last, they could tell one without piling on the sadness. It's over the top and unnecessary. The seemingly suggested idea that you might be better off sticking to your own kind (like Tod with Vixey) is not especially modern or helpful, either.

The bottom line is that adapting “Fox and the Hound” into a kids’ movie was not an easy task, so I do have to grade on a curve. Disney was hitting on some heavy issues and I respect what they were trying to go for in the tale of a broken friendship. It’s easier to hit homers when you’re taking big swings, and “Fox and the Hound” was absolutely a big swing. Some parts, like the carefully chosen orchestral score, do a great job of setting tone and cautioning the audience about specific scenes. The seasonal transition to show Tod and Copper growing up is also smart and done better than in "Bambi."

Ultimately though, I can't recommend revisiting this movie, unless you just enjoy leaning into the aforementioned grim aesthetics. It’s worth seeing if you have never done so before, but I don’t understand wanting to return to this story. There’s not much joy in replay value here. If you want to watch a coming-of-age Disney movie with emotional obstacles for the hero to overcome, just put on "Bambi" or "The Lion King." You’ll be better off.

Updated ranking

1. “Cinderella” (review) 2. “Sleeping Beauty” (review) 3. “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” (review) 4. “One Hundred and One Dalmatians” (review) 5. “The Jungle Book” (review) 6. “Fantasia” (review) 7. “The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh” (review) 8. “Alice in Wonderland” (review) 9. “Lady and the Tramp” (review) 10. “Pinocchio” (review) 11. “Robin Hood” (review) 12. “The Rescuers” (review) 13. “The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad” (review) 14. “Bambi” (review) 15. “The Aristocats” (review) 16. “Dumbo” (review) 17. “Peter Pan” (review) 18. “Fun and Fancy Free” (review) 19. “The Fox and the Hound” 20. “The Sword in the Stone” (review) 21. “The Three Caballeros” (review) 22. “Make Mine Music” (review) 23. “Saludos Amigos” (review) 24. “Melody Time” (review)