#worldwide gross of almost three billy

[the-sneep-snoop]

they really are just walking

[justforbooks]

Sean Connery, Oscar Winner and James Bond Star, Dies at 90

Sean Connery, the Scottish-born actor who rocketed to fame as James Bond and became one of the franchise’s most popular and enduring international stars, has died. He was 90.

Connery, long regarded as one of the best actors to have portrayed the iconic spy, was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2000 and marked his 90th birthday in August. His death was confirmed by his family, according to the BBC, which notes that the actor died in his sleep while in the Bahamas. It’s believed he had been unwell for some time. His last acting role had been in Stephen Norrington’s “The League of Extraordinary Gentleman” (2003).

Connery was an audience favorite for more than 40 years and one of the screen’s most reliable and distinctive leading men. The actor was recently voted the best James Bond actor in an August Radio Times poll in the U.K. More than 14,000 voted and Connery claimed 56% of the vote. Global tributes poured in for Connery on Saturday following news of his death.

In a statement, Bond producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli said Connery “was and shall always be remembered as the original James Bond whose indelible entrance into cinema history began when he announced those unforgettable words, ‘The name’s Bond… James Bond.’

“He revolutionized the world with his gritty and witty portrayal of the sexy and charismatic secret agent. He is undoubtedly largely responsible for the success of the film series and we shall be forever grateful to him,” said the producers.

However, Connery — who made his debut in the first Bond film, “Dr. No” (1962) — also transcended Ian Fleming’s sexy Agent 007, and went on to distinguish himself with a long and mature career in such films as “The Wind and the Lion” (1975), “The Man Who Would Be King” (1975) and “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” (1989).

His turn as a tough Irish cop in Depression-era Chicago in Brian De Palma’s “The Untouchables” (1987) brought him a supporting actor Oscar.

Even as he entered his seventh decade, Connery’s star power remained so strong that he was constantly in demand and handsomely remunerated. In 1999 he was selected People magazine’s Sexiest Man of the Century, and from his 007 days to “Entrapment” (1999), opposite the much-younger Catherine Zeta-Jones, his screen roles more than justified the choice. Age seemed only to intensify his sex appeal and virility.

In his early career, his physique was his main asset as he modeled and picked up acting jobs where he could. In 1956, he landed the role of a battered prizefighter in the BBC production of “Requiem for a Heavyweight.” Good notices brought him to the attention of the entertainment community, and his first film was “No Road Back,” a B crime movie in 1956. He seemed doomed to play the hunk to ageing leading ladies, as he did opposite Lana Turner in “Another Time, Another Place,” or roles that stressed his looks such as “Tarzan’s Great Adventure” in 1959.

It was easy to dismiss him in films like “Darby O’Gill and the Little People,” but his Count Vronsky to Claire Bloom’s Anna Karenina on the BBC brought him some respect and the kind of attention needed to raise him to the top of the Daily Express’ poll of readers asked to suggest the ideal James Bond.

After an interview with producers Albert Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, he landed the role without a screen test, according to Saltzman. It was a controversial choice at the time, as Connery was an unknown outside Britain. But 1962’s “Dr. No,” the first of the Bond films, made him an international star.

His stature grew with the ever more popular sequels “From Russia With Love,” “Goldfinger” and “Thunderball,” which arrived over the next four years. Bond gave Connery a license to earn; he was paid only $30,000 for “Dr. No” but $400,000 for Alfred Hitchcock’s “Marnie” and was soon getting $750,000 a film.

His initial efforts to break out of the Bond mold, however, proved fruitless. Films like “A Fine Madness,” “Shalako” and “The Molly Maguires” were well-intentioned attempts that did nothing to shake Connery as Bond from the public consciousness. After 1967’s “You Only Live Twice,” he left the Bond franchise, but he was coaxed back for 1971’s “Diamonds Are Forever.” He looked old for the role, and the series seemed tired, so with that, he left Bond behind — though money would tempt him back once last time in 1983 for “Never Say Never Again.”

He took a major misstep with sci-fi film “Zardoz,” and his career seemed to be foundering.

But he bounced back in 1974 with a supporting role in “Murder on the Orient Express” and the following year with “The Wind and the Lion” and “The Man Who Would Be King,” two bold adventures featuring a mature, salt-and-pepper-bearded Connery. “Robin and Marian” (1976) opposite Audrey Hepburn was not a popular success, but critics embraced it, and the film cemented Connery’s reputation as a versatile, serious screen actor.

In the late 1970s, there were more missteps such as “Meteor,” “A Bridge Too Far” and “Cuba.” But he scored in Terry Gilliam’s “Time Bandits.” It wasn’t until after his last Bond film that his standing as a box office star caught up to his critical reputation, thanks mostly to two huge worldwide hits: “Highlander,” which was not a big hit in the U.S., and “The Name of the Rose,” which was also much more popular abroad.

BAFTA gave him a best actor award for “Name of the Rose,” and he received his Oscar for “The Untouchables.” After that, he was an instant greenlight any time he agreed to take a role even if some of them, such as “The Presidio,” and “Family Business,” were not so hot.

Pairing Connery and Harrison Ford as father and son in the third “Indiana Jones” film was an inspired move, and the film grossed almost half a billion dollars worldwide.

Meanwhile, “The Hunt for Red October,” in which Connery played a defecting Soviet sub captain, was also a major hit in 1990.

By the 1990s, he was so popular that his uncredited cameo as King Richard in “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves” became one of the film’s highlights.

He was still a force to contend with in the foreign market, as “Highlander 2,” “Medicine Man,” “Rising Sun,” “Just Cause” and “First Knight” proved over the next several years. His salary was regularly $5 million and above.

One setback was a bout with throat cancer in the early 1990s, but Connery rebounded with a burst of activity. He starred with Nicolas Cage in 1996 actioner “The Rock,” playing a character that drew more than a little on his history as James Bond. In 2000, he essayed a very different role and received positive reviews for “Finding Forrester,” playing a reclusive writer who bonds with a young black basketball player who’s an aspiring scribe himself.

Nevertheless, he continued with action roles well after his 70th birthday, playing the legendary adventurer Allan Quatermain in 2003’s “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.” He announced his retirement in 2005. He voiced a James Bond videogame the same year, and he subsequently did some other voice acting, playing the title character in the animated short “Sir Billi the Vet” and reprising the role in 2010 for “Sir Billi,” which he also exec produced.

Thomas Sean Connery was born of Irish ancestry in the slums of Edinburgh on Aug. 25, 1930. Poverty robbed him of an education, and by his teens he’d left school and was working as an unskilled laborer.

At 17, he was drafted into the Royal Navy, but he was discharged three years later due to a serious case of ulcers.

He returned to Edinburgh and worked a variety of jobs, including as a lifeguard. He took up bodybuilding and placed third in the 1950 Mr. Universe competition.

After moving to London, he learned of an opening in the chorus of “South Pacific.” He took a crash dancing and singing course and, surprisingly, landed the role, in which he stayed for 18 months. He was “hooked,” he said, but spent several years paying his dues in small repertory companies in and around London before anyone else became hooked on him.

Connery was devoted to his native Scotland and used his stature to press for the re-establishment of a Scottish parliament. When the body reconvened in 1999, 296 years after its last meeting, Connery was invited to address the first session, where he was greeted with a thunderous ovation. The next year, when he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II — an honor he called “one of the proudest days of my life” — he asked that the investiture be performed in Edinburgh.

Connery published his autobiography, “Being a Scot,” co-written with Murray Grigor, in 2008. Besides his knighthood and his Academy Award, he received many kudos over his long career, including the Kennedy Center Honors in 1999 and the American Film Institute’s lifetime achievement award in 2006.

Connery was married to actress Diane Cilento from 1962-73. The couple divorced in 1973 and Cilento died in 2011. Connery is survived by his second wife, painter Micheline Roquebrune, whom he married in 1975; his son by Cilento, actor Jason Connery; and a grandson from Jason’s marriage to actress Mia Sara.

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at http://justforbooks.tumblr.com

[shelovescontrol91]

In order to lure Camila Cabello to “Cinderella,” Kay Cannon borrowed a page from Prince Charming’s playbook. Sony told Cannon she could direct the film — she had already been writing the screenplay — provided she could convince the pop star that “Cinderella” should be her acting debut. So off Cannon went to Miami to meet with Cabello, having packed a glass slipper she’d bought on Etsy, even though her producers told her that would be “weird,” she says.

“I was there for, like, 30 seconds. And I’m like, ‘I hesitate to do this!’ And I pull out this glass slipper. ‘Does it fit?’”

However embarrassing, the gesture worked. In May, Amazon Studios bought “Cinderella” from Sony — with Cannon’s blessing — and it will premiere on the streamer on Sept. 3. While it’s disappointing that the movie musical won’t primarily play in theaters, the director, who has a daughter too young to get vaccinated, sees only the bright side.

“If the goal is for people to feel joy,” Cannon says, “I think we’re going to reach more people.”

At 47, Cannon is among the still-too-small group of women directors who have a Midas touch for mainstream, feminist comedies. After getting her start as a writer for “30 Rock,” Cannon wrote the three “Pitch Perfect” movies and directed “Blockers,” an emphatically R-rated comedy with a dirty mind and a loving heart.

In summer 2017, Cannon had just completed filming “Blockers” when her agent told her that James Corden wanted to speak with her about a “Cinderella” project. She jumped at the chance — but only because she wanted to meet the late-night talk-show host, not because she had any interest in fairy tales or princess culture. In fact, Cannon was certain that any new “Cinderella” would be a non-starter, since Disney’s 2015 live-action version, starring Lily James, had grossed more than $540 million worldwide so recently. “Nothing’s going to come out of this,” she remembers thinking.

But when Corden and his Fulwell 73 producing partner Leo Pearlman pitched her the idea of a “Cinderella” musical with contemporary songs, saying she could rewrite the fable however she liked, she immediately changed her mind. “I have no poker face,” Cannon says. “And I was like, ‘I want to do this!’”

Cannon’s “Cinderella” has a thoroughly modern message. Ella isn’t interested in marriage, wanting instead to travel the world and be a designer.  Cannon also toned down the canonical cattiness of Ella’s stepfamily, and upped the story’s comedy potential. All the while, characters such as the stepmother (Idina Menzel) and the prince (Nicholas Galitzine) are singing songs like “Material Girl” and “Somebody to Love” and “Pitch Perfect”-style mashups like “Whatta Man” with “Seven Nation Army.”

At every step, her guiding principle was “How can it be different?” “I wanted people to get their money’s worth,” Cannon says, “or why do it at all?”

In an interview with Variety, Cannon talks about how COVID-19 affected “Cinderella,” her experience as a woman director and how things have changed in comedy.

The Cinderella story has been told and retold, and had just been a live-action movie when you signed on to write this. How did you want your version to be different? And is it significant here that Camila Cabello is a woman of color?

Yes, I wanted to make sure it was incredibly inclusive. And her being Cuban Mexican is no small thing, and what she represents to millions of people — not only her fans, but to millions.

The story has mostly been told and retold almost exclusively by men: I feel it when I watch. The 2015 Kenneth Branagh “Cinderella” was hugely successful, and it was beautiful. And I love the Whitney Houston, Brandi “Cinderella.” It just feels a little told from their gaze. And I really felt like it was important to me to tell it through my gaze.

Can you talk about creating the Fab G, and what you wanted from that character?  

So many amazing actresses have played that role — so I’d written that role to be a man. And, quite honestly, the only one who fit all of everything I wanted was Billy Porter; I wrote it with him in mind. He’s just such a great singer. He’s just so talented. Because I wrote it specifically for Billy, the character kind of came easy. I just wrote it in his voice, and tried to make it funny. I had actually had another song in there, and then as soon as Billy was confirmed, we picked “Shining Star.”

Is the Fab G gender non-binary?

We talked about it. In having many conversations with Billy, I was like, “I think the answer needs to come from you.” He has said “they/them,” and “magic has no gender.” Non-binary for sure.

You started filming in England in February 2020. Tell me about shutting down because of COVID.

We had shot the ball the first week of March, which is something I do not believe I would have been able to do coming back — and it wasn’t a super-spreader. I’d shot all of the Fab G stuff, and all the basement stuff.

It felt like something out of “The Amazing Race” — like, pack up all your stuff! I’d been in the U.K. for like four months, and my family was there. My daughter was going to school there, and my husband was the writer on set. So we packed everything up, and then Camila and her family and my family, we flew back. My husband’s family is in Maine, and so we just stayed in Maine the entire time.

That sounds so nice, actually.

I did all of post in a boathouse in Maine. It was pretty awesome, actually.

During the break, what were you doing?

It was like getting a second prep, really. I was working with my editor, Stacey Schroeder, and we were putting together what we had. And then I was able to see what I needed and what I didn’t need. And I was doing a ton of rewriting, and I was doing a ton of prep that we didn’t necessarily have. Because I had all the opening, I had the finale, I had “Somebody to Love,” I had “Am I Wrong,” “Material Girl” — all these big numbers.  

Movie theaters have reopened, and this was obviously made with a theatrical audience in mind. How did the Amazon of it all happen?

Sony is a business, first and foremost. I know that Sony loves the movie, and that partnership was really great on that level. So I think it was hard for them to give it up, but I’m really quite happy that people can see this in this safety of their own homes with loved ones. And it is a wonderful theatrical experience, especially with the music and the sound and everything. And it will open theatrically in some theaters.

It not being a wide release in theaters means that we’re not healthy yet. And so that’s what’s the most upsetting — that we’re not healthy.

As you were moving from being a performer to being a screenwriter, did you always have directing in mind, or was that something that you discovered you wanted to do?

I was led to it. When I was at “30 Rock,” by like Season 5, I really wanted to direct an episode. And I was too chickenshit to ask. I was the writer/producer who was always on set — at that point, I’d spent my 10,000 hours on set for sure. And it wasn’t until I had a meeting with Nathan Kahane at Lionsgate, and he was like, “You should be directing your own stuff.” I have such a respect for academics, and I never went to film school, so I just didn’t think I could do it.  And then once he put that in my head, I was like, “Yeah, you know what? I can do it.'”

And is that how “Blockers” came about?  

Exactly. Yeah, they sent me the script with an offer to direct. And with no questions asked. I didn’t have to do any kind of auditioning.

That is very rare! Obviously, things have gotten better for women directors in the past few years, after years of the most appalling statistics. What obstacles do you feel like you’ve faced as a woman director?  

Especially with “Blockers,” I had a very good experience. I feel like the obstacles I have to face really are from the powers that be that still fight me at every level on what women want to watch, or think is funny. Or what is funny — forget gender.

My stuff happens to have female leads, and it’s female driven. So the jokes are coming out of women’s mouths. And I cannot tell you the amount of fighting I have about what they think is going to work, and what they think isn’t going to work. And there’s a lot of like, “I have all the expertise, you do not have the experience.”

And it’s just like, ‘I’ve been working in the comedy side for 15 years now — successfully.” And so what ends up happening is, I fight and fight and fight, and then I just do it and get it in. And then it gets put in front of an audience and the audience laughs. And then they have to say, “OK, that does work.” And you might not think that that’s that big of a deal. Maybe that’s creatively for everybody. Maybe it’s not gender specific. I tend to believe that it is gender specific.

Is that at the studio level?

From my experience, it’s mostly the studio level. And maybe I’m just sensitive to it or whatever. But I just feel like there’s a lot of conversations about what is funny out of a woman’s mouth. What’s allowed. And I feel like no matter how much success I had with “Pitch Perfect,” I think it’s still as much of a fight now as it was then. Which doesn’t make sense to me.

With “Cinderella” too?  

Oh, especially with “Cinderella.”

And now we’re back on the record after going off for a bit! I rewatched the “Black Tie” episode of “30 Rock” yesterday, which you wrote with Tina Fey, in which Paul Reubens plays an afflicted prince. That was the moment in Season 1 when I realized, OK, I love “30 Rock.”

[Affects Prince Gerhardt voice] “THANK YOU FOR COMING TO MY BIRTHDAY.”

That was the first thing I ever wrote! You know, professionally.

An unbelievable calling card to have as your first screen credit.

Yes! I was asked recently who is my Fab G, and my answer is Tina Fey. I wrote stuff as a friend she was reading. And I never thought that she would consider me for her staff, and she just grabbed me and was like, “You’re gonna do this!” I thank her every day for giving me that opportunity.

There are so many conversations right now about what’s acceptable in comedy. As a screenwriter who’s done mostly comedy, how do you feel about that?

Right now I think we’re in the muck, and I think we’re striving for equality. And we’re trying to work things out! Of course we should look back at things that were done 15 years ago, and be like, “Oh, no!”

I don’t know if this is a story I should tell. But I can remember getting notes to put the f-slur into “Pitch Perfect” as them being bullied like by the cool athletic guys. And I was like: “No! I can’t do that.” I think I put it in for a draft, and a friend of mine read it, and she’s like, “You cannot have that in.” And I was like, “It’s a note I was given!” I was told to do that, you know?’ And then like realizing, no, it’s unacceptable. You cannot use that word. Even if you’re trying to show that it’s awful, don’t do it.

You have to have your moral compass, and know what’s right for you. And there’s just some things we just shouldn’t tolerate anymore. And they’re just not acceptable. I’m certain if I looked back at stuff that I would cringe, you know? Or just, that’s how people thought then. And I was one of those people. But certainly now if you know better, you do better, right? Is that too soapboxy?

This interview has been edited and condensed.

[yessadirichards]

'We've been expecting you, Mr Bond...': 007 back after virus delay

LONDON

The latest James Bond movie gets its world premiere this week, nearly six years after the last film in the storied franchise and an 18-month delay caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

British royalty and pandemic heroes have been invited to London's Royal Albert Hall on Tuesday to watch "No Time To Die", the 25th installment of the popular spy saga.

The film is expected to be Daniel Craig's last appearance as 007. Three previously scheduled premieres -- in March and November 2020, and this April -- were all cancelled.

Craig and co-stars including Rami Malek and Lea Seydoux will join princes Charles and William on the red carpet at the glitzy screening, before the film hits UK cinemas two days later and releases globally Oct 8.

Healthcare workers and armed forces members will also be present, and have been invited to 10 other premieres across Britain, in recognition of their work combating COVID-19.

"We're incredibly excited to be launching the film in a theatrical release," franchise producer Barbara Broccoli said on the "No Time To Die: The Official James Bond Podcast" released this month. "The film is a celebration of Bond -- the 25th film and almost 60 years and, most importantly, Daniel Craig's final outing. So we feel it's a big event."

Cinema operators, studios such as MGM -- which owns the 007 movies -- and distributor Universal Pictures are among those hoping the blockbuster release will help lure movie-goers back to auditoriums worldwide.

Cinemas were closed for months during the pandemic in key markets such as Britain and the United States, forcing delays to releases and hitting finances hard.

MGM, bought by online shopping giant Amazon for nearly $9 billion (£7 billion, 8 billion euros) earlier this year, spent a rumored $250 million on the action-packed film.

The last Bond movie "Spectre" -- released in late 2015 -- set box office records for a 2D film in China, and grossed more than $880 million worldwide, according to movie industry magazines.

"It's very important that people see this film in the cinemas -- it was designed and filmed and produced to be in the cinemas, to be a cinema experience," said fellow Bond producer Michael G. Wilson. "We really held out against other alternatives like streaming."

Broccoli said the movie, directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga ("Beasts of No Nation", "True Detective") and filmed in Norway, Italy and Jamaica, was "a cinematic masterpiece".

"No Time To Die" sees Bond drawn out of retirement in Jamaica by his old friend and CIA agent Felix Leiter. He is asked to embark on a treacherous mission to rescue a kidnapped scientist, according to Universal.

Malek, who won a best actor Oscar for his depiction of Queen frontman Freddie Mercury in "Bohemian Rhapsody", plays his adversary Safin.

Lashana Lynch plays a new MI6 spy working alongside an aging Bond, while Seydoux returns as Madeleine Swann, his love interest in "Spectre".

British actress and writer Phoebe Waller-Bridge ("Fleabag") was involved in the script to help improve the portrayal of women, after repeated claims of misogyny and sexism.

Craig said her addition to the writing team was to "spice it up" but as she was a Bond fan "she wasn't about to take him in a different direction".

Teenage pop star Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas O'Connell wrote the movie's theme song, which topped the British charts when it was released early last year.

Craig, 53, has played the suave secret agent in four previous Bond films, starting with "Casino Royale" in 2006, and even starring alongside Queen Elizabeth II, who made a cameo for the opening of the London 2012 Olympics.

On the Bond podcast, he said he landed the part by promising to try to "reinvent" rather than recreate the character.

"What Daniel's brought to the character is sort of unearthing the emotions," Broccoli said of Craig's five-film tenure.

However, he made headlines in 2015 by saying he would "rather slash my wrists" than play 007 again.

In an interview published this week, Craig insisted he was "joking" when he made the comment but acknowledged that it came across as "ungrateful".

"To be completely honest, I was thinking: I don't know if I can do another one of these," he told Britain's Radio Times, noting that he had broken his leg filming "Spectre".

[shimanosimp]

Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties is a 2006 American-British family comedy film directed by Tim Hill and written by Joel Cohen and Alec Sokolow. It is the sequel to the 2004 film Garfield: The Movie. The film stars Breckin Meyer, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Billy Connolly, Ian Abercrombie, Roger Rees, Lucy Davis, Oliver Muirhead, Bill Murray, Tim Curry, Bob Hoskins, Rhys Ifans, Vinnie Jones, Joe Pasquale, Richard E. Grant, Jane Leeves and Roscoe Lee Browne. This film was produced by Davis Entertainment Company for 20th Century Fox, and was released in United States on June 16, 2006. A video game, Garfield 2, was developed by The Game Factory. The film earned $141.7 million.

Contents

 [

hide

]

1Plot

2Cast

3Reception

4Home video

5Awards

6See also

7References

8External links

2.1Voice cast

3.1Critical response

3.2Box office

Plot[edit]

Jon Arbuckle (played by Breckin Meyer) plans to propose to his girlfriend Dr. Liz Wilson (played by Jennifer Love Hewitt), who is going on a business trip to London. Jon follows her to the United Kingdom as a surprise; After escaping from the kennel, Garfield(voiced by Bill Murray) and Odie sneak into Jon's luggage and join him on the road trip. Garfield and Odie break out of the hotel room due to boredom, then get lost.

Meanwhile, at Carlyle Castle in the British countryside, the late Lady Eleanor's will is read. She leaves all of Carlyle Castle to Prince XII (voiced by Tim Curry), her beloved cat who looks just like Garfield. This enrages the Lady's nephew, Lord Dargis (played by Billy Connolly), who will now only get the grand estate once Prince is out of the picture. Lord Dargis traps Prince in a picnic basket and throws him into the river.

Garfield inadvertently switches places with Prince: Jon finds Prince climbing out of a drain and takes him to the hotel, while Prince's butler Smithee finds Garfield in the street and takes him to Carlyle Castle.

In the grand estate Garfield is residing in, he receives the royal treatment, including a butler and a team of four-legged servants and followers. Garfield teaches his animal friends how to make lasagna, while Prince learns to adapt to a more humble setting, while in Jon's company. Lord Dargis sees Garfield and thinks Prince has come back - if the lawyers see Prince/Garfield they will not sign the estate over to Dargis, who secretly wants to destroy the barnyand and kill the animals to build a country spa. Dargis makes many attempts to kill Garfield, one involving a unmerciful but dim-witted Rottweiler, Rommel (voiced by Vinnie Jones).

Eventually Garfield and Prince meet each other for the first time (spoofing the Marx brothers' mirror gag). Jon, with the help of Odie, discovers the mix-up and goes to the castle, which coincidentally Liz is visiting.

Garfield and Prince taunt Dargis, whose plan is exposed, and are seen by the lawyers. Dargis threatens everyone if they don't sign the papers to him, taking Liz hostage. Garfield, Prince, Odie and Jon save the day, Smithee alerts the authorities, and Dargis is arrested. Garfield, who had been trying to stop Jon from proposing to Liz, has a change of heart: He helps Jon in proposing, and she accepts.

Cast[edit]

Breckin Meyer as Jon Arbuckle, the owner of Garfield and Odie

Jennifer Love Hewitt as Dr. Liz Wilson

Billy Connolly as Lord Dargis

Ian Abercrombie as Smithee

Roger Rees as Mr. Hobbs

Lucy Davis as Ms. Abby Westminister

Jane Carr as Mrs. Whitney

Oliver Muirhead as Mr. Greene

Voice cast[

edit

]

Bill Murray as Garfield

Tim Curry as Prince XII, a British cat who looks like Garfield

Bob Hoskins as Winston

Rhys Ifans as McBunny

Vinnie Jones as Rommel

Jim Piddock as Bolero

Joe Pasquale as Claudius

Greg Ellis as Nigel

Richard E. Grant as Preston

Jane Leeves as Eenie

Jane Horrocks as Meenie

Roscoe Lee Browne as the Narrator

Reception[edit]

Critical response[

edit

]

Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports that 11% of 73 surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating is 3.5/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Strictly for (very) little kids, A Tale of Two Kitties features skilled voice actors but a plot that holds little interest."[4] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 37 out of 100 based on 20 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[5] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, the same grade earned by its predecessor.[6]

Joe Leydon of Variety gave the film a positive review, saying "Good kitty! Superior in every way to its underwhelming predecessor, Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties is a genuinely clever kidpic that should delight moppets, please parents -- and maybe tickle a few tweens."[7] Janice Page of The Boston Globe gave the film one and a half stars out of four, saying "You'll only be attracted to Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties if you're very young, you're very easily entertained, or you just can't get enough of Jim Davis's lasagna-scarfing cartoon cat."[8] Roger Ebert gave the film three out of four stars, saying "Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties is actually funnier and more charming than the first film."[9] Elizabeth Weitzman of New York Daily News gave the film one and a half stars out of four, saying "Connolly, bless him, throws himself heartily into the task of acting opposite a computer-generated cat given to bad puns and flatulence. Everyone else, however, looks mortified, and can you blame them?"[10] Peter Hartlaub of the San Francisco Chronicle gave the film one out of four stars, saying "The best thing that can be said about Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties is that the movie isn't quite as bad as its name."[11] Nathan Rabin of The A.V. Club gave the film a C, saying "Two Kitties marks a considerable improvement over its predecessor. It's faster paced and the filmmakers wisely shift the focus away from bland owner Breckin Meyer and onto a menagerie of chattering animals. After a dreadful first entry, Two Kitties elevates the Garfield series almost to the level of mediocrity."[12] Claudia Puig of USA Today gave the film one and a half stars out of four, saying "It comes off like a coughed-up furball: a wan rehash with too many elements of the hard-to-swallow 2004 original."[13]

Box office[

edit

]

Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties grossed $28.4 million in North America, and $113.3 million in other countries, for a worldwide total of $141.7 million.[3] The film opened to number seven in its first weekend, grossing $7.3 million.[14] According to 20th Century Fox, the studio was aware that the film would not make as much as the first, and only made it based on the worldwide success of the first film.[15]

Home video[edit]

The film was released on DVD on October 10, 2006. The DVD includes a "Drawing with Jim Davis" featurette and two games: Garfield's Maze, and Odie's Photo Album. It also includes a music video, trailers, and footage not seen in theaters.[16]

Awards[edit]

The film was nominated for two Golden Raspberry Awards in 2006, one in the category "Worst Prequel or Sequel", and one in the category "Worst Excuse for Family Entertainment", but lost to Basic Instinct 2 and RV, respectively.[17]

[aion-rsa]

Day of the Dead: George A. Romero’s Misunderstood Epic

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When legendary horror auteur George A. Romero set out to make Day of the Dead — the third chapter in a trilogy that included the wildly popular and groundbreaking Night of the Living Dead (1968) and Dawn of the Dead (1979) — he envisioned it as an epic conclusion to the story that he first began telling back in Pittsburgh in the late 1960s with a crew of friends and co-workers and a budget of just $114,000.

But the movie that Romero ended up making was not the one he started out with — and even though many were perhaps initially disappointed with Day of the Dead, it’s been re-evaluated over the years by fans, critics, and even by the late Romero himself, who wound up calling it his favorite of the original trilogy.

“When it first came out, the audience was like, ‘What the hell is this?’” says Lori Cardille, the Pittsburgh-based actress who starred as the film’s lead, scientist Sarah Bowman. “They said, ‘It’s too talky. It’s too over-the-top. These actors are too over-the-top. This is not Dawn of the Dead. I don’t know what this is, but it’s not what we expected.’ That’s why it sort of came and went, except for some people that held it and saw it for what it really was meant to be.”

Romero turned his attention to Day of the Dead after the success of 1982’s Creepshow, his collaborative homage with Stephen King to the EC horror comics of their youth. His original script for Day of the Dead was massive — with various drafts running anywhere from 122 to 204 pages — and takes place several years after the conclusion of Dawn, with the human race almost completely displaced by the reanimated dead.

A group of human refugees find their way to a tropical island — after battling both roving bands of humans and zombies — where they discover that a new civilization is rising. The lower classes live above ground in decrepit housing, while cadres of scientists and military personnel live in an underground bunker. The scientists are training the zombies to perform simple human functions — using human flesh taken from the aboveground residents as rewards — and handing them over to the military, who are shaping the ghouls into an army of the living dead.

Ruling over it all from the deepest part of the bunker is a self-styled dictator who lives in lavish style with his cronies and sycophants. But the entire situation, from the sharp division of classes to the brutal system of punishment, is primed to blow, which it does in an incredibly gruesome and explosive final battle in which the “government” is toppled — even as the zombie plague itself comes to an end.

Almost immediately, Romero’s plans for the third movie ran into problems. With an estimated budget of $7 million, it was too expensive for distributor United Film Distribution (UFD) to back — especially if it went out, like Dawn, unrated, which limited the number of theaters that would carry it. With UFD only offering to put up half the original budget — $3.5 million — Romero was forced to sit down and rewrite the script from page one, scaling back the action, the scope and the cast of characters.

Meanwhile, Romero had seen Lori Cardille in a play called Reckless and had her in mind for a major role in the original version of Day. Cardille’s father, Billy “Chilly Billy” Cardille, was a local horror host on Pittsburgh TV and an old friend of Romero who made a brief appearance in Night of the Living Dead. According to Paul Gagne’s 1987 retrospective on Romero’s films, The Zombies That Ate Pittsburgh, Romero at first wanted Lori Cardille for the role of Mary, the lead scientist, before offering her the part of Sarah, then a rebel leader. The two characters were ultimately combined when Romero revamped his screenplay.

Cardille maintains to this day that she was much happier with the version of Day of the Dead that was filmed, since it was less reliant on action and spectacle. “I’m an actress that wants to play cool characters,” she says. “So when George had to pare it down, he was more focused on character, which of course was good for the actors.”

In the filmed version of Day of the Dead, the focus is shifted to the underground military installation, where a small team of research scientists led by Sarah work fruitlessly to find a cure for the zombie plague as the living dead roam in the millions above. They are allegedly protected and supported by a squadron of soldiers, but the latter have degenerated into more or less a band of hooligans led by the megalomaniacal Captain Rhodes (Joseph Pilato). With tensions rising between the two factions, it’s only a matter of time before Rhodes and his men turn really ugly.

At the same time, the eccentric, quite likely insane Dr. Logan (Richard Liberty) is having some success reactivating the dim human memories of a zombie nicknamed Bub (Sherman Howard). The seemingly intelligent zombie recognizes music and knows how to handle certain objects — including, ominously, a gun. But when Rhodes discovers that Logan is feeding Bub pieces of dead soldiers as his reward, all hell breaks loose. The third act features some of the most incredible gore seen on screen up to that time, courtesy of the legendary Tom Savini, who took his makeup effects work to a new level with this film.

Sherman Howard as Bub in Day of the Dead

Day of the Dead began filming in October 1984, with exteriors shot at two Florida locations, Fort Myers and Sanibel Island, and interiors filmed at a limestone mine complex near Wampum, Pennsylvania. “It was grueling, and it was like a three-month shoot,” recalls Cardille. “We took a little break in there for the holidays. But we were in this cave, and we would get up early in the morning when it was dark, go to the cave, where it was dark inside, and then leave again at night, so we did not see the sunlight.”

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Cardille says she can still remember the smell of the mines vividly. “We were hunkered down together in this atmosphere, and it did add to it,” she says. “It did permeate us. It’s like the dankness permeated us physically. It permeated our minds and brains, and it helped with the development of the characters and the conflicts, no doubt. The smell was kind of mildewy in a way, and there was always the sound of dripping water. There were 26 miles of lakes throughout this cave structure, so there was this dampness to it… It was actually pretty depressing, but we made the best of it, and we had a lot of fun too.”

Joe Pilato in Day of the Dead

The actress says that the entire cast became “brothers and sisters” while shooting the movie, adding that she became especially close with Joseph Pilato, who died in 2019 at the age of 70. “I got to know Joe well, of course,” Cardille reminisces. “He was a really good theater actor, and he was very, very bright. You could talk about many subjects with Joe Pilato, and he was fun to talk to.”

Cardille adds that she would see Pilato frequently on the horror convention circuit in the years after Day came out, although she laments that the actor’s personal problems eventually got the better of him. “Joe had a drinking problem,” Cardille says. “He was an alcoholic, and that was really tough for him, for his family, for his friends. And I don’t say that as a bad thing. It’s just, he had that illness and that was very painful… I think just in the long run, it sort of wrecked his body.”

On a brighter note, Cardille says she has also kept in touch with actors Terry Alexander and Jarlath Conroy, who played, respectively, the helicopter pilot and radio operator who make it out of the mines alive alongside Cardille’s Sarah. Yet even though the trio survive at the end of the movie and find their way to an uninhabited tropical island, Cardille says there was never really any talk about revisiting the characters to see where they ended up going.

“Sometimes I’d bring it up to George,” admits Cardille. “I said, ‘What about continuing these characters?’ I mean, we’re still alive.” But Cardille adds that the rights to the film and the character are tied up in various ways, making the possibility of seeing them again remote. And of course, Romero himself passed away in 2017. “It would be arrogant of us to do it,” says Cardille. “Selfishly, it would be fun to do it, and I would love to do it, but I would have loved to have done it with George.”

Although we may never find out the ultimate fate of Day of the Dead’s survivors, the movie itself lives on in more ways than one. For example, a lot of the original conception eventually found its way into Romero’s 2005 effort, Land of the Dead, in which Dennis Hopper played the slimy politician who lorded over a crumbling, walled-in section of Pittsburgh from the top of a luxury apartment tower — sort of like the underground kingdom in the original Day, only inverted.

“Once again, (George) was ahead of his time,” says Cardille. “I think of that movie a lot. I think about the wealthy people in the big tower, with the zombies outside and the grunts working to try to save humanity. It’s happening now. It feels like that in America. It is the land of the dead. All the themes are there.”

But Day of the Dead — the movie that Romero made under duress in 1985 — has grown in stature in the 35 years since its release. Although critics at the time did not treat it as kindly as Dawn, and box office was down as well (it grossed around $34 million worldwide, as opposed to Dawn’s $55 million), Day of the Dead has since escaped the shadow of its popular, satirical predecessor and managed to carve out its own space on the top shelf of horror cinema with its bleak, claustrophobic view of humanity turning against itself in the face of almost certain extinction.

“It’s a movie that has to grow on you,” Romero told author Lee Karr for his book The Making of George A. Romero’s Day of the Dead. “I think everybody wanted Dawn…but what I’ve tried to do with all the films is make them different. I mean, that makes it more fun for me.” He added, “I think it’s very much me and…it remains my favorite of all of them.”

“Day of the Dead has become a part of me,” says Lori Cardille, who largely stepped away from acting to raise a family in the years after the movie came out. “When we made it, we knew it was special and we are all still friends 35 years later. That has been a huge gift. Another gift has been meeting so many wonderful people who have been fans of the movie. I’ve learned so much from them. They taught me to appreciate the horror genre.”

Cardille also appreciates that Romero was ahead of his time in his conception of her character Sarah. “It’s also been an honor for me, as one of the first strong female characters in the horror genre, to have served as a role model for other women,” she says. “I’ve been told that the strength displayed by the character, the determination, the persistence, have served as a positive example for many young women in their lives. It is very fulfilling to know that something I helped to create will be a part of film history. I am forever grateful to George and the fans. It was an honor to bring Sarah Bowman to life.”

Watch here for more from Lori Cardille about The Living Dead, the upcoming novel from George A. Romero and Daniel Kraus — completed by Kraus after Romero’s death — that is out August 4. Cardille and actor Bruce Davison (X-Men) have read the audiobook version.

The post Day of the Dead: George A. Romero’s Misunderstood Epic appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[placetobenation]

The Black Cauldron

Release Date: July 26th, 1985

Inspiration: “The Book of Three” and “The Black Cauldron” by Lloyd Alexander

Budget: $44 million

Domestic Gross: $21.3 million

Worldwide Gross: $21.3 million

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 55%

IMDB Score: 6.4/10

Storyline (per IMDB): Centuries ago, in the land of Prydain, a young man named Taran is given the task of protecting Hen Wen, a magical oracular pig, who knows the location of the mystical black cauldron. This is not an easy task, for The Evil Horned King will stop at nothing to get the cauldron.

Pre-Watching Thoughts: We continue on through the 1980s with the historical 25th film in the Disney film canon which is crazy to think that there’s only been 25 films in the span of 48 years though that does average out to a film every 2 years. After a long stretch of having seen the films at least once in my life, this is a film that I have never seen before and can already say that I have some reservations about it given its less than stellar reputation. But like I usually do, I am going in with an open mind and for all I know, this might end up surprising me by being really good so we will see what ends up happening.

Voice Cast: As I have mentioned a few times, we were starting to see a trend of returning actors dwindling down and we were soon probably going to get to the point where we have a fresh cast for each film. Now we could see some returning actors in some minor roles while the bigger roles go to newcomers, and that seems to begin here as we have only one returning actor and that is Peter Renaday who voices one of the Horned King’s henchmen so we basically have our first complete new cast since the early days of Disney. At the top, we have Grant Bardsley who voices Taran in what would be his defining role as he would retire by the end of the decade, and then we have Susan Sheridan who voices Princess Eilonwy in what ends up being one of only two films she would be in. We then have John Byner who does a dual job of voicing both Gurgi and Doli in what would be his only appearance in a Disney film, and then we have legendary English actor Nigel Hawthorne who voices Fflewddur Fflam in what would also be his only Disney film. Next, we have English actor John Hurt who voices the Horned King in his only Disney film appearance and it seems like this film would just have a lot of one-off appearances, and then we have Phil Fondacaro who voices Creeper as he was coming off his most memorable appearance as an Ewok in “Return of the Jedi”. We then have Freddie Jones who voices Dallben in his only appearance in an animated film, and then we have Arthur Malet who had appeared in “Mary Poppins” and “Bedknobs and Broomsticks” and he voices King Eidilleg as he was nearing the twilight of his career. Next, we have the trio of Eda Reiss Merin, Adele Malis-Morey, and Billie Hayes who voice the three witches Orddu, Orwen, and Orgoch respectively, and then we have Wayne Allwine, James Almanzar, Steve Hale, Phil Nibbelink, and Jack Laing who voice the Horned King’s henchmen. Finally, we have John Huston who voices the narrator in what would be one of his final roles, and it is very interesting that almost everyone in this film are just one-offs though given most of them are English it would make sense given the film they were in.

Hero/Prince: Unlike some of our previous heroes and princes who you know are that from the minute you see them, we have the exact opposite here in what is a typical trope used in films of the ordinary person who becomes the unlikely hero at the end. Our hero in this film is the poster boy for that and that is Taran, the young man who lives with Dallben the Enchanter and looks after the pig Hen Wen not knowing of the pig’s power until Dallben shows him. Taran vows to keep the pig protected from the Horned King only to lose him and be captured, but he manages to escape by taking an enchanted sword and helps Hen Wen escape along with Princess Eilonwy and the minstrel Fflewddur Fflam. They find the black cauldron and he gives his sword to the three witches guarding the cauldron in exchange for it, but the Horned King’s minions find them and take the cauldron while keeping them prisoner. At this point, we should also make mention of the creature named Gurgi who is mischievous and sees Taran as his master though Taran doesn’t like him, and in the end Gurgi sacrifices himself and throws himself into the cauldron to stop the cauldron’s evil power and finish off the Horned King. The witches offer to give the sword back to Taran in exchange for the cauldron, but Taran instead wants Gurgi’s life restored which they ultimately agree to and Gurgi and Taran become friends. Taran is a classic example of the simple boy who dreams of being a warrior, but in the end he realizes the true meaning of friendship and foregoes his dreams in order to save his friend though Eilonwy reminds him that he is a true hero. I don’t know where either of them would rank amongst the other heroes and princes, but it will be interesting to see where they ultimately end up.

Princess: If you look at Disney’s lineup of who they consider to be the official princesses of Disney, you will not find Princess Eilonwy included in there even though she does call herself a princess. While we don’t know much about her like what kingdom she comes from and who her family is, we do know she is of some importance to the Horned King since he went out of his way to capture her. She uses her bauble to find Taran and they manage to escape from the castle along with Fflewddur Fflam, and despite some early misgivings she comes to trust Taran and joins him as they look for the black cauldron. They are captured again by the Horned King who uses the cauldron only for Gurgi to sacrifice himself to stop him, and they escape the castle as it is destroyed before giving the cauldron back to the witches in exchange for Gurgi’s life. In the end, Gurgi strategically maneuvers Taran into a kiss with Eilonwy though it is left ambiguous if they end up in a relationship. She is unlike your typical princess in that she is not afraid of adventure and is willing to fight if necessary, but other than that there is very little that is known about her and as a result she will probably not rank high against the more well-known princesses in the Disney canon.

Villain: When it comes to the villains of the Disney canon, most of them have evil intentions and do things that make them evil but at times they do have some tangibles that endear them to people and sometimes you may even sympathize with them. However, the villain in this film is about as evil as you can get and that is the Horned King who seeks the black cauldron to bring the dead to life and use them to rule the world. He first obtains Taran’s pig Hen Wen to show him where the cauldron is located only for Taran to free Hen Wen as well as escape along with Eilonwy and Fflewddur Flam, but after they find the cauldron the Horned King’s henchmen capture them and bring him the cauldron. He uses the cauldron to raise an army of undead soldiers only for Gurgi to sacrifice himself and destroy the soldiers, and the Horned King tries to throw Taran into the cauldron only to be sucked in himself which kills him and destroys his castle. The Horned King is about as basic a villain that you could get as he is bent on ruling the world and sees the cauldron as the way to do it, but like most villains he fails to comprehend the power of the cauldron and is ultimately destroyed by the very thing he tried to control. Because of this, he lacks the other intangibles that separates him from the other villains that have more charisma or personality than him, and as a result he will probably not rank too high though he won’t be at the bottom given some of the other villains that have been covered to this point.

Other Characters: I have mentioned that most of the recent films that I have watched have focused more on the main characters with the other characters playing a pretty minor role, and that seems to be the same case here though some of them do play a pretty big role in this film. The first is the minstrel named Fflewddur Fflam who is captured by the Horned King and saved by Taran and Princess Eilonwy, and he stays with them through their travels even being turned into a frog by Orddu the witch only for Orwen the witch to fall in love with him. We then have Hen Wen the pig who has the power to see into the future and the Horned King hunts him to find the black cauldron, but Taran is able to save him and then the Fair Folk take her under their protection before returning her to Dallben. We then have Dallben the Enchanter who keeps Taran under his care until he is forced to send him and Hen Wen away to protect them from the Horned King, and then we have Creeper who serves as the Horned King’s right hand man and is constantly abused by him until the Horned King is killed and he is overjoyed to be freed. We then have the Fair Folk led by King Eidilleg and they point our heroes in the right direction as Doli goes with them, and then we have the three witches named Orddu, Orwen, and Orgoch who trade the black cauldron to Taran for his magic sword only to take the cauldron back in exchange for Gurgi’s life. Finally we have the Horned King’s henchmen who border on rowdy and a bit bumbling as they are pretty much cast aside for the undead warriors that the Horned King brings to life using the cauldron. Obviously, these characters play a role in this film whether it be minor or major, and it is always interesting to see how many play a major role versus those that play a minor role.

Songs: N/A

Plot: So not only was I not aware that this film was also adapted from a novel, but it was only one in a series of five books though this film mainly takes aspects from two of the films and not all five. It is also based on Welsh mythology which is a culture that you don’t seem to see a lot of adaptations of, and the plot involves the Horned King trying to find the Black Cauldron that he believes will help him rule the world. He learns of a pig that can see into the future so he kidnaps it only it’s keeper Taran to save him though he is captured in the process, and he meets with Princess Eilonwy and Fflewddur Fflam as they escape and learn of the cauldron’s location. Along with the creature Gurgi who believes Taran to be his friend and master, they meet a trio of witches who give them the cauldron in exchange for a magic sword Taran had found back in the dungeon. Unfortunately, the Horned King claims the cauldron and imprisons Taran and his friends until Gurgi frees them, and then Gurgi sacrifices himself into the cauldron to overload its power and the Horned King is sucked into the cauldron which kills him. The witches reclaim the cauldron and offer the sword back, but Taran instead asks for Gurgi to be brought back to life which he is and Taran heads into the sunset with his new friends. I had earlier mentioned that I would like to know the opinion of the author when they see the film, and I read that the author enjoyed the film on its own though believes it is a completely separate entity from his series. In a way, I guess that is a good thought to have in that he did like the film while hoping that those that watch the film would become interested in reading the series.

Random Watching Thoughts: We got a few firsts with this film as it is the first to feature the Walt Disney Pictures logo at the beginning and it is also the first film to not have opening credits; I want to know more about this king whose spirit would inhabit the black cauldron; I love how the narrator mentions that only evil men were looking for the cauldron; Interesting foreshadowing in the beginning as Dallben senses something terrible will happen; So there’s a war going on yet we don’t see any of it; I feel like this is the most un-Disney film that they made yet it somehow feels more Disney than “The Sword in the Stone”; I wonder how long it took Dallben to come up with the name “Hen Wen” for a pig; I thought that was a picky pig to shove that food out until Taran called him spoiled, but then he takes a bite and shudders as he swallows it; Such naivety by Taran that he thinks he wouldn’t be afraid in war; What did those poor geese do to deserve being teased like that?; Taran forgot the first rule when teasing a goat and that is never turn your back to them because they will attack; Hen Wen is the rare pig that actually enjoys getting a bath; Of all the animals the author could’ve chosen to be an all-seeing creature that can see the future, he had to choose a pig; Of course Dallben cuts off Hen Wen prematurely otherwise we would’ve seen what happens and get spoiled; Dallben tells Taran to stay at the cottage until he gets him yet he only gives him a single slice of bread and an apple as rations; Another interesting note is that this is the first Disney animated film to receive the “PG” rating; The Horned King is pretty scary, but he sounds like a character that should look a lot more scarier; The Horned King has some pretty lofty goals if he wants to be a god; Taran also has some lofty goals if he imagines himself to be the greatest warrior in the land, but yet he can’t keep his mind on the task of keeping Hen Wen safe; When I first saw Gurgi and heard him speak, the only thing I could think of was Gollum from “Lord of the Rings” to the point that I was waiting for him to say “My Precious”; It’s amazing that it took 25 films to finally have a Disney film that didn’t have any songs in it, but honestly this seemed like the film where songs wouldn’t have fit; Of course Gurgi would take a bite out of the apple before giving it back to Taran; The classic trope of describing something perfectly to the person looking for it only to say that they haven’t seen them; Gurgi was so keen to be Taran’s friend until he heard the danger coming and he split out of there; Hen Wen can take a beating as he is getting thrown around by those dragons yet he doesn’t miss a beat; I for one don’t blame Gurgi for not wanting to go to the Horned King’s castle yet Taran dresses him down and calls him a coward; Another fun fact is that this was the first film to feature computer-generated imagery; Where was that dog hiding that he just came out of nowhere?; That’s quite the rowdy party they are having and pretty risqué with that dancer’s dress flying up and showing her panties; The party comes to an end when the Horned King shows up; That was a lot of wine that came out of that pretty small bottle; All those weapons there and Taran had to grab the broom; They were prepared to execute that pig much like they would a human; Considering how many times that saucer got knocked over, I’m surprised there was still plenty of water in it for Hen Wen to show the visions; That’s quite a drop there, Taran must’ve been pretty confident that Hen Wen was going to survive; Creeper was so happy to have captured Taran only for the Horned King to choke him when he learned Hen Wen escaped; I don’t know why, but when I see Princess Eilonwy I think that she is very similar to Princess Zelda; She was so hoping that Taran was a warrior only to be extremely disappointed to learn he isn’t; What does that bauble have against the rats?; You’d think there would be some curse that comes with taking the sword from the tomb; Creeper calling the henchmen pulling the cart a weakling is a classic “pot calling the kettle black”; Taran does make a good point that the dead king has no use for the sword anymore; Fflewddur calls the guard intelligent yet when we see his face, he looks like a simpleton; That’s an interesting harp in that the strings break whenever Fflewddur lies; Fflewddur tells them to run forgetting that they were helping him get out of his bonds; Taran was holding a sword yet he doesn’t use it and gets smacked in the face; He becomes so enamored by the sword that he completely forgets that he has to escape with Eilonwy; I know he broke the barrels to slow down the guards, but that was a real waste of good wine; You can tell Creeper wants to stand up to the Horned King, but can’t because of how much stronger the Horned King is; Creeper is so used to getting choked by the Horned King that he ends up doing it to himself; When did Eilonwy get sewing supplies to fix Fflewddur’s pants?; That begs the question, does the warrior make the sword or does the sword make the warrior?; They have a fight only to make up literally a few minutes later; Fflewddur always cries “murder” in any situation; Taran and Fflewddur want nothing to do with Gurgi yet Eilonwy immediately falls in love with him; You don’t often see a whirlpool show up in a pond; I don’t know what Doli was building, but it was the shoddiest things I have ever seen; Doli must’ve had a bad experience with humans if he tells the children to be careful; Considering that he doesn’t know Taran and company, the king had no problem telling them where the black cauldron was; So the whirlpool brings them into the kingdom yet the Fair Folk have to use their power to bring them out; They were just willing to barge into someone’s house not knowing if anyone even lived there; Given all those eyes that were in the shadows, they missed a great opportunity for one of the characters to say that they have the feeling they are being watched; How many frogs did these witches need?; Gurgi tells them that he found the cauldron only to lead them into a room full of them; Orwen must not see many men if she quickly fell in love with Fflewddur; Another pretty controversial scene when Fflewddur as a frog is stuck in Orwen’s cleavage; You know it would’ve been nice to know the story of the sword and how it became enchanted; That was noble of Fflewddur offering up his harp so Taran could keep the sword; Why did the witches have to basically take their whole house with them when they left, and why would Taran and everyone just stand there while the cauldrons are flying around them?; So you can’t destroy the cauldron, but you can stop the evil in it by sacrificing yourself to the cauldron; That’s a pretty dick move of Doli to just leave them like that; Once again, Gurgi just runs away in the face of trouble; Creeper is lucky that he has good balance and didn’t fall into the cauldron himself; In fairness, Eilonwy does look more like a scullery maid than a princess unless that was her plan to not tip off that she was a princess; The scene of the dead coming to life definitely has a similar feel to “Night on Bald Mountain” in “Fantasia”; Those rats knew something bad was coming and they were getting the hell out of there; Taran wanted to be the hero and was willing to sacrifice himself to do so only for Gurgi to end up beating him to the punch; I do wish they would’ve shown the undead attacking somewhere first before Gurgi jumped into the cauldron because it does feel a bit anticlimactic; Nice try there by Creeper claiming they were only resting and not completely dead again; Another bit of an anticlimactic end was the Horned King being sucked into the cauldron seemingly out of nowhere; Creeper was so upset at first only to realize that he was free; As anticlimactic as the Horned King’s death was, the collapsing of the castle was pretty awesome; The witches thought they could just waltz in and take the cauldron not thinking Fflewddur would use their own trickery against them; That would’ve been real douchey of the witches if they just returned Gurgi’s body though he was still dead; Of course the first thing Gurgi would look for is if Taran had food on him; Leave it to Gurgi to basically force Taran and Eilonwy to kiss; Now the only question is did they go back to Dallben or did they go to Eilonwy’s kingdom?; The first film to have the credits at the end of the film like a normal film.

Overall Thoughts: Overall, this film ended up being a fairly average film and while it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting, it was not very good as I was hoping so in that case I am slightly disappointed. This was an interesting time as this would end up being the last film released before my lifetime as I was born only 8 days after it was released, and it would end up being a commercial failure to the point that it was not released on home video for 13 long years. It was also labeled as the film that nearly killed Disney which was shocking to think especially since at one point Disney seemed infallible, and we will see if they can rebound with the next film or if this truly is the end for Disney in terms of its animated films. As for this film, it is not as bad as its reputation states and is better than some of the package films I saw, but it is still a pretty blasé film and marks a low point for the Disney film canon.

Final Grade: 5.5/10