Farewell to the Falls…

 

Only a few hours ago I watched the much-anticipated finale to the Disney show Gravity Falls, titled “Weirdmageddon Part 3:Take Back The Falls”.

Gravity Falls was a show I was introduced to a little late in the game; I caught a two-minute preview of the episode “The Time Traveler’s Pig” once and forgot about it afterwards, then stumbled across the Season One finale “Gideon Rises” shortly after it aired and was determined to find out what this show was about. I marathoned the whole first season just in time for the premiere of its second (and ultimately last) one, and it almost immediately became one of my favorites shows of all time. Its humor, its complex characters, and its riveting mystery always kept me begging for more (and its many excruciating hiatuses between episodes didn’t help). Almost every episode was perfect. It filled the whole in my cartoon-loving heart that Avatar the Last Airbender left when it ended (not even Legend of Korra could do that).

What amazes me the most about Gravity Falls is how much creativity went uncensored. This is a show where humor and horror often go hand-in-hand and they got away with so many things it still boggles the mind. “Northwest Mansion Mystery” had a scene involving taxidermy animals straight out of the Evil Dead films. “Into the Bunker” features a monster that looks like an enraged reject from John Carpenter’s The Thing. “Boyz Crazy” took a big jab at boy bands and most teen idols in general by revealing that they’re all clones. I’m not even going to mention Grunkle Stan’s reference to a certain lewd gesture he wishes to make after a witch steals his hands (long story). Remember, this is a program made by the good folks at Disney. DISNEY. I’ve gushed over their films before but I’m not the first to say their channels hosts some of the finest garbage catered solely to dumb teenagers. This show was a rare creative oasis in a tween-age wasteland.

Still, it wasn’t just the comedy and artistry that kept me returning. The relationships between the characters and their arcs and subversions are some of the most fascinating I’ve seen on television in a long time. Most shows tend to fall in a pattern with their characters doing certain things after a while, but not here. Each decision they make has an impact on the story and the people around them. Dipper and Mabel are the best written siblings I’ve ever seen; separately they’re strong characters, but they’re at their best when they’re together. I relate to Mabel in particular with her lighthearted goofy ways and penchant for bright colors and anything cute, especially in the later episodes that dive deep into her fears of the future and growing up. Some of the most heart-rending episodes have revolved around that and how being reminded of what’s really her important – her family and friends – are what help her come around.

So I know what you’re thinking, how good was this finale? Well, to go into it too much would be to spoil it for anyone who hasn’t seen it or the show yet, so I’ve written a brief spoiler-free opinion immediately below. If you want to see my spoiler-iffic thoughts, just keep on scrolling down to the italicized text.

February Review: Beauty and the Beast (1991)

(DISCLAIMER: This blog is not for profit. All images and footage used below are property of their respective companies unless stated otherwise. I do not claim ownership of this material.)

“…For who could ever learn to love a beast?”

-Opening narration

All right, let me level with you –

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love Beauty and the Beast, and you can only imagine how much I’ve been looking forward to reviewing it. Beauty and the Beast was one of the very first Disney movies I ever saw; hell, it was one of the first movies I ever saw (my mom goes back and forth on whether or not this or a re-release of 101 Dalmatians was my first moviegoing experience). It was also my first Broadway musical, my first Disney on Ice show, I would walk around the basement with a decorative wicker basket acting the part of Belle while the movie played in the family VCR, you get the idea. It’s a movie that was a big part of my childhood as well as my adulthood. This is tied with Fantasia as my favorite Disney movie, and depending on my mood it jockeys between that and one other movie that I’m keeping secret as my favorite film of all time.

…Which means it’s going to be VERY hard for me to give it a fair and unbiased review.

All nostalgia and fan gushing aside though, it would be easy to say that the stars were aligned from the very beginning and the experience of crafting such a masterpiece was lightning in a bottle, but nothing could be further from the truth. Production on Beauty and the Beast went as far back as Walt Disney’s time; however, he and his best story men had a difficult time working out the kinks in the second act. For anyone not familiar with the original fairy tale this is based on, most of the story is just Belle and the Beast having dinner together every night with him asking her to marry him over and over, which doesn’t make for a compelling film. Jean Cocteau’s adaptation got around that by focusing more on atmosphere and mood and inner conflict, but as much as I enjoy his take, I still don’t quite buy his couple’s relationship. Their love is the heart of this story, and if you can’t be invested in their romance, then the film falls flat.

Disney dropped the idea and it wasn’t glanced at again until the new regime that would be responsible for the Disney Renaissance in the 90’s came in. They started flipping through the archives for potential new films and came across this one. Jeffrey Katzenburg commissioned British animator Richard Purdhum to storyboard and direct an early version of the film but wasn’t a big fan of what he came up with, mostly because it was too similar to Cocteau’s.

And then, like two musical angels descending from on high, THEY entered the picture.

If you have no idea who these men are, get down on your knees and kiss their toes thou quivering infidel, for they are responsible for your childhoods!!

Composer Alan Menken and lyricist Howard Ashman, fresh off their Oscar-winning hit The Little Mermaid, were brought on board to liven things up and turn this dreary set of drawings into an animated musical fit for Broadway (of course, neither of them would know at the time that this movie would eventually become a stage musical, but it’s quite a coincidence, isn’t it?) Richard Purdhum was given the boot and the director’s reins were handed over to Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, whose only directing experience at the time was an animated pre-show for Cranium Command, an animatronics show at Epcot. What’s more, The Little Mermaid’s success prompted the studio executives to announce that there would be one new animated film released every year, which meant nearly every animator, storyboard artist, effect/layout/background/etc. artist had to kick it into high gear to get this movie done on time.

Now it’s hard to give all the credit of the film’s success to just one person since there were so many who labored on it, but if I had to, I’d have to say Howard Ashman was the one who contributed the most into shaping it into the movie we have today. Howard was a lifelong Disney fan with a great musical background (his most well-known contribution to theater being the most beloved musical in existence about a flesh-eating plant based on a Roger Corman film) but knew that animation was his true calling. He leaped at the chance of helping shape an animated film, and you need only look at the bonus features on The Little Mermaid DVD where they discuss him to see how much his ideas and words and even vocal inflections influenced the actors and animators. Beauty and the Beast is no exception. He was the one who suggested the formerly mute enchanted objects should be given voices. He was the one who turned Gaston from aristocratic fop to comically masculine but homicidal hunter. He was the one who said the story should be the Beast’s journey to humanity as well as Belle’s journey to love (and if you haven’t seen Waking Sleeping Beauty then why the hell are you reading this go watch it now there’s only three words I can say: “little Beast boy”.)

The results did not go unrewarded. As much as we get oversaturated with so much Disney in the media today, whether it’s memes, god-awful direct-to-video sequels, and toy brands that suck any heart or meaning from the movies they originated from, we forget how great some of their movies are, especially upon their release. A rough cut of the film mixing storyboards and unfinished animation that was shown at the New York Film Festival was met with nearly twenty minutes of standing ovation when it was done. It won the Golden Globe for Best Picture-Musical/Comedy (and this was before they made a separate category for animation) and was the first animated film to be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. It came surprisingly close to winning but lost to The Silence of the Lambs, which could also be considered a Beauty and the Beast tale…of sorts, and after finally seeing that movie after years of griping that Beauty and the Beast should have won…

…nope. Sorry-not-sorry. Great film, but Beauty and the Beast is still better. Shows how little you know about animation, Hollywood.

And seeing as how I’m over a thousand words in and have yet to actually review the film itself, it’s best we finally get started.

And Your February Review Is…

Greetings, my readers! I hope your first month into the New Year has boded well. If I had actually made a resolution this year I’m sure I would have dropped it by now, but you get the idea.

 

And your review for February is…

For who could ever learn to love a Beast…I know someone who does, a lot in fact…

Next month is March, and it’s a time for green. Would you prefer –

• The green hills of Ireland in Darby O’Gill and the Little People

• Being green with envy in The Great Race

• Chasing after a ton of green in It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

• Being green (though it’s not easy) with The Muppet Movie

• Getting the green you need with The Princess and the Frog

• The green Emerald City in The Wizard of Oz