Disney Movie Reviews

Steamboat Willie:
Oh boy. I remember this from SOOOO long ago. I can't really remember when I first saw it but I do know it was when I was young. This once again looks like an animation of old, such as McCay, but it has that classic Disney 'feel' to it. The detail is impeccable and if I'm not mistaken the first movie to introduce 'Mickey Mouse'.



The settings are detailed, the characters act comically and the story has a suitable gooyness to it that features a 3 act structure. It also has great use of sound that encapsulates the entire animation. This piece arguably set the standard for animation that Winsor McCay started. This put Disney into the limelight, and they wanted to stay there...

Fantasia and Mickey the Sorcerers Apprentice and Night on a Bald Mountain:
Fantasia is a different being then Disneys other works. Its an amalgamation of different techniques and ways to animate. To be honest, I see this as Disney saying 'Just try and bring us down bitch's'. The parts of the animation are not in anyway related but you get lost in the world and wonder of it.



As you can tell, music is the key to the animation. Listen with no sound. Not the same is it. Each instrument was used to it fullest and added SO much to the film. A mammoth of a piece that reestablished Disney as the powerhouse of animation and introduced the world to what I remember being the second fear of my childhood...



What was my first? The pink elephant scene in Dumbo. I loved that film. Elephant with HUGE ears? Win!! Then there was that scene. I have never seen the end of Dumbo.

Anyway, Yes, this part did creep the hell out of me. Looking back at it now, I can tell it was the use of light and sound but I think it was that normal things could come alive and run amok. I knocked over the mop in the kitchen everyday for a week. I first saw these animations when I was a kid on a Disney VHS so they really are part of my childhood and have a real feeling of nostalgia to them.

The final animation in Fantasia is titled Night on Bald Mountain. I first heard of this part of the animation on an Internet show called 'The Nostalgia Critic' where he ranked 'The Devil' as one of Disney's greatest villains.



The Devil has such a presence and magnitude that you can't help but in awe of the craftsmanship that Disney has created. Once again, the music is so well suited to the animation. Creepy as hell and hits every bar it sets out to hit. This is one haunting piece of animation. The whole 'theme' of the animation is clearly death and the after life which is rather heavy for a 'cartoon'. But animation back in the day was for children and adults. Adults seeing this could admire the beauty of the animation while the children are scared. I have always said Children enjoy being scared. They enjoy it. Such a creepy and stylised piece of work that closes Fantasia on a high that not many can reach.