It's the plot, stupid.
USA Today runs their usual insightful commentary about the upcoming release of Lilo and Stitch. It obsesses over the absence of CGI graphics pointing to
Atlantis as evidence for the failure of traditional animation to draw box office. Funny me, I thought that
Atlantis bombed because of a plot better left in 50s serial format, a cast of sterotypes rather than characters, and no sense of humor beyind dirty French jokes repeated over and over again. And is huge success of
Pixar due to their pioneering animation, or their brilliant comic talent?
What causes FX myopia anyway? Granted I can understand why fanboys obsess over the wrong things in a movie. Do the studios set it up by trying to hype each new summer release as the next big technical development (while the artistic development gets trumped by
Waking Life and
Insomnia?)
posted by KirkJobSluder
on Jun 18, 2002 -
7 comments
The serious business of selling all-American fun "There could hardly be a better summation of the opportunity that American pop culture companies like Disney are enjoying overseas. With the end of the Cold War, the opening of China, and the worldwide triumph of American-style capitalism, the brand-name purveyors of American food, fashion, and entertainment have never had it so good."
posted by owillis
on Feb 15, 2002 -
10 comments
Jiminy Cricket! It's our Corporate America Flag billboard! Once upon a time (quite recently, in fact), the good people of Adbusters received a call from a production assistant for a movie being made by Miramax, a Disney corporation. It seems the new film needed an establishing shot of Times Square in New York City. But something was in the way.
Jiminy Cricket! It's our Corporate America Flag billboard!
Disney gave us three options. We could (a) take the billboard down for a week or two; (b) cover up the billboard; or (c) change the billboard's corporate logos back into stars.
Flag Picture.
posted by Niahmas
on Feb 2, 2002 -
28 comments
In gaming news,
Disney has thrown itsself into the online gaming market, with
Toontown, pitting it against
some of the other successful online games, but targeted towards kids. The reviews have been
decent or better, and heck, who wouldn't want the chance to become
a toon. From personal experience, online games can be incredibly addictive and time intensive, limiting actual human contact to zero. So, is this a great way to introduce young kids to the wonders of the online experience, or is it another way for parents to let technology play babysitter?
posted by Benway
on Jan 9, 2002 -
12 comments
Redubbing 'Shrek'. The DVD will feature a new technology that lets you overdub 12 scenes featuring Shrek, Donkey, Princess Fiona and other characters from the hit summer movie. The Shrek's ReVoice technology will even sync your voice so that it matches the lip movements of the characters as they speak in the film.
But can you make them swear at each other?
posted by stuporJIX
on Dec 15, 2001 -
6 comments
Honk Kong's reclaimation efforts for Disney are killing its fishing industry. Is this the proper way to reclaim land? It looks like HK would happily trade away its dwindling fishing industry for a Disney business opportunity. I can't decide if this is economic progress or a very risky trade between a market that produces goods (fish) and one that produces a service (entertainment). I can't read this and not think of Paris' Eurodisney disaster. I wonder how the one in Tokyo is doing.
posted by skallas
on Nov 23, 2001 -
4 comments
Now I Get It Ugh. Disney made the cartoon equivalent of
Hillary Rosen reading your kids a bedtime story. Perhaps succeeding episodes can explain why we should all buy DVD reissues of Disney films. Or extol the virtues of
Song of the South.
(from
Plastic)
posted by yerfatma
on Oct 24, 2001 -
12 comments
Focus on the Family says ABC’s The Drew Carey Show propagandizes "the idea that men enjoy watching lesbian sex."
Instead of showing the kiss, the camera pans slowly around to show the male cast and crew in a voyeuristic trance. "To a lot of people, Drew Carey represents middle America, and what you see here is perversions working their way through the TV and this supposed middle American icon"
Among religious conservatives in general there is a dislike of ABC and parent Disney programming. The conservative American Family Association thinks Christians should
boycott Disney. Are these groups just a bunch of religious fuddy-duddies or do they have a valid gripe?
posted by wfrgms
on Oct 4, 2001 -
45 comments
Talk About Your Graven Images! Look out, Golden Calf - you've got competition! Now up for sale on eBay, a two-foot-tall, 100+ pound solid gold statue of Mickey Mouse.
"The manufacturer of 'Celebration Mickey', The Great Western Mint, adds 'Never in the history of art has a work of such enormous size been cast in pure gold. We are proud to be able to present this piece with expectations that art lovers and cultural historians yet unborn will look back upon this 1,500 troy ounce casting of pure gold and marvel at the technical prowess that it exhibits.'"
Wow. I thought I heard all the theories, but it never dawned on me that Mickey Mouse was the Antichrist.
posted by tpoh.org
on Sep 1, 2001 -
9 comments
Online petition to bring Spirited Away, Japan's currently largest grossing film, to thje states. Disney owns the domestic rights to all of Hayao Miyazaki's films (think Princess Mononoke) and has no plans to release
Spirited Away.
posted by skallas
on Aug 30, 2001 -
25 comments
Tron returns with a vengeance. With a theatrical sequel, a 20th anniversary DVD and a first-person PC shooter, you have to wonder why Disney is rollling out the red carpet all of a sudden.
posted by ed
on Jul 27, 2001 -
34 comments
Disney's Atlantis ripped from the anime movie Nadia. Talk about role reversal (you see, a lot of anime creators style comes from trying to emulate Disney style in the early days of the genre) this site presents some interesting evidence that Disney's summer blockbuster is a complete copy of an earlier film released in 1990 in Japan.
posted by Brilliantcrank
on Jun 23, 2001 -
9 comments
Disney cast members no longer have to wear dirty underwear. Apparently those Mickey and Goofy suits come complete with a set of undergarments that the employee had to wear, and turn in at the end of the day to be laundered -- that was the plan, anyway. Turns out those undergarments weren't being washed thoroughly. "Some workers had complained about getting pubic lice and scabies. 'Things have been passed around,' said Gary Steverson, a stilt walker at Animal Kingdom. 'I know I don't want to share my tights and I don't want to share my underwear.'"
posted by RylandDotNet
on Jun 7, 2001 -
13 comments
This is very old (especially in web years) so i won't be surprised if i'm scolded for a possible repost, but you all have to read this. No description, just these three words: God Save Disney.
posted by paulrockNJ
on Apr 10, 2001 -
14 comments
Disney's Michael Eisner on what to do about all those kids who use Napster:
Arrest and prosecute the little SOBs. I know I'd sleep better at night knowing that those devious conspiratorial 11-year-olds were behind bars. [second item]
posted by aaron
on Mar 16, 2001 -
15 comments
Disney will finally shut down Go.com Guess I wasn't the only one to think Go was a bad idea. Ever since Disney started doing the Go thing, their Disney.com site went from useful to down-right nasty. They might as well have called it goaway.com. I just hope what they mean by streamlining is take away the crap and make this stuff useful. The move was praised by Wall Street analysts. "Good riddance"
posted by jdiaz
on Jan 30, 2001 -
7 comments
R.I.P.: Comic Book Pioneer Carl Barks Anybody can do superheroes... Carl made Disney cartoon characters into action comc stars.
I devoured these as a kid; bought foreign-language versions from the Disneyland Main Street bookstore; to this day, the only "jillionaire" I can trust is Scrooge McDuck.
Now, if only HE had done the "Backstreet Boys" comic instead of Stan Lee...
posted by wendell
on Aug 26, 2000 -
1 comment
Going to Disney Land any time soon? You may want to see which
Restrooms are the best, and which ones aren't. Which ones are open, and which ones are closed. Of course, you could always just go there and take your chances.
posted by da5id
on Apr 19, 2000 -
0 comments
Disneyworld... has lowered it's adult age prices, so now if you happen to be 10 or older, you're paying full price, which if memory serves me correctly is about $40 bucks. (it rarely does.)
posted by Cavatica
on Apr 13, 2000 -
3 comments
The game of legal tug-of-war over the Go Network logo once again seems to be shifting
away from Disney.
posted by jjg
on Jan 28, 2000 -
1 comment
