Saving Mr. Banks

So I finally saw Saving Mr. Banks on Christmas Eve and I don't think I was as head over heels with it as everyone else was. I think it was good, it was just different than I thought it would be.

I'll start off saying that if you thought the main focus would be on Walt and P.L., you might be slightly disappointed. I definitely was going in expecting more Walt than P.L., whether that was the fault of the marketing or just because of some fault of my own. By the way, I'm trying to not to include spoilers but it may happen. So proceed with caution if you haven't seen it yet.

The movie was definitely emotional. I'm not the type that gets emotional during movies but I surely could feel the frustration of the Sherman brothers, the script writer (bad fan, I don't remember his name), and Walt. I really felt for Travers as she cried while watching the movie during it's premiere. I also liked the little touches like Walt's meeting with GE, and the "it's a small world" stuff I saw in the office when the movie moved to '64. 

I think what turned me off mainly was that I was just expecting something else. I expected the movie to be a little lighter hearted, but P.L. dealing with her alcoholic dad who she eventually lost and her mom who was unhappy and losing her marbles as well got a little heavier than I expected. (Don't get me wrong, it was still really good.) But I still would've been happier with slightly fewer and shorter flashbacks, though I did see how they were necessary. 

Another turn off of mine is a little petty but I didn't like BJ Novak. Probably because I can't see him as anything else than Ryan from The Office. I think he did well but he just didn't completely fit the role in my opinion. 

Past those couple things, some of them just small personal problems, the movie was absolutely awesome. It's great to see the development of P.L. throughout the movie. Emma Thompson did amazing job. Unfortunately, I've heard there is plenty of false information so don't completely believe everything from the movie. I've not heard exactly what is and is credible. But the film was so well made.

My favorite parts had to be P.L. dancing during Let's Go Fly A Kite and the last few seconds as it shows the winds changing and reads the same lines Bert does in the beginning of Mary Poppins (and the same as in the beginning of the movie). I also loved the tapes played during the credits from the actual recordings of P.L.'s cowriting of the script. 

Well thanks for reading this fairly short review of Saving Mr. Banks, and I definitely recommend you go see it soon. It was pretty great. I'll hopefully write soon but about the parks. The parks are my first love and I don't think I make for a very good movie critic. Although I may not be a very decent theme park critic either! But I appreciate anyone reading this and feel free to respond!

P.S. I agree with P.L. about one thing for sure. I did not like Mr. Banks mustache. I watched Mary Poppins a few days before seeing the movie and the mustache creeped me out the whole time. But that's just me. 

Also I just typed this on a mobile device so there's bound to be errors. I'm too lazy to proofread though. So please ignore them for the moment. Thanks again!

Taking Down the Hat

To celebrate "100 Years of Magic" in 2001 (specifically 100 years since Walt had been born), the big Sorcerer's hat was placed at the end of Hollywood Boulevard in Disney's MGM Studios (now Hollywood Studios). One major complaint among the  Disney community is that the hat blocks the gorgeous Chinese Theater that houses the Great Movie Ride. I was only 5 in 2001, so I honestly do not remember the park before the addition of the hat. But of those who have been around longer than I have, many complain, saying it's unattractive, a bad use of space, and a terrible spot for it. The hat wasn't meant to be permanent, but it's been there for the same amount of time that it hasn't been there. The park opened in 89, the hat was added in 2001 (about 12 years without the hat) and it's now 2013 (12 years with the hat). So my opinion on that hat?

I have mixed feelings. No, I don't think this is an eyesore. This may be because it's pretty much the only way I've remembered the park. But I think the hat is kind of cool. From a child's point of view, the sight of the big hat as I enter the park is probably a better "wienie" than a theater at the end. I also think it looks kind of cool.

But I'm not saying I am in favor of keeping the hat. I do think that one of the reasons it was added was so that there could be a definite symbol to put on merchandise. If this is true, it doesn't seem to be a good reason since older merchandise and the new 2014 merchandise uses the Earful Tower to represent the park, and it looks just fine. Also, the hat doesn't use space wisely. I don't want my park symbol to be a pin trading station or a cover for the rain. The other park synbols all have something going for them. The castle (so beautiful it doesn't need any other purpose) has the restaurant inside, the Dream Suite, and a shop or two (although I don't remember seeing these shops open on my last trip...). Spaceship Earth and the Tree of Life both house attractions, Spaceship Earth is the home of a ride, and the Tree of Life shelters Tough to Be a Bug.

 I once heard that the hat was originally supposed to be built atop One Man's Dream, but for whatever reason wasn't. Whether this information was completely false or not, I think this would've been a great idea. It would draw people back to that side of the park and into the attraction without disrupting the view down Hollywood Boulevard.

So what do I think should be done with the hat? I've heard the idea of moving it out in front of the gates (where the Monsters University topiary was this past spring/summer), but I think that'd be rather odd to see that as I'm walking up to enter the park. If it couldn't have been placed on One Man's Dream originally, it probably wouldn't be a possible idea to movie it there, but if it could fit there that would be my first choice. Most call for the removal of the hat all together. Which might be happening fairly soon.

On Twitter, I've heard a number of people say they've heard from inside sources that the hat will be removed in the next year. I also heard this about 2013 though. Why am I believing it now? As I mentioned earlier, the 2014 merchandise doesn't feature the hat anymore. The merchandise has reverted back to using the Earful Tower to represent the park, along with Cinderella's Castle, Spaceship Earth, and the Tree of Life.

Honestly, I don't know if I care what happens to the hat. I'm cool with it staying since I don't have extremely strong objections to it. But I don't love it immensely, so it's free to go at any time. So I guess we'll wait for the official announcement from the company and see if this ever comes true. (Or maybe the company will start tearing down the hat without much fanfare.)

I do have to admit though, it does look pretty seeing the theater at the end of the boulevard. I don't feel like it evokes the same excitement for children as the hat might, but it does look very good. By the way, this photo is not mine. It came up in a quick search on a thread which also has some other cool older pictures from the parks, so feel free to just check it out real quick here.

Thanks for reading everyone and feel free to tell your opinions on the issue!

Frozen

I have been counting down the days to Frozen since Wreck-It Ralph's release last year. And I believe it was totally worth it. I cannot stress how much I loved Frozen.Would I say it's the best since Lion King? Mmmm, probably not. But I enjoyed the characters, how the story progressed, the animation, and the soundtrack. (Warning: I don't make for a very good movie critic. This could have easily been written by a 12 year old)

The soundtrack has got to be one of my favorite things about the movie. In my opinion, it fits perfectly alongside all of the other "classic" soundtracks. Idina Menzel's voice is beautiful, and Kristen Bell surprised me with hers. Let It Go is so powerful and great. I also enjoy For the First Time In Forever a lot, and probably the reprise even more. I'm kind of a sucker for duets, and although the reprise to For the First Time In Forever isn't the typical reprise where they're singing together, I love it. In Summer is definitely cute and funny with Olaf. When first watching the movie, I was actually wishing they hadn't included the song. I think during the movie I felt like there were too many songs and this one was unnecessary. (Usually I think there aren't enough songs, but I know others might not be as into the music as I am.) I was wrong though. The amount of songs is good, and since I've been listening to the soundtrack, I quickly realized that In Summer is pretty great. I'm still not sold on Fixer Upper though. It's kind of a good, upbeat, catchy song, but the whole "he/she's a fixer upper" metaphor kind of bothers me. Don't really know why. The only other thing I have a problem is Anna "feeling gassy" in For the First Time In Forever. In the moment, yes it got a chuckle out of other people in the audience. But I kind of thought it killed the vibe and made it a little gross. I'm not into those types of jokes in the first place, so that may be why I don't like that much. Overall, the soundtrack is amazing and I don't think you could be disappointed with it.

Unfortunately, I can't necessarily go on about the animation or the plot development of the story the way I did the soundtrack. Mostly because I don't completely understand how to pick out all the little specifics of either. But I can say overall, I thought the animation was beautiful, especially Elsa's ice castle. And I thought the story was perfect for Disney. They had their twist (which some or most people may be able to realize before it happens as I did) which added some excitement to the story, and I feel like the story didn't really lag in any places to me. Honestly, I thought near the beginning of the movie that most of it would be the journey up the mountain, with a climax at the castle. I was kind of surprised and happy that the whole movie didn't consist of making it up the mountain. This thought of mine may have just been because I didn't know much about the movie going into it. This may sound weird, but I tried to shelter myself from pretty much everything Frozen so that the movie would hold more of a surprise for me when I first saw it.

Also Get A Horse! (the Mickey short before the movie) was pretty awesome. The 3D effects were used effectively, and I honestly thought I was at a Disney Park in a show like Philharmagic. When the water poured out of the screen, I actually waited for a spritz of water until I remembered I was only in my local movie theater. Only negative thing I would say here, is that I wish the story line would have been a little different. Pete chasing Minnie, Mickey and Pete have their spat. But I think their point was that they were taking such a classic plot that many might already be familiar with (whether Mickey or other cartoons, the male must save the female from the villain) and put such an innovative twist on it. Don't get me wrong, I love it as it is and I get that it was more the switch between the two worlds that the story relied on than the Mickey/Minnie/Pete thing. But I would've liked if the story would've been something that could have been successful without the brilliant use of technology. I feel like this isn't making any sense or is still coming off wrong so please don't read too much into it, but overall the short is phenomenal.

Thanks for reading my extremely unprofessional review on Frozen and Get A Horse! Some of my complaints may have been kinda weak or not had any legitimate reasoning to them, but I wasn't really too upset over anything I complained about anyway. I really loved the movie and the short, and they were surely worth the year long wait. I'm hoping Disney keeps up this streak of great movies in the past few years. While I'm not as excited for Big Hero 6, because I'm wondering how the Marvel characters will fit into a film that fits in with the 'classic' animation studios lineup, but I do have confidence that the artists will be able to pull it off. Frozen just further proves to me that the Animation Studio is capable of putting out quality movies consistently.

Also, please note that I'm not really taking myself seriously as a critic here on anything. Yes, I have my compliments and my complaints, but I am definitely (and obviously) not qualified or knowledgeable enough to review movies or music professionally, and I realize that. I just wanted to put out my thoughts. I just know some people who take themselves seriously as being critics on many matters, when they also do not have the expertise to make any real critiques, and then they think that their opinion is the ultimate opinion. I just want everyone to know I'm not like that at all! Again, thanks for reading!


EDIT:
I went to go see Frozen again. It was just as good the second time, if not better. I forgot to mention before though that I do have a slight problem with Love Is An Open Door. It sounds very High School Musical-ish. I actually do enjoy the song (I enjoyed High School Musical soundtracks sadly) but it seems a little cheap and out of place to me. Disney features have had a past of having beautiful, romantic songs when the male and female characters have their moment. Beauty and the Beast, Whole New World, Once Upon A Dream, I See the Light, etc. But Love Is An Open Door doesn't measure up to these other songs at all. That being said, the song is decent in itself, even if not the love song others may have been hoping for.

Get A Horse! did not impress me this time though. I did see it in 2D which may be some of the reasoning for that. But I have the same complaint as before. The great thing about the short is the 2D/3D mix of animation and the use of them. But the storyline in itself still kind of lacks for me. But again, I'm not a professional critic.

Renovation of Imagination

I've been hearing a little bit about the rumored closing of the Imagination Pavilion as soon as 2014 starts. From the people I follow on Twitter, this is probably one of the most reminisced rides (next to Horizons) and a lot of people complain about the pavilion in it's current state compared to when Dreamfinder was still present. 
    
Most of the talk I've seen about it has come from social media, so none of it is really documented or completely reliable, but Tom Bricker has written an article on it. Bricker suggests that this may be a way of "quietly killing" the pavilion, which I sure hope isn't so. While the current Journey Into Imagination is definitely not my favorite ride or a "must-do" for me, I don't hate it as much as many others do. This may be because the closest I've gotten to the original ride is a YouTube video. From what I've heard, the original was the best, and the second and third versions fall far behind, with the second being absolutely terrible. Bricker points out in his article that he would not want a complete redo of the original ride, which I agree with. Disney isn't (or shouldn't be) about repeating itself. The seemingly ideal situation is the reappearance of Dreamfinder with Figment, but with a different story than the original. What I don't support is the use of Phineas and Ferb.

I'm not going to lie, I like Phineas and Ferb. I actually own Perry the Platypus pajamas. But don't stick the characters in the ride. I don't know how much longer they're even going to last. I don't see the show getting as much airtime as it used to. The whole Perry the Platypus themed merchandise fad seems to have come and gone. Whatever ride comes, I'd just prefer if it wouldn't become outdated in the next few years. Yes, the franchise may stay somewhat relavant in the parks with the Agent P World Showcase thing (sorry, I don't know it's official name). Yes, the boys definitely represent imagination and creativity well, but I just don't like the idea of them in the park. 

Moving on to the theater, I was less satisfied with Captain EO than I was the ride. I only remember seeing Honey, I Shrunk the Audience once, and I don't remember much besides the mice/air blowing trick. Captain EO is better than Honey from what I remember, and I actually do like it some, but I'm not head over heels about it. I actually skipped it on my last trip, not knowing it might close soon and because I just didn't care to see it. There is the fact that I'm not a huge Michael Jackson fan in the first place, even though I do like We Are Here to Change the World. But the whole idea of dancing and singing saves the world thing isn't my cup of tea. Or maybe I'm completely missing something. I know a lot of people like EO a lot, and it isn't that I don't enjoy it, but I feel like its run it's course (twice) and it's time to move on.

Not having any innovative ideas for a ride or show myself, I'll probably be happy with whatever happens, as long as the pavilion reopens (assuming the rumors are true and it actually closes in the first place). Whatever happens, I'll try not to be too picky. (I'm usually satisfied fairly easy.) I'd just like a fresh ride, Dreamfinder would be welcome, and a great, original show to replace EO. And I'm hoping that the notion of killing the pavilion doesn't become reality.

Welcome!

Hey guys! The idea of starting a blog has been in my head for a while. I'll see how well I actually stick to it. While I don't feel like it's my place to be online writing posts, I don't really have any other way to share my Disney related thoughts. Most of my friends aren't real into Disney the way I am (I usually kill any conversation by bringing Disney into it), and I'm not necessarily the type to start talking to the Disney community on Twitter or anything, I generally just follow and read. I will admit, there is so much I don't know about Disney. I'm also not as critical as others may be. Usually I'm fairly easy to please, or I don't notice all the little nitpicky stuff in films and attractions that others may see. So to start off, I'm a 17 year old guy from Michigan. I've been to Walt Disney World 10ish times. Being 17, I go when I have time off from school and when my parents are willing to take me, so most of my trips have fallen in August, a couple in July. I also tend to rush, so there may be some detailed things I don't always notice. There's probably some confessions I'll make along the way that just reinforce the fact that I haven't experienced or don't know a lot of things about Disney. (First confession: I've never had a Dole Whip. I meant to try one on my last trip but it just never happened...) I'm not trying to be the "news breaker" or the "Disney buff" because I don't have the connections, knowledge, or experience to write any of that. Basically, I'm just using this blog to get my thoughts/opinions about different things Disney (but mostly Walt Disney World) off of my mind so if this actually does get any attention, thanks for reading and feel free to discuss with me!