thinking about how visually incredible dunbine is today.... really shooting up to be one of my favorite mecha anime...

The series is over, we reached the present, but here's a list of movies that almost made it, and after that some thoughts that didn't get put in any previous post.

1. The Reluctant Dragon: Only interesting historically. A big step in advancing the studio and Walt himself as a brand, the way other studios used their contracted stars. A commercial for upcoming releases you were expected to pay admission for, released during the animator's strike.
2. So Dear to My Heart: Never seen it, and I'm pretty curious to. Would have been included if I were as strict in the beginning as I was in the end.
3. Bedknobs and Broomsticks: A bloated attempt at recreating Mary Poppins. If I never see this again it'll be too soon.
4. The Brave Little Toaster: Plenty of other distribution-only movies made it in, why not this one?
5. The Thief and the Cobbler (1995 Miramax release): This was an oversight that I do feel bad about. It should have been included.
6. Shrek: What is there to say about the internet's favorite movie that hasn't been said? Logically deserved to be included, as mentioned in the Secret of Nimh post, but I don't feel bad about skipping it.
7. Cars: Also should have been included as the first post-acquisition Pixar release, but it's not substantially different enough, or fun enough, to have made it a priority to include.
8. Tinkerbell: Not a theatrical release, so it falls outside the set scope. But I am a little curious what's going on in this DTV series. The rule was already bent for Disenchanted anyway.
9. A Christmas Carol: Yes, the Jim Carrey performance capture one. Another distribution deal I ignored, and intend to continue ignoring. You can't make me watch Mars Needs Moms.

Over the course of these 9 months or so, it's become clear to me that eras are real. I don't think they have clear boundaries very often, but I have to agree they exist. And the one we're in is the longest, lasting over ten years. And those ten years have had a great expansion of production, so in terms of film count it's even bigger, far bigger than any of the others by my count. And it needs to change. I haven't said this because I think all these are, baseline, pretty good. But there hasn't been a weird period, or a perspective shift, or anything groundbreaking in so long. Just iteration and improvement in technical fidelity, and hovering around the same strategies for mass appeal. Even so, Strange World recorded a big financial loss. There's a tiny hope that spurs a change from which something new can happen, but studios make stupid decisions all the time, there's no reason to hope they accidentally make a good one.

Tomorrow, maybe Wednesday, the big ranked list drops. Then this is finished. [ETA: if the above were all included, it would have been an even 90 films. 81 is still a nice number, it's a square at least.]

First shot of animation: Scratchy newsreel footage establishes the setting.

All caught up! The era of Difficult Family Relationships finally makes a follow-up to Atlantis: The Lost Empire. It’s animated like they saw those TikToks of people acting like Disney characters and felt motivated to go further beyond. Everyone’s constantly bouncing and pendulating, but in particular ways to denote character.

So our story concerns actual power plants, that grow actual green energy. And three generations have to work through their issues to solve a problem with it. One is a rapacious explorer, then a resource exploiter, and our hero is Mr sustainable. The mystery prevents anything analogous to an indigenous perspective, and the adventure genre locks out keeping the Strange World as a preserve. I’m almost thankful this one flopped so we were spared people blogging on Disney Does Degrowth.

Love the critters. Every few minutes a new little guy pops up and I’m making my noises at it. Like Avatar with whimsy. The best part is some exist just to exist, with no practical, exploitable use. They’re features of wonder, not Chekov’s jellyfish clouds.

Why does the final shot reveal the story was a comic book? Was it fictional all along? The opening was a newsreel so it’s not a bookend thing. Which means they managed projection before electrification so the switch isn’t reflecting Pando’s loss. It’s too in love with the pulp influence, and that final shot spoils the experience.

First shot of animation: Push in on the Andalasia castle, through the town and forest, into a storybook, in a combination of the most common openings, pushed to excess.

Maybe the biggest criticism of fairy tales that Enchanted didn’t touch on is “what comes after Happily Ever After?”. Fifteen years later they got around to it. Where in Enchanted “fairy tales” meant a naive and endearing enthusiasm and directness, here it’s a collection of cliches. And Patrick Dempsey is no James Marsden when it’s time to play them.

Turning reality into a cartoon makes this feel more like a Halloweentown spin-off than an Enchanted sequel, down to a resolution involving dueling particle colors and the bylaws of spells. I liked when they were moving in and the wires caught fire, that was fun to watch.

Maybe it was a mistake to watch this the same day as John Wick 4.