Usually I am very quiet about Disney movies and making little reviews on them. I am quite guarded about how I usually feel. On twitter, I noticed a lot of professionals followed me so I usually tweet out a "Congratulations!". Of course, this isn't me being, like, fake. But I wanted to be positive since I think/thought/wish that one day I'd work in the animation industry. I really don't think its in the cards, but that's a story for another time.
Anyways. There are some points I'd like to talk about.
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It's gorgeous. I love when 3D movies feel more painterly.
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While I adore the protagonist, I feel like making this a PRINCESS* movie was the wrong call. I think you could add a boy character that is just her best friend and there doesn't have to be any romance tension. They could be twins, siblings? Cousins? Childhood friend? Were they worried that they had to have that? I mean, as an contemporary comparison, Hunter and Luz' friendship in The Owl House was one of my favorites. I'm not saying don't use a goat as a side kick, that's cute and silly, but like... you're a company that made Pinocchio, Aladdin, and freaking Stitch... (look there are so many boys. So many good boys. How Can I list them all?) their boy characters are so good... often they are allowed to be adventurous and get into trouble and still allowed to be soft and tender with their feelings...?
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Finally... This movie feels... really manufactured. Like, I know that this movie is at an interesting point in Disney's (the studio's) long tradition of cartoon. So the folks behind the movie have a lot of pressure to make it... feel like something Magical with a capital M. But all the motifs from the other movies, while cute, feel like manufactured fluff that I'm suppose to get all teary eyed and nostalgic about. The movie isn't allowed to be itself; it has to depend on these movies from the past to inform it what it is. I have to be in love with this because it reminds me of the others. Very by the books, formulaic, color by the numbers, ect. It feels very much like the formula is, play it very safe and remind these people what they love about Disney.
Manufactured Disney Magic is so over the top, sugary sweet and its spoon fed to us all the time now. I think its stifling their story tellers and artists...
If it were me, I would have made a third installment to Fantasia; I think they can give themselves permission to make artistic visions now. You own so much capital, but you squander it on this manufactured crap that makes you a quick cash grab, trying to make us feel good about... motifs from your other movies?
I had a lot to say as I begun to mule it over, oops.
*Obviously I want girls casted as the main characters in movies. I just -- uhg. Okay. Out of left field, I think this also has to do a lot with what makes a G I R L in society's eyes and how I feel about my on going relationship with my gender. I relate to boy characters? I guess? ??? And I'm sure that there are kids out there that feel the same way: afab who are told that this one version of womanhood is all there is. It sucks!