Return of the Poppins

Yesterday Disney announced that the long awaited Mary Poppins sequel is a go!
Entitled "Mary Poppins Returns" and starring Emily Blunt as Mary and Lin-Manuel Miranda, the writer and star of the Broadway smash hit Hamilton, and directed by "Into the Woods" director Rob Marshall.
A sequel to the 1964 Disney film has been long awaited. Walt Disney himself attempted to make sequel after the success of the film but P.L. Travers, upset with how she was treated and with the film, would never agree to another Disney produced Mary Poppins film.
Reportedly set 20 years after the original film and set in a depression era London. The film is expected to arrive in theaters Christmas 2018.

News: Frozen is officially the highest grossing animated film

photo credit thestranger.com

Today it was announced that Frozen had officially become the highest grossing animated film of all time. Frozen has just hit 1.072 billion dollars at the worldwide box office, surpassing Toy Story 3. I have not made it a secret how I feel for the film but I will say credit is due. This finally puts Walt Disney Animation at their rightful spot at the top. My only concern is I hope the company takes heed and makes sure to take care of this film. I don't want them to start pumping out sequels and tv series like they've done so many times before. I would hate to see them saturate the audience with stuff to make more money.

photo credit: frozenheartburninghands.tumblr.com

Now of course if the story is there and it works, do it. Personally I hope if they make a Frozen 2 that it has a story I saw online. The idea is that Hans has fire powers which explains why he always wore gloves like Elsa. This could start off with a magical showdown with Elsa for the kingdom.This could carry on to a great moment where Hans and Elsa fall for each other and realize that together they can control their powers. And can they do the Heat Miser/ Snow Miser song. Just wishful thinking I guess. 

Thanks for reading and tweet me or email me.
Josh

Late on the Scene: Frozen is a bit frosty....

Hello there, after a long hiatus I have decided to return to the blogosphere. Sorry, but I was in school and I recently had my first child so, I have been a bit busy.

So let me just start with the obvious, I was not a big fan of the film. I thought it was good but it borrowed too much from other films, the songs were not as catchy as their originals, and the ending was Frozen.
If you are still here let me explain. I will admit I went in there with every intention to hate this movie. Every trailer I saw billed the movie as "Kristen Bell is an awkward princess in a frozen kingdom just looking for love, oh yeah, and the evil Snow Queen who froze the kingdom is her sister.... (shot of Ana saying "Awkward!"). Oh and here is our Jar Jar of the movie, Olaf, I'm sure you will hate every second he is on screen." Now if you haven't gotten outraged, let me say, I actually was surprised that I liked the movie. It wasn't Tangled or Wreck-It Ralph but it was still a good movie. To me it was on par of Pocahontas, it was good but it wasn't amazing.

Some of my favorite scenes were with Kristoff and Sven. I loved these two. Kristoff reminded me of myself with his almost split personality with Sven, always talking for him and conversing with him. I do the same with my dog, Mutteray Jack.

Olaf, was surprisingly hilarious. Though almost everyone of his scenes were in the trailer, I enjoyed his screen time. He was a good comedic relief. He was surely one of every kid's favorite characters.
Now the songs were good but oddly familiar. Oddly familiar because they were almost exactly the songs from Tangled. I liked "For the First Time in Forever" but it sounds like "Waiting for My Real Life to Begin." If you don't believe me, then go buy the Frozen soundtrack (if you haven't already) and do what I did and listen to both of these songs back to back. You'll hear it, I guarantee it.
Now I am not too worried about spoilers since the movie has been out for over a month but SPOILER ALERT!

Most of the movie was actually pretty well developed. The characters were great. Ana was very likable and Kristoff was a great kind of anti-prince. Elsa was pretty good but she had some issues. I felt she came off a little selfish but I understood that she was raised to be ashamed of her powers but "Let It Go"  was a teenage angst/rebellion song. Now that was all understandable but the ending was rushed and bad.

Now I knew going into this movie that the end was going to be about the sisters breaking the curse but the execution was terrible. They defied all convention and went against the "True Love's Kiss" but I felt it was underwhelming. The film builds up to the "True Love's Kiss" and then the swerve left to reveal it's the sacrificial act of Ana that breaks her own deathlike fate. WHY!!!??? It did not hit like the kiss would. It also seemed weird that Ana kind of saved herself. It seemed a bit ridiculous. Like I said, underwhelming.
Now that I'm off my soapbox, overall it was an enjoyable enough film with some catchy (yet familiar) tunes. I am sure every kid and, the kid inside you, will be singing along ("Do you want to build a snowman...."). Also if you haven't already, get the children's book of it, great artwork!

D23 for FREE! But WHY?

D23 announced today that they will begin a new version of D23 on June 17, to include a new free membership. What are the perks of paying for D23 is you can have it for free? Oh that's right, they also announced that the magazine will now be only for Gold Members. 

Me and D23 Head, Steven Clark

OK, then why would you take the free membership? Well, the only real perk is apparently the ability to get tickets for the D23 Expo. I had always heard that both of the Expos have been super crowded and that there were such long lines for every event and that they couldn't even allow every person in line into the events, so why on Earth are they trying to get more people at the Expo? It just doesn't make sense to me. D23 Head did mention that they may offer some of the popular Fanniversary events to the free members.

Some new things coming that sound very interesting are the Attraction Rewind where they will be delving into  extinct or, to use their terms, "retired" attractions. Ask a Disney Legend, which is promised to be like the Ask Dave column but featuring Disney Legends. Here's hoping that MiceAge allows Bob Gurr to write for this. Weird Disney to "look at weird promotions, weird events, weird characters, weird audio and more." Question, will they mention the weird Mowgli walk around character that was at Disney's Animal Kingdom this past week? I am also so excited for the Walt Files. As D23 describes it, "Walk in Walt's footsteps through rare stories, audio, video, and images."

However, they did announce some of the member only features that will be coming to the D23 site. I am excited that they will be bringing the Disney A to Z encyclopedia to the site. This is the encyclopedia with over 7,000 entries and was compiled by Disney Legend Dave Smith. And he will be updating it monthly. You can't get any better than that.

Dave Smith giving a presentation at the Walt Disney Archives

Some honorable mentions for members only is the Quotable Walt Disney book online for you, the usual discounts and their downloads page will be members only. No more free rides on wallpapers, sorry. 

So now the countdown begins for June 17th for the new site to come. Oh did you hear the rumor that Lone Ranger will be premiering at Disney California Adventure? Crazy right?

The Wonderful Miscasting of Oz!

I know it's about a week late but I attest that I in fact saw Oz on opening day. Now I know the verdict has been given already that Oz: the Great and Powerful is already doing well and making the cash Disney wanted and may have perhaps become the Oz movie Walt Disney always wanted.

Overall, I thought this movie was good but was missing what it needed to be Great. The overall story revolves around Oz, no Dorothy, and his journey for greatness. I loved the opening in sepia tone as a call back to the Wizard of Oz. Here you get a sense of Oz as a man who was selfish and a liar but always hoping for greatness. He goes on a journey to Oz to fulfill his wish of greatness and to fool the people into believing he is the great Wizard of Oz, named after their land, come to fulfill the prophecy and kill the Wicked Witch. Now cue obligatory long sequence of the introduction of the land of Oz.

We meet Mila Kunis and she shows us that her range is quite low and later in a "plot twist" she is revealed to be the Wicked Witch of the West. Now I felt this was one of the most obvious plot turns considering that there is no merchandise of Mila Kunis is non green form. It kind of makes you think REALLY when it happens, partially because the performance is so god awful but also because it wasn't much of a plot twist.

Next we meet Finley (the great Zach Braff) and we come to find that Oz and Finley's "bromance" is what will carry this whole film. Finley and the China Girl (Joey King) along with Oz are the best characters in this whole film. It's hard to think how bad this would have been without them. Finley was amazing as the comedic relief. China Girl as a character was great because it brought out the heart and was kind of like a Jiminy Cricket to Oz.

After Finley's introduction and a reference to the Cowardly Lion, we meet Rachel Weisz as the Wicked Witch of the East and we find that she is the only Witch that is well casted and well performed. She gives Oz the task of killing her sister Glinda the good witch (Michelle Williams). Personally, I thought "How am I supposed to believe Michelle Williams as the Good Witch when anyone who saw Blue Valentine knows she's the Wicked Witch." Not to mention, I thought her performance was lacking.
Now the movie goes into a kind of formulaic "Oh I can't do this" and a "Yes you can because I believe in you" segment and then Oz decides to take on the Wicked Witches. Now I thought that Oz's plan to take on the Witches was pretty fantastic but then the ending kind of ruins it with Oz hooking up with the Good Witch. I was sitting there like "why did I need that to bring a happy ending to this movie?" I guess someone thought the China Girl accepting Oz, Finley, Knuck, and Glinda as her new family wasn't good enough to end the movie on.

Overall though, it was a good enough film, it just lacks that great quality but Sam Raimi is known for that (Spiderman 1 and 3). It's definitely worth seeing over the junk that is out right now (The Call, Burt Wonderstone, Movie 43).