The 6 Best Endings in Disney

            I have not been posting nearly enough this year and I want to steer back from that.  To that end I have found a 30-day blog challenge and fluffed it out to 31 entries (since December has 31 days).  I have done a 30-day challenge before for movies, though that one was poorly executed (I started it in the middle of a month, at one point I posted 2 entries on one day, it is a mess).  I did another one just this year in August on Video Games, that one was better, go read it after this one, all of it.  Or don’t, no pressure.

            Today is day 29 and the topic is “Favorite Happy Ending”.

            I thought about making this the last entry for the month, but decided to instead go with the really long Top List spread over two days and mostly referencing earlier entries in the month.  I think it will all work out.

Spoilers for this entry.  Obviously.  It is about endings.  I mean, I guess a bunch of Disney stuff is drawn from Fairy Tales and you can generally accept that happily ever after will follow a triumphant defeat of the bad guys by the good guys, spoiling that is not gonna ruin anything.  Disney is not hiring Lars Van Trier to make his version of… anything.  So, let’s make this a top 6, because I don’t want to just point at one movie and then talk about its epilogue.  That is a little too easy.

Generally speaking, there are only two types of endings in Disney films.  The first type is the one everybody knows and expects, “And they lived Happily Ever After.”  Knowing that the rewards earned in this adventure defined the character’s lives till the end is a satisfying way to give the audience closure.

The second ending, which I feel is more common these days—for reasons I pointed out in the “Best Sequel” entry—is, “And The Adventure Continues…”  which in contrast to “Happily”, this ending indicates that this is only the first of many tales yet untold.  This sort of denouement fires the audience’s imagination, not just to hope for future movies, but to imagine their own adventures for the characters and world.  I generally prefer this type, as I think people need to be encouraged to think about doing more and going on their own adventures, instead of just waiting for their “ending” to come to them.

These are the two most common and the best ways to end a movie.  So before we talk about those, let’s talk about a shitty ending.

There is a third type that I think most people would agree with me is the worst.  The ending that just stops.  There are elements of the story left unanswered but no promise of future adventures to resolve them, Disney doesn’t run into this issue too often and off the top of my head I can only point to one strong example, “The Sword in the Stone”.

Generally speaking, if your movie's ending is someone having a fantastic destiny thrust upon them thru no will of their own,
Then you are writing the story backwards.
Think of how many stories start with some goober being told they are "The Special"?
Here is an example, "You're a wizard, Harry."

You cannot tell me that the most interesting time in King Arthur’s life was BEFORE he became king.  Why are we not looking at the more interesting part of his life?  It is not like the movie is too long, it is 79 minutes, you could easily integrate more of the legend in there.

Show some more adventures.  Make him a little older, have him face off against the Black Knight, throw in Guinevere as a love interest, hint at how important the holy Grail will one day be to Camelot.  The existing final resolution of the movie isn’t even good as an ending.  It is resolved entirely by accident.  If not for the knight he is squiring for needing a sword Arthur would have never even seen the sword.  He has no concept of the importance of the action and no real agency in assuming his destiny.  “BLEH!”  I say.  “BLEH!”

Note: There is a bunch of Pixar on this list.  There is a reason that company has had such an impact on family entertainment these last 20 years.

Top 3 for “Happily Ever After”

“Up”

Coming to the realization that your life was worth living and that the memories made are something to be treasured even if it was not the life you dreamed of is a good lesson.  There is also the lesson that you can make a go of adventuring at any point in your life and it still be a harrowing and worthwhile experience that will be enriching.  And there is also a lesson about how it is never too late to try and pass on what you have learned about life to the next generation and use what you know to serve as a mentor and fatherly figure to the young and that such things are valuable to both the young person and the mentor.

This movie is deep.

“Wall-E”

I love me some robots, but I am only lukewarm on this movie overall.  It is cute but it sure as hell is not subtle, I actually think that “Wall-E” has contributed to a modern Luddite type thinking, as stupid people resisting the advent of more automated systems in day to day life, “We can’t have self-driving cars, it will put too many drivers out of work.”  Completely ignoring that the ultimate end of the movie was not an abandonment of technology and automated systems, but using those systems as a means to free up time to better spend it appreciating life and the natural world.

The end of the movie is a call to action on the environment and to cast off the most comically over the top lampooning of consumerism ever put to film.  These are not bad morals.

I would also like to point out a good bit of narrative structure.  The conflict of the movie, that we not only care about getting back to Earth, but we also care about saving Wall-E from his mortal injuries, keeps the film exciting.  Contrast this with the “Lorax” CGI movie in which they are racing to plant a tree at the end of the movie, but no one’s life is at stake.  Weak ending.

Writing tip, to complicate and deepen the narrative in the third act, don’t just re-emphasize the initial goal, instead throw in an additional twist which will heighten the tension on an emotional level.  “Wall-E” is a good example of this in action, another good example?  “The Empire Strikes Back”, not enough to just defeat Vader, but since Vader is your dad, you now have to defeat your own potential to fall to the dark side.  That is meaningful.

“Toy Story 3”

I keep banging on about this movie, and its ending is why I keep doing so.  Almost the entire rest of the movie could be cut out except for the scene of Andy giving his toys away and it would still be the best happily (sadly) ever after out there.

Top 3 for “And the Adventures Continue!”

“Aladdin”

I really liked the sequel cartoon growing up.  Aladdin and crew were a medieval fantasy land Avengers in the 90’s that I watched each day after school, they had a colorful cast of villains and supporting characters with a range of motivations and methodology.  That being said, does the MOVIE set up the SERIES well by leaving the audience with the feeling that things will go on?  I think so.

Genie is set free and wants to see the world but remains a grateful friend of Aladdin, which promises a return.  The Sultan clearly has plans for Aladdin, and Al being aware of the poverty in the city will bring a fresh perspective to the palace about the state of the city and the value of its people.  Lastly, the world is still riff with potential for adventure, the original “Aladdin” story comes from a set of “1,001 Arabian Nights” which is name checked multiple times in the movie, that is a hint at a world that is rich with stories to tell.  (You might say, "A Whole New World").  This ending feels like the start of something more, and more came down the pipe.

“The Incredibles”

The fact that this thing was not turned into a massive franchise is baffling to me.  IT ENDS WITH THE START OF ANOTHER ADVENTURE!  It’s a superhero story which talks about there being lots of bad guys and lots of history.  This should be more movies!

“Inside Out”

            The movie ends with a montage showing the complex and strange emotions of dozens of people.  “Inside Out” was one big event in the life of someone who has a whole life full of big events waiting for her to go thru them.  Not to mention all the people of the world going thru life changing events and the swirl of conflicting emotions that come with each.  We are all tiny little universes and each has stories to tell.

The Beg for Attention

            Share your own thoughts on this in the comments.  I know I am not the only person out there who is nostalgic for Disney products, and I am sure many people disagree with my selection for today’s entry.  

I picked Disney stuff just because I knew there was so much of it to talk about and it lends itself to discussion in the comments.

What is your favorite ending for a Disney movie?

Or family movie in general?

What is your favorite 3rd act twist?

Do you think I am giving “Up too much credit?

Share your thoughts below.

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If you like or hate this please take the time to comment, +1, share on Twitter, Tumblr, or Facebook, and otherwise distribute my opinion to the world.  I would appreciate it.

Favorite Disney Moment

            I have not been posting nearly enough this year and I want to steer back from that.  To that end I have found a 30-day blog challenge and fluffed it out to 31 entries (since December has 31 days).  I have done a 30-day challenge before for movies, though that one was poorly executed (I started it in the middle of a month, at one point I posted 2 entries on one day, it is a mess).  I did another one just this year in August on Video Games, that one was better, go read it after this one, all of it.  Or don’t, no pressure.

            Today is day 21 and the topic is “Favorite Overall Moment”.

Let’s talk again about a movie I already sang some praise for, “Inside Out”.  In this movie we follow the emotions of a young girl, Riley who has just moved with her family to the strange and alien lands of San Francisco.  Her emotions are personified by 5 colorful characters, two of which, Joy and Sadness, are lost in the young girl’s mind navigating her memories and imagination trying to restore “core memories” to the girl’s mind so that they can help guide her actions, without them Riley is adrift and experiencing emotional numbness.

 

Did I already use this image?  I don't care.

But what caused Joy and Sadness to get lost in Riley’s mind near the start of the movie?  Joy was the leader of the emotions, and she had been working to make sure the core memories that formed Riley’s most basic personality were all happy memories, up till this point there were 5 having to do with sportsmanship, family, friendship, etc.  When Riley is about to form a new memory based around being humiliated by breaking down crying at her new school, a core memory of sadness, Joy tries to stop that memory from taking hold and all the core memories get lost in a mental disposal system.

When trying to recover the memories Joy and Sadness begin to interact more and Joy comes to understand what the role of Sadness is.  There are highs and lows in life, and fighting to stay happy ALL THE TIME and only allowing happy thoughts and memories to occupy you mind and define you is NOT HEALTHY.  A person who does that become unable to deal with hard decisions or tragedies.  Emotions are complex and bleed into one another in ways we do not understand—this is kind of literal as the human mind is very much a mystery to humanity.

Realizing Emotional complexity in “Inside Out” is my favorite moment in all of Disney.  It is literalizing something that is so hard to teach and explain to people, I would go so far as to say this movie is a must watch just for this lesson.

 

We all contain multitudes.

            Share your own thoughts on this in the comments.  I know I am not the only person out there who is nostalgic for Disney products, and I am sure many people disagree with my selection for today’s entry. 

I picked Disney stuff just because I knew there was so much of it to talk about and it lends itself to discussion in the comments.  So please, tell me how my opinion about cartoon movies is biased and how your opinion on cartoon movies is objectively right.

______________________________

If you like or hate this please take the time to comment, +1, share on Twitter, Tumblr, or Facebook, and otherwise distribute my opinion to the world.  I would appreciate it.

Favorite Setting in Disney

            I have not been posting nearly enough this year and I want to steer back from that.  To that end I have found a 30-day blog challenge and fluffed it out to 31 entries (since December has 31 days).  I have done a 30-day challenge before for movies, though that one was poorly executed (I started it in the middle of a month, at one point I posted 2 entries on one day, it is a mess).  I did another one just this year in August on Video Games, that one was better, go read it after this one, all of it.  Or don’t, no pressure.

            Today is day 14 and the topic is “Favorite Setting”.

Disney has lots of bright and colorful settings and they often feel very grounded.  I decided to go with the setting that is both totally real and supremely surreal.  My setting is a person.

“Inside Out” is the story of the young girl, Riley who moves with her parents to San Francisco from where she considers her home in the middle of nowhere.  And while the setting of San Francisco is rightly treated as a bizarre and unwelcoming place to the culture shocked Midwesterners the real setting of the movie is Riley herself.

Inside her mind her emotions are going haywire.  Joy and Sadness are lost in Riley’s library of memories and must find their way back to Riley’s mental center.  Along the way they see where dreams are produced, what happens to memories that are out of date, the deepest of fears, and how thoughts are processed down to their basic levels (I consider that part a highlight of creativity, as the reduction of complex ideas to base concepts is presented in such a visually interesting fashion).

Rarely is the imagination of Disney and Pixar presented in such a literal manner as they take people into the imaginations of someone right in their target demographic.

Inside each of us is a whole world to explore.

An additional interesting concept, the looks of the emotions.  When you look at the emotions of either of her parents, their internal emotions look consistently like the parent.  The father’s emotional figures are all decidedly male, and the mother’s emotional figures are all female.  Riley’s aren’t.  She has two male characters, Anger and Fear, and three female characters, Joy, Sadness, and Disgust.  This could be seen as a subtle allusion to how Riley has not crystallized her gender identity… Or it could just be that they wanted some variety in the voices of the characters and Lewis Black portraying Anger is a smart casting choice.

  

Not to say there are not many female comics that could have played a very funny Anger.

This writing prompt was originally, “Favorite/Prettiest Castle”.  There was no entry on setting.

            Share your own thoughts on this in the comments.  I know I am not the only person out there who is nostalgic for Disney products, and I am sure many people disagree with my selection for today’s entry. 

I picked Disney stuff just because I knew there was so much of it to talk about and it lends itself to discussion in the comments.  So please, tell me how my opinion about cartoon movies is biased and how your opinion on cartoon movies is objectively right.

 

I should note, there was one other strong competitor for this blog entry.
I will talk about them more later.

______________________________

If you like or hate this please take the time to comment, +1, share on Twitter, Tumblr, or Facebook, and otherwise distribute my opinion to the world.  I would appreciate it.

Favorite Disney Protagonist (Female)

            I have not been posting nearly enough this year and I want to steer back from that.  To that end I have found a 30-day blog challenge and fluffed it out to 31 entries (since December has 31 days).  I have done a 30-day challenge before for movies, though that one was poorly executed (I started it in the middle of a month, at one point I posted 2 entries on one day, it is a mess).  I did another one just this year in August on Video Games, that one was better, go read it after this one, all of it.  Or don’t, no pressure.

            I am already feeling the fatigue of writing these.  What day is it?

            Today is day 2 and the topic is “Favorite Female Protagonist”.

            Damn.

            I have two favorite female protagonists and I don’t really want to pick between them.  Because they are both amazing and they both have similar personalities, though their character arcs are both the same and different in interesting ways.  I am not making as much sense as I would like to.

Anyway, my picks are between Joy from “Inside Out” and Officer Judy Hopps from “Zootopia”.  Needless to say, I have been impressed with the recent output of Disney Studios.

I had to take two images and put them side by side.  Sounds simple.
Having to put those images together in PAINT?  Not fun.

Let’s look at each of them and then see if one wins out over the other.

Joy is a metaphysical construct representing a young girl’s ability to feel joy.  Joy is played by Amy Poehler—who kind of proved to me that I will never find true love because Leslie Knope is not a real person—and Joy is possessed of the energy Poehler has brought to all of her performances.

The plot of the movie “Inside Out” goes as follows: Joy and Sadness, two of the five governing emotions of the little girl Riley, are lost inside the mind of the little girl along with several core memories—this movie is deeply metaphysical in a strangely literal sense—these core memories and emotions are necessary for Riley to behave in a healthy and “normal” fashion.  Joy and Sadness must get back to the main control center of Riley’s mind before she does something rash or dangerous without her full spectrum of emotions and memories to guide her.

This movie will likely make another appearance this month.

Along the way the movie teaches a complex lesson on the nature of emotional complexity and how it is necessary to let yourself feel emotions along a spectrum, a blending of ideas that make you a deeper and more mature person.  Joy learns to understand and appreciate her role as part of that spectrum rather than the only emotion that matters.

It will also rip out your living guts and make you cry like a bitch.  It is also hilarious.

Officer Hopps is a young bunny from the country trying to make it in the big city as a police officer.  She is played by Ginnifer Goodwin whom you might know as Snow White from “Once Upon a Time”, but I only know her from muttering, “Who spells their child’s name like that?  Must be a Screen Actors’ Guild thing,” to myself while looking at imdb.

The plot of the movie “Zootopia” goes as follows: Officer Hopps must enlist the help of a conman in her search for several missing people tied to mysterious incidents of violence.  Along the way she must face off against the lack of respect she gets from being the only small mammal in a police force where most of her comrades are multi-ton weighing giant mammals like Rhinos and Water Buffalo who feel she lacks the muscle to get things done.

This movie will likely make another appearance this month.

Over the course of the movie she and the audience learn a complex lesson about bigotry in numerous forms.  Guising the whole thing behind animals allows them to touch on multiple issues without making any 1-to-1 racial stand ins, which would have instantly killed the movie’s value and turn it into racist trash.  Instead it deftly handles stereotyping and all of the characters see a larger more complex picture of society by the end.

This movie will also rip your guts out, but more with the sentiments of, “Aww… They’re friends! … Why am I so happy about this?”

Can you see the tension I have in choosing between the two?  One deals with coming to terms with yourself as part of a system, the other deals with coming to terms with yourself as part of a system.  Albeit one system is a healthy growing mind and the other is a complex multi-ethnic city, but it is still about finding one’s part in it.

I guess if I had to pick one, I will have to go with Officer Judy Hopps.  I wanted to be a police officer growing up so I understand that drive, and I fully understand not enjoying it once I got to be one.  I can’t really identify with Joy as much as I am not a metaphor, so even though I like the character, the existential nature of her keeps me from seeing her as superior.

These movies are also buddy comedies with two strongly contrasting leads.
Judy and Joy are the main protagonists of each.

I should also point out something you would not expect.  I did not do movie reviews for movies I saw in 2015 this year, I was burnt out and feeling on the ropes so I just let the whole thing slide, and I probably won’t do them for 2016 either.  With that in mind, “Inside Out” was my favorite movie of 2015 and “Zootopia” is probably going to be my number one for 2016.  So take that to whatever opinion bank you use.

I would also like to note the original prompt for today was “Prettiest Disney Princess”.  So, I shit canned that crap immediately.

 

Although if you want to read a lame article on the subject, here is one from the nadir-of-human-sexuality, Cosmopolitan.
The format of this thing makes me want to slap the editor.  You don't start a ranked list on the #1 slot.
Has VH-1 taught you nothing?  YOU COUNT DOWN TO THE #1!  Idiots.

            Share your own thoughts on this in the comments.  I know I am not the only person out there who is nostalgic for Disney products, and I am sure many people disagree with my selection for today’s entry.  There are probably people who would prefer me to talk about who I think the prettiest princess is, those people are odd but they probably think I would be funny about the whole thing… I hope, I can’t otherwise imagine why they would want me to rate the bang-ability of Disney Princesses.

I picked Disney stuff just because I knew there was so much of it to talk about and it lends itself to discussion in the comments.  So please, tell me how my opinion about cartoon movies is biased and how your opinion on cartoon movies is objectively right.  Who is your favorite female protagonist in Disney?

______________________________

If you like or hate this please take the time to comment, +1, share on Twitter, Tumblr, or Facebook, and otherwise distribute my opinion to the world.  I would appreciate it.