I’m always stunned to see someone other than me or Fairuza Balk [sp?] who remembers Return to Oz. I saw it when I was a kid, but I haven’t been scared of a movie since Gremlins (The first time I saw a character die onscreen), so I don’t recall it being all that scary. I also don’t remember the thing about the heads. I seem to remember how all the characters were introduced and how the movie ends, as well as the Kansas bookends (which should have been in B&W, just to link it to the original).
Also, Mary Poppins would have been higher on my list (in place of Splash, probably. I only watched Splash as many times as I did during my adolescense was because I heard there was a scene where you could see an entire breast. For those interested, it’s for about two seconds when she’s in the fishtank near the end. My adolescent breast-detecting skills were proven that day, but it was a hollow victory. It just wasn’t worth the effort).
All in all, though, a very good list.
Nice list. Mine differs a bit.
1. Mary Poppins. Julie Andrews song “Feed the Birds” and the last film appearance of veteran actress Jane Darwell as the old Bird Lady never fails to reduce me to tears.
2. The Rescuers Down Under. My favorite animated Disney film, their very first animated sequel, and far superior to the first Rescuers. Why the score for this movie, by Bruce Broughton, was never released, is a dirty low down shame. I took my young nephew with me the first time I saw it, coupled with the Mickey Mouse feature “The Prince and the Pauper”, and I consider it one of the best times I ever had at the movies.
3. The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh. Batman and Robin during the Revolution, played by the King of British cool, Patrick MaGoohan. I still own the 45rpm with the Scarecrow theme song.
4. So Dear to My Heart. Stage and screen vet Beulah Bondi, the great voice of Burl Ives, and young Bobby Driscoll make magic of a turn-of-the-century fable about a boy and his pet lamb. The title song is one of my all-time favorites. Only the withheld release of “Song of the South” is the greater crime to DVD fans.
5. The Rocketeer. It’s amazing how badly this movie bombed, especially after my friends and I took in its sneak preview with a theater jammed with I.U. college students, who cheered like crazy and gave it a standing ovation. I know you have issues with the James Horner score, but I still get a feeling of quiet nostalgia and excitement whenever I hear the main theme.
Nekouken,
Correct spelling on Fairuza Balk. Return to Oz is now available on DVD. Not a lot on the disk in terms of extra features, but you can pick between wide- and full-screen. There’s also a short interview with Fairuza.
See, mine would be:
1. Something Wicked This Way Comes (dude, it’s October and I’m in Chicago. Like I can’t go all Bradbury… Plus, this movie made me fear Infiniti car ads for, like, 10 years.)
2. Sleeping Beauty (Phillip is the first Disney Prince with a personality, which is nice.)
3. Mulan (Mulan edged out Mermaid for me mainly because of the moment where the happy bouncy Broadway style musical number ends as the army stumbled upon a village that’s been razed, and the temple bell is just echoing across the snow-covered landscape. That is the moment I just want to *frame* and revisit every now and again. That, and Mulan isn’t about “A girl getting the guy.” Which is nice.)
4. live action Jungle Book (The live action Jungle Book edges out Tarzan for two main reasons. 1) Jason Scott Lee, mostly naked, trumps Glen Keane’s animation, no matter how luscious his animation was and 2) The same plot, done four or five years earlier, better and with Sam Neill. Sam Neill makes everything [except “Event Horizon”] better. Tho I shall always have a soft spot for “Daddy! They stole my boot!” Minnie Driver is so keen, tho even more keen for Mononoke to me… [speaking of Miyazaki, top Studio Ghibli would be Spirited Away, Totoro, Kiki, Grave of the Fireflies, and Mononoke Hime, pretty much in that order.])
5. Beauty and the Beast (For just being the best dámņ Disney movie ever.)
Tho in terms of music and colour palette, Hunchback and Poca kick ášš. I must have gibbered on like a monkey on crack to Tom Sniegoski for 3 hours in the bar at the Hyatt the day after I saw Hunchback, and then went to ChicagoComicsCon. Tony Jay just KILLED me with Frollo’s creepy creepy song. Coulda lives without the gargoyles, tho.)
P.S. What, no “Black Cauldron”? I still have that Disney Princess article floating around one of my hard drives somewhere…
//Something Wicked This Way Comes (dude, it’s October and I’m in Chicago. Like I can’t go all Bradbury… Plus, this movie made me fear Infiniti car ads for, like, 10 years.)//
LJC, I am so glad I was not drinking anything when I read that.
Oh, great stuff. I love “Wicked” too.
-Joe
My five?
In no particular order, besides the Little Mermaid, the Great Mouse Detective (would like to see more adventures of Basil), and Mary Poppins…
1. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
The first and a classic in its own right. Plus, the only movie I ever got to see (during a re-release) with my maternal grandfather (I was 10 at the time).
2. Aladdin
Robin Williams, ’nuff said.
Runners-up (especially if we could expand this into a top 10): Pinochio (sp?), Bambi, Who Framed Roger Rabbit (if it qualifies as a Disney, otherwise Pete’s Dragon), Tron, and The Black Hole. Yeah, I know the last two weren’t that great, but at least they made the attempt.
I loved The Great Mouse Detective – that final chase scene leading to the excellant clock scene still seems exciting and new. Vincent Price is a hoot.
To the list I would add Although there really are too many for five, really:
101 Dalmations: a fast paced, entertaining tale with Disney’s best villain, Cruella de Ville. (I hated the T.V. cartoon spin-off they did a few years ago).
Sleeping Beauty: forget the two leads, this one’s all about the villainess, the three fairy godmothers, and the wooden prince that has to fight everything the witch can throw at him. never got tired of it.
Gollith 2: Little short film about a tiny elephant the size of a mouse that’s arguably more exciting than the Lion King and twice as funny as the Jungle Book.
Tie: The Sword in the Stone and Robin Hood – not the best, but two films where the parts are better than the whole. The Wizard’s duel is classic, and the sswordplay in Robin Hood is a lot of fun.
Roger Rabbit: Disney “Toon Noir” that became so successful, they tried to catch lightening in a bottle again by creating Bonkers D. Bobcat for television (I assume the ownership of Roger is cluttered up).
I am a disney movie fanatic. The only thing I hate about them is unrealistic kissing. ARGH! Horrible, nasty and dispicable! Anyway, here’s my top five:
1) Beauty and the Beast
A love between a Beauty and a Buffalo, can’t go wrong there! Plus it has some sort of realistic kissing. Like that. Also crack-head prince who sees talking teapots. Also, best songs ever written PLUS good screenplay. Anyone care to disagree?
2) Aladdin
Adictive songs and a genie from a magic lamp (cue Robbie Williams) makes Aladdin a close call. Beauty and the Beast JUST skimmed it, because of the hallucinations. But the charecters in this are great and the kissing is sometimes realistic, which is a good example to young viewers.
3)Tie: Little Mermaid/Pochohantas
Very good songs and some famous names (Mel Gibson, who plays John Smith) and partly good kissing, except Little Mermaid which the kissing is DISPICABLE! But very funny charecters and, as I mentioned, great songs. Overall, these films both boast a great range of entertainment which can be enjoyed for decades to come.
4) The Lion King
A story about a pride of lions and a young lion which strays out of the pride lands and his father gets killed by power mad uncle, who gets killed and the young lion takes over, resulting in award winning songs. Anyone AGAIN want to disagree?
5) The Aristocats
Some cats who get lost in France. Nuff said!
• 
I’m always stunned to see someone other than me or Fairuza Balk [sp?] who remembers Return to Oz. I saw it when I was a kid, but I haven’t been scared of a movie since Gremlins (The first time I saw a character die onscreen), so I don’t recall it being all that scary. I also don’t remember the thing about the heads. I seem to remember how all the characters were introduced and how the movie ends, as well as the Kansas bookends (which should have been in B&W, just to link it to the original).
Also, Mary Poppins would have been higher on my list (in place of Splash, probably. I only watched Splash as many times as I did during my adolescense was because I heard there was a scene where you could see an entire breast. For those interested, it’s for about two seconds when she’s in the fishtank near the end. My adolescent breast-detecting skills were proven that day, but it was a hollow victory. It just wasn’t worth the effort).
All in all, though, a very good list.
Nice list. Mine differs a bit.
1. Mary Poppins. Julie Andrews song “Feed the Birds” and the last film appearance of veteran actress Jane Darwell as the old Bird Lady never fails to reduce me to tears.
2. The Rescuers Down Under. My favorite animated Disney film, their very first animated sequel, and far superior to the first Rescuers. Why the score for this movie, by Bruce Broughton, was never released, is a dirty low down shame. I took my young nephew with me the first time I saw it, coupled with the Mickey Mouse feature “The Prince and the Pauper”, and I consider it one of the best times I ever had at the movies.
3. The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh. Batman and Robin during the Revolution, played by the King of British cool, Patrick MaGoohan. I still own the 45rpm with the Scarecrow theme song.
4. So Dear to My Heart. Stage and screen vet Beulah Bondi, the great voice of Burl Ives, and young Bobby Driscoll make magic of a turn-of-the-century fable about a boy and his pet lamb. The title song is one of my all-time favorites. Only the withheld release of “Song of the South” is the greater crime to DVD fans.
5. The Rocketeer. It’s amazing how badly this movie bombed, especially after my friends and I took in its sneak preview with a theater jammed with I.U. college students, who cheered like crazy and gave it a standing ovation. I know you have issues with the James Horner score, but I still get a feeling of quiet nostalgia and excitement whenever I hear the main theme.
Nekouken,
Correct spelling on Fairuza Balk. Return to Oz is now available on DVD. Not a lot on the disk in terms of extra features, but you can pick between wide- and full-screen. There’s also a short interview with Fairuza.
See, mine would be:
1. Something Wicked This Way Comes (dude, it’s October and I’m in Chicago. Like I can’t go all Bradbury… Plus, this movie made me fear Infiniti car ads for, like, 10 years.)
2. Sleeping Beauty (Phillip is the first Disney Prince with a personality, which is nice.)
3. Mulan (Mulan edged out Mermaid for me mainly because of the moment where the happy bouncy Broadway style musical number ends as the army stumbled upon a village that’s been razed, and the temple bell is just echoing across the snow-covered landscape. That is the moment I just want to *frame* and revisit every now and again. That, and Mulan isn’t about “A girl getting the guy.” Which is nice.)
4. live action Jungle Book (The live action Jungle Book edges out Tarzan for two main reasons. 1) Jason Scott Lee, mostly naked, trumps Glen Keane’s animation, no matter how luscious his animation was and 2) The same plot, done four or five years earlier, better and with Sam Neill. Sam Neill makes everything [except “Event Horizon”] better. Tho I shall always have a soft spot for “Daddy! They stole my boot!” Minnie Driver is so keen, tho even more keen for Mononoke to me… [speaking of Miyazaki, top Studio Ghibli would be Spirited Away, Totoro, Kiki, Grave of the Fireflies, and Mononoke Hime, pretty much in that order.])
5. Beauty and the Beast (For just being the best dámņ Disney movie ever.)
Tho in terms of music and colour palette, Hunchback and Poca kick ášš. I must have gibbered on like a monkey on crack to Tom Sniegoski for 3 hours in the bar at the Hyatt the day after I saw Hunchback, and then went to ChicagoComicsCon. Tony Jay just KILLED me with Frollo’s creepy creepy song. Coulda lives without the gargoyles, tho.)
P.S. What, no “Black Cauldron”? I still have that Disney Princess article floating around one of my hard drives somewhere…
//Something Wicked This Way Comes (dude, it’s October and I’m in Chicago. Like I can’t go all Bradbury… Plus, this movie made me fear Infiniti car ads for, like, 10 years.)//
LJC, I am so glad I was not drinking anything when I read that.
Oh, great stuff. I love “Wicked” too.
-Joe
My five?
In no particular order, besides the Little Mermaid, the Great Mouse Detective (would like to see more adventures of Basil), and Mary Poppins…
1. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
The first and a classic in its own right. Plus, the only movie I ever got to see (during a re-release) with my maternal grandfather (I was 10 at the time).
2. Aladdin
Robin Williams, ’nuff said.
Runners-up (especially if we could expand this into a top 10): Pinochio (sp?), Bambi, Who Framed Roger Rabbit (if it qualifies as a Disney, otherwise Pete’s Dragon), Tron, and The Black Hole. Yeah, I know the last two weren’t that great, but at least they made the attempt.
I loved The Great Mouse Detective – that final chase scene leading to the excellant clock scene still seems exciting and new. Vincent Price is a hoot.
To the list I would add Although there really are too many for five, really:
101 Dalmations: a fast paced, entertaining tale with Disney’s best villain, Cruella de Ville. (I hated the T.V. cartoon spin-off they did a few years ago).
Sleeping Beauty: forget the two leads, this one’s all about the villainess, the three fairy godmothers, and the wooden prince that has to fight everything the witch can throw at him. never got tired of it.
Gollith 2: Little short film about a tiny elephant the size of a mouse that’s arguably more exciting than the Lion King and twice as funny as the Jungle Book.
Tie: The Sword in the Stone and Robin Hood – not the best, but two films where the parts are better than the whole. The Wizard’s duel is classic, and the sswordplay in Robin Hood is a lot of fun.
Roger Rabbit: Disney “Toon Noir” that became so successful, they tried to catch lightening in a bottle again by creating Bonkers D. Bobcat for television (I assume the ownership of Roger is cluttered up).
I am a disney movie fanatic. The only thing I hate about them is unrealistic kissing. ARGH! Horrible, nasty and dispicable! Anyway, here’s my top five:
1) Beauty and the Beast
A love between a Beauty and a Buffalo, can’t go wrong there! Plus it has some sort of realistic kissing. Like that. Also crack-head prince who sees talking teapots. Also, best songs ever written PLUS good screenplay. Anyone care to disagree?
2) Aladdin
Adictive songs and a genie from a magic lamp (cue Robbie Williams) makes Aladdin a close call. Beauty and the Beast JUST skimmed it, because of the hallucinations. But the charecters in this are great and the kissing is sometimes realistic, which is a good example to young viewers.
3)Tie: Little Mermaid/Pochohantas
Very good songs and some famous names (Mel Gibson, who plays John Smith) and partly good kissing, except Little Mermaid which the kissing is DISPICABLE! But very funny charecters and, as I mentioned, great songs. Overall, these films both boast a great range of entertainment which can be enjoyed for decades to come.
4) The Lion King
A story about a pride of lions and a young lion which strays out of the pride lands and his father gets killed by power mad uncle, who gets killed and the young lion takes over, resulting in award winning songs. Anyone AGAIN want to disagree?
5) The Aristocats
Some cats who get lost in France. Nuff said!