Passamaquoddy

The story of Johnny Tremain was the perfect little patriotic piece for the Walt Disney company to take on as a television show.  It emphasizes the type of patriotism and story sense that Wlat personally voiced for his works, similar to Davy Crockett two years earlier.  And even though the two episodes are still unique and separate, they were wisely combined into one larger theatrical film, especially considering some of the craftsmanship apparent on the screen.

The story follows the youth of an aspiring silversmith whose career is cut short by a smithing accident.  Unfortunate as the incident is, it launched his life into a patriotic journey that would bring him to the birth of the Revolutionary war.  His works on the fringe of the”Sons of Liberty” brings him into contact with many historical patriots including Samuel Adams and Paul Revere.  It takes him from his work in he silversmith household to the Boston Tea Party and then on to the start of the war.

One of themost stunning elements of thie film is teh outlandish amount of matte painting provided for this film.  Peter Ellenshaw and his team were kept very busy as they created colonial Boston from countless angles and locales.  That and the music created for the film show the quality required by Disney for a simple television show.

Johnny Tremain is a film guilty of persisting Disney’s image as someone who promotes patriotism with the acceptance of a child.  The patriots are brilliant, the attacking English are bumbling idiots.  Battles result in few people falling in a bloodless howl, and mostly by the men in red.  Most obviously, the Boston Tea Party appears no more dangerous and rebellious then Mrs. Nesbit’s tea party.  This patriotism carried over into the first appearance of the HALL OF PRESIDENTS in the Magic Kingdom.

We in Passamaquoddy are always interested in the live action films put out by thre Disney folk, as they are usually relegated to the background behind the theme parks and animated features.  In many cases these live action films provide a nice logical bridge between the two.

Tomorrow we’ll close out the week of our 4th of July cookout includoing comments from attendees.  See you then…  If you see me tonight, Herring Whip is on me…

If you’d like to see more movie reviews, search for “Movie Night” in the right menu search engine.

With their latest film, KIPZAR films continues their unprecendented success. Yes, the story of a robotic fish that finds itself caught in a fishermans net is another loaded crab pot.  It’s an amazing string of hits.  From Buoy Story to A Krill’s Life; From Monster Octopus Ink to Hooking Nemo;  From The Incrustaceans to Carps; And finally from Crabatouille to the latest Wall-Eye.

This week, the film opened with a healthy $96 dollar take Quoddywide.  If you’ve seen it, tell us what you think…

Outside of Passamaquoddy, the film CONDORMAN went extinct long before the Condor species; but not because they didn’t try. 

The film had many of the elements of a successful superhero summer picture: A dashing young hero, stage performer Michael Crawford looking more Willie Aames then Phantom of the Opera, a beautiful damsel in distress- Barbara Carrera- who may or may not be playing for both sides.  (Not that way.. politically),  and a strong accented villain (cause all the best villains have strong accents).  It even has an over the top heroic motion picture score composed by the legendary Henry Mancini.

Okay, most of the screenplay is a mishmash of clichés.  But one element intrigued me.  “Woody”, a comic book artist, tries to fly off the Eiffel Tower with his flying contraption to see if it would work.  This is because he refuses to write it into his “Condorman” comic book if it wouldn’t work in reality.  The result is of course, he becomes Condorman in the process

The film is more GET SMART then James Bond, but it fails to be humorous.  Still, when a film hits you at the right point and you’re just the right age, you’ll find strange allegiances.  For that I suggest Condorman is a nostalgic trip for me.

 The 1981 film’s miserable performance contributed to the end of Ron Miller’s reign atop the Walt Disney Company and opened the door for Michael Eisner.

For more Passamaquoddy film reviews, enter “Movie Night” into the search engine on the right menu.

Castaway Month is about half over at this point. And we’ve seen quite a lot of material associated with castaways including but not limited to a weeklong saga where some of our own found themselves stranded on an uncharted desert isle, a disection of the castaway sequence from the animated film TARZAN, a review of PETER AND THE STARCATCHERS, a shot from the Donald Duck short SEA SALTS and even a report from the SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON BREWHOUSE.

Our next exhibit is a discussion of the 1962 Disney film IN SEARCH OF THE CASTAWAYS. Yes, those that live here in Passamaquoddy saw this film during Verne Week just a few weeks ago, but it wasn’t covered at all on the Passamaquoddy blog. Besides, I didn’t get to see it all back then so I took it in tonight.

IN SEARCH OF THE CASTAWAYS is a great example of an adventure film. The type of entertainment that would go on to inspire archeologists to don their fedora and whips to hunt down artifacts. It follows two young children off to rescue their castaway father who is thought to be alive only from the existence of a cryptic message in a bottle. Following these clues, they pass through heck and high water, literally. They skirt active volcanoes and survive a massive flooding. They are stalked by leopards, crocs and a giant condor, savage indians and friendly ones. They escape on a broken rock during an earthquake only to find themselves on a vicious toboggan ride through hairpin turns under a glacier. All of that in the span of an hour and a half.

Haley Mills (Pollyanna) is the main Disney presence on screen during the film, but it is Maurice Chevalier that walks away with the story as well as the scenery portraying the ultimate optimist. He sings during storms, smiles at wild animals and tells others to enjoy the view of evil savages running from molten lava. In the end, this is a story about the adventure rather than any sort of emotional journey. That is a strange sacrifice for a Disney film usually heavy in the heart department. Castaways is fast paced and places our heroes in and out of the frying pan and fire.

Unlike SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON, this film is studio bound so is filled with set design and artistic effects by Peter Ellenshaw.. (I’ll see if I can find some pictures next time I’m allowed back into the Ellenshaw museum). Music by William Alwyn is very nice and adventurous. And even a few songs written by consistent Disney scribes the Sherman Brothers add to the fun.

In the end, CASTAWAYS is a sturdy film and makes for a nice adventure double feature. If you don’t think you’ll have time, don’t cry about it… enjoy it.

Many people consider Walt Disney to have been a visionary much like Jules Verne. It is therefore appropriate that many of Disney’s adventure films were based on Verne’s work and that the first big budget live action feature was built from Verne’s most popular novel, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. With Walt close to the production, the risky film went wildly over-budget, making the film’s success crucial to the longevity of the studio.

Verne’s novel is an astonishing examination of future technology, but like his other works, the story is basically a series of events connected by a thematic structure. This was the first thing that Disney addressed in bringing the Nautilus to life. They hired a screenwriter who built a more cohesive arcing story that became a template for hundreds of Disney films to come. To helm the picture, Disney hired Richard Fleischer, the son of one of Disney’s most venomous competitors from their early animation days. Not only did that hiring mend many wounds between the two moguls, it delivered a wonderful film.

The Disney story follows a Professor Arronax, a scientist interested in disproving the existence of a killer sea monster. Teamed with his assistant played by Peter Lorre and an adventurous Kirk Douglas, the find the sea monster is actually a fantastical water transport. A submersible laboratory commanded by the phenomenal brain, Captain Nemo. At first Arronax is taken under Nemo’s scholarly spell, but eventually learns to understand where the megalomaniac has gone astray. The story takes them into battle with natives, into the belly of Nemo’s private hideout inside of a volcano, and most excitingly – into battle with a giant squid.

Bringing the squid to life as well as all the fantastical locations fell to the special effects team including the beautiful matte painting work of Peter Ellenshaw. With a sweeping musical score by Disney composer Paul Smith is nicely heroic and mysterious, a good click track for the film in general.

Kirk Douglas’ tongue in cheek portrayal begins a long line of Disney heroes, following his well designed character template. But it is James Mason’s powerful performance as Nemo that keeps the Nautilus afloat and the fantastical story somehow believable.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is a wonderful film in the studio canon, well worthy of study or just an evening’s entertainment. There are great behind the scenes elements available that are well worth hunting down, most interestingly –footage of the squid battle done on a clear day with a beautiful colored sunset.

I swear by my tattoo.

I’m ashamed to say that, while I remain one of the few Disney faithful, I did not see Meet the Robinson’s on its theatrical release. Nothing in particular got in my way. Maybe it was a slew of spectacular films playing on screens 2 through 75. Doubtful. Maybe it was a sudden, urgent need to be more intellectual and read worldly literature. –HCK- Sorry, milk just came out my nose. No, if I put real thought in it, I may have been scared off by the typical onslaught of press awarded any Disney release. Not any particular movie review but rather, the motivations behind much of the press. Months before a movie release, parties on both sides lay the groundwork for their pre-determined position on any film. And like the political faithful who only point out problems with the opposing candidate, their stance is loud and assertive, even before seeing the film. It seems there is an anti-success bias going on in the world for the past 20 years or so, and Disney, like Microsoft and Wal-Mart is a constant target to attacks… -Woah- I’m way off track here… Let me start again.

I’m ashamed to say that, while I remain one of the few Disney faithful, I did not see Meet the Robinson’s on its theatrical release. You see, while on the way to the multiplex I was attacked by a bear.

So now, several months after its theatrical release, it appears at the Passamaquoddy Cinema.. and on DVD. I took it in and found it a sturdy project although the pacing made it impossible to achieve its potential emotional bang.

This is a story of Lewis, an orphan who looks for solace from his lot in life through invention. Through a myriad of circumstances, Lewis finds himself traveling 30 years into the future where he meets an eccentric and extreme family of the future – the Robinsons. Things quickly deteriorate because of his earlier actions. He must return back to the past to make things right. Standing in his way is Bowler Hat guy, a nefarious villain with the look of a silent movie baddy and the planning skills of an omelet. And in the end, it all ties in with the broken life of his orphanage roommate, Goob, who seeks solace from his lot in life through baseball.

Lewis’ journey may be hectic, but his emotional journey is clear and touching. In there lies the films biggest problem.

The slam bang spray of hit-n-miss gags kept my mind pretty busy. I never had time to feel desperate for Lewis, especially with a bumbling villain as his only nemesis.

Disney’s art design here is very good, but not far enough removed from earlier Computer-animated films like Jimmy Neutron - something that Pixar’s Ratatouille did well. The view of the future was fun and informative while remained positive for the most part.

While Imagineering this story, they happened upon a story concept used in Walt Disney’s first feature film, Snow White. In both stories, the hero/heroine teams up with a large clan of extreme characters who do their best at offering protection. While anyone in the Robinson family are not as iconic as any of the seven dwarfs, they are broadly drawn and humorous. Broadly drawn and humorous may have been the studio mantra behind Meet the Robinsons. A quickly moving story that may jive well with today’s fast edit sensibilities.

The video quality on the DVD is gorgeous. I’m sure it is even more spectacular on Blu-Ray for those of you who have decided to take that plunge. The film offers a nice audio commentary and an informative behind the scenes document. But be warned, it also contains the dreaded and horribly misnamed “Disney’s Fast Play”.