Cinderella Live Blog

Okay, I’m going to try out this live-blogging thing everyone’s been talking about.  I’m starting with Cinderella.  I haven’t seen this movie in a couple years, so it should be fun to say what I remember.  

The opening credits song is kinda pretty.  Disney doesn’t really do these kinds of opening sequences in its newer films.  Now the credits just go at the end.

I appreciate the birds and the mice on the book.  

“... rich in romance and tradition.”  What does that mean, exactly?

See in the original story, Cinderella got her name because she slept in the ashes.  It was a nickname given by her stepsisters.  I’m not sure why Cinderella is going by that name while she’s still living with her father.

Aww, baby Bruno.  Also the horse, whose name escapes me at the moment.

They even look angry as children.  Even kitten Lucifer looks mean.  

She doesn’t even look that affected by her husband’s death.  Poor Cindy is the only one who seems sad about this. Even if she’s that mean, you think the stepmother or the young sisters would be at least slightly upset.  

“... her own two awkward daughters.”  The narrator is quite honest.  Also “vain and selfish stepsisters.”

This poor mouse.  I hope he gets this sorted out.  

I also love how the kid mice notice their mom getting angry, so they mimic her facial expression.  That’s really cute.

See, because Cinderella was nice to everyone, she got to use an indoor shower long before the technology existed.  Kudos to her.

I love that Cinderella has a stock of mouse clothes ready for these occasions.

I never understood how “Gus” came out of Octavius.  There’s no g anywhere in that name.  

Lucifer has a nicer bed than Cinderella.

Look offended Bruno is at the idea of getting along with Lucifer.  Even Cinderella can’t think of good things about him.

Poor Gus-Gus has had a tough day.  He’s been in this house like 2 hours and almost been eaten multiple times already.  

We were talking about how villains tend to be associated with darkness.  I think this counts.  

Lucifer’s certainly enjoying Cinderella’s punishment.

Except the part where he gets a bath:

The king is a bit too obsessed with his son getting married.  All he cares about is having grandkids.  (Also looking at the idea of gender roles, the king seems to this is the main purpose of marriage.  I’m not sure if that’s fair to whoever he hopes his son picks. Is this the "romance and tradition" mentioned in the intro? Doesn't seem very romantic to me.).

The king really doesn’t think his son is going to suspect that his dad is trying to set him up with someone?  The plan is literally to make the prince stand in front of hundreds of pretty girls.  

This sequence is cool.  Not totally sure how she is managing to sing multiple parts by herself, but  that’s movie magic, I guess.  

Lucifer you jerk.  Look at his smug face.

Stepmother: “Above all, self-control.” Cinderella *knocks on door* Stepmother *slams piano keys*

“Every eligible maiden” is a really weird request.  What defines eligible? Age? Appearance? Who knows?

“I said if” maniacal laugh.  That’s not creepy.  

“Cinderelly, Cinderelly, night and day it’s Cinderelly.”  This might be my favorite song in the movie.  

Speaking of gender roles, apparently guy mice aren’t allowed to sew.  

How convenient that the stepsisters throw away the exact two pieces the mice need.

Great Lucifer pic:

I guess now they’re allowed to help with sewing.

“Happy birthday!” Oh Gus. You're so adorable!

Family resemblance is strong here.

Did they really need to shred the dress after getting back the necklace and sash that she used?

I love how the Fairy Godmother is talking about a magic wand, and yet everyone is shocked when she pulls it out using magic.  I mean, that’s nothing compared to what’s about to happen.

“Bibbidi Boppidi Boo” is a fun song too.

Lucifer you deserved this:

I like how Fairy Godmother managed to get through a whole song without noticing Cinderella’s dress.  

Prince Charming is obviously enjoying the party.  He is also one of the group of Disney princes who doesn’t actually have a real name.

His face just screams, “Are you kidding me?”

I love the Duke sarcastically predicting exactly what actually happens.

“The Prince, I haven’t met the Prince.”  Flimsy excuse Cinderella.

To be fair though, the Prince doesn’t know her name either.  You two wandered around the garden for like two hours, how did you not at least introduce yourselves?

Awww.

I feel like the Duke puts up with a lot during this movie.

This was uncalled for:

Losing the shoe again.  Very clever.

I like how everything comes full circle in the end:

(still not totally sure of the horse's name though).

Overall, the movie is pretty cute.  If you haven't noticed, I seem to pay a lot more attention to the animal characters than the humans, but I mean the mice are adorable.  We don't see a whole lot of development in really any of the characters, but the original fairy tale also is pretty simple.  I also feel like it is slightly problematic to get engaged to someone before asking their name.  Otherwise, it's an enjoyable film.

Since I've been talking about Mary Poppins this week, here's this week's quote for the week (from the Broadway musical):

Close runner-up for this week's quote (from the movie):

Mary Poppins is Returning

So some of you may have heard (or if you haven’t heard yet, you’re about to) that Disney is making a live-action Mary Poppins sequel!  It’s called Mary Poppins Returns, and it will follow a grown-up Jane and Michael Banks and their children as they receive some help from a magical nanny.  As someone who enjoyed the original movie as a kid (and still enjoys watching it) this should be very exciting news.  However, I have some mixed feelings about how this movie will turn out.   

Mary Poppins and Bert in a parade at Disneyland.

There are a lot of things about this movie I am excited for.  First and foremost, the special effects should be interesting, to say the least.  When the original movie was made in the 1960’s Walt Disney used all of the tricks and effects he could to make it magical.  I’m intrigued to see what they can do with over fifty years’ worth of improved technology.  With modern computers, CGI, and other effects, I’m sure that there is a lot they are able to do that simply wasn’t possible for the first movie.  Even so, I hope that the new movie is just whimsical and magical as the original.  I mean, there’s just something about cartoon penguins and farm animals that isn’t the same with computer animation.

 

Another thing that should be fun to watch is the casting.  To be totally honest, I’m a little (maybe a lot) sad that Mary won’t be played by Julie Andrews because Julie Andrews is pretty much amazing in everything.  I don’t know much about Emily Blunt, who will be taking on the role.  Still, Andrews herself said that she thinks Blunt will be “practically perfect,” so I guess that should be good enough for me.  Equally exciting, Lin Manuel Miranda will be playing Jack, a lamplighter (I guess there’s no Bert in this sequel…), so those of us (myself included) who enjoyed Moana and Hamilton will get to see more of his work.  Speaking of Bert, Dick van Dyke will have a cameo in this movie, playing Mr. Dawes Jr., who runs Fidelity Fiduciary Bank.  For reference, this was the bank where Mr. Banks (I’m feel like P.L. Travers must have done that on purpose) worked in the first movie, and Dick van Dyke, aside from being Bert, played Mr. Dawes Sr., so I feel like this cameo is a very appropriate reference to the first movie.  I haven’t heard if Julie Andrews will make an appearance as well, but I think that would be fun too.

The other main reservation I have about this movie relates to the circumstances surrounding the original movie.  P.L. Travers (who wrote the original Mary Poppins books) was incredibly reluctant to give Disney the rights to make the film, and ultimately, she was not particularly happy with the final product.  This is because Disney made some changes to the character of Mary (i.e., made her sweeter, nicer, and essentially more “Disney-fied”).  This is why none of her other books were made into movies, and why she was very hesitant to give Disney permission to adapt Mary Poppins into a Broadway musical.  So I am a bit concerned that this movie might be something that the character’s creator would not have wanted to be made.  Or maybe it’s a chance for Disney to fix the mistakes it made in the original.  We’ll have to wait and see.

So Mary Poppins Returns is shaping up to be an interesting movie.  I hope that it lives up to the legacy of the original movie.  As we hear more about it, I’ll be able to answer a lot of the questions I have, but until then “spit-spot”!

I noticed this again when I went to see Moana last weekend, so I'd like to give a shout-out to Disney's coffee guy, Carlos Benavides:

In Tangled: 

In Frozen:

In Big Hero 6:

In Moana:

The quote of the week this week:

I like this picture for a couple reasons:
1. It's a pun.
2. It's Peter Pan on the Storybook Boats at Disneyland (which is one of my favorite rides to go on).
3. It reminds me something a Jungle Cruise skipper would say, and there is still a part of me that would like to work on the Jungle Cruise at a Disney Park at some point in my life.

Aladdin- A Musical Spectacular Appreciation Post

For my first full-length weekly blog post, I am going to pay homage to one of my all-time favorite attractions ever at Disneyland.  Aladdin- A Musical Spectacular was an awesome stage show that played in California Adventure for over ten years.  Unfortunately, if you ever wanted to see this show, it closed just over a year ago in January 2016 to make room for (surprise, surprise) a Frozen stage show.  Now, to be fair, I have not gotten a chance to see the Frozen show, but from what I’ve heard, it is very good.  Still, it won’t be able to replace what used to be.  But I digress.  

Aladdin was one of my favorite things to see at Disneyland for a lot of reasons.  As a musical theatre kid, I always enjoy going to see a good musical.  This show was an abridged version of the movie, with a few minor tweaks to allow fit into a 45-minute run time.  It had the great songs from the original movie, as well as gorgeous sets and fun choreography (which included a whole ensemble dressed as the Genie during the dance break of “Friend Like Me”).  And of course, it had a flying carpet.  But I think one of the best parts of the show was the Genie.

The Genie was hilarious.  True to the original, I think he must of ad-libbed his lines at least part of the time, since I saw the show multiple times during its run (on different trips to the park), and the show was different every time.  He made references to pop culture and current events, he broke the fourth wall, and he kept the audience laughing almost the entire time he was on stage.  On top of that, the carpet (who was played by an actor) often acted as his sidekick, making jokes without ever having to say a word.  I remember one time the Genie, after hearing that Aladdin was not going to use his third wish to set him free, yelled, “Better talk to the left hand, cause you ain’t right!”, while snapping his fingers before storming offstage.  The carpet then mimicked his actions, glared at Aladdin, and followed his friend off.  

(start at 7:15)

One of my other favorite Genie jokes happened during a different show, at the same place in the story.  When the audience began booing Aladdin, the Genie pointed to them before informing Aladdin that “those are my thoughts!”  Another good Genie-ism happened right after Jafar was made Sultan.  It went something along the lines of: “So now you're the Sultan, and if your last name was Pepper-shaker, you would be Sultan Pepper-shaker!”  Or the time when he asked Jafar if he would like to build a snowman (Genie: It doesn’t have to be a snowman.  Jafar glares at him. Genie: Okay, bye.).

So in conclusion, Aladdin- A Musical Spectacular at California Adventure was one of the most wonderful attractions at Disneyland during its thirteen year run.  And while I wish the Frozen show the best and am sure that it also a great show, Aladdin will always have a special place in my heart.

Throwback Thursday to meeting Olaf at Disneyland in December 2014.  

The cast member said it was his first week at a Disney park!