Usually when you're sick, you rely on comfort to feel alive while you go through the painful processes of not being able to live life to the fullest; comfort food, comfort cuddling, that sort of thing. As a single guy suffering from food poisoning, those two weren't really options, so I decided to go on Netflix and take a walk down memory lane, watching some of the movies that inspired me when I was a kid, but for some reason had at least eight years without watching.
As a big fan of music and film, I was expecting to probably be amazed at the technical perfection of the older Disney movies and their expertly crafted songs that breeze through the story like the best musicals of Broadway. And boy, was I underwhelmed.
You always hear that the movies from your childhood are never as good when you re-watch them as an adult, and I was counting on that, but I also expected Disney movies to be different.
My first experiment was with "Mulan" as I had had their training montage song stuck in my mind for days. It was certainly very strange to watch this movie after all these years, because I remembered almost every line of dialogue and song, and still it wasn't until now that I understood the anti-sexist message of the film; the film hits sexism really hard, but as a film aficionado, I found it to be very on-the-nose and preachy at times.
I guess as a kid I was never paying too much attention to the meaning of the words I would repeat in perfect sync and tone with the characters. My main problem with this movie, though, is the plot and action, because those are certainly underwhelming for an adult's standard.
I remembered "Mulan" to be full of fighting and big battles and dressing up to distract the bad guys and all of that, and find myself extremely disappointed when I watched the movie and realized that most actions scenes don't last more than five minutes. And this is something that would come up again, every single time.
My second walk down memory lane was "Hercules", which I remembered very fondly. As a casual fan of Greek mythology since kindergarten, I always found the settings and characters of the movie to be fascinating, and Hades was just the best villain of all. Well, I can still say both things about the characters and Hades, but certainly not about the movie.
Just like with "Mulan," "Hercules" features so little action and real stakes, that as an adult you simply feel bored and cheated. The movie is certainly not boring, and features some great jokes that I was too young to understand back then, but the big action set piece that I remembered with the Olympians fighting the Titans at the end is definitely one of the biggest disappointments I've felt in recent years.
After that, I watched what I used to call my favorite of all time: the criminally underrated "The Hunchback of Notre Dame". I was excited to watch this movie not only because I enjoy history and social commentary, but because the songs are simply the best, and not many people remember that.
Broadway veterans Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz hit it out of the park with the songs in this movie, and I'm glad to say that I wasn't too disappointed with the overall experience. I do have to say, though, that Disney movies from these era suffer from the same issue in their scripts: the second act lacks plot.
In the three movies I'd watched so far, I noticed that the second act consisted mostly of songs, and didn't really advance the plot a lot. This resulted in me finding it extremely weird how Esmeralda and Phoebus suddenly fall in love, or how Hercules and Meg fall in love, or how Shang develops his weird feelings for Mulan in drag; I think you get my point now.
Sure, they're movies made for kids who don't think about these things, but as an adult that wants to dedicate his life to making films, these movies are certainly not examples I'd recommend borrowing from.
Lastly, a double feature that started with "Tarzan." Fun fact: one of my earliest memories is going to the movies with my dad to watch this movie, back in the summer of 1999. I had very high expectations for this movie, and I'm relieved to say that this is the one that disappointed me the least.
"Tarzan" has enough action and story to keep me engaged, and, from all of these, actually features enough character development to justify the two characters falling in love. Phil Collins' songs are great too, and the gorilla jam at the camp, which features no spoken lyrics, is an absolute work of genius. Although the action in this movie is still fairly short, it has other exciting setpieces like the elephant stampede or the baboon chase to keep you engaged.
The second part of this marathon was my brother's all-time favorite: "Lilo & Stitch." As I've grown, I've learned a lot more about music, which helped me understand the plethora of homages they give Elvis Presley in this movie.
This movie wasn't disappointing either, because I didn't remember it as fondly and because I didn't expect big action set pieces; this resulted in me being surprised with the fight in the house at the beginning of the third act, which is actually very entertaining and extremely funny.
Stitch is definitely a memorable character, and the films message about family is timeless and should be taught to kids from an early age. Despite some inconsistencies with some of the characters, the film doesn't suffer from the same problems as the others.
In no way am I saying that these movies are bad, because they're not. All of them have very important lessons that kids should learn and some adults should refresh in their memory, and also great songs throughout.
Nevertheless, I invite you to put away your nostalgia goggles and watch these movies with a fresh perspective, so you can get to your own conclusions.
From the five movies that I watched, and judging them in the filmmaking aspects, I would say "Tarzan's" the best and "Mulan's" the worst of the bunch, but what do you think? They're all still better than "Frozen," though.
And if anybody remembers, yes, I'm done with my food poisoning. Thank you.
