Month: March 2014

A Disney Musical Suggestion

Posted on by bernardovillela

There are likely a branches of the Disney media empire I’m not too big a fan of, perhaps the one that is the most confounding to me is the line of altered-for-younger-audiences musicals like Aladdin Jr., The Little Mermaid, Jr. and the like. Part of what I really don’t get is that content-wise there’s usually not much removed and simplified for younger audiences. If anything it seems to be just about managing expectations.

Now I fully recognize that the acquisition of rights, and staging could be more affordable. The musical tracks provided may well be simplified to be easier for young vocalists to learn. Having said all that the addition of the word “Junior” seems to add the connotations that a) it’s not the real thing and b) you ought to lower your expectations.

Now, I will hand it to them for allowing schools flexibility with things like the One-Act edition of High School Musical and things of that nature, which can allow those crunched for time and funds to more easily stage something accessible. While that is a much different creature than a slightly-truncated stage version of an animated classic, it’s still a less-than-ideal translation of all the intended elements of a story.

And, one might argue, rightly so, that High School Musical‘s heyday of cultural relevance has come and gone. Which brings me to my actual suggestion of a stage adaptation of something so far out of consciousness it my seem new, that and it wouldn’t be an edited version at all.

Even Stevens was one the first break-out hits Disney Channel had. It was one of the first that got me watching even though I was not the demographic any longer. Independent of the recent antics of Shia Labeouf, the show remains, as it ever has been quite funny, and in perhaps its most memorable episode it featured a musical episode that was Ren’s (Christy Carlson Romano) fever dream called “Influenza: The Musical.”

Being a half-hour (read: 23 minutes) sitcom it’s a perfect one act length that you needn’t cut. The setting is school, it relates to kids and has memorable songs.

While its still up, you can view it here, and that brings me to the last point: in an age becoming ever more digital Disney’s vaulting, and at times squatting on its own titles; burrowing them away,
not seeking to invest any more in them just makes no sense. Either downloads or disc-on-demand services would make sense for so many Disney titles; and making this a stage musical would be quite the easy feat.

Short Film Saturday – The Third Wheel

Posted on by bernardovillela

If there was something I wanted to shout from the rooftops after having seeing Get a Horse! was “Thank God for Disney (as a company) not completely forgetting Mickey Mouse’s roots but also fighting to keep him relevant and update his image.” Of course, I knew that there were new age shorts that started debuting on the Disney Channel last fall. However, I had not yet seen any of them.

I have to say I am pleased at least upon first impression. Yes, it does take time getting accustomed to a more Ren & Stimpy kind of aesthetic for the visuals, but the humor though goofier (for all not jut Goofy) still keeps in line with the characters. Here Goofy misunderstands and gets in Mickey’s way on his date, Mickey doesn’t want to be overly-assertive until he has to. There was a harder edge to Mickey in the beginning than became the norm/stereotype and this is a good balance. It will take more examples for me to be convinced the new direction will consistently work, but with Disney as a company conglomorating more cultural icons and characters it’s good to see them not ignoring their own.

Labor Day and the Flawed Release Calendar

Posted on by bernardovillela

Labor Day

I will try and promise that this is my one release date/calendar rant of the year, but I will try and make it count for something. Here I will discuss the release path of Labor Day and some issues with the film calendar that it illuminates.

Now as this link indicates the film debuted on August 29th at the Telluride Film Festival. This release date is close to when its ideal release window should be. I know that in my initial 61 Days of Halloween posts I jested about how Labor Day as a cinematic holiday is about as significant as Arbor Day. And, historically speaking, that’s about right. There isn’t an over-abundance of films set around the time, and at the end of the day all the fete really means is a long weekend, the last vestige of summer. Therefore, it is more useful as a backdrop than a theme, but it does serve this story well and signify a specific time of the year to a North American audience.

The initial release date for Labor Day was announced as December 25th. Surely, that created some internet snickering, but as per the Hollywood code it indicated some confidence in the film. Although, it was a seasonally incorrect choice.

However, cramming your releases in at Christmas is what you “have to do” if you believe your film is an award contender. Here is my diatribe on the tyranny of release dates.

Here were the films that came out on December 25th:

47 Ronin, Believe, Wolf of Wall Street, Grudge Match, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (Expanded).

When all was said and done this awards season only The Wolf of Wall Street made significant noise but it was ultimately shutout on Oscar night.

Eventually, the plan was for Labor Day to open in a limited Oscar-qualifying run on 12/27 and to open wide on January 31st. On the 27th Lone Survivor and One Chance opened in limited release. It opened against That Awkward Moment nationwide. That all would make it seem like it was an advantageous move marketing-wise. Less crowded weekend, plus the fact that January is usually a landing site for junk, or properties studios do not know what to do with, boded well for a nation-wide expansion of an Oscar hopeful.

So what happened?

The Release Date History

Labor Day (2013, Paramount)

As of today Labor Day has not made its production budget back at the box office. The Rotten Tomatoes isn’t great (http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/labor_day_2013/) but audiences flock to things in droves that critics slam creating terms like critic-proof.

One attribute that frequently affects releases in the fourth and first quarter of the year is weather. The east coast is a large proportion of the movie-going public and when it wasn’t snowing in January it was cold and about to snow. So nothing lit up the box office like The Devil Inside did. Not that that’s hard scientific evidence, but it never helps overall numbers.

Buzz has to be deafening to draw the crowds out nothing woke the masses up this year until The Lego Movie came out.

The Oscars are a big money-grab. They cost money and they, ideally, render you money. The end-of-year qualifying didn’t grab any attention. A Golden Globe nomination for Kate Winslet isn’t going to get butts into seats. No one cares. No one knows who the Hollywood Foreign Press is or what they say.

The Facts of a Brave New World

New Year's Eve (2011, Warner Bros.)

What does all that amount to? Essentially the studio seemed to scramble. They wanted in to the year end fray to try and grab some holiday money and garner some accolades. What wasn’t taken into account, aside from narrative-appropriate release was the fact that the times they are a-changing.

Long-delayed films in this Internet age are no longer getting the kiss of seat. Films are delayed for many reasons. The fact of the matter is, you’re unlikely to change how the Oscar and other award machinery works. The Academy and the studios are all complicit in making that work the way it does. However, the fact that 67% of those polled claimed to have not seen a single best picture nominee on Oscar night should concern everyone in the industry. The idea isn’t just bragging rights, guys.

That and Labor Day weekend, while usually not offering huge box office takes, is a soft spot in the annual schedule seeing as how the “fall films” aren’t quite ready to bow and August is the no-man’s-land of the summer schedule. For example, last year’s long-holiday winner was The One Direction movie with nearly $16M not a huge number but if Labor Day could’ve gotten that opening weekend it’d be in a different boat considering its relatively modest budget.

So I don’t think a delay would’ve hurt, I don’t think a tie-in with the actual date the story is set-on would hurt. Valentine’s Day and New Year’s Eve were mostly-asinine ensemble romcoms but still managed to win the box office mostly on timeliness. Even stupid holidays are things people would rather think about on said holidays rather than when they know they’re gonna freeze when they get back out of the theater.

Lastly, and a complete other story entirely, more same date VOD should start happening for titles that aren’t expected to rake in Frozen or Iron Man 3 like amounts of cash.

The “Award Film” Same-Old Same-Old

Blue Jasmine (2013, Sony Pictures Classics)

Blue Jasmine
The Grandmaster
Prisoners
The Great Gatsby
Iron Man 3
The Lone Ranger
Despicable Me 2
The Hunt
The Croods

The above-listed films are the only, I repeat, only films nominated for Academy Awards in any category that were released prior to the month of October.

Forget the fact that two of the most well-received films of the year were Mud and Fruitvale Station released in May and July were absent from Awards season.

There are many things that The Silence of the Lambs accomplished that will never occur again: it was a film that built-up momentum over the course of weeks, but it also a February, yes, February release that went on to Best Picture. Memories now are too short, perhaps by choice but part of the game, which is annoying is that you can’t release titles in the first three-quarters of the year and hope to garner nominations. The studio had some faith in Labor Day and because it held on to that glimmer of hope it put itself in a disadvantageous position financially.

A Season Turn, Turn, Turn

Halloween (1978, Compass International)

Part of the reason, aside from award consideration, that a title like Labor Day can land in late-December/January is that seasonality, with regards to film releases is not as much of a consideration anymore.

This is both a good and bad thing, the good thing is that if you’re a horror fan (as I am) you can expect horror films year-round. However, during my doubly-long focus on horror there were few theatrical wide-releases I could focus on and featured an indie VOD title as well.

With that example, and a more reason instance of Free Birds being available to rent or buy now despite its obvious tie to Thanksgiving there was less hesitation about pushing Labor Day into award season I’m fairly sure. A decision I feel ultimately hurt more than it helped. For in January if you’re not a purveyor of junk or catching up on Oscar fare you’re usually not seeing much, you’re recovering from Christmas more than likely.

Another negative of the current film game is that studios and the Internet have ensured that opening weekend becomes more and more important. Studios slotting release dates for titles that are two to three years from fruition are now news. Similarly, so are shifts in release date.

The award shuffle is ultimately not worth the effort a lot of the time. Films that debut in that time frame and don’t get the notice they want end up being buried and lost, perhaps losing an audience they had a chance to get at a different time. An example would be Monuments Men, which bowed out entirely and has made upwards of $100M worldwide.

I will leave the final word on finding the right time and not being tethered to releasing a film at “Awards Season” to Wes Anderson who said this in a recent Hollywood Reporter interview:

I don’t even have an opinion about it anymore. Every movie I’ve ever done was released in November or December until Moonrise Kingdom, which opened in May. It did better than any of my films had done in ages. It seemed like it helped that it didn’t come out in the middle of all this stuff [awards contenders]. It didn’t round up all kinds of prizes, so why not be released in May? And we weren’t finished with Grand Budapest in time to come out last year. I would not have wanted to try to rush it out. At the same time, I’m very happy not to wait 10 more months to release it. And Berlin seemed perfectly suitable, since we filmed the movie in Germany.

March to Disney: Images of Misery in Robin Hood

Posted on by bernardovillela

The cliche is that Disney is all happy puppies, sing-a-longs and Hollywood endings. Yes, Disney did defend his work by saying “Everyone is a little bit corny.” However, his films did get away with more than we often give them credit for because of the way they end. There are many orphans in the Disney canon, be they so at the start of the film like Cinderella; or be the orphaned through the course of the film like in Bambi, The Lion King or Frozen. As I talked about in Peter Pan there were some frightening moments there regardless of the fact that the imagery was sanitized from initial conception.

That brings me to Robin Hood. As with many a Disney tale the bones of story are well known by all: Robin Hood robs the rich to feed the poor. Clearly to illustrate this you’ll have to see said poor. Not only that but if you look at the standard structure of a classic story things will have to get worse before they get better. They may not be images as marking as those of Dumbo’s mother being beaten and chained but they are strong and pervasive in this film.

This is the most literal example of a minstrel acting as a narrator and it is the perfect storytelling device for a tale such as this. Not only is it so because this story is set in England and it is a British tradition, but because they were crucial in spreading lore through oral histories it’s a natural conduit for this story.

Most of the reason that Robin is impelled to go on his crusade is that the people of Nottingham, under the Sheriff, who is doing Prince John’s bidding (while King Richard is off on a crusade). A majority of that bidding is about imposing and collecting usurious taxes on the people who can scarcely afford to eat.

These rates get worse as the story progresses and you see imprisoned children clergy. People are shackled about their neck and feet in debtor’s prison. Furthermore, there are serious threats of hanging an narrow escapes.

The misery of the plight these people must escape is further underscored that during these scenes, mostly during the montage underscored by the song “Not in Nottingham”, by the fact that it rains; it rains a great deal. Even the in the rain those in forced labor on the rock pile must still work. The only respite from the doldrums this film descends into is that we can sense what the ending will be, and the narrator, who we know will leave to tell the story in the past tense, is also jailed.

Not to mention that the climactic sequence wherein Prince John is robbed while sleeping and Robin Hood narrowly escapes is one of the most treacherous and most risky in all Disney films. It also, due to all that passed before it, is one of the more triumphant and makes the ending all the more exultant.

So you’re dragged through the mud and bask in the glow of a sunset at the ending as Robin and Marian ride off. Could Disney have gotten away with such images if not using anthropomorphized animals? Probably not, but to kids there’s scarcely a difference and it makes it a more memorable visceral experience.

March to Disney: The Sword in the Stone

Posted on by bernardovillela

Introduction


Last year to coincide with a trip to Walt Disney World in March, I decided to have a month-long focus on Disney fare. Their vaults are vast and varied enough such that this is a theme that could recur annually. Below you will find links to the inaugural posts written for the theme.

The Sword in the Stone (1963)

The Sword in the Stone (1963, Disney)

As I had mentioned when I wrote about The Jungle Book there are a few similarities between these two tales. There is the structural similarity of episodic plots weaved together by overarching ideas, but there is another similarity as well. While in The Jungle Book Mowgli wanders through different animal villages seeing where he wishes to live next, emulating their attributes; here Arthur, commonly referred to as Wart, is literally transfigured into animals by Merlin.

The Sword in the Stone continues Disney’s tradition of opening with a shot of a storybook. Here there is also a disembodied voice as narrator predating the mistrel tale model that would be used in Robin Hood later on.

This story is a different spin on a legend a more whimsical one, while The Jungle Book offers a more true-to-life rendition of fantastic narrative. This dichotomy is the appeal of both stories.

Now anyone who knows the story of The Sword in the Stone knows what this film will ultimately be about and what the endgame is. Thus, it’s interesting that here, after many years, you see a Disney film playing with its approach by playing up Merlin as a sort of absent-minded magician who travels the world and is a clairvoyant it plays loose with time, and even at certain points breaks the fourth wall.

The Sword in the Stone (1963, Disney)

If you were unaware that Wolfgang Reitherman directed this film, and The Jungle Book, among others, it wouldn’t surprise you much to learn as a certain aesthetic started to come to the fore as a Disney signature in this era. Aside from the visuals there are familiar voices, many most recognizable in their Winnie the Pooh personae.

So while Wart spends his time in this film as a bird, a fish, a squirrel and is pursued throughout by a lurking wolf (contrast him to Shere Khan) there is the ultimate plot of Merlin seeking to educate the young man and that that is the ultimate currency. Arthur resists being brought up in a strict class society, but clearly Merlin and fate have different ideas in mind for him fighting both ignorance and class.

Yet through all this there is also the element of bildungsroman as the education received is not only factual but sentimental as well. Merlin’s sage advice that “Knowledge and wisdom is the real power” is illustrated by his climactic battle with Madam Mim, where in a battle of spells Merlin prevails by outwitting his foe.

Arthur’s education in Merlin’s tutelage also proves to be anything but pure didacticism as truly when he pulls the sword he is ready to assume the responsibility. He is through all we have seen worthy to be the chosen one.

Similar to The Jungle Book as well there is searing beauty to Wart’s moment of realization. For we see him achieve his destiny without realizing what it means, and then have to sit biting our nails as he is forced to prove himself anew, and almost doesn’t even get that chance.

As Arthur is clearly the protagonist this is his moment. He and Merlin have their ups and downs and butt heads about the course of his education and the film wisely has them reconcile as the crown weighs heavily on his head. Naturally, Camelot and all that came with it serve as the happily ever after and the end it befitting the dual tonalities played through the film, and it stands, in my mind as one of the most vastly underrated Disney animated features to date.

March to Disney: The Jungle Book – Beyond the Bare Necessities

Posted on by bernardovillela

Introduction

Last year to coincide with a trip to Walt Disney World in March, I decided to have a month-long focus on Disney fare. Their vaults are vast and varied enough such that this is a theme that could recur annually. Below you will find links to the inaugural posts written for the theme.

The Jungle Book: Beyond the Bare Necessities

The Jungle Book (1967, Disney)

I won’t speak for others in this regard, but I know to me, even though I’ve seen this movie a number of times; I typically struggle to put my finger on other scenes in The Jungle Book beside “The Bare Necessities” without racking my brain. I found that this happened with some of the late-’60s and ’70s titles and this is not because I don’t find them up to snuff with other Disney animated fare. I think what it is, as I noted after having also re-watching The Sword in the Stone (which I will cover here shortly), is that there’s a more sketch-like approach to the storytelling.

Previously on film the Korda brothers with Sabu in the lead brought this tale to life. However, with Disney’s penchant for anthropomorphism it was clear this was a candidate for a new treatment for a new generation. This title is yet another, of many, that is cited as being Disney’s last. I’ve heard this so many times I don’t even know which one is true anymore.

The voice cast features many legends from the Disney stable who made their presence known in other Disney films, many in the Winnie the Pooh shorts/feature: Phil Harris, Sebastian Cabot, Bruce Reitherman and Sterling Holloway.

In some ways the standout nature of the music in this film is an example of the double-edged sword that is the incredible talent of the Sherman Brothers. I always hum the songs and then have to remind myself of the voice talent that was assembled for this film.

The Jungle Book (1967, Disney)

The talent in general all around is there for at this point Disney animated features were a well-oiled machine with Wolfgang Reitherman at the helm directing.

What struck me upon this viewing of the film was that there is a certain subtlety to the approach of this story. There is an ongoing antagonist, Shere Khan, in this tale, he’s not omnipresent, but much like the Gmork in The Neverending Story many years later; he’s always lurking about. He’s less present here than in the live action. However, the thrust of this tale being can Mowgli continue to survive in the jungle as we slowly try to convince him to go to the man village, it is still important as Mowgli must learn man-like ways to adapt and survive. As sparse as Khan’s appearances are, he still nearly takes out a deer and immediately draws a dangerous parallel to Bambi heightening his fear factor.

Another subtle touch is the way in which the passage of time is indicated from when Mowgli is a baby to the present day: “10 times the rains had come and gone,” indicative of years seeing as how the rains refer to monsoon season. Lastly, there’s an underlying indicator (at least to a younger viewer) of the coming-of-age struggle in this tale when Baloo responds to Bagheera’s assertion that he to to the man village: “The man village. That’s awful, they’ll make a man out of him.”

The tale is narrated by Bagheera, a panther, the one who puts Mowgli with wolves in the first place. In terms of segments there’s Bagheera’s finding him, his being raised by wolves, and then his time with Baloo being the third segment.

The Jungle Book (1967, Disney)

There are also in these segmented tales difficulty in recalling that there is an ulterior motive in long song sequences. For example, King Louis is after something in “I Wan’na Be Like You’ it just takes a bulk of that song for it to come to the fore.

Brisker storytelling is found when the elephants are introduced by their marching song. Another Pooh alumni is found here as Clint Howard voices the young elephant and he was the first voice of Roo.

An interesting aspect of this film, and one that likely captures the imagination of the young to this very day, is here you have a boy who gets to roam the jungle and live with and be like animals; he tries to become them. It’s a whimsical tale that falls short of the horror of children becoming animals in Pinocchio.

One of the better elements of the film is that Baloo’s sense of responsibility in getting Mowgli to the safety of his own kind comes just as Mowgli learns he wants to be with Baloo. It’s a perfect midpoint. Mowgli has his own understanding of his belonging, Baloo’s eyes have opened and he has another entirely.

The Jungle Book (1967, Disney)

Another thing that really does work, and lends itself to a feeling of “looseness” about the structure of this film is that characters are often introduced as silly or caricatures, but end up serving a vital purpose. Mowgli is missing which brings the elephants back to search for him. The vultures who seem like nothing more than the Disney writers and animators riffing on The Beatles, and maybe a reactionary attempt to create non-controversial comic relief birds (see Dumbo) also factor into the finale.

Furthermore, I was reminded that a musical moment in this film provides one of its better jolts as Khan jumps in at the end of a song and gets the ball rolling on the climactic events of the story.

Perhaps this one of the things my subconscious decides to block out, but there is one of the more effective near deaths in the Disney canon. That and the dialogue-free execution of Mowgli’s decision is some of the finest animation and direction that they did. Everything is apparent, but nothing is painfully obvious. It’s sensitively and beautifully rendered and it’s something I recalled as soon as the film started. As many times as I’ve seen it it still gives me chills. It’s wonderful.

So, yes, the structure is a bit episodic and the songs are infectiously memorable. However, that ought not obscure some of the truly gorgeous and wonderful things that occur in this movie.

Short Film Saturday – The Blue Umbrella

Posted on by bernardovillela

While I feel it’s a bit thematically similar to last year’s Paperman there’s no doubt that The Blue Umbrella is another very strong Disney/Pixar short. It’s especially impressive in its animation technique, which looks nearly photo-realistic at times, and is, of course, visually solid as there is no dialogue.

Enjoy the opening here. The entire film is available on the Monsters University DVD and/or Blu-ray.

March to Disney: The Advances of Peter Pan

Posted on by bernardovillela

Introduction

Last year to coincide with a trip to Walt Disney World in March, I decided to have a month-long focus on Disney fare. Their vaults are vast and varied enough such that this is a theme that could recur annually. Below you will find links to the inaugural posts written for the theme.

Peter Pan (1953)

Peter Pan (1953, Disney)

Walt Disney’s production of Peter Pan is one that seems like its oft overlooked. That is why I a glad that it has recently come back up in the Disney rotation both with a Blu-ray release and also with a new Disney World attraction. Of course, the story is one that is universally known and beloved, but what can be lost with such a ubiquitous narrative is the distinguishing characteristics of each individual rendition.

Disney, from 1938 to its eventual 1953 release, dedicated himself to bringing this story to the silver screen anew in a version unlike anything anyone had yet seen. It’s ingenious but sometimes it takes a genius to think of something so ingenious: even in the 1950s the only way to bring forth a revolutionary interpretation of this story was to animate it.

With the conventions of stagecraft being stripped like actors flying on wires, an actor in a dog suit, a light as Tinkerbell and a girl playing Peter; the easiest way to changes these things, things that occurred on screen in the silent era, was to draw it.

The recycled documentary on the Blu-ray (it was on the DVD release as well) does well to highlight that the animators in this film had the brand new challenge of attempting to depict weightlessness of the human form. For to be able to fly, a person had to also be able to float.

Disney to this point, and past it in its history, used live models regardless, but never had their role been as pivotal as it was here for the animators through them were given guidance, and a frame of reference without the constraint of cameras rolling and a production around them, as to how to create said effect.

Peter Pan (1953, Disney)

The actors ability to pantomime for the animators was just one thing that had to be taken into consideration. Casting in this day and age at Disney was a multi-faceted process. Typically, animators were usually dealing with specific characters so they too had to “cast” so to speak. Yet, there was also the voice aspect to consider. Here there were a few inspired choices made.

First, there was Hans Conreid, who was most notably a radio actor, in the tandem roles of Mr. Darling and Captain Hook. There is a duality to his voice and so much emotion that he can emit through it that makes it one of the more indelible performances in the Disney canon. It is also rightly noted that Bobby Driscoll, although Disney’s first contract player and roundabout the right age for the part, was still the proper choice. Sure, it was the easy choice but it was the correct one. It was his Disney swan song, and perhaps his most lasting turn.

Also interesting to note here, in hindsight, that some of the concept art was darker than what Walt eventually approved for use in the film. Especially considering that it seems that P.J. Hogan’s sensibility in his ’03 live action version is closer to those original concepts. While it would’ve been great to see those things drawn by the talented hands at Disney un-softened. I look at it more as a calculated decision by Walt rather than softening for softening’s sake.

There is still in this story the threat of death and of growing up being flaunted in the face of children. Hook’s menace is quite real and present, thanks in large part to Conreid. Therefore, the visuals needn’t be as harsh as initially designed to get the message home. The emotions desired will still be elicited. Also, at a young age kids don’t necessarily consider stylistic choices. The danger, the emotions in general, are generated by the characters how they act and interact rather than the atmosphere.

What Walt Disney’s Peter Pan is most definitely Disney’s version of the narrative but also one that is progressive in terms of altering, and depending on your opinion, correcting prior conventions of this particular narrative. Like many things in the canon there are the iconic moments, namely Tinkerbell who became part of the Walt Disney Pictures logo. And she should be, since the first cinematic image of the character was his creation. However, in that logo she blends with Cinderella’s castle and is removed from her original context. The context being this film, which in spite of its changes and quirks is one of the true Disney masterpieces. A labor of love unquestionably re-branded, but also indebted to its source, and one that should live in the consciousness of children and children-at-heart for generations to come.

March to Disney: Genius (1999)

Posted on by bernardovillela

Introduction

Last year to coincide with a trip to Walt Disney World in March, I decided to have a month-long focus on Disney fare. Their vaults are vast and varied enough such that this is a theme that could recur annually. Below you will find links to the inaugural posts written for the theme.

Genius (1999)

For this year’s March to Disney I most definitely wanted to cover a few Disney Channel Original Movies (DCOMs). I have at a few points in the past (most recently Teen Beach Movie). While they can be painful, as a lot of Disney Channel fodder can unfortunately be; on rare occasions they are quite good, not just among their own subset, but in general also. This particular title comes from the very earliest vintages of the DCOMs. In these days, late in the last millennium, these titles stood alone more and didn’t necessarily springboard performers into A-List Disney status, or weren’t always star vehicles. It sounds idealistic to state that “In this era the play was the thing,” but in many cases this is the truth.

Genius is a tale of a twelve-year-old wunderkind (Trevor Morgan) who is socially maladjusted, on his way to college and has his pick of the litter. He goes with an underdog choice in part because he gets to work with his idol. While the school fills his academic requirements the fact that he has to teach remedial classes for his scholarship underscores his misfit status, and leads to the alter ego plot that takes up a bulk of the tale. This is teased through most of the trailers. Now that plot line is old hat, and there are other tropes like a getting-to-know-you montage, mirror smooth-talk practice and more, abound that one has seen quite a few times before, but many of them are executed quite well and the mixture of them is what makes the film stand out.

It would be tiresome to list them all but there are most definitely moments where you will willingly have to suspend disbelief. However, if you do that there are rewards in store. And for some of the scientific and other fudging that’s done, the ice hockey elements are, for the most part, well-executed and not over-exaggerated.

Most of why this film does work has to do with the central performances, namely Trevor Morgan as Charlie Boyle. Morgan, in what was his first leading role, even at this young age, shows an innate ability to listen and react naturally such that his line readings don’t sound like readings at all but rather just talking. This influences everything from his timing to his physicality and makes all of it play more true. Playing his goal, his impetus for his dual personality, is Emmy Rossum who you may know from many films and most notably Showtime’s Shameless; she has her moments (especially her story about her mother’s figure skating which is better than 99.9% of what you usually get in these films). Playing his idol, in a rare onscreen appearance, is Charles Fleischer perhaps best known as being the voice of Roger Rabbit.

The prior mention of hockey, my favorite sport on the face of the earth, isn’t just a nod to the fact that they included it; it also plays a vital function in illustrating the progression of the protagonist. The film starts with his being a benchwarming cheerleader. In Charlie’s cooler persona he is allowed to play and shows sympathy to one who is in the same position he was once in. Lastly, a game of pick-up hockey is also used as the denouement when all’s well that ends well. This is not to mention the fact that there are the organized games played in a rink built above his lab that also play a vital role in the narrative. The sport here is most definitely a metaphor for acceptance and a narrative device, you rarely see something so deftly folded in to a DCOM.

There is bit of self-awareness to the silliness abound in the film, such as an actual ‘wah-wah’ chord in the score at a well-chosen moment. The effects work in these days were in shorter supply and more attentively done. A skeleton dancing in this looks better than most of what airs today, and reads as a nod to Harryhausen in its approach. While there are some aforementioned aspects that need to be overlooked there is a built-in symmetry that does aid this script. The jock/brain conflict drives a lot of this film and is given many chances to boil over. There are several great pieces of dialogue like Krickstein’s advice about experiments, smart barbs like “japesome wag,” use of phrases like “The Eureka Syndrome,” and the like. While the film does cram a lot of necessary plot elements into the third act it all works in the end and is one of the best, more under-appreciated DCOMs.

Introduction: March to Disney 2014

Posted on by bernardovillela

As profiled on one of my newer pages this is my annual tribute to Disney and its works in all shapes and sizes. On the aforementioned page you can see the titles I have profiled in the past. This year I am seeking to cover a few more and dip my toe back into the TV waters on a new installment of Cinematic Episodes. There will be shorts and some other surprises through the course of the month. Come back early and often and see what this year’s posts have to offer.