![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
arishaSince sometime this past summer I've been slowly watching the anime Shoujo Kakumei Utena. Last night I finally got to episode twenty, and discovered that the song that plays during the duel scene is about Neoptolemus and Priam. OMG AWESOME. The Trojan War is everywhere!! xD
Book:
23. Every Living Thing: Man's Obsessive Quest to Catalog Life, from Nanobacteria to New Monkeys, Rob Dunn
Oh my gosh I loved this book. It's similar to Night Comes to the Cretaceous, which I read earlier this year, in that it discusses scientific discoveries, but with a strong focus on the lives of the scientists who made those discoveries. And the subject is so interesting and the writing style is so smooth and beautiful~ haha so yeah, I would definitely recommend this book. I continue to wish though that I had a brain for science ... I finished this book ten minutes ago and I already feel like I've forgotten most of it. :(
Movie:
52. The Princess and the Frog, 2009
GUYS. 2-D Disney is back and I could not be more thrilled!! princealia's review and the_wykydtron's review pretty much cover everything important that I wanted to say about this movie, but if you want to hear my nitpickier (and SPOILERIFFIC) points, then read on ...
~ I am more baffled by Raymond's death than anything. If he had been dead when Louis found him and that was it, then I would've been okay with it. But no, he had a proper death scene! And a funeral?! And ... an afterlife?? Seriously, when the second star appeared in the sky and all of the characters were cheering for like five minutes, I felt nothing. All I could think was, "Am I supposed to be emotionally invested in any of this?" I mean, he was a fine character, but-- but-- really?
Also, please let's not all be shocked that Disney killed off a non-villain character. This is not exactly the first time! Bambi's mother, Mufasa, Kocoum, Kerchak, am I the only one who remembers them? Is it really that different because Raymond was a sidekick? I would argue that that only makes him more expendable, el oh el oh el. ^^;
~ I was stupidly impressed to see an animated Disney protagonist with a job! Two jobs! And multiple friends!!
~ Oh my god, Naveen was so the opposite of what I was imagining, and it was AWESOME. He pretty much had me at "Do you get my joke?" hahaha! >xD I quite enjoy the antics of Emperor Kuzco so to see a similar character show up as the hero of this movie was pretty cool!
~ Having said that, though, I feel this movie suffered from the same issue I have with Emperor's New Groove: the middle dragged. D: All apologies, but I am not interested in watching our protagonists learn how to deal with their frog tongues, I am not interested in watching twenty different scenes in which they have to escape from twenty different predators, I am not interested in having to meet too many characters and listening to each of those characters sing their own song!! Srsly, for too large a chunk of this movie I felt like I was watching Thumbelina. And am I the only one who thought that Mama Odie was pretty much pointless? "To become human, you have to kiss a princess." NO KIDDING?!?!?! I THOUGHT WE FIGURED THAT OUT HALF AN HOUR AGO!!!
~ Oh my gosh, I will have to inform my future husband that, on our wedding day, instead of saying "I do," he needs to say "I'm for it!" HAHAHAHA I DIIIIIED. xD
~ I do not understand the rules of animal vocalization. This is pretty nitpicky though, I guess I'll let it pass. x)
~ At some points I thought that Tiana/Naveen were THE CUTEST couple, and at other points they just weirded me out. I guess I was only squicked by the scenes where they were planning marriage, or confessing their love, or whatever. Because-- I mean-- they had known each other for less than twenty-four hours! During the whole swamp arc, there's pretty much only one scene where they're not insulting each other the entire time! How do they go from that to "MARRY ME I LOVE YOU," I don't know, it creeps me out. I would've loved them so much more if they had been able to just be an awesome couple for a while, without having to jump right to marriage. I know this is a Disney movie with a short running time and a short timeframe, and maybe I am being a huge hypocrite here, because my most favourite Disney couples (Al/Jas, Herc/Megara, Tarzan/Jane) all pretty much do the same thing, but ... I dunno. It just weirded me out in this movie. D:
~ Dr. Facilier is my new favourite Disney villain ever, omg, I am not even joking. I am pretty sure he was my favourite thing about this movie, and I NEVER like the villain the best!! I don't even care if his motivation was vague and his goals even vaguer - his song (the only song I can remember right now haha whoops), his shadow demons, those crazy neon Tiki head things, the blood(!) amulet, all that creepily vague talk of the debt he has to repay ... SO COOL!! Someone posted in Shamone about how some of his movements were inspired by MJ, and so I was expecting to like him, but I wasn't expecting to think he was so AWESOME!! Now if only we could've had more scenes of him and less scenes in the swamp ... DDDD:
~ In conclusion, while The Princess and the Frog isn't my new favourite Disney movie or anything, I still really loved it and cannot wait for academia to start pumping out some articles about it. xD (lol, for those of you not in the know, reading such articles is pretty much my One True Hobby.) Fingers crossed that this is only the start to a new and beautiful Disney renaissance! <3 <3 <3
Edit: Just read the Kills Me Dead review, which offers a different opinion (although I agree about the songs). I am ridiculously stoked to read all the different opinions of this movie! Oh, Disney. It's been way too long. <3
Book:
23. Every Living Thing: Man's Obsessive Quest to Catalog Life, from Nanobacteria to New Monkeys, Rob Dunn
Oh my gosh I loved this book. It's similar to Night Comes to the Cretaceous, which I read earlier this year, in that it discusses scientific discoveries, but with a strong focus on the lives of the scientists who made those discoveries. And the subject is so interesting and the writing style is so smooth and beautiful~ haha so yeah, I would definitely recommend this book. I continue to wish though that I had a brain for science ... I finished this book ten minutes ago and I already feel like I've forgotten most of it. :(
Movie:
52. The Princess and the Frog, 2009
GUYS. 2-D Disney is back and I could not be more thrilled!! princealia's review and the_wykydtron's review pretty much cover everything important that I wanted to say about this movie, but if you want to hear my nitpickier (and SPOILERIFFIC) points, then read on ...
~ I am more baffled by Raymond's death than anything. If he had been dead when Louis found him and that was it, then I would've been okay with it. But no, he had a proper death scene! And a funeral?! And ... an afterlife?? Seriously, when the second star appeared in the sky and all of the characters were cheering for like five minutes, I felt nothing. All I could think was, "Am I supposed to be emotionally invested in any of this?" I mean, he was a fine character, but-- but-- really?
Also, please let's not all be shocked that Disney killed off a non-villain character. This is not exactly the first time! Bambi's mother, Mufasa, Kocoum, Kerchak, am I the only one who remembers them? Is it really that different because Raymond was a sidekick? I would argue that that only makes him more expendable, el oh el oh el. ^^;
~ I was stupidly impressed to see an animated Disney protagonist with a job! Two jobs! And multiple friends!!
~ Oh my god, Naveen was so the opposite of what I was imagining, and it was AWESOME. He pretty much had me at "Do you get my joke?" hahaha! >xD I quite enjoy the antics of Emperor Kuzco so to see a similar character show up as the hero of this movie was pretty cool!
~ Having said that, though, I feel this movie suffered from the same issue I have with Emperor's New Groove: the middle dragged. D: All apologies, but I am not interested in watching our protagonists learn how to deal with their frog tongues, I am not interested in watching twenty different scenes in which they have to escape from twenty different predators, I am not interested in having to meet too many characters and listening to each of those characters sing their own song!! Srsly, for too large a chunk of this movie I felt like I was watching Thumbelina. And am I the only one who thought that Mama Odie was pretty much pointless? "To become human, you have to kiss a princess." NO KIDDING?!?!?! I THOUGHT WE FIGURED THAT OUT HALF AN HOUR AGO!!!
~ Oh my gosh, I will have to inform my future husband that, on our wedding day, instead of saying "I do," he needs to say "I'm for it!" HAHAHAHA I DIIIIIED. xD
~ I do not understand the rules of animal vocalization. This is pretty nitpicky though, I guess I'll let it pass. x)
~ At some points I thought that Tiana/Naveen were THE CUTEST couple, and at other points they just weirded me out. I guess I was only squicked by the scenes where they were planning marriage, or confessing their love, or whatever. Because-- I mean-- they had known each other for less than twenty-four hours! During the whole swamp arc, there's pretty much only one scene where they're not insulting each other the entire time! How do they go from that to "MARRY ME I LOVE YOU," I don't know, it creeps me out. I would've loved them so much more if they had been able to just be an awesome couple for a while, without having to jump right to marriage. I know this is a Disney movie with a short running time and a short timeframe, and maybe I am being a huge hypocrite here, because my most favourite Disney couples (Al/Jas, Herc/Megara, Tarzan/Jane) all pretty much do the same thing, but ... I dunno. It just weirded me out in this movie. D:
~ Dr. Facilier is my new favourite Disney villain ever, omg, I am not even joking. I am pretty sure he was my favourite thing about this movie, and I NEVER like the villain the best!! I don't even care if his motivation was vague and his goals even vaguer - his song (the only song I can remember right now haha whoops), his shadow demons, those crazy neon Tiki head things, the blood(!) amulet, all that creepily vague talk of the debt he has to repay ... SO COOL!! Someone posted in Shamone about how some of his movements were inspired by MJ, and so I was expecting to like him, but I wasn't expecting to think he was so AWESOME!! Now if only we could've had more scenes of him and less scenes in the swamp ... DDDD:
~ In conclusion, while The Princess and the Frog isn't my new favourite Disney movie or anything, I still really loved it and cannot wait for academia to start pumping out some articles about it. xD (lol, for those of you not in the know, reading such articles is pretty much my One True Hobby.) Fingers crossed that this is only the start to a new and beautiful Disney renaissance! <3 <3 <3
Edit: Just read the Kills Me Dead review, which offers a different opinion (although I agree about the songs). I am ridiculously stoked to read all the different opinions of this movie! Oh, Disney. It's been way too long. <3
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-16 06:26 am (UTC)the bickering ->instant eternal all consuming love didn't bother me because it is commonplace not only in Disney but in adult fairytales as well.
As for Ray's death, I found myself at least a little moved. Bambi's mother we barely get to know, Mufasa's death is vital to the plot. Kerchak and Kocoum well, they were kind of boring, weren't they? Didn't deserve to die and all, but Ray was a bit of alright, wasn't he? Helpful and shiny and *delightfully* hillbilly (or cajun or something). I don't know, it was a bit much, but I was more attached to him than other so-called 'good' characters that have met their ends in Disney's films.
I liked the songs alright, but there were too many for my tastes.
Would have been cool to see some elaboration on the differences between a girl of '...[Tiana's] background' and those other more fortunate folk of New Orleans but I suppose it's Disney and all.
...and the 'gator didn't do nothin' for me.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-16 06:28 am (UTC)