Beauty and the Beast (1991).

Review #891: Beauty and the Beast.

Cast:
Paige O'Hara (Belle), Robby Benson (The Prince/Beast), Richard White (Gaston), Jerry Orbach (Lumière), David Ogden Stiers (Cogsworth), Angela Lansbury (Mrs. Potts), Bradley Pierce (Chip), Rex Everhart (Maurice), Jesse Corti (LeFou), Hal Smith (Philippe), and Jo Anne Worley (the Wardrobe) Directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise.

Review:
What is there to say about Beauty and the Beast that countless others haven't said over the past 25 years since it was released? Especially from someone who had never seen it before? I'll try to keep my words around the usual level of babbling for a movie like this. In any case, it's easy to like Beauty and the Beast. It's also easy to love it. Why is it so easy? Maybe it's the gorgeous animation, or maybe it's the wonderful songs, or maybe it's the characters that give the movie its depth. There is a certain kind of grace the film has, from the opening scene narrating the tale of the Prince's turn into the Beast, to a climax that is executed neatly. The ballroom dance sequence is a particular scene that stands out, from the waltz to the animation (with the background animated in CGI mixing with the traditional animated characters) to just how delicate everything is handled, which makes for a fantastic scene. There is never a dull moment in the movie, and it certainly looks like great care was taken in terms of how everything flows from scene to scene. The characters are enjoyable as well, exuding their own fair kinds of charm and depth. O'Hara does a fine job at portraying this main character with a good deal of wit and grace, and her scenes with Benson are as entertaining as one would expect, with the latter giving the character the right amount of conflict and presence. White is a fun villain (with his look certainly helping), conveying the right amount of arrogance and some form of charm within an enemy as delightfully evil as this. Orbach and Stiers certainly go well together, and they (along with Lansbury) contribute to making these songs so catchy and so enjoyable, especially "Be Our Guest", with the rest of the cast also doing a fine job. On the whole, this is a great film, complete with everything anyone of any age could enjoy, from animation to characters. At 84 minutes, it's an easy film to recommend to anyone, especially if you're in the Disney mood.

Countdown to 900 Reviews: 10, 9...

Overall, I give it 10 out of 10 stars.

Movie Night: Meet Wally Sparks.

Review #628: Meet Wally Sparks.

Cast
Rodney Dangerfield (Wally Sparks), Debi Mazar (Sandy), Michael Weatherly (Dean Sparks), David Ogden Stiers (Gov. Floyd Preston), Cindy Williams (Emily Preston), Burt Reynolds (Lenny), Lisa Thornhill (Priscilla Preston), and Eamonn Roche (Miller) Directed by Peter Baldwin.

Review
Misery sure loves company, doesn't it? This is a movie with a premise just made for Dangerfield...written by him as well (co-written, but whatever), in a film I'm sure not many remember...and for good reason. The movie feels really, really tired, a film that just flails around like a fish on a beach. Dangerfield does his usual one liners, which are fine, a shame that his character isn't really interesting. The main problem is the premise itself, it looks promising on paper, in the sense that it looks like an average movie that Dangerfield could make better (Oddly enough, the movie Ringmaster starring Jerry Springer would be released a year later, both movies marketed as comedies, about host of trash TV shows). The movie manages to be more boring than funny, like you're going through the motions. The gags feel old after about 30 minutes, and there's still 70 minutes to go, and then it turns into The Man Who Came to Dinner all of a sudden, it doesn't help the movie too much, though at least it reminds you to watch that film again. The characters are standard, though of all of them, I guess Stiers is the best character because any character who gets tired of the main character that isn't just the villain is fine with me. The movie flounders, sometimes trying to be trashy, and sometimes trying to be slapstick, and it garners some success, but not too much. At this point, you might as well watch Caddyshack instead, or Back to School, or Dangerfield's stand-up specials, those are much more interesting to watch, and not this misfire of a film.

Overall, I give it 3 out of 10 stars.

Movie Night: Pocahontas.

Review #390: Pocahontas.

Cast
Irene Bedard (Pocahontas), Mel Gibson (John Smith), David Ogden Stiers (Governor Ratcliffe), John Kassir (Meeko), Russell Means (Chief Powhatan), Christian Bale (Thomas), and Linda Hunt (Grandmother Willow) Directed by Mike Gabriel and Eric Goldberg.

Review
A Disney film that tries to use actual history and not so much fantasy in a good way, right? Eh...no. In a way, this is a Disney film muted in approach, noticed especially with the...non talking animals. This in a film where the leaves are like mail to people and where a grandmotherly tree talks to the main characters. The characters are okay at best. I find it odd that this film was told like a romance film, which is awkward given the fact these two in real life had no romance whatsoever.The acting is alright, even if it's a bit over the top, especially with Ogden Stiers. It's odd how Disney can make a film that has great looking animation especially in the design of the environment, yet fail at history. The film's history feels off even without a Google search. Much like the previous review (#389 - The Babe), this has inaccuracies to boot, and while some songs are decent, that doesn't help the film rise up to other, better Disney films. Maybe it's just me, but this is one that could be skipped. You might as well watch The New World, at least that looks like it could be more accurate. At least the Native Americans had a happy ending, what with them having peace with those Englishmen, it's not like they would ever get attacked by them ever again, nope. Disney treats history like a dirty rag, very poorly. Countdown to 400 Reviews: 10....

Overall, I give it 5 out of 10 stars.

Movie Night: Lilo & Stitch.

Review #387: Lilo & Stitch.

Cast
Chris Sanders (Stitch), Daveigh Chase (Lilo), Tia Carrere (Nani), David Ogden Stiers (Jumba), Kevin McDonald (Pleakley), Ving Rhames (Cobra Bubbles), Kevin Michael Richardson (Captain Gantu), Zoe Caldwell (Grand Councilwoman), and Jason Scott Lee (David Kawena) Directed by Chris Sanders (#294 - How to Train Your Dragon)

Review
Once again I'm reviewing a Disney film, the last time I reviewed one was Wreck-It Ralph, which was...1 review ago, so this is a bit of trend, for once. Disney films have a well enough track record, so I wondered if this would keep that trend going. It did, for the most part. The pairing of Stitch and Lilo work allright, but the one between Lilo and Nani also works well enough because it doesn't feel artificial, it feels real enough to work in a film like this. The action, while not the main part of the story, works well enough. The film, while having a good sense of drama, has some gags to it, and they work allright. The film has lush animation at times, using its environment and setting very well. It has its moments of fun and it can entertain more than just kids, but for everyone, for the most part.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.

Movie Night: Hoodwinked!

Review #234: Hoodwinked!

Cast
Anne Hathaway (Red Puckett), Glenn Close (Granny Puckett), Jim Belushi (Kirk, the Woodsman), Patrick Warburton (Wolf W. Wolf), Anthony Anderson (Det. Bill Stork), David Ogden Stiers (Det. Nicky Flippers), Xzibit (Chief Ted Grizzly), Chazz Palminteri (Woolworth), Andy Dick (Boingo), Cory Edwards (Twitchy), Benjy Gaither (Japeth the Goat), Ken Marino (Raccoon Jerry), and Tom Kenny (Tommy) Directed by Cory Edwards, Todd Edwards, and Tony Leech.

Review
From what I've learned, this is one of the first independently produced computer animated films, and it does show. With a budget of less then $8 million dollars, the animation is severly lacking in some parts. And yet the film still is a lesson in how to follow your ambitions of making films with limited budgets. The cast can be fun at times, but the film feels more like Shrek at other times, being a moderately decent film hampered by some flaws.

Overall, I give it 6 out of 10 stars.