Word: disneyized
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Hammerstein songbook. The Red Shoes is so closely based on the 1948 ballet film that it uses footage from it as the basis of TV ads. Cyrano the Musical, an import from Amsterdam, retells a much told romance, written in the 19th century and set in the 17th. Disney's Beauty and the Beast will transpose to the stage the hit songs and scenic devices of the 1991 animated film, itself based on a venerable fairy tale. If art is supposed to be relevant, Broadway is missing the message. And if art is an escapist time machine, Broadway...
Despite all the cautionary tales, they keep coming. Disney, last year's disastrous Newsies notwithstanding, seems on the verge of turning its hegemonic attentions to live-action musicals: the studio has the splendid composer Danny Elfman (The Simpsons, Tim Burton's films) and Alan Menken, & Newsies' composer, each developing a new live-action movie musical, plus Oliver Stone in preproduction on Evita...
...creator of The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin for Disney, Menken has almost single-handedly revived the movie musical, albeit in cartoon form. And with the success of Disney's giddy, macabre new animated musical The Nightmare Before Christmas (it is the most popular movie in America right now), we are in a new golden era: Disney is to the '90s what MGM was to the '50s. "We came in with real respect for the established traditions of the American musical," Menken says of his blockbuster cartoon movies. Except, of course, for the tradition of filming actors...
...hits, Tommy (essentially a set of music videos performed live) and Kiss of the Spider Woman. And what are some of the big musicals about to arrive on Broadway? The Red Shoes (based on the 1948 movie), Sunset Boulevard (based on the 1950 movie) and, next spring, the Disney production of Beauty and the Beast (based on the 1991 Disney movie...
...trashed this movie enough: it does have its redeeming qualities. This is a Disney flick; it's aimed at a Disney crowd, not at snobs like me. Anyone under the age of 16 is sure to enjoy it. Take a younger sibling; or, send your immature roommate! And if you're in the mood for action and adventure and a little history, disregard my criticisms. The horse-powered chase scenes are simply smashing; and the requisite grand explosion, where a burning carriage collides with barrels of gunpowder, is highly gratifying. There are even some clever cinematic moments, such as when...