Disney’s Latest Disappointment

When you’re a fan of a multi-billion dollar, for profit company such as Disney, prepare yourself for the oncoming disappointments such as this.  I’m talking about the new female character design for the new Disney movie- Big Hero 6.  Her name is Honey Lemon.

Look familiar? If you’ve seen Tangled and Frozen she should.  The long blonde hair of Rapunzel and facial proportions and skin color are literally the exact same as Anna and Rapunzel!  I am so annoyed.  Keep in mind, however, this is a leaked poster and not the character’s final design.  But to be honest it is unlikely for a large change, as this exact same argument arose when the first designs for Frozen’s Anna leaked and nothing changed.

Disney is really being uncreative and horribly sexist for thinking that all women have to look the same to be beautiful.  Where is the diversity in style?  Why are we expected to keep watching these movies?  Check out this compilation of Dreamwork’s most recent female characters (top row) compared to Disney’s (bottom row, compiled by tumbr’s Cybugs).

 

I have to say, this is really upsetting.  Is it so hard to make female characters different?  Disney, I really expected better of you.  What’s your take?

PS. Here are the rest of the character designs

Maleficent Kisses Goodbye to Evil

Maleficent.  What can I say? As you likely know (because everyone is raving about it), the styling of the movie was impeccable.  The medieval glamour was fabulous.  You can’t help but stare in awe at the beautiful settings.  Medieval glam is an upcoming trend that I’m in love with.  The animation on the other hand was hideous. I have absolutely no clue why the animator chose to be so disgusting.  Even the “pretty” characters where gross.

BUT WHY?

Maleficent’s new backstory was punctured with sorrow and hatred, which I loved.  It gave her character a new soft side.  Angelina Jolie’s performance was fabulous.  Her cold stare can churn your stomach.  Elle Fanning did a fine job, Aurora was love able enough.  And the character of King Stefan (Stefan Copley)?  Much darker than you might have imagined, his paranoid mind was fascinating to watch.  Copley does a wonderful job.  The fairies raising Aurora were so horribly annoying that they could have been cut from the movie entirely.

 

What KILLED me about this adaptation was Maleficent losing her power.  I love when she turns into a dragon in the 1959 film, here they gave that transformation to her man servant.  Maleficent learns that hate is not her path and that to me is just so predictable.  Do you think Maleficent deserved to be stripped of her title as villainess?   Overall, it’s worthwhile to see a new spin on  the old tale, especially when it is as beautifully done as this.

 

P.S. Have you seen this beautiful Maleficent artwork by Nicholas Kole?

Aurora: Back in Disney’s Good Graces

Before Maleficent, it seemed that Aurora was nobody’s favorite princess.  She never had her own merchandise and, when featured on the princess line-up, she was typically in the back among Pocahontas and Mulan.  Yet with the rising popularity of Maleficent and all related tales, Aurora may finally be getting her long deserved attention!

Disney has leaked photos of an upcoming collection, Art of Aurora.

Love the extra details of the birds on the handle!  This is going to be similar to last years Art of Ariel collection, including mugs, notebooks, t-shirts, etc.

It even went along with the release of beautiful 17″ Ariel, Eric, and Ursula dolls.

Disney has announced that there will be a limited edition 17″ Aurora doll, which I think will be just as detailed as the Ariel pictured.  It is also rumored that there will be a surprise Maleficent doll released along with the Aurora LE doll.  What do you think of Aurora and her recent attention- deserved or over-hyped?

Cinderella 2015 Excitement!!!

Cinderella is all set to be released March 13, 2015!  A synopsis found on IMDB states that it will be the same story, except that “there is the dashing stranger [Cindy] meets in the woods… unaware that he is really a prince”.  Sound familiar?  That’s because it’s the story of Sleeping Beauty!  Ugh.

Lily James of Downton Abbey is set to play Cinderella, which I have no opinion on yet.  However if she is on Downton Abbey, I have faith that she’ll be a wonderful actress with all the grace of a princess.

BUT THE PRINCE! THE PRINCE YOU GUYS!!! The prince is being played by Richard Madden, as in Robb Stark of Game of Thrones.  I am literally so excited, he is super attractive and an excellent actor.  I think he will fit the aesthetic of the movie very well.

The teaser trailer itself doesn’t reveal much besides a glittering shoe with a golden butterfly.  The shoe, in my opinion, is awkwardly high.  The proportions seem off, but I felt that the butterfly was a nice touch.

Frozen’s Hype Brings Others Down

The Frozen girls- Anna and Elsa- have moved into the Fairytale Hall of New Fantasyland in the Magic Kingdom.  This means (hopefully) the end of the Daddy Dash/Frosen 5k, when guests would run to the Frozen Meet’n’Greet immediately after the drop.

However, the wait times have only slightly improved.  When the girls were back in EPCOT, it was a consistent 4 hour wait.  Check out this graph that gives estimated times based on previous days.  It seems that from opening to close, guests will have to wait roughly 3 hours to see the icy ladies, whereas the wait times for Cinderella and Rqapunzel never exceed 45 minutes.  Yet there is still hope for those who play it smart!

 

The benefit of the royal ladies being moved into Fairytale Hall is that you are now able to book a fastpass for the attraction through both the WDW website and the My Disney Experience app.  Thank goodness for fastpasses, this will automatically push you to the front of the line.  The best part?  Fastpass+ is available to any guest with a valid park ticket.

Of course, there is still Aurora there meeting! Don’t forget about her.  This picture looks so sad to me 😦

Well, hopefully the hype will die down soon.  But between the merchandising fiasco, Disney’s plans for Frozen on Broadway, and possibly a sequel, I doubt it will.

 

The Disneysaurs

There is a new creature walking around Animal Kingdom these days!  On May 3rd, V the velociraptor was spotted being walked through the park by Professor Parker Woodson.  DISCLAIMER: This is only a test run by the parks and certainly does not mean that the character will be permanent, or even out ever again.

V is a latex/rubber dinosaur moving by the man operating it underneath.  Its tail wags and there is a consistent screeching noise made.  He also can smell, lean down, as well as look around.

To me, this dinosaur just seems poorly planned.  He walks horribly awkward and always seems to be looking down.  It was clearly not ready for a test run!  The man controlling the dinosaur is very obvious to anyone over the age of five.  For those under that age, however, the dino is quite scary.  In some videos there are children running, crying, and screaming due to this velociraptor.  Two cast members (besides Prof. Woodson!) have to trail behind the dino to prevent its tail from smacking into guests.

The most disappointing part about this dinosaur fiasco is that back in 2003 Disney released a dinosaur named Lucky who was completely animatronic, meaning that there was no human operating him.  He pulled a cart, blinked, walked, and could even sign autographs!  Occasionally he was known to steal a hat off of a kid’s head.  Clearly Lucky has some problems that prevent him from being shown in the park on a daily basis (possible dangers or high operating costs?), which forced Disney to come up with a new solution.

The fact that  Lucky was released nearly 10 years ago and is vastly better than V shocks me.  Of course it’s just a test, so we’ll have to wait and see.  I’ve included a video of each dinosaur below for you to compare.  What do you think about these two Disneysaurs?

Val:

Lucky:

 

Disney’s Abandoned Parks

The Disney company owns a huge section of land in Florida.  Much of it is used as a park or resort, but there are a few undeveloped areas.  Even lesser know, there are some areas that were once a park and now completely abandoned.  The two parks are Discovery Island- A natural habitat and wildlife preservation for exotic creatures- and River Country- an “old fashioned swimmin’ hole” waterpark.

Discovery Island

Originally Treasure Island, Discovery Island closed in 1999 soon after Animal Kingdom opened, likely  because there was no need for two wildlife based parks.  Before it’s closure five Disney employees were charged with several counts of mistreating animals.  There was even a cage in which nineteen vultures were left to die without food or water.  I recommend you read Shane Perez’ blog post on his adventure into the abandoned park.

 

Baby vultures still in the park

Preserved snakes… with one in a Diet Coke bottle?

River Country

River Country opened in 1976 as Disney’s first water park, then closed in 2001.  Walt Disney World has never given a reason for the park’s closure, however one employee says that one morning they had to delay opening the park due to an alligator in one of the pools.  Another likely reason is the discovery of brain-eating amoebas found in the water.  Being infected with this almost always leads to death.

The former glory of the park

Seeing these photos makes me think- if I were older, someone who had visited and enjoyed these parks, seeing them in this wretched state would depress me.  These parks were once popular attractions.  Now they sit in ruins.  So what do you think Disney should do with the land?

Why your Frozen Headcannon is Wrong

As an avid tumblr blogger, I have witnessed many headcannons regarding the new Disney movie Frozen.  Some are fun to consider, but to be honest, almost none of them consider the actual facts given in the movie.

Headcannon: Kristoff actually had parents but was stolen by the trolls.  His father was one of the ice harvesters in the first scene.

Is this person feeling okay?  Did he/she watch the movie?  True, Nordic mythology does make it clear that trolls would steal children and eat them, but that is not at all what happened in the Disney movie.  We see that Kristoff is riding his little sled with Sven alone through the woods.  If his father was an ice harvester, wouldn’t he have gone home on the sled with him and the rest of the men?  I consider it a little dangerous to let your child go into the woods alone.  Besides, later Kristoff tells Anna that “it was just me and Sven until they took us in”.  There you have it.

Headcannon: Elsa and Anna’s parents were emotionally abusive.

Okay… it’s so wrong.  Sorry, but it just is.  The troll chief told Elsa’s dad that she must learn to control her powers, so thats what Elsa’s dad tried to help her to do.

Headcannon: Elsa had no way of figuring out how to control her powers after being unable to control them for so long.

I think this person missed the point of the movie.  Elsa’s powers are out of control because of her own fear.  When the troll told her “fear will become your enemy”, we thought he meant fear coming from other people, but thanks to Anna we discover that the only truly scared person is Elsa.  Her powers are obviously directly connected to her emotions.  This shows why she has so much power being “alone and free” on the mountain and why she can’t control her powers because she’s nervous at the coronation.

Headcannon: Oaken is gay.  The family shown is another man and their children.

Hey, I see where you’re coming from here.  The family shown seems to feature all boys.  However if you look close you’ll see that next to the man in the sauna is a smaller woman.  Could this be a gay couple?  Yes, but we have no way to know which of the two in the sauna is Oaken’s partner.  I’m not calling it until I have serious proof.

The last thing I have to say about spreading rumors that have no basis:

New Mickey Cartoons and how they’re changing the face of Mickey

For about a year now, Disney has been releasing several shorts starring Mickey mouse and friends.  These air on the Disney channel during commercial breaks and every episode is directed by a different artist.  Now, why do we care?  Because they’re just so good!  These shorts are super creative and consistently make me laugh.  It seems to me that the director has switched back to a style of humor closely resembling the insanity of black and white shorts.

Of course Mickey shorts are nothing new, but these shorts just seem to have something extra in them.  Mickey used to be unfunny, almost like a throw away character even though he was the face of the company.  Disney has made such a large improvement with these shorts that I actually consider Mickey a favorite.  The Disney Store is even selling merchandise specific to the shorts (Yes, I spent a paycheck on these.  Oops.)  So take a look for yourself.  Obviously humor is subjective, but I think I speak for most people when I say these are a huge improvement on the humor of Mickey and a tribute to Walt.

Elsa and Anna Limited Edition March Dolls.

This my first time purchasing a limited edition doll from Disney.  I always kind of chuckled thinking of old men surrounded by young beautiful dolls, but I saw the press release on Disney’s blog and decided I needed to have the Elsa because I’m in love with her Coronation dress.  My father decided to purchase the Anna doll to sell for profit on eBay (yes, he has become a scalper).  Now, I ordered these almost a month and a half ago and they just came in this Tuesday.  The face molds are perfect, especially compared to the November dolls which, in my opinion, didn’t resemble the characters at all.  Here are some detail shots I took earlier.