Monday, November 28, 2011

Odd but Enjoyable: Make Mine Music


This is the one title that I didn’t own that wasn’t available on Netflix. So of course I bought it. I ordered it on the 3rd of November, it shipped the 4th. Yet now it’s the 16th and I’m still missing it. Because it has yet to arrive and I haven’t watched a Disney movie for…two days… I’m having a bit of a problem. Nightmares.
            I love books. Since graduating college last year, I’ve been averaging reading three books a week. Thank goodness for libraries. Otherwise I’d be living in a fort made of books and covered in tarp (so they don’t get wet, obviously). Before moving to Alaska, I worked for a major book retailer for three and a half years. I’ll give you a hint: not the one that went bankrupt and not the one only found in the South-East. While working there, I made lots of fellow-reader friends and was recommended books as often as I recommended them. One of these books, that was recommended to me and then by me quite often, is the Flavia de Luce series by Alan Bradley.
            Ah, the mystery section. See, I had always avoided it because I (wrongly) thought all the books would be scary. And as we all know well by now, I can’t handle scary. This is why I’m watching Disney movies. Well, one of the reasons why. In any case, this week I finished (in two days, it is that good) the newest Flavia de Luce mystery, I am Half Sick of Shadows. It didn’t scare me while I was reading it, but once I thought about it afterwards I got quite frightened. Thankfully the nightmares didn’t start until James’ night off, as otherwise I don’t know what I would have done.
            I won’t go into the weirdness of scariness of the dream; there are certain things no one should know. I will say that I have the most amazing husband, whom when I woke him up to say I had a nightmare, quickly got me talking about something else for at least fifteen minutes until I had forgotten it enough to go back to sleep. I can’t say I’ve ever doubted he’ll make an amazing father, but sometimes I get a glimpse of how amazingly well he’ll fit that role. Last night, post-nightmare, was one of those glimpses.
            Right before finally letting my poor, dear husband go back to sleep, I said, “You see, my mind goes to dark places without the magic of the wonderful world that is Walt Disney.” And he loves me so much, and thought I would want to remember saying that, that he opened up his iPhone and made a voice recording of what I said. See what I mean? Aren’t you ladies jealous he’s taken? He’s thoughtful and good with nightmares. What more could a girl ask for?
            Well, obviously I’d like my movie to arrive. But I don’t think there’s much he can do about that, is there? 

            After calling Disney Movie Club twice, they re-submitted my order with a tracking number and signature required. Of course, within a week it arrived. Not the one they re-submitted, but the original order. I was a bit disappointed by the Lion King ornament, mostly because my expectations were universe-high (I’d say sky-high, but that would be an understatement).
            I really tried to keep my expectations for Make Mine Music in check; truly, I did. I began watching it the Sunday after Thanksgiving, when I wasn’t feeling particularly well and my self-prescription called for cuddling with a puppy and watching a Disney movie. Thankfully, I had both. Nala (our black lab who thinks she’s a puppy and a lap dog, not the lioness from Lion King—though I would also cuddly with her, were she real and not vicious) cuddled in next to me on the couch.
            I love parts of Fantasia, but as a general rule, I like dialogue in a film. Especially when I’m not feeling well. There are a few parts of MMM that have a narrator, if not dialogue. Those I liked best. Except for the baseball one—I go the message (don’t be overconfident or you’ll disappoint everyone, including yourself), but it just didn’t resonate with me. I loved Peter and the Wolf, though I was a bit mad that they made it look like Sonya died when she didn’t. I mean, they show her going into duck-heaven! Then at the end, they’re all, everyone is happy! And I thought except for Sonya as the narrator said, “except for the wolf”. Then, magically, she’s not dead, was just hiding? Uh-uh, implied death is fine and dandy, but you showed her at the pearly gates. That’s not implied, it is downright blatant.
            It was still an entertaining one, though. Much better than the musical instruments chasing each other. I obviously wasn’t a fan of that one. I did love seeing the name Benny Goodman outside of swing dance class, though. And his main one—All the Cats Join In-- it had swing dancing in animation, so I loved it. It’s the one I recommend you look up on YouTube, it’s so good. It shows a pencil drawing the animation, and as the music speeds up so do the characters; but then the pencil can’t keep up. It’s funny and original and I love it.
            My favorite of them all was the “Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met”. It had a tragically sad ending, but was so whimsical and just Disney to the core, and I loved it for those reasons. Also, an operatic whale? Yes, please! It’s a beautiful story as well; although I must admit, I felt terrible for the sea gull. He told the whale the impresario was looking for him, so it’s kind of his fault. Wouldn’t he feel guilty? And sad, to have lost a friend? Like Fantasia, it ended on a bittersweet note. Ha! A pun! And it wasn’t even intended!
            Ahem. Moving on. Overall, I can’t say I loved MMM. But I didn’t fall asleep, I wasn’t bored, nor did I count the minutes until it was over (I may have done that with Pinocchio). It was entertaining and enjoyable, and for once, it showed it’s age. It was made in the ‘40s, and I could tell. I also loved Johnny Fedora and Alice Blue Bonnet. Next to the whale one, and the swing dancing one, it may be my favorite.
            Because many Disney employees were at war, and the rest of the studio was working on war advertisements, this was the last segmented film of the war. It was released in 46, after it ended, but was made during the war. Walt didn’t want the feature animation department to fall into the background, so he produced four segmented films to be released during the war. The animation is less advanced, the same techniques are repeated (lots of water, dilution), the animation itself is more cartoon-y, and the plots are unrelated. My complaint with this film, and the last three, has been their segmentation. They don’t flow well, there isn’t an over-arching plot point to tie them all together. This is most prevalent in MMM, to the point where every story has it’s own introduction and mini-credits. As someone with little patience for beginning of movie credits, this wasn’t conducive to me liking it.
            But, when you love someone you love everything about them—even their flops. So even though most of MMM didn’t appeal to me, it was still good stories with great music and fun animation. So overall, I still enjoyed it. Though I don’t know how much use that DVD will get. 

2 comments:

  1. I have never heard of this movie. I probably won't watch it either, but now my knowledge has broaden thanks to your critique! :-)

    ReplyDelete