Tragic Sandwich

Tag: Sleeping Beauty

  • Rediscovering Disney: The Little Mermaid

    We’ve started trying to add to Baguette’s movie preferences. We had no luck with Cinderella (she only likes “The Work Song”) or Sleeping Beauty, and Lilo & Stitch got no reaction at all.

    We tried non-Disney (or at least previously-not-from Disney) with Star Wars,* which was of momentary interest–right up until the cantina scene, at which point she started shrieking.

    What is entering the rotation is The Little Mermaid. Baguette only watches about half of it, but that’s how she started watching Frozen, too. She asks for it by name (although the first time she did, when I asked her if she wanted to see Frozen, she said, “I want to see fish, please”). It’s a problematic movie, what with the stereotyped musical fish and the love-at-first-sight/hearing-without-any-real-knowledge-of-the-person.

    BUT.

    I’m actually less bothered by the movie than I expected to be. Because Ariel doesn’t know Eric, but he actually does have a lot of good qualities. True, he’s easily distracted and enchanted. He’s also brave, and a quick thinker. Ariel saves him, and he saves her as well. They’re mutually supportive.

    What I’m saying is, they could do a lot worse.

    That said?

    Photo from http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/File:Littlemermaid-disneyscreencaps.com-2976.jpg
    Photo from http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/File:Littlemermaid-disneyscreencaps.com-2976.jpg

    That is a lot of Merpeople who sold their souls to Ursula. Now that he’s married off that headstrong youngest daughter, I think King Triton needs to take a hard look at reform.

    *There was a brief window in which the original trilogy was available on DVD as it aired in the theaters. These are the copies we own, because I want to make sure that Baguette knows not just that Han shot first, but that Han was the only one who fired a shot.

  • Rediscovering Disney

    We’ve started showing Baguette some other Disney movies, both to broaden her exposure and to save our sanity. Last night’s movie was “Cinderella.” I’d forgotten how sidekick-heavy that movie is.

    Tonight’s movie? “Sleeping Beauty.”

    Here’s what I noticed (beside the fact that Briar Rose looks really alarmed in that thumbnail):

    • This movie is not so sidekick-heavy, but there sure is a lot of narration.
    • Maleficent’s horns are much shorter in this movie.
    • I wish more forests looked like this. I’d be much more enthusiastic about forests if they did.
    • Samson is clearly the prototype for the horses from Tangled and Frozen. Samson is the Ur-Horse.
    • Even with magic, that cake still isn’t baked.
    • Briar Rose has a really nice bed for a peasant girl.
    • “Now, now, Father, you’re living in the past. This is the fourteenth century.” is still my favorite line from a Disney movie. But you know what that means:
    • Plague’s coming!
    • There really aren’t that many songs in this movie, are there?
    • Maleficent shows Prince Philip the vision of Aurora and refers to her as the “peasant girl who won the heart of our prince just yesterday.” But I’m pretty sure it was this morning. Maleficent has no sense of time.
    • Also, if Maleficent is so powerful, why isn’t her castle in better shape?
    • “O Sword of Truth, fly swift and sure, that evil die and good endure” is the incantation I’m going to use if I ever have to combat evil. Combat it with a sword, I mean.
    • I am absolutely sure that Aurora’s dress originally was blue when the movie ended, and that the final change to pink is a result of Disney Princess-ification, because Cinderella’s dress is blue. I don’t like that.