Another week brings another short film, this time bringing Mickey and Minnie Mouse to life on the big screen once more.
‘Get A Horse!’ was a black and white 7-minute short that accompanied ‘Frozen’ in 2013. It follows the story of Mickey and Minnie as Minnie gets kidnapped by Pete the Wolf. In order to save her, Mickey must break the 4th wall and reintroduce an old friend.
While the plot is something that is to be expected of a Mickey short, the execution of it is what makes ‘Get a Horse!’ stand out. The dialogue is all archived recordings from the 1920’s, meaning that, yes, the voice that you’re hearing from Mickey’s, and even Minnie’s, mouths are in fact Walt Disney himself.
The black and white animation is a mixture of hand-drawn animation and modern-day CGI, making this not only a visually marvellous short to look at, but also a clash of animation history. The CGI animation is also a special moment, because it’s used to bridge the gap between the black and white short and reality, which Mickey escapes to. Once Mickey leaves the animation and goes into the cinema, he’s animated in the CGI style that has been seen numerous times in modern day animated films.
Aside from the archived recordings, this is also an important moment in animation history. Oswald the Lucky Rabbit makes his first onscreen appearance in 85 years, which is a delight to see. He accompanies Mickey as they save Minnie, and this is even Mickey’s first film appearance since the 1995 short ‘Runaway Brain’. Not only that, but this short was directed by Lauren MacMullan, who was the first woman to solo direct a Disney animated film.
While the plot of ‘Get a Horse!’ is something that has been done countless times, the execution and making of it is what makes this unique. The amount of and work that had to have gone into this short film is amazing. This is definitely a Mickey Mouse short that has never been done before!
One of the most underrated Pixar shorts is ‘Sanjay’s Super Team’. Released in 2015, and shown before ‘The Good Dinosaur’, it revolves around a father and his young son. The son, whom the short follows the perspective of, loves nothing more than to watch his favourite cartoon, Super Team, and draw the characters.
The father, on the other hand, wants his son to join him in the daily Hindu meditation sessions and follow the family’s religious beliefs. Through an adventure that only Sanjay’s imagination can take him on, both characters learn that they can accept each other’s beliefs and hobbies.
Not only is this short an underrated one, but it is also one of my favourite Pixar shorts. Loosely based around writer/director Sanjay Patel’s childhood, this short film paints a beautiful story of connection between a father and son.
The short also shows that there can be other ways of teaching religion. As a young boy, Sanjay can’t connect with the daily meditation and prayer sessions. At the start of the short, we see that he’s bored of them; all he wants to do is draw his favourite superheroes and watch cartoons. However, he finds a way to connect with Hinduism, by imagining the Gods as strong and powerful superheroes wanting to protect Sanjay and his family. By viewing Hinduism in this way, the young boy is able to connect with the religion and, furthermore, his father, who then takes an interest when Sanjay draws the Gods as heroes.
‘Sanjay’s Super Team’ has two styles of animation; the 3D CGI animation style, similar to that of ‘Tangled’ and ‘Big Hero 6’, and a more 2D-looking style. The latter style is used during the Super Team cartoon and when Sanjay is imagining the Gods as superheroes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=222ztGhX4SE
It’s not only a gorgeous art style, but it’s a fantastic way to show the differences between reality and fiction. The lighting in the imagined sequence is also beautiful and vibrant, especially when the three Hindu gods are shown. They shine brightly in their greyish surroundings, giving them a sense of importance and empowerment.
Overall ‘Sanjay’s Super Team’ is a wonderful short film that revolves around family and religious connection. The different animation styles used make this a beautiful and visually spectacular short film to watch, and it also shows that there are other ways of teaching religion. This is a very underrated short film, so I highly recommend more people watch it now that it’s on Disney+.
When it comes to fears and phobias, I can happily say that heights don’t scare me. If anything, I like the feeling of being high up and looking down at my surrounding below. It’s fascinating and awe-inspiring. And it’s even better when I know I’m safe and can enjoy these views in a safe way. Which is why I felt extremely nervous watching ‘Free Solo’.
‘Free Solo’ is a National Geographic documentary that follows rock climber Alex Honnold through his 2-year preparations to climb the 3,200 ft El Capitan Mountain in Yosemite National Park…without the use of any safety equipment.
There’s thrill-seeking…and then there’s this! This is not only an incredible achievement that Honnold fulfilled, but also a terrifying one once you think about it; one little mistake and that’s it. And the cinematography captures the scale of the mountain fantastically, with the use of regular low angle shots when the mountain is displayed.
The amount of research that goes into a project like this was surprising, but ultimately understandable. Before the climb could be made, the El Capitan had to be climbed, with the use of harnesses, and analysed. These were in terms of the various surfaces and cliff heights the mountain had, which route was best to take when climbing to the top to even calculating what time of day would be the best time to start, otherwise the sunlight would be a distraction. It’s something I’ve never had to think about, but it was an eye-opener into how these types of feats are practised.
The film not only looks at Alex’s approach to the dangerous task and his thoughts on this, but it also points the camera at the film crew itself, and the way in which they would have to film the actual climb. Halfway through, it’s quickly realized that, during his first attempt at making the solo climb, the crew can’t film Alex at a close range, whilst on harnesses following him, because it becomes a distraction and an annoyance.
His mindset is different because he’s aware he’s being filmed. Therefore, the crew had to use a powerful camera zoom, a drone and be at an extremely far distance from El Capitan to film the final climb, which is shown near the end of the film. It was interesting to see the two perspectives of the project: the rock climber and the film crew. The latter perspective is something that isn’t often shown in documentaries, so this was a fascinating route to take that worked seamlessly.
And then the last 15-20 minutes of ‘Free Solo’ was essentially the audience being given a front row seat to the main event: the solo climb of El Capitan. The third act is nail-biting but intriguing; I wanted to look away but couldn’t bring myself to do so; this had to be seen to be believed. Even one of the film crew members looks away after a certain point!
‘Free Solo’ is a fascinating but stressful experience. It provides a unique perspective into solo climbing, as well as how the filming of the climb would’ve been done. The cinematography does a fantastic job of showing this achievement as incredible, but also dangerous.
This was a project that took years to prepare for, and it shows. And, while I was holding my breath for a lot of this film, I’m glad I watched it and I hope more people watch this incredible documentary too.
The Disney business plan of remaking their classic animated films continue with ‘Mulan’. Last week, I reviewed the original animated classic and, while it has some issues, I enjoyed it.
Despite not liking a lot of the live-action remakes, ‘Mulan’ was one that I was excited for, especially since Disney were aiming to tell the original story, instead of doing a direct remake of the 1998 classic. And, after seeing ‘Mulan’, I can express my opinions.
‘Mulan’, once again, tells the story of the titular character who takes her father’s place in the Imperial Army, disguising herself as a male soldier and ultimately becoming a heroine.
The live-action remake of ‘Mulan’ was, ultimately, fine. The film could be split into two parts, in terms of quality: the first 30 minutes, and the last 90 minutes. The first 30 minutes of the film explores Mulan’s childhood up until she runs away from home to join the army. This first act was filled with blatant exposition dialogue, wooden acting and uneven pacing. However, once Mulan joins the Imperial Army, the film feels like it was directed by a different person, as the pacing, acting and action is tighter and more evenly paced. The last 90 minutes were definitely more exciting and enjoyable.
The main cast all do a good job as the characters that they play. Yifei Liu, who plays the titular character, fits comfortably into the role and carries the film well. Her interaction with the rest of the main cast also works as she grows into a confident woman. The general look of the film, i.e.: locations and costumes, are gorgeous and are my favourite aspect of the film. It’s mostly a colourful and vibrant film, until the Army goes to war, where bright colours are swapped with the murky greys and browns, symbolising the grisly nature of war.
There are a few references to the original animated film. For example, some lyrics from ‘A Girl Worth Fighting For’ is used as dialogue from one soldier, as he explains his perfect woman (‘I don’t care what she looks like/I just care what she cooks like’), and the score uses the song ‘Reflection’ when Mulan succeeds in training. None of these references felt forced and it was a joy to hear them being used naturally in the film.
However, this film does have its problems too. When Disney first announced this remake, they said that Mushu the Dragon would not appear in the film, a decision that I agreed with. However, it’s been replaced by a Phoenix who supposedly watches over, and protects, Mulan. I say supposedly because it only appears once in the film, making it a pointless character. I understand the symbolism of the character being a protective guardian but, if that’s the case, then its appearances should be more regular. The main enemy has also been replaced. Instead of the war being against The Huns, it’s against the Rorian Army and a Witch. This was a huge disappointment to see as, like previously mentioned, Disney were supposedly aiming to tell the original story of Mulan. However, this is not necessarily the case and that is a shame to see.
Another issue was the cinematography. For the most part, it’s fantastic and cinematic, making each scene stand out. However, the film does have a lot of slow-motion shots, which don’t work and make the pacing uneven. They will also appear at random moments usually without reason. If these were taken out, they would make no difference to the film whatsoever. As well as this, some shots during the opening battle scenes are strange. The camera will, at times, follow the perspective of the one being attacked, meaning the shot will flip round, appear upside down or sideways. It’s an interesting technique, but it isn’t consistent, making those scenes a horrible experience. If you want to see a film that does this camera technique perfectly, I recommend seeing 2018’s ‘Upgrade’.
Overall, ‘Mulan’ is fine. The last 90 minutes is better than the first 30 minutes, however it could’ve done with another edit and script rewrite. If you’ve never seen the original animated film, you’d probably enjoy this more than someone who has seen the original. While it’s not a bad film, Disney should’ve stuck to their word and done a telling of the original story, which this was not.
This Friday sees the Disney+ premiere of ‘Mulan’, the live-action remake of the 1998 original classic. Before watching the remake, I decided to rewatch the original, as this was a film I hadn’t seen since I was a child.
‘Mulan’ tells the story of a young woman living in China during the war with the Huns. After her elderly father is ordered to join the war, Mulan decides to take his place, ultimately becoming a heroine.
‘Mulan’ shines through the most with its animation and songs. ‘Reflection’ and ‘Make a Man out of You’ are definite highlights that showcases its character development through visuals rather than dialogue. However, ‘Make A Man out of You’ and ‘Girl Worth Fighting For’ are the best sequences in the film, for opposite reasons. It’s satisfying to watch the lead characters go through army training and go from an average civilian to strong and focused warriors. The latter sequence, however, does something that is rare in a Disney film: interrupts a typically joyful Disney song with the harshness of war. The sudden end to the song, as the soldiers enter a village ruined by the Huns, is not only the first time they see the destruction with their own eyes, but it also shows that war is bleak and horrific, and doesn’t soften any imagery in this scene. From then on, no other songs are sung. It’s a subtle detail that I greatly admire.
This was one of the last hand-drawn animated films Disney made before shutting down their Ink And Printing Department, and it shows in a few scenes. The animation is mixed with CGI animation, mainly with statues. While they should be an eyesore, in this case, it works to make a visually interesting piece of film.
The main issue I had with ‘Mulan’ was with the character Mushu. Voiced by Eddie Murphy, this red miniature dragon was accidently sent to help Mulan on her way to greatness. He was my favourite character as a child, but he sticks out awfully now. While he is a charming character, his comedic timing, with the serious subject matters that the film tackles, sometimes clash uncomfortably. This film would’ve worked just as strongly if he wasn’t in it. People complained when Disney announced Mushu wouldn’t make an appearance in the live-action remake, but I can see why and am thankful for it.
Overall, though, ‘Mulan’ is still worth watching if you have Disney+. It does have some issues, particularly with tonal clashes, but is still an enjoyable watch. The live action remake aims to show more of the original story of Mulan so I’m looking forward to it. Check back next week to see my thoughts on that one!
