D52–The Great Mouse Detective

Based on a series of children’s novels, The Great Mouse Detective was originally released in 1986. It is a play on the classic Sherlock Holmes stories but, like The Rescuers before it, set in the world of mice. It follows Sherlock surrogate Basil as he searches for a young girl’s father who has been kidnapped by his arch nemesis Ratigan. It is notable for the gears and mechanisms inside the clock tower in the climactic final battle, which were the first use of computer generated images in an animated feature film.

Like its ‘80s brethren, The Great Mouse Detective is darker than most other Disney fare. The backgrounds are particularly noteworthy here, as they do an excellent job of portraying a Victorian London with just the right amount of creepiness to make the film consistently unsettling. The direction is also strong, managing to keep up a quick, exciting pace from start to finish without becoming exhausting. Likewise, the voice acting is also quite good, with the standout being Vincent Price as Ratigan. His performance is the perfect mix of suave, threatening, and ham.

I’ve always been a big fan of this film, so I’m not sure if my opinion of it is unbiased, but upon viewing it now I absolutely think it holds up. The characters are interesting, the plot fully engaging, and it features a very different tone from most other Disney films. It’s a shame it has become one of the lesser known films, but it is definitely worth watching.

1986 trailer for The Great Mouse Detective

Up next: Oliver and Company (1988)

If You’re Not, You Should Be–Streaming Music

This series is designed as a way to call attention to things, practices, places, activities, or anything else you might not be aware of that I think are worth checking out. I try to cover as wide a variety of topics as I can.

This week is all about streaming music. Thanks to near ubiquitous WiFi and hefty cell phone data plans, gone are the days of being limited to the music you can fit on your mp3 player or phone. If you’re not streaming music yet, and even if you are, here are three extremely useful apps to check out.

Google Music

This is my favourite of the streaming apps. Using your Google account, you simply activate the Music service by visiting their site and your entire music collection will be uploaded to their servers. After that, you can listen to any of your songs, any time, without having to use up valuable storage space on your device. There is a slight catch if you live outside the US, UK, France, or Germany, though. The service isn’t officially offered their, so the first time you travel to the site, it will tell you you’re not allowed. The work around is simple, though. Google only checks your location when you first active the service. Simply use an IP blocker (Tunnel Bear worked for me) to go to the site and log in and accept the terms of service. After that you can visit normally and it will work without problems for you. You can now listen to your music through any computer or android device. Available for Android, PC, and Mac.

(iOS users, Apple offers a similar service, iTunes Match, but with a couple caveats. First, it costs $24.99 per year to access it and second, rather than uploading your actual library it will simply copy the database and give you streaming access to the same songs from iTunes. Initially this lead to many reports of being matched to the wrong version of a song. Hopefully that has been worked out by now, but it’s something to be aware of.)

Songza

This service offers human curated playlists which you can choose from either by searching the entire list or, more interestingly, based on the time of day and the activity you are performing. For example, checking it at 5 PM on a Friday offers playlist suggestions for Working, A Weekday Dance Party, Brand New Music, Office Crowd Pleasers, Doing Housework, and Getting Ready For The Weekend. I’ve found these playlists for be a great way to discover new music and set a soundtrack that is perfect for my mood. Available for Android and iOS.

Slacker

The final service I’ll recommend is Slacker. Like Songza, it offers some curated playlists, but its main draw is its ability to generate playlists on the fly from a seed song, similar to Apple’s Genius Mix or Google’s Instant Mix. It’s an easy way to hear songs similar to a style you like without being limited only to songs you know and have in your library.

Honourable mention goes to Pandora. I love using the service when I’m in the US, but it is unfortunately unavailable in other countries and I don’t know of a simple, reliable workaround for mobile devices.

Know of any other streaming apps I should be trying? If you’re not streaming already, you really should be.

Sleep well,

DTE

Insert Title Here: Brave, Dick Van Dyke, and Mass Effect

Every week there are tons of newly released films, Blu-rays, books, comics, and CDs, but the truth is, very few of them are worth your time. That’s where this feature comes in. Each posting attempts to highlight the best new media releases of the coming week. It’s far from exhaustive, and of course it will be mostly according to my taste, but I’ll try to do my best to include a wide variety, so hopefully you’ll see something that interests you too.

Brave

Pixar’s latest film, Brave is a bit of a departure for them. Though it is still a wholly original story, on the surface it bears far more in common with Disney’s princess films than it does with Pixar’s stable of hits. It offers a fresh look at the classic princess structure and features a strong female lead surrounded by stunning animation. This is definitely one to check out.

The Dick Van Dyke Show: Complete Series

Even though it premiered over 50 years ago, The Dick Van Dyke Show is still one of the funniest, smartest sitcoms ever created. If you’ve never seen it, you owe it to yourself to check it out. A quick YouTube search will yield plenty of episodes upon which you can form your own opinion. The complete series has been out on DVD for years, but this week it makes its Blu-ray debut in a stunning, fully restored version. It may be pricey, but it’s one I really want to pick up.

Mass Effect: Paragon Lost

BioWare’s biggest franchise, Mass Effect, is getting the anime treatment by Funimation Productions, the same studio that created Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker. Like that film, this is an original story set in the universe of the games, this one focusing on the story of James Vega before he joins up with Commander Shepard. I wouldn’t expect anything groundbreaking, but it should be a fun film for fans of the series.

Sleep well,

DTE

D52–The Black Cauldron

Originally slated for release in 1984, The Black Cauldron finally made it to theatres in 1985 and features one of Disney’s two “lost” princesses. Disney’s first PG rated animated film, it was both a critical and box office failure, failing to even earn back its production costs and very nearly ending the entire animation program at the studio.

The film takes a very ambitious stance, but unfortunately fails at nearly every juncture. It attempts to tell an epic fantasy story, but does so in such an abbreviated amount of time that it simple can’t hold up. The plot is rushed, without ever having a sense of purpose or direction. Though there are hints that the characters may have more lurking beneath the surface, they are never given the chance to develop or grow on the audience. Last minute edits and rewrites add to the choppy, disjointed feel of the film as a whole. Even the animation feels subpar, falling far below the standards of the studio at the time.

The Black Cauldron is a dark, ambitious, and deeply flawed film. It will likely be too intense for younger viewers, while older viewers will be put off by its erratic pacing and shallow characterizations. It is interesting as a peculiarity among Disney films, but all but the most serious fans can safely pass this one by without fear of missing much.\

The 1985 trailer for The Black Cauldron

Up next: The Great Mouse Detective (1986)

D52–The Fox and the Hound

Released in 1981, The Fox and the Hound follows the doomed friendship between a fox and a hunting dog. It had been four years since Disney had released an animated feature and the company was entering its darkest period to date.

Much like The Rescuers, the biggest problem with The Fox and the Hound is that it just feels hollow. What should be a deeply touching story about friendship between two characters that the world believes should be enemies simply feels rote. This is probably due to the fact that the audience never really gets to see the two as friends, relegating that to two short scenes before tearing them apart. As a result, when Todd returns to save Copper in the finale, it doesn’t feel earned. There is some nice animation, though nothing noteworthy, and some good character work by the supporting cast, but the whole thing seems to keep the audience at arms length.

I enjoyed the movie quite a bit when I was younger. There is enough going on and plenty of interesting characters to make it worthwhile. Viewing it as an adult, its flaws become much more apparent. It’s certainly not a bad film, but definitely one of Disney’s lesser efforts. Young children will enjoy it, but most other will only find it to be a mild diversion.

The 1981 teaser trailer for The Fox and the Hound

Up next: The Black Cauldron (1985)

D52–The Rescuers

Delving into the world of the Rescue Aid Society, the mouse version of the United Nations, 1977’s The Rescuers follows the adventures of Bernard and Bianca as they attempt to rescue an orphaned girl who has been kidnapped. Originally intended to have Cruella deVille as the villain, that detail was altered midway through production, though some traces, such as her car, still remain in the finished product.

From a technical perspective, the film is noteworthy for being the first to use colour photocopying. The Disney studio had used Xerox machines to transfer the pencil drawings to the cel since 101 Dalmatians, but they were always restricted to black lines. With the advent of colour copying, drawing outlines could now be made in colors that matched or reflected the characters themselves. The film features the darker tone that would become typical of Disney for the next decade. While not outright sad, it is definitely sombre from start to finish. It has some bright character moments, but the majority is subdued.

As I child, I didn’t enjoy this film, feeling it was too slow and much preferring the brighter sequel The Rescuers Down Under. Revisiting it, it’s still far from my favourite. None of the characters or story elements really connect with me and it feels a little hollow. I would consider it essential viewing only as an introduction to the characters on display in the sequel, which we’ll get to in a few weeks.

1977 television ad for The Rescuers

Up next: The Fox and the Hound (1981)