Spot-On Disney Fun: “One Hundred and One Dalmatians”

Disney’s Seventeenth Animated Feature – 1961
This movie is a treat, tip to tail. Beginning with the jazzy, modern-art inspired opening credits, you’ll realize you’re in for something special. This little movie-before-the-movie features dancing dalmation spots that hop onto a musical stave and animator’s sketches that spring to life. Work-in-progress sketches of dalmations run in a row, reminiscent of Eadweard Muybridge’s motion studies of horses. And One Hundred and One Dalmatians makes any number of references to famous films, just as it has inspired many imitators. Even future Disney features (I’m looking at you, Aristocats) will try to recapture its magic. Any why shouldn’t they? This is one of those rare films that succeeds on every level: story, characterizations, animation, pacing, and message.

Apps That Put Girls Center Stage: Magic Belles, Sleeping Beauty, Thumbelina, and Disney Fairies Fly

Your kids will love these four fun, creative, and inspiring apps. While these apps aren’t just for girls, they star female characters and have an overall feminine quality that leans toward the female side of the equation. There’s something for every age group here, from preschool to preteen. Each has an aura of specialness that makes it a perfect holiday gift. And speaking of gifts, we're giving away three copies of Magic Belles AND three copies of Thumbelina. Just leave a comment to this story with a way to reach you (email preferred) by 5pm EST on Monday, November 19th, 2012. And good luck!

Beautiful Dreamer: Disney’s “Sleeping Beauty”

Disney’s Sixteenth Animated Feature — 1959
Sleeping Beauty, or rather Princess Aurora (or maybe you know her as Briar Rose) has been given new life as one of the Disney Princesses (trademark symbol most definitely here). She’s the princess with long blonde hair and pink dress. My daughter has a Disney Princess snow shovel with her picture on it. That’s one broad product line. Why three names? The character is born and named Princess Aurora in the Disney film, based on a 17th century story La Belle au bois dormant, (The beauty asleep in the wood) by Charles Perrault, later interpreted as Little Briar Rose by the brothers Grimm. Disney uses “Briar Rose” as her alias when she goes into protective hiding as a peasant girl.

A New Definition of “Brave”

Pixar's Thirteenth Animated Feature - 2012
If you’re alive in the United States right now, you’re aware that Disney/Pixar has released a new film called Brave and it’s already a hit. I saw my first promo for this film last fall. Sometimes my 3 ½ year old’s speech is difficult to understand, but she could say (and demand) Brave clear as a bell. Why were we not first in line on opening day? Well, just so happens the opening coincides with my family vacation. We were driving to the beach on Friday. A tepid review in The New York Times pulled me up short. Would Brave be worth the wait?

Curiously Brilliant: Disney’s “Alice In Wonderland”

Disney’s Thirteenth Animated Feature - 1951
Disney’s Alice in Wonderland doesn’t open in the classic Disney fashion, showing the opening of an animated storybook; which is ironic, since Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland is arguably the best source material Disney had worked with to date. Carroll’s fantastical novel with its magical transformations and talking animals begs to be animated. In fact, Disney made his name as an animator in 1923 with a silent, black and white Alice In Wonderland in an animation where he combined footage of a child actor as Alice cavorting in a fanciful, animated world.