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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 23, 2021 CHRIS HEWITT Star Tribune ‘Beauty and the guess I’m prin- Beast’ (1991) cess-phobic? At a time when I don’t care American musical about royalty theater was over- I whelmed by An- in real life or on the screen, and that drew Lloyd Web- goes double for ber, Disney came to animated movies. the rescue, with an As “Ratatouille” assist from song- and “The Incred- writers Alan Men- ibles” filmmaker ken and Howard Brad Bird often Ashman. points out, anima- ENTERTAINMENT And, if you’re go- tion is a medium, not ing to make a story a genre, and it can be about a woman who used to tell almost any falls for a bland (and story. mean) prince, what a But my favorites MAGICAL great idea to disguise among Disney’s many it with memorable sup- classics tend not to tell sto- porting characters such as ries about princesses who end Mrs. Potts (voiced by Angela up marrying boring princes be- Lansbury) and Lumiere (Jerry cause they kissed them or put a Orbach). shoe on them or whatever. I’ll give those women points for MOVIES not being born into splendor — Disney princesses tend to marry Seven Disney classics that deserve a rewatch into their titles — but if falling in love with some dude is the whole point of a movie, it’s a “no” for me, dawg. The good news is Disney has long since moved away from the dated Grimms’ Fairy Tales play- book that dominated the studio’s early efforts, and the results have often been wonderful (to be fair, ‘The Princess and “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” and “Cinderella” are the Frog’ (2009) fine movies, even if they’re not The trailer, which spends its my faves). first 40 seconds name-check- Disney has done science fic- ing previous hits, reveals how tion (“The Black Cauldron”), nervous Disney was about its mystery (“The Great Mouse first prin- Detective”), adventure (“Robin cess of color. Hood,” “Alice in Wonderland”) It shouldn’t and, since “Beauty and the have been. The Beast” revitalized the animation wisecrack- studio in 1991, Broadway-style ing woodland musicals. DISNEY creatures and I’ve written about Pixar pre- PHOTOS destiny-al- viously, but that Disney affiliate tering curses also has expanded what anima- place “Prin- tion can do. ‘One Hundred and One Dalmatians’ (1961) cess” in the Led by “imagineer” Walt Dis- “She’s gonna make coats out of us,” announces one of the sweetest of the Dalmatians, spelling out same company as “Snow White” ney, the studio made the first how different things were when this London-set charmer hit theaters. Last month’s “Cruella” thought and “Cinderella,” but with up- Technicolor feature (“Snow we were too sensitive to deal with the potential for poochicide but, 60 years ago, kids’ stories were more dates. Heroine Tiana has a job White”), trailblazers such as attuned to their interest in dark themes (“Where the Wild Things Are” was just a couple of years away). (she’s a chef). The setting, on the music-themed “Fantasia,” As funny and good-natured as most of “Dalmatians” is, there’s no getting around the fact that Cruella the streets of New Orleans and in and pioneered combining live De Vil is a nasty piece of work who sees the hides of cute puppies and thinks, “Cape.” nearby bayous, flavors the story. action with animation in such And the liveliest character is a movies as the currently unavail- ‘The Lion King’ (1994) voodoo priestess named Mama able “Song of the South.” With I no longer remember what Odie, spectacularly performed by its eye on the box office, Disney movie junket brought me to Los Jenifer Lewis, whose “Dig a Little may not be on the cutting edge Angeles in early 1994 (maybe Deeper” is every bit as iconic as of animation anymore — it took “D2: The Mighty Ducks”?). All I “Be Our Guest” or “When You smaller studios to innovate with remember is a side trip to Disney Wish Upon a Star.” “Flee,” an animated documen- for a sneak peek at an upcoming tary coming later this year, and film I had barely heard of. Execu- the Polish “Loving Vincent,” cre- tives and actors talked about the ated so that the entire film looks project before showing the “Cir- like a Vincent van Gogh painting cle of Life” number, four minutes in motion. of jaw-dropping perfection that But even with increased com- may be the best sequence in all petition, Disney always has at- of Disney’s work. tracted talented animators. They continue to do top-notch work on films such as this spring’s “Raya and the Last Dragon,” an adventure billed as being about Disney’s first Southeast Asian princess. That may be but, more im- portant, she was a warrior fight- ing to free her people. Which is to ‘Meet the Robinsons’ ‘Fantasia’ (1940) say that Raya, like the characters (2007) Raise your hand if your in- in my favorite Disney classics, tro to classical music was this It doesn’t get mentioned had a lot more on her trailblazer, just the third Disney in the same breath with mind than getting feature. That’s how Walt Disney “Dumbo” and “Pinoc- kissed by some hoped it would work, as an intro- chio,” but this witty himbo. duction to tunes that kids could outer space adven- learn more about, and even play, Emma Stone ture deserves to for the rest of their lives. You stars be. Inspired by the could argue there’s a downside to as the title distinctive illustra- it — those hippos in the “Dance character tions of children’s of the Hours” seem to be mak- in Disney’s book writer William ing fun of the music rather than latest live action Joyce, “Robinsons” ‘The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh’ (1977) celebrating it, and a racist image release, is about an It’s not just how beautifully the film, a collection of three fea- had to be deleted from Beetho- “Cruella.” orphan who turettes, captures the painterly quality of illustrations in A.A. Milne’s ven’s otherwise lovely “Pastoral travels the beloved tales. It’s also how the movie conveys the kindness of the Symphony.” But all is forgiven galaxy in residents of the Hundred Acre Wood and how ideally cast it is, to the in the innovative “Nutcracker,” search of extent that anyone who made subsequent “Pooh” films had no choice “Night on Bald Mountain” and his fam- but to ape Sterling Holloway’s tender Pooh, Paul Winchell’s bouncy “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” se- ily. Tigger and John Fiedler’s timid Piglet. quences..

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