I love this movie!!!! It's funny, fast, *great looking* and gives one of my favorite characters (Pete) one last chance to really shine! Best of all, Pete gets a (to quote the narrator) BAD GUY SONG - "Petey's King of France!" Set to "In the Hall of the Mountain King" no less!
Not all the songs were as great, but I did enjoy the playful takes on classical tunes. The Pirates of Penzance finale is a hoot: I loved the poor actor trying to get through "Modern Major General" while the chaos is erupting around him.
The love duet between Goofy and Clarabelle was...one of the strangest things ever put on film
If Three Musketeers ends up being their last major hand drawn project, I'm glad this last hurrah did such neat things as:
1) Give Pete back his peg leg.
2) Use the creepy-style Beagle Boys
3) Have that neat scene where Mickey and Donald actually have a serious one-on-one conversation for the first time in their careers, and Donald admits that he's a jerk. Cool moment.
4) Poke fun at the fact that Mickey and Minnie have the same last name.
The only down side is wondering if we'll *ever* see Mickey, Donald & Goofy (& Pete) looking this great again. The more I see of the upcoming computer-rendered Xmas DVD, the more bummed I get. At this stage, CGI is a logical extension of stop-motion animation, and it looks it. It's art, it's great, nothing wrong with it, but it's no replacement for the hand-drawn line. When you watch the preview of Twice Upon a Christmas, it looks interesting, but then on comes the main feature, and seeing the characters in their classic-style glory feels like a breath of fresh air. Maybe someday CGI will have the snap and vitality of hand drawn animation, but that day ain't here yet. Pixar has the wisdom to pick subject matter that showcases what their medium does best.
I hope this DVD sells well, because I'd sure like to see more projects like this!
One sour note: I can't believe the soundtrack CD doesn't include any of Bruce Broughton's score!!!!! Instead we get a wretched pop version of a School House Rock song that doesn't even appear in the film!!!
AAAAAUGH!!!
Oh well, "Petey's King of France" makes up for it.
- Rich
Not all the songs were as great, but I did enjoy the playful takes on classical tunes. The Pirates of Penzance finale is a hoot: I loved the poor actor trying to get through "Modern Major General" while the chaos is erupting around him.
The love duet between Goofy and Clarabelle was...one of the strangest things ever put on film
If Three Musketeers ends up being their last major hand drawn project, I'm glad this last hurrah did such neat things as:
1) Give Pete back his peg leg.
2) Use the creepy-style Beagle Boys
3) Have that neat scene where Mickey and Donald actually have a serious one-on-one conversation for the first time in their careers, and Donald admits that he's a jerk. Cool moment.
4) Poke fun at the fact that Mickey and Minnie have the same last name.
The only down side is wondering if we'll *ever* see Mickey, Donald & Goofy (& Pete) looking this great again. The more I see of the upcoming computer-rendered Xmas DVD, the more bummed I get. At this stage, CGI is a logical extension of stop-motion animation, and it looks it. It's art, it's great, nothing wrong with it, but it's no replacement for the hand-drawn line. When you watch the preview of Twice Upon a Christmas, it looks interesting, but then on comes the main feature, and seeing the characters in their classic-style glory feels like a breath of fresh air. Maybe someday CGI will have the snap and vitality of hand drawn animation, but that day ain't here yet. Pixar has the wisdom to pick subject matter that showcases what their medium does best.
I hope this DVD sells well, because I'd sure like to see more projects like this!
One sour note: I can't believe the soundtrack CD doesn't include any of Bruce Broughton's score!!!!! Instead we get a wretched pop version of a School House Rock song that doesn't even appear in the film!!!
AAAAAUGH!!!
Oh well, "Petey's King of France" makes up for it.
- Rich
