GDR #23: The Rescuers (1977)

Confession: It’s been months now since I watched this. I took so long to sit down and write this review, that I can’t really remember exactly what happened in the movie or what most of my notes are trying to tell me. I suppose I could do a re-re-watch, but…I don’t wanna. There’s a reason I wasn’t really enthusiastic about writing up this review in the first place, after all. This is one of those weird times when I actually prefer the sequel. Anyway, I’m just gonna jump in and hopefully, this review will make some kind of coherent sense.

GDR #22: The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977)

I’m familiar with Winnie the Pooh and his pals. Of course, I am–who isn’t? But this was my first time watching this movie. And I didn’t really understand how that could be, because I’ve definitely seen parts of this movie before–I’ve watched Pooh pretend to be a raincloud, and I’ve seen him get stuck in Rabbit’s door. And then I read that this “movie” is actually a compilation of three Winnie the Pooh shorts that were made forever ago, and that made a whole lot more sense. And it made me feel a little less weird for not having seen the movie in its entirety. (And yet, I don’t want to think about how much Winnie the Pooh-related merchandise I own…including an Eeyore keychain…)

GDR #21: Robin Hood (1973)

Man, I love this movie. I’ve gotten used to hating the character of Robin Hood with all my heart and soul because I really despised him on the BBC show Robin Hood, but this Robin makes my heart flutter. It’s one of those things no one admits until someone else says it first, so I’ll just put it out there: the Disney Robin Hood is a fox. I mean, yes, he’s literally an anthropomorphized fox, but…he’s also a fox, if you know what I mean. And yeah, you do know. Don’t deny it. If you were also an anthropomorphized fox, you’d be all over that.

GDR #20: The Aristocats (1970)

Bonjour! Today, we have an underrated Disney classic. If The Aristocats were the first Disney movie I had seen, I would probably think it was genius. As it is, I’m very fond of this movie, but much of the time,  it really does seem like 101 Dalmatians + Lady and the Tramp + Cats. It’s still adorable and a lot of fun, but I definitely get deja vu while watching it.

GDR #18: The Sword in the Stone (1963)

The Sword in the Stone is like Cinderella for boys. You have an orphan rags-to-riches thing going on, an eccentric older mentor figure, a talking animal sidekick, and a magical item that turns a lowly peasant into a figure of royalty. Take out the romance, add some dueling, and you’ve got a boy-ified version of Cinderella.

GDR #17: One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961)

This is such a charming movie! I’m a little surprised by how much I enjoyed re-watching it, because it was never one of my favorites as a child. For one thing, there are a lot of jokes for adults that I never got when I was little. Like when Jasper and Horace are watching TV instead of skinning puppies like Cruella told them to–they’re watching a made-up show called, “What’s My Crime?” where a guest panel has to guess what crime the criminal committed. If they can’t guess right, the criminal gets a paid vacation…after he’s served his debt to society, of course. So this whole time while the cat is trying to rescue all these puppies, in the background you’re hearing things like, “If your crime wasn’t robbery, did you…Oh dear, what I mean is…Do something of a violent nature, that is…Did you do someone in?”

GDR #16: Sleeping Beauty (1959)

I’ll be upfront: Sleeping Beauty is one of my favorite Disney movies. It’s in the top ten. Actually, it’s in the top five, #4 to be exact. Sources tell me this is the first Disney movie to be filmed in 70 mm film and in CinemaScope, and honestly, I have no idea what any of that means. All I know is that this movie is freaking gorgeous, and that it’s my favorite of the pre-Renaissance Disney movies.

GDR #15: Lady and the Tramp (1955)

I’m not really sure how I’m going to write a coherent review of this movie, because all of my notes are just, “I love this song!” and “This scene is so cute!” and “I love Peg!” This is the first full-length Disney movie about animals that I really, really love. There’s no random cloud dancing, no drunken elephant hallucinations, just a good old-fashioned story about a rich girl and a boy from the wrong side of the tracks. It’s a story that’s been told enough times, but this time, there are puppies!

GDR #14: Peter Pan (1953)

The first line of Peter Pan is, “All this has happened before, and it will all happen again.” This suggests to me that the reason for Peter’s eternal youth is that he is, in fact, a Cylon. Think about it. His lack of family and need for a mother figure, his immortality, his occasionally jerky behavior. In the book, Peter doesn’t need to eat actual food, because reality and make-believe are the same for him. Powerful imagination? Or Cylon projecting? I bet you Peter has a plan.

GDR #13: Alice in Wonderland (1951)

Oh, this beautiful drug trip of a movie. I know I complained a lot about the early Disney movies for being random and episodic (and if ever a movie were random and episodic, it’s Alice in Wonderland), but I have endless amounts of affection for this movie. It glories in its own oddness. What can I say, I’m willing to go a little mad if it means I can pay a visit to Wonderland.