movies on the disney channel

[calimac]

The difference between Freaky Friday (1976, remake 2003) and The Parent Trap (1961, remake 1998) is that, with Freaky Friday it's the remake which is smartly and wittily made while the original is stiff and awkward, while with The Parent Trap it's the original which is still charming and watchable while the remake is a bland copy.

The difference between Aladdin (1992) and The Lion King (1994) is that, while both have a villain who might as well be carrying around a big sign reading, "Hey! I'm the villain!", The Lion King has nothing else. Aladdin at least has Robin Williams and Gilbert Gottfried to keep things amusing, while the main characters in The Lion King are all drips. I turned it off after not too long, and actually should have done so upon encountering the opening scene, which was a case of royalty-gushing so garish I thought it was 1894, not 1994. A retainer holds up the newborn lion cub, heir to the throne (is there only one lion at a time? no wonder Scar is PO'd), and all the animals, predators and prey, who have gathered from miles around just for this purpose, literally bow in homage. This movie deserved the pre-screen warning that they put on Aladdin for song lyrics like "It's barbaric, but hey it's home."

Comments

[conuly]

Also, the portrayal of the hyenas is probably misogynistic* and definitely racist.

** In reality, female hyenas are dominant, so why are these chuckleheads all dudes?

[sturgeonslawyer]

Not all male. Shenzi, the more-or-less dominant hyena, is played by Whoopi Goldberg.

[calimac]

So, the equivalent of the crows in Dumbo?

[conuly]

Well, none of them is *literally* named Jim Crow, so....

[sturgeonslawyer]

Ah, then you clearly didn't get far enough into The Lion King to realize it's a retelling of Hamlet, only with savannimals. (Oh, and the Roz and Gill characters survive, largely because they never get the memo.)

[calimac]

Good lord. If it's forcing a comparison with Hamlet, that makes its poor quality stand out even more glaringly.

[sturgeonslawyer]

Well, you know the bit: Uncle murders father, son is the rightful king but uncle has usurped, son has to avenge father. That's really as far as the analogy goes. Hakuna matata.

[calimac]

The parallels are obvious once the comparison is pointed out. But there's nothing about the theme or plot that requires a telling of it to be well done.