A Twenty-Something No More II

So yes, thanks to all for standing by, as I requested in my last post.  I don't know why it takes me so long to follow through with blogposts I want to write, but anyway, here it is.

The Saturday after my birthday we had a bigger sort of birthday celebration.  I was a little anxious about hosting an event because (not to have a pity party here or anything) most times when we've recently tried to throw a party of some kind, the turnout is pretty embarrassing, if any show up at all.  Still, Julie wanted me to have a party for my 30th, and I knew my family would be able to come at least, so we decided to try it anyway.  It started early in the week when we invited dozens, maybe even a hundred friends and family to join in the fun.  We planned to meet at the dollar theater for a matinee showing of Tangled in 3D (we wouldn't have chosen to see it in 3D, but it was the only option available there for some reason), and then would head to our place for cake and ice cream.  It's true that Julie had made a cake on my actual birthday, which we enjoyed very much, but why not make another one for company?  Your birthday comes but once a year, right?  I bought some tickets early in the day, worried that they would sell out by the time the showing started, and on the way finally ran across some of those elusive Girl Scouts selling their cookies.  Score!  I've been carrying cash for weeks waiting for just such a chance meeting, since we missed out last year, never having cash when we saw them.

We met a great group of family and a few friends at the theater and the movie was wonderful as usual.  (The 3D was an unnecessary addition, but it was still pretty fun to see it that way, and for much cheaper than it would have been in the first-run theater.)  We went to our apartment and Julie's cake was quite delicious!  The mayonnaise chocolate cake with chocolate cream cheese frosting was a huge hit, and the strawberries added the perfect touch.  What a success.  I was glad not to have to blow out 30 candles, and the kids were glad for the miniature cupcakes we bought in case the cake ran out.  I was a little bummed that a small fraction of the invited people attended, and most of the people who actually said they would be there didn't show (which didn't help with my party-hosting anxiety), but we still had a great time, and Julie is an excellent hostess.

Is it perhaps the most beautiful birthday cake ever?  I submit it for your consideration.

To commemorate such a delightful cake, we bought these number candles and even a little kitchen lighter (you can just see it on the right, behind the cake), which seems like such a handy gadget to have in one's kitchen.

Um yeah, the cake didn't stand much of a chance.  We kept it for a while in case other guests showed up, but eventually the two of us had no problem finishing it off.

Julia has been liking me a lot lately.

 

Kids hiding out in the corner with their toys.  Whatever happened to running around and playing and such?  I guess if it had been nicer outside they might have done.

Gabe!

Jared and Gabe became pretty fast friends.  You can see Julia awaiting her turn.

Kwvtij (I am secretly sad because he and his wife are moving to St. Louis in just a few weeks).

There were delightful birthday surprises here and there throughout the next few days, including a hair cutting set from Julie's mom, which we wasted no time using.  The following Saturday we met with Lacie and Leland at Tucanos to use my birthday coupon there (and we didn't eat TOO much there this time, hurrah), and Julie and I both had smashing new haircuts.  For hers, we went to a salon, for mine, we went to our kitchen, where Julie used the new clippers expertly.  She was nervous to give her first haircut, but I had all confidence in her skills, and she did a great job.  It was my first haircut since my New Year's Day chop, but it was mostly a trim of the back and sides--I want to let it grow long again.  Some have said it looks professional.  How delightful that I have a wife willing and clearly able to cut my hair!

Here I am enjoying a delicious Sundae of the Month at the Creamery on Ninth.  Not their best sundae ever, but the point is that this is a pretty good shot of my clever wife's haircutting job.

So, there we go, the birthday festivities were multi-faceted and delightful.  Survivor gave me a birthday present a week early with the voting out of a certain despised player, and even Sunday morning, a surprise birthday present appeared to me covering the ground outside in the form of sparkling snow, a sort of delicate, fleeting parting gift from winter before it gets so wretchedly hot outside.  A few days ago we bought Tangled on DVD (and, apparently, of necessity, on Blu-ray), so I say that's a birthday present too.  I always loved how Disney movies seemed to be released around my birthday month.

For the record, some people found this very hard to find in stores, but we found it at the first place we looked.  We shopped around and eventually bought it elsewhere, but it was good to know it was at least there.  Also, I hope they don't start releasing every movie in the world in 3D.  Just let it die!  The movies are delightful on their own without a gimmick!  I might have bought the 3D edition had I found it at a decent price, but as I didn't, I didn't.

I only hope I can make The Wife's birthday as lovely as she made mine!  I guess I have a couple months to prepare for it, and so I shall!

Tangled

It's out!  I have seen it!  (Twice now!)  I really liked it!  (Even more the second time!)

 

Here are my animation-major (that is, -snob) thoughts.  I'll try not to make it TOO long, and break it up for easier perusal.

First, some pros:

•  It was a Disney movie through and through.  As much as the trailer tried to convince me that it was a so-so Shrek knock-off, this is no film from DreamWorks.  There's nothing cynical or sarcastic about it at all.  It was sincere and sweet, honestly funny and genuinely warm (without, I should point out, being sappy).
• It did look quite beautiful as a film.  Rapunzel's hair was really pretty stunning to watch, and it was interesting to see how they handled it, even as sort of a character itself (though not as a sentient, thinking entity as the previews made it seem).  The light and the colors and the sets were all really interesting and notably Disney as well.
• The story was strong and the characters really propelled it.  It didn't rely on potty humor (at all) or cliché plot devices.  In hindsight, there are hints of previous Disney films reflected in the story (Beauty and the Beast, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Aladdin), which is probably partly why it fits so well in the Disney canon.  It was contemporary without being overly-anachronistic, and it really surprised me in a couple of places (since I was pretty much spoiler-free with this one, which is not my usual thing with Disney movies).  I won't give it all here, so as not to ruin anyone's future enjoyment, but it really was funny and the ending was surprisingly touching.
• The characters were charming and likeable.  Rapunzel and Flynn Rider are an excellent unlikely duo, and their relationship is believable but also really fun.  Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi provide both the speaking as well as singing voices for their respective characters, and are both fine voice actors.  I was hesitant about Mandy Moore, but as it turns out, she does pretty well with voicework for animation.  At times I forgot entirely it was Mandy Moore, she just knew the character so well.  Design-wise, she was cute and believably young, naive and optimistic, but still spunky and funny.  She had a really nice arc of development, growing up just enough to keep her endearing but making you care about what happened to her.  Zachary Levi also played his part with charm and swagger, but also really knew his character and where he was supposed to go.  I don't really know him as Chuck, but word is that a lot of people are surprised at his performance in this, especially his unexpected singing voice.  His development was a little more subtle than Rapunzel's, but it was just as it needed to be for who he was.  Mother Gothel is a standout Disney villain, with a surprisingly subtle and nuanced character, and Broadway veteran Donna Murphy was an excellent casting choice.  There was a slew of secondary characters (the "Pub Thugs") who perform their function adequately and amusingly.  Also, as a sort of departure for this sort of film from Disney, the animal sidekicks did not speak, but their acting was perfectly clear regardless (which is a real sign of great animation--non-speaking characters emoting and expressing dialogue--see Dumbo and Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron).
• The music!  Don't get me wrong, Randy Newman did a fantastic job with his work on The Princess and the Frog, but it was great to see (read: hear) Alan Menken back in action.  The man really is the sound of "New Disney," and his writing was in fine form for Tangled.  It's interesting because it is sort of a unique sound compared to some of his other work for the studio (a little more pop than his other more Broadway-styled work, think Enchanted rather than Beauty and the Beast), but it's still decidedly Disney.  I liked the songs and score when I watched it, but it grew on me even more each time I listened to the soundtrack (which is to say at least once every day since I saw the movie--in fact, I'm listening to it even now).  It has all the types of song you would hope to hear in a Disney movie:  The main character's "I Want" song, setting the stage and developing the character; a fun and memorable villain song (with its more sinister and dynamic reprise); a random story progression showstopper featuring a band of secondary characters; the love song; a thrilling and moving score.  "I See the Light" is a lovely and understated love song, and fits perfectly in the Disney songbook:

Now for just a few minor cons:

• I just kept wishing the entire time it were a traditionally-animated film.  I love the look and feel of 2D animation so much, it just seemed in some ways a shame that Disney's "50th Animated Feature" should deviated in such a fundamental way from the artform that the studio is so famous for and perfected.  It was pretty enough, and in a lot of ways really played like a 2D film though, so I was able to mostly get over that (after all, it's not like I'm against ALL 3D films, as Pixar has yet to let me down).  It was more about the characters and the story than the medium, and it didn't rely entirely on the form of visuals used, but there were a couple of visual/story things that didn't seem to work quite as well.  For example, someone flying through the air over a castle tower and landing astride a horse or sliding down a conveniently-placed slope to safety after falling hundreds of feet down a ravine just seem to work when they're hand-drawn, but the element of slightly more realism in a 3D film seems to just make those sorts of things... kind of hard to accept.  Also, Rapunzel's eyes are just SO big.  It worked with Ariel and Jasmine, because they were drawings, but when it comes to this, it's a little off-putting and distracting.  You get used to it, sure, but I muttered to Julie about how big they were more than a few times.  Sometimes I see drawings of the characters and just sigh at how it could have been, the drawings are just so beautiful (see here and here and here).  Anyway, I could go on, but there you go.
• I still think it should just have been called Rapunzel.  I know the reasons they changed the title (a few times actually), or the few reasons they seem to hand out, and they make sense to me, but I just don't think it was necessary.  It just doesn't seem like the Disney thing, but then again, neither did the marketing campaign, which, I should say, according to box office reports, seems to have worked.
• It made me the slightest bit sad to see the Disney movie I've been dreaming of working on for over a decade made without me (yes, I have character sketches of Rapunzel from 9th grade), but at least it was made, you know?

So yeah, I had some minor issues with it, but I just can't not like it, it's just too much of everything I love about Disney movies.  It wasn't directed by Glen Keane, as had originally been announced, but his influence was quite evident in the character design and general look of the movie.  Overall, I really liked it, but it just didn't make me feel like The Princess and the Frog did.  (I still cry when I watch that movie, and this one did get me a little emotional, but not to quite the same level.)  I do get a tad defensive when people say things like "the first classic Disney film in years!" or "FINALLY a Disney princess movie!", because, HELLO, there was one barely one year ago!  And it was classic in a couple of ways that Tangled never could be.  That was the one that really needed the box office attention, which, sadly, it didn't seem to get.  I believe Disney will on occasion go back to their roots, since I really think both 2D and 3D animation can co-exist in life, but at least 3D films are getting better and not relying so much on the gimmick of the shiny look and feel.  And anyway, Tangled was a sight better than Disney's previous computer-animated films (don't get me started on Chicken Little...), and I'm glad to see it doing well.

As a sidenote, one of my friends from school worked on it, and I was inordinately excited to see the name of someone I know personally in the credits for a Disney movie.  He has achieved one of my life goals, now I hope to one day do likewise.

I highly recommend it, but REALLY people, if you haven't seen The Princess and the Frog yet, PLEASE do.  I have it on DVD and even Blu-Ray if you need to borrow it.

Tangled Teaser Poster Unveiled

And now, for something completely different...

This was released yesterday here, along with a few other official movie stills from the trailer:

So Wikipedia is reporting that it is indeed a Menken-penned musical, so it does have that going for it.  The trailer still plays like that of a Dreamworks movie, but I'll chalk that up marketing experimentation.  I'm still just excited to have a Disney animated movie to look forward to this Christmas.

Upcoming from Disney

So I've always said that when I worked for Disney, I would push hard for a Rapunzel movie.  I even did some concept drawings for it as early as 9th and 10th grade.  Imagine my joy, then, when I heard they were working on a fairy tale formula film based on the story of Rapunzel (and my simultaneous regret that I couldn't have been a part of it).  This film has been in talks for literally years, and some vague concept artwork has been released in the past:

 

... But now we're finally getting solid evidence that it's coming soon.  Though the above concept artwork has been floating around the internet for several years, the most recent official offering is this:

It actually is kind of promising.  I was a little nervous when I read how many changes were being made to the original story concept and of course the original fairy tale, not to mention the recent official change of name (from Rapunzel and/or Rapunzel: Unbraided to the more ambiguous Tangled in an attempt to appeal to a broader audience), NOT TO MENTION the change from traditional animation to 3D (admittedly, with a distinctly 2D look & feel, but still...) despite being produced by 2D animation legend Glen Keane, and then throw in the casting change of Kristin Chenoweth to Mandy Moore, and...  Well, my worries dissolved a little when I saw the above artwork and remembered the music will be composed by Disney favorite Alan Menken.  The trailer (below) isn't much to look at, and I mean that quite literally since it's about 30 seconds of voiceovers and zoom in on a single piece of artwork, but it's proof positive that we can look forward to seeing this movie in theaters by the end of the year.

Here's hoping they have another winner on their hands!  It'll be hard to beat Tiana and Naveen, but maybe Rapunzel and her man Flynn Ryder will be able to stand up next to the best of them.