#ALSO I love how that whole little storyline is all about revealing character for Miguel

[icedteaandoldlace]

Y'all, I just noticed the ominous reprise of Smart Smart Smart Smart Baby playing in the background when Miguel's boss asks him if he took down the firewall, and I'm dying. 😂

[cursegirlrabbit]

Wish review cause I've got stuff to say

Do not read if you have not seen the movie and don't want spoilers. Also you don't have to read if you uncared about my opinion I just have words to say about this movie but I am not saying anyone has to have the same opinions as me.

So first point. Storyline.

I felt it was to...rushed like everything happened so fast from Asha finding out the truth to her wishing on star, revolting and then the ending. It felt very rushed and it was hard to feel any stakes or tension, didn't even get a real feel for the characters. Like Enchanto gave us the slow stake of the house and the magic slowly fading and breaking. Same with coco and him finding his relative that will wish him home while letting him play music.

Even little mermaid did a better job of storyline of Showing Ariel and her interests, her meeting Eric, saving Erica, meeting Ursula and then the whole three days to make Eric fall for her.

A rushed storyline brings me to the second point. Characters. Now I liked Asha but I didn't really get to KNOW her. All I know of ashamed is she's caring, can draw and has alot of faith in people and their wishes. Which is wonderful...but that's all I got from her. With Miguel we know he's mischief, loves to play music, fast runner, overly friendly and stubborn. With rapunzel we learned she was innocent, naive, artistic, a jack of all trades, curious and anxious.

Asha kind of felt like snow white or Aurora, there just wasn't much to her.

I also felt magnifico revealed his true colours really quickly to a girl he didn't know very well and didn't trust. I mean she wasn't even his apprentice yet and he outright told her that not all the wishes got granted and majority of them float around. Like...why? Why did he tell her that when she didn't even work for him yet or show any reason for him to trust her with this information. Hell the whole movie wouldn't have happened if he HADNT said anything

Speaking of Magnifico, I didn't mind him as a villain. He reminded me of Ernesto from coco and maleficent. And I understood what he represented, at least in my eyes this movie showed alot of toxic relationship and toxic manipulation method and techniques. Such as magnifico telling and expecting the people to just listen and follow him blindly just because he does his duty as their king

'I let you live here for free and don't charge rent, I clean up your messes, I give and give and give and all I ask for is respect' sounds alot like how toxic parents manipulate their young children as well as toxic spouses.

Ashas friends were also not very flushed out as characters, I barely remember their names except for dahlia. The other friends I only remember from their main trait, guy who sneezes, the quiet girl, the chill out guy, the short angry one, sad Simon and one more girl I don't remember. The friends only showed up for short times and we just didn't learn much about them

And one more thing, the MUSIC. Like...Disney.. come on. I found none of those songs or music pieces as catching my attention. This is a company that gave us hellfire, part of your world, let it go, every song of coco, we don't talk about Bruno, we are the three caballeros, kiss the girl, be a man, son of man, two worlds!

Also, the ENDING! I took two morals from this movie. How to spot toxic relationships and when to leave (this from the people and especially the queen who once she realises he is no longer the man she loves and he won't change and is hurting people. Stands up to him even though she LOVES him) and the second being 'don't rely on others to make your dreams and wishes come true' wonderful! Yes accept help to make your dreams come true but don't rely on others or give up.

But then...THEY GIVE ASHA A WAND?!! so that SHE can grant wishes?!! WHAT DID WE JUST LEARN!!?! yes I know asha would do a fairer and better job but...but COME ON!!

But now the GOOD POINTS

I liked the animation at first it was odd but that's because I'm not used to the style. But it was still lovely and the effects with the magic especially the wishes and the forbidden magic was fantastic.

The concept. The idea of someone realising that their beloved King is actually misusing and betraying them is a very nice idea and I love the idea of showing kids how to spot this kind of manipulation from adults they are supposed to trust.

I also loved the concepts of Wishes. Of the people feeling joy and wonder and love when they got their wishes back into their hearts and them feeling a horrible feeling when the wishes were crushed.

All in all. I feel the movie was rushed, and they should have waited longer and put more time into it rather then rush it out for the 100 years of Disney.

But that's just my view, would love to hear yours ^.^ (but no hate on anyones views or ideas)

[theartfulmegalodon]

Some Thoughts on Coco...

First of all, the movie was fantastic, and beautiful, and moving, and everything all the reviewers have said. Go see it, it’s amazing.

But I’m me, so I can’t help but have a few nitpicks. I wouldn’t dream of putting spoilers out in the open here, so if you’ve seen the film already and want to read my comments, they’re past the cut.  (And, um, they’re long.  Sorry.)

So... okay, I think most everybody who’s seen the film and given it some actual thought afterward has realized that there are some seriously troubling rules in place about the Mexican afterlife.  It’s all fluffy and fairy tale-like at first glance, you know, older family telling the sweet story to the kids about how a picture on an altar keeps the memory of their departed family members alive... except of course in this case, it means keeping them LITERALLY alive, in the afterlife.

We’re shown that you NEED a picture of the person. Actually they only say “photo” throughout the entire film, making me wonder what happens if you don’t have any photos, or you were too poor to commission a painted portrait back in the day. Why wouldn’t, say, written letters count? Or family heirlooms, like jewelry or a comb? What if the family simply lost the photos in a fire or something? What if they didn’t manage to make an altar? Say someone’s the last of their line, keeping all their (photographed) ancestors alive, but right around DdlM they get hit by a car and are in traction for a week or more, unable to light a stupid candle next to some photos? The dead relatives are just SOL? Are poor people’s relatives also SOL, when the living simply doesn’t have the resources to do this ritual? And heck, if you’re an orphan with no family when you die, that means what? NO AFTERLIFE FOR YOU? Does it HAVE to be family that remembers you for it to count?

And then there’s the rule that you can only keep existing in the afterlife so long as your memory is maintained by someone who knew you in life.  Hector confirmed this when Miguel tried to insist he could go back and remember these new dead folks now that he’s met them in the afterlife, so they wouldn’t fade away.  But nope, “It doesn’t work like that.”

Except...

That can’t be true, because at the end of the movie, we see grandma Coco has died, and all of the extended dead family is still there, safe and sound. But Coco was the only one who’d remembered her parents, and especially Hector. So we see that Hector, and presumably anyone, can totally live on even after everyone who knew them in life is dead as well.

So... that’s a bit of a contradiction there.  And then there’s the whole De La Cruz storyline about fame.  Whether he chose to be famous at all costs just because he wanted the spotlight, or even on the off chance that he was trying to secure his immortality in the afterlife, it’s sort of implied that simply by being famous, he’ll never be forgotten, and as long as he has fans who put his picture on their altars (or his? not sure how that goes) he’s set.

So really, I have no idea how one stays alive in the afterlife, for sure. But Hector did say about fading away: “It happens to everyone eventually”, which... yeah, okay, makes sense. Which means, basically, that your afterlife is a whole new life, but you spend it knowing that your very existence depends on others to remember you and prove it with a ritual.  If you’re not one of the very lucky ones (and the movie made it seem like there are relatively few unlucky ones, because kids movie) you’d spend your borrowed existence wracked with anxiety that any moment your luck will run out. Not to mention, your eventual second death (their “FINAL death”, as they call it) will likely be way worse than your first one. When they’re dying their final death, they do it with the knowledge that there really is nothing left for them AND that they’ve been entirely forgotten by the living world. The entirety of their existence is over, and there’s not even some comforting Grim Reaper type to send them off.

Sigh.

This isn’t really what I wanted to pick at, believe it or not. I’ve got more real issues with the actually family dynamics. Because family, as was made super clear, is basically the most important thing in life AND death, and without family, life is meaningless (or possibly OVER FOREVER). And that’s... kinda problematic for me.  I know it’s culturally accurate, from what I know of Latin cultures and many others.  But I really dislike the whole notion that your BLOOD relatives are always a good thing to keep in your life.

Miguel’s family was cartoonishly restrictive when it came to music, his one passion.

(And can we mention for a moment the absurdity of shielding an entire family line from ALL MUSIC? How exactly does that work? We don’t know for sure what time period this is. From the look of De La Cruz’s movies, and counting the generations hence, we could assume this is modern day.  (In a really underdeveloped part of Mexico.) But trying to eliminate all music from someone’s life is only slightly possible if they’re a child, and you can control exactly what they do and where they go.  But did Miguel never go to school?  People sing songs and play music in schools.  And did the adults in the family never go anywhere outside of their shoe shop and the cemetery? People in the world MAKE MUSIC. All over. All the time. It’s a deeply ingrained facet of human nature.  Yet this family can’t even hum to themselves?  It’s just... too absurd.)

ANYWAY.

Miguel’s family is ridiculous, and based on one (deceased) matriarch’s marching orders, this kid is forced to hide away his one joy in life and feel like a criminal among his own relatives for loving something that the rest of the world loves.  The moment where they present him with his shoe-making apron and cheer about promoting him to official Shoe Maker, I swear in my head I just heard, “Oh! You finally had the noodle dream!”  And when the grandma discovered his stash of music-related treasures and smashes them all in the street in front of him, I just saw Triton destroying Ariel’s human treasures, leaving the poor child in tears, of course.

In this case, the family was MOST DEFINITELY in the wrong. And yet Miguel is punished the second he tries to rebel. He gets cursed into the afterlife (a curse that was NEVER explained, btw) and then the family matirarch who started the whole mess basically holds his life hostage until he agrees to never pursue music again.  The family blessing was paramount.  They looked this little boy in the eyes and forced him to choose between a life without the thing he loves most or NO LIFE AT ALL. 

Yes, yes, I know that the point was that they were in the wrong and that it all worked out in the end because past crimes came to light, and some hearts were melted, and the family came around.  But the fact that Miguel and Hector had to beat the odds, escape capture, expose a murder plot, and tear down the reputation of the biggest celeb in the afterlife just so this old bitch (sorry, I really did like this movie!) would let her great grandson go back to being alive... That’s beyond unreasonable.  Miguel was fantastically lucky, and running into Hector was the most unlikely coincidence in the movie.

EDIT: I’ve been reminded that Dante the spirit dog was involved in leading Miguel to meeting Hector, but that... doesn’t really solve my issue there. That’s writing in a band-aid for a plot hole.  Can’t think up a reason your two long lost relatives would have a one-in-a-billion meeting? Spirits did it.  And honestly for me (maybe because I’m not a little kid any more) the slapstick antics of the dog weren’t especially entertaining or amusing, nor was he written as an actual character instead of a plot device. So I’m not surprised in retrospect that I forgot most of his contributions to the story.

OKAY. Let me make the only real point I wanted to make here:

I was genuinely surprised by the reveal that Hector was Miguel’s real ancestor and that De La Cruz had murdered him.  I think I was surprised because I was unconsciously expecting/hoping for De La Cruz to actually be his ancestor, but that he was simply a shallow, fame-loving, selfish dipshit, and that the Riveras were right to erase his memory from their family tree.  Miguel would have learned that not all family is worth treating like family. And there would be Hector, someone who protected him, guided him, and mentored him, someone who was worthy of including on their family altar. He’d learn that sometimes family can be the people you choose to be your family.

I mean, I get it, the story that they actually set up and carried out.  I liked the twist, really, and the touching backstory with Coco was, of course, very moving. There were tears.

But in the end, I guess I don’t like the convenience of the good guy he just happened to meet being part of his family after all, and the bad guy just being a bad guy, no grey area, no need to feel conflicted over anything.  Also, he never bonded with anyone in the afterlife outside of his personal family, which is, again, kind of a shame.  The entire crux of the movie, the matriarch’s elimination of music from the Rivera line, was based entirely on a misunderstanding, and only by luck (and spirit animals!) did it happen to resolve itself in the end. It still made a boy go through some ten years of cringing and hiding and emotional abuse over nothing he could control, all while framing it with the insistence that “your family loves you!”  They love you... but you have to be unhappy, son. The end. No arguments.

Oops! Sorry, we guess that grudge we were holding over a guy we never met for a great-grammy who’s long gone was our mistake. You go play your guitar. We love you!

Oh, and if this is the modern era, they should really think about making some photocopies of that picture...

[iamandco]

  PHOTO: COURTESY DISNEY  What’s your favorite Disney movie? There are many to choose from, whether you're a fan of the classics, the animations, the live action, or even the newer remakes.  Whether you classify yourself as a die hard fan with a Disney annual pass or you’ve never even visited one of their theme parks, I’m sure you’ve seen one of their movies at some point.  I grew up with a dresser full of old VHS Disney tapes that I treasured growing up. My love for Disney goes past all the princesses and falls more on the forgotten movies like “The Black Cauldron” and my all time favorite, “The Aristocats.”  Since 2016, Netflix has been the go to place to stream some of your Disney favorites. But all of that may be changing soon, with titles like “Bridge to Terabithia,” “The Jungle Book: Mowgli's Story,” and many more already having been removed.  With Disney announcing their new streaming service “Disney+,” the fate of current Disney content on streaming services such as Netflix remains uncertain. It seems like all Disney, Marvel, Pixar, and Star Wars content will only be available on “Disney+.”  There is no current set date on when these titles will be leaving other streaming services, but it may be after the official launch of “Disney+.” “Captain Marvel,” along with future Disney theatrical releases like “Frozen 2,” will only be available to stream on “Disney+.”  We suggest planning a movie night sooner rather than later, to watch all the Disney movies currently on Netflix.  “Disney+” is set to launch on November 12, 2019 and will be available for a $7 monthly payment or $70 for a year subscription. At those prices, it is sure to rival Netflix.  Below I have listed ten of my favorite Disney movies still available on Netflix!   PHOTO: COURTESY DISNEY  “Chicken Little” Truly a classic from childhood, “Chicken Little” gives a new meaning to the story of the boy who cried wolf.  Released in 2005, this movie follows a small town character called Chicken Little, who throws his entire town into a panic claiming the sky is falling. A year later, Chicken Little is still trying to redeem himself from the fiasco and he joins the baseball team.  The night of a big baseball game, Chicken Little is again convinced the sky is falling and discovers a UFO. He must now convince his entire town that they are in danger and this time it’s not a false alarm.     PHOTO: COURTESY DISNEY  “Coco”  This movie hit home for me. I am a Mexican American and seeing my culture represented on the big screen was huge. Especially at a time in my life where I had lost a family member and celebrating their life through the “Day of the Dead” had a whole new meaning.  “Coco” is a vibrant film that does an incredible job at showcasing just a small part of Mexican culture. With a 97 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the movie is described as “a thoughtful narrative that takes a family-friendly—and deeply affecting—approach to questions of culture, family, life, and death.” Released in 2017 by Disney and produced by Pixar, “Coco” follows 12 year old Miguel Rivera.  Despite his family’s generations long ban on music, Miguel dreams of becoming a musician. He idolizes Ernesto de la Cruz, a fictional character who is described as one of Mexico’s most famous musicians, who had a tragic death. In an unexplainable turn of events, Miguel is transported to the Land of the Dead where he meets his deceased ancestors. Clearly a living human boy, Miguel must find his way back home from the land of the dead. On his journey, he will unlock his family history and the reason behind the Rivera’s hatred for music.  “Coco” received positive reviews for its respectful portrayal of Mexican culture and was even chosen as the “Best Animated Film” of 2017 by the National Board of Review. The film also received many awards, including two Academy Awards, a Golden Globe, and a Critic’s Choice Movie Award.   PHOTO: COURTESY DISNEY  “Meet the Robinsons” Another one of my favorites, “Meet the Robinsons” blew my mind the first time I watched it as a kid, almost teenager. I remember crying watching the wholesome film that centered so much on family.  Despite being a children’s film, the movie has incredible depth, with a storyline focused on time travel. I love that the movie pushes kids to have an interest in science and engineering and its underlying message of “keep moving forward” inspires kids to get back up and try again after you fail.  The movie follows Lewis, a 12 year old orphan boy with a love for inventing gadgets. Unfortunately, his passion for building scares off couples looking to adopt him. The events of the film begin to take off when Lewis creates a memory scanner for his school’s science fair. Wanting nothing more than to locate his mother, who abandoned him as a baby, Lewis creates the memory scanner in hopes of remembering what his mom looked like. On the way to the science fair, Lewis meets Wilbur Robinson, a mysterious boy who claims to be from the future. Wilbur promises to take Lewis to the past, to meet his mother, if he first helps him recover a stolen time machine from a villain called the “Bowler Hat Guy.”  When Lewis and Wilbur adventure into the future they accidently wreck the time machine. Wilbur must find a way to get Lewis back to his own time before his family realizes he is a boy from the past.  As Lewis begins to meet the rest of the Robinson family, the movie begins to be filled with more twists and turns and secrets about who Wilbur and his family really are will be revealed.  With the “Bowler Hat Guy” in possession of one of the time machines and eventually, Lewis’ memory scanner, it’s a race against the clock before the villain alters time and Lewis must step up to save the future, or the Robinson’s may cease to exist.    PHOTO: COURTESY DISNEY  “Ralph Breaks the Internet”  A sequel to the 2012 film “Wreck-It Ralph,” “Ralph Breaks the Internet” was released in 2018 and takes place six years after the events of the original film.  Now best friends, Ralph and Vanellope must venture into the Internet via a Wi-Fi router to save her home and game, Sugar Rush. Inside the World Wide Web, the two must be helped by the netizens, citizens of the internet, to navigate the mysterious world and find the part that could save the Sugar Rush game.  “Ralph Breaks the Internet,” like the original film, has many popular culture cameo appearances. Which is to be expected with a movie released during our time where society cherishes the internet and social media. The amount of Disney characters, including the princesses, alone that are seen in the movie are hard to count.  My personal favorite was a scene where Vanellope is shown running into a man, who turns out to be Stan Lee, the infamous Marvel Comics writer, speaking with Iron Man.    PHOTO: COURTESY DISNEY  “Incredibles 2”  I don’t think there has ever been a want for a movie sequel as much as their was for “Incredibles 2.” We all grew up wanting to be a part of “The Incredibles” family and have superpowers of our own. And let’s be honest, how many times have you recited Frozone’s infamous line: “Where’s my supersuit!?”  “Incredibles 2,” which was released in 2018 shows a switch in family dynamic. With Helen now in the spotlight, Bob stays at home with the three kids, doing his best to adjust to “normal” life. When a new villain comes into the picture, the family must once again work together to defeat the evil character, which is easier said than done with hidden tensions coming to the surface.  Oh, and let’s not forget everyone's favorite superhero, Frozone! Yeah, he helps, again!    PHOTO: COURTESY DISNEY  “Bedtime Stories”  In what could literally be anyone’s dream, “Bedtime Stories” is a live action fantasy movie where innocent bedtime stories begin to come to life in the real world.  Released in 2008 and starring Adam Sandler, the film follows Skeeter Bronson, a hotel maintenance man who has had a love for hospitality since a young age. When Skeeter is asked to watch his niece and nephew for a few days, he finds himself coming up with intricate and whimsical bedtime stories for them.  To his surprise, the outlandish stories begin coming true and impacting his real life. With twists and turns, this film proves to be just what a family needs for a fun-filled movie night.    PHOTO: COURTESY DISNEY  “Race to Witch Mountain”  Released in 2009, “Race to Witch Mountain” stars Dwayne Johnson, AnnaSophia Robb, and Alexander Ludwig.  Johnson stars as Jack Bruno, a Las Vegas taxi driver who is caught up in a race against time, government agents, and an alien bounty hunter. When he meets young Sara and Seth, he finds out the two are aliens and chooses to help them get to Witch Mountain, the location of their hidden spaceship in order to save Earth from an extraterrestrial invasion.  “Race to Witch Mountain” is a live-action remake of the 1975 Disney live-action movie “Escape to Witch Mountain.”   PHOTO: COURTESY DISNEY  “Mary Poppins Returns”  A sequel to the 1964 film “Mary Poppins,” “Mary Poppins Returns” stars Emily Blunt as the beloved and whimsical character of Mary Poppins.  The sequel is set in 1930s depression-era London, where adult Michael Banks lives in his childhood home with his three children and his sister Jane, having lost his wife a year earlier.  To Michael and Jane’s surprise, their childhood nanny, an unaged Mary Poppins revisits them claiming she is back to look after the Banks children, the same reason for visiting them when they were children.  As the family reels through a difficult time, Mary Poppins helps the family, especially the children, rediscover joy in their lives through her magic-filled adventures. Michael, having forgotten what it’s like to be a child blames Poppins for filling his children's heads with “stuff and nonsense” while he struggles to pay off a loan to the bank that threatens to repossess his family home.  This time, Mary Poppins has some help from new characters like Jack, a lamplighter, and Topsy, Poppins eccentric cousin. With a star studded cast, Jack is portrayed by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Topsy by Meryl Streep.  “Mary Poppins Returns” reminds us all that “anything is possible.”    PHOTO: COURTESY DISNEY  “Saving Mr. Banks”  On the topic of Mary Poppins, the original 1964 movie almost never happened. In 2013, Emma Thompson and Tom Hanks starred in the period comedy drama “Saving Mr. Banks.” The film is centered around the two weeks of business meetings spent in Los Angeles, California where the author of the Mary Poppins stories, Pamela “P.L.” Travers met with Walt Disney to discuss the film rights to her novels.  According to Walt Disney Pictures, the business move to gain the movie rights to Mary Poppins all began when Walt Disney’s daughters begged their father to make a movie of their favorite books, which happened to be the Mary Poppins series, written by P.L. Travers. Walt Disney made a promise to his daughters, not knowing it would take 20 years to complete the promise.  P.L. Travers had no intention of her books becoming films, as she didn’t want her stories tarnished by Hollywood. But overtime, as her books stopped selling and money grew short, Travers reluctantly met with Walt Disney in 1961 to discuss selling the film rights.  The film title “Saving Mr. Banks” derives from the name of the father of the family in the books.  The movie received positive reviews from critics and holds a 79 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes where it is described as “Aggressively likable and sentimental to a fault, “Saving Mr. Banks” pays tribute to the Disney legacy with excellent performances and sweet, high-spirited charm.”    PHOTO: COURTESY DISNEY  “Christopher Robin” Winnie the Pooh was literally my favorite Disney character growing up. I even, proudly, own a collectors edition of short stories based around Pooh and his adventures.   “Christopher Robin” is a live action adaptation released in 2018 that follows the story of Christopher Robin, the boy now a man who must be reminded of how life should always be whimsical and that having a childlike attitude should never be lost.  Pooh and his lovable friends, Tigger, Euyore, and Piglet must venture out of the Hundred Acre Wood and into London to help Christoher Robin in his time of need.  Disney Movies Through the Years Though Disney has had success with both their animated films and live-action films, over the recent years they have begun to remake their animated films into live action. Examples being “Dumbo” and “Aladdin.” With no plans to slow down on remakes, some of the live-action adaptations to look forward to include: “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil,” “Mulan,” and “The Little Mermaid.” And of course, “The Lion King” which recently hit theaters. The Walt Disney Company continues to lead the world of entertainment. From its movies and shorts to its theme parks and resorts that have expanded worldwide. With a mission to provide fun for the whole family, Disney has gone above and beyond to spread joy and positivity across generations.  Despite the upcoming release of the “Disney+” streaming service, there is still time to catch up on the Disney titles still available on Netflix, but I wouldn’t wait too long for a marathon!