We Want The D

After two hundred and seventy episodes, it's hard to imagine that a Disney movie could elicit a new reaction or response from any one of our hosts. Yet somehow, against all odds, NO DESPOSIT, NO RETURN has one of us nearly refusing to engage with it at all. Which is odd because on paper this movie is just another benign 1970s entry in the canon, featuring all the familiar hallmarks. Tediously long car chases, child endangerment, Don Knotts, etc, etc. Have a listen and maybe you can puzzle out what makes this movie differ from so many others...and also if you can figure out why it's called No Deposit, No Return and share it with us, that'd be swell.

There's a chill in the air and the days are getting shorter, so it must mean it's time to bring our Summer of Sadness to a close (the year of eternal disappointment, and also fire and plague, will continue indefinitely). Our hosts end this summer series, appropriately enough, with Disney's FRANKENWEENIE; a feature length film based on one of Tim Burton's early short films that he produced during his first ill-fated tenure at the House of Mouse. In many ways a perfect summation of all of Burton's strengths and weaknesses, it provides plenty of interesting discussion fodder for Vicky, Nolan and Jill to mull over...and also cat poop.

If you've been listening to this podcast for any length of time, you know full well that our hosts often worship at the altar of Menken. But we all know that when it comes to the beloved songs of Disney Renaissance, Menken is only half the story. This week we celebrate the life and work of the other half, via the documentary HOWARD. Ambitious, relentlessly hardworking, obsessively creative (and controlling), if nothing else this film proves that Disney wouldn't be where they are today if it wasn't for the words and ideas of Howard Ashman.

The only thing our hosts found harder than consistently and correctly pronouncing the name of the main character in this week's film was staying on topic. That's not to say Disney's SHIPWRECKED is a bad movie - it's a pretty passable family adventure movie, if a little frustrating that it never fulfills the Home Alone-esque elements of its plot. But there's only so much analysis that can be done to Gabriel Byrne's villainous turn, or why a single gorilla would be stranded on an otherwise deserted island somewhere in the Pacific ocean. 

It's another week of fond farewells as we say goodbye to the Richard Todd/Glynis Johns Disney costume dramas of the 1950s. We've loved these Disney movies for their amazing production design and costuming, how they capture the language of bygone eras, and the promise of Richard Todd taking his shirt off. In THE SWORD AND THE ROSE not only is that promise realized, we get a legitimate contender for first truly female-led movie in the live action Disney canon, a delightful interpretation of Henry VIII as a fun-loving party animal, and Vicky might have found herself a new catchphrase. 

Over four years ago, our hosts watched both versions of Disney's The Shaggy Dog, and it was such a rough experience that not even our Summer of Sequels could get us to watch the follow-up to the 1959 original. The time has finally come, however, and we are pleased to announced that THE SHAGGY D.A. takes every single aspect of this kook-a-dook premise and knocks it right out of the park. Starring several of our favourites of the Disney 60s and 70s live action fare all doing some of their best work, dynamite slapstick comedy, and a man running around in a dog suit, there's no shortage of fun to be had or talked about.

Not going to lie to you, D-Lovers, this episode isn't almost 90 minutes because we had a whole lot to say about Disney's BEDTIME STORIES. Sure, it's acceptable enough family fare with some serious problems that we definitely get into. But given this is the only Disney movie that features Adam Sandler, the reality is we spend a large chunk of time discussing our beloved Sandman in general, both in this movie, in others, and his career in general. But don't worry, we won't be pivoting into an Adam Sandler podcast anytime soon - our hosts just needed to get this out of their system.

In this Minnie Mouse-isode edition of the Summer of Sadness, we attempt to unpack the enigma that is Tim Burton. A man whose whole aesthetic and, well, everything screams "outsider" yet whose only dreams were to draw animation for Disney. And despite an awkward beginning, he would go on to direct several successful movies for them. Tim Burton may be a riddle we'll never quite solve, but his history and philosophies, such as they are, sure are fun to discuss.

The time has come for us to bid a not-so-fond farewell to Medfield College, along with its students and faculty and the handful of criminals who keep getting wrapped up in their science-based shenanigans. But this time the titular STRONGEST MAN IN THE WORLD might not be the young, round-faced Kurt Russell as we've come to expect, but the nasally-voiced, foot corn-infested Dean Higgins. Or maybe it's both of them, who can say. All our hosts know for sure is that for the final film in a Disney trilogy, this movie is a total mess. 

It's not every day you get a movie that the House of Mouse was so proud of, they stick their name in the title. But it's also not every day you get superstar Bruce Willis to star alongside your latest and greatest lab-grown little ragamuffin child actor Spencer Breslin. Yes, DISNEY'S THE KID sure is special. If only it made a lick of sense in pretty much any way, shape or form.

This summer keeps getting weird so we'll keep charging ahead with our Summer of Sadness, exploring the Disney films of Tim Burton. In this week's entry, Timmy B is once again kicking back in the producer's chair as some close collaborators from a well-loved stop-motion film have another kick at that can with JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH. But while stop motion, Roald Dahl, and Tim Burton should be a match made in heaven, this one falls just a little short for our hosts. Have a listen and find out why! Small technical note, we lost a few minutes of this week's recording, which may or may not be noticeable. If you don't notice it, then ignore this. If you do, well, this is why you noticed something off. Our apologies, such are the pitfalls of remote recording during a pandemic!

Fifty-nine years after releasing their experimental musical/film experiment Fantasia, Disney released it's follow-up, FANTASIA 2000. And so too do our hosts release an episode on the latter, 254 episodes after the original. And while the first entry could at the very least be applauded for being something wholly original for its era, this follow-up feels about as safe and middle-of-the-road as you can get. But hey, the interstitial bits with various celebrities sure are fun to talk about.

This week, our hosts wrap up the last of Disney's package films with FUN AND FANCY FREE. By now, we're all well aware that these movies were cost-saving measures for the struggling film studio in the 1940s. But the fact that two of the three of our hosts have distinct memories of Mickey and the Beanstalk wrapped in two entirely different packages than the nightmare birthday party version we watched in this one, really drives home how much a fan of recycling this content Disney has been. As for Bongo...the less said about Bongo, the better.

This week's movie is definitely a weird one, even beyond most of Disney's 80s fare. Because in many ways, CHEETAH is like a film displaced in time. It reminds our hosts of so much of the 60s and 70s output of the House of Mouse, what with the precocious yet utterly stupid teen protagonists, general cultural insensitivities, and a gambling subplot of all things. It makes sense that this movie came out when it did, though - right as the Disney Renaissance was getting started - because slipping through the cracks and getting lost from pop culture's collective memory is about as much as it deserves.

You gotta hand it to them, Disney had it all figured out in the 90s. Coming off an animation renaissance that basically saved the company, they had their fingers firmly on the pulse of what kid and families wanted in their movies. That's how we got MY FAVORITE MARTIAN, based on the 1960s sitcom that 90s kids just loved; starring Jeff Daniels and Christopher Lloyd, two actors who really resonated with the youth of the day. Yes, Disney really set themselves up for success with this one, you have to wonder how it possibly could have gone this wrong.

Our exploration of the Disney films of Tim Burton continues on our Summer of Sadness. In this episode, we see what happens when Timmy B takes a back-seat producer role in the sequel to our inaugural entry, ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS. For better or for worse, without Burton's direct involvement Wonderland (or Underland, or whatever) has been turned down but about 30%, but that doesn't mean there's any shortage of weirdness to talk about with this franchise - from Johnny Depp's accent and affectation choices to Sasha Baron Cohen's sexual energy (or the lack thereof) to altogether too much time spent on the framing device (again).

Ostensibly, this week's film is about a man who rescues three orphaned bear cubs from certain death and raises them in spite of opposition and criticism from the community around him. And when Disney's THE BEARS AND I came out in 1974, that's almost certainly how audiences received it (assuming anyone actually saw this movie). But decades later, let's just say this movie lands in an entirely different way that was almost certainly not intended.

In this week's episode we're returning to the wonderful world of DCOMs with AVALON HIGH. At first blush, this particular Disney Channel movie doesn't seem like anything remarkable - just another Camelot story to torture our hosts with, if anything. But it doesn't take long for it to become clear this is the most TV movie of all TV movies, boarding on parody if it wasn't so darn earnest. Not so much a wild ride as it is a slow-motion train wreck that delights to no end.

Grab your life jackets and make sure your compass is secure, D-Lovers, we're heading back onto the ocean this week...actually it's looking pretty stormy out there, maybe we should stay on land. Leave navigating this nasty nor'easter to the brave men of the coast guard, like in Disney's THE FINEST HOURS. Based on the true story of a daring and pretty miraculous rescue, most of our hosts found this story appropriately thrilling and engaging...but for one it played into some very specific and pretty intense fears about deep, dark, cold, rough water and what it can do to big boats and small bodies alike. 

It's that time of year again, and since this summer feels a little bit (ok, a lotta bit) different thanks to, well... *gestures vaguely toward outside*, our hosts thought it would be appropriate if this year's  monthly series had a specific air of gloominess about it. So welcome to The Summer of Sadness: The Disney Films of Tim Burton. And there's no better place to start than with the film that really feels like it cemented the modern era of Tim's filmmaking career - his kinda-sequel/kinda reboot/kinda nothing adaptation of ALICE IN WONDERLAND.