Chuck's Movie Breakdown

         Hey guys, Chuck here, and we've reached the final day of Disney Renaissance Month . And, of course, we all know that there were ten official films in the Disney Renaissance. However, to end off Disney Renaissance Month, I'd like to talk about a movie that ushered Disney into the new millennium. A film that, while not technically a Disney Renaissance film, still feels like it would fall in line with the Renaissance Era. So, for the last review of Disney Renaissance Month, let's take a look at Fantasia 2000.          Released in the year 2000, this film is a sequel to the 1940 film Fantasia.  Now, back in the time of Walt Disney, the idea was to annually re-release Fantasia, with new segments switching out old favorites. Unfortunately, the idea of returning to the universe of Fantasia wouldn't come up until Roy E. Disney would begin development on a sequel to Fantasia as a passion project, and the film would be the first Disn...

        Hey guys, Chuck here, and now that we've discussed the ten films of the Disney Renaissance, I would also like to discuss the overall impact that the Disney Renaissance had both at the studio and at other movie studios. Now, obviously, the success of the Renaissance saw great things for Disney CEO Michael Eisner. But, unfortunately, after the tragic death of Frank Wells in 1994, and the departure of Jeffrey Katzenberg due to some ongoing and unresolvable conflicts between Katzenberg and Roy E. Disney, Eisner's tenure as CEO was starting to dwindle, until Roy E. Disney relaunched his "Save Disney" campaign in 2004 to get the shareholders to vote against the reappointment of Eisner, and Eisner would eventually resign from his position in 2005. His successor, Bob Iger, would make various moves and investments that would see Disney succeed throughout the 2010's.         However, the success of the Disney Renaissance was felt by other studios as...

       Hey guys, Chuck here, and even though Disney Renaissance Month still has a a week left until the end, we've reached the final film of the Disney Renaissance: Tarzan . Based on the stories of Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs, this 1999 movie was directed by Kevin Lima and Chris Buck, and stars Tony Goldwyn, Minnie Driver, Brian Blessed, Lance Henriksen, Glenn Close, Wayne Knight, Nigel Hawthorne, and Rosie O'Donnell. Now, this movie is very personal to me, as it would be the last movie I would see with my great-grandmother before her passing just a few years later.         The movie opens in the 1880's with two humans escaping their ship, which is sinking and on fire. The two, along with their infant son, row towards a nearby landmass, which is revealed to be Africa. The couple head inland away from the beach, and build a massive treehouse for shelter. It's also here where we meet a local troop of gorillas, and two gorilla par...

         Hey guys, Chuck here, and it's hard to imagine that we only have two more Disney Renaissance movies to get through for Disney Renaissance Month . I have really enjoyed going back to a series of animated movies that were a major part of my childhood. With that said, let's take a look at the 1998 animated film, Mulan . Based on the Chinese legend of Mulan, this movie was directed by Barry Cook and Tony Bancroft, and features a voice cast that includes Ming-Na Wen, B.D. Wong, Pat Morita, Miguel Ferrer, George Takei, James Hong, Harvey Fierstein, and Eddie Murphy.           So, the movie starts with an attack on the Great Wall of China, where a number of soldiers are besieged by an army of warriors known as the Huns, who are led by Shan Yu. A signal fire is set out,.thus warning all of China of the Hun invasion. In the Imperial City, General Li informs the Emperor of the invasion, and he decrees that every family sends one man ...

          Hey guys, Chuck here, and I just got back from seeing the new Marvel Studios film Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.  This is the first project in Marvel's Phase Five, and is the thirty-first overall film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This movie is directed by Peyton Reed, and stars Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Jonathan Majors, Kathryn Newton, Corey Stoll, Bill Murray, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Michael Douglas.          So, it's been a few years since we last saw Scott Lang, and he's doing pretty well for himself. He's a big time celebrity due to his status as an Avenger, he's in a very healthy relationship with Hope van Dyne. Speaking of whom, she's doing really well for herself as well. But one day, after getting his daughter, Cassie, out of jail, Scott learns of a project Cassie has been working on to send signals into the Quantum Realm in the attempt to map it out and observe it. Unfortunately, when the device is acti...

        Hey guys, Chuck here. Well, it's been a couple of days, but we're officially back with more Disney Renaissance Month.  Today, we're taking a look at the third film in the Disney Renaissance to have been directed by Ron Clements and John Musker: 1997's Hercules, based on the heroic figure of the same name from Greek mythology, and starring Tate Donovan, Susan Egan, Danny DeVito, James Woods, Paul Shaffer, and Rip Torn. Now, I am fully aware that the original Greek name for Hercules was Heracles, but for the sake of this review, we'll be sticking to the Romanized version of the name, which is Hercules.         So, the movie starts off with the Muses, who tells the story of the Titans, and how Zeus, King of the Gods, threw his mighty thunderbolts and locked the Titans in a vault. Some time later, Zeus and his wife Hera are having a celebration of the birth of their son, Hercules. And among those in attendance include the likes of Po...

         Hey guys, Chuck here, and I hope you guys enjoyed the weekend. I, myself, got to enjoy the big football game yesterday, which was a lot of fun for me. Anyway, we're back with more Disney Renaissance Month , and today takes us to the year 1996. Now, while 1995's Pocahontas was decent, but weighed down by historical inaccuracies, the film Disney followed it up with had a different problem: the dark nature of the source material. The Hunchback of Notre Dame was directed by Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale, who return after having worked on the critically acclaimed Beauty and the Beast, and is based on the French novel of the same name by Victor Hugo.         The movie is set in Paris, more specifically in and around the cathedral of Notre Dame. The story is introduced to us by a local jester named Clopin, who tells of the tale of the mysterious bell ringer of Notre Dame. According to the story, one cold, dark night, a group of terrifie...

         Hey guys, Chuck here, and we're back with more for Disney Renaissance Month.  Last time, we talked about, arguably, the biggest movie of the Disney Renaissance, The Lion King.  However, what's most ironic is that during development on the film, it was seen as the smaller of two projects being produced simultaneously, and a majority of the top-level Disney animators chose to work not on The Lion King, but the film that was seen as the film that would be bigger than The Lion King, 1995's Pocahontas, directed by Mike Gabriel and Eric Goldberg and based on the legend of the historical figure of the same name.          The movie opens with the 1607 voyage of the Virginia Company, a group of men sailing from England to the Virginia Territory in North America. Among the crew are Captain John Smith, Governor Ratcliffe, his assistant Wiggins, and a young sailor named Thomas. During the voyage, the ship gets caught in the middle...

        Hey guys, Chuck here, and now that we've talked about the original 1994 classic The Lion King for Disney Renaissance Month, now seems like a good time to take a look at the 2019 remake directed by Jon Favreau.          So, what's really worth noting is that the movie is practically identical in story, characters, music, and pretty much everything. Now, there are some cosmetic differences, but it's pretty much the same. From the opening segment with "Circle of Life," to the pulse-pounding Wildebeest Stampede sequence, to the final battle between Simba and the lionesses against Scar and the hyenas. Jon Favreau played waayy too safe with the story and didn't change much in that regard.          One difference, however, is in the overall look. Unlike the anthropomorphic animation of the original, Jon Favreau opted to instead go more a more hyper realistic style of photorealistic computer animation. The intent is t...

        Hey guys, Chuck here, and we're back with more Disney Renaissance Month. Today, we'll be taking a look at what is honestly the biggest film to have been released during the Disney Renaissance: The Lion King.  Released in 1994, The Lion King was directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff, and features a star-studded cast that includes Matthew Broderick, Moira Kelly, Jeremy Irons, Madge Sinclair, Whoopi Goldberg, Cheech Marin, Jim Cummings, Rowan Atkinson, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Nathan Lane, Ernie Sabella, Robert Guillaume, and James Earl Jones.         The movie opens with easily the most iconic opening segment in cinema: the "Circle of Life" sequence, wherein the many creatures of the African savannah gather together to witness the first appearance of Simba, the newborn cub of King Mufasa and Queen Sarabi at Pride Rock. From elephants to zebras, from cheetahs to giraffes, and from meerkats to rhinos, every animal is gathered to se...

           Hey guys, Chuck here, and I just got home from seeing the new anime film Sword Art Online Progressive: Scherzo of Deep Night. This is the third feature film in the Sword Art Online series, and the second of the Sword Art Online Progressive series after 2021's Aria of a Starless Night.           So, the movie starts off with the Assault Team, consisting of Kirito, Asuna, Agil and his compatriots, and both the Dragon Knights Brigade and the Aincrad Liberation Squad, two guilds that are sort of precursors to the Divine Dragon Alliance and the Aincrad Liberation Army which would be seen in the series during the Aincrad Arc. The Dragon Knights are led by a player named Lind, while the Liberation Squad is led by Kibaou. Yeah, remember him? The jerkwad mouthing off against former BETA testers like Kirito? Well, he's a guild leader now, and he's assisting in leading the charge as far as the Assault Team along with Lind. Anyw...

        Hey guys, Chuck here, and if you guys recall, last year I took a look at the 2019 live-action remake of Disney's Aladdin as part of Will Smith Month. Well, this year for Disney Renaissance Month,  I'm taking a look at the 1992 original. This is my review of Aladdin,  directed by Ron Clements and John Musker, who return to direct another Disney Animated film after their success with The Little Mermaid.  Starring in the film is a voice cast that includes Scott Weinger, Linda Larkin, Jonathan Freeman, Jim Cummings, Frank Welker, Gilbert Gottfried, and Robin Williams.         The story of this movie is, you know what? I already did a summary of the story of the movie when I reviewed the remake last year, so I won't go too much into it. But to sum up, Aladdin is a street urchin living in the city of Agrabah. One day, he meets Princess Jasmine, and he ends up arrested and charged with kidnapping the Princess. Jafar, the evil ...