Mandy Rates the Disney Movies

I've been on a bit of a Disney kick lately, rediscovering the movies of my childhood. When I was little girl, I watched many Disney movies because doing so was expected of me and I soon grew very fond of many of them. As a grew older, I stopped watching them so much because I had seen them all a billion times and didn't really feel a need to watch them again. By high school I felt I was too old for such movies. But as a senior in college a curious thing has happened. I find myself drawn (heehee, no pun intended) to these movies once more. Perhaps, as a stressed out college girl having a hard time in the "adult" world, these movies are like a security blanket I can run to for comfort and happy childhood memories. Maybe this sort of thing happens to lots of women my age, but since I don't have any kids, I don't have a rock solid excuse for watching them. But at any rate, even if I never grow out of my love for animated films, that's okay. Watching them as an older person has shown me that many of them really are good movies. Although animation is sometimes brushed off as nothing more than a technique for making kiddie films, I have respect for it as an art form. I've got to respect the artistic and talented people who are patient (and crazy) enough to create thousands of individual beautiful drawings then put them together to create the illusion of movement. Making these movies takes a lot of work and talent and skill, and it's sad that they don't always get the same respect as live-action films. (It's probably a little easier nowadays what with all the amazing technology we have, but it's probably still a meticulous process.)
And so (drum roll, please) I have decided to honor those Disney movies that I deem worthy:

Mandy's Ramblings Presents:

The Top Ten Greatest Fully Animated Disney Movies Ever Made

(If you can only see ten Disney movies in your life, see these)

Some additional info: I'm not going to include Pixar movies in this listing, as I see them as a separate entity. (Also, with Pixar under consideration, I would have a much harder time selecting only ten :) )

Disney has made many great live-action films, and partially live action films, and even a few decent direct-to-video films, but as I haven't seen most of these, I'm only going to consider fully animated theatrical films.

The following Disney movies have NOT been considered because I either have not seen them, or have not seen them all the way through. (So I'm sorry if they are your favorites. Feel free to recommend them to me if they are good movies.)

Saludos Amigos

The Three Caballeros

Make Mine Music

Fun and Fancy Free

Melody Time

The Black Cauldron

Fantasia 2000

Atlantis: The Lost Empire

Treasure Planet

Home On the Range

Bolt

The list will be roughly in order with #1 being my favorite

So, without further ado, here is my top ten list (though I probably won't get to them all today)

#10. The Jungle Book (1967)

This movie is about the adventures of Mowgli, a young Indian boy raised by wolves in the jungles of India. It is (loosely) based on the Mowgli stories by Rudyard Kipling. The story mainly involves Bagheera, the wise and faithful panther, trying to return Mowgli to the Man Village, where he (Mowgli) belongs, and where Mowgli will be safe from the murderous, man-hating Shere Khan the Tiger, who wants to kill him. Mowgli is a stubborn, (and occasionally annoying) ten year old boy who refuses to leave the Jungle and would rather stay with his care-free friend, Baloo the sloth bear.

My thoughts: This is a great movie, with fun, jazzy songs and a nice musical score. (I love that alto flute! Or is it a bass flute...? anyway...) It has a unique feel to it when compared to other Disney films. Perhaps it's the setting of the mysterious Indian Jungle which makes it feel different to me. I love the voices in this film. They chose the actors perfectly, and it's so fun to hear Sterling Holloway voice a bad guy. (He does Kaa's voice, and he also did the voice of Winnie the Pooh and Roquefort the Mouse in "The AristoCats.") That guy had the second coolest voice in the world. (Pat Buttram had the coolest) This is one of the few, if not only Disney movies to quote scripture. This is also one of the few Disney movies my dad likes, as demonstrated by a conversation we had when I was watching "Sleeping Beauty" one day. I don't remember it exactly but it went something like this:

Dad (singing these words to the Sleeping Beauty Waltz): Movies made by Disney drive me so crazy...

Me: Why do hate Disney movies so much?

Dad: Because they're all so girly!

Me: "The Emperor's New Groove" isn't girly

Dad (impatiently): Yes, yes, but that was long after Disney died. All the older Disney films are extremely girly!

Me:..."The Jungle Book" isn't very girly.

Dad: Yeah, that one's better. You can get a few guffaws out of that one.

Me: Oooh, I love this part! See, the goblins throw boulders over the wall, and then they turn into bubbles! Isn't that great!

Dad: If you're a girl!

My dad thinks, and with good reason, that Disney cared nothing for little boys and what they thought. He only wanted to impress their mothers. Luckily, as a girl, I'm much more likely to enjoy girly shows.

But anyway, back to The Jungle Book. This movie does have a lot of funny parts, and I highly recommend it to both my male and female readers. (Which amounts to about two people, but that's okay! :) I'm still having fun!)

Good Quotes from the Jungle Book

1. Baloo: Now when you pick a pawpaw / Or a prickly pear/ And you prick a raw paw / Well, next time beware / Don't pick the prickly pear by the paw / When you pick a pear try to use the claw / But you don't need to use the claw / When you pick a pear of the big pawpaw!

2. Mowgli: You're just like... like old Bagheera!

Baloo: Now just a minute! That's going too far!

3.Kaa: Look me in the eye when I'm speaking to you.

Bagheera (pleadingly): Please, Kaa...

Kaa: Both eyes, if you please!

4.Mowgli (to the unconscious Baloo): Baloo, get up. Oh, please get up.

Bagheera: Mowgli, try to understand.

Mowgli: Bagheera, what's the matter with him?

Bagheera: You've got to be brave, like Baloo was.

Mowgli: You... you don't mean... Oh, no. Baloo.

Bagheera: Now, now. I know how you feel. But you must remember, Mowgli. Greater love hath no one than he who lays down his life for his friend.

(Baloo starts to wake up, without letting his friends know)

Bagheera: Whenever great deeds are remembered in this jungle, one name will stand above all others: our friend, Baloo the bear.

Baloo (sniffling): He's cracking me up.

Bagheera: The memory of Baloo's sacrifice and bravery will forever be engraved on our saddened hearts.

Baloo: Beautiful.

Bagheera: This spot where Baloo fell will always be a hallowed place in the jungle, for there lies one of nature's noblest creatures.

Baloo (choked up): I wish my mother could have heard this.

Bagheera: It's best we leave now. Come along, Man Cub.

Baloo: Hey, don't stop now, Baggy. You're doing great! There's more, lots more!

Bagheera (surprised and angry): Why, you big fraud! You-you-you four-flusher! I-I'm fed up!...

5. Baloo: Forget about those, they ain't nothing but trouble!

6. Baloo: Mowgli... Come back, Come back!

Bagheera: Go on! Go on!

7. Baloo: What do they call you?

Bagheera: His name is Mowgli, and I'm taking him back to the man village.

Baloo: Man village? They'll ruin him! They'll make a man out of him!

8. Mowgli: Look, Bagheera, he's got a knot in his tail!

Kaa (imitating Mowgli sarcastically): He-he-he, he's got a knot in his tail!

9. Bagheera: Baloo, birds of a feather should flock together. You wouldn't marry a panther now, would you?

Baloo: I don't know. (laughs and elbows Bagheera) Come to think of it, no panther has ever asked me. Ha-ha.

10. Winifred: Now you listen to me, you pompous old windbag!

(For more good quotes, you can go to http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061852/quotes I had to go there to refresh my memory :) )

Also, here is a fun scene from "The Jungle Book" in case your interested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-T0I5UepXMA

*sigh* I feel so long-winded. Sorry about this uber-long post. I'm too tired to do the rest of the list now, so I'll just have to come back and do it later. bye! and thanks for visiting me! ;)

~Mandy

P.S. :0 Oh No!! I forgot to mention the vultures!! They're great, too! :) (Especially now that I realize they resemble a certain British music group.)

You can find more good info on this movie at Wikipedia and http://www.imdb.com/. When my memory failed me, or I wanted to verify something, these websites were very helpful. I also found the complete list of animated Disney films by doing a Google search and finding an article on Wikipedia.