The Watchers' Feelgood Films (Part 4) - Disney Special

Welcome to the fourth instalment of The Watchers' Feelgood Films, where the three of us discuss films that might help cheer you in these times. Today's instalment are our favourite films from Walt Disney Studios.

Matt recommends...

Beauty And The Beast (1991)

Dir: Gary Trousdale & Kirk Wise
Voice cast: Paige O'Hara, Robby Benson, Richard White, Jerry Orbach, David Ogden Stiers, and Angela Lansbury

Everyone has their favourite Disney film, for me it is the original Beauty and the Beast. The House of Mouse has given us numerous classics for nearly a century, but Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise’s film was the first that felt like it could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Hollywood’s golden age: Casablanca, Gone With The Wind, or The Wizard of Oz (Beauty and the Beast was the first full-length animated feature film to be nominated at the Academy Awards for Best Picture).

1989’s The Little Mermaid saw Disney Studios return to its former glory after losing its way during the eighties, struggling to catch children’s imagination while Spielberg, Lucas, and Zemeckis were churning out blockbusters, but Ariel cannot hold a candle to Belle. Unlike previous Disney leading ladies, Belle does everything right here. Belle is fierce, she questions and stands up to those around her, and refuses to be labelled or put in a box – she is Disney’s first flesh-and-blood protagonist thanks to Linda Woolverton’s first-class writing.

The songs in Beauty and the Beast are all killer and no filler. Every one of composer Alan Menken and lyricist Howard Ashman’s musical numbers will stay in your head for the rest of your life. However, the standouts are "Beauty and the Beast" and "Be Our Guest". "Beauty and the Beast" is a masterwork in character development. Neither Belle nor the Beast say a word or sing a single lyric, but that scene pushes their bond, their characterisation further. Accompanied by Dame Angela Lansbury’s voice, the song – those two-and-a-half minutes on screen – are tender and heartfelt. For Beauty and the Beast’s 25th anniversary screening, Lansbury surprised the audience by singing the title song. The video is available here and you will struggle not to well up whilst watching it.

"Be Our Guest", I would argue, is Disney Studios’ first music video. It is a melting pot of 80’s MTV (Peter Cristopherson, Derek Burbidge, and Steve Barron to name three directors), the Moulin Rouge, and Broadway musicals, all given a good stir. Every frame grabs hold of your eyes; it is beautiful, wondrous stuff. Whenever I put on Beauty and the Beast, I cannot go past "Be Our Guest" without watching it again.

Hand-drawn animation probably looks weird to today’s children, when compared to something that was conjured up on a computer, but Beauty and the Beast’s animation and background design still stands the test of time and deserves to be watched on the biggest, most high-tech TV you can find.

Disney has many classic films, but Beauty and the Beast is a masterpiece that can be watched over-and-over and its magic never diminishes.

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Rhys recommends...

Aladdin (1992)

Dir: Ron Clements & John Musker
Voice cast: Scott Weinger, Linda Larkin, Jonathan Freeman, Gilbert Gottfried, and Robin Williams

Back in 1992, I was a teenager and not interested in musicals and definitely done with cartoon films from Disney! On a day out with family, we ended up at the cinema and they chose Aladdin. I was not happy and went in to watch it in a right grump! 

The film began and my eyes were opened to how Disney in the early 90s had changed things! Aladdin reintroduced me to enjoying animated films and, if I'm honest, musicals too! 

This film is one of my favourite films of all time, it is definitely one of my go-to feel good films of choice. It will whisk you off to a whole new world on a magic carpet ride! The film is pitch perfect; fun, uplifting and- for a child- it has one of the all time scariest villains in Jafar! It is massive in scope, from the "Friend Like Me" number to the ending with a giant gene looming overhead. This film is just plain brilliant! And, of course, the late, great Robin Williams' voice performance of the Genie made big name actors suddenly all want to be a voice in a cartoon! 

Just watch it if you haven’t already - and if you have, well time to watch it! 

Oh, and a final bit of fun trivia, Frank Welker- who is the voice of the Cave of Wonders- played Megatron in all the Transformers cartoons and films! 

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Tez recommends...

Lilo & Stitch (2002)

Dir: Dean DeBlois & Chris Sanders
Voice cast: Daveigh Chase, Christopher Michael Sanders, Tia Carrere, David Ogden Stiers, Jason Scott Lee, and Ving Rhames

From an enchanted French chateau via the desert lands of Agrabah to the sun-kissed shores of Hawaii for our final feelgood choice. Lilo & Stitch might seem like a bit of an odd choice, but for me it's second only to Beauty And The Beast for a Disney film that can make me feel good. 

Lilo is a bit of a misfit, being looked after by her older sister Nani after the death of their parents. As they try and rebuild the family unit, into their life comes Experiment 626, a genetically-modified alien bent on destruction which crashlands on Earth after going on the run. When he's found (after being hit by a fuel tanker), 626 ends up at a dog pound where he is adopted by Lilo and renamed Stitch. With threats both extraterrestrial and all too real, this dysfunctional little family must band together, demonstrating the true meaning of ohana.

Much like with Galaxy Quest and several of my other feelgood choices, what makes them feelgood to me is the philosophy behind them. In Lilo & Stitch, it's all to do with the Hawaiian concept of ohana. Ohana means family. Family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten. When the chips are down and it's all looking grim, your family- whether by blood or the family you create- are there for you. It's that sentiment, borne out by the events at the end of the film, that give me the warm fuzzies.

Also, there's a great deal of humour from the odd-couple antics of Dr. Jumba Jookiba (a superb voice performance by the late, great David Ogden Stiers) and Agent Pleakley (a similarly strong turn by Kevin McDonald) who are sent to Earth to find Stitch and bring him back and some truly inspired visual gags- such as Stitch and Jumba passing a soon-to-explode plasma gun back and forth like a demented game of pass-the-parcel, or a running gag involving a tourist and his ice-cream. 

When advertising Lilo & Stitch, Disney took an unconventional but inspired approach (which neatly links into the idea of ohana and a slightly dysfunctional family) where Stitch was inserted into several iconic Disney moments and causes mischief- including two scenes from the films mentioned above. These can be seen here, and are definitely worth a watch.

There's also a cracking soundtrack which takes in everything from traditional Hawaiian music through to several of Elvis Presley's most iconic songs. 

Lilo & Stitch is well worth a try if you've not seen it before. 

The Watchers Review Of 2019 (Part Two)

The second part of our Review of 2019 is now available!

In Part 2, we talk through the films that we think deserve a lump of coal in their stockings this Christmas, and look forward to what's coming up in 2020.


The first part can be found here.

Merry Christmas!

Robin Williams (1951-2014)

Like many, we at The Watchers were absolutely devastated at the news that Robin Williams had died. The stand-up comedian and Oscar-winning actor passed away on Monday 11th July.

Borin in Chicago in 1951, Williams studied at the Juilliard School before performing stand-up in nightclubs. It was during one of these gigs that he was seen by the producers of Happy Days, who asked him to audition for a guest spot as an alien. The character of Mork from the planet Ork was originally conceived as a one-off, but Williams proved so popular they not only brought the character back, he received his own spin-off- Mork & Mindy- which ran for 94 episodes from 1978-1982, in which Williams would get to work with his own comedy icon Jonathan Winters.

Throughout the 1980s, Williams worked steadily in films such as the live-action version of Popeye (1980) and the screen adaptation of John Irving's The World According To Garp (1982) opposite Glenn Close and John Lithgow. In 1987, he starred as American DJ Adrian Cronauer in Barry Levinson's Good Morning, Vietnam. For his performance, he received the first of his Best Actor Oscar nominations and also won his second Golden Globe (his first being for Mork & Mindy). Williams rounded off the Eighties by playing inspirational English teacher John Keating in the moving and powerful Dead Poets Society, which would gain him a second Best Actor Oscar nomination.

However, had things gone to plan, he would have rounded the Eighties off in a much bigger way- he was offered the role of The Joker in Tim Burton's Batman (1989) and had accepted it whilst Jack Nicholson hesitated. Ultimately, as we know, Nicholson took the role. Williams was upset about this and later refused the role of The Riddler in Batman Forever (which was ultimately taken by Jim Carrey). 

The 1990s arguably saw Williams at the peak of his powers. His IMDB record shows 10 movies made between 1991 and 1992. These include Terry Gilliam's The Fisher King (his third and final Best Actor Oscar nomination), Hook (in which he played a grown-up Peter Pan) and Toys. He also provided the voice of Batty Koda in Ferngully: The Last Rainforest, his first foray into animated features. 

In 1992, he also provided the voice of the Genie for Disney's animated version of Aladdin. His quickfire schtick and wide variety of voices (such as Jack Nicholson, Groucho Marx, Rodney Dangerfield and Peter Lorre) are an absolute delight, apparently racking up over 16 hours of material due to his improvisation (which meant the film was ineligible for a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar nomination as so much was ad-libbed). Also ineligible for Academy consideration (as the Academy does not recognise voice-only performances), Williams nonetheless won a special Golden Globe for his performance as well as a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor.

1993 saw the release of Mrs. Doubtfire, an adaptation of Anne Fine's novel about a father who goes to extraordinary lengths to see his children when his marriage breaks down. For me, this is probably Williams' quintessential performance. He's screamingly funny in places yet can also break your heart. His anguish at being apart from his kids is writ large across the screen, yet the script gives him enough rein to indulge in some voicework- his interview with the unimpressed Anne Haney is particularly good- and broader comedic moments. He won another Golden Globe for his performance. He also has brilliant cameos in Nine Months (1995) and To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar (1995) and gives a strong lead performance in the fantasy family movie Jumanji (1995).

 In 1996, Williams took one of the main leads in The Birdcage, an American remake of the 1979 French film La Cage Aux Folles, about a gay cabaret owner and his drag queen companion (Nathan Lane) who agree to put up a false straight front so that their son can introduce them to his fiancée's right-wing moralistic parents (played by Gene Hackman and Dianne Wiest). It's possibly the only film I've ever seen Williams upstaged in, by the absolutely hilarious Lane. But, like Mrs. Doubtfire, there are moments of pathos and drama amongst the camp and the glitter. 

Williams also took a small role in Kenneth Branagh's star-studded and uncut version of Hamlet (1996) and also played an absent-minded inventor in Flubber (1997). After three previous Oscar nominations, Williams finally struck gold in 1998, winning the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his searing turn as psychologist Sean Maguire opposite Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting. The scene in which Sean challenges Will about the nature of life- ending with the challenge 'your move, chief'- is absolutely gripping and moving at the same time. The 1990s rounded off with performances in What Dreams May Come, Patch Adams and Bicentennial Man (where he plays an android who wishes to become human)

In the early 2000s, Williams' career took a darker turn when he appeared in three psychological thrillers, effortlessly showcasing that he could play disturbed and dangerous as much as the comedic. In One Hour Photo (2002), he plays a shy loner who becomes obsessed with a family whose photos he develops. In Insomnia (2002), directed by Christopher Nolan, he plays a writer who is the prime suspect in a young woman's disappearance, and in the criminally underrated Death To Smoochy (2002), he plays a disgraced children's TV presenter who plans to bump off his replacement.

Throughout the 2000s, he balanced lightweight comedies (RV, License To Wed) with darker dramas (The Night Listener, The Final Cut) and voice work (Robots, Happy Feet). In 2006, he appeared as a waxwork of American President Theodore Roosevelt in Night At The Museum, reprising that role in the sequel Battle Of The Smithsonian and will appear in the third instalment Secret Of The Tomb, which completed filming earlier this year. He also appeared as American President Dwight D. Eisenhower in Lee Daniels' The Butler and starred in TV comedy The Crazy Ones opposite Sarah Michelle Gellar.

Despite an impressive filmography, Williams also loved doing stand-up comedy. His madcap stream-of-consciousness rants are a wonder to behold. His 2009 stand-up Weapons Of Self Destruction is well worth a look. It's full of brilliant one-liners, dazzlingly filthy jokes, but he is also refreshingly and brutally honest about his history of substance abuse and alcoholism. 

For many people of my generation, Robin Williams was a comedy genius. The world will be a much less funny place without him in it. Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this very sad time.

Tez