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sailoreuterpe · 8 months

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Non-Romantic Song Recommendations

familial/platonic- the lyrics are relatively generic; family or friends

child love- perspective of a child to a guardian

grandchild love- perspective of a grandchild to a grandparent

parental love- perspective of a guardian to a child

sibling love- perspective of a sibling to a sibling

lyrics can tweak platonic- the lyrics are explicitly romantic in nature but can become generic with tweaking

romantic video- the official music video is explicitly romantic in nature; lyric music videos are usually less romantic

(This is my favorite familial/platonic song) Tracy Chapman (familial/platonic): The Promise - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-nqzwIvnZ0

Andrew Gold: Thank You for Being a Friend (familial/platonic)

Andy Grammer: Don't Give Up on Me (lyrics can tweak platonic)

A Great Big World: I Will Always Be There (familial/platonic)

Al Kasha, Joel Hirschhorn, Michael Lloyd: Love Survives (familial/platonic)

Alison Krauss: Baby Mine (parental love)

Alison Krauss: When You Say Nothing at All (familial/platonic)

Anthony Gonzalez: Proud Corazon (child love)

Avicii: Hey Brother (sibling love)

Ben E. King: Stand By Me (familial/platonic)

Bette Midler: Wind Beneath my Wings (child love, familial/platonic)

Bill Withers: Lean on Me (familial/platonic)

Billy Joel: Just the Way You Are (lyrics can tweak platonic)

Billy Joel: Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel) (parental love)

Boyz 2 Men: Mama (child love)

Brendan Shine: A Mother's Love's a Blessing (child love)

Celtic Woman: Danny Boy (sibling love)

Christina Perri: A Thousand Years (romantic video, lyrics can tweak platonic)

Crosby, Stills, and Nash: Teach Your Children (child love, parental love)

Cyndi Lauper: True Colors (familial/platonic)

Dan Fogelberg: Leader of the Band (child love)

Diamond Rio: One More Day (familial/platonic)

Diana Ross: If We Hold On Together (familial/platonic)

Dionne Warwick: That's What Friends are For (familial/platonic)

Donna Lewis: At the Beginning (romantic video, lyrics can tweak platonic)

Gabriella Flores, Gael Garcia Bernal: Remember Me (child love, parental love)

Imagine Dragons: I Bet My Life (child love)

Jim Croce: I'll Have to Say I Love You in a Song (lyrics can tweak platonic)

Jim Croce: Time in a Bottle (parental love)

Josh Groban: You Raise Me Up (familial/platonic)

Katy Perry: Unconditionally (romantic video, familial/platonic)

Kenny Loggins: Return to Pooh Corner (parental love)

Lionel Richie: Angel (familial/platonic)

Luther Vandross: Dance with My Father (child love)

Marvin Gaye, Tammi Terrell: Ain’t No Mountain High Enough (lyrics can tweak platonic)

Mary Chapin Carpenter: Grow Old Along with Me (lyrics can tweak platonic)

Melissa Wasserman: Twenty Two (sibling love)

Miranda Lambert: Over You (familial/platonic)

Miranda Lambert: The House That Built Me (child love)

OK Go: I Won't Let You Down (familial/platonic)

Phil Collins: You'll Be in My Heart (parental love)

Phillip Phillips: Gone Gone Gone (familial/platonic)

Phillip Phillips: Home (familial/platonic)

Porter Robinson: Shelter (child love)

Queen: You’re My Best Friend (familial/platonic)

Rachel Platten: Better Place (familial/platonic)

Rachel Platten: Stand by You (familial/platonic)

Randy Newman: You've Got a Friend in Me (familial/platonic)

Regina Spektor: The Call (familial/platonic)

Rod Stewart: Forever Young (parental love)

Sarah Mclachlan: I Will Remember You (romantic video, lyrics can tweak platonic)

Savage Garden: I Knew I Loved You (romantic video, lyrics can tweak platonic)

Shania Twain: Forever and Always (romantic video, lyrics can tweak platonic)

Sick Puppies: All the Same (romantic video, lyrics can tweak platonic)

Sting: Fields of Gold (lyrics can tweak platonic)

Swedish House Mafia: Don't You Worry Child (child love, parental love)

Taylor Swift: marjorie (grandchild love)

Taylor Swift: Safe and Sound (familial/platonic)

Vienna Teng: Lullaby for a Stormy Night (parental love)

Will Smith: Just the Two of Us (parental love)

#Notes by Nikki #music #recommendations #lists #long post #aromantic #asexual #aroace #acearo #aro positivity #asexual positivity #family #friends #platonic love #familial love #child love #parental love #guardian love

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didanawisgi · 3 months

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#covid-19 vaccine #covid-19 #blood clots

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krisrussel · 6 months

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Rules: Pick a song for every letter of your url and tag that many people.

I was tagged by the amazing @mathgirl24. Thanks!!

I decided to choose them all from soundtracks/musicals as that is my thing...

K - Kung Fu Fighting - Cee Lo Green & Jack Black (Kung Fu Panda)

R - Ramble On - Train (A Knight's Tale)

I - I Just can't Wait to be King - Hans Zimmer (The Lion King)

S - Say No to This - Original Broadway Cast (Hamilton the Musical)

R - Royal Pain - Eels (Shrek the Third)

U - Universe of Energy - Joel Hirschhorn; Al Kasha (Disney Theme Park Classics)

S - Sweet Emotion - Aerosmith (Armageddon)

S - Survival Of The Fittest - Hans Zimmer; Steve Mazzaro (The Boss Baby)

E - Everything Old Is New Again - Hugh Jackman (The Boy From Oz)

L - Light of Love - Original Cast Recording (Much Ado About Nothing)

That's 10! And if I tag you, you are under no obligation at all to do this. Also, if you see this post and want to join in, just do it!

@xenantis @xfirefly9x @auniverseofimpossibilities @ddagent @swax @stargatelov3r @winternightjewels @failegaidin @coraclavia @sourfall

#tag game #i love his music

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paulodebargelove · 7 months

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Michael Jackson “Ben” (Sonny & Cher Show) 1972 [HD-Remastered TV Audio]

October 14, 1972 - 51 Years Ago Today: Michael Jackson went to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart with his single, "Ben." This was Jackson's 4th solo entry following 9 entries as lead singer of the Jackson 5 (including 4 No. 1's and 2 to peak at No. 2) and this was his 3rd Top 5 solo single and first solo No. 1. It's safe to say that no recording act was hotter than Michael Jackson at this point in time as he had just celebrated his 14th birthday. "Ben" was the title song from the motion picture starring Lee Montgomery. Written by Don Black and Walter Scharf the song was also nominated for an Oscar. Jackson made his debut at the 1973 Academy Awards at the age of 14 and performed the nominated song. It lost to "The Morning After" from the "Poseidon Adventure" which was a hit by Maureen McGovern and the Oscar went to its songwriters, Joel Hirschhorn and Al Kasha. Jackson has scored 52 solo Hot 100 singles to date which include 39 Top 40's, 29 Top Tens and 13 No. 1's. His posthumous Top Ten, "Love Never Felt So Good," with Justin Timberlake peaked at No. 9 on May 31, 2014. Michael Jackson was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice - in 1997 as a member of the Jackson 5 and in 2001 as a solo artist.

#youtube

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agreenroad · 1 year

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U.S. Health System Failing - by Joel S Hirschhorn

Adding to this breakdown for many were the city and state vaccine mandates. Many believed that they had worked hard with limited resources and experience against COVID-19 and now the appreciation is losing your job over your own ability to make health care decisions. Another major issue is the shortfall of individuals who wish to be health care providers. Many individuals and families observed…

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dweemeister · 2 years

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All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989)

When Don Bluth and eleven other animators resigned from Walt Disney Productions in 1979, the defection was so stunning that the development was headline news in Hollywood. Bluth’s group (also including Gary Goldman and John Pomeroy) had been with Disney through the 1970s, working on the Winnie the Pooh short films, The Rescuers (1977), and Pete’s Dragon (1977). The defectors chafed under producer Wolfgang Reitherman’s leadership on The Fox and the Hound, accusing Reitherman (one of the Disney’s Nine Old Men, employed by the House of Mouse since 1933) for exerting too much control over artistic decisions cutting costs for training newer animators. Within a year, the defectors’ breakaway studio, Don Bluth Productions, was at work on The Secret of NIMH (1982) – a financial failure for various reasons little to do with the quality of the film itself. With funding from businessman Morris Sullivan and artistic collaborations with Steven Spielberg, the studio reformed as Sullivan Bluth Studios (often referred to without Sullivan’s name). Two animated features later (1986’s An American Tail, 1988’s The Land Before Time) and fatigued with Spielberg increasing control over all creative aspects of these movies, Bluth inked a deal with independent British studio Goldcrest Films to craft three animated features almost entirely free of outside interference.

All Dogs Go to Heaven is the first of these three movies, and the first Don Bluth movie where almost all of the animation took place in Ireland. The film, with a screenplay by David N. Weiss (1998’s The Rugrats Movie, 2004’s Shrek 2), is Bluth’s directorial vision unvarnished, without an esteemed producer there to overrule him. As such, All Dogs Go to Heaven boasts animated sequences unlike anything seen in prior Bluth movies, but suffers in its second half due to narrative indiscipline.

It is 1939 in New Orleans. German Shepherd Charlie B. Barkin (Burt Reynolds) and Dachshund Itchy Itchiford (Dom DeLuise in a fantastic performance and the film’s second best – more on the best later) explosively escape from a dog pound to return to the bayou. There, they head straight for a casino riverboat owned and patronized by dogs. The owner of the establishment is American Pit Bull Terrier/Bulldog Carface Caruthers (Vic Tayback), who orders his assistant, Killer (Charles Nelson Reilly), to intoxicate and execute Charlie. After a macabre execution – the fateful moment thankfully not shown – Charlie, despite his vices, finds himself at the pearly gates of heaven. He learns from a Whippet angel (Melba Moore) that all dogs, regardless of their life’s sins (and because dogs are naturally good and loyal), are guaranteed a place in heaven. But Charlie attempts to cheat death by stealing a special watch that allows him to return to Earth. The angel warns Charlie that this gambit may cost him his heavenly entitlement and that, when the clock stops ticking, he might find himself in hell. Charlie does not pay this much mind and reunites with Itchy, and soon hatches a plot to exact revenge on Carface. Their lives (but not necessarily their plans) change when both of them encounter a seven-year-old orphan girl named Anne-Marie (Judith Barsi), a human slave to Carface.

Just skimming the above synopsis make clear that this is not a children’s movie in the strictest sense. All Dogs Go to Heaven ends as one might expect, with Charlie’s earthly redemption. But the route to that final destination is abound with terrible moral choices from our canine protagonist and grim moments not appropriate for the youngest of children. The film’s first half illustrates the morality play that follows with clarity and narrative flow. Bluth and Weiss wisely keep the focus on Charlie and Itchy and their selfish, materialistic, and hedonistic ways. Even after coming into contact with Anne-Marie, there are aspects to their treatment of her that directly echo Carface’s. Can the audience forgive Charlie and Itchy for their behavior, given the rough-and-tumble (or perhaps, “dog-eat-dog”) reality of the bayou? The value of kindness and reciprocity is foreign to both. Abuse and exploitation are the near-sum of their life experiences. Credit to Bluth and Weiss for not allowing Charlie any simple redemption, even though one could credibly have questions about how the character arc transpires. Without the first half’s emotional and moral intimacy, All Dogs Go to Heaven might otherwise lose its way in its final stages.

A major factor keeping All Dogs to Heaven from crumbling due to its narrative cracks is Anne-Marie. In American animated features and television from the 1970s onwards, too many of these works have their child characters appear too cloying and cute, their eyes and usually-upturned mouths taking up far too much space on their faces, overdone cheek colorations, bodily movements exaggerated to an excessive degree – sometimes averted if the animators intentionally wished to provoke such a reaction (see: Elmyra Duff in Tiny Toon Adventures, Dee Dee in Dexter’s Laboratory). Anne-Marie feels like a throwback, a suggestion of Snow White from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). Her rather limited movements, slight hesitations in her bearing, and smooth transitions from one expression to the next (whether radical or subtle in emotional change) is a masterstroke of animation. From the moment Anne-Marie appears on-screen, the viewer empathizes with her – a tribute to the one of the best-designed characters on Bluth’s roster of characters in his filmography.

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Much of the genius of her character lies in Judith Barsi’s voice performance, which quivers with youthfulness and vulnerability. Described by Bluth as a natural voice actor who could intuit complicated voice direction and having starred as Ducky in The Land Before Time, Barsi delivers the performance of the movie. For Barsi – abused and later murdered by her father at home – this is her final film. With the foreknowledge of what happened to Barsi before, during, and after her recording sessions on All Dogs Go to Heaven, it paints her turn as Anne-Marie in an agonizing, but soulful light. A heartbroken Don Bluth had Anne-Marie’s physical mannerisms based on Barsi to cope with the loss.

For the remainder of the cast, All Dogs Go to Heaven has some of the most expressive canine anthropomorphisms not seen since arguably Robin Hood (1973). The dogs quaff beers out of glasses, wave their paws in frustration as their rat race bets lose them their steak bets, and hold submachine guns like a person trained in firearms. But unlike Robin Hood and several other films from that period in Disney animation history, Bluth and his animators did not recycle any animation effects from a previous film. Directing animator John Pomeroy (character designer of Fievel from An American Tail and Elliot from Pete’s Dragon) designed Charlie, Itchy, Carface, and King Gator. And with Charlie, Itchy, and Carface in particular, Pomeroy sets the balance the canine and anthropomorphic. That style defines almost the remainder of character animation in All Dogs Go to Heaven – never off-putting, and supremely engaging.

Pomeroy also happened to design King Gator, a character who, despite their comedic value, threatens to steer All Dogs Go to Heaven off-course, also representing another glaring weakness to the film – a poor soundtrack. All Dogs Go to Heaven, with music by Ralph Burns (music supervisor on 1972’s Cabaret and 1977’s New York, New York) and lyrics by Charles Strouse (the musicals Bye Bye Birdie and Annie), T.J. Kuenster, Joel Hirschhorn (1972’s The Poseidon Adventure, Pete’s Dragon), and Al Kasha (The Poseidon Adventure, Pete’s Dragon), makes the mistake of having Burt Reynolds sing four times in this movie. This is not saying that Reynolds is terrible (“inoffensive” and “vocally limited” are how I will describe his singing), but he is no one’s idea of a musical star, despite what King Gator says about his howling. With no disrespect intended towards Ken Page as King Gator, King Gator’s song, “Let’s Make Music Together” is a momentum-stopper, screeching the brakes on the narrative at an inopportune time. Yours truly is no opponent of diverting (perhaps even time-wasting) Esther Williams homages, but not when they appear at critical dramatic junctures in the plot. The few songs of note include “Soon You’ll Come Home” (the most organically-placed song in the soundtrack; sung by Lana Beeson for Judith Barsi after the latter broke down during her audition) and the end credits’ “Love Survives” (sung by Irene Cara and Freddie Jackson, composed after Barsi’s death and dedicated to her). Otherwise, too many of the soundtrack’s numbers are plagued with dull melodies that neither do narrative or musical justice to the film at large.

All Dogs Go to Heaven possesses some of the most beautiful animation in the Don Bluth filmography. A vibrant waterfall of colors, the film’s classical backgrounds recall the mastery of earlier Disney animated features. The scene where Charlie dreams he is in hell (the provided link provides a rough cut of the entire scene; MGM/UA trimmed the scene for its theatrical release to avoid a “PG” rating from the MPAA – the film should be rated “PG” anyways) outdoes the demonic art Disney cooked up for The Black Cauldron (1985). Those few minutes are unadulterated nightmare fuel – a breathtaking demonstration of animation effects to flaunt the techniques that Bluth accused Disney of abandoning.

After handily defeating The Great Mouse Detective with An American Tail at the 1986 box office and with ongoing turmoil at Disney, it seemed – for a brief moment – that Don Bluth might become the premier name animation in the United States. Upon the release of All Dogs Go to Heaven and The Little Mermaid to American theaters on November 17, 1989, that possibility became undone. Bluth, who had left Disney after justifiably accusing the studio of deserting its creative foundations, was correct in his assessment when he left Burbank ten years earlier. The Little Mermaid was an instant classic; critics, comparing the two, eviscerated All Dogs Go to Heaven. In the following years, Bluth was regarded as a foolhardy Judas to the House of Mouse – harmful hyperbole that has not helped the reputation of his movies. Interestingly, the legacy of All Dogs Go to Heaven is mostly thanks to home media. The film had one of the highest-selling VHS releases of all time. Its success there and repeat showings on cable television (Bluth films aired on Cartoon Network with regularity in the ‘90s and 2000s) prompted a 1996 sequel (Bluth was not involved, Dom DeLuise was the only cast member reprising his role, and there is no Anne-Marie) and a TV series.

With the exception of Anastasia (1997), All Dogs Go to Heaven – a film that beautifully, though imperfectly, reflects Bluth’s represents the last commercial success in Don Bluth’s filmography. Animation in the 1990s belonged, once more, to Disney, despite the mostly-dismissed incursions from Japanese animation into international markets at this time. One wonders how Bluth perceived the irony of Disney returning to its origins of innovation and cut-no-corners artistry during that decade – a change that might not have happened if Bluth and his fellow eleven other animators never left the studio in protest. Of course, the Disney Renaissance did not last, and Disney shows no indications of returning to hand-drawn animation. Once more, Don Bluth’s vision of hand-drawn animation is dormant at the studio he idolized during his El Paso childhood. Yet his vision persists, shared by more people than he might have realized. Perhaps not in the form or in the places (Cartoon Saloon’s Tomm Moore, Nora Twomey, and Paul Young may never have made The Secret of Kells or Wolfwalkers without first meeting at an animation program set up by Bluth in Ireland) he imagined, but that belief in hand-drawn animation’s expressiveness, versatility, and timelessness survives.

My rating: 7.5/10

^ Based on my personal imdb rating. My interpretation of that ratings system can be found in the “Ratings system” page on my blog (as of July 1, 2020, tumblr is not permitting certain posts with links to appear on tag pages, so I cannot provide the URL).

For more of my reviews tagged “My Movie Odyssey”, check out the tag of the same name on my blog.

#All Dogs Go to Heaven #Don Bluth #Burt Reynolds #Dom DeLuise #Judith Barsi #Vic Tayback #Charles Nelson Reilly #Loni Anderson #Melba Moore #Ken Page #David N. Weiss #Ralph Burns #Al Kasha #Joel Hirschhorn #Michael Lloyd #Irene Cara #Freddie Jackson #My Movie Odyssey #John Pomeroy

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a-year-of-musicals · 6 years

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Day 125/365 - Seven Brides For Seven Brothers

By Gene de Paul, Al Kasha, Joel Hirschhorn, Johnny Mercer, Lawrence Kasha and David Landay

In 1850s Oregon, Adam goes into town seeking a wife to run the household that consists of just himself and his six brothers. There he meets Milly, a waitress at a local restaurant. Milly and Adam rush into marriage and immediately return to Adam's remote ranch in the mountains. As soon as they return home, Adam reverts to his true self: an ill-mannered and inconsiderate slob. Milly meets his six brothers, Benjamin, Caleb, Daniel, Ephraim, Frank and Gideon, all of whom also share Adam's love for all things disorderly. Milly decides to reform the brothers and help them change their ways. She teaches them to dance and then takes them to a barn-raising. There, the six brothers meet six girls they like and start courting them. Conflicts arise when each of the six girls turns out to have her own jealous suitor. Upon returning home Adam reads his brothers the story of The Rape of the Sabine Women, inciting them to kidnap the girls and bring them back home with them.

The brothers kidnap the girls and then cause an avalanche to fall and block the suitors' way, making the brothers' house unreachable until spring. The girls are crying and furious by the time they reach the house. An angry Milly scolds the boys and sends them all to live in the barn, and Adam flees up to their hunting cabin in the mountains to live by himself. They live there all through the Winter, but by the time Spring arrives, the girls miss the brothers' attention and find themselves to be in love. Gideon goes to the cabin and attempts to get Adam to return home by telling him that Milly had a baby girl. A changed Adam returns home to find his wife and newborn daughter waiting for him. The snow clears up and the angry suitors make their way up to the house in the mountains to find that the girls are happy and want to marry the brothers. The story ends with a shotgun wedding of the six remaining couples.

Wow. They say that Disney create pretentious and unhealthy relationship ideals but would you take a look at this?! I don’t care if it’s the 1850s, you do not just steal a wife. Thankfully (?!) it all works out happily in the end...

Favourite Songs: Bless Your Beautiful Hide, June Bride, When You’re In Love, Sobbin’ Women, Spring Spring Spring (my fave), Wonderful Wonderful Day and Lament.

Favourite Character: Milly

She seems to be in charge and is always the voice of reason. Even before the birth of her daughter, she was a motherly character.

#gene de paul #al kasha #joel hirschhorn #johnny mercer #lawrence kasha #david landay #seven brides for seven brothers #ayearofmusicals #a year of musicals #music criticism #musical theatre #musical #musicals

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freeindependentnews · 2 years

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It is not exceptional. There is no scientific basis for all the hysteria over omicron.

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mistermcblister · 4 years

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Best Original Song Project, wherein I present you with the Academy Award-winning Best Original Songs, in chronological order.

#39. “The Morning After,” 1972, from THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE. Written by Joel Hirschhorn and Al Kasha.

Notable Losers: “Ben,” from BEN.

Welcome back to Oscar’s Easy Listening phase. “The Morning After” is sung at the News Year’s Eve party in the movie, right before the “Poseidon” flips over, drowning everyone but a small yet – you guessed it – hopeful band of passengers. The original product (and this song is just that, really, a product) was called “Why Must There Be A Morning After?” but studio pressure changed it to something a little more optimistic. Seventies Songstress Maureen McGovern took this song to the Billboard #1 spot in the next year. The only word I can think of that really encapsulates this song is…shmoopy. It’s very, very shmoopy.

#oscars #best orginal song #the poseidon adventure #the morning after

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theoscarchallenge · 4 years

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I don’t really know why but I had pretty low expectations for The Poseidon Adventure. It’s actually really pretty good! The story, the cast, good characters, it all works really well. The scene when the ship turns over, climbing up the Christmas tree and the panic, it had me hooked pretty quickly. It received two Oscars; a Special Achievement Award for Visual Effects for L.B. Abbott & A.D. Flowers and Best Music-Original Song for The Morning After by Al Kasha & Joel Hirschhorn.

#the academy awards #the oscars #oscars #the poseidon adventure #gene hackman #ernest borgnine #shelley winters #red buttons #carol lynley #pamela sue martin #roddy mcdowall #leslie nielsen #1972 #theoscarchallenge

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paulodebargelove · 5 years

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Michael Jackson - Ben ( Oscars 1973 Full HQ ) October 14, 1972 - 47 Years Ago Today: Michael Jackson went to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart with his single, "Ben." This was Jackson's 4th solo entry following 9 entries as lead singer of the Jackson 5 (including 4 No. 1's and 2 to peak at No. 2) and this was his 3rd Top 5 solo single and first solo No. 1. It's safe to say that no recording act was hotter than Michael Jackson at this point in time as he had just celebrated his 14th birthday. "Ben" was the title song from the motion picture starring Lee Montgomery. Written by Don Black and Walter Scharf the song was also nominated for an Oscar. Jackson made his debut at the 1973 Academy Awards at the age of 14 and performed the nominated song. It lost to "The Morning After" from the "Poseidon Adventure" which was a hit by Maureen McGovern and the Oscar went to its songwriters, Joel Hirschhorn and Al Kasha. Jackson has scored 52 solo Hot 100 singles to date which include 39 Top 40's, 29 Top Tens and 13 No. 1's. His posthumous Top Ten, "Love Never Felt So Good," with Justin Timberlake peaked at No. 9 on May 31, 2014. Michael Jackson was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice - in 1997 as a member of the Jackson 5 and in 2001 as a solo artist.

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davidrussellschilling · 7 years

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What is Genetics?

C O N T E N T S:

GENERAL INFO

KEY TOPICS

In this large GWAS study of male pattern baldness, we identified 287 independent genetic signals that were linked to differences in the trait, a substantial advance over the previous largest GWAS meta-analysis, which identified eight independent signals.(More…)

“Overall, common variants still contribute more to height than rare variants,” Dr. Joel…

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#Boston Children #DNA #GWAS #Harvard Medical School #Joel Hirschhorn #SNP

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dweemeister · 6 years

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Pete’s Dragon (1977)

Combining live-action and animation in film has been around longer than you may think. Among those pioneers included Winsor McCay, who synchronized an on-stage performance with Gertie the Dinosaur’s (1914 short) on-screen performance; Max Fleischer’s Koko the Clown short films also experimented here, as did Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks for the Alice Comedies (1923-1927). Of those names, it is Disney’s that is most associated with live-action/animation hybrids – Song of the South (1946), Mary Poppins (1964), and the subject of this review, Pete’s Dragon, which is directed by Don Chaffey. The rights to Pete’s Dragon – based on the unpublished short story by Seton I. Miller (better known for hard-edged film noir and 1938′s The Adventures of Robin Hood) and S.S. Field – were purchased by Walt Disney in the 1950s, who hoped to use it for his anthology television series. The project languished for years, outliving Walt, and is one of the better live-action Disney movies released in a difficult decade for the studio.

The 1970s and early 1980s were marked by the studio’s shifting approaches to its movies by catering more exclusively to children. This is reflective of the Dark Age of Animation (historians and other writers will differ, but I label this as beginning after Walt Disney’s death to 1988), where the overlaps between films intended for children and those intended for adults almost disappeared. Pete’s Dragon is expressly for children, but contains just enough appeal to save itself from being all but permanently locked inside the Disney Vault.

It is the 1900s in coastal Maine. An orphan named Pete (Sean Marshall) is escaping his abusive, bedraggled caretakers, the Gogans (Shelley Winters as the matriarch, Lena). Unbeknownst to the Gogans, Pete has befriended a dragon named Elliott (incredibly, even official sources differ between one “t” or two in his name), who is determined to protect Pete from any danger and can alternate between visibility and invisibility at any time. Pete and Elliott escape to Passamaquoddy, where the local lighthouse operator Lampie (Mickey Rooney) and his daughter Nora (Helen Reddy) provide a place to stay. Elliott, being too large for the lighthouse, stays in a spacious cave nearby. Pete loves Elliott, and speaks of length about him – Nora, Lampie, and other townspeople think that the dragon is just an imaginary friend. In town, snake oil salesman and quack Dr. Terminus (Jim Dale) and assistant Hoagy (Red Buttons) arrive to turn things upside down; the Gogans, too, eventually arrive. As time passes, Pete finds a home and family with Nora and Lampie – but this is a Disney movie, so chaos must ensue first.

After the release of Mary Poppins, a formula of a magical person/creature saving the lives of a hero became the tonic of Disney’s live-action movies. Blackbeard’s Ghost (1968), Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971; which is Mary Poppins lite), and Pete’s Dragon rigidly adhere to that structure. Pete’s Dragon offers nothing innovative or profound in terms of its storytelling, and anybody who goes into this movie with slightest expectation of any of that will come away frustrated. This is a safe comfort movie with its messages – depicted with more invention and grace in earlier decades – muted.

Even a young, talented animation team boasting names like Don Bluth (the American Tail series, 1988′s The Land Before Time); Glen Keane (who worked at Disney from 1977′s The Rescuers to 2012′s Paperman) as Elliot’s character animator; Ron Clements (who later directed eight Disney animated features, including 2016′s Moana); Ken Anderson (who worked at Disney from the 1930s-1970s); and Don Hahn (best known as a producer for various films in the Disney Renaissance) were unable to navigate around a breakneck production schedule. This leaves Pete’s Dragon with worse animated effects than even Mary Poppins and Song of the South as characters clip into the animated Elliott and the background-foreground composites are more distractingly artificial than they should be. Given the restrictions and the fact Pete’s Dragon is the first animated or partially-animated Disney movie without the input of the Nine Old Men, the animation’s efforts are valiant, but too limited given the technology of the era.

The screenplay, penned by Malcolm Marmorstein (primarily a television writer for the original Dark Shadows series), is filled with cockamamie characters and cringeworthy attempts at humor. As Pete and Elliot descend upon the unsuspecting population of Passamaquoddy, we are introduced to the mayor, trying to propose a new town motto:

Passamaquoddy... where the sun always rises and where the sun always sets!

Oh brother.

Too many of the supporting characters seem to have a single quirk that defines them throughout the film – a punchline with no modification or a person who adopts a behavioral tone and never alters it regardless of the situation. As Lampie, Rooney is a caricature of crassness (albeit appropriate within the bounds of Disney family movies) in public while almost inexplicably dropping that persona around Pete and Nora. Nora is pining for her beloved, lost at sea for a year, becomes a mother figure to Pete (this part is not a criticism and will be expanded upon shortly, because Nora’s nurturing results in the most genuine moments in Pete’s Dragon), and little else. The schoolteacher, Ms. Taylor (Jane Kean), is a frumpy, no-nonsense woman with little sympathy for misbehavior. And the Gogans? Good lord, the Gogans. Unhygienic backwoods hillbillies with tendencies towards kidnapping and post-Thirteenth Amendment child slavery are as easy to write about as villains can be.

But enter Nora and, to a lesser extent, Lampie. As justified as many of the criticisms directed towards the Walt Disney Studios’ there are, even the bitterest critics concede the studio’s films have long championed non-traditional, surrogate families. Without questions, judgment, they take in Pete as their own. And though their acceptance and early days of taking Pete in seem a little too easy, without conflict, Nora and Lampie (Reddy and Rooney give good performances) give the constancy and nurturing that Pete has been lacking from others. Well, that is if you exclude Elliott, who – at the end of the film – is revealed to be a benevolent soul who goes around helping frightened, vulnerable children. Elliott – imaginary friend to some, menace to others, but a steadfast guardian to Pete – might be the eponymous dragon in the film’s title, but this is still Pete’s story. Sean Marshall is serviceable and never grating as Pete, a character too passive for my liking, but makes up for in his kindness.

Composer Irwin Kostal centers his score around the songs penned by Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn. The Kasha-Hirschhorn musical numbers are as uneven as can be. Starting with insomnia-inducing jumpscares, “The Happiest Home in These Hills” opens the film by introducing the audience to the Gogans. Oh yes, the so-called Disney Villain song opens the movie! This is the most menacing the Gogans ever get (thankfully; their other song, “Bill of Sale” makes so little sense in every way imaginable). with threatening lyrics regarding Pete like:

Gonna snag him, gag him, drag him through town. Put his head in the river; let the pup drown. Trap him, strap him, wrap him in a sack, yeah, Tie him screaming to a railroad track.

It’s a juvenile, difficult way to start a movie, and that’s not even mentioning a lyric that has something to do with lynching Pete (which, as a Disney fan, gave me weird flashbacks to the Ku Klux Klan’s appearance in 1976′s Treasure of Matecumbe). Other weak entries include: “Boo Bop Bopbop Bop (I Love You, Too)” (in addition to its shoddy special effects) and “I Saw a Dragon” (Onna White’s choreography recalls her work for 1968′s Oliver!, but this is discount Oliver!). More creative are the likes “Brazzle Dazzle Day” (songs that capitalize on nonsense words are risky, but this one is okay) of “Every Little Piece” (because songs about con artists licking their chops about imminent fortune are usually hilarious).

But the two best songs in the film are the most lyrically modest in this score. “It’s Not Easy” is sung on Pete’s first night with Nora and Lampie, and where Pete talks about Elliott to Nora for the first time. Upon my first listening (as some may know, I get picky with music), I rejected the song because I found the rhyme scheme awkward: early in the song, Nora interjects between Pete’s first rhyme describing Elliott:

PETE He has the head of a camel, The neck of a crocodile... NORA It sounds rather strange! PETE He’s both a fish and a mammal, And I hope he’ll never change.

Soon after, Nora completes one of Pete’s rhymes, throwing off my expectations of a constant rhyming scheme. But as the song progresses, they sing together (when Nora sings her aside about the one she loves, she changes key and breaks the consecutive rhyming scheme) and their rhymes come together as they begin to better understand each other. In a very subtle way, keeping rhymes close together in a duet can heighten emotion, develop a relationship.

But the film belongs to “Candle on the Water”, a torch song that is referenced throughout the film in Kostal’s score and that might not have been out of place in any musical movie decades earlier. The staging might be unimaginative and the gradual close-up a dreadful decision, but it is Reddy’s performance that defines this scene. “Candle on the Water” should be considered an essential entry in the esteemed Disney songbook, yet it does not appear to be in the canon (why is Mary Poppins the only Disney live-action film that receives that treatment?).

Pete’s Dragon would be the last live-action/traditional animation hybrid released by Disney until Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988; released through the company’s Touchstone Pictures label). These techniques, now even more of a curiosity in times where movies featuring human actors interacting with CGI environments and characters are commonplace, were the culmination of decades of experimentation and punishing handiwork. For the film’s value to today’s audiences, its messages will be fine for children, if they can get past the first musical number featuring the Gogans (if I was younger and watching this for the first time, I would not have accepted those jumpscares if I did not know in advance that this was a Disney movie). Elliott is selfless and lovable to a fault; Pete displays an understandable mixture of courage, courtesy, and fear.

The version shown on Turner Classic Movies (TCM) on December 20/21, 2017 shows how much Disney cares for its older movies – the print was beautiful to look at, despite the questionable yellowscreen. But is the company interested in having their older live-action films not called Mary Poppins a chance to connect to younger viewers? That is something to ponder about as live-action remakes only do so much to raise awareness or interest for the original versions.

My rating: 6.5/10

^ Based on my personal imdb rating. Half-points are always rounded down. My interpretation of that ratings system can be found here.

#Pete's Dragon #Don Chaffey #Sean Marshall #Helen Reddy #Mickey Rooney #Jim Dale #Red Buttons #Shelley Winters #Jane Kean #Jim Backus #Malcolm Marmorstein #Irwin Kostal #Al Kasha #Joel Hirschhorn #Don Bluth #Glen Keane #Onna White #TCM #My Movie Odyssey

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