The Sword in the Stone

DISCLAIMER: This blog is not for profit. I do not claim ownership of this material- all images and footage used are property of their respective companies unless stated otherwise.

…I really didn’t want to review this one. When I saw it for the first time a few years ago, knowing very little about the plot, I was very disappointed with its episodic nature and general meandering. It was better than I had remembered, but still not very impressive compared to the works that came before and after.

As gut wrenchingly painful as it is to criticise any of the work of the great Sherman brothers, the songs in this film are also probably the most forgettable and borderline irritating in the canon so far. The only decent one is ‘Higgitus Figgitus’ and even then, that is more to do with the fun of having a song filled with nonsense words. 

The animation is also not great- it doesn’t look horrible, but there is nothing particularly special to make it stand out.  

To be fair, having seen the film a second time, the plot functions far better than I first thought and having Arthur learning how to be King is an interesting concept, even if it doesn’t really gel that well overall.

Madam Mim is a pretty fun villain and her duel with Merlin is probably the most creative scene in the film- it would have been far better if she had come in earlier as an external threat, as it would have made the plot far more solid and it would have just been great to see more of her character.

Merlin and his owl Archemedies are also both great characters, who are entertaining to watch, so the film does have that in its favour. But other than that, there just isn’t anything particularly exciting to it. Sorry to people who grew up with this film, but I don’t think I will be re-watching it for a third time.

Rating

Good guys: Arthur doesn’t have much of a character, but Merlin and Archimedes are entertaining enough, so overall the good guys get a 5/10

Bad guys: Madam Mim is great, but the fact that she is only in one scene really hinders her impact as a villain, so the bad guys get 6/10

Animation: It looks pretty rough and there is nothing very impressive technogically, so the animation gets 5/10

Music: There was only one song I liked, so the music gets only 3/10

Plot: The plot goes at a very leisurely and relaxed pace, but it doesn’t gel too well, so the plot gets 4/10

Overall Rating: 23/50

Next review: The Jungle Book

101 Dalmatians

DISCLAIMER: This blog is not for profit. I do not claim ownership of this material- all images and footage used are property of their respective companies unless stated otherwise.

When compared with Sleeping Beauty, 101 Dalmatians feels a lot more scaled down. The story, whilst not being epic, is fairly cute - the animation fares similarly, showing an interesting style whilst not matching the beauty of its predecessor.

Its greatest asset is its villain. Cruella De Ville is iconic for a reason- she has a brilliant design and is just so much fun to watch, really bringing the entire thing to life. The song ‘Cruella De Ville’ is also brilliant, even if it is the only song in the film. Another great touch is something that also really worked in Lady and the Tramp a few movies ago. That touch is the storytelling from the dog’s perspective, as the way that the dogs think of the humans and their pets is a charming addition. As a result of this, the bait and switch opening is probably one of the best scenes in the film. 

Other than that, there isn’t really much else to add- nothing about this film is particularly awful, but other than the points stated above, there is nothing particularly special about it either- it just sort of plods along without anything particularly ground-breaking being added. The only other note is that the animation on all of the puppies is technologically impressive for the time in which the film was made.   

Overall, it’s a bit of harmless fluff- it’s not particularly special, but it sure is a fun ride.

Rating

Good guys: The main characters are all fairly bland and generic here, resulting in a score of 4/10

Bad guys: Not only is Cruella one of the best Disney villains in general, she is also the most fun part of the film, meaning that the bad guys get 7/10

Animation: It has a charming style, whilst not being particularly pretty- the backgrounds are especially nice, resulting in the animation getting 6/10

Music: Cruella De Ville is a fun and catchy song, so the music gets 7/10

Plot: There is nothing particularly great about the story, but there is nothing particularly terrible about it either, so the plot gets 5/10

Overall Rating: 29/50

Next review: The Sword in the Stone