The Fox and the Hound 2 picture image

The Fox and the Hound 2

I loved The Fox And The Hound as kid, though I admit the first half was more appealing and less sad than second half but it was poignant and bittersweet. Fox and Hound is a sombre, subtle movie about friends being torn apart because of the roles that society puts on them. The Fox and the Hound 2 does not understand that and tells a midquel story that stupid and annoying.

The Fox and the Hound 2 picture image

Copper and Cash

The Plots is Copper, the hound, joins a band of singing dogs. Tod, the fox, gets jealous that Copper has no time for him anymore. Dixie, the dog that Copper replaced because she has diva-like tendencies get jealous. In the end Copper and Todd reunite the band and continue their friendship only to have the original movie story-line pull them apart in like an week or so.

Tod and Copper The Fox and the Hound 2 picture image

Tod and Copper

A Puppy and a Fox Kit could not distract me from this movie. There was too much in this to torture me. First, not a fan of country music, so a whole movie pretty much devoted to that is off putting. Second, the lack of understanding the source material to make a cutesy movie makes me wretch. Third, the puns and lame jokes, those were torture. Fourth, the story is just painful and there are no stakes. Oh no their friendship might end because of the band even though they won’t say friends later. This movie just reeks of lameness. It just seems like the filmmaker forgot that aspect of the original. But as a stand along entity since there are not stakes it’s lame still.

Tod and Copper The Fox and the Hound 2 picture image

Tod and Copper

I really hated The Fox and the Hound 2 from pretty much start to finish. It took a heartbreakingly poignant story with cute baby animals and made it a vapid annoying movie devoid any hint of depth or for that matter interest or entertainment.

It’s so sad because Copper and Tod are adorable creatures, I feel a shade bad hating on them.

Disclaimer – Not affiliated with Lovell Design just a fan of their stuff

My Angers Rose Window Pendant by  Lovell Design picture image

My Angers Rose Window Pendant by Lovell Design

I have been a fan of Lovell Design for a few years now. they make Lovell Design natural and nautical theme jewelry pieces. When I was in Maine for a day I went to one of their stores and I saw that they made Rose Window pendants and pins from the Cathedrals in Europe. THe have two of Notre Dame’s Rose Windows. I got the Rose Window from Angers. It’s one of my favorite pendants to wear.

Notre Dame North Rose Window Pendant by Lovell Design picture image

Notre Dame North Rose Window Pendant by Lovell Design

You can get one the Rose Window Pieces on  Lovell’s website. In addition to Notre Dame North and West Rose Windows and Angers they have Rose Window designs from Chartres, Clermont, Lausanne, and St Chapelle.

And can you check Lovell Design other pieceson Amazon, sad to say the Rose Window are not there but there stuff is very pretty I love their St. Brendan’s Cross.

Salma Hayek as Esmeralda, 1997 The Hunchback picture image

Salma Hayek as Esmeralda,

The 1997 version of The Hunchback seemingly has everything a person could want in a Hunchback adaptation but it fails. It’s a boring dull mess that fails to captures the novel even though it seems to be trying on some level however it’s being lazy on so many other levels. The actors can’t save it and there in nothing else to capture interest other than thinking about what this movie could have been like if it wasn’t a TV movie but it was a theatrical movie.

Next Hunchback version; The Enchanted tales Version, oh this one, this is going to be PAINFUL!

Melody and Quasimodo  Enchanted  Tales picture image

Melody and Quasimodo

 

Belle and Beast's argument Beauty and the Beast picture image

Belle and Beast’s argument

People think Belle from Beauty and the Beast has stockholm syndrome because they think they’re smart and in scheme of things Belle does not. Stockholm Syndrome
is a psychological phenomenon in which hostages express empathy and sympathy and have positive feelings toward their captors, sometimes to the point of defending and identifying with them.

Stockholm Syndrome affects 8% of hostages so it’s pretty rare. A note, I’m not a psychologist, take what I say with a grain a of salt but it makes more sense than the people who will convince you that Belle does have stockholm syndrome.

For Belle to have gotten stockholm syndrome she would have needed to bond to the Beast for her survival. Beast never threatened Belle’s life, he was just an immature jerk. However one could say that in Beast giving Belle her own room and access to castle it was an act of kindness that could have triggered the syndrome. However Belle then blatantly rejects the Beast’s dinner offer, she and his servants disobey his edict that she can’t eat and then she disobey’s him again by going into his off-limit area before effortfully leaving the castle. Does she get stockholm syndrome when she is no longer a prisoner? The fact that Belle left without much trouble points that she can’t have stockholm syndrome as it hardly seems like she is a prisoner in the place.

People also think that Belle gets it after the Beast saves her from the wolves and she brought him back  to the castle and treated him. During that scene she is still standing up for herself and makes better points about how he should have kept his temper. Belle then thanks him for saving her life. She is not in fear of him and she is speaking to him as equal.

Actually the one act of kindness people connect the Belle’s supposed stockholm syndrome to is Beast giving her the library. Ok no, the act of kindness is that is associated with stockholm syndrome is the victim thinking that the captor is keeping them alive is the act of kindness. When Beast gives her the library it’s a thank you he her saving him and not a ploy to bond to his hostage.

Clearly, I’m rambling. If you want a well written argument agianst Belle having stockholm syndrome, I highly recommend reading Triple Nerd Score: The Truth About A Beauty, A Beast, And Stockholm Syndrome. They explain it far better than I.

But Belle does not have Stockhom Syndrome, if I see one more idoitic website thinking they are smart by suggesting it, I will scream.

Brother Bear 2 picture image

Brother Bear 2

When I first started watching Brother Bear 2, I was annoyed to learned that much like the Hunchback sequel, this sequel was the main character from the first film getting a love interest.

That model is better than the children of the former main characters learning the same lesson. However the Brother Bear sequel is more entertaining than the hunchback sequel so it makes this story type passable.

Brother Bear 2 picture image

Kenai and Nita

Plot is Kenai’s childhood friend Nita is about to get married but the sprits stop her wedding because Kenai gave her an amulet that bonds them together. She is told she needs to burn it at the place where  he  gave it to her on the Equinox with Kenai. She is given powers so she can talk to him as it apparently very common knowledge that he’s a bear.

She finds him in record time and convinces him to help her. Stuff ensues and we learn that she is afraid of water and Koda is contrived annoying drama. Kenai and Nita along the way rekindle their budding romance. They get to the place where Kenai gave her the amulet, Hokani Falls, and Nita burns it.

After she burns the amulet Nita parts ways with Kenai and Koda. Koda however wants Kenai to be happy and goes to get Nita from her village. Kenai goes after Koda and gets into a fight with Nita’s fiancee. In the end Nita transforms into a bear so that they all can be with each other, hooray.

Nota and Koda Brother Bear 2 picture image

Nita and Koda

In someways I found this movie less annoying than the original. The Original had this great beginning and ok ending but the middle was annoying. The sequel should have been more annoying since it’s the middle of story characters are the focus but somehow it was less annoying.

Maybe it’s because Koda wasn’t AS annoying since there was Nita to balance out Koda and Kenai. Or Maybe it’s because the goofy tone is throughout the film so you don’t have another tone to distract you.

Nita in her wedding gown Brother Bear 2  picture image

Nita in her wedding gown

I liked that Nita wasn’t against her arranged marriage at the start of the movie. I’m not like pro-arrange marriage but I think it created an interested character arc that she wasn’t hang up on marring for love only to fall in love. She could have just as easily been against the marriage from the start but she wasn’t. On subject of Nita was anyone else distracted by Rapunzel’s voice?

Nita and Kenai  Brother Bear 2  picture image

Nita and Kenai

Though on the subject of voice actors, Patrick Dempsey plays Kenai because Joaquin Phoenix did not reprise his role. With Dempsey in the role it makes Kenai feel like a different character. He seems more long-suffering and mature. Not sure if the character was written that way  but he is less grumpy and brash than in the first one.

Nita as a Bear with Kenai and Koda  Brother Bear 2  picture image

Nita as a Bear with Kenai and Koda

I disliked the ending, it was very contrived. First off you know it’s coming. Kenai won’t leave Koda because Koda is a codependent who needs someone and nor will they entertain the option of turning Koda into a human since bears and the animals are closer to the spirits, I guess or something.

A Disney sequel would never set up a couple only to having them go their separate ways, or Disney for that matter. The bear wedding this was beyond stupid too. Just a silly stupid dumb ending.

Nita with Siqiniq and Taqqiq Brother Bear 2 picture image

Nita with Siqiniq and Taqqiq

All and All, Brother Bear 2 wasn’t bad. It was easier to watch than original but Koda was still annoying.

These are the two posters from the Stage production of the Disney version of the Hunchback of Notre Dame. A note, the poster for La Jolla is used on their website and it may not be the official poster.

One is from the German version Der Glöckner von Notre Dame and the other is the poster from the upcoming La Jolla English language version.

Both posters are quite different. While both do have bells imagery Glöckner’s only hints at one while La Jolla’s makes it a focal point.

Der Glockner von notre Dame German Musical of Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame picture image

Der Glockner von notre Dame German Musical of Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame

Glöckner’s simplified Quasimodo gives the illusion that the show could have an upbeat tone but its lack of color does add a flavor of melancholy. I reviewed the show but I have not seen it but the show is bright and colorful but does have a sad ending. The square and vertical text work echos Notre Dame in a way. Otherall the poster is simple yet interesting.

La Jolla Hunchback Poster picture image

La Jolla Hunchback Poster

Where the Glöckner’s poster used a cool purple and black gradient for it overall color, La Jolla is the opposite, opting for a warm yellow tone. While the color yellow is typically cheery and bright this poster seems to have a shade of sadness. It’s a bell on a wooden bean with the logo on the bell. Behind is a setting sun. Setting suns usually indicate death. Moreover the lines on the bell and the wood make it look old and broken. There is no characters on it just the bell.

I like both posters in different ways. I like the singular bell of the La Jolla poster and I like the sad little Quasimodo figure. Both are very simple and that is their strength. If I had say what I dislike about them I would I say I don’t really like the shadow on Glöckner’s and I think the glow on the sun is too strong and white on the La Jolla poster.

Which poster do you like better, Glöckner or La Jolla?

The very first time I watched 1997 version of The Hunchback I was struck by the sets mainly the Notre Dame sanctuary sets and not in a good way.

Sets 1997 Hunchback of Notre Dame picture image

Quasimodo in “Notre Dame” Interior Set

The set used for the sanctuary of Notre Dame is pretty but Notre Dame it is not. Oh, it has similar aspects of Notre Dame as it’s a gothic church but it’s not Notre Dame.

Frollo inside "Notre Dame" with King and Minister, 1997 Hunchback picture image

Frollo inside “Notre Dame” with King and Minister

This church has a soft earthly glow to it that Notre Dame not have. Notre Dame is dark inside so that the light from the rose windows pours inside. This light in the movie could have been the result of lighting a set for filming but post production could have corrected that. But I don’t think so. The layout and the look of it are just different. The stones seems more brown in tone and not grey like in Notre Dame. The columns totally different. Notre Dame’s columns are bigger with more complex capitals, the tops of columns. The ones in The Hunchback have like a stacking clustering details. It’s very telling that you don’t get an establishing shot of the sanctuary of the cathedral like in the 1939 version and the Disney version.

The Church of Saint Ouen in Rouen picture image

The Church of Saint Ouen in Rouen

Clearly they are passing another Church off as Notre Dame instead of a building set or shoting at Notre Dame. The Church they are passing off as Notre Dame is The Church of Saint Ouen in Rouen. Shame of you movie, Saint Ouen is gorgeous is its own right. In truth it does not matter which Church it is, it’s not Notre Dame. It’s disrespectful to the buildings and the audience when movies pass off one landmark for another. I get that movies typically pass off Toronto for New York because it’s cheaper but somehow this switch reminds of this Bollywood movie called Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, in which they try and fail to pass off Budapest for Rome. They did it because the filmmakers felt Budapest wouldn’t connect to an Indian audience. And clearly the film makers for the 1997 Hunchback think one Gothic Church is as good as another because people won’t notice.

The rest of the sets are ok, nothing really to say, they are like the rest of this movie meh…..

Next Time -Final Thoughts of the 1997 Version of The Hunchback.

Salma Hayek as Esmeralda, 1997 The Hunchback picture image

Salma Hayek as Esmeralda,

Today’s prophecy comes for the Hunchback Disney Script.

You’re telling me! I’m losing to a Bird!

It is futile to chose an avian as an opponent today.

 

Bambi II picture image

Bambi II

I want to review Bambi II, really I do but it’s beyond reproach as Patrick Stewart is it and anything with Patrick Stewart is clearly awesome.

Alright, I’ll try and review it!

Bambi and The Great Prince Bambi II picture image

Bambi and The Great Prince

Bambi II is a midquel. It takes place during the time after Bambi’s mother dies and he is being raised by his dad, the Great Prince of the Forest. Basically the movie is about the Great Prince coming to terms with raising Bambi and Bambi trying to win his dad’s respect.

This story actually works and is pretty ok. It suffers from the typical issues of little drama when death or near-death is used. Though at one point a doe is trouble and that could have had some drama but they diffused the tension in favor of Bambi being chased by hounds and you know he going to be fine. Otherwise it not that bad but there are some issues.

Bambi watching The Great Prince fight off Hounds Bambi II picture image

Bambi watching The Great Prince fight off Hounds

First off this movie takes some influence from The Land Before Time, which is weird. Ronno’s story scaring a man is pretty damn similar to Cera’s story about finding the T-rex. Even Ronno’s tone is the same. There is also a very similar shot of the Great Prince fighting hounds in a shadow against a rock while Bambi watches. This shot is very much identical to Littlefoot watching as his mother fights the T-rex. It may seem weird but both movie feature a young animal losing it’s mother as a core motif.

Bambi, Ronno, and Faline Bambi II   picture image

Bambi, Ronno, and Faline

Speaking of Ronno, what an annoying character. Ronno is a bully who is momma-boy. It seems like he is the rival stag in the original because of his motions towards Faline but not sure. I guess he is an antagonist and a foil to Bambi but he is annoying.

Bambi II picture image

Bambi

Bambi himself has little personality but he didn’t really in the first so whatever.

The Great Prince Bambi II picture image

The Great Prince

Bambi II does a fair job at keeping the atmosphere of the original. The original had these moments of dramatic and almost abstract lighting. Like the hounds in the grass is a pretty cool shot.

Bambi and The Great Prince Bambi II picture image

Bambi and The Great Prince

Bambi II is ok it didn’t annoy as much as thought it would. Was it a story that needed to be told? No. Is this movie made better by Patrick Stewart? Yes. And not to throw in another Game of Thrones reference but the Great Prince totally got me when he said “Winter is coming….. to an end.”

These are the least popular Hunchback items that I have created for Zazzle. They are pretty bad I confess. I don’t know what I was thinking on some of these.

#1 Esmeralda Textile Mousepad
Esmeralda Textile Mousepad
Esmeralda Textile Mousepad by Hunchstore

#2 Esmeralda Tote
Esmeralda Illustrated Tote Bag
Esmeralda Illustrated Tote Bag by Hunchstore

#3 Quasi-No-Go Bumper Sticker
Quasi-No-Go Bumper Sticker
Quasi-No-Go Bumper Sticker by Hunchstore

#4 Frollo’s Dream Date
Frollo's Perfect Date Magnets
Frollo’s Perfect Date Magnets by Hunchstore

#5 Esmeralda Textile Necklace
Esmeralda Textile Necklace
Esmeralda Textile Necklace