r/DisneyMovies

I have read the following

Grimm’s Fairy tales, I believe including Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, and the Frog Prince.

The Adventures of Pinocchio by Collodi

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll

Peter Pan by J.M. Barry (I believe I read the book from, not the original play)

The Hundred and One Dalmatians by Dodie Smith (and the sequel, The Starlight Barking)

The Once and Future King (including The Sword in the Stone) by T.H. White

The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling

The Prydain Chronicles (including The Black Cauldron) by Lloyd Alexander

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo

Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Anderson (although Frozen is based on this in-credit-only)

Not sure if this counts for Great Mouse Detective (and I know there is actual literature about Basil specifically) but I have read the entire Sherlock Holmes canon by Arthur Conan Doyle.

I’m also pretty well-versed in Greek Mythology. Disney’s Hercules was my first experience, as a 9-year-old, saying “Hey, that’s not how it’s supposed to be!” I’m not sure if there’s any “official” text to read for Aladdin, but I’ve seen and read versions of the original story.

I’ve been meaning to read the Winnie the Pooh books, largely cause it’s small and doable. Little Mermaid would also be good in that regard.

If you haven’t read The Chronicles of Prydain, DO SO!!! If you’re a fan of Lewis & Tolkien, they are a must-read piece of High Fantasy! Any other fans out there, give me a shout!

Because thoughts plague me about what goes on at the House of Mouse the more stories you hear.

1. The songs for "Wish" were only first drafts--I base this on three things. For one, Julia Michaels herself said that she and Benjamin Saxe met with execs weekly, but weren't given much to go off of for the story, maybe one or two storyboards. For two, Jennifer Lee said that Julia Michaels wrote "This Wish" before the script was written. And for three, the whole reason I have reason to suggest this: Glenn Slater said himself that when he and Alan Menken made "I See the Light," Disney rejected many of Menken's melodies because they didn't want it to overpower the visuals of the lanterns, and only allowed Slater to write the first draft of the song, and refused to let him change it afterwards. Put this with the fact that "Wish," "Encanto," and "Moana 2" don't have any deleted songs (that we know of) makes this seem like Disney just told songwriters to make whatever songs they already had work rather than writing new ones or altering what they had. I also have the theory that Disney didn't hire songwriters who had worked with them on musicals before because they'd know Disney was sabotaging them, versus Julia and Benjamin who would just go along with it.

2. Josie Trinidad was demoted on "Hexed" due to fighting Disney--This has less evidence due to the film not being released yet, and thus we haven't gotten interviews and production notes/concept art, but it is something I think based on rumors. According to said rumors, the original mother-son idea was based on Trinidad's relationship with her son, and if that's true, I'd imagine she'd want to keep the protagonist male. According to Jason Hand and Fawn Veerasunthorn, they felt the story was strongest with a mother-daughter dynamic, but I'm sure "Kpop Demon Hunters" (and maybe "Elio" flopping) made Disney rethink the idea, since their last two films that weren't sequels were box-office bombs, and they felt a magical girl film would be more lucrative than a magical boy film. Perhaps Trinidad argued against that, especially since she worked on the film since 2019, and the long length of production (which would've been longer if they hadn't pushed "Frozen 3" to 2027) made them decide to kick her off because they felt like her vision wasn't helping the film and wanted to qucikly correct it, making her co-director. Of course, even if this is the "truth," I wouldn't put it past Disney to be partially responsible for hectic production if they were pushing against her ideas. For all intents and purposes, animated films usually have a 5-6 year production schedule, so it should've taken the place of "Moana 2" or "Zootopia 2."

3. It was exec's decision to redeem Namaari--I feel this in my bones. Concept art and notes of Namaari point to her being mysterious and dangerous, and according to producer Osnat Shurer, the original idea was for the more sentient druun to be controlled by Namaari, and for her to be a traditional villain. Given that the filmmakers have discussed the film originally being more PG-13 and mentioning scrapping a scene where Namaari saved someone so they audience wouldn't like her, and Shurer himself pushing for a happy ending where all the dragons return (which was a lot of back-and-forth), it wouldn't surprise me if Disney wanted Namaari to be a more redeemed villain rather than the actual creative team. I don't think it was a bad change, but it was certainly a poorly executed one.

4. The Persian film was cancelled for "Moana 2"--Okay, this was all but confirmed. Suzi Yoonessi was one of four directors--along with Carlos Lopez Estrada ("Raya"), Josie Trinidad ("Hexed"), and Marc Smith (unknown; possibly cancelled or replaced?)--announced to be working on an animated Disney film, and she mentioned it being about Persian folklore and culture. Her own blog mentions she worked on a Disney movie as a director for 5 years. The general consensus is that her film was the original one planned for 2024 (before sequel fever got heavy with Disney), but the back-to-back flops of "Wish" and "Strange World" was what made Disney afraid to try a new project. Given the production team for "Moana 2" said that they found out the show was becoming a movie 10 months before the release date, this does seem to confirm the last-minute decision. I do regret this, since I don't know how Disney feels about reviving original projects (it's legally their property, but it was made with Yoonessi's childhood and perspective), though I guess for socio-political reasons, Disney would've been in a rough spot if they had made it. Honestly surprised they didn't want to make another Arab film to coincide with the construction of their Disneyland in Abu Dhabi, but that's another matter entirely.

5. Frozen 3 is going through a lot of production issues--Obviously, this is just a guess for now. I was pretty surprised when Disney changed the release date for "Frozen 3" from 2026 to 2027, though I was glad since it meant we would've had 3 years in a row of Disney sequels, and also showed what I hoped was growth made by the company after the hectic production woes of the second film. But now I think it wasn't Disney's idea; I do wonder if Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck were the ones who pushed for more time to craft the story, and it gave Disney more time to promote it. However, they already seem to have a fully animated scene from the film 15 months before release (which I pray is just an ad rather than a scene they'll be keeping), and they debuted a song there. I do worry that the success of "Zootopia 2" and the first 2 "Frozen" films are looming over the film crew--as well as the failure of "Wish" for Jennifer Lee--especially as Disney boasts to do the most campaigning they've ever done for a film. A lot of people are looking at the fact that the film seems to be taking from the scrapped concepts of the first film, ie crashing Anna's wedding and a wicked queen ("the cursed frozen heart," as the song puts it). I grieve any Disney film with production issues, but musicals have twice as much to be ruined.

In case you don’t know, it is often brought up that the opening narration says that the rose’s last petal will fall by the Beast’s 21st year, and the lyrics to “Be Our Guest” imply that the curse has lasted for ten years. That would mean that the Beast was at most 11 years old when he was cursed, and yet we see a portrait of the Beast before the curse that shows him in his mid-to-late teens at the youngest.

Some people have argued that maybe the narration didn’t mean the Beast’s 21st year alive, but his 21st year as a beast. But this still contradicts the “ten years” line. The last petal falls at the end of the movie, implying that the “21st year” is up. If the Beast had been cursed for 21 years at this point, that would mean Belle spent 11 years with the Beast, which seems quite unlikely.

My theory is that the Beast hasn’t actually been cursed for ten years. The only one who says this is Lumiere. Later in the movie when the Beast confesses his love for Belle after letting her rescue Maurice, Lumiere thinks this will be enough to break the spell, but Mrs. Potts points out that the Beast’s loved one must love him back in order for the spell to be broken. If Lumiere can get such a crucial detail wrong, he’s probably not very good at keeping track of time.