Movie Dude Quick Flicks: Beauty & The Beast, Mulan & Tarzan

Starring Paige O’Hara, Robby Benson, Richard White, Jerry Orbach, David Ogden Stiers, Angela Lansbury, Bradley Michael Pierce, Jo Anne Worley, Rex Everhart & Jesse Corti

Directed by Gary Trousdale & Kirk Wise

This takes me back. It’s not the obvious that has me on a high level three nostalgia trip but the little things. The sound cues and the dictation of the voice actors are what drag me back some twenty-odd years. Then there’s the soundtrack, the insanely good performances and pretty much everything else that had me enjoying this as a child. Though piece it together as a live-action film and it’s more of a fantastical chick flick, I guess. Nevertheless, I may not be a Disney addict of any description but a second journey through Beauty & The Beast may just tip me over the edge.

Starring Ming-Na Wen, Eddie Murphy, BD Wong, Miguel Ferrer, June Foray, Harvey Fierstein, Gedde Watanabe, Jerry Tondo, James Hong & Soon-Tek Oh

Directed by Tony Bancroft & Barry Cook

Then there are the ones I didn’t have the money to see when I was a child. Mulan was one that I missed, and though it’s good I doubt it’s going to be ringing in my head twenty years afterwards. The majority of Disney’s offerings from the 90’s are all classics, don’t get me wrong, but there are those that hit home and there are the ones you can skip and not worry too much about. Everybody’s tastes are different, but for me Mulan is the latter.

Then again, who knows? Maybe if I had seen this twenty years ago my impression would be entirely different. Considering how successful the Disney childhood nostalgia experience has been for me I’m more than keen to revisit in another twenty years. I just don’t hold out much hope.

Starring Tony Goldwyn, Minnie Driver, Glenn Close, Lance Henriksen, Brian Blessed, Nigel Hawthorne, Rosie O’Donnell & Wayne Knight

Directed by Chris Buck & Kevin Lima

One first impression that fared a little better was Tarzan. Of course it’s not going to live up to the ones I did see when I was a kid, but it holds up pretty well. There’s this murky area of Disney offerings where nothing is too well defined or individualistic but you can tell that there’s some quality work. For me that’s Tarzan. Not bad, but not the most memorable. Basically, if your direct competition is some of the best Disney has ever made period, that’s bound to occur with the other releases. Not all can be the greatest ever made, but there are those who accept their limitations, and those who give it a fair shot regardless.