Category: Disney

Tron Ares Review

~ DLP

I watched this movie a couple of days after it dropped on Disney+.  I’m a fan.  Loved the first and second films.  Tron Ares “bombed” at the box office.  And it really did.  Google’s AI says it did only $142M globally and a pitiful $73M domestically.  Surprising, really, or maybe not.

The film got a lot of hate because of Jared Leto.  What I read online was that he was very excited to be a part of the Tronverse, and he’s a decent and popular actor, so what happened?  IMHO, it wasn’t his fault.

In online advertising, I felt the story was a bit misrepresented.  I got the impression that we were going to see an actual war with programs from the digital realm invading the “real world” on a large scale.  What we got was a total of four programs entering the real world on a 29-minute mission to acquire the “permanence code” from a human.  That was still a fairly exciting premise, but viewers knew none of that going in, and I didn’t love it. 

I felt also that the programs were just too human in terms of their behavior.  As the new MCP, I thought Ares would be a bit more sanitized.  Clean-shaven with a military-style haircut.  Leto’s long-haired, bearded portrayal seemed very off to me.  I wonder whose decision it was to have Ares look that way?  I’m sure the scriptwriters at Disney thought that having Ares rebel and have compassion for a human was a novel idea, but I think the story would have been more entertaining if he had stuck to his programming.

To be sure, the visuals of this film and the NIN score were amazing.  I didn’t hate the film, I just felt it could have been better.  In Tron Legacy, Clu intended to invade the real world and that was kind of what I was expecting here.

I did enjoy the little nod to David Warner (Sark, from the original film) in the post credits scene where the Dillinger character (Evan Peters) escapes into his own digital grid and is painfully transformed into Sark.  Maybe that is the teaser for the movie I was expecting to begin with.  Thanks for reading.

Once Upon A Studio

~ DLP
Credit to Deviant Artist MARVINTHOMASTUGSFAN for photo

I’m a HUGE Disney fan. I have loved Disney all my life. It started with Disney animated and live action films. Foremost in my mind are Peter Pan and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Oh! And Swiss Family Robinson. These are timeless films that really began my love affair with Disney.

Nowadays, Disney is perceived more as a brand than a cultural icon, but to me Disney IS American culture. Sure, a lot of it is pretty cheesy. Some of it is “politically incorrect.” I’ll never understand why Disney chooses to sanitize certain things. I recently re-watched Swiss Family Robinson on Disney+ and they stuck the following disclaimer to the top of the intro to the film, “This program includes negative depictions and/or mistreatment of people or cultures.” That’s fine (although I never viewed the film with any particular interest in the stereotypical elements. In SFR, the pirates are the bad guys, period. They could have been of any ethnicity.) but what I don’t understand is why Disney refuses to give Song of the South the treatment it deserves. They don’t even market the film at all in the US. There is a third-party vendor selling it on Amazon. It’s a VHS to DVD transfer of passable quality. It’s panned and scanned (formatted for a square TV screen). Disney could remaster it on Blu-Ray, in widescreen format and include the same damned disclaimer, but they don’t. Call me ignorant, but why?

I digress. The title of this article is “Once Upon A Studio,” which is a short, ten-minute film Disney dropped onto the Disney+ streaming platform this month. It is an unbelievably charming and touching 100th anniversary tribute to the studio in which MANY Disney characters pop out of framed stills on the walls of the Roy Disney Animation Studio building and gather for a giant group photo in front of the building. Characters from classically animated films as well as newer digital products are present. All of the originals, many from the second wave (thanks Roy!), as well as from films like Wreck It Ralph, Frozen, Moana, and more. Here’s a link to the Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Once_Upon_a_Studio

At one point, Mickey pauses in front of a picture of Walt and gives him a warm smile. From that point until the end of the thing I was sobbing like a 10-year-old. I just couldn’t stop. As I mentioned at the top, I’m a big fan. I have had an emotional connection to Disney movies, parks, and music since I was very young (I’m 62 as I write this).

While I have my issues with the company in the areas of their “wokeness” (their desire to be PC and not offend anyone) and the ever-increasing cost of entry to Disney parks, upcharging for things like the Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party and now even Christmas events, Genie+ and Lightning Lane charges, I still love Disney. I love the cleanliness of their parks, the attitude of their cast members, the overall quality of their entertainment whether it be music, movies, Broadway productions, or the smaller things they do in the parks. These are the things that keep me coming back and loving the brand. Clearly, I’m not alone because millions of people visit the parks around the world each year. Millions of people around the world watch their films. People go into debt to take Disney vacations, or spend a lot of time saving up for them.

And then there’s Walt himself. His vision and high standards have created a juggernaut that largely still maintains those standards and tries to remain aligned to his vision. Disney and its ancillary companies provide a tremendous number of jobs at all levels to people around the world. The value generated by the Disney brand is, in my humble opinion, incalculable.

Thanks Walt!