Delilah Takes on the Thanksgiving Movie Releases!

I've never actually gone to the cinema on Thanksgiving weekend, but I'm probably going to break that habit this year, because I'm beyond excited for two of the releases.  Both Tangled and Burlesque come out this year on November 24th!

I guess first I'll talk about Disney's Tangled, and then do another post on Burlesque.  If you've been living under a rock and need a quick synopsis, here's what I've gleaned from the advertisements:  A lovable, wanted thief named Flynn pairs up with Rapunzel and they madcap around on a search to solve Rapunzel's existential mystery all while fighting/avoiding the law and some unsavory types who are dogging Flynn.  It's computer animated, and will be available in Disney Digital 3D, depending on location.  Zachary Levi and Mandy Moore voice Flynn and Rapunzel, respectively.

 I'm feeling trepidatious about Tangled.  *Side note: My spell check keeps telling me that "trepidatious" isn't a word, or that it's spelled incorrectly.  Sometimes I want to punch spell check in the mouth*  When I learned a year or two ago that Disney was planning on doing a retelling of Rapunzel, I was pretty psyched.  Especially when I learned that amazing Disney animator Glen Keane would be involved.  Keane was a main animator at Disney during the "New Golden Age" in the 90s, and he was the lead designer on Ariel, Aladdin, the Beast, Pocahontas, and Tarzan.  He's one of my absolute favorite animators.

But I'm a little disappointed that the movie is computer animated and not the traditional 2D cel animation.  Keane has talked about how he wants to find a way to translate the personality of traditional animation (like in the Pocahontas wind scenes, where he smudged charcoal to achieve the blurred effect) into the more sterile computer animation.  I think Tangled will be interesting to see if he was able to move closer to this goal.  I feel that this story would have been a great traditional animation movie, and that it could have been interestingly adapted for a musical-esque great movie hearkening back to movies like Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, etc.  Disney had a great "formula" back then, and those movies are classics.  It looks like they've kinda "Shrek-ified" the story though.

I'm probably over-analyzing this, but I LOVE Disney.  This is me keeping my Disney-craziness to an absolute minimum, like a dog on a waaay too short leash, with a squirrel right in front of it.  I can talk about Disney until the cows come home, and then a bit more.

Here's a great blog on the Art of Glen Keane.  It has a lot of the rough animation of his different characters, and it is a great compendium of all the different resources across the web.  Give it a look!

I'm reserving my judgment and have high hopes for Tangled.  I just wish Disney would make movies like they used to-- movies I can fall in love with.  Do you agree with me on bringing back old Disney, or am I being a stick in the mud?  Are you excited for Tangled, and if so will you see it on Thanksgiving weekend?