Top Ten Animated Films with Guest Writer Tucker Meijer: #4 Critics' Take
Here are Tucker’s take on my choice for our 4th best film TIE: The Little Mermaid and Hunchback of Notre Dame, and my take on his choice, The Iron Giant. Below are our original posts.
Tucker’s take on Jeremy’s #4: TIE The Little Mermaid
I am deathly afraid of the ocean. I don’t know where this fear originated or why I still struggle to be in deep water without thinking about the things circling below. Maybe it’s something about how deep the ocean is or how a lot of it is unexplored. Whatever it is, I’m terrified of being anywhere near the ocean.
This fear is one of the reasons that I love The Little Mermaid so much; for me, it presents a bright and happy version of something that I find so scary. Ariel’s world is sunny, full of hermit crabs that sing and wonderful odds and ends that float down from the world above. There is something so compelling about the ocean world inhabited by the merpeople, since it’s a place that feels real and wonderfully imagined at the same time.
Of course, Ariel doesn’t love her world as much as I do. She dreams about another world, the one above the ocean, where people walk on streets. To this day, I think “Part of Their World” is one of the most heartbreaking songs in a Disney movie; Ariel’s voice trembles with longing as she longs for something that is impossible (or so she thinks) to attain.
This is one of the major themes in the movie: how the space one inhabits is not necessarily the best place for them. Ariel’s home is the sea, but for her, it is anything but that. She feels trapped in a place that seems expansive (a wonderful juxtaposition). The space that she longs for (the outside world) is inaccessible, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s worse for Ariel. It’s a parallel to the real world, where certain spaces are inaccessible to some people, but provide a sense of freedom.
As Jeremy mentions in his review, Ursula, the incredible villain, exploits Ariel’s desires and steals her voice. It is, as Jeremy mentions, a Faustian move; in a sense, Ariel’s voice is her soul. When Ariel arrives on land, voice-less and confused, her relationship with Eric starts to blossom. As I talked about in my review of The Iron Giant, actions of love are often more powerful than words. The relationship between Ariel and Eric proves this; Eric and Ariel fall in love despite Ariel’s lack of voice. There could be something to be said about the troubling gender logics of the women being unable to speak (an all too common occurrence in today’s world), while a man judges her for her beauty, but I tend to look at their relationship more positively.
The Little Mermaid does fall into the classic Disney trap of “damsel in distress who needs to be rescued by a man” but besides that, it fits in nicely with Disney’s pantheon of movies that are entertaining, visually appealing and moving.
Tucker’s take on Jeremy’s #4: TIE The Hunchback of Notre Dame
The Hunchback of Notre Dame also achieves this success, although, in my opinion, to a lesser degree than The Little Mermaid. Jeremy is right in that The Hunchback of Notre Dame feels darker than the normal Disney fair. Among other things, it deals with death and disability, two topics that are challenging and nuanced.
Disney sidekicks are really hit or miss; sometimes they can make a movie worse with their antics. But Jeremy is right in saying that the gargoyles are some of the best sidekicks because of the fact that they may be brought to life via Quasimodo’s imagination. It’s fascinating and a marked departure from some other Disney sidekicks.
I do feel like The Hunchback of Notre Dame unfortunately leans a little too hard into the “kindness on the inside counts for more than what you look like on the outside” theme. It’s maybe not entirely surprising since it is a Disney movie after all. While there’s nothing inherently wrong with this idea, it comes off as slightly cliché in The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
With that said, I do really like how the movie stays away from the easy ending (Quasimodo and Esmeralda fall in love and Phoebus somehow gets out of the picture). Quasimodo is hailed as a hero by the end, but he gives his blessing to Phoebus and Esmeralda in a way that feels more authentic to the story.
I don’t think The Hunchback of Notre Dame is one of Disney’s best. But, it’s still enjoyable in the way all Disney movies are and is rife with positive messages. For that, I can’t really fault it too much.
Jeremy’s take on Tucker’s #4: The Iron Giant
I admit, already writing about The Iron Giant, not sure how much more I have to say about the film either, but Tucker’s review certainly does nail the concept of unconditional love. Those relationships are truly special.
I grew up with dogs always in the house. When I was born, Sketer was a member of our family. He was a German shepherd Alaskan malamute mix who was my protector. When the I cried, he went and got my parents. When I was six or seven, our neighbor brought a dog whom she has found, a springer spaniel who she was looking for a home for. While my mom was basically telling her no, I brought the dog into the house. When my mom discovered that the dog was on the couch with me and her head was in my lap, my mom said we would keep her. Chips, as I came to name her because of the chocolate colored chip spots on her nose, would become my best friend. We were inseparable. That unspoken friendship is still one of the most dear to me. Few pieces of art captures that feeling. The Iron Giant is definitely one of them.
The other point that I think The Iron Giant makes today more powerful than it did when it was released is for the balance of technology. The Iron Giant may have been designed as a weapon, but he chooses to be a superhero. In teaching teenagers, I have seen the destructive force that technology can be either in the form of social media and cyberbullying. Or the inability of teenagers to communicate because they are more tempted to be on their phone than talking to the person next to them. I have seen video game addiction (I know it’s controversial to call it addiction) cause insomnia and anxiety. It is easy to rail against technology as the source of our problems. But, that is simply not true. Students found other ways not to pay attention in class than surf the internet. Students found other ways to stay up late at night. But, I do think that some of these aspects of behavior have been negatively impacted and enlarged by technology. The Iron Giant reminds us not to condemn the technology itself, but rather, to see how we can better use and appreciate that technology.
Obviously, I agree with Tucker that Brad Bird’s The Iron Giant belongs on a top ten list of the great animated films. When I posted mine, several of his friends said they wanted it to be #1. Well, it’s deservingly #4.
Tucker’s #4: The Iron Giant
It took me a while to figure out what movie I wanted to eek into my top 5 animated movies. I watched a bunch of Pixar movies, I watched a few Miyazaki movies and even, in a fit of desperation, thought about putting Coraline in here (before I realized that, while Coraline is a fine movie, it doesn’t deserve to be on my list of top 10 animated movies, much less in the top 5). But there was one movie that kept coming back to me, even while I watching everything else. It was a movie that Jeremy and I have already written about, but I think deserves to be high on my list: The Iron Giant.
I think that Jeremy and I both covered a lot of ground when we both first wrote about The Iron Giant but I want to explore the reasons why I keep coming back to it. One of these reasons is deeply personal; in a really tumultuous time in my life (and in fact, in the world), this movie reminds of the power of unconditional love.
Jeremy and I talked about the Giant as being like a big, mechanical pet. I still believe that this is an apt comparison, especially since dogs are known for the deep love they hold for their owners. This is a love that transcends conflict and is incredibly pure; no matter what, the dog, though unable to verbally communicate, demonstrates its love through action: a tail wag, a happy yip. This is how the Giant communicates with Hogarth; his verbal skills are limited, but his actions demonstrate the strength of his feelings.
I firmly believe that it matters to show this kind of love on screen. Our world is filled with loud talkers who say one thing and act in a completely different way. The Iron Giant demonstrates that actions truly do speak louder than words. The verbal barrier between the Giant and Hogarth does not hinder their ability to form a meaningful and loving relationship, which culminates in the Giant making the absolute sacrifice.
The unconditional love between a boy and his best friend is why I keep coming back to this movie. I think that we can all learn from Hogarth and the Giant, focusing on how our actions of love can be just as loud as our words.
Jeremy’s #4: TIE!
“Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy night.” - Margot Channing (All About Eve) [I mean that about this review]
Okay, hear me out. Yes, my choice this time is a TIE. Yes, I am cheating hence citing All About Eve, but hear me out. Walt Disney Studios is one of the undisputed producers of great animation, and Walt Disney himself is one of the great animators. I will honor Walt in one of my upcoming choices, but with these two films, I honor Walt Disney Studios. After Walt’s passing, Disney somewhat lost its way, especially in the 1980s producing good, but not great films. Then, in 1989, Disney Studios released The Little Mermaid which spawned the Disney Renaissance. In a matter of seven years Disney released The Little Mermaid (1989), Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), The Lion King (1994), Pocahontas (1995), and The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996). With the exception of Pocahontas (which ironically may have some of Disney’s best music, even though it is has one of their worst scripts), I could see any of these films making a top ten animated film list. For myself, I have chosen two of them to represent them all: the first, The Little Mermaid, and the last, The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
#4 TIE: The Little Mermaid & The Hunchback of Notre Dame
In 1989, I was six years old. I had all of the classic animated Disney films on VHS and watched them religiously. But, while classic Disney films made appearances in theaters, nothing Disney made during my lifetime lived up to those past works. Great Mouse Detective enjoyable, but not brilliant. The Rescuers Down Under, great villain, not one of Disney’s best. Then, I went to see The Little Mermaid. Seeing The Little Mermaid in theaters was one of the most magical experiences of my life. I have always loved the sea. Being fortunate enough to grow up near Monterrey Bay Aquarium, we were members and went several times a year. There’s something about the mystery of the depths of the ocean where animals live in a world that is the mirror of our own. Floating instead of held down. The sea in The Little Mermaid may not be “realistic” in that it is clear, but the world created under the ocean is indeed the one of my imagination. This is what it is like to live under the sea.
One of the amazing insights in The Little Mermaid is that each world dreams of the other. The sailors in the opening song sing about the “mysterious fathoms below”, causing the young Prince Eric to ask “King Triton?” with a demanding curiosity. That is juxtaposed against a concert in Triton’s underwater castle, led by the greatest of Disney sidekicks, Sebastian. Sebastian wrote a musical piece for Triton’s youngest daughter, Ariel, whose voice is angelic, but, when her big solo begins, she is not there. She is off on an adventure. Just as in love I am with the ocean, Ariel is in love with the surface world. She collects pieces that fall to the ocean depths, just as I collected seashells that wash up on the shore. When she sings “Part of Your World”, her imagination and dreams soar in a way that I have not felt done better since Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz or Luke Skywalker walking out on the dunes to watch the setting suns. On a quick side note: Ariel was also my first crush in my life, followed by Jennifer Connelly when I saw Labyrinth. So yes, the first girl I ever had a crush on was animated.
However, a force ends up standing in the way of Ariel’s dream: her father. So often parents are loving, but demanding that children not engage in flights of fantasy, but, stay in reality. Why? Flights of fantasy are what fuel our imagination and creativity that can later in life be applied to the real world. Immediately after Triton destroys Ariel’s cove of wonders, he regrets it. You see it in his face as his daughter begins to cry. Thankfully, Triton is a loving and fallible father.
After the destruction of Ariel’s cave of wonders, all the pieces are in place for the masterstroke of the movie: the introduction of Ursula, the sea-witch, one of the great villainesses of all time, on par with Maleficent and Scar, Darth Vader and HAL, Hannibal Lecter and Nurse Ratched. Ursula exudes temptation, a seductress who in reality is Mephistopheles. Using her powers to capture people’s souls, she tempts them with contracts that are binding before collecting. The Little Mermaid is one of the great Faust/Mephistopheles stories. Her song “Poor Souls” is the best Disney-villain themed anthem in their catalog. It soars, it has a sense of humor, and a darkness beneath it as she manipulates a little girl into agreeing to a contract she cannot possibly understand.
Finally, the film takes shape. Ariel is sent to the surface for three days to get Prince Eric to fall in love with her. What happens, though, is that we, the audience, fall in love with our own world. Seeing the surface world through Ariel’s eyes is to be amazed by the simplest of things: a bubble floating in the air, a dog giving you a lick on the face, a fork with its prongs, horseshoes on a horse, dancing for the first time. Seeing our world through Ariel’s eyes is to realize that as Sebastian sings “the seaweed is always greener / In someone’s lake / You dream of going up there / but that is a big mistake”. We, like Ariel, take what we have for granted instead of wonder and gratitude. It is a brilliant message.
In 1996, I was in fifth or sixth grade, and I was done with animated films. Those were kid movies. I wanted to be an adult. So, I started seeing 90’s rated-R action films with my father and friends and did not turn back. Yes, I certainly saw from great films: Speed, Terminator 2, Point Break, Face/off. Then, two of my female friends dragged me almost kicking and screaming to see The Hunchback of Notre Dame. After all, Disney movies are for kids. Seeing Hunchback of Notre Dame changed my entire perspective on my childhood.
The first realization came when I realized that The Hunchback of Notre Dame was not a typical Disney film. Based on the novel by Victor Hugo, I was amazed that Disney did not Disney-fy this movie as much as they had other stories. Hunchback begins with the death of Quasimodo’s mother and the introduction of the great villain Judge Frollo, who “longed / To purge the world / Of vice and sin / And he saw corruption / Ev'rywhere / Except within.” Follo kills Quasimodo’s mother, and then, almost kills the infant Quasimodo, before a Bishop stops him by threatening the wrath of God upon him. I admit being shocked that Disney was talking on religion as a subject matter. Furthermore, Judge Frollo’s song “Hellfire” explains his fantasy of raping Esmeralda, playing into the conceit that has existed for far too long in conservative religious circles that women are objects of temptation. During the final battle at Notre Dame, there is an incredible realization when one of Quasimodo’s gargoyle friends informs him, “Ok, ok, Quasi… we’ll leave you alone. After all, we’re only made of stone. We just thought you were made of something stronger.” Disney’s sidekicks have long been a childish flight for me, getting almost worse with each new film, yet, in Hunchback there is the suggestion that the gargoyles are simply stone and that Quasimodo in his loneliness imagines friends. I was blown away by this idea.
Finally, there is the idea of the Disney-fication of the ending of the story, so that Disney can have a “happily ever after” ending. I worried watching Hunchback that Esmeralda would end up with Quasimodo despite it being so unrealistic. Imagine my surprise when Esmeralda ends up with Phoebes, not Quasimodo. Mind blown.
But even more mind blowing was the second revelation I had… the Disney films I loved as a child, were not in fact kids’ movies. Movies like Fantasia and Snow White, Bambi and Jungle Book were great movies in their own right, not merely great children’s films. It was at this point in my life that I found my way back to animation, back to Miyazaki’s My Neighbor Totoro and Kiki’s Delivery Service. I found my way back to Don Bluth’s films including An American Tail. They were certainly able to be watched as children, but they are enduring well told stories and I was being foolish in my young adolescents to dismiss them so easily. I am so grateful to all of the films I’ve listed so far, but to all the Disney films that I grew up with that made me who I am today.
