Boy, between this, the debate over whether Belle and the Beast's relationship is Stockholm syndrome or not, and the overemphasis on Belle the smart, independent woman vs. Gaston and the village of xenophobic, sexist yahoos (I've already read the novelization), this movie will warrant at least a month of think pieces…

I was initially planning to avoid this film, as the animated feature is my favorite Disney film, but between the stuff that's been featured in the ads and longer clips, at this point it's coming off as SO wrongheaded in its execution that I now want to see it as an experience in bad movies. I think it's going to go…

By the by — an interesting comparison point could be made with "Sesame Street", the Muppets of which remain owned by Sesame Workshop. "Sesame Street" was always more than just the Muppets, but Big Bird, Cookie Monster, et.al. are the glue that's kept it together all these decades, getting passed down generational…

Yeah, there aren't as many original songs for Disney park attractions these days, now that the typical new attraction is an adaptation of a movie rather than an original premise.

It seems easy, but the variety show is more or less dead in North America — cable, the Internet, and other new outlets for content seem to have made a "something for everyone" show obsolete. No one's been able to launch a new one in years — just ask Rosie O'Donnell or Neil Patrick Harris. There are reality…

To be honest with you, I do suspect that ultimately is the case. Disney's animated characters (both films and shorts) have managed to survive the loss of creators, voice actors, etc., as have franchises like "Doctor Who", "Star Wars", all the long-running superheroes, etc. but it's been a different story with stuff…

Oh, and here's an idea for some new Muppet videos…have them stage "Muppet Show"-style tributes to Disney animated films. I'd love to see lighthearted takes on songs like "Part of Your World" or "Let It Go", and/or even more boisterous renditions of songs like "Under the Sea" or "Gaston". And could Disney resist such…

Muppets always make great variety/talk show guests. That's when the new-generation performers get closest to the spirit of the originals!

What's telling is that the "Simpsons" episode in question was from 1996. Even at that point, the Muppets had lost a lot of pop cultural ground, so it wasn't surprising that Bart and Lisa wouldn't know from them.

I have been surprised that Disney hasn't figured out what to do with this franchise. Of the ones they've acquired in recent years, it's the only one that hasn't become a huge-er money-spinner for them, along the lines of Star Wars and Marvel.

Yeah, I think that and the lack of an exciting host were the key factors. 2016 just wasn't a great year for mainstream, tentpole filmmaking, so the Academy didn't have much of a choice of movies that were both hugely popular AND critically acclaimed. (That said, politics probably didn't help either. It's guaranteed…

It's interesting in hindsight to see how the media treated "Beauty and the Beast"'s BP nomination at the time. A lot of people were pretty happy but during the actual show there were a bunch of belittling jokes about how a mere CARTOON could be nominated against movies with real people in them, and the behind the…

I can't say, especially given that part of the success of the other remakes Disney's had comes from having distinctly different approaches compared to their originals.

Oh, that's very true. "Anastasia"'s interludes with zombie!Rasputin and the little fruit bat really do feel like something to cleanse the kiddies' palates between the real meat of the film.

To be fair, until Pixar came along there were few non-Disney animated features being made in the West that were/are particularly good. There's a reason no one talks about Max Fleischer's "Gulliver's Travels", UPA's "Gay Purr-ee", a pretty sad chunk of Don Bluth's output, etc. these days. And adult-oriented features…

Oh, it's true that Disney worked around Robin Williams' improv for "Aladdin" — traditionally, voiceover work is recorded first, before the actual animation begins, partially so the animators can work the actor's approach into the character's "performance". The main difference was that, at the time, Disney didn't…

"The Prince of Egypt" deserves more credit. Of all the attempts Disney and other Western animation studios made at tackling more adult-oriented material in their films in the latter half of the 1990s, it and "The Iron Giant' are the only ones that don't pander to children. There were potentially great films in stuff…

The first movie really is something unique and charming. The problem is that, like many comedies, the happy ending doesn't naturally lend itself to sequels (after all, the characters no longer want anything), and I thought "Shrek 2", despite some great character additions and some excellent setpieces, was a contrived…

Yes. The previous Disney remakes ("Alice in Wonderland", "Maleficent", "Cinderella", "The Jungle Book") all did the same thing with these extended chains of adaptation; the animated films were either based on fairy takes like "Beauty", two novels in the case of "Alice", or a short story collection in the case of "The…

And this movie, for that matter (rimshot!). Seriously, why are so many people so excited for this remake? I'm worrying it's going to turn out to be this year's "Batman v Superman" at this rate — the spring release everyone was so certain couldn't be screwed up that badly, and then….