A-List: Walt Disney

By Josh Spiegel

March 12, 2009

Seventeen seconds later, hunters kill then eat all of this happy family.

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The Jonas Brothers, the Rock (I'm sorry, Dwayne Johnson), and a talking marionette who doesn't need any strings. What do these guys have in common? They're all appearing in movies that are products of the Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney's name is now synonymous with amusement parks, television shows, Broadway shows, popular music, and more. Still, he was first considered a visionary because of his animated shorts and the first full-length animated feature, 1937's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs." The rest came later, but animation and movies, in general, were where Disney found his first success. From dwarfs and Pinocchio to 3-D concerts and remakes is quite a jump, but the Walt Disney brand has succeeded.

A discussion on exactly how many times Walt Disney would turn in his grave before rising to wreak revenge because he found out that - because of his television channel - Miley Cyrus is a superstar is worthy of its own column, but that's not what I want to talk about today; the less said of Hannah Montana, the better, and more so for the upcoming feature film. No, today's A-List is going to look at the best that Walt Disney, or his company, has had to offer, cinematically speaking. So you're aware, we're not looking at any Pixar movies here because...well, because, this would no longer be an A-List about Walt Disney, let's just say that much.




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Instead, the A-List will, this week, look at the many animated feature films Walt Disney either worked on specifically or those after his death (and no, fans of The Black Cauldron, this list will not please you). Even though he's best known for his influence on animation, Disney helped oversee plenty of live-action films in his day and one or two may pop up here. So, without further ado, let's take a walk down memory lane with Walt Disney and the A-List

Pinocchio

It's fitting that this week heralds the Blu-ray release of the 1940 classic "Pinocchio," as a new generation will get a chance to be reintroduced to the third animated feature from Walt Disney. Nearly 70 years have passed, but this film's major themes and set pieces haven't gotten any less disturbing and scary. If it actually took nearly becoming a donkey and fighting a monstrous whale to be turned into a real boy, who knows how many of us would be left? As joyful as most of this movie is, from "When You Wish Upon A Star," the thrilling opening number, to Pinocchio's colorful swim through the ocean before facing down Monstro, Pinocchio is an equally scary film; watching the obnoxious Lampwick turn into a jackass and jump around an empty pool is as unsettling for me to watch as an adult as it did when I was a kid. Though Pinocchio, as a character, isn't very active, he's surrounded by memorable supporting characters like Jiminy Cricket and Honest John the con-artist fox. Some will say differently, but I'd argue that Pinocchio is the best animated feature Walt Disney was ever part of.


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