Friday Five: Disney Favourites

The Jungle Book

I believe it's time for school holidays again. Do children ever actually go to school these days? It seems that they're always on holiday, and I know this because the films showing at the cinema cater entirely for them on their weeks and months off from the strenuous business of colouring in and sitting nicely on the mat.

As I haven't got children, I don't really watch children's films. The ones that I do see are either too mawkishly sentimental and obvious, or, even worse, they try to hard to also amuse the grown-ups with winks and nudges that go entirely over the young person's head. I think this is a bit patronising - adults have films of their own to enjoy, so in a children's film you would think they could at least focus entirely on their target audience. Having said that, Hugo was one of my favorite films of 2011, so feel free to ignore my not-so-well-structured argument.

Hugo

And Him Outdoors refuses to watch animation. He claims that nothing can beat Tom and Jerry so they might as well not try. I have seen Up, The Simpsons, South Park, and films from the Shrek, Toy Story and Wallace and Gromit franchises. Usually I watch these on the plane or with other friends when Him Outdoors is busy doing other more important things, or running up hills.

Naturally when I was a child I watched children's films and I wasn't so cynical that I had grown to sneer at Disney. Indeed, I liked Walt Disney films, especially the ones about animals. I wasn't particularly fussed about the princesses waiting for their princes to rescue them from wicked stepmothers or dwarves. It's not really any surprise that all my favourites are from more than forty years ago - when I was the right age to be the target audience.

5 Favourite Disney Animated Films.

1. Jungle Book (1973)
2. Sword in the Stone (1967)
3. Pinocchio (1940)
4. 101 Dalmatians (1961)
5. Peter Pan (1953)

101 Dalmatians

Quote for today: the future of feminism

‘Why did we bother fighting all those feminist battles? I know with teens the brain is not yet fully formed, but 90 per cent of young women wanting their blood sucked is not where we hoped the future was heading.’ – Bea in Nothing Personal by David Williamson