We Want The D

It's a classic tale of a family vacation gone awry in Disney's BON VOYAGE! A straight-laced father just wants to give his wife and children a holiday to remember, but all manner of entitled little rich boys, beach con-artists, and would-be cuckholders conspire against him to throw a wrench in their plans. And no, we didn't slip into an alternate universe where the Griswolds are somehow Disney characters, it is good ol' Fred MacMurray at the centre of all these hijinks as usual.

For the first and most likely only time, we're breaking protocol on the podcast for the grand finale of the Summer of Muppets. Because Disney hasn't made enough feature-length Muppet projects (yet), we're allowing ourselves to examine the small screen sitcom THE MUPPETS.. (the period is part of the title), which aired on ABC for one season back in 2015-2016. Was this a wonderful new forum for these beloved creations that never got a fair shake, or a misstep that unfortunately put the gang back on the shelf until their latest revival on streaming? Opinions vary, including our own, but it continues to hold true that there's no such thing as too much Muppets.

Based on the novel by S.E. Hinton, TEX is a thoughtful coming-of-age story about a wayward and wild teenage boy learning to think of people other than himself, and learning to be ok with saying goodbye to friends and family as they inevitably leave their small, rural Oklahoma town - even if he has to stay. If that seems a little too mature and grounded for Disney, just remember that the 1980s were a strange time for the company. One that we look back fondly at as we finish up the decade with this week's episode.

There's no shortage of movies we've watched over the course of this podcast that involve Disney putting animals in harm's way. We are still pretty sure they killed at least one horse. But THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN portends a more benign future where Disney can make movies that star animals but without the need to for there to be actual animal performers. The downside is, they've finally hit that balance of making CGI animals look realistic while still being expressive, so stories about wild animals being kept in a strip mall and never seeing the sun are still super duper depressing.

For our special Minnie Mouse-isode edition of our summer series, we take a look at the man behind the Muppets. From humble beginnings to picking up puppetry on a whim to breakthroughs in children's entertainment to a highly valued and sought-after multi-media company, Jim Henson's success is undeniable. But it's his attitude and philosophies that were imbued in his work that has allowed the Muppets to thrive even beyond his untimely passing. We hope you enjoy this celebration of Jim and his collaborators.

Go back a couple hundred episodes and you'll hear our rather lukewarm reception to the 90s live action remake of 101 Dalmatians. Take all of our comments and criticisms of that move and add one degree, and you basically have our take on 102 DALMATIANS. The leads are blander (and stupider), Glenn Close is more unhinged (and her costuming more fabulous), and the hijinks are zanier. But, the plot is basically the same, which isn't a surprise - if a movie about dog murder worked once, surely it can work again!

Go back a couple hundred episodes and you'll hear our rather lukewarm reception to the 90s live action remake of 101 Dalmatians. Take all of our comments and criticisms of that move and add one degree, and you basically have our take on 102 DALMATIANS. The leads are blander (and stupider), Glenn Close is more unhinged (and her costuming more fabulous), and the hijinks are zanier. But, the plot is basically the same, which isn't a surprise - if a movie about dog murder worked once, surely it can work again!

We've seen enough Disney westerns to think we've seen it all - singing cowboys, spliced-in nature footage, white people dressed up as Indigenous people, etc. And a lot of that stuff is still present and accounted for in THE WILD COUNTRY. But this particular western takes itself so seriously and uses the genre's tropes and iconography so well that we have no choice to declare it the best Disney western we've seen so far. Faint praise, perhaps, but praise nonetheless.

Frequent We Want the D listeners may recall that our hosts have a lil' bit of baggage when it comes to Disney adapting the work of Mark Twain. But fear not, for their adaptation of what is called the first (or only) great American novel - THE ADVENTURES OF HUCK FINN - is a welcome break in the trend. And much like the novel it's based on, there's no shortage of analysis and discussion to be had.

It's time for another one of Disney's period costume dramas, only THE FIGHTING PRINCE OF DONEGAL puts a little bit of a twist on the formula. See, while most of these types of movies were made and released in the 1950s, this one came out in 1966. What does that mean, you ask? Well, instead of starring Richard Todd, this one stars the guy who played Hayley Mills' love interest in The Moon Spinners, and...actually that about covers it.