The Emperor's New Groove: The Ultimate Groove

Llama-Rama, Part 2 of 2

Disney's 39th animated feature The Emperor's New Groove is now available on Disney DVD in two versions: the standard one disc DVD (reviewed in Part 1 last week) and a deluxe two disc collector's edition set titled The Ultimate Groove, reviewed below.

What's the Difference?:
Disc 1 of The Ultimate Groove set is the same as the standard DVD release, without the Behind the Scenes featurettes, Deleted Scene and the Sting Music Video, which are included on Disc 2 of the set instead. Disc 1 features the full-length film, with optional audio commentary from the filmmakers, the Rascal Flats Music Video and the set-top game, "The Emperor's Got Game." Also included on Disc 1 are special DVD-ROM features, including a demo of "The Emperor's Groove Center" (QuickTime required) and exclusive on-line content only accessible through the DVD.

Disc 2 features an exhaustive collection of supplemental material that will be a treat for animation fans in general and The Emperor's New Groove fans in particular. The extras can be navigated in one of two ways: you can choose to view one of two "Get Into the Groove" features (The Studio Groove or The Animation Groove), or explore each section on your own. My recommendation is to watch the two "Groove" sections first. That way you will get a good overview of the animation process as told through the making of The Emperor's New Groove by producer Randy Fullmer and director Mark Dindal. Then you are free to roam about and check out the incidental features and galleries at your leisure. Plus, the two "Groove" sections are set up as a continuous narrative that is best viewed from beginning to end. Sections of the two "Grooves" do reappear in the individual sections, so they can be skipped at that time to go on to the new stuff.

Get Into the Groove - The Studio Groove:
In the spirit of the film it depicts, this "making of" feature is fast-paced and not without it's own degree of laughs, mostly supplied by the clips from the movie interspersed throughout as if reacting to the commentary by Fullmer and Dindal. One can also see a parallel between the two filmmakers and their two main characters. Dindal is the wild and crazy one, teasing and joking with Fullmer, who is relegated to the 'straight man' role in their little comic bits. This is typical Disney 'behind-the-scenes' goofiness, aimed more at younger children who probably wouldn't sit through this type of thing anyway. Thankfully, this silliness is brief, and mostly palatable to those who are watching this who actually want to learn how an animated film is created in this day and age. Which it accomplishes very well.

By using the making of The Emperor's New Groove, Disney here is able to depict the complete gestation of a contemporary animated film, from the first idea of the story down to the completed feature. If you have ever seen any of the earlier documentaries on the Disney animation process (such as in the film The Reluctant Dragon or on old episodes of Disneyland/The Wonderful World of Disney), you have seen how they did it back in Walt's time. While there has been more updated attempts of explaining the newer, more technologically advanced Disney 'way' (The Magic of Disney Animation tours at the Disney-MGM Studios and Disney's California Adventure theme parks, those inane Movie Surfer specials on The Disney Channel), this disc offers a very complete and comprehensive video tour of how Walt Disney Feature Animation makes films today.

Fullmer and Dindal take you through development, story meetings, the creation of layouts and backgrounds, the entire animation process, the adding of sound and music... generally how they make it all work. Again, these all have their own sections so that you can delve even deeper into how each step is performed.

The Animation Groove:
In this briefer featurette, you can watch how a particular scene (in this case, the dinner scene where Yzma and Kronk try to poison Kuzco) is created throughout the animation process with split screen comparisons, from storyboard to rough animation to clean-up animation to the final full-color product. Once you are done with these two, you can go onto the other sections of "The Secret Lab" for even more extras, such as...

Development - The Development Process:
Included in The Studio Groove, this explains how the concept for The Emperor's New Groove was developed and how it was decided that it would 'break the mold' of previous Disney animated features and be a screwball buddy comedy. We also learn that animated films are developed on two parallel paths, the story itself and the visual look of the movie.

The Research Trip: Included on the standard DVD (see Part 1).

Story Treatment:
An all text description of the story for the film. A complete waste of space as A) if you have already seen the movie, this is redundant, and B) if you haven't seen the movie, it gives away the whole plot.

Visual Development Gallery:
Includes the concept art to help the artist grasp the feel of the film, depicting the various locals featured, including Kuzco's palace, Pacha's village and Mudka's Meat Hut.

Original concept art for Kingdom of the Sun

Kingdom of the Sun:
The most disappointing aspect of this disc is that it virtually ignores the original concept of this movie, originally titled Kingdom of the Sun. If you are looking for Disney to come clean on the tumultuous early production of this film, which included defecting animators and a scrapped song score, you ain't gonna find it here. All that is left is a gallery of early concept art in which we can only attempt to glean what this film was originally going to be like.

Story and Editorial - The Story Process:
Focuses on the story department, which consists of storyboard artists and writers, who work together to create the characters and how they will tell the story.

The Pitch: See three different story pitches for the opening number, "Perfect World". We learn in the second pitch that in Kingdom of the Sun, as it was then called, Kuzco sang this song. A fascinating peek at how they 'choreograph' a Disney song and also how they will constantly re-work a scene to get it right.

Putting It Up On Reels:
Another interesting revelation: the editorial department takes the individual storyboard frames and creates a story reel, with dialogue, sound effects and music tracks added. This is done to get a feel for how the scenes are working and to get an idea of how long each scene will be before they go on to the next step of actually being animated.

Deleted and Unused Scenes:
The first deleted scene, "Practice Destruction of Pacha's Village", is included on the standard DVD (see Part 1).

"Pacha's Family": Interesting to note that Pacha's family was originally a lot bigger, with a scrappy grandpa and a surfer dude next-door-neighbor who, in typical sitcom fashion, bursts into the room unannounced and at the worst possible moments. Upon discovering the talking llama, the village throws him a welcoming party. This scene was too long, unfunny and unoriginal and didn't make it past the storyboarding phase.

"Original Kuzcotopia Ending": The original ending for the film had Kuzco building his full-size summer pad on the mountaintop neighboring Pacha's village. In the big grand opening party of Kuzcotopia, we see all the characters joining in for the fun, including the guards that were turned into animals in the final battle. The final gag has Kronk in his apron coming out of the kitchen wanting a "head count for dessert." His shoulder angel and devil pop in, with their own aprons on, and say "We got you covered!" This ending was nixed when Sting, an avid environmentalist, noted that to have Kuzco still build Kuzcotopia showed that he didn't learn anything from what had happened to him through the course of the film. It was still "socially irresponsible" and "ecologically unfriendly" for him to do so, and the scene was altered to what you see in the final film. While I can see why they made the change, it still would have been fun to see that octopus playing volleyball…

Layouts and Backgrounds - Layout and Background Departments: The layout artists are very important to animated films, as they are basically the film's art director and cinematographer combined. They prepare the work for the animators and background artists, who "create the stages where the animated characters will play."

Inside Scene Planning: This department is where all the initial drawings are first put into the computer to create the timing sheets used by the director and the animators. These sheets allow the animators to get the exact timing right for each line of dialogue, gesture, et cetera.

The Workbook Gallery:
Thumbnail sketches of the dinner scene, showing the preliminary creation of the scene, focusing on composition and camera angles.

Layout, Color Key and Background Galleries:
Examples of the best layout artwork, color keys (used to establish the color scheme for each scene) and background paintings for The Emperor's New Groove.

Animation - The Animation Process:
Learn about the three kinds of animation needed to produce a completed film: Character, or rough, animation is handled by the character lead and his/her team. They are the actors behind the pencils who draw the characters. Clean-up animators take the rough pencil drawings and, as their job title states, clean them up into a uniform look for the final product. Special effects animators handle everything that moves in the film that is not a character. For example: rain, smoke, fire, shadows and props.

Character Animation - Character Voices:
Included on the standard DVD (see Part 1).

Character Design:
Each character has there own section, with Animation Tests for the four main characters. See early rough animation for Kuzco that shows a more realistic look for him in llama form (albeit wearing a crown) and with buck teeth and spiky hair in human form.

Character Design Galleries:
See early concept drawings and sketches showing the evolution of all the characters, from the Emperor down to his lowly servants. See how at one point Pacha looked like Marlon Brando in a muumuu and how Kronk, at different stages of development, vaguely resembled Fabio and The Rock.

The most illuminating section is for the miscellaneous characters, where one can see characters that never made it to the final film, including the intriguing "Naked Guy and the Peacock." Also note what one of Mudka's Meat Hut waitresses has on her platter ... grilled flounder must be today's special. You can also see the progression of these designs through the ever changing title on the production sheets: Kingdom of the Sun, Kingdom in the Sun, The New Kingdom and finally The Emperor's New Groove.

Character Model Sheets:
Yet another gallery, this one displaying the final character model sheets for the four main characters. Model sheets are used by the clean-up animators to retain continuity for the characters, so that they look the same throughout the entire film.

CGI Props:
Included in the standard DVD (see Part 1).

Animation Production Progression: Again using the dinner scene as an example, viewers can use the 'angle' button on their remotes to toggle through the progression of the animation, from story reel to rough animation to clean-up animation to the final scene and back again. This is a nifty way to see how all the different stages of animation come together.

Putting It All Together - Ink and Paint Compositing:
The Ink and Paint Department used to actually use ink and paint to hand color each individual animation cel. Now it is done on computers as explained here.

Color Models: Yes, another gallery, this one includes five color models showing the final color schemes for Kuzco, Kuzco Llama, Pacha, Yzma and Kronk. Again, uniformity is the objective here.

Music and Sound - Creating the Music and Sound Effects:
This is the final step: after all the cleaned-up animation has been colored and combined with the background paintings and is all composited in the computer, a 35 mm print of the film is made and is ready to have the dialogue, music and sound effects added. This is done in the sound studio where it is all orchestrated to create the best mix of the three sound elements.

Sting Music Video: "My Funny Friend and Me":
Included on the standard DVD (see Part 1).

Mixing Demonstration: Using a scene from the movie (no, not the dinner scene again ... this time it's the rope bridge scene), you can isolate the dialogue, sound effect and music tracks or combine them in any way you choose by using your remote.

Publicity - Trailers and TV Spots: Includes the two theatrical trailers and three TV commercials for The Emperor's New Groove.

Posters/Ad Campaign: A gallery of the poster art and newspaper ads for the initial theatrical release of The Emperor's New Groove.

Note: The first retail shipments of both the standard and deluxe DVD editions of The Emperor's New Groove come packaged with the free CD-ROM game "Search for the Journal," based on the upcoming Walt Disney Picture Atlantis: The Lost Empire.

All in all, The Ultimate Groove is a fine, although at times overwhelming, presentation of the creation of a Disney animated film.

Toon Talk Grade: B+

Originally posted May 9, 2001

The Emperor's New Groove

Llama-Rama, Part 1 of 2

The Emperor's New Groove, Disney's 39th animated feature is now available on video and on Disney DVD in two versions: the standard one disc DVD (reviewed below) and a deluxe two disc collector's edition set titled The Ultimate Groove, which will be reviewed next week.

Set in an unnamed Latin American empire, The Emperor's New Groove introduces us to the ruler of said domain, the spoiled-rotten Emperor Kuzco (voiced by David Spade). He leads an excessively charmed life where his every whim is catered to; as his 'theme song' states, it is his "perfect world." His pampered existence is threatened by the mutinous mechanizations of his recently fired royal advisor, the devious diva Yzma (Eartha Kitt). Aided by her studly side-kick Kronk (Patrick Warburton), her attempt to poison Kuzco in order to usurp his throne misfires, turning him into a llama instead.

Yzma dispatches Kronk to do away with the now furry and four-legged emperor. But instead Kuzco ends up with the kindhearted llama herder Pacha (John Goodman), whom Kuzco had previously dismissed upon informing him that Pacha's simple mountain village was soon to be the site of his latest extravagance, a huge summer home dubbed 'Kuzcotopia'. A tempestuous relationship develops between the mismatched duo as Pacha agrees to help Kuzco in exchange for sparing his village. Further problems arise when the newly enthroned Empress Yzma discovers that her former boss is still alive, thus threatening her rule of this 'kingdom of the sun'.

The Emperor's New Groove is enjoyable at most, and hilarious at times, but the film never quite takes off into the comic stratosphere of such earlier Disney comedies as Aladdin or even Hercules. Credit is due the filmmakers for shirking the tried-and-true (and often unjustly maligned) Disney 'formula', but it is at the expense of creating a full-blooded Disney entertainment.

While ostensibly taking place in a mythical kingdom in some South American country, one never gets a sense of place. Aside from the Aztec-influenced architecture of the palace, the film could be taking place in any mountainous region. Add to that it's suffering from what I call "Dangerous Liaisons syndrome" (a complete lack of any regional dialect or accents), and this venture feels no more authentically Latin then a Taco Bell.

Much has already been said of this film's troubled production. At first a more straight forward action film titled Kingdom of the Sun, with songs à la The Lion King, it stalled in mid-development due to insurmountable story problems. It was resurrected as The Emperor's New Groove, a full-out, non-singing buddy comedy.

Lost in the shuffle were the songs written for the original story by Sting and David Hartley; in fact, Trudie Styler - a.k.a. Mrs. Sting - filmed a documentary on this whole unfortunate process, unflatteringly titled The Sweat Box. All that remains, save for the obligatory Oscar-bait power ballad sung by Sting over the end credits, is the splashy, Vegas-style opening number "Perfect World", crooned by underwear magnet Tom Jones as Kuzco's 'theme song guy'. This wackily over-the-top production number (complete with Riverdancing centurions) hints at how loony this toon could have been. While I'm not one to think that every animated film needs to be a musical, this story would have benefited especially if it had been musicalized more in this manner.

(To hear what 'might have been,' listen to the original soundtrack album, which features what will probably be the greatest Disney song never animated, Eartha Kitt purring "Snuff Out the Light (Yzma's Song)".)

Such inadequacies are compounded by the main flaw within the feature, that is, a failure to create a likable protagonist. As it stands, Kuzco starts off as a self-centered, uncompromising childish brat and then... remains that way for almost the entire film. He constantly belittles and betrays the trust of the honest and loyal Pacha. Yes, there needs to be dramatic conflict between the two, but by pitting Pacha's unwavering goodness against Kuzco's constant selfishness, it's no wonder he elicits no sympathy, from us the audience, or the other characters for that matter.

This may in part be due to the voice acting of David Spade, who as a performer on the television series' Saturday Night Live and Just Shoot Me has consistently displayed his limited range: he never met a line he didn't whine. Such one-note characterizations may work fine in a five minute comedy sketch or half-hour sitcom, but not when you are trying to create a hero worth rooting for.

In contrast, all of the other members of The Emperor's New Groove cast shine. Pacha, when he's not dodging llama insults, shares some giggle-inducing moments with his rascally family: his strong-willed (and very pregnant) wife ChiCha (Wendy Malick) and his two mop-topped tots, Tipo and Chaca (Elia Russell Linnetz and Kellyann Kelso). Even minor characters such as a chatty squirrel and a brittle old peasant ("Beware the groove!") have their own funny bits.

But it's the one-two comedic punch of Yzma and Kronk (the funniest odd couple on screen since Harold and Maude) that steals this movie, hook, line and sombrero. Theirs is a strangely synergistic relationship, the full depth of which is barely hinted at in this G-rated venture.

With her Venus Flytrap-eyelashes and bony frame, Yzma is a direct decedent of such comic Disney villains as Cruella de Vil, Captain Hook and Madame Medusa. She has yearned for high style and regal accoutrements all her (long) life, but is constantly tripped up by the lunacy surrounding her. Eartha Kitt, who's most famous role to date was as another campy villainess, the Catwoman in the classic Sixties Batman series, is perfectly (or should that be 'purrrrfectly'?) cast here, joyfully sinking her claws into the role's operatic eccentricities.

Patrick Warburton, best known for the dim-bulb, hunky mechanic Puddy on television's Seinfeld, brings a droll charm to the befuddled Kronk. He plays him as a sensitive soul trapped in the body of a linebacker. He may work for the bad guys, but he's not evil... let's just say he has fallen into the wrong crowd. Kronk is more prone to whipping up a batch of spinach puffs then whipping a foe into submission.

In another departure from the Disney norm, the film is heavily influenced by the style of legendary Warner Bros. short director Chuck Jones, most notably in the character of Kuzco. Just like his prankster predecessor Bugs Bunny, Kuzco uses every trick in the Looney Tunes handbook, from anachronistic dialogue to breaking the 'fourth wall' to talk directly to the audience. He even employs a classic comic device, dressing up as a woman to gain access to a jungle 'truck stop' called Mudka's Meat Hut. Some of these gags work well, but when they don't, the filmmakers' attempts at hip cleverness are painfully obvious, throwing off the film's pacing, it's own 'groove,' as it were.

There was a lot of potential in this project in it's many forms... a couple more whacks at this piñata would have revealed all of the goodies inside.

Toon Talk Grade: B-
MPAA Rating: G
Running Time: 78 minutes
Available on VHS • DVD • Ultimate Groove 2-Disc DVD

Standard DVD Extras:
Behind the Scenes - Three featurettes on the making of the film, also included on The Ultimate Groove:

1. The Research Trip: When possible, Disney animators go to a locale of the film to "soak up the atmosphere" and do research on local architecture, landscaping and artwork. Not only did the crew of The Emperor's New Groove travel to Peru, but they also made a trip to a llama farm, as explained in this brief short.
2. Creating Computer Generated Images: You'll be surprised to find out what props in The Emperor's New Groove were created by use of CGI, how well they seamlessly blend into the rest of the movie.
3. The Character Voices: It is always fun to see footage of the voice actors at work. They take their animated roles seriously, just like any other part. As John Goodman (who played Pacha, "the glue that holds the film together") states "it's a different sort of acting, all about truth." Other highlights include: 

• Patrick Warburton describes Kronk as "about as sharp as a marble".
• Eartha Kitt on her larger than life character: "I adore (Yzma) because she goes after what she wants... in the end you wind up liking her."
• David Spade admits he doesn't consider himself a very good actor. (No comment.)

Sting's "Making the Music" Video featuring the Academy Award-nominated Song "My Funny Friend and Me":
Why does every pop song from a movie music video have to feature the singer warbling into a panty-hose protected microphone in a dimly-lit recording studio while promotional clips from the movie are edited in haphazardly? And why would they think we would want to watch them making such a video? Most Unintentional Laugh: Sting actually says "I like buddy songs (like "My Funny Friend and Me") they're not too sentimental." Huh???

Rascal Flats "Walk the Llama Llama" Music Video:
OK, this one is just plain weird. Kiddie dancers do the "Llama Llama" dance on a cheesy-looking set while bored-looking real llamas look on. There's even a little dancing man at the bottom of the screen that you can follow along with to learn the "Llama Llama" dance too! Burning Question: What exactly is a "sassy moonwalk"? (Both videos are also available on The Ultimate Groove.)

Deleted Scene:
In this scene, cut because it "emotionally didn't fit the tone of the picture," we view the "Practice Destruction of Pacha's Village." You can see why it was left out as it was a harsh example of Kuzco's selfishness. (Also available, with two other deleted scenes, on The Ultimate Groove.)

"The Emperor's Got Game" Adventure Game:
While most DVD games will hardly have you hocking your Play Station, this one benefits from the use of new dialogue recorded by Eartha Kitt and Patrick Warburton. Using your remote, you navigate Kuzco Llama through his treacherous trek from Pacha's house back to the palace by answering trivia questions about the movie. Best Lines: Kronk: "Yzma's still got this whole 'evil' thing going"; Yzma (after you miss a question): "Someone wasn't paying attention to the movie!" (Game also available on The Ultimate Groove).

Audio Commentary:
Participants: Director Mark Dindal, Producer Randy Fullmer, Supervising Animators Nik Ranieri (Kuzco) and Bruce W. Smith (Pacha), Art Director Colin Stimpson, Character Designer Joseph C. Moshier and Head of Story Stephen Anderson. (Audio Commentary also available on The Ultimate Groove).

The Top 10 Things We Learn From This Commentary:

1. The producers originally wanted Sting to sing "Perfect World", but he refused, claiming "I'm too old for that sort of thing. Get somebody young and hip." So instead of using the 50-year-old Sting, they chose the 60-year-old Tom Jones.
2. Remember that poor old man that got tossed out the palace window for throwing off the emperor's groove? Did his voice sound familiar? Well it should. It was John Fiedler, the classic voice of Piglet in the Winnie the Pooh shorts, as well as the church mouse in Robin Hood, the owl in The Rescuers and the porcupine in The Fox and the Hound.
3. Sting's songwriting partner for the film, David Hartley, makes a 'cameo appearance': he is the officer of the court who fills out Yzma's 'pink slip.'
4. In the dinner scene, after Yzma pours her poisoned drink into it, keep an eye on the cactus.
5. Patrick Warburton improvised Kronk's 'theme music' and had to sign a legal waiver relinquishing the rights to his 'composition' to Disney.
6. ChiCha is the first on-screen pregnant woman in a Disney animated film.
7. Bucky the Squirrel was originally thrown into the storyboard of the "Into the Jungle" scene as a joke, but the director got such a kick out of him that he was used two more times in the film.
8. After the mock funeral scene, Yzma was originally going to have her own reprise of the "Perfect World" song.
9. The waitress in Mudka's Meat Hut is patterned after Flo from the TV series Alice.
10. Note the aluminum foil llama 'doggie bag' Kronk is carrying when they leave the diner.

Toon Talk Trivia:

• The Emperor's New Groove cast members David Spade (Kuzco) and Wendy Malick (ChiCha) are also Emmy-nominated co-stars of NBC's Just Shoot Me.
• John Goodman (Pacha) will also be heard as Sully in the upcoming Disney/Pixar release Monsters, Inc..
• Patrick Warburton (Kronk) voices Buzz Lightyear in the animated television series Buzz Lightyear of Star Command. He also voices the Little Green Men in that series as well as in the Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins video released last year.

Check out next week's edition of Toon Talk for a full overview of the two disc collector's edition, The Emperor's New Groove: The Ultimate Groove.

-- Originally posted May 4, 2001.

102 Dalmatians

Spotty Record

Dodie Smith's delightful 1956 novel The One Hundred and One Dalmatians has proved to be quite the cash cow for Disney, with varying degrees of quality for each successive installment. The classic animated film of 1961 (which pioneered the use of the Xerox animation process, revolutionizing the art form at that time) inspired the 1996 live action remake. That film (starring Glenn Close as the Grande Dame of Disney Villainy, Cruella de Vil) was a dark, mean-spirited romp that relied heavily on Home Alone-style slapstick violence that stripped the original story of it's simple charms. Nevertheless, the film was successful enough to spawn a mediocre Saturday morning cartoon series, Disney Stores filled with spotted puppy merchandise, and this requisite follow-up. Released as Disney's big holiday film last year (it under-performed and was surpassed at the box office by the black sheep The Emperor's New Groove), 102 Dalmatians is now available on VHS and DVD.

Continuing the story three years later, we find that Cruella, locked-up for her dog-napping shenanigans in the previous film, has undergone a miraculous transformation. Brainwashed to rid her of her insatiable desire for fur, this is a kinder, gentler Cruella. Her two-toned hair neatly coifed into an exaggerated pageboy, clad in animal friendly but still sartorially splendid designer fashions, she insists on being called "Ella" to reflect her new "leash on life". (Sorry, couldn't resist.)

However this is the same woman who snarled the immortal line "I don't care how you kill the little beasts, just do it! Poison them, drown them, bash them in the head ... you got any chloroform?" So any proposed rehabilitation is destined to be short-lived. Allying herself with portly prêt-à-porter peddler Jean-Pierre Le Pelt (Gerard Depardieu, who should lay off the French pastries), she promptly re-hatches her scheme to create a spotted dalmatian puppy fur coat, now hooded, thus the need for one hundred and two dalmatians this time.

Don't expect to see a lot of familiar faces in this installment. No Pongo and Perdita, no Roger and Anita. In fact, besides Cruella, the only other character from the 1996 film is puppy hero Dipstick, now grown with a family of his own: mate Dottie (you knew they would use that name eventually) and their three pups, Domino (white spots on his black ears), Little Dipper (black on his tail like his pop) and Oddball, so named for her complete lack of spots. They are joined by their "pets", Alice Evans as Chloe (Cruella's parole officer) and Ioan Gruffudd as Kevin (owner of a dog shelter). These two actors do a game job of staying out of the way of the fabricated doggie stunts.

While the first film failed due to the unavoidable comparison to the far superior animated version, this one fails on it's own merits. The premise itself is original and had potential, but first time live action director Kevin Lima opts for an overly cartoony feel for the film that progressively worsens as the story slogs along; Lima had more realistic human characters in the animated Tarzan.

For every clever bit (a scientist named Dr. Pavlov, a lawyer named Mr. Torte) you get ten eye-rollers (Cruella's clumsy henchman/valet stutters for no apparent reason; Depardieu's lone attempt at anything remotely comedic is to repeatedly pronounce "puppies" as "poopies"). For every glint of charm (the adorable pups of the "junior" Twilight Bark, which can even make a hardened film critic say "awwww") you get twenty juvenile gross-out gags (cue the doggie drool). And Disney should place a self-imposed moratorium on any further attempts to play homage to the classic spaghetti scene from Lady and the Tramp. Two meager attempts within six months of each other (this film and the recent video Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure) is quite enough, thank you. By the time we reach the climax (which involves a huge cake-baking machine in an unfortunate parallel to a similar scene in the much-better-and-that-was-a-real-cartoon Chicken Run) all pretenses of reality have gone to the dogs. (Oops, sorry again ... )

By far the biggest misstep is the presence of Waddlesworth, a talkative macaw voiced by Monty Python and Honey, I Shrunk the Audience alum Eric Idle. Admittedly, the film is basically a fantasy, but I couldn't get past the fact that so-called "talking birds" don't actually speak, just mimic the sound they hear. But this bird has a full vocabulary and acts as interpreter between the dogs and humans. Whereas the original story championed the fact that our canine heroes triumphed where humans failed, by putting the dog and human characters on the same level in this outing, not only does it lessen the importance of the dogs, it doesn't say much for the humans either.

Glenn Close was the only reason to sit through the horrid 1996 feature. The film was a way for Close to break loose from her usual repertoire of luminous saints (The Big Chill, The Natural) and sexual connivers (Fatal Attraction, Dangerous Liaisons). Borrowing heavily from her brilliant stage performance as Norma Desmond in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard (the ultimate diva role if there ever was one), Close brought Marc Davis' animated creation wickedly to life. Unfortunately, 102 finds her shrilly overboard, chewing scenery like it was kibble. Reduced to a a grossly overt caricature, diluted in its pomposity, what we see isn't Glenn Close playing Cruella de Vil, but Glenn Close playing a drag queen playing Glenn Close playing Cruella de Vil.

Toon Talk Grade: D
Running Time: 100 minutes
Available on VHS, Standard DVD, Widescreen DVD, and in a 2-Pack set of 101 Dalmatians and 102 Dalmatians


DVD Extras:
Audio Commentary:
Provided by director Kevin Lima, animal coordinator Gary Gero, animal trainer David Sousa and lead puppy trainer Julie Tottman.

The Top 10 Things We Learn From This Commentary:

1. Dalmatians do NOT make good pets unless you are willing to accept the responsibility for them.
2. Kevin Lima is no Scorsese. Obviously a green horn when it comes to live action film making, he naively marvels at "all the people it takes to make a movie".
3. Glenn Close was Lima's "mentor" on the film. (They did work previously on Tarzan, which Lima co-directed and Close starred as the voice of Kala the mother ape.)
4. Dalmatians do NOT make good pets unless you are willing to accept the responsibility for them.
5. Gerard Depardieu is a messy eater.
6. Animal trainers only talk about animals and how they train them.
7. Dalmatians do NOT make good pets unless you are willing to accept the responsibility for them.
8. The gooey dough that Cruella de Vil is immersed in at the end of the movie is made from the same substance used for milk shakes.
9. Glenn Close did almost all of her own stunts during that scene.
10. And finally.... dalmatians do NOT make good pets unless you are willing to accept the responsibility for them.

Featurettes:

• Creating Cruella: Glenn Close prepares to return to her most famous role. She mentions that she loved working with the puppies, but they weren't to crazy about her when she was in her full Cruella drag. Guess it's a natural instinct.
• Animal Actors: How they wrangled all the dogs, birds, etc. for the film.
• Designing Dalmatians: The most interesting bonus on the disc, it shows the creation of the sets, costumes and effects for 102 Dalmatians. For example, the puppies that played Oddball all had their natural spots; computer artists had to digitally erase each spot from each frame of film, a process that took a year. Other behind-the-scenes stuff explains how they made Waddlesworth talk and how they "spotted" London for Cruella's rebirth.

Visual Effects 102:
An interactive feature for kids, again showing how different effects were done for the film. There is a nifty effect in "Spot Removal" showing a split screen of different Oddball scenes, with and without spots.

Deleted Scene:
A virtual requirement of any DVD nowadays, deleted scenes can be lost treasures (check out this feature on the Erin Brokovich disc to see why Julia Roberts deserved her recent Oscar win), but more often then not one can see why the scissors were drawn. Case in point, this sole scene showing Cruella's release from prison, which would have added nothing new to the film and is merely padding here.

Puppy Overload:
Music video montage of film scenes to the movie's theme song "Digga Digga Dog".

Dalmatians 101:
Once again ... DALMATIANS DO NOT MAKE GOOD PETS UNLESS YOU ARE WILLING TO ACCEPT THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEM.

Soundtrack Promo:
Brief footage of Britney clones Nobody's Angel performing "Whatcha Gonna Do" from the soundtrack.

Theatrical Trailer:
Where you see some of the cut scenes, such as Cruella snuggling a pup in court and shrieking at her skunk purse.

DVD-ROM Features:
Includes "Cruella's Costume Creator" and DVD Destination Weblink.

Also, in the opening previews, there is a teaser for the upcoming direct to video 101 Dalmatians: The Animated Sequel due next year... guess we'll be seeing spots for years to come.

Toon Talk Trivia:

• Anthony Powell's outrageous costume designs for 102 Dalmatians were Oscar nominated this year. The bangles and bugle beads of Cruella lost to the togas and tunics of Gladiator.
• Interestingly, Waddlesworth shares a characteristic with another bird, the rooster in 101 Dalmatians: The Animated Series: they both want to be dogs.
• Although Pongo does not appear in 102 Dalmatians, Freckles, the dog who played him in the 1996 101 Dalmatians does: he returns in the role of Dipstick, Pongo's son.

-- Originally posted April 6, 2001

Remember the Titans

Gridiron Family Drama Scores

1971 was still a turbulent time for the Civil Right movement in America. Three years after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., public schools remained segregated and violence often erupted in the streets. Coming on the heels of a racially-motivated murder, the desegregation of T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Virginia caused a highly-charged environment to become even more volatile. Nowhere was this potential tumult more apparent then with the forced integration of the celebrated T.C. Williams football team, the Titans.

As we are told in the beginning moments of Remember the Titans (released last fall and now available on home video and DVD), high school football in the South is a religion. The film's plot, using the true life story of Coach Herman Boone (Denzel Washington) and how he fostered interracial teamwork within the team, is a macrocosm depicting the times in which it is set: football is a way of life, thus life is reflected in football. If black and white can't get along in the real world, how can they win a simple football game?

Director Boaz Yakin deftly balances the perilous line between melodramatics and realism, only occasionally lacquering on the high-gloss sheen of typical Hollywood "feel good" message movies (Pay It Forward, anyone?) a little too thick. His greatest asset is in the fine ensemble of actors assembled for the film.

In previous films ranging from Philadelphia to The Preacher's Wife, Denzel Washington has always been a bit of a cypher to me. His well-honed characterizations, while technically impressive, are often cold and distant; it's as if he's too dignified to break a sweat. But then along comes a role such as his Oscar-winning turn in Glory. With a mischievous glint in his eye and a sly smirk of a grin on his face, one can sense the power bubbling just below the surface. He brings a touch of this "wild side" within to his performance in Remember the Titans. Barking orders like a drill sergeant, clenched fist beating the air, Washington takes command over the audience as easily as Coach Boone commands his players. As Edward James Olmos accomplished in the similarly themed Stand and Deliver, Washington resists the deification of the non-fictional individual he is portraying. Not a saint, he is simply a regular man just trying to do his job the best way he knows how, even if it is in the middle of a modern civil war.

Washington is ably supported by Will Patton (in a subtle performance that is a far cry from his most famous role to date, the ambiguous presidential aide in No Way Out) and an impressive cast of young men filling the uniforms of the Titans. This roster of talent is filled with faces to watch for: Kip Pardue (hippie Sunshine), Donald Adeosun Faison (wise-ass Petey), Ryan Hurst (loyal team captain Gerry Bertier) and Wood Harris (noble Julius). Young Hayden Pannettiere plays Patton's football loving tomboy daughter Sheryl. Spouting stats like a pro sportscaster, she meets her polar opposite in Washington's girlie-girl daughter Nicky (Krysten Leigh Jones), who would rather accessorize her dolls than toss the pigskin.

The performances help to overcome the predictability inherent in sports films. In other words, if you don't know who's going to win the "big game", then you've obviously never seen The Bad News Bears, Hoosiers, et al. Originally, Gregory Allen Howard's script was more "adult", laced with profanity as any film that takes place in a high school athletic department realistically would be. Credit the filmmakers for realizing the inspirational potential of the film, a message ideally suited for a PG-rated audience.

Toon Talk Grade: B+
Running Time: 114 minutes
Available on VHS, standard DVD and widescreen DVD

Both DVDs include two audio commentaries (one by real-life coaches Herman Boone and Bill Yoast, another by Boaz Yakin, producer Jerry Bruckheimer and writer Gregory Allen Howard), deleted scenes and the featurettes "Denzel Becomes Boone", "Beating the Odds" and "Remember the Titans: An Inspirational Journey Behind the Scenes"

Toon Talk Trivia:

• Producer Jerry Bruckheimer is better known for his loud action flicks then for a character-driven period piece. For the Disney company, Bruckheimer has produced such hits as The Rock, Con Air, Armageddon and Crimson Tide, the latter which also starred Denzel Washington. His next project is the big summer movie event Pearl Harbor, due this Memorial Day weekend.
• Hayden Pannettiere, who plays Sheryl Yoast in Remember the Titans, is well-known to Disney fans for supplying the voice of such spunky characters as Princess Dot in A Bug's Life and Suri in Dinosaur.

-- Posted March 21, 2001

Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure

A Doggone Shame

In their latest direct-to-video sequel, Disney reaches farther back into the film vault then ever before, to the 1955 animated classic Lady and the Tramp.

Picking up the summer after the Christmas finale of the first film, Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure is set in the same New England town, now preparing for a Fourth of July celebration. We are reintroduced to Lady (voiced by Jodi Benson), Tramp (Jeff Bennett) and their human family, along with their own litter of pups: three precocious daughters and their rascally son, Scamp (Scott Wolf, who fails in his over-earnest attempt to sound young). Scamp definitely takes after his father with his rambunctiousness, but he possesses a yearning to break free of his humdrum life as a "house dog", thus that none-to-subtle Independence Day setting.

After he runs away, Scamp hooks up with a motley crew of junkyard dogs and discovers the joys (no baths!) and pitfalls (Barney Fife, Dogcatcher) of living on the streets. He is guided on his new "adventure" by Angel (Alyssa Milano), a cute and spunky girl pup who secretly yearns to have a human family of her own; and by a doberman unfortunately burdened with the cutesy name "Buster" (Chazz Palminteri). This self-proclaimed "president of the junkyard" turns out to be a bitter rival from Scamp's father's past, a past heretofore unknown to the little pup.

While this is a follow-up to the original story, don't expect to see a lot of the stars from the first film. Scamp (who headlined his own successful newspaper comic strip in the late 50s) is the star of this one, with his parents merely supporting characters. In fact, Lady's role in the film is so small, it's practically a cameo. Tramp fares better as far as screen time goes, but he does so with a complete change of character, transformed from fun-loving mutt to overprotective Parent with a capital "P". Apparently it only takes six months to take the "junkyard" out of the "junkyard dog".

(This parental overprotectiveness seems to be a recurrent theme in Disney sequels; both Simba and Ariel suffered from this same unfortunate personality trait in Lion King II: Simba's Pride and The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea, respectively. One might expect the same from new parents Esmerelda and Phoebus in the upcoming Hunchback of Notre Dame II as well.)

Other returning characters appear for brief turns in the sequel: next-door neighbor dogs Jock and Trusty, Siamese cats Si and Am, and Italian restaurateur Tony, who again feeds two budding puppy loves (this time Scamp and Angel) a moonlit spaghetti dinner in an unfortunate and misguided attempt to recreate one of the most utterly romantic scenes in motion picture history. Sadly, it only dilutes the memory of the original. Peg and the other dog pound mutts are nowhere to be seen... uh, tell the kids they were adopted by good families...

The old favorites are instead overshadowed by the so-called "Junkyard Society" dogs. While they are supposed to be streetwise and menacing, they only come off like a bad road show version of the cast of Oliver and Company. This feeling is heightened by the fact that they are all voiced by an odd assortment of less then A-list actors such as Mickey Rooney, Cathy Moriarity, Bill Fagerbakke and Bronson Pinchot.

While not what one would consider a musical, the first film did include songs (by Peggy Lee and Sonny Burke), such as the classic "Belle Notte", which is subjected to a torpid adult contemporary pop interpretation by Joy Enriquez and Carlos Ponce over the end credits. (Why they chose two Latin singers for a song in Italian is another question.) But apparently songwriters Melissa Manchester and Norman Gimbel have Broadway aspirations from the sounds of their contributions to this film. Overproduced musically and lyrically simple-minded, the songs are not helped by their presentational treatment in the film (I half-expected the characters to bow to the audience at the end of each number.) Scamp even gets to warble his own version of the Disney ballad (the proverbial "I Want" song) in the not ironically titled "World Without Fences" (Although there is an added bonus for long-time Disney fans during this number: the dream sequences are animated in the style of artist Eyvind Earle, who contributed the tapestry-like backgrounds to Sleeping Beauty.)

The DVD features an audio commentary (for a direct-to-video sequel?) and a "Making of ... " featurette in which the sequel's creators profusely expound upon their shared adoration of the original and their tireless recreations of the settings and characters for the new film.

While such devotion to honor the classic original is admirable, a juxtaposition of two similar scenes from the two productions during "From Tramp to Scamp: The Making of Lady and the Tramp II" unfortunately shines a light onto the second film's failure to capture the timeless magic of the first. First we see from the original film: Lady and Tramp take their romantic stroll through the park and place their paw prints inside a valentine drawn into fresh cement by a pair of human lovebirds. Next we see from the sequel: Scamp and Angel race right by the same site without even a glance.

Thus, just like their protagonists, the makers of Scamp's Adventure were so distracted by their attempt to live up to the spirit of the original and by the act of creating a follow-up to a beloved motion picture classic that they blindly missed something that is so integral to the perennial success of Lady and the Tramp: it's heart.

Toon Talk Grade: C
Running Time: 62 minutes
Available on DVD, VHS and Spanish VHS

Toon Talk Trivia:

• Lady and Tramp's three daughters were unnamed in the first film, but are finally christened, 46 years later, in the sequel. And, like Huey, Dewey & Louie, they are color coded! Collette wears a red collar, Danielle a white collar and Annette a blue one... more of that Independence Day symbolism, I guess.
• As the singing voice of Angel in Scamp's Adventure, Susan Egan adds a third Disney heroine to her résumé. Susan was nominated for a Tony Award for originating the role of Belle in Broadway's Beauty and the Beast, and she also voiced Megara in Hercules.
• Jodi Benson ably steps into the role of Lady, originally voiced by Barbara Luddy. As every Disney fan worth their mouse ears knows, Jodi is the celebrated actress/singer behind our favorite Little Mermaid, Ariel. She also provided the voices for the flying robot Weebo in the live action Flubber and all of the Barbies in Toy Story 2.

-- Originally posted February 28, 2001