Why Is Pinocchio In Aquaman? (spoilers hidden)

We did not expect a specific repeating reference to a fairy tale in the current blockbuster Aquaman (about to hit the billion dollar mark this weekend), yet there it was: Pinocchio. Not exactly the fairy tale you'd expect to get nods in a DC superhero movie, but the references are very deliberate and repeat often enough throughout the film in such particular ways that it's clear there are supposed to be parallels to Aquaman's own story. Who'd have thunk?

Quote from Jason Momoa doing publicity for Aquaman

Just to get this part out of the way, our opinion is that Aquaman is a ridiculously fun and silly adventure that - thankfully - has its tongue firmly planted in its cheek for most of the time, has incredible (and fairy tale-like) visuals, and overall reminds us of kids playing with their action figures, who then grew up and turned those imagination games into something you can now see on the big screen. It suffers a little from an identity crisis, being an odd mash-up of Star Wars under the sea + Indiana Jones + Lovecraft (because why not?) all held together somewhat loosely with Arthur pulling his proverbial sword from the stone, but isn't that what playing imagination games tend to be like anyway? While it is far from perfect, there's no doubt it has the spirit and love of the original comics (and weaves in an astonishing number of DC easter eggs and nods throughout) and still manages to be fun for many who have never cared about Aquaman before. It also has a very blatant ecoconscious message that all by itself had our audience cheering (and likely made them much more forgiving of the movie's imperfections).

Aquaman 2018 promotional hot of the undersea warrior factions

Mondo X Cyclops poster by Jessica Seamans

We're not comic experts here (our focus has been rather narrow in that genre, concentrating mainly on Bill Willingham's Fables) so we don't have the inside track on fairy tales the DC Aquaman comic series has referenced in the past (you may wish to hit up Adam Hoffman on those questions!) but director James Wan wasn't afraid to nod to pop-culture versions of fairy tales when he could slide them in* (see end of post for examples). Wan has also shown a lot of delight and enthusiasm for the variety of Aquaman memes popping up all over the internet. It's clear this project had a lot of joy and childlike play in the creation of it, and that leaks through to the audience very well. This childlike sense of wonder and fun is underscored by the way the film opens and ends with a very fairy tale-like narrative (sadly, a little clunky in execution), so the audience does appear to be invited to consider this a kind of epic fairy tale (or a combination of tales, as Atlanna - Aquaman's mother - clearly has a fairy tale of her own).


Pinocchio, however, was mentioned specifically twice by name. There was even a picture book involved and, using visuals and some props, the fairy tale obliquely underscored Aquaman's journey. While the movie clearly uses the Sword in the Stone legend as a basis for Aquaman's rise to hero (yes, Aquaman's surface name is Arthur, no it's not a coincidence), the Pinocchio theme is (generally) much more subtle**. The rise to hero (more than just-king) happens alongside Arthur learning who he is, accepting himself and, eventually making his own choices rather than being pushed into a role (that is, used as a puppet). It also shows him early on deliberately playing the fool, only to reveal there's much more to him (and his understanding of the world and classic literature and mythology) than first appears. But there are other strong references too - both visually and in the script.

SPOILER ALERT

(highlight incomplete paragraphs below to reveal hidden/spoiler text): 

- Right when Arthur is seemingly defeated, he narrowly avoids death by escaping into the mouth of a whale when he uses his 'speaks to fish' powers (which includes all sea creatures) and asks it to let him and Mera in. The visuals are very specific and the nod to the fairy tale is very clear.
- Extra trivia: if you play the video game Kingdom Hearts you will know that Monstro is both a character and a world that needs to be defeated. Once you conquer Monstro you're finally allowed to go to Atlantica aka The Little Mermaid's underwater home aka Atlantis.)
- Arthur's personal journey, as well as clues to how he might overcome his adversities and enemies, is also foreshadowed in the background when he's a small child. His mother is telling him stories, holding a fork, by the way, and in the background, there's a wooden Pinocchio doll sitting upright.
- When Arthur is taken down to the ruins of old Atlantis and he is convinced to go on the quest, there is a puppet-doll sitting at the bottom of the ocean too, albeit a creepy one as this prop does double duty as a nod to the director's previous horror film The Conjuring, as well as letting us know it's going to get a little Cthulhu-like before there's any real 'win' for Arthur).
- Later, in Italy (of course) during the search for lost-Atlantis (aka the Indiana Jones sequences) a child is at a fountain and is given an Atlantean coin by Mera, which the child uses to make a wish. Mera causes the water to form into dancing dolphins, which delights the child who runs away to tell others and returns to gift Mera with a book, specifically Pinocchio (an illustrated Carlo Collodi picture book, not a Disney one).
- Mera flips through it, sees the whale scene, and accuses Arthur of getting his ideas from a fairy tale. Cue the odd line about "from the movie not from the book" which hasn't landed with the audience as it was supposed to.

END SPOILERS

Quote from Director James Wan, commenting on the creation of Aquaman

The scene with the book is also near a turning point in the movie, in which Arthur truly starts embracing his mixed heritage and finding his unique way through. As whatculture.com puts it: "It's all executed a bit awkwardly, to be honest, but it's nice that the DCEU (Ed. note: Stands for DC Extended Universe) is even trying to be allegorical at this point." (source)

[Side note: We find it very interesting that it's Pinocchio, not Jonah, that is the model here, but a fairy tale allegory likely works better than a biblical one in such an effects-filled fantasy. Jonah isn't generally considered a puppet or pawn, or needing to find his real self (though a case could be made for it). Pinocchio is the clearer - and safer - choice. With the threat of world catastrophe being a solid theme, Jonah would have worked allegorically in this aspect too (in the Bible, God threatens the great city of Ninevah, aka capital of the Assyrian empire - think "ancient equivalent of New York" - unless Jonah goes and warns them and they repent) but it would seem the filmmakers wanted to concentrate on Arthur's personal journey more, which the Pinocchio parallel does well. Another note of interest is that Pinocchio is usually referenced with regard to truth and lies, but that wasn't the focus at all, especially as far as Arthur's character was concerned. It's refreshing to see Pinocchio being a touchstone in a different way. ]

Apart from the fantastic and colorful underwater cities and cultures, the most powerful scenes, visually speaking, are the Lovecraftian ones. (They truly are cinematically stunning!) These sequences too could be considered to reflect some darker aspects of Pinocchio. Interestingly, we noticed some common threads between the semi-successful Speilberg sci-fi updating of Pinocchio, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, and this much darker section of the film, especially with regard to themes of loneliness and abandonment. Though Mera makes for a formidable, non-distressed damsel/partner through much of the film, it's clear at this point Arthur has choices he needs to make by himself. Although there's no blue fairy in Aquaman (SPOILER - highlight to view: we think a kaiju blue fairy would make for a very interesting interpretation! And Julie Andrews really does have the perfect voice for that dual role...            END SPOILER), Arthur's final personal challenge before the film's action-packed ending has much of the same atmosphere of soul searching and surrender that Pinocchio and David (in A.I.) exhibit at the same juncture of their stories. It should be noted, though, that Arthur's journey quickly transitions from "I'm a real boy" to being crowned "superhero" and a very crowd-pleasing finale.

Aquaman (2018)  rides a sea dragon

We'll finish on this note of observation. In social media, the response to Pinocchio appearing in Aquaman has been interesting. A good portion of folks are basically saying: 

"Did Aquaman make me want to watch Pinocchio again? Yes. Yes, it did."

We can't complain about that.

*  *  *
Fairy tale art bonus of the day:
Below is the gorgeous Pinocchio painting by John Rowe for Disney Fine Art, that we had a bit of fun with for the header. Kudos to John Rowe who is the amazing artist of this dynamic piece!

Pinocchio - The Wrath of Monstro - Geppetto by John Rowe

One of the many meme posters created from
the original, this one reflecting the
strong eco-theme in Aquaman

Note: You may also wish to check out this article: How Cinema’s New Aquaman Draws on the Mythology of Ancient Sea Gods

Footnotes:

*At a glance: Disney's The Little Mermaid - at least 4 specific ways, more if you're keen - it even begins with a fairy tale-like narration, just in case you were missing the point; in a flip version of The Little Mermaid tale, man finds wounded silent/feral sea woman, rescues her, falls in love; woman eats goldfish in a very Splash like/little mermaid manner, tridents and forks are interchangeable at points, that red-red hair of Mera's and her seriously-mermaid-y outfit; the whole "part of your world" yearning (which may even have been said aloud at some point); an octopus plays the drums, though to be fair, this is actually DC canon).

   Moana - the very Maui-like vibe Arthur/Aquaman plays with [the star, Jason Momoa, has Polynesian heritage too], as well as the visuals like his tattoos which are quite specific, and there's even a giant hook used at one point.

** There is a particular line of dialogue about Pinocchio "the movie versus the book", that has a bunch of the audience scratching their heads over why that was said. We think this was supposed to be rather more sly than it came across, and was really just a clumsily layered joke referencing DC vs Disney, true fans (comic readers) vs new fans (moviegoers), and Arthur playing into Mera's impression that Arthur was a bit of a blockhead (puppet pun intended), though it's quite clear in the surrounding scenes that his upbringing included a good grounding in classical history and literature.

'Moana' - A Movie We Need Right Now

Recent family movie releases have been both the break from stress, worry and confusion that families, especially kids, need right now, and they have uplifting messages to boot.

You know we were happily surprised by Trolls. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them not only brings magic and wonder in spades, it head-on addresses fear of the 'other' on many levels and underscores the importance of diversity. And, now Moana has hit theaters there's another reason to go.

From all reports, Moana is affirming the importance of supporting, believing in and training our young people to be truly great leaders (instead of doubting them), that girls can do whatever they truly set their hearts and minds to, that have a love interest isn't part of being a successful person and even more so, that platonic love can be a source of strength. It also sends an important message about how respectfully and correctly representing someone's else's culture (different than your own) can actually be a unifying force, strengthening communities, rather than widening the gap that tends to occur in fear of what is different; that there is much more value in respecting our various heritages equally than might be obvious.

Japanese poster

The echoes of happy, happy People Of Color feeling heard, are resonating across Tumblr, Pinterest, Twitter and other social media right now, and, after recent weeks, that is a powerful and positive thing.

 (Diverse and respected review site, Rotten Tomatoes, that tallies both critic and audience responses, has a score of 98% positive for Moana at this writing - that's almost unheard of.)

Here's a handy PSA for all those who aren't Polynesian, just to help stop us all from putting our foot in it, and making everyone's jobs of trying to communicate, and build much needed bridges, harder than it has to be.

From Tumblr poster 96kwon:, a poster of Polynesian heritage who reports that, after concerns about misrepresentation, Disney did right by their culture:

A quick FYI for non pacific islanders for Moana

• Even though you only know Hawaiians doesn’t mean she’s just Hawaiian, and yes, there are more islanders than just Hawaiians.
•  Polynesian isn’t a language. Polynesia is a large group of islands that have their own distinct language, rich culture, and customs. There’s Samoa, Tonga, New Zealand, Tahiti, Hawaii, Easter Islands, etc…
•  Moana isn’t one race she’s everything mixed into one because there are too many cultures to just base her off of just one island.
• Maui, as you might have guessed isn’t based off of just one legend either.
• Maui’s “War Dance” is called the Haka and they do that dance to scare their enemies before battle.
• Fun fact: Moana means Ocean
• Please don’t group all of the Pacific Islanders and their cultures into one.
• Another Fun fact: Pacific Islanders are some of the best navigators of the Ocean to have ever lived. There has even been evidence of them being the first to travel to America. sorry not sorry Columbus.
• And last but not least, PLEASE LOVE MOANA AND GO AND WATCH IT IN ALL ITS GLORY 

Spanish language poster

Spanish language poster

And now onto the legend/lore part. We haven't had the opportunity to view the whole film yet but reviews from a wide variety of sources point to it being a success - both as entertainment and as a proper representation of culture and related history and legends.

It's also reported to be full - chock full - of folklore Easter Eggs. Only problem is, we don't have access to a wide variety of Pacific Island folklore to ferret some of these out, but even if we did, we couldn't do better than to point you in the direction of the amazing Zalka Csenge Virág's storytelling, folklore and legend blog, The Multicolored Diary.  She's broken down all the Maui legend references in that character's key song, You're Welcome. The post is titled All the Maui legends crammed into Moana's "You're Welcome".

To explain what she's done, here's an extract from the intro of the post on The Multicolored Diary:

"..what really intrigued me as a storyteller was all the folklore Easter eggs hidden in plain sight. The best among them was Maui the Trickster's introduction song, titled "You're Welcome", which combined the features of trickster and culture hero perfectly.On top of that, each line of the song was a reference to an actual Maui legend."

Csenge goes on to explain the list she put together, with the encouragement that everyone should keep reading indigenous reviews in particular, to truly assess the representational success - both of culture and legends - in the movie. You can read the post (and hear the song in full) HERE.

True to Disney tradition, Easter Eggs , particularly from Ron and John's previous huge hit The Little Mermaid, are spread throughout, making the 'family' this film has come from clear. And,as we have been told over and over - stay until after the credits! There's an extra bit of happy at the very, very end.

Moana: Don't Call her "Princess"!

       

WELL, HERE SHE IS!

While Disney's new strong heroine Moana isn't based on a fairy tale, there are a multitude of folklore connections and tie-ins, and, despite the "don't call her Princess" promotional catch phrases being quoted around the web, you shouldn't be too surprised if this story is added to Disney's "fairy tale realm", albeit an island version, in the months following the film's release.

Moana, the title character of the upcoming animated adventure, definitely sounds like a classic Disney princess. She’s an adventurous, compassionate, and beautiful young woman who sings, talks to animals, and even has a royal pedigree as the daughter of a Polynesian chief.        

But you won’t hear the creative minds behind Moana give their lead character that distinction. “We don’t describe her as a princess,” producer Osnat Shurer told Yahoo Movies at an early press day at the studio’s Burbank offices in August. “We don’t think of her as a princess. We just think of her as one of our strongest lead characters.”

If you haven't seen much in the way of trailers, take a look at this compilation one that was released just last week.

Although it's a little long, the bonus here is the included Japanese trailer which teases an entire scene of Moana as a baby, playing with (yes, "with", not "in") the Ocean:

Although Moana is clearly - at her debut - supposed to be set apart from fairy tale princesses and have strong ties to folklore and myth (as opposed to that time and space of Once Upon A Time), the unfortunate reality is that there is no "folklore/myth" niche in Disney marketing, so she - and all he surrounding magic and lore - will likely end up in the Disney fairy tale mix. (To be clear, we are not advocating this, just looking at patterns and projecting what will happen down the marketing road...) We're not the only people watching and waiting to see how this folklorific film (think terrific and folklore mashed together) pans out in terms of marketing and the eventual "image" Moana settles into either.

From Yahoo:

Foreign title & poster - so beautiful!

...Given what a lucrative business the stable of Disney princesses has been for the company — just ask any parent who has ever waited in line to take photos with Cinderella, Aurora, or Belle — it’s somewhat surprising to hear Moana‘s filmmakers distance themselves from the tradition. 

But we’re also clearly in the middle of a cultural shift on gender depictions in film. In recent years we’ve seen Snow White reimagined as a live-action warrior (Snow White and the Huntsman), Jane Austen’s Bennett sisters battle the undead (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies), and the Ghostbusters get a gender flip. And soon, we’ll finally have female-led comic-book movies with Wonder Woman (2017) and Captain Marvel (2019). 

... Perhaps most telling is a scene filmmakers mentioned in Moana that confronts the notion of her identity head-on. Musker and Clements described a moment in which Maui, a physically imposing but playful mentor to Moana, is teasing her. “He says, ‘Hey, princess,’ derogatorily,” Musker said. “And there’s a line where she says, ‘I am not a princess!’”

Back to legend and folklore.

The demi-god Maui is the most obvious connection to Polynesian myth and legend but the question is which one? Here's a summary:

The teaser trailer introduces us to the demi-god Maui and his impressive achievements. If you're Hawaiian and confused because you can't recognize them all, it's because he was actually created using multiple versions of the myth known in the Pacific: Maui can be found in the mythology of several islands such as Hawaii, Tonga, Samoa, Tahiti, French Polynesia and New Zealand. And if there's one attribute that he keeps in all these different cultures, it's that he's pretty much iconic.

What we're most interested in, however, is the Ocean, which has it's own personality and connection with Moana, and how that is treated with regard to folklore, superstition and the many legends of the Pacific. There hasn't been much speculation about the Ocean as yet, though its scene with baby Moana is an instant hit with audiences everywhere, but this is the role usually reserved for sidekick animals, benevolent fairies (especially those akin to the Blue Fairy in Pinocchio) or enchanted objects. Having such a huge part of nature, that is, the ocean, have a very intimate connection to the main character provides a different story telling platform and we're curious to see how it's handled.

We're also curious bout the "Lava Witch" (seen looking very impressive in the first artwork promos last year, though not present - we think - in the current trailer, unless she has transformed to something very skinny and less crone-like). Unlike Mother Nature stories or vengeful gods tales, this "character" of the Ocean appears to be something else, something more like a character you would very much meet in a fairy tale (especially if written by Hans Christian Andersen), while the Lava Witch seems like a cross between Pacific Island deities and Norwegian folklore. We know there will be more folkloric and mythic references in the film, so despite this not being "fairy tale" it's still a great opportunity to talk classic tales and how they overlap with our beloved realm of "fairy".

Fairy Tale Bonus of the Day:

Curious about Moana's origins and geographical roots? There's an interesting article that came out at the end of last year, when Moana was still being introduced to the public as Disney's next strong female heroine. It's gets a little technical in the geography versus the language and doesn't cite myth, legend or folklore much so we're not excerpting any here, but it's a fascinating read nonetheless. Go dig into Moana's history HERE at The True Origins of Disney's Moana.

Fairy Tale Bonus 2 of the Day:

A Little Bit About Moana’s Mini Maui

Maui’s body is covered in tattoos and, being a powerful demigod, they’re a bit more animated than your traditional body art. There’s even a tattoo of Maui himself who becomes an actual character in and of himself.

“Most of these tattoos represent his past accomplishments,” says Mack Kablan, Animator Supervisor on Maui. “His deeds of derring-do. And within these visualizations there’s a small figure representing Maui himself, and over the course of creating the story we started to refer to him as ‘Mini Maui’ because he became a character in his own right. He actually has a personality and a relationship with big Maui. He is, first of all, Maui’s biggest cheerleader and supporter. He is Maui’s alter ego, he can be swaggy and confident too, but more than anything else, he’s his conscience.”

The best part about Mini Maui? He’s being animated in traditional, HAND-DRAWN style by the wonderfully silly Eric Goldberg – animator of Aladdin’s Genie! (source)

D23 Expo in August to Give Sneak Peek of Live Action "Fairy Tale-Adjacent" Films

Before you ask: NO - there is no official word that anything from Beauty and the Beast will be shown, released or teased BUT they will have to mention it so there's a strong possibility it will be one of those bonus surprise things (like a shot of an enchanted rose, if they follow the Cinderella trend!), on the day for attendees/Gold Members. (We shall see).

Here's the official press announcement:

Opening day of the D23 Expo will feature the Disney Legends Awards Ceremony as well as peeks at Disney and Pixar’s animation slate, including looks at “Zootopia” and “Finding Dory.” Disney’s live-action properties, such as its upcoming take on “The Jungle Book” and “Alice Through the Looking Glass,” will be previewed on Saturday.

See? Fairy tale adjacent only (but still interesting to us fairy tale folk).

The D23 Expo 2015 will be held during August 14-16 at the Anaheim Convention Center (Los Angeles). Tickets are available now.

By the way, I found this schedule online, which confirms Disney's animated Jack and the Beanstalk take, Giants, is still happening - and has a firm release date, albeit it very, very far away.

Also a little PSA: on April 30th, 2015 the Disney animated films The Jungle Book, The Little Mermaid and Cinderella went back in the vault for the next seven years (sorry folks!).

What's coming out this year to replace them? Well, we have to wait till Fall and then again till February 2016 for more, but for this year:
Aladdin: October 6th, 2015 - first time on Blu-ray

Disney's "Moana" Begins Casting with The Rock

IMPORTANT NOTE:  Before you get too excited about the art included below, they are the PERSONAL WORK of Brittney Lee from a few years ago. Although Brittney is (now) a Disney artist, she did NOT create these as part of the Moana concept and development process. The reason they keep making the rounds on the internet in conjunction with Moana news is because they are beautifully rendered, animation-style examples of nature gods and goddesses, like we can expect to see appear in the film. Expect the Disney versions to be completely different though - and epic. We've been told to expect EPIC. 

The image above and at the end of the post ARE, however, official Moana images from Disney.

Now that the record is straight, enjoy. :)

I completely missed getting this up a couple of weeks ago, and the news has been (somewhat sadly) eclipsed by all the Beauty and the Beast news everywhere, however, Disney's Polynesian-based animated feature Moana has begun casting.

Dwayne Johnson (aka "The Rock") will play a "benevolent demi-god named Maui" who joins the heroine on her cross-Pacific adventure. And he'll be singing too.

Moana (2018) - The main character will be Moana Waialiki, a sea voyaging enthusiast, and the only daughter of a chief in a long line of navigators. When her family needs her help, she sets off on an epic journey. The film will also include demi-gods and spirits taken from real mythology.

(Oh my - look at all those contract papers..!)

There seems to be a good effort happening with regard to being both diverse and authentic in both casting and research (in January 2015, some Maui native teens were being auditioned for roles as well - no decisions have been officially announced).

Excerpted from a much longer article in the Huffington Post, near the end of last year (emphasis in bold is mine):

Personal work by Brittney Lee (NOT created for Moana concept art)

"I grew up reading the novels of Melville and Conrad. And the South Seas, the exotic world that a lot of their stories are set in, was extremely intriguing to me. Just looking at the art which comes out that corner of the globe -- the carvings, the statuary, the sculpture -- I thought that it all begged for this bigger-than-life treatment that you can only get with animation," John (Musker) remembered. "So to expand on that idea, I then began reading up on the mythology of this area. Which is when I came across these incredible tales about Maui, who's one of the great cultural heroes of the South Pacific." 

Personal work by Brittney Lee (NOT created for Moana concept art)

..."So Ron and I developed this very simple storyline. And John (Lassiter) being John, he said 'I love this arena. I love the bare bones of the story you've got. But this really begs for research. On the ground research.' So we were forced, as it were, " Musker said jokingly, "to go to the South Seas two years ago. We've gone twice now. Two big research trips. And those trips have been revelatory and kind of life-changing in a way. In that it made us take our very simple outline and rework the whole thing." 

"When we visited those islands, John and I were especially interested in meeting people who lived on islands where they had grown up surrounded by an ocean. We wondered how that might effect your point-of-view. And we learned a lot. We learned all kinds of things that we didn't know. We learned how the sea and the land are one and the same. How these people think of the ocean as something that unites the islands, not something that separates them," Clements recalled. "And then we learned about the great migration and how the people of the Islands take great pride in the fact that their ancient ancestors invented this way of navigation called dead reckoning which involved studying the stars and the currents. And way before the European explorers or the Vikings, these people had this very, very incredibly advanced techniques of navigation." 

Personal work by Brittney Lee (NOT created for Moana concept art)

"So many of these ideas in terms of respect for nature, respect for the ocean and the elements -- all of these things -- really had a huge influence on us and then began to make their way into this film's story," Ron continued. "Which is why Moana is now the most ambitious thing that John and I have ever attempted. There's definitely an epic aspect to this story. ...as it is with any of these things, you just hope that -- in the end -- you can get it right." 

...much of Moana (is) taking place in the open ocean and with this film's title character encountering enormous sea creatures and mythic figures ... We've got this story that's set 2000 years ago which we're building around a 14 year-old heroine.

With such awareness and emphasis on authentic diversity being needed for this film, it should be a good boost for Disney's image overall, and especially for the princess line. No doubt we will be hearing much more about Moana very soon...

Sources: HERE, HERE, Twitter & Instagram

"Frozen 2" Officially in Development

Fan made banner

So: Tumblr exploded today (Thursday, March 12) because this was announced at D23:

Today at The Walt Disney Company’s annual meeting at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, California, Chairman and CEO Robert A. Iger told shareholders and D23 Members in attendance ...that Frozen 2 is officially in development at Walt Disney Animation Studios.

The Oscar®-winning team behind Frozen—directors Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee and producer Peter Del Vecho—are returning for the new film. “We enjoyed making Frozen Fever so much and being back in that world with those characters,” said John Lasseter. “Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck have come up with a great idea for a sequel and you will be hearing a lot more about it, and we’re taking you back to Arendelle. We are so excited about that.”

As are many, many (maaaany) Tumblr users but there's also a lot of worry too.

And with regard to fairy tales, well, Frozen is barely connected to a fairy tale to start, Frozen Fever, from all reports has nothing that puts it on par with the movie even in terms of theme (it's goes for the Olaf and the cute, but otherwise...) and Frozen 2 will... very unlikely be a fairy tale either.

But it will be sold to the public as one, and likely have more magic and more Elsa. Would it be too much to ask that at least some regional folklore from Scandinavia and the Sami people (aka Laplanders) get woven in?

And in the meantime, what's happening with Giants - our Disney-fied modern Jack and the Beanstalk story that's supposed to be in production currently? I see it was moved to 2018 at the end of last year but other than that, I haven't heard a peep about it for months and months.

Not an official logo

And Moana, a "mythic musical adventure set in Polynesia", which is supposed to be released in 2016, has barely had any press either, apart from this announcement back in November:

The film will tell the story of MOANA, a teenage girl and “born navigator” who “sets sail in search of a fabled island,” according to a summary from Disney. “During her incredible journey, she teams up with her hero, the legendary demi-god Maui, to traverse the open ocean on an action-packed voyage, encountering enormous sea creatures, breathtaking underworlds and ancient folklore,” Disney reveals.

I wouldn't be surprised if Giants gets bumped (again) and Frozen 2 is put on the fast track because, ya know...