Chloe Grace Moretz To voice Character in Animated Film 'Red Shoes & the 7 Dwarfs'

It's animated. It's a parody. It will expose the true story of Snow White and it's South Korean (and will be in English).

In the upcoming (family friendly) spoof, which was written and directed by Sung Ho, the Dwarves (are actually) seven cursed princes (or knights) looking to break the dark spell by kissing the most beautiful woman in the world. Snow White will come dressed in red shoes for the occasion. The film will teach the lesson that looks aren’t everything. (DenOfGeek & THR)

Here is the trailer making the Cannes circuit. It's not what you might expect:

The film is currently in post-production, which is odd timing for an actor to join, except that we're guessing Moretz will be the English language voice for her character, (though this trailer is already in English). There are no hints from the official IMDB page as to what character Moretz will be playing.

One odd thing is the beauty aspect. We know the point of the film is to challenge traditional ideas about beauty but there's a whole Jessica Rabbit vibe here at times and it feels a little off. Hopefully it's just because we're not seeing the development and handling of this in the feature film, but it's still odd to watch and realize.

And we're sure someone, somewhere is having a whole conversation about Western standards of beauty versus Eastern standards of beauty too. We know Koreans are often criticized at having extremely unrealistic beauty standards for women to attain, which is seen to have many adverse social repercussions, but perhaps that's part of why this film has been made. We shall see.

The film is currently being shopped around at Cannes Film Festival this week, so we should hear more news on this very soon.

We also have to share the original teaser trailer from 2014, when the film was titled 'Red Heels and the 7 Dwarfs'. You might say it's... unconventional. Perhaps it's due to culture and how we've come to expect family films to 'represent', but we think there's some pretty weird stuff going on in this trailer... And we don't believe it's just us that think so.
  

Chloe Grace Moretz

Take a look. (This will be great fodder for analysis and presentations on all sorts of subjects, we promise. So much here to, er, use for examples of, er, things.)

So, yeah - we can see how that trailer wouldn't go down so well, especially for families. (!) There's so much in there to pick at, (borderline offensive in some places, has a sense of being politically incorrect, sexist, etc) which is probably why the current trailer (shown earlier in the post) is the one they're going with at Cannes.

Just sayin'.

Hard to get a good read on the film when the Director says 'very family friendly romantic comedy sequel/prequel' and yet the initial teaser above is full of what appear to be 'hidden' adult jokes. We're not sure what we really think about this yet, but we'll be keeping an ear out for more info.

By the way, are we the only ones seeing some HCA Red Shoes parallels in these trailers?

(Hint: it's not the sleeping part.)

#nofeetchoppingplease

'Bratty & the Beast' (Trailer Spoof)

Too fun not to share and doubles as a commentary on the generation that are watching the remake as well. Nice work by Toon Sandwich (of ArtSpear Entertainment)!

A bit of a much-needed laugh for your Monday.

Stay till the end once the credits & notices for the channel starts. There's a parody of 'Tale As Old As Time' sung over it which is pretty amusing as well.

Enjoy!

Disney Parodies Snow White & Other Fairy Tales in "Wish Upon A Coin"

Once of the best things coming out of the various Disney animation studios at the moment are the new generation Mickey Mouse Cartoon - Disney Shorts. The original spirit of Mickey is there, along with some needed sweetness (which Mickey has been known for since the parks opened) and it's one of the best uses of excellent comedic timing that Disney has ever done with Mickey Mouse (I cannot watch the old Mickey shorts - their comedy timing is awful and irritates the heck out of me).

One of their newest Mickey shorts, however, is a bit of a surprise. I wasn't initially surprised to see a send-up of Snow White and parodying different aspects, but I was with some of the paths it went down! Despite the borderline issues it may have, it's still one of the better parodies I've seen and still manages to be sweet in the end.

Take a look:

Not quite what you expected but still rather satisfying and funny-sweet, no?

What's MOST interesting to me, though, is the commentary on how the Disney studio currently regards fairy tales and fairy tale tropes, including their own versions. It's a good barometer for telling you where the studio is at today, sensibility-wise, as well as current pop-culture, since the "arm" that produces these shorts is rather separated from the TV series studio and the feature animation studio. To help mark these little (or not so little) things, I'm adding a hashtag: #FTBarometerCheckpoint (and if I get time/remember will add the tag to older posts that are a good pop-culture and societal "pulse check" with regard society's current thoughts and views on fairy tales).

Additional note on coins and wishing: it's interesting to me that throwing coins into a well or fountain remains such a strong superstition and/or tradition and has been adopted the world over. It's a direct link to folklore and belief in local deities and fae, as well as various tales and isn't hidden by much commercialism or "watering down" as other traditions and superstitions have received over the centuries. Interestingly, it's not fear motivated, like many superstitions are, nor is it truly greed oriented but more of a petition for additional luck to the powers that be. There's a little article HERE if you'd like to read more. I couldn't finish without mentioning Britain's amazing "wishing trees" (more pics and history at this link HERE) in which people have, over centuries (!), pushed coins into the bark for luck and good health.

 

Parody of Sofia Coppola's "The Little Mermaid" is Pretty Much Perfect

Yes, it's not even filmed yet, but that's kind of the point.

It’s got all of the Coppola quirks: the indie soundtrack, the drunken karaoke, and of course, the Chateau Marmont. Actually, that’s “Shellteau” Marmont. See you if you can spot the rest. (Source)

It should be noted, this is not meant to disparage Ms. Coppola's work in any way. She's brilliant and amazing. She also has a definable style and that's what is fun to play around with when "predicting" how this live action version of The Little Mermaid could go.  If anything, it's a loving homage disguised as a spoof by Funny or Die.

Personally, I think she's going to have more fun with the fantastic aspects and hit the history more, especially because she's not remaking the Disney film (like they are here) but going back to Andersen's version, but this approach would be fun to see as well.

Admit it, you'd watch this too.

(AnnaSophia Robb is the actress playing the part of Ariel.)

By the way, if you like the main song (Kara Leslie, The Strokes cover of "I'll Try Anything Once"), you can hear and download the extended version of it HERE. 

I'd kind of love it, if this song was ultimately included in the Coppola soundtrack for the movie.

How Frozen Should Have Ended. Or, Perhaps, Started... (A lighter post now we're past Tax Day in the US!)

Well this would have made for a very different movie! One of the issues I have with Frozen is that I had the exact reaction of the old troll did when I realized what happened after the 'save Anna' visit.

(Note: please remember, this is done in good humor, not in the spirit of bashing the creators. I only say this because the YouTube comments.. yikes! Different sorts of trolls there it seems.)

The Snow Queen comes into her own!

Oh, and by the way, why has no one talked about how Marshmallow is Disney's newest princess?! I thought people would be all over that (in a good way). 

If you don't know what I mean, check it out:

Let the fan fiction begin...

:)

PS: If you need a Fairy tale justification for this post, here's a question: 

How do Disney parents compare with the older fairy tale parents in general? 

(Anyone who answers on their own blog is welcome to send me a link,

and I'll repost it on OUABlog with full credit to you and linkage to your site,

so everyone can discover your Awesome.

Seriously.)

William Shatner's Twisted Tale Toons (NOT for kids!)

Seems like everyone is hopping on the dark-side-of-fairy-tales wagon. These are... definitely twisted. I'm alerting fairy tale folk, mainly because people throughout social media are loving these! Alternately they're disgusted. They feel as if Mr. Shatner, gave in to the media parody of himself and let his "dirty old man" out for air. (Can you tell which category I fall into?)

Admittedly, the site and videos DO say "not for children" (thank goodness) because it would be easy to confuse these with kids videos if you weren't paying attention. It's a narrator-told set of animated fairy tale shorts, which, at first glance, look quite benign, but they don't remain that way.

Somehow, William Shatner sounds more elegant than your average dirty minded old man, but that doesn't mean he's any less of one. Here, his take on a classic tends to veer off script quite a bit, and by the time he's referring to Red Riding Hood as "Riddled Tit Groin Hole" you may wonder about your sanity. (ToplessRobot)

Here's GOLDILOCKS (aka an anagram that says something I'm not going to type here):

See? Don't say you weren't warned. So far there are retellings of Goldilocks and Red Riding Hood available for viewing, while we can soon expect to see Shatner's version of Rumpelstiltskin, Jack and the Beanstalk, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. Yay?

Fairy Tale Villains Do the "Spell Block Tango"

Todrick Hall's "Spell Block Tango"

Note: I meant to post this yesterday but time got away from me, (I always wish I could clone myself a few times during Halloween week!), so apologies for not alerting you before it went viral. 

This is another musical gem from Todrick Hall*, creator of Cinderonce, and is very fun. Not only is it extremely well done, it's great to hear the villainess' (ahem, including Scar) "arguing their POV", Chicago style. It's in perfect keeping with the current trend of retelling stories from the villains point of view (and it makes me want to see Chicago re-done with fairy tale characters).

The lyrics have been adjusted for each character and the Queen of Hearts' plea of "not guilty" is priceless.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you, The Spell Block Tango.

Enjoy.

Kind of genius, really. I can't wait to see what Todrick Hall will do next!

* A former American Idol finalist turned actor and filmmaker, Hall has become known for his YouTube videos that combine show tunes or Top-40 hits with popular culture, such as his video "Cinderonce", which told the story of Cinderella using only Beyoncé songs.
* Source

Advice For Young Girls From A Cartoon Princess

We're in that time of the pendulum swinging from one extreme to the other. For years fairy tales in popular culture have been mostly on the saccharine side. Now, we're being inundated by the opposite, in which every tale has a sordid and gruesome side and fairy tales are quickly being "rediscovered" as dark, dark, DARK.


Personally I've always favored a little darkness in my stories and fairy tales. I'm one of those girls who will happily watch thrillers, doesn't tolerate "soap", loves Halloween above all other holidays and for whom Buffy is a hero.

BUT, as fantastic and wonderful as it is to see incarnations of fairy tales springing up everywhere, it's already clear that the entertainment machine has broken things down to grind out a formula: ie. take known fairy tale, add angst/violence/darkness, use PG+ visuals and make sure the happy ending at least includes blood smears - rather than consider the original tales and find new ways (or old ways) to tell them. While I've always preferred the girls in my stories to have some gumption (and many fairy tale women do, even if it's subtle) they didn't all need to be wearing leather and able to wield a sword (though that is awesome). Unless some of the fairy tale treatments in production show a lighter side people can turn to for balance (thank goodness for Mirror Mirror, as campy as it appears it will be) it won't be long before people start demanding their happily ever afters back.

Goth Snow White Laptop Decal - is this where we're headed before we go back to Glitter Land?

Before you nod your head too vigorously in agreement, I wanted to remind you of the extreme we've come from, if for no other reason than to say we would best be served by something in between. (I don't mean in each film or series, I mean in the overall offerings available, after all, every one likes something a little different, and I believe there is an important and valid place for Disney offerings, as long as this isn't the sum total representation of our fairy tales).

These videos below have been around for a little while and are based on the Disney versions of the princesses so you probably already have an idea of where this might be going, especially with a title like: Advice For Young Girls From A Cartoon Princess.

Um, I'll just let you watch...

First, advice from Belle:

Then Ariel:

And finally Snow White:

You know what? After seeing these again, I'm ready to go and watch all the dark fairy tale versions available right now as long as it doesn't devolve into true horror. That's something I will never choose to watch.

Saturday Night Live's Version of Beauty & the Beast

A different twist on Disney's Beauty and the Beast by the Saturday Night Live team, aired October 17th. Please note, this version is for grown-ups.

WARNING: Mild language and adult content. May not be considered safe for work (or kids).