Confession: we have not been keeping close tabs on Frozen II's development. With the Frozen shorts being underwhelming (despite lots of artistic effort evident behind the scenes), we haven't held out much hope for a film for which the biggest hype seems to be "Will Elsa get a girlfriend?", rather than actual story* or any fairy tale associated content (as opposed to just fantasy).
Enter today's teaser release, full of fairy tale feels and allusions. You have our attention again now Disney!
Check it out:
See what we mean?
Have to mention that we are quite tickled that the internet is including this speculation about the two new characters below:
"What if these two are supposed to be Gerda and Kai from the original Snow Queen story?!"
Heh. We would be delighted - but surprised - if they were.
What we'd really like to see is the Little Robber Girl (from Andersen's original story - who, by the way, is representative of the Land of Autumn/Fall in Andersen's multi-part fairy tale) making an entrance. Apart from being a favorite character from The Snow Queen, the Robber Girl would be an interesting character to (eventually) explore for a potential Elsa-love-interest, though please note, in this teaser the new girl character is still a child. Check the original text describing her and you'll see that potential as one way to interpret her.
In the meantime, what do you think of the trailer? Does it capture your fairy tale radar's attention?
We'll remain tuned as updates from Frozen II continue in the remaining nine month countdown till it hits theaters in November...
A new snowflake design with different symbols - lots for fans to speculate over
Mary Poppins has a lot of those things we love: arriving (and leaving) by unconventional means (umbrella, or, more technically, the East Wind), a magical carpet bag you can fit anything into, a talking umbrella-bird, paintings you can jump into, floating tea parties, sliding up bannisters, having unlikeable people/nannies being blown away (by the wind - natural consequences!), talking to (and with) birds, a mirror with its own personality, dancing on rooftops, and so much more. It's clear this classic takes its cues from fantasy and fairy tales.
The original carpet bag... not made for carrying carpets (though it probably could).
But before we continue, have you seen the new trailer? No?
We'll let you watch before we weigh in:
So we're a little disappointed that she floats in on a kite, although that gives kites yet another magical connection, and it is, after all, the mode of conveyance in the book Mary Poppins Comes Back (the sequel to the first Mary Poppins volume.) The trailer is - obviously - supposed to underscore the melancholy state of, well, everything, without Mary there but there is a lot of that despair on display in this teaser before we get to the sunny breakthrough/arrival of the magical nanny. Generally speaking, we adore all the concepts of and around Mary Poppins, as mentioned above, but...
OK. Full disclosure:
We were always more-than-a-little disconcerted by Disney's Mary Poppins. She creeped us out, being so "practically perfect". The books didn't communicate quite that sense at all; she was clearly quite vain. (The references to this flaw in the books are many. Check the link to have an online read of just how many!) We loved Travers' books but the thought of having a '"jolly holiday with (the Disney) Mary" gives us the willies!
The following excerpt is from a very old post of InkGypsy's, (on a very old and defunct blog), from over ten years ago, and still holds true:
The new carpet bag
(can you imagine what that
carpet would have looked like?)
A character that's always bugged me is Mary Poppins. From the first time I saw that Disney film I was disturbed by this apparently perfect, almost emotionless, amazingly powerful woman with an agenda that's never revealed. She seemed alien to me and not at all comforting. If she'd been my nanny I would have had nightmares. As it is I just find her disturbing. Even with all that singing and dancing I was always aware of the ice in her eyes and the strangely perfect precision of all her movements and actions. I felt like Bert was under a spell, and not a good one. Oddly enough her arrival in the sky with the umbrella was like a black cloud appearing and it didn't go away until she blew away too. Despite this, umbrellas - and their potential to fly you away to distant places - are a wonderful image for me, as are dancing on chimneys and sidewalk paintings you can jump into, but my enjoyment of these is greatly disturbed by the shadowy, threatening presence of Miss Poppins. It's the cold perfection that I find completely inhuman and ultimately dangerous. I always felt she was really a personification of the Snow Queen and that the film was only ever Act I of the story. Act II, in which her sinister plan is revealed, was never completed and I was quite happy that we never saw her (that way on screen) again.
And now, behold Act II!
This new teaser trailer, with Emily Blunt as the new iconic and magical nanny, gives us a few of those same vibes... and a 'quick google' has let us know, we're not alone in this!
Even with all the creepy possibilities, we must admit we really are looking forward to this one. With the different awareness of how women are portrayed now, and Disney having done a bit of soul searching to produce the quite decent movie Saving Mr. Banks, we have this on our watch list.
It is interesting to note that, from the brief glimpse we've had, this second movie, does indeed take its cues from Travers second Poppins book (just as the first movie did). We're curious to see how well it follows along with it. Here's a summary of that book from Wikipedia:
Mary Poppins Comes Back, published 1935 Nothing has been right since Mary Poppins left Number Seventeen Cherry Tree Lane. One day, when Mrs. Banks sends the children out to the park, Michael flies his kite up into the clouds. Everyone is surprised when it comes down bringing Mary Poppins as a passenger, who returns to the Banks home and takes charge of the children once again (though she'll only stay "'till the chain of her locket breaks"). This time, Jane and Michael meet the fearsome Miss Andrew, experience an upside-down tea party, and visit a circus in the sky. In the chapter "The New One" a new baby girl in the Banks family is born to the name of Annabel and concludes the family of now five children; three daughters and two sons. As in Mary Poppins, Mary leaves at the end (via an enchanted merry-go-round), but this time with a "return ticket, just in case" she needs to return.
There are other directions the problems of being "practically perfect" can go, too. While our Newshound was "researching" she ended up on Twitter, discussing two paths, that, interestingly, ended up converging. Here's the conversation thread that began with a fairy tale comparison:
Seriously, that mirror image, in both the original movie and in this teaser trailer, fairly beg to make the comparison. And it's not a stretch to have Snow White say, on her box being opened, "No thanks, just regenerating...". Let's be honest, especially now that The Doctor has finally acknowledged the femme side, the movie we really want is to see is: Mary Poppins: Time Lord
Many years ago, someone edited together a trailer for Mary Poppins, as if it were a horror movie. Although it was a (great) exercise to show the power of editing, it also cuts a little close to being possibly true...
Warning:
DO NOT WATCH if you're not interested in seeing the dark side of Mary Poppins!
(You'll never be able to see her the same way again.)
You'd have to have been living under the proverbial rock not to have heard the internet community go bananas when Disney's first live action Beauty and the Beast trailer hit the web.
The release date remains March 17, 2017 so we still have a little way to go before the hype really begins but don't let that spoil your enjoyment if you've been on the edge of your seat waiting, for after all, "..there's something there that wasn't there before." ;)
I thought it would be best just to put all the updates, to date, here in one post for now (I'll list all the previous posts at the end of this one, in case you need to catch up), and we'll post any significant news as per usual in the months to come.
While there has also been the release of the teaser poster (shown at the head here) and teeny other things, last week the buzz among excited fans increased again as snippets from the "exclusive sneak peek" included on the Diamond Edition of the 1991 classic film (available to buy in October), hit the internet by way of those who got a preview.
Yesterday, however, it became official, so there's a whole lot more to see, as of yesterday afternoon and, of course, I will share it here.
So first, the trailer, which is beautifully done although we're not shown a whole lot. It is, however, much more satisfying than that shoe for Cinderella was, and the music is a very pretty and haunting version of the classic theme too, which is lovely. I have to admit, I'm always curious to see what they do with the Disney castle at the beginning. It appears the Beast's castle replaces Sleeping Beauty's this time around, which works nicely. Enjoy:
The "new images" people are excited about are more to do with how things will be translated from the animated film and realized for a live action setting, but I have to admit, that's one of the things that fascinates me about adapting books to movies, page to stage, or animation to live action: how will they - in this case, director Bill Condon - refresh the classic ideas, motifs, scenes and looks and will those really work in their new setting? (I know there are people who could write an entire dissertation on this!) The other question many are still are asking is, if the first movie is so perfect, why do a remake? The answer from Condon:
“When something is so perfect, why get near it? The answer is technology has caught up to the ideas that were introduced in that movie.”
But onto the eye candy (note: it's over 16 mins so it won't be a quick view, but it will be worth it for fans):
One thing the reviewer noted is that the feel of this adaptation is perhaps darker than expected and although I've seen speculation elsewhere as to whether this Beauty and the Beast will be, perhaps, scary, I share the notion that it has more of an Olde Worlde feel, harking back to an old book somewhere. While this very likely won't be Villeneuve or Leprince de Beaumont's books, (sigh) I have hope that this will send people in search of those versions as well as other time-tested adaptations, like Robin McKinley's Beauty.
With books being such a strong, and beloved, theme through the animated film, I would very much like to see what Disney publishing are busy cooking up, and if there will be any real hark back to classic tales, which is what Belle is shown to adore when we're first introduced to her.
I would also not mind at all if Handypeople magazines got into the theme of building your own enchanted library, or hidden entrances to places by way of moving bookshelves... #hint
A little note about the enchanted objects... the response to the Mrs. Potts, in particular seems, universally, to be one of horror. You would have to admit that being turned into an enchanted object would really be quite horrifying, so it would track with the story, but that's definitely not the demographic Disney would be aiming for with this movie. We can only hope that the final CG models are adapted somewhat because I don't think I could ever look quite the same way at a teapot ever again after seeing that, and I'm a big fan of enchanted objects (and objects gaining sentience after many generations in a family). That said, having objects that are more realistic being brought to life, rather than animated objects living in the real world is a choice I applaud. I'm just curious now to see if they've struck the correct balance...
One update to go: the sneak peek behind the scenes from a featurette, which includes a brief excerpt from a table read between Belle and the Beast. Enjoy:
Although it's clear this film isn't going to be blow-by-blow of the 1991 movie, they're still making sure to hit all those touchstone moments it would seem. A dedicated fan, @bellabestiason,(thanks to Sarah for identifying the creator) put together an interesting frame comparison:
I'm sure there will be more, even prettier things, to see very soon.
Previous significant news posts on this film, oldest to newest):
