I’m as big a Disney fan as they come, but I’ve never been a fan of Pete’s Dragon. It’s not like I hate it or anything, it just wasn’t a movie that particularly interested me growing up. I liked Elliott the dragon well enough, but the story was too silly for my tastes and the songs weren’t particularly great. Pretty much the only aspect of the film I have fond memories of is the Elliott float in the Disney Main Street Electrical Parade. And considering my love of all things dragon, you’d think I would have been more into Pete’s Dragon, but it just didn’t work out that way. And considering the relative obscurity of the 1977 film, I figured I wasn’t alone. So I’ve been surprised by the strength of the backlash against the remake due out in a few months. While I assume most of the rejection of this new version is mostly a symptom of resistance to the Disney live-action remake trend, it’s true that the first teaser trailer was underwhelming. We got a new trailer today, with the film just two months out, that gives us a much better look at the story, the tone of the film, as well as Elliott himself. Take a look below and read on for my comments and screencaps, and then tell me what you think!
Luke: Hey, wrong table.
Rory: Since when is there a right table?
Luke: Since the coffee cake I baked for you and the stupid balloons I blew up are at that table, over there.
Rory: You blew up balloons for me?
Luke: Yep.
Rory: Oh, Luke, you old softie.
Luke: I count to three, it’s gone.
Rory: Thank you.
Gilmore Girls — Season 1: Episode 6 — “Rory’s Birthday Parties”
Disney originally planned to release the trailer for Moana earlier in the day yesterday (and actually did for a brief time before removing it), but decided to hold off until the evening out of respect for the horrific shooting in Orlando. The actual debut of the trailer coincided with a commercial during the Tony Awards, which were fantastic and a cathartic way to finish an emotional day, so we can finally dive in to this much-anticipated next offering from Disney Animation, due out in November 2016. Disney already has one animated smash hit this year with Zootopia, and the excitement around Moana could spell another hit for a studio that has been on a roll lately. (Seriously, with Wreck-It Ralph, Frozen, Big Hero 6, and Zootopia, this has been an excellent stretch for Disney Animation.) So take a look at the gorgeous trailer below and then read on for my thoughts and screencaps, and then tell me what you think!
Mal: Zoe, would you get Wash?
Zoe: (on the intercom) This is Zoe. We need all personnel in the cargo bay.
Mal: Whoa, whoa. I said Wash.
Zoe: Captain, everyone should have a chance to congratulate you on your day of bliss.
Mal: There’s-there’s no bliss! I don’t know this girl!
Jayne: Then can I know her?
Zoe: Jayne! Don’t sully this.
Mal: You are gonna be cleaning latrines with your face you don’t knock that off.
Firefly — Episode 6 — “Our Mrs. Reynolds”
Spock: Doctor, if I were able to show emotion, your new infatuation with that term would begin to annoy me.
McCoy: What term? Logic? Medical men are trained in logic, Mister Spock.
Spock: Really, Doctor, I had no idea they were trained. Watching you, I assumed it was trial and error.
Star Trek — Season 2: Episode 14 — “Bread and Circuses”
Anya: For a thousand years I wielded the powers of The Wish. I brought ruin to the heads of unfaithful men. I brought forth destruction and chaos for the pleasure of the lower beings. I was feared and worshipped across the mortal globe. And now I’m stuck at Sunnydale High. Mortal. Child… And I’m flunking math.
D’Hoffryn: This is no concern of ours. You will live out your mortal life and die.
Anya: Give me another chance. You can fold the fabric of time. Send me back to that place and I’ll change it. I won’t fail again.
D’Hoffryn: Your time is passed.
Anya: Do you have any idea how boring twelfth graders are?
Buffy the Vampire Slayer — Season 3: Episode 16 — “Dopplegangland”
My relationship with the new Ghostbusters film has been a bit of a roller coaster. Ghostbusters was the #1 movie at the box office the day I was born back in 1984 (though my parents decided to see Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom instead, which caused my mom to go into labor with me), and I’ve been a fan of the original and its sequel since the first time I saw them. As a longtime fan, I of course followed the various news about a potential third film over the last couple decades in the hopes of seeing the team reunited on the big screen. So when the new Ghostbusters was announced I was thrilled, even as it was clear that it would not star the original cast. I absolutely loved the idea of an all-female team, especially when we learned that Melissa McCarthy would be in it (of whom I’ve been a fan since the Gilmore Girls days). The early teases of the look and feel of the film, particularly its production design, got me even more excited, as did the news that Chris Hemsworth had been cast as the Ghostbusters’ receptionist in the new film, a great continuation of the gender reversal.
The Love Pirate 