Posts Tagged ‘Brave’

Princess Merida at Disneyland

Tuesday, June 12th, 2012

During a recent trip to Disneyland, we were headed toward “it’s a small world” in the hope of documenting the new Princess Merida meet-and-greet location that we had heard such wonderful things about. And who should we meet on the way but the Princess herself!

“I’m on me vacation,” said Princess Merida when we asked her what she was doing in the park out of costume. “Me brothers and I are gettin’ a few licks o’ fun before the big premier and it’s off to work again.”

Why was she dressed so differently than we were used to seeing her? “I canna go five steps in my dress from the film without bein’ asked for me autograph,” she said. “I’ve disguised meself as the wee lass from Disney’s G-Force for some peace and anonymity — at least as much as I kin get with these three demons in tow and bloggers as far as the eye can see.”

We certainly understood that! Thank you, Princess Merida, for the lovely chat — and for the autograph!

Brave new rating

Tuesday, May 15th, 2012

Disney/Pixar is/were very disappointed to learn that the MPAA (Moving Picture Arbiters of America) had assigned Pixar’s new film Brave a rating of PG, which could seriously impact the appeal of the animated feature to preschoolers who wish to attend without their parents.

In their official statement, the MPAA said that that their published guidance for the film would read: “It is recommended that parents exercise discretion. This film has received a PG rating for feminist violence, male cross dressing, weird accents, and brief, gratuitous haggis.”

When contacted for an official statement, the MPAA appeared to believe that Scotland was an imaginary place created by Disney for the purposes of this film. Said their representative, “Children are naturally going to find scenes and images of children defying parental authority upsetting enough without having to set the whole thing in a place where standard laws of normal society are turned on their head and everyone talks like Scrooge McDuck. The film might have garnered a G rating had it taken place somewhere normal like Europe.”

At press time, official reaction from the Scottish ambassador to the United Nations was an unprintable insult followed by a vague threat of invasion.

Another title change

Friday, March 19th, 2010

On the heels of the gigantic fiasco that arose recently when Disney, going against hundreds of years of tradition and the will of the people, decide to change the upcoming animated feature’s title from Rapunzel to Tangled, rumors have arisen that Pixar may be about to make the same kind of devastating unprecedented flip-flopping reversal.

According to someone who heard something on some blog somewhere, Pixar’s The Bear and the Bow (the touching story of a princess who wants to stop training with her Bowflex and just sit around watching Brother Bear) may instead be released with the title Brave. Scandalous as this may seem, there are actually some reasonable reasons for making such a change. For example, shorter titles are easier to remember and to spell, and don’t take up as much room on the Internet. The title also has some historical precedent — those of us who are Americans of a certain age can remember the days before the 28th amendment when we used to stand with our hands over our hearts at baseball games while someone sang about “the land of the free and the home of the bear and the bow.”

But the important thing to remember here is that Disney often creates films under working titles that were changed before final release. A few examples:

Release Title Original Title
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Snow White and Dopey, Doc, Sneezy, Sleepy, Grumpy, Happy, and Bashful
The Jungle Book Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book (Highlights)
The Black Cauldron The Negro Cauldron
The Great Mouse Detective Basil Who Lives on the Same Block as Sherlock Holmes
Lilo & Stitch Lilo & Stitch & Ted & Alice
Home on the Range Where the Deer and the Antelope Play
Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Who Censored Roger Rabbit?; Who Shot Roger Rabbit?; Who Strangled Roger Rabbit?; Who the Heck is Roger Rabbit?
James and the Giant Peach A Clockwork Orange
Tron Ron