Tag: Adventure

Alice in Wonderland. Dir. Tim Burton. Walt Disney Pictures. 2010.

The film draws on the viewer’s knowledge of the Disney original in the tea party scene, making it a ruin of what it once was, and presenting the Hatter as even more ‘mad’. He is seen for the first time in a close up shot, slowly looking up towards the camera, vacantly staring into the…

12th December 2018
Bambi. Dir. David Hand. RKO Radio Pictures. 1942.

The story of Bambi has captured the hearts of many ever since its release back in 1942. The main character, Bambi is a sweet, newborn mule deer when he first graces the screen, and earns the love of many with the lovely antics shared by him and his friends. The most memorable scene however, is…

12th December 2018
The Wizard of Oz. Dir. Victor Fleming, King Vidor, George Cukor, Richard Thorpe, Norman Taurog. MGM. 1939.

The Wizard of Oz showcases, through its many varying forms of animal representation, the ways in which filmmakers deal with the challenge of creating animal characters, and how these different methods are used to craft personality traits such as the moral essence of the character. We can see this with regards to the flying monkeys, particularly…

12th December 2018
King Kong. Dir. Peter Jackson. Universal Pictures. 2005.

King Kong (2003) is a remake of a 1933 film of the same name where a giant prehistoric gorilla is taken from its native island in captivity to New York where it consequently escapes. The climactic scene where Kong is protecting Anne on top of the Empire State Building is a crucial moment as it…

12th December 2018
Cinderella. Dir. Sir Kenneth Branagh . Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. 2015.

During Ella’s journey from a happy, sweet child, to the mourning servant of her stepfamily, to cherished wife of the King, her fundamental characteristics are consistent. Her mother tells her to ‘have courage and be kind’. The message is not subtle: this exact phrase is repeated another 9 times in the film. For the sceptics…

12th December 2018
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Dir. Chris Columbus. Warner Bros. 2002.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets utilizes horror film narratives and their depiction of monstrous animals in order to reveal a deeper complex message regarding human-animal relationships. The franchise’s reliance on Ophidiophobia acts to highlight the negative animalisation assigned to animals such as snakes, whilst the treatment of the Basilisk by humans in the film…

12th December 2018
Mad Max: Fury Road. Dir. George Miller. Warner Bros. 2015.

Miller’s use of post-apocalyptic colour is deliberate and ground-breaking. Mad Max: Fury Road is saturated with reds and oranges. Immediately following a fight scene that results in a lead-character casualty, the colouring changes to a palette of deep blues and blacks. This immediately creates an association around the characters within of death; alongside the Crow…

3rd June 2018
Jurassic Park III. Dir. Joe Johnston. Universal Pictures. 2001.

“This is how you make dinosaurs?” “No. This is how you play God.” [1] Jurassic Park III revolves around the dinosaurs of the island ‘Isla Sorna’; genetically modified and inevitably abandoned in a previous movie of the franchise. It follows a wealthy family who have lost their son on the island, and try to pay their…

3rd June 2018
Mulan. Dir. Tony Bancroft and Barry Cook. Buena Vista Pictures. 1998.

Disney’s Mulan (1998) takes on a Chinese folktale of a woman who takes the place of her father in the fight against the Huns who have recently invaded China. The film follows the adventures and troubles of Mulan, a young woman who breaks the stereotypes of Disney’s classic princess, as well as the expectations which…

21st May 2018
Kiki’s Delivery Service. Dir. Hayao Miyazaki. Studio Ghibli. 1989.

In Kiki’s Delivery Service one of the representations of animals is Kiki’s cat and familiar, Jiji. A familiar is a supernatural entity that can aid a witch with her magic, often in the form of an animal, and in this film Kiki, the young witch, can communicate with Jiji, an adult male cat, but no one else…

21st May 2018