Disney's Top 5 Dragons

Once upon a time I felt like the blog was saturated by Disney posts. However, we’ve lately been short on Disney. I don’t know why; it’s not like Joe or I have stopped watching Disney movies. Though, to be fair, the Disney movies I watch tend to be the ones my older daughter is obsessed with (lately she just wants Cocomelon or Bebefin…). So since we’ve had a shortage of Disney posts and 2024 is the Year of the Dragon, I wanted to share five of my favorite Disney dragons (and one honorable mention).

1. Mushu (Mulan)

I think anyone that knew me in college would be surprised if Mushu weren’t first on this list. The reason why? My red Subaru was named Mushu. A wise-cracking dragon voiced by Eddie Murphy. What’s not to like? Mulan is one of the movies I continually get more and more out of and part of that is because of Mushu and his quotable lines. Plus, when it all comes down to it, Mushu was insecure and just wanted to stop feeling invisible. Who can’t empathize with that? Now his actions in the sequel... we tend to just forget that movie happened.

2. Maleficent (Sleeping Beauty)

A list of Disney dragons can’t be complete without this classic right? Talk about holding a grudge. Modern Disney movies might include themes of generational trauma and internal turmoil as their villains, but back in the day we had straight up pettiness and grudge-holding as a villain. While the live-action movies tried to make Maleficent more nuanced, I think there’s also something to be said for the contrast of black and white good/evil, like Maleficent.

3. Narissa (Enchanted)

Another wise-cracking dragon/witch. She was a hyperbolic representation of Maleficent, Lady Tremaine, and the Evil Queen rolled into one, but she had the sass of Queen Regina from Once Upon a Time. And despite how naive Edward and Giselle were, the Queen of Andalasia was as clever as they come. 

4. Sisu (Raya and the Last Dragon)

Raya and the Last Dragon wasn’t my favorite Disney movie by any stretch, but my toddler went through a phase when she only wanted to watch Raya. So I got plenty of exposure to Sisu. After seeing Shang Chi, I grew to love Awkwafina’s comedic timing. To get that again in animated form was adorable. Plus, even if I didn’t love the movie, I love Sisu’s mentality of trying to trust people. We can’t make the world a better place if we don’t try to trust each other, right?

5. Blazey (Onward)

So I know the pet dragon played a minor role in the movie, but come on guys. It’s a dragon that’s basically a puppy! This is exactly the kind of adorable fire-breather that Hagrid wanted when he watched Norbert(a). Obviously the more prominent dragon in the movie was the curse/rubble dragon at the end. But again, dragon puppy! The only reason Blazey is so low on the list is because he didn’t get the central role he deserved.

Honorable Mention: Figment (Walt Disney World)

I can’t say Figment is my favorite, but I feel I’d be doing a disservice to my brother’s boyfriend if I didn't mention him. I had never heard of Figment until we went to Disney World in 2019. Florida in the summer with a pregnant, nauseous wife is not fun for anyone. So all the indoor air-conditioned attractions were a much needed reprieve. Figment has appeared in iterations of “Journey into Imagination” at Epcot and he’s a dorky lovable dragon.

Obviously there are Disney dragons I didn't talk about, like Madame Mim's dragon form, Elliot, or Sisu's siblings to name a few. So make sure you let us know which Disney dragon is your favorite. Happy Year of the Dragon!

5 Best Halloween Movies On Disney+ (That Aren’t Hocus Pocus)

So while I grew up loving Disney, my Halloween was a little... darker.... so I don't have the same nostalgia goggles my contemporaries have for Hocus Pocus or Halloweentown, so excuse me if they didn't make the list. These however are five Halloween(ish?) movies that I know and love that you can find on my favorite streaming service, Disney+.  

Nightmare Before Christmas 

Can't go wrong with a Tim Burton classic. A deconstruction of my favorite holiday Halloween and my least favorite holiday Christmas makes for a beautiful blend of the best both have to offer. The animation stands strong to this day, the iconic look has become a staple of Halloween decorating. Add the iconic songs that you can sing all year round and you have a yearly must-see. 

And if you tell me it's a Christmas movie I'll send a man-eating jack-in-the-box to your house. 

Treehouse of Horror

Disney bought the Simpsons, which means all of the Halloween specials are in one place and can be watched at any time. These are a delight to watch, even the arguably worse later seasons did justice to the Treehouse of Horror. Early episodes include a reading of The Raven by Poe and a parody of Nightmare on Elm Street. Later installments feature a tribute to Orson Well's War of the Worlds and a zombie story where the only way to stop the walking dead is drinking Bart's bath water. Laugh, maybe scream, but definitely laugh while you watch it. 

Maleficent

During October, Disneyland is taken over by the villains, so it's only fitting that a movie starring the Dame of All Evil ends up on this list. Maleficent is the Sleeping Beauty story told from the side of the villain, and it is a beautiful character story on an infamous bad guy and a fun revelry in all things dark and evil. Maleficent is a great movie all year round, but pay tribute to your inner villain and check it out in October. 

Ichabod and Mr. Toad

A headless ghost and two friends who end up in hell? How much more Halloween can you get without carving a pumpkin while watching it? This is a scary cartoon that still holds up against the best modern Disney movies. I still get chills when Ichabod looks down the empty neck hole and hears a laugh emanating from within. Show it to your kids and watch them jump. 

Fantasia (The Last Segment) 

Okay don't watch the while thing unless you want to. It's a good movie but what I'm focusing on is the last segment, A Night on Bald Mountain. This is the one with the big scary demon (Known to Disney fans as Chernabog) coming out of a mountain and sending out his scary demons and ghosts into the world. The scene is short but is incredibly memorable, with the unique monsters dancing and reveling in the night. It does wrap up with a beautiful rendition of Ave Maria, leaving off with the message that despite how scary the dark can be the light will always come through. 

 

The new True Love

Okay before we start spoiler warning: In order to talk about this I'm going to have to spoil Once Upon a Time, Frozen, Maleficent, Saturday’s Warrior and Star Child. 

You've been warned.

What exactly is true love? Disney has been harping on this concept since it's first animated feature Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. It took true love's kiss to wake up Snow White, it took true love's kiss to wake up Aurora from Sleeping Beauty, it took true love's kiss to break Ursula's spell in The Little Mermaid, what is it? 

If we take a shot in the dark based on these and most other movies and TV shows we can guess that true love means the one you're supposed to be with forever, despite barely knowing them or sometimes even having officially gotten their names. True love is the power of love no matter what the obstacle, weather distance, time, magic or common sense. 

And it's the one thing from children's entertainment that's been criticized the most. 

The problem isn't in children necessarily believing in true love. A five-year-old girl thinking that someday her prince will come doesn't do that much harm. However, a 25 year old woman who blindly cruses into a relationship with someone she barely knows because she believes it's true love, that can be a problem, especially when the guy knows how to manipulate the poor princess fan. 

Everyone has seen this happen.

Lately true love has had a bit of a makeover form it's romantic roots. The season finale of Once Upon a Time's first season includes a true love's kiss, but it's between a mother and child. Frozen broadened the concept of true love by making it an "Act of true love", so that the act wasn't a kiss but a selfless sacrifice between sisters. In Maleficent (now for the big spoiler) the curse isn't broken by the prince, in fact the prince is barely in it. Maleficent breaks her own curse with her own kiss, and it doesn't even bother explaining if it's the love of a mother to a psuedo-daughter, or the love of friendship, or part of the curse itself. 

So does this work? Well considering the overwhelming popularity of these films, yeah I'd say it works. For audiences at least. As far as a story telling trope it makes a lot more sense than the person I just met is automatically my true love and that love is powerful enough to reverse death nonsense. It creates for some interesting character dynamics and relationships to be addressed besides romance, like sisters and parents.

Now you wanna know something awesome?

LDS cinema did it first.

Before we had God’s Army (Which I’m talking about next week) and Single’s Ward, LDS cinema only had a few ponies in it’s stable, one of them being Saturday’s Warrior. The film was a play BYU made a movie about and featured the maid from the Brady Bunch as well as a couple of catchy songs. It’s was pure cheese, a little apocryphal, and generally harmless. One of it’s biggest plot points was the idea that two characters had met in the pre-existence and had promised to find each other on earth, marry, and live through the eternities. In the film they do thanks to some loveable but dopey missionaries. There’s your typical true love story.

But there was a sequel.

Yes apparently this weird little play/film was so popular someone wrote a sequel called Star Child. The play was filmed during one performance and was put to video so somewhere out there this little gem exists, and it is awesome. The story once again starts in the pre-existence but instead of a man and woman pledging eternal love it’s two men pledging eternal friendship (Don’t freak out they’re just friends). The tension comes when they find out that one will be born into the gospel and the other will not, so thus the one pledges to become a missionary to bring the gospel to the other.  They then, and I’m not making this up, create a constellation of a child riding a unicorn as a sign of their friendship in the hopes that some part of them remembers it until they find each other again.

Skip ahead to earth life and our guy born into the gospel has taken some wrong turns and has become a drinker and smoker, and our non-member has become a scientist in another country. The inactive member ends up somehow getting into BYU and becomes roommates with the missionaries from Saturday’s Warrior, and they make it their project to get him on his mission for some reason.

More nonsense happens and the guy eventually gets his testimony back and ends up on his mission to-you guessed it- whatever country we’re pretending the other guy is in, and on his P-day runs into his buddy from the pre-existence. I couldn’t find the scene on Youtube but it really does feel like all those stupid fairy tale scenes when the prince finds his princess, and yet it doesn’t. There are no romantic ties between these two characters. When they see each other it really is a moment of quasi-recognition and love, and with the context I would honestly call it true love.

The film ends on a happy note, everyone gets baptized and married and whatever and the two men stay BFFs forever, no curses broken, no acts having to be performed, just love.

So if anyone tries to act all superior saying how innovative Frozen is, you can now with an air of complete hipsterness to you say we did it first.

-JOE