Jim on Film
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The Lizzie McGuire Movie
When the movie hit theatres this past spring, I had never seen even two minutes
of the television show, though I had read and heard much about it (since seeing
the movie, I have seen a few episodes on ABC on Saturday mornings). I knew
Hilary Duff had been labeled the “Tween Queen�? and that the show was popular
among all ages, including teens and adults (not to mention some big name
celebrity fans) but that was it.
But from the previews, the movie looked like it had potential, and since it was a Disney movie that did not fall into my “a Disney movie that looks so bad, even I won’t go see it�? category (that’s reserved for things like My Favorite Martian, Rocket Man, and The Jungle Book 2), I bought my Friday night ticket.
It was so much fun. Yeah, it is clearly marketed toward a young teen girl crowd, but it had such an old fashioned feel to it with an old fashioned love story (with a clever twist) in an old fashioned city, I could help but enjoy it. In a sense, it was reminiscent of the kind of films Walt Disney made in the fifties and sixties that appealed to a teenaged audience.
The kids in the movie were great, particularly Hilary Duff whose wholesome charm is very reminiscent of Annette Funicello. Alex Borstein is also great in her role as the high school principal. And while there were elements that were over-used (the ultra-annoying younger brother theme which was ultimately beaten into a bloody and tired pulp by the otherwise fun Freaky Friday remake) and overly familiar (can we have just one more average teen girl becomes famous plotline?), it was too much fun to ignore.
What Made the Red Man Red
Can there be anything more politically incorrect than this song from Peter
Pan? Not only are the lyrics hopelessly offensive as they sing, “Hana mana
ganda/Hana mana ganda/We translate for you/Hana means what mana
means/And ganda means that too,�? the actual caricatures of Native
Americans are quite uncomplimentary.
But taking into consideration that the filmmakers were only utilizing the technique that animation does best, caricature; that they were intending to make something funny and not hurtful; and that I am a rational adult who can discern between caricature and reality, I can’t help but enjoy the song and sequence. If you can watch it without getting too caught up in our twenty-first century sensibilities, it’s great fun and very funny (for accurate depictions of Native Americans in Disney films, see Pocahontas and Brother Bear).
So, while if this scene was created today it would be preposterous and offensive in the highest degree, if you can watch it remembering that it is from another time and utilizes caricatures that are not much different from other caricatures in Disney films (the crows and the old bitty elephants in Dumbo, the three good fairies in Sleeping Beauty, the butler in The AristoCats, Chi Fu in Mulan, and a host of others), it’s a fun treat.
The Mickey Mouse Club/MMC
In the late 1980s, I was still in middle school, and on weekday afternoons at
some friends’ house, they’d always inevitably turn on the updated version of
The Mickey Mouse Club. I hated it. I really did. There were comedy sketches,
many of which weren’t particularly funny, serials that I thought were stupid,
and not much else that interested me.
Well, as I got older, my parents finally invested in cable, and I once again became familiar with the show, and it quickly became a very guilty pleasure.
Much about the show still annoyed me. There were really stupid comedy sketches, such as J.C. Chasez selling pizza patches (for pizza addiction) and fake movie trailers that were just stupid (such as Justin Timberlake in Pig Boy). There were still the annoying laugh tracks that seemed to laugh at the dumbest things, and the steps danced to the songs they sang never had much to do with the words.
But after giving it a chance because it was Disney, I came to see the appeal in The Mickey Mouse Club, even for someone who, at the time, was slightly older than the target audience for the show. Like the original, this Mickey Mouse Club featured really talented kids having a blast doing what they loved. Even though pretty much everything was scripted-from the introductions to the interviews with musical guests-these talented teens seemed real. It became a joy to see them singing and dancing even if the songs weren’t my style because they were so talented and were having so much fun.
After seeing more episodes, I also came to see that there were many very funny comedy sketches as well, such as the soap opera satire series As the Mall Turns. In one episode, twin brothers are united because they have matching tattoos of North and South Dakota, and in another, food court toady Lindsey Alley gets discovered by a famous Hollywood producer, but to escape the limelight, she must fake her death to return to her first loves . . . Jason Minor and peddling corn dogs.
In another sketch, a family faces the movie rental battle-how to pick one movie for every member of the family. After the boys fight for kung fu and the older daughter votes for romance, the family finally settles on a movie . . . Only to have J.C.Chasez steal it right from under their noses. It ends with a determined mother being carried away by security.
The real draw of the show, as was likely with the original and the 1970s incarnation, are the amazingly talented kids who fill out the cast. Of course, the world now knows (whether for the best or not is still in question) Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, J.C. Chasez, Justin Timberlake, Nikki Deloach (of the disbanded pop group Innocence), Deedee Magno (Broadway’s Miss Saigon), Kerri Russell, Dale Godboldo (Kristin, Wanda at Large, and other sitcoms), and Ryan Gosling, but there’s also Jennifer McGill, Rhona Bennett, Tony Lucca, T.J. Fantini, Marc Worden, Lindsey Alley, Mylin Brooks, and many others. Because of these endearing folks, whenever I pull out recorded episodes or read about them on the Internet, it’s like visiting old friends.