Magic of Disney
FROM MICKEY TO ELSA... WALT CHEERS US UP ONCE MORE
YOU couldn’t blame kids in lockdown for getting just a bit Grumpy… but they’re Happy now after Disney worked its magic again.
With almost spooky timing, the Disney Plus streaming service has burst on to UK screens.
Cynics might think the entertainment giant took the Mickey, with its £5.99 a month channels going live just as the coronavirus hit Britain.
But no, it was always coming and five million subscribers across Europe are lapping it up. Just what Doc ordered, they say.
The on-demand service, set to rival Netflix and Amazon Prime, includes Disney’s entire library of animation classics and TV shows, all the films by sister studios Pixar and Marvel – and the entire 30 seasons of The Simpsons.
SKETCHED
And that’s not to mention Elephant, this week’s new release narrated by Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle.
From Snow White and The Little Mermaid, to Mary Poppins, Finding Nemo (and Dory), Toy Story and Frozen, Disney fans span the generations.
And it all began way, way back in the 1920s when a young cartoonist sketched out some ideas for a certain Mickey Mouse.
Step forward Walt Disney. Born in Chicago in 1901, he loved drawing and painting.
But the magic of Mickey would only come after a fairytale journey as Walt faced failure before finding a perfect ending.
His first venture in 1922 ended badly as a studio he founded with his brother Roy went bust.
He moved to California to set up the Disney Brothers Studio. The rest is history.
But then, in the words of Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother: “Even miracles take a little time.”
Walt’s studio introduced synchronised sound, colour and feature-length cartoons.
In 1937, it released Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs – the first fully animated feature film. Two more blockbusters followed in 1940 – Pinocchio and Fantasia.
Never seen an elephant fly? You did in 1941 when along came Dumbo – with Bambi trotting on to Disney’s screens a year later.
A relentless line of movies followed after World War Two – Cinderella in 1950, Alice in Wonderland a year later, Peter Pan in 1953. The list goes on and on – up to this day.
In the 1950s, Disney expanded into amusement parks and launched cult TV shows like Walt Disney’s Disneyland and The Mickey Mouse Club.
Walt became the single most important figure in America’s animation industry, driven by a desire to make people happy.
He said: “I do not make films primarily for children. I make them for the child in all of us, whether we be six or 60.
“In my work I try to reach and speak to
that innocence, showing it the fun and joy of living; showing it that laughter is healthy; showing it that the human species, although happily ridiculous at times, is still reaching for the stars.”
Walt holds a record 26 Oscars. He died from lung cancer in 1966 but his empire, his legacy, continued to grow. Now owned by shareholders, last year was a record for Disney as revenue
surged by £7.7billion to a mindboggling £53.6billion. Celebrities long for a role – or a voice – in Disney movies. Emma Watson put the beauty into Beauty and the Beast in 2017, while Angelina Jolie was truly magnificent in Maleficent. Ryan Gosling’s career was launched by Disney Channel show The Mouseketeers, and from Robin Williams in
Aladdin to Idris
Elba in Zootropolis, playing a hero or a villain is the voiceover job of dreams.
For the 2019 remake of The Lion King, Beyoncé played lioness Nala and wrote the soundtrack. She said: “It’s so much nostalgia for me.
It’s the first Disney movie that brought me to tears.”
And Disney has moved with the times. Over the decades, the princesses have come in for a lot of flak so Disney transformed its female characters into kick-ass, self-reliant heroes like Moana, Elsa, Merida and Elastigirl. In a 1963 interview, Walt described his company as his “greatest reward”, adding: Mickey Mouse is, to me, a symbol of independence. He was a means to an end. He popped out of my mind on to a drawing pad on a train ride from Manhattan to Hollywood at a time when business fortunes of Roy and myself were at the lowest ebb and disaster seemed right around the corner. Born of necessity, the little fellow literally freed us of immediate worry.”
He did just that. And, oh boy, he’s helping to do it again through some tough times for all of us.