Disney Glitteratti Turn Out for Little Mermaid at El Cap

innerSpaceman · 09-08-2006, 10:39 AM

No, I'm not talking the celebrities ... though they were there ... but rather the surprising (to me) masses of Disney message board folks who showed up in the early evening on a Thursday to the Little Mermaid event at the El Capitan. Folks from MiceAge/Micechat, Mouseplanet and our own Lounge of Tomorrow were all over the place. It was a geek reunion.

Not Afraid, €uroMeinke, and Alex were all last-minute surprise attendees, and a grand time was had by all.

Roy Disney showed up incognito, sporting a loud, Hawaiian shirt ... and was immediately spotted by our own ex-pat Hawaiian, Gemini Cricket (and zapppop) as he tried to duck into a side door of the El Cap. He exchanged pleasant greetings with our LoT emissaries and then wasn't seen again (his later wave from the audience went unseen by us folks in the preferred balcony seats).

The pre-show panel was hosted by Don Hahn, producer of Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King, as well as lesser Disney works such as The Hunchback of Notre Dame and everyone's fave The Haunted Mansion. He was a pleasant-enough fellow, and conducted a generous discussion among the following Little Mermaid contributors:

Directors Ron Clements and John Musker
Jodi Benson - the voice of Ariel
Animation God - Glen Keane
Musical Composer Alan Meinken
and Sheri Stoner, who provided the filmed live-action model reference for the animation of Ariel (and Vanessa).

Ms. Stoner actually provided some of the highlights of the presentation, via film clips of her reference work - decidedly low tech hystericalness ... being spun on a stool for a bit where the camera "revolves" around Ariel during "Part of Your World" and, hahahaha - some guy with a home-model, floor fan walking backwards ahead of her so as to keep her hair and cape blowing as she mimes Vanessa's first appearance on the beach.

At the conclusion of the panel discussion, Alan Meinken played the 88's while Jodi Benson belted out Part of Your World. This was a stupendous treat, one we had joked about chanting for over our pre-show ice-cream sundaes ... but which came to life before our eyes (and ears) as a marvelous lead-in to the film.

The screening itself was fantastic fun. The Little Mermaid is simply one of the best animated movies ever created. Beautiful visuals, great songs, a wonderful story, clever writing, and terrific voice talents. Hehe, there were some great anecdotes about Buddy Hackett during the panel discussion ... apparently he had composed a song for his character, Skuttle ... but it was rejected by Meinken and Howard Ashman as, um, unsuitable. Unperterbed, Hackett went on to perform the song live on The Tonight Show.

The songs that did make it into the film are just fantastic. Because the audience was applauding the the numbers, I noted that two of the better ones - Poor Unfortunate Soul and Kiss the Girl leave no room at their conclusions for the applause they also rightly deserve. Les Poisson got all the laughter it rightly deserved, and there was general laughter and happiness throughout the screening, with suitable applause for Ursula's demise and wild cheering at the film's finale.

Following the main feature, there was a Academy-Award consideration screening of a short animated film, The Little Matchgirl, that was conceived for a potential further edition of Fantasia. It's a beautiful piece, set to a string quartet by Alexander Borodin ... but it's ultimately sad and was a bit of a downer after the joy of The Little Mermaid. (So much for the feel-good effect of changing the end of the dour Hans Christian Andersen tale). The short was directed by John Allers, director of The Lion King, who also appeared to make a few comments. Don Hahn was the producer of the piece, and Roy Disney was credited as executive producer.

All in all, a terrific night at the movies, with tons of celebrities and friends. I'm not sure exacly how much restoration work The Little Mermaid really needed, but the print looked beautiful. The one downside of the restoration was a bit of silly censorship ... they removed the wedding minister's "knee" that some prudes thought was a protrusion of a different sort.

Alas, that sort of revisionism doesn't sit well with me, and Disney lost my $20 in DVD money with that one fell and foolish move. Frankly, the old DVD looks just fine ... and the enjoyment of seeing The Little Mermaid on the big screen last night will last me for a while.

.

09-08-2006, 10:39 AM	#1
innerSpaceman Kink of Swank Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Inner Space Posts: 13,075	Disney Glitteratti Turn Out for Little Mermaid at El Cap No, I'm not talking the celebrities ... though they were there ... but rather the surprising (to me) masses of Disney message board folks who showed up in the early evening on a Thursday to the Little Mermaid event at the El Capitan. Folks from MiceAge/Micechat, Mouseplanet and our own Lounge of Tomorrow were all over the place. It was a geek reunion. Not Afraid, €uroMeinke, and Alex were all last-minute surprise attendees, and a grand time was had by all. Roy Disney showed up incognito, sporting a loud, Hawaiian shirt ... and was immediately spotted by our own ex-pat Hawaiian, Gemini Cricket (and zapppop) as he tried to duck into a side door of the El Cap. He exchanged pleasant greetings with our LoT emissaries and then wasn't seen again (his later wave from the audience went unseen by us folks in the preferred balcony seats). The pre-show panel was hosted by Don Hahn, producer of Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King, as well as lesser Disney works such as The Hunchback of Notre Dame and everyone's fave The Haunted Mansion. He was a pleasant-enough fellow, and conducted a generous discussion among the following Little Mermaid contributors: Directors Ron Clements and John Musker Jodi Benson - the voice of Ariel Animation God - Glen Keane Musical Composer Alan Meinken and Sheri Stoner, who provided the filmed live-action model reference for the animation of Ariel (and Vanessa). Ms. Stoner actually provided some of the highlights of the presentation, via film clips of her reference work - decidedly low tech hystericalness ... being spun on a stool for a bit where the camera "revolves" around Ariel during "Part of Your World" and, hahahaha - some guy with a home-model, floor fan walking backwards ahead of her so as to keep her hair and cape blowing as she mimes Vanessa's first appearance on the beach. At the conclusion of the panel discussion, Alan Meinken played the 88's while Jodi Benson belted out Part of Your World. This was a stupendous treat, one we had joked about chanting for over our pre-show ice-cream sundaes ... but which came to life before our eyes (and ears) as a marvelous lead-in to the film. The screening itself was fantastic fun. The Little Mermaid is simply one of the best animated movies ever created. Beautiful visuals, great songs, a wonderful story, clever writing, and terrific voice talents. Hehe, there were some great anecdotes about Buddy Hackett during the panel discussion ... apparently he had composed a song for his character, Skuttle ... but it was rejected by Meinken and Howard Ashman as, um, unsuitable. Unperterbed, Hackett went on to perform the song live on The Tonight Show. The songs that did make it into the film are just fantastic. Because the audience was applauding the the numbers, I noted that two of the better ones - Poor Unfortunate Soul and Kiss the Girl leave no room at their conclusions for the applause they also rightly deserve. Les Poisson got all the laughter it rightly deserved, and there was general laughter and happiness throughout the screening, with suitable applause for Ursula's demise and wild cheering at the film's finale. Following the main feature, there was a Academy-Award consideration screening of a short animated film, The Little Matchgirl, that was conceived for a potential further edition of Fantasia. It's a beautiful piece, set to a string quartet by Alexander Borodin ... but it's ultimately sad and was a bit of a downer after the joy of The Little Mermaid. (So much for the feel-good effect of changing the end of the dour Hans Christian Andersen tale). The short was directed by John Allers, director of The Lion King, who also appeared to make a few comments. Don Hahn was the producer of the piece, and Roy Disney was credited as executive producer. All in all, a terrific night at the movies, with tons of celebrities and friends. I'm not sure exacly how much restoration work The Little Mermaid really needed, but the print looked beautiful. The one downside of the restoration was a bit of silly censorship ... they removed the wedding minister's "knee" that some prudes thought was a protrusion of a different sort. Alas, that sort of revisionism doesn't sit well with me, and Disney lost my $20 in DVD money with that one fell and foolish move. Frankly, the old DVD looks just fine ... and the enjoyment of seeing The Little Mermaid on the big screen last night will last me for a while. . Last edited by innerSpaceman : 09-08-2006 at 11:46 AM.
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