• Books

    Divergent

    Author: Veronica Roth Once again, we are at the end of five movie reviews, so it’s time to do a review of a book that I really enjoyed.  The book I’ve chosen this time is Divergent, which was published back in 2011 and was a great success when it was released.  The author was just in college when it was published, and two more books followed (it is thus a trilogy), which were both successes as well; also, a movie was released back in 2014, but the movie wasn’t received well by critics.  I very much enjoyed this book when I read it, and I enjoyed the 2nd book as…

  • Movies,  Neurodivergence

    The Little Mermaid

    With the 28th Disney film The Little Mermaid, we have officially said “see you later” to the Bronze Age and are now saying “hello” to the Disney Renaissance!  This movie was originally planned as one of Walt Disney’s first films but the project was delayed for many reasons and then shelved for many decades.  In the mid-1980’s, finally, animator Ron Clements became interested in adapting The Little Mermaid but the CCO (Chief Creative Officer) at that time, Jeffery Katzenberg (who would become Disney’s rival years later when he founded Dreamworks Animation), wasn’t so sure as he thought the idea had too many similarities to a proposed sequel to the movie…

  • Movies

    Oliver & Company

    As the 27th Disney film, the idea for Oliver & Company was thought of after a story artist suggested that Disney do a version of Oliver Twist with dogs.  During a meeting where people from Disney discussed potential ideas for movies (like The Little Mermaid and Treasure Planet), it was decided that Oliver & Company was going to be much darker but thankfully they edited out most of the dark parts.  When Oliver & Company was released, it was a box office success, even outgrossing Don Bluth’s The Land Before Time, but it received mixed reviews from critics.  They praised the animation and music but thought the plot was too…

  • Movies

    The Great Mouse Detective

    As the 26th Disney film, The Great Mouse Detective is definitely not quite as well known as other Disney films.  There were ideas to make a Sherlock Holmes movie with animals in it for quite some time but the project was put in limbo because of too many similarities to The Rescuers.  However, when The Black Cauldron was in production, The Great Mouse Detective was also put in production as a backup project since people were unsure of The Black Cauldron having success.  Then, when The Great Mouse Detective was released, it did much better than The Black Cauldron, gaining positive reviews from critics and doing really well box office…