The Pixar movie Turning Red, which takes place in the early 2000s, is about a 13-year-old Chinese-Canadian girl, Meilin (or Mei) Lee, who’s an only child and who’s desperate to please her mother all the time (and sometimes at the expense of her friendships); and from research that I’ve done, it seems like this desire to please is not uncommon in Mei’s culture.  One day, Mei wakes up to find that she has turned into a giant fluffy red panda!  It turns out that a family curse (which was once a gift) has every female in her family transform into a red panda once they come of age (or start…

Once again, I decided I had to review another Marvel movie after watching this one.  The idea to make Shang-Chi into a movie goes back to 2001 but Marvel did not get serious about it until the end of 2018.  When Shang-Chi was released back in September, it received positive reviews from critics who praised the acting (especially the acting of Simu Liu and Tony Leung), the choreography of the action sequences, and the representation of Asian culture.  Some people say it has done for the Asian and Asian American community what Black Panther did for the African and African American community.  While I did like the last Marvel movie…

This week I’m going to do something I haven’t done for a while:  a movie review; and in honor of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings being released on Disney+ day this Friday (their two-year anniversary), I decided to do a review of Marvel’s most recent movie, Black Widow.  The idea to make a Black Widow film has gone as far back as 2004 when Lionsgate acquired the film rights to make a movie about Black Widow; but by 2006, Lionsgate dropped the project and the rights went back to Marvel.  For several years, plans to make this movie were talked about on and off and, finally, around…

As the 33rd Disney film, Pocahontas is a popular movie with some Disney fans yet, sometimes, it’s still not as well known as other movies.  When the idea was conceived, the CCO of Disney at the time was hoping it would be nominated for best picture like Beauty and the Beast; and the company even contacted some Native Americans to help with the movie.  But, after the movie’s release, the Native American community felt as if the movie was offensive and that Disney didn’t listen to their advice.  The film received mixed reviews from critics, who praised the animation, titular character, music, and themes but criticized the historical inaccuracies and…

As the 32nd Disney animated film, The Lion King is definitely one of the most well-known Disney movies.  The idea was conceived after the release of Oliver & Company, and the script was re-written several times, with the original plot of the movie being very different.  It was the first Disney film to be based off an original idea, though parts of it were inspired by works like Hamlet.  The movie’s production also coincided with the production of Pocahontas and, surprisingly, people thought that the latter would be more successful; but boy were they wrong!  The Lion King received critical acclaim for its music, story, themes and animation and it…

As the 31st Disney film, Aladdin is one of Disney’s most well- known films.  The idea for Aladdin was originally pitched by a lyricist, Howard Ashman, and the screenplay went through three drafts before Disney’s president at the time finally agreed to the movie.  When Aladdin was finally released, it received critical acclaim for its animation, music, characters, and for Robin Williams’ role as The Genie; and it was a box office success, becoming the highest grossing animated movie up until The Lion King, even though it took many weeks to take the number one spot.  I was very excited to review this film as, though I had watched it…

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…