Treasure Island (excellent)
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (excellent)
Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier (very good)
Old Yeller (very good)
The Shaggy Dog (very funny)
Third Man on the Mountain (superior)
Kidnapped (excellent)
Swiss Family Robinson (pretty good)
The Absent-Minded Professor (funny)
The Legend of Lobo (very good)
The Incredible Journey (very good)
Dr. Syn Alias The Scarecrow (superior)
The Three Lives of Thomasina (pretty good)
Mary Poppins (superior)
That Darn Cat! (very funny)
Lt. Robin Crusoe, U.S.N. (pretty good)
The Love Bug (pretty good)
The World’s Greatest Athlete (very good)
Herbie Rides Again (pretty good)
The Island at the Top of the World (pretty good)
The Strongest Man In the World (pretty good)
Escape to Witch Mountain (pretty good)
The Apple Dumpling Gang (funny)
The Shaggy D.A. (very funny)
Pete’s Dragon (pretty good)
The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again (funny)
The Black Hole (pretty good)
Tron (excellent)
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (funny)
The Rocketeer (excellent)
If it came down to recommending only one of these to someone unfamiliar with the Disney live-action experience, it would have to be Third Man On the Mountain.
Anyone else have fond memories of Disney live action?
IV: I had to look up what PotC stood for! Never saw any of those but of course know of them through cultural osmosis. Saw parts of National Treasure but not all of it to gauge. Clearly my Disney viewing tapered off in the 80s and 90s, except for the animated features.
Pretty much everything that has been said so far, but I also want to include Flubber. It’s a pretty underrated film, but I still really enjoy Robin Williams in that remake. Plus it’s really the only film that I actually enjoy Jodie Benson in ('sides Toy Story 3).
Also enjoyed That Darn Cat (the remake) for comedy, and Holes for its truthfulness to the source material.
For folks who are more familiar with the recent Disney live-action films…is there a recognizable Disney “feel” common to each film? Way back when there was definitely a familiar feel and an unspoken assumption going in that Disney = a fun and exciting film! Maybe Pirates of the Caribbean recaptured that?
Pixar Builder: I thought you meant Jodi Benson was on camera in Flubber, but it looks like she voiced the yellow hover-robot thing, eh?
Well, I don’t think Pirates is very Disneyish. I love it, but, unlike most Disney products, this was marketed mainly for adults and teens. I love animated kids’ movies, but I really also enjoy Pirates. It’s just so awesome!! And epic. It was about time Disney tried out an epic.
As for National Treasure(and the sequel), it also didn’t feel very Disney. They also seemed mor action-adventure, get-the-girl type. Again, though, it’s nice to see Disney reach out to more mature audiences.
Some from Touchstone (BV: Disney) are pretty good too: Flight Plan, Armaggedon, Pearl Harbor, Chicago, The Six Sense, later I will add more, don’t remember right now
A few of my favourites:
Holes (it’s my favourite book, & the movie stayed true to the book)
Enchanted (If that counts. Part of it is animated.)
PotC
The first National Treasure (the second didn’t really hold my attention.)
Mary Poppins
Honey, I Shrunk The Kids
^^^^ Yeah, Jodi Benson voiced Weebo one of my all time favorite movie robots. What I usually can’t stand about Benson is that in nearly all of the other roles I’ve seen her in (Toy Story 2 and 3, Little Mermaid) she plays a somewhat doofy airhead who’s always upbeat and annoyingly cheerful. Weebo, on the other hand, while still preserving some of Benson’s original charm was a lot more sarcastic and ton of fun to watch.
(It’s not that I dislike the live action, I just haven’t really seen too many!)
Mary Poppins and White Fang. I watched White Fang last week, and I loved it although it made me upset at times! (It isn’t really a children’s movie. it has it’s downer moments. It takes place in 1890s Alaska for goodness sakes!)
Oh yeah, you’ll find White Fang at a bookstore alright! The movie is based off of Jack London’s classic book “White Fang” (He’s the same guy who wrote “Call of the Wild” and a book set in my home town “Valley of the Moon”)
It’s a good movie, very well done. But I got upset at a few parts, how people could treat animals back then, creatures with spirits and souls, is beyond me! But the relationship between Jack and White Fang is beautiful.
You should Virginia. I don’t know how you react to [spoil]people getting eaten by wolves or by puppies watching their mothers die in frong of them [/spoil] but people have different reactions.
A friend of mine thought it was sad and cried. I got [spoil]p*ssed off and wanted to attack the people who dare harmed the wolves. [/spoil]
I could probably handle it. I would probably take it like A Clockwork Orange. Disturbing, but I could handle it. I might get upset, but most movies do that in one way or another to me.
I don’t know how much it counts since it leans more in the animation side, but I would say Roger Rabbit. It’s not really a Disney movie so much either, but I do know that a lot of Disney animators were involved with it, and Roger was very much associated with Disney in the 90’s.
I also liked Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (which just happened to be released with a Roger short in theaters).
I do want to see it, though.