I am instantly won over by the screenshots. Nessie looks appealing, like a more pensive and thoughtful version of Pete’s Dragon. Her friend MacQuack is an adorable wee little loun.
I also love how the backgrounds are tartan patterns. Needless to say, I’m looking forward to this. Thanks to Mitch for the heads-up on Twitter.
I liked it as soon as I saw WDAS post it on facebook. I really like the plaid mountains! Disney is feeling very Scottish lately, with this and Brave coming next year!
It totally does. I love all types of animation (CGI, hand drawn, stop motion), but I get even more excited when I see Hand Drawn, because it’s less used these days by major studios.
mte. i’ve got such a soft spot for it. i love stop-motion and cgi, but honestly, when it’s done right hand-drawn animation is just so gorgeous (and i find it to be wholly more believabe.)
I agree. But I also agree with TDIT that Nessie looks like Elliot from Pete’s Dragon. That’s not a criticism, I just think the resemblance is kind of cool.
Ooh, super excited! I love Scottish and Irish culture especially, so I know I’m going to love this. Now all I need is a Disney movie with some kick-a** Celtic style songs and my life will be complete.
I would love for there to be an Irish princess in the Disney lineup (right after a Latina one of course). I’m sure that Brave will have Celtic inspired music.
I always hoped they would do a Latina princess. Their culture is so rich, and that’s the only scenario where a Disney girl would have a red or orange dress.
Esmeralda had a red/orange dress. Anyways, I don’t think that red/orange is just for a Latina girl. They could of easily made Rapunzel’s or Belle’s dress red or orange.
And don’t worry, I’m certain Disney will do a Latina princess, if they find a good story. One driving force behind having Tiana be African American was because little girls do like seeing princesses that look like them, and what little girls like their parents will buy.
Race does matter, as much as people deny it. My best friend is Latina. She bought her little sister a doll that was Black. Her little sister, who was 4, was terrifyed of it and cried. She thought something was wrong it, she hasn’t been exposed to other races besides White and Latina. She’s not evil, kids just relate better to things that their familier with, Disney knows this.
Well, yes, but Esmeralda, while awesome in my opinion, is not a princess. Sorry, I should have specified. And you’re right, but I think in France or Germany, a red ball gown would be…odd.
And I understand what you say about racial toys, and I agree. When I was little, I was weird. I had dozens of white dolls(Disney and Barbie mostly) and I asked for some “Brown barbies” to even out the population. My mom thought it was the weirdest thing ever. But I believe in general you’re right. Most kids like toys they can relate to, as well as characters in movies.
Interestingly, there have been experiments conducted with Barbie dolls and kids. Results proved that kids are inherently prejudiced against the black dolls, but whether this is due to media exposure to children’s books or TV shows which typically depict monsters with dark-coloured furs or skins (how often do you see fair-skinned or white-furred monsters?) or their parents’ prejudice, or simply innate human nature, has not been thoroughly investigated.
What I find really ironic about skin complexion is that those with fair skin try to get darker by suntanning, and those who are dark try to get fairer with skin-whitening creams. Skin-whitening creams, for example are big in Malaysia and Singapore. But tanning salons and spray-on tans are more popular in Australia. Oh, the irony!
Anyway without deviating into a discourse on racial theory, I’m all for a Latino princess. But should Disney decide to go down that path, they need to either choose a South American folk tale and ‘adapt’ the heroine into a princess, or set the story in South America, making the character intrisically South American (like they did with Princess and the Frog, by taking a European fairy-tale and setting it in New Orleans).
My main concern with it would be that the made the movie for the idea, not the Latina herself. In PatF, I really felt like they had the idea for a black Disney girl long before the idea for this story. It really lacked that Disney shine(to me. I’m not saying it’s a bad movie). I want this movie, if made, to be awesome. And focus on the characters and story, not toy or DVD sales or racial equality. I mean, you can make a movie about a racially minority character tastefully and in quality. Again, I’m not saying PatF is bad. It just seemed lesser than the older classics to me. In story, and execution, implying that they made it just to have an African American Disney Princess.
Oh, thanks for the link! Fascinating. I always get that feeling with some movies. Like, as a counter example, I’ll use Aladdin. It’s about Arabs, and it’s arguably one of the best Disney movies from one of the best time periods. It to my knowledge fairly portrays their culture while staying modern and fun to watch. I enjoyed PatF to an extent, just like most people likely did. I just wonder why it wasn’t an amazingly mind blowing experience like Aladdin or Mulan . It just seems lesser to me.
