Disney Animation: The Golden Age

Once there was a man named Walt Disney.  This man was busy working on various animated short films such as Laugh-O-Grams, Alice Comedies, and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit that would pave the way to one of the greatest animation studios ever.  Over the years, the Walt Disney Studios has transformed from hand-drawn feature length films to fully digitally made features.  The evolution of the Studios has been divided into eras and ages that we will discuss over the next seven weeks.

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1937-1942 – The Golden Age

The Golden Age began in 1937 with the release of the first ever animated feature length film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and ended in 1942 with the release of Bambi.  These films were the ones that were overseen by Walt Disney himself and helped established the Walt Disney Studios as an animation leader.  Although the films in The Golden Age and Disney films in general have wholesome and upbeat themes, a main characteristic of this era is the darkness in the films from Snow White in the forest to the death of Bambi’s mother.  The dark scenes typically took place between two upbeat scenes which helped play with the audience’s emotions.  While the five movies in The Golden Age were not the most successful of the Studios’ films, they did, however, start the trends for future films: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was the first film to be based off a fairytale and Pinnochio was the first one based off a piece of literature that was turned into a more kid-friendly version.  

Walt Disney Studios

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Based on the Brothers Grimm German fairy tale, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was the first full-length animated feature film.  The film premiered at the Carthay Circle Theatre on December 21, 1937 to a receptive audience, many of whom had previously dubbed the film ‘Disney’s Folly.’  The film was released to the public on February 4, 1938 where it became a major box office success where it made four times more money than any other film released that year.

Walt Disney Studios

As title suggests, the film tells the tale of Snow White, a lovely princess with a mean stepmother - the Evil Queen - who tries to kill her because she fears the young lady is more beautiful than she is.  When the Huntsman hired to do the job cannot follow through, he tells Snow White to run away.  It is then, after running through the dark and dangerous forest, that she arrives at the dwarf’s cottage in the woods.  The dwarfs - Doc, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy, Bashful, Sneezy, and Dopey - work in a close by mine where they dig diamonds.  Snow White and the seven dwarfs form a friendship and often play music, sing, and dance after the dwarfs finish their day at the mine.  

Walt Disney Studios

However, once the Evil Queen finds out that Snow White is still alive, she uses a potion to turn into an old hag so she can poison Snow White with an apple laced in sleeping potion.  When the dwarfs return home to find Snow White seemingly dead, they place her in a glass coffin in the forest.  The dwarfs and woodland creatures watch over Snow White until one day when a Prince who had previously met and fallen in love with the princess learns of her eternal sleep and visits the coffin.  He kisses the princess, which breaks the sleeping curse.  Everyone rejoices as the Prince takes Snow White to his castle where they live happily ever after.

Walt Disney Studios

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was adapted by storyboard artists Dorothy Ann Blank, Richard Creedon, Merrill De Maris, Otto Englander, Earl Hurd, Dick Rickard, Ted Sears, and Webb Smith. David Hand was the supervising director and William Cottrell, Wilfred Jackson, Larry Morey, Perce Pearce, and Ben Sharpsteen directed the film's individual sequences.  The music was by Frank Churchill, Paul Smith, Leigh Harline.  It was produced by Walt Disney and released by RKO Radio Pictures with a run time of 83 minutes.

Walt Disney Studios

Pinocchio

An Italian children’s novel, The Adventures of Pinocchio, was the inspiration for the Walt Disney Productions’ second full length feature film.  Released in February of 1940, the film was not a box office successful despite the praise from movie critics.  The film, however, did go on to win an Academy Award for Best Original Song and Best Original Score.

Walt Disney Studios

Pinocchio follows a wood carver named Geppetto who carves a wooden puppet he names Pinocchio.  Geppetto makes a wish that Pinocchio will become a real boy.  During the night, a Blue Fairy visits Pinocchio and brings him to life.  She tells Pinocchio that he will have to prove himself to be brave, truthful, and unselfish in order to become a real boy.  The Blue Fairy assigns him a conscience to be his guide, Jiminy Cricket. 

Walt Disney Studios

Gepetto is ecstatic that Pinocchio has been brought to life and sends the boy off to school.  However along the way Pinocchio finds himself in Stromboli’s puppet show as the star as a puppet who can sing and dance without strings.  Whenever he tries to leave Stromboli’s to go home for the night, Stromboli won’t let him leave.  The Blue Fairy visits him and asked him why he didn’t go to school but once Pinocchio tells a lie, his nose begins to grow.  After a ‘vacation’ to Pleasure Island with Honest John and Gideon - the very ones who lead him to Stromboli in the first place - Pinocchio returns home to find the workshop empty.  The Blue Fairy sends him a letter that says Gepetto has been swallowed by a whale and is currently living in its belly.  Pinocchio goes on a daring adventure to save his father that proves to the Blue Fairy that he is worthy of being a real boy.

Walt Disney Studios

Pinocchio was adapted by Aurelius Battaglia, William Cottrell, Otto Englander, Erdman Penner, Joseph Sabo, Ted Sears, and Webb Smith.  The production was supervised by Ben Sharpsteen and Hamilton Luske, while the film's sequences were directed by Norman Ferguson, T. Hee, Wilfred Jackson, Jack Kinney, and Bill Roberts.  The music was by Paul Smith and Leigh Harline.  It was produced by Walt Disney and released by RKO Radio Pictures with a run time of 88 minutes.

Walt Disney Studios

Fantasia

Fantasia consisted of eight animated segments set to classical music conducted by Leopold Stokowski.  The music was created with the help of Fantasound, a sounds reproduction system than helped Fantasia become the first film shown in stereophonic sound.  The film was released in November of 1940 as a theatrical roadshow that was held in 13 US cities.  The high production costs and the expense of leasing theaters and installing the Fantasound equipment during World War II kept the profits for Fantasia lower than expected.

Walt Disney Studios

The film’s concept was developed as The Sorcerer’s Apprentice neared completion.  Originally set to be an elaborate Silly Symphonies short film, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice was designed as a comeback role for Mickey Mouse who had been declining in popularity.  As the production for the film grew higher, Walt Disney decided to use the short as part of a full length film set to classical music.  The other shorts in the film are Toccata and Fuge in D Minor, Nutcracker Suite, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Rite of Spring, The Pastoral Symphony, Dance of the Hours, and Night on Bald Mountain.

Walt Disney Studios

Fantasia was directed by Samuel Armstrong, James Algar, Bill Roberts, Paul Satterfield, Ben Sharpsteen, David D. Hand, Hamilton Luske, Jim Handley, Ford Beebe, T. Hee, Norman Ferguson, and Wilfred Jackson.  It was narrated by Deems Taylor with music by the Philadelphia Orchestra.  The film was produced by Walt Disney and Ben Sharpsteen and was released by Walt Disney Productions and RKO Radio Pictures with a run time of 126 minutes.

Walt Disney Studios

Dumbo

Dumbo is based upon a story line written by Helen Aberson and illustrated by Harold Pearl for a toy prototype.  It was a financial miracle compared to the other films released during World War II.  Due to its successful first release in October 1941, the film was re-released four more times - in 1949, 1959, 1972, and 1976.  The critics loved Dumbo and it received acclaim from The New York Times, Variety, and Time.

Walt Disney Studios

Dumbo starts with storks delivering baby animals to circus animals on a train.  Mrs. Jumbo - one of the elephants - receives her baby and he is quickly made fun of by the other elephants for his large ears.  They nickname him “Dumbo.”  After a storm comes, Dumbo ends up in a muddy puddle.  A group of boys make fun of him and Mrs. Jumbo responds by attaching them.  She is deemed mad and sent to a cage.  Dumbo is shunned by the other elephants and is all alone except for Timothy Q. Mouse.  Timothy becomes determined to help Dumbo and appoints himself as his mentor.

Walt Disney Studios

Dumbo is forced into the spotlight as a clown in the circle where he is to fall into a vat of pie filling.  Although he’s gain popularity, Dumbo hates his job and is still miserable.  When Timothy learns that Dumbo can fly after they wake up in a tree.  After Timothy is unable to get Dumbo to fly again, he gives him a ‘magic feather’ to boost his confidence in his flying abilities.  When back at the circus, Dumbo performs the same stunt but this time he pulls himself out of the dive into the vat and flies around the circus tent.  Dumbo becomes a huge hit and is given a private car on the circus train with his mother.

Walt Disney Studios

Dumbo was directed by Ben Sharpsteen, Norman Ferguson, Wilfred Jackson, Bill Roberts, Jack Kinney, and Samuel Armstrong.  The film was produced by Walt Disney and was released by RKO Radio Pictures with a run time of 64 minutes.

Walt Disney Studios

Bambi

Bambi was adapted from the Felix Salten book Life in the Woods and tells the story of the title character and his forest friends.  The final film in The Golden Age, it was originally released in August of 1942 and re-released in 1947, 1957, 1975, 1982, and 1988.  Critics were mixed about the humanization of animals and their struggle to survive in the wild. Not surprisingly, hunters spoke out about the film and claimed it was an insult to the American sportsman.

Walt Disney Studios

Bambi is the son of an unnamed doe and the Great Prince of the Forest, a position Bambi himself will one day take over as the guardian of the woodland animals.  The fawn is befriended by Thumper, a pink nosed rabbit who helps him learn to walk and talk.  His other friends include a young skunk named Flower and a female fawn named Faline.  Their quiet forest life is interrupted by Man, a hunter who kills Bambi’s mother.

Walt Disney Studios

The next year, Bambi has matured into a young stag and is told by the owl that he and Faline are destined to be lovers.  Before he can claim Faline as his, Bambi must defeat the belligerent stag Ronno, which he does.  The calmness of the forest is once again interrupted when Bambi is warned by his father that Man has returned with more hunters.  The animals flee to safety, but Bambi loses Faline in the process.  After protecting her from a group of hunting dogs, Bambi, Faline, and the woodland animals escape to the riverbank where they find shelter.  The next spring, Faline gives birth to twins while Bambi watches over them as the Great Prince of the Forest.

Walt Disney Studios

Bambi was directed by David Hand, James Algar, Samuel Armstrong, Graham Heid, Bill Roberts, Paul Satterfield, and Norman Wright.  The film was produced by Walt Disney and was released by RKO Radio Pictures with a run time of 70 minutes.

Now that we've covered the five films in The Golden Age of Disney Animation, it's time for you to tell us your favorite!  Tweet your favorite film to @TMKBpodcast!

Robyn Fleenor is a contributing writer for The Mouse Knows Best Podcast. She is an avid Disney fanatic and would rather be at Walt Disney World eating glazed almonds than anything else.  When she isn't working to pay for her next Disney vacation, she likes to binge watch TV shows and fall in love with fictional characters. She can be found tweeting at @rahrah6263. 

Tuesday Movie Review: The Lion King

Hello again and welcome back to the Tuesday Movie Review! After a one week hiatus, I'm back to talk all about one Disney movie! Now, this week on the podcast, it was your humble author's turn to host the show and I chose to spotlight Princess and the Frog and The Lion King, be sure to give the episode a listen as we had a ton of fun! For the blog today, I chose to do The Lion King because, well...it's The Lion King! Join me as I talk about the storyline, cast, music, and park representation of The Lion King!

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Released June 15th, 1994, The Lion King can be described in one simple word: perfection. It's the 39th Disney Animated film and the 5th film under the umbrella dubbed "The Disney Renaissance." The film itself is loosely based on Shakespeare's Hamlet, and tells the story of a young lion cub who believes his father's tragic death is his fault, exiles himself, then learns who he really is and returns home to save the kingdom from his murderous uncle. The Lion King is often regarded as the best Disney movie ever made and that shows by it's monstrous $968 million box office run. It held the record highest grossing box office animated movie for 16 years until Frozen topped it; it also holds the record for most VHS copies sold at over 30 million copies sold. Directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff, The Lion King can be found on most top movie of all time lists, and on every top animated movie of all time list! In fact, the movie is so beloved, that in September 2016, Disney announced that Jon Favreau would be directing a CGI remake of the film set to release July 19th, 2019.

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The music of The Lion King is unparalleled and unconquered, even by Frozen. It is still known as not just the greatest animated soundtrack, but the greatest soundtrack of ANY movie ever made. With a score composed by Hans Zimmer, with help from renown African music star Lebo M, and a soundtrack made and produced by Time Rice and Sir Elton John, it's easy to see why the soundtrack and score are so beloved, even 24 years later. "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" "Circle of Life" and "Hakuna Matata" were all nominated for Best Original Song at the 1995 Academy Awards with "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" winning both the Oscar and Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song. The Lion King also took home the Oscar and Golden Globe for Best Original Score. The music for the film also racked up a few Grammy awards at the 1995 Grammys by winning Best Male Pop Vocal Performance (Elton John on "Can You Feel the Love Tonight"), Best Musical Album for Children, and Best Instrumental Arrangement with Accompanying Vocals for "Circle of Life/ Nants' Inginyama." The Lion King is the only soundtrack for an animated film to be certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America. For the IMAX and DVD re-release, Disney added a new song by Zazu called "The Morning Report" which was actually featured on the Lion King on Broadway play. My personal favorite song on the album is "Be Prepared" because I think it's arguably the best villain song of all time; however, I love literally every single song on the soundtrack and the score. For the 2019 remake, Sir Elton John and Tim Rice will be returning to do the music, but they will be joined by music sensation, Beyonce Knowles.

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The Lion King boasts one of the most well known cast for a Disney movie in a long, long time. Matthew Broderick voiced the adult version of Simba, while Jonathan Taylor Thomas voiced the younger version of Simba. Darth Vader himself, aka: James Earl Jones, voiced Simba's father Musfasa (and is even returning in 2019 to voice Mufasa!). Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella, both of who auditioned for hyenas, ended up being the voices of Timon and Pumbaa respectively. Moira Kelly voiced Simba's love interest, Nala. The only true Swahili-African accent was given by Robert Guillaume while voicing the wise shaman, Rafiki. Rowan Atkinson brought the master dodo, Zazu, to life with his sensational performance. And finally, probably my all time favorite performance in any movie, Jeremy Irons brought Scar's terrifying voice to life. In the 2019 remake, Simba will be voiced by Donald Glover, Nala by Beyonce Knowles, Mufasa by James Earl Jones, Timon by Billy Eichner, Pumbaa by Seth Rogan, Zazu by John Oliver, and Scar by Chiwetel Ejiofor.

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The park representation for The Lion King at the Walt Disney World Parks and Resorts is understandably rather large to say the least. Earlier in the '90s there was a puppet like play called Legend of the Lion King at the theater where Phillarmagic plays today. When Disney announced the opening on Disney's Animal Kingdom, it was assumed that The Lion King would have some kind of attraction there, and it did! On Animal Kingdom's Opening Day, Festival of The Lion King debuted in an outdoor theater! Fun fact about yours truly, when the show was still outside (before it moved to the Harambe Theater), they would still choose kids to be in the parade to close the show, and I was chosen! Now, back to The Lion King. Today, you can find Rafiki at his own little area of the park called Rafkiki's Planet Watch, where you can pet farm animals, see snakes, and meet the baboon himself! You can also meet Timon on most days in Animal Kingdom, and of course, the vehicle you take on Kilimanjaro Safari's is called Simba 1. Over at Magic Kingdom, the Happily Ever After show features three Lion King portions; one with Timon and Pumbaa and "Hakuna Matata", another with Simba and Scar fighting atop Pride Rock, and then finally Mufasa appearing and saying"Remember who you are..." Over at Art of Animation, you'll find the Lion King family suites with rooms decorated like the movie, and a whole area of the resort dedicated to the blockbuster hit.

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All in all, it's hard to argue that The Lion King is, not only the best Disney movie of all time, but also the best animated movie of all time. It's the winner of countless awards, and holder of numerous records, and in 2016, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry bu the Library of Congress as being culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant. The movie teaches us to never forget our past, our self worth, or who we are, and it also teaches that no matter what we think we've done, we can still do our best to redeem ourselves and make it right. Personally, I love The Lion King. I said it in the episode, and I'll say it here, without The Lion King, I don't think I would be as in love with Disney as I am today, it just has such a special meaning and place in my heart that I can go as far to say as it is the most important movie, to me, that I've ever seen. The Lion King easily gets 5 of 5 stars, and if there was a way for me to give it more, I would! It has an amazing storyline, a talented cast, and arguably the best music in any movie...ever. If, for some reason, you've never seen The Lion King, I would encourage you to do so immediately!

digitaltrends.com

Marvel Mondays: Guardians of the Galaxy: Volumes 1 and 2

Hello again, and welcome back to Marvel Mondays! We're another week closer to Infinity War and that means it's time to break down two more movies. When I was brainstorming this series, I was tasked with combining two movies into most posts; however, I found it to be rather hard to pick two movies then went side by side well together. Thankfully, James Gunn directed Guardians of the Galaxy and was thinking of people like me when he directed Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2. Although it came out 3 years after the original, the story literally picks up right where the original left off, which is great for this series! So, I'm sure you can guess by now, but today I'm going to be talking about Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 1 and Volume 2.

Before we get started, here's the schedule for upcoming posts:
April 2nd- Avengers: Age of Ultron (exception 1; I'll explain why in the post)
April 9th- Dr. Strange and Thor: Ragnarok
April 16th- Captain America: Civil War (exception 2; I'll also explain why in the post)
April 23rd- Spider Man: Homecoming and Black Panther
April 30th- Infinity War Preview, Predictions, and MCU Review
May 7th- Avengers: Infinity War

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Guardians of the Galaxy is the 10th film in the MCU, and is classified under Phase 2. Similar to Ant Man, it is another origin story in Phase 2, but it's hard to think of it in that sense because it does give a very Avengers vibe off. The Guardians of the Galaxy consists of Peter Quill, or Star Lord, (played by Chris Pratt), Rocket Raccoon (voiced by Bradley Cooper, acted by Sean Gunn), Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel), Drax the Destroyer (played by Dave Bautista), and Gamora (played by Zoe Saldana). The fact that we're being introduced to that many characters, along with characters like Yondu, Ronan, and Nebula, it's easy to see why this film is as big of a hit as it is. It's an origin story so it introduces us to who the Guardians are, but it also does a great job of staying in tact with the way the MCU was forming by giving us a story revolving around another Infinity Stone: the Power Stone. The Stone is actually how the Guardians come together, and how they realize they all need each other. It's extremely important to the MCU in the fact that we're introduced to the Guardians, a new Infinity Stone, the Collector, and this is Thanos' biggest role to date. Released August 1st, 2014, the film was a box office hit bringing in a hefty $773 million during it's theatrical run, making it the 4th highest grossing film of 2014. The film was such a big hit that Gunn got the green light to make not just Guardians Volume 2, but also a Volume 3 as well.

escapist magazine

Development on this film was actually a lot different than the majority of the films that I've covered in the sense that it went really smooth. Marvel CEO Kevin Feige announced plans for a Guardians of the Galaxy film in 2010 and announced two years later that it was in active development. Later that year, James Gunn entered talks to direct the film, and within 4 months of the announcement, Gunn announced that Chris Pratt would be playing Peter Quill, aka: Star Lord. Other actors considered for the role include Eddie Redmayne, Lee Pace, Zachary Levi, Joseph Gordon Levitt, and Michael Rosenbaum; however, when Gunn's assistant scheduled a meeting between Gunn and Pratt, the director knew he had his main character. Later in 2012, former WWE wrestler Dave Bautista confirmed he would be playing Drax the Destroyer, while in 2013 Avatar star Zoe Saldana announced she would be green instead of blue and being playing Gamora. Shortly after Saldana was cast, Michael Rooker announced he would be joining the film playing the anti-hero, Yondu. Also around this time, Lee Pace (who originally auditioned for Star Lord) announced he wold be playing the villain Ronan the Accuser; also joining the film would John C Reilley and Karen Gillian announce she would be playing the lead female villain. Filming began on August 11th, 2013, and on October 12th, 2013, Gunn announced filming was completed. The last person cast was Josh Brolin as Thanos, who was different than the Thanos that appeared in Avengers.

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Now, let's get into some easter eggs, and boy are there some easter eggs here! In the Collector's Menagerie, there are boatloads of little nods including Dark Elves from Thor: The Dark World and some Chitauri from The Avengers. We even get a glimpse at the Marvel icon, Howard the Duck! Another nice little nod is when Quill says he has a plan, when asked what percentage of a plan he has, his response is 12%. Go back to The Avengers and you'll see Tony taking credit for the Avengers Tower; when Pepper says she deserves some credit, Tony gives her 12%, and she responds later on saying they were having 12% of a moment. The biggest easter egg comes in The Collector's scene with the Guardians when he tells them about the Infinity Stones. Obviously this would be huge going forward in the MCU as pretty much every movie from here on out featured a stone and culminates the entire MCU with Infinity War and Thanos' search for all the stones. Speaking of Thanos, it can be assumed that the scene with the character clapping and destroying a planet, can actually be Thanos' home planet of Titan, but I'm sure that will come out in Infinity War.

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The post credit scene from Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 1 really isn't that important. The first post credit is with Baby Groot and Drax. It shows Baby Groot dancing, but whenever Drax turns he freezes. I think of this as basically a scene to let anyone who was distraught about Groot's sacrifice that his legacy is living on with Baby Groot. The 2nd post credit shows The Collector in the ruins of his museum as Cosmo the dog comes up and licks his face, which results in Howard the Duck saying how that's gross. This is pretty much just for the comic book fans because there are no tie ins to the MCU here whatsoever.

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Following the release of Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 1, Marvel announced there would be a sequel with James Gunn returning to direct the film. Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 2 released on May 5th, 2017 and brought in a huge $863 million during it's box office run. Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 dives deeper into the story of Peter Quill and his father and re-unites the two, only for Quill to find out his father is trying to destroy the world. He, along with the other Guardians, must stop Ego the Living Planet from destroying the galaxy. While we aren't introduced to any new Infinity Stones, Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 is still very important to the MCU as we get the addition of a new Guardian in Mantis, but we also see some serious character growth within the current Guardians as well. It's also important going towards Infinity War because we see that bond between Gamora and Nebula, who are both adoptive daughters of Thanos, and could deliver some emotional blows to the Mad Titan. Although Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 1 takes place in Phase Two, Marvel has classified Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 under Phase 3. Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 will take place under the Phase 4 umbrella and is set for a 2020 release date.

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The production for Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 was really smooth, which in turn means there isn't much to talk about here! With the entire cast and crew returning to do the sequel, it made the production of the film seem just like the first one. James Gunn knew he would have to cast new characters for this film, so he began talks with Matthew McConaughey to play the new villain, Ego. However, McConaughey turned the role down to work on Dark Tower, so Gunn proceeded to enter talks with Kurt Russell to play the villain. Before long, it was confirmed that Russell would play Ego, while Pom Klementieff would join the cast to be the next Guardian, Mantis. Also joining the film would be Sylvester Stallone as he would be playing someone that would play a role in Michael Rooker's Yondu character development. Filming began on February 17, 2016 and wrapped up on June 16, 2016, which tells me that when James Gunn directs a movie, he pumps it out quick!

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Let's talk easter eggs! And since this is a James Gunn film, there's plenty of quirky, odd callbacks to other films in Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2! Early on the film, we get another appearance by Howard the Duck as we can be seen with the Ravagers partying on their ship. There's some pretty big celebrity cameos as well with Rob Zmbie, Jimmy Urine, and Steve Agee making appearances as part of The Ravagers clan. David Hasselhoff can be seen as Ego transforms himself into Hasselhoff during the movie. During the credits while the characters can be seen dancing, we get a nice image of The Grandmaster from Thor: Ragnarok showing off his moves (he's in the red circle below Star Lord on the picture above). In the scene where Ego's blob appears on Earth and begins swallowing things whole (RIP Dairy Queen), we see Grandpa Quill able to drive away from it; but did you notice the two people taking pictures of the blob before they were engulfed? That was none other than James and Sean Gunn's parents!

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Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 features SEVEN post credit scenes in total. Now, I'm only going to talk about the ones that are actually important to the MCU as the majority of the post credits are just funny tid bits. The first big post credit involves Sylvester Stallone. After Yondu's sacrifice (I'm Mary Poppins, y'all!), we see Stallone's character walking in a warehouse looking place and he begins to talk to 5 other people. These are actually the original Guardians of the Galaxy consisting of Stallone's Starhawk, Aleta Ogord, Charlie-27, Mainframe (who's played by Miley Cyrus), Martinex (who's played by Michael Rosenbaum), and Krugarr. It's also pretty safe to assume this won't be the last time we see these characters on the big screen, whether it be in the new Avengers movies or in Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3. The next post credit scene I'm going to talk about involved Ayesha the Celestial. After the Guardians escape her and the other Celestials, we see her after the movie talking with another Celestial and she appears to be looking at a cocoon shaped object. When asked what this is, Ayesha tells the Celestial "someone more capable of destroying the Guardians of the Galaxy." She also says his name will be called Adam. Comic book fans know she's referring to Adam Warlock, the character who defeats Thanos in the comic books, but Marvel CEO Kevin Feige has stated Adam Warlock will not be in Avengers: Infinity War. I believe we won't see him until Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 or Avengers 4.

The Wrap

All in all, these are two of everyone's favorite MCU movies...besides mine. While I do like them, I'm not head over heels infatuated with them like a lot of other fans, but I can understand the love for the Guardians. They're a funnier, cosmic version of the Avengers and their movies tend to be a lot more centered on comedy and great visual effects, while the Avengers movies build more on a storyline and crazy action scenes. That's not to say there's no action in Guardians of the Galaxy though, that opening scene of Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 is one of my favorite MCU scenes to date. I also think one issue is that there are so many amazing films in the MCU, and to me, Guardians is just right outside the amazing line. That being said, I rank Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 1 at 13 which is probably a little low for other people's rankings, let's not forget I have all the Iron Man films very high because of my love for RDJ. I also have Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 a lot low coming in at number 15. If I'm being honest, I moved Winter Soldier up higher and that resulted in both Guardians films falling a spot, and Black Panther releasing knocked them both down one more spot. Either way, they're still good films that you should watch, especially before Infinity War.


Kevin Scott is a contributing writer for The Mouse Knows Best Podcast. He is self proclaimed Disney addict and oftentimes annoys his family with how much he talks Disney. He enjoys walking around all Disney Parks and taking as many pictures as he can in one day. When he isn't at Walt Disney World, he is working to get back or re-watching Disney, Marvel, and Star Wars movie. His spirit animal is a mix between Simba and Kylo Ren with a dash of Tony Stark. You can find him on Twitter @doubleoh_kevin and on Instagram @waltdisneyduo.

Marvel Mondays: Thor: The Dark World and Ant Man

Hello again and welcome back to Marvel Mondays! I'm sure by now you all know what this blog series is about: the lead-up to Avengers: Infinity War! Speaking of which, THAT NEW TRAILER THOUGH!!!! And also, tickets are on sale now! Go get yours quick as presale tickets are FLYING off the market! But there will be a time to break down trailers and talk about what I think is going to happen in the movie, and that's not today. Today, I'm going to be talking about two more Phase 2 films in Thor: The Dark World and Ant Man. Now, the question might come up as to why I'm doing these two together, and really there's no answer other than every other film in Phase 2 can be matched with another film in Phase 2 besides these two movies, so I matched them together. Nonetheless, let's get into it!

Here is the upcoming schedule of posts (tentatively):

March 26th- Guardians of the Galaxy: Volumes 1 and 2
April 2nd- Avengers: Age of Ultron (exception 1; I'll explain why in the post)
April 9th- Dr. Strange and Thor: Ragnarok
April 16th- Captain America: Civil War (exception 2; I'll also explain why in the post)
April 23rd- Spider Man: Homecoming and Black Panther
April 30th- Infinity War Preview, Predictions, and MCU Review
May 7th- Avengers: Infinity War

Thor: The Dark World is the 8th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and is classified under Phase 2. It's the sequel to the highly popular Thor and returns the bulk of the first film's cast, aside from deceased villains. Thor: The Dark World is extremely pivotal to the MCU in the fact that it introduces another Infinity Stone in the Aether, which contains the Reality Stone. Released November 8th, 2013, the movie tells the story of Thor's quest to save the Nine Realms from Malekith and the Dark Elves, who is on a vengeful quest to destroy the universe. As criticized as the movie is, it grossed over $644 million during it's theatrical run, and holds the title of the 10th highest grossing film of 2013. That being said, Thor: The Dark World is often regarded as the worst film in the MCU with Rotten Tomatoes giving it a 66% on the Tomatometer. That's just to show you how great the MCU really is because their lowest rated film is still almost a 70%. And obviously the film was good enough for Kevin Feige to give the green light for a 3rd film in the series (Thor: Ragnarok).

The production of Thor: The Dark World was vastly different from the original Thor. For starters, there was a new director directing the film after Kenneth Barnagh declined to do a sequel. This is where things got a little crazy for The Dark World. Kevin Feige had stated before that the sequel would take Thor to other worlds, but it would also be taking Jane to Asgard. After Barnagh declined to join the film, Feige had to begin a search for another director. His first choice was Brian Kirk, who directed many shows on Showtime, BBC, and HBO, including Game of Thrones. After Kirk declined, Feige turned to Patty Jenkins (director of Wonder Woman). In October of 2011, Marvel revealed that Jenkins would indeed be directing the film, and that Natalie Portman would be returning to play Jane Foster. However, in December of 2011, Jenkins left the project citing creative differences and Feige was forced to find another director. Ultimately, Feige turned to another Game of Thrones director in Alan Taylor, who agreed to do the job and production went on. Chris Hemsworth stated the film would be a lot more Viking-esque than the original Thor, while Feige stated that Loki wouldn't be the main villain and Jane would be taken to Asgard. All in all, the production went smooth and there were no major dropouts after filming began, leading Feige and Marvel to believe they had yet another great movie. 

Now, let's get into some easter eggs. Remember those ravens I talked about in The Avengers post? Odin's ravens are back in Dark World as we see Odin listening to one of them during his first scene on the screen, I believe the raven was warning Odin of danger that was coming. You can find the next easter egg in the trailer for The Dark World, as we see Thor smash a giant rock creature to pieces with one swing of Mjolir. This rock creature is revealed to be called a Kronan, and if you're thinking about Thor: Ragnarok, you'll immediately put the pieces together: Korg is a Kronan, and therefore it's assumed that we get our first glimpse of what Korg will look like in Thor: The Dark World. There's also a nice little Captain America cameo when Loki is shape shifting in front of Thor and chooses Steve Rogers to shift in to. Another cool hint appears when Dr Selvig is in the nursing home after going crazy earlier in the movie. He's talking to some people and trying to explain the Nine Realms, while in the background you can see the World Tree, aka: Groot. 

What's a real treat is the post credits scenes. There's a mid credit scene that we'll get into later on, but the post credit scene is still pretty great. After being under the impression that there is no way for Jane to see Thor, we see Jane in her apartment when lightning strikes and the God of Thunder shows up to see his girl. It's a great little tie up to the love story between Jane and Thor. What's really great is the mid credits scene. Lady Sif and Volstagg are seen carrying the Aether somewhere that looks grimy and dirty. They end up handing the Infinity Stone to none other than Taneleer Tivan, also known as The Collector in Guardians of the Galaxy. They say it's not safe to have two Infinity Stones so close together meaning that there's already a stone in Asgard. After they leave, The Collector says "one down, five to go" referencing him trying to collect the Stones.

Now let's spend some time talking about Ant Man!

To preface this, I will say that while lots of people like any Ant Man, I do not. Therefore, this section will be incredibly hard for me to be unbiased with this, but I will try. 

Released July 17th, 2015, Ant Man is the 12th film in the MCU and garnered a big time $519 million during it's box office run. The film is an origin story of Scott Lang, a notorious hacker who is sentenced to jail time, and his quest to pull of a heist to save Hank Pym's technology that makes him the Ant Man. Directed by Peyton Reed, the film stars the likes of Paul Rudd (Scott Lang), Evangeline Lilly (Hope van Dyne), Corey Stoll (Darren Cross), Michael Douglas (Hank Pym), and Michael Pena (Luis). Ant Man was received well by audiences and critics alike because of it's smaller stakes than other MCU films, along with it's humor and how great the CGI was in the film. Personally, I didn't really enjoy Ant Man for those exact reasons. I thought the humor was very dry and not very MCU-like, and I really didn't like how it had nothing to do with the current state of the MCU. I'm all for origin stories, but an origin story in the middle of Phase 2 is just very odd to me and part of the reason I'm not too big on Dr Strange either. 

Ant Man actually has a similar story to The Incredible Hulk in the fact that the rights to the movie have been moved from studio to studio. In the mid 80's, Stan Lee pitched the idea to New World Pictures; however, Walt Disney Studios was working on a similar concept in Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, and New World Pictures didn't want to compete with that. In May 2000, Howard Stern met with Marvel in an attempt to purchase the rights to the film; however that fell through. Later that year, Artisan Entertainment announced they were co-producing, financing, and distributing a film based on Ant Man. The film didn't begin production until 2006, as it was announced at the San Diego Comic Con. Throughout the years, Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish would write 5 different scripts until in 2011, when Kevin Feige and Stan Lee finally okay'ed the script and began filming in 2012. As the cast was being assembled, Joseph Gordon Levitt and Paul Rudd were being considered for Scott Lang's character; however, Gordon Levitt dismissed the rumors and Rudd was cast as Scott Lang. In 2014, Michael Douglas was cast Hank Pym, while Michael Pena was cast in an unspecified role. Later that year, Evangeline Lilly and Corey Stroll joined the cast as well. However, in May 2014, Marvel announced that Edgar Wright was leaving the project due to creative differences. Feige wasted no time replacing Wright by announcing Peyton Reed was going to take over the film in July 2014. From there, Reed, along with the help of Paul Rudd, finished the film smoothly and delivered the movie without any more hiccups. 

Now, let's talk easter eggs. Because the film takes place so late in the MCU, there's a good amount of nods to other films. When Scott uses the Ant Man suit to escape jail, he gets swatted away by a newspaper, but not before we catch the headline: "WHO'S TO BLAME FOR SOKOVIA?" An obvious call back to Avengers: Age of Ultron. When Darren Cross is showing potential buyers his Yellowjacket suit, one of the buyers can clearly be seen with a 10 Rings neck tattoo; you know the 10 Rings, the organization that captured Tony in Iron Man and was behind The Mandarin in Iron Man 3. When Hank tells Scott they're stealing some Stark tech from Upstate New York, we can assume he's talking about Avengers Tower; however after the events in Age of Ultron, we know that the new Avengers HQ is at the rural base hidden in New York. So technically, Hank was right, but his information was a little dated; also, it's safe to say that on the other side of Falcon's radio could have been War Machine, Vision, Scarlet Witch or Cap. A nice Disney side note can be found when Luis is whistling to blend in with the Pym Tech security guard, his song of choice is none other than It's A Small World. Another tid bit can be found in Luis back story as he mentions a character who can jump, swing, and crawl on walls. While it hasn't been confirmed or denied, it's safe to assume this is an obvious nod to Spider-Man joining the MCU. 

Ant Man has two post credit scenes; the first is a mid credits scene, and the other is a post credits scene. The mid credits can be used as a foreshadowing to Ant Man and The Wasp, as we see Evangeline Lilly's Wasp suit for the first time. I will say that after seeing her in the trailer for Ant Man and The Wasp, I am pretty excited to see how she does in the role. The other post credit scene is actually a scene taken out of Captain America: Civil War. We see Captain America and Falcon in a darker, abandoned warehouse with a trapped Winter Soldier. Cap states "the accords" are preventing them from calling Tony Stark and that's when Falcon recommends a guy who can help them, talking about Ant Man. This all but confirms Ant Man's presence in Captain America: Civil War but it also shows that Cap and Tony aren't seeing eye to eye and that Cap, Bucky, and Falcon are on the run. 

All in all, both of these films are pretty good. I chose to review them together because, while they're totally different movies, they both do take place around the same time in the MCU timeline and, while I don't like Ant Man, I don't think it's a bad movie either. Overall, both of these movies fall in the lower half of my MCU rankings with Ant Man coming in at number 14 and Thor: The Dark World at number 12.

I liked the cast of Ant Man, and really the story wasn't bad. But like I said earlier, I just can't get over how this film really didn't fit in where it was made. If it was made and inserted earlier on in Phase 2 then it would be higher up for me, but I just wasn't big on it. However, I can see how people do like it and I feel like the same people who like Guardians are big fans of the humor in Ant Man. 

Thor: The Dark World was fun for me, personally because of how much I love Loki and Natalie Portman. If a movie contains Loki, it's immediately going to get good grades from me. However, there isn't much backbone behind this movie and the villain, Malekith, is extraordinarily weak. But, Loki and Thor's banter make up for that and really save this film from complete disaster.

Kevin Scott is a contributing writer for The Mouse Knows Best Podcast. He is self proclaimed Disney addict and oftentimes annoys his family with how much he talks Disney. He enjoys walking around all Disney Parks and taking as many pictures as he can in one day. When he isn't at Walt Disney World, he is working to get back or re-watching Disney, Marvel, and Star Wars movie. His spirit animal is a mix between Simba and Kylo Ren with a dash of Tony Stark. You can find him on Twitter @doubleoh_kevin and on Instagram @waltdisneyduo.