My friend, Nikki Faith, asked in response to my last post what I thought about Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland. Only then did I remember that I started writing an essay about this film in spring 2010, but never finished. My original intent was to get it published somewhere (I was thinking Spring Journal), but since we’re so far removed from the original release, I’ll just
Archive for the ‘ Reviews ’ Category
The Artist, Hollywood and Change
Author: PriscillaJan 25
There are two themes I’ve been returning to in my research these days: Disney and myth-in-transition. The Disney research is paying off; my chair has given his seal of approval on the completed draft. The myth-in-transition question arose as I was writing the dissertation. 2012 is a year full of potential change, and after researching the Cold War for my dissertation… Continue reading
A Dangerous Method
Author: PriscillaJan 13
In short, this is a film about psychologist C.G. Jung. Jung is underrepresented in American culture, even with all the publicity he gets in the academic circles. This is one of the first films I’m aware of that portrays Jung at all, beyond documentaries of course.
The story concentrates on Jung and his patient… Continue reading
What’s The Point? My Review
Author: PriscillaAug 10
1971’s The Point is an animated feature based on a fable by musician Harry Nielsen. It is set in the Pointed Village in the Land of Point, where everyone and everything is driven obsessively by the point. One day, Oblio is born with no point. Though he and his family learn to work around his “disability” (as it would be described… Continue reading
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2
Author: PriscillaJul 16
*Warning: Contains Spoilers.* 
In the purest use of the term, in cinematic parlance, none of the Harry Potter films are particularly “good.” Sure, they are filled with eye candy (visual effects and actors alike), but the acting is often dry or forced, and the scripts too often make assumptions based on readers’ prior knowledge of the books. This is more… Continue reading
Pirate Week Wrap-up: My Review of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Author: PriscillaMay 21
The first thing I will comment on is that the film wasn’t as bad as some of the reviewers are saying, but it is clear that the franchise has lost steam. I don’t know how much of this is the doing of the director or how much is due to the fact that one a small number of the characters… Continue reading
Review of a new myth: the Kingdom Keepers Series
Author: PriscillaApr 26
I was at Disneyland the first time I discovered Ridley Pearson’s Kingdom Keepers series. I went to the park after a session at Pacifica, during which my cohort and I were discussing the intricacies of modern fairy tales. During the class, I had the epiphany for the perfect video game, one that would fuse the principles of Kingdom Hearts (i.e. a hero who is assisted by the Disney characters over… Continue reading
Using the Mask to Confront the Shadow: A Look at MirrorMask
Author: PriscillaNov 12
MirrorMask, a story by Neil Gaiman and film directed in 2005 by Dave McKean, is a graphic fairytale of how a young girl, Helena, is forced to cope with her mother’s illness, which she does by retreating into her world of fantasy. One night, she wanders through a door and is stuck in a world where everyone believes she is the daughter of the Black Queen and responsible for the… Continue reading