Talking The Mickey

We've run away to join the circus with yet another Disney Animated Classic to review and we've gone all the way back to 1941 to review the shortest film in the Disney Canon, in Dumbo.  Unlike the eponymous elephant, we have plenty to say as we tackle a film that includes one of Walt's greatste creations of a beloved and adorable children's character with some outright ugly representations and...

Do you want the one dollar version or the five dollar special?  We're back after a long 10 day absence to take the good ship Disney Plus for a jaunt around the harbour.   Join your favourite Disney Podcasting team - Ellie, Ethan, and Ian – alongside our stowaway, Debbie,, as we analyse Blackbeard's Ghost.  Ellie picks on the special effects, Ethan tries to get his kitten to co-...

To infinity and beyond!   Catch us on a very exciting crossover episode this week as the TTM & BFE teams combine to provide a deep dive into the toy box for the 25th birthday of Toy Story later this year.   Join your favourite Disney Podcasting team - Ellie, Ethan, and Ian – as and our our party guest from Best Film Ever, Liam, as we analyse a film that doesn't feel anywhere nea...

Can a film be greater than the sum of its parts?  Not this week.  This week, nobody got to pick as the executive producer determined that it was time for another package film - and we are savage.  Ellie, Ethan, and Ian try to overcome Georgia's absence without losing our respective heads by discussing the 11 year journey to move Wind in the Willows from buying the rights to hitting...

Syndrome says that if everyone is super then no-one is super. How does this apply to Pixar’s track record of making super high quality films? This week, we’ve actually let Ethan pick a film again after his debacle with “The Wild” and it’s a good one in “The Incredibles.”  Ellie, Georgia, Ethan, and Ian discuss Pixar’s first all-human narrative.   Ethan regales us with tales from con...

They say that some things never change but this week we're journeying into the unknown with Elsa, Anna, and a bunch of characters who mattered in Frozen 1 but largely stand around this time in Frozen 2.  This week's pick does some serious retconning of the Frozen Universe and we try to keep track of a whole new mythology in this financial boondoggle of a sequel.   Ellie,  Georg...

With Hamilton dropping on Disney Plus on July 3rd, the team at Talking the Mickey weren’t going to throw away our shot to drop a review in time for July 4th - it felt quite apropos, after all. Ellie, Georgia, Ethan, and Ian discuss the challenges – and benefits – of the live musical experience vs the filmed approach, discuss our own suppositions about what Hamilton had in store for us, consider wh...

This week we are Film Stories' reigning British Film Podcast of the Week and to celebrate we're "Goin' Down The Bayou' as Georgia's choice takes us to Mardi Gras and the city of New Orleans with "The Princess and the Frog."  Ellie,  Georgia,  Ethan, and Ian discuss a lot of people getting angry over a theme-park ride being rebranded, Ethan shares a personal story or two about his ow...

It's time to go on an Incredible Journey.  Ellie's moves us up 1 year from Newsies into 1993 with Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (itself a remake of a 1963 film)   Ellie,  Georgia,  Ethan, and Ian debate the merits of 2D animation vs voiceover and live animals, we go into great detail on the lengths the production team went to in order to ensure animal safety.  We...

Headlines don't sell papes; Newsies sell papes!   It's a shame Newsies didn't sell many cinema tickets.  Ian's pick brings us back to 1992 and the first time most of us saw Christian Bale on our screens in the role of Jack Kelly in Newsies   Ellie,  Georgia,  Ethan, and Ian ask how Bill Pullman's character is able to spread the word of the Newsies strike through his o...

Sometimes the worst films make for the best episodes.  Ethan's pick brings us the 2006 computer-animated debacle that was "The Wild".   Ellie,  Georgia,  Ethan, and Ian debate why the film wanted to keep explicitly reminding us of much better Disney properties,  discuss the shameful Canadiana that was forced to the audience throughout the first act, consider why their...

Well I'm never eating Oysters again and you're late for a very important date with your favourite Disney themed podcast's review of Alice in Wonderland on our communal unbirthdays.  Georgia's pick brings us the Lewis Carroll literary classic brought to life through the animated genius of the Walt Disney company.   Ellie,  Georgia,  Ethan, and Ian debate at length the conce...

This one's for all the gingers out there as Ellie's pick has us reviewing our 2nd Pixar film to this point in Brave   Ellie,  Georgia, Ethan, and Ian debate at length the importance of a fishing montage when the goal of the film is to prevent someone being a bear long-term, why is the idea of a mother-daughter relationship arc such a novel idea for a Disney film,  was Brave (th...

Is Cruella de Ville actually a great villain or just the benefector of excellent character design and an iconic song?  That's the question we undertake this week as Ian's pick has us counting spots, literally.   Ellie,  Georgia, Ethan, and Ian debate the relative distance of London to Suffolk, why half the film is us watching dogs watching television, how can a variety of animals un...

Everything goin' Topsy Turvy this week as someone suggests Phoebus is 'just a discount Flynn Rider!'  Come join the podcast that puts the  Plus in Disney Plus, Talking The Mickey as Ethan's pick has us celebrating the Festival of Fools with Esmerelda, Quasimodo, Belle's Dad, and some guy trying to sell us Hot & Cool Hamburgers from McDonalds.   Ellie,  Georgia, Ethan, Ian,...

The force is strong with this one!  Come join the podcast that puts the Plus in Disney Plus, Talking  The  Mickey in a special cross-over event with our other Podcast, Best Film Ever, as we dip our toe into the epic franchise that is the Star Wars Universe.  While Disney Plus is releasing Rise of Skywalker to finish the Skywalker saga, we're going all the way back to the beginn...

Come join the podcast that puts the Plus in Disney Plus, Talking  The Mickey. as we stretch our wings in reviewing the 2008 birth of a Disney Fairies division, Tinker Bell.  Georgia's choice,  brings us to Pixie Hollow and a time long before the Darling children made their way to Never Land.    Ellie, Georgia, Ethan, and Ian discuss how and why Disney went in a direction t...

Step In Time to the podcast that puts the Plus in Disney Plus, Talking The Mickey. This week, Ellie's choice,  brings us to Edwardian England and the 'Age of Men' (at least according to Mr. Banks), in Mary Poppins.   Ellie, Georgia, Ethan, and Ian discuss the turbulent relationship between P.L. Travers and the Walt Disney company, consider which characters may be sociopathic, learn about...

10,000 years may give you such a crick in the neck but our Deep Dive this week will make you feel like a prince.  This week, Ian's choice, brings us to the ancient (post-apocalyptic?) land of Agrabah where we thoroughly examine Aladdin.   Ellie, Georgia, Ethan, and Ian discuss the turbulent development process which culiminated in the infamous Black Friday , Disney's treatment of it...

If you thought there was a rant in Lady and The Tramp, hold our tea!  This week we discuss the reimagining of Treasure Island in Space (a harder moniker to remember than you may think) with Treasure Planet.   Ellie, Georgia, Liam, and  Ian discuss the 70/30 rule, unfortunate post-millenium haircuts, how Treasure Planet may be the biggest financial blunder in Disney animation hi...

Just because you are a 'bad guy' doesn't mean that you are a bad guy.  Wise words from the Russian who likes to crack men's skulls between his thights.  From the  podcast that puts the plus in Disney Plus,  Georgia's selection brings us into the world of our favourite video games (from today and yesterday) with 'Wreck-It Ralph.'  We find ourselves disussing how a film as f...

If Merlin felt the 20th century was a 'modern mess' what would he make of life in 2020?  From the  podcast that puts the plus in Disney Plus, Ellie's selection brings us back home to Merry Old England with 'The Sword in the Stone.'  We find ourselves disussing yet another problem with casting and actors maturing over the process of production; we consider which famous person was Mer...

Feel the rhythm, feel the rhyme, get on up, it's podcast time!  From the podcast that puts the plus in Disney Plus, Ian's selection brings us all the way to the frigid climates of Canada in mid-February with Cool Runnings.  We find ourselves disussing Disney's initial casting preferences.  Which one line was the only one to remain after extensive re-writes, we discuss the legacy of...

From the podcast that puts the plus in Disney Plus, an audience selection  brings us our newest film in the review library to this point (and our first Pixar review),  Coco.  We find ourselves disussing the intricacies of the Pixar team; we learn about how the director of Coco was nervous to set the project in Mexico for fear of not doing another culture's representation justice, an...

From the podcast that puts the plus in Disney Plus, Georgia's selection brings us our oldest film in the review library to this point (again), The Three Caballeros.  We find ourselves disussing how important story is to a piece of art.  We learn about how politics and animation were used together as part of the American Goodwill movement of the FDR government and who decided that Donald...