Wonka (2023)
Director: Paul King
Screenwriters: Simon Farnaby, Paul King
Starring: Timothee Chalamet, Calah Lane, Keegan-Michael Key, Paterson Joseph, Olivia Colman, Matt Lucas, Matthew Baynton, Tom Davis, Hugh Grant

Willy Wonka is an enigma. In Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971), the original adaptation of Roald Dahl’s 1964 novel “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” we don’t learn much about him, other than his desire to find an heir to his candy empire, as well as the cruel delight he takes in teaching naughty children a lesson. Wonka is charming and a little unhinged, paranoid from all of the years he has spent locked away in his factory, making sure no one gets their hands on the secret to his out-of-this-world sweets. With a devilish smile and a playful yet devious twinkle in his eye, actor Gene Wilder infuses Wonka with dimension, but we never dig too deep. He’s a nut that we never quite crack, and he works as a character because of that. There’s a reason why the original novel is called “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” after all – at the end of the day, it’s Charlie’s journey. Wilder’s performance hints at the layers inside of Wonka that we don’t need to unpeel, but nevertheless know are there. Wonka, the spiritual prequel to the 1971 musical classic, helmed by Paddington director Paul King, does unpeel those layers, but what’s found underneath is a deeply disappointing origin story that lacks the magic and edge that the original (and even Tim Burton’s 2005 remake) has in spades. Touted as a fun-for-the-whole family Christmas classic in the making, Wonka simply doesn’t have enough sparkle to ever hope to achieve that distinction.

Despite its tagline, which insists we will find out how “Willy became Wonka,” Timothée Chalamet’s version of the famous candy maker and magician doesn’t actually become anything. He just kind of already is.

The film begins with Willy, bright-eyed and bursting with optimism, atop a ship mast, where he begins his “I Want” song, “Hatful of Dreams”. Willy arrives in an unnamed city, fresh off the boat, ready to share his chocolate with the world, as his mother (Sally Hawkins) always hoped he would. Willy is earnest and determined, living on nothing but a dream. But the Galeries Gourmet is not what Willy initially imagined it would be. Instead of spreading his creations, he faces opposition and sabotage from three greedy chocolate makers, including Arthur Slugworth (Paterson Joseph), who will soon become his arch-nemesis. Willy then gets tricked into indentured servitude because he cannot read and fails to read the small print on his contract with Mrs. Scrubitt, played by Olivia Colman doing her best over the top Madame Thénardier impression. Aided by Noodle (Calah Lane), a fellow indentured servant and orphan who becomes Willy’s assistant, as well as the rest of the workers, Wonka bids to outsmart the trio and earn the freedom of himself and his friends.

Timothée Chalamet might be the only saving grace in the film, contrary to early assumptions that he may have been miscast. At times he’s charming, funny and endearing, but his performance is constantly in flux and dependent on the material and direction he’s given. When his jokes don’t land, his performance falls flat, even though he is clearly committed to the bit. Thankfully, he doesn’t try to do an impression of Gene Wilder, but he also doesn’t make the character enough of his own to really stand out. This isn’t his fault; he isn’t given much to work with.

All of the obstacles Willy encounters are external. Whether it’s Mrs. Scrubitt’s dishonest business practices, the antics of the greedy chocolatiers, or Hugh Grant’s Oompa-Loompa hijinks, the plot is always happening to Willy. He is almost entirely a reactionary character, and this is a problem in a movie that is supposed to be an origin story, the story of how he became who he is. It would have been nice if he actively participated in the narrative…

Willy’s desire to share his inventions with the world just as his mother hoped is sweet and admirable, but it simply isn’t enough to drive what we see. The writers, King and Paddington 2 co-writer Simon Farnaby (who also appears in Wonka as Basil), were backed into a corner considering Willy Wonka is a recluse by the time we meet him in the original movie. Telling that story would certainly be more interesting, but not very uplifting, so the filmmakers sidestep it entirely. As a result, there doesn’t seem to be any connection between Chalamet’s Wonka and Wilder’s.

Demystifying a character that works the best when we don’t know everything about him is a non-starter (as proven in Star Wars spin-off Solo), but the filmmakers didn’t give much thought to the supporting characters either. Lane and Chalamet work well together, and their friendship is a bright spot in the movie, but most of the supporting characters are so thinly drawn they barely register as real people. As for Hugh Grant’s Lofty, an Oompa Loompa who has been stealing Willy’s candy because he was excommunicated from Oompa Land until he can get back all of the chocolate that Willy stole, he’s surprisingly in very little of the film. The motion capture is jarring and unconvincing, but at least Grant’s contempt for the role, which he has expressed in several recent interviews, doesn’t show on screen.

Wonka, like the original film adaptation, is a musical, but not a very good one. The songs, written by Neil Hannon, King, Farnaby, and Joby Talbot, are unremarkable and lack passion, which is a shame considering Hannon’s exceptional work with The Divine Comedy. The songs in Wonka, especially Willy’s “Hatful of Dreams,” pale in comparison to those written by Howard Ashman, the songwriting genius behind the iconic tunes of The Little Mermaid (1989) and Beauty and the Beast (1991). By comparison, “Hatful of Dreams” lacks interiority or reflection. Perhaps the biggest faux pas in this regard is how Willy’s desire to sell chocolates in the hopes of reconnecting with the spirit of his late mother is barely mentioned. Songs in musicals should, in theory, take place when characters are so full of emotion that words no longer feel enough. And then, they must dance when singing doesn’t feel enough. But nothing drives the songs in this movie and they don’t feel needed. They are boring and directionless. Chalamet’s voice is fine, if a little weak and thin in places, but it’s worth noting that his best performance is when he sings “Pure Imagination”, a song not originally written for this film.

Wonka also strips away any of the melancholy or dark comedy found both in the 1971 movie and Roald Dahl’s overall work. The 1971 film feels a lot like “Alice in Wonderland” in that it is a dreamlike and slightly menacing descent into a magical world, but Wonka smooths all those edges out. As a result, the movie is sickly sweet and above all, nice. Which is ironic, because while the filmmakers were busy adding uplifting lyrics to “Pure Imagination” and simplifying the orchestrations, themes, and social commentaries of the 1971 film, they also made time to make several offensive and outdated fat jokes, aimed at Keegan Michael Key’s Chief of Police, who is dressed in a ridiculous fat suit and gets fatter and fatter the more he indulges in the sweets the greedy chocolate makers use to bribe him with. Using fatness as a shorthand for gluttony and greed, and having an actor who is not fat perform fatness, is hurtful and mean-spirited. It’s hard to believe such an antiquated trope is included in a film made in 2023 – especially one made about the wonderful taste of sweet treats – and it sours the viewing experience. For all of the niceness this movie tries desperately to exude, it makes sure to keep one of the only things from the original film that actually needed updating.

If Wonka is trying to say something, it’s hard to know what that something is. The film plays with themes of oppression, poverty, and greed, but doesn’t do much with them. It would be a losing battle to assume that Western filmmaking would trust its young audience enough to sprinkle in some adult themes, but it is equally weird to mention them in passing and not engage with them. Believing in your dreams and sharing those dreams with others should feel like magic, but the film doesn’t allow us to know these characters enough to genuinely care about them or their dreams.

The sets also leave something to be desired. When Wonka first unveils his factory in the original film, it’s a technicolor dream, calling to mind the reveal of the land of Oz in 1939’s The Wizard of Oz. It is bright and colorful and a little surreal. Wonka feels like a step down in comparison, and the filmmakers’ decision to set a good chunk of the film in the Galeries Gourtmet makes the world of Wonka feel like it’s just floating in space surrounded by nothing. It is small and claustrophobic.

Prequels bait us with the promise that we will get to see some of our most beloved characters become the people we love and remember from our childhoods. In Wonka, Willy may be younger and brighter and less mad than he will soon become, but if you are counting on the film to show you how that happens, you will be very disappointed. Instead, Wonka is a barely passable movie musical that is so sugary it ends up choking on its own sweetness.

Score: 12/24

Recommended for you: ‘Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory’ (1971) Earned a Spot in Joseph Wade’s 10 Best Films of All Time

Born into an Irish-British family, Lansbury grew up around actors: her mother was Moyna McGill (born in Belfast), a regular in West End shows and sometimes film. She later stated that cinema, television and books were her way of ‘self-education’. This ‘education’ led to her becoming besotted with cinema, eventually landing her first stage role in a school production of Maxwell Anderson’s “Mary of Scotland”.

Her film career began three years after she graduated from the Feagin School of Drama and Radio. In Gaslight (George Cukor’s 1944 film based upon the Patrick Hamilton 1938 play), she amassed high praise for her performance, earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Several instances of her early film work gained her accolades such as this, highlighting her flair for dramatic roles as much as comedic ones.

Angela Lansbury kept us glued to the screen and always invested in the trajectory of her character, regardless of whether she took a supporting or leading role in a project. From her highly nuanced performances of individualist upper-class dames such as “Mame” (for which she originated the role on Broadway in 1966) and quick-witted sleuthing detective Jessica Fletcher in Murder, She Wrote, her evident acting flair always led us to become engrossed in her performances on stage and on the screen.

The performances mentioned below only skim the surface of her extensive filmography, which houses multiple gems and intergenerational classics. While there is much of Angela Lansbury’s work to discover and enjoy, these are Angela Lansbury’s 3 Career-Defining Performances.

1. The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945)

Angela Lansbury’s contribution to Albert Lewin’s adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s classic novel “The Picture of Dorian Gray” marks the first of her turns at the heart of many book-turned-film pieces. She plays tavern singer Sibyl Vane who falls for – and is briefly engaged to – the titular protagonist Dorian Gray (Hurd Hatfield). The movie itself is shot in black-and-white, with an interesting use of Technicolour to indicate the handsome, or degenerate, portrait of Dorian. It gained 6 nominations in total, most notably a Golden Globe win for Angela Lansbury (detailed below), and an Oscars Best Cinematography win for Harry Stradling. Interestingly, both Wilde (who penned the novel) and Lewin (the film’s director) posthumously won the 1996 Hugo Award, a literary award for Best Dramatic Presentation.

Despite being just eighteen years old, Angela Lansbury holds her own amongst her co-stars. In one particular instance, she watches Dorian playing Chopin’s “Prelude No. 24” at his piano. She enters the room wordlessly and has minimal dialogue with Dorian after he has finished playing. Her posture and intense but deeply thoughtful gaze immediately convey the chemistry she has with him, indicating a slew of unspoken thoughts. Another moment of note is when she sings “Goodbye Little Yellow Bird” – Lansbury’s classical vocal training and sweet vocal tone shine through here. This musical moment encapsulates her enigmatic performance.

It is easy to see how Angela Lansbury earned the 1945 Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress for her turn in this film. She also got nominated for the 1945 Oscar for the same category but lost to Anne Revere (National Velvet). Her mature and assured command of the screen in this role led the pathway to her highly acclaimed career.

2. The Reluctant Debutante (1958)

The Reluctant Debutante was directed by Vicente Minnelli and the screenplay was written by William Douglas-Home (who also wrote the 1955 play). It was not nominated for any awards, but it came in at number 12 on the British Box Office’s Most Popular Film for 1959. Angela plays Mabel Claremont, Sheila Broadbent’s (Kay Kendall’s) chatty friend. The cast also includes Rex Harrison as Jimmy Broadbent and Sandra Dee as Jane Broadbent. The film was remade in 2003 under the title What a Girl Wants, with Amanda Bynes as Daphne Reynolds (the updated version of Sandra Dee’s character) and Colin Firth as Henry Dashwood (a modern version of Rex Harrison’s character).

In The Reluctant Debutante, the role of Mabel particularly showcases Lansbury’s impeccable comedic timing. The scenes in which she schemes alongside the Broadbent couple are deliciously funny; her lines are delivered with an utterly charming smoothness that keeps you endlessly curious about how she will end up strong-arming the outcome of her daughter’s fate. A highlight of Lansbury’s performance in this film is one of her earlier scenes when she and her daughter meet Jane Broadbent for the first time. Angela carries an eccentric bravado with this character that leaves you open-mouthed in a state of shocked awe. The way she commands the driver to move her bags so that everyone can ‘squeeze together’ in the same car is so slick that it leaves you out of breath just watching it.

Something significant to note with this entry is that it marks the actor’s move from being typecast as the ingenue to a more motherly and mature figure. Lansbury’s performances within adapted films act as bookmarks to her acting development. Blue Hawaii (1961) serves as another example of this, as it sees her playing mother to the iconic Elvis Presley and donning a southern accent with tremendous comedic beats. Her roles in films of this type showcase her ability for levity alongside her well-shown dramatic acting talents. This goes to show that throughout her life, and subsequently through her performances, Lansbury highlights different nuances within different characters to make them jump off of the page and onto the screen.

3. Beauty and the Beast (1991)

Beauty and the Beast Review

The final film in this Career-Defining Performances list is an all-time animated classic. Directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, amazingly in their directorial debuts, with songs penned by the legendary Howard Ashman and Alan Menken, Beauty and the Beast won multiple awards, including both the Academy Award and the Golden Globe for Best Score. It also became the first animated film to ever be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. Angela Lansbury plays the iconic wisecracking, heart-on-her-sleeve Mrs Potts. In other words, the perfect maternal character archetype.

Throughout Beauty and the Beast, Lansbury infuses charm and motherly warmth into the character of Mrs Potts through her nuanced vocal delivery. Additionally, her singing elevates this, which in turn has gifted us a beautiful Disney love ballad. To wax lyrical (excuse the pun, à la Lumière!) on the origins of this ballad for a moment, it is widely known that Angela delivered “Tale as Old as Time” in just one take. Unbelievably, she did not think that she was fit to sing a romantic ballad as it was not within her usual vocal repertoire. Thank goodness she was convinced otherwise, as that one-take-wonder is what is seen on screen. Throughout the film, whilst both singing and speaking, with her effortless yet grounded performance, she breathes life into a teapot – a feat that only she could make possible.

The trajectory of Angela Lansbury’s career progressed from ingenue (with Sybil in The Picture of Dorian Gray) to maternal figure (see the description of her work in The Reluctant Debutante) to grandmother-type roles. This final archetype, in many ways, has crystallized the legacy of her standout characters. Lansbury herself remarked that these roles “pulled her out of the abyss” following her husband’s death in 2003. It is easy to see why as, within the context of these films, her characterisations have maintained levity and emotional grounding to audiences in the decades that have followed. Some examples of these are Dowager Empress Marie Feodorovna Romanov (Anastasia’s grandmother) in Anastasia (1997) and the withdrawn-but-ultimately-nurturing Eglantine Price in another classic Disney flick, Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971).

It is arguable that this role in Beauty and the Beast cemented her legacy. With her contribution to this picture, she introduced her acting feats to a new generation of film-watchers who had never before been exposed to her work. Due to the mark that this carved on not only her career, but on Disney’s history and the trajectory of the roles she played, Angela Lansbury is and will be forever synonymous with this part which will eternally gain new legions of fans in all stages of their lives.

Recommended for you: Marilyn Monroe: 3 Career-Defining Performances

During her 96-year life, Angela Lansbury chalked up 122 acting credits to her name. The discussion of the three above performances, as well as the allusion to several more, evidently serves as a summary of her career: the performances are incredibly varied and efficiently delivered by a master of her craft, wherein that delivery subsequently lives on beyond her life. To quote the master herself, “actors are not made, they are born.”

Written by Alannah Purslow

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They’ve come in many guises over the years, from the monarchical to the Machiavellian, monsters to muscle men, sorcerers, schemers and step-parents. And they have shown levels of genius, incompetence and everything in between in their efforts to thwart our heroes. But they are always without fail ambitious, self-serving and strangely compelling.

In a world of promoting good virtues to children, good must always triumph over evil. And so, Disney villains can’t be left to return and cause havoc another day (unless it’s in an inconsequential direct-to-video sequel) and so usually meet their maker in one of a variety of inventive and sometimes gruesome ways.

If the Disney Princess is the most merchandisable element of the Disney canon, then the villains are a close second and inspire even more fervour among adult fans, perhaps because they’re usually more flawed and interesting than the heroes and especially when so many are (intentionally or not) queer-coded, fabulously designed and played with gusto by talented voice actors giving it their all. 

For this edition of Ranked, we at The Film Magazine have taken every significant villain to be found in Disney animation and ordered them in terms of wickedness, memorability and the threat they represent to our heroes and heroines. So practice your diabolical laughter, rehearse your evil monologue, dust off your best purple attire and enjoy Animated Disney Villains Ranked. 

Follow @thefilmagazine on X (Twitter).

36. King Candy – Wreck-It Ralph (2012)

The ruler of arcade racing video game Sugar Rush who is actually Turbo, the resentful title character of a long-disconnected game.

Alan Tudyk has been Disney’s good luck charm in recent years and delivers a manic performance here as a mascot-gone-wrong, but the vocals have to do most of the work to enliven a baddie who’s just not interesting enough to match the heroes.

Demise by: Destroyed by the collapse of Diet Cola Mountain with the addition of Mentos.

35. Prince Hans – Frozen (2013)

A seemingly classic Prince Charming who is actually conspiring to eliminate both heirs to the Arendelle throne and claim it for himself.

Hans is a duplicitous, generic British-accented baddie revealed in the film’s final act, who gets some bonus evil points for taking advantage of Princess Anna’s emotions the way he does, purely to advance himself.

Demise by: Survives but is arrested and banished for his treachery.

Recommended for you: Best Animated Feature Oscar Winners Ranked

34. Alameda Slim – Home on the Range (2004)

An evil cattle rustler and conman who plans to cheat every rancher he can find out of their land.

Randy Quaid’s growling delivery and the character’s hilariously unconvincing Inspector Clouseau-level disguises aside, what makes Alameda Slim stand out is that he’s a rare villain who uses a combination of theft, foreclosure and cow-hypnotising yodelling to get what he wants.

Demise by: Survives, but his schemes and true identity as a rustler are exposed and the reward for his arrest is claimed.

33. Dr Jumba Jookiba – Lilo & Stitch (2002)

An alien mad scientist on the hunt for his dangerous but cute creation on Earth on the orders of the council who imprisoned him for his work.

Dr Jumba is probably the only character who never underestimates the cute blue title character because he was the one who genetically engineered “Experiment 626” and is fully aware of his destructive capabilities. He finds himself lower down this list for being bumbling and for having a late change of heart, eventually helping to protect Stitch when the council’s military arrives to complete his mission with extreme prejudice.

Demise by: Survives to live a fairly happy exile alongside Stitch on Earth.

Beauty and the Beast (1991)
Directors: Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise
Screenwriters: Linda Woolverton, Brenda Chapman, Chris Sanders
Starring: Paige O’Hara, Robby Benson, Richard White, Angela Lansbury, Jerry Orbach, David Ogden Stiers, Jesse Corti, Rex Everhart, Bradley Pierce

18th Century French fairy tale “La Belle et la Bête” is one of the best-known, most influential and most frequently adapted stories in the western world, inspiring stage versions, television adaptations and countless films. After Jean Cocteau’s surrealist 1946 version, the film that has captured the most hearts and minds has to be Disney’s 1991 animated musical, which much to CEO Michael Eisener’s delight earned his studio the first Best Picture Academy Award nomination for an animated film. 30 years and a live-action remake later, how does the original hold up? All together now, “Tale as old as time…”

Intelligent dreamer Belle (Paige O’Hara) finds herself not quite fitting in with her simple provincial village, avoiding the advances of handsome blowhard Gaston (Richard White) and looking out for her absentminded inventor father Maurice (Rex Everhart). When Maurice gets lost in the woods and finds his way to a strange castle, Belle goes looking for him, and in exchange for her father’s freedom soon offers herself as prisoner of the castle’s master, a prince cursed to be a Beast (Robby Benson) until he finds true love.

Disney have been producing their series of glossy live-action/GGI hybrid remakes of their beloved animated back catalogue for a decade now. From Maleficent to The Jungle Book and Mulan, they have been a mixed bag it’s fair to say, from worthwhile reimaginings (Pete’s Dragon) to pointless retreads (The Lion King), but nobody’s taking the original animated versions from you and they can co-exist. However mixed you might have felt about Bill Condon’s 2017 remake, few can argue that 1991’s Beauty and the Beast is the top tier of the Disney Renaissance and among the studio’s most magical films.

It was quite impossible to be as compelled by the burgeoning relationship between Belle and Beast in live-action as in the animated version of this story. Maybe it was because the animated Beast, unlike Dan Stevens’ tall, strapping and velvet-furred portrayal, is far more bestial in his appearance and physicality, his contrast with (and love for) Belle more marked. Just look at how animalistic his movements are in the first half of the 1991 film, stalking on all-fours like a bad-tempered bear on the hunt when his solitary existence in his castle is disturbed – whereas as soon as his relationship with Belle starts to blossom, he becomes more upright, awkward and fragile in stature, as unsure of his place in the scheme of things as Belle has felt for so much of her life. 

This film boasts composers Alan Menken and Howard Ashman at the absolute height of their powers, a particularly bittersweet fact given Ashman was losing his battle with AIDS during production (Disney+ documentary Howard is well worth a watch for a more detailed and poignant account of this). Menken’s orchestration is hugely atmospheric and soaringly emotional in all the right places, plus the number of absolute bangers – as the kids probably don’t say anymore – on the song list is impressive indeed, especially considering the film was not originally envisioned as a musical. From the chorus-led chirpy opening number “Belle”, to the funniest ever Disney villain song “Gaston” (“now I’m roughly the size of a baaarge!”), the rowdy “Mob Song” and of course “Be Our Guest”, there is something for everyone.

The film may only be 90 minutes long, but the magic of animation is such that time strangely seems to pass differently than in live-action, and consequently you feel like you’ve been spending much more time with Belle and Beast, watching them test the water and get to know each other, witnessing them falling for that indefinable something below the surface.

O’Hara and Benson are a wonderful combination, bringing depth and nuance to their slowly developing romance, their voices marrying perfectly with their expressively animated counterparts. You have the awkward first dates, bad dinners and gifts of affection large and small, so much of their story told without words. You’d need a heart of stone not to be moved when the titular pair step into that ballroom with Mrs Potts’ (Angela Lansbury) lovely ballad accompanying them. David Ogden Stiers and Jerry Orbach make for among Disney’s best ever mismatched double acts as Cogsworth and Lumière, and Richard White booms as Gaston, one of the most sinister toxic men in all of film, a character who manages to easily win over a town by virtue of being big and handsome. 

It’s a film that feels both intimate and epic, fantastical and grounded, only perhaps losing something of its majesty in the final stretch featuring the mob in slapstick battles with living furniture, an admittedly fun sequence for the kids that somewhat lessens the dramatic impact of the final rooftop confrontation between Beast and Gaston, and Belle’s confession of her feelings.

The third film in Disney’s Renaissance is among the finest examples of American animation in history, telling a timeless story of love, selflessness and not judging by appearances. Disney had begun to introduce elements of CGI animation to their traditional cel drawings from 1985’s The Black Cauldron onwards, but this was their most successful marriage of animation techniques to date, computer technology embellishing and enhancing traditional hand-drawn craftsmanship in service of the story. Many have tried to better Beauty and the Beast, including Disney themselves, but every imitation feels pale in comparison. 

23/24

Recommended for you: Disney Renaissance Movies Ranked

In this edition of Ranked, what follows is The Film Magazine’s ranking of Disney’s cinematic output over the decade 1989-1999, known as the Disney Renaissance.

Honourable mention: A Goofy Movie (1995)

While my fellow millennials might feel a bit sore that A Goofy Movie isn’t included on this list, here’s the rationale…

While it was produced during Disney’s Renaissance period, it was made by Disney’s B team as a follow-up to Goofy’s TV series and did not have the studio’s full creative weight thrown behind it, nor the budget. It’s still a cute and heartfelt movie about growing pains and daddy issues, but not a game-changer like all the other films on this list.

10. Pocahontas (1995)

Very loosely based on historical figures, the daughter of a Powhatan chief falls for an English soldier and must chose a side in a war against her people.

I think they were going for earnest with Pocahontas, but unfortunately they ended up coming across as patronising. John Smith really is the worst isn’t he?

Quite aside from how unpalatable a personality Gibson has become over the years, his character here mansplains the concept of civilisation to an indigenous woman. That’s much worse than the actual villain who’s just egotistical and greedy.

The animal sidekicks are cute, but this ends up being stuck halfway between merchandisable entertainment and aiming for prestige.

Animation game-changer: Disney’s first lead character from an indigenous people and their first story inspired by the lives of real people as opposed to fairy tales.

Magical moment: Pocahontas’ efforts to humble the arrogant John Smith and his narrow worldview with undeniable earworm “Colours of the Wind” is gorgeously animated, transitioning between vignettes of nature in harmony linked by living watercolour.

There is, however, a darker side behind those oversized mouse ears, and every now and then a smidgen of macabre seeps through the cracks. Even if only for a scene, there will always be a bit of Dickensian in the Disney. What did we expect from a studio that famously stakes its claim on Grimm’s fairytale adaptations?

So, steamboat your willies and bibbity bobbity brace yourselves, as The Film Magazine counts down the most depressing Disney movie moments.

Have an opinion? Let us know in the comments!

1. Simba Wishes His Dad Dead

The year was 1994 when a sandy coloured lion cub named Simba stole our hearts with his sticky juice-smeared forehead.

We felt for his plight when evil Uncle Scar convinced him to run away from home.

We rejoiced when he found solace from his misplaced guilt in two unlikely friends, Timone and Pumba.

We whooped and hollered victoriously when he took his rightful place on the Iron Throne… I mean Pride Rock.

Unfortunately, this baby cat had pulled a Britney over our Spears, as it turns out he’s not so innocent. Remember the catchy ‘I Just Can’t Wait To Be King’ ditty? Yeah, well, it’s really an ode to his father’s death.

Think about it for a second, there ain’t no abdicating from a lion pride. All Simba wants is to be the “main event, like no king was before” but this childish wish fulfilment fantasy takes on a life of it’s own when you look into the dynamics of how lions become king of a pride.

Younger males are driven out by their parents. During this time of self-discovery they grow stronger, until one day they’re strong enough to return and kill the king. Also, a quick Google search has told me that male lions don’t have a great life expectancy… they tend to die a lot from fighting their dad.

That tragic stampede moment we’ve all been crying about was built on a big pile of putrid murderous deception.

How could you do this Simba? It hurts my childhood.

Recommended for you: The Lion King (2019) Review

2. Elsa’s Parents Push Her Into A Mental Breakdown

Disney’s very own metaphor for depression herself, Princess Elsa, was always going to make a top-ranking appearance on this list. ‘Let It Go’ already…

Blessed with the magical gift of conjuring ice whenever she pleases, one might say Princess Elsa was born with a natural frosty persona. However, when she accidentally hurts her little sister Anna by blasting a beam of ice into her skull (her skull), Elsa is locked away leaving her persona to go liquid nitrogen.

Elsa’s parents come up with the perfect brainwashing motto “conceal, don’t feel.” A curious message that leaves her exasperated when she can’t do either of those things, and eventually brings on anxiety attacks. You’d think that powers heightened by emotions need to be harnessed differently, but instead a hormonal and lonely Elsa must shut off her humanity to avoid shaming the family.

Princess Freak (as she may as well be called) lost connection with her sister as a result of this imprisonment, and was tormented on a daily basis by her confused sister’s torturous song ‘Do You Wanna Build A Snowman’.

Imagine that. Your emotionally fraught younger sister at the door singing about hang time, but you’re confined to a room, numbed to all emotion thanks to your dead parents.

When you put all that into perspective, the song “Let It Go” is basically a musical suicide note.

(That splat sound was my mind blowing wide open and all my happy memories hurtling themselves at the wall screaming “the vessel is impure”.)

Billed as “90 years of once in a lifetime”, the 2018 Oscars will be held on the 4th of March 2018 from the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California, and will be hosted by returning television host Jimmy Kimmel (who also hosted the show in 2017). The ceremony will air on ABC in the United States and Sky Movies in the UK, with programming beginning at 6:30pm EST (11:30pm GMT).

Here is a full list of the nominees for the 2018 Academy Awards:

BEST PICTURE
Call Me By Your Name
Darkest Hour
Dunkirk
Get Out
Lady Bird
Phantom Thread
The Post
The Shape of Water
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Timothee Chalomet (Call Me By Your Name)
Daniel Day Lewis (Phantom Thread)
Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out)
Gary Oldman (Darkest Hour)
Denzel Washington (Roman J. Israel, Esq)

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Sally Hawkins (The Shape of Water)
Frances McDormand (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)
Margot Robbie (I, Tonya)
Saoirse Ronan (Lady Bird)
Meryl Streep (The Post)

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Willem Dafoe (The Florida Project)
Woody Harrelson (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)
Richard Jenkins (The Shape of Water)
Christopher Plummer (All the Money in the World)
Sam Rockwell (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Mary J Blige (Mudbound)
Allison Janney (I, Tonya)
Lesley Manville (Phantom Thread)
Laurie Metcalfe (Lady Bird)
Octavia Spencer (The Shape of Water)

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
The Boss Baby
The Breadwinner
Coco
Ferdinand
Loving Vincent

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Blade Runner 2049
Darkest Hour
Dunkirk
Mudbound
The Shape of Water

COSTUME DESIGN
Beauty and the Beast
Darkest Hour
Phantom Thread
The Shape of Water
Victoria & Abdul

DIRECTING
Christopher Nolan (Dunkirk)
Jordan Peele (Get Out)
Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird)
Paul Thomas Anderson (Phantom Thread)
Guillermo Del Toro (The Shape of Water)

DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE)
Abacus: Small Enough to Jail
Faces Places
Icarus
Last Men in Aleppo
Strong Island

DOCUMENTARY (SHORT SUBJECT)
Edith + Eddie
Heaven is a Traffic Jam on the 405
Heroin (E)
Knife Skills
Traffic Stop

FILM EDITING
Baby Driver
Dunkirk
I, Tonya
The Shape of Water
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
A Fantastic Woman (Chile)
The Insult (Lebanon)
Loveless (Russia)
On Body & Soul (Hungary)
The Square (Sweden)

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
Darkest Hour
Victoria & Abdul
Wonder

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)
Dunkirk
Phantom Thread
The Shape of Water
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)
Mighty River (Mudbound)
Mystery of Love (Call Me By Your Name)
Remember Me (Coco)
Stand up for Something (Marshall)
This is Me (The Greatest Showman)

PRODUCTION DESIGN
Beauty and the Beast
Blade Runner 2049
Darkest Hour
Dunkirk
The Shape of Water

SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)
Dear Basketball
Garden Party
Lou
Negative Space
Revolting Rhymes

SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)
DeKalb Elementary
The 11 O’Clock
My Nephew Emmett
The Silent Child
Watu Wote: All of Us

SOUND EDITING
Baby Driver
Blade Runner 2049
Dunkirk
The Shape of Water
Star Wars: The Last Jedi

SOUND MIXING
Baby Driver
Blade Runner 2049
Dunkirk
The Shape of Water
Star Wars: The Last Jedi

VISUAL EFFECTS
Blade Runner 2049
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Kong: Skull Island
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
War for the Planet of the Apes

WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)
Call Me By Your Name
The Disaster Artist
Logan
Molly’s Game
Mudbound

WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)
The Big Sick
Get Out
Lady Bird
The Shape of Water
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Totals per film:
13 – The Shape of Water
8 – Dunkirk
7 – Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
6 – Darkest Hour; Phantom Thread
5 – Lady Bird
4 – Call Me By Your Name; Get Out; Mudbound; Star Wars: The Last Jedi
3 – Baby Driver; I, Tonya
2 – Beauty and the Beast; Coco; The Post; Victoria & Abdul
1 – The 11 O’Clock; A Fantastic Woman; Abacus: Small Enough to Jail; All the Money in the World; The Big Sick; The Boss Baby; The Breadwinner; Dear Basketball; DeKalb Elementary; The Disaster Artist; Edith + Eddie; Faces Places; Ferdinand; The Florida Project; Garden Party; The Greatest Showman; Heaven is a Traffic Jam on the 405; Heroin (E); Icarus; The Insult; Knife Skills; Kong: Skull Island; Last Men in Aleppo; Logan; Lou; Loveless; Loving Vincent; Marshall; Molly’s Game; My Nephew Emmett; Negative Space; On Body & Soul; Revolting Rhymes; Roman J. Israel, Esq; The Silent Child; The Square; Strong Island; Traffic Stop; War for the Planet of the Apes; Watu Wote: All of Us; Wonder

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The final figure is up 3.6% from 2016’s total of £1.33billion ($1.8billion) and makes 2017’s annual box office total the highest in the history of the region. Star Wars: The Last Jedi has been confirmed as the highest-grossing movie of the calendar year despite receiving a wide release only 3 weeks removed from the start of 2018, with its total overcoming that of Disney live-action remake Beauty and the Beast at the last hurdle to accumulate approximately £68,263,774, around 5% of the annual total.

Here are the official top 5 highest-grossing movies in the UK in 2017:

Disney were the most prominent studio in the region, earning 19.2% of the total market – approximately £265million ($359million) – from 16 releases, with Warner Bros earning 16.2% from 31 releases and Universal earning 15.6% from 30 releases to make up the top three. Notably, Disney’s percentage of the overall box office in the UK for 2017 was down from the 21.88% the company earned in 2016, though when analysed in conjunction with the company’s purchase of Fox, Disney would own a remarkable 34.3% share of the UK box office receipts in 2017.

In terms of British films, Christopher Nolan’s Warner Bros release Dunkirk was the highest grosser, earning £55.8million. The 2nd highest-grossing British film in the region was Studiocanal’s long-awaited family movie sequel Paddington 2 which earned £37.5million (making it the 6th highest-grossing film of the year).

Of the 5 highest-grossing titles released under North American banners, Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Guardians of the Galaxy are said to have had a lot of British involvement behind the scenes, particularly with regard to visual effects. Meanwhile, Beauty and the Beast was headlined by two British stars.

Sources: THR and Screen Daily

The prolonged holiday weekend experienced in the UK at the end of December meant that the usual 3 day (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) grosses were stretched to the Monday too, thus equating to an extra day of income and therefore bumper box office takings. The winners were clear, with the top 5 making at least £1.4million more each than any chart entry positioned 7th-15th (the full chart can be found below). In fact, the top 5 each reached such heights that even the impressive 3rd weekend performance of Ferdinand, which took £1.4million, couldn’t make the official chart video, despite its total being high enough to have broken nearly any top 5 in 2017.

Perhaps the biggest news within this week’s top 5 was the debut of The Greatest Showman starring Golden Globe nominee Hugh Jackman. The musical, which co-stars Zac Efron, Michelle Williams, Zendaya and Rebecca Ferguson, has performed modestly here in the UK despite achieving an all-time record 77% jump from Thursday screenings to Friday-Sunday screenings in the United States and having earned an impressive $54million in North America thus far. Landing behind Jumanji, despite the Dwayne Johnson starring fantasy film having been on release for a week longer, will be disappointing for 20th Century Fox who spent $84million on the project, quite a lot of money for a musical. The film took £4,754,049 over the 4-day weekend, a figure which is dwarfed by January 2017 musical hit La La Land which earned £6.6million in its opening weekend, though was notably released a further 2 weeks removed from that year’s Star Wars movie. The Greatest Showman’s near £5million gross is perhaps better than its chart position would usually indicate and should be considered impressive for a film of its type, as it all-but guarantees a run of at least £10million at the UK box office, with even more potential earnings to come should the film be nominated by BAFTA and the Oscars.

Mentioned briefly above was Jumanji which has maintained momentum after an impressive £12million opening week. The movie, which has performed better in opposition to The Last Jedi than anyone could have expected, earned a further £5,210,725 in its second weekend to take the movie to £17.8million total. Should audiences maintain their intrigue for The Rock, Jack Black, Kevin Hart and Karen Gillan’s reigniting of the 90s IP, Welcome to the Jungle may break the UK’s top 10 highest grossing movies released in 2017 – current top 10 available via our Facebook.

Notching in at an incredible £68,263,774 from 3 weekends, and taking the mantle as the UK’s number one movie of 2017 is Star Wars: The Last Jedi which surpassed fellow Disney release Beauty and the Beast (£66,990,507) by claiming close to £8million this weekend and seeming unlikely to be shunned from its top spot anytime soon.

Here is the entire top 15 chart, including weekend and overall box office totals, for the top films of this past weekend:

1. Star Wars: The Last Jedi – weeks on release: 3 – weekend: £7,975,174 – overall: £68,263,774
2. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle – 2 – £5,210,725 – £17,835,902
3. The Greatest Showman – 1 – £4,754,049 – £4,754,049
4. Pitch Perfect 3 – 2 – £2,322,065 – £8,887,440
5. Paddington 2 – 8 – £1,884,062 – £37,567,705
6. Ferdinand – 3 – £1,387,426 – £6,145,052
7. Daddy’s Home 2 – 6 – £492,920 – £13,597,770
8. Tiger Zinda Hai – 2 – £265,424 – £1,262,123
9. Wonder – 5 – £160,396 – £4,294,199
10. Murder on the Orient Express – 9 – £82,146 – £23,900,453
11. Event Cinema: Berliner Philharmoniker Live 2018 – 1 – £61,387 – £61,387
12. The Lego Ninjago Movie – 12 – £50,056 – £9,535,000
13. The Disaster Artist – 4 – £49,671 – £1,272,348
14. The Star – 6 – £47,026 – £1,072,650
15. The Wedding Party 2 – 1 – £45,812 – £45,812

Paddington 2 has officially become the nation’s favourite independent film of the year, having now earned £37.5million at the box office and having surpassed its predecessor’s £34million earnings over the Christmas period. The Studiocanal film, which stars a plethora of British names, earned £1,884,062 in its 8th weekend at the box office, illustrating its longevity as a box office draw and possibly indicating a £40million overall run, a total that would see it oust Disney/Marvel juggernaut Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 from 5th spot on the highest grossing films of the year list.

Elsewhere, Murder on the Orient Express maintained its grip on the chart, spending its 9th successive week in the top 15 and pushing ever closer to a £24million run. The Kenneth Branagh movie has been far from a mega-hit, but its steady intake of box office cash has made it one of the more solid British made movies of the year, having already earned more than the likes of Pirates of the Caribbean, Transformers and Wonder Woman, and currently teetering on the edge of 2017’s top 15.

At number 8 in this week’s chart is Bollywood action movie Tiger Zinda Hai, a film that has managed to break the £1million mark in the territory on its way to becoming the highest grossing Bollywood movie of 2017 on $54million total. The film’s impressive performance also makes it the highest grossing Indian made film of 2017 in the UK and takes it above noteworthy movies like British Independent Film Awards winner God’s Own Country, Oscar-nominee Fences and Martin Scorsese’s Silence in terms of overall gross in the region.

As of this coming weekend, 2017 shall begin to become an after-thought as the first releases of 2018 begin to make their mark on the box office. Ridley Scott’s All the Money in the World and the new Ben Stiller movie Brad’s Status will both enter the running for the top 5, making for an interesting battle with the already existing high performers of this past weekend, and we’ll begin to get a clearer picture on the overall, final results of the 2017 box office race. Could Paddington 2 make it into the top 5? Will Murder on the Orient Express crack the top 15? We’ll be sure to have more definitive answers next week, but until then make sure to subscribe to us on YouTube to be the first to catch our weekly Box Office Top 5 videos, and follow us on Facebook and Twitter to keep up to date with all of our most important updates.

As a huge fan of Disney fan and the original 1991 animated Beauty and the Beast, I went into the cinema for the live action version feeling a little sceptical. I grew up with the original and it is the epitome of a Disney classic, so I was rather protective of its legacy. However, after only a few minutes of the film being on screen my concerns were gone. I thought that Disney really worked their magic in their live action version of The Jungle Book but, for me, Beauty and the Beast really knocks it out of the park. This version is filled with the sort of nostalgia any Disney fan can enjoy and really does justice to the original in how it embodies the magic of its predecessor.

I am going to try and keep this review as spoiler free as possible.

As far as the story goes this version kept very true to the original, and it kept many of the most iconic scenes such as the ballroom scene, Gaston’s tavern and the final battle pretty much the same, only tweaking them ever so slightly. As can be expected there were some plot points added to the live action version as the film was two hours long compared to the seventy minute animated original. Don’t let the idea of additions to the story put you off though, if anything they only added more depth to the beloved story. It allowed for more complex character development, especially with characters such as La Fou who was a elevated from his status as sidekick to Gaston, to a fully developed character by the film’s end. We also get to see the relationship between Belle and Beast develop in a more complex and subtle way, and were really encouraged to grow to love Beast as Belle does, avoiding the often rushed romances of the Disney classics. One thing this version of Beauty and the Beast does so well is that it answers questions that the original does not; we get more backstory and more history. For example, without giving too much away, we get to see who the Prince was before the curse and we find out the reason for why he was not such a nice person. We also get to find out why Belle’s mother is not around and we get a glimpse of why Beast’s servants have stayed loyal to him all these years.

The way the characters are presented in the film is particularly great; their likeness to its animated twin is just close enough without losing every sense of originality. Every character’s traits seem to be amplified in this version – for example: when Gaston is funny, he is funnier, and when he is evil, he is more evil. Belle is also portrayed as stronger and more practical. She is an inventor, she is outspoken and she can stand up for herself. This is only amplified by small details such as how she wears trousers under her dress so that she can hitch up her skirt while walking or riding her horse. The triumph of the characters however comes down to the casting, which in my opinion could not have been better.

At first I had my doubts about Emma Watson playing the iconic Disney Princess as I could not get her performances as Hermione Granger out of my head, and initially I was worried that this would effect my viewing of this film. I am pleased to say that she did an excellent job of bringing Belle to life, as did Dan Stevens for Beast. The supporting cast were also excellent: Ewan McGregor as Lumiere, Ian McKellen as Cogsworth and Emma Thompson as Mrs Potts had such great chemistry it would be difficult not to feel joy when their characters were on screen. The stand out however was Luke Evans as Gaston, as he managed to perfectly embody everything that Gaston is, from the delivery of his lines and facial expressions to his interaction with Josh Gadd as La Fou, he really did justice to this classic Disney Villain.

As with any Disney film the music is spectacular; it includes all the songs from the original plus a few new numbers that hold their weight against the classics. Disney legend Alan Menken leads the way once again when it comes the the score and musical numbers, and he does a fantastic job once again. They have managed to breathe new life into the songs that people know so well without changing them so much they’re off-putting or easily rejected. Ewan McGregor’s rendition of “Be Our Guest” is one to particularly look forward to. The new songs also fit into the story nicely. “Evermore”, performed by Dan Stevens, is my personal favourite. Not only is this a rare occasion where we get a solo song from a Disney Prince, but it also adds a new level of emotion to Beast as a character. It is without a doubt that from the opening note of the iconic score in the prologue, the music adds to the overall nostalgia that brings back fond memories of the animated classic.

The overall visual presentation of the film is absolutely stunning, and while the majority of the visuals rely heavily on CGI effects, the animating team must be commending on their outstanding attention to detail. This is particularly evident in the reimagining of the cursed furniture in the castle, in particular Lumiere and Cogsworth, as their design is incredibly intricate and beautiful, and the human features are not as obvious as their animated counterparts, an element of the animation I feel works to enhance rather than diminish the impact of their characters. The castle itself  is also noteworthy in how it is incredibly ornate, creating a magical surrounding fitting for the story and the expectations of many a fan of whom would have carried the same levels of intrigue as I had. The one scene that stood out in the animated original was the famous Ballroom dance scene and therefore this version had a lot to live up to. In my opinion, it exceeded all expectations. From Belle’s infamous yellow gown and the beautiful dancing to “Tale as Old as Time”, this version gave us a scene that was just as stunning as the original.

Perhaps the largest criticism that can be levelled at the film is that it will likely divide audiences. I found the dialogue to be a little forced and unnatural in places, and while Emma Watson was by no means a bad singer, she certainly wasn’t as a strong as the rest of the cast in this regard. Perhaps most importantly, the amplifying of cartoon characters for live-action could be met with criticism, though I would argue that it serves the story well and it shouldn’t be expected that a Disney animation remake should be the place for serious and subtle performances.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed Beauty and the Beast. It was visually pleasing and full of nostalgia for any Disney fan, but above all fun. Watching it in the cinema reignited my love for the songs, the story and for the original animated film. It is a great example of how Disney consistently manage to muster their now somewhat trademarked emotion and magic and makes me excited for the other live-action remakes that Disney have lined up. If they are as magical as Beauty and the Beast, we shall not be disappointed.

18/24