It's likely no secret by now that our hosts have some misgivings about Disney's most recent (and to date most whole-hearted) foray into remakes, reboots and sequels of some of their most beloved properties. So that there's quite a divide in opinion when it comes to CHRISTOPHER ROBIN, their nostalgia-dipped installment in the Winnie the Pooh canon should come as no surprise. Is this a charming, if inoffensive take on characters that Disney have frequently gone back to, or is it another cash grab ...
Jan 03, 2019•1 hr 11 min
We end at the beginning. A journey that started with the Wildcats of...uh...High School Musical High? (Sure, let's go with that) graduating having learned that they're all in this together begins with them auditioning for the Winter Musicale and ultimately learning that they're all in this together. It should be no surprise that in the end at least two thirds of our hosts would never quite grasp how this franchise became the phenomenon it did, but at least it gave us some laughs along the way....
Dec 27, 2018•1 hr 12 min
The last time Vicky, Nolan and Jill watched a collaboration between Disney and ImageMovers Digital it was...well it was Mars Needs Moms and it was one of the worst movies any of our hosts had seen. But it seems like even an effort to create MoCap Monstrosities can't overcome the Christmas spirit, as their adaptation of the Dickens classic, A CHRISTMAS CAROL, manages to impress all of our hosts to varying degrees. And that''s in spite of it not featuring any Muppets.
Dec 20, 2018•1 hr 8 min
With so few Christmas movies to chose from in the Disney theatrical canon, it is a tad disappointing that so many of their meager offerings are so...underwhelming. Take I'LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS, a vehicle for teen heartthrob Jonathan Taylor Thomas in his declining years (ie 17 years old) that is part road movie, part teen sex romp without the sex. Cause it's Disney. JTT's Jake is one of the more awful main characters we've had to put up with, a liar and manipulator who doesn't seem to learn an...
Dec 13, 2018•57 min
This week on We Want The D, our hosts break with tradition to bring you our first ever non-Disney movie in the podcast's histor- wait what's that? MAX KEEBLE'S BIG MOVE is a Disney movie? Huh, you're sure? Cause tonally and stylistically, it looks and sounds a heck of a lot like a Nickelodeon joint. And has quite a few Nickelodeon stars in it. But you're certain? Disney, you say? But that dad wears all those weird costumes for no believable reason. And there's that weird singing frog character a...
Dec 06, 2018•1 hr 6 min
It's pure coincidence that American Thanksgiving has just passed us by and that our hosts just so happen to be taking on the Disney-fied, romanticized version of the first Thanksgiving with SQUANTO: A WARRIOR'S TALE. Or at least as Disney-fied as a story can be that still opens with a horrifying sequence of two First Nation's men being stolen from their homeland and forced to perform in sideshows for the entertainment of Michael Gambon and the rest of the seventeenth century British elite. There...
Nov 29, 2018•1 hr 6 min
This week, our hosts return to the most incomprehensible franchise in the Disney catalog with RETURN FROM WITCH MOUNTAIN. While the first movie featured young siblings fleeing from those who would use their alien powers for nefarious purposes, this sequel mixes things up by having one of those siblings captured by those who would use their alien powers for nefarious purposes. And, in a dark twist, having his free will stripped away so he's forced to do everything from rob a museum of their milli...
Nov 22, 2018•1 hr 8 min
Our series on Mary Poppins draws to a close with the big show itself, and Vicky, Nolan and Jill put on a big show in its honour. MARY POPPINS, if it wasn't already clear by the weeks of discussion we've been giving to it, is a very special movie that holds a special place in our collective hearts. So we earnestly gush about the performances, the songs, the matte paintings, and everything in between. But this is still We Want The D so we don't give Disney (or each other) an entirely free ride. Bu...
Nov 15, 2018•1 hr 59 min
Our series on Mary Poppins continues with SAVING MR. BANKS, a Disney movie about how Walt Disney made a Disney movie. This is some meta-level stuff so it merits some meta-level discussion from Vicky, Nolan and Jill and boy do they go deep. Not only does this movie have enough to talk about on its own merits, from its stacked cast to its somewhat disjointed flashback structure; and not only is it insane that a super image-conscious brand and corporation would be so bold as to make a movie heavily...
Nov 08, 2018•1 hr 26 min
We're kicking off our series on all things Mary Poppins with a Disney documentary focusing on two of the most instrumental figures not only in the making of the legendary film, but in Disney history in general. Robert and Richard Sherman were brothers who could not be more different, except in their general distaste for one another. But that animosity didn't stop them from being the greatest songwriting duo Disney ever employed, this side of Menken and Ashman. Join our hosts as Vicky, Nolan and ...
Nov 01, 2018•1 hr 15 min
As the scariest time of year draws to a close, our hosts are discussing what may be the most terrifying subject we've seen yet - the innate fear in all of us of having to walk home alone at night. That's right, it's time to look at Disney's take of the legend of Sleepy Hollow and the Headless Horseman...which because it came out in the 1940s was paired with the story of an anthropomorphic toad that was sent to jail for joyriding in a stolen car. Also very scary! So join us on our journey merrily...
Oct 25, 2018•1 hr 9 min
Long time D-sciples will know that Disney hasn't really stockpiled a plethora of Halloween-themed movies in their theatrical catalog, but rather than let this spookiest time of year go unacknowledged, Vicky, Nolan and Jill are returning to the well of Disney's televised movie offerings. After being nigh-on inundated with requests, we had no choice but to go with MR. BOOGEDY and its sequel BRIDE OF BOOGEDY, movies that may very well have scarred many children in their time. But watching these as ...
Oct 18, 2018•1 hr 29 min
We're kicking off this spooktacular season with a mini-episode looking at the most gruesome, disturbing, karmic deaths in the Disney animated canon. Note this episode was recorded back before we had watched some of the movies referenced, so no you did not travel through time while listening to this episode!
Oct 11, 2018•27 min
It's time for another edition of 1960s/70s Disney live action Mad Libs! You know the one, it's Ron Miller's favourite game. The one where you just fill in the blanks between the phrases like "illegal gambling," "extended car chase," and "adult romance plot." In the case of THE NORTH AVENUE IRREGULARS we get some real doozies, though - "cool new Reverend," "Treasury Department, and "church explosion" to name just a few. And for as predictable as this era of Disney has gotten for our hosts, that l...
Oct 04, 2018•1 hr 6 min
Hold on to your peanuts and crackerjacks, D-Lover, we're going back old to the old ball game this week on We Want The D. Rather than a scrappy underdog story that Disney tends to love for their sports movies, however, MILLION DOLLAR ARM centers mostly on a successful sports agent who hit a bit of a rough patch, and may have to sell his very large LA home or perhaps even his luxury sports car if he can't find two young Indian boys to exploit for his own personal gain. In an unexpected twist, this...
Sep 27, 2018•1 hr 11 min
When Mother Abbess from The Sound of Music told us to "climb every mountain" she probably wasn't talking about the Matterhorn; or as it's called in Disney's THIRD MAN ON THE MOUNTAIN, the Citadel. But don't try to tell young(ish) Rudi Matt that, even though his own father was killed while climbing its treacherous slopes. No sir, climbing is in Rudi's blood, so no amount of stern gazes from a hard-faced uncle, cautious lessons from his father's old partner, or flirtatious looks from his super-gre...
Sep 20, 2018•58 min
Disney hits more than a few stumbling block with the early-80s entry THE LAST FLIGHT OF NOAH'S ARK. Just entering the period where they attempt to create less kid-friendly fare, instead they let the children and animals fade into the background while focusing on an unconvincing love story between Elliott Gould and French Canadian actress Geneviève Bujold, a pair of Japanese Stragglers, and a truly awful, just awful song. What could have been basically Six Days, Seven Night s nearly two decades e...
Sep 13, 2018•1 hr 3 min
As students head back to school after summer vacation, our hosts are heading back to Medfield Collage along with Dexter Riley, Schuyler, Dean Higgins, Girl and the rest of the gang in Disney's THE COMPUTER WORE TENNIS SHOES. But like students in a 8:30AM lecture, Vicky, Nolan and Jill are having a little trouble focusing on this movie's particular brand of hijinks, and wind up going on some detours into Game of Thrones, Canadian women's magazine Chatelaine, the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards, and A...
Sep 06, 2018•1 hr 5 min
Vicky, Nolan and Jill are on their annual pilgrimage to Bob's Lake, and since they've already done all the movies in the Szalinski franchise what could be more appropriate than talking about a real-life genius? In this special mini-episode, Vicky gives a crash course on Ub Iwerks; who not only shaped the legacy of Disney, but the entire film industry.
Aug 30, 2018•1 hr 5 min
The past weeks and months have been a wild ride here on We Want The D, thanks to The Summer of Love Bug. From the top of the Golden Gate Bridge to the bottom of the ocean, we've followed the adventures of the little car with a big heart with fascination, disbelief, horror and delight with equal measure. But now it's time to say goodbye, and there's likely no better way to spend our final hours with Herbie than by being wholly distracted by the fact that HERBIE: FULLY LOADED was also the final Di...
Aug 23, 2018•1 hr 11 min
In retrospect, the missing possessive apostrophe 's' in MOTHER GOOSE ROCK 'N' RHYME should have been a sort of clue or portent for what was to come. Because this week's movie is missing a whole lot. A beloved childhood favourite of Vicky's, this Disney Channel world premiere is cause for great befuddlement for our other two hosts. Why does it look like it was filmed with a potato? Why are all the women in this children's program dressed in costumes from some sort of bizarre fetish video? How cou...
Aug 16, 2018•1 hr 5 min
Unfortunately, the penultimate episode of the Summer of Love Bug doesn't set us up to go out with a bang as one might have hoped. And we suppose that's to be expected - after all, we're in Disney television movie territory here. But there was always the hope that Bruce Campbell and Herbie would be a winning combination - but all for naught. Sure, Bruce's handsome face is here, but he's given little to no opportunities to show off his charisma - and neither is Herbie for that matter. The 1990's T...
Aug 09, 2018•1 hr 1 min
Bear with us, D-Lovers, as we tell the tale of ROB ROY, THE HIGHLAND ROGUE. Rob Roy MacGregor is a proud Scotsman whose refusal to bow to the new King of England (who is German) puts him into conflict with the Secretary of State (who is Scottish), kicking off a guerrilla-like campaign; against the wishes of Ma MacGregor (who is a Campbell) and his new bride (who is Glynis Johns). It's actually a rather simple, if somewhat anti-climactic story; but Disney knew how to make a period history movie b...
Aug 02, 2018•1 hr 10 min
Forging ahead on the Summer of Love Bug, we're wrapping up the core four original movies with HERBIE GOES BANANAS. Though at this point we have to wonder if Disney ever really understood what the appeal of this franchise was. While our hosts loved the earlier installments for their willingness to commit to the concept of a little car with a big heart, their over-the-top characters, and out-sized but still believable hi-jinks; this latest movie does pretty much the opposite of all of those. The h...
Jul 26, 2018•1 hr 2 min
Disney has been going through something of a new renaissance in the past decade or so, in terms of their animated movies. Most of the films they've released in this era have gone on to achieve some combination of box office success, critical praise, or audience approval. WRECK-IT RALPH feels like a clear attempt to do so by taking its cues from other beloved movies that combined existing IPs with new properties a la 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit' and telling an emotionally resonant story a la Pixar. ...
Jul 19, 2018•1 hr
The Summer of Love Bug continues on We Want The D, and we've hit our inevitable first speed bump in the franchise with Disney's HERBIE GOES TO MONTE CARLO. After establishing the little car with a big personality as a multi-faceted entity who perhaps feels the highs and lows of life a little too extremely, the third installment in the franchise takes a step back by putting Herbie back on the race track. The only interesting thing Herbie gets to do in this movie is fall in love...the rest comes d...
Jul 12, 2018•1 hr 2 min
This week on We Want The D, it's Nolan's turn to go off the deep end of comparing a movie adaptation to it's original source. Luckily for everyone, Disney's adaption of HOLES is not only faithful, but handily done as well. Lots of that has to do with the very game cast, from Eartha Kitt to Patricia Arquette to a fresh-faced, controversy free Shia Labeouf and plenty of other stand-outs in both the adult and child characters across the three timelines (have we mentioned this movie has a lot going ...
Jul 05, 2018•1 hr 16 min
The Summer of Love Bug charges ahead with the second installment, HERBIE RIDES AGAIN. Everyone's favourite sentient little car is back, along with the firehouse set and...well, that's about it. Disney shook things up by bringing in a whole new cast of characters, but boy did it pay off. For as much as Vicky, Nolan and Jill were charmed by Herbie's first outing, this one amps just about everything up. The villain is more villainous, the female lead is more full of sassy, no-nonsense pep (there ar...
Jun 28, 2018•1 hr 10 min
In 1992, Disney whisked fans off on a magic carpet-esque roller coaster ride of adventure, romance and comedy. Two years later, they took those same fans off on a bumpy camel ride through a largely barren landscape, save for some badly drawn cacti, in THE RETURN OF JAFAR. As the first direct-to-video sequel produced by the house of mouse, audiences were not yet savvy to the budget animation, replacement voice acting, and over lazy efforts that defined the Michael Eisner mandated practice, but al...
Jun 21, 2018•1 hr 5 min
We're gassing up and hitting the road this summer on We Want The D, as for the next few months Vicky, Nolan and Jill will make their way through another Disney franchise in its entirety over the coming months. With four original features, one TV movie and one reboot starring LiLo ahead of us, it should be a wild ride. Kicking things off is the original THE LOVE BUG - and it's a promising start. Because Herbie is not only a sentient car, he's a car with feelings deeper than most of the supporting...
Jun 14, 2018•1 hr 4 min
