Walt Disney and Salvador Dali: Oddest Couple Ever?

If you've never heard of Destino don't be surprised not many people have.  Destino was a film short that was created by Walt Disney and Salvador Dali.  No I didn't make that up they actually did a project together.

I'd never heard of this combo from the Twilight Zone until I saw a brochure advertising a showing.  At first I did what everyone else does when they heard about the clean cut Walt and the...demented Salvador working together. I reacted in disbelief.  Then I realized I had to check this thing out.

After watching Destino I was even more confused.  It's an animated feature but it's possibly the most twisted Disney related film I have ever seen.  This short is full of bizarre animations and stylized artwork.  That should really be no surprise if you know anything about Dali but I thought Disney would counter him a little. 

The other odd thing is the history of Destino.  I think it might just hold the record for production time.  58 years.  I'm not kidding from beginning to end it took Destino 58 years to be released.  It was started in 1945 but because of financial woes it was shelved because it was considered not financially viable.

How did it find the light of day again?  To make a long story short - Roy E. Disney found it and kick started it. Thanks to him it was released in 2003.

If you want to see Destino I'm sure you could find clips of it online somewhere but I have to warn you.  Do not have any young children around when you see it.  In one of the scenes someones face melts off.

The Princess and the Frog – There's 90 Minutes of My Life I Can't Get Back

I finally got around to watching the Princes and the Frog. I remember all of the hoopla over her being the first African American princess and how the firefly was offensive. You can’t overlook all of the talk about it being a return to Disney’s animation roots either.

One thing that was overlooked, is what completely ruined this movie for me.

Before I do the bad I’ll do the good.

Tiana – Tiana is one of my favorite Disney characters ever. You like her from the beginning. She’s a strong well rounded character.

The Music – The music is a perfect fit for this movie. It was just great.

The Colors / Animation – It was nice to see an animation that was CGI. The colors were bright and everything looked great. The hand drawn animation gave the movie a warm feeling to it.

The Characters – Most of the characters are great. Some of them are just awful but overall the characters feel well rounding and are fun.

So what is wrong with the Princess and the Frog? One word – Voodoo.

I’m sorry but there are a lot of people out there who actually practice voodoo. It’s their religion. I’m not a “black arts” nut but I know enough to stay away from it. If the voodoo was a small part of this movie it would not have bothered me but voodoo is basically the main theme of the movie. Some parts were so dark and demonic they really made me uncomfortable.

I know a lot of people would say that it was just a movie and Disney wasn’t trying to represent actual voodoo in their movie. That might be true but it doesn’t mean it didn’t ruin the movie. It reminded me a lot of the Pirates movies. The first one was amazing. It didn’t go overboard with the occult. The second one was a little worse and the third one was just awful.

For me there is a fine line between fantasy and the occult. I enjoy fantasy (like Lord of the Rings). I do not enjoy the occult (Leigon). I’m sure I’m in the minority on this one but that’s why I hated The Princess and the Frog. It had such a great start and then completely fell apart.