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Disney classics challenge


Chimera

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I don't think that Grimm's tales were actually aimed at children originally - more at adults as moral tales. It wasn't until later that they were given a bit of a do-over to make them more kid-friendly and thus they became popular with the little'uns too (although I think the originals would most likely give them nightmares!).

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I have The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm and they are certainly gruesome stories!

 

I can't remember much of the Snow White story but I only saw the movie for the first time a couple of years ago. Charming!

There was a more gruesome version of the tale made into a film with Sigourney Weaver (Snow White: A Tale of Terror) which was rather good. Well worth watching too. Completely devoid of dwarves. Well, not quite, there's one person of shorter stature in the band of rough lads living in the forest, but the rest are all regular height.

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I continued this challenge with The Jungle Book... Unfortunately that was several weeks ago and I didn't think of putting down my thoughts at the time but here's the general idea:

 

I loved the book: the story but also the way it's told, the atmosphere created by Kipling, the way in which it isn't (unlike the film) completely cotton wooled: the heroes aren't always heroic and the law of the jungle is harsh. I knew the story of Mowgli of course - who doesn't? - but didn't remember the details and didn't know the other wonderful tales included in the book. I particularly enjoyed Rikki-Tikki-Tavi and Toomai of the Elephants.

 

The film by comparison was a great disapointment! It felt like Disney turned a layered tale in a complete joke... Baloo and Shere Khan in particular are made to look like complete idiots. And it doesn't really reflect the story either: it only pictures one big funny journey through the jungle. A nice, feel good film for kids but nothing to match the original book!

 

All in all...

That's a resounding loss for Walt... But I've (re)discovered a wonderful book!

 

Disney - 1; Originals - 1

 

Next up, probably Alice in Wonderland.

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I have to say that I didn't particularly enjoy The Jungle Book. It's one of the few books that I will be happy to remove from my shelves. I haven't seen the Disney version yet but I expect I will enjoy it more than the book! :irked:

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I have to say that I didn't particularly enjoy The Jungle Book. It's one of the few books that I will be happy to remove from my shelves. I haven't seen the Disney version yet but I expect I will enjoy it more than the book! :irked:

 

Really? What didn't you like about it?

 

Thats interesting to know about the original Jungle Book. I liked the movie. I thought Baloo was funny:mrgreen:

 

Oh do pick up the book sometime, and let me knwo what you think of it :lol:

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From the review I posted after I read The Jungle Book:

 

For a book of children's stories, The Jungle Book certainly took me a long time to read! I can't quite put my finger on what was wrong with the stories; perhaps I just wasn't in the mood for them. The style of writing was OK but there was nothing exceptional or even slightly above average that pulled me into the stories and made me want to pick up the book at every available opportunity. I didn't really enjoy the poems that began and ended every story, either.

 

So it doesn't seem to have been anything in particular. I just couldn't get into it! I'm glad you enjoyed it though. :irked:

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