Disney movies by extended definition are today, synonymous with quality family cinema, and are able to appeal to an entire spectrum of audience across the globe, by virtue of generally amiable content and fairly consistent quality. What started as one man’s dream of changing the animation and cartoon industry forever has today become the single largest entertainment conglomerate in the world, co-owning or distributing some of the highest grossing properties including Pixar animation studios, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, and through a recent multi billion dollar merger, some production units of 21st Century Fox as well. There was little to no competition when it came to what the Walt Disney Film Company produced under its banner for many, many years, and given its current crusade of aggressive business expansion and property acquisition, even a David vs Goliath situation would seem highly unlikely, with Warner Bros. being the only other significant popular film production and distribution company.
However, film commerce for some other day. For now, we wish to draw your attention to the Disney movies that came out this year. The one marked distinction this year from Disney’s stable compared to previous years is the greater number of live action films that were only partly animated, and even though the total settles to be only six (the list only includes movies directly produced by Disney, and not the ones solely distributed by Disney, including the Star Wars and MCU films), no less than half of them turned out to be duds, and that is not a term I would use very often to describe a Disney movie.
2019, however, does look better with ‘Toy Story’ touted to return with its fourth offering, and bigger and better things in store for both the MCU and Star Wars saga, but until then, we reminisce on the year that has gone by in film. Here is the list of all Disney produced movies released in 2018, ranked.
6. A Wrinkle in Time
It is no secret by now, well-known by both adults and even children alike. Disney movies are agreeably and increasingly formulaic in their approach, and despite that, they are revisited year after year and enjoy huge footfalls at the theatres exactly because of that, the comfort of familiar territory in fairy tales and cartoons. Years pass whence something truly groundbreaking along the lines of ‘Inside Out’ comes out from the Disney house of production, but despite that, it is safe to assume that Disney movies, however formulaic, are supposedly fun family fares, giving us the gorgeous animation or special effects with a laugh or two and a hearty message.
‘A Wrinkle in Time’ changed that notion after a long, long time. Certainly one of the worst reviewed movies of the year, and for Disney ever, ‘A Wrinkle in Time’ is based on the classic 1962 astral traveling novel, but fails to recreate the magic that the novel encapsulates. Yes, the film does have its heart in the right place in certain short segments, but that’s about it. The visuals are dazzling, but over-imaginative to the point of exhaustion, implying that the ‘Disney’ imagination is afloat and well, albeit misplaced. ‘A Wrinkle in Time’ had the potential to be one of the better ones this year, and not going to lie, some of the promos did have me believe something remotely similar. However, major deviations from the source material and less than interesting pit stops in the refined script hurt any chances the film had.
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