Having just watched a YouTube video of a guy singing sections from loads of Disney films whilst pulling exaggerated faces, I am reminded of how much I love those Disney films.

I haven't seen them all.  I have yet to watch Tangled, though I hear/read good things about it, and I only ever watched The Little Mermaid once (but then, that one always upset me in the Hans Christian Anderson version, so I am not overly inclined to rewatch Disney's variant), but I have watched many of the them.  I have even watched a few of the sequels, though they are rarely anywhere near as good.

Actually, I listened to a podcast the other year where a comedian was discussing the Disney sequels, and much of it included the line 'and then, because of some plot...', which means that we now use the line 'because of some plot' whenever discussing something in a show which seems to only be there as a plot device and which does not make much sense on its own.  I choose to give the Disney sequels a good bit of credit, therefore, for this handy phrase.  Probably faulty logic, there, but the Vicks vapor-rub turns out to have a stronger impact on the brain than I remember it having.

I always used to say that The Aristocats was my favourite, but I think I was just in denial.  Even at the time, I knew my real favourite was Robin Hood.  I watched it on repeat.  I sang along, and spoke along, with all of the lines.  The scene with the whole town being in jail made me cry every time.  (Shut up - I may threaten to sacrifice people to the Elder Gods on a fairly regular basis, but I am basically soft-hearted.  Well, when it comes to animals.  And when I don't need any magic to work.)

The whole underdog nature of it was delicious.  The friendships, the skill at archery, the fact that every person in that town seemed to be able to find Robin's camp, except for the people who were after him...  It was all good.  Right from Robin Hood and Little John, walking through the forest, up until 'Outlaw for an inlaw', which even at 6 I knew was a terrible joke.

Later, Disney had a revival in brilliance and made my other three favourites - Beauty and the Beast, Alladin and Mulan.  The song in which Mulan learns to 'be a man' could possibly get me riled up for war.  And I have got to love the dragon.  If I don't, he may call dishonour on my cow, and my cow can't take such an insult.

Oh, but I forget the greatest one of them all...The Lion King.  Scar will always be one in my list of top characters.  His sarcasm and bitterness keep me warm at night.  He should have won.  I call for a rewrite.

The stage version is even better.

This was basically an excuse to waffle about Disney for a few lines, but it has also made me want to dig out my DVDs and watch a whole bunch of them.  I don't feel I watched Hercules enough times and I was borderline addicted to the spin-off tv series for a while there (bless late night cable channels).