It's kinda ironic that I decided to start a blog in the first place. Tbh I don't think I'm that eloquent in writing and I tend to express myself better in pictures. But I'm gonna try my best to write a post about this anyway lol.
Me and my mom watched Spellbound the other day on Netflix and it was pretty great! It's actually pretty cool that they got a bunch of people who previously worked on a lot of well known Disney movies to work on this (Alan Menken wrote the songs and they were awesome!) The animation was also really pretty. I wouldn't say it's up on my favourite movies list but I liked it a lot and it reminded me so much of the Disney movies I watched growing up.
spoiler
I also thought it was pretty clever how the movie was a metaphor for kids dealing with divorced parents (and it’s not a common thing talked about in kids movies either so that was interesting). I'm fortunate enough that my parents are still married but I have known some people who have dealt with that sort of thing and I know it isn't easy for them
My mom also loved it and was surprised when I told her that the movie only got 5.7/10 on IMDB (I think it deserved at least a 6 minimum) I told her that a lot of animation fans are very critical of Disney nowadays and are tired of the usual Disney formula and wishes that they would branch out and allow more creativity (*cough* and LGBT+ stories) and yeah, I agree! Especially after they shortened The Owl House and banned that one episode of Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur.
But honestly I think there's always gonna be a part of me that loves Disney even with all the questionable things they've done. Heck, it's the reason I wanted to be an animator at 10 years old and the reason why I love animation and musicals to this very day (which is also another reason why some people disliked Spellbound, the general public doesn't really like musicals 🫤).
Anyways, capitalism, awful management, and crappy CGI live action remakes aside, it was/is a very big part of my childhood and still means a lot to me as an artist today.
(I still think they gotta allow their staff to tell more diverse and original stories tho because COME ON!)