My Top 15 Favourite Disney Dogs

I had to do this list, anyone who knows me knows two things about me for definite, one is that I'm a huge Disney fanatic of course, and the other is that I love animals. I have studied Animal Science, Welfare and Behaviour in the past, and my favourite animal of all time has always been dogs (but don't tell my pet cat Simba that!). Like many people, the addition of a canine companion or sidekick to any feature film or tv show is welcomed enthusiastically by me, but in particular in Disney films.

They are always animated so lovingly and perfectly detailed and they have individual and wonderful personalities, just like our real life fur babies. So for that reason I decided to make this little list of my personal favourites. The canine crusaders and pampered pooches featured in many a Disney picture that have brought me and so many others such joy over the years. Perhaps even somebody reading this list will discover a new Disney film they haven't watched yet and will be encouraged to have a watch.

15. Andrew from Mary Poppins

With his cute little jacket and ability to communicate perfectly with the practically perfect Mary Poppins, Andrew is an adorable little addition to the cast of my personal favourite film of all time.

14. Toby from The Great Mouse Detective

Toby is the namesake of my sister's dog which may be a part of the reason why I have such an affection for this investigative pooch. He has a super friendly disposition and a great way of sniffing out trouble, plus he can roll over on command

13. Max from The Little Mermaid

As Scuttle once described this fluffy puppy, "he's kinda slobbery" but he's also really cute. He's also pretty smart, after all he was the first character to suss out that Vanessa was bad news and Eric and Ariel were meant to be, what a good boy

12. Shadow and Chance from Homeward Bound (and Homeward Bound 2)

I watched this movie a couple of months ago and it brought back so many memories from my childhood and from the pets I had and loved when I was younger. Shadow and Chance may be incredibly different pups in many ways, but their ability to pull at our heart strings is one and the same

11. Stella from The Princess and the Frog

She may be a minor character in what I consider to be the last of the Disney classics, but with her big puppy dog eyes and begging for some delicious sweet treats, Stella makes a major impression on movie watchers

10. Bruno from Cinderella

Bruno is the unsung Hero of the animated version of Cinderella! He afterall, was the reason Lucifer ran away, leaving the mice with the key that would open up the attic door and let Cinderella out so that she could try on the glass slipper and go on to marry the Prince. Not to mention he helped her get to the ball by being the footman of the carriage. What a good boy!

9. Napoleon and Lafayette from The Aristocats

What a funny and clumsy pair of hounds these two are! One of the highlights of the wonderful The Aristocats for me has always been the appearance of Napoleon and Lafayette, the two snoozing hounds that try to sniff out and catch the evil Edgar as he is disposing of Duchess and the kittens. They are a classic comedy duo and they prove that not everybody wants to be a cat

8. Winston from Feast (short)

When I first saw this short, as with the majority of shorts before Disney movies, I got extremely emotional and was completely immersed in this adorable little tale of a this dog, his owner and his love for all tasty food. Although his appearance is enough to make him a lovable pooch, his love for his owner and what he does for him during this brilliant short puts his lovableness on a whole new level.

7. Dodger from Oliver and Company

With the smooth vocal stylings of a 1980s Billy Joel and a streetwise NYC attitude, Dodger is one of the most enjoyable parts of this underrated Disney classic. Add on top of that his super cute appearance and little bandana and he would make an awesome pet for any owner. I have to say, I am a big fan of all of the dogs in this film, Tito the Chihauha and Georgette the pampered poodle are also excellent characters.

6. Copper from The Fox and the Hound

This movie....oh my dear lord how this film makes me cry every damn time! It's such a little gem of a film and I always have to prepare myself emotionally to watch it. The character of Copper goes from being a little rambunctious little pup to a trained hunting dog. His friendship with Todd the fox is one of the greatest in all Disney history and one of the most heartwarming.

5. Bolt from Bolt

I am ashamed to say I only watched this movie for the first time ever a few months ago but I really really loved it. The first appearance of Bolt is absolutely one of the cutest moments in Disney movies and his animation is one of the best of any Disney dog ever. I find some parts of this movie so heart wrenching but the brave and adorable nature of it's protagonist also gives it some truly heartwarming moments too

4. Pluto from Mickey Mouse classic shorts

The original Disney dog and one of the greatest! Pluto has been a loyal sidekick to Mickey now for over 80 years, now that's a loyal companion right there! I may have a serious soft spot for him because I met him on my first ever trip to Disneyland but lets face it, no Disney dog list would be complete without this furry guy

3. Nana from Peter Pan

I have a real soft spot for old cuddly pups. There's just something so sweet about an older lazy old fluff that melts my heart and Nana definitely fits that bill. She also happens to be a fantastic carer to the three Darling children and she can rock a bonnet better than most humans!

2. Dug from Up

Dug epitomized my reaction to all dogs when I meet them "I have a just met you and I love you". He is the ultimate sweet canine companion and reminds me of so many gorgeous and friendly doggos I have met in my life. He also provides some of the best moments in the film and who wouldn't want a dog that could talk about all the unconditional love he has for you. 

1. Lady and the Tramp from Lady and the Tramp

Of course, how could it be anybody else but this darling pair. If there's ever been a cuter or more romantic couple in Disney history, I certainly haven't heard of them! Lady, the gorgeous "cockera spanish a girl" and Tramp the boisterous streetwise mutt are my personal favourite Disney couple and my favourite Disney dogs, I even have stuffed animals of them to prove it! Any owner would be lucky to have the love and companionship of these two every belle notte  

Beauty and the Beast (2017) Review

My Review of the 2017 live Action version of Beauty and the Beast ★★★

The live action all star cast version of Beauty and the Beast has finally arrived on silver screens across the globe and if Facebook and other forms of social media are anything to go by, people are really excited!

I went to see the film this past Friday (St. Patrick's Day) on it's release date at 10pm in my local cinema. It was the final screening of the day of the film so my boyfriend and I were the only two people in the screening room which coincidentally has only ever happened in another Disney movie which was Finding Dory. So, after settling in with our drinks and popcorn, we were treated to what I have to say was an enjoyable, if slightly bland at times experience.

The movie opens of course with the Prince being cursed by the enchantress and turned into the Beast, the opening title does bring a complete sense of nostalgia and excitement, as does many aspects of the movie, particularly some of the musical numbers from the original film. It then proceeds to tell the tale that is as old as time in a familiar way with some new and differently detailed aspects to it including new songs and scenes featuring Maurice, Gaston and Lefou. Some of these sequences, in particular the now infamous but extremely funny and tame ones with Gaston and Lefou are extremely enjoyable and give the film a touch of originality.

The characters were wonderfully cast, in particular Luke Evans as Gaston. I found his musical numbers and the touches of comedy in his performance to be excellent, I really do feel he gave a layered performance and suited the role to a T. The star studded voices of the enchanted castle objects that include of course Mrs. Potts (the always amazing Emma Thompson) Lumiere (Ewan McGregor) and Cogsworth (Ian McKellen) were a joy to watch, and their animation and design was so beautiful and well executed. The first scene featuring these characters all together was one of the best moments of the movie. The Beast was portrayed by Dan Stevens, an actor I wasn't familiar with, although I think he could have added a bit more depth to his performance, I did enjoy it and some of his comedic touches were a fun addition at times. The only real bum note for me in the entire movie has to be Emma Watson's portrayal of Belle. I know many many people, in particular Harry Potter fans which I am not, will love her in this role, however I just felt she was entirely miss cast. As a true Disney lover and fan, I have a real affection for the character of Belle, and I felt Emma Watson just did not do her justice. The whimsy and adventurous spirit of the role that Paige O'Hara portrayed so well in the animated version just wasn't there at all. I do of course understand that she wanted to give her own twist on the character, but that doesn't necessarily mean it was the right twist and I feel her performance may effect some people's enjoyment of the film, as it did mine.

Altogether this movie was enjoyable as a whole, it had sumptous, beautiful set designs, comedic moments, the right amount of drama and romance as well as that sense of nostalgia and appreciation for the original masterpiece. Unfortunately it will never come close for me to the magic of that one and I feel that the live action versions of Cinderella and The Jungle Book were far more superior movies. Having said that I do highly recommend it for any Disney fan, if only for the childhood memories it might conjure up. So please, if you're a Disney fan and feel like going to see this on the silver screen, Be My Guest.

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My Top 10 Heartbreaking Disney Moments

Don't get me wrong, nobody necessarily enjoys feeling sad and heartbroken, but sometimes those moments in a Disney film, where the characters are going through something really difficult can make us as fans feel a little bit better. This is because they remind us that everybody will go through some hard times, but as long as you're willing to push through them and say Hakuna Matata!, you can come out with your own happy ending.

So here's a list of my most Heartbreaking Disney moments, I know everyone has their own personal ones that get to them the most for different reasons, but these are just a couple of my own.

10. Perhaps it's since my nephew has been born that I've become so much more upset by things to do with children in peril, but the scene in Aladdin with the street children looking for food in dumpsters has become much more heartbreaking for me than ever before. The saving grace for this moment is of course that Aladdin gives them the loaf of bread he took from the marketplace. Also, when I thought about it, I thought because Aladdin married Jasmine and became part of the rulers of Agrabah, he more than likely made rulings and decisions that helped the poor people of the city, I find that quite a satisfying way to think about the end of the film.

9. As I've previously said, I really adore Dogs (or ruppies as I call them), in fact I think I prefer Dogs to most humans! This could be a large part of why the scene from Bolt where he thinks his owner Penny is calling for him and she is actually calling for his replacement on his show is so agonizing to see. I feel like the animators did an excellent job at showing in Bolt's face, the look a real life dog gives when he is confused and distressed about something which helped towards making this moment so effective. 

8. I saw Tarzan in the cinema when I was 8 years old and right away I found the opening sequence in which his parents are killed and he is rescued by his gorilla mother Kala to be a really intense moment and extremely sad in parts. In particular when Kala and Kerchak's baby is killed by Sabor the leopard, the same one that murdered Tarzan's parents. All those elements mixed with the backing of Phil Collins epic soundtrack are really potent

7. One of the best Disney movies I have scene in the past few years is Moana. I previously posted a review about how fantastic I thought it was. There is a scene in the final sequence of the film that really caught me off gaurd with just how emotional it was. That is the "Know Who You Are" scene in which Moana tells the sea to part so that she can confront the Lava Witch who turns out to be Te Fiti who's heart she must restore. The song in this scene is absolutely mesmerizing and made me so teary eyed in the cinema. The lyrics are amazing and I feel could be applied to anybody's life when they are feeling like a bad person or that they are not good enough, because they know deep down that as the song goes "this does not define you, you know who you are". 

6. An extremely underrated movie that I absolutely loved as a kid is Oliver and Company. The movie has really adorable characters and an exciting plot with fun jokes and catchy songs, in particular "Why Should I Worry" sung by Billy Joel. The opening of this movie always gets me, seeing a box of really cute kittens being adopted one by one by passersby until the final one (our protagonist Oliver) is left alone on a wet cold night in New York city. It always is difficult for me to watch and I think Huey Lewis' "Once Upon A Time in New York City" is a wonderful song and really suitable for the opening sequence and the theme of the movie.

5. When Toy Story 2 came out here in Ireland I was straight away begging my uncle to take me and my little cousin, and When Jessie and her side kick horse Bullseye appeared on the screen, I immediately fell in love with them. This is probably why the scene where Jessie recounts the story of how her former owner abandoned her, my heart actually sank. With an unforgettable song by Sarah McLachlan and the touching story telling that Pixar do so well through their imagination, this scene has continued to make me well up over the years to this very day. 

4. Along with the amazing Moana, another brilliant Disney film that came out last year was of course the Oscar winning Zootopia (or Zootropolis depending where you're from). At the time of seeing the movie, my sister was pregnant with a little boy, so when the scene came on with Nick Wilde the fox as a little boy fox attending the scouts with his friends and he is ridiculed and tormented by his fellow scout members for being a "sly fox", that was it for me, holy moly I was gone. I have always, as many have, hated people being bullied and scenes that portray little kids being bullied whether animated or otherwise are always going to be difficult and really heartbreaking to watch. Thankfully, the rest of the movie is really fun and everything winds up ok for our boy Nick in the end.

3. One of the few Disney movies I don't actually enjoy watching much anymore is Dumbo. My reason for that is because I'm not a supporter of having animals in circuses and I do find it quite an upsetting movie to watch, although I did absolutely adore it as a child and I think it does teach a good lesson to kids of how badly animals are treated at circuses without scaring them too much. That being said, Dumbo happens to have one of the most heart warming yet sad scenes in all Disney history and that is the scene in which Dumbo's mother cradles her son in her trunk and the super sweet song "Baby Mine" plays, while we get to see the other animals with their little ones also. It brings me to tears every single time.

2. If you ask most people about what movie moment makes them cry the most, a good percentage would say when Mufasa dies in The Lion King. This is of course with good reason, because we as kids and adults also we truely loved the characters of Mufasa and Simba and their loving father son relationship. Also, many people may have lost parents at a young age so they can probably really relate to Simba's sadness and complete heartbreak on seeing his father die. The moment where he says "Somebody, Anybody? help" would put a lump in the toughest person's throat. Truely a sad moment.

1. When I was 15, my cat Mike ran away and we later found him dead in the lane behind our house. At the time that he went missing, I watched The Fox and the Hound for the first time in years and I was in floods of tears when the scene in which Tod the fox is taken by his owner to the woods to be set free because his life has been threatened by her hunter neighbour. The lyrics to the song featured in this scene are so unbelievably beautiful and easy to relate to for so many people that have had to let go of a pet that they love or perhaps even a person they love. 

My Little Disney Mug Collection

One of the most popular items for all Disney fans to collect is cups/mugs. There are so many various kinds of ones with different fun, beautiful and interesting designs on them and they are available in so many different places both online and in street shops. They can represent any of your favourite movies and they are a great way of adding a bit of Disney magic to your morning breakfast, your office coffee break or your college class or even just while you're having a cup of tea and catch up with your friends or family.

My collection of Disney cups isn't actually very large at all. It used to be a bit bigger. I had a gorgeous yellow and pink floral tall coffee mug with Minnie Mouse on it as well as a tall coffee mug that was purple with a gorgeous picture of Marie on it. Unfortunately, when I was moving out of a house after college they got left in that house by my boyfriend at the time, no wonder it didn't last!

Anywho! I wanted to share with my fellow Disney lovers the little collection that I have at my apartment. I only have five of them altogether, but I hope to collect even more in the future. My collection consists of a "Who are you calling Grumpy?" mug with of course Grumpy on it that I purchased in Tesco which is one of my local supermarkets here. It cost about €5.00 which is actually quite cheap for Tesco homeware! (it's usually overpriced). My boyfriend usually drinks out of that one and he loves it. The next one is a Winnie the Pooh one that my boyfriend bought me  as part of my Christmas presents last year (along with the other two that I'll talk about next). The mug says "Silly Old Bear" and it has an absolutely adorable picture of Pooh Bear laughing on it with the "Winnie the Pooh" logo on the opposite side. Along with that mug I got two others, one was such a cool Sleeping Beauty mug that has the logo of the movie on one side and the phrase "From this slumber you shall wake when true love's kiss the spell shall break" on it with the true love's kiss part crossed out and "a cup of coffee" in red written over it which I thought was so cool and really adored. Lastly in that trio of mugs there was a The Lion King one with Hakuna Matata on it and the iconic picture of Simbo, Timon and Pumba walking across the tree and with the waterfall back drop behind them, the

opposite side of the mug has the movie logo on it also. These mugs were from a shop called Game Stop but I looked them up and they can be bought online from sites like Truffle Shuffle. The last mug is my favourite of all of them, it's one that I purchased in Disneyland Paris on a trip there in 2012. I can't recall the exact price but I got it in the fashion shop there and it's so cool. It's a Snow White one which has a pop art retro style design with both Snow white (on one side) and The Evil Queen on the other. My collection isn't exactly huge and as impressive as many other people's but I do love the mugs that I have and I also love looking at other fan's collections on other blogs and facebook etc.. so I really hope anybody reading this enjoyed take a little look at mine.

Review of As Old As Time: A Twisted Tale by Liz Braswell

Ever since reading Fairest of All by Serena Valentino, I had longed to read a similar type of book but that was better written and with a more interesting story So, thankfully, I came across Liz Braswell's Twisted Tale Disney series on amazon. The premise of the books looked very interesting and they seemed to be more aimed for teenagers on up (even though I'm 26 that didn't stop me!) I immediately decided to purchase the third book in the series first as it's the one with the premise I was most interested in. That book is As Old As time, which as you can probably guess is about the Beast and Belle, and of course, with a little twist in the tale. The book cost me €8.00 including delivery which was excellent! Not only because it would be very difficult to find in a book shop near me, but also because even if I did, it would probably cost between €15-20.00! The cover of the book is paperback, and I really do like the design and font used for the title. There is a hardback one available which has an amazing cover so if anybody is getting this as a collector's item, I would highly recommend splashing out and hunting for that one. The condition of the book was brand new and it even came with a little paperback book mark. It is a good long read at about 485 pages, however the text is medium sized as are most young adult books so it doesn't take too long to get through.

Now, onto the book itself. The premise of the story as it states on the front cover is "What if Belle's mother cursed the Beast?". When I first saw that it really intrigued me. The story itself begins on the night that the Enchantress (now whom we know as Belle's mother) places the curse on the Beast and all the people in his castle. We are then taken back to when Belle's father Maurice met the enchantress and how they came to fall in love and give birth to their daughter. We also get to see how Belle's mother came to curse the young prince and all of the lovable objects in his castle. This part of the book, part one, is probably my least favourite of the entire story. Ironically, the aspect that I found so intriguing in the premise, i.e. Belle's mother being the enchantress, was actually not all that interesting to read about. That is, her back story is just a bit too long and wishy washy for me.

The second part of the book which I would consider to have a sort of mystery vibe to it was my favourite and the most enjoyable to read. I won't give too much away but mainly it focuses on the Beast and Belle and how they came to get to know each other. It is also the section in which what I consider to be the real twist occurs. As a side note, I read this book out loud to my boyfriend as he played a video game and he found this to be the best section of the story also, so there's second opinion for you! I really was fond of how Belle's character was portrayed in this also. She was given a bit more of a realistic personality while still having the same sweetness and likability as she had in the animated classic. The Beast is also given a more multidimensional personality. The lovely way in which he behaves in the ballroom scene of the film and his sweetness is brought out more as well as the darker more beastly sides to his curse.

The third section of this book is also quite good but I have to say, not at all suitable for younger kids to read. There are elements of torture, violence, mental health issues etc... very heavy stuff for anybody younger than at least 15 to be ready in my opinion. I did appreciate the way they took the story and the ending that is what given, although I do really wish the author would have tightened it up just a touch as it did feel, as the beginning did, a little drawn out.

Ultimately this was an extremely enjoyable read for me as a Disney fan and actually I have to say as a lover of Mystery/Thriller novels. As I previously said there are some elements of violence and slightly adult oriented subject matters so I wouldn't exactly be rushing to purchase this for a child as a gift or anything but maybe that's just my age showing and I'm being a bit too Mrs. Potts like about it! There are two other books in this series, one is about Sleeping Beauty and the other Aladdin. I actually cannot wait to settle down with a cup of tea and get stuck into those two soon, because as Walt said, "There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate's loot on treasure island".