Book Review: The Beast Within by Serena Valentino

Just before Christmas I read Fairest of All, the back story of The Evil Queen from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs written by Serena Valentino. I wrote a little review on this blog regarding my thoughts about the story, and as anyone who read it may have noticed, I was less than enthused about it. Having said that I still wanted to give the author a second chance and decided to order this story along with Once Upon A Time: A Twisted Tale by Liz Braswell. I purchased both books for a super reasonable price, I believe they were each less than €8 including delivery which was brilliant. As a side note I really think amazon is a great place to find book deals, particularly if you don't mind the books being second hand.

All that being said, you would think I would have learned my lesson and not bothered reading The Beast Within, but it was a short book and the plot did intrigue me. Also I had recently read As Old As Time by Liz Braswell which I found to be a wonderful experience so I wanted to compare the backstory of another writer to that one. The plot begins with the Beast in his Prince days, before he ever encountered the enchantress and became a Beast. There are aspects to the beginning of this story, such as his relationship with Gaston that are original but also somehow don't fully work. The book goes on to give an explanation as to why the Prince was transformed into the Beast and this involves a story of a previous romance and.....the absolute worst aspect of Valentino's tale. This is the three "witch sisters" who she uses rather unimaginatively as the exposition in both this book and similarly in Fairest of All. They for me are the worst part of it and the least enjoyable to read about. The plot continues into the Prince's slow and painful decline into the Beast as well as the castle's descent into being enchanted too. The character of the Prince I have to say is absolutely horrendous. He is made to be a sexist, elitist and just vile person by the author throughout. This makes it very difficult for us as the reader to ever believe he could change as a person as dramatically as he does. The final part of the book is pretty much just the original story with those three witch sisters placed conveniently and rather irritatingly throughout the final chapters.

All in all this book was about a 2.5 out of 5 stars. I enjoyed parts of it, in particular the very beginning chapter which appeared promising and the attempt at real originality. That being said, there was just far too much mention of those three sisters and another love interest plot that I found slightly tedious to read about. Serena's writing style can also be very repetitive and when you compare it with that of Liz Braswell's you can see the lack of real writing experience and creativity. However, I would recommend this book if you are interested in seeing a back story to the Beast and some of the other characters in the plot, I would say if you were only going to pick one of those books to read, I would definitely suggest Liz Braswell's As Old As Time out of the two. I will most likely read Valentino's final book "Poor Unfortunate Soul", mainly because I have read that it's the best in her series and also because I am intrigued to see what kind of story she came up with for Ursula. I hope this review was helpful for anyone interested in The Beast Within and maybe they'll give it a shot and see how they feel about it. So go get a dreamy far off look and your nose stuck in a book

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As Old As Time Review: http://sineadsowndisneyland.blogspot.ie/2017/03/review-of-as-old-as-time-twisted-tale.html

The Art of Mary Blair

When I was a teenager, probably about 14 my sister was living in Cardiff in Wales to get her degree. One of the perks of this situation was that she lived very close to the city's Disney store! I had never been to a Disney store before and the one in Dublin would not open up for another 6 years. With that being said you can imagine my excitement at the thought of her living so close and my extreme delight when she would arrive back for a visit with gifts from the store for me! On one of these visits she brought me home a Special Edition 2 Disc DVD of Cinderella. A movie that always reminds me of her as it was her favourite Disney classic growing up, she wouldn't always watch Disney with me as she was 5 years older than me but whenever Cinderella was on she was more than happy to, which I loved.

I had gotten really into the animation of Disney around that time, especially people like the Nine Old Men and how they came up with the fantastic characters and masterpiece background designs they created over the years. So, I was so happy when I discovered that there was a Behind the Scenes documentary on Mary Blair. A lady I had never heard of but immediately upon seeing the Disney work she did, I realized I may not have known her face but I was more than familiar with her legacy. The documentary went on to tell of her influence on the animation of such 1950s Disney classics as Alice in Wonderland, Sleeping Beauty and of course Cinderella and of the lasting impression she would have on all future animators and imagineers and the stories they would work on in the years to come.

Mary Blair was born in 1911 in McAlester Oklahoma U.S. As a child she showed an immense interest in art, drawing her own little comic books while at school to entertain her family and fellow classmates. At the age of 20 Mary won a scholarship to the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles where she moved to and attended the institute alongside her brother-in-law Preston Blair. In the early 1930's, Mary began working as a colourist and animator at MGM for a short period, she became well known among her fellow animators for her wonderful use of colour in her work. Following her few years at MGM, Mary interviewed at and landed (luckily for all of us) a job in the animation department at The Walt Disney Company in 1940 and thus her fairy tale began. Walt is said to have adored her innovative style and use of bright dramatic colours and so he decided she should take part in the animation of the studios "good will" South America inspired productions of Saludos Amigos and The Three Caballeros as an art supervisor. She then went on to do some of her best and most inspiring work on the concept artwork for several of the company's best features including, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan. Towards the mid 1950's Mary left her work at Disney and became an artist, graphic designer, and illustrator for the advertisements of many major companies including Maxwell House and Nabisco during the height of 1960's advertising. Several years after Disneyland had opened, Walt Disney wanted to create a ride in which visitors to his magical land would be able to be treated to a whimsical and magical trip through several of the world's countries including Japan, Sweden and Brazil. He of course recruited the help and artistry of Mary Blair to achieve this dream. She created murals representing each country in a colourful and exciting way as well as animatronic puppets that donned garments representational of their respective country. Each country was unique and had that signature Mary Blair touch. The ride went on to be called "It's a Small World After all" and it featured a song of the same name that is etched into the memory of all visitors of the ride. Mary then moved back to California where she continued to work on her art and had a gallery. She passed away in 1978 at the age of 66 from a cerebral hemorrhage. In 1991 she was more than deservedly made a Disney Legend and her work was celebrated and has been since her passing by the studio.

Mary Blair's work for me is so important because it signifies a change in the type of animation Disney did and it completely represents the studios innovative ways of adopting new styles and ideas. Her use of colour and very modernist styles particularly in concept art for Alice in Wonderland is beautiful to look at. One scene that was mentioned in the Cinderella documentary I referred to before was the scene in which the stepsisters rip Cinderella's pink dress from her when she tries to attend the ball with them. The colour of the background of the scene changes gradually to a wild jungle red as the sister's behaviour becomes more violent. This was described in the documentary as "pure Mary Blair". Only a fantastic story teller and imaginative animator would come up with such a fantastic approach to art and colour in a scene, which is why she was so important to Walt. I believe he saw in Mary another person who believed that animation could be seen as a real form of high art.

You can see more about Mary and her work at this website: http://magicofmaryblair.com/

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Disney Rabbits and Why We Love Them

What with Easter happening yesterday, I was inspired to do a little post about some of the fantastically fluffy Disney bunnies that have featured in some of our favourite movies and shows throughout the years. This is a list of my personal favourites and some reasons why I adore them so much.

Judy Hopps

Last year, along with Findy Dory and Moana, I saw the wonderful and Oscar Winning Zootopia/Zootropolis and I fell in love with the charming leading character Judy Hopps.Her postive spirit and can do attitude makes her a really great example for all little kids seeing the movie. 

Favourite Quote: "Life's a little bit messy. We all make mistakes. No matter what type of animal you are, change starts with you."

White Rabbit

To clarify, the White Rabbit I'm referring to is the original from the far superior 1951 movie not the 2010 Tim Burton "production" (which I am not a fan of at all). Inspired by the character from the Lewis Carroll children's classic, he is one of the more unusual and charming little characters from the movie. We can all relate to being flustered and late for something important whether it be work, an appointment, a date which is probably why we can relate to this little befuddled guy so well

Favourite Quote: "Oh my fur and Whiskers! I'm Late I'm Late I'm Late!"

Mother, Sis, Skippy, Tagalong and Family

I love Robin Hood, I think it's a little gem of a film with truly comedic moments between Robin Hood and Little John, real romance between he and Maid Marion and some excellent supporting characters. Several of which belong to the rabbit family of the film, consisting of the hard done by Mother Rabbit and her adorable kids. From the little toddler Tagalong with her cute teddy bear and speech impediment to Skippy the boisterous little tike who's ideal is of course Robin Hood, they are a lovely little bunch.

Favourite Quote (by Sis): "Oh he's so handsome, just like his reward posters"

Rabbit 

This fella is part of one of the best and most famous Disney groups ever, The Winnie the Pooh Gang! He's probably the most highly strung of the bunch but he's also one of the most lovable because behind all of his annoyance with Pooh bear wanting all of his honey and his frustration with Tigger's garden wrecking bouncing, he's a goodhearted little soul who's glad to have all of his friends in the Hundred Acre Woods

Favourite Quote: "Never trust that thing between your ears. Brains will get you nowhere dears. Why look at me, I haven't used mine in years"

Thumper

If I were a betting woman I'd be willing to wager that most people would immediately think of this talkative little fella when you ask them about Disney bunnies. Of course he was one of the very first in Disney film and one of the most memorable characters they had ever produced. He's Bambi's best friend and one of the trio that becomes twitterpated and falls for the an adorable little blonde bunny which makes for one of the funniest and cutest moments in Disney history.

Favourite Quote: "If you can't say nothin nice, don't say nothin at all"

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit

Walt Disney's predecessor to the Iconic Mickey, he may not be as well known and he may have been taken away from Walt during a bad time in his early career, but that doesn't take away from the influence the little guy had on Disney history. I recently checked out some of his shorts on Youtube and I genuinely thought they were sweet and had a real charm to them. The history behind how the character was created and how he ended up being taken away from Walt and his fellow animators is really fascinating and I'd really recommend anybody interested in Walt's life to look it up. Truly engaging stuff and really shows that just because your down, doesn't always mean you're out. 

Favourite Quote: "Gosh, Ya Think?! I'm Oswald, I run the Cartoon Wasteland, or I used to before that....I used to be popular....a star!"

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