Song of the Day: “I See the Light” from Tangled

  “I See the Light” from Tangled – #23 from “The Top 50 Disney Songs” (2014) Tangled features an innovative style of computer animation, meant to evoke the aesthetic of rococo oil paintings. Every frame abounds with lush detail, but, with the amalgamated eye-poppingness of tall ships, still waters, castle spires, and ten thousand glowing lanterns taking flight,…

The Earn This Podcast, Episode 21: Reviewing Zootopia

Download link (you may have to right click and “Save As”) Dan and Kevin of Taestful Reviews check in on the latest animated hit, Zootopia, praising its themes and evaluating its place in recent animated canon. Notes/corrections: We couldn’t remember the name of the studio behind the upcoming The Secret Life of Pets — it’s Illumination…

Top Ten Animated Girlfriends: Disney’s Leading Women

I don’t wanna hear it–animated characters are hot. Let’s talk about the ones I’d like to date. Oh, here’s some clarifying rules for the list. 1. Disney does not equal Pixar 2. Only 2D-animated characters allowed 3. No animals or otherwise non-human characters allowed 4. Must be of at least teenager age 5. Must star in…

Dan’s Top 100 Everything: #8 Pixar

I like Pixar movies. Shocking, right? Pixar falls in the same category as John Green, elevating to a higher plane a genre that I adore but that is often dismissed as immature fun (animated films and YA lit, respectively). Simply, if you’re interested in well-told, mature, compelling stories and you’re interested in animation, then Pixar…

Animation Evaluation: Disney 1989-1999

The Little Mermaid (1989) Kevin: Frozen is largely credited for creatively twisting Disney princess tropes, but for me, The Little Mermaid did it better. Although it returned to the animation Disney was known for in the golden days, The Little Mermaid should be known for innovating the Disney fairytale formula. Eric and Ariel fall in…

Dan’s Top 100 Everything: #26 A Goofy Movie

I could have included this in my Disney Renaissance post, but I chose to give A Goofy Movie it’s own post — ranked directly ahead of the other Disney Renaissance movies. It’s not because A Goofy Movie is BETTER than the other Disney movies. I can objectively accept that Beauty and the Beast has more…

Dan’s Top 100 Everything: #27 Disney Renaissance

Ah, “Disney Movies” — a staple of the childhood of pretty much any American child from the 1990s. These animated films — mostly Broadway-inspired musicals — produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios (née Walt Disney Feature Animation) became one of the most trusted brands in all of cinema thanks to a fantastic run of films…

The Top 50 Disney Songs

There are few things we at Earn This love more than a good musical — particularly a well-animated or -choreagraphed Disney musical. “Let It Go” has yet to thaw from the Billboard Top 10, and we’re creeping up on the 25th anniversary of The Little Mermaid, a film that launched a thousand Buzzfeed “only 90s kids” articles.…

10 Things Brian Likes – #1: YouTube Remixes

Hey guys. Brian here. The dust has begun to settle on my 100 Film Favorites Countdown, and the time has come for me to look ahead at my future with EarnThis. Eventually, I plan on creating a similar Countdown focused on television. But it will be less gargantuan in scale, and contain around 25 “Top…