Customer Reviews

Disney, Pixar, and the Hidden Messages of Children's Films

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I had enjoyed the author's treatments of science fiction television programs (Science Fiction Television, ISBN: 978-0275981648) and his later book about sci-fi films (Alternate Americas: Science Fiction Film and American Culture, ISBN: 978-0275983956) but I have to sadly say that I didn't enjoy this trip through kid-and-family-friendly animated feature films anywhere near as much.

I think a large part of my dissatisfaction is that I know many of these animated films intimately, through repeated watchings. I have very strong opinions on them myself, and I was hoping the book would go into detail about themes or idealogies which could be seen in these films. I wanted details of his interpretations and his reasoning based on history, culture, and the films themselves, so that I could (when I watch the films yet again) make my own judgements about his conclusions.

The format of the book places very little emphasis on deep meanings in any one film. Instead, it almost acts like a summary guidebook to all of the animated films from the major production houses in the past few decades.

While I applaud the author for wishing to be inclusive and all-encompassing, the title of the book (and additionally, his earlier work with the science fiction genre) led me to expect a book with more depth.

What I found instead was a book with wonderful breadth, and if you are a film or animation student looking for short sound-bite-quality impressions of every single animated film ever, this is the perfect book for you.

I, sadly, wanted something with a bit more meat on it's bones.