Welcome to the weekly column Trailing Off in which I take a look at a trailer from the past week and analyze its potential. This will be done using an obnoxious amount of analyzing and personal thoughts on the cast and crew as well as expectations. Coming every Sunday (it's called Trailing Off for a reason), I will attempt to highlight films ranging from new blockbusters to lesser known indies and give them their due. Partially to spread awareness, I do believe that there is an art to the sell and will do my best to highlight why these trailers matter or don't with approval (trove) or disapproval (trash). So please stop by, recommend some trailers, and I will see you next time.
Trailer in Discussion
Directed By: Khoa Le
Written By: Arthur L. Bernstein, Diane Disney (Foreword), Armando Gutierrez, Timothy Sustanin (Book)
Stars: Jodie Sweetin, David Henrie, Jon Heder
- Preamble -
As everyone likely knows, Disney is a powerhouse of advertising, marketing, and releasing iconic materials that become ingrained into the culture. Over half a century later things are still looking profitable for the studio with films like Maleficent rebranding old familiar properties. But where exactly did Disney start off? For many, they know the content but have no idea what exactly went into the creation. For those that know anyway, it is likely that they are too enthusiastic to have a single disregard for nitpicking every single new thing that comes out.
Last year saw Saving Mr. Banks challenge Disney's biggest musical up to that point: Mary Poppins. Everyone knew how the story ended, but it chose to sympathize the company by making them seem like the bullying force of good against the cynical author. It is a form of altering history to make their image look a lot better. It was a decent film overall with a respectable box office, but it was a reminder that Disney is a company that wants to preach greatness to its audiences and is unable to take one second to look bad.
With that said, I have been curious about Walt Before Mickey since Saving Mr. Banks came out. I am hardly a Disney fan to the degree that I need to consume every piece of media. I frankly don't care about Disney or its founder Walt Disney. I only care because I wonder just how second rate it is going to see to have American Pie actor Thomas Ian Nicholas play Walt Disney and Napoleon Dynamite actor Jon Heder playing Roy Disney. These are noble roles for sure, but the leads aren't necessarily votes of confidence. I am fascinated to see if this stands even the slightest chance of getting positive attention.
While I haven't followed it all that much, I have been eager to see how reactions occur. For me, it felt highly inessential. Does anyone really need to know Walt Disney's origin story? Saving Mr. Banks attempted to construct it into something unique and very murky with details. Also, it was lead by Tom Hanks. That name is far more trustworthy along with Khoa Le, who is making his directorial feature debut. There's so much that is fascinating about it that if it succeeds, it will be a miracle, and if it fails, there will be a lot of fascinating atonement from Disney fans. Either way, I am excited to finally see the trailer.
- Dissection -
Here is the real question coming out of the trailer: WHY does it matter that we know Walt Disney's origins? Since his company is one of the most successful in the world, it seems rather pointless to tell a struggling tale only for him to succeed in the end. In fact, we know he is going to succeed. There has to be more to this story than this kid from Kansas who started a company and struggled to be an animator. Even then, there's no assurance that this will cover any basis beyond Walt starting his passion and then hitting a proverbial rock bottom. The film feels predicated on doing everything to tell the story without the iconography.
Is this because it doesn't have the backing of any major studios? Did they not have the ability to at least use the likenesses of Walt Disney or his other characters? There's a lot of details that makes the cleverness of working around it interesting but overall unfortunate and pointless. It feels like a desperate plea to get audiences to know a story about a man who achieved unprecedented things while being played by an actor who doesn't strike confidence. Is he good? Yes. However, if Nicholas is the top billed person in this, there's little chance for a compelling supporting cast.
In the end, this plays like a cash grab. If not that, it's a TV movie with low production values, bad typography, and not even referencing the great moments of Disney's career. Yes, this is only a trailer and there are chances that there's a lot that's not being shown. However, it is stil selling a product. It is supposed to be an introduction to this film, and all that it does it play sentiments and expect some success based off of the fact that the story is about Walt Disney. It doesn't look terrible, but the motives feel unfortunate and when compared to Saving Mr. Banks, it doesn't even feel like a riskier, darker version that could be compelling of the Disney story. Maybe there's too much reverence for that here. Who knows.
- One Sentence Sell -
A biopic of Walt Disney before he created Disney featuring almost none of the iconic animation or likenesses that we know and love.
- Trove or Trash -
TRASH
Deep down, I kind of hope that there's more to this movie, as I feel like there's something of value in it had it been a TV movie. However, as a film being released theatrically, there just isn't much of a grab. The lead actors don't draw confidence and the lack of likenesses is a little upsetting. Also, we all know how Walt Disney ended up. Why do we need an entire film about his struggles? Why not just make that the first 30 minutes? I hope that this is a misleading trailer meant to play on sentiments. Then again, you never know. However, I don't think that anyone short of hardcore Disney fans (even then that's debatable) will rush to see this.
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