Hello friends, happy Friday! I hope you’re all doing well. Today I’m back with my Disney Movies project, watching all the movies in chronological order. Today I’m looking back on the mid 60s, let’s jump right into it!

The 60s had a total of 52 movies, which took me about 5 months to watch. I’m going to be breaking the 60s up into 3 posts; early, mid, and late 60s.

Now that we’re into the mid-60s, I’ve noticed we are heavy on the animal movies, dogs, cats, chimps… geese, you name it, there’s a movie about it. There are also just a bunch goofy movies that kinda don’t make sense. But I have to say, I feel like I enjoyed more of these movies, then compared to the beginning of the decade. This is also the years we are introduced to Dean Jones and Kurt Russell in the Disney canon, and I like both of them. Again, we only got 1 animated film (and a half if you count Mary Poppins), for a total of 2 for the decade so far.

Son of Flubber: This was the sequel to the Absent Minded Professor, but this one wasn’t on Disney+ for some reason. In this one, our professor is back and as absentminded as ever. This time around he’s still trying to sell his flubber invention, even though so many people want to buy it. Now he’s thinking of being able to control the weather with his flubber… but in gas form. Of course not everyone loves his inventions and some try to stop him, even his wife is kinda over them. All she wants is food in the house, because apparently they’ve got no money since he won’t sell flubber – he’s too obsessed waiting for the government to buy it. I have to say, I’m glad they toned down the government plots in this one, it felt so odd in the first one, especially for a kid’s movie. So where they turned that down, they dialled up all the wacky plots. Everything that was funny and goofy about the first film, is heightened in this one. We see the flying cars, flying football players, breaking glass, unpredicted raining in the house, there was just so much going on. I could see how a kid would be enthralled by this, it was hilarious in a kid kinda way. It was unbelievable in a fun way and I enjoyed following along. The characters were just as over the top as before, which made the plots even more goofy and fun. The only thing I thought was out of place and strange was the introduction of the professor’s past love interest, which of course made his wife jealous and I was like why are we doing this? It felt like it was added for adults too, I don’t want to say enjoy, but to have something to watch and I just thought it was weird. Overall, it was a good time, it could be a little slow in some parts, but for the most part this was just a lot of fun, would I rewatch this, probably not, but it does have a unique quality about it that would make it fun to rewatch. (1963)

Miracle of the White Stallions: This movie didn’t even feel like a Disney movie. It felt like something that the WB could have created. Needless to say, this film isn’t on Disney+ (what a shocker) but is available for free on YouTube. This film takes place during World War II in Vienna where Col. Alois Podhajsky wants to save his purebred white stallions from being killed in the war by Nazi soldiers. This film goes through many different plots to save these horses, some of them were more interesting and exciting to watch, some were more on the boring side. It didn’t help that this film was really slow-paced. I found it hard to stay focused because it felt like nothing was moving or progressing, then something big would happen quickly and then it’d go back to being slow. The movie sounded more enticing than it actually was. I also don’t really care for war movies so it could have been me not really being interested in the subject matter as well. I also don’t think this needed to be almost 2 hours long either, that just made plots drag a bit. I will end it on a positive by saying watching the horses do their little trot and dance at the end was entertaining (if not a little long, I swear the last 20 minutes is just horses trotting) but it was nice. This is a movie I’d probably not watch again, seeing it once was good enough for me. (1963)

Savage Sam: This was the sequel to Old Yeller and if you ask me, I don’t think it needed a sequel, yet here we are. I think, because it’s based on a book, that’s why the sequel was made. In my opinion, the reason this isn’t on Disney+ is because this wasn’t a great movie. Not only was it racist, but it just dragged for an hour and 45 minutes. I have to admit, that I only half paid attention while watching this because it was slow and I found myself bored. There’s a lot of action happening, but it didn’t entertain me in the slightest. This was basically a Western and those really don’t intrigue me. In this one, the boys are older and their parents have gone away to visit their ailing grandmother, so now they are left to look after the farm. Travis is in charge since he’s the older one and that gets under Arliss’ skin and so the two are always down each other’s throats. They’ve also got Savage Sam, Old Yeller’s son, to help look after everything. Sam is just as high strung and gets into mischief just like his father. But when the boys and the neighbour’s daughter get taken captive by Indians, it’s Savage Sam they count on to save them. The plot for this was pretty basic and followed a formula like many western films before it. Indians are the bad guys, they take the white man hostage and something saves the white man. There wasn’t anything truly special about this, this was just an okay film. What really bothered me was the fact that it’s clear the actor playing Arliss, Kevin Corcoran, was going through puberty and so his voice was starting to change. Why did the directors or anyone in this movie think it was a good idea for him to be screaming the entire film?! It came out in these shrill squeaks, which okay there were times when it worked, but every line was delivered in that whiney way it got to be too much by the end. I get he’s supposed to be the younger brother, but he came off as a child, like he hasn’t grown since the first movie. It really made me like his character less because of it. Travis’ character has always had a grown up feel to him just by being the older brother and you could see he’d grown up by this film, his coming of age story is over. Overall, this was a movie, not great, would not recommend and not something I’d watch again, that’s for sure. (1963)

Summer Magic: Again, why isn’t this movie on Disney+?! This was actually a pretty good movie; it was more on the musical side, but it was still entertaining and well done. The premise is that the Carry family need to move because they can’t afford their house in Boston any longer. The teenage daughter, Nancy has gone ahead and written letters to the owner of the yellow house, in rural Maine, (a house they visited once) to see if they can live there. They get the okay and so off they go. Now they must learn to live in the country as they’re city folk and as the film goes on, we start to realize that their move may not have been as simple as it seemed. I have to say, this was longer than it needed to be, it dragged in parts and it made me question the purpose of the movie, but by the end it definitely paid off. That ending was hilarious, and a little open ended to as to the resolution. The viewer is left to assume what happened, but I think it also worked. Hayley Mills plays Nancy and she basically played the same role that she’s played in her previous movies. She’s still young enough to get away with being the young, innocent, filled with child wonder. If she had been any older it might have come across as an ignorant adult, but thankfully it didn’t. She’s very good at playing the wanting to do good, not realizing she’s making a mistake, but everyone loves her, role. That sounds like a bad thing, but it’s not. She’s so good at it, that it comes across as wholesome. As for the rest of the cast, they did a great job and made the plot fun and light. As for bursting into song sporadically, that was annoying, but that’s just me not enjoying musicals. What I also thought was kinda strange was the weird song numbers that focused on animals that not only sang about them, but we got close-ups of them and I’m still not sure of their purpose. They really didn’t do anything to move or enhance the plot, so I just didn’t get it. Overall, despite those interludes, this was a good movie – one I probably won’t watch again, but if I had to it wouldn’t bother me. (1963) 

The Incredible Journey: This was a pretty incredible journey; was it believable, not 100%, but was it fun to watch, at times yes. This was the story of three pets, two dogs and a cat, who after being abandoned twice decide to head back home… even though home is 200 miles away. They were sent to stay with a relative while their family was away, but when that relative leaves (and places them in the care of someone else, unbeknownst to either party) they decide that’s it, and off they go on their journey through the really pretty wilderness, fighting bears, getting lost in streams, and just trying to survive. Even though this film was only an hour and 20 minutes and there was a lot of adventure, this still felt slow. I had a hard time staying engaged in the story – I wanted to, I wanted to know what they would get into next, who they would meet on their journey, would they all survive (although this last one I was sure none of them would actually die), but it was a real struggle to stay invested. I think they added the narrator to help the film along since most of the movie is just the three animals and since this is a live action film, they weren’t going to start talking any time soon. This also felt like a cross between fiction and one of those real life adventure documentaries, only better since they didn’t have to make the audience believe that this was real. The little bits we did see of the humans was good because it gave a subplot to the story – some miscommunication and thinking they lost the animals forever gave it a nice balance instead of just seeing the animals all the time. In the end, this was predictable, but it worked really well. This was a very wholesome story of three friends on their journey home. It wasn’t bad in any sense, but it just wasn’t for me, so I don’t see myself rewatching this. (1963)

The Sword in the Stone: I don’t remember the last animated movie I watched for this project so this felt like such a breath of fresh air! It was so much fun, with lots of colours and kookie characters and songs. I know I have this movie on VHS somewhere and I probably saw it as a child, because some parts were so familiar to me, while other parts weren’t. This was Disney’s adaption of the stories of King Arthur in his early days. I don’t have a lot of knowledge on King Arthur, but this definitely made me want to read the tales. I also think that’s why I enjoyed this more than others – I don’t have much to compare it to. We meet Arthur who is a young boy, going by the name Wart and he’s orphaned. He does find a home and all he wants is to help his older brother, Kay, become a knight. But when Wart stumbles into Merlin’s cabin, Merlin tells him he’s destined for greatness. From start to finish this was just so much fun, from the singing (even though I don’t like musicals, this was good) to the strange plots, although I do have to admit I didn’t quiet get why they had to to turn into fish or squirrels (nor did I get the whole love scene with the squirrels, I honestly didn’t think that needed to be added) I guess it was part of Wart/Arthur’s training for greatness? I also didn’t realize how long it takes to get to the sword pulling, it’s practically the end, but at least it was a fun journey to get there. I also really liked Merlin as a character. He was so strange and peculiar; the fact that he could go to the future and back, talking about things that would eventually happen gave the film an extra sense of magic, even though all of those things are now in the distant past. I just thought it was such a nice touch. Then there’s also his sidekick, Archimedes a talking owl who was too smart for his own good sometimes but was really there when you needed him. He was a complete hoot! Overall, this is a film I’d watch again because it was well put together, the pacing was great and the characters were just so entertaining and enduring. (1963)

The Three Lives of Thomasina: And we’re back not being available on Disney+. For every 2 or 3 movies on the streaming platform, a handful aren’t. Anyways, this one isn’t hard to find and it’s not a bad film. It’s a Scottish film about a cat named Thomasina (it was named Thomas until they realized he is a she) who lives three lives. If you ask me, she only really lived two, but that’s just me. She starts by living a great life with a little girl named Mary, but then when Thomasina is thought to be dead, she finds herself living with a woman who lives in the woods who cares for sick animals. Thomasina has no memory of her past life, but as time goes on, her memory starts to return and she realizes she must go back home to Mary. Meanwhile, Mary has suffered a great loss; the death of her cat has shaken her and the fact that her father, who’s a vet, let her down when he promised her he’d save Thomasina, the poor girl is a mess. This was such a great film about loss and grief, especially in a child because they don’t know how to articulate how they feel and the actress who played Mary did such a great job of that. She was not only able to act but really emote the feeling of loss so it felt believable. The film wasn’t always fast-paced because of the slower nature of the story, but it worked because it felt like we got to know these characters. There was so much depth to them in the short time we saw them, which surprisingly didn’t bog down the story and I liked how it enriched it. Of course we had to have narration of the cat as a character to know what she was thinking, but it wasn’t actually bad in this one. I think I enjoyed it so much because it was different than how it’s been done in previous movies. It actually read like a monologue that the cat was giving us about herself, rather than someone presuming what she felt. Like if this cat had a diary, that’s how it came off and it was done well, plus the writing could be really witty at times. Overall, this was an enjoyable film that if I had to rewatch it again, I wouldn’t be mad about. (1963)

The Misadventures of Merlin Jones: This movie was very mid for me. It’s not on Disney+ and finding it is a bit hard without having to pay for it. I did end up paying for it on YouTube, and I mean, it’s not 100% worth the money, but for the sake of this project, I bought it. You definitely have to go in with suspended disbelief, otherwise it’s less enjoyable. This movie also falls into the absent-minded professor territory since it had that exact feel. In this, Merlin Jones is a student at a university where he’s interested in all these experiments. He builds this machine to read brain waves, but it accidentally gives him the power to read minds; then he gets into hypnosis and he’s able to put animals and people in a trance, but with each experiment he does, there’s a consequence, albeit not a serious one. For the most part, this was an entertaining movie, but like I stated it was just okay. Because Tommy Kirk played the absent professor’s assistant it felt like he had graduated to become the professor in this movie. It was cool to see if you’ve seen any of the previous Disney films, since I don’t think this is truly part of the series of films, but it also felt like we’ve done this before can we move on? The storylines felt a little repetitive and they were just so goofy. I get how kids would find this entertaining and enjoyable, but watching as an adult you can see all the plot holes and the way it was stitched together, that’s why you have to go in with an open mind watching this. I didn’t hate it, I found it funny in some parts, cringy in others; it’s not something I would rewatch, but I’m not mad I watched it either. (1964) 

A Tiger Walks: This movie was so hard to find and I don’t know why! I almost thought this would be the end of this project because I couldn’t find it anywhere – but alas perseverance pays off and I finally found a link that works. These movies that aren’t on Disney+ are really starting to be a nuisance! Anyways, this wasn’t a bad film at all, in fact I was pretty engaged throughout the whole thing. This was about a tiger who has been mistreated and gets loose from his cage. Now he’s roaming the forests of this small town. Everyone in the town wants the tiger shot and killed, everyone but the sheriff’s daughter that is. She starts a campaign to save the tiger and gets the kids of America to help donate money so they can put him in a zoo and not kill him or send him back to the circus. She, her father and the tiger’s trainer must get to the tiger before the governor does, as he’s on strict orders to kill it. I liked the message of this movie and I liked that it came from a little girl because it made the adults in this reconsider why they wanted to kill the tiger. It definitely had child wonderment to it and that’s what made this movie have so much heart. The actress who played the little girl did such a great job of playing innocent, yet also toeing the line of using the innocence to get what she wanted, especially towards her father. For such an obscure movie, this one sure tugs at the heart strings a bit – there are also baby tigers in this that they use to lure you in. There were parts where I questioned the treatment of the tiger that they used, I’m sure it wasn’t always treated right, which is unfortunate, but at the same time it wasn’t in the film a whole lot, either. In the end though, this was a good film, with a good plot and set of characters that definitely has rewatchability. I might not rewatch it since I’m not going through the trouble of finding it again, but it is worth the watch… if you can find it! (1964)

The Moon-Spinners: A movie that was on Disney+ yay! Although, I didn’t 100% enjoy it. If anything I felt like I spent most of the time trying to figure out what the plot was. Every time I thought I had it figured out, something else would happen and I’d be confused again. I will try to summarize it though. This film takes place in the town of Crete, Greece, where Nikky and her aunt have gone because her aunt studies music. They wind up at an inn called the Moon-Spinners (which I guess is where the name of the film comes from) but they’re turned away at first. The inn’s owner’s brother, Stratos doesn’t want any guests, but in the end they are allowed to stay. But things start to go astray. Nikky falls for Mark, a young English man who has been caught in the middle of a robbery. He’s innocent, but Stratos, is trying to get rid of him and when Nikky gets involved he tries to get rid of her too. It’s a very long story of trying to prove that Stratos is the bad guy, essentially. Like I don’t think this movie needed to be almost two hours long. It really felt stretched and I got bored halfway through, like by the end I was struggling. This could have been a good movie if it was maybe an hour and a half; tighten the plot a bit and it could have been a bit more adventurous and less boring. It’s one thing to see something done once, but when you start to drag out the scenes it gets tedious. The acting was good at least and so that kept me quite entertained. Hayley Mills did another fantastic job. She’s definitely a teenager now and she’s still trying to work that childhood wonder but mixing it with trying to act older. But I think her acting has a style to it that she’s always going to have this wonderment to her, and she does it really well. It makes her feel a little younger than she probably is. Watching her be on screen and in love was cute, too. Overall, this was a good movie, like I said it would have been better if it wasn’t so long, and the plot had more structure but everything else about it was good. I probably wouldn’t rewatch this, but I’m not mad about seeing it once. (1964)

Mary Poppins: This is the first time in a long time that I’m rewatching a movie I know I’ve seen in full. I still remember the first time I saw this, my aunt had asked my brother and I if we’d ever seen it before and when we said no, she was shocked and put the VHS in. My first experience with this movie has always stuck with me for some reason because I think it’s loved by all, kids and adults. It’s a classic and it’s done so well. From the songs, to the acting, the blend of live action and animation, and everything in between it’s a great film and for the most part holds up all these years later. I mean, the whole plot of finding a nanny to basically raise your kids is a very outdated idea, but the way that it was never Mary Poppins intention to stay long is what makes this an even better watch because it flips that narrative on its head. She inspires magic and wonder even in the adults and it’s clear to see why children and adults love this. I even loved this and I’m not a musical person. I know all the songs and they’re all so catchy. This film, if you haven’t seen it, is about the Banks family. They’ve just gone through another nanny and they now need to find a new one to look after (raise, if you ask me) the children. The children take it upon themselves to write out what they’re looking for in a nanny, lo and behold, exactly that shows up in the form of Mary Poppins. You know what I didn’t realize, this movie is over two hours long… yet it doesn’t feel that way. It just breezes by in song and dance that you’re just mesmerized by it all. There was a bit of a slow stretch closing in a on the two hour mark, but then we go back to singing and dancing and learning important messages that it’s just a lot of fun. The little girl who played Jane was from the film Thomasina and I just adore her acting, she’s just so cute. In this one she didn’t need to be as serious, so you can really see her range at such a young age. All the actors did such a fantastic job. I mean, between Julie Andrews and Dick van Dyke the two of them were amazing and the way they played off each other was so entertaining. All in all this was such a fun film to revisit and rewatch. The rewatchability is really high on this one. I didn’t know if I was going to enjoy it as much since it’s been years since I’ve seen it, but like I said, it holds up and is such a fun movie. (1964)

Emil and the Detectives: Right off the top of this movie there’s a message that states this has been edited for content, so I’m not sure if Disney+ removed some of the film or not, I couldn’t find any reference to it. But alas, this was actually a pretty entertaining film and it didn’t feel like anything was missing. This takes place in Germany, when Emil sets off to visit his grandmother in Berlin. He’s given 400 marks to give her, but while on the bus there, his money is stolen by this peculiar man. Once he realizes what has happened, he tries to stop him, but his attempts are useless. He then hires a group of boy detectives to help catch the man, only to realize that this man is in cahoots with two other criminals and they’re planning a heist. I have to say, this movie was never dull or boring. There was always something happening and the fact that the detectives were children had me laughing. I can see how kids would love that and relate to it, but watching it as an adult, it felt charming and endearing in a way. All the actors were really good, the comedic performance that the adults gave was entertaining and even all the kids were just spot on, making this an enjoyable watch. What was interesting though, was that all the adult actors had German accents (not sure if they were actually all German though) and all the kids had American ones. It was a strange acting choice that Disney chose. In any case, I was definitely more invested in the kid storyline than I was the adult one. I couldn’t have cared less about the criminals and their thievery; I can see it was to give the film more depth, but even if this was just about the man stealing the kid’s money and kids trying to solve the mystery, I would have been ok with that too. Even though I now know what happens and how it ends, I could see myself rewatching this in the future because it’s got a lot of rewatchability. (1964) 

Those Calloways: It’s been a while since I’ve seen a movie with a Disney disclaimer for the inaccurate depictions. In this one, it’s about how this town treated the Indians and anyone who was friends with them (our main character, Cam was raised by them), which I was like, we’re still doing this? Isn’t this narrative old by now? Anyways, this film was all about the geese. This opens with geese migrating and everyone looking up at them in wonder. As someone who knows how Canadian geese can be, I found it hard to sympathize with everyone who wanted to save them. But anyways, this film takes place in the 1920s where everyone in this town make fun of or look down upon the Calloway family. Where everyone sees the geese as money, by shooting them to be sold for meat, Cam Calloway wants to protect them. He wants to build a sanctuary where the town wants to build a shooting range. In all his efforts Cam spends the entirety of the movie fighting for what he believes. This film wasn’t boring per se, but it was awfully long. I don’t think this needed to be over two hours long. Not only do we get the plot of saving the geese, we also see this family go through the motions. There were many points throughout that I lost the plot of this and questioned what this was about because it went from the main plot, to a plot about Cam’s son, Buckey, falling in love. I was like why do we care about this? Sure it made for a well rounded picture of the family, but it felt so random. We also got long drawn out scenes of the animals, which isn’t unusual for Disney movies. It almost felt like we spent more time on these side plots, than on the actual one. Despite having questionable additional plot lines, at least the acting was good and made it entertaining. Now that I’ve seen this once, I don’t think I need to see it again. Like I said, it wasn’t a bad movie, trust me there are worse ones, it was just really long. Needless to say I won’t be watching it again. (1965)

The Monkey’s Uncle: Merlin Jones is back and he’s adopting Stanley, the chimpanzee. Since he can’t adopt him as a son, legally, he becomes the monkey’s uncle. But that’s the least relevant plot to this film. First off, this wasn’t on Disney+, just like its predecessor, but I’m glad I could find it free online because this was so not worth money to see. Where the last movie was goofy in an entertaining way, this one was just outlandish in its comedy. Nothing made sense and the slapstick of it all wasn’t really that funny. After Merlin adopts the monkey (which he does to ‘save’ Stanley from being experimented on… only to bring him to his house and experiment on him and train him to live like a human, because that’s so much better). Then this is where it gets sort of confusing because even watching this I didn’t understand the plot, so I went back and read the synopsis and that was confusing too. I have to say, there were moments throughout where I just let the movie play, while I did other things because I couldn’t be bothered with this. So what I gathered was the judge (who I really couldn’t stand in this movie) calls upon Merlin to help save the football team. If the football players couldn’t keep their grades up, the team would be canned. The judge knows his players won’t pass without cheating, so this is where Merlin comes in to help find an honest way to cheat – whatever that means. This part was ha-ha funny, the gag was entertaining. Then we get to the second half of the film where it takes a turn because this really rich man wants to invest a lot money into the school… but only if they can build a man powered flying machine. Here comes Merlin again. It just felt so out of nowhere, none of it connected and like I said, it really wasn’t that funny. I also couldn’t stand Jen, his girlfriend. My gosh did she get on my nerves. ‘Why don’t you have time to take me out?’ ‘It’s all about Stanley and not me.’ She even wanted him to go against his morals just so she could go to more parties. Like get out of here. I don’t think Merlin needed a girlfriend if you ask me because her character didn’t add anything to the story, all she did was whine. Needless to say, I didn’t enjoy this one and I won’t be rewatching it. (1965)

That Darn Cat!: This was Hayley Mills last movie with Disney and I have to say I’m sad about that because I’ve really come to love her acting; she’s just so refreshing and joyful to watch. She’s still playing into the innocence, but she can really pull it off no matter her age. In this film she’s a young adult and she shines so bright in this, her childlike wonder is really following her through life and she’s really good at it. It doesn’t come off as an adult wanting to be a child, but more so just the way she is; she’s a natural. This film was kooky in a good way and I had such a fun time with it. It was just shy of two hours, but it really didn’t feel that long. The story moved right along, one funny plot after another. This is about a neighbourhood cat, DC (darn cat) who happens to stumble upon a kidnapping while out for his nightly patrol for food. When he comes back to Patti’s house wearing a watch for a collar, she sees that someone has tried to scratch ‘help’ into the back of it. She takes this right to the FBI believing it to relate to the kidnapping case. The FBI then decide to tail the cat in hopes of catching the criminals. As much as the plot was a stretch of the imagination, it was really entertaining and I think because you go in realizing that it’s a silly plot, you have more fun with it. Watching the FBI agents keep track of a cat was hilarious and very comedic. This film could have been a good movie all on its own with just that main plot, but what made it even more enjoyable was adding all the secondary characters who could have gone either way in whether you liked them or not. You have the nosy neighbour, and you have the two boys who are obsessed with Patti and her sister Ingrid. They were all annoying in their own ways, but I actually liked the addition of these characters. It gave us these moments of addition laughter because they were so ridiculous and complete stereotypes. They were 100% caricatures but it worked for me. The acting was also really good in this one too. Overall, it was such a fun and quirky movie, I could see myself rewatching this one – and apparently there’s a remake, so I look forward to that. (1965)

The Ugly Dachshund: Was this movie supposed to be funny? Because I didn’t really find it so. In fact, this annoyed me more than anything else. The antics that were I guess supposed to be amusing in a charming way, weren’t at all. This movie is about a couple who have a dachshund dog that gives birth to 3 puppies. When the husband, Mark, goes to pick them up, he’s introduced to a Great Dane puppy whose mother has kicked him out of the litter because there isn’t enough food. Mark has always wanted a Great Dane so he brings it home. It’s not long before his wife, Fran realizes that the new puppy, Brutus isn’t a dachshund. They agree to keep it, although she reluctantly wants it. This is where trouble ensues. The entire film is Brutus thinking he’s a smaller dog than he is and wanting to play with the others, but because of his size he gets into a lot of trouble and is always trashing or wrecking something. The first couple times, it’s like oh ha-ha that’s cute, but when it got to be the whole movie it became painful to watch. By the end it felt like the whole house had been destroyed. I don’t find it entertaining to watch animals destroy things. I also couldn’t stand the fact that Fran was always mad about Brutus and her “angel” dogs were holy saints that did no wrong. She made it very obvious she didn’t want him and it almost came off as manipulative towards her husband. Any time Brutus did anything she wanted Mark to take him back. I forgot to mention at the top, but this film started with a content disclaimer and for the longest time I had no idea why since this was so focused on the dogs. In the last half of the movie the couple hire a Japanese catering company for their party and yes, they stereotype Japanese people to the max in this, which is another reason this was hard to watch, it was so cringy and bad. The plot of this would have been good if the characters had been more likeable. That’s not to say the acting was bad, the acting was good, but the writing was terrible. The way this ended on Brutus being a hero and turning out to be a “good” dog was predictable, yet slightly unbelievable. There’s no way he could have gone from a klutz to a pristine dog show dog in six days. All that to say, this wasn’t for me, maybe kids would have found this more entertaining, but I didn’t enjoy this at all so I will not be rewatching it. (1966)

Lt. Robin Crusoe U.S.N.: To be honest, I don’t know what to make of this movie. First off, it’s not on Disney+, which you know I’m actually okay with because this was so not worth watching or knowing it exists (although I’m here to tell you it exists). It wasn’t hard to find online, surprisingly because this was just bad. It didn’t start off that way, in fact it was relatively enjoyable for a bit, but then as our main character, Robin, became stranded on this island, it just progressively got worse. I’ve never read Robison Crusoe – but hope to one day… now I’m hesitant, although I read this was a loose adaption, there is still hope the book is better. This film is about Robin, a U.S. Navy pilot, who has to abandon his plane and becomes stranded on an island. While there, he meets a chimp who’s part of the U.S. Airforce who has also been stranded and an island girl… who he names Wednesday. First of all, she spoke English… so why did he have to give her a name? Why couldn’t she have told him her name? That made no sense to me. When she tells him she doesn’t want to marry who her father has set for her, he explains that women have rights. I liked that they were trying to go for some sort of women’s right demonstration, but that was the only good part of this. Because then her friends/family show up and he’s happy to help them. Then her father shows up and it just felt like it depicted native Hawaiians in a really bad light as horrible, crazy people. Everything about the ending felt so icky. This also starred Dick van Dyke as Robin, and he’s supposed to be this funny, goofy guy, but his comedy begins to feel like a gimmick after a while. It’s gets old really quickly. What doesn’t go by quickly is this movie; clocking in at just under two hours, this felt like such a drag. Why did it need to take so long to do everything. I feel like they could have cut down the scenes a bit and you wouldn’t have lost any of the story, not that there weren’t parts that could have been scraped to begin with. This was trying to be a comedic film about being castaway, but it ended up feeling dull with the overuse of gags and terrible, racist, stereotypes. As I said from the top, this was not worth watching, and I will not be watching again. (1966)

The Fighting Prince of Donegal: This is another film to add to the not on Disney+ list. It wasn’t hard to find and for the most part it wasn’t bad. I feel like I don’t really have an opinion on this film. I didn’t love it or hate it, it just exists. It was long and kinda boring, but there were moments that had me watching. This film takes us back to the Renaissance times and is apparently loosely based on true events from the 1580s with the Irish prince, Hugh Roe O’Donnell. I’m not sure how much is actually true, but in the movie, the prince’s father dies leaving him to the throne and he can now make the decision to gain independence from the English and elizabethan rule. But when it’s made public the Queen’s men abduct O’Donnell and hold him prisoner, and the whole film is basically him trying to escape. I think that’s what made it enjoyable and less of a drag to watch was the fact that there was always some sort of hijinks happening with him trying to escape in some way. It was balanced really well with other more dialogue and exposition heavy scenes. I never knew to what to expect from scene to scene and that was fun to see what they would get into next. It’s not something I would watch again, but it was good for a once watch through. (1966)

Follow Me, Boys!: This was a really endearing movie that isn’t on Disney+ and I don’t know why because this was actually a real feel good movie. This starts in the year, 1935 or 36 where Lem is traveling through a small town with his musical group when he sees a pretty girl and a help wanted sign and decides to stay in the town. His one friend thinks he’s crazy (and if you ask me, I thought that was really bold of him to assume he’d get the job and be able to find a place to stay). But of course, he gets the job and tries to get the girl, but that part isn’t easy. At a town meeting, they are trying to figure out what to do about the young boys hanging around. Lem speaks up and says there should be a boy’s scout for them (which was the girl’s idea – he totally said it to impress her). They’ve been saying it for years but no one wants to be the leader, that’s when Lem decides he’ll take on the job. So over the course of the movie we see him learn to love these boys and then it jumps in time to show the different boys he’s led over the years. It was just a truly beautiful movie about giving back to your community and showing what you do matters. I feel like this was the first Disney movie with Fred MacMurray in a role that wasn’t goofy. He was actually serious in this role and it suited him really well. He had a few little funny moments here and there, but they were very tame compared to other Disney films he’s been in. He’s got a good range that he plays. The kid actors were really good too, I think this was one of Kurt Russell’s first films and he played an angry kid really well. Even though this was over two hours long, it didn’t drag too much. The first hour or so went by quickly, when they jumped to the war and there was the strange plot with the kids and the U.S. Army (that I didn’t quite get) that felt like it bogged the film down a bit, but the end made it worth it. Like I said, this was such a feel good, heartwarming movie that I could see myself rewatching at some point, plus the song they chant is catchy! (1966) 

Have you seen any of these movies? Let me know in the comments below!