MRM : Disney's Lone Ranger: Wild West Wipeout

 

Today's Disney is a sad and pale comparison to it's days of greatness, no film is a better example of this than Disney's attempt at bringing one of the most hallowed and legendary wild west myths to life, The Lone Ranger.

The film was an abomination to the motion picture industry and a disgraceful insult to the American Legend.

One of the worst parts was the casting of, then red hot actor, Johnny Depp to play American Indian character, Tonto, to the loud objections of the masses to cast an actual American Indian in the role rather than just another Hollywood actor.  Depp's character was overplayed and many times seemed to be more of a focus of the film than others, including the namesake of the film.  Depp was, one of the few times, out of his element and really lost on how to portray the character.

The outlandish situations in the story and characters in the film would have been far better put in a sequel to the Will Smith & Kevin Kline hit, Wild Wild West, which was based on such things.

The Helena Bonham Carter character, Red would have been a perfect fit for the second WWW film, as would Disney's interpretation of the lead horse, Silver, who sometimes seemed to believe he was a bird. 

Disney is truly lost, the best they can do in today's market is to repeat stories they have told in the past and to buy out other franchises and characters, rather than telling classic stories in the Disney way.  Creativity has been completely replaced for the sole desire to make money, not understanding that they will never see the revenue they would under the way Walt did it.

I greatly fear for the day that Disney decides to modernize their classic, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, forcing modern political and social issues into the classic tale from Jules Verne, it only seems a matter of time.

Walt Disney's path was to unite the greatest film makers and creative minds that he could, to come up with the greatest creations and telling of tales that would spark the imagination and creativity of audiences, but there seems to be no talent or creativity in the modern Disney company at all.

Disney's telling of, The Lone Ranger couldn't get a lower rating from me, it's one of the worst films that I've ever seen, and being that I grew up watching the reruns of Clayton Moore as the legendary masked man, I consider the film as an insult to Mr. Moore and the legacy he worked so hard to give to the character.

Heads Will Roll .... time and again, with this classic

One of the movies that will forever have a place in my, Top 10 Favorite Films, is one that, even when not watched in the Fall will bring a chill to the bone and a bit of gloom to the day, Sleepy Hollow. 💀🎃

Yet another classic collaboration of a great film trio, Tim Burton (director), Johnny Depp (actor) & Danny Elfman (score).  

Taken from the classic story,  The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, by Washington Irving, this version still holds it's own as the most popular theatrical version of the tale.

Johnny Depp (Pirates of the Caribbean) plays the odd, Ichabod Crane, a constable from New York City, sent to Sleepy Hollow to solve 3 gruesome murders, where the victims were decapitated.  It's not until Crane arrives to the quiet upstate town ("mainly Dutch") that he learns of the details of the killings, supposedly done by a maniacal horsemen who is himself, decapitated.

In Disney's classic animated adaptation, with a great song about the Horseman sung by legend, Bing Crosby, Crane is a schoolteacher who falls in love with the local beauty, Katrina Van Tassell, in the film, portrayed by, Christina Ricci (The Adams Family).

Part of her story remains to the classic, as she is the daughter of a local land owner, Baltus Van Tassell, but in this tale, her mother died and her nurse marries into the family and begins a plan of vengeance against the town and family, with the wild horseman as her demonic servant of doom.

Depp's version of Crane varies greatly from many past tales, this one is very cerebral who is always questioning the towns superstitions of the occult, denying the existence of the Horseman and insisting that the killer is "a man of flesh and blood, and I will seek him out."  This version, although still a bit timid, is a valiant hero compared to the Disney's animate one.

The men of the town is like a who's-who from popular film, half of them recognizable from the Harry Potter films. ...don't hate the Magistrate for how he treats Harry in another life or wonder why Dumbledoor doesn't just wave the Horseman away, if anyone was going to do anything, Batman's butler Alfred should have called for help, or the local minister calling the ghost with the most... 😆

The visuals in the film are outstanding and really draw you into the town and the era, along with the constant chill that seems to be in the air.  The film seems to have been perfect for director, Tim Burton, and the chilling music of Danny Elfman (Batman).

It's one of those films that I never get tired of watching, and hopefully never will ... until the horseman comes for me... 💀🎃