Disney Back Catalogue Reviews #21: In Search of Horses
Its been a bit since I last posted a review to this account. You might think I forgot the password, and well, you'd be right! But also, with attending Anime North this year, cosplay work, and job hunting, I'd almost forgotten to watch the movies on my list. Don't worry, I ain't quittin' soon!
Where we last left off, Disney released the last film of the year 1962. It was another adaptation of a Jules Verne novel, which they'd had success with previously with 20 000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954). But where that film was novel for it's sheer spectacle, for it's pioneering of underwater filming, this one is just... ok.
'In Search of the Castaways' is a globe-trotting adventure movie about a pair of siblings trying to find their father, who went missing at sea. They rope several others into their quest, including a silly Frenchman and a generic teen boy, and travel all across the world to look for him.
Its an adventure movie, but is the adventure anything special? Well, for the time, I'm sure it was, but by today's standards, its quite tame. There's a noticeable difference in pacing between movies of this decade and those prior, where things seem to happen more often than characters stand around and talk about it, and you certainly see that here.
The movie takes its characters all around the world; the Andes mountains, Australia, New Zealand, and the character encounter all sorts of dangerous wildlife that's ready to pick them off one by one. If this were made today, it'd probably be 50% CGI.
Still, the fun and exciting moments are heavily outweighed by 'stand around and talk' scenes, which (I hate to sound like a child for this opinions, but) there's too darn much of. Half the time, characters aren't even talking about where they're going, or their goals, its just fluff! At times, this movie feels as padded as an anime that's waiting for the manga to catch up.
The characters aren't really anything special either, save for the Frenchman, who is mildly amusing. He turns every setback into something to celebrate, and brings some joy to otherwise boring scenes. Maybe if some other movies I've reviewed had him in it, they wouldn't be so forgettable.
Next, the Disney studio would do something they hadn't done before (up to this point in their history): a sequel.
'Son of Flubber' is the direct sequel to 'The Absent-Minded Professor', which came out only two years prior. It follows the same old possibly-neurodivergent university professor who discovered a magic substance called Flubber, now struggling with his newfound fame. Companies want him to sell it, the government wants it militarized, and he must decide what to do with it.
On the surface, the sequel sounds promising, answering the lingering questions at the end of the first. But what's left over from the first film is barely enough to support a second film, and it really, really shows.
Hardly anything really happens in this one, yet the film tries it's damndest to make it seem like it. There's a new use for Flubber discovered that causes a big accident, and more university sports shenanigans, but it all feels very rushed, like the writers just slapped something together and shouted 'Done!' so they could go home early.
The lackluster characters from the first return here, only with even less to do and less motivation for me to care. The movie tries to keep up the tension between the main character and his rival, but its hollow, because its obvious the threat of wife-stealing is gone. So the film tries to invent something for the main character to be jealous about, and it all just feels really forced.
I swear, the best thing about this movie is the dog. I couldn't tell you any characters' names, what the rival school is called, or why the government wants Flubber so badly, and I watched this recently. For the apparently Son of Flubber, maybe they should've gone to Planned Parenthood.
But finally, we come to something decent, as we leave 1962 and enter the year that follows (whatever it could be). Straight from Austria comes another movie about the life and times of a special performance troupe, and the troubles the encounter. Though this one certainly has less singing, and more casualties.
'Miracle of the White Stallions' is a war film that has less to do with gunfire and more the preservation of nature. The film is about the Spanish Riding Club, a real world organization in Vienna, Austria, which is home to a special breed of horses found nowhere else in the world. The owner of the organization, fearing a bombing, hatches a plan to smuggle his rare white horses out of the country, and later works with the Allied forces to rescue more of them.
While not the most flashy or violent, this movie offers an interesting side of real-world history, taking you behind enemy lines to focus on some folks who didn't agree with the Nazis but couldn't speak up. Its a bit of a unique experience, watching a Disney movie where the main character is an SS soldier, and he be portrayed favourably. The movie does a good job at showing that he and his comrades don't actually believe in their ideals, and are merely being forced into it because of their circumstances, and I like that.
Of course, the Americans make themselves the cool, cocky heroes, swooping in to save the day with guns blazing. Its funny how, shortly after they show up, the film switches to focus almost entirely on them. Perhaps the American studio wanted more Hollywood footage of how awesome their country is, and how they're stronger than anyone, but also kind enough to not eat horses.
And what horses they are! The specific breed shown in the movie, the Lipizzanner, are on full display here, trotting around which coats shining like snowflakes. You really grow to appreciate them by the end of the movie, and learn a lot about their history and how their coats change color with age.
There must be something in the water over there in Vienna, with how many performing groups spring up there and then get Disney movies about them. Can't wait for the third one, about a travelling circus or something.
