It’s the season finale of Animusings, and we are wrapping things up (for now) with a sojourn to Colombia and the home of the Madrigal family. Both Seid and Benjamin are back to help us talk about this 2021 feature, with discussions including family dynamics and drama as a focal story point, the significance of Mirabel’s glasses, how Dolores deserved her own musical number and why we can’t stop talking about Bruno (and his ability to speed-repair drywall).
45 - Home on the Range (with Allen and Ben)
Disney’s “last” 2d-animated feature (until Princess and the Frog) is anything but a little patch of heaven for David, Kaela and returning guests Allen Chaney and Benjamin Spiegel. This weird Western gets put to some not-so-serious scrutiny as the gang discuss the flawgic of making something “funny for kids,” when jokes aren’t given room to breathe, pacing mishaps and when the villain is the most likeable character.
Animusings+ - James and the Giant Peach (with Ben Spiegel)
Ben Spiegel is our guest once again to talk about this 1996 stop-motion marvel about a boy, some bugs, and a very big fruit. Discussion includes magical realism and defining it in the world, an introduction to Randy Newman, and rhinos being a metaphor for car accidents.
20 - The Aristocats (with Ben Spiegel)
Does everybody really want to be a cat? Kaela and David ask returning guest Ben Spiegel this and many other questions as they push through the cat door of this 1970 feline flick set in turn-of-the-century Paris. Topics include crazy cat ladies, cartoon chase sequences, anachronistic jazz, why Thomas O’Malley is a saint, and how to make Creme de la Creme ala Edgar.
05 - Bambi (with Ben Spiegel)
Kaela, David and special guest Ben Spiegel (writer, director, and progeny of Imagineer Steve Spiegel) discuss woodland hierarchy, tonal whiplash and how Man is the truest evil in this pastoral coming-of-age story from 1942.