Now I haven't seen Enchanted yet, but I am looking forward to watching it...someday... Anyway, this interesting article by Steve Fritz over at the blog at newsarama should make those of you who have seen it go, "ooooh, yeah! I remember thatby Steve Fritz
I forget which movie I was screening, but while waiting for the film I struck up a conversation with the guy next to me. We had both seen Enchanted and started riffing on the easter eggs the producers planted in the movie.
I mean, some are quite obvious, such as Susan Sarandon’s paeans to the evil witches of the great Disney princess movies. Some less so. As it turns out, my bud has been scouring the web hunting for more and the film is just jam packed with little tributes scattered hither and yonder throughout the entire movie. With the recent release of the DVD, you too can now get into the game. Grab a copy of the disk and plug it in, test your own knowledge, make a party game out of it. Just to get you started, and your eyes trained a bit, here’s a few that you can find:
• ALL YOU NEED IS A LITTLE…Pixie dust. That’s right folks, when Giselle falls into the abandoned well, it turns out that white stuff she’s coated with is Pixie dust. That’s what transforms her, Prince Edward and everyone else into humans.
• PAST PRINCESSES…Amy Adams is the latest Disney princess, but she’s not the only one in the film. Among the past princesses making cameos are: Jodi Benson (Ariel from Little Mermaid), Paige O’Hara (Belle from Beauty & The Beast) and Judy Kuhn (singing voice of Pocahontas).
• WE BRAKE FOR PRINCES…Remember that scene with Prince Edward and the bus? When James Marsden was standing on top of said public transport, you might have noticed that a tour bus went buy with a ton of gawking tourists guffawing in wide amazement. As it turns out, that wasn’t planned, those weren’t actors. Those were real tourists who just happened to be cruising by while the filming happened. Director Kevin Lima sure did know a good ad libbed moment when he saw it.
• LIMA KNOWS CHIPMUNKS…As it turned out, Lima is an old hand at animating chipmunks. His resume also includes working on 1987’s The Chipmunk Adventure featuring three rodents named Simon, Theodore and Alvin, not Pip.
• HEY, IT’S CALLED THE MOUSE WORKS AFTER ALL…Getting back to the bus scene, the driver’s hair was cut to resemble a rather infamous set of mouse ears. If that isn’t enough, in a party scene a number of the vegetables are cut to look like, well, you know the outline. It wouldn’t be a Disney movie without a Mickey tribute or three, would it?
• MORE PAST PRINCESSES…If you didn’t know already, the film’s songwriters, Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz, have a lot of experience writing songs for Disney princesses. Among their credits are Little Mermaid, Beauty & The Beast, Aladdin and Pocahantas.
• TALK ABOUT FREE PLUGS…If you check out the billboards, you’d find plugs for other projects members of the cast were involved in. Among them is for the Broadway plays Wicked and Rent (which starred Idina Menzel) as well as the films Superman Returns and Hairspray (James Marsden in both of them). Maybe that will help their DVD sales. Oh yeah, Schwartz wrote the music for Wicked, too.
• GOOFY’S STILL THE BEST…Anyone with a trained ear might hear a familiar howl of dismay when Edward defeats the ogre in the animated part of the movie. Yep, it’s the voice of the great one himself, Goofy. I don’t know if they used the late great Pinto Jarvis for the voice, but it would have been nice if they had.
• EVEN MORE PAST PRINCESSES…Did something about the character Mary Ilene Caseloti sound familiar? It should. It’s a reference to the original three Disney princess Snow White (Adriana Caselotti), Sleeping Beauty (Mary Costa) and Cinderella (Ilene Woods).
• SPEAKING OF PLUGS…In the early animation sequence, you will see a frog wearing a crown of soap. Apparently that’s a little viral campaigning for Disney’s upcoming animated feature The Princess & The Frog. We’ll have to wait until next year before we get the full connection though.
• NOW THIS IS JUST WRONG IN SO MANY WAYS…Getting back to the ogre. Apparently his loincloth is made of remnants from the dresses of other Disney princesses. I don’t know who thought that one up, but I question whether that designer should work on a family movie ever again. Seriously.
• NOW THIS IS DEEP TRIVIA…Remember the soap opera segment? Turns out the characters are named Angela, Jerry and Ogden; homages to three of the key voice actors in the film Beauty & the Beast. I’ll leave it to you geniuses to match the full names of the actors to the characters I’m talking about.
• IT’S A BEAUTIFUL NIGHT…If you look carefully, you’ll find there’s one scene where Edward walks past an Italian restaurant. The name of said establishment is “La Belle Notte.” I didn’t see a cocker spaniel and a mutt eating a plate of spaghetti in the background though. That would’ve been tasty.
• A BIT OF REAL LIFE…Ever notice the family name of the divorcees Robert is handling? They’re called The Banks. That’s the name the family in Mary Poppins. I mean, could you blame Mrs. Banks after all?
• TALK ABOUT INFLATION…Notice the beggar woman selling bread crumbs for the pigeons in Central Park? Also notice that she’s selling them for a dollar a bag? Talk about inflation! That’s a long way from a tuppence (two British pennies) kids.
• EVEN MORE PAST PRINCESS…Did you see the two old ladies in the theater? They ARE Mary Costa and Ilene Woods! Kevin Lima says so in the DVD. If anyone should know…
..."
I forget which movie I was screening, but while waiting for the film I struck up a conversation with the guy next to me. We had both seen Enchanted and started riffing on the easter eggs the producers planted in the movie.
I mean, some are quite obvious, such as Susan Sarandon’s paeans to the evil witches of the great Disney princess movies. Some less so. As it turns out, my bud has been scouring the web hunting for more and the film is just jam packed with little tributes scattered hither and yonder throughout the entire movie. With the recent release of the DVD, you too can now get into the game. Grab a copy of the disk and plug it in, test your own knowledge, make a party game out of it. Just to get you started, and your eyes trained a bit, here’s a few that you can find:
• ALL YOU NEED IS A LITTLE…Pixie dust. That’s right folks, when Giselle falls into the abandoned well, it turns out that white stuff she’s coated with is Pixie dust. That’s what transforms her, Prince Edward and everyone else into humans.
• PAST PRINCESSES…Amy Adams is the latest Disney princess, but she’s not the only one in the film. Among the past princesses making cameos are: Jodi Benson (Ariel from Little Mermaid), Paige O’Hara (Belle from Beauty & The Beast) and Judy Kuhn (singing voice of Pocahontas).
• WE BRAKE FOR PRINCES…Remember that scene with Prince Edward and the bus? When James Marsden was standing on top of said public transport, you might have noticed that a tour bus went buy with a ton of gawking tourists guffawing in wide amazement. As it turns out, that wasn’t planned, those weren’t actors. Those were real tourists who just happened to be cruising by while the filming happened. Director Kevin Lima sure did know a good ad libbed moment when he saw it.
• LIMA KNOWS CHIPMUNKS…As it turned out, Lima is an old hand at animating chipmunks. His resume also includes working on 1987’s The Chipmunk Adventure featuring three rodents named Simon, Theodore and Alvin, not Pip.
• HEY, IT’S CALLED THE MOUSE WORKS AFTER ALL…Getting back to the bus scene, the driver’s hair was cut to resemble a rather infamous set of mouse ears. If that isn’t enough, in a party scene a number of the vegetables are cut to look like, well, you know the outline. It wouldn’t be a Disney movie without a Mickey tribute or three, would it?
• MORE PAST PRINCESSES…If you didn’t know already, the film’s songwriters, Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz, have a lot of experience writing songs for Disney princesses. Among their credits are Little Mermaid, Beauty & The Beast, Aladdin and Pocahantas.
• TALK ABOUT FREE PLUGS…If you check out the billboards, you’d find plugs for other projects members of the cast were involved in. Among them is for the Broadway plays Wicked and Rent (which starred Idina Menzel) as well as the films Superman Returns and Hairspray (James Marsden in both of them). Maybe that will help their DVD sales. Oh yeah, Schwartz wrote the music for Wicked, too.
• GOOFY’S STILL THE BEST…Anyone with a trained ear might hear a familiar howl of dismay when Edward defeats the ogre in the animated part of the movie. Yep, it’s the voice of the great one himself, Goofy. I don’t know if they used the late great Pinto Jarvis for the voice, but it would have been nice if they had.
• EVEN MORE PAST PRINCESSES…Did something about the character Mary Ilene Caseloti sound familiar? It should. It’s a reference to the original three Disney princess Snow White (Adriana Caselotti), Sleeping Beauty (Mary Costa) and Cinderella (Ilene Woods).
• SPEAKING OF PLUGS…In the early animation sequence, you will see a frog wearing a crown of soap. Apparently that’s a little viral campaigning for Disney’s upcoming animated feature The Princess & The Frog. We’ll have to wait until next year before we get the full connection though.
• NOW THIS IS JUST WRONG IN SO MANY WAYS…Getting back to the ogre. Apparently his loincloth is made of remnants from the dresses of other Disney princesses. I don’t know who thought that one up, but I question whether that designer should work on a family movie ever again. Seriously.
• NOW THIS IS DEEP TRIVIA…Remember the soap opera segment? Turns out the characters are named Angela, Jerry and Ogden; homages to three of the key voice actors in the film Beauty & the Beast. I’ll leave it to you geniuses to match the full names of the actors to the characters I’m talking about.
• IT’S A BEAUTIFUL NIGHT…If you look carefully, you’ll find there’s one scene where Edward walks past an Italian restaurant. The name of said establishment is “La Belle Notte.” I didn’t see a cocker spaniel and a mutt eating a plate of spaghetti in the background though. That would’ve been tasty.
• A BIT OF REAL LIFE…Ever notice the family name of the divorcees Robert is handling? They’re called The Banks. That’s the name the family in Mary Poppins. I mean, could you blame Mrs. Banks after all?
• TALK ABOUT INFLATION…Notice the beggar woman selling bread crumbs for the pigeons in Central Park? Also notice that she’s selling them for a dollar a bag? Talk about inflation! That’s a long way from a tuppence (two British pennies) kids.
• EVEN MORE PAST PRINCESS…Did you see the two old ladies in the theater? They ARE Mary Costa and Ilene Woods! Kevin Lima says so in the DVD. If anyone should know…
..."
1 comment:
i just watched it today and it was cute. nice to know about all the little hidden things.
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