Good day everyone! If you find yourself Caring TOO MUCH about extremely niche topics related to Barbie and Disney, especially the musicals, you've found yourself in the right place! On this channel you will find analysis videos relating to the songs, characters, and relationships - as well as the movies as a whole! I hope you'll enjoy these Barbie and Disney Video Essays!
I was thinking of Anne of Green Gables but you’re right there’s an Aunt Josephine in those books too 😂 I love those books. But yeah it seems like the idea of having a distant aunt Josephine kids can be shipped off to is common 🤣😂
I don't know if anyone else feels this way, but I thought that the line in "Tangled" where Flynn Rider or Eugene says "sorry boys, I don't sing" was a sign that Disney was slowly losing touch. Same in Moana when Maui says "if you start singing, I'm gonna throw up." It's like for the sake of comedy they are slowly forgetting that singing in order to convey powerful emotions is a very sacred art when it comes to their films.
That’s a very interesting idea: I feel like there could be a whole video about that haha. I guess cliff notes is that I think it works for Tangled especially because the lyricist most likely wrote it. It’s very in character for Flynn and he immediately gets a hostile reaction to the fact he said that. With Maui it’s weird because it’s in the script and also like…. He sings earlier. So it’s okay with him to do it but not Moana 😭😭😭 I think what they mean is that he doesn’t want to hear about her feelings and that means her singing - but Moana is a little bit too “aware” of other Disney movies at points so I agree with the idea that the problem started there. Like Tangled works because it makes sense in universe whereas Moana characters make references as if they know other Disney princesses and other Disney movies exist.
Funny how you used a render of Sebastian from Kingdom Hearts when referencing "how stupid would it be if Sebastian told Ariel he had written a song to convince her how great the ocean world is", since that's essentially exactly how it happened in Kingdom Hearts 2 😆 Non-diegetic music numbers don't exist in Kingdom Hearts unless you're Elsa, apparently.
Lmaooooooo I have been working on a KH2 video lately for the Atlantica songs. They are so funny 😭😭😭😭😭 I don’t know if I’ll actually make it / if there’s enough interest but man LOL
41:10 This is my issue with Epic: the Musical, too. The lyrics are just plain awkward and there are a lot of forced rhymes, filler words, repeating words, and just plain cringe rhymes like "Does a soldier use a wooden horse to kìII sleeping trojans cause he vile/ Or does he throw away his remorse and save more lives with guile". That just sounds so bad.
I really love some of the songs from the Epic but Monster in particular is really “try-hard”. I like Warrior of The Mind / My Goodbye and recently There Are Other Ways. But I have noticed with some of the more recent songs there are some choices that don’t seem as strong as the first concept albums were.
Magnifico's wishes following alchemy rules would not only just make him more interesting, but it would also funny enough fix the issues of so many of the granted wishes being so mundane, because yeah, it makes sense that a more complicated wish like being able to fly or something would require a lot more input to be able to grant, therefore making it more efficient to use wishes like that as fuel for the easier ones.
EXACTLY! They are so superficial because it’s surface level magic in a sense. Maybe once in a while Magnifcio does some really crazy ones, but it takes a LOT of wishes to be crushed for him to do that. That’s why they always need new citizens, so he can have more resources to grant bigger wishes to bring in more citizens… etc LOL
The choice of music writers is even more confusing because like, Lin? Like did his contract run out and he didn't want to renew it or something? Why would they not bring in the guy that made the beloved music for Moana, and Encanto which is based off a similar culture, for such an important movie?
They wanted a pop song writer because they wanted to "appeal to the youth". They didn't care about making a good film. They just wanted to make a bankable one.
Unfortunately he is currently being wasted on the Disney remakes. He was likely working on Little Mermaid at the time, and his next project is that Mufasa CGI thing...
Honestly even if not Lin there are so many talented broadway songwriters that could have done something! I’m sure there’s someone Lin could have even referred to them! But yeah as the other comments said he was working on Disney’s other live action things for some reason LOL
I genuinely forgot this movie is even supposed to be set in Spain. How do you make a setting for a musical based off a culture with such famously vibrant music and make it so bland?
I don’t think the characters can NOT know that they forget their wish when they give it up. I mean that wouldn’t work. The story is at 18 you give up your wish (if you want but everyone does). So you’d have groups of 17/18 year olds mixing (like the story has with Simon) and so how would you explain the 17 year olds going “hey friend. You gave up your wish yesterday. How was it?” Because they’re nervous. The 18 year old would immediately realize they forgot it. It would only work if the wish giving up ceremony was a super secret.
Not only that, it's implied that once you give up your wish, you become lifeless and boring. Yet literally every single adult character does just fine, is full of life, energetic, etc. It makes no sense.
I think it could work in the context of “You can’t tell anyone what you wish for or it won’t come true!” - like that‘s very old Disney. And so other people (like your friends) wouldn’t know what your wish is, and maybe Magnificio could program that to be the default response with magic. Like I think there’s a totally a way for them to not realize they forgot through magic and having some surface level thoughts / default responses planted in there by Magnificio to stop thinking about it. The thing about people becoming boring though is definitely weird because apparently only Simon is like that, everyone else is fine LOL. But I feel like that should probably have to do with how important your Wish is to your personality. Like the guy who wants to have long hair probably has other hobbies. Whereas Saba’s wish should mess him up because that’s kinda a “core memory” situation imo. But I think they wanted that to be when you become an adult you lose joy and hope and that’s part of growing up, but they just didn’t go for it as a theme. This could be fixed by having people just be complacent instead of being “boring”, like having people seem very agreeable and malleable afterwards.
This is why the instrumental is so awkward. The lyrics *suck* with it - like, I can see Welcome To Rosas’ instrumental being used for another movie, hell, even a peppy citywide brainwashing anthem could fit more than what they had! No, what makes this song worse is that, and this makes me *extremely* angry - the instrumental, the song, your idea about the forgetting shit being Rosas’s motif aside from the goddamn roses, ALL OF THAT could have worked if the forgetting made them childlike, so Magnifico is like this Happy Go Lucky Big Brother and the song reinforces that, BUT NO. *HELL, THE LIFELESSNESS AND THE PUPPETY-NESS COULD HAVE ALSO WORKED IN ITS GODDAMN FAVOR TOO, BUT GUESS WHAT?! NOPE, THAT SHIT’S UNINTENTIONAL! FUCK THIS MOVIE!!!*
EXACTLY. The lyrics and the instrumental don’t feel like they actually “go together”. Like these people didn’t talk to each other 😭😭😭😭😭😭 the lyricist just wrote some lyrics and the composer wrote the instrumental and neither of them had any communication with each other. Because I think instrumentally this is definitely the most redeeming one.
I'm about 3 minutes in and haven't seen the movie. That said I'm not a writer of lyrics but one of storys. Not famous or something but the storytelling of the song is off. (Realy the entire movie is a big Why?!? I was out when I heard the so-called vilain song) what would I do? I'd start with how the land looked before the city was there. How all sorts of lost and homeless people found their way to Rosas. Blaw Blaw blaw. Highlight how it was built by King and Citizens hand in hand without prejucees and how hard they worked for it and still do and then add A this is our city of Rosas were all our wishes will come true. And end on a high note by praising how beautyfull and piecfull the city is now.
Not necessarily - like if you look at Flynn Rider he’s in that 3D style but he doesn’t have the jumbo princess eyes haha. It’s more about the proportions to the head I think but I’m not an artist so maybe someone else can figure it out. But Magnifcio looks a lot better in the 2D test they did for him and I think it’s because his eyes seem smaller and more natural.
that’s one of the very first problems I had when I watched this for the first time. The song wants to be like Belle and include the hustle and bustle, but this song and the tempo just stays the same. Nothing really happens and you don’t really get anything out of it. Also I find it so funny that a Barbie movie with not the best cgi that was made years ago has much superior songwriting and composing then current day Disney. You’d think they hire the best of the best, not the best of top 40 radio hits. 🤷♀️ Loved this video. Also your ideas to make Rosas more magical are so good!! How is Disney fumbling the use of fantasy/magic this bad?? Omg!! Everything is so bland! Please more song deep dives 🙏 Ur my fav for this
Thank you so much! I absolutely plan to make more, for Wish and for the good Disney songs 😂🤣 I REALLY want to talk about Belle now but it’s a 5 minute song so I may need some extra time to script. I’m glad you enjoyed it, stay tuned! 🥰🥰
this was very informative, i loved your energy throughout! i was listening to this while drawing, but i will definitely be rewatching this again to understand more on how to avoid these mistakes in my own songwriting and storytelling! ❤
After MONTHS of me talking high praise about this channel to my twin, THIS was the video that made her watch you. BECAUSE SOMEONE FINALLY SAID SOMETHING ABOUT THE FOLKTALES
Awwwwwwww I’m so glad to hear that! I’m glad you both are able to find a RU-vidr to enjoy together 🥹🥹🥹🥹 my sister would never watch what I like with me 😂🤣
You seems to prefere higher notes, and ok, you can truly sing those like a champ, but the deeper tone in the end was amazing. Maybe you should experiment more with those?
Every animation has a different pipeline, the pipeline has to conform with the tools and style used in the production and every animation has a different combination of tools and styles. HOWEVER, the sound HAS TO BE MADE BEFORE THE ANIMATION, because the step BEFORE animation in the pipeline is ALWAYS the animatic, and animatics NEED TO HAVE SOUND. Sometimes they make a "step" audio (like the animators reading the script out loud instead of the voice actors) so the animatic can be made before the official sound is ready, but it has to be extremely similar to the official one because if they don't match they'll need to reanimate the scene and this is expensive. So I'm like 95% sure that the song lyrics were ALREADY finished when they started the animation. The problem here wasn't the communication wall between the animators and song writers, but between song writers and script writers. The script writers just send a very simplified list of topics of what they planned to do with the script to the song writers, expecting that both the lyrics and the script could be made almost independently of each other, when in reality they should both be writed and planned TOGHETER. When the song writers tried to reach out the script writers were like "you have all you need to do this, we've already send you the bullet points list" and that's why the song lyrics don't match exactly with the story. The boringness of the visuals during the musical parts is fault of the story boarders. Storyboard is the spine of the animation process and will make our break a project.
you can love it, but still find critiques with it! I still enjoy listening to it, even if diving into the lyrics makes me want to throw my phone across the room.
Yes! Thank you! The phrase "it's unlikely that you'll be unhappy" is the most nothing lyric I have ever heard in my life! It couldn't have less of an opinion if it tried. XD
It's just the songwriter desperately trying to fill out the line with as many useless syllables as possible just to get it over with and move on to the next one.
I will compare others kingdoms or locations with Rosas. Here is a short list: - Lilo's island (I forgot the name!) It's big, colorful, the houses are pretty; looks fun to explore and learn Hula 🙂 - Agrabah; It's big, there's a lot of stuff to do; visit the castle, buy food at the market, see the fire breathers. - Jim adn Sarah hawkins's home; It's welcoming and beautiful, the food seams tasty, changing the windows could be fun, there's aliens to meet and at night, there's a party. Rosas; People have long hair or can dance.... that's it! It doesn't look really fun or magical 😐 This kingdom looks so boring compare to the others!
I do NOT understand why they did that 😭😭😭😭 like sure, give him long hair, but make it so his hair has a life of its own and octopus arms or something. Have it change colour. Have it do literally anything. I could see someone wishing for Rapunzel-like Hair as someone who really cares about their curly hair but like……….. just long? And he’s hiding it anyway before it’s revealed? That’s really weird 😭😭😭😭😭
1:01:27 I'm not an expert on the field but I do know that the script and dialog/sound design comes first, the animation is modeled after the voice actors's deliveries (look at all the improv Robin Williams did for the genie in Alladin) so my hipothesis is this: They told Julia Mickaels to write the song early in developement and didn't give her the finished script to read, so she worked with what she had which I think was just a vague summary of the general idea, something like "This girl is giving a tour of this city called rosas, she really loves this place, it's got magic, she has a grandfather who is important to the plot so add that and there's this king that the people love"
This is why it’s so insane to me because that’s about what I thought in terms of the process (especially in Lion King too there’s a line that was improv’ed, like the “drag and do the hula” one). But this movie made me doubt whether 3D was like that LMAO. Yeah I agree with you - I don’t think she got to read the script. And I don’t think she understood what she was allowed to do as the songwriter. Like Howard Ashman wrote the lyrics but he was also a producer for the movies he worked on, he has some level of creative control. Which is ideally how it should be because the script and the songs ARE the story.
I love everyone who worked on this movie. I've been rewatching things I liked when I was small and seeing that SO MANY OF THEM are low quality and generally slop make me so indescribably sad. Seeing people actually care about "kids" movies (ai hate that term nowadays. It's an excuse to make lazy garbage) and make something high quality for kids makes me so happy. Even when I was small I knew that there was something special about this movie. Yesterday I rewatched it with my friend, and man, we were BOOGYING THE HELL OUT to the music. So happy to see that you've covered this movie and especially How Can I Refuse! I LOOOOVE music but don't know how it works, and from the way people teach it, I doubt I ever will (autism moment. My brain is just wired that differently 😅). I love getting into the nitty gritty of things and can tell when music is high quality, so seeing someone get into the nitty gritty when I can't is just... EEEEEEEEEEE makes me so happy!!! (PS: how can i refuse is our favourite and preminger convinced us to write fun villains instead of the usual serious & disturbing ones we do!!)
I know the similarities between Welcome To Rosas and The Family Madrigal have been commented on a lot with respect to the music but I'm always struck by the differences in the wishes/gifts revealed in the songs. The gifts developed by the members of the family Madrigal appear to be more-or-less random, maybe vaguely based on the person's personality but definitely not consciously chosen by anyone/anything. Yet they're so much more interesting and dynamic than the wishes in Wish, especially the ones shown in Welcome to Roses, even though you'd think that someone's deliberate choice of what they're wishing for would utilize all the creativity and imagination inherent to the human spirit. And in fact the whole idea that someone's wishes are the bestest, beautifulest, most important part of themselves kind of relies on it. Yet you're telling me some people's "most beautiful part of themselves" is... wanting long hair? Wanting to dance on beat? As compared to, say, a kid who's mentioned once in passing as being "an animal guy" who gets to communicate with & befriend any animal? I know there's the setup for a possible explanation for the wishes being so lackluster but the movie doesn't actually provide it. I'm guessing back in the drafts when Magnifico was just straight-up evil he probably purposely only granted wishes that were kind of petty and small in scope, so that he wouldn't inadvertently grant a wish powerful enough to threaten himself. But that needed to change when they made him good and had him grant wishes that were good for Rosas (and just couldn't pose a potential threat)- because how is growing long hair "good" for Rosas? It's apparently not a potential threat as far as Magnifico can see but it's not actually "good" for the kingdom either. The guy's not harvesting his super-growing hair to make wigs for cancer patients and soak up oil spills in the ocean, etc. Maybe they could spin it as Magnifico only granting relatively small wishes to make sure nothing too powerful was granted as a safety measure but Sabo's wish was small potatoes too, so even that doesn't fit. Idk, maybe they had already finished this scene before they switched Magnifico from being evil so it made sense at the time or something. As it stands, it completely undermines the theme and importance of wishes when all the wishes we see are underwhelming af. Maybe that's why all the secrecy- Magnifico doesn't want anyone to know his kingdom is filled with a bunch of basic bitches.
Yeah exactly. The reason why this works in Beauty and the Beast is because the opening narration is about the Beast while the opening is about Belle. Or in the really old Disney movies with the storybook, like Cinderella, it’s more of a prologue song that establishes where we’re going while the opening credits of the movie roll. They don’t need a story book opening about Magnificio & Rosas… and a song about the same thing. They could have kept the storybook if they made this opening about Asha instead.
16:20 It could've also served as a nudge to The Lion King and how Mufasa says that the kings of the past look down on them from the stars and eventually comes down to speak with him son after his death. It would also make the line in This Wish, "I look up at the stars to guide me", have more meaning. She could believe that her father is watching over her through the stars. The even if Star himself isn't her father, it could've been hinted that he was sent by him.
Plus, there’s already the line of “the way you always taught me” in the same song, referring to her father. So having the stars hold this spiritual meaning could make the song about her asking for guidance in a more impactful way. It makes sense that she would look to the stars since they hold a deeper spiritual meaning. And she knows that, especially with the alchemist rewrite angle, her father would never stand for what’s happening to their people. There are so many amazing things they could’ve done with this story and I think that’s what makes the movie we got so frustrating and awful.
I am SO glad someone finally mentioned this sounds like a child trying to rhyme. It stuck out to me from the very first time i heard this song and i was surprised no one ever mentioned it!! writing a song like a child would COULD be an interesting concept, if used in the proper context. But that’s not what’s happening here obviously 😭 wish is just a huge disappointment
Yeah for sure! Like Frozen for example kinda has this in “Do You Wanna Build A Snowman” - you can tell how Anna talks at the beginning Vs the end. Do you wanna build a snowman? Come on let's go and play I never see you any more Come out the door It's like you've gone away! We used to be best buddies And now we're not I wish you would tell me why Do you wanna build a snowman? It doesn't have to be a snowman! Compared to Please, I know you're in there People are asking where you've been They say, "Have courage", and I'm trying to I'm right out here for you Just let me in We only have each other It's just you and me What are we gonna do? Do you wanna build a snowman? Like the rhyme structure is the same but it’s the word choice. “It’s like you’ve gone away!” Or “and now we’re not…” Vs “People are asking where you’ve been… they say have courage” etc. You can tell how they captured how a child speaks Vs an adult. Child Anna is very… blunt almost. Like she just says things that come into her mind as they are but adult Anna is trying to reach Elsa and trying different strategies in a tangible way. She starts with “people are asking about you” and when that doesn’t work she tries to express that Anna is here for her, with whatever she’s feeling.
i got so many videos about wish in my recs, haha. I've learned so much about music and writing, and i really liked your ideas about small changes to the story or different lyrics. One thing that came to my mind: did you check out the italian versions of the songs? i listened to the german version of "knowing what i know now" (bc i love the instrumentals), and i felt like even the german lyrics sounded unrythmic and had weird emphasis on the syllables. maybe that could be something to compare? anyway, thanks for the video, will be checking out your other stuff :)
That tends to happen with translating songs in other languages because some languages needs more syllables for words than others. But I think how Wish was written probably doesn’t help a process that is already complicated 😭😭😭
I'm not a proffessional animator either but I have made many animatics in my time. I would imagine that normally concept art comes first, then music and lyrics, then animatic, then final refining for the music, then the final animation. That's how I imagine it would happen.
Happy Day In Hell is one of my least favorite songs in the show. It's just several minutes making this joke of Charlie being like a Disney Princess in Hell without really doing much with it so it quickly becomes trite.
I totally agree. And it’s not a good first impression of the show because it makes it seem like a parody instead of sincere. This show doesn’t treat Charlie with sincere respect as a character.
It seems they took inspo from "Encanto" and "Moana" for a cute, upbeat opening, when they needed something epic and foreboding like "Frozen," "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," "Aladdin," and "The Little Mermaid."
How about Beauty and the Beast as well since that has an amazing opening number that not only introduces the story BUT also managed to explain who the main character is, which is what Wish failed to do, with “Welcome To Rosas” we’re constantly told about Magnifico and the wishes even though it’s already been talked about in the book, so I think the rewritten version should focus more on the environment and how people react to Asha as well as knowing her a bit more.
@@ThatBoyShads I think BATB was one of the influences used, and it's also an upbeat number, not quite as mysterious or foreboding as I would want. But I do agree that we should know more about Asha and how people interact with her. Despite being a tour guide, we don't see her involved in the community much once she learns the truth.
I love the ideas you propose of how the whole movie could've been rewritten. I've seen a couple of people rewrite the movie or its parts and I'm always thinking "This is so genius! And people who write movies professionally didn't think about this? Seriously?"
I feel you! I wish voices of small creators were heard more often... I fear that once I finish writing my story, it's gonna get disregarded for that reason alone TwT But I'm rooting for you!
Is Frozen like the only other Disney movie with a lame opening song. Cause no one thinks about the cutting ice song. Unlike wish, it’s at least saved by the rest of its soundtrack.
I highly disagree - Anna’s song is the opening number, Frozen Heart is the prologue. Also Frozen Heart isn’t just about cutting ice: Ice has a magic, can't be controlled Stronger than one, stronger than ten Stronger than a hundred men! Ho! So cut through the heart, cold and clear Strike for love and strike for fear See the beauty, sharp and sheer Split the ice apart And break the frozen heart They’re talking about Elsa!! It actually sets up the themes of the story really well, even if people may not find it as catchy as Belle! Elsa is the frozen heart worth mining! It’s worth to break through the ice to reach her so she doesn’t have to be alone anymore!
@@CalxiynCaresTooMuch I see, well while I have your attention, how do you feel about the take that “Thneedville" from the Lorax Movie is a better opening song than "Happy Day in Hell" and "Welcome to Rosas". Since it does a better job at going into detail about the main location, how the people feel about it, and the antagonist. I hate the Lorax but I couldn’t help but notice how the song hits some of your needed checkmarks.
