Disney
A hit – but please don’t pretend it’s feminist: Disney+’s Rivals reviewed
For most of my adult life, clever, well-read, feminist women have told me how much they love Jilly Cooper. It…
If you can stand the stress, The Bear is still possibly the best thing on TV
The Bear has been called ‘the most stressful thing on TV’ and I think that’s probably a fair description. It’s…
Nowhere near as miserable as I remember it: The Beatles – Let It Be reviewed
Beatles lore has long held that the film Let It Be was a depressing portrait of the band falling apart.…
Why did C.J. Sansom approve this moronic Disney+ Shardlake adaptation?
What would C.J. Sansom have made of the Disney+ version of his novel series about 16th-century crookback lawyer Matthew Shardlake?…
Why intellectuals love Disney
This month marks the 100th anniversary of Walt Disney’s company. The first cartoons it was founded to produce – the…
Prince Charming is cancelled
The only strikes I really enjoy are actors’ strikes. Teachers’ strikes leave me cold. Train strikes get me into a…
Wikipedia does more justice to this fascinating story than this film: Chevalier reviewed
Chevalier is a biopic of Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, whom you’ve probably never heard of, as I hadn’t. He…
An enjoyable new Ageing Dad drama: Disney+'s The Old Man reviewed
We men all think we’ve still got it, even when we’re well past 50 and young women look straight through…
What’s the matter with Disney?
If there’s one thing that gives a bad name to gender stereotyping it’s the Disney princess: a combination of hideous…
How Disney fell foul of Florida’s governor
How Disney fell foul of Florida’s governor
Disney's rococo roots
A clever, original exhibition at the Wallace Collection has Laura Freeman twirling her way through the West End
The dark story behind Bambi, the book Hitler banned
The extent of Walt Disney’s grasp of the natural world remains unclear. After the Austrian author Felix Salten sold the…
It'll please small kids, but they're never to be trusted: Raya and the Last Dragon reviewed
Raya and the Last Dragon has everything you might want nowadays from a major Disney film — feisty kick-ass heroine,…
These rediscovered drawings by Hokusai are extraordinary
These rediscovered drawings by Hokusai point to him as the father of photography and modern animation, says Laura Gascoigne
The Disneyfication of the moral universe
‘I’m sitting here struggling for words and my friend nailed it: “She was our Princess Leia.”’ With those words, Dr…
Half the fun of the animation – and much longer: Mulan reviewed
Mulan is Disney’s latest live-action remake, coming in at 120 minutes, compared with the 1998 animation, which ran to 80.…
Tim Rice: I left Lord’s during that cricket final… to see The Lion King
As I left Lord’s at around 3 o’clock in the afternoon to go to The Lion King European premiere I…
Completely and utterly and entirely blown away: the Lion King reviewed
The Lion King is Disney’s photorealistic CGI remake of the beloved, hand-drawn 1994 original that, for many children, offered a…
Trumpworld Orlando, where dreams come true
Why did Donald Trump choose Orlando, near Disney World, for his campaign kickoff Tuesday night? Because he appears to be…
How film fell for caliphs and slave girls
Most of Hollywood’s Arabian Nights fantasies are, of course, unadulterated tosh. The Middle East, wrote the American film critic William…
Clumsy, long and lacking circus thrills: Tim Burton’s Dumbo reviewed
Dumbo is an elephant we can’t forget. More than 70 years since Disney’s 1941 film, the big-eared baby is still…
His dark materials
Randy Newman is already struggling to keep up with himself. His dazzling new album, Dark Matter, was written before the…
His dark materials
Randy Newman is already struggling to keep up with himself. His dazzling new album, Dark Matter, was written before the…
You won’t care it’s been done before, because it’s never been done like this: Jungle Book reviewed
This Jungle Book is Disney’s remake of its animated classic of 1967, as beloved by all generations thereafter. Warner Bros…
Lily James's Cinderella is more of a doormat than my actual doormat
Kenneth Branagh’s Cinderella is a Disney film based on a Disney film, so is double Disney, if you like. It…
