Toon Talk: Herbie: Fully Loaded
Page 3 of 3
(c) Disney
|
In this ‘Toon Talk’ feature, I’ll briefly highlight a recommended film or DVD, outside of the Disney universe, of similar interest to the main subject. If you thought that Herbie: Fully Loaded was the first film to feature a female drag racer, you’d be wrong … Way back in 1983, a pre-Die Hard Bonnie Bedelia got some Oscar buzz (she’d have to settle for a Golden Globe nod) for playing real life hot rod champ Shirley “Cha Cha�? Muldowney in the Rocky-esque biopic Heart Like a Wheel (Twentieth Century Fox, DVD available September 6th). Co-starring Beau Bridges, Anthony Edwards and Hoyt Axton, and directed by Jonathan Kaplan (who specializes in such “strong woman�? pictures as The Accused and Love Field), the film wins you over with its realistic characterizations and situations, even if have no idea who a drag racer named “Cha Cha�? is. |
Coming Soon in Toon Talk:
-
In celebration of Disneyland’s 50th Anniversary comes the new DVD Disneyland: The Secrets, Stories and Magic of the Happiest Place on Earth (July 12th).
-
School may be out, but its in session for Sky High, a super-hero academy headed by Kurt Russell and Kelly Preston (July 9th).
-
Before Chicken Little hits the skies, Disney presents Vanguard Animation’s Valiant, another computer-animated comedy about a feathered misfit of a hero, a plucky pigeon who saves the R.A.F. during World War II (August 19th).
And Coming Soon from Buena Vista Home Video:
- Two Disney Channel movies come to disc with The Even Stevens Movie (starring Christy Carlson Romano and Shia LaBeouf) and Cadet Kelly (starring Hilary Duff); Vin Diesel goes Kindergarten Cop with The Pacifier; plus the award-winning film adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s The Woodlanders (June 28th).
- Just in time to capitalize on the upcoming live action would-be blockbuster: The Fantastic Four: The Complete Animated Series; Christina Ricci and Anne Heche co-star in the long-in-limbo screen adaptation of Elizabeth Wurtzel’s Prozac Nation; Skeet Ulrich stars in the hacker thriller Track Down; and Emily Mortimer and Gerard Butler co-star in the critically acclaimed heart-warmer Dear Frankie (July 5th).
- Check out The Mickey Mouse Club both “old�? and “new�? with The Best of the Original Mickey Mouse Club and The Mickey Mouse Club: The Best of Britney, Justin and Christina; classic Mouse shorts, including Steamboat Willie, can be found on Vintage Mickey; and Wes Craven presents Dracula III: Legacy starring Roy Scheider and Rutger Hauer as the Prince of Darkness (July 12th).
- Its Buffy the Vampire Slayer reunion time: Michelle Trachtenberg is the Ice Princess (co-starring Joan Cusack, Kim Cattrall and Hayden Panettiere) and David Boreanaz is Death in The Crow: Wicked Prayer (co-starring Edward Furlong, Tara Reid and Dennis Hopper); and more Baby Einstein fun with Baby Einstein: Baby Wordsworth (July 19th).
- From the vaults: the sea-faring comedy The Beatniks (starring Robert Morse, Stefanie Powers and Phil Silvers), the historical adventure Johnny Tremain (Hal Stalmaster, Luana Patton and Sebastian Cabot), the nostalgic Toby Tyler, or Ten Weeks With a Circus (Kevin Corcoran) and the fish-out-of-water comedy The World’s Greatest Athlete (Tim Conway, John Amos and Jan-Michael Vincent); also: before she was Desperate, Teri Hatcher co-starred with Louis Gossett Jr. in the made-for-TV thriller Momentum; and Holly Hunter and Ron Silver play tennis foes Billy Jean King and Bobby Riggs in ABC’s When Billie Met Bobby (August 2nd).
- From the “It’s About Time�? Department: get ready for a totally Muppet-tational happening with the DVD debut of The Muppet Show: The Complete First Season; and from the “Look How Fall They Have Fallen�? Department: the dreadful depressing The Muppets’ Wizard of Oz (August 9th).
- It’s all about the twos on August 16th: more single-disc short collections with two volumes of Walt Disney’s Timeless Tales (including Three Little Pigs, The Grasshopper and the Ants and The Tortoise and the Hare on Volume 1 and The Ugly Duckling, Ferdinand the Bull and The Country Cousin on Volume 2); two Disney Channel series appear on That’s So Raven: Disguise the Limit and Phil of the Future: Gadgets & Gizmos; two more Studio Ghibli favorites: My Neighbors the Yamadas and Pom Poko (the latter in a two-disc special edition); two Miramax Special Editions with the Academy Award-winning My Left Foot (starring Oscar-winners Daniel Day-Lewis and Brenda Fricker) and The Glass Shield (starring non-Oscar-winners Ice Cube and Lori Petty); and the DVD debut of the recent comic book noir Sin City, which had two directors, Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller.
Discuss It
Related Links
-- Kirby C. Holt
-- Logo by William C Searcy, Magic Bear Graphics
Kirby is a lifelong Disney fan and film buff. He is also an avid list maker and chronic ellipsis user ...
Took Talk: Disney Film & Video Reviews by Kirby C. Holt is posted whenever there's something new to review.
The opinions expressed by our Kirby C. Holt, and all of our columnists, do not necessarily represent the feelings of LaughingPlace.com or any of its employees or advertisers. All speculation and rumors about the future plans of the Walt Disney Company are just that - speculation and rumors - and should be treated as such.
-- Posted June 22, 2005