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Mary Poppins
(c) Disney
Beginning with the landmark Pinocchio in 1940, Disney music has always caught the Academy�s attention. Following that film�s victories for score and song (the immortal �When You Wish Upon a Star�), such Disney favorites as Dumbo, Song of the South, Mary Poppins, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, Pocahontas, Tarzan and Monsters, Inc. (not to mention the Madonna sung tunes from Touchstone�s Dick Tracy and Hollywood�s Evita) have won one or both categories.
Composer/songwriter Alan Menken has been very lucky in these categories, winning eight total Oscars for Disney films, which places him at number five (tied with five other people) on the list of the all-time winners (that�s just four down from Walt himself, by the way). And he could add another one to his total this year with one of his three nominated songs (with Stephen Schwartz) from Enchanted. He and Howard Ashman were also the first songwriters to pull off three nominations for Original Song from the same movie, with Beauty and the Beast in 1991. (One of the two other times this has happened was for another Disney movie, The Lion King, by Elton John and Tim Rice.) Pretty good track record, especially considering The Little Mermaid was Menken�s first ever film score.
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
(c) Disney
Elsewhere in Academy history, Disney has fared well in the technical categories, especially with Best Visual Effects, where it has won five times, for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Mary Poppins, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man�s Chest. And speaking of Pirates, the third entry in the trilogy, At World�s End, is up for the award again this year. The Disney studio has also been awarded several Scientific and Technical Achievement Academy Awards throughout the years.
Animation has only recently broke through into the writing categories, and four of the five nominations so far have been for Disney/Pixar films: Toy Story (the first animated screenplay to be recognized), Finding Nemo, The Incredibles and, most recently, Ratatouille, all in the Original Screenplay category. (The fifth was for DreamWorks� Shrek, in the Adapted Screenplay category).
Audrey Hepburn and Julie Andrews
Which leaves us with the acting categories. To date, only one actor -- Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins -- has won for a performance in a Disney film, although a few have won special awards. Both Bobby Driscoll (for So Dear to My Heart) and Hayley Mills (for Pollyanna) won the now retired �juvenile performance� Oscar (recipients received a miniature Oscar -- how cute), while James Baskett won an honorary statuette �for his able and heart-warming characterization of Uncle Remus, friend and story teller to the children of the world� in Song of the South. This award made him the first African-American actor to win an Oscar.
Enchanted
(c) Disney
More recently, Jamie Lee Curtis (Freaky Friday) and Amy Adams (Enchanted) were buzzed about for nominations but, alas, came up empty-handed. However, the most unlikely of nominees ever in Academy history was Johnny Depp, who received his first Oscar nomination in 2003 for his now iconic performance as Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. He didn�t win (although he did take home the Screen Actors Guild Award), but getting nominated for playing a pirate in a movie based on a theme park ride was likely reward enough.
The 80th Annual Academy Awards will be presented this Sunday, February 24, on ABC (hey, that�s owned by Disney too!). With nominations for Ratatouille, Enchanted and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World�s End, it could prove to be another good year for Disney and Oscar.
Coming Soon:
- Don�t worry if you start seeing spots next month -- it�s just the Platinum Edition DVD of 101 Dalmatians (Disney DVD, March 4).
- It did it in theaters, so no reason to think you won�t be Enchanted all over again when it comes home (Disney DVD, March 18).
- It�s south of the border time with the Classic Caballeros Collection, featuring Saludos Amigos and The Three Caballeros (Disney DVD, April 29).
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-- Kirby C. Holt
-- Logos 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 ... In addition to his Toon Talk reviews, Kirby is the creator of Movie Dearest, a blog for movie fans.
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 February 5, 2008