Double wow. I can’t believe half an hour into this I was actually thinking it was one of the worst, most annoying movies I’d seen in a long, long time. But something about it makes you want to make the effort, to connect, to get it, and I’m glad I stuck with it, because this is the best Disney movie since – you know what, I almost even want to say before Tarzan?

In any case, it is certainly a huge step up for Disney. The message is beautiful, the music incredible, the animation (once you get past the oddness of it all) fantastic, and the ending, the Walt Disney quote … like at that exact moment I was still choked up by the movie as a whole, realising how important an entry it is into Disney’s awkward recent history, then those words came up, and I realised just before the attribution came up that they were actually Disney’s words, and I just broke into tears so bad. If this doesn’t win the Best Animated Feature Oscar next year, then, I don’t know, I guess I look forward to seeing the movie that does? I can’t wait to see this one again, I’ll be more engaged in that first half hour next time around.

Addendum: this being the kind of movie I’ll probably ponder over for a week or more, the following just occurred to me – much as I loved the movie, I do have this to say … Disney, you’ve made a kind of pledge to us with this movie … DON’T f**k up this new trajectory … DO “Keep moving forward,” give us MORE of this kind of thing. (Sorry, but when it comes to Disney – real Disney – I can get damn passionate, and it’s been a long time since I knew why that was, this movie reminded me).

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