Monthly Archives: October 2016

Maleficent – Evil and Hero in one

mf1
Maleficent is a fairy with magnificent power who lives in the Moors, a magical forest right next to the human kingdom. The little girl meets a boy named Stefan and falls in love with him, whose love for Maleficent is overshadowed by his ambition to become king. They grow up apart from each other, and Maleficent becommf4es the Moors’ protector. She is now old enough to force King Henry of human kingdom to retreat due to his attempt to conquer the Moors. Losing and being severely wounded in the battle, the king declares that he will marry his only daughter, Princess Leila, to whomever can kill Maleficent. Stefan tries to find Maleficent he does. Drugging Maleficent but not daring killing her, Stefan cuts off her wings and brings them to the King as the proof of her death. Feeling sorrow by Stefan’s betrayal, she declares herself Queen of the Moors, forming a dark kingdom with a raven that she gives the human form to and is named Diaval. He acts as her wings, her spy and confidant.

After some time, Diaval informs Maleficent that King Stefan has a baby girl, named Aurora, with Queen Leila (his wife) and is about to host a christening for the newborn. Bent on revenge, Maleficent arrives without being invited and curses the Aurora: on her sixteenth birthday, she will prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and fall into a sleep like death, from which she

Disney's "Maleficent" L to R: Prince Phillip (Brenton Thwaites) and Aurora (Elle Fanning) Ph: Film Frame ©Disney 2014

will never awaken. When Stefan begs for mercy, Maleficent offers an antidote: the curse can only be broken by true love’s kiss. Stefan tries to keep his daughter away from all the spinning wheels in the kingdom by destroying them and hides their remnants in the castle dunngeon, meanwhile Princess Aurora is taken care by three pixies – Knotgrass , Thistlewit , and Flittle, as the request of the King. He sends his armies to find and kill Maleficent, but she surrounds the Moors with an indestructible wall of thorns. King Stefan becomes obsessed by Maleficent trying to prevent the curse, even ignores to see his wife with serious sickness on bed.

Maleficent always pretends to hate Aurora but knows that she already has motherly feelings with the little girl when watching over her all the time. After a brief meeting with the young Aurora, Maleficent watches over her from afar. When Aurora is fifteen, she encounters Maleficent. Knowing that she is being watchmf3ed over, she refers to Maleficent as her “fairy godmother.” Realizing she has grown fond of the princess, Maleficent attempts to revoke the curse but she recalls saying
to the king that no power on Earth can revoke it and realizes that restriction applies to even herself. In the forest, Aurora meets Prince Philip, and the two are instantly smitten with one another. On the day before Aurora’s sixteenth birthday, Maleficent invites her to live with her in the Moors. The pixies inadvertently tell Aurora of her past and reveal Maleficent’s true identity, and  Aurora runs away to her father’s castle.

mf5

Lion King – King of Animals

lk5

lk6There is a place in Africa called Pride Lands of which the animal kingdom is ruled over by a lion from Pride Rock. King Mufasa’s newborn son, Simba, is presented to the kingdom by Rafiki, a mandrill who serves as shaman and adviser. Simba grows up and is taught about Pride Lands and explained by his father the responsibilities of kingship and the “circle of life” which connects all living things. King Mufasa has a younger brother named Scar, who always convets the throne and plots to eliminate Mufasa and Simba in order for him to be king. He tricks Simba and his bestfriend Nala, lk3also his betrothed one, into exploring a forbidden elephants’ graveyard. Scar cleverly spots three hyenas who are one his side to have chance of attacking two little buddies. Mufasa realizes the situation from
the warning of his major domo, the hornbill Zazu, and rescues the children. Mufasa is angry with Simba for not asking him of allowance, but forgives and explains to Simba that the great kings of the past watch over them from the night sky, from which he will one day be watching over Simba, too.

lk2Not successful in the first time, Scar sets a trap for his brother and nephew, leading Simba into a gorge and having the hyenas drive a large herd of wildebeest into a stampede that will cost his life. He pretends to be seen really serious when informing Mufasa of Simba’s dangerous situation, knowing the king will rush to save his son. Mufasa saves Simba but hangs up periously from the gorge’s edge and is betrayed by Scar, who sends him falling to his death. Scar makes Simba thinks that the death of the king is Simba’s fault and tells him to run away from the kingdom, and simultaneously orders the hyenas to trace after Simba and kill him, but Simba escapes. As a result, Scar take after the kingdom and becomes king after telling the animals about Mufasa and Simba’s deaths, allowing the hyenas to live the Pride Lands.

Slk7imba faints on the road and is rescued by a meerkat Timon and a warthog Pumbaa, who a fellow outcasts. They live with Simba as he gradually grows up in the jungle, a carefree life under the motto “hakuna matata”. Now a young adult, Simba rescues Timon and Pumbaa from a hungry lion who turns o
ut to be Nala. She and Simba reunite and fall in love, and she urges him to return home, telling him that Pride Lands have become a drought-stricken wasteland under Scar’s reign. Feeling guilty over his father’s death, Simba refuses and storms off. He encounters Rafiki, who tells him that Mufasa’s spirit lives on in Simba. Simba is visited by the ghost of Mufasa in the night sky, who tells him he must take his rightful place as king. Realizing he can no longer run fro his past, Simba decides to return home.

lk4Helped by his friends, Simba sneaks past the hyenas at Pride Rock and confronts Scar. Scar taunts him over his role in Mufasa’s death and backs him to the edge of the rock, where he reveals to Simba that he murdered Mufasa. Enraged, Simba pins Scar to the ground and forces him to reveal the truth to the rest of the pride. Timon, Pumbaa, Rafiki, Zazu, and the lionesses fend off the hyenas while Scar, attempting to escape, is cornered by Simba at the top of Pride Rock. Scar begs for mercy and attempts to blame the hyenas for his actions; Simba spares lk8his life but orders him to leave the Pride Lands forever. Scar attacks his nephew, but Simba manages to toss him from the top of the rock. Scar survives the fall but is killed by the hyenas, who overheard him betray them to Simba. With his enemies gone, Simba takes over the kingship as the rains begin to fall, restoring life to the land.

Later, with Pride Rock restored to its former glory, Rafiki presents Simba and Nala’s newborn cub to the assembled animals, continuing the circ
le of life.lk1

Fa Mulan! Soul of Chinese’s Will of Fire!

ml2
Please do not ask me if I
post another movie of Walt Disney Animation. It is just simply because I like most of them, especially the animation movies in the 1990s. Today, I will also introduce to you even if you already know it or not, an animation about a brave Chinese girl named Fa Mulan, who makes
all people give her admiration and respects.

ml1The opening of this story tells you about a person with the name Shan Yu, general of the Huns, carries his army forces to invade China.
Facing the risk of a big fight, Chinese Emperor orders a general mobilizati
on. The notices or Military Services ask for a man of each family to join the Chinese Army. A man named Fa Zhou who is the only man and a veteran in a family with the conscription, tries to put on him the armor and is one more time going to war, his daughter named Fa Mulanml5 is afraid that he is going to lose his life on the battle field. She decides to disguise as a man, then puts on her father’s old armor and enlists instead of her dad. Her family realizes what is going on and starts worrying about her, meanwhile her grandma Fa pray for Mulan’s safety to the ancestors. The ancestors of course hear that an order Great Stone Dragon to protect Mulan. Unfortunately, Great Stone Dragon is not a living entity, so another dragon, small like a chopstick and named Mushu, is assigned to take care of Mulan.

The training camp of Chinese Army is supposed to ml7train recruits and turn both the amateurs and skillful ones to true soldiers. The first step of Mulan in the training camp is hard because she does not know how to behave like a man, which also gets worse when she has some provides from Mushu. However, under the guidance of Captain Li Shang, she and her fellow recruits Yao, Ling, and Chien-Po, step by step become professional warriors. As a desire to see Mulan being successful, Mushu makes a fake order to Shang as if it is from his father, General Li, telling him to join the Imperial Army into the mountains. Sadly, Shang soon recognizes that the Huns already made an extermination on General Li and is army force. The Huns actually wait for Shang’s troops to be iml3n that place and ambushed. As facing the risk of losing the fight, an avalanche is created by clever Mulan and her cannon to bury most of the invaders. Shan Yu still has time to give Mulan a slash on her chest, which reveals her true
identity as a girl to Capt Shang. She must have been under sentence of death as the laws say, but Shang spares her life and dismisses her from the army. Mulan still follows the army to the Imperial City to report the Huns’ destruction, although she is no longer allowed to. She wants to warn Shang about the fact that some Hun warrior including Shan Yu are still alive after the avalanche and planning to capture the Emperor when they arrive to the City.

Shang is still thinking what Mulan said is a lie until Shan Yu’s intention
is accomplished with the mission of capturing the Emperor and seize the palace. Mulan and ml6her three friends, Yao, Ling, and Chien-Po under the makeup of concubines, help each other to enter the palace. With the participation of Shang in preventing Shan Yu from assassinating the Emperor, Mulan is able to isolate Shan Yu and engage him in solo fight. The little dragon, Mushu, really does a good jop from observing Mulan’s signals to finally release a bunch of burning fireworks at Shan Yu. And you know the result, Shan Yu dies as the time people in the Imperor City are enjoying a show of flourishing fireworks. The Emperor and all people in the city bow and praise to her in an unprecedented honor. Neverthless, facing the important decision which is to be the Emperor’s advisor (with his offer), Mulan politely ml4refuses it and asks to return to her family. Mulan is also awarded with Shan Yu’s sword and shows it to her father when she gets home, but he is more jo
yful to know his daughter is safely coming back. Shang actually has feelings with Mulan. he uses her helmet as a reason of coming to her house to return it, and accepts the family’s invitation for dinner. Mushu proves a good work for family ancestors and becomes the Fa family guardian.

Thanks for reading my post this week.

ml8

Frozen – The best Disney Christmas Movie ever

fr6

If anyone out there is asked about the one of the best 3D animation movie from Disney they have ever seen, regardless of the ages or genders, the answer would probably be “Frozen”. It has been the most successful movie that Walt Disney Pictures released in the biggest holiday of the year with the box office of $1,276 billion.

fr10Frozen , a 2013 American 3D computer-animated musical fantasy comedy drama, tells us about the story of a kingdom named Arendelle. The king and his wife give birth to two pretty princesses named Elsa and Anna, but what magical is the older sister has a special powers, with which she can produce and manipulate ice, frost and snow. One day in the morning, princess Anna wakes up her older sister, Elsa, to play with her and Elsa unintentionally injures Anna. King and Queen bring Anna and Elsa to the troll king to have him heal Anna as well as erase her memories about Elsa’s magics. Since then, the King decides to isolate the sisters until Elsa learns how to control her power.

One day, King and Queen have to go to the neighbor country for some political issues, and they never comeback because the ship on which they are is sunk by a large wave. Certainly, Elsa is about to take after the country as a Queen. fr3Her coronation goes well although she is still worried about her uncontrollable powers. However, before the coronation starts, Anna has chance to go out of the palace and she meets Prince Hans (from the Southern Isles). They are rapidly attracted to each other and Prince Hans asks Princess Anna to marry him. Anna accepts the proposal and asks her sister, but Elsa disagrees with their sudden marriage.
The sisters argue and Elsa cannot hold her emotional compression as she turns the water fountain into scary-shape ice and then her whole  country into a snowy region. Princess Elsa is freaked out and runs away from people, meanwhile Anna thinks it is her fault that causes Elsa to act like that and decides to find her sister. Before that, Anna asks Hans to take care things going on in the palace while she is absent.

fr8fr9fr5fr4

Elsa goes far away and builds herself a palace made from ice. Meanwhile, Anna also goes to the direction where she last saw her sister, and fortunately gets help from a guy name Kristoff along with his reindeer Sven, an animal having a dog’s characteristics. One the way to Elsa’s palace, Anna, Kristoff and Sven meet a snowman named Olaf, who was Elsa and Anna’s childhood snowman and unknowingly brought to life. fr7There are a lot of obstacle on the way to North Mountain (where Elsa is currently living), but Anna and her friends finally get there. Anna goes inside the palace and meets Elsa.
The poor girl and Olaf tries to persuade Else to come back to the country, but Elsa refuses to do that for she is worried of something worse than it is now could happen as a result of her power again. She accidentally injures her sister one more time in the heart, and this time is more serious than the last one. Horrified, Elsa created a giant snow creature to chase them away from her place. What unexpected is that prince Hans and the Duke of Weselton (who seeks to exploit Arendelle for profit) have brought a small army force to her palace. Elsa tries to protect herself using ice to fight again the soldiers. The little girl is knocked unconscious by a falling chandelier and imprisoned in Arendelle by Hans.
As the time Anna is carried by her friends, Kristoff realizes Anna’s hair is turning white. He also finds help from the trolls and figures out princess Anna can only be healed (thawed) by “an act of true love”. fr2Believing that prince Hans is the only answer for healing Anna, Kristoff races back to the palace to bring Anna to Hans. At the same time, Hans goes to the prison where Elsa is in and asks her to undo the winter, but she has no idea how to do it. When Anna meets Hans and begs him for a kiss to break the curse, Hans refuses to do that and reveals his
true purpose of proposing her which is to seize control of Arendelle’s thrown. He leaves Anna to die, and charges Elsa with treason for her younger sister’s apparent death.

Elsa breaks the chains, escapes and heads out into the blizzard on the fjord. In the place where Anna is dying, Olaf tells her the truth that Kristoff is in love with her, and they then escape to the fjord as well. Prince Hans chases after Princess Elsa and pretends to her that she is the reason Anna dies. Too despair, the blizzard suddenly stops giving Kristoff and Anna the chance the see each other clearer. However, realizing that Hans is trying to kill Elsa with his sword, Anna throws herself in between to people as the time she is completely frozen like a solid ice block, preventing Han’s attack and breaking his sword into pieces. Elsa is too deep in sorrow hugging his little sister, and Anna becomes to thaw. Her act of scarifying herself to save her sister’s life is an act of true love. Anna recognizes love is the key to her power control, beginning to thaw the kingdom and giving Olaf his own personal flurry so as to survive in the summer.

Finally, Prince Hans and the Duke are imprisoned for their crime of attacking the queen. Kristoff can say his words of falling in love with Anna with the blessing of Elsa. And they, Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, Sven, and Olaf, live a happy life.

fr1