Walt avant Mickey

Who better than teen movie "American Pie"'s own Thomas Ian Nicholas to play one of the most celebrated, influential, and history-changing personalities of all time, the creator of Mickey Mouse himself, Walt Disney?

In a casting choice that I'm sure will baffle most, Nicholas, with his boyish good looks (or despite them) is most surely not the right choice for the role. But it's not "Walt Before Mickey's" only pitfall, even if it's the worst.

As a whole, the movie feels flat, uninspired, and at times downright depressing, bordering on awful late night soap opera drama from old days that have since been forgotten.

There's no one of particular note on the cast, the story (as often happens with biopics) feels rushed, while at times slumping away, and the final product just feels very unfinished. (The sound people in particular, it seems, couldn't have cared less edgewise.)

Which is actually sad, considering the subject matter at hand: the rise of an immensely prominent figure, not just in the United States, but across the world. There simply wouldn't have been a "Snow White", a "Cinderella", and countless other animated works of fiction that brought a whole genre to the mainstream and made Disney the household powerhouse that it is today, were it not for Walt Disney.

I checked the IMDb rating before even watching the movie, and was rather surprised. "How can it possibly be so poor, given the subject?" And alas, unfortunately it is.

So other than Tom Hanks' "Saving Mr. Banks", which deals with a more advanced stage in Walt Disney's career, I'm afraid we'll have to wait for a movie that will actually pay a worthy homage to the man himself, and will be heralded in movie history as such.

Not to put too fine a point on it- this is one of the worst movies I've seen in a very long time.

I wish I could get back the $ I spent to watch this on OnDemand. The acting is painful, the pacing is leaden, and the dialogue reminds one of that written for the sixth grade Christmas play. I dozed off several times and didn't even miss anything.

About the only praise I can come up with is that the cast are pretty much all really good looking. And the guys who play the supporting team of animators in the early incarnation of the Disney studios work very hard and almost succeed in making their scenes compelling. But it's not enough to overcome either the uninspired earnestness of the guy playing Walt Disney, or the atrocious dialogue. Every scene drags. Every. Scene. It very much screamed 'inexperienced director'.

There is a good story lurking underneath here. But it's not told in this particular film. It's especially egregious that they gloss over the fundamental dishonesty of a man who lies to and manipulates his employees to keep them churning out work, with the goal of achieving his own dream. It's not an admirable thing to steal work from an employee- particularly when it's being made clear that those employees are suffering as a result. A skilled filmmaker could have drawn drama out of this scenario; a lot could have been made of the irony of a man trampling all before him to bring the world... Mickey Mouse.

Hopefully, this story will someday get the treatment it deserves. It does not get it here. Which is unfortunate, because apparently most of those involved in this project were also the ones bankrolling it, and they all seem like nice people.

As a Disneyphile of sorts, there was no way I was going to miss watching this film on the big screen even though I had to travel two hours via the Interstate through Kansas to the Kansas City metro area (appropriately enough since that is where Disney started his animation company) to get to the nearest theater showing it. The trip was worth it for me personally, but the film itself may disappoint others. Its quality is uneven; it needs the sort of polish and texture that the Disney organization would be able to give it. Don't expect something like "Savings Mr. Banks," the Disney film that dealt with Disney's struggles to get "Mary Poppins" made toward the end of his life. While the story of "Walt Before Mickey" is itself engaging, and the plotting, pace and dialogue not all that bad, the editing is uneven, the cinematography is uninspired, and the acting is just this side of wooden and amateurish. However, Thomas Ian Nicholas saves the day, practically carrying the entire film on his performance alone. His acting is earnest and sympathetic to the persona of a young and struggling Walt Disney; and the character he creates is believable and likable. In the final analysis, the film will never win any awards, but it has a lot of heart and wins the approval of those, like myself, who wish to see Disney (and the Disney legacy) treated in the sort of fair, even-handed, and yet respectful manner he deserves.

While I love the idea about Walt Disney's life before he and Ub Iwerks came up with Mickey Mouse, I am a little apprehensive about wholly endorsing this or any other film. After all, the Disney Corporation has carefully sanitized Walt and created an idealized image of the man over the years. Don't get me wrong...he was a GREAT man...but Disney has had a history of over-idealizing the guy...and, conversely, some jerks have tried to make money saying Walt was practically the Antichrist (I've read two smear books like this)! So exactly how true all the details are...well, that's not an easy thing for me or anyone to say. But it was entertaining and at least mostly true (if not completely true). I know that Walt's father was not the nicest man on Earth and Walt did have a horrible time financing his initial films...so at least these and many other details rang true in the picture.

The movie is a dramatization of Walt's struggles mostly from when he first went to work as an animator. His earlier life is only alluded to very briefly. It's a shame, as I was interested in his life before he became a professional animator. Some of the film was very close to Walt's life (such as his struggles with money and financing as well as his staff and Oswald being stolen by Mintz) and some of it just seemed patently absurd--such as Walt keeping a pet mouse in his pocket as an adult (I sincerely doubt this is true) and Walt not holding a grudge against Mintz for stealing and almost destroying him (this could not be true). As for the second case, Walt was famous for holding grudges and after finally setting a long and costly strike with animators in the early 40s, he promptly fired many of these people and vowed to not rehire them! The film also idealizes his relationship with Iwerks who left Disney for several years in the 1930s to start his own studio...and this isn't mentioned. Still, if you don't mind being given 'the party line' the film is enjoyable and MOSTLY truthful...mostly.

With the Hollywood machine pounding out flesh-eating, filthy, violent, promiscuous stories by the hundreds each year, it's refreshing when anyone comes along and is willing to take on a "politically incorrect" story about ordinary human beings. Walt was not a super-hero, and this earlier look at his life gives us plenty of thoughtful insight into his character (flaws included), and his tough beginnings. If we want, we can tear apart the acting, the writing, the filming. But I don't want to do that. Here's the simple fact. If a movie doesn't have gore and sex a-plenty, then the big studios will NOT even look at it. With the exception of course of the "art" films that toe the Hollywood line of bull, and satisfy the Academy's lust for twisted entertainment.

Sorry, but I like the story. And as a professional musician, I say this. People might like it if they actually shut off their "fast- paced critical mindset" and tried to open their minds up to the fact that not everyone has to buy into what's currently worshiped by the "sheople" in the crowds. That's how music is. I don't have to like every sound in the performance to love the song. Sometimes the song is enough.

In this case, I'd recommend this to any family, any adults, anyone younger, as a true look at an influential man's beginnings, and how he got his start bringing joy to others.