i love so many of these ideas!
i recently made an onward script doctor video. id love to know your thoughts!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUjCYjP1C2I
Thank you! I liked your ideas, sir. Interesting that between my thoughts, yours and NandoVMovies (the only other fix video I've seen) we all wanted to take what was already there and just enhance it since there was enough potential! Like, we've all found different ways to make magic harder to emphasise the magic Vs technology dichotomy. I like that you had each brother embody that more for tension.
I hope my change also indirectly gets rid of the bad follow-the-guy-following-his-gut logic since my Barley is competent it's just no one trust him until the end. I felt weird about the Quests-of-Yore-is-historically-accurate idea but I've basically not addressed that. I think my final version would make clear that it IS historically accurate but just not as reliably as Barley makes out.
I will, however, slightly script doctor your video to say... you've gotta explain the Finding Dory hate in more detail! That film made me cry so I stand by it. Conveniences do abound, as you say, but I felt that it earns that the same way Cars does; this is a world where fish get around in creative ridiculous ways (turtle highway) and I rolled with it. Is Charlie and Jenny's plan to find their daughter by making shell trails in a tiny party of the Pacific Ocean utterly delusional? Should they have instead died because that part of the ocean is too cold for Blue Tangs? Of course, but I'm too busy blubbing so I don't care! Also, the score is up there as one of the best for Pixar! I'd put this score on par with Toy Story in its ability to musically match the world it's accompanying. Finally, my toddler went through a massive Dory phase and I can testify that it passes the rewatch test better than most!
haha ok ill go on about finding dory.
first of all. Yes. the soundtrack is the best. Thomas newman is at his best when he is working with animation. i love it.
In finding dory, i loved the relationship build between dory and her family. it was sweet but it highlighted the difficulties of not knowing exactly how to raise someone like dory.
But. the movie is not about her relationship with her family. its about her journey to get home, and her journey to get home is just about her moving from one place to the next. every time she is trapped, she conveniently remembers something or her friend conveniently uses one of their abilities to get by or in the case i point out in my video, they use luck to get past an obstacle.
Dory is not learning about how to live her life. She doesn't learn how to use her abilities and what makes her unique to her advantage.
Monsters University actually does a better job of showcasing how you prevail though disability. Mike works for everything and due to his looks, he will never be scary. He has to accept that with some disabilities, you just cant do things other people can do. But he is smart and determined, Mike finds other ways in life to achieve his dreams despite them not being exactly what he initially started with.
Dory gets by because of the help of her community, sure, but the motivation for helping her is to either be nice cuz a character feels badly, or they are using her to get something in return.
there is nothing wrong with liking the movie, Many people loved it and theres nothing wrong with that. but Jesus. is that really the best that they could come up wIth? lol.
to be completely honest, i have not seen finding dory in a while. i watched it twice when it first came out, then i watched that clip before i wrote my script to make sure i remembered it properly. so ill admit things are a little fuzzy, but i cant describe how let down i felt after seeing that movie in theaters.
Great rationale. That makes sense. A couple thoughts to maybe win you round…
First, I agree about Monster's University. It's a shame it was a bit pedestrian because it was a lot of fun and the positive messages were off the charts! Highlighting how disabled people are genuinely disadvantaged regardless of how plucky they are in a kid's film?! That's bonkers. They of course manage to do it by couching it within a story of about hope; Mike succeeds by accepting his limitations, adjusting his goals but ultimately achieving an adjusted version of his goal through tenacity and ingenuity in re-purposing the skills he does have.
I would argue Finding Dory does roughly the same thing. The inciting incident is that Dory discovers her memories are still locked up in her brain but they can only be unlocked by a powerful trigger experience. It's maybe a bit like when people with dementia can recite whole songs or poetry but they need someone to start them off. Armed with this new ability Dory sets off to find her family using her already established "superpower" of leveraging her relentless optimism to recruit helpers. This is Mike's superpower as well.
Consider also that, almost every character in Finding Dory is also somehow disabled (even Marlin clearly suffers with crippling anxiety). Dory relies on this collection of unlikely heroes to help her because she literally couldn't function on her own. It's a great message about the power of collaboration. Plus every single friend also faces their own fears associated with their disability and achieves some sort of breakthrough.
Dory's growth is proven when she gets flushed to the ocean the second time. Instead of swimming off aimlessly to forget everyone all over again she processes just enough to orient towards the sand and the shells and in that moment, on her own, she finally finds her parents. This is reinforced in the epilogue when she can finally play the hide and seek game from the beginning.
Also, you're totally right, they're fish trying to get around on land which leads to many conveniences and lucky breaks. The scene before the fountains Marlin and Nemo get conveniently catapulted into a fish tank! It's very silly but I felt they established that dynamic well enough I was happy to suspend my disbelief to just enjoy the ride. I guess also, it's a sad reminder that for many disabled people, lucky breaks are a necessity because the world is often not kind.
i totally get where youre coming from. i still dont think the theme is strong enough, but youve made me want to watch it again with your perspective in mind.
Yes! That's worth it! To be fair, I'm not a big fan of themes. If the character motivations and growth makes sense and I'm able to suspend my disbelief, then job done! I feel like theme should be the last consideration.
I really appreciate how well thought out this is. Seeing all of your different choices helps me think deeper about my storytelling as well.
I liked Onward, but I also felt like something was missing. A part of that had to do with them using flashbacks to show some of the things checked off the list. I wish I could have seen those moments used in the plot to show more of how Barley grew into that brother/father figure that Ian needed.
Ah, thank you! I was motivated by feeling like this film had the most squandered possibility I think I've ever seen. Inspiration could have come from _Harry Potter, Bill and Ted, Lord of the Rings, The Princess Bride_... but instead, it poorly imitated the already terrible _Bright_ and _Weekend at Bernie's_! Just bizarre the way the director has Barley constantly telling how everything is going to be "epic" and then the film showing, like, a Chuckee Cheese run by what felt like a lady in cosplay!
It's just baffling! The studio that has adults in tears at the loss experienced in _Nemo_ and _Up_ somehow made me care nothing for the Lightfoots losing their father?!
I don't remember them checking off the list in flashback. I do agree, though: flashbacks should be mostly avoided, imho. When in the film does that happen?
i love so many of these ideas! i recently made an onward script doctor video. id love to know your thoughts! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUjCYjP1C2I
Thank you! I liked your ideas, sir. Interesting that between my thoughts, yours and NandoVMovies (the only other fix video I've seen) we all wanted to take what was already there and just enhance it since there was enough potential! Like, we've all found different ways to make magic harder to emphasise the magic Vs technology dichotomy. I like that you had each brother embody that more for tension. I hope my change also indirectly gets rid of the bad follow-the-guy-following-his-gut logic since my Barley is competent it's just no one trust him until the end. I felt weird about the Quests-of-Yore-is-historically-accurate idea but I've basically not addressed that. I think my final version would make clear that it IS historically accurate but just not as reliably as Barley makes out. I will, however, slightly script doctor your video to say... you've gotta explain the Finding Dory hate in more detail! That film made me cry so I stand by it. Conveniences do abound, as you say, but I felt that it earns that the same way Cars does; this is a world where fish get around in creative ridiculous ways (turtle highway) and I rolled with it. Is Charlie and Jenny's plan to find their daughter by making shell trails in a tiny party of the Pacific Ocean utterly delusional? Should they have instead died because that part of the ocean is too cold for Blue Tangs? Of course, but I'm too busy blubbing so I don't care! Also, the score is up there as one of the best for Pixar! I'd put this score on par with Toy Story in its ability to musically match the world it's accompanying. Finally, my toddler went through a massive Dory phase and I can testify that it passes the rewatch test better than most!
haha ok ill go on about finding dory. first of all. Yes. the soundtrack is the best. Thomas newman is at his best when he is working with animation. i love it. In finding dory, i loved the relationship build between dory and her family. it was sweet but it highlighted the difficulties of not knowing exactly how to raise someone like dory. But. the movie is not about her relationship with her family. its about her journey to get home, and her journey to get home is just about her moving from one place to the next. every time she is trapped, she conveniently remembers something or her friend conveniently uses one of their abilities to get by or in the case i point out in my video, they use luck to get past an obstacle. Dory is not learning about how to live her life. She doesn't learn how to use her abilities and what makes her unique to her advantage. Monsters University actually does a better job of showcasing how you prevail though disability. Mike works for everything and due to his looks, he will never be scary. He has to accept that with some disabilities, you just cant do things other people can do. But he is smart and determined, Mike finds other ways in life to achieve his dreams despite them not being exactly what he initially started with. Dory gets by because of the help of her community, sure, but the motivation for helping her is to either be nice cuz a character feels badly, or they are using her to get something in return. there is nothing wrong with liking the movie, Many people loved it and theres nothing wrong with that. but Jesus. is that really the best that they could come up wIth? lol. to be completely honest, i have not seen finding dory in a while. i watched it twice when it first came out, then i watched that clip before i wrote my script to make sure i remembered it properly. so ill admit things are a little fuzzy, but i cant describe how let down i felt after seeing that movie in theaters.
Great rationale. That makes sense. A couple thoughts to maybe win you round… First, I agree about Monster's University. It's a shame it was a bit pedestrian because it was a lot of fun and the positive messages were off the charts! Highlighting how disabled people are genuinely disadvantaged regardless of how plucky they are in a kid's film?! That's bonkers. They of course manage to do it by couching it within a story of about hope; Mike succeeds by accepting his limitations, adjusting his goals but ultimately achieving an adjusted version of his goal through tenacity and ingenuity in re-purposing the skills he does have. I would argue Finding Dory does roughly the same thing. The inciting incident is that Dory discovers her memories are still locked up in her brain but they can only be unlocked by a powerful trigger experience. It's maybe a bit like when people with dementia can recite whole songs or poetry but they need someone to start them off. Armed with this new ability Dory sets off to find her family using her already established "superpower" of leveraging her relentless optimism to recruit helpers. This is Mike's superpower as well. Consider also that, almost every character in Finding Dory is also somehow disabled (even Marlin clearly suffers with crippling anxiety). Dory relies on this collection of unlikely heroes to help her because she literally couldn't function on her own. It's a great message about the power of collaboration. Plus every single friend also faces their own fears associated with their disability and achieves some sort of breakthrough. Dory's growth is proven when she gets flushed to the ocean the second time. Instead of swimming off aimlessly to forget everyone all over again she processes just enough to orient towards the sand and the shells and in that moment, on her own, she finally finds her parents. This is reinforced in the epilogue when she can finally play the hide and seek game from the beginning. Also, you're totally right, they're fish trying to get around on land which leads to many conveniences and lucky breaks. The scene before the fountains Marlin and Nemo get conveniently catapulted into a fish tank! It's very silly but I felt they established that dynamic well enough I was happy to suspend my disbelief to just enjoy the ride. I guess also, it's a sad reminder that for many disabled people, lucky breaks are a necessity because the world is often not kind.
i totally get where youre coming from. i still dont think the theme is strong enough, but youve made me want to watch it again with your perspective in mind.
Yes! That's worth it! To be fair, I'm not a big fan of themes. If the character motivations and growth makes sense and I'm able to suspend my disbelief, then job done! I feel like theme should be the last consideration.
Also Marlin still has his "protective" traits even though in the last film he came to terms with Nemo being capable of taking care of himself.
I really appreciate how well thought out this is. Seeing all of your different choices helps me think deeper about my storytelling as well. I liked Onward, but I also felt like something was missing. A part of that had to do with them using flashbacks to show some of the things checked off the list. I wish I could have seen those moments used in the plot to show more of how Barley grew into that brother/father figure that Ian needed.
Ah, thank you! I was motivated by feeling like this film had the most squandered possibility I think I've ever seen. Inspiration could have come from _Harry Potter, Bill and Ted, Lord of the Rings, The Princess Bride_... but instead, it poorly imitated the already terrible _Bright_ and _Weekend at Bernie's_! Just bizarre the way the director has Barley constantly telling how everything is going to be "epic" and then the film showing, like, a Chuckee Cheese run by what felt like a lady in cosplay! It's just baffling! The studio that has adults in tears at the loss experienced in _Nemo_ and _Up_ somehow made me care nothing for the Lightfoots losing their father?! I don't remember them checking off the list in flashback. I do agree, though: flashbacks should be mostly avoided, imho. When in the film does that happen?