Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

It’s that time again for me to share some thoughts on a few films I’ve seen on Disney+ lately. Even though I’m not doing reviews on the latest ‘Star Wars’ and ‘MCU’ shows at the moment (there’s too many at present), I’m happy to keep checking out films on Disney+ and share my thoughts on them.

The first film I saw on Disney+ lately was the 2005 film ‘Robots’. I recall seeing this film on the big screen when it came out at cinemas. It’s a film produced by Blue Sky Studios, the company that produced the ‘Ice Age’ films. I believe ‘Robots’ came after the first ‘Ice Age’ film was made in 2003. 🙂

At that time, I wasn’t enamoured with ‘Robots’ when I first saw it on the big screen. Maybe because I’d grown out of CGI animated films by that point or perhaps I didn’t think it was good as the first ‘Ice Age’ film. Upon revisiting the film on Disney+, I found it to be a lot better than I remember it being. 🙂

The film focuses on a world populated by robots and follows the story of an ambitious inventor robot named Rodney Copperbottom (voiced by Ewan McGregor). He seeks his idol Bigweld (voiced by Mel Brooks) to work for his company in Robot City, but discovers a nefarious plot about to occur.

The company’s new leader Ratchet (voiced by Greg Kinnear) and his mother (voiced by Jim Broadbent) intend to forcibly upgrade the robot population and eradicate struggling robots, known as ‘outmodes’. Can Rodney overcome the evil villains of this film with help of his new-found friends?

The film also features the voices of Halle Berry as Cappy, a straight-laced executive at Bigweld Industries and Rodney’s love interest. There’s Amanda Bynes as Piper Pinwheeler, a plucky yellow tomboy robot as well as Robin Williams as Fender Pinwheeler, a mischievous red blender-like robot.

The second film I saw on Disney+ lately was the 2015 film adaptation of the 1874 novel ‘Far from the Madding Crowd’ by Thomas Hardy. The author also wrote ‘Tess of the d’Urbervilles’ and ‘The Mayor of Casterbridge’, which I’ve seen BBC TV adaptations of over the years on DVD before this film. 🙂

‘Far from the Madding Crowd’ stars Carey Mulligan as the titular heroine Bathsheba Everdene. I’ve seen Carey Mulligan in various films and TV productions over the years, including 2005’s ‘Pride & Prejudice’, 2007’s ‘Northanger Abbey’, the ‘Doctor Who’ story ‘Blink’ and the 2015 film ‘Suffragette’.

The film’s cast also includes Matthias Schoenaerts as Gabriel Oak, Michael Sheen as William Boldwood and Tom Sturridge as Sergeant Frank Troy. These three men become admirers for Carey Mulligan’s character in the film, and it was very fascinating how her character interacted with them.

Michael Sheen’s character is the quieter more reserved one whilst Tom Sturridge’s Sergeant Troy is the more assertive and aggressive and Carey Mulligan’s character ends up marrying him in the film. Thankfully, it is Matthias Schoenaerts as Gabriel Oak who manages to win Carey Mulligan’s heart. 😀

There’s also Juno Temple as Fanny Robbin, who was Sergeant Troy’s first love interest before she missed the wedding by going to the wrong church and soon died in childbirth. ‘Far from the Madding Crowd’ is quite a dark romantic drama film in a period setting, but very compelling indeed.

The third film I saw on Disney+ lately was ‘DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp’. I recall watching ‘DuckTales’ as a kid in the 1990s when it was on GMTV in the morning. I don’t recall the episodes very well, but I do remember the TV show’s theme song, as it’s a very catchy one to sing to.

I did see ‘DuckTales: The Movie’ when my parents rented it for me from Blockbuster Video in the 1990s. I vaguely recall what happened in the film, especially in how it ended. So, it was great to revisit the film after all these years on Disney+ and enjoy the characters and the story throughout. 🙂

The story features the main characters of Scrooge McDuck and his nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie who go on an adventure to Egypt to find a pyramid and a magic lamp. This film happens to be loosely based on the ‘Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp’ tale. By the way, this film was made in 1990.

It was made before the 1992 film ‘Aladdin’ came along. I enjoyed the ‘DuckTales’ semi-take on the Aladdin story, especially when the genie happens to be a duck himself. The villain of the film, who is the sorcerer Merlock, is voiced by Christopher Lloyd, who played Doc Brown in ‘Back to the Future’.

As well as Scrooge McDuck, Huey, Dewey and Louie, there’s young Webby Vanderquack, her grandmother Mrs. Beakley, Launchpad McQuack, Mrs. Featherby and Duckworth the butler. It’s a pity that Donald Duck isn’t in this ‘DuckTales’ movie, but I still enjoyed watching the film on Disney+.

The ‘Robots’ film and the ‘DuckTales’ movie were great to revisit after so long on Disney+. I prefer the ‘DuckTales’ movie over ‘Robots’, and ‘Far from the Madding Crowd’ was a fascinating film adaptation of a Thomas Hardy film. I’m looking forward to what I’ll be checking out next on Disney+.

Stay tuned for another Disney+ Roundup on ‘Bradley’s Basement’ soon. 🙂

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now!

Tim 🙂