First off, I need to start by saying that I love these movies. I know I'm kind of putting the cart before the horse here, but I can't help it.

Belle has always been one of my favorite Disney princesses, and it's a top five soundtrack to boot. Between the extravagance of "Be Our Guest" and not one, but two classic villain songs, there aren't many things to dislike here—except maybe the cynical realization that Belle became French nobility during what was probably the worst possible time in history. Well, that and the time a dove pooped on me walking out of the stage show in MGM Studios. But that second one feels a little petty.

The Magic Begins

Released in 1991, the original Beauty & the Beast is one of the first movies I actually remember seeing in the theater, and it was straight up magical.

This is just one of many Disney movies that played on repeat in my house. I can still hear the plastic VHS case squeaking open and the ear splitting "COMING SOON..."  narration of the previews that would shake the house no matter how low the TV volume was.

My parents would tell you that, as a kid, my favorite movie was the one I’d seen most recently. That was probably true, but I like to think that I’m at least a little bit more discerning these days (Ask me about Toy Story 4. I dare you). The point is, this movie is still one of my favorites.

This is a timeless classic from start to finish. But this isn’t just the manic raving of a Disney fanboy (though that is a title I carry with honor). It was so gosh darn perfect that it was the first animated movie nominated for Best Picture—one of several "firsts" on Disney's resume.

Broadway Dreams

Everyone knows the music from Beauty and the Beast is next level.

Every song is a spectacle, but there's more to it than just Alan Menken & Howard Ashman going big for a horde of elementary school kids (Though the duo has quite a resume in that department).

Just in case you needed a reminder.

Here's the thing, this movie—while stellar in its own right—was effectively a sales pitch. Name one bad song in this movie. Go on. I’ll wait.

Disney had a smattering of great soundtracks in the 90s. No one is arguing that, but, Beauty and the Beast is in an entirely different tier. Every single number was perfection. They wanted this show on Broadway, and the animated movie was their business card.

It worked. On April 18, 1994—roughly three years after the theatrical release—the musical opened on Broadway, and it's one of the top 10 longest running musicals of all time. That's some serious staying power.

Reliving our Childhood

When Disney started their wave of live action reboots in 2015, Cinderella was the obvious choice to lead the charge. Her castle is the flagship icon of Disney World's Magic Kingdom, and it's been immortalized on the title card of every Disney movie for a very long time.

I loved the Cinderella remake. It was fantastic, but above all else, I loved it because Belle was next. The success of the Cinderella remake meant that Beauty and the Beast was inevitable, and right from the moment when I saw the trailer, I said it's gorgeous and I fell.

(If you're paying attention, you'll read that last sentence in your best Gaston voice).

I know at the time we were all still kind of on the post Harry hype train for Emma Watson, but she was a perfect cast. I think a big part of that is that Belle is portrayed as this independent, tough as nails, bookworm, and honestly, who embodies that better than Hermione freaking Granger? That's right. No one.

The thing about this movie, though, is that they pulled out all the stops. Disney could have just thrown all the old songs in with a new cast and called it a day. They could have coasted through this remake on Belle's reputation alone, but instead they swung for the fences.

They added new music, including the powerhouse ballad "Evermore," and even retooled the two epic villain songs to give LeFou's character more depth (and something of a conscience).

Goosebumps.

Commitment to the Magic

In the end, it's no secret that Beauty and the Beast was remade for us—the 30-somethings who grew up in the middle of Disney's princess era.

This reboot leaned very heavily on the nostalgia factor, and it paid off. This movie feels like a childhood memory come to life in grand fashion, and now we get to share it with our own children.

When you put this film side by side with most of the other remakes, it feels like the motivation behind it was fundamentally different. Disney took Belle’s world and made it bigger. They didn’t set out to overshadow the original or replace the original film. This remake exists almost as a labor of love. It's not just a reboot—it’s an homage to an icon, and it hits differently than Disney’s other remakes which teeter precariously on the edge of cash grab (and in the case of Pinocchio, topple headlong into catastrophe).

Keeping Score

Beauty & the Beast (1991)1

Director Gary Trousdale & Kirk Wise

Music Alan Menken (score) | Howard Ashman (lyrics)

Budget 25 Million

Gross 425 Million

Runtime 1hr 24min

Beauty & the Beast (2017)2

Director Bill Condon

Music Alan Menken (score) | Howard Ashman & Time Rice (lyrics)

Budget 160 Million

Gross 1.266 Billion

Runtime 2hr 9min

The 1991 film is easily one of the most iconic Disney animated films ever made, and pulled in a solid chunk of cash at the box office. Not to be outdone, the 2017 remake nearly tripled the original number with a whopping $1.26 billion (Though the new film's budget was roughly 8 times larger than the original film's $25 million).

In terms of critical recognition, the original animated movie was nominated for 3 Academy Awards (including Best Picture), which is a slightly better showing than the remake—if you care about that sort of thing.

Closing Thoughts

I'll be honest, growing up in a house where the Disney classics played in a near endless loop, I was inevitably going to find myself invested in this wave of reboots, and out of the gate, both Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast delivered a perfect one-two punch.

It was the beginning of a new era. Maybe even a second golden age for Disney movies. Ok. In hindsight that was wishful thinking. But that's kind of the magic of Disney, isn't it? The way they can pull you away from reality and take you to a world where anything is possible—even if only for a moment. Beauty and the Beast did that two times over, and I loved every damn second of it.

The Andak Media Deep Dives are an extension of the Rebooted podcast. Catch up with past episodes on our website (www.rebooted.live), and join the conversation on social media! (Facebook | Twitter: @PodcastRebooted)

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But I’m not here to write about the complexities of post apocalyptic society. I’m here to talk to you about Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior and Mad Max: Fury Road.

Rebooted Loopholes

On the Rebooted Podcast, we mostly stick to reboots. We do have a tendency to jump into prequel, requel territory when a pair of films really strike our fancy, or when said films are making the rounds in the pop culture trending topics sphere. This was why we did episodes on The Matrix and its follow up Resurrections (not sure if that film really resurrected it, but I digress). In this day and age of hollywood making decades later sequels in an effort to jumpstart franchises, this tends to happen. We get a “requel” where a sequel feels more like a reboot.

Mad Max: Fury Road may technically fall into this category of film, but I think it eloquently avoids the conversation by being one of the most bad ass, amazing action films of the 2010’s, and being nominated for a best picture (one of only 2 sequels to be nominated for best picture when their earlier films were not1).

So, yes, Mad Max: Fury Road may or may not be a reboot. There is some debate on whether Max in this film is still the same Max from the previous installments. But regardless, the film stands on its own, and - in fact - above its predecessors in visual quality, tone, pace, characters, and world building.

The Road Warrior

The original Mad Max post apocalypse (the 1979 original is more of a world on the verge of apocalypse, rather than post) - aptly titled The Road Warrior but often just referred to as Mad Max 2, summarizes the original film’s events in a swirl of stock footage and flashback… a fever dream meant to get us ready for the world Max now wanders.

Max is no longer a cop trying to keep the world from falling apart. He has succumbed to the darkness and madness of collapsed society, in search of his next tank of guzzoline2 to keep this game of survival going. His lone companion is his blue heeler (shout out to Bandit Heeler3, since that's all I could call him the entire time I watch the movie now), and whose death comes as an inevitably, transformative blow to Max's psyche at the climax of the film.

Mad Max came out a very interesting time. The late 70’s had an oil crisis4, which can easily be seen as inspiration for the resource crisis leading up to the events of Mad Max and Road Warrior. There were genuine fears of resource scarcity, and George Miller was clearly pondering what society would look like if endless wars caused resources to dwindle. This is the world of Road Warrior, one of survival, violence, and bedlam. People chase each other on the abandoned highways of civilization, looting, shooting, and pillaging fuel to keep their rigs driving.

Max is driving his V8 Interceptor across the wastes of Australia, in search of his next meal (sometimes dog food) and gasoline to fill his tank, when he stumbles on a gyrocopter. Max thinks it’s abandoned, but soon finds that a trap was laid for him or any other unlucky soul to try and steal the ride. Almost bitten by a snake, Max is then jumped by the Gyrocopter Captain, a man filled to the brim with weirdo charisma. Max gets the better of him, and in response for saving his life, the Captain tells Max about a group hoarding a refinery location nearby.

The refinery is being operated by a group of post apocalyptic pilgrims, hoping to fill up their tanks and head to a more peaceful location. But their refinery is under siege by LORD HUMONGOUS and his gang. Humongous is what would happen if a swole dude found himself in charge of a band of raiders, and he lost all of his clothes5. At least that’s as best as can be told here. We don’t learn much about Lord Humongous or the raiders, outside that they want the gasoline.

We also at this point meet the feral kid, a goofy cave man type with a sharp, metal boomerang6. We as the audience find out much later that this kid grows up to become the narrator from the opening and ending of the film, and that he is the leader of the pilgrims at a later time.

Anyway, Max convinces the refinery band that he can get them a big rig that will haul their gasoline, but he won’t do it for free. Max never quite becomes fully altruistic on his hero’s journey. But in the end, after losing his trusty dog in the journey, Max drives the big rig for the pilgrims, and they are able to escape Lord Humongous’ gang with enough gas to get them where they need to go. There is some speculation that this group who wanders off in the wasteland, leaving Max behind, is a similar group from Mad Max Fury Road that has since died off.

In the end, Max is a legend – The Road Warrior – and the pilgrims never see him again.

A Weird Wasteland Adventure

It’s a weird movie, and Mike’s not quite sure if that’s in a good way. But the film is an interesting bit of cinema that has had a profound impact on future post apocalyptic stories. If you watch Road Warrior after playing games like Fallout 3, you may notice a similarity in the outfits, and the use of a dog as a companion in the story. The general vibes of the Fallout games inherited a lot from the Mad Max universe.

So if you like playing the Fallout games, Mad Max 2 might interest you!

Max and the Furiosa Road

Max, maybe not the Max from previous installments, decades later after a troubled production in Fury Road.7 But, if we really look at the story of Fury Road, Max isn't the main character.

Enter Furiosa. She’s an imperator, a great warrior for the demigod-like Imorten Joe. But she turns on him, and rescues his brides, hoping to take them to a green place Furiosa remembered from her youth.

Furiosa has the agency in Fury Road. She is the one who jumpstarts the quest. Max is just along for the ride, and begrudgingly helping them.

At the outset of the story, Max is captured by the war boys, the militaristic arm of Immorten Joe’s regime, and he’s used as a blood bag by a warrior. This warrior sets out to catch Furiosa once Joe realizes Furiosa is not going to pick up supplies like she was supposed to, and might be trying to make a run for it. Then he realizes his brides are gone, so off ride the war boys to catch Furiosa in her big rig.

Furiosa is just freaking cool. There’s been a lot of talk about a side-story on her, and we are here for it. Hopefully it will see the light of day. But, even without that spin-off, Fury Road gives us so much to cherish about her character. She’s battle-tested, driven, and gritty. She is resilient and wills her compatriots forward, and - in doing so - builds a better life for everyone.

And by the end of Fury Road, Max is left to wander the wasteland once again – forever the road warrior and the nomad. I really hope - barring another 13 year production crucible - that we could get some more Mad Max movies, especially with this cast. George Miller isn’t long for this world (not for health, but just as a fact of age) and I feel a sense of urgency in demanding we get more before this visionary leaves us. It feels like he was absent for a good chunk of team and then dropped the most important action movie of the 2010’s. I think he could do it again.

Cutting to the Chase

To sum up, I really loved the weird vibes of Max Max 2: The Road Warrior, but Fury Road has a guitar that shoots flames, so it gets the win here. But they are both fantastic movies in their own ways, but the technical skill on display with Fury Road makes it a seminal work of this millennia’s action films.

Our next feature will be a tale as old as time…

First of all: Brendan Fraser is a national treasure and is having something of a renaissance right now. We love him, and he has all of our support.

Second, it’s hard to do a deep dive on these two films as an exercise in comparison because of the way they were produced. The Mummy (1999) was produced as a reboot of the original movie (1932) and a fun, goofy adventure with shades of Indiana Jones and classic horror. The reboot in 2017 has a few different elements conflicting with each other. It does pay homage to the 1999 film and shades of the 1932 film, but there’s also a LOT more going on here.

Wrapping Up a Cinematic Universe Mess

The 2017 Mummy is a product of its time, and that time is smack in the middle of the cinematic universe craze. Thank you, Marvel. Not only were comic book properties trying to get the universe treatment - establishing multiple movies that all tied into one larger story with its own lore and recurring themes and characters - but other intellectual property holders were trying their hand at it as well.

Enter The Dark Universe. It was meant to take all of Universal Pictures classic movie monsters - Dracula, Dr. Jekyl/Mr. Hyde, the Wolfman, Creature from the Black Lagoon, and The Mummy - and stitched them together in a series of movies. If this 2017 Mummy movie was any indication of the direction this now-defunct universe was going, Dr. Jekyll (also Mr. Hyde) seemed to be the anchor of the universe. Think Nick Fury for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And there were some big names attached: Russel Crowe, Tom Cruise, Javier Bardem, Johnny Depp, and Sofia Boutella.

But… alas - The Mummy (2017) tanked the plans in one cinematic false start.

I’m not really here, sitting at my desk, about to outline the confluence of events that brought us to that point. I’m not a hollywood insider, nor am I an executive for a studio, so I can’t really speak to how the business side of film production and the creative side clashed and - ultimately - imploded with the death of a cinematic universe.

But I love movies, and make a habit of talking about them on our podcasts (both I Freaking Love That Movie and Rebooted), so let’s talk about these two movies.

Party Like It’s 1999

The 1999 Mummy is a delightful retelling of The Mummy, a monster movie about a cursed Egyptian priest - Imhotep - trying to resurrect his lost love. On the other side, you have the protagonists, a trifecta of lovely charmers.

You have Evie, the bookish librarian with a clumsy streak, who falls in love with rakish Rick O’Connell, the charming, Indiana-Jones-esque mercenary. And Evie’s brother, Jonathan, who pickpockets his way into one unlucky score after another. They are played effortlessly, and their chemistry together is astounding.

In a lot of ways, watching it now feels like watching the blueprint for a Marvel movie. There’s the plucky comedic relief from cowardly Beni. The action set pieces gilded with near-superhero level action. A powerful villain, who isn’t quite as charismatic as the protagonist leads. This proto-Marvel film is a fun, raucous ride, that spawned an even more Marvel-ish sequel and one that a lot of folks don’t want to remember…

So, laughably, this Mummy film that didn’t set out to launch a cinematic universe did so, while the 2017 film that was made explicitly to do so couldn’t make it happen and killed its chances.

Trivia Time!

[1999 Edition]

Brendan Fraser almost died

Brendan Fraser almost died in the scene where he was being hanged. He was actually suffocating and had to be resuscitated.

Wardrobe Whoopsie 👀

The nightgown Evelyn wore became see through when it was wet and had to be digitally fixed.

They all fall Down… Perfectly

The library domino was done in one take.

Obi-Wan Never Told You About THIS

A cloak worn by an extra was actually one of Alec Guinness' Obi Wan costumes.

[2017 Edition]

Trying So Hard To Not Be What They Are

The director said there was no after credits scene since "that is Marvels domain"… 🤭1

Tom Cruise Strikes Again! ✈️

The plane crash scene was done using practical effects and having an actual plane dive, creating the zero gravity.

Hey, Wait A Second! 📒

One of the books in Jekyll's library was the Book of Amun-Ra from the 1999 film.

Keeping Score

This is a tale of two box offices and a series of sad expectations faltering on the operating table.

The Mummy (1999)

Director Stephen Sommers
Budget 80 Million
Gross 155.3 Million 🔥
Runtime 2hr 4min

The Mummy (2017)

DirectorAlex Kurtzman
Budget 125 Million
Gross 80.2 Million 😳
Runtime 1hr 50min

Ouch. A completely different audience reception for these two films. This clearly shows a franchise-starting trajectory (1999) and a franchise-killing one (2017).

Wrapping It Up

Get it. Like a Mummy. The Wraps. Juicy.

Sorry, it had to be done. The Rebooted Crew sounded off on the movies in our latest episode, so you can listen to us rant and Andrew genuinely gaslight all of us.

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I think we all enjoyed parts of the 2017 film (some more than others), but the consensus was that the 1999 film is superior for its tone, action, and cast in a way that is so fun it’s hard to hate.

But if you want to be the judge for yourself, you can use these links to rent the movies.

(note: the buttons are affiliate links, so it gives us like a nickel maybe. If you’ve enjoyed the read and/or listen, we’d appreciate your support.)

Rent Mummy (1999)

Rent Mummy (2017)

Part Of The Journey Is The End

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