The Disney Legends Bracket -- The Elite Eight

Welcome back to the thunderdome.

First of all, who’s ready for another exciting week of wondering how many more hilariously embarrassing things are going to go wrong at Twitter?

I, for one, can’t decide which story was funnier. Was it “paid verification goes live at Twitter except everyone who paid for verification didn’t get a checkmark”? Was it “Twitter delays paid verification until the day after the midterm elections because letting people pay for a blue checkmark might create confusion surrounding political news”?

Was it “A day after laying off thousands of people, Twitter tries to ask some of those people to come back to work because it turns out their work was important and maybe they shouldn’t have been laid off”? No, I think it was the sneak Sunday-night surprise of “Comedy, which was previously legal on Twitter, is now no longer legal because people are making fun of me, the very wealthy owner of Twitter, and I don’t like it”.

Anyhoo. Regarding Friday’s post, I do want to briefly lodge my genuine shock that the poll I included did not lead to an overwhelming majority of you asking to find out future brackets in advance. Though the poll was close, the winner was for you to be surprised about future bracket themes, so surprised you shall be. (For now.)

Another quick note for Android users — the Substack app apparently does not have a functioning poll option! And that sucks! The good news, in terms of a temporary solution, is that you can open up this post in your preferred Web browser on your Android device and vote in future polls there. (As more folks migrate to services like Substack, my hope is that the powers that be will expand poll functionality, but such is life for now.)

Now, as I prepare to head to a place called Wakanda tonight, it’s time for us to talk through the Elite Eight of the Disney Legends bracket. If it was up to me…well, if it was up to me, these folks would not comprise the Elite Eight, but that’s neither here nor there. With these matchups in hand, who would I vote for and send to the Final Four? Read on to find out.

Mary Blair vs. Angela Lansbury: Well, the voters — so, y’know, you — didn’t give me the full dose of chaos I was hoping for. As noted in the Sweet Sixteen rundown, I was really jonesing for a Julie Andrews/Angela Lansbury battle, but alas. Mary Poppins put up a good fight, but it wasn’t good enough. So we have Mary Blair and we have Angela Lansbury.

My head says Mary Blair, and my heart says Angela Lansbury. In all truth, I firmly expect that Mary Blair will win this battle, but I think it should go to Dame Lansbury. I do not argue that Mary Blair did more for Disney, because I would be arguing against facts. She did do more, in terms of how many films and rides bear her artistic stamp. But just as Beauty and the Beast is the best modern Disney animated film, Angela Lansbury’s performance of the title track — a first-take cold-read, please note — is just so goddamn remarkable. Both women deserve to move forward. I hope Angela Lansbury does.

The Sherman Brothers vs. Howard Ashman: Here, as in the previous matchup, you can make strong arguments for both sides. I will be voting for Howard Ashman in this one, and it’s not a choice that caused me any amount of hesitation. “When the sardines/begin the beguine/it’s music to me” is one of the great lyrics in any movie musical, and Howard Ashman’s work is remarkable beyond belief in just about every song he wrote for the studio.

I said it in the last rundown, and I will say it again: Howard Ashman helped save Disney Animation, without ever picking up a pencil. The Sherman Brothers were a huge part of the 60s and 70s for Disney’s films and theme-park attractions. But…sorry, fellas. Ashman for the win.

Tony Baxter vs. Marty Sklar: Someone on Twitter noted that folks seem to side with theme parks over animation in some of these brackets, and I tend to agree. This is how I reconcile a decision I disagree with, because folks, I am sorry, but Alan Menken should be in the Elite Eight, and you should have voted for him instead of Tony Baxter!

But while I disagree with the decision that resulted in Tony Baxter making it to the Elite Eight, he’s here now. And I would say that, between him and Marty Sklar, he ought to be in the Final Four. It’s a knife’s-edge vote, I imagine, and yet, one that I don’t hesitate in making. Baxter’s work is so foundational to so many current Imagineers, and has resulted in some of the very best theme-park attractions to ever exist. (Consider that what little we know of the soon-to-arrive replacement of Splash Mountain feels like it’s keeping a lot of the bones of what Baxter designed. It’s too good on a visceral level to gut entirely.)

Ub Iwerks vs. Roy E. Disney: Honestly, this is the easiest matchup of the round. Roy E. Disney has two big points in his favor: his family name (he’s the only literal Disney still in this bracket), and the fact that he was very instrumental in pushing for the continued existence of Disney Animation when very few other executives were willing to give it a tumble. Those points are not to be diminished.

(I must here note that Roy E. Disney is not the same as Roy O. Disney. Roy E. Disney is the nephew of Walt Disney, who children of the 1980s and 1990s may remember from appearing in introductions for things like Fantasia 2000. Roy O. Disney is Walt Disney’s brother. Vote how you like, but remember that you’re voting for or against the nephew or the brother.)

But the points in favor of Roy E. Disney are not enough to win this round. I am voting as much for Ub Iwerks as I am voting against Roy E. Disney because against such a stacked biography of work, he’s just not able to compete. Ub Iwerks co-created Mickey Mouse. That’s more than enough to get the vote.