Inside The Mouse Castle 08-05-2014 - 'Guardians of the Galaxy,' 'Alice in Wonderland 2' and Walt Disney Meets 'Drunk History'

Guardians of the Galaxy opened to huge box office numbers over the weekend, racking up $94.3 million dollars and setting a U.S. record for an August film release. Tim and Anthony talk about the film's success, where it ranks in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the movie's uber nerd director James Gunn.

Also, in this episode:

• Alice in Wonderland: Through the Looking Glass has began principal photography in England with most of the cast from Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland (Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Mia Wasikowska, Helena Bonham Carter and Alan Rickman) intact. This is not thrilling news given Tim and Anthony's dislike of Burton's film. Still it's encouraging that James Bobin (The Muppets, Muppets Most Wanted) will direct and will almost certainly give the sequel a lighter touch than its predecessor.

Mia Wasikowska as Alice in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland.

• Bill Murray will voice Baloo in Disney's reboot of The Jungle Book, slated for release on October 9, 2015. No word on if he'll croon The Bare Necessities as a cheesy lounge singer.
  
  
• Frozen co-director Jennifer Lee is penning a script for Disney based on Madeleine L'Engle's famed children's book A Wrinkle in Time. It was one of Lee's favorite stories growing up.
  
  
• The Muppets are back in a series of short comedic vignettes, Disney Drive-On with The Muppets. In episodes available only on www.DisneyMoviesAnywhere.com, Kermit the Frog assigns Pepe the King Prawn to mentor Walter on the ins and outs Disney Studio activity. On the way, they encounter celebrities like Martin Landau and Jennifer Tilly. Yeah, we think it's cute too.

• Gravity Falls is back (finally) for a second season on Disney Channel and Disney XD. Tim waxes poetic about the animated denizens of the strange Oregon town and pines for the voice of Mabel Pines, Kristen Schaal.
  
• A seven-minute preview of Star Wars: Rebels is online now. Time to tear to shreds the animated series Anthony calls "Aladdin in Space."

• Walt Disney was known to enjoy a drink of scotch or two during his life. How this plays into Walt being portrayed in an episode of Comedy Central's Drunk History remains to be seen. You can catch the episode which stars Jack Black, John Lithgow, Nick Kroll, Tony Hale, and Lindsay Sloane tonight (8/5) on Comedy Central.

Enjoy!

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The Mouse Castle Lounge 08-03-2014 - Mouseketeer Bobby Burgess

Bobby Burgess at a 2010
Mouseketeer reunion.

Bobby Burgess has spent nearly 60 years in show business and worked for two of the great showmen of the 20th century, Walt Disney and Lawrence Welk. He was one of the original Mouseketeers, joining the Mickey Mouse Club in 1955 when he was only 14. He was part of a television phenomenon that made household names out of himself and his cast mates, talented and energetic kids-next-door with names like Sharon, Darlene, Cubby, Karen, Tommy, Lonnie and Annette--especially Annette.

Bobby would be among the handful of Moueketeers to appear on all four seasons of the first series, but at age 18 he was far from done as an entertainer. In 1961, he became a regular on The Lawrence Welk Show and remained part of that musical variety show family for the next 21 years on both network television and in syndication. Bobby's specialty was tap and ballroom dancing and he choreographed countless routines for himself and his partners on the show. Even today, more than 20 years after Welk's death, Burgess still performs with many of the players from the show, usually to sold out houses.

Bobby dances with fellow Mouseketeer
Sharon Baird at Disneyland's grand opening.

In this edition of The Mouse Castle Lounge, I talk with Bobby about his entertainment career and his new book Ears & Bubbles: Dancing My Way from The Mickey Mouse Club to The Lawrence Welk Show. Bobby shares with me his memories of Walt Disney, Annette Funicello, Lawrence Welk and how being a Mouseketeer once helped him get out of a speeding ticket.

It's a delightful conversation with a charming and talented entertainer. Enjoy!

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Related: 
55 Years Later . . . Mouseketeers, Roll Call, Count Off Now!

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Inside The Mouse Castle 08-01-2014 - 'Guardians of the Galaxy' Review and 'Into the Woods'

Tim and Anthony trip all over themselves praising Guardians of the Galaxy in the latest edition of Inside the Mouse Castle. Is Guardians, starring Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana and Dave Bautista, the best Marvel movie ever? Will it crack $100 million dollars at the box office this weekend? Listen and find out.

Also, in this episode:

• The first images and trailer from Disney's Into the Woods are out. Is this adaptation of the award-winning Broadway musical something to look forward to or will it be just another effects-heavy retelling of traditional fairy tales?
• Anthony muses on the potential of Lego Chris Pratt, but gets really excited about the possibility of Lego Wall-E which could find itself in stores in 2015.
• Registration for the Tinker Bell Half Marathon weekend at Disneyland begins on August 12th. Annual pass holders can take advantage of early registration beginning on August 6th. More details are at www.rundisney.com.
• Maleficent, starring Angelina Jolie, makes its debut on Disney Blu-ray Combo Pack, Digital HD, Disney Movies Anywhere, DVD and On-Demand on November 4th. Upcoming August home video releases include Disneynature's Bears and Muppets Most Wanted (8/12) and Captain America: The Winter Soldier (8/19).

Enjoy!

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