HOWARD - Disney+ Review

I take a look at the latest original documentary to land on the Disney Plus streaming service, Don Hahn's HOWARD.

"Directed by Don Hahn (“Beauty and the Beast”), “Howard” is the untold story of Howard Ashman, the brilliant lyricist behind Disney classics like “Aladdin,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “The Little Mermaid” and creator of musicals including “Little Shop of Horrors.” Featuring never-before-seen archival footage, personal films and photographs, as well as interviews with Howard’s friends and family, the film is an intimate look at the Disney Legend’s life, his creative drive, and the process behind the music. Spanning his childhood in Baltimore, to his formative years in New York, and his untimely death from AIDS, “Howard” goes in-depth to explore his journey to become the lyricist behind some of the most beloved and well-known classic family films in the world.

The film features interviews with Ashman’s longtime musical collaborator Alan Menken, who also scored the film, Bill Lauch (Ashman’s Partner), Jodi Benson (“The Little Mermaid”), Paige O’Hara (“Beauty and the Beast”), Sarah Gillespie (Ashman’s Sister), and more."

#Howard #DisneyPlus #Disney #HowardAshman #BeautyAndTheBeast #LittleMermaid #Aladdin #LittleShopOfHorrors


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[LowellLucasJr.]

Howard's work on The Little Mermaid always makes me sad but in a good way. His songs were both a happy triumph and emotional- as you could sing his melodies in different tones and it'll exude a different mood despite its lyrics. That takes a special kind of magic to me, and he will be missed as I grew up with his films: starting with The Little Mermsid in 1989 when I was 5.

[jamiefarrar]

Part of Your World saved my life. Literally!

[SoleaGalilei]

Waking Sleeping Beauty is one of my favorite documentaries too. Can't wait to see this new film. Howard would have turned 70 years old this year and we as his fans still miss him. I'm sure the people who knew him personally miss him even more.

[ryanstreasures]

So happy to see that you love Howard, Dave! I’ve been extremely hyped for it ever since it was first announced about a year ago and I’m extremely thankful that tomorrow I finally get to see it!!!

[TIGER-xkgk]

I still miss this man though he died before I was even born and his work has made me love a lot of Disney music

[MagdalenaRay]

Proud Of Your Boy always has been personally a relatable song for me because I have a similar relationship with my mom. It makes me cry every time. Howard definitely wrote it from the heart.

[darthstarkiller]

As a 90s baby, I practically grew up with Howard's Disney songs. When it comes to my favorite of his songs, that is such a toughie. I love all the songs in "The Little Mermaid", "Beauty and the Beast" and his songs in "Aladdin", so I honestly can't choose.

[Remythechef]

Just saw it. A lovely and touching and emotional experience that does the man complete justice.

[kiaraeijo]

I loved the Howard and I cried! My favorite Disney Documentaries are Waking Sleeping Beauty, The Boys: The Sherman Brothers Story, and Life: Animated (even though it wasn’t produced by Disney and they have it on Hulu). My favorite Howard Ashman songs are Under the Sea, Part of your World, A Friend Like Me, Belle, Be Our Guest, The Mob Song, and Beauty and the Beast.

[StephenLuke]

RIP
Howard Ashman
(1950-1991)

He died before the release of Beauty and the Beast (1991), and Aladdin (1992).

[skylarsmith]

The other day I was in a karaoke bar and since it was full of kids I decided to sing this song. I didn’t expect it to happen but the video where Howard runs through the song with Jodi came to my mind and I sang it how he told her to. It brought adults to tears including me (specially me 😂).

[connerrobles-emery]

I've been waiting for years for this as well. Loved Waking Sleeping Beauty when I watched it years ago and should probably revisit that soon. Howard Ashman's bit in that describing his story and song structure was fantastic.

Unfortunately, this didn't really click for me. It feels really uneven. I believe the lack of talking heads was to allow for voice clips of Howard to be inserted in a natural way, but it removed a lot of nuances. It didn't help that the music felt incredibly generic, which normally isn't an issue, but the few moments where it uses samples from the score of the pieces he was working on at the time really come alive.

I feel documentaries about a person no longer with us work best when you get portraits from those who knew him. For whatever reason, a lot of this felt like they got friends and family to read a wiki section about him. I think you may have nailed why when you said it feels like Hahn was learning about Howard as he was filming this. You need to have a strong idea of why you're making something in order to ask the right questions. Again, this stands out more because Jodi Bensen, and in particular Alan Menken gave such strong and emotional interviews that the rest kind of fall flat.

I guess part of this is that most of these stories have been said before in interviews. It's a shame that his partner was there and we got practically no insight into their lives. At one point they mention Howard was afraid to open up about being sick during The Little Mermaid for fear of getting fired. It would have been interesting to hear what his experience during this time was like from his partner. Close to the end, it uses the Mob Song from Beauty and the Beast to question whether or not he put politics or personal experiences into his work. We get clips from family, friends, and coworkers who come to the conclusion that it's not political, just empathetic. But earlier in the film they show Ashman writing Sheridan Square as a way of coping with his emotions and experience. Instead of connecting this to that, the documentary instead uses this as dramatic foreshadowing of his future fight with AIDs. It's especially weird because they could have asked his partner what was going through his mind at this stage. Everything involving his partner is so external and logistics focused. They built the house outside the city. He took care of him. His role was to help with medication and IVs. Where was the internal connection? What was their relationship like before and after?

I'll be honest and say this felt very commercial, and almost like a way of addressing his sexuality and illness in order to say that it didn't affect his work. They bring up him crying while seeing The Little Mermaid parade and realizing his work could live on after he's gone. They complete their interpretation of this by interspersing clips of the original animated films transforming into the live-action films. It felt tacky and like an advertisement. It immediately dates the film and cheapens the impact it can have even just 5 or 10 years into the future. I'm gay and even with my issues, I was feeling emotional at the end seeing the loss of someone in what should be their creative prime. And those clips took me right out of it.

A better film would have taken a look at his lyrics and tied them to Ashman. Try to explain what allowed him such empathy and where his songwriting came from. Instead, it implies his talent was just a natural gift, despite the clear amount of work he put into the craft.

This is going to sound absurd after all of that, but I did enjoy what was there. I honestly didn't realize I had this many issues until writing this comment. I do think there is value in this documentary. My hope would be for it to inspire others to dig deeper. It's just a shame that someone with this much access to those in Howard Ashman's life didn't fully use what he had. I have to wonder if this was made due to the positive response to Ashman's section in Waking Sleeping Beauty, with the idea to get as much behind the scenes footage of him as they could and then do whatever made the most sense to connect those clips without any real goal of examining them.

Wow, that was way more than I intended to write. I'm glad you enjoyed it and I really hope you or anyone reading this doesn't take this as me telling you why you're wrong. I'm just trying to wrap my head around why I felt disappointed despite seeming to have all the ingredients to be something I'd love. Seeing Vonnegut was a fun surprise! There's that. So it goes.

[jaustengirl]

I’ve been waiting for Howard to come out! I adore Waking Sleeping Beauty! I actually found steelbooks of batb and little shop of horrors today so I have like a mini Howard Ashman collection (little mermaid was sold out :() Howard Ashman’s impact on Disney deserves way more recognition.

[alisonsouter]

Some of my favourite songs Howard’s written are suddenly Seymour, part of your world, be our guest, somewhere that’s green just to name a few!

[EricMontreal]

I adore Ashman/Menken's Disney work and it's how I discovered them (Little Mermaid, when I was 9--although I had seen Little Shop of Horrors a year or so earlier when some friends rented it, it scared me so much that I hid in the other room for most of it).

But my fave Howard Ashman song is either his song Disneyland, written with Marvin Hamlish and not Alan Menken, for the great flop musical Smile, and introduced by Jodi Benson (where they first met)--the musical has no official recording but Jodi recorded it for a studio album in the 90s.

I also adore his perfect lyrics for the opening credit song of Oliver and Co. (I guess that's where I first encountered Ashman's work without knowing it) to music by the great 1960s songwriter (and songwriter for American Tail) Barry Mann, Once Upon a Time in New York City.


GREAT review, and I can not wait to see this.

[aaronfletcher]

I adore Waking Sleeping Beauty and Howard Ashman is my favorite lyricist. I can't choose a favorite song because they are all so good. Something There, Beauty and The Beast, Be Our Guest, Gaston, The Mob Song, Part of Your World, Under the Sea, Mean Green Mother From Outer Space, Somewhere That's Green, Downtown, Dentist, Feed Me, and the greatest musical theatre duet in Suddenly Seymour to name a lot.

[johnforbes]

My favourite Howard Ashman song is “Part of your world”. It has played a huge role in my life and continues to be a bit of a personal anthem. I also love “Proud of your boy” from Aladdin. Just finished this documentary and was incredibly moved by it. 🤗

[gwfb]

I handn't heard about this until I saw the thumbnail for this video, so thanks for the heads-up. (:
I've been meaning to watch Waking Sleeping Beauty, since I haven't seen it yet, so I'll take your advise and do a double-feature at some point.

[BrennySpain]

Really can’t watch this tonight on Disney+ by 5pm! It honestly just looks amazing I think!

[qwerty]

Lookin' good for 30, man!
Favorite Howard Ashman song would have to be either Under the Sea or Kiss the Girl. Or if you want to go pre-Disney, Suppertime.