![]() ![]() The Imagineering Story had a more serious and respectful tone, without ever becoming too dry or worshipful of its subject Behind the Attraction would be greatly improved if it was closer in spirit to that earlier series. Volk-Weiss, who has a substantial comedy background, is obviously trying to jazz things up with a humorous spirit, but it has the off-putting silliness and insincerity of TV ads or morning drive DJs. It’s full of repetitive rhetorical devices and a grating artificial naivety that makes the show far more aggravating than it should be. The narrator is the game and always charming Paget Brewster, and even she can’t make this script work. Occasionally the show will immediately mock something an Imagineer has just said, with narration that tries to be fun and light-hearted but is too often flippant and disrespectful. It doesn’t respect its audience’s intelligence enough, and doesn’t even always respect the Imagineers who built these attractions and took the time to be interviewed for this show. It tries to be cutesy and conversational but comes off as glib and smarmy. Unfortunately that’s what you’ll find with Behind the Attraction. That tone sometimes works with toys or Hollywood blockbusters, but before ever even watching Behind the Attraction it was clear that it wouldn’t be all that appropriate for the amount of work and artistry that goes into Disney’s theme parks. They’re the same people behind The Toys That Made Us and The Movies That Made Us, two popular Netflix shows that trade on a superficial, often ironic nostalgia for popular ‘70s and ‘80s toys and movies. Behind the Attraction is co-produced by The Nacelle Company and directed by its founder, Brain Volk-Weiss. If you’re familiar with some of the other TV shows made by its production company, you know what to expect, and why that’s worrisome. With copious amounts of backstage and contemporary footage, interviews with several prominent Imagineers from the past and present, and the full backing of Disney, Behind the Attraction promises to be the definitive history of these timeless, beloved attractions and the artists who made them. Its 10 episodes are all devoted to either a specific ride or a general type of attraction, like the different forms of transportation found in the parks, or the castles that are the dominant landmarks at the various Disneyland-style parks. The new Disney+ series offers a behind-the-scenes look at the creation and history of some of the parks’ most beloved attractions, from Jungle Cruise, to Space Mountain, to the new Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. It’s not a surprise, then, that the announcement of Behind the Attraction was met with great excitement by theme park fans. ![]() Despite its almost six-hour length, there was still much that went uncovered, though with such a long history of theme park design, a dozen different parks around the world, and untold projects that never made it out of the development phase, Imagineering’s history deserved further exploration. The Imagineering Story was a fun and informative look at the multidisciplinary artists who have given us such classic works as Pirates of the Caribbean, It’s a Small World, The Haunted Mansion, and so much more over the last 66 years. One of Disney+’s launch shows was a six-part documentary about the history of Disney theme parks and the people who built them. ![]()
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