Howard (film)

Howard is a 2018 American documentary film written and directed by Don Hahn about the life of songwriter Howard Ashman.[1]

Howard
Official release poster
Directed byDon Hahn
Produced byLori Korngiebel
Jonathan Polenz
Written byDon Hahn
StarringHoward Ashman
Sarah Gillespie
Jeffrey Katzenberg
Bill Lauch
Alan Menken
Peter Schneider
Jodi Benson
Paige O'Hara
Music by
Edited byStephen Yao
Production
company
Stone Circle Pictures
Distributed byDisney+
Release date
  • April 22, 2018 (2018-04-22) (Tribeca Film Festival)
  • December 18, 2018 (2018-12-18) (United States)
  • August 7, 2020 (2020-08-07) (Disney+)
Running time
92 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Summary

The film documents the life of songwriter Howard Ashman, who wrote the lyrics for the songs in the Disney classics The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin, as well as the stage musical, Little Shop of Horrors, and who died in March 1991 of complications from AIDS at the age of 40.[2]

The film uses the same interview presentation as Hahn's previous documentary, Waking Sleeping Beauty, where rather than "talking heads", audio interviews are used with "speech bubbles" indicating who is speaking.[3]

Music

Alan Menken composed the score for the film, while Chris Bacon adapted the score.[2] When Hahn showed a reel of the movie to Menken, who worked with Ashman on several projects until the latter's passing, he told Hahn that "[he has] to score this movie". According to Hahn, Menken composed the score during the holiday season, and describe his score as "one of the most personal and touching scores that [he had heard] from him".[2]

Releases

Howard premiered at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival, and was nominated for the Best Documentary Award at the 2018 Heartland Film Festival, before having a limited theatrical run on December 18, 2018. On October 18, 2019, it was announced that the film will be released on Disney+ in 2020.[4] The film was released on Disney+ on August 7, 2020.[5]

Critical reception

The film has earned critical praise.[6] On the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 94% based on 34 reviews, with an average rating of 8.43/10. The critical consensus reads, "Howard serves as a bittersweet tribute to the life and legacy of a brilliant artist whose timeless songs served as the soundtrack for a generation of Disney fans".[7] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 76 out of 100, based on 12 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[8] Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter called it "a rich cinematic portrait"[9] while Melissa Leon of The Daily Beast stated that the film is "riddled with gems from the production of now-iconic films".[10]

gollark: The particularly good ones are generally from other people.
gollark: Well, I have some libraries, I don't think they're mostly all that *useful*.
gollark: `a_function("string with spaces")` or even `a_function "string with spaces"` which is neat.
gollark: The same way as usual?
gollark: What happened?

References
  1. Trailer on Don Hahn's official Vimeo channel
  2. "Howard: Press Notes" (PDF). Howardmovie.com.
  3. Howard Director Don Hahn on Telling Howard Ashman's Story|Collider
  4. Low, Elaine; Low, Elaine (October 18, 2019). "Disney Plus Fleshes Out Nonfiction Slate, Including 'Howard,' 'Science Fair,' Mickey Mouse Docu". Variety. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
  5. @Disney+ (July 16, 2020). "Meet the man behind the music that made the world go round. 🎶 Howard, an Original Documentary, is streaming Aug. 7 on #DisneyPlus. #HowardDoc" (Tweet). Retrieved July 16, 2020 – via Twitter.
  6. Gingold, Michael (April 25, 2018). "Tribeca Review: HOWARD Honors Disney's Musical Genius". Birth. Movies. Death.
  7. "Howard (2020)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved August 7, 2020.
  8. "Howard Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved August 7, 2020.
  9. Sheck, Frank (April 24, 2018). "'Howard': Film Review – Tribeca 2018". The Hollywood Reporter.
  10. Leon, Melissa (April 30, 2018). "How AIDS Shaped 'Beauty and the Beast': Remembering Disney Songwriting Genius Howard Ashman". The Daily Beast.

See also
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