As Dreamers Do (2014) User Reviews

Great story - BUT....

[Kristina_vonsel · 5/10 · 19 May 2015]

The story of the beginning of a great artist... One of the most magnificent artist in modern history, and we get this?

A lot of the acting was stiff and lacked passion as well as compassion. It was like watching an amateuremovie... The setting was alright, partly the cinematography too, though i would expect something more bright and vivid when telling the story of an artist... Anyway...

The Disney family moves to Marceline - and young Disney learns important advices for future life. Already at that point in the movie, the poor acting shines through - or is it the directing, that lacks compassion?- I can't tell. The lines are great and quotable... But lacks life. :( And that's pretty much the same for the rest of the movie as the Disneys move on from one place to another.

Well, Elias Disney was great - and Walt the older grew by it.

the story IS worth telling, so watch the movie, if you want the story behind Disney. But if' you're looking for a good time... find another movie. I'm so sorry...

And the Ending? - I would expect some scenes from the successful Disney Studios - delivering something known - you know - to end the circle... So don't expect it. It won't happen.

I appreciate the effort.

[JHarmon712 · 3/10 · 26 March 2019]

You could definitely tell this was a community effort. It looks just like community theater. The most talented people get the leads and everyone else who auditions gets a line or 2. It painfully dragged out many scenes. Sorry, but I would look for something else to watch.

Bad all around. Full of religious agenda. Stay away!

[astrokicker · 1/10 · 4 February 2015]

If you can't tell from the majority of the other reviews, the largely positive score this film has on IMDb is totally bunk. I'm convinced that the people involved in the production of this flop are responsible. If you take anything away from the following review, let it be this: the movie was dreadful and you should stay away.

As a huge Disney fan, I was extremely disappointed. The acting was horrible, the directing was dreadful, and the film ends without showing any of Walt's successes after going to California. It more or less leaves the "plot" of this biopic falling sinfully short. But with how utterly bad this movie is, it's probably a kindness that it ends so abruptly.

I'd also like to address the Christian agenda of this film. They blatantly and unapologetically use any excuse to insert messages of faith throughout this entire catastrophe. I'm not talking about once or twice, either. It permeates the whole film.

I have absolutely no issue with Christianity or people having faith. However, the attempt at cramming a Christian message inappropriately throughout the entire movie was distracting and far too excessive. Frankly, instead of inspiring me I was left incredibly uncomfortable - not because it was a religious message - but because of how forced it felt.

Coincidentally the only "professional" review (also mysteriously positive) was from a Christian review site.

Be you an avid Disney fan or someone merely curious about the life of an amazing man, I would hold out until the Walt Disney Corporation itself does a proper biopic. Stay as far away as possible from this lemon. You'll be doing yourself a favor.

the life of mister Disney

[fabmannatje-943-607688 · 1/10 · 21 February 2015]

well, if you copied the whole script into g00gle translate, and you would let her read it for you, then you'll hear some acting, but this is just reading words in front of a to expensive camera. I really can't get my head around it, how could people be so stupid or naive, or both. At a point you must be thinking, if I was the director, or actor, that this (bleep) we are making is really wrong and bad, and wouldn't you talk about it and do something completely different of rehearse the scenes or something. I really don't understand. I'm very sorry for all the people, I may have hurt, but I am only trying to help. do something you like and please go the full 100%, and not this half baked (bleepbleep)

Pitiful Acting and Awful Dialogue

[smalltown-227-207739 · 1/10 · 31 January 2015]

Warning, only watch this movie if you can stomach really bad acting.

The fact that IMDb gave this a 7.5 out of 10 will forever negate any credibility the rating has in my eyes. The storyline is fine, but the acting and dialog is terrible. I find it ironic that the story of the founder of a brand known for rich media and superb entertainment is portrayed in such a pitiful manner. I guess Disney didn't think it was worth the investment to do the film itself.

I'm not sure I would even recommend this movie for Walt Disney fans. It does a good job with the story, but the acting may tarnish whatever reputation he has in your mind.

Such a disappointment!

[Melysa-clayton · 1/10 · 3 November 2014]

This movie was such a disappointment. A movie about Walt Disney's life not made by Disney should have been a red flag, but I was hopeful; the life of Walt Disney is by very nature inspiring. This film, however (spoiler alert) leaves off just after Walt files for bankruptcy and moves to California. It completely omits the hard-earned successes he finally enjoys after years of barely scraping by. The acting, camera angles, and timing are less than desirable as well. I literally could not wait for a few of the scenes to end as they were simply torturous. But I stuck it out, hoping to learn more about the sequence of events and successes Walt experienced.

Don't waste your time. Wait until Disney puts out a quality film and truly honors the man who started it all.

Disappointing

[essencerose82 · 2/10 · 12 March 2015]

The film starts out with Walt being a young and somewhat troublesome boy, and is narrated well. However, that's where the good part of this review stops. I wish I had more good things to say, but I simply can't think of one more thing that I actually liked about this.

I was so excited to watch this. Walt Disney's life would have made such an excellent film, IF it weren't for the over the top cheesy acting that pretty much made the movie almost painful to watch. I kept hoping that it would get better. I caught glimpses of what could have been greatness, but it fell flat and left me feeling extremely disappointed. The concept was great... if only the casting would have been done by someone who knew what good acting should look like. If you can make it past the bad acting, the story itself is fascinating.

It goes from awkwardly bad, to awkwardly worse

[daytonn-40101 · 16 February 2018]

30 seconds into the film, you knew it was going to be bad. The introduction felt like a YouTube trailer for a high school film project. I decided I would watch the film on fast forward to save some time... Every 30 seconds I stopped to watch a few seconds, you could pick up the details of a Christian film. I think a worship team at a Church got together and decided to act? As I saw the acting, it reminded me of how bad I did acting. It's really not as easy as it looks. It felt sort of like Napoleon Dynamite doing a Christmas play about Walt Disney.

Overall, I'm not sure how accurate the information is, but it seems to be a lot about Walt Disney as a child and teenager (which was pretty boring). An hour into the 90 min film, Walt shows his first cartoon to a theater producer. The producer buys his cartoon for $0.30 a foot (I was hoping this was an inappropriate innuendo, but it wasn't). From here Walt starts making cartoons. 5 mins later Walt is talking to a young girl and asks her "Do you want to see my pet mouse!" The girl smiles and Walt walks into the background with the scene fading. (I thought this was a family film!)

At this point, I was so confused, but at 1:10 the narrator confirms that Walt becomes desperate for money and will do anything to make a buck... he begins taking baby pictures and pet pictures... A tad bit of odd humor regarding the animators keeping one another happy, but that pleasure didn't pay the bills. The film goes on with Walt running out of money, his family leaving and a mouse feeding off scraps from Walts art table... From her the movie ends abruptly.

A beautiful tribute to the life of a genius.

[adamguppykeele · 8/10 · 18 April 2014]

Walt Disney is a man who had a huge hand in shaping cinema into what it is today. His legacy will last for eternity and his life was a marvelous mark on the world. This being said, As Dreamers Do is a segment of his life and some of the struggles that helped create the man, Walt Disney. While this story is well told and the performance from Olan Rogers is brilliant, the film struggled before Olan was introduced. The children that played Walt and Roy's younger selves were not trained actors (not that I blame them, they're children for goodness sake) but to be fair, it was tough to watch the first bit of the movie. I was able to push through that segment of the movie for a combination of the performance by Mark Stuart who played Elias Disney and the beautiful cinematography. Overall this movie was above and beyond my expectations and I would advise strongly to partake of the cinematic experience.

Even with the pretend acting and religious overtones the film illustrates Walt Disney's early life and how Walt imagined a better world through his visionary films

[Ed-Shullivan · 6/10 · 10 November 2015]

Yes the acting was somewhat played by cardboard actors and actresses who were obviously gathered together rather quickly with little preparation to memorize their lines. As a result it leaves us the viewers with an initial impression that it is a lousy film. Instead, since the film was not just about Walt Disney's growing years and his hungry years as a very young artist I must emphasize it was just as much about his big brother Roy's early life. I suggest you give the story a full view to understand what the director and writer were attempting to portray.

Try and ignore the subtle religious overtones but accept we are witnessing a simpler time in the first quarter of the 1900's and we are viewing the Disney families real life and series of events of the early 1900's. The Disney family was struggling to make a living as were most families in the pre-World War 1 days. Walt was born in 1901 and the Disney families ties as devout Congregationalist Christians is obvious throughout the film. I wanted to learn as much about Walt's early life as possible as his story of his Disney empire is intriguing. As the film focuses on Walt's earliest days moving from his birth place of the big city Chicago to the countryside in Marceline, Missouri and then back to the big city of Kansas City, Missouri, we learn about Walt's families financial struggles which is where we also learn about Walt's never ending positive attitude as a dreamer and with an aptitude for drawing that allows his surrounding world to be his canvas.

If you are wanting to see that magical moment when Walt actually becomes successful with such film classics as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs or how he created Mickey Mouse then this film is not for you. Rather, this film focuses on the Disney family unit and the early influence his Aunt Margaret embedded in his heart and mind by bringing him his first tablet and coloring crayons which she always encouraged him with words of how talented Walt was.

Upon reviewing this film as a whole I do get it. No this is not a film of high quality with actors the caliber of Clooney, DeCaprio and/or DeNiro but the essence of a young Congregationalist Christian from Marceline, Missouri who was a caring and loving brother and future employer speaks well of Walt's early upbringing and of the film's ability to portray a young dreamer at the turn of the 20th century who came in to a bleak world and had a vision to make the world a much happier place which allowed people to laugh and cry in a secure and wonderful imagined film after film.

Overall, I liked it even with the cardboard acting and religious overtones because the story is real. That story being the early childhood and working years of a hungry and struggling artist named Walt Disney. I give the film a 6 out of 10 rating.

Worse ACTING Ever

[allthecatsjoinin2015 · 1/10 · 22 February 2015]

This movie may be a independent film but I would think the Director would know bad acting and lines as if they were reading them. thumbs down. DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME.

I should have guessed if it was not endorsed by Disney it would be a complete flop. The fact that the hidden religion in the film us a big turn off. I have seen better Student films.

I have absolutely no issue with Christianity or people having faith. However, the attempt at cramming a Christian message inappropriately throughout the entire movie was distracting and far too excessive. Frankly, instead of inspiring me I was left incredibly uncomfortable - not because it was a religious message - but because of how forced it felt.

Coincidentally the only "professional" review (also mysteriously positive) was from a Christian review site.

Be you an avid Disney fan or someone merely curious about the life of an amazing man, I would hold out until the Walt Disney Corporation itself does a proper biopic. Stay as far away as possible from this lemon. You'll be doing yourself a favor

Frustratingly disappointing

[pastorphilstel · 1/10 · 27 April 2015]

I was really looking forward to seeing this movie. I've enjoyed many Disney movies in my life and was eager to see a story of the man's life. My wife and I recently saw Saving Mr. Banks which was wonderful. But this ... We couldn't believe the poor acting. It was like seeing a Junior High play where all the kids had learned their lines well, but the acting and sets were amateur and incredibly poorly done. I'm glad I missed this movie in the theaters and only lost the rental fee. I think we made it about half way through before we quit because it was obvious it wasn't going to get any better. With the movie still running, I went to my computer, read the other reviews on this site and decided not to waste my time. I didn't know this movie was produced by some well-meaning Christians. I am a Christian and appreciate actors and producers who seek to promote Christ and the Christian life and world-view in the arts. There are an increasing number of great movies out there that present an authentic Christian perspective well and engagingly. I read the reviews and repeatedly notice an anti-Christian bias by the reviewer that does not correlate with the crafting of the movie. This was not like that. This movie was just poorly done. And as such,it does a disservice with no redeeming quality.

Yes.. At the heart a good idea.. but PLEASE!

[phosusevr · 2/10 · 1 June 2015]

OK.. like everyone else says, REALLY BAD ACTING. I mean saying that this is a B-rated movie is almost an insult to B-Rated Movies. The only thing make me think that it could be a Walt Disney-like film is the Narrator. He's a bit simplistic and over-the-top too (making it sound like a documentary).

I could almost look past that and try to enjoy the story. But, bad editing is hard to look past without laughing. For those that are curious as to what I mean...

Answer me this, (26:09) who is the guy in the black shirt watching Mr. Disney talking to his boys about the paper route? Director maybe?

How did this movie even make it to the public. Wow.. Walt Disney is probably rolling in his grave.

I would be surprised if it doesn't somehow lead to litigation.

Overall, it's just too bad that they just didn't care to make it worthwhile and memorable to honor the life of a man that has bought so much joy.

Really bad and extremely disappointing

[aricbrown13 · 1/10 · 5 May 2015]

I ordered this from our library and it took a really long time to get in due to an error. When it finally came I was really excited because I am a big fan of Olan Rogers. I put it in and was so disappointed. It sucked. The acting was terrible, the props and buildings were inaccurate to the time period, everything was just bad. When it started out I thought it was going to get better when Olan got on screen, but even his acting was off. It must have had a budget of 12 dollars, which they used to buy donuts. It was literally the worst movie I have ever seen. I am not exaggerating. It sucked! I do not recommend anyone to see this pitiful excuse for a movie. It was just terrible all around.

Sparks of Hope

[thomas-vanmeter · 2/10 · 27 December 2014]

I adore Walt Disney and how his dreams became reality. A great man like Walt Disney deserves a wonderful film to highlight his achievements. There were some inspirational moments in the film. Unfortunately, it was filled with less than stellar acting.

At one point Walt Disney is sitting with a little girl in front of a white drawing board and talks with her about imagination. He says he hopes "we meet your expectations". Wish this film had met mine.

The movie ends prematurely. It should have moved forward through the heartache to the successes. It's the moment things started going his way we all long to see.

As one good Christian watching out after another, this film does offer many positives, but it missed the mark.

I've seen nearly everything done on Walt Disney... this film is the worst of them

[jasontoddrubin · 1/10 · 17 February 2021]

Honestly, I can't get over any aspect of this film. The dialog, story, acting... it's all among the worst I've ever seen on any subject. Sorry for any typos, my eyes are filled with tears from wasting my night with this movie.

Very Heartwarming Film

[jell_bells91 · 10/10 · 18 April 2014]

As Dreamers Do does an excellent job of telling Walt Disney's story. It has some very emotional family scenes that will make you both laugh and cry. The great thing about this film is that it focuses on the difficulties that Disney went through as a young man, rather than on his triumphs. In doing this, it gives a new and different view of a well-known icon, while at the same time reminding us all that no matter how grim things look, there is always hope. Olan Rogers portrays Walt Disney perfectly, and the rest of the cast (namely Ryan Dunlap, who plays Roy Disney) is spot on as well. When you watch the movie, you can see and feel that every single person who worked on it poured everything they had into it. I definitely recommend this film, for the whole family!

Just when I thought I've seen the worst of films, this was viewed

[gsgsff · 1/10 · 31 July 2022]

Within 10 minutes of watching this film, I could tell it was going to be one of the worst movies I would put myself through. The acting is probably the worst I have ever seen in a movie. The narration by Travis Tritt should have been a giveaway at the direction this movie was going to take. The religious direction this movie took stole even the most remote chance it stood to be digestible.

If one wants to watch a much better version of this story, I would recommend "Walt Before Mickey".

If a 0/10 was an available option, it would be the one I would give this movie. An hour and a half of your life you will never get back.

An exceptional independent film

[ichbinsonderbar · 8/10 · 22 April 2014]

I automatically liked this movie before I saw it. It's about Walt Disney, one of my favorite figures in film history. It stars one of my favorite unknown actors, Olan Rogers (whom I've watched since the Balloon Shop days--a down-to-earth, humble, and wonderfully talented actor and writer). And it's an independent film that is true to the "independent" label--no big name studios or huge money are involved here. It's literally a small group of people who just really really want to make a movie.

Most of the cast are untrained actors, and it is painfully obvious (particularly in the first half of the film). It was a struggle to watch the actors bumbling through their lines, particularly the children and Mark Stuart (Elias Disney) with his obviously put-on breathy delivery. The rushed pace of the editing and the over-reliance on narration nearly made me and my family fast forward through the first act. But we continued on, past the frustratingly amateur dialogue and delivery, through the overload of B-shots, and enduring the stiff and unrealistic pace of dialogue editing.

Then, Olan Rogers and Ryan Dunlap burst on to the screen, and the entire tone of the film changes. It is literally magic when these two actors pop into view--the dialogue improves dramatically, the acting is refreshingly better, and even the dialogue editing experiences a marked improvement. (The jarringly fast editing changes to a more realistic editing style that takes its time, pausing for drama and allowing the actors to inhabit their characters.) The remaining 2/3 of the film are not perfect by any means, but it certainly is worth the watch. The beauty of the cinematography compliments the talented actors, and the rest of the film is satisfying.

All in all, certainly not the best movie I've ever seen, and not even the best fully-independent film I've viewed. But it is definitely enjoyable, even if only for the joy of watching people making a movie that they love--something I'm sure that Walt himself would be proud of.

Great movie!

[mslevere · 10/10 · 24 January 2021]

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. I've watched it several times and enjoy it each time. It tells as life actually was at that time, many people relied on their Christian faith to survive the difficulties they faced. Some may find it hard to accept, but things were not easy for everyone during those days.

Oh my goodness the Karen comments are so hateful and ridiculous it is laudable!!

[mewood-33152 · 10/10 · 3 December 2023]

This is an extraordinary independent film. I don't think people realize the work and effort and time that goes into this. I don't think people realize that as they sit on their couch and whine through a movie about how "terrible" it is. If you LOVE Disney, go ahead and watch the absolutely horrifying, mortifying, and unacceptable stuff that they mass-produce, but if you want a story that is actually accurate, I recommend this. Everyone and everything is pushing an agenda. I'd like to remind everyone that Disney has an agenda of their own. If you love modern day Disney, then I'm sorry. Maybe in 2015 it was different, but I don't think that it was. Walt Disney would be mortified to see what his company has produced. I think he would shut it down. If you really hate this movie, then why are you spending so much time on a negative review? This movie is a sweet and wonderful movie, and is very impressive! It was also not funded by millions of dollars of Hollywood money. This is a wholesome family movie and if you have problems with it, I have nothing to tell you except for what I already have said.