Walt Before Mickey

Few visionaries are as fascinating as Walt Disney, so it's particularly frustrating that this drama is so uninspired. It seems more like an adaptation of a student's book report than a compelling look at one of the most influential men of the 20th century. Remember the annual Hallmark movies of the week that used to air on network television during sweeps? This is even tamer and more vanilla than those, with absolutely none of the fire and ambition that it's attempting to capture about Disney's quest.

Although Nicholas and Heder (as well as Gutierrez and David Henrie as animator Rudy Ising) are clearly making an effort, several of the supporting characters are played in a laughable, amateurish manner. Except for the accurate depiction of Disney as a chain smoker, Walt Before Mickey is so squeaky clean that it's hard to believe that it's about an actual person, much less someone as equally beloved and derided as Disney. The movie's only tension seems to be about money -- and how Disney's lack of it tanked a few of his early endeavors. But since there's no real depth to the way Disney is characterized, it devolves into a soporific, overly earnest bore of a film that Disney himself never would have approved. If there's one thing Disney wanted above all else, it was to entertain -- something this movie does not.