Opinions on all the "sequels" to the classics...

[Reviewer ZIM]

I love Disney's classic films but I really am loathing all these cheaply made and unimpressive sequels they seem to be churning out lately. Most of the ones I've seen so far are inferior to the originals in artwork, animation, story telling, music and entertainment value. What bothers me the most is the fact that Walt himself didn't seem to care to reopen these stories with sequels and how he tied off these animated features with such great and neatly wrapped up endings. There just doesn't seem a real reason to do these sequels other than to cash in on a superior classic property because the figureheads are out of good fresh ideas.

Other opinions?

[KK]

[antOOny]

I totally agree, but people seem to be buying them, and the more you buy the more Disney will continue to make. The main thing that bugs me is that they are messing with the true classics like Cinderella, Lady and the Tramp and soon to be, Snow White 2, which is the worst thing they could ever do.

[alphamin]

no way....

there doing a snow white 2 ?

[antOOny]

I think that's the plan. There's even a petition to stop the release...

Snow White 2 Petition (http://www.petitiononline.com/sw2/petition.html)

[xtrafan]

I signed it, but If Disney already started the project I doubt there's much we can do.

[litz]

The Disney Co. is disgracing itself. Walt is rolling in his grave. You don't see anybody going out and making Casablanca II or Citizen Kane II.
Since Disney is just trying to make a few bucks off the little kids who don't recognize the artistic value of the classics, there's really not a lot that we toonophiles can do about it. Just deny they exist, and turn your head when Snow White II is advertised.:rolleyes:

[Reviewer ZIM]

My daughter has been wanting to see Cinderella II (forgive her she's not quite 3 yet) so I finally gave in and rented it on DVD on the $1 movie night. The art wasn't too bad but there was really no story or real purpose to this movie being made other than to rake up some easy money for an inferior project riding on the coatails of a much stronger and inspired original film. No surprises there....

:o

[KK]

[Mr. J]

I've heard nothing but negative things about Cinderella II, but I'll probably still check it out. I really don't mind sequels. All I ask is that they limit their selection (don't do true classics) and use a good story.

[ash]

disney is running out of ideas

[Reviewer ZIM]

Mr. J,

I fully agree. Return to Neverland was a nice sequel because it had a good story, good characters that were allowed to stay in character, good art and it allowed you to care about the participants. I still don't think the original movie needed a sequel.

Cinderella II doesn't even have a purpose. It's just what I'd call a compilation of what should have been three short made of TV episodes of a Cinderella cartoon series. I wouldn't be surprised to see it become a TV series if the DVD "movie" sells well with the quality ignorant masses.

[KK]

[xtrafan]

Maybe the Classics were for us and the sequels are for a whole new generation? I also agree with you guys. Sequels aren't bugging me one bit, just don't mess with the treasures!

[Reviewer ZIM]

I don't mind them making a few select sequels as long as they are well done and serve a purpose in context to the original films. Almost none of these Disney continutions fit that bill though. I also don't think they need to modernize any of these classics with unneeded sequels for "new generations" either. Most of the classic Disney films were made decades before any of us were born and they didn't need to dumb down or modernize any of them for us. These tales are pretty much timeless in appeal that's why they are so well loved and have passed the test of time. So it's not about making new stories that appeal more to the modern child, what it is about is a cheap way to capitalize on an established property and not have to work hard to stretch the parameters of Disney's shrinking in house imagination and story telling talent. These sequels are all about the benjamins and very little else. How glaringly it shows when you sit down and watch garbage like Cinderella II... :(

[KK]

[Venom]

Exactly KK, Disney just ruins it by making garbage like that, I mean like whats next Sleeping Beauty II: Sleep Some More
The only good sequel i can think of is Toy Story because they actually put some thought into that.

[Reviewer ZIM]

Yep Venom is right, TS II was a good sequel and the reason it was was because Disney didn't have much to do with it other than market it. It was once again Pixar's baby. Disney just slapped their label on it afterward which is fine by me. I would not want to see what they had done with that franchise all on their own. :p

[KK]

[antOOny]

Originally posted by Venom
...whats next Sleeping Beauty II: Sleep Some More
...

HAHA!

[Mr. J]

That's too funny, but how about...

Sleeping Beauty II: Sleeping Disorders ?

:D

[Reviewer ZIM]

I hope the Disney brass aren't reading this. They are probably taking notes for future title ideas. :p

[KK]

[thebeast]

hey everybody , i am loathing the sequels im a huge disney fan and have attempted watching the sequels but find it hard because i cant stop cringing and the poor storylines. Im from australia and cinderella 2 is coming out march 20 so something not to look forward to :P anyways ill prolly by it out just to see what disney are doing to destroy the classics , and snow white 2 ? what a joke thats one of the most classic films ever made !

[thebeast]

P.S i created an avatar lol

[Reviewer ZIM]

Nice avatar, Beast. Me likee!

[KK]

[Specter]

If they ever make a Fox and the Hound 2, I'll be dismayed.

[Reviewer ZIM]

Be prepared to be dismayed sometime in the next couple of years... nothing is safe. :( Except maybe the Great Mouse Detective or the Black Cauldron and that's only because a lot of people don't know they exsist anyway. :p

[KK]

[Specter]

Watch out, Great Mouse Detective is coming to DVD this summer. And that means that it could potentially do something.

[Venom]

I remember the Great Mouse Detective a little, wasn't it like the animal version of Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty?

[Reviewer ZIM]

:eek: Isn't that strange? I mentioned an obscure Disney movie and the next thing you know they are releasing it on DVD. :) Maybe I should type The Lion King, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Bambi and Aladdin all in caps in every one of my new posts to make sure we can get those great films on DVD sometime in the immediate future. :p Seriously, I really don't understand why Ciderella and The Lion King have not been released yet when their sequels are available on DVD. That really doesn't make a lot of common sense to me.

[KK]

[antOOny]

Disney's Platinum Schedule:

2002 Beauty And The Beast
2003 Aladdin (probably being replaced by Lion King)
2004 The Lion King
2005 Bambi
2006 The Jungle Book
2007 Cinderella
2008 The Little Mermaid
2009 Lady And The Tramp
2010 101 Dalmations (animated),

[Reviewer ZIM]

Wow, thanks for the list, Toonster. It's looks like Disney is trying to release the modern classics on their 10 year anniverseries. That doesn't bother me so much now that I know they are all in the works for imminent release in the next couple of years. Bambi being on tap within a five year period is also nice to know. I hope it gets a Snow White type treatment. Cinderella set off as far as 2007 bothers me though. Who wants to bet they'll have 3 or 4 blah sequels to it on the shelfs by the time the original debuts?

I was not wanting to go back and buy the gold collection DVDs of 101 Dalmations and Lady and the Tramp since they debuted and were discontinued a long time before I got my DVD player. That and the gold editions seem to be pretty bare bones, but I don't know that I can wait 6 to 8 years for new editions though.

Toonster, have you heard any rumblings about Sleeping Beauty on DVD? I'm thinking that the list you have there is the featured release for the rest of the decade and maybe Sleeping Beauty might qualify as a minor release over the next few years. What do you think about that theory?

[KK]

[antOOny]

All these titles are "Platinum" releases and should get at least a 2-disc set treatment. As for Sleeping Beauty, word has it that we might see it by the end of this year. Currently, it's being released all across Europe. The last announcement was a Collector's Edition and standard edition for France. The CE has a Vista Series type package, but you know how it is, they always get the nice artwork or package.

[Reviewer ZIM]

Sweet! All of those titles are deserving for the double disc platinum treatment IMO. I wish Peter Pan and Dumbo had gotten a few more features as well but they were still nice anyway.

I forgot all about the news about Sleeping beauty being released in other regions. I wonder why it got green lighted overseas before we got it here? The prince's battle with the black dragon is one of my favorite Disney action sequences of all time.

One other question I have if you know the answer....will we ever see the Song of the South on region 1 DVD? They tease us with merchandise at the Disney stores and even have toys currently
distributed by every McDonalds in tha land but still no videos or DVDs.

[KK]

[Reviewer ZIM]

With the terrible news that the completely pointless Cinderella II lead all DVDs in sales last week you can expect many many more lackluster sequels to the classic animated features in the future. Oh well, they won't be seeing much if any of my money. :)

[KK]

[Specter]

Disney should just release all of those right NOW. come on...

[Reviewer ZIM]

Well, I'd love that but I guess there is more money in stringing them out. I know couldn't afford all ten platinum editions if they came out at one time. Also, if they released them all at once I suppose there really wouldn't be much to look forward to either. I want these quicker than over the next eight years but it looks like I'll just have to wait. :o

[KK]

[litz]

hey toonster, forgive me for asking, but i would like to know how you know the official order of the platinum titles. the list of titles has appeared all over the web, but this is the first ive heard the years.

also, they put a lot of work into the snow white disc, so it makes sense that they couldn't release the entire platinum series at once, especially if they want to continue to improve it a lot as ive heard.

finally, there's no getting around it: animated disney films should not get sequels, (discluding toy story 2 as a pixar creation, and perhaps the rescuers down under) ESPECIALLY the ones that Walt himself was around for. heck, i didn't even like the return of jafar, and that was only a couple years old at the time.

[antOOny]

Hi litz, this is a bit of old news for me, and I don't remember if I got it from a Disney contact, or if they made a statement, but I do know that the "Platinum" titles were determined by what Disney movies were the best selling.

Sleeping Beauty was not part of the Top 10, and that is why it's being released as a non-platinum title. Like I mentioned before, right now Sleeping Beauty might get a Fall release along with The Rescuers.

I'll check everything I have and as soon as I find it, I'll post it here. Wouldn't want you to think I was lying :)

[Reviewer ZIM]

That's a great point that I forgot to make but is oh so true. There is a huge amount of extra work involved with the platinium editions. The wait to get versions of these movies in this form is worth it.

I agree totally with the Disney sequels. Out of the many they have pounded out in the last 10 years there are only three true sequels that I'd ever even view again. And of those three, I'd wouldn't consider any of them favorites or legitimate classics.

[KK]

[antOOny]

Here is the announcement from DVDfile...

http://www.dvdfile.com/software/status_report/disneyanimation.html

and the original statement from 1999 can be found at..

http://www.dvdfile.com/news/web_wire/press_release/archive/buena_vista/animation.htm

As you can see these announcement are very old and as time has passed, there has been more and more details released, but I suggest you do a little bit of research.

[antOOny]

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/guides/guide-display/-/LGXPQX7R7YYI/103-6567815-9835066

Click on that link for the year by year releases.

[Reviewer ZIM]

Thanks for finding that list, Toonster. I cannot express how excited I am to see the titles we are getting in the Platinum format over the next 8 years or so. Very nice Disney, this almost makes up for some of those horrid sequels. :)

[KK]

[BubbleGumUK]

The "cheapquels" were really starting to bug me.

I think they're degrading and damaging to the originals. At least they are not marketing them as part of the "official" Disney classics collection, and the ones that do go theatrcial do seem to actually have a little more thought put in to them

In the past day, I just caught "Return of Jafar" and "Aladdin and the King Of Thieves" again on TV, and "Return To NeverLand" which just opened here in the UK.

The "Aladdin" video sequels are just terrible animation wise. The stories don't even add up to much, and the only saving grace is that we finally hear Ashman/Menken's original ending song to the original "Aladdin", the "Arabian Nights" reprise.

"NeverLand" was completely different. Although I'm against the botching of Walt's original films, let Disney continue re-hashing their own post-Walt output. They're doing the trashy TV series anyway - but when they started on "Lady and the Tramp", I got worried. When they announced "Peter Pan II", I was devastated! Here was one of my favourite Walt classics being tampered with and I was all ready to go into the theatre to tear it apart.

I loved it.

With all the whizz-bang-in-your-face CGI antics of "Ice Age", and "Jimmy Neutron", I was completely captivated by the pure and simple MAGIC of "NeverLand". I love the CG epics of today - heck I'm producing a kids animation show right now - but love the 2D look, and "NeverLand" returned to the original spirit of the Disney films that was lost soon after "Beauty and the Beast" and "Aladdin".

I'm not saying that "NeverLand" ranks up there with those classics, but after "The Lion King", Disney seemed to get a little more "modern" and PC. "NeverLand" seems to take place immediately in the era of the original 1953 film, and I felt as if I'd never-never left!

I don't like the cheapquel-sequel trend, but if the theatrical releases at least put the effort in, then at least there may be some hope - future Disney directors or traditional, official features??

I shiver at the mention of "Cinderella II" and "Snow White 2: The Lost Dwarf", and am going to be cautious with the upcoming "101 Dalmatians II" and the "Jungle Book II", as these stories had finished and the ad-line "what happened after happily-ever-after" should never exist. However, I am rather intrigued by a "Dumbo II" - it's a circus life and there are more stories to be found there. What escapes me is why the heck they don't pick up on more contemporary projects where the stories naturally contiunue. "Pete's Dragon" saw Elliott leave Pete to go and save another kid - where was that sequel? Or how about adding a third to the most obvious series: Bernard and Bianca! Surely "The Rescuers Go Dutch" and others are on the cards...??

[Reviewer ZIM]

I wholegheartedly agree with most of what you say there BubblegumUK. I do too think Lion King was a departure from anything Disney had done before; however, I really wished they made more movies with the quality, heart and soul of that release nowdays. To me that was Disney's last great grand slam and everything since then has been ranging from good to sub par whether they are sequels or not.

[KK]

[Specter]

Here is what I feel about Sequels:

A good sequel is one that builds on the foundation laid by the original. It doesn't tread on anything set up by the original, and expands on ideas and concepts in the originals.

A sequel can never ruin the original, as they are unconnected, except by characters and situations. The sequel to a great movie, or book, some feel will "ruin" the original. Imagine if they made a sequel to "The Princess Bride." Would the original still be as good? I suggest that it would, because if you ignore that the sequel even exists, then you can enjoy the original for all it's worth. As for a great movie that HAS a bad sequel: Beauty and the Beast. BATB was nominated for Best Picture in 1991 and remains a classic today, and one of my favorite Disney movies. They made "Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas" a few years later, and it even covered some of the original's story. It was overall, a pretty bad movie. But the original remains intact as a viewing experience.

So a sequel is only as bad as you make it out to be. If you let it bother you, it will, otherwise, enjoy the original, and forget about the sequel.

[Reviewer ZIM]

I would agree with you on that to a certain point, Specter. However, many times people's perspective can change somewhat on a whole franchise just one bad high profile showing. Just look to Star Wars Episode I for evidence of that. Many people when you mention those movies immediately go into Star wars, Jar Jar, and Lucas sucks mode even if you don't mention that particular installment of the series. Sure, the original movies are still great but the fact that they are still connected to what most think is an inferior sequel has tarnished the franchise to a certain degree. The only reason it has not been the same with such Disney greats like Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella is these add on releases have not had the same huge stage and promotion to get the same kind of traffic to sully their legacy. Believe me if either of those two chodes had been released and promoted in the theater as an animated classic there would have been a major fallout with movie critics and the casual movie populace as well. There an old saying that says you are only as good as your last at bat and in many people's eyes it rings true.

[KK]

[Reviewer ZIM]

I got a great idea for a Disney in theater sequel and one they couldn't mess up if they just did it with the same standards as the original classic. Disney could make a feature film of "Through the Looking Glass" which was the follow up book to Alice in Wonderland which they adapted into the classic animated film. Now there is a sequel that makes sense in producing and would be sure to win over some critics and disgruntled sequel hating fans alike with a solid effort. :)

[KK]

[Specter]

I see your point.

There have been sequels that have worked well.

An American Tail: Fievel Goes West
The Rescuers Down Under

[litz]

Through the Looking Glass just wouldn't work my friend. First of all, Disney took the most animation-friendly elements from the books to make Alice anyway, so there's not a whole lot left. Second of all, when Disney advertises Alice in Wonderland 2, kids and adults alike are going to expect the Mad Hatter, Cheshire Cat, and the Queen of Hearts. Even if one overlooks the fact that they're not in Through the Looking Glass, nobody is gonna dig up Ed Wynn or Sterling Holloway to do the voices, and without a decent story or the original vocal talent, all you have is another cheapquel.
As for the idea that nothing has been any good since the Lion King, I disagree. I thought Hercules was terrific (even though they completely dismantled the mythology).

[Reviewer ZIM]

Well, they didn't use the same voices for Return to Neverland either and people didn't leave the theater in droves. As for Through the Looking Glass, I must admit I haven't read either of the novels in my adulthood yet and just can't recall much of anything from my childhood. I plan on rereading both after I start and finish the Chronicles of Narnia. I just thought since the novel lent to a followup and the film had a rather abrupt wrap up it might lead to a nice sequel. It the content isn't there then so be it. I still don't think it could be any worse than Cinderella II. :)

It's fine if some people love some of the films since The Lion King. We all have our own opinions. It think some post Lion King films have been good just not great. Like I said in some prior posts, Disney has spoiled me. I'll hold back any personal commentary in Hercules though because we are most likely polar opposites when it comes to that particular project. ;)

[KK]

[Tiger-Lily]

Sequels to the classics...

I'm very divided on this subject to be honest. On one hand, it's kind of nice (read- kind of) to see what the characters are up to after the original film. (Like 'Fievel Goes West'. Gosh golly, I LOVE that film to death. One of the best sequels ever, IMO)) Plus, it might actually be intresting. Of course, that can be veyr rare...

But on the opposite hand, sequels just aren't all that... nessicary (sic). In fact, some just shouldn't be made- like Cinderella 2, The Brave Little Toaster's 2 sequels and Secret of NIMH 2. You have to wonder what they were thinking when they made those. A quick cash in yes, but you think they could put more effort into those.

Oh well... not much anyone can do about it. The companies will make sequels, and not care if the quality is good or bad. *sigh*

[Paka]

Have you guys seen the figures for these stupid sequels? The video sales are through the roof. Now, if you're a suit - only interested in money and business, not in art or imagination - what would you think about these sequels? "Whoa - look at the money these things rake in - and they're so cheap and easy to produce!"
It's simply Disney making a quick buck off the poor ignorant public. Disney's been floundering lately - building a new park that no one goes to, making $100+ milllion feature films that return less than $90 million, and just generally making stupid decisions at every turn. These sequels are an easy way to make up for their losses - like KK said, it's ALL about the benjamins, nothing else.
I stopped buying the sequels on tape after Scamp's Adventure. I mean, Dreams Come True? Hunchback II? And all these future sequels in the works - Dumbo II, Jungle Book II, 101 Dalmatians II, Lion King III (please god, no), Tarzan II, Mulan II, Hercules II, Atlantis II - the list goes on and on. Is nothing sacred anymore? I swear by the time I die there will be a sequel (or 2, or 3) made to every single flic they've made.
I hope Disney realizes that their integrity is flaking away piece by piece with every stupid sequel they make. They're so blinded by their corruption and greed that it's almost pathetic to witness.

[Reviewer ZIM]

I just wished they'd return to what they were doing about 13 years ago. For about 5 years there they were zoned in to making incredible animated feature films as their top priority and they produced their greatest stretch of 4 feature films in a row in their history IMO ( The Little Mermaid through The Lion King). After that short run it slowly became more about hype marketing and flash instead of hard work and quality substance. That's why the company is in the state it is now IMO. They forgot where they came from philisophically again, luckily I still remember. That's why I haven't bought a crappy sequel yet.

{KK}