Disney Rants

Disney Sequels

Oh gosh, it was gonna come up sometime; Disney Sequels.

We all know them, and, for the most part, hate them.

Seriously, what happened to Happily Ever After?

Now before I begin, it should go without saying that everything discussed does not include The Rescuers Down Under. It doesn't even count (for obvious reasons).

So, where to begin?

How about the company making them? This is none other than DisneyToon Studios, which is different than the Walt Disney Pictures. And it leads to most of the direct-to-video movies being so bad they're insulting.

I think that one of the reasons for this is that the sequels--or sometimes midquels, even prequels--are written like TV show episodes. Seriously, that's how high the stakes are and how the overall style is.

For instance, in The Fox and the Hound 2, the whole main plot is literally Dixie's and Todd's jealousy over the Singin' Strays band. How paper-thin can you get?

And in The Little Mermaid 2: Return to the Sea, it didn't feel very original. Kind of like in The Lion King 2; It was just the previous main characters' children, with a switched around storyline. After all, I don't think that Ariel would've kept her ocean home and land world separated by a wall, given her own experiences. It was frankly out of character in my opinion.

The problem with having a different branch of the company make them is that the writers do not understand the story, morals, and characters put into the first one, which is just sad. Like when Quasimodo got a girl in The Hunchback 2 when he was clearly at peace and happy by the end of the original. Why? To make more money? Because some haters couldn't handle him being single? Do what you do best and stop trying to please the public, Disney. Please?

The point is that the majority of these films are clumsy, have mediocre writing, and almost no comparison to the first.

  I couldn't even finish Pocahontas 2, it was so painful. What John (Smith that is) and Poca had was special and it was ruined. However, my biggest problem with it was that the audience was fed an ending. At the finale of Pocahontas 1, it was kind of left to your imagination whether Poca and John would ever meet again. Even as a kid I never had a problem with this. It was a unique ending that made you use your brain. But then, of course we were spoon-fed a conclusion where Poca is reduced to someone choosing between two dudes for the sake of historical accuracy. Screw historical accuracy!

  Never watched any Beauty and the Beast midquels, and I don't plan to.

Never watched Lady and the Tramp: Scamp's Adventure, though I admit it looks cute.

I haven't gotten around to Ariel's Beginning either, but I doubt I will.

I just realized I don't even know what Cinderella 2 is even about!

For the record, there is no accounting for taste. Some people really like some of these and that's okay; you like what you like and that's it. After all, I found Bambi 2 super endearing and rather good.

So, the solution? Pretend that, except for those select few, that Disney Sequels don't exist. Because recently things have been getting better, with the incoming Frozen 2. You gotta love pixar's too.

Toodles! :)