The Next Fairy Tale Trilogy Discussion

[xxhplinkxx]

The Way Ive viewed 6 of the major Disney films has always been as two seperate trilogies.

The First Trilogy:
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
- Cinderella
- Sleeping Beauty

These were first three Princesses and all these began ended with their "story books" opening and closing (with narration reading the story at the beginning).

The Second Trilogy:
- The Little Mermaid
- Beauty and the Beast
- Aladdin

The second set of Princesses and what I like about the ending of these is that they all have the "Disney Chorus" singing that films main song at the end. Also, the three songs that each of the main characters sing have a reprise. (Thank you Alan Menken and Howard Ashman!!)

The Third Trilogy:
- Rapunzel
- The Frog Princess
- ???

Although only 2 films have been announced, Im sure that Disney has a third Fairy Tale based or related film up their sleeve. I very much look forward to seeing what this new trilogy will (hopefully) bring. I can only hope that these three (again, hopefully theres a third one somewhere) films will help bring back that Disney Magic we all know and love.

[slave2moonlight]

I vote for Puss in Boots. Jack Nicholson as Puss. I used to have some awesome sketches of a Jack inspired Puss. I wasn't too high on that story until I saw the live-action film with Christopher Walken as Puss. So glad that stuff is on DVD now (most of it, anyway). You know, those live-action fairy tales they used to show on Disney Channel? Not the short, Shelley Duvall ones, the Cannon movie-tale ones. They still haven't released a couple though, and I still need a couple that they have released.

[Disney Duster]

You know, those live-action fairy tales they used to show on Disney Channel? Not the short, Shelley Duvall ones, the Cannon movie-tale ones. They still haven't released a couple though, and I still need a couple that they have released.

Woah. Okay, I thought I was the only one who new about those! I liked Snow White and Sleeping Beauty, but Sleeping Beauty always confused me because there were dwarfs or something and I didn't get what they did. And I also never got...a lot. I'll have to watch it again if I can. I heard they actually made nine films. I saw Red Ridinghood (was there some king who turned into a wolf?!) and I don't know the others. What were they?

And oh yea I'd love to see Puss in Boots but Shrek had to f*** everything up for that possibility. Legions of fans would have to explain that Puss was a Grimm's fairy tale open to anyone who wanted to explore the character. And then there would be comparison's of Shrek's Puss character with Disney's Puss character. Kids would want him to be funny and say, "Where's his Spanish accent?"

[goofystitch]

I have always wondered why Disney never tackled "The Princess and the Pea." I also wondered about "Rapunzel" until I heard they were finally doing it, and I think it is long overdue. I'm surprised Walt never did it. By the way, does anyone know if it was ever considdered during Walt's era? I seem to remember hearing something about Walt considdering it, but going with "Sleeping Beauty" instead. And at least TPATP isn't something that Barbie did in recent years as a CG film. I also have always loved the story of "Rumpelstiltskin." I think that with John Lassater in reign at WDFA, they could do an awesome treatment of that fairy tale. I believe the girl in it became a princess in the end, so that would fit with your princess fairy tale theme.

[xxhplinkxx]

Rumpelstiltskin

You took the words right out of my mouth.

[Wonderlicious]

Something could come after The Frog Princess, but one could argue that by that film, Disney would have made three fairy tale films, thus bringing the total up to a tetralogy. You could say that Disney is already into a fairy tale tetralogy (this is a group of four works) at this moment. They just made Chicken Little (although the film doesn't have a traditional fairy feeling, it is based on a classic fairy tale), and Enchanted, although an original story, is a modern fairy tale.

[slave2moonlight]

You know, those live-action fairy tales they used to show on Disney Channel? Not the short, Shelley Duvall ones, the Cannon movie-tale ones. They still haven't released a couple though, and I still need a couple that they have released.

Woah. Okay, I thought I was the only one who new about those! I liked Snow White and Sleeping Beauty, but Sleeping Beauty always confused me because there were dwarfs or something and I didn't get what they did. And I also never got...a lot. I'll have to watch it again if I can. I heard they actually made nine films. I saw Red Ridinghood (was there some king who turned into a wolf?!) and I don't know the others. What were they?

And oh yea I'd love to see Puss in Boots but Shrek had to f*** everything up for that possibility. Legions of fans would have to explain that Puss was a Grimm's fairy tale open to anyone who wanted to explore the character. And then there would be comparison's of Shrek's Puss character with Disney's Puss character. Kids would want him to be funny and say, "Where's his Spanish accent?"

Yes, there were 9. Seven have been released on DVD. I have 5 of them. The first to be released was my favorite, "Red Riding Hood," and, yeah, they made it a werewolf story. In the end, as punishment, the evil, false Lord became a werewolf. Great film and a great musical. 2 other AWESOME ones that I have are Puss in Boots, starring Christopher Walken as Puss, and Hansel and Gretel. The Snow White one is another I have, and it is also VERY good. The last one I have is "Emperor's New Clothes," which is more of a fun/funny one. "Beauty and the Beast" was also released on DVD, but I haven't found it yet. Most of them were in the Wal-Mart 5.50 bin a while back, but I missed out on Beauty and the Beast and haven't found it again. It starred Rebecca DeMornay(sp?). Rumplestiltskin is also supposed to be on DVD, but I have only seen that one on Amazon.com and haven't ordered it. May have to order it and Beauty and the Beast eventually. The other two that have not been released yet are Sleeping Beauty (don't remember the dwarf stuff you mentioned) and The Frog Prince, which starred the kid who played Annie in the big '80s movie. Don't know why those two haven't been released yet.

[xxhplinkxx]

Hm.. Ive never really heard of these. I remember seeing a Live Action Story of the Frog Prince, maybe its the same one as the one you guys are talking about. Does anyone have pics?

[slave2moonlight]

Hm.. Ive never really heard of these. I remember seeing a Live Action Story of the Frog Prince, maybe its the same one as the one you guys are talking about. Does anyone have pics?

I'm afraid I don't. They used to show them on the Disney Channel. They actually used to show two types of live-action fairytales on the Disney Channel, these Cannon Movie Tale ones (which were feature films) and the Shelley Duvall (sp?) Fairy Tale Theater ones. Those ones were like a half hour long (or an hour), and pretty low budget, but they had celebrity casts. The Cannon films usually only had 2 or 3 celebrities. In one of them, the frog prince was played by Robin Williams, but I'm like 95 percent sure that was the Shelley Duvall one.

[crunkcourt]

I've always wanted Disney to make a version of the Little Red Riding Hood. Rumpelstiltskin wouldn't be a bad choice either.

[Escapay]

The Third Trilogy:
- Rapunzel
- The Frog Princess
- ???

Although only 2 films have been announced, Im sure that Disney has a third Fairy Tale based or related film up their sleeve. I very much look forward to seeing what this new trilogy will (hopefully) bring. I can only hope that these three (again, hopefully theres a third one somewhere) films will help bring back that Disney Magic we all know and love.

Maybe we can consider the partly-animated "Enchanted" as the first in this third trilogy.

Third Trilogy:
- Enchanted
- Rapunzel
- The Frog Prince

Escapay

[Disney-Fan]

Maybe we can consider the partly-animated "Enchanted" as the first in this third trilogy.

But that's not part of the DAC cannon.
I don't think Disney will stop at two princess tales (especially with Menken on board). I expect an announcement sometime after Rapunzel.

[PatrickvD]

Obviously, The Snow Queen.

That story is amazing. It has everything. And Alan Menken is already writing songs to a stage adaptation for Disneyland. If it's good, it could easily be handed over to feature animation.

But Disney calls the shots here anyway. They'll decide how many fairytales and wich ones are gonna be made. I doubt they've looked at the past 6 as two trilogies, so if Rapunzel is a hit, I think we can expect a whole lot more.

[Timon/Pumbaa fan]

This might be considered an "off-topic rant" but one I thing I've been hearing from "Disney Fundamentalists"(a term I'm stealing from a podcast and using it to describe critics on Rotten Tomatoes people who say stupid things like "Oh Disney has be crap ever since 1992") is saying bring back the Princess films. I have to ask a big solid: why?

One thing that made the three Princess films: The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin, successful is that they were THE EXACT sames stories and Snow White, Cinderella and Sleeping Bueaty. If you look at it, they really are. But the former three films had something the older ones didn't: it brought modernization to them. Meaning, they made the heroines more "independent", they gave the songs more 90's feel, they fastened up the pace etc. And in way they made them "timeless"(though I have to largely disagree with that, as I think all three have shown their age). What can Disney do to modernize them to be as successful as the "Fab Four"(asumeing that's what many people here want Disney's "goal" to be) Remember Chicken Little, it's modern people just love to diss it.

Personally, I still think Chicken Little is underrated and MUCH better than probably ALL of the princess films. The story is heartwarming and funny, the animation didn't try to approach "realism" which for that, I applaud Disney for and place it higher than most CG films of today's animation(including Pixar's ) because they're always trying to "bring CG animation to the next step" when there's really not much, if anything, they can do at this point, at least, not much to not anything to impress me a great dealy, in fact, some animated films like The Wild and Monster House looks downright because of that goal. But Chicken Little was focused on the story and found animation that worked for the story. Don't people here always whine about Disney needing "great stories"?Plus it's got a cast of great characters. In fact, imo I think Chicken Little deserves to be a mascot of "Disney's California Adventure" more than, Stitch, the Pixar and Playhouse Disney characters, and probably all the Disney Princesses. And those are just a FEW of it's possitives. I really don't, to this day, see how it can be an "artistic failure", I mean, if it's really that bad as people here on this board say, I can point out MANY flaws in other Animated Classics a lot of people just worship about.

So what does my 100th defence post have to do with anything, well to point out that, I don't think Disney needs a string of Princess films. Don't get me wrong, I don't think any Disney film currently planned shouldn't be made and am rather interested in films like "Rupunzel" and "Enchanted" and how they turn out, but I strongly disagree that Disney should release a "string of similar films", just like somebody a while back wanted to see only a bunch of "Broadway style musicals". That's why the Pixar films are rather boring as, with the exception of The Incredibles, ALL follow the same formula.

Frankly, I think Disney should try to find completely origial concepts, and not go making buddy films like Pixar has been doing or simply copy concepts from films from the past. That's why I'm looking forward to films like Meet the Robinsons, American Dog and Gnomeo and Juliet(which unfortunately thanks to Lasseter is now being released under Mirmax) more than films like Rupunzel or The Frog Princess(which to be honest, I think could be completely sheleved, at least, the 2D animation part. I remember reading MANY articles about people getting laid off or desks getting sold in late 2003 and early 2004, and I've yet to read an actual article today about them "rebuilding" anything).

[PatrickvD]

lol, sorry I stopped reading when you said you found Chicken Little to be better than The fairytales and Pixar.

That film is overproduced and underdirected. It missed mark after mark after mark untill it got incredibly painful to watch. Mark Dindal is so much better than that.

but that's just my opinion. And what do you mean by Chicken Little not trying to create realism? Disney and Pixar are the golden standard in stylised american animation. They've never really gone for an extremely realistic look in their films.

[Timon/Pumbaa fan]

lAnd what do you mean by Chicken Little not trying to create realism? Disney and Pixar are the golden standard in stylised american animation. They've never really gone for an extremely realistic look in their films.

That's true, but one thing Pixar is famous for is "bringing CG animation to the next level". And frankly, with so many animated films, I almost feel as if CG animation has done it all.

Well, that's not true I know, but I can't say I'm "surprised" that they pulled it off. When Toy Story was released I was amazed by it and still continue to be because of it's time period, and it hasn't at all dated(making Pixar's first film my favorite Pixar film, well that and childhood memories ).

However say for example Cars in that scene where Lightning and Sally are driving and they reach that canyon and the music comes up as the animation is beautiful, I can't say I'm impressed with it. Don't get me wrong, it's beautiful, and it not something any of us here can create on scratch, but considering so much CG used in movies, I wasn't at all "blown away" by it.

I remember seeing a documentary on how they made "Shrek" and they said they wanted to try and "animate" things like lava, water, environment movements etc. and wanted to "amaze us since it hadn't been done before". Frankly, at this point in time, CG has brought us so much, I don't think they'll find a film they make me go "wow, I'm amazed they could do it". The only film this year that made me do that is "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" as it looked incredibly realistic and beautiful. However, even in the end, I guess I can see how they pulled it off and not swept away by it. You don't get that type of feeling when watching Pinocchio and Sleeping Beauty for example, because they're also beautiful, yet I'm still amazed people did that all BY HAND! It's quite amazing actually.

While I'm sure we'll see more films with beautiful animation, I can't say they'll ever find a way to make me as or more impressed than a lot of stuff Walt did, or heck, even with what Toy Story did. That's why I like what Disney did with Chicken Little. They weren't so focused on "oh what could we do that hadn't been done", which to this point is so flat out tiring. They tried to make a fun enjoyable world and make it believeable to it's energetic story. I think that's a greater achievement than anything Pixar's done so far.

[promisemewings]

I've always wanted Disney to make a version of the Little Red Riding Hood. Rumpelstiltskin wouldn't be a bad choice either.

Little Red Riding Hood's already been done, but not by Disney. Did you see Hoodwinked?

I would love love LOVE to see Disney tackle Rumplestilskin as well. There are other good ones they could do.

--Tom Thumb
--their version of Thumbelina (I know that Don Bluth's studios already did it, though)
--Hansel and Gretel

[slave2moonlight]

Hoodwinked? This was not the classic Little Red Riding Hood story. It was good, but only after it picked up, and the animation looked like a bad video game. Still, like I said, after it picked up it got good.

Nevetheless, Little Red Riding Hood still needs to be done in the classic fairytale style, and I would LOVE if Disney would do this, my favorite fairytale. Especially if they did it in a serious Disney Fairytale way, and especially if they'd take the werewolf route. Oh, and I'd prefer it in 2D for sure.

Of course, it wouldn't be the first Disney animated Red Riding Hood. She did appear in one of the old Big Bad Wolf/Three Little Pigs cartoons. But then, they have two Chicken Littles at Disney too.

As for why I didn't like the movie Chicken Little, it seemed to be trying to hard to be another great computer animated film. It tried to do music the way Shrek does, and this was painfully obvious. It tried to do the same father and son bit from Finding Nemo, and this was also painfully obvious. Its attempts at modern humor with things like the already dated psychology bit, they just fell flat. Actually, they were annoying. Plus, while the visuals were well achieved, the character designs were odd and uncomfortable. But, I did like Fish, and the spoof of War of the Worlds was good. However, it did feel like two different movies once it got into the alien stuff. Bottom line, it was my biggest Disney animation disappointment besides Atlantis. Not sure which I feel is better or worse. In fact, those might be my only two Disney animated disappointments since they "fixed" Pocahontas by restoring that cut song, though I have always felt the visuals in Rescuers were a little too washed out looking. And, of course, there are a few recent ones I haven't seen: The Wild, Heffalump Movie, Home on the Range, and Valiant.

[Fidget1234]

I'd cast my votes to either Rumpelstilskin, or Princess & the Pea...

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didnt they recently make a live action musical of princess and the pea?