Best Direct to Video Releases

[consultant]

If you could have only 3 direct to video animated releases, which ones would you pick?

[Gwildor]

Hum...

I would pick the Little Mermaid 2, Aladdin the return of Jafar and Pocahontas 2!

It doesn't mean that they are the best ones, but they are my favourites until now...

[Nandor]

I only have three, so that's pretty easy.

The Lion King 2 (because One By One is on that DVD )
The Three Musketeers (bought it out of curiosity)
Lilo & Stitch 2 (bought it because the duo-pack was cheaper than just Lilo & Stitch)

I really don't care for Lilo & Stitch 2, so I'd trade that one for either Aladdin And The King Of Thieves (in it's OAR), Cinderella 3 or Little Mermaid 3 (they look promising, but looks can be deceiving...).

[jeremy88]

My favorites DTV's are:

The Lion King 1.5
The Lion King 2
Aladdin and the King of Thieves-I was glad Robbin was back

I didnt really care for The Little Mermaid II mainly because I found a lot of flaws with it and for some reason the original characters looked really strange through out the movie. Which is sad because The Little Mermaid is one of my favorites. Hopefully the 3rd will be somewhat good.

I've never seen Cinderella 2 Tarzan 2 or Pocahontas 2.

[Escapay]

Based on DVD content or based on movie quality?

DVD-wise, the best three would have to be:
- Lady and the Tramp II: Scamps Adventure - either version, be it the 2001 original or the 2006 re-issue, as there's a great audio commentary and a worthy 17-minute featurette, along with nice vintage shorts and disposable games.

- The Other Side of Heaven - yes, a live-action DVD. While it technically had a very limited theatrical release, it's classified as a direct-to-video movie here at UD, and is worth mentioning. It too has a nice set of extras (commentary, 25-minute featurette, and still gallery), though it's missing the deleted scenes that were mentioned in the commentary. I still have to pick it up.

- The Lion King II: Simba's Pride - the two-disc edition could easily fit on a single disc if they dropped a couple unnecessary elements, but as is, it's two-disc is stil pretty good. There's not much in terms of behind-the-scenes material, but we do get the wonderful "One by One" short, and the movie's even good too!

Film-wise, the best three would be:
- Mickey Donald Goofy: The Three Musketeers - can't go wrong with a movie that uses Walt-era characters. DVD could have been better, and contains a few nice extras (the "commentary" is hilarious on a first listen, but tiresome on the next). I would have liked a *serious* making-of featurette about how they brought Mickey Mouse back to the movies, along with more making-of material on this film (which got a very limited theatrical screening in a few towns).

- Bambi and the Great Prince of the Forest - I prefer using the original title and not use the Roman Numeral version. Anyways, some people call this film an abomination, others call it cute but unnecessary. I enjoyed it immensely and consider it a worthy companion (not sequel, but companion) to the original Bambi.

- Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin - an early DTV and it plays out like a really long episode of "The New Adventures..." but it's still a charming film and quite better than dreck known as Pocahontas II, Little Mermaid II, Cindy II, Hunchback II...

Honorable Mentions go to:
-Beauty and the Beast: Enchanted Christmas (just don't tell Skullfarmer!)
-Mickey's Once Upon A Christmas
-101 Dalmatians 2: Patch's London Adventure
-Return to Neverland (not a direct-to-video DVD since it did get a wide theatrical release, but some still think of it as a DTV sequel)
-Mickey's Twice Upon A Christmas
-Pooh's Heffalump Movie
-The Fox and the Hound 2

And if you're still not convinced on which titles to acquire, simply check out the reviews available for the Direct to Video titles. It's scattered between 1994 and 2004, but everything since 2004 has been reviewed.

Escapay

[TheNikki]

As of right now I would say...

The Little Mermaid 2
Brother Bear 2
Aladdin and the King of Thieves

I could bump Aladdin if Cinderella 3 is as good as I'm hoping it will be.

[Ting Ting]

The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea - Despite what everybody else says, I think this movie was created pretty well. Of course, it's nothing compared to the original, but I think it's a lot stronger than some of the other DTV movies.

Bambi II - I know I'm probably going to be thrown into a school of hammerhead sharks for saying this, but I actually think this movie is better than the original. There really isn't much of a plot to the original, nor is there much dialogue. I think this deserved a theatrical release.

The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride - I think it's safe to say that this sequel has a much stronger story than most of the others. The only problem I had with it was that they obviously tried to make it as good as the original, which simply can't be done with a movie like The Lion King.

[slave2moonlight]

There are actually a few really good ones, and some I'd want just because of more footage of dreamgirl princesses, but, just off the top of my head, here are the ones I'd say are the three best... Though, I could easily be forgetting something...

Bambi 2

Mickey's Three Musketeers

Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas


That last one I nearly forgot. Other great ones are Twice Upon a Christmas, Lion King 2, and An Extremely Goofy Movie.

[Disney's Divinity]

Bambi II

Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas

Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World


By the time I see Twist In Time, it'll most likely replace Pocahontas' sequel. The two Aladdin sequels also have decent stories, but the animation was...o_o

[toonaspie]

Lion King II
Lion King 1 1/2
Bambi 2

Those were the only sequels I own in my DVD collection. I also have Brother Bear 2 (which I recently bought) but I am thinking of Ebaying off.

[akhenaten]

lilo and stitch 2
aladdin and the king of thieves
simba's pride

[Pasta67]

Only three? Let's see...

The Return of Jafar: Yeah, I know, one of the "bad" sequels. While I think that Iago's ability to just dig himself out of the Cave of Wonders in pretty unrealistic (in addition to him being able to even get half of his body outside of Jafar's lamp in the first place), the movie quickly makes up for it with a pretty decent plot, good music, and great songs. Sure, the animation is television-show-quality, and it didn't have much of a budget, but that's really the only thing that's really wrong with the film, in my opinion. Aside from Robin Williams, Douglas Seale, and Lea Salonga (Jasmine's singing voice), the entire original cast returns, and they give great performances. Making Iago the main character with his "Want-to-be-good-but-I'm-supposed-to-be-bad" role was a good decision as well. Overall, it was a good sequel, and with the exception of the animation (which was still pretty good, considering its' budget), everything was excellent.

Aladdin & the King of Thieves: Better than RoJ in every way, this was a great way to conclude the television series. The first thing that comes to my mind when I think of this movie is that it's probably the funniest sequel to a Disney animated classic ever made, mostly thanks to Williams and Gottfried. I thought that Cassim's "We-steal-from-people-but-never-harm-them" motto was a little strange, but he was still a good character. Sa'luk is a good villian, and I like how his greed eventually becomes the thing that defeats him in the end. The songs aren't as good as the ones in the original Aladdin, or even RoJ, for that matter, but they're still enjoyable. And I know that I'm probably the only one, but one of my favorite things about the movie was seeing Carpet (my favorite Aladdin character) actually defeat some enemies by himself. He was ker'pwning people left and right in this movie, including some of the 40 thieves and even Iago. But enough about Carpet, this movie really is great, and one of my favorite sequels ever.

Also, if I could pick how I wanted to own it, I would make it a fullscreen release, instead of the cropped widescreen release we have now.

Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin: This is Pooh's first official not-composed-of-shorts movie, and I thought it was great. It's also one of the few times I've actually cried during a film. The songs are awesome, and "Wherever You Are" deserves an award of some kind, because it's just so touching. I wish that Gopher had made an appearance, but I can't tell you how happy I am that we don't see Roo at all in this movie. That little guy's getting on my nerves so much these days. This movie is also very special to me because it's the last real Pooh project that really focuses on the main point that the Winnie the Pooh franchise was trying to make back when Disney adapted it in the first place: how strong the friendship between Pooh and Christopher Robin is. We rarely get to see the Pooh characters express any real emotion besides "OMG Happy", and seeing them really risk their lives to find him and not giving up is more moving than you might think. This is not only a good DTV movie, but it's a great movie, period. I instantly recommend it, especially if you're a fan of Pooh (the bear, I mean).

[Timon/Pumbaa fan]

DVD-wise, the best three would have to be:

- The Lion King II: Simba's Pride - the two-disc edition could easily fit on a single disc if they dropped a couple unnecessary elements, but as is, it's two-disc is stil pretty good. There's not much in terms of behind-the-scenes material, but we do get the wonderful "One by One" short, and the movie's even good too!

Don't forget, Timon and Pumbaa's "Find Out Why" shorts!

Coincedentally(or depending how you look at it, non-coincedentally) the only DTVs I actually own on DVD are "The Lion King" ones! The Lion King 1 1/2 being the better of the two. Both have great DVDs(at least for what they are) and one is a work of genius, almost on par witht he original. 2 is just "okay".

But since you need three, other suggestions are(which I've seen, but don't own on DVD):

Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure: Is actually really good, especially as it stays true to old Disney comics(the whole character of "Scamp"), which in a way, is probably how Walt would've made it(of course ignoring that "Walt would never do sequels" line ).

101 Dalmatians 2: Patch's London Adventure: Don't let people say "DTVs are never good" this is better than the original!

Return to Neverland: Not DTV, but lile the above one, is actually better than the original.

The Tigger Movie: Not DTV, but it's still great(still deciding if I like it better than the original )!

Cinderella III: A Twist in Time: Like everyone else, haven't seen it, but it looks great, even better than the original. Definitely going to make an effort and at least rent it.

[Disneykid]

Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin
Mickey's Once Upon A Christmas
Cinderella III: A Twist in Time (yes, I know I haven't seen it, but I know enough to know that it has the potential to be my favorite DTV, or at least in the top 3)

[Widdi]

I tend to avoid DTV at all costs, but out of the handful I've seen there are three I did like

The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride - I saw it when it first came out, back when my age was still in the single digits, and loved it then. It doesn't hold up as well now, but it's one of the few DTV's I'll watch, and the only one I've ever actually spent money on.

The Lion King 1 1/2 - I'm not a big fan of Timon and Pumba which is why I probably didn't like it as much as others. It was enjoyable, not as much as 2, but not as bad as most DTV's. I didn't hate watching it.

Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World - I saw this movie only yesterday and I'll admit, I didn't hate it. It was nice seeing Pocahontas with someone who wasn't as boring as a log. I'd never buy it, but I wont refuse to put it on for my younger cousins anymore.

[Disney Lover]

For me - Lion King 2, Lady and the Tramp 2, and Bambi 2

Those were my faves out of them.

[dvdjunkie]

People keep saying "Return to Neverland" is a direct-to-video release when it did have a theatrical release. I was a projectionst at the time of its release and we showed it for about three weeks. So I think that we need to re-look at the direct-to-video release again folks.

[slave2moonlight]

People keep saying "Return to Neverland" is a direct-to-video release when it did have a theatrical release. I was a projectionst at the time of its release and we showed it for about three weeks. So I think that we need to re-look at the direct-to-video release again folks.

Yeah, I almost gave it a mention myself, but remembered I first saw it in theaters. It's understandable that one would forget that it was in theaters though. Now, it wouldn't make my top three, it does have flaws, but in general I like it, and not just because Tink is one of my top two Disney dreamgirls.

Also, I forgot about Beauty and the Beast: Enchanted Christmas, as I often do. It might be tied with Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas for me, as Twice Upon a Christmas probably is as well.

[memnv]

People keep saying "Return to Neverland" is a direct-to-video release when it did have a theatrical release. I was a projectionst at the time of its release and we showed it for about three weeks. So I think that we need to re-look at the direct-to-video release again folks.

I saw this in theaters also. Another one that has been mentioned that wasi n theaters is Pooh's Heffalump Movie

I myself would pick:
Lion King II

and
Lady and the Ttamp II

[Gwildor]

People keep saying "Return to Neverland" is a direct-to-video release when it did have a theatrical release. I was a projectionst at the time of its release and we showed it for about three weeks. So I think that we need to re-look at the direct-to-video release again folks.

It's the same with Bambi 2! It also had a theatrical release!