Recent Disney animated films and Disney animated sequels.

[slave2moonlight]

Okay, well, I haven't read the other posts, so no one get the idea I'm commenting on their comments.

Anyway, first off, it's important for everyone to realize what a matter of opinion this all is. There are some we think aren't that good or all out awful that other people love. Starting with the subject of Disney sequels, there are some folks who just don't like the idea of sequels (very narrow-minded, in my opinion), or who simply feel anything direct-to-video is going to be bad. Naturally, the budget won't be as high as a big screen release, but, in my opinion, some of the direct to video releases are very good. Frankly, I rather like Lion King 2, Extremely Goofy Movie, Once and Twice Upon a Christmas, Aladdin and the King of Thieves, and Enchanted Christmas, and some of the lesser sequels have their moments. Plus, I could be forgetting something really good. However, I do get the impression you just don't like sequels or direct to video. However, if you are willing to give any a shot, I'd say check out one of the two best, Bambi 2 (the best) and Cinderella 3 (the second best). As best I can remember, the only problem with Bambi 2 that I had was the song selection, as they were too "modern" for a film that supposedly took place during the original. Besides that though, it was a fantastic "midquel," and the songs weren't enough to hurt it much. Cinderella 3 had a few more issues than that, but was a fantastic movie in its own right. There's also Peter Pan in Return to Neverland, which was a bigscreen release. It probably shouldn't have been released to the bigscreen, but it was mostly good. I didn't like the pop songs though, nor the use of adults to voice children. It's still a pretty darn good film though, that stuff aside. But, give Bambi 2 and Cinderella 3 a shot, and if you don't like those two, forget about Disney animated sequels I guess.


Now, as for the post Lion King stuff, well, saying that anything after Lion King was crap should be taboo around most hardcore Disney fans, though I don't know if it is. True, it's the popular public opinion, it's the unofficial end of the "Renaissance," but I like to think that most Disney fans aren't so swayed by the general public. I hope most could tell what wonderful pictures Hunchback of Notre Dame, Tarzan, Hercules, Mulan, Emperor's New Groove, Treasure Planet, and Lilo and Stitch were. All those were outstanding films (even though I still feel Disney's best animated feature ever was Beauty and the Beast), and I'm sure I'm forgetting some. Also, Pocahontas didn't do much for me at first, but ever since they finished and added that deleted scene, I have considered it another Disney masterpiece (along with the ones I mentioned a minute ago)! But, to get specific about the ones you asked about:


The Emperor's New Groove: Like I said, this is a fantastic comedy! A few things might have been a bit obnoxious, like theme song guy, but I loved the film in general, and I really loved the "Lions and tigers and bears, oh my" joke that the producer and director hated but felt forced to put in, ha.

Atlantis: The Lost Empire: This is my least favorite Disney film. There are a few VERY recent ones I have yet to see/purchase (Valiant, The Wild, Home on the Range, Heffalump Movie, and... that may be it), but the only two I don't like much at all is this one and Chicken Little. This one just didn't have enough of a story after it got going. It was like watching someone else playing a video game. The character development was awful too. Some say the problem with this movie is that it needed to be much longer, and that could be true. Also, I didn't care about the people of Atlantis, and Kida was soooo unattractive to me.

Treasure Planet: I absolutely love this film! A total masterpiece! It was beautifully done. I think either modern audiences don't care for the story it was based on (Treasure Island, of course), or they are just tired of seeing new versions of it. However, I found this to be a brilliant one, and very touching too!

Brother Bear: I have this on DVD, but haven't had a chance to sit and pay a lot of attention to it yet. Saw it once while preoccupied with something else. Still, it looked pretty good, but not phenomenal.

Home on the Range: Haven't seen it. I think it looks entertaining, but I will have to see it to know for sure.

Chicken Little: I don't want to start something here, because there are a couple of folks here that are really defensive about this film. I'll just say I personally didn't like it. It has some good qualities, I liked the "Fish" character, but I didn't like most of the humor, I felt it tried to mimic the success of certain other films,... overall, it just left a bad taste in my mouth. Plus, when I tried to rewatch it, I couldn't get past some of the stupid jokes in the beginning.

One more thing about the sequel stuff. There are a few of those I still haven't seen and need to get too, like Lilo and Stitch 2 and Leroy and Stitch, Mulan 2, Fox and the Hound 2, and a few more.

[toonaspie]

One more thing about the sequel stuff. There are a few of those I still haven't seen and need to get too, like Lilo and Stitch 2 and Leroy and Stitch, Mulan 2, Fox and the Hound 2, and a few more.

Yeah I am missing a few too. I will provide input on the ones I have seen though.

Mulan 2: Not bad. It has an interesting story despite it being much duller in comparison to the original. I put in the good half of the sequels.

Fox and the Hound 2: I became addicted to the music. It's absolutely beautiful music. Yet despite the hard work of good animation and such they put into this film it was like bleh...there is absolutely nothing about this film that fits with the original. It felt like a completely different movie or more like an episode in a Saturday morning cartoon only movie-ized. LOL

Bambi 2 - absolutely gorgeous from beginning to end. The songs despite many complaints are beautiful and do not interrupt the flow of the movie in my opinion. Go watch it. It is the best of all the midquels!!!

Brother Bear 2 - A lot of good effort and animation put into this sequel but it like eh, was it even necessary? It had a good story but really sequels need a point/purpose or else it wont attract people so much to watch it moreso.

Cinderella 3 - pretty weird film in my opinion, the songs were VERY annoying, it also seemed incomplete at the end, i dunno, either than that not bad, it makes up alot for the monstrosity that was Cinderella 2

[slave2moonlight]

I have Brother Bear 2 but haven't watched it yet, because I want to rewatch the original first. Still, people often say they feel a sequel has to be something the original film called for. Some loose end that needs to be tied up or something. In my opinion, a good story is reason enough for a sequel. After all, that's the way the original films come about. However, though I can't give my own comment on the film yet, I've heard some people say that the original Brother Bear had an ending that felt like it needed more, which they said the sequel provided.