Aaron wrote:I just watched Mulan and think that the "there's bound to be a thing or two they'll notice" and "concubines... ugly concubines" lines push the envelope just a tad as well. I think this may have warranted a PG rating if it were to come out today.
I doubt it. There's a difference between quick one-liners that fly over the heads of kids in a "family film," and films that are saturated in adult humor and lowbrow bodily function jokes, like
Shrek. The
themes of
The Lion King, Hunchback, and maybe
Tarzan (i.e. violence, mature subject matter like lust and revenge, etc.) would likely earn them a PG these days, but a few throwaway jokes? Nah. That's why I can't really believe the oft-told story of the MPAA giving
Home on the Range a PG because of
one line. This being Roseanne, there's likely more than
just one line of "rude humor." Besides, if the MPAA truly
did give it a PG because of
one line, then I say that's truly oversensitive.
Finding Nemo deserved a PG by those standards - why the hell did IT get away with a G? Hollywood politics?
But anyhoo, Disney has always had comic relief in nearly
every animated film; in fact, that's the main reason I liked and still like
Cinderella - Lucifer and the mice are nothing short of
hilarious!
However, what seems to have happened to the animated features in the past few years, especially post-TLK, is they've seemed to
polarize in theme - they're either heavy on drama (i.e
Pocahontas or
Hunchback), or heavy on comedy (i.e.
Hercules or
New Groove). The extreme examples I just listed have problems handling the opposite theme - Flit, Meeko, and Percy in
Pocahontas, or the gargoyles in
Hunchback feel
really forced, while the low points of pathos in
Hercules or
New Groove (or even the borderline examples of
Mulan or
Tarzan) seem alien - there's little that's sufficient enough to sympathize with the characters, especially after non-stop, A.D.D. gags and silliness. And while
Mulan and
Tarzan are borderline comedy,
Atlantis and
Treasure Planet fall more into the drama category, with their serious action-adventure themes.
In any case, many of the post-TLK films have leaned too much towards one theme or another, and it tends to burn them in the end. Too much of a good thing... as they say.
So Disney's bandwagon move of focusing primarily on comedy in their animated features isn't a wise idea, says I. Not only are they flooding the market with all-CG films now (the novelty of which will run out
really quickly), but they're making more light, fluffy comedic stuff. Which is what most other CG bandwagon studios have in mind - DreamWorks, Sony, Blue Sky - not exactly
heavy stories are in the development pipeline. And Disney's not only doing comedy - it's
satirical comedy, in the line of
Shrek. As in, taking a traditional tale and "turning it on its ear."
Rapunzel Unbraided,
Chicken Little, and
Gnomeo and Juliet are prime examples of this. The
Shrek template will only work for so long, guys - how about you stop acting the sheep and become the shepherd again, Disney? Oh yeah, I forgot - too risky.
