Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2011 5:48 pm
I can't believe some of you took my post seriously. LOL Especially PatrickvD.
Just going by Rotten Tomatoes…there’s only a 5% difference between it and Bolt. TP&TF also has a review by Armond White which criticizes nothing other than the fact that they made a movie with an African American--the same man everybody was outraged over because he brought down TS3’s perfect rating. Of course, he might’ve reviewed Bolt, too, so… Still, that’s not a colossal difference. They both still end up in the B range. This kind of brings to mind what I said in another thread, that I feel that this decade is already underrated. Only a few were really bad, and most were pretty good. I think the only thing that kept Disney back this decade was bad marketing, huge budgets, and over-expectations. Even Tangled, with its huge success, is still tied to a monumental budge.PatrickvD wrote:
the thing though is that Bolt and Tangled were both better reviewed than TPatF. I know people now two years later love to pretend as if Bolt was a lovely yet simple little film. But it got better reviews than TPatF.
My main problem is that people act as if TP&TF was such a huge failure. It wasn't. 5 percentage points lower than the others does not make it a failure. Yes, I'll agree that it did not perform well, considering that's just a fact--though another fact is that it did extremely well in DVD/Blu-Ray sales (which says a lot about the damage Disney has done to public perception of theatrical 2D with their direct-to-video films)--but many classics have underperformed in the company's history. Pinocchio, Fantasia, Alice, and Sleeping Beauty, for instance. And, no, I'm not saying TP&TF is as great as those, though I personally think it's very good, but let's stop acting like it's in Black Cauldron or HOTR territory either, as far as commercial performance and critical reception go, respectively. 3 times its budget is honestly not that bad. (I already know people are going to dismiss this all as just TP&TF bias, but I am trying to be objective here; what's to say others don't have an anti-TP&TF bias?)
Getting back to what you actually said (since some of the above is more directed to the atmosphere of UD), I do agree that Greno and Howard should be taken seriously and given credit for their successes. But I don't think we should degrade Clements and Musker either just because TP and TP&TF weren't knock-outs like their previous hits. There are many Disney films that don't have broad appeal that are still good. At any rate, Disney must still take them seriously if they're giving them more opportunities (like a possible Mort adaptation).
Anyway, I’m really looking forward to the possible adaptation of The Snow Queen, but this news has me a little worried. I really don’t want TSQ to transformed into a 3D film. I don’t mind that Disney makes 3D films, but I want to see 2D, too.
It really is an ultimate Disney fairy tale; it has a dog, a cat and a hamster, all the ingredients for a perfect, magical Disney film, unlike those heartless and boring films like The Princess and the Frog and Tangled with all their lame princesses and pretty boys. 
