The sheer volume of bad decisions coming out of Disney over the last few years is staggering. The only thing more shocking is the total lack of any quality whatsoever coming out of their corporate bowels.
So here’s their latest brain fart. First, they’re so desperate for something that will attract an audience they’re going to mess with a classic and actually produce a Bambi 2 (which for some reason Patrick Stewart has signed on for to do the voice of Bambi’s father). Then, they say to themselves: You know what really rocked? The Emperor’s New Groove and Brother Bear! (wrong and wrong) Let’s so sequels for them both! The people will love it!” (wrong).
These are all no doubt slated to be direct to DVD projects. Even the lowest guy on the moron totem pole wouldn’t be stupid enough to try to release this crap in theaters. But then again… this is the new Disney we’re talking about.
I agree… these sequels are just bad. I turned off Lady and the Tramp 2 half way through.
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-Waits to get laughed at-
No offence, but “Dumb” Hah, all I have to say to everyone here is ‘ever [whatever] for some “Dumb” Adults here. But um, I grew up on the Movie Bambi, wonder fil let alone, the second one, I’m very interested in seeing. But for God’s sake people it’s only a movie, so who cares what other people think? I mean Jesus, lets go and insut Disney for their movies, and then turn around and say you love them? Lets not act to stupid, people like that bug the crap out of me. I’m 17 for cryin’ out loud. And I’m still getting the DVD My whole family is getting it too, because of the “Classic”. And even my friends want to see it. We each have our own opinions, and I respect that. But just let it go eh? No point in pushing to see who gets what, or who crashes what DVD. Although, if you want to do that? I bet the DVD is a hit.
The problem is that even their target audience — these supposedly “dumb” 8- to 12-year-olds — are starting to catch on to the fact that these D2V “cheapquels” are crud. From what I understand, sales of these titles have consistently slipped since Disney started making them (with the possible exception of LION KING 1.5).
To be fair, a couple of these films have turned out not half-bad (I liked LION KING 1.5, and I particularly reccomend 101 DALMATIANS II: PATCH’S LONDON ADVENTURE). The rest range from mediocre (LITTLE MERMAID 2, PETER PAN 2) to utterly unwatchable (LADY AND THE TRAMP 2, POCAHONTAS 2). And while I can mostly ignore cheaply-made sequels to films like HUNCHBACK and TARZAN, trying to cash in on a certifiable “classic” like BAMBI verges on the criminal. The few clips and stills I’ve seen look pretty awful — what an insult to the artists who crafted the original.
I have two comments. (1) I disagree about ‘The Emperor’s New Groove’ – it was funny and fresh, and even had the good humour to parody itself a few times. It made a change from the saccharine-fuelled fairy tale adaptations. (2) Critics always have an opinion about Disney films, about the depth of the characters and the plot, blah blah blah. They’re made for kids, and kids don’t care. ‘Garfield the Movie’ was slated by the critics, yet my 7-year old daughter laughed the whole way thru it. While most are horrified by the thought of a sequel, she’ll probably love it. That’s what it’s all about – as long as the target audience is happy, the studio is happy. I will admit though it’s a shame that Disney are resorting to the re-hashes rather than producing new classics to match ‘Aladdin’ and ‘Beauty and the Beast’.
I’m not really surprised. So far Disney produced sequels to:
Lion King
Aladdin
Beauty and The Beast
Little Mermaid
Jungle Book
Mulan
Pocahontas
Lilo and Stitch
Hercules
Atlantis
Peter Pan
………
etc etc – I got tired of writing. They sequelized most of their movies. So Bambi and the others are next just because they’re among the few ones left “unsequelized” :P
Walt’s rolling over in his grave…….Mickey Mouse is digging his own…….and Goofy’s in the corner laughing his f@3king ass off.
Bambi 2: Open Season
(will he make it out alive?)
Robert Iger (new CEO of Disney) has said that the industry should move to simultaneous release of DVD and theatrical. Yeah. Disney’s positioning themselves as a straight2dvd company!!
These direct to DVD Disney sequels aren’t made for people like you, John, silly. They are made for upper middle class American suburban parents who shove them into the on-board DVD player in their SUVs to keep their little Madisons and Codys occupied as they make the arduous 6-mile trip from their McMansion to the IKEA.
Yeah I too have to disagree with your comment about the Emperor’s New Groove. That was one of the best Disney movies I’ve seen and I was laughing throughout the entire thing.
ALL of the Disney’s direct to DVD/Video sequels have blown. Well, at least the ones I’ve seen, which has been a good number. Even my daughter has rejected these, of course she has better taste than the average kid. Plus, I won’t let her watch just anything; I don’t care if it’s made for kids – it’s called taste! I’d rather not dumb down my daughter’s intelligence by feeding her the dribble that Disney has put out as of late.
As for the Emperor’s New Goove, I loved it! It cracks me up everytime I watch it. With that said a sequel is a horribly bad idea and will not even match the original.
(Also, I realise that “vitriol” was too strong a word, sorry).
But John, are these definitely direct-to-DVD films? You say that they’re “no doubt” DVD titles, but is that confirmed? And also, for this particular market, is that so bad? I wonder if, had DVD been around for the original film, whether that also would have gone straight to DVD. Kids love it. Parents love the idea of sticking their kids in front of a DVD… for young children, I don’t see it as a sign of poor quality, more of the format fitting the audience.
Anyway, I’m not arguing that Disney is making weird decisions. They’ve clearly gone maaaaaaaaad with some of their actions.
At least it’s not Bambi 1.5 .. through the eyes of Thumper.
Hey there JohnW,
Thanks for the comment. I see where you’re going with this, but if the 8-12 year olds have no concept of who or what Bambi is… then why make it a “Bambi” film at all?
Also, I have to disagree with you on the “It’ll be a success mate, just you see.” part. If they actually thought it was going to be any good, they’d put it on the big screen instead of direct to video (much like Toy Story 2).
But who knows… you never know until it actually comes out. I could be wrong… but I’m predicting a total waste of time.
Cheers!
ok, Bambi 2 idea is really bad, BUT The emperor’s new groove and brother bear were funny and fun movies(not up there with the lion king but still). But :) sequels are a bad idea, don’t know which way the story will go, but nowhere good probably.
John, despite your vitriol for stupid sequels (mostly well directed), maybe you ought to consider whether Bambi 2 is a bad decision after all. Who’s the target audience? 8 to 12 year olds? They have no sense of whether Bambi is a classic… they’ve probably never even heard of it.
They won’t care about any of that. They’ll just enjoy a film that pulls exactly the same heart-strings at the first. It’ll be a success mate, just you see.
Whoa! Hold on there scooter! While I agree that sequelitis is a nasty disease that the unimaginative suits at Disney corporate may have contracted, I disagree about your thoughts on The Emperor’s New Groove. That was a wonderfully funny film that came in a time when Disney was experimenting with a few different things in its animation division. But do I want to see a sequel? No I don’t, that’s a cop-out and Disney is going to loose more money making crap, than they would if they didn’t do anything at all…
Are they THAT strapped for cash?