Disney Princess Enchanted Tales: Follow Your Dreams

In 2007, DisneyToon studios produced and released the first film in a planned line of films centered around the Disney princesses. Disney Princess Enchanted Tales: Follow Your Dreams featured stories about Princesses Aurora and Jasmine and starred Erin Torpey, Linda Larkin, Corey Burton, Gilbert Gottfried, Barbara Dirikson, and Jeff Bennett.

The first story, Keys to the Kingdom, King Stefan (Burton) and King Hubert (Bennett) leaving for a royal conference leaving Princess Aurora (Torpey) to reign in their absence.

The second, More than a Peacock Princess has Jasmine (Larkin) tired and bored of her usual duties. So she seeks more responsibility.

Rumor has it that this film is what caused John Lasseter to cease production of all the sequels DisneyToon was working on. This is the film that prompted an entire reworking of the studio. And for good reason, because this is the most pointless piece of fiction I have ever seen. The worst thing I have ever watched. And I’ve seen most of Elf.

There’s two stories that are introduced with the princesses telling the toddlers watching the video that they’re about to see something that taxed them, but they followed their hearts and everything worked out in the end. I may not be part of the demographics targeted for the film, but I figure even the target demographic would be rolling their eyes.

If I’m correct in understanding the second law of thermodynamics, then everything produced is driving the universe towards entropy and total chaos. Which means that this film contributed towards the complete unraveling of the universe. And while everything does, this was a complete waste of a contribution.

The music’s ok, and was even nominated for a no-name award. But that’s just a thin veneer on trying to make something so skull crushingly pointless even marketable.

#120

The Fox and the Hound 2

DisneyToon released a sequel to The Fox and the Hound in 2006, aptly named The Fox and the Hound 2. Directed by Jim Kammerud, it starts Reba McEntire, Patrick Swayze, Jonah Bobo, Harrison Fahn, Jeff Foxworthy Vicki Lawrence, and Stephen Root. It was also the last direct-to-video film released before Disney started releasing movies on Blu-Ray.

Taking place during the youth of Tod (Bobo) and Copper (Fahn), the latter joins a band of singing stray dogs at the state fair. Copper is popular with most of the band members, save for the dramatic Dixie (McEntire) who conspires to get him out.

As stated above, this was directed by Kammerud, and it was his first film to direct solo on (and his last). It was also produced by Frell Barron and written by Roger S.H. Schulman. And it’s painfully obvious that none of them had ever seen the original film and even if they somehow watched it before making this movie, the film’s message soared over their heads, rendering them clueless about anything. Because if they did care about it, then this film would have been radically different. Or nonexistent.

But to be fair, the original did have some humor. Because boy, did it need it. But that humor was interspersed and provided by two birds, one of whom very dimwitted, trying to catch a caterpillar. Here? Slapstick, peanut butter mouth, runaway Ferris Wheel, Amos Slade getting brained by a beehive. It does a huge disservice to the tone of the original.

And then there’s the story. In the original, the duo were torn apart by expectations and natural law. They didn’t want to be separated, but they were and it lead to the demise of their friendship. In this film, Copper’s popularity goes to his head and Tod becomes jealous because he’s losing his friend. In no way would the characters of the original film become so contrived to let this happen.

And even then, by the time the film’s over, the characters are right back to where they were in the first film and nothing changes. At all. 

It’s a crime this was made. #117

Brother Bear 2

The sequel to Brother Bear was released direct to video in late summer of 2006. Brother Bear 2 featured five of the characters from the first film returning, but replaced Joaquin Phoenix with Patrick Dempsey. New characters were voiced by Wendie Malick, Wanda Sykes, and Mandy Moore. It was also Rick Moranis’ final film before he retired.

Several months after the events of the first film, Kenai (Dempsey) is living as a cave bear with Koda (Jeremy Suarez). However, Nita (Moore), a friend from Kenai’s past shows up to burn an amulet that connects them so she can marry someone else. The three start a journey to Hokani Falls with Rutt (Moranis) and Tuke (Dave Thomas) in tow.

Not only was this film boring, slow paced, and idiotic, but it was also completely unnecessary, irrelevant and very annoying.

The first films, while not without its problems, showed the characters’ mythoi and beliefs in a respectful light. Here, all it seems like the film is only using it as a plot device, used so that Nita can meet back up with Kenai and eventually fall back in love again. It’s a total disservice to everything the original did to what was arguably the best parts.

And it also horribly portrays a phobia. Nita is afraid of water because she almost drowned as a kid. And that’s rightly understandable. But it’s only played up for drama in a couple parts of the film before Kenai tells her to trust him in wading a river and when Nita does, she magically loses her fear and starts to swim. Ain’t psychology grand?

Brother Bear was by no means perfect, but it was at least somewhat enjoyable. This is just inexcusable. 

#116.

Leroy & Stitch

The final installment of the Lilo & Stitch franchise was released in the summer of 2006 as a Disney Channel and Toon Disney movie. Starring Chris Sanders, Daveigh Chase, Tia Carrere, David Ogden Stiers, Kevin McDonald, Kevin Michael Richardson, Jeff Bennett, Tara Strong, Rob Paulsen, and Zoe Caldwell, Leroy & Stitch was nominated for the Golden Reel Award.

Lilo (Chase), Stitch (Sanders), Jumba (Stiers), and Pleakley (McDonald) are honored as heroes by the Galactic Alliance as their mission to capture and repurpose all 623 experiments. Jumba is given the key back to his lab, Pleakley is offered a post as Chairman of Earth Studies at Galactic Alliance Community College, Stitch is made Captain of the Galactic Armada, and Lilo is made ambassador to Earth However, Gantu (Richardson) has decided to break Dr. Hamsterviel (Bennett) out of prison and force Jumba to create an evil twin of Stitch named Leroy (Sanders). Who is then cloned.

This is one of those films that has a great idea on paper, but is terribly executed.

 For every Lilo & Stitch installment, it seems like references to Elvis keep getting greater and greater. For instance, Jumba played “Aloha Oe” while he activated Leroy. And guess what the key is to stopping the army of Leroys? That’s right, Stitch getting on stage and playing the song. Normally, it’d be a pretty good Chekhov’s Gun. But here, it really feels forced.

And speaking of forced, Lilo’s rival, Mertle, is picked up by a Leroy and she thinks she’s having a nightmare. But she’s quick to turn that around and realize it’s not and then makes peace with Lilo. This is also completely out of nowhere. Not once had Mertle expressed any softening of her hatred towards Lilo and all of a sudden, she’s being chummy. This is poor writing.

#99

Bambi II

While I premiered in Argentinian theaters, Bambi II went direct to video in America. Holding the record for the longest time span between franchise installments, it was released 64 years after Bambi. It starred Alexander Gould, Patrick Stewart Rendon Baerg, Nicky Jones, Cree Summer, and Andrea Bowen.

Taking place between Bambi’s mother dying and him growing up, Bambi (Gould) runs into his father (Stewart) who takes over raising him. However, The Great Prince of the Forest sees his duties to his herd and asks Friend Owl (Kieth Ferguson) to find a doe to raise Bambi.

Despite it the odd choice to have Captain Picard voice Bambi’s father, Bambi II is actually pretty decent for a direct to video sequel.

It has some pretty good character development in the realm of The Great Prince, in that he starts off as just wanting some other doe to take care of Bambi so he can focus on the rest of the herd. But since he has to because no doe will be able to feed herself and Bambi, he realizes taking care of him isn’t all that bad a deal.

Also, another threat was introduced in this film, one that acts alongside man: dogs. Which is actually a pretty interesting idea, since audiences actually do want a threat they can see, but the film can’t just show man and erase the tension that the first film gave. This film actually portrays dogs as much more vicious.

#65

Kronk's New Groove

Everybody loves sequels right? Disney seemed to think so in 2005 when it released Kronk’s New Groove, sequel to The Emperor’s New Groove. All the original voice actors reprise their roles, with new voices by John Mahoney and Tracey Ullman.

Kronk (Patrick Warburton) is now working as a chef in the diner seen in the previous film. No longer Yzma’s (Ertha Kitt) henchman, he’s loved by everyone and he loves his life. However, when he gets a letter that says his father is coming, he recounts how he used to have a girlfriend (Ullman) and a house on a hill just like his father wanted. But now, he doesn’t and fears the disapproval of his father.

The Emperor’s New Groove had some pretty decent fourth wall jokes. This film realizes that and tries to milk them for all they’re worth, including Kuzco just showing up and revealing the theatrical poster of the first film and the DVD cover of this film. And they’re hardly funny.

Kronk’s goal is also just inane, looking for a thumbs up from his father. And while he gets it, the way it’s teased is just so banal.

The pacing is also completely terrible, making a film that’s only 70 minutes long feel like it’s taking forever. When a direct to video sequel feels like it’s taking the same amount of time films like Birth of a Nation and Gone with the Wind take, that’s just asking for the toddlers that this is marketed to stop paying attention.

However, there are some good jokes, mainly due to Warburton’s deadpan style of delivery. Imagine him sneaking around and seeing someone pound a mound of dough and Warburton whispering “she’s pounding me in effigy” to himself. But with every good joke, there’s dozens of bad ones, which really doesn’t help the pacing.

#104

Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch

In 2005, the second Lilo & Stitch got its second direct-to-video sequel. Stitch Has a Glitch, which takes place before the events of the other additions to the franchise, started Kevin McDonald, David Ogden Stiers, Dakota Fanning, Tia Carrere, Chris Sanders, and Jason Scott Lee.

Lilo (Fanning) is trying to figure out a hula dance for her class’ May Day festival. But during her preparations, Stitch’s (Sanders) past comes back to haunt him and he goes berserk. Jumba (Stiers figures out that because his molecules didn’t get a chance to fully charge when he was created, that he will ultimately be destroyed.

Stitch Has a Glitch is kind of interesting in that it originally feels like Stitch is reverting to who he used to be before meeting Lilo. However, it’s an even better explanation in that his molecular structure is breaking down. This makes for a good story. However, how it’s resolved does not. Since it’s Disney, it’s basically the love conquers all format. We’ve come to expect it and it’s not inherently a bad thing. But here, it has not build up and comes completely out of nowhere.

Lilo’s obsession with Elvis also returns, but she seems to be even crazier about him than ever. In the first film, she was just a die hard fan. Here, she seems to worship him.

The film isn’t terrible, but when it forces the Disney method ending without any proper buildup and exaggerates the quality of a character that was simply a trait from before, it doesn’t make for that good of a film.

#67 

Mulan II

Mulan ended up getting a sequel in 2004, titled Mulan II, which brought back most of the major actors, except for Eddie Murphy, who was replaced by Mark Moseley. The film was directed by Darrell Rooney and Lynne Southerland.

A month after the events of the first film, Mulan (Ming-Na Wen) and Shang (BD Wong) are engaged to be married. But before the marriage, the Emperor (Pat Morita) commands them to escort his three daughters (Lucy Liu, Sandra Oh, and Lauren Tom) across the country to meet their arranged fiancés. However, Mushu (Moseley) finds out that he will no longer be a guardian if Mulan and Shang get married and schemes to make them fall out of love.

Mulan II really doesn’t have any of the elements that made the first film so successful. Where the entire plot of the first film revolved around honor and proving yourself, this one is more of a treatise on arranged marriages. However, it doesn’t really derail the characters like some sequels.

It’s kind of odd how Mulan is against the concept of an arranged marriage in this film. While, yes, she is marrying Shang for love, which the novelty of doing so is mentioned many times, it’s established that arranged marriages is how things worked. Also, she herself was going to go through with one for her family at the beginning of the first film, but it (obviously) didn’t pan out.

 But the film is able to keep the characterization from the first film mostly intact. Take Mushu who, in the first film, kept up the charade because he wanted to be a guardian again. He was completely out for himself. Well, he’s still out for himself here because he’s trying to sabotage Mulan and Shang’s marriage just so he can continue being a guardian. The Grandmother is also her usual odd self, even going so far as to take bets on when the proposal would happen.

However, the less said about White Eddie Murphy, the better.

It’s not completely awful, but it’s not good either.

#83 

Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas

In 2004, DisneyToon studios decided to produce a sequel to Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas, calling it Mickey’s Twice Upon a Christmas. It starred Wayne Allwine, Tony Anselmo, Bill Farmer, Rusi Taylor, Tress MacNellie, Kellie Martin, Alan Young, Jason Marsden, and Chuck McCann.

After reciting the first 10 words to “The Night Before Christmas,” the narrator stops and says it’s a different story, but we’ll still see a mouse. A book opens to five stories.

“Belles on Ice” tells the story of Minnie (Taylor) and Daisy (MacNellie) competing in an ice-skating competition and the two pull dramatic stunts to draw the attention towards them.

“Christmas: Impossible” shows Huey, Dewey, and Louie (Taylor), traveling to the North Pole to write their names on Santa’s good list.

In “Christmas Maximus, Max (Marsden) brings home his friend Mona (Martin) for Christmas, but Goofy (Farmer) is… well Goofy.

“Donald’s Gift” revolves around the eponymous duck (Anselmo) wanting pace and quiet, but becoming annoyed at hearing the same song everywhere.

Finally, “Mickey’s Dog-Gone Christmas” stars Pluto (Farmer) running away and being adopted by Santa’s reindeer

This movie is not only an insult to the first film, but really to Disney animation as well.

What Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas managed to do with three shorts, this film needed five to do it. Within its three sequences, it successfully conveyed wonderful messages of family, hope and faith, and love, and they all brought it around to the true meaning of Christmas. However, in this one? We have pigheaded competition that’s quickly resolved because the other one messed up, the boys trying to hoodwink Santa while being altruistic at the last second, and Donald coming around to the song because he got publicly humiliated. The only two good sequences are how Max realizes that Goofy maybe goofy, but he still loves him and Pluto seeing that Mickey actually does miss him.

The animation is just cheap and ugly obvious CGI. The characters may look like they do, but it’s just so different from their normal appearances, that it’s jarring. There’s nothing wrong with CG, but, as always, it has to be done well. This looks and feels like it was slapped together in an hour. It’s go the same look as Mickey’s Playhouse, which also looks horrendous.

This exists to make a Christmas buck. Pure and simple. 

#94

Atlantis: Milo's Return

Disney’s 20^th direct to video sequel was released in May of 2003. Originally going to be a full on sequel, Atlantis: Milo’s Return was scaled down considerably after the first film proved less successful than anticipated. Mostly everyone returned to reprise their roles, but James Arnold Taylor replaced Michael J. Fox and Steve Barr replaced Jim Varney.

Now married to Milo Thatch (Taylor), Kida (Cree Sumer) is the Queen of Atlantis, using the heart to restore the city’s former glory. Suddenly, Milo’s old comrades arrive, causing the two to join them on an investigation of mysterious forces.

This is yet another one of Disney’s sequels that take three episodes of an unaired television series and rework them into a film.

I keep saying this every time this happens: if they weren’t good enough to warrant a television series, what makes you think a film is the right choice? The animation is considerably cheaper, the story is lackluster and it just drags on forever.

Maybe if this were a pilot for the show, as Return of Jafar was kind of good. But it’s not even that, the plot is made up of a show that got rejected. If you’re going to have poor standards, then why should I care?

I’m tired of all these subpar Disney sequels. 

#94

Back to the Future Part III

Filmed alongside the second film, Back to the Future Part III was the final installment of the film series. Taking place immediately following the previous film’s events, it was the sixth-highest grossing film of 1990, earning $244.53 million. It starred everyone from the first two, plus Mary Steenburgen

While in 1955, Marty (Michael J. Fox) is given a letter from Doc (Christopher Lloyd) notifying that he had become trapped in 1885 and makes plans to head back to 1985. But he finds a tombstone with Doc’s name dated six days after the letter was written. Marty must then travel to 1885 in order stop Buford “Mad Dog” Tannen (Thomas F. Wilson) from killing him.

This may be the weakest of the trilogy, but that doesn’t stop it from being a good and fun movie. It also presents a brand new problem in the realm of getting back to the present. Instead of not being able to have the power for the Flux Capacitor, they now don’t have any fuel and need to find a way to get the car to run in a time before the Model T.

Seeing the clock tower being built is also a nice addition and does well in showing the humble origins of Hill Valley. The running gag of Marty waking up from a head injury is also continued and comes to a nice head here.

Having Doc fall in love even though he really doesn’t want to is interesting and finally gives him a dilemma instead of just Marty. Going back and forth throughout the movie on what he really wants to do is very relatable and helps to solidify his choice at the end.

This still passes the Edge of Satisfaction and lands at #3 for Comedy. 

The Jungle Book 2

Proving that Disney didn’t like to leave any movie without a sequel, DisneyToon Studios released The Jungle Book 2 in theaters early 2003. A continuation of the film instead of following Kipling’s The Second Jungle Book, the film stars Haley Joel Osment, John Goodman, Mae Whitman, Bob Joles, Tony Jay, Phil Collins, John Rhys-Davies, and Jim Cummings.

Now living in the Man Village, Mowgli (Osment) lives with the girl who lured him in, Shanti (Whitman), adopted brother Ranjan (Connor Funk) and their parents (Rhys-Davies and Veena Bidasha). But Mowgli wishes to return to the fun of the jungle. However, Shere Khan (Jay) has returned and seeks revenge.

Sometimes, a revenge plot can be pretty powerful. But the way Disney did this one isn’t all that great and doesn’t do the type of story any justice. This one is basically just a rehash of the first movie, in that Shere Khan wants to kill Mowgli. However, he’s gone through character derailment, ceasing to be the distinguished gentleman hunter. While that could be considered development it just seems too hard a shift. Plus, having the buzzards mock him the whole movie gets old.

I’ll admit though, the voices match very well in regards to replacing the people from the original movie. But they should have tried harder. All I heard is Sora as Mowgli, Sully as Baloo and Gimli as Mowgli’s adopted father.

The songs are also pretty grating, even the new version of “Bare Necessities.”

#69

101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure

Since sequels continue to bring in money, Disney released its sequel to 101 Dalmatians in early 2003. 101 Dalmatians II: Patch’s London Adventure starred Barry Bostwick, Jason Alexander, Martin Short, Susanne Blakeslee, Kath Soucie, Jim Cummings, and Bobby Lockwood. It was awarded the DVDX awards for best animated feature, best director, best editing and best musical score.

The Radcliffe family and their Dalmatians are preparing to move to their Dalmatian Plantation in the countryside. But one puppy, Patch (Lockwood), feels ignored and wants to be like his television hero, Thunderbolt (Bostwick). He is accidentally left behind and heads to an audition for a guest spot on the show.

 Meanwhile, Cruella de Vil (Blakeslee) has returned to London under probation and a restraining order but attempts to feed her fixation on spots with the help of a German artist named Lars (Short).

This is actually one of the more tolerable Disney sequels. By no means is it better than the original, but it’s still actually pretty creative. It gives Cruella a chance to reform by fixing her obsession onto another medium. But that really only goes to show how deep she is into how much she wanted that coat and how she could probably never change on her own.

The Thunderbolt dynamic is also pretty interesting. He’s the actor who wants to show that he can do what he does onscreen just as well as off. But that’s for selfish means. It’s not until he stops trying to be the hero for himself and becomes a hero for others that he actually succeeds. It also portrays the relationship between a starstruck child who believes the actor to actually be a hero and the actor who really isn’t.

And for one of the direct to video sequels, the animation here is actually fairly decent and quite a bit more vibrant than the first film.

#54

Tarzan & Jane

Summer 2002 saw the first sequel to Tarzan, set one year after the events of the film. Tarzan & Jane uses the last three episodes of the television series and stars Michael T. Weiss, Olivia d’Abo, Jeff Bennett, Jim Cummings, Grey DeLisle, Kevin Michael Richardson, Tara Strong, April Winchell, and Nicollette Sheridan.

Framed by Tarzan and Jane’s first anniversary, she wants to find a suitable present and gets the help of Tantor and Terk. However, they remind her of the disasters that occurred the last time Tarzan was exposed a party, gifts or dancing.

I enjoyed this, thinking it was a pilot film for the series, sort of like how Return of Jafar was to Aladdin. But then, I found out the episodes actually did air and were the last three. So this pretty much falls squarely in how I feel about things that have been repackaged.

It was good, which speaks to how good the television series is. But if they wanted to put episodes of the series on a movie, they could have just released the seasons. This is, again, a cash grab to kids that wouldn’t notice they’re watching something they already did.

I’m not putting this past the Edge of Dissatisfaction, considering it was pretty good, but the rehash of it put it pretty far down.

#64

The Hunchback of Notre Dame II

Since Disney couldn’t keep bear to let any of their renaissance films get sequels, The Hunchback of Notre Dame II was made. And while most of the cast returns, Jane Withers was added to replace Mary Wickes and Jim Cummings replaced David Ogden Stiers. There were also new voices from Haley Joel Osment, Jennifer Love Hewitt, and Michael McKean.

Six years after the original film, Quasimodo (Tom Hulce) is an accepted part of society, but still serves at the bell ringer. A circus troupe led by Sarousch (McKean) enters town s art of the yearly Festival of Love. He plans to steal the bell La Fidele and sends his assistant Madellaine (Hewitt) to discover its whereabouts. She encounters Quasimodo, setting off a chain of events that determine the eventual fate of the bell.

With all the subtlety of a frying pan to the face, Disney decides to tell us that true beauty is on the inside. The comparisons of Quasimodo and the bell could not have been more obvious and for some reason, they decide to give him a girlfriend. One of the great things about the first film is that the hero didn’t get the girl, instead becoming a really good friend.

The animation in this is also atrocious. It was done by Disney’s Japanese animation studio, but that only makes it worse. I’ve seen far better things come out of Japan. And for some reason, the population of Paris has been reduced to somewhere between 20 and 30.

We also get the exact same moral of the first story, only this time it’s with carnies. And Zephyr, the son of Phoebus and Esmerelda, is quite annoying.

#80

Cinderella II: Dreams Come True

Cinderella received its first sequel in February of 2002. Cinderella II: Dreams Come True grossed about $120 million in sales, but was met with completely negative responses. It holds the dubious honor of having a 0% on Rotten Tomatoes and was cited by Lasseter, along with The Little Mermaid II of why the sequel department shouldn’t exist. It also starred Jennifer Hale, Corey Burton, Russi Taylor, Christopher Daniel Barnes, and Gina La Piana.

The story consists of three segments, framed by the mice (Burton, Rob Paulsen, Russi Taylor) making a book, which narrates the happily ever after of the first movie.

In the first, Cinderella (Hale) becomes dissatisfied with the way things are run at the palace and changes all of them.

The second, Jaq becomes human so he can help around the palace.

And then Anastasia (Tress MacNeillie) falls in love with the town baker (Paulsen)

Remember what I said in the last review about how the DTV sequels at least have some sort of reason for existing, other than money, even if it’s terrible? Yeah. The director had a vision to continue the story, but it was done in the worst way possible, making this the worst Disney sequel I have ever seen, grating since Cinderella used to be in the #1 spot for the category. 

I said in my review of the first film that the mice can get a little grating. Well, they’re worse here, moving to downright annoying. Gus somehow got stupider, Jaq went from having a few complete sentences to… barely making any sense and the female mouse’s voice got a lot higher.

But that ain’t all. Cinderella herself changes from a hopeful wisher to an insufferable complainer. The slow pace and boring stories also makes this film incredibly painful to watch. It’s only over an hour, but feels a lot longer that. And none of the music choices really fit and sound like they’d be better on an album of music inspired by Disney.

I’d rather go see Tammy again.

Rock bottom #80

Return to Neverland

Early 2002 saw one of Disney’s few theatrical sequels. Return to Neverland continued the Peter Pan story with voice acting by Harriet Owen, Blayne Weaver, Corey Burton and Jeff Bennett. The film cost $20 million and garnered almost $90 million worldwide. And while it was a theatrical release, it’s still not part of the main Disney canon. There’s also two songs sung by They Might Be Giants.

Wendy (Kath Soucie) is all grown up with two children and a husband, who is off fighting in WWII. However, her daughter, Jane (Owen), has become cynical. She ignores her mother’s stories and ridicules her brother’s (Andrew McDonough) faith in them.

But one night, Captain Hook (Burton) kidnaps her, thinking she’s Wendy, for revenge against Peter Pan. Now, she must find a way home and the Lost Boys (Spencer Breslin, Bradley Pierce, Quinn Beswick, Arron Spann) and Peter (Weaver)have to find a way for her to believe in fairies to keep Tinker Bell from dying.

This one surprised me.

Where the original Peter Pan spoke of how growing up is a fact of life that everyone must face, Return to Neverland speaks to the inverse. Growing up may be a fact of life, you may have to face it, but don’t be too quick to do so. Under the pressures of war, Jane forgets what it means to be young and full of childlike wonder and faith and chastises her younger brother for having it. It’s not until she spends time in Neverland with Peter Pan and the Lost Boys does she understand the necessity of being a kid. That’s also where the song, “I’ll Try” comes in, which in her perspective, goes from her believing herself to have no need for stories and trust to seeing how faith, trust and pixie dust pretty much make up the world.

And I know the criticisms, wartime is harsh and needs to be taken seriously, even by children. But there needs to be a balance. Going completely cynical doesn’t do any good and is in no way beneficial. The need for hope, trust and faith is still prevalent during war. In fact, it’s completely necessary.

The animation is wildly different from the original, but that can be attributed to how the animation department went through massive changes in the 50 years between films.

There’s one really odd thing though. Hook apparently bested the crocodile. And now there’s an octopus that pops. It doesn’t make sense and should have been left out. That or the crocodile should have stayed.

I’ll be honest, I wasn’t looking forward to this, considering how many of the sequels have just not been that great. But Return to Neverland wasn’t. It actually makes me slightly hopeful for the Pixie Hollow line of films.

#30.

Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure

Forty six years after Lady and the Tramp debuted, Disney released a sequel: Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp’s Adventure. It was obviously direct to video, starring Scott Wolf, Roger Bart, Jeff Bennett, Jodi Benson, Mickey Rooney, and Cathy Moriarty.

Scamp (Wolf), the son of Lady (Benson) and the Tramp (Bennett), desires to be a wild dog. One day, he breaks free of his chain and joins a gang of junkyard dogs (Alyssa Milano, Chazz Palminteri, Bill Fagerbakke, Rooney, Moriarty, and Bronson Pinchot). Meanwhile, his parents try to find him.

That’s pretty much it.

This film is a complete mess. First off, it’s 66 minutes long, but sitting through it feels like an eternity.

Secondly, they actually show the faces of the humans whenever they’re on screen. The beauty of the first film being from the perspective of Lady was that the faces of the humans was never shown, unless it was absolutely necessary. This really takes away from the film being from the perspective of a dog.

And then there’s the character of Buster. He was apparently Tramp’s protégé when he was a stray. But he was never in the first film at all. It’s a classic case of “remember the new guy?”

The music for the film is also atrocious. It’s not Tom and Jerry: The Movie levels of bad, but it’s pretty forgettable.

There’s not a lot to say. I guess that’s because it was just a forgettable and terrible movie.

#68

The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea

The Sequel Machine, er… I mean Disney… released The Little Mermaid II in 2000, taking place a decade after the original film. Focusing on her daughter, the film stars all the original voices, plus Tara Strong, Stephen Furst, and… Clancy Brown? The film has largely been panned by critics is considered one of Disney’s worst sequels.

Ariel’s (Jodi Benson) daughter, Melody (Strong), is presented to King Triton (Kenneth Mars). But Ursula’s crazy sister, Morgana (Pat Carroll), shows up and tries to take her hostage for the trident. Ariel then decides to hide Melody from her heritage.

She soon finds the evidence though and goes to Morgana to find out about herself.

In other words, it’s the exact same plot as the original, only flipped. Combine that with mediocre animation and subpar songs, it’s a terrible film that not only doesn’t deserve to exist, but could only be described as badly written fan fiction.

And when I say it’s the same plot, I mean exactly that. Melody has a passionate interest in the sea, but her mother fears for her safety and forbids her from going out in the water. Morgana makes her into a mermaid and she has a limited amount of time to accomplish a task before she can be one permanently. Are we trying to make a point about the apple not falling far from the tree or one about sins of the mother here?

The two new sidekicks, Tip and Dash, are just annoying as well. There’s no redeeming qualities about them and they serve no other purpose than to bumble around and inadvertently save the day.

This just takes the magic of the original film and its legacy and takes a massive crap on it. And they eventually thought it was a good idea to make a prequel…

#66

An Extremely Goofy Movie

Disney released yet another direct-to-video sequel in 2000, this time, to A Goofy Movie. Starring everyone from the original film, plus Jeff Bennett, Vicki Lewis, Brad Garrett, and Bebe Neuwirth, An Extremely Goofy Movie is the only Disney direct-to-video sequel to rate higher than its predecessor on Rotten Tomatoes until 2006.

In the film, Max heads to college and looks to compete in the College X-Games. However, Goofy is fired from his job and must go back to college to finish his degree. He arrives at Max’s school, joins a rival team and befriends the librarian, who shares his love of 1970s nostalgia. Meanwhile, PJ falls in love with a poet.

As Rotten Tomatoes notes, this film is actually considerably better than its predecessor. The background animations don’t freeze like they did and the subject is much more interesting. It makes sense to have the film be centered on sports, as the X Games were hitting their peak in popularity at the time.

While it seems Max took a step backwards in characterization, it must be realized that he was excited to finally start his own life, but Goofy bounced back into it and started messing everything up. And Goofy was dealing with empty nest syndrome, of course he would want to come to the same school Max was in. Unlike the first film, the two do communicate, but this time it just leads to a falling out which is repaired in the eleventh hour.

Giving Goofy a love interest is actually a great idea, mainly because it gives him someone other than Max to have intimate interactions with. Besides, him and Sylvia tearing it up Disco Style is perfect. Same with PJ. Having him finally express himself and break away from being an neurotic mess helps to develop his character and make him finally be who he was meant to be.

The music was great as well, but I have a predisposition to music from the 70s. 

One thing though, there’s the suspicious absence of Roxanne. With Max doing everything he could to be with her in the first film, it seems odd that she wouldn’t show up. She wasn’t even mentioned.

#28