I've been saying this for years. After Pocahontas, Disney took flack for doing Princess movies. When they stopped and did stuff like Atlantis, they took flack for NOT doing fairy tale films. It's quite the balancing act, isn't it? Then you look at The Lion King. It had very fairy tale like elements to it, but it wasn't one... And look how good that did. It even had a DTV sequel that was HIGH quality (didn't see 1 1/2 yet), not to mention a pretty decent run of a TV show. And it didn't need an Ariel/Jasmine/Belle type figure. The of course the 2002 surprise hit, Lilo and Stitch. Who would have thought a movie about a murderous, violent alien life form dancing to Elvis music would have been a hit
We can all agree the movie Shrek was an obvious stab at Disney, mocking fairy tales as a specific outlet. Of course, the parody fairy Tale genre exploded with copies, including the HORRIBLE Happily N'ver After films. There's just something about the trailers they made that seems to accentuate "This is a Fairy Tale with an attitude." And even if that isn't the basis of the movie (the Disney movies always had some contemporary jibe to them... from Pinocchio's reference to at the moment jazz music to Aladdin's Genie), it sure looks like they're exploiting that angle. I like the design as far as CGI goes, and I like the softness of cartoony looking characters.... something about the realism of Shrek is bordering on uncanny valley, so glad they dumped that look for other films.
And goodness knows, when Disney comes up with their own tales, it's hit or miss. At least with the audience. The Rescuers did pretty well, Oliver and Company did mehmmehmmeh even though I LOVED it... The Disney Princess thing came out of the fact their first big rejuvenation hit was Little Mermaid and they rode that success with Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin (as it did have a princess to it)... of course, Lion King, while it did have a royal standing, Nala isn't considered a Princess for some reason and therefore, it wasn't a princess movie. Then came a few more before they branched out into mythology and adaptations of written works and those just didn't fare as well. I'm one of the few people that LIKED Hercules (though the romantic angle seemed a bit forced). That said, their 1980's animated movies have become a cult thing. And it's too bad they couldn't make a better Ducktales film. I'd LOVE to see a Scrooge McDuck movie at some point (it's bound to do well in Europe).
Great points man, I'm with you 100%, and until your post, I didn't know anyone DIDN'T like Hercules! That's one of my favorites! And bringing Uncle Scrooge back? HECK YEAH! I'd also love to see another movie about Elliott the Dragon! Who's with me? A third Rescuers film would be great too, imo.
Back to business: Why can't they just accept that their storytelling is where they need work and move on? Why can't they realize that their audience is NOT JUST ONE DEMOGRAPHIC? And why oh WHY can't they just put me in charge? ! ?
Oops, that last one... I might've gone over the top.
But really, c'mon Disney! I read their Facebook response to
this article earlier today, but it seems like backlash pr control more than anything. Yeah, Tangled grossed almost 40 million this weekend, but imo, I think it's more of the fans making sure Disney continues to make classic fairy-tale films, by speaking with their wallets and giving their money to a fairy-tale film
now, not cuzza the "hip" and "edgy" take on the classic story. Heh, in the article I linked to above, it talks about how Disney execs weren't happy with how Princess and the Frog did at the box office, that it was all due to it being about a princess, and having "princess" in the title, some garbage excuse like that. Hmm, how about this Disney: it didn't do so good cuz
you changed the story! It's
supposed to be "The FROG Prince"! Also, you decided to go a different way with the music, instead of going with the Alan & Howard PROVEN SUCCESS style! DERP! I mean, a couple of jazz-inspired tunes woulda been fine, but you
gotta have the sweeping love song in there
somewhere, like "Part of Your World" or "A Whole New World", you know?
Wow, I get cruddy when it comes to messing with Disney classics, don't I?
I
did decide that I'm going to support Tangled financially, by going to see it in theatres, but only as a way of telling Disney that I want MORE fairy-tale films, not less. But really, it's not about more or less of any genre, it's actually about this: keep doing what you've always done Disney, ALL KINDS OF GENRES, IN ALL KINDS OF MEDIUMS. Just make sure you've got a great story that'll really bring emotion and a great lesson home, K? And, great music only makes it better. Don't forget now! That's a good Disney.
Peace,
Anthony
Lifelong Disney Fan, but mostly of traditional animation... obviously, lol.