I got to thinking a few days ago: it’s been three years now since the great Disneython of 2009, which I still humbly think to be this blog’s crowning achievement. And I was filled with a great longing to so something of equal scale and equal Disney-ness.
The good news for me is that there is an obvious direction to take this urge, juicy and ripe for the picking. The bad news is that the direction in question is the dreaded, notorious direct-to-video sequels to the “proper” Disney features that were produced by various wings of Disney’s television animation department over a decade and a half.
I always knew, deep in my heart, that this day would eventually come; but when “eventually” becomes “today”, it’s rather hard to process. It’s not nearly as exciting to contemplate as the Walt Disney Feature Animation canon was, and for that reason I’m not going to be as systematic and dogged about it: instead of one post every single day until I’m done, these reviews will come a bit more erratically, when there’s a hole in the schedule, or when I’m feeling especially ambitious. My hope is that starting this early in September, I’ll still be able to wrap things up by the December holidays, but let’s not spoil things by setting a deadline. The end will come when it comes.
I’m going to kick things off today with a prologue of sorts: a pair of theatrical releases that aren’t really sequels to anything at all, but represent the first attempt by the Disney television studios to create feature-length stories, and thus have some pride of place even if they’re not otherwise in line with the theme of this marathon; besides the which, I’ll never have a better excuse to write them up than now. The actual sequels will start coming next week, and for those who want to play along at home, I’m including the list of all 40 (!) titles I’ll be reviewing below the jump. It was surprisingly difficult to decide where to draw the line between “sequel” and “spin-off”, and I have in general erred on the side of inclusivity, though I had to stop short when confronted with so many damn Pooh videos that are nothing but compilations of random episodes from the early ’90s Pooh TV show.
The Return of Jafar (1994)
Aladdin and the King of Thieves (1996)
Pooh’s Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin (1997)
Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas (1997)
Belle’s Magical World (1998)
Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World (1998)
The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride (1998)
Hercules: Zero to Hero (1999)
The Tigger Movie (2000)
Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins (2000)
The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea (2000)
Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp’s Adventure (2001)
Return to Never Land (20002)
Cinderella II: Dreams Come True (2002)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame II (2002)
Tarzan & Jane (2002)
101 Dalmatians II: Patch’s London Adventure (2003)
The Jungle Book 2 (2003)
Atlantis: Milo’s Return (2003)
Stitch! The Movie (2003)
The Lion King 1½ (2004)
Winnie the Pooh: Springtime with Roo (2004)
Mulan II (2004)
Pooh’s Heffalump Movie (2005)
Tarzan II (2005)
Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch (2005)
Pooh’s Heffalump Halloween Movie (2005)
Kronk’s New Groove (2005)
Bambi II (2006)
Leroy & Stitch (2006)
Brother Bear 2 (2006)
The Fox and the Hound 2 (2006)
Cinderella III: A Twist in Time (2007)
Disney Princess Enchanted Tales: Follow Your Dreams (2007)
The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Beginning (2008)
Tinker Bell (2008)
Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure (2009)
Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue (2010)
Pixie Hollow Games (2011)
Secret of the Wings (2012)