The Napoleon of Crime!

[tealin]

I just finished watching The Great Mouse Detective for the first time in what feels like ages.

And it struck me (not for the first time): why hasn't Disney tapped this movie for sequels? It's made for sequels! The ending practically sets it up for a whole franchise! It's got interesting characters and an interesting setting and you could have no end of fun with it. On top of all the intrinsic franchisability just in terms of the story, to be brutrally honest, the production values set a fairly low bar. The animation is very good, but the Sequel Studios (or what's left of them) have gotten just as good if not better, and as for art direction and background painting, most of the cheapquels are an improvement. Not only would a Great Mouse Detective sequel not be a travesty upon the original (depending what they did, of course – they'd probably insist on throwing a romance in there, the blaggards), but the original is practically crying out for a sequel. I can think of two reasons they haven't got one on the slate already:
1. Eve Titus' estate is being persnickety with the rights (though if the Edgar Rice Burroughs estate let them make Tarzan II, I can't see how they wouldn't be able to overcome it).
2. The original is so overlooked by the purchasing public that it hasn't even registered on the Disney board's collective mind.
The only reason I, personally, wouldn't greenlight it is if they couldn't get Barrie Ingham (or a perfect replacement) to do Basil's voice. That is an essential ingredient.

Comments

[my-fox-rocks.livejournal.com]

I recently watched Mulan 2. Eugh, that was a mistake. My mum and I love the first movie cos it's really funny especially with Eddie Murphy providing the voice of Mushu (he's not in the sequal :( )

I hate the way sequels never have the same animation quality as the first movies (with the exception of Rescuers Down Under and possibly The Return of Jafar) It's just daft. I saw an episode of the Aladdin cartoon series the other day and it was AWFUL so so terribly terrible. The drawings looked hardly anything like the original characters, especially Jasmine, and it just looked shoddy in general.

Blah.

I used to want to be a Disney animator, back when I was good at drawing.

Cheapquels

[(Anonymous)]

I regret to announce that I've never seen this movie. I did see parts of it. It looked good, what I saw of it. And the animation itself was pretty good (though it's quite obvious it wasn't dazzling like The Lion King, The Iron Giant, Aladdin).

I don't remember enough of Return of Jafar (I saw it last when I was about seven, I think). I like most of the cheapquels, I'm sorry to say. And I've always thought that The Lion King 2 had decent animation. I've always liked The Lion King 2, and Stitch: The Movie was rather dumb, but it was still entertaining none the less. What really bugs me about cheapquels is the actors aren't the same. Zazu wasn't the same for The Lion King 2.

One Saturday earlier this year our school's yearbook was putting on a Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre, and I had to work it (seeing as my aunt's the yearbook teacher :/) and during shows we watched Mulan 2. We all cracked up. It wasn't horrible. It was, at least, entertaining, but it was no where near Mulan. Or any Disney original, for that matter. I think the fact that it was most amusing was becuase it WAS so bad.