Top 10 Best Animated Sequels Redux Part 1

In memory of Russi Taylor, who voiced Minnie Mouse for more than 30 years.
More than a year ago, I did my Top 10 Best and Worst Animated Sequels, and looking back, I feel quite content. However, I think that the 'Best Sequels' list could use a bit of an update. I removed Kronk's New Groove and replaced it with a different (and better) direct-to-video sequel. As with last time, I will use Emojis to signify which movies were released in theaters and which ones are not. For the sequels that were released in theaters, I put a camera Emoji next to the title.
For the sequels that were direct-to-video, they will have a VHS Emoji next to the title.
Anyway, let's start the countdown!
10. Aladdin and the King of Thieves (1996)

In the conclusion to the Aladdin TV series (yes, there was a TV series), Aladdin and Jasmine are about to get married, but their wedding is interrupted by the gang of Forty Thieves! They steal everything in sight and destroy the Sultan's palace. Aladdin then discovers that the thieves' leader, Cassim the King of Thieves, is actually his long-lost father! Together, they, along with Abu, Iago, and Carpet, go on a quest to the elusive Vanishing Isle and find the legendary King of Midas.

Aladdin and the King of Thieves may have television quality animation and a meandering plot, but it has catchy songs, good vocal performances, and some funny Disney references from the Genie.

Genie (as Pumbaa from The Lion King) telling Aladdin Hakuma Matata

Sa'luk is also a cool villain: He has golden Wolverine-like claws for weapons and secretly hated Cassim for having a soft side. He may not have hypnosis or sorcery like Jafar, but Sa'luk is still a force not to be reckoned with.

It's also awesome to see a Disney Princess other than Mulan or Rapunzel kick butt once in a while.

Jasmine trying to push a statue onto Sa'luk's flunkies.

9. An American Tail 2: Fievel Goes West (1991)

In the sequel to Steven Spielberg's and Don Bluth's An American Tail, New York is overrun with cats. Fievel and his family, along with other mice, get convinced into moving to the Wild West, but it's secretly a trap set up by cats and a spider so they can turn them into Mouse-Burgers. Meanwhile, Tiger tags along and gets confused for a god, and Fievel gets lost again and meets his hero Wilie Burp, a dog sheriff who's a parody of Wyatt Earp.

While the story may be a bit lackluster, An American Tail 2: Fievel Goes West features improved animation, some entertaining new characters, and best of all, more of the Dom DeLuise vegetarian cat Tiger!

The film is also, in general, much better than two lesser animated films released in 1991 (excluding the immortal Beauty and the Beast): Rock-a-Doodle, which was considered Don Bluth's first bad film, and Rover Dangerfield, an unbalanced and questionable animated film starring Rodney Dangerfield as a dog. In case you forgot/never heard of it, it looks something like this. I personally do not recommend it.

8. The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride (1998)
 
The sequel to the worldwide phenomenon known as The Lion King tells the story of Simba's daughter Kiara, who falls in love with Scar's lost son, Kovu. Simba does not like this because Scar killed Mufasa, so he sends Timon and Pumbaa to spy on Kiara wherever she goes. Many years later, Zira, Scar's widow, raises Kovu to kill Simba. However, Kiara and Kovu fall in love, but Simba is still skeptical on Kovu.

The Lion King 2 is different from previous and later movies from DisneyToons, who had a bad reputation for making countless Disney sequels between 1997 and 2008, because it stays very true to the original 'Lion King' without getting too ridiculous or having too many new characters or songs. While The Lion King was described as Bambi in Africa with elements from Hamlet and Elton John music, The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride is described as Romeo and Juliet in the Savannah.

Also, just like how we had more of Tiger in An American Tail 2, we also have some more memorable moments with Timon and Pumbaa.

One thing most fans complain about is that 'Upendi', Rafiki's song in the movie, is a bit strange for the Lion King world. However, I'd pick it over 'Yodle-Adle-Edle-Idle-Ooo' from Home on the Range, which was rather ridiculous.

However, one thing I noticed is that legendary music composer Hans Zimmer didn't return, since he scored the original Lion King. Perhaps it was because he was busy with The Prince of Egypt at the time. Not to mention he would be too expensive.
 7. Fantasia 2000 (1999/2000)

Fantasia 2000 was either the last movie of the 20th Century or the first movie of the 21st Century. Like the original Fantasia, Fantasia 2000 comprises of eight segments set to classical music. However, instead of Deans Taylor hosting the live-action intervals, they were hosted by a multitude of celebrities, including Steve Martin, James Earl Jones, Penn and Teller, and Bette Midler. Also, instead of Leopold Stokowski conducting, because of his death in 1977, the music was conducted by James Levine. The segments in Fantasia 2000 include:

•Symphony #3, In which a flock of Technicolor triangles fly away from ferocious black triangles.

•Pines of Rome, which featured humpback whales flying over arctic waters. The whales were done in CGI, and this scene is reportedly influenced by Hayao Miyazaki.

 

•Rhapsody in Blue, influenced heavily by cartoonist Al Hirchsfeld. This segment takes place during the 1930s and focuses on a variety of characters.

 

•Piano Concerto #2, Allegro, Opus 102, based on Hans Christian Anderson's The Steadfast Tin Soldier. Like Pines of Rome, hand-drawn animation is blended with computer animation skillfully.

 

•Carnival of the Animals, which answers an age-old question: What would happen if you gave a yo-yo to a flock of flamingos? This is the shortest segment in the whole movie, with a running time of 90 seconds.
 

 This sequence, along with Rhapsody in Blue, were done by Disney veteran Eric Goldberg, best known for animating the Genie in Aladdin.

•The Sorcerer's Apprentice: This classic segment returns digitally remastered and even has the same music. What makes this segment magical is that Mickey shakes hands with both Stokowski and Levine, bridging the generations.

•Pomp and Circumstance: A reenactment of Noah's Ark starring everyone's favorite short-tempered waterfowl, Donald Duck.
 

•The Firebird Suite, the final segment of the film. This segment stars The Spring Sprite, who I think is the most beautiful Disney character of all time. I think she's even more beautiful than Rapunzel and Moana, my favorite Disney princesses!
 

Anyway, the Spring Sprite has the ability to make plants grow in just about any place. Well, almost anywhere. Her enemy is a flaming predatory bird born from a volcano.


The bird burns down the entire forest and disappears, leaving the Sprite in despair. However, the Sprite's tears sprouted new trees, and encourages her to regrow the entire forest. However, by the time the forest is completely regrown, nothing is left of the Sprite but particles of her tremendous power.

6. Finding Dory (2016)

For a long time, I had both Finding Dory and Incredibles 2 on this list. However, after reading some articles about how some critics felt Incredibes 2 paled in comparison to the original, I decided to go with Finding Dory. As I said in Oscarless Animated Films more than two years ago...

http://asateriale.blogspot.com/2017/04/oscarless-animated-films-part-1.html

Finding Dory may not be as good as the original, but it has groundbreaking animation, likable new characters, a story with a strong message on how you can accomplish great things even if you have a disability, and an environmental message that will make you wonder if the film is a prequel to WALL-E. Just look how filthy this section of the Pacific Ocean is compared to the Great Barrier Reef!

Finding Dory does have its weaknesses, however; The story for Finding Dory, as Leonard Maltin pointed out in his review online, sounds a bit too much like the original. Another thing I pointed out in Oscarless Animated Films is that invertebrates sea urchins, sea cucumbers, and even anemones have faces on them, even though Marlin's anemone clearly didn't have a face.

Also, sea cucumbers are able to talk in this film, even though in Finding Nemo, Marlin said that sea cucumbers don't talk.

To be continued in Part 2, which will be posted tomorrow.
Once again, I am so sorry that I didn't include Incredibles 2 in this countdown. If you want to make your own Best Animated Sequels list, be my guest.

Movie Review: Follow That Bird

Movie Review: Follow That Bird                                                                                                      11-8-19

It’s nearly impossible to believe that it has been 50 years since we first met Big Bird, Oscar, Bert, and Ernie. Sesame Street first aired on this day on November 10, 1969. To mark the special occasion, I decided to review the first Sesame Street Movie Follow That Bird!

Miss Finch of The Feathered Friends Society has moved Big Bird to a foster home in Ocean View, Illinois. Unfortunately, the family he’s been assigned to are literally a bunch of dodos, and Big Bird feels unhappy, so he runs away. Now it’s up to the Sesame Street gang, humans and Muppets alike, to find him and return him back to his home on Sesame Street, New York and teach Miss Finch that there’s more to family than being the same species.

Follow That Bird is a delightful film that feels like a real movie with gorgeous sets, catchy songs, and lots of memorable moments with your childhood friends. Who could forget the scene with Bert and Ernie flying in their own airplane?

Bert and Ernie singing about an 'upside-down world'.

Another thing to point out is that this movie was written by Sesame Street veterans Judy Freudberg and Tony Geiss, who would later contribute to An American Tail and The Land before Time.

Unfortunately, both Tony (right) died in 2011, while Judy (left) died in 2012.

For those younger fans reading this review with their parents, this was back when the ever-popular Elmo was only a background character: He only makes a cameo at the end.

Also, newer Muppet characters like Baby Bear (no relation to Fozzie Bear), Zoe, Abby Cadabby, and Julia didn’t exist yet.

In conclusion, Follow That Bird is a wonderful film that people of any age will enjoy. You could be 5 or 75 and still have a great time.

Rating: 4 stars out of 5.

Four, four stars! Ha ha ha ha!

Addams Family Double Feature Review

Addams Family Double Feature Review                                                                                          10-13-19

Warning! Both of these movies are rated PG-13, so single-digit kids shouldn’t be reading this!

Based on the cartoon characters created by Charles Addams, The Addams Family is about a creepy and peculiar family known as the Addams. Father Gomez is sad that he hasn’t seen his brother Fester in years. Gomez’s lawyer Tully Alford is having financial troubles, but when he discovers that the Addams secretly have a stash of doubloons in their house, he proposes that Gordon, adopted son of Abigail Craven (whom Tully owes money to), to dress up as Fester to steal the Addams’s stash. However, the more Gordon spends time with the Addams, the more he slowly attaches to them and their culture.

While the sets are nice and the acting is top-notch, the story is too confusing to follow.

In Addams Family Values, Morticia gives birth to a healthy baby boy named Pubert. However, Wednesday and Pugsley are jealous of Pubert, so they try to kill him. Gomez and Morticia of course don’t approve of this, so they hire a nanny named Debbie Jellinsky to take care of the kids, and she suggests that Wednesday and Pugsley should go to summer camp. Little does anyone know that Debbie is secretly a serial killer, and she plans on wooing and marrying Fester just so she can kill him!

Addams Family Values is one of the few sequels that improves upon the original with a superior story, life-like sets and backgrounds, and talented acting from A-list actors.

If I were to complain about one thing, I would say that some of the returning characters, like Thing the disembodied hand, don’t have as much screen time as in the original film. However, I still enjoyed Addams Family Values more than I thought.

Wednesday Addams unfortunately has to participate in a play inspired by the first Thanksgiving, despite it being the summer. She plays the role of Pocahontas, who didn't even appear at the first Thanksgiving.

Unfortunately, the film tanked at the box-office: Addams Family Values had to compete against The Nightmare before Christmas, Schindler's List, and Mrs. Doubtfire. Let's hope that Conrad Vernon and Greg Tiernan's Addams Family does better at the box-office. It's main competition won't be Frozen 2, but Maleficent 2: Mistress of Evil.

Addams Family rating- 3 stars out of 5.

Addams Family Values rating- 3.45 stars out of 5.
For those parents at home reading this review, here are links to reviews of both Addams Family movies below.
Addams Family
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/the-addams-family-1991
Addams Family Values
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/addams-family-values

My Thoughts on the Live-Action Disney Remakes (Excluding Lion King)

Hi, everybody! Today, as I promised in my 'Dora' review, I will talk about every live-action Disney remake leading up to Aladdin. Most of what I'm going to say today I have said in this link below.
https://asateriale.blogspot.com/2017/03/movie-review-beauty-and-beast-2017-part.html
Anyway, let's go over the nine Disney remakes over the years!

This whole craze of live-action Disney remakes began in 2010, with Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. Despite receiving very mixed reviews, the film earned over a billion dollars worldwide! While I don't hate it like other people do, I find it crazy that it earned so much money at the box-office. I have yet to see the sequel, and I don't plan to in the near future.

The next live-action Disney remake was Maleficent, released in 2014, starring Angelina Jolie as the famous wicked sorceress. It was meant to tell the story of Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty through the eyes of Maleficent, as well as how she became evil. Instead, we got a mess of a film in which Maleficent is the hero and King Stephan (Aurora's father) is the villain. To make matters worse, Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather, the Three Good Fairies in the original film, were demoted to female equivalents of The Three Stooges.

The third live-action Disney remake was Cinderella, released in 2015. It stuck faithfully to both the Disney and Charles Perrault versions of the fairytale, and added a deeper backstory to Cinderella (whose real name is Ella this time around). When I first saw this film in theaters, it was right after one of the most insane ideas ever for a crossover episode: Steven Universe's 'Say Uncle', a crossover episode of Steven Universe and Uncle Grandpa. What's next? A crossover episode of Star vs. the Forces of Evil and Pickle & Peanut? Or a crossover episode of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (the CGI turtles) and Fanboy & Chum-Chum?

The fourth live-action Disney remake was The Jungle Book, released in 2016. It had a young boy, Neel Sethi, who plays Mowgli in this version, in a CGI jungle with hyper-realistic CG animals voiced by celebrities like Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley, Christopher Walken, Idris Elba, and Scarlett Johansen. Only two of the songs from the original film returned: 'The Bare Necessities' and 'I Wanna Be Like You'. It's a very enjoyable film, but I feel sad that the vultures, nor Shanti, the human girl Mowgli falls in love with at the end of the original film, don't return. However, director Jon Favreau stated in the audio commentary that he didn't like the ending of the original Jungle Book, so he decided to make a new ending with Mowgli staying in the jungle and becoming more mature.

Also released in 2016 was Pete's Dragon, based on the 1977 film of the same name. I actually talked about this film back in August 2016, and I think it's a near-perfect live-action family film.

http://asateriale.blogspot.com/2016/08/movie-review-petes-dragon-2016.html

In 2017, the tale as old as time became new again with the billion-dollar winning Beauty and the Beast. The reason why this movie exists was to 'improve' on the original film and 'fix the plot-holes'. There are many changes to the original film, such as the household objects getting unappealing character designs, some of the songs being expanded, Prince Adam receiving a book that could teleport him anywhere in the world, and the enchantress who was mentioned in the original film physically appearing. I personally don't like this movie as much as other people do because I felt that a lot of the humor has been drained out of the original film, and Emma Wattson's singing voice can get on your nerves.
I also find the book to be pointless: The only reason it exists is so Belle can find out why her mother died. Adam could've used it to escape from his castle when it starts falling apart!


The following year, Disney released Christopher Robin, based on the beloved Winnie the Pooh stories by A A Milne. I actually reviewed this movie last year, and looking back, I feel I was a little too generous on it. As Rachel said in her review...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpAXl3ZPT3I

Christopher Robin was a bit of a jerk. She also points out that it would've been better if the film had more whimsy and wasn't as depressing. I would've rewritten the script to make Christopher a more likable character.

As for what I think of Christopher Robin, it's okay, but if you really want a live-action Winnie the Pooh, I recommend the preschool series The Book of Pooh. It aired on Playhouse Disney (a predecessor to Disney Junior) between 2001 and 2003, and faithfully stuck to the source material while teaching very young kids important lessons on friendship with Henson-quality puppets. Quite a few episodes of The Book of Pooh can be found on YouTube.

The little blue bird on Rabbit's hand is Kessie, who originally appeared in an episode of The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.

Before I talk about the next film, here's my review of Christopher Robin from last year.

https://asateriale.blogspot.com/2018/08/movie-review-christopher-robin.html

There were three live-action Disney remakes released this year, two of which I will talk about: The first was Tim Burton’s Dumbo. As well as avoiding the usual Tim Burton art style, this retelling of Dumbo also has a bit of a different story from the original, somewhat similar to Free Willy. Also, the animal characters don’t talk, so characters like Timothy Mouse, Mr. Stork, the Nanny Elephants, and the Crows got removed. Instead, Dumbo is guided by human children Milly and Joe Farrier and their widowed father Holt. Unfortunately, Tim Burton’s Dumbo didn’t meet box-office expectations, perhaps because it had to compete against How To Train Your Dragon 3 and Avengers: End Game.

As for what I thought of the movie, I liked it more than Maleficent and Beauty and the Beast, but less than The Jungle Book and Pete's Dragon.

Aladdin, on the other hand, proved to be very successful, earning over a billion dollars at the box-office and even green lighting a sequel. Some of the changes that were made to this film include Jafar not only being power-hungry, but also war hungry, Jasmine having a song that has little impact on the story, Iago (Jafar’s parrot) behaving more like a real parrot, and Genie being played by Will Smith instead of Robin Williams, with mixed results.

Unfortunately, the film itself is less engaging and less enjoyable than its 1992 counterpart. Much like Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin drained much of the humor and charm out of the original film. It also hurts that Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio, screenwriters of the original film, don’t return, despite working on the Pirates of the Caribbean films.

Of all the remakes talked about here, the only ones here that I truly recommend are Cinderella, The Jungle Book, and Pete's Dragon. As for the rest, it's all up to you.

If you're wondering about what I thought of Jon Favreau's The Lion King, I will review it some time in January.

Movie Review: Mary and the Witch's Flower

Movie Review: Mary and the Witch's Flower                                                                              9-15-19

Mary and the Witch’s Flower is the first movie from Japanese animation studio Studio Ponoc, which was founded by ex-Ghibli animators in 2015. Directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi, this movie is about a British girl named Mary Smith. She is stuck in the country with her Great-Aunt Charlotte when she discovers a magic broomstick and a strange flower that only blooms every seven years. Suddenly, Mary finds herself whisked away to Endor College, a school of magic run by Madam Mumblechook and the brilliant Doctor Dee. But the school is not all that it seems, and when Mary tells a lie, she must risk her life to set everything right.

The strengths of Mary and the Flower come from its top-notch animation, strong protagonist, excellent sound design, and some memorable music from Takatsugu Muramatsu.

With all this said, Mary and the Witch’s Flower still has its flaws: Despite being from a different studio, ‘Mary’ features similarities (both from an artist’s and author’s perspective) to Ghibli movies like Spirited Away, Castle in the Sky, and Kiki’s Delivery Service. Not to mention that Mary Smith herself bares a resemblance to Merida from the black sheep Pixar film Brave. Here's Merida...

...And here's Mary Smith.

In conclusion, not as good as even non-Ghibli anime movies like Your Name, In This Corner of the World, or Wolf Children, Mary and the Witch’s Flower is a fine anime movie that kids might enjoy.

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5