Milking it for all its worth

31May08

There is a problem in Hollywood. If a film is a huge hit, then most likely the studios will feel a need to milk it as much as possible with sequels (theatrical or direct-to-DVD), merchandising, TV spin-offs, and whatever else that they can think of to profit off of.

The biggest perpetrator of this would be Disney. Seriously, look at all of Disney’s successful films and all of the things they did right afterwards. Disney for some reason sees that after they make something successful, they feel a need to change nearly everything so much that it barely resembles the original thing.  The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, Aladdin, The Emperor’s New Groove each had its own cartoon show (some more enjoyable and successful than others).

All of the direct-to-video (and eventually direct-to-DVD) sequels and prequels for many of their films, and a majority of those sequels don’t hold a candle to their original films. Since it’s not a theatrical release, then Disney feels that it would be all right to cut corners concerning these sequels. With subpar animation, voice acting, writing, and everything else in between it just does not equal good films.

Instead, the direct-to-DVD sequels/prequels (any one of them, it honestly doesn’t matter which one you pick up) have an obvious cheese factor that not only contributes to the films overall low quality, it gives the fans a groan factor knowing that their favorite Disney film was destroyed in the sequel. I cringe every time I watch a scene from these sequels. It really is that awful. It’s quite obvious that the amount of effort declined while making any of the sequels.

I believe the only exception to the rule is Toy Story 2. Now that is a sequel done right! It provided something new for the plot without making many compromises to the original canon and delivered with quality.

Although, it wasn’t all too bad until Pirates of the Caribbean and High School Musical was released. Now the first Pirates film was quite good, and it could have stood by itself as a film. However, since it created a whole pirate franchise frenzy with people wanting anything that was pirate related (even if it didn’t tie in with the film) and that it was the cool thing to be a pirate, Disney felt compelled to make a sequel.

Now, I must admit that I never saw the latter Pirate films, nor do I feel a compelling need to watch them. The reviews for both films also kind of turned me off as with the insanity of the fangurlz and fanboiz that killed the franchise. I usually don’t listen to film critics since I prefer to form my own opinion, but there is something wrong when the general consensus is negative.

However, when HSM was released it got even worse. Not only are there multiple sequels, a version for it on ice, books, video games, a possible Broadway show, and whatnot; but the fangurlz and fanboiz make it even worse. If you read my post earlier on HSM, then you could see my frustration with it.

Not only was the film/”musical” was awful to begin with, but it turned into this hysteria of 12-year-olds lusting after someone who has mediocre acting and singing skills. I heard arguments that since it’s aimed towards kids that it shouldn’t matter. What? Kids aren’t allowed to have good entertainment and instead be subject to this crap, and since there is nothing else but crap thrown at them therefore they are forced to like it? I don’t think this is entirely fair since in my childhood I actually watched some good TV shows that as an adult I can still enjoy not just out of pure nostalgia, but it was actually good quality entertainment.

But in addition with the insane fans, Disney subjects the rest of us with releasing anything HSM related. Is it really necessary to release an HSM video game or novelizations?

There is a time to throw in the towel and call it quits before driving every sane person to the brink of insanity.

Honestly, just make it stop for all our sakes!

Filed under: movies   |  2 Comments
Tags: direct-to-DVD, Disney, franchises, High School Musical, Pirates of the Caribbean, prequels, rants, sequels, TV spin-offs