Coming up with an original story in the business is a risky venture, especially since the business - at least in America - has also been run for a long time by executives who are just out to profit by marketing and commercialism. They tend to care more about the business side of the deal and less about the creative. I've heard plenty of horror stories about execs thinking they know better than the director and animators about how to make a good movie, with rather mediocre results.

finally, regarding Mulan: the story of Mulan joining the army in place of her father is an ancient one, so honestly I don't see her doing that in the movie as 'upholding Western values'. I was reading adaptations of the story long before the movie came out. It's true that Disney movies tend to Americanise everything, but this particular detail was true to the source material.

(as an aside - I just read through your bio and you sound a lot like me!! hello! *waves* :))

Viorica: The tenor/soprano thing bugs me as well. Mostly because I'm an alto myself, and there's very few "good" alto roles in musical theatre- you're either a villain or a sidekick. I think Esmeralda might be at least a mezzo, though- I can sort of sing "God Help the Outcasts"

As for the changes to Hunchback, have you ever heard of the German version? They kept much more of the original story, made the formerly cute talking gargoyles into parts of Quasi's split personality, and ended it with everyone dying.

(Minor history-geek nitpick: John Rolfe wasn't John Smith's cousin, he was just a random settler who ended up marrying her. And she was taken to England and shown off as an exhibition: Ooh, look at the pretty savage! then died on the boat coming back to America. I believe the sequel had her ending up with Rolfe, but Disney sequels are a thousand times worse than their predecessors, so I refuse to watch it.)

Toon Review: Ok, being the Toon Review, I had to see this rant. I agree with a lot of what you said. Though I love all cartoons in different ways, Disney almost entirely lost my interest years back. I loved the 80's and early ninties shows (such as Goof Troop, Chip n Dale's Rescue Rangers, Duck Tales, etc. and some of their movies from the past. However they do have several trends that are pretty annoying, such as the whole annoying non-human sidekick thing. (Eddie Murphy, please... just... stop...) I think the last movie I enjoyed of theirs was "The Emperor's New Groove" simply because it poked fun of some of the very aspects that halted Disney's creativity.

Very nice rant, and do more cartoon rants! :P

Elle: I was thinking of this entry. A Muslim friend of mine had mentioned she had always hated Aladdin because of how badly the movie mangled the native culture. She informs me that no self respecting Princess would go around with her middle showing and her shoulders being bare was even worse. "There is traditional Muslim garb that is beautiful and also modest," she always gripes. And showing the Sultan as a fat little man was really insulting. "We had some incredible rulers...why is this one a buffoon?" She also objects to Disney's anti-arranged marriage agenda, and to Jasmine running away into the streets at night. "It's illogical" She may be overly sensitive, but when the princess representing you is shown to be everything you work hard not to be...

Akira: I was a hardcore Disney fan as a child, having watched most of their works from their earlier years. The Little Mermaid was a favorite of mine as a teen, and I thought Ariel was absolutely gorgeous. As I became an adult, however, Disney seemed to have lost a lot of its luster. This was due to me realizing that they had pigeonholed themselves, relying heavily on fairy tales, and reusing same formulaic plot in all their stories. I also noticed during the 90's that they were starting to run out of fairy tales to adapt, so they began using stories from anime series (Lion King and Atlantis), and making it their own. There was quite an outrage from the anime community over that.

I must admit now that Disney made a wise decision in teaming up with Pixar, as public interest in Disney's traditional cel animation has waned, while audiences love Pixar's CGI animation. Pixar has also brought in some badly need fresh blood and fresh ideas to Disney, they've consistently come up with original and interesting films. I hope they can keep that momentum up for many years to come.

Charly: Well, the only Disney movie I "kinda" liked,
was Treasure Planet. People actually died (even though Disney tried to make it cute and harmless... joy) and there was kinda some action, however the end was... awful. And yes, I agree that a happy ending is maybe good for a story, but changing the original story to have a Happy End is just sick and retarded. I know some movies with bad ending and heck, I plan one in my upcoming comic for a chapter. But always the "they lived happily ever after" is sooo daaaamn BORING and GENERIC. Disney really should make a really dark movie or series with a bad ending. That would be amazing... but since we talk about Disney, this won't happen since those jerks love kids.

How sick...

commenter: For the most part, this is pretty accurate. Just one minor thing that I've found a contradiction in with my love for Grimm.

Disney bases their fairy tale stories exclusively on Grimm, which means Sleeping Beauty. Originally, Sleeping Beauty was indeed raped and impregnated towards the end (and cannibalized her own infants when she woke up after giving birth to them), however, from the versions of the story I have read, that version of the tale was before the Grimms Brothers got a hold of the story. Grimms was the one to sugar coat Sleeping Beauty by cutting out the rape-then-cannibalize part and turned it into the kiss-then-wake-up scene.

If the variations you've read contridict what I found, perhaps we found different things. There are more "twists" on Grimms' Fairy Tales than anyone could count.

Wolfgang: I don't really think an adaptation needs to be close to the original story. Hunchback of Notre Dame was certainly not meant to *replace* Notre Dame de Paris, etc., but simply to provide a unique take on the ideas presented in the novel. And, while nowhere near as good as the original telling, these movies do their job, that is, to entertain and provide some "Important Life Lessons" quite well. I do agree with you, however, on the count that the established culture is dismissed far too easily. the ending of Aladin always seemed to me like a modern father saying "Okay, sure, marry this lying, stealing, drug-abusing homeless man, you'll have no objection from me."

Cephalopoid: I remember realizing much of this when I was in elementary school, and that many times, the villains all had good points or ideas. People all thought that I was a little weird for defending the villains when they were "obviously evil." I remember reading an original version of some fairy tale, and it literally ended "And they all lived happily ever after, except for the evil witch, who was very unhappy, and died miserably."