Animation Source Forums

Note To The Mods: I don't know if this belongs here, in fact, I'm not sure where it belongs. Feel free to move it to somewhere else; you can be sure I'm not trying to spam or clutter up the boards. Thank you.



I think that if first struck me when I was going to use the Wal-Mart gift card that my aunt and uncle gave me for Chirstmas. I was standing in line in the electronics department, where I had a good view of the children's movies. I looked, and there it was. Beethoven. I LIKED Beethoven as a child. Then I took a closer look; this box was claiming it had all 5 movies in it. All 5? Seriously? I didn't even know there was more than 3, let alone 5. This brings me to the point of my rant, as I'm sure everyone is waiting for me to cut to the chase. Why do companies (I'm looking at you Disney) think that it is a good idea to ********* ideas and characters that were enjoyable into endless, inane sequels? I mean, seriously, do we really need that much Beethoven? Couldn't we just let him go?

Only children's movies (with a very few exceptions) do this horrible process. They abandon adequate stories, throw the voices out the window because God knows Kevin Bacon or Burt Reynolds isn't going to do some direct-to-DVD shlock, abandon how the characters are supposed to act, and all so they can squeeze a few more dollars out of a franchise. Despicable.

But if you have an "adult" movie, like Terminator or Rocky (the sequels of which are up for debate as being good or bad) at least we got Sly Stalone and Ah-nuld back. Can you imaging if they had Vin Diesel playing Rocky in the new pic? The audiences would fart on it so loudly it would sound like the bombing of Baghdad. Why is this different for animated movies?

It's ridiculous that we have to watch a third Lion King, a second Little Mermaid, and umpteen Land Before Times, when all anyone really wanted was a special edition of the ones we already like. Don't be suprised in the future when we get things like Pinocchio Goes To War or Beauty and The Beast: In Nashville.

I look at the multitude of sequels out there and I think, c'mon, do we really need a fourth Balto? Haven't we done everything those characters are ever liable to do? Do we REALLY want to see Jenna and Balto, increasingly looking like some third-world, dime-store shadows of their former selves, embroiled in yet another pious morality tale about Being Yourself? Do we REALLY want to listen to Balto as he spouts trite homilies about wolves and nature in a voice that is obviously not Kevin Bacon's and that doesn't sound a thing like him? These are the questions that we need to ask ourselves. Come on folks, lets hold ourselves to a higher standard. We don't need a fourth Balto (if we even needed more than one), and we certainly don't need to have sequels done of movies that were good enough in the first place.

I agree with you on the Beethoven sequels - that's just ridiculous. They changed the family, they changed Beethoven, they just changed the entire movie in general.

The Balto movies however, I liked the sequels. I think that it gave Balto a little more reputation than he once had..

That's the main point to me : if there are people who wants to see them, why does the people who don't want them, just don't buy or watch them? Why should they stop making them if there are fans who want to see more of the universe they love? I think there are many stories possible, just look at the fanfics section here...
Yes, the fact that they are reducing the budget for the sequels is a problem, but I still don't understand how a sequel could "destroy the original", as many people say. I mean, the first one will always remain the same, no matter the sequels.

You're talking about the films, although the situation is much worse in the video games industry. Try to find the amount of video game released that aren't sequels, spin-offs or licenses : it's probably not more than 5%...

Oh, I understand ya'lls point of view entirely. No, I don't have to watch the sequels if I don't want to. That's the blessing of free countries. And I do understand that these things are intended for children. That's fine, I suppose. It just bothers me that they make these sequels and have yet to put out special edition DVD's of the original movies. I dunno, it just seems a bit like they are just anxious to make an extra buck. I suppose you can just call me jaded and angry, but hey, that's my opinion. I guess that I didn't care much for the sequels of any animated flick that I've seen, so I dunno, I think people loose focus on classic characters. I don't want thinks like Balto or Peter Pan etc. to become a punch-line or a shadow of their former selves. For me, it's like watching Michael Jordan missing dunks and yet continuing to play long after his prime. I watched him in his heyday, and it was sad to see him struggling to get it done. I guess I'm rambling a bit, but I don't like to see this stuff happen to classic characters. But that, of course, is just one man's opinion. You all have some very valid points as well.

I would freak out if they made a balto 4