Sequels

I knew they were making a sequel to Finding Nemo, and it's about time. Marlin seemed to have lightened up about adventures by the end of the movie, but I'd like to see him and Nemo tackle an adventure as father and son. Plus, the two of them have a lot of bonding to do, which I'm also excited to see. With a little luck, Finding Dory could be a great movie.

A few movies I'm less optimistic about that I just learned Disney is making are The Incredibles 2, Cars 3, and Toy Story 4. Disney has picked up a bad habit of producing sequels that seldom live up to their predecessors. The Toy Story trilogy breaks that mold, with each installment being even better than the last. But still, I worry that Toy Story 4 and the other planned sequels are just going to be used to cash in on their characters' popularity one more time.

On the other hand, as frustrating as it is to see great movies be given terrible sequels (eg Lion King), I can't help thinking that it may be necessary.

A while back, I saw a Youtube video about why Nintendo keeps making Mario games rather than making more new games with new characters and ideas. The short answer is that Mario sells games. In order for Nintendo to keep making great video games, they have to keep paying their writers, programmers, and animators. In order to do that consistently, they need to have a reliable source of income. Thus, they keep making Mario games , which they know will sell by the millions, so they can generate the cash they need to try out their new ideas without having to bet the farm on the new ideas' success.

Cars 2 was considered by many to be a terrible movie, having lost the old charm of the original Cars, and having created no new charm of its own. Still, millions of people paid to see it. Millions of Cars 2 toys were sold. Cars 2 generated an awful lot of money for Disney, and I'm sure that much of that money went into making other, better movies.

I have faith in Disney's intentions and ability to make stellar movies with creative, well-thought-out story lines, and heart-wrenching emotions. But doing that takes time and money. World-class writers and animators don't grow on trees, and neither does the money Disney needs to pay those people to take the time they need to make amazing movies. Enduring the popularity of terrible sequels is a small price to pay if it lets Disney keep making movies like Big Hero 6.

I'm pretty sure that Cars 3 is just going to be a cash grab, and I'm okay with that. I hope that The Incredibles 2 won't be just another lame sequel, but I'd forgive Disney if it were. Toy Story 4 had better be good. I'm sure Finding Dory will be, or Disney will have Ellen Degeneres to answer to. Disney has made hundreds of good movies, including a handful of great sequels. If they have to make a few dozen lame movies to keep the good movies coming, so be it.

PS. I know this topic wasn't anywhere near being blogworthy, but it's what was on my mind. If it makes you feel like reading this wasn't a waste of time, you can imagine that I drew an analogy between what Disney is doing and the struggle between practicality and living your dreams. There are lots of things we'd like to do, but to make those things happen, there are things we have to do first. Dull jobs finance fun hobbies. Big payoffs only come after hard work. I'm sure that no one at Disney really feels excited about cashing in on movies' popularity by making cheap sequels, but if that's what it takes to make the movies that they're actually excited about making, maybe they can learn to be okay with that. Life isn't always glamorous and exciting, or even fulfilling, but it's the lousy parts of life make the good parts possible, so we all just have to deal with that, just like we have to deal with the lame sequels that pay for the movies we can actually enjoy.

It's a terrible analogy, and it's a little depressing, but it's almost midnight and that's the best I've got right now. Like I said, I know this isn't blogworthy. It's just what's on my mind.