If you happen to have the vaguest interest in films, then you\’ll have realised that over the last few years, there's been a couple of ongoing trends. Two scoops of ice-cream and a smidgen of sauce will cost you a week?s wage, whilst the films themselves have been rehashed to death.
All sorts of fancy mind numbing modern effects such as HD, 3D and IMAX are being used to hike up ticket prices to drag in doleful punters.
As for the films themselves, there has been nothing of any immediate mainstream quality in the last decade that's made us rush out to the cinema. All we're faced with are countless sequels, rubbish remakes/reduxes and adaptations from books like Harry Potter. Disney have decided to embrace technology and re-release The Lion King with sharper animation and three whole dimensions. Now a new generation of children can see Mufasa die, but in 3D!
Disney films have always been a strange franchise to stomach. Essentially, the company bring out animated films that are aimed at ickle children but have underlining adult themes which aren't really discovered until later life.
The Little Mermaid gives one man the dilemma of having sexual relations with a fish-woman whilst Bambi gives us the comical situation of a baby deer having to grow up after its mother has its head shot off with a shotgun. You might as well show a child a copy of The Shining.
One other fascinating aspect that other Disney films have touched upon is the portrayal of appearance, particularly if somebody doesn't fit into society?s ideal image. Two films that demonstrate this include Shrek where our monster character is banished to the swampland for being a minger, while in The Hunchback Of Notre Dame, Quasimodo is pelted with fruit and constantly laughed at for his hideous appearance.
To ram the point home, Disney produced Beauty and the Beast which of course, taught us to hate Celine Dion.
And back in 1994, a generation of children wept when Mufasa got trampled to death. Clearly, pulling on the heartstrings of the young and vulnerable worked for Disney and the film pulled in $783 worldwide. But this looks soon to rise if reports are to be believed:
?Disney?s Lion King 3D roared into theatres Friday, exceeding all expectations with a first-day gross of $8.8 million at the domestic box office and is now on course to gross as much as $25 million for the weekend.?
Obviously, the world’s stoners are gobbling up the tickets, just to see that scene where Simba has ‘SEX’ written above his head.
Oh the hilarities.
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ibanezerscrooge says
Just to be clear, Shrek was produced and distributed by Dreamworks animation. Not Disney. Carry on ;)