Disney’s first sequel was back in 1990 with The Rescuers Down Under. The 29th Disney animated feature film, The Rescuers Down Under was released thirteen years after the original, which by the mid-1980s had become one of Disney’s most successful releases during the Disney Dark Age. Directed by Mike Gabriel and Hendel Butoy (their feature debuts), the film follows lovable Bernard and Bianca as they travel to the Australian Outback to rescue Cody, a young boy who is the target of a wicked poacher hunting an endangered bird of prey.
The sequel was approved by new CEO and chairman Michael Eisner and new chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg. It was the first feature length film sequel to be theatrically released by Disney, and it was the first Disney film to be created digitally, a huge selling-point for the marketing team. Disney used CAPS (Computer Animation Production System), which enabled artists and animators to digitally ink-and-paint their drawings before composting the digital cells over the scanned background art.
While it did initially struggle at the box office due to its competitors – Home Alone, Child’s Play 2, and Rocky V – it went on to make $47.4 million worldwide. It received glowing reviews and remains a staple for Disney fans. The success of The Rescuers Down Under prompted over a dozen other sequels between the late 1980s and the 2000s. Some films received theatrical releases and were distributed on home video afterwards, while others went straight to video.
The quality of these sequels rises and dips dramatically in terms of story, characterization, and animation. There are some truly terrible ones, some watchable ones, and some genuinely great ones. Some go under the radar and are only known by Disney fans who owned them on video when they were kids or because they were played constantly on the Disney Channel to fill up airtime – I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen Mulan 2 and Lady and the Tramp 2. Others are ignored completely – looking at you, The Hunchback of Norte Damn 2.
As BanterFlix’s resident Disney Queen, I want to take you through some of the better Disney sequels, or Disquels, if you will. Join me, won’t you?
Kronk’s New Groove (2005)
How many sidekicks get their own movie? I mean, come on. Kronk’s New Groove is a direct-to-video sequel which follows Kronk, the loveable henchman of the previous film’s villain Yzma, as he attempts to impress his father, who disapproves of his new profession – a chef.
The film opens with a dramatic black background with a single quote saying ‘Long ago, somewhere deep in the jungle’…as The Emperor’s New Groove opened, but with the amusing addition of ‘(again)’. It cuts to the memorable restaurant from the first film where Kronk lives out his cooking ambitions while Kuzco and Patcha try to allude him and Yzma.
A massive explosion of cheese sauce erupts, and we hear a voiceover from the incredible Patrick Warburton, who has returned to play one of his most beloved characters, “Yup, that’s me. Kronk.” It harks back to the opening narration we get from Kuzco, and it has all the humourous reflections of Kuzco without the self-indulgence. We do get a few moments of Kuzco talking to the audience like he did before, but the spotlight remains thoroughly on Kronk, as much as Kuzco doesn’t like it.
Is Kronk’s New Groove good? That depends on how you define good. The film has a 0% Rotten Tomatoes rating (if that kind of thing matters to you…), and has been criticized for its ‘disjointed [story] with unnecessary attempts at humour that are clearly geared for parents’ (not true) and that Kronk as a character ‘works best in small doses; forced to carry an entire movie, Kronk becomes tedious and (unbelievable as it sounds) unfunny’ (also not true).
I’d disagree. The humour fits the tone of the story, the animation quality matches the original, which is surprising for a Disney sequel, and the characters feel as believable and lovable as ever. And we also get to see Yzma, and Kronk’s Angel and Devil again – you can’t complain about that. The story is not the strongest in terms of a compelling plot, but it shows what a good guy Kronk is and how easily he fits into the village community. His new relationship with rival Chipmunk troop leader Birdwell is also believable and so gosh darn cute. Their chemistry feels real.
Kronk’s New Groove is funny, heartwarming, and you don’t need to pay too much attention to know what’s going on, and sometimes that’s what you want. It is one of my go-to Disney sequels when I want to be in a good mood.
Lilo & Stitch 2: Stich has a Glitch (2005)
Lilo & Stitch 2 is a weird one because there is technically another film after the original – Stitch: The Movie – but this film takes place between those two films. Stitch: The Movie is enjoyable, but I much prefer Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch as a Glitch.
As per, with Disney sequels, it was criticized for its juvenile humour (unfair), lack of wit, and simplified, dumbed-down characterizations. I disagree.
Lilo was voiced by Dakota Fanning rather than Daveigh Chase, who was busy recording the Lilo & Stitch television series, but Lilo doesn’t lose any of her unique charm and quirkiness. Like the original, the animation is absolutely gorgeous, and the team utilize the beautiful watercolour technique again which takes us back to the original. We also get to see more of David (he’s the best) and Nani, who feel like a realistic couple who just haven’t gotten there yet due to Nani’s other responsibilities. In a way, Lilo and Stitch 2 feels grown up because of that.
The story is also stronger than most Disney sequels. Lilo is preparing for a big hula competition where she will dance the story of a Hawaiian Goddess and her mortal friend, played by Stitch. Stitch’s unpredictable glitch, in which he returns to his pre-loved and pre-civilized alien self, threatens to destroy Lilo’s performance and poses some genuine consequences for Lilo and Stitch’s relationship. If anything, Lilo & Stitch 2 balances the alien story with the human one more effectively than the original.
The soundtrack features more of Elvis Presley’s music, which is always a plus. As kids, my sisters and I were close to our Nana who adored Elvis Presley and one of her favourite films was Blue Hawaii. Anything to do with Lilo & Stitch therefore has a special, sentimental place in my heart. Lilo & Stitch 2 actually directly references Blue Hawaii when Lilo takes Stitch to the exact bench where Elvis sat in the film; Stitch sniffs the bench and amusingly confirms, “oh yeah, that’s him”.
Lilo & Stitch 2 is a wholesome and funny film that, while not on part with the original, has the same charm and quirkiness.
Aladdin and the King of Thieves (1996)
Admittedly, this is a bit of a sentimental choice. My sisters and I used to watch this all the time with our Nana, and I have a very vivid memory of my Nana cringing and saying ‘ew’ at a close-up of one of the thief’s teeth.
Aladdin and the King of Thieves is the third installment in the Aladdin series. It instantly surpasses its predecessor, Return of Jafar, because it features the return of the iconic Robin Williams as Genie, who was absent from Return of Jafar (The Simpsons’ Dan Castanella voices Genie and while he makes a valiant effort, it’s just not the same).
The film opens with Aladdin and Jasmine’s wedding, but the infamous Forty Thieves crash the venue in search of a magical oracular talisman. Aladdin manages to keep it from them but when he accidently activates the oracle, it reveals that to find his long-lost father, he must find the Forty Thieves, who is “trapped within” their organisation. To Aladdin’s horror, he discovers that his father Cassim is not being held hostage by criminals, but is the King of Thieves himself. Cassim is still on the quest he left Aladdin and his mother for years before: to discover the Hand of Midas, a powerful artifact that transforms anything it touches into gold.
Most of the film’s humour comes from Genie (not surprising) and the animation quality is poor, but the story and the adventure aspects are absolutely brilliant. It explores the conflict between family, greed, and obsession effectively, and the ending is one of the most satisfying of all the Disney sequels. Cassim is a fantastic addition to the Aladdin cast.
Peter Pan 2: Return to Neverland (2002)
Peter Pan 2 took what The Little Mermaid 2 tried to do – explore the impact of the original protagonist’s adventures on their children – and did it a hundred times better.
Set in England during World War II, it follows Wendy’s hot-tempered daughter Jane who is struggling with the conflict between childhood and adulthood in an environment where make-believe seems pointless. Unlike most of London’s children, who were sent to the countryside to keep them safe from the bombs, Jane and her brother stay with Wendy longer than they should. Our omniscient narrator reflects, “in times such as these, it is no wonder some discard childish things, like Peter Pan and Neverland”. Young Jane is dedicated to keeping her promise to her father, who has gone off to war, to take care of her mother and her little brother Danny, but this simple promise takes a devastating toil on the young Jane, who is forced to grow up too fast.
Captain Hook, mistaking Jane for her mother, arrives in England in his flying enchanted ship to kidnap her. She is rescued by Peter Pan, who Jane stopped believing in a long time ago, and is able to get back to her family in London with the help of Peter, Tinkerbell, and the Lost Boys.
Unlike most Disney sequels, Peter Pan 2 was granted a theatrical release (following the success of Aladdin 2: Return of Jafar) and made $115 million at the box office. Despite this, reviews are not the best. It’s been criticized for its ‘forgettable songs and lackluster story’. I genuinely can’t fathom how critics can argue that Peter Pan 2’s story lacks luster. In many ways, with the backdrop of World War II, it feels incredibly grown up and the theme of childhood vs adulthood, fantasy vs reality, is explored so much better than in the original film.
When I was a child, I also related to Jane. She’s the eldest and feels the weight of responsibility on her shoulders. She wants to be a kid but knows she can’t be, and it’s hard on her. She takes on more than a kid her age should and it makes her lash out emotionally because she hasn’t developed the cognitive skills to be able to handle complex emotional situations yet. She tries to convince herself that to be a mature grown up, you have to abandon childish things and, as a kid, that’s what I thought too.
You can really see this in the film’s first few scenes. Jane braves an air raid just to get her brother his birthday present – her brother who she calls by his full name rather than his nickname. When Jane arrives at the bomb shelter, Danny is excited because Wendy has told him that the bombs sound like the canons of Captain Hook’s pirate ship. He excitedly opens his present from Jane…’socks, two of ‘em’. Wendy struggles to find a way to compliment her daughter’s gift, eventually settling for ‘practical’.
Jane then gets frustrated with her mother, who tells Danny a Peter Pan story while Jane is trying to listen to bomb updates on the radio, and then Jane explodes when Wendy tells her she and Danny are to be evacuated. Jane, scared and frustrated, lashes out at her little brother, telling him that Peter Pan isn’t real and that people can’t fly – she tells him to ‘grow up, it’s just a lot of childish nonsense’. Transition to one of the most powerful and relatable Disney character songs ever – ‘I try’. The lyrics reflect the Jane’s inner conflict perfectly, and the tone is so melancholy that even as an adult who no longer relates to Jane, it makes me feel for her.
Peter Pan 2 is a fantastic sequel because it develops existing characters, elaborates the story’s key themes on a deeper level than the first, and introduces new characters who feel believable in the time and setting. Plus, a flying pirate ship? Yes please.
Pocahontas 2: Journey to a New World (1998)
Don’t judge me, but my favourite Disney film is Pocahontas. It always has been. I’m aware of its problems (and its sequel has issues too) but I can’t help but love it.
The sequel, Pocahontas 2: Journey to a New World, follows Pocahontas as she journeys to England as a diplomat with royal representative John Rolfe (her real-life husband) to negotiate peace between her tribe and the British forces. Typical of Disney sequels, the reviews aren’t great. It has been criticized for its ‘uncompelling plot and weak songs’ (unfair) and for being ‘too bland and formulaic’.
Pocahontas’s story is unusual within the Disney canon because the events of the sequel did not have to be made up. I’ve always felt, even when I was a kid, that Pocahontas is one of Disney’s most powerful films because of its based on true events (based, based), and it feels significantly more mature than other Disney films because the characters look less cartoonish and the animals don’t talk.
For people like me, who wanted to know what happened to Pocahontas and John Smith after the events of the first film, Pocahontas 2 scratches that itch by exploring her time in England with the man whom the real Pocahontas married – John Rolfe. The sequel actually sticks to the historical events more than the first one, which is rare in any sequel, never mind an animated one. Pocahontas 2 is an accessible conversation-starter for younger audiences: it explores colonialism, royalty, and the ridiculous idea of the ‘noble savage’ in comparison with the ‘civilized colonizers’, reinforced by the awful bear poking scene where Pocahontas abandons the ‘noble princess’ persona forced on her to protect the bear and is punished for it.
Pocahontas’s relationship with John Rolfe feels natural (though I do love her and John Smith) and the music, while not as good as the original, fits the tone of the film. ‘Where do I go from here?’ is Pocahontas’s opening song and it’s a fantastic exploration of her inner conflict: of letting John Smith and the idea of adventure, and her independence, go, living up to her responsibilities as the future tribe chief, and the expectations of marriage and children. Another gem is ‘What a Day in London’. It’s catchy and energetic, and is a great way to not only introduce Pocahontas to a world different to her own, but to show how Londoners reacted to her people.
I may be biased, but I really love this film. Give it a try.
The Lion King 2: Simba’s Pride (1998)
The Lion King 2: Simba’s Pride is, by far, the best Disney sequel.
The film explores new king Simba’s relationship with his daughter Kiara (voiced by the wonderful Neve Campbell), who falls in love with Kovu, a young lion cub handpicked by Scar to be his successor. Kovu’s pride are rouges who were banished for being loyal to Scar, and Kovu’s mother and Scar’s mate Zira has vowed revenge for the death of her lover and the loss of their power (Kovu was originally going to be Scar’s son, but Michael Eisner said no because it would make Kovu and Kiara cousins…even though that happens in the animal world but hey, what do I know?).
As children, my sisters and I actually saw The Lion King 2 first, so we were spared Mufasa’s traumatizing death until we were older. We didn’t know young Simba, Nala, or even Scar, for a long time: we only knew adult Simba, the villainous Zira and her family, and the love story between Kiara and Kovu. And to be honest, I prefer it. Scar is a fantastic villain – you can’t do better than Jeremy Irons – but Zira is superior, in my opinion, due to her depth of character.
Like the original film, which draws on Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’, The Lion King 2 uses ‘Romeo and Juliet’ as its format, and it does so exceedingly well. It did not start out as an homage to ‘Romeo and Juliet’, but rather it gradually happened naturally during the writing process. One of the writers explained that while ‘it is the biggest love story we have’, the Disney version is unique because ‘you understand the position of the parents in this film in a way you never did in the Shakespeare play’.
The film received mixed reviews upon release. Critics argued that the ‘music was lacking and not remotely equal to the original soundtrack’ (not true) and that ‘despite being of slightly higher quality than Disney’s previous direct-to-video sequels, it comes nowhere near the level of its big-screen predecessor’. One critic wrote simply, ‘we’ve seen it all before’.
Audiences didn’t seem to agree. The Lion King 2 sold $3.5 million copies in the first three days, and by 2001, it had sold over $15 million. It remains one of the best selling direct-to-video Disney releases of all time, accumulating over $460 million in sales and rentals.
What makes The Lion King 2 stand out is its compelling plot, the mature themes it explores, its music, and its darker aesthetic. We all know the story of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ – the children of feuding families fall in love, resulting in utter chaos (thankfully Kiara and Kovu do not die in this film, but there are two memorable and traumatizing deaths – we’ll get to that later). Kiara and Kovu feel like well-rounded, fleshed out characters (unlike, say, Ariel’s daughter Melody from The Little Mermaid 2) and have their own personalities, characteristics, thoughts, and feelings.
The film explores the ideas of prejudice, vengeance, and even classicism through its characters and songs in a way that is both deep for a kids’ film, but still accessible enough for kids to understand what’s happening and to prompt more mature conversations.
The first song, this film’s version of ‘The Circle of Life’, is ‘He lives in You’. Originally featured in the Broadway version of The Lion King, its performance by Lebo M. is stunning. The lyrics call upon notions of tradition, respect, the importance of family, and remembering lost loved ones – my sisters and I may not have met Mufusa until later, but this song showed us how important he was to the characters and how much his spirit continues to influence the lives of those left behind.
‘We are One’ takes place after Kiara’s first encounter with Kovu and Zira. Through this song, Simba shows Kiara how important she is to the pride, both in terms of how much they love her and her responsibility as its future leader. Like the first song, it uses traditional African instruments to highlight the importance of culture, tradition, and duty. Unlike Simba when he was a cub, Kiara does not want to be a leader and her conflict between her duty and her independence is reflected throughout the musical number.
Zira’s villain song ‘My Lullaby’ is ICONIC. This film’s equivalent of ‘Be Prepared’, ‘My Lullaby’ outlines Zira’s plan to kill Simba’s pride and have Kovu take over. It also shows the audience how Zira has brainwashed Kovu into going along with her insane plan. The lyrics are dark and brutal, made even more powerful by voice actor Suzanne Pleshette’s amazing husky voice, The cinematography is outstanding: everything is dark, dingy, different. The entire sequence is chilling, and it remains one of my all-time favourites. I wouldn’t say its on par with ‘Be Prepared’, but it’s close.
‘Not One of Us’ still makes me cry. When Simba mistakenly thinks Kovu was trying to kill him – in fact, he held back so Simba could get away, resulting in Kovu’s mad brother Nuka being crushed to death by falling logs – he calls judgement upon him, exiling him from Pride Rock. The song is powerful and haunting. It is full of low timbre drumbeats in the style of traditional African music, and the lyrics, sung by all the animals of Pride Rock, show how prejudice can negatively impact an innocent individual.
The song has some powerful lyrics:
- ‘Deception / Disgrace / Evil as plain as the scar on his face’ – this shows how the animals’ preconceived notions of Kovu due to his association with Scar essentially condemn him from birth, regardless of his actions
- ‘Born in grief / Raised in hate / Helpless to defy his fate / Let him run / Let him live / But do not forget what we cannot forgive’
- ‘Someone once lied to us / Now we’re not so blind / For we knew he would do what he’s done / And we know that he’ll never be one of us’
The song is incredible.
The deaths in the film may not be heart wrenching, but they are sad in their own ways. The first is Kovu’s brother Nuka. Nuka is drawn as a lesser version of Kovu, with wild eyes, a scraggly mane, and mangey fur. Although he is Zira’s eldest son, he has been overlooked his entire life and constantly seeks his mother’s approval. When Kovu lets Simba escape, Nuka attempts to finish the job but is crushed to death. His last words to his mother, as he dies with his head in her paw, are “I’m sorry mother, I tried”. Yes, Nuka may be a villain, but it is still a sad moment, and it’s an important moment for Zira because it reaffirms her desire for vengeance – she is doubly justified now.
The second death is Zira herself. Unlike her mate Scar, who Simba leaves to be murdered by his hyena henchmen, Zira’s death is also kind of sad. The dark and rainy battle scene between the rival prides is about to climax with a face off between Simba and Zira, but it’s stopped by Kovu and Kiara who stand in the way of their parents. Kiara, using her father’s message of ‘we are one’, persuades Simba to see that the lions of Zira’s pride are no different to them and that the war between them is pointless.
Zira is not convinced – she lunges at Kiara, sending them sprawling off a cliff towards a watery death. Kiara manages to get a foothold but Zira struggles to hold on. She bats away Kiara’s paw when she tries to pull her to safety, too stubborn and hate-filled to accept help from her enemy’s child, and slips down the rock. When Zira is changing her mind, about to accept Kiara’s help, she falls to her death. The last we see of her is a single paw slip beneath the water.
See? Not all Disney sequels are bad.
Some are truly, truly awful, but there are some gems. I hope you’ll try some.
Written by Victoria Brown | BanterFlix Website Editor & Resident Disney Queen