Before the House of Mouse brought Marvel and Star Wars into
their collective fold, they had already proven their worth for rather shrewd
business ideas with the Disney Princess canon. Taking what is essentially their
most iconic characters and bringing them under a single banner has led to a lot
of hot debating over the worth of both the label and the characters that fall
within it. Now, this has resulted in more than a few feminist critiques over
how these characters work as people to aspire to be, and there are certainly
some problematic instances under that umbrella, but that’s not exactly my field
of discussion. Besides, as a man, my opinion concerning who is an appropriate
female role model would just end up being discarded before I even start
talking.
I don’t claim to have sat through all of the films in the canon, but I’ve
seen enough to know that there are some good (Mulan), bad (Snow White) and
everything in between when it comes to assertion. So, with this latest
inclusion within the canon (that I’m sure will debated until the end of days as
to whether it even counts as part of the Princess Line), I’ll admit that I’m interested
to see where this studio will go next.
Gee, this looks familiar. A family-friendly animated film
about sentient programs travelling the Internet, finding a lot of recognisable
websites, programs and properties along the way. Oh goodie, this work out so well last time. Here is where I would
normally bring up the differences in studios and filmmakers this time around
from that pile of rubbish, except
that isn’t looking all that pristine either. Yes, this is the follow-up to a
pretty damn good flick in Wreck-It Ralph, but with how the marketing for this
has been looking all year, this way too easily could be just an excuse for
Disney to parade its still-growing monopoly in the industry, showing off its
latest acquisitions like a kid shows off their new toys. But putting aside any
possible misgivings going into this, how does it actually turn out?
