I've been reading, in various sources including Pulse (from where I copied, from my post on their message board, a generous portion of this) about Disney's latest, the apparent mega-flop Treasure Planet.
I know rooting for the Mouse is like rooting for the Yankees or Enron, but I have enjoyed many of their animated projects, like Mulan and Hercules (haven't seen Lilo & Stitch yet, but it looks good). If Disney slips back into the disrepute and disrepair of the late 70s & early to mid-80s, then we lose yet another animated feature film source, and there ain't all that many of them to begin with.
I think maybe they need to find somebody that has a clue when it comes to final approval of projects...I mean, I can't think of a more anonymous, dull concept than a rehash/update of Stevenson's Treasure Island, a story which has been done to death conventionally in films, and I seriously doubt that 50% of its target audience is familar with or even aware of the novel from which the adaptations were taken. TPTB at the Mouse need to take a long, hard look at the decision making process in place after this and the equally lackluster Atlantis flick (which at least had some nice character design). One gets the impression that Lilo slipped through the cracks somehow...maybe favors were owed.
The first time I saw the preview, I wasn't even aware that it was a Disney film...guess I missed that info during a yawn.
Also at Pulse, a very sharp cover illo attracted my attention to this news item, about a forthcoming relaunch of Marvel's Rawhide Kid character in which he is revealed to be gay. This in itself is not a problem with me, it's not like we knew all that much about the Kid anyway and if done well could provide an interesting slant on a somewhat (as I recall) cliched comic book gunfighter. But from reading what writer Ron Zimmerman has apparently scripted for him, it sounds like the approach is going to be a mix of Clint Eastwood, RuPaul, and Zorro the Gay Blade. I can't imagine anyone, especially the gay community, will embrace this with its stereotypical portrayal...and like the Powers that Be at Disney, I just gotta wonder "what the hell were they thinking"? At least it looks like it will be superbly drawn by the great John Severin. I don't want to judge this too harshly, since I haven't read it yet, but what I've seen so far, with its farcical and sniggering tone (reminiscent of the worst impulses of Garth Ennis) doesn't exactly inspire me to make the effort.
Music today: Beach Boys-Good Vibrations: Thirty Years of the Beach Boys disc 2, Yoko Ono-Approximately Infinite Universe, the Black Crowes-Amorica, and Electric Light Orchestra-Out of the Blue.
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