Clear and Plain
Each of these viewpoints may hold some validity, but what has Disney truly wrought, and why was it produced at this particular time? I have gone to some pains to present varied interpretations, but only to highlight the following point: The reason for this film's existence (and by extension the existence of sequels to come) is not tied to any particular idea or ideology, and an interpretive search reveals virtually nothing. Lady and the Tramp II is with us because We The People gave it our explicit permission to exist, because we have been conditioned to accept such artifacts, and because due to advances in entertainment technology we're able to exploit the above two reasons much more rapidly. Of course, to admit to any of this is extremely painful. Far better to rant than to admit our complicity in having these "abominations" descend upon us in countless clamshells. Better still to embrace the belief that we are hip, cynically detached audiences secure in our sense of what's cool. We will evade any snares set by entertainment moguls and their marketing drones, and so will our kids.

"Just a minute!" you may scream, "I didn't give my permission!" No one individual did; our guilt is collective. How did we permit this OAV to exist? First, while we may abhor the idea of Disney making sequels to their Golden or Silver Age films, we had little to say when the company released OAV follow-ups to their "Silicon Age" (Little Mermaid to present) films, or turned them into prequels via Disney TV. To be fair, Ms. Klein-Hass did vent her bile over Hunchback of Notre Dame II, and I have received e-mail from at least one fan who considers Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas the equal of the Manichean heresy. However, where was our outrage over Simba's Pride, The Return of Jafar, or Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World ? I didn't protest; neither did many others. Who stampeded Disney when Timon and Pumbaa came to the small screen, or raised waves of protest over Ariel cavorting on cable? Where was our muscle when Hercules alit on Earth for the first of his twenty-six weekly labors? If we did not boycott the sequels or refuse to watch the prequels, why then do we complain when Disney reaches into its past and gives us more of them?

This is, after all, nothing out of the ordinary. American cinema is notorious for cursing us with sequels each time audiences pour $120 million into the tills for any particular film. The fact is, there have been perhaps five worthy sequels in the past twenty-five years, and nearly half of them comprise The Godfather Trilogy. Some unworthy films, in which disfigured maniacs shred their victims into teenfetti get multiple reprises... only to have films which parody them sequelized. The endless parade of IIs, IIIs, and often IVs, are now an accepted fact of life, and as long as we are willing to keep these corrupt bloodlines flowing with our dollars, then so shall it remain. We are conditioned to accept sequels, even though they may be as wretched as Batman and Robin or Exorcist II: The Heretic. We would react with puzzlement if we did not get them. As reprehensible as a follow-up to Pinocchio may be, sequelization is one of the most successful economic strategies ever pursued by Hollywood. We are the people that pay to see these products, thus sealing our pact with the devil. Why should Disney expect an entire nation to change its predilections when said nation has already shelled out over $160 million for Hannibal?

The final factor making Lady and the Tramp II inevitable has to do with modern entertainment technology. Today's children do not wait five years for re-releases of Disney films; parents purchase the movies and plug them into VCRs and DVD players (or, if frugal, record them off the cable or the dish). Technology has sundered the line between classic animated features and their modern counterparts, and the generation that most welcomes Disney's blasphemies has no idea that Lady and the Tramp was made at a time when the concept of a DVD was straight out of Harlan Ellison. Kids will be able to watch Cinderella and its sequel back-to-back, five times running if they are so inclined. As long as Gus and Jacques stay on-model, those kids will never even know the two films were made decades apart. This is their reality, and it is an indiscriminate one. If Jasmine -- or Bambi -- is in the movie, the video sequels and the TV show at the same time, it makes little difference. The big picture is one great blur of past and present, ink and CGI, paint and pixel, Tytla, Keane, Moore and Goldberg...and no child truly cares. Perhaps one could explain to their progeny that these videos are doo-doo and shouldn't be seen, but the chances of getting through are unlikely in the face of tantrums, marketing and the fact that their all friends have copies anyway.