Dear Editor, This is an excellent article, and I entirely agree with its author. As long as we shell out the dollars for these films, they will keep coming. I, however, had no idea prior to reading this that there were MORE sequels to Disney "classics" in the works. True, I had heard that a Peter Pan sequel was on its way, but I never imagined that the company intended to make a sequel for ALL of its movies. I am an enormous Disney fan, but there is nothing I abhor more than cheap direct-to-video sequels. Disney needs to take some advice from its founder: Walt hated repeating himself ("You can't top pigs with pigs."). I hope someone in the company will have some respect for the men and women who made the original films and put a stop to the sequel mania. -Missy

I feel that the sequelization that Disney is doing to their already great films has to stop. As a traditional animator I feel very sad that this is occurring, because even though the sequels might have decent animation, the story lines have all been really, really bad. The story lines feel recycled (especially Lion King 2 & Little Mermaid 2) and a last ditch effort to make more $$$. I just say that Disney shouldn't even touch their feature films by disgracing them with sequels which feel slapped together without any thought. The animation isn't worth the effort if the story line doesn't succeed. Why doesn't Disney stop wasting thier time and $$$ with the sequels and produce films with good story lines, instead of producing films just for the heck of it? Lately it seems that Disney has been producing films which lack quality in many areas (not just story, but story is the key element that has been ignored) just to make a quick buck and ignoring what makes a blockbuster hit. They ignored that time crunching production for films is not what makes a quality film. I feel that the Disney industry has been on a great decline and these sequels and C quality features are only hurting them instead of helping.

I was working at Disney Studio when Eisner took over. Walt Disney had designed the animation building specifically for the animators. Most rooms had windows on three sides to let in lots of light. Eisner was upset that he didn't have enough office space for all the suits he was hiring so he quickly made plans to have all the animators warehoused in Glendale. I walked into an amimator's room before they left and I'll never forget the cartoon he had pinned to the wall. The first panel showed two people from the waist up and the caption read, "what's that whirling sound?" The second panel panned back to reveal that they were standing on Walt Disney's grave. I know this sounds crass but the wrong Disney died. Roy Disney should be tarred, feathered and horse whipped for allowing what has happened to the ART studio his brother built. If Esiner could figure out a way to get rid of all the artist and have accountants do the work he would. He values them much more than he does artist. Oh well, it sure was great while it lasted.

Great article! Wonderful article! Too bad that most of these people (and publications) will read it and agree. They can use this new found knowledge, discuss it with their friends and show how "against the grain" they are while sipping a latte at Starbucks. Then conveniently forget about the article when they're rushing to see "Peter Pan II" or "Sleeping Beauty II; the Violation" According to the great Joe Grant, animation was seen as an evolution of art. If he could've looked into the future and saw "Recess", "102 Damnations" or "House of Mouse," he would most assuredly back-peddle on what he said and find the nearest restroom to vomit. What ever happened to intergrity and sincerity in film? This is not just an attck on Disney either. "Shrek" and "Osmosis Jones" have proven that anyone can put out trash and still make money. It's a combination of talentless development schmucks and the endless lust to make even more money. Here's a personal fantasy of mine....Walt emerging out of his freezer and promplty crucifying Mr. Eisner & co for what they did to his beloved studio. The article was great. Thanks for writing about what was all on our minds but too afraid to speak out. Sincerely, Mr. Consumer

All in all, I have to say that there are some good points raised. The company in question as of lately has shown more interest in marketing than on content. But, to be fair, we must consider "sequel" does not always mean disaster. 'Rescuers Down Under' ( Disney's first 'sequel' )had breath-taking animation, wonderful, colorful characters and an individual storyline touching only on the needed elements : Bianca, Bernard and the Rescue Aid Society. It passes the test of being able to support itself outside of the first film. Alongside Disney, we have 'Fievel Goes West' another delightful film, again fulfilling all aspects of a stand-alone film and not a sequel. To be honest, yes, the "part 2"'s of late haven't been the best. Hit and miss really. Mermaid's sequel fell short, but I still stand behind the Pocahontas sequel. (In some places, 'Journey to the New World' presented stronger scenes for Pocahontas to better express herself than the movie did.) One thing this story on the 'Lady and the Tramp' didn't do is touch on the story, the music or the animation itself. I haven't seen this direct-to-video yet, but I will say that I saw a bit of it in a BestBuy and I was more impressed with what I saw in those few minutes than I have with most of the sequels and some of the features out recently. As spoken at the beginning of this article, what the story men, anmators and composer found in this video may not have been 'El Dorado', but that can be a good thing! Remember, all that glitters isn't gold. In short, all films, live action or otherwise should be approached as individual films. It's dangerous to categorize. Sometimes you miss some nice work!

Dear Dr. Toon, In reading your article I have to agree with a sad heart, my agreement though may be seen from a slightly different point of view. You see like yourself I'm an animator who would like to someday work for a Disney or a Warner Bros. but the likely hood of that is now dwindling rapidly. In recent arcticles put out by AWN and other magazines like Animation Magazine the bigger companies like Disney have laid off a majority of their older staff. Speaking of which, Animation Magazine featured a brief article that Disney was laying off more than 4,000 in it's animation departments in California and in Florida some of it's veteran animators were being told that their contracts were not being renewed. Some of these animators sadly, had been there for more than twenty five years. All in the name of the almighty dollar. Because the numbers weren't looking right Eisner was loosing has christmas bonus! Now I know what most would say to this, "well they should be able to find work." It's not nessecarily about finding work; it's more about the type of work your doing and who it's with. Disney has had a long and distinguished reputation for not only turning out some of the best animation ever seen on the silver screen but for also maintaining a sense of integrity with it's animators. More than the others you could always count on Disney to have the right attitude the right approach to film making. Not so any more. Sadly to say those days are over, as Disney and others are pointing out. It comes down to dollas and cents, or should I say sense. Goldberg and others have moved on, perhaps knowing that the inevitable was coming. Perhaps tired of fighting a system of politics that is a never ending battle of up and never breaking even. Disney I think became very complacent after the making of Lion King which grossed more than 300 million, disney poured a huge amount of money into it's animation staff and people, pretty much opening up the flood gates, but opening them up to what, there for a while they're gamble paid off but, somewhere they lost the touch or as I'll call it the touch of the "old masters hands" because of production schedules and marketing ploys things got over looked, the storyline, the scripting, the characters, either some of it, one piece of it, or all of it. Something got over looked and has been continously over looked now for too long. Quality versus quantity. Thank you for your time, I'd love to converse with you about this some more please share your thoughts with me. Sincerely, Rance Poole Lead Animator

Well done Doctor. You not only continue to rock...but you rock FINE...very fine.