Disney Fan Theories – The Best and The Worst

As with every major fandom, the Disney world is filled with theories and fan fiction, and they range from surprisingly plausible to utterly ridiculous, fuelled mostly by the internet.

Now I haven’t come up with any of these theories myself, they’re all ones I’ve seen online or heard from others, and because they are so spread over the goo ol’ world wide web, I can’t credit the original person because I simply have no idea who that might be, but here are a few of my favourites, and some of the theories that really grind my gears.

The Best

Riley has gender identity conflicts (Inside Out)

During the 2015 Pixar movie, we get to see inside the heads of two characters other than Riley herself, and that’s Riley’s parents. Both parents have the same 5 emotions – Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear and Disgust – that Riley does, but in Riley’s mum’s head, all of her emotions have female personas, and Riley’s dad’s emotions all have male personas. Nothing unusual about that, right? Well no, except Riley’s emotions take on both male and female personas, and the theory behind this is that Riley doesn’t identify as one specific gender, and this is Pixar’s little nod to all those people in the world who feel the same. I personally really hope that this is true.

Emily from Toy Story 2 is Andy’s mum

In TS2, we hear the sad tale of how Jessie is abandoned by her kid, Emily, but some fans believe that Emily grew up into our favourite cowboy-loving kid’s mum. You see, the cowboy hat that Andy wear as he plays with Woody is the same style as that sported by cowgirl star of the second film, and its possible that this hat belonged to his mum, or was at least bought by her in a nostalgic moment. I just love thinking that not only did Jessie find a loving home after Emily, but that she did actually make it back into Emily’s life.

The Worst

Tarzan is Anna and Elsa’s younger brother

Personally I find the whole ‘Anna and Elsa’s parents were going to Rapunzel’s wedding when their ship sunk’ thing a little bit overplayed, but when I read an addition to this theory that suggested that they did, in fact, survive the shipwreck, and washed up on the island as per the opening scene of Tarzan, making him their younger brother, I just thought that this was too much. For starters, the Tarzan ship went down in flames, on relatively still water, rather than the crazy storm shown in the movie dragging the ship under, but also Tarzan was a baby at the time of the crash, and unless the queen gave birth onboard the ship, in which case we would have seen that she was pregnant as she left, they would have had the baby before leaving, which they did not. Sorry, I’m not buying it.

Carl died at the start of Up

So some people believe that Carl actually passes away before the big adventure of the movie takes place, and that from the balloons going up, we’re actually following Carl’s adventure into the afterlife. I’m sorry, but that’s a big ol’ nope from me, this film is already sad enough.

Hit me up with your favourite (or least favourite) fan theories!

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My Disney Sequel Challenge: Part 1

So last month I introduced my Disney Sequel Challenge, where I decided it was time for me to work my way through the sequels to Disney’s animated classics. Long story short, I’ve watched the first five movies from my list, and here’s what I thought!

Bambi II

To be honest, this was the film I was least excited to watch, simply because I haven’t watched Bambi in a long time and I’ve always thought it to be a little sad, but I actually really liked this! Following the death of his mother, Bambi is now under the care of his father, who has to learn to be a good father while also taking care of the forest, and Bambi has to learn how to follow in his fathers footsteps, while getting over the loss of his mother. It’s a very sweet sorta coming of age type tale, and I enjoyed it quite a lot.

Cinderella II: Dreams Come True

I was pleasantly surprised by this movie! I had expected it to be set further in the future but it actually continues on from where the original film leaves off, and rather than jumping straight into the traditional ‘prince and princess have children’ thing, the story actually followed the tales of Cinderella adapting to palace life and finding her own way to be royal. I also love how the story was told by the mice and the fairy godmother and included parts of their stories too!

Cinderella III: A Twist In Time

Again, this movie was set just a year down the line from the original, but rather than a continuation of the story, this one twisted the original story into an almost not-so-happy ending for Cinderella. While the first sequel was quite good, I felt this was one too many, and was almost too predictable in terms of storyline. It did feature a lot more musical numbers that the second film, and I enjoyed that, but I’m in no rush to watch this one again.

Peter Pan: Return to Neverland

So this was a classic next generation sequel, featuring Wendy as a mother of two, and set during World War II. Its almost the reverse of the original tale; Wendy’s daughter Jane is too busy having to grow up, and doesn’t want to believe in Peter Pan anymore. Controversially, Peter Pan isn’t one of my top Disney films, so the sequel wasn’t that exciting for me, but I did like the historical setting and accuracy, plus the ending had me in tears..

Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp’s Adventures

Another classic next gen sequel – Lady and Tramp’s son feels out of place as a house dog and longs to be a street dog, despite having no knowledge of his father’s past. This was another one that was just a tad too predictable, but it had a lot of songs and cute pups – albeit animated – so it wasn’t all bad!

So that’s the first five down, and I’m enjoying being able to watch my favourite Disney characters without knowing exactly what’s going to happen! Next month I’ll be tackling the next five, so stay tuned!

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My Disney Sequel Challenge

I’m gonna go and admit something controversial: I haven’t seen every Disney movie.

Sure, when it comes to the animated classics, I’m all over those films, but would you believe that I’ve hardly watched any of the sequels? If its not counted in the official list of classics, then I’ve never really been interested. I’ve never seen the princesses with their children, or anyone returning to Neverland; in fact I think its only the Lion King and Lilo and Stitch sequels that I have watched!

So I’ve decided to set myself a little challenge and make a little blog series out of it: Lottie Watches Sequels. Every week I’m going to try and watch 4 sequels to classic Disney movies – in order of when the original film was released – and each month I’ll be sharing my thoughts and feelings on them! If you’ve wondered about them yourself, this is the list I’ve compiled:

  • Bambi II
  • Cinderella II: Dreams Come True
  • Cinderella III: A Twist in Time
  • Peter Pan: Return to Neverland
  • Lady and the Tramp II: Scamps Adventures
  • 101 Dalmatians II: Patch’s London Adventure
  • The Jungle Book 2
  • The Fox and the Hound 2
  • The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea
  • Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas
  • Beauty and the Beast: Belle’s Magical World
  • Aladdin and the King of Thieves
  • Aladdin: Return of Jafar
  • Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World
  • The Hunchback of Notre Dame II
  • Mulan II
  • Tarzan II
  • Kronk’s New Groove
  • Atlantis: Milo’s Return
  • Brother Bear 2

I’m pretty excited to get started on these! While I’ve never really been interested in them before, I’m excited to meet some new characters and see some of my favourite stories continue, plus I’d love to see if the whole ‘sequels are never as good as the original’ rule also applies to Disney films. Stay tuned, folks!

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