No, it's not a bad parody; it's the 1997 holiday season at the movies. And it's all because of one little cartoon. Didn't think kids' movies were that violent, did you?
It's a simple concept, really. Twentieth Century Fox decided to put out a good, wholesome family film: namely, Anastasia. Well, Disney isn't stupid. They know the little tinies are out of school a lot during the holiday season, and that kids' movies are a hot commodity. But they can't have Anastasia moving in on their territory.
So what do they do? They whip out the big guns. A week before Anastasia, they rerelease The Little Mermaid, one of the most popular Disney animated films ever. But only for seventeen days, which not only forces people to hurry and see it, but is just long enough to beat out the competition. And to cover the time after Anastasia premieres, they release Flubber, a sure-fire moneymaker, only five days after. Yep, they've got Anya in a corner.
But wait! Look at the kind of films Disney is releasing to beat out the competition. Does anyone else see two family classics? (Okay, so technically Flubber is a remake, but anyone who was ever a kid has seen the original and will want to see the new one.) Now, I believe this Disney is the same Disney that, for the past few years, has been resting on its laurels as the king of kiddie flicks, and turning out movies like sprockets because they know kids will see anything with the blue Cinderella's castle at the beginning of the reel. Why in such a sweat all of a sudden, Mickey?
Because someone had the courage to raise the standards of filmmaking.
It's true. Ever since the twilight of the Golden Age, production comapnies have played on the low standards of the general public. And, as they did that, they lowered the public's standards even more. How do we explain the quality of such films as Ace Ventura? Or Disney's own Pocahontas, for that matter? Moviegoers got used to brainless entertainment, cheap thrills, or stupid humor. And the studios profited from it.
And now, from the studio which produced such box-office flops as Thumbelina, we're seeing an epic cartoon? That must've scared the mouse ears of Michael Eisner. He knew he had to do something, or Disney would come up losing. They were forced to raise their standards, too. They now have to be creative, innovative, and appealing again, they way they began, or else they'll lose money.
So, now we've got our two sides set up. Our princess Anastasia on one side, the trendsetter. Disney with its one-two punch on the other side, the defendant. Who wins?
Everyone.