How a Direct to Video Sequel Became Disney’s Best Movie About Depression

It’s hard to think that, in a timeline where it’s more likely than ever something you love is owned by them, that there was ever a time that it felt like Disney were struggling. As much as Iger and co. would like us all to forget about it, there are two notable points in history where things looked more than a little shaky for the House of Mouse; the first occured during the 80’s, a period often lamented as “the Dark Age” where the money was still rolling in but not nearly as fast as they’d like it to (though we did get The Great Mouse Detective during this phase so it wasn’t *all* that bad).

The latter was during the noughts, home to some animated movies that even those with Criterion collections will agree are amongst the best in their field. Sadly, despite some stellar movies, this point in time also occurred when 2D animation was seemingly on its deathbed and Disney, ever eager to flog a dead horse, upped its number of animated home video releases in the 2000’s by 113%. Many of these were hollow, fast and cheaply made sequels to well loved franchises and were rightfully bashed by critics and forgotten about by those who viewed them; that is, all of them but one. One that builds on its predecessor’s themes on morality and sufficiently tackles what it means to be good when you’re not doing so good.