The Fox and the Hound 2

As far as my experience with certain Disney sequels I was prepared for either success or failure. I got somewhere in the middle, the animation was lively and the acting good, but in the spirit of the original I didn't think it was quite there. The story failed to elaborate in relation to the original, unlike Bambi II which pulled it with surprising success. Having watched Bambi II I was very much expecting to see something of the same caliber, but this fell a little short. Too many new characters were introduced and several of the old characters didn't even merit a cameo appearance which was a little disappointing.

However, the movie still had it's fair share of cute moments to make you giggle, which was one of it's saving graces. The animation is at a great standard and no obvious flaws to spot and was casted reasonably well. I was concerned when the cover said "The music of today's hottest stars is centre stage" which sounded like a poor effort to grab the attention of any mainstream dolt, but the soundtrack wasn't too bad and had me tapping my toes in a few places.

From the point of view of a Disney cartoon it was a little under powered but it's still got some good laughs and pleasant moments, but don't go expecting the repeat success of the original.

The Fox and the Hound is a quiet classic of Disney's, I highly recommend it, it was an extremely sweet story and a personal favorite of mine. So I was curious what was with the sequel, if they just prolonged the story or was it new characters? I wasn't too sure if this was a prequel or a re-make of the first film. Because of the way the story was in the first film, this didn't make much sense. I wasn't sure if it was just an added story, if it was, it was a bit silly. While the story and characters were cute, don't get me wrong, it's perfect for the kids, it just didn't do anything for me since I'm such a fan of the first film. I just feel like they shouldn't have ruined the story, the ending to the first film was perfect, we didn't need an additional story. But it wasn't bad for the kids, it's just a typical Disney sequel.

Todd and Chopper are back as young kids, they are having their typical play dates, but Chopper is feeling a bit down since he doesn't feel that he doesn't have any special talents. After a failed attempt at trying to hunt, Chopper's master leaves him home when he takes Chief to the fair for the howling and hunting contest. Todd takes Chopper to the fair anyways to cheer him up, and they end up meeting a stray dog singing group with wants Chopper to join due to his surprising pleasant voice. Todd gets left out, but the singer that got kicked out of the band because of Chopper, Dixie, she has a few tricks up her sleeve and wants back. Todd in the mean time just wants his best friend back.

The Fox and the Hound 2 is a better Disney sequel than most, I admit. But like I said it just wasn't needed, I was kinda disappointed in seeing the computer animation, you could tell when it wasn't hand drawn. The additional characters were cute, but they didn't do anything for me personally. I would recommend that you stick with the first Fox and the Hound movie, just because it's very original and a classic. For the kids, this sequel would be up their alley, but for the fans of the original, I wouldn't really go crazy over this.

4/10

'The Fox and the Hound 2' is possibly the worst Disney sequel I've ever seen, seeing as it bears absolutely no resemblance to the original, whatsoever. It's as if the only thing they took from the original was the characters (and clearly left 'Big Mama' behind).

Having said that, I actually don't mind it that much. It's pretty fun, exciting, adventurous, and entertaining for a measly Direct-to-DVD sequel.

Now, on to the animation. While it's easily more visually pleasing than the original, this one's too....cartoony in comparison to the original. Even if the animation wasn't perfect in the original, The characters were extremely detailed there. In this film, they seem to have just grabbed the characters, made them cartoony for the kids, and placed them in this non-stop thrill-ride. But there's some beautiful use of bright colours in this film, which does look fantastic.

While Disney sequels are obviously, and automatically going to be inferior to the originals by default, I think this was a pretty good effort, if not way too child-based.

These continuing adventures for 'Tod" and "Copper" are really only an excuse for some toe-tapping country and western musical numbers. The story is really neither here nor there. Travelling around, they alight on a band who take a bit of a shine to "Copper" and perhaps the big time looms? This puts a strain on the friendship - especially with the "Grand Ole Opry" beckoning and the pair spending less and less time together. Can "Tod" make his friend realise it's all a pipe-dream? Or perhaps it isn't - maybe "Copper" is destined for stardom? The animation focusses almost entirely on the speaking characters and that leaves the background looking very static and two-dimensional. The fairground scene isn't any better than the one in "Mary Poppins" from more than forty years earlier and the characterisations rely much too heavily on the songs. It's a straight to video exercise, this - the kids might enjoy it once, but I doubt it needs to be watched twice by anyone.

The original Fox and the Hound is a very charming and underrated film. The sequel/midquel had some cute moments and was average at best, but I did feel it lacked the charm of the predecessor, and it is and I quote "an inferior sequel". I will admit though that the animation is very very good, and the soundtrack decent and catchy. I also cannot deny that the voice acting was excellent, the standout easily being the late Patrick Swayze(may he rest in peace) as Cash. I liked the additional characters, and Todd is still really cute. However, the story is very weak, unfocused and predictable. The original's story focused on the friendship of Todd and Copper, and it was this that made the original so charming. Here, it was a nice idea, but there are a number of predictable moments and there was a lot of very little happening rather than focusing on the friendship. I don't think it helped that the writing was nothing to write home about. I also didn't like Copper in this, he wasn't much of a friend to Todd, and seemed selfish too. And where were Big Mama, Boomer and Dinky? I am probably one of the few people who really liked them in the original, and although the original voice actors have passed over since, they could have provided the humour with new voice actors. Plus the film is much too short. Because of these reasons, despite the redeeming qualities it definitely has, it was devoid of humour and most of the time charm. 5/10 for the animation, music and voice cast. Bethany Cox