Just wanna point out: Jessica's been both a park ranger and a nurse before. She, like a lot of the cartoons she was inspired by, can change her occupation or role depending on the short she's in; thus, she can be a private eye too. If that article posted earlier is correct I don't really see this as an issue, tbh. If they were removing her completely I'd be upset but they're just giving the ride a revamp, and one that puts her in a starring role no less. This is a good thing. If they just swapped out the figure in the trunk with barrels and won't update the later figure with the hammer, that would be sloppy and worthy of criticism. But it seems like that isn't the case. I do criticize that they're updating the ride in chunks, however. But, maybe they think if it worked for Jungle Cruise, it could work here? I'm not sure I agree it does, though.
And like, another thing... y'all have seen the poster they're putting in the queue until the ride's fully changed up, right?
She's... well,
exactly as sexy as she always was. Certainly as sexy as she was in her park ranger or nurse uniform. She's simply taking an even more proactive role in the plot of the ride, and the ride itself is being better incorporated into Toontown's theming. This, to me, is good. Like, I mean, if you really liked that she was a tied up damsel-in-distress at a certain point of the ride or found her cocktail dress sexier or just more aesthetically appealing, that's fine, but just say so, yeah? Let's not dance around it. This is not Disney body-shaming or another-sort-of-shaming that I can't mention here because of word filters (something I'd take very seriously and be against if they were). This is... well, them deciding to do something interesting with the character. As a fan of the character I'm very excited about that.
Now, there are quite a few changes Disney is doing to the parks I don't at all agree with... looking at Epcot, particularly the "Communicore" area and the mechanical monsters in the lagoon very pointedly right now. Genie+ is looking to be a potential trainwreck as well. And that's far from the only things...
But both this and, I think, the Splash Mountain with PatF characters overlay are good decisions. Hell, I liked the Pirates changes.... well, the later ones. They really didn't need to put Sparrow in, still rather salty (har har) about that.
I understand how easy it is to be cynical about Disney as of late. As someone with leftist leanings, I have a great many criticisms of them. The list really does go on. You could easily say I hate Disney the corporation as much as I love Disney the arthouse (or well, aspects of it, I have criticisms of some of their recent output). But sometimes, maybe, just maybe, they aren't doing something bad? I mean, absolutely no one with a straight face can say the DCA ToT change to GotG was a downgrade, for example. Sometimes the changes they do are.....
good?! Shock and awe!
I'll never forgive them for getting rid of the Electric Umbrella, or refusing to fix the Yeti, or tearing down Snow White's Scary Adventures for a princess M&G, or replacing the Great Movie Ride with M&M instead of plopping M&M into the Animation Courtyard...
But, I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt on this because P.I. Jessica Rabbit sounds really cool, actually.
Now, if the changes really only amount to the car-barrels and slipping on a trenchcoat that doesn't fit the ride's aesthetic over the other Jessica figures in the ride, I'll be upset, but right now, I don't see that as being the case. I'll eat crow if it does turn out to be the case but it sounds like something more along the lines of the Jungle Cruise changes, which they did pretty well.
