'Strange World' Disney's 2022 Animated Film

[Prince-1]

This is the umpteenth time you have pretended like you know me or my tastes. The Hunchback of Notre Dame is my personal favorite Disney movie so you're the most mistaken you've been yet in your fortune telling if you think I feel about it the way conservative or religious Americans do who feel it's anti-Christian or too mature for children.

And while you have my gender correct, I don't recall ever mentioning my gender on here which confuses me. Either you're assuming I'm female, which I think is odd since you claim to be such a stringent force for LGBT representation in which case you shouldn't assume one's gender and should have the courtesy to ask beforehand what gender I am. Or you recognize me from another forum and if you're who I think you are, suddenly the hostility you've treated me with since I've started to post here makes complete and utter sense.

No hostility from me. I just call out people who post either homophobic crap, people who troll repeatedly, or post things claiming to be facts and can’t provide one iota of proof to back up their assertion. I’ll let you decide where you fall on that list.

As for your gender, I have no clue who you are but since you went with Jean Grey in your name I took a wild guess and went with the obvious gender selection. Maybe I should have been a detective??

 

[Prince-1]

Hunchback came out pre-internet (or, more accurately, when very few people were online). I can find absolutely nothing to substantiate your emphatic claim that “most American parents were aghast at” the film’s content.

I also did a cursory glance on the interweb and found nothing that showed “most Americans“ were aghast of anything involving the Hunchback movie.

 

[jeangreyforever]

Hunchback came out pre-internet (or, more accurately, when very few people were online). I can find absolutely nothing to substantiate your emphatic claim that “most American parents were aghast at” the film’s content.

The very first search result that pops up for me.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

"The Hunchback of Notre Dame" has intentionally tested the boundaries of traditional Disney fare with its adaptation of Victor Hugo's gothic novel.

www.pluggedin.com

“Esmeralda is awfully provocative,” actor Jason Alexander (the voice of a gargoyle) said. Disney would have us believe this movie’s like the Ringling Bros., for children of all ages, but I won’t be taking my 4-year-old.

Also the parent of a preschooler, Focus on the Family’s manager of Youth Culture, Amy Stephens, told Plugged In, “This is not a children’s film, which makes many of the product tie-ins and promotional efforts aimed at little ones inappropriate and irresponsible.”

 

[Prince-1]

The very first search result that pops up for me.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

"The Hunchback of Notre Dame" has intentionally tested the boundaries of traditional Disney fare with its adaptation of Victor Hugo's gothic novel.

www.pluggedin.com

The link is a review of the movie from some random website. It shows nothing about the “aghastness” of America. Do you have anything else to support your position.

 

[TP2000]

The perception of, like, maybe a few thousand people. The majority of society doesn’t know, nor do they care.

What if America did know who Jaboukie was, and if his lyrics were printed in major media to read and digest?

Burbank is probably breathing a sigh of relief that the issue stayed relatively hidden and buried in Facebook groups made up mostly of unknown Midwest moms.

It's just one interesting angle to this disastrous movie, and likely at least a small part of the reason marketing was so thin and rare for Strange World after they spent $180 Million on it.

 

[jeangreyforever]

I had never heard of him until two weeks ago, but that's unsurprising considering my demographic and personal tastes in entertainment. I imagine most American parents of small children had never heard of him either.

But more parents of small children (the biggest demographic for a Disney film like Strange World) are now aware of him, and have seen his latest song lyrics printed out online in chat groups or Facebook posts. And now I have also read his lyrics.

I will be playing my cherished Motown Christmas album tonight to cleanse my brain.

But most importantly to this discussion: I find the decision by Burbank execs to hire this particular performer, with his known record of being very raunchy and often profane, to be questionable at best and idiotic at worst. What were they thinking? That parents with Internet connections weren't going to find out he was the Ethan Clade voice actor?

The business decision to hire Jaboukie, out of all the thousands of voice actors and minor celebs in the world, makes the failure of Strange World even... stranger. It's just one piece of the puzzle, but the puzzle is really weird.

What was Burbank thinking?!?!

What surprises me the most is that Disney's usually been pretty good about hiring actual teen actors or child actors for their age appropriate non-princess characters. Like Lilo, Miguel, Moana, Nemo, Dash, etc. I haven't seen this movie so I have no idea what specific age Ethan is supposed to be besides being a teenager, but I'm surprised they didn't hire an actual teen for the role. Especially considering the wide casting search. Moana was a success in part because they found a voice actress who felt very much like Moana personified in human form.

 

[LittleBuford]

The very first search result that pops up for me.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

"The Hunchback of Notre Dame" has intentionally tested the boundaries of traditional Disney fare with its adaptation of Victor Hugo's gothic novel.

www.pluggedin.com

I think the issue for me and others hinges on your use of the word “most”. Perhaps you were simply being hyperbolic, which would also explain “aghast”.

 

[TP2000]

Anyone remember Miley Cyrus?

So many Disney stars who went a bit wild, while still a Disney star.

Remember the kerfuffle in the news when it was reported she and her teen friends were drunk at her 16th birthday party at Disneyland?!? I had forgotten about that one, but it sent Burbank into clean up mode very quickly.

 

[TwilightZone]

It does explain why I haven't seen any trailers say who the actors are, like in a typical disney commercial.
"Come see Moana! Featuring voice acting from the rock!"


I'm not sure if I've seen a strange world commercial like that.

 

[LittleBuford]

I also did a cursory glance on the interweb and found nothing that showed “most Americans“ were aghast of anything involving the Hunchback movie.

Scientific polling is the only way to measure such a thing anyway.

 

[jeangreyforever]

Remember the kerfuffle in the news when it was reported she and her teen friends were drunk at her 16th birthday party at Disneyland?!? I had forgotten about that one, but it sent Burbank into clean up mode very quickly.

Miley had some...interesting friends back then. I remember the video she did where she and her friend Mandy made a parody of a Selena and Demi video. I'd love to hear what Disney execs were thinking with one of their biggest stars making fun of their two other biggest stars of the era.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Which is part of the problem. Disney needs to clean house.

It’s not a problem at all. He’s not the face of Disney.

And quite frankly, no one knew of the movie, let alone Jaboukie and his music. It's such a fringe minority that would be online outraged by it.

It did not move the needle at all in regards to Strange World. Just people picking at straws now.

Exactly. A bunch of pointless digging and likely fake concern, for what? There seems to be no interest in seeing the film, so why do you “care?” Jaboukie’s full-time gig, including whatever music video he’s done recently, is irrelevant.

Yeah I'm with @Californian Elitist and @Disney Analyst on this one. Nobody had a problem with Robin Williams as Genie or Bob Saget as Danny Tanner.

 

[TP2000]

All the Disney Channel stars who went wild weren't hired because of their antics. They engaged in those antics after they had already established themselves as Disney stars, and often it was directly because they wanted to shed that Disney wholesome image.

Another good example is Vanessa Hudgens. It was a big scandal when she posted nude (she was covered up) for a magazine. There was serious talk about whether Disney would keep her on for the High School Musical franchise or not, which ultimately they did. And this goes back to the early days of Disney too. Hayley Mills couldn't play a lot of roles early on in her career because her Disney contract forbade her to do anything that would ruin her family friendly image.

Agreed. The antics come along after the Disney mold is cast, often in an attempt to break that mold and get better gigs.

Annette Funicello famously wore swimsuits in the beach party movies that didn't show her navel, reportedly on request of Walt Disney himself who wanted his former Mousketeer to remain wholesome. It probably also helped that Ms. Funicello was still starring in a few Disney films (like The Monkey's Uncle) at the same time she was doing the beach party movies for American International.

Annette Funicello was also a consummate professional and a true lady. So there's that part of it too.

 

[Disney Analyst]

Yeah I'm with @Californian Elitist and @Disney Analyst on this one. Nobody had a problem with Robin Williams as Genie or Bob Saget as Danny Tanner.

Hazzah! We can agree on things.

(Unless somehow this is sarcasm and I’m really dumb and can’t tell).

 

[TP2000]

Yeah I'm with @Californian Elitist and @Disney Analyst on this one. Nobody had a problem with Robin Williams as Genie or Bob Saget as Danny Tanner.

Totally agree with that, but Robin Williams and Bob Saget were all well-known household celebrity names by then, particularly Robin Williams. I still think of Mork & Mindy first when ever anyone says his name, then his huge catalog of wonderful films and funny appearances on Johnny Carson fill in the rest for me.

Jaboukie is a minor C List celebrity who very few Americans know. So when you read his raunchy song lyrics or his equally raunchy interview answers, it's shocking. And a really weird casting decision considering many parents are already on the defensive with Disney's latest family cartoons.

Out of curiosity @CaptainAmerica, have you read his song lyrics and/or seen his latest music video?

 

[_caleb]

The very first search result that pops up for me.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

"The Hunchback of Notre Dame" has intentionally tested the boundaries of traditional Disney fare with its adaptation of Victor Hugo's gothic novel.

www.pluggedin.com

What did you google (assuming you use Google) to get Focus on the Family as the first result?

Again, it's statements like these, which are opinions and conclusions:

it was directly because they wanted to shed that Disney wholesome image.

Hayley Mills couldn't play a lot of roles early on in her career because her Disney contract forbade her to do anything that would ruin her family friendly image.

A lot of the direction of Esmeralda's character and design was in part because of Demi Moore's casting so Disney was never hiding anything there or ashamed.

The issue comes more from how Americans still have a very strong puritanical backbone. They have no issues with gratuitous violence in their movies but anything dealing with sexuality (and that includes straight couples) makes them queasy. Hunchback was a G-rated example of mixing both sex and religion and most American parents were aghast at that. There's a reason the movie did even better financially and critically in Europe, particularly in Paris where it was a massive hit because Europeans have never shied away from sex and they're not nearly so rigid on religion. Disney was afraid the Parisians would reject it, but they loved it the most!

Hunchback also has a strong following in Japan where Esmeralda and Clopin are quite loved and get merchandise unlike in the US. I don't think it's a coincidence either that Hunchback had a massively successful musical in Germany which ran for years, whereas in the US it could never even get on Broadway.

Disney didn't even put their logo on the Hunchback musical in America because they were afraid families would see the Disney logo and think the show was suitable for children.

Miley got flack too but I don't remember any rumors or reports that she was going to be fired, but that may also have had to do with the fact that she was headlining Disney Channel's biggest franchise at the time.

The same was the case for Nickelodeon with Jamie Lynn Spears after she became pregnant during Zoey 101, although they ended up keeping her too for the final season.

..written as though they were facts. Typically, if you're posting something as a fact, it's helpful to link to a source in support of statements like these so we can all understand.

 

[LittleBuford]

Totally agree with that, but Robin Williams and Bob Saget were all well-known household celebrity names by then, particularly Robin Williams. I still think of Mork & Mindy first when ever anyone says his name, then his huge catalog of wonderful films and funny appearances on Johnny Carson fill in the rest for me.

Jaboukie is a minor C List celebrity who very few Americans know. So when you read his raunchy song lyrics or his equally raunchy interview answers, it's shocking. And a really weird casting decision considering many parents are already on the defensive with Disney's latest family cartoons.

Americans don’t know him, yet are outraged enough by his behaviour to boycott the film. There’s a contradiction there.

 

[TP2000]

Americans don’t know him, yet are outraged enough by his behaviour to boycott the film. There’s a contradiction there.

No, not at all. I'm talking about the past six weeks of some online parent chat groups.

The majority of Americans still don't know who Jaboukie is. Which is probably a good thing for Burbank.

But a lot more parents know of him now than they did two months ago, and not in a good way. It's just one piece of the Strange World puzzle and its disastrous box office.

 

[Prince-1]

Scientific polling is the only way to measure such a thing anyway.

We all know that she has no proof showing anything and was just being hyperbolic. Again, the movie would have been a box office failure if the majority of Americans were horrified of the content and yet she said it was a rousing success.

 

[jeangreyforever]

Agreed. The antics come along after the Disney mold is cast, often in an attempt to break that mold and get better gigs.

Annette Funicello famously wore swimsuits in the beach party movies that didn't show her navel, reportedly on request of Walt Disney himself who wanted his former Mousketeer to remain wholesome. It probably also helped that Ms. Funicello was still starring in a few Disney films (like The Monkey's Uncle) at the same time she was doing the beach party movies for American International.

Annette Funicello was also a consummate professional and a true lady. So there's that part of it too.

Almost every major Disney star rebelled like Britney, Lindsay, Miley, Demi, etc.

Good point about Annette. I can't imagine it was easy especially considering the cultural shifts in the 60s and how Disney was becoming looked at as more and more outdated, so I think she's a real class act that she never held it against Walt or the company but was proud to uphold the family friendly image. You can just imagine one of the current stars would claim that the reason they're messed up is all because of that one time they had to wear a one-piece instead of a bikini. I loved Miley but she loves to throw blame on Disney and especially her father whenever she gets the chance.

It is a pity though that Annette never got as quality a script as Hayley did during their time at Disney. Babes in Toyland being the worst of the bunch although it has a certain charm.