Month: April 2025

Disney Reviews with the Unshaved Mouse #63: Moana 2

“You sons of bitches, we were so close. We were so close!

After a string of godawful mediocrities and outright turds the likes of which the canon hadn’t seen since the earliest years of the millennium, the opportunity was ripe for Disney to start filling the executive-grade wicker basket with heads and put some people in charge with fresh ideas and real talent.

But noooooooooooo.

Disney pulled the old “take the first three episodes of a scrapped TV show, wash it off and serve it up as a new movie” trick they used to pull in the direct-to-video sequel era and what did you do? Did you laugh? Did you scorn such obvious desperate chicanery? Did you hell!

ONE BILLION AT THE BOX OFFICE. FOR THIS.

We could have had another Renaissance with a bit of luck. Instead, I’m going to be reviewing Frozen 13 when I’m in my nineties. Because obviously the reason Strange World, Raya and Wish flopped was not that they were poop on a bun, it’s because they were original ideas (kinda). I mean, it’s hard to make the argument that quality was the issue when all it took them to make a billion dollars was to put the number “2” after the title of one of their most popular films.

The future is bleak, and I’m not just saying that because the proliferation of AI slop online means that every time I search for images to use I run the risk of seeing something that will make me want to put my head in a mouse-trap.

If you want to imagine the future, picture pregnant cross-eyed Moana stamping on a human face, forever.
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And it’s out!(plus new podcast episode!)

My first kid’s book with illustrations by the inestimable Dan Santat is now out! Swim to your nearest bookseller and get your copy of Don’t Trust Fish!

And! Join me on Now That’s What I Call Nostalgia! where myself, Spouse of Mouse and Esther talk about Degrassi Junior High, that classic of Canadian television, and where I probably overshare with a story about a misidentified water balloon.