When I was a little girl, I wanted nothing more than to be just like a Disney princess, specifically Ariel or Belle. Truth- fully, that same feeling of magic continues to make an appearance once and a while.
The opening shot of the Disney logo before the film starts never fails to make me giddy, know- ing that what I am about to watch will, for a while, allow me to escape from this world. No mat- ter the age, we all love a good Disney movie. As a child of the ‘90s—and darn proud of it—I am fortunate to have been apart of such a golden age of Disney magic.
Even to this day, my friends—equally as nerdy as I am in this area—and I have our little moments where we gush about how much we cried at “Toy Story 3” or how the good ol’ days of Disney animation are in the past.
Naturally, we were ecstatic to hear about the re-release of “The Lion King”—a personal favorite—to theaters on Sept. 16. Of course, we attended opening weekend, semi-embarrassed to feel like a group of little kids belting out each and every word to the songs. However, I was pleasantly shocked to find that the demographic who
filled the seats in that auditorium were, in fact, mostly individuals my age, which got me thinking.
These animated masterpieces like “The Lion King” are our movies—not the chil– dren of today. We are the ones who know them by heart and grew up on them.
Intended for only a two-week engage- ment, “The Lion King” collected a hefty lump of dough at the box office just shy of $93 million. This surprise left an impacting roar on Disney execs, who recently announced their releases of four classics in Disney Dig-
ital 3D beginning in 2012: “Beauty and the Beast,” “Finding Nemo,” “Monsters Inc.,” and “The Little Mermaid,” respectively.
Needless to say, I almost flipped a switch when I saw this news and so did everyone I told. Reliving those incredible movies on the big screen: you cannot get much more nostalgic.
However, certain individuals do not seem terribly enthused at this announce- ment. Some view this stunt as Disney’s way of saying, “we’ve run out of ideas.” I see it as them finally understanding that cranking out bologna several times a year will simply not cut it much longer.
At least they got the message that my generation will be the ones practically handing over their money to see these films.
While they are still good, clean movies for all to enjoy, ‘90s Disney animated flicks will always remain a precious treasure for the ones who lived it. Children of today rely on pointless crap like the new Nick Jr. and filth on the radio. Case in point: the two five-year-old girls on Youtube sing- ing “Super Bass”—curse words and all.
Children’s picks nonetheless, these movies only prove that everyone—even college students— can still be a little kid at heart. Those films were our time. No matter how much we try to integrate them into children now, they will never, ever have the enticement and impact as they did with us, and I am so stoked to know I was one of the lucky few.
