Explaining difference between Disney Classics & Sequels

[Neal]

I'm the editor of our school newspaper and this month we themed it after Disney animated films. I want to have the name and release year of every Disney film wrap around the edges of the paper. I'm a Disney enthusiast and know that there's a difference between the 'canon' classic films and the direct-to-video sequels. When I said there was only 51 official films and showed them the list, some of the staff began to debate that saying 'there's way more...Pocahontas II, The Lion King II...

I have begun to write the text that will wrap around the margins. I want to briefly explain in it how only 51 films are sanctioned as classics by the Walt Disney Animation Studios but can't quite word it right. Here's how I have it worded so far:

"Almost everyone loves Disney animated movies. We all have a favorite. We all have one we've seen over and over. We can quote the characters and sing the songs. Think you've seen all the Disney animated movies? There's more than you might expect. In all, there's fifty-one "classic" Disney films. That means..."

I plan to add a brief explanation of what sets them apart from the DTV films and then list all 51 films with their year of release.

How do I word it? I've tried:

That means... they were shown in theaters.
That means... they're made by the same studio Walt Disney started.

I have no idea how to word it briefly but in a way to help people understand.

Thanks for any help.

P.S. If you think you've seen this other places it's not deja vu. I posted it at a couple of forums because I need to know by tomorrow if possible. The paper needs to be out this coming Tuesday so we're finishing the layout tomorrow.

[James]

- might want to look into the term "canon" which encapsulates the whole concept pretty well.

- the most succinct explanation is the canon includes only the films made by what the group that came to be known as WDFA - now known as WDAS

- aren't there just 48?

[Neal]

Princess and the Frog, Rapunzel, and King of the Elves are all getting included because a portion of that article I posted here under the topic "Fact Checking an Article" is getting put in there. I want to enlighten my classmates on Princess and the Frog because some of them were talking about how the 2D features are a lot better than the CGI and how sad it was there hadn't been 2D in a while. I told them about PatF and they were interested so I re-worked my article for the school's paper and therefore decided to add the film to the 51 list. So yes, 48 are released but there's 51 in all.

[Ben]

Saying there are 51 could be tricky if one or more get cancelled!

[Once Upon A Dream]

I don't count every cheapquel exept the good ones (Ariel's Beginning and Cinderella III) and I don't think that they"re cheapquels.
Ariel's Beginning and Cindy III are the best IMO and Cinderella II,Mulan II and Lion King 1 1/5 are good (Comparing to horrible cheapquels like Pocahontas II,Little Mermaid II and more).

[Ben]

That's Once's opinion of course. Everyone knows the <I>good</I> video sequels are Goofy, Scamp, the Lion Kings, Bambi, Cinders III, etc...

Love that Once picks mostly the truly bad ones! And still calls them cheapquels!

[Once Upon A Dream]

I don't count them as "canons".
The Lion King II is bad (And Kiara and Kovo's love isn't incest? she's Simba daguhter and he's Simba cousin,that's incest),I don't think that Goofy Movie II is something like those chepaquel,Lady And The Tramp II is bad,Bambi II is a bad idea (I don't even want to know how he grew up with his creepy father).

[Daniel]

No, their love isn't incest. Kovu is Scars adopted son, who he chose to follow in his foot prints. Had they gone with what they originally planned - Kovu being Scar's son - yes, he would've been related to Kiara.

[Once Upon A Dream]

He's adopted? I haven't seen this film for a long time.

[Phil]

No, their love isn't incest. Kovu is Scars adopted son, who he chose to follow in his foot prints. Had they gone with what they originally planned - Kovu being Scar's son - yes, he would've been related to Kiara.

Of course, these are lions. Incest is not that big a deal to them. Real lions don't maintain family trees, so "cousins" frequently mate.

[Ben]

The bigger Scar question is surely how a full grown lion made it into Disneyland to ride on It's A Small World...?

[Dacey]

LOL!

I've often wondered about that myself.