Never knew Pete produced The Iron Giant. Great movie, that. I particularly liked the beatnik dude (whose name I can never remember, because I'm always busy remembering HOGARTH.) Mom says Harry Connick Jr does Beatnik Guy's voice; he has a really nice speaking voice. There are several people I could listen to for hours just chatting on about nothing. He's one of them.

I always liked that open ending that the movie had. And I'm glad it's not a Disney movie, because I don't think they'll make a crappy sequel for it then. It would be an interesting sequel if it had the high amount of quality that the first one did. I'd watch it then. But a lot of sequels... don't tend to be anywhere NEAR as great as the originals (like The Land Before Time and its HUNDRED MILLION THOUSAND BAZILLION sequels--Jesus, when will a comet wipe those fuckers out? It was cute for the first movie. Not cute anymore. Get over it!) I shudder at The Little Mermaid's sequel, and Beauty and the Beast's Enchanted Christmas (though Beauty and the Beast remains one of my favorite movies, the Christmas movie just blew--but I did like Tim Curry's voice as the pipe organ), and of all the other sequels they've been churning out. Hey, if lack of creativity is the problem, I'll work there generating ideas for FREE!

I didn't see the point in having a Bambi II. Look, folks, Bambi was cute, but it was fine the way it was. It didn't need to address the issue of single fatherhood (perhaps I do not remember right, but the Prince of the Forest had very little to do with Bambi's upbringing, until he needed to be dragged away from Mother's Dead Body, and taught how to Prance Stagfully).

Didn't see the point in having a second Little Mermaid, either. The first movie? Great. It's still one of my favorites, and I still sniffle when I see Ariel waving good-bye to her friends as the "Part Of Your World" reprise plays. But Melody and friends... just really weren't needed. You don't really have to improve on greatness. STOP IT. (Besides--who the hell designed Melody? She was painted too brightly for the rest of the movie's murkyish colors.)

What's next--"Sleeping Beauty II: What The Prince Did While Aurora Was Sleeping"? "Snow White II: Electric Boogaloo"? "Steamboat Willie: The Final Fucking Friday"?

You know--on a totally random note--I think it would be immensely amusing to see the real Grimm fairytales committed to film. The disturbing, weird fucking versions, not the Disneyfied ones. Snow White putting red-hot iron shoes on her mother's feet and forcing her to dance to death. Bluebeard. That kind of stuff.

A Japanese manga artist that I admire very much, Kaori Yuki, did a short series called Ludwig Kakumei that featured disturbing fairytales. Prince Ludwig (of Fairy Tale Land?) was a necrophiliac. He came upon a really black-hearted Snow White and, since she was so sleepy she looked as though dead, he picked her up and married her when she awoke again. Then he had her REALLY killed.

The Red Riding Hood chapter featured a poor little girl in a gray hood who wanted a red hood. Her friend Will was Prince Ludwig's servant, and promised to get her a red hood. But Prince Ludwig tricked her, and she murdered her parents with an axe, thus staining her gray hood red.

Among all the sick stuff that Kaori-san tends to write, she's pretty funny. She has a morbid sense of humor. Does that mean I've got one, too, since I giggle whenever I read Ludwig Kakumei?

I once had an idea for a fairy-tale-themed story, featuring two magical girls against a Witch Queen who ate hearts. I'd like to see that as a manga-style comic book. That'd rule.