**** Possible Spoilers Ahead *****
I only saw this very recently, and before that I wasn't interested. Like Cinderella 2, this is another sequel to a Disney Classic that I enjoyed. Personally, this is hilarious and heartwarming. I loved it the first time I watched it, and intend to get the movie and soundtrack. The acting is perfect all around. I only wish that the amount of lines everyone got, particularly Mickey Rooney and Jodi Benson (Lady), was more evened out. There seemed to be too many bit parts for the amount of time spent on-screen. Scott Wolf and Alyssa Milano's screen time as Scamp and Angel is fine. Between 60-70 minutes was a bit too short.
What Scamp goes through is so typical of teenagers. It may be hard to believe (Scamp, his sisters, and Angel are small and cute), but they are at least pre-teen. It was also obvious that the songs were sung by adults. Even though Scott Wolf's and Alyssa Milano's talking voices are very appropriate, it would have been tacky for kids or teenagers to sing Scamp's and Angels' songs. An adult gives the songs more flavor, especially the love songs.
The voices couldn't be duplicated exactly, but Jock's and Trusty's were admirable, Lady (done by none other than the "Little Mermaid" Jodi Benson) was pretty good, and Tramp's was good except for his singing.
The opening song "Welcome" was a perfect fit for the Victorian era setting, and I don't care if it is like the opening of "Beauty and the Beast"--I didn't realize it was. "Junkyard Society Rag" was like "He's a Tramp", with its distinct Street Dog sound. However, none of the songs were actually reminiscent of the "quiet" ballads of the original like "La La Lu", but they are somewhat like those of "Beauty and the Beast". No kidding! They are all wonderful.
The filmmakers wanted to duplicate Lady, Tramp, and the setting as much as possible, and they did it admirably. The addition of the storyline to include Buster is a nice touch, and a necessary one. What else could Scamp get involved in but life on the street for it to be a coming-of-age story? It adds not only the Junkyard Dogs, but a slowly developing plot involving Buster's long standing anger toward Tramp (who taught him everything needed to be a street dog but later abandoned him when he falls in love with Lady). Also, Tramp kept his former life a secret from Scamp because that life is not what it is cracked up to be (it took the dogcatcher and being collarless for Scamp to realize how dangerous and dead-end it really was). It only goes to show that even though Scamp felt he was having Rules hammered into him almost constantly, his family loved him, even if they made their share of mistakes, which everyone makes from time to time.
All in all, none of us should expect true duplicates of Disney classics. It's somewhat redundant. "The Little Mermaid", "Aladdin", "Beauty and the Beast", and "The Lion King" are modern classics with modern songs. Disney is still making great films--this is no exception. Maybe some who bash these sequels aren't true Disney fans anyway. If you hate the sequels, let your kids see them. These should be watched by people who are kids at heart. 9/10
I only saw this very recently, and before that I wasn't interested. Like Cinderella 2, this is another sequel to a Disney Classic that I enjoyed. Personally, this is hilarious and heartwarming. I loved it the first time I watched it, and intend to get the movie and soundtrack. The acting is perfect all around. I only wish that the amount of lines everyone got, particularly Mickey Rooney and Jodi Benson (Lady), was more evened out. There seemed to be too many bit parts for the amount of time spent on-screen. Scott Wolf and Alyssa Milano's screen time as Scamp and Angel is fine. Between 60-70 minutes was a bit too short.
What Scamp goes through is so typical of teenagers. It may be hard to believe (Scamp, his sisters, and Angel are small and cute), but they are at least pre-teen. It was also obvious that the songs were sung by adults. Even though Scott Wolf's and Alyssa Milano's talking voices are very appropriate, it would have been tacky for kids or teenagers to sing Scamp's and Angels' songs. An adult gives the songs more flavor, especially the love songs.
The voices couldn't be duplicated exactly, but Jock's and Trusty's were admirable, Lady (done by none other than the "Little Mermaid" Jodi Benson) was pretty good, and Tramp's was good except for his singing.
The opening song "Welcome" was a perfect fit for the Victorian era setting, and I don't care if it is like the opening of "Beauty and the Beast"--I didn't realize it was. "Junkyard Society Rag" was like "He's a Tramp", with its distinct Street Dog sound. However, none of the songs were actually reminiscent of the "quiet" ballads of the original like "La La Lu", but they are somewhat like those of "Beauty and the Beast". No kidding! They are all wonderful.
The filmmakers wanted to duplicate Lady, Tramp, and the setting as much as possible, and they did it admirably. The addition of the storyline to include Buster is a nice touch, and a necessary one. What else could Scamp get involved in but life on the street for it to be a coming-of-age story? It adds not only the Junkyard Dogs, but a slowly developing plot involving Buster's long standing anger toward Tramp (who taught him everything needed to be a street dog but later abandoned him when he falls in love with Lady). Also, Tramp kept his former life a secret from Scamp because that life is not what it is cracked up to be (it took the dogcatcher and being collarless for Scamp to realize how dangerous and dead-end it really was). It only goes to show that even though Scamp felt he was having Rules hammered into him almost constantly, his family loved him, even if they made their share of mistakes, which everyone makes from time to time.
All in all, none of us should expect true duplicates of Disney classics. It's somewhat redundant. "The Little Mermaid", "Aladdin", "Beauty and the Beast", and "The Lion King" are modern classics with modern songs. Disney is still making great films--this is no exception. Maybe some who bash these sequels aren't true Disney fans anyway. If you hate the sequels, let your kids see them. These should be watched by people who are kids at heart. 9/10