Jim on Film
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Pirates of the Caribbean
When Joe Roth first came to Disney, in an article in USA Today from January 1995, he commented that Disney films could now carry a PG-13 rating. While it has taken a number of years, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Skull marks the first foray into adult waters (notice, the word mature was not used).

According to an article in the Los Angeles Times, the film was rated as such for violence (including a bloody stabbing) and, according to one content-based ratings guide, it includes images of hanged bodies and pistols fired point-blank at people. Disney studios chairman Dick Cook, who has been at the helm for some of Disney’s greatest live-action films of the past few years, compares these images to “the dip in Space Mountain,�? suggesting that cutting them would lose “the guts�? of the movie.

This is an odd comparison to make, particularly considering Jaws, for example, is one heck of a wild ride, all with a PG rating. It is entirely possible to create an exciting action film without sacrificing the Disney name, but unfortunately, Disney has opted not to do that.

Cook, in the same article, makes the ludicrous and desperate suggestion that 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea would receive a PG-13 rating today. While the original release of the film was before the ratings system was in place, whenever it did finally receive its classification, it would have been so at a time when there was a stricter ratings system. Considering it is rated G, it is highly unlikely that it would jump to a PG-13 rating if re-classified today. And it is the fact that Walt Disney did make the film exciting, intelligent, and also made it family friendly that speaks to the legacy he left . . . a legacy that is slowly being trampled.

And it looks like the slippery slope of PG-13 films for Disney has already begun. Disney production chief Nina Jacobson, in the Los Angeles Times article, calls the rating an exception for the studio rather than the norm . . . however, she’s already hinting that The Haunted Mansion could be rated PG-13 (that decision will, no doubt, be based upon the reception to Pirates of the Caribbean). And while the studio also claims that it would “under no circumstance�? release a film with language, sex, or drug abuse, the slippery slope trend the studio has followed suggests what the future will really hold for the Disney name. If R-rated films become the norm for families, how long will it take for Disney to get there?

This is not a comment on the quality of the film (which I haven’t seen), what is in the film (which I’ve only read about), whether others should see the film, or whether I will see the film (which I haven’t decided); however, I love Disney because of what it is. But as what it is slowly crumbles away (cheapquels, CGI remakes, PG-13 movies for families, etc.), my love for it will slowly crumble away as well.

After all, I own a ton of Disney movies, CDs, and everything else because it is Disney and Disney means something to me. But once Disney stops meaning something, the connection will be lost.

Once Disney becomes Columbia with mouse ears, Warner Bros. with a castle, or Universal spelled Walt Disney, they will have lost the connection they once had with their audience, as well as the defining characteristics that has made the whole company so successful.

Once upon a time, there was a man named Walt Disney. He stood for quality, family entertainment, and innovation. He put the show in show business.

Once upon a time, there was a company called Walt Disney. It stood for making money. It put the business back in show business.

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-- Jim Miles

-- Posted July 3, 2003