Disney’s massive media empire leads to a bizarre Pixar and Simpsons team-up

The first time a non-Pixar title was shown before a Pixar feature film in theaters, it was in November 2017 when Olaf’s Frozen Adventure played before Coco. Although the piece was contentious among filmgoers, the pairing made sense: Frozen was Disney’s biggest animated film in years, and the crossover between Frozen and Coco audiences was obvious.

Now, Disney is rolling out another non-Pixar short before of a Pixar movie, but this one is less sensical: The Simpsons in a short called Playdate with Destiny. A tweet from the official Simpsons account confirmed that a short would open before Onward, Pixar’s new movie with Tom Holland and Chris Pratt.

The Simpsons
Maggie Simpson is speechless… Playdate with Destiny, a new Simpsons short film before Disney & Pixar’s Onward. Exclusively in theaters! #TheSimpsons

It’s unclear if any of the other Simpsons family members — including Lisa, Bart, Marge, and Homer — will appear in the short or if it’s just Maggie and a mysterious date. While it’s likely that some Onward moviegoers will also be Simpsons fans, it’s a bizarre partnership for a Pixar movie. The Simpsons isn’t exactly Frozen.

As one friend, a Disney aficionado-turned-historian, told me, “It makes absolutely no sense, aside from shoving one Disney-owned thing in front of another.” That’s what it all comes down to at the end of the day: Disney now owns The Simpsons, thanks to a $71.3 billion acquisition of 21st Century Fox. The Simpsons is a mega-popular IP that Disney wants to control. Incorporating The Simpsons into bigger Disney projects, like a Pixar movie, or making it a staple on the Disney Plus streaming platform (an addition that left many confused) is a near-perfect example of company synergy — a nightmarish example, perhaps.

This won’t be the first time that Disney uses The Simpsons to flex its own dominance. In an upcoming episode of The Simpsons, the family will be thrown into a version of a world that Marvel Cinematic Universe fans will immediately recognize. Parodies based on popular Marvel characters, including Thanos and Iron Man, will take center stage. To hammer the synergy home, Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige will voice the episode’s version of Thanos, and Avengers: Endgame directors Anthony and Joe Russo will also lend their voice talents. It’s a beautiful marriage of Fox old and Disney new.

But The Simpsons and Marvel make more sense than The Simpsons and Pixar. Hey, as long as it’s better than Olaf’s Frozen Adventure.

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World movie review — Most kid-friendly instalment of the trilogy

The How to Train Your Dragon films have consistently delivered wholesome emotions with eye popping animation; the third film in the series titled The Hidden World renders more of the same kind of fun, making it the rare trilogy closer that isn’t a snore fest.

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World movie review — Most kid-friendly instalment of the trilogyHow to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World poster
Although The Hidden World arrives five years after the previous film, the events are set only a year later. Taking over from his dad, Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) is now leading the island of Berk, where humans and rescued dragons stay together. So many dragons have been rescued, that the island can’t sustain them, so Hiccup drums up a plan to discover the titular hidden world where dragons are supposed to dwell. Things don’t go according to plan when Hiccup’s quest is marred by Grimmel (F Murray Abraham), a nefarious dragon hunter who is determined to take down Hiccup’s dragon friend Night Fury.

What works is how to train your dragon 3 watch online constantly bouncy the film is – there isn’t a moment of boredom and there is always something funny or visually spectacular unfolding on the screen. This is the most kid-friendly instalment of the trilogy, which may upset those who loved the emotional resonance that the first film provided, but everything is just so charming and delightful it’s easy to simply sit back and enjoy the breezy entertainment the film offers. The dragons are once again wonderfully designed, and the sheer size of their ‘flock’ is awesome to watch on the big screen, particularly when the hidden world is introduced. The villain, even though a bit tropey is a fun character to watch, he has just enough menace to scare kids but is also involved in some goofy moments, particularly one where he deals with the overtly talkative Justin (Kristen Wiig).

There is also the theme of letting go, which is handled quite tastefully, and there is of course the undercurrent of social commentary of what the dragons represent in our real world. Writer-director Dean DeBlois doesn’t delve too deep but he does have the deft touch of sensitivity and not making heavy stuff like this seem like a life lesson being slapped on young audiences’ faces. He also does a good job of filling the emotional gaps with soaring action set pieces and the blossoming friendship between Night Fury and another dragon, the details of which are best left for you to discover.

A major theme that the film misses out on is the dynamic between Hiccup and his girlfriend Astrid (America Ferrera) – this was built up in the first movie but Astrid’s character has been curiously sidelined through subsequent films, which is a bummer considering how interesting she is. The film is primarily about Hiccup which is great from a storytelling focal point but it loses the element of surprise because in a family movie such as this it is easy to guess what our hero’s journey would be. Hiccup’s mother Valka (Cate Blanchett) who was built up as a big twist in the second film also doesn’t contribute anything to the plot apart from a cool character design. A little tightening of these screws would have made the film a truly classic series closer, for now it’s merely a fun one.