In this modern era of countless sequels, reboots and remakes, the question that often arises is "are any of these movies necessary?" It's a question our hosts feel qualified to answer now that our Summer of Sequels has drawn to a close. Our answer? Nah, probably not. And Disney's direct-to-video POCAHONTAS II: JOURNEY TO A NEW WORLD is exhibit A. The original Pocahontas is a pretty dull movie Disney had no right to make that somewhat justified its existence thanks to some truly stellar animation. The sequel double down on all that, but cuts the animation quality by at least two-thirds. If the best thing that can be said about your movie is that it no longer features Mel Gibson's voice, but still features his younger brother, you know you're in deep trouble.

Who could have imagined that a made-for-tv series of films would end up being such a core pillar of our Disney film podcast? It's been quite a journey we've gone on with Mal, Evie, Carlos and Jay along with the rest of the gang from Auradon and the Isle of the Lost. There's been up and downs; bad choreography and certified bangers; chaste hugs and hammy performances; horny lakes and showdowns between demigods. DESCENDANTS 3 has a big task ahead of it to bring such a saga to a close, so let's not waste anymore time and see how they did.

It's the penultimate entry of the Summer of Sequels, so it felt appropriate to return to Agrabah for one last magic carpet ride with Aladdin and the gang. Including a returning Robin Williams voicing Genie, who they really let off the leash for this one. But for all those obscure impressions and an actually halfway decent story, ALADDIN AND THE KING OF THIEVES is still a Disney direct-to-video sequel, so its not without its shortcomings. The animation is, shall we say, janky. Jasmine is done dirty in pretty much every imaginable way. The songs are, well, tolerable, but mostly because they are rip-offs of the songs from the first movie. Basically, saying its better than Return of Jafar is a textbook case of being damned with faint praise.

Weird to think that Disney went a little Mark Twain crazy in the 90s, isn't it? But they went whole-hog on film adaptations of quite a few of his novels, and this week on We Want The D we tackle TOM AND HUCK, their take on The Adventures of Tom Sawyer starring a couple Tiger Beat cover regulars. Yup, JayTayToe is back and he's brought tragic victim of how Hollywood treats child actors Brad Renfro with him for all sorts of 1840s era adventures. You know, classic old timey stuff like almost drowning, psychologically torturing your cousin, and witnessing a vicious graveyard murder that nearly results in an innocent man being lynched. But somehow between subject matter and the innate sadness of a movie featuring Brad Renfro and Charles Rocket, we still manage to have some fun with this one. 

This deep into the Summer of Sequels, our hosts have learned to be on the lookout for some common pitfalls. Cheaper animation, inverted plot points and lazier songwriting are just a few examples of the trappings Disney likes to adorn their sequels with. Luckily for our Mary Poppins-loving hosts, MARY POPPINS RETURNS avoids many of these elements and is altogether a pretty decent follow-up to the beloved classic. Which isn't to say it's practically perfect in every way, by any means. For every solid performance given or amazingly choreographed number or well-dressed set, there's also heavy-handed villains or depressing songs about a dead wife and mother or a (hotly contested) use of BMX bike stunts.