Welcome, everyone, to Disney Movie March Madness!
Just like with the NCAA Tournament where the “First Four” gets things started off, it’s the same with Disney March Madness as we have eight films battling it out in an attempt to punch their ticket to the Big Dance. These 4 match-ups are to fill out the final remaining spots in the 64 team bracket, attached below. On the individual polls, just click whichever movie you think was better, and the one with the most votes after 24 hours gets to advance into the bracket:
Play-In Game: “Mickey” Region:
First out of the box, we’ve got Thomas O’Malley and the rest of “The Aristocats” (1970) taking on Michael J. Fox and “Atlantis: The Lost Empire” (2001):
Play-In Game: “Small World” Region:
Our second match of the day is a literal cat fight pitting a couple of orange felines against each other in “The Tigger Movie” (2000) vs “Oliver and Company” (1988):
Play-In Game: “Pixar” Region:
Our third contest, for the right to face the tournament’s #1 overall seed Toy Story, features “Meet the Robinsons” (2007) taking on “Return to Neverland” (2002):
Play-In Game: “Princess” Region:
And our fourth and final play-in contest finds “Pocahontas” (1995) squaring off against “Robin Hood” (1973):
As indicated in a prior update, seeding was done based on the individual film’s scores at Rotten Tomatoes, with some minor tweaking by the tournament Selection Committee. That having been said, Pocahontas and The Aristocats stand out to me as having the biggest gripes for not getting automatic bids into the tournament. Pocahontas, though, played a relatively weak out-of-conference schedule, not to mention being plagued with several recruiting violations this season. And, as for The Aristocats, their early round upset in their own conference tournament no doubt factored into the thinking of several members of the Committee. Excuses are for the weak though, so if they want a shot at tournament glory, they’ll both have to dig down deep.
Got thoughts on any of this? Leave a comment below and let’s get the discussion started.
Next update coming tomorrow morning.
Hasta manana,
The Commish
