The Marketing of the Mouse.
tvtv3 | Sorento, IL United States | 12/15/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)
"When THE LITTLE MERMAID was released in 1989, Disney executives knew they were on to something with the film's soundtrack. That soundtrack was a huge success for the company. However, Disney execs are always thinking of ways to make even more money, so when the next Ashman/Menken collaboration came along, the Mouse House decided they would get some famous celebrities to sing one of the film's main tracks, release it as a single, and make an even more [...]-load of money. Thus we had the Celine Dion and Peabo Bryson version of "Beauty and the Beast". And thus began the long and current tradition of including a pop version of a song sung by a singing superstar or superstars on every Disney major animated film since then. ALADDIN didn't need much support because Robin Williams was singing so many of the tunes, but POCAHONTAS had Vanessa Williams, HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME had Bette Midler on "God Help the Outcasts", Steviw Wonder had a piece with 98 degrees in MULAN, Phil Collins sung most of the songs in TARZAN, and so on and so forth. Well, the Disney execs have gotten another bright idea and have brought many of those songs together into one album. Ergo, SUPERSTAR HITS.
The album has a lot of good music on it, but it also has it's share of pop music fluff. I bought the album solely because of the song "I'm Still Here" sung by John Rzeznik off of TREASURE PLANET. I really like that song, partly because it appeals to the manish, youthful optimism in my soul. However, I didn't want to buy the original TREASURE PLANET soundtrack just for that song. With SUPERSTAR HITS, I not only get "I'm Still Here" but some other great songs as well. Some of my other favorite songs off the album are:
"You'll Be in My Heart"
"True to Your Heart"
"Strangers Like Me"
"When She Loved Me"
"You've Got a Friend in Me"
"Look Through My Eyes"
"If I Didn't Have You"
"Will the Sun Ever Shine Again"
Disney is bound to collect together another album with tunes that weren't on this one. Actually, they'll probably make two or three. But this is the first and often times the first collection is the the best one."