2. A Far Off Place (1993)
Even though these movies are listed in chronological order, I saved this one for last on purpose. I wanted to watch it again, and see why it immediately came to mind when I started this list. My recollection was colored by the age at which I saw the film, and the fact that when I first saw it, I had recently read the source material. Again, Disney is guilty of trying to cram too much into one movie, and sacrificing the quality of the end product. The failure of this movie to make a larger impact on people has little to do with the actors (who DOESN'T like Reese Witherspoon?) and absolutely nothing to do with the setting. But when you start a movie with one director and cinematographer (both of whom were fired shortly after starting), and then start over with new people and their vision; when you start a movie with a massacre of elephants and people, and then set up your heroes for a journey of 2,000 miles through the desert; and when you gun down the poachers within the first half hour of the movie, you have lost your younger fan base due to violence, and your older teen base drifts off soon after. As a movie, it would need serious rewriting to be able to make an impact as the story is muddy at best. BUT, as a limited run series, it just might work. The Disney Channel had tons of great series back in the old days (Ocean Girl, Spellbinders, Road to Avonlea) that all had strong female characters, some small flirtation but no overt sexual tension, and grand, sweeping story lines set in brilliant scenery. So, this would be logical for the channel to do, and would give them the opportunity to check off educational programming that ISN'T aimed at preschoolers.