10 Forgotten Disney Movies That Deserve A Second Chance

5. The Devil & Max Devlin (1981)

Devil and Max Devlin In the 80's, Hollywood tried to put forward the idea that everyone was just waiting to be discovered as the next great singing sensation, and that every guy in a cheap suit was an agent. Seems they were anticipating American Idol, huh? Just kidding about that. What is NOT something to kid about is this movie. A painful pileup of miscast entertainment, this was an attempt to modernize the tale of The Devil and Daniel Webster, with everyone's favorite dad Bill Mr. Jello Cosby as the Devil. The script was unoriginal, the casting was ludicrous, with Cosby playing a "nice guy" version of the devil, instead of playing against type and being a smarmy, used car salesman kind of a devil. The three kids who were the targets of the evil one were bland, uninteresting characters as best, two dimensional at worst, and frankly, boring to watch. The boredom doesn't stem so much from the actors themselves as it does from the script. Poor Julie Budd who played a singer in this movie has been said to have been cast as a bit of an in joke due to her looking and sounding so much like Barbara (former Mrs. Elliot Gould) Streisand, a fact most kids who saw this movie would not have gotten. If they were to remake this, Disney would have a hard time from the religious sides (they would not support a movie starring the devil, now would they?), parental groups (the protagonist has to corrupt three kids in order to save his own skin) and from the general movie going public, who would be split between wanting a scary film and a funny film. That being said, I can think of many Disney stars who would be fun to see act against type: Tim Allen as the Devil, anyone? On second thought, maybe not. The Devil crying "More Power!" would just be wrong on so many levels.
Contributor
Contributor

A voracious reader, crafter and maker, lover of cinema, a fan of Disney, Dr Who and most things sci-fi, I spend my time either with my family or on whatever hobby has struck my fancy at the moment. I was raised all over the East Coast of the United States, and now reside on the shores of beautiful Lake Michigan.