Here we go! Time to determine who Disney’s goodest boy or prettiest kitty is! Or maybe it’ll be one of the pigs, or birds, or goats, or horses! Plenty of faithful companions who could take the top ranking as the Bradley’s favorite Disney pet. My early favorites for each section would be Pegasus, Abu, Tramp and Stitch (but it looks like he’ll have the hardest quadrant in this bracket).
By the time the Fairfax Bradleys came to vote, 23 of the 32 matchups in our Disney Pet bracket had already been settled. However, their four votes wound up having a big impact on the 9 remaining close battles. They swung the vote to Phillipe, Belle’s horse, over the Aristo-kittens; and Raya’s roly-poly ride, Tuk Tuk, over Toy Story’s Buster, the wild card favorite. Their votes forced a tie in five other match-ups. In the end, the family units broke in favor of Cri-kee over Diablo, Tod over Maximus, Duchess over Bruno’s rats, Meeko over Iago (one of the round’s bigger upsets, imo), and Pongo over Angus, which required my intervention with Lannette as I campaigned hard for Disney’s top dad dog. Unfortunately, my emotional arguments probably put a target on Pongo’s back for the remainder of this challenge. Archimedes and Cinderella’s critters secured the only unanimous victories in the first round. Rajah just missed out on sweeping Valentino, a goat from a movie none of us have even seen yet, because Kevin’s youngest daughter thought the goat’s butt joke she once saw in a commercial was hilarious.
No major surprises in the next round. A few upsetting decisions, but nothing that wasn’t expected. The major disappoint for me comes out of Archimedes’ loss to the Dalmatian Puppies due to my oldest brother’s family’s tendency to vote as a unified bloc. All the main Dalmatian characters advance to the Sweet Sixteen thanks to Pongo and Perdita’s strong showings, despite the complete lack of support from the aforementioned Loudon county Bradleys. My other let down came from Hen Wen’s loss to Samson because my own middle child abstained from voting in that challenge. So the oracular pig fell short of a tie by one vote; a tie which would have broken in his favor. Therefor, the only tie this round came from two dogs, Dug and Bolt, with Dug winning the tie-breaker leading to a match up with Pongo in the next round. Sven had the most dominant win (15-1 over Bruno), but will feature in the brackets’ likeliest toughest match-up yet when confronted by Stitch.
A perfect-pairing of pets portends some problematic picks in the upcoming Elite Eight with the likes of Pascal, Pegasus, Pongo and the Puppies advancing on! The previous round saw 5 major victories, including Sven’s decisive victory over the popular-yet-questionable pet/alien, Stitch. The remaining three challenges were a toss up with the Fairfax Bradleys once again deciding the outcomes. Tramp barely upset Minnie’s adopted cat Figaro, setting up a matchup between characters from Disney classics when he meets Cinderella’s Critters. The Dalmatian Puppies squeaked by the mischievous Meeko but soon face the heavily-favored Sven. The most contested matchup came from Dug and Pongo, with the Fairfax clan surprisingly breaking in Pongo’s favor 3-1, forcing a tie between the two canines. The family units were more supportive of Pongo, and thus he advances and comes up against Aladdin’s trusted pet monkey, Abu.
I thought doing the Elite 8 in person was going to be a fun idea, and then I realized that all the little nieces and nephews have more influence over my own kids’ opinions than I do! Three close challenges to begin the final stretch for the Disney Pet Bracket. The most shocking victory came from Pegasus pulling out the win over Pascal when my youngest niece voted in favor of Hercules’ companion. My sons’ preference for Jaq and Gus Gus carried Cinderella’s Critters over Tramp, while my other favored dog, Pongo, finally met his match. But, if my preferred overall winner was going to lose, I was fine with it being to Abu.
Abu would go on to beat Pegasus in the semi-finals, another battle that caused a bit of consternation for many voters, including myself. Ultimately, I sided with Lannette and her opinion that Abu was a “real one” who chose to live in poverty alongside Aladdin. Sven made short work of the Critters, but it was his closest victory yet with an 8-point advantage. In the end, Sven proved that reindeers are not just better than people, but other pets as well. He triumphed over Abu 10-6, not as resoundingly as his previous matchups. And now we have another Disney bracket complete, and another victory for the Frozen franchise. That gives them 3 of the 5 titles (Support, Heroine, and Pet) further proving it has a chokehold on the majority of my family.
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