I'm hearing all sorts of mouths, saying that Disney animation is pretty near it's end. Their last movie 'Home on the Range' could not be called a succes, and Brother Bear was far from the greatness of Aladdin and Lion King as well. Seeing Disney is bringing out 'special edtion dvds' of pretty much all their movies, doesn't comfort me either. The Pixar contract has ended, and it looks that people these days like 3d animated cartoons better then the original 2d ones. I must admit that most of the 3D characters look a lot funnier, and ofcourse you can do way more spectacular things with 3D then with traditional 2d animation. What are your thoughts on all this? Should Disney start producing it's own 3D animation movies, or atleast stop making the characters even simpler. If I compare the characters and backgrounds in Brother Bear with for instance the ones created in Aladdin, there is a huge difference between the level of color and detail. For me Disney still is my favorite form of Art in America, so it would be a pretty big shock if their studios closed.
Replies
Frank the Avenger
tpe
I just bought the Aladdin special edition trillogy box. I never saw the King of Thiefs which is the third movie in the Aladdin trilogy, done by the Disney television studios (which seems not to be at the level of the film department). Anyway I Loved the movie and new songs. Allthough the new songs were not composed by Alan Menken they were GREAT, lot's of swing in em. I can't believe there isn't coming any new stuff from them. This is rediculous! What about the themeparks? will those be sticking with the old and current parades? Man this can't be...
Brother Bear was a very moving story, and wone that I enjoyed, with yet another musical masterpiece from Phil Collins. Is it a major difference? I'd say so, but it gives the artist more freedom, and you can create that traditional 2d feel with 3d if you wanted. It's just a master of taste. I hope Pixar continue to make great films, and I will probably always watch their films regardless of distributor. Pixar has a name now, they don't need that "Disney" branding they need for A bug's Life.
More competition is taking place, with Dreamworks creating more 3d movies, and to my mind the winner so far with Ice-Age.
/jzero
Alex
http://www.savedisney.com/
and:
www.animationnation.com
Lots of info floating around.
I'd get into how Michael Eisener is a halfwit, and all that good stuff, but you should find all that info in the 2 links.
edit*
Disney's foray into the world of 3d
http://movies.msn.com/movies/FamilyFilms/ChickenLittle
Edit: And allthough it looks great, I doubt we are waiting for a second Pixar..
All the talk on Animationnation is true. Disney has quit Traditional 2D, for various reasons, among them being cost, but it was aparnet that even when Eisner and Goldman and Katzenberg took over, that Eisner and Goldman wanted to shut down the Animation division early, but "stayed their hand", when The Lion King made an Ass load of money, but it was always their intention to de-emphasize, marginalize, and eventually shut down 2D. The thing that apparently galled themm is that, unlike 3D, once the script was written two to three years before the release date, the script was nearly set in stone, leaving the Execs no room to add things, to "piss on the project" and make it their own. Also keeping people on payroll for two years. I expect Disney's 3D effort to crater, for precisely the same reasons that their 2D films did, mostly because of executive interference, adherence to the "Disney Formula", at the expense of drama or a good solid story, and eventual lack of support from the Business arm. Disney is done..
Scott