Yes, believe it or not, Disney and I agree on something.
IMDB.com reports that the chief animator over at Disney says that the success of an animated movie “really depends on the filmmakers’ vision and story. The technique is a secondary consideration.” The “technique” in question being: “hand-drawn”, or computer animated. I couldn’t agree more. The issue was brought up because, for the first time, Disney is currently working on ZERO, that’s right ZERO Hand-drawn-animated movies. For the first time in decades.
Some people will say that’s because “consumer expectations are now driven by a new type of animation that has three dimensions” Jeffrey Logsdon, who’s an entertainment analyst says such things, as the imdb reports.
I disagree. Culture hasn’t “grown past” hand drawn stuff. Here’s my reasoning:
1) Lion King sold 3 million DVD copies in two days, a new record. I don’t know about you, but that sounds like *somebody* still likes hand drawn stuff. Unless a billionaire is buying out all the copies himself and…
2) The 3D animated movies that *are* being released are ACTUALLY, y’know.. GOOD!! Forget medium, when was the last time a solid hand-drawn animated blockbuster was released? (Besides Spirited Away, which Disney barely supported – don’t get me started) — Hand-Drawn stuff isn’t doing very well, because hardly anyone is giving me a reason to like it.
And, when it comes to Disney, especially as of late, the Hand-Drawn Stuff you’re making SUCKS. I’m sorry, but your glory days of: Alladin, Beauty and the Beast and Lion King TOWER over your recent years of: Emperor’s New Groove, Atlantis, and Treasure Planet, I mean c’mon. The only recent and incredibly decent hand-drawn animated movie I can think of isn’t even made by Disney — it’s Iron Giant, which was marketed so poorly by Warner Bros., it makes my head bleed.
If you draw it, they will watch. Don’t believe the weirdos that say “culture’s advancing into…blahblahblah”. A three year old doesn’t care what dimensions it’s in. Believe it when that three year old tosses a crappy movie 10 feet when you try to play it in the DVD player. Because then, oh weary one, you’ve got a bad movie.
Now go watch Iron Giant.
Actually Nicole, this isn’t WHY I like the Iron Giant, but it certainly makes it easier to like: The Iron Giant is NOT a Disney movie. It was distributed horribly through Warner Bros.
the iron giant is one of the best disney movies i have seen. this is only because pixar made most of the movies we, today, call disney hits. it is hard for me to cry in a movie, especially cartoons, but the iron giant hits the spot. it has the best of both worlds. i laugh histerically at some of the scenes, and am in tears all of the rest.
Glad ya liked it! I died laughing when the guy in the truck was telling Dean he was sitting in the middle of the road and Dean just kept sayin’.. “yeah???!!” I may have vomited after a while. And we’ll skip the little bit about crying at the end.. hehee
We (the kid and I) loved “Iron Giant”! Thanks for the good article.
Spirited Away! Best movie I’ve seen in a long time! As well, don’t get me started on how Disney “marketed” this movie (and by “marketing,” I mean small B&W ads in the Sunday paper’s movie section….meanwhile we get crappy Treasure Planet stuff shoved down our throats….oh crap…I started)
I hear Porco Rosso and Nausicaa are on their way to the US…Now if they could only get Only Yesterday.
Maybe if Disney would take a cue from Pixar and Ghibli actually worked on getting a good story first….
I think Disney has fallen into the same trap they fell into in the 1960’s when they also made second rate animated films (compared to Snow White, etc). They get caught up in the celebrity voices and designed movies around those voices instead of finding a good story and picking appropriate voices. The early Disney films had unknown voices and in the 1980’s when they again started making good films the voices (at least of the principal characters) were unknowns — Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast — then they slowly, with Aladdin, started sliding down that slippery slope.
Yeah, I highly doubt they’ve given up on the hand-drawn routine, but they certainly aren’t in a rush to draw another one.
Keep in mind that “Monsters Inc, Toy Story, Find Nemo, etc” isn’t Disney. — I mean, Disney distributed it, but PIXAR made the movie, who, besides on binding distribution contact deals, has nothing to do with Disney at all. Which all translates into: Disney itself hasn’t released anything substantial from their own studios in a LONG time.
They really do need to wait until they have a solid story for another movie of that type though. — I mean, making a Disney movie every summer just because “we released one last summer and the summer before that” wil gaurantee you that they’ll eventually get boring.
It’s sorta the same with music. — the best music comes from musicians who write because they love it – eventually, music written because they have 14 more songs to write under contract, gets pretty boring pretty fast.
I love the Iron Giant!! I can’t believe Disney isn’t drwing anymore. I mean the computer animation is good too, but they can’t get rid of something that bascially made them who they are today! I love Disney movies and if they all start to look Finding Nemo (which i love) will be very weird.
Incredible 3D cgi can only carry a story so far. That Final Fantasy movie is a good example. Sure I ran out the day it was released to watch it. And yes I was dumbfounded by the animation. But I did not go watch it in theatres a second or third time, I did not rent it on VHS or DVD, and I sure did not buy it to add to my movie collection. The Rugrats first movie probably made as much money as Final Fantasy, and the Rugrats does not have jaw dropping animation. (I did not see the Rugrats movie, but based on what I saw with the TV show it had to be a better story than Final Fantasy)
Iron Giant is one of the best movies I have seen in a long time, I still cry on a regualr basis watching the movie even though I know how it ends. The make of a movie is if my children will sit and watch the whole thing through.
Iron Giant is one of those movies, sadly there are very few Disney movies that have made it to that list, none of which is current.
Fantastic article!