Wednesday, September 17, 2008

State Of Play...


The change will be palpable. The difference between what has come before and what has now arrived will be clearly evident when you adjust yourself in the seat waiting for the lights to go down. Waiting for what comes up on that silver screen...

Over the next few years, starting this Thanksgiving we're going to notice something from Disney that we haven't really cared about over the last few years. Maybe the last decade...

Animation.


First is Realization...

When you see "Bolt" you'll realize that this is actually a good film. A really good film. Far better than since... well, the late 90's possibly.

Next year will come Actualization...

Once you sit down and watch "The Princess and the Frog" you're going to know that the last film wasn't a fluke. It wasn't just a shot in the dark. And you're going to realize that Disney's back. Animation-wise, at least... we might be in for a great new age, you'll probably catch yourself thinking...

Then you're going to sit down with your bag of popcorn and soda as the lights go down and your mouth will be agape with Amazement...

You see, because no matter how much you liked "Bolt", or loved "The Princess and the Frog", you can't really describe the feeling that comes over you watching "Rapunzel"... its classic story, its hauntingly beautiful images or the stirring soundtrack. And when it's over you'll sit there watching the credits having that similar feeling from watching "Beauty and the Beast" way back in the early nineties when you were thinking about the next Disney film to come out. One called "Aladdin"... wondering to yourself if it would be as good as Beast was.

And what's the next one after "Rapunzel"?

"King of the Elves" you say to yourself...

You can't wait for it to come. Neither can I...

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I sure hope you're right. I loved Beauty and the Beast, from the moment I first saw the teaser poster at the theater (back in the days before we could see trailers on the web months and months before the movie came out) to the closing credits.

I've seen it about 50 times now, and every time I look forward to "Be Our Guest" and "Gaston", and there are moment's of animation I still find mesmerizing, such as when the Beast is about to drop Gaston off the roof of his castle, and his expression melts from rage to sadness--such beautiful animation. If "Princess and the Frog" and "Rapunzel" capture that era of 90s Disney magic, I'm all for it.

Anonymous said...

"Let it begin!
Let it begin!"

-Hamsterinaball

Anonymous said...

So many buzz words in such a short entry. Sounds like someone took an extra shot of the Disney Kool Aid this morning.

Seeing is believing. No one is going to stomach your hype after the studio has been putting out 15+ years of duds.

Justin said...

From chud.com: http://chud.com/articles/articles/16345/1/A-BOLT-IN-BURBANK-BEHIND-THE-SCENES-AT-DISNEY-ANIMATION/Page1.html

"I don't want to make some grand statement about the film based on a few minutes of footage and talking to the very excited, still very hardworking people behind the scenes. I will say that what I saw was very impressive, and that I hope when the press screening happens at the El Capitan in a couple of months, it's in 3D. And for the first time in years I'm actually interested in what might be coming out of Disney Animation in the future; everything I heard while touring the facility said that Lasseter had really shaken things up on the lot, made it operate in a more friendly, open and creative way. More akin to how Pixar works. Maybe that's why everybody was smiling so much."

Anonymous said...

finnaly a third golden age..

Anonymous said...

Anonymous,

Sounds like you've been drinking from the "Glass is always half empty" Kool-Aid.

Being negative is easy. You just took the easy way out.

Anonymous said...

ok, that was uber cheesy.

Tink *~*~* said...

You know... from your mouth to Walt's ears! I am eagerly awaiting the renaissance.

Can we hope that hand-drawn will be making a comeback? Pretty please? That would be awesome!

Tink *~*~*
My Mobile Adventures *~*~*

Honor Hunter said...

If "Princess" is a huge hit you can expect more hand drawn pics... if not, things won't be so good. So my suggestion it to go see it...

And then go see it again, and again and again.

Get my drift?

Justin said...

Interview with Nathan Greno, head of story for Bolt: http://latinoreview.com/news/interview-with-storyboard-supervisor-on-disney-s-bolt-5404

"How have things changed at Disney in the post Pixar world for you guys?

Greno: It's a completely different studio. For the longest time we'd be here saying, 'Did you see what's going on at Pixar. Why can't we have someone like John Lasseter.' Then all of a sudden one day it was like, 'John Lasseter is running –' and we were like, 'What?!' Really, when John came in and slashed down all the kind of middle management positions that were gumming up the works, the way that it was setup around here was crazy. Now the idea is that the directors come in with their own vision. Before there were all these steps, all these creative executive levels, they were developing the movies, but then they'd give them to someone to make. John's great because he doesn't come in and say you have to do this and you have to do that, but comes in and really works with you. He just wants what everyone else wants and it feels like he's part of the crew and not like your boss coming in and saying that he wants to do something different. So things got better."