"I've never understood why the studios were saying people don't want to see hand-drawn animation.
What people don't want to watch is a bad movie."
Oh, John Lasseter, you get me every time.
Back in 2003, Disney converted to all digital animation after they had a couple hand-drawn flops (Treasure Planet, Brother Bear) while other studios made out great with their CG works (Shrek, Finding Nemo). Now they're probably realizing, as Lasseter points out, the problem was the stories, not the animation and are therefore kickin it old school style with their next princess movie, The Princess and the Frog. Also, traditional animation may come out cheaper than computer versions, as upcoming The Princess and the Frog managed.
Of course this means Disney had to refurbish half of their production department to accommodate their old, stored hand animation desks and equipment. In a heartwarming move, this also involves rehiring old Disney employees that had been booted at the dawn of CG animation.
This move was brought on in part by Pixar's Ed Catmull and John Lasseter, ironically, the men pretty much responsible for computer animated feature films.
The fact that Disney's The Princess and the Frog, due out this December, is very traditional - both in animation style and it's "Broadway-style" musical numbers - comes as a great selling point for those interested in animation, nostalgic for old Disney films, and a new generation of kids that haven't fully experienced such a Disney Princess movie.
Another tactic to create buzz for the movie should come from word-of-mouth after advanced screenings in NYC and LA with special events held afterwards.
Regular US Release Date: December 11, 2009.
That's an interesting point. I wonder why the creators would be so fixated on the type of animation, rather than the content of the story. There hasn't been a Disney "classic" in a while and perhaps returning to the traditional princess story will make that possible!
ReplyDeleteI didn't know Disney used different technologies now (I mean, I think on some level I did, but didn't consciously think about it). There's definitely a sense of nostalgia here too. Will be interesting to see how this movie does. There's also buzz about "Disney's first black princess"...
ReplyDeleteRight, and hopefully we're all over the racism jabs.
ReplyDeleteThe Princess' name was originally Madeleine, since she's in the French quarter in New Orleans during the jazz age.
But apparently "Madeleine" can be shortened to "Maddie", which sounds like "Mammy" so some people complained it was racist.
So now she's Tiana.
I was going to say this is Disney's first interracial couple but I guess Pocahontus and John Smith count, and Belle and the Beast while he's still a beast.