whither now, true animation?

[acroyear]

Cartoon Brew » Oscar ‘07: The fallout from the Happy Feet win:

I won’t deny that Happy Feet was a well made, entertaining film. I liked it personally. It does qualify under the definition of an animated film. But it doesn’t represent the medium.

Unfortunately, the win by Happy Feet will reinforce to the powers-that-be in Hollywood that motion capture is a valid substitute for authentic character animation. That live action writers, directors and actors can make a “cartoon” without the skills honed by decades of accomplishment created by Walt Disney and his successors.

[...]

Perhaps this win will cause Warner Bros. to now take animation a little more seriously, after a history of botched releases (notably The Iron Giant and The Ant Bully). Perhaps this will inspire John Lasseter and the revived 2-D team at Disney to really prove themselves, to blow us away with something that mo-cap can never be - and force Hollywood to return the art of animation to the hand of the artist.

Actually, I wasn't aware that Lasseter had rekindled 2-D, aside from the remnants of the tv team that were doing the made-for-video sequels (Bambi II was led by Andreas Deja, a survivor of Eisner's rampant stupidity).  For an upcoming movie, Enchanted, Disney had to outsource the 10 minutes of 2-D animation, though Deja is on the team as a consultant and the team itself is led by former Disney 2-D animator James Baxter, who founded the company after Dreamworks killed its own 2-D studio.

yup...

Mickey News °o° - 'Toy Story 3' Coming Along, without Lasseter; More Disney Details Outlined:

Lasseter also revealed a behind-the-scenes shift at Walt Disney Feature Animation - which is separate from Pixar but also under the control of Lasseter and Catmull - by announcing that Chris Williams, a veteran Disney story artist, is now directing the 2008 release American Dog in place of Lilo & Stitch director Chris Sanders, who recently left Disney.

Catmull denied speculation that Walt Disney Feature Animation may become a 2-D-only studio, with Pixar handling CGI, though he did confirm Disney will bring back hand-drawn films.

"We're really excited about that and have brought back some great directors to work on that," he said, presumably referring to The Frog Princess, a 2-D pic being developed by Aladdin and Treasure Planet directors Ron Clements and John Musker, whom Lasseter brought back to Disney last year. 'Princess' is believed to be on the fast track and may be the division's next release after American Dog.

Sad that Sanders couldn't find a home in the merged company, but I suppose when all that gets asked of him is "do Stitch's voice one more time", I can understand if he felt a little frustrated. Maybe some more Disney-Aware friends here can shed some light on what's going on?

One of the nice things (if it's not too impolite to say) about some of the recent 3-D flops is that it vindicates the Disney team that Eisner destroyed: story and character matter, not the media.  Just because it's 3-D doesn't mean it is inherently better (or even just more box-office savvy) than 2-D.

Comments

[fiona64.livejournal.com]

story and character matter, not the media.

This very point was mentioned by director Brad Byrd in a panel I attended yesterday at WonderCon. Byrd is the director of "The Incredibles" and the upcoming film "Ratatouille." His next project is live action, but he likes to work in animation.

Anyway, someone asked him his preference between 2-D and 3-D animation, and he made a big point of saying that both mediums are valid and vital ... and that the story is really the most important thing. He won't make a sequel for the sake of money (he was quite emphatic about that when asked whether there would be a second Incredibles film) because each piece he does should stand on its own merit as a story and not just a vehicle for characters that the audience happened to like.

So, it's nice to know that there are some folks out there in the film industry with the kind of integrity you're talking about.

(I did happen to adore "Happy Feet," FWIW).

[acroyear70.livejournal.com]

haven't seen it yet. Cars and Pirates II were, I think, the only films we saw in a theater all year. Next year Pirates III, Ratatouille, and Harry Potter 5 are probably going to be it. *Maybe* Meet the Robinsons if schedules permit.

we don't do movies in theaters much. The occasional jerk and/or the occasional kid-that-won't-shut-up has become too much of a deterrent, while the existence of the almighty pause button has given way too much value to my home theater over the "real" thing.

[bronxelf-ag001.livejournal.com]

story and character matter, not the media

Round here, that's known as The Rocky and Bullwinkle Theory.

[thelongshot.livejournal.com]

Actually, I wasn't aware that Lasseter had rekindled 2-D, aside from the remnants of the tv team that were doing the made-for-video sequels (Bambi II was led by Andreas Deja, a survivor of Eisner's rampant stupidity).

He's been trying to get Disney out of the business of 3D animated films and "cheapquels" and back into feature 2D animation. I don't know what is in the pipeline, tho, and there could be a bit of a mess in the transition.

Sad that Sanders couldn't find a home in the merged company, but I suppose when all that gets asked of him is "do Stitch's voice one more time", I can understand if he felt a little frustrated. Maybe some more Disney-Aware friends here can shed some light on what's going on?

A couple of articles about that:

http://jimhillmedia.com/blogs/jim_hill/archive/2006/12/18/toon-tuesday-american-dog.aspx
http://jimhillmedia.com/blogs/jim_hill/archive/2007/02/12/toon-tuesday-how-disney-is-fixing-american-dog.aspx

BTW, Jim Hill Media is a good place to get pretty good inside information into the Mouse House. He's pretty reliable about his information, even if he seems to have an anti-Pixar bias.