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[Squeak]

I've always been of the opinion that the weak periods were the 70s and the post-Hunchback years. Otherwise the films were generally fairly decent...


I'm a bit puzzled by that... TLM, B&B, and Hunchback are all films which are much better than a) all of the 70s-Basil stuff, and b) are on par with some of the classic Disney stuff. The rest of the films I'll give to you, if you want them, but....

They didn't make as many movies in the 70's and 80's and they weren't as technically impressive as the older movies and they didn't have as high production values as the 90's stuff.
But they did contain much better animation. Rescuers, Fox and Hound and Basil has absolutely unequaled animation in some spots and retains a high standard throughout. The Black Cauldron isn't nearly as bad as it has been made out to be, although I'd still say it's the weakest from the period.
And above all, they are have much better narratives, much stronger characters, much more atmosphere, and you can really feel that unquantifiable sense of enthusiasm, genuine sweetness and love behind every cel.
The 90's movies are just showcases of brute force handicraft.

It's like the difference between a gothic cathedral, and a renaissance/baroque cathedral.
One is made with love, in genuine praise of something great. Build in harmonic and organic unison of the workers, craftsmen and designers (which were often one and the same person).
The second on the other hand, is made according to dogmatic rules, when faith in the common goal/lodestar (in this case God) was becoming phony, diluted and merely an establishment. Taking a language (in this case Roman/Greek architecture) whose words were blindly used without sense of their real meaning.

 

[Night_Trekker]

John K. hates every film posted in this thread.

 

[Weapxn]

Well he did make some gems, but those are floating in a sea of Rock-a-Doodle, Thumbelina, Anastasia, Bartok, Titan AE (Which admittedly, I like because I love Sci-Fi and I watched it as a kid, but looking back it sucks pretty bad), Pebble and the Penguin, and some other crap.

Hm... I liked Anastasia. Should've been a Disney movie. She'd fit in great with the Princess line.

 

[evilromero]

You know what's a fucked up movie? Dumbo. Good but fucked up.

 

[Divvy]

Hm... I liked Anastasia. Should've been a Disney movie. She'd fit in great with the Princess line.

It was okay, but they rotoscoped the whole thing. Insta-fail for me there.

 

[DeadFalling]

Bambi
Lion King
The Fox and the Hound
Snow White
Pinocchio
Dumbo


Those are the best ones. Period.

 

[ProfessorLobo]

The funny thing is that the one that wants that disney returns to their roots is John Lasseter (pixar's director, that now controlls all disney's artistic departments), his the one that said we are going to do The Princess and the frog, we are going to call all disneys 90 artists, we are going to call Alan Menken, we are going to return dinsey to its glory.

And this man always speaks the truth, the kicked out fucking Eisner and now it all going to be good, but people seem to want this to go fast, NO, this doesnt occur from night to day, it started with enchanted (you have to go with little paces not big steps if you want to return disney to its past glory, and lasseter knows how to do this).

2d is awesome and its going to return thanks to lasseter, but also Pixar's 3d is as good as old 2d disney, because all of the movies had a soul.

Disney "buying" Pixar (its really Pixar who controls disney now) was the best move for history of animation. MARK MY WORDS.

Interesting stuff.

Was Enchanted any good? I remember it got good reviews but I couldn't really believe it.

 

[SpacePirate Ridley]

Interesting stuff.

Was Enchanted any good? I remember it got good reviews but I couldn't really believe it.

It really feels like 90s disney, but with humans. The drawn parts were incredibly good (but very, very little), and the songs were just a tribute to the disney of that era, and in a humorous tone (much of the tribute goes to the beauty and the beast). Alan Menken was called by Lasseter to do the songs, and Alan Menken is the genius behind the songs of Aladdin, Hercules, The Hunchback, The Little Mermaid... well nearly all the 90 stuff. The human parts are not that special but they are not bad.

The Frog and the princess is what enchanted could have been.

I really have to thank John Lasseter what he is doing with the industry, not also for having the most awesome studio animation have ever created with disney, but because he wants really to revive traditional animation.

A new golden era for disney is going to start in 2009, now they are preparing their engines, as I said this things cant happen from day to night.

 

[GCX]

A new golden era for disney is going to start in 2009, now they are preparing their engines, as I said this things cant happen from day to night.

I wouldn't go ahead and say a new golden era is about to begin or anything because for that you need more than just John Lasseter's visions.

But it's true Disney's animation department is in a middle of a big change. Just by looking at their future movie line-up, The Princess & The Frog, Rapunzel and King of the Elves, they're clearly aiming to make new classic fantasy fairy tales once again which is a complete opposite of what they've done for the most of the past decade. Now we'll just have to wait and see how the quality will hold up.

 

[mrklaw]

And not to take anything away from the artists there are, namely at Pixar, but even the best can't hold a candle to the whimsy and motion of great 2D. There's something about having each frame having the care of someone who's putting his heart into it that takes things one step above

Disney in the olden days was full of unicorns and rainbows, and Dreamworks is just cubicles full of Dilberts just pumping the mouse. I see.

 

[SouthernDragon]

Hmmm. Looks like we have people that know what they are talking about in here.

Well, all I have to add is that the older hand drawn movies had a certain charm to them, something that's largely missing from the relatively sterile 3D movies. It's not necessarily the fault of the artists; perhaps it's the medium.

There have been good 3D movies out there, and Pixar has been responsible for a good amount of them. It's just that every cartoon movie is 3D now; I miss the drawn cartoons. I was raised on, yes, Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, Lion King, et. all, but I was also very lucky to have parents that watched Pinocchio, Snow White, and Dumbo with me.

That said, I can't wait to watch these on Blu-Ray. I'd repurchase most of my movie collection. Most of the Disney collection at my house is on VHS. : /

Edit:

Anyone know when they are going to be released on Blu-Ray? I just compiled a list of 32 animated movies to purchase on Blu-Ray.

Edit 2: Hell, they only have Wall-E and Sleeping Beauty.

When am I going to see a list like this?

1. Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs

2. Pinocchio

4. Dumbo

12. Cinderella

13. Alice In Wonderland

14. Peter Pan

15. Lady And The Tramp

16. Sleeping Beauty

17. 101 Dalmatians

20. The Aristocats

21. Robin Hood

27. Oliver & Company

28. The Little Mermaid

31. Aladdin

32. The Lion King

35. Hercules

36. Mulan

37. Tarzan

39. The Emperor's New Groove


18. The Sword In The Stone

24. The Fox And The Hound

34. The Hunchback Of Notre Dame

5. Bambi
Finding Nemo

Howl’s Moving Castle (Hauru no Ugoku Shiro)

The Incredibles

Monsters, Inc.

Ratatouille

Toy Story

Toy Story 2

Wall*E

Spirited Away

 

[WrathOfOtaibah]

I was reading Disney War on Google Books. I was shocked that Michael Eisner was willing to give the information he did to the author, full well knowing that it was going to criticize a lot of his decisions and management style.

 

[sevenchaos]

Just want to say 2009 is going to be a great year.

 

[Aaron Strife]

When I was a kid, I hated it.

Now I adore it.

 

[Ceres]

I like all the new Pixar stuff but I do miss a lot of the joy of seeing one of the classic 2d animated films. Sleeping Beauty is probably my favorite followed closely by Beauty and the Beast. Both huge reasons why I loved Enchanted since there were quite a few nods to each film.
I'll have to give Mulan another try some time but after Lion King they just really started going downhill. Pocahontas was okay mostly just because of a few songs, Hunchback was fairly forgettable, Hercules, Tarzan, Lilo & Stitch, Treasure Planet, Atlantis, etc I've only ever bothered to watch once with no desire to watch again. Emperor's New Groove was the only decent one of the bunch.

Menkin's scores eventually got worse and worse which could possibly be due to burnout having to churn out music for an entire movie each year and eventually other people took over but they were just never at the level of those main four (Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Beauty & the Beast, & Lion King). Menkin certainly was back to form for Enchanted though.

Then they started moving away from the animated musicals and, simply speaking, I don't think a lot of the stories were good enough to hold up on their own when they insisted on doing well known ones. Can you imagine Aladdin without "A Whole New World" or Little Mermaid without "Part of Your World"?

By the way, Lion King and Beauty and the Beast were both amazing to see on Broadway. I really want to see Little Mermaid sometime soon.

<impawards.jpg>
When I was a kid, I hated it.

Now I adore it.

Imp Awards wasn't around when I was a kid but I sure do hate it now.