The West Side of the Kingdom
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Getting away from the Internet for a moment, I want to make comment on two up-coming Disney animated features. The first is Dinosaur. By now, many of you have seen - and have been equally blown-away by the computer animation and the effect it has against live backgrounds. It’s intense and completely over-the-top, by all means. You can imagine then, my disappointment when I was discussing the film with someone within the Company that has seen it already and told me that the dinosaurs all talk and that they have terrible voices, etc. I was stunned. Like many have been led to believe based on the trailer at the beginning of Toy Story 2 that the entire film was a story - of incredible struggles, daily life and the tragic end of the dinosaur population on Earth. It was to be amazing, moving and true Disney pioneering.

Yet, the creatures talk. That immediately dropped my appreciation and genuine excitement for this film by at least 50%. Add the blatant synergistic marketing they are going for with the tie-in to their poorly executed Countdown to Extinction attraction at Walt Disney World’s Animal Kingdom, and you have one dino-sized pile of, well - Jeff Goldblum said it the best in Jurassic Park. Granted, the new trailer with the voices that Disney’s released isn’t as horrid as I expected, it still leaves little to be desired by anyone over 10, in my opinion. I will definitely take my little sisters to see Dinosaur when it opens. However, my enthusiasm will be on vacation. I think that Disney dropped the ball on this one. They should have gone for the story telling that they are famous for without the Bambi spin this time around. It would have made for one heck of an experience and would have been in my opinion, much more creatively challenging for those at Feature Animation. What’s worse is word from Imagineering that Disneyland wants to transform the Primeval World diorama into a 40-second blatant commercial for the new film. Great. Can’t wait for that stroke of genius.

Speaking of being creatively challenged, I was stunned when I found out that Disney’s new flick Kingdom in the Sun has been renamed The Emperor’s New Groove. I sat back and had to take that in for a minute or two… or for an hour. With DreamWorks Entertainment knocking on Disney’s door again with competition in the form of El Dorado this time around, why in God’s good name would the powers that be take a perfectly awesome name and turn it into what sounds like Saturday morning cartoon pulp? Are they trying to turn us all off? Is Disney trying to get a whipping from DreamWorks again? There are no answers that please me. I have read all of the fluff about the name being changed to reflect a lighter, more progressive type of Disney animated feature. I just don’t buy into it. We’ve had that already - it was called Aladdin. While it was a fun film, I still don’t have the urge to buy myself a copy of it for later viewing. On the other hand, I am waiting breathlessly for the deluxe DVD of Tarzan, which is just a matter of weeks away!

I think that Disney is showing weaknesses across the board - from its theme park designs to its coming animated classics. And it’s alarming to someone like me that believe it or not, loves the Company deeply and wants to see them succeed. It’s very frustrating however, when they almost appear to be trying to fail in every arena.

Disney, get your act together already! Your audience wants sophisticated theme parks, second-to-none animated features and a strong sense of security when looking down the road at future projects. Regis is not the end-all to your internal problems, and that is my final answer. Do yourselves justice and prove to the world again that there is a wealth of creativity left in Burbank and that all is not going the way of the Dinosaur.

Take the reigns and make the rest of the industry follow you once again. Forget the immediate mass-marketing (more accurate term would be “flooding”) of the latest trend whether it’s great or sucks, become focused that it is a quality brand you represent in all that you do - not just slop and fully embrace those online that truly adore you and want to show their appreciation. Only then will we begin to see the Disney again that we grew up with and the Mouse will lead the charge online with the Internet’s new groove!

-- Rick West (March 15, 2000)

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