Toon Talk: 100 Years of Magic - 100 Movies, Part Two - Dec 3, 2001

Toon Talk: 100 Years of Magic - 100 Movies, Part Two
Page 3 of 6

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#71. I'LL BE THERE FOR YOU

"I'm a fox!" "I'm a hound dog!" Tod and Copper were the title characters in The Fox and the Hound (July 10, 1981), the first animated feature primarily created by the "new breed" of young animators at the Studios.

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#72. MCP COMPATIBLE

In response to the growing public "Pac-Man fever" for video games, Disney produced Tron (July 9, 1982), a special effects extravaganza that required extensive research and innovation as the first film to employ extensive computer imagery.

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#73. A TOUCHSTONE PRODUCTION

Created in the early eighties to release more "mature" films, the Touchstone label premiered with Splash (March 9, 1984). Such audience favorites as Three Men and a Baby (1987), Dead Poets Society (1989), Dick Tracy (1990), Sister Act (1992), Armageddon (1998) and Pearl Harbor (2001) followed, as well as such "edgier" animated fare as Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) and Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993). Live action expansion resulted in the debut of the Hollywood Pictures brand in 1990, which released such contemporary films as Arachnophobia (1990), Swing Kids (1993), Quiz Show (1994), Nixon (1995) and Evita (1996).

#74. GOOD BYE, YELLOW BRICK ROAD

With nary a show tune to belt, Dorothy set out on her Return to Oz (June 21, 1985) in Disney's dark and dirty excursion into the realm of L. Frank Baum. Creepy stop-motion animation earned the film an Oscar nomination for special effects.

#75. BAA-BAA BLACK SHEEP

Based on the Chronicles of Prydain books by Lloyd Alexander, The Black Cauldron (July 24, 1985) had no songs and enough violence to warrant a PG rating, both a first for a Disney animated feature.

#76. INCH HIGH PRIVATE EYE

Basil of Baker Street, The Great Mouse Detective (July 2, 1986), starred in this mouse-ified version of Sherlock Holmes. The climatic Big Ben battle was greatly enhanced by the increasingly more prevalent use of computer animation.

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#77. TOON NOIR

Together on screen for the first time, such toon greats as Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny and Betty Boop joined new creation Roger Rabbit in the groundbreaking summer blockbuster Who Framed Roger Rabbit (June 22, 1988). Computer technology enabled realistic blending of live action actors and animated characters in a way never before seen. A prescient collaboration between Disney and Steven Speilberg's Amblin Entertainment, the film won four Oscars and launched a (sadly, short-lived) series of Roger Rabbit shorts.

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#78. TWIST-ED

Charles Dickens went to the dogs in Oliver and Company (November 18, 1988), his Oliver Twist with a feline/canine ... twist. With modern pop songs and a grittier look, this was the first Disney film to have it's own computer generated imagery (CGI) department.

#79. IT'S A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL

Carrying on in absent-minded Disney tradition, Professor Wayne Szalinski exclaimed Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (June 23, 1989), setting off a multi-media franchise that includes the 1992 theatrical sequel, Honey, I Blew Up the Kid.

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#80. THE LIVING SEAS

Marking a return to fairy tale territory 30 years after Sleeping Beauty, The Little Mermaid (November 15, 1989) was a huge box office hit and won two Academy Awards, the first Disney animated film to do so since Dumbo. Originally conceived as a feature back in the thirties, the concept sketches for Hans Christian Anderson's mermaid tale were dusted off and used as inspiration for this newest animated film, the first to utilize computers instead of cels in animation, a process that has drastically changed the look of animated characters. The renaissance in Disney animation, artistically and technologically, had begun.