In a story reported last week by Bloomberg’s Vivek Shankar, Disney CEO Robert Iger is quoted as having said "It really hit me hard that we had had 10 years of real failure. Keeping animation strong is incredibly vital." The tale Iger tells of his revelatory moment has him watching a parade in Hong Kong Disneyland at the time that the clouds broke. He didn’t see a single recognizable character in the parade from any films of the past ten years that weren’t Pixar characters. Assuming this is true (which would require the absence of any of Mulan’s characters or the crew from Tarzan) then what does this really say other than how very little China has been targeted for the usual publicity and propaganda that would make any Disney character recognizable to the citizens of Hong Kong?

It is evident from Iger’s breakout performance that he has authentic vision and the business acumen to revitalized Disney by making animation stronger than before, and to deliver on his promise without sacrificing the integrity of the company’s founding principles or the endless demand for visible dollar growth in quarterly reports. Yet, the otherwise stoic Mr. Iger might be a little blinded by the light of his sudden success and all too eager to start speaking in sound bites. With this one statement he doing a risky shadow dance with the over-zealous style of Michael Eisner, whose insanely inappropriate habit of making similarly sweeping pronouncements resulted in countless back-handed bruises to a more complicated reality. Chris Sanders’ brilliantly conceived and lucratively franchised “Lilo & Stitch�? is hardly something one could characterize as a “real failure.�? In fact, Stitch is arguably the most recognizable brand Disney has gown in-house since Mickey. It’s easy to understand Mr. Iger’s desire to highlight Pixar and point to their practices with admiration during this transitional stretch between agreement and FCC approval, but there is a great deal to be admired about the cream of Disney’s own milk that rose to the top over the past decade in spite of some out and out stupid management moves at the company’s Feature Animation division and higher up.

The box-office of the terrible ten – “Hunchback of Notre Dame�?, “Hercules�?, “Mulan�?, “Tarzan�?, “Atlantis�?, “The Emperor’s New Groove�?, “Lilo & Stitch�?, “Treasure Planet�?, “Brother Bear�? and “Home on the Range�? may not have matched “Toy Story�? or “Finding Nemo�? , but is that really reason to write them off as embarrassing misfires and never speak of them again without first casting a downward glance and an unhappy shaking of the head, like a deeply wounded parent of a Little Leaguer who failed to bring in all the bases when it was their turn at bat? So with his “10 years of failure�? Robert Iger appears to be falling in line with his predecessor’s practice of shaming and blaming some otherwise wholly original and truly memorable characters who have been shuffled to the back of the racks and shuttered in their rooms by an oddly embarrassed parent company who has paraded their step-children front and center because they produced better grades, as it were. While on one hand it’s almost comical - “Why Mr. Iger, I didn’t know you had a little red dragon!�? “Oh, we don’t talk about him…have you seen our new clownfish?�? - ultimately it’s character abuse. It’s also asset abuse, and it doesn’t sound like the Robert Iger of just two weeks prior. What may be worse is that he’s giving permission to others to take similar aim, and they’ve wasted no time in doing so.

Directing and writing legends Ron Clements and John Musker returned to Disney’s halls earlier this month. Once again, this was a move facilitated by Iger, and worthy of nothing short of a standing ovation if for no other reason than to get up and give the lungs a nice erect path for breathing a deep sigh of relief. Like so many of us who work and watch and write in on and about animation, the astute and articulate editor and author Amid Amidi (whose superbly researched book on 50’s style and design in animation is certain to be a must-have for any serious animation fan when it arrives this June) hailed Ron and John’s return by writing “This is great news...�? adding the caveat “as long as they don't make another “Treasure Planet�?, or for that matter, another “Hercules.�?�? While the “in my opinion�? may be understood in such editorials, the snipe seems petty and unprofessional coming from a good writer who otherwise displays discretion even when being candid and provocative. But I don’t know if I can really be blaming Amid since he didn’t exactly fire the first shot.