Jim on Film: Will the Sun Ever Shine Again?
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Despite this rapid downward spiral, I disagree with this idea that Walt Disney Feature Animation was faltering and that it needed John Lasseter. Don’t get me wrong. I’m about as excited over this as anyone, but what Walt Disney Feature Animation needed was someone with the vision and the clout to step in and see that things are done right or will at least not get in the way. After all, many great talents have left and been forced out of the studio, but a good number of the geniuses who delivered Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Tarzan, and all those other great films are still there to deliver the goods. All these beauties needed was a good old fashioned, pre-feminist prince to come in and slay the dragon, give them the kiss of life, and allow them to dance on their own. There were probably any number of visionary people who could have taken the place of the late Howard Ashman, who seemed to have given such life to the studio in those early years; it just happens that they got someone with the name and the clout to actually be trusted with the job. Now, the dragons are gone. Let the dancing begin.

Already, with this short time that the new regime has taken over, there are several things that have made me excited. One of the biggest is that Circle 7’s Toy Story 3 has been cancelled. I loved Toy Story 2, much more than the original, and I would love to see Pixar do what it did before, top itself again. The key, however, is that it needs to be Pixar. Under the management that was put in place, the talented artists of Circle 7 Animation wouldn’t have had the hope of producing something that could measure up to the originals or top what Pixar themselves could do. After the fiasco of Valiant and the rumored fiasco of The Wild, it would only serve to harm the Disney name, which is already limping after those movies and all those cheapquels. The latest news is that Toy Story 3 is on again after all, under the guidance of Pixar. Yay.

The second piece of news to make me ecstatic is concerning those creative executives. One of the biggest laughs in James Stewart’s fascinating read Disney War was the discovery that Walt Disney Feature Animation actual has (hopefully we can soon make that had) a committee to select voices for its films. This sounds, no doubt, like the confection of well-intended, however sadly misguided, MBA, certainly not the brain child of anyone with any common artistic sense. One of the biggest objections raised by the studio’s artists in the years before this event, other than with their general immediate leadership, seems to have been the presence of creative executives who knew little about and had little passion for the art of animation. These creative executives were crown princes of a kingdom they understood very little about, executing the creative process instead of being executives over it. Word is that these folks will be receiving their first unemployment checks in the mail soon. Amen.

These aside, I also have a number of hopes and dreams of what might still happen at the studio. Most importantly, I hope that whatever direction the studio takes, Pixar and Disney will always be two separate entities. Monster’s Inc. is distinctly Pixar, and The Lion King is distinctly Disney. Of course, I know that John Lasseter is much smarter than this, but it would be my fear that Walt Disney Feature Animation would become Pixar 2. Many people say that the Pixar films are more Disney than Disney, but it is my belief that, artistic tools aside, Pixar has created its own unique style. Each of the Pixar films—from Toy Story to The Incredibles—have their own unique groove; whereas The Little Mermaid, for example, builds on the traditions of storytelling, style, and tone that Walt Disney began with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. There’s room for both, and let’s hope those in charge agree.

I also passionately dream that Walt Disney Feature Animation will return to traditional animation. I think what they did with the technical side of Chicken Little was very impressive, and it is my firm belief that the artists who brought us such gems as Meeko, Pleakley, and Jim Hawkins could lift CGI animation to astounding new heights. In fact, I have full faith that, under the leadership of Glen Keane, Rapunzel will have CGI humans to rival Princess Aurora, Ariel, or Esmeralda. Lasseter has been quoted as saying that if the right story came along, they would make films using traditional animation, but it must also be pointed out that these words echo those spoken by the previous regimes, the ones who brought the studio to its knees. It would make sense to me that, to avoid competition with itself and to reduce the glut of CGI films already flooding theaters, traditional animation should be the ark of the division that does it best—Walt Disney Feature Animation—while computer generated animation should be given to the division that puts all other studios in the field to shame—Pixar. Now that they are truly sister divisions, any CGI artists from Disney could relocate to Pixar, and any talented Pixar hand-drawn animators could relocate to Walt Disney Feature Animation.