Where did all the great Disney animated films go?

[Batman1980]

For the longest time, Disney made excellent animated features but there's quite a gap between the last one and Bolt...doubt Princess and the Frog would be considered excellent by most, haven't seen it though. It's almost like something changed inside Disney and they stopped focusing on making excellent animated movies and just let Pixar do it instead.

[Decado]

Haven't seen it yet, but The Princess and the Frog looks like the best thing Disney has done in ages. I eagerly await the blu-ray. A return to the musical style of the days before 3D is welcomed.

[hardcorefrokid]

Where did animated anything go, I ask. The majority of kids shows and movies are CGI. I find it annoying. I love animated flicks.

[KubrickFan]

Originally Posted by hardcorefrokid

Where did animated anything go, I ask. The majority of kids shows and movies are CGI. I find it annoying. I love animated flicks.

CG is animated.

And Wolverine, Bolt was released in 2008 and The Princess and the Frog in 2009 That's not a big gap at all. Or do you mean something else?

[Batman1980]

Originally Posted by KubrickFan

CG is animated.

And Wolverine, Bolt was released in 2008 and The Princess and the Frog in 2009 That's not a big gap at all. Or do you mean something else?

Huh yeah I mean I'm not sure when the last time Disney released a great animated film was, maybe Mulan? I meant the gap between that movie and Bolt is quite large and I'm wondering what happened inside Disney to cause that gap.

[Hi-Def Steve]

Originally Posted by KubrickFan

CG is animated.

And Wolverine, Bolt was released in 2008 and The Princess and the Frog in 2009 That's not a big gap at all. Or do you mean something else?

Hand drawn animation?

[Al_The_Strange]

I will agree that Disney's focus seems to have shifted from animation to other fields; they did produce "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "National Treasure" within this decade, they have been producing some of the best Blu-Rays on the market (like "Kill Bill" or "Sin City"), and they have produced some ususual DVDs before (like the Hayo Miyazaki movies). I wouldn't doubt that these ventures were made because, like you said, there hasn't been any great animation produced, and they had to expand in some way to make money.

But with this "Princess and the Frog" movie coming out, they're going to give animation another stab, maybe?

[Lepidopterous]

Originally Posted by KubrickFan

CG is animated.

And Wolverine, Bolt was released in 2008 and The Princess and the Frog in 2009 That's not a big gap at all. Or do you mean something else?

I think he was assuming in his OP that Bolt is commonly revered as a Disney animated classic on the same tier as classics such as The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast... I was confused reading it too. The Princess and the Frog was made with the mindset and manner of all the other beloved animated classics, which is why I think that would be the other end of the gap, if anything.

I think there is a thread on here somewhere that shows the tiers of "classic" under which Disney releases their titles... Platinum, Gold, etc. I agree that we need more films like the ones made during Walt Disney's days. But The Princess and the Frog is a step in that direction, so at the moment, we can't complain

[hardcorefrokid]

Originally Posted by KubrickFan

CG is animated.

And Wolverine, Bolt was released in 2008 and The Princess and the Frog in 2009 That's not a big gap at all. Or do you mean something else?

I meant cartoons, sir. I thought it was implied.

[KubrickFan]

Originally Posted by hardcorefrokid

I meant cartoons, sir. I thought it was implied.

Not really, because the word 'animated' can mean a lot of different things .

[lobo81865]

Originally Posted by hardcorefrokid

where did animated anything go, i ask. The majority of kids shows and movies are cgi. I find it annoying. I love animated flicks.

+1!!!

[Ator the Invincible]

Originally Posted by Wolverine1980

For the longest time, Disney made excellent animated features but there's quite a gap between the last one and Bolt...doubt Princess and the Frog would be considered excellent by most, haven't seen it though. It's almost like something changed inside Disney and they stopped focusing on making excellent animated movies and just let Pixar do it instead.

The answer to your question is a simple one... Michael Eisner. There's a reason he was forced out. And btw, Princess and the Frog is very good. Probably their best since The Lion King (not counting Pixar).

[krazyclown]

Rapunzel is this year not sure if its hand drawn or cgi though

[jadedeath]

They're 'in the vault'

Logan

[Blu-Ron]

Originally Posted by Wolverine1980

For the longest time, Disney made excellent animated features but there's quite a gap between the last one and Bolt...doubt Princess and the Frog would be considered excellent by most, haven't seen it though. It's almost like something changed inside Disney and they stopped focusing on making excellent animated movies and just let Pixar do it instead.

That's cause Walt Disney died. That's why I consider The Jungle Book to be the last great Disney animated movie.

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by Wolverine1980

For the longest time, Disney made excellent animated features but there's quite a gap between the last one and Bolt...doubt Princess and the Frog would be considered excellent by most, haven't seen it though. It's almost like something changed inside Disney and they stopped focusing on making excellent animated movies and just let Pixar do it instead.

Where did they GO?--Be careful of those literal interpretations, around here:

When Michael Eisner got so panicky of Shrek2's success and Atlantis's failure, shut down the 2-D animated studio, and fired the directors, those that stayed were told to change their output to the Rise of CGI or leave.
John Musker & Ron Clements (of Mermaid and Frog) were working on a CGI piece, "Scaredy Cat", that never quite gelled, and found themselves kicked out after "Treasure Planet" made the studio look bad before the Stockholders' meeting. Glen Keane, meanwhile, figured out a way to convert his in-progress "Rapunzel" to a new CGI format, and kept his job experimenting on that one all throughout the Last Days of Eisner.
"Atlantis" made Beauty/Hunchback's Gary Trousdale & Kirk Wise look bad, so toss two more directors on the unemployment line. Rob Minkoff of "Lion King" already had his own sweet gig directing the Stuart Little movies for Sony, so it wasn't like we were going to see him back again after his one-shot.
(Chris "Lilo & Stitch" Sanders being fired off of his loopy original ideas for "Bolt" and snapped up by the Dreamworks dragon only came later, after John Lasseter had arrived.)

At the same time as Eisner's tantrum, we had the Pixar Wars; Pixar believed that they wouldn't survive if they were cut off on their own, and most of the ship-jumping animators found work with the "wannabe" CGI studios, most of them at Sony. Ex-"Aladdin" writer and "Lion" co-director Roger Allers stayed to direct "Open Season" with most of the ex-Toy Story crew.

As for "where are they" today, Musker & Clements were specifically welcomed back to the studio to direct their old hits, Trousdale was last seen directing Shrek holiday specials (no word of Wise), "Rapunzel" is getting good advance word but Keane's working on other projects after delaying too long, and Allers still hasn't heard that it's okay to come back home out of refugee status, to the new peaceful regime.

[Uncle_Max]

They really were on a downward slide for awhile there... I'd say the last excellent hand-drawn disney movie was Mulan (maybe Tarzan or Lilo & Stitch, depending on your tastes). Atlantis was a disappointment, Treasure Planet wasn't very good at all, Brother Bear was really disappointing, and Home On The Range was terrible. I think The Emperor's New Groove was in there someplace, and it was just okay.

BUT I did go to see The Princess & The Frog because I'm ever a Disney optimistic, and it's pretty fantastic. I'm not a big fan of New Orleans-related stuff, or princess movies, or movies involving cooking, and even though this movie is all of those, I STILL liked it. The animation is so gorgeous, and the characters actually developed, that it far exceeded my expectations.

[AintNoSin]

Ironically, the savior of traditional hand drawn animation at Disney, is John Lasseter, the former head of Pixar. Disney had effectively abandoned traditional animation in favor of CG before the Pixar deal. That acquisition made Lasseter the head of Disney animation and, as someone who had worked for Disney back in the 80s and had seen the sad state of Disney animation back then, he set about to revive the hand-drawn animation department.

[Septimus Prime]

I wonder if The Princess and the Frog is actually great or if it just feels great because it's the first cell animated movie in a long, long time.

Personally, I thought the cell animated sections of Enchanted were pretty darn good, but I think it's really because I missed the medium.

[Grand Bob]

Originally Posted by Septimus Prime

I wonder if The Princess and the Frog is actually great or if it just feels great because it's the first cell animated movie in a long, long time.

Hopefully it is a sign of things to come. Like Toefer pointed out, hand-drawn animation suffered a setback beginning in the 60's (because of the predominance of TV?). I don't know it it is a resurgence, but it's nice to see something as well-done as The Princess and the Frog to be released.