Disney's self-copying (video inside)

[Grubert]

I'd read how Disney reused animation and character movements for some movies (Robin Hood being one of the most infamous examples) but seeing it side by side is quite an eye-opener:

Link

[WriteSimply]

Very interesting. Thanks Grubert.


fuad

[swifty7]

WOW!!! that was very...VERY...intersting to say the least. Who knew!

it's a cheat on the their part.

[Marquoz]

Would be interesting if an artist could give us some insight on how easy it is to modify one of those clips to the other? Does it save that much time having a base from one to work off of, or do they still have to do it all over by erasing pretty much everything.

I can only see where one of them would be an easy change, that's where they have the bear in two of the shots just dancing with a different creature. That one cuts down half the work. The rest are completely different animals, and I would think there would still be a lot of work re-doing it from one animal to another.

Anybody do this kind of stuff that can chime in?

[Josh]

Good info.

[jkwest]

wow....what a bunch of lazy bastards...I thought they only did that stuff on their old Saturday morning cartoons!! Duck Tales, Tail Spin, Gummy Bears....etc.

[EricJ]

You'll notice, of course, that MOST of the cribbing was done for Robin Hood--
Which was a pretty thrown-together project to begin with, after they were trying to pick up the pieces of two other failed projects: Originally it was going to be a "Southern Robin Hood" (which explains why we have Pat Buttram and Andy Devine voices)--and which was eventually recycled into the Bayou critters from "The Rescuers"--and then had to be re-recorded after Tommy Steele just didn't sound right for Robin.

...At which point of desperation to get it finished, the default Ron Miller directive of "Oh, just copy Jungle Book one more time!" kicked in.

[Red Hood]

Originally Posted by jkwest

wow....what a bunch of lazy bastards...I thought they only did that stuff on their old Saturday morning cartoons!! Duck Tales, Tail Spin, Gummy Bears....etc.

haha that made me crack up.

[Grubert]

Originally Posted by EricJ

You'll notice, of course, that MOST of the cribbing was done for Robin Hood--
Which was a pretty thrown-together project to begin with, after they were trying to pick up the pieces of two other failed projects: Originally it was going to be a "Southern Robin Hood" (which explains why we have Pat Buttram and Andy Devine voices)--and which was eventually recycled into the Bayou critters from "The Rescuers"--and then had to be re-recorded after Tommy Steele just didn't sound right for Robin.

...At which point of desperation to get it finished, the default Ron Miller directive of "Oh, just copy Jungle Book one more time!" kicked in.

Good post.

Robin Hood was the first Disney movie I saw not as a rerun, but when it opened theatrically (I guess this ages me lol) and I liked it a lot at the time. It's only in later viewings that I realized how derivative and plain lazy it is.

[Joe Cain]

Originally Posted by Grubert

Good post.

Robin Hood was the first Disney movie I saw not as a rerun, but when it opened theatrically (I guess this ages me lol) and I liked it a lot at the time. It's only in later viewings that I realized how derivative and plain lazy it is.

Same here.

I've been down on Robin Hood for years...but for all its faults I've come back around: watching it with the kids makes me appreciate it for what it is to them.

[Ernest Rister]

Originally Posted by Joe Cain

Same here.

I've been down on Robin Hood for years...but for all its faults I've come back around: watching it with the kids makes me appreciate it for what it is to them.

I've taken heat for awhile regarding my opinion a Robin Hood -- as for the recycling of animation, you'll see examples stretching all the way back to the Silly Symphonies, with animated background footage from 1931's Egyptian Melodies recycled for the acclaimed 1933 Mickey Mouse short The Mad Doctor (similar to a 30's live-action studio re-using a set, in a sense). Water animation created for Pinocchio was re-used in the "Little Toot" vignette in Melody Time, and on and on it goes.

The most expensive element in animation isn't the film stock, the ink and paint, the paper, etc. -- the most expensive element in animation is Time. You save time, you save money. The examples of this throughout the history of Disney animation are legion, but it must be said that hindsight without context betrays a sort of armchair smugness regarding this issue. Animators are given a budget, and they do what they can to finish a film within that budget. Certain periods in American history were more favorable to animation production than others, and certain executives were more supportive of animation production than others. Robin Hood is certainly the chief offender regarding recycled animation in a feature production (animator Milt Kahl blew up in a huff over the recycled scened during production, screaming "You're all garbage men!" as he stomped down the hallway), but it's not accurate to simply lable the animators "lazy". There was more to it than that (or in the case of Robin Hood -- less, as in less money, less support, less ambition...less Walt).