How To Train Your Dragon (Review Thread)

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

Why are DeBlois and Sanders no longer at Disney? Were they canned for lack of talent? Doubt it. Did they leave because they wanted to follow their own creative path? If yes, they have demonstrated that their own ideas and ability to build a cohesive team succeed in abundance.

Well, er, yes and no:
The story given out was that Lasseter felt that Sanders' work on the proto-Bolt "American Dog" was too "quirky", unquote, to fit the new back-to-basics studio image while P&tF and Rapunzel were being readied to restore the new classic lineup--
Among themselves, however, some animators report that Dog's early tests were, quote, "a painful mess" to sit through and that Sanders "had no talent for creating a focused storyline" without DeBlois's collaborations rescuing them--And while we have no record of Lasseter's actual discussions with Sanders, it's a little easier to guess what had been said over Sanders being replaced as director and exactly why he quit over feeling so "unappreciated" at the studio...Think we got the polite version of the story.

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by EricJ

Well, er, yes and no:
The story given out was that Lasseter felt that Sanders' work on the proto-Bolt "American Dog" was too "quirky", unquote, to fit the new back-to-basics studio image while P&tF and Rapunzel were being readied to restore the new classic lineup--
Among themselves, however, some animators report that Dog's early tests were, quote, "a painful mess" to sit through and that Sanders "had no talent for creating a focused storyline" without DeBlois's collaborations rescuing them--And while we have no record of Lasseter's actual discussions with Sanders, it's a little easier to guess what had been said over Sanders being replaced as director and exactly why he quit over feeling so "unappreciated" at the studio...Think we got the polite version of the story.

So there we have it. Fair and square. Dreamworks didnt steal Disney talent, and, as it turns out, he is VERY talented. Perhaps the Sanders/DeBlois combo is the magic. And, focused is definitely a word I would use to describe Dragon.