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91 Comments
- Plooo, on 10/12/2007, -2/+21I'm sure your respect was their reason for doing this.
- DollaDollaBill, on 10/12/2007, -1/+14CG is not the problem. The problem is story, writing and direction. No one can say that the CG movies don't look good. The main issue is other than a few choice CG films the stories are weak, the scripts suck and the characters are developed poorly. You could have had a 4 year old draw Toy Story on toilet paper with crayon and it would still be one of the best animated films in recent memory because of the characters, the script and direction.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+15"dude, nothing i've seen cgi wise has beat the hand drawn goodness of the original lion king.(for me at least) glad to hear they are returning to the good ol days."
Not to burst your bubble, but the Lion King some CG scenes in it. - chune2, on 10/12/2007, -4/+14LineRider - the movie!
- gardnmi, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11Umm..Little Nemo and The Incredibles
- MrBabyMan, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Here's an excellent blog post from an insider about this new development:
http://jimhillmedia.com/blogs/jim_hill/archive/2006/12/19/toon-tuesday-american-dog.aspx - tsukiyo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Disney's problem hasn't been which technique to produce animation with. It's a lack of creativity that's been plaguing their productions over the last few years. Go to the family section of your local video store and look up the Disney DVD's. Cinderella 2, Fox and the Hound 2, Bambi 2, Little Mermaid 2 and 3, Mulan 2, Lion King 1 1/2 and 2, and many more. Disney has been content living off their past successes, Pixar's massive appeal and the massive success Pirates of the Caribbean have brought them.
As far as I'm concerned, the last great animated film by Disney was The Emperor's New Groove. I sincerely hope that John Lasseter can turn things back and get me to respect Disney again as an animation company. - DolphinGL, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8Oh my god.
It's like Disney has been eavesdropping on my rants about the shamefulness of completely abandoning the 2d animation art form.
This is good news. - navster15, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8... Monsters Inc., Toy Story 2, A Bug's Life...
- SKick, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7Damn, I was so hoping we would see another CGI film about an odd assortment of animal friends. While we’re at it, Disney should also release a film about a small, southern high-school football team fighting oppressive odds and going for the championship.
Now that would be innovation. - ampersand2001, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I hope they re-hire all of the talented artists that they canned a few years back after spening millions to build a state of the art facility in the disney studios park in orlando.
I visited there right after everything went down, it was depressingly empty. - kikuchiyo11, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Disney needs to make a hand drawn Kingdom Hearts movie. Seriously. KH is hip, and it appeals to a wide variety of ages, and already has a story and music. However, the OGs at Disney don't like it so it doesn't seem like a possibility. As much as I hate armchair business management I think it would help the company's troubled animation studio.
- kingfoot, on 10/12/2007, -8/+13dude, nothing i've seen cgi wise has beat the hand drawn goodness of the original lion king.(for me at least) glad to hear they are returning to the good ol days.
- VeganG, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4"How about hiring someone creative for once?"
You mean, like, John Lasseter? - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6yes, I knew DolphinGL would be responsible for the rebirth of animation! It's like it was ordained by a higher power!
- glucoseboy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Good, hope this also means a return to good stories with good music and lyrics.
Call me old-fashioned but I felt the Classic Disney animation films were the "modern" equivalent of the classic American art-form, the musical.
Let's see, the last animated Disney movie that had 'music and singing' was "Tarzan" in 1999. The films after that were not "musicals" and had nothing to really set them apart from the competing CGI films. - KibibyteBrain, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4As much as many of the corporate executives may view their work as a means-to-an-ends to make money, I am certain that at least some of their creative talent take their work very seriously, especially those who have devoted years to learning this relatively difficult art form.
And this defense is brought to you by someone who is far from being one of Disney's top fans... - Sunsneezer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3That's a relief. Disney's attempt at CGI without Pixar were kind of embarassing.
- BuddyDoQ, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Now lets just hope they make an effort to "entertain," rather than just "drain," their audience. Honestly, when one thinks Disney, they think of 2D animation, I still cannot phantom why they ever thought to drop the most powerful aspect of their public image. The thing about 2D animation, is that it's truly timeless, animate a good film today, and it's still as good looking 100 years from now. (Subject Matter vs Shifts in Society aside) 3D animation on the other hand, can degrade in perceived quality, just by the very nature of such technical advancements.
- CrimsonBlur, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Thank you John Lasseter, I love you! This is great news. As good as pure-CGI films look, there is just a certain artistic quality that hand-drawn movies have that CGI lacks. It's similar to the difference between looking at a photograph and a painting of the exact same scene. For the most part, the painting will have a richness and depth that the photo doesn't seem to capture, even if the photograph is artistic on its own and is more "real" than the painting.
- EXreaction, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4That really doesn't matter...
A ***** movie is a ***** movie, the way it is made doesn't matter.
Disney just has to stop making the same crap over and over. How about hiring someone creative for once? - craive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2YES!!!
I was just saying the other day how I wish they would stop with the 3d stuff and make a good ole cartoon again. Not to put the 3d stuff down, cause it's cool as hell, but a nice drawn cartoon is like comfort food for my eyes. - UPSLynx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2That's exactly it. The reason why Disney's recent animation sucks so bad is because they forgot to focus on the story, the characters. Eisner did a great job of jumping on the cash-in train and ruining the recipe that made Disney great. Pixar has it's success because it follows the old tried and true Disney recipe. They focus on the story, the story, and the story. When you watch Pixar films, you don't sit there marveling at the fact that it's computer generated, you are drawn into the story and character development within minutes.
As soon as I read about the Pixar/Disney merger and Lasseter's taking control of creative duties, I had a feeling this would happen. Lasseter always talked about how much he grew up on Disney animaiton, hence his own success. I'm glad to see him whipping the studio back into shape. - simpleman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2That is awesome. It is about time that Disney goes back th their roots. I think it is a great thing...Disney doing what they do best and Pixar doing what they do best. Now you have two of the best in film each performing their specialty, so now when and if you combine the two into one film...you will have an end product that no one else such as Dreamworks...as good as they are...can match. :0 Way to go Disney.
- dharmon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Jim Hill is NOT an insider and often gets his information wrong. Lasseter explicitly said that they will leave it up to the director whether they feel their film should be in 2D or 3D; whichever works for the story best.
The following paragraph demonstrates how little Jim Hill understands of the situation:
"You see, that's the really tough part of the situation that Catmull & Lasseter now find themselves in. These guys are running two animation studios that are -- in effect -- in direct competition with one another. Think about it. If Pixar's making CG films and WDFA is also producing computer animated features, doesn't that basically mean that these two studios are now competing for the same customers? That they're both lusting after the same dollars"
That's like saying that Disney Studios (live-action) is in direct competition with itself because it owns both Touchstone Pictures and Miramax. Now they obviously don't want to release a Disney film the same time as a Pixar. However, there are 52 weeks in the year and Disney and Pixar each release one a year, leaving plenty of room for both. Besides, with his logic, suddenly switching to 2d films means they can open both a Disney film and a Pixar film the same weekend and they are no longer competing?
In summary, take anything you read at Jim HIll Media with a grain of salt. He speculates and often misses. - MEbuDDy6, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3They may be bringing back hand drawing, but they can't bring back the writer/storyboard guy who was responsible for most of Disney's hit movies. Can't remember the name, anyone?
- BlackCow, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Don't they at least use computer software to assist them in 2D drawing and animating?
- IzeasGT, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2And that's "Finding" Nemo.
- BlackCow, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Oh my flying spaghetti monster I think you were the reason for them doing this :-O!
- flipmeat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2They do... and Pixar wrote it for them. It's called CAPS. Disney and Pixar have worked together on various projects since 1986. CAPS took in real hand drawn art, and helped speed up the ink and paint phase. Apparently CAPS is no longer in use. (open source, hellooo?)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAPS_(Computer_Animation_Production_System)
Of course, I still expect Disney execubots to wander the art department, whining and demanding the everything be drawn with fewer lines, to save money. I hope Lasseter puts his foot up their butts and wears them for slippers! - tw0k1ngs, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Finally! Once again we can look forward to all the risque, daring, "subliminal art" that made some of the old Disney movies "classics".
- thinsoldier, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Hopefully more people will learn that it's not about 2d/3d. Movies should be about making a good movie. Nothing more. Plus, there's nothing wrong with mixing 2d and 3d together for the sake of make a better scene, not just for the sake of mixing 2d and 3d together. Anyone remember "Beauty and the Beast"? That was a good movie. It had some 3d in the ballroom dancing scene (I think) 2d vs. 3d had nothing to do with how good the movie was. It was just good. They used whatever tool they felt was needed to achieve the goodness. Simple.
As for the 3d animation trend...
Hollywood people are just ***** stupid.
Any idiot can tell that Pixar's movies made big money simply because they were just plain DAMNED GOOD movies.
I recently watched both "The Incredibles" and "Cars" for the first time. If those movies were redone entirely in 2d with the same actors, same dialog, same scenes and same level of advertisement, and same skill applied to the 2d as there was applied to the 3d, they would have likely made the same amount of money.
How much money did the Lion King make?
Lots!
Why?
Because it was a DAMNED GOOD movie.
Simple.
I'm actually quite pissed that a lot of the recent 2d stuff from Disney went straight to DVD. - missflibbles, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Yes, they do.
- Yurkshat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2CGI can stand for Computer Generated Imagery.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Are they going to be bringing back their old drawing habits too? You know... the wee wee on the cover of the Little Mermaid?
- mojee, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I can't find where specifically the return to 2-D was announced by Lasseter and Catmull. I've read the Jim Hill site to be sure, but doesn't an "announcement" come with come kind of, I don't know, some quotes from the principals and whatnot?
- Gatorade, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Just as art moved away from realism once the photograph was able to capture an image better, disney animation should move away from the current style of semi-realistic to a more stylistic sorta like Samurai Jack- different I guess you could say.
- Modab, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The story is wrong. There was *NO* announcement of any sort from anyone working at Disney.. This is the rumor mill grinding away. Jim Hill puts forward a theory (based on gossip from Disney insiders, to be sure). Then IMDB picks up the theory, and at the end of a long sentence, briefly mentions it's from Jim Hill's site, and doesn't mention it's only a theory. Finally, the site Digg links to magically transformed it into an Actual Real Live Announcement. Everyone involved has done a stellar job playing Web Journalism 2.0! Congratulations, here's your Gold Star!!
- skellener, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Disney may have indeed "bought" PIXAR, but it is PIXAR that pwns Disney, with Lasseter, Catmull and Jobs in charge of animation.
- palillont, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1It's quite obvious that 2D had to return at some point and that Lasseter is doing the right thing. However, it is really necessary to completely shelve American Dog and force Glen Keane to scrap his 2D/3D hybrid style for Rapunzel, just to separate what Disney and Pixar are doing? If a story takes on a medium that suits it best, why does Rapunzel have to become 2D? It seems like a huge waste of time and money to suddenly halt everything. I just don't understand why he couldn't enforce it as being something a few years from now rather to stop all production and force them to either switch to 2D or be canned. While it's a eventual necessity, it just seems ridiculous.
- MikeOSX, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1For future reference, please call it internet explorer, or just ie. You may confuse people into thinking that you are speaking of an apple associated product.
- wisebob134, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I missed Animated movies so much Plus the overabundance of genric CG moives cuases movies like Chicken little be made. I think Cg is making movie directors feel limited to making bad children movies with bad pop cultue references
- unloud, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Cars, Shrek, Shrek 2, Ice Age, Over the Hedge
- VeganG, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Even hand-drawn animation since the mid-90s has been so computer-assisted that I don't like how "clean" it looks. I look at something like the original Fantasia, and THAT'S moving art.
- NoBullet2, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3I dont want Japanophiles mixing with my Disney movies.
- nullcodes, on 10/12/2007, -6/+7Interesting read .. But why wouldnt they count CGI as "hand drawn" .. after all the characters are created using Mudbox3d or Zbrush with a Wacom tablet. CGI is an artform too .. as the range of colors and drawing tools increased so did art quality. Obviously the portraits of ancient times could have had the same realism as those done in 18th or 19th century were the artists given the same color pallet, inks, and brushes.
Personally I think of CGI as hand drawn. With a little time on Zbrush or Mudbox3d and a digital tablet i think any 2D artist can create awesome and stylistic 3D work.
2D artists shouldnt be afraid of 3D and CGI, with newer technology there's no reason for the two to compete. Any 2D artist with stylistic vision can be competitive in a 3D world. - Sp0rAdiC, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@ flipmeat: I can only imagine what kind of movies would be available via the web from artists that aren't on Disney's payroll if something like that were available for free.
- simpleprimate, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1This is very refreshing to hear as an animator. I recently quit a local animation company because they were making a switch to computer animation only.
- VeganG, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1They tried to, but Disney took issue with Donald and Goofy committing violence. Obviously Disney is unfamiliar with their own company's classic shorts, or the game for that matter.
- seansshack, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I think there is a market for both. My kids enjoy old and new cartoons. They don't seem to min if either 3-d or hand drawn. The story, songs and characters is what matters.
But great to hear this art form is not going to be lost forever. -
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