Post by EbonyPatriot on May 13, 2011 14:23:44 GMT -5
“From 1984-1994, a perfect storm of people and circumstances changed the face of animation forever.”
www.wakingsleepingbeautymovie.com/index.html
Truth to be told, towards the end of Walt Disney’s life, he had grown increasingly distant from the field of animation. Perhaps this disinterest stemmed from Sleeping Beauty’s failure (the failure of the Laugh-O-Grams lead Walt away from animation early on; had he not failed in live action, he might never have return to the Oswald shorts and as a result, Mickey Mouse and the Disney Studios), perhaps from disappointment of 101 Dalmatians’ new style, perhaps simply from the new interests of television and theme parks. At any rate, the Nine Old Men were increasingly left to make the films on their own before and after Walt’s death. While well animated, even Frank and Ollie Johnston lamented the loss of Walt’s leadership to help the films.
With the Nine Old Men retiring after Fox and the Hound, new animators were brought in. But it had been years since the success of the past, and the company was floundering. Don Bluth and several others had jumped ship to start their own company.
Scenting weakness, stockholders nearly bought off the studio and sold individually. The takeover was thwarted, Walt’s good-natured son-in-law Ron Miller (who has good intentions but refused to take risks) was replaced with a returning Roy E. Disney, Walt’s nephew and the son of Roy O. Disney, the man who made Walt’s dreams a reality, in charge. With him came new Hollywood CEOs: Frank Wells, Jeffery Katzenberg, and Michael Eisner. The first film released under their watch, The Black Cauldron failed miserably, being beaten by the Care Bears Movie. Jeffery’s attention turned to live-action; the young animators: Randy Cartwright, Glen Keane, and others, were cast out of the building Walt had built for the animators with the money earned by Snow White so that it could be used for live-action actors.
There was talk of shutting down the animation department altogether and just re-releasing the old films.
Cast off into a trailer, the animators, too young to realize their situation and trained by the Nine Old Men, working together with the intense focus to story from the leaders, began making films. 1984 saw Black Cauldron a box-office bomb, ten years later, 1994 saw The Lion King, the highest grossing animated film of all time (and would hold that title until Finding Nemo took it away).
This then, is that story. How a ragtag group of animators, studio men and storymen took a staggering studio that had almost been torn apart; and turned into a mighty empire- and the costs. No one comes out purely bad; but no one comes out purely good either…
This is the story, directed by Don Hahn, director of The Lion King, and told entirely through archival footage, often shot by Randy Cartwright with John Lasseter as the cameraman.
This is the story, sometimes sad, sometimes silly, that produced the great films of the 1990’s and indeed, help made animation acceptable again, not just from Disney but other studios as well.
This is Waking Sleeping Beauty.
“It’s time to wake Sleeping Beauty…”
Have guys heard of this movie? It’s one of the three documentaries from Disney themselves currently out (the other two are The Boys (about the Sherman Brothers) and Walt and El Gaupo (about the Goodwill Tour Walt took of South America during WWII). And it is AWESOME! Easily one of my favorite films. I do wish that some more of the animators and story decisions had been focused on. (Ashman and Frank Wells’s deaths, plus the seeing how egos got in the way of the great company, is why I find this film rather sad at times).
It’s just so awesome to finally hear the stories behind some of my favorite films. It really is fascinating to see just how much has changed and those ten years. And without these people’s dedication, Disney might have closed down the animation department and as a result, the great nineties traditionally animated film films would never have been made: Little Mermaid, Rescuers Down Under, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Lion King. Plus the films that followed beyond the 1994 cut-off: Pocahontas, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hercules, Mulan, Tarzan, Atlantis, Treasure Planet, Lilo and Stitch, Princess and the Frog, Home on the Range…and of course, Brother Bear.
It is a PG rated documentary and might not be for everyone’s taste, so I do recommend renting it before a buy.
But it is quite awesome, if for nothing else, to see the story of Disney Studios.
Incidentally…their press release says that they’ve wanted to this film for ten years. Although there have been other attempts, inevitably they don’t capture it as well as an insiders would (and they have tendency to decide make people pure bad). I also wouldn’t be surprised if this is related to the fact that it’s also been years since Disney has enjoyed this success in its films. Perhaps it’s time to wake Sleeping Beauty again…
www.wakingsleepingbeautymovie.com/index.html
Truth to be told, towards the end of Walt Disney’s life, he had grown increasingly distant from the field of animation. Perhaps this disinterest stemmed from Sleeping Beauty’s failure (the failure of the Laugh-O-Grams lead Walt away from animation early on; had he not failed in live action, he might never have return to the Oswald shorts and as a result, Mickey Mouse and the Disney Studios), perhaps from disappointment of 101 Dalmatians’ new style, perhaps simply from the new interests of television and theme parks. At any rate, the Nine Old Men were increasingly left to make the films on their own before and after Walt’s death. While well animated, even Frank and Ollie Johnston lamented the loss of Walt’s leadership to help the films.
With the Nine Old Men retiring after Fox and the Hound, new animators were brought in. But it had been years since the success of the past, and the company was floundering. Don Bluth and several others had jumped ship to start their own company.
Scenting weakness, stockholders nearly bought off the studio and sold individually. The takeover was thwarted, Walt’s good-natured son-in-law Ron Miller (who has good intentions but refused to take risks) was replaced with a returning Roy E. Disney, Walt’s nephew and the son of Roy O. Disney, the man who made Walt’s dreams a reality, in charge. With him came new Hollywood CEOs: Frank Wells, Jeffery Katzenberg, and Michael Eisner. The first film released under their watch, The Black Cauldron failed miserably, being beaten by the Care Bears Movie. Jeffery’s attention turned to live-action; the young animators: Randy Cartwright, Glen Keane, and others, were cast out of the building Walt had built for the animators with the money earned by Snow White so that it could be used for live-action actors.
There was talk of shutting down the animation department altogether and just re-releasing the old films.
Cast off into a trailer, the animators, too young to realize their situation and trained by the Nine Old Men, working together with the intense focus to story from the leaders, began making films. 1984 saw Black Cauldron a box-office bomb, ten years later, 1994 saw The Lion King, the highest grossing animated film of all time (and would hold that title until Finding Nemo took it away).
This then, is that story. How a ragtag group of animators, studio men and storymen took a staggering studio that had almost been torn apart; and turned into a mighty empire- and the costs. No one comes out purely bad; but no one comes out purely good either…
This is the story, directed by Don Hahn, director of The Lion King, and told entirely through archival footage, often shot by Randy Cartwright with John Lasseter as the cameraman.
This is the story, sometimes sad, sometimes silly, that produced the great films of the 1990’s and indeed, help made animation acceptable again, not just from Disney but other studios as well.
This is Waking Sleeping Beauty.
“It’s time to wake Sleeping Beauty…”
Have guys heard of this movie? It’s one of the three documentaries from Disney themselves currently out (the other two are The Boys (about the Sherman Brothers) and Walt and El Gaupo (about the Goodwill Tour Walt took of South America during WWII). And it is AWESOME! Easily one of my favorite films. I do wish that some more of the animators and story decisions had been focused on. (Ashman and Frank Wells’s deaths, plus the seeing how egos got in the way of the great company, is why I find this film rather sad at times).
It’s just so awesome to finally hear the stories behind some of my favorite films. It really is fascinating to see just how much has changed and those ten years. And without these people’s dedication, Disney might have closed down the animation department and as a result, the great nineties traditionally animated film films would never have been made: Little Mermaid, Rescuers Down Under, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Lion King. Plus the films that followed beyond the 1994 cut-off: Pocahontas, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hercules, Mulan, Tarzan, Atlantis, Treasure Planet, Lilo and Stitch, Princess and the Frog, Home on the Range…and of course, Brother Bear.
It is a PG rated documentary and might not be for everyone’s taste, so I do recommend renting it before a buy.
But it is quite awesome, if for nothing else, to see the story of Disney Studios.
Incidentally…their press release says that they’ve wanted to this film for ten years. Although there have been other attempts, inevitably they don’t capture it as well as an insiders would (and they have tendency to decide make people pure bad). I also wouldn’t be surprised if this is related to the fact that it’s also been years since Disney has enjoyed this success in its films. Perhaps it’s time to wake Sleeping Beauty again…
You can see some clips from it here: