Disney to continue 2D Hand Drawn films

[Raph's Girl]

http://news.toonzone.net/articles/28714/disney-wants-new-hand-drawn-animated-feature-every-2-years

Firstshowing.net is reporting that Walt Disney Feature Animation's visual effects supervisor Marlon West stated at this year's Wondercon that "Disney is looking to continue making one 2D hand drawn animated movie once every two or so years from now on." The statement was made during a panel on The Princess and the Frog, the first hand-drawn animated feature film from Walt Disney Feature Animation since 2004's Home on the Range.

Now this is an excellent idea. I rather prefer the 2D films! Cinderella 3, Bambi II, Little Mermaid 3 are some of the best films Disney has put out in the last couple years.

[Hannah]

All three of those were sh*tty sequels that no one wants to watch.

[Brodie]

All three of those were sh*tty sequels that no one wants to watch.

Agreed. Raph's Girl is a liar.

[Ryona]

I'm all for 2D hand-drawn films, so this is great news.
After all of Disney's 3D CGI films, my favorite Disney film is still Aladdin, which is classicly made.

[Hannah]

It's Aladdin, not Alladin.

[Ryona]

Yeah, I just caught it right after submitting the post. Stupid typos.

[doomiscool]

I think what's funny is they started making the 3D to move away from 2D. Up until now, they were pretty meh, but Bolt was actually really good. They finally got into the swing of it, and they're going back to 2D :ohwell:

I guess it depends on how well they do with Bolt money-wise as to whether they'll make more 3D ones...

[Ninjinister]

I can has another Stitch movie?

[Raph's Girl]

I can has another Stitch movie?

So your not satisfied with the tv series or movies II - IV or the Anime reboot???

[ThirdMarioBro]

Disney was horrible with 3D--especially when you see Pixar's work right next to it. Hand-drawn animation was always Disney's gift. They pioneered the medium. John Musker and Ron Clements perfected it in the 90's (Beauty and the Beast/Aladdin being the two best pieces of animation ever produced). Now they are going to continue it this year. The day John Lasseter took over Walt Disney animation was the happiest day in modern animation history.

To hear this happy news makes me smile inside. :)

[Tinuvielsdreams]

A college buddy of mine is an imagineer at Disney California and he told me about a meeting where he had heard news similar to this. It was back in September and I hadn't heard anything since. I was pretty skeptical about it honestly and I assumed it would be pending the success of The Princess and the Frog
I guess it wasn't just a rumor after all. I am hoping this means they will be hiring lots of traditional animators. In my dreams...

[Drtooth]

Once every 2 years is pretty disappointing. I know, I know, at least it's something... but once every 2 years?

And I think some of the Disney CGI stuff was decent... not that great. I liked Chicken Little, but Dinosaur was like watching paint dry slowly. It was like a half hour IMAX film stretched out to 90 minutes with dialogue added in last minute (as was the case). Bolt was surprisingly good (most of the cast aside. I never cared for Travolta except for his role in Pulp Fiction).... but I think Pixar usually does a job that's a million times better.

And as far as cheapquels go... I'm glad that they discontinued them. Jungle Book 2 was trash. It was bad enough Louie Prima's widow whined and sued Disney because no one can ever ever ever impersonate Louie's voice ever, causing him to not be featured in the movie (Jim Cummings did a wonderful job with Talespin, but that's what got them in trouble in the first place)... but the movie focused on the new kid characters, and it just felt like a sloppy, worthless production start to finish.

Of course, I liked Lion King 2 and Extremely Goofy Movie was very good, considering it was a commercial for ESPN and the X-Games. At least the subplot with Goofy and the librarian was sweet.

[ThirdMarioBro]

Once every two years is frankly a good deal at this point considering the fact that theatrical animation was completely dead prior to The Princess and the Frog, and the fact that Disney has had to rebuild their entire animation division from scratch. They used to be quite literally a factory, polished and efficient. Now they're essentially rebuilding the machine because Eisner broke it down and threw it away. Frankly, I didn't expect the rebuilding to be this fast considering what all was lost.

[Drtooth]

Once every two years is frankly a good deal at this point considering the fact that theatrical animation was completely dead prior to The Princess and the Frog, and the fact that Disney has had to rebuild their entire animation division from scratch. They used to be quite literally a factory, polished and efficient. Now they're essentially rebuilding the machine because Eisner broke it down and threw it away.

Well, then again, their last few 2D films were all pretty dodgey, outside of Lilo and Stitch anyway. Treasure Planet was a huge flop, Brother Bear was panned by every critic (I thought it was much better at Native American storytelling that the hideously illconceived, and historically inaccurate Pocahontas), and I still can't decide if I liked Home on the Range at all. I know what they were getting at with that last one, but really.... they musta been smokin' something when they made that one.

Of course, they didn't have much success with their own CGI films anyway... Chicken Little and Meet the Robinsons did well for themselves... but the other Disney CGI films, specifically the ones from that other studio they had a partner ship (Vanguard and The Wild) flopped completely.

I think it all chalks back to the 90's, when they were doing princess films. After a while, they got so much bemoaning of doing specifically Princess films, by the time they branched out, they were getting panned for NOT doing princess films. I still scratch my head over the decision to make Hunchback of Notre Dame (Which I only liked because of the gargoyles)... and I was never a fan of their Tarzan (I hated that upstart monkey character Rosie played). I think Atlantis was a good venture into an action type film... too bad Titan A.E. beat them too the punch. Shame the Atlantis cartoon never happened (especially if you're a Gargoyles fan).

[ThirdMarioBro]

I still scratch my head over the decision to make Hunchback of Notre Dame (Which I only liked because of the gargoyles)... and I was never a fan of their Tarzan (I hated that upstart monkey character Rosie played). I think Atlantis was a good venture into an action type film... too bad Titan A.E. beat them too the punch. Shame the Atlantis cartoon never happened (especially if you're a Gargoyles fan).

I'll give you Tarzan because it sucked, but Hunchback? That was probably one of their most underrated movies and one of my favorites. The animation was peak level, the music and voices were great, and the story was ballsy. Yeah, the copped out on the ending, but you get used to that with Disney.

[Drtooth]

Actually, I did like Hunchback a lot more than I let on. I mean, what other Disney movie uttered the term "Damnation" and "Eternal Damnation" and managed to get a G rating?

[ThirdMarioBro]

...or sings a song about personal demons and lust. Win.

[Tinuvielsdreams]

Mulan didn't do badly, it was like a Disney Princess movie without an actual princess. She was a very strong popular character.

The Huntchback was a good movie but I didn't appreciate it until I was older. The themes are very adult and the villain is downright creepy, plus they basically had the lead female character pole dancing haha

I have no problem with Tarzan. I loved the music Phil Collins did and the animation was amazing with all the vine swinging and fighting.

My most recent favorite hand drawn films were Lilo and Stitch and The Emperors New Groove.
I can't say enough good things about Lilo and Stitch, the beautiful backgrounds, the unique (to say the least) characters, the Hawaiian culture, and Elvis Lol! I fell in love with it.

I felt similarly to Emperor new Groove. The characters made that movie gold for me.

Every two years sounds like a good average in my book. I also heard they have to find a lot of new artists now who can hand draw because so many animators come out of college concentrated in 3D. They really are going to have to rebuild from scratch to get the traditional studio going again. I am going to watch AWN like a hawk :P

[Ninjinister]

I agree, Tinny. Lilo & Stitch and Emperor's New Groove were about the only great 2D Disney movies thus far this millennium.

[Evenstar227]

Treasure Planet was a huge flop

Am I the only person who loved Treasure Planet? No one seems to like it, except for little kids. And maybe not even then. o_O

[Tinuvielsdreams]

Am I the only person who loved Treasure Planet? No one seems to like it, except for little kids. And maybe not even then. o_O

Nope I admit that I liked it very much. I wonder if people just were tired of that story or something else came out near it...I blame country Bears lol
Actually I just have no idea why it bombed

[joe-eyeball]

I don't really care if they do another 2D film, because in my book the only one that ever truely mattered to me was Robin Hood.

[Drtooth]

My most recent favorite hand drawn films were Lilo and Stitch and The Emperors New Groove.
I can't say enough good things about Lilo and Stitch, the beautiful backgrounds, the unique (to say the least) characters, the Hawaiian culture, and Elvis Lol! I fell in love with it.

I felt similarly to Emperor new Groove. The characters made that movie gold for me.

Man, those two were just absolutely great. Of course, while Disney had a large period of success with Stitch (3 sequals- 2 being from the animated series, said animated series, and a Japanese reimagining), but they treated ENG like a second class citizen... and what I hate are animation elitists that talk about "oh yeah, well the original concept was about an Emperor that loved his country... blah blah blah blah..." I'm sure the original concept wouldn't have been as imaginative or memorable as it came out to be. Of course, Disney made the decision to hide the film behind the dreadful 102 Dalmatians sequel, and that got all the promotion, toys, etc. etc. Went NUTS trying to find a simple Llama Kuzco plush.

One every other year is alright, I guess... gives them time to think about the projects... but considering, and this is without Pixar, they'd have 2 CGI movies every year, almost seems like a cheat...

[Ginny]

Actually, I did like Hunchback a lot more than I let on. I mean, what other Disney movie uttered the term "Damnation" and "Eternal Damnation" and managed to get a G rating?

...or sings a song about personal demons and lust. Win.

I was floored that Hunchback got a G rating when I saw it. I remember quite a number of parents removing their children from the theater during the infamous "Hellfire" song. But it was quite a fantastically done movie. Beauty and the Beast will always be my favorite though.

[Hero]

Glad to hear the hand-drawn stuff is coming back to the cinemas. An every other year offering seems good to me. That leans more towards quality rather than quantity.

Seems like these features needed a rest. The late 90's-00's film I liked was Atlantis: The Lost Empire. Tarzan, Treasure Planet, Home on The Range etc did'nt tickle my tastebuds tbh. Does'nt mean they were bad films though.

[Tinuvielsdreams]

Man, those two were just absolutely great. Of course, while Disney had a large period of success with Stitch (3 sequals- 2 being from the animated series, said animated series, and a Japanese reimagining), but they treated ENG like a second class citizen... and what I hate are animation elitists that talk about "oh yeah, well the original concept was about an Emperor that loved his country... blah blah blah blah..." I'm sure the original concept wouldn't have been as imaginative or memorable as it came out to be. Of course, Disney made the decision to hide the film behind the dreadful 102 Dalmatians sequel, and that got all the promotion, toys, etc. etc. Went NUTS trying to find a simple Llama Kuzco plush.

One every other year is alright, I guess... gives them time to think about the projects... but considering, and this is without Pixar, they'd have 2 CGI movies every year, almost seems like a cheat...

I think that it depends how big their team will be for these films. Traditional animation is a tedious process. I may be wrong but in my experience, of doing a lot of traditional and a little bit of 3D, the hand drawn always takes longer unless you have a pretty large team. production costs are different as well for each medium as well.

Did you actually find the Kuzco Llama plushie? That would be soo cool to have. I have quite a few stitches

[Spike Spiegel]

Glad to hear the hand-drawn stuff is coming back to the cinemas. An every other year offering seems good to me. That leans more towards quality rather than quantity.

Seems like these features needed a rest. The late 90's-00's film I liked was Atlantis: The Lost Empire.

I love that movie!! Milo Thatch was my homeboy, and Michael J. Fox being the VA of that character=win.

I don't mind if the new 2-D Disney films are coming out only once every two years. As said in previous posts, we're lucky to be getting that at all. I just hope that whatever new things they come out with have that same sense of epic awesomeness as Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, etc...we don't need sequels to old stuff. We need new stuff that's just as good...or better.

[Hannah]

The animation in Atlantis was pretty and Michael J Fox is my boy, but that movie was horrible.

[Ninjinister]

Am I the only person who loved Treasure Planet? No one seems to like it, except for little kids. And maybe not even then. o_O

I never saw it all the way through... saw a bit of it when I was at my parents' a few months ago... the little blob thing was cute, but I couldn't formulate an opinion about the rest of it.

[Jester]

I don't really care if they do another 2D film, because in my book the only one that ever truely mattered to me was Robin Hood.
Dear god....I agree with Joe-Eyeball. Disney's Robin Hood is one of my all time favorites.

[Hero]

I don't mind if the new 2-D Disney films are coming out only once every two years. As said in previous posts, we're lucky to be getting that at all. I just hope that whatever new things they come out with have that same sense of epic awesomeness as Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, etc...we don't need sequels to old stuff. We need new stuff that's just as good...or better.

I think Disney are setting to do that again with Princess & The Frog. It looks like the big D are trying to get thier spark back.

I'm glad to not be the only one on this thread that likes Atlantis: The Lost Empire.

[Buffy]

Am I the only person who loved Treasure Planet? No one seems to like it, except for little kids. And maybe not even then. o_O

I thought that movie was pretty cool.:) My favorite movies though are "Lion King" and "Beauty and the Beast".