I don't think it was a condition, but the people that gained power in Disney from the transaction made sure they got jobs where they could do it since they stated beforehand that is what they wanted to do.
I liked Bolt, it had a lot of the elements that make a Pixar movie great. It wasn't quite there, but it was closer than any other 3D animated movie (note, I consider Dreamworks to be a different beast in its animated films).
The detective woman in the Gargoyles cartoon said, "Damn" in the second episode. The evil billionaire said, "Hell" in the first episode.
Heck, someone got shot on Gaygoyles. It was off-screen, but still.
I fondly remember the "hell" line, but when did they ever say "damn"? I read that claim a few times, but I own the DVD and I don't hear that line anywhere.
Also, every time someone mentions an awesome Gargoyles moment, I die a little inside.
I liked Bolt, it had a lot of the elements that make a Pixar movie great. It wasn't quite there, but it was closer than any other 3D animated movie (note, I consider Dreamworks to be a different beast in its animated films).
To be honest, people were saying the same thing when Meet The Robinsons came out, and that movie was nowhere near the same league as any of Pixar's line-up.
I feel that bolt would have been a stronger movie if they took the fake movie trailer part and turned it into the full feature.
And got anyone else besides Miley Cyrus for voice acting. I hate it when they get celebrities to do voice acting in animated movies.
Hasn't Disney stopped DTV releases too? I could've sworn that when Eisner left Iger said there'd be no more shit-filled video-only sequels.
Not entirely... Lasseter made it his mission to kill them off, but he couldn't kill the bazillions of planned movies where Tinkerbell talks for some reason.
He also pushed very, very, VERY hard for Disney to make hand-drawn stuff again, pretty much from the first second he was made head of animation after the Pixar buyout. Last I heard was that they want to do a new hand-drawn one every two years. In a market clogged with charmless, cold 3D productions, this is a hell of a way to stand out.
And I know I'm late, but there was almost a Kingdom Hearts TV series. One of the old columnists at Gamespy claimed to have seen an animatic of a test episode. It would have been Sora, Donald and Goofy travelling from world to world, fighting more "Americanized" heartless. The animatic was set on Agrabah. If memory serves, I think it was cooked up by the guys who did the Aladdin and Hercules TV series.
Unfortunately, the people at the "heritage" arm of Disney licensing (who apparently make sure Disney characters never do anything they object to) objected to Donald and Goofy fighting. Never mind the fact that they were still quintessentially Donald and Goofy. They suggested making it a pure comedy rather than a comedy-adventure, the show makers declined, and the show died.
It's a shame, because it would have been the awesome boy-centric licensing machine Disney's been desperately seeking ever since the Princess thing took off.
Edit: Supposedly Miley was a last-minute addition to Bolt; Disney had a much more natural feeling actress in the role before. But corporate synergy and all that.
Hasn't Disney stopped DTV releases too? I could've sworn that when Eisner left Iger said there'd be no more shit-filled video-only sequels.
Not entirely... Lasseter made it his mission to kill them off, but he couldn't kill the bazillions of planned movies where Tinkerbell talks for some reason.
He also pushed very, very, VERY hard for Disney to make hand-drawn stuff again, pretty much from the first second he was made head of animation after the Pixar buyout. Last I heard was that they want to do a new hand-drawn one every two years. In a market clogged with charmless, cold 3D productions, this is a hell of a way to stand out.
And I know I'm late, but there was almost a Kingdom Hearts TV series. One of the old columnists at Gamespy claimed to have seen an animatic of a test episode. It would have been Sora, Donald and Goofy travelling from world to world, fighting more "Americanized" heartless. The animatic was set on Agrabah. If memory serves, I think it was cooked up by the guys who did the Aladdin and Hercules TV series.
Unfortunately, the people at the "heritage" arm of Disney licensing (who apparently make sure Disney characters never do anything they object to) objected to Donald and Goofy fighting. Never mind the fact that they were still quintessentially Donald and Goofy. They suggested making it a pure comedy rather than a comedy-adventure, the show makers declined, and the show died.
It's a shame, because it would have been the awesome boy-centric licensing machine Disney's been desperately seeking ever since the Princess thing took off.
Edit: Supposedly Miley was a last-minute addition to Bolt; Disney had a much more natural feeling actress in the role before. But corporate synergy and all that.
I read that article too, and I distinctly remember that the cartoon wouldn't even have Sora, but a brand new Americanized character instead.
I remember reading some debates on whether Sora was a fully owned Disney character, or if Square still held the rights to him. I don't know what the situation is now, but I'm honestly surprised that Disney hasn't given KH the marketing blitz that they've done to so many properties.
...
And I know I'm late, but there was almost a Kingdom Hearts TV series. One of the old columnists at Gamespy claimed to have seen an animatic of a test episode. It would have been Sora, Donald and Goofy travelling from world to world, fighting more "Americanized" heartless. The animatic was set on Agrabah. If memory serves, I think it was cooked up by the guys who did the Aladdin and Hercules TV series.
Unfortunately, the people at the "heritage" arm of Disney licensing (who apparently make sure Disney characters never do anything they object to) objected to Donald and Goofy fighting. Never mind the fact that they were still quintessentially Donald and Goofy. They suggested making it a pure comedy rather than a comedy-adventure, the show makers declined, and the show died.
...
Phh, dig up the guys who made Gargoyles, and fuck the guys who don't want Disney characters fighting. I wanna see Goofy tear some shit up!
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Hasn't Disney stopped DTV releases too? I could've sworn that when Eisner left Iger said there'd be no more shit-filled video-only sequels.
Not entirely... Lasseter made it his mission to kill them off, but he couldn't kill the bazillions of planned movies where Tinkerbell talks for some reason.
He also pushed very, very, VERY hard for Disney to make hand-drawn stuff again, pretty much from the first second he was made head of animation after the Pixar buyout. Last I heard was that they want to do a new hand-drawn one every two years. In a market clogged with charmless, cold 3D productions, this is a hell of a way to stand out.
And I know I'm late, but there was almost a Kingdom Hearts TV series. One of the old columnists at Gamespy claimed to have seen an animatic of a test episode. It would have been Sora, Donald and Goofy travelling from world to world, fighting more "Americanized" heartless. The animatic was set on Agrabah. If memory serves, I think it was cooked up by the guys who did the Aladdin and Hercules TV series.
Unfortunately, the people at the "heritage" arm of Disney licensing (who apparently make sure Disney characters never do anything they object to) objected to Donald and Goofy fighting. Never mind the fact that they were still quintessentially Donald and Goofy. They suggested making it a pure comedy rather than a comedy-adventure, the show makers declined, and the show died.
It's a shame, because it would have been the awesome boy-centric licensing machine Disney's been desperately seeking ever since the Princess thing took off.
Edit: Supposedly Miley was a last-minute addition to Bolt; Disney had a much more natural feeling actress in the role before. But corporate synergy and all that.
I read that article too, and I distinctly remember that the cartoon wouldn't even have Sora, but a brand new Americanized character instead.
I remember reading some debates on whether Sora was a fully owned Disney character, or if Square still held the rights to him. I don't know what the situation is now, but I'm honestly surprised that Disney hasn't given KH the marketing blitz that they've done to so many properties.
Huh, I don't remember the article mentioning Sora was out, but then again it's been a while.
Yeah, Disney didn't do much with Kingdom Hearts outside of the game itself. There were some hard-to-find toys, but that's it. I think the game royally confused the heritage guys. It shouldn't have... like I said, even though Donald and Goofy were fighting, they were still undeniably Donald and Goofy. Ah well.
Gargoyles. Now that brings back memories. Awesome show, and Weisman had at least five or six spinoffs planned. That reminds me, Disney never did release any more DVD sets after the first part of season two, did they? Sigh.
You know how that show got away with such dark themes and violent situations? Disney wasn't paying attention to it. It wasn't until the season finale (the Hunters) that they caught wind of it, but instead of pulling the plug they were trying to capitalize on its success with the watered down Goliath Chronicles. Greg Weisman got the boot after the first episode.
Chronicles was still decent, but it was clear that it wasn't everything it could have been. I've been wondering how the recent comic ended up (which was billed as the "true season" that Weisman envisioned).
Anyway, you know what I realized right this second? The Goofy Movie was a metaphor for puberty.
Well, I probably already knew that, but it wasn't until now that I stopped to think about it. Max's fears about ending up like his father are a reference to how his body was physically changing during highschool, not to mention the crush he developed with that girl. This is also subtly hinted with PJ, who has grown as fat as his father, among other physical traits.
Well regardless, I really loved the movie, as it was essentially a sequel to Goof Troop. It's interesting how Goof Troop and Ducktails were the only Disney Afternoon shows to get a movie (not counting Tail Spin, which was a movie first). It's a shame, because a Darkwing Duck movie would've been epic.
Darkwing Duck could easily get a revival now, especially with the current popularity of superheroes. They could even do a timeskip or something with Gosalyn as a grown up crimefighter or something. It doesn't matter, anything they do with the franchise can only end in win.
This talk of duck-themed cartoons reminds me of Duck Tales, and subsequently, the Duck Tales movie. Now that was a fucking awesome movie for kids. It was dark, had lots of adventure, and anthropomorphic ducks. Such an awesome film.
The Goofy Movie was surprisingly good, and a nice coming-of-age flick. That and Duck Tales (also fantastic) were the only two TV shows that got theatrical releases. I was always pulling for a Darkwing movie, but that never happened. (Reminds me, I need to get that on DVD too.)
I pretty much knew that Disney proper was (and still is) baffled or downright scornful by/toward Gargoyles. Frankly it's a little amazing it made it to air for as long as it did. Such a shame, since that's a show that could have had legs.
Incidentally, anyone else see the promo for Princess and the Frog in front of Up? It looks entertaining, and the approach Disney's taking toward it is HEY GUYS WE'RE HAND-DRAWING AGAIN!!! Good call, that's one way for it to stick out.
three caballeros is my favorite. pretty sure I've said that in here but I'm youtubing some clips... gotta get the DVD.
it's one of the movies that I loved so fucking much as a kid that the end of it actually makes me sad even now. just because it was ending.
The Saludos Amigos / Three Caballeros double-pack is well worth a purchase. There's so many great shorts on it. I love everything about Disney's trips to South America.
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The one about the fucking space hairdresser and the cowboy. He's got a tinfoil pal and a pedal bin
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MrMisterJesus dying on the cross in pain? Morally better than us. One has to go "all in".Registered Userregular
three caballeros is my favorite. pretty sure I've said that in here but I'm youtubing some clips... gotta get the DVD.
it's one of the movies that I loved so fucking much as a kid that the end of it actually makes me sad even now. just because it was ending.
WE'RE THREE HAPPY CHAPPIES
IN SNAPPY SERAPES
WE SHOUT AND WE SING AS WE SAMBA
I loved that movie too, although Disney's highly nuanced and culturally sensitive portrayal (not actually either of those things) of our Southern neighbors is pretty hilarious to watch nowadays.
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AtomikaLive fast and get fucked or whateverRegistered Userregular
edited June 2009
I'm over the moon that Disney is going back to the hand-drawn medium, but completely repulsed that the films they're doing it in only seem to be furthering their reprehensible "Disney Princesses" line. It's like watching the Devil cure cancer or something . . .
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FencingsaxIt is difficult to get a man to understand, when his salary depends upon his not understandingGNU Terry PratchettRegistered Userregular
I'm over the moon that Disney is going back to the hand-drawn medium, but completely repulsed that the films they're doing it in only seem to be furthering their reprehensible "Disney Princesses" line. It's like watching the Devil cure cancer or something . . .
Most of the movies during the 90s awesomeness were Disney Princess movies.
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AtomikaLive fast and get fucked or whateverRegistered Userregular
Most of the movies during the 90s awesomeness were Disney Princess movies.
True as that maybe, the quality of one aspect doesn't excuse the crimes of the other. And at least the focus, at that time, wasn't on the marketability of gender-oriented entertainment. With "Princess and the Frog," I've seen Disney shillers come right out and be proud of the fact that Tiana both fills a minority gap and furthers the brand within the "Princesses" line.
Or do you think Disney decided to go back to hand-drawn with a completely original story because it's the best pitch they got? There's still gobs of folklore and fairy tales left to mine in public domain, and outside of "Lion King" (though only if you don't count their wholesale ripping-off of Kimba) Disney doesn't make animated prestige pictures that don't already have built-in public awareness. Let's do the list:
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Pinocchio
Dumbo
Bambi
The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad
Cinderella
Alice in Wonderland
Peter Pan
Lady and the Tramp
Sleeping Beauty
One Hundred and One Dalmatians
The Sword in the Stone
The Jungle Book
Robin Hood
The Rescuers
The Fox and the Hound
The Little Mermaid
Beauty and the Beast
Aladdin
The Lion King
Pocahontas
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Hercules
Mulan
Tarzan
Lilo & Stitch
Every Disney film with a adult human female as the lead has gone on to put them in the "Disney Princesses" line, and all but a handful of those films are derived from public domain sources. The DP line is credited as being the breadwinner and savior of the company brand as sales flag in other departments and trademarks, so they're naturally going to be pushing it hard.
Bottom line, as excited as you would like to be about their return to hand-drawn animation (and by all rights, you should be), just keep in mind that nothing is done at the Mouse House without careful market study and plenty of focus testing. They need a new princess for their line, and they needed a minority. Since there's not a ready supply of public domain heroines that fit the bill like Pocahontas or Mulan did for a Black princess (or at least not outside of Africa, a place that was the setting for two of their last seven animated features), they had to come up with a story. It's all very calculated.
But don't worry, they'll be right back to their WASPy, public-domain raiding, Princess-branding selves with their next scheduled hand-drawn entry, "Rapunzel." If you're going to see these movies just for the art, I think the least you could do is sneak into the theater after buying a ticket for something else.
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FencingsaxIt is difficult to get a man to understand, when his salary depends upon his not understandingGNU Terry PratchettRegistered Userregular
edited June 2009
I think I'm going to trust that Lasseter knows what he's doing
Even if the movie was created just so we could get a black princess, at least they're doing it with some style. 1920s New Orleans? Jazz all over the place? Voodoo? Yes please.
Based on the trailer, the Princess is a frog for what I'm guessing is a decent portion of the film. I could very well be wrong, but that would be a big departure from the standard Disney Princess.
Not to mention the Princess films are still, for the most part, good and generally feature the Princess as the protagonist as opposed to the more cliche damsel in distress. It'd be nice to see, I dunno, normal females in the lead, but baby steps. We could be getting more 3D crap.
Unless you're talking about the DTV Tinkerbell movies and other pap that never sees the theater, I don't think I know what you're talking about. BOLT and MEET THE ROBINSONS and CHICKEN LITTLE did staunch business for Disney and were generally well-received by critics.
Disney certainly had worse outings with their last few hand-drawn numbers. TREASURE PLANET, ATLANTIS, and HOME ON THE RANGE were abysmal, in both content and return.
I thought Treasure Planet was rather excellent. It was filled with great animation and adventure. What else do you need?
I'm not really here to argue over opinion, as those battles can't be won.
As far as what I like, I haven't seen an animated film I really loved since Ratatouille. Even WALL-E and UP were a kind of weird pedestrian-type of fantastic for me, not entirely like the last White Stripes album, in which I can note the quality and tell that it's a fine piece of work, but it's not really expanding or growing on the work that came before it. As a matter of fact, both WALL-E and UP have some fairly clumsy script issues.
Bottom line, as excited as you would like to be about their return to hand-drawn animation (and by all rights, you should be), just keep in mind that nothing is done at the Mouse House without careful market study and plenty of focus testing. They need a new princess for their line, and they needed a minority. Since there's not a ready supply of public domain heroines that fit the bill like Pocahontas or Mulan did for a Black princess (or at least not outside of Africa, a place that was the setting for two of their last seven animated features), they had to come up with a story. It's all very calculated.
There is already a "princess and the frog" story. The princess wasn't black, but still, the story already existed, they are not creating it from thin air.
...and I thought of how all those people died, and what a good death that is. That nobody can blame you for it, because everyone else died along with you, and it is the fault of none, save those who did the killing.
I guess the bottom line is that "the Princess and the Frog" is a strong comeback for 2D animation. It is definitely the strongest Disney animated film in years, and although it doesn't surpass masterpieces like "the Little Mermaid" and "Beauty and the Beast," it reminds you why, as a kid, you looked forward to Disney's animated films.
First, I Loved the movie, in fact I think it's one of the best animated movies Disney has ever made. I enjoy the 3D stuff but 2D just has a certain feeling to it. Even though most the movie wasn't finished being colored the few parts we saw looked beautiful. Can't wait to see what it looks like finished. The story/characters/writing is the highlight of this film though.
I'm glad it's gotten good reviews. The setting alone has me interested, and hopefully, it will do well enough that we continue to see new hand drawn films.
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I fondly remember the "hell" line, but when did they ever say "damn"? I read that claim a few times, but I own the DVD and I don't hear that line anywhere.
Also, every time someone mentions an awesome Gargoyles moment, I die a little inside.
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To be honest, people were saying the same thing when Meet The Robinsons came out, and that movie was nowhere near the same league as any of Pixar's line-up.
I feel that bolt would have been a stronger movie if they took the fake movie trailer part and turned it into the full feature.
And got anyone else besides Miley Cyrus for voice acting. I hate it when they get celebrities to do voice acting in animated movies.
Not entirely... Lasseter made it his mission to kill them off, but he couldn't kill the bazillions of planned movies where Tinkerbell talks for some reason.
He also pushed very, very, VERY hard for Disney to make hand-drawn stuff again, pretty much from the first second he was made head of animation after the Pixar buyout. Last I heard was that they want to do a new hand-drawn one every two years. In a market clogged with charmless, cold 3D productions, this is a hell of a way to stand out.
And I know I'm late, but there was almost a Kingdom Hearts TV series. One of the old columnists at Gamespy claimed to have seen an animatic of a test episode. It would have been Sora, Donald and Goofy travelling from world to world, fighting more "Americanized" heartless. The animatic was set on Agrabah. If memory serves, I think it was cooked up by the guys who did the Aladdin and Hercules TV series.
Unfortunately, the people at the "heritage" arm of Disney licensing (who apparently make sure Disney characters never do anything they object to) objected to Donald and Goofy fighting. Never mind the fact that they were still quintessentially Donald and Goofy. They suggested making it a pure comedy rather than a comedy-adventure, the show makers declined, and the show died.
It's a shame, because it would have been the awesome boy-centric licensing machine Disney's been desperately seeking ever since the Princess thing took off.
Edit: Supposedly Miley was a last-minute addition to Bolt; Disney had a much more natural feeling actress in the role before. But corporate synergy and all that.
Oh no, not at all
I read that article too, and I distinctly remember that the cartoon wouldn't even have Sora, but a brand new Americanized character instead.
I remember reading some debates on whether Sora was a fully owned Disney character, or if Square still held the rights to him. I don't know what the situation is now, but I'm honestly surprised that Disney hasn't given KH the marketing blitz that they've done to so many properties.
Blog||Tumblr|Steam|Twitter|FFXIV|Twitch|YouTube|Podcast|PSN|XBL|DarkZero
Phh, dig up the guys who made Gargoyles, and fuck the guys who don't want Disney characters fighting. I wanna see Goofy tear some shit up!
3DS FC: 4699-5714-8940 Playing Pokemon, add me! Ho, SATAN!
Uh...
Yeah, Disney didn't do much with Kingdom Hearts outside of the game itself. There were some hard-to-find toys, but that's it. I think the game royally confused the heritage guys. It shouldn't have... like I said, even though Donald and Goofy were fighting, they were still undeniably Donald and Goofy. Ah well.
Gargoyles. Now that brings back memories. Awesome show, and Weisman had at least five or six spinoffs planned. That reminds me, Disney never did release any more DVD sets after the first part of season two, did they? Sigh.
You know how that show got away with such dark themes and violent situations? Disney wasn't paying attention to it. It wasn't until the season finale (the Hunters) that they caught wind of it, but instead of pulling the plug they were trying to capitalize on its success with the watered down Goliath Chronicles. Greg Weisman got the boot after the first episode.
Chronicles was still decent, but it was clear that it wasn't everything it could have been. I've been wondering how the recent comic ended up (which was billed as the "true season" that Weisman envisioned).
Anyway, you know what I realized right this second? The Goofy Movie was a metaphor for puberty.
Well, I probably already knew that, but it wasn't until now that I stopped to think about it. Max's fears about ending up like his father are a reference to how his body was physically changing during highschool, not to mention the crush he developed with that girl. This is also subtly hinted with PJ, who has grown as fat as his father, among other physical traits.
Well regardless, I really loved the movie, as it was essentially a sequel to Goof Troop. It's interesting how Goof Troop and Ducktails were the only Disney Afternoon shows to get a movie (not counting Tail Spin, which was a movie first). It's a shame, because a Darkwing Duck movie would've been epic.
Darkwing Duck could easily get a revival now, especially with the current popularity of superheroes. They could even do a timeskip or something with Gosalyn as a grown up crimefighter or something. It doesn't matter, anything they do with the franchise can only end in win.
Blog||Tumblr|Steam|Twitter|FFXIV|Twitch|YouTube|Podcast|PSN|XBL|DarkZero
Wait, that's Darkwing Duck. Maybe Tale Spin was too, though.
That would've been great too, but probably would have confused the general public who were fans of Jungle Book.
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I pretty much knew that Disney proper was (and still is) baffled or downright scornful by/toward Gargoyles. Frankly it's a little amazing it made it to air for as long as it did. Such a shame, since that's a show that could have had legs.
Incidentally, anyone else see the promo for Princess and the Frog in front of Up? It looks entertaining, and the approach Disney's taking toward it is HEY GUYS WE'RE HAND-DRAWING AGAIN!!! Good call, that's one way for it to stick out.
3DS FC: 4699-5714-8940 Playing Pokemon, add me! Ho, SATAN!
it's one of the movies that I loved so fucking much as a kid that the end of it actually makes me sad even now. just because it was ending.
The Saludos Amigos / Three Caballeros double-pack is well worth a purchase. There's so many great shorts on it. I love everything about Disney's trips to South America.
WE'RE THREE HAPPY CHAPPIES
IN SNAPPY SERAPES
WE SHOUT AND WE SING AS WE SAMBA
I loved that movie too, although Disney's highly nuanced and culturally sensitive portrayal (not actually either of those things) of our Southern neighbors is pretty hilarious to watch nowadays.
Most of the movies during the 90s awesomeness were Disney Princess movies.
True as that maybe, the quality of one aspect doesn't excuse the crimes of the other. And at least the focus, at that time, wasn't on the marketability of gender-oriented entertainment. With "Princess and the Frog," I've seen Disney shillers come right out and be proud of the fact that Tiana both fills a minority gap and furthers the brand within the "Princesses" line.
Or do you think Disney decided to go back to hand-drawn with a completely original story because it's the best pitch they got? There's still gobs of folklore and fairy tales left to mine in public domain, and outside of "Lion King" (though only if you don't count their wholesale ripping-off of Kimba) Disney doesn't make animated prestige pictures that don't already have built-in public awareness. Let's do the list:
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Pinocchio
Dumbo
Bambi
The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad
Cinderella
Alice in Wonderland
Peter Pan
Lady and the Tramp
Sleeping Beauty
One Hundred and One Dalmatians
The Sword in the Stone
The Jungle Book
Robin Hood
The Rescuers
The Fox and the Hound
The Little Mermaid
Beauty and the Beast
Aladdin
The Lion King
Pocahontas
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Hercules
Mulan
Tarzan
Lilo & Stitch
Every Disney film with a adult human female as the lead has gone on to put them in the "Disney Princesses" line, and all but a handful of those films are derived from public domain sources. The DP line is credited as being the breadwinner and savior of the company brand as sales flag in other departments and trademarks, so they're naturally going to be pushing it hard.
Bottom line, as excited as you would like to be about their return to hand-drawn animation (and by all rights, you should be), just keep in mind that nothing is done at the Mouse House without careful market study and plenty of focus testing. They need a new princess for their line, and they needed a minority. Since there's not a ready supply of public domain heroines that fit the bill like Pocahontas or Mulan did for a Black princess (or at least not outside of Africa, a place that was the setting for two of their last seven animated features), they had to come up with a story. It's all very calculated.
But don't worry, they'll be right back to their WASPy, public-domain raiding, Princess-branding selves with their next scheduled hand-drawn entry, "Rapunzel." If you're going to see these movies just for the art, I think the least you could do is sneak into the theater after buying a ticket for something else.
Who do?
3DS FC: 4699-5714-8940 Playing Pokemon, add me! Ho, SATAN!
Not to mention the Princess films are still, for the most part, good and generally feature the Princess as the protagonist as opposed to the more cliche damsel in distress. It'd be nice to see, I dunno, normal females in the lead, but baby steps. We could be getting more 3D crap.
Disney traces or something, maybe?
Unless you're talking about the DTV Tinkerbell movies and other pap that never sees the theater, I don't think I know what you're talking about. BOLT and MEET THE ROBINSONS and CHICKEN LITTLE did staunch business for Disney and were generally well-received by critics.
Disney certainly had worse outings with their last few hand-drawn numbers. TREASURE PLANET, ATLANTIS, and HOME ON THE RANGE were abysmal, in both content and return.
I'm not really here to argue over opinion, as those battles can't be won.
As far as what I like, I haven't seen an animated film I really loved since Ratatouille. Even WALL-E and UP were a kind of weird pedestrian-type of fantastic for me, not entirely like the last White Stripes album, in which I can note the quality and tell that it's a fine piece of work, but it's not really expanding or growing on the work that came before it. As a matter of fact, both WALL-E and UP have some fairly clumsy script issues.
There is already a "princess and the frog" story. The princess wasn't black, but still, the story already existed, they are not creating it from thin air.
You do!
Nothing's forgotten, nothing is ever forgotten
Also, a couple fairly glowing reviews (with SPOILERS) based on test screenings at
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/41034
Non-spoiler excerpts: