Ah, Disney is the 90s........

[donniedisney]

Im voting for the Walt years

 

[DisneyMusician2]

I might have to agree with the previous, and say when Roy and Walt were running the show was truly the glory days of Disney.

They were a great balance of reality and fantasy respectively, and Walt was all about changing rides and attractions to get them right even after they were up and running. Carton shorts were popular, they were in a new frontier of entertainment in the movie and park venues.

The most important thing about the Walt times was the image of Walt. Not his ideas or vision, but the public image of Walt Disney. Who else today could run a company and do their own TV show to tell you of the massive plans they have. He was public and liked, which in many ways made the products of the company popular and well-liked.

Disney is missing the front man, the kind that is the boss and has veto power over everything done whom the public trusts when they speak on TV. Who else can you point to that is in charge since that almost everyone (not just us Disneyphiles) could recognize a picture of?

 

[DisneyYorkian74]

Everything was better in 90's!

 

[yankspy]

I vote for the 80's for the parks but it might just be because I was younger and curious and everything was so cool. I might have become jaded by the mid 90's so my opinion isn't as good. I remember going when I was 16 and it just wasn't as much fun as when I was 7 or 8 or 10.

As far as TV goes, the 90's were probably the best, just based on the quality and quantity of superior shows.

Movies, though, I think 50's by a long shot. Just go look up all the amazing animated AND live action movies they produced during the decade. It's pretty neat imo. Cinderella, Peter Pan, Sleeping Beauty, Alice in Wonderland, 20K Leagues Under the Sea, Davy Crocket. Among many others. If you include 60-62 there is an even greater number of excellent movies.

I think that because of the "nostalgia factor" many people would pick the time period in which they were younger. I would also vote for the early eighties.

I remember a Tomorrowland that had missions to mars, something that moved people, and a free attraction that had to do with airplanes.

I remember a "Future World" that had attractions that smelled of oranges and pavillions that had huge windows that were not covered. I can recall these funny looking logos that represented each attraction and how they made puzzles for them.

I remember a boy who was amused for hours with a simple $2.00 coin trick purchased from "The House of Magic"

I remember a quiet place called the "Lake Buena Vista Village" where the trees all soothingly sparkled with white lights and a kid could buy gourmet candy before it was available everywhere.

 

[BigRedDad]

Everyone will have their own decade to like. Nothing was better in the 70s to go through the weekend and know that "The Wonderful World of Disney" was coming on at 7:30PM to close out a weekend. These were timeless classics at the time: Tom Sawyer (or was it Adventures of Huck Finn?), Apple Dumpling Gang, Pete's Dragon, Snow White, Cinderella, Robin Hood, random Disney cartoons.

I do agree that the technology boom has made the movies much more sophisticated and enjoyable. The 80s and 90s were a monster boom for the company.

 

[DisneyYorkian74]

Actually, that's not correct at all. Read any business book on Disney (there are plenty of them) and you'll find that's not the case.

Wow it was really hard to get through this post it was so filled with false information and ignorance.:brick:

but critically, it was the beginning of the decline.

Untrue...

The Lion King is one of the most critically acclaimed animated movies of all-time.

It won numerous awards including 2 Academy Awards and a Golden Globe.

Many industry experts tend to agree that The Lion King's success was largely built upon the reputation that it's predecessor films had created.

I can assure you that no "industry experts" view The Lion King's success that way.

And if any do... Then they're sadly just as mis-informed as you are.

Lion King was kind of the beginning of Disney's image being hurt.

The Lion King is by far one of the most successful movie franchises ever that Disney owns.

Not only was it a huge box-office success, the movie became a huge pop-culture phenomenon of the 1990's.

It was the highest grossing movie Worldwide of 1994, launched one of the most successful film soundtracks of all-time, spun-off into one of longest running and highly successful broadway musical, and then went on to set and hold the record of most VHS tapes sold ever for any movie in the United States.

The Lion King still has one of the largest and strongest fanbases for any Disney movie.

It was also one of the most requested DVD releases Disney has ever received before its actual DVD release in 2003.

Not coincidentally, it was around this time that Jeffrey Katzenberg left Disney to form Dreamworks.

Dreamworks was not an animation company Disney was even remotely worried about in the 1990's because Disney held a strong and-then-believed to be unbreakable monopoly in animation in Hollywood.

Dreamworks put out plenty of animated films in the 1990's that were all more-or-less box-office flops.

It wasn't until they decided to be the antithesis of 1990's Disney animation by creating a 3D animated computer animated comedy film called Shrek that Dreamworks animation saw box-office success.

Disney's blow to Disney animation were themselves...

They slowly started to go away from movies like beloved and successful The Lion King and started to create movies like box-office flops Atlantis and Treasure Planet.

 

[MKCP 1985]

IMO, the 90s were Disney's best years, overall. The movies were just outstanding, the music is timeless, and who here DOESN'T remember going into a Disney Store when they were kids! I used to LOVE going to the Disney Store when I was younger. They used to be so cool and amazing.

I also remember my mother being CRAZY about Disney during the 90s. Come to think of it, EVERYBODY was crazy about Disney in the early to mid 90s. The 90s just had such a great feel to them; such a wonderful optomistic outlook. And Disney, I think, was such a huge part of that. They had such FANTASTIC shows on! Ducktales, Darkwing Duck, Tailspin, The New Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh (my personal favorite.....), and more.

Having been raised on 90s Disney, I might be biased, but I think that it was Disney's most successful period. Every one of their movies were instant gold, the theme parks were growing at rediculous rates, and Disney merchandise sold like there wouldn't be anything Disney the next day.

EVERY single person I talk to that grew up on The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Pocahontas, The Lion King, and others talk about what a profound effect that Disney had on their lives growing up in the 90s. People make fun of me all the time for being such a Disney lover, but I just love it so much.

How about you guys?

Every decade is better than the one before. Now is the best time!

When I was growing up, Walt Disney World was new and fantastic, but the Magic Kingdom of the 70s and even the Magic Kingdom/Epcot Center combination of the 80s doesn't compare to all that's out there today. The theme park offerings are bigger, broader and more appealing to a cross section of likes and dislikes than ever before, and awesome new things are here (Toy Story Midway Mania) and on the way!

Kids of the 90s had the movies you mention in the theater, and the kids of today have those same movies on their flat screen TVs at home, plus such movies in the theater as Wall-E, Cars, and other Incredible ( :lookaroun ) movies!

All of that aside, I agree the 90s was a great time for Disney animation. :king: But it was also the decade of the Magic Kingdom Castle Cake! :lol:

 

[jeffk410]

1991

I also was born in 91 and i completely agree with everything you said. Ahh i think i should go listen to the Lion King soundtrack now....

 

[gettingsmaller]

I think that we all have certain "formative years", and that we tend to think that certain things were better during those years. For people born mid-late 80's/early 90's, it probably seemed like Disney had its best times in the 90's because you were the right age in the 90's for it to seem that way. For others, the 80's might seem best because they were the right age for it during the 80's.
Same thing as with music... I think most of us tend to think that the "best music" was produced during the time of our Jr. High/High School years--because that's when we really became aware of music, were developing our own tastes, etc..

 

[jeffk410]

and yes

I dont care what anyone says i still love lion king and it is not overrated =D

 

[Lucky]

I understand the arguments about the glory days. But the majority of changes in the parks have been for the better. Philharmagic & Soarin' and a lot of other good attractions were not there in the 90s. Animal Kingdom didn't open until near the end of the 90s. In the good old days they relied more heavily on passive animatronic shows like CBJ, CoP, HoP and MMR that wouldn't interest most guests today.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Wow it was really hard to get through this post it was so filled with false information and ignorance.:brick:

Untrue...

The Lion King is one of the most critically acclaimed animated movies of all-time.

It won numerous awards including 2 Academy Awards and a Golden Globe.

I can assure you that no "industry experts" view The Lion King's success that way.

And if any do... Then they're sadly just as mis-informed as you are.

The Lion King is by far one of the most successful movie franchises ever that Disney owns.

Not only was it a huge box-office success, the movie became a huge pop-culture phenomenon of the 1990's.

It was the highest grossing movie Worldwide of 1994, launched one of the most successful film soundtracks of all-time, spun-off into one of longest running and highly successful broadway musical, and then went on to set and hold the record of most VHS tapes sold ever for any movie in the United States.

The Lion King still has one of the largest and strongest fanbases for any Disney movie.

It was also one of the most requested DVD releases Disney has ever received before its actual DVD release in 2003.

Dreamworks was not an animation company Disney was even remotely worried about in the 1990's because Disney held a strong and-then-believed to be unbreakable monopoly in animation in Hollywood.

Dreamworks put out plenty of animated films in the 1990's that were all more-or-less box-office flops.

It wasn't until they decided to be the antithesis of 1990's Disney animation by creating a 3D animated computer animated comedy film called Shrek that Dreamworks animation saw box-office success.

Disney's blow to Disney animation were themselves...

They slowly started to go away from movies like beloved and successful The Lion King and started to create movies like box-office flops Atlantis and Treasure Planet.

Your first statement of irony says it all.

The Lion King did in fact mark the end of era for Disney animation. All Disney animated movies after word were expected to do equally as good if not better than Lion King which resulted in many critics and industry expects calling all the films after it "failures" because they didn't do as well as Lion King. (Pocahontas gets $141 million and 2 academy awards. but of course is still a failure). The Lion King also marked the beginning of a trend to try more serious subject matter in films that was hampered by Eisner's goals to constantly increase profits in all areas of the company. This lead to animators being forced to make their films "safe" and guaranteed to make money, along with animation studios being set up all over the world so that the company could have it's supposed $300 million grossing movies released every year, greatly rushed through production.

Dreamworks first movie was The Prince of Egypt which was both a box office and critical success (winning an Academy Award) and Kattensburg got the movie he always wanted to make at Disney. Later in that decade, critics began to take notice of non-Disney movies like Anastasia, Iron Giant, South Park etc and those films got more academy recognition than Mulan Hercules or Hunchback. Even at the time of Lion King's Christmas 1994 re-release, Roger Ebert told people to see The Swan Princess instead saying it marked the beginning of non-Disney animators knowing their stuff.

The Disney movies of this decade were apparently subject to intentional poor marketing and sabotage by Eisner that led to their supposed failures. What makes the Lion King beloved in your eyes? Is it because it followed a formula that began with The Little Mermaid in 1989 and became tired and worn (and easy to mimic) by Tarzan in 1999? So Disney fails by trying to do something new latter on? Or was it because these films were less aggressively marketed and chosen poor release dates deliberately (April for Home on the Range, Treasure Planet being released the same time the first Harry Potter film came out).

You explain how one specific film was a hit without referencing the films that came before it which grabbed the Disney Audience and the films after word which lost it even before this decade came along.

As a side note, anyone who refers to the 1989-1994 period as "The Disney Renaissance" is insulting the animators by saying they lacked creativity, talent and creative thinking beforehand. Never mind the fact that most people are quick to ignore The Rescuers Down Under which was released during this time had an important contribution to Disney animation and was probably the best sequel Disney ever made.

It's so easy to jump on the "Lion King was Amazing" bandwagon but it takes some kind of effort to really understand what was going on with Disney animation at the time. Even Beauty and the Beast's Best Picture nomination was criticized by critics saying that 1991 was truly not a good year for movies if it was and I wholeheartedly agree. Just because a movie was nominated for Best Picture doesn't make it a good one (see Doctor Doolittle getting the nom which members were bribed to choose so in 1967).

 

[slappy magoo]

Untrue...

The Lion King is one of the most critically acclaimed animated movies of all-time.

It won numerous awards including 2 Academy Awards and a Golden Globe.

And Jethro Tull once won a Grammy for Best Metal Album, despite not being a metal band, AND competing against Metallica. So, what's your point?

j/k :animwink:

Meanwhile, my favorite part of the Disney Channel in the 90s was Vault Disney, when they'd show movies from the 50s through the 70s. :shrug:

Once in a while, Turner Classic Movies will show live-action Disney movies, usually during the weekend. I watch those way more than anything currently on the Disney Channel. But being a borderline 39-year old man with a baby too young to watch ANY tv, that may be for the best. :lookaroun

 

[Missing20K]

I can't be the only one who feels the period from 50-62 was the highlight of Disney moviemaking, both animated and live action. Or are I?

 

[Wilt Dasney]

If we're going to pick a series of years out of the air, I'd say the late 80s-early 90s period was the last Disney "Golden Age" in my mind, more so than 1990-1999.

As a kid, I loved watching The Disney Afternoon, which debuted as a block in 1990 but featured shows that had come around earlier (Ducktales '87, Rescue Rangers '89). Talespin and Darkwing Duck were fantastic shows, Goof Troop, Bonkers, and Aladdin were OK...Gargoyles came out in '94, I think, and then it started going downhill IMO. They rolled out stuff like Shnookums and Meat, and Timon and Pumbaa, and I lost interest.

For feature animation, I think it's generally accepted that Little Mermaid started a renaissance in '89. That was also around the time Who Framed Roger Rabbit came out, which put Disney back out there in a big way after more low-profile fare like Great Mouse Detective and Oliver & Company. After Mermaid came Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin, both of which I still think are stellar pictures. I wasn't as enamored of Lion King, but it was a huge smash as well. Then you had Hunchback and Pocahontas around '95 and '96, which I think most people agree marked a downturn in quality.

So if I had to pick a decade as a "Golden Era," I'd probably single out 1986-95 instead of the '90s as a whole.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

I can't be the only one who feels the period from 50-62 was the highlight of Disney moviemaking, both animated and live action. Or are I?

You're not, it was the best, but I'd go farther in the 60s myself, maybe up until Bedknobs and Broomsticks in 1971.

 

[AREM]

Honestly, Pocahontas is actually tied with The Little Mermaid and Sleeping Beauty as my favorite Disney movie. I loved Pocahontas. The animation is just stunning, the music was FANTASTIC, and it was the first Disney movie, to my knowladge, to have an unhappy ending! So touching in the end.

The Lion King, IMO, was an incredible movie. I personally loved it.

 

[Missing20K]

Hinestly, Pocahontas is actually tied with The Little Mermaid and Sleeping Beauty as my favorite Disney movie. I loved Pocahontas. The animation is just stunning, the music was FANTASTIC, and it was the first Disney movie, to my knowladge, to have an unhappy ending! So touching in the end.

The Lion King, IMO, was an incredible movie. I personally loved it.

Bambi??

 

[tirian]

Actually, that's not correct at all. Read any business book on Disney (there are plenty of them) and you'll find that's not the case. By the time the Lion King came out, Disney was already firmly established as having made a huge comeback in the field of animation. In fact, Lion King was anything but "one of the reasons" they made the comeback. In reality, it was really the peak for Disney animation in terms of box office earnings, but critically, it was the beginning of the decline. The movie that is generally credited as being responsible for the comeback was Little Mermaid. That was followed by Beauty and the Beast, which surpassed Little Mermaid in terms of earnings as well as critical acclaim (becoming the first and only animated feature to ever be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar). Aladdin followed B&B and made even more money. It was really those three films that encompassed the true "golden age" of Disney. Many industry experts tend to agree that The Lion King's success was largely built upon the reputation that it's predecessor films had created. So from that standpoint, "overrated" is actually a pretty accurate word to describe The Lion King. Most of the features that followed it (i.e. Pocahontas, Hunchback, etc) aren't generally films that are fondly remembered, nor did they capture the box office success of the previous films. So if anything, Lion King was kind of the beginning of Disney's image being hurt, and it signaled the beginning of a decline in quality of their animated films (luckily, they had their partnership with Pixar, which came along a few years later and helped to boost the image again). Not coincidentally, it was around this time that Jeffrey Katzenberg left Disney to form Dreamworks. Katzenberg was renowned for being immersed in making sure the animated films were done to perfection. His departure was a huge loss for Disney animation.

I recently read an article about Animation History, in which film experts agreed that TLK—while outstanding—signaled the "beginning of the end" for the Walt Disney Studios. The historians pointed out the stock characterizations and pop songs as examples; then they went on about how nearly all the Disney films after that were cookie-cutter garbage. Mulan and Lilo and Stitch were the only movies in the post-Lion King era that they liked.

I don't remember which magazine this was in, though. I think I linked to it off Rotten Tomatoes. :shrug:

Anyway, the Disney PARKS were great during the 90s; the merchandise was best in the 80s–early 90s. The Disney Channel practically owned my family's main television throughout the mid–late 90s, and the studio movies after The Lion King sucked. :lol: The Disney Afternoon was only good for about three years.

EDIT: The 90s were possibly the worst era for live-action Disney films, too. The only ones that stand out in my memory are Hocus-Pocus and Homeward Bound. Even as a kid, I remember thinking that the new Disney movies weren't as good as the old ones.

 

[Missing20K]

You're not, it was the best, but I'd go farther in the 60s myself, maybe up until Bedknobs and Broomsticks in 1971.

Thanks for backing me up, nice to know I'm not the only one. Though I must say I'm flabbergasted you lump Hocus Pocus in with the all-time great Disney movies. :shrug:

And I agree, we could probably go to 71, but I assumed we were shooting for a decade-ish period.