Anything more to be expected of Nemo?

[pppapazo]

. . . who went on to found Dreamworks. :lookaroun

If you have the 1989/1990 release of the Little Mermaid, check out the intro preview to Beauty and the Beast. Katzenburg looks like he knows everything that makes a movie great, from talking about heart to characters to music. We haven't seen anything on par to the classic era of "Little Mermaid," "Beauty," "Aladdin," and "Lion King." And it looks to me that the loss of Katzenburg had a lot to do (if not all to do) with this.

That's what people want you to think, but I seriously doubt it. IIRC, Katzenberg left right after Lion King. But remember that animated films take about 4 years to develop. So, Pocahontas and Hunchback must have been projects that Katzenberg was very much involved with during his time at Disney. Also, his record at Dreamworks before Shrek was pretty dismal.

I am going to have to echo the thought that Howard Ashman was more responsible for Disney's "second golden age" of animation than Katzenberg. Not only was he a superb lyricist, but he was also a producer on The Little Mermaid and an Executive Producer on Beauty and the Beast. He had story input and is generally credited as inventing the idea of the Enchanted Objects.

While Katznberg definitely had a part in Disney's resurgence, he isn't an artist, and I like to think that it is the artists who have a little bit more to do with the success or failure of a film than the execs.

Peter

 

[awallaceunc]

I don't know about Hunchback, but Katzenburg had everything to do with Pocahontas. He left after the film met less-than-desired box office reception and failed to garner the kind of Academy Award recognition he had hoped for. I've read that after BATB flirted with the Best Picture nod, Katzenburg made it his mission to grab one of those babies. Pocahontas happened to be the studio's focused project on the drawing board at the time, so out went the child version of Pocahontas, and true history with her. In their place came the slender, sexy, adult Pocahontas, the legend, and the romance. Her two sidekicks (I forget their names) lost their speaking roles and became silent, and the songs were de-Disney-fied and made more mature. The result, he hoped, would be a film that adults in the Academy could accept as legit (much like Prince of Egypt would later attempt to be). Instead, it was a film that most people forgot. Katzenburg got mad (though not solely about this) and left. Today he makes such mature and AA-acknowledged films as Shrek and Antz. Good job, Katz. :sohappy:

-Aaron

P.S. Disclaimer- While Pocahontas isn't on my 'greats' list, I actually do really like it. This wasn't intended to bash the film- just Katzenburg. While he made a few calls that worked out for the better, the general direction he employed for the film became its undoing, and robbed it of a lot of its potential.

 

[catinthehat]

Where is Katzenberg now?

 

[speck76]

Where is Katzenberg now?

Dreamworks SKG

 

[careship]

I have to say when it comes to movies like Pocahontas and Hunchback...when I first saw that Disney was going to do these movies and many more of this sort (old tales historical etc) I went "how the heck are they gonna do this and make the kids want to see it?" I think maybe that was some of the problem they weren't as magical or fantasy as before and the kids didn't want to see them. I however love them. But honestly I am a really bad judge when it comes to animated movies because I honestly love them all. I really feel that it was the marketing of these movies that did them all in. They relied on the Disney name to make them great rather then the story and hyping them like they could have. Many of the movies lately coming from Disney haven't gotten the attention they should. Yes, they've had some bad apples, but when the trailers you show are blah and they don't have the same ooompf as before, they get set aside in the bad pile. Just like 80 Days. It looked horrible to me by way of the trailers, but my family really enjoyed the movie and highly recommend it. The problem is...there are no NEW ideas coming out. The Disney/Pixar are the only originals coming out lately from them. Remakes and retellings aren't cutting it anymore. This is a new generation and the family status quo has changed alot and they need to keep this in mind. Disney by name alone may not be able to hold its own, they need to be fresh again.

 

[speck76]

They relied on the Disney name to make them great rather then the story and hyping them like they could have. Many of the movies lately coming from Disney haven't gotten the attention they should. Yes, they've had some bad apples, but when the trailers you show are blah and they don't have the same ooompf as before, they get set aside in the bad pile. Just like 80 Days. It looked horrible to me by way of the trailers, but my family really enjoyed the movie and highly recommend it. The problem is...there are no NEW ideas coming out. The Disney/Pixar are the only originals coming out lately from them. Remakes and retellings aren't cutting it anymore. This is a new generation and the family status quo has changed alot and they need to keep this in mind. Disney by name alone may not be able to hold its own, they need to be fresh again.

It may take a while for Disney to regain the trust of the general public that the 2-D animated films that they are producing are worth seeing. The Little Mermaid really launched the re-birth of animation. The animated movies that Disney had produced prior to TLM were not overly successful, nor did they have large takes at the box office. As good as a movie as the TLM was (and with the fact that its legacy lives on today) it only grossed $83 million upon initial release (eventually $110 million), which would not be considered a success today. What TLM did do was renew the general public's love of Disney films, and with the exception of The Rescuers Down Under, every film after that grossed larger and larger amounts...until Disney started producing "not so great" films again.

 

[awallaceunc]

That $83 mil isn't adjusted for inflation, though, is it? That tends to make a huge difference.

-Aaron