Traditional ANimation

[DisneyJukebox]

Hello, I am new here. I found this website while researching for a short trip my family will be making to WDW at the end of President's Week.

Since I see general discussions about Disney here and there, I wondered what everyone thinks about the end of traditional animation? I think the Toy Story movies were great but I think their subject lends themselves to computer animation. They look like real toys that have come to life.

But does that mean there is not a market for traditional animation anymore? I watch some of the older Disney cartoons with my kids and there are just certain artistic touches put into traditional animation that doesn't come out with computer generated animation. And I still feel the animation using computers is still a little stiff.

Seriously, will the next Beauty and The Beast be computer generated? It will come off like the disaster the Beauty and the Beast Christmas movie was.

I guess it would just be kind of sad if every future animated movie was another Shrek, Monsters Inc, A Bug's Life etc.

Just because Barbie is doing well with Swan Lake doesn't mean you can't have a decent movie done with traditional animation, does it?

Thanks.

 

[imagineer99]

In my opinion, Traditional Animation is far superior to CGI. A certain soft beauty and talent is conveyed by Traditional animated pictures that the very stark and realistic world of CGI can't touch. However, if Disney truly wants to succeed. The animated MUSICAL needs to make a comeback. Personally, I want song and heart, not high tech computer tricks.

P.S. This discussion has really nothing to do with the General Discussion of WDW, please post in the proper forum next time.

 

[DisneyJukebox]

Whoops! I just saw all the other forums. Wow, this site is huge.

 

[JBSLJames]

Originally posted by imagineer99
However, if Disney truly wants to succeed. The animated MUSICAL needs to make a comeback. Personally, I want song and heart, not high tech computer tricks.

Amen to that. Look how well the broadway musical Chicago did when they made it a movie. It won the Acadamy Award. How about a Disney Animated version of Cabaret? Or Mickey Mouse starring as Jean Valjean in Disney's production of Les Mouserables.

I kid, I kid.

 

[wdwfan22]

Welcome aboard! You could not have put it any better. The animated musical needs to return. With out the musical part of the show it becomes more of a cartoon. The music from the movies also adds to the theme park experience to. Let's hope that they go back to the right way of doing things soon.

 

[DisneyGrandma]

All in my family agree - we love the movies with great music that just compliments the cartoon work. We did really love Toy Story and Nemo, but the music was not prominent enough in the stories. I think that if Disney is able to get great new stories like Nemo and Toy Story and mix hand animation and computer generated sections with great music - they will have it all. It seems like they can get one or two of the parts together, but if they can just get them all together - they should be unstoppable.
I have found that everyone of my grandchildren get scared in certain parts of each Disney movie - it is always the music that is sooooo scarey to them - I would like to see the villians toned down a little bit and the promotion of happier things. In my opinion Disney Movies are for little ones and my small grandsons will not watch a lot of the movies, because they scare them. How to do it all - I have faith that Disney can do it, if anyone can!

 

[cherrynegra]

I concur with the previous statements about 2d animation and the musical format. I don't know what happened but all of a sudden we moved away from the traditional musical format with the characters singing to the songs acting as backdrops to the point where they became animated music videos. And I believe that when telling stories with a fantasy slant or surrealistic elements, 2d animation will always win out.

 

[DisneyJukebox]

I agree with DisneyGrandma about the scary parts of some Disney movies. I never really understood why characters in a G-rated movie have to be out to kill one another.

My daughter has been wathching the Aristocats lately and I don't think anyone is out to kill anyone. There is always a bad guy, but there can be different degrees of evil.

Still, back to my original point. I cannot imagine a world where there is no longer a traditionally animated feature-length musical movie.

There have been successes in the past with Beauty and the Beast and others.

Heck, I was watching "Mary Poppins" with my kids the other day and I thought, "Hey, that's still a fun movie to watch." even though that is mostly a live action musical.

 

[Tim G]

Originally posted by imagineer99
In my opinion, Traditional Animation is far superior to CGI. A certain soft beauty and talent is conveyed by Traditional animated pictures that the very stark and realistic world of CGI can't touch. However, if Disney truly wants to succeed. The animated MUSICAL needs to make a comeback. Personally, I want song and heart, not high tech computer tricks.

So we don't need Pixar...

Everyone want Traditional Animation, yes?
Then you need Disney Feature Animation Studios..

Why is everyone getting upset that Disney got rid of Pixar..
They are using, as you call it, High Tech Computer Tricks.

 

[DisneyJukebox]

I think there is room for both. Some stories/environments lend themselves to computer animation, others lend themselves to the creativity of hand drawn animation.

Just like you couldn't imagine the Toy Story series being done as well with traditional animation, I don't think you could really picture some of the past successful Disney animated features being done purely with computer animation.

 

[imagineer99]

Originally posted by Corrus
So we don't need Pixar...

Everyone want Traditional Animation, yes?
Then you need Disney Feature Animation Studios..

Why is everyone getting upset that Disney got rid of Pixar..
They are using, as you call it, High Tech Computer Tricks.

Disney's Feature Animaition Department still exists...just not in florida

Anyhow, I do believe that Disney no longer needs Pixar. Pixar made fabulous films, however their offer to Disney was insulting. The loss of pixar should not be a stumbling point for Disney's animation department. Instead, it should be a wake up call. I wish both companies much success.

CGI is really cool looking. However, for some reason I like traditional animation better. Movie's like Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, and the Lion King have a certain aspect that just makes them special. It seems as if Kids no longer have imagination anymore. Everything that is computer generated looks so real that it is hard to become enveloped in a fantasy world.

P.S. A broadway Musical of Mary Poppins is in the Works.

 

[JBSLJames]

Originally posted by imagineer99
P.S. A broadway Musical of Mary Poppins is in the Works.

That should be pretty cool. They should get Wayne Brady to star.

 

[barnum42]

Originally posted by imagineer99
P.S. A broadway Musical of Mary Poppins is in the Works.

It get's it's World premiere in the UK later this year just down teh road from me at The Bristol Hippodrome. Cameron Macintosh (Les Mis, Cats, Miss Siagon etc) is producing.

 

[Tim G]

Originally posted by imagineer99
Disney's Feature Animaition Department still exists...just not in florida

I never stated otherwise...

P.S. A broadway Musical of Mary Poppins is in the Works.
I know, but that's Einers work... Most of the people don't like that.
I myself think that's a good thing.

 

[bartman454]

I agree that the musical animated feature does need to make a comeback BUT only if the story should be told that way. My personal hope is that Home on the Range is just the worst trailer ever. That the marketing just goofed up and all the footage i have seen so far is taken completely out of context.

 

[SetoGirl]

Hey, I totally understand what you all mean! Traditional animation from the 90s if you ask me was at its peak. But lately, most animated movies from Disney (i.e Teacher's Pet and Treasure Planet) were a big flop. I'm actually an aspiring artist who draws characters the traditional pencil, pen, and paper way and who also hopes of being an animator someday. I'll admit that I'm a little worried that if Disney keeps up with this trend its going through (Good CGI movies and crummy traditional animation) traditional Disney animation will sadly be a fond memory to us. Is there anybody out there who feels the same worry as me? Let's just all hope that at some point, Disney will enter yet another "Golden Age" of traditional animation.


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