As the release of Disney's live action Beauty and the Beast (2017) is just around the corner, I began to ponder Disney's recent trend (or relentless spree) of live action remakes of classically animated films, and asked myself, "What ever happened to 2D animation?
I'd like to preface by saying I'm not completely against the idea of live action remakes. In fact, I thought Disney's The Jungle Book (2016) was one of the best films of the year. The question always boils down to, why does this film need to be made?
I'd like to preface by saying I'm not completely against the idea of live action remakes. In fact, I thought Disney's The Jungle Book (2016) was one of the best films of the year. The question always boils down to, why does this film need to be made?
I felt The Jungle Book was justified, as Disney took one of its older animated classics, as well as the ORIGINAL MATERIAL it was drawn from, and was able to do something loveably new with it, while preserving the integrity of the previous works. It doesn't in any way replace the 1967 classic, but pays beautiful tribute to it, utilizing masterful photorealistic CGI to tell the story of a boy in a jungle from an LA studio lot.
Side note: Now when I hear that Disney is creating a live action version of The Lion King (1994), I laugh, as literally nothing in that movie is going to be live-action. Pretty much the only real thing on set of The Jungle Book was Mowglii, so essentially, we're going to get a CGI remake of one of the best animated films of all time. Why? I don't think you can just "Hakuna Matata" out of this one... Anyway, that's an argument for another post! Since they're doing it though, they're at least bringing back the great James Earl Jones as Mufasa, which I respect. Whether or not this project is a mistake, we'll have to wait and see.
A Bit of Background
All this being said, when it's gotten to the point where you have to recycle you own films, it raises the question of if we're ever going to get another traditionally animated Disney classic?
All this being said, when it's gotten to the point where you have to recycle you own films, it raises the question of if we're ever going to get another traditionally animated Disney classic?
Traditional animation is a technique in which each frame of the animation is drawn by hand. Disney pioneered the animation landscape, shaping the way animated and live action films are made with the development of many techniques and principles that are standard practices today, such as the use of storyboards. |
Disney also introduced the first ever animated feature film in english and technical or with the release of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (1937). With many critical successes continuing over the course of over 60 years with feature films such as Pinocchio, Bambi, Cinderella, The Jungle Book, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King, Disney ruled the animation frontier.
It was at the turn of the century however, when notable computer animated films started to emerge and begun to competing against the vast Disney empire. The introduction of box office hits such as Pixar's Monster's Inc. and DreamWorks' Shrek proved to be no match against Disney's buddy-comedy The Emperor's New Groove, and Atlantis: The Lost Empire (Although it's been a while, I loved both films as a kid and still regard The Emperor's New Groove as a highly underrated film that's definitely worth a watch!). With the unsuccessful disappointment of Disney's Home on the Range (2004), Disney shut down their traditional animation department. "Unfortunately 2D became the excuse for poor storytelling," said Disney's John Lasseter, adding to the growing perception that hand-drawn animation is a thing of the past.
Thankfully, the acquisition of Pixar in 2006 allowed Pixar executives Edwin Catmull and John Lasseter to be put at the helm of Walt Disney Feature Animation, who rehired most of its original employees and renamed it to Walt Disney Animation Studios.
Traditional animation made its comeback at the studio with its musical-comedy The Princess and the Frog (2009), supporting a great critical reception as well as 3 Academy Award nominations.
Traditional animation made its comeback at the studio with its musical-comedy The Princess and the Frog (2009), supporting a great critical reception as well as 3 Academy Award nominations.
Still image from Disney's Princess and the Frog (2009), Walt Disney Animation Studios.
Unfortunately it underperformed at the box-office, largely to due with its competition with Avatar (2009). The word "Princess" in the title was also blamed for waring off the male audience. Winnie the Pooh (2011) is the last traditionally animated feature released by Disney to this date; a nostalgically cute film scoring great critical success, but also underperformed at the box-office, coming out the same weekend as the last Harry Potter film.
Disney's next big feature Rapunzel gave itself a good Ol' gender neutral title Tangled (2010) in hopes of drawing in a larger audience. While they wanted to go the traditional route, Disney Execs forced them to go with CGI. With that limitation however, they worked to find the best of both worlds, using CGI but designing it in a way as to become an extension of the traditional 2D Disney "aesthetic". It had story, character, humour, depth, and heart, making it a masterful film that captured everything a classic Disney movie should hold. Not only that, but it was a critical and financial success, becoming the studio's third most successful release to date! A little movie followed after that, you might have heard of it, the computer-animated feature Frozen (2013), and became the highest grossing animated movie of all time. While it was a decent film, I did find it a bit overhyped and overrated, but I'll "let it go"...
Interestingly enough, Frozen was almost traditionally animated, before they decided to follow the style of Tangled. You can see some concept art below.
Interestingly enough, Frozen was almost traditionally animated, before they decided to follow the style of Tangled. You can see some concept art below.
Original concept art for the movie Frozen (2013), by Cory Loftis, via his Tumblr page.
Disney's following releases of Big Hero 6 (2014), Zootopia (2016), and Moana (2016), all followed the same CGI/traditional aesthetic style as Tangled and Frozen.
What's SO Special About Traditional Animation?
Okay, so you've beared with the history lesson, but you may be wondering, why does it matter? What's wrong with CGI and why do we still need traditional animation?
Okay, so you've beared with the history lesson, but you may be wondering, why does it matter? What's wrong with CGI and why do we still need traditional animation?
Firstly, I don't think there's anything wrong with CGI. What I do think, is that it doesn't mean that it's a replacement for traditional animation. Bottom line, we need both! CGI is a great technological advancement and provides a great medium for storytelling. Thing is, everyone's using it; and while I admire the visual style Disney has recently developed with Tangled and its successors, it can be hard for the average viewer to tell Disney and Pixar apart anymore! What made Disney stand out was their animation. It was inventive, innovative, unique, and pushed boundaries. Maybe switching towards CGI is pushing boundaries and the way of the future; but is Disney losing it's identity in that?
There's something special about the way traditional animation looks and feels. Every frame hand crafted, the way it moves so smooth and organic; it has such an intangible quality that can only be described as "magical". THAT's what Disney is, and that's why I believe we can't simply do away with it.
There's something special about the way traditional animation looks and feels. Every frame hand crafted, the way it moves so smooth and organic; it has such an intangible quality that can only be described as "magical". THAT's what Disney is, and that's why I believe we can't simply do away with it.
The Future of Traditional Features
Now, it still begs the question... are we ever going to see a 2D animated feature again? My answer is, of course! Traditional animation is such a huge part of Disney, it's forever merged together in a bond that can't be separated. Traditional animation is definitely still present in the studio as well. In fact, even Disney's new computer animated features still use hand drawn animation as a basis for the 3D models, as seen below with Disney's Moana (2016).
Now, it still begs the question... are we ever going to see a 2D animated feature again? My answer is, of course! Traditional animation is such a huge part of Disney, it's forever merged together in a bond that can't be separated. Traditional animation is definitely still present in the studio as well. In fact, even Disney's new computer animated features still use hand drawn animation as a basis for the 3D models, as seen below with Disney's Moana (2016).
One of many traditional character exploration tests, animated by Ray Haycock, as found via his Tumblr page.
A few years back, disney released a short film titled Paperman (2012), a 2D/3D hybrid, which may end up being the direction feature animation will go. I will say that while it comes close, it still doesn't quite replace the look of traditional animation.
There's still a large glimmer of hope for more 2D features. While speaking on Disney's The Princess and the Frog (2009), Chief Creative officer for Disney John Lasseter said,
"This is why I do what I do for a living, is because films of Walt Disney in this magical art form that his artists helped create. If there's a studio in the world that should still be doing handdrawn animation, it should be the Walt Disney Animation Studio, the studio that started it all."
At the end of the day, I'm fully on board with CGI animation and continuing live action adaptations, given it's justified and there's a story to be told. And while CGI continues to advance, we must move forward embracing and enhancing the method from which the magic of Disney was formed.
Works Cited:
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Favreau, J. (2017, February 17). Retrieved from Twitter: https://twitter.com/Jon_Favreau/status/832754734557601792/photo/1
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Child, B. (2013, March 7). Disney turns away from hand-drawn animation. Retrieved from The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/mar/07/disney-hand-drawn-animation
Disney. (n.d.). Retrieved from Walt Disney Animation Studios: https://www.disneyanimation.com
Favreau, J. (2017, February 17). Retrieved from Twitter: https://twitter.com/Jon_Favreau/status/832754734557601792/photo/1
Haycock, R. (2016, November 23). randyhaycock. Retrieved from Tumblr: http://randyhaycock.tumblr.com/post/153572409839/another-traditional-character-exploration-test
Internet Movie Database. (n.d.). (C. N. (CEO), Producer) Retrieved February 20, 2017, from IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/?ref_=nv_home
Internet Movie Database. (2000). The Emperor's New Groove. Retrieved from IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120917/mediaviewer/rm3039403776
Internet Movie Database. (2009). The Princess and the Frog. Retrieved from IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0780521/mediaviewer/rm1720289792
Internet Movie Database. (2016). The Jungle Book. Retrieved from IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3040964/mediaviewer/rm3866160896
Internet Movie Database. (2017). Beauty and the Beast. Retrieved from IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2771200/mediaviewer/rm2049982208
Loftis, C. (2014, January 2). coryloftis. Retrieved from Tumblr: http://coryloftis.tumblr.com/post/72029381334/last-of-the-frozen-artwork-that-im-going-to
Pixar. (n.d.). Retrieved from Pixar: http://www.pixar.com
Walt Disney Animation Studios. (1928). Retrieved from Snopes: http://www.snopes.com/disney/films/mickeycheese.asp
Walt Disney Animation Studios. (2011, August 3). Retrieved from HD Wallpapers: http://www.hdwallpapers.in/tangled_movie-wallpapers.html
Walt Disney Feature Animation. (1994). Retrieved from Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmoviepilot.com%2Fposts%2F2430164&media=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.moviepilot.com%2Fimage%2Fupload%2Fscar-the-reason-scar-is-such-a-baddie-makes-so-much-sense-now-gif-172849&description=The%20Reason%20Scar%20Is%20Such%20a%20Baddie%20Makes%20So%20Much%20Sense%20Now
WaltDisneyStudiosME. (2009, August 20). The Return to Hand Drawn Aniamtion - The Princess and The Frog Featurette 1. (Walt Disney Animation Studios) Retrieved from YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orjzF_FfKm4
Wikipedia. (2017, February 21). Storyboard. Retrieved from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storyboard
Wikipedia. (2017, February 22). Traditional Animation. Retrieved from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditional_animation