Comment

Comment by Kurt Locke on December 1, 2009 at 10:02pm

I really hope Disney keeps putting out quality stuff. I've grown up with this company. Beauty and the Beast is one of my favorite movies. It would make me sad to see them start to plummet into terrible film making.

Comment by bot60 on November 28, 2009 at 3:54pm

WTF?!?!?!? i cant hear shit all i hear is STATIC!!!

Staff Comment by Fungusmonkey on November 26, 2009 at 9:45pm

@Matthew Jaques and Dr. Detfink - I went to school at AAC for 3D Animation on the Pixar track, so I know a handful of their artists. We outsiders may feel this way or that about the Disney buy-out, but here's what it was like for people who actually worked there (and some that still do):

Ratatouille, Wall-E, and even Up were all mid-production far before Disney bought the company, so they had almost no hand in those films. Up was the very last true "Pixar" production, where Disney had no hand in it whatsoever. Every production from now on out will have been (at least partially) a Disney production. The reason Pixar split from Disney in the first place is because they didn't want to make lame sequel after sequel after sequel, and Disney basically forced them to make Toy Story 2 so they split off into their own company so they would have more creative control.

Later, when Disney came back with an army of armored trucks, all of the big guns folded and took the payday. Lasseter was basically taken off the Pixar floors, and given a cushy desk job as chief creative officer - which means that he oversees the creative directors at Disney/Pixar, who in turn decide what kind of quality the individual animation studios produce. Another key function of a CCO is to make sure that each property is marketed correctly and in new ways, so they work closely with the advertising department on toys, tie-ins, and whatnot. He's a suit now. He won't be writing any of the new Pixar films, he won't be directing. Hell, it's very doubtful he'll even bother being a producer on anything.

Before the Disney takeover, Pixar had only original scripts in the works - the last two being a project called "Newt" and a project called "The Bear and the Bow". Since Disney took over there have been absolutely no new films planned or even discussed. The upcoming slate for Pixar/Disney is re-releasing Toy Story 1 in 3-D (which pisses off the current artists because all they're doing is basically re-rendering scenes from a 14 year old movie into a new 3D pipeline), then they plan to re-release Toy Story 2 in 3-D (same story there), then they are releasing Toy Story 3, then they have plans in motion to produce Cars 2 and Monsters, Inc 2. That's it. Not a single original story in the bunch. There have even been talks about direct-to-dvd specials and TV production, none of which the artists are happy about since most of them have worked their entire careers to get to Pixar and now they're basically working for Disney (which in 3D animation circles is whispered like a curse word).

I would love to see Disney pull itself out of the gutter, but it's too big a beast to stop at this point. It will always value the almighty dollar over quality or integrity, and that ethos has been passed along to it's acquisitions (now you can understand why people are so scared about the Marvel buy-out). Granted, kicking Eisner out and putting Iger in his place was a step in the right direction, but it's still not enough to fundamentally change their business practices.

Comment by hewylewis on November 26, 2009 at 12:24pm

I'm still seeing this movie and giving my own thoughts on it!

Comment by PoisonPirate on November 26, 2009 at 3:17am

The reason the Prince was half black-half white is because he came from a made up far away country and wanted him to not be white or black. He's caramel I guess.

Comment by Dr. Detfink on November 26, 2009 at 3:05am

Thank you Matthew. That's exactly what my point was. With Lasseter recently put in a higher position of power, there is reason to believe that story and design will improve on all fronts. Certainly not without growing pains.

Comment by tresseme on November 25, 2009 at 11:26pm

oliver and company is considered one of disneys worst looking animated films.

Staff Comment by Fungusmonkey on November 25, 2009 at 7:25pm

@Dr. Detfink - Pixar didn't buy Disney, Disney bought Pixar. You're going to see Disney's rampant consumerism and stale ideas seep into Pixar, not the other way around. As they say in the industry (and everywhere else): "shit rolls downhill".

And the reason Disney stays in that "classic" (read: boring) Disney style isn't because of their artists' nationality or race (trust me, they are as racially varied as you can get), it's because any time they vary from that style, they take a hit financially. Movies that strayed from the typical Disney style like Emperor's New Groove, Hercules, Lilo and Stitch all failed to perform at levels that Disney is used to. I suppose middle America just isn't ready to try new things.

Comment by Dr. Detfink on November 25, 2009 at 12:19am

Thanks for the early review Surfer! :)

Geez, I'm not even through the review and already I am grinding my teeth and screaming "Some old Bullshit/Fuck you." The plot sounds dreadful. I can't believe out of all the fascinating cultures and time periods Disney could have used minorities that they decided to fit it around a get rich scheme starring struggling minority characters.

..ok, now I finished listening to it. Still doesn't change my thoughts.

I obviously haven't seen the film but from the trailer, I can wonder...why doesn't Disney try investing in fresh artists? The 2-D is sooo mired into that classical style which is good when it comes to certain ethnic profiles but they should definitely invest in some minority art teams and art directors. It just looks so cookie cutter in terms of design.

Shocking to think that the RICH culture of New Orleans that this is what they came up with. I guess, I should have lowered my excitement by thinking, "Well I guess its a step in the right direction.." but as you said, she's not even a princess. So the title is misleading in a way.

Hopefully as Pixar emphasis on writing and story continues to grow, it'll carry over to the 2-D department.