I already mentioned that I see the overused formula as one of the reasons the 迪士尼 Renaissance eventually ended. But there is one other thing which was both the maker and the downfall of 迪士尼 in that era: computer animation.
Back in the days when Walt 迪士尼 was still alive, hand drawn 动画片 was both time consuming and expensive – actually, it was expensive because it was so time consuming. All the animators had to get paid after all. At the same time, there wasn’t really much appreciation for the work done – 电影院 like Fantasia 或者 Sleeping Beauty, which were impressive pieces of animation, tended to initially bomb in the box office. It didn’t pay off immediately to spend too much time on creating small masterpieces, so the 动画片 studios eventually started to cut the costs down wherever possible.
This “keep the costs low” policy is the most obvious in “Robin Hood”. It’s one of my favorites, but it equals a Disney-B-Movie, since it’s full of reused animation. The carefully 动画片 of “Jungle Book” was 更多 the exception than the rule (but then Walt 迪士尼 was heavily involved in that project). It’s not that the 电影院 from this time are bad, but compared to the works of the 50th, they look a little bit cheap.
The computer or, to be 更多 precise, a new technique called CAPS, was a godsend for animation, because it helped to keep the costs down without compromising the quality. Beforehand they would have never managed to 显示 a new movie every 年 (hence the constant rereleases). Never mind that the computer allowed them to push 动画片 on a new level.
But it also meant that smaller companies could do 迪士尼 knock-offs much 更多 easily. In the 90th, everyone seemed to think that they could and should do an animated movie. Some of them, like “The 天鹅 Princess”, were surprisingly good, most of them are better to be forgotten as fast as possible. Even Don Bluth caved in, jumped on the band wagon and produced “Thumbelina” and “Anastasia”.
But the real “danger” for the 动画片 studios lurked elsewhere: A small company called 皮克斯 paired up with 迪士尼 and produced CGI-movies with growing success. This might sound strange, since 皮克斯 is 由 now even part of the 迪士尼 Company, but the different branches of 迪士尼 do concurrent with each other when they are producing for the same target audience. The company as a whole will survive, but a branch which doesn’t have enough success will get shut down eventually.
With the start of the 21th century, 皮克斯 was on the 最佳, 返回页首 of its game and produced one success after the next. And the 动画片 studios were trying to find a new direction. And they had to face 更多 concurrence than ever. DreamWorks landed a hit with “Shrek”, which was basically a declaration of hate for Disney. On 最佳, 返回页首 of this, successful movie series like Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and Narnia got the attention of the audience. Finally, the 2D 动画片 was shut down and the 动画片 Studios were forced to jump on the CGI Bandwagon.
I can’t emphasis enough how stupid this idea was. There were three aspects which made the 动画片 studios so successful: Quality, innovation and tradition. The executives had already jeopardized the quality aspect 由 allowing the 迪士尼 Toon studios to produce direct-to-video sequels to some of the masterpieces, even going so far as allowing a theatrical release in some countries for them. Now they forced the 动画片 studios to abandon their tradition and doing what everyone else already did.
Needless to say this plan backfired spectacularly. What they didn’t understand was that it doesn’t really make a difference if a movie is 2d 或者 3d, if it’s traditionally animated 或者 CGI (or stop-motion), it just has to be well done to catch the interest of the audience. And while there are some 电影院 which don’t get the attention they deserve (Treasure Planet for example), in the end, quality will prevail, as the belated success of Fantasia, Sleeping Beauty and Tron proves.
Back in the days when Walt 迪士尼 was still alive, hand drawn 动画片 was both time consuming and expensive – actually, it was expensive because it was so time consuming. All the animators had to get paid after all. At the same time, there wasn’t really much appreciation for the work done – 电影院 like Fantasia 或者 Sleeping Beauty, which were impressive pieces of animation, tended to initially bomb in the box office. It didn’t pay off immediately to spend too much time on creating small masterpieces, so the 动画片 studios eventually started to cut the costs down wherever possible.
This “keep the costs low” policy is the most obvious in “Robin Hood”. It’s one of my favorites, but it equals a Disney-B-Movie, since it’s full of reused animation. The carefully 动画片 of “Jungle Book” was 更多 the exception than the rule (but then Walt 迪士尼 was heavily involved in that project). It’s not that the 电影院 from this time are bad, but compared to the works of the 50th, they look a little bit cheap.
The computer or, to be 更多 precise, a new technique called CAPS, was a godsend for animation, because it helped to keep the costs down without compromising the quality. Beforehand they would have never managed to 显示 a new movie every 年 (hence the constant rereleases). Never mind that the computer allowed them to push 动画片 on a new level.
But it also meant that smaller companies could do 迪士尼 knock-offs much 更多 easily. In the 90th, everyone seemed to think that they could and should do an animated movie. Some of them, like “The 天鹅 Princess”, were surprisingly good, most of them are better to be forgotten as fast as possible. Even Don Bluth caved in, jumped on the band wagon and produced “Thumbelina” and “Anastasia”.
But the real “danger” for the 动画片 studios lurked elsewhere: A small company called 皮克斯 paired up with 迪士尼 and produced CGI-movies with growing success. This might sound strange, since 皮克斯 is 由 now even part of the 迪士尼 Company, but the different branches of 迪士尼 do concurrent with each other when they are producing for the same target audience. The company as a whole will survive, but a branch which doesn’t have enough success will get shut down eventually.
With the start of the 21th century, 皮克斯 was on the 最佳, 返回页首 of its game and produced one success after the next. And the 动画片 studios were trying to find a new direction. And they had to face 更多 concurrence than ever. DreamWorks landed a hit with “Shrek”, which was basically a declaration of hate for Disney. On 最佳, 返回页首 of this, successful movie series like Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and Narnia got the attention of the audience. Finally, the 2D 动画片 was shut down and the 动画片 Studios were forced to jump on the CGI Bandwagon.
I can’t emphasis enough how stupid this idea was. There were three aspects which made the 动画片 studios so successful: Quality, innovation and tradition. The executives had already jeopardized the quality aspect 由 allowing the 迪士尼 Toon studios to produce direct-to-video sequels to some of the masterpieces, even going so far as allowing a theatrical release in some countries for them. Now they forced the 动画片 studios to abandon their tradition and doing what everyone else already did.
Needless to say this plan backfired spectacularly. What they didn’t understand was that it doesn’t really make a difference if a movie is 2d 或者 3d, if it’s traditionally animated 或者 CGI (or stop-motion), it just has to be well done to catch the interest of the audience. And while there are some 电影院 which don’t get the attention they deserve (Treasure Planet for example), in the end, quality will prevail, as the belated success of Fantasia, Sleeping Beauty and Tron proves.
