| For example, in today’s announcement that the animation facility at Walt Disney World would be closed, with 260 artists being let go, there was almost no mention of the important thing: the real reason. The article in the Orlando Sentinel pointed to on-going financial belt tightening, but does anyone believe for a minute that those cuts would have been made if the WDW unit was producing films such as Toy Story, Finding Nemo or the up-coming The Incredibiles? Of course, there was the omnipresent premise that today’s audiences prefer 3-D versus 2-D animation. Thankfully, it was rebutted by some common sense from Harry Knowles of the influential movie website, Ain’t it Cool News. Using Lilo & Stitch, the 2-D film produced at Walt Disney World that rang up $146 million in theaters as an example, he pointed out that the success of an animated feature depends less on technology than the story and its characters. Knowles was kind, not mentioning the fact that the other two films made at the WDW facility, Mulan and Brother Bear, were essentially failures. And, in my opinion at least, not up to Disney standards on their stories or characters.
So what am I trying to say here? Maybe two important things. If you add Tarzan, Fantasia 2, The Emperor’s New Groove, Treasure Planet, and the Country Bears to the WDW animated productions, it’s pretty clear that the Disney Company has lost their way in creating great animated feature films. It also appears that management believes they’ve found a solution to that problem in an agreement with Pixar Animation Studios. And the important thing is where that will surely lead us.
A former Disney marketing executive, Larry Pontius is the author of the awarding winning novel, Waking Walt, two books of poetry and lyricist of more than 100 published songs. At work on his second novel, he lives in Florida with his wife, Harriet, and a large orange dog named Samson.
Waking Walt is a spellbinder that brings one of our great urban legends to life as Walt Disney is awakened from nearly 40 years in cryonic suspension in a desperate attempt to save his company from a corporate raider bent on tearing it apart.
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