Animated Evolution

Tuesday, March 24

Isn't it funny how the face of movies change from generation to generation? When I was a little girl I remember watching 101 Dalmatians and thinking how old fashioned it looked. At that time the little mermaid and beauty and the beast were all the rage!




Recently, I rearranged my bedroom to accommodate a futon, 20" tv, faux fur rug and beanbag for Lily and Molly to watch cartoons on. It's the only place with a VCR and we've been watching our donated video collection that has been growing with each visit to grandma's house.

One of them being Beauty and the Beast. And it' so funny how I remember thinking that it was cutting edge in the day. Can you believe it was nominated for BEST PICTURE?! And now, it too looks old fashioned compared with today's Pixar movies.

Yet, I have to concede that Beauty and the Beast kept my attention far longer than any of the Pixar movies I've seen since Toy Story (Happy Feet, I'm looking at you). Perhaps it's the musical aspect. Remember how every blockbuster Disney movie had an award winning soundtrack? What ever happened to that?

What will I be thinking about Pixar films twenty years from now? What will the face of animated features look like for my grandchildren?

4 comments:

Art Nest said...

I remember when Monster's Inc. came out and the opening credits were so retro and I thought, "HOly WOW - this movie will be awesome (it was cute and funnY) BUT then it started and it was all CG. Sigh...it would be awesome to make some kind of stop animation short film using the techniques from your pirate frock giveaway...possible??? You would make a wonderful costume designer. you should contact some local theaters!

Anonymous said...

I don't know who is allowed to comment on the tum-tum tree, I didn't know if it was reserved for family, etc...

Anyway, I just had to comment because the decline of animated movies has been on my mind a bit. I read in the newspaper that Disney fired all it's animators and now uses exclusively computer-designed characters. Even TV shows are like that if they're not live action. I haven't seen a traditional musical cartoon movie since Tarzan--so I know what you mean there. Thanks to Snow White, cartoons will be forever remembered as sweet musical folk tales we all watched--made sure the popcorn was made, VHS was rewound, etc...and computer animated shows will be forever linked with cheesy semi-funny movies that are rarely worth owning. Thanks to Toy Story, most of the productions feel they can write a predictable plot without any beauty or attempts to make it classic, and still be profitable.

There's hope here though. I think a lot of people are catching on and so many of these movies are turning out to be a flop. Computer animation has been running for 14 years and the fad is dying--they're going to have to really do something if they want to bring back an audience. If not, you've got 70 years of classic cartoons for your children. I doubt they'd tire of them or need more.

--Meagan--

Cheilita said...

it is interesting. i have always loved the look of 101 dalmatians best. to me it might be the most artistically stylized of all disney movies. i love the line drawn look of it.

nfaband said...

Beauty and the Beast is a huge favorite of mine ... and I'm probably older than you since this came out when my daughter was young, but I'm in love with the Beast and Belle is so beautiful. Pixar is fantatic as well ... but since I no longer have little ones I don't get a chance to check them out. My baby is about to turn 20.