Hey folks, Harry here - with the disappointing early showing of TREASURE PLANET at the Box Office this November - Disney has got to be scratching their collective ears trying to figure out the future for traditional animation. Personally I feel the key is to put story development back in the hands of the animation teams, the directors and what not, and to steer clear of limiting things like character design based on financial considerations instead of aesthetic values. It reminds me of the scene in HARRY AND THE HENDERSONS where M. Emmet Walsh 'corrects' John Lithgow's illustration of Harry to reflect the market instead of the reality. One had beauty, the other was... empty. If Disney does decide to pursue feature projects starring the classic Disney characters, I hope they decide to go more the route of LILO & STITCH in terms of hand painted backgrounds and less computer work. There's a beauty to the hand painted animation that pops more, that is OF animation. It feels part of the 2D world. If you take a look at these cartoons, you very quickly understand the power and the beauty of artists being artists, given the support of the studio, not the limitations of one. The trio cartoons of the past like MICKEY'S TRAILER or LONESOME GHOSTS or CLOCK CLEANERS... well, they're absolute magic. Watching those cartoons never grows old and staying true to those characters as you see them in stuff like MICKEY AND THE BEANSTALK well... That's exactly how this project should be approached. Trust the animators and the animation directors and story guys. Don't trust the Men In Suits, they killed the child in themselves long ago....
Hi there Harry,
Tim here from Mukpuddy.com
I can tell you that the following scoop is confirmed, it's happening! No doubts about it.
Disney Feature Animation is about to go old school.
A contact (and close friend) at Disney has dropped us a line here at Mukpuddy Animation in regards to their current projects. A few of which will star the most famous of Disney trios, Mickey, Donald & Goofy.
The only feature which he could really speak about, which will be hitting theatres next year, is The Three Musketeers, starring Mickey, Donald & Goofy as the title heroes. For these features in particular, Disney will be going back to water color backgrounds (much like they did for Lilo & Stitch) to retain that classic, old school, disney feeling. Cool!
Humor wise, it all sounds very cool, they've apparently kept the characters very much how we all know and love them. Ya know, Goofy stuffs something up, Donald gets frustrated and angry and Mickey tries to keep it all together until reaching bursting point himself, that sort of feeling.
That's pretty much it for now, we'll post any further updates (which should be coming soon, including pics) on the message boards over at Mukpuddy.com.
Peace out.
Tim
