From: dan@spiff.gnu.ai.mit.edu (Dan Parmenter)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.animation
Subject: Re: Cheap Animation
Date: 15 Dec 92 19:31:34 GMT
Article-I.D.: spiff.DAN.92Dec15143134
	<1g5cufINNacj@flop.ENGR.ORST.EDU>
Organization: /home/fsg/dan/.organization

Strange.  I'm sort of on both sides of this argument and sort of on
neither.  I agree that saucer-eyed bimbos carrying big penises (er,
guns) and porn are a sad direction for animation to head, Japanese or
otherwise; however, I'm personally not very happy with the current
Disney either.  I'll grant that Beauty and the Beast was pretty good, I
haven't seen Aladin yet, and I thought Little Mermaid was shallow and
stupid.  Interesting that no one ever mentions Rescuers Down Under,
which for my money, was the best thing Disney's done in years.  It had
some problems (dumb accents, the fact that it was a sequel), but it
also had top-notch voice work, some breathtaking animation, much
better character design than any of The Big Three (I really love the
matching of voice actor and character design which has been very
de-emphasized in other recent features, particularly on the John Candy
and Bob Newhart characters), and NO FUCKING SONGS!  I can't adequately
express how much I dislike the music of those loser Broadway wannabes
that write the songs for Disney movies now (yeah I know I shouldn't
speak ill of the dead, but those songs are crap!).

It also fascinates me how Beauty and the Beast and Little Mermaid
subtly emphasize small-mindedness while on the surface, condemning it.
TLM in particular, struck me as very shallow, with its central
character's fondest wish being to change her race in order to date
some cute boy.  Yeah yeah, so she defied her father, so what?  What
sort of message does this send to young girls?  And then in B&B - I
really have to wonder, would Belle have gone for the Beast in his
post-Beast form if he had turned out to look like say, Woody Allen?
Lucky for her, he turned out to be even prettier than Gaston!
Rescuers Down Under dealt with adult characters and more realistic
romantic conflicts,  as well as the central environmental conflict.  

I don't think B&B or TLM are terrible films (I *do* like B&B), but
they are by no means classics.  I'm not sure if RDU is a classic
either, but I think it'll age better than TLM or B&B in the long run.
I don't know if Disney can make classics any more in fact.  When one
compares the real Disney classics (Snow White, Pinnochio, Dumbo,
Bambi, Fantasia) to the current crop, one comes away with the sad
realiation that Disney isn't interested in classics any more.
Pinnochio and Snow White are both very dark movies in a lot of ways,
especially Pinnochio, which touches some psychological territory (fear
of loss, sin and salvation) that have real resonance.  Current Disney
films seem far too cynical and calculated to have that kind of
resonance.  Even the latter day classics like 101 Dalmations with its
loose xerox line and modern touches seems more real and emotional to
me somehow.  The current crop, exspecially TLM, reminds me more of
Disney's Sleeping Beauty, which was an expensive, beautiful to look
at, crashing bore.  

And for the record, I consider Bluth a dead loss at this point.  Sorry
to say it, but for all their alleged love of classic animation, I've
noticed two things about their movies - they all have TERRIBLE scripts
(any fan of the original novel "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH" will
never forgive him for ruining what would have been a terrific animated
film, had they adapted the book) and the animation always looks the
same.  Since NIMH, I've learned to spot the Bluth animation style a
mile away: everyone *bounces* and grins ALL THE TIME, and I guess he
just finds buck teeth abut the cutest thing there is.  

Lucky for me, Miyazaki is still making films.  He's got the ball and
he knows it.  His stuff may not be as slick as Disney (and considering
his budgets, what he produces is stunning), but it's also much more
mature on every level.  Even though his style is recognizable from
film to film, it doesn't all seem like the same film, as is the case
with Bluth.  His only real weakness is creating believable young women
(they all seem a little too perfect), but his other characters more
than take up the slack.  Miyazaki's personal touch and vision (that
he's also a cartoonist helps) mark him as undoubtedly the finest maker
of animated feature films on the planet IMHBUCO (In My Humble But
Ultimately Correct Oopinion).

- Dan
--
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| Dan Parmenter       |"I'm waiting for a time, when I can do without these  |
| dan@gnu.ai.mit.edu  | things that make me feel this way all of the time"   |
|                     |                            - Spiritualized           |
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Newsgroups: rec.arts.animation