Disney Revisited
February 4. 2002 (edited and updated August 2002)
The last time I talked about Disney, I've had a few unkind words about them. Okay, I basically made them the ultimate evil. Of course, most of what I've said was true, and a lot of what they've done in 2000, when I wrote the original article, is still being done. Pointless edits, not fully backing the Miyazaki arrangement, and hacking up classic shorts are still in the Disney tradition. However, the studio has changed a few things and has a few new playing cards.
Theatrically, the studio is taking a lot of chances, reducing its predatory behavior tenfold. In 2000, Disney bullied Fox Feature Animation into extinction. Unfortunately, their traditional release, The Emperor's New Groove, didn't get the attention it should have. In all sense of the word, it was a comedy with no annoying songs mixed in it. It wasn't a traditional Disney movie, and the ads for the film didn't know how to promote it. In 2001, rival studio Dreamworks not only knew how to promote a non-traditional animated movie, but their summer film Shrek was the highest-grossing film of the year until Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone beat it later in the year. Usually, Disney would put out a classic film and a new film to compete with it, but surprisingly, Shrek stayed afloat. Even when Disney's summer movie Atlantis came out, Shrek continued attracting moviegoers. Shame, especially since the Titan A.E. backlash that Disney helped stir up came back to bite the studio with Atlantis.
Atlantis: The Lost Empire was a great movie, and, like Nadia: Secret of Blue Water, was loosely based on Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea novel. It was action-packed with a darker mood and no cheerful animal characters created for comic relief. The film featured state-of-the-art designs, great dialogue, and interesting characters. Unfortunately, the public wasn't so receptive of the film at first, causing the media to call it a box office bust. However, hope springs eternal, as the storyline will continue in a future OVA, which could lead to a regular series somewhere down the road.
Atlantis really shines on DVD, which shows Disney's eagerness to embrace the format. When I wrote the original article in 2000, Disney rarely put out DVD versions of their films (remember, Disney was a huge financial supporter of the pay-per-view Divx format). Now, the studio is not only putting their films on DVD (including Snow White and the Seven Dwarves and soon the original Lion King film), but also preserving their classic shorts on the format, uncut (for the most part) and in prestine form. Disney's newfound love for the format is also evidenced in their other studios films, especially those from Miramax (the Princess Mononoke DVD is one of the best ever) and Touchstone.
Unfortuately, one could say they love DVD a little too much. Basically, they use the DVD format as a quick way to produce "cheapquels" to their library of films. Films like Cinderella 2, The Little Mermaid 2, 101 Dalmations 2, The Hunchback of Notre Dame 2, and The Lion King 1 1/2 (I'm not making that up, it's coming soon) has all but diminished the original films' impact. It scares me to think what else they could do with cheap sequels.
On the subject of television, Disney seems like they're trying to diversify themselves. On UPN, they have the action-themed Buzz Lightyear and Tarzan series, while ABC seems to be an experimenter of shows, ranging from the Powerpuff Girls-like Teamo Supremo, the Doug-like Lloyd in Space, and the lame Mary-Kate and Ashley in Action series (just because they're experimental doesn't mean that they're any good). Toon Disney, their digital cable animation station, is basically a place where they throw old Disney Afternoon and One Saturday Morning shows. It's not very good because they limited to just those titles, no classic shorts. All of that may change thanks to the most unlikely acquisition. The Walt Disney Company was their purchase of Fox Family Worldwide. Disney's Saban unit could be a key part of the Disney organization for years to come (the Saban update can be found here).
Disney has grown up, but they still have a lot of growing to do. They're not a loser by anybody's standards. They do "loserish" things, but they're becoming a company that is willing to shock people and take chances now. I'm kind of curious where this is going in the years ahead.
