Disney’s Daughter: Fantasia ‘Tops’ Among Disney Animated Classics (1 Viewer)

[bigshot]

The story in Pinocchio makes very little sense. It's just a bunch of different stuff happening. But the contrasts in mood makes it work. Disney films are about interesting situations and moods, not story. Modern Disney films are all about story. There's usually so much story that there's no time to just enjoy the characters.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Originally Posted by Russell G /forum/thread/305274/disney-s-daughter-fantasia-tops-among-disney-animated-classics#post_3743752

 

[bigshot]

Originally Posted by Aaron Silverman

Aladdin has plenty of them. Even the title of Emporer's New Groove is a pop culture reference.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

Lilo & Stitch had pop culture references, but they were organic to the storyline, and therefore didn't feel forced.

 

[Edwin-S]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Russell G

[/quote]
Not really. As much as I respect Pixar, I would not include machine-aided animated films along side Disney classic animated films. To me, the Disney hand animated and drawn films are just on a different level of artistic achievement than CGI films. Pixar's CGI films add textures and the illusion of depth, but, in terms of creating the illusion of life in characters, every technique used by Pixar now was perfected by the animators of the Disney "Golden Age".

 

[David_B_K]

Originally Posted by Edwin-S

It is still just her opinion even if she does have Disney in her name.

I agree. Reminds me of Puccini's daughter (or was it granddaughter?) who named Manon Lescaut as her favorite Puccini opera. I'd rank it maybe 5th among his works.


As for classic Disney, I think my ranking would be 1. Snow White, 2. Pinocchio, 3. Fantasia. I've been known to change that order around.


But Fantasia on Blu-ray is still no sale for me without Deems Taylor's voice. I don't mind the censored scene. It is pretty embarrassing; and I have never seen it in the film.

 

[mattCR]

Originally Posted by Edwin-S /forum/thread/305274/disney-s-daughter-fantasia-tops-among-disney-animated-classics#post_3743917

 

[bigshot]

Technically, CGI is a marvel. But Edwin is right. When it comes to the "illusion of life", CGI is where hand drawn animation was before Steamboat Willie. It needs to get beyond realistic fur textures and water fx and start focusing on unique and expressive movement and acting.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigshot I remember when I first saw it, I was very disappointed because I figured (correctly) that the references and Robin Williams ad-libs would eventually date it. As for the latter, well, I don't know about the title, but the film itself wasn't plagued with pop culture -- in fact, I really enjoyed it.


That said, I'd call Aladdin a mis-step, rather than a sign of a general Disney trend.


I'm a huge Lilo & Stitch fan, but since that took place in a (semi-)realistic modern-day milieu, the pop culture references were (as Stephen wrote) organic to the story, as opposed to tossed-in gags.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Originally Posted by bigshot


CGI and traditional hand-drawn animation are just different styles of art. There's plenty of room for both The Princess & The Frog and Toy Story 3.

 

[bigshot]

I'm comparing the imaginative movement and expressive performances in classic 40s animation to current CGI. Compared to Pinocchio or a great Bob Clampett Looney Tune, the character based performance in even the best CGI pales. The character animation in modern CGI is symbolic and one dimensional, just like hand drawn animation at the dawn of sound. CGI is more sophisticated when it comes to camera work and effects, but that isn't why I go to see an animated film.

 

[Edwin-S]

Originally Posted by Aaron Silverman


CGI and traditional hand-drawn animation are just different styles of art. There's plenty of room for both The Princess & The Frog and Toy Story 3.

I think I can see where BigShot is coming from. For me a perfect example is the Siamese cat scene from "Lady and The Tramp". There is nothing in a CGI animated film that evokes the kind of character that the animator of those two cats created in conjunction with the music and voice acting. The comic timing, expressiveness and character is flawless. You can see just how flawless it is by watching how that entire scene is massacred by Hilary Duff's vile updating of the song. Another example is Peggy Lee's vampy Peg singing "He's a Tramp". I've yet to see a CGI animated character reach that level of expressiveness, no matter how many realistic textures are added.

 

[bigshot]

Or Daffy Duck warning Littlle Red Riding Hood in Danny Kaye scat in Book Revue.

 

[Edwin-S]

Originally Posted by bigshot I just checked that out. Good example. I wonder how many modern voice actors would be even capable of doing that kind of delivery?

 

[Film Syncs]

Originally Posted by BillyGil

SAN FRANCISCO — Everyone has their personal favorite Disney movie, and you can make an argument for most of the classics as being “the best.”

But the opinion of Diane Disney-Miller, the eldest daughter of Walt Disney, probably carries a bit more weight than others, and when asked where the 1940 Fantasia ranks, she didn’t hesitate: “It’s got to be tops.”

Sorry, don't buy into that premise a bit. It's just an opinion. Giving someone birth does not give them a more important opinion.

 

[bigshot]

Diane Disney Miller was adopted. So being born doesn't have anything to do with her opinion.

 

[Tim Gerdes]

Originally Posted by bigshot

Diane Disney Miller was adopted. So being born doesn't have anything to do with her opinion.

Diane Disney was not adopted, though her sister Sharon was. Regardless, I agree that none of these factors make one's opinion any more or less valid.

 

[MatthewA]

I had always thought that both Diane and Sharon were adopted.


As for this discussion, it makes me wonder what direction it would take if Ernest Rister were still here.

 

[DeeF]

I don't understand the Deems Taylor redub. His voice was always in the movie, but I hear there were some pieces missing? So they had the entire thing redubbed. Why not just redub the missing parts? It just doesn't make sense to me.

 

[David_B_K]

Originally Posted by DeeF

I don't understand the Deems Taylor redub. His voice was always in the movie, but I hear there were some pieces missing? So they had the entire thing redubbed. Why not just redub the missing parts? It just doesn't make sense to me.

It seems totally ridiculous. Someone at Disney says "OMG! we've found some extra DEEMS TAYLOR footage from Fantasia! We've gotta incorporate it back into the film! How cool is it that we found extra DEEMS TAYLOR footage!? OK, it turns out the audio is missing from this DEEMS TAYLOR footage. Let's just get someone to dub DEEMS TAYLOR's entire performance! No one will ever notice; after all it's just DEEMS TAYLOR, right?"