I Miss The Disney Renaissance

[ER]

Whatever else may be said for the company, from 1989 to about 2000 Disney released some of the best films of our time, and I give it full credit for that. Why this output stopped, I don't know, but I miss it. Nothing lasts forever and all golden ages pass, but I for one was glad I grew up in the era of some truly magical movies.

Like:

The Little Mermaid Started the Renaissance off with the best animated film in a generation. It had vibrant colors, singable music, and based on what boys were saying back in fifth grade, it had a smokin' hot heroine, too.

Beauty and the Beast Glorious! I loved this movie. Deservedly nominated for best picture, and while most disagree, I think it should've won.

Aladdin Sheer delight. I saw it three times in the same weekend. Loved this movie!

The Lion King Figured it'd be boring, instead it was an all-time masterpiece. (I cried when Mufasa died.)

Pocahontas OK, not the best of the lot but still pretty good. The Wise Old Willow was kinda cool.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame Will age far better than the unnecessarily harsh reviews at its release would indicate. I'm a fan of Hugo and hear what the critics were saying about toning down its message but still, it was a blast. Actually it was a visually awesome movie.

Hercules Gerald Scarfe is an animation god. This one was probably the 'f-u-n-n-e-s-t' film of the whole Disney Renaissance.

Mulan Darn near perfect. Not a cop-out or wussy moment end to end. Mulan was a great heroine and the movie ruled the universe. I have it on VHS and DVD.

Tarzan I thought it was a bit weak but...still not bad.

Fantasia 2000 Yes, the original will never be equaled but its successor is still One Fine Motion Picture! The Gershwin number was brilliant, The Pines of Rome never sounded better, The Tin Soldier was neat as heck, and Stravinsky's music was born for this sort of visual treatment. My only complaints were the celebrities introducing the bits, and the unnecessary re-visitation of the 1940 Sorcerer's Apprentice. I'd have rather seen a new segment, myself.

I keep waiting for new Disney masterpieces and hoping that this decade-long burst of supernova brilliance wasn't a once in a lifetime occurrence, but if it was, I feel glad I was there for ten works of artistic genius.

[Jim H]

Well, I'd say there's a chance for further brilliance ever seen Pixar merged or was bought or whatever the heck happened there.  They restarted full 2D animation development, and they're involved in the creative process on all Disney movies now, from my understanding.  Pixar doesn't just produce brilliant 3D animation, they have some of the best writing and storytelling of any animated films ever made.  Wall-E was great, for example.

So yeah, I'd say there is some hope for future releases by Disney, starting with the Princess and the Frog, when that comes out.

I do have to say though, the Disney films coming out when I was young..  Little Mermaid through Lion King, that was a pretty amazing string of four truly great films.

[schmendrik]

When "Beauty and the Beast" and "Little Mermaid" came out, I was stunned at the quality of the movies and their music, and I gave credit to Michael Eisner. Gradually I came to realize that the credit should go to Jeffrey Katzenberg, who was heading the movie division. When he left in 1994 to co-found Dreamworks, I think that's about when they started to slide.

Looking over this list, it looks to me like "Toy Story" and "Mulan" were the real standouts in the post-Katzenberg era. The others were kind of mediocre in my opinion.