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News, People and Events, including Awards, Festivals and Tributes
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Post by Ben » August 26th, 2010, 5:37 am

Going back to the "what makes Disney Disney" thing, I'll just repeat that, however Pixar was born and went off to make their own mark, all of its key creative talent was Disney trained or influenced. To me Pixar has always been tinged with that original Disney magic, and I was really pleased when they finally were bought properly.

All through Toy Story and the like, it was clear that Pixar was a very fitting creative partner for Disney Animation, and it has always been a strong give-and-take partnership. Indeed, although Pixar made the movies (50% financed by Disney), it was the Mouse House who promoted them and led the way in all ancillary markets. Whatever we thought of Disney in the late 1990s/early 2000s, their marketing has always been second to none.

When it looked like Pixar might walk, it seemed incredible to me that it would ever actually happen and it all seemed so right when Lasseter and company returned to Disney proper, even if they keep the brand names separate. I'm not sure Disney's quality had such a sharp upswing - Robinsons and Bolt were well into production and you can't seriously call them classics or on par with the average Pixar show - but we're about seeing the new influence now, with Princess And The Frog (not a big hitter, but a sure step) and, especially, Tangled, which although a holdover was practically built from the ground up.

For all the technology, there's something wonderfully "old fashioned" about Pixar's films, something still missing, so far, from the Disney pictures, which seem intent on being edgy and modern. I hoping Tangled will provide the compromise that sees Pixar influencing a classic feel back into Disney Animation, where it belongs, and can only hope there's no truth to this almost ridiculous assumption that Lasseter wants to keep the Disney films as "not quite as good as the Pixar ones".

That's hogwash, since in the release of the next few films, with Lasseter at the top of them all, they should all begin to reach the same qualities. I'm certainly interested to see if Pixar's fairytale and any of Disney's more Pixar-sounding projects start to feel like they could be made by each other: remember the great Joe Ranft dotted over between the two on occasion, and talent is talent, wherever it is found.


HOWEVER...is it me, or does this falling out with the Annies feel like it's coming from Pixar, with Disney kind of being dragged into it by association? It seems that the disgruntled people are the Pixar top brass, who also now happen to be the Disney top brass. But I thought Disney's films were pretty well represented recently, given their overall quality, and if Catmull and company weren't running Disney too, do you really think the Mouse would be pulling out alongside Pixar? Me no thinky so...

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Re: Disney/Pixar withdraws from Annie Awards

Post by Bill1978 » August 26th, 2010, 5:45 am

I can understand where the Disney/Pixar people are coming from in regards to the Annies. I used to hold the Annies in high regards until the Kung Fu Panda/WALL-E drama happened. For WALL-E not to walk away with a single Annie that it was competing against Kung Fu Panda, was and still is mind baffling. Sure Panda was great but not great enough to win everything it was nominated for.

I'm glad that the Annies have tried to address the issue but obviously there is still a concern from Disney/Pixar that the awards aren't won from a technical merit. Sure you could say Disney could pull a Dreamworks and give all their employees membership but I guess they just don't want to stoop to playing dirty tricks - even if this move looks like them throwing a tantrum.

I wouldn't have a problem with How To Train Your Dragon winning lots this year as out of all the animation I've seen so far this year it's my favourite film (haven't seen Toy Story 3 or Despicable Me yet), so I'm not anti-Dreamworks pro-Disney. Even though I admit to leaning that way more often then not. It still bugs me that Up was praised so much when all it was was a typical Pixar film with an Old Guy as lead, so I'm not 100% biased.

I hope this is sorted out soon cause it will be a pity that a awesome film from Disney/Pixar can't be officially recognised by it's official peer awards in the future.

Just had a thought, will this decision also affect Studio Ghibli films?

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Re: Disney/Pixar withdraws from Annie Awards

Post by Dacey » August 26th, 2010, 11:29 am

Not much to say here beyond what's already been said, but overall, I think that this is a very bad decision on Disney/Pixar's part.
"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift--that is why it's called the present."

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