Submit Questions for John Musker & Ron Clements

[Luke]

This Wednesday night, I'll be talking with John Musker and Ron Clements, the writers/directors of <i>The Great Mouse Detective</i>, <i>The Little Mermaid</i>, <i>Aladdin</i>, <i>Hercules</i>, <i>Treasure Planet</i>, and <i>The Princess and the Frog</i>. If you have anything you'd really like to ask them, post it here. I'll try and get it answered.

Do note that:
A) They're primarily talking about <i>Princess and the Frog</i>, so those questions will likely take precedence.
B) This is not a 1-on-1 talk but a roundtable with other news outlets participating. In some of these things, I've gotten several questions answered. In others, I've had none answered. So the chances that anyone posting here will get any or all of their questions asked/answered are slim.

With that said, if there are enough people wanting a certain topic covered, I'll do my best to bring it up with them.

Thanks for your interest!

[sunhuntin]

not a question, but just say thanks to them for bringing so many wonderful movies to our screens.

[Sotiris]

Could you ask them whether they are currently working on another film and whether that will be hand-drawn or CGI.

Thanks

[BK]

1) What do they think of Rapunzel's name change?
2) Why do they think PATF didn't do as well as it should have?
3) Have they worked on any upcoming DVD releases of Aladdin/Hercules/any of their movies i.e. special features etc. and if so when do they think it will be released?
4) What do they think of John Lasseter/Bob Iger/Rich Ross?

Thanks Luke

[SpringHeelJack]

I'm always curious about dropped story points / aspects of movies, so anything they'd have to share on earlier versions of "TPATF" would be interesting to me.

[Flanger-Hanger]

Not froggy related but:

Was there a favorite moment working with Vincent Price on The Great Mouse Detective?

[buffalobill]

How many P&TF movie posters did they, Pete Del Vecho & the animators sign for the Disney Rewards program? I'd love to know how many of these exist.

[toonaspie]

I'm always curious about dropped story points / aspects of movies, so anything they'd have to share on earlier versions of "TPATF" would be interesting to me.

I'd like to know where the alterations to the story came from. Was the idea of making this movie with an African-American Princess in New Orleans concieved from the start or did Disney just asked them to do a black princess movie?

[rj.disney]

1) What do they think of Rapunzel's name change?
2) Why do they think PATF didn't do as well as it should have?
3)
4) What do they think of John Lasseter/Bob Iger/Rich Ross?

+1! you stole the words out of my mouth.

And this..

3) Have they worked on any upcoming DVD releases of Aladdin/Hercules/any of their movies i.e. special features etc. and if so when do they think it will be released?

Is there an upcoming plan of re-releasing Hercules?
What do they think of Aladdin's ousting from the Diamond line? What do they think are the reasons why it did not do well in its Platinum Edition run?

And...

Should Rapunzel be successful and start a so-called Renaissance, what do they think the company's regard of The Princess and the Frog would be? Do they think that it will get ignored within Disney itself like the other features which did not do well like Hercules and Treasure Planet?

(Sorry if that seemed too frank, but I believe that there could be possible differences and disagreements between the opinions of the artists/filmmakers and those managing the company)

That's all
Although these might be ignored, still, thanks a lot for giving us the opportunity, Luke!

[ajmrowland]

What are your thoughts on the Animation Department now, and Disney's current state as a Company?

[SWillie!]

What are your thoughts on the Animation Department now, and Disney's current state as a Company?

This.


And also, as sotiris2006 said, are they working on a new film? And will it be hand-drawn?

[Kyle]

random questions, in no real order, trying to make them all somewhat relavant to frog, since most of the questions here are trailing off too much I think.

Was it an odd feeling bringing everybody back to work on a hand drawn project?

(you guys can correct me if Im wrong here, but) Early on it frog was intended to be the first tablet animated feature. How far into production did you realise technology wasnt quite ready to fully integrate as a replacement for paper? do you think the tactile feel of paper can ever be duplicated?

Was it always planned for Tiana to turn into a frog? was it ever going to go in a direction more like the original tale?

[BwayJ]

Since it is never specified at the end of the film, are Tiana and Naveen still able to talk to Louis now that they are human again?

[SpringHeelJack]

Since it is never specified at the end of the film, are Tiana and Naveen still able to talk to Louis now that they are human again?

Doesn't Louis talk to one of the people at the parade who think he's a guy in a costume?

[milojthatch]

I think all the good questions have been asked. But I guess I'd add this one:

Looking back, is there anything different they wish they had done to make PatF better then it currently is? Would that have made a difference for how it did at the box office?

Any advice for young animation hopefuls?

I just think their work is great, I give them two thumbs up!

[Marce82]

THis is good...I wish I had a chance to ask them questions.

I guess theyy would be:

1) Why was the title changed from "the frog prince" to "the princess and the frog"? Do you think it would have worked better on the male demographic with the original name?

2) Why did Naveen as a frog have teeth, but TIana didn't?

3) Do you think TPATF would have made more money had it been made in CGI?

4) Did you find restrictions because you were dealing with an african american character and story?

THats all I can think of right now. And of course, whats their next project.

Oh, as for the other posts....I dont think Ron and John have anything to do with rapunzel...might be pointless to ask them about it

[Snow White]

Questions:

1) Are you working on another feature? Could you tell us something?

2) I read on the net that the real problem of TPATF is that this movie is too comedic and it hasn't too "heart"... I agree with that. So why you changed a lot your style from The Little Mermaid and Aladdin (this movies are comedies but there is a lot of heart) to Hercules and TPATF (this movies are too comedic or parodistic with just a little of heart)?

3) Could you create a new version of Snow Queen (with a lot of heart and dark aspect and - yes - also comedy but a lot of heart)? It could be great!

[SWillie!]

3) Could you create a new version of Snow Queen (with a lot of heart and dark aspect and - yes - also comedy but a lot of heart)? It could be great!

I disagree. If Snow Queen ever is put back into production, I think Clements and Musker would be my last choice for directors. They're much more comedy based, and Snow Queen should NOT be comedy based.

[Avaitor]

Could you ask if they were aware of The Great Mouse Detective's new release and had any interest in adding new bonus material to it?

[Mickeyfan1990]

My ques:

-Do you think you've accomplished something/anything with TP&TF?