Disney's current dark/goth/moody phase

[toonaspie]

I've been noticing a major trend particularly with Disney's live action films that's headed toward a dark or moody style of storytelling with Tim Burton-ish style visuals to match in much of their current slate as well as their upcoming.

Personally, I'm getting tired of it and Disney needs to move on. It was fun at first but now Disney feels the need to beat us with a dead horse with this style a few times a year on average. This year it will be Frankenweenie and the new Oz film. Next year it will be Maleficient. Why not do fantasy films that actually evoke a different style of storytelling and visuals that stray from this norm? Something outside the box?

[RyGuy]

They have . . .The Odd Life of Timothy Green and Bedtime Stories come to mind.

But I do see your point that it seems like a number of their films are Burton-esque these days.

[pap64]

Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh...

Hmm.

I don't see what you are talking about.

Here are the live action movies Disney released in 2010:
- Alice in Wonderland
- Prince of Persia
- Sorcerer's Apprentice
- Secretariat
- Tron Legacy

In 2011:
- Mars Needs Moms
- Prom
- On Stranger Tides
- The Muppets

In 2012:
- John Carter
- The Avengers
- Chimpanzee
- Off Life of Timothy Green
- Frankenweenie

In 2013:
- Oz: The Great and Powerful
- Iron Man 3
- Lone Ranger
- Thor 2

In 2014:
- Maleficent

So out of all these movies, five of them fit your apparent description, and even then only two of them really fit the bill of Burton-esque fantasy... and both were helmed by Tim Burton himself.

Oz: The Great and Power does not strike me as gothic at all, more like high end fantasy. Maleficent might actually be the darkest but we have yet to see any footage of it to know. In that time, we have gotten comedies, nature documentaries, teenage centric films, sci-fi and super hero films.

This HARDLY indicates a trend in Disney's live action output as only a handful of these movies fit your description, and two of them are done in the director's style. And even then, only like one or two movies like that were released each year. So again, I don't see the issue here.

[DisneyJedi]

but Frankenweenie is a stop-motion film.

[milojthatch]

Let's take another look at that list:

Here are the live action movies Disney released in 2010:
- Alice in Wonderland - Goth
- Prince of Persia - Dark
- Sorcerer's Apprentice - Goth
- Secretariat
- Tron Legacy - Gothish

In 2011:
- Mars Needs Moms - Darkish
- Prom
- On Stranger Tides - Gothish/ Darkish
- The Muppets

In 2012:
- John Carter - Dark
- The Avengers - Dark Moments
- Chimpanzee
- Odd Life of Timothy Green - Different/ Indi-like
- Frankenweenie - Goth

In 2013:
- Oz: The Great and Powerful - Goth
- Iron Man 3 -Darkish
- Lone Ranger - Darkish
- Thor 2 - Darkish

In 2014:
- Maleficent -Goth


No, I see the point here. The films of late have not been the bright, happy family-friendly films of the Disney past. Gone are the days when the live-action films have the same tone as films like "Marry Poppins" or "The Santa Cluase." Frankly, from the above list, the listed film was "The Muppets," and that was more the exception, not the rule. Disney today is far more interested in summer pop corn films that attract teen age boys then family entertainment, and it shows.

[pap64]

Let's take another look at that list:

Here are the live action movies Disney released in 2010:
- Alice in Wonderland - Goth
- Prince of Persia - Dark
- Sorcerer's Apprentice - Goth
- Secretariat
- Tron Legacy - Gothish

In 2011:
- Mars Needs Moms - Darkish
- Prom
- On Stranger Tides - Gothish/ Darkish
- The Muppets

In 2012:
- John Carter - Dark
- The Avengers - Dark Moments
- Chimpanzee
- Odd Life of Timothy Green - Different/ Indi-like
- Frankenweenie - Goth

In 2013:
- Oz: The Great and Powerful - Goth
- Iron Man 3 -Darkish
- Lone Ranger - Darkish
- Thor 2 - Darkish

In 2014:
- Maleficent -Goth


No, I see the point here. The films of late have not been the bright, happy family-friendly films of the Disney past. Gone are the days when the live-action films have the same tone as films like "Marry Poppins" or "The Santa Cluase." Frankly, from the above list, the listed film was "The Muppets," and that was more the exception, not the rule. Disney today is far more interested in summer pop corn films that attract teen age boys then family entertainment, and it shows.

First of what, the gothic art style may be seen as one being subjective, especially with Alice in Wonderland and Frankenweenie. In Alice's case, while it does differ greatly from Disney's very colorful and wacky take, and Alice in general seems to attract the "goths" greatly, the art style in Alice in Wonderland was more of a romantic/victorian gothic look inspired by the illustrations in the book. Frankenweenie is a tribute to classic horror tropes. The designs may be seen as gothic, but the movie as a whole is a horror movie tribute. Oz: The Great and Powerful I fail to see as gothic but more like high fantasy, with the wicked witch being the gothic one for obvious reasons. And even then, those are subjective as to what is or isn't gothic.

And now for my main argument, let us take off our Walter Elias Disney glasses for a minute and look at film history as a whole. While Disney did always try to innovate in his own way, many of the films he produced were often the product of what was common in Hollywood in each respective era. For example, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is often placed alongside Wizard of Oz as one of the definitive fantasy/fairy tale musicals.

10,000 Leagues Under the Sea was Disney's take on the sci-fi genre that was popular in the 50s and such. Mary Poppins was Disney's take on the lavish musical seen in the 50s and 60s like Singin' in the Rain, My Fair Lady, Showboat and such. In the 80s the dark fantasy was popular with movies like Labyrinth, so Disney produced the dark Return to Oz in the 80s. In the 90s, the corny family comedy was very popular in Hollywood, so a lot of their movies were corny family comedies.

So if there are many dark/gothic/moody Disney films as you guys call them, then that's because we are in the cinematic trend of films being dark/gothic/moody, all in the wake of the success of films like Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. Is this necessarily a bad good? Well depends on how you see it. Most of us see filmmaking as being an art that should be taken more seriously than it is being taken these days, and Disney should innovate more and make more family movies. But the truth is that both audiences and the industry have changed since the very early days of film, they demand something different with each passing decade. Disney has, in a way, since the very beginning changing and updating itself to stay relevant in a society that is always changing gears when it comes to entertainment.

Also, let us not forget that not ALL of the classic Disney live action movies were all that clean. The Three Lives of Thomasina, despite starring a cute cat, dealt with issues of faith, life, life after death, love and trust. Darby O' Gill also had its dark elements. Oh and Old Yeller had that wonderful scene with the boy killing his own dog so he could be put out of his misery. So not even Disney's "cleanest" films were that clean and family friendly to begin with.

But going back to the topic at hand: I can see the disagreement you guys may have with this since these movies are indeed more Hollywood-ish than what Disney tends to produce. Claiming that this is a "phase" Disney is going through and saying Disney only cares for a certain demographic is diminishing the quality some of these films have, and some have gained universal praise and success.

Long story short: don't blame Disney, blame the ever evolving film industry, an industry that Disney has been following since their beginnings, mainly introducing their takes and innovations to the industry.

[DisneyJedi]

Okay, what part of "Frankenweenie is going to be an animated film and NOT live-action aren't you guys getting? I mean, really. Come on.

[Wonderlicious]

Okay, what part of "Frankenweenie is going to be an animated film and NOT live-action aren't you guys getting? I mean, really. Come on.

I too was wondering why it was being included along with the live-action films. Because it's not from either WDAS or Pixar? That logic would also allow Mars Needs Moms into the equation, so I suppose it's for that reason.

[JustOneBite87]

The films of late have not been the bright, happy family-friendly films of the Disney past. .

A film doesn't need to be bright and happy to be "family friendly". Personally I'm thrilled that the company is finally going back to some of its darker sensibilities that it displayed during the early 1980's during one of their most underrated cinematic periods in history.

I'm sure you're aware that many of the most famous fairy tales brought to screen by Disney have darker roots than their now more famous cinematic counterparts. I for one think it's nice to see less-sanitized takes on these classic tales and as as child I much preferred movies like Return to Oz or Something Wicked This Way Comes than something like The Apple Dumpling Gang or The Monkey's Uncle, though the films of that vein do have their charms.

[Disney's Divinity]

Yes, it’s clearly a beginning fad, as evidenced by all the other films coming out that are similar (ParaNorman, Hotel Transylvania, etc.). Everything comes back around in 20 years or so. It’s not a crime, of course, but Disney is as guilty of perpetuating fads and re-hashing as every other film company.

[Maerj]

Let's take another look at that list:

Here are the live action movies Disney released in 2010:
- Alice in Wonderland - Goth Liked it.
- Prince of Persia - Dark LOVED it!
- Sorcerer's Apprentice - Goth LOVED it!
- Secretariat
- Tron Legacy - Gothish REALLY LOVED it!

In 2011:
- Mars Needs Moms - Darkish
- Prom
- On Stranger Tides - Gothish/ Darkish Loved it!
- The Muppets REALLY loved it!

In 2012:
- John Carter - Dark REALLY LOVED it!
- The Avengers - Dark Moments REALLY LOVED IT!
- Chimpanzee
- Odd Life of Timothy Green - Different/ Indi-like Prob will like
- Frankenweenie - Goth Probably will love

In 2013:
- Oz: The Great and Powerful - Goth Probably will like it
- Iron Man 3 -Darkish Probably will love it
- Lone Ranger - Darkish Probably will like it
- Thor 2 - Darkish Probably will love it

In 2014:
- Maleficent -Goth Probably will love it

Just added my opinions after each title. If this is Disney going dark... well I love it!

[toonaspie]

Yes, it’s clearly a beginning fad, as evidenced by all the other films coming out that are similar (ParaNorman, Hotel Transylvania, etc.). Everything comes back around in 20 years or so. It’s not a crime, of course, but Disney is as guilty of perpetuating fads and re-hashing as every other film company.

I'm not gonna go much into explaining why I started this topic but this is the most correct quote. It's still a trend that's gotten really tiring and sometimes doesn't work. I hate the approach they took with the last four Harry Potter films. Yes, the stories are dark but you don't need the entire movie to be visually dark to emphasize that point. Let the story do that for you. To me those films seemed more focused on the look of the film than they were on the actual storytelling. I think the visual aspect is my biggest problem with this trend. And while I get that this period is trying to be much like the 80s, the dark films of the 80s to me felt more authentic and natural. The trend in this area feels tacked on, sometimes overdone to the point where it becomes bland in a good number of films. I'm not looking for Disney to make constantly bright and chipper films. I'm looking for Disney to do unique movies that go outside the trend and give audiences a taste for something fresh and different.