Hand-Drawn Animation Dead at Disney

[NeverLand]

Magical movie!

I really want to see Klaus take the Oscar over Toy Story 4 and Frozen 2!

[unprincess]

uuugh I sooo envy you guys, I dont have Netflix. I wanna see this so bad! I think Jesper may become my Hans replacement if the later really does ends up dumped from from the Frozen franchise.

[Disney's Divinity]

Oh, Klaus is on Netflix? I might be able to see it in a few days then!

[Disney Duster]

Oh, that sucks unprincess. I love Jesper. I really hope you get to see the film someday. Maybe it will come to physical or digital someday. It's certainly good enough to! And it will probably get a lot of buzz...it already has some!

[unprincess]

I hoping for at least a dvd (they released one of The Little Prince)though I might have to wait til next Christmas, they probably want to get as many people as they can watching it on their streaming site first.

[Disney Duster]

Yes, that's probably right. Huh, I didn't know The Little Prince was Netflix only first.

[Disney's Divinity]

I liked Klaus more than I expected. I hadn’t really paid any attention to this movie at all, it was just a title I would see in this thread, so I was surprised it was a Christmas movie at first, lol. As soon as I realized that, all my expectations dropped to zero. When the whole thing started, I thought we were going to get an animated version of that Tim Allen movie with the main guy becoming Santa Claus, or taking over for the old one, and the school marm was going to be Mrs. Claus. Thankfully, the movie was much better than that and not very cheesy at all.

As soon as the film started, Jesper’s design mostly reminded me of Doppler from Treasure Planet, but also occasionally Charlie from All Dogs Go to Heaven, the dumb dog that constantly gets hit over the head from Balto, and a touch of Kuzko. Occasionally the facial expressions—but especially the hand movements—reminded me of how the characters would move in The Iron Giant. Since I’m all into comparisons already, the guy running the boats reminded me of Rourke and most striking was that Alva was, to me, an animated Sigourney Weaver, lol. I couldn’t help thinking the character reminded me so much of Weaver throughout—I even thought Weaver was voicing her at first, and the similarity in design and voice combined is probably what made it stick in my head.

Anyway, as for the comparisons to "Paperman," I didn’t think this looked as good as that short, but it was a very pretty film. The lady leading the Krums had my favorite design, but a voice that didn’t suit the character at all, imo. I like Joan Cusack, she’s just not right for someone that old.

Just watched Klaus, really inspiring stuff. I'd say the wait definitely paid off. I appreciate the fact that they did something disney never would. They mostly kept the Christmas stuff grounded. There is no magic involved for the most part, except its sort of implied a bit at the end. But the premise of Christmas is kept fairly realistic. Guy makes toys for a town that has not yet had a functional mail system. The ridiculousness of Santa clause as we know it is mostly done in the form of rumors for kids.

I agree, they did a very good job avoiding heavy-handedness. Very surprising, since I thought the beginning with Jester being a spoiled brat with his father was setting the whole thing up for something akin to A Christmas Carol.

[Kyle]

Totally agreed on Joan Cusack not fitting the role. All I could hear was Jessie. I don't know what they were thinking beyond "we need another recognizable name".

[estefan]

I was wondering if the rest of you have seen the "Green Eggs & Ham" series on Netflix. I've been watching it and I have to say the hand-drawn animation is theatrical quality. The show took four years to make and Netflix spent a huge amount of money, which shows in the final product. I am really impressed by the character animation, which almost reminds me of "Cats Don't Dance." The facial expressions on the characters are especially good. I highly recommend the series if you're hankering for old-school hand-drawn animation.

[blackcauldron85]

^ We watched it right before we didn't renew our Netflix. It looks great and it's really entertaining.

[Kyle]

Green eggs looks nice in pencil tests, but to be honest I hate the final look of it. It has that cheap photoshop bevel and emboss style lighting you tend to see in the worst disney cheapquils. They think it adds depth and makes it look better, but unless you do it right you're better off going the looney tunes route and just making it flat.

[Warm Regards]

So I keep seeing Old Navy cozy socks ads on YouTube. Apparently Klaus has a tie in with ON for a Black Friday deal.

Made me think that I don't typically see Netflix movies/shows get much merch and attention with the mainstream sources. Maybe random strangers learned about this movie now through the bombardment of online ads.

[blackcauldron85]

A man had an artist animate custom animation into Sleeping Beauty for his proposal:

https://youtu.be/I1TZWzf3Fqk
(via LaughingPlace.com)

It reminds me so much of Enchanted's style!

[Farerb]

That was really awesome.

[Sotiris]

Q: The Little Mermaid was the last Disney feature to use hand-painted cel animation. Would you reflect on the period of transition to computer animation?

John Musker: Although I loved Toy Story when it came out, I didn't foresee the wholesale move in feature animation away from hand-drawn and into CG. I still think they are different tools to tell stories. I was glad to see Klaus this year with its beautiful hand-drawn animation, as well as the hybrid I Lost My Body and the stop motion in Missing Link. I would love to see all these forms continue to be seen on the big screen.

Ron Clements: I do miss hand-drawn features and hope that there's a future for this unique and very special kind of animation. I'm encouraged by the fact that there seems to be so much interest and enthusiasm for the medium among young people nowadays. I think people really do miss it, and it's poised for a potential comeback.

Source: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/ ... ss-1271493

[Disney's Divinity]

I do think there's potential in a niche form. Perhaps if a studio like Laika were to rise up out of the ether and use hand-drawn animation to put out consistently high quality films the way they do with stop-motion, and stand apart from the pack in that way. Sort of like how Ghibli was seen back in the 2000's, except an American studio.

[JeanGreyForever]

I'm glad to see them openly speak out about hand-drawn animation and how missed it is. Love the shout-out to Klaus!

[Sotiris]

See The Sizzle Reel For ‘Galaxy Gas,’ A 2D Feature By Disney All-Stars That Never Made It To Screen
https://www.cartoonbrew.com/feature-fil ... 88906.html

Interview With the Creators of Galaxy Gas
https://www.traditionalanimation.com/20 ... alaxy-gas/

[blackcauldron85]

^That looks amazing!!! I just watched Atlantis and wondered what Kirk Wise and/or Gary Trousdale have been up to- and here's Wise (I know this is a few years old now). So much amazing talent on this. I wonder if they could crowdfund this? I want to see this as a movie!!!

[DisneyJedi]

See The Sizzle Reel For ‘Galaxy Gas,’ A 2D Feature By Disney All-Stars That Never Made It To Screen
https://www.cartoonbrew.com/feature-fil ... 88906.html

This needs to be made!