Could Disney return to its roots?

[Rumpelstiltskin]

The earliest movies by Disney, Snow White and Pinocchio, have a very dark tone to them, just as many of the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm which Snow White was based on.

Fantasia was more avantgarde and Dumbo was more innocent (still, could such a movie have been made today?)
Also Bambi can be a little hard, but that's more related to the tough sides of life and doesn't portray the evil we see in the first two films.

The closest we can come to evil since then is probably the evil step mother in Cinderella, Maleficent and Horned King.

Most of the Disney movies today are much more harmless, and even if some of them have their dark moments, I can't say they have the same special atmosphere as the first movies.
Of course a studio should try to look forward instead of back in time, that was then and this is now and so on. Still, could it be possible to make a modern movie with the same hard elements as the old classics?

[Flanger-Hanger]

Disney tried to have more "darker" elemnets in their movies in the 80's, with films like Return to Oz, Watcher in the Woods, Something Wicked This Way Comes etc., but too many parents complained about how there 4 year olds were scared (ironically, just like Disney's old animated films). Plus older people were put off by the Disney name, so the didn't go see them. Disney pretty much stopped making any films with scarrier or more adult elements after Hocus Pocus (after a long streem of PG films like The Rocketeer, Newsies, Flight of the Navigator), with the excetion of Hunchback (Though if Disney had not released Hocus Pocus in July and in October, it might have made money ). Disney is now trying to get films with a PG-13 rating for it's live action stuff (though there are still crappy 4 year old only pleasing movies like Game Plan comming out to please the complainers). If Disney wanted to make a PG animated film with "darker" moments, I think they could, but will just have to wait and see. Also most of Disney's animated stuff this decade has got a PG rating so it would just be continuing the trend the have already set.

[Jules]

I disagree. I in no way see the advent of recent Disney films having wiped out dark elements. Think of it this way:



*SPOILER WARNING*



Beauty and the Beast: Gaston it truly evil. He's a demented human who seeks murder to satisfy his lust for Belle.

The Lion King: Among echoes concerning morality and rather complex symbolism, Simba's trauma at his father's death is very dark and depressing.

Hunchback: No need to explain this one.

Fantasia 2000: I think the last segment is beautiful, and perhaps a masterpiece in its own right. The theme of death is pretty evident here.

Atlantis: View the ugliness of human corruption in all its glory.

Brother Bear: The scene when Koda's mother is killed makes the viewer apprehensive. Murder has been committed.

Meet the Robinsons: Though mostly a comedy, MTR is also adept at drama. Though goofy, the Bowler hat Guy can look truly evil, and the alternate reality of the future is pretty damned scary!

[Lars Vermundsberget]

It'll never be the same again - and it never was.

[Disney's Divinity]

I don't think any of the recent Disney films are lacking "darkness" except for, possibly, Hercules, Aladdin and The Emperor's New Groove (which are comedies anyway). Honestly, though many of the films are formulaic and tiresome, they all have dark elements. In fact, you'd be hard-pressed to find many Disney films without them.

But, really, you need to ask yourself exactly what makes something "dark?" I don't think The Little Mermaid is any lighter than Snow White. I don't believe The Lion King is easier to digest than Bambi. Just because films handle violence and evil differently doesn't make them any less "dark" in their subject matter. Cute, furry animals and "This-Is-What-I-Want" ballads don't take away from the conflicts characters are forced to deal with.

[PeterPanfan]

I agree with the above posters.

Disney isn't getting any lighter than they were...I think they're maybe just experimenting with new themes and genres. They may,or they may not,make another film like The Black Cauldron,or something of that sort.

That film is definitly Disney's darkest,and IMO Snow White wasn't that dark...maybe if you watch The Emperor's New Groove or Meet the Robinsons RIGHT after watching Snow White,you'd think so,but...Disney is TRYING to go with what people are interested in now.
I'm sad to say but...most teenagers and kids are NOT interested in watching a new animated Disney movie.

[Rumpelstiltskin]

Yeah, I realize there is some dark elements in more modern movies as well. It was the atmosphere as a whole I was referring to, but maybe it is the freedom, political incorrectness and their age that makes me feel that these elements feels more real and threathening than seen in more recent films.
(It could be interesting to see if a child who hasn't seen any Disney movies before is able to notice any differences between the old movies and the newer ones other than in graphic style.)

Yet there is at least one thing which makes Pinocchio pretty unique compared to the other movies in the canon. Does any of the villains get punished for their crimes, does the boys transformed into donkeys get saved, are the villains free to continue doing what they used to do?
Imagine if it was only Pongo and Perdita's puppies which were saved in One Hundred and One Dalmatians, while Cruella De Vil made herself a beautiful dalmation skin coat of the remaining ones.