Animated films you wish were part of Disney canon

[Mooky]

Here are my picks:
- Anastasia - if there's one movie that looks, sounds and feels like a '90s Disney film despite not being one, then it's "Anastasia"
- Thumbelina - I read somewhere that it was a troubled production and Disney offered to buy it, but Don Bluth declined
- Balto - would fit perfectly with "Bambi" or "Brother Bear"
- The Swan Princess - Odette would be a nice addition to Disney Princess line
- The Road to El Dorado - I don't really know why I picked this one, maybe because it reminds me of "Hercules"
- The Last Unicorn - being part of the Disney canon would give it a chance to shine which it really deserves

And if there was some way of removing films from the canon, I would take "Chicken Little" out and give it to DreamWorks .

[blackcauldron85]

I don't think that any non-Disney films deserve to be Disney films, but I agree with you about Anastasia. I like the movie. I don't like it enough to own it, but if it's on TV, I might watch it. I don't like the villain, though. I don't mind Bartok, but the villain is just horrible, and I don't mean in his evilness. The movie seems realistic enough, but the villain is so unrealistic. The music is good in the film, too, I must admit.

[akhenaten]

i agree with ur list..but i woudl also add the land before time and howl's moving castle and the secret of nimh.

and i second the removal of chikin little! i would give it to...weinsteins

[yukitora]

I have not seen Anastasia in full - the first 5/10 minutes of it was horrible enough to not want to go further. It didn't help that the disc was so scratched up it wouldn't play past the 10 minute mark

horrible as in:

animation (2D/3D effected looked lazy, don't know what kind of atmosphere/look they were going for)
characters (Rasputin's first few lines were ridiculous. It was like a stupid version of Maleficient's introduction)
Voice work: Angela Lansbury introduction just sounded icky. Her voice work as Mrs. Potts just works so much better
Historical accuracy: despite the idea being good, it just bothers me as much pocahontas accuracy bothers me.

of course, i should really watch the whole movie before making such judgements, but so far, not so good

ps. for some reason, i'm just not a fan of Don Bluth. I loved TLBT and AMT, but the idea of leaving Disney and setting up a rival company bothers me

[Flanger-Hanger]

I have not seen Anastasia in full - the first 5/10 minutes of it was horrible enough to not want to go further. It didn't help that the disc was so scratched up it wouldn't play past the 10 minute mark

horrible as in:

animation (2D/3D effected looked lazy, don't know what kind of atmosphere/look they were going for)

Be forgiving of a film that was made in 1997, combining 2-D with 3-D wasn't exactly an easy thing to do. Don Bluth's team got a better hang of it with Titan A.E. Also, if you think Anastasia is bad, stay away fromThumbelina.

characters (Rasputin's first few lines were ridiculous. It was like a stupid version of Maleficient's introduction)
Voice work: Angela Lansbury introduction just sounded icky. Her voice work as Mrs. Potts just works so much better
Historical accuracy: despite the idea being good, it just bothers me as much pocahontas accuracy bothers me.

of course, i should really watch the whole movie before making such judgements, but so far, not so good

Ya, that's probably a good idea.

ps. for some reason, i'm just not a fan of Don Bluth. I loved TLBT and AMT, but the idea of leaving Disney and setting up a rival company bothers me

Why? Because they wanted to have some kind of creative freedom? I'm glad he (and Richard Rich and others) left or else we wouldn't have so really good animated features. Of course we wouldn't have as many bad animated features but that's more about other companies wanting to cash in on Disney's success rather than make they kind of films they wanted too.

[jrboy]

This would have been nice





The Iron Giant - A truly wonderful film, to bad it bombed at the box office

[pap64]

I admit, I think Don Bluth made better films during the 80s than he did in the 90s and 00s.

An American Tail, The Land Before Time, All dogs go to heaven, The Secret of NIHM, Dragon's Lair and Space Ace (I know those two are videogames, but they make awesome animated shorts!) were great films that were completely different from what Disney was putting out at the time.

At the beginning of the 90s, though, his films started to lose spark, mainly because he started imitating the studio that he wanted to differentiate from. Rock-a-doodle had some charm to it, but it was a mess story and theme wise. As someone put it, it doesn't know whether it wants to be an Elvis Presley movie, a retelling of the Chanticleer story, a dark fantasy or a music mobster story.

Thumbelina also had some charm, but tried to be WAY too much like a Disney film and thus had more misses and hits. Not even Jodi Benson could save the movie.

A troll in central park was cute, but again, too superficial and not enough heart.

The Pebble and the Penguin was just blah. The main character was annoying, the storyline cliche and it was just plain forgettable.

Anastasia was perhaps his best and biggest hit in the 90s. Its one of my all time favorite films and even if there are some misses compared to most of the movies released in the 90s its a triumph in nearly every way.

It definitely tried to follow the formula established in the 90s, but having seen the film recently it actually feels more like an old time MGM musical than an animated musical.

Plus I loved the European setting and the character design. Its the only modern Bluth film that nearly reached the quality established by his early work.

Its been ages since I last saw "Titan A.E", but I remember it trying TOO hard to be an epic sci-fi movie. Its like the main focus during production was to create a movie that LOOKED like a live action sci-fi movie but lack the fun and wits that made them so popular.

So yeah, Don Bluth has some solid work under his work, enough for him to earn my respect as an artist and a film director, but his creations suffer from being too shallow and pleasing one area while forgetting others.

[Cordy_Biddle]

Definitely agree with "Anastasia". I remember I was so obsessed with the movie when it came out in the cinemas (being a big fan of the real Anastasia). Bought just about every scrap of merchandise I could--action figures, books, soundtrack CD, even the "Sing Along Anastasia" video because I couldn't wait until the film itself was released on video (yes video).

Perhaps the prettiest piece of merchandising was the full-sized musical box--just like you see in the movie--which is opened by a plastic locket and plays "Once Upon a December" while a tiny Anastasia dressed in the yellow ballgown revolves. I still treasure it.

I also agree with "The Swan Princess" and "Thumbelina".

[Escapay]

I would not add any animated films to the Disney canon, simply because "Disney" does not equate "the be-all, end-all, best of animation no matter what state of disarray or stability the department is in". There are plenty of good animated movies out there, and plenty of bad ones. But I wouldn't wish for some of them to be labeled "Disney" just to give it some overinflated clout and support blind company loyalty.

Anastasia is a good movie because it's a good movie, and it won't be a better movie if it has the name "Disney" before it or if Disney suddenly bought it from 20th Century Fox and Don Bluth.

Likewise, The Aristocats is a dull and only mildly entertainining movie, but removing the "Disney" name and shuffling it off to Blue Sky Studios.

One of my favorite non-Disney animated movies ever is Happily Ever After. And it is truly abysmal. It's got the style of a Saturday morning cartoon (given the fact it was animated by Filmation...), lousy but hummable songs, and such bland characters (beyond Batso and Scowl, who are funnier than they should be). Would I love the film more if it were labeled "Walt Disney Pictures Presents Happily Ever After"? Would more people flock to buy it in stores? Would its artistic merit rise through the roof once the word "Disney" is pasted somewhere to its credits? All the answers are "No". Because Happily Ever After is a bad movie no matter what you do to it, and it wouldn't matter if Disney or Filmation or Don Bluth made it.

Albert

[SleepingBeautyAurora]

I wouldn't want them to change to Disney but I would want more appreciation for them. I'm surprised no one has mentioned Ferngully: The Last Rainforest...

[DaveWadding]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Ferngully: The Last Rainforest...

I HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE that movie.

[Widdi]

One of my favorite non-Disney animated movies ever is Happily Ever After. And it is truly abysmal. It's got the style of a Saturday morning cartoon (given the fact it was animated by Filmation...), lousy but hummable songs, and such bland characters (beyond Batso and Scowl, who are funnier than they should be). Would I love the film more if it were labeled "Walt Disney Pictures Presents Happily Ever After"? Would more people flock to buy it in stores? Would its artistic merit rise through the roof once the word "Disney" is pasted somewhere to its credits? All the answers are "No". Because Happily Ever After is a bad movie no matter what you do to it, and it wouldn't matter if Disney or Filmation or Don Bluth made it.

Ahh, "Happily Ever After", the unofficial sequel to "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs".

I absolutley adore this movie. It's got that "so awful it's good" thing going for it. I think I may actually enjoy it more than "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" because unlike the for mentioned film, HEA does not bore the *beep * out of me.

This movie used to scare the bejebus out of me when I was a kid. Looking back I have no idea why, but I don't think I ever made it through a full screening of the movie before the age of ten without running, teary eyed, to my mom.

One thing I did take away from this was that magical cloak that turned people to stone. It became my special power anytime my friends and I played together. It was just so much fun throwing my blanket on top of them.

I wonder if Filmation hadn't gone belly-up what other Disney movies they would have made sequels to? For that matter, I wonder if Disney started making DTV sequels to combat Filmation? "Happily Ever After" came out in '93, and "Return of Jafar" came out in '94 (or '95 perhaps) coincidental timing or what?

[SpringHeelJack]

Isn't Carol Channing in "Happily Ever After"? That makes it worth it.

I dislike "Fern Gully" as well. I remember seeing it as a kid and... not hating it, but I rented it this year and was shocked at how badly it holds up.

I like "Anastasia", but there are some parts of it that prevent it from being a much better film. I think one is Rasputin, like blackcauldron85 pointed out. It's like the authors found him, didn't know entirely what to do with him, and couldn't figure out if he should be a comic villain or a serious one and as such he drifts badly between the two opposites. I also have some issues with the pacing (so much fading from one scene to another where a simple cut or tracking shot would suffice), the animation (everyone is always moving. Seriously. I realize animation is exaggerated, but we don't have to wave our arms around every time we talk), and Meg Ryan's cloyingly annoying performance.

[Sotiris]

OK, a bit off topic now but does anyone know what happened to Don Bluth and Richard Rich? Are they ever going to produce an animated movie again? Do we have any news at all about them? The last thing i heard about Richard Rich is when he made the movie "Muhammad: The Last Prophet", after that nothing. And i heard that Bluth and Goldman were planning to do a full-length feature of "Dragon's Lair" but had a problem with funding it. How is that going?

[akhenaten]

what's happily ever after? ive only seen happily n'ever after and it was awful.
i like ferngully.krista's father was voiced by the same guy who voiced the sultan in aladdin.

[Sotiris]

what's happily ever after? ive only seen happily n'ever after and it was awful.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happily_Ev ... %28film%29

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCLV0__2r9s

[REINIER]

what's happily ever after? ive only seen happily n'ever after and it was awful.
i like ferngully.krista's father was voiced by the same guy who voiced the sultan in aladdin.

That's not the only resemblance , just look at their character designs
I wonder, I believe they both came out at the same time didn't they?
Who was there first?

[akhenaten]

hey reinier what do u think of the dutch dubbing of ferngully..thats the version i grew up with on video.. i didnt like the english one

i believe ferngully came out first.
and little foot's grandfather is king triton

[Cordy_Biddle]

Escapay brought up Filmation Studios, in particular "Happily Ever After" (which I've never seen). Does anyone here like "Journey Back to Oz", another Filmation release?

[Sotiris]

Escapay brought up Filmation Studios, in particular "Happily Ever After" (which I've never seen). Does anyone here like "Journey Back to Oz", another Filmation release?

I've never seen it. Do you know where i can watch it?