Disney Films and Hollywood at large, lacking....

Now, more than ever, I admire, even hero worship Walter Elias Disney. While he was tenacious, and could be difficult to work for, (by published accounts) he still was a master of self promotion, vision and captured the American spirit in all his endeavors, like none else in his time. Indeed, at one time the name Walt Disney was a house hold name. He no less than three daily hit television shows (the Mickey Mouse Club, The Adventures of Davey Crockett, and the Adventures of Zorro), several Academy Awards, the first Theme Park in the world, a television series called Disneyland (later the Wonderful World of Color and then the Wonderful World of Disney), World War II shorts, countless Mickey, Donald, Goofy and Silly Symphony's Shorts, and wild life documentaries. This doesn't even begin to cover the full length animated features like Snow White, Cinderella, and Dumbo which were box office hits, or his box office busts, which are now classics like Peter Pan, Fantasia, and Pinocchio.

Today, Disney Studios is trying to be just as innovative as Walt was when in introduced sound to Mickey Mouse. It started with the introduction of computers in animated features, most notably in Oliver and Company, or as recently as Beauty and the Beast or Aladdin. This evolved into the current innovation of Computer Graphic animated feature films. Just like in the old days, and then with Don Bluth in the 80's, there is stiff competition with these features. Compare Dreamworks with Disney. Dreamworks is aiming at a more sophisticated audience. Ironically, Walt himself insisted that his animated shorts were aimed at the same audience. In contrast of the Disney Studio of today, where they aim directly at the younger audience, which means that an older audience is automatically included, as they must take the younger audience to these films. I am only comparing the two, as each philosophy has it's place in todays film market.

The Disney Studio, however, does something that is current trend in Hollywood that is most disturbing. There has been since the 80's a rash of live feature films that are being remade from the original. Same old stories, with a hip new twist and hip new actors and actresses to entertain the timeless classics of yesteryear. Take The Parent Trap with Maureen O'Hara, and Haley Mills. This is a classic feature with the lead song from Nat King Cole. The film is beautifully shot, and tells the story of the twin girls in a style that brings you along for the adventure. Compare this to the one with the now infamous Lindsay Lohan, and the contrast is as night and day. There is Freaky Friday. While I am a Jamie Lee Curtis fan, again Lindsay Lohan is a frightful disappointment when compared to Jodie Foster with the same roll. And how can resist John Astin (better known as Gomez Adams from the Adams Family Television series and father of Sean Astin), though Mark Harmon is a strong leading man.

If the Disney Studio would put it's money into remastering the classic movies and releasing them into first run theaters, (as did George Lucas with Star Wars) I believe that it would be money well spent. I also believe that if they did the same with ALL THE ANIMATED FEATURES, the result would be the same.

But then whom am I to question the bottom line at Disney Corp.?


The Knight Hawk