A few days ago, I caught a commercial for BAMBI II on television and was impressed by the apparent quality of the animation. I have never purchased (or even watched, for that matter) one of Disney's direct-to-video sequels, but after reading Andy's review this morning, I might have to make an exception for this title.

Since Disney is supposedly no longer producing traditional, hand-drawn animated features for theatrical release (at least for now -- I'm hoping that John Lassiter will reverse that decision), maybe there is still some hope for quality projects in the direct-to-video market. I hope so, as long as the emphisis is on QUALITY and not just the desire to make a quick buck.

I think the secret to Pixar's success has been their storytelling ability, not their animation (as good as that may be). If Disney would put that kind of effort into the scripts for their hand-drawn tales, I see no reason why that style of animation couldn't continue to have a long and successful run.

Personally, I'd hate to see this art form permanently disappear from Disney. Anyone else?

Mark

As I wrote I was more impressed by the animation than the story in BAMBI II, but it worked well enough for me...especially given how bland most of these direct-to-video projects have been. It doesn't have the depth that a theatrical, hand-drawn look would, but it's certainly superior to its predecessors in many respects.

I'm also encouraged by the hand-drawn Curious George movie. Not really the kind of animated movie I'd personally go to see, but it's nice to see "old-school" animation techniques still clinging to life (and how cool that this year's batch of Oscar-nominated animated features have not one CGI entry? ). Mark my words...within the next decade, CG features will begin to dwindle in popularity once viewers realize that it's the story, not the medium, that counts, and hand-drawn cartoon movies will become retro-cool again.

That CURIOUS GEORGE was supposed to have had Brendan Fraser and a mix of live-action/CGI, was it not? Evidently they opted to forgo that approach...then again, it's been in development so long everybody was probably attached at one point.

Monterey Jack wrote:I'm also encouraged by the hand-drawn Curious George movie. Not really the kind of animated movie I'd personally go to see, but it's nice to see "old-school" animation techniques still clinging to life (and how cool that this year's batch of Oscar-nominated animated features have not one CGI entry? ). Mark my words...within the next decade, CG features will begin to dwindle in popularity once viewers realize that it's the story, not the medium, that counts, and hand-drawn cartoon movies will become retro-cool again.

I hope you're right. Animation is warm, beautiful, and should never die.

The digital stuff has its place and can be done very well, but it should not mean that it COMPLETELY takes over.