Don Bluth Rules


I realize that this movie was directed by an ex-Disney animator, so I would expect a bias, but I think it's hilarious how they utterly downplayed Don Bluth's influence on the resurgence of true classical animation. "Dragon's Lair" and "The Secret of Nimh" was incredibly ahead of what Disney was putting out at the time and kept "Disney" quality animation alive till Disney finally got their act together.

The real reality check was when "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" was fawned out to a British company overseas because Disney couldn't handle it and Bluth was too busy.

Disney did not begin to achieve "Disney" quality again till "The Little Mermaid."

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Don Bluth does rule, but this movie was specifically about Disney animation, particularly 1984-1994 era Disney. If it was a docu about the most important animators of the last century, and failed to include Bluth, then I would be pissed. If it was a docu about the history of Disney Animation and failed to highlight Bluth's contributions, I'd be pissed. As it is, they made mention of his genius, the amount of respect his fellow animators had for him, and of some of his successes during that time frame, which is above and beyond what is necessary given the narrow scope of the subject matter.

And I wouldn't call it a Disney "bias". It's a Disney story.


You saw Dingleberries?

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Well, you can't just gloss over Bluth's revolt- it was part of that whole chain reaction of things going on in Disney at that time:

-the constant issues with Black Cauldron
-John Lasseter's push to utilize computer animation that eventually caused him to get canned

And a number of other factors.



"Thanks, guys." "So long, partner."

- Toy Story 3 (9/10)

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There are numerous things that I wish they would have gone into deeper detail about, and other aspects I wish they had toned down. Still, I think it was a good movie that stuck to a narrow scope. To go into detail about Lasseter's firing would mean having to greatly widen the scope of their story to convey it's future importance. In hindsight, a defining moment for Disney and animation as a whole. At the time, and in that time frame, not such a big deal unless you were Lasseter or part of his crew.

You saw Dingleberries?

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The real reality check was when "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" was fawned out to a British company overseas because Disney couldn't handle it and Bluth was too busy.


Yeah, "fawned out" to Richard Williams who is one of the best and most respected animators of the last several decades. "Fawned out" to people who are now THE BEST in the animation industry (like the amazing James Baxter and Nik Raneri for instance).

They weren't "outsourcing" to Britain. Richard Williams, who was chosen to direct the animation by Disney, at the Burbank studio, didn't want to deal with all the crap that was going on at Disney so he wanted to remain in England to do the animation. So Disney let him.

If anything, work go "outsourced" back to LA when Williams announced they couldn't finish the film on schedule.

-----
Animators are actors too!
"An animator is an actor with a pencil"

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The last year I lived in San Francisco, "101 Dalmations" (the REAL one) was released and played at the Palace of Legion of Honor. It's a great theater, so I went w/ a friend who's an animation freak also.
The next year, "All Dogs Go To Heaven" was released by the Don Bluth gang, and "The Little Mermaid" was released by Disney. The difference was amazing. I saw "Dogs" first, and thought it looked a lot like "Dalmations." These were people who left Disney because they were unhappy w/ the way animation was going at Disney, so it makes sense. Then I saw "Mermaid," and I thought it was CRAP! It looks a lot like TV animation does, flat characters and background. It didn't have the depth of the earlier movies, and "Dogs."

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Disney bias? The documentary goes to length discussing both the triumphs and failures of Disney animation(remember the scene where they discussed the embarrassment/disappointment at having the Care Bears movie out-gross Black Cauldron). You have to remember the documentary was about the resurgence of Disney's animation department, not animation as a whole.

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Farmed out.

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I too consider Bluth's role much too underplayed here. If his movies hadn't given them the kick in the pants Disney needed to up their game, Disney animation may have simply ceased back in the '80s, and this documentary wouldn't exist (at least as a tale of regaining the glory days). I myself know this, but if I were unaware watching this, I wouldn't have realized his importance to the extent I do.

Who busts the Crimebusters?

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The best part in all this was how this fantasy movie(not a documentary) made it seem like Disney were the victims in Don Bluth's revolt. "Oh poor Disney and curse that Judas Don Bluth".

Give me a break! Don Bluth and the animators left because Disney was spending little money as possible on the Animation Department. And were within an eyelash of closing the Animation Department down for good. So if Don Bluth hadn't staged a walkout. He would have been fired along with his fellow animators instead.

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So his solution to keep Disney Animations from closing down is to walk out and bring half of its employees with him?

The fact is that other animators stayed, Disney didn't close the department down, kept making animated movies, and succeeded again, while Don Bluth not only gave up on the department but also made life harder for his old colleagues by taking people away, so of course they will hate him for that. (I'm not denying his contribution to the medium as a whole though)

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Exactly.

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Ironically, Gary Goldman - Don Bluth's partner in filmmaking - was pretty complimentary towards WSB's director, Don Hahn. When I contacted him thru Bluth's website and asked him about jobs in animation, Gary went on about the great work that Hahn had done as a producer.

That was in 2007. I wonder if he'd still be quite so complimentary after what Hahn had to say about Bluth.

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