Princess and the Frog
This morning I went to an exclusive screening for CalArts animation students of The Princess and the Frog in the Disney Feature Animation building. Besides the awesomeness of the event itself (the theater we used is the one where they screen their in-studio tests and dailies, and John Musker and Ron Clement were there to hold a Q&A session afterwards--plus the studio people gave us a ton of free swag and food) I was really pleased with the film. It doesn't quite achieve the seamless level of perfected storytelling of the classic and Renaissance Disney films, but it tells a simple, heartfelt story with solid technical execution. And it was just *such* a great feeling to watch classic style Disney animation on the big screen again. I feel like I need a few days to mull it over to decide what my lasting criticisms would be--it's not perfect by any means--but my initial impression was one of extreme enjoyment. Dr. Facilier, especially, is an extremely enjoyable villain and steals the show in all of his scenes. Go see it! Support 2D animation!
John and Ron brought up a really interesting point in the Q&A session; they commented on not only how strong this year was for animated film, but also how diverse. We had strong showings from all sorts of animated mediums: Coraline and Mr. Fox for stop motion, Up and Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs from 3D, and Ponyo, Kells and Frog from 2D. They expressed hope that this year is representative of a future trend in animated film, and we'll get a more diverse selection of animated films each year as 2D makes its comeback. I certainly hope that's the case.
John and Ron brought up a really interesting point in the Q&A session; they commented on not only how strong this year was for animated film, but also how diverse. We had strong showings from all sorts of animated mediums: Coraline and Mr. Fox for stop motion, Up and Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs from 3D, and Ponyo, Kells and Frog from 2D. They expressed hope that this year is representative of a future trend in animated film, and we'll get a more diverse selection of animated films each year as 2D makes its comeback. I certainly hope that's the case.