Waking Sleeping Beauty
It’s hard to imagine that at one time Walt Disney Pictures was losing money after several expensive and critical disappointments, what with it having once been the king of animation. But as Walt Disney himself said, “The state of the art was waning,” in the 1980’s, and Disney executives were questioning over whether or not they should continue to make animated films. The Golden Age of Disney’s classics was beginning to die, and was just not as popular anymore. What follows is an interesting look at the real-life conflict that happened behind closed doors, and how Disney resurrected itself to the modern day.
Directed by Don Hahn, we are first given some clips of the Disney classics, and shown how by making Michael Eisner, an outsider of Paramount Pictures, Chairman of Disney they were determined to look at things in a new light. In this day and age of computer graphics it was a unique topic to discuss I thought, and certainly showed a darker side to the world of animation. Although once it had been easy to guarantee success, it is entertaining to see that once Jeffrey Katzenberg is brought in he got the producers to edit The Black Cauldron, a film which had cost Disney $44 million to make and was expected to deliver at the Box Office. Instead it was beaten out by the Care Bears movie of all films.
I thought this documentary was very well made, especially as it kept the audience entertained with its fast-pace, and had both dramatic and humorous scenes. One of the best pieces of footage is when all of the animators act out an Apocalypse Now scene as they are sure that they would all soon be fired after being forced out of their Disney building into another building, even more so when the animators are told that only the Box Office return was important, and not the actual illustrations. The animators soon get their own back with some unflattering cartoons of their bosses.
What also make this film enjoyable are the interviews with several people in Disney history, including Tim Burton, Steven Spielberg, and of course, Mr. Disney himself. As well as this, it is interesting to see how far animation has come, with such main landmarks as Who Framed Roger Rabbit? being the first film to mix live action and animation, breaking Box Office records and winning Oscars, Aladdin as the first animated film to gross over $2 million, the renaissance with The Little Mermaid, and of course, the worldwide phenomenon of The Lion King.
Overall, I thought this was a good film to show to audiences, what with the economy, showing that even those at the top have bounced back from failure in the past. It is also nice to have a look at the classic cartoons, and I wouldn’t be surprised if other companies who are making popular animated films today have a documentary like this about them in the future.
Waking Sleeping Beauty • Dolby® Digital surround sound in select theatres • Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 • Running Time: 86 minutes • MPAA Rating: PG for some thematic elements and brief mild language. • Distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures