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[Anthony]

Disney goes back to the 2-D drawing board
Thursday July 27, 2006
Guardian Unlimited


The Little Mermaid
Not a little success... Little Mermaid grossed more than $84m in the US alone in 2004
 
Its partnership with and eventual buyout of Pixar animation has yielded Disney untold riches, both critically and commercially, in the brave new world of digital animation.

However it seems the mouse house cannot quite bring itself to part company altogether with the traditional style of animation for which it became famous.

Walt Disney Studios yesterday announced it is to reunite with the directors of its 2002 box office bomb, Treasure Planet, to make Frog Princess, a new spin on the classic fairytale, using traditional techniques. The last time Disney made a 2-D feature was 2004's Home on the Range.

John Musker and Ron Clements' Treasure Planet made just $38m (£20.4m) in the US. However Disney clearly believes the duo are the right team to breathe life back into traditional animation. Musker and Clements masterminded the huge success of 1989's Little Mermaid and also worked on well-received animated adventures such as Aladdin and Hercules.

Ironically it is two men from Pixar, whose CGI techniques helped sound the death knell for 2-D animation, who will now be instrumental in bringing Musker and Clements back into the fold.

Former Pixar bosses Ed Catmull and John Lasseter now run Disney's feature animation operations and are said to be keen to explore the possibility of reviving the company's traditional style.

[Fantillusion]

Great
MORE ORIGINAL DISNEY MOVIES!
the computerised ones dont seem as magical! What would walt have though when Eisner dropped it last year.

Thanks
Fanti

[Dlrpfan]

John Lasseter must have had a big part on this

[Patrick]

Nice to see it's definately returning, don't think I could live in a Disney world without their fantastic hand drawn animation and not everyone believes treasure planet was a bomb I love the movie .  I hope frog princess can do better however and take the studio back to the golden age of the early 90's.