Dan’s DVDS

Today’s big film news stems from a man unheard of to most, called John Lasseter who is the ‘chief creative officer’ at Disney announcing that from 2009 they will make 2D films again. They abandoned making them in 2004 and many jobs were lost although now it seems they are set to be rehired.

3D animation was seen as the pinnacle of animation and they have had huge success with it. Films like Shrek, Cars and the Incredibles have quite rightly been successful, but for every successful 3D animation there are also flops too, no matter how good the animation. Over The Hedge and Barnyard to name a couple. People are now seeing that it isn’t the jaw-dropping animation that matters but actually having a good story.

Disney thought that after their last 2D film ‘Home on the Range’ disappointed viewers that it was due to the fact it was 2D, but viewers can recognise a good story when they see one, and that is why films such as Aladdin and The Lion King are preferred by many to todays 3D blockbusters.

There is still a HUGE market for 2D animation despite the 3D boom, as sales of Family Guy DVDs and interest in the Simpson’s Movie suggests. Disney are now recognising this and have commissioned a film called ‘The Frog Princess’ about an African-American princess and its being directed by the man who oversaw Aladdin and The Little Mermaid.

I really hope for Disney’s sake it is a success, at the end of the day as much as the new films make you go ‘wow’ the originals are still the best and surely its right the next generation of kids get the chance to see superb 2D animation as I did. A bit of healthy competion for the 3D Disney Pixar prodcutions certainly won’t go amiss as far as I’m concerned.