The Walt Disney Company recently announced their animation lineup for the next several years, and while it holds several promising titles, there is one thing that saddens me. Their slate includes only one traditionally animated movie. I realize that 3D and computer animation are both the present and the future, but there is something both charming and right about hand drawn movies.
Granted, 3D is where the money is at. Dreamworks, Fox and Disney will certainly attest to that. But to watch traditional animation dwindle to the point of near extinction leaves much to be worried about. I'll be the first to admit that I loved Shrek. Pixar can do no wrong, and there is no finer kid's movie than Toy Story. But my memories tie to the old style of cartoon.
I remember babysitting my baby sister and watching her giggle with joy whenever Baloo would sing "Bare Necessities" in The Jungle Book. Or watching The Fox and the Hound with my brothers. Beauty and the Beast is still not only my favorite animated film, but one of my favorite films regardless of genre.
Maybe I'm too much of a traditionalist. Maybe I'm holding on too tightly to the past. But I hate to see an entire art form pushed to the side simply because it has become somewhat antiquated. Certainly, the younger generation is just as happy with Ice Age as mine was with The Little Mermaid. I would just like to see the art form live on so that we would all have a choice.
**Read more articles by Benji**
