Walt Disney returns to the realm of hand-drawn animated “princess” films this Friday, December 11th with “The Princess & the Frog.”  When did Disney decide to stop making these kinds of films and let Pixar take over their animation slate?  (Not that there is anything wrong with Pixar films).  Let us take a brief look back at the recent cinematic history of Disney animation.

The new animation Renaissance

Disney animation had a second (or third, depending on how you count it) revival in hand-drawn animation with “The Little Mermaid,” “Beauty & the Beast,” “Aladdin,” “The Lion King,” and, arguably, “Pocahontas” from the late-1980s to the mid-1990s.  The year “Pocahontas” was released in theaters, 1995, was the same year Pixar’s computer-animated “Toy Story” was released.  Could hand-drawn and computer-animated films from separate production studios under the Disney banner coexist peacefully alongside each other?  Yes, . . . for a time.  

Back in those days, it took several years to create a new computer-animated film; Pixar’s next story “A Bug’s Life” would not be released until 1998.  Hand-drawn animation was better established at Disney and a consistent money-draw for the studio.  The yearly Disney princess film became a reawakened tradition for American families. 

In the late ’90s Disney moved away from the more traditional fairy tales and chose more edgy, less established content such as the dark “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” the comedic male-driven “Hercules,” and the Chinese set “Mulan.”  While Disney still controlled the animated market, there were chinks in the armor with these moderately (not hugely) successful tales.  Disney held back the eventual Pixar takeover with “Tarzan” in 2000, which seemed to be a return-to-form for the traditional animators with catchy Phil Collins original tunes mixed into a romantic, adventure tale.

Disney’s New Groove

Disney’s hand-drawn animation took a left turn after “Tarzan,” moving entirely away from the fantasy romantic tales and into what they thought were the next generation of animated movies.  These poor choices, along with Pixar’s string of CGI-successes, proved the temporary death nell of traditional hand-drawn animation.  While “The Emperor’s New Groove” (’00) and “Lilo & Stitch” (’02) were moderately successful with this new emphasis on contemporary storylines and/or humor, “Atlantis: The Lost Empire” (’01), “Treasure Planet” (’02), and “Brother Bear” (’03) were all box-office disappointments. 

By the time Disney’s final hand-drawn film “Home on the Range” (’04) was released, it was barely a blip on the family radar screen.  Pixar’s “Finding Nemo” (’03) put the final nail in the coffin of Disney’s traditional animation department, more than doubling the domestic take of “Brother Bear” and “Home on the Range” combined.  What was the “in house” animation studio at Disney to do?

  Joining the computer animated revolution

Unsuccessfully competing with the computer-animated Pixar at the box-office and critically with hand-drawn animation, Disney Animation studios tried their hand at computer animated fare with less than stellar results.  Neither “Chicken Little” (’05) or “Meet the Robinsons” (’07) could reestablish Disney’s magic in this new format.  While Pixar’s name had become equated with quality in the minds of movie-going families, anything Disney made without Pixar was a hard sell.  Was hand-drawn animation gone for good? 

With the time between starting and completing computer animated movies speeding up and with other studios competing successfully alongside Disney/Pixar (Dreamworks, etc.), computer animated pictures became the majority of the animated film market.  There was no longer anything special about the next computer animated film because almost all the new cartoons were CGI.  But when audiences saw the melding of live-action and hand-drawn animation in “Enchanted” (’07), a humorous take on the fairy tale genre, a craving for the magical tales and methods of old was reawakened in modern audiences.

Come back on Sunday for Part II – discussing “The Princess & the Frog” and beyond