Editorial: The Modern Disney Animation Resurgence Is Nothing Short Of Fantastic

An awesome image Wired made for their magazine to celebrate recent features
from Walt Disney Animation Studios. Hooray for Bolt and Winnie The Pooh
getting some recognition! 

With Big Hero 6 on the horizon, many have shifted their attention to Walt Disney Animation Studios, and specifically their numerous recent achievements. Seriously, the studio has been on fire lately, churning out one entertaining feature after the other. As this awesome and in-depth Wired article notes, the last few years have restored luster to the company, with the phenomenally successful Frozen just clinching that the company has reformed itself.

I must say, I'm glad that this sort of attention is being given to the guys and gals Walt Disney Animation Studios, since my entire love of cinema can be traced back to animated features produced by Disney. The Jungle Book, The Many Adventures of Winnie The Pooh, The Lion King, Fantasia 2000 and Dumbo were particular favorites, and too see the studio lose its presence in the world of film due to shoddy features like Atlantis was heartbreaking.

But to say the company has made some good films in the past few years is an understatement. Bolt was an extremely charming and emotional feature, while The Princess And The Frog is an underrated adventure. Wired is totally right when pinpointing Tangled as the start of something new, I remember watching that movie and thinking "They've just knocked it out of the park. They just made a classic." That movie had all the music (I See The Light is, fun and beauty of the best cinematic ventures the studio made, and thankfully, it was only the beginning of a new era for Disney's immortal studio.

I just got into a conversation over on The Dissolve about Winnie The Pooh yesterday, and man was it nice to find other people who adored the film like I did. Winnie The Poohs original 1977 film left such a massive impression on me that a new movie trying to recapture that ones majesty should have been a fool errand. Instead, it was a terrific film that had sharp writing, great songs and my God, watching clips of it on YouTube today, I was struck by how glorious its 2D animation. CGI does a lot of beautiful things (just look at any given PIXAR movie that isn't Cars 2), but some of the greatest assets of hand drawn animation as an art form are on prominent display in that gem.

My favorite movie of Disneys recent resurgence though has to be Wreck-It Ralph, a thoughtful, excellently made and relentlessly fun adventure that I just adore. It's such a different film from what people typically expect from a Disney animated film, but what I love about the film is that it embraces its uniqueness without making such a gesture grating. It's not edgy or "in-your-face", it's just got a different rhythm than the likes of, say, Cinderella, that perfectly suits its wonderful story.

I'll be saving my thoughts for Frozen for an article I'll write shortly over it (Short answer: I adore it), but needless to say, I'm thrilled with all of this phenomenal progress Disney animation had made in the past few years. The amount of devotion that comes across from the likes of John Lasseter (who is my spirit animal) is no surprise to me considering how much passion and joy comes across from the newest efforts from Walt Disney Animation Studios.

And now, because I still love this song, Let It Go!!