Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Everybody's Mentor


The story goes that Don drew his creative sustenance from one individual.

It’s impossible to talk about Don Bluth without talking about Walt Disney. ...

But here's a news flash: It's impossible to talk about John Lasseter without talking about Walt Disney.

Just as it's difficult to talk about Jeffrey Katzenberg ... who admits to poring over Walt's sweatbox notes ... without bring Walt into the widescreen frame.

Because the reality is that anybody who's currently anybody in Cartoonland was influenced by Disney. Walt, though he's been dead forty-eight years and his daughters and wife have gone to their rewards, is still the D.W. Griffith, John Ford, and William Wyler of animation. The Alpha dog of the whole shebang.

Even Illumination Entertainment chief Chris Meledandri, who developed his animation chops at Fox Animation, spent time at Disney executive-producing Swing Kids and Cool Runnings (among others). All roads run through Disney.

3 comments:

Grant said...

Sorry--no amount of belated career rehabilitation can erase the horrible films bluth made and his bizarre ideas on animation and production. And his lack of ability to tell a story or create a compelling character.
That he was so vehemently anti-union didn't help, either.

Steve Hulett said...

Nobody's perfect.

Unknown said...

So True. Bluth couldn't make blockbuster films Like Disney was at that time. The Black Cauldron, The Great Mouse Detective & Oliver & Company. I can see why Bluth left. And don't get me started on Disney Animation in the 2000s. Treasure Planet, Home on the Range & Chicken Little? But Disney did do one amazing thing: They bought out Pixar. And who can forget The Princess & the Frog, the film that killed 2D Feature Animation at Disney for good. I find it odd that no one ever takes about Disney Animation in the 2000s. It's all about Bluth leaving the studio in '79 & the great Renaissance of the '90s. They don't want any remembrance of The Black Cauldron to Oliver & Company & nothing from the 2000s expect Lilo & Stitch. The problems at Disney Animation went WAY beyond Don Bluth.

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