Old New School

There's a reason I don't write reviews for this site. All too often, I hear way too much about what went on during the making of a movie to be able to write about it objectively in its final form. Walt Disney Feature Animation's (WDFA) upcoming release of its first full CG film, Chicken Little, is just such a movie. That said, however, most of what I've been seeing and hearing lately about this film is very promising, indeed.

For months now, the Walt Disney Company's well-known PR machine has been gearing up for a full frontal media blitz to promote Chicken Little. I don't know exactly when their campaign began, but I can tell you the finished scenes I saw during this year's SIGGRAPH conference, held here in L.A., were truly impressive.

Director Mark Dindal and his crew have gone out of their way to make sure that the computer graphic technology used to make Chicken Little doesn't get in the way of telling their story. According to Dindal and several members of the Chicken Little crew speaking at this year's SIGGRAPH conference, attention has been paid to the works and writings of such legendary Disney talents as John Hench, Mary Blair, and Ward Kimball.

From character development, gags, comedy beats, lighting, and backgrounds, Chicken Little has been influenced by Disney classics, like Lady and the Tramp and the Goofy how to play sports shorts of the 40s and 50s. Influenced, but not copied. The scenes shown during SIGGRAPH were funny, touching, and contemporary, on their own and left me anxious to see the whole movie.

I must confess…I haven't always felt this upbeat about Chicken Little.

Ugly duckling Abby Mallard, Runt of the Litter, and Chicken Little from Walt Disney Pictures new film, Chicken Little.

Darkness Before the Rooster Crows

Chicken Little got the green light in mid 2001. The little bantam couldn't have hatched at a more interesting time in WDFA's history if he'd tried to.

Earlier, WDFA had passed on the opportunity to make veteran Disney animator Eric Goldberg's The Frog Prince, an animated send up of fairytales with broad audience appeal, only to see rival DreamWorks SKG reap millions off its fairytale spoofing CG animated hit Shrek. To make matters worse, WDFA's own summer 2001 release, the traditionally hand drawn Atlantis, was a box office disappointment.

As Chicken Little progressed through various stages of production, WDFA was going through some changes of its own. Following the success of Shrek and its own string of computer animated hits, produced by partner Pixar Animation Studios, WDFA announced that it too would begin making computer animated films in-house and that Chicken Little would be its first, fully computer-animated film.

At about the same time, the Walt Disney Company began a series of company-wide layoffs. Particularly hard hit were its various animation facilities, both in Burbank and around the world. Hundreds of animators and support staff were laid off. Eventually, Disney would close its Florida, Paris, Tokyo, and Australia animation studios.

All of this drama was taking place in the shadow of one of the biggest corporate melodramas in history. Roy E. Disney, Walt's nephew and son of company co-founder Roy O. Disney, was leading a shareholder revolt against then Disney chief executive Michael Eisner and members of the Disney board.

When they joined the Disney Company in 1984, Roy Disney was widely credited with helping Eisner, former Disney President Frank Wells, and studio head Jeffrey Katzenberg understand the true value of animation to the company, and for helping to bring about the second golden age of Disney animation in the early 90s. High among Roy's list of criticisms was Eisner's "mismanagement" of Disney animation.

Fish Out of Water, Abby Mallard, Runt of the Litter and Chicken Little from Walt Disney Pictures new film, Chicken Little.

L.A. Not So Confidential

As more and more animators, in-betweeners, and background artists walked off the Disney lot for the last time, Internet discussion boards began filling up with stories about ever-sinking morale among their few remaining colleagues still at work inside WDFA. They did not paint a picture of an atmosphere conducive to creativity of any kind, much less the kind of light-hearted workplace environment that saw the creation of such Disney classics as The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King.

It wasn't long before stories about problems with Chicken Little began to surface and make the rounds of coffee shops and other places animators congregate in and around Hollywood.

Hollywood is a town that thrives on gossip, and stories about a movie, any movie, experiencing difficulties during production are as common as the stars embedded in the sidewalks of Hollywood Blvd.

Like grand opera and live theatre, animated movies are particularly prone to histrionics and tongue wagging during production. It's an industry full of talented perfectionists pursuing the impossible, which leads to a certain level of frustration, which, in turn, has to be blown off somewhere.

From the beginning, though, the industry buzz about Chicken Little was different. For one thing, the stakes were higher. Stories began circulating last fall that if WDFA President David Stainton couldn't deliver the goods with Chicken Little, he too would be looking for work.

When Disney pushed Chicken Little's release date back from summer of 2005 to the fall, it only fanned the flames of Disney animation fans worst fears. For months, rumors had been circulating that even after three years in production CL still had major story problems, and setting its release date back didn't help calm anyone's jitters about it's prospects.

When Pixar CEO Steve Jobs walked out on talks intended to extend Pixar's deal with the Mouse, animation bloggers began posting stories about Disney creative executives boasting that they were going to show Emeryville how a digital Disney movie is really made.

At public events sponsored by ASIFA Hollywood and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, industry leaders, with close ties to Disney, began privately saying that executives at the company were hoping to "just get by" with Chicken Little and that the real return to Disney animated glory would come with the films American Dog and A Day With Wilbur Robinson.

That's a pretty heavy burden for one little chicken to bear.

Chicken Little from Walt Disney Pictures new film, Chicken Little.

Call for Comment

After seeing parts of Chicken Little and enjoying them so much, I couldn't stop comparing what I'd seen with what I'd been hearing about the film for more than two years from generally very reliable sources.

I contacted two producers no longer working in animation and asked how likely it would be for an animated film that looked as entertaining as Chicken Little did to me to still be a troubled picture.

"Anything's possible," said the first producer. "You have to remember, you may only have seen the best scenes in the movie. Just because they stand alone on their own doesn't mean the entire film is a good one."

"On the other hand," the second producer said, "from what you've been telling me, this film is a lot like a child of divorce. Just because he grew up during a time of turmoil doesn't mean a kid won't turn out all right. Or, in this case that the picture won't be a good one."

Going back to the various animation discussion boards on the Internet, I did notice a trend. Following the resolution of Roy Disney's shareholder revolt, and as the Disney Company moved closer to the transition of CEOs from Michael Eisner to Bob Iger, discussions about Chicken Little were becoming less negative and increasingly less frequent.

I posted a request for comment on Animation Nation (AN), a discussion board frequented by animation professionals of all kinds. The closest thing I got to a really negative comment came from one AN member who'd seen a full screening of Chicken Little:

All I know is that I'm pretty tired of wink, wink, nudge, nudge storytelling. Can someone still just tell a story without taking you out of the carefully created worlds with pop references and talk at the audience gimmicks?

He then went on to say,

But at least these movies take you on a flight of fancy and let you enter a different world for a while...something I loved about the classic Disney features and what made me want to be part of it. Kudos to all my talented friends at Disney who made the switch to cg and managed to create some outstanding animation...then again, the quality of the animation has never been the problem...

Several of the remarks posted under my call for comment on Chicken Little were down right flattering:

I can tell from the trailer that Chicken Little is going to be a big hit.

The Character designs are magnificent, and the character animations looks superb.. they really helped destroy a lot of limitations that computer animation have had before this.

Kudos in advance guys!!

Even as CG seems to have completely taken over animation, another AN member paid Chicken Little one of its highest complements to date:

As a confirmed, stuck-in-the-past "2D artist" (Oh, LORD, how I loathe that term "2D" ) I'm looking forward to it.

Dindal has never disappointed me and the animation looks fun and cartoony. I have high hopes for this movie.

I was also contacted directly by one of the Disney animators who worked on Chicken Little and who, for obvious reasons, asked that I not use his name:

"Of course my opinions are coloured by the fact that I worked on the film, so you can take them with a grain of salt if you wish," he began his first e-mail.

"The feeling about the film is very positive at the studio, and everyone believes it has a good chance of being a hit. Especially with the marketing and advertising blitz that will start within the next week or so."

He did concede, however, that movies are a "crapshoot," and that no one knows for certain what audiences will or won't respond to favorably.

"Mark and Randy are a really great team," his e-mail continued, "and strove to keep a positive attitude even in the face of all the well documented story changes. As a crew I think we benefited from the downtime caused by these changes and in effect our animation production schedule was lengthened, which was a good thing when half the crew is new to the medium."

Perhaps the single most encouraging thing, for fans of Disney animation, that he had to say was that the, "overall feeling about the studio itself is certainly better than a couple of years ago. It does feel like we have turned a corner and the new slate (of animated films) looks promising… It's nice to know that the company seems to be coming around to the basic truth that it is Feature Animation, that is the engine that drives just about every division of this giant conglomerate, and if the heart is healthy and beating strongly, so will follow the rest."

I wrote back to this Disney animator and asked if he'd ever experienced or heard of Disney executives boasting that WDFA would show Pixar how to make a digital Disney animated film. He said he had never heard anyone at Disney express such an opinion.

"I think everyone at WDFA knows that Pixar is king," he wrote back, "and they have set the bar for everyone else to try and aspire to. In fact, we screened Incredibles for the studio leadership with the sound down a while back in order to study it and get input from various folks as to how we can accomplish the same level of quality. Pixar is held with much respect, and deservedly so."

He went on to say that there was a certain liberating feeling to being the "underdog," and that despite a certain amount of ego, if there is any rivalry between Disney and Pixar it's a good natured one.

"I am on good terms with the guys that I know at Pixar and anytime I've met someone that worked there they have always been genuinely friendly and open, and I hope I have come across as the same to them. That's the nice thing about being an artist-- you answer ultimately to the art itself. Studio loyalties, politics and rivalries come a distant second."

Regardless of how well Chicken Little does at the box office, there was one thing this Disney animator and I seemed to have in common. And, that is this:

"It seems like once again it is vitally important that WDFA make good films. Who'da thunk?"

Who indeed.

Chicken Little from Walt Disney Pictures opens nationwide November 4. Chicken Little in Disney Digital 3-D exclusively in Dobly Digital Cinema also opens November 4, consult your local listings.
Unless otherwise noted all images are courtesy and copyright Disney.

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Is the Sky About to Fall (Again) at WDFA? o-meon.com

Chicken Little - Call for Comment: Animation Nation