The Digital Era
The 90’s Disney Boom
While the British features stumbled in and out of the cinemas Disney stormed ahead with their animation revival which had began with Roger Rabbit. In the two decades since Walt Disney’s death their feature output had become decidedly patchy. Some high points had been ‘The Aristocats’ (1967) and ‘The Rescuers’ (1977) and by the time of ‘The Fox and the Hound’ (1979) the ‘Nine Old Men of Disney’, the original animators who had been the backbone of the company, were on their way out. They were being replaced by a new hierarchy, new talent both recruited from the Roger Rabbit studio in London and rising stars from the lower ranks at Disney. The next three films were a difficult transitional period until they found their feet with ‘The Little Mermaid’.
‘The Little Mermaid’ (1989) was a classic princess story with a sassier modern take and some great musical numbers. After this cleaned up at the box office came ‘Beauty and the Beast’ (1991), another fairy tale love story with a modern attitude and another smash hit, featuring some fantastic character animation of the Beast by Glen Keane. ‘Beauty’ was the first animated film to be nominated for an Oscar for best picture and featured some nicely blended computer backgrounds in the famous ballroom scene. ‘Aladdin’ (1992)...
