Disney Pixar Discussion

Post by **ShyViolet** » March 5th, 2007, 1:46 am

I agree.

Post by **Jeroen** » March 5th, 2007, 1:56 am

from a description of the Brad Bird interview on comic con:

The first was if this movie would follow in the Pixar tradition of John Ratzenberg as a character and Randy Newman doing music. Bird: "No Randy Newman." [Large Applause, Bird is bit taken aback by it] He said his composer from THE INCREDIBLES would be on this film[/quote]

Post by **ShyViolet** » March 5th, 2007, 2:00 am

Interesting. Well, anyway I'm really glad it's Giacchino!

Post by **Jeroen** » March 5th, 2007, 2:03 am

Yeah, he's a really talented composer and did a fantastic job on the incredibles, very memorable.

Thomas Newman did an amazing job on Nemo as well
( could you imagine Nemo with Randy Newman? )

Post by **ShyViolet** » March 5th, 2007, 2:09 am

Yeah, I actually love the Finding Nemo score......

Very emotional, as well as scary and exciting in some places.

(The opening tracks always get me misty-eyed...

)

Post by **ShyViolet** » March 5th, 2007, 2:50 am

Also, this is an interesting JHM post by an (alleged) insider of WDFA:

supersally said:

Dear Empoor,

You may be an insider like I am and can see thru this Lasseter stuff. So many folks outside the industry are blinded by the glamour and dollars, that they seldom see the egomaniacal stuff that comes up when dealing with directors. That WDFA is now taking rules from Pixar is insulting!!! Eisner started the downward trend, and it now continues under Iger. The truth of the matter is that Lasseter is a massive ego, and the people that intimidate him, he gets rid of. There are so many yes men around him, that wouldn't dare to call things or object to what he is doing for fear of losing their spot in the supposed limelight.

Chris Sanders, Glen Keane, people like Ron and John are totally capable and have great vision to take Disney back into the forefront of animation. Problem over the years has been that the suits have controlled the company and middle management takes over........ the suits all jocky for themselves, hopeing to look good to the latest flavor of the month..... Schumacher or Eisner, or Iger. The dont give a damn about the artistry of the films, just the bottom dollars to pad their pockets. When a company goes down that path, takes control away from the artists, and puts the control in the hands of the dollar sign suits, things go down hill.

At Pixar, without the stresses of the overhead of theme parks, etc., Lasseter and co remained fairly isolated. As they made money, they gained support from the suits. So the suits are just doing what they have always done..... following the dollar signs to the next best thing.

In the process, tho, by giving John and Ed all the control, they totally discount the other GREAT directors and artists that did grow when Disney was a good company. It is so insulting to them, to have John, who, btw, was not going anywhere at disney for lack of skill, to suddenly be telling them what to do. Iger should realized the value of his own artists in house, put the command of WDFA back in the hands of the Sanders, Dubois and Keanes, and allowed them to reestablish and define the culture. But NOOOOOO, Iger, being the suit he is (and yes he is just a suit not a creative) decides that pixar has the golden egg solution. The great artists that have suffered under their bad management are now pushed aside, AGAIN, in favor of the supposed magic of Pixar.

Cars, at the end of the day, suffers the exact same problem of the vanillizing of Disney. Sidekick, forelorn main character in search of self, girlfriend, etc. Cars is the formula that killed disney..... it is the worst film by far Pixar has done. I am so glad Happy Feet won the Oscar this year!! It had problems with story, etc., but at least it tried to be a bit different.

The stuff for "Robinsons" looks awful. The character designs and story could not be more generic or unappealing. Glen has been beating Rapunzel for over five years...... he has the vision, the suits havent let him go with it. Its just one insult after the next.

Now there is this ridiculous article talking about how John is telling the directors (oh, btw...... that he chose, that work under his thumb, fyi) to follow their vision for the films. What a load of crap!!! He puts people in place that he can control..... believe me, he doesnt want a great talent like Sanders showing him up for originality and quirkiness. So, you read all these silly articles about how Chris defended his turf, and didnt go with the flow? What a load of crap, too! The truth is, Chris could show John up, and John couldnt control him. Chris, being the GREAT ARTIST, that he is, said no..... I will not compromise my vision for you! Result.... pink slip.

If I can tell any of you not in the industry one thing, it is to see things as they are and not be blinded by the glamour of it. AT the end of the day, people are chasing dollars, not art..... and anyone who tries to promote vision away from the company "groupthink" gets axed. John is no saint, believe me..... and he is as insecure and egomaniac as I have ever encountered and worked with.

FYI.

Like I said, I don't know if it's completely true, (and I don't know if I agree with all of it, particularly that line about MTR's designs, which I think are stunning) but it sure sounds true.
It's really sad.

Post by **Jeroen** » March 5th, 2007, 3:16 am

That's exactly how I feel about John Lasseter.
Supersally hit the nail on the head.

About the robinsons design, I don't completely agree with it although I do think the designs looks a little bit too colourful and a little over the top

Great find Vi!!

Post by **ShyViolet** » March 5th, 2007, 3:17 am

Thanks Z! No prob!

(Hope you don't mind me calling you that!

)

Post by **ShyViolet** » March 5th, 2007, 3:43 am

Yeah, he's a really talented composer and did a fantastic job on the incredibles, very memorable.

Thomas Newman did an amazing job on Nemo as well
( could you imagine Nemo with Randy Newman? )

Hey better yet, can you imagine Incredibles with Randy Newman?

BTW not trying to diss Randy, I love some of his scores, particularly A Bug's Life, Pleasantville, Avalon and Awakenings. (That DeNiro Flick from 1991)

But seriously, with Pixar and animation, enough is enough.

Post by **Jeroen** » March 5th, 2007, 4:04 am

I agree Vi, Randy Newman has made some great scores,
my favourite being Monsters inc because it has that jazzy feel to it.

But keep Randy at pixar,
don't force him onto the disney movies as well!!

I'm an Alan Menken fan so you can understand why I'm so angry about the whole frog princess situation.
They shouldnt overuse Alan Menken as well but it's been long enough since he had a chance to do a descent Disney.
( The shaggy dog and home on the range don't count as descent )

I'm so glad they kept him on enchanted, That's a perfect movie for an Alan Menken score.

Post by **Ben** » March 5th, 2007, 7:47 am

Let's cut back on that 'p' word, Z, no matter how upset you are. Thanks.

Post by **ShyViolet** » March 5th, 2007, 11:45 am

Also, I don't mean to bring up DisneyWar again, but there are some facts in that book that are REALLY interesting (and fascinating in light of what's happening now.)

(Yes, I thought the bias of that book was ridiculous and the lack of info on Disney animation completely insulting, but I assume that at least some of the facts are correct)

Apparently, Thomas Schumacker, head of WDFA during one of its darkest periods, was a close friend/confidante of none other than....Roy E Disney. Schumacker was vital to Roy knowing that Eisner was conspiring against him; Roy was instrumental in Schumacker's staying as long as he did.

Also according to Stewart, since Roy was close to animation, he was also close to Schumacker, who in late 2002 apparently was working his heart out trying to fix up Treasure Planet, and then was taken aback and betrayed when Eisner wrote it off. I wonder how many animators Mr. Stewart actually spoke to when writing this book??

Seriously, this is what the book says. And Roy used it in his lawsuit against the Disney company and plugged it nonstop on his website.....I guess he didn't care about people finding out that he was close to Tom.

Oh yeah, and BTW, Steve Jobs was also quite close to Schumacker. He apparently told Tom that he thinks Tom's great but that as long as Eisner's in the company, he can't make a deal with Disney.

That was basically the situation before SaveDisney got started. Very interesting and revealing stuff.

Post by **Sullivan** » March 5th, 2007, 3:57 pm

Randy Newman's all time greatest score:

The Natural.

(Though, I'd put bug's life up there with it.)

Post by **ShyViolet** » March 5th, 2007, 5:12 pm

Pleasantville is also amazing--I bought it on itunes!!

Awakenings is great too. Maybe a little too "much" in some parts, but wonderful just the same.

I like Avalon too! All three scores have this great bittersweet quality.

Now it just seems like all he does is alternate between different renditions of "jazzy" and "schmaltzy" according to what the script asks for.....

Post by **Ben** » March 6th, 2007, 9:30 am

Sullivan wrote:Randy Newman's all time greatest score:

The Natural.

Brilliant score, excellent film. Out in a Director's Cut 2-disc edition next month. I'm excited!!