DisneyToon Studios Australia CLOSES

[Dacey]

God, this is sad news. I have extreme respect for the many talented animators at the Sydney studio. It's going to be a crying shame to see them go.

Plus, Lianne Hughes (sp?), who works there, is one of my favorite animators.

[Zach]

The Walt Disney Company announced July 15 that it plans on closing DisneyToon Studios' Australia animation facility by mid-2006 after current projects Brother Bear II and Cinderella III are completed. The Australian studio began operations in 1988, working on television cartoons like "The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh" and "Darkwing Duck" and went on to create such films as The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, Return to Never Land, plus upcoming direct-to-videos Lilo & Stitch 2 and Bambi II. An anonymous source quoted by speculative e-journalist Jim Hill claims that this is not the end of 2-D Disney animation and that the so-called "cheapquels" will get even cheaper as work will be outsourced to Asian animation studios. Australia's Seven News has more on Disney's Sydney demise. - Zach88

[Brandon Neeld]

This is truly sad. I really enjoyed the animation that came out of that studio. The animators there are among Disney's best. It's a shame how there tallent has been severely underused towards the end but it just goes to prove that awesome animation doesn't make a great movie - all the elements must be in place. As Brad Bird recently said traditional animation isn't dead but if we keep it in a choke hold like this it soon will be.

[Dacey]

I don't think that it really has anything to do with story or anything. They're closing the studio to save money, not because of the work they're doing there.

[Brandon Neeld]

Of course it's about the money - It's Disney.

What I was referring more to though was the animation that came out of there. The reason that it hasn't done as well as it could (IMHO) is that even though the animation was beautiful, the stories weren't, which (IMHO) ruined them.