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Disney Renaissance

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See also Modern animation in the United States#The Return of Disney


The Disney Renaissance (1989 - 1999) was an era when the Walt Disney Animation Studios were making successful animated films[1] similar to the hit-after-hit era of Pixar. These animated films include The Little Mermaid, The Rescuers Down Under, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hercules, Mulan, and Tarzan.

History

During production of The Fox and the Hound, a long-time Disney animator, Don Bluth, pitched The Secret of NIMH to the Disney board members. The board rejected film idea, judging the film to be too dark for children. Bluth, along with other Disney employees, left the studio in 1979 and founded Don Bluth Productions, released Secret of NIMH in 1982. The studio eventually became Disney's main competitor in the animation industry during the 1980s and early '90s.

In 1986, the Disney Studios and Don Bluth Productions released The Great Mouse Detective and An American Tail, respectively. However, An American Tail defeated The Great Mouse Detective and at that time became the highest-grossing animated film. Two years later, in 1988, Disney and Don Bluth Studios released Oliver & Company and The Land Before Time on the same weekend. However, The Land Before Time broke the record for the highest-grossing animated on its opening weekend. The film outgrossed An American Tail and became the highest-grossing animated film at that time.

Animation and film fans alike were all taken by surprise when the long-awaited renaissance of animation began with the most ancient, conservative, and mainstream animation studio: the Disney Studios. The company underwent a company shakeup in the 1980s. Michael Eisner became the CEO of Disney in 1984. Chairman Roy E. Disney got the company back on its feet by returning it to its roots and revitalizing the movie studio. Producer Jeffrey Katzenberg became the studio's chairman in 1985. In 1988, the studio collaborated with Steven Spielberg, a long-time animation fan, to produce Who Framed Roger Rabbit, which featured many classic animated characters from the Golden Age of Hollywood. The film was a gigantic critical and commercial success, demonstrating that quality animation could once again be seen on movie screens. Roger Rabbit won 4 Academy Awards.

Disney had been developing The Little Mermaid since the 1930's. By 1987, Disney decided to make The Little Mermaid into an animated Broadway-like musical. Lyricist Howard Ashman and composer Alan Menken, who worked on Broadway years earlier such as Little Shop of Horrors, which was later made into a feature directed by Frank Oz, became involved in the production and wrote and composed the songs and score for the film. The film was released on November 24, the same weekend as Don Bluth's All Dogs Go To Heaven. This time, Little Mermaid defeated All Dogs Go To Heaven and received a higher weekend gross. The animated film went on to outgross The Land Before Time record and became the highest-grossing animated film at that time. Little Mermaid was a critical and commercial success and was awarded 2 Academy Awards.

The Rescuers Down Under was released a year later. The film receive critical praise but didn't make much of a profit. Because of its lack of musical numbers, it's sometimes considered the black sheep of the Disney Renaissance. But, the film was nominated for three awards for its release.

Beauty and the Beast was released the next year and was commercially successful, it was nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars, something which no other animated feature had done before, it lost to The Silence of the Lambs. However, the film won Best Picture at the Golden Globes and won two Academy Awards for Best Original Song and Best Original Score. Howard Ashman was ill during the making of the film and died in March 11, 1991. A dedication was made at the end of the closing credits of the film.

Aladdin and The Lion King were again big hits and won Academy Awards in the Music Category. Howard Ashman wrote several songs for Aladdin before his death. Only 3 songs were used in the film. Tim Rice came on the project and wrote others songs with Alan Menken in the film. One reason for Aladdin's success was Robin Williams comedy in the film. Tim Rice later collaborated with British singer Elton John on The Lion King. The film was a hit and became the highest-grossing animated film at the time. The film won the Best Picture at the Golden Globes in the footsteps of Beauty and the Beast.

Many of the later releases were less successful in release. Pocahontas and The Hunchback of Notre Dame were departures from the Disney Renaissance. Both films were more mature appealing more towards adults than children. Pocahontas was even more of a departure from other Disney films because of the main characters didn't live happily ever after. Both were successful with songs written by Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz. Disney continued on with successes Hercules with songs by Alan Menken and David Zippel, Mulan, and Tarzan with songs by Phil Collins.

By the year 2000, the Disney Renaissance had come to an end. Disney continued to releasesmall successes during the post-Renaissance with Fantasia 2000, The Emperor's New Groove, Atlantis: The Lost Empire and Brother Bear. Disney also suffered box offices bombs with Treasure Planet and Home on the Range . In the post Renaissance-era, only Lilo and Stitch has been both a critical and commercial success.

Critical reception

List indicator(s)

  • A dark grey cell indicates reviews are not available.
Film Rotten Tomatoes Metacritic
The Little Mermaid 88% (49 reviews)[2]  
The Rescuers Down Under 77% (13 reviews)[3]  
Beauty and the Beast 93% (54 reviews)[4]  
Aladdin 91% (47 reviews)[5]  
The Lion King 92% (61 reviews)[6] 84% (13 reviews)[7]
Pocahontas 56% (48 reviews)[8] 58% (23 reviews)[9]
The Hunchback of Notre Dame 73% (48 reviews)[10]  
Hercules 89% (44 reviews)[11]  
Mulan 87% (67 reviews)[12] 71% (24 reviews)[13]  
Tarzan 87% (95 reviews))[14] 79% (37 reviews)[15]

Box office

Film Release date Box office revenue
United States Foreign Worldwide
The Little Mermaid November 15, 1989 $84,355,863 $99,000,000 $183,355,863
The Rescuers Down Under November 16, 1990 $27,931.461 $19,500,000 $47,431,461
Beauty and the Beast November 15, 1991 $171,350,553 $206,000,000 $377,350,553
Aladdin November 25, 1992 $217,350,219 $286,700,000 $504,050,219
The Lion King June 15, 1994 $328,541,776 $455,300,000 $783,841,776
Pocahontas June 16, 1995 $141,579,773 $204,500,000 $346,079,773
The Hunchback of Notre Dame June 21, 1996 $100,138,851 $225,200,000 $325,338,851
Hercules June 27, 1997 $99,112,101 $153,600,000 $252,712,101
Mulan June 19, 1998 $120,620,254 $183,700,000 $304,320,254
Tarzan June 18, 1999 $171,091,819 $277,100,000 $448,191,819

Academy Awards

  • Note that all films in the Disney Renaissance except The Rescuers Down Under were nominated for Academy Awards.
Year Title Oscar nominations Oscar win
1989 The Little Mermaid 2 2
1991 Beauty and the Beast 3 2
1992 Aladdin 3 2
1994 The Lion King 2 2
1995 Pocahontas 2 2
1996 The Hunchback of Notre Dame 1 0
1997 Hercules 1 0
1998 Mulan 1 0
1999 Tarzan 1 1

References

  1. ^ "Disney: Notes on the end of the Disney Renaissance". decentfilms.com. Retrieved 2008-08-26.
  2. ^ "The Little Mermaid". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2008-07-19.
  3. ^ "The Rescuers Down Under". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2008-07-29.
  4. ^ "Beauty and the Beast". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2008-07-19.
  5. ^ "Aladdin". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2008-07-19.
  6. ^ "The Lion King". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2008-07-19.
  7. ^ "The Lion King: Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2008-07-19.
  8. ^ "Pocahontas". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2007-07-19.
  9. ^ "Pocahontas: Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2008-07-19.
  10. ^ "The Hunchback of Notre Dame". Retrieved 2008-07-19.
  11. ^ "Hercules". Retrieved 2008-07-19.
  12. ^ "Mulan". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2008-07-19.
  13. ^ "Mulan: Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2008-09-12.
  14. ^ "Tarzan". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2008-07-19.
  15. ^ "Tarzan: Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2008-07-19.

http://www.decentfilms.com/sections/articles/quovadisdisney.html

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