As you can probably tell from the title of this post, I’ve been very upset about the direction American animated movies and TV shows have been headed in recent years. Just so you know where I’m coming from, I’m not just an anime fan but also a fan of animation in general, though anime is my favorite form of the medium. I grew up with Disney movies and loved them dearly, as well as the other old cartoons I used to watch. I’ve always preferred animation over live-action even as I grew older, then I discovered anime, which is obviously the most diverse form of animation there is. But for the many years that I’ve been an anime fan, I couldn’t help but notice how the quality of American animation has decreased since my childhood days. By “quality” I don’t mean the actual picture/sound quality, but the quality of the stories. It’s something that’s been on my mind for a long time, so I’m finally going to take the time to make all my thoughts about it heard. This post is mostly about why I feel American animation(emphasis on Disney) has declined so much in recent years, and also how it compares to anime and why I feel anime is more superior.
First of all, what was it that made Disney movies so immensely popular, at least when I was a kid? It wasn’t just the superb quality of the animation itself, but the songs, romance, charming characters, a diversity of cultured themes, and the ability to balance out humor, drama, musical numbers, and action in order to tell a story that can be enjoyed by people of all ages. Looking back at the old classics like The Little Mermaid, Bambi, Beauty and the Beast, and The Lion King, I think to myself, “they’ll never make movies like these anymore.” Why not? It’s not because these kinds of movies aren’t popular anymore. When they released all the old Disney movies onto DVD, they sold millions of copies, so obviously these movies are still held dear by the general public. The merchandise of the old movies is also extremely popular at Disneyland and other places that sell Disney products. My only guess is that when Disney decided to only focus on CGI movies, somehow this decision also led to changing the whole direction of how these movies were directed. And, regrettably, all other American movie companies followed Disney like a bunch of sheep and also made this same decision to only make CGI movies. Now I wouldn’t mind too much if the overall story quality of the new CGI movies was just as good, or possibly better, than the old classics. But, as am sure many veteran Disney fans will agree, it is not.
So what is this new inferior “breed” of animated movie that Disney and all other American movie companies are making nowadays? Anyone who’s seen animated movies that have come out within the past few years, such as Shark Tale, Madagascar, Flushed Away, Open Season, and Cars knows that all new American animated movies are glorified as comedies only. Though obviously the stories and plots are different, they’re all more or less silly, slapstick, fast-paced comedies, filled with annoyingly hyperbolic or sarcastic characters(many given foreign accents for no apparent reason), static characters who have no real purpose but to say and do things that will get the kids to laugh and mimic them, all thrown into a mediocre story whose high-budget CGI animation masks the intelligence-insulting script. But what makes the new movies so inferior to the old classics is not so much what they have but what they’re lacking.
One thing is music. Compare the musical scores of The Lion King, Mulan, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and Aladdin to any animated movie that has come out within the past few years to see the difference. The old movies had music that was written just for them, by the talents of musicians such as Elton John, Phil Collins, and Allen Menkin, many of which were character-centered songs sung beautifully by the actual characters in the movie, all with Broadway-like animation tied in brilliantly with the story, setting, and the character’s thoughts and feelings. And the instrumental background pieces were just as diverse, with African instrumentals used in The Lion King, Chinese music in Mulan, jungle music in Tarzan, etc,. So what kind of music do we get in animated movies nowadays? Gone are the beautiful character-centered songs sung by the actual characters, as well as the musical and dance-like animation sequences. Now all we get is two or three generic-sounding pop-culture songs thrown into the background, many of which were probably made for the artist first and not for the movie, and that have absolutely none of the charm or uniqueness of the classic Disney songs(remember the old Disney Sing-Along tapes?) And as for background instrumentals? We’ll be lucky if we get one included on the movie’s soundtrack CD and, since Disney movies no longer portray a diversity of settings and culture, there isn’t much need to make anything but generic sounding background music. Pocahontas’s “Colors of the Wind,” The Lion King’s “Circle of Life,” Aladdin’s “A Whole New World”…it’s a real shame that we’ll never see music sequences like these again.
In addition to a major decline in music quality, the new CGI movies are pretty much inferior to the old movies in every other way, besides perhaps animation quality. For the characters, gone are the strong-willed, well developed characters like Belle and Mulan, cute and sweet characters like Bambi and Dumbo, troubled, sympathetic characters like Quasimodo and Cinderella, and uniquely humorous characters like Stitch and Kuzco. As I said before, pretty much the only characters we’re getting nowadays are extremely sarcastic or crazily silly and hyperbolic, all meant to reinforce this new idea that American animated movies should only focus on being comedic. Setting-wise, Disney movies used to take us all over the world, to the wilds of Africa in The Lion King, the streets of New York City in Oliver & Company, Agriba in Aladdin, China in Mulan, and the animators visited these places and studied them in detail while making the movies. Now, I can’t see any of this cultural diversity in the new movies, or a focus on much of anything besides the comedy. This new breed of movies can’t even go more than ten minutes or so without something comical or exciting happening. No more emphasis on the drama, emotions, culture, romance, or compassion of the characters…nothing but comedy, sarcasm, and fast-paced action now. And what is all this saying about Americans? We’re such a comedy-craving, A.D.D. culture that we can’t appreciate anything unless it makes us laugh, without stimulating thought or beauty.
And as I mentioned before, it’s not just Disney. All other American movie companies are making CGI-only movies that are turning out to be more or less the same. There were many great old animated non-Disney movies such as Anastasia, Balto, and Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, whose story-telling quality has also been replaced with the new breed of movies. And though I feel American animated movies have taken a major turn for the worse, I think that the quality of American animated TV shows has dropped as well, though not quite as drastically. Even back when I was a kid, cartoons on TV and home video weren’t as good as Disney and other animated movies. But still, when I think back at the kinds of old cartoons I used to watch on TV(before I discovered anime), such as Bobby’s World, the original Batman series, and Animaniacs, and compare them to the crap that’s on Cartoon Network nowadays, I can’t help but think “is this what kids are watching now?” First of all, most of the cartoons are following a new style of animation. Cartoons such as Billy & Mandy, Camp Lazlo, My Gym Partner’s a Monkey, etc., all have this new kind of animation defined by sharp, solid lines that stick out against the extremely simple background, making these shows feel more “cartooney” than ever. I don’t like it…the characters look like cardboard cut-outs and they just don’t flow right. It feels like the designs of all these shows are screaming “Look at me! I’m a silly cartoon!” Not only that, but the humor in them is either very crude, hyperbolic, sarcastic, or just plain stupid…they just don’t seem to have the charm of the cartoons I used to watch. Seriously, I’ll randomly turn on Cartoon Network and the shows frequently get so gross-looking and the characters say and do such unintelligible things, I’m immediately turned off. Even on Adult Swim, besides the anime, the only genre of shows they make are comedies(with enough crude humor and swearing to satisfy us dirty minded Americans.) I’m not saying all new cartoon shows are bad. Some such as Teen Titans, Avatar, and PuffyAmiYumi, are actually worth watching. I don’t watch enough American cartoons to really compare them, but from what I’ve seen, they’ve lost a lot of the charm and endearment that the old ones used to have.
So how does anime compare? Well I’ve already written a general comparison of anime and American animation on the main site’s page Just What is Anime?(as you’ll see, I’m pretty biased ^^) But has anime declined as drastically in the past few years as American animation has? Personally, I think newer anime series’ are a bit different than older series’, but they’re more or less the same quality. Obviously the newer series’ have better animation and some new genres such as “moe,” and even though I’ve noticed a small decrease in the story and character quality in some newer series’, in general, anime nowadays is as good as it was in the past. There’s still an amazing variety of stories to suit all tastes, the Japanese ideals, culture, and values that anime portrays is still the same as it has been many years ago, there’s still a great emphasis on characterization and intricate plots while keeping things realistic, and music in anime now is still diverse and given the same amount of attention as it always has, maybe even more so. So what can I say…you’d think with the increasing popularity of anime in America, American movie/cartoon companies would realize that their animation could stand to be a bit more intelligent and still be marketable, but I guess it just doesn’t go that way.
On a bit more positive note, I don’t dislike all the new American CGI movies. I liked Cars, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, and The Ant Bully. The Shrek movies are great, and the latest animated movie I saw, Happy Feet, was by far the best I’ve seen in a long time. But in general, 90% of recent movies have the decrease in quality that I’ve been talking about. Unfortunately there’s more bad ones than good ones coming out. I know even before this whole shift to CGI began, Disney and other movie companies made some CGI movies while they were still making hand-drawn movies. Toy Story, Monsters Inc., and Antz were such movies that were made during the time of the old classics, and the reason they were good was because they were different. But now that all animated movies are the same kind of fast-paced comedies, none of them stand out anymore(and I also think those old CGI movies were better than the newer ones.) Now, Disney’s hand-drawn animation branch has done nothing in the past few years but restore the old movies to DVD and make sequels that don’t get a theatrical release. It’s pathetic because they make such a big deal about the “digitally restored, limited edition, 2-disc set” release of the old movies that it’s like rubbing in your face “we know these old classics are great, so you’ve got to buy them on DVD ’cause even though we know these movies are still so popular, we’ll never make new movies of this quality again.” And as for the direct-to-video sequels to the old movies? Although the animation looks good, the overall quality pales in comparison to the originals, showing how little attention is given to what’s left of Disney’s hand-drawn animation facet(the only sequels worth watching are The Lion King, Toy Story, and Pocahontas ones, again because they were made before the whole shift to CGI.) Poor Walt must be turning around in his grave.
Anyway, what really makes this whole thing so stupid is that there’s no reason for all CGI movies to be the same kind of silly comedies that they are. There’s absolutely no excuse why they can’t make a CGI movie like Beauty and Beast or The Little Mermaid. I mean, can you imagine a CGI version of The Lion King? That would be incredible! Well, I don’t know why Americans decided that all animated movies(and cartoons shows on TV for that matter) have to all be hyperbolic comedies filled with crude humor and endless sarcasm, totally lacking beauty, music, and just plain charm and compassion. But hopefully there will be a change sometime in the future, whether by the influence of anime or simply the realization of how popular the old Disney classics still are, and CGI movies will finally diversify. But as for the way things are going now, for an animation fan like me, give me anime over American animation any day XD
Well, I congratulate anyone who read this entire rant of mine ^^,,, It feels really good to get it off my chest. And for an added bonus, here’s a larger image of the beautiful Disney puzzle I found when I was shopping at Osaka station during my trip to Japan last summer. I think there’s a picture from every single Disney hand-drawn movie there is on it. Obviously the Japanese also seem to prefer the old Disney classics =)
It’s difficult to do drama in pixar style cgi because it’s basically claymation. It’s hard to get those models to emote. The more detail you add to the face the further you fall into the uncanny valley. So there’ll be a preference for comedy until they work that problem out.
Interesting and agreed with most of what you have said. I too, questioned the failure of Disney to produce animation what would be become classical in future. Ever since monster inc. things just got worsen. The movie that final shunned me from disney production is chicken little. I even hate to use the character in kingdom heart II PS game.
Don’t worry.
Walt’s in Japan. In the hearts and minds of a few million people :V
Quite an insightful read. I also agree with you on the point that Disney films just don’t have that same sparkle like they did in the old days. I also was raised watching Disney and American cartoons before watching anime and I absolutely loved them. Though I suppose one reason could be the change in culture and technology. Disney would have been looking towards using newer technologies and also using the cheaper options in both animation techniques and in music.
Oh my god…I thought I was the only one who realized this.
I read the whole thing and you’re right, on everything. Disney has degraded beyond what I remember when I was really young. Not that I liked the old cartoons with Mickey and his gang, but the Disney movies all had a classic touch to them that had so much pride put in them that I can only now, being older and more mature, truely appericate. And you’re right, we won’t ever see movies like Sleeping Beauty, Littler Mermaid, etc, ever again because the American culture has eyes only for things that are high tech and fancy. Screw the story, kick ass CGI is all that matters….
The truely sad thing is that the kids are going to suffer for it. The old school disney movies had stories with real meaning behind them; you learn something important by watching the way Cinderella’s step sisters treat her and what they get out of it in the end, or by watching some begger like Aladdin have his life transformed because he wanted it badly enough, or seeing a impossible relationship struggle and win out in the end with Little Mermaid. These were important messages to give kids at an early age…what the hell are they going to learn after watching Finding Nemo?
The real reason Disney can only make these shit movies now is because I honestly believe they have ran out of material, or in this can, they’ve ran out of fables and myths. That’s what all these old school disney movies are, they’re myths from all over the worth retold with a westernized spin. But there are no more myths and fables to base movies on, mostly because no one writes myths and fables anymore. And even if they did, the America culture has degraded just like the disney movies and animation in general. I was in the ER waiting to be check in and had to sit through two hours of insane garbage called Fairly Odd Parents (why do the characters in that show had growths in their necks?!) Spongebob, and something else I blocked out…
What’s even more insulting is that Disney tries to milk every last penny from it’s classic movie collection by making horrible TV series. Like the Aladdin, Little Mermaid, and Lion King cartoon series….they’re just horrible.
I wish we could go back to how things were, I wish Disney would go back to it’s old style of making movies but who are we kidding? Disney doesn’t give a royal fuck about the things it’s founder use to put into the name Disney. What’s even more upsetting is that I bet other countries are just eatting up fodder like this, laughing at American kids for being brain dead for enjoying the crap we have on TV. Every anime I’ve seen, even the ecchi ones, all have something important to offer to the viewer – they have real stories with real meanings that give their characters life. Granted, I think more and more anime is being geared towards marketable traits like ‘moe’ and lolis, but even still they offer some wonderful stories. Even silly comedies like Love Hina and Pretty Face have more story in them than anything Disney has made in the recent past.
I’m sorry for this long rant, but I whole-heartly agree with everything you posted. It sucks that nothing can be done, but thanks for letting me vent out some fustration for something else that makes me shake my head at the way things change for the worst.
Wow, once again you have captured my thoughts exactly! I completly agree with everything you just said, especially the parts about American cartoon quality going down the toilet. I have a brother whose 8 years old, and he loves Cartoon Network cartoons. Everytime he turns the TV on, I see the terrible, annoying, and plain stupid things cartoons are doing these days. It makes me sick, and I usually vacate the room when he’s watching TV.
One day I decided to watch Beauty and the Beast, becasue I hadn’t seen it in so long, and I invited him to watch it with me. In the middle of the movie he got up and wanted to quit watching the movie. When I asked him why, he said that it was boring. It made me so sad that a movie that is still a favorite of mine, and one that I loved as a kid could be boring for him.
Anyway, thanks for posting this rant, it was great to hear someone else who shares my opinions.
BlueCat-san : I don’t think it’s the case that they truly have ran out of myths and fables, though. There are plenty of stories in the world, if they really are to look. Scheherazade has a thousand tales, and people wrote so much more. If they want sequels, they can do Through the Looking Glass! Technology can probably capture Wonderland much better now that we have computers and fancy animation isn’t so costly anymore. *coughKyoAnicough* Or they could do a studio Ghibli and animate the really good YA—like Howl’s Moving Castle. It’s not like they didn’t do that, anyway. Peter Pan was YA back in its heyday. Tarzan is no fable. Neither is 101 Dalmatians. It just seems more to me as a lack of desire, lack of inspiration, respect for good stories…it’s sad. It’s really sad. I honestly loved Disney when it was good, kept waiting for it to become good again, but it never did. :/
Also, I agree with the original post, sir. I don’t mind CGI (though I still think the painted art is infinitely more beautiful than 3D), but the quality and emotion seemed to have only deteriorate since they conquered the market. And the old western animations used to have such heart. It’s so saddening. It doesn’t help matters that I, on the whole, do not enjoy slapstick past the first fiteen minutes of it. Music, too. I used to fork quite a bit of money for Disney OSTs, and now there’s barely anything I could remember after walking out of the theater. Was there really an age where Disney songs got nominated for prizes? It seems so far away now. The only CGI/Claymotion movie I felt some emotion from lately was Corpse Bride, and that suffered from horrid pacing and out of place humor, too.
I agree with equivalent_t. I don’t think there’s a lack of stories left to animate so much as the lack of interest in such diversity in movies. It really shows how uncultured and unsophisticated our country has become.
And to waista, what you’re saying might be true, but still, I don’t think it would be too much trouble to have even a little more drama and a little less comedy. And that still doesn’t excuse the lack of great music and diverse cultural themes/settings that defined the old Disney classics. That’s one major reason why I liked Happy Feet so much; it had a good story along with excellent song/dance numbers amid a realistic setting and characters. I’m sure CGI could do wonders with the kind of settings and musical numbers present in movies like The Lion King, Aladdin, and Bambi…but there’s obviously not enough of an interest in movies having artistic beauty and uniqeness like that nowadays, which is what makes it all so sad =(
But I’m not totally devoid of all hope. There’s a good chance American animated movies could change for the better sometime in the future.
Rock on! ^^
I just gave up on Amercan cartoons 2 years ago. Why? Because, compared to anime:
-animation quality is lower
-plot is more standalone, and doesn’t have any continuity
-characters are, for the most part, common stock
-voicework tends to be mediocre
etcetera, etecetera. Apart from The Simpsons, I never watch North American animation.
But I still like Shrek, Hoodwinked…and all the other Disney movies you mentioned.
You are right, Over the last couple years, other than classics, all I have really been watching is anime. I was never a big fan of plain comedy, I always liked drama. People are just making stupid things now, there are some good stuff yeah; but there is to much cartoon-y to it, not enough real story line. Fanasy is one thing but making a plot with not enough truth. But I cannot remember anyone dieing in the newer movies………
I agree with you completely, but I think that cartoons that on on TV have changed greatily over the years. (I know its a few months kinda late to reply to this but who cares, I had to say something about this)
Like you, I have always been a fan of animation and not just anime. Before my anime obession there was my cartoon obession, I even remember when cartoons started to change for the worse (two words: Columbine shooting, ever sense then it seamed like the Cartoons only kept getting worse), it really amazes me on how people can actually watch the s*** they make now-a-days, the poor kids.
The cartoons back then (like the anime they still make today) had life in them…..the stuff they make now is, so…..well, dead-like, theres no “life” in them at all.
I was watching an episode of Darkwing Duck (one of my all-time-fav cartoons from when I was younger), the other day. *sigh* It brought back so many memories, I enjoyed it as much as I did then too. I really miss the good ol days when the cartoons had good stories and lovable charaters, you can’t find anything like that now a days alright. Last year I was talking to some junior high students, and it sounded like the only animated shows they watched was the anime they have on Toonami/Adult Swim because they liked it better than the cartoons they where showing on TV. I was also talking with this one girl in my spanish class, and she said her little sister only watches InuYasha because she didn’t like the newer cartoons either. You know the cartoons are bad when 10 year olds have to result to watching anime series thats not for kids!
I also find it screwy on how the cartoons back then are more anime-like then the cartoons they make now, and yet now they are trying thier oh-so-hardest to make thier cartoons anime-like. And is it just me or does it seam like almost all the animation in the newer cartoons are all the same? Back then the cartoons were very diverse in animation, now they all seam to have that “modern Hanna barbera”-style to it (examples: Dexter’s Lab, Powerpuff Girls, Johnny Bravo, etc.)
Then again, its not just animated movies/cartoons that have gone downhill, the movies that Hollywood makes now are s*** too. All they are about are great special effects and money really. Most of the movies they make now area all remakes, sequals, or based off off books/comic books/TV shows etc, and the movies that come up with their own ideas are usually bad. Most of the remakes and sequals they make are really awful. It could just be that these companies have to result to coping older ideas and pointless comedies because they are running out of ideas, same goes for animated movies as well.
But these american companies need to seriously clean up thier act! Escpecailly the animation companies in the US, otherwise anime is going to put them out of business! America used to be #1 in animation thoughout the world for decades, but it looks like the tables have started to turn…..
*I know its a few months late, but..meh, whatevers. :/*
Interesting read;
I’m soo glad that so many people have the same views as me on this!
Another thing that bothers me about American Animation, Disney in praticular, is the sequals they come out with..ya know, because they obviously have nothing better to be animating. Hell, some classic disney movies are even getting 2nd sequals (Cinderella, The Little Mermaid.)
When a new sequal comes out to a classic movie, I always download it – just out of interest..ya know, to see what its like and stoof~ and I am almost always disapointed with the quality of the movie. The songs are terrible (The worst songs in a sequal would have to go the Fox and the Hound 2 and The Little Mermaid 2) the lyrics inpraticular are often really really bad. The last sequal I saw was a sequal to one of my all time favourite Disney movies, The Fox and the Hound. I loved the oringinal, the friend ship themes, the animation, art, characters, even the songs (and the songs were actually quite weak compared to other, better known Disney songs.) But the sequal was easily the worst one I had ever seen, seriously – I’d actually go as far as saying it was one of the worst films I had ever seen. The songs..oh god, were bad beyond belief, especially “Good Doggie; No Bone!” and “Hound Dude” ..I mean really, W.T.F?
Mm, I think I’ll leave it there, I’m sure you get the idea. XD;
I know what you’re talking about. Escpecially about the sequal The Fox and the Hound… I couldn’t even watch half of it.
i used to really like disney channel, although most people don’t like it. they’re all changing it. and those pop ups while i’m watching a show. the old cartoons were great, and i think they fit the younger children much more, although the reality shows are pretty good. ..but i don’t think it’s “g”!! one of the ones in “life with derek” was horrible. and they said they weren’t treating girls right and casey (i think that’s how you spell her name) said ‘sexist.’ i think they should have said something more like against girls or something… she repeated the same word over 5 times throughout the show! there ARE disney classics, but those were a long time ago. they’re all gone, and almost nobody watches them anymore. disney won’t be making anything ‘classical’ anymore. i bet in 20 years, all those movies are going to be gone. keep it original, please!
Well…I liked Cars. >_> And Billy and Mandy, that’s just all over the place. But I guess I’m really random, lol.
But I guess you kind of can get disappointed in it. O.O But not all of it is bad. Like just recently, Ben 10 came into the US, and it’s cool.
And the stuff on Disnay Channel, I only like the movies and the show American Jake Long. XD
And they need better actors too! D
I agree with you on the “movies going downhill” thing. Disney has made some disappointing sequels, like I didn’t think the sequal to Cinderella was great. Now all the movies (Disney ones) only have caucasion heros, there’s no more cultural diversity. Well I really enjoyed your post.
-Rinni
Sweet puzzle! Where did you get it? Do you know where I could find one?
I too miss a lot of the old style animations you’re talking about. I loved the ones you mentioned like Lion King, and another one of my favorites that was so meaningful was Charlotte’s Web. It’s sad there’s hardly movies/animations like this anymore. However, I would like to point out there are indeed still some good ones, like How to Train Your Dragon is probably one of the best animation/CG movies I’ve ever seen, it’s meaningful, funny, cute and has a lot of values behind it. I would like there to be more like this.