The Rise and Fall of 2D Animation!
 

Back in 1994, when the Lion King was released , it seemd to make rock stars out of 2D artists, and with over $400 million worldwide on the Lion Kind, 2D was in a pretty good position. 10 years later, 2D is virtually nowhere to be seen. With the fact that Disney has no @D animated film on the scheduling books, does this mean that 2D is over for a long time? Disney seems to think that 3D is just is what is appealing to people right now, but that not it. People are resaponding to these pictures, primarily due to their effective storylines. Will the Pixar/Disney split next year help Disney realize this, and revert back to 2d? I use to love going to see a Disney film, and hearing that "hit" song that was featured with it as well. "Someday" by All-4-One captured perfectly the essence one fells when truly alone in this world. "Beauty and the Beast" was a wonderful tune as well. I miss that.
Don't get me wrong, I love 3D animation, but why can't we have both? If we continue to completely ignore 2D, we will also be ignoring a part of the history that made animation so memmorable. Is their any hope for 2D animation in the future?

I seriously doubt Shark Tales would have made $160 Million if it wasn't CGI. I have no doubt that a really good cell animated movie could still make some money, but right now even crappy CGI films are raking in the dough, while decent 2D animated films are left to flounder.

It's hard to call. While I think the method of animation is not the problem (2002's Lilo and Stich was quite the success despite its 2d leanings) and more the problem of the films themselves, there is no doubt 3D animation is where the big money is.

So, while it's no surprising that this is where DIsney would put its focus, it is unfortunate that they've completely abandoned 2D. While I do not think 2D has the ability to compete in terms of achieving the consistant mega grosses of its 3D couterparts, I do think they could still turn out good hits. But, apparently that is not their intention. One can hope at some point someone sees the potential in 2D animation, and doesn't just see it as some outdated technology.

Hey Dalvin! Have you seen the Movies forum?

I personally think CG has A LOT to do with it. I wouldn't have ever considered seeing films like A Bugs Life and Shark Tale if they were 2D animation. I also wouldn't go see the upcoming Cars either. Yes, the Pixar stories are great, but I also like to "look" at these films as well.

What are we talking about as far as 2D animation? Traditional, hand painted cels?

OMG! You're serious? 1 thing becomes popular and now everyone in Hollywood jumps on the bandwagon? SHOCKING!

Dalvin, get back in the music forum and answer my question. :mad::grunt:

Disney is making their own computer animation department and will be working on toy story 3 by themselves. this should answer your question.

Oh Dalvin, what wont you post about in the wrong forum.

tHOUGH, I'M NOT SURE WHY YOU DIDN'T POST LIKE THIS.

He never replys. He just starts dumb threads and bolts.

Sharks tail sucked. It must have been the animation, because it sucked bad.

Toy Story 3 will suck.

Dalvin, did you just call tom leykis?

I think right now 3D is the "it" thing. It's new. It wows people and it makes it a little eaiser for some people to relate to. I don't think 2D is dead, it's just letting it's younger brother get a little bit of the limelight for a while. In time we'll see some more 2D films. I don't think they will ever be back as big as they were in the early 90's, but they will return. Disney is not the only company to halt 2D production, I believe Dreamworks followed suit as well.

It's not really about the medium, it's the story. Story is key. This is something that I think Pixar has that none of the other companies have right now. The know the difference between telling a story and whoring out a new medium in order to cash in as much and as quickly as possible <cough> Dreamworks <cough>. Pixar doesn't parade their voice actor's names as the reason to see the movie.

Disney used to be all about story, but they have kind of lost their way a bit. I personally think they should go back to quasi-musical films like the Little Mermaid, Aladdin, and Beauty and the Beast. They can comeback I think...boot Eisner first though..

Disney can make some semi-musical toons but goddamn almighty, let's not exploit it for the soundtrack, eh? I'm personally sick and tired of "artists" being recruited and singing the most commercialized songs ever, and then of course, you hear the motherfucker on the radio every 5 minutes.

No thanks. It's been nice that Disney has stopped their semi-musical toon crap.

Well, you'll always have anime to fall back on... Even if you're not into the typical (if there's such a thing) there are always gems like Miyazaki stuff.

They're still doing 2D stuff, just not hand drawn. Pooh's Heffalump Movie and the straight to DVD Bambi movie that's coming out next year come to mind.

2-D's day is done, in terms of box-office hits. Since adults are the ones bringing kids, grownups need to see 3-D movies. WHy? They feel they're getting their money's worth since 3-D is rare on TV, and they don't have the imagination kids do. Kids can extrapolate scenes and ideas from 2-D better than adults can, but they're not the one paying for the tix. ;)

well put. I don't mind the musicals either. I don't agree with Polizei. When have they ever 'whored' out a soundtrack? I don't think Peabo Bryson, Vanessa Williams, Phil Collins, Elton John or Celine Dion were the "hot" ticket for a younger crowd for album sales. The only one debatable is Mulan w/Christina Aguilera, but that was before she was uber famous and actually used her voice for a purpose. Up until Lion King, they were just songs on the sdtk that people fell in love with, after all the $$ came rolling in though, they started forcing it.

2D is dead because 3D gives us better color, clearer picture, more realistic visuals (for a cartoon) and a perfect transfer to DVD!

Are you sure the Pooh movie wasn't hand drawn? I can see it not being cell animated, but it still looks hand drawn.

Somebody needs to give Dalvin an honorary DVD Talk Hall Of Fame membership. Love his threads!
:D

The end of 2D just makes Iron Giant even sweeter, am I right? :D

also, it's a lot cheaper, can be made quicker and easier (look at turn around time for something like southpark compared to something like simpsons).

And here I thought that someone named "Iron Giant" might defend 2D animation. That's the perfect example of a film that wouldn't have been nearly as good if it was done in 3D.

I look at this a being sort of like the move from black and white to color film. The vast majority of films today are color, but B&W is sometimes used very effectively as an artistic choice (e.g. Raging Bull). I hope that we will continue to see 2D features from time to time when the medium is a good artistic fit with the story being told.

I thought I read somewhere that King of the Hill was the last hand-animated show... I think the Simpsons is done on computers these days... I know it's color filled that way at least.