90 Years, An Infinite Legacy: Disney Turns 90 Today

90 years ago today, on 16th October, 1923, Walt and Roy Disney founded the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio. From that day onwards, the landscape of animation changed forever. Alice Comedies, Mickey Mouse, Snow White, all the way through to Toy Story, Tangled and modern greats like that; join us in a look back at the unparalleled legacy of The Walt Disney Company.

Munir's Disney Retrospective -- Animated Classic #1: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)

By Munir Abedrabbo.

Make Sure You've Read: Munir Presents Walt Disney Animation Studios: A Retrospective -- Introduction

Often referred as ‘The Fairest One of All’ or ‘The One that Started it All’, Snow White is the crown jewel of the Disney Company. The film was an instant success and continues to be one 75 years after its original premiere. After years of perfecting the techniques with his Silly Symphonies (1933’s The Goddess of Spring is an early example of human animation), Walt Disney finally found the story and the talent to bring this tale to life in wonderful fashion. A box office success and winner of many awards, Snow White is animation royalty through and through. But, these elements aren't enough if the film doesn't withstand the test of time. Fortunately, it's 75 years later (76 now actually!) and Snow White is still as fresh as it was in 1937. The film is still funny, the characters endearing, the music catchy, the story relevant and the animation breathtaking. Snow White is not only Disney’s first film, it's also one of its best. Rating: 5/5.

Next Week: Animated Classic #2 Review: Pinocchio

Munir Presents Walt Disney Animation Studios: A Retrospective -- Introduction

By Munir Abedrabbo.

Hello folks! With the beginning of the New Year and the fact that Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs just turned 75 this past December, I thought it would be nice to have a rundown over all 52 animated films that the Disney Studio has released so far. Each week, a film from the Disney canon will be presented alongside a short commentary and a rating system. All films are going to be presented in chronological order from Snow White to Wreck-It Ralph. I hope you enjoy this and that this retrospective will stir up discussions about these films and of these 75 years of great legacy!

The Fairest One of All Author Working on Making of Pinocchio Book

The Fairest One of All author, Kaufman (pictured with Walt Disney's eldest daughter, Diane Disney Miller).

We have learned that J.B. Kaufman, the film historian behind 2012's fantastic and superbly detailed The Fairest One of All: The Making of Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, - a history of the making of Disney's first ever feature animated film - is now working on a similar book for the studio's second film, Pinocchio!

A113Animation reader/frequent contributor Munir Abedrabbo (who will be launching his own retrospective Disney review feature on this blog very soon) emailed the Fairest One of All author, congratulating him on the book and asking if he had considered doing a similar one for Pinocchio, Kaufman responded:

"It happens that I am already working on a book about the making of Pinocchio -- a fascinating subject, and I'm excited about it. Just as with the Snow White books, we're going to try to bring this one out in time for the 75th anniversary of the film, which means I have some very tight deadlines. Wish me luck!"

Pinocchio, first released theatrically in February 1940, is widely considered to be one of the greatest animated films of all time, eclipsed, perhaps only be its predecessor, so it's certainly exciting to hear that the author who so brilliantly recounted the making of Walt's first film is now doing the same with his second. The downside though, given the comment about coinciding the book's release with the film's 75th anniversary, is that the book will then likely not be complete until 2015. At least we know it will be worth the wait.

Our review of The Fairest One of All can be read here, and you can order it below, via Amazon.

The Fairest One of All: The Making of Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Review - A Triumph Befitting Disney's Classic

Firstly, I apologise for the tardiness of this review; I've been snowed under, but hopefully normal service is now restored - there'll be a review up of The Art and Making of Peanuts Animation in the next week as well. Thanks to the team at Aurum Press for sending me a copy of this - US version sold by Weldon Owen.

The Fairest One of All: The Making of Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is an almost complete account of the huge production of Walt Disney's first feature length animated feature, the fantastic classic, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Such a gigantically important, influential and trend-setting picture, obviously, took a mammoth amount of effort, as such, this book is an absolutely mammoth undertaking itself.

Animation Essays - Disney at War, and the Importance of Cinderella

At the start of the year, I said that we were going to diversify here at A113Animation, namely, through more features. We've launched our Bitesized Biographies and Classic Cartoons features, and post the odd Editorial too (free time permitting of course), but as of late I've had an itching to try something else as well. Animation history being a paramount passion of mine, I thought it may be prudent to launch this intended-as-occasional feature: Animation Essays. Check out our first one - about Disney during and immediately after World War II, and the effect Cinderella had on, effectively, saving the, once-fledgling, now dominant, company - below!

Editorial: Adapt to Survive

From 1937 to 2011: One can't help but think something went awry along the way for animated adaptations.

Animation is built on adaptation. Walt Disney started off with adaptation, from his early Alice Comedies, to short-films like The Three Little Pigs, to his first feature length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, they're all based on existing stories. In fact, think of your favourite Disney films of all time; films like Snow White, Pinocchio, Aladdin, The Jungle Book, they're all based on existing, popular stories, books or folk-tales. Even The Lion King, arguably the jewel in the Disney crown, is based on Shakespeare's Hamlet.

It's a long and important tradition, fairy-tales are what (whether they like it not anymore) typifies Disney; nearly all the best Disney films are based on existing stories: Hans Christian Anderson ones, Brothers Grimm ones; the inspiration comes from the stories and - however faithful an adaptation they may be - the films, for better or worse, spin-off from there.

However, the problems occur when adaptations come at the expense of originality; when studios take well established, well loved characters and try to "reinvent" them, to save on marketing and pull high box-office receipts, often at the expense of quality. This is a subject that seems particularly relevant at the moment, with the colossal glut of animated films coming up that are foregoing originality in favour of established characters and stories. In a world where we're in 2012 and expecting a Woody Woodpecker film, a Popeye film, another Curious George film, and all the possible (and likely) adaptations coming out of DreamWorks' purchase of Classic Media, it's easy to feel like we're drowning in adaptations.

Disney Turns 88

88 years yesterday, on October 16, 1923, The Walt Disney Company was founded.

Starting off as the pipe-dream of brothers, Roy Disney and the eponymous, Walt Disney, as Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, this was the studio destined to become the world's largest media conglomerate, changing the world forever, in terms of films, TV and in terms of all of the millions of lives it has touched.

From the Golden Age of its animated films way back when, with films like Snow White, Pinocchio and Dumbo, through the Silver Age of films like 101 Dalmatians, The Jungle Book and more, and to the Renaissance of such modern classics as Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King and beyond to modern day; Disney has long been the gold standard of animation. Although accused of a dip in quality in more recent years (although currently undergoing a revival), Disney is, in essence, the company that made animation an art form.

From the debut of "Disney's folly" and Walt and his company proving to all comers that animation was, and is, a sustainable medium that can inflame the imagination and inspire the world, moving us all to laughter and tears, to today, there is rarely a person on the face of the world who hasn't heard of Disney and its famed mouse.

I'll try to keep this brief, as there is oh so much I could say about Disney, its influence on the world and on its influence on me, and more - particularly, of how, without it, it is questionable that Pixar would be the giant it is today.

Disney, in one word, means magic. At its best, nothing can touch Disney, the classics are unparalleled and without rival. Magic is imbued into every frame of so many Disney films, although Disney has rolled out several not so brilliant films, the fact that this is the company that brought us Bambi, Cinderella and The Little Mermaid more than makes up for that.

Simply put, I love Disney and I'd like to take this opportunity to say: thank you Disney. Thank you for the films, thank you for the music, thank you for the magic, thank you for the memories and thank you, most of all, for making my childhood as wonderful as it was.

Long live Disney!