Beauty and the Beast in 3-D

[Silver]

Yes Disney executives gave Alan Menken permission to state a confirmation that the film is in the Rough Draft development period and will be happening. Just no release date yet.

Another fan of The Lion King? Awsome! How about we go over to the Theatre section and gush about it? Yeah sorry, I'm a real dork. What can I say?

[crazyalice]

Please point the way so we don't litter this place with our fangirl-ism.

[Silver]

You're right we are getting off toipc. It's on page 2 of the Disney Theatre and Archade section. It's in the middle of the page.

[SpellWovenNight]

I'm going to start steering this thread back to BATB, although not yet to the 3-D version.

I'm still at loss about the live adaption. There's many different ways to do it and approach it, but so far as I know, we know nothing about it. As much as I love BATB, is this really necessary? I'm sure it will be nice, but are they really going to give the effort? I think they'd have to really try to completely mess it up, but I'm worried about them not giving it 100% of their effort.

[Silver]

Well to be fair no film on Earth has ever had every single person love it who saw it. So even if the creative team does give 1000% there's bound to be somebody who doesn't enjoy the interpretation of it. Yes I understand why many are skeptical (I am too) but among all of the Disney animated film this one seems to be the only option that could transfer plausibly to the live-action medium. The only other one i can think of is The Hunchback of Notre Dame but that's not a well-beloved film. I'm hoping they'll take a similar approach to how they transferred The Phantom of the Opera from the stage to the screen. I thought what Joel Schumacher did as far as visual direction and storytelling were brilliant. In fact I think he'd be a terrific choice for a director of this film. He could make it lush, romantic and heartbreaking while still keeping a sensible backdrop for the time-period. He meshes fantasy with realisim along with entertaining quirks with character-driven insight. Which is exactly what this film needs to work in a literary sense and visual language.

[crazyalice]

I'm not too sure about the adaption either but I'll give it the benefit of the doubt until I either see the actual finished product or I see a trailer for it and it's god awful.

[Silver]

In The Lion King in 3-D thread, I noticed there was a lot of enthusiasim for Beauty and the Beast. I think it's best we take all comments back over to this one. Then strictly leave all comments for The Lion King in that one. That way the discussions between the two films get seperated.

As of now, there has been no new information that I can find in regards to the release. I'm hoping any useful information or updates will be featured on the Blu-ray/ DVD Edition. It seems like the most logical and appropriate place to recieve any valuable information on this topic. Hopefully there will even be some information on the Live Action film adaptation as well. I'm very eager to learn anything about this!

[Little_Cassie]

I was looking up news on Monsters inc 2 when I came across this. It seems Disney has taken this movie off its release schedule along with Newt. They have both been cancelled This is apparenly confirmed.

Here's the story. Its only slightly mensioned as its not the main point of the article.

www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=68537

[Silver]

According to another article I read on the internet. It hasn't been officially canceled, "just postponed due to overstature on the market." So it can still happen, it just won't be coming as soon as they had orginally scheduled. I sincerley hope they follow through with this release. Since Disney hasn't been releasing any quality films latley (Excluding Pixar) they might as well go back to re-releasing the classics in the Cinema again.

[Briar Rose's Dark Knight]

There has been an oversaturation of 3-D in the market since the success of Avatar. It seems like many studios are releasing films in 3-D only for the sake of 3-D. When it's well done (Avatar, How To Train Your Dragon, or Toy Story 3-D to name films I've seen in 3-D), it adds a neat dimension to the story. But not every film should be released in 3-D.

Will the Beauty and the Beast experience be unique enough to justify the expense? I don't know. At the very least, I think I like the idea because it means that we won't be seeing any "cheap 3-D tricks" to borrow a line from Muppet Vision 3-D. If done wrong, the 3-D could cheapen the experience. And given some of the criticisms I've heard from some animation/Hollywood veterans of the animation in the film(not the story or film itself, just the animation), I wonder if the 3-D may not have been the best idea.

[Silver]

BRP- I'm not an expert on art or animation. Nor am I going to claim I have a decent amount of knowlege of it. This is one of those topics where my opinion is purley subjective. From my opinion, I always thought Beauty and the Beast had gorgeous animation. Same with the majority of films from the Second Disney Renaissance. Obviously somebody who studies or participates in this profession could recognize the flaws or mishaps where I can't. So I'm curious as to what the these animators and such found unpleasent or noticed the ill-technique in the animation where I can't. This is probably the equivilent of me trying to explain my knowledge of music and vocal technique to somebody who has never studied it.

[Briar Rose's Dark Knight]

You raise some good points. And it bears repeating that all of these critiques are aimed at some of the animation in the film, not the story and the totality of the film itself. Some of these points I have noticed after being alerted to them, but others are beyond my rather untechnical eye.

Don Hahn himself has stated that Beauty and the Beast is not the best animation the studio has ever produced. He notes that there are some inconsistencies in character appearance, including Belle's hair changing length throughout the film. This is one that I've seen. It's a minor thing that does not take away from the film, but it's an imperfection nonetheless.

On another occasion I was talking with a current Disney artist who worked on films such as Star Wars and Ghost and whose father helped design Disneyland and did background paintings on Mary Poppins about Beauty and the Beast and this artist commented that as he watched the film repeatedly for reference on a painting from Beauty and the Beast he was working on commented that the animation looks rubbery in places. He does not think the animation has aged well.

A friend of mine is a former Disney animator who worked on Sleeping Beauty and for Hanna-Barbera for years before returning to Disney to work on Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and The Little Mermaid TV series. He commented that as wonderful as the story of Beauty and the Beast is, he feels that the animation in Mulan is far superior and more stylized than Beauty and the Beast.

Overall, I think the strength of the 2nd renaissance stemmed from the stories. Don't get me wrong as the animation was also nice, but Disney has produced some beautifully animated films with weak stories, especially early this decade. The more I watch the animation from Walt's era, the more I wonder if it will ever be topped. I've heard some historians who believe that Walt's first 5 films featured animation the likes of which has never been seen since.

[Silver]

Thank you for answering my question to the best of your ability.

I'm aware enough to know even with my lack of knowledge on this subject that the early 90's films don't have better animation then Sleeping Beauty, Bambi, Lady and the Tramp, or the latest Pixar creations. However due to my lack of knowledge on how the technique operates, I still don't agree with what some the vetrans said.

Despite the fact that this type of animation is outdated, I still find it immensley appealing to look at. It's not because I've grown up on it. I didn't take an interest in what I found appealing in the animation from any films for a long time. That all went over my head as I only focased on the songs and characters.

When I did start to relish on how beautiful or unattractive certain pieces of animation were. Beauty and the Beast has always been a stand out on the postitive side. I don't find it "rubbery" or irregular at all. Of course any expert could reprand me for not notcing the flaws right in front of my eyes. Perhaps my ignorance is my downfall on this subject. And without proper training or extensive technical knowledge I guess my opinion isn't valid. But if someone on the street were to ask me if I thought Beauty and the Beast had beautiful animation. I would answer yes. Granted that beauty is in the eye of the beholder on how they would view it. None the less my answer would remain as it is. My ignorance could also be the reason I'd be more enthusiatic if this film were released in 3-d format.

[Briar Rose's Dark Knight]

I see what you're saying. I still can't find the rubbery look although I've tried to since I heard it, so it may very well be a expert type of thing. I have been able to spot some bad animation in The Little Mermaid, but it may be a DVD transfer issue on my copy or the fact that it was the test sequence for Beauty and the Beast's ballroom scene. And it's there so briefly and in the background that it doesn't really matter, nor does it diminish the film.

I still think the ballroom scene in Beauty and the Beast is one of the best sequences in hand drawn animation. And as far as an opinion goes, I wouldn't say any opinion is invalid. For whatever animation shortcomings Beauty and the Beast may have, it remains one of the best films ever made period. There may be other films with better animation, but Beauty and the Beast did a masterful job of combining story, animation, and music. It deserves the accolades it receives.

[Butterscotch]

After watching the film again, I think that it's not that the animation is bad, it's simply the result of artists who have gotten better looking back on old work and seeing how much they've improved since then.