Not so very long ago, the Disney company made lots of animated films – some of which were drawn by hand by real people. They made big pictures; after the success of The Lion King, the goal of Disney Feature Animation was to make sweeping epics – always hoping for another shot at Oscar [...]]]>

Not so very long ago, the Disney company made lots of animated films – some of which were drawn by hand by real people. They made big pictures; after the success of The Lion King, the goal of Disney Feature Animation was to make sweeping epics – always hoping for another shot at Oscar gold. Hot off his success with Lion King – then the highest-grossing animated film ever – director Roger Allers began to develop a new project. This film, which eventually was called Kingdom of the Sun, was a South American twist on the old “Prince and the Pauper” tale set within the ancient Incan empire. There was drama, romance, comedy, and magic – it was a big film.

As producers tried to mimic everything they thought might have contributed to Lion King‘s success, they lined up yet another famous British singer/songwriter to compose songs for the film. As part of the deal to persuade Sting to sign on the dotted line, Disney had to give his wife a job filming all the behind-the-scenes material for the film’s eventual DVD. And so Trudie Styler, wife of Sting, began filming the creative process as Kingdom of the Sun kicked into production.

And then it all went pear-shaped.

The collapse of Kingdom of the Sun, and its resurrection under a different director as The Emperor’s New Groove, was captured by Styler’s cameras but never made it to DVD. When New Groove emerged on a feature-laden DVD in 2001, little mention was made that the film once featured completely different plotlines, characters and songs. Styler turned her material into a documentary, The Sweatbox, which was released in 2002. Disney actually owns the rights to the film, which – perhaps unsurprisingly – they have done their best to bury. The documentary has never been released, has never been included on any of the New Groove releases, and for twelve years I’ve tried to find a copy.

Yesterday, it appeared on YouTube.

Watch the production fall apart. Watch the carefully crafted dreams of filmmakers dashed by glib executives. Watch Sting become increasingly bored as he progresses from one palatial residence to another. Be warned, it appears to be an unfinished assembly edit and has a timecode at the bottom – it also has a couple of naughty words, if the kiddies are in the room. Watch, while you can:

Now wasn’t that interesting? This all happened at an interesting point in time, as the animation studio was well on its way into being mismanaged into oblivion by some of the executives you see in the documentary. Note that Michael Eisner appears not once in the film – even when he was present for events being depicted. It’s an incredible time capsule as you see all these important filmmakers and animators flit in and out, many of whom are no longer at Disney. We even get to see the dear departed Joe Ranft, who must have popped in from Pixar to help pitch story ideas.

I feel conflicted watching this film, as I always do when thinking about Kingdom in the Sun. I’m actually a big fan of The Emperor’s New Groove – I remember being shocked at the time that it turned out so well. I had followed the tortured development and had been shocked at what I thought was an absolutely awful name change, but the film turned out to be really fun.

At the same time, I’ve always wanted to see how Kingdom would have turned out. I’m a fan of animated epics, and Allers’s version of the film had some really compelling elements. I like some of the songs Sting had written for that version (which was much more of a traditional musical), and as you can see from this documentary, the loss of Andreas Deja’s work on Yzma was a huge blow. Without seeing the reels from this earlier version, it’s hard to say how well it flowed, or how compelling it was, or if it was a mess or not. But you can’t look at the clips from the prologue, or Deja’s musical number with Yzma, and tell me we didn’t lose some special things. I really, really would love to see more of that material (if you have access, drop me a line).

It’s a shame this documentary isn’t more readily available. It, better than anything I’ve ever seen, shows the truly gut-wrenching process of animation development in the modern era. And it shows more of the process than any DVD documentary Disney has released in at least a decade. I wish there was a film like this for Sweatin’ Bullets/Home on the Range, Rapunzel/Tangled, American Dog/Bolt, and even the forthcoming Frozen. When a film is in development for a decade, there are stories to tell. And, as you can see here, fully fleshed-out characters, songs, and scenes. That work – especially when you see work the caliber of Deja’s – doesn’t belong in a vault somewhere. It deserves to be seen.

Also, if we didn’t realize it before, Sting is absurdly rich. And rides ponies. And wears silly hats.

Finally, because I absolutely never get tired of looking at them, are a few of John Watkiss’s incredible concept pieces for Kingdom of the Sun:

The really short review? It’s good. You should see it. No, really. It’s fun. Get a free ticket from Amazon and go.

The slightly expanded review:

Disney’s marketing of this film was terrible. Not bad, not so-so, but terrible. They stripped its original title, John Carter of Mars to the unbelievably generic John Carter [...]]]>

The really short review? It’s good. You should see it. No, really. It’s fun. Get a free ticket from Amazon and go.

The slightly expanded review:

Disney’s marketing of this film was terrible. Not bad, not so-so, but terrible. They stripped its original title, John Carter of Mars to the unbelievably generic John Carter and released a series of trailers that did their best to conceal any concept of what the film is about.

Oddly, most of the viewing public didn’t seem to know the fine details of a pulp novel from a century ago, so no one knows what this movie is about… and Disney isn’t telling. Disney really botched this one and the press was ready to eviscerate it. Everyone likes a trainwreck, and the negative coverage was almost gleeful in its smugness.

It’s a shame for them that the movie is actually pretty good.

For those who don’t know: It’s the story of a disillusioned Civil War veteran and widower who is transported to Mars where he is forced to become embroiled – or not – in a Martian civil war. It’s based on a series of books by Edgar Rice Burroughs, who wrote Tarzan, and is pretty much the template on which all serialized sci-fi pulp in the last century was based.

I didn’t love it, but I liked it a lot. It’s well made. It’s pulp fun, with a good script that doesn’t make you want to hide your face in your hands (coughprequelscough). It’s an epic film that also has things like “characters” and “motivation” which is always exciting. The production design and art direction is fantastic.

The characters are complex and interesting. I’ve heard some people complain that the plot is somehow confusing or convoluted, but I can’t imagine how. I’d never read the book and it all made perfect sense to me. It’s an old-fashioned pulp tale that’s not one bit ironic or smug; it’s completely earnest and straightforward. Although it’s missing a certain spark, there is a wry humor to it.

So yes – I’m keeping this short, but you really shouldn’t let the horrifically clueless performance by Disney marketing sour you to this if you’d otherwise be at all interested. It’s certainly not perfect, but what is? It’s fun, it’s well made, and it deserves to be seen.

Also, here’s a picture of Dejah Thoris:

The Muppets have been everywhere lately due to a mercifully concerted and well-orchestrated advertising campaign for their new film, The Muppets, which opened yesterday. It’s been twelve years since our felt friends last graced theaters in 1999, and the time in between has been a period of great uncertainty for the characters. At times, [...]]]>

The Muppets have been everywhere lately due to a mercifully concerted and well-orchestrated advertising campaign for their new film, The Muppets, which opened yesterday. It’s been twelve years since our felt friends last graced theaters in 1999, and the time in between has been a period of great uncertainty for the characters. At times, it seemed uncertain if they would ever make the big return that fans had long been promised.

It’s been a long road since Disney’s first close-call with Muppet ownership, right before Muppet impresario Jim Henson’s tragic and untimely death in 1990. The Disney deal fell apart in the wake of Henson’s death, and the property began a period of bouncing around among different owners and production partners – none of whom were able to properly develop new Muppet projects. Although the Henson company and Disney were able to eventually reconcile, and the Mouse finally purchased the Frog in 2004, it remained to be see what – if anything – Disney would do with the Muppets beyond licensing.

In 2009 Disney finally announced that they were moving forward with a new Muppet film, and now that it has finally reached theaters I can mercifully – and with a great deal of relief – report that it is, in fact, a whole lot of fun. I’ll save the detailed review for later – I don’t want to delve into spoilers, after all – but while it’s very different from previous Muppet adventures its still full of laughs and sentiment and manages to be “meta” without being ironic.

I even liked the attached Toy Story short, which is perhaps the single most surprising thing that’s happened to me in the last five years at least.

So congrats to the Muppet Studio and Disney for finally making it happen, and delivering a Muppet film that feels fresh and old-school at the same time. I sincerely hope it does blockbuster business and results in new films and shows, and here I would like to remind every Disney executive, park official, and Imagineer that there are plans for a Muppet Movie ride already drawn up. And there is a Studios park in Orlando that has a big, gaping hole intended for that ride, and the desperate need for something new. So, you know, that.

I encourage you all to check it out ASAP. Prove to Disney the message that the film itself espouses in hilarious fashion, and which fans have been saying for years – Muppets are still awesome, and the only reason they’re not “relevant” is because they’re being withheld from us. Hopefully this is the beginning of big, furry things.

But that’s the future – let’s look at the past for a moment.

One of my favorite Muppet things came in 1990, just as Disney and the Muppets were preparing to finalize their merger. To promote this union, NBC aired a primetime television special, The Muppets at Walt Disney World. At the time, given my youthful love of both the Muppets and Walt Disney World, this was possibly the coolest thing that could ever happen. I must have watched this dozens of times.

And what’s best is that it’s actually good. It’s the same old-fashioned Muppet mayhem and music, just set in Walt Disney World. The same old anarchic Muppet humor from the Henson era is there – the show aired just ten short days before Henson’s death in May of 1990.

Thankfully, the special can be found online. You can watch below, followed by some other Muppety Disney tidbits. First, the special:

And now… outtakes!

Attendant to the planned Disney purchase of the Muppets, there were plans to bring the characters into the parks. An entire “Muppet Studios” was to be set up at the Disney-MGM Studios in Florida; the first attraction based on this deal was a show, Here Come the Muppets, which opened at the Studios soon after this special aired. A live stage show, it ran until September of 1991. After its closure, its theater was used for the still-running Voyage of the Little Mermaid show.

Muppet*Vision 3-D opened at the Studios on May 16th, 1991 – one year to the day after Henson’s death. On September 16th, 1991, three weeks after Here Come the Muppets closed, another stage show called Muppets on Location opened on a stage near the Muppet*Vision 3-D theater. It ran until 1994. The shows didn’t feature the familiar Muppet puppets, but rather human-sized walkaround versions of the characters. In an innovation for the time, the characters’ mouths moved to synch with the show’s vocals, which made them seem at least slightly more Muppetesque. Some (rather cynical) cast members captured the final performance of this show on video; it can be seen below.

And that was the last new bit of Muppet mayhem to reach the Disney parks before their alliance went south. They haven’t returned since, although Muppet*Vision 3-D was eventually cloned in other parks. Hopefully, if the fun new film is a hit, maybe we’ll get those attractions after all. Better later than never – even if it’s 25 years late!

Today, the Walt Disney Company is a multi-billion dollar hype machine cranking out a stream of press releases on a daily basis. But long ago, the Disney studio was literally a garage-based organization and hardly the talk of the town. Still, the 22-year-old aspiring mogul managed to get his name in print – no [...]]]>

Today, the Walt Disney Company is a multi-billion dollar hype machine cranking out a stream of press releases on a daily basis. But long ago, the Disney studio was literally a garage-based organization and hardly the talk of the town. Still, the 22-year-old aspiring mogul managed to get his name in print – no small feat, even in 1924.

Hollywood bigshots with enough time on their hands to browse the back pages of the Los Angeles Times might have come across this blurb at the bottom of a long column of movieland news on July 6th, 1924. I’m curious as to how this story came about; perhaps it was the work of Disney’s distributor in New York. In any case, one could hardly have guessed at the time the magnitude of events which would result from this simple announcement.

ACTORS MIX WITH CARTOONS

In Hollywood a young cartoonist by the name of Walt Disney is making a series of twelve animated cartoon productions. Real people are seen acting with pen-and-ink actors. They are known as the “Alice” series and 5-year-old Virginia Davis, de luxe child dancer, has the big part. M.J. Winkler of New York is releasing the comedies.

So last week I headed over to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for a neat 100th birthday tribute to artist Mary Blair. It was a fun show, hosted by the always-delightful Alice Davis, and featured a panel of artists who discussed Blair’s work.

A rather surprising fact-drop occurred when moderator [...]]]> Funny story…

So last week I headed over to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for a neat 100th birthday tribute to artist Mary Blair. It was a fun show, hosted by the always-delightful Alice Davis, and featured a panel of artists who discussed Blair’s work.

A rather surprising fact-drop occurred when moderator Charles Solomon introduced panelist Mike Giaimo as “art director of the upcoming Snow Queen.”

So… we’re on again with that?

This isn’t even the first time I’ve been startled by a casual re-announcement of Snow Queen during a presentation of something else. At the 2009 D23 Expo, veteran animation producer Don Hahn included artwork from the film in one of his presentations. You can trace back the rather bizarre history of this project through random stories we’ve posted over the years; the film has been re-incarnated so many times and in so many formats that it must be trying to wrest the title of “most tortured development” from Rapunzel/Tangled.

The last we’d heard was early last year, when the film was allegedly shelved again. But now, apparently, it’s back. Of course when I tweeted about this I was greeted with “Duh, you didn’t know that?” So maybe everyone else knows. Maybe you know. But I’m telling you anyway.

This is pretty exciting news. Hopefully it’ll be traditionally animated. That hopper is kind of empty now that Pooh has passed. Of course the way projects are constantly popping in and out of existence, I can’t keep track of this merry-go-round anymore.

I’m glad Giaimo is on board. A fan of Mary Blair and Eyvind Earle, he served as art director for Pocahontas and created that film’s unique look. Hopefully we’ll get a hand-drawn film with a unique and stylish visual flair.

Maybe they’ll stick to their guns this time. After the highly enjoyable Princess and the Frog and Tangled, I look forward to what they can come up with.

Earlier this month I had the privilege of writing a piece for Storyboard, the official blog of the Walt Disney Family Museum. As readers will know, I’m a big fan of the museum so I was very glad to be able to help out. My story concerns the making of The Great Locomotive Chase, [...]]]>

Earlier this month I had the privilege of writing a piece for Storyboard, the official blog of the Walt Disney Family Museum. As readers will know, I’m a big fan of the museum so I was very glad to be able to help out. My story concerns the making of The Great Locomotive Chase, a 1956 Walt Disney production starring Fess Parker and Jeffrey Hunter. The Museum’s focus this month has been on Walt’s love of trains, and few of his projects better show this than Great Locomotive Chase; the “true-life” adventure tells the story of Union spies hijacking a Confederate supply train in 1862. It’s an incredible tale that makes for a fun film and it’s easy to see why Walt was interested – it gave him the chance to play around with trains!

I was especially pleased to be able to write about this particular movie as it was filmed in and around some familiar stomping grounds of mine – an area in the Appalachian Mountains between Franklin, North Carolina and Cornelia, Georgia. Both my paternal grandparents were from Franklin – my grandfather’s family has been living up there, in the same valley, for more than two hundred years. It’s still one of my favorite places to “get away from it all.” Furthermore my grandmother’s brother-in-law worked on the now-defunct Tallulah Falls Railroad, where Locomotive was filmed, and her family grew up in the wide valley overlooking where the railway passed from Otto, NC to Franklin. She had moved by 1955 when filming was underway, but her family was still there and I have always had these weird visions of them sitting on their porch while Walt Disney maniacally drove his train back and forth on the other side of the Little Tennessee River.

Local businesses still recall Walt’s visit. At the (truly fantastic, by the way) Dillard House restaurant in Dillard, Georgia, pictures on the wall chronicle the time Walt stopped there for some home cooking. In local histories, people recall seeing Walt come in to local diners and cafes and have lunch alone – just a regular guy, hanging out.

As I say in my piece, you can tell how important this project must have been for Walt – after all, Disneyland had just opened and it would take something remarkable to tear him away from his new sandbox in Anaheim.

For some more info, check out my article and others from this month at the Museum’s blog, and if you haven’t seen it I recommend you check out The Great Locomotive Chase itself. It’s nothing profound but it’s a really fun film with some great actors facing off and that really fantastic art direction you see in Disney productions from that era. You can buy it cheap from Amazon or rent it via Netflix.