RIP 2012

[flippyshark]

Originally Posted by RStar

Disney digital pioneer Bob Lambert

I suppose how you feel about the push to digital CGI type films will determine how sad your cheese is about this one.

Digital was inevitable. I truly hope that there will always be hand-drawn animated films. (Even those are technically digital these days.) It's all about the storytelling. I remember a time, just after Disney bought Pixar, when some were hoping that Pixar would be the CGI brand and Walt Disney Animation would be the traditional brand. It hasn't worked out that way, but at least with Tangled, Disney achieved excellence worthy of comparison with the 90s renaissance classics.

And I don't much mourn the passing of old-school film projection. That art has fallen into such hideous disrepair, at least in the chain cinemas, that I'm happy to get a sharp, bright, reliable digital picture any day. (I do love a good repertory house when they have pristine prints and a projectionist who knows how to do it. That would be the rarest of rarities if you don't live in a major city, alas.)

So, I applaud those who helped shepherd the Disney company into continued relevance. (I just wish the partnership with Ghibli yielded more influence on Disney's domestic output. The artistic hands behind Ghibli films can make me cry before the story even gets started.)