Snow White

[mimi_sardinia]

I watched Snow White - oi the animation is old! I also watched one of the extra features - one about the making of the movie, so I know that for however old it looks to me now it was a vast improvement on the style of cartooning that preceeded it.

See, for all that Snow White looks rather over-cute to me, she looks and moves a hell of a lot better than the example of previous cartooning that she was compared to.

Which brings me to observe another thing, it seems when the first of what I refer to as the "new generation" cartoon movies - the movies that started with The Little Mermaid. It strikes me that with TLM, Disney reverted to a bit more "cartoony" style - Ariel is far more caricaturish than most of the classic Disney Princesses.

That's not to say they've stayed caricarturish, some characters have been so realistic that it's almost surprising. At risk of bringing up a movie I have seen at least a couple of negative opinions of, the character of Pocahontas, I saw a picture of her voice actor and dammit, the cartoon is exactly like her!

Not like that is a one-off thing, it seems - at least with all the post-TLM cartoons Disney seems to draw all their characters more or less resembling the voice actor. One thing that the making-of thing for Snow White confirmed, the animation is done after all the sound is done. I figured it had to have been, because some of the actors I have been familiar with (Robin Williams, Eddie Murphey - for example), their characters have had actions and expressions that are exactly the same as ones I've seen of that actor.


But anyway, at least one thing, Cinderella's voice at least doesn't quite sound as odd as either Snow White's, or Alice's (and don't even begin about how strange Alice sounds in KH!).

Actually, now that I think about it, Cinderella sounds damn like Alice - that however doesn't surprised me, I already know the bitchy old matriarch elephant in Dumbo has exactly the same voice as the Queen of Hearts.

But anyway, Snow White's voice is very cutesy - ridiculously so. Alice, in comparision, sounds too adult - she sounds like an adult voice actor trying hard to sound like a child but it really shows in her singing, she really doesn't have a child's voice.

And KH1! Alice's voice in that sounds so fake! Could they have at least tried to get a voice that sounded less like someone putting on an imitation of the original Alice? Alice In Wonderland is such a favourite of mine that I own a copy on tape! KH!Alice is just jarring!


Anyway, what was suposed to be a couple of simple observations has turned into a great long - and slighhtly ranty - discussion of new vs old Disney.

Comments

[tairako.livejournal.com]

Umm...

While I love you...

Take a look at this. (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0064607/)

Though yes, I do have to agree with you that they animate the characters to look like the voices. Esmerelda looks almost startlingly like Demi Moore, and Phoebus bears more than a passing resemblance to Kevin Kline (I love Phoebus). Hades looks a lot like James Woods, and Hercules is a cartooned and muscle-enhanced Tate Donovan. And even Young Simba looks a little like Jonathan Taylor Thomas XD I love when that happens. You can also see it in computer animation, like Shrek.

And I do agree, most of the "classic" Disney movies seem to have a more... artistic, for lack of a better word, feel. Their proportions are not at ALL correct - if I remember right, Ariel's actually better proportioned than Aurora - but the drawing style is more elegant and "high art." I like both styles, myself; what's good for one isn't necessarily good for another. (Can you picture Hercules in "classical style"? o.o)