Drawn Together: A Look Back at Disney’s Competition During Animation’s Second Golden Age

By Michael Lyons

They say that competition is healthy.  If that’s the case, then the animation industry was a VERY healthy place in the 1990’s.

Walt Disney Feature Animation was in the midst of a comeback, the likes of which have rarely been seen in Hollywood.  Blockbuster hits, many compared to the Studio’s animated masterpieces from their original Golden Age like “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) and “Pinocchio” (1940), were reigning at the box office.

This Second Golden Age kicked off with 1989’s “The Little Mermaid,” which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year and hit a zenith point with 1994’s “The Lion King,” which now marks its 25th year.

Other Studios couldn’t help but take notice and they also decided to jump aboard this animated train.  Almost every major player in Hollywood opened up their own animation studio, releasing their own full-length feature films, many of which not only blatantly copied the Disney story and song model, but the marketing model, as well (the path of the ‘90’s is liberally littered with fast food toys from these films).

Several of these non-Disney competitors for the animated crown of Toon Town are also celebrating anniversaries this year.  While they may not have had the lasting, cultural, classic impact of Disney’s films and may not see their own live-action remake soon, for a generation, they are all fondly remembered and worth looking back on.

“All Dogs Go To Heaven,” released November 17, 1989, celebrating 30 years.

With the success of films like 1986’s “An American Tail” and “The Land Before Time,” two years later, director Don Bluth (who led a much publicized walk out of Disney artists in the early ‘80’s) also played a major role in the start of the Second Golden Age.

Unfortunately, “All Dogs Go to Heaven,” started a string of financial and creative disappointments for Bluth.  

Telling a decidedly different and edgier story it tells the tale of Charlie B. Barkin (voiced by Burt Reynolds) a German Shepherd that is murdered by a canine mobster Carface but leaves Heaven and returns to Earth, and joins up with his best friend, Itchy (Dom DeLuise) as they team up to help a young orphan girl.

Filled with lush, full animation, great character design and the marquee “hook” of Reynolds and DeLuise, “All Dogs” couldn’t overcome a somewhat morbid and muddy story.

The film quickly sank at the box office, from a tidal wave caused by Ariel, as “All Dogs” had the additional misfortune of opening the same day as “The Little Mermaid.”

“The Swan Princess,” released November 18, 1994, celebrating 25 years

Based on the ballet “Swan Lake,” the films tells the story of a princess who is transformed into a swan by an evil sorcerer.  “The Swan Princess,” directed by Richard Rich (another Disney defector) completely swipes the Disney story paradigm, musical numbers and all.  In fact, David Zippel, who would later create the songs for Disney’s “Hercules,” penned the songs for “The Swan Princess.”

While the budget, and therefore the animation, isn’t as full as other films, “The Swan Princess” is likable enough, thanks to entertaining supporting characters and an entertaining villain (voiced by Jack Palance).

In what many consider a controversial move, Disney re-issued its box-office behemoth from that summer, “The Lion King” that November, opening the same day as “The Swan Princess” and Simba reigned again at the box-office.

“The Pagemaster,” released on November 24, 1994, celebrating 25 years

Touted by a teaser trailer as “The most magical film of 1994,“ this was a unique offering: a full-length animated feature, bookended by a live-action opening and conclusion, “The Pagemaster” tells the tale of a timid young boy named Richard (played by 90’s wonderboy Macaulay Culkin) who ventures into his local library on a stormy night and, thanks to the magic of the Pagemaster (Christopher Lloyd), Richard finds himself thrust into the worlds of history’s most famous stories.

This is where the film transitions to animation, creating fun and creative takes on stories like “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” and “Treasure Island.”  Richard travels through these tales with his guides, three anthropomorphic books, Fantasy (voice of Whoopi Goldberg), Adventure (Patrick Stewart) and Horror (voice acting veteran Frank Welker) each one a marvel of creative character design and personality.

This, however, isn’t enough to carry the story, which is very stop and go and episodic and the live-action sequences water down the open and close of the film.

Still, kudos to “The Pagemaster,” for celebrating the power of reading and introducing classic works of literature to an impressionable audience.

While these three films never reached the heights of Disney’s successful run during this decade, they did, like many other films, provide a healthy offering for audiences.  

Long before computers eclipsed 2-D animation, this era was a veritable period of creative growth, during which the debut of a new animated film was eagerly awaited by young audiences.

Today, with technology providing the ability for animated films to be released at a breakneck pace and this genre contributing so much to the movie industry, we have much to thank these and other “Disney competitors” for.  Competition continues to be VERY healthy.

Sources:

Wikipedia