In my renaissance of hand drawn animation, last night I watched both Disney's animated Robin Hood and AristoCats.
I hadn't seen either movie since they were in theaters back in the seventies. I loved them both when I was in jr. high school.
In the seventies, Disney was using a very different animation style from the Golden Age of Animation, back when the studio was putting out Snow White, Pinocchio and Cinderella. In the beginning, the artistic style was very soft, complex and full of rich color. Starting with 101 Dalmatians, the look changed to that of pen and ink drawings, with more emphasis on the pen work. I love both styles, not the least because in both the older and more modern styles, the backgrounds are simply perfect.
Both Robin Hood and Aristocats have many scenes set in the country side or woods. The backgrounds are wonderful studies in atmospheric watercolor affects. Very little outlines exist in the back grounds; just enough to give form to the near background structures such as hay stacks or festival tents.
Both movies also include several outdoor rain storm scenes. They are brilliantly executed. Once scene in Robin Hood involves Robin and Maid Marian walking through the woods at night, surrounded by fire flies. They climb behind a waterfall. The falls and the stream into which it drains are more realistic and impressive than anything I've ever seen in a computer animated feature. They are breath taking examples of not only cartooning, but painting.
The backgrounds are wonderful, but the characters are also rendered with a masters eye on shape, weight, gravity, form and movement. You could easily imagine the fabric of Maid Marian's veil just by the way it swung and floated with her movements.
I couldn't help comparing these movies with Beauty and the Beast, and let me tell you, the modern animators can't hold the brushes of the old masters. Not only do they not pay attention to the tiny details that make the older works so spectacular, they don't seem to care.
CGI is getting better all the time, but it has a long way to go to ever reach the artistic levels of the old stuff. I don't really think it ever will. The aesthetic sensibilities have changed. Now they seem far more interested in hyper realism rather than impressionistic idealism.
I'm going to put Snow White and Pinocchio on my list. I havent' seen them in years but I remember being blown away by them.
