challer
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 6, 2008
- Messages
- 1,264
On Monday, I attended a special pre-opening screening of the upcoming Disney documentary, Waking Sleeping Beauty. It was being screened at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC, and included a Q & A session with Don Hahn (director and 30+ years at Walt Disney Animation) and Peter Schneider (producer and former VP of Walt Disney Animation). It was a fantastic evening and I felt I need to share my thoughts about this unique event and special film.
My afternoon began at MoMA with an unrelated film screening. MoMA currently is running an exhibit on the art of Tim Burton, and since he is a former Disney animator, they are showing films of Disney classics along with other Burton films. So at 4:30 pm, I sat for a screening of The Adventures of Ichabod & Mr. Toad. Mr. Toad's Wild Ride (R.I.P.) has always been my favorite Fantasyland attraction, but I had never seen the film. So, I jumped at the chance to see it on the big screen. Fun.
After a quick bite, I returned for the WSB event at 7:30. An introduction was made by a representative from MoMA who welcomed us and summed up a quick history of Disney's relationship with MoMA (starting with screening Mickey's classic "Plane Crazy" in 1929). Then Schneider & Hahn introduced the film and the lights dimmed.
The film is a documentary about the decade of 1984-94 at Walt Disney Animation, when the department went from near extinction to ultimately creating a billion dollar film in The Lion King. It not only includes the story of the changes brought in my Michael Eisner, Jeffery Katzenberg, and Frank Wells, but it also tells the story of the animators during that seminal time. It tells the story of the "perfect storm" of the right people at the right time with the right creativity and ideas.
This is a documentary, so there shouldn't be any "spoilers" here, but I have to say that there are perspectives here that I have never seen or heard anywhere. Some include an illegal home movie inside the animation building in 1983 done by John Lasseter and speeches from Frank Wells's memorial service (which made blatantly obvious the tensions rising between Roy E. Disney and Michael Eisner). Hahn and Schneider pointed out that, although there were many audio interviews done and included in the film, all video included in the film are all 1994 and earlier. There is nothing you will see here from the past 15 years. That makes for compelling documentary film making - "no talking heads," as Hahn mentioned.
My feelings of the film are as follows: anyone who has any interest in anything Disney, especially with regards to behind the scenes stuff, how movies are made, the business of Disney, should try to see this movie. It was compelling and at no point was dry or boring. It was made clear to me that these two men, who have shown that they have mastered the art of storytelling during their time at Disney, have made a documentary in the same style of storytelling as some of the Disney classics. There was humor, emotion - joy and sorrow - and excitement. They showed the progression from low of lows to the heights of their game in such a fascinating way, and then sowed the seed of the oncoming demise without actually taking us back down with them. In the Q & A, someone asked why the downfall after 1994 wasn't covered more in the story. Schneider answered that after Katzenberg left, things got really ugly, and they weren't trying to make a Ken Burns documentary. In other words, that was not part of the story that they wanted to tell. The movie got a standing ovation and I thoroughly enjoyed the film and the event, and I highly recommend that anyone who can see the film, do it.
(Schneider was concerned that the film wasn't going to last beyond one week in the few theaters it was coming to. So, don't dilly dally!)
After leaving the screening room on such a high, all I was thinking of is all the people around the country who would not be able to see it even if they tried. (Unless they wait for the DVD?) It is being screened this week in DC with Hahn and Schneider, and then the two split up - Schneider stays for screenings on the east coast while Hahn goes west. The film opens a week from this Friday in 4 cities - NY, LA, SF and Chicago. Amazingly, there is a special screening in Burbank with Don Hahn next for members only of... Disney Movie Rewards. (What the...?) http://www.wakingsleepingbeautytix.com/ I personally think this should be toured around the country for special event screenings - especially Orlando - to get the Disney and movie fans a chance to see this. Maybe make it a traveling D23 event (which I've been advocating anyway, after all the events seem to be in two cities all the time). At some point, maybe we'll see this film on TV (ABC Family? IFC? Documentary Channel?) like The Pixar Story documentary did a couple of years back. Who knows?
Anyway, I gave the film both of my thumbs way way up, and I'll throw in my toes as well for the Hahn/Schneider interaction. DISers would absolutely love this film, and many non-Disney people would as well.
P.S. - Schneider mentioned Jim Stewart's book Disney Wars before the start of the film, and I asked him about it afterwards. I'm currently in the middle of the book (as some on the DIS Book Club have seen), and I'll "synergize" my book review with Schneider's thoughts after I complete it and review it on the Book Club thread.
My afternoon began at MoMA with an unrelated film screening. MoMA currently is running an exhibit on the art of Tim Burton, and since he is a former Disney animator, they are showing films of Disney classics along with other Burton films. So at 4:30 pm, I sat for a screening of The Adventures of Ichabod & Mr. Toad. Mr. Toad's Wild Ride (R.I.P.) has always been my favorite Fantasyland attraction, but I had never seen the film. So, I jumped at the chance to see it on the big screen. Fun.
After a quick bite, I returned for the WSB event at 7:30. An introduction was made by a representative from MoMA who welcomed us and summed up a quick history of Disney's relationship with MoMA (starting with screening Mickey's classic "Plane Crazy" in 1929). Then Schneider & Hahn introduced the film and the lights dimmed.
The film is a documentary about the decade of 1984-94 at Walt Disney Animation, when the department went from near extinction to ultimately creating a billion dollar film in The Lion King. It not only includes the story of the changes brought in my Michael Eisner, Jeffery Katzenberg, and Frank Wells, but it also tells the story of the animators during that seminal time. It tells the story of the "perfect storm" of the right people at the right time with the right creativity and ideas.
This is a documentary, so there shouldn't be any "spoilers" here, but I have to say that there are perspectives here that I have never seen or heard anywhere. Some include an illegal home movie inside the animation building in 1983 done by John Lasseter and speeches from Frank Wells's memorial service (which made blatantly obvious the tensions rising between Roy E. Disney and Michael Eisner). Hahn and Schneider pointed out that, although there were many audio interviews done and included in the film, all video included in the film are all 1994 and earlier. There is nothing you will see here from the past 15 years. That makes for compelling documentary film making - "no talking heads," as Hahn mentioned.
My feelings of the film are as follows: anyone who has any interest in anything Disney, especially with regards to behind the scenes stuff, how movies are made, the business of Disney, should try to see this movie. It was compelling and at no point was dry or boring. It was made clear to me that these two men, who have shown that they have mastered the art of storytelling during their time at Disney, have made a documentary in the same style of storytelling as some of the Disney classics. There was humor, emotion - joy and sorrow - and excitement. They showed the progression from low of lows to the heights of their game in such a fascinating way, and then sowed the seed of the oncoming demise without actually taking us back down with them. In the Q & A, someone asked why the downfall after 1994 wasn't covered more in the story. Schneider answered that after Katzenberg left, things got really ugly, and they weren't trying to make a Ken Burns documentary. In other words, that was not part of the story that they wanted to tell. The movie got a standing ovation and I thoroughly enjoyed the film and the event, and I highly recommend that anyone who can see the film, do it.
(Schneider was concerned that the film wasn't going to last beyond one week in the few theaters it was coming to. So, don't dilly dally!)
After leaving the screening room on such a high, all I was thinking of is all the people around the country who would not be able to see it even if they tried. (Unless they wait for the DVD?) It is being screened this week in DC with Hahn and Schneider, and then the two split up - Schneider stays for screenings on the east coast while Hahn goes west. The film opens a week from this Friday in 4 cities - NY, LA, SF and Chicago. Amazingly, there is a special screening in Burbank with Don Hahn next for members only of... Disney Movie Rewards. (What the...?) http://www.wakingsleepingbeautytix.com/ I personally think this should be toured around the country for special event screenings - especially Orlando - to get the Disney and movie fans a chance to see this. Maybe make it a traveling D23 event (which I've been advocating anyway, after all the events seem to be in two cities all the time). At some point, maybe we'll see this film on TV (ABC Family? IFC? Documentary Channel?) like The Pixar Story documentary did a couple of years back. Who knows?
Anyway, I gave the film both of my thumbs way way up, and I'll throw in my toes as well for the Hahn/Schneider interaction. DISers would absolutely love this film, and many non-Disney people would as well.
P.S. - Schneider mentioned Jim Stewart's book Disney Wars before the start of the film, and I asked him about it afterwards. I'm currently in the middle of the book (as some on the DIS Book Club have seen), and I'll "synergize" my book review with Schneider's thoughts after I complete it and review it on the Book Club thread.
I really want to see it. Guess I will have to wait for the DVD.
