Disney has put names to dates for its 2016 animated features, filling the “Untitled Disney Animation” release slots with Zootopia (coming March 4) and Moana (November 23).
Zootopia is being directed by Byron Howard (Tangled) and written by Jared Bush, and stars a fast-talking fox on the lam, having been set up to take the fall for a crime he didn’t commit. When he teams up with the self-righteous rabbit cop chasing him down, the unlikely pair uncover a much bigger conspiracy.
Moana is being helmed by directing duo Ron Clements and John Musker (The Little Mermaid, The Princess and the Frog). Set in the South Pacific, the adventure follows the titular seafarer as she searches for a fabled island. Along the way she allies with the demi-god Maui, faces off with enormous sea creatures, traverses breathtaking underworlds and tangles with ancient folklore.
Please God… Don’t let Moana be CG… Please… It looks good in the image above. So much potential!
Actually, it’ll most likely be in a new style they’re developing- a far superior version of Cel Shading. Disney’s short Paperman was the first to play around with a hybrid style, but it’s already come a long way since then. To give an example, I think the Zootopia art above may be a variation of that style. I have high hopes for Moana, hopefully the new style will be a great as they promised.
I don’t like the Paperman style for full CGI movies at all. Gets tiring and loses detail.
Yeah, well Paperman was just a basic prototype. Disney’s had a while to develop it, so odds are it’s a lot better not. Also, their new style seems to use a different sort of technology than Paperman. I dunno how it works, but I heard they have it so you can paint over two rendered frames up to 100 frames apart, and the computer will paint in the remaining frames in the same style. It sounds a bit too good to be true, as far as technology goes, but that makes me all the more curious to see if they pull it off.
Regardless, paper man is still using CGI effects to make it look 2D. I think this is waste of time, when they can much more easily enhance regular 2D animation and make the same effect. I don’t know why Disney gutted its whole traditional animation dept, to replace with some CGI technique that looks similar, but is not real hand drawn animation. Why did they lay off their best master 2D animators?
I agree with that last bit. Disney’s 2D animation was AMAZING, and their 3d work never quite reached that level of emotional expressiveness. Still, I’m guessing they’re be using the new technology to do things they couldn’t achieve with 2D, such as animated paintings and stuff. Though now that I think about it, even that’s not impossible:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5ih1IRIRxI
It wouldn’t be entirely appropriate for kids, but I’d LOVE to see Disney make an animated film adaptation of the Lackadaisy webcomic.
I really hope this is not CG. I have been boycotting Disney until they start producing traditional animation again. I am still disgusted they laid off their best master animators, who worked on films like the Loin King, Aladdin, etc.
I do not like the look or technique of Paperman, as is not the same thing as real frame by frame animation, they are just trying to make CG look like a regular traditional cartoon, which will never look the same, CG frame-rate is much higher, than traditional animation, and looks much different.
Hand drawn (traditional) animation has been made on computers since the 1980’s, The Little Mermaid was the first one to fully use computers. It is not true when they say a CG is so much cheaper to make. In fact, nowadays the cost to make a hand drawn animation is actually less than most high budget CG films.
Wonder what part of Polynesia – Disney will form its’ “Cultural art” from? First it was Hawaiian and now the latest official synopsis says it is in the South Pacific area of Oceania. Hmmmm………that leaves either Samoan, Tongan, Tahitian, Cook Island or Aotearoa Maori options’ available. My money is on _____.