The brand was also being displayed in other media with positive results. From its use in Stranger Things and The Big Bang Theory to its influence on the Pixar film Onward to tribute parodies in Gravity Falls and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Even celebrities publicly expressed their love with Joe Manganiello regularly hosting sessions that included Vince Vaughn, Game of Thrones showrunner DB Weiss, Rage Against The Machine’s Tom Morello, and “The Big Show” Paul Wight. The game was garnering its biggest mainstream appeal since the 1980’s.

It would only be natural for Wizards of the Coast, the current owners, to try adapting it into other mediums. But while it had managed to establish a line of video games, novels, and comic books, its actual presence in film and television had been limited. This was largely because, at its heart, Dungeons & Dragons could be about anything. While supplemental content had been developed, there essentially wasn’t any one true story to encompass the whole of the franchise. Thus making a Dungeons & Dragons program would be complicated and challenging.

As such, there had only a few adaptations made. So few, in fact, that a couple were actually translations of gaming sessions and would branch out to become their own franchises. The high fantasy nature generally used for the brand would make animation ideal to be used in the adaptations. But as challenging as it would be just to develop a Dungeons & Dragons program for the screen, it would be just as challenging to execute. Attempting to convey the spirit and mechanics of the game would prove to be rather tricky.

Dungeons & Dragons really started to surge in popularity in the early 1980’s. Alongside an impressive television commercial containing both live-action and animation, original publishers TSR, Inc. looked to further capitalize on the increased interest. This would result in them partnering with Marvel Productions in developing a Saturday morning cartoon for CBS that was simply titled Dungeons & Dragons. The show would tell a seemingly never-ending quest of six teens looking for a way home after being mysteriously transported to The Realm.

While the show used aspects of the game, such as the teens having specific class roles, it didn’t necessarily follow the core mechanics entirely. Yet it did capture the spirit of the game in that the teens were challenged to think their way through situations rather than charging into battle. This was noted with their magical items being defensive in nature, exemplified by Sheila having the Cloak of Invisibility or Eric using the Griffon Shield that projected a protective force field. It wasn’t so much winning battles as it was surviving encounters.

Marvel Productions had a working relationship with the renowned Japanese studio Toei Animation. As such, the animation would be of a high quality compared to most other Saturday morning cartoon shows. This allowed for experimentation with darker graphical designs one might expect from its title. From the presence of a cursed skeleton warrior to the varying magical attacks from the evil five-headed dragon goddess Tiamat, there was always something dangerous and exciting that made the show visually unique and impressive.

The Dungeons & Dragons animated series was a big hit in its own right, having led its time slot for the majority of its run before declining ratings resulted in its cancellation without a proper finale made. Rights issues would hamper a lasting legacy some and a few within the Dungeons & Dragons community would look down on the premise when applied against the game’s darker aspects. The show would nevertheless be fondly regarded in representing the brand positively and for pushing the envelope for a Saturday morning cartoon.

Dan’s Review: I’m of the generation that grew up on the animated series. It was what I thought of most when it came to the brand and the show itself was an enjoyable romp to watch. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve been more mesmerized by the talent that worked on the show, such as pre-Optimus Prime Peter Cullen voicing the villain Venger and show writers that included Batman: The Animated Series greats Paul Dini and Michael Reaves. The animated series was a wonderful trip down memory lane that was worth revisiting from time to time.

In Japan in 1986, Ryo Mizuno and his Group SNE serialized their gaming sessions as Dungeons & Dragons “replays” in the magazine Comptiq. Mizuno would go further by publishing the stories of human fighter Parn and his adventuring party into a successful series of novels called Record of Lodoss War. It’s popularity would see eventual animation adaptations, first with a 13-episode original video animation (or OVA) from Madhouse Studios in 1990 followed by AIC adapting the Chronicles of the Heroic Knight story arc as a television series in 1998.

Lodoss War would retain much of the mechanics and rules from Dungeons & Dragons even as the series evolved through its numerous adaptations. A key part of this would be the utilization of the classes to shape character personalities. Being a fighter, Parn would often be impulsive as he was brave. Etoh, on the other hand, would be cautious and thoughtful being a priest. Encounters would also create a sense of challenge, forcing them to determine if they were strong enough to contend with a dragon, much less an ancient dragon.

The series had been looked upon as pioneering the presentation of high fantasy for Japanese audiences. Madhouse Studios would take it further with how high fantasy would be visualized in anime as the original OVA series had often been regarded as an elite title within the genre. Mixing the look of medieval culture with their tried-and-true approach in animating stylish action sequences, the OVA series was a majestic beauty to behold with rich details that had allowed for it to hold up and age stupendously in the years since its release.

While the anime scene had managed to expand to unprecedented regularity and recognition, Record of Lodoss War would quietly remain a seminal favorite over the years. It would set the standard upon which every other high fantasy anime would be measured to and continued to evolve, such as recently releasing the video game Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth. The Dungeons & Dragons influence would be such that Group SNE would create their own game, Sword World RPG, upon which they would continue to craft similar high fantasy adventures through.

Dan’s Review: A great deal of my visualization for high fantasy would end up coming largely from Record of Lodoss War. I was enchanted from the first moment I saw the OVA, albeit catching it at its climax. It nevertheless interested me enough to check it out as much as I could and really liked what it presented. Deedlit would embody what elves were like for me to such a degree that I felt true elves needed to have as long and pointy of ears like her. It would remain one of my favored anime titles, certainly among those in the high fantasy genre.

After numerous attempts that dated as far back as the 1980’s, a Dungeons & Dragons feature film was finally released in 2000. Directed by Courtney Solomon, the film told of a ragtag group of assorted folk coming together to retrieve a scepter that controlled red dragons before a power-hungry mage could use it to oppose the land’s Empress and her gold dragons. The difficulties of getting the film made were unfortunately displayed throughout the film, showing just how challenging it was for the first-time director to handle.

Solomon’s attempts to bring to life the essence of the game was heavily hampered by the complications faced since securing the rights to make the film as a producer in 1990. The end result saw a relative lack of utilization of the mechanics. Character classes were not properly defined or showcased and what little of the unique spells that were displayed were modified that they were not entirely accurate. Coupled with a generic screenplay and there was hardly anything that made viewers believe they were being immersed in Dungeons & Dragons.

The film managed to be made a very small budget in comparison to similar films of the genre. This would certainly have an affect on the presentation of the visual effects. Despite attempts to cut corners and still be able to produce quality content, there was no denying that they looked cheap in the final cut. From small shots like fire burning upon a watery surface to the climatic battle between armies of dragons, the animation came off appearing no better than kind of low quality efforts regularly seen on cable television movies.

The Dungeons & Dragons feature film was a commercial and critical failure. It did very little in generating any interest in the brand and would be immediately swept under the rug. Surprisingly, it nevertheless managed to spawn two direct-to-video sequels in Wrath of the Dragon God and The Book of Vile Darkness. Both films managed to be a somewhat closer in showcasing a bit of the game mechanics than the theatrical film. But in the end, the films were widely disliked and many within the community wanted to forget they ever existed.

Dan’s Review: I had hoped that Jeremy Irons playing the villain Profion would have been enough to give the film a pass when I first saw it. But despite Irons going hilariously over-the-top and with brief, but no less nice appearances from Tom Baker and Richard O’Brien, the film was just bad. And time had made it worse, looking at the poorly aged animation and cringing with embarrassment. I’ve seen some of Wrath of the Dragon God, but it’s hardly any better. I’m concerned about watching it again, fearful that I won’t laugh as much as I would cry instead.

As a result of the commercial failure of the feature film, Wizards of the Coast would scale back on further attempts at adapting the game for the screen. At the same time, DVD was emerging as a viable media viewing platform. The interactive options the format offered was intriguing enough to try out a smaller feature in 2003 with Scourge of Worlds, a choose-your-own-adventure that allowed audiences to determine how the story of a trio of heroes trying to prevent an unspeakable evil from being unleashed would play out from start to finish.

Scourge of Worlds would be the earliest feature to utilize pre-existing content. It would take place in Greyhawk, a campaign setting that was initially designed by Gary Gygax, and featured established characters in human fighter Regdar, halfling rogue Lidda, and elven wizard Mialee. The choose-your-own-adventure approach would give viewers a sample of how one could play the game, though it didn’t show off the full mechanics. Furthermore, it was still relatively linear whereas the game would allowed for thinking outside the box.

The animation for Scourge of Worlds had not aged all that well. Even at the time, it was hardly of any quality better than what was already being used on television. The characters were stiff as rocks, regardless of the occasional wild facial expressions. Despite the use of motion capture, movements lacked fluidity. And the designs were about as good as they were going to get with the financial and software limitations director Dan Krech and his studio faced. It might have seemed interesting at the time, but the animation would come off as basic nowadays.

The potentiality of what could have been done for the Dungeons & Dragons brand with choose-your-own-adventure animated DVD features like Scourge of Worlds might have sounded good on paper. It was the execution that would cause it to be lost in the abyss of time as it would be forgotten in the years following its release. A real lack of genuine interest coupled with animation that just wasn’t up to snuff to properly flourish. It ended up being nothing any one would go out of their way to check out, all things considered.

Dan’s Review: Curiosity got the best of me and I decided to give this one a look. It wasn’t quite as terrible as I feared, but it wasn’t any better than merely decent at best. It’s super obvious how old this felt compared to the animated fares that would emerge in the years that followed, with its sluggish movements to the lack of refinement in the details. And I never got a feel that this represented the brand all that well, rather coming off as a standard direct-to-video animation title that just happened to have the Dungeons & Dragons name associated.

Before Record of Lodoss War in Japan, a publication of gaming sessions was first done in 1984 with the beloved Dragonlance series. Initially conceived to support the Dragons of Despair gaming module, the first novel Dragons of Autumn Twilight would enchant fans with its story of an adventuring party reuniting in time to be swept up in the opening stages of a great war. There was a great desire to see the Dragonlance stories adapted and that wish would be fulfilled by Paramount Pictures with a direct-to-video animated feature released in 2008.

Unfortunately, someone made the decision to try to adapt the entirety of the over 400-page narrative into a 90-minute feature. As a result, the richly detailed story was heavily condensed in favor of moving from scene to scene as quickly as possible. This would give little to no time for proper character development to be displayed and hardly any of the game’s mechanics to be showcased outside of the briefest of moments to explore the human wizard Raistlin and the consequences he would physically bare in his pursuit of power.

In addition to the narrative being woefully truncated, what really disappointed fans was the animation. Being a direct-to-video feature was hardly an ideal format to begin with. But it just seemed as though there was never any genuine desire to really bring to life such a beloved world in a satisfying manner. The animation came off as a poor attempt at replicating the art style from a previous comic book adaptation combined with some computer generated imagery that failed to impress. A shockingly huge visual downgrade compared to what fans were imagining.

Much like the Dungeons & Dragons feature film before it, the direct-to-video animated adaptation of Dragons of Autumn Twilight was a major letdown to fans and to Wizards of the Coast. The feature hardly made any traction in piquing interest, with lack of any sort of marketing making sure of that. The film just came and went in the wind. Those who actually did manage to take a look were not impressed with what they saw, be it the bad animation or a presentation that lacked the proper context that made it such a beloved title in the first place.

Dan’s Review: I had thoroughly enjoyed the Dragons of Autumn Twilight novel long before the animated feature was made. Given that it was direct-to-video, I kept my expectations low. The voice acting at least tried to make the film work, with Kiefer Sutherland in particular being an excellent choice to voice Raistlin. But in the end, it still managed to be a disappointment. I’m actually surprised Paramount decided against what would have been an obvious cash-grab and tried to make sequels regardless of the negative reception.

Dungeons & Dragons would experience a renaissance in the 2010’s thanks to the advent of broadcast streaming. At the forefront would be Critical Role, the gaming sessions of well-known animation voice actors that became a surprise global phenomenon. Following one of the most successful Kickstarter campaigns to date, a much desired animated adaptation of mercenaries whose need for coin would lead them into becoming the unexpected heroes in the land would come to fruition with The Legend of Vox Machina being released in 2022.

A major part of what made Critical Role so popular was the ability of the players to adapt and work off the results of their rolls, turning the mechanics of the game into the foundations upon which to develop compelling story moments. The Legend of Vox Machina carefully enhanced these for even greater dramatic affect, showcasing the excitement of what would happen from a single action. As such, importance would be carefully given to how things worked under the game’s rules and the alluring narrative benefits they could provide.

Thanks to the Kickstarter campaign’s overwhelming success, the animation quality was assured to be at its best and then some. A joyful mix of Japanese animation with the graphic appeal of some of modern western titles created a visual look that was stunning to behold. The added benefit of how descriptive the players were with their role playing allowed for the animators at Titmouse, Inc. to go the extra mile in details that made for displaying some of the most beautiful and majestic scenes ever seen even in the high fantasy genre.

The Legend of Vox Machina further elevated what was already a very successful production of Dungeons & Dragons. From utilizing the game mechanics to create rich storytelling moments to the top-notch animation visualizing the heart-stopping action, it was everything a fan could hope for and more. Recently, it was announced that the second Critical Role campaign The Mighty Nein would be adapted alongside more seasons of Vox Machina, giving audiences more unique characters and stories originally crafted from playing a game of Dungeons & Dragons.

Dan’s Review: I’m pretty sure everyone would know by now what a Critter (or Critical Role fan) I had become over the years. It would be the catalyst for my actually playing Dungeons & Dragons. That I would like The Legend of Vox Machina would be a given. What delighted me was that it managed to be quite an excellent series in its own right. I was enchanted from the first frame onward savored every second that was produced. This would be the fanboy in me saying this, but the show would be the finest representation of the brand to date.

As could be seen, adapting Dungeons & Dragons for film and television was not something that could be done with any relative ease. That the game could be played to be about anything meant that any one looking to develop a program based on the brand would have to conceive of virtually everything from the narrative to how the mechanics would be utilized. And how to present the uniqueness of those mechanics would be just as challenging to showcase, often conflicting with creating a competent narrative and thereby causing both to suffer in quality.

Even the use of animation, a medium in which anything could be possible, would have mixed results. When they worked, they could be quite majestic to view. The really good ones could also end up setting the standard for the look of the high fantasy genre. When they didn’t work, they would age poorly and run the risk of setting things back a step or two. Often it would come down to understanding how animation can be used to visualize just about anything that could be imagined in playing Dungeons & Dragons and for it to not be taken for granted.

Perhaps because there were not that many adaptations, each one were special regardless of their varying quality. The unsuccessful titles seemed to be able to fail in an intriguing manner to elicit curiosity. Those that succeeded helped elevate the brand and provide a positive representation of the game. The next time a Dungeons & Dragons adaption would be released, such as the upcoming Honor Among Thieves, it would be interesting to see, for good or bad, what unique narrative could be conceived from the imagination and how animation could bring it to life.

In Honor of Michael Reaves

This retrospective was in the middle of being written when Michael Reaves passed away at the age of 72. Reaves became the primary writer of the Dungeons & Dragons animated series from the second season onward. He also wrote what would have been the finale to the story and the foundation for a new adventure had a fourth season proceeded before the series was canceled. Reaves would post the script online to great fan interest and it would lead BCI Eclipse to produce it as an audio drama for their DVD release of the series.

Our new series of Roundtable Flashbacks aims to revisit the past and mark the 20 and 25 year anniversaries of animated films you may have missed the first time around — or simply haven’t seen in a while!

First up, AV’s Ben, Dacey, Dan, James and Rand literally “launch” this series in style, gathering virtually for Don Bluth and Gary Goldman’s surprise sci-fi outing — and still currently their final film — the epic Fox Animation space adventure Titan A.E., this year turning an incredible twenty years old!

Ben: So, Titan A.E.! We all watched it. What did we think? Should we start with a little bit of history?

Dacey: Probably, yeah.

Ben: Well, I went to Fox back in 1997 or 98, and they were only just working on this thing, and back then it was called Planet Ice. I’m not even sure Don Bluth was on it; they had all of this artwork up, and this was under Art Vitello, I believe, and this was going to be their big thing, Planet Ice. Of course then it gets confusing because Planet Ice was also the working title for James Cameron’s Titanic, so someone at Fox really liked that title! But then I didn’t hear anything about it again until I was on location on a different show, and we were in the middle of nowhere in the north of England, and the only thing we could do every night was either go to the Chinese restaurant or to the movie theater. And on one of the nights we saw that the new Don Bluth film was playing, so we went to see it, and I was kind of blown away the first time I saw it. In prep for this, I found an article from one of the animation magazines at the time that was saying how this was the first digital film that was beamed to the theater over ADSL lines. They had this premiere in Atlanta, and then another one in London, or somewhere in Europe — it may have been Annecy — and they beamed it over the internet and showed it digitally. It never touched film. So it’s really annoying now that, for a digital film like that, it’s crazy we can’t get it on Blu-ray, and it’s not even on Disney+!

Dan: Yeah. I mean they just put the most recent Fantastic Four movie on Disney+, so I’m assuming they’re getting there — slowly!

Ben: But I thought the DVD — we ran it down here in our theater — really held up well. It didn’t look blurry or anything, it was a really good, solid transfer, I thought, for standard def DVD.

Dan: Yeah, I’m seeing that right now. I have it running on my TV in front of me at the moment, and it’s at the scene where Cale is about to escape the Drej. And, yeah, for standard definition, it still looks pretty good, all things considered.

Ben: Absolutely. I wonder how Don Bluth feels about his big Fox features now being owned by Disney. You know, he gets away from that studio, and he makes these big films, and then, “Oh, the Mouse still wins!”

Dan: I did see in a picture that he was there at Disney not too long ago, maybe a couple of years ago, so I guess things are slowly beginning to heal maybe?

Ben: I understand that every three or four years they try and invite him back, and he keeps saying no. And now I wonder how they feel, or if they’re even positive about owning Anastasia, because it’s kind of odd that — given the audience love for that film — they’ve got all the other family Fox titles like Fantastic Four, Home Alone, Ice Age… and Anastasia is still not on Disney+, even though it’s the most “Disney” of the Fox films. And who knows what that means for Titan A.E.! But going back to the DVD quick, I will say, and I don’t know what kind of sound systems you guys have, but I thought the DTS track on this was awesome!

Rand: It’s pretty good, yeah. You know, before Blu-ray, I was using Titan A.E. as my demo disc when people would come over, because it puts out quite a bit of base and sounds really good.

Ben: Yeah. Did you just say Blu-ray!?

Rand: Before I had Blu-ray…

Ben: Oh, before you had Blu-ray! Okay. I was about to seriously get on your back for not telling us you had a Titan A.E. Blu-ray. (laughter)

Dan: (laughing) Yeah, really!

Ben: Yeah, Dan and I, we’re going up to Canada and get his Blu-ray off him!

Rand: (laughing)

Dacey: I’m not sure if it’s a 4K transfer, but it is available on YouTube as a rental.

Ben: Oh, yeah, it would look awesome in 4K.

Rand: I tried watching it on Netflix just to see what the HD would look like, but it’s off of Netflix now.

Ben: I was gonna ask if anybody has seen it in HD? It must have been shown on one of the networks in HD somewhere? But you know what was odd, which I have never noticed before, but on a bigger screen, it’s a film transfer. It’s not even a digitial transfer. It’s off film.

Dan: Like something I noticed almost immediately, as soon as the movie started, was like, “hmmmm, this ain’t digital”.

Ben: Yeah, I there’s a little spec on the Fox logo. And you’re kind of like, “Okay, wasn’t expecting that”.

Dan: At first I was trying to figure it out, like maybe I was misremembering correctly and they did some sort of weird filter effect for the logo when it first played? But, then I realised, no, it’s film.

Ben: You know, one thing I did notice was how rock steady it was, even though it was a print and not a digital file, but it was rock steady. Such a good transfer. If it is film, then they could maybe go back to that negative and do a pretty good 4K transfer. And it’s a shame because, just before Disney came along, Fox had a really good 4K program going. They’re bringing out, you know, Die Hard and Predator and all these films in really nice updates, and it would’ve been really nice if they had gotten to Titan A.E. Maybe as number 1,946 on that list!

Dan: Yeah, that’s real low, I would imagine.

James: There’s Fox titles on Disney Movie Club this month, so maybe it will get a Movie Club Exclusive?

Ben: We can hope. Maybe if all five of us wrote to them…

James: They have Ferdinand this month, so maybe someday.

Dan: They’re probably doing Blue Sky first before touching any other animation under their Fox catalog. Maybe we should let them know Blue Sky DID have some work on Titan A.E.!

Ben: Well, one shot. It’s quite a good shot, though! So, as for the rest of Titan — this film, for me, I call it “Non Bluth”.

Dacey: Yeah. “Non Bluth”…

Ben: It’s totally not his usual kind of thing. And from what I understand — I had a quick squiz through some of the commentary — and from what I understand, obviously it was someone else’s film back when it was Planet Ice, and then I think he kinda got forced to do it. It was either take this, or Fox Animation closes. So I think he was kind of forced to take it on.

Dacey: I think on the commentary he says he was brought on very late, considering when the movie came to theaters. He mentions he and Gary Goldman were brought on right after they finished production on the direct-to-video movie Bartok The Magnificent, so that was either ’98 or early 1999. Titan comes out June 2000, and Fox was committed to that date, so they did all of the animation over a crazy course of 13 months, or 18 months, which is absolutely nuts for a movie of this scale, especially in hand-drawn animation, which is so much more time-consuming than CGI.

Dan: Well, they did throw them a small bone, in that they expanded the production time to 19 months.

Ben: Yeah, you’re coming on late. You can have another three or four months! Actually, that timing rings true, because we were there, I’m trying to remember, the February of ’98 when I was there, and they weren’t on it yet. That was still when it was Planet Ice.

Dacey: Had Anastasia come out yet? I think it had.

Dan: Anastasia was out by the end of ’97.

Ben: Yeah, Anastasia was just out when we were out there. They were very proud of that, like ‘check out our big new film’, so we saw a screening of that. Obviously, Bluth had done Space Ace, but that was still kind of a cartoon — well, it was a video game — but it was still more of a cartoon style. But what I really like about this is it’s got that kind of Johnny Quest thing going for it, especially in the opening. It’s just like the dad could almost be out of Johnny Quest or something like that, you know? Just that whole feeling of the opening when earth is being evacuated. When Cale comes on, does anybody else think of Cody?

Dacey: Yes!

Dan: Yeah!

Ben: As we ran it and he came on, and I’d forgotten the beginning, I’m thinking, “it’s Cody!”

Dacey: On the commentary, Don Bluth says something like he hates how “cartoony” the boy looks compared to the other human characters in the movie, but again, the production was so rushed on this that they didn’t have time to make that change to Bluth’s satisfaction.

Ben: But you can still see the Bluth look; I mean, they always have that same jawline, and around the eyes as well. The lines around the eyes. So you still see that kind of Bluth design. Anybody else not find the grown-up Cale very sympathetic?

Dan: I think, because of the short run time being at 90 minutes, you don’t get to fully become sympathetic to his plight between when he’s separated from his dad to when he comes to the present. It’s just quick-bang and it’s already into his case, so you don’t really get a better feel for his character development leading up to that. The only certain sense you get of Cale regaining his sense of childhood is when he and Akima are stranded in New Bangkok. It’s funny, because that scene is coming up right now on my screen!

Ben: You must be near the 52-minute mark. Did you catch the Death Star? You have to watch for the Death Star around that point. It’s part of the scenery there. I was kind of really interested in the way Matt Damon was playing it, when you first see Cale as an adult. He’s obviously not a natural animation actor, because he seems to be kind of projecting “seriousness” through his voice. He’s like (deepens voice to imitate Matt Damon) ‘If I do this really low, I’ll get really into it’. It just sounds like he’s really trying to “act” through his voice. I mean, especially in the first few scenes, he’s kind of a bit too serious. You know, get over yourself, Cale. Just lighten up a bit!

Dan: Well, by that point, he was turning into a hot commodity. You know, just years after The Rainmaker and Good Will Hunting, and obviously Saving Private Ryan. So this opportunity to use someone who is just emerging comes into play, and this is his first foray into animation, so it’s like them trying to get him to say ‘you don’t have to project yourself this way’, you can do it this way, and have him go through multiple takes. I’m sure it was new to him even though he’s been in the business for a while, so just trying to get him to do this, I would imagine, is why it’s not so seamless between his acting from the beginning to towards the end. It kind of comes out that way.

Dacey: Well I think one thing that might be contributing to what you guys are saying — and I’m not saying I agree with that, because I don’t exactly — but something contributing to this is that so much of the animation, of Cale in particular, was very much done from live-action reference. Again, because of the insane production time, they did live-action reference for everything on this film, which is odd for animation today I think. One of the featurettes on the DVD gets into that. It’s almost rotoscoping, but not quite that, I think?

Dan: Oh there’s definitively rotoscoping.

Dacey: I don’t think they get quite the same facial animation out of some of the characters that they normally would because of that, at least on Cale, again, because of the rushed production time. So it’s slightly stiff — I don’t want to use that word, but it’s the word I’m using right now for some of it at least — especially when he’s a bit more of an edgy character, before he softens up during the second half of the film.

James: I found it distracting how much he looked like Matt Damon. Really, every time I looked at him, there’s Matt Damon’s face again, like someone just traced over a photo of him and added a perpetual smirk rather than bothering to animate any other emotions most of the time. I guess they did it because they didn’t have that much time to design a new character, so “let’s just make him look like the guy talking”, but I didn’t like it.

Ben: I thought he looked like John Smith.

Dan (laughing): I agree with you there! But yeah, to me it just seemed that because of the rushed production time, I could sense that they had no choice but to do rotoscoping on a lot of scenes. And it seemed very apparent to me on a great deal of them, because how rushed, given what little time thay had, in order to get this out in 19 months.

Ben: But that is also a Don Bluth trait. For Anastasia, there were reels and reels of live-action footage, and basically on that show they wore costumes which were black and white costumes so that the black lines would show through the paper and they could literally just rotoscope them. I think it’s a shame because it really shows, especially when you compare it to the Disney stuff at the time, which used live-action reference, whereas Bluth was doing straight line rotoscoping over the live-action footage. And it really shows, especially on Bill Pullman’s character as well, there’s a lot going on there with rotoscoping with him.
And then the weirdest thing, and I couldn’t work out how else they would do this, but the weird tattoo thing that Cale has on his arm? That doesn’t really sit on his arm properly? It’s a floaty kind of thing. Why wouldn’t you just draw that, or have it be something more simple? All the way through, and I was thinking this even when I saw it 20 years ago, I kind of thought that was going to come into play, that he was going to have to use that tattoo in some way, that it was going to be like some magic mark, you know? The whole film, you’re like, ‘why do you have this such awfully done tattoo on your arm that doesn’t really mean anything?’ What did you guys think of the tattoo?

Dacey: I’m gonna say that was probably marketing, because Fox was experimenting in trying to make an animated movie very much directly aimed at teenagers who grew up in the ’90s who had made all of those Disney movies into massive hits, and now here’s this movie aimed at pleasing them now that they’re older. I’m going to guess things like the tattoo were placed on Cale’s arm simply for the sake of so-called appeal to that demographic.

Dan: That would definitely explain the music!

Ben: Well, you’re raising a really good point there, and I wonder if the tattoo was added really late? I wonder if they ever drew that, you know, knowing there was going to be a tattoo there, because it’s so weirdly placed on his arm all the way through.

Dan: I wouldn’t put it past them, especially given that towards the end of production, it was very apparent to me, from what I’ve read up, that 20th Century Fox just threw in the towel on the film a year into production. So by that point they’d laid off two thirds of the studio’s staff, and they’d outsourced the scenes to other people. So I imagine they outsourced this tattoo to another studio out there.

Dacey: Well originally it was all going to be computer animated as a fully CGI film. And then I don’t think they had the capability to do that with human characters. This was before The Incredibles, of course. Back then the only prominent human characters in a computer animated movie had been Andy and Sid in Toy Story. So I don’t think the studio was confident in being able to do human characters for a feature film, which is why I think — I could be wrong about this — the movie switched to traditional animation when Don Bluth was brought on board. I’m going to guess that’s when that happened. But back when it was called Planet Ice it was going to be an all computer animated film. For I know, they might’ve been wanting to go with something like Final Fantasy did the following summer with more “realistic” humans, and that film didn’t fare well either financially. I will add, though, that Titan A.E. is certainly a much better film than the Final Fantasy movie, but that’s another conversation for another time!

Ben: I thought Final Fantasy was brilliant — for one shot! And it’s not the one you think! It’s where — what’s the girl’s name? Aki Ross? — there’s one shot, literally, it’s a shot behind her, and she steps through a door. And that blew my mind. It’s just one simple shot, but it’s so good, where she just walks through this door. Very well done. And that was the best thing in that whole movie!

Dan: It’s kind of interesting because Titan A.E., that had to go through an over abundance of rotoscoping because of the production time, and then we’re bringing up Final Fantasy which was, at the time, trying to develop and push what would eventually become motion-capture. It seemed like if they had maybe just continued to tinker and fine tune it a little more, and spend a couple of more years to do it, then maybe they would’ve had something on their hands, because eventually the video games took motion-capture to the next level. But at the time a lot of people were just put off by the extreme uncanny valley when you’re watching that film. And here we have Titan A.E. trying to combine traditional animation and CG animation together, and the rushed production time forces them to have to do rotoscoping on these characters against what would otherwise be very spectacular CG sequences.

Ben: You know the weird thing is Final Fantasy still looks better than any of the ImageMovers mo-cap films. (laughter) I mean, literally, at least they got the eyes. They did quite a good job on the eyes. But the biggest problem with Final Fantasy is — and it’s just one word — story.

Dan: Yeah. I have no idea who came up with the idea to hire those writers, and just cut the video game studio out completely.

Ben: Well that, and the biggest thing was the length and story, and nothing happened in both!

Dacey: With Titan, though, we’ve been talking about the rotoscoping, we’ve been talking about the animation, and we’ve been talking about how it occasionally makes the characters look a little “off” from time to time, at least as far as the facial animation is concerned, and maybe some other aspects. But I don’t get that with Akima. I think Akima’s face is softer than Cale’s, which I think helps, to a certain extent, with her character animation, and I think it allows her to act in a more sympathetic manner a lot of the time, compared to Cale. I just feel they were able to do much more with her face, and with Drew Barrymore’s voice, than they were with Cale, in certain aspects anyway.

Ben: I think with that character, in terms of the script, she’s quite thinly-sketched. She obviously comes into it more as it goes on, but when you first meet her, you don’t really know where she’s coming from and all of that. But I was looking at it, and obviously Drew Barrymore is as adorable as she ever is in anything anyway, so she brings that nice softness to the vocals, definitely. The other thing with Akima is that she’s obviously got some Asian heritage, and so I also think you’re probably responding to the fact that she doesn’t look like Anastasia, or she doesn’t look like Thumbelina, do you know what I mean? Because the guys in it look like Don Bluth characters or, as I say, John Smiths, or something very kind of generic. Whereas Akima has actually got something pretty interesting going on in her design. I mean she’s one of the unique ones in there, with the purple hair, she’s totally different looking. And I wonder if anybody else was up for the voice, you know, like Ming Na or someone like that, someone with that kind of heritage. I don’t know if anybody knows about that, or whether it was always Drew Barrymore, but I would kind of put it down to that, Dacey, and I wonder if you’re reacting to that she doesn’t look like a generic Don Bluth character maybe.

Dan: Yeah I would agree with that assessment from my end. She definitely looks very different from the fact that they gave her Asian features. I also noticed that maybe because of that they held back on using the rotoscoping as much on her compared to the other characters? I think the only time they may have used rotoscoping for her was during an early sequence when Pullman’s character was trying to bring Cale on board The Venture, and the Drej were coming to the mining site, and there was this running sequence that didn’t look as smooth.

Ben: Is that the shot with the moving camera?

Dan: Yeah. That was one of those things where, every now and then, whenever they did the pan inside The Valkyrie and they tried to get the traditionally drawn characters to move as well, it just didn’t sync up quite right. At least that’s how I saw it.

Ben: I’d go with that and, also, she’s got Princess Leia’s line as well. “Should I get out and push?” It’s not verbatim, but I couldn’t believe they ripped that off so blatantly!

Dacey: I’m not sure if it comes from a direction standpoint, or the character animation, or what; it just seems they are able to do more with her than the other human characters in the movie. For instance, towards the beginning where Akima is operating on Cale, he’s literally hovering naked right next to her, and at one point she actually puts her elbow down on him — again, he is naked there — and she’s leaning down on him bored, like “I can’t believe we went through all of that and nearly got ourselves killed just to save the window washer”. I mean that’s a great bit of animation that’s also a great character moment for her. I feel like they don’t give Cale as much in that regard, and even later on, at the risk of sounding pervy, when she’s briefly naked when Cale catches her in the shower, she has this very — again, I’m using the word “soft” when that may or may not be the right word — she just has this very pleasant blush on her that makes her seem very human, and very warm, in contrast to Cale, where it might be his design features that keep him from fully accomplishing that level of animation, at least until the end of the movie. Of course it’s also worth noting that Cale is supposed to be going through this character arc where he goes from “hard edged” to full-on soldier for the human cause.

Ben: Yeah. Good point.

James: Can we talk about Drew Barrymore’s performance? It sounded like she was phoning it in almost the entire movie. I mean, she didn’t feel too much like she was experiencing the same emotions as the rest of the cast. They seemed like they’re actually at the studio, with the director coaching them on what they want from their character, but Barrymore literally sounds like she’s at home on her couch reading these lines without any context. It was just like, almost lieterally, she had a really good phone connection, but she’s just sitting at home doing it. I love Drew in just about everything else she does, but this was one of the worst animated voice performances I’ve seen.

Dan: Yeah, I did get that sense too, especially when we’re also matching her up against other voice acting going that’s actually really good. I mean Nathan Lane, I thought, was the big standout, because it was totally unlike Nathan Lane when you hear him voicing Preed. Just hearing him and how his performance is, it’s very unique, and very intense at times too. And I actually liked Janeane Garofalo also, as Stith, because, again, you do hear traces of her in there, but at the same time she’s actually trying to not sound like herself and to develop a different type of voice for this character. Whereas with Drew Barrymore, it’s Drew Barrymore.

Dacey: You hire Drew Barrymore to be Drew Barrymore, though, just as you hire Matt Damon to be Matt Damon. You want her to sound like Drew Barrymore, who was this big star — and Matt Damon, who was on the road to becoming a star — but you don’t hire them for them to throw their voices. Compare that to today, when you hire a big name with a distinctive voice, like Benedict Cumberbatch to play The Grinch, and then he puts on this almost unrecognizable accent. So I feel with Drew Barrymore, you hire her to be “her”, just as you hire Matt Damon to be Matt Damon.

Rand: But that’s the thing, though, when you hire character actors, who know how to use their voice, it’s a whole different thing than hiring a movie star who’s largely known for their manner and their looks, like Drew and Matt, where someone like Nathan Lane has a great, distinctive voice and knows how to use it.

Ben: You know what I like about Nathan Lane in this, though, is that he pulls it back. You could’ve had like Marty Short in Treasure Planet, or he could go and just do Timon again, but he brings it back, and I totally forgot, until he came into it, that Nathan Lane was even in the movie! So that sort of tells you that he’s not overbearing, and I love that he was sarcastic in his way, but he acted — and that’s the thing — he just acted it well, because he’s Nathan Lane!

Dan: Yeah, it was quite a surprise for me, back when the film first came out, I’d kind of heard rumblings that Nathan was in the movie, and I was waiting to hear from him but it didn’t happen, and then the end credits happen, where they had the list of who voiced who, and I was like “That was Nathan Lane!?” That’s how good he was.

Dacey: I think the people who didn’t like him were the ones who were expecting Nathan Lane to be funny. They want him to be like he was in The Lion King. He’s still funny, but he’s a much, much darker character than he normally plays.

Ben: He was not Max Bialystock! (laughter) So what do we think of Gune and John Leguizamo, who’s obviously going for a Peter Lorre impression almost, and he reminded of the guy — who’s the one in Atlantis…?

Dacey: Mole. Played by Corey Burton.

Ben: See, here’s the thing, to me, this is like an unofficial trilogy we have with Atlantis, and Treasure Planet, and Titan A.E. It’s like it forms this unofficial sci-fi-slash-quest trilogy, which all have a very similar kind of design. Obviously Treasure Planet is as elaborate as any Disney movie, but they almost have this kind of — correct me if I’m wrong — Alex Toth, that kind of look?

Rand: I don’t know if I particularly saw a Toth influence, because Atlantis was largely designed by Mike Mignola, the comic artist behind Hellboy. But Titan A.E. I thought was a great-looking film. Very good animation, and the CGI elements blended pretty well.

Ben: But they have that kind of 60s Johnny Quest-type, almost comic book animation of the 60s, which is interesting when you say about how you thought the CGI and the traditional were blended well, because that was something that actually really stood out for me on this viewing. I noticed that a lot of the CGI was done on twos to try and help it blend more, but then that just made the CGI look a bit more staccato to me. It’s weird because you have these 60s action cartoon designs, with quite a layered look on the CGI, in a film that ultimately feels really 80s…? It’s quite a mish-mash of not only different styles and designs, but just the feel it it, the tone of it.

Rand: Well I thought that the drawn animation and the CGI was probably better brought together better in Titan A.E. than it was in some of DreamWorks Animation’s “tradigital” films. Something like Sinbad where you see a much starker contrast between the hand drawn and the CGI. I thought Titan A.E. did that really nicely.

Dan: That was very apparent in Sinbad when you had the sequence when they were being chased by the giant snowbird. That clearly looked like traditional characters against CG that didn’t necessarily blend well together.

Rand: Yeah, there it was like the beast flew in from a whole other movie or something!

Ben: But did you not notice the staccato thing on the CGI though? Especially at the beginning where Cale is in the spacesuit and he’s walking? And the boots are kind of going ‘da, da, da, da, da’ like this, you know, it’s quite… I don’t know, maybe because I’m looking at it again so closely, I found it really looked obvious to me.

Dan: Possibly. I don’t think I was able to catch that.

Rand: I think where I saw the biggest disconnect was when Cale was in his space suit, and you see the space suit flying up and down, and his head was kind of bouncing up and down separately. That didn’t blend as well.

Ben: We also mentioned earlier the rock music. How do we feel about that now?

Dan: Boy does that age the film! It ages it so badly.

Ben: Yeah, I remember at the time it was quite cool, it was quite, “Well, this is different”, you know. But now it feels like — well, obviously it was — just there to pull in the kids at the time.

Dan: Yeah, even though Fox had thrown in the towel on the film, it was like “Well, we gotta make some kind of money off this. So let’s throw in Lit on the soundtrack, let’s throw in Powerman 5000! I’m sure this will bring people in!”

Rand: But I think that’s one other thing that makes the film feel like an older film, because it makes it reminds you so much of how Heavy Metal uses a rock soundtrack as well.

Dacey: I have no problem with movies feeling like products of their time. I know Bluth was worried about the soundtrack potentially dating the movie, but for me it’s like not an issue at all. Yes, the songs might sound like they came from the year 2000, but they’re also largely good, and they work for the film’s different tone. Titan A.E. is also trying to sound like a product of the future, and all sci-fi films almost by default, because of what has come before — Flash Gordon, some of the Star Trek films, even Star Wars itself — usually have an 80s influence. I probably said what I was trying to say in a far more complicated matter than I intended!

Ben: No, I gotcha! I have no problem with a film feeling dated as to when it was made. I think we’re just making the observation that it doesn’t feel as timeless as say — well, Aladdin has some stuff that dates it, and Beauty And The Beast — but they’re still very timeless films. Whereas when you watch this, it’s not that dating it is a bad thing, but you can literally tell when it was made, like in this case the late 90s or early 2000s.

James: I actually enjoyed a lot of the songs, though I had an issue with how they were used in the context of the film, like the first time we see Cale after being forced off his home planet, the song tells us he’s a “cosmic castaway”. And then being chased by the bad guys? The lyrics being sung as he runs say “I gotta get outta here”. Right after they finally create a new Earth? “If you’re looking for a new Earth just open up your eyes”. They were almost always a little too on the nose!

Dan: The other thing that kind of distracted me about the music was they were trying to jam as much of the soundtrack songs as they could in there, leaving very little room for Graeme Revell’s music score. There’s only like five or ten minutes’ worth of his music score in there in comparison.

Ben: But he makes that score work! I found the ending really exciting, I really got pulled back into it. You’ve obviously got the space battle going on, but it wasn’t just a space battle: you’ve got everything in the Titan going on, and the chase, and trying to get the power couplings to work. I thought it was excellent; it was really well cut, it’s well staged and really nicely boarded out, but that’s all down to him and his score, along with Christopher Boyes’ sound design, which is just really fantastic. You know, how they pulled that together in post right near the end of production, and did that kind of soundtrack. Absolutely awesome.

Dacey: I’m sure you’re talking in particular about things like the ice crystal sequence in terms of the sound?

Dan: Oh yeah, definitely. Particularly in the chase, before they actually find the Titan, where there’s that great use of sound in order to enhance the whole cat and mouse notion of the sequence going on.

Ben: Building up the tension.

Dacey: Right, and there really wasn’t much stuff like that in animated movies of the time. That to me feels very much like something out of a live-action movie. Something like that is atypical for animated films.

Ben: Yeah, absolutely. Totally, agree. So what do we think of The Drej?

Dan: Well, after a while, I was thinking, I don’t recall my initial feelings about them when the film first came out, but looking at them with retrospective eyes, unfortunately, I’m looking at it and thinking…”ehh, fairly generic.”

Ben: I like how they’re not really explained, though, and we don’t have a backstory where we see “The Drej have to leave their home world”, and get a whole backstory and all that. You know, it’s quite cool that they’re just these big blue bad guys, you know. And I like the look of them.

Dacey: They’re “okay to kill” then that way. For this kind of movie, Fox was probably wanting a being of pure evil that parents wouldn’t get too uncomfortable with seeing being killed. I think that’s one reason they’re aliens who don’t bleed when they get shot, they just kind of vaporize. I think it was also important to Fox — and maybe Bluth as well — to have an alien creature they could kill as much as they wanted without it becoming overly violent.

Rand: I thought they had quite a neat appearance. I think it was pretty unique compared to anything else you would see, certainly in live-action. These are creatures who could only exist in animation, or special effects, so I thought that was nicely done.

James: I thought the way the Drej technology “passed through” things was very cool and distinctive visually. But more importantly it was extremely clever from a story point of view, and gave the animators a lot of ways to show us something new and different, and allowed the writers to come up with situations where we as viewers didn’t know what to expect next.

Ben: They have a very cool look, and I also like how, in the commentary, they say how they went to great lengths to get this sort of male/female kind of voice that had this split timbre to it — and then Fox went and changed it to this alien language and dropped in subtitles, but I love the fact that it is an alien language with subtitles in an animated film of this kind. I just think that’s brilliant. That’s a brilliant move.

Dacey: Yeah, Don Bluth, for whatever reason, was not happy about the subtitles being there, I don’t know why. Multiple times on the commentary he laments The Drej having subtitles. So that’s just something that, for whatever reason, peeved him.

Ben: But, I think it really works, because it kind of adds another layer to this film that it’s not a cartoon. You know, it’s actually got some parts of the movie where you have to read the screen! You know, “if you want to know what’s going on, read this sentence!”

Dacey: Then Atlantis comes out the following year and it uses a ton of subtitles!

Dan: To the point where there’s a bonus feature on the DVD which is a breakdown of the language so you can understand even better what it’s about!

Ben: Another thing I caught, just at the end of the commentary, was about Planet Bob, where they say they had such little time to render that last shot where it pulls back, and you can really see — again if you want to talk about dating a film — the ridges on the mountain that they’re standing on.

Dan: It’s like when they do the pan out, that’s a very clear indication of traditional characters standing on this fully CGI mountain.

Ben: Well, they’re CGI characters too, in that shot, and they look really good because that really blends well, but the weird thing is they’ve got these really good CGI versions of 2D characters on this really bad CGI mountain!

Rand: That was probably the worst shot in the film, and unfortunately it’s right at the end which leaves you with a bad impression.

Ben: Yeah, unfortunately that’s the big payoff shot.

Dan: What a way to end the movie. “This is the new planet earth, badly rendered!”

Ben: And that’s the bad thing, because everybody walks out of the theater noticing that last shot! But I was going to say, when they call it “Planet Bob” at the end, I thought, “You know what, maybe that would’ve been a better title”. Go from Planet Ice to Planet Bob, because I think that’s one of the things that killed it in the marketing. “What the heck is a Titan A.E.?”, you know, and all the time they just had to keep explaining “Oh, it’s After Earth, After Earth”. And funnily enough the website, if you go to After-Earth-dot-com now, it points you to that awful Will Smith movie.

Dacey: Yeah, that terrible, TERRIBLE M. Night Shyamalan movie!

Ben: Exactly, and you know, “could you honestly dump on this film anymore?”, because first Fox gives up on it, it doesn’t do well, and then they let the website go to that other movie! This is not going to help it!

Dacey: I was recently re-watching Roger Ebert’s review with Richard Roeper from the time, and they both loved this film. But what’s ironic is that Richard Roeper expresses strong concerns about the title because he thinks that “with this title, people aren’t going to go”. Roger Ebert is a bit more optimistic, because he’s like, “well it sounds different enough that people might be interested”, but it’s interesting that we’re talking about that now because ultimately the movie does bomb horribly.

Ben: Do you think that “Planet Bob” would’ve been better?

(Laughter from all)

Dacey: Well, they could’ve simply called it “After Earth” before there was actually a movie called After Earth, but maybe it was the family audience they were worried about. Maybe parents wouldn’t take their kids to a movie with that kind of title.

Rand: I think Planet Bob could’ve actually worked, but they would’ve had to market it entirely differently. One reason it bombed was because it looked so grown-up. It didn’t look like a kids film. Which is the reason I love it, but it didn’t really get that family market.

Ben: I think that’s a shame, because it made it, if anything, skew much more to the sci-fi audience who loves the likes of films with titles such as THX-1138, and Titan A.E.; it’s all got that kind of feel to it. I’m sure that had something to do with it not doing well: you know, if you can’t sell a film on its title — or you have to explain your title — then you’re in trouble before you even get the poster out. I’m sure that had something to do with families not going, because they’ve, of course, got this fairly serious sci-fi film with this serious sci-fi title, and then they try to market it on Nickelodeon to fourteen year olds. I mean I was 26/7/8 when I saw it, and I was bang on the perfect audience for it. I was just sitting there with my pal on this shoot, and we were awed by this film at the time. But we were that audience. For a wider audience, Titan A.E. is not the best title.

Dacey: We should also note, for the youngsters reading this, that at the time a PG rating was extremely rare for an animated film.

Dan: I think also, what was Titan A.E. up against at the time during that summer? Because, if I recall, the only other animation competition would’ve been The Emperor’s New Groove, but that didn’t come out until December. Whereas films that came out over the summer, the only ones that really pop into mind are Gladiator and X-Men.

Dacey: I’m going to stop you there, because I can tell you right now what killed Titan A.E., and it was the movie that came out the following week: Chicken Run. Chicken Run opened one week after Titan A.E., and it killed it. It was a huge hit, whereas Titan A.E. was not.

Dan: There you go. But at the same time, though, when Titan did open, in its first weekend it opened at #5, so that was a bit concerning. Even before Chicken Run killed it dead on week two, it only opened at #5, so that was already pretty bad, and so I think that the timing of it was one of the things that ultimately hurt this film a lot. Because it’s coming out at a time when a lot of better mature films in live-action were starting to kick in, like X-Men.

Dacey: X-Men comes out a few weeks after, and I know that because they had a trading card promotion for Titan A.E., at least at my theater: if you went to Titan A.E. on opening weekend, you got free trading cards for the upcoming X-Men movie.

Dan: Wow. Who remembers that? Trading cards! I’m sure the younger readers who read this up are going to go “What’s that?”

Ben: “Trading cards? That’s like a baby’s toy!” (laughter) But I love the poster quote on the DVD that they were pushing heavily that says “This is the movie Star Wars fans have been waiting for!” And it’s kind of like…

Dan: Trying to poke fun at The Phantom Menace?

Ben: Well, I think there’s a bit of that going on, but it’s also really setting yourself up for a fall. You know, you’ve got these fans, they’re either into Star Wars and animation, or they’re into Star Wars OR animation. And you know this is trying to straddle between the two worlds. I mean I don’t know how it played with hardcore Star Wars fans, but for them to make that kind of claim, you know, I don’t know how it actually played, because I’m into both.

Dacey: On the Star Wars note, I’m going to say that the only character in this movie who looks like he came from that universe is Nathan Lane’s Preed. He looks like something straight out of The Phantom Menace especially, which had come out only one year prior, in his design, and his characterization and everything. Otherwise I think Titan A.E. is much more anime-influenced if we want to use anything that’s comparable to it, or an 80s influence. I believe Don Bluth says multiple times on the commentary, or it might’ve been an interview with Gary Goldman I read, where they said they made an effort to make it as little like Star Wars as possible — and ironically they try to market it AS Star Wars.

Dan: Another indication that Fox gave up on this.

Rand: What’s interesting is that in the commentary Bluth actually notes that he didn’t know science-fiction very well at all, so he had no idea what he was riffing on or what looked too derivative. So as I’m watching the film, as much as I enjoy it, I kept thinking “Well, there’s Star Trek II! There’s Battlestar Galactica!” But Bluth didn’t even know. He didn’t realize that he was doing that, or that that’s what the movie was doing.

Dan: That’s probably another case of scenes being taken away from his studio and being given to someone else, and they’re like “Oh! Let’s throw these in!” And Bluth wouldn’t have understood that.

Ben: No, exactly.

Rand: And as far as the film being successful or not successful at the time, it’s hard to remember now looking back twenty years ago, but this film was so unique. You know there was really not much of anything out there that looked anything like this, as far as a hardcore sci-fi animated film. The closest at the time that you could think of was The Black Cauldron.

Ben: Oh no, wait, there’s one closer than that, Randall… Same year as Black Cauldron, I think. Anybody? Anybody?

Everyone else: Uhhh…

Ben: I always think that Bill Pullman’s character, Wild Joe Korso, feels like he’s been pulled completely out of this film. (pauses to give everyone a bit more time to guess) Nobody remembers…Starchaser??

Rand: Oh, yeah!

Dacey: I’ve never watched that.

Rand: You’re absolutely right: who remembers Starchaser?

Ben: The Legend Of Orin! This is how much I remember it. Ready? (starts thumping out and singing the theme music!)

Dacey: I’ll need to check that out.

Ben: Starchaser I think is — I did a review for AV years ago, my review is on the site somewhere — and that really is an animated Star Wars. It really is literally the same story as Star Wars done in this slightly Filmation style, but really quite good. And it was released in 3D back in the day, and it was quite a big deal at the time. If you’re such a big fan of Titan A.E. as I know you are, then you should absolutely check out Starchaser. It’s like the mid-80s version of what Titan A.E. was. It’s a pretty good little film, and it’s got a fantastically fun score.

Dacey: Similar movies aside, how do we think Titan A.E. compares to Don Bluth’s other movies?

Ben: Like I said at the start, this is kind of like “Non Bluth”. It really is obviously, totally different. I think there are a lot of similiarities, oddly enough, to Anastasia, which I always felt was also very different to his previous films. You’ve basically got three tiers of Don Bluth, you know, where you’ve got the really high quality stuff of NIMH, maybe The Land Before Time, and An American Tail. Then everything goes kaput for ten years, where he’s really making almost direct-to-video type stuff, and pale imitations of other films, and then he suddenly gets this Fox deal, and Anastasia is much more Disney than anything else he did, really, which is what they were buying, but with a different edge to it, quite a serious, kind of acerbic edge, and I think that carries over into Titan as well. So for me he’s a filmmaker with three distinctly different creative time periods.

Dacey: I think following up on that, I get what you’re saying, because if you re-watch Anastasia, many people may be surprised by how “grown-up” it feels in a lot of ways. There are romantic comedy aspects in there, which weren’t in Disney movies at the time, there’s much more intense — well I’m not going to say “much” more intense because Disney had just done The Hunchback Of Notre Dame — but there are some much more intense “horror” elements.

Ben: Well, don’t forget Disney hanged their villain in Tarzan.

Dacey: Oh yes. Okay, there’s no way Tarzan would get a G rating today!

Dan: No, it wouldn’t. It’s funny, though, with Anastasia: last year the tour of the stage musical came to town and we got to see it. While I haven’t watched the animated film more recently to better compare, I remember thinking just watching the stage musical, it was very interesting how much of the animated film they were able to translate for the stage, how it seemingly easier it was for them to do that because of the themes and how mature it was compared to what we would be used to in animation back in the 90s.
Granted, they completely threw out the supernatural elements, and decided to go with the original live-action Anastasia for the most part. It’s very interesting coming back to Anastasia and subsequently Titan A.E. that, technically speaking given he hasn’t really done anything of note since, this is kind of Bluth’s last hurrah in the field, so he goes out with a real big punch of mature and not necessarily kids-type movies that you would not have expected. Not just necessarily just in comparison to other films, but not necessarily from him either.

Ben: Absolutely, definitely. I think Anastasia would work well on stage: I haven’t seen it but we’re supposed to get it in London — well, we were supposed to get it in London this year but I think that’s on hold now for some reason! But I think Anastasia would work well on the stage because essentially it is a live-action movie but they’ve just rendered it in animation. Whenever I watch Anastasia, the animated film, it’s very staged — I don’t mean stage in a physical “stagey” way, but the way it’s staged or blocked out is very live-action. It does go back to that thing where they shot it all live and then rotoscoped it, and you get that feel. And because it is human characters — apart from Bartok — I think that’s why it would work really well on the stage. I actually can’t wait to see it: I’ve heard the soundtrack, the Broadway recording, and I can imagine that working really well.

Dacey: I think it’s interesting that when we try to talk about these movies as Bluth movies, he was essentially a director-for-hire on both Anastasia and Titan A.E. — you know, with that weird Bartok movie sandwiched between them — but I’m trying to come up with aspects of these movies that feel distinctively like Don Bluth. In Anastasia, everything with Rasputin feels like pure Don Bluth in terms of its weirdness, in its grotesque nature, and its sort of screwball, almost operatic level of comedy. In Titan A.E. it’s much harder for me to find aspects like that, outside of one moment — which actually feels kind of nasty — where they shoot that cook character, and he just explodes! Like that feels like something out of Don Bluth’s demented state of mind coming on screen full force. But aside from that, there aren’t many moments in Titan A.E. that come across to me as distinctly Bluth in nature, compared to NIMH or All Dogs Go To Heaven.

Rand: The only times where I really felt like I was watching a Don Bluth film was in the minor business, like where a character on the side of the screen would pick up something and fumble with it, or something like that. It was the smaller bits that seem more Bluth to me than the bigger action stuff.

Ben: But definitely Gune is one of those kinds of characters. In fact, every now and then whenever I see the film, I kind of wish Gune wasn’t in it, because he’s just this weird character that doesn’t belong in this otherwise serious sci-fi film. You know, everybody loves him because he’s the funny cartoon, and he’s the comedy character with a couple of funny lines, but at the same time what is he bringing to this film other than a slight hint of 20,000 Leagues-era Peter Lorre to it?

Rand: Well, basically, that’s the Don Bluth character that inserts itself into the film.

Ben: Yeah, exactly.

Dan: I will say that for whatever reason at the time of the film’s release, the bat-like alien creatures on the planet that’s mostly water and hydrogen trees came off as rather Bluth to me. At the very least, they echoed how the pterodactyls were designed in The Land Before Time. And then you look over here, and they’re trying to infuse that with turning their wings into these long coats. So to me that had a Bluth type of appearance to it.

Dacey: There’s a great touch that’s not made very explicit in the movie, at the beginning before earth is destroyed and everyone is being evacuated, where Cale’s father gives him to this alien character, who I can’t name right now, but he’s this alien who’s going to raise Cale from here on. And later on when we meet him, again this is never explicitly stated, I don’t think, but that character has gone blind. I think that’s such a great little touch that they don’t make a huge deal about, outside of one little line where Cale says “Wait until you see these guys” and he responds with “Fat chance of that happening”, or words to that extent. It’s great that the audience is able to work with this detail on their own. How did he become blind? Maybe the earth’s explosion blinded his vision when it happened, I don’t know. Little touches like that are something I very much like in these sorts of movies, and the sort of choice I believe Bluth made here.

James: I mentioned before that I hadn’t really seen many Bluth films.

Ben: So you’ve got an interesting perspective, then, because you can come to it fresh without all that baggage.

James: Well it’s not very Bluthy you said anyway…?

Dacey: Which Bluth films have you seen?

James: Oh, gosh. Let’s see… I haven’t seen Anastasia.

(Ben mocks an outraged scream)

Dacey (laughing): Okay, we gotta work on that! That’s nuts!

(Ben storms off in mock outrage)

Dan (also laughing): Ben’s gone, Ben’s gone!

Dacey: I will mail James a copy if I have to.

Ben: I’m going to go and get it. Try to squeeze it down this microphone!

Dacey: Have you seen any of his other films other than Titan A.E.?

James: Well, let’s see…

Ben: You have seen NIMH, right?

James (pause): No.

(Ben mock storms out again!)

Dacey: (laughing)

Dan (laughing): Ben is going to the store; he’s buying those Blu-rays, and going to send them to you!

James: Maybe I should pull up a list.

Ben: Hang on, hang on! Because this is getting really, really bad when he tells us he hasn’t seen NIMH — but he HAS seen Rock-A-Doodle! (laughter from all) He’s going to tell us that he’s seen Rock-A-Doodle…and A Troll In Central Park. (laughter continues) By the way, over here in Europe — talk about a bad title — we got that film as…drum roll…Stanley’s Magic Garden!

Dacey (bursts out laughing): Maybe a more accurate title. I don’t know.

James: Looking at this list, I’ve seen American Tail. I think that’s it!

Dacey: You haven’t seen The Land Before Time?

James: None of them.

Dan: Oh, man.

Ben: Well only the first one counts, but you’re missing a chunk there.

Dacey: I’ve watched all of them, every single one of them. I have watched every Bluth movie, but I have not played Dragon’s Lair.

Dan: Yeah, I’ve managed to miss out on that period after All Dogs Go To Heaven. Pretty much haven’t seen the films between All Dogs and Anastasia.

Ben: I’m going to say that I’ve seen all of them. I don’t own all of them, but I’ve seen all of them. Not all in the theater: sometimes I just waited for them to turn up on TV, though I only saw Pebble And The Penguin when it hit DVD about ten years ago, because that one passed us by over here.

Dan: That was barely in theaters over here!

Ben: But Rock-A-Doodle? I went to see that, and I’ve got a weird soft spot for Rock-A-Doodle and yet it’s such a mess of a film. But there is some weird thing that keeps pulling me back to that one, I don’t know what it is.

Dacey: I think there’s just some sort of Bluth element to that film that feels like Don Bluth got completely wasted and then made an animated movie. The Christopher Plummer character is just a pure Don Bluth villain both in terms of design and his personality. Even though the story doesn’t make a lick of sense.

Ben: I would be really interested to know — because he was at Disney when they were doing that in the 60s — what was maybe lifted from the Chanticleer film they were working on at the time. But I remember, when it came out, that I was intrigued Bluth was basically doing the Chanticleer story, and then of course Rock-A-Doodle waivers a lot from the story, but at the same time, it kind of still is that story. I’ve always been interested in how much of the 60s film was in there, which obviously Disney kind of parlayed into Robin Hood at the time, and became the whole design concept behind Robin Hood‘s animal cast. But All Dogs is the film where I thought that was the start of the slide for Don Bluth.

Dan: It was odd. It was so odd. Especially when you look at his previous films, you’re sitting there thinking “Where is this going?”

Ben: But you know again why the Fox movies work is because he didn’t have total control. And he didn’t have total control — well, I guess he kind of did on NIMH, but that’s based on a strong book — and An American Tail, that was Spielberg and his team pushing that through, and the same with The Land Before Time. But then he gets control at Sullivan-Bluth and — have you guys seen Banjo The Woodpile Cat? That is a really charming little film, but ultimately derivative of other stuff; Aristocats especially, and a bit of One Hundred And One Dalmatians in there.

Dacey: Okay, that’s one Bluth film I haven’t seen then! I have seen The Small One, of course.

Ben: Awwwww, Small One! Every Christmas we run a double bill of Small One and Muppet Christmas Carol, and I blubber and blubber through Small One. Twice, in the Friendly Face song, and the end when he waves goodbye to Joseph as he leads Small One away, that’s the water works flowing everywhere! I don’t mind admitting it: it gets me every single time. And Pete’s Dragon, of course, which I adore for what it is. But with Banjo, the thing you realize is when he’s got total control, he’s not really a great storyteller. When there’s a collaborator, like with Fox and with the Amblin films, or NIMH where he’s got a good book, he does a pretty good job, and he’s obviously a strong director, but he’s not great at stories. And the films where he went off on his own — the whole Sullivan-Bluth Studios period — you know, I think James can feel vindicated in his way that he has not seen those films.

Dan: When I was living in Pensylvania, Bluth and Goldman held a two day seminar over the weekend near one of the cities I lived in — I believe it was the year after Titan A.E. — and I went to it. A lot of the time a bunch of us asked random questions, and they were more than happy to answer, and I asked about John Pomeroy, because originally it was a three-man team of Bluth, Goldman and Pomeroy. Then Pomeroy decided he would go back to Disney — oddly enough, he would be the supervising animator of John Smith — but I asked about what happened with John, and Goldman was the one who answered, presumably because he was the more diplomatic of the two. According to him, as he explained it, John felt that he wasn’t getting a sense of satisfaction in that it didn’t seem his work was getting as widely seen or as widely appreciated as he had been hoping after the original split, which is why he ended up going back to Disney. But with what you just said, I think that just adds to the whole thing — probably sprinkling a bit more on it — as to why Pomeroy left. Even though he was the lead character animator on all of Bluth’s films, he was like, “I’m just kind of drawing the same thing here”, and he wanted to do something different and figured Disney would give him a better shot at that.

Ben: And I think that a weak spot of Bluth’s films is how he did used to like to design all the characters. But then every character ends up looking the same, basically. They have those kind of eyes, and the same kind of mouths, and it’s a shame really he didn’t delegate more. He had talented people working for him.

Dan: Like what you said earlier — particularly with the male characters — you could see Don Bluth characterizations on those characters, and I feel like that’s been something applied to nearly all of his human characters throughout his career. Each one had the same facial design. I could almost see Dirk the Daring in Cale!

Dacey: I’m going to throw Vladimir from Anastasia out there, because he looks different. The Kelsey Grammer character.

Ben: Oh, yeah, yeah. Although, who does he remind me of? He’s the same as…someone in Rock-A-Doodle, but I can’t say who.

Dacey: Were there even humans in Rock-A-Doodle?

Ben: Well not necessarily human, but just the geometry of the eyes and the shape… Okay, the toad. One of the toads in Thumbelina, and I know that sounds weird, but when you look at the mouths and the lips, you can see Vladimir definitely. He’s got that same kind of shape if not exactly the same design. There’s definitely a Bluthism when you see his designs.

Dan (showing off a packet with several Bluth sketches on it): This is from the packet we got at the seminar, and you can see that a lot of these are pretty much right on the button. He’s trying to explain like this is a characterization for mean, and this is a characterization for courageous, but you can kind of get a sense that a lot of the designs for the design of the characters are reused or at least elements are retained throughout as they progress.

Ben: But that’s the problem when you have the same guy doing every design. You don’t get that, for want of a better word, diversity. And that’s the thing, because he doesn’t delegate in that way. You know, all the eyes look the same, all the mouths look the same. Even the way some of them move, you know. The dad at the beginning of Titan — just to bring it back to that film that we might remember! — when he’s explaining to Cale that, “I gotta go away, and you gotta go with this guy”, just the movement is very much like the dad in The Small One. You know, he’s got that same angular way, and everybody slightly overacts because they have to impart all this important stuff. There’s definitely the Bluth style in there not just in how they look, but how they act as well, the way he directs them to do the movement.

Dacey: So did Don Bluth design every major character in every one of his films?

Ben: Pretty much. From what I understand, he designs all the characters, and I think he storyboards a lot if not most of the film as well.

Dacey: So it’s not like a Disney film where, like on something like The Hunchback Of Notre Dame, they would give Quasimodo to one animator, Esmeralda to another animator, Frollo to someone else, etc.

Ben: No, not like that. He designs everything from the ground up. Which, in some ways, gives him a genuine validity to being described as an animation auteur. That’s a very rare thing in animation, since it’s such a collaborative medium, but one can always certainly tell immediately when it’s a Don Bluth production. They’re not always successful films, creatively or commercially, but Bluth is always protective of his process and maybe believes that he has this massive legacy that is perhaps a bit more golden than it is. Then again, making just one film is an incredible achievement, let alone a bunch of them, and especially to the extremes he’s worked both as an independent — which, when he left Disney, was a brave time, a crazy time, to venture out on your own — and then as part of a studio system for Spielberg and Fox, with all the multiple approvals that have to be agreed by everyone. Given those pressures, it’s a minor miracle Titan A.E. turned out as well as it did, unfortunately falling prey to a studio that gave up on the film and that whole style of animation, really, during production. But then the whole business was going the same way — we touched on it earlier, but Final Fantasy was exactly a year away and proved that the same kind of film couldn’t do any better just because it was CGI. Titan, I don’t think, deserved to share that same kind of fate, and whatever we’ve brought up in this discussion, I think we’d all agree that, along with Atlantis and Treasure Planet, it shares a uniqueness for being what one would expect to be a live-action concept, but told through that short-lived but wonderfully lush “tradigital” medium. If there’s one thing missing in the films we have today, it’s a freshness and difference between each one. And Titan A.E. is certainly worth celebrating for that difference!

Coming Soon: Our next Flashback isn’t just any old poultry offering: it was the surprise animated hit of its year!

His notable credits include writing the screenplay to the Jim Henson feature Labyrinth, although it has since become known that the final film contained little of what he originally wrote. He also wrote, directed, and starred in a live-action adaption of The Wind in the Willows but, while the film was well received, it suffered from a lack of distribution support and was not widely seen. There was also one interesting tidbit that many probably aren’t aware of: did you know he created an animated series called Blazing Dragons?

Blazing Dragons was produced by the Canadian-based Nelvana studio and the French-based Ellipse Animation. Jones created the premise to be a spoof of the King Arthur legend, spinning it to where anthropomorphic dragons were the protagonists and humans the antagonists. The show ran for two seasons from September 9, 1996 to February 16, 1998 on Teletoon in Canada and also on the former Carlton Television (now ITV London) in the United Kingdom, having a brief run in the United States on Toon Disney in the early 2000s.

Now, it should be noted that Jones admitted he had little involvement with the show. In a 2004 interview with IGN, Jones remarked, “Oh bugger me! Oh dear… I’ve never really watched that. Blazing Dragons was… I came up with the idea during a drunken lunch, I think…” He would further elaborate, “I was never able to develop the idea because I was too involved doing something else.” He was presumably busy making The Wind in the Willows, which was released around the same time as when Blazing Dragons premiered.

“He was very friendly,” series director Lawrence Jacobs said about Jones from when they spoke briefly over the series’ development. “He had a different idea for design style that would have been a problem for production (money and time) and he graciously backed off and wished us all good luck and that was it! All cherry oh and have some fun!”

The actual developing of the show was undertaken by Gavin Scott, who was a friend of Jones’ after working on The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles episode Barcelona, May 1917 that Scott wrote and Jones directed. According to scriptwriter and second season story editor Erika Strobel, “Gavin had written a series bible (concept, characters etc.) as well as a pilot script.” So Jones and Scott would be credited as the creators while Jones would also be an executive producer since Nelvana needed his approval to produce the series.

In Blazing Dragons, King Allfire and his Knights of the Square Table defended their kingdom of Camelhot against the tyranny of Count Geoffrey and his minions. At the center of the story was Flicker, a young inventor who aspired to be a knight. To that end, he had become squire to the head knight Sir Loungelot. Only Loungelot proved to be egotistical and a lazy oaf who treated Flicker more of a servant than a squire. What’s more, he would take credit for Flicker’s success, often by being at the right place at the right time.

The idea of working on a show that had been conceived by a member of Monty Python was enticing. “I had just finished directing another series at Nelvana and this series came up that was created by Terry Jones,” recalled Jacobs. “I was asked if I was interested and I guess I thought about it for two seconds!”

For Strobel, being shown the initial concept art by Jacobs was enough to win her over from the beginning. “I fell in love with it instantly and told him (begged him) to be a part of it,” she said. “Then about 6 months later we found out the origins and you can imagine how freaked out I was that Terry Jones (my hero!) had come up with this idea.”

The writers weren’t fond of Scott’s original pilot script, however. Strobel would elaborate that “none of us thought it was funny.” So after seeking Jones’ blessing, Scott was let go and Nelvana set about the writers to develop a better pilot script to produce. Strobel noted that this “was a massive undertaking with several board room meetings and rewrites – every writer adding to it to make it better.”

For the first season, most of the thirteen thirty-minute episodes followed a roughly similar story structure. Camelhot would be occupied with an activity, Geoffrey would attempt a takeover by taking advantage of the situation, then Flicker would save the day, usually by a featured invention. Knowing that the show was created by Terry Jones, the writers would seemingly be inspired to incorporate Pythonesque (an actual Oxford English Dictionary word) humor to make their stories unique.

In an example, the episode Tournament Day saw Queen Griddle set up a tournament with the winner marrying Princess Flame to the latter’s chagrin. Geoffrey would send his minions, disguised as one knight, to cheat with attached mechanisms. Flicker would save the situation utilizing the magic net (or magnet) in revealing the humans to be attacked by an angry mob. The magic net’s main power source was a giant potato that resembled Sir Loungelot but, instead of being insulted, he would admire it, bringing it with him for drinks and even for a bath.

The premise would help in making the visual style and animation stand out from other shows at the time. “I believe I had done some scribbles on paper,” Jacobs said of designing the series, “and handed it to Chuck Gammage to develop further and then Doug Thoms did more character and location development.” The characters were designed so that their personalities would be highlighted, allowing them to stand out from one another. One could tell that Sir Burnevere looked like the elderly, overly educated knight that he was.

Though the show was unique both in premise and in presentation, it did have trouble garnering viewership during the first season, particularly in North America. “I don’t think it got a sale in the US at first and that was the big market to break,” Jacobs explained. “Disney and Warner Brothers owned a lot of the broadcast options back then, when there were only five channels! I believe it did well in the UK, as it did come back for a second season.”

But while Blazing Dragons did receive a second season, it went through some major changes in the interim. “When the possibility of a second season came up I was asked what I’d do to make the show better and I suggested we got to the shorter format,” said Jacobs. This meant the episode length was trimmed down from a thirty-minute format to a fifteen-minute format.

“I also think that some people on the creative team felt the shows were too long and dragged out in the half-hour format,” Strobel noted. While she was promoted to story editor for the second season, she would have preferred continuing with the original format. “You can explore ‘character’ more in a half-hour – whereas eleven minutes forces you to just write back-to-back gags and plot. I’ve always preferred character stories to action stories. The second season was exhausting to write – for this reason.”

The change in format would cause the story structure for each episode to be revised. Most were about just the knights themselves engaged in an activity and then having to get out of a troubling situation they would usually cause themselves. It was perhaps because of this that the number of characters diminished. Some characters, like Princess Flame and even Count Geoffrey, were used less and less as the second season progressed. Other characters, like Sir Galahot and Sir Hotbreath, disappeared completely.

The writing wasn’t the only aspect of the show that underwent changes. “The producers were the ones that made decisions to simplify the character designs to make animation production a bit easier,” Jacobs explained. Among the art changes made included a radical redesign of Count Geoffrey, which was showcased in the first second season episode aptly titled A Killer Makeover. This was an attempt to make him appear more sinister and villainous.

Furthermore, there were additional issues that affected the overall presentation of the second season. “The series line producer for the second season made the mistake of assuming the length of a half episode was much longer than the Channel 4 (UK) specs,” said Jacobs. “We had to scramble and tighten a lot of the episodes to fit into a shorter time slot at the last moment! This created some frenetic pacing in places but that wasn’t really a bad idea in the end!”

However, it wasn’t enough to keep the show going after the second season. With low viewership in North America and the crew having to work themselves into exhaustion to meet the changes between seasons, Blazing Dragons was canceled after the last episode aired.

Even after it had ended, the show seemed to face continued censorship, at least in North America. “Since it was primarily a show for the UK and Europe we didn’t have as much meddling in creative by non-creatives with early childhood training degrees as we did with projects for North America,” said Jacobs. There apparently was a lot of objection to the content presented in Canada. And when Blazing Dragons did air in the United States, episodes were heavily edited to remove subject matters deemed taboo at the time.

One subject that was the most taboo was Sir Blaze and his implied homosexuality. Strobel noted that the writers were mindful of having such a character in a children’s show and were careful with how he was written. “Blaze was written as ‘flamboyant’ and ‘campy’,” she explained. “It was just understood he was ‘gay’ without really saying it. But we wrote it more from the point of view that he had style, he was sensitive, etc. We never ever referenced his gayness with over sexuality towards another character.”

Perhaps the biggest obstacle for the animated series was lack of recognition. One would think that advertising the involvement of a member of Monty Python would have been beneficial in promoting the series. “I recall that there wasn’t a lot and I’m not sure why,” Jacobs noted. “Possibly that Monty Python was perceived as adult entertainment and not mainstream American.”

Another possible contributing factor might have been an accompanying video game. “I do recall that at one point there were some discussions,” Jacobs noted. “But way back then video games were not the huge thing they are today and we were in the middle of production and didn’t have time to become involved.” Strobel added that she hadn’t heard about the video game until after the fact.

The Blazing Dragons video game was developed by Illusions Gaming Company and published by Crystal Dynamics for the Sony Playstation and Sega Saturn. It was scheduled to be released in late 1995 as Dragons of the Square Table, according to a preview listing in GamePro magazine, but was pushed to October 31, 1996 in North America and days later in the United Kingdom to presumably coincide with the show airing.

The video game retained Jones’ credit as creator along with some of the characters and the premise of spoofing the King Arthur legend with dragons as the protagonists and humans as the antagonists. But there wasn’t much else that tied it with the animated series. In fact, it presented a completely different story from the show, utilizing a different visual style, and the characters who crossed over had their personalities altered. What’s more, the game’s advertising made no mention of the show existing save for a small inclusion of the Nelvana logo.

Ironically, Jones seems to have had a little more involvement with the Blazing Dragons video game: he was given sole credit as creator, while Scott was given special thanks, and would voice a few characters in the game, including Sir Burnevere and disgruntled court jester Trivet. Furthermore, Crystal Dynamics promoted his involvement as creator and voice talent on the game’s cover art as well as in advertising.

Speaking of voice talent, there was quite a difference in the cast. The animated series featured known Canadian talent such as Edward Glen, Aron Tager, Steven Sutcliffe, and Stephanie Morgenstern. The video game featured known American talent such as Jim Cummings, Rob Paulsen, Jess Harnell, and Kath Soucie. The video game also featured well-known actor Cheech Marin voicing characters, in particular the gluttonous main villain Sir George, and, like Jones, his involvement was promoted in the advertising.

But while the video game ended up garnering more recognition than the animated series, it really wasn’t by much. The game was a point-and-click graphic adventure akin to LucasArts titles like the Monkey Island series and Maniac Mansion. However, the genre, which was largely supported by a niche audience, was experiencing a downturn by 1996 and was very rarely explored on consoles at the time, being more prevalent on personal computers. As such, the game had just as much trouble gaining an audience.

With little recognition outside of those who had actually seen the series or played the video game, Blazing Dragons would seemingly fade into obscurity within a few years. There was hardly any merchandise associated with the series save for some DVDs of the show released in France and Germany along with at least one known VHS cassette tape in Canada. What’s more, doing anything further with the Blazing Dragons property would require the approval of Jones, who seemed reluctant to renew interest in the series.

Sadly, Jones’ works tended to lack the distribution support needed to be seen more widely. Even his last directorial effort, the 2015 science-fiction comedy Absolutely Anything, suffered the same fate, and this was despite an ensemble cast that included Simon Pegg, Kate Beckinsale, the then-remaining members of Monty Python, and Robin Williams in what would be his last performance. It also happened to be co-written by Gavin Scott, sharing another similarity to Blazing Dragons, and being treated no differently.

And yet Blazing Dragons refuses to totally disappear. Thanks to aspiring animator Natacha Statari, a fan-base has emerged over the past several years to raise awareness in the series. Fan-made content can be seen rather steadily online, drawing the interest of curious viewers and leading them to discover both the show and the video game. With support from members of the cast and crew, in particular Jacobs and Strobel, Statari’s efforts would appear to be paying off, with the show becoming more accessible to watch via availability on YouTube, on Amazon Video for purchase, and as of writing, streamed for free on Tubi.

Though he ultimately had little to do with the show, that Monty Python’s Terry Jones created an animated series was fascinating unto itself. Blazing Dragons offered something unique in spoofing medieval folklore in a way that played against type with dragons as heroes and humans as villains. Complications during the making of the series prevented it from being widely seen, yet it entertained those who did watch and remember it fondly. Perhaps Jones would be pleased to know this creation of his had its fans, and that they continue to blaze to this day.

With special thanks to Lawrence Jacobs for his comments and use of concept art and to Natacha Statari, whose Blazing Dragons Revolution proved an invaluable resource including her interview with the late Erika Strobel.

But while established films were doing well with their sequels, DreamWorks seemed to be having trouble launching fresh new properties. They would strike gold with How to Train Your Dragon, which became a big commercial hit that was universally beloved. But an attempt at building a series around Monsters vs. Aliens was mediocre at best while Megamind just barely managed to be a profitable film. With so much attention placed upon expanding established franchises, there was concern that the studio would not be able to make successful new films.

Rise of the Guardians
Directed by Peter Ramsey
Release Date: November 21, 2012

“We are very busy bringing joy to children. We don’t have time…for children.”

Rise of the Guardians would be the last feature from DreamWorks Animation to be distributed by Paramount Pictures. It would also be the first non-sequel or spin-off feature from the studio on which Guillermo del Toro served as executive producer. Based on the short film The Man in the Moon and The Guardians of Childhood novel series by William Joyce, the story centered primarily on Jack Frost, the spirit of Winter. He would be recruited by the other spirits as a new Guardian to combat the threat against children by the Boogeyman, Pitch Black.

I would imagine Guillermo del Toro had a lot to do with how the film was visualized. The immediate thing to notice was that the film looked darker than most other films from DreamWorks. Often appearing at or near nighttime, there was a lot of interesting lighting and shading effects at work. Combined with the skillful assistance of live-action cinematographer Roger Deakins, it was one of the more amazing looking animated films. Believe it or not, I was most impressed with the city streets. Almost photo-realistic, it made everything look all the more fantastic graphically, especially so during the sequence where the Guardians were helping the Tooth Fairy gather teeth.

The narrative played out in an interesting manner for me. At times while I was watching, it seemed just decent, but there were other times that were engaging and in retrospect had me thinking the movie was a lot better than when I was watching it. Regardless, it was a pretty good film that managed to make its intriguing premise work in the manner it was going for. The ensemble voice cast, headlined by Chris Pine, certainly had fun and made the story feel interesting. At the same time, I was still left with the feeling that it needed something more for it to be considered excellent.

Rise of the Guardians did have a decent reception from critics, who liked the visuals but were not high on the unfocused storytelling. Audiences who did see the film liked it a lot more, in particular adolescents who formed a cult following in the years since its release. But the film did not have a good commercial run. In fact, it was the first DreamWorks Animation feature since Flushed Away to not make a profit. The disappointing box-office result of the film, along with other factors, caused the studio to lay off 350 employees and force a company-wide restructuring.

Rise of the Guardians would gross a worldwide tally of $307 million against a budget of $145 million. DreamWorks reportedly lost $83 million as a result of the film not being as successful as they had hoped. It is available on Blu-ray and DVD.

The Croods
Directed by Kirk DeMicco and Chris Sanders
Release Date: March 22, 2013

“No! Don’t eat it! It’s new!”

The Croods was the first DreamWorks Animation feature to be distributed by Twentieth Century Fox. Initially conceived to be developed in collaboration with Aardman Animation and John Cleese, it told the story of a family of prehistoric cavemen. Though well meaning in wanting to protect his family from danger, patriarch Grug was stern in sticking to the old ways of surviving and fearing anything new. It would be when the whole world began to change that they would be forced to face the unknown with the help of an inventive stranger named Guy.

The animation of The Croods was stunning and rather beautiful at times. It might not have pushed the medium forward or refined the tools any more than DWA’s more accomplished titles did, but it was no less impressive and pretty to look at. Once again, the expertise of Roger Deakins was utilized and it resulted in some wonderful visualizations of prehistoric landscapes. I really liked how the sequence of when Guy met the whole of the family and their reaction to fire looked. Its great use of lighting and shading made for a lovely scene to watch.

I think it would have been very interesting to have seen what the version of the story would have been like in the hands of Aardman and John Cleese (we may yet glimpse a peek in Aardman’s next, Early Man). But what we ended up getting was a charming story that had a great narrative and a lot of heart. It was a movie that was fairly easy to get into and enjoy from start to finish without feeling as though anything seemed out of place. More importantly, the characters were well defined and just a lovely bunch to meet. Voiced by a great ensemble cast, headlined by Nicolas Cage, they were fun to watch and made it easy to want to have further adventures with.

The Croods was a big success for the studio, which was reassuring after the disappointment of Rise of the Guardians. It had a strong commercial run and garnered high critical and audience approval. The film was also nominated for the Best Animated Feature Academy Award. As a result, DreamWorks was able to launch a new franchise off of The Croods. The film would spawn a television series and a sequel currently scheduled for release on November 3, 2017.

The Croods would gross a worldwide tally of $587 million against a budget of $135 million, making it a big box office hit. It is available on Blu-ray and DVD.

Turbo
Directed by David Soren
Release Date: July 17, 2013

“Yeah, I’m crazy! What made you think I was sane?”

Turbo was the first fully original feature from DreamWorks Animation since Megamind. It told the story of a snail named Theo who was inspired to be faster than he was from watching countless tapes of the Indianapolis 500. A freak accident during a street race in Los Angeles would infuse him with the power and speed of a car. The chance luck of meeting a fellow dreamer in human Tito would put the snail, rechristened Turbo, on a path to actually compete in the Indianapolis 500.

Turbo had a lot going against it from the beginning. Trying to create an animated venture about a racing snail was going to be a tough sell, even more so when it came to how it would be visualized in a way that would attract audiences. I didn’t think the film looked bad per se. There were some nice scenes, particularly when it came to the big race at the Indianapolis 500. But there was the feeling that it wasn’t quite as spectacular as it was trying to be. I didn’t find anything that looked awe-inspiring in comparison to any other animated feature out there at the time. It just happened to look pretty good and nothing more.

What handicapped the film was whether or not it could tell a compelling story from its way outside the box premise. I believe credit had to be given to screenwriter Robert Siegel, who I imagine contributed the more dramatic and heartfelt moments. And the film did feature a touching look at the relationship between brothers. The ensemble cast, headlined by Ryan Reynolds in his second straight DreamWorks feature, sounded like they were doing their best to inject the film with fun that would be infectious, which they mostly succeeded at. But like the animation, the film was merely fine and not much else.

Turbo did garner positive reception from critics and audiences, who were impressed with how the film looked and with the voice cast. But while the film managed to win over those who saw it, it did not have particularly commercial legs. Expectations were high for the film, so much so that they had a television series in Turbo FAST already developed. But while there was the continued belief that the film would be profitable, it just didn’t make enough in the end. Turbo FAST eventually launched and had a positive run, but the poor box office performance of the main feature did put a halt on further plans for the development of a franchise.

Turbo would gross a worldwide tally of $283 million against a budget of $127 million. DreamWorks reportedly lost $15 million as a result of the film not being as successful as they hoped. It is available on Blu-ray and DVD.

Mr. Peabody & Sherman
Directed by Rob Minkoff
Release Date: March 7, 2014

“As far as I’m concerned, they get married too young in Ancient Egypt…or perhaps I’m just some old Giza.”

Mr. Peabody & Sherman was the first of three features DreamWorks Animation would release in 2014. It was the first feature to utilize characters from the Classic Media library that the studio had acquired in 2012. Based on the Mr. Peabody & Sherman segments from The Rocky & Bullwinkle Show, it told the story of a genius anthropomorphic dog and his adopted son. The trials and tribulations of parenthood were tested through time traveling misadventures and Sherman’s first day at school.

At first glance, Mr. Peabody & Sherman might not look as stunning as most outings from DreamWorks and Pacific Data Images. But what it was really doing was paying homage to the look of the original show without duplicating it in full. The characters looked familiar, yet different so that I recognized them and their mannerisms while being intrigued at how modern they seemed. I felt this was evident during a trip to the Renaissance and the sequence where Sherman and a girl named Penny fly on Leonardo da Vinci’s machines visually displayed this to great effect. I also liked how much of the world around the lead characters seemed huge since it was being viewed from their perspective.

On the one hand, I admired that the film explored the personal relationship between Peabody and Sherman. It was a nice change to see that there was an honest affection between the two that had rarely been seen before. The overall plot had issues that made enjoying the film a bit of a challenge at times. And I felt the humor and wit did not connect or feel as natural as in the original show. The voice acting was fine, in particular Ty Burrell as Peabody, but nothing spectacular compared to previous DreamWorks films. I smiled a lot throughout, but it was clearly missing something to make it special.

Mr. Peabody & Sherman had a good reception from critics and audiences, finding the film fun if at times dated. But while it was enjoyed by those who saw the film, it was not popular enough to be a commercial success. The film had a disappointing box-office run, which added to the growing financial woes DreamWorks was facing at having to issue another write-down due to another underperforming property. Nevertheless, the studio did create a TV series spin-off through its streaming deal with Netflix, an outlet that seemingly proved more successful for DreamWorks than their feature film releases of the time.

Mr. Peabody & Sherman would gross a worldwide tally of $275 million against a budget of $145 million. Due to the film not performing as the studio as hoped, it contributed to a loss of $57 million for the year. It is available on Blu-ray and DVD and can be streamed on Netflix, as of writing.

How to Train Your Dragon 2
Directed by Dean DeBlois
Release Date: June 13, 2014

“Well, now you know where I get my dramatic flair!”

How to Train Your Dragon 2 was the second feature in the How to Train Your Dragon franchise and the second film released by the studio in 2014. Set five years after the events of the first film, there was peace on Berk between the Vikings and dragons thanks to the efforts of Hiccup and Toothless. But there was a bigger world outside of their island home. Discovering the ruthless warlord Drago Bludvist amassing a dragon army to conquer the known world, Hiccup would find himself tested to his core and being challenged to become a true leader.

As How to Train Your Dragon became of the most beloved franchises to transcend being simply a DreamWorks feature, the studio would develop new animation software and tools to enhance the sequel visually. Coupled with Roger Deakins continuing to provide his cinematography expertise, this resulted in one of the most fantastic looking films ever produced. The backgrounds and landscapes were the most stunning and realistic I had seen in an animated feature; something as simple as the bubbling of water was a sight to behold, so imagine how everything else, in particular the always spectacular depictions of flight and fire, looked!

The storytelling of How to Train Your Dragon 2 might not match the level of excellence the first film had, but it was great enough to come close. It was compelling and dramatic that had little compromise while still offering hearty laughs and an enjoyable wonder throughout. The returning characters (uniquely having “grown older” in the time between films) were fleshed out just enough to play their parts right and the voice cast continued to excel, in particular Jay Baruchel being once again fantastic as Hiccup. John Powell’s score didn’t quite reach the heights of the first film, but they were nonetheless beautiful when they counted. This was the kind of film I wished other DreamWorks films would follow in structure and presentation.

At a time when the studio was in financial dire straits, How to Train Your Dragon 2 was the commercial success DreamWorks desperately needed, thanks in large part to an even greater international showing than the first film. It had high critical and audience reception that matched that of the first film and was nominated for the Best Animated Feature Academy Award. The success of the film would see the franchise release more video games, enhance the television series, and launch a series of comic books and graphic novels. More importantly, DreamWorks would be releasing a third film currently scheduled for May 18, 2018.

How to Train Your Dragon 2 would gross a worldwide tally of $621 million against a budget of $145 million, becoming the highest grossing of the three DreamWorks films released in 2014. It is available on Blu-ray and DVD and can be streamed on Netflix, as of writing.

Penguins of Madagascar
Directed by Eric Darnell and Simon J. Smith
Release Date: November 26, 2014

“Charlize, they’re on the ray! Helen, hunt them down! William, hurt them! Halle, bury them! Hugh! Jack! Man the battle stations! Kevin! Bake on! We’re still going to need that victory cake!”

Penguins of Madagascar was the third of three films released by DreamWorks Animation in 2014. It was the first spin-off feature in the Madagascar franchise and the last film produced in partnership with PDI. The Penguins would head to Fort Knox to celebrate Private’s birthday, stumbling upon a nefarious plot by an octopus name Dave, determined to exact revenge upon all penguins, as well as encountering a rival espionage team of Arctic animals called the North Wind.

The film continued with the third Madagascar film’s embracing of its Looney Tunes influence to full effect with some great visuals. There were a lot more cartoony designs in comparison, but they all worked well with the silly and fantastical situations at play. A chase sequence involving gondolas certainly would not have been as spectacular, or as genuinely funny, had it been animated more seriously or straight. A lot of the visual gags worked quite well without feeling they were overwhelming, which I felt added to the charm of the film, my favorite being a play on the single shot take of the Penguins trying to get from one plane to another in mid-air.

It should be noted that the film Penguins of Madagascar was not connected with the television series of the same name and was set more within the continuity of the Madagascar films, even if there were inconsistencies regardless. However, by treating it as a separate entity altogether, I think it was a wacky enough film to enjoy on its own. There was not a lot of depth in the narrative, but that was not really the point. It was about being goofy and fun and the film was all that and more. The voice casting was nice, in particular John Malkovich as the villain, Dave the octopus, and everyone did a fine job of providing the right mix of over-the-top and playing serious without sounding out of place.

Penguins of Madagascar received a positive response from critics and audiences, who enjoyed the fast pace and bright colors. But though it was very well liked, it did not have the commercial success the main Madagascar films had. In fact, it was the first film in the series to contribute to the studio having to issue a write-down. The studio was close to being acquired by other companies on a number of occasions leading up to the film’s release and, as Penguins of Madagascar was perceived as another in a line of box office disappointments for DreamWorks, it led to the closing of Pacific Data Images.

Penguins of Madagascar would gross a worldwide tally of $373 million against a budget of $132 million. Due to the film not performing as the studio as hoped, it contributed to a loss of $57 million for the year. It is available on Blu-ray and DVD and can be streamed on Netflix, as of writing.

Home
Directed by Tim Johnson
Release Date: March 27, 2015

“She’s bluffing. She cannot reach the… Oh! Curse you and your tippitoe tallness!”

Home was the only film to be released by DreamWorks Animation in 2015. Based on the novel The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex, it told the story of an alien named Oh. His race the Boov were hiding out on Earth, believing it was remote enough to get away from a dangerous being in the Gorg. However, upon meeting a human named Tip, he would learn that the Boov invasion of Earth was not as friendly as he had been led to believe by their cowardly leader Captain Smek.

Home looked nice, although I felt that the animation was nothing really special. Some of the designs did appear rather interesting and a few of the animation effects resulted in some fun sequences, such as the one involving the Eiffel Tower. But overall it didn’t seem as impressive as any other feature that DreamWorks had produced. In fact, I venture to believe that the quality took a bit of a dip in comparison to the more recent films from the studio. The design of the Boov aliens sure seemed uninspired and the humans merely looked okay. While not terrible, nothing really good stood out either.

Home had a problem in that it had a storytelling structure that just didn’t work from the start and never really recovered. There was an interesting premise and at times there were moments that brought smiles, but the overall presentation just didn’t come together in a way that would have made the film work. The characters were not fleshed out all that well and the voice acting, headlined by Jim Parsons, was merely okay. I wasn’t all that fond of the music with only a song or two standing out only because they managed to make a scene work and nothing more. That’s not to say that all of this made the film terrible, it just wasn’t all that good either.

Home did not have a positive critical reception, as it was felt that the film was merely colorful and silly while otherwise being nothing special. However, it did receive high audience reception. As such, the film scored one of the studio’s highest openings, exceeding expectations, and enough of a commercial success to provide a much needed profit, also allowing for the launch of a television series based on the film.

Home would gross a worldwide tally of $386 million against of budget of $135 million, just managing to be a box-office hit. It is available on Blu-ray and DVD and can be streamed on Netflix, as of writing.

Kung Fu Panda 3
Directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson and Alessandro Carloni
Release Date: January 29, 2016

“Never underestimate the power of a dramatic entrance.”

Kung Fu Panda 3 was the first film to be produced in conjunction with the company’s new joint-venture studio in China, Oriental DreamWorks. It was also the second in the series on which Guillermo del Toro served as executive producer. Po seemed to be having the time of his life as the Dragon Warrior. Then Shifu announced he was stepping down as teacher and Po would be taking his place. Furthermore, an old adversary of Master Oogway’s in Kai had returned from the Spirit Realm to take vengeance by destroying all that Oogway created. As if that weren’t enough, Po would have an unexpected visit from his biological father Li.

Just when I thought the Kung Fu Panda series had done everything it could visually, each entry offered something new and exciting to see. The Spirit Realm was an impressive setting that offered a lot of possibilities that probably had never been done before. The climatic battle featured a fantastic sequence that was beautiful and breathtaking. Back in the mortal realm, the look and animation was refined just enough to still appear wonderful while adding elements here and there that were unique. If the physics animation on Po was incredible in the first two films, that would be nothing compared to what could be done to a whole village of pandas!

At times, I felt the third film might have been a little too silly. Certainly when compared to the more dramatic, but wonderfully balanced second feature. Yet as the film progressed, the heart of the series kicked into gear. There were still a lot of fun laughs, great action, and the pacing worked just as it had in the previous films. The returning cast was as good as ever, in particular James Hong as adoptive father Mr. Ping, but it was the additions of J.K. Simmons as the villain Kai and Bryan Cranston as warm hearted Li that I felt shined the brightest in this entry.

Kung Fu Panda 3 was another major hit for DreamWorks and the series. It received high critical and audience response for its visual splendor and nimble narrative that offered fun for the whole family. The film was a big commercial success, in particular China where it was one of only two animated features to gross more than a billion yuan. While the success of Kung Fu Panda 3 gave DreamWorks a much needed financial boost, it also was seen as laying the foundation for Oriental DreamWorks to confidently begin development of their own films.

Kung Fu Panda 3 would gross a worldwide tally of $517 million against a budget of $145 million, becoming major box-office hit for the studio and the Kung Fu Panda franchise. It has just been released on Blu-ray and DVD, as of writing.

When Rise of the Guardians became the first film since Flushed Away to cause DreamWorks Animation to lose money, it sent the studio on a rollercoaster ride of financial ups and downs that nearly put them out of business. Their attempt to build franchises from Mr. Peabody & Sherman and Turbo were hampered by their disappointing commercial runs. The situation was enough that they closed their long-time animation partner in Pacific Data Images after Penguins of Madagascar failed to achieve the box-office numbers of the franchise’s Madagascar films.

DreamWorks Animation still has a number of features to release over the next few years. Up next for the studio is Trolls, based on the toy line by Thomas Dam and a return to the musical genre for the company. It will be the first film to be released by DreamWorks Animation since being purchased by NBC/Universal, although it will be distributed by Twentieth Century Fox in a deal with another couple years still to run. Other films scheduled to be released under the deal with Fox are The Boss Baby, Captain Underpants, and The Croods 2. The first film expected to be released through Universal will be Larrikins in 2018, followed by How to Train Your Dragon 3. At the time of writing, The Trolls trailer has just been issued, bringing this survey right up to date:

What will become of DreamWorks Animation in the long run is uncertain. What is certain is that the studio successfully positioned itself as a powerhouse alternative to the industry standard in Disney. With films that were creatively unique and entertaining, while also daring to be more mature than their family-friendly rival, DreamWorks stood out enough to become a household name. There have been a number of bumps and pitfalls throughout the journey, certainly in recent years, but Katzenberg’s time at DWA managed to develop stories and characters that are beloved the world over. It could be said his studio has been providing audiences with plenty of pleasant dreams for more than twenty years. It seems that, even under their new owners, DreamWorks Animation will continue to do so for quite some time to come!

If the company was going to stay afloat on its own, they were going to need a lot of big hits outside of Shrek. Fortunately, DWA had some films that had been successful enough to build new franchises from, and their reputation was still solid enough to draw in highly respected creative filmmakers willing to offer their services in enhancing the overall presentation of their stories.

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
Directed by Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath
Release Date: November 7, 2008

“San Diego. This time I’m forty percent sure.”

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa would be the first non-Shrek sequel DreamWorks Animation would release. Picking up from where the first Madagascar left off, the displaced animals of the Central Park Zoo in New York continued their efforts to return home. Along the way, they would literally crash land in their ancestral home of Africa and connect with their own species. But it would not make them feel any less out of place than they were to begin with.

The first film had a very unique look, a mixture of realism and fantasy that was very appealing. For the second film, DreamWorks and their partners at Pacific Data Images enhanced the visual style with beautiful results. The Savannah had never looked so lush and alive. The increased depth and definition to the animals was fantastic without taking away the vibrant personalities. I would venture to say that they were actually improved upon to really bring the characters to life.

I wasn’t entirely sure where the story was going in the first Madagascar, but the second had a somewhat more focused narrative of the main animals rediscovering their natural environment. The overall plot was hit and miss, and with a lot more characters to keep track of it was not easy to appreciate how the multiple stories were being played out. But most of the returning characters were fleshed out just a little better, in particular the hypochondriac giraffe Melman. And some of the jokes connected more organically, particularly when coming from the Penguins and King Julien.

The second Madagascar film was a bigger success than the first. Critics responded more favorably and audiences loved the characters even more. More importantly, it had a greater commercial run that was roughly equal to the Shrek films and Kung Fu Panda. Coming off the success of the second film, the Madagascar franchise was able to expand with more short films, video games, and live stage shows and attractions.

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa would gross a worldwide tally of $604 million against a budget of $150 million, making it a major box-office hit. It is available on Blu-ray and DVD.

Monsters vs. Aliens
Directed by Conrad Vernon and Rob Letterman
Release Date: March 27, 2009

“Boys, set the terror level at code brown, ’cause I need to change my pants.”

Monsters vs. Aliens would be the first DreamWorks Animation feature to take advantage of the re-emergence of 3D by being produced directly in a stereoscopic format as opposed to being converted after completion. A parody of the cult B-movie science fiction films of the 1950s, it told the story of Susan Murphy. On the day of her wedding, she would be struck by a meteorite and grow nearly fifty feet in height. Grouped with monsters that had been locked up in secret, they would be called upon when an alien arrived to retrieve the meteorite energy that empowered Susan.

Visually, the film was quite fun to watch. The action sequences were spectacular, specifically the battle with a giant robot in San Francisco, and there was great use of the sweeping and shaking camera movements. I appreciated that, while the film was produced with 3D in mind, it could still be enjoyed without feeling as though watching in 3D was necessary. I had an issue with some of the character designs, particularly the humans (other than Susan). But I guess that was sort of the point as they played up how unconvincing actors looked in such films. They sure looked more creepy than the creatures.

I liked the film then and as I do now, but it was not without its flaws. Being a parody, the storytelling was intentionally conceived to be lame enough that it would be funny, and the star-studded cast, headlined by a lovable Reese Witherspoon, certainly sounded like they were having an absolute ball. But while the film was humorous, it was lacking a kind of odd charm that the old B-movies had. Perhaps the narrative was taking itself a little too seriously at times? Maybe if it had a little polish, the storytelling might have elevated the film enough to be more than just a casual pleasure.

Monsters vs. Aliens had a fairly healthy commercial run, with one of its achievements being the highest grossing debut for an animated feature in IMAX theaters at the time. Critical and audience reception was mostly positive, but it wasn’t quite a success on the level of Shrek, Madagascar, and Kung Fu Panda. Still, DreamWorks did attempt to build a franchise with a short film, a pair of television specials, and a television series. In the end, however, the film just didn’t have the mileage to keep going, and a planned sequel never materialized.

Monsters vs. Aliens would gross a worldwide tally of $382 million against a budget of $175 million, making it a decent box-office hit. It is available on Blu-ray and DVD.

How to Train Your Dragon
Directed by Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois
Release Date: March 26, 2010

“We’re Vikings. It’s an occupational hazard.”

How to Train Your Dragon was the first of three films DreamWorks Animation would release in 2010. Based on a series of novels by Cressida Cowell, it told the story of Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, the scrawny son of the Viking village chief, who would manage to take down the elusive and dangerous species of dragon known as a Night Fury. Unable to bring himself to kill as Vikings were supposed to, Hiccup instead formed an improbable bond with the dragon he would name Toothless.

I believed without hesitation that How to Train Your Dragon had a visual majesty unparalleled by anything DreamWorks had put out before or since, even measuring up to the best the other studios had to offer. Much could be attributed to directors Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois enlisting acclaimed cinematographer Roger Deakins as visual consultant. Utilizing his expertise in lighting and staging a scene, the filmmakers produced a breathtaking feast for the eyes that would not age with time. And this did not take into consideration the spectacular depictions of flight and fire that continued to inspire awe from audiences of all ages.

Virtually everything about How to Train Your Dragon came together beautifully. The story was a compelling and emotional journey, full of heart and charm that enchanted viewers. It featured a fantastic voice cast with Jay Baruchel shining as Hiccup, helping shape the character into someone who was unique and lovable. John Powell composed a brilliant music score that evoked and enhanced the drama and magic that appeared on screen. I found it hard to imagine if any faults, however few there were, could hamper my enjoyment of the film and after numerous viewings I couldn’t find one.

How to Train Your Dragon was a major success for DreamWorks. It would have a great commercial run, becoming the studio’s highest grossing non-Shrek film in North America. It received universal critical and audience acclaim. Of the three DreamWorks films released in 2010, it would be the only one to receive Academy Award nominations, one for Best Animated Feature and one for Best Original Score. With the success of the film, a new franchise was launched. It would spawn a collection of shorts, a television series, video games, and an arena show. More importantly, DreamWorks immediately gave the go-ahead for not one, but two sequels that would form a trilogy.

How to Train Your Dragon would gross a worldwide tally of $495 million against a budget of $165 million, becoming a huge box-office hit. It remains the highest grossing DreamWorks Animation feature outside of the Shrek series in North America with a tally of $217 million. It is available on Blu-ray and DVD.

Shrek Forever After
Directed by Mike Mitchell
Release Date: May 21, 2010

“Just take my wallet! Just take my wallet! I’m being ass-napped! Help! Animal cruelty! Help!”

Shrek Forever After would be the second of the three films DreamWorks Animation would release in 2010. It would also be the last film to date in the studio’s flagship Shrek franchise. Shrek was living happily ever after, but could hardly find a moment’s peace since becoming a father and a celebrated hero. Attempting to have just a day to himself for relaxation, he would be tricked by a vengeful Rumpelstiltskin, who would use the deal to alter reality to where the ogre didn’t exist.

On the one hand, Shrek Forever After was visually stunning. I like how the alternate reality was different enough while keeping touches of what it used to be. And the utilization of lighting and color was very nice. But while it was probably the most polished of the Shrek films DreamWorks and PDI had produced, I felt like there were better looking films that year. There was certainly a better looking film from DreamWorks itself earlier that year in How to Train Your Dragon.

Part of the reason why I felt the feature-length sequels to Shrek were unnecessary was that it seemed like they couldn’t come up with a plot that didn’t hinge on Shrek struggling with the happiness in his heart versus the perception of his nature. While the film tackled this in a new light and the narrative was dramatic, it always seemed like they were just milking what worked before and were afraid of telling a different story. And the continuity issue of how Rumpelstiltskin appeared here over how he appeared in the previous film made me feel as though the filmmakers were desperate for something. While he turned into what I thought was the best villain in the series, I just couldn’t get over the inconsistency.

Shrek Forever After showed that the series had enough life left to be the most successful of the DreamWorks films that year. And the critical and audience reception was more positive than the previous Shrek feature, even though it was seen as being far from the quality of the first two films. Furthermore, it was the lowest grossing entry in the series. To top it off, the franchise would lose its biggest achievement in Shrek 2‘s near billion dollar gross, with Disney/Pixar releasing the universally beloved Toy Story 3 the same year and that film becoming the first animated feature to gross over a billion dollars. It seemed that the Shrek series had run its course feature-wise, but DreamWorks wasn’t quite finished with the franchise yet…

Shrek Forever After would gross a worldwide tally of $753 million against a budget of $165 million, making it the highest grossing of the three DreamWorks films released in 2010. It is available on Blu-ray and DVD.

Megamind
Directed by Tom McGrath
Release Date: November 5, 2010

“Girls, girls, you’re both pretty! Can I go home now?”

Megamind would be the third of DreamWorks Animation’s three films released in 2010, and the first to feature the involvement of acclaimed filmmaker Guillermo del Toro, who served as a creative consultant. A parody of the superhero genre, the film centered on career super-villain Megamind. Since infancy, he had been at odds with the amazing superhero Metro Man only to always end up on the losing end. But imagine what would happen if the villain actually won for a change…

One of the things to admire about when DreamWorks and PDI teamed together had been that they always strove to make the most visually stunning film, even if it was initially designed to be a parody. Megamind looked quite amazing, appearing very much like the kind of superhero films it was sending up. The human character designs seemed cartoony in comparison to how fantastic everything else looked, but I thought that was sort of the point and part of its charm. The film was just so much fun to look at from start to finish without feeling like anything clashed.

While the narrative was a bit hit and miss to me, it was still pretty good. The beginning was fun, the middle seemed to drag a bit, and then there was the exciting finish. But perhaps because it focused so much on being a parody of superhero films, specifically Superman, it never really seemed to develop an identity of its own. Fortunately, the film benefited from a great voice cast that knew how to use improvisation in support of the story as opposed to contending against it. And there was a fine musical score by Hans Zimmer and Lorne Balfe that also helped.

Megamind just managed to be a profitable film for DreamWorks. It would be regarded as the highest grossing film in the careers of stars Will Ferrell and Tina Fey. And it was generally liked by critics and audiences. But the overall feeling was that, while the visuals and voice cast were great, the story just didn’t seem fresh. Certainly not so when compared to Disney/Pixar’s The Incredibles from six years prior or Universal’s animated film from just a few months earlier, Despicable Me, which also centered on a super-villain.

Megamind would gross a worldwide tally of $322 million against a budget of $130 million, making it a modest box-office hit. It is available on Blu-ray and DVD.

Kung Fu Panda 2
Directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson
Release Date: May 26, 2011

“I hope this turns out better than your plan to cook rice in your stomach by eating it raw and then drinking boiling water…”

Kung Fu Panda 2 was the second feature film in the Kung Fu Panda franchise and the first DreamWorks Animation film on which Guillermo del Toro severed as executive producer as well as being the first feature, from any studio, with a solo female director in Jennifer Yuh Nelson. Po had become the Dragon Master and was now teamed with the Furious Five, but a past he could not remember would test his inner peace when the unstable Lord Shen would move to conquer China using weaponized fireworks.

The first Kung Fu Panda was already one of the most beautiful films DreamWorks had made. This second film would merely refine and polish the style, enhancing what was already visually magnificent. The use of lighting and shading really stood out for me, making each setting unique from one another as well as setting it apart from the first film. And the martial arts sequences were always a blast to watch. But what was most impressive was the use of hand-drawn animation. Used in the first film just for the opening and in the end credits, their use in the second film as visions of Po’s past flowed wonderfully with the rest of the film and added depth to the narrative.

Speaking of the narrative, the second film managed to be an engaging drama that didn’t diminish or take away from the lighthearted appeal that made the first film so much fun. Even at its darkest moments of Po becoming conflicted with who he was, there were also bits that made audiences smile, like Mantis mentioning the mating ritual of his species. The story was told in a way that could be understood and appreciated by all ages and coupled with the always fantastic voice acting from the returning and new ensemble cast made it all the more enjoyable.

Kung Fu Panda 2 duplicated the success of the first film, just managing to top it as the highest grossing non-Shrek film from DreamWorks Animation at the time. It received equal critical and audience reception, who were appreciative of the film telling a darker tale while still maintaining its visual beauty and fun appeal. The film garnered a Best Animated Feature Academy Award nomination just as the first film did and would spawn more short films and videogames in the franchise. But its biggest impact was seen through its continued positive reception in China, where it would set the foundations of DreamWorks forming an animation studio in Shanghai to bring even more authenticity for a third film in the series.

Kung Fu Panda 2 would gross a worldwide tally of $665 million against a budget of $150 million, becoming the highest grossing film directed by a solo female filmmaker to date. It is available on Blu-ray and DVD.

Puss in Boots
Directed by Chris Miller
Release Date: October 28, 2011

“How dare you do the Litter Box at me!”

Puss in Boots was the first spin-off feature from a DreamWorks Animation title, coming from the Shrek franchise. It was also the second film on which Guillermo del Toro served as executive producer. Having been an outlaw most of his life, Puss would get an opportunity to clear his name when a chance to recover the magic beans of his childhood legend resurfaced. But he would have to contend with the outlaws Jack and Jill, an old acquaintance in Humpty Dumpty, and a street-savvy feline in Kitty Southpaws.

Being set in the Shrek universe, Puss in Boots managed to maintain the visual beauty from its parent franchise while developing a unique look of its own. I believe this was also the first of the films del Toro worked on where his artistic contributions were really present, adding to a style that brought depth to the storytelling. Being observed from the perspective of Puss and characters of his height, the world certainly looked big, allowing for greater details in the landscapes and objects to be seen.

While the film called back to some of the earlier DreamWorks films in having a much more mature narrative, it was no less fun. I found it to be at least better than the latter two Shrek films in that it was a breath of fresh air and focused on telling a good story. I personally would rank it above Shrek 2. The influence of the Mexican outlaw feature films of old were present, even if younger audiences would be unfamiliar to appreciate them. But by keeping true to what it was telling, it was a fun little romp to enjoy. There was also a great music score by Henry Jackman, and the cast, headlined by Antonio Banderas, gave it their all.

Given that this was a spin-off film, Puss in Boots was a huge success. It garnered the highest opening ever for a film released on Halloween weekend and maintained strong staying power during its run. It received high critical and audience response for its great visuals and charming wit. And it received an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature. The success of the film would launch its own short film, a television series, and the development of a sequel. In some respects, Puss in Boots would branch off into its own franchise.

Puss in Boots would gross a worldwide tally of $555 million against a budget of $130 million, making it a major box-office hit. It is available on Blu-ray and DVD.

Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted
Directed by Eric Darnell, Conrad Vernon, and Tom McGrath
Release Date: June 8, 2012

“Well, I say they can take the animals out of the circus, but they can’t take the animals out of the circus! … Uh, you know what I mean!”

Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted was the most recent film in the series. While still trying to get back home to New York, Alex the lion, Marty the zebra, Melman the giraffe, and Gloria the hippopotamus would end up in Europe and run afoul of the murderous French Animal Control Captain Chantel DuBois. During their attempt to escape her clutches, they stowaway on a train containing down-on-their-luck circus animals.

By the time of the third Madagascar, I think the filmmakers clearly embraced the Looney Tunes influence and used it to the benefit of the overall presentation. In addition to polishing the animation, the slapstick nature of the storytelling was played up for some great sight gags. The car chase through Monte Carlo and the practice sessions in the Alps could be appreciated by all ages for their comic timing and for how great they looked. But the circus performance in London was a great visual spectacle of color and animation that really put this entry over as the best in the series. In fact, it’s one of my favorite scenes ever animated by DreamWorks and PDI.

Despite what could be a couple of instances of continuity errors here and there, the third film had a much more focused narrative now that they embraced the slapstick comedy of the series. While it had moments of some pathos, it was all about making the story fun and funny, which I must admit to being surprised it pulled off. The returning cast was obviously having a blast and this clearly infected the new cast, who sounded like they were having just as great a time recording and improvising their lines, with Martin Short a standout as the lovable Italian sea lion Stefano.

Madagascar 3 became the biggest success for the studio outside of the Shrek series. It also became the highest grossing of all DreamWorks Animation films outside of North America. The film received the best critical and audience approval of the franchise to date, being won over by the ever improving mixture of slapstick comedy and a narrative that had heart. The live show attractions were revamped to incorporate the new circus performances, and the growing success of the film series would allow for the development of a fourth feature.

Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted would gross a worldwide tally of $747 million against a budget of $145 million, which would presently make it the highest grossing non-Shrek film ever released by DreamWorks Animation. It is available on Blu-ray and DVD.

Though the main Shrek series was brought to rest with Shrek Forever After, new franchises had taken off to big success. The Madagascar series saw great improvement both financially and in critical and audience reception with each film. The Kung Fu Panda series continued to dazzle and entertain all across the globe. And even Puss in Boots had a great start in spinning-off from Shrek. The mediocre box-office runs for Monsters vs. Aliens and Megamind would see the company phase out parody films, but they had found a new franchise to build off of in the huge success of the much beloved How to Train Your Dragon.

In Part Four of our look at the history of the DreamWorks Animation films, we watch the company lose momentum and money, placing the studio in a dire predicament that would put its very survival in jeopardy.

While critical and commercial reception for the films had been mostly good, it wasn’t until the release of Shrek that DreamWorks turned into an animation powerhouse. Then Shrek 2 became the first animated feature to gross nearly a billion dollars worldwide, positioning the company to possibly dethrone Disney at the top of the industry mountain. The animation unit was riding high, only to venture out as a separate entity when DreamWorks’ parent studio began to crumble on the tenth anniversary of its creation. DreamWorks Animation was on its own, which meant every dollar made or lost would be important.

Shark Tale
Directed by Vicky Jenson, Bibo Bergeron, and Rob Letterman
Release Date: October 1, 2004

“Who in the halibut trips underwater?”

Shark Tale was the last film released before DreamWorks Animation became an independent production company just a couple weeks later. The film centered on Oscar, a low-level fish who dreamed of living the high-life. But when he would be falsely identified as a sharkslayer, the fame would go to his head and his little lie would create big consequences.

Shark Tale would be the first computer generated film DreamWorks animated in-house as opposed to in conjunction with Pacific Data Images. While it didn’t look as polished as the Shrek films, Shark Tale had some very impressive animation that really played up the expressions of the characters. Couple this with the vibrancy of the colors and the film was extremely pretty to look at. Admittedly the animation has not aged well over the years, but it was nonetheless impressive at the time.

But while the visuals were neat, the story just never seemed to click. It struggled with being an animated parody of classic mafia movies that tried to appeal to audiences of all ages. As if to off-set the mature elements, the film was packed to the gills, pun intended, with pop culture references, to the point that they get rather annoying. I’m sure I wasn’t alone in feeling that the mafia parody and the pop culture references clashed together so badly that it made the narrative not as fun as it was trying to make itself out to be.

Shark Tale was initially a big commercial success, having scored the second highest opening for the studio in North America at the time after Shrek 2. It also received a nomination for the Best Animated Feature Academy Award. But the film ultimately did not have any sort of lasting legacy. I got the impression that audiences lost interest over time, which appeared to be the case as it was often compared less favorably to the much beloved Pixar feature from the previous year, Finding Nemo.

Shark Tale would gross a worldwide tally of $367 million against a budget of $75 million, making it a box-office hit at the time. It is available on DVD.

Madagascar
Directed by Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath
Release Date: May 27, 2005

“My life is half over and I don’t even know if I’m black with white stripes or white with black stripes!”

Madagascar was the first film released by DreamWorks Animation as an independent production company. When Marty the zebra was interested in reconnecting with his roots, it resulted in a series of calamities that landed some of the animals from the Central Park Zoo in New York to an untamed section of Africa, which would have a troubling affect on star attraction Alex the lion.

Madagascar could visually be seen as a being a combination of Shrek and Shark Tale. DreamWorks continued to push computer generated animation into achieving the squash and stretch method that had been tried and true with traditional animation, while PDI added polish and enhanced some of the more realistic aspects of the designs such as fur when dry or wet, ocean waves, and the details in animal anatomy. The result was what I saw as a unique look that was all its own and rather fun to watch.

Whereas Shark Tale was loaded with pop culture references, Madagascar pulled back and seemed to concentrate on developing characters and their personalities. And there certainly were a lot of characters presented. But because there was so many to flesh out, it was almost to the detriment of the story, if you ask me. There were moments where I wondered where the story was going and actually felt I was watching two or three different films happening at the same time. Nevertheless, the seemingly episodic nature of the film was enjoyable for the most part.

Madagascar was a major hit, becoming the second most profitable DreamWorks feature at the time after Shrek 2. Despite a mostly mixed reception from critics, audiences adored the colorful characters and their personalities enough that DreamWorks recognized they had another franchise on their hands. The film would spawn additional sequels and short films as well as spinoff television shows based on the Penguins and King Julien.

Madagascar grossed a worldwide tally of $532 million against a budget of $75 million, making it a huge box-office success. It is available on Blu-ray and DVD.

Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
Directed by Nick Park and Steve Box
Release Date: October 7, 2005

“It’s a veritable vegetable paradise!”

Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit was the second feature from the partnership between DreamWorks and Aardman. It was also the first feature in the beloved Wallace & Gromit series. In the film, Wallace and Gromit had started their own humane pest control business in Tottington Hall. Their services were called upon when a mysterious creature was spotted at night, rampaging through the valuable vegetables being grown ahead of the popular Giant Vegetable Competition.

Having gained the confidence to develop feature-length films following the success of Chicken Run, Aardman decided to make their next project around their most popular characters in the cheese-loving inventor and his canine companion. Because Wallace & Gromit were so beloved, it seemed important for creator Nick Park and his team to make a feature-length story of the duo work and, to accomplish that, they stayed true to what worked best and utilized the trademark stop-motion animation and the witty storytelling to their most effective.

The result was certainly a fantastic, often thrilling film. Part of the joy I found with the Wallace & Gromit stories had been this uncanny ability to take something that would otherwise be deemed silly and yet play it off as somehow sophisticated. A scene like Lord Quartermaine getting sucked into the ground and nearly ending up in one of Wallace’s contraptions was a nice illustration of this, resulting in laughs from all ages. What’s more, there clearly was a great amount of heart in the film. The care and dedication put into the designs and crafting the story was evident throughout.

Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit become a much beloved film upon release. It won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and further enhanced the global presence of its characters. But DreamWorks was expecting even bigger things and, despite being profitable, it was revealed sometime afterward that the company took a write-down on the film not reaching their financial goals. Nick Park would later remark that the working relationship between DreamWorks and Aardman started to dissolve during production with DreamWorks constantly trying to alter material to be more appealing to American children.

Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit grossed a worldwide tally of $192 million against a budget of $30 million, making it a box-office hit. However, DreamWorks reportedly lost $29 million as the film was not as successful as they had hoped. It is available on DVD.

Over the Hedge
Directed by Tim Johnson and Karey Kirkpatrick
Release Date: May 19, 2006

“That, my friend, is a magical combination of corn flour, dehydrated cheese solids, BHA, BHT, and good old MSG, a.k.a. the chip. Nacho cheese flavor.”

Over the Hedge was the first DreamWorks Animation feature released under the distribution deal the studio made with Paramount Pictures. Based on the comic strip by Michael Fry and T. Lewis, it told the story of a con artist raccoon named RJ. Threatened with his life if he didn’t recover the food he had lost for a vicious bear, he would enlist the aid of woodland creatures to steal food from the housing development that had overtaken their home under the pretext of helping them stock for winter.

It seemed clear to me in watching Over the Hedge – then and now – that this was the point that DreamWorks Animation really started to fine tune their in-house animation tools without having to rely so much on PDI. There was a great combination of realistic textures, such as the strands of individual hair on fur and the detail of skin pores on both animals and humans, mixed with the squash and stretch principles carried over from traditional animation that made the film look the most impressive from the studio since the Shrek films.

The storytelling was more focused than previous in-house films, had much less reliance on pop culture references, and the characters appeared and acted more organic. But I think what hampered the film a bit was in the voice casting. Some worked very well, like Steve Carell as hyperactive squirrel Hammy and Wanda Sykes as sassy skunk Stella. Others just didn’t sound right. I didn’t think Bruce Willis was the right choice to play RJ, no matter how hard he may have tried. Garry Shandling had fine moments as cynical turtle Verne, but he couldn’t project natural terror and panic whenever his character was in such situations.

Over the Hedge did manage to be a profitable film for DreamWorks. It had a nice commercial run and it even won over audiences in different ways. Younger kids enjoyed the occasional slapstick nature while older adults where humored by the sly satire on American consumerism. But while the film was a success, its performance wasn’t seen as being enough for the studio to launch another franchise.

Over the Hedge grossed a worldwide tally of $336 million against a budget of $80, making it decent box-office hit. It is available on DVD.

Flushed Away
Directed by David Bowers and Sam Fell
Release Date: November 3, 2006

“No, no, don’t break! There are things I want to do, sights I want to see! … That wasn’t on the list.”

Flushed Away was the last film released by DreamWorks in conjunction with Aardman Animation. It was also the first feature by Aardman that was computer generated as opposed to their trademark stop-motion. The film told the story of a pampered, domesticated pet rat named Roddy. When an intruding sewer rat flushed him down the toilet, he would find himself mixed up in a series of misadventures in an underground metropolis.

Known primarily for stop-motion animation, Aardman chose to develop Flushed Away with computer generated imagery due to the need for water effects that would otherwise damage Plasticine models. As such, the film looked the most polished Aardman film to date, though it managed to maintain the familiar visual style and presentation. This included keeping the textures looking like they were molded Plasticine models instead of having entirely smooth surfaces and details. DreamWorks would contribute animators presumably to help them out in understanding the new animation method and to get the film finished in a timely manner.

Even with the move from stop-motion animation to computer generated, Aardman still managed to maintain their witty storytelling approach. In fact, I think they tried to scale down what they could do through computer animation at times because they probably did not want to do things at the expense of the narrative just because they could do them. It’s also I imagine why they ended up having their most star-studded cast to date. Their reputation created such fans out of Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet, Ian McKellen, Andy Serkis, Bill Nighy and Jean Reno that they jumped at the opportunity to work with Aardman. And what lovely work they did bringing their characters to life in loveable fashion.

Flushed Away was not considered a box-office hit despite positive reception from critics and audiences. As if that weren’t enough, reports came out that the relationship between DreamWorks and Aardman had been deteriorating throughout the film’s production. With the perceived under-performance of Wallace & Gromit, DreamWorks apparently tried to exert more creative control over Flushed Away. This was seen as having affected the film’s commercial performance. After three films, the partnership between DreamWorks and Aardman was terminated.

Flushed Away grossed a worldwide tally of $178 million against a budget of $149 million. DreamWorks reportedly lost $109 million as a result of the film not being as successful as they had hoped. It is available on DVD.

Shrek the Third
Directed by Chris Miller and Raman Hui
Release Date: May 18, 2007

“This is like totally embarrassing, but my friend Tiffany thinkest thou vex her so soothly and she thought perchance thou would want to ask her to the homecoming dance or something.”

Shrek the Third was the first Shrek film released after DreamWorks Animation became an independent production company. Picking up from where the second film left off, Shrek and Fiona had received the blessing of her parents, but that would put Shrek in the predicament of possibly taking over the throne when Fiona’s father would croak. What’s more, Fiona was pregnant.

As with the previous films in the series, Shrek the Third was among the most impressive looking films in animation. This entry took a step further in improving the animation of human characters while still finding ways to add more definition to the non-human characters. Furthermore, the film continued the franchise’s efforts in portraying realism while still allowing for fantastical moments that did not break the enjoyable illusion of believability.

Only I still felt the third film also continued trying to expand upon a narrative that quite frankly didn’t need to done in feature-length form. That’s not to say the story was bad. I just think it was setting itself up for disappointment if it wasn’t executed just right. Shrek 2 managed to accomplish this, albeit with some issues that didn’t make it perfect, but Shrek the Third had too many issues that prevented my enjoying it. From jokes that didn’t quite connect and a storytelling structure that just wasn’t charming to new characters that were not very impressive: while not terribly bad per se, it wasn’t good either.

Given the popularity of the Shrek films up to this point, it was expected to be a big commercial success – and it was, becoming the highest grossing animated feature of the year. But while it was a highly profitable film, it didn’t reach the same numbers as Shrek 2. Moreover, critical and audience reception to the film was less positive than the previous films in the series. Like me, there was a feeling that it lacked charm and failed to sustain interest. I couldn’t help but notice that there was a growing fear that the bread and butter of DreamWorks Animation was losing its appeal.

Shrek the Third grossed a worldwide tally of $799 million against a budge of $160 million, making it a huge box-office hit. It is available on Blu-ray and DVD.

Bee Movie
Directed by Simon J. Smith and Steve Hickner
Release Date: November 2, 2007

“Why is yogurt night so hard?”

Bee Movie would be seen as a major venture for DreamWorks Animation as it was creatively driven by its star in comedian Jerry Seinfeld. Also serving as a producer and writer, Seinfeld was heavily involved in structuring and shaping the story of a bee named Barry B. Benson. Uncertain about spending the rest of his life doing just one thing, he would venture out and would break a sacred rule by communicating with a human after she saved his life.

Animation-wise, Bee Movie did not do anything that improved upon or pushed the limits of computer generated animation. That’s not to say it wasn’t good looking or any less impressive. I liked the design of the characters, to be honest. They worked well in playing up to their personalities and were fun to watch being brought to life. One could see how Barry would instantly be smitten with Vanessa with how nice she looks, both from afar and up close.

But at the end of the day, the movie clearly hinged on the storytelling. To his credit, Seinfeld tried to come up with what I thought could have been an interesting story about a bee and a human bonding. Then he tried to tell a message story suddenly about nature and how disturbing the order of things could lead to terrible consequences, which I didn’t think worked as well as he hoped. The two stories didn’t click together, as had been the case for many DreamWorks films that had difficulty trying to make a mature film that adults would appreciate without being too old for young children to understand and enjoy. I couldn’t help but compare it less favorably to the first DreamWorks feature, Antz, which had some similar plot elements being echoed.

I bet even DreamWorks wasn’t sure the film was going to be a success, let alone make a profit. The uncertainty in being able to sell the film to either kids or adults, or even both for that matter, probably played a part in the film not doing very well commercially. The reception from critics and audiences were just as mixed, not being quite sure if they found the film likeable or not. When all was said and done, the film was as forgettable then as it would be now.

Bee Movie grossed a worldwide tally of $287 million against a budget of $150 million, making it a modest box-office hit. It is available on Blu-ray and DVD.

Kung Fu Panda
Directed by John Stevenson and Mark Osborne
Release Date: June 6, 2008

“He was so deadly, in fact, that his enemies would go blind from over-exposure to pure awesomeness!”

Kung Fu Panda was an attempt at creating an animated feature around martial arts using anthropomorphic animals. The story centered on an energetic, yet accident-prone giant panda named Po. A die-hard fan of kung fu, he would find himself chosen to be the legendary Dragon Warrior much to the chagrin of his heroes the Furious Five and the stern Master Shifu.

The film was seen as the most complex that had ever been animated at DreamWorks. In wanting to capture the visual artistry evoked in the live-action martial arts films that inspired them, the animation team clearly pushed themselves and their tools beyond their limits. The end result was a film that was beautiful to look at, regardless of what was happening on the screen. Whether it was an appreciation of the scenery the characters inhabited or the action sequences themselves, such as a thrilling fight upon a wooden bridge, Kung Fu Panda achieved visual splendor.

The film was initially conceived by then company executive Michael Lachance as a parody of the genre, but the filmmakers instead wanted to make a character-driven wuxia martial arts story that happened to be a comedy. This was a decision that made viewers like myself very happy as the narrative was heart-warming and absolutely fun. And with a fantastic cast headlined by Jack Black that one could tell was clearly having a great time recording, it was a pleasant journey that one would love to revisit time and again.

Kung Fu Panda would overtake Madagascar as the most successful feature from DreamWorks Animation outside of the Shrek series. The film would be the first DreamWorks film to be nominated for the Best Animated Feature Academy Award since the studio won it three years prior. It would be the foundation for a franchise that included more feature films, short films, a television special, and a television series on Nickelodeon. But perhaps its biggest impact was in China, becoming the first animated feature to gross over a million Yuan and earning praise for a respectful representation of their culture.

Kung Fu Panda would gross a worldwide tally of $631 million against a budget of $130, making it a massive box-office hit. It is available on Blu-ray and DVD.

Roughly four years into being an independent production company, DreamWorks Animation was doing okay. Madagascar was big hit right out of the gate, and the studio would later score another huge success in Kung Fu Panda. But getting to this point was not easy and the company took some hits along the way.

In Part Three of our look at the history of the DreamWorks Animation films, we witness the company relying more on developing franchises by releasing many sequels to some of their biggest hits.

In honor of this momentous occasion, we look back at each title in the DreamWorks Animation library and how they trace the rollercoaster history of the company, from being a department in a new major Hollywood studio founded in 1994 by Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen, to becoming a leading independent production house and its joining the Universal Pictures family. What follows is the first of a four-part retrospective article.

Antz
Directed by Eric Darnell and Tim Johnson
Release Date: October 2, 1998

“Wow, every worker in the colony is here. Hey, wait a minute. That guy owes me money!”

The first film from DreamWorks Animation was the computer generated feature Antz. It told the story of a neurotic worker ant named Z wanting a better life. He would get his chance through a chance meeting with the colony’s princess and stumbling upon a nefarious plot to change the social order entirely.

As a first impression for the then-fledgling studio, it certainly stood apart from Disney and even Pixar. Thanks to the technical efforts of partner company Pacific Data Images, Antz presented what was then cutting edge animation, particularly in facial features. There was a sense of realism to them that I found to be both believable and fascinating.

The film had a stellar ensemble cast, headlined by Woody Allen. In fact, it seemed clear to me that Allen had a hand in shaping the story and not just in what Z would say. Allen is one of the most renowned storytellers and he understands how to make characters really shine on their own and collectively, which Antz achieved rather well. As such, it was mature while still appealing to the younger audience.

But though Antz was a great first feature, it unfortunately fell under the heavy shadow of the equally great A Bug’s Life, and one I don’t think it can ever escape from. With production on both films running at the same time and at the same pace, accusations of story theft due to the plots being rather similar, and many more behind-the-scenes drama involving the release dates of the films ending up being about a month apart, the long-term legacy of the first DreamWorks animated feature was harmed pretty badly as it is hardly remembered to this day outside of animation fans.

Antz would gross a worldwide tally of $172 million against a budget of $105 million, making it a modest box-office hit. It is available on DVD and can be streamed on Netflix, as of writing.

The Prince of Egypt
Directed by Brenda Chapman, Simon Wells, and Steve Hickner
Release Date: December 18, 1998

“I send the swarm, I send the hoard! Thus saith the Lord!”

The Prince of Egypt was the first hand-drawn animated feature from DreamWorks Animation. Adapted from the Book of Exodus, it was a retelling of the story of Moses. The film specifically chronicled the period from his being the adopted son of Pharaoh Seti to God commanding him to lead the Hebrews out of Egyptian slavery to freedom across the Red Sea.

The Prince of Egypt was the film that, more than anything, announced the arrival of DreamWorks: a beautifully made feature with rich animation, great storytelling, wonderful music, and a fantastic ensemble cast headlined by Val Kilmer as Moses. The film managed to click on every level that audiences of all ages could appreciate and enjoy, even at its most dramatic moments involving life and death.

The film has been one of my all-time favorite non-Disney animated features since its release. It’s a film I can put on at any time and be absorbed. A good portion of why I like it is the music from composer Hans Zimmer and songwriter Stephen Schwartz. The two really worked well with one another to create stunning music that was dramatic and heartfelt while enhancing the storytelling.

The Prince of Egypt has gone on to develop a fine legacy for itself over the years. It was the only animated feature from 1998 to receive an Academy Award, winning Best Original Song for When You Believe. Its success spawned a direct-to-video animated follow-up in Joseph: King of Dreams. Ballet Magnificat has a regular performance based on the film called Deliver Us!! and Schwartz is currently in the process of adapting the film into a stage musical.

The Prince of Egypt would gross a worldwide tally of $219 million against a budget of $70 million, making it the most successful non-Disney animated feature at the time. It is available on DVD and can be streamed on Netflix, as of writing.

The Road to El Dorado
Directed by Don Paul and Eric Bergeron
Release Date: March 31, 2000

“Tulio, I just want you to know… I’m sorry about that girl in Barcelona.”

The Road to El Dorado was the second hand-drawn animated feature from DreamWorks Animation. It was an homage to the Road… movies starring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope. In this film, two Spanish con artists, through a series of calamities, find themselves searching for the fabled city of El Dorado and a simple attempt at discovering treasure turns into a more complicated adventure.

If nothing else, The Road to El Dorado looked fantastic. The animation was quite beautiful to look at. Furthermore, the voice cast, headlined by Kevin Kline and Kenneth Branagh as Tulio and Miguel, certainly sounded like they had a blast doing the film. But even when I first watched it then as I do now, I felt the story just didn’t seem to connect as well as it could have.

I got the feeling that there wasn’t a whole lot of focus with the narrative. Clearly they wanted to see just how far they could go with mature elements in a mainstream animated feature in North America. But perhaps it was at the expense of the story being stronger than it ended up being because it didn’t really click for me. I also felt the music didn’t help as only one of the songs by Tim Rice and Elton John was catchy enough to remember.

I like that the film has developed a cult following in the years since its release. This is probably because adolescents are enjoying the more adult humor now than they did when they probably saw the film as kids. No doubt the one scene that’s gotten a second look with great interest involves Tulio and native girl Chel in quite a suggestive predicament.

The Road to El Dorado grossed a worldwide tally of $76 million against a budget of $95 million, making it a box-office bomb. It is available on DVD and can be streamed on Netflix, as of writing.

Chicken Run
Directed by Nick Park and Peter Lord
Release Date: June 23, 2000

“All me life flashed before me eyes. It was really borin’.”

Chicken Run was the first stop-motion animated feature from DreamWorks Animation as well as the first full-length film from acclaimed production house Aardman Animations. It told the story of a group of chickens, lead by the highly determined Ginger, wanting to escape their prison-like lives. With time running out before they go from laying eggs to being food for humans, they pin their hopes on an American rooster named Rocky, who claimed to know how to fly.

The great fun about Chicken Run was its simple, yet wonderfully crafted storytelling that was engaging and thrilling. Its use of slapstick comedy was quite brilliant at times, often executed at just the right moment to garner the best laughs possible. The cast, featuring Mel Gibson as Rocky, clearly were having an absolute blast, regardless of whether they were recording a funny scene or a dramatic scene.

Part of the beauty to Chicken Run was how directors Nick Park and Peter Lord did not alter their comedy style just for the sake of appealing to Americans. In fact, I believe Americans were able to get the the humor, just in a different way. I’m of the opinion that audiences of all ages in America enjoyed the silliness of whatever was happening on screen while British audiences understood the context of the joke, making it all the more pleasing to laugh at.

But while Chicken Run would have a very profitable run, there was the feeling that all of the praise and attention was directed more toward Aardman. In fact, most everyone considered it an Aardman film and could hardly remember that DreamWorks was involved at all. One couldn’t help but wonder if this would have an affect on the relationship between the two studios moving forward.

Chicken Run grossed a worldwide tally of $225 million against a budget of $45 million, making it the most successful stop-motion animated feature to date. It was also the first non-Disney animated feature to gross over $100 million in North America. It is available on DVD and can be streamed on Netflix, as of writing.

Shrek
Directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson
Release Date: May 18, 2001

“Sure, it’s big enough… but look at the location!”

Shrek was the second computer generated feature from DreamWorks Animation. Based on the novel by William Steig, it told the story of an ogre named Shrek. Content with who he was and how society viewed him, his world would be turned upside down when he agreed to rescue the imprisoned Princess Fiona on behalf of a fairytale-hating Lord.

If The Prince of Egypt announced the arrival of DreamWorks, Shrek turned the studio into a contender to Disney’s throne at the top of the animation industry. The film was and still is one of the finest films to watch, with of the most beautiful animation that has managed to hold up well over time coupled with a great story that was crafted with great care and understanding. It’s no wonder the film is a favorite with fans of all ages.

I would imagine that part of the appeal for actors to partake in a DreamWorks Animation film would be the fun atmosphere the studio seemed to be able to provide. Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz and John Lithgow not only sounded like they were having a ball, but I also had the feeling that they were given some creative freedom to make the characters their own. Be it the various lines Eddie speaks as Donkey to the various bad jokes Mike makes as Shrek, audiences feel like they can relate to them and enjoy their presence throughout.

While it was not the first film released by the studio, Shrek became the foundation upon which DreamWorks Animation as a household name was built. It was the first recipient of the Best Animated Feature Academy Award. It was recognized by the American Film Institute as one of the top ten animated films of all-time. And it kick-started a franchise that included being adapted into a stage musical that played on Broadway, a 4-D film ride was added to the various Universal Studios theme parks, plus a series of additional films and television specials, among others.

Shrek grossed a worldwide tally of $484 million against a budget of $60 million, surpassing Chicken Run as the most successful non-Disney animated feature at the time. It is available on Blu-ray and DVD.

Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron
Directed by Kelly Asbury and Lorna Cook
Release Date: May 24, 2002

“There was no end to the strange ways of the two-leggeds.”

Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron saw DreamWorks Animation make a return to hand-drawn animation. Developed by Jeffrey Katzenberg himself, the film was a story told through the perspective of a Kiger Mustang. It followed his adventures during the Western expansion of the United States in the late 1800s as he encountered humanity while trying to make his way back to his herd.

The film demonstrated to me why hand-drawn animation would be my most preferred method of the medium. There’s a great deal that could be done with conveying emotion in a character that computer generated imagery is still trying to achieve. One could get really emotional over a character that doesn’t speak through the entire movie except through the narration of his thoughts. Furthermore, horses are recognized as among the most difficult creatures to illustrate and for the character to come to life so well in the film is astonishing.

It helped that the storytelling was pretty good too. Nothing too amazing, but one that was simple enough for all ages to follow and enjoy. Trying to appeal to older audiences while not losing the important younger demographic remains a tricky goal to achieve and at the time DreamWorks seemed to have figured out how to accomplish the balancing act to good results.

However, Spirit did arrive at a time when the industry was phasing out hand-drawn animation and was leaning more toward computer generated imagery. What’s more, a film about a horse would immediately have trouble attracting young males into the theaters, and an apparent underlying political message was not well received by some of the older viewers. Still, Spirit managed to do okay as it received an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature.

Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron grossed a worldwide tally of $122 million against a budget of $80 million, making it a modest box-office hit. It is available on Blu-ray and DVD.

Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas
Directed by Patrick Gilmore and Tim Johnson
Release Date: July 2, 2003

“Look, this is the way it works. First, I actually commit a crime, then you get to blame me for it!”

Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas would be the last hand-drawn animated feature released by DreamWorks Animation. The famed sailor would find himself having to reluctantly engage on a quest to recover the stolen Book of Peace to save a friend from taking an execution meant for him. Along the way, he would encounter many obstacles and trials set up in his way by the goddess of discord, Eris.

When I first saw it, I liked Sinbad. I thought it was a nice enough adventure with great animation and a cast, headlined by Brad Pitt, that was clearly trying to create an epic film while having a good time. I also thought that John Logan wrote a good screenplay that made for a good time spent watching the film. While I still like the film now, I have started to see how the story was not as special as I had thought.

With previous Sinbad films, the trials and obstacles he and his crew would encounter provided lessons for him to learn and utilize in the climatic battle against the main villain. Here, it just seemed like they were thrown in randomly simply so that there would be action sequences in the film. The animation does a fantastic job of bringing these scenes to life, make no mistake about it, but I’m starting to wonder why these scenes need to happen in the overall narrative.

There was a lot going against Sinbad at the time of its release. The animated films in North America that were of the action-adventure genre had not done well. Pirate-themed films were also box-office disasters. The previous animated feature to contain both elements, Treasure Planet, was one of Disney’s biggest financial failures at the time. Ironically though, a week after Sinbad was released, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl came out and launched one of the most successful film franchises for Disney. But by this point hand-drawn animation was pretty much out the door, at least for DreamWorks.

Spirit: Legend of the Seven Seas grossed a worldwide tally of $80 million against a budget of $60 million. DreamWorks reportedly lost $125 million as a result of the film not being as successful as they had hoped. It is available on DVD.

Shrek 2
Directed by Andrew Adamson, Conrad Vernon, and Kelly Asbury
Release Date: May 19, 2004

“You got a puppy? All I got in my room was shampoo.”

Shrek 2 would see DreamWorks Animation starting to move away from traditional methods of animation and stick to computer generated imagery. Their first theatrical sequel to a previous film, Shrek would appear to be finally living a happily ever after with Princess Fiona. But then they receive distressing news when they are summoned by her parents to receive their blessing.

The animation on Shrek 2 was and still is amazing to look it. Taking and enhancing the tools used on the first film and polishing it up, the film was a visual feast from start to finish. The cast, expanded to include the likes of Antonio Banderas as the show-stealing Puss in Boots, John Cleese, Julie Andrews and more, were clearly still having a blast recording their lines. And there was a really good story to hold everything together.

But even when Shrek 2 was released, I wasn’t as high on the film as most everyone else. I didn’t think the story needed to be feature-length, and while director Andrew Adamson managed to make it work, I’m still not entirely sold on the film having needed to be made in the first place. This was also the point where I started to get concerned about the use of pop culture spoofs and references. Some of them ended up being nice, but had the feeling it was being over relied upon for lazy humor.

Despite my misgivings, Shrek 2 was a juggernaut. It received a reception that was nearly equal to the first film, with some folks saying they liked it better. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, but perhaps the biggest success the film achieved was that it was the first animated feature to very nearly make a billion dollars at the box-office. Many saw this as a sign that perhaps DreamWorks Animation was about to dethrone Disney as the new king of animation.

Shrek 2 grossed a worldwide tally of $919 million against a budget of $150 million, regarded for seven years as the highest grossing animated feature of all-time. It remains the highest grossing animated feature in North America with a tally of $441 million. It is available on Blu-ray and DVD.

Ten years since DreamWorks was founded, it seemed Jeffrey Katzenberg was poised to achieve the unthinkable and topple Disney for good with only Pixar nipping at the heels. The success of the Shrek films alongside early stand-outs The Prince Of Egypt and Aardman’s Chicken Run showed that there was quality animation to be found outside the confines of the House of Mouse.

In Part Two of our look at the history of the DreamWorks Animation films, we will look at the company struggling on its own and breaking away from traditional methods for good.

Shirley Temple presents Walt Disney with an honorary Oscar – and
seven miniature Oscars – for Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs.

In 1984, Walt Disney’s nephew Roy E. Disney brought Paramount Pictures’ former senior vice president Michael Eisner and one-time Warner Brothers chief Frank Wells as CEO and president of the company, respectively. Eisner’s Paramount colleague Jeffrey Katzenberg also arrived, as Disney’s new studio chairman. During an initial meeting at Disney, Eisner instructed Katzenberg to revitalize the company’s animation department. Since Walt and his team of “Nine Old Men” were no longer at the studio, it was struggling to develop projects with the same masterful storytelling of its earlier years. Thus, Katzenberg chose Peter Schneider to represent Walt Disney Feature Animation as its first president.

In 1985, Disney released The Black Cauldron. The film, which had been in development for about 10 years, failed to connect with critics and audiences. Disney fared better with The Great Mouse Detective (1986) and Oliver & Company (1988). Although Mouse Detective scored better reviews, Oliver grossed more than twice as much domestically.

However, Disney still needed a new film to please both critics and audiences. Unbeknownst to the studio, it was about to get several. Courtesy of Mouse Detective duo Ron Clements and John Musker, The Little Mermaid arrived in 1989, ushering an era known as the Disney Renaissance. The following year, Hendel Butoy and Mike Gabriel’s The Rescuers Down Under became Walt Disney Animation Studios’ first feature sequel. The film was a financially successful response to its 1977 predecessor, The Rescuers, which once held the domestic record of highest opening for an animated feature. In 1991, Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise’s masterpiece Beauty & the Beast opened with massive praise and became the first animated feature nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award. Clements and Musker then returned with Aladdin, the world’s highest-grossing film of 1992.

In the midst of all this achievement, Disney carefully planned their next big musical. They felt confident the picture would earn critical acclaim and break box office records. With powerful music, captivating visuals from many of the studio’s top animators, and a story loosely based on a Shakespearean classic, Disney eagerly anticipated for this film to take the world by storm. The film was Pocahontas. Meanwhile, Disney was also developing a B-film about a boy in Africa, framed for murdering his father. With music by Elton John.

Director George Scribner, praised for his Mickey Mouse short The Prince & the Pauper (1990), was quietly developing King of the Jungle. “When the project was originally conceived, it was suggested that it would kind of be a ‘Bambi in Africa.’ That was the pitch – Bambi with lions in Africa,” explained Rob Minkoff, who later joined the project as a co-director. “Bambi is a very naturalistic film about what life is like in the forest for those creatures. That’s kind of the approach that was being taken. It was a bit more straightforward and true-to-life.”

While King‘s concept was intriguing, the Disney brass were unsatisfied by its story. Hence, they brought Roger Allers on board as a co-director. Allers had previously worked as a storyboard artist on Mermaid, Rescuers Down Under, and Pauper, and as the head of story on Beauty. “Since I had a lot of experience working closely with the composers and the directors, I started wondering whether I should try directing. Some other people had been suggesting it,” recalled Allers. “I proposed it to Peter Schneider, so he put that away in his head. I had been helping out on Aladdin. When I finished with that, basically, he asked me to join.”

Rob Minkoff (left) and Roger Allers during the making of The Lion King.

However, the directorial team of Scribner and Allers still struggled to find a story approved by Disney management. Finally, the studio decided a change in directors was needed, turning their attention to Minkoff. At Disney since 1983, the Cal Arts graduate had directed the Roger Rabbit shorts Tummy Trouble (1989) and Roller Coaster Rabbit (1990). “Disney decided to make a change away from George and asked me to come in. I think they gave Roger the opportunity to stay with the movie and join me on it, or not,” remembered Minkoff. “The two of us got together and talked over my ideas. Roger had some ideas that hadn’t quite managed to get to the surface of the project.”

Over two days’ worth of meetings, Allers and Minkoff met with producer Don Hahn, as well as Beauty directors Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale, to retool the film. “When I got involved, we were able to bring some of the more mythical and magical elements, like Mufasa’s ghost coming back to talk to Simba, which were not part of the film before,” said Minkoff. “Also, Rafiki as a character changed dramatically to become sort of a shaman witch doctor as opposed to what he had been previously, which was more of a politician.” In time, the filmmakers began to see similarities between their film and Shakespeare’s Hamlet, drawing inspiration from the latter work. Minkoff and Allers worked from a screenplay by Irene Mecchi and Jonathan Roberts, with revisions from Linda Woolverton. Brenda Chapman served as story supervisor.

Thus, The Lion King was born.

Despite the film’s promising story, Allers and Minkoff faced another hurdle: convincing top animators to work on the project. “We had a difficult time convincing people to work on the movie because the studio had decided they were going to do two productions at the same time, which hadn’t been done before. That meant the artists basically had to be divided among the productions, which gave the artists actually a lot of clout and control over what they wanted to work on,” said Minkoff. “If they didn’t want to work on The Lion King, they could work on Pocahontas, and vice versa. Because of the impression that Pocahontas was a more obvious hit, there were a lot of top artists who wanted to work on it. We were struggling to convince people to work on our movie.”

Multiple factors had contributed to Disney’s favoring Pocahontas over The Lion King. “The Lion King wasn’t based on a fairy tale or a previously-published work. There was no awareness of what it was. There was a general sense of, because of that, there was no guarantee whether it would succeed,” said Minkoff. “Pocahontas was a project that Jeffrey and others at the studio felt was much more of an obvious hit, in the sense that it was combining two classic stories. It was telling the Pocahontas story. People, if they didn’t know much about it, certainly had heard of Pocahontas. And Disney was really trying to take an angle of it being based on Romeo & Juliet, a cross-cultural love story.”

Plus, Pocahontas had one more sizable factor: Alan Menken, who had won six Oscars among 10 nominations for Mermaid, Beauty, and Aladdin. “To me, it was fine that Alan was on the other project. That seemed in Alan’s field – a romantic movie, because he was really good at that,” said Allers. “I don’t think we felt like, ‘Oh, I wish I had Alan Menken.'”

“At the time, one of the first songs he had written was “Colors of the Wind”, which was really a spectacular song,” said Minkoff. “I think all of those things led them to feel Pocahontas was an obvious surefire hit, and The Lion King was more of a question mark.”

Without Menken, Allers and Minkoff still planned for The Lion King to be a musical. For inspiration, Allers considered his time with Menken’s lyricist, Howard Ashman, who died in 1991. “Basically, we were still three-quarters of the way through Beauty and the Beast when Howard died. He was actually involved right up to the end, working with us,” remembered Allers. “It was a wonderful experience, working with Howard and Alan. But it was such a painful one in the last days, having phone call conferences with him as he literally faded away. That was rough.” In his time with Ashman, Allers carefully studied the intricacy of the musical genre. “He helped us see the connection between stage musicals and animated musicals. He really educated us, in a huge way; he helped us understand the structure and purpose of songs.”

To pen those songs, Disney hired one iconic pop star and Aladdin‘s Oscar-winning lyricist. “Really, right when I started, they told us we were going to get Elton John and Tim Rice,” said Allers. “I had always liked Elton John’s music. I would never have thought of him for The Lion King, but it worked out very well.”

Production on The Lion King took place at Walt Disney Feature Animation in Glendale, California, and the Feature Animation satellite studio at Disney-MGM Studios in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. Minkoff and Allers balanced directorial duties via trips and phone conferences. “Roller Coaster Rabbit was made entirely in Florida, so I had actually spent six months there, working in Orlando at that studio. I got to know everybody quite well,” said Minkoff. “So, it wasn’t too difficult. Although we would have to use the phone a lot and do long-distance communication, since there wasn’t much of a way to do video conferencing, it was still a fairly seamless way of working.”

Interestingly, Allers differed slightly about the experience. “That was hard, directing over the phone sometimes. The animators would send out tapes of their work to us. We’d be looking at their work on the monitors here, while talking on the phone to the animators there. Would not want to have to do that again. That was awkward,” confessed Allers. “It was much better when we were sent to Florida. Rob and I would take turns going to Florida and working directly with them. But we just couldn’t be there all the time.”

Still, both directors agreed on the overall quality of the animators’ work. “The people who were there, leading on the artistic side, were really experienced,” said Minkoff. “Mark Henn, I remember, was one of those based in Florida. He was the supervising animator on Simba and was such a good animator.”

After approximately four years, Allers and Minkoff completed The Lion King. Eagerly, they waited to see the results of their labor.

On June 15, 1994, The Lion King opened domestically with a limited release in two theaters. The film grossed $1,586,753 for a per theater average of $793,377, a record for largest per theater average during a weekend. Reviews praised the film’s mature story, humor, and majestic animation.

On June 24, 1994, The Lion King opened nationwide in 2,552 theaters and collected $40.9 million, achieving the record for biggest opening of an animation film. By the end of its run in spring 1995, the film had earned $312.9 million domestically. Worldwide, the film collected $784.7 million, becoming the #1 movie of 1994 and the biggest animated film of all time.

Among the praise, The Lion King also found controversy. The film shard multiple similarities with Osamu Tezuka’s 1950 manga Jungle Emperor, more commonly known in the U.S. as Kimba the White Lion. While their stories were different, the works shared similar character designs and names. When he was hired, actor Matthew Broderick, the voice of adult Simba, actually believed The Lion King was a Disney retelling of Kimba. However, Disney’s official stance on the matter was that the similarities were merely coincidental.

The Lion King was celebrated with numerous accolades. John and Rice won an Oscar for “Can You Feel the Love Tonight”, with “Hakuna Matata” and “Circle of Life” also landing nominations. Composer Hans Zimmer received an Oscar for his musical score. At the Golden Globes, John, Rice, and Zimmer were likewise honored for their music, while Hahn earned a statue for producing the Best Motion Picture – Comedy/Musical. The Annie Awards selected The Lion King as the Best Animated Film of 1994, and also honored Brenda Chapman for her story.

Disney Theatrical considered adapting The Lion King for Broadway, as they had successfully done with Beauty & the Beast in 1994. Allers and Mecchi wrote the book for the musical, which featured new music by John, Rice, and Lebo M. Directed by Julie Taymor, The Lion King opened on November 13, 1997, at the New Amsterdam Theater.

Like its animated predecessor, The Lion King won numerous accolades among its critical acclaim. The show received six Tony Awards, including Best Musical. Taymor was honored for her direction and costume design, the latter with Michael Curry. Garth Fagan earned a Tony for his choreography, as did Richard Hudson for his scenic design and Donald Holder for his lighting. Interestingly, much of the talent who transferred from the film to the show were left with only nominations, including Allers and Mecchi. Other nominees included the Best Original Score team of John, Rice, Zimmer, Lebo M, Taymor, Mark Mancina, and Jay Rifkin. The Lion King would go on to deliver 5,754 performances by September 25, 2011, becoming the seventh longest-running show on Broadway.

Disney wanted other ways to extend the Lion King franchise. The same year the film broke box office records, the studio found another goldmine: direct-to-video films. Hitting store shelves on May 20, 1994, the Aladdin sequel Return of Jafar was expected to sell two million copies total. Instead, it sold nearly 11 million copies, collecting close to $100 million. Meanwhile, The Lion King arrived on VHS on March 3, 1995, ultimately selling 32 million copies to become the top-selling VHS title of all time. Thus, DisneyToon Studios began production on a direct-to-video sequel to The Lion King.

Directed by Darrell Rooney and Rob LaDuca, The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride hit store shelves on October 27, 1998. With a plot loosely inspired by Romeo & Juliet, the sequel also followed Simba’s parental relationship with his cub, seen briefly in the first film. Many viewers were caught off-guard when the cub was revealed to be a girl, Kiara. After all, Disney had portrayed Simba’s cub to be a male, Kopa, in the 1994 book anthology The Lion King: Six New Adventures. Minkoff and Allers, having created the cub for their own film, were likewise surprised by the revelation. “It was not our idea that it was a female cub,” said Minkoff. “They decided they needed a different angle on the story.” Disney sold more than 13 million copies of Simba’s Pride.

Around the same time, Disney began to show interest in IMAX, a theater format with a screen size, resolution, and sound far greater than that of a typical cinema. On January 1, 2000, the studio released Fantasia 2000 for an exclusive run at the theater chain. By the end of its four-month engagement, the film had gathered $64.5 million – a respectable total but nowhere near the usual gross a Disney animated feature made in regular theaters.

But Disney realized another way to utilize IMAX. Rather than release new films in the format, the studio used IMAX to re-release classics, offering audiences a new way to experience some of their favorite films. Beauty & the Beast was the first of these re-releases, treated to an extensive restoration. Hitting IMAX theaters on January 1, 2002, Beauty also contained a new musical sequence, Human Again, which had been deleted from the film’s original release. By the end of its IMAX run, the film had added $25.5 million to its lifetime domestic gross, bringing the total to $171.4 million.

Hence, Disney decided to bring The Lion King to IMAX. Allers and Minkoff returned to help restore the film. “We had to go through the movie and clean up certain scenes again, for the IMAX screen,” explained Allers. “Blown up to such a large scale, things that were drawn smaller – like elephants in the distance – might have appeared wiggly on a large screen like that.”

Allers also took the opportunity to make a few changes to the “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King” musical sequence. Overall, he was pleased with the character design. “Chris Sanders was our character designer of all those animals in “I Just Can’t Wait to be King”,” acknowledged Allers. “He did such a fantastic job.”

But Allers was unsatisfied by the design of one particular set of animals in the original sequence: the crocodiles. “I think, in the rush of trying to get the film done, the scene kind of fell through the cracks. They wound up just using a story panel,” he explained. “It might have been my drawing; it might have been someone else’s drawing. Whoever’s drawing it was, it had never really gone through a proper design path. But they wound up just doing the designs from the story panel.” Hence, animators reworked certain elements of the original film for the IMAX release. “When we went back in and re-cleaned up some of the smaller work,” he said, “I used that opportunity to have those crocodiles redesigned.”

Just as “Human Again” had been added to Beauty & the Beast, a new musical number was also added to The Lion King: John and Rice’s “Morning Report.” The song was deleted during production for the 1994 feature but recycled for the Broadway musical. “Morning Report” partially replaced the film’s spoken pouncing lesson between Mufasa and Simba, with Zazu singing about the latest news in the animal kingdom. Voice actor Jeff Bennett provided the singing voice of the “king’s majordomo.” As he did with Simba’s Pride – and would later do with The Lion King 1 1/2 – Rowan Atkinson opted not to reprise his role as Zazu. “It was not because of unwillingness, because he’s a fantastic guy,” said Allers. “I just think he wasn’t available at the time.”

“Morning Report” was considered a controversial change by many fans of the original film. Still, Disney considered it a way to entice audiences to revisit The Lion King on the big screen. “I think the question is, ‘If you’re going to re-release it, why?'” asked Minkoff. “Doing a new sequence can certainly be a reason the audience may want to come back to see the film a second time. If they’ve seen the film before, would they go back to see it if it were just on a giant screen? They might. But if there’s something they’ve never seen before, it becomes worth investing further into the film.”

“In all honesty, I think we did a good job integrating that song from the Broadway show into the movie,” added Allers. “But I have to say, I’m partial to the original version.”

On October 7, 2003, The Lion King arrived on DVD, moving more than two million copies. Its marketing was used to herald the film’s next sequel – or, in this case, “inter-quel.” In The Lion King 1 1/2, Timon and Pumbaa revisit the first film, explaining how the meerkat and his porcine pal were actually involved much more than audiences realized. The film seemed loosely inspired by the Tom Stoppard play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, which showed the title characters in every major event of Hamlet.

Unlike Simba’s Pride, The Lion King 1 1/2 had more involvement from the behind-the-scenes talent of the original classic. “Irene Mecchi and I would go to the story meetings at the Frank Wells Building, for the video division,” said Allers. “We worked with them, made suggestions, came up with gags – that sort of thing.” When it hit stores on February 10, 2004, The Lion King 1 1/2 received arguably the best reviews for a Disney direct-to-video sequel, including a 79% approval rating at RottenTomatoes.com. Like Simba’s Pride, the film won the Annie Award for Best Animated Home Entertainment Production.

During the mid ’00s, Disney became enamored with 3D. The studio experimented with James Cameron’s documentary Ghosts of the Abyss (2003) and the animated flick Chicken Little (2005). Certainly, audiences were intrigued by new releases being shown in 3D. But Disney wondered how they would respond to classic titles being re-released in the format. On October 20, 2006, the studio issued The Nightmare Before Christmas in 3D to theaters, beginning an annual event. In its first 3D release, Nightmare collected $8.7 million. In 2007, it grossed $14.5 million, followed by $1.1 million in 2008. Simultaneously, other studios began utilizing 3D to increase earnings for their films. In 2010, the format reached an all-time high of popularity, helping Cameron’s Avatar and Disney’s Alice in Wonderland achieve worldwide totals of $2.8 billion and $1 billion, respectively.

With a history of successful theatrical re-releases, Disney decided to try their next ambitious 3D effort, converting a traditionally animated classic. For this process, the studio went with the same lineup as their Broadway and IMAX ventures: Beauty & the Beast, followed by The Lion King.

“I got a call from Don Hahn. He said the studio had been talking to him about possibly doing a conversion. We all ended up meeting together – me, Roger, and Don – with Robert Neuman, who was heading up the artistic effort on the 3D conversion,” recalled Minkoff. “We looked at the movie and talked about it; we talked about 3D and what things we liked and didn’t like. We talked about how we hoped to see The Lion King‘s presentation come across.”

To help the filmmakers visualize their film in 3D, Neuman had already prepared converted footage. “He showed us some of the tests they had done,” said Minkoff. “He showed us that the results would actually be quite good. We were very excited about how it would impact the film.”

“He also showed us the process, which was fascinating,” added Allers. “It’s an incredibly labor-intensive process where, in every frame, the parts of the character and the background are assigned different focal lengths.”

Roughly four months later, Minoff and Allers were pleased with the conversion. “I thought it worked really well,” praised Allers.

“I’ve seen it a couple of times, projected on the big screen, and I think it’s really successfully done,” reviewed Minkoff. “It brings a dimension to the film that makes it a more visceral experience.”

Box office returns suggested audiences agreed. The Lion King 3D was released nationwide on September 16, 2011, scheduled for a two-week engagement. Analysts’ expectations for the first weekend were modest, predicting an opening less than $15 million. Instead, The Lion King 3D became the top film at the box office for two weeks, with $30.1 million and $21.9 million. Disney responded by extending the film’s theatrical run.

On October 4, 2011, The Lion King made its grand debut on Blu-ray. Simba’s Pride and The Lion King 1 1/2 were likewise released, albeit only in a trilogy package.

Curiously, Minkoff and Allers have not teamed again for another movie, unlike Clements/Musker and Wise/Trousdale, the other most popular directorial duos of the Disney Renaissance. “Based on circumstances at the time, I ended up doing a live-action feature, Stuart Little, after The Lion King,” explained Minkoff. “But we’ve talked about working together again. We’re very good friends; we see each other quite a lot. I’m hoping we find the right project to do and get a chance to work together again.”

For Allers, the feeling is mutual. “Rob has asked, ‘Would you like to do this again?’ I said, ‘Sure!’ So, who knows,” concluded Allers. “It is not precluded from the future by any means.”

The 3D Conversion of a Classic

The original film image.

The 3D Depth Map created by Robert Neuman, the 3D Stereographer on the film.
Positive numbers refer to the pixel amount the image will come out of the screen.
Negative numbers refer to the pixel amount the image will go deeper into the screen.

Grey Scale – The final image in the computer representation of depth.
The darkest images will be furthest away.
The lighter images will be closer to the viewer.

Disney’s The Lion King
is now available to own.

Two-Disc Diamond Edition Blu-ray / DVD Combo

Four-Disc Diamond Edition Blu-ray 3D / Blu-ray / DVD / Digital Copy

Eight-Disc Combo: Blu-ray 3D / Blu-ray / DVD / Digital Copy

Special thanks to Roger Allers, Rob Minkoff, and Darrell Borquez at WDAS!
“Minkoff and Allers at the The Lion King 3D premiere” photo is courtesy of Kevin Winter / Getty Images North America.

Originally Bluto

In late 1960, the initial batch of Popeye television cartoons, produced by King Features Syndicate, began airing on the small screen. In the new shows, viewers were introduced to characters that made their debut in the sailor’s comic strip. These included Alice The Goon, King Blozo, Toar, and The Sea Hag. One newcomer was a black-bearded fat man who went by the name of Brutus. In the older Popeye cartoons, produced for theatre screens starting in the 1930s, the sailor battled a similar looking man named Bluto. However, when production began on the new cartoons for television, Bluto underwent a name change.

Bluto was created in 1932 by Elzie Crisler Segar as a one-time character, named Bluto The Terrible in his Thimble Theatre comic strip. Segar’s Bluto was portrayed as a bloodthirsty pirate! This brute gave Popeye his first taste of real competition in a slugfest that went on for days. When the Fleischer Studios needed a recurring villain in the Popeye theatrical films, they chose Bluto. In the Fleischer cartoons, he wore a short-sleeved black shirt and a captain’s hat. In the majority of the later theatrical films produced by Famous Studios, Bluto wore a white sailor’s uniform.

Enter Brutus

Let us jump ahead now to September of 1956 when the 234 Popeye theatricals, produced by the Fleischer and Famous Studios, began airing on television. The cartoons were a huge success and Bluto, along with the rest of the cast, began appearing on an assortment of new merchandise. King Features Syndicate, though owning the rights to the Popeye cast, did not receive any money directly from the successful syndication of the theatrical films. Seeking to participate more fully in Popeye’s television success, King Features hired Al Brodax to be the executive producer of a new series of Popeye cartoons, which they would own and therefore reap the profits. Paramount Pictures, who financed the old theatrical films, incorrectly believed that they owned the rights to the name Bluto. Paramount thought the bully was a creation of the Fleischer studio, forgetting his roots in Segar’s comic strip, owned by King Features Syndicate.

To avoid any legal problems, Brodax renamed the sailor’s enemy Brutus. He was clearly named after Julius Cesar’s assassin and wore a short-sleeved blue shirt with an enormous stomach. A bearded brute appeared in one of two pilot cartoons for the King Features TV series, Barbecue For Two (Jack Kinney, 1960). However, the name Brutus is believed to have been heard first in Muskels Shmuskels (Larry Harmon, 1960). The bully also had the distinction of being animated by several different studios for the same series. The names on the credits included Gerald Ray, Jack Kinney, Gene Deitch, Larry Harmon and Paramount Cartoon Studios.

Bluto was often portrayed as having a romantic interest towards the sailor’s girl, Olive Oyl. Brutus, on the other hand, was used as a bank robber, kidnapper, dogcatcher, whale hunter, painter, Mr. America contestant, detective, and other assorted professions to bother Popeye and his friends. By 1960 it was Brutus who was appearing on new products along with the sailor man’s friends and foes. In 1972 it was also Brutus who appeared in the Popeye-centric The Man Who Hated Laughter, which aired as a segment of The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie and starred a number of King Features characters.

A Problem In The Comic Books

Despite his presence in the theatrical cartoons, Bluto did not appear in the Popeye comic book series. Bud Sagendorf, who produced the comic books, wanted to include the character because of his popularity in the cartoons’ re-airings on television in the 1950s. Although Sagendorf could use the bully’s familiar look he could not call him Bluto due to the conflict with Paramount.

In Dell Comics’ Popeye # 40 (1957) The Sea Hag summons “the big guy that hates Popeye” and a brute looking a lot like Bluto appears. In the stories that followed, descriptive names were used until Sagendorf settled on Sonny Boy, the offspring of The Sea Hag. Popeye’s nemesis was called “Mean Man” on two toys during this time period: Linemar’s Popeye And The Mean Man Mechanical Fighters and Mechanical Mean Man.

The name Brutus was not used in the comic book series until Dell Comics Popeye #64 (1962). Sagendorf illustrated the television version of Brutus in this issue’s opening story. Strangely, the unnamed bearded bully appeared in another tale in this comic book. With Brutus’ presence in Gold Key’s giant sized Popeye #67 (1963) the name change became permanent. Sagendorf altered Brutus’s look in later issues and finally established him wearing a long sleeved undershirt under a short-sleeved shirt, a captain’s hat, dark circles around his eyes and a hairy but trimmed beard.

George Wildman began drawing the Popeye comic book series for Charlton Comics in 1969 and fluctuated between Sagendorf’s design and the version seen on the television cartoons. Eventually Wildman had The Sea Hag refer to Brutus as her son. In 1988, Ocean Comics depicted Bluto and Brutus as twin brothers in the second of three Popeye stories the company published.

The Brute In The Newspaper Strip

During the mid to late 1950’s, when Ralph Stein was writing the daily Thimble Theatre strip and Bill Zaboly was providing the art, Bluto returned. Bud Sagendorf took over the comic strip in 1958 and Popeye began battling a succession of bearded bullies who went nameless. When the bully wore a sailor’s hat it led the audience to speculate he was Bluto. It is believed Sagendorf first used the name Brutus in a Sunday strip dated September 30, 1962, and for the daily edition January 29, 1963. In the daily strip, Wimpy initially called him The Sea Hag’s “boy” but later Olive used the name Brutus in the same story.

In 1991 Bobby London was producing the Popeye strip and scripted The Return Of Bluto storyline. Segar’s Bluto returned seeking revenge upon Popeye and encountered a town full of bearded impostors calling themselves Brutus! London used virtually every version of Popeye’s foe from print and animation including two designs of Brutus from Europe! Hy Eisman, who currently produces the Popeye Sunday page, established Brutus as the twin brother of Bluto in two Sunday strips. The first was December 28, 2008 and the second April 5, 2009. It was the latter strip where they appeared together.

Whatever his relationships, and although usually ending up on the losing end of Popeye’s fist, Brutus has provided a great deal of enjoyment for audiences. Happy fiftieth birthday!

With our spinach-guzzling thanks to Fred Grandinetti!

2009 saw the American release of Ponyo, the tenth feature film of Hayao Miyazaki, and this month also marks the 30th anniversary of the Japanese animation grand-master’s debut film, Lupin III: The Castle Of Cagliostro. Though not as widely-acclaimed as some of Miyazaki’s other works like the children’s fantasy masterpiece My Neighbor Totoro or the Academy Award winner Spirited Away, Cagliostro commands an equally important place in the Miyazaki cannon. The film is a transitional work for Miyazaki in many ways, starting with moving from television work and animation work on other directors’ features into directing theatrical features of his own. Alongside the director’s 26-episode television epic Future Boy Conan, released a year before Cagliostro (and sadly, still unavailable in English-speaking countries), the film defined what a “Miyazaki story” is: from its grandiose action sequences to deeper themes, from hilarious slapstick moments and funny faces to realistically detailed and carefully animated dramatic scenes, the unmistakable touch of a gifted creator was everywhere. With Cagliostro, an auteur was born.

One reason that Cagliostro often gets overlooked in Miyazaki’s filmography is that the film, though a stand-alone work, is also part of an existing franchise – and one that it never seemed to have fully fit in to, alienating both fans and people unfamiliar with the original material. The roots of the franchise date back to the history of modern crime fiction.

In 1905, French writer Maurice Leblanc (pictured above) introduced the character of Arsene Lupin to the genre, and it immediately became a sensation. The stories and novels about Lupin, a thief with a heart of gold who often fights for just causes on the wrong side of the law, are credited with the development of the “Gentleman Thief” archetype in genre books, along with the caper plots that follow the careful planning and execution of a perfect crime. At the height of his popularity, with his slick attitude, and seemingly endless pool of tricks and deceptions, Lupin was the biggest literary rival of another iconic genre hero from across the channel – the cool, logic-driven English detective Sherlock Holmes. Leblanc actually turned this rivalry into a personal affair when he confronted his own hero with an English detective named Herlock Sholmes, a pun obvious to pretty much everyone to this very day.

In 1967, 26 years after Leblanc’s death, Japanese manga (comics) artist Kazuhiko Kato, better known by his pen name Monkey Punch, introduced the character of Arsene Lupin III, the grandson of the famous literary thief. Drawing inspiration from a wide variety of sources – from Leblanc’s original stories through contemporary crime and spy fiction to the satirical graphic style of the American Mad magazine – Kato made his hero, in many ways, in the image of his literary grandfather, but in many other ways, a very different person. Like his grandfather, Kato’s Lupin was the world’s greatest thief, a master of deception that no lawman could rival. However, he didn’t seem to have inherited any of his grandfather’s gentlemanly character. In fact, he seemed to lack any sense of honor whatsoever: backstabbing everyone, friend and foe alike, was a habit for him, either to increase his share of the profit from the current crime he’s involved with or simply for his own sadistic amusement. And though the old-fashioned romantic attitude of Leblanc’s Lupin would probably be considered chauvinistic by today’s standards, he would have undoubtedly rolled in his grave if he witnessed his grandson’s behavior among women – rude, violent, often crossing the line into plain sexual harassment. But Kato kept the general atmosphere of the series light; at their core, the Lupin III stories were played for laughs, and functioned as a satire of sorts on the very anti-social behavior they supposedly promoted.

As noted by Miyazaki himself in his recently translated essays anthology Starting Point: 1979-1996, Kato’s manga was very much a product of its era. In the late 1960s, Japan was still celebrating its amazing post-war economic recovery and prosperity, and Japanese youth of the era found two conflicting sentiments they could identify with in Lupin’s character: they adored him both as a rebel going against a corrupt economic system, but also as someone who could enjoy the good life this system brought with it – good food, fast cars and expensive clothing.

Another sign of the new economic boom was the rise of Japanese animation. Comics became a cheap and accessible form of entertainment in the immediate years following the war, and by the 1960s solidified their status in Japan as content matured along with readers. Like comics, animation existed in Japan long before the war, but the post-war years brought it to prominence: toy manufacturer TOEI began producing high-quality color animated features in the late 1950s, and as television began its massive invasion into Japanese homes in the following decade, studios and productions began to flourish. The country’s comics and animation industries soon began to collaborate, feeding each other’s success. And with the popularity of Lupin III, an animated adaptation of the character seemed like a natural development.

A short animated pilot based on the manga was completed in 1969 by the animation studio Tokyo Movie Shinsha (TMS), with plans to expand it to both film and television productions, but these plans failed to materialize. In 1971, the studio finally managed to get a television series off the ground, but Lupin’s way to becoming an animated franchise was still plagued with many problems. The first team recruited to animate the show tried to follow the adult sensibilities of the original manga – the Lupin III series was one of the first animated shows in Japan made primarily for an adult audience – and the show met with poor ratings. Miyazaki and his long-time partner from his days in TOEI, Isao Takahata, were brought into the production in order to take it in a more action/adventure direction that would appeal to a wider audience, but ratings failed to improve, and when the series ended its run, the prospect of a second season seemed very unlikely.

Miyazaki and Takahata co-directed 14 out of the series’ 23 episodes. As Miyazaki’s earliest credited directing job, these episodes are something of a letdown when compared to his later works – certainly in film, but in television productions as well. There is nothing particularly bad about them, but there is nothing really outstanding about them either. Miyazaki and Takahata did bring a talent for directing kinetic action scenes from the TOEI productions, a talent they now had to implement within a modern-day environment (learning valuable lessons on the design of such environments in the process), and the never-ending battle between Lupin and Inspector Zenigata, the police detective determined to capture him, proved to be as highly entertaining on the TV screen as it did in the comics. But other elements from the comics proved to be harder to translate. Lupin’s gang, consisting of sharpshooter Jigen, swordsman Goemon and femme-fatale Fujiko, proved to be a bland and uninteresting bunch, and scripts often felt uninspired and formulaic: the attempt to appeal to both hard-core fans of the original manga and a wider audience appears to have pushed the show into a lose-lose situation.

Still, a few episodes rose above the general mediocrity. In Hunt Down The Counterfeiter! Lupin competes with another criminal over the services of a retired counterfeiter, who is reluctant to go back to his old line of work. Many of the set pieces of this episode – notably a sequence taking place outside and within the top of a clock-tower – seem to be a general rehearsal for Cagliostro, and the episode also leads to an unusually brutal and tragic climax. Beware The Time Machine!, one of the series’ zaniest episodes and a rare example of a pure science-fiction plot in the show, followed Lupin in his attempts to outsmart a time traveler who promises to make him disappear by killing one of his ancestors. Which Of The Third Generation Will Win? further dug into the Lupin mythology, when it confronted Lupin III with the grandson of Inspector Ganimard, the arch-nemesis of his literary grandfather. Rescue The Tomboy! revealed an unfamiliar and more altruistic side of Lupin III, as he came to the rescue of his father’s partner’s daughter. The episode also featured an exciting train-chase that inspired a similar sequence in Miyazaki’s later film, the magnificent 1986 steampunk epic Castle in the Sky.

Despite the initial lukewarm audience reaction to the series, reruns proved to be quite popular, and in 1978 the franchise returned to life with an animated feature, simply titled Lupin III (released as The Mystery Of Mamo or Secret Of Mamo in English-speaking countries). Directed by Soji Yoshikawa, the film returned to the dark and adult-oriented roots of the original manga, and the big screen proved to be a far more suitable platform for this attitude than the TV screen. The film was a hit, and production immediately went underway to get another film out, as quickly as possible. Miyazaki was offered the director’s chair, and accepted the job. Completed in the insane schedule of just four months, Castle Of Cagliostro was probably a very different film than what the producers and the audience had in mind, but turned out to be a magnificent film nonetheless.

The film opens with both Lupin and Jigen pulling off a successful casino robbery, only to discover that their loot is comprised entirely of forged bills. In an attempt to trace the origin of the forgeries, both arrive at the small European monarchy of Cagliostro, and discover that its sinister ruler, Count Cagliostro, is running a global money-counterfeiting operation. The Count has other plans too – notably, forcing the monarchy’s heiress, young princess Clarisse, to marry him. Can Lupin foil his plans and save the princess?

As the synopsis suggests, Cagliostro presented the audience with a very different Lupin III than the one they knew. With the exception of the robbery at the opening scene, he is portrayed in the film as an almost totally selfless character: his coming to the aid of global economy when the authorities are helpless against the Count’s political power, and his delicate romantic courting of the young princess followed by the tragic realization (on Lupin’s part) that the two just aren’t destined to be together – such behavior was more characteristic of Leblanc’s original Lupin than with Kato’s manga version of his grandson.

Indeed, Leblanc’s Lupin seems to have been a major influence on the film. The characters of Clarice and Count Cagliostro both refer to the twelfth novel in the original Lupin series, The Countess Of Cagliostro (translated to English under the title Memoirs Of Arsene Lupin in the US, and The Candlestick With Seven Branches in the UK). The novel, presented as a prequel to other Lupin stories, featured a young Lupin who is determined to marry his lover Clarice, over her father’s objection to her marrying a commoner. In an attempt to prove himself worthy of Clarice’s hand, Lupin finds himself mixed up in an affair involving Josephine Balsamo, a beautiful woman suspected of being the daughter of the notorious 18th century conman Alessandro Cagliostro. Josephine herself is part of a bigger plot to find an ancient treasure related to Clarice’s family heritage.

The references to these elements from Leblanc’s novel in Cagliostro go beyond the superficial level of names and roles assigned to characters. Miyazaki’s Clarice has something of both the novel’s Clarice and Josephine: Like the novel’s Clarice, she is a gentle, helpless girl, trapped in the tradition of her high-class family. But as the film progresses, much inspired by Lupin, she gains the determination and inner strength of the novel’s Josephine, without acquiring any of the latter’s negative characteristics of greed and jealousy. It seems that Josephine’s darker personality traits have found their way to Fujiko’s character, and yet compared to her behavior in previous incarnations of the franchise, her character’s portrayal in Cagliostro is rather tame. She is also after the treasure, and she causes a lot of mayhem, but unlike Josephine, she does not try to come between Lupin and Clarice – perhaps recognizing a lost battle when she sees it.

Even more interesting is the relationship between the film’s Lupin and his grandfather in Leblanc’s novel. As noted above, The Countess Of Cagliostro was written as a prequel to the other Lupin novels, drawing a portrait of the thieving artist as a young man, with readers fully aware of what this young man will turn out to be. Miyazaki’s film gave the audience an older and experienced Lupin III, one who examines his own past in a rather critical manner, a past that the audience was fully aware of through his previous manga and animation incarnations. Two brief flashback scenes in the film present a young and overconfident Lupin in his failed attempt to rob the Cagliostro family, an attempt that led to his first meeting with a much younger Clarice. In the film’s timeframe, older and wiser, Lupin must succeed where he once failed, now for a noble cause rather than a selfish one. This interpretation of the character may have been a little too radical for its fans, but contrary to some claims, it did not turn Kato’s creation into something different: the film’s Lupin is very much the same character from the previous manga and animation incarnations – he just grew up.

The regular cast of supporting characters also seems to have matured in the film. In the TV series, Jigen and Goemon’s main function was to be sidekicks for Lupin, tools in the execution of his plots. In Cagliostro they became something more akin to friends and confidants, who – not unlike Lupin himself – realize that there are things worth fighting for other than their greedy ambitions. In the course of the film, even Inspector Zenigata learns to respect Lupin, putting aside his own obsession with the thief’s capture and realizing that there are greater dangers and evils in the world, ones that only people like Lupin can truly struggle with.

These changes are also reflected in the film’s design. While the character design for the TV series kept the original manga style of twisted and exaggerated features inspired by Mad magazine, the characters of Cagliostro have a more streamlined, cleaner look, closer to the clear-line style of Franco-Belgian comics. The gorgeous, colorful, pseudo-European scenery in which the film takes place was doubtlessly inspired by Miyazaki’s own travels: in the decade that predated the production of Cagliostro, he made many trips to the old continent, making landscape sketches for animated adaptations of classic children’s literary works such as Johanna Spyri’s Heidi and Edmondo De Amicis’ From The Apennines To The Andes. Yet the main European influence on Cagliostro came not from the real world, but from an earlier animated masterpiece.

From a very early stage in his career, Miyazaki has admired Paul Grimault’s animated feature, La bergére et le ramoneur (The Shepherdess And The Chimney Sweep). Loosely adapted from a fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen, the film followed two young lovers who must run away from a pompous, evil King determined to marry the Shepherdess. The film’s production proved to be a nightmare for Grimault, and it was initially released against the director’s wishes in an unfinished form in 1952.

But even unfinished, the film’s beautiful visuals captured the hearts of many animators worldwide – especially, it seems, at TOEI, where Miyazaki had worked for the better part of the first decade of his career. In 1969, Miyazaki was one of the animators working on the studio’s version of Puss ‘n Boots, based Charles Perrault’s classic tale but actually more closely modeled after Grimault’s film: the relationship between the boy-protagonist Pierre and the sharp-tongue cat Pero strongly resembled those between the young Chimney Sweep and the wise Mockingbird in Grimault’s film. Other elements in Puss ‘n Boots echo Grimault’s film, especially a scene in which Pierre and Pero disrupt a planned wedding between the evil demon and a helpless princess. In Puss ‘n Boots, this scene leads to the film’s climatic chase sequence, animated by Miyazaki and largely considered as a prototype for the climatic sequence of Cagliostro.

Cagliostro also borrowed many narrative and visual elements from Grimault’s film: the basic plotline of disrupting the wedding of an evil tyrant and a beautiful innocent girl, the tyrant’s luxuriously-decorated palace that is also full of traps, and a gang of henchmen serving the tyrant – both oversized goons and ninja-like assassins (in one of the most delightful scenes in Cagliostro, the assassins’ masks come off – revealing a bunch of embarrassed, middle-aged people). The film’s portrayal of Lupin himself seems to combine both the delicate romanticism of the Chimney Sweep and the Mockingbird’s talent for mischief. Fujiko’s character has inherited some of the Mockingbird’s traits as well – particularly toward the end of the film, when she takes over a TV news report in a manner very similar to the narration provided by the Mockingbird toward the end of Grimault’s film.

As with Leblanc’s original novel, Miyazaki’s references to Grimault’s film show a deeper understanding of it beyond the surface-level visual and narrative elements. Grimault used height and depth as metaphors: the evil king in his film lives in the top floor of the high tower of his palace, ruling over a kingdom of beautifully-designed buildings and monuments, though its streets are eerily-empty, thinly-populated by his servants. Only underneath this kingdom, underground, live the common folk in poverty, without even the privilege of sunlight. The castle of Count Cagliostro is a similarly extravagant monument of architecture, built on the foundations of evil – the forgery operation that has been running underneath it for years, fueled not only by the Cagliostro family greed, but also by the collaboration of the nations that supported it. If Grimault presented the struggle for freedom as the struggle of the people against the tyrant, Miyazaki reminded his audience that this struggle should take place on a global, rather than personal or even national level. In an interesting coincidence, shortly after the theatrical debut of Cagliostro, Graimault won his own personal struggle for freedom: in 1980, he finally managed to complete and release his film the way he meant for it to be seen, under the new title Le Roi el lóiseau (The King And The Bird).

Miyazaki’s interpretation of Lupin’s character resulted in a wonderful film, but unfortunately it also proved to be a bit too different for fans of the franchise, and upon its initial release in Japan, Cagliostro was considered a box-office disappointment. Outside Japan, however, where most spectators were unaware of the character’s history and background, the reaction was very different. For the non-Japanese audience who experienced a Lupin story (and Miyazaki’s direction) for the first time through Cagliostro, the film presented some of the most incredible action scenes ever seen, in and outside of animation. The early car-chase, the dangerous escape from the castle, and the climatic clock-tower sequence left viewers with their jaws dropped. Rumor has it that Steven Spielberg himself praised Cagliostro as adventure filmmaking at its finest (this rumor has never been confirmed, but it didn’t stop at least one American DVD release from carrying the supposed Spielberg quote on its back cover).

Another major figure in the American entertainment industry upon whom Cagliostro made a very deep impression is John Lasseter. In the early ’80s, Lasseter was a young animator at Disney, unhappy with the studio’s generic productions at the time. It was the discovery of Cagliostro that demonstrated to Lasseter what animation can really do, and what kind of films he wanted to make himself. Lasseter went on to become the creative leader of the computer animation studio Pixar, and his admiration for Miyazaki turned into a personal friendship between the two. Lasseter has declared that Miyazaki’s movies are an important source of inspiration for the Pixar animators.

Other young rising stars at Disney appear to have also been inspired by Miyazaki’s debut feature. John Musker, Lasseter’s classmate in CalArts and a prominent figure in Disney’s later renaissance of the late ’80s and early-to-mid ’90s (directing The Little Mermaid and Aladdin) paid homage to the climatic clock-tower sequence of Cagliostro in his 1986 feature directorial debut, The Great Mouse Detective. Homage to the aftermath of the same sequence, spiced with a look inspired by Castle In The Sky was also paid in Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise’s 2001 adventure, Atlantis: The Lost Empire.

Cagliostro and Miyazaki’s work in general were also an important source of inspiration for a team of young animators at the Warner Brothers Studio as they embarked on a journey to re-invent superhero animation at the early ’90s. Batman: The Animated Series and its many sequels and spin-offs set new standards for dark, sophisticated storytelling in American TV animation, and the animators working on them were quick to recognize Japanese animation as a rich source for ideas. An extended homage to Cagliostro was paid in the climactic sequence of The Clock King, one of the early episodes in Batman: The Animated Series, with a more brief reference also made in Mask Of The Phantasm, the first feature in the animated Batman franchise. The production of Mask Of The Phantasm also closed a cycle of sorts, when it employed the services of Yukio Suzuki, a Japanese animator who started his career as an in-betweener in Cagliostro – he would go on to direct episodes of Batman Beyond, the spectacular futuristic take on Batman’s character.

Back in Japan, it turned out that the box-office performance of Cagliostro did not spell the end of the Lupin III franchise, or Miyazaki’s involvement in it. In 1980, a new TV series starring Lupin debuted in Japan, becoming a hit and spreading across no fewer than 155 episodes. Toward the end of the series’ run, Miyazaki was brought in to direct two episodes – Albatross, Wings Of Death and Farewell Beloved Lupin. After Cagliostro, Miyazaki was obviously thinking big in terms of direction, and both episodes feel as though they could have been a part of some big-screen action spectacle. Sadly, they had problems fitting within the short timeframe of a standard television episode.

Albatross, Wings Of Death pits Lupin against an evil scientist armed with nuclear bombs onboard an airplane, holding Fujiko as a hostage. With its paper-thin plot, the episode is essentially a non-stop action affair, which could have worked better as part of a larger narrative. As it is, Albatross, Wings Of Death is entertaining but forgettable, with the main attraction being the exciting sky chase (Miyazaki’s specialty) and the design of the evil scientist character – a design that Miyazaki would re-use for two more sympathetic characters: the old airship mechanic in Castle In The Sky, and boiler-room operator Kamaji in Spirited Away.

In Farewell Beloved Lupin, a series of daring crimes is performed by a giant robot, and suspicion falls on Lupin’s gang as the responsible party. The government, meanwhile, seems happy to exploit the situation by enforcing martial law. The episode features well-crafted action scenes, inspired by the classic Fleischer brothers’ 1941 Superman cartoon Mechanical Monsters (the jewel-robbery scene that opens the episode is an almost shot-for-shot recreation of a similar scene from the Fleischers’ film), and its political message against the abuse of government power gives the narrative a feeling of depth that Albatross, Wings of Death had lacked. But the episode still proved a bit too ambitious for its own scope: things get resolved too quickly, and the twist about the villain’s (and hero’s) true identity feels forced.

In 1984, Miyazaki’s theatrical adaptation of his own manga Nausicaa Of The Valley Of The Wind debuted, becoming his second feature. The film was a success, led to the foundation of Miyazaki’s animation studio Ghibli, and effectively ended his long career on TV productions. But shortly before that happened, in the last small-screen production to involve Miyazaki, he managed to give Lupin III a final bow by adapting the stories of his grandfather’s greatest literary rival.

In 1981, Miyazaki wrote and directed six episodes in the Japanese-Italian co-production Meitantei Holmes (Famous Detective Holmes), an animated adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories, in which the entire cast was presented as anthropomorphic dogs (the series is titled Sherlock Hound in its American release). More action-oriented compared to Doyle’s mystery-solving plots, the series nonetheless provided highly entertaining weekly thrill-rides, set against beautiful backgrounds designed in Victorian style, with light touches of steampunk technology.

The first three Sherlock Hound episodes directed by Miyazaki are particularly fascinating, as they appear to be a direct continuation – in both narrative and concept – of his work on the Lupin franchise. In A Small Client, Holmes is approached by a little girl (whose design is somewhat similar to Mei, the young protagonist of Miyazaki’s later film My Neighbor Totoro), asking him to find her missing cat. The first part of the episode contains a terrific scene in which Holmes decodes an encrypted message, a task that reminds the audience of his literary origins. The second part of the episode leads to an action-packed climatic confrontation between Holmes and his arch-nemesis Moriarty, in an attempt to stop the latter’s plot to flood England with forged coins – an obvious reference to Cagliostro.

In Miyazaki’s next episode, Mrs. Hudson Is Taken Hostage, Holmes’ housekeeper is kidnapped by Moriarty, in an attempt to extort Holmes into stealing the Mona Lisa from the London National Gallery (loaned by the Louvre, one assumes). The episode plays almost like a piece of fan-fiction: what would Holmes do if he found himself in Lupin’s shoes? The setup for the episode’s robbery scene, which includes a classic Lupin-style threatening letter sent to the police, an angry Inspector Lestrade who could double for Zenigata, and a clever deception, all add up to a highly entertaining story, which becomes even more entertaining with the added value of the scenes portraying Moriarty and his henchmen as they attempt to deal with their hostage.

The third Miyazaki episode, The Blue Ruby – a name that alludes to the literary Holmes mystery, The Adventure Of The Blue Carbuncle, though largely unrelated to it otherwise – opens with Moriarty pulling a clever Lupin-like stunt of his own, when he creates a large-scale diversion in order to steal a precious gemstone. But shortly afterwards he loses it to a young, resourceful pickpocket girl – who soon must rely on Holmes to pull herself out of trouble. Much like Miyazaki’s work on the Lupin franchise, this episode carries the sentiment that not all thieves are bad people.  Miyazaki directed three more episodes in the show, notably The White Cliffs Of Dover, which introduced many elements that would form his 1993 feature Porco Rosso. Licensing problems delayed the broadcast of the show until 1984 – the same year that marked Miyazaki’s final move to theatrical features.

Miyazaki’s work on the Lupin franchise, leading from television to film and back, represents a fascinating stage of his career, one that shaped his skills as an animator and storyteller, and set him on the path to becoming one of the world’s most admired animators.

While writing this article, I have consulted several sources highly recommended for anyone who wishes to know more about Miyazaki and Lupin III. Helen McCarthy’s book “Hayao Miyazaki, Master of Japanese Animation: Films, Themes, Artistry” remains, ten years after its initial publication, the best introduction to the world of Miyazaki and his films. On the Internet, Nausicaa.net is the definitive Miyazaki resource, and the Lupin III Encyclopedia is the place to learn everything one wants to know about the Lupin III franchise. Finally, a highly informative and entertaining commentary-track for “Castle of Cagliostro” has been recorded by Chris Meadows, and is available for download at his blog. Listening to it makes repeated viewings of the film a very rewarding experience.