Thanx a lot, Jim! I'm going broke on all the great books you recommend!

I shall indeed endevour to purchase this book at my nearest shop in Chelsea as soon as pos. This is a must read!!!

I absolutely adore 50's style post modern art.

I can see why Walt hated 101 Dalmatian's look. I personally like the look of the characters as they are very 60's and the picture is a modern picture. However, the backgrounds are horrible. It's just a bunch of sketches and stuff, very different from Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, and other early classics.

It seems that the Disney animation went through a tranisition period beginning with 101 Dalmatians. I believe they started using the new Xerox technique, and although it may have been easier and cheaper than the traditional hand-painted cels, the results were much less of an impact. Just look at Snow White or Bambi today and a movie like The Jungle Book or The Fox and the Hound which also used the Xerox. Today DVD makers can clean up the picture and whatever, and after doing this Snow White, a film made 30 years before The Jungle Book looks so much better.

I think if Walt had lived to see any of the Disney films that were produced in the late 60s to late 80s between The Jungle Book and The Great Mouse Detective he would have hated them all. The films ahve great stories and I love a lot of them in that period, but the animation quality is the worst IMO compared to the early classics, Disney Renaissance, and post renaissance films.

Amid won an award?  Was it for "Biggest Blowhard in Animation Criticism." Seriously though, as talented as Amid is, that guy always acts like his $#!+ doesn't stink.  He can be so snobby compared to Jerry and really needs to get over himself.

Why did Walt hate the look of 101 Dalmations?  Besides Snow White that movie (with adjusted gross) was the most profitable animated movie for Disney Studios.  Right?  

Walt hated the style of "Dalmatians" because it wasn't the warm illustration style that his studio had spent 30 years perfecting. It was bold and flat, much like the modern art of the 50's.

But Walt also knew that the animated films were out-pricing themselves. They were far too expensive to make if they wanted to see a return on the initial box office release. In Brian Sibley's book, "The Disney Studio Story" and Canemaker's "9 Old Men", it is clear that Walt battled with decisions and choices daily to keep the animation studio running in the 50's & 60's. The xerox line style of "101D" was one of those decisions.