For a film that has yet to officially be green-lit, “The Frog Princess” sure seems to be causing a lot of controversy.
Late last week, rumors began flying around the animation community that WDFA staffers were allegedly upset with John Lasseter. Supposedly because the chief creative officer of Disney Feature Animation & Pixar Animation Studios had over-ridden Ron Clements & John Musker‘s decision about who the studio should hire to write the songs for their next film.
As the story goes, Ron ‘n’ John reportedly wanted Disney favorite Alan Menken & his new lyricist, Glenn Slater to handle the “Frog Princess” score. Whereas John wanted this plum assignment to go to Pixar’s house composer, Randy Newman. And since Lasseter is the ubermeister of both WDFA & Pixar, what he says goes. Which is why Randy is now writing the songs for “TFP.”
As you might expect, as news of this decision began to spread, the angry e-mails began to fly. According to messages that have been forwarded to me, there are animation professionals out there who accuse Lasseter of having little respect for Musker & Clements, given that he just forced Newman on this acclaimed film-making team. There are even those who are suggesting that — by making Randy the “Frog Princess” composer — that this is the first real sign that John plans on turning WDFA into Pixar II.
Me? I don’t know if I actually buy into all this Lasseter-really-over-stepped-his-bounds talk that’s currently making the rounds out west. In fact, I think that there’s a much more benign explanation as to what happened with “The Frog Princess.” And that’s that John is just being John.
To explain: How many of you remember all of the positive press that “A Bug’s Life,” “Toy Story 2” & “Monsters, Inc.” got because of the out-takes that were tacked onto the ends of those films? How movie-goers & critics alike just raved about how clever these credit sequences were. Which then compelled a lot of other folks to go out and see these three Pixar productions.
Given how successful these sequences were … Well, that’s why many industry observers were surprised by “Finding Nemo” and “The Incredibles” Which didn’t have any out-takes included as part of their credit sequences.
“Why did Pixar depart from such a successful formula?,” you ask. Well, even though Lasseter had admitted in interviews that ” … Animated outtakes have become a signature of Pixar’s films,” his concern was that these credit sequences were becoming too predictable, too formulaic. Which is why John made a conscious decision to depart from this very successful formula. So that Pixar’s films then wouldn’t be predictable.
This also explain why Lasseter hired Thomas Newman to write the score for “Finding Nemo” and Michael Giacchio to handle the music for “The Incredibles.” Randy Newman had obviously done a super job scoring Pixar’s first four films. But John didn’t want his studio to get too staid, too predictable. Which is why Lasseter went with different composers on “Nemo” & “Incredibles” before inviting Newman back up to Emeryville to come work on “Cars.”
Okay. Now that you have a better understanding of how John actually works (I.E. That this guy will sometimes deliberately make changes in order to keep things from getting stale), let’s take a cold-blooded look at what just happened with “The Frog Princess.”
Of course, to really understand Lasseter’s decision, you have to realize that “Enchanted” (I.E. Walt Disney Studios’ big release for the 2007 holiday season) features a score by Alan Menken & Stephen Schwartz. And that this Kevin Lima film — just like “The Frog Princess” is supposed to do — uses traditional animation to tell the story of a Disney Princess who finds herself in a rather unusual situation. And let’s not forget that Glen Keane‘s “Rapunzel” is still also out there in the bushes, waiting to show the world what a CG version of a Disney Princess will look like.
So let’s say that you’re the new head of WDFA. And you know that — even though it’s been 15 years since Disney Feature Animation produced a fairy tale (I.E. 1992’s “Aladdin“) — you’ve now got three (count ’em, three) movies that prominently feature princesses that the Mouse is bringing to the market within the same three year period. So what do you do to make sure that movie-goers will be able to differentiate between these three somewhat similiar projects? So that your critics won’t be able to say “Disney’s just repeating itself. They keep trotting out the same old tired thing” ?
Well, for starters, you make sure that “Enchanted,” “Rapunzel” and “The Frog Princess” don’t have a common composer. Which is why Alan Menken & Stephen Schwartz are handling the music for Kevin Lima’s movie, Jeanine Tesori is writing songs for Glen Keane’s directorial debut and Randy Newman just got assigned to work with John Musker & Ron Clements.
More to the point, Lasseter realizes what’s really riding on “The Frog Princess.” Which is the revival of traditional animation at Walt Disney Studios. If this picture tanks, traditional may never get another shot at the Mouse House. Which is why John is taking no chances with this Ron’n’John production.
Given that Lasseter really wants this project to succeed … Well, that’s why John turned to Randy. Having worked with Newman on all three of the features that Lasseter has personally directed, he knows that this man can deliver the goods.
Plus one also might argue that — given that “The Frog Princess” is supposed to be a twist on the old Disney formula (I.E. A beautiful woman gets turned into a hideous amphibian) — that Randy’s twisted sense of humor is really much better suited for this particular production than Alan Menken & Glenn Slater’s work.
Anyway … That’s why I won’t be jumping in on the bash-John-Lasseter band wagon this time around. I mean, the guy is the new head of Disney Feature Animation. And given that Bob Iger just paid $7.4 billion to bring the Pixar brain trust to Burbank … I’m inclined to cut John some slack in this particular situation.
So, yeah. It’s sad that Menken & Slater lost out on the “Frog Princess” gig. But given that the stage versions of “Sister Act,” “The Little Mermaid” and “Leap of Faith” are all supposedly headed to Broadway sometime over the next two years … I would imagine these two will have plenty to keep them occupied in the coming months.
Don’t get me wrong. It’s not like I’m letting Lasseter completely off the hook here. I’m still very concerned about those persistant rumors that suggest that — should traditional animation actually get revived at WDFA — that these films will then be out-sourced. Meaning that while all of the story work may be done back on the Burbank lot, the actual animation for these films will then be farmed out to places like James Baxter’s studio. Which is now handling all of “Enchanted” ‘s traditionally animated scenes.
And then there’s Don Hahn‘s recent announcement that he’s taking an “extended sabbatical” from WDFA. To be honest, the term “extended sabbatical” has an awful lot of meanings in Hollywood. And none of them are good. So here’s hoping that this much beloved animation veteran (Who’s worked at Walt Disney Studios for nearly 30 years now) is back on the Burbank lot very soon.
And then there’s the whole what’s-the-real-difference-between-Pixar’s-movies-and-the-sorts-of-films-that-Disney-Feature-Animation-should-be-making dilemma. I hear that John & Ed Catmull are still trying to hash that one out. So that a definite course can then be charted for all of WDFA’s future releases.
These three stories concern me. The whole “Frog Pincess” brouhaha … does not. So for now, Let’s let Ron’n’John — and John & Randy — do their jobs and see what the finished film looks like 3 or so years down the line.
Your thoughts?