General

Setting Sail with Walt in Mind: Treasure Planet

A Film Review and Commentary by Rhett Wickham

Published

22 years ago

November 25, 2002

EDITOR’S NOTE: What a treat it is to have Rhett Wickham join us as our special guest today. Those of you who are familiar with the insightful and entertaining articles that Wickham has already contributed to LaughingPlace.com are no doubt aware of Rhett’s unique take on the animation industry. As an actual industry insider, Wickham has a real appreciation for the artistry (as well as all the nuts and bolts stuff) that goes into the creation of a feature length animated film. Which is why it was so gratifying — as well as disturbing — for me to read the following feature by Rhett.

You see, this is an enthusiastic review and commentary of “Treasure Planet.” But at the same time, there’s some genuinely disturbing info folded into this piece as well. The stories about how key creative personnel at WDFA are being allowed to slip away to other studios, how the legendary studio machinery that cranked out this gem is being systemically dismantled … all just to save a few bucks.

Here’s hoping that you folk enjoy this piece as much as I did. With any amount of luck, maybe we all can “persuade” Rhett to start contributing regular features to JimHillMedia.com. Well, here’s hoping anyway.

Read and enjoy!

jrh

In a techno privileged and co-dependent 21st century, it seems that the old struggles harder than ever to keep pace with the new. Judges can barely hand down decisions on the likes of Microsoft before the technology is passé. But for moviegoers – and Disney animation fans in particular – the new has been struggling for decades now to keep pace with the old. The imprint of the patriarch’s hand is something fans long for at a time when Disney the company seems to have drifted farther and farther from Disney the founder and his unique cinematic ideology in particular.

Well, if you’re among that longing crowd (and I think everyone is to some degree) then look no further than “Treasure Planet.” For here, at the close of the second chapter of Disney Animation, is a film so “like Walt”, so true to his vision (and yet also uniquely of this present generation of artists) that it is cause for celebration. From its starry opening shot, to a touching final frame that echoes what many of the new generation must see when they look for Walt in the clouds, the film is rich in classic style and grace.

Robert Louis Stevenson’s adventure tale “Treasure Island” has quite possibly mesmerized more boys holding more flashlights under more bed covers late at night than any other literary classic. I’d dare say the navies of the world are still littered with countless young sailors who first tasted the stinging salt air of adventure through Jim Hawkins, no matter how far inland they lived.

But the sea doesn’t hold the allure it did for our ancestors. The greatest adventure possible on the ocean these days may be braving a tour on the Disney Cruise Lines with only one change of clothes and little more than enough spending cash to tip the staff each night. Outer space on the other hand still holds great mystery, in spite of how many visual effects houses have insisted on populating the multi-plexes of the nation with their version of what lies beyond the stars. The fact remains that only an easily comprehended number of us have actually ventured beyond the atmosphere of our planet Earth. Out there is the unknown, the unseen, the daunting and the daring all surrounded by a thick black darkness in which stars twinkle and danger looms unseen, where dreams are sent to wishes made on distant lights and angry demons wait in hiding like the monsters under our beds at night. Here from the ground we look up into the ink of space and, if we stand still just long enough we can actually feel it – great adventure!

So it is that movies, like space, should have a mesmerizing effect on the child in all of us. “Treasure Planet” is spellbinding in its scope and compelling in its storytelling. It is also one of the most moving of the Disney films, and certainly pulls at your heart without being cloying or pat. The directors have overcome the near impossible task of creating a young male/older male mentor relationship that doesn’t swim in sloppy sentimentality, but still causes adult viewers to risk tearing up. More than one father will be insisting his family stay seated through the credits so that he can have a few moments to compose himself before hitting the red-eye revealing glare of lobby lights.

Like “Cinderella,” Disney’s “Treasure Planet” has a literal storybook opening. Only we don’t discover this until we’re shown a young Jim Hawkins at age three captivated by a great pirate tale told to him by his holographic storybook which animates the story (and conveniently lights itself under the covers) and comes to life with a resonant and appropriately baritone narrator. This modern marvel that threatens to make “hooked on phonics” obsolete is heard recounting the days when merchant ships sailed the galaxies laden with glittering cargo, only to find themselves prey to Captain Flint – an optometrist’s nightmare of eight eyes and a skeletal frame swathed in 18th century finery, complete with tri-corner hat and waist sash. But young Jim soon cross fades into teenage Jim 12 years later who resembles, in all imaginable ways, every thrill seeking, self-absorbed, authority testing boy who was ever poised precariously on the edge of manhood. When he is dragged home by robotic constables for violating probation and trespassing on his solar surfer, we quickly begin to see his working mother’s dilemma – a fatherless son in an ever expanding and dangerous social play pen is just waiting to become a juvenile statistic. If this sounds familiar, it should. It’s been going on well before the 18th century, but like so much else in “Treasure Planet” it has the ring of our modern world.

The former artistic director of the Yale Rep, Lloyd Richards, once commented that a good resident theatre company has an obligation to produce plays relevant to its community. The real test, wrote Richards, was if he could look at the audience sitting in the theatre just before curtain on any given night, and then walk out in front of the theatre and see the same mix of people walking in the streets. (A tough thing to achieve if you know anything about New Haven.) Well at the time “Treasure Planet” was being completed, Walt Disney Feature Animation was an awful lot like a repertory theatre company for the large community. And “Treasure Planet” more than any other Disney film of recent years, is most likely to draw in an audience that reflects the larger population, and entertain that audience with something relevant as well as mythic. Sadly, that repertory theatre company was blindly dismantled in a penny-wise pound foolish downsizing, but I’ll save that extended commentary for another time.

Over and over the film succeeds in reflecting the world in which its audience is living while taking them far enough away from it to not feel like “just another troubled teen movie.” Although impossible to predict, the film is so perfectly balanced between then and now that it may well outlive its contemporaries to remain as entertaining and delightful a parable for generations who will look at its holographic maps and solar powered sailing ships and think “Gosh, remember those?!”

This well crafted re-telling of pirates and treasure, of promises broken and self-reliance discovered has everything a great fairy tale has – unseen lands peopled by characters we never knew existed, death and mysterious tales told by firelight, fatherless children and surrogates larger than life. And most of all – a compelling, surprising, rewarding story. A great story with a great backdrop, to boot! Set in the future of yesterday and the past of tomorrow thanks to a magnificent vision guided by art director Andy Gaskill. Influenced by the Brandywine school of painters like Howard Pyle, Maxfield Parrish and NC Wyeth, the film glows with a lush and luminous pirate treasure palette. But this is an 18th century where when it’s storming outside you crank your windows to show a sunny flower filled meadow rather than draw the curtains. Not a Star Trek holodeck meadow, but an impressionist’s stained glass meadow complete with the sound of birds in the distant trees that fits perfectly with the sense and sensibility of its inhabitants.

The inhabitants themselves are equally as complex and compelling. David Hyde Pierce lends his voice to a Kevin Kline-like canine astro-physicist named Dr. Doppler. Supervising animator Sergio Pablos, who brought Tantor the elephant to life in Disney’s “Tarzan”, turns in a spot-on performance that opens up Hyde Pierce’s snotty tones to reveal one of the most original Disney characters in years. Musker and Clements have cleverly combined Squire Trelawny and Dr. Livesey of Stevenson’s novel and made him a single character who is far more interesting and much less stuffy, not to mention less confusing as the characters in the novel always seemed to be longing to meld into one. Pablos and Hyde Pierce give a priceless nod to another star trekking doctor that is so perfectly set up that you’ll never see it coming (and may likely miss a moment or two of dialogue thanks to the best laugh line in the film.)

Martin Short and CG animator Ozkar Urretabizkaia turn old Ben Gunn into B.E.N., a bio-electronic navigator who was long ago abandoned by Flint on this distant planet. One circuit short of being a toaster, B.E.N. provides delicious staccato counterpoint to the sullen teenage Hawkins and never trips while walking the requisite tightrope of silly sidekickdom required in every Disney adventure.

Doppler’s social foil, the space galleon’s captain, is cleverly transformed from the novel’s stiff-lipped Trafalgar-like Captain Smollett into a she-lion alien named Captain Amelia. Emma Thompson provided the vocal characterization for master animator Ken Duncan’s swan song in a long line of great Disney heroines – including Meg in “Hercules” and Jane in “Tarzan.” (Sadly, Duncan has defected to the browner pastures of DreamWorks where, like his defectors before him such as the once brilliant James Baxter, his talent risks going to waste or to seed. Duncan is the best animation actor of his generation to give life to female characters. Amelia is dead-on his best work to date. Too bad he’s unlikely to get another plum like this ever again if he remains under Jeffrey Katzenberg’s not so nimble animated thumb.)

The good news is that right on Duncan’s heels is John Ripa, who thankfully has raised his craft to its highest level with his performance as Jim Hawkins. Ripa’s only other supervising animator work was on “Tarzan” where he guided baby and young Tarzan. He bumps it up a few dozen notches with Hawkins, and rises above a perfectly fine but fairly by-the-book vocal turn by Joseph Gordon-Levitt. This is the kind of break-out animation acting that sets the stage for a third generation of Disney artists to bring life to the screen for another twenty years. We eagerly await his next work as Ripa is presently training on MAYA and the proprietary Disney CG animation system so that he can bring his talent to bear on new characters using new tools.

It is the perfect blending of these tools – much like the film’s perfect blend of antique and visionary – that stands out above all else. The hand in glove or flesh in circuitry fit of Glen Keane and Eric Daniels is as close to perfect as anything on screen this season. Literally working on either side of the same character – Keane on the hand drawn John Silver, and Daniels on the cyborg pirate’s CG animated mechanical arm, eye and leg – the artists had quite a challenge. They overcame it with seamless perfection. However, collaborative efforts aside, this is Keane’s baby and there’s no doubt about it. Glen Keane is pound for pound and hair for hair, the most accomplished actor in any film this year, and it’s a sad thing that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences can’t recognize his performance by nominating him alongside his more recognizable on-camera counterparts. Long John Silver is a marvel of animation acting that surpasses all of Keane’s previous work. He breathes rich and complicated life into this character that makes him the most believable and complex performance of an already illustrious career. While Silver is frenetic and sometimes even manic, he is always thinking and always alive with detail behind the eyes (or eye, as it were) and not just bouncing about to keep us from spotting the illusion of moving drawings. The character work here is so deeply layered with active and dynamic choices at every moment that this is an Oscar caliber performance, hand drawn but never once drawing attention to the fact it is “animated.” It’s breathtaking. This more so than the Beast or Tarzan secures the artist a place in history that I would be willing to argue makes him the greatest animator of any generation past, present or future – truly. And I repeat, the most compelling and accomplished personal work of any actor in Hollywood this season.

James Newton Howard has composed a score that supports the film without ever overwhelming us, but a hideous Johnny Rzeznik song comes very close to ruining a terrific montage that shows how Jim’s relationship with Silver matures. When asked why he wrote a song for a Disney animated film Rzeznik replied “because long after my band is gone and forgotten that song and movie will still be here.” I only hope they let James Newton Howard write something to replace it at some point in the future, once they realize exactly how quickly the band will be (and the song should be) forgotten. It’s the one misstep in an otherwise crisply and carefully paced picture.

Ron Clements has spent nearly three decades at Disney telling great stories. “Treasure Planet” has been a dream of his for decades. This film is Clements’ and partner John Musker’s best story telling effort since “The Little Mermaid” (which, for my money, is still the most solid and satisfying screenplay in the “new” Disney oeuvre) and the closest thing to classic story telling we’re likely to see from Disney for a while. Clements and Musker just might be the best directors at the studio. They’ve got a blue-ribbon recipe for mixing adventure, drama, slapstick and a touch of soap that makes their work perfect for the medium. Their influence on the Disney brand can’t be ignored and hopefully will continue for years to come.

“Treasure Planet” is a film Walt would have loved and that would have given him a tough time deciding in which Disney-land its inspired attraction should reside; Tomorrowland or Adventureland? Let’s just pray it’s not sequel-land. This is an adventure that should be left as is and not subjected to some horrible direct-to-video mess. Leave the performances and near-perfect closing shot un-scathed by franchise mania. Walt would have known to leave it where Stevenson did, as a journey we want to take again and again. I hope audiences will do just that. “Treasure Planet” is well worth discovering in either its standard issue format or IMAX, and you should skip the same old balloons and floats on television this Thanksgiving morning and take either the child or the child within to see it.

Walt Disney Pictures Presents “Treasure Planet”

Directed by John Musker and Ron Clements

Produced by Roy Conli, John Musker & Ron Clements

Adapted from the novel Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

Screenplay by Ron Clements & John Musker and Rob Edwards

Animation Story by Ron Clements & John Musker and Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio

Original Score Composed by James Newton Howard

Associate Producer: Peter Del Vecho

Edited by Michael Kelly

Art Direction by Andy Gaskill

Running time: 94 minutes.

Rated PG for adventure action and peril, but is suitable for all ages.

CAST (in alphabetical order)

Character	Voice Artist	Supervising Animator
B.E.N.	Martin Short	Oskar Urretabizkaia
Billy Bone	Patrick McGoohan	Nancy Beiman
Captain Amelia	Emma Thompson	Ken Stuart Duncan
Captain Flint & his crew		John Pomeroy
Doctor Doppler	David Hyde Pierce	Sergio Pablos
Hands	Michael McShane	Marc Smith
Jim Hawkins	Joseph Gordon-Levitt	John Ripa
John Silver	Brian Murray	Glen Keane
Morph	Dane A. Davis	Michael Show
Mr. Arrow	Roscoe Lee Browne	T. Daniel Hofstedt
Narrator	Tony Jay
Onus	Corey Burton	Brian Ferguson
Sarah	Laurie Metcalf	Jared Beckstrand
Scroop	Michael Wincott	Ken Stuart Duncan
Silver’s Crew		Adam Dykstra & Ellen Woodbury
Young Jim	Austin Majors	John Ripa

General

Seward Johnson bronzes add a surreal, artistic touch to NYC’s Garment District

Published

9 years ago

June 23, 2015

Jim Hill

Greetings from NYC. Nancy and I drove down from New
Hampshire yesterday because we'll be checking out
Disney Consumer Products' annual Holiday Showcase later today.

Anyway … After checking into our hotel (i.e., The Paul.
Which is located down in NYC's NoMad district), we decided to grab some dinner.
Which is how we wound up at the Melt Shop.

Photo by Jim Hill

Which is this restaurant that only sells grilled cheese sandwiches.
This comfort food was delicious, but kind of on the heavy side.

Photo by Jim Hill

Which is why — given that it was a beautiful summer night
— we'd then try and walk off our meals. We started our stroll down by the Empire
State Building
…

Photo by Jim Hill

… and eventually wound up just below Times
Square (right behind where the Waterford Crystal Times Square New
Year's Eve Ball is kept).

Photo by Jim Hill

But you know what we discovered en route? Right in the heart
of Manhattan's Garment District
along Broadway between 36th and 41st? This incredibly cool series of life-like
and life-sized sculptures that Seward
Johnson has created.

Photo by Jim Hill

And — yes — that is Abraham Lincoln (who seems to have
slipped out of WDW's Hall of Presidents when no one was looking and is now
leading tourists around Times Square). These 18 painted
bronze pieces (which were just installed late this past Sunday night / early
Monday morning) range from the surreal to the all-too-real.

Photo by Jim Hill

Some of these pieces look like typical New Yorkers. Like the
business woman planning out her day …

Photo by Jim Hill

… the postman delivering the mail …

Photo by Jim Hill

… the hot dog vendor working at his cart …

Photo by Jim Hill

… the street musician playing for tourists …

Photo by Jim Hill

Not to mention the tourists themselves.

Photo by Jim Hill

But right alongside the bronze businessmen …

Photo by Jim Hill

… and the tired grandmother hauling her groceries home …

Photo by Jim Hill

… there were also statues representing people who were
from out-of-town …

Photo by Jim Hill

… or — for that matter — out-of-time.

Photo by Jim Hill

These were the Seward Johnson pieces that genuinely beguiled. Famous impressionist paintings brought to life in three dimensions.

Note the out-of-period water bottle that some tourist left
behind. Photo by Jim Hill

Some of them so lifelike that you actually had to pause for
a moment (especially as day gave way to night in the city) and say to yourself
"Is that one of the bronzes? Or just someone pretending to be one of these
bronzes?"

Mind you, for those of you who aren't big fans of the
impressionists …

Photo by Jim Hill

… there's also an array of American icons. Among them
Marilyn Monroe …

Photo by Jim Hill

… and that farmer couple from Grant Wood's "American
Gothic."

Photo by Jim Hill

But for those of you who know your NYC history, it's hard to
beat that piece which recreates Alfred Eisenstaedt's famous photograph of V-J Day in Times Square.

Photo by Jim Hill

By the way, a 25-foot-tall version of this particular Seward
Johnson piece ( which — FYI — is entitled "Embracing Peace") will actually
be placed in Times Square for a few days on or around August 14th to commemorate the 70th
anniversary of Victory Over Japan Day (V-J Day).

Photo by Jim Hill

By the way, if you'd like to check these Seward Johnson bronzes in
person (which — it should be noted — are part of the part of the Garment
District Alliance's new public art offering) — you'd best schedule a trip to
the City sometime over the next three months. For these pieces will only be on
display now through September 15th.

General

Wondering what you should “Boldly Go” see at the movies next year? The 2015 Licensing Expo offers you some clues

Published

9 years ago

June 10, 2015

Jim Hill

Greeting from the 2015 Licensing Expo, which is being held
at the Mandalay Bay
Convention Center in Las
Vegas.

Photo by Jim Hill

I have to admit that I enjoy covering the Licensing Expo.
Mostly becomes it allows bloggers & entertainment writers like myself to
get a peek over the horizon. Scope out some of the major motion pictures &
TV shows that today's vertically integrated entertainment conglomerates
(Remember when these companies used to be called movie studios?) will be
sending our way over the next two years or so.

Photo by Jim Hill

Take — for example — all of "The Secret Life of
Pets" banners that greeted Expo attendees as they made their way to the
show floor today. I actually got to see some footage from this new Illumination
Entertainment production (which will hit theaters on July 8, 2016) the last time I was in Vegas. Which
was for CinemaCon back in April. And the five or so minutes of film that I viewed
suggested that "The Secret Life of Pets" will be a really funny
animated feature.

Photo by Jim Hill

Mind you, Universal Pictures wanted to make sure that Expo
attendees remembered that there was another Illumination Entertainment production
coming-to-a-theater-near-them before "The Secret Life of Pets" (And
that's "Minions," the "Despicable Me" prequel. Which
premieres at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival next week but
won't be screened stateside 'til July 10th of this year). Which is why they had
three minions who were made entirely out of LEGOS loitering out in the lobby.

Photo by Jim Hill

And Warner Bros. — because they wanted "Batman v
Superman: Dawn of Justice" to start trending on Twitter today — brought
the Batmobile to Las Vegas.

Photo by Jim Hill

Not to mention full-sized macquettes of Batman, Superman and
Wonder Woman. Just so conventioneers could then see what these DC superheroes
would actually look like in this eagerly anticipated, March 25, 2016 release.

Photo by Jim Hill

That's the thing that can sometimes be a wee bit frustrating
about the Licensing Expo. It's all about delayed gratification. You'll come
around a corner and see this 100 foot-long ad for "The Peanuts Movie"
and think "Hey, that looks great. I want to see that Blue Sky Studios production
right now." It's only then that you notice the fine print and realize that
"The Peanuts Movie" doesn't actually open in theaters 'til November
6th of this year.

Photo by Jim Hill

And fan of Blue Sky's "Ice Age" film franchise are in for an even
longer wait. Given that the latest installment in that top grossing series
doesn't arrive in theaters 'til July
15, 2016.

Photo by Jim Hill

Of course, if you're one of those people who needs immediate
gratification when it comes to your entertainment, there was stuff like that to
be found at this year's Licensing Expo. Take — for example — how the WWE
booth was actually shaped like a wrestling ring. Which — I'm guessing — meant
that if the executives of World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. didn't like
the offer that you were making, they were then allowed to toss you out over the
top rope, Royal Rumble-style.

Photo by Jim Hill

I also have to admit that — as a longtime Star Trek fan —
it was cool to see the enormous Starship Enterprise that hung in place over the
CBS booth. Not to mention getting a glimpse of the official Star Trek 50th
Anniversary logo.

Photo by Jim Hill

I was also pleased to see lots of activity in The Jim Henson
Company booth. Which suggests that JHC has actually finally carved out a
post-Muppets identity for itself.

Photo by Jim Hill

Likewise for all of us who were getting a little concerned
about DreamWorks Animation (what with all the layoffs & write-downs &
projects that were put into turnaround or outright cancelled last year), it was
nice to see that booth bustling.

Photo by Jim Hill

Every so often, you'd come across some people who were
promoting a movie that you weren't entirely sure that you actually wanted to
see (EX: "Angry Birds," which Sony Pictures Entertainment / Columbia
Pictures will be releasing to theaters on May 20, 2016). But then you remembered that Clay Kaytis —
who's this hugely talented former Walt Disney Animation Studios animator — is
riding herd on "Angry Birds" with Fergal Reilly. And you'd think
"Well, if Clay's working on 'Angry Birds,' I'm sure this animated feature
will turn out fine."

Photo by Jim Hill

Mind you, there were reminders at this year's Licensing Expo
of great animated features that we're never going to get to see now. I still
can't believe — especially after that brilliant proof-of-concept footage
popped up online last year — that Sony execs decided not to go forward
with production of Genndy Tartakovsky's
"Popeye" movie. But that's the
cruel thing about the entertainment business, folks. It will sometime break
your heart.

Photo by Jim Hill

And make no mistake about this. The Licensing Expo is all
about business. That point was clearly driven home at this year's show when —
as you walked through the doors of the Mandalay
Bay Convention Center
— the first thing that you saw was the Hasbros Booth. Which was this gleaming,
sleek two story-tall affair full of people who were negotiating deals &
signing contracts for all of the would-be summer blockbusters that have already
announced release dates for 2019 & beyond.

Photo by Jim Hill

"But what about The Walt Disney Company?," you
ask. "Weren't they represented on the show floor at this year's Licensing
Expo?" Not really, not. I mean, sure. There were a few companies there hyping
Disney-related products. Take — for example — the Disney Wikkeez people.

Photo by Jim Hill

I'm assuming that some Disney Consumer Products exec is
hoping that Wikkeez will eventually become the new Tsum Tsum. But to be blunt,
these little hard plastic figures don't seem to have the same huggable charm
that those stackable plush do. But I've been wrong before. So let's see what
happens with Disney Wikkeez once they start showing up on the shelves of the
Company's North American retail partners.

Photo by Jim Hill

And speaking of Disney's retail partners … They were
meeting with Mouse House executives behind closed doors one floor down from the
official show floor for this year's Licensing Expo.

Photo by Jim Hill

And the theme for this year's invitation-only Disney shindig? "Timeless
Stories" involving the Disney, Pixar, Marvel & Lucasfilm brands that
would then appeal to "tomorrow's consumer."

Photo by Jim Hill

And just to sort of hammer home the idea that Disney is no
longer the Company which cornered the market when it comes to little girls
(i.e., its Disney Princess and Disney Fairies franchises), check out this
wall-sized Star Wars-related image that DCP put up just outside of one of its
many private meeting rooms. "See?," this carefully crafted photo
screams. "It isn't just little boys who want to wield the Force. Little
girls also want to grow up and be Lords of the Sith."

Photo by Jim Hill

One final, kind-of-ironic note: According to this banner,
Paramount Pictures will be releasing a movie called "Amusement Park"
to theaters sometime in 2017.

Photo by Jim Hill

Well, given all the "Blackfish" -related issues
that have been dogged SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment over the past two years, I'm
just hoping that they'll still be in the amusement park business come 2017.

Your thoughts?

General

It takes more than three circles to craft a Classic version of Mickey Mouse

Published

9 years ago

June 9, 2015

Jim Hill

You know what Mickey Mouse looks like, right? Little guy,
big ears?

Truth be told, Disney's corporate symbol has a lot of
different looks. If Mickey's interacting with Guests at Disneyland
Park (especially this summer, when
the Happiest Place on Earth
is celebrating its 60th anniversary), he looks & dresses like this.

Or when he's appearing in one of those Emmy Award-winning shorts that Disney
Television Animation has produced (EX: "Bronco Busted," which debuts
on the Disney Channel tonight at 8 p.m. ET / PT), Mickey is drawn in a such a
way that he looks hip, cool, edgy & retro all at the same time.

Looking ahead to 2017 now, when Disney Junior rolls out "Mickey and the
Roadster Racers," this brand-new animated series will feature a sportier version
of Disney's corporate symbol. One that Mouse House managers hope will persuade
preschool boys to more fully embrace this now 86 year-old character.

That's what most people don't realize about the Mouse. The
Walt Disney Company deliberately tailors Mickey's look, even his style of
movement, depending on what sort of project / production he's appearing in.

Take — for example — Disney
California Adventure
Park's "World of Color:
Celebrate!" Because Disney's main mouse would be co-hosting this new
nighttime lagoon show with ace emcee Neil Patrick Harris, Eric Goldberg really had
to step up Mickey's game. Which is why this master Disney animator created
several minutes of all-new Mouse animation which then showed that Mickey was
just as skilled a showman as Neil was.

Better yet, let's take a look at what the folks at Avalanche Studios just went
through as they attempted to create a Classic version of Mickey & Minnie.
One that would then allow this popular pair to become part of Disney Infinity
3.0.

"I won't lie to you. We were under a lot of pressure to
get the look of this particular version of Mickey — he's called Red Pants
Mickey around here — just right," said Jeff Bunker, the VP of Art
Development at Avalanche Studios, during a recent phone interview. "When
we brought Sorcerer Mickey into Disney Infinity 1.0 back in January of 2014,
that one was relatively easy because … Well, everyone knows what Mickey Mouse
looked like when he appeared in 'Fantasia.' "

"But this time around, we were being asked to design
THE Mickey & Minnie," Bunker continued. "And given that these Classic
Disney characters have been around in various different forms for the better
part of the last century … Well, which look was the right look?"

Which is why Jeff and his team at Avalanche Studios began watching hours &
hours of Mickey Mouse shorts. As they tried to get a handle on which look would
work best for these characters in Disney Infinity 3.0.

"And we went all the way back to the very start of Mickey's career. We began
with 'Steamboat Willie' and then watched all of those black & white Mickey shorts
that Walt made back in the late 1920s & early 1930s. From there, we
transitioned to his Technicolor shorts. Which is when Mickey went from being
this pie-eyed, really feisty character to more of a well-behaved leading
man," Bunker recalled. "We then finished out our Mouse marathon by
watching all of those new Mickey shorts that Paul Rudish & his team have
been creating for Disney Television Animation. Those cartoons really recapture
a lot of the spirit and wild slapstick fun that Mickey's early, black &
white shorts had."

But given that the specific assignment that Avalanche Studios had been handed
was to create the most appealing looking, likeable version of Mickey Mouse
possible … In the end, Jeff and his team wound up borrowing bits & pieces
from a lot of different versions of the world's most famous mouse. So that
Classic Mickey would then look & move in a way that best fit the sort of
gameplay which people would soon be able to experience with Disney Infinity
3.0.

"That — in a lot of ways — was actually the toughest
part of the Classic Mickey design project. You have to remember that one of the
key creative conceits of Disney Infinity
is that all the characters which appear in this game are toys," Bunker
stated. "Okay. So they're beautifully detailed, highly stylized toy
versions of beloved Disney, Pixar, Marvel & Lucasfilm characters. But
they're still supposed to be toys. So our Classic versions of Mickey &
Minnie have the same sort of thickness & sturdiness to them that toys have.
So that they'll then be able to fit right in with all of the rest of the
characters that Avalanche Studios had previously designed for Disney Infinity."

And then there was the matter of coming up with just the
right pose for Classic Mickey & Minnie. Which — to hear Jeff tell the
story — involved input from a lot of Disney upper management.

"Everyone within the Company seemed to have an opinion
about how Mickey & Minnie should be posed. More to the point, if you Google
Mickey, you then discover that there are literally thousands of poses out there
for these two. Though — truth be told — a lot of those kind of play off the
way Mickey poses when he's being Disney's corporate symbol," Bunker said.
"But what I was most concerned about was that Mickey's pose had to work
with Minnie's pose. Because we were bringing the Classic versions of these
characters up into Disney Infinity 3.0 at the exact same time. And we wanted to
make sure — especially for those fans who like to put their Disney Infinity
figures on display — that Mickey's pose would then complement Minnie.

Which is why Jeff & the crew at Avalanche Studios
decided — when it came to Classic Mickey & Minnie's pose — that they
should go all the way back to the beginning. Which is why these two Disney icons
are sculpted in such a way that it almost seems as though you're witnessing the
very first time Mickey set eyes on Minnie.

"And what was really great about that was — as soon as
we began showing people within the Company this pose — everyone at Disney
quickly got on board with the idea. I mean, the Classic Mickey that we sculpted
for Disney Infinity 3.0 is clearly a very playful, spunky character. But at the
same time, he's obviously got eyes for Minnie," Bunker concluded. "So
in the end, we were able to come up with Classic versions of these characters
that will work well within the creative confines of Disney Infinity 3.0 but at
the same time please those Disney fans who just collect these figures because
they like the way the Disney Infinity characters look."

So now that this particular design project is over, does
Jeff regret that Mouse House upper management was so hands-on when it came to
making sure that the Classic versions of Mickey & Minnie were specifically
tailored to fit the look & style of gameplay found in Disney Infinity 3.0?

"To be blunt, we go through this every time we add a new character to the
game. The folks at Lucasfilm were just as hands-on when we were designing the
versions of Darth Vader and Yoda that will also soon be appearing in Disney
Infinity 3.0," Bunker laughed. "So in the end, if the character's
creators AND the fans are happy, then I'm happy."

This article was originally posted on the Huffington Post's Entertainment page on Tuesday, June 9, 2015