Toon Tuesday : Will Disney Animation’s latest “Rapunzel” rescue attempt have a negative impact on “Bolt” ‘s debut ?

Jim Hill

16 years ago

By now, I’m sure that you’re heard that Glen Keane is no longer the co-director of “Rapunzel.” That he and Dean Wellins will be turning the reins over to Byron Howard & Nathan Greno, who were the co-director and head of story on “Bolt” respectively.

To be honest, this change couldn’t have come at a worse time for Walt Disney Animation Studios. At least from a PR point-of-view.

Why For? Well, for months now, Mickey’s marketing staff has been gearing up for “Bolt” ‘s wide release on November 21st. Trying to get some positive buzz going about this new animated feature. Which — given that this project started out under a different name (“American Dog”) and with a different director (Chris Sanders) … It’s always been something of a challenge to keep reporters, webmasters and entertainment writers from asking difficult questions like:

“Why did you guys remove Sanders from this movie? Wasn’t he the guy who came up with one of Disney’s only hits over the past 10 years, ‘Lilo & Stitch’ ?”

So to have Disney’s best-known animator suddenly taken off of the picture that he’s personally been developing for over six years now … Well, that makes it fair game for the press to ask about why Chris Sanders was taken off “American Dog.” Especially in terms of discussing the very hands-on approach John Lasseter & Ed Catmull have taken to running WDAS.

But you know what? While it’s fun to gossip about all this behind-the-scenes stuff at Walt Disney Animation Studios … At the end of the day what really matters most here is the quality of the finished film. Is it actually entertaining to movie goers?

And when it comes to Chris Sanders’ original take on “American Dog” … What he seems to have been going for was an animated version of Preston Sturges’ “Sullivan’s Travels.” Where this jaded Hollywood hound suddenly finds himself two thousand miles from home. And in order to get back to Tinsel Town, he’s forced to interact with all of these colorful yokels. Who then teach this self-important celebrity a little something about humility, what’s really important in life.

Which — I know — sounds an awful lot like the storyline for “Cars.” But the key difference between that Pixar production and the movie that Chris Sanders was trying to make is that — at the end of the day — “Cars” had a storyline that actually worked. Over the course of that 116 minute-long animated feature, you genuinely came to care about Lightning McQueen and his predicament. Whereas Henry (i.e. the title character for “American Dog”) reportedly left test audiences cold. While they allegedly found individual sequences & characters from this work-in-progress amusing, they never really came to care for this American Dog.

As to why Chris came up short, story-wise, this time around … A number of Disney insiders have pointed to the fact that Sanders actually had a co-director on “Lilo & Stitch” : The very talented Dean DeBlois. A fact that has not gone unnoticed by the folks at DreamWorks Animation. Who currently have Sanders under contract to direct “Crood Awakenings,” and then plan to reteam Chris & Dean on that studio’s March 2010 release, “How to Train Your Dragon.”

Speaking of co-directors … Back in April in 2007 when Dean Wellins was brought on board “Rapunzel,” it was hoped that this veteran animator & story artist would then be able to help Glen Keane get a handle on that production. In particular untangle that movie’s myriad of plot problems.

And while “Rapunzel” ‘s story reels have gotten noticably stronger over the past 18 months … In the end, Glen & Dean were never able to solve this project’s main story problem. Which is that — once Rapunzel gets trapped in her tower — this fairy tale goes stale.

This is why John Lasseter & Ed Catmull were forced to do what they did on both “American Dog” and “Rapunzel.” As the new heads of WDAS, they have a responsibility to deliver commercially viable animated features that will then go to entertain a mass audience. As for “American Dog,” the word in-house was that this Chris Sanders film was “Meet the Robinsons” revisited. Meaning that this aborted project was loaded with great design & quirky characters but was woefully short on heart and genuine entertainment.

As for “Rapunzel” … For five years now, the word of this Glen Keane production has always been that it had the potential to be the most beautiful picture that WDAS would ever produced but that this film’s storyline was a snooze. Which is why — in the end, even though Lasseter has been Keane’s friend for over 20 years now — for the good of that project, John had to pull Glen & Dean off of “Rapunzel” and then send a new team in. With the hope that Byron & Nathan would be able to wade through the past six years of development and then find some sort of workable storyline for Disney’s holiday 2010 release.

So you see — in spite of what you may have been reading elsewhere — this wasn’t some sort of blatant power grab by Catmull & Lasseter. This isn’t a case of Ed & John’s egos being out of control. But — rather — these two putting the needs of the Walt Disney Company & its shareholders ahead of any personal relationships that they may have with individual filmmakers.

And as for a director being removed from a Disney animated feature … This isn’t exactly new news, folks. This sort of thing has been going on for at least 50 years now. And if you don’t believe me, pick up a copy of the new “Sleeping Beauty” DVD and watch the Special Features. Especially the one that deals with Walt Disney removing Eric Larsen as a director on that production because he was spending far too much time & money on one particular sequence for that picture.

This is the challenge that WDAS’s PR department will be facing in the coming weeks. As they try persuade reporters, entertainment writers & webmasters that what may look like a juicy story actually isn’t. That taking Keane & Sanders off of “Rapunzel” and “American Dog” isn’t any different than when Woolie Reitherman got pulled off of “The Fox and the Hound.” And when Roger Allers was taken off of “Kingdom of the Sun” AKA “The Emperor’s New Groove.” And when Jan Pinkava was removed as the director of “Ratatouille.”

At the end of the day, what really matters is the quality of the finished film. And based on what I’ve heard about “Bolt,” Byron & Nathan delivered in spades on that particular picture. Which is why John & Ed selected these two to run a rescue mission on “Rapunzel.”

As to whether Howard & Greno will succeed where Keane & Wellins failed … Well, I guess we’ll have to wait ’til Thanksgiving of 2010 in order to find out.

Your thoughts ?