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Traditional animation, also known as hand-drawn animation, is an animation technique in which each frame of a film is drawn by hand. Traditional animation was the dominant form of animated feature filmmaking from the late 1930s until the beginning of the twenty-first century. The new millennium saw the rise of CG animation, which raked in unprecedented profits for studios, ultimately forcing traditional animation into obscurity.

The Lion King and The Simpsons Movie are the only two traditionally animated films that rank among the top 50 highest-grossing animated films of all time. With that being said, many traditionally animated films have still managed to amass significant profits from the worldwide box office. The highest-grossing traditional animated movies cover multiple eras in animation, from its early beginnings in the 1930s to the Disney Renaissance of the 1990s and into the modern era of the twenty-first century. Each of the highest-grossing traditional animated films...

To talk about Peter Cullen's voice acting career is to take a trip through the last five decades of mainstream U.S. animation. The man has lent his voice to so many noteworthy cartoon series that it boggles the mind, including "Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo," "The Smurfs," "Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends," "Voltron: Defender of the Universe," "Alvin and the Chipmunks," "Muppet Babies," "Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers," and "Invincible." But one cannot even begin to do justice to his body of work without touching on the iconic character that he's voiced across multiple animated shows and feature films for nearly 40 years now. Truly, at this point, Cullen is all but synonymous with his onscreen counterpart: Eeyore. 

After debuting as the Autobots' intrepid leader in "The Transformers" in 1984, Cullen took over voicing the most relatable resident of the Hundred Acre Wood from the late Ralph Wright (who voiced...

Sixty-four years after Disney's animated Lady and the Tramp was released, the same story is being told for new streaming service Disney+ — but now the movie features real rescue dogs and cocker spaniels. The classic tale comes from a 1945 Cosmopolitan magazine story titled "Happy Dan, the Cynical Dog," by Ward Greene, with the film adaptation coming 10 years later, written by Erdman Penner, Joe Rinaldi, Ralph Wright and Don DaGradi. With the story changing throughout the production process, one of the film's most recognizable scenes — in which the titular canine duo share spaghetti — was almost ...

Sixty-four years after Disney's animated Lady and the Tramp was released, the same story is being told for new streaming service Disney+ — but now the movie features real rescue dogs and cocker spaniels. The classic tale comes from a 1945 Cosmopolitan magazine story titled "Happy Dan, the Cynical Dog," by Ward Greene, with the film adaptation coming 10 years later, written by Erdman Penner, Joe Rinaldi, Ralph Wright and Don DaGradi. With the story changing throughout the production process, one of the film's most recognizable scenes — in which the titular canine duo share spaghetti — was almost ...

Inside Out

Written by Meg LeFauve, Josh Cooley & Pete Docter

Directed by Pete Docter & Ronaldo Del Carmen

USA, 2015

Continuing in the grand tradition of Pixar masterpieces, Inside Out is an ingenious animated romp about life, the universe, and everything. By transforming nebulous emotions into relatable characters, directors Pete Docter and Ronaldo Del Carmen have created nothing short of a roadmap into the pre-pubescent mind. It’s not always a happy place, which is entirely the point. Often surreal and always delightful, Inside Out is a rousing tribute to pure imagination.

For a child, life is pretty simple; maintain joy at all costs. Inside the mind of a young girl named Riley (Kaitlyn Dias), the competing emotions of Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (a brilliant Phyllis Smith), Fear (Bill Hader), Disgust (Mindy Kaling), and Anger (Lewis Black) try to find the delicate balance needed to ensure psychological bliss. At first, it’s easy,...

A slew of classic Disney movies are hitting for the first time on Blu-Ray, including one double-pack release, and you’re going to want to make sure to pick these up. You haven’t paid attention to some of these titles for a while, and it’s about time you got the chance to catch them on Blu-Ray. The best part is that there’s a great mix of releases hitting. Bedknobs and Broomsticks is all but lost in the cultural consciousness, and it deserves a return. The Academy Award-winning movie from the year I was born is filled with a lot of fun and adventure, and like most Disney films, holds up well for a whole new generation.

The rest of the group covers a great spectrum, including two animated “big” titles, and a 10th Anniversary release. There’s a lot to expose your family to here, so check out all the info below,...

Director: Robert Stromberg Writers: Linda Woolverton (screenplay), Charles Perrault (story), Jacob Grimm (story), Wilhelm Grimm (story), Erdman Penner (screenplay Sleeping Beauty 1959), Joe Rinaldi (screenplay Sleeping Beauty 1959), Winston Hibler (screenplay Sleeping Beauty 1959), Bill Peet (screenplay Sleeping Beauty 1959), Ted Sears (screenplay Sleeping Beauty 1959), Ralph Wright (screenplay Sleeping Beauty1959), Milt Banta (screenplay Sleeping Beauty 1959) Starring: Angelina Jolie, Elle Fanning, Sharlto Copley, Imelda Staunton, Lesley Manville, Juno Temple, Sam Riley, Brenton Thwaites Maleficent is not a […]...

Saludos Amigos

Directed by Norman Ferguson, Wilfred Jackson, Jack Kinney, Hamilton Luske, William Roberts

Written by Homer Brightman, Bill Cottrell, Dick Huemer, Joe Grant, Harold Reeves, Ted Sears, Webb Smith, Roy Williams, Ralph Wright

Considering Saludos Amigos in comparison with its follow-up, The Three Caballeros, is akin to analyzing the pregame to the Super Bowl. (Our guest, Jeff Heimbuch, may disagree but will surely appreciate comparing these two movies to such a titanic worldwide event.) I’m often very vocal about not enjoying Disney’s release strategy for some of their lesser animated films—or, if you like, films they consider to be lesser even if the fans of those films are legion—specifically how they combine films in a Blu-ray combo pack. If you like Pocahontas and want it on Blu-ray, great! You’re cool if the film is packaged with its direct-to-dvd sequel, yeah? Well, you don’t have a choice,...

The Aristocats

Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman

Written by Ken Anderson, Larry Clemmons, Eric Cleworth, Vance Garry, Tom McGowan, Tom Rowe, Julius Svendsen, Frank Thomas, and Ralph Wright

Starring Phil Harris, Eva Gabor, Scatman Crothers

Complacency is always a dangerous tone to strike in filmmaking. Combined with cheapness, it can be a killer. Those two concepts are what stand out most of all from the Wolfgang Reitherman era of Walt Disney Pictures. For various reasons, most of which were beyond Reitherman’s control, most of the films from Walt Disney Pictures between 1959’s Sleeping Beauty and 1989’s The Little Mermaid felt cheap and lazy. (Being fair, Reitherman’s time at the company ended, for the most part, with 1977’s The Rescuers, but the four films between that and Mermaid have varying aspects of laziness on display, I think.) And make no mistake: the word “cheap” does not need to be a criticism.

The Three Caballeros

Directed by Norman Ferguson

Written by Homer Brightmen, Ernest Terrazas, Ted Sears, Bil Peet, Ralph Wright, Elmer Plummer, Roy Williams, William Cottrell, Del Connell, and James Bodrero

Is objectivity possible in analyzing art? Is there a way to define what is and isn’t successful, what is and isn’t good, in a work of creative blood, sweat, and tears? Is there a way to completely divorce yourself from the subjective, from the past, when watching a film, for example? Maybe I’m biting off more than I can chew here, especially since I ask all of these questions in reference to The Three Caballeros, of all things, but after our podcast, I began to consider these ideas anew. While I found the film slight if somewhat charming, I was compelled to ponder the idea of subjectivity versus objectivity thanks to our guest, Jeff Heimbuch, who spoke...

The Jungle Book

Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman

Written by Larry Clemmons, Ralph Wright, Ken Anderson, and Vance Gerry

Starring Phil Harris, Sebastian Cabot, George Sanders, Louis Prima, Sterling Holloway

Why are so many Disney movies incapable of creating indelible lead characters? I wonder if that question is tantamount to heresy for many Disney buffs, but it’s worth asking. Don’t get me wrong: there are a number of Disney movies that work so well thanks in no small part to the lead character, from Belle in Beauty and the Beast to Tiana in The Princess and the Frog. (And, for the purposes of this argument, I’m leaving aside any Pixar movies.) But a whole host of Disney movies, ones that we consider classics, have a great, big, gaping hole at their center, counterbalanced by colorful supporting characters.

Take, for instance, Aladdin. Though we’ll talk about this 1992 animated...

Bambi

Directed by David Hand

Written by Perce Pearce, Larry Morey, Vernon Stallings, Melvin Shaw, Carl Fallberg, Chuck Couch, Ralph Wright

Starring Bobby Stewart, Donny Dunagan, Paula Winslowe, Sterling Holloway

Bambi is a film that touches greatness often, but only just. So much of the 1942 film is justifiably memorable, rightfully iconic, but it slips up in a few notable spots that it’s not quite as perfect as some (such as my co-host Gabe) say it is, nor is it as sublime an experience as the 1940 animated film Pinocchio is. More than the four films that preceded it from Walt Disney Pictures, Bambi is arguably the most exquisite and beautifully animated film from the company. The attention to detail and commitment to reality that the animators strove for throughout the production process is often truly impressive in how it pays off, but there are a few places where they lose the thread,...

Lady and the Tramp

Directed by Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske

Written by Erdman Penner, Joe Rinaldi, Ralph Wright, Don DaGradi

Starring Barbara Luddy, Larry Roberts, Verna Felton

Whether you’re a Disney nut like me, a film buff, an animation buff, or just interested in 20th-century Americana, you’d do well to read Neal Gabler’s biography of the late Walt Disney, called Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination. Though it’s an unauthorized work, Gabler had a high amount of access to the official Disney archives, so the book is well-sourced, detailed, and a compelling read. Gabler digs deep into Disney’s childhood, the tough times he had as an animator and businessman before creating Mickey Mouse, one of the truly seminal icons of American history, as well as the difficulties he faced and sometimes created once he became a household name. And yet, despite...