I grew up during a very exciting time for Disney fans. In second grade, The Little Mermaid
hit theaters, and for the next few years, it was just a steady stream
of masterpieces. I’ve heard a bit of Disney history here and there but
never delved in too deeply behind the scenes, so it was fascinating for
me to watch Waking Sleeping Beauty, the documentary that deals
with Disney’s Renaissance in the 1980s and 1990s. Directed and narrated
by Disney insider Don Hahn, it details some of the circumstances and
personalities that came together to create the atmosphere in which
Disney’s flagging animation department would suddenly find itself on top
of the world again.
The movie focuses a lot of its attention
upon Disney power players Roy Disney, Mike Eisner and Jeffrey
Katzenberg, each of whom had an important impact upon the Disney legacy,
though their contributions were not always appreciated at the time. For
me growing up, Eisner was always the face that I associated most with
Disney, aside from Walt himself, who was long gone. The movie even
includes a clip of him introducing a featurette about the making of Beauty and the Beast
which I remember vividly enough from nearly 20 years ago that I knew
exactly what he was going to say next. Of course, Katzenberg and Roy
Disney were familiar names too, and it was interesting to see how they
interacted with each other and with the crew of animators working with
them. Sometimes, it was a bit disheartening as well.
The
documentary is filled with archive footage of interviews with people
involved in the making of various Disney movies, sketches and
storyboards, voice recording sessions, news clips, behind-the-scenes
glimpses of the studio, rejected film footage and all kinds of other
goodies. One thing we see a lot of is caricatures of the various bosses,
usually quite unflattering. There’s a lot of eyes bugging out and
mouths spewing fire and that type of thing. Disney may be the most
magical place on Earth, but its animation department comes across as a
very stressful work environment, with constant pressure from the
higher-ups as well as the animators pushing themselves to give 110
percent every day. They often seem frustrated, but at the same time, we
get a definite sense of their passion for the work.
Throughout
the film, dozens of personalities come into play. We get to know Frank
Wells, who came in with Eisner and was credited with being the
peacemaker among the bigwigs, keeping all those egos from erupting and
poisoning the task at hand. There’s Katzenberg, who was put in charge of
Disney’s motion picture division around the time Eisner became CEO, and
Don Bluth, who devastated the animation department by walking off with
half the artists in 1979. I feel a twinge of guilt for loving Bluth’s
movies, especially An American Tail, The Land Before Time and Anastasia,
so much, but maybe if he hadn’t taken off when he did, it wouldn’t have
paved the way for one of the most exciting eras in Disney’s history.
It’s
funny to catch glimpses of not-yet-famous people like Tim Burton, who
on a trip through the studio sits morosely at his animation desk, too
absorbed in his work to muster a smile for the camera. It’s also neat to
see how the media reacted to various developments, and interviews with
journalists like Diane Sawyer and a coy Jeopardy reference to a
contentious Disney decision are fascinating. For me, though, the most
riveting portion of the movie involved lyricist Howard Ashman. I hadn’t
realized just how integral he was to the development of the movies he
worked on. His enthusiasm was infectious, particularly in the scene in
which he describes his vision for the song Under the Sea, and
it’s apparent just how deep his love for these stories and characters
really was. Watching him pour out his soul into these songs, it occurred
to me that when it comes to dream jobs, Disney lyricist would have to
be right near the top of my list. Getting into these fantastic
characters’ heads with warmth and witty wordplay and crafting moments
that would become among the most memorable in the Disney canon? Yeah,
that sounds pretty good to me.
Of course, Ashman’s story is also
deeply tragic, as he was ravaged by AIDS just a few short years after
joining the Disney family, and he never got to see the complete version
of his greatest triumph, the Best Picture-nominated Beauty and the Beast.
The documentary poignantly discusses the disconnect between the
adrenaline rush of receiving a standing ovation in response to the film,
which at that point included several stretches with only rough
animation, and the cold horror of visiting Ashman in his hospital room
afterward and finding him shriveled away to a mere 80 pounds. Beauty and the Beast
was a project that Walt Disney himself had wanted to tackle, and it had
just never worked out. Even this time around, the first attempt to pin
the movie down was a flop, as we see in the strange footage of a
scrapped draft that bears no resemblance whatsoever to the finished
film. Somehow, though, everyone rallied to create a perfect piece of
cinema with gorgeous animation, a heroine Disney is unlikely ever to top
and songs that reveal character in an especially brilliant way. The
eloquent dedication to Ashman at the conclusion of Beauty and the Beast
is a testament to his total immersion in the movie and the respect and
affection he garnered from all those who worked on it with him, and the
documentary uses the classic’s most heartbreaking scenes to express the
communal sorrow at losing this incredible talent.
I knew the
basics of how Ashman’s life ended coming into the movie, so while I
found the time spent on him especially moving, I knew what was coming.
But I never really knew anything about Wells, and I honestly don’t
remember a thing about the helicopter crash that cut his life sadly
short, effectively ending that golden era of Disney. That’s not to say
that Disney – particularly in collaborations with Pixar – hasn’t
produced anything worthwhile since then, but after The Lion King,
a certain something just wasn’t quite there anymore. It’s sad to learn
of all the disharmony at play in this company designed to turn dreams
into reality. I am glad that Hahn decided to reveal this chapter of
Disney history and introduce us to people like Wells and animator Joe
Ranft, who, like Ashman, died very young. The documentary is dedicated
to those three, along with Roy Disney, who died after the film was
completed but was added to the dedication. So much of what happens at
Disney is totally out of the public eye, and it’s nice to get to know
some of these people who were so integral to the company’s success.
The
movie runs about an hour and a half in length, and if you watch all the
special features, that’s gotta be close to another hour and a half. I
was especially interested in the featurette about the making of the
documentary and the tours of the animation department in three different
years, with lots of peeks at a zany, highly creative crew that seemed
to have a lot of bitterness bubbling under the surface.
The best
bit, though, was the series of deleted scenes, most of which primarily
involved Ashman. It was moving to hear the others talk about the pain of
losing him and of cutting his intensely personal Proud of Your Boy from Aladdin and neat to watch him coach Jodi Benson on how to properly convey the emotion of Part of Your World (which, astonishingly, was nearly cut from The Little Mermaid
after the sequence failed to connect with children for whom it was
screened). But this aspiring lyricist (who signed up every year in high
school for a History of Musical Theater class that was always cancelled
due to lack of interest) was most fascinated by the 12-minute-long clip
of his lecture on the role of music in movies and the correlation
between Broadway and animated musicals. Totally absorbing.
Different
people will no doubt be drawn to different aspects of this documentary.
For me, it was Ashman who most captured my imagination, but I loved
getting to see all of those little tidbits from within the Disney vaults
and hearing these insiders reminisce about such an exhilarating time.
If you find Disney as irresistible as I do, you might want to have a
look at Waking Sleeping Beauty yourself.
No comments:
Post a Comment