The Oregonian's coverage of The Portland International Film Festival continues. Here's this week's contribution from yours truly; click here to read the film team's complete Week 2 roundup.
"Waking Sleeping Beauty"
Given that it's financed and distributed by Disney, this behind-the-scenes look at Disney's "animation renaissance" of 1984-94 is something of a pleasant surprise -- because it's a fairly warts-and-all portrait of the creative and ego clashes that gave rise to "The Little Mermaid," "Beauty and the Beast," "Aladdin" and "The Lion King."
Director (and "Lion King" producer) Don Hahn uses a combination of home movies, news reports, interviews, half-finished production footage and even mean caricatures drawn by angry animators to recount the massive upheaval that started in 1984 -- when Roy Disney, Michael Eisner, Frank Wells, Jeffrey Katzenberg and others began the traumatic process of upending Disney's creaky animation division to turn it back into a hugely profitable hit machine.
It's a fast-moving, funny and occasionally sad look at the overworked intersection of the boardroom and drawing table; the behind-the-scenes footage alone makes this a must-see for animation nuts.
B; United States; 86 min. Playing at:
- 1:30 p.m. Saturday (Feb. 20), Broadway;
- 9:30 p.m. Monday (Feb. 22), Broadway
PIFF coverage: Week 2 (The Oregonian, Feb. 19, 2010)
Comments