Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Alice In Wonderland - Following the Spirit of Disney?

Alice in Wonderland is set to be released in theaters on March 5th. I for one can not remember any other time in my life (at least not since I was a very young child) that I have been so excited for the release of a Disney movie. Following in the similar footsteps of Avatar, it will be released in 3D as well as shown in Imax theaters. After experiencing the visual phenomenon of Avatar, I'm anticipating a similar experience with Alice. Not to mention Johnny Depp...he is just the man in somewhat twisted, goofy roles.
The more I think about this movie, however, the more I realize it is jsut the latest development in the tradition of Disney movies, namely, to push the envelope with more technological developments. As Walt Disney himself so proudly and vainly exhibited in the early years, Disney is attempting to keep one step ahead of the curve, this time with stunning 3D used to portray "real" human beings along with animated characters.
I can't help but wonder what Walt Disney would think about this latest development. For him, the inventions of smoother animation, color animation, sound, talking, etc. were the sources of his greatest pride. Would he see this as yet another proud development that stems from his creative legacy, or a corruption of the animated movie? Perhaps most controversial in his mind would be the use of actual human beings in an "animated" movie. While most people, including myself, know the basic plot line of Alice in Wonderland, I know the prospect of seeing it with real humans is far more exciting than a reproduction of the older versions with simply better graphics for the animation. I would like to think that he would perhaps feel the same way, but I can't help but doubt that perhaps he would see this as a move away from the true spirit of animated Disney movies.

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