The end of Disney song and danse routines...a good thing?

[I.R Joey]

I was just thinking about the fact that alot of animation fans are glad that Disney seems to be moving more towards movies that don't have big drawn out musicals. Is this a good thing I wonder? I mean in my personal opinion this is one of the things Disney did best in the 90's. When you think about it music in itself is a way of communicating just like normal dialouge. Often we can learn to care about a charecter in a song routine like Ariel singing "part of that world" or Aladdin's "one jump" then we'd learn if they just spouted out a bunch of dialouge. I'm really serious here folks, I think I enjoyed the Hunchback of Notre Dame more then I did Atlantis because of some of those songs. Frollo letting loose his sexual tension while singing, Quasi singing cuz he thinks Esmerelda loves him and pulling himself up for a huge dissapointment, and who can forget the Festival of fools song? As opposed to Atlantis or even worse the very forgettable Dinosaur (sorry even as a paleontology fan I must say that this movie was very forgetable, and they got the geographic locations of the animals wrong BTW.)

I know we all long for the day where cartooons can be taken seriously as a way to express serious stories, I know I do. But in truth there is also a place for cute crtitters singing catchy melodies, I think we might be doing a mistake in completly discarding these shows of skilmanship (is that even a word.)

[Zechs]

I think they should keep them in that whatt made Disney well Disney. But itmay also be a welcome change guess I'm in the middle on this one.

[RogueMartian]

I agree. The music, especially in the early nineties, was not only good, but it was also good for character development.

Personally I don't have a problem with musicals, especially when they are done well. But disney is leaving a lot of things behind that made them great. I mourn a great many things when it comes to disney's cartoons.

[Ruffian]

The story of Hunchback and Pocahontas didn't intrigue me as Disney's bigger hits, but they had awesome soundtracks and they are some of my favorites. Animated musicals is a strong Disney style because, as others have said, they do it well. The only other animated musicals that have done well that aren't Disney that I can think of are Anastasia (I disliked this one though...), The Land Before Time, and An American Tail.

I'm also a big fan of musicals in general, so I don't mind the singing at all, unless it's bad music of course and does nothing for the movie except as a filler. Lousey presentation don't make memorable movie impressions. The story has the major influence of how well I like a movie though.

[Osmosisista]

Eh? Land Before Time wasn't a musical (we won't mention the awful sequels)

I think Hunchback was the only musical Disney film that didn't make me cringe. The songs were dark and very catchy. (hums God Help The Outcasts to herself)

[Blue Priestess]

I think it's important for Disney to find a happy medium. The musical, as a concept, is dying, and by doing musicals, Disney is keeping that tradition alive. However, they should also continue to do non-musical work (silly & serious) just to broaden their horizons and the overall horizons of animation. That way both parties could be happy, and people could see that musicals aren't limited to Andrew Lloyd Weber or some adaptation of an 80s movie.

Mela

[Luna]

I like the Disney musicals(Tarzan's my fave soudtrack),but I also enjoyed Atlantis,which has no songs.....I think Disney should do a little of both..make some musicals and non-musicals...

[Joe Wagner]

Originally posted by Luna
I like the Disney musicals(Tarzan's my fave soudtrack),but I also enjoyed Atlantis,which has no songs.....I think Disney should do a little of both..make some musicals and non-musicals...

I'm not sure if Tarzan would fall into the musical category becuase most of the songs were used over top of the animation - as compared to the characters singing them (the exception being Turks little song), I do agree though that this is the best soundtrack Disney ever did as it is my favorite one to. This seems to be the theme Disney is following for a lot of their animated movies and while every once in a while it's cool for a character to bust into song (like in Pocahontas or Aladdin) I don't think it works in every instance. I loved Atlantis and couldn't see Milo busting out into song for any reason and was glad that Disney had the integrity (I know, oxymoron here) to allow this film to be made without musicalizing it.

While the musical may have made Disney famous it has to evolve like every other company and while I don't want them to disappear entirely I'm not offended at all by the idea of getting more animated films that use the forum to its fullest and doesn't rely on a couple of quick music additions to make the film. Remember, not all of the songs Disney has done for their movies are classics - look at Cinderella 2 or almost any of their other musicalized sequels.

-Joe!

[LightAngel]

I for one, miss Disney musicals. The songs were such a hugh part of my childhood, and I continue to go around singing them to this day! They should a hugh sign of creativity on Disney's part. I agree that some movies, like Atlantis do not necessarily require a song or two thrown in, but discarding musicals all together doens't exactly make me happy!

[Melon109]

I like the Disney musicals, but I think making more adventure movies is better. The adventure movies seem to be more mature than the musicals.

[Lonestarr]

Disney is embarking down, IMO, a more mature road. When the time comes for another "Beauty and the Beast", I'm sure we'll see it, but, for the moment, don't rock the boat! I'll tell you this much; if "Atlantis" had musical numbers...well, let's just say that there is not a jury in the world that'd hold me responsible for my actions.

[Ruffian]

Originally posted by Osmosisista
Eh? Land Before Time wasn't a musical (we won't mention the awful sequels)

Ack! You're right. I have that soundtrack too.