The Rescuers

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The Rescuers
Rescuersposter.jpg
Original theatrical release poster
Directed by
Story by
Based on The Rescuers
Miss Bianca
by Margery Sharp
Produced by
  • Wolfgang Reitherman
Starring
Edited by
  • Jim Koford
  • James Melton
Music by Artie Butler
Production
company
Distributed by Buena Vista Distribution
Release date
  • June 22, 1977 (1977-06-22)
Running time
77 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$7.5 million
Box office$169 million [1]

The Rescuers is a 1977 American animated adventure comedy-drama film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by Buena Vista Distribution. Bob Newhart and Eva Gabor respectively star as Bernard and Bianca, two mice who are members of the Rescue Aid Society, an international mouse organization dedicated to helping abduction victims around the world. Both must free 6 year old orphan Penny (voiced by Michelle Stacy) from two treasure hunters (played by Geraldine Page and Joe Flynn), who intend to use her to help them obtain a giant diamond. The film is based on a series of books by Margery Sharp, including The Rescuers (1959) and Miss Bianca (1962).

Contents

An early version of The Rescuers entered development in 1962, but was shelved due to Walt Disney's dislike of its political overtones. During the 1970s, the film was revived as a project intended for the younger animators, with the oversight of the senior staff. Four years were spent working on the film. The Rescuers was released on June 22, 1977, to positive critical reception and became a box office success, earning $48 million against a budget of $7.5 million during its initial theatrical run. It has since grossed a total of $169 million after two re-releases in 1983 and 1989. Due to the film's success, a sequel titled The Rescuers Down Under was released in 1990, which made this film the first Disney animated film to have a sequel.

Plot

In an abandoned riverboat in Devil's Bayou, Louisiana, a 6 year old orphan named Penny drops a message in a bottle, containing a plea for help, into the river. The Rescue Aid Society, an international mouse organization inside the United Nations, finds the bottle when it washes up in New York City. The Hungarian representative, Miss Bianca, volunteers to accept the case. She chooses Bernard, a stammering janitor, as her co-agent. The two visit Morningside Orphanage, where Penny lived, and meet an old cat named Rufus. He tells them about a woman named Madame Medusa who once tried to lure Penny into her car, prompting the mice to investigate her pawn shop for clues.

At the pawn shop, Bianca and Bernard discover that Medusa and her partner, Mr. Snoops, are searching for the world's largest diamond, the Devil's Eye. The mice learn that Medusa and Snoops are currently at the Devil's Bayou with Penny, whom they have kidnapped and placed under the guard of two trained crocodiles, Brutus and Nero. With the help of an albatross named Orville and a dragonfly named Evinrude, the mice follow Medusa to the bayou. There, they learn that Medusa plans to force Penny to enter a small blowhole that leads down into a blocked-off pirates' cave where the Devil's Eye is located.

Bernard and Bianca find Penny and devise a plan of escape. They send Evinrude to alert the local animals, who loathe Medusa, but Evinrude is delayed when he is forced to take shelter from a cloud of bats. The following morning, Medusa and Snoops send Penny down into the cave to find the gem. Unbeknownst to Medusa, Bianca and Bernard are hiding in Penny's dress pocket. The three soon find the Devil's Eye within a pirate skull. As Penny pries the mouth open with a sword, the mice push the gem through it, but soon the oceanic tide rises and floods the cave. The three barely manage to escape with the diamond.

Medusa betrays Snoops and hides the diamond in Penny's teddy bear, while holding Penny and Snoops at gunpoint. When she trips over a cable set as a trap by Bernard and Bianca, Medusa loses the bear and the diamond to Penny, who runs away with them. The local animals arrive at the riverboat and aid Bernard and Bianca in trapping Brutus and Nero, then set off Mr. Snoops's fireworks to create more chaos. Meanwhile, Penny and the mice commandeer Medusa's swamp-mobile, a makeshift airboat. Medusa unsuccessfully pursues them, using Brutus and Nero as water-skis. As the riverboat sinks from the fireworks' damage, Medusa crashes and is left clinging to the boat's smoke stacks. Mr. Snoops escapes on a raft and laughs at her, while the irritated Brutus and Nero turn on her and circle below.

Back in New York City, the Rescue Aid Society watch a news report of how Penny found the Devil's Eye, which has been given to the Smithsonian Institution while it is implied that Medusa and Mr. Snoops have been arrested. It also mentions she has been adopted. The meeting is interrupted when Evinrude arrives with a call for help, sending Bernard and Bianca on a new adventure.

Cast

Production

In 1959, the book The Rescuers by Margery Sharp had been published to considerable success. In 1962, Sharp followed up with a sequel titled Miss Bianca. That same year, the books were optioned by Walt Disney, who began developing an animated film adaptation. In January 1963, story artist Otto Englander wrote a story treatment based on the first book, centering on a Norwegian poet unfairly imprisoned in a Siberia-like stronghold known as the Black Castle. [2] The story was revised with the location changed to Cuba, in which the mice would help the poet escape into the United States. [3] However, as the story became overtly involved in international intrigue, Disney shelved the project as he was unhappy with the political overtones. [4] In August 1968, Englander wrote another treatment featuring Bernard and Bianca rescuing Richard the Lionheart during the Middle Ages. [2]

A total of four years were spent working on The Rescuers, which was made on a budget of $7.5 million. [5] During the early 1970s, The Rescuers reentered development as a project for the young animators, led by Don Bluth, with the studio planning to alternate between full-scale "A pictures" and smaller, scaled-back "B pictures" with simpler animation. The animators had selected the most recent book, Miss Bianca in the Antarctic, to adapt from. The new story involved a King penguin deceiving a captured polar bear into performing in shows aboard a schooner, causing the unsatisfied bear to place a bottle that would reach the mice. Fred Lucky, a newly hired storyboard artist, was assigned to develop the story adaptation, alongside Ken Anderson. [6] This version of the story was dropped, to which Lucky explained the Arctic setting "was too stark a background for the animators." [7] Vance Gerry, also a storyboard artist, also explained director Wolfgang Reitherman "decided not to go with Fred Lucky's version. He said, "'It's too complicated. I want a simple story: A little girl gets kidnapped and the mice try to get her back, period.'" [8] According to Burny Mattinson, he stated: "Our problem was that the penguin wasn't formidable or evil enough for the audience to believe he would dominate the big bear. We struggled with that for a year or so. We changed the locale to somewhere in America and it was now a regular zoo and we tried to come up with something with the bear in the zoo and needing to be rescued but that didn't work either." [3]

In that version, the bear character was still retained, but was renamed Louie the Bear. Jazz singer Louis Prima was cast in the role and had recorded most of the dialogue and multiple songs that were composed by Floyd Huddleston. [9] The writers also expanded the role of his best friend, Gus the Lion. [10] Huddleston had stated, "It's about two animals. One is Louis Prima — he's the polar bear — and Redd Foxx is the lion ...Louis gets cornered into leaving and going to the South Pole where he can make himself a bigger star. But he gets homesick; he feels fooled. They send out little mice as 'rescuers'." [11] By November 1973, the role of Louie the Bear had been heavily scaled back and then eliminated. [10] In one version, the bear was meant to be Bernard and Bianca's connection to Penny. Gerry explained, "We developed the sequence where, while the two mice are searching for clues as to where Penny has been taken, they come across this bear who she had been friends with because the orphanage where Penny was living was near the zoo." [3] In the final film, the idea was reduced to a simple scene where Bernard enters a zoo and hears a lion's roar that scares him away. [8]

Penny struggles to free the Devil's Eye diamond from a pirate's skull; the filmmakers carefully designed every shot of the scene to raise the tension. Rescuers penny.JPG
Penny struggles to free the Devil's Eye diamond from a pirate's skull; the filmmakers carefully designed every shot of the scene to raise the tension.

While promoting the release of Robin Hood (1973) in Europe, Reitherman stated: "I took Margery Sharp's books along and there was in there a mean woman in a crystal palace. When I got back I called some of the guys together and I said, 'We've got to get a villain in this thing.'" [2] The villainess and her motive to steal a diamond was adapted from the Diamond Duchess in Miss Bianca. The setting was then changed to the bayous found in the Southern United States. [7] By August 1973, the villainess was named the Grand Duchess with Phyllis Diller cast in the role. [10] A month later, Ken Anderson began depicting Cruella de Vil, the villainess from One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961), as the main antagonist of the film. [10] [13] Anderson had drawn several sketches of Cruella de Vil sporting alligator-leathered chic attire and sunglasses; one sketch depicted her wearing bell-bottom pants and platform shoes. [14] However, several staff members such as animator Ollie Johnston stated it felt wrong to attempt a sequel for the character. [15] Furthermore, Mattinson explained that Milt Kahl did not want to animate Cruella de Vil. "Milt, of course, was very strong against that, 'Oh, no no. We're gonna have a new character. I'm not gonna do Cruella'," Mattinson recalled, "Because he felt that Marc [Davis] had animated Cruella beautifully. He was not gonna go and take his character." [13]

The new villain was named Madame Medusa, and her appearance was based on Kahl's then-wife, Phyllis Bounds (who was the niece of Lillian Disney), whom he divorced in 1978. [16] This was Kahl's last film for the studio, and he wanted his final character to be his best. He was so insistent on perfecting Madame Medusa that he ended up doing almost all the animation for the character himself. [17] The kidnapped child Penny was inspired by Patience, the orphan in the novel. The alligator characters Brutus and Nero was based on the two bloodhounds, Tyrant and Torment, in the novels. For the henchman, the filmmakers adapted the character, Mandrake, into Mr. Snoops. His appearance was caricatured from John Culhane, a journalist, who had been interviewing animators at the Disney studios. [15] [18] Culhane claimed he was practically tricked into posing for various reactions, and his movements were imitated on Mr. Snoops's model sheet. However, he stated, "Becoming a Disney character was beyond my wildest dreams of glory." [19]

The writers had considered depicting Bernard and Bianca as married professional detectives, but decided that depicting them as novices in a new relationship was more compelling and romantic. [7] [20] For the supporting characters, a pint-sized swamp mobile for the mice—a leaf powered by a dragonfly—was created. As they developed the comedic potential of displaying his exhaustion through buzzing, the dragonfly grew from an incidental into a major character. [21] Veteran sound effects artist and voice actor Jimmy MacDonald came out of retirement to provide the effects. [22] Additionally, the local swamp creatures were originally written as a dedicated home guard that drilled and marched incessantly. However, the writers rewrote them into a volunteer group of helpful little bayou creatures. Their leader, a singing bullfrog, voiced by Phil Harris, was cut from the film, [23] as were lines characterizing muskrat Ellie Mae as their outspoken boss. [24] For Bernard and Bianca's transportation, a pigeon was proposed (specifically one that would be catapulted, repurposing an unused gag from Robin Hood), [25] until Johnston remembered a True-Life Adventures film featuring albatrosses and their clumsy take-offs and landings, leading him suggest that ungainly bird instead. [26] A scene of the mice preparing for their adventure, with Bianca choosing outfits and Bernard testing James Bond-like gadgets, was cut for pacing. [20] On February 13, 1976, co-director John Lounsbery died of a heart attack during production. Art Stevens, an animator, was then selected as the new co-director. [27]

Animation

After the commercial success of The Aristocats (1970), then-vice president Ron Miller pledged that new animators should be hired to ensure "a continuity of quality Disney animated films for another generation." [28] Eric Larson, one of the "Nine Old Men" animators, scouted for potential artists who were studying at art schools and colleges throughout the United States. More than 60 artists were brought into the training program. [28] Then, the selected trainees were to create a black-and-white animation test, which were reviewed at the end of the month. The process would continue for several months, in which the few finalists were first employed as in-betweeners working only on nights and weekends. [29] By 1977, more than 25 artists were hired during the training program. [30] Among those selected were Glen Keane, Ron Clements, and Andy Gaskill, all of whom would play crucial roles in the Disney Renaissance. [31] Because of this, The Rescuers was the first collaboration between the newly recruited trainees and the senior animators. [30] It would also mark the last joint effort by Milt Kahl, Ollie Johnston, and Frank Thomas, and the first Disney film Don Bluth had worked on as a directing animator, instead of as an assistant animator. [26]

Ever since One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961), animation for theatrical Disney animated films had been done by xerography, which had only been able to produce black outlines. By the time The Rescuers was in production, the technology had been improved for the cel artists to use a medium-grey toner in order to create a softer-looking line. [32]

Music

The Rescuers
Soundtrack album Vinyl LP by
Various artists
Released1977
Recorded1974–1977
Label Disneyland
Producer Artie Butler
Walt Disney Animation Studios chronology
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
(1977)		The Rescuers
(1977)		 The Fox and the Hound
(1981)

Sammy Fain was first hired as a lyricist and wrote two original songs "Swamp Volunteers March" and "The Rescuers Aid Society". Meanwhile, the filmmakers had listened to an unproduced musical composed by the songwriting team of Carol Connors and Ayn Robbins. [23] Both women had first met each other in 1973 on a double date. Before then, Connors had co-composed and sang successful songs such as "To Know Him Is to Love Him" and "Hey Little Cobra" with the Teddy Bears. Meanwhile, Robbins worked as a personal secretary to actors George Kennedy and Eva Gabor and wrote unpublished poetry. [33]

Desiring more contemporary songs for the film, Reitherman called Connors and Robbins into his office and shown them storyboards of Bernard and Bianca flying on Orville. Connors and Robbins then composed "Tomorrow Is Another Day" to accompany the scene. They later composed the symphonic piece "The Journey" to play during the opening titles. [34] Near the end of the film's production, Reitherman asked artist Mel Shaw to illustrate pastel sketches to accompany the music. Shaw agreed and was assisted by Burny Mattinson. [35]

Connors and Robbins wrote another song "The Need To Be Loved", but Reitherman preferred Fain's song "Someone's Waiting for You". He nevertheless asked both women to compose new lyrics for the songs. They also recomposed a new version of the "Rescuers Aid Society" song. [34] Most of the songs they had written for the film were performed by Shelby Flint. [36] Also, for the first time since Bambi (1942), all the most prominent songs were sung as part of a narrative, as opposed to by the film's characters as in most Disney animated films.

Describing their collaborative process, Robbins noted "...Carol plays the piano and I play the pencil." During production, both women were nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Gonna Fly Now" from Rocky (1976) with Bill Conti. [36]

Songs

Original songs performed in the film include:

No.TitlePerformer(s)Length
1."The Journey" Shelby Flint  
2."Rescue Aid Society" Robie Lester, Bob Newhart, Bernard Fox & the Disney Studio Chorus 
3."Tomorrow is Another Day" Shelby Flint  
4."Someone's Waiting for You" Shelby Flint  
5."Tomorrow is Another Day (Reprise)" Shelby Flint  

Songs heard in the film but not released on the soundtrack include:

Release

Original theatrical run

On June 19, 1977, The Rescuers premiered at the AFI Silver Theatre in Washington, D.C., [37] and was accompanied with the live-action nature documentary film, A Tale of Two Critters (1977). [38] By January 1979, the film had earned $15 million in distributor rentals from the United States and Canada, [39] achieving the highest-gross for an animated film during its initial release. [40]

The film was the highest-grossing film in France in 1977, out-grossing Star Wars and The Spy Who Loved Me . [40] It received admissions of 7.2 million in France generating film rentals of around $6 million. [41] [42] The film also became the highest-grossing film in West Germany for 1977, [43] earning $6 million during its first 20 days of release. [40] Altogether, it received admissions of 10.3 million in Germany generating rentals of almost $12 million. [44] [42] During its release, it earned $48–50 million in worldwide gross rentals at the box office. [45] [5]

Re-releases

The Rescuers was re-released in 1983 and 1989. [18] During its 1983 re-release, the film was accompanied with the new Mickey Mouse featurette, Mickey's Christmas Carol , which marked the character's first theatrical appearance after a 30-year absence. The film grossed $21 million domestically. [46] In 1989, the film earned $21.2 million domestically. [47] The film's total lifetime domestic gross is $71.2 million, [48] and its total lifetime worldwide gross is $169 million. [1]

Marketing

To tie in with the film's 25th anniversary, The Rescuers debuted in the Walt Disney Classics Collection line in 2002, with three different figures featuring three of the film's characters, as well as the opening title scroll. The three figures were sculpted by Dusty Horner and they were: Brave Bianca, featuring Miss Bianca the heroine and priced at $75, [49] Bold Bernard, featuring hero Bernard, priced also at $75 [50] and Evinrude Base, featuring Evinrude the dragonfly and priced at $85. [49] The title scroll featuring the film's name, The Rescuers, and from the opening song sequence, "The Journey," was priced at $30. All figures were retired in March 2005, except for the opening title scroll which was suspended in December 2012. [49]

The Rescuers was the inspiration for another Walt Disney Classics Collection figure in 2003. Ken Melton was the sculptor of Teddy Goes With Me, My Dear, a limited-edition, 8-inch sculpture featuring the evil Madame Medusa, the orphan girl Penny, her teddy bear "Teddy" and the Devil's Eye diamond. Exactly 1,977 of these sculptures were made, in reference to the film's release year, 1977. The sculpture was priced at $299 and instantly declared retired in 2003. [50]

In November 2008, a sixth sculpture inspired by the film was released. Made with pewter and resin, Cleared For Take Off introduced the character of Orville into the collection and featured Bernard and Bianca a second time. The piece, inspired by Orville's take-off scene in the film, was sculpted by Ruben Procopio. [51]

Home media

The Rescuers premiered on VHS and LaserDisc on September 18, 1992 as part of the Walt Disney Classics series. The release went into moratorium on April 30, 1993. [52] It was re-released on VHS as part of the Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection on January 5, 1999, but due to a scandal was recalled three days later and reissued on March 23, 1999.

The Rescuers was released on DVD on May 20, 2003, as a standard edition, which was discontinued in November 2011.[ citation needed ]

On August 21, 2012, a 35th-anniversary edition of The Rescuers was released on Blu-ray alongside its sequel in a "2-Movie Collection". [53] [54]

Nudity scandal

One of the frames containing a picture of a topless woman in the window Rescuers Topless Woman.jpg
One of the frames containing a picture of a topless woman in the window

On January 8, 1999, three days after the film's second release on home video, The Walt Disney Company announced a recall of about 3.4 million copies of the videotapes because there was a blurry image of a topless woman in the background of a scene. [55] [56] [57] [58]

The image appears twice in non-consecutive frames during the scene in which Miss Bianca and Bernard are flying on Orville's back through New York City. The two images could not be seen in ordinary viewing because the film runs too fast—at 24 frames per second. [59]

On January 10, 1999, two days after the recall was announced, the London newspaper The Independent reported:

A Disney spokeswoman said that the images in The Rescuers were placed in the film during post-production, but she declined to say what they were or who placed them... The company said the aim of the recall was to keep its promise to families that they can trust and rely on the Disney brand to provide the best in family entertainment. [60]

The Rescuers home video was reissued on March 23, 1999, with the nudity edited and blocked out.[ citation needed ]

Reception

The Rescuers was said to be Disney's greatest film since Mary Poppins (1964), and seemed to signal a new golden age for Disney animation. [61] Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times praised the film as "the best feature-length animated film from Disney in a decade or more—the funniest, the most inventive, the least self-conscious, the most coherent, and moving from start to finish, and probably most important of all, it is also the most touching in that unique way fantasy has of carrying vibrations of real life and real feelings." [62] Gary Arnold of The Washington Post wrote the film "is one of the most rousing and appealing animated features ever made by the Disney studio. The last production for several members of the original feature animation unit assembled by Walt Disney in the late '30s, the film is both a triumphant swan song and gladdening act of regeneration." [63] Dave Kehr of The Chicago Reader praised the film as "a beautifully crafted and wonderfully expressive cartoon feature," calling it "genuinely funny and touching." [64] Variety magazine wrote the film was "the best work by Disney animators in many years, restoring the craft to its former glories. In addition, it has a more adventurous approach to color and background stylization than previous Disney efforts have displayed, with a delicate pastel palette used to wide-ranging effect." [65]

Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote that the film "doesn't belong in the same category as the great Disney cartoon features ( Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs, Bambi, Fantasia ) but it's a reminder of a kind of slickly cheerful, animated entertainment that has become all but extinct." [66] Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film two-and-a-half stars out of four writing, "To see any Disney animated film these days is to compare it with Disney classics released 30 or 40 years ago. Judged against Pinocchio, for example. The Rescuers is lightweight, indeed. Its themes are forgettable. It's mostly an adventure story." [38] TV Guide gave the film three stars out of five, opining that The Rescuers "is a beautifully animated film that showed Disney still knew a lot about making quality children's fare even as their track record was weakening." They also praised the voice acting of the characters, and stated that the film is "a delight for children as well as adults who appreciate good animation and brisk storytelling." [67] Ellen MacKay of Common Sense Media gave the film four out of five stars, writing, "Great adventure, but too dark for preschoolers". [68]

In his book, The Disney Films, film historian Leonard Maltin referred to The Rescuers as "a breath of fresh air for everyone who had been concerned about the future of animation at Walt Disney's," praises its "humor and imagination and [that it is] expertly woven into a solid story structure ... with a delightful cast of characters." Finally, he declares the film "the most satisfying animated feature to come from the studio since 101 Dalmatians ." He also briefly mentions the ease with which the film surpassed other animated films of its time. [69] The film's own animators Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston stated on their website that The Rescuers had been their return to a film with heart and also considered it their best film without Walt Disney. [70] The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported that the film received a 79% approval rating, with an average rating of 6.5/10 based on 33 reviews. The website's consensus states: "Featuring superlative animation, off-kilter characters, and affectionate voice work by Bob Newhart and Eva Gabor, The Rescuers represents a bright spot in Disney's post-golden age." [71] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 74 out of 100 based on 8 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". [72]

Accolades

AwardCategoryNominee(s)ResultRef.
Academy Awards Best Original Song "Someone's Waiting for You"
Music by Sammy Fain;
Lyrics by Carol Connors and Ayn Robbins 		Nominated [73]
National Board of Review Awards Special CitationWon [74]

In 2008, the American Film Institute nominated The Rescuers for its Top 10 Animated Films list. [75]

Legacy

Bernard and Bianca made appearances as meet-and-greet characters at Walt Disney World and Disneyland in the years following the original film's release. While they currently do not make regular appearances at the American parks, both continue to appear regularly at Tokyo Disney Resort.[ citation needed ]

Like other Disney animated characters, the characters of the film have recurring cameo appearances in the television series House of Mouse .

In the Disney Infinity video games, Medusa's Swamp Mobile was introduced as a vehicle in Disney Infinity 2.0 . [76]

In the world builder video game Disney Magic Kingdoms , Bernard, Miss Bianca, Penny, Madame Medusa, and Orville appear as playable characters in the main storyline of the game, along with The Rescue Aid Society and Madame Medusa's Riverboat as attractions. [77] [78] [79]

Along with other Walt Disney Animation Studios characters, the main characters of the film have cameo appearances in the short film Once Upon a Studio . [80]

Comics

Sequel

The Rescuers was the first Disney animated film to have a sequel. After three successful theatrical releases of the original film, The Rescuers Down Under was released theatrically on November 16, 1990.

The Rescuers Down Under takes place in the Australian Outback, and involves Bernard and Bianca trying to rescue a boy named Cody and a giant golden eagle called Marahute from a greedy poacher named Percival C. McLeach. Both Bob Newhart and Eva Gabor reprised their lead roles. Since Jim Jordan, who had voiced Orville, had since died, a new character, Wilbur (Orville's brother, another albatross), was created and voiced by John Candy.

See also

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Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS), sometimes shortened to Disney Animation, is an American animation studio that creates animated features and short films for The Walt Disney Company. The studio's current production logo features a scene from its first synchronized sound cartoon, Steamboat Willie (1928). Founded on October 16, 1923, by brothers Walt Disney and Roy O. Disney after the closure of Laugh-O-Gram Studio, it is the longest-running animation studio in the world. It is currently organized as a division of Walt Disney Studios and is headquartered at the Roy E. Disney Animation Building at the Walt Disney Studios lot in Burbank, California. Since its foundation, the studio has produced 63 feature films, with its first release being Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), which is also the first hand drawn animated feature film, and its most recent release was Moana 2 (2024). The studio has also produced hundreds of short films.

<i>The Fox and the Hound</i> 1981 American animated film

The Fox and the Hound is a 1981 American animated buddy drama film produced by Walt Disney Productions and loosely based on the 1967 novel of the same name by Daniel P. Mannix. It tells the story of the unlikely friendship between a red fox named Tod and a hound named Copper, as they struggle against their emerging instincts and the realization that they are meant to be adversaries.

<i>Bolt</i> (2008 film) Disney animated film

Bolt is a 2008 American animated adventure comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It was directed by Chris Williams and Byron Howard and produced by Clark Spencer, from a screenplay written by Williams and Dan Fogelman. The film stars the voices of John Travolta, Miley Cyrus, Susie Essman, Mark Walton, Malcolm McDowell, James Lipton and Greg Germann. This was also one of the final film roles for Lipton before his death in 2020, the other being Igor which was released the same year as Bolt.

<i>Sleeping Beauty</i> (1959 film) 1959 animated Disney film

Sleeping Beauty is a 1959 American animated musical fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by Buena Vista Film Distribution. Based on Charles Perrault's 1697 fairy tale, the production was supervised by Clyde Geronimi, and was directed by Wolfgang Reitherman, Eric Larson, and Les Clark. Featuring the voices of Mary Costa, Bill Shirley, Eleanor Audley, Verna Felton, Barbara Luddy, Barbara Jo Allen, Taylor Holmes, and Bill Thompson, the film follows Princess Aurora, who was cursed by the evil fairy Maleficent to die from pricking her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel. She is saved by three good fairies, who alter Aurora's curse so that she falls into a deep sleep and will be awakened by true love's kiss.

<i>Mickeys House of Villains</i> 2002 American film

Mickey's House of Villains is a 2002 American direct-to-video animated comedy-horror film produced by Walt Disney Television Animation. It is based on the animated television series House of Mouse, and serves as a stand-alone sequel to the direct-to-video animated film Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse, starring Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Daisy Duck, and Disney Villains that appeared in past Disney productions. It was released on both VHS and DVD by Walt Disney Home Entertainment on September 3, 2002.

<i>The Princess and the Frog</i> 2009 Disney animated film

The Princess and the Frog is a 2009 American animated musical romantic fantasy comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is inspired in part by the 2002 novel The Frog Princess by E. D. Baker, which in turn is based on the German folk tale "The Frog Prince" as collected by the Brothers Grimm. The film was directed by John Musker and Ron Clements and produced by Peter Del Vecho, from a screenplay that Clements and Musker co-wrote with Rob Edwards. The directors also co-wrote the story with the writing team of Greg Erb and Jason Oremland. The film stars the voices of Anika Noni Rose, Bruno Campos, Michael-Leon Wooley, Jim Cummings, Jennifer Cody, John Goodman, Keith David, Peter Bartlett, Jenifer Lewis, Oprah Winfrey, and Terrence Howard. Set in New Orleans during the 1920s, the film tells the story of a hardworking waitress named Tiana who dreams of opening her own restaurant. After kissing prince Naveen, who has been turned into a frog by the evil voodoo witch doctor Facilier, Tiana becomes a frog as well and the two must find a way to turn human again before it is too late.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio</span> Division of MGM film studio responsible for producing animated shorts

The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio was an American animation studio operated by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer during the Golden Age of American animation. Active from 1937 until 1957, the studio was responsible for producing animated shorts to accompany MGM feature films in Loew's Theaters, which included popular cartoon characters Tom, Jerry, Droopy, Butch, Spike, Tyke, and Barney Bear.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ken Anderson (animator)</span> American art director and animator (1909–1993)

Kenneth B. "Ken" Anderson was an American animator, art director, and storyboard artist for The Walt Disney Company. He had been named by Walt Disney as his "jack of all trades".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jimmy MacDonald (sound effects artist)</span> Bristish-born American Foley artist (1906–91)

John James MacDonald was a British-born American Foley artist, voice actor, musician and conductor. He was the original head of the Disney sound effects department, and was also the 2nd official voice of Mickey Mouse from 1947 to 1976 and again in 1978 and 1987 after Walt Disney stopped playing the character and before Wayne Allwine became the third voice of Mickey in 1977.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disney Renaissance</span> Period of Disney animated films, 1989–1999

The Disney Renaissance was a period from 1989 to 1999 during which Walt Disney Feature Animation returned to producing critically and commercially successful animated films. The ten feature films associated with this period are The Little Mermaid (1989), The Rescuers Down Under (1990), Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), The Lion King (1994), Pocahontas (1995), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), Hercules (1997), Mulan (1998), and Tarzan (1999).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Henn</span> American animator (born 1958)

Mark Alan Henn is an American animator and film director. His work includes animated characters for Walt Disney Animation Studios films, most notably leading or titular characters and heroines. He served as the lead animator for Ariel in The Little Mermaid (1989), Belle in Beauty and the Beast (1991), Jasmine in Aladdin (1992), Young Simba in The Lion King (1994), the title character in Mulan (1998), and Tiana in The Princess and the Frog (2009). Since all these characters except Simba became Disney Princesses, he came to be known as the "princess guy" around the studio. He directed the short films John Henry (2000) and D.I.Y. Duck (2024). Henn spent a total of 43 years at Walt Disney Animation Studios, from 1980 until his retirement in 2023.

Mel Shaw was an American animator, design artist, writer, and artist. Shaw was involved in the animation, story design, and visual development of numerous Disney animated films, beginning with Bambi, which was released in 1942. His other animated film credits, usually involving animation design or the story, included The Rescuers in 1977, The Fox and the Hound in 1981, The Black Cauldron in 1985, The Great Mouse Detective in 1986, Beauty and the Beast in 1991, and The Lion King in 1994. He was named a Disney Legend in 2004 for his contributions to The Walt Disney Company.

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Bibliography

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