I’ll tell you a tale of the bottomless blue
And it’s hey to the starboard, heave-ho
Look out, lad, a mermaid be waiting for you
In mysterious fathoms below …
Click on the invitation and discover the gathering last Thursday evening at Woodbury University in Burbank, California where most of the original crew that worked on this Academy Award winner gathered with animation fans and friends to celebrate the movie that gave new life to the second golden age of Disney feature animation.
What a glorious story with a twist that begins an adventure through the Bayou. I want to see this movie. Some folks already have and reviews are popping up on the Internet. Sounds like another sure fire hit for Disney.
Walt Disney is in Russia to produce the first Russian film Kniga Masterov, The Book of Masters, a children’s adventure stories from the country’s most notable fariy tales and characters.
Obviously, the film is aimed at families with a release date set fot he fall of 2009.
Disney is launching its Platinum Collection line on Blu-ray starting with Sleeping Beauty to be released October 7.
The whole next-generation BD-Live network offers Web-enabled features like chat rooms and video messaging for the U.S. customers only with Sleeping Beauty. The network will go live worldwide in fall 2009 with Snow White.
Among five new Blu-ray releases Pinocchio will be first out of the gate, coming in the spring. Snow White followed in 2010 by Fantasia and Fantasia 2000.
A special release and treat along with the Blu-ray Disney will issue Destino, an unfinished animated feature film created by Walt Disney and famed surrealist painter Salvador Dali. Begun in 1946, the rare film was rediscovered in 2003 and completed by Walt Disney’s nephew, Roy E. Disney.
Then finally, Beauty and the Beast, the only animated film ever nominated for a best picture Oscar. The film will be available as a Blu-ray Disc Platinum Collection release in fall 2010.
According to Hollywood Reporter, Walt Disney Studios says legendary animator Ollie Johnston has died at age 95.
Johnston was the last of Walt Disney’s so-called Nine Old Men.
He contributed animation and direction to classics such as “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” “Pinocchio,” “Fantasia,” “Song of the South,” “Cinderella,” and “Alice in Wonderland.”
He also worked on “Peter Pan,” “Lady and the Tramp,” “Sleeping Beauty,” “Sword in the Stone,” “Mary Poppins,” “The Jungle Book,” “Robin Hood,” “The Rescuers,” and “The Fox and the Hound.”
I was going to list my favorites but it turns out that all these classics are my favorites – what talent-pure art in animation. I believe Ollie is the last one on the right in the above picture of the Nine Old Men.
