Zootopia (2016)

[The Lurker]

I know a few people here that would be interested in this.

[Darth Geek]

So did the makers of this movie just never see...ANY other Disney movie, or pretty much ANY other animated movie, if they think they just discovered the idea of anthropomorphisizing animals?

[The Lurker]

I think it's part of the whole "alternate universe" thing.  I think...

[Relaxing Dragon]

The Furries, at least, are quite excited.

You can take my word for this one.

[Quirk]

Yeah, jeez, we get the concept, trailer.

[The Lurker]

Hopefully the next trailer will have better narration.

[RoninFox]

"Would you believe, an image projected on a large white surface, suddenly and instantaneously replaced by a similar one several times a second to create the illusion of motion, continuing for some time in order to create a type of visual narrative accompanied by recordings of sound? That's what we're going for here."

[Quirk]

"Let's say we told a lie, and then we told more lies about those lies. At best, that's a moral grey area, right? Not in Zootopia. You see, Zootopia is a work of what we call "fiction". It's like a lie, but for the sake of, get this, entertainment. In Zootopia, falsehoods aren't resented; they're appreciated. Backwards? Let's bring out the flannelgraph and really dive into the concept..."

[SJP]

Sooooo...Robin Hood got a day job, then? 

In all honesty, I remember seeing a list that showed a couple of upcoming Disney/Pixar animated films, and this one was actually one I was interested in seeing...at the time.  Because what they showed was a storyboard.

A 2D storyboard.

I thought this was going to be a traditional animated film.

Thank you, Disney, for making me realize that 3D animation is the only thing that exists now and that kids are thoroughly incapable of enjoying 2D animation.  After all, nothing children watch is clearly 2D in any way shape or form.

What's that?  Dora the Explorer?  SpongeBob?  Phineas & Ferb?  Adventure Time?  About 85% of all animated TV shows are 2D?  Nah, can't be.  Kids only watch the 3D stuff, not that archaic crap.

[The Lurker]

They got rid of their 2d division awhile back after The Princess and the Frog, for reasons.  I just hope it's good movie.

[Relaxing Dragon]

They got rid of their 2d division awhile back after The Princess and the Frog, for reasons.  I just hope it's good movie.

I think it was because that movie just didn't make enough money.

So, like most things in life, I ultimately blame the movie going public.

[Pak-Man]

2D division is still around, but they're only putting one out every few years. (Winnie the Pooh would be their last one.) There were plans a while back for them to make a 2D Discworld movie, but I don't know what happened to it.

[SJP]

I knew the 2D division was still around, just not as productive.  I remember they had tried to kill it permanently shortly after Home on the Range came out.  I think based on the performance of that "Oscar-winning" feature, they assumed people didn't have any interest in 2D animation anymore, that everything was better with 3D animation.

Then they released Chicken Little.

Shortly after that, they said they would still release 2D films, but in far less quantity than they used to.  Still haven't seen Princess and the Frog, but I heard it was worth seeing...which is more than most can say about Planes.  And shamefully, nobody went to see Winnie the Pooh, even though it was also really well-received critically.

Also, they should do Discworld.  I don't necessarily mean Disney.  I mean somebody should do Discworld, dammit.

[Relaxing Dragon]

Princess and the Frog is a solid little movie, if somewhat in the shadow of the superior Tangled and Frozen (if we're going just by Disney Princess Movies here). Winnie the Pooh was indeed excellent, and I think mainly had the misfortune of opening on the same day as the last Harry Potter movie.

Disney Animation in general had something of a rough patch between Lilo & Stich and Bolt (or perhaps Tangled), in terms of box office revenue and impact, at least. Mostly it coincided with the high point of Pixar, and for a while folks just seemed to totally forget about them. Luckily they've been making a solid comeback over the past few years.

[The Lurker]

From Byron Howard's Twitter: