The Disney Animated Canon: From Small Beginnings to House of Mouse: Oliver and Company

  Disney. No one name holds as much power over business and the world of Animation as much as Walter Elias Disney. Whether it was making the first animated motion picture in the English world, further revolutionizing the field of animation, or making one of the most powerful media companies in the world, Disney managed to become a titan of industry and media. Nowadays, we joke about the House of Mouse and its’ lasting impact in today’s world…but without Disney, much of the animated world today…well…wouldn’t be.

Oliver and Company: A Dickensian send off of the Dark Age.

The 1980s were a very tumultuous time for the Disney Studio. With the mass exodus of animators to Don Bluth’s studio, new management coming and going, and the rise of CGI, this was a new frontier for animation, and Disney was in the middle of revamping its’ animation department after the Black Cauldron bombed pretty hard. They decided to make their next movie a more modern take of Charles Dickens’ “Oliver Twist”. It was originally supposed to be a follow up of the Rescuers, with the main human originally being Penny…and then it wasn’t. It didn’t help that the Co-director, Peter Young, died after the first few months of production at the age of 37. The next director didn’t get along well at all with the Disney Execs and was promptly fired as a result (I mentioned Richard Rich in the post about the Black Cauldron), which resulted in George Scribner, the other director, heading the movie all on his own, a relative first for a Disney movie. Oliver and Company came out on the same day as Land Before Time, and just a little earlier than All Dogs Go to Heaven, both movies by Don Bluth (with the latter one having a somewhat similar theme to this one). While Oliver and Company did better than them in theaters, it has become largely forgotten while the other two became long living franchises.

The Plot: On Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, a young kitten was put up for adoption with his brothers and sister…and he was the only one left behind. He eventually meets a dog named Dodger, voiced by Billy Joel, who helps him steal some food from a hot dog vendor (voiced by the man of million voices himself, Frank Welker). After being double crossed by Dodger, the cat (who will eventually be named Oliver), tracks Dodger down to a boat in the harbor. Dodger shares his meal with his fellow dogs in their gang: Tito the Chihuahua (voiced by Cheech Marin), Einstein the Great Dane, Francis the Bulldog, and Rita, a Saluki under the ownership of a petty thief named Fagin (voiced by Dom DeLuise). Unfortunately for Fagin, he is indebted to a particularly scary loan shark named Sykes, whose two Dobermans, Rosco and DeSoto are…for lack of a better word, pretty psychotic. Oliver ends up scratching one of their noses in self defense and Sykes gives Fagin a pretty scary ultimatum: Pay up in 3 days or else.

Oliver, having become part of the gang by standing up to one of the Dobermans, helps the gang in petty theft so that Fagin can pawn things off and get the money he needs. They end up stopping a Limousine with a wealthy girl in, and when the theft goes awry, Oliver ends up getting adopted by the lonely, wealthy girl, Jenny Foxworth. Despite this, their Park Avenue penthouse’s other inhabitant, Georgette the Poodle (voiced by Bette Midler) is quite disgusted by Oliver’s being there…enough to allow Dodger and the gang to take him back. Fagin recognizes the collar Oliver has, and he attempts to ransom Oliver back to his owner. Oliver, meanwhile, calls out his gang for taking him when he was happy.

The entire string of events backfires on Georgette when Jenny decides to get him back after getting the ransom note. Fagin, not knowing that he was ransoming a little girl, gives Oliver back without taking the money…only for Sykes to drop by, take Jenny and declare Fagin’s debt paid. Dodger rallies the other dogs and they rescue Jenny from Sykes, who is making an attempt to ransom her for her parents’ money. Fagin saves them from the attempt with his scooter and Sykes and his Dobermans give chase into the Subway tunnel where the Dobermans get electrocuted on the third rail and Sykes catches a train…while still in his car…and is pushed into the East River. Oliver and Fagin’s gang remain friends, Tito is scared off by Georgette after she attempts to bathe and groom him, and our story ends.

This is probably one of the darker Disney movies out there. It shows New York in a very different way than most pieces set in New York usually do. New York looks amazing…but we also get a pretty good look at the seedy underbelly of New York in this movie (this movie is based on Oliver Twist, and Dickens covers this sort of thing for the most part in his works, so it’s expected…just not in an animated movie). Sykes is also considered one of the scariest Disney villains out there as well…mostly because he’s a very realistic loan shark who suffers a pretty brutal on screen death. Compared to the last two movies, there is much more CGI…and it’s definitely more noticeable compared to the sparing use in Black Cauldron and Great Mouse Detective. This movie was also a favorite of Dom DeLuise’s and he improvised many lines for it.

With this movie done, and Don Bluth’s studios giving them stiff competition, the studio decided to get serious and beefed up their animation department, kickstarting the biggest successful era in Disney Studio history and making big strides in pushing animation even further: the Disney Renaissance. It started with the Little Mermaid, bringing back Disney princess movies and making one of them so well, that it nearly got an academy award (That’s Beauty and the Beast there…and didn’t get it on a frustrating technicality…more on that later).

The Disney Animated Canon: From Small Beginnings to House of Mouse: The Great Mouse Detective.

  Disney. No one name holds as much power over business and the world of Animation as much as Walter Elias Disney. Whether it was making the first animated motion picture in the English world, further revolutionizing the field of animation, or making one of the most powerful media companies in the world, Disney managed to become a titan of industry and media. Nowadays, we joke about the House of Mouse and its’ lasting impact in today’s world…but without Disney, much of the animated world today…well…wouldn’t be.

The Great Mouse Detective: Meanwhile…Progress.

Around the same time Disney was working on The Black Cauldron, Disney also started work on an adaptation of Eve Titus’ Basil of Baker Street (Itself an adaptation of Sherlock Holmes…sort of). Jeffrey Katzenberg thought this movie would be no good and focused most of his time on the Black Cauldron, even though he thought the Black Cauldron had issues (and boy, was he right on that one). The only thing he changed on this movie was the title, which earned much derision at Disney that it even got mentioned on Jeopardy. This movie was also the directorial debut of  John Musker and Ron Clements, who would really make their names by kickstarting the Disney Renaissance and directing a bunch of strong movies (Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Hercules, Princess and the Frog, and Moana). This movie would succeed where Black Cauldron faltered and convinced the higher ups that the Disney Animation department still had a future (History would repeat with the first part when they thought Pocahontas would do better than Lion King).

The Plot: One night in London, Hiram Flaversham, a Scottish Toymaker, is celebrating his daughter’s birthday when a particularly unhinged (and rather creepy) bat kidnaps him. His daughter, with no idea how to find him, decides that the only mouse for the job is Basil of Baker Street. That said, she has no idea where baker street is. Someone does though. Major Dr. David Q. Dawson, just back from a military campaign in Afghanistan (specifically from the Queen’s 66th regiment) comes upon her in the rain and offers to escort her there. They make it (and anyone who has read Sherlock Holmes should recognize the address of where Basil lives) and are promptly introduced to Basil of Baker Street (after he scares them half to death with a latex disguise and an experiment). Basil, initially, refuses Olivia Flaversham’s case until he finds out more about who took her father, the aforementioned Bat with a peg leg…and decides to take the case because it would lead him to the one being who has routinely eluded him time and time again. The Napoleon of Crime, Professor Padraic Ratigan (voiced gloriously by Vincent Price).

Meanwhile, we cut to Ratigan’s hideout in the sewers of London where he is having Flaversham make a clockwork contraption of…somekind. Ratigan convinces him to finish it by tomorrow after a futile display of bravado…by threatening his daughter. Ratigan then sends Fidget, the aforementioned bat on a few errands to get the last touches for his scheme, that he reveals to the other mice he has assembled: He’s going to usurp Queen Mousetoria on her Diamond Jubilee and become supreme ruler of all mousedom. One of his assembled, who has had a bit too  much to drink, interrupts the big Disney Villain Song (Still sung by Price, a man of many talents)…and it promptly sets Ratigan off. He hates being called a rat more than anything (fun fact, Ratigan was originally going to be just a very ugly mouse, but they decided making him a rat would be better), and promptly feeds the offending mouse to his Cat.

After going over the events as told by Flaversham’s daughter, Basil interrupts a kidnapping of Olivia and the game is afoot. Olivia tags along, despite Basil’s objections and they track Fidget with Toby, a bloodhound puppy. They track him to a toy shop where they are promptly ambushed by Fidget who makes off with all of what he needs…Olivia included (that one follows a pretty good jump scare too!). Basil and Dawson end up finding the list that Fidget was following and they hightail it back to the lab. Meanwhile, Ratigan reunites Hiram with his daughter before sealing her into a wine bottle…and then finds out that Basil is on the case. Ratigan briefly has a meltdown before realizing he can salvage the situation and turn it around.

After arriving and experimenting with the list, Basil and Dawson deduce that Ratigan’s secret hideout is near the water main, where they can go right into the sewers. Disguising themselves so they can infiltrate a pub, Dawson and Basil end up having their drinks spiked and the audience is treated to a Victorian burlesque show that Dawson briefly takes part in (because of spiked drinks) and they accidently cause a barfight that they escape from and make their way to Ratigan’s hideout. Ratigan surprises them and mocks Basil that he had expected him about 15 minutes ago before deflating Basil’s ego and putting them into an overly elaborate death trap that would make any James Bond Villain quite impressed (in his own words, he thought of many ways to kill Basil but couldn’t decide…so he decided to use them all). That said, because he was in a rush, Ratigan leaves before it can go off. Basil is humiliated and Dawson snaps him out of it right before the trap goes off, and they escape in Rube Goldberg fashion to warn the queen of Ratigan’s scheme.

They get there a little too late. Ratigan has had the queen tied up and nearly fed to his cat, and the clockwork duplicate has made him her second in command…until Dawson and Basil make it go off the rails and call him a rat in front of all of mousedom. Ratigan escapes with Olivia and Basil, Flaversham and Dawson give chase up into Big Ben, with Ratigan tossing Fidget overboard to lighten the load. Basil and Ratigan clash and Ratigan gets caught in the gears of Big Ben (the second use of CGI in an animated feature…and it still looks good even today!)…and Ratigan loses it and chases Basil…and proceeds to give him a brutal, no holds barred, beatdown the likes of which having never been seen on screen on a Disney film. The chimes of Big Ben knock Ratigan and Basil off of the hands of the clock and Ratigan falls into the Thames with Basil…until Basil pedals up using the remnants of the contraption. Basil and Dawson are knighted, the Flavershams are together at last, and the next case is afoot for the Great Mouse Detective.

There were quite a few changes to Ratigan from the book. He was originally going to be a very ugly mouse instead of a rat. And he was originally going to be rail thin and very tall…until they cast Vincent Price. Then they decided to make him bigger to reflect Price’s build…and also make him much beefier based on their then-head of studio, Ron Miller, who used to be a football player. Speaking of, Ratigan was Vincent Price’s favorite role he ever played. It helped that Disney gave him two villain songs and basically let him do his own thing for Ratigan. They even animated a few of his mannerisms into Ratigan!

There were originally going to be more celebrities in the movie as well. Madonna was planned to voice Mrs. Kitty (the mouse who puts on the Victorian burlesque show), and Michael Jackson was going to confront Basil before launching into song and dance (somewhere in the film…Eisner wanted that to happen). John Cleese and Michael Palin of Monty Python fame were originally considered to voice Basil. Cleese was actually the first choice! Finally, the Big Ben Sequence was originally not in the script. Originally, Ratigan’s ship would have crashed into Big Ben with Ratigan dying and Olivia and Basil surviving. Katzenberg decided that there had to be a showdown with Ratigan…and it remains one of the best parts of the film. Big Ben’s workings were an experiment in CGI and as mentioned earlier, they still look good even today!

The Disney Animated Canon: From Small Beginnings to House of Mouse: The Black Cauldron

  Disney. No one name holds as much power over business and the world of Animation as much as Walter Elias Disney. Whether it was making the first animated motion picture in the English world, further revolutionizing the field of animation, or making one of the most powerful media companies in the world, Disney managed to become a titan of industry and media. Nowadays, we joke about the House of Mouse and its’ lasting impact in today’s world…but without Disney, much of the animated world today…well…wouldn’t be.

The Black Cauldron: That Which is Not Spoken of.

  Where do we even begin with this one? Well, first, if anyone asks Disney about it, Disney will act like it never happened. It was the biggest animated flop that Disney made. It only made 85% of its’ $25 million budget, and many people who worked on this had their careers ended. The only one who didn’t was Jeffrey Katzenberg, who knew it would fail, and as a result of his input, became even more influential in Disney (For better or worse). It ended Ron Miller’s (Walt’s son in law. He was responsible for tinkering with 3D animation and helped sow the seeds for Who Framed Roger Rabbit) regime at Disney and its’ financial failure made sure he would never work in Hollywood again. Co directors Ted Berman and Richard Rich, and Co-producer Joe Hale were fired after the film’s release (Sure, Berman had retired, but the other two were pretty antagonistic to the new guys in charge). It almost sunk Disney itself too! At least until a few years later when the Disney Renaissance kicked in with the Little Mermaid (More on that later). This movie is also a very good reason why whenever you make a movie based on a book series, you start at the beginning, not the middle. This was the second book in the Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander

The Plot: We start with an eerie tale from Prydain about a ruler who made a cauldron that could turn churn out an unstoppable legion of the dead. Nobody knows where it lies now…and that’s for the best. Many years later, we meet Taran, an “assistant pig keeper” in the service of Dallben the Enchanter, on a small farm in Caer Dallben. The Enchanter is concerned that the fearsome Horned King, our villain, will send his forces after his pig, Henwen, because she has oracular powers that can locate the black cauldron. Dallben directs Taran to take Hen wen to safety…which doesn’t happen because of Taran’s daydreaming and Hen wen is inevitably captured.

Taran follows them while trying to shake off the small, annoying creature named Gurgi. He ends up inside the Horned King’s castle, where he succeeds in freeing Hen wen at the cost of being put into the dungeon himself. Prospects are rather grim for him, until he encounters a jailbreak party made up of Princess Eilonwy and the bard, Fflewddur Fflam. Taran ends up discovering a burial ground with an enchanted sword that allows him to fight on even terms with the Horned King’s troops and they successfully make a getaway.

While following Hen Wen, they end up in the kingdom of the Fair Folk, who know of what has been going on and are protecting Hen Wen from the Horned King. On top of that, they actually know where the Black Cauldron is and offer to let our party know where it is while sending Hen Wen back to where she belongs. Turns out, the Black Cauldron belongs to three witches in the Marshes of Morva. They agree to trade the cauldron for Taran’s sword, despite his knowing it will cost him his chance at being a hero. With the deal made, the cauldron appears and the witches reveal the only way to destroy the cauldron: someone has to climb inside of their own choice, sacrificing their life to do so. Taran, feeling rather foolish for his aspirations to destroy the cauldron alone, gets a pep talk from his companions…and they all end up captured by the horned king’s forces.

With the Cauldron now belonging to the Horned King, he prepares to raise the dead and flood the world with his armies. He manages the first part pretty well until Gurgi frees Taran and his companions from their imprisonment and sacrifices himself into the cauldron, causing the dead to fall and the Horned King to be trapped in the cauldron forever, its’ magic imploding. Shortly afterwards, the castle implodes and the witches reappear to take the cauldron back, promising to give back the sword. Taran decides against taking it and asks for Gurgi to be brought back instead, and upon being challenged to actually do so by the bard, they agree and Gurgi returns. Everyone then decides to return home and Dallben praises Taran’s heroism in a vision that Hen Wen shows them.

Surprisingly, the author of the series liked the movie. That said, he only liked it because it was nothing like the novels he wrote. In fact, Disney did have the rights to the entire series, but the failure of this movie pretty much killed any interest in doing it, and any interest in making animated movies that were PG at least until Dreamworks decided to have their more successful run at things. As mentioned many times, this movie’s failure has made it an old shame to Disney at large, and much like their live action movie, the Black Hole, Disney doesn’t really want to talk about the Black Cauldron. One of the few good parts of the movie, the Villain, was brought up in the Book, The Disney Villain, by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston (Two of the 9 old men who know their stuff when it comes to Disney villains):

“Typical of the failings, the Horned King, who should have been mysterious, was as ordinary as the leader of a street gang. As Roy Disney said later, their approach was “too literal-minded. He was just a guy.” The use of close-ups and too much activity gave the impression that here was a man one could argue with. He should have been as unreachable and intimidating as Chernobog. No one should speak in his presence. The words should wither in one’s throat. We should not even know if this evil creature was man, animal or demon. Here was unlimited power on the verge of taking over the world that somehow had to be stopped, and that was the special challenge to the tiny band of characters who carried the hopes of the future on their uncertain shoulders. It seemed an impossible burden for the heroic cast as well as the inexperienced staff of the studio.”

Thankfully, time has slightly vindicated The Black Cauldron, and Disney has since learned from its’ mistakes. For all its’ flaws, the Black Cauldron also heralded the first CGI in a 2D animated feature, a feat usually attributed to the film afterwards, the Great Mouse Detective, and Disney still has the rights to the Chronicles of Prydain, meaning that maybe…juuuuuust maybe…they might try again and this time, get things right.

The Disney Animated Canon: From Small Beginnings to House of Mouse: The Fox and the Hound

   Disney. No one name holds as much power over business and the world of Animation as much as Walter Elias Disney. Whether it was making the first animated motion picture in the English world, further revolutionizing the field of animation, or making one of the most powerful media companies in the world, Disney managed to become a titan of industry and media. Nowadays, we joke about the House of Mouse and its’ lasting impact in today’s world…but without Disney, much of the animated world today…well…wouldn’t be.

The Fox and the Hound: Start of the Dark Age

After the Rescuers was the end of an era. For one, this was the last Disney movie that any of the nine old men would work on before they either died or retired. It was the last to be produced by any of the Disney family. It was also the start of a new age with fresh new faces to work on it (Except for a certain few…two in particular being John Lasseter and Tim Burton…yes THAT Tim Burton). This was a pretty rough start for the age, though. Ask anyone who worked on this movie, and they will  not have pleasant memories of working on it. At. All. The production was almost troubled enough to rival Emperor’s New Groove, many years later! (that one even got its’ own film on how troubled it was, but more on that later). For starters, many veteran animators retired early on, several animation drawings were stolen…and if that wasn’t bad enough, half the team walked out with Don Bluth causing the deadline to be pushed back 6 months. The movie is very, incredibly loosely based on the original book. Tim Burton literally went insane trying to replicate the Disney style for this (he had nothing but nice things to say about his boss, Glen Keane though. For anyone who’s seen Tim Burton’s style, it’s pretty understandable how his style and the Disney style would clash.)

The Plot: After a young fox is orphaned, an owl named Big Mama and her fellow birds, Dinky the Finch and Boomer the Woodpecker, take him to a widowed farmer for shelter. She takes to him very well and names him Todd, because he reminds her of a toddler. At the same time, at a farm down the road, a hunter named Amos Slade brings home a puppy that he names Copper to his other hunting dog, Chief. One day, the fox and the hound meet and become playmates, vowing to be best friends forever. This frustrates Copper’s owner, who leashes him for always wandering off. After trespassing on his land (Todd wouldn’t know, he’s a kid and a fox to boot)…Amos tries to kill Todd until Widow Tweed, who takes care of Todd, sends him off. Amos leaves, but vows to kill Todd if he ever finds him on his property ever again. Hunting season comes, and Copper and Chief are taken into the wilderness in the interim, but the birds warn Todd that his friendship with Copper will not last. Foxes and Dogs are natural enemies, after all. Todd, doesn’t believe it and hopes the friendship will last.

It all comes crushing down one night when Todd tries to visit Copper again. Copper is now an experienced hunting dog, and Todd is a handsome fox. The hound tries sending Todd off until Chief wakes up and chases after Todd, who escapes for his life. Copper finds him and, against his better judgement, lets him go. Chief then chases Todd onto a railway before being struck by the tain, falling off. Todd makes it away…but Copper and Slade swear vengeance for Chief’s broken leg. Widow Tweed then realizes she can’t continue taking care of Todd and lets him out in a natural preserve. The first few days are disastrous, with Todd stumbling into an angry badger’s den and embarrassing himself in front of a beautiful vixen (in his defense, he has no wilderness training at all). After a stern reprimand by Big Momma, the matter is straightened out between the two and Vixey begins teaching Todd about how to survive in the forest.

Meanwhile, Slade and Copper begin planning to poach Todd and set many traps to catch Todd. Todd manages to escape them with Vixey and they make their way up to a large waterfall. Todd and Copper are prepared to fight each other when a bear wakes up and joins the fight, making Amos fall into one of his traps. Fox and Hound cooperate, sending the bear down the waterfall and Copper gets in the way of Slade’s attempt to shoot Todd…at which point, Slade relents and Copper gets one last exhausted smile in. Tweed begins taking care of Amos’ leg and both fox and hound remember when they first met, leaving us with the words they shared when they thought they would be friends forever.

Notably, this is one of few Disney movies to get a bittersweet ending. It also definitely began the darkness scale that Disney would adapt for further movies. Chief was originally supposed to die to justify Amos’ and Copper’s revenge, but they decided that would be too dark to show. By the way…remember when we said that it was based on a book? Well, it is. The book of the same name is very hard to find though. It’s been out of print for decades!

The Disney Animated Canon: From Small Beginnings to House of Mouse: The Rescuers

   Disney. No one name holds as much power over business and the world of Animation as much as Walter Elias Disney. Whether it was making the first animated motion picture in the English world, further revolutionizing the field of animation, or making one of the most powerful media companies in the world, Disney managed to become a titan of industry and media. Nowadays, we joke about the House of Mouse and its’ lasting impact in today’s world…but without Disney, much of the animated world today…well…wouldn’t be.

The Rescuers: A Costly Success in the Bronze age.

  Believe it or not, Rescuers was taken up by Walt Disney in 1963. The movie, based on the first two books of the series by Margery Sharp, was shelved for a while because Walt didn’t like the political overtones of the project. In 1970, the movie was unshelved and taken up by the senior animation staff (even though it was supposed to be for the junior animation staff). It would end up being the most successful film of the bronze age…at a pretty big cost. Namely, this movie was the movie that made Don Bluth lose faith in Disney and lead a mass exodus of animators to a new studio to provide a better place to make the movies they wanted to make. It didn’t help that two of the senior animators, Frank Thomas and Milt Kahl, had creative differences throughout the film. That said, the success this film had allowed them to make a true Disney sequel in the 90s (The Rescuers Down Under, one of two true Disney sequels that would be covered here).

The Plot: In an abandoned riverboat in the Devil’s bayou, a young orphan named Penny drops a message in a bottle requesting help into a river. It washes up in New York where it is found by the Rescue Aid Society, a society of mice that wish to help people throughout the world (Kind of like a mouse version of the United Nations. It’s even in their headquarters!). The Hungarian representative, Bianca, volunteers for the assignment despite the leader’s insistence that she shouldn’t because she’s a woman (definitely a product of the times, that one). She chooses the janitor of the place, Bernard, despite the fact that he isn’t a real member and they head to the orphanage described in the letter.

There, they meet the cat of the Orphanage, Rufus, who helps them out because the police have nowhere else to turn (and being that this is a universe where animals can talk, they don’t or can’t understand them). Rufus points them to Madame Medusa’s pawn shop where they find out that she’s the one who kidnapped Penny, and her partner, Mr. Snoops is keeping Penny at the Bayou so they can find the world’s largest diamond, the Devil’s eye. With that knowledge, Bernard and Bianca enlist the help of an Albatross named Orville (during the flight, eagle eyed viewers might be able to find something that wasn’t supposed to have been put in the picture…a picture of a topless woman. Why that’s there, only some of the animators would know), and when they arrive, they enlist the help of a dragonfly named Evinrude.

When they finally meet up with Penny, they find out that Medusa and Snoops are trying to force Penny into a small cove that holds the Devil’s eye…a cove only she is big enough to enter. While outwitting the two crocodiles (despite being labeled as Alligators, they have more similarities to crocodiles with coloring and jaw structure), Brutus and Nero, Bianca and Bernard send for help from the rest of the animals in the area…with their messenger, Evinrude being slightly delayed after running into a swarm of bats. The next morning, Penny, and the two mice are lowered into the cove and find the diamond as the cove fills with water (how this happens when bayous don’t have any tides is beyond us). After successfully bringing it out, Madame Medusa betrays Penny and Mr. Snoops and puts the diamond in Penny’s Teddy bear. Medusa ends up springing the trap set by Bianca and Bernard and they take back the bear, commandeer Medusa’s swampmobile she used to navigate the bayou, and sink the riverboat with Snoops’ supply of fireworks. Medusa ends up clinging for life on the riverboat after trying to use Brutus and Nero as waterskis, earning their ire. With all this, the Devil’s eye is turned into the Smithsonian and Penny is adopted, with Bernard and Bianca headed out to another case.

If Madame Medusa seems quite similar to Cruella de Ville to anyone…well, that’s because she’s supposed to be. Originally, the villain was going to be Cruella, however Disney had a pretty strict “no sequel policy” so that idea got axed. Milt Kahl still saw it as an opportunity to outdo Marc Davis’ animation on Cruella de Ville. He actually based Medusa after an ex-wife he hated. Geraldine Paige managed to do all her lines for her in one take!

They had also originally planned for Louis Prima to have a major role in this movie, which shifted many times until they had to cut it. Poor Louis Prima lapsed into a coma by the time they agreed on the role, so they had no choice but to cut his part, and the song he recorded for it (Peoplitis). This was also the last film that Joe Flynn was a part of. He died 3 years before the film was completed (poor guy drowned), but they had enough of his part that they could finish the film. Penny would also have been put into another movie (Oliver and Company) until her character was redesigned at the last moment.

With this success for Disney, many mark this movie as the end of the bronze age and the next one, Fox and the Hound, as the beginning of the dark age, especially because this was the first success the studio had without Walt himself…and it sure showed. Many films would try to emulate the tone of this…and didn’t quite hit the mark.