The Disney Renaissance’s Missing Link?

Popular opinion and maybe Disney themselves determine that the esteemed Disney Renaissance progressed a certain way: The Little Mermaid happened in late 1989, and then Beauty and the Beast happened in late 1991, rest is history, right? But what was going on in 1990? Thirty years ago? It's easy to name one significant event, and that …

Breaking Down the Later Disney Renaissance, Part 5

This is it folks... We're at the end of the Disney Renaissance. Or, more appropriately, the time where most people mark the end of Disney's esteemed Renaissance era of animated features. We're at the last film in a streak of box office successes, the end of an apparently idyllic time that soured a bit in …

Breaking Down the Latter Disney Renaissance, Part 4

Two prestige pictures, one zany comedy, what would it take to turn that fading candle into something akin to forest fire? Perhaps the answer was... Something that was more of an action picture and less an adventure-comedy love story. An adaptation of the legend of Hua Mulan was perhaps yet another thing that would make …

Breaking Down the Later Disney Renaissance, Part 3

Was it possible that the very directors who played a big part in the launching of the Disney Renaissance would be the ones to save it? I'm talking about Ron Clements and John Musker. They joined Walt Disney Productions in the mid-to-late 1970s, getting their kicks on features like The Rescuers and The Fox and …

Breaking Down The Later Disney Renaissance, Part 1

Much like the so-called "Dark Age" of Disney Animation that occurred from the late 1960s up until the mid-1980s, the second half of Disney's beloved Renaissance tends to get quite the write off. Like the transitional times of the 70s and 80s, the latter half of the Renaissance and its flaws are due to many …