'Robinsons' is first test of Lasseter at Disney

 

Reuters - The Walt Disney Co.'s (DIS.N) animated movie "Meet the Robinsons" debuts on Friday with modest box office expectations in the first major test of Pixar's creative influence on Disney's struggling animation studio.

The film was extensively reworked by John Lasseter, the creative chief behind Pixar Animation Studios blockbusters like "Finding Nemo," "The Incredibles" and "Monsters Inc." who now heads both studios' animation programs.

Lasseter took over last year when Disney bought Pixar for $7.4 billion in an all-stock deal, and is widely perceived as the heir to company founder Walt Disney's animation vision.

"Investor eyes will be on 'Meet the Robinsons' as this is the first Disney animated film that will have the direct influence of John Lasseter," BMO Capital Markets analyst Jeff Logsdon wrote this week in a note to clients.

Analysts pegged the film's opening weekend box office at $20 million to $30 million, well below last year's $68 million record for the weekend set by "Ice Age: The Meltdown" or Pixar's "Cars," which debuted last June with $60 million.

Sander Morris Harris analyst David Miller estimated the film cost Disney about $52 million to make and $65 million to market and distribute. He said a $30 million opening weekend should guarantee a profit over the life of the title.

"This is the first time you will see Pixar's influence on a story that had already been done," Miller said. "If the film is successful it will prove to the Street that the $7.4 billion that Disney paid for Pixar is a damn good deal."

NO. 1 IN PRE-SALES

"Meet the Robinsons," which is opening in 3,413 U.S. and Canada theaters, was No. 1 in advance ticket sales on Thursday at Fandango.com, the largest U.S. movie ticketing service with access to more than 15,000 screens, said Fandango spokesman Harry Medved.

On Thursday, "Robinsons" accounted for about 31 percent of ticket sales, compared with 23 percent for the No. 2 film, "Blades of Glory" and 18 percent for "300," Medved said.

Box office grosses also may get a boost from premium ticket prices charged at roughly 700 screens that will show three-dimensional versions of the film, in the largest-ever release of a modern 3D film.

While reviewers generally praised the film's cutting-edge animation, they had mixed opinions of its story and characters.

Associated Press reviewer Christy Lemire described the digital 3D effects as "pretty spectacular" and "eye candy," but added that "it's hard to feel too emotionally engaged by any of this."

Entertainment Weekly reviewer Lisa Schwarzbaum rated the film as average with a grade of "C," calling it "one bumpy ride."

But Fandango.com columnist Richard Horgan saw "Lasseter's fingerprints all over this thing because it pops the way a Pixar film does."

"It just has that bounce in its narrative step," Horgan told Reuters. "It's a great heralding of the Disney-Pixar era. It's just really encouraging."

Movie Review: Meet The Robinsons – In Disney Digital 3-D

Monsters and Critics - When it comes to the marriage of technology and animation, the Disney folks have always led the way.

Walt was the first to meld sound and picture in 1928’s ‘Steamboat Willie.’ Ten years later, the studio’s multiplane camera allowed the menacing forest to envelop Snow White as she ran through it in fear. Even today the feeling of depth in the scene is impressive.

In 1940, Disney released his memorable ‘Fantasia.’ It as the first film to use stereophonic sound. The technique was developed in house based on the many tracks then available to record cinema sound. That advance was impressive too, but short-circuited the film. Only a few theatres were equipped to show Fantasia in stereo and by the time it went into wide distribution the buzz had died. It wasn’t until a later release in 1946 that the expensive movie ($2.25 million) generated a profit.  

With the new ‘Meet the Robinsons,’ Disney has done it again. The film is tricked out in a brilliant new 3-D process (called Disney Digital 3-D) and, to avoid the Fantasia disaster, it will be released to some 600 digitally equipped theatres in North America.

You remember 3-D. It was the process studios used to shore up otherwise unreleasable films. It gave you cheap thrills, questionable acting, bad moviemaking and headache inducing red and green tinted glasses. (Hitchcock made a 3-D movie – 1954’s ‘Dial M For Murder’  - but it was never released in the process.)

Well, with this film Disney changes all that. The glasses are still there but they are polarized and spiffy. As seen in an early morning demonstration on the Disney lot, the headaches are gone, the registration and focus are exact, the depth has become a valid and engrossing cinematic tool and, say the filmmakers, a new era in filmmaking is upon us.

‘Meet the Robinsons’ has been a five year labor of love for director Steven Anderson. The film, taken from the book “A Day With Wilber Robinson” by William Joyce, arrived on the Disney lot as a prospective live action production but migrated across the parking lot to the animation studios where it landed in Anderson’s lap.

The move to 3-D was more problematic. “I confess I had doubts at the beginning,” says the director. “To me 3-D was a gimmick with nothing artistic about it.” (In digital animation) “…you just hit a 3-D button and everything goes that way. But after talking with my 3-D team, I realized that as filmmakers, this was a way to tell a story in a much more evocative and immersive manner. It really puts you right into Wilber’s future world. You can touch the bubbles that are floating in the time machine.”

There is no doubt that the process works. It doesn’t take long for you to dial out the novelty of the effect and find yourself truly “immersed” in the story. At one point in the demonstration, one of the filmmakers pointed a laser light at the background and you immediately realized that, without being aware of it,  you had been watching characters that seem to be hovering several feet in front of the screen.

Anderson sees 3-D as the shape of things to come in movies. James Cameron (‘Titanic’) is working on yet another leap forward in the process in his new $200 million film, ‘Avatar.’ George Lucas is already on record as wanting to re-release the Star Wars series in the process. 

There is talk of some kind of projection that will not need glasses. 

But to keep 3-D from falling back to the gimmick status that marked its history from 1953’s Bwana Devil to last years ‘Night of the Living Dead,’ the focus will have to be on story. “We have to tell human stories that transcend age and culture - that are about the experience of being human,” says Anderson. “But I think that it can be done best in 3-D process where you don't just watch the film but are really a part of it. You are in it. I think that’s going to be the way of the future.”

Not everyone will be able to see ‘Meet the Robinsons’ in the stereoscopic process. It can only be seen this way in the 600 or so theatres that are equipped to show movies in a digital format.

But when the studio and the exhibitors figure out who will bear the cost of the changeover from film to digital, (it costs about $174,000 per theatre) the Disney filmmakers suggest that 3-D will be the way movies will be made.

‘Meet the Robinsons’ will open in theatres everywhere on March 30.

ABC Moves New Comedy Away From `Idol'

AP - ABC is taking the unusual step of scheduling a new sitcom, "Notes From the Underbelly," at the late prime-time hour of 10 p.m. -- a move that follows Fox's expansion of the "American Idol" results show.

"Notes From the Underbelly," a comedy about pregnancy and parenthood, was to debut next month in the 9:30 p.m. Wednesday slot. Then came word that Fox's "American Idol" would grow to an hour on April 11, April 18 and May 2, occupying the 9 p.m.-10 p.m. slot.

This week, ABC said the sitcom would instead air Thursdays at 10 p.m. starting April 12, with two half-hour episodes airing back-to-back each week.

"American Idol" continues to cast a giant shadow in its sixth year, ruling the ratings and creating scheduling headaches for competitors.

ABC, owned by The Walt Disney Co., has taken the brunt recently: The Tuesday performance show of "Idol" ran seven minutes past the hour, encroaching on the first results show for ABC's own hit talent competition, "Dancing With the Stars."

Helen Mirren to Star in Disney's "National Treasure" Sequel

Playbill - Theatre veteran Helen Mirren, a recent Oscar winner for "The Queen," will star in the Disney action film "National Treasure: The Book of Secrets," according to Variety.

The film, which is currently shooting, is a sequel to the 2004 film "National Treasure," starring Nicolas Cage, who is reprising his role as a treasure hunter.

Mirren will play Emily Appleton, the mother of Cage's character. Ed Harris (Wrecks at the Public Theater), another new addition to the cast, will play the villain.

In the sequel, which will be released Dec. 21, Cage's character tries to find the truth behind Abraham Lincoln's murder by looking for missing pages from John Wilkes Booth's diary.

Jon Turteltaub is reprising his role as director. Returning cast members also include Diane Kruger, Justin Bartha, Jon Voight and Harvey Keitel. Jerry Bruckheimer Films is producing with Sparkler Entertainment.

This year Mirren won the Academy Award, Golden Globe, SAG, BAFTA and Critic's Choice awards for "The Queen"; won Emmy, Golden Globe and SAG Awards For HBO's "Elizabeth I"; and received a Golden Globe nomination for PBS' "Prime Suspect: The Final Act," which had previously won her an Emmy and three BAFTA Awards. Her many stage credits include Broadway productions of Dance of Death and A Month in the Country.

GSN Orders New Series 'CAMOUFLAGE' From Disney's Buena Vista Productions

GSN - GSN, the network for games, announced today that it has ordered 40 half-hour episodes of the new series, CAMOUFLAGE, an addictive hidden word puzzle and trivia game show from Disney's Buena Vista Productions. CAMOUFLAGE is the first collaboration between Buena Vista Productions and GSN.

In making the announcement, Jamie Roberts, GSN's Senior Vice President of Programming, commented: "I couldn't be more thrilled than to be in business with Buena Vista Productions on this smart, playful, first-class game show. For viewers, CAMOUFLAGE is easy to follow and the type of show that pulls you in so that you can't help but play-along."

Taping in Hollywood, CAMOUFLAGE is a fast-paced game show of hidden word puzzles with cross-word type clues ranging from general knowledge to pop culture. Contestants are shown letter puzzles and they must find the correct words hidden among the puzzle's decoy letters. The decoy letters drop one at a time but as they do the point value of the puzzle decreases, so speed is important. A sample of game play included the puzzle word, LAPTOPICFLOORING. The clue is "kitchen explosive." Reading left to right "popcorn" is revealed.

CAMOUFLAGE is executive produced by Terrence McDonnell and Jonathan Barry. Producers are currently casting the role of the host. The series is set to begin production the last week of May.

GSN is the entertainment industry leader in multi-platform interactive game programs. As the premier television network for games, GSN features challenging word games, high intensity casino programs, live participation shows, reality series and documentaries. GSN's programming includes original series such as "Chain Reaction," "Lingo" and "High Stakes Poker," as well as the classics "Jeopardy" and "Pyramid," among others. The network also introduced participation TV to America and its "PlayMania" block airs in late- night six nights per week. Complementing the network, GSN.com features all types of game play: innovative Flash games for fun, skill cash game tournaments and downloadable games. The website also features GSN's two- screen interactive play-along for prime time shows. Now reaching more than 62 million homes, GSN is distributed in the U.S. through all major cable systems and satellite providers. The network is jointly owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment and Liberty Media Corporation. For further media information, visit GSN's press website at corp.gsn.com.

Buena Vista Productions (BVP) is a television development, production and programming division within The Walt Disney Company. BVP develops and produces non-scripted original programming for syndication, cable and primetime outlets, both within and outside The Walt Disney Company. BVP also provides creative oversight for some of Buena Vista Television's (BVT) programming, including "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire," with Emmy Award-winning host Meredith Vieira, and the acclaimed movie review show "Ebert & Roeper." BVT is the domestic television distribution arm of The Walt Disney Company.

SIRIUS Satellite Radio's Backseat TV Launches Only on Chrysler Group Vehicles

The Auto Channel - SIRIUS Satellite Radio and Chrysler Group announced today that Chrysler Group will be the first and only auto manufacturer to offer SIRIUS Backseat TV in its 2008 model-year vehicle lineup. SIRIUS Backseat TV is a dynamic and pioneering TV service that delivers TV from the best family TV programmers directly to the vehicles.

Whether driving cross-country or cross-town, families will be able to access SIRIUS Backseat TV's high quality television entertainment and family TV fare through a simple, easy-to-operate video service. SIRIUS Backseat TV(TM) is TV programming from the world's most trusted brands in family entertainment -- Nickelodeon, Disney Channel and Cartoon Network. The service will be available in select 2008 model Chrysler, Jeep(R) and Dodge vehicles, beginning with the all-new 2008 Chrysler Town & Country and Dodge Grand Caravan minivans, available later this year

Three channels of children's TV featuring many of the most well-known kids' programming will be available, including Nickelodeon, Disney Channel and Cartoon Network. Rear-seat passengers will be able to watch shows such as Nickelodeon's "SpongeBob SquarePants," Disney Channel's "Hannah Montana," and Cartoon Network's "Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends."

"Chrysler Group is committed to offering innovative technologies that are right for our customers," said Frank Klegon, Executive Vice President -- Product Development, Chrysler Group. "SIRIUS Backseat TV makes its world debut in Chrysler Group's all-new 2008 minivans and marks the third SIRIUS service - - along with SIRIUS radio and SIRIUS real-time traffic -- available to Chrysler Group customers."

Mel Karmazin, CEO, SIRIUS said, "SIRIUS is dedicated to bringing Chrysler Group customers the best in-vehicle entertainment available anywhere, whether it is through radio or video. SIRIUS Backseat TV, with its best-in-class programming from our partners -- Nickelodeon, Disney Channel and Cartoon Network -- further enhances the already exceptional driving experience for Chrysler Group customers. In SIRIUS' first venture in visual entertainment, I am pleased to have the three most original family-centered programming providers in TV. Just as we provide the Best Radio on Radio, this allows us to launch SIRIUS Backseat TV as the Best TV in the Backseat."

"We're excited to work with SIRIUS and Chrysler Group to bring kids' number-one network -- Nickelodeon -- to even more places where our fans can experience and enjoy our hit shows and characters," said Denise Dahldorf, Executive Vice President -- MTV Networks Content Distribution and Marketing. "Like all of our MTVN brands, our goal for Nickelodeon is to be everywhere our audiences are, and the launch of SIRIUS Backseat TV gives kids and families even more screens to interact with us."

"Disney Channel viewers expect to be able to access their favorite shows and stars wherever they are on a wide variety of devices," said Ben Pyne, President -- Disney and ESPN Networks Affiliate Sales and Marketing. "We are excited to team with SIRIUS and Chrysler Group to super-serve our young viewers and deepen their connection with our shows and brands."

"Cartoon Network Mobile is a customized programming service designed for the on-the-go mobile lifestyle," said Coleman Breland, Executive Vice President of sales and marketing for Turner Network Sales. "This new venture with SIRIUS is one we think parents will see the benefits of and represents the next generation of back seat entertainment."

SIRIUS Backseat TV will also be available on the 2008 Chrysler 300, Dodge Charger, Dodge Magnum, Jeep Commander and Jeep Grand Cherokee.

SIRIUS Backseat TV operates via an in-vehicle satellite video receiver and two small roof-mounted antennas. Programming is displayed on the vehicle's second- and/or third-row video screens, and channel name, program title and rating will be broadcast and displayed on the screen(s). For added flexibility, rear-seat passengers can enjoy SIRIUS Backseat TV while front- seat occupants listen to SIRIUS Satellite Radio. The system can be operated from either the rear-seat entertainment unit or the radio head unit. In addition, when the vehicle is in Park, programming can be displayed on the MyGIG screen for front-seat viewing.

SIRIUS Backseat TV is available for a Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) of $470 -- which includes the first year of service -- when packaged with Chrysler Group's Rear Seat Entertainment System and SIRIUS Satellite Radio. After the first year, SIRIUS Backseat TV is available for $7 per month when packaged with SIRIUS Satellite Radio ($12.95 per month). SIRIUS Backseat TV will only be available to SIRIUS Satellite Radio subscribers.

Air-launch Fireworks return to Illuminations

TouringPlans - After being removed because of an accidental detonation prior to show time many months ago, the air-launch fireworks system has returned to Illuminations: Reflections of Earth at Epcot.

The "ALF" system as it is know uses compressed air to launch a fireworks shell into the air and then a computer chip to detonate the shell. This works to create very precise and controlled explosions, moreso then the typical powder charge that would propell the shell from a launch tube. Below you can check out our video of the newly redesigned ALF system at work at Epcot, launching the opening comet from the American Adventure and meeting with a large explosion fired from the lagoon.

Previously, the system launched from the UK pavilion and required walkways to be shut down during its use for safety reasons. After the accident, the opening fireworks functioned on regular launch charges creating less accuracy in placement and the typical "thud" heard as they launched.

Oskar Fischinger put the abstract in Disney's 'Fantasia'

St. Louis Post-Dispatch - Painter and abstract filmmaker Oskar Fischinger (1900-67) was a historical oddity — so far ahead of his time that time never really caught up with him.

Now, thanks to the Rev. Terrence Dempsey, director of the Museum of Contemporary Religious Art, Fischinger's fascinating work is coming to St. Louis. Although the films have been screened at festivals, it will be the first time his paintings and drawings are seen here.

"Fischinger is a wonderful surprise, known only to a small group of insiders," Dempsey says. "He had a wonderful sense of the abstract, not derivative but equal to Kandinsky's. Nor was his work decorative. In it, he sought to build a bridge between the scientific and the mystical."

That pursuit aligned Fischinger with other great early modernist abstractionists such as Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky and Frantisek Kupka, Dempsey says.

Fischinger was a German who fled the Nazis because he was a marked man. His avant-garde films won top awards at international festivals in Venice and Brussels in 1935, but without government authorization. A Paramount contract in hand, Fischinger turned up in Los Angeles the next year, an "exile in paradise." He ended up working for Walt Disney, on a little film titled "Fantasia" (1940).

Life in America

In LA, his life was not in danger, but his aesthetic was. The conventional ideas Disney brought with him to California from the Midwest were at odds with Fischinger's spiritual avant-gardism. The abstract animated compositions Fischinger composed for the Bach "Toccata and Fugue" sequence of "Fantasia" were mangled by Disney's crude editing.

After that dispiriting event, it was back to painting, a genre Fischinger had abandoned in 1921 as retrograde. An Orson Welles project on the music of Louis Armstrong fell through.

In both his paintings and his animated films, Fischinger explored geometric motifs that he believed addressed the higher realms of the spiritual. In the paintings, the images are, of course, still. The films, according to exhibition curator Peter Frank, can be seen as time-based paintings as well as the visual embodiment of music. Frank calls the films "music for the eyes."

Art and spirituality

Although less well-known, Fischinger's experimental films come from the same avant-garde in which the photograms (photographic images made without cameras) of Man Ray, Christian Schade and László Moholy-Nagy were produced. But because of increased exposure in exhibitions exploring the confluences of art, music and spirituality, they are becoming better known.

The exhibition, Dempsey says, is part of an occasional "sources" series the museum mounts highlighting a historical artist whose explorations of the spiritual influenced contemporary art.

The Fischinger experience comes in two parts. On Friday, 13 of his films will be screened at the St. Louis Art Museum — a rare experience — after which Frank will discuss the work.

On Saturday, the exhibition, which includes 47 paintings and six drawings, will open. For those who miss the screening, no need to despair. A new DVD containing 10 of Fischinger's unique films will be continuously shown during gallery hours. But as film aficionados know, that's a poor substitute for a proper screening.

Disney DTV Sequels: End of the Line

Animation World Network - The Disney direct-to-video animated sequel is dead.

Since their birth, in 1994, with The Return of Jafar, the sequels have entertained (and made) millions; they've also enraged no small number of Disney fans who see them as little more than desecrations of the beloved originals. After any number of official "2s" (The Jungle Book, The Lion King, Brother Bear) and "IIs" (Mulan, Pocahontas, Bambi), along with misnumbered "3s" (The Lion King 1-1/2, Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch has a Glitch) and unnumbered "4s" (Leroy and Stitch) the studio released its first official "III" Cinderella III: A Twist in Time. Down the road a ways there'll be a Little Mermaid III, and then... that's it.

DisneyToon Studios head Sharon Morrill has no mixed feelings over the end of an era. "I knew from early on when I first started that we weren't going to be doing 4s and 5s," says Morill. "I think we had a great run, but we have to be fresh and innovative, otherwise we would've gotten stale."

Some observers think the feature sequels might've gone on a bit longer, save for John Lasseter's arrival as head of Disney animation. An Aristocats 2 was in the works prior to his arrival, along with any number of other proposed follow-ups. Cinderella III director Frank Nissen says, "For a long time I surmised there was a policy -- let's make as many as we can. Sometimes we had a winner and sometimes we didn't." He adds "I agree in principle with Mr. Lasseter: first and foremost you need a good story and a reason for making a movie -- a passion for telling a story no matter who the characters are."

As tempting as it might be lay the blame -- or credit -- at one man's feet, there was probably any number of factors contributing to the death of the DTV sequels. "The decision to stop had less to do with John and more with the marketplace itself," opines Jim Kammerud, the director responsible for a slew of them, including Little Mermaid 2, Fox and the Hound 2 and the aborted Aristocats project. "Sequels are expensive and everyone knows the DVD market has declined. There was some trouble at DreamWorks and Pixar last year when DVD sales came in under projections and the profits weren't what everyone expected. They might've made all that they can and people feel they've bought all they need.

"The real issue is competition for kids' time. There's GameBoys, GameCubes, Wiis; there's cable with a million channels, the Internet and YouTube, everything's on there for free. I think all of this happening is what changed their business plan. I don't think John made the decision -- it had already been made -- but he would have."

Often derided as "cheapquels," the DTV releases' quality have improved greatly from their earliest days. Budgets have risen from a rumored $3.5 million for Return of Jafar to the mid-to-high teens and above for more recent, higher-profile productions -- a fraction of the cost of the theatrical titles, but, "we still spent five times more than anyone else would've and tried to make something we could be proud of," Kammerud points out. "However you feel about the sequels, only Sharon and the people at Disney were willing to put that much care and effort into it."

Storywise, many of the sequels have evolved away from the "shuffling the deck" feeling of the earlier efforts and took the characters in new directions. Prequels and what Buena Vista Home Ent. gm Lori MacPherson describes as "interquels" -- lost-chapter stories -- were added to the mix, as when Bambi II explored the previously overlooked year between the first and second halves of the original film. Fox and the Hound 2 revisited the title characters in their youth and had them cross paths with a canine country band. Its story was a major change in tone from the original's realistic and even downbeat underpinnings; it may have offended the purists, but director Kammerud is unapologetic.

"It's just a silly little story, completely ridiculous, but people loved it, it tested higher than any sequel. Then the reviews came out -- 'why can't Disney find a new story to tell?' You know you're already dead in the water with this reviewer when he goes onto say 'I hate country music' -- then why did you watch it? I didn't make it for you, I intentionally made a kids' movie. We had more music than any other sequel, we got Reba McEntire, the best players in Nashville. It's amazing what resources Disney can pour into these things -- it has so much heart and quality. That story doesn't deserve be a theatrical movie, but it's a great DTV."

Part of the uneven quality of the sequels may have been due to the fact that they came from two separate production entities within Disney -- the TV Animation group and DisneyToon Studios -- with the two outfits often working on the same characters to different ends. The first-run success of Lilo & Stitch in 2002 led to the DTV Stitch! The Movie, produced by the TV division as an introduction to the 2003 series. Two years later DisneyToons' Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch featured a story set in the interval between the original film and the first DTV. The Stitch saga came to an end last year with Leroy and Stitch, again produced by the TV division as the closing chapter to the TV series.

Likewise, Tarzan and Jane actually preceded Tarzan II onto the home video shelves by three years; it consisted of three episodes of the spun-off TV series connected via new linking footage. Even if they can't put their finger on it, audiences can still feel the difference between stories and animation made for TV, and higher-budgeted DTV features that attempt to recreate the look and feel of the original movie. "That stuff really hurts you," complains Kammerud, who directed Tarzan II, "it's just dumb."

According to Morrill, the two divisions worked closely together, but are now going their separate ways. "We shared a lot of resources for very long time -- space, technology and operations. There was never any rivalry. Creatively and production-wise we were separate, but always very friendly." And what will take the place of the DTV sequels? "We want to do more franchise-driven movies," says Morrill. "We've been moving in this direction for the last two years. We're trying to find an arena where we can tell many, many stories -- not sequels. We want to find a world and then explore many stories within that world."

The first world up for exploration is a newly discovered valley in the heart of Peter Pan's Never Land - a place called Pixie Hollow. The hollow is home to the "Disney Fairies," a major new initiative from the company. A series of DTV releases -- the first starring Tinker Bell and due out later this year -- will drive a product line of books, toys, clothing and collectibles. "Tink" will find her voice and a passel of fairy friends, each of whom will be spotlighted in subsequent videos.

The Fairies will be CGI-animated by Prana Studios in India. Prana is already at work on Unstable Fables, a series of DTV feature-length fairy tale spoofs for the Jim Henson and Weinstein companies. The same purists who were offended by Disney's DTV sequels will now have a new target for their ire: a talking, three-dimensional Tinker Bell. ("I've had to have a very thick skin all these years," Morrill sighs.)

At first glance, the Disney Fairies appear to be aimed at the demographic too old for Dora the Explorer and not quite ready for Bratz, but their real target is probably the venerable Barbie and her line of Fairytopia DVDs, toys and games. Lasseter's arrival also impacted Tink and friends, according to Nissen who's now part of the project. "We had a big story change shortly after Lasseter came on board. They still want it to get on time related to all the other company-wide department, publishing, etc. There's a bunch of us here just cranking to get the movie up and running again."

Morrill promises that other franchise-launching DTV features are in the works. Will any be produced in traditional 2D? "The creative will dictate whether it's CGI or 2D. We needed to get these Fairies movies up and running; now we can focus on our development, so they're still in their early stages."

The end of the 2D feature sequels (and the drop-off in 2D production in general) played no small part in the closing of Disney's satellite studios in Orlando, Paris, Japan and lastly Australia. There's genuine regret in Morrill and Nissen's voices when they discuss the studio's shuttering even as Cinderella III was making its way through the production pipeline.

"The movie is a testament to the Australian animators," Morrill says with pride. "This was going to be their last movie. From the very beginning, they said, 'We're going to make this the best movie we've ever made.' A lot of times when you're shutting a studio down, that's not the case. It was their swan song." She pauses for a second, then continues. "They really stepped up and gave it their all. It's a testament to who they are as people and as artists that they did that." Nissen goes into greater detail about the studio's final effort. "They did an amazing job. I can't thank them enough or sing their praises highly enough for how diligent, caring they were. They stuck with it, even though they were letting departments go as production progressed -- when the layouts were done the layout people went, when the key animation was done the animator left. The studio was kind of closing around this team that just kept getting smaller and smaller as they finished the movie. They stayed with it and kept it beautiful and kept their conscientiousness all the way thru to the end."

Even Cinderella III's closing credits reflect DisneyToon's gratitude in the form of an unusual acknowledgement:

"Special thanks to DisneyToon Studios Australia for their many years of producing beautiful hand-drawn animation."

Now that their hour is passing, perhaps it's time to give Disney's direct-to-video sequels their due. Quality is where you find it, and the studio's original theatrical releases have not been immune to creative and commercial failure. At their best, the sequels were created not by clock punchers, but by people who believed in and felt a commitment to their work and to classic 2D animation. "There's a lot of criticism that the sequels get," says Kammerud. "People hate them within the industry, but I'm glad for myself and the artists I work with that there's still a place to make 2D while everyone else is running away from it."

Cinderella III is an excellent film, in some ways better than the original -- richer emotionally and with characters who transcend their caricatured origins to display depth and personality. Its plot is inspired by a segment in 2002's Cinderella II: Dreams Come True (produced by the TV division) where redheaded stepsister Anastasia tries to free herself from her mother's influence. ("In our movie we kind of set up that story," Morrill acknowledges.) The new movie builds to a touching and heartfelt conclusion -- complete with a nightmare version of Cinderella's pumpkin ride that might satisfy even the most hardened skeptic of the sequels.

Morrell credits Nissen for the film's depth of feeling. "He's one of the most romantic, emotional directors I've met. The movie's sense of romance, of true love has Frank written all over it." So perhaps it's appropriate for Nissen to talk a bit about what Cinderella III means to him.

"I feel very fortunate to have really good script to start with [credited to Margaret Heidenry] -- a solid idea to build off the original movie. Disney sequels are always an interesting conundrum. In the original feature usually the most powerful emotional motifs are explored and resolved. What do you do in a sequel to give viewers a satisfying experience? That's a tough one. Also, how do you keep the spirit of the original without just slavishly making another edition of it? Those are the two things uppermost in peoples' minds in trying to do these sequels."

Nissen's belief in the film extended to unseen characters like the King's long-deceased wife ("We even had a name for her for a while -- Queen Gertie.") and to how the characters were animated; it's a lesson in classic animation to hear him discuss the care with which the stepmother was brought to life:

"She's the most realistic, if you will, of all the characters in terms of the anatomy of her face, how she moves, her expressions and the like. A lot of the characters, from Cinderella all the way through to the mice, have degrees of broadness that you can take liberties with -- the shape of the eyes, how wide the mouth opens, how much the cheeks distort in any given expression. You can do that to different degrees depending on how comical your character is. The stepmother was way beyond Cinderella in terms of [realism] -- we didn't want anything the least bit cartoony about her. She's all about menace, evil. The way she projects it is thru her stillness."

It's obvious Nissen isn't just talking up his own work when he describes his reaction to the film's conclusion. "The first two or three times I watched it while during editing, I just got goose bumps. When those little moments happen, that's the joy of filmmaking, why you slog thru all the..."

Nissen leaves the rest of his thought unspoken but understood. As one of the players says in that closing scene, "Everyone deserves true love" -- even the Disney sequels.

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