Animation–the use of frame by frame pictures to replicate motion and tell stories–has declined in storyline originality.
The hand drawn movies have died in favor of the easier and cleaner digital animation, and by that it has lost some of its originality in art styles and story lines.
Movies such as “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” “Kung Fu Panda,” “Turning Red,” “The Emperor’s New Groove,” and “Shrek” all possessed good animation and were very successful.
Were they successful because of their ability to mix mediums and explore ideas, and is Disney able to compete with its newest release?
“Wish,” the newest Disney release that is meant to recreate the look of Disney’s older, hand-drawn movies, ultimately looks generic and AI generated. It just looks too clean and is not to the high standard of hand drawn animation.
Further, the writers make it so uncreative that it’s boring with its overuse of common fairy-tale tropes.
For example, “Wish” uses the trope of the deeper voice for “cute” characters, something done better in “Trolls.”
But the more overused and over-rated trope is the adorkable virus. Instead of focusing on the main character’s personality, they reuse the “I’m NoT liKe OthER GorLs” personality trait that has become common since Rapunzel in the movie “Tangled.”
The adorkable trope for their newest female characters is where they had purposely re-copied older personalities over then they smashed it into the vibe of the movie.
It made sense for Rapunzel, but it has left recent main characters bland and unremarkable, especially when compared to strong character design and the visual vibe of the movie.
It’s not only original characters that make something great for animation, and it’s not only just CGI and special effects. Most movie studios can’t achieve what these writers strive for with just animation; they need to counter it with writing and visualizing characters.
“Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse ” used mixed mediums to give off a comic book style that couldn’t be achieved in a live action superhero movie like “The Dark Knight ” with just CGI and fancy camera work. “Spider-Verse” uses its ability to create its own universe and it gives depth to the characters that couldn’t be achieved before.
This experimentation is nearly unheard of, and with its rise, new movies have been pushing the viewers expectations.
The exception is Disney, which is trying to go back to its original story telling narratives, showing critics that they can’t keep up.
Disney also faces competition from indie animation companies that are rising in popularity, and are as good, if not better. Examples include Glitch and Indie Animation Studio, who produce both “Digital Circus” and “Murder Drones” on YouTube.
These animation series are widely considered to be the internet’s next biggest thing, with “Digital circus” breaking the previous record for most watched animation pilot with 100 million views in a month. (on YouTube)
After pioneering modern animation, Disney still has a long way to go to compete with the new up and coming companies for originality.
Creativity can’t be copied and expected to work the same way for different stories.
