My favorite Walt Disney Animation Studios Experimental Era animated full-length feature films are THE EMPEROR'S NEW GROOVE, Lilo & Stitch, BROTHER BEAR, and BOLT.
My favourite of the Experimental era was Fantasia 2000, The Emperor's New Groove, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Lilo and Stitch and Treasure Planet. These are films that, while they don't represent ANYTHING Disney is known for before or since, they are still classic films just like how the Disney Renaissance was in the 90s.
I noticed how you pointed out that Disney went through a short sci-fi phase and I can see that. If you think about it, Disney tends to be more on the fantasy side rather than sci-fi. I think the revival era really couldn't have happened without the experimental era. I think during this time Disney was trying to think about it's identity after the Renaissance ended. The Disney formula riffs in the 2000's happened because of the fact that it was getting stale towards the end. And Disney needed to find itself again through trial and error.
I agree! Trial and error definitely worked in Disney's favor. This was also the case during Disney's Dark Age in the 80's. For instance, Oliver and Company (the last of the Dark Age films) set the stage for the Broadway musical format that would go on to define the Renaissance. The film was far from perfect, but nonetheless, a step in the right direction 👍
@@AdventureswithAriel Agreed. One could say the Wartime era was a proto-Dark Age for Disney animation. World War 2 really took a hit on them and they didn't get their groove back until Cinderella when they had finances to make full length movies again. I wonder as we leave the 2010's what the 2020's have for Disney animation.
Hot take: The experimental era is *the best* among the Disney studio animated films, with the good far-outweighing the bad and having some of the greatest animated Disney films of all time. The other eras all have their own strengths and gems, but they do not hold a candle to films like Treasure Planet and Lilo & Stitch (plus Atlantis: The Lost Empire, The Emperor’s New Groove, Meet the Robinsons, etc.)
"Remember when Disney was weird" 😂 So true, but love most of those movies, or I did at the time! Let's not forget the Country Bears movie! haha Bolt and Princess & the Frog are some that are on repeat at my house. I feel like Disney is in a slump right now with all their live actions. I do hate how they find something that works and over do it. I liked Beauty & the Beast, but haven't been as impressed with Cinderella, Aladdin, etc. They weren't bad, just not my favorites. I'd like to see some new ideas and characters!
Bolt ( 2008 ) is actually what instigated the Revival Era. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolt_(2008_film) disneyfanon.fandom.com/wiki/Disney_Revival It had a higher box office than The Princess and the Frog (2009). Most people put Bolt in this era, because it's not a Princess musical film that started this era like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs ( 1938 ) started the Golden Age, Cinderella ( 1950 ) started the Silver Age, The Little Mermaid ( 1989 )started the Disney Renaissance. Disney Post Renaissance: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-z-sSN8YpRac.html ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-fpeTQp_81r8.html Disney Revival Era: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-mw3Fnqdjz2Q.html ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Mz9Ij4OH38E.html
Treasure Planet is the best film of the Experimental Era! It was Ron Clements & John Musker's greatest movie that they ever made period! It was the film that Ron & John put the most heart and effort put into compared to all the others that they made before and even after TP came out and that's saying a lot! In fact, TP is one of the best, if not, the best Disney animated film of all time! It was unlike anything Disney has ever done before and especially after it was released! It was groundbreaking, so unique, different, inspirational, memorable, epic, and even timeless! It was the film that avoided the tropes and cliches and stayed far away from the formula the most that Disney was famous for in terms of animated movies! But it really breaks my heart that Disney didn't see the unlimited amount of potential it had to become a successful and long-lasting franchise and deliberately made the movie fail miserably in theaters for their own selfish purposes!
Yes! The story behind Treasure Planet breaks my heart. After all that Ron and John had done for the company, their dream project was set up to fail 😞 I think Disney was looking for a reason to move into CG, so Treasure Planet's failure was their way of saying - "See? No one wants to watch 2D films anymore!" I'm thankful that the film is finally getting the attention it deserves online, and happy to say that I was one of the few people who actually saw it in theaters 😀
I loved Treasure Planet! And I honestly wished it would've done better in the box office. It would've been their answer to Star Wars and all other CG movies released at the time.
Very interesting video, thanks!. My first kid was born in 2002, so I saw a LOT of these films repeatedly. He LOVED Home on the range, and it grows on you. But I honestly think that Stitch is the greatest single Disney character since Mickey. I couldn't get through the whole of Chicken Little it was awful. We loved meet the Robinsons. and Bolt is another major family favorite.
Thank you for watching!! There really are a lot of gems that came out of this period 😃 I'll have to rewatch Home on the Range one of these days (haven't seen it in 10 years). Chicken Little was indeed Disney's rock bottom, but Pixar really worked their magic on the films released after! I was surprised by how much I liked Meet the Robinsons and Bolt 😊
I know a lot of people hate this era, but I think it's pretty unique and underrated. I like that they were trying out new techniques and stroy-telling methods. Honestly I think there's a lot more good than bad from this era, just the stuff that was bad really stood out. I'm happy that your retrospect isn't scathing like most are.
"Lilo & Stitch" is my number 1 favorite Disney animated film of all time (I don't count Pixar, for me that's a separate list) and "The Emperor's New Groove" would definitely make my top 5. So ya, there were definitely some gems in that era.
Wow. Disney did get wierd. I was wondering what is the best way to describe this era. I think experimental is probably the best one. I don't want anything to negative like dark. I have found that all Disney eras will have at least a couple of movies that are good. So having negative names is unfair. Experimental is a description without being too dark. The movies were experimental in the figurative sense in trying out different things. This can lead to movies that are different from the norm. The Bronze Age had weird movies too. I think the era between Renaisance and the Revival is the best one to be called experimental. A lot of the movies were sci fi. That is a big difference from the fantasy that Disney usually does. So it is like a more literal kind of experiment. Scientist perform experiments in order to learn. Experiments is like sci fi in being related to science. I am confused on where the line is drawn between expeerimental and revival. I think it should be between Bolt and Princess and the Frog. The type of story matters more to me than box office success. Bolt is more like the other experimental movies. It is a wierd movie with some sci fi in it. Princess and the Frog is a fairy tale movie like the more famous disney movies. So it fits right in with revival movies, expecially Frozen and Tangled. It is interesting that the head of Pixar helped make Bolt. I have noticed that Bolt is a lot like a Pixar movie expecially Toy Story. The titular protagonist reminds me of Buzz Lightyear. Mittens reminds me of Woody. There are similrities in the plots and character arcs. It is existential in a way. The Buzz character has a whole fantasy role of being a supernatural hero. Then they learn the harsh reality of them being weak. Then they learn to value to love of a child owner. The Woody character clashes with the Buzz character, but then becomes a friend. They teach about the harsh reality. The plot is about getting seperated from an owner and finding thier way back. I did enjoy Bolt, and I appreciate the deep character development. Bolt and Buzz are both interesting and dynamic characters. Woody was especially interesting in the second and fourth Toy Story movies. I generally prefer Disney movies to Pixar movies. I like the use of fairy tales and other folklore. Yet I am thinking there is a subtle appeal of the psychology of Pixar. Inside Out and Soul are really good as far as Pixar movies go. My favorite one is Coco, because it goes into interesting Mexican culture and afterlife. I am watching through the Disney canon. I recently finished the Experimental Era. Now I only have a few movies left in the last era. Now I am thinking about watching all the Pixar movies. I can at least be familiar with each one. That way I can enjoy RU-vid video essays on Pixar movies. They can dive deeper in meaning. Of all the films in the Experimental era my favorite is Brother Bear. That movie is amazing. I also like Lilo and Stitch. Those would be the two best. Some others don't work out. Some comments in the movie is spot on. Dinosaur is a movie with impressive animation and a bland story. Home on the Range is painfully mediochre. One thing I do disagree with is the claim that Chicken Little is the worst Disney movie. It is a bad movie by Disney standards. So I totally see where people are comeing from. It is just that there are quite a few Disney movies that are worse. Chicken Little has a decent plot. It has creativity in the mix of furries and sci fi. It has a nice theme of unconditional family love. This makes Chicken Little significantly better than the worst of the worst. I wouldn't call Black Cauldron the worst either, becasue I am fond of the movie. It is very interesting, unique and enjoyable to me. In my opinion, the worst movie in the canon is Make Mine music. It is less of a proper movie and more like a jubled mess. It is broken down into many little shorts, and a lot are unplesent to watch.
This was excellent! You can really tell how much research and time you put into your videos! I really feel bad for a lot of these movies. And I feel like THESE are the movies that Disney should be doing remakes of. Even though many of them are GOOD movies, there’s so much room for improvement. But I think Disney would rather brush some of them under the rug and pretend they never happened! 🤣🤣🤣
Thank you so much Hollie!! I feel bad for them too, and agree that they deserve a second chance in the remake dept. Instead, Disney wants to do shot-for-shot remakes of films that were already critical and financial successes. Makes sense from a business perspective, but I would much prefer to see forgotten films get a second chance!! I was excited to hear about an Atlantis remake starring Tom Holland, but this was recently unveiled to be fake news 😕
Emperor's New Groove is a great film. I loved it when it came out and still do. I always quote Kronk, and I even catch myself doing the spy thing where he is trying to ditch Kuzco the Lama. Classic movie. It's sequel wasn't that good and the TV series was MEH as well.
Nowadays we're "spoiled" by Disney animation. WHAT?! Um... I think you better rewatch the Disney films of this decade, because there hasn't been a single phenomenal film in this entire era. In comparison, the "turbulent" 2000's had far more superior gems with greater focus on artform and storytelling. You've got it all wrong, sister! The 2010's are struggling... in quality.
Chicken little wasn’t that bad, I thought it was pretty up lifting, had a good moral behind it, treasure planet 🌏 was pretty cool too, and if you must know it was based off of Robert Lewis Stevenson’s treasure island ( look it up). The emperor’s new groove also had a pretty cool moral with it and helped shred the idea for Disney classics to get sequels. Lilo and stitch was pretty good though I personally think those bits where stir holes crashed the classic scenes were kind of weird, and in what way were bolt and meet the robinsons an “experimental” film 🎞 they were great. If you want a bad era in Disney’s film making history try today’s live action copycat era cause that live action lion king movie was rubbish.
