In 1955, Walt Disney Productions released A World Is Born, a 16mm short animated educational science film that visualized the natural history of Earth from the origins of cellular life to the extinction of the dinosaurs (see Figure 1). The…
“In creating new characters for our cartoon films, one of our main sources of inspiration has been the world of animals. And we’ve always been very much impressed with the cat family. This group of carnivora includes more than forty…
If it is difficult to imagine today the impact that Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937, by David Hand) had in the United States at the end of the 1930s, it is even more difficult to consider the effects it had…
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, or “Disney’s folly” as critics called it, was the Walt Disney Company’s first animated feature-film, but with a budget of over $1.5 million it was in no way a sure success. Walt, however, was…
Friday 29th September, Canterbury Christ Church University This year’s Canterbury Anifest, which celebrated its 10th anniversary, opened with a symposium coinciding with another major animated anniversary: the release of Disney’s first feature-length animated film Snow White and the Seven…
While discussing the movie poster for Disney’s latest (live-action) rendition of Beauty and the Beast (2017, by Bill Condon) as an introduction to semiotics in a first-year university screen studies course, I was struck by the number of young adults…
In 1961 Disney released their classic animation One Hundred and One Dalmatians, a film so successful that it was re-released in cinemas four times over the coming decades. Due to the film’s overwhelming popularity, it has inspired many adaptations. These…
With its mischievous smile, big expressive eyes, and red collar, the creature featuring on the promotional poster for Lilo & Stitch (2002, by Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders) might recall the numerous pets of the Disney canon. Yet, his blue…
On the Hollywood Walk of Fame, along with the many stars immortalizing real-life celebrities, there are also some honoring famous animated figures, such as Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck. Indeed, although they are made of lines and colors and not…
Undeniably, the most popular way of intersecting animation and documentary is that of using animation to recount a factual occurrence. Yet, this is not the only possible manner in which they can combine. Another way of crossing them over consists in…
