Bolt
Disney once again show that they are the masters of animation with the release of Bolt this week. But over the years Disney has guided this film genre through major changes from the traditional animation of the thirties to the CGI driven masterpieces that broke the mould in the late nineties.
Bolt follows a German Shepherd, has lived his whole life on the set of his action TV show, where he believes he has superpowers.
When separated from the studio by accident, he meets Mr. Mittens (actually a female cat) and an oversized, radioactive rabbit named Rhino. Along the way, he learns that he doesn't have superpowers and that the show is not realistic
So to celebrate the release of Bolt FemaleFirst takes a look at the changing faces of Disney as it tries to stay ahead of the competition and set the standard for everyone else to beat.
Walter Elias Disney is one of the most influential figures in cinema history who brought animation successfully to the big screen.
And over the eighty years since he founded Walt Disney Productions, which is now The Walt Disney Company, with his brother Roy in 1923 it has become one of the best known motion picture companies.
While many see Mickey Mouse as the starting point of Disney's success it was projects like Alice Comedies and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit that made Disney's name.
But due to a fall out with Universal, who distributed the cartoon, Universal owned the trademark for the animation and Disney lost the rights.
In a bid to replace the lost Oswald Disney developed a new character Mickey Mouse. After success with Plane Crazy and The Gallopin' Gaucho, which both featured this new character, Disney released Steamboat Willie in 1928.
Steamboat Willie, whilst still in black and white, is noted in the history books as being the first animated short feature film with a post-produced soundtrack of dialogue, music and sound effects.
In 1932 Disney received a special Oscar for his creation of Mickey Mouse.
But Walt Disney Studios wanted to push the boat out even further by creating a full length feature animation. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was in production from 1937 to 1937 and cost $1.5 million.
However Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was the most successful motion picture of 1938 grossing over $8 million. Snow White was the first full length animation film in English and colour and earnt Disney a second honorary Oscar.
The film kick started Disney's golden age of animation as Disney's animation staff completed Pinocchio, Fantasia, Bambi and Dumbo in quick succession.
During the second World War the company put together a series of cartoon shorts including Saludos Amigos, The Three Caballeros and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
By the end of the 1940s the company were once again producing full length features including Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan.
By the early 60s with Lady and the Tramp, One Hundred and One Dalmatians and The Sword in the Stone under their belts Disney had become the world's leading producer of family entertainment.
Today Disney owns computer animation studio and together they have changed the face of animation for the next generation. Their first collaboration came in 1995 with Toy Story, a CGI animated feature film that grossed over $354 million at the global box office.
The success of the CGI animation format has led to a string of movies including Monsters Inc, The Incredibles, Cars and most recently Ratatouille.
And with Wall-E, Up and Toy Story three all being prepared for release over the next two years the legacy of Disney, though it has changed from it's original form, lives on bringing family entertainment to millions.
Bolt is released 6th February
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
Tagged in Walt Disney