With the release of its latest animated film “The Emperor’s New Groove,” Disney will once again grace audiences with its unique magic — or at least try to.
“Groove” is about a spoiled-rotten emperor who is turned into a llama and must correct his selfish ways before regaining his throne. All with the help of a llama herder.
OK, it sounds kind of funny, especially with talents such as David Spade and John Goodman providing the voices. And Sting contributing to the soundtrack.
But a llama and a llama herder?
Although still the reigning kings in the world of animation, Disney has been slowly losing its stronghold in the past few years. No longer is the studio guaranteed a whopping success with every animated film it releases.
In fact, in the past few years, some of the films have been disappointments by Disney standards.
What could be going wrong? Could the well-oiled animation machine be churning out mediocre material just to get it out there? Is the competition finally getting fierce? Are audiences’ tastes changing?
Hollywood.com takes a look at the studio’s struggles over the past few years.
Disney’s Box Office Decline
Disney was at an all-time high when “The Lion King” was released in 1994. The highest-grossing animated film ever, it made $312.8 million domestically. At that point, it seemed that no one could touch the Disney animation mecca under its benevolent regime of Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg.
But then something unexpected happened: Katzenberg left the company in 1994 to create the new competition — DreamWorks.
From that point on, the animated films Disney released were less and less successful. Combined, “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” (1996) and “Hercules” (1997) barely surpassed $200 million — small change compared with the box office numbers Disney had been raking in. Even the $120 million that “Mulan” (1998) surprisingly grossed seemed lackluster.
One exception, however, was last year’s “Tarzan,” which brought in a strong $171 million with the help of Phil Collins’ soundtrack and Oscar-winning song “You’ll Be in My Heart.”
The only consistent bright spot in Disney’s otherwise declining popularity is its alliance with Pixar and the advent of computer animation. “Toy Story” was a big success, grossing $191.2 million in 1995, and “A Bug’s Life” fared well, bringing in $162.7 million in 1998. Last year’s “Toy Story 2” blew the roof off, bringing in $245.8 million.
However, this year Disney tried to get innovative with “Dinosaur,” a computer-animated epic that the studio made without Pixar. It didn’t do nearly the same business as the past computer animated films, grossing a decent if underwhelming $132.7 million.
Still, the purist animator at Disney knows that computer animation is not what Disney is founded on. It’s the paint and the ink and the thousands of drawings that make a Disney film special.
And, of course, the music. Katzenberg understood this innately and hired the best animators, storytellers and composer/lyricists he could find. So, when he left, the quality of work seemed to go downhill.
Disney’s Story and Animation Decline
“The Hunchback of Notre Dame“? Pocahontas? Hercules? What happened to the good ol’ days when Belle and the Beast danced around or Ariel dreamed about a life other than under the sea?
The slate of Disney films since 1994 has not captured the same magic as before, and the animation has looked prefabricated. The stories seemed to take a formula — the hero, the wacky sidekick, the villain, the love interest — and plug in the necessary elements to make a film. The music was included in this cookie-cutter formula, with standard lyrics and boring melodies.
Maybe Disney didn’t think that it had to try hard to keep the money rolling in. But it was mistaken. Audiences turned out in lesser degrees.
Disney somehow needs to rectify the situation. Last year’s “Tarzan” is a better effort as far as the music is concerned. Following the same success story as the Oscar-winning “The Lion King” with Elton John, Disney had Collins compose the soundtrack for “Tarzan,” and it was a hit. The animation, too, seemed cleaner and more alive than in the past. But the story fell into the same tired formula.
With “Groove,” Disney is going for the music angle again by getting pop singer Sting to do some songs for the soundtrack (apparently, Sting penned more songs, but they were cut out). But once again — a llama and a llama herder?
The Competition
Eisner might just be kicking himself for letting Katzenberg get away because Katzenberg’s new studio, DreamWorks, is now the biggest competitor of Disney’s. Katzenberg knows his animation.
“The Prince of Egypt” (1998) is now the highest-grossing, non-Disney animated film ever, having raked in $101.2 million. A moving tale about the Old Testament Moses, the animation and music were top notch. In the same year, DreamWorks released “Antz,” which did not gross as much as its happy competitor “A Bug’s Life,” but “Antz” was considered by many the better of the two films. At least it was funnier with Woody Allen as a misunderstood worker ant and Sharon Stone, Jennifer Lopez and Sylvester Stallone providing strong supporting voice work.
This year continues to be successful for DreamWorks with the sleeper hit “Chicken Run” putting creator Nick Park (of “Wallace and Gromit” fame) on the map. Few thought the film would do the business it did, as it grossed $77 million, or capture the hearts of audiences across the country with a simple story of poultry planning a prison break.
Warner Bros. also stepped up to bat with last year’s “The Iron Giant.” It didn’t do phenomenal box office but it did win critical praise for its sweet story of a robot from space befriending a small boy. Twentieth Century Fox made a modest showing with animator Don Bluth’s “Anastasia” in 1997, about the supposedly lost Russian princess from the Romanov family. The animation was praised as both rich and vibrant.
It’s looking as if it might be time for Disney to come down from its winner’s podium and start working again to keep up with the competition. Moviegoers are won over with good stories, rich animation and a rousing soundtrack.
“The Emperor’s New Groove” will show if Disney can get back into, well, the groove.
