I'm no expert, but handmade merchandise is just better.
Hand drawn animation is more fluid and a hundred times more beautiful than computer animation. I don't see the point of computer animation when one can do the same movies with hand drawn animation and make them look so much better. I guess computer animation is cheaper or something? But Disney (and other companies) shouldn't be so cheap. I think the companies think kids don't want pencil animation. Well, I'm a kid, and I want pencil animation! I don't mind if they continue computer animation (although it makes me shudder) as long as they continue hand drawn animation.
Observe.
Weigh the first full-length pencil animated feature against the first full-length computer animated feature. I'm contrasting Snow with Andy because I thought it fairest to contrast human against human. Snow White is probably the least pretty of the princesses, but she's gorgeous compared to Andy. Heck, Dopey is gorgeous compared to Andy!
Andy looks stiff, lumpy, and unnatural like a clay model (actually a rubber suit), and his movement is not the least fluid. His arms look and move like broken wrapping paper rolls, and his mom is worse. She looks like carved wooden blocks moving around. Andy has little range of facial expression. All computer characters have a certain shine and stiffness that makes them look like rubber suits (think Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), especially the early ones. It might be the more detailed lighting in computer animation that gives the characters that "shine" with lots of highlights and shadows, meant to make them look more "real life." But animation is not supposed to look like real life. Real life is ugly. Animation is supposed to look perfect, simple, and beautiful. Rubber suits are not beautiful.
Snow White and Dopey look so, so soft and simple, like they're covered hair to sole in powder or something. They move like that too, soft movements and soft colors with simple lines and simple lighting. (These "soft movements" might be due to the lines that encapsulate the figures, looking connected and smooth no matter how the characters move. Computer characters don't have those lines and are usually too detailed, so they appear to move less smoothly.) Snow White and Dopey's arms, movements, and facial expressions look fluid and believable, not stiff and rubbery.
Yep, Snow White wins this round of the beauty pageant.
Also, consider this. Toy Story humans don't hold up against current computer animation. Toy Story backgrounds especially don't hold up. Toy Story looks garishly, obviously, horribly computer animated. On the other hand, Snow White holds up against modern pencil animation perfectly. The Snow White characters are just as fluid and beautifully drawn, and the backgrounds are just as gorgeous and detailed.
However, as I just admitted, computer animation has gotten better. The characters move less like wooden blocks and broken cardboard. They show emotion better - Up had the best acting I've seen in computer animation. Characters and backgrounds are more detailed. The latter are even pretty. The characters, however, are still not. This could be because most computer animated movies, for some strange reason, only have dorky-looking characters. (In pencil animation, even the dorky characters look pretty. So ha!) But they've tried making pretty characters, with Fiona and Tinkerbell and that platinum blonde in The Incredibles, and they've not done so wonderfully. Until now.
Alright, I admit it. Rapunzel looks really pretty with her soft blond hair and big green eyes. Even so, even as the latest Disney computer character, even as the best-looking computer character ever, she's not as pretty as Tiana.
Rapunzel has that pesky Computer Shine and very slight rubbery stiffness around her mouth, where it's usually most apparent. Flynn is worse. He definitely looks like a rubber suit, albeit a handsome one. You can see individual strands of hair on Rapunzel, which doesn't help her look soft. Contrasting with that over-detailing, Tiana looks soft and clean. Tiana even looks slightly more expressive than Rapunzel. Tiana moves so smoothly it's unbelievable. I've only seen the trailer of Rapunzel (a.k.a. Tangled), and the movements and facial expressions look pretty good, especially when she's sliding down her hair. Still, it doesn't look as incredible or expressive as P&F. I'm not sure it even matches Up in those respects. (However, Up also didn't unveil its best animation in its trailers, and then the movie astounded me. It might be the same with Rapunzel. Maybe the animated acting is really good and the trailers just haven't shown it.) Rapunzel doesn't look anywhere near as soft and clean as P&F. It does look just as bright, colorful, and beautiful in its backgrounds and character color schemes, with prettier characters than any other computer animated movie to boot. However, I thought the same of Tinkerbell before it came out. When actually I saw it...ehhh, 'sokay I guess.
The fact is, if after all this time, Disney still can't make computer animation as pretty as hand drawn, they probably never will. They probably never will make anything worthy to replace hand drawn animation, with its unique, desirable, smooth, GLORIOUS look. Disney needs to continue hand drawn animation. If they don't, I hope people will get desperate enough to start a new company for hand drawn animation. Computer animation looks like a mix of real people, rubber suits, and pencil animation. We have real people if we want a movie with them, we have rubber suits if we want them, and we have pencils! We should use them for heaven's sake! Restore the pencil economy! Give them jobs! I really hope we don't lose pencil animation.
Another point: after we've stopped using people to create images, how long will it be before we stop using people for the voices too? Soon whole movies will have computer voices that don't screw up their lines, whole cities will have electronic systems that control cars, whole houses will have machines that toast bread! The horror! Hide your eyes! Get to higher ground! CAREFULLY, since you're hiding your eyes! Don't take any chances you might see The Horror!
Naw. I just wanted to get a dystopian prediction in there. I don't think those Horrors will really happen...
Or have they already?
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