#eric larson

[scurviesdisneyblog]

A look behind the scenes during the production of 101 Dalmatians (1961) with animators Eric Larson and Frank Thomas and Anita's voice actress Lisa Davis.

[haveyouseenthismovie-poll]

[browsethestacks]

Savage Dragon #274 (2025)

Art by Eric Larson

[yen-sids-tournament]

Alice in Wonderland: Animated (1951) v Live Action (2010)

You do not have to see both to vote, but it might have been helpful.

Feel free to share opinions or explanations with comments/tags/rbs

[courseyoulovemeyoudontknowme]

Sleeping Beauty (1959, Clyde Geronimi, Eric Larson, Wolfgang Reitherman, Les Clark)

15/09/2024

[kevinvoncrastenburg]

Uberhood (99) - Jocque & Larson

Lots and lots of quality time. ✨✨

[elijones94]

🐾 “He was a favorite of all the young wolf cubs of the pack.”~ Bagheera, referring to Mowgli 🌴🐾

[padraicratigan]

'THE GREAT MOUSE DETECTIVE' GIVES CLUES TO THE FUTURE OF DISNEY ANIMATION

This article was written for the New York Times by John Culhane, published July 27, 1986.

On July 2, Walt Disney Pictures premiered ''The Great Mouse Detective,'' its 26th animated feature in 49 years, its seventh in the nearly 20 years since Walt Disney died and the first made since the new management of Walt Disney Productions took over. This movie - finished during a period of major upheaval at Walt Disney Productions -throws some light on the problems of an art form that must struggle to survive inside a big corporate business.

''Our most important aim,'' Walt Disney said in 1951, ''is to develop definite personalities in our cartoon characters. If a character doesn't have a definite personality, you don't believe in it - and belief is what I'm after.''

Starting in 1980 with some characters created by Eve Titus for her book ''Basil of Baker Street,'' Disney story artists began to change the characters to fit animation and to create their own story - a traditional Disney animal fable told through a full range of new Disney characters. There was Ratigan, the comic villain (voice by Vincent Price), a rat who prefers to think of himself as an upscale mouse and is egotistically certain that he has the world's greatest criminal mind; and Hiram Flaversham, a true Disney mouse and the world's greatest toymaker, whom Ratigan kidnaps for a purpose as mysterious as it is nefarious.

There is Olivia, Flaversham's big-eyed, tam-wearing, 8-year-old daughter, who seeks the best help as soon as her father is kidnapped, by going to the great mouse detective himself: Basil of Baker Street, who is, in the mouse world, what Sherlock Holmes is in ours. And there is Dawson, who is to Basil what Watson is to Holmes. All the major characters except Basil were designed by Glen Keane, leader of a new generation of Disney animators, who made the warm, gentle, big-bellied Dawson a fond caricature (even to the belt worn above the belly) of his old mentor, 80-year-old Eric Larson. Mr. Larson retired in February as the last animator of Walt Disney's inner circle still in animation at the studio.

While 10 writer-artists in the story department were spending, off and on, about four years putting all this together, it sometimes looked as though their real world was falling apart. In 1984, Walt Disney Productions was nearly ripped to pieces by two separate takeover threats from financiers. As a result, the board forced the resignation of Ron Miller, Walt Disney's son-in-law, who had been a member of the committee that ran the studio after Disney's death, had taken over as company president in 1980 and become chairman in 1983.

Foreseeing in the late 60's that the great animators of Walt Disney's team would probably all be gone by the mid-80's, Mr. Miller had overseen the recruitment and training of a new generation of Disney animators, and he had served as executive producer of four financially successful animated features, ''The Aristocats'' (1970), ''Robin Hood'' (1973), ''The Rescuers'' (1977) and ''The Fox and the Hound'' (1981). At the same time, Mr. Miller had never had a big, live-action hit. In 1983, Disney's movie and television division contributed only 13 percent of the company's $1.3 billion in revenues. It lost $33.4 million. The company was thought to be vulnerable to a hostile takeover that might divide Disney into separate land and entertainment companies and result in the closing of the 63-year-old animation department that was the company's genesis.

To replace Mr. Miller as chairman of Disney, the board brought in Michael D. Eisner, 43, who had resigned as president of Paramount Pictures after being passed over for chairman. From Paramount, Mr. Eisner brought Jeffrey Katzenberg, his head of production there, to head Disney's film division. The two had been associated with several giant live-action hits, including ''Ordinary People,'' ''Saturday Night Fever'' and ''Star Trek'' - which didn't necessarily reassure the animators, who tend to feel that the two forms of film making are quite far apart. Some of them contemptuously referred to their studio under its new leadership as ''Paramouse.''

As soon as they took over, Mr. Eisner and Mr. Katzenberg reviewed what had been done on ''The Great Mouse Detective,'' said that the story was slow getting started, and that it would have to be done over before animation could begin.

They also decreed that the animation department must increase its output from a feature every three years to one every 18 months, and that the cost of each feature must drop from the $30 million range spent on the nearly completed ''The Black Cauldron,'' a sword and sorcery cartoon begun under Mr. Miller nine years before, into the $10 million range. That meant that the animation department had to animate the 72-minute ''Great Mouse Detective,'' start to finish, in one year, by the summer of 1986 (the artists had been aiming at a Christmas 1987 release) - about half the time that the Disney Studio had been taking to animate a feature since the opening of Disneyland began the diversification of the company in 1955.

Meanwhile, in 1985, ''The Black Cauldron'' was released - and became the company's first animated feature to fail on its first release since the $6 million ''Sleeping Beauty'' had been primarily responsible for putting the far less profitable company of 1959-60 $1.3 million into the red. (''Sleeping Beauty'' has since become a moneymaker.) ''My view is that basically 'The Black Cauldron' failed in story,'' said Mr. Eisner. ''Unless we are prepared to fail, we are going to be real boring, but I would say that the lesson to be learned from 'The Black Cauldron' was an economic lesson: if you're going to fail, don't fail at such a high cost.''

Then, as a timely reminder of the long-term value of quality animation, ''101 Dalmatians,'' made in 1961 for $3.6 million, was reissued for the third time last Christmas and grossed $33 million, making it the most successful reissue in the company's 63-year history.

Nevertheless, for the new generation of Disney artists, there were fears that the days of Disney animation might be numbered.

''There is a lot on the line here,'' said Ron Clements, a story man/ animation director who came to the studio in the 70's. ''We have to show the new management that we can make them cheaper and faster and yet do them in the classic Disney way. If 'The Great Mouse Detective' is successful, they may be a little more reassured.''

Mr. Larson, who spent 52 years in the Disney organization and is credited as ''animation consultant'' on ''The Great Mouse Detective,'' believes that when Disney's animators succeeded in developing definite and appealing personalities in their cartoon characters, it was because Walt Disney bought them the time to ''do research and experimental animation'' until something clicked and the character came to life.

''When the new management sets such a schedule and such a budget, is the animator going to have enough time to explore and study, to do research on the characters and experimental animation, time to throw away something he or she feels doesn't work and try again? Are they going to allow time for that?

''Walt always figured that if we had a good product, somehow or other, we'll get our money. But when money is the first thing on the docket, it can only lead to mediocrity, and that's what I worry about.''

''The Great Mouse Detective'' was finished on time - for $12.8 million.

Mr. Katzenberg says that the new management team is well aware of the importance of quality animation to the company as a whole. ''The fact is, for this company, animation has a value that is way beyond the specific profits that you measure for a film itself. We create new characters, these characters will come to life in our theme parks and in our merchandising, and have a longevity and a value to many other aspects of this corporation that are totally unique.''

At the same time, he and Mr. Eisner have served notice that the animation is meant to serve the story. He points out that nine years and more than $30 million didn't make ''Cauldron'' work, and blames it on the lack of a vision of the story as s whole.

''I am a big believer in allowing the people that work for you to know that they can fail and it's not going to be a problem,'' said Mr. Eisner. ''But if they fail without any sense of economic responsibility, I'm going to be a little upset.''

Several times a month these days, Mr. Eisner and Mr. Katzenberg are sitting in on story meetings on the next animated feature from Disney. It is a contemporary version of Dickens's ''Oliver Twist,'' set in New York City and enacted by dogs and cats. It is scheduled for release at Christmas of 1987 - 18 months from now.

[mikyapixie]

66 years ago today Sleeping Beauty released in theaters!!!

[moratoirenoir]

[adamwatchesmovies]

Uninvited (1987)

1987’s Uninvited is a delightfully ridiculous horror film. Right out of the gate, this picture has to bend over backward to try and make its monster threatening and none of its attempts work. The results are everything you want from a bad movie: the characters are outlandish, the monster unconvincing and the premise was doomed from the start. The only thing "wrong" with it is that it doesn’t quite commit to any sort of rating. It’s got a couple of sleazy scenes that would make you feel awkward if you showed it to your coworkers but it doesn’t contain any nudity so it isn’t as trashy as it could be. Nevertheless, it’s a great time - for all the wrong reasons.

A mutated cat escapes from a genetic research facility and makes its way onto a luxury yacht headed to the Cayman Islands. Meanwhile, multimillionaire Walter “Wall Street” Graham (Alex Cord) and his associates Mike Harvey (Mike Harvey) and Albert (Clu Gulager) need to quickly leave the country to avoid criminal prosecution. They agree to let spring breakers Suzanne (Shari Shattuck), Bobbie (Clare Carey), Martin (Eric Larson), Corey (Rob Estes) and Lance (Beau Dremann) man their ship under the watch of Captain Rachel (Toni Hudson), unaware that a threat is hiding below deck.

The movie's poster shows a ferocious, possibly gigantic and ghostly cat. Actually, we’re dealing with a bizarre creation. It’s sort of a skinless mutant cat that lives inside the stomach of other cats (meaning it looks like a normal house pet most of the time) and emerges from the host kitty’s mouth to attack. Sounds gross, but not exactly threatening and sensing this, writer/director/producer Greydon Clark also gave it a venomous bite that will make your veins bulge until your heart explodes. Still not threatening enough? The thing’s venom is so potent that the food it touches is lethally contaminated. This becomes important during the second half of the film. By then, the beast has wrecked the ship’s controls and everyone onboard is stuck in the middle of the ocean, waiting to be rescued. Supplies start running out and everyone is worried about starving to death. You feel like asking “Was the mutant, venomous cat not enough?” but then catch yourself. Even with the lethal bite, a monster the size of a house pet (granted, it seems to change size from scene to scene) wouldn’t be that hard to deal with. Clark HAD to find some way to make the movie longer, hence the dilemma about the poisoned food.

The deadly feline never ceases to be funny and provides most, but not all, of the film’s unintentional laughs. Walter Graham is almost as hilarious because the character is a cartoon. This movie was made in the 80s. He’s Wall Street rich. He’s a villain. That’s all you need to know about him. You can predict every one of his moves. Third place goes to a couple that forms as the plot develops. I don’t want to say who it is because it would be spoiling things but I just want to say that one of them gets bitten by the cat. The way the creature gets the jump on them is laugh-out-loud funny and it only gets better from there. We’ve established at this point that the bite is fatal but even so, this person gives up so quickly you kind of can’t believe your eyes. The way the scene goes on from there will have your jaw on the floor.

Anyone who owns a cat will find Uninvited extra funny. The creature is constantly making cat noises that never match the animal’s behavior. Even someone who has never seen a cat in their life will recognize that this entire plot could be easily resolved if the characters had a half-decent brain between the nine of them. There are a lot of horror films with Uninvited in the title. I haven’t seen many of them but I can almost guarantee that this is the worst of the lot. It may also be the most entertaining. (January 15th, 2023)

[meteorologistaustenlonek]

9 AM, Saturday, September 8, 123 years ago this morning, the storm that would be known as #The1900Storm or the #GalvestonHurricane was a Category 4, just offshore and hours away from landfall. No one knew it was coming. "Galvestonians had no idea of the monster lurking in the Gulf."

[badflicks]

Uninvited (1988) 🍕

The bin juice of 80s horror is made of point-something % of this movie.

Shoutout to the "special visual cat" people; We see you ❤️

[heartbreakfeelsgoodinablog]

Awaken to a world of wonders!

[damnablehumbuggery]

Shitty Movie Detail: Demon Wind

Cory (Eric Larson) reads a bedtime story from the Necronomicon.

More tomfoolery at Damnable Humbuggery.com

[courseyoulovemeyoudontknowme]

Sleeping Beauty (1959, Clyde Geronimi, Eric Larson, Wolfgang Reitherman and Les Clark)

11/02/2024

Sleeping Beauty is a 1959 animated film directed by Clyde Geronimi, Eric Larson, Wolfgang Reitherman and Les Clark, made with the animation technique and produced by Walt Disney based on the fairy tale Sleeping Beauty by Charles Perrault.

It is the 16th Disney Classic and was released in the United States on January 29, 1959 distributed by Buena Vista Distribution.

In the wake of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Cinderella, the Studio revived a classic folk tale in an attempt to achieve great success again, but, despite the great and ambitious technical quality, the film received a very cold response upon release; such was its disappointing initial gross and mixed critical reception that Sleeping Beauty was Disney's last fairy tale adaptation for the next thirty years (the Studio only returned to the genre long after Walt's death with the release of The Little Mermaid in 1989).

The film is graphically inspired by the Gothic miniatures of the book Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, catapulting the viewer into a bucolic and medieval setting with a sharp and precise line.

A live action of the film was made in 2014: Maleficent with Angelina Jolie in the role of Maleficent and Elle Fanning as Princess Aurora, Sleeping Beauty.

France, 14th century. King Stephen and his consort, Queen Leah, welcome the birth of their first and only daughter, Princess Aurora.

Before Merryweather is able to give her blessing, a terrible and treacherous witch named Maleficent appears in a whirlwind of wind and, to take revenge for not having been invited, curses the princess, proclaiming that she will be truly beautiful and graceful, but that before sunset on his sixteenth birthday she will prick his finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and die.

Princess Aurora, the female protagonist of the story, renamed Briar Rose by the fairies. She is animated by Marc Davis.

Prince Phillip. He is animated by Milt Kahl.