When I heard this year marked 100 years of Disney, I was curious to see how they would celebrate it and hoped they would do a decent job of it, especially since I grew up with Disney. Then when I heard about Once Upon a Studio, I decided to give it a shot and after I saw this, it was not just decent: it was outstanding and full of nostalgia.
Like when I say the team who made this special poured their hearts into making this special EXTRA special, I mean they poured every last drop. Seeing all the characters from 1923-2023 together onscreen to the resurgence of hand-drawn/2D animation and to the emotional nostalgic tone is what made this special in my opinion the best anniversary one to come from Disney yet and I applaud the team for their efforts.
Now I don't know where to begin on what made Once Upon a Studio outstanding, but it was definitely the elements mentioned above and here's what I mean specifically for each of them:
1. When I say this special has all the characters from the past 100 years, I mean it has literally 98% of them, and not just the popular ones from The Lion King, Aladdin, Frozen, Beauty and the Beast, Snow White, Cinderella, etc. Like even those from somewhat forgotten media or box office flops appear (i.e., The Black Cauldron, The Rescuers Down Under, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Treasure Planet, Brother Bear, Meet the Robinsons, and even Home on the Range!!!). I was quite surprised to see them appear, but that actually made me happy to see that even if their movies didn't do good initially, Disney wanted to represent them and show they are still part of the Disney family (though some other characters, like Mufasa and King Triton among a few others, were absent, but again, they tried to include as many characters as possible and it was still impressive).
2. Although CGI animation was used for this, the sight of the hand-drawn animation was a breath of fresh air and was done beautifully. I'm glad they brought this back and didn't make it all CGI because I think I speak for everyone when I say we all grew up with the hand-drawn animation and seeing it here once again brought back our childhoods. Additionally, the way they made pretty much all the 2D characters look nearly exactly like how they did in their original movies was amazing too, especially since they were animated by the hand-drawn animators who have worked on them in the past (like Mark Henn, James Baxter, Ruben Aquino, Nik Ranieri, and Will Finn, all of whom had great artistic talents on the 2D films and I'm glad they had another chance to do what they do best in this special).
3. The emotional tone in this was on point, and there was a number of elements that made it up as well:
* For one thing, hearing a good number of characters being voice by their original actor (i.e., Paige O'Hara and Robby Benson as Belle and Beast, Jodi Benson as Ariel, Jeremy Irons as Scar, Tom Hulce as Quasimodo) brought a smile to my face and I'm glad they didn't replace them with someone new. Now for some characters, they did (like Iago and Cogsworth), but I guess they couldn't do it for all the characters, and they did what they could and I'm glad for other characters (like Peter Pan and Jiminy Cricket), they used old recordings of their voice actors to honor them. Also (and I'm sure those who haven't seen it yet have heard about this by now), hearing Robin Williams' voice as the Genie once again, via unused recordings from Aladdin, was such a blast of nostalgia and I almost cried during that part because it was so nice to hear his voice once again, even if he's not with us anymore. Thank you to Mr. Williams' estate for allowing the Disney company to use the recordings and for understanding how much Robin's work as Genie meant to us!!!
* For another thing, the scene where Mickey comes across the portrait of Walt Disney himself and stares at it while Free the Birds from Mary Poppins (Walt's favorite song) faintly playing in the background was quite emotional, especially when Mickey quietly thanks Walt. It was like watching a son thanking his dad for everything and that was nicely done.
* Lastly, and probably the most emotional nostalgic part of the entire special, the ending scene with everyone joining in with singing When You Wish Upon a Star from Pinocchio was the best way to represent celebrating 100 years of Disney. It starts off slow and one by one, each character joins in singing, and it was such a beautiful moment to see all of them together singing the song that best represents the Walt Disney Company, and its main theme song as well. Plus, as I mentioned earlier, I'm glad when it was Jiminy Cricket's time to sing, they used Cliff Edward's original recording of the song and did not recast him and that was a beautiful moment to honor Mr. Edwards as well, since he was the one who brought the song to life.
I wish I could go on more about what else made Once Upon a Studio outstanding, but I think I said pretty much everything here. The last thing I'll say is the tribute to Burny Mattinson was nice and heartfelt too as he contributed A LOT to the studio and this special was a nice way to honor his legacy, especially since up until he passed away, he was the longest serving member at the studio and we thank him for everything he contributed to many Disney films.
Now, I don't know if all this is enough to say that Once Upon a Studio is the best way to celebrate 100 years of Disney, but all I can say is you should give it a shot and I can almost guarantee you'll be reliving your childhood once again and it'll bring a smile to your face.
Also, thank you so much to the team behind the special for making Once Upon a Studio and for capturing everything that made the Walt Disney Studio a big part of all of our lives, and if this does make it into the category, I really hope this wins Best Animated Short Film at the next Academy Awards.
Last of all, Happy 100 Years of Disney!!!!
Like when I say the team who made this special poured their hearts into making this special EXTRA special, I mean they poured every last drop. Seeing all the characters from 1923-2023 together onscreen to the resurgence of hand-drawn/2D animation and to the emotional nostalgic tone is what made this special in my opinion the best anniversary one to come from Disney yet and I applaud the team for their efforts.
Now I don't know where to begin on what made Once Upon a Studio outstanding, but it was definitely the elements mentioned above and here's what I mean specifically for each of them:
1. When I say this special has all the characters from the past 100 years, I mean it has literally 98% of them, and not just the popular ones from The Lion King, Aladdin, Frozen, Beauty and the Beast, Snow White, Cinderella, etc. Like even those from somewhat forgotten media or box office flops appear (i.e., The Black Cauldron, The Rescuers Down Under, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Treasure Planet, Brother Bear, Meet the Robinsons, and even Home on the Range!!!). I was quite surprised to see them appear, but that actually made me happy to see that even if their movies didn't do good initially, Disney wanted to represent them and show they are still part of the Disney family (though some other characters, like Mufasa and King Triton among a few others, were absent, but again, they tried to include as many characters as possible and it was still impressive).
2. Although CGI animation was used for this, the sight of the hand-drawn animation was a breath of fresh air and was done beautifully. I'm glad they brought this back and didn't make it all CGI because I think I speak for everyone when I say we all grew up with the hand-drawn animation and seeing it here once again brought back our childhoods. Additionally, the way they made pretty much all the 2D characters look nearly exactly like how they did in their original movies was amazing too, especially since they were animated by the hand-drawn animators who have worked on them in the past (like Mark Henn, James Baxter, Ruben Aquino, Nik Ranieri, and Will Finn, all of whom had great artistic talents on the 2D films and I'm glad they had another chance to do what they do best in this special).
3. The emotional tone in this was on point, and there was a number of elements that made it up as well:
* For one thing, hearing a good number of characters being voice by their original actor (i.e., Paige O'Hara and Robby Benson as Belle and Beast, Jodi Benson as Ariel, Jeremy Irons as Scar, Tom Hulce as Quasimodo) brought a smile to my face and I'm glad they didn't replace them with someone new. Now for some characters, they did (like Iago and Cogsworth), but I guess they couldn't do it for all the characters, and they did what they could and I'm glad for other characters (like Peter Pan and Jiminy Cricket), they used old recordings of their voice actors to honor them. Also (and I'm sure those who haven't seen it yet have heard about this by now), hearing Robin Williams' voice as the Genie once again, via unused recordings from Aladdin, was such a blast of nostalgia and I almost cried during that part because it was so nice to hear his voice once again, even if he's not with us anymore. Thank you to Mr. Williams' estate for allowing the Disney company to use the recordings and for understanding how much Robin's work as Genie meant to us!!!
* For another thing, the scene where Mickey comes across the portrait of Walt Disney himself and stares at it while Free the Birds from Mary Poppins (Walt's favorite song) faintly playing in the background was quite emotional, especially when Mickey quietly thanks Walt. It was like watching a son thanking his dad for everything and that was nicely done.
* Lastly, and probably the most emotional nostalgic part of the entire special, the ending scene with everyone joining in with singing When You Wish Upon a Star from Pinocchio was the best way to represent celebrating 100 years of Disney. It starts off slow and one by one, each character joins in singing, and it was such a beautiful moment to see all of them together singing the song that best represents the Walt Disney Company, and its main theme song as well. Plus, as I mentioned earlier, I'm glad when it was Jiminy Cricket's time to sing, they used Cliff Edward's original recording of the song and did not recast him and that was a beautiful moment to honor Mr. Edwards as well, since he was the one who brought the song to life.
I wish I could go on more about what else made Once Upon a Studio outstanding, but I think I said pretty much everything here. The last thing I'll say is the tribute to Burny Mattinson was nice and heartfelt too as he contributed A LOT to the studio and this special was a nice way to honor his legacy, especially since up until he passed away, he was the longest serving member at the studio and we thank him for everything he contributed to many Disney films.
Now, I don't know if all this is enough to say that Once Upon a Studio is the best way to celebrate 100 years of Disney, but all I can say is you should give it a shot and I can almost guarantee you'll be reliving your childhood once again and it'll bring a smile to your face.
Also, thank you so much to the team behind the special for making Once Upon a Studio and for capturing everything that made the Walt Disney Studio a big part of all of our lives, and if this does make it into the category, I really hope this wins Best Animated Short Film at the next Academy Awards.
Last of all, Happy 100 Years of Disney!!!!