1. BACKGROUND
2. PLOT
3. CHARACTERS & CAST
4. PRODUCTION
5. MUSIC
6. RECEPTION
7. LEGACY
8. FINAL THOUGHTS
9. REFERENCES

BACKGROUND

Where do I even start with The Emperor’s New Groove?

Because to some people, it is one of Disney’s most hilarious and most underrated animated features. Others just forget about it completely. But it is so much more.

The Emperor’s New Groove potentially had the worst development and production process in Disney history, or at least Disney Animation history, because it was truly an awkward and painful process to get this movie made. This movie will forever be linked to the promised, but apparently too complex, Kingdom of the Sun, as well as with a non-Disney-produced, but Disney-approved, documentary The Sweatbox, which told in great detail by those involved, the story of just how Kingdom of the Sun, an epic musical, became the buddy comedy, The Emperor’s New Groove.

Despite the fact the Disney Company has never released The Sweatbox outside of its initial week or so theatrical runs in, so many Disney fans know what this documentary contained and have divulged this information online many times.

When The Emperor’s New Groove was first released in 2000, it may have received relatively positive reviews, the majority of which being around the film’s humour and its voice cast, but it did not do well at the box-office. And by “not do well”, I mean it was a flop, by Disney standards, with even their worst performing Disney Renaissance Era movies doing much better financially than The Emperor’s New Groove.

But somehow, whether that was through home releases throughout the years, or because of its complicated history, or just due to the fact it is an absolutely hilarious, and very quotable, film, The Emperor’s New Groove has gained a strong following in recent years, gaining it that almost-an-insult, almost-a-compliment title of “cult classic”.

I watched The Emperor’s New Groove when it was first released, along with my family, and we all loved it, and we still do today. It’s one of those Disney films that appeals to everyone – including the dads, who may have rolled their eyes or fallen asleep at some of Disney’s previous Broadway musical fairy-tale films! Though not artistically special, or even particularly interesting in terms of plot, it’s still a favourite in the eyes of many, despite its continued under-representation by the Disney Company.

PLOT

The Emperor’s New Groove begins with this phrase: “Long ago, somewhere deep in the jungle…”. In this jungle is a sad-looking llama, crying in the pouring rain. A narrator tells us that this llama was once an emperor, and that the story that will follow is his story, the llama’s and also the narrator’s. The narrator takes us back to the beginning of the story, but goes a bit too far back, and we see him as a pampered, spoilt baby, before moving ahead to see the pampered, spoilt baby is now a pampered, spoilt emperor, Emperor Kuzco. After hearing Emperor Kuzco’s theme song, which shows us just how many people serve him throughout the day, and that Kuzco is unwilling to do anything for himself, Kuzco bumps into an old man whilst dancing, who he says “threw off my groove”. A guard throws the old man out of the window and the tale continues.

Kuzco enters a large hall with a cry of “boom baby” and is told that it is time for him to choose his bride. A line of women stands before him. He quickly dismisses most of them. Just outside, a peasant named Pacha has arrived at the palace to meet with Emperor Kuzco. A shoe falls on his head from somewhere above him; it’s the old man’s shoe, the one who was thrown out of the window and ended up getting tangled in some sort of banner. Pacha quickly helps him down, and the man warns him about the emperor’s “groove”.

Back inside the palace, we meet Yzma, the emperor’s advisor, who has taken to sitting in Kuzco’s throne and meeting with the villagers herself. She is with her new right-hand man, Kronk, a dim but sweet guy. Kuzco sees Yzma pretending to be him, and quickly fires her. Once Yzma has been dealt with, Kuzco meets with Pacha. He asks Pacha about his village and which areas get the most sunlight. Pacha tells him that the point where his family home, for the last six generations, resides is probably the best location. Kuzco then tells Pacha that he is going to demolish the village so he can build his summer home, Kuzcotopia, as a birthday gift to himself. Pacha tries to convince the emperor that this is wrong, but he won’t listen and has Pacha thrown out.

Kronk gives Yzma the idea of getting rid of Kuzco once and for all so she can rule. They go to the Secret Lab to discuss further. After riding the rollercoaster entranceway into the lab, Yzma has a plan: turn Kuzco into a flea, then put that flea in a box, then put it in another box, mail the box to herself and then smash it with a hammer. But she decides it would be quicker and easier to just poison him, and she has a handy vial of poison just waiting to be used. Yzma invites Kuzco for dinner, with Kronk being the chef and waiter for the evening. Once Kuzco arrives, Kronk is told to put the poison in Kuzco’s drink so he does just that, except he has to rush out of the room to save his spinach puffs from burning. Once Kronk returns, having saved the spinach puffs, which I’ve always thought look delicious, he then forgets which cup had the poison in. He mixes all three drinks together, so each one will definitely contain some poison, and passes them out. Kronk warns Yzma not to drink it, so she throws hers on a nearby cactus and Kronk pours his down his neck; Kuzco downs his quickly and passes out. Just when they think he’s finally dead, Kuzco regains consciousness and continues talking as though nothing has happened. Strangely enough, he begins to turn into a llama. If you look closely, the cactus Yzma threw her drink on has also become a llama-shaped cactus! Kronk knocks Kuzco out, as ordered by Yzma, by hitting him over the head with a plate. Yzma then realises that the vial was actually extract of llama and that the job still needs to be finished. Kronk is sad that his dinner will go to waste, and tries to convince Yzma there’s time for dessert. In the end, they agree to a quick cup of coffee and then Kronk will take him out of town and finish the job.

Kronk, carrying Kuzco in a bag, takes him to the river and throws the bag in. His shoulder angel and shoulder devil soon appear, helping Kronk decide if he’s done the right thing. In the end, Kronk feels guilty and grabs the bag before it can fall over the waterfall. The movie then zooms out briefly to see a chimp eating a bug, which Narrator Kuzco is most annoyed about since this story is supposed to be about him! We zoom back in, to see Kronk trying to figure out what to do with Kuzco. Kronk trips on a cat as he walks down some stairs, and the bag falls onto a cart. It turns out it is Pacha’s cart. Kronk is too late to get Kuzco back, so he ends up at Pacha’s village. Once home, Pacha avoids questions from his wife about the meeting today, saying the emperor was too busy to see him, not wanting to tell her the truth about it. Outside, Pacha is putting his llama, Misty, away, when he sees an extra bag. Opening it, he finds a talking llama. The talking llama gets scared by Pacha’s cries of “demon llama”, only to find he is the demon llama. The llama tells Pacha he is Emperor Kuzco, and believes initially that Pacha did this to him as revenge, but then says Pacha probably isn’t smart enough to do that. Kuzco orders Pacha to take him back to the palace to get Yzma to turn him back, but Pacha refuses, unless Kuzco agrees to build his summer home somewhere else. Kuzco refuses to agree to that, and walks off into the jungle alone.

In the jungle, Kuzco gets lost quickly and is scared of the strange noises he hears. A squirrel tries to befriend him, but Kuzco tells him to “hit the road, Bucky”. Kuzco soon falls into a jaguar pit, and the squirrel tries to wake them up by popping a balloon. It doesn’t work, but Kuzco’s loud “HA” certainly does and he is chased to the edge of a cliff. When all looks lost, Pacha comes swinging in like Tarzan, and manages to grab Kuzco – on his second attempt. But they slam into a tree branch and end up tied to it. It then falls into the rushing river below, and they are thrown over a huge waterfall. Luckily, the impact means they are free from the branch, but Kuzco is unconscious. Reluctantly, Pacha goes to give him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, only for Kuzco to suddenly wake up mid-kiss. Both are embarrassed. That night, Kuzco still refuses Pacha’s terms and Pacha still says he won’t take him back.

Back at the palace, Yzma leads the funeral for Emperor Kuzco, but there’s no time to grieve, because the palace needs to be redecorated for the new leader, Yzma. Soon after, Kronk admits to Yzma that Kuzco is in fact not dead. Yzma is furious and informs him that they will be going out to find him, so they can finally “finish the job”.

Kuzco wakes up the next morning to thank Pacha for giving him his poncho to keep warm overnight. Kuzco then says that maybe he will build his home somewhere else. Pacha gets him to shake hands to confirm it’s true; Kuzco does and they head back to the city. On an old, rickety bridge, Pacha falls as a step breaks. He asks Kuzco to help him back up, but Kuzco does not, and skips over him. It turns out everything Kuzco said was a lie just to get Pacha to help him. As Kuzco is about to continue on the bridge, he also falls and the two punch each other out of anger as they dangle from some vines, but this excess movement causes the whole bridge to collapse and they fall further, coming to a halt just above a lake full of alligators. Pacha tells Kuzco he has a plan; if they link arms, they can walk up the cliffs together. This works, to a point, but then they find themselves stuck. Pacha gets Kuzco to lift him up with his neck to a rope tied in a tree. With some difficulty, because Pacha’s not a small guy, the rope is caught, but as Pacha tugs the rope, scorpions fall onto Kuzco’s body. He freaks out and lets go of Pacha. Pacha grabs him before he can fall but Kuzco’s mouth gets stuck in a bat cave. Pacha then finds the scorpions down his back and as he bangs against the wall, the bats wake up, flying into Kuzco’s mouth. As he releases them, they carry both up to solid ground, somehow. Kuzco then saves Pacha as a piece of the ground crumbles beneath him. The two continue on, with it now being a four-day trek back.

Yzma and Kronk have searched many of the surrounding villages but have not found Kuzco. During a break in the jungle, Kronk talks to a squirrel. The squirrel tells Kronk that he saw a talking llama and points them in the direction to find him. Kuzco and Pacha decide to stop for food at Mudka’s Meat Hut, where Kuzco has to dress up as a woman to get in, since llamas are not allowed inside. The two pretend to be on their honeymoon. Kuzco hates the food and speaks to the chef, telling him his food is awful. Pacha then sees two people walk in. He overhears them talking about Kuzco. Pacha rushes into the kitchen to get Kuzco, saying they need to leave, but Kuzco still wants dinner. At the same time, Kronk comes in to ask about Yzma’s dinner order. The chef abruptly quits, leaving Kronk in charge, who is happy to help. Somehow, Yzma and Kuzco do not see each other, but Pacha takes Kuzco out of the restaurant anyway. Kuzco tells Pacha he saw Yzma and Kronk and that he is safe now and Pacha can leave. He ignores Pacha’s attempts to tell him that the two are trying to kill him. Kuzco finds this out for himself, though, as he overhears Yzma and Kronk just as he was about to show himself to them. Kuzco is now alone, and we go back to the start of the film, with Kuzco sad in the rainy jungle. That night, Kronk realises that he knows Pacha; he was the man whose cart Kuzco ending up on. If they can find Pacha, they’ll find Kuzco. They head to Pacha’s house to wait for him.

The next day, Kuzco tries to be a normal llama within a herd, but can’t manage it. He soon finds Pacha sitting there, telling the llamas about his strange few days with Kuzco. The two agree to team up again and get Kuzco home. They head to Pacha’s house for supplies, but sure enough, Yzma and Kronk are already there. Pacha speaks to his wife through a window, and she says her and the kids will stall Yzma and Kronk to give them a head start. Once they get out of Pacha’s family’s obstacles, Yzma and Kronk follow suit. Kuzco and Pacha are ahead, getting over a ravine with a zipwire, whereas Yzma and Kronk are hit by a random bolt of lightning and fall off the map. Pacha and Kuzco make it to Yzma’s lab.

In the lab, they search for the vial to turn Kuzco human. But Yzma is already there, and she has it. Yzma tosses a knife to Kronk, telling him to kill them both. Kronk’s shoulder angel and devil reappear to help him decide, but to the others, it looks like he’s talking to himself. Yzma then insults him, calling him a “big, stupid monkey” and declaring she never liked his spinach puffs – gasp! Kronk is devastated and cuts down the chandelier, believing it will crush Yzma, but instead, she slips right through the middle. She pulls a lever, sending Kronk through a trapdoor. Pacha and Yzma fight over the vial, which gets lost in amongst many others. Pacha grabs them all, and throws some random potions on the guards that Yzma has summoned, turning them into animals. One becomes a cow and asks to go home, but the rest continue. Pacha starts passing random vials to Kuzco, turning him into a turtle, then a bird, then a whale, then a llama again; none of which help them outrun Yzma and her guards. They end up in a pool of water, which is drained. It turns out this is the nose of the huge face that is carved into Kuzco’s palace! Kuzco and Pacha grab onto some carvings at the front of the palace, but Yzma’s guards fall. Yzma uses some curtains to make sure she does not, and slams onto a vial as she gets herself onto a ledge.

This looks to be turning her into a huge monster, but no, she’s just a cat! Cats are no joke though. I had a cat literally jump on my face and start clawing at me. It clearly had issues – kind of like Yzma! The only vial left is the human one. Yzma attacks Kuzco to get it back, and then attacks Pacha, who loses his balance and struggles to hang on to the ledge. Yzma has the vial her paws, but she cannot open it. In her frustration, she throws it, and falls trying to retrieve it. As she tumbles down, luckily, a huge trampoline has been set up outside the palace; it was incorrectly delivered there, and it bounces Yzma back up. Kuzco has located the position of but rushes back to save Pacha from falling instead. They watch the vial fall. Yzma then catches it on her way back up, but hits her head on the ascent. The vial falls to a different point on the palace. Pacha and Kuzco use their walking-up-cliffs trick to get it back but as they are about to retrieve it, Yzma takes it back. But then, Kronk suddenly opens a window, hitting Yzma in the face and loses the vial. Pacha and Kuzco retrieve it, and Kuzco drinks it.

We see Emperor Kuzco apologising to the old man he had thrown out of the palace window right at the start of the film. Kuzco then meets with Pacha and says he did not hear any “singing hills” on their journey and tells Pacha he will be building his summer home somewhere else. Pacha then says that there might be singing on the hill next to his village. Kuzco ponders this and we flash forward to see that Kuzcotopia has been built – it is a birdhouse instead of a summer home! Kuzco does have a hut next to Pacha and he now spends his time with all of them, continuing to be a better emperor and a better person. We also see that Kronk is now a leader of the Junior Chipmunks, which Pacha’s children are part of, as well as Yzma, who is still a cat and a very reluctant member of the troop!

CHARACTERS & CAST

The Emperor’s New Groove benefits from having a small main cast of characters, with there being only four of those in total. The first one is obviously Emperor Kuzco. He is a spoilt brat, who has spent years getting what he wants, whenever he wants, and therefore has no idea how to be a kind and respectful human being. He is only 18 here, but still, he should have been taught better. And if it’s true that Yzma practically raised him, as she claims, then really, it’s her fault Kuzco is the way he is! Kuzco isn’t bothered about hurting others and doesn’t care about the consequences of his actions: he tosses an old man out of the palace for ruining his dance number, he’d happily destroy a whole village just to give himself a summer home, which no doubt he’d use for two weeks of the year and would then leave sitting empty for the rest of the time, and fires Yzma without even a second thought or warning. I wonder if she could’ve sued for unfair dismissal? So Kuzco is not a character who appears to be at all redeemable, or even likeable. But that’s at the start. Gradually, he builds a friendship with Pacha, and Kuzco starts to realise that he’s actually not so great and could really benefit from gaining some empathy and humility! Kuzco’s change of heart is shown at the end of the film, when, though he doesn’t want to admit it out loud, he decides not to build Kuzcotopia on Pacha’s village because he knows it’s wrong.

Emperor Kuzco is voiced by comedian David Spade, who was nominated for a Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Award for his voice acting in this role. At the time, Spade was best known for being part of the cast of Saturday Night Live from 1990 to 1996. David Spade’s first foray into movie roles saw him appear in a couple of movies with fellow SNL cast member Chris Farley, these being Tommy Boy (1995) and Black Sheep (1996). In the years that followed The Emperor’s New Groove, Spade appeared in 8 Simple Rules from 2004 to 2005, playing C.J., Cate’s nephew, and starred in Rules of Engagement (2007-13) as Russell Dunbar, alongside Patrick Warburton, voice of Kronk. Spade is also well-known for his friendship with Adam Sandler, appearing in some of Sandler’s movies, such as Grown Ups (2010) and the Hotel Transylvania franchise (2012-22). I am a big fan of David Spade, partly because of The Emperor’s New Groove, and partly from his cameos in Adam Sandler comedies. Though many of these comedies get negative reviews, I think they are great.

Moving on to Pacha. He is clearly a family man, with his adoring wife Chicha, who is pregnant with their third child, and his two children, Chaca and Tipo. It’s an obviously close family, who come together in times of crisis and difficulty. Pacha is also very committed to his village, as the last six generations of his family have lived in the same house, and all the villagers know and respect him. Despite Kuzco’s plans for Pacha’s village, Pacha is still kind-hearted enough to take Kuzco back to his palace, and he has hope that Kuzco will change his mind about building Kuzcotopia in the end. It seems like wishful thinking, but Pacha was clearly right to wait, knowing that it would eventually happen.

John Goodman was chosen to voice Pacha, as they felt he could portray the dependable family man of Pacha, and liked his infectious laugh and the warmth he could bring to the character. Many have said that Pacha is the glue that holds the film together, and I think that’s because he is the person who believes in the goodness in others, which The Emperor’s New Groove needs to give the film some heart[1]. I am also a big fan of John Goodman, both for his comedy and more dramatic roles. For Disney, Goodman returned to voice acting to provide the voice for Sulley in Monsters, Inc. (2001), Monsters University (2013) and its subsequent spin-offs, and the voice for “Big Daddy” La Bouff in The Princess and the Frog (2009). From 1988 to 1997, and again from 2018, Goodman portrayed the role of Dan Conner in the television series Roseanne and now The Conners. Children of the 1990s probably also know Goodman from The Borrowers (1997), where he played Ocious P. Potter. His more serious film credits include Argo (2012) 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016), Patriots Day (2016), and Kong: Skull Island (2017).

Then we have Yzma, the villainess of the film. She starts the movie not seeming too threatening as the Emperor’s Advisor. There is a lot of talk about how old she is, and that she looks “scary beyond all reason”, with a lot of focus on her wrinkles, but she doesn’t seem scary, just because she wants to sit on Kuzco’s throne and play emperor sometimes. It’s not until Kuzco fires her that she then decides to exact revenge on him, and for all we know, maybe if he hadn’t fired her so cold-heartedly, perhaps none of that llama stuff would have happened to him! Yzma does have a Secret Lab, where she brews potions, but she is not magical. It’s not really a huge surprise that she wants to get rid of Kuzco, because he’s not very nice, though we know that Yzma won’t be a very good ruler either, judging by how she refuses to help a poor villager who comes to speak with her! Yzma isn’t a bad villain, but she’s not the best for me. I just think she’s too funny to be scary. It sounds like the original version of Yzma would’ve been a much better villainess, but more on that later. Still, I like how funny she is, especially when Yzma is talking to Kronk.

Yzma is voiced by singer and actress Eartha Kitt. Many young people may not know Kitt as an actress, but will likely know of her recording of the popular Christmas song, “Santa Baby”, but Kitt had a long career on stage and screen. She was even described by Orson Welles as “the most exciting woman in the world”. Welles then cast her as Helen of Troy in his 1951 stage production of Dr. Faustus[2]. Kitt also played the role of Catwoman in the third season of the 1966 Batman series, which is perhaps why Yzma is turned into a cat at the end of The Emperor’s New Groove[3]. In 1968, Eartha Kitt was vocal about her opposition to the Vietnam War, causing her career in the US to suffer, however, in 1978, Kitt returned to Broadway by starring in the musical Timbuktu! for which she was nominated for a Tony Award. Towards the end of her career, Kitt did voice work, both for Disney and other productions. Kitt sadly passed away on Christmas Day 2008.

Finally, of the main four, there is Kronk, Yzma’s right-hand man and henchman. Kronk is not aware for most of the film that he is on the side of the “bad guy” and just goes with whatever he is told to do. He is a big, muscular guy, so he should look threatening, but he is not aggressive or nasty, as would be expected. Kronk is the scene-stealer in The Emperor’s New Groove, which is ironic because at one point, there were discussions that Kronk was an unnecessary character and was going to be cut from the film! Thanks to the dinner scene where Yzma and Kronk poison Kuzco, and the brilliant idea to make Kronk so focused on the dinner because he likes to cook, the character was saved from the chopping block – and a good thing too, because Kronk is many people’s favourite character in the whole movie. Kronk is not the sharpest tool in the shed, but his heart is in the right place.

Patrick Warburton voices the role of Kronk here. An interesting fact about his role as Kronk is that Warburton was asked to improvise the “theme song” that Kronk sings as he carries Kuzco in that bag through the city. Disney’s legal department then made Warburton sign over all the rights to this song[4]! At the time, Warburton was known by the Disney team from his role as David Puddy in Seinfeld from 1995 to 1998. Since then, Warburton has provided many voice roles, for both Disney and non-Disney films and television series. But for Disney, Warburton voiced Buzz Lightyear in the television series Buzz Lightyear of Star Command (2000-01), Steve Barkin in Kim Possible (2002-07), Patrick in Home on the Range (2004), Alien Cop in Chicken Little (2005) and Royal Pain in Sky High (2005). For acting, Warburton starred in the sitcom Rules of Engagement (2007-13) alongside David Spade and as Lemony Snicket in the Netflix series A Series of Unfortunate Events (2017-19). Also, Patrick Warburton appeared in a film with Eartha Kitt back in the 1980s in his first movie role. He openly admitted that the film Dragonard (1987) was terrible, and that Eartha Kitt and actor Oliver Reed, who also appeared in it, were much too good to be in this film[5]!

So that’s the main characters, but there are a few other voices who may sound familiar. First is the voice of Rudy, the old man who “throws off the emperor’s groove” at the start of the film. He is voiced by John Fielder, the original voice of Piglet in the Winnie-the-Pooh franchise, from 1968 to his death in 2005. Secondly, Patti Deutsch voices the waitress, Mata, at Mudka’s Meat Hut. Her voice may sound familiar as she voices Tantor’s mother in Tarzan (1999). Finally, Wendie Malick voices Chicha, Pacha’s wife. Malick appeared as Ronee, Frasier’s father’s girlfriend, in the final season of Frasier from 2003 to 2004. More recently, she starred alongside Kimberly Williams-Paisley in a series of television mystery movies titled Darrow & Darrow (2017-19), which are actually quite good. From 2020, Malick appeared as President Hagemeyer, president of Sheldon’s university in Young Sheldon (2017-2024).

PRODUCTION

So now to the complicated part, the production story, which was all handily filmed throughout the course of the multiple years of upheaval and turmoil. This was thanks to Trudie Styler, Sting’s wife, who meticulously directed the filming of this over a number of years. The name of the documentary is The Sweatbox, after the name given to the screening room at the Disney Studios. It was so named as the room did not have air conditioning, plus the anxiety of the animators having their film critiqued meant there was a lot of sweat in the room. Nice… The Sweatbox documentary was set to be released in early 2001, however, it has never been released to the general public. The full documentary was approved by Disney and premiered worldwide at the Toronto Film Festival in September 2002, and opened at one Los Angeles theatre for one week in order to be eligible for an Academy Award. It was also shown at the Florida Film Festival where many Disney employees got to see it. Since then, it has not been released again, and is rumoured to never be released on DVD or Blu-Ray, due to some of the Disney executives finding the content embarrassing and too intrusive to the production process. From what I’ve heard, though it does get messy at times, I don’t think The Sweatbox shows anything that we haven’t already seen. Don Hahn’s Waking Sleeping Beauty (2009), which showed the turmoil at Disney Animation in the 1980s, seemed much more painful, so to me, I don’t think Disney would lose face if they allowed the public to see The Sweatbox. But anyway, as most people have not seen it, this is some of the information to have come out of it.

Kingdom of the Sun was a vision by Roger Allers, co-director of The Lion King (1994), to create a new animated movie based on South American cultures, specifically the Incas, and to include their mythology in the storyline, looking at their gods and the importance of the sun on their way of life. On a research trip to Peru, some of the Disney animators and story team went to areas like Machu Pichu to look at the architecture and geography of the area. They also, of course, studied llamas. Mark Dindal was brought in to help Allers with the story, as they needed an entertaining story, but not something too complex. Dindal and Allers looked to Mark Twain’s The Prince and the Pauper story for inspiration on Kingdom of the Sun, and found that they could have the emperor swap places with his peasant look-alike. There would be romance, magic, and a classic villain.

The original story followed carefree, kind-hearted Pacha, the llama herder, who comes across Emperor Manco one day. Manco is bored of ruling his kingdom, so decides to swap places with Pacha, who looks exactly like him. Somehow, Yzma discovers what the two have done, and turns Manco into a non-talking llama, so that Pacha must continue to be emperor. Nina, Manco’s betrothed, is surprised to find this emperor is now kind and funny and finds herself falling in love with him, with Pacha also falling in love with her. Meanwhile, Yzma believes that if she can block out the sun, using the demon Supai, a force of darkness, then her beauty will be restored, as she is upset with how old she looks[6].

Yzma was to be designed by Andreas Deja, known for classic villain characters like Gaston, Jafar, and Scar. He was very excited to be involved with Yzma’s storyline, which would have seen her as an old, wrinkly woman wanting to be young again, and planning to use dark magic to achieve it. He’d designed male villains before, but wanted to get to work on an over-the-top female villain, someone like Cruella de Vil. Deja liked Eartha Kitt as Yzma, and her voice recordings gave him ample inspiration for the character. Yzma was to have a rock sidekick, Huaca voiced by Harvey Fierstein, who voiced Yao in Mulan (1998).

Pacha was to be a llama herder, and to be voiced by a relatively unknown Owen Wilson. This llama herder looked exactly like the emperor, and was ordered to switch places with him. Giving Pacha the leadership position would have changed everything and showed that arrogant men are not fit to rule. David Spade voiced the role of Emperor Manco, a spoilt, bratty prince, so not much different to Kuzco, and Yzma was still voiced by Eartha Kitt, with the character bitter and jealous of Manco, turning him into a llama early on in the movie.

This was the basic storyline, which then went to a screening in front of Peter Schneider, president of Walt Disney Feature Animation at the time of the screening, and Tom Schumacher, who took over from Schneider in 1999. Schumacher and Schneider were critical of the film, and felt the pacing was bad, it wasn’t fun enough and there were too many characters to follow, though they did like some of Sting’s songs. Allers was used to this kind of criticism but was still disappointed. There were good elements of the film, but the movie as a whole was not coming together at this point. After lots of discussions, new story treatments, and rumours of the film being changed and voice cast cuts, directors changing, and the strange possibility that the setting would be moved from Peru to Nebraska, with the llamas being replaced with sheep, a last-minute idea was approved. This was a completely new storyline, apart from the emperor becoming a llama. Manco’s name was changed to Kuzco, Allers left the project, Huaca was cut from the movie, as was the original Pacha character and Owen Wilson (sad times), and Mark Dindal was now the sole director. Oh yeah, and Andreas Deja left the project as Yzma was no longer an interesting character for him; he was replaced with Dale Baer.

In 1999, it was agreed that an older Pacha, a big guy to be voiced by John Goodman, and his friendship with Kuzco as a llama, were the main storyline, with Yzma and the new character of Kronk, Yzma’s sidekick, to be voiced by Patrick Warburton, being the subplot. David Spade and Eartha Kitt were kept in the voice cast. Animation of Yzma and Kronk was split between the US and Paris Disney Animation Studios. At some point, the movie’s name was changed from Kingdom of the Sun to The Emperor’s New Groove, a parody of the name of Hans Christian Andersen’s tale The Emperor’s New Clothes, though no story elements, other than a vain emperor, are seen in The Emperor’s New Groove.  They still only had until 2000 to make the movie, as marketing tie-ins had already been agreed. The release date was coming fast, and despite minor story and character changes, the movie was coming along. Sting had agreed to write new songs, despite his disappointment, and he even got the ending of the movie changed to actually give the film a message. He wrote a letter to Disney to say he was at odds with the story, as he thought having Kuzco simply build his summer home on the hill next door was against his personal views. The executives actually felt this was a good note, so took that on board and that is why Kuzcotopia is just a birdhouse at the end of the film[7].

Somehow, against all odds, The Emperor’s New Groove did get finished, and although it may not have been what the animators had expected to be making at the start of production back in the mid-1990s, they made an animated movie and got it finished on time. Many state that had Roger Allers been given more time and more support, then Kingdom of the Sun would have been an amazing movie. I would have really liked to have seen this original concept, as much as I like The Emperor’s New Groove, so it is a shame.

MUSIC

The Emperor’s New Groove only contains two songs within the movie, with one being the opening number and the other an End Credits song. But three others exist on the soundtrack. As Kingdom of the Sun was meant to be a musical, and then suddenly wasn’t, there were many songs that were written and recorded, but did not make it into The Emperor’s New Groove.

In 1997, Sting was asked to write the music for Kingdom of the Sun by Roger Allers. Sting was encouraged to work on the Disney film by Elton John and Phil Collins who had had success and enjoyed working with Disney on the music for their respective movies, The Lion King and Tarzan (1999). Sting agreed to write the music for Disney, providing his wife, filmmaker Trudie Styler, could document the whole of the production process. This became the documentary The Sweatbox, as mentioned earlier. He apparently wrote five or six songs for Kingdom of the Sun, alongside his long-time collaborator, David Hartley, none of which feature in The Emperor’s New Groove, and only three exist on the soundtrack.

For the love song of Kingdom of the Sun, because this film was going to be more similar to the typical Disney format of film, Sting wrote the song “One Day She’ll Love Me”. It was performed by Sting, singing the thoughts of Pacha, the shepherd who is impersonating the emperor, and has fallen in love with Nina, Emperor Manco’s betrothed. He is concerned that should she find out he’s not the emperor, she won’t love him in return. Shawn Colvin performs the part of Nina, who is confused that the arrogant Manco has suddenly become nice and she genuinely likes him now. Colvin is a singer-songwriter who won three Grammy Awards in the 1990s, two for her song “Sunny Came Home”. I like this song, even though it sounds different to most Disney love ballads.

Another song from Kingdom of the Sun that appears on the soundtrack is Yzma’s big villain’s song, “Snuff Out the Light”. The song was apparently written quite quickly and early on in production. It talks about how Yzma’s father, the Royal Mortician, taught her about magic and voodoo, and how she’s always tried to find a recipe for eternal youth. She also says that the sun is what is robbing her of her youth, hence why she needs to “snuff out the light”. The animation would have featured a black background with vivid streaks of colour, in a sequence similar to Pink Elephants on Parade from Dumbo (1941). Once Yzma’s storyline was cut from the film, there was no need for the song. Despite its villainous lyrics, it’s quite a fun villain’s song. It is a shame that this did not make the film, as it would have given Eartha Kitt a stand-out number, and a chance to show off her singing talents again. Sting and Hartley also worked on a number for Huaca, Yzma’s rock sidekick. It was inspired by the song “Why Can’t a Woman Be More Like a Man?” from the musical My Fair Lady, and would have been called “Why Can’t a Human Be More Like a Rock?”. This song is not in the soundtrack, so obviously was not fully finished and recorded.

The other song written by Sting and Hartley for Kingdom of the Sun that appears on the soundtrack is “Walk the Llama Llama”, which appears as a bonus feature on the DVD. On the DVD, you can watch the music video and also learn the dance sequence. It’s a silly song, but kind of fun to dance to actually, because of course I did – for research purposes… It is performed by the country music group Rascal Flatts. Later, in 2005, Rascal Flatts would perform “Life Is a Highway”, a cover of Canadian musician Tom Cochrane’s song, for Pixar’s movie, Cars. “Walk the Llama Llama” was going to be used for Kingdom of the Sun, and sung by Pacha as he led his trio of llamas down the mountainside and into the marketplace[8].

At this point, Sting had written all the songs needed for Kingdom of the Sun, and thought he was almost done with his work. But then, of course, the whole story was being reworked and he ended up back at the start of his musical journey, because nothing that had already been written would fit the new tone of the story. Bravely, Disney then asked Sting to write two new songs for the film, which was no longer going to be a musical. Reluctantly, Sting did as was asked, but, understandably, he was quite upset and disappointed, not to mention annoyed, with how the original story and his music had been cast aside.

Luckily, Sting did write the two songs, one of which is the opening number, “Perfect World”. It plays as we see Emperor Kuzco being pampered and waited on, with his own personal “theme song guy” singing this theme song. I like the song as a whole, and I particularly like the first few seconds of instrumental at the start of it. Somehow, Sir Tom Jones agreed to sing it and that just makes it even better. Tom Jones was asked to perform it as they wanted the song to have a Vegas-feel to it, and it certainly does! The song is then reprised at the end of the film, with new lyrics that talk about friendship and that “the perfect world begins and ends with us”, instead “with me” as it says at the start of the film. 

The End Credits song is called “My Funny Friend and Me”, which is a slow ballad, detailing the story of Pacha and Kuzco’s friendship, and is performed by Sting. Sadly, I don’t like it much but I understand the sentiment behind it. It doesn’t matter what I think anyway, because this song of Sting’s was nominated for Best Song at multiple award ceremonies, including at the Academy Awards and at the Golden Globes, losing to “Things Have Changed” by Bob Dylan from the film Wonder Boys (2000). “My Funny Friend and Me” did win Best Song at the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards, though. “Perfect World” won at the Annie Awards for Outstanding Individual Achievement for a Song in an Animated Production.

The score was composed by John Debney, who has composed music for numerous films, including many for the Walt Disney Company, including Hocus Pocus (1993) and its 2022 sequel, The Princess Diaries (2001), and its 2004 sequel, Snow Dogs (2002), and Chicken Little (2005), which Mark Dindal would direct. From the score, I particularly like the piece “Run, Llama, Run”, which features during the final chase scene to the palace with Kuzco, Pacha, Yzma, and Kronk, and “A New Hope”, when Kuzco tries, briefly, to be like a normal llama when he is separated from Pacha. But generally, the whole score is good.

Originally, Marc Shaiman, who went on to compose the score for the likes of Hairspray (2007) and Disney’s Mary Poppins Returns (2018), was asked to compose the score. However, it was deemed to be “too busy”. After some attempts at correcting this, Shaiman was asked to move on, and John Debney came in instead[9].

RECEPTION

Due to the upheaval in changing the entire tone and plot of the movie, the release dates for Dinosaur (2000) and The Emperor’s New Groove were swapped, meaning Dinosaur was released in May 2000. The Emperor’s New Groove was finally released on 15^th December 2000 in the US. Despite some marketing in the way of cross-promotional campaigns, such as toys for McDonald’s Happy Meals, The Emperor’s New Groove was not as well marketed as another Disney release of 2000, 102 Dalmatians, which was released on 22nd November, just a few weeks earlier. It also struggled up against Jim Carrey’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas, released 17th November 2000. The Emperor’s New Groove did not do well at the box-office, earning just $169 million worldwide.

It did, however, receive some decent reviews[10]. Many felt that the movie was hilarious, with Spade and Warburton’s voice work as Kuzco and Kronk respectively being a major contributing factor to this opinion. It was also seen to be appealing to both children and adults, with a quick pace to its storyline. A few were more critical though. They said that the film was forgettable and that it did not show much greatness of animation, not matching the likes of Tarzan (1999) for example. This is a fair enough statement, except that some reviewers seemed to be continuing to compare any new Disney animated movie to that of Beauty and the Beast (1991) or even Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). Disney knew it was not sustainable to continue churning out the same musical fairy-tale and needed to change up their style and do something different. Obviously if the people expect something and get another thing, they will be disappointed.

The Emperor’s New Groove was nominated at several awards ceremonies, such as the Satellite Awards and Annie Awards. For the animation and voice work, Disney won awards for Character Animation by Dale Baer for Yzma and Voice Acting for Eartha Kitt as Yzma, with Patrick Warburton also nominated for Kronk. Storyboarding, Directing, Writing, and Production Design were also categories that Disney was nominated in.

The timing of The Emperor’s New Groove release was not the best, as 2000 was a big year for animated films and family movies in general, with the likes of Rugrats in Paris: The Movie (Paramount/Nickelodeon), The Road to El Dorado (DreamWorks), and Chicken Run (Aardman) all being released earlier in the same year. There were also comparisons drawn between The Road to El Dorado, as both were set in South America around the same time period of the 1500s, and were buddy comedies, with the friendship of the two leading male characters being a focal point of the story. Some like to say that this was down to the skilled espionage of Jeffrey Katzenberg, who left the Disney Company in 1994 and would have seen production on Kingdom of the Sun, before moving over to DreamWorks. It could be seen as a similar situation to that in 1998, when DreamWorks quickly made Antz, a similar movie to Pixar’s A Bug’s Life, and released it in October 1998, a month both Pixar released theirs in November 1998. Though Katzenberg may have been inspired by the location of Kingdom of the Sun, I believe the two films are quite different and therefore, on this occasion, I don’t think Katzenberg was a spy. Either way, all four films have their fans, though The Road to El Dorado suffered at the box-office and received mixed reviews from critics, so this could be a small win for The Emperor’s New Groove.

When the film was released on VHS and DVD, The Emperor’s New Groove managed to increase its following and popularity. In 2001, it became the top-selling home video release of that year. In 2013, the film was digitally remastered and sold as a two-movie Blu-Ray collection, alongside its sequel.

LEGACY

As was quite standard in the 2000s, The Emperor’s New Groove received a direct-to-video sequel, titled Kronk’s New Groove, released in 2005. It follows Kronk, who is now chef at Mudka’s Meat Hut, who is preparing for his father to visit him. He is anxious as his father has always disapproved of his choices in life and thinks he should have settled down with a family by now. The original voice cast all returned to reprise their roles for Kronk’s New Groove, with even John Fielder as Rudy, and Patti Deutsch as Mata, returning here. For some strange reason, Kronk’s New Groove currently holds a critical rating of 0% on Rotten Tomatoes – as does Mulan II (2004) – which seems grossly unfair. It’s not a great film, but it’s not awful and no worse or better than any other Disney direct-to-video sequels, many of which were judged harshly, but aren’t actually all that bad.

In 2006, a spin-off television series aired on the Disney Channel for two seasons between January 2006 and November 2008, titled The Emperor’s New School. It is set after the events of The Emperor’s New Groove and follows Kuzco as he must graduate from Kuzco Academy to formally become emperor of the Inca Empire. I have watched a few episodes of this series and thought it was funny at the time, but I can’t remember any of the plot points now. I actually thought it was set before the first film, and wondered how he knew Pacha; shows how much I was paying attention! J.P. Manoux, who had already voiced Kuzco in other Disney media, except for Kronk’s New Groove, replaced David Spade here through the program’s entirety, and Fred Tatasciore replaced John Goodman as Pacha for Season 1, with John Goodman returning for Season 2. Eartha Kitt and Patrick Warburton did return to reprise their roles, as did Wendie Malick as Chicha, and Patti Deutsch, as Mata the lunch lady.  Eartha Kitt won two Annie Awards for Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production and two Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program for her voice work here.

Two games based on the film were also developed, including a PC game, which I believe was the first computer game I ever actually managed to finish! I loved it.

At the Disney Parks, Kuzco, Yzma, and Kronk seem to be the only characters who were designed to be walkaround characters. I cannot find categoric evidence that the three appeared at the Disney Parks around the time of The Emperor’s New Groove release date, but this was probably the case. However, in recent years, these three characters are incredibly difficult characters to meet. At Disneyland, Yzma appeared most recently at the Disneyland After Dark: Villains Nite event in 2022, and at Walt Disney World, Kronk and Yzma apparently appeared during the Wine and Dine Half Marathon in 2021. Surprisingly, Kronk, Yzma and Kuzco have appeared quite frequently at Disneyland Paris, for example at the Disney FanDaze event in 2018, at the Annual Passholder Event in September 2019, again in 2021, and sometimes Yzma appears at the Halloween event. I am unsure if any of the three ever appeared at Hong Kong, Tokyo, or Shanghai. The rarity of these character meet-and-greets and the increased popularity of the film in recent years will mean that they will likely appear again at special events at the US and Paris Disney Parks at the least.

There were some brief references to the film and the characters in other areas though. At the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World, Kuzco and Yzma used to appear in a storyline for the interactive game Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom, where guests would fight against villains alongside Merlin. Their storyline took place in Adventureland. I really liked that game, and it was something different to do if lines were too long or everywhere was a bit crowded, so it’s a shame they closed it in January 2021, just about nine years after it opened. At Disney Springs at Walt Disney World, specifically at the Marketplace Co-op store, a boutique called Disney TAG (Travel-Accessories-Gear) used to exist within that building. It opened in March 2016; I am unsure when it closed and was replaced with another boutique, but it is no longer listed as one of Marketplace Co-op’s retail outlets. As Disney TAG was travel themed, there was an Arrivals and Departures Flight Board on the wall. On it were listed a variety of real and fantasy destinations, one of which was Kuzcotopia.

Finally, at the Disney Parks, this time at Tokyo DisneySea, some claim that the Lost River Delta area of the park is visually influenced by Kuzco’s Incan empire. I have not been to that park, but looking at videos of this area online, I would have to disagree that this area looks like anything from The Emperor’s New Groove. There are stone temples that represent areas of Peru, specifically one named Cusco, and the entrance to the Raging Spirits ride does vaguely resemble Kuzco’s palace, but for it to be classed as themed to The Emperor’s New Groove, it would have to have been all in gold, in my opinion.

In recent years, more merchandise based on The Emperor’s New Groove and its characters have been released, both exclusive items for members of specific associations and general items for the public. These have included ornaments, pins, Funko models, and MagicBands for the general public, and for the 2022 D23 Expo, a Devil Kronk Loungefly backpack and an Angel Kronk wallet were released for D23 members.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Thanks to its cult following, The Emperor’s New Groove is beginning to be remembered and referenced again. It has been hard-going for many years for fans of the movie who wanted to see the film mentioned, and even though there are no permanent, concrete references to the movie at the Disney Parks currently, it is likely that merchandise lines will keep being developed to capitalise on the love for this film.

The Emperor’s New Groove was the film that Disney Animation never meant to make. It was never the plan to release a buddy comedy, but audience expectations and viewers’ tastes were changing around the early 2000s and Disney wanted to make sure they were on trend. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out for them financially with The Emperor’s New Groove, but critically, it was received well. In the years that followed, comedy movies from animation studios, such as Shrek (2001) and Madagascar (2005) would do incredibly well at the box-office, so Disney Animation were perhaps just a bit too early here.

Sadly, Disney Animation continued to have a difficult ride for the rest of the 2000s, but it wasn’t for lack of trying. Even though the 2000s was not the decade for The Emperor’s New Groove, perhaps the 2020s is.

---

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Disney, “Behind-the-Scenes Featurette”, from The Emperor’s New Groove (2000), DVD (2001).

[2] Credit: Sean Wilson, ‘The Emperor’s New Groove 20^th anniversary: 5 reasons why it’s an underrated Disney gem’, Cineworld.ie, 15^th December 2020.

[3] Credit: Jim Korkis, Everything I Know I Learned from Disney Animated Feature Films (2015), ‘The Emperor’s New Groove (2000), pp. 118-120.

[4] Credit: Jim Korkis, Everything I Know I Learned from Disney Animated Feature Films (2015), ‘The Emperor’s New Groove (2000), pp. 118-120.

[5] Credit: Bilge Ebiri, ‘’We’ll Never Make That Kind of Movie Again’ An oral history of The Emperor’s New Groove, a raucous Disney animated film that almost never happened’, Vulture.com, 27^th January 2021.

[6] Credit: Wade Sampson, ‘The Greatest Disney Documentary You May Never See’, MousePlanet.com, 12^th September 2007.

[7] Credit: Trudie Styler and John-Paul Davidson, The Sweatbox (2002).

[8] Credit: Wade Sampson, ‘The Greatest Disney Documentary You May Never See’, MousePlanet.com, 12^th September 2007.

[9] Credit: Trudie Styler and John-Paul Davidson, The Sweatbox (2002).

[10] Credit: Wade Sampson, ‘The Greatest Disney Documentary You May Never See’, MousePlanet.com, 12^th September 2007.

1. BACKGROUND
2. PLOT
3. CHARACTERS & CAST
4. PRODUCTION
5. MUSIC
6. RECEPTION
7. LEGACY
8. FINAL THOUGHTS
9. REFERENCES

BACKGROUND

I remember when I first watched Meet the Robinsons.

It was only about five or six years ago, when DisneyLife – the little-known streaming app that was the precursor to the streaming giant that is Disney+ – was released in the UK, allowing me the chance to catch up on those animated movies that I’d missed out on; Meet the Robinsons was one of those. And I must say: it surprised me. A lot.

I hadn’t even been paying much attention to it at the time. It was just playing on a tablet while I did something else, but soon, it caught my attention, and by the end of it, I found I’d actually quite liked it.

I hadn’t expected much because Meet the Robinsons was released in 2007, during that timeframe when Disney was being outdone by the likes of Pixar and DreamWorks, with a new Disney animated movie not receiving much attention, or, if it did, receiving it for all the wrong reasons. Disney was not being compared favourably to the other animation studios, so why did I think Meet the Robinsons would be any different? It was just something I wanted to get through, to say I’d watched it. I was wrong to think that.

Not everything Disney touches turns to gold, and Meet the Robinsons is still evidence of that, but it was at least a step in the right direction, after the dismal reviews of Home on the Range (2004), which I partly agree with, and Chicken Little (2005), which I wholeheartedly do not.

I know that Meet the Robinsons does not have much of a following. I personally don’t know many people who have watched it, but it has managed to gain a cult following over the sixteen years since its release, and I am only too pleased by that. Now, granted, it’s not my favourite film, nor is it one that I revisit often. It doesn’t look brilliant, at least not very “Disney-like”, due to this only being their second attempt at a fully CG animated movie, after Chicken Little, and, on top of that, parts of the film feel a bit slow and drawn-out. However, I like some of the plot points, along with a couple of the characters, but the emotional ending with its touching message is really what sticks with you.

PLOT

The movie is quite heavily influenced by science-fiction, specifically time-travel and changeable timelines, kind of like the Back to the Future franchise, but less complicated.  Though having said that, there are multiple time jumps in Meet the Robinsons, so bear with me while I try to recount the plot.

Meet the Robinsons begins on a dark, rainy night, outside an orphanage, where a woman leaves her baby on the doorstep to be taken in. We skip forward twelve years to see that the baby has become an imaginative kid inventor called Lewis, who wants nothing more than to be adopted. Unfortunately, his latest “adoption interview” goes awry when his newest invention malfunctions, spraying his prospective parents with peanut butter and jelly – only for the man to be allergic to peanuts…Needless to say, Lewis is devastated and runs up to the orphanage roof to be alone. Mildred, Head of the Sixth Street Orphanage, tells Lewis he’ll be adopted soon, despite having had 124 of these interviews so far, with none of them coming to anything. Mildred tries to lift his spirits, but Lewis is intent on finding his birth mother, the only person, he believes, who has and will ever love him. So, he sets out to make a “memory scanner” to retrieve the only memory he has of his mother so he can find her. Lewis makes the scanner and takes it to his school Science Fair, where he is taken aside by a dark-haired boy called Wilbur, who claims to be from the future, and is looking for a perpetrator– a strange, lanky man with a bowler hat – who has stolen his time machine. Lewis dismisses the idea; however, this man does exist and his bowler hat, which moves on its own, tampers with Lewis’ scanner, causing the Science Fair to descend into chaos.

Wilbur follows Lewis and tries to convince him to help him find “Bowler Hat Guy” and retrieve his stolen time machine. Lewis dismisses him again, so Wilbur takes him in the spare time machine to the future, the year 2037, to prove he isn’t lying. Meanwhile, Bowler Hat Guy and DOR-15, the hat, (pronounced “Doris”) have stolen the memory scanner, to pass it off as their own to InventCo, a big corporation, however, as he knows nothing about it, he is thrown out and the scanner is broken. Bowler Hat Guy and Doris go back to the year 2037 to find Lewis, and get him to fix the scanner. There, Lewis has been trying to fix the spare time machine, on the proviso Wilbur takes Lewis back to see his mother, but while doing so, Lewis accidentally meets the other members of Wilbur’s family, the crazy, zany Robinsons. After Wilbur says that he was never going to take Lewis back in time to see his mother, Lewis walks off angrily, to be picked up by Bowler Hat Guy and Doris in the other time machine; they get Lewis to fix the scanner, promising to take Lewis back to see his mother, but he is captured and told the true story of Bowler Hat Guy – that he is actually Lewis’ former roommate at the orphanage, Michael Yagoobian, known as “Goob” – shock twist! After being kept up for days on end while Lewis made his scanner, Goob fell asleep during an important baseball game, missing a vital catch, and subsequently being beaten up by the team, and, holding on to that blame, became consumed by his hatred of Lewis for ruining his life and decided to join forces with Doris, one of Lewis’ abandoned inventions, to ruin his life instead. Bowler Hat Guy and Doris go back and sell the scanner to InventCo, along with an idea for “helping hats”

Lewis realises this will ruin his future timeline, so fixes the time machine, and, now in this new parallel universe, sees Doris has enslaved every human with these “helping hats”. He vows never to invent her, destroying her, and causing the original future timeline to go back to how it was. Bowler Hat Guy, now without his hatred of Lewis, no partner-in-crime, and with no future plan, goes away to figure out what to do next, while Lewis realises that he is in fact the elusive “Cornelius”, father of Wilbur, patriarch of the Robinson family – or he will be anyway! Cornelius and Lewis meet, where he states that the memory scanner started his career as an inventor. Now Lewis must return to his time to see out this future, but before doing that, Wilbur does take Lewis to see his mother. Just as he’s about to say something to her, Lewis realises he doesn’t need to, as he has a family waiting for him, and that he needs to move on from the past. Lewis returns to his time, wakes Goob up during his baseball game so he can make the winning catch and have a happier future, and then Lewis gets to show the now-working memory scanner again at the Science Fair, where he finds that one of the judges, scientist Lucille Krunklehorn, and her husband, Bud, will adopt him, moving him to the famous Robinson house that he saw in the year 2037, cementing his future with them. The movie ends with a quote from Walt Disney, saying not to dwell on failure and to “keep moving forward”, this being the ultimate message and theme of Meet the Robinsons.

Meet the Robinsons is loosely based on the children’s book, A Day with Wilbur Robinson by William Joyce, published in 1990. The plot of the book follows a boy visiting a family friend’s home, only to be introduced to the strange Robinson household and having to join the search for Grandfather Robinson’s missing false teeth. This is a very minor plot point that does appear in Meet the Robinsons, with Lewis helping Grandpa find his teeth being the way he meets the other Robinson family members. Joyce took inspiration from his childhood in Louisiana. One of his childhood friends had a large family, who all lived together in a huge house and were quite a unique household, apparently[1].

CHARACTERS & CAST

Meet the Robinsons involves a few main characters, but has a large supporting cast – something that had troubled some of Disney’s previous animated features, due to the lack of central focus, giving them a “busy, hectic” vibe. The main characters are strong enough to support the plot, however, the supporting cast does not make a huge influence on the story, or the viewer. But let’s focus on the primary characters of Meet the Robinsons.

The point of the duo of Lewis and Wilbur is for them to be contrasting, in look and personality. Even in the original source material, Wilbur was the extrovert, the driving force of the relationship, and Lewis was the introvert, taking more of a passenger-role in the story[2]. Lewis in the movie is blond, kind of nerdy, with glasses and a sweater vest, compared with Wilbur’s look of dark hair, styled in a sort of slicked-back Danny-from-Grease style, with his cool shades, black t-shirt and jeans. Personality-wise, Lewis is a bit shy, and unsure of himself. He seems quite apologetic, thinking he’s a failure and never going to amount to anything. This is probably because of his unfortunate luck with prospective adoptive parents. He’s also going through a difficult time in his life, feeling like he doesn’t belong. Lewis doesn’t start to feel more comfortable in himself until he meets the Robinson family, who teach him that it’s ok to fail, and that it’s great to just be yourself. No matter how “weird” or “strange” you may come across to others, it doesn’t matter what people think.

Wilbur, on the other hand, is confident, and quite sure of himself. He comes from a large, loving family, and that has clearly helped him feel secure. He doesn’t seem like much of a friend to Lewis at the start of the movie, ordering him around a lot, and lying about taking him back to his mother, but that is partly due to the fact that he needed to conceal his identity from the family, and get the timeline back on track. By the end, after Lewis realises he will actually be Wilbur’s father in the future, they seem to get along much better, and Wilbur does keep his promise to take Lewis back to see his mother by the end.

Lewis is voiced by two different voice actors: Jordan Fry and Daniel Hansen. Daniel Hansen seems to have retired from acting since the release of Meet the Robinsons. Jordan Fry is probably best known for playing the role of Mike Teavee in the 2005 film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (the one with Johnny Depp). Wesley Singerman provides the voice of Wilbur Robinson. Since the release of Meet the Robinsons, Singerman retired from acting and now focuses on his career in music.

The other main characters are Bowler Hat Guy and his sidekick Doris – or is that the other way round? At the start of the movie, we are led to believe that Bowler Hat Guy is the villain of the story. Only, he doesn’t act like much of a villain. Sure, he intends to ruin Lewis’ future, and he wants him to be miserable, but Bowler Hat Guy isn’t a very effective villain! For one thing, he isn’t particularly scary or sinister-looking. He has a black cape, his bowler hat, a long moustache, and he moves a bit like a snake, but as soon as he opens his mouth, he doesn’t sound at all like a villain. The other thing is that he isn’t really sure what he’s doing. He’s a bit of a dope to be honest, but a funny one at that.

That’s why Doris is so important, because she is the mastermind of all the schemes, and has to tell Bowler Hat Guy where to go, what to do, and what to say, for the most part. The couple of times he is left on his own to deal with things, they do not go to plan. When he is in InventCo, for example, trying to pass off the memory scanner as his own, Doris is not able to tell Bowler Hat Guy exactly what to say, and as a result, he breaks the invention and gets thrown out of the building. When Bowler Hat Guy is left to capture Lewis, with a mini-Doris to help, he manages to get mini-Doris to control both a frog and a T-Rex, only to find that they are both useless minions because the frog is too small to capture a teenage boy, and the T-Rex’s arms are too stubby to do it either!

The identity reveal of Bowler Hat Guy is the best part for me, and makes him a very sympathetic character in the end. To find he is actually Goob, Lewis’ roommate at the orphanage, who has set out to ruin Lewis’ life after he “ruined” his, is heart-breaking. Goob has been so consumed by hate that he has let his whole life pass him by, not being able to function properly, and ending up without a family, living in the abandoned orphanage alone. He finds Doris when he is about to exact his revenge on Lewis’ company building – by throwing toilet paper over it, very scary – and she tells him to join forces. When Doris is shown to be the evil one, enslaving all the humans, Bowler Hat Guy is clearly upset by this turn of events, and Doris casts him aside. Once Lewis has fixed the timeline, by saying he will never invent Doris, he is about to ask Goob to become one of the Robinsons, but Goob has already walked off. They find his checklist on how to exact his revenge on Lewis, which now is just a question mark, resembling his future. It’s very sad to see. I really like him as a character; I like how he is more complex as a villain, with a complicated backstory, an attempt at being evil, and a redemption at the end[3].

The director, Stephen Anderson, is actually the voice of Bowler Hat Guy, which isn’t unheard of and is quite common if you look into it. For example, Brad Bird who directed The Incredibles (2004) voices Edna in that movie, and Stitch is voiced by the director of Lilo & Stitch (2002), Chris Sanders. Sometimes the scratch voices they use during production stick, and they have to use the same person, even if they are the director! I think he does a brilliant job with it.

For the supporting cast, every member of the Robinson family from the book makes an appearance in the movie, each with their own trait or unique quality. They are free to do whatever makes them happy, whether that is Franny, Wilbur’s mother, who has made a full frog band, as frogs have a capacity to be musical, more so than humans, or Uncle Art, who is a pizza delivery man with a superhero persona. If you want the full details of the family, and their relations, you’ll have to either watch the film or Google it, because it would take forever for me to recount them all here! I wouldn’t say many of the family members are particularly memorable; I could only remember a couple of them, but it is still useful in showing that the Robinsons are a huge, quirky, but loving, family.

For the secondary roles, Disney managed to get a few big names to come in for the voice work. This includes Laurie Metcalf, who voiced Jim’s mother in Treasure Planet (2002) and Andy’s mom in the Toy Story franchise (1995-present), amongst other things. Metcalf voices Lucille Krunklehorn, Lewis’ adoptive mother. Adam West voices Uncle Art. He did quite a lot of other voice work before his death, but is perhaps best known for playing Batman in the 1960s. Nicole Sullivan, known for playing Holly Shumpert in The King of Queens (1998-2007) as well as voicing Shego in Disney’s Kim Possible (2002-07) around this time, provides the voice work for Franny. Angela Bassett, now perhaps most known for her role as Ramonda in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, including in the films Black Panther (2018) and its sequel Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), voices the part of Mildred, the head of the orphanage. American actor Ethan Sandler ended up voicing seven different characters, including Doris, and Tom Kenny, best known as the voice actor for SpongeBob SquarePants since 1999, voices Mr. Willerstein, Lewis’ teacher.

The biggest name in my view that Disney somehow managed to get is Tom Selleck as the voice of Cornelius, who only makes a brief appearance towards the end of the movie. The team had always planned to have the joke of the visual image in the movie: Lewis asks Wilbur who Cornelius looks like and he responds with Tom Selleck, so a picture appears in his space in the family tree as Lewis lists off what he’s learned about the family. Disney weren’t sure if they could get the rights to use the image, so looked into trying to sweeten the deal by having Selleck voice the part. Fortunately, when he was pitched the idea, he thought it would be funny and agreed to do it. The team had all grown-up watching Magnum P.I. (1980-88) so needless to say, they were pleased! Tom Selleck is also known for his roles as Peter Mitchell in Three Men and a Baby (1987) and its (far superior) sequel, Three Men and a Little Lady (1990), and as NYPD Commissioner Frank Reagan in Blue Bloods (2010-present). He was also Jesse Stone in a series of television crime drama films from 2006 to 2015.

PRODUCTION

Disney being involved with Meet the Robinsons goes back as far as the book’s publishing in 1990. Bill Borden, an executive producer for Meet the Robinsons, had asked William Joyce to show the book to Disney executives, just before it was finished, to pitch it to them as a live-action film. They both thought the pitch had gone badly, so were surprised when Disney optioned it. Joyce wrote around eleven or twelve draft scripts for this live-action film, but it wasn’t being moved forward, mostly due to the cost element. It went quiet for many years, until Disney executive Leo Chu got in touch to try to bring the story to the animation department instead.

Around 2001, they were told that the concept would follow Wilbur as a time-traveller and Lewis as an orphan. Joyce and Borden weren’t overly convinced by this story-route as they felt it would feel too much like Jimmy Neutron and not like Joyce’s book at all[4]. Around late-2002, Stephen Anderson was approached with the script, as he had expressed an interest in directing for the studio someday. He had just finished work as a story supervisor on Brother Bear (2003), when he was handed this script for a movie called “A Day with Wilbur Robinson”, based on Joyce’s book. Anderson had an instant connection with Lewis as he too was adopted, and had the same sort of questions about his life: why did his mother give him up? Where was he from? Should he find his birth parents? Anderson felt he had to do this movie[5].

Work on the movie progressed from 2004, with a 2006 release date planned. However, when Pixar was bought by Disney and the leadership of Walt Disney Animation Studios was changed so that it would be led by John Lasseter, some parts of the movie had to be changed. Lasseter was shown the movie, and disliked the villain, Bowler Hat Guy. He asked for the villain to be changed, as he wasn’t scary at all, so the sidekick of Doris was brought in to become the main villain. Apparently, 60% of the film was scrapped and redone at this time, with the ending also being rewritten[6].  

Disney did have some struggles with the computer animation side of production since it was only Disney Animation’s second fully CG animated movie. The team found that humans were difficult to capture because any errors or lack of flexibility in movement would be easy to spot, as we know how humans should look and how they move. Bowler Hat Guy in particular was a challenge as they wanted him to be quite sleek and snaky with his movement, but the characters could not bend as well back then. Still, Bowler Hat Guy was quite a step forward for CG in terms of this movement. The clothing also did not wrinkle as fabric should, instead it just stretched, but it would’ve been too expensive to do any cloth renders[7]. It kind of works in Meet the Robinsons because the clothing resembles rubber suits which sort of fit in a futuristic film. For the stylisation of the characters, the team were trying not to use the original illustrations for Joyce’s book, as his style had been used in the 2005 film Robots, produced by Blue Sky Studios, a competitor to Disney. I still feel like the style is kind of similar, especially in the robot butler to the Robinson family, Carl, which would explain why the entire film doesn’t look particularly “Disney”.

However, the most important thing that Disney wanted to get across during Meet the Robinsons was the message of hope and positivity, something that is very “Disney”. They wanted to make the future look hopeful, especially compared to most films that had made the future look bleak or even horrifying. They also wanted to evoke the ideas and the creations of Walt Disney’s original ideas for the Disney Parks, such as Epcot and Tomorrowland. There is even a quick reference to Tomorrowland in the film: as Wilbur takes Lewis to the future for the first time, you can briefly see a sign that says “Todayland”, with a building resembling the attraction Space Mountain in the background.

Then the team got to the phrase “Keep Moving Forward”, and it stuck as a theme. It worked with the adoption element, of not feeling the need to look back at the past, because hope comes from the future. Stephen Anderson mentioned in an interview that he had received letters from people saying how the theme of Meet the Robinsons had gotten them through some really hard times, and that’s all they could’ve hoped for[8].

MUSIC

The soundtrack of Meet the Robinsons is quite an eclectic mix. Danny Elfman, composer for such films as The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) and multiple other Tim Burton projects, was asked to compose the score for Meet the Robinsons. He successfully went from very crazy, such as the music that plays when the Robinsons are being introduced, and the strange song when Lewis is seeing the future for the first time, to the emotional scenes, like the opening scene outside the orphanage, Goob telling his story, and the ending where everyone is reunited. Elfman also wrote the song “The Future Has Arrived” which he asked The All-American Rejects to perform as the End Credits song.

There are also multiple other songs in the movie. For example, Rufus Wainwright wrote three songs: “Another Believer”, which he performs; a gently peppy song, which is used for the time-lapse of Lewis researching and experimenting with his memory scanner invention, and “Where is Your Heart At?”, performed by Jamie Cullum, a proper swing-time, band leader type of song, performed in the movie by Franny’s frog band, so yes, Jamie Cullum is a singing frog. The third song is the second End Credits song, “The Motion Waltz (Emotional Commotion)”. Rob Thomas performed a song called “Little Wonders”, which is probably the most emotional song, talking about how the past can’t be changed and to look for the good things in life. It plays at the end of the movie when we see that Lewis and Goob have both been adopted and that Lewis’ future home has become his present home[9].

Even the Jonas Brothers got involved in the music, though the song has very little to do with the movie and is quite clearly more of a cross-promotional thing with the Disney Channel than anything else. The music video uses some clips from Meet the Robinsons. It is called “Kids of the Future”, a parody of “Kids in America”. There is even a version of “There’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow” from the Disney attraction Carousel of Progress on the soundtrack, performed by They Might Be Giants. Though I like the majority of the soundtrack individually, I don’t think there is much cohesion with the music. It feels like there are too many big names in there, and all the styles are quite different. The best song for me is probably “Another Believer”. The score is good though, and I feel it helped me connect with the emotional scenes in particular.

RECEPTION

Meet the Robinsons was released a year later than expected, in March 2007, earning very little attention during its release. It made $169 million at the box office against a budget of $150 million, being seen as a “break-even” film[10]. Though it has since gained a reputation as a “cult classic” by some, it was not what Disney had hoped for the movie. Unfortunately, most people do not know this film, either having never seen or having never heard of it. It is not referenced in Disney merchandising and no characters are seen at the Disney theme parks. Or are they?

LEGACY

I thought Meet the Robinsons was completely ignored by Disney; however, I remembered that in actual fact, Bowler Hat Guy makes an appearance in Mickey’s Boo To You Halloween Parade. I saw the parade on YouTube one year, and thought: who is that guy? He’s supposedly a villain, but who is he? It wasn’t until years later, once I’d seen Meet the Robinsons for the first time, that I realised it was Bowler Hat Guy. He appears towards the end of the parade with the other villains, as one of the characters walking/dancing in front of the main villain float. In 2023, he was with Lady Tremaine, Oogie Boogie, Gaston, and Dr. Facilier, amongst others. I believe he has been a fixture in that parade since 2014, at least intermittently. The villains seem to be swapped out every year, so whether he continues to be a presence remains to be seen.

Lewis and Wilbur did appear as “meet-and-greet” characters when the film was first released for a while, at then-named Disney’s MGM Studios, now Disney’s Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World Resort, but have not been seen for many years, with the most recent sightings being at Disneyland Paris around 2018 for the Disney FanDaze event, along with Bowler Hat Guy. But there was a MagicBand released in 2022 for the movie’s 15^th anniversary, with Lewis on one side and Bowler Hat Guy on the other. It is possible these three will appear once more, probably for Special Events, but if you’re desperate to see any character from Meet the Robinsons, seeing Bowler Hat Guy during Halloween is likely to be your best bet!

Meet the Robinsons was not a big success, and divided critics. Some said the movie was charming, with considerable depth, enjoying the plot twists; others were confused by some of the time-travel elements; and there were critics who said it was one of the worst Disney films ever released. It did not receive award nominations from the bigger academies, but was nominated for a couple of Annie Awards, as well as a few smaller ceremonies, mostly for the music.

A direct-to-video sequel was in the works, at least initially, with a title of Meet the Robinsons 2: First Date. This was cancelled by John Lasseter after he became Chief Creative Officer at Walt Disney Animation Studios, as he did with the plans for many other direct-to-video sequels that had been customary releases by Disney in the late 1990s and early 2000s. There was a video game based on the movie, unsurprisingly. More surprisingly, some of the characters featured within the 2023 short Once Upon a Studio, the 100^th anniversary celebratory short for Disney animation, with Lucille, robot butler Carl, and Bowler Hat Guy being the easiest to spot. These lesser-known faces finally got to have their moment in the spotlight – even if it was just a few seconds.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Meet the Robinsons was a failure in some ways, and a success in others. It was Disney’s attempt to compete with the other animation studios, yet also trying to find a way to differentiate themselves. The movie gave Disney more confidence in the computer-animation medium which would help them immensely just a few years later. They tried a new concept by moving into science-fiction, which they hadn’t done before, and they got back to creating an emotional story, something the audience could connect with, rather than the comedy route they had previously gone down.

But most importantly, the film presents the audience with a significant message: “keep moving forward”. There were plenty of audience members who were touched by this and saw this movie at a time when they needed that message most. It is a shame that more people did not take something from it.

Meet the Robinsons tells us that the future is full of hope and possibilities if you can learn from your mistakes and failures instead of reliving them. It’s also a story of family, showing us that no matter how lost you feel, you can always find somewhere you belong.

---

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Shania Russell, ‘Meet the Robinsons at 15: An Oral History of Disney’s Underrated Gem’, SlashFilm (online), 28^th December 2022.

[2] Credit: Disney, Inventing the Robinsons: The Making of Meet the Robinsons (2007).

[3] Credit: Scott Mendelson, ‘Walt Disney’s Most Underrated Cartoon Just Turned 15 Years Old’, Forbes (online), 31^st March 2022.

[4] Credit: Shania Russell, ‘Meet the Robinsons at 15: An Oral History of Disney’s Underrated Gem’, SlashFilm (online), 28^th December 2022.

[5] Credit: Jeff Ames, ‘Interview: Meet the Robinsons Director Stephen J. Anderson Discusses the Classic Disney Film’, ComingSoon.Net (online), 23^rd August 2022.

[6] Credit: Mari Ness, ‘When Even Dinosaur Fights Aren’t Enough: Disney’s Meet the Robinsons’, Tor.com (online), 19^th May 2016.

[7] Credit: Disney, Inventing the Robinsons: The Making of Meet the Robinsons (2007).

[8] Credit: Jeff Ames, ‘Interview: Meet the Robinsons Director Stephen J. Anderson Discusses the Classic Disney Film’, ComingSoon.Net (online), 23^rd August 2022.

[9] Credit: Disney, Inventing the Robinsons: The Making of Meet the Robinsons (2007).

[10] Credit: Scott Mendelson, ‘Walt Disney’s Most Underrated Cartoon Just Turned 15 Years Old’, Forbes (online), 31^st March 2022.

1. BACKGROUND
2. PLOT
3. CHARACTERS & CAST
4. PRODUCTION
5. MUSIC
6. RECEPTION
7. LEGACY
8. FINAL THOUGHTS
9. REFERENCES

BACKGROUND

Is Disney’s Atlantis: The Lost Empire destined to be lost to time like the fabled city?

The 2000s were a difficult time for Disney Animation, as they sought to compete against the studios that were only making computer-animated movies, with their releases outshining any animated feature from Disney every time. I’m speaking mostly of Pixar, though DreamWorks would go some way with this medium in the early-2000s.

Disney were still holding on to their traditional 2D animation, and this time, they wanted to go against their usual formula of just making the fairytale or the musical; they wanted to make an action-adventure movie. So, in 2001, they released Atlantis: The Lost Empire. It failed to impress.

When I first watched Atlantis: The Lost Empire, I was quite young and not interested in adventure films. I wanted to watch princesses and their princes, and be able to sing along with them. So, it wasn’t for many years that I went back and rewatched it, I think because my sister wanted to watch it one day, and I actually found that I did like it. I had a similar experience with Treasure Planet (2002) around the same time, with both movies being quite similar in some aspects, like their genre and storyline. Despite Atlantis: The Lost Empire becoming somewhat of a “cult classic” in recent years, it is not remembered, fondly or not, by too many Disney fans.

Although the legend and mystery surrounding the Lost City of Atlantis continues to be revisited through either factual documentaries or fictional screen adaptations, the story and characters of Disney’s movie are slowly being forgotten. It’s about time that all Disney fans know about Milo Thatch, the heroic and brave explorer who discovered, and then saved, the city of Atlantis.

PLOT

Atlantis: The Lost Empire begins with a quote from the philosopher Plato, who said that the city of Atlantis disappeared into the sea all of a sudden one night. We then go that fateful day, in 6,800 BC, where we see the Atlantean Armada racing back to the city, trying to outrun the huge wave behind them. The citizens are in a panic, rushing to find shelter, including the King, Queen, and their daughter, the Princess. The Princess, Kida, is concerned by her teddy bear, but the Queen tells her to keep moving. Suddenly, the Queen is beamed up to an enormous light above. Kida is consoled by the King, who tells her to look away from the light. The light surrounds the city, as the wave crashes over, sinking the area.

Many years later, at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C., in 1914, we meet Milo Thatch, a linguist and cartographer at the museum. He is preparing a speech about his wish to fund an expedition to find Atlantis. He talks of a book called the Shepherd’s Journal, an artifact that should lead the way to the city. It talks of a power source that Milo thinks should be retrieved and brought to the surface. His meeting time arrives, however, unbeknownst to him, the time was changed. As Milo did not appear for the meeting, his request for funding was denied. He rushes out to find the board members of the museum, pleading with them to fund his mission, but they all thinks he’s crazy and decline.  

Dejected, Milo returns home, only to find a woman in his house. She introduces herself as Helga Sinclair; she is there to take Milo to see her ‘employer’ who has requested a meeting with him. At the mansion of this entrepreneur/philanthropist, Milo meets Preston B. Whitmore. It turns out Whitmore was a friend of Milo’s grandfather, Thaddeus Thatch, who had found the Shepherd’s Journal and asked Whitmore to give it to Milo when he was ready. Milo is pleased to know that his calculations and research were correct, as the journal was found in Iceland, exactly where he thought it would be. Milo begins to plan an expedition to Atlantis, but Whitmore is one step ahead: he has assembled a crew, got a submarine, and paid for everything, after he bet the funding of an expedition if Thaddeus found the journal.

Milo meets all the members of the crew as he boards their submarine, The Ulysses. The team consists of: Commander Rourke; Lieutenant Helga, the same Helga who met with Milo at his house – well, broke into his house; demolitions expert Vinny; teenage mechanic Audrey; medical officer Dr. Joshua Sweet; geologist Molière, or Mole; radio operator Mrs. Packard; and chef Cookie, amongst other soldiers. Whilst presenting to the crew about what their path to Atlantis will look like, the crew hear a strange echoing sound. Milo had just mentioned the Leviathan, a mystical sea creature said to guard the gates of Atlantis, but he believes it is likely just a myth, and more likely to be some sort of carving. Well, he’s most definitely wrong, as the Ulysses is attacked by some sort of mechanical lobster. Despite firing at the creature, it cannot be stopped, and breaks the Ulysses in half, leading some crew to lose their lives. The others make it to dry land, and continue their journey on foot.

After much time, many wrong turns, thanks to Milo’s errors in translating the journal, multiple obstacles that either have to be blown up or dug through, a fire at their camp, and conflicts between Milo and the rest of the crew, they eventually arrive at Atlantis, making their way through a dominant volcano. Once there, they are found by a group of Atlanteans, who question the team’s reasons for being there. After an awkward, bumbling conversation between Milo and Princess Kida, they are welcomed to the city, which sits atop a huge waterfall, and taken to meet the King. The King is not happy about strange visitors finding their way to Atlantis, and is incredibly suspicious of them. Commander Rourke asks that they be able to stay for one night, before moving out the next morning. The King reluctantly agrees, but tells Kida in private that she should have slain them on sight. Kida is frustrated with the state of Atlantis, saying that their city is crumbling and way of life dying. Kida is hopeful that these visitors might be able to help them.

Milo is ordered by his crew to speak with Kida, to get some answers about Atlantis, specifically about their “power source”, but Kida gets to him first. As each of them has questions, they ask in turns. Kida first tells Milo of the day Atlantis flooded, with Milo being surprised that Kida was there as it happened almost 9,000 years ago – she looks good for an old lady! Milo then helps Kida get some of their vehicles to work as nobody in Atlantis can actually read their language. Later, Kida takes Milo to a mural underwater and asks him to translate it. It talks of a crystal, the Heart of Atlantis, the power source that Milo suspected was in Atlantis. As they come up to the surface, Rourke and the rest of the crew are ready to “greet” them. It turns out these guys aren’t explorers, they’re mercenaries, wanting to take the crystal back to the surface with them for money. Milo tells them if they take the crystal away, this whole city and its people will die. Rourke doesn’t care, and takes Kida and Milo as prison over to the King, where he tries to forcefully get the location of the crystal out of him. The King is elderly, and is injured in the attack, but he silently signals to the crystal being under the lake in his throne room. Rourke, Helga, Kida and Milo go down to it.

In the crystal chamber, Kida is summoned to the crystal, as it senses danger, mirroring the event that happened to her mother on the day of the Great Flood. She is brought down to the surface, but the crystal has bonded to her. Rourke imprisons Kida in a crate, with the crew about to set off for home. The majority of the crew feel guilty for their part in the soon-to-be destruction of Atlantis, and join forces with Milo, all except Rourke and Helga. Milo goes to see the King in his last dying minutes. The King asks Milo to save Atlantis and his daughter, giving him his crystal necklace, something all Atlanteans have. Milo uses the crystal to power one of the Atlantean vehicles and gets as many others as possible to join him. They follow Rourke to the dormant volcano. Rourke is about to escape with Kida in an airship, however, the Atlanteans and the crew start to fire at its balloons, making it lose altitude. Rourke throws Helga off the balloon, to “lighten the load”, where she falls. Just as she is about to die, she fires her gun at the airship, causing it to burst into flames. Rourke and Milo fight in amongst the mechanics of the ship, where Milo scratches Rourke’s arm with a piece of glass from Kida’s crate. It turns Rourke into a crystal monster. Crystal Rourke gets caught in the propellers of his ship, and shatters into millions of pieces.

These pieces free Kida’s crate from the airship and Milo attaches it to one of the vehicles, as it flies back to the city. With all the turmoil, the dormant volcano begins to erupt with lava hurrying towards Atlantis. At the city, Milo quickly opens up the crate, freeing Kida. With the crystal energy, she rises into the sky and awakens the ancient Stone Guardians, who appear from the flood waters. Together, they create a dome which protects the city from the lava. Once the lava has encased the city, it quickly hardens and breaks away. With the city back to its proper state, Kida is released from the crystal and is returned to the surface.

Milo decides to stay with Kida in Atlantis as they need “an expert in gibberish”. The others are rewarded for their heroism with some of the treasure of Atlantis and their own Atlantean crystal necklaces. On their return home, the now-rich crew review the trip with Whitmore, passing him the photographs from the journey that Packard had taken. Whitmore makes sure that all their stories are straight: that some of the crew died on the journey and others were lost, including Milo, and that they never found anything, to ensure that the secret of Atlantis is protected. Whitmore receives a gift from Milo, a crystal necklace as proof of their trip, wrapped up in the photograph Milo had of him and his grandfather. Back in Atlantis, Milo and Kida commemorate the death of the King with a giant stone structure, which is raised into the sky to join the past Kings which surround the crystal. The crystal is now residing above the city as it always used to, before the Great Flood, and Milo and Kida are happy together, ruling over the newly restored city of Atlantis.

CHARACTERS & CAST

Despite the awkward, geeky look of Milo Thatch, he is the hero of Atlantis: The Lost Empire. All of the museum board members pass him off as an eccentric kook, who should be using his brain to work on “real ideas”, not dreaming of finding some city that doesn’t exist. Even though this clearly bothers Milo, it does not deter him from his dream, as it was his grandfather who always wanted to find Atlantis, and he doesn’t want to let him down by not trying, no matter how many doors get slammed in his face – quite literally at times. Even the crew on the Ulysses don’t think much of Milo at first, especially Rourke. Milo is a linguist and cartographer, meaning he is the only person who can even read the Shepherd’s Journal and find the path to Atlantis, so he is incredibly intelligent. But this leads him to be isolated from the rest of the crew, who at first see him as annoying and a know-it-all. One night, they relent and feel that they had been treating him poorly by not speaking to him; this pleases Milo immensely who wanted to fit in with them from the start. Once Atlantis is threatened by Rourke, thanks to Milo’s heroism, bravery and fight for humanity, Atlantis and its people are saved. In a quote attributed to mathematician Alan Turing, rightly or wrongly, it states that “sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine”. I think that sums Milo Thatch up very well.

Supervising Animator for Milo, John Pomeroy, said that his character design for Milo felt very close to a portrait of himself, being a nerdy, intelligent, somewhat awkward guy, who sometimes gets things wrong! Pomeroy took ideas from different actors from movies he’d seen over the years, and eventually got to a design that the whole team liked. Michael J. Fox voices the role of Milo Thatch. Disney loved the youthful exuberance to his voice, and Fox was not afraid of getting the exact expression and emotion needed into every line. He felt it quite a freeing experience, voice acting, as he didn’t need to worry about what he looked like as he spoke the lines. Michael J. Fox is one of the most beloved actors in Hollywood, having starred in movies such as the Back to the Future trilogy (1985-1990), as well as voicing Stuart Little in all three films from 1999 to 2005. In television, Fox had great success on series such as Family Ties (1982-1989) and Spin City (1996-2001). He also recently released a documentary on his life and career to Apple TV+, Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie (2023), which I would highly recommend to anyone who has the means to watch it.

Princess Kida is Milo’s love interest in the movie, but don’t be fooled into thinking Kida is a typical Disney princess, because she is anything but! Kida is tough and strong-willed, with leadership qualities, as she will be the next ruler of Atlantis. She is respected in her city, and doesn’t tolerate fools gladly. At first, Kida is both fascinated and annoyed by Milo, teasing him quite often about his intellect and pale, weedy physique. I particularly like her line where she asks Milo: “You’re a scholar, are you not? Judging from your diminished physique and large forehead, you are suited for nothing else!”. It’s such a great line, and sums up her playful nature. Balancing that out, she can be very serious and passionate about saving her people at times, arguing with her father about what’s right for Atlantis and how they can heal their way of life. Kida is one of the earlier examples of a strong, brave woman in a Disney movie, after Mulan. For her design, Randy Haycock, Kida’s Supervising Animator, was inspired by one of the story ideas that the Atlanteans were a “mother race” that all others evolved from. So, Haycock used a mixture of characteristics from different cultures, such as Kida having white hair, full lips, and a wider nose. They didn’t want her to look like the girl-next-door, as many Disney princesses had done before her, but wanted her to be a tough warrior. The romance between Milo and Kida is a slow-burner, after their difficult introduction, but during the sequence of them discovering the mural and the history of Atlantis, they become much closer. Talented voiceover actress Cree Summer voices Kida. Summer was already known for her voice performance work at the time of her castling, as she had been the voice of Susie Carmichael in The Rugrats and All Growed Up and their spin-off movies from 1993 to 2008. Cree Summer also voiced the character of Miranda Killgallen in one of my favourite childhood TV series, As Told By Ginger (2000-04), amongst many other roles in Disney and non-Disney projects.

Commander Rourke was a different sort of villain for Disney at this point, as instead of being an obvious bad guy, inherently evil and wanting to destroy everyone, instead, Rourke is just greedy and the people of Atlantis unfortunately get in the way of his end goal of stealing the crystal and making a fortune. As Rourke says during the battle scene towards the end of the movie, “nothing personal!”. Rourke is just selfish and doesn’t really care about how his actions harm others. In this respect, he’s quite similar to Clayton from Tarzan (1999). Rourke starts off being quite charming, and generally only gets a little bit frustrated with Milo and his antics, but once it looks like Rourke will actually find Atlantis and its crystal, that’s when he goes crazy. Because of his experience in war and Western movies, James Garner was chosen to voice the part of Rourke. Garner’s career spanned numerous decades, with him being well-known for his roles as Flight Lieutenant Bob Hendley in The Great Escape (1963), as Bret Maverick in the Western series Maverick (1957-60), Old Noah in The Notebook (2004), and as Jim Egan, Cate’s father, in 8 Simple Rules (2003-05). Garner won various accolades throughout his long career, including multiple Golden Globes. In 2004, Garner received the Life Achievement Award from the Screen Actors Guild, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1985 for his role as Murphy Jones in Murphy’s Romance (1985). Sadly, Garner died in 2014 at the age of 86.

Dr. Joshua Sweet is a cool doctor. He is very tall, but a gentle giant, and one of the first of the crew to go against Rourke. Joshua Sweet goes from being enthusiastic and happy to solemn and serious quite quickly, with barely any middle ground between the two emotional states, but he is a kind, caring figure to everyone on the crew, and looks out for Milo right from the start, even when the others do not. Sweet is one of the first African-American characters to feature in a Disney film, and was designed by one of the first African-American Supervising Animators at Disney, Ron Husband. Phil Morris voices the role of Dr. Joshua Sweet. Morris is no stranger to the world of voice acting, as he has voiced roles in numerous television series such as The Secret Saturdays (2008-10), American Dragon: Jake Long (2006-07) and Kim Possible (2003-07). In person, Morris has acted in television series such as Smallville (2006-10) as John Jones and most recently, as Silas Stone in Doom Patrol (2019-present).

Vinny Santorini is the Italian demolitions expert in the group. He is kind of sarcastic at times, and is one of the worst for tormenting Milo at the start of their mission, as he convinces Milo that he’s drunk nitro-glycerine and that he’ll likely explode. Nice. But Vinny is one of the key players in battling Rourke and his henchmen at the end of the movie, and actually has a soft side, as we learn when Vinny tells the group that after the expedition, he wants to start his own flower shop. Russ Edmonds, Supervising Animator for Vinny, looked to The Godfather movies (1972-90) to look at the specific gestures of Italian actors, such as their hand movements, so they could be incorporated into Vinny’s design. Don Novello was chosen to voice the part of Vinny, and much of his performance was improvised. Novello is perhaps best known for his performance of the character Father Guido Sarducci which he created in 1973 and debuted on Saturday Night Live (1975-present) in the 1970s. He continued to perform the role in other shows in the 1980s and 90s.

Lieutenant Helga Sinclair was designed to look like a mysterious femme fatale from old 1940s movies. But there is a slight difference here, as though Helga is meant to be sexy and seductive, and Whitmore’s graceful Personal Assistant, she then becomes a tough, strong, though still beautiful, second-in-command on the expedition. It’s quite a mixture of characteristics but it works so well. Helga is probably my favourite character in Atlantis: The Lost Empire for these reasons. I especially love how she still manages to get her own back on Rourke even as she lays dying on the ground. The character of Helga was actually both animated, by Yoshimichi Tamura, and cleaned-up at the Disney Animation Studios in Paris so the team had to make sure her design still fit in with all the other characters who had been designed in the US. Claudia Christian voices Helga. From her credits, such as Commander Susan Ivanova on Babylon 5 (1994-1998), Captain Maynard on 9-1-1 (2018-present) and Hera on Netflix anime series Blood of Zeus (2020), it’s quite clear Christian plays strong women very well.

Audrey is the youngest on the crew and is a teenage mechanic, who learnt everything she knows from her father. It was decided that the expedition team needed to have a character closer in age to Milo, so tomboy Audrey was created. Because of Audrey’s tough demeanour, she demands, and gets, respect from everyone on the team, despite her age. Audrey is voiced by Jacqueline Obradors, who is known for her role as Detective Rita Ortiz in NYPD Blue (2001-05), but more recently has featured in the 2020 movie Palm Springs, and as recurring character Lucia in the miniseries Daisy Jones & the Six (2023).

Packard is the communications expert, but she is looks incredibly miserable and would obviously rather spend her time gossiping on the phone with her friend, Margie, than actually do her job. Though, to be fair, she does spot the Leviathan coming when she picks up the echoing sound. Packard is funny, as she is very deadpan and cynical. She balances out the team well. Florence Stanley, who has performed roles on both screen and stage, such as Yente in Fiddler on the Roof on Broadway from 1966 to 1971, voices Mrs. Packard.

Molière, or Mole, is the strangest one of the group. He is the geologist who likes digging, and looks almost like a rodent, which was a deliberate design choice by the animators, who wanted him to have buck teeth and a mouse’s mouth. He’s the comedy character of the movie, and is just so bizarre to everyone, not just the audience. Apparently, the animators used a profile of Charles de Gaulle for Mole’s face, and wanted him to have a bullet-shaped body and round head, so he’d look very different to the others. Apparently, Mole took ages to draw and clean up due to all the gadgets on his face and head. Corey Burton, arguably the king of Disney voice acting, is the voice of Mole. He has voiced characters such as Captain Hook and Ludwig von Drake for television and films, but has also voiced characters for Disney Park attractions, such as General Knowledge in now-defunct Epcot attraction Cranium Command, Figment in the current iteration of Epcot attraction Journey into Imagination with Figment, Doc Hudson in California Adventure’s Radiator Springs Racers, and so much more. Basically, any time Disney need a voice actor, Corey Burton might just be the man for the job!

Cookie is, oddly enough, the cook for the crew, though he has no concept of healthy eating, stating that the four basic food groups are beans, bacon, whiskey, and lard, and therefore, cooks food that pretty much everyone in the team absolutely hates. The team thought it would be fun to have a character who was old enough to have been involved in the settlement of the West and had worked for generals like Custer, basically creating a caricature of a Western sidekick. Cookie is a silly, wacky character, but good fun. Jim Farney voiced most of Cookie’s lines, but sadly died in February 2000 before the film was finished, though he did get to see some clips of what his animation was going to look like. Steven Barr provides the voice of Cookie in the final scene[1]. Jim Farney had voiced the character of Slinky Dog in Toy Story (1995) and Toy Story 2 (1999), and was well known for his comedic role as Ernest P. Worrell, who featured in television commercials, then television series, and finally films from 1980-1998.

So that’s all the crew on the Atlantis mission. They are quite an eclectic mix of characters and personalities, but they are also incredibly diverse in terms of their heritages and backgrounds, which was quite unique for a Disney movie at this time.

Preston B. Whitmore is that old eccentric man who has too much money. His backstory went along the lines of him having made his money from industry, potentially as a railroad tycoon and then had become a philanthropist, funding anything that took his fancy. In this case, Whitmore was fulfilling a lifelong promise to his friend, Thaddeus. Whitmore doesn’t feature too heavily in the movie; however, he is the one who makes the whole expedition happen, and is the person who ensures that the rest of the crew keep their whole journey and Atlantis a secret on their return, showing he wasn’t in it for anything other than to honour his friend. John Mahoney voices Whitmore, who found it very freeing to be as big and outrageous with his performance as he wanted. Mahoney had voice parts in both Antz (1998) and The Iron Giant (1999) before voicing Whitmore for Atlantis: The Lost Empire, but Mahoney is probably most known for his role as Martin Crane on the series Frasier (1993-2004), for which he was nominated for two Emmy awards. John Mahoney passed away in 2018 at the age of 77.

And last but not least, we have King Nedakh, the stoic, stubborn leader of Atlantis, who is wise and commanding, despite being old and nearing the end of his life. The King was the hardest character to design, according to the team at Disney, as he had lots of facial hair, tattoos all over his head, and a heavily designed robe. He also spoke in Atlantean for much of the movie, so the mouth movements had to fit this made-up language. Surprisingly, Leonard Nimoy, yes, that Leonard Nimoy, agreed to voice the role and was incredibly professional with his performance and mesmerised the Disney team[2]. Leonard Nimoy was famed for playing Spock in the Star Trek franchise (1966-2013), where his final film role was in Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) in a cameo as Spock Prime.

PRODUCTION

At the Disney Studios, the directors, Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, the producer, Don Hahn, and the screenwriter, Tab Murphy, had all worked together on Disney’s 1996 animated release The Hunchback of Notre Dame. After that movie was released, they went to a Burbank Mexican restaurant together to discuss a future project, as they wanted to get started on a new idea quite quickly to keep the whole team that worked on The Hunchback of Notre Dame together, as Trousdale, Wise, Hahn and Murphy liked the team they’d collaborated with. They began to talk about seeing the likes of Star Wars (1977) and Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) for the first time at the cinema, deciding that they “don’t make ‘em like they used to”. As this team had worked on two Disney animated musicals consecutively, the first being Beauty and the Beast (1991), they wanted to do something different, and decided to “head to Adventureland instead of Fantasyland” and make a movie like the live-action-adventure movies that they liked as young adults, and those of the 50s and 60s from Disney.

Therefore, the idea was to make a movie about explorers; no songs, just adventure. Originally, they looked at a more generic plot, about a group of explorers journeying to the centre of the Earth and finding a lost civilisation, before they then began to look into the mystery of the Lost City of Atlantis, which they felt would be a good storyline for their movie, especially as nobody knows whether or not Atlantis existed, or what may or may not have happened to it so the team at Disney could interpret the legend however they wanted[3].

Basing their story in a likely fictional place meant that the Disney animators and story team could have a lot of fun with the concept. They began by finding as much research as they could on Atlantis, from the scientifically sound to the craziest theories, to get inspiration for the story and the look and feel of Atlantis. The “Sleeping Prophet”, an American clairvoyant, claimed to have seen visions in the 1920s of crystals in Atlantis being some sort of energy. This gave the animators a focus for part of their Atlantean civilisation, thinking that crystal energy would look good on screen. The team also thought about the potential that within the hollow core of the Earth there could be lost areas underground that continue to thrive. With this in mind, they knew that Atlantis should be partly preserved underground. For more specific cultural elements of Atlantean culture, a whole dialect and language was created, both written and spoken. The creator of this Atlantean language was Marc Okrand, who also created Vulcan, Klingon and Romulan for the Star Trek universe[4].  The Shepherd’s Journal was another necessity for the movie, as Tab Murphy righty said that Milo needed to have a map to find Atlantis. Lots of development went into the idea for this journal, looking at binding and scrolls, before agreeing that it had to be a book that could be held. The team gave the journal its own history, that it had been fought over for centuries, with it travelling all over the world before ending up in Iceland, where Milo’s grandfather would find it[5].

The story took some time to organise. Tab Murphy crafted the concept and “spine of the story” before passing it over to the directors and story writers to flesh out further. One of the earliest visual images for the movie was of a pirate ship being taken down by mechanical tentacles that had popped out of the sea. This linked with an early story idea that Milo Thatch was going to be a descendent of Blackbeard and that he would be looking to discover his pirate heritage. But instead, the relationship with his grandfather and the explorer heritage was brought in, with the aim for Atlantis to be resurrected by Milo’s team.

At one point, they had two of the three “acts” ready to review, however, these two acts ran to roughly 80 minutes, so they had to make cuts. Characters were deleted, with the team being even larger at this point than the final film, where there are nine members of the expedition group! Other sequences, including many of strange creatures, such as squid bats and lava whales interrupting the group’s progress were also cut, as it was taking about an hour of the film to even get to Atlantis.

Another major story element that was changed was the original prologue. In the final movie, we see the sinking of Atlantis, however, initially there was going to be a prologue about Vikings. The Vikings would’ve had the Shepherd’s Journal and be on their way to discovering Atlantis in 997 AD, just off the coast of Iceland. But their progress was halted by stormy seas and a creature with huge tentacles pulling crew members into the ocean and drowning them, before sinking the ship. The journal would’ve been thrown into the sea. This may have given the audience an insight into the Shepherd’s Journal and how it came to be in Iceland, however, it was felt that, although the entire sequence had been fully cut into the movie and coloured, it wasn’t giving the viewer enough insight into Atlantis, potentially making them not care about the city and its people by the time they got there. Seeing Atlantis fall from Kida’s eyes not only showed what this traumatic event did to the people of Atlantis, but also showed the area as a thriving community, something that Milo and the team do not see when they first arrive.

The look at Atlantis: The Lost Empire is quite different to any other Disney animated movie, as one of the first things you’ll notice is the angular shapes and designs of the characters. Some of the best Disney animated movies had a unique artistic style that carried throughout the movie. In the case of Beauty and the Beast (1991), it was the storybook-look; for Sleeping Beauty (1959), it was the moving tapestry. For Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Disney wanted the movie to have a comic book design, hence the angular lines. Mike Mignola, known for the Hellboy comic series, and his creative style was a huge inspiration to the overall style of the movie, as Trousdale and Wise were already big fans of his, and were drawn to his high contrast, limited colour style. They actually went to Mignola to ask for his input on the movie and he willingly accepted the role as Production Designer on the film. Not only was he vital to the artistic design of the movie, but Mignola also had many ideas for the story. Disney animators were taught to draw in the style of Mignola.

The movie deals with two separate time periods and two distinct environments: the WWI industrial era and the magical, organic world of Atlantis. For the WWI scenes, the team were able to go inside submarines at harbours in Baltimore and LA, and travelled to Maryland to look at a large collection of armoured vehicles and tanks, giving realism to their vehicles and exploration details within the movie. For journeying through all the caverns and caves, the team went to Carlsbad Caverns as part of a research trip to get as close to the centre of the Earth as they could, seeing huge areas underground and thinking about how communities could be sustained there with the right resources.

Now that’s the easy part, recreating things that really existed. The difficult part, although more enjoyable, is creating something that we know nothing about! Trousdale and Wise knew that they wanted to avoid what they described as the “1950s idea of Atlantis”, that being crumbling Greek columns underwater. Instead, they asked their team to look at Mayan and Southeast Asian architecture, such as the Mayan pyramids and Cambodian temples, for the physical basis of Atlantis. Disney Artist Lisa Keene even went so far as to paint a whole concept of what their Atlantean ecosystem could look like, with Atlantis being a bubble sitting under the ocean, with the crystal being their power source. As Atlantis would be near to the centre of the Earth, it would be near magma and lava, with those being able to create steam as the heat came into contact with the water, which would water plants and provide oxygen. It was an intensive look into this fictional world, but this dedication to the project is plainly visible in the final film.

For the Visual Effects, Marlon West was asked by Don Hahn to work on Atlantis: The Lost Empire. It was initially a daunting prospect for West as it was going to be a big job for the Effects team, as he was shown images of lava, sea monsters, and fireflies setting tents on fire. There was also going to be lots of weapon fire, guns, and explosions, alongside the more natural elements like mist, bubbles, clouds and rain. Not only that but Atlantis: The Lost Empire contains more digital production than any other Disney animated movie that came before it. Kiran Joshi in the CGI department split these digital elements into four areas: digital characters, such as the Stone Giants at the end and the Leviathan; Vehicle Effects; Organic Effects; and CG environments. All of these digital elements and effects still had to fit within the Mignola comic book style of the movie. It was a lot of work, but it adds so much to the story and atmosphere of the environments that Atlantis: The Lost Empire would’ve felt empty without all this.

Atlantis: The Lost Empire was one of Disney’s first movies for a while to use CinemaScope, as many of the previous movies that had used it before, such as Sleeping Beauty (1959) had lost money because a larger screen meant larger drawings, and therefore more production costs. But Atlantis: The Lost Empire is a big action movie, an epic story, like Indiana Jones’ movies, and not only that but a comic-book style movie so it would suit a widescreen format well. To avoid the extra costs, although the scenes were 30% longer, they could cut from the top and bottom of the scenes, so they would end up a similar ratio to a non-widescreen production, and therefore didn’t end up being 30% more expensive.

After all that, did the supposed Lost City of Atlantis actually ever exist? Well, according to historians, it’s not very likely that it did. The location of the supposed Lost City of Atlantis is one of history’s big mysteries, as its disappearance has been theorised for years, with its legends of advanced technology and mythical monsters having been passed down for centuries. It is widely agreed now within historian circles that Atlantis did not exist, as there would’ve been earlier texts on the civilisation much before Plato wrote about it in 380 BC, almost 9,000 years after its supposed destruction. The Atlantis tale didn’t become mainstream until the late 19^th century when Ignatius Donnelly wrote a book about it called The Antediluvian World. Despite these writings, in more modern times, it has been stated that an earthquake or flooding event would likely have not been able to sink an area as large as Atlantis is claimed to be, though 73,000 years ago, there was a potential event that sent 38 cubic miles of land into the ocean. It is likely that the myth of Atlantis from Plato is likely to have been a warning about the nature of the planet, and the volatility of our environments. It was also a morality tale about greed, as Plato’s writing stated that the destruction of Atlantis came about as a punishment form the gods for their greed. Though historians have found that many ancient civilisations were more technologically advanced than first thought, there would still have been some evidence of these technologies existing in a place like Atlantis[6]. So sadly, it looks like Atlantis isn’t real, but that won’t stop people from exploring the legend further and wanting to discover more about it, as can be seen from the “factual” television documentaries to the fiction movies and television series that continue to air today.

MUSIC

As Atlantis: The Lost Empire is not a musical, the bulk of the soundtrack comes from James Newton Howard’s score. Howard had worked on Dinosaur (2000) for Disney before working on Atlantis: The Lost Empire, and would then go on to compose the score for Treasure Planet. For the city of Atlantis, Howard referenced Indonesian orchestral sounds, using instruments like chimes, bells, and gongs to be a real contrast to the WWI era that the explorers have come from and the dirtiness and difficulty of their journey. The score not only had to accompany the action on the screen, with Atlantis: The Lost Empire moving from industrial travel, to magical scenery, to intense battle scenes throughout the plot of the movie, but it also had to speak for the movie when dialogue was not used to express the thoughts and emotions of the sequence. There are many big moments like this, such as Kida being bonded to the crystal, the first reveal of Atlantis to the explorers, and the finale[7].

I have a few pieces from the score that I particularly enjoy. I think that the music that plays during the opening prologue, “Atlantis Destroyed”, is a good way of bringing the viewer into the action and intense emotional moments that they’re going to experience throughout the movie. It’s a horrifying scene as the Atlantean people fear the loss of their home and their lives, with the score perfectly complimenting that. It also sets up some motifs that will be re-used later on in the score. “The Submarine” is another great piece, as it plays as the Ulysses is being launched. It signifies the excitement that Milo is feeling at the start of the expedition. “Just Do It” and “Kida Returns”, which play during the finale of the movie, when Atlantis is saved by Kida, is incredibly fitting for this climatic sequence. But the best number in the score is “The Crystal Chamber”, the point where Kida is summoned to the crystal to eventually save the city. With the choral sounds and foreboding drums, it just shows the importance of this moment, and the uncertainty of exactly what the audience is seeing at this point, as we don’t know what this all means; it’s weird and confusing, but still amazing.

There is just one song on the soundtrack called “Where the Dream Takes You”, performed by Mya, which is played during the End Credits. This was supposedly only included as per a request from the Disney Studios marketing department as every Disney movie’s credits apparently has to have a song! It’s not the best song, it’s just a generic pop ballad really, and not worth watching the credits for, though I’m sure it has its fans.

RECEPTION

Atlantis: The Lost Empire was released on 15^th June 2001 in the US, after having its premiere at the El Capitan Theatre on 3^rd June 2001. It received mixed reviews, with some critics being kinder than others. Some stated that after seeing what Pixar could do with CG animation, they felt that Disney was being left behind with their 2D animation. Others did not think much of the plot or the characters, and were confused by the animation style used in the movie, which is unlike the style that many Disney movie-goers would’ve been used to. There were some that liked the fact Disney were doing something a bit different by creating an action movie, but that they didn’t believe it would ever replace the musical style that the studio was most known for. Basically, it was just ok to many people. The “higher ups” at Disney had even dampened down some of the action scenes to try to appeal to families, but that was clearly not enough to save it. 

The biggest issue was that Atlantis: The Lost Empire was Disney doing something completely different, and something that would not necessarily appeal to young children and their parents, and may or may not appeal to teenagers. DreamWorks’ computer-animated film Shrek (2001) had also been released just a month earlier, so there would’ve been competition and comparisons between the two films. Though they are nothing alike, Shrek definitely has more universal appeal, and is much less serious than Atlantis: The Lost Empire. Not only that but it was an odd time for everyone at the Disney Studios as Michael Eisner, then-CEO of the company, was feuding with Roy E. Disney during this time over control of the company, so that would’ve taken focus away from Atlantis: The Lost Empire, though it was clear that Eisner was a fan of the film’s concept.

The movie grossed $186 million worldwide against a budget of $120 million budget, so it was not a total flop, but it wasn’t enough to change Disney’s animation direction, and the potentially large marketing budget may not have been factored in here. The upcoming movie Treasure Planet (2002) was a very similar idea to Atlantis: The Lost Empire, with directors Ron Clements and John Musker being concerned for the fate of their movie after the reaction to Atlantis: The Lost Empire. They would’ve been right to be concerned…[8]

Atlantis: The Lost Empire only won one award, the 2002 Golden Reel Award for Best Sound Editing – Animated Feature Film. At the Annie Awards, it was nominated for a few categories, including Directing, Storyboard, Music Score, and Voice Acting for Leonard Nimoy and Florence Stanley, and went away with nothing. It was not even nominated for Best Animated Feature there, or at the Academy Awards; unsurprisingly, that award went to Shrek (2001), becoming the first movie ever to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2002.

LEGACY

Because of the film’s lack of success, every idea, concept, and spin-off planned for Atlantis: The Lost Empire was immediately shelved or cancelled. The only thing that did come out of Atlantis: The Lost Empire was a direct-to-video sequel titled Atlantis: Milo’s Return. (2003). The sequel is almost a “package feature” as it consists of three episodes originally created for the planned television series Team Atlantis, where the characters from the movie would investigate mysterious creatures and strange phenomena, including the Kraken. Some linking material was added to make the standalone episodes fit into a whole feature film[9]. I’ll be honest, it’s not a good direct-to-video sequel, and it is only too obvious that the stories were never meant to fit together. But on a positive note, the majority of the original voice cast did reprise their roles in this sequel. Milo Thatch was voiced by James Taylor, instead of Michael J. Fox. A theatrical sequel, Atlantis 2, was also promptly cancelled after the weak performance of Atlantis: The Lost Empire, despite some early story work being developed.

Princess Kida was not even allowed to be included in the official Disney Princess franchise, despite being an actual princess, unlike Mulan who is not a princess but is still included on the list, likely due to the failure of the film, which is incredibly unfair.

To further add to the disappointment of Disney Atlantis lovers everywhere, the attraction Submarine Voyage at Disneyland was going to be rethemed to Atlantis: The Lost Empire, with a poster even being made and put up in the park for its planned retheme to open in 2003. It was to be narrated by Preston B. Whitmore, and would’ve seen guests encounter the Leviathan. Instead, a few years later, the ride was closed and the lagoon drained in 2005 so that the attraction could be rethemed to Pixar’s Finding Nemo (2003). Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage opened in June 2007, and continues to operate today.

A rollercoaster called Fire Mountain was planned to be constructed at Walt Disney World Resort in Magic Kingdom’s Adventureland. It would’ve revolved around the story of Whitmore making expeditions to Atlantis available to the public – which would’ve gone completely against the film, as Whitmore wants the explorers to keep Atlantis a secret, but there you go! The ride system would’ve had guests suspended in hang-glider-type vehicles with the track overhead, with the vehicles going through a lava-filled volcano[10].

Still, if you want an Atlantis-inspired theme park attraction, you could always go to SeaWorld Orlando, San Diego or San Antonio and ride Journey to Atlantis, a rollercoaster-log flume hybrid. The one in Orlando is fun anyway, though it has absolutely nothing to do with the Disney movie, obviously.

As was standard for pretty much every Disney animated movie that has ever existed, a live-action version of Atlantis: The Lost Empire was announced in 2020, however, since that point, there has been no further official news on it. That’s not usual, as so many live-action adaptations were announced in that same year and went no further than that. In a way, Atlantis: The Lost Empire might have been a good option for a Disney live-action remake as it would perfectly fit the live-action format and, as it is not particularly well-remembered by Disney fans, they could’ve done a lot with the story.

Other than that, at the Disney Parks, there has been the occasional merchandise item to buy that features Atlantis: The Lost Empire and its characters, such as a MagicBand featuring Milo, Kida, Vinny, Mole and Audrey, however, that was released in 2021, presumably only for the 20^th anniversary of the movie.

In terms of meet-and-greet opportunities, there are very few of these for the characters anymore. Around the time of the movie’s release in 2001, guests could meet Milo, Kida, and even Mole and Vinny, at the Magic of Disney Animation at Walt Disney World’s Disney-MGM Studios, now Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and at Disneyland. Milo and Kida were also a part of the Disney Stars and Motor Cars Parade at Disney-MGM Studios for the first year of that parade, which makes sense as the parade debuted in 2001. The most recent sighting of Milo and Kida seems to have been at Disneyland, during their special event Disneyland After Dark: Sweethearts’ Nite in February 2022. Even Bernard and Bianca from The Rescuers (1977) were meeting that same night. At Disneyland Paris, Milo and Kida were last spotted at the park in 2018 as part of the Disney FanDaze event. I can’t find any evidence of Milo and Kida being seen at Walt Disney World recently, or ever being available to meet at the Disney Parks in Asia.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Going through all the behind-the-scenes footage from the team who worked on Atlantis: The Lost Empire and seeing their passion for the project, as well as their desire to experiment and try something different in Disney Animation, it just makes me feel all the more disappointed for them that Atlantis: The Lost Empire was not successful. The amount of effort and commitment that went into the movie is evident, not only in its characters and story, but in its design aesthetic, visual effects and sound.

Unfortunately, it was a risk and it ultimately did not pay off. But around the 20^th anniversary of the movie in 2021, it was a surprise to all the filmmakers to find that Atlantis: The Lost Empire had found an extremely dedicated fan-base, and they were only too pleased to find that the movie had touched people, and been a part of their childhoods, with them still loving the film in adulthood.

If you’ve never watched Atlantis: The Lost Empire, completely missing out on it as a child, or you only watched it at a young age, I would encourage you to go back and give the movie another try. You might just find you actually enjoy it, and be able to understand why Atlantis: The Lost Empire is considered to be one of Disney’s most underrated treasures.

---

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Jim Korkis, Everything I Know I Learned from Disney Animated Feature Films (2015), ‘Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)’, pp. 121-123.

[2] Credit: Disney, The Making of Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2002).

[3] Credit: Disney, “The Journey Begins”, from Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) 1-Disc DVD (2002).

[4] Credit: Jim Korkis, Everything I Know I Learned from Disney Animated Feature Films (2015), ‘Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)’, pp. 121-123.

[5] Credit: Disney, “Creating Mythology”, from Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) 1-Disc DVD (2002).

[6] Credit: Cassidy Ward, ‘The Science Behind The Fiction: Is There Any Truth To The Myth Of Atlantis?’, Syfy.com, 16^th June 2021.

[7] Credit: Disney, The Making of Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2002).

[8] Credit: Drew Taylor, ‘How ‘Atlantis: The Lost Empire’ Almost Changed Disney Forever’, Collider.com, 17^th June 2020

[9] Credit: Jim Korkis, Everything I Know I Learned from Disney Animated Feature Films (2015), ‘Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)’, pp. 121-123.

[10] Credit: Drew Taylor, ‘How ‘Atlantis: The Lost Empire’ Almost Changed Disney Forever’, Collider.com, 17^th June 2020

1. BACKGROUND
2. PLOT
3. CHARACTERS & CAST
4. MUSIC
5. PRODUCTION
6. RECEPTION
7. LEGACY
8. FINAL THOUGHTS
9. REFERENCES

BACKGROUND

Brother Bear is another of Disney’s animated features that has been overlooked, underrated and/or forgotten.

The 2000s were not a great time for Disney animation; their famous, though costly, 2D, hand-drawn animation style was being overtaken by the new, modern computer-animated medium, with studios like DreamWorks and Pixar becoming more and more competitive, to the point that many of Disney’s animated releases of the 2000s, even now, pale in comparison to the releases of those other studios.

Brother Bear is considered by some Disney fans to be very underrated, but, like I said, due to that time frame, many people do not remember watching this film when it first came out, and therefore, do not feel the need to watch it now; it’s done, it’s gone, forget about it.

I did watch Brother Bear around the time it first came out. I can’t remember if my family watched at the cinema or not when it was first released, but I’m thinking we did. I didn’t like it when I first saw it. I was still in a phase of only liking the “princess fairytale films” at that time, and it just didn’t interest me. But at some point, probably about a decade later, I rewatched many Disney animated films that I previously hadn’t liked, and I was surprised to find that I did like Brother Bear quite a lot, particularly the music.

Another decade has since passed, and I like Brother Bear even more now. I love the story and find it to be very touching and emotional, with some parts reducing me to floods of tears! Many others would think it a good movie too, if they took the time to watch it, but more and more often, modern audiences would rather return to a Disney movie they are familiar with than go back to an older one and try to change their opinion of it.

Unfortunately, not only did Brother Bear not manage to capture the hearts of its viewers, but it also signalled the end of 2D animation, with this being the second to last one to be released – until a very brief revival between 2009 and 2011 – and the final Disney animated film to be made at the Disney Animation Feature Florida studio, which closed in 2004. Not exactly a legacy any movie wants to have.

PLOT

Brother Bear begins with an Inuit storyteller, translated by an invisible narrator, recounting the story of him and his two brothers, and how the everchanging lights in the sky are the spirits of their ancestors, who change and guide this world.

The movie then goes back to those three brothers: Kenai, the youngest, Denahi, the middle brother, and Sitka, the eldest. They all go to catch fish before Kenai’s big “coming-of-age” ceremony, where he will be given a totem by the shaman-woman, received from the Spirits. This totem will be shaped as an animal and provide whoever receives it with the core value that they should live their life by, and in doing so, they become an adult. Kenai, however, is so excited by his upcoming ceremony that instead of tying up the fish properly in a tree, to stop the bears eating it, he runs off, having tried and failed to tie the basket up.

At Kenai’s ceremony, he is bestowed with the Bear of Love totem, something that he doesn’t think is “manly enough” for him, even saying during the ceremony how he’d like to trade totems with someone else; sorry, Kenai, no trades allowed! Kenai is teased by Denahi about his totem, and on their arrival back at their camp, they realise that the fish have been eaten, and even their basket has been dragged off by a bear. Denahi blames Kenai for being stupid and not tying the fish up properly, saying it took him days to make that basket, so Kenai angrily grabs a spear and hunts for the bear to get Denahi’s basket back. The two brothers shortly go after him, to make sure he is safe. It’s a good thing they do, as Kenai finds the bear but is soon attacked by it, with Denahi and Sitka having to come to his rescue, though all of them are overwhelmed by the strength of the bear. Denahi and Kenai at one point become trapped in ice, with the bear heading straight for them. Sitka plunges a spear into the ice on the edge of the mountain, causing him and the bear to fall straight down to the river below. The bear survives, as do Kenai and Denahi, however, Sitka never resurfaces, having sacrificed himself to save his two younger brothers. Sitka is laid to rest, but Kenai decides that him and Denahi must kill the bear who caused Sitka’s death. Denahi doesn’t want to, telling Kenai he “doesn’t blame the bear”. Kenai angrily goes on alone, having also thrown his “stupid totem” away, which is picked up sadly by Tanana, the shaman-woman of the tribe. Denahi decides to follow him, to stop Kenai from making a big mistake.

Kenai tracks the bear to the top of a mountain where a fight ensues. As the bear lunges at Kenai, he stabs the bear with his spear. Denahi is lower down the mountain and only hears a bear roar, and a scream from Kenai, but rushes up to the top to see what has happened. At this point, a large beam of light appears before Kenai – it is the Great Spirits. Sitka appears, morphing from his spirit animal of an eagle into his human form, to show Kenai how disappointed he is by his choice to kill the bear. The Spirits transform Kenai into a bear, so he can learn from his error of judgement. Confused and dazed after his encounter, Kenai sees Denahi coming towards him, but thinks he’s still human, so it’s a shock to see Denahi go to attack him. Denahi thinks Kenai has been killed by the same bear that killed Sitka, not having seen his “transformation” into a bear. Kenai stumbles off the mountaintop, into the river below, and washes up on shore.

The next morning, he is visited by Tanana. Kenai is confused about what happened yesterday, but sees his reflection in the stream and finally realises that he is a bear. Naturally, he freaks out, and has to be calmed by Tanana, who tells him that Sitka must have done this for a reason, and that if he wants to be changed back, Kenai will have to go to the point where “the lights touch the earth” to discuss with Sitka. Tanana then leaves and Kenai is alone, with his thoughts – and the sounds of animals talking, which, obviously, he has not experienced before. He comes across two moose, and tries to explain that he is not a bear. The moose, Rutt and Tuke, think he’s crazy and run away from him. Then, Kenai gets himself caught in a bear trap, which is when he meets young cub, Koda, who tries to help him, but Kenai doesn’t want help. When Kenai’s plan to get down fails, Koda makes a deal with him – if he can get Kenai down from the trap, then he will take Koda to the salmon run. Kenai reluctantly agrees, not expecting Koda to be able to do it, but by simply pushing over the post in the ground, Kenai is released. Koda then sees a hunter – Denahi – and tells Kenai to run. They hide in an ice cave and wait for Denahi to leave. Kenai plans to go off on his own, breaking Koda’s deal, even though Koda tells him he has been separated from his mother. That is, until Koda tells him that the salmon run is right next to the point where “the lights touch the earth”. Kenai agrees to take Koda to the salmon run and they set off quickly.

Koda’s incessant talking irritates Kenai, but eventually, he starts to have a little bit of fun on their journey. They encounter the two moose brothers again, who tell them that their tracks will certainly lead the hunter to them all. But Kenai has an idea; they should all ride on woolly mammoths! One night, Koda tells Kenai all about the Spirits; it turns out humans and animals have both been told the same thing about them. Koda says that his grandparents are up there, and Kenai tells Koda that his brother, Sitka, is up there too. Koda looks up to the sky and thanks Sitka for Kenai, as Kenai said if Sitka wasn’t up there, he wouldn’t be here now; Koda always wanted a brother.

The next day, the two get off the mammoths to make the next turn to the salmon run, but Koda doesn’t exactly know which way to go, and the two argue. Koda walks off, and Kenai, feeling guilty, follows him to a cave, where they see paintings of man fighting bears. Koda tells Kenai that humans are scary, especially with those spears. Koda and Kenai set off again, with Koda recognising the area that they are in, which is handy, because the two rams they plan to ask for directions get distracted by their own echo while they’re talking to them… They just have to get over a lava pit and then they will be at the salmon run. Kenai gingerly starts to step across, with Koda way ahead, when they begin to be chased by Denahi again. Kenai sets off a geyser in Denahi’s face to distract and slow him down, so that the two bears can run ahead. They start to walk on a log, which Denahi tries to dislodge. Kenai throws Koda to safety before jumping across himself. The log falls, but the bears are safe, angering Denahi. He jumps across, hoping to make the great leap, but he doesn’t and falls to the river below, despite Kenai’s attempts to help him up to the ledge. Denahi lives though.

The two bears finally make it to the salmon run, but the number of bears there is overwhelming for Kenai. The other bears soon realise that Kenai doesn’t know how to do anything bears do, even catch fish, so they have to teach him. Koda finds that his mother is not yet there, but thinks she’ll turn up eventually. Kenai wants to leave to find the Spirits, but is convinced to stay. That evening it’s storytelling time, and this is where Koda gets to tell everyone the exciting story of how him and his mother where separated, as she protected him from hunters. Kenai quickly realises that the hunters were him and his brothers, so the bear must have been Koda’s mother. Koda thinks his mother is still alive as he saw her get out of the water, but Kenai knows that he later killed her. Consumed with guilt, he leaves the bears to figure out what to do. Koda soon finds him, and Kenai knows he has to tell Koda the truth. Koda is so upset that he runs away, right up into a tree, despite Kenai’s attempts to apologise. Kenai climbs the mountain and calls for Sitka. Denahi is lost and cold, but soon sees an eagle, who leads him up to the mountain, where Kenai is. Denahi starts to attack Kenai, with Koda coming to the rescue, after hearing how Rutt and Tuke, though they argue, would never want to be without their brother. Koda takes Denahi’s spear, and as Denahi looks like he’s going to hit Koda, the eagle returns, revealed to be Sitka, and turns Kenai back into a human, with his totem also being returned.

Koda is scared by this new turn of events, not sure who Kenai is. Denahi realises that the bear he has been tracking was in fact Kenai. The two reconcile, but Kenai realises that it is his responsibility to look after Koda now that he has been orphaned. Kenai asks Sitka to turn him back into a bear, with Denahi ok with this as he will always be his little brother, even saying that Kenai looks better as a bear! Koda is reunited with his mother’s spirit – albeit briefly – and is overjoyed to find Kenai a bear again. Sitka returns to the spirits, Denahi returns to his tribe, and Kenai and Koda go back to the forest. We then see that Kenai returns to the tribe, with Koda, for his final ceremony, where he gets to finally put his handprint – or bear print – up on the wall with all the others, because, as the Narrator tells us, this was a story of “a boy who became a man by becoming a bear”.

There is also a brief End Credits scene, where Koda informs the audience that no fish were harmed in the making of this film, shortly followed by a bear chasing a clearly distressed fish at the salmon run area!

CHARACTERS & CAST

Kenai is at the heart of this film, as it is his journey to becoming a man that we are following throughout the course of the story. He begins the story in a difficult place; he is the youngest of three brothers, where he is constantly teased by Denahi, and is desperate for his coming-of-age ceremony to begin so he can prove he’s more of a man than his brothers. He isn’t satisfied with his totem the Bear of Love, and when bears eat their fish, Kenai feels the only way to prove he’s a man is to kill them, despite his brothers’ protests. This doesn’t work and only results in the death of Sitka. Kenai then wants to avenge his brother’s death by killing the bear that caused his death, and because of his stubbornness and lack of understanding, he does this, but instead of feeling better, only feels guilty. Still, he’s not happy about being transformed into a bear as punishment and spends the first half of the movie being very moody about it, and rude to Koda, who is just trying to find someone to protect him as he’s lost his mother. Eventually, though, Kenai learns to be a brother to Koda, and even confesses to killing Koda’s mother, showing the guilt and shame he feels about it. The Spirits accept Kenai has learnt his lesson and change him back into a human, only for Kenai to ask to be turned back into a bear, to be a proper brother to Koda, showing that he is accepting responsibility for the young cub, and proving himself a man.

Because of the importance of Kenai within the story of Brother Bear, and the fact that he had to be both a flawed character, yet one capable of compassion and change, Disney were very careful in their casting of the role, auditioning over 100 actors for it. In the end, they felt that actor Joaquin Phoenix was a good fit, especially after seeing his performance in the film Gladiator (2000), where he played Commodus and was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the Academy Awards in 2001. He then won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as the Joker in Joker (2019) and will reprise the role in an upcoming sequel. It may seem a surprise that Disney hired Joaquin Phoenix to voice a role in their film, as Phoenix is known for playing quite dark characters, but Phoenix stated that he liked the character of Kenai, saying that he is flawed, and even unlikable at times, but that makes him very relatable as nobody is perfect. The animating team of Jim Jackson, who worked on Human Kenai, and Byron Howard, who drew Bear Kenai, thought Phoenix had great range when working with him on the character, and felt his performance enhanced the character design. Human Kenai was designed to already have a bear-like stance, basing his structure on the form of a standing bear. He was also given thick hair like a bear.

Sitka is the leader of the family, having received the totem the Eagle of Guidance. He is strong, masculine, and can speak to his brothers honestly and calmly, to keep them on the right path and to help them grow as people. Sitka is designed to be larger than both brothers to show his leadership quality. Sitka may not feature too much in the movie itself, but he makes a lot of difference to the story. By sacrificing himself to save Kenai and Denahi from the bear, he sets off a chain of events, where both brothers try to come to terms with his death, but in different ways. This then leads to Sitka making the decision, with the help of the Great Spirits, to turn Kenai into a bear to learn the error of his ways. Sitka, in his eagle form, arrives just in time at the end of the movie to give Denahi and Kenai a chance to reconcile with him, and to see the great transformation that Kenai has had, by making a brave, but necessary choice, proving the lesson was learnt. Sitka is voiced by D.B. Sweeney, who also voices Aladar in Disney’s Dinosaur (2000).

Denahi is the middle brother, given the Wolf of Wisdom totem, who transforms from being a fun-loving brother at the start of the movie, teasing Kenai and play-fighting him, into a tormented man, who thinks that one bear has caused the deaths of both of his brothers, living him lost and alone. I can see why he set out on a quest to destroy that bear – even though it was actually Kenai! Jason Raize, who originated the role of adult Simba in the Broadway musical of The Lion King, voices Denahi in his first and final film role. Raize sadly died in 2004 at the age of 28.

Denahi also appears at the start of the movie as an elder telling the story of him and his brothers to the children of his tribe, though it is not specifically stated that this is him. The narration is first spoken in Inuit, before being translated into English. The Inuit narration is provided by Oscar Kawagley, who was an anthropologist, actor, and Associate Professor of Education at the University of Alaska until his death in 2011. The English narration is provided by Harold Gould. Gould had many roles in both television and film, including as Miles Webber on The Golden Girls (1985-92) and as Grandpa in Freaky Friday (2003), which starred Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis. He passed away in 2010.

The final human character in Brother Bear is Tanana, the shaman-woman of the tribe. She is responsible for collecting each member of the tribe’s totem when they come of age, and for performing important ceremonies. Tanana also tries to keep all members of the tribe on the straight and narrow. She looks so disappointed when Kenai refuses to accept his totem, and is determined to make sure that Kenai sees through whatever lesson Sitka is trying to teach him by transforming him into a bear. Tanana then does not appear again until the end of the movie, when Kenai gets to formally show himself as a man by adding his print to the wall with all the others; it’s clear she’s proud of him in that moment. Joan Copeland voices Tanana. Copeland began her career in the theatre, and then began working on screen in the 1950s, including in various soap operas. I love her voice performance as Tanana, making her both spiritual, wise, and funny.

Koda is the sweet, but talkative, bear cub that Kenai teams up with. I feel sorry for Koda, especially at the start of his time with Kenai, because Kenai is clearly not interested in Koda’s stories and is so rude to him by basically telling him to shut up all the time. He just wants some company and someone to talk to; he’s been on his own for a few days, give him a break! Alex Kupershmidt, who animated Stitch, animated Koda. He wanted Koda to seem like a four or five-year-old kid, whose attention is constantly switching and who gets excited about the smallest things. Some people have said that they find Koda annoying, but I don’t; I think he’s cute and cheeky. Koda goes through an immense tragedy, by finding out that his mother was killed and isn’t coming back, so you have to have sympathy for him. And even though Kenai isn’t always kind to Koda, he does care for Koda a lot, enough to revert back to being a bear of his own free will. They fight, but brothers do fight and that’s ok.

American actor Jeremy Suarez voices Koda. Suarez began his acting career by appearing as Tyson Tidwell, son of Cuba Gooding Jr.’s character, in Jerry Maguire (1996). Suarez also featured in The Bernie Mac Show (2001-06) as Jordan Thomkins. For both his performances in The Bernie Mac Show and Brother Bear, Suarez was nominated for awards. For his voice acting role as Koda, Suarez was nominated for the Outstanding Achievement for Voice Acting award at the Annie Awards, but lost to Ellen DeGeneres, who had just voiced Dory in Pixar’s Finding Nemo (2003). Jeremy Suarez gives a confident performance as Koda, and the team at Disney liked how he was easily capable of providing them numerous different takes and points of view. At one point, when Joaquin Phoenix and Suarez were recording together, Phoenix referred to Koda’s friend as “Binky” instead of “Bucky”; Suarez quickly improvised a funny response and this was kept in the movie. I particularly like this scene.

Then there is the big grizzly bear, Tug. He might seem like he’d be aggressive, but he is a gentle giant, and a friend to all the bears, big and small. Tug only features during the salmon run scene, but Tug was going to be a bear called Grizz, who would have accompanied Kenai on his journey to the spirits instead of Koda. The partnership was working well, with Grizz being a boisterous, loving character, but it was fiercely debated whether the character should stay or be replaced with a younger, affable kid brother instead. In the end, directors Aaron Blaise and Bob Walker lost this fight, but were determined to keep voice actor Michael Clarke Duncan, who voiced Grizz, involved and wrote the part of Tug for him instead. Michael Clarke Duncan is perhaps best known for his role as John Coffey in The Green Mile (1999), where he was nominated for many awards including the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He has performed in various other roles, including numerous voice roles such as in Cats & Dogs (2001), Air Buddies (2006), and Kung Fu Panda (2008). Duncan sadly passed away in 2012.

A couple of other interesting voice actors for two of the bears at the salmon run are Greg Proops, perhaps best known for appearing in both the UK and US versions of the improvisational comedy series Whose Line Is It Anyway? (1989-present); and Estelle Harris, who is the voice of Mrs. Potato Head in the Toy Story franchise (1999-present).

Then there are the two moose, Rutt and Tuke, the comic relief of Brother Bear. Disney thought it would be good if animals had different dialects as humans do, so they thought it would be funny to have two obviously Canadian moose in the movie! Broose Johnson and Tony Stanley animated the characters, and felt that moose were funny-looking animals anyway, with their huge ears, big hoovers and antlers, large noses etc., so they had ample choice of how to animate the characters in a comedic manner, but also keep them realistic. The moose ended up being more dumb than they’d originally planned, but I find Rutt and Tuke funny, with some of their lines being my favourites in the film[1]. Their brotherly arguments are hilarious at times, and I feel the movie needs this comic relief, even if others felt the two were irritating. Disney had originally only designed the characters to be pure comedy, however, they found that them being brothers was actually very important to the overall message of the movie, with the two’s arguing convincing Koda that he does need Kenai as his brother, and goes to save him from Denahi at the end of the film.

Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas, both Canadian actors and comedians, voice Rutt and Tuke. They based their performances of the moose on their personas of Bob and Doug MacKenzie that they had used in SCTV, a Canadian sketch comedy show, in sketches in the 1980s[2]. The duo would be revived in the late 2000s. Moranis has appeared in movies such as Little Shop of Horrors (1986) as Seymour Kreiborn, and as Wayne Szalinski in Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989) and its sequel Honey, I Blew Up the Kid (1992). Thomas has performed in various roles in television and film, including The Simpsons from 1997 to 2006 and the comedy film Rat Race (2001).

MUSIC

After Phil Collins’ success and enjoyment writing the songs for Disney’s Tarzan (1999), when Disney approached Collins to ask if he would like to work with them again on Brother Bear, he agreed quickly and got straight to work on the music. It was a slightly different process to that of working on Tarzan though, as the storyline for Tarzan was based on the novel, whereas Brother Bear was an original story idea, so although songs may have been written for certain scenes, these scenes could be rewritten or removed entirely, leading to different material being needed. But Collins was flexible and found that this made the process all the more collaborative.

One example of this is at the salmon run scene. Originally, Phil Collins wrote a song called “Fishing Song” or “Eat, Swim, Fish, Play”, as he had been given the concept that this was to be a frat party-like atmosphere at the salmon run, so he wrote a song to match that. However, Disney decided that they did not feel this song fit in with the scene correctly, and wanted it to be rewritten. Phil Collins called producer Chuck Williams’ house at one point, and his wife answered, telling him she was sorry to hear his song had been cut. Collins had no idea at the time of the call, but he wasn’t too disappointed and wrote “Welcome” instead over the summer. It became a soulful song with a strong message about family. Co-composer of Brother Bear’s score, Mark Mancina, who had also scored Tarzan (1999) and went on to work on Moana (2016), felt that the lyrics in “Welcome” were some of Collins’ best in the film. I do like “Welcome” as a song and think it fits in much better than the “Fishing Song” would have done, in terms of matching the overall message of the movie[3].

Another song that was rewritten was “On My Way”, which started out as a song called “This Can be My Destiny”, sung from Kenai’s perspective. It was deemed to be too gloomy and negative, so instead “On My Way” was written for the journeying scene to become an optimistic, joyful song instead, showing Koda and Kenai becoming friends. “On My Way” is not my favourite of the Brother Bear songs, but it works.

“Transformation” was apparently a difficult song for Collins to write as it was different to anything he’d done before, and it had to fit a beautiful and grand scene, which started off as being designed to be kind of scary, but then morphed into a positive and spiritual experience, so Collins had to match this mood. Obviously, it was first written to have English lyrics; this version, sung by Collins, does appear on the Brother Bear soundtrack, however Mancina thought it would be a good opportunity to bring in the Bulgarian Women’s Choir, who their vocal arranger and conductor Eddie Johnson had worked with before. The lyrics were translated into Inuit by a native speaker and then performed by the choir. It is a much more powerful song, this version that is in the film, and it is my favourite piece of music in the whole soundtrack, and probably my favourite scene too.

Though Phil Collins had sung every song in Tarzan (1999), because he was meant to be recounting Tarzan’s inner thoughts and feelings through the songs, it was decided that that was not the right approach for Brother Bear, and that a mixture of voices might be better. For the song “Great Spirits”, which features towards the beginning of the film to introduce the tribe and its spiritual connections, then-CEO Michael Eisner wanted a woman to sing the track. Tina Turner was approached and she was very happy to sing it for the movie. That is another great song in the film, and it starts the film off with a bang.

Though Collins sings in “Welcome”, it was decided that it would be good to have the group The Blind Boys of Alabama feature as the backing singers, to basically provide a voice for all the other bears at the salmon run. The Blind Boys of Alabama were founded in 1939 and the gospel group is still going today. Disney felt that the group provided a purity and soulfulness to the piece, which I definitely agree with it. There are two different versions of “Welcome” on the soundtrack, one that includes The Blind Boys of Alabama, which is featured in the film, and another that is Phil Collins’ cover of it.

The other songs that Phil Collins wrote are the End Credits song, which was also the film’s first single and had a music video filmed, called “Look Through My Eyes; and “No Way Out”, which has only one version in the film, but two on the soundtrack. “Look Through My Eyes” sums up the whole message of the movie, and for that reason it is good, but because it doesn’t feature in the movie at all, I don’t personally have any emotional attachment to it and can’t link it to any character, so it’s not one of my favourites.

“No Way Out” is very much the opposite, as this song is featured during the confession scene, where Koda is being told by Kenai that his mother was killed, by him. This scene was fully recorded and mostly animated and was going to be played as it was, without the song, which would feature in a separate scene. It was then decided to combine the two for the film[4]. Some have said that they would have rather seen the confession fully, without the “distraction” of Collins’ song, but I disagree. It’s a very powerful song, and to have just snippets of the conversation playing on top of the song makes me feel even more sad than just hearing Kenai say his piece in silence. The shorter version of “No Way Out” is the one that is heard in the movie, and is quieter and calmer, compared to the more upbeat, rock version, which is the longer version and features as the second End Credits song.

As part of Collins’ agreement to write the songs for Brother Bear, he also wanted to write the score, something that he had been close to during his work on Tarzan. Collins and Mancina therefore worked quite closely together on the score, with Mancina not afraid to tell Collins that what he had come up with wasn’t right!

The directors had said that they wanted the score to be completely true to the Inuit culture and the time period of the film, however, Mancina, Collins and the rest of the music team said it greatly limited their musical and instrumental choices, as it would have just primarily involved drums and the older versions of that instrument didn’t always necessarily sound great! Instead, they came up with hybrid sounds by mixing the sounds of many instruments, using them in a complimentary manner to the usual orchestral sounds[5].

The score doesn’t detract from any of the action on screen and compliments it. I particularly like the moments in the score where it links to the Spirits, such as reusing some elements of “Transformation”, or when it involves the Inuit ceremonies. But for me personally, the songs speak more to me and give me more of an emotional connection to the story than the score does in this particular Disney feature.

PRODUCTION

Brother Bear is an original story idea from the Disney Studios. After The Lion King was released in 1994, Michael Eisner, then-CEO of Disney, asked if anyone had any more ideas for “animal films”. He himself liked the concept of a movie about bears that would be set in North America. Co-director Blaise was very interested in drawing bears, and had been to Alaska, and loved the area, so he used this as inspiration to develop the story. The other director, Bob Walker, come into the team about a year into development, with him, Blaise and producer Chuck Williams, developing the plot together. Walker had grown up around animals and was interested in how they think and feel.

The team were asked to look at legends and myths involving bears, especially those based in Native American teachings. They found that many of these stories involved transformations of humans into animals to teach them important life lessons, with many legends being about bears. Some such stories included one around the origin of bears, where a boy decides to separate from his tribe and live in the woods. He tells them that if they fast for a week, they can join him. The tribe members complete this task and walk into the forest, where their bodies start to grow hair. This is how bears came to be. Another story is of a boy rescued by animals when he is trapped in a cave by his uncle. The boy is then taken in by bears and raised with them. The uncle soon comes across his nephew while hunting, and asks for forgiveness. Providing the uncle promises to be kind to the bears who saved his life, he does forgive his uncle. One further story is that four hunters and a dog were pursuing a vicious bear, and chased it all the way up a mountain and straight into the sky, where they became stars. The constellation they became is “The Big Dipper”[6].

As physical transformation works particularly well in animation, with Pinocchio (1940) and Beauty and the Beast (1991) involving some very impressive transformation scenes, they decided this was a good direction for the story to go, especially as every main character of any good movie starts off flawed and then has to learn something about themselves and others. This works even better if the main character has to become something else to be taught something important.

For research into the locations, the team went to many areas of North America, including Alaska, Canada, Wyoming and Californian National Parks, such as Yosemite. From all these locations, they wanted to create one overall picture of North America for the movie, meaning that Brother Bear is not solely based in one location. Specifics such as big sequoia trees, ice glaciers from Alaska and geysers from Yellowstone all make it into the movie, with other individual locations also being able to be spotted within the film. They not only looked at the different structures and rock types, but also at the layers of atmosphere in the areas.

The backgrounds on Brother Bear are particularly stunning, with Disney wanting them to have a realism to them, reminiscent of painting outside, en plein air, instead of referencing photographs. For some inspiration, they did also look back at Bambi (1942) to get an idea of how Bambi’s backgrounds made the viewers feel like they were actually in the forest. The difference for Brother Bear, though, is that Bambi was set in the concentrated area of the forest, whereas Brother Bear is located in a much larger space. To get a further artistic feel to the backgrounds, the artists looked to the work of landscape artist Albert Bierstadt, who happened to be a favourite of Michael Eisner’s.

Another interesting point that I didn’t realise when watching the movie is that the first part of the movie has a different aspect ratio to the point where Kenai wakes up as a bear. This is to show Kenai’s narrow viewpoint when he is a human, with a small screen, which then widens into CinemaScope with richer colour and sound to show the changes to how Kenai views the world now as a bear.

Disney’s portrayal of Inuit culture is seemingly accurate in terms of their references to ceremonies, music, and the overall transformation story[7]. Disney used photo references of Inuit tattoos, face paintings, and clothing to make design choices for their characters. The team also studied their architecture, where their use of animal bones featuring in their movie, as well as their ceremonies, including the manhood ceremony and funerals[8].

Despite the majority of the movie being hand-drawn animation, some elements of the movie did use computer-generated imagery, such as the scenes of the salmon run and the caribou stampede. For the bears, Disney had live drawing sessions with bear cubs, to capture the true form and behaviour of bears for the movie. They also went to Fort Wilderness Resort and Campground at Walt Disney World in Florida for drawing sessions three times a week for two months. During their research trip in Alaska, the team also took the opportunity to sketch bears in their natural habitat. They flew into Geographic Harbor in Alaska, and saw 20-30 bears from the air, but they had all scattered once the team had landed. They sat for hours, hoping that at least one would come back, and one did; a huge male who walked down to the river just about six feet in front of them. There was also an incident at their campsite when they almost walked into a mother and her cubs one night[9]!

RECEPTION

Brother Bear was released on 1^st November 2003 in the United States, becoming Disney’s 44^th animated feature. It did well at the box office, bringing in a total of $250 million at the box office, however, the reviews were mixed. Brother Bear was compared unfavourably to The Lion King, Disney’s best “animal film” to many audiences. The Lion King Platinum Edition DVD was released a month earlier, in October. Disney probably thought the two releases would compliment each other, not realising that one may overshadow the other. On top of that, Pixar’s Finding Nemo, which had been released in May 2003, brought in over $900 million at the box office, showing that again Pixar were “beating” Disney[10]. 

In terms of critical reviews, some felt that Brother Bear may resonant with some viewers, calling it “sweet”, with a strong message about tolerance and understanding. Others liked the visual animation, but stated that the story was not strong enough and lacked originality. Many enjoyed the music in Brother Bear, but the comedic elements were a bit hit or miss, with some liking them and others hating them! One reviewer in the Los Angeles Times even stated that Disney have to try harder, and compared the movie unfavourably to Disney’s earlier hit of Lilo & Stitch (2002). Little did they know that things wouldn’t get much better for Disney until around 2010, even after they ditched their 2-D animation style[11]…

Brother Bear was nominated for Best Animated Film at multiple awards ceremonies in 2004, including the Academy Awards, the Critics Choice Awards, and the Annie Awards, where it was also nominated for other animation awards, however, it did not win any award, and lost out to – you guessed it – Finding Nemo…

When Brother Bear was released on DVD in 2004, some versions included the brilliant 45-minute-long documentary “Paths of Discovery: The Making of Brother Bear”, which is a very interesting look at the production process. But it did also include some strange additions, such as “outtakes”, in a similar style to those that Pixar had done on some of their earlier films such as A Bug’s Life (1998) and Toy Story 2 (1999). The outtakes were not particularly funny, unlike the Pixar ones, though Stitch did make an appearance in one. Another strange addition was a full commentary of the movie being provided by Rutt and Tuke. Not the voice actors, but the actual moose characters…

LEGACY

Despite Brother Bear’s lacklustre critical reception, it did receive the direct-to-video sequel treatment, with Brother Bear 2, which was released in 2006. It follows on a few months after the events of the first film, and details Kenai’s relationship with his childhood sweetheart from his past, and her impending marriage to someone else. Jeremy Suarez, Rick Moranis, Dave Thomas and Michael Clarke Duncan all returned to reprise their roles, however, Patrick Dempsey replaced Joaquin Phoenix as Kenai. Mandy Moore, who would later voice Rapunzel for Disney’s Tangled (2010), voices Nita, Kenai’s love interest.

There was some discussion around a television series based on Brother Bear being developed at one point, which would have revolved around Koda and Kenai adopting other orphaned animals into their family. The series was not picked up by Disney Channel executives. There was also talk of a spin-off involving Rutt and Tuke, the moose, but this never happened either[12].

At the Disney theme parks, Brother Bear is rarely featured in attractions, meet-and-greets, and even merchandise, due to the film’s lack of popularity, especially in comparison to other Disney animated movies. However, Koda and Kenai have appeared at Disneyland, Disneyland Paris and Walt Disney World. Most recently, the two bears appeared on a flotilla at Disney’s Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World Resort for Earth Day and the 25^th anniversary on 22nd April 2023. They appeared again for Earth Day in 2024. The two have not appeared at Disneyland and Disneyland Paris as recently, seeming to be more likely to appear at Animal Kingdom, however, they may appear at special events.

I didn’t think there was any attraction at any Disney theme park that was related to Brother Bear, but I actually found two, both at Disneyland California Adventure Park. The Redwood Creek Challenge Trail, a children’s play area, first opened at the park in 2001, and received a Brother Bear-themed overlay in 2003. Kenai and Koda did use to have a meet-and-greet location here at that point too. Most of the Brother Bear theming was removed when the area was rethemed to Pixar’s Up (2011) in 2011, however, one element does still remain and that is Kenai’s Spirit Cave, where you can put your hand on a monitor and it will tell you what your spirit animal is. Also in the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail, The Magic of Brother Bear Totem Ceremony used to be performed. It was a 20-minute show, based outside, with a costumed Kenai and Koda, two moose totem poles that spoke, meant to be Rutt and Tuke, and a Cast Member leading the ceremony, where a totem was given by the Spirits. This show ran from 2003 until apparently the winter of 2009, however, I didn’t find anything official to confirm the end date of the show.

The only other thing related to both Disney theme parks and Brother Bear is The Magic of Disney Animation pavilion at Disney’s MGM Studios – now Disney’s Hollywood Studios – at Walt Disney World. The Disney Feature Animation Florida Studio was first set up in 1989, and was considered an annex to the official Disney studio in Burbank. It was originally based in trailers roughly where Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster is today, with just 40 artists. In 1998, the studio was moved into its own $70 million building, located just behind The Magic of Disney Animation pavilion. The number of artists was expanded to around 400. The Florida Studio was responsible for primarily making Mulan (1998), Lilo & Stitch (2002), and Brother Bear, though the artists did do pieces for many of the other Disney features released during the Florida studio’s lifetime. The Florida studio closed in January 2004, meaning that Brother Bear was the third and final animated film to have been made there[13].

The Magic of Disney Animation pavilion opened in 1989 and guests could see real Disney animators working on actual Disney animated features. There were also character meet-and-greets, shows about the workings of hand-drawn animation and Disney animation history, and an opportunity to learn how to draw some of the most popular Disney characters yourself at The Animation Academy. I had many a meltdown as a child coming out of those, because my drawings were not as good as my sister’s – I’m not much of an artist! The Magic of Disney Animation outran the lifetime of the Florida Studio, therefore, the chance to actually see artists at work was not as prominent or marketed after 2004. The Magic of Disney Animation pavilion closed in July 2015, where it became Star Wars Launch Bay, which still exists today, mostly as an exhibition area and meet-and-greet location for characters like BB-8, Chewbacca and Darth Vader.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Brother Bear is, for me, an underrated movie. I’m not sure enough people have given it a chance over the years, and I’m thinking more should go back and watch this one, especially now that Disney+ makes viewing all these Disney animated features so easy to do. I like the humour in it, though I know some people claim it’s a bit “too much” or too forced, and I love the music. The story is moving for me, especially the Transformation scenes, both the first and the last one, with the themes of forgiveness, understanding, and brotherhood being very prominent. It’s a simple message, but one that is too often forgotten – that we are all the same inside, even though our outsides are different, and that understanding other people’s points of view can make for a much more peaceful world.

I would encourage anyone who has not seen Brother Bear for a few years, or since they were a child, to go back to it and see if it has a different effect on you. I know it did for me. Even the less popular Disney animated features deserve to be remembered.

---

On a final note, I wanted to take a moment to remember Disney historian and writer, Jim Korkis, who sadly passed away on 28^th July 2023. 

I have been a fan of his work since The Vault of Walt, first published in 2010, which I bought as a present for my mum, before stealing it and taking it for myself, and making my way through the other ten books! I have featured sections from many of Jim’s articles and books in my pieces, as anyone who sees the list of credits may have noticed.

I found multiple articles that Jim wrote about Brother Bear this week, whilst researching, and it seemed to be a film that he felt was underrated. Jim stated how he used to teach classes to interns at Disney Feature Animation Florida, where he was able to attend some special presentations about Brother Bear. Jim expressed his disappointment at the fact that many Disney fans of today seem to ignore many of the Disney animated features that are not considered “iconic”, something that I have made sure not to do myself by re-watching all of them and trying to find something good in each of them.

I will never be as good a writer as Jim, and certainly not as good a researcher, but by crediting his work in my own pieces, I hope that shows my respect and admiration for his work, and how he has inspired me to write. Luckily, I still have more of Jim’s books to read, and therefore plenty more to learn.

Rest in peace, Jim. You’ll be missed.

---

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Disney, “Paths of Discovery: The Making of Brother Bear”, from Brother Bear (2003) 2-Disc Special Edition DVD (2004).

[2] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘In Their Own Words: The Directors of “Brother Bear”, CartoonResearch.com, 30^th April 2021.

[3] Credit: Disney, “Deleted Scenes”, from Brother Bear (2003), DVD (2004).

[4] Credit: Disney, “Deleted Scenes”, from Brother Bear (2003), DVD (2004).

[5] Credit: Disney, “Paths of Discovery: The Making of Brother Bear”, from Brother Bear (2003) 2-Disc Special Edition DVD (2004).

[6] Credit: Disney, “Bear Legends: Native American Tales”, from Brother Bear (2003), DVD (2004).

[7] Credit: Disney, “Paths of Discovery: The Making of Brother Bear”, from Brother Bear (2003) 2-Disc Special Edition DVD (2004).

[8] Credit: Disney, “Art Review”, from Brother Bear (2003), DVD (2004).

[9] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘In Their Own Words: The Directors of “Brother Bear”’, CartoonResearch.com, 30^th April 2021.

[10] Credit: Mari Ness, ‘The End of an Animated Era: Disney’s Brother Bear’, Tor.com, 3^rd November 2016.

[11] Credit: Kenneth Turan, ‘Old school ‘Brother Bear’’, Los Angeles Times (online), 25^th October 2003.

[12] Credit: John Witiw, ’10 Things You Didn’t Know About Brother Bear’, CBR.com, 30^th March 2021.

[13] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘Disney Films Done at Disney Feature Animaton Florida’, YourFirstVisit.net, date unknown.

1. BACKGROUND
2. PLOT
3. CHARACTERS & CAST
4. MUSIC
5. PRODUCTION
6. RECEPTION
7. LEGACY
8. FINAL THOUGHTS
9. REFERENCES

BACKGROUND

After the disappointing releases of Treasure Planet in 2002, Brother Bear in 2003, and Home on the Range in 2004, Disney Animation decide to do away with their traditional, 2D hand-drawn animation style and launch headfirst into the world of computer-animation with their first fully computer-animated movie, Chicken Little, which was released in 2005. 

Despite the technological advancement, and the fact that Disney’s competitors, such as Pixar and DreamWorks, had had huge success with this style for numerous years by this point, for Disney, it did not go well. 

Not many people think much of Chicken Little, saying that it was not a good introduction to CG animation for Disney. I’ll admit that it does look strange, almost like you’re watching the half-finished computer simulation of a movie, and that it doesn’t feel very “Disney”, but I actually quite like Chicken Little. I think it’s a very funny film and I enjoy the music, so I can easily get past things not looking “quite right” and focus on the plot, which has a mixture of comedic, exciting, and emotional moments.

Chicken Little did not signal the start of a new successful wave of animated movies for the Disney Studios, as Meet the Robinsons (2007) and Bolt (2008), the next two movie releases in this same medium, would also fall a bit flat, especially in comparison to Pixar. But by 2010, with the release of Tangled, a film that did incredibly well, Disney seemed to show that they were fully at home with CG, with their following movies continuing to be notable.

But back to Chicken Little.

PLOT

Disney’s Chicken Little is loosely based on the original story of the same name, though “Henny Penny” is another name for it, especially in Europe. Where the first version of the story came from is unclear, however, the first person to record the story was a Danish scholar called Just Mathias Thiele, who began collecting Danish folktales, and published his first collection of tales in 1818. “Henny Penny” first appeared in his 1823 collection.

As Thiele’s version of the story was not translated into English until 1853, English speakers and readers would’ve been familiar with American illustrator John Green Chandler’s version instead, which he published as a pamphlet titled “The Remarkable Story of Chicken Little” in 1840. Chandler’s version became widely published and very popular, with the use of the term “chicken little” to describe a scaremonger becoming adopted colloquially in the 19^th Century.

The basic plotline follows a small, anxious chicken, called Chicken Little, who believes that the sky is falling, after a “piece of the sky” hits the chicken on its head – it’s actually just an acorn. But Chicken Little is so scared that the world is ending, that it goes to tell all the other animals that he passes by, warning them of the imminent danger. Eventually, Chicken Little and a group of animals, all with rhyming names such as Goosey Loosey and Turkey Lurkey, come to Foxy Loxy, who invites all of them into its den as shelter. Instead of protecting them, Foxy Loxy kills and eats them all…In later versions of the story, this ending would be changed to them finding a king who reassures the animals that only rain falls from the sky, to avoid any chance of childhood trauma[1]! 

Disney’s movie begins right at the point where Chicken Little is telling the people of Oakey Oaks that the sky is falling, causing chaos and mayhem across the whole town. Eventually, everyone calms down enough to hear Chicken Little’s story, where he takes them to the scene of the crime. He stands under the big oak tree, saying that a piece of the sky fell and hit him on the head, explaining that it was hexagonal shaped, like a “Stop” sign, but that it was blue and had cloud on it. Everyone is confused, as no such piece is found anywhere near them. Chicken Little’s father, Buck, comes over and says that it was just an acorn that would’ve hit him on the head. Chicken Little is embarrassed that his father doesn’t believe him and tries to explain again, except he’s so flustered that he is incoherent and looks ridiculous in front of the news crews and journalists who have surrounded him.

A year later, Chicken Little and Buck are still humiliated by the incident, with numerous items of merchandise having been made since it happened; they even pass a billboard for a movie detailing the whole event, titled “Crazy Little Chicken the Movie”, as well as bumper stickers, on the drive to the bus stop. Chicken Little vows to make his dad proud and make everyone forget what happened, but Buck is not convinced and tells him to keep his head down instead. Chicken Little is optimistic of the new day, despite various issues getting to school, such as missing the bus; getting stuck in gum on the street; losing his trousers; and having to use a shaken-up soda bottle to get into the school, eventually making it to school and constructing some shorts out of his math homework! But he ends up locked in his locker by a careless janitor and is late to class again.

In “Mutton Class”, we meet Chicken Little’s friends: Abby Mallard, a duck; Runt, a pig who is the “runt of the litter”, despite being huge; and Fish, who is literally a fish out of water, with a scuba helmet on his head full of water so he can breathe! They are teased by popular kids, Foxy Loxy and Goosey Loosey. They then go to gym class, where they are playing dodgeball, popular kids vs. unpopular kids – nice. Chicken Little arrives just in time to help his friends get through the game, with him telling Abby about his plan to do something great to make everyone forget what happened, but Abby tells Chicken Little he needs to talk to his dad so they can both find closure. Chicken Little isn’t so sure. At one point, class is stopped, which allows Foxy and Goosey to bully Chicken Little, throwing him up against the wall, where he slides down on to the fire alarm, setting off the sprinklers, which causes not only his dad to be called to the principal’s office, but also for his paper shorts to disintegrate!

On their way home, Chicken Little tells his dad he’s going to join the baseball team, something that his dad had done during his school years and had done so well for the school that he was given the nickname “Ace”. But as Chicken Little is so small, Buck doesn’t think it’s such a good idea. Chicken Little does it anyway, and though he is constantly benched, his friends train him to be better. During the final championship game, due to multiple injuries in the team, Chicken Little gets the chance to bat. His coach tells him not to swing, so Foxy Loxy can come up to bat afterwards and save the day, but Chicken Little believes he can do it. The first two swings he misses, but surprisingly to everyone watching, including the outfield players who expected an “easy out”, his third swing hits! Chicken Little is so stunned that he forgets to run, before running the wrong way. He sorts himself out and starts running the bases, going for a home run. The outfield fumbles the ball multiple times, before getting it stuck on a bull’s horns, so they pick the bull up and run him to the final base. The two groups collide, spraying mud and dust everywhere, so it looks like Chicken Little was nowhere near the base. But the mud is brushed away and Chicken Little’s toe is just on – the team wins and Chicken Little is the hero!

This goes a long way to helping Chicken Little’s status in Oakey Oaks, and building a relationship with his dad, who has struggled since Chicken Little’s mother, Chloe, died. But as Chicken Little is getting ready for bed, something comes through his window and hits him – it’s a hexagonal bit of sky again! This time, he doesn’t let the piece get away from him, and gets his friends to come over to look at it. They all admit it’s real and strange. Fish gets on top of it, and presses some button, which makes it take off, with him on it. Chicken Little, Abby, and Runt follow the glow stick that Fish was holding all the way to the baseball field, where a spaceship lands. Two tentacled aliens come out of it. The friends go in to rescue Fish. They quickly run off the ship as they find a map of the galaxy, with planets seemingly “crossed off” as though they have been destroyed, with Earth next. The aliens return to the ship to find their alien child missing, and think the friends have taken it, so start to follow them. The friends run to the schoolhouse and ring the bell, alerting the town to another disaster. The aliens see that they will be spotted and get into their ship, taking off quickly. As the townspeople are so slow to follow Chicken Little to the site of the spaceship, they miss it, and he looks crazy again, even though Abby, Fish, and Runt stick up for him.

The next morning, Buck is dealing with calls and hate mail, apologising to everyone for his son’s mistake. Chicken Little is upset, and meets up with his friends, where Abby reiterates that him and his dad really need to talk more. Suddenly, a little three-eyed orange alien comes out of nowhere, freaking everyone out! Fish talks to it, where they learn he is called Kirby and that his parents left him and he’s lost. Then, the sky really does start to fall, as a whole galactic armada of aliens come to Oakey Oaks and invade the town, destroying buildings and vaporising the townsfolk. Chicken Little realises that this is a rescue mission for Kirby and tries to return him to his parents. At the same time, Buck comes to get Chicken Little so they can escape, admitting that he was right about the sky falling. Chicken Little tries to explain the situation but he won’t listen, and they end up sheltering in a cinema, where Chicken Little finally tells his dad how he’s never there for him and doesn’t trust him. Buck tells Chicken Little he’s sorry for making him feel that way and that he does love him, giving them that “closure moment” that Abby was so desperate for them to have. Chicken Little also tells Abby that he likes her and kisses her, as him and his dad set off to return Kirby. They climb up to the top of Town Hall and try to explain to the aliens what happened, but they believe Kirby was kidnapped, so the two are vaporised.

Inside the ship, a “Wizard of Oz-like” booming voice tells them to return Kirby – they do – and that they will be destroyed, with guns and pointy weapons surrounding them. Kirby tells his father that what the two said was true, with his wife also saying how it was a misunderstanding and to put the guns away and put them down, as well as turn off the “big voice”. Despite the big tentacled suits they wear, they are actually small, fluffy aliens! The aliens return everyone back to Oakey Oaks, and apologise for the confusion. It turns out they come to Oakey Oaks every year, “on the way to the in-laws”, to get the best acorns, with one of the ship’s panels constantly falling off, which explains what happened to Chicken Little a year ago. Buck and Chicken Little discuss what movie they’ll make of him now, with Chicken Little hoping they stay true to the story.

One year later, a new movie is released, but it is not at all true to the real events! Chicken Little is a big, muscly intergalactic hero; Abby is a model-like companion; Fish is a talking tech guy; and Runt is a cool navigator, with the whole thing becoming an intergalactic mission! But everyone at Oakey Oaks is happy, with Chicken Little and Abby now a couple, and Chicken Little and his dad getting on better than ever.

CHARACTERS & CAST

Initially, and throughout most of the movie, I suppose, Chicken Little is a social pariah in the town of Oakey Oaks. People think he’s crazy, so they move away from him in the street, whisper things about him, and generally avoid him whenever they see him; it’s quite upsetting to see. At school, he is bullied, partly for his small stature, and for his infamous “the sky is falling” incident. It’s not an easy life for Chicken Little, yet he tries his best to remain upbeat and positive, saying that “today is a new day” and instead of moping around that life isn’t fair, he comes up with the plan to join the baseball team and works hard at it to try and become the town’s hero instead of the resident oddball. Chicken Little is boosted by his three closest friends: Abby, Runt and Fish; they help keep him optimistic and protect him from other people’s mean comments. After the baseball game win, Chicken Little is proclaimed a winner by the townsfolk, yet when he tries to tell them about the aliens, even with three other witnesses to corroborate his story, he goes back to being the same weirdo they knew before. But again, this doesn’t stop Chicken Little, and even with his father’s disapproval and lack of support, he manages to show the town that he was right, and helps save them all.

Originally, Chicken Little was going to be a girl, and a very anxious one at that. In a deleted opening scene, she was going to be sat in bed, terrified of noises that were going on in the house, to find it was just her dad going downstairs[2]. But Chicken Little became a boy as it was decided that it was more difficult for boys to be small than girls. Chicken Little is meant to be around 12 or 13 years old, but just small for his age, so the animators gave him classic “cute” proportions, like a bigger head and large eyes. To match his age, not his size, Disney were looking for a slightly older voice, with a teenage ring to it, and they settled on actor Zach Braff. Braff made his voice higher-pitched to match the character, so didn’t use his regular voice, but the team loved how fast he could talk, and felt it suited the character of Chicken Little – there are certainly moments when he is rambling super-fast! Zach Braff is best known for his role as J.D. on the television series Scrubs (2001-2010), but more recently, Braff has moved into directing, having directed the 2023 movie A Good Person, starring Florence Pugh and Morgan Freeman.

Chicken Little’s Hollywood “counterpart”, the big muscly hero, “Ace”, who is almost the complete opposite of Chicken Little, with the Hollywood movie of his story clearly having been subject to a lot of artistic and dramatic license, is voiced by actor Adam West, who performed many voice-over roles for animated series, such as in The Fairly OddParents (2001-17), The Simpsons (1989-present), and Kim Possible (2002-07). West also portrayed Batman in the series Batman (1966-1968) and the theatrical film (1966). He died in 2017.

Buck Cluck is Chicken Little’s father, who has been struggling to raise Chicken Little as a single father, since the death of his wife, Chloe. He wants to do what’s best for Chicken Little, but instead of being supportive, to avoid drama with the other Oakey Oaks residents, he plays down Chicken Little’s comments, being the first to tell everyone that the sky didn’t fall on Chicken Little, but just an acorn, embarrassing his son in the process. I think he’s trying to do what’s best for Chicken Little, by telling him that it’s ok to just keep your head down and not say anything controversial, but by doing that, he just makes his son think he doesn’t care about him, or believe anything he says. At times, Buck comes across as dismissive, and even a bit mean, only seemingly wanting to have anything to do with his son again after he wins the baseball game, a sport that Buck had a lot of success in when he was in high school, but being quick to shut down anything Chicken Little says about aliens. But by the end of the movie, they have reconciled, with Chicken Little telling his dad about how he feels, and Buck feeling guilty for making his son think he didn’t love him or care about him, and vowing to do whatever he can to support him – like carrying a lost alien child over to the “mothership” and risk being vaporised and destroyed by them!

Garry Marshall voices Buck, as they felt that Marshall was very good at getting across “angst”, which is perfect for Buck as he is overwhelmed most of the time! Marshall does a good job with this role. Marshall was a screenwriter, actor, and producer, but is perhaps most known for his directing work, having directed the likes of Pretty Woman (1990), Runaway Bride (1999), The Princess Diaries (2001), and its sequel The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004). Garry Marshall died in 2016.

Abby Mallard is Chicken Little’s best friend. She is going through those awkward pre-teen years, comparing herself to other people based on her looks, which isn’t helped by bullies calling her “ugly duckling”, though that does suggest to the audience that she will become a beautiful swan later in life. Abby is a very caring and loyal friend, to Chicken Little, as well as Runt and Fish, with them being a little group that don’t care that they aren’t popular. For much of the movie, Abby is concerned by Chicken Little’s difficult relationship with his father, and encourages Chicken Little to find “closure”, something that she keeps reading about in her teenage magazines! Abby later becomes Chicken Little’s girlfriend, as once Chicken Little and his father get “closure” on their problems, he seems to become quite bold and kisses Abby in that most romantic of settings: during an alien invasion. She doesn’t care though and is clearly thrilled. They make a cute couple.

Abby Mallard is voiced by actress Joan Cusack, who the Disney team felt brought a warmth and sincerity to Abby with her voice acting. Cusack is currently the voice of Jessie in the Toy Story franchise (1999-present), but is also known for her roles as Debbie in Addams Family Values (1993); as Ms Mullins in School of Rock (2003); and voiced the part of Mrs. Krum in the Netflix-released Klaus (2019). Jodie Foster, Helen Hunt, and Laura Dern were also considered for the role of Abby[3].

Runt of the Litter and Fish Out of Water are Chicken Little’s other two friends. Runt is actually a very large pig, and towers over everyone else at school, but he is still the “runt” of the litter as his family is even larger! Runt is very anxious a lot of the time, getting easily stressed out over things, like when they go into the alien spaceship and are then chased away by them. Runt is funny though, and likes to sing and perform, having a go at “Wannabe” by The Spice Girls alongside Abby at one of her sleepovers. Fish is a goldfish who has to wear a scuba helmet filled with water so that he can survive on land. Fish can actually walk around using his back fins. Though he does not speak, Abby, Chicken Little and Runt can understand what he’s saying. Fish is quite intelligent and brave, not fearing anything; he isn’t bothered that he ended up on a strange alien spaceship, for example. Fish was brought in and out of the story multiple times during development, but it was decided he would stay as a character to give an uplifting, fun balance to the group. Actor and comedian Steve Zahn voices Runt. Zahn had done voice acting work before, such as voicing Monty the cat in Stuart Little (1999) and Stuart Little 2 (2002). Steve Zahn has also acted in movies and television series, such as Marvin in Daddy Day Care (2003), Tucker in Dallas Buyers Club (2013), and Mark Mossbacher in Season 1 of The White Lotus (2021). Dan Molina, the film editor for Chicken Little, “voices” Fish.

As for the other characters in Chicken Little, there are many more, so I will only mention a few. Actress and comedian Amy Sedaris voices the school’s main bully, Foxy Loxy. Foxy thinks she’s the star of the show, and that anyone who isn’t popular is just a loser. She is the main antagonist to Chicken Little, along with her sidekick Goosey Loosey. Yet at the end of movie, her brain waves become “scrambled” after the aliens put her back in Oakey Oaks after being vaporised. This turns Foxy into an all-singing, all-dancing, sweet girly girl, the complete opposite to her mean, tomboy persona. Sedaris has had a mixture of voice and in-person acting roles, but most recently for Disney, she appeared as Peli Motto in The Book of Boba Fett (2022) and The Mandalorian (2019-2023).

Don Knotts voices the friendly, but easily distracted and not very smart, Mayor Turkey Lurkey in the movie. He was most known for his role as Deputy Sheriff Barney Fife on The Andy Griffith Show back in the 1960s, and had numerous acting roles in the 1970s and 80s.

Some other interesting voice actors who performed in Chicken Little are: Catherine O’Hara, of Home Alone (1990) and Schitt’s Creek (2015-20) fame, voices Tina, the mother of little lost alien Kirby; and Fred Willard, who died in 2020, but acted as Ed Harken in the Anchorman films (2004-13) and as Amy’s father in Everybody Loves Raymond from 2003 to 2005, is Melvin, the father of Kirby, and husband to Tina.

Patrick Stewart has a surprise appearance voicing Mr. Woolensworth, the Mutton teacher at school, and Wallace Shawn, the voice of Rex in the Toy Story franchise (1995-present) voices Principal Fetchit.

MUSIC

The soundtrack on Chicken Little is a bit different to other Disney animated movies, as the majority of the songs are actually popular songs, although some are covers, such as Runt and Foxy Loxy singing Elton John’s “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” during the End Credits, “We Are the Champions” by Queen being sung by Chicken Little after his baseball game, and “Wannabe” by The Spice Girls being performed by Abby and Runt. Other songs that were included in the movie’s soundtrack are R.E.M’s “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” being played during the alien invasion, which I think works very well and I particularly like this inclusion; Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive”, being used as motivation for Runt driving during the invasion; Diana Ross’s “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”, being used at the end of the Hollywood movie – and therefore, the end of the actual movie; and “All I Know” by Five for Fighting, which is an emotionally sad song to mirror Chicken Little’s mood after a difficult car ride home from school with his father, when he doesn’t want Chicken Little to join the baseball team. Another song, only used in the End Credits, is “Shake a Tail Feather”, performed by The Cheetah Girls, who were popular on the Disney Channel at the time of the movie’s release.

For the movie, Patti LaBelle’s song “Stir It Up” was re-recorded with Joss Stone. Patti LaBelle was happy to work with Disney on a song for one of their movies. I really like this song, and I think it’s energetic and boosts the mood when Chicken Little has been benched on his baseball team, but tries hard to train himself up to be better.

The only original song written for Chicken Little is the anthem of the movie, “One Little Slip” by the Barenaked Ladies. This song is used during Chicken Little’s difficult journey to school after missing the bus, with this in-progress sequence being shown to the band to inspire them to write the song. It is uplifting and hopeful, showing Chicken Little’s attitude to life – that he’s just going to keep going, and get everyone to forget about what happened previously. It’s a very good song, I like it a lot, but it is a shame that it is the only original song written for the movie.

The score for Chicken Little was composed by John Debney, who had previously worked on Hocus Pocus (1993), The Emperor’s New Groove (2000), The Princess Diaries (2001) and Snow Dogs (2003) for Disney, but has composed scores for many other movies, including more recently, Marry Me (2022) and Hocus Pocus 2 (2022).  The score mixes emotional scenes with the action and science-fiction elements that feature within the plot[4]. I do not remember any specific parts of the score that I like within Chicken Little, unfortunately, but I love “One Little Slip”, “Stir It Up” and “It’s the End of the World as We Know It” – they are my favourite songs in the whole soundtrack, though the Chicken Little soundtrack does not compare to those of many other Disney movies, due to its lack of originality; it’s just not as memorable.

PRODUCTION

This was not the first time that the Disney Studios had adapted the story of “Chicken Little”, as there was a short film released, also titled Chicken Little, in 1943, during World War II, which is more similar to the original folktale than the movie is.

It follows a barnyard community, where Foxy Loxy wants to make everyone do what he says, even though Cocky Locky is the leader around the barnyard. Foxy Loxy decides that Chicken Little, a stupid little chicken, will be the best person to influence. Foxy Loxy throws a bit of fence on Chicken Little’s head, so that he will tell everyone the sky is falling. Cocky Locky quickly debunks it, however, Foxy Loxy then spreads gossip that Cocky Locky has gone crazy, with the message making its way around to everyone. Chicken Little, encouraged by Foxy Loxy, proclaims himself as the new leader and gets everyone to follow him to “the cave” as shelter, which is actually Foxy Loxy’s den. Once they enter the den, all the animals are soon eaten – despite the Narrator telling the audience that’s not how it ended in his book. Foxy Loxy simply says “Don’t believe every thing you read, brother!”.

Legendary Disney animators such as Ward Kimball, Milt Kahl, Ollie Johnston and John Lounsbery worked on the short, with radio actor Frank Graham providing all the characters’ voices, as well as that of the Narrator. This short was clearly meant as an allegory of the war and about the powers of propaganda. In the initial release, Foxy Loxy was even shown to be reading a copy of “Mein Kampf”, Hitler’s manifesto. In later releases, the book’s title was simply changed to “Psychology”[5].

Disney’s 2005 movie of Chicken Little began development in the early 2000s. Director Mark Dindal had just finished working on The Emperor’s New Groove (2000), a challenging movie, with many story changes and difficult relations, when he came up with the concept for Chicken Little, though Dindal’s original idea was very different to the movie that Disney released.

The first idea was that Chicken Little, originally a girl, which is in line with Chandler’s version of the story of “Chicken Little”, would have joined a summer camp, in the hopes of impressing her father, who she had a difficult relationship with. Whilst at the camp, Chicken Little would discover that the camp counsellors were literally wolves in sheep’s clothing, who were trying to fatten up the camp-goers with plans to eat them. Chicken Little would have managed to save the day and win everyone’s approval. However, when this concept was brought to then-Disney CEO Michael Eisner, he stepped in and said that Chicken Little should be a boy, not a girl, as market research had stated that boys were less likely to watch a movie about a girl, whereas girls would watch movies about boys. This does not seem to be a point that bothers Disney any more, given some of their most popular releases of recent times, like Frozen (2013), Tangled (2010), Encanto (2021), have been “about girls”. But Chicken Little being a small boy was also seen to be more interesting to the story than a small girl, as boys have a harder time being short than girls.

In 2003, David Stainton took over from Thomas Schumacher as president of Walt Disney Feature Animation. Stainton hated the early version of Chicken Little, calling it a “trainwreck” and told the team to completely re-work the story. It was also at this point that it was decided that the movie would be shifting from traditional 2D animation to computer-animation, despite their little experience in the medium. Relations between Disney and Pixar were difficult at this time, with their working collaboration due to end in 2006, so it was thought that by making Chicken Little in CG, Disney could prove that they no longer needed Pixar’s involvement and could make computer-animated movies without them[6].

During production on the movie, there was some debate over how to begin the movie, especially as it was uncertain how many people already knew the tale of “Chicken Little”. As a way to provide some background to the movie the viewer was about to watch, the team decided that they could do a storybook opening, as a nod to the original Disney 2D animated fairytale opening sequences, and as a way to quickly tell the audience about Chicken Little and the sky falling on his head. This was just one alternate opening that was cut[7]. The actual opening is a parody on other famous Disney opening scenes, where it begins with a beam of light, magic sparkles and the clichéd “Once Upon A Time”, before showing a clip of The Lion King’s (1994) opening sequence, and then seeming to go for a traditional storybook opening. But Buck, Chicken Little’s father, who is “narrating”, hates that idea, and decides we should go straight to the day “things took a turn for the worse”, taking us right into the action. I love this version of the opening; I think it’s really clever and funny.

Not everyone at Disney Animation had any experience of using 3D animation at this time, so much training was needed to get everyone up to speed on the new style. They did find, though, that there were opportunities to draw on screens at some points, making it more similar to what the animators had been used to. They found that with the computer-generated character models, because they were like digital puppets, with lots of movements and joints, the animators could control each area and make their movements more subtle and detailed than is generally possible in 2D animation. The team said that Walt Disney loved new technology and he would’ve embraced this new medium[8].

To add further complication to the process, eleven months before Chicken Little’s release date, it was decided that the movie would be released in some theatres in 3D, technology that hadn’t even existed when the film first went into production, and something that had not had enough time to yet prove its popularity with audiences, with some 3D releases around this time having received mixed reviews.  

RECEPTION

Chicken Little premiered in 3D at 84 theatres around the United States. The release of The Polar Express in Christmas 2004 showed that audiences would go to see films in 3D, so Disney thought they should try it, though it was a bit of a leap of faith. Disney deployed 84 state-of-the-art REAL D projection screens for these screenings, and even assigned an engineer to each 3D screen for the opening weekend of Chicken Little[9].

To promote Chicken Little’s release, two inflatables of a giant Chicken Little head appeared at both Disney’s MGM Studios (now Disney’s Hollywood Studios) at Walt Disney World Resort and at Disney’s California Adventure in Disneyland. At California Adventure, the head was visible from the Esplanade, whereas at Disney’s MGM Studios, it appeared over the building that then housed Playhouse Disney – Live on Stage! The building now hosts Disney Junior – Live on Stage! These inflatables may have drawn park-goers’ attention, but they were branded “creepy”, with some saying that it was disturbing how they could be seen from some distance within the parks[10].

Chicken Little was released on 4^th November 2005 in the United States, making $300 million worldwide, however, it was torn apart by critics, with many disliking the storyline, and finding the movie unamusing, though believing that it would still be appropriate for entertaining very young children, but lacking the universal appeal of some of Disney’s previous animated movies.

LEGACY

Chicken Little did spawn two different video games, with one being based on the storyline of the movie, and the second one being inspired by the superhero movie and the characters within it, such as the action hero “Ace”. But, due to the lack of popularity around the movie, Chicken Little and its characters have not been particularly prevalent at the Disney Parks, though Abby Mallard and Chicken Little both appeared as character meet-and-greets as part of promotional activities for the movie in and around 2005/2006. At Disney’s MGM Studios, their meet-and-greet location was within the Magic of Disney Animation attraction. They also both starred in the Disney Stars and Motor Cars parade at that time[11].

Apart from promotional activities, Abby and Chicken Little have not been seen regularly at the parks, these being the only two characters from the Chicken Little movie who appear as walkaround characters at the Disney Parks. I did not find evidence of them ever appearing at the parks in Asia, however, they were available to meet at Disneyland, Walt Disney World, and at Disneyland Paris. The most frequent sightings I could find were at Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World, where both Chicken Little and Abby Mallard greeted guests in July 2013 for “Long Lost Friends Week”, and then again in early 2019 for “Mickey and Minnie’s Surprise Celebration”. Chicken Little was the Disneyland Honorary Grand Marshal of the Day in 2005 during Disneyland’s 50^th Anniversary, and was seen at a Halloween event at Disneyland Paris in 2007, however, Chicken Little, and Abby, may have been spotted more recently than that at those parks. It is likely at some point the two will show up randomly at some special event!

The only award that Chicken Little won during the 2006 Award Season was Worst Animated Film at the “Stinkers Bad Movie Awards”, though it was nominated at the Kids’ Choice Awards, Critics’ Choice Awards, and Annie Awards for Best Animated Feature. Chicken Little lost to DreamWorks’ Madagascar (2005) at the Kids’ Choice Awards, and to Aardman’s Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005) at the other two. This must have been disappointing to those who worked on Chicken Little, as the movie was in development during some very turbulent times at the Walt Disney Company. Chicken Little may have been reviewed by CEO Michael Eisner at the start of production, but by the time of its theatrical release, there was a new CEO: Bob Iger.

Potentially because of the little success received by Chicken Little, Iger made sure to keep the working relationship with Pixar Studios going. On 24^th January 2006, Disney announced their intention to purchase Pixar, which was completed on 5^th May 2006[12]. A direct-to-video sequel for Chicken Little, which would have potentially focused on Abby and how she felt about her physical appearance, was soon cancelled by John Lasseter after the deal went through, as Lasseter became the Chief Creative Officer at both studios[13].

FINAL THOUGHTS

Unfortunately, Chicken Little is either disregarded or completely forgotten by Disney fans, because of its disappointing reviews. I still say that I like it. I don’t think it looks spectacular, but as Disney’s first attempt at making a fully computer animated movie, it wasn’t terrible. I think it’s funny, and has its touching moments too. I like the music, and though I don’t love the characters, I did find that I at least liked them. It seems incredibly unfair that so many people love to hate Chicken Little, because so much hard work and effort went into the movie, during a particularly difficult time at the Disney Studios.

Though Chicken Little is not a perfect example of a computer-animated movie, it was one step closer to creating the brilliant movies that Disney Animation make today.

---

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Mari Ness, ‘The Sky Is Falling! Maybe! “Henny Penny” or “Chicken Little”’, Tor.com, 5^th May 2016.

[2] Credit: Disney, “Deleted Scenes”, from Chicken Little (2005), DVD (2006).

[3] Credit: Jim Korkis, Everything I Know I Learned from Disney Animated Feature Films (2015), ‘Chicken Little (2005)’, pp. 136-138.

[4] Credit: Disney, “Hatching Chicken Little”, from Chicken Little (2005), DVD (2006).

[5] Credit: Devon Baxter, ‘Disney’s “Chicken Little” Cartoon from 1943’, CartoonResearch.com, 22^nd June 2016.

[6] Credit: Jared Bruett, ‘Disney’s Chicken Little Was in the Wrong Place at the Wrong Time’, GameRant.com, 10^th November 2020.

[7] Credit: Disney, “Deleted Scenes”, from Chicken Little (2005), DVD (2006).

[8] Credit: Disney, “Hatching Chicken Little”, from Chicken Little (2005), DVD (2006).

[9] Credit: Buck Wolf, ‘’Chicken Little’ Wings It in 3-D’, ABC News (online), 7^th November 2005.

[10] Credit: Author Unknown, ‘Chicken Little Blow Up Disney’s MGM Studios’, ThemeParksandEntertainment.com, 20^th June 2020.

[11] Credit: Author Unknown, ‘Chicken Little stars arrive at the Studios’, WDWMagic.com, 18^th June 2005.

[12] Credit: Jim Korkis, Everything I Know I Learned from Disney Animated Feature Films (2015), ‘Chicken Little (2005)’, pp. 136-138.

[13] Credit: Drew Taylor, ‘Disney’s ‘Chicken Little’: Inside the Troubled History of the Studio’s First CGI Feature’, Collider.com, 9^th November 2020.

1. BACKGROUND
2. PLOT
3. CHARACTERS & CAST
4. PRODUCTION
5. MUSIC
6. RECEPTION
7. LEGACY
8. FINAL THOUGHTS
9. REFERENCES

BACKGROUND

I’ve been waiting weeks to be able to talk about Home on the Range.

Not because it’s good, but because it has been dubbed one of the worst Disney animated features of all time.

For a period of around five years, my family stopped going to watch the latest Disney animated film release both at the cinema and on DVD. This began with Home on the Range. Most members of my family still have not seen this movie – but I have. I watched it for the first time around 2016, when the UK-released Disney Life app was in existence and I found I had access to the Disney movies that we had missed between 2004 and 2008. I didn’t like it then, and barely paid attention to it, so I was curious to know what I’d think of it now.

After re-watching Home on the Range, I found that it was alright. Parts of it are not particularly interesting, some are just plain strange, and others are good. It’s an odd mixture, but the biggest thing is that it just doesn’t feel like a Disney movie, despite the traditional hand-drawn animation. Home on the Range would be the last of this kind, until a brief revival with The Princess and the Frog in 2009 and Winnie the Pooh in 2011.

The fact that it is a Western-style movie doesn’t help with my opinion on it, because I’ve never been a big fan of anything set up as a “Western”. I don’t like Back to the Future Part III (1990), even though I like the other two, for this very reason! It also has some very “un-Disney” jokes, which can be awkward to sit through. But on the whole, it’s not unwatchable, which is helped by its 75-minute runtime. Though I would re-watch it at some point, it sits towards the bottom of any personal rankings of Disney Animated movies – I dislike others a whole lot more, like some of the earlier “package films”, and definitely Pinocchio (1940) but it is nowhere near good enough to be classed as a “favourite”.

PLOT

As the movie is called Home on the Range and as I mentioned that it is Western-themed, with the name of the film coming from the traditional cowboy song of the same name, it should come as no surprise that the opening of this film features typical cowboys, cacti, deserts, canyons, and snakes, to really set the scene, with an unfortunate rabbit being bounced around between bulls, a coyote and birds. We see the Sheriff pin a “Wanted” poster on a tree, of a cattle rustler called Alameda Slim. There is a $750 reward for his capture.

After this, we see a cow being moved to a farm. She, Maggie, narrates her story, telling us that her owner’s, Abner, Dixon Ranch had to be sold after his whole cattle herd – apart from her – was stolen by Alameda Slim. She is being moved to a dairy farm, called Patch of Heaven. Everything seems rosy over there, with the owner, Pearl, keeping everything harmonious with all the animals: chickens, goats, pigs, and cows. Maggie introduces herself to the group, where she is found to be brash, loud, and a tad bit vulgar, much to the annoyance of the long-standing Mrs. Calloway, who is oh-so-posh and dislikes Maggie instantly for her lack of class. The other cow at the farm, Grace, is quite happy to have Maggie with them, though she is a bit ditzy.

Soon, Buck, the Sheriff’s horse, arrives with Sheriff Sam, who has come to deliver a bank notice to Pearl. With cattle missing all across the state, the banks are calling in their debts. Pearl has three days to pay $750 or the farm will be going to auction. Sam suggests Pearl sell off some livestock to pay off the debt, but she angrily refuses, telling Sam these animals are her family. Maggie suggests to the other animals that they can earn the money by going to the County Fair to be “show animals”; Maggie was a prolific “show cow” at her previous home. As the County Fair is not for another two weeks, Maggie and Grace set off to town to ask for more time on the bank notice; Mrs. Calloway reluctantly joins them. They find Buck, fantasising about being a bounty hunter’s horse so he can fight bad guys, and ask for an extension on the notice. He refuses.

Their conversation is abruptly ended by the arrival of Rico, a successful bounty hunter, who has come to get money for his latest capture. Sheriff Sam tells him the last wanted person is Alameda Slim, so Rico goes to find him, using Buck as his horse for the journey. The cows overhear this and notice that the reward for Slim is $750, exactly what Pearl needs to save Patch of Heaven, so they want to find him first.

Maggie, Grace, and Mrs. Calloway plan to follow a nearby wagon to a cattle drive, hoping that they’ll find Slim there, but as Maggie and Mrs. Calloway are clashing over their plans, the wagon owner ends up taking them with him, tying them to his wagon, so they have no choice but to follow it! On the journey, they see Maggie’s former ranch being auctioned off. Once stopped, the cows try to free themselves from the wagon, hiding amongst a group of bulls, who awkwardly flirt with them. Sure enough, Slim arrives, but as Maggie is about to attack, Slim starts to yodel, which has a hypnotising effect on all the cows, this being Slim’s method for stealing them. The only one unaffected is Grace, due to her being “tone-deaf”. She pulls on the wagon, pushing it down a hill, hitting into Maggie and Mrs. Calloway, snapping them out of their trance. Unfortunately, Slim escapes, blocking his entrance to a cave with a rock. This stops Rico and Buck from capturing him too. Rico decides that Buck is too skittish around cows, and leaves with a different horse. Buck and the trio of cows decide to race to see who can get to Slim first.

Within Slim’s lair, he says that his plan is to buy every patch of land in the area. By stealing cows from the ranches, it forces them to be auctioned off. At this point, he goes in disguise to buy up the land under the name “Yancy O’Dell”. This is his revenge for all his underappreciated work on other people’s ranches. He spots one patch of land he has missed – Patch of Heaven – as it has been blocked by one of his nephew’s, the Willie Brothers, who always sits in the same spot in front of the map. He plans to go to its auction.

As the cows seem to be on the trail of Slim, Buck, who is ahead, makes multiple tracks to confuse them before running ahead, pleased with himself. Then, there is a storm, which starts a flash flood. Maggie tries to continue on, almost getting all three of them killed. Mrs. Calloway angrily forces them all to stay on a safe bit of high ground until it passes. She tells Maggie she should go on alone, as she just wants revenge on Slim, and not to help them save Patch of Heaven. The next day, as Maggie is about to set off, a Shaman Rabbit, the one from the film’s opening, introduces himself as Lucky Jack and tries to encourage the cows to stay with him as he makes them a fire and food to eat. He was flushed out of his home by Slim, and tells them that Slim’s base is in Echo Mine, his old home. Jack takes all three of them there.

At the mine, Slim’s black-market cattle seller, Wesley, arrives to take the cows away, paying Slim for the batch of 5,000 cows, which Slim will use to buy land. As the cows and Jack approach the entrance, they see the mine is blocked by a buffalo, who is guarding the entrance. Buck is trying to negotiate his way inside, but only cows may pass, so Maggie and the others are allowed to go in, much to Buck’s annoyance. Knowing that if Slim sees them, he will start to yodel, Grace puts rabbit fluff in Maggie and Mrs. Calloway’s ears so they’ll be immune to it. Slim does see them and starts to yodel. They pretend to be hypnotised to trick Slim into a mine cart, where they tie him up and hit him to knock him out, as per their plan. On exiting the mine, they run into Buck, who steals Slim and delivers him to Rico, only for the cows to steal him back. The Willie Brothers, Wesley and Junior the Buffalo all try to retrieve Slim, as they go down an old mine track. Fireworks are set off within the mine, pushing them all out of it with the force of the explosion. Wesley starts his train, which he’ll use to transport the cattle, to head the others off. There’s a crash as the two groups collide but everyone is somehow ok!

Slim is freed, and drags the cows on to the train. It turns out that Rico was actually working for Slim, with Slim telling Rico to go with Wesley to the border to see there are no further problems. Slim heads off to the auction at Patch of Heaven. Buck, horrified to see that his hero has been working for the villain all along, punches Rico and Wesley, and tells the cows to run. Mrs. Calloway manages to free them from the train, before going back and starting up the train as it’s the quickest way to get to their farm. Despite a near miss with the Morning Express, which Buck and Lucky Jack manage to avoid by switching the tracks, they arrive at the farm, just as Slim seems to have won Patch of Heaven. They come to stop him, and Slim pulls a gun on them. The other Patch of Heaven animals start to fight him, where he ends up in the top of the train. Mrs. Calloway pulls the whistle, which blows off Slim’s disguise. Despite his attempts to yodel his way out of trouble, Grace karate-kicks a cowbell into his mouth. Slim is promptly arrested by the Sheriff, who gives the reward money to Pearl, allowing her to pay off her debt and save Patch of Heaven.

A few weeks later, we see that the story of three cows defeating Alameda Slim has reached the papers, and that Lucky Jack has joined the Patch of Heaven clan. Many of the animals return from the County Fair with prizes. Soon, Junior and two of the flirty bulls from earlier in the movie, come to live at Patch of Heaven. Everything ends happily.

CHARACTERS & CAST

Maggie is one of the three main characters in Home on the Range. She comes to Patch of Heaven from Dixon Ranch, after her owner has to sell up when his cattle, all except Maggie, are stolen. You’d think that backstory would make Maggie a bit shy and timid, but far from it! Maggie is incredibly brash, loud, and a bit of a know-it-all; it probably doesn’t help that she is a winning show cow, so she believes she’s something special! She is not afraid to speak her mind or share her views, and doesn’t spare anyone’s feelings; she’s also quite happy to talk over everybody else. Her humour is a bit crude and a bit much for a Disney movie, in my opinion! For example, one of the first things Maggie says in the movie is: “Yeah, they’re real. Quit staring”, referring to her udders…This line, in part, earnt the film its PG rating[1]! Although she clashes with Mrs. Calloway at the start of the movie, by the end of it, they have looked past their differences and become friends – though I think this is more to do with the animals of Patch of Heaven getting used to Maggie than about her changing her behaviour! Originally, Maggie was going to already be part of the Patch of Heaven farm, but it was decided that it would be more dynamic for her to come in as an outsider. It certainly gave more options for where the character would go and how she would interact with others.

Maggie was not going to be as brash and abrasive originally either. The voice casting had a lot to do with how Maggie’s character changed and that voice actor choice was American comedian and actress Roseanne Barr. For anyone familiar with her work, this would explain a lot in terms of the “comedy”! Disney knew Barr would have some good one-liners and they fitted the movie around those so they would not be overshadowed[2]. I don’t think this was a good choice for Home on the Range because it really does take over, and Barr’s humour is not universally liked. For this reason, I do not like Maggie as character and didn’t care about her journey or whether anyone grew to like her at Patch of Heaven. Roseanne Barr is most known for her stand-up comedy career before starring in her own sitcom Roseanne from 1988 to 1997, with a brief revival in 2018, which was cut short after Barr wrote and posted offensive tweets. Barr was then removed from the show.

Mrs. Calloway is basically the leader of Patch of Heaven’s animals, with her having seniority and wisdom on her side. She is chosen to deal with any disputes, such as those between Jeb, a grumpy goat, and the overenthusiastic piglets on the farm. She also likes to wear a purple hat with a flower in it; it seems to be her most prized possession and she gets very angry with Maggie when she drops it in the mud at one point. It’s a strange character quirk… Mrs. Calloway is very set in her ways and she is disgusted by Maggie when she arrives, with her crude jokes and burping, saying she is low-class. It takes a lot for her to be persuaded to come on this journey with Maggie and Grace, but she wants to save Patch of Heaven from closure so that is what motivates her to continue, unlike Maggie, whose ultimate motivation is revenge on Alameda Slim, something which Mrs. Calloway does not appreciate, telling Maggie not to return to their farm if she doesn’t want to be there anyway. By the end of the movie though, the two have come to be friends.

The weirdest thing is that Judi Dench is the voice of Mrs. Calloway. It’s a shame for an actress of her calibre to be attached to such a lacklustre Disney movie; could Disney not find her a better film to be a part of? Dame Judi Dench, as she should be addressed, is considered to be one of the greatest British actresses. She has had quite the career, winning multiple awards, including an Oscar, and has starred in various productions on stage and screen. Dame Judi does have a sense of humour, I believe, so I bet she had a good time working on Home on the Range, despite the mediocre reception to it!

The final cow to make up the trio is Grace. She comes across as quite ditzy, though she is clearly kind-hearted and not judgemental, as she is willing to give Maggie a chance, unlike Mrs. Calloway. Grace doesn’t seem to know what she’s doing most of the time, spending most of the first half of the movie just singing really badly, but this is shown to be very important. Her bad singing shows that Grace is tone-deaf, and because she is tone-deaf, she is immune to Slim’s yodelling and therefore does not become hypnotised unlike the other two. Grace has to save both of them from Slim, and this makes Grace very important in the rest of the movie, because if this weren’t the case, then the three protagonists would have ended up being unconscious for most of the movie[3]!

Grace is voiced by American-Canadian actress Jennifer Tilly. Tilly has appeared in many film and television roles, and is particularly known for her distinctive nasally voice. For Disney, Tilly has voiced the part of Celia in Monsters, Inc. (2001) and its spin-off Monsters at Work (2021), as well as playing the role of Madame Leota in The Haunted Mansion (2003).

Then there’s Buck. He is the Sheriff’s horse, but thinks a lot of himself, wanting to be the hero and defeat bad guys, having dreams of being a bounty hunter. He particularly idolises the bounty hunter, Rico, despite Rico’s lack of personality and utter indifference to anyone but himself. It turns out Rico just wants money, and doesn’t care about justice, unlike Buck. Because Rico turns out to be working for Alameda Slim, Buck turns on him and realises that he doesn’t need to be a sidekick to a bounty hunter, he can be the hero all on his own, and he does just that. Buck has a complicated relationship with the cows at the start of the movie, making life difficult for them by refusing to extend the bank notice and by racing them to find Slim first, but by the end of it, they’ve learnt to get along together. Buck is also humbled during this journey as he is not the one to find Slim first, and finds that the trio of cows have much better ideas than he does! Buck is voiced by American actor Cuba Gooding Jr., best known for his roles in Jerry Maguire (1996), for which he won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, As Good as It Gets (1997) and The Butler (2013). He portrayed O.J. Simpson in the series The People v O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story (2016).

Then we come to the villain of the movie, Alameda Slim. The character was named after Montana Slim, real name Wilf Carter, who was a Canadian country singer and yodeller[4]. The surname “Slim” is also an ironic reference to Alameda Slim’s size as he is in fact quite a big guy! Alameda Slim is the villainous cattle rustler, stealing cattle to make ranches and farms go bust so he can buy them and “takeover” the area, as revenge on all the previous ranch owners he used to work for. It’s not the strongest villain backstory and it’s not clear what he plans to do after that! Slim has a good talent for yodelling, which he uses to steal cattle, as they become hypnotised by him; he’s very much like the Pied Piper, leading them away from their homes. Slim can be funny at times, though he mostly just shouts a lot, particularly at his nephews, the three Willie Brothers, who are quite dim and don’t seem to know what’s going on!  The Willie Brothers are voiced by Sam J. Levine, an animator, story writer and producer for Disney. They irritate Slim and constantly say or do the wrong thing. Slim isn’t a great Disney villain for me; he doesn’t have many powers, his backstory is weak, and apart from pulling a gun on the cows at the end, he’s not particularly evil. Originally, Slim’s big plan was that he was going to use an army of cows to storm the White House to become President. This was changed as Disney decided that this dream was too outlandish[5]!

Randy Quaid voices Alameda Slim. Quaid has acted in both serious drama and comedic roles. He had a recurring role as Cousin Eddie in most of the National Lampoon’s Vacation films (1983-2003). Quaid also starred as Harold ‘Mitch’ Mitchell in the television film adaptation of A Streetcar Named Desire (1984). Even though I don’t like Slim as a character much, I do think Quaid’s voice work here is good.

The last “major” character to mention is Lucky Jack, the rabbit with a peg leg, who isn’t very lucky at all. He appears in the opening sequence of Home on the Range being hit by cattle, and attacked by snakes and bears, having to make a quick getaway. He then shows up after the flash-flood, where he decides to try and help the cows by building them a fire and making them some food. This is when we discover that Lucky Jack lost his home of Echo Mine to Alameda Slim, who ended up using it as his “villain’s lair”. Jack helps the cows find their way to Echo Mine and defeat Slim. Though he isn’t at the final battle at Patch of Heaven, Jack does find a new home at the farm with the others. This backstory for Lucky Jack was added in to give him a connection with the cows and a motivation for him to help them find Slim. Originally, he was just going to be a bit of a crazy rabbit who assumed the cows were from Echo Mine, and liked to play records of yodelling[6]! American actor and director Charles Haid voices Lucky Jack. Haid’s most well-known role was in the police drama Hill Street Blues (1981-1987), where he played Officer Andy Renko.

There are a few other characters, or voice actors, to mention too. Another strangely big name within this voice cast is Steve Buscemi. He voices the part of Wesley, the black-market businessman who takes all of Slim’s stolen cattle to be sold. Wesley is not on screen for long, but you can tell its Steve Buscemi! Apparently, Disney wrote this cameo specifically for him[7]. Buscemi has had a varied acting career, starring in more serious roles such as “Mr Pink” in Reservoir Dogs (1992), Carl Showalter in Fargo (1996) and as Nucky Thompson in Boardwalk Empire (2010-14), as well as in comedy, popping up in many of Adam Sandler’s films, and within the anthology television series Miracle Workers (2019-present). For Pixar, Buscemi voiced Randall Boggs in Monsters, Inc. (2001) and Monsters University (2013).

Patrick Warburton also has a cameo as the easily-scared horse that Rico uses to get to Slim’s lair after ditching Buck. Warburton has voiced many roles for Disney such as Kronk in The Emperor’s New Groove (2000) and its sequel Kronk’s New Groove (2005), as well in Disney television series such as Kim Possible (2002-07) and Buzz Lightyear in Buzz Lightyear of Star Command (2000-01). For any Disney Parks fans, you will also see Patrick Warburton giving the “pre-flight” video before the attraction Soarin’ at Disney’s California Adventure, Epcot at Walt Disney World Resort, Shanghai Disneyland, and Tokyo DisneySea.

PRODUCTION

The original idea for Home on the Range was conceived by Mike Gabriel, who had planned to make a film with a supernatural Western theme. Gabriel was told he could proceed with the idea once he’d finished directing Pocahontas (1995). After Pocahontas was released, he started on the concept art for this idea, which at the time was called “Sweating Bullets”. The story would have followed a timid character who arrived at a ghost town and came face-to-face with ghostly cattle rustlers. This character went through many iterations of being a young cowboy, an older cowboy and even a bull.

Gabriel left the film in 2000, and it was handed over to Will Finn, who had worked at the Disney Studios during the 1980s and 1990s, before going over to DreamWorks where he had worked on The Road to El Dorado (2000). John Sanford was brought in to co-direct. After some re-working of the story, it was decided that the film would follow three dairy cows; it was conceived as Charlie’s Angels but with cows[8]! It was also decided that the movie would be traditionally hand-drawn, despite the use of computer animation in other studios such as Pixar and DreamWorks. Disney had used elements of CG in their previous movies but had yet to go into that medium fully. After the failure of 2D animated Treasure Planet (2002), Disney planned to stop making hand-drawn animated films and move into fully CG movies. As Brother Bear (2003) and Home on the Range were in production at the time this decision was made, they could continue with their 2D animation as planned, with Home on the Range being the last one – until 2009, when it would have a brief revival[9]. Home on the Range was also the last Disney film to use the CAPS system to colour its artwork. It was dismantled after the movie was completed[10].

As part of research for the project, around twelve members of the Disney team went to a cattle drive in Wyoming at the start of production on Home on the Range. To create the correct mood and to reflect the story, they had to research the landscapes of the West for their background art. Alongside finding lots of dust, the team at Disney found many colours in the landscapes, other than the typically used browns, like pinks, green, oranges, and purples. They went a bit further with their colours and landscapes choices than what is actually there, but it is still based in reality. As well as this real-world research, the team went into the Animation Research Library to look at backgrounds from Western-themed Disney films and shorts, such as those of Pecos Bill and Johnny Appleseed to get inspiration[11].

MUSIC

For the music, Disney brought in composer Alan Menken. Menken was a major factor in the Disney “Renaissance Era” success, having worked on the majority of those movies, including The Little Mermaid (1989) and Beauty and the Beast (1991). Although looking at Menken’s credits for Disney there would appear to be a long gap between 1997’s Hercules and 2004’s Home on the Range, with Menken doing nothing else in the middle, Menken had been attached to the project from the outset when the film was originally titled “Sweating Bullets”. Menken brought in lyricist Glenn Slater to work alongside. Slater would go on to write the lyrics for multiple stage productions, such as Sister Act the Musical (2006) and Love Never Dies (2010). For Disney, Slater would also write the lyrics for Tangled (2010), as well as for the stage adaptation of The Little Mermaid (2008).

The songwriting duo wrote all six of the movie’s original songs, with Menken also composing the score. Though these songs feature in the movie, the majority of them are not sung by any characters – the exception to this is Alameda Slim’s villain song which he sings himself. The others feature famous performers, most from the country-and-western genre, singing the song over the top of an animated scene.

The first song features in the opening sequence, and is titled “(You Ain’t) Home on the Range”. It certainly sets the scene of this being a Western-set movie! It also contains some relatively funny lyrics, such as “Out in the land of the desperado; If yer as soft as an avocado; Yee-ha! Yer guacamole, son!” There’s also a section about having a nervous bladder, but that’s going too far into silly territory for me. This song is ok, but it’s not the best and I didn’t remember much of it after seeing the film.

To introduce the farm that Maggie the cow will be going to, there is a whole song showing the idyllic life of those there. The song is named after the farm, “A Little Patch of Heaven”. It’s the perfect set up to the area. Canadian pop and country singer-songwriter k.d. lang was chosen to perform the song. Menken and Slater loved her rendition of the song, saying that it was sung from a place of joy and that Lang has a very American voice which suits the movie well. I remembered parts of this song after watching, and I quite liked it.

This is followed by Alameda Slim’s villain’s song, titled “Yodel-adle-eedle-idle-ooo” – that’s easier to read if you’ve heard the song! It’s a good introduction song for Slim, especially as he sings it himself. The scene itself has similarities to “Pink Elephants on Parade”, with its strong use of bright colours, and its psychedelic imagery! It’s a bit of a weird scene, and song, but it is funny. Some of the yodelling section riffs off some traditional pieces of music. I do like the song; it’s fun to try and yodel anyway! Randy Quaid was not used to singing but Menken and Slater said he was a good sport when recording the song! Two other performers did the yodelling for him though – Randy Erwin and Kerry Christianson, world champions in yodelling.

The most emotional song in the movie comes at the point after the flash-flood, when Maggie and Mrs Calloway have argued and everything looks bleak for them, not being able to find Slim and save their farm. At the point of watching the movie, I thought it was a fitting song for the sombre mood of the scene, but I didn’t think much more of it. I then found out that during production, Alan Menken was given the brief for the song, about these cows being lost and struggling to go on; he called it a “Where do we go from here?” song. Menken was not looking forward to writing it and was struggling to find motivation. That is until the tragic events of 9/11, which happened during production on the movie. This gave the song “Will the Sun Ever Shine Again” more meaning to it, and I can see why it was important to them. Deservedly, they got a lot of praise for this song. It is sung by American singer Bonnie Raitt, who manages to get across the despair, but also the hope in the music[12].

These four songs are the main ones to feature in the movie, with a reprise of the opening song playing as the cows and Lucky Jack set off for Echo Mine, and a section of “A Little Patch of Heaven” being used for the happy ending. But there are two other songs, “Where the Trail May Lead”, performed by American country singer Tim McGraw, and “Anytime You Need A Friend”, performed by pop-rock girl group The Beu Sisters. These both feature in the End Credits. Fittingly for their performers, the first song sounds more country, with the second being more pop. I don’t think much of either song, but “Wherever the Trail May Lead” does fit the style of the movie better than “Anytime You Need A Friend”, which is more about the friendship between the cows, I suppose.

The score incorporates many country-and-western music elements to it, such as the use of harmonicas and fiddles, whilst also sounding like a Disney score; parts of it almost sound like Aladdin (1992) to me. Unfortunately, I did not pick out any instrumental within the score that I really liked; it mostly faded into the background for me, but it set the scene.

RECEPTION

Home on the Range was released in theatres on 2^nd April 2004 in the US. Unlike many other Disney animated features, it was released outside of the usual seasons of Summer or Christmas. It did not make back its budget at the box office, only bringing in $104 million against a $110 million budget. The unusual release time of the movie may have had something to do with this, however, Zootopia (2016) would be released at the same time of year twelve years later and do exceptionally well at the box office[13].

The reception to the movie was lukewarm from the majority of critics and viewers. Though many stated that it was entertaining enough for children, the comedy and plot (or lack of) divided audiences. I will admit that some of the comedy did not impress me, with some jokes being quite tasteless and almost crude in places, and that the plot is quite basic, however, it is at least easy to follow!

The problem is that, apart from Lilo & Stitch (2002), which itself was a fairly unique concept, Disney Animation had been struggling against incredibly tough competition, like Pixar, and even DreamWorks, not managing to meet the expectations of those who had been watching Disney during its hugely successful “Renaissance Era”. Home on the Range pales in comparison to those, and for some reason, does not feel like a Disney film.

LEGACY

Unsurprisingly, due to the lack of financial and critical success, Home on the Range and its characters have not spanned any spin-offs or sequels and have not appeared much at the Disney Parks.

Though it was being marketed via a Home on the Range “pre-parade” at Magic Kingdom at the Walt Disney World Resort. It ran daily between 5^th March and 16^th April 2004, so over the Easter period, before the Share A Dream Come True Parade. It included two floats, horses, dancers and character puppets, with Patch of Heaven owner Pearl inviting guests to join in with a square dance. It used the “A Little Patch of Heaven” song as its soundtrack. I cannot find any footage of this, but I did find one photo proving that it was real, since very few people remember it! My family was at the Walt Disney World Resort during this time so we do remember the pre-parade, or at least we remember the main float, which was a barn float, with each of the three cows, as puppet heads, poking out of one of the top three windows, with their name on a sign beneath. It did not make us want to watch the movie; I think we even specifically said to each other we didn’t want to see it at all! The barn float has apparently been part of the Disney float stock since the 1980s. It is currently being used in the Walt Disney World Easter Parade, as well as the annual Boo To You Halloween Parade. Clara Cluck, the operatic chicken from the 1934 Mickey Mouse short Orphan’s Benefit in 1934, appears within the float. The cow puppets were the only opportunity for guests to see any of the Home on the Range characters, as they never had personal meet-and-greets. This may be partly to do with difficulty in figuring out how to make costumes for these cow characters, but I’m sure the movie’s failure had more to do with it.

There was one “attraction” that was themed to Home on the Range, though it was short-lived. The Big Thunder Ranch at Disneyland opened on 22^nd June 1986, best known for Mickey Moo, a cow with a “Hidden Mickey” on its back, and its log cabin. The ranch had been rethemed to tie in with movie releases before, but on 2^nd April 2004, its petting zoo was relaunched as “Patch of Heaven” from the movie. It featured “missing” posters of Buck, Maggie, Grace, and Mrs. Calloway, perhaps reiterating that no meet-and-greets with these characters were available, but you could meet real horses and cows. They even had a “Maggie”, a jersey cow bought from a farm in Tulare, California. There was a sign for “Pearl’s Cottage”, with the cottage not being based on Pearl’s actual home from at Patch of Heaven, but just using the log cabin already present at Big Thunder Ranch. The walls of the cabin featured Slim’s “Wanted” poster, stills from the movie, and colouring stations.

This retheme was meant to be permanent, however it did not stick around long. In 2005, Big Thunder Ranch became Santa’s Reindeer Roundup for the Holiday Season. Once that was over in 2006, the Home on the Range overlay was left to fade away. Big Thunder Ranch opened seasonally, with some seasonal overlays, until 10^th January 2016, when it was closed for good to make way for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge[14].

FINAL THOUGHTS

I don’t believe it is a big stretch for me to assume that many of Disney’s even most loyal fans have not seen Home on the Range. Whether that is because reviews from 2004, and even reviews from today, have not been kind to it so they decided to skip it, or whether it is simply because over time it has been forgotten about, I’m not sure. As Home on the Range has been branded the “worst Disney animated feature of all time”, I wouldn’t be surprised either way.

Frankly, Home on the Range is not, and will never be, one of my favourite Disney movies, animated or otherwise. But there were parts of it I did quite like, so I am glad that I have seen it for those reasons. Yes, the plot is not particularly interesting, some of the humour is childish, and the overall Western feel to the movie is not for me, but I did like the music, and some of the characters. I didn’t laugh out loud much during the movie, but it was amusing in places.

If you want to call yourself a hardcore Disney fan, then you must see Home on the Range, even if that’s just to say you’ve watched every Disney animated movie. If you’re not a hardcore fan and only want to watch the best of the best, then Home on the Range is probably not for you – unless you’re a big fan of Westerns!

However, I don’t declare Home on the Range the worst animated film to come out of Disney, just not one of the best. It fits nicely within the unenthusiastically titled “Post-Renaissance Era” for Disney and that’s fine. They can’t all be winners, but a lot of hard work went into this movie, so someone might as well appreciate it!

---

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Jim Korkis, Everything I Know I Learned from Disney Animated Feature Films (2015), ‘Home on the Range, pp. 133-135.

[2] Credit: Disney, “Trailblazers: The Making of Home on the Range” from Home on the Range (2004) DVD Release.

[3] Credit: Disney, “Trailblazers: The Making of Home on the Range” from Home on the Range (2004) DVD Release.

[4] Credit: Jim Korkis, Everything I Know I Learned from Disney Animated Feature Films (2015), ‘Home on the Range, pp. 133-135.

[5] Credit: Disney, “Deleted Scenes: Slim for President” from Home on the Range (2004) DVD Release.

[6] Credit: Disney, “Deleted Scenes: Meet Lucky Jack” from Home on the Range (2004) DVD Release.

[7] Credit: Disney, “Trailblazers: The Making of Home on the Range” from Home on the Range (2004) DVD Release.

[8] Credit: Disney, “Trailblazers: The Making of Home on the Range” from Home on the Range (2004) DVD Release.

[9] Credit: Mari Ness, ‘Udderly Awful Yodeling: Disney’s Home on the Range’, Tor.com, 10^th November 2016.

[10] Credit: Jim Korkis, Everything I Know I Learned from Disney Animated Feature Films (2015), ‘Home on the Range, pp. 133-135.

[11] Credit: Disney, “Trailblazers: The Making of Home on the Range” from Home on the Range (2004) DVD Release.

[12] Credit: Disney, “Trailblazers: The Making of Home on the Range” from Home on the Range (2004) DVD Release.

[13] Credit: Mari Ness, ‘Udderly Awful Yodeling: Disney’s Home on the Range’, Tor.com, 10^th November 2016.

[14] Credit: Author Unknown, ‘Little Patch of Heaven at Big Thunder Ranch’, Yesterland.com, 17^th February 2023.