Waking Sleeping Beauty

In a time when animation, particularly Disney Pixar animation, is having incredible success commercially and artistically, it's easy to forget that not so long ago it was an art form considered to be at death's door. This movie tells the story of the people who not only saved Disney animation, but who helped usher in a new golden age of animated cinema that we are still in the midst of today.
Directed by Don Hahn (a producer on such megahits as "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" and "Beauty and the Beast"), "Waking Sleeping Beauty" uses archival interviews, home videos, and old sketches to show how Disney animation came back to life during the late '80s and early '90s. We also see how it could have come crashing down all over again.
In 1984, Walt Disney's handpicked animators, or "Nine Old Men," were giving way to a new generation of eager artists who wanted to do things their own way. After the very expensive 1985 film "The Black Cauldron" failed at the box office (though it's a better movie than Hahn gives it credit for here), it was clear that some changes needed to be made. Walt's nephew Roy Disney enlisted Michael Eisner, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and Frank Wells to get the animation department going in a new direction.
Narrating the movie himself, Hahn presents the information in a very straightforward manner, and regularly makes his opinions known on certain individuals and their actions. He seems to think of animator Don Bluth as Benedict Arnold with a pencil and the success of Bluth's "An American Tail" over "The Great Mouse Detective" in 1986 still seems to pain Hahn. Mainly though, "Waking Sleeping Beauty" is about the determination of Disney's artists to make great films while the egos of Katzenberg, Eisner, and Roy Disney permeated anything and everything related to the company. Hahn seems to view the three the way most employees view their old bosses. Quick to point out their shortcomings as well as their good qualities, as he saw them. Katzenberg doesn't come off as the most wonderful guy on the planet but Hahn isn't the least bit vindictive. He doesn't smear the man who left to start rival DreamWorks. Wells meanwhile is looked upon quite fondly and even Katzenberg commented that Wells was often the peacemaker between he, Eisner, and Roy Disney and that he was easily the "most selfless" of the four. When Wells died in a helicopter crash a few months before the release of "The Lion King" the end was near and the remaining three seemed to know it.
This movie is the most interesting, the most fun, and even the most heartbreaking when focused on the making of the films leading up to "The Lion King." The two films that Hahn puts the heaviest focus on are "The Little Mermaid" and "Beauty and the Beast." The first was the film that showed that Disney was truly back and there to stay, while the second ended up being one of the few animated films to ever be nominated for Best Picture. Songwriter Howard Ashman, who died of AIDS before the release of "Beauty and the Beast" is the focal point of this section of the film.
The aftermath of Katzenberg's exit and how Disney fared after "The Lion King" are not examined here. The arrival of Pixar is discussed briefly but mainly the story ends in the mid-'90s. Hahn's film is interesting for anyone who is either a Disney fan or just has an interest in how art is created while executive egos clash around artists. I enjoyed it but for some reason that I still am trying to put my finger on, it felt like there was something missing. I think I would have liked to see more focus on the animators and what they went through to make these movies as opposed to all the scenes from old office parties. But I guess when you're hard at working creating a masterpiece you can't be holding a camcorder in your hand all day.
"Waking Sleeping Beauty" only played for one week in the Seattle area and unfortunately it's already gone. If you live elsewhere you may be able to catch it, otherwise you will have to wait for its DVD/Blu-ray release on November 30. 7/10.