CGI vs Hand-Drawn Animation (In Disney)

First things first. This is -not- going to be a post where I trash CGI at all because I actually do enjoy films that are animated in this manner. The point of this post is to help clarify and explain why I might make certain comments about the next 5 Disney classics I will be reviewing.

Now then. In the Disney fanbase there have been quite a few people who were vocal about how CGI is "Not Disney" or "It's now what Walt would do" or just about any other variation of those two things. The latter comment is where I want to start. Firstly it is -very- silly to say such a thing because none of us have no way of ever knowing what Walt would or would not do, say or want. However. Walt Disney was always an innovative  man, and I believe that if he had lived long enough, he would have been at the helm of ushering in CGI. He was always looking for new ways and techniques to improve upon things and CGI was/is the next logical step in doing so.

One would only need to look at his previous track record to see this. Starting with early 'Silent' black and white  cartoon shorts, Walt eventually progressed into color and shorts where the characters speak. From there he went further into full animated films, to live action and even mixing the two mediums as early as the 1920's with his Alice Comedies.

With that history ramble out of the way I want to quickly focus on the former comment. Is it Disney? Well, that often falls to personal opinion and can never be a fact. For me I do lean towards having a Hand-Drawn preference. A lot of this is because I have a stronger nostalgia to the early films, and to the films of the 90's which I grew up with. This does not mean I don't like the CGI films at all. Each film has it's own strengths and weaknesses but very rarely (if ever) is that weakness the medium in which it's animated.

Now. I do admit that having also grown up with Pixar, the CGI films -do- tend to feel more like a Pixar film to me as far as visuals go. Again, this doesn't mean it's bad, if anything it's almost a compliment given how high of a standard Pixar animation is held to and how amazing those films look.

So that's my 'quick' ramble. Hopefully that clears things up when we get into my CGI film reviews, starting tomorrow with 'Dinosaur' :)