How Walt Disney did it

I've always wondered about the consistent productivity of the Disney studios. Andrew Sullivan has discovered how they did it.

Wall-E for prez!

This week Carmen and I went to see "Wall-E" with some friends, including 6 year old Máeráed. It is a grown up tale dealing with serious issues (for an animated film anyway) yet she and the other little kids there all loved it.

So it was interesting to read a column by Frank Rich in The New York Times comparing "Wall-E" to the two presidential campaigns. On the whole, he greatly prefers the animated trash compacter called Wall-E to either of the two candidates right now.

Mr. McCain should be required to see “Wall-E” to learn just how far adrift he is from an America whose economic fears cannot be remedied by his flip-flop embrace of the Bush tax cuts (for the wealthy) and his sham gas-tax holiday (for everyone else). Mr. Obama should see it to be reminded of just how bold his vision of change had been before he settled into a front-runner’s complacency. Americans should see it to appreciate just how much things are out of joint on an Independence Day when a cartoon robot evokes America’s patriotic ideals with more conviction than either of the men who would be president.

He also points out that the little kids in the audience when he saw it liked it:

One of the great things about art, including popular art, is that it can hit audiences at a profound level beyond words. That includes children. The kids at “Wall-E” were never restless, despite the movie’s often melancholy mood and few belly laughs. They seemed to instinctually understand what “Wall-E” was saying; they didn’t pepper their chaperones with questions along the way. At the end they clapped their small hands.

Read the whole thing, then go see the movie. If you can, take some little kids. If you've already seen the movie, we would appreciate any other opinions on it.

"Paprika"

"Evidence that Japanese animators are reaching for the Moon, while most of their American counterparts remain stuck in the kiddie sandbox."
Manolha Dargis, The New York Times

See what the fuss is about.