u/Sufficient_Fun_1211

I'd say this song perfectly represents the the restraint of the one-shot Mickey Mouse cartoons that eventually broke free: You start at the bottom with Mickey's Christmas Carol and The Prince And The Pauper, and then you go to the top with Runaway Brain and Get A Horse!

• Disney's live-action remakes tend to have noticeably darker color palettes and dimmer lighting as just one of the many ways they attempt to look more "realistic" than their respective original animated versions.

• Retroactive Recognition: The Zebras in America scene was one of the very first projects created by Titmouse, back when it was just founder Chris Prynoski doing freelance animation work by himself and receiving payment through his T-shirt design company of the same name. Because he was a freelancer and not a production company, Prynoski didn't have production insurance, so he had to accept payment through the T-shirt company's bank account. In Prynoski's words, the entire Titmouse animation studio "grew out of me being too dumb to turn down freelance work."

Within three years of The Secret of NIMH, Disney released The Black Cauldron, and it feels incredibly intentional. I know the concept of the film was brought to the table before Don Bluth left Disney, but after taking the time to watch both of these movies within 24 hours to better prepare for this write up, it’s as if Don Bluth scared them into rushing production of The Black Cauldron. This is just my conspiracy theory, so don’t take it for gospel, but I think they felt like the work Don was moving forward to create was a serious threat. I think they knew what he was setting out to do, and at that time, Disney was in a period where their movies weren’t doing as well as they had in the past. And to make matters even more real, in 1986, only a year after The Black Cauldron, Don released An American Tail. It went on to become the highest grossing non-Disney animated film to date (in 1986, anyway).

It’s my opinion that The Black Cauldron was made in an effort to not only keep up with Don Bluth and what he would go on to do, but to also keep a pace with the interest of young people at the time. Films like The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, Willow, The Neverending Story, among others, were drawing in an audience that loved darker fantasy. This wasn’t something that Disney had immersed itself in before, and I think their attempt to try was The Black Cauldron. Wow, did it fail. And when it didn’t do well, I think it brought them to that crossroads I spoke of earlier. They could either try to keep up with this strain of film and hope they could stay afloat against people like Don Bluth, who was creating unforgettable films covering all sorts of fantasy, or they could do what they did best. I believe they took the latter route, which is evident in their 1986 release The Great Mouse Detective and 1988 release Oliver & Company. Though still being a bit darker in animation style, both convey that familiar, heartwarming Disney magic that was lacking before. I think The Black Cauldron pushed them onto a path that would lead them to their greatest moments in movie history. Without experiencing failure, I’m not sure we would have movies like The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, or The Lion King today. So though I don’t enjoy it the way I do the vast majority of the rest of their films, I feel that The Black Cauldron was exactly what the studio needed to motivate them toward their most glorious era.

I finally figured out why Muppets From Space feels so off compared to all the other movies. Somebody said it doesn't feel like an actual Muppet movie, and more like a late 90's Happy Madison Production disguised as a Muppet movie.