IAGO

While Cogsworth allowed Will Finn and his assistant, Tony Bancroft, to create a unique mixture of broad acting and pompous dignity, it was on Iago the parrot in ALADDIN where Finn’s taste for comedy really shines.
According to Finn, the character was originally written with a Cogsworth-esque persona and to act as the straight man while Jafar was more outlandish and over-the-top. But that all changed around when Ron Clements and John Musker cast Gilbert Gottfried as the Voice and his personality did a complete 180 into a cranky loudmouth who nonetheless serves as a very useful sidekick.
Will Finn was truly elated when Gottfried (one of his favourite comedians) was cast, and he was given a great chance to go all out and create a unique, zany character.
As with my Cogsworth post, here are a bunch of scenes worked on by Tony Bancroft. My apologies for no images. When I can get it sorted, I will edit them in.

When the Sultan complains to Jafar about how Jasmine refuses to choose a husband, he playfully feeds Iago a cracker (“Have a cracker, Pretty Polly!”), a food which Iago despises. We see him force-feed the cracker into Iago’s beak while breaking the rules of logic by making the beak stretch out to wild lengths.

Jafar manages to identify Aladdin as the diamond in the rough by placing the Sultan’s blue diamond upon a mechanical device that Iago powers up as if running on a treadmill. Once Jafar makes the discovery, Iago yells “That’s him?! That’s the clown we’ve been waiting—“ before suddenly getting yanked off the wheel once he accidentally lets go. The brief extension of his neck before he exits is a surprising and unexpected shot that strongly echoes the film’s Looney Tunes sensibility.

After Aladdin is thrown in jail, Jasmine angrily confronts Jafar on the whole matter. Their serious conversation is intercut with Iago getting trapped in the doorway to keep up the comedic style while not overly distracting from more dramatic matters. Once Jasmine runs off crying, there is a brilliant moment where Iago heaves his way out and flies up onto Jafar’s shoulder. For a moment, he is out of breath and dishevelled . . . and then he instantly becomes cool and relaxed as he asks Jafar how it all went.

One more Bancroft scene I was able to find is during the ‘Prince Ali’ song. While the Genie is singing, Iago gets briefly caught up in the upbeat rhythm of the music and starts dancing along before Jafar catches him out with an angry glare. If you ask me, I think that’s a subtle wink to how Iago will eventually become one of the good guys later on.

Hope you all enjoyed this post, and I’ll see you next time with more surprises!

Creedon

The rest of The Aristocats (part 2)

Milt Kahl                                                              

Milt Kahl                                                                 

Eric Larson/Milt Kahl                                             

Eric Larson/Milt Kahl                                             

Milt Kahl                                                                

                               

Milt Kahl                                                              

John Lounsbery

Eric Larson                                                             

Eric Larson                                                             

Milt Kahl                                                                 

So anyway, that was The Aristocats. 

I thought that since we don't know who animated every scene in the film, 

I might have you peeps on the edge of your seats, and fill in until Hans Perk uploads the drafts for this film. 

I actually had the privilege of talking to Hans Perk via Facebook asking him what scenes Eric Larson did for The Aristocats, 

and he told me that Larson had animated scenes of the three kittens, Marie, Toulouse and Berlioz in this section of the film, 

I don't know which ones though. I hope an animation expert can comment and help me find out more about this movie during this difficult time in my life.

-Thanks, Frankie.

COGSWORTH

When working on the character of Cogsworth, Will Finn faced a design issue. Although he had no problems with the face or feet, the actual body was very complicated to draw at first (from what I hear, this lasted about six months). Eventually he managed to find the solution - making the body a box shape with glass. From then onwards, his personality was established.

Here are three scenes with animation by Tony Bancroft that have been confirmed by both himself, and Will Finn.


After Maurice enters the castle, the household objects give him some much needed hospitality, much to Cogsworth’s chargin. But then, the Beast storms into the room to seek out the old man. Cogsworth immediately blames Lumiere for the whole situation, setting up their humourous rivalry: “Master, I’d like to take this moment to say . . . I was against this from the start! It was all his fault, I tried to stop him. Would they listen to me? No, no, no!”


During the “Be Our Guest” song, Lumiere attempts  to perform with Cogsworth, but the little clock pulls away. This culminates with him shooting through the air and landing in some jello. The food substance causes his head to look much larger than normal in a goofy but believable way.


When Gaston and the townsfolk storm the castle to kill the Beast, the household objects all fight back. At one point, LeFou has Lumiere cornered with intent to melt him with fire. Suddenly Cogsworth appears out of nowhere, brandishing scissors and pistol, and wearing a large Napoleon hat. This is a scene that defies our expectations of his character, and was in fact suggested so by Will Finn, who goes with the logic that it’s just a cartoon and crazy stuff can happen.

I hope you enjoyed these scenes and learning about an assistant’s contributions. For the next post, we’ll be looking at another Finn/Bancroft character with even more zaniness ....

FINN & BANCROFT

Today we shall be examining the collaborations of a Disney animator who started out as an assistant but then came into his own later on.

When we think of Classic Disney films, we instantly think of the characters. And two of the most notable sidekicks in the early days of the Disney Renaissance are Cogsworth from BEAUTY AND THE BEAST and Iago from ALADDIN.

Both these characters were supervised by Will Finn, an animator who originally joined the Disney studio in the late ‘70s before being let go after Don Bluth and several others quit to start work on THE SECRET OF NIMH. Will Finn also worked on that film, as well as on the ambitious video game SPACE RACE, but he was rehired by Disney in the mid ‘80s. He provided animation on OLIVER & COMPANY, THE LITTLE MERMAID and THE RESCUERS DOWN UNDER before he ultimately became a directing animator.

During that time, many other young artists came to the studio. One of them was Tony Bancroft who was mentored by Will Finn and got to work with him on Iago and Cogsworth. Eventually he was promoted to leading animator on Pumbaa in THE LION KING and Kronk in THE EMPEROR’S NEW GROOVE.

So which scenes did Bancroft work on you ask. Well I am here to show you, and all these scenes have been confirmed by Bancroft himself.

DAN CREEDON

The rest of The Aristocats (part 1)

Here are more scenes from The Aristocats that I have only been able to identify so far.

                                                Frank Thomas

In this Milt Kahl scene, Frou Frou is talking to Roquefort about

how much of a sad day it is for everyone.

Milt Kahl                                                                 

Ollie Johnston                                                           

Ollie Johnston                                                          

Eric Larson                                                                   

                                          Eric Larson

Frank Thomas                                                          

My Disney Ranking - Part 1

Hey folks!

As my first post to the blog, I’ll begin by ranking down the Seven Eras of Disney Animation. If you want to share your opinions on what your favourites/least favourites are from each time period, be sure to let me know in the comments.

So with, let’s begin with Era No. 1 -

THE GOLDEN AGE (1937-1942).
This is held in regard as one of the greatest eras in animation history, not only because it gave us the first feature-length animated film ever, but also because some of Disney’s most beloved, revered and ambitious movies came out of these years. So here are my thoughts (btw I actually love all five of these movies).

5) SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS
Ah yes, the one that started it all. The film that got called “Disney’s Folly” even before it saw the light of day. But Walt and his artists proved the medium wrong in December of 1937. Although I would personally argue that the next four movies improved upon it in some way, we mustn’t ever forget how much of a game changer this was for the film industry. With its unforgettable tunes, entertaining characters and extraordinary artwork, it still holds up very strongly even after 80+ years. When Adolf Hitler calls this the greatest film of all time, you know that it works!

4) BAMBI
For my money, Disney’s most atmospheric movie. While the film is jaw-dropping to look at, what really sets it apart from lots of other Disney movies is the lack of dialogue (enhancing the film’s nature backdrop), the mystery of its “antagonist”, and the ballsy descision to kill off characters and then leave them dead. Yes Disney and other animated studios have done this many times over the decades, but we owe those tragic other scenes to this singular powerful sentence:
“Your mother cant be with you anymore.”
But even with the darkness, it is enlightened by the utter charm and joy from its characters, especially Thumper the rabbit.

3) DUMBO
Here we have a perfect example of how working on a low budget can bring us great art. The story of Dumbo is a wonderful mixture of warmth, tragedy, suspense, colourful surrealism and ultimately triumph. We all remember the heartbreak of “Baby Mine” and the outlandish nightmare that is “Pink Elephants on Parade” for a very good reason. And the character animation, despite looking cheaper, only makes the film even richer in that regard. Here’s hoping that Tim Burton manages to find a way of recapturing those same qualities in his upcoming version.

2) FANTASIA
Of all the films in the Disney canon, this is probably their most ambitious. How many animated films do we know nowadays that are just like this? A two-hour movie set to pieces of classical music? The execution of the different segments demonstrates just how far the Disney artists can do when at their very best, not just the Nine Old Men, but also legends such as Fred Moore or Bill Tytla. All of it could be summed by the image of Mickey as the Sorecerer’s Apprentice. And if Bob Iger or other Disney execs ever get to read this blog, PLEASE re-release Fantasia on the big screen!!!

1) PINOCCHIO
And here it is - my personal favourite Disney film. This movie feels like it has all the rich qualities of the other four films all mixed together. Not only does it feature some of the most technically accomplished animation over from the studio, as well as sequences filled with pure horror and intensity (Pleasure Island anyone?) but it also presents a very realistic view on the world as a place where evil gets away scot free and all we can do is take the straight and narrow path and always let our conscience be our guide. Then of course, it introduced us to two of Disney’s biggest icons: Jiminy Cricket and the song “When You Wish Upon a Star” (voted by AFI as the seventh greatest wind of the 20th Century).

The Aristocats - Madame finds the cats gone

Unfortunately, I don’t know who animated the cat napping scene, neither the dog chase involving Napoleon and Lafayette, Eric Cleworth animated the two dogs, so I’m on the belief that he would have to animate the dog chase with Edgar.  The characters look like cheaply drawn cartoon mascots of restaurants.

Milt Kahl animates Madame bonfamille waking up in the middle the night, and Eric Larson of course does Roquefort the mouse. Clips were taken from YouTube.