Five Torches (Out of Five)

Imagine an animated Disney movie about a girl who learns that it’s important to disobey the woman she believes is her mother.

And yet, that’s basically the plot of Disney’s latest animated movie, Tangled, a (wildly rewritten) retelling of the Rapunzel story.

Walt Disney himself was a notorious right-winger, and it’s hard for me to imagine that he’d be all that pleased to see his movie studio’s latest offering, a paean to defying authority.

But it’s an indication of the risks that the current company was willing to take to reclaim the mantle of industry leader in the movie animation business — a mantle they’d long since lost to their competitors Dreamworks and Pixar (which Disney has since purchased).

The risk paid off. Tangled is one of the best animated movies of all time.

Yes, I said it, and I think it’s true.

The movie’s brilliance is that it is simultaneously both classic and contemporary. The film is done in CGI, but it has an interesting look meant to resemble oil on canvas.

And it has a hummable, Broadway-ready score by master Disney composer Alan Menken (who helped spark the current animation renaissance with his work on The Little Mermaid and Beauty & the Beast), although the arrangements are looser than you’re used to in a Menken score, with plenty of acoustic guitars.

Mostly, though, the movie is smart and sophisticated with a script befitting a know-it-all ironic era, but one that also ultimately manages takes itself seriously, telling an old-fashioned morality tale.

Tangled tells the story of a princess with magic hair who is kidnapped by a woman seeking to stay young forever. To make sure she continues to have access to the magic, the woman locks the girl in a high tower and never lets her out. But when the girl becomes a teenager, she starts to rebel, eager to see the sights she can only glimpse from the window at the top of the tower.

Clever touches abound. When Rapunzel gets out of the tower for the first time, she has an existential crisis that is both hilarious and remarkable for a would-be kids’ movie. When Rapunzel has an encounter at a tavern called the Snuggly Bunny, the movie plays with our expectations twice, and ends up with an audacious musical number that plays with gender roles like nothing ever seen in a Disney movie.

And the movie’s complicated — er, tangled — central conflict between Rapunzel and her mother, Mother Gothel (gloriously played by Broadway actress Donna Murphy, creating one of the best Disney villains ever) is like every parent-teen stuggle: a battle of wills. But Mother Gothel doesn’t play fair. It’s not enough for her to trap Rapunzel in that tower: she also wants to destroy Rapunzel’s spirit — a chilling fact that requires her to be simultaneously very smart, very charming, and very, very evil. (My favorite line in the whole movie is when Mother Gothel says, with about a thousand layers of irony, “Oh, sure, now I’m the bad guy!”)

Disney wisely didn’t go the quippy, wise-cracking, pop-culture-reference-spouting route popularized by Dreamworks with Shrek. I can’t say they play it “straight” exactly, but the movie has an internal consistency, and a tone that probably won’t seem dated in five years.

Basically, the movie fits perfectly in the long tradition of Disney’s classic animated storytelling, and yet it also seems completely fresh and contemporary. There’s not a false note in it.

The phrase “instant classic” gets tossed around far, far too often these days. I even used it earlier this year on Toy Story 3 (which I still believe was an instant classic).

Who knew there’d be two instant classics in one year? Earlier, I thought Toy Story 3 was a shoe-in for the Best Animated Feature Oscar. I still think Toy Story 3 will win, because if Hollywood ever has to pick between a “girls’ movie” and a “guys’ movie,” they’re sure to pick the guys’ movie.

But personally, I’m not sure which movie I’d pick. They’re both just about as entertaining as movies, animated or otherwise, ever get.

When you were a kid, did you ever go digging around in your backyard looking for dinosaur fossils? And even if you didn’t, haven’t you kind of always dreamed of owning dinosaur fossils anyway? Well, good news! Bonhams Auction House in NYC is selling artifacts from the Ice Age. Listen to the descriptions of some of these prehistoric pieces:

Exceptional, Very Large T. rex Tooth – An Unsurpassed Marvel

Superb Whip Scorpion in Dominican Amber

Giant Squid Beak, with Four Sucker Rings

Tyrannosaurus rex Vertebra

Don’t you feel like every one of those descriptions should be punctuated with six exclamation marks? (T. Rex Tooth!!!!!!) (Four Sucker Rings!!!!!!)

I got so hopped up planning to buy one of these fossils and recover some DNA and build my own theme park on a deserted island — because what could go wrong with that plan? — that I made a list of the best fictional dinosaurs.

Dino, The Flintstones — You might be tempted to call Dino a “brontosaurus,” but first of all, brontosaurues (brontosairi?) aren’t even reals dinosaurs. Apparently there was some mix-up when two paleontologists were racing each other to put bones together back in the day. And second of all, Dino is a Snorkasaurus. He’s better behaved than any pet you’ve ever had, and for a time, he even served as Fred and Wilma’s butler!

Littlefoot, The Land Before Time — You think it’s sad when Bambi’s mom gets shot? How about when Sharptooth sneaks up on Littlefoot and the gang and forces him to flee and leave his treestar behind? It was the last gift his mother gave him! But Littlefoot presses on and leads his friends to their new home. “Oh, you can’t quit now. What if the Great Valley’s just over the top of these rocks?” Oh, Littlefoot! You are our hope for the future!

Rex, Toy Story — Wallace Shawn’s Tyrannosaurus Rex with an inferiority complex is one of the greatest dinosaur ironies ever committed to film. “What if Andy gets another dinosaur? A mean one? I just don’t think I can take that kind of rejection!” And the poor guy is so pathetic that he actually yarfs when he sees Buzz Lightyear’s dismembered arm. Oh, and don’t forget: He’s not from Matel, he’s from a smaller company that was purchased by Mattel in a leveraged buyout.

Tyrannosaurus Rex, Meet the Robinsons — I like to think of Meet the Robinsons as Disney’s promise to stop sucking. After the Golden Age, the Mouse made some seriously mediocre movies (Home on the Range? Really?), but Robinsons was a fine return to Disney form. Besides Bowler Hat Guy, the best part of the film is the 15 seconds  T-Rex is on-screen with my favorite dino dialogue ever. “Why aren’t you seizing the boy?” Bowler Hat Guy demands. ” I have a big head and little arms!” T-Rex answers.

Velociraptor, Jurassic Park — “Try to imagine yourself in the Cretaceous Period. You get your first look at this ’six foot turkey’ as you enter a clearing. He moves like a bird, lightly bobbing his head. And you keep still because you think that maybe his visual acuity is based on movement like T-Rex — he’ll lose you if you don’t move. But no, not Velociraptor. You stare at him, and he just stares right back. And that’s when the attack comes. Not from the front, but from the side.” Yeah. That sounds like a lot of fun. Let’s go to that theme park, Dad!

Godzilla — At the end of 1954’s Godzilla (Gojira), Kyohei Yamane-hakase says, “I can’t believe that Godzilla was the only surviving member of its species. But if we continue conducting nuclear tests, it’s possible that another Godzilla might appear somewhere in the world again.” He was right! In fact, Godzilla has appeared in 30 films since then! Plus he’s got his comic book line, his video games, his full-length novels. At this rate, the only thing that can break Godzilla’s stride is another freak Ice Age.

The dinosaurs from Dinosaurs — Conceived by Jim Henson, Dinosaurs was the best thing to happen to ABC in the early ’90s (besides Lois and Clark, of course). The sitcom is ludicrously camp, with a little bit of subversive humor on the side. Earl pushes down trees for Wesayso Corp, and since the show is set in 60,000,003 BC, Robbie always wants to know what they’re counting down to. You’re counting down the to the birth of a religion that will one day oppose the idea that 60,000,003 BC (or you) even existed, little dinosaur.

Dopey, Land of the Lost (the TV series) — I’m pretty sure all of the dinos on Land of the Lost were named after the dwarves from Snow White. The T-Rex, who is constantly trying to eat The Marshalls, is called “Grumpy.” And the young brontosaurus, who became their family pet and cart puller, is called “Dopey.” I think the lesson here is: always trust the vegetarian.

Yoshi, Mario Bros. — After playing Super Mario World on Super Nintendo, it’s hard to remember a time when Mario or Luigi got along without Yoshi. He is a shield against Koopa Troopas. He makes the cape easier to use. He can throw turtles and flames, and fly like a superhero when eats a purple shell! Every Mario game is made better by him, and Yoshi on the mach bike on Mario Kart is just absolutely unbeatable.

Barney and Friends — He loves you. You love me. We’re a happy family. Despite the ardent protests of my six-year-old pseudo-nephew, Barney is a dinosaur. And he’s so mesmerizing with his clomping around and dancing and really weird voice that you can pop in a DVD and sit your kids in front of him and get an entire hour of peace — as long as you can stomach his singing voice.

What dinosaurs did I miss?

As you know by now, there are literally no new stories for Hollywood to tell. When the movie industry is not prequeling and sequeling, they’re pillaging your past to defile every single one of your childhood memories. Last week Disney decided to plunder their own vault: they dropped seven figures on an Aline Brosh McKenna-penned live-action Cinderella script. (You know McKenna from The Devil Wears Prada and 27 Dresses.)

I loved Enchanted as much as the next girl who secretly owns every Disney movie on VHS, but the reason Enchanted works is because it plays on the idea that Disney Princesses do not belong in our world! Disney Princesses belong in a fantasy world where woodland creatures wash their clothes and bluebirds dress them in the mornings and every time the sun hits their faces — which is always — it is an opportunity to break forth into song!

Cinderella isn’t exactly new territory in terms of remakes, so to illustrate just how wrong it is to pluck an actual Disney Princess out of her castle and drop her into The Real World, I’ve storyboarded one (or two) into of plot of the most famous Cinderella remake of all time — Pretty Woman.

Now. Do you not feel like you just sat through porn with both of your parents in the room? (Answer: Yes, you do.) That’s because some fairy tales are meant to stay fairy tales. It’s called fantasy for a reason.

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Q: As I understand it, the real-life Spartacus only lived a short time after leading his famous Roman slave rebellion. Assuming Spartacus leads the rebellion next season, doesn’t that mean the show can only be three seasons long, at most? — Mark, Milwaukee, WI

A: Not surprisingly, not much is known about Spartacus in his pre-gladiator days, but the rebellion he led took place in 73 B.C., and Spartacus died in 71 B.C.

Robert Tapert (left) and Steven DeKnight

Or did he? Contrary to the famous ending of the Stanley Kubrick movie, Spartacus’ body was never found — an historical truth that the producers of the new Starz TV show Spartacus: Blood and Sand could certainly exploit.

In any event, there’s no reason why a “season” of the show has to correspond to a year of real time.

What do the producers themselves say?

“Anyone who knows the history of Spartacus obviously knows where this has to go,” Spartacus creator Steven DeKnight tells the Oracle. “There’s been a lot of talk based on [co-creator] Rob [Tapert's] work with Xena and Hercules — everybody says, ‘Well, Rob doesn’t care about history.’ But that’s absolutely not true. Rob does care about history, and we are following the broad strokes of the Spartacus story. We can’t be slaves to every detail — we bend history, we try never to break it.”

So how long will the show go?

“I have a five-to-seven year plan,” DeKnight says. “Definitely enough for five — it could go longer, depending on Starz and the viewership. Definitely at least five planned out. There’s so many great moments in Spartacus’ story, in history, that I’ve never fully seen explored.”

Q: I know we’re supposed to be in an “animation renaissance,” but I think I’m done with animated movies for a while. I tried to sit through the Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs recently, but found absolutely unwatchable — a hyper-frenetic mess on one hand (for kids, I guess) with a bunch of stupid, but ironic quips (for the adults, supposedly). And it got good reviews! Obviously, Up was night-and-day better, but even that struck me as muddled in the middle and just generally over-rated. What do you think? — Madge, Baton Rouge, LA

A: We’ve written before about the animated movie renaissance, but the Oracle has come to reluctantly agree with you.

Disney started the renaissance with The Little Mermaid in 1989, but soon their films started to blur together: a story about a plucky, but ostracized outsider must learn to “own” his or her difference into order to end up saving the kingdom, village, or savanna — all set to truly memorable showtunes.

Two studios inherited Disney’s artistic mantle, furthering the renaissance: Pixar, which had a break-out hit with Toy Story, and Dreamworks, which had its first big success with Shrek.

But just like Disney’s films became derivative of themselves, most animated movies currently seem to follow either the Pixar/Toy StoryShrek formula or the Dreamworks/Shrek one.

The vast majority (like Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs) take the now-insufferable Shrek route: a gimmicky central story with hyper, ironic pop-culture-spouting hipster main characters, usually voiced by celebrities — a shtick modeled after Robin Williams‘ hammy, but memorable turn as the genie in Disney’s Aladdin.

This formula got old three Ice Age sequels ago. Sitting through Jim Carrey in Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who, the Oracle contemplated killing himself.

By contrast, Pixar (which is now owned by Disney) tells much more timeless stories: usually complicated morality tales involving sad or ethically compromised main characters. Examples include Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, WALL-E, and Ratatouille.

In the Oracle’s opinion, the Pixar model is a thousand times better than the Dreamworks’ one.

But I agree with you that Up, while beautifully drawn and acted, was ultimately muddled and overrated.

Q: There was this TV show around ten years ago about this guy who had the newspaper delivered to him (by a cat) a day early. He’d spend the episode trying to prevent the bad things in the newspaper from happening. Do you know the name of that show? — ScreamingMonkez, Birmingham,

A: You’re thinking of Early Edition, about a Chicago man who received a copy of the Chicago Sun-Times a day early. The show, which stared Friday Night Lights‘ Kyle Chandler and Fisher Stevens, originally ran on CBS from September 1996 to May 2000. ABC Family later ran reruns.

Incidentally, Stevens won an Oscar last night for a documentary he produced, The Cove. Yes, that’s why that guy looked so familiar!

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A few months ago, the heirs of Jack Kirby, the iconic Golden Age-era Marvel Comics artist who first drew the likes of Spider-man, the X-Men, and the Fantastic Four, made a big fuss that the rights to all of the artist’s properties would be reverting to them in a very near future, sending notified letters to the company letting them know the deal.

It was recently announce that Marvel is now suing the heirs, professing that their claim to the characters is bogus. In short, Marvel got served by Kirby’s heirs, so then Marvel served them right back, and now, as per the rules, it’s on.

But lest you get worried that this may have an effect on any of the upcoming Marvel films, fear not. Just as we all knew that The Hobbit would eventually get made despite the legal red tape, and none of us believe that crazy lady can really withdraw the rights to Sherlock Holmes if Robert Downey Jr. continues to joke that he’s gay, can anyone really believe that the family of Jack Kirby can take on one of the mightiest entertainment companies in the world (Marvel is owned by Disney, now, remember) and actually win? Unlikely.

Marvel also released a statement explaining that the characters were “made for hire” by Kirby, therefore they belong to Marvel since they were created as part of the job. Sorry, Kirby kids. This looks dead in the water.

Nice try, though.

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Q: Oh Wise and Wondrous Oracle, what can you tell me about the apparently stalled film adaptation of Mary Doria Russell’s fabulous novel, The Sparrow? Last I heard Brad Pitt and/or Antonio Banderas were attached to it, but it seems to have stalled completely. — Ralph, New Zealand

A: The Oracle can reveal that the movie remains in development at Warner Brothers, with Brad Pitt attached; the option on the project was renewed in February 2009. But as Russell herself says, “Many are optioned, but few are filmed.”

The Sparrow is the story of a priest who is the only survivor of a disastrous “first contact” mission with an alien race. In its review, Library Journal basically said it was too smart and philosophical to be considered “science fiction” — which just goes to show how little Library Journal know about science fiction. It’s totally in keeping with the genre’s greatest traditions.

Anyway, Russell is now cautiously optimistic that the movie might get made. “Mr. Pitt is indeed serious about the movie,” she says.

Q: So … the upcoming remake of V. Does she … eat the rat? — Marcy, Billings, MT

A: Not in the pilot episode, which is the only one the Oracle has seen. But … come on! She has to eventually, right? That’s the most famous scene in the original series!

For those of you who don’t know what we’re talking about, just ignore us.

Diana “eats the rat” [Spoiler alert!]

Q: Last week, your site alluded to the rivalry between Universal Studios and Disney. But what does it mean for Universal Studios that Disney recently purchased Marvel Comics (and the rights to all their characters)? Marvel characters are featured prominently in Universal Studio’s Islands of Adventure amusement park. — Trevor, Los Angeles, CA

A: In the short term, Disney’s purchase of Marvel does not affect Universal; they have long-term leases on the characters that are featured on the park’s Marvel Superhero Island.

But long-term? The Oracle thinks it’s not so good for Universal. Disney can, and will, start adding Marvel characters to their own theme parks. Marvel’s lease with Universal is a “Florida-exclusive” one, which means Disney can’t add those characters to Disney World — but they can still gradually dilute Universal’s cache by adding them elsewhere.

According to the New York Times, this is part of the reason why Universal has invested so heavily in their Wizarding World of Harry Potter attraction, opening next spring. It allows them to gradually move away from their reliance on the Marvel characters, and also on the movies of Steven Spielberg (like Jurassic Park), since his association with the park may also soon be renegotiated.

Q: Your webcomic got me thinking: what the hell did happen to the entwives? – Brad, Newark, NJ

A: As you may recall, the Ents and the Entwives had a falling out over … agriculture, of all things (the male Ents felt that everything should take its natural course, but the Entwives were interested in agriculture).

Don’t laugh. We human genders are at each others’ throats over whether the toilet seat gets left up or down.

So what happened to the Entwives? In The Fellowship of the Ring, Sam tells the story of a cousin who saw something Ent-like in the Shire, and later, Treebeard says to Merry and Pippin that Ents would have liked it there. So is that where the Entwives disappeared to?

Alas, no, the Oracle is sad to reveal. For a time, Tolkien maintained he didn’t know what happened to the Entwives (!!!!), but he later fessed up, writing: “I think that in fact the Entwives have disappeared for good, being destroyed with their gardens in the War of the Last Alliance.”

Have a question about something fantasy-related? Ask the Oracle! (Be sure to include your first name and the city, state, and/or country you are writing from.)

According to the New York Times, the Walt Disney Company has announced plans for several revisions in its U.S. theme parks, including a renovation of the Star Tours attraction at several parks and an expansion of Fantasyland at Disney World in Orlando, Florida.

The Fantasyland additions are thought to be a response to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, a highly-anticipated attraction opening next year at Universal Studio’s Islands of Adventure, a rival Florida theme park.

Many media outlets, including the Times, are calling these “major” park revisions, but they actually seem quite modest, especially in comparison to Harry Potter.

The new additions to Disney World’s Fantasyland include an area where attendees can interact with Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Belle. The Dumbo the Flying Elephant ride will be redesigned, and Pixie Hollow, a existing Disneyland attraction, will be added to the land.

A redesigned Dumbo ride? Be-still my beating heart!

Meanwhile, Star Tours at both Disneyland and Disney World will reopen in 2011 with 3-D effects, and the ride will be redesigned around the three most recent Star Wars “prequel” movies.

In addition to these recent announcements, Disney is already currently working on a $1 billion expansion of its California Adventure theme park in Anaheim.

Four and a Half Torches (Out of Five)

I first visited Disney’s Animal Kingdom, part of the Disney World collection of theme parks in Florida, shortly after it opened in 1998. The landscaping was terrific, and the zoo attraction was impressive.

But $45 was a hell of a lot to pay for a well-landscaped zoo.

Alas, the few existing attractions at Animal Kingdom were even lamer than those in Disney’s California Adventure when it opened in 2001, and that’s really saying something.

Since then, Disney has tried buffing up Animal Kingdom’s premiere attractions. One of their most recent additions, the Expedition Everest: Legend of the Forbidden Mountain roller-coaster that opened in 2006, isn’t just the best attraction in the park; it’s one of the best attractions Disney has ever created, on par with their breathtakingly creative Tower of Terror ride that first opened at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in 1994.

Expedition Everest is clearly an homage to the Matterhorn Bobsleds coaster at the original Disneyland. That ride, especially its “forced perspective” making it seem much larger than it is, was certainly impressive in its day (it opened in 1959). But despite occasional improvements since then, it’s since become dated.

Expedition Everest, meanwhile, is Disney at its most current, and its very best.

As with the most memorable of Disney’s attractions, Everest tells a story. In the foothills of the Himalayas in the fictional kingdom of Anandapur, the Himalayan Escapes tour company has embarked on a plan to take tourists up to the base camp of Mount Everest using the Darjeeling Ko Rail, an old steam train had once been used to bring tea down from the mountains. Problem is, the train uses a shortcut, passing through a “forbidden mountain” supposedly guarded by the legendary Yeti.

This is not the fastest or most intense roller-coaster you’ll ever ride. To get that, visit Universal Studios Islands of Adventure, or any of Orlando’s other nearby theme parks.

Still, the thrills are impressive given that it’s Disney, a company that makes as many of its attractions as accessible to as many people as possible. And it’s the mark of a good coaster that many of the drops and turns are scarier than they probably deserve to be, if only because they come in unexpected places (and because they tie into the overall story).

But what’s really remarkable about Expedition Everest is the breathtaking level of detail, both in the run-up to the ride and in the coaster itself. When we finally encounter the animatronic Yeti — out of commission for some time, but now apparently back in commission full-time — it absolutely doesn’t disappoint.

Good job, Disney! I think I’m finally ready to forgive you for that nine dollar burger.

Up, the latest computer-animated movie from Pixar Studios, opens on Friday, which means it’s a good time to ask: are we still in the middle of an animation renaissance?

Most observers agree that such a renaissance began in the late 1980s. Walt Disney Studios had virtually created the art-form of the animated feature film, in an original “golden age” that began with the release of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937 and continued until the 1960s.

But by the 1970s, the studio’s animation arm was a shadow of its former self, directionless after the death of founder Walt Disney in 1966 and done in by a movie-going audience that had long since moved onto other genres.

All that changed in 1985 with the arrival of a new studio chairman at Disney, Jeffrey Katzenberg, who immediately saw the potential in trying to return the studio to its former glory. Katzenberg and Disney first partnered with Steven Spielberg on 1988’s Who Framed Roger Rabbit, an homage to the golden age of animation.

But it was The Little Mermaid, with its clever, catchy Broadway-style score and sophisticated storytelling, that truly heralded a new beginning for the medium.

In the decade that followed, the studio had an astounding run of animated critical and box office hits, including Aladdin, The Lion King, Pocahontas, Mulan, Tarzan, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Beauty and the Beast — still the only full-length animated feature film to be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. (In 2001, acknowledging the break-out success of the genre, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences created an award for Best Animated Feature, but making it even more difficult for animated films to claim Best Picture nods.)

Most of these animated Disney films followed a similar formula: a plucky, but ostracized outsider must learn to “own” his or her difference into order to end up saving the kingdom, village, or savanna — all set to truly memorable showtunes.

By 2000, however, this second Disney golden era had sputtered to an ignoble end; the studio’s animated output in the 00s has consisted mostly of modest successes or outright flops — something that ironically coincided with their decision to stop producing traditionally animated films and concentrate solely on CGI. (Needless to say, this explains the studios’ much-hyped decision to return to hand-drawn animation with The Princess and the Frog, their next release, coming in December.)

But while Disney was flaming out, other studios were eagerly joining the animation fray — most notably Steve Jobs’ Pixar, which actually partnered with Disney to release the wildly acclaimed Toy Story and subsequent critical and popular hits such as Monsters, Inc, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, and Ratatouille. (After a increasingly contentious relationship in the mid-00s, Disney acquired Pixar outright in 2006).

Meanwhile, former Disney chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg had moved on from Disney to form Dreamworks Animation, the animation wing of his much-hyped Dreamworks SKG movie partnership with Steven Spielberg and David Geffen. The studio floundered a bit until they finally hit pay-dirt with Shrek in 2001. A string of hits followed, including Over the Hedge, Ku Fu Panda, and Bee Movie.

Still another studio, Blue Sky, found success with films such as the Ice Age movies and Dr. Seuss’s Horton Hears a Who!

Meanwhile, the less said about Robert Zemeckis’ 2004 dud The Polar Express, the better; Beowulf, Zemeckis’ 2007 film that used the same mix of CGI and “performance capture” technology, was only marginally better.

Like Disney in the 90s, the two dominant studios, Pixar and Dreamworks, each have a unique sensibility for their films — though their two styles are very different from those first Disney films. Both mostly eschew Broadway-style songs, for example. Meanwhile, Pixar creates quirky characters endowed with a strong moral sense acting out classic, timeless tales, while Dreamworks’ films usually center around some version of the irreverent (and often cloying) pop-culture-spouting hipster first seen in Disney’s Alladin.

Ironically, most of the films in the animation renaissance that started with The Little Mermaid have usually been fantasy films (and only very rarely science fiction), once again proving the durability and popularity of the fantasy genre. But incredibly, despite the obvious popularity of these films with audiences, Hollywood has nonetheless maintained its virtual moratorium on live-action fantasy-themed films.

So are we still in the middle of an animation renaissance — albeit one that has evolved since the late 1980s to meet a new generation of viewers?

By one measure, there’s absolutely no doubt. The best-received animated films are frequently among the years’ highest grossers. Shrek and its two sequels have grossed over a billion dollars in the U.S. alone.

Audiences now love animated films, children and adults alike.

But how’s the quality? By this measure, it’s never been better here too: critics tend to love these animated films, at least the ones produced by Pixar and, to a lesser extent, Dreamworks. Indeed, by some measures, WALL-E was the best-reviewed film of 2008, animated or not (though, after a terrific first thirty minutes, its charms were mostly lost on this particular writer). Meanwhile, Ratatouille was one of the best-reviewed films of 2007. And with a RottenTomatoes.com rating of 100%, Up seems poised to be the best-reviewed film of this year.

And there’s absolutely no doubt that, in terms of new technologies and the resources spent on these films, the genre has never been more impressive.

So yes, the renaissance continues.

Are there any indications that it’s finally waning?

Both Pixar and Dreamworks have their tried-and-true formulas, and in Pixar’s case anyway, it usually works. But like Disney in the late 90s, there’s also a creeping sense that they’ve gone to their respective creative wells once too often. When it comes to popular entertainment created by corporations, true innovation tends to come after failure — by the television network in last place, for example. Why change the formula that’s working — and, more importantly, making fist-loads of money?

And the current slate of animated films is willfully, almost ridiculously male-centric — unlike at least the first few Disney films at the start of the animation renaissance. Female characters are currently few, and their roles needlessly peripheral and/or generic.

No renaissance lasts forever. But with no immediate signs of the quality of animated films abating, let’s enjoy this once while it lasts.

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The good news is that Disney’s next highly-marketed mega-franchise, akin to High School Musical or Hannah Montana, will be fantasy-themed.

The bad news is that it’s not based on The Bartimaeus Trilogy, Tales of Earthsea, The Prydain Chronicles, or any other classic childrens’ book series.

It’s Wizards of Waverly Place, a sitcom set in New York City about three children who are wizards-in-training. It stars Selena Gomez, a 16 year-old actress that Disney has long been grooming for Miley Cyrus-like tween superstardom.

The show is already in its second season and currently the second highest rated scripted show for viewers aged 9 to 14 (on cable or broadcast television).

The network has announced the renewal of the show for a third season, and a television movie, Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie, will air in August, as a “Disney Original Movie” — the same marketing rubric that launched High School Musical.

The show has already inspired some tie-in merchandise, but Disney will release a much larger line of dolls and other Wizards-themed toys this fall.

Many of the show’s main characters are Latino, and the show has been lauded for their non-stereotypical portrayal.

But if Harry Potter is “hard” fantasy, Wizards of Waverly Place is very soft fantasy, much like Sabrina the Teenage Witch, a sitcom that ran from 1996 to 2003 on ABC and the WB network.

Still, Wizards, which includes much talk of magic, has received little of the vociferous criticism from far-right religious groups that Harry Potter has received — an indication that fantasy-based stories might have become more palatable for the young in recent years, even in conservative households.

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the third movie in The Chronicles of Narnia fantasy film series, will be produced after all, in a co-production between Walden Media and Fox 2000—not Disney, which co-produced the first two films with Walden, but had decided last month not to continue its participation in the franchise.

The Walder/Disney partnership fell apart over budgetary concerns. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian, the first two films in the series, had budgets of over $200 million each. But Caspian was a relative box office disappointment, grossing only $419 million worldwide, compared to $745 million for Wardrobe.

Walden had wanted a budget of $140 million for Dawn Treader, but Disney had insisted that it be kept to $100 million—particularly difficult given the effects-heavy story, with dragons, lots of magic, and a long sea voyage.

The Walden/Fox 2000 co-production of the film will have a budget of $144 million. Michael Apted will direct, and filming will reportedly take place in Australia in mid-2009 with planned 2010 Christmas release.
Joining the cast of actors from two previous movies will be 16 year-old U.K. actor Will Poulter (Son of Rambo) as Eustance Scrubb.

The films are based on the series of classic children’s books by C.S. Lewis.

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader “is, hands down, the best book of the series,” wrote the Los Angeles Times’ TV critic in an essay last month blasting Disney’s decision to pull out of the project.

“Cinematically, Dawn Treader is a no-brainer. It’s a sea voyage, for Pete’s sake. There’s a dragon and missing knights and a wizard and all manner of magic involved. The moral ambiguity of slavery, the deleterious effect of great wealth, the meaning of the afterlife are all dealt with in entertaining and thrilling ways. Aslan barely makes an appearance, so you don’t even need to worry about Liam [Neeson]’s schedule.”

According to Daily Variety, “Caspian, which is considered the least commercially appealing of the seven C.S. Narnia novels, ranked No. 10 in global box office performance last year. Dawn Treader is considered to be a more family film-friendly book, and the goal is to get back to the magical aspects present in the first Narnia pic but mostly absent from Prince Caspian.”