Disney Animation Dept. Wrong Target for Cuts

Re: “Animation Job Cuts Draw Ire at Disney,” June 15.

If the crass statement that Disney executives are “not cutting back on quality, just fat” (regarding the mass layoffs and pay cuts happening in the animation department) is a direct quote, that certainly explains the utter charmlessness of the recent Disney features.

It also makes one wonder how much, if any, “fat” has been trimmed at the executive level. “The Emperor’s New Groove” was marketed stupidly, and the animators are the ones being punished.

What’s really driving up production costs is irrelevant computer imagery, which still doesn’t look good enough for its price and is a lot less impressive than the hand-drawn effects of the early Disney animated features. (And, of course, no amount of digital gobbledygook is going to compensate for a dull or a badly told story.) So how about cutting back on the computer graphics images?

If things are so tight at Disney, where did they dig up the $5 million to throw themselves a premiere party for “Pearl Harbor”? And is the animation department expected to pay for that?

Kevin Dawson

Sunland