Hand drawn animation is a dying art

Cartoons were a staple of my childhood.
I spent hours watching cartoon network and the Disney channel when I was a kid. That is why it saddens me when I see so few hand drawn animated movies these days.
Disney recently announced that they had no plans to make anymore hand drawn animated films.
It seems like in the past few years, not only has Disney reduced the number of hand drawn animation but the style has all but disappeared from theaters.
Luckily, Disney has not completely abandoned its roots.
While they do not have any immediate plans for hand drawn films, they did recently announce that they would be making new Mickey Mouse cartoon shorts, done in a similar style to the original shorts that used to feature the character, i.e. Steam Boat Willie.
Disney announced the new series earlier this month, with a preview appearing on Disney.com.
Each cartoon will feature the famous character in different locations and situations.
One of the goals of the series is to be similar in terms of style and direction giving a nod to the older Mickey Mouse cartoons.
Disney has also announced that the cartoons will also feature characters like Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, Goofy and Pluto.
It appears Disney is finally trying to do something in their old style again.
As a fan of animation in general, this announcement made me happy.
It has been a long time since I have seen Mickey Mouse featured in his own cartoon series, and it will be nice to see the iconic character featured in a new series.
The new series will not be a carbon copy of the older cartoons though, trying to be contemporary while still having a similar style. This is a kind of relief, as it will not feel like they are retreading old ground.
The preview they showed online, entitled “Croissant de Triomphe” is an entertaining, and well-made short.
The cartoon is set in Paris, and features Mickey trying to deliver food to Minnie’s restaurant.
Visually, the cartoon’s style was a little different from the older shorts.
While it was still 2D animation, the cartoon had a more modern look to it than the older animations.
Disney seems to have mostly neglected their classic characters for the past few years along with traditional animation.
Most of the animated films are now CGI, and come from Pixar or else the animation in their films are reminiscent of Pixar’s style.
This cartoons series will probably not be anything amazing or groundbreaking, but I hope it is at least an enjoyable series.
Disney seems to be putting a fair amount of effort into it, only time will tell if it pays off.