John Lasseter the New Walt Disney?

[ROBONICS95]

Funny that you posted this today...

The Hollywood Reporter just named John Lasseter Innovator of the Year

The torch has been passed. Over the past two decades, Lasseter has become not only the most prominent successor to the Nine Old Men, but arguably the most important figure in animation since Disney himself.

Good article about a great man

John Lasseter leads Disney to next great phase

[Ghostbuster626]

I don't think Lasseter is the new Walt Disney. Lasseter has shown he doesn't care about the Orlando parks and will continue to let them fall apart, he seems to be anti-original ideas (only cartoon tie-ins it seems), and on top of that he seems to promote whatevers on the agenda for Disney regardless fo quality. Examples include:

- He went on camera and promoted the Tinker Bell movie saying it was wonderful and fantastic and all this bs

- He said the same thing about Meet the robinsons and the movie was extremly mediocre some if it didnt even make sense.

- Doing the same for BOLT which im pretty sure will end up just like robinsons.

- When Iger started hyping up blu-ray he immediatly started saying in interviews how wonderful Blu-ray is and how the only way to PROPERLY see the movie is to go out and buy the overpriced blu-ray disc of that movie. Ditto for Disney Digital 3D. If he loves 3D so much how come he wasnt championing for it before it became a big promotional thing for Disney?

I'm not saying Lasseter is a bad guy but it just seems to me he is becoming more of a company Yes Man and not the "man of the people" we all hoped he would be. Otherwise he would be championing for at least some orginal attractions in the parks, improved maintenance, cancelling projects like Monsters Inc Laugh Floor, releasing song of the south on dvd or bluray, talking to Bob Iger about giving power back to the Imagineers instead of leaving it in the hands of Jay Rasolu and the marketing team, etc.

IMO his first true test will be Princess & The Frog but I have become less enthusastic about it since he & his team caved into media hysteria that the movie was not "politcally correct" and had to tone down the story, change charecter names and the name of the movie (originally The Frong Princess), and probably made changes to the story to soften it up. I fear that what could have been the next Aladdin or Lion King will now become the next fox & the hound.

I'

[DisneyIPresume]

This thread has been going on for pages now.

Here is the answer plain and simple.

The executive most like Walt has not arrived yet. You will know who it is once they decide they want to spend the night inside of Disneyland.

[Datameister]

Originally Posted by DisneyIPresume

The executive most like Walt has not arrived yet. You will know who it is once they decide they want to spend the night inside of Disneyland.

Mmmm...yes and no. That'd certainly be a good sign, but you will really know who it is when they almost always make good executive decisions for the betterment of the park. Besides, if someone decided to start sleeping in Walt's Main Street apartment from time to time, more'n a few of us would start getting pissed at the possible symbolism of (s)he thinking (s)he was the next Walt, you know?

[Gymfan15]

There has only been one Walt Disney, and there will never be another person exactly like him. To hail John Lasseter as the new Walt is a mistake, because he is his own individual, unique person with his own strengths and weaknesses.

I do think though, that John is the best thing that has happened to Disney in a LONG time. He cares tremendously about people and the experience they want to have when they visit parks, and he's always looking to try new, interesting things. I mean, just look what he did with Pixar.

We'll never have another Walt, but we do have John, and I say, treasure him while you've got him, because someday he'll be gone too and then you're probably going to get stuck with a lot of guys who don't care a tick about people but only about their money.

[bigwavedave]

I think tring to compare John to walt is well mixing apples and orages both have good an bad points

[Coheteboy]

Originally Posted by Datameister

I haven't been to the Blue Sky Cellar, and I haven't met John, and I haven't experienced some of the attractions based on his films, so my opinion is not completely well-informed.

So you've met Walt Disney??




Kidding.


I agree with the majority that thinks that John LASSETER has been the guy who raised the bar of animation in a way that nobody else has done since Lion King. And he's definitely has a passion and understanding that is hard to beat.

I'd say that he's America's answer to Miyazaki. But he's no Walt Disney.

[techskip]

A lot of people were amazed with Walt's sense of enthusiasm, that was what started this comparison. More then anything else I am continually amazed when I read stories about how Walt was able to amplify the creative talents of those around him. That isn't something seen too often. I don't know John, and I haven't seen that side of him to be able to say either way... but that was a hallmark of Walt. He inspired others, and expected the best from them. If you look at interviews of the "nine old men" you'll hear stories about that over and over. If you listen to the Marc Davis interview he talks about it... so did Ollie... that was Walt. Many would say he'd walk in a room, ask a couple of questions, and basically amplify the talent of those around him.

[bfdf55]

there will never be "the next Walt" as long as the company is run by any management that's similar to anything the company has had since Walt's death. Even Iger is not likely to let loose someone who has that kind of passion.

While Lasseter had the potential to bloom into that role, he was quickly reigned in when he began to become too exuberant on the Nemo project. I really think that Iger had intended for Lasseter to take over Imagineering once they moved Sklar out. But, in spite of their successfully "promoting" Sklar out of WDI, Lasseter has been kept from filling that position. Now they have installed a whole other management there, so it's obvious that Lasseter will not be able to let his passion loose, outside what he's directed to.

[jackskeleton1015]

I posted a comment already but I got more info

John Lasseter named Innovator of the Year.

One step close to Walt

Walt's status will never be touched though

[jackskeleton1015]

Originally Posted by jackskeleton1015

I posted a comment already but I got more info

John Lasseter named Innovator of the Year.

One step close to Walt

Walt's status will never be touched though

Sorry didn't see someone already posted this same comment

[Mac Daddy]

I just finished reading "The Pixar Touch." I agree with the apples and oranges people. Walt Disney was an innovator who went out and found new ways of making things happen. Several of you are thinking of Walt only in terms of Disneyland, but you're leaving out the 30 something years PRIOR to Dinseyland when he was struggling to establish the animated cartoon as an art form rather than a novelty. When he produced Snow White, NOTHING like that had been done before.

Now...had Lasseter been SOLELY responsible for the advent of computer animation and Pixar as an entity, I would say a strong case could be made for a comparison. But Lasseter had quite a few people alongside him as they were cranking out shorts and finally got the green light from Disney to go forward with Toy Story. And as eager as Steve Jobs was at times to sell off Pixar, he kept paying the bills.

Walt, on the other hand, continued with his animated features, broadened into live action films and true life adventures and finally risked it all on this crazy theme park idea.

Lasseter has shown himself to be an amazing story teller, writer, animator, director and producer. I think it's amazing that Pixar has had all of these features come out every year, and I haven't seen one yet that I would consider a flop.

So....Lasseter may not be as legendary as Walt, but Pixar, at the moment, is probably the closest thing to the Walt Disney Studios back when the nine old men were around. If you've seen some of the background bonus material of the pixar films, watch how excited John gets when he's pitching a new idea. You'll see ALL of the Pixar directors pitch their story boards with the same level of intensity. THAT's what Walt was known for.

If Lasseter were to create a new theme park that took the park going experience to a new level and had to go to every banker in the country and mortgage all of his property to make it happen...THEN he'd be closer to Walt. As of now, he has many of Walt's characteristics and Disney is extremely fortunate to have him around. I hope he's around for years to come.

[DisneyIPresume]

Originally Posted by Datameister

Mmmm...yes and no. That'd certainly be a good sign, but you will really know who it is when they almost always make good executive decisions for the betterment of the park. Besides, if someone decided to start sleeping in Walt's Main Street apartment from time to time, more'n a few of us would start getting pissed at the possible symbolism of (s)he thinking (s)he was the next Walt, you know?

Every executive in charge of the park has made executive decisions for the betterment of the park. Even if the decisions were to save money, there excuse was always for the betterment of the park.

What I am not seeing in all of the other executives including Lasseter that I see in Walt is his excitement and passion. Please note that all I said was that today's executives don't want to stay overnight in the park. I never said that they should stay in his apartment either above the firehouse or in NOS.

[Datameister]

Originally Posted by DisneyIPresume

Every executive in charge of the park has made executive decisions for the betterment of the park. Even if the decisions were to save money, there excuse was always for the betterment of the park.

I'm not talking about their excuses - I'm talking about decisions that really DID consistently improve the park as a piece of living art for its guests' enjoyment and as a money-making machine for its owners.

Please note that all I said was that today's executives don't want to stay overnight in the park. I never said that they should stay in his apartment either above the firehouse or in NOS.

Fair enough - got me there. =) And I agree that it'd be a very good sign if one of them did want to do that.

[malice]

No