The animation industry has lost a pioneer. Burny Mattinson, who has worked with Walt Disney Animation Studios on several esteemed projects over the years, has passed away at the age of 87. According to The Walt Disney Company in an official statement, he had passed after a short and undisclosed illness. Working across several departments in the animation company, he worked at The Walt Disney Company for almost 70 years and was due to receive a one-of-a-kind award on June 4, 2023. He is survived by his wife, as well as the families of his son and daughter.
"Burny's artistry, generosity, and love of Disney Animation and the generations of storytellers that have come through our doors, for seven decades, has made us better," wrote Walt Disney Animation chief creative director Jennifer Lee. "All of us who have had the honor to know him and learn from him will ensure his legacy carries on.
"Burny's artistry, generosity, and love of Disney Animation and the generations of storytellers that have come through our doors, for seven decades, has made us better," wrote Walt Disney Animation chief creative director Jennifer Lee. "All of us who have had the honor to know him and learn from him will ensure his legacy carries on.
- 2/27/2023
- by Erin Brady
- Slash Film
The Aristocats
Written by Ken Anderson, Larry Clemmons, Eric Cleworth et al.
Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman
USA, 1970
The 1970s and early 1980s represent a curious episode in the history of Walt Disney Animation Studios’ features. The famous studio rarely produces outright poor movies, yet this period is just as rarely mentioned in the same breath as its first decade or so, when classics like Pinocchio, Bambi, and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs came to be, or the baptized renaissance that began with The Little Mermaid and lasted until Tarzan. It feels as though the aforementioned decade and a half feature a steady stream of decent, generally appreciated outings but nothing most people cite as being their favourite efforts. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, The Rescuers, The Fox and the Hound, Robin Hood; few if any of these make anyone’s top 5 lists. Neither does the film that opened the 1970s,...
Written by Ken Anderson, Larry Clemmons, Eric Cleworth et al.
Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman
USA, 1970
The 1970s and early 1980s represent a curious episode in the history of Walt Disney Animation Studios’ features. The famous studio rarely produces outright poor movies, yet this period is just as rarely mentioned in the same breath as its first decade or so, when classics like Pinocchio, Bambi, and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs came to be, or the baptized renaissance that began with The Little Mermaid and lasted until Tarzan. It feels as though the aforementioned decade and a half feature a steady stream of decent, generally appreciated outings but nothing most people cite as being their favourite efforts. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, The Rescuers, The Fox and the Hound, Robin Hood; few if any of these make anyone’s top 5 lists. Neither does the film that opened the 1970s,...
- 2/2/2014
- by Edgar Chaput
- SoundOnSight
The Rescuers
Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman, John Lounsbery, Art Stevens
Written by Larry Clemmons, Vance Gerry, Ken Anderson, Frank Thomas, Burny Mattinson, Fred Lucky, Dick Sebast, Dave Michener
Starring Bob Newhart, Eva Gabor, Geraldine Page, Pat Buttram, George Lindsey
One of the most fascinating aspects of our podcast is watching the struggle within the Walt Disney Company to blend reality and fantasy. From the beginning, Disney had stated that he wanted movies like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to be perceived as films for adults, as opposed to films for children or families. I’m always heartened to see that comment brought up in modern conversation, because the stigma that animation is specifically for children hasn’t ever dissipated in popular culture. What frustrates me is the film Disney refers to, and how it became a template of sorts for the animators and filmmakers who work at the Walt Disney Company.
Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman, John Lounsbery, Art Stevens
Written by Larry Clemmons, Vance Gerry, Ken Anderson, Frank Thomas, Burny Mattinson, Fred Lucky, Dick Sebast, Dave Michener
Starring Bob Newhart, Eva Gabor, Geraldine Page, Pat Buttram, George Lindsey
One of the most fascinating aspects of our podcast is watching the struggle within the Walt Disney Company to blend reality and fantasy. From the beginning, Disney had stated that he wanted movies like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to be perceived as films for adults, as opposed to films for children or families. I’m always heartened to see that comment brought up in modern conversation, because the stigma that animation is specifically for children hasn’t ever dissipated in popular culture. What frustrates me is the film Disney refers to, and how it became a template of sorts for the animators and filmmakers who work at the Walt Disney Company.
- 12/29/2012
- by Josh Spiegel
- SoundOnSight
The Aristocats
Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman
Written by Ken Anderson, Larry Clemmons, Eric Cleworth, Vance Garry, Tom McGowan, Tom Rowe, Julius Svendsen, Frank Thomas, and Ralph Wright
Starring Phil Harris, Eva Gabor, Scatman Crothers
Complacency is always a dangerous tone to strike in filmmaking. Combined with cheapness, it can be a killer. Those two concepts are what stand out most of all from the Wolfgang Reitherman era of Walt Disney Pictures. For various reasons, most of which were beyond Reitherman’s control, most of the films from Walt Disney Pictures between 1959’s Sleeping Beauty and 1989’s The Little Mermaid felt cheap and lazy. (Being fair, Reitherman’s time at the company ended, for the most part, with 1977’s The Rescuers, but the four films between that and Mermaid have varying aspects of laziness on display, I think.) And make no mistake: the word “cheap” does not need to be a criticism.
Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman
Written by Ken Anderson, Larry Clemmons, Eric Cleworth, Vance Garry, Tom McGowan, Tom Rowe, Julius Svendsen, Frank Thomas, and Ralph Wright
Starring Phil Harris, Eva Gabor, Scatman Crothers
Complacency is always a dangerous tone to strike in filmmaking. Combined with cheapness, it can be a killer. Those two concepts are what stand out most of all from the Wolfgang Reitherman era of Walt Disney Pictures. For various reasons, most of which were beyond Reitherman’s control, most of the films from Walt Disney Pictures between 1959’s Sleeping Beauty and 1989’s The Little Mermaid felt cheap and lazy. (Being fair, Reitherman’s time at the company ended, for the most part, with 1977’s The Rescuers, but the four films between that and Mermaid have varying aspects of laziness on display, I think.) And make no mistake: the word “cheap” does not need to be a criticism.
- 9/8/2012
- by Josh Spiegel
- SoundOnSight
The Jungle Book
Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman
Written by Larry Clemmons, Ralph Wright, Ken Anderson, and Vance Gerry
Starring Phil Harris, Sebastian Cabot, George Sanders, Louis Prima, Sterling Holloway
Why are so many Disney movies incapable of creating indelible lead characters? I wonder if that question is tantamount to heresy for many Disney buffs, but it’s worth asking. Don’t get me wrong: there are a number of Disney movies that work so well thanks in no small part to the lead character, from Belle in Beauty and the Beast to Tiana in The Princess and the Frog. (And, for the purposes of this argument, I’m leaving aside any Pixar movies.) But a whole host of Disney movies, ones that we consider classics, have a great, big, gaping hole at their center, counterbalanced by colorful supporting characters.
Take, for instance, Aladdin. Though we’ll talk about this 1992 animated...
Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman
Written by Larry Clemmons, Ralph Wright, Ken Anderson, and Vance Gerry
Starring Phil Harris, Sebastian Cabot, George Sanders, Louis Prima, Sterling Holloway
Why are so many Disney movies incapable of creating indelible lead characters? I wonder if that question is tantamount to heresy for many Disney buffs, but it’s worth asking. Don’t get me wrong: there are a number of Disney movies that work so well thanks in no small part to the lead character, from Belle in Beauty and the Beast to Tiana in The Princess and the Frog. (And, for the purposes of this argument, I’m leaving aside any Pixar movies.) But a whole host of Disney movies, ones that we consider classics, have a great, big, gaping hole at their center, counterbalanced by colorful supporting characters.
Take, for instance, Aladdin. Though we’ll talk about this 1992 animated...
- 7/7/2012
- by Josh Spiegel
- SoundOnSight
Chicago – As far as kiddie tearjerkers go, “The Fox and the Hound” is one of Disney’s finest. It’s not a great film, and certainly not in the same league as the watershed game-changers that came before or the renaissance masterworks that followed. But it is a tender and bittersweet fable with a message of refreshing complexity. At its heart is a friendship that society has deemed unsustainable, and the film doesn’t shy away from its troubling repercussions.
Based on the novel by Daniel Mannix, this 1981 effort functioned as a crucial turning point in the history of Disney studios, when veteran animators like Wolfgang Reitherman were replaced by a slate of new talent including Ron Clements and John Musker (future co-directors of “The Little Mermaid”). Creative differences intensified between the old guard and the rookies, many of whom found the project to be distressingly bland. This caused the...
Based on the novel by Daniel Mannix, this 1981 effort functioned as a crucial turning point in the history of Disney studios, when veteran animators like Wolfgang Reitherman were replaced by a slate of new talent including Ron Clements and John Musker (future co-directors of “The Little Mermaid”). Creative differences intensified between the old guard and the rookies, many of whom found the project to be distressingly bland. This caused the...
- 8/12/2011
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Disney's The Jungle Book, Kids Directed by ... David Ward, Choreographed by ... Jessica Knecht, Music and Lyrics by Richard Sherman, Robert Sherman and Terry Gilkyson, Book Adapted & Additional Lyrics by Marcy Heisler , Music Adapted and Arranged by Bryan Louiselle, Based on the Screenplay by Larry Clemmons, Based on the novel by Rudyard Kipling
Come revisit your favorite Disney Jungle Book friends; Mowgli, Baloo the bear, Bagherra the panther, Shere Khan the tiger and King Louie the ape, as they sing some favorite songs such as The Bare Necessities and I Wanna Be like You. You'll enjoy this fast paced, energetic show. The show is sure to please the young and adults as well. The cast of this production includes young people from the East County (Concord, Pittsburg, Antioch, Bay Point) and cast members range in age from 6 yrs. to 14 yrs. Some are new to theatre and some have been in several...
Come revisit your favorite Disney Jungle Book friends; Mowgli, Baloo the bear, Bagherra the panther, Shere Khan the tiger and King Louie the ape, as they sing some favorite songs such as The Bare Necessities and I Wanna Be like You. You'll enjoy this fast paced, energetic show. The show is sure to please the young and adults as well. The cast of this production includes young people from the East County (Concord, Pittsburg, Antioch, Bay Point) and cast members range in age from 6 yrs. to 14 yrs. Some are new to theatre and some have been in several...
- 12/4/2009
- BroadwayWorld.com
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