Disney, Pixar artists rally to preserve Small World ride

More than dozen Disney and Pixar creative artists who worked on “The Lion King,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “Aladdin,” “Toy Story,” “A Bug’s Life,” “Monsters Inc.,” “Finding Nemo,” “The Incredibles,” “Cars” and “Ratatouille” have rallied together to protest changes to Disneyland’s It’s a Small World ride as a “gross creative misstep” and campaign to preserve the attraction as a “historic work of art.”

Cast your vote: Should Disneyland change It’s a Small World or keep it the same?

“Altering this classic ride, in any way, for any reason, would be akin to defacing any well known work of art hanging in any museum around the world,” long-time Disney supervising animator Dave Pruiksma wrote on the Re-Imagineering website.

Calling Small World creator Mary Blair “one of the greatest Disney artists” (Bill Kroyer, computer image choreographer, “Tron”) and “one of the most influential artists of the 20th century” (Mark Walsh, supervising animator, “Ratatouille”), the group implored Walt Disney Imagineering to resist altering the boat ride that debuted at the 1964 World’s Fair as a tribute to the children of the world.

“The It’s a Small World attraction is a genuine piece of American art, created by a great American artist and to change it does a disservice to the artist and the fans who have been inspired by Mrs. Blair’s work,” wrote animator, story artist and “Ratatouille” voice actor Pete Sohn.

The furor began in mid-March with an open letter by the Blair family that called the “idiotic plan” to add Disney characters and an American tribute scene to Small World a “gross desecration” that would “bastardize” the stylized artwork and “marginalize” the ride’s original theme.

Disney fired back with an open letter by Imagineering Executive Vice President Marty Sklar calling plans for an “Up With America” scene nothing more than “swirling” and “inaccurate” rumors.

Imagineering officials recently acknowledged that Alice in Wonderland and other Disney characters would be added to the Anaheim attraction, currently down for a 10-month rehab.

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Los Angeles Times Funland blog: www.latimes.com/funland

— Brady MacDonald, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

[Image: Disney]

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 9, 2008 at 9:35 pm by Brady MacDonald and is filed under Disneyland, Family & Kids, San Diego, Theme Parks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.