The Disney Cartoon

A fun and timely look at the evolution of Disney animation from the early days of Mickey Mouse to the box office struggles of films like Wish.

Since 1919, Disney has produced hundreds of animated shorts and almost seventy feature animated cartoons, growing from humble beginnings. In 1923 Walt Disney went hat-in-hand from distributor to distributor, twice losing almost everything before Mickey’s success. In fact, prior to 1928, Disney was one of the smaller animation studios and labored in relative obscurity. Across the 1930s the studio expanded, experimented, reinvested profits, and led the way in new technologies. By 1937, the animation world would change forever with Disney’s Snow White, the studio becoming the name in all animation, where it remains today.

Combining historical research with playful tidbits, The Disney Cartoon explores one iconic studio’s animation across time. Darl Larsen highlights the films that served as stepping stones to mark Disney’s artistic, technological, cultural, and economic progress in theatrical cartoons across more than a century of filmmaking. He examines the Disney journey from bankruptcy in Kansas City to Snow White and the golden age of animation—from hard learned lessons through hard won plaudits; from the nadir of the 1970s to the heights of The Little Mermaid, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and The Lion King; and from the blockbuster Frozen through the expensive misfires Lightyear and Strange World.

The state of modern feature animation is in an anxious flux, and both Pixar and Disney are wobbling, despite their industry dominance. The Disney Cartoon is a fun and thoughtful journey through how the famous animation studio got here as they look to the future in a time of uncertainty and seek to reestablish their foothold in animation. This is a must-read for fans and students of Disney and animation alike.