Animated Movies that went through Difficult Productions Part 2

 

    Lets get right to it! If you haven't read the first one, you should go and read that first. Now, lets get to it.

Brave

Brave would've been the first Pixar film to solely be directed by a women, Brenda Chapman. Until she got fired and got a co-directing credit. Brave was a game changer film for Pixar. It was the first Pixar film to have a female main character and the first female director. Before Frozen broke the Disney fairy tale tropes, Brave did it. Merida had parents, she didn't like any boys, and she didn't want to be a Princess. The film was originally called The Bear and the Bow and was inspired by Brenda Chapman's relationship with her daughter. The film was very close to her heart. A little background on Brenda Chapman, she was a storyboard artist at Disney and worked on Beauty and the Beast and the Lion King and she was one of the Directors on the Prince of Egypt. She started early development on Brave in 2006, started full production on it in 2008, and then all of a sudden, in 2011, a year before the film came out, she was fired for "creative differences" and was replaced by Mark Andrews who was the story supervisor on the Incredibles. Though they kept the core of the film, they got rid of some off the magical elements. The film also was originally going to be a lot snowier. It all ended well though, they both got credit as directors and the film was a big success and even won an Oscar for best animated feature. Brenda was still very proud of the film and Brave paved the way for more women to direct at Pixar and for more diversity at Pixar. Though she is still very upset about what happened. She says in an interview, "When Pixar took me off of Brave — a story that came from my heart, inspired by my relationship with my daughter - it was devastating," she continues "Animation directors are not protected like live-action directors, who have the Directors Guild to go to battle for them. We are replaced on a regular basis — and that was a real issue for me. This was a story that I created, which came from a very personal place, as a woman and a mother. To have it taken away and given to someone else, and a man at that, was truly distressing on so many levels.”

Shrek

    I want you to all take a look at this picture. Ah Shrek, the greatest franchise ever. But the first Shrek had a very interesting development process. And when I mean interesting, Ohhhhh boy. The film was actually based off of a book of the same name and the author sold the film rights to a guy named John H Williams and none other then Steven Spielberg. And thus started its 10 year production! 10 stinkin years! Steven Spielberg wanted it to be a traditionally hand drawn animated film made at his know defunct animation studio Amblimation, with Bill Murray as Shrek and Steve Martin as Donkey!  John convinced Steven to do it at his Spielberg's new studio DreamWorks and began active development on the project in 1995 when the rights where brought to the studio. SNL alum Chris Farley took on the role Shrek. It was originally going to be about a teenage version of Shrek who lives in a garbage dump with his family outside off a town called Wart Creek. He doesn't want to take up the family business of scaring people. Instead, he wants to be a knight. To prove his worth, he goes to Lord Farquad to save Princess Fiona and bring her back to marry him. Along the way he meets Donkey off course and then off course rescues the Princess who at the time was a very bitter version off Fiona. 

    Originally, they wanted to do the movie in motion capture which is when actors perform the character and then the animated character goes on top of them and matches there movements. This ended horribly however and looked terrible. They then decided to do cg characters infront of miniature models. Looked good, but was to much. So they just stuck to CG animation. In 1997, the animatic of the early version off the film was shown with 80 to 90 percent of Chris Farley's original dialogue and Jeffrey Katzenberg hated it. They would have to rework the story. But then, Chris Farley died from a drug overdose! On top off having to rework the story, they also had to recast Shrek! Andrew Adamson and Kelly Asbury where hired to be directors around this time. But Kelly Asbury let  the film a year after joining the project, he left to direct Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron but would come back later and co direct Shrek 2. Kelly was replaced by Vicky Jensen, who worked as a storyboard artist on Road to El Dorado (look it up). Once the directors changed, the story started to change. Shrek's character started to turn from lovable, silly, teenager, to grumpy ogre. They changed Fiona to a lovable and kind character but still very tough. They hired Mike Myers to play Shrek as long as they got rid of any references to Chris Farley. After Mike Myers recorded all his dialogue, he wasn't happy with it and wondered if he could do it again with a Scottish accent. They already started animating at this point and know need to rework scenes to fit the dialogue. That made the budget 5 million dollars higher then it already was! But it was all worth it. Shrek's voice is iconic. This insane production was also all worth it when it was released to overwhelming critical and commercial success and being the first film to receive the fist Oscar for best animated feature.  Here is a scene from the Chris Farley version off the film.

Ratatouille

       Ratatouille is one of Pixar's best films. It is a original, funny, beautiful, and artistic masterpiece. It feels like eating a delicious meal. However, sometimes movies that are this good take awhile. The film was pitched in 2000 by Jan Pinkava where it was finished in 2007! Jan Pinkava directed the Oscar winning Pixar short Geri's Game which was about a man playing chess with himself. He was replaced 2 years before the films release because it wasn't that commercial and to artsy. Pixar used to really like to fire directors and replace them don't they? Brad Bird was hired to replace him who we have talked about in the last article. He kept a lot of the elements from the original version and Jan Pinkava got co-directing credit. Brad Bird did change a few things. For example, in Pinkava's version, Gusteau was alive, the tone was different, and Remy was different. Brad Bird made the Rats a little more appealing in the design. The film however was released to huge praise and a big box office reception.