Dream On Silly Dreamer is a fascinating documentary about the rise and fall of modern Disney animation, told from the point of view of the animators who lived through it. I’ve blogged about it before, but here’s a summary: The film starts with the “renaissance” of Disney animation in the 1980’s (i.e. The Little Mermaid), moves on towards the Oscars (Beauty and the Beast), takes you through the phenominal success of The Lion King, and finally ends with the massive Disney layoffs of 2002. The film ends on a sad and poignant note, but that was very much the mood among animators at the time. Now that Pixar’s John Lasseter is running Disney animation things are arguably more hopeful, but the film is still fascinating nonetheless. Click here to watch the trailer.
Until now you could only watch Dream On Silly Dreamer on DVD. Now you can buy it on iTunes for only $1.99. Just click here. (Kudos to Tom Sito for the update). Or, if you want a version with extra footage and some nice special features, click here to order the DVD.