Screenplay by Disney

Rating:
Summary: Explore the Disney Story Process
Review: For fans of the Disney animated feature, SCREENPLAY BY DISNEY is a fun read. Yet, the title may be a bit misleading. It really doesn't spend much time talking screenplay, rather about the process that the animated feature goes through from concept to delivery. In fact, many of the early pictures had no screenplay at all.

If you are already aware of the life of the Disney animated feature from SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS through HOME ON THE RANGE, the book will offer no revelations. But it does give time to practically each feature; exploring how and why each film was done in its unique way.

Now, if you are looking to create the next big feature film, you will probably need more than this book to get you ready for that. There is very little practical information that isn't more thoroughly and accurately covered in countless other screenplay books. However, this book has something to offer that those books can not: The Disney library of films. In countless screenwriting books, several films are picked for study and quite often, many of them are films that may be well done, but seen only by limited audiences. So, this book can talk about 60 years of films that are easily accessible to many a mind.

Part of the fun of this book comes from the story structure observations that the author makes. These may be the same observations you yourself have made, if you are looking to be a writer yourself. If they are not, the book can help you become aware of those elements and even teach yourself the importance of such observations.

The book is chock full of quotations from Walt and many of the animators from Disney History and is an entertaining, easy read. Ironically, this is a book about animated features that is in no way illustrated except for three chapter introductions.


Rating:
Summary: Excellent New Disney Book
Review: It's evident the book is written by a true Disney fan, plus there are some great little bits of humor that make it quite entertaining. There were a few instances where I was reading a section and thought "oh this quote from Walt would be so relevant, or this movie reference would work here nicely." More often than not, as I read a little further, or read the little notebook quotes, it was exactly what I was thinking of. Then there are the little teasers about future projects like Rapunzel Unbraided and especially the quote from Mary-Jane Ruggels about doing an animal-caper, a mystery and Latin American based movie. I've made a point of collecting Disney books (I probably have at least half of those mentioned in the endnotes), yet this book still offered new stories and insights.