By Kim LEE
Contributing Writer
In less than three weeks, I am going to turn 19, and here I am, watching “How to Train Your Dragon 2” for the nth time.
People often believe that animation is only for kids, but that is not true. The art form itself has now touched more people than ever, thanks to the successful breakthroughs of “Frozen,” “Toy Story,” “How to Train Your Dragon,” “Kung Fu Panda” —you name it.
Recently, the news of DreamWorks Animation shutting down one of their studios and laying off about 500 employees has come to my concern. According to the Los Angeles Times, DreamWorks lost over $200 million during the last quarter. As a person who loves animation, I found this very upsetting because the studio itself has produced so many good animated films over the past two decades.
I came across an article a week ago saying that those who vote on Oscars winners actually have little understanding of animation. A debate took place on the internet after the award for Best Animated Feature Film was given to Walt Disney’s “Big Hero 6” in the Oscars this year. This is the seventh time Walt Disney Studio has won in this category—the seventh time in the eight years this category has been in the program.
Don’t get me wrong. Disney, as we all already know, is awesome. However, just because everyone is familiar with Disney does not mean we should make it out to be a monopoly in the animation industry.
I have watched all of this year’s Oscar-nominated animated films and, in my opinion, they are all equally awe-inspiring, outstanding, and important. But since the Oscar results for Best Animated Feature have been almost 99 percent predictable, I have come to the conclusion and doubt that maybe the audience has not taken animation seriously. In other words, we are being thoughtless about this particular art form that deserves to be more appreciated.
If we could look outside of Disney, there are so many other great studios that have provided amazing films and helped gain the recognition for the animation industry as a whole. DreamWorks is the perfect example of a successful studio whose animated films have achieved the same success as those of Disney over the last decade.
Sadly, variation has not been seen and may never be seen if we do not look over the horizon for what we are missing. We always encourage ourselves to go further and explore, but some of us are ignoring that opportunity, that open door of variation for not only the animation industry but also ourselves.
Lastly, following its huge number of layoffs, DreamWorks is now selling its main headquarters campus in Glendale, California to help recoup the loss the company suffered. As a result, DreamWorks will now only release one to two films a year. The studio also announced the delayed release for its future films, including “Kung Fu Panda 3” and “How to Train Your Dragon 3,” which will both be released a year later than their original date.
This year, only one DreamWorks animated film will be released, “Home,” coming to theaters in late March. I do not know what to expect in the future, but it is my hope that “Home” and other upcoming movies will gross big achievements to help bring the studio back to success. If you are up for a movie later this month, go get a ticket and maybe “Home” will surprise you.
And remember, as Disney himself said, “Adults are only kids growing up anyways.”
