Disney Renaissance
Nineties cartoon resurgence
The Disney Renaissance is the period from roughly 1989 to 1999 when Walt Disney Animation Studios produced a string of critically acclaimed, commercially successful animated films.
Beginning with *The Little Mermaid* and including *Beauty and the Beast*, *Aladdin*, and *The Lion King*, the era revived the studio's reputation after decades of decline and reestablished animated musicals as cultural events.
Final twentieth-century decade
- golden agePeriod of peak prosperity
- Beauty and the BeastTale of transformative love
- AladdinStoried genie summoner
- The Lion KingDisney's savanna succession drama
Pocahontas · Mulan · Hercules · Tarzan · Alan Menken · critical acclaim
Monarch's daughter or heir
- heroOne admired for courage
- villainWicked story antagonist
- sidekickSubordinate adventure partner
- ArielAiry supernatural being
Belle · Simba · Pocahontas · Mulan · Hercules · Tarzan · Ursula · Gaston
- showtunesSongs from musicals
- balladNarrative poem or song
- repriseRecurrence of a theme
- villain songMusical theater antagonist's solo
Tim Rice · duet · Circle of Life · orchestral score · musical number · singalong
Created manually, not digitally
- celTransparent sheet for cartoons
- 2D animationFlat sequential moving artwork
- character designVisual development of personas
- storyboardPlanned visual sequence drawings
animator · pencil test · clean-up · backgrounds · layout · CAPS · digital ink · crowd scenes
Life's earliest phase
- VHSAnalog tape format
- memoriesStored past experiences
- magicSupernatural or illusory power
- fairytaleMagical children's narrative
enchanted · storybook · wonder · imagination · timeless · classics · bedtime stories · collectibles
1990s
Final twentieth-century decade
- golden agePeriod of peak prosperity
- Beauty and the BeastTale of transformative love
- AladdinStoried genie summoner
The Lion King · Pocahontas · Mulan · Hercules · Tarzan · Alan Menken · critical acclaim
princess
Monarch's daughter or heir
Ariel · Belle · Simba · Pocahontas · Mulan · Hercules · Tarzan · Ursula · Gaston · Jafar
Alan Menken
Tim Rice · villain song · duet · Circle of Life · orchestral score · musical number · singalong
hand-drawn
Created manually, not digitally
- celTransparent sheet for cartoons
- 2D animationFlat sequential moving artwork
- character designVisual development of personas
storyboard · animator · pencil test · clean-up · backgrounds · layout · CAPS · digital ink · crowd scenes
childhood
Life's earliest phase
fairytale · enchanted · storybook · wonder · imagination · timeless · classics · bedtime stories · collectibles · rewatching
Disney, renaissance, renascence, renascent, nascent, native, nativity, natal, nation