The year is 1984 and Michael Eisner was just named CEO of the Disney company. His reign as the man in charge would have many ups and downs but would ultimately be instrumental in the revival of their animation department. In his time, beloved films like “Beauty and the Beast,” “The Lion King” and “Mulan” were created with extreme attention to detail and given complex storylines, something Disney’s live-action films have been lacking for a while.
Two-dimensional, or 2D, animation is a combination of artistic expression and media design, creating the illusion of movement in two dimensional environments. Because most 2D animation is hand-drawn, artists are able to draw such specific details that the audience will sometimes piece hidden storylines or visual details together years after film release. One of the most popular examples of this is the connection between “Frozen,” “Tangled” and “The Little Mermaid.” Of these three films, “Frozen” and “Tangled” are in fact 3D, but are vital to the theory as a whole. In Frozen’s animation, the character Rapunzel can be seen entering the castle during Elsa’s coronation, placing the two characters in the same universe. There is far more theory that connects the details of the animated shipwreck in “The Little Mermaid” to the movie, “Frozen,” demonstrating the care and time that goes into 2D animation. These theories and animated “easter eggs” are part of what makes Disney animation so magical for their fans.
Disney used to be a magical company because of the stories they told. The animators expressed compelling and diverse stories through artistic, visually pleasing 2D animation. I understand that as technology changes and adapts to modern standards, so should the film industry. However, this does not mean we should diminish 2D animation completely.
2D animation is the definition of originality. Films often take years to produce when each scene is hand-drawn, but sometimes effort is worth more than money. In a time where humans are losing their jobs to AI and technology as a whole, why should a billion dollar corporation feed into this loss of humanistic expression?
One of my favorite examples of excellent 2D animated detail is the 1998 film “Mulan.” This story of a feminist warrior was far ahead of its time. The film’s historical research and comment on the modern issue of women’s rights was carefully crafted and highly impactful for audiences, which is highlighted in the 2D animation. The meticulous and artfully designed script cleverly changes what people call Mulan based on her status and what would be historically accurate for her time. For example, the villain of the film, Shan Yu, refers to her as “the soldier on the mountain” whereas her fellow warriors simply call her “the woman” once her secret is revealed. This deliberate phrasing gives insight into gender roles for China around 386-534 AD. Shan Yu and his people were most likely inspired by the nomadic Xiongnu group around the Mongolian peninsula. Their gender roles were vastly different since women were also considered warriors, and the film’s script reflects this.
But the detail of 2D animation doesn’t stop with a script. In fact, the watercolor inspiration, the hand-sketches in the writers’ rooms and the visually pleasing designs of characters speak beyond the words from the script itself. “Mulan” masterfully combines traditional Chinese art with classic Disney animation techniques, creating an artistically sophisticated and emotionally expressive film. The poetic simplicity of the Chinese landscape art used as backdrops truly speaks for itself.
The film’s production designer, Hans Bacher, explained the careful artistic process by saying, “We didn’t want to overload the backgrounds with too much information. We wanted to create a stage for the characters,” perfectly articulating the dedication to a specific look, theme and style. Bacher and the directors even went so far as to study various styles of historical Chinese art, settling on a style from the Tang Dynasty. This level of research and care is truly something special to the 2D art process.
In 2025, there are no plans to go back to strictly 2D animation. Current films such as “Elio,” “Moana 2” and “Zootopia 2” all create 3D animation and CGI techniques. The film “Gatto,” on the other hand, depicts a fascinating blend of animation intersection. Planned to release in June of 2027, this film combines both 2D and 3D art techniques, much like “Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse.” Although I believe Disney should bring back strictly 2D animated films, this movie is a step in the right direction since it incorporates more of the originality and artistic diversity of 2D animation. Combining hand-drawn artwork with traditional computer-generated graphics creates a unique blend of animation, a style of art highly popularized after the widely discussed Spider-man film release. Because there is more than just CGI, the care and attention to detail into the story is much stronger and more visually pleasing.
It has been a widely discussed issue recently that Disney has been pumping out high quantities of low quality films. This directly correlates to film styles other than animation. Digitally animated films that use techniques such as 3D and live action have been the overwhelming majority of film styles produced by Disney in recent years. Produced to make a quick buck, the films have lost a lot of the original and creative concepts 2D films often portray. There are countless blogs, websites and social media forums of fans begging Disney to stop live action remakes — an example of the low quality film fatigue in recent years. One article in particular discusses the loss of emotional impact these remakes and poorly animated CGI films have on their audiences. The author of the article, Lindsey Gould, goes as far as to write, “the live-action adaptations lack the charm of the original animations and lose a little bit of that Disney magic.”
2D animation is also extremely nostalgic for a lot of die-hard Disney fans. A potential campaign announcing the return of 2D animation would completely revamp their current branding. Imagine a brand actually taking accountability for their low quality film choices. Imagine reading that they are overcoming it and turning a new leaf to the renewal of real art telling real stories with real emotion. Imagine the slogan — “Bring back creativity. Bring back imagination. Bring back nostalgia. Bring back Disney.” The people who grew up with 2D, the fans who have outgrown a lot of their current films, and the older generation who remembers the first few Walt Disney hits would all be able to come together and support this new production.
Large film corporations like Disney will soon come to realize that magic cannot be manufactured by technology — it is drawn by human hand and evokes emotional responses so real that the stories truly come to life.
Faith Richardson likes to write about student life, the arts and the media. Email her at [email protected].