Animation vs. CGI: Is traditional animation becoming irrelevant?
The first movie I ever saw, that truly took my breath away, was the movie Spirited Away. I saw the movie when I was just twelve years old and it's still my favorite movie of all time to this day. The story of Spirited Away goes like this; A little girl named Chihiro is moving to a new home with her mom and dad when her dad decides to take a detour. It's the detour that leads them to what they think is an old amusement park but what happens to actually be the spirit realm where Chihiro’s parents get turned into pigs by an old witch, and in order to rescue them, she has to work for the witch in a traditional Japanese bathhouse for the spirits. Now if the plotline didn't sell you the animation in this movie alone would. Every frame is hand-drawn to the most minute detail, from beautiful landscapes of the spirited world to the detailed depiction of the bathhouse and gardens. Every frame looks like it could pop to life off the screen, drawing the viewer in.
Not only is Spirited Away one of my favorite films of all time, but it also marked the end of an era for traditionally animated films. After Spirited Away won the Best Animated Feature at the 75th academy awards every movie henceforth to win happened to be no longer traditionally animated but completely dominated by CGI animation.
Mainstream media has further removed itself from 2D animation in favor of CGI. Big movie conglomerates such as Disney have been pumping out CGI flicks as of late such as Frozen, Up, Toy Story Four, Inside Out, Moana, and more. This lack of 2D animation shows the evolution of animated films in the film industry but also has many animated film fans worried.
However not every animation studio is as gung-ho for CGI as Disney is. Kris Holodak a Professor of Digital Media and Performing Arts at Marquette University has taught various digital media classes along with having a master's in film production from Boston University and has created multiple digital media for clients, such as the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, Xerox, The Smithsonian Institution, and many more. When I asked Kris if she believes that traditional animation is becoming irrelevant, she said: “ I think it's morphing a little bit, I think that most animators are doing a combination of the two.”
And that's just what media companies such as Netflix, and Studio Ghibli who produced Spirited Away have been doing. Recently Netflix released a movie called Klaus about the origins of Santa Clause, and Kirsten Acuna from Insider says that “ The film combines newer tech to deliver a film that brings traditional 2D animation into the 21st century by making “Klaus” feel both nostalgic and fresh at the same time.” Other companies such as Sony have also helped to recently revive the traditional animation look and style while still maintaining the benefits of CGI. In an interview done for the New York Times on Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse, says that one of the Directors for the movie Bob Persichetti “ Having worked at Disney with the Oscar-winning animator Glen Keane (whose characters include Aladdin, Beast, and Tarzan), Persichetti wanted to borrow ideas from hand-drawn techniques.” The film's inspiration and use of hand-drawn techniques are heavily reflected in the animation style used in the film as the movie largely resembles a traditionally animated film yet most of the animation was done using CGI.
It's filmmakers like the creator of Klaus, Sergio Pablos, and those such as the creators of Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse, who are reigniting the love for traditionally animated films, and who are giving us 2D animation fans hope that traditional animation will not die as there are filmmakers out there like Pablos who are revitalizing the medium. With this in mind, I think it’s safe to say that traditional animation will stick around for at least a little while longer.
