Director Henry Selick on Animation | Film & Video

How healthy is animation that’s not computer generated? Does it have a future or will it be relegated to student and art projects?

2D was even shut down at Disney a number of years ago, very foolishly I think, after they made Lilo & Stitch, one of the best 2D films ever. The funny thing is that the guy responsible for the success of 3D CG, John Lasseter, has brought 2D back to Disney. They’re doing a hand-drawn film [The Princess and the Frog, aka The Frog Princess].

So there’s a desire for other sorts of animation that now people in power have the ability to revive. Tim Burton is going to do another stop-motion feature, called Frankenweenie. Wes Anderson is doing Fantastic Mr. Fox. Stuff is happening. Stop-motion will never stride forward as the dominant form, but it’ll keep bubbling along and never quite go away.

Director Henry Selick on Coraline | Film & Video