My kids get a kick driving by the Pixar Studios when we’re running errands in Emeryville.  They love knowing that there are big kids (masquerading as grown-ups) inside who spend their days creating family-friendly movies like "The Incredibles" and "Finding Nemo."  Yesterday my 10-year-old daughter had the same reaction to the big Disney-Pixar deal as many of us grownups when she asked doubtfully, "Um, does that mean that Disney is going to make the Pixar movies now?"  You don’t have to be over 5′ tall to know that Pixar is the king of animation and Disney runs a slow second.

For Disney maniacs like me, it was painful to watch Michael Eisner at the helm of Walt’s company.  I never felt that he cared about Walt’s vision.  Iin the end, Roy Disney didn’t care for Eisner’s leadership either and resigned the board in 2003 in protest of him.  (Remember that Roy Disney was part of the team that brought Eisner to Disney in the 80’s.)  In his resignation letter, which called on Eisner to step down, Disney wrote:  "At Disney’s California Adventure, Paris, and now Hong Kong, you have tried to build parks on the cheap and they show it and the attendance figures reflect it."  I don’t know if Eisner’s fingerprints are on the new Buzz Lightyear ride at Disney, but it certainly feels like it was done "on the cheap" and is not up to Walt’s standards.  (If you don’t know what Walt’s standards were, then just take a ride on the "Pirates of the Caribbean," "It’s a Small World" or the "Jungle Cruise."  They may seem tame by today’s standards, but you can’t miss the detail and care Walt put in his beloved Disneyland.)

When Eisner couldn’t make a deal that would keep Pixar in the Disney family, I knew he was an idiot.  Disney just couldn’t seem to make an animated film that appealed to families; Pixar had cornered that market and Disney rode on their coattails through the distribution deal the two companies had. But Eisner couldn’t make a deal that made Pixar’s management happy and the animation company threatened to walk away from the partnership.  

Enter the new Disney CEO, Rober Iger.  The Pixar-Disney deal makes me think that Iger has more of Walt’s vision and passion than Eisner did.  Pixar CEO and President is now Disney’s largest shareholder.  Pixar’s Executive Vice-President (creative), John Lassiter, will become the chief creative officer of the new Disney/Pixar animiation division.  Iger has said that he plans to leave Pixar alone, allowing the company to stay in Emeryville and keeping its company culture intact.  Let’s hope that he means it.  I’m sure he’s got plenty to do in Southern California.  He can start by upgrading the Buzz ride.  Buzz Lightyear is the hero of my 3-year-old son and his friends, but that ride certainly doesn’t do the Space Ranger justice.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 26th, 2006 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.