Between 1990 and 2015 the Walt Disney Company had two film studios using the Disney name. The first, main studio was the prestigious Walt Disney Animation Studios, all of whose films were classed as 'Walt Disney Classics'. The second was Disney MovieToons, later renamed DisneyToon Studios. This was founded in 1990 as a division of Walt Disney Television Animation with the aim of adapting Disney's popular television cartoon series for the big screen as well as making feature-length television and direct-to-video productions.

Walt Disney Television Animation

In 1984 the Walt Disney Company's animated films were going through a slump and the animation department was in danger of being sold off. Key animators had defected, such as Don Bluth, or had been inexplicably fired, like John Lasseter. The animated films were on the whole disappointing or had been costly flops such as The Black Cauldron. That year, a new Chairman of the Walt Disney Company, Michael Eisner, was appointed. He decided that the next animated film would be a low-budget feature, Basil the Great Mouse Detective, to see if the animated film division was still viable. He also decided to launch a new division dedicated to making animation for television. At the time television animation was made to a much lower standard than film animation, utilising techniques known as 'limited animation' to save time and money¹. Eisner's intention was to make cartoons to a higher standard than Disney's competitors, though still to a lower quality than for film.

Walt Disney Television Animation was launched in 1985 with The Wuzzles (1985) and Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears (1985-9), the latter of which proved incredibly popular. This was followed by the even more popular DuckTales (1987-1990) which launched two spin-off series, Darkwing Duck (1991-2) and Quack Pack (1996). DuckTales was followed by Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers (1988-9), The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1988-1991), TaleSpin (1990-1) and Goof Troop (1992-3). Disney were able to radically increase the amount of animation they were producing by outsourcing the television animation work to newly-opened animation studios in countries all around the world².

Following this success, Walt Disney Television Animation hoped to get even greater success by launching their popular characters onto the big screen. This led to the creation of Disney MovieToons. Despite their ambition, it was clear from the beginning that their outputs were a long way behind the quality of films being made by the Walt Disney Animation Studio, which had recovered from the dip and was now entering the period known as the Disney Renaissance, making such films as The Little Mermaid (1989).

The Films

The films that Disney MovieToons and DisneyToon Studios made between 1990 and 1999 are listed below. Also mentioned is whether the films pass the The Bechdel Test (this can be summarised as whether the film involves two or more female characters who have a conversation together that does not include or mention any male characters).

Characters in bold are recurring characters. Actors in bold indicate that these recurring characters are played by their original actor.

1. DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp (1990)

This film was made in Disney's studios in London and Paris. Released two years before Aladdin (1992), this film has little of the latter's inventiveness, though the plots are remarkably similar. There are also several nods to the Indiana Jones films, as Raiders of the Lost Ark's boulder opening sequence had been inspired by a comic book featuring Scrooge McDuck: 'The Seven Cities of Cibola' (1954). Other sequences in the film were inspired by another Scrooge comic, 'The Prize of Pizarro' (1959).

Russi Taylor was the second voice artist for characters Huey, Dewey and Louie, but, like Alan Young who played Scrooge McDuck, was their original voice in the DuckTales television series.

DuckTales: the Movie had a disappointing box office, finishing the fourth of five animated films released in cinemas internationally in 1990, behind Walt Disney Feature Animation's The Rescuers Down Under, Hanna-Barbera's Jetsons: The Movie, and Doraemon: Nobita and the Animal Planet by Asatsu, and ahead of only Dragon Ball Z: The World's Strongest. This meant that planned DuckTales sequels were never made and a proposed Chip 'N' Dale: Rescue Rangers film was also quietly abandoned.

2. The Return of Jafar (1994)

This, the second Disney MovieToons production and the second involving a powerful sorcerer and magic lamp, was originally conceived to be the hour-long pilot of an Aladdin animated television series. The story impressed Walt Disney Studios Chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg enough that he allowed it to be released as a standalone direct-to-video adventure. Making the story suitable for a cinematic release was considered, but dismissed - to animate the script to a suitable standard for cinema would have taken over twice as long to make (at least five years) and it was believed that audience demand was for an immediate sequel to Aladdin. To make the film quickly enough, the first half was animated in Australia, and the second in Japan. The video was indeed extremely popular, becoming the seventh best-selling VHS video when released – selling over 15 million copies in the United States alone – behind only Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, Jurassic Park, Cinderella and One Hundred and One Dalmatians.

Most of the original voice cast returned, except for two. Douglas Seale, who had played the Sultan, was in his 80s and had retired. A greater loss was Robin Williams who had played Genie. He had fallen out with Disney following the making of Aladdin. Williams had agreed to be paid the lowest wage allowed by union rules on condition that Disney agreed not to use his involvement in their marketing without his consent. However, Disney's advertising campaign focussed almost exclusively on Williams' involvement and launched a huge range of Genie merchandising without his consent. Though the film made over $300 million plus the marketing revenue, Williams' received only $75,000, and the betrayal of being exploited hurt most. Refusing to participate, he was replaced by Dan Castellaneta, best known as the voice of Homer Simpson.

The resulting Aladdin television series lasted for three series and 86×22-minute episodes during 1994-5 and a second direct-to-video spin-off was released in 1996. Princess Jasmine would get her own adventure in DisneyToon Studios' Disney Princess Enchanted Tales: Follow Your Dreams (2007).

3. A Goofy Movie (1995)

This film was the third most successful animated film of 1995, after Pixar's Toy Story and Walt Disney Feature Animation's Pocahontas, albeit with roughly 10% of the more prestigious pictures' profit. Still, this was enough to warrant a sequel.

Pegleg Pete is the oldest animated Disney character, created in 1925 as a bear for Disney's Alice cartoons before becoming the cat enemy of Mickey Mouse in 1928. As a character he embodies various degrees of villainy and sometimes has a wooden leg. In Goof Troop etc he is merely self-obsessed. Though he has both legs, his wife is called 'Peg'.

There are a few cameos from other Disney characters, particularly Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, who appear in crowd scenes and are even hitchhiking across the country. Ariel from The Little Mermaid also makes appearances, as a lamp with flashing seashells. The 'Lester's Possum Pals' show is a parody of Disney's 'Country Bear Jamboree' show, only all the animatronic figures performing in it are run-down and falling apart.

4. Aladdin and the King of Thieves (1996)

Robin Williams returns as the Genie! Following the sudden death in 1994 of Disney President Frank Wells, and the Chairman of Walt Disney Studios Jeffrey Katzenberg leaving to co-found his own studio³, those who had offended Williams were no longer at Disney. Joe Roth became Chairman and apologised for the breach of the agreement not to use Robin Williams' voice for marketing and merchandising. As a goodwill gesture he reportedly paid Williams $1 million in compensation. Feeling that Roth could be trusted, Williams agreed to voice the Genie again. Once again he steals the film.

This film contains numerous cameos and nods to other Disney films and characters, from Steamboat Willie to Goofy and numerous princesses.

5. Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin (1997)

Also known as Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin, this was the first film-length animation made by Disney Animation Japan. This film does not feature Kanga or Roo and was the first time that Andre Stojka voiced Owl. Jim Cummings briefly voices Tigger for the first time, providing his singing voice. After Paul Winchell's retirement Cummings would voice Tigger permanently.

6. Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas (1997)

Following the success of The Return of Jafar the Walt Disney Company expanded worldwide. This was Walt Disney Animation Canada's first project. Though the sequences at the start and end are set during the first Christmas after the Beast has transformed into a generic prince and married Belle, most of the film takes place the Christmas before, when he is still a Beast who has imprisoned Belle.

Cheesy in a way that only Christmas films can get away with, this is actually a well-made film that benefits from having almost all the original voice cast from Beauty and the Beast back, with only Chip recast, as Bradley Pierce's voice had broken. Hal Smith, who had played horse Philippe, had since died so Philippe's small appearance was played by Frank Welker. Forte the giant pipe organ is an entirely CGI character while the rest of the film is cel animated.

7. (Beauty and the Beast:) Belle's Magical World (1998/2003)

The first truly disappointing, verging on dreadful, Disney MovieToons release. It retains most of the original film's voice cast, except Angela Lansbury as Mrs Potts, but none of the new characters from Belle's Enchanted Christmas appear.

This had begun as a Walt Disney Television Animation series. However, after 3½ episodes had been made it was realised that the series just was not working. The decision was made to combine the three finished episodes together and release the resulting 70-minute compilation direct-to-video as Belle's Magical World. Inexplicably this sold incredibly well, so the half-made episode, 'Mrs Potts' Party', was finished and included in the film when it was released on DVD in 2003 as Beauty and the Beast: Belle's Magical World.

The episodes do not appear in any chronological order and appear to contradict each other. One episode states that spring is coming, only for the next to be in the depth of winter. The Beast rarely appears and, when he does, the extent to which Belle and the Beast know each other changes from episode to episode. Thus it seems that he barely knows Belle and has only just met her at the end but he actually knows her quite well at the start.

8. Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World (1998)

Loosely inspired by real events – many of the characters including Uttamatomakkin are based on real people – though largely fiction, the animation quality is noticeably poorer than the original film, with background characters frequently static. Most of the original voice cast returned, except Christian Slater, Billy Connolly and Mel Gibson. John Smith is voiced by Mel's younger brother Donal instead.

9. The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (1998)

This film has numerous similarities with The Lion King with many plot points recreated in the second generation. Most of the cast returns, except Rowan Atkinson no longer plays Zazu and Scar is played by Jim Cummings rather than Jeremy Irons. Cummings had played a hyena in the first film. As Madge Sinclair, who played Simba's mother Sarabi, had died in 1995, her character does not appear. As in the first film, the lions' names are based on Swahili, with Kovu meaning 'scar' Nuka meaning 'bad smell' and Zira based on 'Zirker' meaning 'Hate'. Vitani was originally named 'Shetani' meaning Devil, however this was changed shortly before release as it was felt to be too harsh and the syllable 'shet' could easily be misheard. 'He Lives in You' was first sung in the stage musical version and would appear in the live-action version in 2019.

Curiously the lions in this film purr like cats and have tiger roars rather than lions'. They also live in a fictional part of Africa where lions and okapis live together - in reality okapis live in the African rainforest, not the plains.

10. Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas (1999)

An enjoyable Christmas film in which the segmented nature actually works rather than feeling like a glorified clip show. The animation is good quality and rewards repeat viewing as several Disney characters cameo, including flamingos from Fantasia 2000, Mortimer from Mickey's Rival (1936) and Owl from Winnie-the-Pooh to name but three. Wayne Allwine and Russi Taylor, who voice Mickey and Minnie Mouse respectively, were a husband-and-wife voice artist team although neither was the original voice of those characters.

11. Winnie the Pooh: Seasons of Giving (1999)

In 1998 Disney made a 22-minute television special, A Winnie the Pooh Thanksgiving, which was sold as a standalone story in America. Feeling that a Thanksgiving story would have limited appeal elsewhere this story was bookended by two episodes of The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1988-1991), with clips from previous Winnie the Pooh film, and a new song to paper over the joins, to make a feature-length adventure. Kanga and Roo only appear in the linking material.

The Future

By the end of the 1990s Disney MovieToons had successfully released two films in the cinema to a modest reception and had unprecedented success with The Return of Jafar. Their output had all been inspired either by Disney Classic Animated Films of the 1990s or by their animated television series success stories.

Yet by 1999 the animation landscape had completely transformed since the dawn of the decade. The success of Disney's classic animated films, particularly Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and The Lion King, followed by Pixar's success with the computer-animated film Toy Story (1995), meant that there were several other animation studios trying to cash in on the market. The number of animated films released each year was changing from half a dozen to hundreds. How would the fledgling, low-budget Disney MovieToons be able to compete against new competitors Pixar, Fox Animation Studios, Warner Bros. Feature Animation, DreamWorks and Blue Sky Studios? With an increasingly crowded marketplace, would Disney MovieToons survive when other studios fail? How would the traditional animation style of Disney MovieToons be able to compete with the increased vogue for computer animation?