Few animated films have had as troubled a history as Disney's Tinker Bell movie. And the worst is still on the way. Part 1 of 2.

(Source: www.o-meon.com)

(Writer's Note: This story is so huge that I've had to split it into 2 parts. Part #2 will be along shortly)

Last December, I reported that the upcoming Tinker Bell direct-to-DVD movie (tentatively titled Tinker Bell and the Ring of Belief) had been pushed off its original Fall 2007 release date due to serious story troubles. Disney was in fact planning to shift the flick to late 2008 or early 2009 date, a move that might cost the Mouse House $500 million. That looked bad enough, but apparently the worst was under the surface.

Further reports now indicate that Tinker Bell was caught in a mammoth turf war between Disney Toon Studios head Sharon Morrill and Walt Disney Feature Animation guru John Lasseter.

So how did this start? Let's return to the bad old days of the Michael Eisner administration. Eisner was about making big bucks, and he had real issues with animators who suffered from diseases like 'Artistic Integrity.'

“Years ago, Michael Eisner told Sharon (Morrill) and feature animation that he no longer wanted to be beholden to animators," claimed an anonymous source to O-Meon. "So he told them from then on all ‘creative decisions’ would be made by (Eisner's) managers and executives.”

This led to the formation of Disney Toon Studios, an outfit that produced many of the notorious direct-to-DVD sequels of classic Disney animated films. Basically, Disney Toon Studios' mandate is “to provide feature length commercials for toys.” Although commercially successful, these "Dreck to Video" sequels were highly unpopular with animators and fans, and ultimately tarnished the Disney Animation name.

Initially, Tinker Bell was supposed to be a traditional 2-D animated movie and animators had worked up several developmental reels. However in 2005, then-WFDA head David Stainton and Morrill decided that cel animation was dead and that Tinker Bell would become a CGI flick. This was over the objections of senior animators, who didn't think the film and character would look as good in CGI.

However, Morrill was so devoted to making a CGI Tinker Bell that she burned through several directors and scripts before writing, directing and editing the movie herself, eventually bringing in Bradley Raymond as director. Her concept: Peter Pan, Tinker Bell and the other Lost Boys had to return the gift of joy and imagination, to save the fairies from extinction and to keep children everywhere from becoming dull automatons.

In a widely disseminated announcement, Morrill hired actress Brittany Murphy (Sin City) to be the voice of Tinker Bell in this, and subsequent, movies.

Meanwhile, all hell was breaking loose in Disney's head office. A revolt by executives Roy E. Disney and Stanley Gold resulted in Michael Eisner stepping down as CEO in September of 2005, one year before his contract was due to expire. Robert Iger replaced Eisner, and immediately set about undoing the damage. Enter John Lasseter.

When Disney bought Pixar in April of 2006, the former Disney animator and Pixar guru replaced Stainton as head of WDFA. Lasseter was told to restore WDFA's ruined reputation and he went about doing so with a vengeance. One of his first decisions was to stop production on any direct-to-DVD animated feature that wasn't directly associated with Disney Consumer Products.

This meant that Lasseter had no say over Tinker Bell, but he did have a responsibility to keep the integrity of Disney's classic animated characters, like the character of Peter Pan and all the others in Neverland. And Lasseter was very unhappy with what he saw of Tinker Bell.

By this time, Morrill realized that she was in over her head, and she went to Lasseter for help. Initial screenings of Tinker Bell had not gone over well with audiences and, considering this flick was to introduce the entire Disney Fairies line of merchandise, a lot was riding on it.

Unfortunately, by this point Tinker Bell had already gone to India where the animation was being done.

Lasseter attended an early screening of Tinker Bell with Disney Features chairman Dick Cook and Iger. Both Cook and Iger felt the movie was 80% there, but Lasseter disagreed, saying the film was a mess. He gave copious notes on what was wrong with the flick and offered assistance from both WDFA and Pixar to make it right.

Several observers agreed with Lasseter's interpretation.

“Neverland disappeared, Peter and the Lost Boys were enslaved in the boiler room of a real-world barge, and children all over London lost joy and imagination," claimed one insider to O-Meon. "I would expect young children to run screaming from the theater! Of course everyone and everything is restored in the end—this is Disney, after all.”

“If anything, it’s way too complex for younger kids,” said someone else who saw the film. “They had books of rules for everything: rules for Neverland, rules for the Fairies, rules for the kids, rules for London. The whole thing was so complex, they (the animators) couldn’t keep track of it. I don’t know how they expected kids to.

“I won't even begin to get into the fairy fart jokes or the strong lesbian tones of the original story.”

Nevertheless, Disney Toon executives argued that if Lasseter's changes were implemented, that there was no way that Tinker Bell could make its Fall 2007 release date.

Iger and Cook, after seeing that director Raymond and the other animators were siding with Lasseter, changed their minds and backed Lasseter's play. Lasseter then told Sharon Morrill that he didn't want Peter Pan, the other Lost Boys or London in Tinker Bell, saying that it would invite unfortunate comparisons to the 1953 classic Peter Pan. He also disliked the story, saying, "Fairies don't bring imagination."

However, Morrill, after going to Lasseter for assistance, didn't like what he had to say. Not only did she continue with her original vision, but she ordered animators to work on another edition of Tinker Bell. This version was to be screened for Lasseter, to give him the illusion that she was taking his ideas seriously, while she buffed up her take on the film.

“For quite some time, when John (Lasseter) would return to check on our progress,” claimed a Disney Toon Studios’ artist, “he’d be shown one version of the film—his version. At the same time we also had Sharon’s version in the works.”

Ironically, this caused even more delays with Tinker Bell. Working on what is essentially two films was, according to a Disney Toons insider, “wearing everyone (the animators) out and keeping the thing from being done.”

(In Part #2, we see the battling scripts, rising costs, John Lasseter explodes and The Pixie Chicks???)