We may have seen the last days of hand-drawn animation.  It’s not going to come from DreamWorks Animation (all of their 2D endeavors flopped), BlueSky, or Sony Pictures Animation.  The last refuge was Disney, who had released the hand-drawn Winnie the Pooh in 2011.  But that looks like the end of Disney’s 2D animation for the foreseeable future.  According to /Film, at “Walt Disney Company shareholder’s meeting, CEO Bob Iger revealed none of Disney’s animation companies, which includes Disney Animation, Pixar and Disney Toons, are currently developing, or have plans to develop, any 2D, hand drawn animation for the big screen. He’s not ruling it out, but the current slate—which probably stretches 3-4 years—has none of it.”

Hit the jump for my thoughts on this sad state of affairs.

Walt Disney Studios has made an official announcement regarding their new animated feature Frozen, and along with it comes the first full synopsis.  The film was actually borne out of the long development of The Snow Queen, which was put on hold in 2010 due to story issues.  The pic came back with a new title and a November 2013 release date, and now Disney has confirmed a voice cast consisting of Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel, with Broadway vets Robert Lopez (The Book of Mormon) and Kristen Anderson-Lopez (Winnie the Pooh) tapped to pen original songs for the feature.

Bell voices a young dreamer named Anna who teams up with “a daring mountain man” to find the Snow Queen (Menzel) and put an end to a spell that has trapped their kingdom in eternal winter.  Chris Buck (Tarzan) is onboard as director, and the fairy tale-esque story combined with the addition of two talented songwriters hints that Frozen may harken back to Disney’s earlier animated films.  Hit the jump to read the full press release, which includes the synopsis.

Great Walt Disney films – regardless of how much one may love or grow weary of their corporate dominance – have so far proven timeless. Bambi was made in 1942 – nearly seventy years ago – and there’s nothing about it that makes it feel like a film of that era other than the craft of cell animation. The film plays to an audience in a way that hasn’t aged in ways that even films like Casablanca or To Be or Not To Be cannot. Because all of its main characters are woodland animals there’s no antiquated technology and there’s no sense of trends of the time. The film has no musical numbers; the narrative is timeless. Bambi is a male deer who starts the film as a newborn, and the film charts his path to adulthood. Our review of Bambi on Blu-ray follows after the jump.

Today, Tangled hits theaters and marks the release of Disney Animation Studio’s 50th film.  To celebrate the occasion, Disney has released a short video that counts all fifty films set to the song “Dreams” by Brandi Carlile.  I don’t know why they didn’t set it to a song from one of the animated Disney movies instead, but Carlile’s song works fine.  Hit the jump to check out the video.

In spite of its dynamic nature, there are some things in life that, for better or worse, we just never grow out of.  As such, I like to think that, upon extensive digging, I would find a disclaimer to the idea of transitioning into adulthood and “putting away childish things” that reads something like, “Except for the really cool ones, you should definitely keep those around.”  For me, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast falls into the category of potentially childish things worthy of carrying around even after you start paying taxes.  My review of Disney’s three-disc Diamond Edition release of the classic animated film after the jump.

We have a couple of new posters for you this afternoon.  First up is the final poster for the “final” Saw film, Saw 3D.  Starring series mainstay Tobin Bell and featuring the return of original Saw alum Cary Elwes, the poster is of the animated variety and (much like the last handful of installments in the series) is cool for a few seconds before becoming obnoxiously redundant.  Our second poster today is from Disney’s upcoming animated film Tangled.  Featuring the voice talents of Mandy Moore, Zachary Levi, and Ron Perlman, the one-sheet delivers the features you might expect from Disney – solid animation, rich colors, and the overwhelming feeling that, in spite of my being nowhere near its target demographic, I will love the film.

Hit the jump to check out the posters along with a synopsis for each.  Saw 3D opens October 29th.  Tangled hits theaters on November 24th.