Jim on Film: Disney War
Page 2 of 3

While Eisner is definitely the most prominent and destructive villain in Disney War, he is joined by, among others, Susan Duff, the mother of Hilary Duff, who, in her three-page presence in the book, becomes a power-hungry stage mom who single-handedly destroys her daughter’s connection with Disney by playing Diva Mom (Stewart sides with Duff, which seems too easy on her, considering none of her daughter’s post-Disney starring vehicles have made enough to sneeze at, a direct result of Susan Duff’s inability to play fair with her daughter’s popularity). Furthermore, executives Sandy Litvack and Stephen Bollenbach, both of whom attack Michael Ovitz instantly after being hired, come across as manifestations of the Mandy Moore character in The Princess Dairies. With the exception of Roy Disney, Stanley Gold, Andrea Van de Kamp, and Reveta Bowers, the entire Disney board, now headed by George Mitchell, comes off as nothing short of a travesty of corporate governance. Like the wives in The King and I, they never seem willing and able to challenge or question their King, always keeping their head below his own and carrying out his orders without qualm. Among those is noted actor Sydney Poitier who saves some face when he speaks in defense of Andrea Van de Kamp before her reputation is ravaged by Eisner but ultimately votes to remove her for fear of angering the king.

The heroes of the story are undoubtedly Roy Disney and fellow detractor Stanley Gold. In Disney War, Roy Disney is the champion of the Disney legacy, a Mother Theresa for the Disney crowd who spends his own money to bring Eisner to his knees for the sake of protecting the empire created by his father and uncle. Stanley Gold is like a spitfire Jiminy Cricket, acting as conscience for the board and ultimately fighting for the company’s investors. Jeffery Katzenberg escapes without much tarnish, while his friend David Geffen in his role as Katzenberg’s advisor, counsel, and spokesman is near sainthood. Similarly, Michael Ovitz also escapes fairly unscathed. While Eisner calls him dishonest, little of that is seen in Disney War, and the Ovitz that Stewart shows is a diligent friend and executive who struggles to please and be successful while tiptoeing through the lion’s den at feeding time. Among the less prominent heroes and victims can be counted former board member Andrea Van de Kamp, whose ousting is nothing short of tragic; former board member Reveta Bowers, who is among the few to stand up for Van de Kamp; and television executives Lloyd Braun, Susan Lyne, Angela Shapiro, and Steve Bornstein, who are either fired or escape the company despite great talent and potentially very profitable creative drives.

Not surprisingly, Feature Animation largely remains outside Stewart’s radar. That is not to say that much isn’t said about Feature Animation and that there aren’t many insightful observations about the animation business in the 1990s. It is, though, in talking about Feature Animation that Stewart makes minor factual errors, such as crediting A Whole New World to Howard Ashman instead of actual lyricist Tim Rice. Most interesting, however, is in learning that Jeffery Katzenberg was not a beloved figure among animators. Another insight is the transcript of a meeting with Eisner to approve projects for Feature Animation, in which projects are seemingly tossed out the window at whim. One of the true laugh-out-loud moments also comes at the expense of Feature Animation, when Stewart mentions that there is a voice committee to select voices for projects. Thankfully, Stewart also sheds some light on the fiasco that resulted from John Musker’s and Ron Clements’ masterpiece Treasure Planet, pointing out how Eisner and the studio betrayed the artists, the movie, and the investors in their dealing with the potential blockbuster. Interestingly, former Feature Animation president Thomas Schumacher escapes the book not only unscathed but with a glowing report. While Schumacher refuses to report to Eisner about Roy Disney, there is no mention of the widespread and credible rumors of discontent and loathing on the part of artists under his management, nor is there mention of his own hand in the failure and destruction of traditional animation through misguidance, which should have warranted an entire chapter or two.

Sadly, it’s clear that, like so many others, Stewart doesn’t “get�? Walt Disney Feature Animation, why it is important, how it works, or what has really happened there. Just as Stewart highlights what has gone wrong with management at Disney, he could have written much about the destructive changes in Feature Animation, a tell-all of what really happened to the former money machine. Not only is this evident by these telling omissions, it is also apparent when he implies that, as former studio chairman Joe Roth recommended, that Disney should have purchased Pixar and merged it with its own animation department. Early in the book, Eisner makes a startlingly accurate observation when he states, “Companies like Disney are always founded by creative entrepreneurs . . . Inevitably the business people take over . . . They don’t have any creative ideas themselves and they end up surrounding themselves instead with analysts and accountants to try to control the creative people and cut costs . . . . In time, the company begins to ossify and atrophy and die.�? Sadly, by the end of the book, this acts as foreshadowing for Walt Disney Feature Animation if not, at times, for the company itself.