EXCLUSIVE: MovieWeb Talks Walt Disney Treasures with Leonard Maltin

The famed critic and historian discusses his love of animation, old and new cartoons and why it's no longer "uncool" for older people to watch them

Throughout your life as a movie fanatic there are icons of cinema you cannot help but come across. These people are "celluloid guardians" of sorts who essentially hold up movies and explain to us why we should or should not appreciate them. There was Siskel and Ebert (now Ebert and Roeper). There are people like Liz Smith and the late Pauline Kael. And then, there’s Leonard Maltin. I have been a fan of his since I started scouring “Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guide� some years ago. As a person with prolific credits for various film books as author, editor and contributor, it seems only fitting that Maltin would take his love for movies to the realm of DVD.

He recently sat down with MovieWeb to discuss the upcoming releases of Walt Disney Treasures DVDs. Maltin hosts all of the four volumes that make up this new series. He explains the significance of the collection, as well as puts the contents in its proper historical perspective. These four new limited edition volumes contain 2 DVDs, are packaged in a collectible tin and are filled with supplemental features and rare footage. They feature The Chronological Donald, Volume 2, 1942-1946 which is a well rounded collection of Donald Duck shorts from that time period. The Adventures of Spin and Marty, The Mickey Mouse Club gives us the entire first season of that show as it follows Spin and Marty getting into adventures at a boys ranch. Disney Rarities, Celebrated Shorts 1920s-1960s gives us some rare looks at a bevy of Disney shorts. And lastly, Elfego Baca and The Swamp Fox, Legendary Heroes which were two of Disney’s most exciting TV shows.

As you have done this before for other Disney Treasures Collections, are your reasons for doing it because you feel that cartoons should maybe be taken more seriously than they are? Or, are you just a fan talking about something you love?

Leonard Maltin: Both of those things. I wouldn’t want to burden a kid with a whole lot of responsibility, or background just to watch a cartoon and enjoy it. A viewer of any age can and should just watch a cartoon and have a good time. But there’s another level too and there’s no reason why you can’t appreciate it on both levels.

Why do you think so many of the Disney cartoons hold up against so much of today’s cartoon fare? For example, a situation that Donald Duck might get into could be just as funny as something that happens on “Ed, Edd and Eddy�?

Leonard Maltin: Well, yeah, I have parents stopping me all the time telling me that either their kids or their grandkids are watching the early Mickey Mouse cartoons on these DVDs. And, I wouldn’t have expected that. I thought this was mainly going to be for the buffs, for the cartoon aficionados. But I’ve had so many people tell me their kids just love these discs and I think that’s wonderful. And it says that something that’s entertaining can stand up, even though styles and tastes may change. There’s no reason you can’t still get the value that was put into it in the first place.

Do you think the animators of that time having to work in an assembly line fashion contributed to the look of the films? Had they had more time to work might the work have looked differently?

Leonard Maltin: Well, that’s a speculation. We’ll never know for sure. I think in some cases, oddly... you know, one always wants to side with the artists. Oddly enough, I think the discipline had a positive effect on a lot of these people. Artists are not necessarily good businesspeople. That’s why they’re artists. They’re not followers. They ‘re not assembly line people, by and large. They’re individuals. And to be able to corral those individuals and make these cartoons, but then have to do it on time and on budget meant that people couldn’t get lost in themselves. They couldn’t get lost in “navelgazing� too long.

Do you have a favorite animated film today? Or, a favorite animator working today?

Leonard Maltin: Well, I love Nick Park. I love his work. I’ve loved it since I saw Creature Comforts, the award winning short. And I loved Wallace & Gromit this year. I’ve become a great admirer of Miyazaki. I thought Howl's Moving Castle was thrilling.

That was actually my next question. Are you a fan of some like Hayao Miyazaki who essentially is self contained and, like we were talking about, just makes the movies they want to make?

Leonard Maltin: Well, he’s very fortunate, isn’t he? To have achieved this level of autonomy and control. He’s one of the lucky few. I think you could say that, like Walt Disney, or Chuck Jones, or any of the greats... he’s an original.

Why do you think animation continues to be so popular today? Do you think there’s just something intrinsic in the medium that speaks to people of all ages?

Leonard Maltin: I think that’s part of it. I think the other part of it is that the generation before mine, or even including mine to some degree, was raised to believe that animation was kids stuff. And that it should be outgrown at a certain point. And I never believed that. At a certain point our society, well I think the social revolution of the late 60s and early 70s had a lot to do with it, people freed themselves from those constraints. Of course the end result is that we’re a little more juvenile today then we ought to be. (Laughs). And not as mature as we ought to be, but the positive outcome of that is that it’s no longer uncool to like cartoons no matter what age you are.

It’s interesting that you say that... when you had those feelings and those thoughts about animated cartoons, did you ever wonder about those thoughts? Especially when your contemporaries or people in your similar line of work didn’t feel that way?

Leonard Maltin: Oh, I was an oddball. It’s as simple as that. I was an oddball because I had such avid interest in all this stuff and no one else did. In some cases, I would try and find friends to go with me to see a so called “kiddy film� in the theater, and I would end up going alone. (Laughs) Because nobody wanted to see the new Disney movie except me.

All four DVD volumes of the new Walt Disney Treasures series leap on to shelves December 6th, 2005.

Dont't forget to also check out: Walt Disney Treasures: Disney Rarities, Celebrated Shorts 1920's-1960's, Walt Disney Treasures: Legendary Heroes - Elfego Baca/The Swamp Fox [2 Discs], Walt Disney Treasures: The Chronological Donald, Vol. 2 - 1942-1946 [2 Discs]