Saturday, August 31, 2013

Farewell, Mr. Kahrs


Yesterday certainly was something of a downer day for Disney news: First, it was officially confirmed that Bob Peterson was kicked off of his Pixar film, The Good Dinosaur. Second, John Kahrs has now left Walt Disney Animation Studios...

I find this odd, because I remember that he was supposed to begin work on his own feature film at the studio. After breaking new visual ground with Paperman, the sky was the limit. Reportedly, Ron Clements and John Musker's Moana will be animated with Meander, but it would've been nice to see Kahrs do a feature-length film with that style. After all, Paperman might've been your typical boy-meets-girl story, but it was told well enough, not just through the animation but through everything else. It's only the beginning, and hopefully the studio uses this style for a good number of their future films. It's what Glen Keane would certainly want...


Other than that, we have no idea why he left. Skeptics who are already furious with Pixar and John Lasseter's director-removing spree will immediately place all the blame on him, but maybe Kahrs has bigger ideas? Maybe he just doesn't find directing feature-length films at Disney to be suitable for him?

On a funny note, Bob Peterson had this to say earlier today...





Some Cartoon Brew readers suggest that Kahrs is returning to Pixar, possibly to take over The Good Dinosaur. Now that would be something, even though it's still upsetting that Peterson wasn't allowed to finish his film. But in all honesty, I think Peterson's just joking about Kahrs' Cartoon Brew article coming right after the one about him. Or maybe not...

If anything, I just hope The Good Dinosaur turns out well enough, no bridges are badly burnt and that Kahrs didn't leave due to any problems with Lasseter or any higher ups...

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