History Creator / DonBluth

Back at Disney, the old guard sat up and took notice that Bluth was beating them at their own game. The financial success of ''American Tail'' raised concern (though the absolute nadir was their own lavish fantasy epic ''WesternAnimation/TheBlackCauldron'' under-performing against ''WesternAnimation/TheCareBearsMovie'' of all things), convincing the studio's new ultra-competitive head Jeffery Katzenberg to whip the animation unit of Disney back into shape to take down the competition. Spielberg, meanwhile, continued to produce animation: he was a major driving force between the groundbreaking live-action/animation hybrid feature ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'' and introduced the kind of fluid, appealing animation Bluth had introduced him to in their partnership to TV audiences with ''[[Series/AmazingStories Family Dog]]'' and, later, ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures''.

* ''WesternAnimation/ATrollInCentralPark'': Widely considered to be his worst movie largely due to its DEFCON level 4 cutsiness. One of the biggest animated bombs of all time.

However, deeply unhappy with [[UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfAnimation the state of animation at the time]] and feeling that Disney was too concerned with saving money to produce a great film, Bluth wanted to remind both movie executives and the public at large [[DoingItForTheArt what painstakingly attentive hand-drawn animation could do]]. He recruited colleagues Gary Goldman and John Pomoroy to start work on a pet project in his garage and for six years, the three of them met after work to teach themselves the kind of top-tier quality classical animation they felt they weren't getting at Disney, frequently consulting Creator/DisneysNineOldMen for tips and techniques (Bluth even briefly dated Ward Kimball's daughter). Their research and development resulted in the half-hour TV special ''WesternAnimation/BanjoTheWoodpileCat''. Reasonably successful, it was proof to the three men that they were capable of striking out on their own.

* The ''VideoGame/DragonsLair'' game series, largely kicking off the [[FullMotionVideo Interactive Movie]] genre.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/b827d0db44d06686099a5741e24a561b.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Pictured: Bluth with an [[WesternAnimation/TheSecretOfNIMH admirer]].]]

* AnimatedAdaptation: A few of this films are adaptations of (or at least very loosely inspired by) works from other mediums.

1989 saw the release of Bluth's 4th feature, ''WesternAnimation/AllDogsGoToHeaven''. It was [[DuelingMovies released on the same day]] as [[DavidVersusGoliath Disney's mega-blockbuster musical smash]] ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid'', which [[CurbStompBattle blew Bluth's tiny little indie flick out of the water]]. With Disney [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor heeding his word]] (and admittedly [[NeverLiveItDown still salty about the mass exodus he led in 1980]]) and reclaiming their title as top dog in feature animation, Bluth's films from that point on became lost in the overcrowded "all the animation that isn't by Disney" market, and were burdened by [[ExecutiveMeddling demands from what few investors he had left]] to be less dark and more marketable.

* ''WesternAnimation/AllDogsGoToHeaven'': A film [[InNameOnly very loosely inspired]] by Beth Brown's 1943 book of the same name. Got some good reviews, but was [[DuelingMovies financially curb-stomped]] by ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid''.

** Bluth was also set to be the original director of the first ''WesternAnimation/IceAge'' film, alongside Gary Goldman, with the film itself originally going to be a traditionally animated drama. The failure of ''Titan A.E'' unfortunately caused Fox Animation Studios to be disbanded and the film's rights being given to Creator/BlueSkyStudios.

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* SignatureStyle: His 80s films combined classic era Disney level artistry and wonder with a lot of heavy emotion and heart.He tells stories of characters who had to go through [[EarnYourHappyEnding hell and back to get their happy ending]] ([[WesternAnimation/AllDogsGoToHeaven in one case, literally]]). His 90s films did go LighterAndSofter but still kept that same level of animation magic and wonder. Family and ThePowerOfLove are common themes in all of his works.

* SignatureStyle: His 80s films in particular combined classic era Disney level artistry and wonder with a lot of heavy emotion and tells stories of characters who had to go through [[EarnYourHappyEnding hell and back to get their happy ending]] ([[WesternAnimation/AllDogsGoToHeaven in one case, literally]]). His 90s films did go LighterAndSofter but still kept that same level of animation magic and wonder.

Deeply unhappy with [[UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfAnimation the state of animation at the time]] and feeling that Disney was too concerned with saving money to produce a great film, Bluth wanted to remind both movie executives and the public at large [[DoingItForTheArt what painstakingly attentive hand-drawn animation could do]]. He recruited colleagues Gary Goldman and John Pomoroy to start work on a pet project in his garage and for six years, the three of them met after work to teach themselves the kind of top-tier quality classical animation they felt they weren't getting at Disney, frequently consulting Creator/DisneysNineOldMen for tips and techniques (Bluth even briefly dated Ward Kimball's daughter). Their research and development resulted in the half-hour TV special ''WesternAnimation/BanjoTheWoodpileCat''. Reasonably successful, it was proof to the three men that they were capable of striking out on their own.

%%* CentralTheme: Family and ThePowerOfLove

%%* NiceMice: Probably the only exception in any of his movies would be Ms. Field Mouse from ''Thumbelina'', and even then she's just a bit of a {{Jerkass}}. Plenty of [[YouDirtyRat villainous rats]] in his work though.

A prequel film to ''Dragon's Lair'' has been floating around in DevelopmentHell since the mid 2000s, with Bluth and his partner Goldman trying and failing to secure funding due to Hollywood's lack of faith in hand-drawn animation. A successful Indiegogo campaign secured them the budget for a pitch reel, which was completed in 2017.

Born in El Paso, Texas, Bluth's career as an animator began at his future rival's studio, working as an assistant animator on ''WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheSwordInTheStone''. He took a break for a few years to go to Argentina on a Mormon recruitment mission, briefly working for Creator/{{Filmation}} as a layout artist before eventually getting re-hired by Disney. Unfortunately by that point, the studio was going through [[DorkAge major financial and creative turmoil]] in the wake of [[Creator/WaltDisney their founder]]'s death, and he was put to work on some of their more economical films like ''WesternAnimation/RobinHood1973'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheManyAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh'' (most notably, the scene where Rabbit is lost in the woods). Bluth nevertheless proved himself a skilled artist, working his way up to a directing animator on ''WesternAnimation/TheRescuers'', ''Film/PetesDragon1977'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheFoxAndTheHound''.

Born in El Paso, Texas, Bluth's career as an animator began at his future rival's studio, working as an assistant animator on ''WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheSwordInTheStone''. He took a break for a few years to go to Argentina on a Mormon recruitment mission, briefly working for Creator/{{Filmation}} as a layout artist before eventually getting re-hired by Disney. Unfortunately by that point, the studio was going through [[DorkAge major financial and creative turmoil]] in the wake of [[Creator/WaltDisney their founder]]'s death, and he was put to work on some of their more economical films like ''WesternAnimation/RobinHood'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheManyAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh'' (most notably, the scene where Rabbit is lost in the woods). Bluth nevertheless proved himself a skilled artist, working his way up to a directing animator on ''WesternAnimation/TheRescuers'', ''Film/PetesDragon1977'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheFoxAndTheHound''.

* ''WesternAnimation/RobinHood'': His first animation credit.

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent: ''Titan A.E.'' is very different from his other films for a variety of reasons. First, it didn't even start off with Bluth--it spend a while in DevelopmentHell before 20th Century Fox gave Bluth, fresh off the success of ''Anastasia'', the directors chair and 19 months to slam the film out. It also completely eschews the fairy tale aesthetic and tone of his previous films and, unlike his previous work ''Space Ace'', plays its Sci-Fi art and tone completely straight. And while Don's work is known for its dark elements already, this film throws in more cynical elements to go with it, which are sometimes played for laughs, and there are also no [[KidAppealCharacter kid friendly characters or sidekicks]] (with the possible exception of Gune) sandwiched in--in fact, the film takes a potshot at the trope when a Drej trooper [[BloodyHilarious unceremoniously (and comically)]] kills one such character who tried to tag along with Cale and Korso. The soundtrack also consists of rock music instead of an orchestral score. On top of that, it's also ''very'' heavy on CGI, far more than any of Bluth's previous work.

Things looked up for Bluth in 1995 when 20th Century Fox offered him the director's chair for the first film of their new animation arm in Phoenix, Arizona. Desperate, Bluth [[ScrewThisImOutOfHere abandoned his floundering indie project]] ''WesternAnimation/ThePebbleAndThePenguin'' and took the reigns of Fox's AnimatedMusical, ''WesternAnimation/{{Anastasia}}''. It was Bluth's only financially successful project of the 90s and [[CareerResurrection his first financial success since]] ''[[CareerResurrection Land Before Time]]''. However, by that point, the animation landscape had changed significantly for everyone.

The new studio took its first job with the "Don't Walk Away" sequence in the CultClassic ''Film/{{Xanadu}}''. Two years later was their first feature and Bluth's feature directorial debut, ''WesternAnimation/TheSecretOfNIMH''. A massive, effects-heavy undertaking which forced Bluth and his two partners to [[NoBudget mortgage their houses just to get more funding]], it was a big hit with critics and fantasy fans alike, but [[AcclaimedFlop only barely broke even]] (not helped by the fact that it was [[DuelingMovies going up against]] the [[Film/ETTheExtraTerrestrial biggest film of the decade thus far]]). They produced the animation for two laserdisc-driven videogames, the cult hits ''VideoGame/DragonsLair'' and ''VideoGame/SpaceAce'', in order to recoup their losses.

* The [[AnimatedMusicVideo "Don't Walk Away" sequence]] in ''Film/{{Xanadu}}''.

* AnimatedMusicVideo: His studio's first gig was the animated segment for Music/ElectricLightOrchestra's "Don't Walk Away" in ''Film/{{Xanadu}}''. His video for Music/ScissorSisters' "Mary," itself an {{homage}} to the former segment, is a more straight example.

Bluth now resides in Scottsdale, Arizona, where he directs plays in his own theater, the [[http://www.donbluthfrontrowtheatre.com/ Don Bluth Front Row Theater]], and gives online animation tutorials from time to time. He's released two books, ''The Art Of Animation Drawing'' and ''The Art of Storyboard'', through an independent publisher, as well as a handful of educational [=DVDs=]. His last major animation project to date as been the Music/ScissorSisters music video for "Mary."

The arrival of Creator/{{Pixar}} and the first fully computer-animated feature ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'' signaled the dawn of a new age. During production of Fox's second animated feature, the sci-fi epic ''WesternAnimation/TitanAE'', more CGI animated films were released and outdid even Disney's most high-profile hand-drawn features both financially and critically. The major studios all took the hint and began dismantling their 2D animation units with Fox being one of the first as soon as ''Titan'' was released in 2000.

* BreakTheCutie: Anytime there's a cute, young protagonist, expect terrible things to happen to them before the end in most of Bluth's movies.

* EarnYourHappyEnding: And then some. In a lot of his films, this is probably the only thing that keeps his audiences from walking away severely depressed.

* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: An interesting example in that his films are typically optimistic, but the characters go through hell to get their happy ending.

The new studio took its first job with the "Don't Walk Away" sequence in the CultClassic ''Film/{{Xanadu}}''. Two years later was their first feature and Bluth's feature directorial debut, ''WesternAnimation/TheSecretOfNIMH''. A massive, effects-heavy undertaking which forced Bluth and his two partners to [[NoBudget mortgage their houses just to get more funding]], it was a big hit with critics and fantasy fans alike, but [[AcclaimedFlop only barely broke even]] (not helped by the fact that it was [[DuelingMovies going up against the Film/ETTheExtraTerrestrial biggest film of the decade]] thus far). They produced the animation for two laserdisc-driven videogames, the cult hits ''VideoGame/DragonsLair'' and ''VideoGame/SpaceAce'', in order to recoup their losses.

The new studio took its first job with the "Don't Walk Away" sequence in the CultClassic ''Film/{{Xanadu}}''. Two years later was their first feature and Bluth's feature directorial debut, ''WesternAnimation/TheSecretOfNIMH''. A massive, effects-heavy undertaking which forced Bluth and his two partners to [[NoBudget mortgage their houses just to get more funding]], it was a big hit with critics and fantasy fans alike, but [[AcclaimedFlop only barely broke even]] (not helped by the fact that it was [[DuelingMovies going up against]] ''[[Film/ETTheExtraTerrestrial the]]'' [[Film/ETTheExtraTerrestrial biggest film of the decade]] thus far). They produced the animation for two laserdisc-driven videogames, the cult hits ''VideoGame/DragonsLair'' and ''VideoGame/SpaceAce'', in order to recoup their losses.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePebbleAndThePenguin'': A film so plagued with ExecutiveMeddling, terrible animation and unnecessary songs that Bluth gave up on it halfway through and [[AlanSmithee took his name off the credits]] to move to 20th Century Fox. To date, his last independent feature. [[LaserGuidedKarma Amazingly, it managed to get even]] ''[[LaserGuidedKarma worse]]'' [[LaserGuidedKarma reviews than]] ''[[LaserGuidedKarma Troll]]''.