As a kid, before I picked up on more subtle distinctions like animation technique, I could always distinguish an older Disney film from a newer one by how boring the music was. The opening theme to Alice in Wonderland sticks out to me in particular - I remember thinking "wait, did people actually LIKE songs like that decades ago?"
One exception I should stick up for, though: Dumbo. "When I See an Elephant Fly", "Pink Elephants on Parade" and "Song of the Roustabouts" were all pretty good.
...actually, thinking about it, you might have touched on a problem with pre-1960s popular music as a whole. Thank God for the likes of Louis Armstrong and Cab Calloway (whose songs were used in Fleischer cartoons - eat that, Disney!)
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Date: 2015-02-16 11:51 am (UTC)One exception I should stick up for, though: Dumbo. "When I See an Elephant Fly", "Pink Elephants on Parade" and "Song of the Roustabouts" were all pretty good.
...actually, thinking about it, you might have touched on a problem with pre-1960s popular music as a whole. Thank God for the likes of Louis Armstrong and Cab Calloway (whose songs were used in Fleischer cartoons - eat that, Disney!)