Gary Trousdale makes animated characters worth caring about without slowing the story to explain them. His partnership with Kirk Wise gives us our strongest reason to recommend him: the brisk, generous Beauty and the Beast.
Fi1m perspective
Belle is impatient, the Beast uncertain, and the household objects eager to make themselves useful. In Beauty and the Beast (1991), Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise give each of them something to do, fitting a remarkable amount of personality into 84 minutes. We were moved by the Beast’s uncertainty because the directors let those hesitant exchanges take their time within an otherwise brisk film. The romance’s assumptions deserve questioning, but the affection for these characters is earned.
That is a shared achievement, and separating the two directors too neatly would be guesswork. Trousdale’s work included live-action reference footage and layout, while Wise concentrated on character animation. Trousdale had come through storyboarding on films including The Little Mermaid (1989), and that grounding makes sense of a musical whose songs keep the story moving. The supporting characters matter because they contribute, rather than merely fill the gaps between the leads’ scenes.
The Lion King (1994) gives us another reason to value his story work, though his contribution here was not as director. The expressive animation and voice cast give the family drama weight, and the wit helps it carry lessons that can become overbearing. It is a strong recommendation with a familiar reservation: the characters are persuasive enough without the film insisting so hard on what they should teach us.
The later features with Wise were less secure. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) struggles to accommodate dark material and family-friendly comedy, while Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) turns towards non-musical adventure, with comic-book and anime influences. The latter’s visual ambition is more persuasive than some of its storytelling and character designs. These are worthwhile attempts to try something different, but neither offers as clear a reason to begin here as Beauty and the Beast.
His move to DreamWorks Animation in 2003 brought a turn towards shorts and television specials, including Shrek the Halls (2007) and Scared Shrekless (2010). The smaller format need not be a lesser use of a director who can make supporting characters count so quickly. Start with Beauty and the Beast, and pay attention to how much the household contributes before treating the romance as the whole attraction.
Biography
Gary Trousdale is an American animator, film director, screenwriter and storyboard artist. He was born on 8 June 1960 in La Crescenta, California, and studied animation at CalArts for three years after initially planning to become an architect.
Trousdale joined Walt Disney Feature Animation in 1985 as an effects animator on The Black Cauldron. He co-directed Beauty and the Beast (1991) with Kirk Wise, and contributed to the story of The Lion King (1994). He later co-directed The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) and Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) with Wise.
In 2003 Trousdale moved to DreamWorks Animation, where he directed shorts including The Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper (2005), Shrek the Halls (2007) and Scared Shrekless (2010).
