In the early days of movies, the most prominent forms of film were live-action, stop motion, and 2D animation. Now in the present day live-action has reached heights that weren’t fathomable back in the early 1900s with movies integrating CGI and hardware that can create almost anything you can think of. This has led to movies like the critically acclaimed best-selling movie of all time, Avengers: Endgame which shattered almost all movie records last year. I’m not here to talk about live-action though, this is about the death of 2D film and how movies like endgame will probably keep it from coming back to the form it once was.

The beginning of the end started with the introduction of 3D animation which became very popular in the mid to late 90s where movies like “Toy Story”, “Bugs Life”, “Shrek”, and many more hit the scene. These movies were at first seen as a fad that would soon fade out, but my 2D loving 13-year-old self was soon mortified at the future of the genre with the release of “Princess and the Frog” as it was the last 2D movie Disney would release ever (or at least for the time being). 2D animation used to be such a juggernaut but where did it go wrong? Well the progression of technology would make these art styles obsolete and Disney being the money-hungry corporation they are wasn’t finding success in their 2D market which cause a second animation dark age for them with movies like “Fantasia 2000,” “Dinosaur,” “The Emperor’s New Groove,” “Atlantis: The Lost Empire,” “Lilo and Stitch,” “Treasure Planet,” “Brother Bear,” “Home on the Range,” “Chicken Little,” “Meet the Robinsons,” and “Bolt.” All of the movies listed (with the exception of 2) did below average for what Disney is used to and most are 2D films so the solution for Disney was to completely phase out the genre that they were built upon. This was a huge blow to the industry since most studios like to copy the Disney formula and try to copy their art style like Dreamwork with “Shrek” or Illumination with “Despicable Me”. 

Why is this a problem though? Doesn’t this change in the industry show the growth we have made since the early days of animation? Well to kill 2 birds with one computer and answer both questions, I’d like to say as someone who used to study 2D animation and wanted to make it his career for a short period of his life 2D animation allows for so many different styles and designs that don’t look generic much like the movies coming out now. When was the last time you saw a 3D animation that really redefined or stood out over the rest? Look at Toy Story 2, 3, and 4 which were all released 10 years apart from each other (give or take), they all look almost the exact same with little details changed to the art style. Now think about the different art styles of kids shows you have seen on TV where drastic changes to shows like Spongebob help give the audience a different view of the same character. Also, creative freedom with 3D can actually limit creators as it is extremely expensive to do big scenes in 3D film but for 2D it’s much easier, and require fewer resources. 

The question I would like to pass off to you is that do you disagree with the disappearance of 2D film or was it time to pull the plug and let 3D shine.