The Animated Man: A Life of Walt Disney

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What they missed on, however, was Walt's philosophy that the park was a work in progress- never finished. Mostly not emitting any judgements, but letting facts and others' words tell the story, you read through these discovering the man, and always relearning who he is as his personality is changing over the years. Am I supposed to hate Disney or dismiss him as a bad person because he was every inch business man, or because he was a Republican or he no longer dined with his wife by the time he was sixty?

In fact, the author goes out of his way to show Disney as a bumbling-but-determined entrepreneur who succeeded despite a lack of artistic and financial ability.In his compelling new biography, noted animation historian Michael Barrier avoids the well-traveled paths of previous biographers, who have tended to portray a blemish-free Disney or to indulge in lurid speculation. It's a long and exciting adventure about somebody very famous who actually isn't well known from the public, except surface stories. I was fascinated to see this mysterious world laid out as an industrial process—somehow, this makes what we see on the screen even more miraculous. If you are looking for a Disney-sanctioned biography of one of the Twentieth Century's greatest entrepreneurs, this isn't it. I would have liked to have seen more discussion on how he worked with and managed his artists, considering he didn't draw nor create any of the characters, but was a driving force behind it.

I really enjoy reading about Walt Disney and the Walt Disney Company and have read 14 Walt Disney biographies alone.

Therefore we think that this book may just be one of the more accurate biographies ever printed, and we especially recommend it to anyone who is really struggling to "know" Walt Disney better. Timmy Turner’s amalgam of magic, music and wishes makes him a stellar lead character to allow escapism and day-dreaming. Even if you don’t agree with some of Barrier’s more eccentric opinions (among those would be his distaste for Pinocchio, which comes from a valid place but still seems totally nuts to me) you’ll find the best, most entertaining and streamlined survey of a truly great artist’s career. Take for example, the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ride, one of my favorites I had taken many times as a child. So if you want to know more about animation and about Disney in general this is a good way to start.

Barrier shows us a tireless innovator, a man of deep feeling, a true American original who has woven himself into the very fabric of modern culture. There is a lot more discussion of the projects that he worked on and how they were made (this is most evident with the films).This is the fascination with the life of Disney and how he made his films and parks and everything else. Beginning in 1969, two and a half years after Disney’s death, Barrier recorded long interviews with more than 150 people who worked alongside Disney, some as early as 1922. Barrier does an excellent job of showing how and why the Disney studio became prominent and explaining the role of Disney himself in the Disney empire. I wonder what Walt would say today about the accolades bestowed upon animated films that he was initially embarrassed to release and he considered failures.