Barrier doesn’t gloss over the problems with Disney, his politics especially, but you come away with a more intense than ever admiration of the man, and for me personally it’s helpful that Barrier agrees with my general feeling about Disney, that animation was what he was best at and that the 1930s were his zenith.

In one particularly devastating passage, he describes Disney's ultimately modest success with audio-animatronics, which Disney had hoped to use as a storytelling device. Timmy Turner’s amalgam of magic, music and wishes makes him a stellar lead character to allow escapism and day-dreaming. As Walt became busier with the theme parks and other diversions, his animation directors took to pretending to implement his demands, showing him the same footage twice, garnering enthusiastic approval the second time around.

This is the story of a man who grew up in a small Missouri town and worked non-stop from childhood until his final days to become one of the most well-know figures in all of history.

In questa biografia c'è tutto questo, le sue aspirazioni (a volte folli), i suoi progetti, e i suoi fallimenti, le sue fragilità, i limiti. Barrier's focus is on facts, shunning everything remotely hagiographic, and on animation, especially that of the Disney studio's golden age (1930-1940). My one complaint would be that when the author starts explaining the process Walt used for the creation and release of each film, he seems to go into extreme detail that goes beyond what is needed in bio of a man and would fit better in a history of the company.Appreciated as well the connection of Disney's life to the greater animation landscape of the first half of the 20th century. 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.

He has also most certainly withstood the test of time – first appearing in the Peanuts comic strip in 1950, debuting on TV in 1965, and most recently appearing in the film It’s the Small Things Charlie Brown 2022. It was only in the brief magical period leading up to and following the release of Snow White that Walt was directly and crucially engaged in the active development of the artform.He too, often would get bored with projects halfway though their completion, making it difficult for them to see the finish line, especially since he had final say on EVERYTHING! He was both a creative visionary and a dynamic entrepreneur, roles whose demands he often could not reconcile.