"Firmly good but rarely great."

In the six-year period between 1989 and 1994 Walt Disney animation cranked out The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King. Nearly two billion dollars in box-office doubloons flowed into the coffers, and eight Academy Award wins plus untold riches on VHS and DVD made Walt Disney and the resurgence of traditional 2-D animation the storyline of the moment. Ursula, Elton John at the piano, an epic pan out to a grand…