Im watching the parade and Julia is on the Sesame Street float and they actually outfitted her muppet with noise reduction headphones ššššš
The Nutcracker Prince is this weird little Canadian animated movie that was released in 1990 and suffered a bizarre distribution hell over the last few decades. It used to play on the Disney Channel when I was a kid and being a Christmas special my sister and I would watch it every fucking year.
But over time we noticed something.
The animation isā¦middling at best. At times its competent but there are lots of inconsistencies between scenes and characters are often off model. It tends to wantonly change fps rates and there are volume problems all over the place especially with the characters faces which seem to shift. In a word its just OK.
EXCEPT THIS ONE SCENE.
Itās at the very end of the movie and my sister and I would watch the whole thing just to get to that one scene so we could cheer for it; that became our tradition.
I cannot stress how much this one scene sticks out.
Imagine watching an OK Saturday morning cartoon and then suddenly right before the credits goddamn James Baxter takes over for five seconds and you have a brief moment of Disney renaissance level skill before POOF. Its gone again.
Donāt believe me?
PROOF:
Watch the first five minutes or so and I guarantee you will see what Iām talking about the instant it happens.
BAM! 1 minute 34ish seconds in and its like the movie does a 360 into good town and it lasts until aroundĀ 3:08 after Keifer Sutherland gives the performance of his life.
This scene has always driven me INSANE. Why was it so much better? Was it given to a master animator who just worked faster? Was it done first as a test to sell the film? Was it just given more time for some reason? Why is it the only goddamn scene that uses smears and secondary action correctly in the whole fucking movie.Most importantly (to me) who animated it??
FOR YEARS THIS HAS BEEN A GODDAMN CHRISTMAS MYSTERY.
Until one year i decided I was going to go through every animator in the credits one at a time and try and figure out who had done it based on their other work. All animators have a style/skill level so I thought maybe I had a shot at figuring it out. Certain motions/tics are just part of an animators acting repertoire and I was determined to at least make an educated guess.
So I went through them. One. By. One.
And that is how I found Darlie Brewster.
After searching through dozens of old IMDb pages and portfolio reels IĀ was getting frustrated. I wasnāt seeing anything I thought was stand out. When I looked up an animator named āDaveā Brewster I didnāt get results at first. After more research I found out Brewster is a trans woman who was still using her given name during the production of The Nutcracker Prince. And damn Darlie Brewster is in a word Amazing.
Dreamworks, Pixar, Bluth, Bluesky, Laika, Warner Bros. She has done it ALL and worked for EVERYONE. She works in an industry that can be hostile to people who are different and yet she transitioned like a boss and didnāt let it slow her down at all.Hell she just finished working on the animated segments in the new Mary Poppins movie!
Here is a rad interview with her where you can see her designs for Merida in Brave.
I. love. Darlie Brewster. I want everyone to know how cool she is and I think its important that she is visible to younger people who worry that transitioning might make the career or life they want impossible. I canāt know what she went through. She talks about how lucky she was to have the support of her friends and co-workers and that makes me happy. The one thing I am completely sure of is that we need more visible people like her right now. Especially in the entertainment industry.
Alsoā¦..I canāt be 100 percent sure but I thinkā¦
I think she animated that scene.
After all these years I think I solved the mystery.
Firebird Scratches 