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Michael Eisner said in an interview before "The Little Mermaid" was released that animated features cost too much money to make, and it was impractical to make them. However, Eisner continued by saying that because of Disney's history, they had an obligation to make them. (My apologies, Richard, but I cannot remember the source of this interview.) If the success of TLM didn't change their attitude, B&B certainly did. The fact that Disney has spent a lot of money on a new animation studio in Burbank and France shows that they see animation as an asset to the studio. The good news is that they are committed to making (or at least trying to make) quality animated films like "Toy Story" and "Tarzan." The bad news is that they try to squeeze out every possible penny they can out of a given franchise, even if it is an insult to the original movie. (e.g. The live-action "101 Dalmations" and "Beauty and the Beast:The Enchanted Christmas."
I do not have a problem with the fact you hate Disney. So do a lot of people in Crankyland, and animation fans of all stripes have a love-hate relationship with the Mouse. What I have a problem with is that you criticize Disney solely for adapting things from other works, even original works that only borrow the bare ideas from other sources. By that standard, most of the world's greatest films would be damned because they either borrow ideas, shots, or techniques from other films. When I saw "The Phantom Menace" again the other day (this time sitting through the entire movie) I was struck how the Gungin warriors looked like samurai warriors out of Kurosawa films like "Kagemusha" or "Ran." Since George Lucas has publicly asknowledged his debt to Kurosawa, I don't think this was my imagination. "Phantom" had serious flaws, but it wasn't because Lucas borrowed from Kurosawa.
Since you don't care for children's animation (and I agree that there should be more adult based animation), there's an animated feature by Martin Rosen that you may like--"Watership Down." Although it tells the story of a group of rabbits, and there is no bad language spoken, this is a film made for adults, not children. I liked this film, and it's follow up "The Plague Dogs", but you probably won't since it was adapted from a novel by Richard Adams.
By the way, how can you possibly like "Heavy Metal" since THAT film was adapted from the magazine?
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