Mike Gabriel

By the mid-1980s, the fabled animation studios of Walt Disney had fallen on hard times. The artists were polarized between newcomers hungry to innovate and old timers not yet ready to relinquish control. These conditions produced a series of box-office flops and pessimistic forecasts: maybe the best days of animation were over. Maybe the public didn't care. Only a miracle or a magic spell could produce a happy ending. Waking Sleeping Beauty is no fairy tale. It's the true story of how Disney regained its magic with a staggering output of hits - "Little Mermaid," "Beauty and the Beast ," "Aladdin," "The Lion King," and more - over a 10-year period.

Though legendary lyricist Howard Ashman died far too young, his impact on Broadway, movies, and the culture at large were incalculable. Told entirely through rare archival footage and interviews with Ashman’s family, friends, associates, and longtime partner Bill Lauch, Howard is an intimate tribute to a once-in-a-generation talent and a rousing celebration of musical storytelling itself.

Featurette on the making of Disney's Princess and the Frog

A documentary on the making of Walt Disney's Lady and the Tramp created for the 2006 Platinum DVD.

Documentary focusing on the making-of the 1940n adaptation of Pinocchio by the Disney studio, often considered the artistic pinnacle of the Disney feature.

A tribute to the surf movies of the early 60's with some touches of visual surrealism.

Bonus feature on the Dumbo DVD.

Documentary about the making of Disney's Animated Classic.

A behind-the-scenes look at the technical and artistic process behind building the video game environments for Walt Disney Animation Studios' Wreck-It Ralph, exploring the visual design of Game Central Station, Fix-It Felix Jr., Hero's Duty, and Sugar Rush.

Released as a Bonus Feature for Disney's Platinum DVD Edition of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" this short documentary shows how this classic film came to life.

Pocahontas, daughter of a Native American tribe chief, falls in love with an English soldier as colonists invade 17th century Virginia.

A lawless poacher wants to capture a majestic and rare golden eagle, so he kidnaps the boy who knows where to find the bird. Not to worry -- the Rescue Aid Society's top agents, heroic mice Miss Bianca and Bernard, fly to Australia to save the day. Accompanying the fearless duo are bumbling albatross Wilbur and local field operative Jake the Kangaroo Rat.

A cat named Lorenzo is dismayed to discover that his tail has developed a personality of its own.