I am a bit of a geek when it comes to Hollywood. Especially when talking about movies and music—I’m a bit of a trivia queen. I think that’s why I love the show ‘Family Guy’ so much. Seth MacFarlane will have one of the main characters of ‘Family Guy’ throw in some obscure little quip about my favorite movie ‘Amadeus’, or reenact a scene from a Charlie Chaplin movie, and I’ll be rolling on the floor in laughter. All the while, my niece and nephew will be looking with a puzzled look on their face, only because they are too young to get the joke—or haven’t seen the movie yet.
Under circumstances like that, I believe that copycat scenes and lines are brilliant and pay tribute (even in jest) to movies and creative projects of yore. However, there are some directors and animators who unashamedly reproduce the exact same shot angles or drawings that are used in previous films. I will be posting a series of photos towards the end of this blog post. I’d love to hear back from you about which ones are credible tributes or just absurd copies. Even when I look at the series of photos from Quentin Tarantino’s movies, I’m torn because that it obviously an angled shot that Quentin Tarantino is known for in his films. When I think of Spike Lee, he uses an escalator type approach for all of his characters—where they are so zoned out and focused on what’s ahead of them as they walk on the street, that they look as if they are suspended in air. So, I understand the repetitiveness in certain styles with certain directors. But the Disney movies that I’ve shown below? That’s just plain laziness. Were animators on strike when ‘All Dogs Go to Heaven’ and ‘The Jungle Book’ came out? As always your thoughts are welcomed!
Imitation of Art 
Hmm It looks like the Disney version of Robin Hood to me. I think All Dogs Go to Heaven was a WB production. But the similarities are still impressive!