Comment by hn_throwaway_99 a day ago
It's obviously not the same, but I totally disagree with "It did die with Walt". For example, I think Aladdin is one of the best movies of all time, period. Granted, a huge part of that is the genius of Robin Williams, but to create a film that has both parents and their kids doubled over in laughter is no easy feat. But it still had great animation, a great story, great songs, etc.
Here's something i didn't know:
[producer and director] had written the role of the Genie for Robin Williams, but when met with resistance, created a reel of a Williams's stand-up animation of the Genie.
The directors asked Eric Goldberg, the Genie's supervising animator, to animate the character over one of Williams's old stand-up comedy routines to pitch the idea to the actor. The resulting test, in which Williams's stand-up about schizophrenia was translated to the Genie growing another head to argue with himself, made Williams "laugh his ass off", and convinced him to sign for the role.
Williams's appearance in Aladdin marked the beginning of a transition in animation to use celebrity voice actors rather than specifically trained voice actors
Robin Williams movies are in their own category. Disney doesn't get to take credit for his achievements IMHO.