Floyd Norman: An Animated Life

A wonderful doc on the life of Floyd Norman, a lifelong Disney animator who didn't let color or circumstances impede the love of his life; his job. For those fearing entering the hinter years of old age, Floyd's life is a model for those of us who truly love what they do & hope to do it till the day they die.

This is an absolutely amazing and detailed look at the life of Floyd Norman. From his family's move to California, his military service, his early pioneering work at Disney Studios. This film traces the highs and lows of his life and career. It addresses the challenges of racism and ageism. It shows his admirable talent and perseverance. It's a journey through history, of a man's life, Disney Studios, the film industry, the Watts riots. I found it to be very educational. I have been a lifelong fan of Disney Studios, and I had no clue how much time, talent, and work goes into animation. I have a new appreciation for the film industry.

Floyd Norman was hired by the Walt Disney Company in 1956 as an assistant animator. This is described as the lowest of the low; presumably they no longer hired people to wash the ink and paint out of the cels after the film went out. He was the first African American hired as an artist at Disney. He worked there for ten years, with time out for the Army, contributing to the features, then struck out on his own. Some of the notable pieces of animation he did included the opening sequence to the TV show SOUL TRAIN and the Cosby 'Fat Albert' special and series.

This documentary emphasizes the normality of Mr. Norman. At times, he seems boring. True, he was a pioneering Black animator, and went to Watts to shoot film of the riots in 1965, but the movie emphasizes his business troubles, his wife and children, all the things that occupy the life of millions of Americans. That, I think, is the point of this movie. Norman seems like an average Joe with a decent sense of humor and a real talent for drawing and animation. Pretty nice guy.

A mouth or so after black History mouth, I discovered a man named Frank Braxton who is credited as being the first black animator and had short but impactful career over at Warner Bros.

Then, possibly another mouth after that I saw the trailer for Floyd Norman: An Animated Life, and knew I wanted to see this.

Forget about the fact that Floyd is a black man who made it in a industry that was dominated by whites, and did it on sure talent alone, Floyd's energy in the documentary lifts the spirits of all who still think as children and stay young by doing what they love for as long as you can do it. He's like Stan Lee.

It's an untold story that I really needed to here. Still to this day it's important to know that diversity exist in this business and even though Floyd thinks of himself as more than just a symbol for the cause, he is in fact really good at being it just from being himself.

He's a man at 80 who has not lost a kink in his step and keeps moving on, which is an inspiration for all of us to stay as young as you feel.

For those Die-Hard animation fans it's a well rounded documentary about the animation business starting from when Floyd was hired by Disney to work on Sleeping Beauty up till 2015 with Floyd let go from Disney at age 65 and then being hired back 15 years after. It features very famous names in animation (like Paul Dini who created the DC animated Universe) to some lessor known but just as important guys. Who would have thought an industry catered mostly towards children would be so filled with racism sexism and ageism (more so the two latter really than the former).

Great documentary about an interesting man inside an awesome business.

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Some documentaries are egocentric fluff pieces but such is NOT the case with the six (6) decade career of animation artist and guru Floyd Norman. How can you not love him and not want to meet him? His business partner and fellow cartoonist Leo Sullivan, his five (5) children are now all adults and they sit around their dining room table talking about how low key their dad was. Heck, even his ex-wife Belle talks fondly about his artistic talent, fatherhood, husbandry, and having to share him with his first love for animation/illustrating and his Disney/Pixar/Hanna-Barbera other professional family of illustrators.

I gleaned a lot of insightful information about the early days of the Walt Disney family of animation artists/illustrators/story board writers first hand as we got to know Floyd Norman personally, through his own thoughts, words and actions as he spoke to us about his six (6) decade career that appears to still be going strong into his eighties.

His artwork has appeared in far too many films and TV series to mention them all but just a few highlights would be Sleeping Beauty, The Sword in the Stone, The Jungle Book, Mary Poppins, One Hundred and One Dalmatians, Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., Mickey Mouse comic strip, and many of the Hanna-Barbera TV cartoon series including my personal favorite, (1964) Jonny Quest.

It was very, very late when I sat up one evening to watch a PVR recording of this documentary but I couldn't stop watching because Floyd Norman and his second wife Adrien (married on September 05th, 1999) summed up his personal trials and tribulations with an immense and touching life story that was interspersed with animated sequences that I felt that I knew Mr. Norman his entire life.

Mr. Norman, if you and your wife Adrienne ever happen to find yourselves in Toronto Canada, I would with an open heart invite you both into our home for a big dinner and a night of whimsical conversation so that my wife and I could pick both of your brains for what really got you started and sustaining such a storied life in this competitive business for so long, that you loved so much. A truly great and honored member as a Disney Legend .

I give this wonderful and heart warming documentary about the life and times of artist/cartoonist/story board writer and illustrator Floyd Norman a loving 9 out of 10 IMDB rating