Pencils Vs Pixels: Ming-Na Wen Shares Her Hopes For Disney’s Future

Ming-Na Wen is a Disney Legend who is best known for voicing Mulan in Mulan, playing Melinda May in Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD, and Fennec Shand in Star Wars: The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett. Currently, you can hear her lend her voice to the new film Pencils Vs Pixels, a documentary about animation’s switch from 2D to 3D. While the movie doesn’t focus solely on Walt Disney Animation Studios, the company’s history is a main focus of the documentary. ComicBook.com had the chance to chat with Wen about the project, and we asked what she’s hoping to see from Disney in the future. 

“Well, they’re always evolving,” Wen explained. “The fun thing about seeing this documentary, for me, was actually learning a lot about the evolution of the 2D to the CGI formats and how Roy E. Disney really helped to resurrect the Disney franchise with Little Mermaid and then Lion King and Mulan. I think it will now go more towards melding the two art forms together because the soul and the authenticity of 2D animation was missed a lot. Just the CGI, I think people got too much of it, and now there’s a beautiful blend of the two. So I am looking forward to future animations where you get to see that. And I’m sure there’s going to be other technology with AI coming in that will blow people’s minds. And I can’t wait for all of that.”

Wish Producers Reveal Their Hopes for Disney’s Next 100 Years:

Walt Disney Animation Studios is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, and over the last century, the studio has released over 60 films starting with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937. Their latest feature, Wish, is coming to the big screen next week and follows Asha (Ariana DeBose) as she learns a dark secret about her kingdom’s wish-granting ruler, Magnifico (Chris Pine). ComicBook.com recently had the chance to chat with the film’s directors, Chris Buck and Fawn Veerasunthorn; producers Peter Del Vecho and Juan Pablo Reyes Lancaster Jones; and writer/executive producer, Jennifer Lee, who is also the Chief Creative Officer at Walt Disney Studios Animation. We asked each creative what they were hoping to see over the course of Disney’s next 100 years.

“Oh gosh, there’s so many things,” Lee replied when asked about her hopes for the studio’s future. “Well, you know what I love? Instead of the ‘dead mom,’ the mom is the lead. We love to joke about it, and the innocence of why so many times characters did not have the mom around. And it’s like, well, everyone knows moms solve all the problems. I love moms. And so I’d love a film that tackles that in a wonderful way and celebrates that in a way that relates to all ages, too. And I think moms can be that.”

Lee added, “There’s so many I think that are just fun opportunities … but that was the first one that popped into my head.”

“Look, the imagination of Disney is boundless,” Del Vecho began. “I will say that as a studio, we’ve really grown. We’ve become more diversified than ever, and I think that’s only elevating the stories that we’re telling in the stories we will tell in the future.”

“Yeah, I agree with that,” Lancaster Jones added. “I mean diversity, but in every way. I think something beautiful about Wish is that interaction between the different generations as you see with Chris and Fawn and how it’s not just one perspective. We work as a community and you see all of these perspectives and points of view make their way in one way or another into a movie.” 

Pencils Vs Pixels is now available to rent on various streaming platforms. Wish opens only in theaters on November 22nd.