Rocky, the rhino, is a character who was supposed to appear in Disney's Jungle Book. Story man Bill Peet added him to the film's cast, but Walt Disney didn't like Rocky and asked for his removal. Milt Kahl had already produced this terrific model sheet, the rhino was supposed to be voiced by actor Frank Fontaine.
Not all was lost though. Years later when the studio was looking for a new animated dragon, some of Rocky's facial components were borrowed for this new fantasy character, including the hairy ear tips.
Come to think of it, the horn might have worked on the dragon's design as well.
great post...as always.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking I may need to rewatch "Pete's Dragon", as it's been at least 20 years, and I remember hardly any of it. What a charming character pictured here!
ReplyDeleteIt strikes me that while Rocky may have influenced the dragon's design, the dragon's design may have in small ways influenced Eric Goldberg's Genie? I can see echoes of some of the dragon's facial features in the genie, particularly in the jaw line and the eyes. Furthermore, the ears in one seem to be inverted in the other :)
I thought Rocky was voiced by Frank Fontaine. And Andreas, how do you feel about Pete's Dragon as a whole?
ReplyDeleteThe overall story and live action acting are pretty weak.
DeleteHave you got any pencil tests of Rocky? That'd be awesome!
ReplyDeleteI investigated this years ago at the studio, but Rocky never made it beyond a model sheets.
DeleteHello
Deletewhen Rocky the Rhino was first shown to the public in the 1970s
and when the Rocky and the Vulture song was introduced to the public
DeleteI've only ever seen clips of Pete's Dragon, and it looks pretty corny. All the problems of the Miller era rolled into one film! I think I remember Don Bluth talking about the film, and some of the schedule/budget problems they had with the animation- Apparently at some point in production, the amount of animation required doubled, but the schedule and budget did not. So the production value was basically halved.
ReplyDeleteMr. Deja you think would have been good had been rocky in the movie?
ReplyDeleteseems to have a bit of Madame Mim's dragon thrown in as well...
ReplyDeleteI'm actually glad it's being remade. The original never did much for me. The acting and songs were incredibly corny, and the animation and designs are too Bluth-y for me (exaggerated in all the wrong places).
ReplyDeleteExcuse Deja, I wanted to ask me: But Rocky had not created that Walt Disney was inspired to draft Bill Peet of the original story, and then to what it was cleared for duration of the film? And initially Shere Khan was not a henchman: the jackal Tabaqui, if there is a design it is possibilo see him and then who expressed before being removed in the story. However beautiful blog, keep it up; Hello and thanks!
ReplyDeleteHa! I've seen those pics of Rocky many times, but never picked up on the similarities to Elliott. Thank you!
ReplyDelete