Bruce W. Smith

​From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.   Bruce W. Smith is an American character animator, film director, and television producer, best known as the creator of Disney's The Proud Family. He studied animation in the Character Animation program at the California Institute of the Arts. One of the few Black animators working in the industry, Smith got his start as an assistant animator for Bill Meléndez's 1984 Garfield television special Garfield in the Rough. He went on to animate for Baer Animation on Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and in 1992 directed his first feature, Bébé's Kids. Other notable work for Smith during the mid-1990s included supervising the animation for The Pagemaster, serving as director and character designer for Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child, designing the characters for A Goofy Movie and C Bear and Jamal, and co-directing the animated segments of Space Jam. He was also was the creator of Da Boom Crew along with John P. White and Stiles White. In 1998 he joined Walt Disney Feature Animation, Smith served as a supervising animator on four of its films: Tarzan, The Emperor's New Groove, Home on the Range and The Princess and the Frog. In 2000 when he still worked for Hyperion Pictures, he piloted his series The Proud Family to Nickelodeon, who passed on it. Disney Channel eventually picked the series up the following year and ran it until 2005. The series was the first to be produced by his production company Jambalaya Studios. Smith grew up in Central Los Angeles. Description above from the Wikipedia article Bruce W. Smith, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Works

Back to Neverland

Legendary TV news anchor Walter Cronkite takes ecstatic Disneyland tourist Robin through the process of Disney's hand drawn animation and makes Robin's wish of visiting the animated world of Peter Pan (1953) come true.

Release Date1989-04-30

Charactersd Animator

Vote Count13

The Sweatbox

Trudie Styler, a documentarian, had been allowed to film the production of 'Kingdom of the Sun'/'The Emperor's New Groove' as part of the deal that originally brought her husband Sting to the project. As a result, Styler recorded much of the struggle, controversy, and troubles that went into making the picture on film (including when producer Fullmer called Sting to inform the pop star that his songs were being deleted from the film). Styler's completed documentary, The Sweatbox, premiered at the Toronto Film Festival on September 13, 2002. Disney owns the rights to the documentary and has not released it on home video or DVD.

Release Date2002-09-13

Charactersd Self

Vote Count27

Not Just a Goof

Documentary exploring the untold story of A Goofy Movie. Follow a young creative team tackling their first Disney feature, its initial disappointment, and its surprising resurgence decades later. Featuring key interviews and rare footage, this documentary reveals the film's impact and why it remains a beloved classic for a generation.

Release Date2024-05-04

Charactersd Self

Vote Count10

The Making of 'The Pagemaster'

Behind the scenes of 'The Pagemaster'

Release Date1994-12-01

Charactersd Self

Vote Count2

Magic in the Bayou: The Making of a Princess

Featurette on the making of Disney's Princess and the Frog

Release Date2010-03-10

Charactersd Self

Vote Count1

Pencils vs Pixels

A documentary told from the voices of the "second golden age" of animation in the 1990s and 2000s about the rise, fall and rise again of hand-drawn animation. They were trained by animation masters that created the principles of animation, they took animation to heights no one dreamed of - and then came the computer.

Release Date2023-06-15

Charactersd Self

Vote Count9

ThunderCats

The inhabitants of the planet Thundera evacuate just before it is destroyed. They were pursued by a band of mutants. All but one of their escape ships was destroyed. Only a small group of Thunderans (Thundercats) remained. With only half engine power, the group, which was led by Jaga, had to set a course for the nearest planet. Jaga commanded their ship while the other seven were in their stasis tubes. Jaga died on their journey to Third Earth and their ship crashed there. Soon they made friends with various groups in the area and they designed a fortress. Mumm-Ra the centuries-old embodiment of evil, along with the mutants that destroyed the rest of the Thunderans are a constant threat. But Lion-O, the new leader of the Thundercats, with his weapon the "Sword of Omens" will help the Thundercats to have a standing chance.

Release Date1985-01-23

DepartmentWriting

JobWriter

Episode Count2

Vote Count1049

The Proud Family

Follow the adventures and misadventures of Penny, a 14-year-old African American girl who's doing her best to navigate through the early years of teen-dom. Penny's every encounter inevitably spirals into bigger than life situations filled with hi-jinks, hilarity and heart. Her quest to balance her home, school and social lives are further complicated by friends like the sassy Dijonay, Penny's nemesis LaCienega Boulevardez, her loving, if not over-protective parents and her hip-to-the-groove-granny, Suga Mama.

Release Date2001-09-15

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count6

Vote Count142

SilverHawks

Bionic policemen fight an escaped alien mob boss and his gang in space.

Release Date1986-09-08

DepartmentWriting

JobWriter

Episode Count5

Vote Count319

Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child

Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child is an American anthology animated television series.

Release Date1995-03-12

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count13

Vote Count10

The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder

Follow the adventures and misadventures of newly 14-year-old Penny Proud and her family as they navigate modern life with hilarity and heart. The 2020s bring a new career for mom Trudy, wilder dreams for dad Oscar and new challenges for Penny, including a socially woke neighbor who thinks she has a lot to teach her.

Release Date2022-02-23

DepartmentProduction

JobExecutive Producer

Episode Count20

Vote Count40

Da Boom Crew

Four foster kids create a video game about heroes going up against space alien terrorists. Then a portal appears and pulls them into a dimension which is really similar to their game. They live adventures in this parallel world, as they embark on a quest to find their missing video game cartridges and stop the sadistic extraterrestrial emperor Zorch from taking control of this intergalactic dimension.

Release Date2004-09-11

DepartmentProduction

JobProducer

Episode Count13

Vote Count3

Wreck-It Ralph

Wreck-It Ralph is the 9-foot-tall, 643-pound villain of an arcade video game named Fix-It Felix Jr., in which the game's titular hero fixes buildings that Ralph destroys. Wanting to prove he can be a good guy and not just a villain, Ralph escapes his game and lands in Hero's Duty, a first-person shooter where he helps the game's hero battle against alien invaders. He later enters Sugar Rush, a kart racing game set on tracks made of candies, cookies and other sweets. There, Ralph meets Vanellope von Schweetz who has learned that her game is faced with a dire threat that could affect the entire arcade, and one that Ralph may have inadvertently started.

Release Date2012-11-01

DepartmentVisual Effects

JobAdditional Effects Development

Vote Count12583

The Princess and the Frog

A waitress, desperate to fulfill her dreams as a restaurant owner, is set on a journey to turn a frog prince back into a human being, but she has to face the same problem after she kisses him.

Release Date2009-12-08

DepartmentCrew

JobSupervising Animator

Vote Count5819

The Emperor's New Groove

When self-centered Emperor Kuzco is turned into a llama by his scheming advisor, he is forced to rely on good-hearted peasant Pacha to get back home.

Release Date2000-12-15

DepartmentCrew

JobSupervising Animator

Vote Count6946

Home on the Range

When a greedy outlaw schemes to take possession of the "Patch Of Heaven" dairy farm, three determined cows, a karate-kicking stallion and a colorful corral of critters join forces to save their home. The stakes are sky-high as this unlikely animal alliance risk their hides and match wits with a mysterious band of bad guys.

Release Date2004-04-02

DepartmentCrew

JobSupervising Animator

Vote Count2084

A Goofy Movie

An endearing modern-day story about how the lovable Goof bonds with his teenage son Max on a hilarious cross-country road trip. En route to the ol' fishing hole, they find themselves up to their floppy ears in misadventure!

Release Date1995-04-07

DepartmentVisual Effects

JobCharacter Designer

Vote Count1824

Winnie the Pooh

During an ordinary day in Hundred Acre Wood, Winnie the Pooh sets out to find some honey. Misinterpreting a note from Christopher Robin, Owl convinces Pooh, Tigger, Rabbit, Piglet, Kanga, Roo, and Eeyore that their young friend has been captured by a creature named "Backson" and they set out to rescue him.

Release Date2011-04-06

DepartmentCrew

JobSupervising Animator

Vote Count898

The Proud Family Movie

Penny and her family are lured on an all expenses paid vacation where a mad scientist captures them, refusing to let them go because Oscar won't reveal his on of his secret Proud Snacks formulas.

Release Date2005-08-19

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count82

Bebe's Kids

When Robin meets the lovely Jamika he thinks he's in heaven. But when he meets her friend Bebe's children, whom she is looking after, he knows he's in hell.

Release Date1992-07-31

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count69

Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night

Pinocchio and his friends, a glow worm and a marionette, search for a magic music box, putting them in danger from the evil Scalawag and the Emperor of the Night.

Release Date1987-08-06

DepartmentVisual Effects

JobAnimation

Vote Count25

Rover Dangerfield

Rover, a street-smart dog owned by a Las Vegas showgirl is dumped off Hoover Dam by the showgirl's boyfriend. Rather than drowning, Rover winds up in your basic idyllic farm in a classic city-boy-in-country shtick.

Release Date1991-07-01

DepartmentCrew

JobSequence Supervisor

Vote Count72

Hair Love

When dad has to unexpectedly step in for mom to do his daughter Zuri’s hair before a big event, what seems like a simple task is anything but as these locks have a mind of their own!

Release Date2019-08-14

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count473

One by One

In a place in Africa we follow a group of children preparing their kites for an adventure of their life. The short was intended to be one of the segments for the proposed but never completed Fantasia 2006.

Release Date2004-06-16

DepartmentVisual Effects

JobVisual Development

Vote Count8

Arliss

A behind-the-scenes look at the glitzy, big-money world of professional sports following the eternally optimistic and endlessly resourceful L.A. sports agent Arliss Michaels whose Achilles' heel is his inability to say “no” to clients and employees.

Release Date1996-08-10

Episode Count1

Vote Count12

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