Mark L. Dindal (born 1960) is an American effects animator, film director, and screenwriter who directed Cats Don't Dance (1997), The Emperor's New Groove (2000), Chicken Little (2005), The Adventures to the Treasure Island (2007), Rose is Rose (2009), Go City! (2014) and Miss Twenties (2020) He worked in many Disney projects as an effects animator, and also led the special effects for several classic films, such as The Little Mermaid (1989) and The Rescuers Down Under (1990).
Biography[]
Early Years/Effects Animator at Disney[]
Dindal was born in Columbus, Ohio in 1960.
Growing up, Dindal was influenced by Disney films and Warner Bros. Saturday cartoons. One of his earliest influence was Disney's The Sword in the Stone, which he saw with his grandmother at the age of three. It also helped him to go to a career in animation with help from his dad who took art as a hobby and taught Dindal to draw while growing up in Syracuse, New York.
As a high schooler, Dindal went to Jamesville-DeWitt High School, in which he attended most of the art classes that the school had offer. Dindal learned animation at CalArts. He began working at Disney in 1980. His work included The Fox & the Hound (1981), The Black Cauldron (1985), Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983), and The Great Mouse Detective (1986), each following a very similar animation style in all the films. This style consisted of similar backgrounds with delicate animation and complex character effects, and was well received.
Leaving and Returning to Disney[]
After these projects, Dindal left Disney around 1986 to briefly work on outside projects with Filmation and worked on projects like BraveStarr and The Brave Little Toaster. He returned to the studio in 1987 and got his first head role as a visual effects supervisor for The Little Mermaid (1989). He later worked as head animator for the film The Rescuers Down Under (1990). He directed the animated segment for the live-action film The Rocketeer (1991), and worked as an effects animator on the animated film Aladdin (1992).
Dindal as the Director[]
Dindal's directorial debut was Cats Don't Dance, which was released in 1997, three years before The Emperor's New Groove was released in 2000. In Cats Don't Dance Dindal voiced Max. The film won the Annie Award for Best Animated Film and Dindal was nominated for directing. The Emperor's New Groove was initially expected to be a classic Disney musical feature called Kingdom of the Sun. However, the idea didn't work out, and Dindal, along with Chris Williams and David Reynolds, changed the script to a comedy. During the six-year production, he started to work on Cats Don't Dance, a Turner Broadcasting (since merged into Warner Bros.) animated musical production.
Chicken Little[]
Dindal worked on Chicken Little (2005), another Disney production, which needed a large animation team. Dindal voiced Morkubine Porcupine and Coach in the film. The film was nominated to several Annies, though Dindal was not nominated as a director. During the film's production, DisneyToon Studios produced Kronk's New Groove as a direct-to-video feature. As Dindal was working on Chicken Little at the time, he did not have a position on the staff. Later, Dindal created the TV series The Emperor's New School (2006-2008).
Post-Disney time/Go City!/Royce & Meredith[]
In March 2006, a day after the DVD release of Chicken Little, Dindal and producer Randy Fullmer left the company because they were reportedly tired of dealing with then-WDFA head David Stainton. Dinal later join Paramount Animation to direct The Adventures to the Treasure Island, he also received story artist credit on most Paramount Animation films. In the next few years, Dindal was attached as a director to several live-action films, including Sherlock's Secretary, Kringle, and Housebroken. By December 2010, Dindal was directing at DreamWorks Animation an animated feature film titled Me and My Shadow, which would combine both computer and traditional animation. By January 2012, he was no longer directing the film, which went in 2013 back into development, and instead moved to JeremyWorks Studios to co-direct Go City!, which was released into theaters in July 2014. In 2014, he was credited as the illustrator for a documentary called Restrung, which is focused on Fullmer, a collaborator that worked with him at Disney and Filmation, with his career at Wyn Guitars from 2006.
On November 12, 2018, it was announced that Dindal will direct an animated Garfield feature for Alcon Entertainment and Warner Bros. Pictures, with pre-production beginning the following month in Los Angeles. In January 2019, Dindal left Go City!: Epic Mayhem. In March 2019, Dindal received story artist credit on the Nickelodeon film, Wonder Park.
Filmography[]
Year | Title | Director | Writer | Animator | Other | Note |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1981 | The Fox and the Hound | No | No | Yes | No | Effects animator (uncredited) |
1982 | Fun with Mr. Future | No | No | Yes | No | |
1983 | Mickey's Christmas Carol | No | No | Yes | No | Effects animator |
1985 | The Black Cauldron | No | No | Yes | No | |
1986 | The Great Mouse Detective | No | No | Yes | No | |
1987 | Sport Goofy in Soccermania | No | No | Yes | No | |
The Brave Little Toaster | No | No | No | Yes | Effects animation consultant | |
Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night | No | No | Yes | No | Special effects animator | |
1988 | BraveStarr | No | No | Yes | No | |
BraveStarr: The Legend | No | No | Yes | No | Effects animator | |
Oliver & Company | No | No | Yes | No | ||
1989 | The Little Mermaid | No | No | Yes | No | Visual effects supervisor |
1990 | The Prince and the Pauper | No | No | Yes | No | Storyboard artist |
The Rescuers Down Under | No | No | Yes | No | Head effects animator | |
1991 | The Rocketeer | Yes | No | Yes | No | Director: Nazi Invasion segment |
1992 | Frozen Assets | No | No | No | Yes | Animation sequence producer |
Tom and Jerry: The Movie | No | No | Yes | No | Effects animator | |
Aladdin | No | No | Yes | No | ||
The Little Mermaid | No | No | Yes | Yes | Effects consultant (1 episode), effects animator (2 episodes), storyboard artist (1 episode) | |
1993 | Happily Ever After | No | No | Yes | No | Special effects animator |
1997 | Cats Don't Dance | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Story, character designer, storyboard artist, storyboard supervisor, voice of Max |
2000 | The Emperor's New Groove | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Story, voice of Kitty Yzma (uncredited) |
2005 | Chicken Little | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Story, character designer, voice of Morkubine Porcupine & Coach |
Kronk's New Groove | No | No | No | Yes | Based on characters (uncredited) | |
2006-2008 | The Emperor's New School | No | Yes | No | No | Creator, writer |
2007 | The Adventures to the Treasure Island | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Story, character designer, storyboard artist, storyboard supervisor |
2008 | Candy Quest | No | No | Yes | Yes | Character designer, storyboard artist |
2009 | Rose is Rose | Yes | No | No | Yes | Story |
2009 | Virtual Journey | No | No | Yes | No | Storyboard artist |
2010 | Twin, Duo, and Three | Yes | No | Yes | No | |
2011 | The Flamingo Prince | No | No | Yes | Yes | Effects animator, story artist character designer, storyboard artist |
2013 | Little Mattie | No | No | No | Yes | Special thanks |
Virtual Journey: Level Two | No | No | Yes | Yes | Storyboard artist | |
2014 | Restrung | No | No | No | Yes | Illustrator |
Go City! | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Story, character designer, storyboard artist, storyboard supervisor | |
Good Looking Road | No | No | No | Yes | Executive producer | |
Dreamcast Boys | No | No | No | Yes | ||
Double Trouble Dare | No | No | No | Yes | ||
2015-present | Go City!: Adventures with Jax and Cameron | No | No | No | Yes | |
2015 | The Adventures in Medieval | No | No | Yes | Yes | Storyboard artist, special thanks |
2016 | Pound Puppies 2 | No | No | Yes | Yes | Story artist, character designer, storyboard artist, special thanks |
Two Teenage Ghost | No | No | No | Yes | Special thanks | |
2017 | Virtual Journey: Next Dimensions | No | No | No | Yes | |
Go City!: World's Most Wanted | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Story, character designer, storyboard artist, storyboard supervisor | |
Blasting from the Past | No | No | No | Yes | Executive producer | |
Cops, Robs, and Chase | No | No | No | Yes | ||
Cool Side or Wild Side | No | No | No | Yes | ||
The Legend of Magic Sword | No | No | Yes | Yes | Effects animator, story artist character designer, storyboard artist | |
2018 | Crawler, Liger and Ratty: The Three Animals | No | No | Yes | Yes | |
2019 | Wonder Park | No | No | Yes | No | Story artist |
Jeremy: Ultimate Generations | No | No | No | Yes | Special thanks | |
Puffy's Big Break | No | No | Yes | Yes | Storyboard artist, special thanks | |
2020 | Miss Twenties | Yes | No | No | Yes | Character designer |
Go City!: Epic Mayhem | No | No | No | Yes | Executive producer, character designer | |
TBD | Untitled animated Garfield film | Yes | No | No | No | |
Untitled Funko film | Yes | No | No | No |
Awards and nominations[]
Nominations[]
- Best Individual Achievement: Directing in a Feature Production for Cats Don't Dance (Annie) (1997)
- Outstanding Individual Achievement for Writing in an Animated Feature Production for The Emperor's New Groove (Annie) (2001)
- Outstanding Individual Achievement for Directing in an Animated Feature Production for The Emperor's New Groove (Annie) (2001)
- Best Animated Feature for The Emperor's New Groove (Annie) (2001)
- Best Animated or Mixed Media Feature for The Emperor's New Groove & Chicken Little (Satellite Award) (2000; 2005)
- Best Animated Feature for Chicken Little (Critics' Choice Movie Awards) (2005)
- Best Animated Feature for Go Ctiy! (Annie) (2014)
Won[]
- Best Animated Feature for Cats Don't Dance (Annie) (1997)