Documentary Turns Disney-loving Autistic Man Into A Star

Three painfully mute years later, and after countless rapt hours spent watching Disney animated movies, a word broke through. A few weeks later, Ron picked up a puppet of Iago, the parrot from "Aladdin," and had his first conversation with his son in years — albeit one doing his best Gilbert Gottfried impression. Roger Ross Williams' documentary "Life Animated," which opens Friday, chronicles Owen's remarkable growth, aided by the colorful, underdog sidekicks of Disney movies. The film, inspired by Ron Suskind's book "Life Animated: A Story of Sidekicks, Heroes and Autism," is both about Owen's impressive maturity and the power of movies, of stories, to connect people across daunting divides. The film has been a hit on the festival circuit where 25-year-old Owen has bounded down theater aisles, high-fiving cheering crowds. In Los Angeles, Owen visited the Disney Animation studios and met animators whose credits he knows thoroughly. In his best-seller, Suskind writes of Owen finding "a language and a tool kit" in Disney films that gave him fables to live by. The normally guarded Disney approved the use of clips from its films for "Life Animated," though it has no involvement in the movie's release. Owen is a fan of recent Disney films like "Zootopia" and Pixar's "Inside Out."