Nibbelink worked for ten years at Disney and was a directing animator on Who Framed Roger Rabbit.[1] Then he spent ten years working under Steven Spielberg as an animation director, working on films such as An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (which he co-directed with Simon Wells) and Casper as animation director.[2] He also directed an animated adaptation of the children's book We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story for Amblimation.[3] He was originally scheduled to co-direct Balto with Wells, but production on We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story was incomplete, so Wells advised Nibbelink to continue working on We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story, while he set to work on Balto. Afterwards, Nibbelink began working with Dick and Ralph Zondag (with whom he and Wells had co-directed We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story) on the upcoming movie, Cats, until it was cancelled after Amblimation's founder and owner, Steven Spielberg, closed the studio in 1997 and co-founded DreamWorks Animation.
Later works
Nibbelink later turned his attention to independent filmmaking, producing three full-length animated features single-handedly. These films included Puss in Boots (1999) and Romeo & Juliet: Sealed with a Kiss (2006).[4] He is the founder and owner of his company, Phil Nibbelink Productions. His most recent project is as storyboard artist on Wolverine and the X-Men.
