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Animated Movies.

shoz999

Back when Tigers used to smoke.
Discuss and recommend animated movies!

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You know, sometimes I feel like Hollywood has forgotten how to make a good kid's film for everyone to enjoy. Remember the Harry Potter movies? Remember Star Wars? Remember the Chronicles of Narnia movies? A lot of memorable fun and compelling films, some of which are even taught in film school, made to give kids a childhood that I can still remember and watch to this day as an adult. Nowadays we see films like the Secret Life of Pets 2, Angry Birds Movie 2 and the Addams Family which rely too much on pop cultural references to get parents thinking that they're kids are into this kind of stuff. They are okay films but they are not the outstanding films to be remembered by waves of kids for years to come. That's where the animated movie "Mary and the Witch's Flower" comes in which features the main character named Mary Smith, a girl with no magical powers who discovers a magical flower that leads her to discover a school of witchcraft. Now this film is animated by Ponoc Studio which consists of former Studio Ghibli members but you can tell that this is definitely the studio's first film and yet it's still quite a magical and memorable ride that will leave an impression on kids for years to come.

To be honest though, the story is fairly simple and straightforward but it is made all the more memorable and exciting thanks to the wonderfully and peculiarly designed characters and creatures, these beautifully designed locations that look like something out of a painting, a kind of enchanting music that most people rarely hear that gives the film a sense of mystery and wonder and the animation just flows wonderfully from the obvious like magic spells to animals moving about to little details like wind blowing against the trees to someone's hair flowing with that famous Ghibli essence, much of this wonderful animation can happen on the flat ground or flying high into the skies and you can first see all what I am talking about in the opening scene of a girl escaping a castle.


With that being said. Can't wait for what the studio delivers in the years to come.
 
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WishIhadaManafi5

To Boldly Go Where No One Has Gone Before.
Staff member
Moderator
Awesome idea for a thread!

Titan A.E. is a nice animated film. Really like movies from Studio Ghibli.
 

Leonhart

Imagineer
I'm a Disney fan, so I'll admit that I like almost every single animated Disney movie that they've released. I like classic hand-drawn animation more than computer animated movies overall, and one of my favorite non-Disney produced animated movies is Kiki's Delivery Service.
 
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Kutie Pie

"It is my destiny."
I'm still waiting for word on Don Bluth's Dragon's Lair movie, but given his age and that 2D-animated movies are considered a risk these days, I don't think it's going to happen. I mean, if we were lucky, Netflix could've picked it up to produce it (but then rub their greasy mitts over it) and guarantee an audience, but I dunno...
 

Ubermuk

Sticky & Sweet
I like original computer animated movies like Frozen and How To Train Your Dragon but I will admit right now that the sequels just aren't as good. Only Pixar does good sequels and even they don't have a completely perfect track record. *tries to forget Cars 2*

My favorite traditional animated movie of all time is Akira though. Such fluid movements...
 

TheCharredDragon

Tis the Hour to Reload
I absolutely love animation. Growing up, I watched Disney movies a lot, like plenty of other kids. But I would constantly rewatch them again and again. And those weren't the only animated stuff I watched. I also watched 3D animated stuff like Toy Story and Shrek as well as stop-motion animation like The Nightmare Before Christmas and Wallace and Gromit movies. And then, of course, there was the anime I grew up watching, mostly Pokémon but sometimes watching a few episodes of other stuff, as well as TV shows, like G1 Transformers, episodes of Looney Tunes (mostly Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner) and the more serious but still kid-watchable Avatar: The Last Airbender.

I still love anination now because in animation, people can do things in it that would just be weird in live action or be forced to use CGI, like a character bouncing around the walls like a pinball or expressions that would be stupid or impossible, like many anime expression. I like watching how fluid the animation can be or how the art style comes to life. I will admit I prefer 2D animation and even stop-motion over 3D but I still like many 3D animated movies. Especially Into the Spider-verse. Oh my god. That was just amazing in general.

And I feel animation in general is underappreciated/underrated. At least where I live anyway. Anything that remotely looks animated, especially 2D and has a simple art style like, for example, Adventure Time and My Little Pony, is immediately written off as "for kids only" when there are plenty of new stuff that are amazing, like plenty of anime, both shows and films, Star vs. The Forces of Evil, Gravity Falls, O.K. K.O.: Let's Be Heroes! and plenty of other TV shows...including Netflix stuff like Carmen Sandiegi and The Dragon Prince. And then there's still the aforementioned Disney and Pixar stuff. But, again, they don't get much acknowledgement beyond those who've seen it. Yeah, I know that's not the thought these days in other places, but that mindset still exists here.

tl;dr: Love animation of all kinds (2D, 3D and stop-motion) and always will and always feels sad when people don't give something a chance just 'cause it's animated.

As for favorites and recommendations...

Anime stuff: Uh...I unfortunately haven't watched much of this kind recently but... For anime shows, I saw The Ancient Magus Bride, The Promised Neverland and Blood Battlefront Blockade and I liked them a lot. Particularly Neverland. Oh my god, I've never felt so tense watching something in my life. Oh! But I would say to give Digimon anime after Tamers a chance. I liked Data Savers and Frontier. And anything by Studio Trigger and related studios. For films, I loved Your Name and The Cat Returns. Your Nane was so good. But favorites? Uh... I can't really decide on one... I guess I'll say...Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.

2D: Waaaaaay too many favorites to pick one for sure for both films and shows. But for recommendations... TV shows: Star vs. The Forces of Evil, definitely. Don't let the silly soundibg title fool you. Oh, and Carmen Sandiego because FEMALE PHANTOM THIEF. ahem... Film: Any Disney film. But you should give The Princess and The Frog a chance. I personally liked it (and Enchanted but that one's mostly live-action with only an animated beginning and end so it just gets an honorable mention).

3D: Same. Uh...unfortunately, can't think of recommendations off the top of my head, for both films and TV. Except for Big Hero 6 for films. Baymax is the most original robot I've ever seen. Yes, even Wall-E though it's good too. And Transformers Prime for TV shows. Or Transformers Beast Wars. Yeah, the animation is mediocre by today's standard, but here's the thing, it was one of the first to try 3D animation for TV and personally I think it doesn't look too bad. But again, that's personally.

Other (Stop-motion and mixed): Love the aforementioned The Nightmare Before Christmas. Would recommend trying stuff by Travis Knight, like Kubo and the Two Strings. I'd also personally recommend Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and Looney Toons Back in Action (both live-action with 2D animated characters) but I know they're just fun films, particularly the latter, so if you want a deep story, I wouldn't recommend it. Unfortunately, not a lot of TV shows I know that are stop-motion besides Wallace and Gromit and Shaun the Sheep. And the former is mostly educational which I like but well...it's not a story.

Whew... That was long... Not surprised since I love animation.

Edit: I was right! I did forget stuff! Anyways...

Anime: Cells at Work! I can't believe I forgot this. This show is just so much fun, plus educational! I love how it depicts the body. Especially allergies. And I just love the Red Blood Cell and White Blood Cell main characters we get. They're just the best. Would totally recommend it.

2D: Disney's Hercules. Apparently it's underrated, which I didn't know and I personally love it. I love the music, I love the depiction of Hades (even if mythological Hades wasn't like that, but I like to headcanon he's only that way because he hasn't met Persephone yet. :p) and well...it's just so much fun to watch. Plus, apparently the makers of the film were making a satire of Disney and corporate stuff in general.

3D: Bolt. Yes, Bolt. It's simple but I still really like it. It just felt so heartfelt and fun and yet sad at times, like Mitten's backstory. And, well, Bolt's a dog, so that's a bonus.
 
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shoz999

Back when Tigers used to smoke.
81Eu68DIxGL._SY445_.jpg
mig


My favorite animation studio in the west is probably Cartoon Saloon which is based in Ireland and in my opinion, they are in many ways like the Ghibli Studio of the West. They're first two movies, The Secret of Kells and The Song of the Sea are some of my favorite masterfully done animated films that explores Celtic Mythology and the Celtic inspired art-style and flowing animation is just beautiful. I'd even say the two films above are definitely some of the most gorgeously animated films you will see. One film they recently released that I've yet to see but also heard is really well directed is the Breadwinner, an animated film about a girl's struggles in Afghanistan. Another animated film that Cartoon Saloon is working on right now is Wolfwalkers which is an animated film centered around the world of wolves through the friendship of a hunter and a wild native girl. So that should be very interesting.

But yeah, if you love animation and are an especially big fan of Ghibli's work, you guys should check out Cartoon Saloon's work. Actually I believe the guys behind these films are also big Ghibli films if I remember correctly.
 
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TheCharredDragon

Tis the Hour to Reload
Oh yeah, forgot to do this...
You know, sometimes I feel like Hollywood has forgotten how to make a good kid's film for everyone to enjoy. Remember the Harry Potter movies? Remember Star Wars? Remember the Chronicles of Narnia movies? A lot of memorable fun and compelling films, some of which are even taught in film school, made to give kids a childhood that I can still remember and watch to this day as an adult. Nowadays we see films like the Secret Life of Pets 2, Angry Birds Movie 2 and the Addams Family which rely too much on pop cultural references to get parents thinking that they're kids are into this kind of stuff. They are okay films but they are not the outstanding films to be remembered by waves of kids for years to come.

I will have to admit, there are quite a lot of animated films these days that are like that... Which is a shame because it seems to me that it just makes people think aninated films really are for kids only.

The thing I like about animated stuff, one of the main thing actually, is that the good ones can enjoyed at different levels for different ages. As a kid, you get to see the awesome and wonderful spectacle of the animation itself, teens can enjoy the plot and characters, and adults can notice the little things they did, from design choices to how they animated it to how the story comes together and how it might affect their life.

81Eu68DIxGL._SY445_.jpg
mig


My favorite animation studio in the west is probably Cartoon Saloon which is based in Ireland and in my opinion, they are in many ways like the Ghibli Studio of the West. They're first two movies, The Secret of Kells and The Song of the Sea are some of my favorite masterfully done animated films that explores Celtic Mythology and the Celtic inspired art-style and flowing animation is just beautiful. I'd even say the two films above are definitely some of the most gorgeously animated films you will see. One film they recently released that I've yet to see but also heard is really well directed is the Breadwinner, an animated film about a girl's struggles in Afghanistan. Another animated film that Cartoon Saloon is working on right now is Wolfwalkers which is an animated film centered around the world of wolves through the friendship of a hunter and a wild native girl. So that should be very interesting.

But yeah, if you love animation and are an especially big fan of Ghibli's work, you guys should check out Cartoon Saloon's work. Actually I believe the guys behind these films are also big Ghibli films if I remember correctly.

... Oh my gosh, yes. Thank you for sharing this. Celtic inspired animated films? I'm in and I'm totally checking this out.

Anyways...more recommendations! With more detail!

Anime: Sweetness & Lightning, an anime about a widower father and his young daughter bonding over said father learning how to cook with one of his students teaching him. It truly lives up to its name, it's just so sweet. But what really made me like it is that one, it basically showed recipes for you to try out and two, it deals with how a single father and his young daughter cope with the recent death of the mother and wife of the family. And Tsumugi, the daughter, acts much her age, throwing tantrums and asking for silly things, but just like any kid is really sweet. I would totally recommend this.

2D: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, currently the latest animated iteration of the ninja turtles and oh my god. The animation is amazing. If you like the awesome action sequences of plenty of anime and the squash-and-stretchiness of things like Looney Tunes, it perfectly combines it to make some of the best animation I've seen on TV with how lively and awesome it looks. And it has a fun story and interesting take on the turtles.
Ben 10 (OG - Omniverse), a cartoon I'm sure plenty people know but still wanna recommend since, well, there was a reboot and it made me kind of miss the older series. The reboot's not terrible, but still. Ben 10's about a kid that gets an alien watch that lets him turn to 10 aliens, but it gets expanded the further the series goes. And it's quite fun and interesting, with creative aliens, surprisingly serious and dark plotlines, and plenty of times it makes both references to other media and pokes fun at itself. Make sure to give Omniverse at least a chance. Don't let the art style deter you if you preferred OG - Ultimate Alien. Also it was one of the cartoons I grew up with.

3D: A Monster in Paris (Un monstre à Paris), a film about a monster in paris. In all seriousness though, it's a film about a flea that goes monstrous...and ends up in a opera house discovering he has also been mutated to sing. And I will admit, part of the reason I like it is because of the songs, but the other reason is because, well, it's a singing flea monster who's nice and just wants to sing. Where else can you see a film like that? Also Sean Lennon voices/sings as Franceour, the flea. Yes, the son of John Lennon voices him.
 

Leonhart

Imagineer
I saw Brother Bear for the first time yesterday. It was one of the few animated Disney movies that I hadn't seen before, and while I liked it, I felt it was rather lukewarm much like many other Disney movies in the early 2000s [like Atlantis: The Lost Empire and Treasure Planet]. I'm glad that Disney moved on to focusing on computer animation around the mid-2000s instead of continuing their downward spiral of mediocre movies.
 

Gamzee Makara

Flirtin' With Disaster
I unironically love Don Bluth's work, but not him, that Doug Walker-wanking a**hole.

The stuff he actually did, mind you, not the sequelitis spam of some of them.

Yes, even Thumbelina, Rock-A-Doodle and A Troll in Central Park.

At least most of them were hand-done AND ARE art, before Anastasia.

Hell, TItan AE was a scary movie for a younger me.

I like some Bakshi and related/inspired works(Especially Wizards, Heavy Metal and some others I can't mention), though a lot have not aged well.

As for Disney...I tend to get enjoyment the hard-to-find stuff, like The Black Cauldron and Home on the Range. Seeing the killers of Disney eras always fascinates me.

Not too keen on computer-drawn stuff, especially since a lot of it looks as cheap as can be...

Spider:Man:Into the Spider-Verse was a great movie.

And if we're allowing stop-motion/puppets...I f**king love stop-motion/puppets. Easily the best and most artsy form. Coraline and 9 are the best.

As for anime movies...Studio Ghibli. No question. But 1-movie adaptations are perfect, like Akira and the original Ghost in the Shell movie.

I need to get more Cartoon Saloon in my collection. I only have The Book of Kells.

Looking Forward to Onward and Soul, if only to find out which movies Pixar ripped off this time.
 

Captain Jigglypuff

Leader of Jigglypuff Army
I have several favorite animated movies. I have a list of which movies I think would have been nominated and even win the Best Animated Feature had it been around when the Oscars were started. Films that definitely would have won would be The Secret of Nihm, The Land Before Time, An American Tail, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, Toy Story, A Bug’s Life, and Anastasia. Nominees would be My Neighbor Tontoro, When the Wind Blows, Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Norte Dame, Mulan, Hercules, And Tarzan.

I do enjoy seeing reviews for the bad animated movies on YouTube such as Leo the Lion and Dingo Pictures rip offs. It’s fun to see how horrible they turned out and in the case for Dingo movies, how awful the voice actors are.
 
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