Yes, I also think, everything that Nick Park does always looks really original and creative. Even “Chicken Run” was wildly entertaining, and looked great…
Also, I think a recent great addition for this list is definitly “Wall-E.” I thought once again Pixar did an incredible job at creating lovable characters, a touching a story that targets every age group, and also features smart insider jokes for the adults…
The Iron Giant and Ratatouille, Brad Bird is my patron saint of American cartoons. He gives class back to the Disney name. I also enjoyed the “Animatrix” a whole lot, cooler than any of those poor excuses they called movies. O and Halim, Svankmajer refuses to be called an animator, so how dare you. (He’s my favorite animator too).
Talking about disney only kid law mentions fantasia. Myabe its the limited amount of copies out there but that film is a stand alone classic. A true gem for both lovers of music and animation.
Hey Mao^ You totally got me on that one about Jan Svankmajer….It was definitly very un-PC of me :)
I also did enjoyed the “The Animatrix” a lot. Recently, I just rented “Batman: Gotham Knight,” which is similar to “The Animatrix,” a collection of short animations by different artists inspired by the movie, in this case, inspired by the characters and the world of Batman. So far, I had time only to watch the first few ones and I just loved the different styles of animation…Can’t wait go back and finish the rest…
Another animation/anime that I like is “Last Exile.” I love the graphics and the story, and it s also great to know that there people out there who are making animations that are targeted mostly to Adults!!!!!
I have a few to add…
“Nausicaa” by Hayao Miyazaki (one of the greatest jobs of this genius)
“When the wind blows” by Jimmy Murakami (deep, nostalgic and poetic)
“Beauty and the beast” by Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale (Disney in best shape)
Geronimo^ I like your list a lot… I LOVE everything Miyazaki does, I think he is a genius. I also think “Beauty and the Beast” was Disney at its Best( in that list, I think ‘Aladdin’, ‘The Little Mermaid’ and ‘The Lion King" should be included as well). I still remember watching these films as a child, and being mesmerized by them…Too bad, Disney lost a lot of their ’magic’ nowadays…Luckily,we have Pixar….
I agree too Halim, with the masters of Pixar Studios and with “Aladdin”, my second favorite of Disney’s latest films.
Disney’s Sleeping Beauty is brilliant. A lot of people dismiss it because it’s a “Princess” movie, but it has some fabulous scenes with the Prince and the Villainess, who becomes a dragon at one point. They really don’t make animation like that anymore. All drawn too.
I agree with you Raeann as well. I think “Sleeping Beauty” is a great Animation; it has fantastic color composition to begin with. And, considering the time that it was made, it was such a great achievement for Disney…I am still waiting for Disney to go back to their old-school style of animation; the last time they did was with “Lilo and Stitch,” where they used watercolor paintings for animations instead of computer graphics.And, since then nearly everything else they did was computer generated with a weak script…
Kid Law^ I actually haven’t seen the movie “Felidae” yet, but a few my friends read the book, and the book suppose to be really great…I would love to watch the movie, but it is not available in the States for DVD yet…Perhaps, if it’s really good, one day we might be showing it at “The Auteurs.” The story for the movie sounds really intriguing, and it will be really ‘fresh’ to showcase some old-school animation, while everyone is making computer-generated animations nowadays…
Giselle Law^ The storyline intrigued me too, I really would like to read the book. It was extremely popular and very-well reviewed when it came in Turkey a few years ago.
How about “South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut”? I remember watching it in the movie theater and laughing out loud many times…I also loved the fact that it was a musical…
I just finished watching the movie “U” about a girl stranded in a desert castle (more or less) and her companion, unicorn called U, who are visited by a band of wandering musicians. This is a celebration of the power of fantasy and imagination. I haven’t seen anything this full of wonder since the good old days of 70’s “bande dessinée” and the likes of Valérian, agent spatio-temporel and Philémon et les lettres de l’Atlantique.
As far as I remember George Orwell’s “Animal Farm” has a very decent animation movie. I remember watching it as a kid being completely traumatized by the film, since at the time, I was six, and didn’t get the philosophical content that Orwell intended…
Has anyone ever heard of Ralph Bakshi’s Coonskin.
I saw the trailer of «Peur(s) du noir» (Fear(s) of the Dark), has someone watched it? It’s great or…or what?
Hey Gabriel…I also watched the trailer for “Fears of the Dark;” It looks incredible. I can’t wait to watch it… Hope it will open in the US very soon…
It’s really hard to find Bakshi films, anyone care?
Spirited Away
Ghost in the Shell
Neon Genesis Evangelion (series)
I just got a bunch of Bakshi films and although very crude. I must say that i am a fan.This man really liked to push the envelope of races and sex with what can come off as reckless abandon. But coming from the mind of a very accomplished artist. Though be fore-warned that he likes to push the boundaries to the point were some will be offended by both images and language. With titles like coonskin, this man is al sharptons worst nightmare.
Trailer for the new Miyazaki: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXI7x6ExPuc
Thanks a lot DKAZ for posting this trailer… Miyazaki is amazing!! Can’t wait to watch his new film. Even though, I have heard from my friends who saw the film that this is suppose to be targeted more for a younger audience as oppose to an ageless universal crowd…Though, I wasn’t disappointed by any Miyazaki film yet…So I am sure this definitly have its great moments as well..
Still no takers on Bakshi. Maybe this will become my running gag Bakshi anyone? Ha!
Hey Bronc, man i’m definitely in the Bakshi fan camp (i posted something about him earlier in this thread), i grew up on his epic “fantasy” animations as a kid “Lord of the Rings”, “Wizards”, “Fire and Ice” etc … he is certainly not to everyones taste which is how it goes … i’m totally keen to see a compilation of his early shorts become available on dvd! As you say he liked to push the envelope content wise but he also was a great innovator and contributed a lot of “new” animation techniques which people take for granted today.
Ah a Breath of fresh air. I was shocked at the way he just went head on with very taboo subject matter. And this motherfucker(which is how he would probably like to be called) is not scared to this day about making things his way. A true auteur!
Yeah, for me animation has always been the perfect medium for exploring “controversial” sociopolitical issues/ideas. By being superficially removed from “reality” it seems to make it more acceptable or palatable for audio-viewers, it’s quite a strange phenomena.
Animation allows the filmmaker(s) to totally open the subject matter up to an endless amount of unfettered representational possibilities, it can go in directions not possible in a live action films (but it’s much more than that), animation is an incredibly powerful medium and in a sense transcends reality, it distills it, removes or enhances all the “noisy” distracting elements and presents us with something pure, graphic and direct.
Not surprisingly animation has been used as an effective medium for propaganda over the years.
Animation as tool for propaganda has been used since before the cold war. I’m sure we have all heard of even Disney contributing to the war movement in the thirty’s and forty’s. So you you are absolutely right of the power that animation has. The evolution of this format is going to go beyond what we could ever imagine. I mean i’m sure we all have imagined it, but the fact that it is here and film’s like wall-e are made and companies like pixar are mastering the format the sky is not even the limit. Outer space and other realms and dimensions are within our grasp.
Broncstud: Bakshi’s definitely one of my favourite filmmakers. Heavy Traffic is my favourite film of his.
Count me in, too. I even liked “American Pop!”
Nicky Shipton
Wot no shout out for Wallace and Gromit?? Gotta love ‘The Curse of the Wererabbit’… and everything else Nick Park has ever done.
Honourable mentions are due for ‘Nightmare Before Christmas’ (already mentioned) and ‘Corpse Bride’.