The other night I went to see Megamind, many kids with parents were there and got me to thinking about what I grew up with in regards to animated movies and more importantly where are they headed? We wanted to look at what hand drawn animated movies are our favorites, what makes them so and then take a look at what movie(s) in the modern era of computer animation are worthy successors and why. Hope you enjoy.
1. Peter Pan (1953) - This movie holds some clout as it is the last Disney movie with major contributions from the Nine Old Men. Taking it down the line 40+ years, we would never have Disney-Pixar, Dreamworks animation, et. al were it not for these guys and their work. Watch any kind of animation history documentary and these guys will be plastered all over it.
a. The story of Peter Pan came to life through J.M. Barrie and the rights belong to Great Ormond Street Hospital to this day. Walt Disney obtained permission to inject his magic into the story and what we have is one of the most memorable Disney movies of all time.
b. The opening scenes are what I love the most about the old time Disney movies, music originally composed for the movie and a chorus singing about the "second star to the right…" while listing the credits. The movies of today are lacking this very important detail as we live in a world of NOW, NOW, NOW! I imagine kids these days would throw a fit and immediately losing interest if that remained. Oh well.
c. The animation is superb, well thought out and seamless. My mention of the Nine Old Men says it all.
d. Mr. Darling/Captain Hook's voice actor, Mr. Hans Conried. What a wonderful voice to listen to, he draws you into the no-nonsense attitude of Mr. Darling and the desperate and always-thwarted Captain Hook. Paired wonderfully with Mr. Bill Thompson who voiced Mr Smee. There were other greats in this movies such as Kathryn Beaumont as Wendy (also Alice from Alice in Wonderland) - but those two take the cake.
2. Transformers the Movie (1986) - This was actually set in 2005, could have fooled me. The last time I saw this was in college, so my memory is a little hazy and if I miss something, let me know. This was the last great contribution of the line, after this we got an computer animated series that was crap and then Michael Bay sunk his hooks into it…
a. Terrible animation. The movie poster was drawn wonderfully and and can lead you to a warm sense of detail contained in the movie, but it was total crap. Yes, I understand all the episodes of the cartoon were in this fashion and we were young and entertained, but I must say my older self was disappointed.
b. Peter Cullen, Orson Welles, Scatman Crothers, Judd Nelson, Leonard Nimoy. Enough said.
d. I included this mainly for nostalgic reasons. A great memory from childhood.
3. An American Tail (1986) - Leave it to Spielberg, Lucas and Don Bluth to rock it animation style. Though I throughly dislike the release of movie singles (this version sung by Linda Ronstadt and James ingram), this movie has some aspects the other movies do not that I truly enjoy. At times frightening for a smaller kid (at least me), I argue adults enjoy this as much as any Disney animated selection. This film will get trashed by some people out there, but take it or leave it.
a. Storytelling. The other movies I listed are not original (Peter Pan was adapted, Transformers was based on a T.V. series). This story is about Russian immigrants who come to America to follow their dreams and make a life for themselves. Almost uninteresting, but with a new take of mice portraying the main characters, makes it kinda fun…kinda. Though original, this is the weakest aspect for me and almost didn't make my cut.
b. Voice actors and animation. I think this is the most overlooked voice acting for an animated movie. Greats such as Christopher Plummer, Dom DeLuise (Tiger, my favorite character) and the endearing and wonderful Madeline Kahn. She is probably one of my favorite comedic actresses of all time and a big reason why this is on my list. Animation was good, this was also the highest grossing animated feature that was not a Disney. Gotta give 'em credit.
c. The city of New York was a character in and of itself. The grimy streets portrayed paint a bleak picture of what these people (and mice) had to endure in order to survive. Drawn wonderfully and, as far as I know, realistically.
4. The Incredibles (2004) - Wow. No disrespect to any other Disney-Pixar movie out there, but wow. Brad Bird, to my knowledge, is the only creative force that could not be considered Pixar "home-grown". Written and directed by Bird himself, he created a previously untouched concept for Pixar - humans as the main characters. There are a few reason why to include the difficult way to portray realistic facial expressions and human hair.
a. Top-notch story telling. Bird himself has stated he would love to do a sequel, but hasn't come up with a complete story line that would trump the original one. Good luck and I look forward to it.
b. Animation. Pixar does it better than any other CGI company out there. I invite you to watch any "making of" special feature for any Pixar film. The amount of prep they put into a movie before they start the animation portion of production is outdone by no one. Some other out there look good: Megamind and Despicable Me are good ones, but I challenge you to find one out there that is as good, if not better, than a Pixar film.
c. Music. Superior soundtrack and composition. Has a 1950's feel to it (along with the animation and sets) and did not disgustingly borrow from any other musician/band out there (Megamind, I'm looking at you).
d. Voice actors. Had some good names in there who were perfect for their role: Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Samuel L., lucky charm John Ratzenberger. What I do love about Pixar is their willingness to include their animators, assistants, etc. to voice characters. They know they don't have to have the most famous people reading all their lines.
Watching this film and other PIxar selections make me hopeful that we still have creative forces out there who can use this medium to tell a good story and make people enjoy it and want some more. Though I feel only Pixar has found it, I believe they are worthy successors to the films we grew up with and still enjoy.
Kleavon's side:
All joking aside, I was pretty pumped to start brainstorming on a list of my favorite animated movies (both traditional hand-drawn and computer animated) and in the midst of our discussion JR and I pondered philosophically about more than just WHAT are our favorites, but WHY are they our favorites?
The more I thought about what makes these movies good, the more I thought about what makes me appreciate them on an artistic level, and not just a cursory level of entertainment. So, instead of making a “Top 10” format list, I’d like to look at two specific elements of animated films that are often overlooked, underappreciated, and currently in decline: Voice Acting and Style.
Voice Acting:
I really didn’t want to start this off as an old man rant, but here goes – I miss the voice acting of the old Disney movies, the way they used to be. I’m not saying that there isn’t any good voice acting now -in fact I still contend that Ellen DeGeneres is owed an Oscar for playing Dory in Finding Nemo- but I miss being able to watch a movie and not hear people say “Oh wow that’s (insert celebrity name here)!”
I miss the TRUE voice actors. Actors with the ability to alter their voices to be anyone/anything they want. Actors with the ability to truly BECOME the character, and not just be an animated caricature of themselves.
Again, I’m not trying to take away from anyone’s ability to make an animated character interesting. I’m just saying that when Dory talks, you still know it’s Ellen. And when Woody talks, you still know it’s Tom Hanks. And when Genie talks, you still know it’s Robin Williams.
On one hand it makes their characters more instantly relatable/likeable, but I think it can also take away from the experience in that sometimes you’re no longer enjoying the character onscreen, you’re just enjoying hearing the voice.
Let’s play a quick game: I’ll give you three iconic characters from recent movies, you give me the voices –
- Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story
- Mufasa from The Lion King
- Po from Kung Fu Panda
- Baloo from The Jungle Book
- The Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland
- Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty
Click on this link and look in the lower right corner.
Do you see that little old lady who looks like she spends her day baking cookies?
Now watch this.
Yeah. That sweet little white-haired grandma is the voice of the scariest and most evil villain in the entire Disney universe. Pretty fucking trippy isn’t it? That’s like if you just found out Betty White was the voice of Jafar.
Want another voice acting mind fuck? How about this – Chris Sarandon, aka Prince Humperdink from The Princess Bride, is the voice of Jack Skellington in The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Did anyone pick up on that when they watched it? If you did, then you earn my undying nerd admiration, and you also earn a bullet in the head because you are obviously some kind of psychic robot from the future sent to destroy mankind.
This next one isn’t from an animated film, but it still blows my mind to this day, and that’s that Mark Hamill is the Joker in Batman: The Animated Series. Seriously, Luke Skywalker is the fucking Joker.
And that’s my point. Mark Hamill is a true voice actor because when the Joker comes on screen you aren’t hearing Mark Hamill. You’re just hearing the Joker, which makes him free of any preconceived notions/attachments you have to the actor, and you can be free to just enjoy and appreciate the character onscreen.
If you want to check out some amazing voice actors, then look up these names and you’ll see what I mean:
Mel Blanc
Frank Welker
Billy West
Peter Cullen
**Disclaimer: Before reading the next section, let me just present this qualifying statement -Animation is an art medium. Cartoons are just a style within that medium. All animation is NOT by default a “cartoon.” On that same token, “anime” is a style of animation that is separate from “cartoons,” and nothing invokes my nerd rage more than when people lump them together. (Also, anime movies will be looked at on a different day from Disney films)
Style:
Obviously this is an extremely subjective area to delve into, so let me explain what I mean by “Style” as it pertains to this article. When I watch an animated movie, I try to look at it from the perspectives of: originality, detail, and memorability.
Ask yourself these questions:
- Does this look like something I’ve seen before?
- Does the style enhance the characters/story/overall film?
- Was there a scene that jumped out and made you say “Wow”
Another good example of style done right is just about anything from Fantasia. There isn’t a single person who doesn’t remember “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” sequence or the “Night on Bald Mountain” sequence once they’ve seen it.
It would take forever to list films that I thought were stylish, so instead let’s take a look at a few favorite clips from past and present, ones that pair artistry with entertainment at the highest order:
Sword in the Stone : Wizard’s Duel
The Wizard’s Duel is a great sequence because of all the different forms that Merlin and Mim take on during their battle. You can’t help but think that the animators found it as much fun to play with all the different characters as it was a challenge to keep the animals looking like Merlin and Mim throughout their changes. It’s action, it’s comedy, and it’s 100% entertaining.
Transformers The Movie : Megatron to Galvatron
My personal love for Transformers aside, you can’t help but be amazed at how incredibly detailed this entire movie is, and this sequence is the best of the bunch. When you watch, don’t just look at the detailed drawings; look at how seamlessly it animates with all of the rotating cameras and different colors, and then wonder how this came out in 1986 and it still looks better than most things today.
Wall-E : Spacewalk/Define Dancing
Simply put, this is one of the best sequences of film in the last 5 years, animated or otherwise. It’s simple, it’s fun, and yes, it’s beautiful. If you can’t enjoy this scene then you are either dead, or you might as well be, because this is as close to perfection as it gets.
I know this is a deep subject for discussion, and I know this list is short, but hopefully it’s given you some food for thought and brought you to a deeper understanding/appreciation for animation.
Now let the barrage of comments begin.
