Animated Movies Thread

[Horseman]

Discussion of Disney/Pixar/Dreamworks/etc movies, and anime movies I guess but I think we were already discussing that in the anime thread.

So anyway, let's talk Disney. Because early 90's Disney is back, bitches.
Frozen was awesome. A little bit flawed but awesome. It also had the worst advertising in the history of animated movies- don't worry, the movie isn't about a reindeer and an ugly snowman. In fact the reindeer is pretty great in the movie, and the snowman is... uh... well, he's not all that annoying so that definitely puts him miles ahead of piles of shit like the minions from despicable me. He's even kind of funny at times, and has more than a few pretty good lines. He even has a song that doesn't suck. It's crazy.
Just go see Frozen if you haven't, it's a really good movie that makes me excited for the future of Disney movies.

In other news, Pixar sucks now. First they decided to make another cars movie, then they made the pretty sub-par Brave, and now they're going through their fantastic older movies so that they can ruin them with a sequel. Monster's Inc is already dead. Finding Nemo is next. Supposedly they're planning on fucking up the whole Toy Story trilogy by releasing a fourth one... I mean, you come up with a worse movie idea for Pixar than Toy Story 4 without obviously taking the piss. It's difficult. I'm just going to curl up in a corner, suck my thumb, and hope to god they don't announce a sequel to Up.

 

[Jutsei]

Wreck-It Ralph is still probably the best movie concept ever.
And it's still pretty goddamned fucking awesome too.

 

[Stuff]

The Iron. Fucking. Giant.

'nuff said.

So great I don't have to stay on subject. I don't even know why I like it.

 

[Zombies8MyLeg]

The Incredibles is one of my all time favorite animated movies. Everytime it comes on TV I stop EVERYTHING I'm doing just to watch it.

 

[KaboomKid]

It's really too bad that we can't put The Last Airbender on this list. That SHOULD have been an animated movie! Ugh.

Anyway, there's so much that I love about Disney's old stuff (seriously, watch the Rescuers movies if you haven't), but I think my heart ultimately belongs to old Don Bluth. The Land Before Time is quite possibly my favorite animated movie ever. I'm talking about the original movie btw, not those crummy sing-along stories they churned out in the years that followed.

When I finally got to re-watch the movie as an adult, I found myself getting teary eyed all over again. As a kid, I remember being in awe of the colors and animation, but now I also have a greater appreciation for the "growing up" tale being told between the characters. The movie doesn't feel like it's in a rush, and the story was surprisingly mature in handling some pretty dark subject matter. Forget whether the depiction of dinosaurs is outdated now or not, I just think the movie told a great story, and is still a good reminder of how powerful animation can be when it's handled with care, and with respect for its audience.

On the slightly opposite end, a guilty pleasure of mine is still the old Transformers movie too. Not much to say to say about that one really. Well, except "OH SHIT! WHAT'RE WE GONNA DO NOW?" Seriously, that movie had an insane body count for a "kids" flick!

 

[Chaos Master42]

Wreck-It Ralph is still probably the best movie concept ever.
And it's still pretty goddamned fucking awesome too.

Yeah, I thought it was a great movie, hell it was so nice I saw it twice! (Ok once and a half in theater, but I still paid for the ticket twice!) I hear there is a sequel in the works for it.

The Iron. Fucking. Giant.

'nuff said.

So great I don't have to stay on subject. I don't even know why I like it.

Eh...
Cartoon Network killed that movie for me with the whole 24 hour showing of it. Now I can't watch it with out needing to put headphones in, and plug those into an MP3 player or game device.

I don't have an exact favorite animated movie (as my list of favorites grows every year) but I'd have to say that my top five may be (in no order here) Anastasia, Lilo and Stitch, the Lion King(1 and 11/2), Secret of N.I.M.H 2, and Digimon the movie.

 

[mooncakes]

Did anyone got a chance to watch Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox?
Its pretty insane. It got a lot of violence and blood for a kid movie...Story is pretty good too.

 

[Jutsei]

Did anyone got a chance to watch Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox?
Its pretty insane. It got a lot of violence and blood for a kid movie...Story is pretty good too.

Usually the direct to DVD Animated Marvel movies don't shy away from the violence and heavy stuff.

Another great movie in that same vein is Batman: Under the Red Hood.
Condenses the entire Red Hood storyline (and Jason Todd's death) into a neat, fun, and definitely amazing movie. It's on Netflix so if you got that you can watch it.
Oh, and it's got John DiMaggio doing one of the best non-Mark Hamil performances as the Joker.
Here's a scene

Spoiler

 

[Avil]

So... I think my best expirience was Felidae when I was young. And I still think it is unique movie. Looks like is one of reasons why I started to watch anime, you just can't find anything comparable in western cartoons.

 

[Horseman]

Did anyone see the theatrical release of The Wind Rises?
English dub was shit, unfortunately.

 

[Skullmageddon]

The Iron. Fucking. Giant.

'nuff said.

So great I don't have to stay on subject. I don't even know why I like it.

You. You are my favorite person ever for saying this.

Cartoon Network killed that movie for me with the whole 24 hour showing of it. Now I can't watch it with out needing to put headphones in, and plug those into an MP3 player or game device.

You on the other hand are the exact opposite. I watched The Iron Giant four times in a row that day as it is one of the best animated films of all time, and I continue to watch it on a regular basis :)

 

[Skullmageddon]

Did anyone see the theatrical release of The Wind Rises?
English dub was shit, unfortunately.

I've seen it twice in theaters so far. If I can find a local theater that shows the movie subtitled I'm going to go again because I'd like to compare the two versions.

Also, why does everyone say that? I thought the English dub was fairly well done. I obviously haven't seen the sub yet so I can't compare, but from what I hear it seems like most people consider the dub to be better than the sub in this case.

 

[Eben]

The Dark Knight Returns is far and away the best pair of Batman movies ever made. Peter Weller's voice is like hot gravy being poured all over a delicious Batman feast.

I saw Frozen. It was okay, pretty overrated story/writing wise, but the animation was really cool.

 

[Horseman]

Also, why does everyone say that? I thought the English dub was fairly well done. I obviously haven't seen the sub yet so I can't compare, but from what I hear it seems like most people consider the dub to be better than the sub in this case.

It's mostly Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the role of Jiro, he's just... strangely emotionless at times. For a specific example of what I mean, there was a scene where he's running through the rain talking to Honjo where he jumps a bit and says "Airplanes are fascinating." in a strange almost monotone voice when the actual animated character is clearly very excited. It made me laugh out loud in the theater. The character is animated like he's just kind of curious, but in the dub he almost sounds autistic.

I saw Frozen. It was okay, pretty overrated story/writing wise, but the animation was really cool.

Spoiler

The first 2/3 are great, good songs, likable characters, nice simple story, everything that's good about disney movies. The climax has some pretty terrible motivations to get everyone in the same place; I don't even know how everyone got there. And hans was a terrible villain, he was funny comic relief at the beginning and he had a great song but the second he turned evil he stopped being entertaining.

I still think it's pretty good, and could be the second golden age of disney movies like in the early 90's even though Princess and the Frog is the best disney movie of all time anyway.

 

[SanoBaron]

I'm a big huge nerds about Totoro and EVERYTHING by Mamoru Hosoda.
Seriously, Hosoda is the next Miyazaki.

 

[Skullmageddon]

It's mostly Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the role of Jiro, he's just... strangely emotionless at times. For a specific example of what I mean, there was a scene where he's running through the rain talking to Honjo where he jumps a bit and says "Airplanes are fascinating." in a strange almost monotone voice when the actual animated character is clearly very excited. It made me laugh out loud in the theater. The character is animated like he's just kind of curious, but in the dub he almost sounds autistic.

Jiro definitely has some lines here and there that don't quite seem to reflect the way his character is animated, but overall I thought the voices were handled well. It's with intent that Jiro is somewhat awkward and naive which is why I felt that the seemingly awkward moments were fitting of his character rather than misinterpretations of his emotions. That's why I'm curious to hear his voice in Japanese so I can compare, especially considering they purposefully cast an inexperienced voice actor to make his voice more "genuine" to his character.