1 point - Bambi (1942)
*boom*
*reload*
2 points - The Simpsons Movie (2007) - Seems unfair, but this most certainly scores higher without the television series' existence. The characters are great, the humor is on point, you know the drill. This felt like older Simpsons too, the good years. And the animation is very clean, quite appealing. But expectations have been set and this winds up feeling like an extra long episode of the tv show.
3 points - Zootopia (2016) - Ruh roh, talking animals. But they're in the city and acting like humans! Mhm. This is a fine and very fun movie, with a good message about ableness, but it does not touch greatness.
4 points - Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988) - The world needs less of the alliterative companions to broomsticks and more of the alliterative clients of Eddie Valiant. The story is a straightforward one, but is executed so very well. I really enjoy the simple things the artists are able to convey... like by just how much Roger Rabbit outkicked his coverage. I think the moment this film becomes great is pretty late in: Valiant, finally learning the real culprit of his brother's murder, reconnects with the Toon world and uses the powers of animation to his advantage (a scene that no doubt inspired the similar epiphany by MJ in Space Jam). It's a bit of a cliche, sure, but 1940s Hollywood was a bit of a cliche on the whole; it fits.
5 points - Ratatouille (2007) - Really stunning animation work here. Were I judging on technical merits alone, I think this scores some very high marks; the way the ingredients used by Remy and Linguini are presented on screen is mesmerizing, especially when paired with such an excellent score. This is a freaking tough cut to only be receiving 5 points, but lines have to be drawn somewhere, and I'm drawing them at the fact this is the first time I ever fell asleep in the movie theater. I have since given myself chances to rewatch this beauty and am happy I did so. Greatness is achieved when Remy and Linguini are working in the kitchen.
6 points - The Iron Giant (1999) - Brad Bird's second entry here, this being his directorial debut. A great piece of western illustration and animation, in many ways touching upon a lot of what I admire so much about the greatest Japanese works (more on those later). The story is a good one too: it's not often you'll find such a critique on the American military-industrial complex. There is greatness in making us care about a giant robot all the while evoking a fear of something so large and powerful in an expert study on scale and perspective.
7 points - Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) - Slick animation, above average plot, and does the Spider-Man franchise a world of justice. This movie might start a change in animation subject matter, but it may also be a lone beacon. A definite contributing factor to holding the points down here is recency. Does it stand the test of time? Will it create a legacy (more on that later)? Do another timdraft in, say, just 5 years and the value could appreciate by several points.
8 points - The Incredibles (2004) - This movie has style in spades. I love the character models, especially Mr. Incredible. Great music. It lacks on the worldbuilding, but by my estimation is the second or third easiest rewatch of this bunch.
Wow, I am just burnt out it seems. Was trying to get into this again but words escape me. Let me give a few thoughts before I reveal the rest of the judging, along with a couple of comments with each selection.
Animation as a medium has come a long way. I think Studio Ghibli, especially Hayao Miyazaki, are the standard bearers. The studio's works are largely hand-drawn with minimal computer input; that's a large reason why the company is on a hiatus (set to resume with a 2021 release, while Miyazaki himself is slated for a new release in 2023) - it's expensive to make a movie this way. Broadening beyond Ghibli, Japan's highest tier just does it better than the west's highest tier (there is
plenty of mediocre work to go around between the two). The subject matter is more complex, the worldbuilding is deeper and I get a sense of art from the works as opposed to most western animation. Judging is a subjective thing, and those are my views based on my hours of consumption of the product.
9 points -
My Neighbor Totoro (1988) - mixes Japan's rich animism tradition with a story of two girls dealing with the potential death of their mother (oh yeah, western animation has themes like these
all the time), all the while being an uplifting piece of whimsy and fantasy. Beautiful watercolors throughout, and Totoro has become a lasting character within Japanese pop culture.
10 points -
Pinocchio (1940) - big legacy points here, being the first animated film to win competitive categories from the Academy. I also find it to be the boldest of Disney's original fairytale feature-length films
11 points -
Princess Mononoke (1997) - Miyazaki's epic. Was the first animated feature to win Japan's national film award. Where
Pinocchio was bold by Disney's standard,
Princess Mononoke is bold. Period. A warrior princess fighting against the destruction of nature. When I said epic, I meant it. Absolutely staggering landscape art.
12 points -
Akira (1988) - the west's gateway into Japanese culture; was a smashing box office success. A 100% hand-drawn masterwork in science fiction. It borrowed on a few tropes developed in western sci-fi along with creating a few of its own that have been found throughout different media that came after (including a Kanye West music video lol). Its ranking is boosted by the aforementioned cultural impact of the film; I suggest doing some light reading on it, very fascinating.
13 points -
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) - the one that started it all. Disney's first feature film, venturing out from the world of musical shorts. I don't think it's a particularly engaging rewatch, but it's hard to deny the importance, and therein greatness, of this film. "Heigh Ho!" is a classic and the red apple is an unmistakable icon.
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Top 3 time. #3 is probably a surprise, but I 100% stand by it.
14 points -
Shrek (2001) - This might just be my pick for the most rewatchable film
in the entire draft. I can already hear sighs of desperation by some of you dear readers, but really I think this movie is worthy. Nearing its twentieth anniversary, in my opinion
Shrek will prove to be a timeless classic so long as movies are a thing. Was a big deal, too, for a studio like Dreamworks to have the audacity to take the fight to Disney, and they didn't pull any punches! This is the anti-Disney fairytale satire that had been needed for decades. I also find the design and animation style to be far less plastic than the average Pixar flick (imo that studio started with toys and most of their following characters, no matter their subject matter, still look like toys), which gets big points in my book. Plus, the opening sequence is "All Star" by Smashmouth, what an excellent meme.
15 points -
Spirited Away (2001) - Miyazaki's masterpiece. I'll just requote my selection write-up, from way back in Round 2: "Miyazaki has the uncanny ability to thrust the mundane into the fantastical, and vice versa. We meet Chihiro, a young girl who is moving across the country. She lacks confidence, does not know what it means to be responsible, and relies heavily on her parents for everything in life. She's young, this is par for the course. Crossing over into the spirit world, she takes up employment at a bathhouse for spirits in the most visually stunning animated film of all time, by my reckoning. The stills from this film range from jaw-dropping gorgeous, to absurdly mystifying, to it all revolving around a young girl learning how to take control of her life."
16 points -
Toy Story (1995) - When I took my selection in Round 2, I had decided there was one movie that I felt would be OK scoring higher than it. This is it. What Pixar was able to do with computer generated art is legendary. As a nine-year old, the cinematic experience for
Toy Story was an overwhelming sensation of
W O N D E R
and that particular sensation has not been recreated to the same level for me in a theater. Then again, I am no longer the same age as Andy, sitting in my reclined chair watching what Andy's toys were up to while simultaneously wondering now what
MY toys were up to. The world built by Pixar was believable then and believable now, a striking homage to our childhood and our imagination run wild.