Welcome to Part 3: Now I'm getting out of the Disney/Pixar camp and heading out towards all of the other wonderful bits of animation. Back in the day Walt might have been "it", but more and more studios are showing what they've got!
Dark, dystopian, quiet and tense. Definitely not for small children. The lessons about identity, freedom, and family are on display. There are some sweet parts, a little bit of humor, a bit of violence, and a stacked voice cast including Elijah Wood, Christopher Plummer, Jennifer Connolly, and John C. Reilly, and that's just for starters.
And now for something a LOT lighter! This movie is so well done, so hilarious, and so very British. We laugh just as hard watching it as we did the first time...and the second time...etc. You will believe a chicken can fly...and has teeth.
It seemed like every year the church from my childhood played this for a family fun night, and I went every single time. It's a full-length Yogi Bear cartoon, with everything that implies. It has some fun music; the song "St. Louis" rarely leaves my head, even after 50+ years. Every time I watch it, I'm a child again, drinking delicious orange drink.
While I will admit that the second one is probably the better movie, my heart belongs to the original meeting of Hiccup and Toothless. The flying scenes are gorgeous and almost make you feel like you're flying with them. The characters are well introduced quickly; not a lot of needless exposition. Toothless reminds me of a cat I used to have...and, yes, I have a stuffed Toothless.
This movie means the world to me. I've collected unicorns for years - still do - and this is easily the best unicorn movie ever made, live action or animated. The incredible voice cast all take their jobs seriously; you can feel all of the emotions the characters are supposed to feel just from their voices. It also stays pretty close to the source material, using actual dialog from the book, almost word for word. I also took half of my pen name (for when I write poetry) from this.
I don't know about everything, but this movie certainly is awesome! What could have come across as a crass commercialization of a popular toy instead has humor, heart, action, and an important lesson about "being special". I'm not even bothered that one of my least favorite actors is in it.
Who knew that one of the best portrayals of Jesus would be from a claymation, stop-motion character? Yes, a liberty or two is taken to flesh out the story, but it's pretty scripturally sound. The attention to detail is amazing; crowd shots are done character by character. They also mix in a bit of hand-drawn animation for things like memories and dream sequences; I don't think that the healing of Mary Magdalene would have been as powerful with the stop-motion. A strong recommendation for Easter viewing for the whole family.
This movie takes a few more liberties with the Biblical story of Moses; however, the filmmakers consulted 300-600 religious scholars (Jewish, Christian, and Islamic), Egyptologists, and historians for historical and theological accuracy. The animation is gorgeous; the crossing of the Red Sea is something you'll never forget. The music - including the Academy Award-winning "When You Believe" - is practically Broadway worthy, and you won't get sick of hearing them.
I'm not a movie snob: I like what I like. I just happened to notice that this movie is the only one in this section that won the Academy Award for Best Animated Picture...and it deserved it. When they say that this is like a moving comic book, they're not kidding. There is also a number of different animation styles, usually within the same scenes! And the scene that the poster shows is probably one of my favorite animated sequences of all time.
As a child, I watched this almost every time it came on TV. Unfortunately, since I was usually the only one who wanted to, I'd have to watch it on my parents' bedroom black-and-white TV. I loved the story, the music, and the wacky characters from Glove to Jeremy Hillary Boob, PhD. When I finally got to see it in color, I was blown away! It's still fresh every time I watch it.
Honorable Mentions: Coraline, Heavy Metal, The Iron Giant.
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