The Clone Wars

[Malchik]

Cliffs Notes version:

Malchik: No good animation happened after the 80's.
Watson: Yes there was, here are some examples.
Malchik: There were bad ones too, so please ignore how ignorantly sweeping my first statement was and concede that I'm right.

Wow you summed up my thoughts entirely. It's like shinning or something.

[Rob-Bert]

I wouldn't say worse, but they're less "Bad in a cheesey we hired celebrities to play wise-cracking animals", and more cheesey in a saccharine, sentimental, childish way. I'd say it's equally bad, but bad of a different breed.

If I had to make a choice, the second one would be my preferred flavor of cheese.

[Locit]

Down to 18% now...

Robin Williams as the Genie pretty much ruined animated films by introducing anachronistic pop culture references. It worked really well once, but its ultimate consequences were films with nothing but pop culture jokes, like the second two Shrek films.

[Arcade]

Too bad it still has a 19% fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.

Hahaha, DAMN.

I wiill rent the DVD in a few years, and watch it alter drinking a lot of booze… and maybe some pills...

Of course, it will be a lot better if I invite some friends so we can make fun of the movie...

[Shadow Hog]

Anastasia was pretty good, or at least I remember it being such. The saccharine humor was present, yes, but I remember it all taking itself more seriously than some of his earlier attempts (or at least as seriously as a film about a long lost princess with amnesia seeking her fortune with a handsome stranger and cutesy animals, with a Russian zombie voiced by Christopher Lloyd on her tail, can possibly be), and the film as a whole working much better as a result.

Titan A.E.... the trailer scared the shit out of me, so I never bothered to see that one. I kind of wish I really knew WHY, but explosions of planetary proportions never sat well with me, ruining my appreciation of media I know I'd otherwise love (like Hitchhiker's Guide - actually, I think it's the TV series of that that instilled this idiosyncrasy of mine in the first place, so). I've heard it was pretty decent, though; although, it has the unusual situation of being simultaneously too adult (blowing Earth up is pretty much Nightmare Fuel for the young'uns) and too immature (it IS Don Bluth we're talking about) for pretty much anyone, leaving it with... who, exactly, as a target audience? No wonder I haven't heard from Mr. Bluth since he made this one.

[Isuka]

I watched NIMH again not so long ago, it was just as amazing as I remembered it and then some. Maybe the climax scene was cheesy or not well planned enough, but that's about the only criticism I can honestly throw at it without awing at its greatness.

I enjoyed An American Tail and borderline hated TLBT (maybe having Bluth, Lucas and Spielberg into a single movie wasn't as good of an idea, but it sure worked wonders on both box office and direct-to-TV market). Anastasia was... OK.
Thinking that Titan A.E. was somehow "too much" for kids of this age and time is underestimating them.

[Cuckooguy]

I never watched Titan A.E., but Anastasia sucked because it tried stupidly hard to follow the Disney formula so every time there was something Disney-ish it felt forced. It's like they had a checklist of Disney stereotypes they had to adhere to. Musicals? Check. Animal sidekick? Check. Love story? Check. Magical villain? Check. The musicals weren't even particularly good and weren't executed well at all, save for Once Upon a December, the film's only good song. I recall near the beginning of the film the whole frickin' city was singing about the possibility of the survival of the royal family's last daughter, and it felt like a musical just for the sake of having a musical; they did very little to move forward the plot of make the audience feel a certain way. I remember I had similar feelings when the villain sang his (unintentionally hilarious) song. Also, Bartok (Anastasia's answer to Iago) felt shoved in and took the spotlight at the most annoying times (especially at the end, what the hell was up with that?).

[Cuckooguy]

You know I notice I complain a lot so I'm going to praise something for a change.

Beauty and the Beast is probably the finest film that the Disney studios has ever produced. The pacing is just right and there's a rhyme and reason for every song (except maybe Gaston, I'm not sure if I like that song or not). Bonjour took what could've been a boring introduction to the town to an entertaining 5 minutes that already makes us feel like we've known everybody in the town and how their mind works and what kind of people they are. The songs are entertaining and oh why is it so difficult to come up with points to praise something? It's so much easier to complain about stuff... like how did the Mob know where the castle is... but then again if the story somehow included changes to explain things like that, the pacing may have been ruined. I guess it's easier to complain about stuff because we take the things we praise for granted- you could say the less an audience notices something, then it shows that the creators only succeeded what they sought out to do.

[Ritz]

The musicals weren't even particularly good and weren't executed well at all, save for Once Upon a December, the film's only good song. I recall near the beginning of the film the whole frickin' city was singing about the possibility of the survival of the royal family's last daughter, and it felt like a musical just for the sake of having a musical; they did very little to move forward the plot of make the audience feel a certain way. I remember I had similar feelings when the villain sang his (unintentionally hilarious) song.

Rasputin's song was the greatest musical in the history of animated film musicals.

Also, I loved both NIMH and Titan A.E, so Bluth is clearly an awesome guy. Man, what's wrong with you people? I'm going to print out this entire thread and cram each copy straight up my asshole. That'll set things straight.

[gr4yJ4Y]

I'm sure it will accomplish a lot.

[DackAttac]

Nothing like the smell of rectal paper cuts in the morning.

[RocketPunch]

it felt like a musical just for the sake of having a musical

That's how ALL musicals feel to me.

I saw Titan A.E. and thought it was alright. I kept waiting for it to become as epic as I imagined it from seeing the trailer, but that never happened unfortunately. Either way, I enjoyed it enough to have it on whenever I was drawing or something.

[G.Silver]

Anestasia was ruined for me by the way they drew mouths on the main male character. I saw it again recently and I liked it better this time around, but the way they draw the mouths really irritates me for some reason. I pointed it out to a friend who, up to that point, was enjoying things a lot but once he was able to see it too it bothered him every time that guy was on screen.

[Zeta]

I actually know exactly what you're talking about, G.Silver. The main male character's mouth movements looked weird to me too. Ditto in Titan AE, but to a lesser extent.

[Locit]

I pointed it out to a friend who, up to that point, was enjoying things a lot but once he was able to see it too it bothered him every time that guy was on screen.

Augh, now I see it too!

Augh!

[Segaholic2]

What are you talking about? Someone post a screenshot.

[j-man]

To me, they always looked a little sluggish and hollow, like they're smacking their lips with cheeks full of cotton in slow motion. It's difficult to describe, but it's noticeable.

And I thought Titan A.E. was pretty good. Guarantee half the people that haven't seen it or don't like it, do so because the internet told them in was rubbish. It's no Dark Knight, but it's extremely watchable and has some good set pieces and shit.

[Zeta]

Yeah, it's like they're trying to talk and eat peanut butter at the same time, with their lips flapping and their jaw pumping up and down in an over-emphasized way.

[Shadow Hog]

At least there are still a few good short animations out there. Like the ones Valve has been making. "Meet the Sandvich" was just awesome.

[Arcade]

The first 20 minutes or so of Wall- E where good, then it all went wrong, that's what happens whet you try to turn a short story into a 90 minutes selling junk.

[Tsuyoshi-kun]

I don't think I could disagree with the above statement any more if I tried.

The 90's were a lot nicer to animated films than the 1970s and 80s combined (though The Little Mermaid, The Secret of NIMH, Watership Down, and a few others here and there were pretty good). Disney in particular had a nearly perfect track record of animated films in the 1990's, as long as you can ignore Pocahontas and maybe The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Even A Goofy Movie turned out pretty decent, considering what it was (a follow-up to the mediocre Goof Troop TV series).

I've never been a fan of Don Bluth, but everything else he's ever done looks like gold compared to Rock-a-Doodle and All Dogs Go To Heaven. Titan A.E. bored the hell out of me.

[Ritz]

Even A Goofy Movie turned out pretty decent, considering what it was (a follow-up to the mediocre Goof Troop TV series).

Coincidentally, I caught this movie two days ago while surfing channels (A truly serendipitous occurence, since I practically never watch TV)- it was about 2/3 of the way through when I did, mind, but seeing as how it had been well over a decade since I last saw the film, it compelled me to watch the whole thing from the beginning, so I downloaded it. I loved it. So much so, in fact, that I watched it again this morning, and I never watch films twice. I'll probably watch it again tommorow. I loved it, and it would be astoundingly difficult for me to explain why! I'm fairly certain it's my favorite film of all time now.

Immediately after watching it the first time, I went and downloaded the SNES game, and I loved that, too. Now I'm watching the actual series, as I never gave it much attention back when it was actually still on the air. What... What's wrong with me?

[G.Silver]

I really liked Goof Troop back when it was on the air, though I have no idea what I'd think of it now. The thing that surprised me about A Goofy Movie is that it was really good and has almost nothing to do with Goof Troop. Even the "Max" character is completely different!

[Cuckooguy]

A Goofy Movie is the only film where I actually like Goofy. Whenever I watch a Goofy short I always find him extremely predictable and boring, but in A Goofy Movie I think being a foil to Max is the best thing that's ever happened to him. It's not the kind of thing that's entertaining more than once though so after that stories portraying their relationship were kind of boring.

[Rob-Bert]

I liked Goof Troop, but nowhere near as much as any of the other Disney Afternoon shows. On the flip side, A Goofy Movie is actually one of my favorite animated films of all time.