So are animated films becoming more appreciated?

J

joey.caneva

New member
Well, appreciated may not be the right word, but it seems like there's a lot of non-Pixar/Dreamworks animated films that do very well at the box office, most of them have been through word of mouth.

Awhile back, most animated films that weren't Pixar or Shrek (I say only Shrek and not just Dreamworks because it seems like they didn't really get their footing until Kung Fu Panda) seemed to bomb or just fade away, if any even came out at all. Now it seems like every time there's a new animated film, it's widely accepted. Like the following:

- Horton Hears a Who! (2008)
- Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009)
- Despicable Me (2010)
- Rango (2011)

And yes, even Gnomeo and Juliet (2011) has been a box office success. A decade ago, making $100 mil would have made studios overzealous, now animated films are booking in $200+ mil with no problem at the box office.

So what's with the sudden change? Have people become more accepting of animated films as a movie rather than just something for children? I know there are people who would like to credit Pixar as thanks for making animated films more widestream, but the successful films I listed above were enjoyable comedies (Except for maybe Rango? I have no idea what to classify that as), so you can't very well say that the same audience watching recent Pixar films is looking at Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.

Is the market just becoming stale that all people wait for now-a-days are animated films, comic book movies, and blockbuster sequels? Is animation becoming more popular as a major or interest or what?
 
Well, I personally think that's true. Even my friends, who are also 16 or older, that don't necessarilly love animation will go see animated movies, no qualms, no excuses, just go and watch like any other movie. Now adays it seems that children love cartoons until they reach about the seventh or eighth grade, pretend cartoons are too old for them so they can be cool, then they like them again by around their junior or senior year again.

One thing also worth considering is that movie going in general is up. But there haven't been any live action movies lately, sans HP 7, that have been anywhere near as successful as the animated movies. So who knows where it's going.

I like where this phenomenon is going regardless.
 
I think it might be because of Pixar and Dreamworks more adults and teens who are not animation fans are going to see animated movies.

Also remember ticket prices have inflated. Ten years ago Gnomeo and Juliet would have been comparable to Jimmy Neutron or Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron as far as how big of a hit it was.
 
I think so. The success of Rango and Despicable Me is massively encouraging; it's a great thing to see good work coming out and getting rewarded that isn't from Pixar or Dreamworks. On the down side, we still have a very, very long way to go when it comes to getting non-U.S. stuff into theaters. I was fortunate to find places screening The Illusionist and Summer Wars prior the home video release for either, and the former was nominated for an Oscar.
 
Well I think that Cgi animation and stop motion has definitely broken the mold and become appreciated by the mainstream as real films, but what about 2D films? From what I've seen, they haven't broken the mold yet.
 
Yeah, also remember the number of 2D animated films in the last decade, plus the shocking drop in quality by the end of the nineties.


Who Framed Roger Rabbit was one of the highest grossing movies of all time when it came out.
 
Most likely due to the CGI boom of the early 00's (looking at you, Shrek and Ice Age), where the mentality seemed to be “CGI is inherently better than traditional” - which I think is total crap, the method in which your film is animated in doesn't matter, it's the actual story.
 
Very true. Whatever happened to Walt's, "story is King" mantra got lost in someone's sock drawer during the early 00's. I find with almost all of Disney's traditionally animated films of that decade a person can plot the downward trend of weaking storylines. Sure, there was the occasional outlier, (Lilo and Stitch, The Emperor's New Groove, and Tarzan IMO were strong story-wise) but I feel the weaker outings (Atlantis, Treasure Planet, and Home on the Range) all the more motivated Disney to partner with Pixar and champion the company's CGI.

But, back on topic: I don't think medium matters all that much any more. People have seen from animated masterpieces like The Lion King and Spirited Away (the list continues to grow) that an intelligent story with action and excitement can be told from behind animated faces as well as those in live-action, perhaps to even greater effect.
 
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