The virtues and flaws of animated films you like or dislike.

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destinbury

New member
I thought that since they did one on anime, it would be fun to analyze animated features the same fashion.

With that said, Quest For Camelot

Likes - The animation is real fluid and the celtic designs are authentic. I like the concept of a villain mixing his cronies w/ weapons to make a mechanical army. The Prayer and I Stand Alone are the only good songs.

Dislikes - The story is cliched, it tries too hard to be like a disney film, but fails. The comic relief characters are unfunny, and of course, nothing is ever explained (The enchanted forest doesnt count;)).

Its not the worst animated film ive seen, but i think it would have been better if it were less of a disney knockoff and more of a serious epic.

Coraline

Likes: The animation is just AWESOME!! Stop-motion is my second favorite medium next to hand-drawn animation thus, this film seems to be a love letter to the medium. I love how they took risks into making a scary movie for kids, it even scared me at times and im 19! The characters were memorable and the music is cool and creepy.

Dislikes: Not much, except the ending was a tad rushed and i kinda wished the other mother had longer hair like in the book, but i guess it wouldve been too hard to animate.

The Little Mermaid

Likes: The songs were catchy and memorable, the characters were endearing, the story was well told, and ariel has got to be one of the hottest animated characters out there ;).

Dislikes: As much as i like this movie, i cant help but wonder if they had told the story the way Hans Christian Anderson did. It wouldve been depressing as heck, but i guess they wanted to play it safe w/ the usual happy ending. Another beef i have is they never elaborated on the the underwater kingdom, even though ariel should be the focus of the story.

How about you?
 
Horton Hears a Who! (Recent film)
LIKES: The animation was beautiful, some of the most expression and cartoony animation I've seen. Could easily rival against Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs in terms of cartoony and I personally think beats the heck out of anything Pixar has done in terms of artistic appeal.

I suppose it's because they already have good designs to work with (Dr. Seuss), but I also feel the same way about Cloudy so I may just be biased against the types of animation since I much prefer loose and cartoony.

But yeah, artistically, this film captured everything gorgeous about Dr. Seuss work. The soundtrack fit in really well and is amazing to listen to by itself.

DISLIKES: The writing and voice acting. The only reason I accepted the voices in the film is because I adapted to it after watching the film many times, but if I were to think about it now, none of the voices actually fit the characters, or even the atmosphere of movie. I can't really tell if I liked Carol Burnett as the Kangaroo or if I just adapted to her as well.

Horton's personality was drastically changed to a character who could have been sweet and funny to just goofy and funny, as if they were trying to make the next Robin Willams' Genie or something. While the film had it's funny moments (That cone of silence during the Who Meeting), most of them were in Whoville and none of them were in the Jungle of Neul, which made watching that sequence of the movie, as well as the main character who resides there, either too boring to watch or trying to hard to be silly.
 
Corpse Bride

Likes: The animation is really gorgeous, the characters are fleshed out, it has that distinct gothic style tim burton is known for, the music gives it a creepy victorian atmosphere, and there were alot of really funny moments ("Theres an eye in me soup.")

Dislikes: It was too short for my taste, could use 10 more minutes for character depth, some of the songs were forgettable (its kind of like they were trying to make the next Nightmare Before Christmas).

Fantasia 2000

Likes: Each and everyone of the segments had a lot of effort put into them. The animations were dazzling, the musical accompanyments were fitting, my favorite segments were Rhapsody in Blue and the Firebird.

Dislikes: The celebrities introducing the segments were unnessesary at best. It really took away the artistc credibility that the first one had, as a result, it makes the film more commercial. I wouldve also added one or two more segments just to make it 2 hours long.

Cars

Likes: Mater was funny, and the cgi looked great especially in the desert scenes.

DIslikes: This is probably my least favorite pixar film for a couple of reasons. It was too long, some of the characters were boring, i think its due to the fact that its about talking cars and its just not that original. Its not a bad movie, but ive seen better from the company and i hope Cars 2 turns out good.
 
I would pick Eight Crazy Nights as my first choice. While I do enjoy it for what it is- an Adam Sandler holiday musical - I really think that it shouldn't have used so much toilet humor. It's just...jarring, honestly. Seeing deer lick an old man frozen in a crapsicle in the same movie where an emotionally repressed man is trying to redeem himself just doesn't flow.

I second Quest for Camelot for reasons already stated.

Robots would be my third choice. True, the
animation in the movie was freaking GORGEOUS, but the voice acting and writing were just kind of meh. I think some of the cast on it wanted a nice paycheck is all. I'll give it credit for having an actually pretty funny fart joke and some of the ways we see robot society live in were clever.

Sent from my iPod touch using rabroad
 
Had to comment on this. I pretty much concur on your comments, though I don't really see how it tries to be a Disney film, but ok. However, I liked most of the music so much, I just had to get the soundtrack. I'd add both On My Father's Wings and Looking Through Your Eyes as excellent songs, though the version during the film isn't quite as good as the one heard during the ending credits.

As to the topic, I tend to forgive most shortcomings of animated films unless they're glaring. The one film that jumped into my mind regarding this topic is Anastasia.

LIKES - Stellar animation and excellent voice casting and acting just made the characters more vibrant than any film I've seen until the recent Tangled. The score is wonderful and most of the songs are just outstanding.

DISLIKES - Though the characters of Rasputin and Bartok are rather forgettable (as are any muscial numbers they perform), my real gripe with the film is just how inaccurate it is given the real history it's taken from. I wish it could have been more faithful to history--it might have been take more seriously.
 
Lets see...

1.) A girl who sings about wanting more. Check.
2.) A villain who uses maic to ruin peoples lives, with a song. Check.
3. Comic relief characters voiced by celebrities that make modern day references. Check.
4.) Most of the character designs look like beauty and the beast.
 
I'll try my hand at one of these. Someone had to do this one...Space Jam.


Likes:Well, one thing I noticed having rewatched this film a while ago was in the audience during the basketball game, you can see several one-shot or secondary Looney Tunes characters in attendance (Like the Dover Boys, but I couldn't see if Dan Backslide was with them). Also, despite the fact this film is heavily panned by other WB fans, I like the fact they do try to incorporate a little fresh blood into the franchise, yet keep some classic slapstick for good measure. It just works for me (Dodges tomatoes aimed at his general direction).

Plus the animation is great, I don't care what anyone says. Even if people said the movie is flawed in more areas than one, you can't deny the aesthetics are top notch, as they should be.

One must also take into account this film was based off a series of ads featuring Jordan and Bugs. A film based off a promotion for shoes turns out to be a decent flick? Pinch me, I must be dreaming.

Dislikes: This is the fun part. I can go on all day about how much Michael Jordan is a Marty Stu in this flick, being the only basketball player to not get his ability to play removed (That'd be a pretty interesting plot point, even if it is predictable). Speaking of Mary Sue, Lola is very much an example, in my eyes. I have no qualms with her design, but she was just a one-dimensional character, having the best basketball ability of the Toon Squad (Second to Jordan).

Also, getting back to the promotion aspect, I wish this film, despite its flaws with characters, did get a little more positive feedback, rather than the "Looney Tunes are ruined FOREVER!!!" rhetoric I hear from close friends. I have no problem with slightly reinventing the format to be a little fresher, though it's not always for the better (If Sesame Street is any indication). Even Back in Action wasn't the animated Antichrist it was perceived to be.

Long story short, it's far from a masterpiece, but leaps and bounds from the worst.
 
Rocket Power is okay, so I don't like or dislike it persay.

But it does have some up and downs

Dislikes (I'm going to get out of the way)- Otto could be pretty obnoxius at times, and downright unlikable.

Plus the attempts at coolness were unsuccessful.

Likes- The nerd character (Sammy) was part of the four friends rather than being an uncool outcast.

Reggie was a refreshing change from most tomboy characters. Such as not acting overly macho or putting on a macho act. Or in the case of Spinelli from Recess, she wasn't ashamed of being a girl.
 
I used to adore that show as a kid, but in retrospect, they were trying too hard.

That said, I echo this sentiment, especially Otto's obnoxiousness. Plus I doubt half of the lingo they had were used by real skateboarders. (Like Beef, for instance)
 
Ok, this thread is only dedicated to animated movies rather than shows, so try not to diverge from the quota.

And heeeeerrrrrrrreees another one!

Thumbelina

Likes: The animation and art design are pretty. The score is nice even though most of the songs are mediocre (ill get to that soon).

Dislikes: Most of the characters are forgettable. Thumbelina is hard to sympathise cuz shes such a whiny idiot who always needs rescuing. The story couldve been finished if she would just FLY ON THE BIRD instead of DRAGGING THE LILY PAD! Plus, the songs range from okay (let me be your wings) to annoying (Thumbelina) to just plain awful (Marry the Mole).

Probably my least favorite Don Bluth movie next to Troll in Central Park and Pebble and the Penguin.
 
Sorry about that. I missed the film part of the title. Won't happen again.

Ok, as a peace offering, Batman The Mystery of The Batwoman.

Dislike- While this isn't as big a turnoff to me as it is to others, it would have been nice to have something more than something that would have passed as a two parter.

Likes: Aside from the voice change, it does keep the characters recognizable.

Plus it has the twist of Batwoman being three individuals who take turns, rather than simply having it be one suspect. And I missed the apparent commercial giving the spoiler's so I was surprised.
 
OK, the first two points are valid, but only if you only consider the formulaic musicals they made in the 90s. Point 3 has been done and redone so often, it doesn't really feel like a Disney vehicle. They really didn't do it until Aladdin (Robin Williams as the Genie), but it was done by Williams earlier in Ferngully: The Last Rainforest. As for your last point, I don't see a huge similiarity in facial or physical designs in the main characters myself:

Belle-and-the-Beast-beauty-and-the-beast-6382245-300-413.jpg


still_l_14.jpg
 
I'm going to go with Cars, which actually is rank 7 on my list of favorite Pixar films.


Pros:

- I thought the voice cast was pretty cool. It's actually one of the few things that makes me enjoy listening to Larry the Cable Guy's voice, since he does fit Mater's character so well. I would say Owen Wilson as well, but I kind of like the guy.

- Loved the nice details they did with Route 66, along with the various car models.


Cons:

- While I do enjoy the plot of it, it's plot is basically a copy/pasta of a Michael J. Fox Film, Doc Hollywood, or at least the parts where Michael's characters has to fix a mess he made, falls in love with one of the villagers, and learns about small town values.

- The plot is also kind of cliched in that regard as well. Stuck up jerk thinks about winning a big event, then learns that there's more to life than winning.
 
Anastasia

Dislikes: The story is a bit cliched(its a tweaked real life adaptation), but fox got the job done.

Likes: The animation was AMAZING.....

So crisp and fluid. Can't say the same for Titan A.E.
 
Secret of Kells

Likes: I love Celtic stuff, I thought the animation style was great. The story was very unique.

Dislikes: It was a little bit anti-climactic, and the ending was a little unsatisfactory.


Titan AE: I have never understood why this movie got such a bad rep. I thought the story was great. All the sci-fi aspects were awesome and well imagined. Not all the characters were that great (like the main character) but some of them were excellent like Preed and Korso.

dislikes: Creed or whatever other horrible contemporary bands they got to do the soundtrack. (bad soundtrack)

The last line: "I think I'll name it planet Bob" STUPID!!
 
Ok let me try this.

The movie:
Cats Don't Dance

Likes- the music, dancing and the animation, humor of the characters and the parodies to actual films.

Dislikes- cliched from rags to riches story and romance, portrayal of Darla Dimple, should have picked somebody else to bully those actors.
 
Movie: Lucario and the Mystery of Mew.

While it is an anime movie, I thought that it was more appropriate for this thread than the one dealing with anime in general in the Anime boards.

Pros:

I thought Lucario in general was awesome. I loved the way he developed from feeling betrayed by Sir Aaron and fighting with Ash to genuinely caring about Ash, as seen when he came back to life and pushing him away so he could give the rest of his aura to Mew, and calling Aaron his friend before joining him again. The epilogue during the credits was especially touching as well and always makes me cry. It was because of this Lucario, and this movie in general, that Lucario became my favorite Pokemon.

The artwork for the scenery, especially the Tree of Beginning, was just so beautiful. Most of the movies tend to have nicely done backgrounds, and this was no exceptions.

The bond between Ash and Pikachu was really touching as we saw Ash putting so much effort into finding it and was worried about it. I also liked how all of the trainers, except for Jessie for some reason, called out their Pokemon before they were swallowed up in the Tree of Beginning in order to save them. It showed how much they cared about their teams.

I thought that the voice acting was really good, especially the emotional scenes for Ash. It just worked well and the original cast did a terrific job.

Cons:

I thought that the Sir Aaron subplot was kind of forgotten once they entered the Tree of Beginning. Granted, they had to avoid the Regis, were searching for Pikachu and leaving that alone for so long probably made the discovery at the end more surprising, but I always thought it was kind of weird and sudden to focus less on the Sir Aaron bit, at least from Lucario's perspective, until near the end of the movie.

May, Brock and Max honestly could have done a bit more as I could have seen at least May and Brock enter the tournament at the beginning. Ash would have won at the end anyway in order to release Lucario, but it would have been nice to see them be a bit more active. Although, to be fair, that tends to happen in most of the Pokemon movies anyway.

Overall: I thought it was an excellent movie and it's still by far my favorite Pokemon movie.

Batman Under the Red Hood

Pros:

I thought that action scenes, especially in the later half of the movie, were nicely done. The animation was pretty good and most of those fight capture the harsh and cold fighting style of the Red Hood.

They made a pretty good use of flashbacks to Jason Todd as Robin throughout most of the movie. It showed how Batman is still haunted by memories of death, as he is with the image of his murdered parents, as well as his relationship with Jason in the past. Those said more than simply talking about their partnership could have in my opinion.

This version of Nightwing was pretty fun. While not used too often in the movie, it was nice to see kind of a happier version of this character who actually wanted to help out Batman as I didn't get that impression in most of his appearances in The New Batman Animated Adventures. It would have been nice to see more of him in the movie.

The last confrontation between Batman and Jason/Red Hood was emotionally intense. We saw more of a reason why Jason became the Red Hood and why Batman couldn't violate his moral code to avenge Jason's death. It was touching, in some sense, and the movie had a decent amount of build-up leading up to this confrontation.

Cons:

I thought it took a bit too long for Batman to figure out it was Jason. Maybe it was because I had already heard about the character's backstory before watching the movie, but he could have found out some more clues about Red Hood's behavior and actions towards him to put the pieces together earlier.

I didn't really quite understood how Jason went from screaming in a mountain area to taking over crime rings in Gotham. Granted, a lot of things could have happened to him in that time gap to lead him down that road and I would have liked to seen exactly what, or at least get some kind of hints as to what happened to him so it would feel less sudden.

Batman not noticing that the body was fake was a pretty weak explanation. I can understand that his grief could blind him from checking on the body when he got home, but it seemed pretty weird that he wouldn't notice given his status as the greatest detective.

The ending felt anticlimactic. There wasn't any conclusion for the relationship between Batman and Jason after all of that emotional torture for the both of them. It just ends with a bitter sweet flashback.

Overall: Even with its flaws, it was a relatively enjoyable movie. I think it would be at least worth renting.
 
The Simpsons Movie

Pros: The animation and art is fun to look at. I love how they took advantage of the cinemascope styled widescreen. The character arcs w/ Homer was very believable and u really feel the emotion the rest of the family goes through. The jokes were funny and the story was well told.

Cons: The film is not w/out its flaws though. There were some deleted material ive heard about that couldve made the movie alot more interesting. I also wish they furthered more on Lisa's relationship w/ the irish kid in the series.

Overall, for a how thats been on for more than a decade, it made a great theatrical outing. It may be a while b4 another comes out, but i hope they push for something greater.

The Thief and the Cobbler (recobbled cut)

Pros: What can i say? This movie is a feast for the eyes. The art style is breathtaking, the animation is fluid and even more amazing than what disney and computers can do. The characters were interesting, from the rhyming wizard zigzag to the looney tunes-esque thief keep the viewer fascinated. My favorite scenes were the hallway chase scene, the war machine destruction, and the golden idol. The use of the music 'Sheherezade' gives the film an epic feel, as well as the cinemascope.

Cons: Some scenes tend to drag on, especially the thief scenes (even though theyre fun to watch). I also would like to see more of the brigands do stuff outside of being cowards (THAT DOESNT INCLUDE SINGING!!).

This is truly an unsung masterpiece. Too bad it turned into something that has about as much merit as a direct-to-video knockoff at Dollar General. Hopefuly, someone at disney would bring this to life and finish it the way Richard Williams intended.
 
Agreed. Cars is probably the most generic Pixar film, and if it wasn't for the excellent execution, it probably wouldn't have ranked very high in my mind. But the art, voice acting, dialogue, and the touching payoff at the end elevated above being "just an average CGI flick." But then, I shouldn't be suprised, as those are things that Pixar has always been known for. :sweat:
 
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