Is there anyone here fans of animation?
I thought I would bring up the conversation of animation on here. Everyone likes animated films, well not everyone. So are there anyone on here that happen to like animation? I am a fan of some animation, mostly the wacky golden age animation.
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I love animation, or that is to say, I enjoy GOOD animation. I am fanatical about some to a degree other people never get to. I enjoy the early output and the history of the Walt Disney company, I know that Ub Iwerks essentially created Mickey Mouse and completely animated his first short on his own in a matter of days. I love the technology of classic animation and its advancement, including things like the MultiPlane Camera. I own a lot of 20s and 30s animation in particular in my collection, including the early applications of stop-motion animation by the likes of Ladislas Starevich(if you have Netflix, some of his shorts are under the Instant Queue under the title The Cameraman's Revenge and & Other Tales). The Walt Disney Treasures series, ESPECIALLY my Oswald the Lucky Rabbit set(the character is better known to many as "that other guy in Epic Mickey" -_-;;) are indispensable, well, treasures. More recently, but not TOO recently, Japanese animation was really good, as well. Kamui no Ken is probably one of the best-animated films I've ever seen, and the distinct cultural flair of Japanese animation and the sheer narrative quality that comes from shows that are actually aimed at adults(such things do exist, and no I am not referring to One Piece, Death Note, or Naruto) is simply fantastic. I'm of course horrendously inadequate when it comes to knowledge of animation though, especially outside of those two countries. Outside of American and Japanese animation, I only really extensively know about Soviet propaganda animation, so there's definitely a lot left for me to watch and study before I can say I really know anything about the medium.
On the other hand, if you're asking if I enjoy modern animated shows or films, Pixar, or any era's Saturday Morning flair? Hell no, with the odd exception(Batman: The Animated Series, Gargoyles with a couple caveats, etc) that proves the rule.
What a wonderful way to initiate the poor, defenseless students who were expecting some Disney stuff immediately!
I'm a huge fan of Disney, Pixar, Aardman Animations, Don Bluth, Chuck Jones, and Max Fleischer. I enjoy television animation too. I love the DC Animated Universe (Batman: The Animated Series to Justice League Unlimited), Futurama, The Simpsons, The Critic, Clerks: The Animated Series.
As a matter of fact, thinking about it, at least half of my DVD collection is animation, and even more so if you count computer-generated imagery in films as animation (which I do personally, but it's a highly debated subject).
EDIT: I suppose I should expand further. Yes, I like animation. I am studying it, in fact. In terms of how pretentious are my tastes, I'm pretentious enough to have seen a bunch of non-American nor Japanese animated films and pretentious enough to dislike most of Family Guy and Shrek, but I'm not pretentious enough to hate all anime, and I'm not pretentious enough to like Ralph Bakshi or Ren & Stimpy Adult's Party Cartoon. I like most everything, really, or at least I'm willing to give most everything a chance!
EDIT2: Except for Total Drama Island and any of the spin-offs. Those suck hard.
Okay, maybe that's going a bit too far, but it was a pretty general question. I like a lot of animation, it's hard to narrow it down. Most of it is Western, I'm kinda 'meh' on most modern anime, but I love the Lupin III series and Studio Ghibli.
haha oh wow
I would later find out that professor loved to torment the students who were fans of Disney and/or anime coming into the school expecting to work somewhere in those fields, though, so it's all good!
That is the most awesome professor ever. I love that movie, it's one of the few instances where I like the movie almost as much as I like the book. And it makes Watership Down look tame.
I remember when he put on Felidae one kid was freaking out: "Oh no it's THIS movie! Have fun not sleeping tonight, guys!" Then I kept watching it and I'm all "well, I'm not sure what demographic this movie was aiming for but it's not so ba-"
*SCENE WITH LIVE CAT PUPPETS*
"Welp!"
Then it was all downhill from there.
Have you watched any French animated films, like Persepolis or The Triplets of Belleville? They're pretty fantastic.
Believe it or not, the book is worse!
I'd agree that Watership Down is better though, and not least because of 'Bright Eyes'. Have you seen Plague Dogs? They actually managed to make the animated version bleaker than the book in that case...
ETA: Speaking of bleak animation, has anyone else seen Ringing Bell?
Anyway, yes I love animation. It's something I'd like to be apart of for a career. I have done some very small animations on Image Ready but nothing on a large scale mainly because I give up waaaaaaay to easy due to lacking confidence. I'm hope someday though I'll pluck up enough confidence to do an animated short.
Yeah I was all ":(" at the ending. I read the book before it too, so it really did feel more depressing!
It was kind of the opposite of The Little Mermaid for me, because at the end of that I was like "wait, she gets the prince after all and doesn't die?" Though I guess that was never going to happen in a Disney movie. (and it's probably still more accurate than Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame)
True. I guess they can be accurate sometimes!
And I happen to enjoy some certain aspects of it. I mostly enjoy animation from the golden age of animation. Disney is a hit and miss although the short films from the golden age are enjoyable and even the Oswald shorts(I was even aware of Oswald before Epic Mickey). Oddly enough before Epic mickey i enjoyed Donald Duck more than Mickey mouse lol. Some american animation today just makes me sick. Although that reason is because CG animation has reached my point of annoyance. Although the only CG stuff I was able to sit through is Pixar and possibly the upcoming Goon movie{Which looks interesting for once for a CG film} Hey Pecan, what were the reactions of the people who saw Fritz the cat for the first time? I'd like to hear what happened XD.
Speaking of Fritz. I happen to enjoy the works of Ralph Bakshi. Although Bakshi to me is a hero even though I dont even like fritz at all, but the only thing I was able to enjoy from Bakshi was Wizards, Coonskin, and that mighty mouse cartoon that he did with John k. Cool World I remember seeing in the movie theater with my older brother and a few of his friends{He and his buddies were mistaking about this as a sequel to Roger Rabbit}, and all I can say about that movie is that it had a few good things about it. The animation had nice colors, voice acting, and do I need to explain why the soundtrack has some cool music for a not so good animated film? The only reason why Cool world{In my own view} is even good to look at is because it beats the daylights out of the horrible live-action/CG hybrids that have been happening alot.
And as for dislikes for animation. I happen to dislike ANYTHING from the creator of Family guy. TDI, and basically anything on TV animation today is just horrible to look at. Except for Sym-bionic titan{from the maker of Samurai Jack :cool:}.
It was mostly just groans during the movie and some people going "what the hell?" at some parts and similar commentaries, but other than that, nothing out of the ordinary.
Speaking of messed up cat animations you should all check out the short, Cat Piano. It's a wonderful example of digital 2D animation done right.
B-but I was talking about 2D films
Isn't it bad enough that an entire film studio should have a single "style"?
Oh alright then how about this?
(I had this movie as a kid and even then the animation mortified me, this is how I know about it)
I'm not much of an artist or even a cartoonist but I'm studying and practicing drawing to become one. And all I can say is that if you copy something thats already been done, your not getting yourself anywhere. I mean look at the 90's, that had a ton of studios trying to minic Disney's style and hell ironically some of them were former workers for Disney. Like Don Bluth. I know his style is far different from Disney's but hell he should have given up films after Land before time in my own view. Although the only thing good I remember hearing about was Anastasia. hell even Ralph bakshi even clearly stated this about don bluth "I wouldn't leave Disney to do Disney".
There's a Watership Down animated movie? How could I have possibly missed that? I've only read the book about a squillion times!
Because Disney is the only studio allowed to do stories about magic in animation. Right. An American Tail is a masterpiece, and so is The Secret of NIMH, IMO. So good are they that they excuse any bad thing he did since. And as much as people bash it, Titan A.E. wasn't THAT bad. Neither was Anastasia. And Anastasia was the only movie Bluth ever made that was remotely comparable to Disney.
Thumbelina was the king of Disney imitation, though.
On an unrelated note, Little Match Girl. Why? I dunno. I like it, I guess. If you haven't seen it, just watch it, guys. 6 minutes and 41 seconds of your life and you'll be better for the experience.
I've seen that. It's a rich bit of animation, so why couldn't Disney have done so well with the Princess and the Frog? It was okay, but it wasn't as good as it could have been. The Little Match Girl is better and it's only seven minutes long.
Speaking of which, since you keep recommending it, I'm watching Kamui no Ken (as I type this actually). So far the animation is visually appealing, with fantastic lighting that isn't too harsh or headache-inducing. It does seem to be a good movie, but I can't comment fully until I finish it. Sometimes it seems choppy, but man the action style is great! I haven't seen anything else like this movie.
I haven't seen Thumbelina or any or any of the later Bluth movies like Rock-A-Doodle. Ralph Bakshi is one to talk about unoriginality though, seeing as he is mostly famous for adapting The Lord of the Rings to animation. Not that he did a bad job. I need to watch more Bakshi movies sometime as I've only been introduced to him recently.
And speaking of European animation, if you want something funny, check out Cat City 1. If you want something out of the ordinary, scarring, and really messed up, check out Felidae. Be warned, it's not for the faint of heart. I haven't even watched it; I've just read descriptions of scenes because I'm a wuss, but it's basically a who-dunnit about cats wrapped in a splatter film. I'll probably watch it tonight too to see what the fuss is about.
I am honored that you not only noticed the other recommendations and remembered them, but that you're following through with it. It really is one of my favorite animated films, and I'm really glad that anyone decided to watch it on my recommendation.
There is a lot "like" this movie, in a lot of ways, but this is probably the best executed of them(obviously a subjective opinion there, though, especially since other films do some things better and some things worse and it's up to you to really decide what is more important, I imagine). Maybe I should make a list of animation from the era that is really worth watching sometime, because there is a LOT in this timeframe that is simply underrated or(more often) a completely unknown quantity in the US anime market that has fixated itself on really shallow kids' stuff and nerd-appeasing fodder in things like the harem genre. You know, not to be pretentious, though I totally am.
I personally would skip Rock-A-Doodle and Thumbelina. If I had a time machine, damn, I'd go back and tell myself not to watch them. Personally, I don't like any of his output past All Dogs Go To Heaven. Anastasia is kind of okay, and I haven't seen Titan A.E., but yeah. The animation itself in his films remains beautiful, but man do the films begin to really, really stink.
I'll add these to my back-catalog of titles I still need to see. Not sure how long it'll be before I do, but they're near the top and on my mind.
There's something about it that fascinates me. Especially the bizarre stop-motion shorts floating around. Crooked Rot and The Alphabet are huge inspirations for me. (warning: the aforementioned shorts are highly disturbing)
I know I'm going to get a lot of flack for this, but... I can't stand An American Tail. Normally I'm pretty tolerant of little kid characters being little kids, but man, Fievel reeeeally gets on my nerves. And the animation in Anastasia really bugs me. It's all too stiff to me, and I just recently found out why: a lot of it was rotoscoped.
The Secret of NIMH is still awesome, though!