The Panda Posted July 20, 2015 Author Share Posted July 20, 2015 (edited) The Illusionist My Letter Grade: B+ Fun For the Whole Family Rating: 8 Nostaliga Rating: 6.5 Heartstring Tugging Rating: 7.5 Originality Rating: 7 Comedic Rating: 5.5 Animation Quality: 6.5 Rotten Tomatoes: 90% Notable Achievements: Nominated for an Oscar Reasoning: The Illusionist is an adult centered animation that plays the tight strings of heart pulling and somewhat nostalgic. It plays as a pretty much silent comedy, although I'd say the humor aspect was lacking a bit, but all of that is made up for in the sincerity of it all. I'll be honest, I do think it stole the Oscar nomination from some better contenders (at least I liked them better), but I will give the Illusionist a good deal of credit for trying to craft an artistic animated piece, something that is often lacking from modern animations. The Illusionist does a great deal to try to bring a little bit of magic to life in its picture. Edited July 20, 2015 by The Panda Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Panda Posted July 20, 2015 Author Share Posted July 20, 2015 Frankenweenie " They like what science gives them, but not the questions, no. Not the questions that science asks." My Letter Grade: B Fun For the Whole Family Rating: 5.5 Nostalgia Rating: 4.5 Originality Rating: 3.5 1984 Short Rehash Comedic Rating: 7 Animation Quality: 7.5 Rotten Tomatoes: 87% Notable Achievements: Nominated for 1 Oscar Reasoning: While, Frankenweenie may just be a long version rehash of the 1984 short by Tim Burton, it still stands as a nice bit of entertainment and there's lots of enjoyment to be had. The script is neatly written, and the animation engages viewers in an exciting, heartwarming "horror" tale of the dog brought back to life. The movie has a lot of love put into it, and it's very evident in each shot, which is partly why I've put it a bit higher than it might deserve. Frankenweenie is quite possibly the most enjoyable and probably also quality film Burton has made in a long time. Frankenweenie is a solid cinematic treat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Panda Posted July 20, 2015 Author Share Posted July 20, 2015 Chicken Run "Pushy Americans, always showing up late for every war. Overpaid, oversexed, and over here." Animation Studio: Aardman Productions My Letter Grade: B+ Nostalgia Rating: 5.5 Originality Rating: 7.5 Comedic Rating: 7.5 Animation Quality: 7 Rotten Tomatoes: 97% Notable Achievements: Nominated for 1 Golden Globe Reasoning: I'll be honest, while I do find Chicken Run to be a quality picture (as do I find a lot of Aardman films to be), I am really not that big on it, just like I am not a huge fan of any of Aardman's films. It could just be because I'm not a huge fan of stop-motion animation, but there's been quite a few that have stuck out to me, I am not sure what it is (sense they aren't really at major fault), it just doesn't click well as something I enjoy. However, Chicken Run has a great script, I did find it quite funny, it is well-crafted and filmed, is great stop-motion, and it has a great dose of originality. Many others would put this much higher than I am right now, but many others just aren't me. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Panda Posted July 20, 2015 Author Share Posted July 20, 2015 Happy Feet "Man, how're we gonna tell his mama he brought us all the way out here just to kill himself?" Animation Studio: Warner Bros My Letter Grade: B+ Fun For the Whole Family Rating: 5.5 Mad Max? More Like, Happy Max Nostalgia Rating: 4.5 Originality Rating: 7.5 Comedic Rating: 7 Animation Quality: 8 Rotten Tomatoes: 75% Notable Achievements: Won Best Animated Picture Reasoning: Brought to you by the director of the Mad Max franchise, is George Miller's animated "masterpiece" Happy Feet, full of dancing and songs galore. It's a great visual treat, with a great sense of style and animated quality. It is clever in how it's written, and has a much needed environmentalist overtone to it all. I think the biggest problem is that the film does tend to drag the longer it goes one, which is what keeps it from being able to really soar, and really make an impact on the viewer, but it still never loses its animated wonder and sense of charm. Happy Feet is overall a great delight. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Panda Posted July 20, 2015 Author Share Posted July 20, 2015 Big Hero 6 "Balalalala" Animation Studio: Walt Disney Animation Studios My Letter Grade: B+ Fun For the Whole Family Rating: 4.5 Nostalgia Rating: 6 Heart String Tugging Rating: 8 Originality Rating: 2 Comedic Rating: 7.5 Balalalala Animation Quality: 8 Rotten Tomatoes: 89% Notable Achievements: Won Oscar for Best Animated Picture Reasoning: Big Hero 6 is a very charming, although quite familiar, animated piece that does a great job at bringing heavy issues to light for children, while also padding them to make them light enough for the child to deal with and grasp. While, the movie can often follow many of the superhero origin cliches, many of the great moments come in the not-so-heroic scenes that deal with the personal relationship Hiro builds with Baymax (so I may be in disagreement with others in thinking that I wanted more Hiro and Baymax and less of the annoying other 4). Big Hero 6 definitely follows conventionality and is very predictable, it still manages to be heartwarming and lovable at the same time, especially in the Baymax character. The movie is also flawed because Immortals is a really awful song, and by awful I mean really terrible, it makes the entire training scene cringe worthy. Big Hero 6 is wonderfully animated and deserved the Oscar out of what was nominated (because a certain animated masterpiece was snubbed). 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kalo Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 (edited) Happy Feet "Man, how're we gonna tell his mama he brought us all the way out here just to kill himself?" Animation Studio: Warner Bros My Letter Grade: B+ Fun For the Whole Family Rating: 5.5 Mad Max? More Like, Happy Max Nostalgia Rating: 4.5 Originality Rating: 7.5 Comedic Rating: 7 Animation Quality: 8 Rotten Tomatoes: 75% Notable Achievements: Won Best Animated Picture Reasoning: Brought to you by the director of the Mad Max franchise, is George Miller's animated "masterpiece" Happy Feet, full of dancing and songs galore. It's a great visual treat, with a great sense of style and animated quality. It is clever in how it's written, and has a much needed environmentalist overtone to it all. I think the biggest problem is that the film does tend to drag the longer it goes one, which is what keeps it from being able to really soar, and really make an impact on the viewer, but it still never loses its animated wonder and sense of charm. Happy Feet is overall a great delight. Happy Feet is one of my least favorite films of all time. not quite as awful as The Polar Express, but still pretty bad. Great work btw, can tell you put a ton of work into these write ups. Edited July 20, 2015 by Kalo 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ethan Hunt Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 (edited) Not gonna lie I'm quite disappointed to see Big Hero 6 make the list Thrilled to see Happy Feet though Edited July 20, 2015 by Ethan Hunt 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Panda Posted July 21, 2015 Author Share Posted July 21, 2015 Paprika "the Internet and dreams are similar. They're areas where the repressed conscious mind escapes." Animation Studio: Madhouse My Letter Grade: B+ Fun For the Whole Family Rating: 10 Nostalgia Rating: 2.5 Originality Rating: 9 Inception meets Black Swan before either movie existed Comedic Rating: 2 Animation Quality: 7.5 Rotten Tomatoes: 84% Reasoning: Paprika is an adult oriented, r rated animated film, that manages to bend your mind on reality and dreams. It's more of a trip than Black Swan and Inception put together, and it takes multiple viewings to really get a handle at each plot point that happens within the film. Because of this the film can become a bit of a mess script wise, but it's just so dang imaginative that it's hard to to be entranced, especially since I am always lenient to animations that have the balls to be adult oriented entertainment (even if it is Japanese anime). Paprika is a visual treat for the eye, and a nice jog for the mind. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Panda Posted July 21, 2015 Author Share Posted July 21, 2015 The Emperor's New Groove "Oh, it's not the first time I was tossed out of a window, and it won't be the last. What can I say? I'm a rebel." Animation Studio: Walt Disney Animation Studios My Letter Grade: B Fun For the Whole Family Rating: 4 Heart String Tugging Rating: 7.5 Nostalgia Rating: 6.5 Originality Rating: 5 Comedic Rating: 7.5 Animation Quality: 7 Rotten Tomatoes: 85% Notable Achievements: Nominated For 1 Oscar Reasoning: The Emperor's New Groove is a solid addition to Disney's long line up, and has a beautiful setting in which it takes place in. The film is full of humor and it provides a strong, and easy to grasp message for the little ones. Pacha is able to pull at your heart a bit with his honesty and noble stature as a peasant farmer. The film never treads on to long, and it keeps a well-mannered pace that keeps the plot rolling and interesting. While, there isn't anything overly special about the movie, it's over all very consistent and one of Disney's more underrated films. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Panda Posted July 21, 2015 Author Share Posted July 21, 2015 The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh "Yeah, that icky, sticky stuff is only fit for heffalumps and woozles." Animation Studio: Walt Disney Animation Studios My Letter Grade: B+ Fun For the Whole Family Rating: 2.5 Heartstring Tugging Rating: 6.5 Nostalgia Rating: 8.5 Originality Rating: 6 Comedic Rating: 6 Animation Quality: 7.5 Rotten Tomatoes: 92% Notable Achievements: A Fondly Remembered Pooh Bear Reasoning: While, the older you get the harder it gets to watch Winnie the Pooh and still watch it as endearingly as you did as a child, it's hard not get nostalgic when thinking back to the time you spent watching Pooh and his friends in the Hundred Acre Woods. That is what put this film on the list for me. That's not to say it isn't a quality film, the water colors come right out of a story book and the whole thing is magical in a sense. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh is a faithful and nostalgic collection of shorts about this little old bear. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Panda Posted July 21, 2015 Author Share Posted July 21, 2015 (edited) The Lion King 1 1/2 "Shall we run for our lives?" Animation Studio: Walt Disney Animation Studios My Letter Grade: B Fun For the Whole Family Rating: 4 Heart String Tugging Rating: 6 Nostalgia Rating: 7.5 and 1/2 Originality Rating: 7 Comedic Rating: 7 Animation Quality: 6 Rotten Tomatoes: 76% Notable Achievements: Being in the shadow of something great Reasoning: No, this sequel in no way soars to the heights of it's predecessor, but it's Disney, what'd you expect? In fact, this is quite possibly the best sequel Disney was able to produce for their animations (even if it is a straight to dvd one). It is able to recapture some of the nostalgic magic of the first one through the eyes of the two comedic sidekicks, Timon and Pumba, and takes you on quite a fun little journey. Yes, it can be a little juvenile, but at the same time it is still able to keep a good sense of humor. The Lion King 1 1/2 is creative and original, managing to serve as both a fun prequel and sequel at the same time. Edited July 21, 2015 by The Panda 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Panda Posted July 21, 2015 Author Share Posted July 21, 2015 Hercules "I'm a damsel, I'm in distress, I can handle this. Have a nice day." Animation Studio: Walt Disney Animation Studios My Letter Grade For It: B+ Fun For the Whole Family Rating: 4.5 Heart String Tugging Rating: 4.5 Nostalgia Rating: 6.5 Originality Rating: 6.5 Comedic Rating: 7 Animation Quality: 7 Rotten Tomatoes: 83% Notable Achievements: Nominated For 1 Oscar and finishing at 99m domestic Reasoning: Hercules is another one of Disney's animations that is often underlooked for the gem that it really is. Hercules is packed to the brim with humor and fun references, the music numbers are some of Disney's most fun, and it keeps a bright tone and quick pace to the very end, serving as great form of entertainment to watch with the whole family. Yes, it lacks a lot more of the maturity of Disney's better pictures, but not every film needs it. Hercules succeeds on its own as a fun-filled take on a classic tale. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chasmmi Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 The Emperor's New Groove "Oh, it's not the first time I was tossed out of a window, and it won't be the last. What can I say? I'm a rebel." Animation Studio: Walt Disney Animation Studios My Letter Grade: B Fun For the Whole Family Rating: 4 Heart String Tugging Rating: 7.5 Nostalgia Rating: 6.5 Originality Rating: 5 Comedic Rating: 7.5 Animation Quality: 7 Rotten Tomatoes: 85% Notable Achievements: Nominated For 1 Oscar Reasoning: The Emperor's New Groove is a solid addition to Disney's long line up, and has a beautiful setting in which it takes place in. The film is full of humor and it provides a strong, and easy to grasp message for the little ones. Pacha is able to pull at your heart a bit with his honesty and noble stature as a peasant farmer. The film never treads on to long, and it keeps a well-mannered pace that keeps the plot rolling and interesting. While, there isn't anything overly special about the movie, it's over all very consistent and one of Disney's more underrated films. I'd almost go as far as to say this is the most underrated Disney film of them all (Lilo and Stitch also comes to mind though). This was so unexpectedly funny and the way it played with tropes and 4th wall breaking was all a lot of fun and quite clever too. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AniNate Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 At least Immortals is better than Shut Up and Drive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kalo Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 (edited) I'd almost go as far as to say this is the most underrated Disney film of them all (Lilo and Stitch also comes to mind though). This was so unexpectedly funny and the way it played with tropes and 4th wall breaking was all a lot of fun and quite clever too. I agree, Emperor's New groove is hilarious and possibly my most quoted Disney animated film. definitely in my top 10 favorite Disney films. Edited July 23, 2015 by Kalo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avatree Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 At least Immortals is better than Shut Up and Drive imOooOooOoimOortals Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TServo2049 Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 Honestly, I don't think that song is terrible, just meh. The problem is that it burrows into your brain like the Tripledent Gum jingle, and you remember it more than it deserves. (Like that Soundgarden song from The Avengers.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BK007 Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 At least Immortals is better than Shut Up and Drive I can't believe we have both Rihanna and Fall Out Boy in Disney movies. Why don't they get original songs? Maybe Immortals was original actually? Idk. But Shut Up and Drive I was really disappointed in. Still love Wreck It Ralph though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BK007 Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 to tribefan I hope the Good Dinosaur gets its own songs like How To Train Your Dragon series. Don't like not for movie songs in fantasy/animation/sci-fi movies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BourneFan #1 Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 I love The Lion King 1 1/2! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
