Top 5 Animated Films (One Entry per Studio)

Lets kick off with animation, an often lighthearted fun place to begin. I'm messing with the formula a bit by taking one film from the five most successful animated studios of all time. Disney, Pixar (I am aware Pixar is under the disney "Umbrella" but Im seperating it because Im awesome), Dreamworks, Blue Sky and Aardman Studios (I believe they are under the Dreamworks banner but they work seperateish so meh). I realise I have missed out Studio Ghibli, I think thats their name. They did such films as Spirited Away and that Totoro thing my girlfriend has. I lack expertise on most of their repertoire so theirs no point me babbling on about what I dont know about. I dont believe in giving a numeric score for accomplishment but due to most people desiring one and in my effort to sell out and look marketable I have created special criteria based around what I am posting about, in this case animation :). Anywho.

Blue Sky Animations.



And I thought Crack fucked me up.

 ICE AGE
A lovely film full of charm, character and a prehistoric squirrel with what I presume is ADD or at least a low grade disability. It never matched up to what Pixar were consistantly knocking out from a story perspective but the laughs were constant and the characters were endearing and well vocied. I can safely say that if pissed off mammoths could talk they would sound like Ray Romano. Considering it was the studios first offering it was even more impressive, however they have failed to hit the same heights since and the Ice Age sequels lack that charm we loved so much from the original. They recently released their sixth feature film "Rio" which is garnering positive reviews, Ive yet to lay eyes on it but I really hope it is a return to form for the clearly talented people from Blue Sky.

Story - 6
Visual - 8
Characterisation - 9
Overall - 8
If Ice Age were a toothpaste - Aquafresh, Wholefully enjoyable though their are clearly still a few better options on the shelf.

Aardman Studios

CHICKEN RUN

They would make good Drumsticks, S'all Im saying.

It was hard not to select Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were Rabbit as I do adore that film, possibly more than anyman should adore a movie about a northern man and his dog rounding up the local miscriants of their idyllic town, the rabbits being the miscriants. However Chicken Run just edges it, the cleverness in setting the chicken coop as some sort of parallel to the Great Escape is genious and Julia Sawalha more than matches megastar Mel Gibson in the voice acting department. The film has a lot of heart and the domestic appeal for us English makes the film even  greater as we will enjoy it more knowing Americans wont catch all the references. Again this was a first time out to bat (Im a cricket fan dont ya know) for an animated studio. The only other offering we have seen from Aardman besides Chicken Run and Wallace and Gromit was the flawed yet lovely Flushed Away, it was a step down in quality but not to a degree that the film was in anyway bad. Aardman have signed a deal with Sony to make feature films hand in hand but we have had to wait a while for an actual film. Alas the wait is over this November with the delightfully promising Arthurs Christmas on the horizon. Hardly surprising to note the splendidly talented British cast it can boast. Canny wait lads :)

Story - 9

Visual - 7

Characterisation - 9

Overall - 9

If Chicken Run were a breakfast Cereal - Weetabix, tasty and even good for you. The film even has high fibre to match the cereal, moral fibre that is. (Darn ain't I witty)

Dreamworks

Shrek 2



Beastiality never had a more commercial advertiser.

Dreamworks are the financially well backed, and not as artistically charged, horse in the animated horse race of animaters (Or something like that). Since Dreamworks Animation Studios first feature film (1998's Antz, with Woody Allen) they have produced twenty more feature films in the last 13 years and about 70% of them are average. I was a little tempted to go with Antz but for sheer unbridled fun I had to go with our ogre friend Shrek :). I chose the sequel which surprised me a little as most sequels are unbridled machinations of satan, see Shrek The Third for my point. Sequels have to add a new motivation for the character, a way for the main character to develop without revisiting themes already covered, introduce new characters who can integrate with the charm of the old. And do all this whilst doing all the other stoof that requires films to be great. Ice Age was a prime example of how the introduction of new characters can mess up a formula. Puss in Boots was a delightful addage of what made the first film great, ive already praddled on to long so I shall just state my love of Jennifer Saunders and leave it there.

Story - 8

Visual - 8

Characterisation - 8

Overall - 8 Shockingly

If Shrek 2 were a DIY warehouse - Homebase - They lack the subtle graces of IKEA, the hard working nature of B&Q but there grafted spirit allows us to respect them for the diamonds in the rough they are.

Pixar Studios

UP



When Im out driving its 5 points for a dog.



Along with Inglorious Basterds my favorite film of 2009. Lets face it Pixar are awesome, in pretty much everything they do, sure a few have slipped slightly below the line of perfection but ive never seen a pixar film close to bad, which therefore makes it hard to pick between the best of the bunch. With three toy story's, Finding Nemo, Monsters Inc and Wall.E all up for selection it was a hard choice but this film is a firm favorite, possibly due to the unorthodox hero of this animated adventure, an old widowed man, which in the hands of say dreamworks would of come off as average and shallow but in pixars hands they take the sad old man and play on our emotional heartstrings with touching set pieces of real emotional depth, such as the opening montage of Carl and Ellies life together. Throw in the greatest talking dog cinema has ever produced and you get a mixture of great comedy, great sadness and overall a great movie. The perfectly written story intertwined with an originality that we dont see enough of in modern cinema and you get yourself an animated classic. Also read up on the story of the terminally ill girl who was going to die before the film was released and how pixar sent a dude with a copy of the film to her house, she watched it with her family and passed away like six hours later. Seriously as if I didnt want to stick my penis in pixar enough. When I say that I mean it in a loving way.

Story - 10

Visual - 9

Characterisation - 10

Overall - 10

If Up was a cult it would be - The Manson Family,  iconic and truly hard to surpass, also Roman Polanski raped a girl (Cant think why I brought that UP) My god thats a bad pun, it doesnt even fit.

Disney Animated Studios

THE LION KING

Disney: Making silhouette animals look cool sucessfully since 1994.

The hardest choice of all. 50 films spanning 74 years of cinematic history. The close runners up for me were The Jungle Book, Aladdin, Hunchback of Notre Dame and Tangled. The Lion King just edges through with its Shakesperean undertones (Hamlet), simply epic soundtrack and miraculous animation it capitulated the best of what Disney does. The highlight of the Disney Rennaisance of the nineties (Im not being gay, it is actually technically known as the reannaisance, look it up.) its colorful characters and iconic moments make it a worthy choice in my opinion. The death of Mufasa and his reappearance to Simba in the heavens are two of the most iconic scenes of animated cinema, for good reason. Also Jeremy Irons is in it and hes fucking awesome.

Story - 10

Visual - 9

Characterisation - 9

Overall - 10

If The Lion King was an autotuned popstar it would be - Rebbeca Black, the undisputed King.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this blog. Muchos Love x