Animated Family Film Thread

Lumeinshin · 2023-02-21T23:46:52+00:00

I watched the new Puss in Boots film and was surprised that it wasnt overly preachy or annoying. It reminded me that there are still new animated films made...

Ross_R

Ross_R And that reminds me that I still need to watch Puss In Boots.

Oh, by the way. I watched that about... two months ago or so. And I liked it. Liked it a lot, actually.
That visual effect that they bragged about in Spider-Man? You know, the one that makes it look like a slight frame drop?
It is here too, and it actually looks amazing. Man, I liked that effect. Almost makes me want to watch Spider-Man. Almost.
So if you can't stand Marvel as much as I can't, but still want to check that thing out, Puss In Boots is your best bet. And yeah, the movie is quite decent even without that. I didn't expect myself liking the new animation much, but I have to admit that the recent Puss In Boots is good.

Also, I've almost binge-watched the whole Wallace And Gromit collection. I remember seeing it back in the days when I was a teen, and back then I thought: man, what an ugly character design.
Not going to lie: I thought pretty much the same thing these days around. Frankly, I'm not even sure what convinced me to watch those things again to start with. But this time I stuck with it, and, man... I'm hooked.
You get used to the character designs rather quickly. 15-30 minutes or so. And after that - it's all soul. From the extra-british talk of the Wallace, to the whole ridicolous plot, to the fingerprints on hand-made clay models. And Gromit! What a good boy he is!
Thing is way awesome, really. I got hooked so much on it, I'm thinking about going into video games just to have a bit more of those two.

What else... watched The Wild Robot somewhere along the way - and yeah, it is way good, just as they say. A bit too good, actually. Things like that make me cry. You know, I watch all these stories about frienship, helping each other and whatnot - and then I return to reality where it seems like most of the world is out to make my life miserable and just fuck everyone up in any way possible - and I just get a fit of depression for several days.
That happened with this animation too, yeah. But it probably just shows how good it is.
Frankly, it is easier for me to handle dramas or gorefests rather than things like The Wild Robot.

And I also watched the very first Pettson And Findus animation at some point. I can't say it is good - mediocre, really, but at the same time... it is warm and fuzzy. You know, your average kind and friendly animation.
It comes from Sweden, so I just really wanted to check that out. And I say it's good enough after all. I will have to get into the mood for the rest of them, but I will watch'em eventually.

Finally, let me know if you want to hear about soviet animation from me. I don't know why I haven't posted about it before, but since I was born in USSR, I grew up on a lot of soviet animated movies, and I still remember a number of them rather kindly. For a reason too, soviet animation was rather good.

virologicearth6

I recently re-watched Hoodwinked (2005). Several times, in fact.
I loved this movie as a kid and rented it frequently. I have so much nostalgia for this film that I find it hard to look into the film's flaws. It absolutely has flaws, btw. The film is probably a 6/10 at best. Plenty of stuff is noticeably half-baked. Among other things, the lumberjack guy doesn't serve much purpose besides being a vessel for some good jokes, and Red Riding Hood's and Granny's conflict near the end is forgotten pretty quickly. Lots of great jokes, at least. The gecko movie director is a really funny caricature of cold-blooded movie directors.
The visuals are the biggest and most noticeable half-baked aspect, of course. Even for its time, this movie looked rough. The movie's initial production was independently financed and animation was outsourced to a fledgling animation studio in southeast Asia. From what I remember, for whatever reason they could only fully render the movie once, meaning any changes or additions would have to be made using editing software. The studio was using temporary voice actors during the animating process, so when the Weinstein Company bought rights to the film and got celebrity VAs onto the film, the celebrities were actually dubbing over the temp. VAs and, as a result, had to match the delivery of their lines 1:1.
The shot composition, editing and pacing is I think the best part of this movie. Granny's story has some absolutely awesome choreography.
The soundtrack is also highly underrated imo:

Lumeinshin
100% agreed.
Shrek 2 is near flawless. I think the only thing holding it back are the jokes involving celebrities. Celebrity jokes in general don't age well (See: Family Guy after Season 1). Other than that, I think its a perfect movie.

Lumeinshin
Such a tragedy of filmmaking...
These fanmade cuts are the best glimpse into this film's intended form we'll get. I highly recommend the documentary "Persistence of Vision" if you want to learn more. It has lots of interviews with animators who worked on it over the years and its really insightful into not just the production, but the animation industry as a whole. Production started I think in the early sixties, and the Warner Bros. cut released in 1993.
Richard Williams said himself Thief and the Cobbler was to be his masterpiece, and it very well could have been had he never put this film on full production. It should have stayed a passion project. There was no way the film could release in a form Williams would have been satisfied with once Warner Bros. was allowed to put their grubby hands on the project. The animation in this film is a portfolio of several generations' best traditional animators. Lots of scenes which were already finished prior to Warner Bros.'s acquisition were so high quality that the new animators Williams got worked their blood, sweat and tears to try and match that quality within a deadline (they couldn't).
To be fair, this movie started production in the 60s, so even if it remained a pet project, there was no way Williams and co.'s original vision for the film would be realized. For the longest time, the movie's story was mostly a vague outline of events.

Somnolence

I really love Watership Down, and make an effort to rewatch it every year or two- it's probably my favorite animated film.
It's a bit too violent and extreme to really be considered a 'family' film by modern standards, but such is the price to pay for something that defies genre.
There's something very mystical about the film, a bit contemplative, outside its sillier moments. Very potent, as a work of art.

virologicearth6
Wow, Hoodwinked, talk about a blast from the past. I almost completely forgot about that one. Glad you linked the music, definitely a strong tonesetter.

Ross_R
Wow, I don't know this one. Looks like the whole thing is up on Youtube. I'll definitely give it a watch through tomorrow.
Like you say, very well animated. I fear this kind of hand animation really is a dead art- if just because of simple financial viability.

Ross_R

Watched 1995 The Wind In The Willows. Twice.
Do not remember who and where recommended it to me, but the animation indeed is gorgeous. It is simply beyond me that it was made for TV. It seems like titanic amount of effort has been put into that animation.
It also makes me think that Disney was probably among the first who started the whole dumbing down process. I never liked the way his studio skewed the plot of the original stories, but in The Wind In The Willows it is most glaring. Like, surely, let's remove the whole plot arc about the river, and make the action scene five times longer instead. Come on!
Or so I felt, at least. Either way, 1995 version is indeed gorgeous all around, plot to animation to voice acting.

Ross_R

Somnolence
Yeah, most likely. It is very sad that everything that is not immediately profitable dies out.
There are still some indy enthusiasts who make something like 2016's Nova Seed every now and then, much like there are still people who make games for Atari 2600 and the likes, but it is really, well... looks something like dying agony, as much as it hurts me to say that.
Also, YouTube sucks off the bitrate, especially if the original is not in high quality. I do recommend you to get the best quality possible for this one, which is DVD quality. As a matter of fact, I can give you a temporary link on PixelDrain or DropMeFiles.

Somnolence

Ross_R
Probably overkill, but I do appreciate the offer.

Ross_R

Somnolence
I insist.
https://pixeldrain.com/u/VQKLNXrQ
Anyone else who passes by - you grab it as well while it is there. Thing like that gotta be saved, preserved and shared around. And given that the whole thing is on YouTube, it is pretty much guaranteed that whoever holds the rights to it currently - if anyone at all - doesn't give a damn about it.
I know, because my channel gets strikes for uploading deleted scenes or 50's songs rather regularly. If it is on YouTube - no one gives a damn and doesn't plan something like Blu-Ray release or anything along those lines.
Actually, I'll probably try to upload it onto the Internet Archive as well.

Somnolence

Ross_R
Well if you insist, then I won't question it!
I'll download it tonight and let you know what you think.

Ross_R
Very nice, very nice indeed. I was vaguely familiar with the book but have never read it, nor seen the film. Mole and Rat have a great dynamic, and once Badger is included, they make a great trio. I do have to say I enjoyed the front half more than the back though. It sorta just becomes a story about the rather unlikable Mr. Toad, and loses a bit of that 'cozy charm', but I guess they couldn't fill the whole runtime with just that.
Like you say, it's wonderfully animated too. Thanks for sharing that copy, too. Definitely crisper than anything you'll find on Youtube.

Ross_R

Somnolence
Indeed, if there's a weak spot - it is Toad's ark, it is impossible to argue with that. For a moment I thought the moral of the story would be "if you're rich - you can do whatever you want". Though it is a way it was written in the original too; the problem is, in the animation Toad does feel like a straight-up anti-hero, and the whole redemption is stuffed into the very end, with a line from a narrator rather than in the animation itself, which is... yeah.
My guess would be is that it is not about the runtime, but about the budget, which is typically limited for made-for-TV productions. They definitely could use some extra 10 minutes to make Toad a bit more likeable and expand on the ending.
Alas, alas, this diamond will remain forever a bit rough.

gemisthon

Recently rewatched Pokémon Heroes, also known as Pocket Monsters the Movie - Guardian Gods of the City of Water: Latias and Latios in the original Japanese release, for the first time in 15 years or so. Supposedly this one is second only to the first film in popularity among the Japanese, once again proving their impeccable taste in these matters. It was nice to have my adolescent admiration for this film confirmed.
Aside from a somewhat disappointing third act with some pretty ugly CGI, I'd consider this one of the best pokémon films. Whereas the earlier installments were more epic in scope, this one felt like an extended episode, which I thought was a nice approach to the final film with the original cast, though unfortunately Takeshi and Kasumi get sidelined. Sometimes scaling the story back a bit can raise the stakes. Not much to write about the plot beyond that, as it's the standard pokémon pablum with the bad guys trying to catch some legendary pokémon, upsetting the delicate balance between man and pokémon, but I like the villains a lot in this one. I would have liked maybe one more scene with Satoshi and Kanon as she seemed a bit under-developed in a way that undermined the ambiguous ending. They literally take a boatride through pokémon venice but just use the scene to comment on the plot, which felt like a waste.
Where the film truly excels is artistic direction. Of course, using Venice for background references feels like cheating, but it's used very effectively.

The pokémon films in general have amazing background art, although unfortunately beginning with the Advanced Generation films it has to compete with more and more CGI. There tends to be an emphasis on slightly unusual or unique architecture, which I like. It's weird enough to make the settings feel like real, living spaces.
Some of the direction decisions are honestly inspired, which isn't something I would expect to say about a pokémon film. The chase scene through the city is imo the best sequence in the entire franchise: https://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm27325505. The way it plays around with focus and perspective, shifting from overhead shots to wide angles to first-person perspective. Not only does it keep you off kilter in a way that reflects Ash's confusion at the maze-like city, but the very playfulness of the sequence itself perfectly conveys Latias' personality. The kino accordion music is just the icing on the cake.
There's a lot of stuff like this in the film. One of my favourite shots is one where Ash is approaching Latias from a distance in the secret garden, while Latias swings in and out of frame.

There was no need for them to go this hard. I was surprised to learn that all the films were directed by the same guy. I was also rewatching Rise of Dakrai recently and it doesn't have anywhere near this attention to detail when it comes to composition. Probably hard to keep the energy up when you have to pump these out year after year. Interestingly, the guy who directed Mushishi was one of the storyboard artists for Heroes, though I couldn't say what his individual contributions were.
It's peak. You have to watch a fansubbed version, of course, as the 4kids 'localisation' is unwatchable.

Aero

The architecture and backgrounds in those screenshots really are breathtaking. Never appreciated on the first watch through.

Ross_R

I think I'll drop it here... since I'm not sure where else it can go. It is a bit off the topic, I suppose, since it is a series, but still.
Let's roll.

Invincible Fight Girl - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt20115650/
Probably the best animated series I saw in a long, long while.
First and foremost, there's absolutely zero fillers. 10 episodes that are out there right now are all like 200-minute long, solid, animated movie. Plot moves forward continuously, zero returns to stat quo.
The voice talent is solid, but there's also Keith David as main antagonist, and hot damn, he just cuts it. Splendid as ever.
The animation is bonkers. The guys mix everything, and somehow they manage to pull it off without making it look like a mess. The whole premise is if wrestling was anime: every second kick and punch causes nuclear explosions, storm winds and tonadoes. The inner monologue is constant and, by Gods, sometimes I wish I had japanese dub just for kicks. Yet the style is not quite anime. It looks distinctly western, and every now and then, the animators throw in completely random stuff, just for kicks.

The world of Invincible Fight Girl is populated by: humans, aliens, beast men, bird men, reptile men, fish men, living plants, living brick walls, flaming skeletons - pretty much everything you can think of. No one gives you any explanations, but it is just pure darn fun.

Absolutely zero politics or whatever. One of the characters is actually stated to be 8 years old, so yeah, the series are straight about its own stuff.
And now you might think that it is all nonsense, but there are actually quite a lot of philosphies thrown in there too. The main character is, of course, the epitome of unyielding will, fighting for her dream. In one scene she says it quite straight: "Each wall I hit, I banged my head against it, over and over, until, eventually, I broke through".
But she is surrounded by multiple characters who take the world through completely different eyes. There's a guy who thinks "life is business", then there's a bunch of wrestlers who never made it far and settled down for less - and I'm just touching the good guys here, all of whom are shown in positive light. In fact, I like the aforementioned wrestlers who never made it far a lot. I like their dialogues, I like their presentation. It's nice to see how awesome you can be even if you are not a hero, even if you are not the one who is ready to crash your head against the wall.

"The world likes to make giving up seem like the worst thing you can do. But you're not living for the world. You're living for you. And sometimes you realize the thing you're doing... just isn't working. Lots of people spend their whole lives unhappy. Chasing something they've told themselves is the only thing that makes their life worth living. But here's the secret, kid. If a dream is the only thing that can make you feel alive, well, then you've got a lot more living to do."

Invincible Fight Girl is fucking awesome, Compared to western animation, the last one I liked were Gravity Falls and Star Versus The Forces Of Evil. And while Invincible Fight Girl is not Gravity Falls, it gets very close. I'm definitely putting it higher than Star Versus The Forces Of Evil.
Comparing it to anime, I can think of two series. One is Samurai Flamenco. But Samurai Flamenco doesn't really get to this level of insanity, and the same time what is there made me scratch my head every now and then, while in Invincible Fight Girl everything actually feels organic, like it belongs there. Once again, masterful mixing and presentation. Also, Samurai Flamenco gets a bit convoluted in its own plot, in my opinion. The first episodes and few last episodes are very nice, but a lot of stuff in between in those series are just... whats and whys, and ultimately forgettable.
The other one that comes to my mind is Kemono Michi: Rise Up. Now this one is more solid, but it never rises to these levels of insanity. Kemono Michi feels way more grounded, both in wrestling and overall. And it probably sounds weird, if you know about the stuff that happens in Kemono Michi. But it is as it is, Invincible Fight Girl definitely feels way more anime than the actual anime. I guess, what I mean by anime here is Dragon Ball Z kind of stuff.

I guess, one problem I can point out with Invincible Fight Girl is that all of it feels just like a prequel for 20-30 more episodes, which do not exist yet. And I am rather cautious about should I or should I not hope for season 2, since with a start of such a high level it would definitely be hard to keep the going this good.
But, the problems of tomorrow are the problems of tomorrow, and what is there is definitely recommended.
It's been a while since I watched simply some good darn animation. Something like SWAT Kats, you know. Something where you just... watch good stuff like it's saturday morning without a care in the world.

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