10. Toy Story
The first computer movie that showed how sophisticated graphics can be intergrated into a really top quality & solid story.
One whose visuals matched it's plot in emphasizing the warmth & color that was starting to become more & more "faded" in the tired 2-D animated family films that movie producers had seemed to be tiredly cranking out at the time.
9. Finding Nemo
As good as the story was in this Finding Nemo (and a it was a story I did like) the world of the undersea looked just so beautiful in this flick, that it felt like this Nemo's story could've used more of an extra punch, just to meet the same high level of quality in the graphics.
And if it's seems like I'm being picky with this film, it's only because I think that while it's a solid feel-good family-fare that was very good, it's one that had the potential to have been great.
8. Up
A cranky old man & an annoying little kid team up with a talking dog & a flightless giant mother bird named "Kevin",
to embark on an semi-Indiana Jones type of adventure.
Colorful, but not overwhelming (like Cars or Speed Racer),
touching, but not over-sentimental,
exciting, but not at the cost of the story.
Another score for the people over at Pixar.
7. Toy Story 3
At the time of this writing,
I haven't had time to come up with a description of why I like this move.
For now though, I'll just gotta confess that I'm riding the train of popular opinion that TS3 is one of the better movies of 2010 so far.
Will update this entry soon.
6. Kung Fu Panda
It seems like these days, every season, an animated movie comes out displaying the next level of computer-generated visuals. At the time of this posting, it's this movie & Wall-E. While on one end, this film comes with all the standard plot devices that usually accompany the story of these animated features, Kung Fu Panda has enough of it's own style to stand away on it's own. I don't think that the story was told as successfully as many of it's predecessors, but the next level of the "anthropormorphic" facial expressions & the characteristics of the movements achieved in this film seem to make up for it.
5. Ratatouille
For me, This film is a prime example of the potential that 3-D animation can achieve on film.
The idea of combining the points of views of both rodent & restauranteer made this a great vehicle for integrating sharper & more creative angles in the storytelling and that could only be achieved at the level that it did through the use of this medium. For my money, it's where the heart & beauty of this film lies.
4. Appleseed Ex Machina
So far, the most updated amazing animation in any animated feature.
Simply put, the computer-generated visuals in this film truly have to be seen in order to be believed.
However, even though the story is solid, as the sci-fi epic that Appleseed's visuals aspire to be, it does lack some originality in it's plotline. It is this reason, combined with the indistinguisnness of the faces (as is usually common for most 3-D anime) that prevented this movie from taking the number one position of this list.
That said, the technical details & intricate designs in Ex Machina are some of the most striking ever to be generated on film. Iron-Man's armor looks like it was created by Fisher-Price compared to the hardware that these guys are wearing.
A true marvel to behold.
3. Monster House
Even tho the animation in this film doesn't have the chance to get as creative as other comp.-animated movies of this generation & that focus on non-human subjects, this movie does very well with what it has. The facial expressions are choice quality & the movements during the action sequences are both smooth & dynamic. While there have been many animated films that have come along that look "better", this one for me, is one of the rare ones that have the whole package. The story is does not insult the intelligence despite being based on a child-based fantasy genre, the characters are distinguishly engaging, & the action scenes are very high in the area of thrill.
Monster House excellently matches the excitement of any other live-action movies released with the same intention.
2. Wall-E
It seems like these days, every season, an animated movie comes out displaying the next level of computer-generated visuals. For me, it's this film & Kung Fu Panda. While not so surprising in that I (we?) expected the details in the graphics to be as detail & realistic as they were, it's still quite stunning to behold. WALL-E is a futuristic story that involves themes of loneliness, environmentalism, technological over-dependence on & the effects of idleness on the soul of humanity when it is stripped away from the natural strife of life.
And even though these are all themes that are ones we've seen many times before, it's still quite surprising how often & consistantly filmmakers are able to intergrate the amazing graphics into the quality of the storytelling in a manner that seems fresh & keeps the messages from feeling too cliche. At the rate that these types of highly sophisticated computer animated flicks are being released, it's remarkble that the ratio has been so much more good than bad.
1. The Incredibles
One of the best voice castings for the lead roles I've seen ( or is it heard?) & it has a great story, full of charm, wit & family chemistry. I always thought that Hollywood never seem to be able to put out 100% in any feature dealing with superheroes, but they really did with this one. The effects are incredibly cool, the over-all visuals are stunning & the characters are all drawn with an equally high level of quality & dynamicism ( .... is that really a word?). Added with the "Jack Jack Attack" story on the DVD, & I know that it will probably be a long time before the family "I's" get dethroned from #1 on my list.
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