Re: 2nd Animation Hall of Fame
 

I promise tomorrow folks. It's an interesting field to say the least

Re: 2nd Animation Hall of Fame
 

I have a strong suspicion of what ahwell's second nomination will be and I'm not looking forward to watching it again.

Re: 2nd Animation Hall of Fame
 

Sorry, I don’t think you’ll like either of my noms unfortunately.

Re: 2nd Animation Hall of Fame
 

Here are the nominations for the Second Animation Hall of Fame:

The Adventures of Prince Achmed
1926
Nominated by Ahwell-
https://www.awn.com/sites/default/fi...?itok=k_Sd3T5K

Sword in the Stone
1963
Nominated by Rauldc14
https://d13ezvd6yrslxm.cloudfront.ne...ke-700x300.jpg

Wizards
1977
Nominated by Siddon
https://lwlies.com/wp-content/upload...-c-default.jpg

The Wind in the Willows
1983
Nominated by Hashtagbrownies
https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w500_and_...s8nKvfs0C7.jpg

Cowboy Bebop: The Movie
2001
Nominated by Edarsenal
https://pmcvariety.files.wordpress.c...p-2.jpg?w=1000


Spirited Away
2001
Nominated by Ahwell-
https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/i...iritedaway.jpg

Meet the Robinsons
2007
Nominated by Funny Face
http://images6.fanpop.com/image/phot...5-1280-720.jpg

Ernest and Celestine
2012
Nominated by Miss Vicky-
http://forestrowfilmsociety.org/news...-Celestine.jpg

Your Name
2016
Nominated by CosmicRunaway
https://www.moma.org/d/assets/W1siZi...c8d65691a78150

Tower
2016
Nominated by Siddon
https://static.rogerebert.com/upload...Tower-2016.jpg

Re: 2nd Animation Hall of Fame
 

Wow, have not seen any of these except for Spirited Away, my own nomination. Looking forward to watching them.

Re: 2nd Animation Hall of Fame
 

I've only seen 4 of the 10 including my nomination obviously.

Spirited Away is one of my favorite movies of all time, and I didn't have to nominate it so I'm happy with that.

Meet the Robinsons I didn't care for.

Your Name was fair for me, hope I like it more the second go.

Sword in the Stone is up there in my Disney animated classics favorites.

Of those I haven't seen, look forward to Ernest and Celestine and Tower most.

Re: 2nd Animation Hall of Fame
 

Wow, most of those noms look pretty darn interesting to me. The only one I've seen is Spirited Away which I thought was amazing. I just read about Tower and that looks very intriguing. The Wind in the Willows looks very charming and like something I'd really like.
Good choices everyone!

The Adventures of Prince Achmed
Yep, knew that was coming. It's a visually beautiful film and I have nothing but respect for it. The trouble is that it's really boring.

Sword in the Stone
I don't think I've seen this one.

Wizards
Haven't seen this one and judging by that image, I don't think I'm going to like it.

The Wind in the Willows
I don't think I've seen this one, but it looks promising.

Cowboy Bebop: The Movie
:facepalm: I haven't seen it and it does not look promising.

Spirited Away
No likey Miyazaki.

Meet the Robinsons
One of my favorite movies. I voted for it in the Animation Countdown. I hope it'll do well here.

Ernest and Celestine
Also one of my favorite movies, though for whatever reason I've never watched it in French. I plan to change that this time.

Your Name
Makoto Shinkai makes some incredibly beautiful films, but his stories often fail to meet that standard of quality. I liked this movie, but definitely did not love it. We'll see what I think this time.

Tower
I don't think I'd ever even heard of this one.

Re: 2nd Animation Hall of Fame
 

@rauldc14 Wait a minute dude I nominated the Nineteen Eighty THREE version of Wind in the Willows.

GREAT list!! Seen a good portion, a few I can't remember but happy to see on the list and one unknown.

The Adventures of Prince Achmed
1926
Nominated by Ahwell ~ It's familiar, don't think I saw it, was this in a HoF or Tournament?

Sword in the Stone
1963
Nominated by Rauldc14 ~ Been AGES since I saw this, should be fun

Wizards
1977
Nominated by Siddon ~ remember getting happily stoned to this one. Crazy animation, should be a fun revisit.

The Wind in the Willows
1987
Nominated by Hashtagbrownies ~ I MAY have seen it back when it came out, but can't remember; but looking forward to it

Cowboy Bebop: The Movie
2001
Nominated by Edarsenal ~ this is my nom, BE SURE to watch this dubbed, the voice actors, for me, are superior. It's a REAL hard so i'll be sending a safe link for all.

Spirited Away
2001
Nominated by Ahwell ~ seen this a couple of times, I do enjoy and respect the artwork.

Meet the Robinsons
2007
Nominated by Funny Face ~ took forever to finally decide and THEN to actually watch this -- rather liked it, gonna enjoy a second viewing

Ernest and Celestine
2012
Nominated by Miss Vicky ~ I remember you discussing this a few years back, can't remember if I watched it or not; but do remember being intrigued by it

Your Name
2016
Nominated by CosmicRunaway ~ I do believe I saw this a year ago. Excited for the 2nd viewing

Tower
2016 Nominated by Siddon ~ Completely unknown, but it's Siddon, so should be pretty wild.

Re: 2nd Animation Hall of Fame
 

I love Prince Achmed, Spirited Away and my nom.

Never heard of Wizards or Tower but they look good.

I've heard good things about Your Name, the Sword and the Stone, Meet the Robinsons and Ernest and Celestine.

I've always wanted to check out the Cowboy Bebop tv show so I guess this is the opportunity. Interesting considering I was going to nominate the End of Evangelion (Then I decided not to as you'd have to watch the first 24 episodes of the show to get it).

My bad Hash, I'll update it.

definitely looks like a different format to the same story
https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w500_and_...s8nKvfs0C7.jpg

Re: 2nd Animation Hall of Fame
 

I haven't read the book or seen any other versions, this is just a childhood favourite of mine.

yeah. . .

https://i.makeagif.com/media/6-01-2015/852U8A.gif

figured as much

Re: 2nd Animation Hall of Fame
 

I'm actually more intrigued by the 1987 version of Windows in the Willows. Hopefully I'm proved wrong.

Also to save you some trouble I found 3 of the films on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08B1tdiGY40
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZlYUgSUt7Q&t=s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ab7axFMVWa0&t=s

Correction. I have seen it, but it wasn't memorable.

I will be watching it again, though.

Re: 2nd Animation Hall of Fame
 

I think you rate that one higher than my other potential nomination though :laugh:

For my reference:


The Adventures of Prince Achmed (Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed)
(Lotte Reiniger and Carl Koch, 1926) IMDb
1 hour, 21 minutes / My DVD
Nominated by ahwell
Rewatch? Yes.
Review: July 29, 2019 / +


Cowboy Bebop: The Movie (Cowboy Bebop: Tengoku no tobira)
(Shin'ichirô Watanabe, Tensai Okamura, Hiroyuki Okiura, and Yoshiyuki Takei, 2001) IMDb
1 hour, 55 minutes / Library DVD
Nominated by edarsenal
Rewatch? No.
Review: July 26, 2019 /


Ernest & Celestine (Ernest et Célestine)
(Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar, and Benjamin Renner , 2012) IMDb
1 hour, 20 minutes / My DVD
Nominated by Miss Vicky
Rewatch? Yes.
Review: August 2, 2019 / +


Meet the Robinsons
(Stephen J. Anderson, 2007) IMDb
1 hour, 35 minutes / My blu ray
Nominated by Funny Face
Rewatch? Yes.
Review: July 20, 2019 / +


Spirited Away (Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi)
(Hayao Miyazaki and Kirk Wise, 2001) IMDb
2 hours, 5 minutes / Library DVD
Nominated by ahwell
Rewatch? Yes.
Review: July 27, 2019 / -


The Sword in the Stone
(Wolfgang Reitherman, 1963) IMDb
1 hour, 19 minutes / Library DVD
Nominated by rauldc14
Rewatch? Yes.
Review: July 23, 2019 / -


Tower
(Keith Maitland, 2016) IMDb
1 hour, 22 minutes / Amazon rental
Nominated by Siddon
Rewatch? No.
Review: August 2, 2019 /


The Wind in the Willows
(Mark Hall, 1983) IMDb
1 hour, 19 minutes / YouTube
Nominated by HashtagBrownies
Rewatch? No.
Review: July 19, 2019 / -


Wizards
(Ralph Bakshi, 1977) IMDb
1 hour, 20 minutes / Library DVD
Nominated by Siddon
Rewatch? No.
Review: July 21, 2019 /


Your Name. (Kimi no na wa.)
(Makoto Shinkai, 2016) IMDb
1 hour, 46 minutes / My blu ray
Nominated by CosmicRunaway
Rewatch? Yes.
Review: August 2, 2019 /

PROGRAMING NOTE:


https://66.media.tumblr.com/4fc86059...db29o1_500.gif




WIZARDS will be on FXMHD on July 31st at 1:35 PM

http://www.angelfire.com/music6/walt...thewillows.gif

The Wind in the Willows (Mark Hall, 1983)
Imdb

Date Watched: 7/18/19
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: The Second Animation Hall of Fame, nominated by HashtagBrownies
Rewatch: No

IMDb lists this as a TV movie and it definitely had that feel to it. That's not to say that the stop-motion animation was poorly done, but it did have a certain crudeness to it. Overall, I liked the look of the film and - most of - the character designs (Rat's facial features bothered me. They were too rounded and squirrel-like). There was an impressive amount of attention to detail with the sets and miniatures and I really liked the little touches like the "Semper Buffo" on the Toad Hall flag.

Unfortunately, I didn't care for anything else. What little there was of a story didn't grab me and I found the characters rather annoying - especially Toad, who I absolutely despised. It also didn't help that Toad was frequently breaking out into song. Making an already obnoxious character that much more unbearable.

-

Re: 2nd Animation Hall of Fame
 

Spirited Away

The first time I watched Spirited Away I hated it. The second time I watched it I hated it. The third time I loved it. Why? What worked so well for me in that third viewing - and ever since? I've been trying to figure that out. Is it the whole bandwagon thing? "Everyone agrees its great!" For sure that influenced the fact that I watched a movie I knew I didn't like two times before I liked it. But in terms of my actual enjoyment, I don't think that's affected much. There are plenty of movies that are highly acclaimed that I just don't understand or like. So what is it? It might be that I was past the plot and the actual events in the film itself - it's a pretty simple plot if you think about it. Once I understood that and was past trying to rationalize this weird fantasy world, I realized that trying to rationalize the often absurd elements of Spirited Away is like trying to rationalize movies like 2001: A Space Odyssey or Inglourious Basterds. So, in essence, I let the giant baby, the chanting heads, the train ride, the witch twins, and everything else just seep in, instead of trying to question why the heck it exists. And that way just completely opened my eyes to the awesome and amazing experience that Spirited Away is. It is so filled with adventurous but quiet excitement, exploding creativity, and bizarre happenings that it's easy to miss it in the two hours of trying to follow Chihiro around while she turns her pig parents back into humans. It is now solidly in my top ten, and I don't see it leaving any time soon. I won't pretend to know what Spirited Away is "about" exactly. And I think that's part of its charm and spell that it casts on me and many others. It lets the movie be about you, letting you experience the struggles of a young girl whisked away to a fantasy land. The things in the movie are just as bizarre to her as they are to us. So I now realize I haven't really answered any of the questions that I posed at the beginning... and I probably never will.
Ah well :D

If you don't feel like reading that huge chunk, here's my condensed review:
Basically a masterpiece.

Re: 2nd Animation Hall of Fame
 

It is a masterpiece. I do think it's unique how there's a film that you once didn't like in your top 10. I can't think of a film that is rated that highly by me now that has gone on a similar track like that.

@HashtagBrownies, if you enjoy fantasy, I would highly suggest Fire & Ice which Bakshi joined up with an incredible and iconic Fantasy artist, Frank Frazetta for your next Bakshi film.

In fact, should you care to:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v26rUX16cZM

Frazetta was highly known for many cover arts for fantasy books and a few rock albums way back in the day. Was always amazed by his work and this film brought it life.

Re: 2nd Animation Hall of Fame
 

Or his version of "Lord of the Rings." Certainly different from the Peter Jacksons to say the least.

HUUUGELY different LOL

Bakshi was big on painting over live action.

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/...zNTk@._V1_.jpg


Wizards(1977) fun fact: originally this film was titled War Wizards and it was the other franchise Star Wars that requested the name change...oh and Star Wars also plucked this guy

https://animatedviews.com/wp-content.../wizards04.jpg
and made him Luke Skywalker, yup Mark Hamill's first voice work was as a fairy in Wizards.

Anyways the film is a trip, inspired by Tolkin and offended by Disney Ralph Bakshi wanted to make an experimental animated film that tackled several heavy topics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcnQ7Dlk_Ks


Bakshi wanted to make a film for teenagers, but he also wanted to blend in as many different animation styles as possible he used rotoscoping to trace over live action pieces, he used classic flat animation in the prologue and he would constantly change the camera angles to give you stunning visuals


https://i2.wp.com/comicofepicfail.co...size=500%2C273

And while the art style is incredible what I enjoyed most about the film is the characters. Avatar is the lead wizard and yet we're seeing him near the end of the his life, he has doubts and insecurities and that plays out throughout the story. Peace is a fascinating figure a terminator style robot set to first kill Avatar and then to go after Blackwolf. Weehawk was actually one of the weaker characters in the story mostly because he was being set up for a bigger role in the sequel. And finally Elinore

https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5zWnRexfn...+-+Elinore.png

Yup...glad I didn't see this movie when I was 13.

Re: 2nd Animation Hall of Fame
 

Wind in the Willows- 1983

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/i...fhcJNe51TKt4Wd

Why has this movie been made so many damn times? This version I didn't care for all that much. I wouldn't necessarily say I hated it but it didn't stand out for much of anything in the animation department. The sounds we're my biggest annoyance with constant background cricket chirping, background water noises and clock ticking. I get that it is legitimate sounds that could be made at the time but it just felt to stale.

I didn't hate any of the character but there were no standouts either. Often times I went back and forth thinking that Toad was rather obnoxious and overdramatic and sometimes I just found him to be funny. Quite silly seeing him not knowing how to drive the damn cars and then the plane. But my God what an awful song "When the Toad came home was". They would have been much better leaving singing out of this altogether. The animation altogether felt different to me obviously but I'm not sure it was really a different that I cared for either.

Someday I may watch the 1987 version as it looks most promising but not anytime soon. This and Ichabod and Mr. Toad are two movies that leave me scratching my head at the importance of the story The Wind in the Willows.

Re: 2nd Animation Hall of Fame
 

@ahwell @Miss Vicky @rauldc14 @Siddon @HashtagBrownies @CosmicRunaway

I have a rather a bit of an issue.
Funny Face let me know that there is a 404 Error message for the link I sent you all for my nomination.
I looked and found that they no longer have it on that site. And since this is nearly impossible to find online, depending on how you all want to do this, I may have to switch out nominations with one that IS very easy to find.
If we go the replacement path, I can A: post my new nomination or B: simply send it to Raul. Should we go that way.

So, until this gets worked out, PLEASE, hold off watching Cowboy Bebop for now.

THANK YOU and so very sorry for the inconvenience of it.

I have a 404 message too. Thank you for responding so swiftly.
You don't have to change the nom (Well for me anyway). I can get it on amazon for eight bucks.

Re: 2nd Animation Hall of Fame
 

I'll go with the crowd if you want a new one

@edarsenal

It doesn't matter to me. My library has the DVD and I've already requested a hold, so that has Funny Face and me covered. But I'll hold off on watching until you make your final decision.

Do a second nom, because I already rented this from Netflix and it looked like something I would score highly based on the trailer.

Re: 2nd Animation Hall of Fame
 

@edarsenal

I have a HD link for your nom that works. I'll message it to you.

Thanks everyone, I just like to be sure that a nom is available when I put it in, so if everyone can find it elsewhere I would LOVE to leave it. Which is why I spent so long finding a site without pop ups of any kind for it.
For myself I have it at my library as well.
So if everyone is good, then I'll leave it.

And thanks CR, the links didn't work out, but I truly do appreciate your efforts, MOST kind of you!

http://www.angelfire.com/music6/walt.../robinsons.gif

Meet the Robinsons (Stephen J. Anderson, 2007)
Imdb

Date Watched: 7/20/19
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: The Second Animation Hall of Fame, nominated by Funny Face
Rewatch: Yes

This is a really sweet, eccentric, and funny film about letting go of the injustices of the past and... keep moving forward. It's sort of like Back to the Future meets The Jetsons and it often delves pretty far into the absurd, but it maintains a certain whimsical charm that has stuck with me since its initial release.

The character designs and the animation, while not quite on par with the likes of Pixar (who released Ratatouille in the same year), are still of impressive quality and the Sci-Fi adventure story is fun and engaging. And that's really where the film's strength is: It's fun. It has a message but it's not preachy or heavy on the substance. Its purpose is to entertain and to make you smile and, for me, it succeeds admirably.

+

As MV said, we definitely are able to get a copy easily from the library. Looking forward to watching it!

http://www.angelfire.com/music6/walt...og/wizards.gif

Wizards (Ralph Bakshi, 1977)
Imdb

Date Watched: 7/20/19
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: The Second Animation Hall of Fame, nominated by Siddon
Rewatch: No

I don't like Ralph Baskhi. His artwork and animation style are ugly and unappealing and the subjects of his films are equally so. His characters are also often grotesque and off-putting. The women in particular look either like something from a nightmare or something from a pubescent boy's masturbatory fantasies. There is no in-between. This was true of Fritz the Cat and Coonskin and it is true of Wizards.

Add this to the heavy fantasy and frequent narration and still images, and you have me disengaged from the start with no hope of pulling me in. Perhaps if I was someone who partook in, uh, certain substances I might've been able to enjoy this, but I'm not and I hated every minute of it.

Re: 2nd Animation Hall of Fame
 

The Adventures of Prince Achmed

Pre-30s movies aren't always the most accessible, they're not always the most relatable or entertaining. But they can tell us so much about the times then that I think these movies, especially The Adventures of Prince Achmed, are practically textbooks on both filma nd history. The Adventures of Prince Achmed is animated in a unique and brilliant way that I have not really seen since then. It is highly influential, one of the earliest great films from a female director, and is important in the film canon. That said, I'm not sure how much I really enjoyed this film. If it was made today... well, it couldn't be. I recently saw Toy Story 4 in theaters and right before came a bunch of absolute junk trailers for animated kids movies. Angry Birds 2, Trolls 2, Some Fox Movie. Certainly The Adventures of Prince Achmed is more enjoyable even than those movies, without needing to see them. So it somewhat disappointing to see animation turning from an obviously noble art that it once was in the 1920s and 30s to kids money-making machines. Don't get me wrong there are plenty of amazing animated movies today, but most of them completely miss the mark of high quality. The Adventures of Prince Achmed brought me back to a refreshing time when animation was just getting started and was a medium treated with utmost passion and love by its creators.

Enjoyablity factor... well, that's what my rating is for. For 1926, not bad at all.

Actually the link does work. Hashtag just used it and said it worked fine. If anybody needs a link message me.

https://i.imgur.com/l3L9TzI.gif?noredirect


Meet the Robinsons

Lewis: Why is your dog wearing glasses?
Grandpa Bud: Oh, because his insurance won't pay for contacts.

For openers, I do concur on the reviews so far, this IS a fun movie.
For some time I had been on the fence on this film on whether I'd watch it or not. It seemed to be a 50-50 shot; could be really good, could be not so much.
So, when I did see this about a year ago, I thoroughly enjoyed this. Didn't become an instant favorite but it is definitely a very fun movie with a wonderful message, it's bright, crazy characters and a well-rounded story that makes you smile. So, suffice to say, I was pretty happy to see it nominated to give me a revisit since I've been wanting just that recently. YAY

The pacing of this is well done and we move along quite nicely as things unfold and especially takes off when we visit the future and the Robinson clan, themselves.
And I must say, I really loved the Bowler Hat Guy. He reminded me of the magician from Frosty the Snowman.
https://statici.behindthevoiceactors...binsons-15.jpghttps://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/...20170121002416
Both of which are great bumbling villains that I find endearing.

I also love the final title card at the very end. VERY nice, that.

Finally, one particular gag I seriously got a kick out of was this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-PTkQqGsFk

So, a fun and a wonderful start for me to this HoF that truly gets me to:

https://media1.tenor.com/images/f9f5...itemid=4884111

Re: 2nd Animation Hall of Fame
 

The Adventures of Prince Achmed

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/i...d5jM_KuJ90a91w

While technically not the first animated movie, it is regarded often as so, since the others have been considered lost. It was cool to see the craft of the film, and even cooler than it was actually directed by a female Lotte Reiniger. I really could tell that a lot of time was put into her making the scenes. I also was quite a big fan of the colorful backdrops that were used in the film and how it changed between red, green, and blue among a few others I believe.

But realistically, animation has come a long way, and so this does feel quite dated obviously. I think it's biggest struggle is the lack of assembling any care or concern for any of the characters that were involved, which yes could have been a difficult thing to do but at the same time it was only 11 years later Snow White came out and that is a movie that was pretty successful to do that, so it could have possibly been done.

And yes it was a silent films but even films like The Gold Rush and Sunrise had me invested in the characters so again it could have been done. I can respect it's craft but it's not technically a movie that I really enjoyed.

-

Looks like I'm all caught up now, so it's time for first impressions. I'm actually surprised that I've seen so many of the nominations.

The Adventures of Prince Achmed - I've seen parts of this, but not the entire thing. I've been meaning to watch it for awhile so now that it's nominated I'll finally get around to it. It's certainly very pretty, especially considering it's age.

Sword in the Stone - I loved this when I was a kid. I don't think I rewatched it during the Animated Film Tournament, so it's definitely due for another viewing. Hopefully it's still one of my favourite Disney films.

Wizards - I saw this when I was fairly young, probably around the same time I first saw the Heavy Metal films and Fire and Ice, but unlike those three, I've only ever seen Wizards that one time. Will be interesting to see how I feel about it now.

The Wind in the Willows - We watched this in school when I was young, and unfortunately I remember hating it. It's probably one of the reasons why I refuse to watch any stop-motion films unless absolutely necessary. I'll try to keep an open mind when I rewatch it though.

Cowboy Bebop: The Movie - I saw this film when it was new without having seen the series and it was easy enough to follow. I've only seen the original Japanese version, and I've still never seen the series, but I've actually met one of the English voice actors (Steve Blum) and the ADR director for the anime. I typically stay away from dubs, but I'll give it a go at Ed's request.

Spirited Away - I correctly guessed that this was nominated, so I actually rewatched it before I left. I have a few sentences written already as well, but I'm starting to feel the jet lag so I might not get it finished today.

Meet the Robinsons - I haven't seen this one.

Ernest and Celestine - I watched this for the Animated Film Tournament and didn't actually hate it. I recall thinking it was quite good, though not my usual cup of tea.

Your Name - My review for this is already written, and will follow shortly.

Tower - This is the only nomination I've never heard of before.

If anyone was curious, the other film I considered nominating was Angel's Egg, which I thought was visually impressive but also incredibly boring, so I decided to go with my room mate's recommendation of Your Name, which I had been meaning to watch for awhile but never got around to until now. There are multiple copies of that film in this house, including a really nice collector's edition.

Re: 2nd Animation Hall of Fame
 

Wizards

I ended up disliking this one a fair amount by the end. At the beginning however it looked very promising. Post-apocalyptic environment, epic backstory, and a clearly wide imagination of the animators and director. However, as the story went on, it became a slog of un-funny humor, ugly animation, bad voice acting, and a metaphor that of course is important but was not handled well. I hated the "lost footage" that was used, it's a cop-out when films do that to make their themes clear. It still would have been very obvious what Bakshi was trying to say without needing that live action part. The characters are also pretty bland and boring. But... there were some chilling and thrilling moments, and a great villain. So not completely bad.

Re: 2nd Animation Hall of Fame
 

Already at 14/80 reviews in only 4.5 days in! Nice work all!

https://media3.giphy.com/media/10ALi...QfK/source.gif

LOL now THAT is a Hip Cat!

Re: 2nd Animation Hall of Fame
 

I did like the extra year sentence for sure!

http://www.angelfire.com/music6/walt...ieLog/sits.gif

The Sword in the Stone (Wolfgang Reitherman, 1963)
Imdb

Date Watched: 7/23/19
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: The 2nd Animation Hall of Fame, nominated by rauldc14
Rewatch: Yes

Oh yay, more fantasy. More wizards. :rolleyes:
Well at least this one looks good.

That's really about the most praise I can give it, though. It's pretty. Not impressively so, mind you, but it's pretty. Everything else is pretty much a laundry list of things that annoy me. Let's start with the songs. There weren't a lot of them, but they were really annoying. Especially Mim's overly long and irritating number. Right up there with the stupid songs was the magical gibberish/spells that Merlin and Mim were casting.

Then there's the characters. Now, I don't necessarily have a problem with bumbling idiots in film. As seen in things like Meet the Robinsons and The Emporer's New Groove, such characters can be really endearing and even the most memorable. But when you populate the entire thing with bumbling idiots, it just doesn't work for me. You got to have at least one smart person to balance it. I facepalmed every time Merlin worked his magic on Arthur, every pointless transformation after pointless transformation - and near death experience after near death experience. Seriously? I'm supposed to believe that guy - who keeps almost getting this kid killed - is the greatest wizard? Yeah, no. The only character I gave even the slightest damn about was the female squirrel that became infatuated with Arthur.

I actually started this movie last night but shut it off about halfway through because I got so annoyed with it. I'll rate it the same as Wind in the Willows, if only because I can't decide which was more irritating.

-

Re: 2nd Animation Hall of Fame
 

You forgot to mention Archimedes! He rules!

:nope:

https://opuszine.us/_assets/stills/c...ebop-movie.jpg

Last year I nominated Akira and the major complaint was that it was to hard to follow. Cowboy Bebop was easy to follow...follow all of those sweet sweet references. Did I find any of the characters engaging..nope, could I tell you anything about the plot...nope did I turn my brain off and just soak up the music and visuals...yup.


The opening the film is straight out of Pulp Fiction, you could even call it a pulp fictionesque use of Pulp Fiction. I mean the cinematic references in this film was off the wall, I think I saw Speed, Blade Runner, Total Recall, The Matrix, Die Hard, Batman, Lethal Weapon it just went on and on.


The film didn't really work on a narrative level I don't watch Cowboy Bebop so I was definitely lost but the scenes were just so well rendered and soundtrack was so seamlessly blended in.

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/45/a9/97/4...-white-art.jpg


Wizards

As a youngster artist/stoner, I had always enjoyed the visuals of this film. There was something unique in the fact that there was not one specific format of animation but a complete hodge podge of work.
There were these wonderful fantasy sketches done in chalk on colored paper, as above, then there were moments of rotoscoping (taking live action and painting over it) mixed with the cartoon style of characters
https://i.makeagif.com/media/12-05-2015/BFchQp.gifhttps://i.makeagif.com/media/1-18-2016/xyVDD0.gif

to backgrounds of purely inked linework
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BvsufCuCEAIBat-.jpg

and even the character artwork would vary from intense to vaudvillian
https://i.gifer.com/3420.gifhttps://i.imgur.com/rInNAmg.gif

The allegorical warnings of propaganda and the destructive nature of technology within the story always seemed to drift into the background. The smorgasbord of various art forms, even now, takes precedence over the story as I watch, and remember the impression that the artwork made on me and the pleasant "trips" I had on numerous occasions and the artwork it inspired during those early years.

Much of the work seems more sketch work than finished/completed work, giving it a more overall rawness that I still find very worthwhile. Even some of the rotoscoping which I wasn't too much of a fan of, has some valid merit these many years later.

Quite the fun trip down daze gone by.
Thank you for that.

http://www.angelfire.com/music6/walt...owboybebop.gif

Cowboy Bebop: The Movie (Cowboy Bebop: Tengoku no tobira) (Shin'ichirô Watanabe, Tensai Okamura, Hiroyuki Okiura, and Yoshiyuki Take, 2001)
Imdb

Date Watched: 7/26/19
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: The 2nd Animation Hall of Fame, nominated by edarsenal
Rewatch: No

I knew basically nothing about this going in and, now that I've seen it, I still don't know what the hell it was about. Something to do with nanobots that act like a virus and break down into protein being unleashed by some soldier/guinea pig with hallucinations who is trying to find a "door" or some such ****. Whatever. The plot was too convoluted for my apathetic mind to follow.

Adding to my boredom was the fact that I cared absolutely nothing for any of the characters and didn't much like their highly stylized and elongated designs. Also, I would like to put forth this... thing (Ed) as a nomination for most irritating animated film character ever:

http://www.angelfire.com/music6/walt...g/cbedmini.gif
(Toad from The Wind in the Willows also deserves a nomination)

All that said, the film looked great - truly beautiful animation and nice use of color. But pretty, pretty pictures are simply not enough to engage me.

Re: 2nd Animation Hall of Fame
 

I should be up to date on the front page. Let me know if I've missed anything.

Re: 2nd Animation Hall of Fame
 

Meet the Robinsons

There's nothing really wrong with this movie, it's just not special or new in any way. The filmmakers involved don't try for anything original, as almost every plot element has been used in other time travel movies. There were way too many characters as well, which definitely hurt my interest and enjoyment of it. But other than that nothing really sticks out... which is both a bad and good thing. There wasn't really anything too annoying, but nothing spectacular or amazing that I would want to revisit.

I've been going over the notes I wrote while rewatching The Sword in the Stone, and there's an abnormally high amount of Monty Python and the Holy Grail quotes in there. I might have two things relevant to the film I actually watched haha.

http://www.angelfire.com/music6/walt...pritedaway.gif

Spirited Away (Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi) (Hayao Miyazaki, 2001)
Imdb

Date Watched: 7/27/19
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: The 2nd Animation Hall of Fame, nominated by ahwell
Rewatch: Yes.

Spirited Away carries an important and still very much relevant message about consumerism, greed, and the environmental destruction it causes. It features exquisite animation with vibrant colors. Its characters and situations are bizarre and imaginative enough to rival the likes of Alice in Wonderland. Unfortunately, however beautiful it may be, it lacks that classic film's humor and charm. It also drags on for far too long and could easily have done without several scenes, especially the romantic elements.

In the end, I found myself respecting the film - but I still don't like it.

-

Re: 2nd Animation Hall of Fame
 

Well at least you respect it. I can't wait to see it again.

I can. I can wait the rest of my life. :p

BTW, have we set a deadline?

Re: 2nd Animation Hall of Fame
 

@Miss Vicky considering your other reviews could Spirited Away actually make the top half of your ballot?

That could help it out, is that she hates other films here more

I guess that depends on what I think of Tower, since it’s the only one left that I haven’t seen.

Let's go with September 18th, although maybe I'll be the only slowpoke needing that long:p

I kind of surprised myself by getting through that entire post without making a single Holy Grail reference, even though I had jokingly written an entire paragraph on how pulling swords out of stone anvils was a far better basis for a system of government than strange women lying in ponds distributing swords. I mean, you can't expect to wield supreme power just because some watery tart threw a sword at you, but pulling a sword out of a stone is completely acceptable. :cool:

I'm pretty sure I'll be keeping you company lol

Arggh, and here I was, WAITING, ANTICIPATING some Holy Grail references! :(

You silly English Kuuuuunigits.

We are not silly, we are knights of the round table and we have been charged by God with a sacred quest. It's very serious business.

http://38.media.tumblr.com/e4cda1ba8...pjdeo1_250.gifhttp://38.media.tumblr.com/6199c623f...bo7_r2_250.gif
https://66.media.tumblr.com/a338ddc4...mo8_r1_500.gif

;)
LOVE that movie. Knew it by heart in high school and we'd do the entire dialogue of it while out partying and causing havoc.

http://billy-burnette.com/personal/achmed.gif

The Adventures Of Prince Achmed (Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed) (Lotte Reiniger, 1926)
Imdb

Date Watched: 07/29/19
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: The 2nd Animation Hall of Fame, nominated by ahwell
Rewatch: Yes

I first watched this film back in 2016 and, while I was impressed with the film from a visual standpoint, I found myself quite bored by it. Tonight's experience was a little better. I didn't care much for the story - magic, demons, weak-willed women, and men who seem to subscribe to the notion that "no" means "yes" - aren't really my cup of tea, but I managed to stay engaged for a good chunk of the film. That is, until the fourth act where all the nonsense with Aladdin stretched my ability to give a **** beyond its breaking point. Still, I have nothing but respect and admiration for the attention to detail and immense patience and dedication it required to create this film and I remain very impressed with the beauty that was achieved through such a primitive technique.

+

Re: 2nd Animation Hall of Fame
 

Wizards

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/i...59kRbcVVbVGKaz

The problem with Wizards for me is that it is a story that really should have worked for me but it lacked in the execution that I was hoping for. Someone said it in an earlier review, but I wished that it would have focused more on the adventure aspect and less on the battle and propaganda.

These characters also should have been made more interesting and I didn't care for the voice acting of any of them. Elinor was the worst of them all for me, and could they have made her any uglier. I didn't think that Avatar was all that compelling either. I wish Peace played a bigger role. Blackwolf was kind of a lame villain for me. Peace would be my favorite but I also think he needed an expanded role.

I didn't mind the animation and some of it looked rather cool. What I didn't like we're the live action blended scenes nor did I enjoy the narration scenes all too much.

I'm mainly disappointed than anything else. I think the groundwork was there to deliver something cool but it just didn't happen.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/45/b6...397b0ebb49.gif


The Sword in the Stone

Madame Mim: Sounds like someone's sick. How lovely. I do hope it's serious. Something dreadful.

Going loosely from the first of four parts of T.H. White's The Once and Future King
https://i.ebayimg.com/thumbs/images/...w1y/s-l225.jpg
that had come out the decade before and a favorite of mine from childhood, we get a Disney-fied Merlin who is more comedic than sagely as we bounce from lesson to lesson as young "Wart" is transformed into a variety of animals and scarcely surviving each and every one of them until we get to the finality of him removing the sword from the actual stone.
Something that seemed not so climatic, especially after the real climax of the Wizard Fight between Merlin and the (created for the movie) "Mad" Madam Mim. The one scene that would be hightlighted many a time on "Disney's Wonderful World of Disney" on any given Sunday evening on NBC.

While sort of in the middle of Disney animations, I did enjoy hearing Sebastion Cabot, who is known as The Narrator for the Winnie the Pooh films playing a gruff Sir Ector along with a small voice role for Alan Napier playing Sir Pellinore, who, for me, is very well known for playing Alfred on TV's "Batman" a couple years after this movie was made.

Re: 2nd Animation Hall of Fame
 

The Sword in the Stone

https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media...3gt9gevo1i.png

Seems to be a film that continually rises the ranks of the Disney animated classics for me. I like it's old world atmosphere with Wizards and castles it gives off a real cool atmosphere to me. I also liked the scenes with the woodsy atmospheres. They just looked really cool, like Merlin in the woods at the well. I also really appreciate the animation and how colorful the film is. Most Disney look gorgeous but I'd say that this one is really up there as well.

A lot of people are hating on Merlin here but I really like his character. Not the smartest of wizards but to me the film was going a bit comedic for me and it really worked wonders. His banter with Archimedes makes for a great one two punch. I'd say that Archimedes is one of my favorite side animated characters. I thought he was a barrel of fun.

And I just have a lot of nostalgia for the film to be honest which aides in loving it. My favorite scene has to be Mim vs. Merlin, one of the best film duels of all time. But I also chuckle at that squirrel scene as well, it's a fun hoot.

This one doesn't seem to have fared well so far, but it was a nice stroll down memory lane for me again.

-

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/...3NTY@._V1_.jpg


Your Name(2016) takes the familiar troupe of body snatching and then twists it into something else and finishes with something better. While watching this film I kept thinking to myself did this film really need to be animated for me I felt like you miss out on the importance of the romance with animated characters.


On the flip side I really enjoyed the soundtrack and certain bits and pieces of the film I just felt like the film's runtime was padded out. I kept waiting for the magic of the story telling to come along and it just didn't connect with me and unfortunately for this genre that is a big thing.

https://d3uc4wuqnt61m1.cloudfront.ne...jpg?1478228444





Novelty is often brought up and knocked in film making you come across and gimmick and often times that gimmick hurts the film. The Adventures of Prince Achmed is very much a novelty film telling the story of princes, wizards, armies etc and told with carboard cutouts. And even though I didn't find the story or the characters interesting I did love the movie because it was so different from what I normally see. The story is told in shadow and it gives one's imagination the opportunity to be put to work with this one.

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/...77,268_AL_.jpg


"Who Cares As Long As the Work Get's Done" - Merlin


Merlin is a dick, sorry it had to be said plus he uses biological warfare against Mim which is totally against the rules damn you Merlin.


The Sword in the Stone Yeah I loved this movie, watched it on Laser Disc I dug the characters and I liked how everyone had their own set of flaws. I suppose you could knock it for not exactly having a cohesive story rather more being a collection of Disney sketches but...I loved every minute of it. This actually reminded me a bit of the old WC Fields movies where you would have a collection of bits that were strung together to tell a somewhat weaker over arching story.

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/i...I4M_l0D3QgLcbw

Meet the Robinsons is the sweet story of an orphan who is transported to the future to stop the bowler hat man from ruining the world. The story is well paced and some of the humor works well but I had a couple problems with the film. To start with while some of the jokes landed most didn't their is a pretty high level of corniness to most of the humor. When the humor goes dark especially with the Goob subplot the film shines but then we go off with other side characters it goes off the rails a bit. The other thing that bothered me was the animation style, funny how I enjoyed the 1926 animated film because it was different but with this 2007 one it felt very dated. This is unfortunately the worst part of CGI in that it can age very quickly and look kinda bad.



But for what it was it was alright.

http://billy-burnette.com/personal/yourname.gif

Your Name. (Kimi no na wa.) (Makoto Shinkai, 2016)
Imdb

Date Watched: 08/02/19
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: The 2nd Animation Hall of Fame, nominated by CosmicRunaway
Rewatch: Yes

Although he's far from being my favorite anime director, Makoto Shinkai consistently delivers visually beautiful films. 5 Centimeters Per Second and Garden of Words are absolutely stunning. The trouble is that the stories that accompany those gorgeous images don't always measure up.

So it was with some reservations that I first watched Your Name. back in late 2017. I was less than thrilled by its body and time swapping premise, but I was hooked by its imagery and drawn in by the sweet and funny romance. My experience today was much the same. I remain impressed by the detail and vivid colors and was again very much engaged with its characters. I don't think this will ever rank among my favorites, but it is a very enjoyable film and one I'll definitely revisit again.

I think that is the highest you've ever rated one of my nominations haha.

Re: 2nd Animation Hall of Fame
 

I think mine was Manchester by the Sea from her.

Re: 2nd Animation Hall of Fame
 

The Wind in the Willows

I don't really like the book The Wind in the Willows, so why would I really like any movie adaption? Same goes for this one, which overall has ugly looking characters, horrible songs, and annoying characters with no depths. But even though I had some things I really hated about it, it wasn't too bad of an experience. There was a certain grotesque charm to it, like during the court case scene, which was pretty interesting, or the final fight. There were moments in it when I thought it was just great and well done... but as a whole the film just doesn't work, it just doesn't engage me.

Re: 2nd Animation Hall of Fame
 

Cowboy Bebop: The Movie

I was actually pretty pleasantly surprised with this one. There's a lot of super crap anime that I just can't stand, but this one did a decent job of having witty dialogue, fun action, and even a semi-engaging story. That said, it has some huge problems and will never rank among my favorites. I did like the movie references and the comedy, but some of the characters were annoying and I felt like the movie couldn't decide what tone to take. Was it a fun romp, an action, a philosophical science fiction, or all of those things meshed into an often blurry plot line? I didn't really know by the end. The truth is, Cowboy Bebop is a great movie to watch once, it's a fun enough movie. But after that, it'll just fade into a boring movie that doesn't need to be seen again.

Re: 2nd Animation Hall of Fame
 

Tower

I'm... a sensitive person, I guess. Basically any movie with any depressing moments or overall themes will get me crying (For some reason I went through Grave of the Fireflies dry-eyed), even movies I didn't really like such as Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Tower was no different. When it talked about the woman (Rita I think) who lied in the pavement with the pregnant victim Claire for hours, I had tears in my eyes. It wasn't an ugly cry, but it was just a sheer respect and awe for the heroes of this world. And that I think is what Tower is about. It's interesting that they spend less than five minutes on the actual shooter himself. There is no backstory, no theory given as to why he would have done such a thing as attempt to kill hundreds of people at the University of Texas. I really liked that. This movie chose to spend it's running time showing all the good that people did on such a horrible day, and that people have a capacity for both great evil and great love and courage. I can't judge a movie like this on technical quality, editing, etc... All I know is that it really moved me, and that's what a film should do.

http://billy-burnette.com/personal/tower.gif

Tower (Keith Maitland, 2016)
Imdb

Date Watched: 08/02/19
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: The 2nd Animation Hall of Fame, nominated by Siddon
Rewatch: No.

I did not want to watch this movie. Mass shootings have become far too common in this country and with the recent shooting in Gilroy (not too far from where I am) it's perhaps too relevant a subject right now.

That said, this documentary was beautifully crafted and very moving. I was brought to tears multiple times hearing the accounts of that horrific day. It was especially difficult watching Officer McCoy talk about how he could've prevented the death of his fellow officer if only he had acted sooner, as well as some other survivors who also blame themselves for not doing more.

It's an incredibly emotional and compelling film. But here's the thing: I'm not convinced that the choice to use animation actually added anything to it. In fact, there were multiple times when it took me out of the film, especially when color animation was overlayed on black and white footage. This is a shame because animation can be used effectively in a documentary, as seen with the surrealistic imagery of Waltz With Bashir. And this leaves me torn in regards to how to rank it on my ballot. Do I place it high because it's so effective and engaging? Or do I rank it low because this is an animation Hall of Fame and I feel like the animation was actually a weak point in the film? I'll have to give it more thought.

Re: 2nd Animation Hall of Fame
 

Just my rewatch of Ernest and Celestine left. I might do that tonight, if not I'll definitely be done sometime this weekend.

I disagree about the animation not adding anything to this film. The people in this documentary were shown when it happened and they were younger, and present day when they're older. The animation made it easier (at least for me) to connect these characters as the same people.

Most movies just cast two different actors as the younger and older versions of the characters, and if they don't get it right, it makes it feel like they're two different people, rather than the same person at different ages. I thought the animation was a great way to get around that and make the characters feel like the same people at both ages.

@gbgoodies

It was made using rotoscope animation, so you still had actual actors portraying what was happening and animation was put over it later. For me it was no more effective than if they'd just used normal live action reenactments.

I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on this one. I've seen too many movies (and TV shows) where the younger versions of the older actors look nothing like them, so it feels like they're two different characters, and that just takes me right out of the movie.

Even though it was rotoscope animation, it still worked for me because it felt like it was the same person, just at different ages. I thought that helped make Tower one of the most powerful documentaries I've seen.

http://billy-burnette.com/personal/ernest.gif

Ernest & Celestine (Ernest et Célestine) (Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar, 2012)
Imdb

Date Watched: 08/02/19
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: The 2nd Animation Hall of Fame, nominated by me
Rewatch: Yes.

I've seen this movie many times, but tonight was my first time watching it in its original French dub... and I gotta say I prefer the English dub. No disrespect meant to Lambert Wilson, who was very good as the voice of Ernest, but the gruffness Forest Whitaker lent to the role just feels better suited to a big grouchy bear.

But the film is a delight in any language. Its basic premise - two outcasts from different societies come together to form an unlikely friendship - is nothing new or original. However, whatever it might lack on that front it more than makes up for in whimsy and charm. It also boasts simple but gorgeous hand painted watercolor images, which - as much as I love CG animation - are a nice change of pace from what most animation studios are producing these days. But mostly it's just really sweet, funny, and touching.

+

Re: 2nd Animation Hall of Fame
 

Voted.