The MoFo Top 100 Animated Films - The Countdown

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I'd drop $20 to see it on the big screen.
Alright, last night is behind me. Sorry for my little temper tantrum. I really did enjoy Its Such A Beautiful Day. Ready for the next set.
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Burn. If you can get anyone to say they would pay $10 to see that in a theater, I will take it all back.
I already said I saw Everything will be ok at a film festival, as part of a collection of animated shorts. I don't remember the admission fee exactly but it wasn't free.



Somewhere out there I'm having a good time.
Still haven't seen any of my top 25 and after seeing It's a Beautiful Day on here I feel for the first time in my life I might just be too mainstream!





94. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm - Voting Stats

Total Points: 58
Part of a Numeric Tie? Yes, tied with Frankenweenie and It's Such A Beautiful Day, but its fifth place vote puts it higher than Frankenweenie.
4 Votes: 5th Place (21 pts.), 7th Place (19 pts.), 11th Place (15 pts.), 23rd (3 pts.)


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93. Garden Of Words - Voting Stats

Total Points: 59
Part of a Numeric Tie? Yes, but more on that tomorrow.
4 Votes: 6th Place (20 pts.), 7th Place (19 pts), 13th Place (13 pts.), 19th Place (7 pts.)



I haven't seen either of these two movies. Mask of the Phantasm doesn't look like my kind of movie at all. Garden of Words doesn't really either, but it does look very beautiful so I might have to borrow the DVD from my friend Funny Face at some point.



Bright light. Bright light. Uh oh.
I like Mask of the Phantasm - I voted for it in the Comic List - but not for this one. I don't think I've even heard of Gatden of Words.
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Garden of words is a visual feast of the highest caliber. Not that solid in terms of the story but in the end I don't think that matters as much, its main focus is clearly driven to the artistic detail.


I haven't watched the other one, due to my severe lack of superhero movies overall, but I plan to.



By the way, if by any chance you get interested enough to watch Garden of words, feel free to check the marginally superior 5 centimeters per second as well, which I hope will be in this list if only for internal coherence sake





I watched Garden of Words for the Hall of Fame - shorts edition (I think Sane nominated it then). I enjoyed it and thought it was visually very well done (Shinkai is undeniably a very talented artist), but the story seemed just a little bit too ... emotionally expressive and overly sentimental to me when I watched it. Maybe I was in a particularly cold mood, because I almost never give that criticism (it sounds so cynical to say something like that), but sometimes I do think it's valid to point this issue out. It just means that the drama up to a certain point of the film didn't earn the emotions the characters are suddenly showing for me personally. I guess that was the case for me with this film.

Again, this is very much a must watch if you're a fan of the art of animation. Like Jal90 said, story-wise it may not be that special (at least it wasn't for me) and maybe even seems a little cliché at times, but visually it's absolutely exceptional! And who knows, maybe you'll find the story sweet or sad in a resonating manner and will be captured by the film's drama in a way that I wasn't because you can relate to it better somehow (because of different life experiences for instance).
Be sure to find that out for yourself! This piece of film is definitely worth spending 45 minutes of time on.
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Cobpyth's Movie Log ~ 2019



Not a big Shinkai fan. Sure, the animation is well done, but the story, characters and dialogue never match the visuals in quality. I come out of the movie thinking, "that was okay." Never great. Others tend to disagree with me.
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Mask of the Phantasm is awesome, as was the show that it was spawned from. It wasn't on my list at all, but I'm happy to see it all the same.

I've never even heard of Garden of Words before, but it looks interesting (now that I've looked it up). I'll have to go and check it out.
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Arcanis' 100 Favorite Films: 2015 Edition





When it comes to animation, nostalgia outweighs quality. Most of the films that made my list are like security blankets. They trigger childhood memories of warmth and comfort. They transport me to a simpler, more innocent time. That's why The Brave Little Toaster was #15 on my list, even though I haven't seen it in over twenty years. I can barely recollect most scenes (although the junkyard sequence near the end remains surprisingly fresh in my mind), but it's less about the film than the memories and the emotions attached to it.

My VHS copy of The Brave Little Toaster ventured in and out of the VCR so many times that eventually the tape stopped working correctly. I doubt it's an easy feat for a kid to feel so attached to household appliances, yet I still remember the characters quite vividly, which is surely a testament to the film's characterization and voice work. I also recall the film's bold choice to display an interracial couple, which shouldn't be a big deal, but sadly it was at the time. I remember thinking such a relationship seemed a bit unusual at first, since I rarely saw interracial relationships on TV or in public, but Rob and Chris seemed so happy and healthy and normal that the difference in their skin color soon stopped registering with me. In hindsight, such a seemingly minor decision by the creators of the film seems like a subtle, subconscious way of reverse engineering any potential prejudice a kid might pick up from his or her parents.

I'm sure The Brave Little Toaster would've placed several spots higher on my list if it was a little more fresh on my mind. A reunion with my favorite animated appliances is long overdue. I’m disappointed that it didn't make the countdown.



All Dogs Go to Heaven is another childhood favorite. It was #6 on my list. Unlike The Brave Little Toaster, I own it on DVD and I've watched it a few times as an adult. I've always been an animal lover -- dogs, in particular -- so naturally that aspect of the film appeals to me. The songs suck, but there are several memorable sequences: Charley, Itchy and Anne-Marie placing bets at the racetrack; the effeminate King Gator (whose gender confused me mightily as a kid); the puppies wrestling over pizza; the blood-red sky and the demon from Hell awaiting Charlie's soul. Considering how increasingly uptight the rating system is nowadays, it's also kinda cool to see a G-rated film where the characters drink beer and gamble and smoke cigars and talk about whorehouses. I find the plot imaginative and entertaining. Burt Reynolds is a perfect vocal fit for the roguish German Shepherd and he has a great rapport with Dom DeLuise's Dachshund.

The real star of the movie, though, is Judith Barsi as the adorable orphan Anne-Marie. The way she pronounces Charley's name is one of the cutest things I've ever heard. She provides the heart and the warmth and the tenderness. She's responsible for all the "awwww!" moments of the film that tug at the heartstrings. Naturally, I assumed that she was voiced by a woman impersonating a little girl, since that's usually the case. Instead I discovered that Judith Barsi was a little girl herself. (She also voiced Ducky in The Land Before Time, another staple of my childhood.) Unfortunately I also learned that she was shot and killed by her father when she was only ten years old, so that news totally ruined my day. I'll never be able to hear her voice again without thinking of that horrible tragedy.



Frankenweenie was my #16. I consider Tim Burton to be one of my favorite directors. I love his aesthetic (which is uniquely his own). And I especially love that he celebrates the freaks and weirdos and oddballs that don’t fit into society’s typical standards of normalcy. Again, being a dog-lover, Frankenweenie appeals to me. Anyone who has lost a pet will be able to sympathize with the story. The film is also a love-letter to the horror films of yore, so as a fan of Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein and the horror genre in general, I admire that aspect of the film. I had fun with all the various references, like the teacher who looks like Vincent Prince. I've developed a newfound admiration and respect for stop-motion animation and all the painstaking work that goes into it. I think Frankenweenie is one of the best animated films to come in recent years, and it's certainly the best film Burton has made in quite some time. I regret not putting it higher on my list.

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As for the other movies to make the countdown so far, I haven't seen Surf's Up, It's Such a Beautiful Day or Garden of Words. Tarzan is fun and enjoyable, but I'd forgotten it even exists until it showed up on the countdown, so that can't be a good thing. A Bug's Life is decent, but I’m a much bigger fan of Antz from the same year. Batman: The Animated Series is one of my favorite television shows/cartoons, so naturally I love Mask of the Phantom. I’d rank it ahead of several of the live-action Batman films. I nearly included it on my list, but ultimately it didn’t make the cut.

My List So Far:
#6) All Dogs Go to Heaven
#15) The Brave Little Toaster
#16) Frankenweenie
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I had Garden of Words at 6 on my list. I agree with what jal90 & Cobpyth said - visually stunning and that's why I love it. In terms of story it's pure Shinkai - and can see what Harry Lime is saying. When I started watching 5 Centimetres per Second I thought "this is going to be awful" because it was full of overly emotional narration which I tend not to like but something about Shinkai's films work for me.

From a character perspective I often end up feeling that I understand the characters and how they feel even if they are presented in a very cheesy way.

Anyway, as I said, I love it for the visuals and 45 minutes is a perfect length to really enjoy them.



The Brave Little Weeman Returns!
Garden of Words was #19 on my list. Shinkai is possibly the greatest artist of the anime film directors. All of his films look absolutely stunning, making it no wonder that some dub his work as "eye porn".

The film itself has a somewhat stunted plot, with the main character (who is fourteen by the way, let's put that into perspective) wanting to become a shoemaker, and meeting the same woman (an adult woman) every time he goes to sit in the park when it rains. The thematic device of the rain runs right through the film, and Shinkai plays wonders with his animation of it; it looks strikingly realistic.

I think I've become more sentimental in old young age (that's what I'm calling being twenty), and so this film somewhere strikes a chord with me; a boy who wants to pursue his dreams at the cost of everything else, and a woman who has got problems of her own being the muse for his artistry. It's not as complex as some of Shinkai's other films, but that does not diminish the impact that its simplistic plot had on me.


I haven't seen Mask of the Phantasm, but was meaning to watch it for this list and didn't get round to it. I've heard mainly good things about it, so I'll have to give it a watch some time.
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