Animation Hall of Fame

I liked this the most out of his 4.

Apparently I need to watch this movie before someone else brings it up again.

I didn't think there was anything wrong with your review, so perhaps you're over thinking it a little.

Also, I'm glad you enjoyed the film.

Do those four films include his part in Memories (1995)? I stumbled across it when looking for animated sci-fi films to check out for the Sci-Fi Countdown and was wondering if it was worth watching.

His four films are: Paprika, Tokyo Godfathers, Perfect Blue and Millennium Actress. Kon only wrote a part of Memories apparently he didn't direct.

What Camo said. I've seen only the four features he listed. I enjoyed all of them and they are the only anime films in my movie collection so far.

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The Last Unicorn (Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin, Jr, 1982)
Imdb

Date Watched: 11/3/16
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: CosmicRunaway's Nomination for the MoFo Animation Hall of Fame
Rewatch: No.


I'm a little torn on how to rate this. On one hand, it is beautifully animated, has solid voice performances, and a pretty unique story. On the other hand, it's filled with things I really, really don't like.

My biggest gripe is right there in the title - The Last Unicorn. Unicorns. Heavy fantasy. UGH.

But not just unicorns - wizards, witches, magicians, a harpy, a talking tree with gigantic boobs, a peg-legged cat with an eye patch who talks like a pirate for some reason, a bull made of fire, a butterfly that sings and speaks in riddles, and a skeleton that guards the passageway to the bull's lair. As if that weren't bad enough - it's a musical. Sort of, there's only a couple musical numbers but they are there and they're really annoying. So is the theme song by America that plays ad nauseum throughout the film.

Granted, there are other fantasy animations that I enjoy, even animated musical fantasies like Alice in Wonderland and The Nightmare Before Christmas - but the former has nostalgia and a lot of whimsy on its side and the latter has a macabre aesthetic and dark humor that appeal to me. But I do have to wonder if I would've enjoyed this even as a child and the answer is probably not. I had a higher tolerance for both fantasy and musicals back then, but I still gravitated to more whimsical material and to animated films centered around animal characters rather than mythical creatures.

But again, it is beautifully animated, easy to follow and has good performances. It's just really not my kind of movie.

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I was always the opposite. I never really cared for animal characters, especially if the whole film was just anthropomorphic animals with no human characters, which is probably why I didn't like The Secret of Nimh as a child, and also didn't like An American Tail or The Rescuers movies. I would much rather watch something like Fern Gully. I'm still the same way, really.

I had a feeling you wouldn't really enjoy The Last Unicorn, but at least you liked the animation and the performances. I really like the art style in that film, but wasn't sure what others would think about the aesthetic. I'm not really familiar with what is considered good (or bad) animation, I just know what I personally find appealing.

I don't think I ever watched Fern Gully. I just watched the trailer and it doesn't really look like something I'd enjoy at any age.

I liked The Secret of NIMH, An American Tail, and The Rescuers quite a bit, but as a kid my favorite animated films were Lady and the Tramp, Bambi, and Charlotte's Web. I still tend to gravitate more towards ones with animal characters and Bambi and Charlotte's Web are still among my favorites.

Fern Gully is one of those movies that I loved as a kid, but I'm sure would be absolutely horrible if I watched it now. Since you mentioned watching the trailer I decided to see what the trailer was like and...I turned it off really quickly.

I had thought about rewatching it back when Avatar came out, because the plot reminded me of Fern Gully quite a bit, but I ultimately decided to just watch the scenes with Tim Curry on youtube. I'm kind of glad about that now. Hexxus was always my favourite part of that movie, and based on the trailer I just watched part of, I'd probably find the parts he wasn't in (which is most of the movie) insufferable.

It is. Loved it as a kid then rewatched it with one of my nephews a few years ago and found it tough to sit through, even with my nephew who makes these films more enjoyable just through him enjoying it so much.

Here's a semi-relevant story:
When I was trying to think of what film to nominate, The Last Unicorn came to mind right away, but when it wasn't quite as charming as it used to be upon my recent rewatch, I tried to think of another film to use instead.

My second choice was definitely going to be Rock & Rule (1983), if I liked it upon rewatch. I decided to just go with The Last Unicorn anyway without watching Rock & Rule, partly because I wasn't sure how well known Rock & Rule was (being an entirely Canadian production, I imagine it might be obscure even in the US), but also because I didn't know anyone who owned a copy of it.

If second thoughts about The Last Unicorn came back, I might've nominated Fern Gully instead. So let's all breathe a sigh of relief that I didn't change my mind haha.

It's on Youtube:



I honestly think i'd have liked that more than The Last Unicorn after skipping through it a bit. Remember i guessed you'd nominate Titan A.E? Wow, i was way off haha.

I've never heard of Rock & Rule.

But yes, between The Last Unicorn and Fern Gully, I'm glad you made the choice you did.

Rock & Rule>Fern Gully=The Last Unicorn. And i've not even seen Rock & Rule!

To be fair, Titan A.E. was a pretty good guess. When it was first being advertised, I was excited to see it, and was really happy that our little one-screen theatre got it (at the time I lived in a small town and we normally only got major theatrical releases, a few weeks or even months late). I'm pretty sure I saw it once more when it came to Home Video, but definitely haven't seen it since then.

The look of Treasure Planet (well, from what stills I've seen) reminds me a lot of Titan A.E. Maybe I'll watch it again for the Sci-Fi Countdown.

I also thought MV might nominate Waltz With Bashir but i wanted to, that's why i asked Raul if i could nominate now and i'll tell him if i'm in later

Nah, I pretty much knew I was going to nominate something from Kon, just wasn't sure if it would be Tokyo Godfathers or Paprika. I went with Godfathers because it seems to be the less seen of the two.

My guesses were Bashir, Over The Hedge (as i told you), Paprika or Mary & Max. I didn't think you'd go Pixar and those seemed the most likely. Tokyo Godfathers didn't cross my mind even though i thought it could be Paprika.

And i swear i guessed Raul would pick Cagliostro. I didn't think he'd pick Spirited Away or Finding Nemo because they are a bit obvious and he seems like the most passionate Cagliostro fan around here which is nuts since Guap is a member haha.

Also totally guessed Guap would pick Genocyber or Magical Girl Wahaloourta

Was really hoping someone would nominate Akira as well. First of all it is one of the few left on my animation list and most importantly i'm going to start going to this cinema and it is showing Akira in a week: i would have totally went to it if someone nominated it:

http://glasgowfilm.org/shows/akira-15

I'm glad nobody nominated Akira. I didn't care for it at all and have no desire to revisit it, though I would have if it had been nominated.