2nd Animation Hall of Fame

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Cowboy Bebop: The Movie / カウボーイビバップ 天国の扉 (2001)
Directed By: Shinichirō Watanabe
Starring: Steve Blum, Daran Norris, Wendee Lee

Cowboy Bebop: The Movie doesn't rely on previous knowledge of the series in order to follow the plot or understand its characters. Having a passing familiarity with the show would certainly be a benefit, but it works well as a stand-alone story, and as an introduction to Bebop's universe for new viewers. The animation is incredibly beautiful and polished, and the film uses cinematic lighting and angles that at the time were typically only found in live action films, though fortunately they've since been adapted by many directors of animation as well.

The action scenes are incredibly well designed and look amazing, and while they are definitely fun to watch, they do sometimes feel a little long in the tooth. Since the film's antagonist was a bit bland and underwritten, if the creators had focused less on these set-pieces and spent more time developing their villain, the whole thing would've been far more satisfying. I did still enjoy the film quite a bit, and I actually liked it significantly more than I did the first time I saw it, but it could've been even better with a few changes.

The English dub was surprisingly well done, and casting talented voice actors like Blum and Hale instead of live-action film celebrities with little to no VA experience is always the right call to make. I even preferred some of the English voices to the original Japanese cast, but while Daran Norris is always great with comedic roles, I did find his performance as the brooding Vincent to be a little disappointing. Ed didn't irritate me as much this time around, so either I've grown more accepting of her mannerisms, or her English actress' voice doesn't grate my ears as much. I'm glad this was nominated, because I probably wouldn't have rewatched it on my own accord, and I enjoyed it a lot more the second time around.


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Women will be your undoing, Pépé
I just finished rewatching Cowboy Bebop, but probably won't write anything about it until tomorrow. In the meantime though, I have an irrelevant question.

What is "hanking"? Is it a verb or some slang I've never heard before, or was this sign just some poor Engrish?

I never caught that. There is always little stuff like that in the series. I had to look it up and found it in Urban Dictionary:

Hanking
The unsportsmanlike act of powering off or pulling the plug on your game console while in the midst of defeat. (Whether it be large or small)

John was losing to Mike in Madden by a score of 35-10 in the 3rd quarter, so he hanked the cord. We agreed that there would be no hanking before the game.
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Women will be your undoing, Pépé


Cowboy Bebop: The Movie / カウボーイビバップ 天国の扉 (2001)
Directed By: Shinichirō Watanabe
Starring: Steve Blum, Daran Norris, Wendee Lee
Ed didn't irritate me as much this time around, so either I've grown more accepting of her mannerisms, or her English actress' voice doesn't grate my ears as much.



Hanking
The unsportsmanlike act of powering off or pulling the plug on your game console while in the midst of defeat. (Whether it be large or small)
I doubt that's the intended usage based on the rest of the sign, but it's the best definition so far haha.



Women will be your undoing, Pépé
I doubt that's the intended usage based on the rest of the sign, but it's the best definition so far haha.
perhaps, but from what I know of the series that was the best guess out there.





The Wind in the Willows (1983)
Directed By: Mark Hall, Chris Taylor
Starring: Richard Pearson, Ian Carmichael, David Jason

As I've certainly said before, I'm not a fan of stop-motion animation. I do find it a little bit charming when films use scale models and figures as opposed to relying heavily on claymation, so I do vastly prefer the look of The Wind in the Willows to something like Wallace and Gromit. I had previously only seen the film once in school, but the series that followed it was seemingly always on tv. It was practically unavoidable, and I soon came to detest it.

Luckily those feelings have long since faded, so I went into the film with what I'll call “general indifference”. Though I did check my watch on numerous occasions, I managed to make it to the end with that same apathetic feeling. That might sound rather negative, but the fact that the film didn't overly irritate me is something to take credit for, especially given how insufferable Toad is as a character. Other than one very hectic scene in Toad Hall, the film was strangely calming in a way, which I certainly didn't expect.

The songs were terrible, and I wanted to strangle Toad on numerous occasions, but because of that strange lulling sensation, I didn't actually get angry at any of the things I disliked. I was slightly put off by the human characters, which is almost always the case when they co-exist in films with anthropomorphic animals anyway, but they looked especially strange in this. I did genuinely laugh out loud once though, at the carol singer saying “h'arrested” after being told not to drop his Hs. A lot of people here actually talk like that – omitting Hs at the start of words, but adding them in front of others for no reason, so it was quite amusing to me, though I imagine it's mostly a throwaway line for everyone else.


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I just have to rewatch Wizards now, which I should have time for this weekend - possibly even sometime this evening. I felt like I was previously going at a really slow pace thanks to work and other commitments, but I've had a pretty chill week, so I managed to get through quite a few films. It's certainly been an interesting HoF, and I still have no idea what my list will look like at the end of this haha.





Wizards (1977)
Directed By: Ralph Bakshi
Starring: Bob Holt, Richard Romanus, Jesse Welles

The majority of Bakshi's films tend to be ugly and quite rough around the edges, yet the aesthetic is still strangely compelling. While the animation in Wizards fits the first half of that statement, it unfortunately lacks the charm found in his other work. I think a lot of that has to do with the character designs (of which I only liked Blackwolf), and the film manages to somehow be both too adult for younger audiences, and too immature for older ones. The tone is similarly all over the place, making it difficult to tell who this film was actually written for.

Many of the backdrops, particularly the unfinished ones, are very striking, and I think the film would've looked amazing if it had been drawn in the same manner that the monotone still frames accompanying the narration used. However the film's prominent style is quite unappealing, and it clashes with the high-contrast rotoscoped images, and the stock footage that accompany the battle sequences. While a mix of art styles can definitely be intriguing, the disparity between them causes the film to feel incoherent more often than not.

Inconsistency seems to be an ongoing complaint from me about this film, but one aspect that the film never falters on is its themes. The use of technology, warnings about the power of propaganda, and the underlying story's connections to World War II don't exactly pass by unnoticed. I would've preferred a less heavy-handed allegory, but nothing else in the film is particularly subtle, so it's actually quite fitting. I'm not a fan of the way the dialogue was written, and the whole film is just too uneven for me to really enjoy it, but I definitely appreciate its boldness. Wizards is a unique film that I can see the appeal of; it just doesn't work for me.

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I love the picture you used for your review on this though!
Yeah, the film does have some imposing imagery, particularly in the first half. Those were the only parts that stuck with me before, which is probably why I expected to like the film much more than I did. On the plus side, I might eventually forget about the parts I disliked again haha.



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Cowboy Bebop



This one was pretty cool. Far from a favorite mind you, but it got me to think the series would be pretty entertaining to watch. The animation in it is very well done, lots of finer details and I particularly do like how the characters were designed. I actually thought the characters were pretty well done, and I wasn't bothered by Ed as much as some of the rest of you were. I really liked the characters Faye and Vincent the most.

The story was a little hard to follow, but obviously I'd never seen the series so that could be the issue certainly although it was said that you didn't need prior knowledge of it I still felt as if I did. The action sequences we're very well done. The issue I had was I didn't care for the ending as it felt half predictable and half anti-climatic. I think that could have improved my rating had it been done differently. Not a bad film though.

+





A quaint French film about a mouse and a bear getting along in a world where they're not supposed to. It's healthy to explore animation from different countries; When you watch films from a certain country for so long they start feeling samey (America and Japan for example).

I loved the characters and their interactions the most, it was very human and entertaining. The story is also great, very engaging and lots of great scenes of action and simple character interactions. I watched the American dub, and I thought all the voice actors did a very good job, Forest Whittaker especially.

The animation is spectacular; Very simplistic with beautiful scenery of watercolour forests. On the topic of animation, the characters were unbelievably cute; They all look so snuggly and soft. The music is also beautiful.

I didn't have any major criticisms about the film, but I did find it weird how they established the kid who wasn't allowed to eat sweets and didn't really do anything with him afterwards.

Great film @Miss Vicky, I'll definitely check out 'A Town Called Panic' by the same directors.





Great film @Miss Vicky, I'll definitely check out 'A Town Called Panic' by the same directors.
Really glad you enjoyed Ernest & Celestine. A Town Called Panic is great, too, but just a head's up - it's nothing like this one. It's a very, very strange film, but also really funny and entertaining.



Women will be your undoing, Pépé



Your Name aka Kimi no na wa

Mitsuha Miyamizu: I shouldn't for her sake
Yotsuha Miyamizu: [Walks into room to find Mitsuha touching her boobs] You sure do like your boobs.

I'll first state the absolute obvious:
This is a truly, TRULY beautiful movie with breath-taking detail.

I have only see one other of Shinkai's films, The Garden of Words which was equally mesmerizing with such care given to the most minute detail. With both films it was the animation that drew me in and kept my rapt attention. And with both I found myself emotionally caught up in the romantic premises. With GoW it was a very conscious undertaking; while here it was subconscious. Or rather, it was a wonderful surprise to me as the movie was nearing its closing just how much I cared about and for the two people.
WARNING: "Especially" spoilers below
when they meet at the very end and say: your name is. . . the camera rises up and the Title appears.
I was suddenly and completely choked up at the beauty of it.

I am SUCH a softy romantic sometimes


I think my one and only critique was that at a number of spots there seemed to be a television opening sequence going on that would repeat itself, showing familiar scenes that sort of messed with the pacing for me. But this is minimal and I found myself simply going with it after a while.

I did enjoy the nuances that were shown when they occupied each other in their mannerisms and speech patterns. Adding that attention to detail brought the story to the same level as the visual presentation.
WARNING: "Also," spoilers below
when the story goes beyond the "switch ups" to the threat of the comet and what becomes of the town and how they attempt to change the fate of the townsfolk was an excellent addition to the overall story.


I will be revisiting this as well as sharing it with my room mate. Like me, she's a sucker for a happy ending.

Thank you, Cosmic for nominating this. BRAVO.



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I reached out to Funny Face but never got a reply so I'm not sure if she's still in. Just a rewatch of Spirited Away and then Ernest and Celestine for me.



Women will be your undoing, Pépé



Ernest et Celestine

One of the things I've really enjoyed about this particular HoF, besides the enjoyment of watching various animations, is the prolific STYLE of animation that is being displayed.
And here, with Ernest et Celestine we have yet another. Staying true to the watercolor medium of the storybooks, we, (those of us unfamiliar to their cosmos), a beautiful and endearing visit --


And visually, this is a very charming, warming (even in the winter scenes) and delightful film to watch.
It is a nostalgic pull to simpler times of storybooks and I would find myself thinking about a similar bear by the name of Pooh I had loved (and continue to) as a child.
So, merely on that, it had already pulled me in.

Now, while I have not had to the chance to revisit it in it's original French I DO completely agree with the excellent English dubbing and the ideal individuals used:
At the top, being, of course, Forrest Whittaker as Ernest and while I'm not familiar with the actress voicing Celestine, Mackenzie Foy, she did a splendid job bringing out the stoic, delightful character.
Secondly, a truly wonderful surprise and incredible voicing by Lauren Bacall as The Grey One. She was a great character and Bacall gave her a splendid voice for her.

It is my understanding this was Lauren's last role and hopefully, one she enjoyed doing as much as I enjoyed hearing her.

Along with them, William Macy as the Dentist and, as always, the great Paul Giamatti as The Rat Judge giving these quirky characters life, as it were.

While addressing racism and social class issues, we have two very lovely main characters. Both creative souls; Ernest a musician and performer, Celestine an artist. Both coming together and easily finding a home and friendship together that, while quickly formed, is very believable and quite the joy to behold.
I enjoyed both their introductions into this. Celestine in the orphanage arguing with a fellow orphan about her drawing, and Ernest waking up, trudging into town with his one-man-band to sing/beg for food.
Enjoying the genesis of their friendship through its summer, to the test of loyalty which they easily pass.

While it is impossible NOT to state the cliche, this IS a heartwarming and life-affirming film, and bless you @Miss Vicky for nominating it!



Women will be your undoing, Pépé
I reached out to Funny Face but never got a reply so I'm not sure if she's still in. Just a rewatch of Spirited Away and then Ernest and Celestine for me.
hopefully, she is.

Need to write up Tower, which I enjoyed and need to watch Prince Achmed and Wind in the Willows and that'll do it for me.



I reached out to Funny Face but never got a reply so I'm not sure if she's still in. Just a rewatch of Spirited Away and then Ernest and Celestine for me.
I know she watched Cowboy Bebop last week, but I'm not sure if she's watched more. She's been dealing with some personal stuff since then so I'm not surprised she hasn't posted.



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I know she watched Cowboy Bebop last week, but I'm not sure if she's watched more. She's been dealing with some personal stuff since then so I'm not surprised she hasn't posted.
It's all good. I'm really not in a hurry anyways. Thanks for the update!