The animated films thread

[Snake Plissken]

The 2016 animated films thread

I did. It was clearly going to be a Hooks from Police Academy thing.

[Patrick Thistle]

The 2016 animated films thread

Watched 'Storks' on Friday night. It was quote funny. I think seeing all 4 trailers had kind of ruined it for me but there are three bits I really liked.

1) The kid manipulating his parents by muttering stuff under his breath.
2) The wolf pack.
3) The battle with the villainous penguins.

[Incandenza]

The 2016 animated films thread

I had to take one of my kids to the bathroom during Storks, and when I came back there was a wolf pack, so I had no idea how they ended up there. The increasingly preposterous formations they went in to were amusing.

Overall, I thought Storks was better than The Secret Life of Pets, but probably not something I'd want to watch again. There was some kind of random humor which was interesting for a kids' movie, but it didn't always land, I don't think. The pigeon character being an example.

I really liked the setup of the main character seeing the human running oddly through the warehouse and then the slow realization of why she was doing that.

[Patrick Thistle]

The 2016 animated films thread

Yeah the pigeon character didn't work.

I liked Jasper the crazed stalking stork.

[Hot Pepsi]

The 2016 animated films thread

I was hoping Storks would be massive.

[Incandenza]

The 2016 animated films thread

Moana - **** (4 out of 4)
Starring: Auli'i Cravalho, the Rock, the guy with glasses from Flight of the Conchords, Lin-Manuel Miranda songs that I actually really enjoyed

One of the best Disney movies I've seen for a long time. It doesn't try to be overly jokey or modern in its humor like Frozen did, I didn't find it to be culturally insensitive, there are some genuinely moving parts, and the animation...my god, I was almost in tears from how beautiful some parts were, but it is still all in service of the story. It's not a very novel story, but it is effective, and the songs are wonderful.

Dwayne Johnson's song and the animation to go along with it I think is one of my favorite bits from an animated film that I've seen in years.

[Patrick Thistle]

The 2016 animated films thread

Yes, Moana was really, really good.

I liked the conversation about whether she was a princess or not (a very good example of how to do meta humour), the ocean, the crab's song about being shiny. All the songs were really good. I loved the final touch with the shell on the stones.

I stayed right to the very end and saw the final scene as well, which also made me laugh.

It had a few tropes that are beginning to get a bit boring now. The bad guy turned good deciding he's had enough and it's all too hard and then walking out on the heroine, only to come back a bit later just in the nick of time. But on the other hand, a Disney movie where the parents don't get killed off. Who knew such a thing existed?

[Patrick Thistle]

The 2016 animated films thread

Just realised I hadn't mentioned Trolls on here. It was a bit weird and some of the plot didn't really work for me, but the songs were good and there were plenty of funny bits. The troll who farted glitter was more amusing than it should have been really. I giggled like a 10 year old.

[MiserableOldGit]

The 2016 animated films thread

All CGI films by their very nature are rubbish. I can just about tolerate that thing with the minions, but apart from that, it should be laid down by law that the only animated films allowed should be made by Aardman Animations.

[Patrick Thistle]

Despicable Me 3 tonight. Probably the best one since the first one. A little bit of euro stereotyping but I can let that slide for lots of Agnes time. She's great.

I'll update the thread title when I'm not on my phone because otherwise editing just deleted stuff.

[gavc23]

My Little Pony:The Movie

After an aborted trip to the City - Stoke game, called off at Moffat after my boys succumbed to a tummy bug and the tidal wave of vomit became too much, I took my 3 year old to the MLP movie.

A solid episode stretched out a bit.

I'd give MVP (most valuable pony) to Pinkie Pie, Rarity really stepped up too which was a pleasant surprise. Fluttershy got better as the film went on.

Very disappointed in Applejack who was pretty anonymous and Rainbow Dash really let herself down, which is a shame as we're very much a Rainbow Dash household.

Not entirely sure why it needed a large cat and pirates though.

In summary, it does show that friendship is indeed magic however

[Patrick Thistle]

That's weird. The Lego Ninjago Movie had a large cat and sort of pirates in it as well. Must be a theme.

[Patrick Thistle]

Massive thanks to Snake for sorting out the thread title!

[Patrick Thistle]

Some more animated films released this year then...

Sing. This was rubbish. It ripped off Zootropolis in a way - animals living like humans - but nowhere near as good. A heavily recycled plot line: a theatre owner needs to put on a show to save his theatre from developers. And just very little depth to any characters.

The Lego Batman Movie. This was funny if you know your Batman lore. Not as good as The Lego Movie but had some unexpected crossover characters (like Daleks!) and a relatively simple plot that was well executed, which is how you should make a superhero film, really.

Cars 3. I enjoyed this. It's the sequel that Cars should have had instead of the disaster that was Cars 2. Perhaps a bit slow for kids (Although Neice and Nephew enjoyed it), but a very
interesting theme of growing older and being replaced by thd next generation of bright young things. They toned down Mater as a character, learning from the mistakes of Cars 2.

The Lego Ninjago Movie. Not as good as the preceding Lego movies but still pretty good. Ninjago is Lego's own IP and doesn't have as much depth as Batman to sustain a film. The plot rattles along. Evil villain Garmadon is more rounded out than many other villains. There's also a good joke about what happens to all his henchmen who he disposes of in fits of rage. I'm not sure it will appeal to adults the way the Lego Batman Movie did, but worth a watch imo.

[WOM]

An older film, but 2003's The Triplets of Belleville (Belleville Rendezvous in the UK) is marvellous. Has no dialogue either, so you just immerse yourself in the visual experience.

[Sean of the Shed]

I'd agree. Some of the best comedy out there on the big screen comes from animated movies at the moment, very few live action comedies these days are particularly funny.

[Patrick Thistle]

John Lasseter talks about this in one of the Pixar documentaries. They used to create animations to showcase what Pixar computers were capable of. After they played Luxo Jr (the short film with the lamp) a world renowned computer expert approached him with a very serious expression. Lasseter braced himself for a technical question only to be asked if he thought the lamp was a boy or a girl.

On another occasion he was asked how the programmers made the output so funny, as if there was an algorithm that would create it.

His ultimate aim was, he says, to create animated films that would be judged on their merits as movies, without the word 'animated' being used as a quantifier.

[Snake Plissken]

Given that animated movies struggle to break out of the "for kids" ghetto, that is going to be a difficult ask. Especially as what is often consider "real" movie probably contains 90% CGI.

[Patrick Thistle]

That's a good point. Most of Blade Runner 2049 was animated including Sean Young.

[Patrick Thistle]

I saw Coco on the weekend. It's the latest Pixar film. The set up is Mexican Day of the Dead, young boy meets his departed ancestors and needs to save someone from being forgotten.

It was very, very similar conceptually to The Book of Life. I found that distracting to the point that I disengaged from the film. The storyline isn't as epic as BoL, which had two supernatural powers playing with the fates of mortals.

I've read a blog post by a Latino author questioning the way the Day of the Dead is being interpreted in both these movies, particularly traditions around remembrance of the departed. During Coco I did think more about issues of cultural appropriation and whether the Mexico on screen was borderline racist. I didn't feel that during Book of Life, but maybe I need to watch it again.

The ending was moving, as Pixar movies often are. It was about the only time I felt an emotional connection to the story or the characters.

[Ginger Yellow]

Just watched A Town Called Panic, aka Panique au Village. Mental, and brilliant. Kind of like Pingu crossed with Postman Pat as imagined by some mad Belgians.

[Various Artist]

Just watched A Town Called Panic, aka Panique au Village. Mental, and brilliant. Kind of like Pingu crossed with Postman Pat as imagined by some mad Belgians.

Oh my goodness, I haven't thought about that for ages GY. I watched it about 5 or 6 years ago when it was randomly shown on Film 4, I think, and absolutely loved it. It's hilarious – stark staring barmy from start to finish, in a brilliant way.

[Wouter D]

Watched it yesterday evening for the first time. Highly enjoyable. Thanks to GY for the recommendation!

[RobW]

I saw Coco yesterday (I have yet to see The Book of Life). It looks amazing, and though I understand it's set during the Day of the Dead, it's a pretty dark Pixar film for reasons I won't go into here due to spoilers. Naturally, I blubbed like anything in the last 10 minutes, just as I blubbed during the first 10 minutes of Up. I thought it was a good, solid film. Not as many laughs as I would come to expect from a Pixar production.

[Patrick Thistle]

Trailers abound online at the moment for two great looking sequels, Ralph Wrecks the Internet and The Incredibles 2. Of the two the Ralph one looks funnier. I hope the bunny game scene is in the actual film. I laughed a lot at that bit in the trailer then admitted the punchline was sick. My friend said the same, having laughed a lot as well.