In 1995, Pixar Studios revolutionized the animated movie genre by releasing "Toy Story." The brainchild of John Lasseter forever changed the way we looked at animated movies by using Computer Animation instead of artist's drawings. Because of this, I felt like I needed to split off and do a top 5 list of Pixar style animated movies. One of these days, I'll do a top 5 non-Pixar style animated movies.
Coming up with a top 5 here was really difficult, since there are so many great animated movies out there. But, I'm happy with the five I came up with. We'll see if my esteemed readers agree.
5 - "Hoodwinked": This is going to be the most obscure movie on this list. "Hoodwinked" is the true story behind the traditional Red Riding Hood children's story. Starring the vocal talents of Anne Hathaway, Patrick Wharburton, Glenn Close and Jim Belushi, we hear the Red Riding Hood story from the perspective of Red, the wolf, granny and the woodsman. Along the way, our characters solve the mystery of who is stealing all the goodie recipes in the forest. Such an entertaining movie...definitely one of our family's favorites.
4 - "Monster's Inc.": Billy Crystal and John Goodman provide the voices of Mike and Sully, 2 monsters who's job is to scare human children and collect their screams to power the monster world. When a little girl makes her way into the monster world, Mike and Sully have to find a way to get her home...and possibly change the way monsters view humans in the process. This is one of the first movies I saw in HD...what a spectacular picture. Add in a lot of laughs, and a couple of good songs, and you have one terrific movie.
3 - "Toy Story": The original is still one of my favorites. I just love this movie. You've all seen it and you all love it. Don't try to deny it. "Toy Story" was not only revolutionary for what it accomplished in animation, it was a really good movie. You can't really go wrong with the vocal talents, including Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Wallace Shawn (of "Princess Bride" fame) and John Ratzenberger. Just a really great movie.
2 - "Kung Fu Panda": Given the avatar that I've chosen for my blog personality, you had to know this one was on the list. Po's Kung Fu dream is one of the funniest openings to any movie..."Legend Tells, of a Legendary Warrior, who's Kung Fu skills were the stuff of legends!". There are so many quotable lines in this movie. Jack Black is Po, the Panda, and Dustin Hoffman is his Kung Fu master, Sheefu. The back and forth between these 2 actors is great. And, this movie has a great message, as Po learns that "there is no secret ingredient". Watch it and you'll know what I mean. But, before you go watch "Kung Fu Panda" please read the final movie on my list. Skadoosh!
1 - "Cars": Another Pixar film, though by this point, Pixar had been bought out by Disney. "Cars" tells the story of Lightning McQueen, a Race Car in a world where cars are alive and Race Cars are the top sports stars. Lightning is close to winning the Piston Cup and realizing all his dreams of fame and a better sponsor, until circumstances maroon him in Radiator Springs on old Route 66. In Radiator Springs, Lightning (Owen Wilson) meets Mater (Larry the Cable Guy), Sally (Bonnie Hunt) and Doc Hudson (Paul Newman). These new friends help Lightning learn what friendship is all about, and how to care about something other than himself. At nearly 2 hours, "Cars" is a commitment, but it's a commitment worth making.
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6 comments:
Great list. While I loved all those movies as well, I got to thinking more about it, and turns out mine would have been quite different.
5 - Shrek - Outstanding take on all the fairy tales we heard as kids. The story was so well-crafted, and expectations were turned around on you every chance they had.
4 - Finding Nemo - Wonderful animation of the undersea environment. Very clever use of different sea life including even the personalities they gave each character.
3 - The Incredibles - Top-notch animation and a great story moving down a completely different path than your normal hero flick. The interviews of the heroes in the beginning of the movie are classic.
2 - Megamind - In a similar way to the Incredibles, I just love the story that flows quite backwards to normal films.
1 - How to Train Your Dragon - Though I shed a tear during Toy Story 2 when the song about Jessie's owner growing up played, that doesn't compare to the emotional moments I experienced during this movie. Wonderful story. Guess I'm just a softy.
How to Train Your Dragon would have been #6 on my list. I loved that movie as well...just didn't have the nostalgia built up of the others.
If I were to round out a top 10, I'm still missing you on quite a few...
7 - Meet the Robinson's
8 - Astro Boy
9 - Toy Story 2
10 - The Incredibles
Honestly, it was hard picking #10. I've never been a big Shrek fan and in general, I guess we just have different tastes in animated moveis...well, all movies actually. ;-)
I agree with Jake. Cars is the #1 computer animated full feature film to this point, hands down. Not going to list 2-10, because there are a lot of good ones that would be left out.
However, my favorite scene is from the movie 'Up'. The video montage watching the man and his wife marry and grow old together is beautifully portrayed. It evicts a powerful emotion when paired with the background music.
While I did love Cars as well, I just couldn't get over seeing Michael J. Fox in the movie... since it's basically a rip-off of Doc Hollywood and all. That keeps it well clear of my top five, since the originality of the story is mostly just from clever use of automobiles instead of actors.
My favs are much closer to Jake's for sure. Have you seen Up, Jake? I wonder if it would have made your top 5 if you had seen it. We need to watch that one ,too. I keep hearing such good things about it. And, I wish Meet the Robinsons would have gotten the attention it deserved. That's a good movie. But Hoodwink, most especially deserves a lot of attention. That movie is awesome. If you like the fairy tale part of Shrek, nuke, you should watch Hoodwinked. I don't know how Shrek can even come close to Hoodwinked.
Yes, I've seen Hoodwinked. It was a great movie, but the X-games-playing grandma part of the movie dropped it out of my top 5. Yes, I know I'm too critical of everything. :)
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