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I'm studying in Ireland for the year, so I have to spell it like they do

I was a youngling in the 90s, which means that I had a steady diet of Disney / animated films to teach me everything I needed to know about life. Well, the second half of that statement is a bit debatable, but the first half is certainly true. I was addicted to those things like crack, and, to be honest, I still really like them and watch some periodically. Of course, there've been a fair number of solid animated films in the past decade as well that ought not to be forgotten. So, since CoN loves nothing if not top # lists, how about giving this one a go?

10. Toy Story - Being #10 on this list is not so much due to my not liking Toy Story as due to the fact that there are just so many awesome animated films. I haven't seen Toy Story 3 yet, so that could change the equation if it's as good as I've heard.
9. Up - Perhaps deserves to be higher on this list; I'll admit to a nostalgia bias. Opening sequence is fantastically done.
8. Aladdin - For whatever reason, I didn't get into Aladdin as much as what seems to be the norm. Still lots of fun, though, particularly due to Robin Williams.
7. The Little Mermaid - Based almost entirely on the music; there wasn't a bad song in this soundtrack.
6. Tarzan - Really tough call between this and Mulan. Tarzan's soundtrack is just grand.
5. Mulan - Probably tied with Tarzan.
4. Anastasia - I really like this movie, one of two non-Disney films on the list. It's got the great music like any Disney film, but it's a bit more intense and there is more going on in the plot.
3. The Lion King - It's the classic, and I have no intention to disagree.
2. Hercules - Whoever decided to mix ancient Greece, gospel singers and great puns together is a genius and should be put in charge of the world.
1. Swan Princess - I've gotta give it to Swan Princess. Sadly, a lot of people don't know about this one, since it isn't Disney and wasn't made as big a deal as Anastasia was. Some really great songs, and a great premise: the 'love at first sight' is recognized as a bit shallow and falls through in the opening minutes, leading the protagonists to spend the rest of the film searching for each other and, thereby, proving their love. D'awwwww.

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Oh I aint even going to try a ranking. Jesus...

Although I will say default at the top is Secret of NIMH. Always will be, so let's get the rest out of the way...

Pretty much every Pixar movie up to Wall.E...and isn't Cars. Dreamworks has a lot of films I like after the Shrek era, but the one I really latched onto was How to Train Yer Dragon and while we're on the subject of Chris Sanders and Dean Deblois, Lilo 'n Stitch was the first movie to really give me hope for traditional Disney in the post CG world. That and Emperor's New Groove.

The rest is a massive mish-mash of anime/obscure 80's nostalgia trips like Rock 'n Rule which would have me posting a wall of text that would take the rest of the night to type.

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Arts

Farts

Twarts

Quote (Narratorway @ 1st December 2012 05:06)

Pretty much every Pixar movie up to Wall.E...and isn't Cars. Dreamworks has a lot of films I like after the Shrek era, but the one I really latched onto was How to Train Yer Dragon and while we're on the subject of Chris Sanders and Dean Deblois, Lilo 'n Stitch was the first movie to really give me hope for traditional Disney in the post CG world. That and Emperor's New Groove.

Yeah, Cars was really... meh. Totally forgot about Shrek, though; that'd have to go somewhere high on my list. Fantastic film.

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I haven't the patience to go in for a ranking, either; but if I were to pick my favourite animated films, they'd have to include:

Transformers: The Movie (far better than Michael Bay's attempts)
A lot of Studio Ghibli - but primarily Princess Mononoke & Howl's Moving Castle
The Lion King
Toy Story/Toy Story 3 - DP, you gotta see #3 - it's brought many a grown man to tears
Watership Down - a fantasic film that really shouldn't be for children. Gave me some serious nightmares when I was little
Disney's Robin Hood - THE definitive Robin Hood movie
Monsters Inc

If I ever get round to watching it, I'm fairly certain Akira would also merit a place. As much as it probably undermines the validity of my opinions, I'd love to be able to name a Pokémon movie and FFVII:AC in the list too - but I doubt they'd make the grade.

And I'd probably also have to mention Animal Farm and Fantasia, not because I really like them, but because both are, in their own way, fantastic pieces of film.

This post has been edited by Stiltzkin on 1st December 2012 21:04

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The Nightmare Before Christmas - it's stop-motion animation, so it counts as an animated film. I could listen to the soundtrack all day.
The Incredibles - one of the absolute best superhero movies, animated movies, and family movies of all time. My favorite Pixar movie, and I love all Pixar movies without the word Cars in its title. Even Brave.
Castle in the Sky - I like almost all the Ghibli movies I've seen, but CitS / Laputa is my favorite. Something about the scenery and spirit of the movie really works.
Beauty and the Beast - I think it's the gold standard of Disney films. Stunning artwork and music.
An American Tail - I do like NIMH and Anastasia as well, but I think the first American Tail is the best Bluth movie. Really interesting and resonant.
Tokyo Godfathers - great story, great characters, and extremely underrated as an amazing Christmas movie. I'm a huge Satoshi Kon fan*.
Rango - I think it's the best non-Pixar animated film of past several years. Great action and surprising depth to its main character, plus I ate up all of the dozens of references to Spaghetti Westerns.
Toy Story 1+2+3 - The perfect film trilogy. Each movie expanded the series' rich universe and added interesting characters and conflicts. Watching them in succession really gives you an idea of how far Pixar's come through the years (look at how they animated Andy in each movie) and each is a stellar viewing experience on its own.

*Satoshi Kon also made Paprika, Millenium Actress, and several really interesting anime films in addition to Tokyo Godfathers. Paranoia Agent was his only episodic series. He died a few years ago of cancer at age 46, and I'm sure he had at least one more classic in him. Big loss to fans of animated films.

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I'm going to create a separate list of Disney films from my childhood, because including them just isn't fair to the last twenty years or so.

Non-Disney
1. WALL-E - There's no question. Best animated film I've ever seen.
2. South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut - Yeah. I know.
3. The Incredibles
4. Fantastic Mr. Fox - Anyone who hasn't seen this really needs to.
5. Shrek
6. Toy Story 1-3
7. Finding Nemo
8. The Nightmare Before Christmas
9. Up
10. Rango - laszlow is right, anyone who's remotely a fan of westerns should really enjoy this.
Honorable Mentions: Monsters, Inc. and 9.


Disney
1. Robin Hood
2. Peter Pan
3. The Little Mermaid
4. The Lion King
5. The Sword in the Stone
6. Aladdin
7. Alice in Wonderland
8. Lady and the Tramp
9. The Fox and the Hound
10. One Hundred and One Dalmations

This post has been edited by Reod Dai on 3rd December 2012 06:58

I like the idea of separating between Disney and Non-Disney as well so:

Disney:
1. The Black Cauldron - Admittedly a far departure from the book, but still a beautiful film. The Horned King is my all time favorite villain and John Hurt turned in a wonderful performance in his portrayal of the frightening lich.
2. Robin Hood- This movie was just too much fun. I still can't help but sing along with 'The Phony King of England.'
3. Lilo and Stitch
4. The Sword and The Stone


Non-Disney:
1. Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust - I am very picky about my vampires and the idea of the Nobility in Hidekiyuki Kikuchi's post- apocalyptic frontier world meet all my criteria. Yes, this film took a large departure from the novel but the art design, the music and the overall over-the-top feel of the film make it memorable and always a pleasure.
2. Titan A.E. - This one gives Bloodlust a run for its money on my list. It was so different from the films I was used to seeing that I couldn't help but get hooked.
3. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind - This one speaks for itself. : )
4. Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Gahoole

This post has been edited by St Khael on 3rd December 2012 16:24

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As far as I'm concerned, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm is the best Batman movie out there. It's like the best Batman: The Animated Series episode extended to movie length and with added depth.

But the movie that has moved me like no other was Grave of the Fireflies.

I won't list other movies repeatedly brought up by others here, but Secret of NIMH gets an honorable mention from me for nostalgia.

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Console RPG Cliches

Howl's Moving Castle-- The animation, the voice acting, and Miyazaki's ability to really create a crazy world always manage to draw me in.

Lady and the Tramp- Love this movie.

Sleeping Beauty- Another sure favorite, the animation and songs were wonderful.

Up- The first five minutes was powerful enough, let alone the rest of the movie being wonderful.

Paprika- Weird as all get-out, but still a great adventure. It's like Inception but anime, and I liked the ending better

Tangled- The lights!!

The Emporer's New Groove-- this movie kills me every time.



Umm, let's just say I pretty much liked everything posted, too. Hercules, Toy Story, Shrek, Mulan, everything.

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You're telling me that there's no hope.

I'm telling you you're wrong.

I really, really need to see The Black Cauldron. Been meaning to for years.

Quote (St Khael @ 3rd December 2012 12:23)

1. The Black Cauldron - Admittedly a far departure from the book, but still a beautiful film. The Horned King is my all time favorite villain and John Hurt turned in a wonderful performance in his portrayal of the frightening lich.

Oh gosh, The Black Cauldron. The Horned King scared the living daylights out of me as a (little) kid, lol. I can see how Disney took some heat for that film being too much for some of their audience. Good film, though.

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I can't do a ranking because I don't do rankings, but animated films are definitely back on my radar nowadays because I have a child that wants to watch all of them at her age. She went through a month where all she wanted to watch was Mulan, and I didn't realize how much I would like that movie - I feel like it really got lost in the shuffle. Right now she's juggling her time between Monsters, Inc. and The Little Mermaid, and I've come to the conclusion that Monsters, Inc. is an incredible movie to see both as a kid and a parent. I've also got her warming up to Wreck-It Ralph which I for obvious reasons really love; she really only likes the parts with Vannelope.

Costco, the warehouse store here in the States, is doing all Disney Blurays on sale this month, so I just picked up physical copies of Monsters and Up, and I'm going to go back to get Cinderella. The princessy stuff just doesn't really do it for me, but I'll also have to snap up Aladdin next time it comes out of the "Disney Vault."

Oh, and naturally I have a copy of Frozen because estrogen rules my house. I do rather like it, though.

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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

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I'm with N-way. There are so many great animated films that it's hard for me to list them.

I'm also with him on Secret of NIMH, though it's not the top animated film for me, it must be on a list of all-time great animated films. Wonderful animation, highly imaginative, deep and mature storytelling, nothing else you need.

Before I give my two all-time favorites, I'll give a couple that would also be on my list, and a couple that should be given more respect.

The Iron Giant. It is not necessary to say more than this: it is an excellent movie, and it is also an instant science fiction classic.

The Prince of Egypt. I love the animation style and the music, and regardless of your religious position, the Moses story is one of the greatest stories ever told.

I didn't really care for the first one, though it's okay, but I recently watched Fievel Goes West and I really think it's underrated. It has better pacing than the first, and I love Dom Deluise and Jimmy Stewart's performances together. (By the way, it was his last movie)

If you consider it a movie (because it was released that way), the first five episodes of Gargoyles, The Awakening, is an excellent movie to start out an very well-written and impeccably voice-acted show. Keith David, that is all.

Mask of the Phantasm.... Mask, of the Phantasm. This is possibly the best thing to ever come out of the Batman franchise. It's arguable, but I think I could make a good argument. The writing and pacing are superb, and the animation is as good as anything else.

That being said, and I may lose my animation fan street cred for going all Disney in my top two! But Disney is Disney for a reason. Everyone has that one Disney movie that was "theirs", one they'd watch over and over. Mine was Sleeping Beauty. I'll grant that the motivation of Maleficent was quite amazingly simple (just because you weren't on the guest list!?), but is there any doubt that she is the best villain in all of animation, and one of the best in all of film? Some people said they were scared of the Horned King? The Horned King was one of the seven dwarfs in comparison to Maleficent! I don't know what it is, must be psychological, but to this day the "fireplace scene" still gives me the creeps. That scene, along with the incredible animation and background detail in the artwork and the great songs still keep is as my second favorite.

Okay, now for number one. An animated film that is my favorite film of all time, period. Now, when I said that everyone has "their" Disney movie; Sleeping Beauty, Jungle Book, Cinderella, are all understandable because they have stories. And half the time I'd get my parents to watch Sleeping Beauty with me. The other half of the time, though, I'd have them watch (to be honest, sleep through) Fantasia. It is a wonderful mixture of classical music with experimental animation. And it also is a perfect example of what I call abstract storytelling. It starts out with basic forms adhering to the music, and then these forms become the personification of seasons. As the film progresses, the forms become more complex, and their character traits become more complicated as well, starting from base instincts, to naïve innocence to mischievousness (and eventually lasciviousness). And at the end, it becomes an ultimate conflict between good and evil, through my favorite animated scene of all time: A Night on Bald Mountain/Ave Maria. I could go on and on, but I've written enough!

This post has been edited by BlitzSage on 14th May 2014 02:46

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Praise Be To Helix!

Disney
1. The Lion King
2. Toy Story 3
3. WALL-E
4. Dumbo
5. Beauty and the Beast
6. The Rescuers Down Under
7. Aladdin
8. The Little Mermaid
9. The Emperor's New Groove
10. The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Anime
1. Grave of the Fireflies
2. Howl's Moving Castle
3. Summer Wars
4. Spirited Away
5. The Wolf Children
6. Akira
7. Millennium Actress
8. Evangelion: You Can (Not) Advance
9. Princess Mononoke
10. Fullmetal Alchemist: Conqueror of Shamballa

Western, Non-Disney
1. How to Train Your Dragon
2. South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut
3. The Land Before Time
4. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
5. The Lord of the Rings
6. The Secret of NIMH
7. Kung Fu Panda 2
8. All Dogs Go to Heaven
9. Anastasia
10. Kung Fu Panda

Overall
1. Grave of the Fireflies
2. Howl's Moving Castle
3. Summer Wars
4. The Lion King
5. How to Train Your Dragon

Quote

If you consider it a movie (because it was released that way), the first five episodes of Gargoyles, The Awakening, is an excellent movie to start out an very well-written and impeccably voice-acted show. Keith David, that is all.

Good call there. I remember it was released as a feature, but even then it was structured as a television show, so I can never bring myself to count it. It is fantastic though, still holds up today even thought the rest of the series doesn't.

This post has been edited by Sherick on 14th May 2014 04:49

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I fear my heart and fear my soul
Life goes on, it surely will,
Without me and I wonder:
Will I ever see light again?

Life goes on...

I discovered tonight that I did not adequately prepare my wife for the first 15 minutes of Up. Man, is it pretty on Bluray, though - the translucency and lighting effects during the initial takeoff scene are amazing.

I'd almost forgotten until I came back to write this post and saw Sherick's, though - The Emperor's New Groove is way high on my list. I'm very excited that Disney put a lot of their B-list animated films on Netflix, because it gives us unlimited access to Groove, Mulan, and some older ones like Robin Hood as well.

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Quote (Rangers51 @ 16th May 2014 01:42)

I discovered tonight that I did not adequately prepare my wife for the first 15 minutes of Up.

Nobody can ever be adequately prepared for the first 15 minutes of Up.

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I do love a good animated film, I've watched so many.

I haven't seen Megamind, Despicable Me 1 & 2 or FF7 Advent Children (get the extended version) mentioned yet. They're some of my favourites so if you haven't seen them yet, I recommend them.

Also, Batman: Under the Red Hood is well worth a watch.

This post has been edited by fatman on 16th May 2014 17:20

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'Let that be a lesson to all oppressive vegetable sellers.'

Quote (Stiltzkin @ 16th May 2014 07:27)

Quote (Rangers51 @ 16th May 2014 01:42)

I discovered tonight that I did not adequately prepare my wife for the first 15 minutes of Up.

Nobody can ever be adequately prepared for the first 15 minutes of Up.

I agree. I'm having a hard time ranking Pixar's lineup. Toy Story at number one is fairly easy, but I have a difficult time in choosing between Finding Nemo, Wall-E, and Up.

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Praise Be To Helix!

As I continue down the path of watching every Disney movie I've never seen with my daughter, I've come to realize over the last couple weeks that The Princess and the Frog is really, really underrated. Yeah, it's a Disney Princess movie, but it's really a great example of the evolution of the genre based on a few things:

1. The "princess" doesn't really want to be one. She is a self-starter and hard worker and wants nothing more than to work her way to earning her dreams.
2. She's the hero(ine) of the story, not the Prince - the Prince is a shiftless slacker until he goes on an adventure with the heroine, and he's the one who experiences the most personal growth. He gets saved by her, not the other way around.
3. She's not a blonde-and-blue stereotype. Diversity is a good thing.

Also, it's a surprisingly good movie. The New Orleans flair makes a good setting, the supporting characters are fun, and the penultimate scene made my wife tear up a little bit.

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Quote (Rangers51 @ 24th September 2014 13:08)

1. The "princess" doesn't really want to be one. She is a self-starter and hard worker and wants nothing more than to work her way to earning her dreams.
2. She's the hero(ine) of the story, not the Prince - the Prince is a shiftless slacker until he goes on an adventure with the heroine, and he's the one who experiences the most personal growth. He gets saved by her, not the other way around.
3. She's not a blonde-and-blue stereotype. Diversity is a good thing.

I agree that Princess and the Frog is definitely underrated. I really wish it had done better, because if so we might've gotten more drawn Disneys... alas.

I know you're not in the business of bashing them, but as Disney gets some heat for GENDER and stuff, let me just recall:
Mulan, the not-blonde-and-blue heroine who saves all of China and isn't a princess.
Ariel, the princess who doesn't want to be one because ugh and wants to go exploring instead.
Jasmine, the not-blonde-and-blue princess who prefers to roam the streets.
Belle, the not-princess more concerned with reading books than being pretty (and thus is the love of my fictional life) and saves, spiritually, the main male.
Pocahontas, the not-blonde-and-blue heroine who saves her man physically and spiritually.

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Quote (Death Penalty @ 29th September 2014 15:42)

I know you're not in the business of bashing them, but as Disney gets some heat for GENDER and stuff, let me just recall:
Mulan, the not-blonde-and-blue heroine who saves all of China and isn't a princess.
Ariel, the princess who doesn't want to be one because ugh and wants to go exploring instead.
Jasmine, the not-blonde-and-blue princess who prefers to roam the streets.
Belle, the not-princess more concerned with reading books than being pretty (and thus is the love of my fictional life) and saves, spiritually, the main male.
Pocahontas, the not-blonde-and-blue heroine who saves her man physically and spiritually.

We've seen most of those - somehow, only my wife in our family has ever seen Beauty and the Beast - but I really think that a lot of them have some pretty significant problems: Ariel's curiosity seems to wane pretty quickly once she finds a man; Jasmine's trip out isn't portrayed as a regular thing but only serves to get a man into her life to save her; Pocahontas... well, I'm not sure that one's princess depiction is as problematic as its historical one.

Mulan does do a pretty good job, though, I'll grant you that. I thought about that after my last post but not enough to go back to it, heh.

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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

Sure, I wouldn't call these videos perfect examples of pure independence (modern feminist or otherwise); just like most real human beings. Your curiosity probably waned when you found your woman! I guess my point is that I don't think the shortcomings you mention make these films socio-culturally restraining. I think each one puts forward a different side of independence as well as a different side of dependence.

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Okay, Big Hero 6 just shot way up on whatever list I might have. It's as adorable as the commercials will have you believe, and the action scenes are pretty fantastic as well. It's meta enough to wink at itself without coming off as too ironic, too, which makes for a few good in-jokes. The short before the feature, Feast, was also really good, with a bit of the illustration style and general lack of dialogue of Paperman.

I would say that it might be my favorite Disney movie since John Lasseter moved over from Pixar to Mouse HQ, and that's saying something because that time includes both Wreck-It Ralph and Tangled, two that are big favorites around my house these days.

I also note that it appears that Lego Movie never showed up in this thread. I went to see that when it was in theatres, and I loved it then but it's grown on me more on repeat viewings at home. The big twist at the end is decent storytelling but also kind of irritating, and I think that the sequel will probably suffer for having to deal with it.

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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

I tend to prefer live-action movies, so I could only muster three. Or I just got tired of typing... whatever, here it is.

3. Up - I like this movie a lot. It is probably not in my general top ten, but in my opinion it shines among animations. It is just this heartwarming little story about an old man and a boy scout who travel to South America in a floating house, where they meet a talking dog...? I mean, you must give this movie a thumbs-up if only for the unusual setting; but then the story is so well written.

2. The Lion King - Amazing animation, especially considering that it was all hand-drawn. Good morals and themes, too; and well developed characters. Among my favorite movies of all time.

1. Frozen - BEST. MOVIE. EVER. I could go on and on about this one. It has the most Biblical depiction of true love I have seen in any secular movie, which is a big contributor. I also really liked the way they addressed both legalism and licentiousness as counter-productive and wrong. As for "Let It Go", I do not think it was overrated; just misunderstood. I found a really good analysis of the song, later supplemented with a blog post scrutinizing Elsa's facial expressions during the sequence; the website seems to be temporarily unavailable though, so I will have to find it later. Even the outtakes were amazing; "We Know Better" and "More Than Just the Spare" are some of my favorites.

Edit

It is working again. Here is the general analysis of the song, and here is the facial expression page, which is the better of the two in my opinion.

This post has been edited by RavenLalonde on 12th November 2014 07:22

Quote (Rangers51 @ 8th November 2014 17:43)

Okay, Big Hero 6 just shot way up on whatever list I might have. It's as adorable as the commercials will have you believe, and the action scenes are pretty fantastic as well. It's meta enough to wink at itself without coming off as too ironic, too, which makes for a few good in-jokes. The short before the feature, Feast, was also really good, with a bit of the illustration style and general lack of dialogue of Paperman.

I would say that it might be my favorite Disney movie since John Lasseter moved over from Pixar to Mouse HQ, and that's saying something because that time includes both Wreck-It Ralph and Tangled, two that are big favorites around my house these days.

Good call. I found it very charming and fun as well, and the animation was flooring. A lot of missed humor and side boring characters though, but Hiro and his family are great, as is Baymax, if a bit much. Hiro certainly has to be one of the best male Disney heroes. Looking forward to sequels.

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I fear my heart and fear my soul
Life goes on, it surely will,
Without me and I wonder:
Will I ever see light again?

Life goes on...

My favorite animated films are probably Porco Rosso (Miyazaki's masterpiece) and End of Evangelion (remember when Anno could direct?). The former for being really comfy, the latter for being really gloomy.

I want to see When the Wind Blows. I hear it has music by Roger Waters (of Pink Floyd fame), David Bowie and Genesis.