We know that Disney rules animation in the US. But what about animated films not from the US?
What are the best foreign animated films?
I love the Japanese animated film, “Isle of Dogs”.
I believe we’ve covered Europe recently…
Not really a Japanese film. It was made by Wes Anderson, an American filmmaker.
If we include Japan, we’re gonna have a long list. Just Miyazaki has made some of the best animated movies of all time.
Absolute minimum, people should seek out these Japanese movies:
Spirited Away
My Neighbor Totoro
Paprika
Grave of the Fireflies
I think you got whooshed.
I’d add Princess Mononoke to the list.
France (and Belgium!) has a long tradition of animated films; some of [del]the best[/del] my favorites include:
Fantastic Planet
A Town Called Panic (stop motion; does that count?)
Renaissance
Persepolis
Ernest & Celestine
Also among the best from Japan (and not Ghibli)
*Summer Days With Coo
**Summer Wars
**Your Name
*Giovanni’s Island
*A Letter to Momo
*Mirai
*In This Corner of the World
*The Girl Who Lept Through Time
Oblivion Island
*The Night is Short, Walk On Girl
*A Silent Voice
**Fireworks
*5 Centimeters Per Second
*Tokyo Godfathers
And a classic (older and less visually-impressive than the rest of my list) Night on the Galactic Railroad. Be sure to watch that one before Giovanni’s island–newer movie makes a few references to the book the older movie is based on.
Sorry about the messed up spacing on the above post. I edited it out 2 or 3 times (between fourm time-outs) and the stupid forum software kept putting them back in.
Also, a couple of days ago I watched Big Fish and Begonia (from China.) The animation was beautiful–absolutely world class. But the story was a bit if a confused mess (in a similar way to how Frozen II is.) Absolutely watch it for the visuals, but I can’t really call it "best.’
Mr. Hublot was one of the Oscar-nominated short films a few years ago.
It’s a delightful French take on Steampunk, OCD, and friendship.
Mr. Hublot was one of the Oscar-nominated short films a few years ago.
It’s a delightful French take on Steampunk, OCD, and friendship.
Some of my favorite foreign animators specialize in stop-motion and other non-traditional styles:
German Lotte Reiniger is the grandmother of animated cinema with her phenomenally intricate stencil silhouettes used to bring myths and fairy tales to life in ways that still remain endlessly captivating. Her most celebrated work remains the marvelous THE ADVENTURES OF PRINCE ACHMED.
Russian Wladyslaw Starewicz did some absolutely wonderful stop-motion shorts, using lots of insect characters (almost the anti-Jiminy Cricket) in the shorts and eventually transitioning to mammals for some of his longer, more sophisticated works. A standout is his mini-feature THE TALE OF THE FOX.
British animator Len Lye always had a playful disposition with his animated shorts commissioned by the General Post Office (GPO) before taking on the WWII-war effort. A lot of his films were made by stenciling or drawing directly on the film stock for animated effect. Here’s some of his early color work, much of which might also be considered “experimental cinema”.
Scot-turned-Canadian Norman McLaren took some of these principles and ramped them up exponentially with some of the most iconic and legendary short work in animation history. PAS DE DEUX and NEIGHBORS revolutionized the form (and earned him an Oscar) but perhaps my single favorite short film of all time is the stunning BEGONE DULL CARE, a small miracle of shape and movement, all hand-drawn directly on the celluloid and choreographed to the fantastic rhythms of jazz great Oscar Peterson.
Karel Zeman and Jiri Trnka were both genius stop-motion Czech animators who brought extraordinary texture and beauty to the form. Zeman’s short INSPIRATION is magnificent and Trnka’s mini-feature A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM is among the best and most-unappreciated cinematic adaptations of a Shakespeare story.
Fellow Czech Jan Svankmajer is far better known and has had some of his feature films (most notably, his fantastic feature ALICE, based on Lewis Carroll) visit the art house circuit. His content was more political and filled with social commentary because of the Soviet occupation, but still rich with creativity. A standout is his remarkable 3-part short DIMENSIONS OF DIALOGUE.
Brit Nick Park and the entire Aardman team has a well-deserved cultish following, though the studio’s highlight probably remains the Oscar-winning short THE WRONG TROUSERS, one of the best comedy-heist films of any length. Here’s the climax, which is also one of the movies’ all-time great chases.
And of course, while The Brothers Quay are American, they’ve used the UK as their base of creative operations for decades. Their stop-motion films can be fairly described as creepy, shocking, and monumentally fucked-up, but I think their films are perversely irresistible and proof of their stunning craftsmanship. Their most famous film is the short STREET OF CROCODILES.
All the Aardman movies, including
- Wallace & Grommet
- Chicken run
- Flushed Away
- Creature Comforts
Grave of the Fireflies - ‘shut up, I’m not crying, you’re crying’.
The Triplets of Belleville/ France, 2003. Beautifully made, stunningly original in every aspect - and very funny.
Japanese animation just recycles the same tired designs and corner-cutting tricks (character stands on a windy cliff, only her hair moves; character walks toward the camera, stops, only her mouth moves, stuff like that). I can’t believe anyone thinks that is quality filmmaking.
[Waltz with Bashir - Wikipedia"]Waltz with Bashir](Waltz with Bashir - Wikipedia) shows that its not just comedies and fantasies that can benefit from being done in cartoon form. This is harrowing at times.
Technical question for the programers here: how many of the roll-eyes emojis could I post before it broke the–well–internet?