# The Best Animation **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 22, 2006, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-animation/361650 "2006-06-22T00:36:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cheez\_Whia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d26b3c/32.png) [@Cheez\_Whia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheez_Whia)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-animation/361650/21 "2006-06-22T15:01:03Z")
There are some scenes that have stayed with me from a few animation movies. Some are just moments, really, when I was thinking, “How did they _do_ that?” “Little April Showers” sequence in _Bambi._ Under the sea in _Pinocchio._ The way Sulley’s fur moves with a breeze in _Monsters, Inc._ Flags in the wind and being burned in _Mulan._ Also when the Huns come down the snow field on horseback. The stampede sequence in _The Lion King._ These are just the ones I can think of right now. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-animation/361650/22 "2006-06-22T15:16:29Z")
> [@Rodgers01](#): > > Congratulations on your degree in animation – that’s actually really really cool. Good luck getting a job in the business. … Thank you very much. (I can use all the encouragement I can get right now) > [@Rodgers01](#): > > The first thing that came to mind for me was “Pinocchio.” The opening shot craning over the little town was beautiful. My criterion for judging this is sheer “painterliness,” at least as far as my amateur understanding of art lets me understand it. The whole movie is great to look at – Pleasure Island and the boys turning into donkeys, the trip under the ocean, etc. I never cared for _Pinnochio_ as a kid, and missed it when it came out on DVD. Then I saw that opening featured in _Walt: The Man Behind the Myth_. I’ll have to Netflixit. > [@mack](#): > > In terms of technical hyper-detailed wizardry, I think Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within is up there. Of course you won’t be seeing much more from the studio because they went broke making it. IMHO, the animation in that was simply bad. Motion-captured without any improvement by the animators. Compare it to Gollum, where the mo-cap data was pushed and fixed, and the facial expressions were completely redone. I was flabbergasted at the _Ratatouille_ trailer, some of the best I’ve seen. The quality of motion looked like hand-drawn stuff. In the you’ve-never-heard-of-it category, _Cats Don’t Dance_ is superb all around. I’m not a fan of anime. Myazaki’s a great storyteller, but it’s not my cup of tea, animation-wise. It’s usually done on threes (one drawing for three frames) to allow for more detailed drawings, but motion suffers. Redeeming features include incredible creativity and unmatched, budget-busting explosions. ---
**Author:** ![Cheez\_Whia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d26b3c/32.png) [@Cheez\_Whia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheez_Whia)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-animation/361650/23 "2006-06-22T16:29:01Z")
I just remembered: There is a waterfall scene in _The Jungle Book_ that looks like a pastel drawing that moves. Stunning. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-animation/361650/24 "2006-06-22T17:01:05Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#): > > _Pinocchio_, by Disney, was beautifully done, richly detailed, & technically advanced for the era, or for today. Yes, yes, yes. The Disney animators hadn’t learned how to cut corners yet. They took everything they learned from Snow White and put it on the screen. Absolutely amazing work. There’s an animation art gallery in Brentwood that specializes in Disney production art. If I had $10,000 to spare they have a background for \*\*Pinocchio \*\* that I would buy in a heartbeat … . I’m also a big fan of **101 Dalmations**. The new Xerox process they adopted for Dalmations let the animators’ pencil work come through into the final movie in a way that it never had before. There’s an incredible organic feel to the drawings. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-animation/361650/25 "2006-06-22T17:19:51Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > …In the you’ve-never-heard-of-it category, _Cats Don’t Dance_ is superb all around. I’ve seen that! What were they thinking? It’s **A Star is Born** with animated cats. Only gayer. (Literally. In the campy, Judy Garland-worshipping sort of way.) But I agree that the animation is great! > [@](#): > > I’m not a fan of anime. Myazaki’s a great storyteller, but it’s not my cup of tea, animation-wise. It’s usually done on threes (one drawing for three frames) to allow for more detailed drawings, but motion suffers. Redeeming features include incredible creativity and unmatched, budget-busting explosions. I agree. Studio Ghibli’s animation is actually very simple and limited compared to Disney’s. What makes Miyazaki’s movies so good is the strength and originality of his vision, not the technical virtuousity of the animation. Although it is pretty amazing that he does ALL of his own storyboards. On the anime side I’ll back up what \*\*H3Knuckles \*\* said. \*\*FLCL \*\* and **Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex** are both very, very good. ---
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-animation/361650/26 "2006-06-22T18:02:28Z")
It’s been a while since I watched the Disney ‘classics’, and nothing of theirs that I’ve seen recently really ‘sticks out’ (though it’s all very professional). I’m actually a _big_ fan of good anime (as opposed to watching _anything_ with big eyes ;)). I’ll agree that Miyazaki’s animation is simpler, but I think that’s how anime in general works. I’m no good at art myself, but I occasionally get a book on it, to see how they squeeze the effects they want out of a minimum of drawing. **Ghost in the Shell SAC** _is_ quite good. It’s sparse on the detailing (like most made-for-TV anime), but still quite realistic as **H3Knuckles** notes. **Wings of Honneamise** has some really great machinery animation (especially the airplanes and rocket). I’m not sure how much of it is the animation alone, but the final scene is one of the most emotional I’ve seen in _any_ movie. **Patlabor 2** also has quite detailed backdrops and realistic reaction, vehicle and machinery scenes. (Though the story itself drags a bit in places). I didn’t think much of the animation in **Akira** myself, but then I don’t really like the story either. It was ground-breaking when released, but rather dated now. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-animation/361650/27 "2006-06-22T18:35:26Z")
There are masterful moments in both my favorite animated feature (Disney’s _Pinocchio_) and short (Betty Boop’s _Snow White_ by the Fleischers), but if I had to pick one sequence that stands above all others, I’d have to say the remarkable “Pink Elephants on Parade” number from **Dumbo**. Amazing. > [@mack](#): > > One of my all-time favorites is \*\*[The Man Who Planted Trees](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093488/) \*\* from 1987. It’s done in a continuously flowing colored pencil/pastel/watercolor type style. It’s a beautiful film all around. I’ve long been a proponent of this magnificent film here on the boards. A thing of beauty (as are all of Back’s works). Now, if it was only easily available on DVD! ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-animation/361650/28 "2006-06-22T18:37:43Z")
> [@Nanoda](#): > > It’s been a while since I watched the Disney ‘classics’, and nothing of theirs that I’ve seen recently really ‘sticks out’ (though it’s all very professional). I don’t know if counts as recent, and I don’t know how well it’s held up, but the ballroom dance sequence from “Beauty and the Beast” was certainly impressive at the time. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-animation/361650/29 "2006-06-22T19:47:34Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Although Aardman’s next movie is also [CGI-rat film](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flushed_Away) (with a very different plot). Why do movie themes come in cycles, I wonder? Not sure about _Ratatouille/Flushed Away,_ but earlier duplicates came from ex-Disney honcho Jeffrey Katzenberg trying to usurp Pixar’s upcoming movie ideas after he moved to Dreamworks. So we got _Antz_ = _A Bug’s Life,_ _Shrek_ = _Monsters Inc.,_ and _Shark Tale_ = _Finding Nemo._ Unofficial scuttlebutt is that John Lasseter was so shocked by _Antz_’s blatant copying of _A Bug’s Life_ that he called up Katzenberg and asked, “Why, Jeff?” Pixar’s animators had to subsequently tighten their security on story ideas to prevent future hijacks, which soured the animation community as a whole. ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-animation/361650/30 "2006-06-22T19:49:05Z")
Cordell Barker, who did many animated shorts for the National Film Board in Canada, is a genius. His comic timing is impeccable. I suppose he’s most famous for “The Cat Came Back”, but everything I’ve seen of his is wonderful. I recommend your searching out his work. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-animation/361650.md?page=1)