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.
Thank you very much. (I can use all the encouragement I can get right now)
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.
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.
I just remembered: There is a waterfall scene in The Jungle Book that looks like a pastel drawing that moves. Stunning.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.