86. Howl’s Moving Castle (2004)
Directed by: Hayao Miyazaki
Written by: Hayao Miyazaki
Starring: Chieko Baisho/Emily Mortimer, Jean Simmons, Takuya Kimura/Christian Bale, Akihiro Miwa/Lauren Bacall, Tatsuya Gashuin/Billy Crystal and Ryunosuke Kamiki/Josh Hutcherson
Music by: Joe Hisaishi
Rated: U
Set in a steampunk universe where humans interact with wizards, witches and demons, a young hat seller named Sophie (Chieko Baisho, Emily Mortimer when young and Jean Simmons when old), ends up getting cursed by the jealous Witch of the Waste (Akihiro Miwa and Lauren Bacall), after the former gets the attention of the handsome sorcerer, Howl (Takuya Kimura and Christian Bale). With the body of an elderly woman, Sophie soon finds herself employed as a cleaning lady on Howl’s unique home, a gigantic castle that has the ability to walk across the lands. However, while Sophie tries to get the curse lifted with the help of Howl’s friends, a boy named Markl (Ryunosuke Kamiki and Josh Hutcherson) and a living flame demon named Calcifer (Tatsuya Gashuin and Billy Crystal), she soon discovers that Howl’s involvement in preventing a massive war, is putting her newly formed family at risk…
While a massive financial and critical hit when it was first released in 2004 and 2005, Howl’s Moving Castle, in spite of also being nominated for the 2005 Best Animated Feature Award, has fallen under a new wave of criticism over the years, regarding the massive changes to its source material and the lack of focus in its narrative.
Despite being the first Studio Ghibli film to be based on works outside of Japan, with the 1986 novel of the same name coming from British author Diane Wynne Jones, Hayao Miyazaki wanted to use the book’s basic structure and characters, to tell a much more direct anti-war story, venting his massive hatred for the 2003 Iraq conflict. While the attempts to cram this into a film that also wants to be a fantasy adventure does lead to some weird pacing issues, Sophie’s arc of empathy does get some of its best moments when using this theme.
While the animation and music is fantastic as usual for a Miyazaki film, Howl’s Moving Castle is an overall lesser experience when it comes to worldbuilding and in keeping its message subtle, when compared to his other films. Even though the love story is still sweet and Sophie’s companions all have lovable personalities.
Rating: 3.5/5
85. Boy and The World (2013)
Directed by: Alê Abreu
Written by: Alê Abreu
Starring: Vinicius Garcia, Felipe Zilse, Alê Abreu, Lu Horta, Marco Aurélio Campos and Cassius Romero
Music by: Ruben Feffer and Gustavo Kurlat
Rated: N/A
Cuca (Vinicius Garcia) is a young boy who lives a happy life with his parents in the forest. When his father is forced to leave his home for work, Cuca decides to go after him to make his mother happy again, where a chance meeting with an elderly and young man, will lead the young boy to witness both the highs and lows of city life…
Alê Abreu‘s second animated film was the first South American animated film to get nominated for Best Animated Feature at the Academy Awards, as well as a major success in several film festivals in two years preceding its nomination. Despite the simplicity of the drawing-like animation style, Boy and the World does tell a surprisingly bleak story about how capitalism can destroy dreams in certain countries.
While a lot of the characters are not memorable, the relationship between the boy and his two adult companions does have its sweet moments, especially in a major plot twist near the ending. Even though the decision to have the characters speak in backwards Portuguese does feel distracting, the best moments lie in the silent ones in which Cuca and the others are looking at the city’s background.
Overall, Boy and the World is both a cute, yet depressing film about the dark side of South America, from the eyes of a young boy.
Rating: 4/5
84. Over the Moon (2020)
Directed by: Glen Keane
Written by: Audrey Wells
Starring: Cathy Ang, Phillpa Soo, Ken Jeong, John Cho, Ruthie Ann Miles, Margaret Cho and Sandra Oh
Music by: Steven Price
Rated: U
Fei Fei (Cathy Ang) has spent her life believing in the legends of the moon goddess, Chang’e (Phillipa Soo), as her late mother (Ruthie Ann Miles) told her the stories while she was alive. When she finds out that her father, Ba Ba (John Cho), is going to remarry, Fei Fei builds a makeshift rocket and heads to the moon to ask Chang’e to stop the marriage…
One of the most iconic names throughout modern animation history has been Glen Keane, a Disney animator best known for designing some of the most iconic characters in Disney’s history such as Ariel in The Little Mermaid, The Beast in Beauty and the Beast, the titular characters in Pocohantas, Aladdin and Tarzan, and Rapunzel in Tangled. After leaving the company after 37 years of work, he has since moved on to directing Oscar-nominated shorts such as Duet and Dear Basketball and now, after being forced to vacate his original spot as director on Tangled due to ill health, he finally gets to direct his first ever feature film along with Paperman director John Khars.
Taking inspiration from the Chinese legends of Chang’e the moon goddess, Over the Moon is a charming film that, like the other offerings from Pearl Studios, the Chinese animation studio best known for co-producing Kung Fu Panda 3 and Abominable for DreamWorks Animation, pays great respect to Chinese culture through its character designs and background animation.
Although the narrative oddly enough, seems to take a large chunk of inspiration from the 1985 cult classic Explorers, with the tone shifting in a completely random way in its narrative, the late Audrey Wells does manage to keep things focused on a young girl’s emotional journey to let go and move on, and as expected from Glen Keane, the animation is incredible to look at.
Overall, Over the Moon is a wonderful space adventure for the whole family that celebrates not only the importance of letting go, but the power of animation as a story-telling medium, that only a great ex-Disney animator can provide!
Rating: 4/5
83. A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon (2019)
Directed by: Richard Phelan and Will Becher
Written by: Mark Burton and Jon Brown
Starring: Justin Fletcher, John Sparkes and Amalia Vitale
Music by: Tom Howe
Rated: U
After an alien sighting occurs near Mossy Bottom Farm, the whole town gets caught up in paranormal mania. However, the alien turns out to be a friendly baby one named Lu-La (Amalia Vitale), with an appetite for pizza and sweets. When circumstances lead to Lu-La crossing paths with Shaun the Sheep (Justin Fletcher), it’s up to him, Bitzer the Dog (John Sparkes) and the rest of the flock to get the young alien back home…
As everyone’s favourite British animation studio, Aardman, heads into the world of theatrical sequels to their feature films for the first time, it is no surprise that the first one to come out of the Bristol studio would be a follow-up to 2015’s Shaun the Sheep Movie, given how popular the tv show, spun off from the 1995 Wallace and Gromit short, A Close Shave , is in England.
Just like the first film, A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon keeps the tradition of not having any of the characters talk intact from the series, leading to some very amusing highlights of physical comedy. Although the plot itself is your typical E.T. scenario of the protagonist trying to get an alien back home before the government can seize it, the execution of it is what makes this film worth watching, with the aforementioned lack of dialogue and some brilliant sci-fi gags making this one of Aardman’s funniest films in years.
Overall, A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon is another winning effort from Aardman Animations and definitely not a “baaaaaad” start to making sequels.
Rating: 4/5
82. Turning Red (2022)
Directed by: Domee Shi
Written by: Julia Cho and Domee Shi
Starring: Rosalie Chiang, Sandra Oh, Ava Morse, Hyein Park, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Orion Lee, Wai Ching Ho, Tristan Allerick Chen and James Hong
Music by: Ludwig Göransson
Rated: PG
During 2002, in the streets of Toronto, Canada, a fiery and wisecracking Chinese-Canadian girl named Mei Lee (Rosalie Chiang), lives an extremely busy, yet happy life with her friends Miriam (Ava Morse), Abby (Hyein Park) and Priya (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan) at school, and trying to be a perfect daughter for her overprotective mother, Ming (Sandra Oh). One day, Mei gains the ability to transform into a giant red panda every time she gets excited, as a result from inheriting it as her family’s curse. While her parents instruct her to wait for a special ceremony to remove her ability, she slowly soon starts to realise that being a giant fluffy creature has more advantages than disadvantages in life…
Ever since John Lasseter was removed from Pixar Animation Studios after his bad habits and sexism was revealed in late 2017, the company behind the likes of Toy Story, Finding Nemo and The Incredibles have been trying to embrace projects with much more diverse appeal than what was allowed in the 2000s and the majority of the 2010s. Pixar veteran director and current CEO of the company, Pete Docter brought African-American audiences to the heartwarming Soul, Enrico Casarosa did a fantastic job celebrating his childhood days in the Italian Riveria with Luca and in the last instalment of their unofficial “Disney+” trilogy, the director of Pixar’s 2018 theatrical short Bao, Domee Shi, brings her own childhood stories in Toronto to life with Turning Red.
Despite the fact that this film is the most bizarre one ever made by the studio with the main focus on a visual metaphor for female puberty as a giant red panda, may have caused Disney to get worried about mass appeal to audiences, Turning Red is one of the funniest films to have come out of Pixar in a long time based on facial expressions and wacky character animation alone.
After years of films embracing 1980s and 1990s culture, it is refreshing to see one that is a celebration of 2000s popular iconography, the golden age of the boy band and anime fandom. Speaking of anime, Turning Red’s already mentioned facial expressions and action sequences take a lot of visual inspiration from the likes of Pokémon, Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball Z, especially with the bonkers finale that is the perfect representation of tough love.
As this film managed to keep its director all the way through production unlike the chaotic and tragic incidents revolving around Brenda Chapman and Brave, Turning Red does admittedly share a lot of plot elements from that film, only set in a more modern setting and being a role-reversal of the transformed relative. However, the heartwarming plot twists does make this a lot more focused than that troubled production.
Overall, Turning Red is a very different experience when compared to Pixar’s other filmography examples, but it is still extremely entertaining and heartwarming in its celebration of the 2000s and being true to yourself!
Rating: 4/5
81. Missing Link (2019)
Directed by: Chris Butler
Written by: Chris Butler
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Zach Galifianakis, Zoe Saldana, David Walliams, Stephen Fry, Matt Lucas, Timothy Olyphant, Amrita Acharia, Ching Valdes-Aran and Emma Thompson
Music by: Carter Burwell
Rated: PG
Sir Lionel Frost (Hugh Jackman), a down-on-his-luck explorer, gets a big break when he receives a letter guiding him to the location of a Sasquatch. However, when Lionel finally discovers the creature, he discovers that the talking and well-mannered “Mr. Link” (Zach Galifianakis) sent the letter himself to ask him to take him to the Himalayas to find his own kind. Together, with the help of Lionel’s former flame, Adelina Fortnight (Zoe Saldana), both man and beast must travel the world to find out where they truly belong…
Ten years after their first film, Coraline, Laika Animation have established themselves as one of the best stop-motion animation studios alongside Aardman, thanks to their emotional stories, memorable characters and pure love for the art of animation.
Missing Link, the second film coming from the co-director of their 2012 film, Paranorman, Chris Butler, may lack some of the twists and emotional plot elements that made that film and Kubo and the Two Strings so amazing. However,as an entertaining action-adventure, it does work as a charming story about belonging.
Laika’s dedication to creating beautiful worlds and character animation is on full display here, thanks to the globetrotting aspect. From the streets of Victorian London, the jungles of India, the deserts to an Ice Kingdom of Yetis, the amazing set and production design makes one glad at how far Laika has come in improving their animation skills.
Zach Galifianakis and Hugh Jackman make an entertaining double-act with the former’s polite nature despite his fearsome appearance getting some of the biggest laughs and while they may be the weakest antagonists in Laika’s filmography, both Stephen Fry and Timothy Olyphant’s characters get some chuckles as villains.
Overall, Missing Link may not be Laika’s best film, but the beautiful animation, funny characters and its touching message about belonging, makes this one of the most charming animated films in a long time.
Rating: 4/5
80. The Croods (2013)
Directed by: Chris Sanders and Kirk DeMicco
Written by: Kirk DeMicco and Chris Sanders
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Catherine Keener, Cloris Leachman and Clark Duke
Music by: Alan Silvestri
Rated: U
The Crood family consisting of Grug (Nicolas Cage), Eep (Emma Stone), Ugga (Catherine Keener), Thunk (Clark Duke), Sandy (Randy Thom) and Gran (Cloris Leachman) are a group of cavemen who spend their lives hiding in a cave, only going out to hunt food. After Eep, being a lot more adventurous than her family, encounters a modern human boy named Guy (Ryan Reynolds), he warns her that an apocalypse is coming. When an earthquake destroys the cave, the Croods are forced to rely on Guy’s new inventions in order to find a new home…
Starting life as an Aardman Animations film in which two cavemen would form a rivalry over the best way to adapt to the changing world that would have been written by John Cleese and be loosely based on Roald Dahl’s The Twits, the project that would eventually become The Croods was kept by DreamWorks after Aardman ended their partnership over the poor box-office performance of Flushed Away.
Eventually taken over by Lilo and Stitch and How to Train Your Dragon director Chris Sanders and given a complete overall in tone and visual design, The Croods may not be the best film to have come out of the ex-Disney animator, but the heart and humour of those films is still present in how the lesson of adapting to change is presented.
Having incredible background animation,much like Sander’s previous film with DreamWorks in 2010 thanks to the involvement of Roger Deakins, The Croods is possibly the most interesting in terms of worldbuilding thanks to the Avatar: The Last Airbender-inspired creature designs of blending two separate animals into one, such as Chunky the Macauw-Tiger and Douglas the Crocodile-Dog. The voice-acting is mostly solid, with Emma Stone being one of the best female protagonists in design alone with Eep, and Ryan Reynolds bringing his usual charm as the smarter cave-boy, Guy, even if Nicolas Cage does seem a bit miscast here.
Overall, The Croods is an epic and heartwarming film that may not be as good as Stitch and Toothless’s adventures, but does manage to evolve into its own thing, just like the family themselves.
Rating: 4/5
79. Incredibles 2 (2018)
Directed by: Brad Bird
Written by: Brad Bird
Starring: Holly Hunter, Craig T. Nelson, Sarah Vowell, Huckleberry Milner, Samuel L. Jackson, Bob Odenkirk, Catherine Keener, Brad Bird and Jonathan Banks
Music by: Michael Giacchino
Rated: PG
Three months after Bob Parr/Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson), Helen Parr/ Elastigirl (Holly Hunter), Violet (Sarah Vowell), Dash (Huck Milner) and Lucius Best/ Frozone (Samuel L. Jackson) defeated Syndrome, a failed attempt to arrest the Underminer (John Ratzenburger) results in the public turning against superheroes again and the Superhero Relocation Program being shut down. Luck changes overnight for the family however, when Winston (Bob Odenkirk) and Evelyn Deavor (Catherine Keener), the sibling owners of a telecommunications company that used to support superheroes in the past, offer them the chance to get the superhero ban overturned. The only catch however, is that only Helen is allowed to take superhero missions before the ban gets overturned, while Bob is forced to become a stay-at-home dad with his three kids. But when Helen encounters a new villain named “ScreenSlaver” and Bob discovers that baby Jack-Jack is finally starting to show his powers, can The Incredibles come together once again to save the world?…
Of all of the recent sequels that have come out of Pixar Animation Studios throughout the 2010s, none had been more anticipated than the sequel to Brad Bird’s 2004 superhero masterpiece, The Incredibles. Being the first Pixar film to focus entirely on humans and the first Pixar film to win two Oscars for Best Animated Feature and Best Sound Editing, this film is remembered fondly for finally getting humans to look good in CGI, the unforgettable characters and its heartwarming story about a superhero family. Coming off the first film’s cliffhanger ending where the family suited up to take on the mole-like Underminer, Brad Bird once again brings the world of The Incredibles to life with its stylish Bond-like 60’s-utopia look and stunning action setpieces that look as if they were lifted from a spy movie poster of that time period.
Although the role-reversal plot of Elastigirl doing super-heroics while Mr. Incredible is stuck at home does repeat a few plot elements from the first film and the overall narrative lacks the powerful themes of the importance of doing the right thing, being forced into conformity and the consequences of refusing to offer someone help that made the first film one of Pixar’s greatest, the interactions between the family themselves and the futher worldbuilding revolving around superheroes that survived Syndrome’s genocide, and the changing realationship between the public and supers, is what prevents Incredibles 2 from falling to the same traps that the Cars sequels fell into. The villain however, is not as impressive as Syndrome as its not only another twist-villain that has been done to death in most of Disney and Pixar’s films in the last few years, but one that anyone can see coming a mile away which does make one wonder if the writers are even trying with these types of characters anymore.
The voice-acting is once again great, with Holly Hunter getting to show a more playful, fun-loving side to Elastigirl and Craig T. Nelson getting the biggest laughs as the homebound Bob has to deal with a destructive baby, Violet’s boyfriend troubles and Dash’s confusing homework routine. Brad Bird himself and Samuel L. Jackson once again steal the show as a more motherly Edna Mode and a more involved Frozone and the talented Bob Odenkirk brings a delightful charm as the super-loving businessman, Winston.
Overall, Incredibles 2 had a difficult task in trying to live up to expectations after fourteen years of waiting, but aside from a few issues in the narrative and a really weak villain, This “Incredible” follow-up is well worth the wait and another win for the great Brad Bird, although it does lack the intensity of the original.
Rating: 4/5
78. Frozen (2013) (Winner of 2013 Best Animated Feature Award)
Directed by: Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee
Written by: Jennifer Lee
Starring: Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Jonathan Groff, Josh Gad and Santino Fontana
Music by: Christophe Beck
Rated: PG
In the Norwegian kingdom of Arendelle, two young princesses named Anna (Kristen Bell) and Elsa (Idina Menzel), are torn apart by the latter’s unexplained powers to control ice and snow. When Elsa is finally crowned queen as they come of age, an accident ends up exposing her abilities and she runs away from home, unaware that she is causing a literal storm in the kingdom. Anna leaves to find her with the help of a ice salesman named Kristoff (Jonathan Groff), his beloved reindeer, Sven and Olaf (Josh Gad), a snowman born from Elsa’s abilities to find her before Arendelle ends up as an icicle…
Although Walt Disney Animation Studios had adapted Hans Christian Anderson stories into animated projects before with The Little Mermaid, The Steadfast Tin Soldier segment in Fantasia 2000 and the 2006 Little Match Girl short, The Snow Queen was proving to be a massive challenge. Failed attempts to bring this icy tale to the screen in the 1940s, 1990s and early 2002, eventually led to Tarzan director Chris Buck and Wreck-it Ralph writer, Jennifer Lee, to change it, into one of the biggest successes of the company in the 2010s decade.
The background of the snow covered Norse locations and the palace itself looks stunning thanks to the influence of Pocahontas art director Michael Giaimo. Although people are sick to death of the songs these days, some of them such as Let it Go and Frozen Heart, do have a nice energy to them while others drag the film down.
Although some of Frozen does admittally have some interesting ideas and twists on the Hans Christian Anderson source material, a lot of the conflicts feel rushed which isn’t surprising given its production history. However, the likability of the characters of Anna, Kristoff, Elsa and even Olaf, and the impressive widescreen cinematography, does make Frozen feel as large and epic as The Lion King two decades earlier.
Overall, Frozen‘s impact to Disney’s recent successes is impressive, but the film itself is seriously lacking elements that made the films of this new era stand out from the crowd. However, as the film is now over a decade old, a lot of the nitpicking has died down, and much like The Jungle Book, it has become a timeless tale on its own terms.
Rating: 4/5
Chaz’s Cinematic Odyssey 