G-S-T Quick 5 – Underrated Animated Films

Growing up with animated features, one of the things I never really cared for in Disney films were the musical numbers.  I was always more interested in the story, the characters and the interaction of the two.  As I got a little older it seemed only natural that I gravitated toward Anime.  I could care less for the singing and dancing but if the story was engaging, I was hooked.  Below is the list of my top 5 animated films that I find enjoyable but are severely underrated.  They didn’t make huge box office numbers and were, for the most part, ultimately passed over by many movie goers, although I still find them entertaining.

Now even I’ll admit they aren’t perfect or even great movies, but I still like them.  Call me sympathetic but some moves I like becasue they aren’t great (maybe it’s some desire to root for an underdog).  One common element from one to another is that they fall short somewhere…be it story, pacing, character development, and it kept them from being great and more memorable.  In the world of 3D film behemoth Pixar, Disney’s classic fairytale/musical film track record, as well as Asian powerhouse (if not world leader) Studio Ghibli, it is hard for anything that doesn’t come from these hallowed studios to be taken seriously and find an audience that is tied to either brand loyalty or the standards set by said studios.  That said, I believe these smaller “animated films that could” (even 2 of the 5 entries are in fact Disney pictures) deserve a second shot at redemption as they are still quality films with good stories, they just got overshadowed by the likes of Shrek and The Incredibles to name a few.  Finally, this list isn’t in ascending or descending order…it’s just the order in which I pondered them…

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcC7nZwhTKo

1.) Treasure Planet– This film was one of Disney’s first attempts to break free from the ‘musical number’ formula which dominates its history of animated films.  From the look of the teaser trailer (which even today is still exciting to watch) it looked as if Disney would be taking a new route in feature films that veered away from its standard of talking animals.  I was so excited to see what they would do with such a classic story and was glad to see Disney was going for a grown up feel, not to mention sans the singing and dancing.  But while watching it in the theater, it seemed to suffer from a weak string of events.  Sure there was legitimate action, but even with Stevenson’s plot line as a guide, it seemed to struggle to fill the 90 minutes.  On thing I value more and more on repeated viewings  is the bonding that develops between the two main characters and it makes up for some of the other mediocre dialogue throughout.  On the whole, this movie played more like a character study of the friendship/role model relationship between Jim and Silver.  As this wasn’t a kids sing along animated flick, there was one musical number (which was really a montage theme song) that I thought worked very well.  The song in question is by John Reznik and  is one of my favorite Disney movie songs of all time.  It helped the story along and now looking back, I think something else might have been needed like that needed to break up the story (which again seemed stretched too thin).  I thought the film may have benefited by one ore two more traditional musical numbers…not my first choice for a solution but it’s just a hind-sighted suggestion.

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2.)  Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron – I think that one good and bad element of this movie was Matt Damon.  Now at the time when he was cast in this film, he was popular but I don’t think he was popular enough to be a true selling point to get people in the theater.  I personally think this is a great movie.  However, as is the track record for Dreamworks animation, their films try to hit an audience that is above the age of 12 or so, and that doesn’t hit the grown-ups as intended, I think.  That said, I can see how a movie about an animated horse would have been passed over by younger audiences as the horse didn’t even talk (it only spoke via 1st person narration.  Another high point (and probably the main reason I like this film) was the contributions of about 10 original songs by Bryan Adams and a thrilling and moving score from Hans Zimmer.  Bryan Adams is one of my favorite musicians and as I enjoyed the movie thoroughly enough, Adams music just put the icing on the cake.

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3.)  The Road to El Dorado – Now this film was supposed to be a slam dunk considering the contributors.  Tim Rice and Elton John riding high after their success from the Lion King, set out to make this their next opus.  Also the Bob Hope/Bing Crosby inspired adventure would play out with the voice talent of Kenneth Branagh and Kevin Klein in a fun, adventurous quest to the fabled city of El Dorado and it’s golden treasures.  Yeah, well sometimes things don’t work out like they appear to on paper.  This film was beautifully drawn, funny, witty and a wild ride but it still didn’t get people excited enough to tell friends or see it again.  I think the mature (and slightly violent) nature of the two villans may have been a little off putting for parents and kids might not have been able to understand what was going on.  The soundtrack truly added a good vibe to the film and I’m surprised it alone didn’t get more attention…but then again the Lion King is such a tough act to follow.  As great as this was, The Road to El Dorado did wander a little aimlessly and this lost/missed some people but I still love this movie.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeOo19iAJ1E

4.)  Atlantis: The Lost Empire –   Again I thought this film would continue the Disney stretch to get away from princesses and kid themed films.  The trailer, the premise, the cast and the visuals were all so compelling that I thought this would be a hit.  But again this was a little too mature and I think the audience got lost in the vastly different story.  To kids this was probably exciting but what I found shocking was the action.  Now Disney has its chills and thrills but this was different.  Not 20 minutes into the film there is an underwater battle and for the first time I recall the characters were put in absolute peril and faced death on a large scale.  In past films, it is not uncommon to see a bad guy or main villain fall from a height to his inferred death, but this was extreme.  In the battle when the characters were attempting to escape the sinking submarine, one scene in particular showed a crewman running for a compartment door before the hatch was closed.  The hatch was shut right in front of him and you saw his strained face change from ‘trying to get out’ to the sheer terror of being sealed in and unable to get out.  After that, sub pods left and right we destroyed and by the end of the battle, 90% of the crew was gone.  In a Star Wars film this would be common but not in a so-called Disney movie.  Sure they were going mature but I thought this was a bit much.  Also, much like Treasure Planet, this film seemed to struggle to find for plot and dialogue content to fill the story and so some scenes felt empty while others seemed very rushed.  I loved this film’s ending which was just one great visual after another and the action was top notch.  The ruins of Atlantis, character design and vehicles were just beautiful…not to mention another amazing score provided by James Newton Howard who just knocks it out of the park every time.  Just a little to much/too quick of a paradigm change from where Disney was vs. where they were looking to go and I believe that lost a lot of people.

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5.)  The Iron Giant– Now I’ll say right off there is nothing wrong with this film, except that no one has seen it.  It is a near perfect film, great for all ages and yet I ask all my friends if they’ve seen it, they ask their friends and I get blank stares every time.  They say “Iron What?’ and I just sigh.  Whenever I can, I try to convince them to see it, because it is hands down the most underrated film on this list.  More awareness that I will try to diseminate to anyone reading this is that this film was actually the pet project of Brad Bird (or The Incredibles fame).  He is very gifted at making his characters likable and endearing you to them very quickly in the story.  His films always have incredible amounts of heart and are the perfect family movies if you ask me.  But again I am just trying to get more people to see it…

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gbt9BLrOIQ

Honorable mention – Robots: Its worth noting that this film is an amazing CG achievement.  The reason it is overlooked is because of the competition it gets from another entry from it’s own studio – I’m talking about the success of Ice Age and its less than interesting sequels.  Those films (because of the huge kid draw, I suppose) just dwarf this fun, good natured, and touching themed movie.  Personally I’d watch Robots over Ice Age any day of the week and I think it is the superior effort from that studio, even (dare I say it) better and smarter than Shrek (well the first one anyway).  The voice talents were very well suited to the characters and the always lovable Robin Williams, as he always does, pulled his weight.  But the one thing I think that held this film back was Ewan McGregor (much like the case with Matt Damon above) who wasn’t well known enough to drive this film as the lead.  It is visually gorgeous and has a great message.  If anything, this film needed a sequel and not Ice Age…in my opinion, ‘Helper-bot’ is a much more enjoyable (and far less annoying) character than Scrat…here’s hoping right?…Blue Sky, you listening??

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Well that’s all I have to say for now.  How did my list fare?  Anyone like to comment or debate the above films?