I saw Disney's Wreck-It Ralph today, October 20. Based on what I have seen so far, here are my picks for the best animated feature of the year, not counting anthropomorphic characters: 1. Wreck-It Ralph. 2. Ted. 3. Frankenweenie. 4. Madagascar 3. 5. The Pirates! Band of Misfits. 6. Hotel Transylvania. 7. Brave. 8. ParaNorman. Rise of the Guardians is not released yet (it comes out tomorrow), and I have not seen The Lorax or Ice Age: Continental Drift or Dino Time yet. (Or Skyfall.)
In virtually every case, my enjoyment was dependent upon the film's story quality. The better the story, the more that I liked it. I was bored stiff by Ted's macho drinking-&-partying story, but I spent time in college in a fraternity and I recognize this culture as realistic. So the story felt realistic to me, and the CGI teddy bear character was marvelously believable; a live plush teddy bear in the real world. In the setting of Wreck-It Ralph's video-games-come-to-life world, the story seems believable. Brave, on the other hand, has exquisite CGI animation, but the story only works if you assume that everyone in it is an unbelievably self-centered idiot. Similarly, the stop-motion animation in ParaNorman is impressive but I felt throughout it that the story was insulting my intelligence.
I saw Disney's Wreck-It Ralph today, October 20. Based on what I have seen so far, here are my picks for the best animated feature of the year, not counting anthropomorphic characters: 1. Wreck-It Ralph. 2. Ted. 3. Frankenweenie. 4. Madagascar 3. 5. The Pirates! Band of Misfits. 6. Hotel Transylvania. 7. Brave. 8. ParaNorman. Rise of the Guardians is not released yet (it comes out tomorrow), and I have not seen The Lorax or Ice Age: Continental Drift or Dino Time yet. (Or Skyfall.)
In virtually every case, my enjoyment was dependent upon the film's story quality. The better the story, the more that I liked it. I was bored stiff by Ted's macho drinking-&-partying story, but I spent time in college in a fraternity and I recognize this culture as realistic. So the story felt realistic to me, and the CGI teddy bear character was marvelously believable; a live plush teddy bear in the real world. In the setting of Wreck-It Ralph's video-games-come-to-life world, the story seems believable. Brave, on the other hand, has exquisite CGI animation, but the story only works if you assume that everyone in it is an unbelievably self-centered idiot. Similarly, the stop-motion animation in ParaNorman is impressive but I felt throughout it that the story was insulting my intelligence.
Fred Patten