Antz (1998) – Dreamworks

It’s an adventure comedy with a quirky hero: an ant from a colony of thousands. “Z” (Woody Allen) tries to ascend from his menial life as a worker and attract the attention of the princess, but on the way he accidentally kidnaps her and they end up in the perilous world of other insects and humans. They have to find their way back and help save the colony from impending destruction.

The animation can be impressive, especially when applied to the appearance of the ant tunnels. Unfortunately the animators do focus more on this than the individual so some of the facial movements are quite stilted. The story is interesting because in 83 minutes it covers topics of war, love and meaningful existence, which is difficult to do, but the creators handle them well and the film has a good balance of comedy and tragedy. The ending, not to give anything away, is fascinating both from an animation fan’s point of view but also riveting because you genuinely care about the characters. The film gives a view of life from an insect’s perspective in an arguably more realistic way than films such as Bee Movie or A Bugs Life.

Les Triplettes de Belleville (2003) – Les Armateurs

Champion lives with his grandmother and dreams of cycling in the Tour de France, but when he finally gets his chance he is kidnapped by some nefarious characters and taken away to an illegal gambling den. His grandmother, Madame Souza, and her dog try to save him, meeting three elderly singing sisters along the way.

A. O. Scott is actually quoted in the trailer saying that this film is “a far cry from Walt Disney or Japanese anime”, and it really is. The film is incredibly stylised because the animation is so detailed and bizarre; you are taken into an oddly impossible world and stay quite confused throughout. To add to the confusion there is very little speech, which is a signature of the director Sylvain Chomet’s work, and you have to reply on the artists’ ability to draw human emotions. However, far from its oddness being a negative, the film’s uniqueness is what makes it amazing. We are encouraged to watch and accept the world you are seeing, otherwise you risk becoming completely lost. Even if you don’t like randomness in films, the humour can certainly keep you entertained.

Coraline (2009) – Focus Feature 

An amazing stop-motion about a lonely girl who feels neglected by her busy parents after moving to a small town where she only has one friend and three very eccentric neighbours. Through a doorway in her new house she finds a parallel universe where her button-eyed parents and neighbours are perfect and dote on her, but things quickly turn out not to be as they appear.

This film is very reminiscent of some of Tim Burton’s work because it can be quite dark in tone while never becoming excessively so.  It’s an enjoyable film because there is magic, kooky characters and.. well, the main character has blue hair (which are all ingredients for success!). Sometimes I think that Coraline as a character is slightly rude and therefore I feel as though she deserves the bad things that happen in the alternate universe, but honestly she is just a well written teenager who anyone would find slightly annoying. The creators have also taken great care with the film and you notice more nuances the more you watch, for instance in the real world the characters are more vibrantly coloured than those in the other world. This animated world rewards multiple visits.

Mary and Max (2009) – Melodrama Pictures 

Mary, a young girl who lives in Australia, starts corresponding by letter to Max, an elderly anxiety-ridden man in New York. The two regularly send each other letters and open up to each other because they have no one else in their life to talk to. Their unlikely friendship lasts for a couple of decades and the pair remain corresponding from many miles away through many changes in their lives.

This is a genuinely endearing film and never makes the relationship between the characters sordid or weird which is commendable. You can see the characters develop into a bitter-sweet plot; one character’s life improves while the other seems to sadly decline despite efforts to make changes. As with all of the best films, the combination of happy and sad events are very well balanced. I think everyone can empathise at least a little with the characters and this is what makes the film so appealing to a lot of people. The characters’ stories are also realistic because they don’t necessarily cure each other’s problems, but simply provide support while gradually changing over time; the slow progression makes the whole thing more believable and relatable.

The Road to El Dorado (2000) – Dreamworks 

Miguel and Tulio are Spanish tricksters who end up on a boat with a horse and a map, floating out to sea. They land on an island and eventually find El Dorado, the Lost City of Gold. The El Doradians believe that the two are Gods and of course, being tricksters, they decide to cash in on the people’s mistake. Hilarity ensues.

The film is fun without ever taking itself too seriously and the two leads, one of whom is voiced by Kenneth Branagh, are engaging and funny so you really like them and their friendship. Similar to a lot of contemporary animated comedies, there is something for everyone from slap-stick comedy to slightly more “grown-up” jokes that will likely go way over most children’s heads. It’s funny and fast and brilliant to watch with friends because there are so many lines that are quotable. The final message is moralistic but slightly weak, highlighting that this is a film more fit for a child audience. Aside from it’s ending, the rest of the film is really entertaining.

Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005) – Aardman Animation

Wallace and Gromit, in my opinion, is possibly one of the greatest animated creations ever made, and having their own feature film makes the world a better place. Wallace and Gromit are pest controllers in a town where people are obsessed with growing excessively large vegetables. One night a terrible, giant were-rabbit begins terrorising the town and destroying peoples’ prize vegetables: cue Wallace and Gromit to save the day.

It’s incredibly funny and Aardman always put in loads of extra, background gags so when you watch it multiple times you can find loads more jokes you miss the first time round. The creators took a staple idea, but by changing it from a wolf to a rabbit they made it much less threatening – let’s just say trying to make a stop-motion rabbit scary would be a feat indeed. This use of a harmless creature as the villain is similar to their short film The Wrong Trousers, where they used a penguin as the villain to great effect. The Wallace and Gromit films are hard not to love and the full feature is amazing, charming and worth a watch any day.

Watership Down (1978) – Nepenthe Productions

Based on the book by Richard Adams, the film is the story of a small group of rabbits who decide to leave their warren after one of them has a premonition that something bad is going to happen. They go on a fairly epic journey (for rabbits) to find a place where they can reside happily.

A lot that is good about the film has to be attributed to the book because the story is really strong, as are the characters, however focusing on the film it is wonderfully made. The animation is interesting because all the backgrounds are so beautiful and intricate while the rabbits, because they are constantly moving, are very simplistically drawn. Despite their simplicity, they move very well and you can tell that the animators spent time studying rabbits to work out their movements correctly. This is even more apparent when you see how badly they animated a cat in comparison. The story is quite dark and the animators use creepy artistic techniques to enhance this so the film is quite harrowing, especially for a younger audience. As long as you can handle a few bad things happening to some bunnies, this is well-worth viewing.

When the Wind Blows (1986) – Meltdown Productions 

This is based on a graphic novel which was set during the Cold War and therefore deals with the issues of that time. The story centres around an elderly couple who live in a rural town and are aware of the threat of nuclear warfare. A bomb is dropped on England and the couple follow all the governmental instructions on how to survive the fallout. You spend about an hour of the film watching this delightful pair struggling for survival.

It’s quite a brutal film but that is the point, it was making a mockery of the government’s advice on nuclear safety and showing how useless it was. Unfortunately they do not use typical satirical humour when dealing with a foolish government, rather elements of tragedy. One of the clever things that the creators did was to make the “before” scenes really vibrant with colour and then after the bomb everything seems to turn grey and you’re brought into this horrific place that appears entirely alien to the one before. The characters are so relatable and recognisable as people that every moment is truly heart-breaking – a component of a really great animated piece.

(Header Image Source)