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Post by spiritmage234 on Feb 19, 2008 19:07:42 GMT -5
A question I've always been meaning to ask. No matter how advance CGI gets, I still love my traditional animated movies, and American traditional animated movies seem to be the only violent animations you can get in America... It's pretty hard for me to choose, but my top two choices are Don Bluth and Dreamworks films. They seem to take on a "real world" approach rather than the whimsical, Disney fairy tale angle. I mean, when I was a little kid watching "An American Tale" and "Anastasia", I had no idea what the actual time period was during both of those films (Anastasia took place during the Russian Revolution and An American Tale told the story of the hardships of Eastern Europeans and Russians immigrating to America at the turn of the century) . Some examples from the Don Bluth and Dreamworks category in case your memory is fuzzy: Dreamworks: The Prince of Egypt, The Road to El Dorado, Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimeron Don Bluth: Anastasia, An American Tale, The Land Before Time, Titan A.E.
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Post by CountessRachel on Feb 20, 2008 12:21:16 GMT -5
Well, each studio is pretty distinct in their own way. Disney more or less caters to the younger kids and uses remakes of fairy tales or adaptations of previously written famous stories (The Lion King, Treasure Planet, Hunchback of Notre Dame). When I was growing up, those types of storylines were easy to follow and the songs were fun to sing along to. And I simply can't just overlook that part of my childhood... ^-^
I do agree with the Don Bluth/Dreamworks features having a more darker, intense feel to them. But the thing is, when I was 10, I halfway didn't understand those movies. Watching them now though, I enjoy them since I see the actual social commentary and mature themes. One of my all-time favorites (though I think it's Paramount studios) is "All Dogs Go to Heaven," if anyone remembers that movie. Looking back on it, that was actually a pretty morbid flick--but awesome nonetheless.
So, I short...I guess I pick "Dammit, too hard to choose!"
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Post by kitsuneopal on Feb 20, 2008 14:22:22 GMT -5
I do agree with the Don Bluth/Dreamworks features having a more darker, intense feel to them. But the thing is, when I was 10, I halfway didn't understand those movies. Watching them now though, I enjoy them since I see the actual social commentary and mature themes. One of my all-time favorites (though I think it's Paramount studios) is "All Dogs Go to Heaven," if anyone remembers that movie. Looking back on it, that was actually a pretty morbid flick--but awesome nonetheless. Heck, Most of Don Bluth's animated movies are dark and morbid. A couple of years ago I saw that The Land Before Time was on Cartoon Network, so I said "Why not?" I had not seen it in many years. And there was a reason for that. Not even half way through the movie I had to turn if off cuse it was depressing the *** out of me. Disney is....Disney. It has always tried to sell a surgery slice of the American Dream through its movies. Hard work, hope and determination(with a dash of tru luv for flavor) will always win out over the bad guy in the end. It's not to say that I don't like either of them. I have loads of merchandise from both companies. However, now that I am older I have learned to appreciate other animation producers/studios. A few examples; Ralph Bakshi: www.ralphbakshi.com/films.php (His filmography) He has a unconventional animation and writing style that can be quite frankly, odd. But he dares to be different, particularly with his use of rotoscope. Its one of those things that you either love or hate. Mainframe Entertainment (now called Rainmaker Animation) Maker of shows like Reboot and Transformers: Beast Wars to name a few. A very good and creative use the available CGI tech.
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Azula's Flames
Avatar Korra
Your banished, and you and you and....
Posts: 1,092
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Post by Azula's Flames on Feb 21, 2008 16:33:21 GMT -5
Disney pre about 1999 then they started to pimp out all the classics to direct to video films But i do love the prince of egypt
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Post by spiritmage234 on Feb 21, 2008 20:27:46 GMT -5
Oh man... Don't get me started on the Land Before Time. I'm eighteen going on ninteen soon and I still can't bring myself to watching that again. (That, and Disney's Bambie.) The last time I watched the first movie was around, ten or nine years ago? (i think that's the approximate duration since I've seen either of those flicks) What's even more disturbing is that the original voice actress for Ducky was killed by her father. She was only around 7 or 10. But one thing my bro and I realized about the Land Before Time, was that it had a lot of prejudice and racism in it. They didn't "say" it, but it was definately there, especially with Cera and her father. Alas, we were only 2 and 4 (?) when we first saw it, and of course I didn't even know what that harsh fact of reality was back then (though my ma has made some references about me telling the difference between her and my skin colors' back then but that's a different story. ), and we just came to note that reference in the movie until many years later.
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ilovetaang03
Avatar Yangchen
Im a secret AGENT MAN. A SECRET AGENT MAN!!!! (though im a girl)
Posts: 1,522
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Post by ilovetaang03 on Feb 21, 2008 20:30:43 GMT -5
i said gibbi studios which is like some anime thing Edit: Yes, Gibbi is a studio which produces anime movies.
But could you explain more why you like it more than the other animated studios? Contribute a bit more to the discussion which is going fabulous like all the others did so far. Thank you.
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Post by kitsuneopal on Feb 22, 2008 11:09:34 GMT -5
Oh man... Don't get me started on the Land Before Time. I'm eighteen going on ninteen soon and I still can't bring myself to watching that again. (That, and Disney's Bambie.) The last time I watched the first movie was around, ten or nine years ago? (i think that's the approximate duration since I've seen either of those flicks) What's even more disturbing is that the original voice actress for Ducky was killed by her father. She was only around 7 or 10. But one thing my bro and I realized about the Land Before Time, was that it had a lot of prejudice and racism in it. They didn't "say" it, but it was definately there, especially with Cera and her father. Alas, we were only 2 and 4 (?) when we first saw it, and of course I didn't even know what that harsh fact of reality was back then (though my ma has made some references about me telling the difference between her and my skin colors' back then but that's a different story. ), and we just came to note that reference in the movie until many years later. I'm 26 and I still can't watch most of his movies. Don Bluth makes movies that have adult themes disguised as children's movies. Take An American Tail; A Jewish family living in Russia is nearly killed by a state sponsored pogrom, so they decide to try to find a better life by traveling to America. En route the son is washed over board, but manages to survive and is washed to New York harbor. While he tires to find his family he is subjected to basically every negative aspect of life, not excluding forced labor in a sweat shop, gang life, labor riots and kidnapping. Now make all the characters animals, and put a few songs in it and you got a kids movie. All the other movies do nothing but ride on the coat tails of the original and naturally the animation suffers. That's one of the things that really bugs me about animated sequels, poor animation. They lack the body and soul that made the original so wonderful. Disney is the best example. They took some of their best movies and almost ruined them by making sequels of them. Stories like Snow White and Cinderella are not supposed to have sequels! I hope that the new Disney movie lives up to the old standard.
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The Blue Chibi
Cabbage Merchant
you cannot push the river... nor can you hold it back
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Post by The Blue Chibi on Feb 22, 2008 11:36:44 GMT -5
Hmm... Studio Ghibli is great, and by far my favorite, but as far as American films, Don Bluth and Dreamworks have always held more appeal for me. Sure, Disney is great, and I'll always love films like Beauty and the Beast (with its fabulous score), Mulan (though the plot was completely lifted), and Sleeping Beauty (oh, those Eyvind Earle backgrounds...), but I'd much rather watch, say, Titan AE or Thumbelina than, for example, Tarzan or The Little Mermaid, any day. Still, all three of those studios use a fair amount of CGI, most of it well-integrated. Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron was all CGI, wasn't it?
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Post by spiritmage234 on Feb 22, 2008 13:53:18 GMT -5
^Spirit had some CGI landscapes, yes. But the characters were traditional. I think the one thing I like about Disney are the scores. But after Mulan, they stopped with sing a longs and started using pop singers. Other than that (aside from The Lion King, Pocahontas, Brother Bear, and maybe Mulan), Disney plotlines and messages are quite generic. That, and Disney use to point out racism. Well, not much point out as actually promoting racism (Just watch an unedited version of Fantasia and Peter Pan, and when you really think about it, the only African-based film had no humans, but animals instead.) Also Disney are a bunch of closet perverts. Nuff said. And sorry that I didn't put Ghibli in the poll. Totally forgot about them.
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Azula's Flames
Avatar Korra
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Post by Azula's Flames on Feb 22, 2008 16:29:56 GMT -5
I forgot about the spirit of the cimmeron I loved that movie. I also love studio ghibli I just never mentioned it before because i thought we were only talking about american based studios. My fav movies from them would probably be Howls moving castle and princess mononoke. I hate disney now adays they need the geniouses at pixar to keep them affloat and not make their reputation go compleatly down the drain. Now John Lasseter is the creative director (or somrthing) he'll improve the studios qualities.
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Post by admirality on Feb 22, 2008 16:57:40 GMT -5
I like Disney they made the films I loved when I was littl they are classics and they deserve my vote I also like Studio Gibrili (I dunno how to spell it but I mean the ones who made Howl's moving castle and Spirited away) I like them in an artistic way but I find the storylines a bit cold and sometimes surreal and distrubing.... ut the animation and artwork deserves credit
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Sakura
FN Sokka
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Post by Sakura on Feb 22, 2008 23:22:30 GMT -5
I mean, the Disney people would PROBABLY get my vote, but I chose Dreamworks. Why?
BECAUSE THEY MADE "THE ROAD TO EL DORADO", WHICH IS A SUPER INCREDIBLY AWESOME MOVIE.
I thought "Anastasia" was a Disney movie!
EDIT: Studio Ghibli? Like, the one that made Howls Moving Castle? I didn't really watch a lot of the Ghibli films when I was a baby, so, even though they are totally anime-y pwnsome, I couldn't vote for that.
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Post by Brightfire18 on Feb 22, 2008 23:56:07 GMT -5
I had to go with "Too hard to choose." I grew up watching movies from all of those studios, and a lot of them from held a special place for me. I always loved Disney as a child (Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, Aladdin, Sleeping Beauty..). I didn't start to appreciate Don Bluth films until I got a little bit older, because they could get pretty dark (someone mentioned "The Land Before Time"). I grew up on Ghibli, too ("My Neighbor Totoro" was my first; beautiful movie)
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o8jedi
Jet
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Post by o8jedi on Feb 23, 2008 0:29:26 GMT -5
Each studio has its merits, but there is something about Don Bluth's works that just gets my viewing juices going. I have a lot of great memories of watching Bluth films. Every time I visited my cousins, they'd throw on An American Tail. Never made it through (kinda hard when they're singing "Somewhere Out There" at every waking moment), but I remember it.
In hindsight, there is definitely a dark streak in the Bluth films, touching on more adult themes and so on and in a way, I think it helps to instill some sense of morality in the young viewers. I'm old enough to remember when The Land Before Time came out theatrically. I don't recall if I saw it in a cineplex, but I know I saw it on home video shortly after it came out. And I remember two distinct things: 1) thinking about how much of a jerk Cera was and 2) being scared out of my wits over Sharptooth. Ah, the innocence of youth. To be fair, the cinematography (if such a term could be applied) was superb and helped to add to the moods. And the score. It sends shivers up my spine to this day. But I digress. Seeing how Cera was a complete jerk, probably made me a better-behaved person because I didn't want to be that jerk. I now realize how it's pretty much a string of vignettes with a general goal at the end, but at the time, who cared about the intricacies of storytelling. I won't even touch the sequels. They're crap.
But the one thing that fascinates me about Bluth films is the plasticity of the faces, especially in the comic relief and the antagonists, not so much the main protagonists. Next time you see a Bluth film, watch how everything can be scrunched up into a single point only to expand as wide as possible and the sheer exaggeration of speech. I don't know why, but it's fascinating to watch. It's as if it's saying, "Remember, this is an animated film."
To be honest, I think Bluth has had, generally, the best stories of the American studios mentioned. And even better is how they're all tied together thematically: Finding a place of your own in a hostile environment.
Heh, I could have done a thesis paper on Don Bluth's works. Oh, well, hindsight is 20/20.
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Hama
Gran Gran
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Post by Hama on Feb 25, 2008 22:40:26 GMT -5
Jeez, I feel like I just got over a Don Bluth weekend. I found All Dogs go to Heaven in a clearence bin so I got it, and then this morning what do I see but the original Land Before Time on CN? I have to agree that something about those films really get to you. I watched LBT, ADGtH and American Tail all before I was old enough to understand what was going on, and I tell you, they scared the hell out of me, but for some reason I had to keep going back to them.
I guess time sweetens things. The dogs in All Dogs are really nasty. I was especially surprised by Itchy. For some reason I had the impression that he was Charlie's moral compass, but actually he was a lot nastier than Charlie in some ways. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I liked All Dogs 2. Yeah, I did. I think that one is actually a decent movie, it's just a different movie. It seems all the characters got tweaked a little bit.
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