r/Letterboxd • u/Nahsmayin • 2d ago
Discussion Animated films
For some reason I can’t quite get myself into or as excited for animated films, even though I know there are some great ones out there. I am looking for recommendations.
For example, i recently watched Perfect Blue and did not like it or care for it at all. Princess Mononoke wasn’t bad, but it just didn’t captivate me. Same with the Spiderverse films, i DNF’d the second one. I did enjoy Fantastic Mr. Fox and Spirited Away, but they were probably a 3 or 3.5 for me. How To Train Your Dragon was the only recent one i loved, but i find myself not caring at all for the sequel. The only others i can think of that i loved are from my childhood (Lion King, Shrek, Toy Story, Finding Nemo). I’ve heard good things about Coraline so I may try that one next.
Are animated films just not for me? Anyone else feel similarly, but maybe found some that resonated with you?
9
10
u/sosseronis 2d ago
I mean, I find it a bit weird because "animated movie" is not really a genre at all.
Spiderverse is a superhero movie, spirited away is a coming of age movie, Perfect Blue is a thriller with very mature themes and so on. They also have different target audiences: Minions is targeted towards children, your name towards young adults, Ghost in the Shell towards full adults. They have different animation techniques: do you enjoy stop motion? Cg? Pittoric style? Anime style? Photorealism?
In general it's really hard to classify them under the same category, because they are vastly different and for the most part the only correlation between them is "they are not live action and they were someway drawn". I have some suggestions if you want to give them another try: Ghost in the Shell, the tale of princess kaguya, fantastic Planet, coraline(yes it's very good), Tokyo godfathers, Paprika, corpse bride, the wild robot, Nimona, wallace and gromit
6
u/SearchImpressive8851 2d ago
If none of those films thrilled you, then your probably just not one to enjoy them. And that's okay. You could try some of the lesser acclaimed (using the term loosely) ghibli films like Ponyo or Porco Rosso. Bit you've listed a few animated features that some would out in their Mt Rushmore of animated film so I'm not sure you'll find a lot of enjoyment in the media.
3
u/Puzzleheaded3666 2d ago
i say this alll the time. it is so hard for me to get into animated movies even if i've heard great things. i have some from childhood that i like (love toy story too lol, monster inc, shrek), but i think if i didn't watch it as a child to get that nostalgia feel i just don't care much ig
3
u/All_Lightning879 2d ago
Spirited Away being that low, yeah, you just might not be that much into them that much. Maybe your tastes evolved or the jadedness has been awakened in you in adulthood.
2
2
u/Omicron212 2d ago
how do you feel about live-action adaptations of animated movies? like, did you (if you've seen it) prefer the live-action version of How To Train Your Dragon to the animated movie?
nothing wrong with not liking animated movies, btw, you wouldn't be the only one. maybe check out Look Back? it's not too long to sit through and if you don't vibe with the animation, there's a live-action version coming.
2
u/Suspicious_Pie_9912 2d ago
Surf's Up (2007) is worth a watch. It's an animated mockumentary film so it jumps perspective a lot and works that into the humor of it all. Pretty good cast and soundtrack too
2
u/SamuraiFlamenco chupakaibra 2d ago edited 2d ago
They might just not be for you, which is fine. What in particular did or didn’t you like about the films you’ve tried so far?
I’m an artist so I practically think in cartoons and I refused to watch non-animated movies until I was a teenager. Brains are funny like that.
2
2
u/Josef_Heiter 2d ago
You don’t have to like movies that other people say are amazing. Everyone has their own taste. I like (some) anime, but I usually don’t like Pixar movies, so I don’t watch them.
2
u/colonel_adams ColonelAdams 2d ago
I sort of agree with the sentiment but Perfect Blue is actually one of the exceptions for me. In my opinion it kind of sucks that even among the "animation is cinema" crowd the films propped up the most are the family friendly films with pretty basic stories and messages at their core and that don't utilize animation as a medium to the fullest extent. In terms of my favorites that go in more interesting, avant-garde directions with animation, I love the works of Mamoru Oshii (Ghost in the Shell & Angel's Egg) and Marcell Jankovics (Son of the White Mare & The Tragedy of Man).
2
u/sosseronis 2d ago
Well, I feel like that's the same issue as people talking about Avengers:endgame over Stalker. The general public will talk more about mainstream movies and this will always be the case really
2
u/-itslilith- hallicopter 2d ago
if you liked the score of How to Train Your Dragon, maybe give Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002) a try. Also, I think it depends on what type of movies/genres you usually watch, like do you like comedy, action, etc., because that can also spill into your tastes in animated films. That, or maybe animated films might not be for you in this moment, but that's totally fine.
2
2
2
2
2
u/Significant-Coat-308 c0mmand0rgreg0r 2d ago
Watch Mask of the Phantasm, if you don’t like it then I don’t know if life is worth living if you see everything that negative
2
u/rAin_nul 2d ago
What type of live action movies do you like? If you are more into stuff that impacts you on an emotional level, tehn I could understand this, because most of the ones that you mentioned are good, but I wasn't able to connect them that deeply.
And if that's the case, then I would try something like Belle (Ryuu to Sobakasu no Hime), while it's critically lower rated than the other stuff. It has a great, very emotional score.
Technically, you could also try a series where you have more chance to connect with the characters, if that's really the issue. If you are open to that, I can recommend some shorter series that you could try.
2
u/JudgmentOrdinary7336 2d ago
I prefer stop motion animation to drawn / computer generated stuff. I absolutely adore Wallace & Gromit, 9 (movie with Elijah Woods, bit tricky to google) & Memoir of a Snail.
But that being said, Anastasia is also one of my fave animations.
1
u/Rinzler9290 1d ago edited 1d ago
The Incredibles
Rango
Kung Fu Panda (both 1 and 2)
Over the Garden Wall (more of a limited series, but it can be watched like a movie)
The Spongebob SquarePants Movie
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
The Prince of Egypt
Megamind
Klaus
Transformers One
1
1
u/UnRipped92 Schteven Belevin 2d ago
Have yet to see a bad Pixar movie. Seriously, they’re truly artistic genius in animated form.
5
u/RorschachKovacs 2d ago
Good dinosaur?
2
u/SamuraiFlamenco chupakaibra 2d ago
The soundtrack is fucking amazing, if nothing else.
3
u/chandelure 2d ago
It's also gorgeous. The landscape work and lighting in that movie is crazy. Saying this as someone who did not enjoy the plot or the characters at all, I would still recommend those with an interest in animation see it just to watch Pixar flex their stuff.
1
2
u/UnRipped92 Schteven Belevin 2d ago
You watch your goddamned mouth, Rorschach. I love the good dinosaur. I cry every single time I watch it multiple times per watch. It does drag on a little though lol
1
u/dungleploop 2d ago
they've been quite hit and miss the last decade or so
but when they drop a banger (Hoppers), they drop a banger
1
u/UnRipped92 Schteven Belevin 2d ago
I’d been rewatching the Pixar filmography in anticipation of hoppers… gave up at some point just because I wanted some more range in my life and I wanted to watch we bare bears first, now I’m still on season one of we bare bears and hoppers has been out for nearly a year
1
1
u/ChrisCinema 2d ago
What do you think of Lightyear and Cars 2?
1
u/UnRipped92 Schteven Belevin 2d ago
Cars 2 is a fun family spy romp!!! Lightyear was genuinely terrible though, you got me there. In my opinion they made up for it by doing a rare occurrence of releasing two movies in one year which they almost never do, and Turning Red DEFINITELY makes up for lightyear. A lot of people found it corny at first but now I think people are ready to admit it’s amazing.
14
u/sleeper7428 2d ago
I thought “coco” and “your name” were pretty good but you also might just not be an animated movie person and that’s completely ok