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Whats the pinnacle of animated film?

ZehDon

Member
6Ssx1aD.jpg
Excellent picks. Ghost in the Shell is probably my favourite animated film. Period. Watching it today, it's easy to forget that it released in 1995. "Ahead of its time" is too small a phrase. It looks and sounds incredible, has a deeply philosophical musing at its core, and it's esoterical plot is expertly told to an almost impossible degree. It uses the animated form to tell a story difficult to practically tell in its time, and yet, the fact that's animated almost feels more consistent with the film's themes. For me, it's the height of animated film making.
 

ÆMNE22A!C

NO PAIN TRANCE CONTINUE
Excellent picks. Ghost in the Shell is probably my favourite animated film. Period. Watching it today, it's easy to forget that it released in 1995. "Ahead of its time" is too small a phrase. It looks and sounds incredible, has a deeply philosophical musing at its core, and it's esoterical plot is expertly told to an almost impossible degree. It uses the animated form to tell a story difficult to practically tell in its time, and yet, the fact that's animated almost feels more consistent with the film's themes. For me, it's the height of animated film making.

Not my #1 pick but I can see why.

For me the spider tank scene where the music stops (?) And you hear the rain and the auditory and visual feedback of the tank's bullets where/are so fucking visceral.

And I agree about the underlying psychological/philosophical theme.

👊🏼
 
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INC

Member
Excellent picks. Ghost in the Shell is probably my favourite animated film. Period. Watching it today, it's easy to forget that it released in 1995. "Ahead of its time" is too small a phrase. It looks and sounds incredible, has a deeply philosophical musing at its core, and it's esoterical plot is expertly told to an almost impossible degree. It uses the animated form to tell a story difficult to practically tell in its time, and yet, the fact that's animated almost feels more consistent with the film's themes. For me, it's the height of animated film making.

No GitS, no matrix and countless other sci fi
 

LimanimaPT

Member
If we're counting claymation as animated, then this is my choice too.

And not the earlier Wallace and Gromit shorts. As great as they are, they really show their age. The Wrong Trousers holds up much better.
If we are counting stop motion, then The Nightmare Before Christmas should also be mentioned.
 
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Davesky

Member
There will never be another animated film like Snow White, Bambi or Pinnochio just like there will never be another 16-bit style video game that feels truely authentic and part of that era.
 
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kruis

Exposing the sinister cartel of retailers who allow companies to pay for advertising space.
As far as technique nothing gets close to classic Disney. Those guys did incredible detailed handwork on each frame.

Animating the water, clothes , hair, boat, birds the whale skin as he sneezes..etc.


Disney's 1940 Pinocchio is an incredible achievement. Eighty years later the dynamic animation is still unequaled. It completely boggles the mind how the studio that made that masterpiece thought it was a good idea to remake it as a live-action/CGI movie and then remove all the charm. It looks like they didn't even finish the CGI but released a work-in-progress version that needed at least another year of work. The first time I saw this clip I thought it was a joke video, something some guy on the internet created in a couple of days but this is a scene from the actual movie.



The difference in quality between both versions is so big the Milky Way would fit between them quite easily.
 
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Even excluding Ghibli, Disney, and Akira, the wealth of incredible animated films that exists means it's impossible to pinpoint just one. Many have been listed here, but there are so many out there:








There will never be another animated film like Snow White, Bambi or Pinnochio just like there will never be another 16-bit style video game that feels truely authentic and part of that era.
Walt Disney really cared more about the art than making money at the start, and it really shows.
 

Happosai

Hold onto your panties
I'll say it again. There's no way to narrow it down to a single film if you follow animation timelines back to their peak work starting in the late 1930's.

Akira has been stated several times but it's not the greatest work. Kobayashi worked on Akira but his film Dragon's Heaven was the best. The reason it's not talked about like Akira was the fact that it never had Western licensing.

 

ÆMNE22A!C

NO PAIN TRANCE CONTINUE
Chars Counterattack. Not only is it beautifully animated, it's also the sexiest




Hope I'll find a DVD or BLURAY with Jap dub. Looks great.



Not getting enough love.

I'll say it again. There's no way to narrow it down to a single film if you follow animation timelines back to their peak work starting in the late 1930's.

Akira has been stated several times but it's not the greatest work. Kobayashi worked on Akira but his film Dragon's Heaven was the best. The reason it's not talked about like Akira was the fact that it never had Western licensing.



Happosai Happosai wow man... is it that hard to find? Looks amazing friend ... damn... Thanks so much
 
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I'll say it again. There's no way to narrow it down to a single film if you follow animation timelines back to their peak work starting in the late 1930's.

Akira has been stated several times but it's not the greatest work. Kobayashi worked on Akira but his film Dragon's Heaven was the best. The reason it's not talked about like Akira was the fact that it never had Western licensing.


There's no way to deny the visual craftsmanship of Akira. The story is a jumbled mess thanks to it being a cliffnotes of the manga, but the visuals are second to none. The amount of time and talent that went into it is insanity. I love Dragon's Heaven because it's Mobieus come to life, very charming, and totally unique, but in terms of technical showmanship it's not even close. It comes much closer to early Ghibli, like Nausicaa or Castle in the Sky.
 

ÆMNE22A!C

NO PAIN TRANCE CONTINUE
Cliche. Semi popular etc but this scene sends shivers down my spine

Style. Scale. Quality. Context. Visceral impact (!!!!!!) Short version.



Edit this clip touches me lmao

The fight (not flight) trigger that evokes a primal survival mindset resulting in all or nothing violence combined with it's OST. Come one.. FFS there's so much going on <3
 
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Davesky

Member
PdRaL2d.jpg


Ulysses 31 is nowhere near the pinnacle of animation but I wanted to mention it. It’s concept and execution of its themes blew my mind as a 4 year old child and has always stayed with me. It’s animation like this that truly activates a child’s mind not current consumer trash like Peppa Pig and Paw Patrol.
 
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Bitmap Frogs

Mr. Community
PdRaL2d.jpg


Ulysses 31 is nowhere near the pinnacle of animation but I wanted to mention it. It’s concept and execution of its themes blew my mind as a 4 year old child and has always stayed with me. It’s animation like this that truly activates a child’s mind not current consumer trash like Peppa Pig and Paw Patrol.

We need a Ulysses 31 - God of War game for the ultimate take on the greek mythos
 

cormack12

Gold Member
PdRaL2d.jpg


Ulysses 31 is nowhere near the pinnacle of animation but I wanted to mention it. It’s concept and execution of its themes blew my mind as a 4 year old child and has always stayed with me. It’s animation like this that truly activates a child’s mind not current consumer trash like Peppa Pig and Paw Patrol.
I remember this so vividly, as well as

orin.jpg
 

Happosai

Hold onto your panties
Hope I'll find a DVD or BLURAY with Jap dub. Looks great.



Not getting enough love.



Happosai Happosai wow man... is it that hard to find? Looks amazing friend ... damn... Thanks so much
Dragon's Heaven was on DVD in JP and I want to say France or somewhere in Europe too. Never given a wide release and Kobayashi has good reason not to allow it to get digital touch up on blu-ray...it'd ruin the art. But, I wish North America had at least been given the DVD release. Anyway, the full movie's on YouTube.
There's no way to deny the visual craftsmanship of Akira. The story is a jumbled mess thanks to it being a cliffnotes of the manga, but the visuals are second to none. The amount of time and talent that went into it is insanity. I love Dragon's Heaven because it's Mobieus come to life, very charming, and totally unique, but in terms of technical showmanship it's not even close. It comes much closer to early Ghibli, like Nausicaa or Castle in the Sky.
I can't deny it either. But, I feel there's a place for more in that top tier. I agree with you posting Perfect Blue. Satoshi Kon was anothet great one we lost. Wicked City has some incredible animation too. Background paintings in some scenes are like Victorian art if you know where to look.
 

Ballthyrm

Member

OmegaSupreme

advanced basic bitch
I can't say its objectively the best, but I'll always love the Transformers animated film. Probably my most rewatched animated film. I even have the 4k copy.
 

Happosai

Hold onto your panties
I consider good qualifiers for Western animation the amount of technique, method and really using the money toward the full process qualifiers.

Multi-paned backgrounds was something riveting and still looks impressive today. This can be seen in a number of Disney films and later on I believe 80's/90's animators had tried recreating this effect using cels (cost less but still worked).



Rotoscoping as seen here in Ralph Bakshi's 'Fire & Ice'



Short staffed, low paid and yet incredibly ambitious were the animators in the West during the 20th century.

I've already contributed to my Japanese examples about which I have more of...I'd post the spider scene from Wicked City as it's great animation...but...it's NSFW
 

8bitpill

Member


Their succesor movie Wolfwatchers is even better. It's one of my favourite animated movies in recent times. It's Irish too like myself :)


The Wolfwatchers is a very good animated film. I found out about the Cartoon Saloon that animated this from Song of the Sea and Secret of the Kells. It peaked my interest since it was an Irish Animation studio and most of their animated films have to do with Irish mythology. We've had our daughter watch all of these and there wasn't one she didn't like. I started to refer to them as the "Irish Studio Ghibli".

As most have posted, Akria hands down. Watch the behind the scenes and you will be amazed at how that animated film was made.
tumblr_n8y66oUBQv1qj5jqso1_500.gif


Also you should check out, Ninja Scroll,

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Vampire Hunter D,

b5df5416c4aa79f1ee56e6fc8d1ae0d3.gif


Blood, The Last Vampire,
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ÆMNE22A!C

NO PAIN TRANCE CONTINUE
Happosai Happosai thanks

expand...
Dragon's Heaven was on DVD in JP and I want to say France or somewhere in Europe too. Never given a wide release and Kobayashi has good reason not to allow it to get digital touch up on blu-ray...it'd ruin the art. But, I wish North America had at least been given the DVD release. Anyway, the full movie's on YouTube.

Anyway, the full movie's on YouTube

Do you remember love as well ;3)




This made as much if not more impact than seeing/playing SMB/Duckhunt for the first time. Hard to explain
 
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