Animated movies are a guilty pleasure of mine. When others are out enjoying the sun on a weekend, I'm sometimes hiding in a movie theatre seeing the latest animated offering. However, many times I find myself doing it alone. You see, a lot of the people I know in New Zealand seem to be of the opinion that animated movies are "just for kids". Personally, I disagree with that in a big way.My first job in the UK was working as a Cast Member (Sales Assistant) at The Disney Store. Working in these stores was likened to being part of a show because it was our job to create the Disney magic in a store. I grew up going on holidays to the Disney theme parks and as a result I'm a bit of a Disney fanatic and I'm glad to say that working for them for five years, though enlightening, didn't turn me off Disney films.
There are so many awesome animated films out there. Some of my own favourites include Bolt, How to Train Your Dragon, A Bug's Life, Finding Nemo, Flushed Away, Toy Story, Tarzan, Ice Age, The Little Mermaid, Beauty & The Beast, Shrek and The Lion King. One of my friends said he hasn't seen most of these films; that made me sad.
One of my absolute favourite animated movies isn't considered a classic at all - in fact it was a complete box office failure for Disney. Treasure Planet is not just your average animated film though. The thing that made it different was having a villain who experiences character growth and redemption. Good lord, that's a bit complex for the kids, isn't it? That film was written by Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio, who went on to write Pirates of the Caribbean, and I can't help but wonder if Treasure Planet had been released after that blockbuster, it might have got an audience once Pirates had officially come back "in".
What I loved about that film was its tremendous heart by painting Jim Hawkins as a delinquent lad who hasn't had a father figure in his life since his dad left home. Usually villains (and sometimes the protagonist) in animated movies are basically either just evil to their very core or the ultimate nice guy and neither was the case with this film - which I appreciated. It didn't treat the audience like infants, so when I was watching it I didn't feel like it was patronising. Kids are smart though; they can handle more complexity than we often give them credit for.
Other things I've come to notice in animated movies are the trends and rivalry between some of the animation studios. Dreamworks Animation is headed by Jeffrey Katzenberg, who was responsible for many of Disney's biggest animated hits such as The Lion King, The Little Mermaid and Beauty & The Beast. After Disney let him go, I understand there was some bad blood between them, which became evident when films like Finding Nemo and Shark Tale were out around the same time.
However, I think they took this a little too far when Dreamworks made a film called Madagascar about a bunch of animals breaking out of the Central Park Zoo in New York and going to Africa. Why do they escape the zoo and go to Africa? I haven't the foggiest, and didn't really give a damn. On the flipside was a film Disney made called The Wild about a lion cub from the Central Park Zoo who gets separated from his father when he's trapped in a green shipping container. His father "Samson the Wild" sets out to rescue him along with several other animals including a funny British koala played by Eddie Izzard.
One of these films had a heart, one did not. One of these films had very detailed animation, the other had penguins. One of these films made a lot of money, one of them did not. Madagascar was made and released before The Wild hit theatres and totally stole its thunder. Having seen Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, I can say that the sequel was infinitely better than the first film because they actually bothered to come up with their own story for it instead of shamelessly ripping off a project in development elsewhere. That really damaged my respect for Dreamworks Animation for a long while.
Having seen How to Train Your Dragon last month, I am glad to say that Dreamworks appears to be back on track with what's most important - a great original story combined with eye-popping animation. I found the dragon riding scenes in this film much more spectacular than those in Avatar, and that's not because I was one of the few people on the planet who disliked Avatar. These really are breathtaking visuals - I even shed a tear or two.
Do you think animated films are just for kids or is it okay to like them as an adult? Are you a big kid at heart or far too sensible to be into all that child's play these days?
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