As I briefly mentioned in blog #3 about the Oscars, Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio was nominated for and ended up winning best Animated Feature Film at this year’s Academy Awards. What struck me about his speech was his argument that animation is cinema, not a children-only category in Hollywood, specifically saying, “Animation is not a Genre.” If you have not seen this film on Netflix, I highly recommend because of its precision and absolutely beautiful animation.
I think there is no denying that in recent years, animation has been seen as inferior in the eyes of Hollywood, with many media companies deciding to send animated films directly to streaming rather than giving them a chance in theaters. This art form is so often overlooked, when in almost all cases, a 90 minute animated film takes 2-3 times longer to create than a typical 2 hour action movie.
Now, of course when it comes to animation usually the first thing thought of is Disney, with its nearly 100 film library of family classics. Of course there is Illumination who made the Despicable Me and Secret Life of Pets Franchise, but I think there is one solid animated film studio that is often overlooked: DreamWorks Animation.
It has many of the big names: Shrek, Trolls, Madagascar, and Boss Baby. Recently though, I randomly watched 2 of its hidden gems: Kung Fu Panda and How to Train Your Dragon. The former I have seen parts of & is currently on HBO Max and the latter I watched for the first time on Netflix. As someone who has mainly been exposed to Disney’s classics, I was pleasantly surprised by these films, considering they both were released 10-15 years ago.
Starting with Kung Fu Panda, I thoroughly enjoyed this “rewatch”, seeing the film in its entirety for the first time. With an outstanding voice cast including Jack Black as the lead Panda, Po, along with Angelina Jolie, Seth Rogan, Jackie Chan, and Dustin Hoffman; the mantra of finding talent when given the opportunity is such a powerful one. I also love the variety of animals being animated along with the Asian culture and music. Kung Fu Panda also includes many different animation styles, especially when going into backstories. I was pleasantly surprised by this watch and am thinking about watching the sequels soon.
A couple days after, I finally watched How to Train Your Dragon. With perhaps a lesser-known cast included Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, America Ferrera, Craig Ferguson, Jonah Hill, and Kristen Wiig; I greatly enjoyed this well-loved film. It shocked me that it was released in 2010, as I feel it has been a sort of side-phenomenon in more recent years. I found the story to be beautifully drawn out, funny, and insightful. The animation has great quality and the film in general really showed the care given. It was quick-ish and to the point, with a great background score. This one also has sequels that I plan to watch soon.
Honestly, until watching these films. I had no clue that DreamWorks has such a strong library of key movies from my childhood. While it is owned by NBCUniversal, it really has the creativity and vibe of a strong, independent film studio. If you ever have a chance, give these movies a try or really any animated movie you have been wanting to watch. This art form is so powerful and deserves to be loved just as much as any other.
References:
- https://www.themarysue.com/guillermo-del-toro-nails-it-during-pinocchio-oscars-speech-animation-is-not-a-genre/
- https://www.dreamworks.com/movies
Gabe, I think your comments on animated films are very insightful. I agree that while animation is typically geared towards children, there are many animated films and tv shows that are very complex and mature in content. People definitely tend to let the often-childish content of animation distract them from the fact that it represents outstanding art form that is extremely difficult and tedious to produce.
Hi Gabe! A great blog post once again. This really gave me a throwback since I used to love watching these kinds of films whenever I was younger. I enjoyed how you incorporated different kinds of animated movies, of s rather than just sticking to discussing one. I also had no clue that Pinnochio was nominated to win that award.
Hey Gabe, great post! I love movies with animation so much. Like you mentioned, animation takes forever to create and gets nowhere near the same recognition as other movies. I think this is because animation is associated with children and silly topics. Regardless, it’s great to see people who work with animation getting well deserved recognition.