Top 10 Moves that Defined Animation

[Zauriel]

1. Pinocchio (1940 film) - one of the earliest childhood movies I have watched in my childhood. A puppet turned to life through magic and raised by a human. Pinocchio's efforts to become a real boy involve encounters with a host of unsavory characters, representing the temptations and consequences of wrongdoing.

2. When Marnie Was There - is a wonderful psychological film about a 12-year-old girl with low self-esteem and asthma, who moves away from her home to live in a place where the air is clean. Then she encounters a beautiful mysterious girl and they became friends in an instant. What a beautiful story. The way the animators drew the decoartions in the house of the girl's aunt and uncle is well-detailed, colorful and impressive. Character development is well-paced and chemistry between characters is great. The film also shows us the emotional depth of a girl going through puberty and experiencing low self-esteem and being plagued by self-doubts.


3. My Neighbor Totoro takes the audience to the world of spirits in harmony with the nature. It has impressive visuals, vivid backgrounds and gorgeous animation.

4. Spirited Away is regarded as one of the greatest films of all time. It won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 75th Academy Awards,[15] making it the first, and to date only, hand-drawn and non-English-language animated film to win the award. Animation is top-notch and visuals are spectacular. Storytelling is amazing and emotional.

5. The Lion King tells the story of a lion cub who loses his father and runs away, only to later end his uncle's tyranny and take his place in the Circle of Life as the rightful king.

6. Incredibles is the best superhero animated film I have watched. It defines what it means to be a family of superheroes struggling to be a normal family while doing superhero tasks.

7. Whisper of the Heart, like other Studio Gibili films, has amazingly detailed depictions of houses, art pieces, interior decorations and furniture. The story is good, captivating and helps to maintain the suspense and drama to the end. There is emotional depth to the story as the characters struggle with their self-doubt and worries for their own future

8. Finding Nemo- is an incredible, emotional and heartfelt story of a father tring to find his lost son. The animation and visuals are not bad either.

9. Howl's Moving Castle is praised for its beautiful animation and gorgeous visuals and meticulous presentation of the themes

10. Shrek. The last but not the least. a good and entertaining story.

[K7P5V]

So far, these would be my additions...

• Akira (1988)

• Beauty & the Beast (1991)

• Cowboy Bebop: Knockin' on Heaven's Door (2001)

[Scott Taylor]

Snow White (1937) - animation of this quality was unheard of at the time. And it was absolutely nuts that Disney did this movie for the outrageous budget they did. Without this movie happening and its success, Disney is probably not on the map. And animation is set back for years.

Bambi (1942) - third Disney film and possibly the best they have even done.

Beauty and the Beast (1991) - the film that brought back Disney from the abyss

Finding Nemo (2003) - Amazing stuff

Shrek (2001) - very cleverly animated

Lord of the Rings (Bakshi) - love this film, even though its incomplete. The shots influenced Jackson's seminal work, which is saying a lot.

Haven't seen much anime at all, but I believe some of them could be on my list if I watched them.

Does an all CGI movie count?

[K7P5V]

So far, these would be my next additions...

• Angel's Egg (1985)

• Princess Mononoke (1997)

• Perfect Blue (1997)

[Zauriel]

Does an all CGI movie count?

Yes, I think CGI counts as animation.

[K7P5V]

So far, these would be my next additions...

• Transformers '86 (1986)

• Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer (1984)

• The Castle of Cagliostro (1979)

[Jokerz79]

Who Framed Roger Rabbit for blending animation and live action.

[caj]

Who Framed Roger Rabbit for blending animation and live action.

That was HUGE at the time. I remember being completely fascinated by it when it came out.

[krazijoe]

Anchors Aweigh(For it's dance with Gene Kelly and Jerry)
Akira
Lion King
Spider-Man into the Spider-Verse
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Chicken Run
Roger Rabbit
Corpse Bride (I liked this better than Nightmare Before Christmas, though most would say Nightmare was better)

[ChrisIII]

CG wise I would say Toy Story of course got the ball rolling. Shrek I think really showed that a competing studio could go up against Pixar CG wise, at least as far as box office goes (I recall some mixed reaction at the time to Shrek's Uncanny Valleyish humans).


Castle of Cagliostro, Cowboy Bebop and U:BD are also very good examples of anime movies based on TV shows (Although some are in turn, based on manga) that are more than just extended, big budget episodes or even series compilations like some tend to be.

Ditto with Oshii's Patlabor movies, some of the Gundam films, Macross: Do You Remember Love?, the first and third Tenchi films, and Evangelion Rebuild.

[AndrewCrossett]

Movies that defined animation, rather than my favorites?

Not counting stop-motion or live/animated hybrids:

1. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
2. Cinderella (1950)
3. Yellow Submarine (1968)
4. An American Tail (1986)
5. Akira (1988)
6. Beauty and the Beast (1991)
7. Toy Story (1995)
8. Spirited Away (2001)
9. Shrek (2001)
10. The Lego Movie (2014)

[Mister Mets]

A personal list...

Pinochio- Probably the best standard Disney narrative.
Fantasia- Golden Age Disney at its peak.
Ghost in the Shell- The first mature anime I saw.
The Wrong Trousers- I saw it on an airplane, and learned so much about stop motion.
Toy Story- 3D was mindblowing.
The Iron Giant- A really good animated film that wasn't Disney or anime.
Spirited Away- Just for how weird it got.
Up!- For the most heartbreaking montage in animation.
Wall-E- For the narrative ambition.
Into the Spiderverse- It's a great Spider-Man movie. I really like how each of the worlds has their own style.

An honorable mention would go to TV shows that defined animation like Looney Tunes, the Simpsons, Futurama, Dragon Ball Z, South Park and Cowboy Bebop.

* Edit- I know some Looney Tunes shorts won academy awards but I'm excluding anything under 20 minutes.

[Alan2099]

Ghost in the Shell- The first mature anime I saw.

Ghost in the Shell, Akira, and Vampire Hunter D. Back in the day this was the holy trio of bloody hyper violent "Japanimation" (because that's what we called it back then). ... AND they had nekkid girls in them!

[Mister Mets]

Ghost in the Shell, Akira, and Vampire Hunter D. Back in the day this was the holy trio of bloody hyper violent "Japanimation" (because that's what we called it back then). ... AND they had nekkid girls in them!

Yeah, I got a VHS of Ghost in the Shell was in middle school. I didn't get to see Akira until years later. If it was the other way around, Akira would've been the film to define animation for me.

[ChrisIII]

That was kind of the selling point of some anime import companies back in the day I think, which led to sort of a "reputation" anime had for a while in the late 80s/early 90s , but which I think cooled when more kid-friendly anime like Pokemon and the Ghibli stuff became more available in America. Or comedies/action that didn't fit the stereotype.

Granted, there were plenty of kid friendly anime available earlier too. Think even Robotech was distributed on VHS by FHE.


Even then, a lot of that anime was tamer then say, HEAVY METAL or some of the Bakshi stuff.