Best non-Disney animated movies.

[Basara]

Obviously, Pixar and Studio Ghibli own this thread. No one has made animated movies better than those two studios, including Disney. Yes, Disney is currently doing better than Pixar, but Disney's best still pales in comparison with Pixar's best.

In addition to the best of Pixar and Studio Ghibli, these are the animated movies I've enjoyed the most:
Summer Wars
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
Wonder Woman
Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

The Road to El Dorado. Possibly the closest non Disney film to a Disney film.

[AndrewCrossett]

April and the Extraordinary World is very good. I wouldn't say it's among the BEST animated films, but it has a lot of style.

[batnbreakfast]

Since Mask of the Phantasm is mentioned already I vote for Dark Knight Returns Parts I & II
The voice casting and score really elevates it

[Thor2014]

Anastasia
The Wind in the Willows (Rankin-Bass)
Hey There It's Yogi Bear
The Man Called Flintstone

[Starter Set]

Akira is still my all time favorite animated movie, closely followed by "Macross, do you remember love?".

The Secret of NIMH also, the book is really more interesting but they did a good job.

[Matt]

Grave of the Fireflies.

Watch it and try not to shed tears. I dare you.

Roger Ebert even loved the bejeezus out of it.
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/gr...fireflies-1988

[Starter Set]

Especially considering that it's the adaption of a novel relating a true story. (it's a bit different here and there but close enough)

[Kirby101]

Really liked Megamind and Monsters vs Aliens

[Kusanagi]

Really liked Megamind and Aliens vs Monsters.

Came into this topic just to praise Megamind. I thought it was far superior to Despicable Me which was released the same year, got more praise (and of course sequels).

[Godzilla2099]

Spirited Away

I couldn't peel my eyes off the screen because the plot was so amazing

[Totoro Man]

While you are not wrong, it absolutely holds up as a brilliant animated film.

I'd say A Scanner Darkly.

I dunno, does that even qualify as 'animation? it was basically filmed as a live-action movie and was then 'animated' afterwards in post-production using a computer program. it's more like going crazy with filters on your cellphone selfies than true animation where, y'know, people actually DRAW stuff that gets put on the screen.

[Totoro Man]

they are still overrated in my eyes.

I can agree with this, with a qualifier. HtTyD are actually solid films, just over-rated.

I think it wasn't until "Kung Fu Panda" and "How to Train your Dragon" that Dreamworks actually told STORIES that could survive without the hundreds of winking pop-culture references and top-40 songs drowning them out. I actually hated the "Shrek" movies. (well, I guess the second one was passable. but that first one was basically a 35-minute film dragged out to a feature-length film length) the 'Panda' and 'Dragon films were over-rated, almost by default, by the virtue of them being the first movies that Dreamworks produced that had actual stories.

part of the reason I can never get myself to vote for a Dreamworks film is that they essentially copied the Disney formula and never really stood out for me. it's always the quasi Ayn Raynd-style protagonist who has a voyage of self-discovery and victory. if the world would simply acknowledge their innate greatness and let them do what they want then the world would become a better place. it's like they just kept doing remakes of "Alladin" and "the Lion King" with different character designs.

most Disney (and Dreamworks) films are mostly about the main character embracing themselves and getting rewarded for it. that'd be fine, I guess, if it weren't such a common story.

"Frozen" is probably the most over-rated because of the recency bias and the girl power meme. I don't think it was any better, in terms of 'girl power' than "Brave" or ANY Miyazaki film. Anna and Elsa were both actually pretty dim-witted characters. they were kind of amusing... but I'd take Katara, Toph, Azula, or Suki from AT:LA over them any day of the week.

I liked Pixar prior to the Disney merger because they actively subverted a lot of the 'classic' Disney story arcs and showed characters who could be flawed and actually had to overcome those flaws to see a happy ending.

[batnbreakfast]

I love your post, bro but hate Totoro! How can this be

[AndrewCrossett]

I dunno... I really liked "Frozen" despite the fact that a) I was in my 40's when it came out, b) I'm really over animated musicals, and c) I had a strong skepticism of any non-Pixar 3D animated movie. "Brave" I didn't care that much for... didn't actively dislike it, but didn't love it.

My rule #1 is that any 3D animated movie that has animals line-dancing to a pop tune can be consigned to the fires of Hell.