HERE ARE 12 FILMS IN THE LAST 25 YEARS THAT HAVE MADE ANIMATED FILMS AMONG THE MOST REMARKABLE AND IMPORTANT FILMS OUT THERE
A DOZEN MILESTONES
1. “An American Tail” (1986). A large cinematic revolution concentrated in a tiny immigrant mouse named Fievel. It was produced by Steven Spielberg just coming into his power (and coming from the same period as “The Color Purple”). It announced that the old Disney America no longer held sway and that the “nation of immigrants” was ready to be seen benignly in big animated films instead of the one that came from those who lived in restricted neighborhoods, frolicked in restricted country clubs and consorted with those who privately scorned anyone whose name might end with a vowel or a “berg” or a “stein.”
2. “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”(1988). The wildest combination of animation and live action ever. That’s because animation isn’t just the method of the film, it’s the subject. No matter what Bob Hoskins thinks, the “toons” can’t be ignored, much less exiled.
3. “Beauty and the Beast” (1991). The first animated film nominated for a Best Picture Oscar. It was good but not nearly as good as some animated films that should have been nominated but weren’t. But the time of the Beast in Big Budget animation has clearly arrived. 4. “The Lion King” (1994). All about a rightful king in exile finally finding his place. It was obvious even at the time that, after “Little Mermaid,” “Beauty and the Beast” and this, the Hollywood musical had been reinvented in big animated form. It was only a matter of time before it reverted back to its true home to become an international smash hit stage musical.
5. “Toy Story” (1995). Pixar and digital animation introduce us to what will be blowing minds for the next 15 years.
6. “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” (1996). What is now THE STORY of animated films is conveyed with musical numbers and enormous power borrowed from a literary classic – the outcasts of society are its secret aristocrats. The “outs” are now “in” onscreen and Prince Charming could be just about anyone.
7. “Princess Mononoke” (1997). Not only a full blast of the extraordinary world of Japanese anime but a specimen of the filmmaking genius of Hayao Miyazaki.
8. “Mulan” (1998). Bigbudget animation with a Chinese female heroine. Another telling blow landed on the homogeneity of the old passe Disney.
9. “Prince of Egypt” (1998). Probably the only truly serious film ever made by Hollywood from the Old Testament. A version of Exodus with genuine majesty and mystery to it. A very underrated and, at times, beautiful film as well as the ultimate prince-in-exile tale from the people in Hollywood now relishing their own ascendance from exile into the forefront of the mainstream.
10. “Shrek”(2001). It’s now official. In this hilarious and clever digital animation, the kind of wiseacre, pop referential improvs that the Warner Bros. geniuses could pack into seven minutes could now be spread over two delightful hours at Dreamworks. The influence of Tex Avery, Chuck Jones and Co. triumphs right along with the film’s gigantic box office.
11. “Ice Age” (2003). Fox – a major new player in modern American animated films besides Disney and Dreamworks –comes of age with Chris Wedge’s digital delight in which Ray Romano as a Wooly Mammoth is truly classic animated casting. The short discrete wordless film introducing it –all about a squirrel, a coveted acorn and a very surprising glacier—is like one of Chuck Jones’ Road Runner cartoons on a whole new level.
12.“Wall-E” (2008). Pixar’s masterpiece and as great a film as digital animation has yet produced. Its vision of a dystopian, junked-up future was amazing but even more so was its cinematic evocation of the elegance of the silent movie past. It was criminal that so much art wasn’t nominated for a Best Picture Oscar.
— Jeff Simon
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