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Author Topic: Animation Discovery Group Marathon: 2010s and Beyond  (Read 8115 times)

1SO

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Re: Animation Discovery Group Marathon: 2010s and Beyond
« Reply #20 on: August 28, 2020, 08:34:49 AM »
To the update, I'm not going to lie, the different threads had me a little confused, though being relatively new here means that this happens to me often. As I work through the animated films of the 10's (and will attempt to write more well-formed thoughts v. insomnia-addled twaddle going forward), where should I post my thoughts, here or in the thread in the Filmspots section?
Reviews were meant to be posted here, but as you can see from the Index in the first post I'm fine with linking to other threads. I know this thread is going to become more of a jumble as I continue to post about films that  aren't from the 2010s.

Being relatively new, I'm giving you advance notice that our most popular Group Marathon is Shocktober, which is celebrating 10 years next month.


I'm not beating myself up over how I mishandled this, but I felt the need to acknowledge it so I could then move on.
since this is a discovery group, are there any good lists out there for me to check out? I know I can search ICM, but better when you know someone who can point you to a really good one.
I'd be curious to hear of one myself. It seems like a difficult task because you have to take a stand on what to do about the Cult of Disney, which I don't think can be completely discarded.


The first anime I saw as Akira in a theater. Seems like the best way to introduce yourself.

And yeah, I didn't like ParaNorman much.

1SO

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Re: Animation Discovery Group Marathon: 2010s and Beyond
« Reply #21 on: August 29, 2020, 01:07:24 PM »
The Plague Dogs (1982)
★ ★ ★ - Okay?
There's a (mercifully) short list of animated films that rank among the most depressing films ever made. Grave of the Fireflies of course, Watership Down, When the Wind Blows and Barefoot Gen (which I now added to this Marathon.) The Plague Dogs is perhaps the most extreme, as in 'what were they thinking making this film?' It's also one of the least well-known because it was made independently and then no distribution company wanted to touch it.

From the team behind Watership Down (including the writer, producer and six of the voice cast), this is about two dogs who escape an animal testing facility and are hunted down because they may have bubonic plague. They are starving, one has an open wound in his skull, and they have vague memories of how humans and dogs are supposed to get along, which makes their current situation more depressing. The film opens with a dog being drowned and a surprising amount of humans are killed along the way, including one who accidentally gets shotgunned in the face. Oh, and the film didn't go with the book's happier ending.

And I liked it? It took a few minutes to lock my heart away, and I considered leaving this one alone, but it's unlike any film I've ever seen because of the animal perspective. The story doesn't exist to pile on misery, but to put the viewer in the paws of animals who live this kind of existence. The psychology is incredibly interesting. The anti-animal testing message is there as a given and not hammered in because it's not what the dogs are focused on. The same with the people hunting the dogs, who aren't simplified like the hunters in Bambi. That ending is the better dramatic way to go because the dogs are oddly optimistic that good times must be up ahead, while we know how such a bleak path must end.

Eric/E.T.

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Re: Animation Discovery Group Marathon: 2010s and Beyond
« Reply #22 on: August 30, 2020, 11:06:08 PM »
I read The Plague dogs some 15 years ago, and it certainly has played a role in my awakening to the plight of animals in the anthropocentric world order. I don't think I'd want to touch the film. In the book, the author Richard Adams cuts in from the first person point of view of the dogs to explicitly state that he can't bear having such a bleak and horrible ending, so is going to change it. As for a comparison to Watership Down, the latter is about human behavior and society as much as about animals, but The Plague Dogs is very much an anti-vivisection book.

I'm not much of a Watership Down film fan, it's far too short, too much of an overview of the story. I haven't seen the series, and have only heard middling things about it, but I think that's the right format. Actually, a Fannie and Alexander/Scenes from a Marriage-length series/oversized film would be great. I did like the animation and voice acting, though, so maybe Plague Dogs would work out. I don't find Watership Down depressing, though. It's got its rough spots, but it ends up OK. The Plague Dogs, with the original ending maintained by the author, would probably wreck me.

Re: Cult of Disney, I know I'll always be reckoning with that. It's less "cult" to me than it is "machine", though. If I ignored all extratextuals like the buying up of competition, the more "machine" part, I'd still be left with the very heteronormative white culture it reflected and perhaps helped to maintain, and figuring out if any of the tweaks to the formula and even the critiques of present Disney creators on the former works matter. I have no problem going back and watching their films and saying when they get things right, but there are surely some (Snow White, The Lion King, and The Little Mermaid come to mind immediately) that I know are very problematic. But yes, if I'm ever to do an animation marathon, Disney will have to be a major part, I can't just ignore their existence. It does draw on my bigger inner-conflict which is my love of certain segments of pop culture (E.T., Star Wars, Saga/Popular Image Comics Titles, Stranger Things, classic Pixar, LOTR, Song of Ice and Fire (as opposed to the Game of Thrones series, which only interested me for a short period of time), Harry Potter, Nintendo, PS4, yeah, a lot) vs. my love of subverting norms and pushing against the current cultural paradigm that causes too much suffering and sadness. But that's a good internal conflict worth having, and never being able to perfectly balance or understand it is 100% OK. Makes for good contemplation and conversation.
« Last Edit: August 30, 2020, 11:16:22 PM by etdoesgood »
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smirnoff

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Re: Animation Discovery Group Marathon: 2010s and Beyond
« Reply #23 on: September 01, 2020, 05:53:34 AM »
Brave

Pixar seems to choose it's projects somewhat carefully... stories that reveal some sort of hidden world, or exist in a that alternate reality entirely. But Brave doesn't really fit that category. It's an pretty straight down the middle story with princesses, witches, castles, and a mythical beast. The central conflict is whether or not the princess should be forced into a marriage to preserve peace between the clans.

The movie doesn't make it difficult to take sides. If the princess wants to ride horses and shoot arrows and I don't really find there's a very strong case why she shouldn't be allowed to. Is the peace of the empire really at stake? It doesn't feel so when you get a look at the other clans. Is it so critical that she gets married this year? If she wanted to cede her rights to the queenship there were other heirs who could take her place. In all, the foundation of the film felt flimsy. It's also terribly uninteresting since it's so easy to take sides. Watching this old-fashion society oooh and aaah over a princess who can shoot a bow just makes me roll my eyes. Watching a mother who can't seem to understand that her daughter is different than her is tiresome. It's T-Ball drama... nothing that I'm going to get excited or wrapped up in.

The action/comedy is goofy without ever managing to be the least bit funny.

Just feels like Pixar bit off less than they could chew. It was a real dud for me.

oldkid

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Re: Animation Discovery Group Marathon: 2010s and Beyond
« Reply #24 on: September 01, 2020, 10:20:40 AM »
Brave— one of my favorites, but it didn’t make the top five cut for me.  I wonder if the absolute joy I have for this film partly comes from watching it with my daughter and us bonding over it.  I don’t care, it still holds up for me., for whatever reason.  The humor worked for me.  But most of all I disagree with you about the stakes.  The film isn’t about saving the kingdom, but about saving the mother/daughter relationship.  Myopic actions on both of their parts caused unfortunate consequences.  Character motivation gets confused at times, I admit.  And I like to think that the film would have been better if Pixar hadn’t pulled the initial director and writer out in the middle of production.  But that’s just a pipe dream.
« Last Edit: September 04, 2020, 10:00:51 AM by 1SO »
"It's not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster." Bansky

Eric/E.T.

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Re: Animation Discovery Group Marathon: 2010s and Beyond
« Reply #25 on: September 02, 2020, 12:21:39 AM »
I'm a big fan of Brave, too. I think it plays with the archetypes in an emotionally satisfying way and knows just what it is. Like I won't get sick of seeing little girls and young women growing up and finding their own paths as strong human beings, I probably won't get sick of seeing princesses who are not content to be "mere" princesses. I also think Brave is really funny. The climax of the film is a bit much, but I think its earned its bit of sentimentality. Didn't make my five for the 2010s, either, but it'd probably make a ten.
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MartinTeller

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Re: Animation Discovery Group Marathon: 2010s and Beyond
« Reply #26 on: September 02, 2020, 08:34:45 AM »
Yeah I thought Brave was decent, better than...

The Good Dinosaur - William is into dinosaurs these days, so I've seen this movie five times in the past week (he says "more Arlo?" when he wants to watch it). Once again, Pixar's brand of anthropomorphism bugs the shit out of me. Why do they have to come up with all these strained analogues for human stuff? Why do dinosaurs have to be human-like farmers and cowboys? Why can't they just be THEIR OWN THING? C'mon Pixar, put on your big boy thinking hats and use a little creativity.

The film is also a little too heavy on perilous action scenes (too much, perhaps, for a toddler, but he only got scared the first time). And Arlo is kind of hard to root for during most of the movie, but maybe that's a positive? Flawed protagonist and all that. But there are some clever/funny bits, often in the throwaway gags. And I'd be lying if I said the ending didn't choke me up quite a bit. Rating: Fair (69)

MartinTeller

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Re: Animation Discovery Group Marathon: 2010s and Beyond
« Reply #27 on: September 02, 2020, 08:23:46 PM »
Also, in the space of 10 minutes, Arlo meets a trio of pterodactyls, a trio of Tyrannosaurs, and a trio of velociraptors. Each is composed of a male leader, a female sidekick, and a male sidekick. Why are the writers so attached to that configuration? It feels market-tested.

1SO

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Re: Animation Discovery Group Marathon: 2010s and Beyond
« Reply #28 on: September 02, 2020, 09:16:53 PM »
The Good Dinosaur was the troubled Pixar production and it shows in the ramshackle storytelling. It's also the only Pixar I like that my wife doesn't.

1SO

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Re: Animation Discovery Group Marathon: 2010s and Beyond
« Reply #29 on: September 03, 2020, 12:15:36 AM »

Barefoot Gen (1983)

Thankfully, very few people have ever had to deal with an atomic bomb being dropped on them, but those few can describe the horror with enough detail to remind us why it should never happen again. Writer Keiji Nakazawa spent his entire life in Hiroshima, Japan and Barefoot Gen is based on his own experience living through the bomb dropped on his village. That insider's knowledge makes the core of this movie unshakable, and the visual detail is incredible.

Unfortunately, the film that surrounds it is increasingly irritating. I was okay with the pre-bombing antics of Gen and his brother because I knew what was coming, but after the bomb the story is about returning to some semblance of that earlier childhood. The effects of the bomb linger, but Nakazawa takes a more optimistic path back to Gen being playful. Grave of the Fireflies may be an emotionally brutal watch, but that's also why it's a classic. This film is incredibly powerful for a time, but mostly kind of sweet, which dulls its impact.
RATING: ★ ★ ★ - Okay

 

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