Spectrum of Modern Animation
by dulvluspa | created - 25 Apr 2014 | updated - 25 Apr 2014 | PublicThere was a period where cartoons were a production, box-office and creative limbo for many years. It was just a bad idea to make a worthwhile animation. There were successes, but they were scarce, and roughly no one cared. This was the reign of the Hanna-Barbarahs and the avant-garde animation. After some decades this "Dark Age" of animation ended in the mid 80s, and since then animation has been doing pretty good overall. These are my picks… mostly just my favorites… That'll give you an idea of the evolution of animation in the past 25 years. The aim is to get a wide variety of animated films that either pushed boundaries, caused revolutions, or prove that animation doesn't have to revolve around big eyes and a standard narrative.
I'm planning on changing/adding a few movies here, so criticize and suggest all you like.
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1. Fritz the Cat (1972)
X | 78 min | Animation, Comedy, Drama
Fritz drops out of college, starts a riot in Harlem and hits the road with an ex-girlfriend before getting mixed up with domestic terrorists.
Director: Ralph Bakshi | Stars: Skip Hinnant, Rosetta LeNoire, John McCurry, Judy Engles
Votes: 14,333 | Gross: $25.00M
Because we need Ralph Bakshi in here somewhere. Also, DECADES ahead of its time in some ways, so I'm counting it as modern.
2. American Pop (1981)
R | 96 min | Animation, Drama, History
The story of four generations of a Russian Jewish immigrant family of musicians whose careers parallel the history of American popular music in the 20th century.
Director: Ralph Bakshi | Stars: Mews Small, Ron Thompson, Jerry Holland, Lisa Jane Persky
Votes: 5,502 | Gross: $6.00M
Rotoscoping died out in the 90s, so this little homagical gem gets a spot… As the emphasis is on variety.
3. Akira (1988)
R | 124 min | Animation, Action, Drama
A secret military project endangers Neo-Tokyo when it turns a biker gang member into a rampaging psychic psychopath who can only be stopped by a teenager, his gang of biker friends and a group of psychics.
Director: Katsuhiro Ôtomo | Stars: Mitsuo Iwata, Nozomu Sasaki, Mami Koyama, Tesshô Genda
Votes: 205,097 | Gross: $0.55M
Brought anime to the American market.
4. The Ren & Stimpy Show (1991–1996)
TV-Y7 | 30 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
Ren, a psychotic Chihuahua, and Stimpson J. Cat, a dimwitted Manx cat who goes by the nickname Stimpy, have a host of unusual adventures.
Stars: John Kricfalusi, Billy West, Harris Peet, Bob Camp
Votes: 24,637
Re-defined the standards of American Cartoons.
5. Batman: The Animated Series (1992–1995)
TV-PG | 23 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
The Dark Knight battles crime in Gotham City with occasional help from Robin and Batgirl.
Stars: Kevin Conroy, Loren Lester, Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Bob Hastings
Votes: 116,915
Showed us that it can be more than a gag reel.
6. The Lion King (1994)
G | 88 min | Animation, Adventure, Drama
Lion prince Simba and his father are targeted by his bitter uncle, who wants to ascend the throne himself.
Directors: Roger Allers, Rob Minkoff | Stars: Matthew Broderick, Jeremy Irons, James Earl Jones, Whoopi Goldberg
Votes: 1,141,660 | Gross: $422.78M
The Culmination of Disney's efforts. Also I needed to have one with animals in this list.
7. Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995–1996)
TV-MA | 24 min | Animation, Action, Drama
A teenage boy finds himself recruited as a member of an elite team of pilots by his father.
Stars: Megumi Ogata, Megumi Hayashibara, Kotono Mitsuishi, Spike Spencer
Votes: 85,148
Did to Anime what Ren and Stimpy did to Cartoons. All post 1995 anime is derivative of this.
8. Toy Story (1995)
G | 81 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
A cowboy doll is profoundly threatened and jealous when a new spaceman action figure supplants him as top toy in a boy's bedroom.
Director: John Lasseter | Stars: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Don Rickles, Jim Varney
Votes: 1,068,079 | Gross: $191.80M
Creativity and tech takes a leap forward, and Full 3D animation finally gets some respect.
9. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)
G | 91 min | Animation, Drama, Family
A deformed bell-ringer must assert his independence from a vicious government minister in order to help his friend, a gypsy dancer.
Directors: Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise | Stars: Demi Moore, Jason Alexander, Mary Kay Bergman, Corey Burton
Votes: 171,602 | Gross: $100.14M
Starting around here, Disney started becoming pretty experimental over the next 7 years.
10. Princess Mononoke (1997)
PG-13 | 134 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
On a journey to find the cure for a Tatarigami's curse, Ashitaka finds himself in the middle of a war between the forest gods and Tatara, a mining colony. In this quest he also meets San, the Mononoke Hime.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki | Stars: Yôji Matsuda, Yuriko Ishida, Yûko Tanaka, Billy Crudup
Votes: 433,467 | Gross: $2.38M
The magnum Opus of Miyazaki.
11. Cowboy Bebop (1998–1999)
TV-14 | 24 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
The futuristic misadventures and tragedies of an easygoing bounty hunter and his partners.
Stars: Kôichi Yamadera, Unshô Ishizuka, Megumi Hayashibara, Steve Blum
Votes: 138,716
Pound for pound the highest-quality animated production of all time… If you've got the right definition of quality.
12. FLCL (2000–2001)
TV-14 | 151 min | Animation, Action, Comedy
Mysterious things start happening when 12-year-old Naota meets a strange woman on a Vespa wielding a big guitar.
Stars: Jun Mizuki, Mayumi Shintani, Izumi Kasagi, Suzuki Matsuo
Votes: 19,709
A pop culture romp and a huge challenge to all conventions in the form.
13. Spirited Away (2001)
PG | 125 min | Animation, Adventure, Family
During her family's move to the suburbs, a sullen 10-year-old girl wanders into a world ruled by gods, witches and spirits, and where humans are changed into beasts.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki | Stars: Daveigh Chase, Suzanne Pleshette, Miyu Irino, Rumi Hiiragi
Votes: 848,776 | Gross: $10.06M
In its own league. Like FLCL/Eva something very different, and like Bebop/Akira full of production value.
14. Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (2002–2005)
TV-MA | 24 min | Animation, Action, Crime
The futuristic adventures of a female cyborg counter intelligence agent and her support team.
Stars: Shirô Saitô, Atsuko Tanaka, Osamu Saka, Mary Elizabeth McGlynn
Votes: 20,940
Highly realized sci-fi gets its fair play in animation.
15. The Animatrix (2003)
Unrated | 100 min | Animation, Action, Sci-Fi
A collection of nine short films featuring stories related to The Matrix (1999).
Stars: James Arnold Taylor, Julia Fletcher, Dwight Schultz, Kevin Michael Richardson
Votes: 82,032
The closest to the limelight that unique and small studios like 4ºC get. Also started a trend of collaborative/skit-based animated films, and kickstarted many a career.
16. Fullmetal Alchemist (2003–2004)
TV-PG | 24 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
When a failed alchemical ritual leaves brothers Edward and Alphonse Elric with severely damaged bodies, they begin searching for the one thing that can save them: the fabled philosopher's stone.
Stars: Vic Mignogna, Aaron Dismuke, Romi Park, Rie Kugimiya
Votes: 77,564
The best of the mainstream animes.
17. The Triplets of Belleville (2003)
PG-13 | 80 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
When her grandson is kidnapped during the Tour de France, Madame Souza and her beloved pooch Bruno team up with the Belleville Sisters--an aged song-and-dance team from the days of Fred Astaire--to rescue him.
Director: Sylvain Chomet | Stars: Michèle Caucheteux, Jean-Claude Donda, Michel Robin, Monica Viegas
Votes: 57,065 | Gross: $7.00M
French. Really French.
18. Tokyo Godfathers (2003)
PG-13 | 92 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
On Christmas Eve, three homeless people living on the streets of Tokyo discover a newborn baby among the trash and set out to find its parents.
Directors: Shôgo Furuya, Satoshi Kon | Stars: Tôru Emori, Yoshiaki Umegaki, Aya Okamoto, Shôzô Îzuka
Votes: 46,724 | Gross: $0.13M
It's just good. Also eerily similar to Triplets...
19. Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem (2003)
Not Rated | 68 min | Animation, Adventure, Music
A continuation of the story told in the Daft Punk music videos "One More Time," "Aerodynamic," "Digital Love," and "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger."
Directors: Daisuke Nishio, Hirotoshi Rissen, Leiji Matsumoto, Kazuhisa Takenouchi | Stars: Romanthony, Thomas Bangalter
Votes: 15,561
Despite some rolling eyes, you need to appreciate a nostalgia-trip film that is modeled entirely after its soundtrack. Innovative, and in the future may become more influential.
20. Samurai Champloo (2004–2005)
TV-MA | 24 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
Fuu, a waitress who works in a teahouse, rescues two master swordsmen, Mugen and Jin, from their execution to help her find the "samurai who smells of sunflowers."
Stars: Kazuya Nakai, Ginpei Sato, Ayako Kawasumi, Steve Blum
Votes: 55,332
Points for originality, and for becoming the model for all the better animes since its release.
21. Mind Game (I) (2004)
Not Rated | 103 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
After a deadly encounter with two yakuza, a loser with a crush on his childhood girlfriend goes to heaven and back, embarking on a psychedelic self-discovery experience with her and his friends.
Directors: Masaaki Yuasa, Kôji Morimoto | Stars: Kôji Imada, Sayaka Maeda, Takashi Fujii, Seiko Takuma
Votes: 10,698 | Gross: $0.04M
Someone get this movie a poster already.
22. Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005–2008)
TV-Y7-FV | 23 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
In a war-torn world of elemental powers, a young boy reawakens to undertake a dangerous mystic quest to fulfill his destiny as the Avatar, and bring peace to the world.
Stars: Dee Bradley Baker, Zach Tyler Eisen, Mae Whitman, Jack De Sena
Votes: 372,376
Non-Japanese studios get off their arses and make something new, epic, and with great depth and flesh.
23. Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children (2005)
PG-13 | 101 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
An ex-mercenary is forced out of isolation when three mysterious men kidnap and brainwash the city's children afflicted with the Geostigma disease.
Directors: Tetsuya Nomura, Takeshi Nozue | Stars: Takahiro Sakurai, Ayumi Ito, Shôtarô Morikubo, Maaya Sakamoto
Votes: 58,194
Fantastic 3D animation, and very much its own entity. Also, the missing link between video game cutscenes and the silver screen. Needs to be here in that respect.
24. Paprika (2006)
R | 90 min | Animation, Drama, Fantasy
When a machine that allows therapists to enter their patients' dreams is stolen, all hell breaks loose. Only a young female therapist, Paprika, can stop it.
Director: Satoshi Kon | Stars: Megumi Hayashibara, Tôru Emori, Katsunosuke Hori, Tôru Furuya
Votes: 96,787 | Gross: $0.88M
Miyazaki doesn't corner the market of trippy high-end animation, bro.
25. Persepolis (2007)
PG-13 | 96 min | Animation, Biography, Drama
A precocious and outspoken Iranian girl grows up during the Islamic Revolution.
Directors: Vincent Paronnaud, Marjane Satrapi | Stars: Chiara Mastroianni, Catherine Deneuve, Gena Rowlands, Danielle Darrieux
Votes: 100,135 | Gross: $4.45M
Ambitious and special, in a time where animation all around was declining.
26. WALL·E (2008)
G | 98 min | Animation, Adventure, Family
In the distant future, a small waste-collecting robot inadvertently embarks on a space journey that will ultimately decide the fate of mankind.
Director: Andrew Stanton | Stars: Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight, Jeff Garlin, Fred Willard
Votes: 1,199,910 | Gross: $223.81M
Wall-e and its adjacent product "Up" show us the very best of CG animation.
27. Waltz with Bashir (2008)
R | 90 min | Documentary, Animation, Biography
An Israeli film director interviews fellow veterans of the 1982 invasion of Lebanon to reconstruct his own memories of his term of service in that conflict.
Director: Ari Folman | Stars: Ari Folman, Ron Ben-Yishai, Ronny Dayag, Ori Sivan
Votes: 60,395 | Gross: $2.28M
Daring, and a documentary? Typically not special, but now its animation!
28. Round Da Way (2009)
96 min | Animation, Comedy
Tony and Jose are best friends and petty crooks, but tension strikes the duo when Jose falls for the rich Clemence and wants to go straight.
Directors: Emmanuel Klotz, Albert Pereira-Lazaro | Stars: Vincent Cassel, Diane Kruger, Izm, Frédérique Bel
Votes: 1,684
On here for its merits of style, and unique subject matter {as far as animation goes}.
29. Chico & Rita (2010)
Not Rated | 94 min | Animation, Crime, Drama
Chico is a young piano player with big dreams. Rita is a beautiful singer with an extraordinary voice. Music and romantic desire unites them, but their journey - in the tradition of the Latin ballad, the bolero - brings heartache and torment.
Directors: Tono Errando, Javier Mariscal, Fernando Trueba | Stars: Eman Xor Oña, Limara Meneses, Mario Guerra, Jon Adams
Votes: 9,687 | Gross: $0.35M
Cuba gets out there with a perfect homage to "A Star is Born" and jazz culture.
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