I support any vote for Paranorman, especially as weeks go by and the pleasures of Wreck-It-Ralph feel more workmanlike whereas Paranorman's seems more and more under-appreciated.Okri wrote
That said, my choice is Paranorman and it’s not even up for debate for me. Another one I’ve seen a few times. There are two moments that really get me every time. The revelation that the witch was a young girl the town lynched was an actual gasp moment for me and just gutted me. And that’s nothing compared to the climax. We’ve seen the violence as catharsis trope time and time again, but to see it in this context (what is essentially a kids movie) with these characters (two children)… it’s genuinely harrowing to me – which makes the resolution quite moving. I find the story and plotting delightful (though I do see why someone would say it’s unfocused or overstuffed), the look is dazzling and the score is lovely. But it's those two moments that slay me every time.
An easy vote for Paranorman.
Best Animated Film: 2012
Re: Best Animated Film: 2012
"How's the despair?"
Re: Best Animated Film: 2012
I view this category in distinct tiers
The bottom tier contains Frankenweenie and The Pirates: Band of Misfits. Both are pleasant and watchable. The climax to Frankenweenie is delightfully manic and Burton is engagingly loose in a way he isn’t in his live action movies. The Pirates has one inspired idea (Bobo) and again, is pleasantly watchable. Neither needs the appellation “best” but I doubt I’d have watched either without this category.
I remember at the time the race was between Brave and Wreck-It Ralph. Ralph was slightly higher at metacritic; Brave made a bit more money. The premise to Wreck-It Ralph is pretty perfect and the script really does solid work in knitting together the jokes and the plot. I’ll echo Sabin in that I thought there would be more interactions amongst the game characters (maybe that’s more for television than film) and the worlds themselves aren’t that interesting. Conversely, the world in Brave is so vividly rendered and Merida herself such a charming character that the flaws in the screenplay don’t bother me much. I’ve watched it a few times and am engaged every time.
That said, my choice is Paranorman and it’s not even up for debate for me. Another one I’ve seen a few times. There are two moments that really get me every time. The revelation that the witch was a young girl the town lynched was an actual gasp moment for me and just gutted me. And that’s nothing compared to the climax. We’ve seen the violence as catharsis trope time and time again, but to see it in this context (what is essentially a kids movie) with these characters (two children)… it’s genuinely harrowing to me – which makes the resolution quite moving. I find the story and plotting delightful (though I do see why someone would say it’s unfocused or overstuffed), the look is dazzling and the score is lovely. But it's those two moments that slay me every time.
An easy vote for Paranorman.
The bottom tier contains Frankenweenie and The Pirates: Band of Misfits. Both are pleasant and watchable. The climax to Frankenweenie is delightfully manic and Burton is engagingly loose in a way he isn’t in his live action movies. The Pirates has one inspired idea (Bobo) and again, is pleasantly watchable. Neither needs the appellation “best” but I doubt I’d have watched either without this category.
I remember at the time the race was between Brave and Wreck-It Ralph. Ralph was slightly higher at metacritic; Brave made a bit more money. The premise to Wreck-It Ralph is pretty perfect and the script really does solid work in knitting together the jokes and the plot. I’ll echo Sabin in that I thought there would be more interactions amongst the game characters (maybe that’s more for television than film) and the worlds themselves aren’t that interesting. Conversely, the world in Brave is so vividly rendered and Merida herself such a charming character that the flaws in the screenplay don’t bother me much. I’ve watched it a few times and am engaged every time.
That said, my choice is Paranorman and it’s not even up for debate for me. Another one I’ve seen a few times. There are two moments that really get me every time. The revelation that the witch was a young girl the town lynched was an actual gasp moment for me and just gutted me. And that’s nothing compared to the climax. We’ve seen the violence as catharsis trope time and time again, but to see it in this context (what is essentially a kids movie) with these characters (two children)… it’s genuinely harrowing to me – which makes the resolution quite moving. I find the story and plotting delightful (though I do see why someone would say it’s unfocused or overstuffed), the look is dazzling and the score is lovely. But it's those two moments that slay me every time.
An easy vote for Paranorman.
Re: Best Animated Film: 2012
To be clear, I'm not saying that Wreck It Ralph doesn't have anything to do with video game culture. I'm just saying it doesn't go as deep into our relationship with video games as something like Toy Story does with our relationship with toys, etc.. Ralph doesn't want to be a good guy for anything other than his own wants. The film is certainly very studied in video games and has a lot of knowing winks, but it isn't really about video game culture. It's more the story of a character on a quest for something ("The Golden Fleece narrative") who become a better person along the way and learns the true nature of, fill in the blank.OscarGuy wrote
I think I would disagree with that, Sabin. I do think it gets deep into video gaming culture. Ralph is a longtime game character whose been pleasing audiences forever, but the new, shinier games have left him in the dim recesses of the arcade where he languishes without attention. I think that's a deep-seated fear among gamers. With the advent of internet-based games, many of the old consolers were concerned that game studios were increasingly abandoning them in favor of the more lucrative microtransaction market. I think it's a perfect distillation of the dichotomy between console gaming and java gaming/internet gaming. The Farmvilles vs. the Halos. Those divisions have blended in recent years, but this film pointed in a direction that both old school video gamers and new school ones could come to a common ground and both be pleased.
And let me be clear that this is not at all the same as the whiny bitchy video gamers who get all pissy about X video game character being Black or Y video game character being female. I do not feel that it's an adequate reflection of the gamergate situation. If anything, Wreck-It Ralph comes down decisively on the pro-diversity side of that particular argument and you might even be able to draw a second parallel with this notion as well. Ralph initially balks at the success of the game and wants ill for Vanellope, but he eventually comes around to realizing that the past is past and while some things can still be loved, embracing the future is a noble pursuit too.
Also, the idea of old vs. new doesn't really play much of a role in Ralph's arc. If it did, then he would have more of an opinion on Sugar Rush and The Halo-ish Game instead of trying to use them as a means to an end. They're all basically on even playing ground and they meet up as equals in Grand Game Station (or whatever it's called). A narrative that was more centered around old vs. new would feature Fix It Felix possibly being carted away in place of newer games, but instead Fix It Felix is just as enjoyed as Sugar Rush in the arcade and only really face fear of glitch and malfunction. If anything, Ralph's arc is more universal. After thirty years, he just wants to gain the respect of the same video game characters he's been playing with for thirty years. The players don't even factor into it.
None of which makes Wreck It Ralph a lesser experience. Like I said, The Emoji Movie probably is more studied in app culture and our relationship to apps, but to much less effect.
"How's the despair?"
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OscarGuy
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Re: Best Animated Film: 2012
I think I would disagree with that, Sabin. I do think it gets deep into video gaming culture. Ralph is a longtime game character whose been pleasing audiences forever, but the new, shinier games have left him in the dim recesses of the arcade where he languishes without attention. I think that's a deep-seated fear among gamers. With the advent of internet-based games, many of the old consolers were concerned that game studios were increasingly abandoning them in favor of the more lucrative microtransaction market. I think it's a perfect distillation of the dichotomy between console gaming and java gaming/internet gaming. The Farmvilles vs. the Halos. Those divisions have blended in recent years, but this film pointed in a direction that both old school video gamers and new school ones could come to a common ground and both be pleased.
And let me be clear that this is not at all the same as the whiny bitchy video gamers who get all pissy about X video game character being Black or Y video game character being female. I do not feel that it's an adequate reflection of the gamergate situation. If anything, Wreck-It Ralph comes down decisively on the pro-diversity side of that particular argument and you might even be able to draw a second parallel with this notion as well. Ralph initially balks at the success of the game and wants ill for Vanellope, but he eventually comes around to realizing that the past is past and while some things can still be loved, embracing the future is a noble pursuit too.
And let me be clear that this is not at all the same as the whiny bitchy video gamers who get all pissy about X video game character being Black or Y video game character being female. I do not feel that it's an adequate reflection of the gamergate situation. If anything, Wreck-It Ralph comes down decisively on the pro-diversity side of that particular argument and you might even be able to draw a second parallel with this notion as well. Ralph initially balks at the success of the game and wants ill for Vanellope, but he eventually comes around to realizing that the past is past and while some things can still be loved, embracing the future is a noble pursuit too.
Wesley Lovell
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." - Benjamin Franklin
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." - Benjamin Franklin
Re: Best Animated Film: 2012
My daughter was 7 at the time and she saw all of these 5 films when they were released.
I remember clearly that at the time she thought Ralph was the most entertaining.
Animated films are made, first and foremost, for kids, so I voted under the preference of a kid.
I remember clearly that at the time she thought Ralph was the most entertaining.
Animated films are made, first and foremost, for kids, so I voted under the preference of a kid.
Re: Best Animated Film: 2012
I think the reason for this is that the filmmakers behind Wreck-It-Ralph treat the story as a nostalgia item (retro-gaming). Ralph acknowledges as much in the epilogue. I've read some complaints that it's apathetic to gaming culture. I think that's true. Wreck-It-Ralph doesn't really have anything to say about our relationship to video games, which is one of the reasons why it's sub-PIXAR. It doesn't delve into our relationship to video games like Toy Story does to our toys, or Monsters, Inc. does to the childhood fear of monsters. But on the other hand, it doesn't get lost in the weeds either. Fan culture can be a sick thing.OscarGuy wrote
As a guy who grew up with video games in the late 1980s and having largely stuck with them since then, Wreck-It Ralph finds its way through the potentially fraught world of send-ups and comes out rather well on the other side. It could have devolved into one of those cheap ploys to feature as many video game characters as possible without any sense of purpose, but it largely stays away from that hazard. The bits with other games are clever and well used and the Donkey Kong-replaced by-Candy Crush undercurrent perfectly reflects the advent of populist gaming and the rise of widespread internet access. Wreck-It Ralph: Ralph Breaks the Internet was a solid sequel as well.
I've only seen Madagascar's 1 and 3. I wasn't much of a fan of the first one although I enjoyed the unique approach to animation. The third one is hilarious enough to make me want to visit the second. I don't know it's held much weight in collective consciousness at this point though. That's an interesting question. I think the easy answer would be if someone out there would admit to genuinely liking the Despicable Me/Minions franchise. I wonder if Hotel Transylvania would count?OscarGuy wrote
And since Sabin brought it up, is there a series of animated films that we deride more, but which is more entertaining than the Madagascar films? I thought they were disposable when they came out and expected them to tread similar ground to the Ice Age movies. They might have been lame cash grabs, but after watching the decent first and second films and the surprisingly adroit third film, I never thought I'd say I'm a fan of the Madagascar series, but I kind of am.
"How's the despair?"
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OscarGuy
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Re: Best Animated Film: 2012
Another rare year where I've already seen all the nominees. I think Sabin's right about Brave vs. Wreck-It Ralph. Disney and Pixar had swapped their creativity with Brave being Pixar's first "princess" story like the ones Disney used to make while Wreck-It Ralph was one of the few non-princess stories (though, yes it does have a princess angle, but that's not the dynamic of the film itself).
As a guy who grew up with video games in the late 1980s and having largely stuck with them since then, Wreck-It Ralph finds its way through the potentially fraught world of send-ups and comes out rather well on the other side. It could have devolved into one of those cheap ploys to feature as many video game characters as possible without any sense of purpose, but it largely stays away from that hazard. The bits with other games are clever and well used and the Donkey Kong-replaced by-Candy Crush undercurrent perfectly reflects the advent of populist gaming and the rise of widespread internet access. Wreck-It Ralph: Ralph Breaks the Internet was a solid sequel as well.
The Pirates! and ParaNorman are about even for me in terms of efforts. Aardman has always been terrific at sight gags, background details, and more, but The Pirates also felt a bit too silly at time and didn't always ground itself effectively. ParaNorman on the other hand doesn't have as many clever background details, but it's a story about appearances and the deception we have as a society about who has value and who doesn't. It asks the audience to embrace an outsider, a "freak" and in the end, we discover that all the "cool" kids have a bit of freakiness to them and that's such an appealing element to the film that the stunning animation elevates it just above The Pirates for me.
As to Brave, I maintain that it's a film Disney would have made and by that, I mean that it's not a film of immeasurable depth. It's a simplistic story that just happens to tackle atypical fairy tales and legends from areas that seldom get treatment (though, really we've had a lot of these Irish animated tales lately, so perhaps it's not that atypical anymore, but it was then. I do like Merida and her treatment in the Wreck-It Ralph sequel is hilarious, but it's just such a wan story that I can't get excited about it and, if it weren't for Toy Story 4, this might be the worst film Pixar has ever won the Oscar for. Of course, it was also foreshadowing Pixar's significant slide into mediocrity and for that alone, it deserves some negativity. That said, it's still an enjoyable film by Disney standards, but certainly not winner material.
Frankenweenie features stunning animation and I agree that its homage to Universal horror is evident. I also don't mind animated movies being dark. There's a lot of darkness to Miyazaki's films, but his aren't as misanthropic as Burton's films tend to be. There's also a serious lack of joy in the film, which does dampen my appreciation for the film. I'd say it's probably last on my list of these five.
The reason I'm going with Wreck-It Ralph in spite of my deep enjoyment of The Pirates! and ParaNorman is that it had more layers than a lot of animated movies do. Sure, The Pirates and ParaNorman are a bit more inventive with their sight gags and visuals, but Wreck-It Ralph is no slouch in that department either and with the deftness with which Ralph manages to contemplate the sea change in gaming history and find a way that both elements of gaming fanbases can come together makes it an easy choice. A deep, contemplative, and hilarious effort that's more than just about perception and self-determination.
And since Sabin brought it up, is there a series of animated films that we deride more, but which is more entertaining than the Madagascar films? I thought they were disposable when they came out and expected them to tread similar ground to the Ice Age movies. They might have been lame cash grabs, but after watching the decent first and second films and the surprisingly adroit third film, I never thought I'd say I'm a fan of the Madagascar series, but I kind of am.
As a guy who grew up with video games in the late 1980s and having largely stuck with them since then, Wreck-It Ralph finds its way through the potentially fraught world of send-ups and comes out rather well on the other side. It could have devolved into one of those cheap ploys to feature as many video game characters as possible without any sense of purpose, but it largely stays away from that hazard. The bits with other games are clever and well used and the Donkey Kong-replaced by-Candy Crush undercurrent perfectly reflects the advent of populist gaming and the rise of widespread internet access. Wreck-It Ralph: Ralph Breaks the Internet was a solid sequel as well.
The Pirates! and ParaNorman are about even for me in terms of efforts. Aardman has always been terrific at sight gags, background details, and more, but The Pirates also felt a bit too silly at time and didn't always ground itself effectively. ParaNorman on the other hand doesn't have as many clever background details, but it's a story about appearances and the deception we have as a society about who has value and who doesn't. It asks the audience to embrace an outsider, a "freak" and in the end, we discover that all the "cool" kids have a bit of freakiness to them and that's such an appealing element to the film that the stunning animation elevates it just above The Pirates for me.
As to Brave, I maintain that it's a film Disney would have made and by that, I mean that it's not a film of immeasurable depth. It's a simplistic story that just happens to tackle atypical fairy tales and legends from areas that seldom get treatment (though, really we've had a lot of these Irish animated tales lately, so perhaps it's not that atypical anymore, but it was then. I do like Merida and her treatment in the Wreck-It Ralph sequel is hilarious, but it's just such a wan story that I can't get excited about it and, if it weren't for Toy Story 4, this might be the worst film Pixar has ever won the Oscar for. Of course, it was also foreshadowing Pixar's significant slide into mediocrity and for that alone, it deserves some negativity. That said, it's still an enjoyable film by Disney standards, but certainly not winner material.
Frankenweenie features stunning animation and I agree that its homage to Universal horror is evident. I also don't mind animated movies being dark. There's a lot of darkness to Miyazaki's films, but his aren't as misanthropic as Burton's films tend to be. There's also a serious lack of joy in the film, which does dampen my appreciation for the film. I'd say it's probably last on my list of these five.
The reason I'm going with Wreck-It Ralph in spite of my deep enjoyment of The Pirates! and ParaNorman is that it had more layers than a lot of animated movies do. Sure, The Pirates and ParaNorman are a bit more inventive with their sight gags and visuals, but Wreck-It Ralph is no slouch in that department either and with the deftness with which Ralph manages to contemplate the sea change in gaming history and find a way that both elements of gaming fanbases can come together makes it an easy choice. A deep, contemplative, and hilarious effort that's more than just about perception and self-determination.
And since Sabin brought it up, is there a series of animated films that we deride more, but which is more entertaining than the Madagascar films? I thought they were disposable when they came out and expected them to tread similar ground to the Ice Age movies. They might have been lame cash grabs, but after watching the decent first and second films and the surprisingly adroit third film, I never thought I'd say I'm a fan of the Madagascar series, but I kind of am.
Wesley Lovell
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." - Benjamin Franklin
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." - Benjamin Franklin
Best Animated Film: 2012
I'm going to have to take a break from posting these for a little bit. It's just turning into a heavier viewing schedule than I can handle right now.
We're now in permanent five nomination territory. Most notably missing from the list were Hotel Transylvania and Rise of the Guardians. The former shouldn't be surprising. Although it spawned many sequels, Sony Pictures Animation didn't have a great track record at this pint, although their co-production with Aardman Animation made it in that year with Pirates! I've heard good things about The Rabbi's Cat. And although it might have been a long-shot, I've always found Madagascar 3 very silly and entertaining.
This has always been a favorite lineup of mine. I don't like the outcome of the race, but there's a sweetness and a modesty to these films. None of them feels like a cash grab. Two of them were not successful (and The Pirates! made very little impact domestically). Only one of them went onto a sequel. They more or less felt like they were on even playing field On Oscar night. Frankenweenie did quite well with the critics. Wreck-It-Ralph swept the Annies and won the Producers Guild of America Award. But it was probably foolish thinking as it was probably always going to be Brave's to win if only because it's the easiest film to watch with the whole family. In looking back through this board's conversations about Frankenweenie, I stumbled upon an observation Mister Tee made that what tipped this category to Brave might have been a desire on behalf of voters to give it to something female-driven. The fact that it centered around a daughter-mother story certainly would've helped it stand out among so many male-driven stories. No subsequent lineup would be so male-driven.
I've written about Brave elsewhere recently but I might go to bat for it as my least favorite PIXAR film. Probably not the worst, but the most frustrating for me. Merida is a terrific character design in search of a better story. Look, if you wanna turn Mom into a bear, turn her into a bear. But that's your story. Brave takes such a long time to get around to it that there's nothing left to but start the process of wrapping it all up. It looks great, but it's as thematically muddied as anything they've done. It gets my vote for worst winner in this category.
It really is remarkable how much it felt like Brave and Wreck-It-Ralph traded studios for each other's efforts, but in a way they did. If Tangled marks the proper start of the John Lasseter era at Walt Disney Studios, then Wreck-It-Ralph puts it into high-gear. I was a little disappointed by Wreck-It-Ralph back when it came out. I think I was expecting the whole movie to have the feel of the game-hopping promised by the trailer (we got that movie a few years later, The Emoji Movie) and it felt too permanently lodged in Sugar Rush and Vanelope's story. I just rewatched it and I think it's pretty good. I still feel like Sugar Rush isn't that interesting of a terrain, but what surprised me this time was how seamlessly the writers pulled story out of the world-building. Stuff like Turbo, the bugs, and the twist involving Vanelope. I honestly didn't see a lot of those things coming together the way they did, even on a second viewing. And it's got plenty of terrific gags, both in the first act (the villains support group) and as it goes along (Jane Lynch's morbid wedding day). It's no Toy Story, but it's more than a fresh enough spin.
I'm a bit conflicted on Frankenweenie. I'm pretty astonished it got made on any budget considering that the finale revolves around kids killing their undead pets again. Truly, who is this film for? It's far too dark for children. My favorite thing about it is that it's such a terrific use of animation. It evokes Universal's monster movies fantastically (especially in the finale) and the suburban world is a good one. It's probably the most subdued animated film I've seen in years, at least until the ending. There's a real emotional heart to it which is something Tim Burton hasn't been able to dial into in quite a while. He does a fantastic job of selling (but not overselling) Victor's love for Sparky by casting him in movies that he directs. Pet grief never fails to choke me up. The biggest problem is there's no real plot to speak of. Sparky's return eventually just leads to a bunch of other kids in school bringing their dead pets back to life to win a science fair, which feels all around like a B- effort. It's a movie that's easy for me to admire but hard to love except in parts which I very much do.
If Frankenweenie's story is a B- effort, then ParaNorman's gets a C but with an A for effort. I feel a bit the same way about ParaNorman, which truly feels like a sibling to Frankenweenie in that they both concern themselves with lonely teenage boys mulling paranormal affairs. If Frankenweenie feels a bit underdeveloped, ParaNorman might be a bit overdeveloped. It's full of fantastic ideas but none of them make for a great plot. I could go on about all the ideas that I love in this film. I love that Norman's gift is introduced upon the death of his grandmother who just hangs out upstairs. I love the flip of The Sixth Sense that Norman sees dead people... but he isn't terribly bothered by them. It's easy to imagine a story where he has a professional afterlife service (hmmm... I might like that movie more). I love how it embraces nostalgia pre-Stranger Things and its efforts to subvert expectations were meaningful back in 2012 (with Casey Affleck's lunkhead being revealed to have a boyfriend). I love how the zombies are more afraid of us than we are of them. I love the music. And of course, I love the look of the film. Laika's movies are just stunning to behold. But they also have story problems. The second act is just a wild car ride connecting the first act to the third act. The biggest problem with the film is that none of these ingredients are especially connected to the point where it almost becomes a feature, not a bug. The reveal of Agatha's loneliness is a superficial flip of Norman's own loneliness. It doesn't really land, but it's such a powerful, unexpected development. I haven't been able to forget it. I have real reservations about ParaNorman but also a lot of fondness.
Why didn't anybody tell me that The Pirates: Band of Misfits is hilarious? I know we've come to expect no less from this team but I realized watching it that I had no idea what it was about. So when I slowly began to realize that it was a comedy about Pirates dealing with Charles Darwin and the high-society of 19th Century England, I was delighted. The international and far better title ("The Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists!") might have tipped me off. The story revolves around The Pirate Captain (Hugh Grant, hilarious) in his quest to win the "Pirate of the Year" trophy learning from Charles Darwin that his trusted parrot, Polly, is actually the last Dodo bird, which he can use to gain the fame needed to win that trophy and Charles Darwin can use to win the love of his crush, Queen Victoria, who is portrayed as a memorably unhinged villainess. There are no real emotional stakes in this film and upon reflection there aren't really any memorable set-pieces. It's just a delightfully plotted cartoon, full of gags, enjoyable shenanigans, and a fun world.
I don't really have a strong preference in this group. One day, I might give it to The Pirates! for accomplishing to do exactly what it set out to do, minus any emotional resonance. On another day, I might recognize this as the best opportunity to reward Tim Burton, so why not? On another, I might toss Laika a bone for the parts of ParaNorman that I like more than any other film in competition. But today, I'm leaning more towards Wreck-It-Ralph for avoiding all the traps that The Emoji Movie fell into.
We're now in permanent five nomination territory. Most notably missing from the list were Hotel Transylvania and Rise of the Guardians. The former shouldn't be surprising. Although it spawned many sequels, Sony Pictures Animation didn't have a great track record at this pint, although their co-production with Aardman Animation made it in that year with Pirates! I've heard good things about The Rabbi's Cat. And although it might have been a long-shot, I've always found Madagascar 3 very silly and entertaining.
This has always been a favorite lineup of mine. I don't like the outcome of the race, but there's a sweetness and a modesty to these films. None of them feels like a cash grab. Two of them were not successful (and The Pirates! made very little impact domestically). Only one of them went onto a sequel. They more or less felt like they were on even playing field On Oscar night. Frankenweenie did quite well with the critics. Wreck-It-Ralph swept the Annies and won the Producers Guild of America Award. But it was probably foolish thinking as it was probably always going to be Brave's to win if only because it's the easiest film to watch with the whole family. In looking back through this board's conversations about Frankenweenie, I stumbled upon an observation Mister Tee made that what tipped this category to Brave might have been a desire on behalf of voters to give it to something female-driven. The fact that it centered around a daughter-mother story certainly would've helped it stand out among so many male-driven stories. No subsequent lineup would be so male-driven.
I've written about Brave elsewhere recently but I might go to bat for it as my least favorite PIXAR film. Probably not the worst, but the most frustrating for me. Merida is a terrific character design in search of a better story. Look, if you wanna turn Mom into a bear, turn her into a bear. But that's your story. Brave takes such a long time to get around to it that there's nothing left to but start the process of wrapping it all up. It looks great, but it's as thematically muddied as anything they've done. It gets my vote for worst winner in this category.
It really is remarkable how much it felt like Brave and Wreck-It-Ralph traded studios for each other's efforts, but in a way they did. If Tangled marks the proper start of the John Lasseter era at Walt Disney Studios, then Wreck-It-Ralph puts it into high-gear. I was a little disappointed by Wreck-It-Ralph back when it came out. I think I was expecting the whole movie to have the feel of the game-hopping promised by the trailer (we got that movie a few years later, The Emoji Movie) and it felt too permanently lodged in Sugar Rush and Vanelope's story. I just rewatched it and I think it's pretty good. I still feel like Sugar Rush isn't that interesting of a terrain, but what surprised me this time was how seamlessly the writers pulled story out of the world-building. Stuff like Turbo, the bugs, and the twist involving Vanelope. I honestly didn't see a lot of those things coming together the way they did, even on a second viewing. And it's got plenty of terrific gags, both in the first act (the villains support group) and as it goes along (Jane Lynch's morbid wedding day). It's no Toy Story, but it's more than a fresh enough spin.
I'm a bit conflicted on Frankenweenie. I'm pretty astonished it got made on any budget considering that the finale revolves around kids killing their undead pets again. Truly, who is this film for? It's far too dark for children. My favorite thing about it is that it's such a terrific use of animation. It evokes Universal's monster movies fantastically (especially in the finale) and the suburban world is a good one. It's probably the most subdued animated film I've seen in years, at least until the ending. There's a real emotional heart to it which is something Tim Burton hasn't been able to dial into in quite a while. He does a fantastic job of selling (but not overselling) Victor's love for Sparky by casting him in movies that he directs. Pet grief never fails to choke me up. The biggest problem is there's no real plot to speak of. Sparky's return eventually just leads to a bunch of other kids in school bringing their dead pets back to life to win a science fair, which feels all around like a B- effort. It's a movie that's easy for me to admire but hard to love except in parts which I very much do.
If Frankenweenie's story is a B- effort, then ParaNorman's gets a C but with an A for effort. I feel a bit the same way about ParaNorman, which truly feels like a sibling to Frankenweenie in that they both concern themselves with lonely teenage boys mulling paranormal affairs. If Frankenweenie feels a bit underdeveloped, ParaNorman might be a bit overdeveloped. It's full of fantastic ideas but none of them make for a great plot. I could go on about all the ideas that I love in this film. I love that Norman's gift is introduced upon the death of his grandmother who just hangs out upstairs. I love the flip of The Sixth Sense that Norman sees dead people... but he isn't terribly bothered by them. It's easy to imagine a story where he has a professional afterlife service (hmmm... I might like that movie more). I love how it embraces nostalgia pre-Stranger Things and its efforts to subvert expectations were meaningful back in 2012 (with Casey Affleck's lunkhead being revealed to have a boyfriend). I love how the zombies are more afraid of us than we are of them. I love the music. And of course, I love the look of the film. Laika's movies are just stunning to behold. But they also have story problems. The second act is just a wild car ride connecting the first act to the third act. The biggest problem with the film is that none of these ingredients are especially connected to the point where it almost becomes a feature, not a bug. The reveal of Agatha's loneliness is a superficial flip of Norman's own loneliness. It doesn't really land, but it's such a powerful, unexpected development. I haven't been able to forget it. I have real reservations about ParaNorman but also a lot of fondness.
Why didn't anybody tell me that The Pirates: Band of Misfits is hilarious? I know we've come to expect no less from this team but I realized watching it that I had no idea what it was about. So when I slowly began to realize that it was a comedy about Pirates dealing with Charles Darwin and the high-society of 19th Century England, I was delighted. The international and far better title ("The Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists!") might have tipped me off. The story revolves around The Pirate Captain (Hugh Grant, hilarious) in his quest to win the "Pirate of the Year" trophy learning from Charles Darwin that his trusted parrot, Polly, is actually the last Dodo bird, which he can use to gain the fame needed to win that trophy and Charles Darwin can use to win the love of his crush, Queen Victoria, who is portrayed as a memorably unhinged villainess. There are no real emotional stakes in this film and upon reflection there aren't really any memorable set-pieces. It's just a delightfully plotted cartoon, full of gags, enjoyable shenanigans, and a fun world.
I don't really have a strong preference in this group. One day, I might give it to The Pirates! for accomplishing to do exactly what it set out to do, minus any emotional resonance. On another day, I might recognize this as the best opportunity to reward Tim Burton, so why not? On another, I might toss Laika a bone for the parts of ParaNorman that I like more than any other film in competition. But today, I'm leaning more towards Wreck-It-Ralph for avoiding all the traps that The Emoji Movie fell into.
Last edited by Sabin on Sun Jan 08, 2023 10:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"How's the despair?"