Board 8 > Board 8 Ranks Animated Movies 3 - The Rankings

(+) Yeah! (+)

This means these are our 10 films remaining!

The Peanuts Movie (2015)
My Life as a Zucchini (2016)
Isle of Dogs (2018)
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019)
Klaus (2019)
Soul (2020)
Wolfwalkers (2020)
Luca (2021)
The Mitchells vs The Machines (2021)

Xeybozn posted...

I actually liked Toy Story 4 more than 3. Never really got the whole "we don't need this movie" complaining; it's not like the other sequels were super necessary themselves.

Well, I mean, a lot of Pixar movies can theoretically work as standalone films and don't NEED sequels, but some universes have the ability to expand. Toy Story one was just a world of sentient toys, and Toy Storys 2 and 3 expanded that by taking the original concept and first adding the idea of a toy being abandoned (Toy Story 2), and then actively showing what happens when your kid outgrows his toys. While the franchise could easily stop at 1, the writers had concepts that worked for 2 and 3. While I still really enjoyed Toy Story 4, I can fully admit that it feels unnecessary. Toy Story 3 wrapped up what the franchise could do, and the plot of Toy Story 4 is basically "What happens when your SECOND kid outgrows you".

Similarly, it really comes down to "do the writers have a story they want to tell that makes this sequel worthwhile". In a lot of cases, especially on this list compared to some of our others, I feel like they didn't. A lot of the sequels have this air of "this property is popular...let's make something new with it to sell new merch", and the story is secondary. Incredibles 2 is a HUGE example of this, because it's one of the only sequels on this list that I think should have been good, and was just let down by the writers. You have a completely untouched, standalone superhero universe, and the end of the first movie was basically heroes saving the day and proving their worth to society...and then you just write a sequel that's a rehash of the first movie.

1. ???
2. ???
3. ???
4. Toy Story 4
5. ???
6. ???
7. The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part
8. ???
9. ???
10. ???
11. ???
12. ???
13. Abominable
14. Onward
15. Missing Link
16. Frozen 2
17. The Incredibles 2
18. Ralph Breaks the Internet
19. Ferdinand
20. Raya and the Last Dragon
21. Spies in Disguise
22. The Grinch
23. Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation
24. Trolls World Tour
25. Croods: A New Age
26. A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon
27. The Polar Express
28. It's Such a Beautiful Day
29. Loving Vincent
30. I Lost My Body
31. The Secret Life of Pets 2
32. Despicable Me 3
33. Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius
34. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
35. Over the Moon
36. Boy and the World
37. The Red Turtle
38. The Illusionist
39. Anomalisa
40. Fritz the Cat

1. It's Such a Beautiful Day (2012)
2. ???
3. ???
4. ???
5. ???
6. ???
7. ???
8. ???
9. ???
10. Toy Story 4 (2019)
11. I Lost My Body (2019)
12. Anomalisa
13. Over the Moon
14. ???
15. Abominable
16. Boy & the World
17. Frozen 2 (2019)
18. ???
19. The Polar Express (2004)
20. The Red Turtle
21. Onward (2020)
22. Loving Vincent (2017)
23. Raya and the Last Dragon
24. Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius
25. Incredibles 2 (2018)
26. Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018)
27. The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (2019)
28. The Illusionist
29. Missing Link (2019) [H]
30. Trolls: World Tour
31. The Croods: A New Age
32. Fritz the Cat
33. Ferdinand
34. Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation (2018)
35. A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon
36. The Grinch
37. The Secret Life of Pets 2 (2019)
38. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009)
39. Despicable Me 3
40. Spies in Disguise (2019)

overall pretty good top 10!

1. It's Such a Beautiful Day
2. The Red Turtle
3. The Lego Movie 2: the Second Part
4. Boy & the World
5. ?
6. ?
7. The Illusionist
8. Fritz the Cat
9. ?
10. Loving Vincent
11. A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon
12. ?
13. I Lost My Body
14. Anomalisa
15. Toy Story 4
16. ?
17. ?
18. ?
19. Incredibles 2
20. ?
21. ?
22. Onward
23. Frozen II
24. Trolls World Tour
25. Missing Link
26. ?
27. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
28. Spies in Disguise
29. Hotel Transylvania: Summer Vacation
30. Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius
31. The Croods: A New Age
32. Over the Moon
33. Abominable
34. The Polar Express
35. Despicable Me 3
36. Raya and the Last Dragon
37. The Secret Life of Pets 2
38. Ralph Breaks the Internet
39. The Grinch
40. Ferdinand

Evillordexdeath posted...

1. It's Such a Beautiful Day
2. The Red Turtle
3. The Lego Movie 2: the Second Part
4. Boy & the World
5. ?
6. ?
7. The Illusionist
8. Fritz the Cat
9. ?
10. Loving Vincent

The Lego Movie 2 really doesn't feel like it belongs in there lol

haha, I see what you mean, but you know, it's nice to throw at least one or two mainstream American animations along with all my film-snob favored movies just to keep people guessing. Plus Lego 2 was a pleasant surprise for me because I expected not to like it much, which was something I took into account with the rankings. I put Trolls 2 as high as I did because it was way funnier than I expected, and my #26 was a disappointment for me which dropped it down a few spots.

From what little I've seen

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) > The Mitchells vs The Machines (2021) > Soul (2020) > Luca (2021)

The amount of hate I have for TS4 is probably greater than every other movie on this list. There are so many sequel related things it does that are rehashed throughout the list. It is basically the flagship for the creative bankruptcy all these animation studios are spitting out. Why should the smalll studios try to be original when even the largest are going to try to drown them in completely unnecessary endless sequels.

1. ???
2. The Secret Life of Pets 2 (2019)
3. ???
4. ???
5. Over the Moon (2018)
6. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009)
7. ???
8. The Grinch (2018)
9. A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon (2019)
10. Fritz The Cat (1972)
11. Croods: A New Age (2020)
12. ???
13. Loving Vincent (2017)
14. Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation (2018)
15. ???
16. Toy Story 4 (2019)
17. Missing Link (2019)
18. ???
19. Raya and the Last Dragon (2021)
20. ???
21. Abominable (2019)
22. Ferdinand (2017)
23. ???
24. The Illusionist (2010)
25. I Lost My Body (2019)
26. Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (2001)
27. The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (2019)
28. Frozen 2 (2019)
29. Onward (2020)
30. Boy and the World (2013)
31. The Polar Express (2004)
32. Spies in Disguise (2019)
33. The Red Turtle (2016)
34. ???
35. Incredibles 2 (2018)
36. Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018)
37. Trolls World Tour (2020)
38. Anomalisa (2015)
39. It's Such a Beautiful Day (2012)
40. Despicable Me 3 (2017)

1. ???
2. ???
3. ???
4. ???
5. ???
6. Raya and the Last Dragon
7. ???
8. ???
9. The Incredibles 2
10. Ralph Breaks the Internet
11. ???
12. ???
13. Frozen II
14. ???
15. Abominable
16. The Red Turtle
17. Onward
18. The Secret Life of Pets 2
19. Missing Link
20. Croods: A New Age
21. Spies in Disguise
22. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
23. Ferdinand
24. Over the Moon
25. The Illusionist
26. Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation
27. I Lost My Body
28. Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius
29. The Grinch
30. A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon
31. Despicable Me 3
32. Loving Vincent
33. Toy Story 4
34. The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part
35. Boy and the World
36. Anomalisa
37. Trolls World Tour
38. It's Such a Beautiful Day
39. Fritz the Cat
40. The Polar Express

I can't tell if what I have left beats Evil or not.

It's a close call I think, and might depend on what order the movies fall in. I think you have the advantage because your #34 is still alive and you have a small lead.

1. ???
2. ???
3. ???
4. The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part
5. Missing Link
6. ???
7. ???
8. Raya and The Last Dragon
9. ???
10. Onward
11. Over the Moon
12. ???
13. Loving Vincent
14. ???
15. Ralph Breaks the Internet
16. Anomalisa
17. The Red Turtle
18. Spies in Disguise
19. Trolls World Tour
20. Toy Story 4
21. The Grinch
22. The Incredibles 2
23. ???
24. Croods: A New Age
25. I Lost My Body
26. ???
27. Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation
28. The Polar Express
29. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
30. A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon
31. Despicable Me 3
32. The Illusionist
33. The Boy and the World
34. Frozen II
35. The Secret Life of Pets 2
36. Ferdinand
37. Abominable
38. Fritz the Cat
39. It's Such a Beautiful Day
40. Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius

10. The Peanuts Movie

Ermine: 7
Inviso: 10
Johnbobb: 14
Red: 14
Evillord: 17
Karo: 26

Total: 88

Ermine: Fantastic art style and animation that is carried by Snoopy the Dog. I LOVE that the movie has a ton of him in it and his antics are always a joy to watch. Just a very pleasant and fun movie. Good stuff!

Inviso: I actually wanted to see this when it came out, but making time to go to the movies can be difficult, so this was actually the first time Id seen the film. If I could use one word to describe this, it would be wholesome. Thats not a dig at the movie, either. There are wholesome films that are dull as dishwater because theyre morality tales. But this was just nice and pleasant and sweet from beginning to end. Sure, there is a long history to the Peanuts franchise, but it all worked well here. This wasnt a kids movie that felt the need to engage in fart humor or gross-out humor to appeal to the addled minds of children. No, you just have a nice person in the protagonist role, who doesnt see himself as all that special, and even though a lot of things go wrong, they go wrong as a result of him choosing to be nice instead of selfish. And at the end of the day, hes rewarded with the respect he thought hed been lacking throughout the film. Its a good moral, and the plot is just really comforting to watch.

Johnbobb: This movie is cute as hell. This is one of the select few examples of a modern take on an old franchise that actually manages to both capture what was great about the original while still making it feel fresh and new. For a similar experience, see the 2011 Winnie the Pooh. For the opposite experience see... man, where to start. The Grinch, on this very list, but also The Addams Family, The Smurfs, every live-action Disney remake, and on and on. It's stuff like that that makes The Peanuts Movie feel like such a rare gem. It's not perfect of course; the Meghan Trainor song that plays twice reeks of the annoying trend of trying to use a movie to popularize an unrelated, generic, upbeat pop song (see "Happy" in Despicable Me 2 and "Can't Stop the Feeling!" in Trolls), and the new character, named only as "The Little Red-Haired Girl" is very clearly nothing but a plot device, but its flaws are small and don't hurt the overall experience.

Red: This is, well a Peanuts movie. It has exactly what you would expect, characters in situations you would expect, Charlie Brown being unfortunate and clumsy, Snoopy on his own made up adventure. It doesn't exactly take risks, it just kind of is exactly what you would expect. It doesn't make for a bad movie and its not a sequel, so thats a plus. It is definitely a safe movie, but it is enjoyable for what it is.

Evillord: I love the Peanuts TV specials, which made me predisposed to like this, but then on the other hand meant I would inevitably spend the whole film agonizing over minute deviations from the old version. At points it felt like too much of an empty fanservice film, running down a checklist of classic gags from Schulz' comics or repeating storylines from the specials, even if seeing the kids re-enact their dance moves from the sixties or watching Charlie Brown try to get through War and Peace again did make me smile. At other points, I thought it didn't take after the specials enough. I wish the whole soundtrack was made of Vince Guaraldi's old jazz recordings, and while the 3D models imitating the movements of the original 2D cells with some hand-drawn accompanying animation made for a cool and unique style, it also made me wonder why they didn't just make this entirely in 2D. This doesn't quite capture the wistfulness, that longing for a certain undefinable something that's missing from your life, that made A Charlie Brown Christmas resonate with me so deeply, but it was still a good time.

Karo: Charles Schultzs famous comic strip about a bunch of children who are the offspring of trombones made into movie form. For like the fifth time. But now it is 3D!
So the primary plot centers on how Charlie Brown tries everything imaginable to get the attention of the little red haired girl, except for, y'know, just fucking going up to her and saying hi. Whatever that can go wrong goes wrong and Charlie then gets emo and mopey. Repeat this as often as needed to get yourself a feature length film.
There is a side story of Snoopy imagining he is fighting the Red Baron over the affections of a cute girl dog and that is not really that great either.
As the film goes on, we get a chance to check off every little gag from the comics and it often feels more like an absurdly extended peanuts special than a real movie.
The classic style is adapted into CG in a way that looks much better than you would think, and its subtle tone is a welcome relief amidst the loud and frantic wasteland of childrens' animated entertainment. But it feels like there is not really a lot going on to justify an hour and a half of content.
Despite it being the best movie adaptation of these characters, the Peanuts gang just doesnt mesh well with the long form storytelling of cinema and they didnt quite kick the football here this time.

Outlier Rankings:

Ermine: 323
Evillord: 322
Red: 254
Johnbobb: 241
Inviso: 224
Karo: 220

I got 3 points from that, not 1

Man I should really watch the peanuts movie sometime.

Even as someone who loves Charlie Brown, I was really surprised Peanuts do so well. I kind of felt like it was a movie I enjoyed but if challenged on it would have to grudgingly admit is not great.

This is totally pedantic, but I feel it should be said that the Little Red-Haired Girl isn't a new character. She was introduced to the animated end of this franchise with You're in Love, Charlie Brown back in 1967! She probably appears even earlier in the comics, though I don't know much about those.

9. Klaus

Karo: 9
Inviso: 9
Red: 12
Johnbobb: 18
Ermine: 18
Evillord: 20

Total: 86

Karo: The spoiled heir to a postal empire gets sent to a frozen backwater town with the ultimatum of forming a working post office or face disinheritance, and hilarity ensues.
He befriends a hulking and very familiar looking old toymaker, and concocts a plan to bribe children with toys so they will send more letters and he can meet his quota. Yes folks, this is the origin story of Santa Claus.
This setup has unforeseen social consequences, as the violent murderous inbred bigots of Smeerensberg are taught the meaning of kindness and friendship, one child at a time. Even the whiny selfish postman is slowly transformed into a decent person and decides to stay in Smeerensberg and raise a family.
The one thing I don't like is the animation, it is a frankenstein monster of a style that takes the least appealing aspects of CGI and hand drawn animation and fuses them together into something that just feels... wrong.
Nonetheless, it is a sweet and funny movie that just seemingly came out of nowhere and tells a heartwarming story that can stand with the best of Pixar.

Inviso: This was another sweet movie, and even if it was critically panned, I found it enjoyable. I like nice, sweet, emotional movies, and I think this movie accomplished that tone quite nicely. We have a ton of Christmas movies out there in the world that are either about the celebration of the modern holiday, or a general celebration of the season, or some weird story about Santas life when hes not being Santa Claus. Aside from maybe the Rankin/Bass Santa story, we dont get a whole lot of retellings about the origins of the Christmas traditions. As such, it was interesting to me to watch Jesper slowly coax Klaus into engaging in all of the gift-giving, and coal-giving, and letter-writing shenanigans that have become commonplace when it comes to the holiday. Now sure, the plot if formulaic, but it still works. Its a good kind of formulaic.

It also helps that the whole film gave off a very Emperors New Groove vibe in that formulaic plotting, and Emperors New Groove is one of my top two favorite Disney movies. Its high praise, is what Im saying. Overall, it just left me feeling happy and full of happy tears on multiple occasions, like when the little native girl learned to speak English enough so that she could write a letter and get a present, or when Klaus got to watch the joy he brought, that he could never have with his own family. It was well-written and touching, and I think its a good addition to the Christmas movie pantheon.

Red: Spoiled son of a postmaster realizes the key to a hopelessly grim town is to bribe all their children with toys. It just kind of works in a strange way and watching the town go from hopeless to hopeful along with our main characters find their way in life is kind of a joy to watch. The story kinds of falls flat in the whole Klaus aspected of it but our main characters and the town itself made this surprisingly enjoyable. When I saw another Christmas movie on the list I was honestly bracing for the worst.

Johnbobb: The last animated list we did convinced me that animated Christmas films other than The Polar Express could actually be decent. Klaus convinced me they could actually be objectively good movies!

Ermine: A serviceable movie that's brought down by its absolutely terrible villains and contrived climax. There is absolutely no reason that their stupid plan should have worked and only did so because the writers forced the characters to act in a way they shouldn't have.

I mean... it didn't work in the end because they were stopped, but it never should have even gotten past the first stage.

Main character gave huge Kuzco from Emperor's New Groove vibes... but with much less of the charm. The main characters were... fine and the story was fine... it just kind of missed the mark with everything else.

Evillord: The story arc this follows is far from the most creative, but it is actually fun to watch and the way the animation was done, which sort of attempts to make 2D drawings look like 3D models, is really cool and impressive.

Outlier Rankings:

Ermine: 334
Evillord: 333
Red: 257
Johnbobb: 250
Inviso: 224
Karo: 220

Outliers are tightening up again, I see.

8. My Life as a Zucchini

Johnbobb: 5
Evillord: 6
Red: 7
Inviso: 8
Karo: 14
Ermine: 34

Total: 74

Johnbobb: This is one of the saddest animated movies I've seen, and I've openly sobbed at a handful already. Super short but in a way that nothing feels rushed or overly stretched out. Bizarrely dark from the first moment, despite its distinct color palette. All the characters are heavy and surprisingly well-developed given the short run time.

Evillord: This is basically just an hour of orphans talking about how sad they are in French, which is exactly the type of thing I like. I thought the writing was really good. It was easy to sympathize with all the kids and the relationships they built and hard-won happiness they achieved felt really meaningful.

Red: It is a real shame there doesn't seem to be a great translation of this out there. From what I could tell there are two subtitle versions out there, one with an atrocious translation and one with a pretty bad translation. Luckily regardless of which you pick the general idea of the dialogue is conveyed very well. The movie tells the story of a bunch of broken kids who come to terms with their life and find a great sense of joy and belonging with each other. It is surprisingly pleasant and a great joy to see all the characters come along and escape their awful situations. We are presented with why every character is the way they are and the growth and connections they make really work. With the weird translations, this was really the surprise of the list for me.

Inviso: This has gotta be one of the best foreign films weve watched for one of these lists, at least in my opinion. It was interesting, it had an eclectic cast of characters, and it had heart and soul to it. Yes, the charactersbeing childrenacted immaturely at times, but that just made them all the more endearing when they had those moments where youre reminded that theyre not all just obnoxious brats. I liked the fact that they came from a variety of broken homes, and the foster home they lived in was actually nice and caring, rather than some horrible place that bonded the kids together out of necessity. The slow growth of Courgette over the course of the film was nice, even if the introduction of Camille felt a bit standard for these kinds of stories. I appreciated Camille though. She had her rough edges, but she had her struggles too. Even Simon winds up having that backstory to explain why he is the way he is, and you feel for him in spite of his attitude. Its a really touching and well-made film, in my opinion.

Karo: So this is a story about these kids in an orphanage and centered around a blue haired boy named Courgette (zucchini) who arrives there after he accidentally kills his abusive mother by throwing her down a flight of stairs.
We are then treated to some of the most realistic portrayals of children in cinema as the orphans grow closer and form bonds of friendship in a manner that is both endearing and satisfying. Even the background characters are vibrant and I was sad we didn't learn a little more about them.
It is a fairly simple movie, there is not much plot other than the daily lives and feelings of all these broken little kids. That may not seem like much, but the film doesn't really need any more than that.

Ermine: Just not my thing. Like... at all. I hate the art style, I dislike kid characters... I appreciate that it's only about an hour long and does what it set out to do. The plot and I suppose the characters too... it's all fine. It's a sweet story with a happy ending. And now I don't care anymore.

Outlier Rankings:

Ermine: 360
Evillord: 335
Red: 258
Johnbobb: 253
Inviso: 224
Karo: 226

See? THIS is what I'm talking about when I say that an "artsy" movie can still be good, rather than just needing to rely on style over substance. Zucchini was great. I didn't mention it in the write-up, but this was a movie where I actually watched half of it IN FRENCH because I couldn't find the English dub, or a version with proper subtitles. But I liked what I was seeing enough to actually stop the movie, and seek out a version I could understand. Which means this was actually the movie I watched the most for this rewatch (not counting films I'd already seen prior to the rewatch, of course).

Anyway, time for my 12 to drop. Let's go, since Lego Movie 2 already ensured I won't maintain my streak of spot-on rankings with number 7.

Not having watched the movie and just judging based on the write-ups, but it didn't seem like this was an artsy movie and that it just had a weird art style.

Knew it would drop soon because of Ermine's 34 but I'm so glad to see it land as high as it did. Incredible movie; most surprised I've been by an animated movie since Mary and Max I think. Even now I feel like ranking it 5th was a bit too low

I recall seeing My Life as a Zucchini in an art exhibition theater with my high school friend. I haven't watched it since, but I know I enjoyed it quite a lot.

7. The Mitchells vs The Machines

Karo: 2
Inviso: 6
Johnbobb: 9
Red: 11
Evillord: 21
Ermine: 23

Total: 72

Karo: A dysfunctional family on a roadtrip is the only thing standing in the way of the robot apocalypse, and they embark on an epic journey to save the world via software backdoors, internet memes, and esoteric screwdrivers.
Much of the combative interactions are between the father, who is a kind of midwestern Hank Hill, and his unconventional zoomer daughter, who is less than enthused that her dumbass dad decided to drive her all the way to college.
There are some good 'boomers vs technology' jokes, and some great antics featuring a pair of malfunctioning robots that assist the family on their quest.
The tone is lovably wacky, but not so wacky that the characters don't feel like real people. It has this feel of being 'different' similarly to Lego Movie and Spiderverse, and that is definitely a good thing.
It is just a phenomenal movie that has a lot of heart and quirkiness, and I hope to see more stuff from the people behind it soon.

Inviso: I dont know if its because I had this film undersold to me, but I really liked it. When it comes to the comedic films on this list, a lot of them have low-hanging fruit, and you COULD call Mitchells something similar. But for whatever reason, I feel like Mitchells benefits from being more of a unique idea. It doesnt feel like this movie was just cashing in on trends (though it follows a lot of them), but rather, it weaves the trends and modern lifestyles into the story in a way that feels fun and organic. Plus, you know me; Im a huge sucker for emotional, family stories. Especially father/child stories. That relationship was really sweet, and it had me tearing up at times (especially the reveal about what happened with the dads cabin). But beyond the sentimental stuff, I just loved how fast and joke-a-minute the style of the films comedy was. It largely hit its mark in my opinion, and I laughed a ton during the film, so Im not ashamed to say this was a really solid comedy to finish out my watchthrough.

Johnbobb: This is fuckin hilarious and I wanted to watch it again immediately after finishing it. AND WHAT'S THAT? A MAIN CHARACTER THAT'S ALLOWED TO BE ACKNOWLEDGED AS GAY WITHOUT THAT BEING THEIR ENTIRE POINT?

Red: Borderline abusive father and disfunctional family come together to stop machine apocalypse started by a dumb tech CEO. I'm sure I say this like 20 times on this list but every movie that isn't a sequel on this list was oddly refreshing and this one was actually surprisingly entertaining. I enjoy the family dynamic that is held for most of the movie, it oddly enjoyably wholesome. Some of the more running gags with people and their attachment to technology(Free wifi!) are hilariously true.

Evillord: Sometimes there's a thin line between funny and cringe, and this movie spends its entire run-time skating gracefully along it.

Ermine: I can appreciate the art style and animation that this movie went for and it actually does have a few moments that are enjoyable... but I just really don't care about most of the characters in this film and a loooooot of the jokes are misses for me. It doesn't help that the plot and villain are actual complete garbage. Like... within the first 3 seconds of seeing the "villain" I'm like... oh this is the main villain and this is what the entire plot will be.

I suppose you can argue that the villain and plot aren't what the movie's about? Fine? I guess? I mean... is it really that hard to come up with a competent story to support the character development and relationships? I really don't think it is, like... they didn't even try.

Also Pugs are like one of the worst dog breeds so I didn't even have a cute dog character!!

Outlier Rankings:

Ermine: 376
Evillord: 349
Red: 262
Johnbobb: 255
Karo: 233
Inviso: 225

This one is surprising to be rated this high. It's like the writers room is full of people who don't understand boomers or zoomers, completely missing the point of either while trying to make some sort of preachy statement that basically comes down to both groups being shit...

Plus one singular person with a perfect comedic mind who added some phenomenal jokes to the movie.

The sheer discrepancy between the entire movie and the two robots, is like Shyamalan's Last Airbender and Anchorman.

JONALEON1 posted...

Not having watched the movie and just judging based on the write-ups, but it didn't seem like this was an artsy movie and that it just had a weird art style.

"Artsy" isn't a very good term to try and categorize movies with, lol

HanOfTheNekos posted...

This one is surprising to be rated this high.

The entire premise of the movie is awful. If you gave me a summary of everything I'd have told you the movie had to be trash.

But somehow it was really well executed for what it was.

It did indeed run well with the premise of "the older generation is awful, but also, the younger generation is awful".

Eh, it's more of the personal conflict between Katie and her dad, though generational divide was part of the problem. The other boomers (the mom, neighbors) and zoomers (Katie's college friends) weren't really portrayed as awful or at conflict.

JONALEON1 posted...

Not having watched the movie and just judging based on the write-ups, but it didn't seem like this was an artsy movie and that it just had a weird art style.

Yeah, it's a pretty straight forward drama. It's not artsy in the sense that it breaks any storytelling or filmmaking conventions or something. It is however really good. Script by Cline Sciamma too.

Inviso posted...

I actually watched half of it IN FRENCH because I couldn't find the English dub, or a version with proper subtitles. But I liked what I was seeing enough to actually stop the movie, and seek out a version I could understand. Which means this was actually the movie I watched the most for this rewatch (not counting films I'd already seen prior to the rewatch, of course).

The bluray for it is pretty cheap now. I've seen it show up at Big Lots for like 5 dollars which has probably torpedoed its price on like ebay and so for anyone looking for it.

Wow I'm most shocked about Ermine with the surprise pug hatred. Charon thinks they're ugly, but I am not here for either of y'all. Pugs are adorable and sweet little dogs!

6. How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World

Ermine: 3
Red: 4
Inviso: 5
Johnbobb: 6
Evillord: 16
Karo: 23

Total: 57

Ermine: A bit of a bittersweet ending to a fantastic series brought to you by Dreamworks. I think everyone knew that this ending was going to happen after the second movie but it was still sad to watch. All good things come to an end...

There's just something about this film and the second though... they don't quite capture the same magic that the first one did. The first film just felt so grounded... real and raw... and this film just felt a lot more like the second, rather than the first.

Not that that's a bad thing! There's a lot to like about HTTYD2 and this film as well, but it's not the stuff that gets me insanely excited. Toothless is still incredibly adorable, but the film is just missing that special something.

Red: One of two movies asking for sequels on this list, this has been one of my favorite franchises on all of these lists and while this is still a fairly high ranking I will note there is a pretty big quality drop at the top of this list compared to prior lists if my recollection is holding. This is pretty easily my least favorite of the 3, a weak villain and a plot that maybe doesn't stick the landing. We were left with a cool world of dragon co-existence and in the end we get a significantly less cool world that is mostly without dragons. It kind of gives a big kick in the teeth to the relationship everone has had with the dragons. Still a good series, I'm glad it got a conclusion without being butchered in movie form, and may they not butcher it in sequels like many of the movies on this list.

Inviso: I feel bad for this movie, because even though its likely going to finish high in my overall list, I cant help but compare it to the first two films, which are two of my all-time favorite animated films. Thats not to say Hidden World is bad by any stretch (nor is it even a vast lowering of quality a la Kung-Fu Panda 3 compared to its predecessors), but it just isnt quite up to the high level of quality on display in the earlier installments. With that out of the way, this is still a very solid ending to the trilogy. Throughout the series, Hiccup and Toothless have shared a character arc, first learning to trust each other, then learning to lead their people, and finally learning to grow up and part ways. Yes, the dragons vs. hunters storyline feels similar to that of HtTYD2, but at the same time, the bad guy almost feels more menacing this time around, if only because of how brazen he is, without necessarily being able to demonstrate sheer brute strength. And ultimately, its that evolution that sells the film, solidly concluding the story and separating dragons from humans in an amicable fashion. It just works for me.

Johnbobb: I know I ranked this movie very highly, but I still don't entirely know how to feel about it. How to Train Your Dragon is probably my favorite animated film franchise (though that's admittedly not a crazy high bar, as most of the best animated movies don't get franchises). Of the main trilogy, this is overall probably the worst one, but that's not to say it's anywhere near a bad movie. The villain is mostly forgettable, but let's be honest, the antagonists and main conflict of the films are rarely what makes these good. It's always been the heartfelt relationships between Hiccup, Toothless and their friends and family that make the series compelling, and there was probably not a stronger scene in the entire series than those last few minutes of Hiccup and Toothless meeting again years and years later, with different lives but the same deep bond. This is quite possibly my all-time favorite epilogue.

Evillord: I remember enjoying both the previous two movies in this trilogy, though it's been years since I saw them. I thought this was a nice way to end the story, and even got a little teary-eyed during the epilogue. The idea that the villain was sort of a mirror-image counterpart of Hiccup, who had killed his Night Fury, was also neat.

Karo: The third installment of Dreamworks' series about the dragon riding vikings. So what happens is that an evil army wants to conquer Berk, again. It is lead by a guy who has a way to control dragons, again.
Our heroes clash with the invading forces in some generic and extremely PG action scenes before deciding to randomly abandon their home with no real plan other than to chase after an old wives tale. Hiccup, I thought you were supposed to be like smart or something. Indeed, in this film Hiccup is portrayed as such an imbecile that that I fear for the future of Berk if he is to lead them for much longer.
After both the heroes and the villains enact many stupid and incomprehensible plans, and Toothless gets himself a nice piece of tail in more ways than one, it is decided that because everyone is so ignorant and bigoted that humans and dragons should just both stay with their own kinds to avoid any conflict. Wow, that's an awesome moral guys, good job.
So the dragons retreat to their hidden dragon paradise that somehow hasn't flooded yet despite having the entire fucking ocean flowing into it. The humans return to New Berk City and wistfully remember the days gone by when they lived with dragons but now don't anymore because they just gave up. How touching.
It isnt a terrible film or anything, but honestly I am sick of the franchise, and have been ever since the second movie. They really should have just fused the second and third movies together, they both have similar plots, similar villains, and a similar tone. Or an even more novel idea, just stopping at one.

Outlier Rankings:

Ermine: 379
Evillord: 359
Red: 264
Johnbobb: 255
Karo: 250
Inviso: 226

Have my 1, 4, 12, 15 and 20 left. That's probably enough to lock up Outlier?

I'm not entirely sure, but with 1, 2, 3, 11, and 12 left, Karo or Red would need to score perfectly for the top 5 to beat me for outlier I think.

And these are your five movies remaining!

Isle of Dogs (2018)
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
Soul (2020)
Wolfwalkers (2020)
Luca (2021)

So, is anyone surprised at all by this top five? I feel it is pretty much what I expected to be on the top going in.

That's a damn fine top 5. Not the biggest fan of Luca personally but I can see why others love it. Wolfwalkers probably would've been my #1 in this project.

I'm surprised by ONE of the top five. It definitely stands out compared to the pedigree of the other four. I would've expected Toy Story 4 to be here instead.

I've only seen 2 of the top 5 (have the means, but not the time to watch the remaining three), but I can tell this is a quality lineup.

If Soul and Luca drop next that's my exact predicted top 3

Only surprised by Luca in the top 5, though I'm not sure what else is good enough to beat it off-hand.

Inviso posted...

I'm surprised by ONE of the top five. It definitely stands out compared to the pedigree of the other four.

This. Four excellent movies, and then one decent one that's obviously not on the same level as the rest.

Xeybozn posted...

This. Four excellent movies, and then one decent one that's obviously not on the same level as the rest.

True, Spider-Man feels a bit out of place with these four heavy-hitters

Very solid top 5!

My 2, 3, 4, 7, 8