Board 8 > Gauntlet Crew Ranks (more!) Animated Films! - Ay mi familia, oiga mi gente

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7. Big Hero 6

scarlet: 3
Stifled: 4
Inviso: 5
charon: 6
Johnbobb: 10
Karo: 10
Ermine: 12
red: 12
Genny: 13
Snake: 14
JONA: 20

scarlet: With extremely low expectations (given the utterly mediocre quality of the source material), I left Big Hero 6 impressed at how utterly not-Marvel this Marvel film was. People are very caught up in the idea of how movies are derivative of this, that and the other things. As if themes, ideas, plot structures and characters have to be 100% original to be good! There is such a thing as convention done well, and if thats the case anywhere, its the case here. I really enjoyed myself throughout this film. The animation was great, the script was snappy, and the technology dazzled while the story remained grounded. The reason Ive always been so drawn to superheroics is simple: Greek mythology died, but when it did it left us a legacy of gods, heroes and monsters. Romantic tales of nobility and courage, inner strength made manifest. Gone are the days of Odysseus, of Arthur, of Sherlock. In their places has risen a new pantheon, an opportunity to believe in the everyman. And in a world in desperate need of grace, good humour and empathy, superheroes serve as a paragon of virtue and a zenith of human fortitude. I will always be an unapologetic lover of superheroes done right. Too often I hear people complain about the deluge of superheroes in modern culture, and I have to ask, What do you think all of fiction is grounded in? Big Hero 6 tells a time-honored tale with new wrinkles because it resonates so well. Because humans, at their core, wish to define themselves as protectors, defenders, and nurturers. Because underneath all of our own ineptitudes and iniquities, we believe that there is a reason for our being. And coming to grips with our morality in an increasingly amoral society and our individuality in a society that defines individuality only by surface characteristics and not by the actions that drive our every behavior, we seek out the tales of what we wish to become. And so the smart nerdy kid becomes the unlikely hero of a city.

You may not like superheroes, but you need to at least respect their tradition and lineage that traces back to the dawn of storytelling.
Rating: 83/100

Stifled: I absolutely love Baymax. Ive never seen a movie where a robot/android/whatever made me feel that level of attachment. The sacrifice scene destroyed me. I was actually sobbing in the theater when I first saw it. And when Hiro rebuilt him, the happy tears followed. The movie itself is fantastic as well, with a fun supporting cast and plenty of exciting action. I want those cool mind control LEGO robots.

Traviss opinion: The car chase was his favorite part. And he loves the cat.

Inviso: I think when I initially watched this movie, I may have given it some shit because it came out the same year as Lego Movie and How to Train Your Dragon 2, both of which I found to be AMAZING animated films. Yet because they werent Disney (or Pixar), both got snubbed at the Oscars in favor of Big Hero 6, which left me feeling a little bit annoyed. But upon rewatch, Big Hero 6 is really good. Overrated, sure, but good. Its a solid superhero origin story. The characters and their personalities are fun, the underlying plot of Hiro coming to grips with her brothers death is pretty good on a rewatch, and overall, Baymax is fucking adorable. Solid film in my opinion.
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charon: Definitely a nice entry into the Disney canon. I found this one a little better than I recalled it to be upon a rewatch. While I still consider Baymax my favorite character from the film, I was able to appreciate the relationship betweeen Hiro and Tadashi much more the second time around. This holds true for the villain here as well. It's a nice revenge plot and a pretty solid superhero style storyline. There's revenge to be had on both sides of the coin; it's interesting when the villain and hero both have something in common that way to make them click. The only shortcoming was probably the supporting cast, but it was just set up in such a way that you didn't really get to know much about them. And ultimately, that's okay. The movie was strong enough to stand on the shoulders of just a couple of important characters.

Johnbobb: There are small issues I have with this. The exposition at the beginning is particularly rough (They died when I was 3, remember?). TJ Millers Fred is pretty rough and really doesnt fit the team. Theres a weird logical jump from Hiro being a super-smart kid to suddenly having the greatest and most revolutionary technology of all time. At the same time, theres so much more to appreciate. Disney took a comic that few people had heard of, changed it quite a bit, and made it simultaneously into an excellent animated flick as well as a thrilling superhero movie. Baymax is a Disney sidekick that manages to steal the show rather than just being there to sell toys (although he definitely did that too). The love of science (even if its a bit fantastical) and the honest portrayal of grief really just brings the whole thing together.

Karo: After a young robotics prodigy loses his brother in a lab accident, he does what all young people do when coping with the death of a loved one - become a superhero. After turning a medical droid into a battle robot and recruiting his brother's college friends to be his super team, they all head out to fight a masked bad guy because he stole one of Hiro's inventions and they all really really hated kabuki theatre. In the ensuing fight the villain gets his mask knocked off and it turns out it was this forgettable professor guy that Hiro met like twice in his life. Yeah, instead of it being his brother and setting in motion an awesome storyline where Hiro must choose between being a hero and the person who inspired him to be a hero, we get this stupid old douche as an antagonist. Now the most striking moral choice Hiro faces is 'should I murder someone I dont like, or not?' Way to go Hiro, I knew you could do it.

There is a great deal of really funny characters here, but with the exception of Baymax none of them really get used to their full potential which is a bit sad. One also has to wonder if using the valuable resources of Disney's main animation division to make a superhero movie about some obscure (and borderline racist) Marvel super team is really such a good idea. I mean, it's not like Disney has this whole fucking studio that only makes those types of movies or anything.
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Ermine: Honestly for the most part this movie is very solid and quite fun. Baymax is a great character and really brings the whole thing together. The only problem is that the moments that are supposed to be its highs are its lows for me and it has a pretty big impact on my overall opinion of the film. The scene where Baymax is basically learning how to fly and takes Hiro on a flight through the city ends up being one of the cringiest moments in the movie for me because it feels so blatantly copied from How to Train your Dragon. It's like... Oh what was one of the coolest and best scenes in HTTYD? How about the scene where Hiccup first takes out Toothless on that dangerous flight. Let's completely and utterly copy that and put it in our movie because it was so cool!

Sorry movie, you can't fool me. It just ends up being such a meh scene for me because of how similar it is to HTTYD's flight scene and it lasts quite a long time too.

Some other huge moments that kind of drag the film down a bit for me are the more heartfelt scenes. While some of these did work and were done quite well, others not so much. There is absolutely no one that thought Baymax didn't put his chip in his hand when he sent them off. It was so completely obvious that any sadness that you are supposed to feel from the scene is utterly destroyed and for a moment that is supposed to make you care so much for Hiro and Baymax, it just kind of fails.

Other than those few moments that don't really do it for me, the rest of the film is very solid and quite enjoyable. Good stuff.

red: I almost want to rank this movie a bit lower just because I feel like its not up to recent Disney standards, but that simply isn't entirely fair. Honestly, it has problems, most of the characters are incredibly one dimensional, despite it being "big hero 6", with a number 6, the only meaningful character of the group is Hiro and maybe a bit of Baymax. Though you are pretty consistently reminded Baymax is a robot and not a person. The rest of the cast of 6 is just whatever stereotype we are given at the start and never evolves. Hell, of all of them, I think we learn the most about Fred, the dude with the job of being a mascot. The cast needed to be more fleshed out and the villain blowing the lab up to steal the microbots never seemed to make much sense since he could hide his identity and basically already had the microbots in his possession. His motivations were not outright evil except he seems to just turn outright evil. Disney could do better than this, but this is still a better move than a huge chunk of this list.
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Genny: To be honest I'm not sure if Big Hero 6 just came out at a time when I was burnt out on Disney movies or if I feel it's overrated, but either way it didn't live up to its potential here. Baymax is truly an adorable character and Hiro despite his flaws or perhaps because of them is a compelling protagonist, but their dynamic strikes me as a retread of Hiccup and Toothless from the first movie sans the initial feelings of fear and resentment. The supporting cast while unique and likeable enough don't really inspire much passion. Like, after it first came out I was saddened that only Gogo made the cut for the following SMDC, but come the next contest my desire to get Wasabi and Honey Lemon in were gone. I feel the same way about Kabuki, the main antagonist. It's not that they're nothing characters, it's just that there's not enough substance there. At the end of the day it feels like every other character is there to develop and elevate Hiro, who ultimately isn't a good enough character to carry the movie past the first act. Much like the film itself, he is good but not great.

Snake: Its a lot of fun but nothing incredibly spectacular. It feels like an animated MCU film, albeit a weaker entry. The villain
certainly fits the MCU mold. Baymax is definitely the best part of the film and easily has the funniest moments.

JONA: While Baymax is very enjoyable and all the other characters are likable enough, the movie is just an ok origin story. Hoping the TV series gets to fleshing out the characters a bit more.
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Outlier scores:

Ermine: 306
Stifled: 271
Inviso: 270
Karo: 257
Snake: 251
Genny: 219
JONA: 219
charon: 185
Johnbobb: 174
red: 168
scarlet: 161
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Ermine and scarlet Guess Update

The LEGO Batman Movie

scarlet's prediction: 3
Ermine actual: 12 (9)
Total Difference: 153

Ermine's prediction: 11
scarlet actual: 3 (8)
Total difference: 165

If you just switched the predictions with each other they'd have been pretty solid. Ermine puts both superhero movies back to back at 10 and 11, missing out on what could have been a couple crucial gains.
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=( aww Baymax

I thought BH6 was gonna be my #1 going into the project, but I surprisingly changed my mind a few times.
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With that Zootopia wins best Disney of the list.

Best Pixar of the list is the last to be decided.
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Also didn't want to say it at the time in the interest of not giving away my list. I realized I ended up quite disappointed when Moana finished below BH6. In an age where good superhero movies are a dime a dozen it just felt so formulaic and lazy. You have Disney's own Marvel constantly reinventing the superhero movie formula and DC finding new ways to fail the superhero formula(With a single hit in-between). Then you have BH6, generic and uninspiring. I don't want to call it a bad movie, but it just feels about as safe as you can get.
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Big Hero 2 (+4 along for the ride)

*Note: Not my actual feelings but the criticism that the other's development goes little to nowhere and Hiro's not strong enough to carry the whole team even with Baymax is the truth.
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red13n posted...

With that Zootopia wins best Disney of the list.

Fucking gag me
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With pleasure.

Leafeon13N posted...

With pleasure.

This, but not in a bad way ;)
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this topic is getting kinky
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6. The Breadwinner

Snake: 3
Genny: 4
charon: 7
Johnbobb: 7
red: 7
Inviso: 9
scarlet: 9
JONA: 10
Karo: 11
Ermine: 13
Stifled: 19

Snake: Very similar to Persepolis in lots of ways. Politically charged, emotionally punch-packing events. This story shows the effects of war, fundamentalist religion and poverty and how it affects a Muslim family living in Kabul. I felt more knowledgable about Afghani culture after watching it and felt personally enriched by this film.

Genny: Given that this very studio has produced two of my all-time favorite animated films of all time, I had high hopes for The Breadwinner. As you can see by my ranking I was not terribly disappointed. However gone are the whimsical Celtic faeries and Irish wisps. Here you'll find mostly harsh realities in a world so far removed from my own yet one that I'm forced to accept exists. I am pretty sure at one point while we were watching this I leaned over to Jason and said, "God I HATE the Taliban!" as if I could ever even began to imagine the oppression of living under that regime. Damn this movie inspires some powerful emotion! It's mostly negative- rage, sorrow, indignation- but there's hope there as well. I love that the movie doesn't end on a completely happy note as that wouldn't be true to its overarching theme. Sure the family is all safe for now due to the sacrifices of certain characters, but they're separated. Will they find their way back to each other? Will they survive the war? Who knows?

charon: A poignant look at a modern day crisis, this is a unique offering from our friends at Cartoon Saloon. Their work so far has been phenomenal, and I'm just glad they're able to exist despite not receiving nearly enough commerical acclaim. We were able to watch two films that featured this all too familiar issue in our society today; the stranglehold oppressive governments acting in the name of a religion exert over their people. Filled with characters you will actually care about, The Breadwinner really grips and moves you many times throughout the course of watching it. From Fattema's brutal beating, which by the way was probably the hardest scene to watch in the film since I really thought at the time she had been beaten to death, to the kindly Razaq who befriends Parvana after she helps him. It's good to see the just and the evil in this landscape, since it humanizes this part of the world for the rest of us who probably can easily be led to believe everyone that lives in this place is as evil as the Taliban is in this film. I placed this film on the project as the final entrant; I believed in the studio behind it to wow this group, and I think it did for me and should for others.

Johnbobb: First off, I just want to say I LOVE the trope of alternate animation styles in movies to show things like flashbacks, dreams, or in this case, stories. Its becoming more and more popular (to the point that Harry Potter even did it) but it never ceases to be effective. I feel like The Breadwinner is in danger of being shoehorned as just another foreign animated film nominated solely to make the academy seem like they care, before being forgotten about after Disney inevitably wins. If/when that happens, itll be a damn shame, because this is an incredible movie. Gorgeous animation, lovable characters, and a powerful story. Its a tale that digs deep but still offers the tiniest bit of protection from reality: just enough to keep you watching through the hard parts.
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red: A fairly blunt film about the struggles of a young girl and her family in Afghanistan as it nears the onset of war. You can't watch this without feeling for Parvana, who does everything in her power to provide for her family at great risk for herself and her attempts to free her father from prison. The movie is a harsh reminder of how screwed up the world can be, but Parvana is a great character to always keep you hopeful that despite her struggles she will find a way to succeed for herself and her family.

scarlet: Quite heavy, but worth watching. I imagine the mileage may vary on this film; for me, the themes of this film have inundated everything Ive read, played or watched over the last year, and so the message was almost a little too frustrating to digest again. However, this is one of the more eloquent ways to do it. Still, there was a lack of entertainment for me here; as well-written and well-developed as this film is, I didnt feel like it brought anything new to the table for me. The stories of Parvana and Sulayman were interesting enough separately to me, but together they didnt connect in any meaningful way, and the stylistic and tonal shifts were detrimental to my immersion in the story. While I appreciate why it would be meaningful to others, it wasnt for me.
Rating: 69/100

Inviso: Honestly, this film wouldve been better if it hadnt included the storytelling to break up the action. Dont get me wrong, it was thematically appropriate and the big reveal at the end felt somewhat deserved, but for me personally, I enjoyed Parvanas life story more than the tale she made up. I just found it fascinating to watch a family, torn about by the hardships of life in Afghanistan, having to scratch and scrape together enough wherewithal to get through it. Parvana cutting her hair and becoming Aatish, and suddenly experiencing life without the oppression society heaped upon her genderit really made for an interesting plot. And it never got boring. Things were always moving forward, and the setting allowed for regular bursts of conflict. I really liked it and would recommend it overall.

JONA: Man, this movie is heavy. Its just so intriguing seeing how life is like in that setting. Also, I really liked the side story thats in a different animation style. It helps alleviate the tension of the characters and the viewers. I wish this movie was longer because the climax of the movie feels rushed and very different from how the rest of the movie was paced.
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Karo: A young Afghani girl decides to fool the Taliban by crossdressing, and this works out because they have no clue what girls look like when they're not wearing attire that makes them look like space aliens from a bad 1950's sci-fi flick. Parvana herself is wonderful and helps elevate the movie from ever becoming boring. Her strength and determination are what the heart of the movie is about. Sadly, much of the magic present in Cartoon Saloon's other movies simply isnt here this time save for a few scenes of out-of-place Afghani folk tales randomly told by the characters every 5 minutes. The rich backgrounds the studio is known for are gone and replaced by realistic dingy brown paintings that would feel at home in a modern first person shooter game. Even the unique character styling that caught the eye in Kells and Song is gone - the people of the Breadwinner world look dull and washed out, caught in a weird state of limbo somewhere between anime and rejected Wind Waker concept art. All that being said, its not a bad movie. In fact, it's a very good movie. But it boggles the mind as to why anyone thought it would be a good idea to match up a studio known for visual stylishness with a heavily realistic story. It just doesnt work right.

Ermine: Incredibly moving story with top notch animation and visuals. While it's not really my kind of movie, it still managed to hook me. Good stuff.

Stifled: I liked the main character a lot. Kid characters, done well, can be very compelling and fun to watch. Here we have a Mulan story with the war backdrop being replaced by a pure need to survive in a mans world. I would be honored to have a girl like Parvana as my daughter. She really won my heart over the course of the movie. That said, this movie is HORRIBLY depressing. Good lord. I can only take so much negativity when I watch a movie. I prefer uplifting and happy things. Its a double-edged sword, really. This movie has an important story to tell and tells it beautifully. But that kind of thing just really isnt what I look for in a movie. While I cant see myself rewatching it, I am very glad I experienced it.

Traviss opinion: He wasnt interested. Pretty sure I watched this after Cars 3, so hard act to follow for him anyway. Kid loves cars.
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Outlier scores:

Ermine: 313
Stifled: 284
Inviso: 273
Karo: 262
Snake: 254
JONA: 223
Genny: 221
charon: 186
Johnbobb: 175
red: 169
scarlet: 164
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v_charon posted...

this film wouldve been better if it hadnt included the storytelling to break up the action.

Yeah, that pesky storytelling, always attempting to create pathos and nuance and breaking up what was clearly meant to be a high octane thriller.
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I actually really liked Breadwinner. 19 looks bad compared to the other ranks, but I think I just enjoyed this list more than everyone overall. I liked the ones I ranked 1-30 and would watch most of them again. The depressing ones like Breadwinner probably won't get a rewatch for quite some time, if ever. But that doesn't mean they are bad movies. I just don't actively seek out depressing things to watch.
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Of this Top 5 I've only seen IO and Zootopia, both of which I really enjoyed. I even saw IO twice, which must mean I realllly enjoyed it!

Is HTTYD2 better than the first? Because I liked the first.
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Peridiam posted...

Is HTTYD2 better than the first?

yes
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Peridiam posted...

Is HTTYD2 better than the first?

No
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Peridiam posted...

Is HTTYD2 better than the first?

Maybe.
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I've seen Inside Out, Coco and Zootopia out of the top 5. Two of those would make excellent winners, but sadly it will probably be the one that wouldn't.
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Johnbobb posted...

Peridiam posted...

Is HTTYD2 better than the first?

yes

Xeybozn posted...

Peridiam posted...

Is HTTYD2 better than the first?

No

scarletspeed7 posted...

Peridiam posted...

Is HTTYD2 better than the first?

Maybe.

I... don't... know?
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Can you repeat the question?
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Youre not the boss of me now.
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Underleveled posted...

Inside Out, Coco and Zootopia out of the top 5. Two of those would make excellent winners

You have part of this right.
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Peridiam posted...

Is HTTYD2 better than the first? Because I liked the first.

I'll side with "no" on this one.
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5. How to Train Your Dragon 2

Johnbobb: 1
red: 2
Genny: 3
Ermine: 3
Inviso: 3
charon: 8
scarlet: 8
Stifled: 8
JONA: 13
Snake: 13
Karo: 14

Johnbobb: I have so much to say about this I dont know where to start, and I dont know how to begin to cover it. How to Train Your Dragon 2 is the best Dreamworks movie by a mile. Its one of the best animated movies Ive ever seen. Id go as far as to say one of the best movies ever, aside from a pretty dumb b-character romance sideplot. A lot of what makes this one so incredible can be applied to the first one as well. Both this and the original have some of the most incredible scores out there; they attempt to make these animated teen action-comedies into sweeping epics, and for my money, they achieve it and then some. Add on to that the incredible art direction, which was impressive in the first movie but cranks it up even more here with startling new dragon and environment designs. This movie succeeds as a coming-of-age film, an epic fantasy adventure, a thrilling action-comedy, and so on. All of that can basically summarize what makes this objectively so great, but Ill admit Ive got personal bias here too. Heavy personal stuff incoming: I saw this in theaters, and it had me openly sobbing. The relationship between Hiccup and Stoic is the most relatable father-son relationship I think Ive ever seen in a film. It led to me seeing myself in Hiccup and my own father in Stoic. Then it happens. And minus the dragons, it was a little too similar to what happened with my own father as a teenager. This movie handles that weight in such a heart-wrenchingly honest way that it left me stunned long after Id left the theater. This isnt Mufasa the Christ-like father figure being defeated by a comically evil villain. This is an honest, flawed father-son dynamic: two people who love each other but dont understand each other, and as much as they try and as close as they get its all for naught, with no warning. Its horrifying and it never really goes away, and I never thought a Dreamworks movie would be the one to finally get it.

red: Easily the best Dreamworks movie gets a fitting sequel it deserved. Unlike many of Dreamworks films, this film actually gets a bit dark and hits you with one of the cruelest character deaths you will find on this list. The animation itself in this movie is absolutely top notch, all the dragons and such looking great, a far departure from the lazy characters and environments the rest of the Dreamworks movies have on this list(With some exceptions). Hiccup and Toothless are both fantastic together in this movie. This list has lots of movies with sequels that shouldn't or don't deserve to exist. This is not one of them..

Genny: After the initial hype wore away most of my feelings on How to Train Your Dragon 2 remained intact. I still feel like it's slightly better than the first film in the franchise, but much like the first film it's not without its flaws. I feel however, the flaws here are a little more glaring- literally, when Toothless pulls off that Alpha Ex Machina. I am not sure what the heck that was supposed to be, but I am sure it was a very antclimactic way to dispose of a good villain. Valka and Cloudjumper are great additions to the HTTYD franchise, and while Eret is less so I still enjoyed his dynamic with Astrid, Stormfly, and Ruffnut. Most impressive with this film however is how Dreamworks learned to abandon its Madagascar 2 esque days of bland, static backgrounds in favor of THINGS ACTUALLY HAPPENING AROUND CENTRAL CHARACTERS. There are so many clever little details interspersed throughout the background when characters are just talking that it's honestly impressive.
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Ermine: It's not often that sequels do the original justice but going into the theaters for this movie, I honestly knew that it was going to be good. The trailers all looked very good and with Dreamworks, other than a couple of poor sequels... the sequels even surpass the original. With that in mind, I had no doubt that this movie was going to be great as well, and I was not disappointed. They somehow managed to make Toothless even MORE adorable than he was in the first movie, that in itself is something amazing. I really like how this movie takes a more serious tone and takes a deeper plot rather than just sticking to what HTTYD did and hoping they could ride off that again. The only thing this movie is missing is just a tiny bit of heart that HTTYD1 had. While I really enjoyed the movie, I didn't expect it to top the best animated film of all time. Actually, another thing would be that the music in the movie wasn't quite as fantastic as it was in the first, and this is something that is pretty important to me. HTTYD1 definitely has the stronger soundtrack and some of the scenes in HTTYD1 are just taken to that next level that HTTYD2 doesn't reach unfortunately. That being said, this movie is fantastic and an amazing sequel that everyone should definitely watch <3

Inviso: My God 2014 was a great year for animation. Lego Movie, Big Hero 6, Expelled from Paradise, Book of Life, and of course How to Train Your Dragon 2. This one JUST missed the cut on our Dreamworks ranking, and Im kinda glad because I feel like it wouldnt have gotten the proper praise it deserved when put up against such a large field, including its predecessor. But for my money, the sequel actually improves on the original in every way. HtTYD1 is already an amazing film, but its an origin story. HtTYD2 allows for greater character development among the majority of the cast, it provides emotional moments, and the kicker is that this movie has some of the most amazing action sequences imaginable. Because theres no actual training or learning in this film, both Hiccup and Toothless can be shown at the top of their game, and theyre brilliant in the skies, especially during the battle sequences. I literally cannot say enough good things about this movie. It deserves EVERY bit of praise it gets, and it deserved the Oscar for 2014 (since Lego Movie didnt even get nominated, stupid Academy.)

charon: As Dreamworks' big gun, this series often feels like it overachieves, at least to the general standard we've seen out of this company for many years now. With the third film on the horizon, you have to wonder if it can hold up to the first two. It's difficult to pick a favorite of the two, but if I had to say one thing about this movie it would be able Stoick's shocking death at the hands of Toothless entranced. This was such a bold move, especially for this studio, which isn't much known for heavy hitting tear jerkers. If I had to say something negative about it, I would say the supporting cast is a bit pushed to the side here. I didn't enjoy the threesome of dorky love and Astrid's role was too minor as well. The villain could have been more interesting, as it seems he had an interesting origin story but it wasn't fleshed out quite enough. Still, this is a great series that always keeps you on the edge of your seat due to how different it is from the norm of the studio.
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scarlet: A soaring sequel that falls short of the dazzling heights of its predecessor. The script has a few hiccups and the heart isnt quite as big as the dragons that fly across the screen. The emotional core here just isnt quite as thoughtful, compelling, or worthy to follow up the original film. Unlike Empire Strikes Back, How to Train Your Dragon 2 isnt as open-ended or interested in exploring a messy backstory. The movie clearly has had some editorial interference, determining that everything must be tied up in a nice little bow. At least that bow distracts from the elementary nature of the film. While the color palette and dragon designs feel more frightening and grown up than the previous film, this story is fairly toothless and therefore it falls short of its potential.
Rating: 69/100

Stifled: Astrid is so freaking hot.

Like...everything about the movie was really good, dont get me wrong. I thought it was a huge improvement over the first Dragons. But Astrid just makes it really hard to think.

I will say having a real villain and not just a gigantic dragon to fight was a smart move. Jon Snow is a fun frenemy for the gang moving forward. And Hiccups Mom was the best cast addition they could have made. Her ideology perfectly explains Hiccups and their relationship is heartwarming.

Traviss opinion: He had a hard time deciding what animal a dragon was. He barked at them. Meowed at them. Mooed at them. He finally decided on a cute little roar thing, like the sound he makes for bears.

JONA: Despite this being a pretty high ranking, I would say that I was
disappointed in this movie. The flying scenes didnt have that same specialness of the first movie. Maybe its because of Hiccup being able to fly. The villain is rather weak, Astrid just seems there and I never really found myself feeling anything about spoilers. As this ranking would suggest, I still really enjoyed the movie but feel it could have been better in some aspects.
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Snake: Slightly better than the first, I really enjoyed the pacing of this one. Its also a lot darker and more mature, whilst still retaining that fun sense of adventure and amazing visuals. An unexpectedly touching coming-of-age story.

Karo: In this sequel, Hiccup has grown up into a moody teenager who has constant conversations with everyone nearby about what his place in the world might be. This totally does not ever get annoying. There is a level of 'epicness' here that you normally don't see in Dreamworks movies, everyone is constantly zooming through through sky epically, perched on a ledge somewhere staring at the beautiful (and epic) scenery, or fighting everyone else epically to suitably epic music. Usually what follows next is some ill-timed wisecrack or some unfunny bit of physical comedy to make absolutely sure that the mood is ruined. On some of Hiccup's emo explorations he runs into another culture that makes use of dragons, this one not nearly as friendly as his own.

The first thing they do upon meeting the evil edgelord dragonmaster is to literally tell him exactly what island they are from, who Hiccup's father is, and that they pose a massive threat to his armada so he should murder them all first chance he gets. These kids must have graduated from the James Bond villain school of running your fucking mouth off. Anyway there is a big battle and the villain is defeated (but not decisively, theres a third movie coming out!) and Hiccup becomes the new chief. Still even with all the goings on the movie feels empty somehow, as if something important was lost amidst all thee epic action scenes. With the exception of the scenes with Hiccup and his mother it seems to have lost much of its heart, which is what made the first movie great, not oh wow cool dragons flying zoom zoom I'm going to touch myself cuz this is so awesomeeeee!
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Outlier scores

Ermine: 315
Stifled: 287
Inviso: 275
Karo: 271
Snake: 262
JONA: 231
Genny: 223
charon: 189
Johnbobb: 179
red: 172
scarlet: 167
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I'll add a comment.

One thing I massively disliked in regards to HTTYD2 was the Alpha and spoilers about it. I talked to JONA about it. Basically you have two literally identical storylines being told in Hiccup and Toothless, people and creatures need a leader, they turn to a big, massive leader that can win all fights, they don't want a scrawny little thing, turns out scrawny little thing is meant to rule by the end of the day. I feel the Alpha side of things is unnecessary and I'd prefer it if they simply just created more types of dragons and had them fight, with three methods of how to train them as the factions.
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Ermine and scarlet Guess Update

The Breadwinner

scarlet's prediction: 27
Ermine actual: 13 (14)
Total Difference: 167

Ermine's prediction: 4
scarlet actual: 9 (5)
Total difference: 170

Gap is all the way down to 3 as I catch up here.
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Ermine and scarlet Guess Update

How to Train Your Dragon 2

scarlet's prediction: 1
Ermine actual: 3 (2)
Total Difference: 169

Ermine's prediction: 6
scarlet actual: 9 (3)
Total difference: 173

A modest difference brings the gap back up to a whole 4 with 4 movies to go.
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My friend's movie ticket said "How to Train Your D" after it got ripped by the employee. Drastically different movie.
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4. Inside Out

Inviso: 1
Johnbobb: 2
Karo: 2
red: 3
Ermine: 4
Snake: 4
JONA: 5
scarlet: 6
Genny: 12
charon: 13
Stifled: 16

Inviso: I ranked this one highly before now, but the more times I watch it, the more I think Inside Out might legitimately be my favorite Pixar movie. It just manages to perfectly nail every idea it goes for. It manages to take psychology and create a world that can help kids to kinda understand whats going on in their minds. And it helps that I cry MULTIPLE times when I watch this film, no matter how many times Ive seen it. Inspiring that kind of emotion in me is a cheap and easy way to score Inviso brownie points.

But more than that, I honestly believe Inside Out is one of the most important animated films of all times. There are a lot of good animated films, and the best ones all have lessons or morals or something, and generally shape the minds of the child audience theyre meant for (though the best ones also cater to adults as well.) But Inside Out is different from your more abstract film lessons, even by Pixars standards. The lesson is right out in front, and its told in a way that I think can help a lot of kids out.

You start out with Amy Poehlers Joy as the leader of Rileys emotions, and she tries to maintain a happy environment. Butthen the family moves and a bunch of stuff starts going wrong right off the bat. And despite Joys best efforts, she cant fix the things that are making Riley upset. I LOVE the message this movie sends, because I feel like for years, throughout my childhood, I was taught that happy is the default setting and sad is abnormal. But I think Inside Out not only teaches kids that its okay to be sadbut sometimes its GOOD to be sad. In todays society, with all the depression issues and everything, its good for kids to have a movie that tells them its okay to have these emotions and show them, rather than trying to bottle everything up inside. I wish Id had a movie like this when I was younger, honestly.

Also, one last minor note, while its not explicitly stated, I also love the low-key trans-positive message promoted by the movie. Every other character in the film, when we see their emotions at work, its a series of carbon copies are sharing traits with their respective body. But Riley not only has emotions that look nothing like herbut shes got 3 female and 2 male emotions. And theres nothing wrong with that. Riley is a perfectly normal kid, going through a hard time in her life. Its subtle, but its the kind of thing that you can point to and say Its okay to be who you are. Look at Riley. Shes doing okay just how she is.

I just really love everything about this movie. Its great all around.

Johnbobb: Going in, I expected a goofy adventure with silly characters and, because its Pixar, a touch of emotional depth. I got that, yeah, but I also got one of the most emotionally mature kids movies Ive ever seen. Inside Out is one of the best examples of kids animation done right. Its clearly directed at particularly young audiences; the silly characters, the bright and colorful dreamscape, the very easy-to-grasp ideas that family and friends are good but moving and broccoli are bad. Inside Out succeeds by handling both the simple and the complicated, exploring everything from unintentional parental neglect to the pressures specific to those who havent finished emotionally developing to handling loss to straight out apathy. Its all presented in such a way that I feel like I actually learned something that I think the kids in the audience learned right along with me, and thats special.
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Karo: A brilliant concept where a person's emotions are portrayed as colorful little people living in their heads. When Riley, the girl our chosen group of emotions calls home, moves to a new city she ends up in a bad state of mind. Sadness ends being blamed by the other emotions due to this, which of course makes her, you guessed it, sad. An accident makes Joy and Sadness end up lost in another part of Riley's brain, making things even worse as the remaining three emotions are forced to do the jobs of the missing duo, to disastrous results. As the lost emotions journey home we get to experience more of the whimsical world existing in the girl's brain, and are treated to lots more clever gags. Joy eventually begins to realize the importance of sorrow in a persons life, and that Sadness is the only one who can help Riley this time.
It's quirky, its heartwarming, its unlike any other animated movie ever made. It's far and away the best thing Pixar has ever done. (or probably ever will do)

red: This movie is Pixar creativity at its best. A unique take on human emotions and a very clever and interesting world inside Riley's head. While some of the emotions obviously get a lot more screentime than others, there simply is very little not to like about this movie. Its a fantastic take on how your emotions grow and change as you get older, and how even things like sadness, while feeling bad, are important building blocks for who you become as a person as long as you take the positives. This is fun, ambitious movie and probably easily the most creative movie on the list.

Ermine: Honestly, the only thing keeping this movie from being one of my top 5 favorite animated films is its first third. Sadness is one of the most annoying and frustrating characters to start out and while her actions are what drive the beginning of the plot, she is still insufferable and mostly makes the first third of this movie just kind of meh.

But then Bing Bong is introduced and holy moly the movie does a complete 180 and literally from the moment of his introduction the film is amazing all the way to the end. The humor goes up drastically and even Sadness starts to become a likable character. I'm guessing it's because Bing Bong's amazingness rubs off on her.

The whole scene where they are trying to wake up Riley with the happy/scary dream is actually fantastic and always makes me laugh out loud, particularly when Bing Bong just jumps into the fray.

And then this movie also has the award of having the fucking saddest moment in all of anything for me. I cried like a freaking baby at Bing Bong's "death". It was just animated too well and the voice actor for Bing Bong just nailed the performance. I've seen this movie a few times now and I will cry literally every time I watch this scene because it just completely breaks my heart. I was in the theaters with my friends when I watched this for the first time and I still cried like a little bab.

Does being ultra sad and emotional about something make you enjoy a film more?

Absolutely.

For an animated film to make you care so incredibly much about a character you've only seen for all of 30 minutes is actually astounding.

There's so much other stuff about the film that's great but I know everyone else will cover it.

I miss Bing Bong ;_;

Snake: Ingenious concept, amazing characters, gorgeous animation, great jokes, what more can you really ask for? Its just clever moment after clever moment in this one, and pretty much pitch-perfectly describes what a little girl moving to a new town would go through.
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Fuck!
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JONA: Im always interested in movies about the psyche so of course, this would be up my alley. However, I feel like the characters in the psyche are really just a gateway for normal people to ease into the messages the movie makes. While those characters are enjoyable, I feel they downplay things. That being said, the movie is very well-done with some great emotional moments.

scarlet: I feel torn on Inside Out. Get out of the way of the fundamentals of moviemaking masterfully on display here; the message is a little too convenient and ultimately kind of misleading. Lets not pretend that every emotion is positive. The depiction of Sadness is in fact so utterly irritating that one would wonder if lobotomies arent the way to go. However, so much of the style in this film is able to hide this substance that I found it enjoyable. Like most journeys, the heros pitfalls are learning experiences, and the various sensations of loss and sadness (ironically) throughout the film keep the stakes realistic to the audience. However, the character of Sadness is so pitifully inept that it blows the door off of the moral to this story and keeps me from allowing this film to reach the coveted upper echelon of Pixar films. Sadness actually is the poster child for the opposite moral of this story. Its a reversal of its own goal; the human mind has constantly fallen prey to its basest instincts, and as someone who has suffered from depression, Sadness is easily the most awful emotion available. Mix it with this evolutionary reject that Inside Out touts as a valuable part of the human mind, and the movie is a propaganda piece against itself.
Rating: 71/100


Genny: So here it is. Joy is my least favorite Pixar protagonist (not counting Mater because sequels). Strangely enough as badly as she puts down poor Sadness and even the other emotions she doesn't severely impact my enjoyment (ha) of Inside Out. It's weird because Sadness and Bing Bong aside I don't really feel like other characters elevate her to relatable levels. Bing Bong was... not my cup of tea but he contributes to the best scene in the movie by far so all is forgiven. Also I'm putting this out there the other emotions are annoying. I was far more vested in Riley and her family as characters, but what Riley's head lacks in great characters it makes up for in setting. That was some great world building.
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charon: Perhaps the best movie with a terrible lead character. Joy spends the large majority of this film being completely nauseating. From her "stand in this circle, and don't move" treatment of Sadness all the way to her exclamation that "Riley must be happy!" and abandoning Sadness even when it's clear at that point her methods are largely to blame for the crisis. She's just one of those people that thinks they know best, and you know squat. The fact they let her be their leader in the first place is unfortunate; then again, maybe they didn't let her, she just kinda forced them to. Sadness is not exactly easy to get behind, though she's just basically trying to do her job. Joy refuses to have any of this though, and it's easy to see how that creates a problem in their "host", so to speak. The concept is very unique though and I did enjoy Fear and Anger's antics when they were left on their own. Bing Bong's sacrifice was noble, it's just too bad it's for a character I'm still not sure has learned much of anything. It's well made, but the writing for one character makes this grating to watch, especially over the first 2/3rds or so.

Stifled: FEEEEELINGS!

WOOOOOOOOAH FEEEEEEELINGS!

Um...yeah. This was a clever idea. I found Joy to be overbearing and annoying for most of the movie, but the plot fixed her at the appropriate time. Pretty standard character development, really. I guess thats what knocked this one down a few spots for me. Everyone does about what you expect them to and they change at the moment most necessary. Inside Out was a fun movie to watch, but there really werent any surprises. Maybe linear isnt the right word to use with a movie, but it kind of felt that way to me.

Traviss opinion: We cuddled in the bedroom, as opposed to the living room for this one. He got really cozy, however, and took a nap. I shall rewatch it with him someday.
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Outlier scores:

Ermine: 315
Stifled: 299
Inviso: 278
Karo: 273
Snake: 262
JONA: 232
Genny: 231
charon: 198
Johnbobb: 181
red: 173
scarlet: 169
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Ermine and scarlet Guess Update

Inside Out

scarlet's prediction: 7
Ermine actual: 4 (3)
Total Difference: 172

Ermine's prediction: 5
scarlet actual: 6 (1)
Total difference: 174

With 3 movies to go the gap is 2.
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Honestly thought it was going to be between Inside Out and Zootopia for #1
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Johnbobb posted...

Honestly thought it was going to be between Inside Out and Zootopia for #1

Same. Even it being #4 is surprisingly low to me.
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Also I love creative, world-building movies(Provided they arent awful). Inside Out is arguably tops on the list on that front.

Placing 4th is...unfortunate.
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Also the worst thing about Inside Out is that it basically spawned The Emoji Movie.
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