thanks will

Haha, no concrete list, no. Often Japanese films (Studio Ghibli, etc…) or other foreign ones (2010’s The Illusionist for instance) are good examples of very preconception-smashing, more adult, less profitable animated films; as are the aforementioned darker stop-mo films (Coraline was definitely *not* a film for children). Then more recently you’ve got films directed by hitherto live-action directors, such as Gerbinski with Rango and Spielberg/Jackson with Tintin, although they both did quite well at the box office.

One more thing Jardine: If you have list of these animated films that you consider to be a success at medium storytelling even if they weren’t seat-fillers, I’m interested in seeting it!

My Mom loves “Chicken Run”. I especially enjoyed “Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were Rabbit.”

Pitch Black was a brilliant villain. They could have made him more over-the-top and flamboyant but Jude Law’s voice and the sleek design made him more menacing, focused, and charismatic. He could just enjoy being evil or he insists on revenge and fear because they’re the drive of his existence. It’s an interesting complex take on an antagonist. I like how simplistic they designed him as “The Boogeyman” so you can leave the scary nightmares to each viewer’s imagination.

Yeah. And, on the subject of kind of more serious, real-world messages, and on a form no less, in animation, you’ve got Aardman’s Chicken Run too!

As you say, there are a lot of animated films that don’t shift action figures or fill a bunch of seats, but not every animated film needs to do that. That’s the point I was trying to stress; apologies if that came across at all muddled.

Oh absolutely, I loved ROTG. It was a very powerful, nostalgic film — not to mention had one of the darkest, most fleshed-out villains in all of animation. Yep, DreamWorks are very good at what they do.

It sounds like a tough challenge from a marketing POV to sell the movie to adults as much as kids. The minute it is an animated feature, we know kids will ask their parents to take them. But a film like “Fantastic Mr. Fox” has dry humor and wit that a lot of adults enjoyed too. It had a dark streak that reminded me of the original Roald Dahl book. He wasn’t ashamed to write about people with shotguns and tractors going after that darn fox!
Dreamworks has set itself apart since the start with films like “The Prince of Egypt”, which was very different from the Disney-princess formula. I enjoy films from both companies but “PoE” did blow me away with the depth and richness of the epic Exodus story. And you’re right, “PoE” wasn’t a complete flop, it just didn’t get as much hype in the box office as other films. Not the kind of film you buy action figures for either. But people look back fondly on the film and the Nostalgia Critic rates it highly too.

I have a confession that I’m emotionally attached to “Rise of the Guardians” in spite of the rushness in storytelling. Part of me was wondering if they were trying to play off “The Avengers” obsession with a team of super-guardians; there was a bit of confusion as to what atmosphere they were trying to create when they changed things so quickly. I saw it twice to let the timelessness of the characters and depth of their emotions sink in. And I intend to get the DVD.

Let me just add that one of several things ROTG did nicely was the humor. In a lot of kids’ cartoon movies, it’s butt jokes, farting, and and people falling down to get the kids to laugh. But I find it cheesy. What does make me laugh is comic timing. It’s that little twitch or just how a certain character pulls off a line that brings in the giggles. Sometimes they don’t even need to say anything; a visual gag can do it all.

Oh, undoubtedly. A lot of animation is targeted towards kids in places – even Pixar films have the odd cheesy kid’s joke – and I’m not contesting that they’re films the whole family can enjoy. Quite the opposite; I’m contesting the opinion that they’re films that kids enjoy and parents sit through to pacify them.

It seems the only way an animated film can make a strong box-office impression is by pandering to that audience; hence why films like Coraline, 9, Fantastic Mr. Fox and, to some extent, Rise of the Guardians, don’t do all too well. I’d say the films are aimed in equal parts at the whole family — but again, not all of them, to write Disney as kids’ films off has at least some minor credence, to write animation off is horrendously overgeneralising.

Definitely! The animation renaissance we’ve been in over the past few years has been great for diversity – and hopefully in broadening people’s opinion.

Thanks for the feedback!