Hidden gems of animation (10 titles)
Animated films go way beyond heavily merchandised family comedies with funny animals and musical numbers. From quirky tales to powerful dramas, when creative minds meet the medium of animation they can tell stories in ways unparalleled in live action films. This list compiles animated films from around that world that have that little something special about them.
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Belleville Rendez-vous
The delightfully eccentric tale of a struggling Tour de France cyclist and his heroic grandmother. A purely visual story with almost no spoken dialogue, it features a cast of bizarre characters and a fabulously twisted visual style.
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Belleville Rendez-vous
on DVD
(2003)
Director: Sylvain Chomet
Certificate:
In this animated French film, a boy named Champion trains relentlessly for the Tour de France, with the help of his loyal grandmother and overweight dog, Bruno (who loves to bark at passing trains). When the big race comes, Champion and a few of his fellow racers are kidnapped by some thugs who ..read more »
70%
from 14,816 members
When The Wind Blows
Made during the escalation of the Cold War in the early 1980s, and lambasting the British government's "Protect and Survive" civil defence programme, this blend of stop-motion and drawn animation tells the tale of a retired couple trying to remain chipper in the face of Soviet nuclear attack. A bleak and chilling drama that haunts me to this day,
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When The Wind Blows
on DVD
(1986)
Starring: peggy ashcroft (voice), Peggy Ashcroft, john mills (voice)
Director: Jimmy T. Murakami
Certificate:
A darkly satirical and deeply affecting tale, WHEN THE WIND BLOWS concerns the final days of Jim and Hilda Bloggs, an elderly couple living in the remote Sussex countryside, whose almost romantic, rose-tinted memories of World War II are put into sharp relief when they are faced with the threat of ..read more »
73%
from 1,946 member
Millennium Actress
Director Satoshi Kon's unique approach to storytelling is at its finest in this film, telling the life story of a reclusive actress whose film roles strangely parallel events in her own life. Her interviewer finds himself taking part in the stories she tells, played out on screen in a way that could only work in animation. At once moving and confounding, this film merits a repeat viewing to catch all the details.
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Millennium Actress
on DVD
Starring: Fumiko Orikasa, Masaya Onosaka, Miyoko Shoji
Director: Satoshi Kon
Certificate:
Millennium Actress begins as a TV crew track down 70-something screen goddess Chiyoko Fujiwara. Chiyoko begins to tell her life story, at which point she literally steps into the past, dragging the confused crew into her memories...
66%
from 816 members
The Iron Giant
Starkly different in tone and style from typical commercial animated family fare, The Iron Giant is both humorous and intelligent, presented in an adept blend of 2D and 3D animation. Though shamefully overlooked at the box-office, this is one of the finest animated films to come out of America in the past 20 years.
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The Iron Giant
on DVD
(1999)
Starring: Jennifer Aniston, Eli Marienthal, Harry Connick Jr.
Director: Brad Bird
Certificate:
Based on poet Ted Hughes' 1968 children's book, (former SIMPSONS producer) Brad Bird's adaptation proves to be a work of art the family can enjoy together- simple and visually captivating enough for kids and sharp and touching enough for adults. Hogarth is a young boy in 1950s Maine. When he finds ..read more »
71%
from 4,866 members
Daft Punk - Interstella 5555
A clever melding of music and animation, Interstella 5555 takes the Daft Punk album Discovery and weaves it into a coherent (if slightly clichéd) story, told through the music and visuals alone (with no dialogue and only minimal sound effects).
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Daft Punk - Interstella 5555
on DVD
(2003)
Starring: Daft Punk
Director: Kazuhisa Takenouchi, Leiji Matsumoto
Certificate:
A sci-fi japanimation House-musical movie collaboration between Daft Punk--and their music--and designer Leiji Matsumoto. During the recording of their DISCOVERY album and using the themes of sci-fi celebrity, decadence and space travel, Daft Punk--with help from Cedric Hervet--wrote the story and ..read more »
70%
from 757 members
The Prince Of Egypt
A retelling of the story of Exodus (albeit somewhat sanitised), though somewhat let down by the addition of some campy comic relief. Whether you believe in the Biblical tales or not, the rich visuals of this film make it a feast for viewers with an eye for the skill, effort and attention to detail that goes into making animation.
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The Prince Of Egypt
on DVD
(1998)
Starring: Val Kilmer, Ralph Fiennes, Michelle Pfeiffer
Director: Brenda Chapman, Steve Hickner, Simon Wells
Certificate:
"My son, I have nothing I can give, but this chance that you may live." With these words, Yocheved, a Hebrew mother, places her infant son in a basket and sets him adrift on the Nile River. His sister Miriam follows him along the riverbank to ensure its safety. After a perilous journey, the basket ..read more »
67%
from 2,383 members
Asterix - 12 Tasks Of Asterix
Who doesn't have fond memories of reading Asterix comics in school French lessons? This film, the only animated Asterix adventure not based on one of the comic books, is a hysterical riff on the Twelve Labours of Hercules, which sees the plucky Gauls facing hypnotists, temptresses and maddening bureaucrats in a bid to protect their village. It may be low-budget (and it shows in the creaky animation), but it crackles with wit and wackiness.
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Asterix - 12 Tasks Of Asterix
on DVD
(1976)
Starring: Roger Carel, roger carel (voice), Pierre Tornade
Director: Rene Goscinny, Albert Uderzo
Certificate:
The Gauls have the chance to become the new masters of the Roman empire if they can solve twelve tasks set by Julius Cesar.
67%
from 369 members
The Secret Adventures Of Tom Thumb
A dark and disturbing twist on the children's tale, which cleverly combines stop-motion animated puppets and live actors to produce eerie visuals. Once seen, never forgotten.
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The Secret Adventures Of Tom Thumb
on DVD
Starring: Nick Upton, Deborah Collard, Frank Passingham
Director: Bolex Brothers
Certificate:
Set in a world of dark and shadowy tenements, shining high-tech labs and spectic landscapes of garbage and ruins, The Secret Adventures Of Tom Thumb makes a touching hero of the tiny child mysteriously born to a woman and a man in experiments in a lab full if mutant creatures. He narrowly escapes ..read more »
59%
from 225 members
The Snow Queen
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The Snow Queen
(1959)
Starring: Vladimir Gribkov, Mariya Babanova, Yanina Zhejmo
Director: Phil Patton, Lev Atamanov
Certificate:
American live-action footage frames this animated feature from the USSR, and the cartoon characters' voices are also dubbed in English. The Snow Queen is a Hans Christian Andersen fable about a cold-hearted queen of the frozen north (voice by Louise Arthur) who steals away young Kay (voice by Tommy ..read more »
47%
from 9 members
The Secret Of Nimh
The first animated feature produced by a group of rebellious animators who walked out of Disney's studios in 1979. Despite a shoestring budget (the producers even had to remortgage their homes to fund it), the crew managed to create a film with sumptuous and detailed visuals by using experimental techniques and developing new technologies. The story, based on an award-winning children's book, suffers slightly from the needless injection of magical powers, but it's an interesting piece of animation history nonetheless
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The Secret Of Nimh
on DVD
(1982)
Starring: Dom DeLuise, Dom Deluise, Hermione Baddeley
Director: Don Bluth
Certificate:
Don Bluth's THE SECRET OF NIMH is an exquisitely drawn, colorfully animated feature about Mrs. Brisby, a brave mother field mouse who struggles to save her family's home from a farmer's plow. She soon discovers she needs the help of the strange, intelligent rats who live beneath the nearby rosebush ..read more »
67%
from 1,123 member
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