Average rating: 5.00   100% from 1 member


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.
  • Belleville Rendez-vous on DVD (2003)
    Director: Sylvain Chomet
    Certificate: Certificate: 12
    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 »
    Rate this: 3.5 stars out of 5 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,

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.

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.
  • The Iron Giant on DVD (1999)
    Starring: Jennifer Aniston,  Eli Marienthal,  Harry Connick Jr.
    Director: Brad Bird
    Certificate: Certificate: U
    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 »
    Rate this: 3.5 stars out of 5 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).
  • Daft Punk - Interstella 5555 on DVD (2003)
    Starring: Daft Punk
    Director: Kazuhisa Takenouchi,  Leiji Matsumoto
    Certificate: Certificate: PG
    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 »
    Rate this: 3.5 stars out of 5 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.

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.

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.

The Snow Queen

  • The Snow Queen (1959)
    Starring: Vladimir Gribkov,  Mariya Babanova,  Yanina Zhejmo
    Director: Phil Patton,  Lev Atamanov
    Certificate: Certificate: TBC
    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 »
    Rate this: 2.5 stars out of 5 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




Average rating for this collection: Average rating: 5.00   100% from 1 member

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