Animated Movies - Tumblr Posts
CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS: THE FIRST EPIC MOVIE (Dir: David Soren, 2017).
A longer, more in-depth version of the following review can be found on my blog JINGLE BONES MOVIE TIME! Link below.
DreamWorks Animation’s Captain Underpants is a lighthearted superhero spoof based upon the successful series of children’s books by Dav Pilkey.
4th graders George and Harold accidentally hypnotise their strict school principle Mr Krupp into believing he is inept y-fronts wearing superhero Captain Underpants. Although distinctly lacking in superpowers, Captain Underpants soon finds himself battling evil school science teacher Professor P in his bid to rid the world of laughter.
Captain Underpants' bold animation style lacks the finer details of DreamWorks' best features but does a nice job of bringing Pilkey’s illustrations to 3D ‘life’. Further enhancing the visuals is an innovative use of varying animation techniques such as rod puppets and traditional 2D. Unsurprisingly, considering its subject, much of the humour is of the toilet variety. This may limit its appeal to younger audience members, although there are some unsophisticated laughs to be had by kids and grownups alike. Largely absent are the pop culture references which were once a staple of DreamWorks movies; instead we have some neat self-referencing humour and inventive breaking of the fourth wall.
Ed Helms is on vocal duties as Krupp/Captain Underpants and does a fine job of switching from insanely angry principle to authoritatively stupid superhero at the click of a finger. Kevin Hart and Thomas Middleditch also impress as best buddies George and Harold.
Subtitled The Fist Epic Movie, its underwhelming performance at the box office means it is unlikely we will see a Captain Underpants 2. Which is kind of a shame. The movie is no masterpiece but its embracing of different animation styles, along with its general good-naturedness, make it the most original and entertaining Dreamworks animation in recent years.
THE SWORD IN THE STONE (Dir: Wolfgang Reitherman, 1963).
Released to cinemas on Christmas Day 1963, The Sword in the Stone was the last animated feature film released by the Disney Studios during founder Walt Disney's lifetime.
Based on T H White's classic modern retelling of Arthurian legend, we follow the adventures of the future King Arthur (nicknamed the Wart), culminating in his encounter with the legendary sword.
Read the full review on my blog JINGLE BONES MOVIE TIME! Link below.
THE BOSS BABY (Dir: Tom McGrath, 2017).
From DreamWorks Animation, The Boss Baby is loosely based on the picture book by Marla Frazee. Theodore Templeton (Alec Baldwin) is the Boss Baby, a suit and tie wearing, briefcase carrying infant. With his brother Tim, they must infiltrate their parents employer Puppy Co., the CEO of which has an evil plan to replace the babies of the world with puppies.
Read the full review on my blog JINGLE BONES MOVIE TIME! Link below.
THE CASTLE OF CAGLIOSTRO (Dir: Hayao Miyazaki, 1979).
Originally titled ルパン三世 カリオストロの城, The Castle of Cagliostro is an animated action adventure, the feature film debut for director Hayao Miyazaki.
Master thief Arsene Lupin III and his cohort Jigen stumble upon an international counterfeit operation after a daring raid on a swanky Monte Carlo casino results in a haul of fake cash. Tracing the operation to the small country of Cagliostro, they come up against the crooked Count Cagliostro when attempting to rescue a damsel in distress, his intended bride Clarisse. Meanwhile Lupin's nemisis Inspector Zenigata is hot on his trail.
Read the full review on my blog JINGLE BONES MOVIE TIME! Link below.
THE LION KING (Dir: Jon Favreau, 2019).
Disney’s reboot binge continues with yet another high tech adaptation of an animated classic, this time renaissance era blockbuster The Lion King (Roger Allers & Rob Minkoff, 1994).
As I am certain you are aware, The Lion King tells the story of young lion and future king Simba (voiced by Donald Glover). Simba's father Mufasa (a returning James Earl Jones) is killed by his brother and Simba's uncle Scar (Chiwetel Ejiofor). Scar leads Simba to believe he is responsible for Mufasa's death and goes into hiding. Believing Simba has been killed by hyenas, Scar takes his place as king of the Pride Lands. However, Simba is rescued by comic relief duo meerkat Timon (Billy Eichner) and warthog Pumbaa (Seth Rogen). When Simba's hideout is discovered by cub-hood pal Nala (Beyoncé) she tells him of his uncle's despotic machinations. The two lions, with Timon and Pumbaa in tow, return to fight Scar and reclaim the crown.
Read the full review on my blog JINGLE BELLS MOVIE TIME! Link below.
THE LION KING II: SIMBA’S PRIDE (Dir: Darrell Rooney, 1998).
Walt Disney Pictures' The Lion King (Roger Allers & Rob Minkoff, 1994) would prove a massive hit for the studio. A straight-to-video follow-up was put into production almost immediately, eventually hitting Blockbuster shelves four years after the original.
Simba is now the over-protective father of cub Kiara, born at the end of the first film. When venturing into the forbidden Outlands, the curious cub encounters social outcast and heir to disgraced Uncle Scar's pride, Kovu. They strike a friendship which eventually turns to forbidden romance as Kovu's outcast family plan to use the pair to get to Simba and overthrow the king.
Read the full review on my blog JINGLE BONES MOVIE TIME! Link below.
THE LION KING 1 1/2 aka THE LION KING 3: HAKUNA MATATA (Dir: Bradley Raymond, 2004).
Visit my blog JINGLE BONES MOVIE TIME to read a longer, more in-depth review of THE LION KING 1 1/2! Link in bio. The third and final feature in Disney’s original Lion King trilogy; burdened with the clunky and less witty title The Lion King 3: Hakuna Matata internationally.
Just as Tom Stoppard’s 1966 play Rosencrantz and Guidenstern Are Dead retold William Shakespeare’s Hamlet from the perspective of the comic supporting characters, so too The Lion King 1 1/2 relates the Hamlet inspired The Lion King (Roger Allers & Rob Minkoff, 1994) from the point of view of co-stars Timon and Pumbaa. A neat framing device of Timon and Pumbaa watching and commenting on the original movie introduces the fairly novel conceit and also provides us with their hitherto untold backstories.
Read the full review on my blog JINGLE BONES MOVIE TIME! Link below.
ALICE IN WONDERLAND (Dir: Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson & Hamilton Luske, 1951).
Visit my blog JINGLE BONES MOVIE TIME to read a longer, more in-depth review of ALICE IN WONDERLAND. Link in bio.
Lewis Carroll’s 1865 novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland has inspired countless movie adaptations. Arguably the most successful screen version is Walt Disney’s feature length animation.
The well known story of Alice... concerns a curious young girl who chases a waistcoat wearing rabbit down a rabbithole into the weird and wonderful Wonderland. Many encounters with assorted freaks later, her adventure concludes with an unusual game of croquet in the court of the Queen of Hearts.
Read the full review on my blog JINGLE BONES MOVIE TIME. Link below.
SCOOBY-DOO & THE CURSE OF THE 13TH GHOST (Dir: Cecilia Aranovich Hamilton, 2019).
Scooby-Doo Where are You! debuted on US TV network CBS in the late summer of 1969 and was an instant success for creators Joe Ruby and Ken Spears and producers Hanna-Barbera. This recent Warner Bros Animation effort is the continuation and conclusion of the 1985 series The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, a short-lived series which premiered in September 1985 in which Mystery Inc teamed up with the mystical Vincent Van Ghoul in order to capture 13 ‘real’ spirits accidentally released from a magic chest by Scooby. Drawing criticism from those who accused the show of endorsing the occult, the show was cancelled before the season end and the final pesky paranormal entities were never captured.
Here we find Mystery Inc on the verge of retirement following the bungling of a recent case when the gang are contacted, via a crystal ball, by old friend and associate Vincent Van Ghoul. Van Ghoul is eager to find the 13th missing spirit and the gang are once again on a ghost hunt. This time around there is no janitor in a rubber mask as the ghosts are real! Or are they? A skeptical Velma is out to prove to the gang that 'ghoul' is not always how it appears.
Read the full review on my blog JINGLE BONES MOVIE TIME. Link below.
THE GIANT BEHEMOTH aka BEHEMOTH THE SEA MONSTER (Dir: Eugène Lourié, 1959).
Taking inspiration from The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (Eugène Lourié, 1953) and Godzilla (Ishiro Honda, 1954), The Giant Behemoth is 1950s monster movie mayhem on a minuscule budget.
In a classic 'when atomic testing turns bad' scenario, a pre-historic Palaeosaurus comes ashore on the Cornish coast, threatening the lives of marine life and crusty old fishermen. Not content with terrorising townsfolk in the West Country, the rampaging radioactive reptile heads to London. What is a bored behemoth to do in the big city but riot? If only the meddling military don't stand in his way...
Read the full review on my blog JINGLE BONES MOVIE TIME. Link below.
CHRISTMAS CAROL THE MOVIE (Dir: Jimmy T Murakami, 2001).
A UK production from Jimmy T Murakami, the talented supervising director of The Snowman (Dianne Jackson, 1982) and director of When the Wind Blows (J T Murakami, 1986); an all star cast and a story seemingly ideally suited to feature length animation treatment. What could possibly go wrong? Plenty.
Read the full review on my blog JINGLE BONES MOVIE TIME. Link below.
ROCK & RULE (Dir: Clive A Smith, 1983).
Rock & Rule is a futuristic, dystopian sci-fi rock musical from Canadian animation studio Nelvana.
On a post apocalypse planet Earth in which mutant rodents have displaced extinct humans as the dominant species, evil genius rock god Mok (voiced by Don Francks with singing by Lou Reed) plots to summon an inter-dimensional demon, presumably in pursuit of world dominance. In order to fulfill his maniacal plan he must engage the talents of Angel (Susan Roman with singing from Blondie's Deborah Harry), a young, ambitious singing mouse with the desired vocal frequency to open up a portal to the demon's domain. Kidnapping Angel and whisking her off to his lair in Nuke York, the pair are soon perused by Angel's fellow band members on a daring rescue mission. Yeah, I kinda lost the thread of the plot a couple of times, but what the hey? Hallucinogenics may help...
Read the full review on my blog JINGLE BONES MOVIE TIME! Link below.
I can't keep being fundamentally changed as a person by animated movies, it's just not sustainable.
once upon a time, I was very briefly an animation major. I didn't like it, so I quit, but that did happen.
being an animation major, I naturally took the very first introductory animation class, which was of course taught by an animation professor who had also worked in the animation industry for a long time.
you would think maybe he really liked animation, then.
well, he liked making it, anyway.
we could only get him to admit to liking THREE animated movies:
Prince of Egypt
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Ratatouille (which, according to him, Pixar almost went bankrupt to make.)
New comfort movie check
If you have Disney plus I highly recommend watching Luca, it’s so sweet and the animation is so cute 🥰
New comfort movie check
If you have Disney plus I highly recommend watching Luca, it’s so sweet and the animation is so cute 🥰
WE DO NOT SUPPORT OUTING SOMEONE ON THIS BLOG
The Bad Guys exclusive short - "Maraschino Ruby."
-Based on Aaron Blabey's book series
To anyone in Winter-Spring 2023 who said "DreamWorks is doing better than Disney!" I'm from the future and I'm SO sorry!
Congrats on Cillian Murphy for sweeping the Oscars! He is now eligible to voice act in animated movies!