Underrated Animation Movies

Movies are very important, you see. They’re what we (as writers) turn to when we need inspiration (I have a book idea that came to me after I watched Disney’s Robin Hood and somewhere in the back of my mind there’s an idea for this retelling of Horns – the movie with Daniel Radcliffe? I haven’t read the book, but I plan to). And animation movies are some of my favourites because I watched most of them when my sister and I were kids, or even later – and because I’m close to my sister, I treasure all of these movies very dearly. So I’m giving my recommendations to you.

Treasure Planet: It’s an adaption of Treasure Island, so if you don’t want to read that (though it’s good), just watch this. Mostly because of the main character (who gives me feelings), but also because they put in fandom references. I counted two the last time I watched it. A Star Trek and a Star Wars one (if you know which ones they are, tell me! If you don’t and you’d like to know, just ask me!) And it’s set in space – with space creatures!

Dinosaur: WHY WOULD YOU EVER FORGET THIS ONE?? It’s so good and IT’S ABOUT DINOSAURS!!!!! Can you tell I was a dinosaur kid? I mean I still love them (I basically have every scene of all the Jurassic Park movies memorised. My friends think it’s sad and say I have no life. Maats, I knew when I registered for college I wouldn’t have a life. Niks niet nie.

The Iron Giant: Vin Diesel as the Giant, and it’s about a giant robot. Like how awesome is that? I mean really, if you haven’t watched it already what are you doing with your life? And I’m just telling you now, don’t go into this thinking it’s a cutesy, kid movie (which it is), because it’s sad, ok? I’ve probably watched it more than 10 times and I’ve cried every single time.

Mars Needs Moms: It’s about space. And family. What more do you need? Like how difficult is it to not love space movies? Joan Cusack plays the mom, if that sparks your interest. And it’s really funny, too – tons of jokes. Also the characters are all really good and I love all of them.

Fantasia: I’m pretty sure my sister and I have watched this over and over and over again. There’s no real plot here, just really amazing animation and music. I think the animation is meant to be an abstract of the music or something, but I urge you to go watch this – it’s soothing and it’s fantastic so watch this. You could even show it to little ones and, hey, if it makes them fall asleep, it’s a win-win.

Gnomeo and Juliet: Gnome retelling of Romeo and Juliet??? I love Shakespeare – I constantly switch between Hamlet and Macbeth as my favourites. And I also switch between this retelling and Baz Lurhman’s retelling of R+J as my favourite R+J retelling. Also because they referenced Macbeth and I don’t think many people caught it, but I DID – though I can’t seem to find that scene/reference in the movie, so now I’m wondering if I watched a different version (which seems unlikely), or if I was imagining things – which probably happened.

Piglet’s Big Movie: Ok, all of the Winnie the Pooh movies are underrated, but this one has the Tiddly Pom song, and that has a special place in my heart (my mom uses it all the time). Winnie-the-Pooh is one of my favourite children stories and I love Piglet’s Big Movie so much (my favourite character is Tigger – which makes sense as he’s often listed as ADD/ADHD – so no wonder I love him and identify with him so much).

The Prince of Egypt: Yes, it’s a Christian movie, but it’s very good. And it has songs. And they made the people hot. AND HAVE YOU LOOKED AT THE CAST LIST??? NO WONDER IT’S AN AMAZING MOVIE!!! I mean, everything about this movie is amazing – the animation, the music, the songs, the characters – absolutely everything in this movie is amazing.

The Little Prince: Have you read the book? Why don’t you watch the movie??? I’ve done both and both are amazing – the book is wonderful and I can’t wait to read it to a child (I’ll probably choose my cousin, but I’m not against stealing one – I’m joking, okay – don’t worry).

Do you agree with my choices? Do you think more animation movies should be on this list? Tell me and I’ll make a second post! I’ll also probably write a post about underrated movies – non-animated ones!

 

Translations:

Maats – Friends.

Niks niet nie – Nothing new.