Children's Movies

[Kawaiikneko]

Is it just me, or are the ideas for children's movies getting progressively dumber and less orginal? I for one and disappointed in the amount of cutesy animal kids movies there have been lately.

I was especially reminded of this after watching Howl's Moving Castle a long while back. It had such a great ending, and something about it just left me all warm and fuzzy afterwards! Why can't our cartoon movies be like that? Comedy is all well and good, but come on! I grew up on Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, Peter Pan, and Aladin. What happened to romance and, I don't know, actually having PEOPLE as the main characters?

I'm also disappointed that traditional 2d animation seems to be leaving America. That's really sad, because there's something special about traditional animation, and there's things you can do with it that can't be done in 3d. *sigh* That and some of the 3d animation movies now just look thrown together and they aren't even good graphics.

Well that's my rant XD Any of the Pixar movies are discluded from this btw, since their movies are VERY well done.

[ShiroiHikari]

I agree with pretty much everything you just said.

Thing is, grown-up movies aren't very good these days, either. Apparently, one or more of the following is happening:

1. Good writers want too much money.
2. Studios are too lazy to look for good writers.
3. There aren't any good writers.

[Kawaiikneko]

If number 3 is true that would be rather sad... I've noticed there haven't been a wealth of good movies lately. I'm looking forward to PoTC this summer though, and I'm really hoping it isn't a bad sequal. I'm also looking forward to Cars, because its Pixar ^^;

[Tenshi no Ai]

Thing is, grown-up movies aren't very good these days, either. Apparently, one or more of the following is happening:

1. Good writers want too much money.
2. Studios are too lazy to look for good writers.
3. There aren't any good writers.

It's SO true. Look at stuff like The Simpsons as a classical example nowadays :/ The writers were AMAZING back then and they're making :/ stuff now...

Even with cartoons for some reason this year with all the CGI movies it's the same thing over and over... animals go on an adventure... they do and make friends :/ Heh and then there's Madagascar - The Wild which speaks for itself in orginality^^

*sigh* Know what I REALLY miss? Don Bluth cartoons... I mean THOSE were classics with both American Tails (even the sequel was amazing! Directed by Steven Speilburg too...) and All Dogs Go to Heaven, and let's not forget the ORIGINAL Land Before Time... THESE were movies! If anything, I'd say these were more American Miyazaki counterparts than Disney^^ Leaving you feel warm and fuzzy inside and were amazing and orginal adventures!

[Scarecrow]

Lol, Land before time was my favorite movie for years when I was little. Such a shame the sequals are such crap. I can't believe they are STILL pumping those suckers out.

And my all time favorite cartoon, The Last Unicorn! Nope, they don't make em like they used to.

Another thing I hate about these newer chartoons is they are sooo fluffy and cheesy like they are made to be only enjoyed by anyone younger than 5. Even though Disney's movies like The Little Mermaid, which was nicely done, was much more fluffy than the original story. But at least even back then they managed to make the villian scary and evil and not some bumbling idiot who was just confused and becomes a good guy in the end or something

[Kawaiikneko]

I know! I was actually scared of the villians in movies when I was little. Now they're just... oh wait, there AREN'T bad villians in many cartoons anymore. Nevermind. We have idiots and politically correct bad->good guys now. Yay.

For example, I was scared of Ursula at the end of Little Mermaid and refused to watch the end. Now I can laugh about it. Why can't today's children enjoy that?! Irony.. that's probably why there's not EVIL villians anymore. Despite that, I think that watering down bad things isn't the smartest thing to do. Its kinda like setting people up for failure.

[Tenshi no Ai]

We have idiots and politically correct bad->good guys now. Yay.

To sum up it, they are REALLY focusing on comedy now :/ There is just nothing serious about kid movies these days :/ I mean, even back in the day they even managed to make The Brave Little Toaster serious and even sad (sympathizing with Blanky^^) with such a theme and now... :/ Lemme think actually... well they ALL have their conflicts with instead of a evil villian, the "bad" part of the show is more like friends fighting with each other and refusing to cooperate :/ W-O-W! Such a common theme... but that's it :/ Actually even Ice Age 2 pulled off seriousness, a couple of villans, AND comedy!

[Radical Dreamer]

Ack, I agree. I can't stand the recent animated movies being released. I saw Madagascar not too long ago, and let's just say, I was very dissapointed. The animation was sub-par, the storyline wasn't engrossing or interesting at all, and the "comedy" wasn't even funny. I may have laughed once.

It also doesn't cease to amaze me how studios will try to ride on other studios' successes with their movies. Take Finding Nemo, for example. A fantastic movie, I loved it. But, then Dreamworks came along and made Shark Tales, a stupid movie with barely any plot at all and a political message. And look at all the zoo/animal movies they're making now, to ride on Madagascar's success! It seems to me that our American writers and filmmakers are running out of creativity, and it's really going to be detrimental to the animation genre.

What I would like to see is a return to America's roots in animation...2D animation, in other words. 2D animated movies that have an interesting plot, characters you can both love and hate, an engrossing storyline, clever dialogue, and animation that actually looks like some amount of work was put into it. I can't tell you how much I'd love to see that.

[ShiroiHikari]

It seems like now that we have more adult cartoons on television, the kids/family shows and movies get more and more cheesy. Not saying adult cartoons are bad-- I like some of them. But watering everything down and not being able to say the word "die" or "kill" in family entertainment is ridiculous. Death and murder happens, get used to it. Stop sugarcoating everything! *kicks soapbox aside* Ahem. Sorry.

[KBMaster]

I'm just disappointed with ANY movies these days. I think Lilo and Stitch was the last good thing Disney came out with. But then they made a crappy cartoon and sequel. I would definitely like to see something that would make my brain THINK. I think I can handle it!

[Linksquest]

Yea, I definately agree with most of what is being said here. I think that movies in general are getting much worse in quality than they once were. That being said, I think that the large amount of children's movies where animals play the main characters are in existance because animals are fun. A movie somehow seems more "fun" or "magical" when creatures who can't normally talk are going on grand adventures. I do, though, want more movies with humans involved. Nanny McPhee was a really good Children's Movie, I thought. But such good movies are very scarse these days.

Poor writing and lazyness in direction seems to be a part of it.

[The Last Bard]

You know a movie I used to love? And now I'm looking for them again on DVD...

The Wind in the Willows and Winter in the Willows. I don't want the Disney version though...I wish I could find them.

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

I don't think there are necessarily heaps more bad children movies than there were previously. Only better marketed and a lot more money backing them up.
Sure there is a lot of crap, but if you search through it (eww) you can find some gems.

[Maledicte]

The animated version of The Hobbit was really good, even though it didn't *quite* have humans in it. Gollum rocked my socks off in it.

It's a shame with the lack of good 2-d films, particularly with human characters. Tarzan was the last one, and Mulan and the Hunchback of Notre Dame both had strong characters, despicable villains, and great drama.

Last good "children's" movie I've seen was MirrorMask.

[mitsuki lover]

One thing is that we are seeing less of the traditional style of animation and more of the 3D style that was introduced with Toy Story.

[Kawaiikneko]

I was talking with a friend of mine and one of her dreams was to be a traditional animator... well that job is pretty much going off the market in any BIG sort of way like movies. It's really really sad if you think about it. I really think (as its been said) that animation should go back to its roots.

When was the last time you saw a completely hand-drawn (American) cartoon?

*sigh* The thing about 3d is that its hard to make human characters well. The Incredibles did great but it sure looked like alot of work, and for some reason its just not the same...

[The Last Bard]

I didn't mind Pixar's earlier movies. Toy Story, A Bugs Life, ect. but after that, they just started throwing away any part of story that was any good.
So sad...*Sniff* I'll live though.

[Linksquest]

You know a movie I used to love? And now I'm looking for them again on DVD...

The Wind in the Willows and Winter in the Willows. I don't want the Disney version though...I wish I could find them.

I loved those! The books are also fabulous. A lot of original ideas and good writing went into making that as awesome as it was.

I didn't mind Pixar's earlier movies. Toy Story, A Bugs Life, ect. but after that, they just started throwing away any part of story that was any good.
So sad...*Sniff* I'll live though.

I really like Disney&Pixar's stuff... which Movies are you talking about that they "starting throwing away any part of the story that was any good" ?

[Arnobius]

I really like Disney&Pixar's stuff... which Movies are you talking about that they "starting throwing away any part of the story that was any good" ?

Well I think the Disney movies changed drastically in style after "Beauty and the Beast." They went from their classical style to more of a "jive-talking sidekick" style with all sorts of cultural references in their style. I guess it's a matter of preference whether this was a good or a bad thing.

As for Pixar, I know I tend to have a prejudice against the computer generated animation so I tend to dislike all of their movies.

[Maledicte]

In regards to talking animals as fodder for children's movies, let me just bring up one thing:

Milo and Otis. Best kid's movie EVAR.

[BigZam]

um guys? these movies are for KIDS. how bout we stop complaining about kids movies and start watching some movies for our OWN age?

[Tenshi no Ai]

um guys? these movies are for KIDS. how bout we stop complaining about kids movies and start watching some movies for our OWN age?

Are you saying that we have an age limit on enjoying them? C'man... besides watching movies MY age, would consist of 18+ movies :/ There's no reason why we can't still enjoy movies that bring back child nostalgia etc...

[beau99]

um guys? these movies are for KIDS. how bout we stop complaining about kids movies and start watching some movies for our OWN age?

Sorry, I'd rather watch harmless entertainment, which is something that movies targeted at us doesn't offer.

[Radical Dreamer]

um guys? these movies are for KIDS. how bout we stop complaining about kids movies and start watching some movies for our OWN age?

Maybe because we do watch movies for our own ages. But just because we're old enough doesn't mean we should be watching most of the crap that's out there these days. I'm 17, but that doesn't mean I run out to watch all the latest R-rated movies just because I can get in. Watching animated movies is a fun thing to do (we are on a site dedicated to anime, after all), and some of us have enjoyed the artistic qualities in the animated movies of the past, not to mention the cleverness, cleanliness, and originality in the writing. We aren't complaining here, we're taking notice of the fact that the animation department in America has been taking a turn for the worse as of late. That's not complaining, especially when you want to major in animation in college.

[Linksquest]

um guys? these movies are for KIDS. how bout we stop complaining about kids movies and start watching some movies for our OWN age?

"KIDS" movies these days DO contain a lot of material that is suitable for people OUR age, hehe (sorry for all the emphasis,:lol: ). Just because a movie is a good story and doesn't contain much sexual content, language, or violence issues doesn't mean that it is intended only for children. Sure, the main audience may be intended for people of younger ages, but even these movies these days contain some things that only older audiences would understand anyway.

Shrek is a perfect example of this.