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Cool Animated Movies You May Not Have Seen PDF Print E-mail
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Written by Michael Salsbury   
Monday, 02 January 2006
Welcome to my "top 10 list of cool animated movies you may not have seen". For the record, I'm not an "anime" fan.  The superfluous use of shadows, the "big eyes, small mouths" art style, strange movie titles, bizarre story lines, etc., in anime simply turn me off more than the clever animation techniques draw me in.  As a result, you'll not see much here that an anime fan would appreciate (I'm guessing).  Still, I think these are all amusing films that you should have a look at if you get the chance (and since most of them are a bit obscure, you can pick them up for about as much as it would cost to rent them at your local Blockbuster Video):

1

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The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad
I'm fond of this disc for one reason, the very maniacal expressions on Mr. Toad's face as he drives his motorcar around like a madman.  I don't know that I've even watched the Ichabod part since I was a kid.  Another reason I'm fond of the Mr. Toad cartoon is that it's the basis for my favorite ride at Disneyland in California (and formerly in Disney World in Florida).  Family friendly fare here, in case you're wondering.

2

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The Adventures of Wallace and Gromit
This "claymation" creation is another personal favorite.  The lovable dimwit inventor Wallace and his steadfast canine companion Gromit visit the moon for some cheese, do some window washing, and even get into trouble with "techno-trousers".  This is also very family friendly stuff.

3

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The Itsy Bitsy Spider short film on the Bebe's Kids disc
The Bebe's Kids movie was cute but in my opinion nothing special.  Its companion on the disc and VHS, however, is awesome.  Jim Carrey voices a Rambo-like exterminator out to rid a piano teacher's house of a troublesome arachnid.  In the end, it's the exterminator and the house which are eliminated.  In between, it's lots of laughs.  You'll wish it was the 2-hour movie instead of Bebe's Kids.  I enjoyed it enough that I bought this disc for the short feature alone.  That should tell you something.  The voice acting, animation, and writing are all dead-on perfect here.

4

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Cool World
Not strictly an animated film, this one contains live-action performances by Brad Pitt, Kim Basinger, and others alongside animated characters by Ralph Bakshi.  The gist of the story is that there are two realities in the universe, one where cartoons ("doodles") live a life of their own, and another in which we "noids" (humanoids?) live.  Residents of the worlds generally don't cross between them, and there are serious consequences when they do because both realities are jeopardized.  The biggest crime is for a "noid" and a "doodle" to engage in physical relations, because it upsets the balance of realities and makes the "doodle" become "real".  As you can imagine, this happens and things go crazy in both worlds.  While watching this "non-family-friendly" film, pay attention to all the silly cartoon characters in the background.  Sometimes they're more interesting than the main characters!

5

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Fritz the Cat
The first animated feature ever to get an "X" rating from the motion picture rating authority, Fritz the Cat is the tale of a young feline who indulges in drugs, alcohol, sex, violence, and about every other sin or vice you can imagine.  It got its X rating from the rather graphic nature of some of the scenes in the film, though today it would probably get an "R".  This is another Ralph Bakshi film.  It suffers at times from going into psychedelic rants about the establishment, society, etc., but offers some genuine laughs and pokes fun at just about everything.  And yes, in case you haven't guessed, it's NOT family friendly at all, unless you've got one REALLY liberal household.

6

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Heavy Metal
This is a series of loosely related stories about the evil "Lochnar" corrupting a variety of people and ruining their lives.  The stand-out piece to me is the trial of Captain Sterrn.  It features a number of very family-unfriendly themes, so don't watch this with the kiddies.  A couple of the sub-stories are snoozers to me, but they're overshadowed by the good ones.

7

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The Iron Giant
I love the animation, voice acting, and sound effects in this one.  It's family friendly, tells a decent story (even for adults), and is fun to watch.  What more do you need to know?

8

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One Crazy Summer
This isn't really an animated film, but animation plays a fairly large role in it, so I'm listing it here.  My favorite part of this film is the animation attributed to John Cusack's character, especially the stories it tells of the lonely guy who gets revenge on the "cute and fuzzy bunnies" who are ruining his life, a parallel for his character getting shafted by the cool and popular people around him.  It features performances by Eugene Levy, Demi Moore, Bobcat Goldthwait, and a variety of others you'll recognize.  Probably not family friendly if you have anyone in your family under the age of 16, but probably OK otherwise.

9

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Titan A.E.
This film tells a story of Earth's distant future (the “A.E.” stands for “after Earth”) when mankind has become a third-rate power in the universe, with aliens hunting down and killing humans where they can find them. In typical Hollywood fashion, one unlikely hero changes all that, and this is his story.

10

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Wizards
This Ralph Bakshi film is a classic. The storyline is nothing especially exciting. A wizard named Blackwolfe is looking to take over the post-nuclear holocaust world. His brother, a good wizard named Avatar, wants to stop him. Along the way, they encounter various groups that want to help or hinder them in their quest. The movie features some very unique animation techniques, great voice performances, good music, and memorable dialogue. Although it's tenth in this list (arranged roughly alphabetically), it's my favorite film of this entire lot.




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