September, 2008

There really is a grace to classical animation that hasn’t yet been achieved with digital. Something funny I learnt in college is that in digital animation, the minute something stops moving, it doesn’t look alive anymore – like it’s breaking character. This is funny because one of the things I really love about anime is that it is so dynamic, and they achieve so much with frozen characters. Here are my top five classically animated movies:

• The Triplets of BellevilleSo great, one of my favourite scenes is when they are crossing the ocean, the music is also incredible.
• MetropolisObviously not the 1927 original – this was created from the manga version of the story by Osamu Tezuka, who created Astro Boy
• Grave of the Fireflies Get ready to cry – it’s about a boy struggeling to take care of his little sister in Japan after WWII.
• Iron GiantReally nice story and animation that is kid friendly without the song and dance sequences or formulaic story line.
• Okay, this last one is hard. I love all of Hayao Miyazaki‘s films. All of them. They are sweet and random and brilliant and have amazing characters. The four that I could watch a million times and never get tired of are:
  • Princess Mononoke
  • Laputa: Castle in the Sky
  • Nausicaä
  • Spirited Away

P.S. Use your effing subtitles. There is nothing worse than a dubbed movie. Except maybe Nausicaä because Captain Piccard does one of the voices… that one is okay dubbed.