Pop Culture Buzz

#1 - “The Nightmare Before Christmas”

Tim Burton’s mind blowing trippy claymation tale serves up a two punch holiday treat, which is great for watching starting at Halloween all the way to Christmas! Every inch of this film is unique and creative down to every memorable song to the minor background details. This cartoon gets the most repeat viewings than any other title on this list.

#2 - “The Iron Giant”

When “The Iron Giant” came out cartoon fans around the world were in the midst of a bad period in Hollywood feature film animation. The lush hand drawn images (which is no longer used as a format of animation) from “The Iron Giant” are breathtaking. Director/Screenwriter Brad Bird has gone on to create “The Incredibles” and “Ratatouille” for Pixar. The simple story of a boy and a giant robot in Cold War era U.S.A. will tug at your heart strings and leave you warm and fuzzy afterward.

#3 - “The Emperor’s New Groove”

This film makes me laugh out loud the hardest and it never fails to amuse me after multiple viewings. “Emperor” is one of the last hand drawn cell animated films that Disney made, which is a shame because the colors and backgrounds in this film are beautiful. The outstanding vocal talents of David Spade, Eartha Kitt and Patrick Warburton are some of the best animated comedic vocal work ever! This movie has more laughs than any other title on this list and that is saying a lot.

#4 - “Finding Nemo”

One of the best animated comedies ever, and in my opinion the best Pixar and computer animated film ever created. “Finding Nemo” gives a shout out to all of the single father’s in the world with a touching tender dad and son story and gorgeous animation. Ellen Degeneres is remarkable and hilarious as Dory. I use so many one liners from this movie it isn’t even funny…..”shark bait”.

#5 - “South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut”

The best adult cartoon EVER made is hands down “South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut”. The movie even garnered a best song Academy Award nomination. Critics and fans alike loved the nasty, over the top humor and side splitting cultural references. This movie will shock you and then make you laugh uncontrollably. This movie is not for kids, thank god!

#6 - “The Spongebob Squarepants Movie”

Here is a cartoon feature that is more for kids but has a lot of subversive humor for adults to chuckle at. For instance when Patrick and SpongeBob get drunk off of ice cream it is too funny for words. Spongebob is one of the best animated characters of all time and this movie perfectly embodies the silly, love-able tone that the t.v. show has.

#7 - “The Secret of Nimh”

My love for rats as a child made this movie an obvious choice. This was the first glimpse I got of animal cruelty and lab animals as a child and it haunts me still to this day. The gorgeous and classical hand drawn animation by genius Don Bluth could not be recreated by computers from today’s animation studios. This movie is a good way to introduce children to respecting little creatures, even the gross ones.

#8 - “The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb”

This disturbing, warped analogy of modern society, genetics and science is an emotional roller coaster. With no dialog and multiple forms of animation techniques used this is the most bizarre film on my list. It is a hidden gem and not many people know of it, so if you like odd demented fairy tales than this is your film. “The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb” is a marvel to look at. It is fun to count the many ways in which the creators used various types of animation in just one scene, you will be amazed and scared.

#9 - “Fantasia”

This movie has always been considered one of the best animated films of all time. Ahead of its time, “Fantasia” was at the same time seen as high art and as drug propaganda when it came out. I can see why, the classically drawn animation and color pallet are remarkable and tease the eye. The music and animation are perfectly matched. This is like an extended Mtv music video, before Mtv was even around. This film is one of Walt Disney’s most brilliant ideas ever.

#10 - “Beauty & The Beast”

The songs on this film are some of my favorite from an any animated film. The mix of hand drawn animation and CGI was ahead of its time when “Beauty & The Beast” was released. This is still the first animated film to ever be nominated for best feature film by the Academy of Motion Pictures. It swept the music categories at the Oscar’s in 1991 and has gone down in history as one of the crowning jewels of one of Disney’s golden periods.

#11 - “The Last Unicorn”

This early 80’s era cartoon is a bit heavy and has a haunting message. As a kid some of the images in this film scared the hell out of me. As an adult I have learned to love the harsh underlined moral and sad premise. This film is another hand drawn masterpiece with so much detail and energy put into the lush backgrounds and the scenic details. The music is corny but for any fan they will bring you back to when you first saw this movie.

#12 - “Fantastic Planet”

This is my favorite Sci-Fi animated movie, and one of all time favorite Sci-Fi flicks ever. This movie is definitely “trippy” and weird, but also a refreshing change of pace from the soft cheesy Disney-esque animation we are used to. This film also doesn’t have much dialog which is made up for with it’s bizarre martian landscapes, odd creatures and somewhat horrific premise. This has to be seen to be believed.

#13 - “The Fox & The Hound”

This movie taught me more about friendship and about the differences in people more than any other cartoon growing up. The cute as hell animated main characters resemble school yard kids going through the growing pains of youth. The mellow, soft animation and terrific narration make this a subtle family classic.

#14 - “Alice In Wonderland”

This film was the wackiest and silliest Disney cartoon around growing up. I love the faithfulness to the story book classic and the huge cast of characters. I still find myself singing the songs from this animated film to this day. I watched this movie a bit too much as a kid. The drug references were lost on me as a kid, but now as an adult, it is worth viewing once again. It is a timeless cartoon that never loses its charm.

#15 - “Heavy Metal”

I picked this film because it is one of the best adult cartoons ever drawn. This movie is at times scary, gory, funny, subversive and silly like a Looney Toons cartoon. The music hasn’t stood up to the test of time but the silly stoner charm has kept up after the years. Where else can you see animated aliens snorting cosmic cocaine? Classic!

HONORABLE MENTION:

“Princess Mononoke”
“All Dogs Go To Heaven”
“The Jungle Book”
“Gay Purree”
“The Phantom Tollbooth”
“Who Framed Roger Rabbit?”
“The Hobbit”
“The Incredible Mr. Limpet”
“Shrek”
“A Bugs Life”
“Charlotte’s Web”