Animate Yourself

It really is amazing when a film designed to entertain children can come come and entertain the masses. Films like that should be rightly applauded. Leading the pack in todays animation is Pixar, who have yet to do a film that is truly bad. Closely followed by Dreamworks and then finishing with Disney (and I'm talking pure Disney not Disney and Pixar). Back as far as I can remember it has always been Disney that have been the market leaders, their films are still historic and have passed down the generations suberbly. Everyone remembers the epic moment when the witch turns into the dragon in Sleeping beauty or the doggy spaggetti scene in Lady and the Tramp or bambi's mother not coming to the aid of her baby deer (what a tear jerker). Disney really went off the rails in their attempts to follow in Pixars shadow, they stepped out of their comfort zone and they were clearly a fish out of water with it. More recently they've gone back to doing what they do best fairytale fantasy, Princess and the Frog went back to 2D animation and pulled it off beautifully and even managed some old school disney music with it and made another hit with Tangled, 3D old school disney how wrong it could have gone, but it was done incredibly well and actually managed to combine old and new with amazing success.
Dreamworks still have a long way to go in my book. Antz was suberb, very simular to A Bugs Life by Pixar, but generally a really well done film, the humour may have been directed more towards adults, but there is no denying the quality of it. Antz was swiftly followed by Shrek, the one film that may have made Pixar quake in their boots. Shrek is a highly original and side splittingly funny afair that came at exactly the right time. Not every animation studio had converted to computer animation yet, so it still felt fresh and after years of disneyfied stories, a parody of them was a sure fire hit. Shrek 2 was a rare occasion when the sequel is the equal of the original. I believe this is due to Jennifer Saunders' devious fairy god mother which had a bite where Lord Farquad had a nibble. Shrek then went on into its third film and oh how the mighty do fall, despite a record breaking box office taking, Shrek the third was lackluster at best, lack of storyline being its main issue and the jokes between Donkey and Puss starting to wear very very thin. Dreamworks have done plenty since most mediocre, and any above mediocre not exactly memorable. Dreamworks seem to rely on star power more than story, so even when they get a good idea it seems to buckle along under the weight of the Hollywood movie stars providing the "characters" voices.
Pixar are by far the leaders in the animation world both critically and commercially. Toy Story 3 they're most recent work was in a word, incredible. Emotional, funny, exhilarating, sweet, scary quite literally everything you want in a film. Though I thought The Kings Speech was a great film I really felt as though Toy Story 3 was robbed of the Oscar it so rightly deserved. Up was also a tremendous work of film making, the montage at the beginning of the film could melt the hearts of even the most hardened exteriors. Wall.E. was a work of genius, if a little bit stilted for my personal liking, Monster Inc and Finding Nemo yet another emotional tug of war with more funny bits than intentional comedies. Their only mis-step in my eyes is Cars, though not the car crash it could have been in the hands of a less experienced film makers.
All in all Pixar are the defining film makers at the moment, disney do seem to be back on form and Dreamworks latest offerings have aparently been very good. Animation is not for children, its for everyone and anyone, it is film making brilliance to which many have failed at. Japanese animation goes to places that Pixar and Disney could only touch the surface of. Spirited Away is so beautiful and sweet and strange its a must see for people that like film. If you like film watch animation, if you claim to like film and dislike animation you do not like film... end of story.