tehslaphappy 2008-11-09 17:49:39

When originality died, we went wrong.

JonBro 2008-11-09 18:32:45

Pixar always seems to come up with great ideas and present them in a truly artistic way. They don't just whip out a mediocre storyline and make it CGI just to make it popular like Dreamworks keeps doing.

Classic Winnie the Pooh owns because it has plenty of charm and creativity, and is now considered a true classic. They shouldn't have ruined it with those stupid Book of Pooh puppet/costume/whatever shows.

I haven't seen Watership Down or The Last Unicorn, though I know a little bit about both. Maybe I ought to check them out soon.

JT1 2008-11-09 19:18:56

I remember All Dogs Go to Heaven. It was one of my favorite movies.

PolishMatt 2008-11-09 19:35:58

I blame soccer moms. And I think 'All Dogs Go to Heaven' is available on DVD which isn't a dying media, or at least not for any time soon.

ZekeySpaceyLizard 2008-11-09 19:42:38

"What would you consider to be the three most daring *mainstream* kids movies of the last decade?"

see you put mainstream there to keep me from listing things like Nocturna and Triplets of Belleville.

but I'm pretty damn sure Watership Down was not a mainstream film.

Lalo 2008-11-09 19:49:38

Totally agree with this.

MindChamber 2008-11-09 20:12:20

I totally agree, some of my biggest inspiration is from don bluth and Ralph Bakshi films

supyohos123 2008-11-09 20:19:12

Don Bluth is pretty old. He really needs to do that Dragon Lair animation that he wants to do.

PlayPlaya2 2008-11-09 20:31:32

Once upon a time, kids' movies prepared them for the real world.

Now, it's all laced with the "let's be friends" hippy bullshit.

Yuggoth 2008-11-09 20:41:45

We went wrong in 1928 or whenever...when religious zealots got into Hollywood. Don't get me wrong, you religious people can stand kneel stand kneel and eat your crackers and drink your grape juice and dip babies in 'water', but it should remain among those that want it. I mean look at the 'concerned parents of america' or 'parents movie regulation board' these people are the ones you want to blame for the true debauchery they claim to be "movies". They get their claws into everything and ruin it. You can't even smoke in movies anymore without it being pg. These are the people that are responsible for the ongoing mental breakdown psychosis of the american youth. We should go back to the days of caligula and deep throat; heh, 70's. Whatever...the wheel should go full circle here shortly, and pantless parties and roman-esque orgies will once again occur in great frequency. Until then, hunker down with your Grand Theft Autos, your Dooms (the good ones) and your gritty old school comic books, and the trusty VHS...and wait out the storm.

Revolution-Wolf 2008-11-09 20:57:35

God, I hate all this 'decency' bullshit. It's turning into the 50's again.

I had a babysitter who took a quick glance at a copy of "Fritz the Cat", thought it was a kids movie, and sat me down to watch it when I was 6. Simply put, it was the best thing to ever happen to me.

Tystarr 2008-11-09 21:12:34

I have to disagree.
I loved All Dogs go heaven when I was younger but I don't see anything wrong with the cartoon movies nowadays. The world is full of so much negativity viewers deserve a happy ending in a movie.

WAaAzZAaA 2008-11-09 21:25:18

all that censoring,
and 14 year old american girls getting pregnant..

hmm, what a world

Noobkiller 2008-11-09 21:35:18

Holy Crap! Is that a rabbit eating someone!?

JimmySavage 2008-11-09 21:44:54

There may not be many dark or realistically violent mainstream animations these days, but there weren't many before the 70s, or even during the 70s and 80s either. Most mainstream animations are made for young children as entertainment - and if they watch Watership down, they will watch it as entertainment, not for life lessons. I'm partially with you, I'd love to see a healthy mix of animations with different ratings in theaters instead of ONLY toons for young kids. But I don't understand why you'd have to show your kids an animation if you wanted them to see how difficult and horrific life can be. You've got plenty of live action movies to chose from, like 8mm or Requiem for a Dream etc. There will be dark(ish) animations to come, they're definitely not dead. Also, I'd say reading Watership Down is more important than watching the animation.

Evil-Dog 2008-11-09 22:15:18

I totally agree...now I'm not suggesting a good replacement here but I much prefer asian animated movies like Princess mononoke, Spirited Away and such...they're still a bit kiddy but brings harsh stuff to the table...

In general I think a lot of art forms have gotten soft with time...more and more things are taboo...everybody complains about everything...
Just as a personnal experience, working at ubisoft on Farcry 2, we had all kind of issues with the animals in the game. There's a lot of pressure and debate when you want to be able to kill a fucking gazelle in a fucking game. There can't be blood or a realistic behavior no, that would be innapropriate. So when you can't let people kill a gazelle in a M-rated game, don't wonder why kid's movie are all about candies and sunshine. We're getting too civilized for our own good. My 2 cents.

AwesomeX 2008-11-09 22:25:37

Kids movies are all comedies nowadays. but things like Madagascar make me smile, cause it has the adult jokes mixed in with the kid ones

HolyPeanuts 2008-11-09 22:31:47

Another good one is The Secret of Nimh, I remember watching that as a kid a lot. It not a Watership Down, but its no Madagascar either.

Super rats ftw.

Fusei 2008-11-09 22:49:00

AMEN! I mean for god's sake ppl! we have been degenerating and gettin more censorship prone. i'm glad u brought this up, negative1, cause this is teh reason so many ppl like anime: ITS NOT AFRAID TO SHOW ANYTHING>>>! it has all the action and 'raunchiness' of teh old cartoons.

nowadays itz all about the 'fun for the whole family' rated G bullshit that has no realism watsoever. When i see that lion from madagascar actually graphically eat that zebra in madagascar, i might change my mind. any kid i walk past who says he loves madagascar, i will show him either Ultimate Hellsing OVA or a live action lion mauling a zebra...either is a good dose of mortality. And maybe some scenes of Darfur or teh Holocaust or sometin.

All this talk reminds me...i need to c some more old cartoons. all of teh good shit was made afore i was born T.T

omegafinal 2008-11-09 23:39:16

This post is contains the reasons why I rarely go out and see animated movies this day and age. Not to mention I cannot think of any hand-drawn animated movies being released in theaters as of late (besides maybe anime like Paprika), it's all computer CG. I think there is one, but I cannot be sure.

Like most people, I blame the "keeping it safe" audience. An animated film should be able to kick the audience off a cliff if it wants to, if you know what I mean.

Still have to see Watership Down.