Hey guys! Today I finished video 2 in my series on the Animated Oscars. It is 2002 and so I asked Did the Right Film Win?
For this video I rewatched Ice Age and wasn’t very impressed. I found the animation to look very amateurish and the story very predictable. I’ve always felt it was a bit of a Monsters Inc copycat (studios loved doing that to Pixar in those days). It’s harmless but I was surprised I didn’t enjoy it more on rewatch.
I also saw Spirit Stallion of the Cimarron for the first time and really enjoyed that. It’s got striking animation and I liked they didn’t have the horse talk like in Bambi or other films. The narration is all you need. It’s kind of like Black Beauty in the Old West and I liked it. Definitely one of the better Dreamworks films and great music by Hanz Zimmer.
The rest are less a surprise to my readers. Lilo and Stitch has really grown on me each time I see it. Treasure Planet is beautiful but for some reason puts me to sleep. And Spirited Away is a complete masterpeice.
I’d love for you to put your comments on the nominees and winner. If you watch the video and think it is good give me a thumbs up. Thanks!
Ice Age is okay for little children, but it really isn’t as great as some people make it out to be.
Spirit I really enjoy, though I prefer the german dub. Matt Damon was a horrible choice for a narrator. The music is wonderful, I love Bryan Adams.
I love Treasure Planet, but the movie has too many hickups to be a contender. Lilo and Stitch would have been a serious contender in any other year, but Spirited Away really deserved to win it.
Yeah I pretty much agree with you. Matt Damon was an odd choice. I would have picked someone with more of a rugged old west voice like Sam Elliot. But I was surprised how much I enjoyed Spirit. It’s really good.
I agree Lilo and Stitch would win any other year and I think it is a film that improves the more I see it. Spirited Away really deserves it.
Oh, thank God I found someone who agrees with me! I listened to So Far So Good on basically an endless loop every time my dad and I went to Illinois to see his family in the summer when I was about 8-10 years old, and it has tremendous sentimental attachment to me.
And it’s bad enough we got that line in the South Park movie about how “the Canadian government has already apologized for Bryan Adams”, my own mother has made a longtime habit of changing the station every time he comes on.
Don’t tell me I should talk to her about my feelings. I tried when she changed the station on Summer of ’69 when I was 11. She said “I don’t like that song”, I burst out crying and she told me I was a baby and changed the station back to play the rest just out of spite.
Summer of 69 is a classic.
Is liking Bryan Adams so rare? He’s not my favorite singer of all time but I like him. I particularly like Return to Pooh Corner. What a sweet little song
“Summer of 69 is a classic”
One time my mom actually let it get about half a minute through before she changed the station. I think she must have been talking on her cell phone or something that let her guard slip.
Spirited Away, hands down!
I haven’t seen Spirited Away since back in 2005. I remember definitely enjoying it a lot. I’ll try to give it a rewatch soon. I probably would agree Spirited Away winning and actually probably put Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron at number 2. Not to say that I didn’t like Lilo & Stitch, Treasure Planet, or Ice Age. Still, I felt Spirited Away and Spirit might have been the better films of 2002. But I guess that’s just my opinion though. I’m glad to hear that you enjoyed Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron a lot. The is certainly an improvement from say Road To El Dorado, isn’t it? Anyway, great video by the way! I enjoyed it. Also, I’m glad you agree with the film that won.
Thanks so much! I can see Spirit Stallion being 2nd best. I really did like it. Maybe because I just saw it this morning and I’ve had longer to absorb Lilo and Stitch.
It is a million times better than Road to El Dorado. And I’d say it is better than Kung fu Pandas and may be better than How to Train Your Dragon….Will have to think about that one. It’s definitely in my top 3 Dreamworks films for sure. Have you ever seen Black Beauty? That’s very similar except for in a city. It also reminded me a little bit of Warhorse.
The animation was so great. It makes me doubly sad that Shrek moved Dreamworks away from this kind of bold striking work to the silly comedies. Sigh…
Yeah, I can see why you’d like Soirit better than Kung Fu panda or possibly even How To Train Your Dragon. I may like Spirit better than the former. I don’t know so much about the latter though. Still, they’re all great films. Yes, I’ve seen both a cartoon and live-action version of Black Beauty. Unfortunately, it’s been many years since I’ve seen either version though.
Yes, it’s really sad that the popularity of Shrek caused DreamWorks to move from hand-drawn animation, along with films bold moves like Prince of Egypt or Spirit, to CGI comedies like Over The Hedge, etc. Who knows, though, maybe DreamWorks may go try hand-drawn again sooner or later like Disney did. I guess we’ll see, though, eh?
By the way, I hope you get a chance to see Sinbad: Legend Of The Seven Seas soon. That is since it’s really good and DreamWorks’ last hand-drawn animated film. Maybe I’m wrong, but I think the reason that DreamWorks quit making hand-drawn films was likely because most of those weren’t as popular as their computer animated films that have been coming out today. That’s too bad because most, if not all, of the hand-drawn animated films made by DreamWorks were either really good or great. Just think, Prince Of Egypt was a success at the box-office, Spirit was only a moderate success, and Road To El Dorado and Sinbad were sadly box-office bombs. However, I’d say Sinbad is at least million times better than Road To El Dorado as well. Anyway, just saying! Great review once again!
Haven’t seen Sinbad yet but will get to it
Awesome! And no worries! You get to it when you do.
Oh, you’re welcome, by the way!
I do agree with you on this one, and see all 5 as good movies. I have not watched Spirited Away in about a decade, so my memories on it are vague to say the least.
Spirit was a bit of a surprise, but at the end of it, I just thought it was okay. Not one I would rewatch again.
I like Treasure Planet, but like you said, it is one I can do without, and I don’t think has much of a rewatchability factor.
Just seeing a part of the trailer in your video was ugly because the animation did not age well either. This film did not age well in any sense, and the sequel ruined whatever charm was in this film.
You already know what I feel about Lilo and Stitch. Overall a strong contention list for the time.