Worst to Best Animated Features of 2017 Part 3

(If you like what you see, you can go to camseyeview.biz to see more of my work on video game reviews, editorials, lists, Kickstarters, developer interviews, and review/talk about animated films. If you would like, consider contributing to my Patreon at patreon.com/camseyeview. It would help support my work, and keeps the website up. Thanks for checking out my work, and I hope you like this editorial!)

Here is Part 3 of the list! If you want to see part 1 and part 2, I have hyperlinked them in this sentence! I hope you all enjoy the next part of this list!

18. Justice League: Dark

Maybe it was the fact that the 2016 line-up of DC-animated films was not that great, but Justice League: Dark was such an improvement on the other films from 2016. It had a more consistent and dark tone, I liked the character dynamics more, and the action was way better than most, because of all of the magic use. Sure, the main threat was a bore, but I’m fine with any way we can fit Alfred Molina and Constantine into a movie together.

17. My Little Pony the Movie

I understand why this film didn’t really make a splash, but for a film based on a TV show, I found it enjoyable. It might not have hit every point of why people love this incarnation of the franchise, but it was a solid action-adventure romp. It struggled to mix 2D and CGI together, and the main villain was, just like Justice League: Dark, was not the best, but I had fun with this movie. I liked the jokes, most of the characters, and it was just good to see a 2D animated film in theaters.

16. Batman vs. Two-Face

The last film the great Adam West was cast in is a wonderful sendoff to one of the most iconic actors of the past. It was a story that was able to pace itself better, the jokes and more serious moments were balanced out, the character chemistry was just right, and the animation looked great. It’s a fantastic DC-animated feature, and I highly recommend checking out this one last hurrah for Adam West.

15. Ocean Waves

On one hand, I can understand why this film took so long to come over to the states. It’s not the most whimsical film, it doesn’t really have the more fantastical elements of a Miyazaki or Takahata, and we don’t even get an English dub in the official release. However, I still found myself enjoying this movie. I liked following the teens in the film through romance and maturing into adults. Even though Ghibli never let something like this happen again, where they had the younger staff members make a movie, I still enjoyed Ocean Waves.

14. The LEGO Ninjago Movie

Listen, I think in the long run, it was the best thing to not connect it to the TV show. It was a good idea to make this stand on its own. It might be the third best LEGO Movie of the theatrically-released films, and it might not have the same depth as LEGO Batman or the original LEGO Movie, but I still had a blast with the action, the writing, and the fairly solid voice acting. Hopefully the new upcoming LEGO film can put everything back on track.

13. A Silent Voice

While it has its problems in pacing, and a few characters that either don’t do anything, or don’t get a proper consequence handed to their behavior in the entire film, A Silent Voice is a powerful film about redemption and understanding one another. Along with the incredible soundtrack, it’s an emotional roller coaster with its ups and downs with a pretty satisfying arc for a majority of the characters. I think I even prefer it over Your Name. Now then, Elevenarts, you need to actually release this movie on DVD now!

12. Window Horses

This was easily one of the more unique offerings during the 2017 animation scene. While you can definitely compare it to The Prophet, with different directors directing different poetry sequences, it’s a more personal story about finding oneself, and the power of family. Do not let the art style turn you away from one of the more diverse and unique animated offerings of this decade. Sandra Oh did a great job with this movie, and I hope she tries out other projects like this in the future.

11. Ethel & Ernest

Yeah, this art style should be instantly recognizable to anyone who has seen the classic Christmas short, The Snowman, because this film is Raymond Briggs focusing on the life of his father and mother. The story focuses on them as they go through the time they first met, through World War II, and up to their deaths. It’s a charming and charismatic movie that I wish more people knew about. It’s beautifully animated with some great performances and incredibly touching scenes. It’s only available on DVD, which is a shame, but if you see it, please do pick up a copy of this film.

Worst to Best Animated Films of 2016 Part 3

(If you like what you see, you can go to camseyeview.biz to see more of my work on video game reviews, editorials, lists, Kickstarters, developer interviews, and review/talk about animated films. If you would like, consider contributing to my Patreon at patreon.com. It would help support my work, and keeps the website up. Thanks for checking out my work, and I hope you like this editorial!)

Welcome back, everyone, to part 3 of this very long list. As usual, if you haven’t seen part 2, here is a link to it. I’m counting down the worst-to-the-best animated films that I saw from 2016, and we shall now move onto the films that are really good, and I would start highly recommending them as not just rentals, but purchases. These are the films that you should have in your movie collection.

18. Batman: The Return of the Caped Crusaders

I think it’s safe to say that The Return of the Caped Crusaders was the most universally loved of the films DC put out in 2016. While yes, it did go off of nostalgia of the Adam West TV series, it still was able to hold its own with very clever writing and commentary about how Batman has been portrayed in recent history. The jokes are hilarious, and the cast of actors are all pretty good. The film does start to lose steam in the final act, and sometimes the actors deliver some clunky lines, but don’t let that get in the way of you from checking out the best DC film from 2016.

17. Mune: Guardian of the Moon

I consider this to be the The Book of Life of 2016. Mune: Guardian of the Moon has a really great CGI visual style, a cool world, and it does that thing I like about foreign animated films, and dips into both CGI and 2D animation. I love the idea about how everything is a cooperative effort, and one side can’t do everything without having some setbacks. I also think it does the foreign CGI animation the best alongside The Painting, since it looks great with a truly unique visual style. It’s a shame though, that it suffers from the same problems that The Book of Life suffers from in that the lead characters aren’t that interesting and the token female is very bland. The world also need a tiny bit more fleshing out, since the beginning of the film sort of rushes you into it. They also could have taken out some characters, and they would not be missed. Still, I overlooked those flaws, because I had a blast watching a film that also gave off a bad first impression. Once GKids releases this film in August, I would definitely recommend watching it.

16. 25 April

If you wanted something to compliment your copy of Hacksaw Ridge, then this is the film for you. 25 April tackles a real-life battle from World War 1 known as the Gallipoli Campaign. Like a lot of foreign animated CGI films, they use motion-capture, but pair it up with a rather colorful and vibrant comic book-style art to the characters. However, you shouldn’t think this is going to be nothing but rainbows and cupcakes that spew kittens. Why? Because the battle they show is brutal, violent, but since it’s animation, it also brings in some very pretty and creative visuals. I was really hooked on the characters, and learning a bit about the history of the battle since I’m not fully familiar with what went on during the first World War. However, the motion-capture movements can come off as wonky, and there are a few odd decisions in the story that did take me out of the viewing experience. I haven’t seen an official US release announcement of the film yet, but I hope to hear about it soon, so hopefully, everyone else can check out a rather unique film.

15. Your Name

When I was making this list, and everyone was saying this was the best film of 2016 along with the best animated film of 2016, I knew I was going to upset everyone when I put Your Name so “low” on the list. I still very much enjoyed the movie. The animation was gorgeous, the scenery was beautiful, I enjoyed the chemistry between the two leads, and I think the overall idea and experience is one everyone should check out. Unfortunately, I found the story to fall apart by the second half. They also needed to explain some elements better, like the body-swapping, and what exactly is going on in the second half after the big twist. I was still invested by the end, and I still enjoy this movie, but personally, this film was overhyped. It’s flawed, but I still liked it, and people should indeed go support it.

14. Phantom Boy

You mean the duo of directors behind A Cat in Paris made a new movie? Of course, I’m going to watch it and buy it. This tale about a sick boy who can leave his body, and gets wrapped up in a crime thriller is one of the more fun animated films of 2016. The kid is great, the police officer is great, and Vincent D’Onofrio is just perfectly hammy as the villain. It has the same charming chemistry and alluring atmosphere that kept me invested all the way through A Cat in Paris. It does have some issues, like I think they could have gone deeper and more complex with the lead’s ability to leave his body, and the ending is sort of confusing, but I still had a fun time with this creative crime thriller.

13. Kung Fu Panda 3

Be prepared everyone, this is the last good DreamWorks film we are going to get for a while. Seriously though, all joking aside, I really did like the third film with its emphasis on the father-to-son relationship, and the father-to-stepfather relationship. It was really the heart of the movie on top of the great humor, fun action, and gorgeous animation. There is a reason why this is one of DreamWorks best franchises. Unfortunately, it fell a tad flat, due to a weak if enjoyable villain, and it had a few too many familiar story elements from the previous films. I still love this movie, but it’s one of those films that got hit by the sequel-itis bug, and couldn’t fully escape it. Even then, I really loved this film and it showed you can have good movies in January.

12. Finding Dory

I know this was also a very popular movie, since it was one of the most financially profitable films of 2016, but like Kung Fu Panda 3, Finding Dory did fall into a tiny bit of sequel-itis that holds it back from me fully enjoying it. Sure, it’s just the first 20 minutes, but still. I also just love Finding Nemo so much, and no matter how good this film was going to be, it was never going to top the original. However, even with all that said, Finding Dory is still really good. I love Dory’s story arc, and how the themes are aimed more at adults than the children, the animation is downright amazing, the colors are vibrant, the voice cast is perfect, and the characters are very memorable. It’s a movie that touches the heart and soul, even if it wasn’t my favorite film of the year.

11. The Red Turtle

While it is a bummer that this film didn’t make more money, since it’s one of the most unique films of the year, it’s understandable, since for some reason or another, people don’t really know how to react to films with minimal or no dialogue. It means that with no witty or creative dialogue to rely on for the overall experience, the film’s animation and story has to be tight. For the most part, The Red Turtle does succeed in completing such a task. It’s a beautiful and emotional meditation on life, and how one goes through the hardships and challenges that life can put in front of you. I think the story could have been a bit tighter, and some elements could have been explained better. I also don’t see myself watching this Oscar-nominated film a lot, but I still really think people should support it.

Stay tuned for the final part of the list coming out in the future.

Worst to Best Animated Films of 2016 Part 2

(If you like what you see, you can go to camseyeview.biz to see more of my work on video game reviews, editorials, lists, Kickstarters, developer interviews, and review/talk about animated films. If you would like, consider contributing to my Patreon at patreon.com. It would help support my work, and keeps the website up. Thanks for checking out my work, and I hope you like this editorial!)

Welcome back, everyone, to part 2 of this very long list. As usual, if you haven’t seen part 1, here is a link to it. I’m counting down the worst-to-the-best animated films that I saw from 2016, and we shall now move onto the films that are middle of the road, disappointing, and at the very least, visually interesting.

27. Monkey King: Hero is Back

Want an example of one of the worst dubs that I can ever think of? This movie is the prime example of a distributor that didn’t really care about pushing out a good dub for this popular Chinese-animated CGI action flick. It sounds like they were rushing to get this out, and ignored the level of quality. Even then, a good dub wouldn’t have saved the other problems this film has, like its very Hollywoodized version of the legendary folk tale, horrible jokes, the multiple times the kid should have died but didn’t, and the better than most, but still middling animation. The fight scenes are fun to watch, and out of all the Chinese-animation schlock that Lionsgate, for some reason, likes to bring over, Monkey King: Hero is Back is watchable. It’s the most watchable one out of those films, but that doesn’t mean much when the rest isn’t worth sitting through.

26. Justice League vs. Teen Titans

Man, it was kind of tough to say this was better than The Killing Joke, because I don’t like this one a lot either. Not only is the title misleading, since the Titans don’t fight the actual League members, but rather fight Trigon-possessed version of them, and get floored by them, but it also focuses way too much on quite possibly the worst character in the current DC-animated film universe, Damian Wayne. Yes, I get why he is as he is, and he does get a good fight later on in the film, but they focused way too much on the guy when it wasn’t really his story. This left the film with very underdeveloped characters that I hope get more screen-time in the upcoming Teen Titans: The Judas Contract(spoiler alert: They do.). I do like some of the characters and the scenes in Justice League vs. Teen Titans, but if this was supposed to be the one reason why we got Young Justice season 3, or anything Teen Titans-related, then I feel scammed, because I had to support a bad movie to get good stuff!

25. The Angry Birds Movie

Talk about a film that had no reason to be anything but terrible, and ended up a rather decent experience. While I don’t think it’s a great movie, it probably had more effort put into its writing and characters, than any of the previous films on this list. For the most part, I still enjoyed the film’s dialogue, the jokes, and Red and his cohorts were fun to watch. Yeah, everything starts to dissolve into terrible film tripe when the pigs show up, the Mighty Eagle played by Peter Dinklage was pointless and easily the worst part of the movie beyond the celebrity cameos, but by the end, I was enjoying myself due to the voice work. While definitely a mediocre film, it’s the best video game adaptation to have come out to put a lot of the video game film adaptations to shame.

24. The Secret Life of Pets

While I’m fine with this film doing well in the box office, since it shows “original” films can do well, The Secret Life of Pets still feels so painfully average. It doesn’t do anything in its story well, but it’s not bad either in what it does. I can see why people were so upset with this film’s success, due to how unoriginal and bland it can be. It also doesn’t help that it had 100 different characters who had no real personality to them. Everything was well voice acted and animated well, but the writing was weak, and the characters needed more time to either be fleshed out or taken out of the film altogether. While definitely leagues better than most films from 2016, The Secret Life of Pets will be yet another example of Illumination Entertainment having a great idea, but no noteworthy execution of said idea.

23. Trolls

Honestly, this film was much higher on the list at one time. I loved the art style, the animation, the voice work, and some of the fairytale-style ideas. I also loved the idea of happiness that it attempted to show throughout the film. Because of all this, it rose above such horrible first impressions with that very first teaser trailer. However, as time went on, I kept bumping it down the list. It might have great ideas, but it never takes full advantage of them. About 80% of the characters don’t have any real character to them outside of their celebrity voices, and much of this otherwise-solid movie felt very manufactured. Like, really? Did we need Gwen Stefani as one of the characters, when she barely has a voice or role? Still, it’s an enjoyable watch, but I get why some were not so happy about this film.

22. Belladonna of Sadness

Yes, this one counts, since it was never released in the states, even though it came out in the 1970s. Belladonna of Sadness was the final film from this adult animated trilogy that was started by the grandfather of all anime creators, Osamu Tezuka. It’s a beautifully abstract animated film, with all the trippy sexual energy you would see in an animated films from the 70s aimed at adults. Unfortunately, due to how limited the actual animation is, and how uncomfortable the beginning of the film is, its sexual themes will probably turn off a lot of people to this film. It’s the one film I can think of where I will agree and disagree at the same time if you love or hate this movie. It’s a bizarre and interesting experience that is definitely worth checking out if you are into film or animation history.

21. Sausage Party

Just like Trolls, Sausage Party was higher on the list at one point, but as usual, I thought about it and bumped it down a few pegs. It was mostly because while I found the film funny, a lot of its humor was “miss”, since I’m picky about my stoner humor, and of course, the controversy revolving around the abused animators really does bring this film down. It’s a shame, too, because there was a lot of effort put into its themes and writing, it was a hilarious parody of Pixar-style films, and it’s great that this film opened the door for more animated films to be aimed at adults. It’s still a blast to watch, but your mileage may vary depending on who you are, but hey, that’s comedy.

20. Storks

This was an amusing surprise, and a sad tragedy that this film didn’t do better in terms of box office numbers. I won’t deny that I get why people are split on this film, but at the very least, I sat through the entire film and found it to be a really great comedic watch. Yes, its world-building and characters are not well fleshed out, but it had the best comedy of the comedy-based animated films of the year. It had beautiful, fast-paced animation, a great comedic cast of actors, and it’s an entertaining experience. I wish it was better, since it doesn’t reach The LEGO Movie or Shrek 2, in terms of animated comedy heights, but I’m definitely going to be watching this one again in the future.

19. SING

Oh, hey, look, another Illumination Entertainment film is low on the list. While I do admire that the studio was branching out in 2016 with two new films that are not Despicable Me-related, it still had plenty of the flaws you would find in these films, with underdeveloped characters, stories, and, once again, a great crowd-pleasing idea that isn’t taken fully advantage of. It was really aggravating, because this film’s advertising was everywhere, to an extremely nauseating degree. Even then, I still had fun watching this movie. The animation was great, the designs are solid, the contestants are relatable and likable, the music is fantastic, the actors did a great job portraying their characters, and it was a film I’m glad was better than what I was thinking it would be. I always like being surprised. I just hope Illumination can step up their game with future films.

That is it for Part 2 of the list, be prepared for part 3 in the future.

Worst to Best Animated Films of 2016 Part 1

(If you like what you see, you can go to camseyeview.biz to see more of my work on video game reviews, editorials, lists, Kickstarters, developer interviews, and review/talk about animated films. If you would like, consider contributing to my Patreon at patreon.com. It would help support my work, and keeps the website up. Thanks for checking out my work, and I hope you like this editorial!)

Welcome, one and all, to my worst to best animated films of 2016! As a whole, 2016 was fantastic, and if it wasn’t for the theatrical release of a couple of films, it would have been a perfect year. The ground rules are the same as last time. They had to have been released in the states in 2016. This means any foreign films that are released in 2016, but not in the states, do not count. I will also be very strict with straight-to-DVD releases, since the only way they are going to show up on this list is if they had a lot of hype or praise put behind them. If I tackled every straight-to-DVD release, it would be one gigantic pile of schlock and garbage that would be wasting not only your time, but mine, as well. The films also need to have had theatrical releases or digital distribution releases, so that means films like Belladonna of Sadness and The Little Prince make the list. It’s once again, my opinion and my opinion only, because I’m the only one making the list! If you disagree or agree, that’s perfectly fine. I just request you don’t be a jerk about it. Let’s get started with the worst shall we?

37. Norm of the North

If there was one movie this year that would make me want to curse loudly into the heavens, and want Hollywood to be shut down, revamped, and run by more competent people, it would be Norm of the North. This has everything that is horrible, not only about the animation industry, but the film industry overall. It doesn’t have a story, no likable characters, horrible animation, and is the most offensive, cynical, creatively bankrupt, and condescending film I have seen in a long time. It’s Jem and the Holograms 2015 levels of insulting. The only reason it’s not the worst film I have ever seen is because to me, Delgo and Violence Jack are worse, but this is still the third worst animated film of all time, and easily, the worst animated film of 2016. Anyone who worked on this should be ashamed that it got released in theaters, when it had no right to be.

36. Underdogs

The smartest thing this film ever did was stay straight-to-DVD, because this movie is just as bad as Norm of the North. However, it ruins that notion with one smart move of being put directly on Netflix. It might have slightly better animation, but it’s still not cinema-worthy, which makes me think that the Weinsteins knew what they had. The animation is clunky, the designs are ugly, the voice acting is nonexistent, since none of the actors are putting in the effort, it all sounds like it was done in a day, the plot is terrible, there are story bits that are never brought up again, the villain is stupid, the film tries to end on a Rocky-like ending when it doesn’t deserve it, and you can really see why The Weinstein Company tried to cover this film up. Hope they don’t pull this kind of garbage with Leap!

35. Bling

It’s a film that is surprisingly forgettable, but is just as aggravating to think about, when I do remember this cheap Korean knock-off. Yes, I did say that the fights can be decent, and James Woods is the only enjoyable thing about this film. However, Tom Green sounds like he got hit by a tranquilizer, there are way too many fart jokes, too many side characters, bad humor, a horrible moral that pushes materialism over actual love/being in a loving relationship, and no one does a believable performance. Then again, if I was told I was going to be voicing a character in a movie that had the writer behind the first Alpha & Omega in it, I would also not give a rat’s behind in giving a good performance.

 34. The Wild Life

It’s quite shocking that Lionsgate had the utter gall in 2016 to release two obviously straight-to-DVD-made animated films into theaters. While The Wild Life does have better textures, better designs and animation than the previous films on this list, it’s still pretty robotic, and you can just feel the film try to be more animated than it can be. The story is stupid, the characters are one-note to a huge fault, it’s not really funny, the villains are even more pathetic than the one in Underdogs, and, well, really, Lionsgate? Was this film worth bringing to the theaters, when you are pretty much fine with wasting money on buying straight-to-DVD garbagefests? I respect the film stayed away from a lot of the tropes that make bad animated films, and at the very least, it was trying to be as good as it could be. But just because I say that doesn’t mean it’s a good movie. Just ignore this film.

33. Ice Age: Collision Course

Finally! We get to talk about a film that rightfully deserved to be in theaters. Sadly, it’s Ice Age: Collision Course. I don’t get why these are made, and Fox shouldn’t have greenlit this one. Hopefully, with the film underperforming, it means they can put a stop to the franchise, because if the next film is anything like Collision Course, then so help me, I’d rather eat the script to the director’s cut of Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy, than sit through another Ice Age film. The main characters are pointless, Nick Offerman as the main villain is wasted potential, the film relies way too much on butt and poop jokes, they make modern day references when there are no reasons to, everyone is annoying, and all the actors in this film are wasted on such a stupid, heartless script. Simon Pegg was great, but even then, his material couldn’t save the film. Avoid this one at all cost, and I feel badly for any parent who bought this movie and has to watch it with their kids.

32. Ratchet & Clank

The good news is that they got the look of the game down perfectly. The bad news is that this is a horrible movie. Sure, it’s not Norm of the North terrible, and it is at the very least, watchable, but that’s no excuse. It’s probably the biggest flop in terms of animated films from 2016, when it had the easiest job in terms of being a video game movie. It looks like the game, but the animation and texture quality is still not up-to-par, the lead duos don’t get a lot of screen time, the other characters can be annoying, the jokes are more miss than hit, and I feel like fans of the games are defending this film for no reason. It’s a bad movie, no matter how you look at it.

31. Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV

This is probably the prettiest film on this entire list. It also has the most realistic-looking humans that you will see. Sadly, in terms of the context of the main Final Fantasy XV experience, it’s all seems very pointless. You see characters die who had no real development to them, the big celebrity voices they hired had no purpose other than name recognition, and due to this being a prequel, you are just stuck wondering if you should be invested with anything or not. The fight scenes can be decent, but let’s just say when I do start to play Final Fantasy XV, I will have fonder memories in that game than Kingsglaive.

30. Batman: The Killing Joke.

If there was one animated film in 2016, that could be considered the most disappointing, it would probably be Batman: The Killing Joke. All this hype for a film adaptation of one of comic history’s most infamous stories, the original 90s Batman animated series’ actors like Tara Strong, Kevin Conroy, and Mark Hamill were reprising their roles, and it was getting an edgy R rating. Too bad it became one of 2016 and DC’s biggest laughing stocks. The additional 30 minutes added to the story was pointless, the infamous sex scene was creepy and terrible, the actual Killing Joke part got hampered by the additional story, the animation was terrible, and the whole film felt like it rode on the hype without being worth it. Oh, and this film had no right in being rated R. It was nowhere close to that level of shocking or mature. I get some people are trying to defend Batman and Batgirl’s notorious sex scene, but come on. There is no reason to defend this film. If you like it, more power to you, but for me, I don’t think I could ever muster up enough effort to watch Batman: The Killing Joke ever again.

29. Snowtime!

A film that could have been a harmless bit of fluff, ends up being just that, but with an unneeded tragic third act. I don’t think I have ever seen such a horrible change of tone in any film from 2016. It also doesn’t help that the film has boring characters, and any potential in being more than fluff is wasted. It’s not a great film, but considering that it’s higher up on the list, you can tell I have seen worse.

28. Batman: Bad Blood

This just felt like a Marvel filler movie. And I mean, in a way that this felt like this story was told just to make way for a better future story. Then again, this was right after Batman vs. Robin, which is a great watch. I just got bored watching the movie, and while it does do some firsts, like introduce Batwoman in the new DC animated film universe, but it’s not enough. Don’t get me wrong, Bad Blood still has good voice work and some fun action scenes. I just don’t see myself watching Bad Blood in the near future.

Thanks for checking out Part One! Stay tuned for Part Two in the future!