The Other Side of Animation Awards 2020!

(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 review!)

Welcome, one and all, to The Other Side of Animation Awards! To end the decade, we will be celebrating the theatrical animation scene. I’ve got to tell you all, this was tough! With a group of judges of me, myself, and I, I decided to make an award show that would pay tribute to the thrilling year of 2019. Before we begin, if you wonder why I chose me, myself, and I as judges, well, that’s because of the 32 animated films submitted last year, I saw 29 of them. That’s more than most of the Academy Voters ever see. Now, let’s get started!

Best US Animated Film: The category for the best US feature film.

NOMS: Toy Story 4, The LEGO Movie Part 2, Abominable, Frozen II, Missing Link, How to Train your Dragon: The Hidden World, Klaus, and Spies in Disguise.

Result: This was tough, because while I did enjoy all of these films, 2019 was a mixed bag. Not all of it was great, but I still very much enjoyed the contestants here. I was thinking about which one gave me an overall splendid and emotional experience, and that kicked off Abominable, How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, and Frozen II. I love those three films, but their overall enjoyability was hampered by certain story elements. Spies in Disguise was surprising, but it could have been stronger. So, that leaves us with The LEGO Movie Part 2, Toy Story 4, Missing Link, and Klaus. Toy Story 4 probably had the best emotional story of the four choices, LEGO Movie 2 was poignant, but I enjoyed films like Klaus and Missing Link more. In the end, I had to make it a tie with Klaus and Missing Link as the Best US Animated Features, because they gave me two experiences that were refreshing and unique to see. Plus, it’s my award show, and I can do what I want.

Winner(s): Missing Link and Klaus

Best Foreign/Indie Animated film: the category for the best foreign/indie animated film of the year.

Noms: Funan, Bunuel, Promare, The Swallows of Kabul, Weathering with You, White Snake, Marona’s Fantastic Tale, Children of the Sea, Penguin Highway, I Want to Eat Your Pancreas, Okko’s Inn, I Lost My Body, This Magnificent Cake, Nezha, Another Day of Life, and Pachamama.

Result: As usual, the foreign animation scene was strong this year with many powerful, important, and incredible films. This was tough, because I recommend everyone check out these films. Some of them had downright jaw-dropping animation, and some had great stories. Due to how hard this was, I had to narrow it down to just a few films. My choices then came down to Marona’s Fantastic Tale, Bunuel, Funan, Promare, White Snake, and Weathering with You. I chose those, because they were the most compelling of the films, but then it came down to what I looked for in an animated film that was able to balance out both animation and story. At the end of the day, I had to go with Dennis Do’s Funan as the most fulfilling and satisfying balance of story and animation, but I think everyone should check out the films in this category.

Winner: Funan

Best 2D Animation: This Category is to award the film with the best use of 2D animation.

Noms: Funan, Bunuel, Promare, Children of the Sea, Weathering With You, The Swallows of Kabul, Penguin Highway, Klaus, Okko’s Inn.

Result: This is tough, because technically, most 2D animated films use some level of CGI, so I decided to nominate the films that use mostly 2D visuals, but CGI to enhance the experience. Promare is a visual treat, but a lot of it is using CGI. Weathering With You is drop dead gorgeous, but it has the same look as most of Shinkai’s films. It’s iconic, but familiar. Penguin Highway has some wonderful visuals, but you don’t get to the trippy stuff until the third act. Okko’s Inn is beautiful, but the more family friendly designs may turn off viewers. Bunuel has great visuals, but the animation can look stiff. It then came down to Children of the Sea, Klaus, The Swallows of Kabul, and Funan. All four of these films have incredible animation to them, and while I could technically make a four-way tie, I don’t want to keep doing that for each category. I then took it down to two films, Children of the Sea and Klaus. Both were stand outs in the animation scene due to their visuals and the execution of visuals. While the techniques used in Klaus are nothing new if you keep up with animation tools, the fact they took 2D animation and painted them like they were 3D models is wildly impressive. This is a nail biter of a decision, because the award could have gone either way, but I had to give it to Children of the Sea, because you watch that film in motion, and you get some of the most ethereal visuals that you will ever see in animation. Seriously, how it mixes its beautiful 2D animation with the CGI sea animals is out of this world.

Winner: Children of the Sea.

Best CGI Animation: This category is for the film with the best CGI animation.

Noms: Toy Story 4, Frozen 2, The Lion King, White Snake, I Lost My Body, The LEGO Movie 2, Abominable, Nezha, and Spies in Disguise.

Result: This one was a bit easier to narrow down in terms of what I thought had the best animation. The Lion King was a technical marvel, but outside of how bonkers real everything looks, that’s all it offers, and it’s not like we don’t have realistic CGI being used all the time. I love the look that I Lost My Body has made with its mix of CGI models and 2D textures and features, but the stuff with the detached hand was more interesting to look at animation wise than the humans. The LEGO Movie 2 looks great, but it’s still the same we have seen with the previous LEGO Films. Abominable had great scenery and some standout shots, but otherwise, it looks like another CGI animated film. Spies in Disguise is probably Blue Sky’s best looking film, even if some of the designs looked wonky, but I found the lighting super impressive. This leads us to the finale of the remaining nominees, Toy Story 4, Frozen II, White Snake, and Nezha. To me, while the two Disney films objectively look better, the visuals I saw in White Snake and Nezha were way more wild and surprising to me. CGI animation was rough for a good decade or so with Chinese animation, but now, we have these two films that look like they had Disney/Pixar money thrown at them. I then had to think about which one had the better shots, and I had to go with White Snake. Everyone should get a copy of White Snake and Nezha and watch them to see how far Chinese CGI animation has come, and to put it in their Blu-ray player of choice, and be in shock and awe at how gorgeous they are. Still, White Snake had some of the prettiest visuals I saw last year, and that’s why I chose it.

Winner: White Snake

Best Mixed Media Animation: This category lists the nominees are the films with the best mix of different kinds of animation styles.

Noms: Promare, Marona’s Fantastic Tale, I Lost My Body, Another Day of Life, and Bunuel.

Result: This is a fun one, because every once in a while, an animated film will stretch itself, and expand on what animation as a medium is. Bunuel and Another Day of Life do something fun by combining either Bunuel’s 2D animation with footage from the real life documentary they are making in the film, or Another Day of Life combines vibrant comic book-like visuals with actual live-action documentary-style footage of the time period in which the film takes place. I Lost My Body, like mentioned above, combines CGI models with 2D textures and designs. Promare uses a super vibrant color pallet with its mix of cartoonish 2D visuals and CGI models. However, the one winner for me in this category is Marona’s Fantastic Tale. Since it’s told from the perspective of a dog, the visuals take advantage of this fantastical world seen through the eyes of the dog, and every person the dog meets is animated differently. I could honestly gush about this film’s visuals all day and how there are fun symbolic elements to some of the characters. In short, Marona’s Fantastic Tale wins this award.

Winner: Marona’s Fantastic Tale

Best Action/Adventure Film: This category awards the film that symbolizes the best action/adventure film in the animation scene this year.

Noms: Promare, Toy Story 4, Spies in Disguise, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, Missing Link, White Snake, Nezha, and Batman vs TMNT.

Results: This was another category that was easy to break down, because the nominees were limited, and it was fun to break down what films I thought had the best action sequences, and gave us the best adventure out of the animation scene. Batman vs TMNT was the first to go, due to the limited budget hampering the film. They really should have spent the extra coin to give the animation to a studio like Studio MiR. Toy Story 4 has a lot of entertaining sequences, but it’s more of a drama. How to Train your Dragon: The Hidden World also got put on the chopping block due to its focus on story and comedy. Missing Link is a great adventure film, but the action is limited as it also focuses more on story and comedy. That left me with Nezha, White Snake, and Promare. While these three films do have great stories and characters, I then had to get critical with the action sequences. Nezha was ambitious and very creative, but it does have that low point where they resort to a fart joke to help progress the fight. The action in White Snake and Promare are both flashy, over-the-top, stylized, and are fun to watch. It was really splitting hairs, but I had to go with the one that had the more coherent fights, and I went with White Snake. Like I said, it was splitting hairs, and while I enjoy Promare more as a whole, White Snake had the more focused and enthralling story. Like I said though, I was splitting hairs.

Winner: White Snake

Best DC Animated Film: This category awards the best of the straight-to-video films from DC and WB.

Noms: Reign of the Supermen, Batman vs TMNT, Teen Titans Go! vs. Teen Titans, Wonder Woman: Bloodlines, and Justice League vs. The Fatal Five.

Results: Unlike most years, 2019’s lineup of direct-to-video DC features was pretty stellar. Each one had a certain theme and intriguing story that made them more worthwhile watches than most of the DC films that come out in this category. Like the Best Animated Feature and Best Foreign/Indie Feature, I look for the film that gives me the best overall experience. It really came down to Justice League vs. The Fatal Five, Teen Titans Go! vs. Teen Titans, and Batman vs. TMNT. I then narrowed it to just Teen Titans Go! vs. Teen Titans and Batman vs. TMNT. To be honest, while Teen Titans Go! was funny and amusing, I’m getting tired of the style of humor with the whole self-deprecation and meta aspect they know that no one likes this iteration of the teen team. That’s why I chose Batman vs. TMNT, because it checked the boxes of what I look for in these films. Does it have good writing? Check! Does it have solid animation? Check! Is the story interesting enough from beginning to end to be invested into? Check! It also had a different art-style, which I always look for. It was the one film where I don’t hesitate watching again.

Winner: Batman vs. TMNT

Best Comedy: This category goes to the film with the best comedy.

Noms: The Angry Birds Movie 2, Toy Story 4, Frozen II, Klaus, The LEGO Movie Part 2, Teen Titans Go! vs Teen Titans, and Missing Link.

Results: This is a tricky category, because comedy is so subjective and any winner I choose could be someone’s least favorite comedy. The first film to go was Teen Titans Go! vs Teen Titans, because while I found it funny, that show’s style of humor is starting to get a touch tiring, even if it is still pretty funny for 90% of the time. Klaus was next, because while the jokes and the characters are funny, I enjoy the writing and the chemistry the most and the great jokes are ones I don’t consistently think about. The same goes with Frozen II, because it’s funny, but I think more about the dialogue and the chemistry. Toy Story 4 probably has the best comedy of the four films in the franchise, but, like a broken record, I think about the story first and the jokes second. To me, the jokes came first for this award, and the last three films were hard to choose from because the comedy in Missing Link, LEGO Movie Part 2, and The Angry Birds Movie 2 are all different. Missing Link uses slow and very subtle wit. The LEGO Movie Part 2 uses the brand meta comedy that Lord & Miller have made popular. The Angry Birds Movie 2 uses the approach of being as ambitious as possible with all the humor and jokes that we push into the film. It’s wildly brave at how many kinds of jokes they try out, and for the most part, work. So, do we award it to meta humor, subtle wit, or everything and the kitchen sink comedy? Well, here is a good question, which film has the best comedy and what has the best combo of both story and comedy? When I thought about that, I had to give it to Missing Link. I love the story and the humor, whereas the other two films don’t fully live up to their stories.

Winner: Missing Link

Best Drama: This award goes to the best drama-focused animated film.

Noms: Funan, Bunuel, Children of the Sea, Toy Story 4, Frozen II, The Swallows of Kabul, I Want to Eat Your Pancreas, I Lost My Body, Okko’s Inn, and Weathering With You.

Results: So, like usual, I nominate a lot of films, but then start to break them down with how I enjoyed the drama and the story. I first films I let go of were I Lost My Body, Frozen II, then I Want to Eat Your Pancreas, Okko’s Inn, and then Children of the Sea. That left me with Toy Story 4, The Swallows of Kabul, Weathering With You, Funan, and Bunuel. These remaining films have very personal stories with intimate themes of life and personal discovery. I took off Weathering With You and Toy Story 4 because of story elements that hindered their experiences. That results in Funan, Bunuel, and Kabul. This is really hard, because I then had to cut Bunuel due to the slightly repetitive nature to Bunuel’s drama. At the end of the day, I decided to choose The Swallows of Kabul, because while Funan has great drama, The Swallows of Kabul lingers with me with its drama.

Winner: The Swallows of Kabul.

Best Director: This category goes to the best director or dual directors.

Noms: Salvador Simo (Bunuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles), Dennis Do (Funan), Jennifer Lee (Frozen II), Zabou Breitman and Elea Gobbe-Mevellec (The Swallows of Kabul), Sergios Pablos (Klaus), Hiroyuki Imaishi (Promare), Josh Cooley (Toy Story 4), Makoto Shinkai (Weathering With You), Chris Butler (Missing Link), Anca Damian (Marona’s Fantastic Tale), and Troy Quane and Nick Bruno (Spies in Disguise).

Result: To me, the best director did, well, the best directing with the film. Like, who helped make the best experience, which director got the best performances out of their actors, and you get the idea. To me, that resulted in Salvador Simo, Dennis Do, Zabou Breitman/Elea Gobbe-Mevellec, Anca Damian, and Sergios Pablos. All of these directors did such fantastic jobs with their films, and if I wanted to, I could and really want to give it to all of them. I then finally broke it down to between Dennis Do and the duo of Zabou Breitman and Elea Gobbe-Mevellec. Like a lot of this editorial, it came down to splitting hairs, but I went with the duo behind The Swallows of Kabul, Zabou Breitman and Elea Gobbe-Mevellec.

Winner: Zabou Breitman and Elea Gobbe-Mevellec. (The Swallows of Kabul)

Best Short: This category goes to the best animated short.

Noms: Hair Love, Kitbull, My Moon, Memorable, Hors piste, and Sister.

Results: The animated shorts scene this year was unique as Disney didn’t really have one for their films, and Pixar was moving their shorts to Disney+ through their SparkShorts program. I then had to really rely on what got nominated and which ones I saw online. Now, the winner might be very obvious, but this wasn’t to say that it was an easy task of picking to award just one. They are also all different types of experiences. Yes, they all share a personal relationship theme, but some of them are funny, some are abstract, and some hit on very personal subject matters. However you may weave how I chose the short to win this award, but I had to give it to Hair Love. While I might adore the animation in some of the films slightly more, Hair Love is so personal, loving, caring, funny, relatable, and took the animation world by storm. Still, I highly recommend everyone get online to try and find a way to watch all of the shorts nominated.

Winner: Hair Love.

Best New Release That Was Previously Unreleased in the US of 2019: This category is for the best animated film that finally got a release in 2019.

Noms: Aya of Yop City, Son of the White Mare, Genius Party/Genius Party Beyond, The Case of Hana and Alice, and Mai Mai Miracle.

Results: As usual, the challenge came down to what gave me the best experience. I love the two Genius Party films, but those are anthology films, and you will either love every short or find some to be annoying. The Case of Hana and Alice is a sweet endearing teen drama, but it takes a bit too long to get going. Son of the White Mare is a visual marvel, but a bit repetitive due to its fairytale-style story. That left us with Aya of Yop City and Mai Mai Miracle. Both are great in their own respective ways as they show life during a certain period in history. I then decided to award the one I would watch the most, and that narrowed it right down to Mai Mai Miracle. I’m not shocked I liked this movie the most, since it’s the same director behind In This Corner of the World.

Winner: Mai Mai Miracle.

Best Lead Actor: This category awards the best male lead in an animated film.

Noms: Jorge Uson (Bunuel), Simon Abkarian (The Swallows of Kabul), Tom Hanks (Toy Story 4), Billy Matez (Promare), Brandon Engman (Weathering With You), and Jason Swartzman (Klaus).

Results: While it might not be on camera, actors still need to put in good performances to pull you into the film. Since this is the first time I’m awarding voice actors, I decided to go with variety. Jason Swartzman brings a lot of earnest sarcasm and pathetic nature to his character. Tom Hanks is just great as a wise and weathered Woody. Brandon Engman does well as a teenager finding his place in the world. Billy Matez does a good job at keeping up that impossibly optimistic and heroic spirit. Jorge Uson portrays a director trying to save his career while conflicted with his past and who he is as an individual. Simon Abkarian was also great as a man tired and weary of his country’s ideals as he tries to figure out what to do about the driving force of the story. After thinking about it, it came down to Jorge Uson and Simon Abkarian, and between the two, I think the best actor goes to Simon Abkarian. He left an impression on my viewing experience with a powerful and subtle performance.

Winner: Simon Abkarian (The Swallows of Kabul)

Best Supporting Actor: This category awards the best male supporting actor in an animated film.

Noms: Fernando Ramos (Bunuel), J.K. Simmons (Klaus), Zach Galifianakis (Missing Link), Johnny Yong Bosch (Promare), and Lee Pace (Weathering With You).

Results: To me, I was looking for an actor who was going toe to toe with the lead. The actors I chose for this award definitely accomplished that. Each of these actors was able to either keep up or even outshine the main character. It was tough, because I enjoyed all of these performances, but the one that stuck with me the most, and the winner of this one is Fernando Ramos from Bunuel, because he was so good as Ramon, and going head to head with the lead in the film, and having his own stand out scenes and lines.

Winner: Fernando Ramos (Bunuel)

Best Lead Actress: This category awards the best lead performance by an actress.

Noms: Zita Hanrot (The Swallows of Kabul), Stephanie Sheh (White Snake), Lizzie Brochere (Marona’s Fantastic Tale), Ashley Boettcher (Weathering With You),  Annie Potts (Toy Story 4), and Mana Ashida (Children of the Sea)  

Results: like I said above, I went with variety this year and this was even tougher to really narrow it down. I had to look at who I felt put in the stronger performance and I thought they all did. I went with who left a stronger impression on me. When it came down to it, my favorite performance was from Zita Hanrot from The Swallows of Kabul.

Winner: Zita Hanrot from The Swallows of Kabul

Best Supporting Actress: Obviously this award goes to the actress with the best supporting role.

 Noms: Hiam Abbass (The Swallows of Kabul), Christina Hendricks (Toy Story 4), and Yu Aoi (Penguin Highway).

Results: I know I said the other acting noms were tough, but this was the toughest one, because I didn’t find that many supporting roles that felt substantial from the female characters in the films from last year. When I thought about these three, I looked at their characters and their performances, and the one that stood out to me the most was Christina Hendricks as Gabby Gabby from Toy Story 4. She felt unique as a villain and was someone right out of a Ghibli film due to her layered character. This is probably my favorite acting that I have seen from Christina Hendricks, and she’s a good actress.

Winner: Christina Hendricks (Toy Story 4)

Best Soundtrack: This award goes to the best soundtrack and that includes the musical numbers.

Noms: The Swallows of Kabul, Children of the Sea, Funan, Bunuel, Frozen II, The LEGO Movie Part 2, Promare, and Weathering With You.

Results: So, I decided to combine both soundtrack and original songs into one category, because it’s easier that way for me. Put another coin in the jar, because I decided to make this category hard for myself. I love the music in these nominees, but which one had the best overall package of songs? Well, I loved Promare’s two theme songs, but I don’t fully remember the rest of the music. The same goes for Frozen II and The LEGO Movie Part 2. While I love the soundtracks to Funan and Bunuel, I don’t fully remember the individual tracks used outside of one song. At the end of listening to the soundtracks, I had to go with the soundtrack from Children of the Sea. It, like its movie, is so other worldly and mesmerizing. It captures a mood and experience unlike any other. Then again, it’s also Joe Hisaishi, and he always makes great soundtracks.

Winner: Children of the Sea.

And there we go! I apologize it took a month or two to get this done, but I hope you all enjoyed this, and I think I’ll do it again next year.

Thanks for reading the review! I hope you all enjoyed reading it! If you would like to support my work, make sure to share it out, and if you want to become a Patreon supporter, then you can go to patreon.com/camseyeview. I will see you all next time!

The Other Side of Animation 165: Promare Review

(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 review!)

When celebrating my 4th year of reviewing animated films, I wanted to pick something that would be special. It’s an exceptional review, and a yearly special should be about an interesting film. Well, what did I pick for this year? I chose Studio Trigger’s first feature film, Promare. Directed by Hiroyuki Imaishi, Promare is an accumulation of what you get when you give a Japanese studio known for high-octane action, a feature film budget, and total unapologetic passion. It’s the right kind of project that most passion projects could only dream of becoming. Let’s dive right in!

The film takes place in a world where one day, people started gaining the ability to manipulate fire! They were labeled the Burnish. After almost wiping out all of the earth, 30 years pass, and we come to the beginning of the film where the major Burnish threat was taken care of. A Burnish fire breaks out, and a team of specialized firefighters called Burning Rescue is sent to take out the Burnish threat and save the innocent lives. Our main hero is Galos Thymos, dubbed by Billy Kametz. He’s the rookie member of Burning Rescue that ends up encountering the leader of a terrorist group called Mad Burnish. The leader of this terrorist group is named Lio Fotia, dubbed by Johnny Yong Bosch. After Galos captures Lio and his two grunts, things unfold into chaos as maybe the Burnish are not the bad guys, and something might be up with the governor of the city, Kray Foresight, dubbed by Crispin Freeman.

I want to start gushing about the film, and there is nothing any of you can do to stop me! Anyway, the animation is downright gorgeous. Sure, it might be a mix of 2D and CGI animation, but, and I mean this with all sincerity, Promare might be the best Japanese-animated film that combines the two. The color choices are so perfect. All of the colors, even the darker ones are bright. The blues, the reds, the whites, the blacks, the neon pinks, the yellows, and you get the idea. Even with such a bright color palette and cartoony designs and movements, there are some beautiful shots and serious moments that never feel out of place. This film’s visual direction is on point.

Now, in terms of action, it’s Studio Trigger. They open up with one of the most exciting sequences that you will see in 2019, and the action ramps up from there in true Studio Trigger fashion. It’s well-choreographed, exciting, never too busy to miss out on what’s going on, and it’s so earnest and aware of how absurd the fighting is. The dialogue during the animation is so aware of its epic nature, that it constantly calls itself out.

Even though the film is advertised as this epic action film, Promare does take time to let the story breathe, tackle themes about discrimination and nature, and let the characters flesh themselves out more. I found myself rooting for the good guys and the Burnish in their ideals and reasons for doing what they do. It might be loud dumb fun, but it has a heart, and that’s what keeps it from being a style-over-substance problem that we see in many passion projects. It knows when to push the pedal to the metal, and it knows when to chill for a moment.

In terms of the dub, I adored the cast they hired. You have some veteran voice actors like the always awesome Johnny Yong Bosch, Kari Wahlgren, Neil Kaplan, Crispin Freeman, and my man Steve Blum, but everyone was well-cast and put in five-star performances. Everyone was on the same page, and I didn’t see one actor who was left out. While anime voice acting can have its challenges, I bet everyone had a fun time getting to be boisterous, loud, and entertaining. Seriously, Billy Kametz, Erica Lindbeck, Matthew Mercer, Melissa Fahn, Mike Pollock, Alyson Leigh Rosenfeld, and Yuri Lowenthal were all fantastic. The music as well was perfect. It was grand in scale, epic, and it kept me and the audience excited throughout the entire film. Composer Hiroyuki Sawano put in a soundtrack that I could hear myself listening to anytime I’m about to go to work or getting ready for a physical workout. It’s just so beautiful, and I got pumped up and was ready for the next scene.

Now, I could talk about how maybe some of the absurdity was a little much, or how the majority of Burning Rescue characters don’t get much screen time or development, but you know what? That doesn’t matter for this film. It’s meant to be this big fun movie, and that’s what I got. It had great animation, exciting action sequences, likable characters, awesome music, and was a blast from beginning to end. If you can find a theater that will be playing the dub or sub version of this film, go and watch it! For now, I think it’s time to look at one more Japanese feature before we watch DreamWorks Abominable. How about we make a return visit with our favorite anime thief, and check out Lupin the 3rd: Goemon’s Blood Spray?

Thanks for reading my review! I hope you enjoyed it. Make sure to like and share it! If you would like to support my work, you can become a patron at patreon.com/camseyeview. I will see you all next time!

Rating: Criterion/Essentials

Animation Tidbits: Annecy Part 2

(Originally written: May 29th: 2019. Sorry for posting this late!)

(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!)

Alrighty, for the final part of this look at Annecy 2019, I decided to combine a bunch of films from different categories. This is because the various categories don’t have enough to warrant talking about in individual articles. At least, that is my opinion on the other categories. The one major change they made was a new category called Contrechamp, a category with animated features that are in competition, but have visuals that challenge the medium of animation. Otherwise, the films on the list will be from the screening events and In Production section of the festival. Let’s get started!

Children of the Sea (Contrechamp)

Directed by Ayumu Watanabe, the story focuses on a girl named Ruka, who saw a ghost in her dad’s aquarium when she was little. She becomes attracted to the aquarium and the appearance of two mysterious boys named Umi and Sora, all the while the adults who work there figure out the mass disappearance of the earth’s fish. In a lot of ways, it’s almost unfair that this film is the perfect representation for the Contrechamp section of the festival. It’s almost unfair how downright jaw-dropping-off-your-face beautiful the film is. Studio 4C has done a lot of great work, but this easily looks like it will be their best. Plus, with GKids now attached to bringing it over to the states this year, I have major hopes it’s going to be at Animation is Film 2019! If that wasn’t enough to get you hyped, Joe Hisaishi, the composer behind many of the Studio Ghibli classics, is composing the music for this film.

Away (Contrechamp)

Directed by Gints Zilbalodis, Away is about a young man who’s riding a motorcycle, trapped on a mystical island while trying to avoid a shadowy monster chasing him. This is also a film that looks like it will be taking advantage of the Contrechamp title. Sure, it kind of looks like an indie game that’s trying to be the next artistic achievement in gaming, but that’s sort of the fun of it. Plus, this was directed and animated by someone who is 25 years old. That is wildly ambitious and I give him kudos for that. It looks like a visually creative film that I hope does well.

Underdog (Contrechamp)

Directed by Sung-Yoon Oh and Chun Baek Lee, the story revolves around a blue dog that was once a house pet, but ends up back in the wild. He encounters wild dogs, and tries to help them survive and live freely. Generic title aside, I really like the visual look of this film. It reminds me of the work arounds French animation uses in projects like The Painting. It has a super vibrant color palette, and while the CGI may not be Pixar or Disney level at all, it has its own identity and personality to it. I’m happy to see South Korean animation finally making some break-out titles to show that they can make animated features that aren’t tied down to propaganda, and can be watchable by all. Though seeing some of the marketing blurbs say it was more emotionally gripping than Zootopia? Yeah, we will have to see about that.

Ville Neuve (Contrechamp)

Directed by Felix Dufour Laperriere, Ville Neuve focuses on a man named Joseph, who moves into a house with his friend, and tries to get back with his ex-wife, and this is happening with the 1995 Quebec Referendum happening in the background. I like the minimalist approach with its focus on whites, blacks, and grays. It comes off like a more personal and intimate film, and I can’t wait to see what the reviews say about this one.

Playmobil (Screening)

Now then, let’s jump in with the first film in the “Screening” category. Directed by Lino DiSalvo, the story focuses on a young woman named Marla, played by Anya Taylor-Joy, who gets pulled into this Playmobil world with her brother Carlie, played by Gabriel Bateman. They get separated, and it’s up to Marla to team up with Rex Dasher, a secret agent voiced by Daniel Radcliffe and Del, a food truck driver voiced by Jim Gaffigan, to get her brother back and avoid the evil clutches of Emperor Maximus, played by Adam Lambert. Yeah, this film did not get the warmest impression, being negatively compared to the 2014 The LEGO Movie. I can understand why. It comes off as a bit outdated that there needs to be a reason for the Playmobil world to exist, when people would rather just enjoy the world that they make. Still, the film looks silly and aware about itself, and some of the jokes I saw got a chuckle out of me. Hopefully it can be an entertaining flick once it releases later this year.

The Prince’s Voyage (Screening)

Directed by Jean-Francois Languionie and Xavier Pircard, this is a follow-up to a film Jean Francois did a while back called A Monkey’s Tale, which follows the prince from that film, as he washes up on the shore of an island, and encounters an individual named Young Tom and his two parents, who were exiled scientists. The film itself looks great, but that should be no surprise, because it’s the same guy behind The Painting, but I am curious to see how they make this film work, because who remembers A Monkey’s Tale? It has only gotten an English UK release, and no one in America has probably heard of this guy or his films. Still, the CGI looks stylized, and I’m curious to see how this film does in continuing the story with these characters in a travel diary-style form.

Abominable (Screening)

Finally, we are seeing actual trailers and footage for this film. Directed by Jill Culton and Todd Wilderman, we follow the exploits of a young Chinese woman named Yi, voiced by Chloe Bennet, as she encounters an actual Yeti on the rooftop of her apartment building. It was previously caught by a scientist named Dr. Zara, voiced by Sarah Paulson, and an evil rich man named Burnish, voiced by Eddie Izzard. It is up to Yi, her friends Peng, voiced by Albert Tsai, and Jin, voiced by Tenzing Norgay Trainor, to get the Yeti back to his home in the mountains. This is an important film, due to this being DreamWorks first Chinese collaboration with Pearl Studio. As per usual with their non-comedy stuff, Abominable looks visually great, and has some endearing moments, but the jokes and references made in the first trailer and in the recent trailer are iffy. Hopefully, this is more of DreamWorks working at a How to Train your Dragon and Kung Fu Panda level, and not Shrek the Third level. Also, what is up with their marketing for this film? Everyone has already seen a trailer for the film for two or so months before the “official” trailer was released last week. What was the point of having two trailers and one of them was already viewable in theaters? Oh well, I hope this is a good movie.

Toy Story 4 (Screening)

Directed by Josh Cooley, we follow our heroes dealing with their new lives and a new encounter with a self-made toy named Forky, voiced by Tony Hale. One day, Forky gets out, and Woody, voiced by Tom Hanks, sets out to bring Forky back, but also runs into Bo Peep, voiced by Annie Potts. Shenanigans then ensue as Woody and the gang try to get Forky back to their new owner Bonnie, and Woody starts to have a crisis of what it means to be a toy. It’s too easy and frankly lazy, to say how this is a “cash grab”, when all films are cash grabs. We didn’t need a 4^th one, but if we needed this one to get back on the train of original films starting with next year’s Onward, then so be it. Plus, I have been hearing good early word of mouth, and plus, who doesn’t want to see Keanu Reeves in his first ever voice role? Even if we might “not need it”, I’m glad to go back if the story is good.

Frozen 2 (Screening)

Directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee, our heroes from the first film, Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, and Olaf are off on another adventure to go beyond the kingdom of Arendelle. Yeah, there isn’t much known about the film right now, so let’s talk about how incredible the teaser trailer was. This film looks jaw-dropping-off-your-face-and-exploding gorgeous. I’m sure a lot of this is just teaser editing, and the film may not be this serious in tone, but wouldn’t that be awesome if it was? I know there is a bit of Frozen burnout, but I liked the first movie, and I’m excited to see how this new one unfolds.

Weathering With You (WIP)

In the Work in Progress section, we have the newest film from Makoto Shinkai. The story revolves around a young boy who moves to Tokyo alone, and almost becomes broke, until he gets a writing job for an odd occult magazine. His life feels like it’s constant misery, as rain and dark clouds follow him everywhere. One day, he encounters a young girl who has a mysterious power to clear the sky of the clouds and rain. While I have been critical of some of Shinkai’s efforts and directorial touches in the past, this one has me very excited. To no surprise that Shinkai has more drop-dead eye-popping visuals, something about the story feels instantly likable, and GKids recently announced that they will be bringing it over! I can’t wait to see this film, and I hope to see it sometime soon.

Promare (Midnight Special)

Finally, for the Midnight Special, we have Promare. Directed by Hiroyuki Imaishi, and animated by Studio Trigger, we follow Galo Thymos and his team, the Burning Rescue Fire Department. Their main goal is to take down a group of evil mutants called BURNISH that emits and can control a special fire that is engulfing the planet. This movie looks so over-the-top, silly, nonsensical, it’s super drenched in its anime identity, and this is why I follow foreign/indie animation. This movie looks crazy in the most positive way possible. Sure, if you know anything about Studio Trigger’s previous work like Kill la Kill, Space Patrol Luluco, Little Witch Academia, and SSSS Gridman, then you know you are going to get some of the most vibrant Japanese animation around. It looks like a lot of fun, and I hope to also see it soon.

And that wraps up what I think looks to be the most promising at the Annecy International Film Festival. Even with these listed, there are truly more interesting features being shown in their completed form or work-in-progress form. Just go check out the site, and see the multitude of animated projects being shown, and find your favorites.