Sunday, April 20, 2008

Countdown to AFI's 10 Top 10: Animation

"Animation isn't the illusion of life -- it is life!"
-- Chuck Jones

As Brad Bird (this year's Academy Award winner for Best Animated Feature) has been known to say, animation is not a genre, but a medium. And he's right. Nevertheless, it is the first "genre" that I will be taking a look at as Movie Dearest begins a ten week countdown to AFI's 10 Top 10, this year's edition of the American Film Institute's popular (and often controversial) 100 Years ... 100 Movies series.

Looking over the past ten 100 Years lists, only nine fully animated films have made the various cuts, with the most appearances being in the Heroes & Villains and Songs installments. The very first American animated feature, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, appears the most times (four, including both the 1998 and 2007 greatest movies of all time lists), with Pinocchio and Beauty and the Beast listed twice. So it is a safe bet that these three, along with the landmark Fantasia and the groundbreaking Toy Story, will make this top ten. Bambi, Lady and the Tramp, 101 Dalmatians and The Lion King have also appeared previously, and therefore could be considered strong contenders as well.

Taking a look at the annual AFI Awards, four more toons (all computer animated) could conceivably enter the mix: Shrek, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles and Happy Feet (shudder). Other notable films among the fifty nominees (see comments section below for the full list) include Aladdin, Cinderella, Dumbo, The Iron Giant, The Jungle Book, The Little Mermaid, The Nightmare Before Christmas and even (double shudder) South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut.

As you can see, Disney (along with Pixar) has a chance of sweeping this top ten; I really can only see Shrek and maybe Iron Giant (fingers crossed) breaking into this Mickey Mouse club.

We'll find out when AFI's 10 Top 10 airs on CBS on June 17.

1 comment:

Kirby Holt said...

ALADDIN 1992
ALICE IN WONDERLAND 1951
AMERICAN POP 1981
AN AMERICAN TAIL 1986
ANTZ 1998
THE ARISTOCATS 1970
BAMBI 1942
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST 1991
A BUG'S LIFE 1998
CARS 2006
CHARLOTTE'S WEB 1973
CINDERELLA 1950
DUMBO 1941
FANTASIA 1940
FINDING NEMO 2003
HAPPY FEET 2006
THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME 1996
ICE AGE 2002
THE INCREDIBLES 2004
THE IRON GIANT 1999
THE JUNGLE BOOK 1967
LADY AND THE TRAMP 1955
THE LION KING 1994
THE LITTLE MERMAID 1989
MADAGASCAR 2005
THE MANY ADVENTURES OF WINNIE THE POOH 1977
MONSTER HOUSE 2006
MONSTERS, INC. 2001
MULAN 1998
ONE HUNDRED AND ONE DALMATIANS 1961
PETER PAN 1953
PINOCCHIO 1940
POCAHONTAS 1995
THE POLAR EXPRESS 2003
THE RESCUERS 1977
ROBIN HOOD 1973
ROBOTS 2005
THE SECRET OF NIMH 1982
SHREK 2001
SHREK 2 2004
SLEEPING BEAUTY 1959
SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS 1937
SOUTH PARK: BIGGER LONGER & UNCUT 1999
THE SWORD IN THE STONE 1963
TARZAN 1999
Tim Burton's CORPSE BRIDE 2005
Tim Burton's THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS 1993
TOY STORY 1995
TOY STORY 2 1999
WAKING LIFE 2001