Okay, I haven't seen EVERY film in 2016 that everyone said was good or bad. Like, I haven't seen Moonlight or Silence for a best list. And I haven't seen Nine Lives for the worst list. But I have seen all the wide release animated films of 2016. And I haven't really gotten the chance to talk about most of them. They range from the worst of the year to the best. Like I said, I've seen the mainstream wide release ones. So some of the foriegn animated films that are getting some awards buzz (Red Turtle, Only Yesterday, and My Life as a Zucchini) I haven't seen, because they have yet to get release here in America. Plus, before I get to the actual list, I have some honorable mentions.
HONORABLE MENTION #1
It's hard to pinpoint if Anomalisa belongs on the best for 2015 or 2016. It didn't get a wide release until 2016, but was a 2015 film. But it would end up in the top 3 for either list. It's a movie about Micheal, a man who has everything (He's a successful writer, has a wife and son), but he feels like he has nothing. To him, everyone around him looks the same and sounds the same (everyone literally has the same voice and are voiced by Tom Noonan). And everyrthing changes when he meets the insecure Lisa, and he might be the only person who sees her as special, and she's the only one he's sees a special. It's a beautiful, haunting, and complex feature about being a human, thinking about all you missed out on in life, and seeing an opportunity for a new lease on life. However, it's hard pinpointing if the ending shows life from Lisa's perspective or Micheal has a new point of veiw. Plus, for some, they may just ind it slow. But, for others, it's a fantastic little gem. Rating: 10/10
HONORABLE MENTION #2:
When you really think about it, the Jungle Book remake is kind of an animated film. With the exception of Mowgli and some human extras, the film is entirely CGI. But Disney and everyone keeps calling it a live-action remake, so I'll just make it an honorable mention. This is not a perfect movie. Kaa's scene was kinda pointless and I wasn't a fan of how they worked it the oringal songs. However, the visuals are amazing. The characters and voice acting are great. Even the child actor is decent, which is very rare. It's also clear that Jon Faverau and Justin Marks had a great respect for the the original '67 film and even a bit of the original book. For a film that could have been just a cheap cash-in on the success of Alice or Maleficent, Jungle Book ended up a hell of a lot better than those two. Rating: 9/10
AND NOW... THE ACTUAL LIST!!!
Here's the premise for Norm of the North. A twerking talking Polar Bear and his lemmings go to New York to stop an evil greedy businessman from building condos in the artic. There's every friggin' problem with this movie right there. Norm is said to be the only polar bear who talks and they never explain why. His constant dancing is the film's desperate to be trendy. It's unsubtle enviromental message tries so hard to "save the artic" that it doesn't try to make any sense. And, those stupid lemmings are nothing more than Minion rip-offs who are as unfunny as the rest of the humour in the film. And finally, they go to New York. And everyone in that city is stupid enough to think this polar bear is just a man in a costume. Everyone in this movie is stupid. Wait, there's one problem not in the present. The animation is awful and is just a pain to look at. This isn't just the worst animated film of 2016. It's the worst film of 2016. Period. Rating: 1/10
I wouldn't blame you if you don't know about The Wild Life. It was poorly marketed, citically panned, and is the lowest grossing film on this list. It's easy to see why, though. This film is just nothing. The characters are dull. The story is boring. The humour falls flat. The conflict is lame. The animation is... decent, I guess. But everything else is just boring. I wouldn't even show this to little kids, it's so dull. There's nothing good about it. But, then again, there's nothing espically awful about it either. It's just kinda... there. Rating: 3/10
"BUT THE GAMES" cried the R&C fan in the comments. Well, I never played the games, so this opinion of Ratchet & Clank: The Movie is from someone who never played the games. And I have to say... I refuse to believe the games are as bad as this movie. The plot feels rushed and unengaging. It makes the classic Video Game Movie mistake, where it just assumes you know the lore going it and it barely explains anything. Most of the characters are bland. There are some exceptions, though. Qwark isn't bland. He's just a jerk. Now from what I hear, he's like that in the game and that's the point. But in this, we're supposed to like and sympathize with him. The only other exception is Clank, who I like, mainly because I have a soft spot for those type of characters. But aside from that, of all the video game films I've seen this year (all but Assassian's Creed), this was the weakest. Rating: 4/10
Let's talk about the Ice Age movies. The first one was realy good. Oscar-nomminated. The sequels ranged from decent to meh. Until Collision Course. Where practically everyone finally had enough of this franchise, as it has finally decided to jump the shark. It's easy to tell that the team at Blue Sky Studios are sick of this frnachise and would probably be done with it if FOX didn't stop forcing them to do more. There are characters forced in here because "they were in the last movie". Some of them have subplots that don't have a point. Some of the characters are just kinda there like Diego. And some just repeat subplots from the previous films like Sid or Manny. And, honestly, Adam DeVine is getting on my nerves. With that said, the animation is fantastic. Scrat is still funny, as well as Simon Pegg's Buck. But, going through the schedule For Blue Sky's upcoming projects, not seeing another Ice Age sequel is just refreshing. Rating: 4.5/10
The only reason I'm glad that Trolls is a box ofice success is because of the recent financial troubles Dreamworks has been going through. That's not to say the film is awful, it's just not very good. It starts out promising. JT's Branch and Anna Kendrick's Poppy have some humourous moments and they play off each other very well. The animation is fantastic and the world around the Trolls and the creatures they encounter are neat and it's cool to see how DWA builds a mythology and lore around some ugly toy dolls. But once we get to the second act, the trolls take a backseat to this weird ogre Cinderella story and then we get some cliches and some "shocking" betrayal that has no merit behind it. The musical nubmers are also hit-and-miss. In the end, a film with very little potential started showing us we were wrong, only to later prove we were right. Rating: 5.5/10
Believe it or not, I think The Angry Birds Movie is the best Video Game movie of 2016. Now that's not saying much (I wasn'ta fan of Warcraft and I haven't seen Assassian's Creed). There are a lot of problems with this movie. The first act is just mean-spirited and the second act is just predictable. The only reason to root for Red, the main character, is because most of the people around him are jerks and bash people different from them. Peter Dinklage's Mighty Eagle character is just annoying. However, there's enjoyment to be had. The voice acting is mostly good (Although, who gets Sean Penn just to grunt). The side characters like Chuck and Bomb are likeable enough. The jokes are hit-and-miss. But the final act, which is when the film resembles the game the most, is a lot of fun. It's nothing great, nor is it that good. But a surprising amount of efffort was put into this. Rating: 6/10
The Secret Life of Pets is a movie that has almost everything in it's favor, but has one thing working against it and it almost ruins the entire movie. Let's start positive. What's in its favor? The animation, while nothing groundbreaking, is decent. The humour works. The characters are fun (Snowball and Pops being the standouts). The voice acting is excellent. What about this works against it? The story. This film is beyond predictable. You know exactly how these character's arcs will go. Plus, you've seen the plot before in other animated films, such as Toy Story or The Rugrats Movie. Still, everything else works so well that I can't call it bad. This makes the final result... cute. Not great, but cute. Plus, it's nice to see Dana Carvey get work again. Raiting: 7/10
Storks is WB's second film in their new animation studio after LEGO Movie. And it's pretty decent. Nicholas Stoller and Doug Sweetland do a nice twist on the whole "storks deliever babies" myth and they manage to deliever (no pun intended) something fun and charming. The animation is nicely done. The comedy is great. The characters re also fun, espicially a wolf pack (all voiced by Key & Peele). However, this is another one harmed by predictability. These characters want to deliever a baby. I wonder how that ends. This character wants to be boss. I wonder how that ends. This character wants to meet her family. I wonder how that ends. Plus, we spend way too much time focusing on the family the heroes are trying to get the baby to. However, there are also some nice hearwarming moments, espicially a nice subtle message about different kinds of parents. In the end, Storks is a lot of fun and shows a lot of potential of WB's non-LEGO animated projects. Rating: 7.5/10
Possibly the most screwed-up animated feature I've seen in a long time. But it works. It has a good message of unity over beliefs. The humor works, for the most part. The end reminded me that I'm way too young for this. The animation on the food and the production design is nice. The voice acting is great. However, it's not flawless. The animation on the humans is pretty bad (I don't want to knock on this too much, considering how the animators on this were treated). And a good number of the characters are just there to serve the message or a joke, rather than be actual characters. However, they do serve their purpose. This will hopefully set the stage for more adult mainstream animation. Let's just hope those treat their animators better. Rating: 7.5/10
Alright, I just want to get my problem with Sing out of the way. It has a bit of a problem with focus. There are numerous subplots in the film, but the film treats them all like they're the main plot and it's a bit jarring. With that aside, the movie is actually pretty good. While there's a lack of focus with some of the stories, they're all told well and they each help develop the characters which is impressive for such a large cast. The voice actors are pretty good and they are fantastic singers. I'm sure there will at least be one character you relate to (I personally related to Meena). Even if it's the character you're supposed to dislike (a mouse voiced by Seth McFarlene). This all comes together in a fantastic show-stopping final act. While not the best animated musical of the year (we'll get to that later), this is something special to check out. Rating: 8/10
It's a shame that The Little Prince had it's US release dropped a week before release and was force to go to Netflix, because it's really an underrated little gem. It's a strange way to adapt the story (telling it from the point of view of the girl hearing the story), but it manages to work out in the end. The animation is nice enough, but the visuals really get interesting when we switch to the stop-motion story of the Aviator and the Prince. The voice acting is pretty good, though some do better than others. And the message about maturing, but not forgetting about childhood, is a nice one. However, the third act, while I enjoy it, is where the message becomes a bit less subtle and it could divide fans of the book. Plus, the namelss hero is nowhere near as interesting as those around her. But, aside from that, this really deserved better than suffering the same faint as recent Adam Sandler flicks. Rating: 8/10
Of all the recent trilogies, Kung Fu Panda was, believe it or not, one of the better ones. I can't believe it either. While some the the ideas have been used in the previous movies, it also contains everything that made them work. It has the great animation, humor, characters, development, villain, mythology, and more. However, they put a bit more of a focus on the humor this time, and it feels like it's taking itself a bit less seriously than before. Other than that, this is a worthy end to the series. Rating: 8.5/10
This is a film that couldn've just been a cheap attempt to cash-in on Finding Nemo, and while it's not one of Pixar's best, Finding Dory is a worthy sequel. I love how they devlopthe character of Dory and make her tragic, while still maintaining her humour and likability. The animation nicely replicates the animation of the original. The new characters fit nicely into this universe. And when the film needs to be emotional, it succeeds. My only problems are that Marlin and Nemo feel like they're there because "they were the main characters in the first film" and that's it and there's a bit too many callbacks. But other than that, this is something worth finding. Rating: 8.5/10
At first glance, it seems Moana is just another typical Disney princess movie. It even has the formula. The princess wants more and so she and her animal sidekicks teams up with a powerful fast-talking, celebrity-voiced character to go on a muscal adventure. Blah. Blah. Blah. However, what made that formula works in the past is the writing. Same with this. There's a reason Moana wants more (she wants it for her people). There's a good reason to team up with Maui and more. Plus, it still has some of the Disney cliches that work. The songs, done by Hamilton's Lin-Manuel Miranda, are fantastic. The voice acting is fantastic. The characters are fun and well-developed. And the animation is fantasic. The islands and ocean are beautiful to look at. Just like Auli'i Cravalho and Moana herself. *sigh*... Sorry, what was I talking about? Oh yeah. Moana. It's great. Rating: 9/10
Coraline. ParaNorman. Boxtrolls. And now, Laika's best work, Kubo and the Two Strings. I'm starting to love this studio. This is a beautiful film, almost like if Studio Ghibli made made a stop-motion film. The visuals are fantastic. The action scenes are exciting and suspenseful. The characters of Kubo, Monkey, Beetle, and even the villains are compelling and well-developed. It's also a very emotional and sad film. I mean, the end is kinda happy, but, without giving anything away, they don't care if kids are watching. This is a fantastic film done by Travis Knight, head of Laika. Not bad for a fomerly crappy rapper and son of the cofounder of Nike. Rating: 10/10
If you know me, then you knew Zootopia was going to be at the top of the list. What's not to love? The animation, from the detail to the design, is fantastic. The characters are well-developed, as well as flawed, and Judy could be seen as a role model. The anti-prejudice message and subtext connects to the world we curreently live in, and could raise the arguement that adults could get more out of this than adults. The humour is great. I honestly can't think of a single bad thing to say about this. This isn't just my favorite animated film of 2016. This is my favorite film of the year. Then again, I haven't seen Silence, Moolight, Fences, Hacksaw Ridge, or La La Land. But I want to. So right now, this is my favorite. Rating: 10/10
And that's my list. Do you agree or disagree? Do you want to lynch me because this list was too friggin' long?
Comment below.