Yes, It's a Meme (But With a Purpose)

Don’t worry. The Ink and Pixel Club is not going to turn into a daily onslaught of my results in a “Which Family Guy character are you most like?” poll, lists of fifteen random songs from my iTunes library or anything like that. I’m posting this particular meme here because I figure knowing some of the movies I’ve seen, which ones I loved, and which ones I hated could give you some idea of where I’m coming from, far better than me trying to write out a summary of my views on animation in general.

I’ve saved a “blank” version of the meme, so if anyone is interested I can post it in the comments for you to fill out and spare you the trouble of having to go through and delete all of my answers.

Keep in mind that I didn’t come up with this meme. If you disagree with how certain films are categorized, I’m not the one you want to get mad at.

- X what you saw
- O what you haven't finished/saw sizable portions
- Bold what you loved
- Italics for what you disliked/hated
- Leave unchanged if neutral

(I’ll be using a very narrow definition of “loved” and “hated” and a very broad definition of “neutral.” It’s rare for me to have no opinion whatsoever on a film, so I’ll just be marking the ones I have strong feelings about. I’ll also be adding a few comments where I feel I have something more to say.)

Classic Disney
[x] 101 Dalmatians (1961)
[x] Alice in Wonderland (1951)
[x] Bambi (1942)
[x] Cinderella (1950) – My parents tell me this was the first movie I ever saw, not that I remember that particular viewing.
[x] Dumbo (1941)
[x] Fantasia (1940)
[x] Lady and the Tramp (1955)
[x] Mary Poppins (1964)
[x] Peter Pan (1953)
[x] Pinocchio (1940)
[x] Sleeping Beauty (1959)
[x] Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
[x] Song of the South (1946) – Many years ago, when Disney wasn’t so embarrassed by it.

Disney's Dark Age (“Dark Age?”)
[x] The Aristocats (1970)
[x] The Black Cauldron (1985) – I haven’t watched it in a while, so I don’t really have a fully formed opinion of it.
[x] The Fox and the Hound (1981)
[x] The Great Mouse Detective (1986)
[x] The Jungle Book (1967)
[x] The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977)
[x] Oliver and Company (1986)
[x] Pete's Dragon (1977)
[x] The Rescuers (1977)
[x] Robin Hood (1973)
[x] The Sword In The Stone (1963)

The Disney Renaissance
[x] Aladdin (1992)
[x] Beauty and the Beast (1991)
[x] A Goofy Movie (1995)
[x] Hercules (1997)
[x] The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)
[x] The Lion King (1994)
[x] The Little Mermaid (1989)
[x] Mulan (1998)
[x] Pocahontas (1995)
[x] The Rescuers Down Under (1990)
[x] Tarzan (1999)

Disney's Modern Age
[x] Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)
[ ] Bolt (2008)
[x] Brother Bear (2003)
[x] Chicken Little (2005)
[x] Dinosaur (2000)
[x] The Emperor's New Groove (2000) – The first Disney film I skipped seeing in theaters, though I ended up liking it when I did see it.
[x] Fantasia 2000 (2000)
[x] Home on the Range (2004) – The second Disney film I skipped seeing in theaters, though I never enjoyed it all that much.)
[x] Lilo & Stitch (2002)
[ ] Meet the Robinsons (2007) – The first major release Disney film I never saw at all. Not a great sign.
[x] Treasure Planet (2002)

Pixar – I’m being very picky here, or the whole category would just be all bold.
[x] A Bug's Life (1998)
[x] Cars (2006)
[x] Finding Nemo (2003) – Only a few minor issues keep me from bolding this one.
[x] The Incredibles (2004)
[x] Monsters Inc. (2001)
[x] Ratatouille (2007) – Again, this is borderline bold.
[x] Toy Story (1995) – I think the only reason I don’t bold this one is that I love the sequel even more.
[x] Toy Story 2 (1999)
[x] Wall-E (2008)

Don Bluth
[x] All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989) – I don’t remember this being very good, but I don’t think I’ve seen it since its initial release, so I don’t feel right italicizing it just yet.
[x] An American Tail (1986)
[x] Anastasia (1997)
[x] The Land Before Time (1988)
[ ] The Pebble and the Penguin (1995)
[x] Rock-a-Doodle (1991)
[x] The Secret of NIMH (1982)
[ ] Thumbelina (1994)
[x] Titan AE (2000)
[ ] A Troll in Central Park (1994)

Claymation
[x] The Adventures of Mark Twain (1986) - A full-length film from Will Vinton (the California Raisins guy) and quite good.
[x] Chicken Run (2000)
[x] Corpse Bride (2005)
[x] James and the Giant Peach (1996) – If I could throw away the live-action parts, this might be boldable.
[x] Nightmare Before Christmas, The (1993)
[x] Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)
[ ] Flushed Away (2006)
[ ] Coraline (2009)

CGI Glut (This is not a term I would use.)
[x] Antz (1998)
[ ] Happy Feet (2006)
[ ] Kung Fu Panda (2008) – It’s on my list of films to see, due to a lot of praise for it from people I trust.
[ ] Madagascar (2005)
[ ] Monster House (2006)
[ ] Over the Hedge (2006)
[ ] Polar Express, The (2004)
[ ] Robots
[x] Shrek (2001)
[x] Shrek 2 (2004)
[ ] Shrek The Third

Imports
[x] Arabian Knight (aka The Thief and the Cobbler) – I’ve seen both the “Arabian Night” cut and the “Recobbled” cut. The story isn’t great in either, but the “Recobbled” cut is well worth it for the visuals alone.
[x] The Last Unicorn (1982)
[ ] Light Years
[x] The Plague Dogs – Unlike my experience with “Watership Down,” I didn’t see this movie (by the same studio) until I was in college. Good thing too; if I had seen it as a kid, it would probably have destroyed me.
[x] The Triplets of Belleville (2003)
[x] Persepolis (2007)
[x] Waltz With Bashir (2008)
[x] Watership Down (1978) – I saw this at a fairly young age and was traumatized for about a week. Saw it again in college and made my peace with it. It’s a fine film, just not a good all-ages flick.
[ ] When the Wind Blows (1988)
[x] Yellow Submarine (1968)

Studio Ghibli/Miyazaki – Another category where I’m being pickier than usual.
[x] Grave of the Fireflies
[x] Howl's Moving Castle (2004)
[x] Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)
[x] Laputa: Castle in the Sky (1986)
[x] Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro (1979)
[x] My Neighbors The Yamadas
[x] My Neighbor Totoro (1993)
[x] Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)
[x] Only Yesterday
[x] Pom Poko (Tanuki War)
[x] Porco Rosso (1992)
[x] Princess Mononoke (1999)
[x] Spirited Away (2002)
[x] The Cat Returns
[x] Whisper of the Heart

Satoshi Kon
[ ] Millennium Actress (2001)
[ ] Paprika (2006) – I actually own this and haven’t watched it yet, which is incredibly lame of me.
[ ] Perfect Blue (1999)
[ ] Tokyo Godfathers (2003)
[ ] Memories - "Magnetic Rose" (1995)

Shinkai Makoto
[ ] She and Her Cat (1999)
[ ] Voices of a Distant Star (2001)
[ ] The Place Promised in Our Early Days (2004)
[ ] 5 Centimeters per Second (2007)

Other Anime Films
[ ] Adolescence of Utena
[x] Akira (1989)
[ ] Appleseed
[x] Appleseed: Ex Machina
[ ] Arcadia of My Youth (U.S. Title - Vengeance of the Space Pirate)
[x] Cowboy Bebop: The Movie (2003) - I bold this in the name of the whole series.
[ ] The Dagger of Kamui (U.S. Title - Revenge of the Ninja Warrior)
[ ] Dirty Pair: Project Eden
[o] End of Evangelion – I saw parts of this while my husband was watching it. I hadn’t seen much of the rest of the series, so it made almost no sense.
[ ] Fist of the North Star
[ ] Galaxy Express
[x] Ghost in the Shell (1996)
[ ] The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
[ ] Lensman
[ ] Macross: Do You Remember Love (U.S. Title - Clash of the Bionoids)
[o] Metropolis (2001) – I was in the room while some friends of mine were watching this and for some reason I didn’t sit through it.
[ ] Neo-Tokyo
[x] Ninja Scroll
[ ] Patlabor the Movie
[ ] The Professional: Golgo 13
[x] Project A-ko
[ ] Robotech: The Shadow Chronicle
[ ] Silent Mobius
[x] Space Adventure Cobra – The first anime I ever saw in a theater.
[x] Steamboy (2004)
[ ] Sword of the Stranger
[ ] Unico and the Island of Magic
[ ] Urotsukidoji: The Movie
[ ] Vampire Hunter D
[ ] Vampire Hunter D: Blood
[ ] Wings of Honneamise: Royal Space Force

Cartoons For Grown-Ups
[ ] American Pop
[x] The Animatrix (2003) – I like a lot of the segments quite a bit, but it’s hard to judge an anthology like this.
[ ] Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon The Movie
[o] Beavis & Butthead Do America (1996) – A friend in college owned it on video and I came in about halfway through.
[ ] Cool World
[x] Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001) - I found this very disappointing as a fan of the video games.
[x] Final Fantasy: Advent Children
[ ] Fire & Ice
[ ] Fritz the Cat (1972)
[ ] Heavy Metal (1981)
[ ] Heavy Metal 2000 (2000)
[ ] Hey Good Looking
[ ] Lady Death
[ ] A Scanner Darkly (2006)
[ ] South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999)
[ ] Street Fight (AKA - Coonskin)
[ ] Waking Life (2001)

Other Animated Movies I Can't Categorize
[ ] Animal Farm
[ ] Animalympics
[x] Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker
[x] Batman and the Mask of Phantasm – In theaters, with roughly 5 other people nationwide.
[x] The Brave Little Toaster (1988)
[ ] Bravestarr: The Movie
[x] Care Bears: The Movie
[x] Charlotte's Web (1973)
[x] Fern Gully
[x] G.I. Joe: The Movie
[ ] Gobots: Battle of the Rock Lords
[ ] He-Man & She-Ra: The Secret of the Sword
[ ] The Hobbit
[x] The Iron Giant (1999)
[x] Justice League: The New Frontier
[o] Lord of the Rings – I saw part of it during college and was not impressed.
[x] Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland (1992)
[x] My Little Pony: The Movie
[ ] Pink Floyd's The Wall (1982)
[x] The Prince of Egypt (1998)
[x] Powerpuff Girls: The Movie
[o] Quest For Camelot (1999) – Caught a bit of this on TV once.
[ ] Ringing Bell – I honestly have no clue what this is.
[x] The Road to El Dorado (2000)
[x] Rock & Rule – One of my college professors absolutely loved the villain in this.
[x] Space Jam
[ ] Starchaser: The Legend of Orin
[ ] Superman: Doomsday
[x] The Swan Princess - It’s not a complete disaster, but it has huge story issues.
[x] Transformers: The Movie (1986)
[x] Wizards
[x] Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
[x] Wonder Woman

So that’s me, as represented by a handful of random films and my reactions to them. Do you agree with my likes and dislikes? Disagree? Are there great films on the list that I’ve missed seeing? What do you look like through this lens?