The Best I've Seen This Year

As someone already observed, this has been a very good year for animation. I had far too many things I considered "best" this year, but I've narrowed it down to these five (in no particular order). And believe me, it was tough!

Spirited Away

There is no one aspect of this film that stands out for me. I can't point and say "That is why I think this film is, overall, the year's best." The animation is so good, there were times I forgot it wasn't live-action. The main characters were appealing and the secondary characters were imaginative, to say the least. The script was excellent and the pacing full of surprises. Watching this movie was like stepping into a fairy tale, although of the Rackham rather than Disney variety, and my total absorption while I was in it is the major reason it's listed here. Bizarre, funny, charming, magical, beautiful... just wonderful.

"The Making of The Nightmare Before Christmas"

Of course I loved the movie. But watching it, I just accepted what I saw, as if it were traditional animation or real-life film. Until I got the special DVD and saw "The Making of...", I never appreciated what I was seeing. To bring Tim Burton's unique and weird vision to life took an unbelievable amount of work and artistic collaboration from a large number of individuals. Puppet makers and model makers, art directors, artists/technicians, storyboard artists, animators, cameramen, composer, director, and a host of other unsung heroes worked together to create a seamless delight of a film. Listening to them talk, seeing how much work they put in and with how much dedication and enthusiasm, all made me appreciate the movie even more, and I stand in awe of all those folks. They deserve more recognition than the fine print at the end of the credits, so here is my moment of applause for them.

Ice Age

This movie gets the Webmistress' nod for pure entertainment joy. I'm still not sure how they did it, but Ice Age manages to take elements and plots that have become standard and stale ~ a quest, the silly sidekick, the bad guy who turns good, and a dozen others I can name ~ and mix them all together into a story that feels fresh and fun. I loved the characters, even the silly sidekick, I laughed and I cried, and I loved going on this adventure with them.

Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron

Gasp! Somebody got it right! Oh my God!! That was my reaction on seeing this film. I'm a lifelong horse lover and a horse owner, and I've been discouraged seeing horses depicted so poorly in animation. Until now, in both Western animation and anime, the only horse I've seen that even looked half right was Phillipe in Beauty and the Beast. In Spirit, however... wow, they move like real horses, they look like real horses (not fat pears on toothpicks), and they even act like real horses, with a minimum of anthropomorphizing. My favorite example: Spirit is compact like a Quarter Horse, Rain rangy like a Thoroughbred. Theoretically, at least in real life, that would make Spirit more agile and Rain faster. And guess what? That's just what they are. Real horses in an animated film. Amazing. Then, to complete my pleasure, those horses are great characters in a terrific story.

The characters of Lilo & Stitch

I had a modified version of my reaction to Spirit, on seeing these characters. Oh, look, a chubby little girl who doesn't look just like her mom! Oh, look, a sexy heroine with stocky legs and (gasp!) a little roll on her tummy! Are you sure this is Disney? Add a bunch of aliens as imaginative as any Star Wars group and a social worker who looks and acts like a hit man, and you have characters amongst whom the only "normal" one, David, stands out as different. But Stitch is the crown. I can't think of any character design I've ever seen that is more flexible, more expressive and more completely original than this little guy. Those ears, those shiny black eyes, the cute little toes, the teeth! He goes from six-limbed maniacal speed-racing criminal to four-limbed adorable puppy to Godzilla to lost little ugly duckling to Elvis impersonator to caring individual, and more, and each incarnation is equally convincing and delightful to watch.

The 2002 Mickey Award ~ Main Page	The 2002 Mickey Award ~ The Movies	The 2002 Mickey Award ~ The Characters

This site is hosted by DrakNet