List-Fu: The Authentic Match Cut Top 100 Animated Films (the nominees)

[Sycophant]

http://www.whatnotstudios.com/shit/matchcuttop100animated.jpg

After an unfortunately extended nomination process (with surprisingly few ballots), I present to you the initiation of the voting round!

We're going to do this much like we did some of the List-Fus at the old site. You will be able to vote for up to 44 films, in 4 tiers, with no more than 11 films in each tier.

I don't want any ballots just yet. I'm going to give this at least a week before I openly solicit for ballots. I'll prefer to receive these by PM.

In the meantime, I'd like to foster some discussion about what people should be catching up on. What deserves consideration. What's been overlooked. Give us links, give us recs, give us write-ups.

Here's our list of 168 animated nominees.


5 Centimeters per Second
A Bug’s Life
A Charlie Brown Christmas
A Goofy Movie
A Scanner Darkly
Akira
Aladdin
Alice in Wonderland
All Dogs go to Heaven
Allegro non Troppo
An American Tail
Angel's Egg
Animal Farm
Antz
Bambi
Bambi Meets Godzilla
Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
Beauty and the Beast
Begone Dull Care
Betty Boop in Snow White
Castle in the Sky
Castle of Cagliostro
Cat Soup
Chicken Run
Coraline
Corpse Bride
Cowboy Bebop - Knockin' on Heaven's Door
Crac
Creature Comforts
Darkness/Light/Darkness
Destino
Dimensions of Dialogue (Svankmajer)
Donald in Mathmagic Land (1959)
Dr Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Duck Amuck
Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century (1953)
Duck! Rabbit, Duck!
Dumbo
End of Evangelion
Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone
Fantasia
Fantasia 2000
Feed the Kitty
Feelings of Mountains and Waters
Finding Nemo
For the Birds
Fugi
Geri's Game
Ghost in the Shell
Grave of the Fireflies
Happy Feet
Howl’s Moving Castle
Jin-Roh The Wolf Brigade
Justice League: The New Frontier
Kiki's Delivery Service
King-Size Canary
Kirikou and the Sorceress
Kung Fu Panda
Lady and the Tramp
Laputa: Castle in the Sky
Le Paysagiste
Lifted
Long Haired Hare (1949)
Magical Maestro
Memories
Metropolis
Millennium Actress
Mind Game
Monster House
Monsters, Inc.
More
Mulan
My Love
My Neighbor Totoro
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
Night on Bald Mountain
One Froggy Evening
Panda Go Panda
Paprika
Partly Cloudy
Perfect Blue
Persepolis
Peter and the Wolf
Pinocchio
Ponyo
Porco Rosso
Porky in Wackyland
Porky Pig's Feat
Presto
Princess Mononoke
Rabbit Fire
Rabbit of Seville
Rabbit Seasoning
Ratatouille
Red Hot Riding Hood
Rehearsals for Extinct Anatomies (1988)
Robin Hood
Shrek
Sleeping Beauty
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut
Spirited Away
Steamboy
Street of Crocodiles
Tale of Tales
Tekkonkinkreet
The Adventures of Ichabod & Mister Toad
The Adventures of Prince Achmed
The Animatrix
The Brave Little Toaster
The Butter Battle Book (1989)
The Cabinet of Jan Svankmajer
The Cat Came Back
The Cow
The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics
The Emperor’s New Groove
The Fantastic Planet
The Great Mouse Detective
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
The Incredibles
The Iron Giant
The Jungle Book
The Land Before Time
The Lion King
The Little Mermaid
The Lorax
The Man who Planted Trees
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
The Mascot
The Nightmare Before Christmas
The Old Man and the Sea
The Old Man of the Mountain
The Place Promised in Our Early Days
The Prince of Egypt
The Rescuers Down Under
The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb
The Secret of NIMH
The Skeleton Dance
The Snowman
The Tell-Tale Heart (1953)
The Triplets of Belleville
Time Masters
Tokyo Godfathers
Tortoise Beats Hare
Toy Story
Toy Story 2
Up
Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer
Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust
Vincent
Virile Games (1988)
Voices of a Distant Star
Waking Life
Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
Wallace and Gromit in A Close Shave
Wallace and Gromit in A Matter of Loaf and Death
Wallace and Gromit in The Wrong Trousers
Wallace and Gromit: A Grand Day out
WALL-E
Waltz with Bashir
Water, Water Every Hare
Watership Down
What’s Opera Doc?
When the Wind Blows
Whisper of the Heart
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Wizards
Yellow Submarine

Because we ended up with only 168 nominees, only the top 50 will be given the traditional celebrated presentation, though nos. 51-100 will also be announced.

Let's have fun and let's watch and talk about some good animation!

[Philosophe_rouge]

I recommend those who haven't should definetely see Watership Down and Plague Dogs. Beautiful films. As for easily accessible shorts, it's difficult to beat The Tell-Tale Heart... arguably the best adaptation of any of Poe's work;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4s9V8aQu4c

[Sven]

I recently rewatched Akira and was blown away. Didn't work the first time, second time was marginally better, but this, the third time, was a revelation. Some of the most impressive backgrounds I've ever seen, and so damn exciting!

[Spinal]

Might want to consider putting Ponyo in there.

[Sycophant]

Might want to consider putting Ponyo in there.

Done.

[Raiders]

Unfortunate that what is possibly Brad Bird's best work, Family Dog, didn't get a single mention besides me. Not even Watashi.

[Eleven]

Hopefully W&G don't get too much of a vote split.

[D_Davis]

I recently rewatched Akira and was blown away. Didn't work the first time, second time was marginally better, but this, the third time, was a revelation. Some of the most impressive backgrounds I've ever seen, and so damn exciting!

It stands the test of time. Every time I watch it I am a bit scared that it's greatness exists solely in nostalgia, but that's never the case.

[D_Davis]

I'm bummed out that Galaxy Express, or any Leiji Matsumoto failed to make the list. This is a huge oversight considering his status in the Japanese anime and manga industries.

[Sycophant]

Sorry, Davis. I've been meaning to watch some of his stuff, but never got around to it.

Doing this list (as well as reading Astro Boy and Pluto) got me to revisit Rintaro/Tezuka's Metropolis last night for the first time since my initial viewing five or six years ago. It had diminished in my mind somewhat (I think because somehow my memory of it got tangled up with Steamboy), but it's still a masterfully crafted film with striking imagery and a soundtrack it puts to amazing use.

I think a rewatch of Akira is in order, since I only saw it once, almost as long ago.

[D_Davis]

Sorry, Davis. I've been meaning to watch some of his stuff, but never got around to it.



For some reason, his stuff has never really penetrated the current western fascination with Japanese anime and manga. His stuff was huge here in the '70s and '80s, and probably did more to prepare the west's acceptance of the art form than any other. Starblazers (Space Battleship Yamato) was at the vanguard of serialized anime to be shown in the west, around '75. While there were early examples on western television, Starblazers contained an on going story with deeper themes than most cartoons being shown at the time. Captain Harlock, Starzinger, and Dangaurd Ace were also quite popular outside of Japan in the early '80s.

His stuff possesses an older quality to it that may not translate well with modern viewers.

Although I think The Cockpit, and anthology of WWII inspired tales, would be well received. But it's only available on VHS, and it is OOP in both the United States and Japan.

I hope that Matsumoto is not being forgotten.

I guess I should have seconded the vote for Interstella 5555, the Daft Punk musical, even though I don't think it's among his strongest stuff. I think someone else nominated that.

Oh well, not really that big of a deal.

[BuffaloWilder]

I recommend those who haven't should definetely see Watership Down and Plague Dogs. Beautiful films.

Indeed.

The Plague Dogs moreso than Watership Down, I think, but both are more than worth seeing.