How Did Animated Movies Pan Out Recently?

Way back in 2014, I had done a series about animated movies, Disney, competition, etc. In the last part of that series (Disney Competition Part 5) I attempted to predict the future of animated movies. There have been a ton of animated movies that have come out since I did that series, just as there are so many animated movies soon to come in the next few years. I wanted to take a couple moments to reflect on the state of animated movies in the past couple of years, look at what's ahead, and see just how well I predicted the future.

2014 Animated Movies

Disney had a strange year following Frozen. First, they released a lame sequel to the already lame Planes movie. Fire & Rescue had such little impact that summer that I'm sure that even kids who saw it completely forgot that the movie existed. Yet, Disney later released Big Hero 6, which was completely different from Frozen except for the CGI animation. While maybe not having as big of a pop culture impact as Frozen, Big Hero 6 did have the very memorable robot Baymax, fun nerdy action scenes, and a positive message about dealing with loss and friendship.

Dreamworks also had a productive 2014. After releasing Mr. Peabody & Sherman (still trying to figure out who the target audience was for that), Dreamworks released How to Train Your Dragon 2 successfully. Once again, a beloved familiar name brought Dreamworks tons of attention and money. This and Big Hero 6 were probably the most popular animated movies to be selected for the Oscars that year. After a hit franchise release, Dreamworks brought out another beloved franchise featuring a fuzzy black & white animal.

Except Kung Fu Panda 3 was delayed to 2016, so Penguins of Madagascar got pushed for release instead.

It received mostly 'blah' reviews and did not meet the same success or quality as How to Train Your Dragon 2, but it at least kept Dreamworks in business.

There was also room for random animated movies in 2014, some bland and forgettable, others artistic and well liked. Rio 2 and The Nut Job both featured animal lead characters as well as a poor reception in theater and DVD release. The Boxtrolls from Laika Company (Coraline and ParaNorman) was well liked and featured their now signature brand of claymation. I have no real idea what The Book of Life was about, all I know is that it featured a mix of claymation and puppet style animation in a Mexican, Dia de Los Muertos setting. Song of the Sea, from the same director and team that released Secret of Kells a few years ago, brought another shiny, 2-D, Celtic piece of art to the screen, though it probably was not really known until the Oscar nomination.

Oh yeah, and then there was The LEGO Movie.

Everything is awesome when you strike box office gold.

I still have not seen this movie all the way through, but everyone seems to love it. It offered a completely different approach of animation, though it blended CGI with realistic imagery, and yet it all remained very Lego-esque. WB previously released The Swan Princess and The Iron Giant, and now here is their successful hit CGI animated feature.

2015 Animated Movies

Pixar finally returned to the big screen, though just like Disney in 2014, Pixar released a mild dud and a huge hit. The Good Dinosaur looked nice and seemed to really step up Pixar's already progressive CGI animation techniques. However, the story and characters were apparently just meh. On the other hand, before The Good Dinosaur, Pixar brought Inside Out with much critical and public acclaim. I waited a long while to see this, but I wish I had seen it on the big screen. It was beautiful, emotional, funny, and just overall well deserving of being called one of Pixar's best movies. If The Good Dinosaur had been just as good as Inside Out, I would say that Pixar could have made a total comeback to make up for their lower-quality sequel releases.

2015 also seemed to be the return of pop culture cartoons. Alvin and the Chipmunks unfortunately got another crummy sequel.

Why would any parent choose to bring their kid to a movie where a chipmunk sings Sir Mix-a-Lot?

 Spongebob also got a new feature film and while I can appreciate the blend between animation and realism, as well as bringing CGI animation to a well established 2-D franchise, it looked bad and unnecessary. The biggest surprise was The Peanuts Movie (from the same people who presented Ice Age and Rio out of all the random movies out there). I wish I had seen this on the big screen and I look forward to seeing it on DVD. It looked fantastic, blending 2-D and 3-D artwork.

The Minions from Despicable Me somehow got their own release which was one of the summer's biggest movies. Yay for franchise successes, I type sarcastically!

Illumination Entertainment apparently took a page from Dreamworks' book to milk a franchise until it runs dray

Hotel Transylvania 2 also came to the theaters and why it was released in September instead of October I'll never know. It seemed like an unnecessary sequel to an unnecessary original movie, but at least it gave Mel Brooks something to do and was one of Adam Sandler's best performances in recent history.

Of course, there is always room for random original animated movies as well. Dreamworks released Home which looked like one of their weaker releases, but I feel like I've seen that alien character pop up in lots of marketing and imagery. There was Shaun the Sheep the Movie, from the same guys who created Chicken Run and Wallace & Gromit, and it received very good critical reviews, but apparently not as many families went to it as Minions. Strange Magic came out, which I looked up on IMDB because I think most people forget this is a thing. It was some fairy tale creature adventure with some interesting looking CGI, but just didn't get much recognition, in fact I'd say the most famous thing about Strange Magic is that George Lucas is a producer. Finally there was The Prophet, an adaptation of Kahlil Gibran's book, and is one of those high art indie movie pieces. It utilized different artists with different approaches, including Tomm Moore who did Song of the Sea, and it seems interesting enough to watch just for artistic value.

Common Threads:

Firstly we saw different franchises from various movie companies. In fact, one might say that these franchises are staples for the respective company. Penguins of Madagascar features familiar comedic relief from Dreamworks, Rio 2 is a somewhat new franchise for Blue Sky Studios (Ice Age is their biggest staple). Hotel Transylvania 2 is also part of a recent successful franchise for Sony Pictures Animation.

Another common thread is that we saw the return of classic franchises of past TV shows. This involved a rebranding of old pop culture figures in some ways, so that characters that were familiar in my or my parent's generations can feel familiar but different for the current generation. Mr. Peabody & Sherman, The Peanuts Movie, Spongebob Movie, and Alvin & The Chipmunks all fit this category.

Both Pixar and Disney remained at the top of animation domination. They released valuable original movies, and both had a track record of one weak release and one awesome release. For other movie companies, however, past couple of years were a reminder that original ideas do not always equal big bucks. The Book of Life, Song of the Sea, Shaun the Sheep, and Strange Magic all featured different, fresh stories, but for whatever reason were not as big as other releases. Part of it may be due to things like limited releases or poor marketing.

Animated movies also remained CGI heavy. With the exception of The Boxtrolls, Song of the Sea, and The Prophet, all of the animated movies released these past couple of years relied very much on computer imagery for the animation. A lot of the most popular movies also featured animals as main characters (Penguins of Madagascar, Nut Job, Alvin & The Chipmunks, Shaun the Sheep, and How to Train Your Dragon 2 if dragons count as animals).

In my next post, I recap my initial predictions, look at 2016 and future animated movies, and talk about where I went wrong or what I got right.