Top 10 Animated Films of the Decade Countdown

You got the touch! This is Stan Bush, and you're

listening to the Geekcast Radio Network. Dream

the dream. We take a look at last week's box

office predictions. And then we bring you the

next in our half decade list as we count down

our top 10 animated films. All that and more

coming up on episode 58 with the Cinemagate.

That's right, it is episode 58 of The Cinema

Geeks and we're all excited because we're bringing

you one of our special episodes that we've been

doing throughout this year counting down our

half decade list. We've already brought you the

science fiction list early on in the year, then

we brought you our superhero film list and now

we have arrived with the animated films. And

like we did with the previous genre list, we

are trying to bring special guests along for

each list and we have one of those with us. today

so we'll start with that introducing our guest

for the animated film countdown and that is none

other than the one the only the podcasting machine

jd from in session films hello let's go lightning

oh that's not your team jd you know i'm missing

the game for this and you were just rubbing salt

in the wound jd we're about to arm ourselves

with the death over the i'm sorry i couldn't

help myself Look, I'm still trying to get over

my hate for Chicago, but I just can't help myself.

I grew up hating Chicago, and I'm not used to

being in the Eastern Conference yet, so that's

going to have to wait a few more years. As long

as you don't do any Chicago Cubs hating, then...

No Cubs hating. I don't have as much passion

for baseball as I do hockey, but... Can you really

hate the Cubs though? I mean like, you start

to hate them more than anything, right? Yeah,

that's the only Chicago team I like is the Cubs.

I'm one of those weird people that only likes

one local team. Yeah, then I'm all over the country

for the rest of the sports. JD, what position

do you play? In hockey, I played goalie. Okay,

well that's lame because we can't really battle.

I mean, I can score on you. I'm gonna say that.

I'll score on you. Good luck! Didn't play any

position because I've never played hockey before

so I can't be involved in this conversation He

see me play like a half a game before I think

yeah She's the only the only one out there with

all the guys And as always you've obviously heard

Amanda and you've heard myself, but we also have

movie revolt Dan with us hello Dan. Yeah Let's

start with you, Dan. How's your week been going?

Oh, it's going pretty good. Pretty uneventful

for me. Just been busy lately. But yeah, other

than that, you know. I've actually been enjoying

the NBA finals. I have no rooting interest whatsoever,

but you know, it's been good. Boo LeBron. Boo

LeBron? Yeah. I don't like LeBron. He's an Ohio

guy, and I can't like Ohio. I stopped watching

after the Spurs were eliminated, so I can't speak

to this. Alright, what about you JD? How's are

we going? Well, we just going pretty good We

had another ultrasound today the big big ultrasound

for our little guy That's baking in the oven

right now. So everything's healthy. Everything's

good We went out and bought a whole bunch of

furniture and we got some more baby clothes and

I don't I tell my wife I don't know why we're

spending money on a lot of this when I know our

parents are gonna pay for most of it and Pay

for a lot of clothes. I don't know why we need

to spend our own money on it, but We're doing

that still, so. It's just part of the fun. It's

been an amazing ride so far, so my week's going

pretty good. Excellent. I will let Amanda go

next because I'm going to take a big chunk of

time on mine. So, Amanda, how's your week been

going? Well, I'm just over here loving the Blackhawks

and buying napkin rings and stuff, not, you know,

diapers and baby furniture, but it's been a dream.

I did have an interesting experience going to

see Spy this week with some people bringing in

their 11 -year -olds, pretty sure. Well, they

were younger than that. This movie, I was dreadfully

appalled throughout. It was a man, it seemed

like a man and a, you know, husband and wife,

and they had three kids that were all under the

age of 10. It was ridiculous. Yeah. Every time

something flashed on the screen, I was like,

I just wanted to run down there and cover their

eyes myself. If they wouldn't have been they

were sitting in like the front not not like the

flat seating But like the first row of as it

like as whatever you call that stadium seating

Yeah, they were in they were in the first row

and we always sit almost all the way to the back

wall If we wouldn't have been separated by that

much I would have really had to bite my tongue

to not say something to them on the way out.

They must be Blackhawks fans I don't know. I

don't know what I don't know what people do like

my thing is There's too many people that go into

movies with no knowledge what the movie's about.

I'm not saying that's not, you know, I myself

can do that, but I at least know, you know, at

least the genre or, you know, what age, you know,

it's kind of pointing at. But what I was telling

Amanda, it reminds me of a couple years ago when

I went to see Les Mis in the theater. And five

minutes in, this couple walked out. And I'm like,

did you not realize? If they were gonna be singing

this whole movie. That's different than taking

your kids though. You can just walk in a movie,

but if You're going to take your children to

the theater or show your children a movie. I

think even with Dan having a small baby and JD

having a baby on the way, even they can concur

that you should probably censor what your children

are going to watch through certain age. And to

do that, you need to look into what your children

are going to be watching. We're pretty sure that

it was just a couple that wanted to go see this

movie and they couldn't afford a babysitter.

And so they're just like, the kids are coming

with us. We don't care how many penises are flashed

on the screen. Yeah. So, yeah, that was an interesting

experience. Amanda was very much appalled. She's

still talking about it. That was like a week

ago, so. And P .S., Blackhawks fans just beat

up cabbies like Patrick Kane. We don't take our

children to Rated R. I have a feeling we're not

going to get away from this. Nope. All right.

Hey, hey, real fast, though, too, because I think

this year especially is even more fun because

there's a very good chance as of right now that

me and my wife may end up moving to Tampa within

the next six months. So I'm sort of in a fun

way becoming a lightning fan now because of this,

this little rivalry we have going. Go ahead and

jump on that bandwagon, JD. When you fall off

and you're in the dirt, I'm gonna laugh and point.

We'll see. We'll see. Isn't that better than

being a Red Wing fan or something? Slightly.

Well, Detroit will always be my bread and butter.

I'm a huge Red Wings fan, got a fun little coach

this week that I'm excited about. But if I'm

gonna have a second team, I can live with the

Lightning. There you go. That sounds like all

Tampa Bay. It's like the Cubs you kind of adopt

them because you feel bad for them My mom and

my brother watched this watch the Cubs games

religiously, so I had no chance in that I had

an interesting week. Let's start with the funner

stories I don't know exactly what day this was

it might have been more than a week ago, but

So, one day, we're getting ready to... I don't

know if we were actually sleeping or if we were

getting ready to go to bed or whatever it might

have been, but... No, it was definitely like

three in the morning. Okay, it was like three

in the morning. And I'm woken up to the fact

that Amanda has heard a noise in the house. It

was three footsteps, three knocks. It was the

Babadook, apparently, within the house. And so

I wake up startled to the fact that she's telling

me basically that somebody's in the house and

that she's heard footsteps. And of course, I'm

the guy, so I'm gonna, in my half -asleep state

of mind, going to go walk through the house and

see what's the matter. So I'm going out there,

you know, I'm checking all the doors. I'm checking

everything It actually turned out that our front

door was unlocked that night So it maybe was

a good thing that she heard something so I actually

could lock the door But I searched in all the

spare rooms all the closets. I've looked in the

garage I've looked everywhere and about halfway

through this whole process. I think to myself

Amanda sleeps with a nine millimeter next you

know, next to the bed because she used to have

to carry it for work because she was going into

bars and, you know, dealing with thousands of

dollars of money, so she had to carry a weapon

on her. And I'm thinking, why am I walking through

the house with absolutely nothing in my hands?

Like, is she just waiting to see if I get killed?

I was waiting to see if he disappeared. And I

had to go in. If he made it out, everything was

good. I thought that was an interesting night.

There turned out to be nothing in the house except

for her imagination, so luckily we were safe.

She did go up after. After I had searched the

house, then she did a second search with gun

in hand. Just to make sure we're doubly safe.

She didn't trust me. She wanted me to go see

everything, but she didn't trust that I was actually

right when there was nothing. Have you seen any

horror movie ever? That's why I don't watch them.

The first person you take in, whatever. There's

a window right here. Me and the cat are cool.

We're safe. We're out of here. Oh, goodness.

And then we had an interesting... I think it

could have made for an interesting story, but

I kind of chickened out halfway through it. We

went grocery shopping whatever day it was, Saturday,

and we had bought a couple steaks amongst the

rest of the groceries, and we were trying to

decide what we were going to eat that night,

and we were outside doing something in the yard,

and it seemed like everybody in the neighborhood

was cooking out. You could just smell all the

different grills and all the good stuff that

it was cooking, and we didn't own a grill at

the time. purchase that I had yet to make for

the house, even though we have this nice little

back deck and everything. And basically within

the next 10 to 15 minutes, Amanda and I talked

each other into going to Lowe's to pick up a

grill based on the smells that were filling the

neighborhood. And so we were going to go pick

up a grill, bring it back, assemble it, hopefully

in time so that we could actually cook steaks

before the sun went down. She got a work call,

so she had to go. So I was on my own to go pick

out the grill, buy it, and bring it back. She

was kind of bummed because she was wanting to

be a part of the assembly process. But I'm like,

oh, it's no big deal. I'm a technician. I need

to build things. I'm a peacock. You gotta let

me fly. So I was like, it's no problem. I'll

start it while you're on the call. I didn't know

how much a grill assembly took, but I imagine

I would still be working on it when she got back.

But she was feeling pretty bad. And so she was

texting me that she was bummed out that she wasn't

able to help, et cetera, et cetera. And about

20 or 30 minutes later, she's calling me to tell

me she's on the way back from the call and asking

me how the assembly was going. And I was like,

not a problem. I got it all set up, ready to

go. And I was trying to decide how long I could

go without telling her that they offered me a

pre -assembled one free of charge. Or if I could

just take credit for somehow assembling it in

15 to 20 minutes without a problem. But I caved

in and told her that I got a pre -assembled one.

I have built a grill, and I know how long it

takes. So as soon as he told me it was done,

I was suspicious to say the least. But yeah,

so I guess I chickened out. I didn't try to claim

that as my own. Unless you showed her like a

George Foreman grill. Yeah, there you go. I have

one of those. I could have showed her that one.

And I was just looking at this thing like there

was literally no chance that I would have had

this assembled before midnight Well, Amanda,

you can come do ours the next time if you want,

because I put ours together and it was a gigantic

pain in the ass. Absolutely hated it. It might

be the right choice. The guy was at the store

and he's like, would you like one in a box or

assembled? And I was like, is this a trick question?

First of all. And second of all, how much does

it cost to buy the one that's assembled? And

he's like, it's no extra charge. And I'm like,

I feel like I would be an idiot if I said I wanted

one in a box. Yeah, no kidding. I don't feel

like the assembly process is that rewarding.

I don't I couldn't fit into my car out a ride

that sucker home I'm like I have a block away

from Lowe's. I think I can handle. Yeah for sure.

Yeah Alright, one more story before we get going

because I have to tell it and this is the not

as fun story so I've been getting up early for

work all week this week for different things

and today I had a meeting that I was running

at my store with about I don't know 10 to 15

people and it was going to be starting at 8 o

'clock in the morning so I wanted to make sure

you know I was well and prepared and everything

was set up prior so I got up at 5 .30 or 5 .45

something like that in the morning which is way

earlier than I normally get up. and got ready

and it's about a 20 minute drive. I'm about five

minutes from the house turning left on a green

arrow and someone coming the opposite way was

turning red or turning right on a red and decided

that he wanted to try to to floor it to get into

you know to make his turn before I made mine

and I had to had to hit my break or otherwise

I was gonna hit him so I hit my break and honked

to kind of be like yo that's kinda close, and

I'm hitting my brakes so I don't hit you. And

as soon as I honked, the guy decided that he

was going to slam on his brakes and come to a

complete stop in the road. So, needless to say,

my truck hit his truck, and that was fun. And

then, for the third time in my life, I was in

an accident, and the other guy decided to take

off. So, hit and run. But because I've been through

this three times, when I was in the car accident,

I didn't check to see if I was okay. I didn't

check to see if my car was okay. The first reaction

I did was write down his license plate number.

I've been through this like three times now.

So I'm waiting for the... the cops had already

brought his uh... apparently had a mugshot because

they brought him up on the monitor and they already

had a picture of him. I'm hoping that they tracked

him down and that citations were issued because

that was a fun experience. Needless to say I

didn't get to work until seven forty five when

that meeting was at eight o 'clock. did not have

a lot of prep work. So that was how my morning

went and I currently don't have a car anymore,

so. Amanda got to walk home two miles in the

80 degree weather before I had to get to work.

I'm glad that it wasn't an emergency though because

the police literally took 50 minutes to get to

the accident. Oh my gosh. I was standing in a

parking lot in the 80 degree heat. outside of

my car because it's leaking fluid and smoking

and I don't really think it's a good idea to

sit in my car at that point. So I'm just standing

in a parking lot for 50 minutes waiting for the

police to arrive. That's a good thing you weren't

there bleeding. Right, exactly, or that my car

didn't actually blow up. Yeah, just kidding.

So yeah, it was an eventful morning and that's

my story. Interesting. Gotta wait to see if I

am fixing my car or buying a new one here in

the next week or two. Just go buy a new one,

that's what I did. Yeah, that's what I'm hoping

because this is an old car and I was only going

to buy a new car next year anyways. That was

my plan, so I might just have to do it a little

bit early. There you go. Alright, enough chit

chat from me. I took everybody's time, so we

will get into our top 10 animated films. Before

we do that, let's do what we always do and get

any criteria, any exceptions, anything that you

kind of took into account as you were making

up your list. We'll start with our guest JD.

Anything that you were... Eliminating or you

know, what criteria did you have for your list?

I had pretty much no criteria I mean just any

animated film from 2010 to 2014 was available

and There was one little criteria that I was

kind of looking at I decided against it and it'll

make sense when I get to my picks But I'll set

of that just it just had to be animated. That

was really the only criteria all right, that's

pretty simple. I think I'll just jump in because

I'm along the same lines. I didn't eliminate

anything. If it was released between 2010 and

2014, it was eligible. So I didn't use any type

of strange criteria or do anything like the Academy

did by eliminating things. For whatever reason,

I might have eliminated things. So I didn't do

any of that. Amanda, anything special that you

took into account when making your list? I think

it was a strictly selfish list. So if I liked

it, then I'm putting on my list. I'm really not

going to put any parameters on it except for

the time span, obviously. All right. Dan, anything

special that you did differently than us? No,

it was animated and it was in that time period.

This one was pretty straightforward. Only ones

that like, there's one movie that I almost thought

about that's like half animated, half live action.

Since it was like 50 -50, I did not include that,

but that's about it. Yeah, we were doing we were

doing a quiz the other day. Sometimes we go on

this website called Sporacle SPORCLE And it's

kind of like a quiz website. We were doing one

together via her laptop on the big screen TV

and it was something about Animated films. I

don't remember what the criteria is that we were

Okay, the top I think was a top 100 box office

films animated wise and you know, we were doing

pretty well but We didn't get all of them and

at the end it shows you which ones you missed

and there was something that I think was like

Space Jam and like something else. I'm like,

yeah, I'm not gonna come up with it. That's not

animated in my head. Roger Ravn. Yeah, Roger

Ravn. I wasn't on those lines. All right, so

it seems like the criteria is pretty straight

and clear for this one. It's not like one of

those other ones where genres can kind of be

interpreted different ways. It's either animated

or it's not, so it should be pretty simple. All

right, so we will get into our list. Normally...

Most podcasts around let the guests go first,

but most podcasts around don't have a female

host or co -host So in my world the ladies always

go first, so I'm gonna let Amanda go first. He

did. I hope you don't mind Alright, so before

those two get any more heated discussions between

each other, and it might happen, we'll see what

movies are on your guys' list and we'll see how

much crossover we have or don't have, but Amanda,

what is your number ten? I'm going to start off

with the 2013 movie, Cloudy with the Chance of

Meatballs 2. Going sequel right off the bat.

Yes, sir. I think the animation in this film

is amazing. I think it's got its own unique style

and it's a little quirky, a little weird, but

I dug it and I thought the characters are pretty

fun and the plot, if you can call it that, I

guess it was a little weird and a little quirky

and that's why I liked it. Did you like it better

than the first one? Yeah, I'd say maybe. But

that's not in our, in our spam, so don't ask

me about it. I can't ask you anything outside

the scope of 2010 -2014. No. Alright, note to

self. Don't even bring up the book, cause that

would be, it's a different game altogether. Dan

or JD, have you guys seen Cloudy with a Chance

2? I have not seen the sequel, no. Yeah. I haven't

either. I have seen it, it's okay. I like the

first one a lot better than the second one, but

if you like food puns, it's a good movie. And

streaming on Netflix, no? I like the first one

I haven't seen the second one for some reason

I don't know why that is exactly but so I can't

really comment too much about that all right

so JD now we can let the guests go so what's

your number 10 sir I'm going in a completely

different direction I'm going with the French

film that I actually saw last night for the first

time Ernest and Celestine and I'm not exactly

sure who the actors are because I watched the

French version of this with the subtitles but

I thought it was a pretty adorable and super

charming film it's kind of got like this fireplace

kind of warmth to it and what I really like about

it is it doesn't seem too interested and like

self winking at adults that a lot of Hollywood

animated films are pretty interested in which

I'm okay with that stuff I like that stuff being

an adult but And I like that this just embraces

its childlike qualities about it. It's about

this unlikely friendship between a mouse and

a bear and them kind of overcoming stereotypes.

And in that sense, it's kind of timeless with

the with the movie that is trying to tell. And

it talks about these notions of, you know, teaching

kids these fairy tales, which kind of roots those

stereotypes. When in reality, that's not just

really how life really is sometimes. So and the

animation is really gorgeous. It's very simple

and subtle. colors but there's some really great

shots of like bigger scale worlds that they draw

in the towns that this film explores and overall

it's just really captivating really fun adorable

like I said I like it quite a bit so Ernest and

Celestine is my number 10. I think both you JD

and Dan are going to expose a lot of my blind

spots and I was doing I was trying to do research

for this for the last couple months it's something

that I think both Amanda, myself, and Dan, I

think all of us have been doing as we get ready

for different genre lists. We've been trying

to catch up on ones we've missed or whatnot.

And I did get a chance to see four, five, six

animated films that I had been missing, but I

just couldn't get to them all. And a couple of

them were not as readily accessible as I was

hoping. So it's a blind spot for me. Dan, I'm

pretty sure you've seen that movie though, right?

Yeah, I'll hold off on saying anything for right

now. It's a good one. I would recommend seeking

it out. And it is streaming on Amazon Prime,

if I'm not mistaken. So I have no excuse for

that one. Darn it. All right, I'll go next to

let Dan, since he's the... He's going to be the

master list here. He said on Twitter that it

was, what was it, the definitive list fan? It's

true. It is. I promise all 10 films will be animated

and will have come out in that time span. So

will that be the first time that we actually

abide by the rules for the entire list? Probably.

Yeah, probably. I might throw a comedy film in

there just to mess it up a little bit. I came

in here expecting some sort of live -action twist

like you talked about on Twitter, so that better

happen. I'm just expecting not to know at least

two films that Dan brings up. The characters

are animated, so doesn't that count? All right,

my number 10. Before I say any of my movies,

I am going to preface it. It wasn't like a criteria

or anything, so I couldn't bring it up then,

but I will preface my list by saying that I'm

not really necessarily... I think my number 9

and my number 10 aren't maybe worthy of being

in the top 10. So I'm already undercutting my

own list. But I feel like if I had seen some

of these blind spots that they would probably

take these spots. So I was really kind of struggling

to see. two films that I felt were worthy of

being in the top ten, and I'm not sure I really

found them in my number nine and my number ten.

But then the rest of my list, I'm pretty confident.

I kind of have two sections. I have like a four

that I feel really strongly about in my top four,

and then I have the other four that I think really

deserve to be in the top ten, but didn't quite

make the top four. So just preface that as I

go into my number ten and my number nine here.

My number ten is going to be from 2014, and the

reason it's here is more for its uniqueness,

more for... a film that doesn't necessarily go

with the cookie cutter animated film that you

get. So I appreciated that. And that would be

2014's The Box Trolls. I'm not saying this is

a perfect film. There are some issues with it

here and there. But from just a visual standpoint

and just kind of a stylized standpoint, I think

it's something that was unique for the half decade

so far, something that there wasn't a lot of

comparisons. that you could make between that

and other films, so it kind of stood out for

me. I don't think it was the best film of 2014

in the animated world, but it was just enough

to squeeze in at my number 10. I do like The

Box Trolls. I like that studio, Laka, I believe.

Yeah. And there's other films that might come

up that they have done as well, but I like The

Box Trolls. I think my expectations were a little

too high when I went in to see it, because I

remember loving the trailer, even though the

trailer was just them putting it together. making

the movie but uh it was one of the best trailers

i think from last year yeah the character design

is really is really great and uh you know it's

got a really dry sense of british sense of humor

but i think right yeah All right. Well, Dan,

what's your number 10? My number 10 is also currently

streaming on Amazon Prime, if you have not seen

it, which I'm going to guess a good amount of

people have not. It is a Spanish film. It is

called Wrinkles. It might have been going to

try to pronounce the director's name, but I will

say the the American version, which is available

on Amazon, is the voiceover is done by Martin

Sheen. And basically he plays this elderly man

who has just was recently placed into a home

by his son and kind of goes into the trials and

tribulations of that in the community and Overall,

the animations pretty, you know hand -drawn basic

animation It's not fantastic but it's just the

story itself is really great because it gets

to like a lot of those issues that we don't talk

about when it comes to death and growing old

and you know how we deal with our elderly and

and things of that nature so and Martin Sheen

is really great in that with his performance

really subdued and in a lot of ways So it's a

nice little film basic story and it has a lot

of interesting characters and kind of a dark

sense of humor at times and It at all. It's does

not try to even though it's animated. It doesn't

like hinder its drama at all. It's it's really

poignant in that way so if you know anyone who's

ever had Grandparents who've gone through like

Alzheimer's or anything like that. I think it

definitely is a a good thing to watch because

sometimes just through the lens of an animated

world, it's a little bit easier to kind of comprehend

or go through. This was one that I read a lot

about in terms of research for this list. It

was one that I just didn't have time to get to,

but it was one that I wrote down that I want

to check out at some point because I only heard

great things about it. So now that it's made

your list, which I wasn't sure if it was going

to make anyone's list or not, but it was something

that I consistently saw in research. So I'm definitely

going to check it out now. But now it's officially

good because I named it number two. Yeah, it's

officially good. The nail on the coffin. No pun

intended. I'm going to say it sounded like they

cast the perfect person based on the description

of the movie there. Alright, well let's circle

back around then to Amanda for her number nine

pick. Coming in at my number 9, 2011, Kung Fu

Panda 2, another sequel. So we're going to have

the sequel queen over here. Is your entire list

made of sequels? Almost. Alright, we're in for

a treat here, so why Kung Fu Panda, whatever

number that was? Two. I don't know, I like Jack

Black's voice. I think he's hilarious. And Amanda,

Panda, I mean that's a given. Just saying. I

thought the animation was pretty cute. It's gotta

be the best reason I've ever heard. I also think

the story was pretty touching. I mean you find

out a little bit more about... Spoiler alert.

No, I'm just kidding. Come on now. You find a

little bit more about the story behind the main

character's life and some hardships that he goes

through and I think it's touching and it's cute.

I liked it. Alright, so second sequel Kung Fu

Panda 2 from 2011 coming at number nine for Amanda.

So I'm just I was just reading the date JD what

do you got at number nine? First of all crazy

thing about Kung Fu Panda 2 I didn't really care

for the first one a ton So I never did seek the

second one out But I did see that that movie

has like an 81 % rotten tomatoes. So apparently

it's really good Well, I cry, so it should have

been 98%. I thought that they had the cartoon

series. I didn't see a lot of it, but it seemed

like it was decent. Not really sure. Anyway,

for my number nine, I'm going to a film that

a lot of people like to hate. But when it came

out... Critics loved it and most fans anyway

adored it. I'm going with Disney's Frozen at

my number nine and I want to say that I don't

think it was the film that people hate. I think

it's the internet that you hate and that's what

made people not like that movie but it was really

interesting I talked about this on our show too

because I was getting really sick and tired of

people giving this film a lot of crap after everyone

had kind of adored it when it first came out

and my mom was kind of telling me this really

fun story and about the Lion King because when

the Lion King came out I was like six years old

or something like that I was pretty young but

she was basically saying just how big that movie

was at that time that if the internet existed

the same way it does now She said everyone would

have done the exact same thing for the Lion King

because it was that big and what's really funny

after she told me that Just kind of browsing

through different things. There's so many different

like Lion King spoofs and Lion King Videos on

the internet where people are kind of doing that

to a degree but because it's not mainstream media

Because it's an older film. No one really cares

about it as much but a lot of it is still out

there so I find that kind of funny, but I will

stand out for Frozen. I still think it's a really

really good movie and I love how Disney in a

lot of ways makes fun of themselves with this

and their whole princess motif that they've had

for a very long time and that whole idea of you've

got to have a guy and this prince to be happy

sort of thing and it flips that notion on its

head. I think it's a little predictable but I

think it works in this movie and it resonated

pretty strongly with me. I thought the setup

in the first act was really great. Those opening

sequences when Anna was singing... to Elsa and

she just wanted to hang out and spend time with

Elsa and of course Elsa is just ignoring her

at all costs because she thinks that she's protecting

her when actually she's hurting her sister deeply

I found those dynamics pretty stimulating and

pretty poignant and you know people can hate

let it go all they want but it's a great song

and Idina Menzel is amazing she's really really

good and she nails that performance not just

in that song but with her voice acting throughout

the film It's just really good stuff, and I really

appreciate the fresh perspective that Disney

and this film took on the same notions that they've

explored in their entire history. You totally

one -upped John Travolta right there, by the

way. Totally did. You know, I've never understood

the portion of the population that's kind of

like what you were leading off with there that

just... dislike something because it's popular

or just dislikes it because other people like

it I just don't get that mentality you see it

with a lot of different things where oh this

is getting a lot of press or oh this is getting

a lot of headlines and I'm on like even people

that don't like I've seen that with people that

don't even haven't even seen whatever movie is

in question or TV show or whatever it is and

they're just automatically I'm not even gonna

go watch that because everybody else likes it

like I don't understand that yeah like that's

such a jaded What I hate is when I think something

is cool and then all the tweens get a hold of

it and then they wreck it and then I'm like I

can't like this anymore because I'm gonna get

grouped in with all these idiots so now I can't

like it. That's a slightly different angle on

that but... Just like Twilight. I read all those

books. I waited between books came out. I was

in college. It was for me, right? I loved them

and then the movies are coming out. I was super

stoked and then the tween sensation... took off

with it, and I was like, I can't even tell people

that I like these books anymore, and I'm gonna

be a closet Twilight fan, and not gonna say anything.

That's the Internet, that's the problem with

the Internet, though, right? It's crazy, yeah.

Yeah, so I've never understood that mentality,

so I agree with you. I don't understand the hate

for something just because it's good. I would

just say that I reenact Lion King every day.

With my son every day my saying why it doesn't

for me. It doesn't get old everyone else Like

this will be his first song that he ever sang

yeah, what do you think? I'm actually gonna learn

the words the circle of life still don't know

Make sure they're on the right now Alright, we're

at number nine. I will again like I said I'm

sounding I'm gonna sound like the person that

is stuck in the moment right now for my number

ten of my number nine like oh you just saw these

films so they're on your list, but You were with

Disney JD. I'm gonna stick with Disney, but their

2014 entry with Big Hero 6 I just thought there

was there was a lot to to appreciate about this

film. I mean, clearly it won the Oscar, apparently.

I don't think it was the best animated film of

2014. I'll reiterate that. But I think in the

same way Frozen speaks to the relationship between

an older and a younger sister, Big Hero 6 does

that a lot with the older and the younger brother.

And just kind of that dynamics there. And, you

know, I had an older brother, so... Not that

that makes me unique or special, a lot of people

do, but it just makes it easy to connect with

that. And I think there was some inventiveness

in the story there. So it was one of those things

that I didn't really know much about going in.

I've heard it's Disney, I've heard it's Marvel,

comic book background or whatever. But I kind

of went in with no expectations and I pleasantly

enjoyed almost the entire film. And I thought

there was some clever, unique... From like almost

like a technological standpoint that they were

doing, you know within the story not from like

an effect standpoint But I'm talking about like

that's something that I enjoy like with the back

to the future series and with a lot of sci -fi

series It's all the different things that they

have in that universe that they use that are

kind of intriguing to Understand or to kind of

get to know so I just thought it was a fun film

and Because I didn't have anything else that

trump these two That's why box trolls is my number

ten and big hero six is my number nine Yeah,

I think my favorite thing about big hero six

Kevin is it showcases something about Disney

that I love. And if you want to, I guess, parallel

Disney as like, let's say a major league baseball

pitcher, just to speak to you, Kevin, is like,

if you have a really good fastball, there's not

really a whole lot of need for you to throw curveballs.

You can just throw fastballs all day long and

still be effective and amazing. And I think that's

what Big Hero 6 is, because in terms of the story

and plot, It's pretty formulaic. There's not

a whole lot out here we haven't seen a billion

times, but Disney is so good at nailing that

that they don't have to do a whole lot of different

stuff for it to be effective and good. And while

I don't think it was nearly the best film of

last year either, the fact that a lot of people

still voted for it to be best animated film,

I think just goes to show how Disney is really

good at throwing their fastball, so to speak.

And Baymax, I think, was a pretty darn good character

for last year. I thought that was a fun character.

Incredible, yeah. And the stuff that they did

with him, you know, when he was losing power

or in the different things that they did with

him, just even the shape that he was and everything

was just a fun character for kids. Yeah, he was

really fun, yes, absolutely. So, alright, what?

Disney was like Mortal Kombat, and I kept doing

a shin kick over and over again, and I was winning.

That's kind of annoying. Yeah, but if it's effective,

why would you stop doing it? If you keep winning

the fights, then you're gonna keep doing it.

Stop this kick, and I will do something different.

Let you beat Goro, then what's the, you know,

it doesn't matter. We got into Mortal Kombat

here, I didn't think that was gonna happen. Alright

Dan, what is your your number nine foreign film

here? It's very related to foreign film This

is actually in English. I think it's American

film or maybe English film, but very much related

to Mortal Kombat not at all It's kind of it does

have some correlation with my with wrinkles my

number 10 because it does also like Sent around

an old man, which I didn't realize the connection

till now it is movie called My Dog Tulip. Okay.

It is and it's interesting because really the

only person that's in it is played by Christopher

Plummer. It's basically this old man and his

relationship with his dog and that's pretty much

the entire story and it gets into like it's very

limited dialogue most of it's just voiceover

with him and there's some some communication

whatsoever with him and other people but it's

just like Based upon a memoir. So it's a lot

of voiceover a lot of like journal entries situations

like that and the animation is really interesting

because it's each individual flame frame was

digitally Digitally colored so it gives it a

really like minimalistic naturalistic look to

it like almost like you're just opening someone's

sketchbook kind of in a way uh characters are

like uh interesting drawn it's kind of funny

because there's a lot of resemblance between

the old man and the dog they both have like just

like extended long faces but uh it's honestly

it's just a sweet story about a guy like an old

man who finds a solace in his relationship with

He can't get along with humanity, really, for

the most part. But his dog, he gets along with

just fine. And it's not too complicated. And

Christopher Plummer is perfect. He sounds like

your favorite uncle or grandfather. that great

narrator voice. So it's a fine little movie and

I would definitely recommend it. This one's a

little harder to get a hold of. It's not really

available in many places, but if you can find

it, it's worth checking out. Hey Kevin, do you

remember what I said right after Wrinkles? Just

edit that in here. Same thing. Same exact same.

Dan's job here and his role in this countdown

is to open people's eyes up to films that we

should have seen that we haven't and stuff like

that. He is the eye -opener. He's going to tell

us where to find them and what we should be watching.

He's an expert at that. My biggest concern about

watching this, especially this year, I'm going

to have to give myself some time, is I... I sympathize

and I'm very emotionally attached to characters

that really aren't human, that are humanized

in film. So dogs is a great example of that.

And I watched a film earlier this year called

White God that absolutely destroyed me. So I'm

going to need, like Marley and me, I'm going

to need about six more years before I can watch

another film featuring a dog in a prominent role.

So I'll get back to you in a decade on this.

What about the short, The Feast? Did you see

that? I did. That was pretty adorable. I will

say it's what's interesting about my dog, Tulip,

too, is a dog just acts like a dog. You know,

it's like you often with animated film would

be like anamorphicized or something of that nature,

but it's not. It just acts like more so than

Marley and me. Like it just the way they portray

it. It's interesting in that way. So there's

actually even like him trying to get it. The

breed it's really and some of the humor in it

is kind of odd like just like it shows you Just

kind of the odd relationship humans can have

with their pets and how they might take it a

little bit too far at times All joking aside

if I can get a copy of it. I'll certainly give

it a go for sure All right, that means we're

back to Amanda for her next sequel and what would

be your number eight pick Amanda? Bring it down

to 2010 and go with Toy Story 3 sequel trend

continues Alright, so Toy Story 3 coming in at

number 8 for you. Now I know everybody on the

internet seems to think this is probably number

1, number 2 material, so why number 8 for Toy

Story 3 for you? I don't think it blew me away.

I was really impressed by the first Toy Story,

but as it went through, I feel like it wasn't

anything that was mind -blowing by any means.

I think it was definitely something genuine and

touching and fulfilling, but it wasn't anything

that's blown my imagination out of the water.

Did I cry at the end? Of course. Fair enough.

It was straight feels. That's all you can say.

It gave you the feels. All right. All right,

so Toy Story 3 coming in at number 8. I will

not say anything about that film quite yet. All

right, JD, what's your number 8? For my number

8, I'm bad, and that's good. I'll never be good,

and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather

be than me, Mr. Wreck -It Ralph. is my number

eight. And this was easily my favorite film of

2012. Loved every second of it. Suck it, Brave.

You didn't deserve that Oscar. Hey, hey, now,

come on. I thought you were coming at me for

a second and I was like, did you do this again,

JT? Look, this movie is miles above Brave, in

my opinion, but I love it. In fact, Wreck -It

Ralph... would probably be way higher on my list

if we were talking like my favorite animated

films, but I was kind of looking at this a little

bit more objectively than just my favorites.

So it comes in at number eight, but I love this.

It's wonderful use of video game nostalgia, which

is something that really speaks to me. It's really

rich and fun world. I love how they travel through

like the electrical cords and the search protectors,

like their main lobby of this world that they're

in. And I love it. And the story of Ralph I think

really resonates with me because he thinks that

he needs something to be happy or to fit in and

he's not okay with his identity so he goes on

this journey to get this medal. He comes across

another character named Vanellope and through

that journey he realizes that his identity as

the bad guy is a good thing and the way that

they play on that is very clever. It's really

great. I love the relationship between Ralph

and Vanellope and it's very strong and depicted

gorgeously and When we get to the climax of the

film and he does say that line that I used to

begin this Like Amanda I had the field there.

It's awesome Incredible I love love record Ralph.

It's it's not just you know It's not just a film

that speaks to me, but I think in terms of as

a piece of art I think it's really really good

and really well put together so It comes in at

my number eight. I will agree with you 100 %

at your statement that it's the best animated

film of 2012, and that's all I will say. Going

into my number eight, let me get my reason out

before anybody judges me when I say it. My number

eight is going to be my first film from 2010,

and that's going to be Disney's Tangled. And

the reason I'm putting this up here... Not just

because I think it was a fun movie and because,

you know, the songs are good, etc. But for me

this symbolized somewhat of a turning point for

Disney. Sure, yes. You know, growing up... and

living through, you know, the rebirth of the,

you know, kind of that resurgence with Little

Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin

and Lion King, you know, that was my childhood.

As far as like animated films go, like, you know,

Disney films, that was my time. And the music

in those films was so phenomenal. The characters

were, you know, lovable and, you know, memorable

and stuff like that. And it just kind of happened

where... after those movies I was also a little

bit older so I wasn't watching as many animated

films so I kind of you know phased out of animation

for a while and you know maybe it was excellent

timing on my part because it just seemed like

outside of a couple films after that that Disney

kind of just went off the track a little bit

especially when you go into the late 90s slash

early 2000s there just wasn't it just seemed

like the studio just wasn't what it used to be.

Thank God for Pixar, right? Yeah, exactly. Luckily

there were some other studios that were kind

of filling that gap in the meantime. But it really

wasn't until Tangled came out in 2010 where I

started paying attention to Disney again and

I was like, wait a second, they still have a

little bit of that magic left. They can still

do something that still kind of harkens back

to not just the movies that I mentioned during

my childhood, but harkens back to Disney classic

era with all the different princess stories.

And it just was for me kind of a breath of fresh

air that's like Disney may be able to find their

legs again and be able to go in a good direction.

So outside of, you know, actually enjoying some

of the characters and enjoying the music and

whatever, it was just like just kind of a trip

back to what I liked about not just my childhood

Disney, but classic Disney. So I think it was

a significant movie in the Disney pantheon. So

that's my number eight. Yeah, man. Go ahead dang.

No, go ahead. I actually it didn't make my list

but it almost did and I think we watched it when

we were coming up with this and realized that

I I don't think I gave that movie enough credit

and I think it it could have been because Disney

was such on a downward spiral world where it

was like just my initial impressions were like

it won't be it won't be that good, but I honestly

think looking at the all the new Disney films

have come out, including like Wreck -It Ralph,

and you know, Pick Hero 6, and Frozen. I like

it the most out of those in a lot of ways. Just,

I think it has a good mixture of the old Disney

and the new Disney, and it has that revisionist

kind of ideals of princess and what that means,

so I enjoy it quite a bit. It almost made my

list, but unfortunately, I cannot find a spot

for it. Yeah, I agree. I think it's a really

good film. Now, I don't like it as much as Wreck

-It Ralph or even Big Hero 6 or Frozen, but it's

still a really good movie and you're right, Kevin,

that in a lot of ways it was kind of another

resurgence from Disney in a lot of ways because

since then we've seen all those other movies

I just mentioned and where's Pixar been since

Toy Story 3 not doing really that hot, which

is why I'm hoping Inside Out will kind of bring

Pixar back, but it's great. For whatever reason,

Pixar and Disney can't be on the same level at

the exact same time. Imagine how the world would

explode when that happens. But you're right,

though. I think Tangled is a really good film,

and I don't think a lot of people give it as

much credit as it deserves because it is really

good. And not that Disney was ever necessarily

in trouble in the animated world where they were

somehow financially not going to be able to keep

making movies or whatever. But I think some people,

even if you look at other studios, I think...

people don't necessarily realize how important

some of these films can be along the way for

those specific studios. And Disney did have a

time like that. I mean, that is what Little Mermaid

did for Disney back in that time period. Like,

they were not doing good in the animated world.

They were... They just put them for a while before

that, yeah. Yeah. And if, you know, if Little

Mermaid's not successful, you don't know what

happens there because, you know, they were...

They can consider... They can consider to shut

something down, go live -action, go TV routes.

They can do all kinds of stuff. And other studios

along the way have had films where... You know,

that film fails and the studio goes under. Or,

you know, that film succeeds and all of a sudden

you get two or three more films. So I think people

just kind of mistakenly think of Disney as this

presence that's just always been there. It'll

always be there. But it's not always, you know,

ribbons and, you know... whatever you want to

say, I'm missing the phrase, but you know, it's

not always golden. Puppies and rainbows? Yeah,

puppies and rainbows. It's not always. Is that

the phrase? I don't know. It sounded good. For

Disney, it wouldn't be like, it's not always

mice and ducks, I guess. Yeah, exactly. I think

in a film like Tango can be important, you know,

regardless of if you think it's just a juggernaut

that's going to continue going or not. Some of

these things can change executives' minds or

change studios' minds. And it crosses over with

Frozen, so now we've got a whole cinematic universe

to worry about. There we go. All I want to say

about Tangled is I don't care if it's not Pixie

Dust and 101 Dalmatians or whatever I want to

call it. I waited a long time for Disney Princess

to come out and look like me and it happened

and it was amazing. All right. One day we will

all know what that feels like, unfortunately.

Nice. All right, Dan, what is your number eight

film about old Ben? Kind of the opposite it's

about a young girl It's from 2011 and it is a

letter to Momo. It's it's what interesting about

this is watching it You'd think it's a studio

studio Ghibli film or studio giblets film But

it's The story centers around Momo, who is this

young girl whose father just recently passed

away. So she's actually moving out of the city

of Tokyo with her mother to kind of live with

their grandparents. And it's about that transition.

But then there's also this fantastical element

as well, where these three possible guardians

kind of come down and assist her with it. And

it has that feel that you would have with a Miyazaki

type of film, where it's a little... It has full

imagination a lot of vibrant colors the characters

are unique and similar to that like even like

jim henson where They can either be really charming

and sometimes you think just downright kind of

scary and freaky and and like where it's like

the possible kid's nightmare, but uh, it's just

a really touching story, too and It uh, it's

I like it's some of the jokes that it would say

at times I was there's some of the these three,

uh like Magical creatures that kind of tag along

with Momo. They Did to me the highlight of the

entire film, but they just kind of they're just

really odd and unique But it's it it also is

streaming on Amazon So it's easy to see but it's

a one that's kind of flung under the radar and

I know that Mezaki is kind of you know retiring

and Tio Ghibli might be Kind of you know going

on the wayside, but I think this is directed

by I'm gonna butcher this name So I apologize,

but it's Hayoki Okura And if Miyazaki ends up

retiring, I think he could be a nice spiritual

successor. And I think you see his influences,

but enough where he can also forge his own legacy

as well. So I know my mistake now, and my mistake

was when I was trying to find all the Studio

Ghibli films on Netflix and Amazon and on demand.

Even though they're not Studio Ghibli films,

I should have messaged you Dan and said, what

is available on Amazon and Netflix that I haven't

seen? And that was my mistake. So I've learned

my lesson for the future list going forward.

JD, have you seen this one? Haven't you can just

edit those thoughts? The big difference between

this one and the other two while I haven't seen

this one I actually was aware of this one. I

just hadn't got around to see it. But yeah, I

can only echo Dan's thoughts on Studio Ghibli

and you know this director I I would love to

see Studio Ghibli keep going even without Miyazaki

so I Look forward to catching up with this one

though takes us to number seven and amanda what

sequel or a three -quel or prequel do you have

coming up in number seven okay so quit judging

me this is my this is my one cheat slot and it's

going we don't cheat we're not jd and uh... this

is going to be my last uh... sequel How to Train

Your Dragon 1 and 2 from 2010 and 2014. And that's

because I could not decide which one I liked

better. I thought that the animation in these

films were really well done. I thought the story

was cool. Viking lore at all is interesting to

me. And I thought that the dragons themselves

were cute and even a little complex because there's

so many of them and they each have their own

little quirks and traits and I thought that was

really cool how they even paired them up with

their riders and it was a good time. I really

enjoyed them. I will piggyback off of this and

jump out of turn because this is also my number

seven is I didn't cheat though, I just put the

original How to Train Your Dragon from 2010.

So, no cheating from me. Everybody loves a rebel,

just saying. So, I think everything you said

is probably what I would have said. The pairings

of the people with the dragons, the development

of each dragon, it wasn't just a device, it was

someone that had a character that had feelings,

that had stuff like that. Like you said, that

kind of Viking setting is interesting. It just

created a cool universe. Obviously, it spawned

a second movie. It spawned a TV series and shorts

and all kinds of other stuff. So it obviously

did a decent job creating a universe that people

were interested in. So I agree. I think it's

definitely deserves a spot in the top 10 if we're

talking about the last five years. It's even

a live action show too, right? I think they do

like a broad, not Broadway, but like a live action

kind of like walking with dinosaurs type of show

with different dragons and everything. Yes, sir,

and I know JD will be talking about that at some

point All right, so I've gone already. So JD,

what is your number seven? My number seven is

the first of five films coming out of 2014. Although

my number five could be considered 2013, but

in Kentucky it was 2014. So I'm going with it.

So five films from last year. What a wonderful

year. And unlike I'm going to be in my own camp

on this one because this is my number five of

that. year and that is the Lego movie with Phil

Lord and Chris Miller directing this but what

a witty and awesome ride this is. I love the

goofy fun humor especially in the first two acts

of the movie and then we get some huge and awesome

heart at the end of it which is awesome and it

explores this really wonderful notion of inspiration

especially from the mindset of a child and I

love the creativity that Lord and Miller implement

to elevate that theme is great when you're talking

about like all the items that President Business

has and his relic collection is awesome I love

the different worlds within this universe that

we get to explore the characters like Batman

and um uh and What's his name? Vitruvus? I can't

remember. Vitruvus, yes. So like all that is

great. It's brilliant the way those characters

interact and of course the story of the resistance

and kind of overcoming that resistance is great

and then when we get to that turn in the third

act, which I honestly didn't expect, it kind

of came out of nowhere for me, but... I think

it was some of my favorite filmmaking in any

animated movie and of last year. It was incredibly

heartfelt and I won't reveal what happens for

spoilers but there's a character that kind of

finally acknowledges the inspiration I was talking

about and when it happens it's beautiful. I cried

a lot and I look forward to now experiencing

it on the other side of getting ready to have.

Sun because I think my perspective is gonna be

a little bit different this time around but I

love it I probably watched it 12 times last year

couldn't get enough of it. It's terrific All

right Dan you are up then with your number seven.

All right, so my number seven is probably one

I think everyone's probably heard of I feel like

I'm gonna get like the you know, the title of

just picking out random movies, but this one

I think it is What's interesting about my next

choice is that I felt this movie had a lot of

buzz going with it and then it kind of just died

and like no one talks about it anymore. And I

think that's sad because I think it's a really

great film and that's Rango from 2011, directed

by Gore Verbinski. Finally, a film that I recognize.

I love Rango. It was in my top 10 that year when

it came out. I don't know if it would still be

now. The thing that I just remember so much about

Ringo is just the animation and just the attention

to detail with it, especially the character design.

One scene that I always tend to remember is there's

this bar scene with Ringo and there are at least

tons and tons of characters and even like characters

that are in the background in the corner that

really aren't even like you know in the frame

with a shot all that much have so much detail

to like their texture and their feathers and

what have you. It's just amazing. It's just like

you can just take out like any shot and it would

be like a great you know, backdrop on your computer.

Um, and I think too, I love all there's, it's

chock full of really smart and intelligent and

sometimes obvious references to a lot of films,

everything from rogue warrior to Chinatown to

even any Griffith show in some ways. So fear

and loathing, fear and loathing, Las Vegas, obviously.

It was the the voice acting was like done on

a sound stage It's I don't know how much that's

it really impacts the performance to be honest

But it's it's an interesting idea and you know,

I think johnny depp actually does a really quite

a good job And I think honestly, it's probably

the best thing for probinsky's done since the

first uh prior to the camera begin movie and

Great, you know comedies of action and in story

as well. So, uh, yeah, I really really dig rengo

Yeah, much better than that latest edition of

the Verbinski and Depp team working together.

I don't know what you're speaking of All right,

so I think we're back around to Amanda for her

number six First, I definitely agree with Dan

about Ringo. I think texture was done really

well in that film. Did not make my top 10, but

not hatin' on you, Dan. Just shaking. I appreciate

it. Just me? Go Blackhawks, right? Yes, here

we go. In my number six, I do have JD's last

pick as the Lego movie. I think that everything

JD already touched on, I definitely love all

the characters, seeing all the worlds. I think

the humor was really cute and fun. Chris Pratt,

I think his voice is cool in anything. I loved

Batman in this, and I was never really... someone

like a kid who played with Legos, but as an adult

I play all the Lego video games possible. So

I got to enjoy some of the characters that I

played in the video games and I thought that

was really fun. Alright, so another vote for

the Lego movie. I again will hold my thoughts.

So JD, what is your number six? My number six

is my... second movie of 2014. It was also nominated

for best animated feature film and it is the

Irish film, not the Chinese film Dumb Voting

Members of the Academy, an Irish film called

Song of the Sea, which is a film that just blew

me away. I absolutely love it. It's really poignant

and it was very affecting and it was kind of

interesting to me because I haven't really seen

a ton of Irish animated films. So when I saw

this, I immediately compared it to something

like Hayao Miyazaki and Japanese culture. I felt

like is what this film was to Irish culture when

you're looking at the animation, which was really

great, a riveting score that was very inspired

by Irish culture. It was an amazing balance of

real world and a fantasy world with rich characters

and a very emotional story. a lot of the same

elements you get from Miyazaki films as well

and it's a really amazing tale of family and

grief and overcoming that sorrow together because

these characters this isn't a spoiler this is

in the first five minutes but they lose their

mother and she dies and it explores these ideas

of grief and childhood from both the kids perspectives

and the parents perspective of having to like

I said go through that together and the dad struggles

just as much as we see the children do and those

ideas of coping together as a family something

that I personally relate to just was devastating

to me absolutely overwhelming in all the best

ways and like I said the animation is just utterly

amazing there's like some fantastical sequences

that was just mind -blowing so I love it it was

very elegant very evocative and just one I couldn't

recommend enough so song of the sea makes my

number six All right, Amanda's number six was

JD's number seven. My number six is Dan's number

seven. So I will repeat what Dan was saying in

the last round and go with Rango from 2011 for

my number six. You know, I'm a huge animated

film fan, cartoon fan, you know, classic animation,

et cetera, et cetera. Understatement. Understatement.

And so I thought this was going to be one of

the easiest lists to do out of all our journalists,

my top 10 animated films. But when I wrote down

my for sure picks, I was only at like six. So

then I tried to start this journey to fill out

my list by seeing films I hadn't seen. And this

is one of the ones that I hadn't seen that I

watched for the first time recently that was

definitely standing out enough to make my list.

There was two that I watched just recently that...

both ended up in my top 10. So I was able to

catch up with Rango finally. It had been one

that I had always wanted to kind of check out

and I was blown away by this one. I think stylistic

and from a visual standpoint just some of the

stuff they did. It's kind of like in the same

type of argument I made for Box Trolls, but on

a higher level. It's just something that's very

unique. It doesn't fit that mold that you're

getting out of. It doesn't feel like a Disney

movie. It doesn't feel like a Pixar movie. It's

just something that kind of stands out on its

own. And like I said, all the different references

to different stuff, the amount that it balances

between what's going to be fun for kids, but

what's going to be fun for, maybe not kids, but

fun for a younger audience. going to be fun for

the parents that are watching alongside. I think

it strikes that balance pretty well. So everything

that Dan said, I really enjoyed Rango. To me,

it is definitely the best film of 2011 as far

as the animated world goes. So Rango is my number

six. All right, Dan, you are at number six. Very

nice. And I did want to mention for Song of the

Sea, which I unfortunately haven't seen and I

really wanted to because I really like Secret

of Kells, which, you know, he did as well, so

unfortunately I did not catch up with that one.

That was when I... So good, Dan. I think you're

gonna dig it, Dan, a lot. I love that animation

style. I know Kevin's not a fan of, like, the

shell -sealing, but I don't know. I love that

a lot. It's so good. That's actually one of the

ones I meant to mention is Song of the Sea. There

was three films that I was actively trying to

find a way to watch. because I wanted to be at

least educated enough to say that I watched it,

whether they made my list or not, and I just

could not find a way to watch Song of the Sea.

It wasn't available in any of the ways that I

was attempting to. I'm sure it's out on Blu -ray

by now. Is that the movie about selkies? Yes.

Okay, I've heard about it. It's really good.

The story is kind of weird because it's based

off of some Irish folklore, but it makes sense

when you watch it. It's really good. So hopefully

it'll be be more Cheaply available for me. I

never like going out and buying something before

it sir. That makes sense dangerous, but yeah,

so so my number six is actually already brought

up by JD and that is earnest and still seen and

I kind of basically echo what what JD said and

the way Like I see Ernest and Silas, it's like

a kids movie that is not scared to be a kids

movie. It doesn't really try to bring in any

adult humor, really. It's really just wholesome

in the best ways possible. It's like the way

I describe it. It's like a movie that you'd watch

if you go over your grandparents house and you

think you wouldn't like it, but then you end

up liking it. Yeah. It's it's very much like

that. It feels like it's based off a children's

book. And it really very much feels that way.

And like Janie mentioned, color animation is

really great. Sorry about a mouse and a bear

becoming friends. What more could you want in

the world? I watched Demolition Man with my grandma,

so I don't want to talk about all of it there.

And Bruce Willis movies, so... Well, like both

are different. Different relationship there.

Come to Rockford. All right. We're going to take

a quick break since we're halfway through, but

before we do, why don't we just quickly recap

our 10 through 6 choices to remind everybody

of what we've said so far. Then after that, we'll

take a quick break and come back with our top

five. So Amanda, what's your 10 through 6? 10

I have Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2. Number

9, Kung Fu Panda 2. Number 8, Toy Story 3. Number

7, My Cheat with How to Turn Your Dragon 1 and

2. And number 6, Lego Movie. All right, JD, what

was your 10 through 6? I have Ernest and Celestine

at number 10. I got Frozen at number 9. Don't

let it go. I have I Am Bad and That's Good, Wrecker

Ralph at number 7. The Lego Movie. Wait, I said

that backwards, I think. Rugger Ralph and then

the Lego movie at number six or seven, where

I'm at, and Song of the Sea. All right. My number

10 was The Box Trolls. My number nine was Big

Hero 6. Number eight, Tangled. Number seven,

How to Train Your Dragon, the original. And number

six was Rango. Dan? Number 10 was Wrinkles. Number

nine, My Dog Tulip. Eight, A Letter to Momo.

Seven, Rango. Six, Ernest and Silistine. That's

it. Don't say it anymore. Don't keep going. It's

just how counting works. I can't stop. All right.

Well, we will take a quick break and we'll be

back with the top five. After these messages,

we'll be right back. On the Simplistic Reviews

podcast, we talk movies. We talk TV. We talk

hello Julie. What the heck are you doing trying

to make our spot sound more exciting by adding

explosions? Yeah, I'm pretty sure you could have

got the point across with sound effects. Not

the real thing Download the show on iTunes or

if simplistic reviews dot blog spot dot com I'm

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they won't no they probably won't Hi, this is

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.com Alright, thanks for sticking with us through

that break and we are back to give you our top

five animated films of the last Five years basically

and the half decade list, but before we do that

JD now is a good time I think for you to go ahead

and pimp out your show and let people know if

they've liked your first half of the list before

you make them angry with the second half Where

should they go to to listen to more of you and

your movie thoughts? Yeah, we don't talk about

the Tampa Bay Lightning as much, but we do hope

they win in Chicago But you can find us at in

session film comm everything is there, but you

can find our podcast on iTunes and Stitcher,

SoundCloud, and all the places you can find the

podcast nowadays. And you can follow us on the

social medias as well. Just search Insession

Film and you'll find us there. And like I said,

you can find everything and I'll censor hub at

InsessionFilm .com. And if you like movie talk,

it's definitely a podcast that you should be

subscribing to. Thank you. They give you a real

great discussion every week about a movie that's

in theater more mainstream. Him and Brendan do.

Coupled with a top three list, which is nice

because it's a little bit harder to narrow it

down to three. So it makes those conversations

pretty interesting. But they do a great job of

matching that with whatever the topic is for

the main movie review. And they also do, like

you said, it's a podcasting machine because they

have the extra films where they kind of dive

into more of the smaller releases in the films

or just something they couldn't quite. get to

on some of these bigger weeks in the main show.

So it's a lot of movie talk and it's a lot of

great movie talk. So it's one of the main shows

that I'm listening to every week and everybody

else should be too. All right. So let's get back

into the countdown. Amanda, you've said you've

exhausted all your sequels. So what is your number

five animated film from the last half? Pretty

cool. We're going to start strong with number

five and it's going to be Brave. Go back to the

sequels, go back to the sequels. If you could

change your fate, what would you do? Nah, if

I could change the fact that I saw that movie.

Yeah, if we could change that from being made.

I'm just kidding, I'm just kidding. Just kidding.

That is, that is like, that is the one thing

like, you know, I was talking about how Tangled

like changed things for me and it's like, oh

Disney and, is this Disney and Pixar or is this?

It's just Pixar. Pixar, yeah. Just Pixar? Okay.

This is the type of stuff that reminded me more

of what I wasn't liking that Disney was doing

kind of before that. Like, I did not care for

this film at all. I remember seeing it actually

in the theater, I think I saw it with my nephew

and niece, and I just, I'm getting very, I can't

even look at it right now because I'm getting

the most evil eyes that I don't demand, but I

did not care for this film at all. There was

no character that I felt connected to. The comedy

didn't work that well with me. I just couldn't

find something I liked about this film. I'm sorry,

man, but go ahead with why you liked it. I'm

sorry to rain on your brain. Thanks for shitting

on my bubble, producer. Gosh. I loved it. I thought

that maybe the story wasn't as bombastic and

awesome as the other ones. I think maybe that

could have hindered it for some people, but I

think the relationship between the mother and

daughter was really awesome. and even her relationship

with the rest of her family was really interesting

and her coming into her own and stubborn young

female come on of course I'm gonna you know go

out shooting the boys and all that good stuff

of course I'm gonna like this movie so hate all

you want this is my selfish list and I just I

don't know I just I just thought it was forced

I think it's it was trying to achieve something

and I did it a way that didn't have as much tact

and subtleness as I would have enjoyed. Well,

I think your face is forced. Alright, getting

personal, getting personal. Alright. If anything,

you could at least appreciate the visual aspect

of this movie. I think that the animation was...

I didn't, he said. Didn't. I'm going to turn

it over to the guys and let them back me up.

I'm already in enough hot water with Amanda.

I'm not going to say anything first. Hopefully,

actually, I... I mean, I... I like Brave. I don't...

I wouldn't... It didn't make my list. I don't...

I think it definitely was not... Maybe, you know,

along the same lines of other Pixar, but... I

don't know, I didn't hate it. I thought that,

like, Amanda said the story of the mother and

daughter was certainly a strength. I thought

that... There's kind of, like, a turn in, let's

say, Halfway Through, which was interesting.

I... not where exactly I expected to go. I did

like the fact that it wasn't just that story

of this girl who's a tough chick, you know, there's

more to her character than just that, like the

anti -princess, she's a little bit more dynamic

than that, but like Amanda said, I think the,

you know, the one -hander into that movie is

the overall story, it's a little, little lacking,

and especially the second half, just to me, didn't

really come together, but I think animated -wise,

it is great to look at. It's just, I think, yeah,

and I think the downfall of that, it also took

away the Oscar from Wreck -It Ralph, if I'm not

mistaken, so. No kidding. For a reason. No, no,

stop it. I connected with it a lot. I mean, when

I was growing up, kind of a tomboy, and my mom

would always say, you know, that's not very lady

-like, ladies don't do that. And I'm like, Mom,

I'm not a lady, I'm a girl. And I feel like that.

That's what this whole movie was. Well, maybe

that's why I couldn't connect with it. I wasn't

the tomboy, so I guess that was my problem. Kevin

was not a tomboy growing up. He was. For the

record, Dan and JD are much more political savvy

with their answers and responses than I am. I'm

going to have to work on that. So, alright. When

you're married for five years, you can't learn

how to do things. It doesn't matter if we've

been married for five years or not, he's sleeping

in the shed tonight for that one. It's my shit.

Just make sure, you know, your block's docked

when you go out to it. Right? And I'm taking

the gun this time. All right. JD, what's your

number, whatever we're on, five? My number five

is one of my favorite films from Hayao Miyazaki,

and it also happens to be his swan song, and

what an incredible song it was. It is... Well

for me 2014's The Wind Rises for a lot of other

people was 2013 but man I love this film what

a really unique film and it takes place during

World War II and of course it's from the Japanese

perspective and that is unique for our culture

anyway because we see so many World War II films

from our perspective and another thing I like

about it is that the main character here I'll

just say his first name because I don't want

to butcher his last one but his first name is

Hiro in this movie and he's an Air Force engineer

for Mitsubishi who was the lead contractor for

building fighter planes in World War Two for

Japan and I'm a guy I talk about this a lot on

our show but I'm a huge Air Force guy love it

I always wanted to grow up fighting in fighter

jets it was just something I've always wanted

to do and a lot of my inspiration came not just

from family but from World War Two I loved the

idea of Fighting and all that sort of stuff.

It's certainly out my alley. So this film spoke

to me on that level and like I said the change

of perspective was really fresh and I liked that

and in the film hero ends up engineering the

Mitsubishi zero, which was which was a very formidable

fighter plane in World War II for anyone out

there that doesn't really know. So that to me

was really unique. And his inspiration for all

of that, Miyazaki does a really good job of building

some wonderful dream -like sequences, some really

gripping aerial animation that was great. And

when we get to the second half of the film...

It turns into this really vibrant romance story

that culminates in some pretty heart -wrenching

ways. And while that was a bit arduous, it does

show the realities that we all face. And when

looking at this through an American perspective,

it's great how Miyazaki humanizes the other side

of the war, which again, in American culture,

we don't see that in movies a whole lot. So I

loved seeing that. And the way that we all experience

emotion was... Fantastic. Like I said, it's heartbreaking.

It's utterly heartbreaking in the latter half

of this movie, but it's fantastic. I love it.

And I even love how Miyazaki ends this film too,

because it doesn't get into the war really, or

even the defeat of Japan, but it ends and crystallizes

the character of Hiro in what I thought was just

an in an impeccable way. So I love this film.

Absolutely love it. So The Wind Rises makes my

number five. You know, JD, that's actually something

that we somewhat have in common, I guess, or

we share. I kind of grew up with a lot of Air

Force influence as well. My mom was a captain

in the Air Force back in the 60s or 70s, somewhere

in there. I'm not going to get my dates right.

And my dad actually was super interested in being

in the Air Force, but he wasn't allowed to because

at the time he had some eardrum problems. That

was my biggest thing. Yeah, but he still loved

planes and I actually grew up in a house that

our basement actually had. probably over 200

model airplanes that he had built and painted

and done everything. He even would go as far,

like if it was a silver plane, like he would

take candy wrappers and smooth the silver ones

out so it would actually have the shine and not

just be paint. And he would put those around

the airplane. So I grew up with a lot of that

influence too, but this unfortunately was the

second of the three movies that I was actively

seeking out and I could not find a way to watch

it. If that's the case, I think you'll really

like it and appreciate it. especially if you

like Miyazaki stuff, but you should see my office

at work is really strange because I got movie

posters everywhere and where I don't have movie

stuff, I have pictures of P -51 Mustangs and

F6 Hellcats all over my office. So yeah, I love

it. So I will be seeking this one out as soon

as it becomes something that's available for

me to watch. I don't know. It seems like some

of the Studio Ghibli films are a little bit harder

to obtain, at least in the rouse that I've checked

so far. So it's a blind spot for me. I'm sorry.

Well, my office is my work truck, JD, and I have

a Blackhawks beanie baby in the window. Well,

congrats to you with your Blackhawks. Alright,

for my number five, like in my number six, it's

the two films that I had not seen up until recently.

I was debating on whether I was going to admit

this on the air or not, but I literally did not

finish, I did not see this movie until a half

hour prior to this record. So that's when I finished

this for the very first time. Yes, it was the

first time I'd ever seen Toy Story 3 was today.

Oh, wow. Yeah, I know. Major blind spot that

I corrected. I had to for this list. There was

no way I couldn't watch that and then show up

for this list and try to sound intelligent. So

Toy Story 3 from 2010 is my number five. I will

say that I somewhat suffered from the fact that

I hadn't seen it right away, so I've... instead

had to be exposed to how much people have praised

it for so long, which I think might have built

it up even a little bit more than any film was

gonna be able to follow through with. I don't

think that took away from my enjoyment, but I

think I'd heard just so much about it that I

was just expecting the world's greatest movie

I've ever seen, and no movie was gonna be able

to fulfill that, but it's still my number five

for the decade, and there was still a lot to

connect to. especially as someone that is probably

at least in real, you know, outside of a couple

people I know online. As far as people I've met

in real life, I'm probably the biggest toy collector

I know. I have boxes in the basement to prove

that. So I could relate to the whole idea of

the kind of that separation that you have, you

know, whether it's a toy, whether it's a childhood

friend, whether it's moving, you know, maybe

moving from one town to another and leaving a

town, you know, and then... surroundings that

you're familiar with, anything as far as separating

yourself from something you're familiar with.

Even just the whole idea of Andy leaving school

and going off to college, whether the toys were

involved or not. Just that separation and kind

of shifting to a new phase or letting something

go because you're doing something else that you

feel you should do or have to do or whatever.

So I think there's a lot of different levels

that I can connect on and I definitely think

it was sentimental. I get the connection that

a lot of people had. I don't necessarily know

if it was as clever as the original Toy Story

with some of the things, but I don't know if

you could do that in a sequel, but I still think

it found, the thing I like about the Toy Story

franchise in general is that each film found

a different aspect or a different way to investigate

with these toys. You know, it wasn't just, Like

the first film where you're dealing with the

treatment of the toys or the neighbor, that whatever.

I like that you're finding ways to talk about

toys in a box versus toys not in a box. Toys

that are on display or in a museum instead of

being played with. Or in this situation, toys

that are being played with by young kids compared

to toys that are being played with older kids.

They found different ways to keep reinventing

the wheel and find different aspects of toys

to deal with. And I thought that was pretty impressive.

I enjoyed the film quite a good deal, and that's

why it's up in my number five. Yeah, that's a

pretty good one. Alright, I figured that we'd

have crickets on that one. So, Dan, what's your

number five? My number five is gonna be one that

again probably maybe some people haven't seen

and it's one I I caught up just because doing

research for this list and is the painting from

2011 it is like a French film in like every way

possible like you would watch even if like you

couldn't hear the language you would just know

like this is just feels French and it's and all

maybe in all wrong ways but just look at the

poster for the damn film yeah It takes place

in a painting like it indicates and it starts

off as this almost Romeo and Juliet type of story.

There's a social culture that's been created

within this painting and your status is determined

basically by how far the father far along you've

been drawn like characters that are completely

been colored and they're like the highest those

are still missing spots and colored in are more

the middle class and then there's like the sketches

which are the you know the lowest of the low

and it kind of it starts within that because

you have you know this boy character who is in

the higher class in love with one of the more

lower class characters but then it goes beyond

that and kind of opens up this world and you

know it Has the sense of maybe it is like a childlike

story, but it really gets into some really deep

psychological and physiological questions and

and you know about life about creation and things

like that because all these people the person

they kind of worship is the painter or worship

is a strong word but he's the one that they are

you know say is responsible and the reason that

they're the way they are is because it's preordained

by the person who painted them and it kind of

so there's a lot of that but then it gets into

outside of that individual painting to something

a lot more and also just the animation is unlike

anything else on my I wouldn't say it's better

or worse than anything else. It's just it's unique.

It's like it's hard to even tell. Is it hand

-drawn? Is it, you know, computer animated? It's

just a weird mixture. What was that? I said it's

actual paint. Yeah. Yeah, it's quite unique.

And this is also currently streaming on Netflix

as well. So it's quite good. All right. So those

are our number fives. Let's switch back around

to Amanda. What? Direction are you going with

your number four? I don't even know if I want

to say this because I feel you're gonna jump

on my shitty in but Tangled from 2010 is my number.

Why would I that was my number eight? I'm not

gonna crap on you after that one I think that

this was a defining princess moment for me. Like

I said, there's finally a princess that looked

exactly like me and I was super stoked just for

that fact and once I actually saw the film I

really fell in love with it. I loved all of the

relationships between the characters. I loved

the animation. There was another tavern scene

in this one with a lot of really cool characters

as well that had their own. thing going on and

I really appreciated a lot of this film and I

think the story was very touching, maybe a little

dated but I think that the characters brought

it to new life. Alright, I'm in agreement since

I also had it on my top ten so no need to be

worried. Alright, JD, what's your number four?

My number four is a DreamWorks movie but I like

to pretend it's from Pixar because I think it

rivals Pixar's best films and I kind of separated

these on purpose because it gave me two chances

to talk about them but a number four for me is

the first how to train your dragon I know you're

gonna do that because I thought about you know

combining them because when I first came up with

this list I had like 20 30 choices and I was

like well I'll just combine them like Amanda

did now we have an actual one to talk about Like

no, no, I'm gonna separate these I'm gonna talk

about him twice But what a captivating film.

I love it. It's about family. It's about defying

Stereotypes to a degree coming into your own

finding your own identity the relationship between

Hiccup and toothless is so great and as I was

kind of talking about earlier I'm a huge animal

lover. So I very much relate and and sympathize

with this movie I love that, you know Hiccup

he's always being told what he's supposed to

do and who he's supposed to be. But he's wanting

to create his own life. And when he runs in the

Toothless, it creates some really, really great

imagery and animation, but also create some really

great heartfelt sequences between the two of

them. I got to also talk about John Powell because

he was born, absolutely born to score these movies.

It's absolutely fantastic. And those first sequences

with Hiccup and Toothless, especially the score.

Just elevates those scenes absolutely perfectly.

It's incredible So every time if I'm just listening

to his score like on Spotify or on YouTube or

something I immediately start to well up because

I think it it just puts me back into what's so

great about this movie and not only Not only

is the relationship between Hiccup and Toothless

great, but I think it also juxtaposes this really

rocky relationship that Hiccup has with his dad.

I thought that balance was handled incredibly

well. Like Amanda was talking about, just the

lush landscape of it, the Viking lore and the

village of Berk, it's just a fascinating world

to be in. You know, as I was talking about with

Miyazaki, I'm an Air Force guy. I like flying,

so the idea of getting to be on a dragon and

flying in this universe is great. It's very envious

every time I watch this movie. What kid doesn't

want a pet dragon? Exactly, exactly. That's a

win right there. It's incredible. And I also

love kind of the ending to this movie. I love

how it kind of starts off with... Toothless kind

of being injured because of hiccup and then it

kind of reverses that and it's not Every day

that we see animated film, especially from American

Hollywood animated movies that your Protagonist

is injured to a degree especially to the level

that it is in this movie That's just unheard

of in a lot of ways. So I love it. It's it's

fan fan friggin fantastic I don't know how this

is a DreamWorks movie cuz I mean you look up

a lot of DreamWorks movies A lot of them aren't

that great So this is just an illegal on its

own. When I saw you guys joking about combining

the two on Twitter, I was like, I'm not even

saying these, I already have that on there, I

feel bad. We'll blame it on Dan. Alright Dan,

shoulder that one. My number four has already

been talked about. It was the best animated film

of 2012. It is not titled Brave. It is none other

than Wreck -It Ralph. And just like everything

JD was saying, it was the best film of that year,

not just for the video game nostalgia, but for

me, for the creative that went behind that, all

the different things that they... Thought of

to do whether it be being able to see the arcade

through the you know through the game Whether

it be like you said trip traveling through the

power cords and stuff like that You know the

bad guy and on group There was just so many little

things that they threw in there that were super

clever not to mention the fact that you're dealing

with the whole overall theme that you deal with

between between Ralph and obviously the different

characters that he comes in contact with in his

journey and going from what his first intentional

mission was to what he actually learned throughout

the process. So it's just another step in the

right direction for Disney in these last four

to five years. And JD, like you were saying,

almost like another resurgence or another renaissance

form lately. So I think it's by far, and this

is one that I actually rewatched recently for

this list because I had seen it once. And the

original time it almost, I don't know if dragged

on is the right word, but I don't know if I was

just tired when I watched it. So I was really

glad I rewatched it because I liked it even more

on the second watch. And it really catapulted

it up on my list. I think it was something that

was very fun. but also had some meaning behind

it. So best movie of 2012 in the animated world,

line number four. And another thing too I want

to touch on is, because I was talking about with

John Powell and his score for How to Train Your

Dragon, which is really awesome, but Henry Jackman

also adds a really dynamic score here that I

think was one of the most underrated scores of

that year, which is really fantastic. So I think

that is a big part of the sentimental aspects

of the film that works really well was Jackman's

score. that pathetic moment out when Ralph realizes

it wasn't the thing that he was really seeking

after was going to fix his problems. Rare it

turns from there is it's just awesome. All right.

Dan, what is your number four? Well, my number

four has also been talked about already and a

lot just in general. It's because it's awesome.

And that is the Lego movie. And not really much

more I can say about it. You know, it's so good.

It led to the best moment in the Oscars last

year with the live performance of that song.

But, you know, I love how it completely recontactualizes

everything with one huge plot twist. in the middle

like how it completely just makes everything

make even more sense in the first half and even

kind of make it a little bit even a little deeper

in that end but it's you know it's funny it's

the animation's great i love how it looks stop

at motion animation but it necessarily isn't

and how it sticks to the lego motif the entire

time no matter what and uh and it's really just

really downright funny and it doesn't necessarily

rely on like all these cameos and And it's just

takes chances which is I mean itself is a chance

making a movie called Lego movie and then going

our ghost not necessarily doing something that

you would see and Yeah, I love it. So are we

gonna are we gonna blame this later on when we

get the play -doh movie and the slinky movie?

Absolutely, it's all Bill Lord and Chris Miller's

fault That'd be funny the play -doh movie that

was like really serious and got it got it was

the Play -Doh movie, but also using Play -Doh

to re -enact Play -Doh, the actual philosopher.

You know, that would be... There you go. Now

we're into the world of Animaniacs, I think.

Yeah. That would be awesome. All right, Amanda,

what is your number three? Well, maybe it's been

talked about to death, but I'm going to keep

it going and bring Rick at Ralph into my top

three. And everything everybody's already touched

on, I think, amazing. Love John C. Reilly's voice

for anything. Of course, the arcade video game

aspect is definitely close to my heart, growing

an arcade, growing up playing video games, all

that good stuff. And that really brings out my

love for all of the characters that present themselves.

And as soon as you see this... Bad guy therapy

group you instantly feel for all them and Ralph

and his struggle and I was really really digging

the world behind the games and all the shots

that pan from what's going on in the game to

what's going on outside of the console I thought

were really cool Like you touched on earlier

Kevin how they move between games I'm also just

the characters movements. They're so video game

like and I thought that was really true to form

all the intricate costumes. Everything was done

so well and even like the regenerating I thought

was really cute. There was a Skrillex cameo in

there. I don't know if anybody caught that. I

thought it was awesome and this kind of felt

the cracks for me until this year and I was in

love with it. I kind of went full geek out on

this one and geeked out for the duration. And

that sequence when Ralph is in the bug game that

is actually Skrillex music too. Yeah, yep, yep.

All right. JD following that one up. What's your

number three? My number three is one that's been

talked about and I'm gonna talk about it more

because it deserves it I'm going with Toy Story

3 at my number three. I Love this movie. I think

I love it a lot more than what you guys were

even talking about I think this film wraps up

the trilogy Perfectly in fact so perfectly that

if you want to read or hear my entire thoughts

You can check out the in session film podcast

and the session film comm We talked about this

in our Pixar movie series a few weeks ago, and

we talked about all three of the Toy Story movies,

but I love this one. And I think where the first

two Toy Story films, they focus primarily on

the characters and their relationship with Andy.

This one for me was more about the relationships

with each other and how that thread was going

to keep them going no matter how the journey

was going to end. And at one point, I'm pretty

sure that they were all going to die. And I'm

pretty sure that's where it was going. But I

love that and I love how Toy Story 2 talks a

lot about abandonment and what that means for

the characters. In Toy Story 3 they expand on

that even further with this notion of being replaced.

Oh, yeah, and for these toys, you know, it was

one thing about being left behind and being abandoned,

but then it's just a whole nother thing. It's

a whole nother dynamic and layer when you're

talking about being replaced and you're talking

about the main villain of Toy Story 3, which

I think is one of the best villains of any animated

film we've ever seen. I think it touches on those

ideas just perfectly. It's really, really fantastic.

So I really love it like you, Amanda, at the

end of this film. kids. pretty dusty at the end

of it, but I love how it just ties everything

together. You know, on our podcast, we were talking

about how that final shot of when they leave,

when Andy drives off and the camera pans up,

it's the exact same shot as the very first shot

of Toy Story one, which is exactly why we don't

really want a Toy Story four, because the first

Toy Story trilogy was incredible. It wrapped

everything together just perfectly. I love those

final sequences. with Andy and the toys and where

he realizes that nothing is going to replace

their memories together and just kind of ties

back into that notion of replacement. So it's

just incredible. I could talk about these films

all day long. So Toy Story 3. I'm not going to

let you because otherwise I'm going to miss you.

Yeah, incredible. Everybody's feeling the feels.

But back to Toy Story 4, the romantic comedy.

I'm just kidding. I think that scene that you

mentioned where they're about to die, I think

seeing that acceptance among them and how they

handled that, that was so moving and so touching.

And then even seeing how they're able to just

keep moving on after that, whereas they have

been so stuck in their ways for so long, I think

that it was a real cool way to wrap everything

up. Absolutely. Completely agree. All right.

I'm gonna keep the broken record going and keep

talking about stuff that's already been talked

about with my number three And it was talked

about a little bit earlier in the podcast. This

is what I would consider the best film of 2013.

I don't care, like JD, how many people are gonna

hate on it. I don't care how much Hiro yells

at me for this. My number three is going to be

Frozen. If Tangled opened the door and kind of

was that pivot point for Disney, Frozen ran through

it. And I don't care what people say. It's not

just because of the song. There's a lot more

to it. There's a lot more that was... going on

here. Wait, what though? I mean, I'm a woman.

I don't need to get bashed in the head over and

over again with the idea that you don't need

a man and you can't just fall in love with so

many of your meet for it away and we finish each

other's sandwiches and things like that. It was

more than that for me. For me, the biggest draw

for Frozen and the biggest thematic kind of connection

I had to it, even though it's a different gender,

is between an older sibling and a younger sibling.

You know, growing up with, uh, my brother was,

uh, let's see, 11 years older than me. You know,

that's a big difference, and that's, uh, that's

somebody that you grow up with where, for a long

time, they're almost that hero figure or they're,

you know, they're the big brother, but 10 years

in the future, you know, I mean, they're able

to do things that you can't, um... You know,

it's not like they're your hero, but they're

just like this figure that you want to hang out

with. You always want to hang out with the older

sibling or whatever, you know, when they have

their friends over. I remember, like I said in

a couple podcasts ago, one of my first exposure

to an action film was sneaking down in the basement

because my brother and his friends were watching

Die Hard, and I watched it. well, PQ behind the

couch because I wasn't supposed to be down there.

Like, it's that type of thing where you want

to do what they're doing, you want to be involved

in that, and that's what you get in this one.

You have the younger sister who just wants to

be involved and just wants to be around her older

sister because she looks up to her. It's her

role model. And you get it from the reverse where

that older sibling just can't see that. They

don't realize and they think they're either doing

something to protect them or they think, you

know, they're doing what they have to do and

they don't quite get... the connection that that

younger sibling is having on them and for me

that was a big draw even if it was sisters in

this fact and it was brothers in mine it's still

something I can relate to and kind of also getting

to through that journey throughout the movie

where you're going to get to the point where

it's not just that idolized or that fictional

version of that person but that you get to actually

discover and learn about the true person as you

are at an age where you're no longer just looking

up to them but you're looking at them more on

an equal plane and I just think there was a lot

and that's not even counting all the fun stuff

with with Snowman, I can't remember all the characters'

names because I'm blanking, but with all the

other side characters that brought a lot of comedic

aspect, and I don't care if you hate the song

or not, that's one of the best animated songs

that has ever been written, and it's sung by

one of the best vocalists of our generation.

He has a serious woman crush on her in the first

place. Adina's awesome though, she is awesome.

I am a singer in my background, that's something

that I grew up with, and I appreciate people

that vocally can do stuff besides - auto -tune

and stuff like that and she is someone that can

do stuff that a lot of human beings can't do

with her voice it's just like my gooboo blade

from a male standpoint and so I'm gonna appreciate

that and that's just icing on the cake for what

is to me the best example of what I used to love

with Little Mermaid I don't see what her voice

is to be different than anything else. I'm an

older sibling. I'm eight years older than one

of my brothers, 16 years older than my other

brother. I have two little sisters. My relationship

with my one brother that I'm closest with is...

extremely almost as strange because I raised

him and so all his memories of me when we were

little are I'm making him eat vegetables and

not she didn't let me go to the movies with her

and her friends like I mean I just can't I can't

get past that you're stuck this much on this

film because of that relationship See, I completely

disagree with that because like you, Kevin, I

mean, I'm the oldest of my siblings as well,

but I think there is some dynamics that are really

well earned in this movie when you're talking

about just wanting to spend time. I remember

very vividly some of my biggest regrets growing

up was my brother wanting to hang out with me

but i was too busy hanging out with my friends

are are doing other things that i didn't involve

him and and i kind of wish that i would have

so that actually spoke to me and i think it's

that which is the heart of the movie that elevates

those other ideas of you know the the princess

notions that Disney is kind of making fun of

here which has been their identity for the longest

time so I mean I'm not a girl so obviously maybe

other females can give another interesting perspective

to that but I find that idea at least on paper

interesting when their identity you walk in Disney

World or Disneyland all day long you're gonna

find Disney princesses and a who's who come from

films who their their biggest core was at the

end of it i'm going to win this guy and live

happily ever after and that for disney to basically

give themselves the middle finger here and flip

that notion on its head is incredible to me but

it's not just that on its own it's set up by

the relationship between the two and the heart

of it and i think that is really one i think

that's what makes this movie fascinating to watch

on top of all the characters are talking about

him Yeah, to me the connection between any love

interest or any princess type thing, that was

the least of my concerns in that movie and it

didn't necessarily win the movie over for me

and it didn't ruin the movie. For me it was the

sibling relationship, it was something that I

could connect to on that level, then tied up

with comedic fun aspects and music that I enjoyed.

So to me it was all three aspects coming together.

So how could you hate on my brave... Because

I didn't - Because I connected with that in this

way. Right, and everybody connects to - So you're

gonna hate on my connection. No, everybody connects

to different films. It's all based on your personal,

you know, if you have a background that can't

connect with the No, no my problem with brave

was not the connection. It was I didn't get the

other aspects either I didn't have music that

I liked I didn't have fun I think I know why

Dan just sits here and doesn't say anything the

entire time. He's just enjoying all of it. Well,

see, I took my niece to see this, see Frozen.

It was the first movie she ever saw. She was

three at the time. She loved it. But then she

became obsessed and my brother had to deal with

that while I lived and stayed away. So I'm not

allowed to talk about it. Because I caused that

to happen. Like frozen I it's not on my top ten

my issue with it is that I was just I just I

thought what kept it from being to me like the

echelon of Disney films is like it When it came

to antagonists, I thought that character was

just really weak. I know that wasn't the point

of the movie, but it felt like, if anything,

they should've just gotten rid of it altogether,

because it felt like it really just tacked on.

Yeah, I didn't even need an antagonist. And I

would agree, but since it was a rather big story

point for it, that to me was, it's one downfall,

which is why I like Tangled a little more, because

I feel like it's complete in that aspect. It

has a lot of those... and it has and I feel like

it ties everything a little together though.

I think with Tangle though it gets away from

its music like halfway through I feel like it

forgets it. Right. Yeah that was my only thing

that would knock Tangle a little bit was that

I wish the music would have been more prevalent

throughout it. It seemed like it was good in

the first half and then all of a sudden it was

like we're done with the songs. That's kind of

interesting. I'll disagree a little bit because

I don't feel like the antagonist of Tangled is

doing a whole lot either. And for me, where they

play on different ideas in Frozen, I agree he's

not a great villain by any means, but it flips

ideas that I found interesting where the heart

of the movie was still amazing. But I like Tangled

for what it is, but I don't think its villain

is doing anything in that film either, really.

Just feel like they're both manipulators. Yeah,

if you look at it like hot his name is Hans right

in in frozen He's a manipulator and entangled

Mama dearest or whatever She's also manipulator

a lot of her choices Whether she chooses to do

something directly or to see how they play out

into where she can feed her hand in To see where

it's best gonna fit to her needs to try to manipulate

Rapunzel and doing what she wants to do and make

the situation what she wants. They're both manipulators.

She does have one really great song though. I'll

give her that. And I think what I meant by that

too is that she felt an important element of

the story where the antagonist in Frozen, Hans,

was just... Kind of just there like it like you

can remove him completely and you're not yeah,

I completely disagree, but we're getting too

far into it I don't want a review for frozen.

I didn't know I was starting that with my number

three pick. I apologize everybody I'm just kidding.

I don't it's number three best film of the last

five years Anyway, what's your number? Yeah,

well, we'll let it go and I'm sorry I apologize

and we do that was coming, right? Yeah, I think

it's required now every time you bring up that

you need at least one All right So my movie,

for number three, is completely different direction

altogether. It's from 2010. Interestingly, my

last three choices, all from 2010, just realized

that right now as I looked at my list, but it

is a French film and it is called The Illusionist

and not the movie starring Edward Norton for

those that don't know. Oscar nominated The Illusionist.

Yes, it was Oscar nominated, very much deserving.

There's a strong allegorical complication with

this film because it stars this music, it covers

this - this life of this musician who is kind

of seeing his career kind of dwindle. People

aren't not really into magic like they used to

be. This is taking place in the mid -50s or so,

and rock and roll is starting to come into its

own. So people are far more interested in that

than this old guy and what he has to offer. And

then it is also hand -drawn, and considering

hand -drawn animation is also kind of dwindling,

there's obviously some comparisons there. It's

done by the same people who brought us triplets

of Belleville who if you have not seen that I

would highly advise it and similar to that film

There's very little dialogue. There's maybe I

don't know maybe the two or three little conversations

here and there, but it's mostly conveyed through

kind of sounds and body language and things like

that. And so it says a lot without really saying

anything at all. And as someone who really likes

silent films, I think it works in that aspect

and like how it conveys its story and its characters

in that development. So and I just I don't know,

like the animation is strong as well. And it's

it's just it's so bittersweet and sad and it

It just really tugs at those hard strings with

this character, Biki, as he ends up becoming

kind of this friendship with this young girl

who kind of falls in love with magic, and she's

like the one person who still seems to be in

practice, what he does, but then you see him

kind of, you know, still kind of end up disappointing

her and how that plays out. But yeah, I really

love this movie, and that's why it made me number

three. So, fun fact about that pic for Dan is

that the director for Your Wrinkles pic, Ignacio

Ferraris, that's what I'm going with, was also

an animator on The Illusionist. So, there you

go. Nice. Point for JD. And hopefully the mics

didn't catch any... I wasn't laughing at you,

Dan, but Amanda hasn't looked at me in the last

four minutes. I had some really lewd hand gestures

going on and he couldn't help with them. It wasn't

fast enough to the mute. I was not laughing at

your choice. Hey! Funny choice, delusionist.

No, obviously one of the only three films I managed

to get nominations in 2010 apparently. They couldn't

fill the whole slate with other films, so we'll

talk about that in a little bit. But obviously

worthy there. Amanda, you didn't like Frozen,

so what is? the second best animated film in

the last five years. Dazzle us with your pick,

please. Well, despite the fact that Dan and JD

are making me feel like an uncultured swine when

it comes to animated films, I'm going to go with

a 2011 pick, Puss in Boots, for my number two.

Explain yourself. Explain myself. Well, I love

the witties. I love the cats. Besides that, no,

I think that... I was drawn into this movie.

I love Shrek, love all the Shrek movies, Puss

in Boots, probably my favorite character besides

the one that Justin Timberlake plays in the Shrek

world. And I think that Antonio Banderas can

do no wrong, just saying. And I think the whole

- C -Expendables 3, I'm just saying. Yes. I just

watched Take the Lead for probably like the third

time the other day, just cause. There's no hope.

I think the storyline and the plot is not necessarily

traditional Puss in Boots, but it's so entertaining

and the twists throughout are so amazing with

Humpty. All the costumes are so well done. If

you look at Humpty, I think everything about

his design is just... so perfect and all of the

cat movements and even Humpty's egg properties

I think were the best. Plus the magic aspects,

I think they were really cool to look at, really

well done. Loved all the side characters, Jack

and Jill, what have you. Plus I think the humor

was just so funny. prison rape joke with Humpty

Dumpty. You know what they do to eggs in San

Ricardo prison, it's not over easy. And also

some of the names of Puss in Boots, Frisky Two

Times, like come on. There's some things that

are very adult but I think overall the movie

was just adorable and I loved it. This is one

of those that I didn't see until you made me

watch it in preparation for this list. I don't

have anything negative to say about the film,

so I'm not going to get in trouble. I just didn't

have necessarily something that spoke to me loud

enough to make my top 10. I like the score. There

you go. Got good comments there. All right, JD,

what's your number two? My number two, I'm going

back to the world of Studio Ghibli. And man,

this film absolutely blew me away. And it is

last year's 2014's The Tale of the Princess Kaguya.

This is one of the most beautiful films I have

ever seen, animated or not. The watercolor animation

is stunning. It's absolutely stunning. There's

one sequence in the film. where the Kaguya character,

she's running away from her village and it kind

of turns into this black charcoal -like sequence

and it is amazing, absolutely amazing. It set

the mood perfectly of what was going on. It set

what was happening internally with that character

at the time and there are a lot of sequences

like that in this movie. The story is based off

of Japanese folklore. I don't know a ton about

it myself, but I feel like the style of animation

that is here seemed to represent that well. I

know it took them like 10 years or something

like that to make this film in total because

it is, from what I read anyway, a big story over

in Japanese culture so they wanted to make sure

they got it right and man did they absolutely

get it right. It's very emotionally potent. It's

thematically very rich. And it's another great

film about identity and the Princess Kagawa character.

She's almost like a spiritual character that

was kind of placed on earth. That's kind of the

basis of the story anyway. And she's trying to

figure out what being human means and why she's

on earth. And she lives in a place she doesn't

want to live and she's kind of having to live

through her parents. And it becomes pretty tragic

and heartbreaking in places. And I think it has

a lot to say about parenting because her dad

just who they adopted her once they found her

in the forest but her dad just wanted the best

for her and he had good intentions so he tried

to do all these different things for her not

realizing that he was naive and that he wasn't

understanding her heart and what she wanted and

the exploration of that idea was very affecting

and very moving especially when we get to the

final sequences of the film and the crystallization

of those story threads is just devastating it's

incredibly it's just incredibly amazing. I couldn't

recommend it enough. I kind of watched this on

subtitles in the Japanese version. I have heard

that the American dubbed Version of it is actually

really good too. I wouldn't know but This was

Brendan's my co -host on the in session phone

podcast. This was his favorite film of last year.

It was in my top 10 It's incredible or my top

20, but it's really really good and is my number

two This is the third of the films that I was

actively seeking out that I was not able to find

so it was uh I was trying to watch song of the

sea trying to watch the wind rises and trying

to watch The tale of the princess could be and

I just could not figure out a way without buying

them so good This sounds like fifth element,

but animated in Japanese form Would say it's

no It's a very strong honorable mention for me

I the thing that kind of it's like number like

11 12 ish for me the reason it didn't make my

list it just At the end of the day. I don't know

if it for me personally it and it's runtime of

two and a half hours Which is a little much for

me, and I don't know if it it got like a tad

bit indulgence I felt like it got to its point

along by the time it got to its point, it already

got there about 20 minutes earlier, and I was

just like, you don't need this extra 20 minutes.

But like I said, it's a great film. Like you

mentioned, the animation is breathtaking. It's

deserving of all that praise. It was just, that

was a little bit that kind of stopped me from

putting it on my top 10. I loved every second

of it personally. I could have watched a three

hour version of it to be quite honest. I mean,

I loved all the characters and I can see that

because it is a long movie and you have to kind

of stick with it. But I think everything she

goes through is just fascinating to watch and

heartbreaking to watch in a lot of places. But

I feel like every part of it has a lot of purpose

behind it may be a little bit redundant, but

I feel like that's our lives also in a lot of.

a lot of places. I think that's why I appreciate

something like boyhood, right? The redundancy

is part of life. So it works for me anyway, although

I completely understand your argument, Dan. All

right. That brings me to my number two. Honestly,

I have gone back and forth in my head between

my number one and number two so many times in

the last day, week, hour. I keep flip -flopping

them back and forth. So to me, they're somewhat

interchangeable. But, like GD, I'm gonna talk

about one that hasn't been talked about yet.

Why? Because I believe I am the only one above

the age of 15 that likes this film. Luckily,

there's a couple billion people in the country

under the age of 15, so it makes a crap ton of

money, and it's obviously spawned a whole universe

with sequels and spinoffs, etc. Dan, you're not

gonna be surprised at this one, so my number

two comes from 2010, and that would be Despicable

Me. I adore this film for so many reasons, and

again, I feel like I'm the only one above the

age of 15 that likes Despicable Me, but the lines

are so quotable. Steve Carell is absolutely phenomenal

as the voice of Gru. I find, even though a lot

of people probably find the Minions annoying,

I don't at all. There's one named Kevin, pretty

sure. And there's one named Kevin, so that does

not hurt. In going though, we're trying to go

back and forth between my number one and number

two, the dilemma with me was do I go with the

film that I think is giving the strongest message

and has the most thematic resonance? Or do I

go with an animated film that I think is just

the most fun? The most enjoyable from maybe a

kid standpoint or just kind of overall entertainment

and that was kind of the battle I feel like one

of my films was doing one and obviously this

was doing the other And I guess I just think

there's there's a lot of memorable moments and

it was the most fun I had had in an animated

film for quite some time. It really almost Reinvigorated

my interest in animated films like I've loved

animated films for so long growing up I kind

of lost touch like I said tangled kind of reawakened

the Disney aspect of it, but it was you know

a year before that or earlier in that same year

actually with Despicable Me when I went again

with my niece and nephew and we just had a blast

and I was like wow I did not expect to be enjoying

an animated film to that level and I love Despicable

Me I think Despicable Me 2 was not nearly, not

even close, not even in the same league. It was

a major disappointment and hopefully, hopefully

minions will not be the same. Hopefully they'll

be back closer to their original Despicable Me,

but I loved it, so I will champion it as my number

two. Now I'm really wondering what your number

one is, because I thought that could be your

number one. Don't look at my list. I didn't know

that you liked that movie that much. It's a good

honorable mention for me. I like it. You're not

the only one. I couldn't get Amanda to, Amanda

has never seen the entire Despicable Me movie.

She falls asleep every time. I just don't get

it. I couldn't get her to re -watch it and watch

the whole thing without falling asleep. Okay,

it's so fluffy I want to die. Cool, I can get

down on that part. I love those little girls.

Alright, anyways, Dan. My number two is one that's

already been brought up, so I'm not going to

say a great deal about it. I will say it was

challenging because it was like, which one do

I go with? And I feel like my one and two are

kind of obvious, so I will preface by that. But

I ended up going with how to train your dragon

one for my number two. I think both of them are

great, and the reason I went with one though

is that I just... the love the the boy and dog

story of Toothless and Hiccup and JD mentioned

the idea of like having a fastball and kind of

doing that and that type of story is very much

that and but I think why it works so well with

and how to train your dragon too is the context

that it's put into and the situation that Hiccup

is in and what it means this dragon you know

within its culture of being a viking its relationship

with his father there's a lot going on to it

so there's a lot at stake there and it's overall

just like the characters are all great and Toothless

is a great like fun character with both cute

and uh you know you just fall in love with him

so uh and two it just gives you that sense of

flying and it It was a great example of how to

use 3D in a great way. The animation tends to

be a good format for 3D, and I think How to Train

Your Dragon was one of the best examples of that.

Those flying sequences are just phenomenal, and

as JD mentioned, with the addition of the score,

it just really ties it all together. The second

one, too, was great. I love the addition of the

alphas, the expansion of the world, and some

of the... really the strong story beats that

gets into as well but I just went with the original

because I felt like overall I just it's you know

maybe it was just because it was the first time

I was brought into this world and I had zero

expectations for it compared to the second film

but I just liked it a tad bit more all right

More love for How to Train Your Dragon, I think

we all have it on our list, so obviously there's

a universal appeal there. And that means it's

the big moment. It is time for everybody's number

one film, animated film, of the last half decade.

I don't think any of us know where you're going,

Amanda, so you lead the way. What is your number

one film? You know, you've already been looking

at my list. I'm going to throw it out here. 2012

film. Rise of the Guardians is my number one.

On nobody else's list, a little surprised because

I loved it so much. I think the rewatchability

of this is completely on point. The message here,

super huge. I think that Jack Frost is completely

relatable. We can all love him right off the

bat. And the more we find out about him and his

past... And the reason why he's chosen to be

a guardian, I feel like you can love him even

more. Very heartbreaking in that sense. Super

touching. Tons of elements that I really fell

in love with this, about the way that each character

was done. even the Sandman who doesn't even speak

the way he communicates. His communication style

is so amazing with his dream sand and the way

that morphs for his thoughts and his feelings.

these guardians really aren't what we thought

they were. They're not just somebody who brings

us presents or money or Easter eggs. They have

a purpose and to see those individuals like Santa

having those badass, naughty, nice tattoos and

all of the weapons that they have and their powers.

All the portals that they use, so well done.

I think they're really cool. Even the The bad

guy, the evil villain played by Jude Law is the

voice actor and it's pitch black and even his

portal comes up from underneath a bed I mean

it's so cool all the nightmares that they that

they create with his black sand I thought everything

about it was really cool with the animation and

the message and just overall really awesome film

I think the only thing for this film that might

have been on the negative side for me was that

I was I actually really liked the idea and the

concept behind it and What I thought they were

going for obviously, you know in the same footsteps

as what Shrek did in one universe They were trying

to go for in more of the traditional character

type universe and I thought I kind of built this

one up a little bit too much in my head for some

reason I got really behind the concept and I

kind of built up unrealistic expectations for

it So I think that's maybe why it didn't resonate

as much for me, but I don't necessarily have

anything bad to say I know a lot of people do

but I don't Dislike this film. I don't know.

What do you guys think of Guardians? I have not

seen it so That was I didn't think we could find

one that Dan had Touché Dan because you had how

many on your list that I have not even dipped

a toe in so you better pick this one up if I'm

gonna watch one of your I will try to watch it.

I think it's on a it was it's when I feel for

like a long time, but I have never Even the end

credits scene is so fun to see while the credits

are rolling. They have these little minions.

I'm not going to point out whose minions they

are in the movie, but they have their own little

shorts at the end, and it was really touching

and cute, and it had a feel -good ending as well.

JD have you seen this one? I have I might have

I'm gonna have to give it a little another chance

though quite honestly because the first time

I watched it I certainly didn't have the resonance

with it that Amanda has but I didn't hate it

either but I was I was so tired the first time

I watched it that I just kind of was just skating

by quite honestly so I need to really give it

another re -watch to give it an authentic opinion

on it all right fair enough so nobody's hating

your pick there I hope not. Except for the internet

when they get ahold of us. Well, though it's

the internet. We're going to break the internet.

No, don't say that. All right. Janie, what is

your number one? My number one is not a surprise

to anyone that listens to our show. It was in

my top five of 2014. And again, it is Dean DeBloy

at his finest. It is How to Train Your Dragon

Dose. What the sea was to Finding Nemo, the sky

is to How to Train Your Dragon. It is so graceful

and gorgeous. The flying sequences in this movie

are incredibly breathtaking and immersive and

And to the point I am actually going to get a

painting done of one of the sequences in this

movie Done for my son when he's born. I'm gonna

hang it up in his wall like right next to his

crib Because I feel like you could pause any

moment in this film when it could be a painting.

It's incredible I think the battle sequences

are really fun. They're really gripping and again

John Powell I love you. You are awesome. And

the score again is incredible here and This is

where I'm going to lose everybody, and that's

perfectly fine. You can call us crazy, and maybe

we are, but both Brendan and I, and I know of

at least one other guy. I won't name him, so

no one shames him, but I think this is the best

animated sequel of all time. I love, love this

movie. I think it advances the story in an incredible

way. Kind of goes to Lion King kind of territories

that is pretty difficult. that's vividly realized

and I love, love, love the second act of this

movie and how it slows down. incredible character

building and family dynamics that's just terrific

and how many blockbusters do we have out there

that slows down to show us a reunion that's full

of heart and is tender and is real and establishes

what I think is the heart of the movie before

the frickin film rips it away from you and I

think even when you're talking about Toothless

and Hiccup there's a maturity there with them

their relationship grows stronger throughout

the movie and there's some really great layers

that are added with the big twist of this film

that I feel like is very well -earned and I think

it just makes the climax even more visceral.

The ending itself is just moving and powerful

and I wouldn't change a single thing about this

movie. It's absolutely incredible and the supporting

characters are also great. Jay Bereshell, probably

my favorite performance he's ever given and even

Cate Blanchett adds a really dynamic uh... supporting

performance as well ala jarred butler maybe my

favorite support my favorite performance from

him as well i think he's just incredible in these

and he's found so i i i love it i i i i i think

it's fantastic i would certainly take over any

toy story movie and i love toy story absolute

adore that trilogy as i was talking about before

and i think this film and if how to train a dragon

three is even just good i'll probably take this

over the toy story trilogy i'd absolutely and

in love in love with these movies And you're

probably in love with this podcast because we

gave you five different chances to talk about

how to train your dragon between all of our lives.

Absolutely. And sorry for just kind of raving

and going on there on and on, but I love this

film. You're allowed to do that, especially for

your number one. Like I said, for me, the number

one, number two is a battle. Do I go with the

entertainment value or do I go with what I thought

was the best message and thematic resonance for

me or for maybe the best message that should

be going out there to the audiences? And that's

kind of the route I went. It's already been talked

about, so I'm not going to be doing anything

new here. I obviously have it higher than all

of you guys, but I'm also going for a 2014 film,

but I am going with the one that should have

won the Oscar, and that would be, or should have...

least been nominated. That would be the Lego

movie. And let me explain it before anybody pooh

-poos on my choice here, but I think this movie

is one of those things that I kind of equate

it to that time when you're either with a parent

or with a teacher or something and you're doing

something that's so fun that you don't even realize

until later on that you were actually learning

at the same time. Like this movie has a whole

bunch of fun on the surface, but it has a lot

of different layers to it and a lot of different

messages that I think maybe for some people are

kind of even lost in the fun to a point so it's

something that you can kind of maybe gain out

of repeat watchings or something like that but

I think there's a lot of strong thematic things

here and it's not just about the the twist or

the idea of from the toy angle or from the actual

Lego angle and what you should do but much more

from the conformity slash individual identity

that I think a lot of people in our society really

struggle with because we live in a society where

it's almost like you are expected or you are

brought up thinking that you have to do this

and this and this and this and this is what you

have to do and you're spoon -fed this from the

media and you hear this from, you know, you can

get kind of in that example that they're trying

to show especially in the beginning of this film

and I think it's an important message to realize

but at the same time that they also show the

dangers of the other extreme as well. And there's

a vital point in that movie where they do have

to go and do things as they should in order to

achieve something. So it's not just saying that

everybody be crazy and be yourself and be unique

with no restraints and no fear. It's to me the

movie is showing a balance and it's showing a

balance of knowing when that things should be

done in a certain way, but also knowing how to

still have an individual identity and creativeness

and that type of thing. So I think it's speaking

to a lot of different things that, yeah, you

can just view it as a fun film and hey, there's

Batman and there's this DC character, this Marvel

character, this Star Wars character and you can

just have fun with all the things and spaceship

and everything else that's going on and you can

just be wrapped up in that and have a good time

and there's nothing wrong with that. But I think

when you break it down, there's... There's some

layers there that, to me, are sending a pretty

important message in the way things go in today's

society in our digital media world. You are the

special, Kevin. I did until this podcast came

out. Specials don't live in the shed. Specials

do live in the shed, that's the thing. You're

right though in the sense that there is a great

balance there and I think that's what's so great

about the ending is it's not even just a realization

because I was talking about how there that twist

that there's a character that acknowledges this

inspiration that is set on when you're talking

about like the mindset of a child, but not just

that but how he almost reverberates to being

a kid when that line is spoken to him. And it

just, it's incredibly moving. I completely agree.

Like that balance is great. And like Dan, I didn't

say this earlier, but Dan said something that

was really important too when he was saying that

when you get to the twist of... what's happening

and there's that reveal. It makes all the goofiness

of this and all the fun aspects of it. It just

adds another incredible layer to it. Everything

makes a lot more sense. It's not just goofy fun

for the sake of it being goofy and fun. Like

there's a lot of intention and purpose behind

it, which is just superb. And the other thing

too is the level of intelligence. between the

people, between obviously the team that's creating

this, and what they were able to do with Miller

and Lord, and just all the different elements

that they're putting in this. Whether it's that

opening sequence, whether it's the song, whether

it's the funny pronunciations of different things

that are actually representing real life things,

there was a lot of cleverness put into this,

and a lot of time spent on details, so I definitely

appreciated that. And even though this was probably

my more fond of last year, I completely see why

it would be anyone's number one. It's a really

terrific movie. But last year was such an incredible

year for animated film, and there wasn't even

a Pixar film. They were completely absent, and

it was what I would argue one of the best, if

not the best year for animated film we've ever

seen. It was incredible from top to bottom. And

we'll be getting into a few more points on that

here in a little bit. But first, Dan, it is your

turn to reveal your number one film. Alrighty,

well my number one is already been talked about

and I thought I would go with something different

try to be clever or unique but at the end I think

if you just lying to myself and my number one

is Toy Story 3 and For a lot of reasons mostly

I think it's a culmination of everything right

with Toy Story and everything right with Pixar

It does something that I think is really hard

to do and that is get great deal of emotion from

really small moments It has those big moments

that we mentioned, but I think it has just really

like small and kind of intimate moments that

you would not expect in an animated film. There's

also just so much cleverness within this universe.

How it becomes this almost prison -like film.

Sunnyside becomes like a prison and there's little

tidbits they do like how markers become almost

like tattoos and jail tattoos and bins become

jail cells and like there's all these little

like you know you know tidbits towards you know

Great Escape and all these other cinematic references

and stuff like that and there's and too like

I feel like there's so many characters within

this universe within the story and they all are

juggled well and all have important place in

some way and even you know bringing in new characters

that it's always challenging when you're a third

film and you're going to bring in new characters

it's like is it is it going to work but then

you have someone who plays Lasso who is such

an interesting character and like ends up being

one of the best characters of the series within

just this one film and you can sympathize with

him exactly exactly there's a symphony there

you know even though he is an evil techie bear

who smells delicious. You know, you kind of,

you know, you understand where he's coming from.

I think Pixar is really good at casting. I think

that can kind of go underrated. Using someone

like Michael Keaton as Ken, genius, ends up working

really well. So, just to me, it's like, hopefully

Pixar can get back to the level again, but it

was like the... This is it. Like, Pixar could've

just, like, walked away after Toy Story 3, and,

like, we're done. We've done it all. Maybe they

should have, after, you know, doing, like, Cars

2. But, uh, I just... I love Toy Story 3, and

as, like, Toy Story being one of my all -time

favorite animated films... You know, you think

like, okay, you don't need to make Toy Story

2, there's no need to, and they did, and it's

good, and oh, Toy Story 3's coming, you don't

need to, and then it's fantastic. And even small

things that no one really would notice, like

they're getting the same actor to play Andy that

was Andy in the first movie, and it really means

nothing, but I think it just adds a little bit.

I think Pixar's good at that, they're just good

at it. Or even like the opening. The opening

scene of two with Buzz and then the opening scene

of the third one with Woody and how those kind

of juxtapose but also kind of doing the same

thing at the same time. Yeah. Those details are

amazing. It is. So I love Toy Story 3 and I thought

about going with something else for number one

but it was an easy choice at the end of the day.

So for me at least. That's it for the countdown

real quick just so people remember like we did

with the other ones Amanda, what's your five

through one just to remind everybody? I'm gonna

my paper Number five we've got brave number four

tangled number three Rick at Ralph number two

prison boots and number one rise of the Guardians

All right, and JD. What was your five through

one? I had the wind arises how to turn your drug

in one little story through a detail of the princess

Kaguya and how to turn your dragon Alright, and

my 5 through 1 were Toy Story 3, Wreck -It Ralph,

Frozen, Despicable Me, and the LEGO Movie. Dan?

My number 5 was the painting for the LEGO Movie

3, The Illusionist, 2, How to Train Your Dragon,

and number 1, Toy Story 3. Alright, we're not

going to be much longer. We're going to do a

real quick closing discussion. Obviously we've

kept everybody a pretty long time and we're just

going to get a quick update of what people think

of the state of animation so far for this decade

and kind of give you guys' opinions here. You

know, obviously each decade kind of comes away

as a certain identity when it comes to animated

movies. You know, obviously 90s was very heavy

into Disney. You know, you'd probably say the

2000s was all about Pixar. So what has the 2010s

been so far and what kind of... state you think

the major studios are in, which ones are on the

incline, decline, which ones are holding steady,

that type of stuff. So just a real quick reactionary

closing thought for that. But while you guys

are thinking of what you're going to say for

that, just to give you some facts for the half

decade so far, if you're looking at your Oscar

winners, you had Toy Story 3 in 2010, Rango in

2011, Brave in 2012, Frozen in 2013, and Big

Hero 6 in 2014. Just to run down your biggest

box office successes so far for the half decade

your top ten at the box office In obviously order

from the lowest to the the one that's done the

most For this last half decade how to train your

dragon one then big hero six brave Shrek forever

after Despicable me the Lego movie Monsters University

Despicable me to frozen and your biggest box

office hit of the last five years so far was

Toy Story 3 As far as kind of just the state

of animated films in general, Dan, since you

were going last and everything else, why don't

you go first on this one? What do you view so

far the identity of the 2010s? What is it coming

across as? And, you know, is one studio leading

the way? Is it just kind of this decade that's

going to be known as just a whole bunch of variety

from all different facets? And which studios

are on the rise or on the decline? I think it's

a smorgasbord of goodness at this moment in time

when it comes to animated films, and I don't

think there's necessarily one leading the way.

I think obviously we're seeing Pixar kind of

dipping down, Disney's kind of coming back up,

and DreamWorks even is having some good shows

here and there, but I think it's also becoming

a good time for independent animated films, which

was never a thing before, because if you were

going to make an animated movie, it required

manpower. required like a lot to do and now with

you know with increased technology you know you

have something like there's i didn't include

it because it's kind of three short films like

it's such a beautiful day series which are just

like these like uh six figure animated films

which are quite good and i think we'll get more

stuff like that where it's like you know independent

thinking like independent uh animated movies

that kind of go in new different directions which

is interesting similar to like science fiction

which wasn't necessarily always an independent

realm but now with the fact you can kind of do

anything today it's I think it opened the door

to a lot of really great animated stuff and it's

like Disney is just one of the major players

when there's still like a lot of people out there

kind of doing some really good things yeah I

think I would echo a lot of what you're saying

there because we have you know like you said

we do have a research from Disney but you do

have a Pixar presence in our list with Toy Story

3 obviously even though maybe not as many as

you would have had the previous decade You know,

like JD was champion with his number one. You

know, the How to Train Your Dragons from DreamWorks

are strong. But, you know, you guys got the couple

films from Studio Ghibli that are there. We obviously

have had a variety of foreign films from all

different countries. Even stuff like that we

didn't talk about, you know, Paranorman, Pirates

of Banda Misfits, you know. from the people that

did Wallace and Gromit. You know, there's a pretty

good variety and you have some other studios

that, you know, even with Despicable Me that,

you know, it's not one of, if not Disney, it's

not Pixar, but it's having some success, right?

I definitely agree with your take there that

it's coming from all different angles, which

I think is a good thing. But I also would acknowledge,

like you said, that it seems like Disney is somewhat

kind of on a resurgence. We'll see if that continues

through the rest of the decade or not. J .D.,

what do you think? I think... If Studio Ghibli,

if they leave, it's just pretty much all coming

down to Disney and Pixar for me. While I love

How to Train Your Dragon 2, and I was kind of

joking earlier about how I kind of wish I could

just group How to Train Your Dragon in with Pixar.

I wish we could do it like sports where you could

trade. Like, Pixar will trade How to Train Your

Dragon, that series, for something that's shittier.

But they feel like Pixar films to me, and they

feel like the best of what Pixar is. And I love

kind of how Disney is coming back. We talked

about that and how some of their animated films

have just been kind of rising as the cream of

the crop and what we've seen lately and. What

I've heard from inside out it just seems like

everyone is loving it So I'm hoping that Pixar

is back up to that level that we know of them

if that's the case and Disney stays where they're

at It's pretty much just down to them and that

and I'm perfectly fine with that at least for

me I personally don't really care what's coming

out of Sony animation. I don't really care what's

coming out of dream DreamWorks other than How

to Train Your Dragon. Although I will say Turbo

a few years ago did kind of surprise me. I was

expecting to fully hate that movie and I actually

quite dug it a lot, but for the most part everything

out of DreamWorks is garbage if you ask me. So

I honestly don't pay attention to any other studios

besides Disney and Pixar and Studio Ghibli and

I just kind of look for word of mouth. The animation

studio that did Song of the Sea, they've only

done like four films, but now that I've seen

Secret of Kells, which is another film I liked,

and Song of the Sea, which made my list, I'll

pay attention to them more. I don't know if they're

gonna be doing a whole lot, because I think Tom

Moore's pretty much done everything that they

have out of there, at least the bigger stuff,

so... But I'll pay attention to that and maybe

some of these other studios that are making some

of the films that Tom Dan's list that I haven't

seen if they're really good But I and I certainly

look forward to those little ones, but when you're

talking about Highwood I guess it's just isn't

Pixar. That's really all that matters to me,

honestly Like you said, there's the 2014 was

a good note to kind of go into the second half

because there was a lot of films that Yeah, it

was great visually. Yeah, I only had one film

from 2011 one for 2012 and one for 2013 all the

rest of mine were either 2010 or 2014 So I think

the decade started off strong and I think it's

a strong note heading into the second half Amanda

what do you think as far as animated films right

now in the state of animation? Despite my joking

about studio giblets I'm really not too picky

about who's making what animated film. I'm pretty

much on board if it looks decent. I want to see

it and I'll experience it. So I don't really

pay too much attention on who's doing hot and

who's doing not so hot. I just want to see a

good solid animated film. Alright, and was there

was there any films as far as honorable mentions

go that you didn't get that nobody mentioned

on their list that you kind of Considered that

you want to get a shout out to Dan. Oh, yeah,

I had a few I had the rat the rabbit sees the

rabbi's cat Paranorman, I don't think I mentioned

that also Batman the Dark Knight returns which

I kind of group those together within I think

that's like the best thing that DC animated has

done uh anything else chico and rica chico and

rita which it was nominated for for best animated

film it's a nice kind of a interesting uh really

great like jazz quarry with that as well and

that's pretty in a cat in paris which kind of

feels to me similar to like madeline in his animation

style uh which is very again another very much

a french uh film but i think there's a quite

like a lot of really uh like a unsung animated

films that I was able to kind of discover just

by researching for this list. Alright JD, I know

you had a top 20 at one point. Is there any that

we didn't mention in there? Oh, a lot of them

we mentioned. Norman was one in there. I also

had Ringo and Tangled and Big Hero 6. I also

had Adventures of Tintin. Ooh, that's a good

one. And I don't know if this is 2009 or 2010.

I've read both in other places, so depending...

on you come from and most likely in Kentucky

we would have gotten it in 2010. I just got with

it in the last few months but if it is 2010 it

would also include The Secret of Kells which

is a great one and it's not a full length feature

movie but The Paperman Shore is also one of the

best animated things we've seen out of the last

few years as well so I kind of threw that on

as an honorable mention. All right. I myself,

like I said, I was struggling just to come up

with my final two spots, so I don't have necessarily

anything I'd throw out there as an honorable

mention that has not been talked about. Amanda,

anything you just missed making your list? I

have the box trolls, the hero sticks, things

that have been talked about. And since I do play

hockey, I did put Frozen on there because, you

know, the cold never bothered me anyway. But

I think... Penguins of Madagascar, I think was

super freaking cute. Pretty funny. The voice

cast, John Malkovich. Gotta love that fucker.

So glad that he was in this. I think that it

was super funny. Even some of his little quips

when he's talking to his little henchmen. They

always bring up some actors' names, and he's

like, Drew, bury more, and bring out the laser,

and things like that. It was really cool. I liked

that. Alright, so that's our top ten animated

films of the last half decade, and our thoughts

of the state of animation in general. Obviously,

like we said, you can find JD by searching out

in -session film, and you definitely should do

that. Before we close, though, I know we've been

going forever, but the fans would not be happy

if we didn't give our results from our box office

predictions last week. And the first place, the

champion so far at our prediction game here so

far has been Amanda. And she played defense last

week and went within some people might call it

an easy choice. All she did was predict that

what? Insidious would be in the top 10. So she

predicted the risky insidious at least showing

up in the top 10. It came in at number three

so she was right on that. I was just trying to

get my first correct, so I tried to go easy and

said that Spy would be number one, and it was.

Dan, you said Aloha would drop out of the top

ten, and it came in at number nine. Yeah, it

was like a million or two away too, so... People

have just missed. So now I have company in the

cellar. Yeah, so now I have company in the cellar.

Dan's joining me. Amanda's still undefeated.

As far as predictions for... Next week, I made

Amanda choose something harder, and she's even

wanting to coin her own term for this box office

prediction game. What are you calling it? If

you've seen The Wedding Ringer, you'll know what

this is. It's going to be the golden tux of box

office predictions. So what she's doing is she's

literally running the gamut here. She is going

to predict the top five this next weekend at

the box office in order. Yes, sir. So, that is

going to be your first loss. I'm just going to

put that out there. With all the wins I've had,

I can afford one loss. Alright, so what is your

top five and what order are they in? Okay, should

we go from bottom up? Yes. Alright, number five,

we're going to come in with Entourage. Number

four, San Andreas. Number three, Spy. Number

two insidious three and number one, of course

will be Jurassic World So we will enjoy Amanda

getting her first incorrect prediction and you

can weep Knowing that I am clean of the world

and my golden tux prediction. So that's her golden

tux prediction We'll see if anybody else tries

that in the future My prediction I am obviously

it's too easy to say Jurassic World is gonna

open at number one So I'm not going with that

but what I'm going with is exactly how much it'll

make and I am going that it is going to be over

70 million in the opening weekend. I don't know

if that's a risky pick or not, but I'm going

over 70 million in the opening weekend for Jurassic

World. I have only gotten one right so far, so

don't take any, don't put anything on that. Dan,

do you have a prediction for next week? Yeah,

it's kind of a random one, because it's a movie

that has not been talked about in like a few

months, but for some reason it's an increasing

theater count for the last few weeks, and I think

it's because it's trying to do this, and I say

that. Cinderella will officially make 200 million

dollars by next week. Please tell me you're right.

Please tell me you're right. I need that Haley

Atwell. Alright, a little fantasy film league

there for you. I need that 200 million point.

Alright, so those are our predictions for next

week. We'll see how that goes. Thanks JD for

joining us. It was awesome to have you. Hopefully,

you're not in trouble for being up too late with

us. I mean, we'll obviously be back with some

more lists. We have a couple more genres to go.

We still got to do comedy, action, and drama.

And like we've said before, we're going to wrap

this whole thing up at the end of the year by

doing our top actors of the half decade, our

top actresses, and a two -parter with our top

50 overall films of the half decade. So that's

all what's coming up. Dan, did I miss anything

or are we good to go? We're good to go. Alright,

so we will see you next time. Don't forget to

join or to visit cast radio .com find the episode

post comment there We will respond to you Mando,

how can people interact with you on Twitter hard

candy Mandy eyes? No, I stand your Twitter and

And JD at your personal Twitter or your show

Twitter either one and session film and at real

JD Duran where you can see me tweeting about

the lightning for the rest of this series. There

we go. There we go. Ending on a good note here.

I'm gonna send a Tony Jaa knee kick to the face

if they win via the internet. I'm gonna close

this out before it gets violent. You can talk

to me at Optimus Solo and obviously join us next

week for another episode of The Cinema Geeks.

She subscribes to the True Bromance world of

podcasting, so she's refilling a drink. Oh, yeah.

That's how they roll. Coke Zero cherry, so, you

know. She's drinking Orange Parade. I'm drinking

V8 Fusion. Nice. And she's the one drinking.

Yes. That's why she's got so many sequels on

her list. Yeah. Now that's a good outtake. She

didn't hear that. That's Macklin in the outfit.

It's like Dan advised me last week to take something

out and not put it in. He's like, that's the

joy of editing your own podcast. But I left it

in there. Anyway. Nothing. Don't worry about

it. It's all good. Probably also true. Yes. We

were recording the conversation. We have two

reports of it. That's true. Alright, I'm no longer

talking in between anything. No, you just stay

quiet. Alright. Black Ops 1. Yes! Suck it JD,

suck it! Three times! I'm trying to... Man...