Before I was a would-be critic, I was (and still am) a film student. Before I was a film major, I was a more disciplined artist, one that loved animation as a kid, and at one point, wanted to tackle the genre as a career path. Eventually that dream fell through, but the passion for great animation, the films that featured them, and the respect for the talent responsible for them remained very much alive. But as CGI has steadily stolen traditional animation’s thunder within the past decade and a half, almost to the point of extinction, I figured it’s never been a better time to salute the unsung “hidden gems” and reflect how, despite wishful thinking and what-if scenarios from a fan’s perspective, would never get their own share of the limelight among the other titans of the genre.
Titan A.E.
I grew up watching a lot of Disney animated films, and was lucky enough to be around for what many refer to as Disney’s “Second Golden Age”, where classics like Aladdin, The Lion King, and Beauty and the Beast where testaments to the Disney animation artistry. Then, there were the constant rewatching of older Disney animated treasures at my house, from Oliver & Company to 101 Dalmatians. As I got older, around twelve years old, you may call it typical that I gradually grew tired of the worn-out routines that are standard in those sorts of films. Anthromorphic talking animals, catchy sing-alongs, and whole-hearted family content was fine and all, but it just couldn’t appeal to a kid wanting more science fiction action, much in the vein of Star Wars, in his cartoons, and it seemed no major studio was interested in producing such a film.
Okay, I got him distracted. Punch it before he realizes!
That is, until animator legend Don Bluth, under 20th Century Fox, released Titan A.E. in the year 2000. Finally, I thought after watching, a cartoon film that I suits my demographic. Titan A.E. certainly was a bold venture. Not only did it ignore many standards established in the genre for Western productions (animated blood and mild nudity, in PG-rated film, mind you), but it also marketed towards older audiences. Which would explain why ultimately the film bombed at the box office, and was the last nail on the coffin for Fox’s internal animation studios. Since then Fox has relied on the CGI craze that swept Hollywood following the commercial success of Toy Story and Shrek. It was a shame, considering that despite some minor missed opportunities with the story, Titan A.E. sported a solid story, and some nice animation. Unfortunately, it now serves as a reminder of an animated film that was not afraid to take risks, but ultimately failed to make an impact in a Western market that still regards cartoons for solely for child amusement.
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Laputa: Castle in the Sky
You don’t have to go to deep into a discussion into anime before the name Miyazaki, or the title of anything he’s directed, gets brought up. If Osamu Tezuka is the Japanese equivalent to Walt Disney, it might not be a compliment to refer to Hayao Miyazaki as Japan’s Don Bluth (A Troll in Central Park notwithstanding). It’s also not unexpected when conversation involving or eventually transitioning to Miyazaki is which film is everyone’s favorite made by the renowned animator/storyteller. Personal surveys I’ve noted accumulate the usual suspects: Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away. Both are incredibly well made and deserve the praise and recognition fans and critics alike give it. For me, however, my favorite is Miyazaki’s race to the clouds in his steampunk-ish romp in Laputa: Castle in the Sky.
In comparison to his other work, Castle in the Sky (as it is titled in the States), may seem a bit conventional in fantasy storytelling: a boy catches a girl floating to Earth and the two become friends and embark on an adventure to discover the mysterious surrounding her and the necklace she wears. The tone in the narrative also tends to be more comical and so much in a tongue-in-cheek humor, a departure from the more somber narrative in Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke, or even Kiki’s Delivery Service. Nevertheless, the story plays its high adventure premise rather well: the main characters are likeable, and while the rest of the cast serves more for comic relief than anything else, are enjoyable in their own right. More than any other Miyazaki film I am aware of, Castle in the Sky gets nods for having a pretty iconic villain in Muska, an elusive operative of the government chasing the protagonists. I would be lying if this wasn’t contributed by Mark Hamill’s performance in the 2003 English re-dubbing done through Disney.
That Luke Skywalker guy? A villain?! Get out!
It’s understandable that when placed among bigger, more glimmering diamonds in a tiara, a gemstone like Castle in the Sky would often than naught would be lost to obscurity. Nevertheless, Castle in the Sky gets recognition here as a great Miyazaki film, which judging from the rest of his filmography, goes without saying.
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The Black Cauldron
The animated film The Black Cauldron is an especially curious case, and in two ways. Not only a victim of the taboo of being a “dark Disney film”, but also victim from what seems as disappointment from fans of the book series penned by Lloyd Alexander called The Chronicles of Prydain, from which the film is based on. Having been exposed to this film previously oblivious to the source material as a kid, I was surprisingly both impressed and sort of bummed about The Black Cauldron. Impressed in that Disney had indeed produced an animated film with darker elements (at least as dark you can get from a company like Disney) in the past, but was no doubt a commercial flop as a result. Bummed in that despite John Hurt’s haunting portrayal as the Horned King (no doubt the source of many nightmares for kids who watched this film), the voice acting was a bit…hallow and lacking relevant emotion in some instances. That and the fact Gurgi kind of annoyed me throughout the movie. Like a cross between Jar Jar Binks and a yappy Yorkshire terrier that never shut up.
Don't be fooled by appearance. You'll want to whack his head in with a sledgehammer by film's end.
Missed opportunities and some lukewarm performance from the cast, The Black Cauldron is at the very least a valiant effort, if any, to show that it dared to go against the grain, the very same grain they cemented into the Western animation genre for the past seventy years.
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Atlantis: The Lost Empire
Sensing a pattern with this list, yet? Yup, it’s another Disney film that was not make enough bucks at the box office and was a departure from the standard the company is known to pump out.
Enter Atlantis: The Lost Empire, a tale paying much tribute to Jules Verne, in which a wealthy tycoon spares no expense on a costly expedition to find the ruins of lost civilization of Atlantis with the help of the supposedly only surviving written account of its whereabouts, in what is known as the “Shepard’s Journal” in the movie, which can only be translated by the protagonist, a bookworm named Milo Thatch (voiced by Michael J. Fox). Much to the crew’s surprise, Atlantis exists, and its civilization is literally thriving inside an air pocket deep in the earth. Things turn ugly when Milo learns that the members of the expedition intend to ransack the city of its greatest treasure, the Heart of Atlantis, at the cost of the population’s lives.
"Okay, so my sultry design screams, 'bad girl'. So what?"
Much like Castle in the Sky, the high adventure of the story is often peppered with the occasional comedic gag, which may have more serious fans of Jules Verne adventure epics to roll their eyes. Perhaps it doesn’t help much when much of the cast is often created from some stereotype from gun-toting hillbilly, to the dedicated but compassionate warrior princess, to the hopelessly awkward but well-meaning introverted intellectual. However, much like Castle in the Sky, the film’s narrative does not shy to shift gears into a more serious tone when the story calls for it. And in terms of anesthesia, Atlantis is one of Disney’s most stylized animated features, art direction much inspired and consulted by Hellboy-creator Mike Mignolia. It’s not ugly, but it may put off many who are more attuned to more “realistic” art style.
I think I’m sensing another pattern, and may be going on a limb when I think this: even Disney animators want to do something different than the same-old routine. Would explain why many notable animators have left Disney eventually.
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Grave of the Fireflies
Fans of anime may notice a trend that comes with many series the genre: the knack to ‘demonstrate’ the atrocities of war and sometimes reflecting a negative view towards military. The problem isn’t so much the message, but that it feels phoned-in, pretentious, and detracts from the story. This motif will be described in more detail in a future article. Of all the anime I have seen, only two come in mind when the horrors of war are portrayed in a humanistic, powerful, and more importantly, humble manner: Now and Then, Here and There and Grave of the Fireflies. For sake of this post, I will focus about the latter.
The tragic and heartbreaking tale of Grave of the Fireflies takes place in Japan following the aftermath of World War II. Two siblings, Seita and his younger sister, Setsuko, to fend for themselves when their mother dies following an air raid and wish to leave the cruel treatment by their aunt. For a while, things work out until Setsuko gets increasingly sick, forcing Seita to steal out of desperation for his sister’s life. The film takes a high road approach to the tragedy, not coercing audiences to place blame on either American or Japanese, but invites them to endure the hardships the siblings do to remain together, where the story really shines.
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