Animation Dad

Spectacular adventure anchored by a charismatic lead and funny characters. The animation is fluid and beautiful. A-

My favourite animated sci fi movies. #24 is April and the Extraordinary World. I think this movie may be the movie that has landed on the most of my lists. It’s so criminally underrated. It should be a family staple. It’s everything you want in a family film…

Get through the beginning and the rest is very rewarding and unique. B+

The film is lopsided. There’s a lot of exposition and buildup in the first third that sometimes is a slog, but it’s all paid off in the 2nd half. Robin Wright’s excellent performance anchors the film. The animated section is influenced by Fleischer films and when the movie is its best…

My favourite animated sci fi movies. #25 is The Congress. A wildly prescient movie to watch in 2025. Robin Wright plays a fictional version of herself where she signs away the rights to a simulation of herself (it’s AI before AI was common). Then she enters a cartoon avatar and… it’s very odd…

Definitely not as common. Most anime was also hard to find as well. It was a smaller group for sure.

One of the best ever.

Us super geeks were on Internet forums in 2001. This was 2002 or 3 anyways when the bootlegs started showing up.

Internet fandom means there’s never middle ground. I have it a B+ despite some reservations, so I’m pretty high on it.

From memory the 2 things I mentioned. The sidelining if main characters and Vincent. Of course being online chatter these were bigger deals and over the years the movie is more appreciated than before. Personally it doesn’t bother me but the Faye stuff does.

From the discourse I saw, but that might just be Internet forums at the time.

Fans are always disappointed lol

…being the most complex character on the show). The villain Vincent is fine. The animation is a step up in the show. A great cool little side movie. B+

…but it’s annoying that the gang gets sidelined for some new vanilla characters. Spike gets a lot to do. Faye gets an action set piece but is later victimized in a gross fan service scene. (One of my favourite things about the show is you first think Faye will just be fan service and she ends up…

My favourite animated sci fi films. #26 is Cowboy Bebop The Movie (Knocking on Heavens Door). If it were a television episode it would probably be 2nd tier, but while fans were a little disappointed, it’s still very well done. The set pieces are amazing and it’s great to see these characters again…

…It’s honestly very easy to watch. The action, humour and dramatic elements work well, and nailing a family film is very difficult. It’s not groundbreaking, but it’s very well done. B+

My favourite animated sci fi films. #27 is Big Hero 6. The backlash of this film is largely because it won the animated Oscar, and I think it was the 4th best film on the list (and would have been 5th if the Lego Movie was nominated). Watch it again and you will see a very effective film…

My favourite animated sci fi movies. #28 is Macross Do you Remember Love. The most 1983 anime rock mecha opera possible. It’s the template and such a ridiculous soap opera. The animation is wonderful and the music is retro candy gumminess. It might be shallow, but who cares? A legitimate classic A-

I think it’s based off his premise as well

While it may have sci fi elements I feel it is much more a fantasy movie. The airships and robots and steampunk elements are cool, but aren’t as essential to the story as the magic and myth. The movie is an A, but on this particular list with these rules it’s a B+.

My favourite sci fi animated movies, ranked. #29 is Castle in the Sky. HEAR ME OUT! Part of the criteria is how good of a movie it is and part of it is how it uses sci fi. This is one of the great animated movies of all time - a movie I love more with each viewing, BUT…

I love that we have a friendly disagreement here. I think the 1st act is incredible, but the 2nd act is disastrous sludge. The 3rd act is good but the movie never fully recovers.

The Wind Rises is a masterpiece. Miyazaki has never made a bad movie. I think Scarlet looks fascinating. We will see. Boy and the Beast is Hosada’s worst movie, but it’s still a 6 / 10. I can’t defend the other 2 films you listed, but I think Shinkai has only made 2 great films.

That’s a really great point. This was the year after Shrek and the cynicism of that film influenced almost all American animation immediately (except Pixar which was in its peak).

…The main character is a little flat which makes the emotional centre feel unearned, but damn do I wish there were more movies like this. Fun fun fun. B+.

My favourite animated sci fi films, ranked. #30 is Treasure Planet. There is a reevaluation of this movie that is deserved. It’s a fun adventure movie with an interesting world with good humour…

Just make a sequel, and put it in theatres first.

YouTube video by Rare Americans Rare Americans - (S)KiDS [Full Official Film]

Every weekend I will post a rare animated film available on YouTube. This weeks movie is only available on YouTube, came out this year, and is criminally underseen. It’s the making the band rock opera drama (s)kids. Like a bootleg you should watch this and pass it along. youtu.be/wYFkYbd0T5I?...

This looks incredible. Hosada is really pushing it. There will be Mononoke comparisons. We should be so lucky.

It’s on Tubi. Also released this year was Neo Tokyo. It’s harder to find, but a poor quality version was on Internet Archive and YouTube last I checked. It’s also very good.

…the thin premise of robots. The quality control is quite high, but there are a few OK ones in here. It really varies in tone and genre. There are experimental non narratives and then followed by a romance or robot fight. If you want to see what anime was in 1987 this is a must watch. B+