Lurker > PrinceKaro

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Mantis

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the lizard people from uranus

Metroid Dread

woofhttps://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/9/6/7/AAKk_SAAC6wn.jpg

I select Raven

you can find some alternate pics of the dogs here: https://ew.com/tv/puppy-bowl-xviii-photos/

also much easier to navigate

Yes

Mantis
Rocket

Bane_Of_Despair posted...

Oof, middle of the pack

I couldn't get the pup pages to load really with all the pups, it kept getting stuck on the first pup description. I'll try again later

adblock breaks the site for some reason, turn it off and the descriptions should work

Mantis
Rocket

Mantis
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good topic

Mantis
Rocket

I would slightly prefer 2010s horror

Final Outlier:

Ermine: 420
Evillord: 414
Red: 270
Karo: 268
Johnbobb: 267
Inviso: 244

Outlier was too close to call from just looking at the rankings themselves, but in the end Ermine takes it. Everyday, even.

1. Wolfwalkers

Karo: 1
Red: 1
Inviso: 2
Johnbobb: 3
Evillord: 12
Ermine: 15

Total: 34

Karo: When a young girl who has been raised with the notion that wolves are evil befriends a 'wolfwalker' forest child, they way she sees the world is forever changed. Most of the adults are the usual stupid narrow-minded moralistic lunatics that human beings cant seem to help being, and not even her dad will listen to her.
Things ramp up when she finds out that she is a wolfwalker herself and she faces rejection from her town and her hunter father. This leads to a clash between the wolfwalkers and a religious zealot noble, and culminates in the greatest miracle of all, Sean Bean surviving a story.
The central message of accepting and understanding what is different rather than reflexively grabbing torches and pitchforks to hunt down societys currently accepted bogeyman is something the world desperately needs right about now.
Cartoon Saloon's unique animation style really shines here, with whimsical and intricate backgrounds that make every frame a work of art. You see so little 2D animation in western movies these days and is it good to see someone still carrying the torch.
It is a hauntingly beautiful film with compelling characters, an exemplary moral, and an astounding amount of heart. It is not only Cartoon Saloon's best film, it is the best by far. Given the general high quality of the movies that this studio turns out that is no small praise.

Red: Humans decide to be a bunch of jerks and go out to exterminate some wolves in their home and end up becoming sort of wolves themselves. This was probably a good bet from anyone to finish near the top of my list, so it shouldn't be much of a surprise. The wolves are great, the animation style is kind of refreshing, and the main characters all mesh well with each other. The dumb humans sort of get what they deserve, the family dynamic resolves and comes to terms with one another, and we get end up with a kind of somber ending of everyone needing to find a new home. It was a very refreshing non-sequel on the list that I'd been looking forward to since seeing the previews, so I was very glad it delivered.

Inviso: So help me if you guys were willing to stuff Kells and Song of the Sea into the top five of the last list (or whichever list it was), and dont do the same with a Cartoon Saloon movie I actually liked. Now, is it possible that this appealed more to me as a furry? I mean, its about a girl becoming the Irish folklore equivalent of a werewolf and just chilling in the forest with her Irisih wolfwalker bestie, somaybe. But this just told its story extremely well. The whole movie has this atmosphere of oppression as EVERYONE is trapped in these roles and trapped within the walled city, at the will or an evil leader who felt like Frollo mixed with Radcliffe (with emphasis on Frollo, because this guy wasnt a shit character). I just really appreciated Robyns character, because Im always in favor of the feisty girls who try to change their lot in life (rather than stumbling into a change in their lot in life), and I just found her character arc fascinating over the course of the film. Watching her succumb to the fear that claimed her father, and trying to force protection onto Mehb, only to realize that she NEEDED to be free herself, was great. And everything culminated exactly as it needed to, in a satisfying happy ending. I really liked this film and Im glad Cartoon Saloon learned a thing or two about pacing from their earlier films.

Johnbobb: Wasn't even slightly expecting this to be as good as it was. Initially, I had Soul as my favorite animated movie of that year pretty easily, but to my surprise, it's been Wolfwalkers that has stuck with me since I saw it. The hand-drawn animation is beautiful, and it loses the annoying side characters that Disney and Dreamworks always squeeze in, instead keeping the focus squarely on the two main characters and their friendship and conflict.

Evillord: The plot here is kind of standard and simplistic, but it's elevated by wonderful animation and two lovable main characters. Robyns first night in wolf form is super memorable and captivating.

Ermine: A bit of a mixed bag here but overall pretty decent. A movie about wolves SHOULD be right up my alley, but uh... not exactly when it's just wolf-human things. As expected, I really disliked Mebh. She gets a bit better throughout the movie but god is she annoying throughout the first half. Thankfully Robyn is a really strong lead and carried the movie for me.

Art style was nice but sometimes it was a bit off on how sketchy it would be sometimes. Some scenes would be drawn fully and others would have a clear sketchiness to them. Not saying I disliked either style, but it was slightly off putting when it would jump from one to another.

I think I still prefer Kells over this though. Despite Wolfwalkers having more magic to it, I think Kells captured those magical moments better.

Another downside... sorta, is how predictable the movie was. So many times, in my head I'm like... oh this is when she's gonna find the mom... the mom is gonna get shot after a couple tender moments here... oh there it is...

Obviously movies are going to have a certain amount of predictability to them, but pretty much every plot beat and moment I had figured out beforehand and it takes away from the impact when you know what's going to happen and when.

Still decent movie overall.

OH! Also, I was really confused at why they just stayed in the town? If things were so awful... and they were, why would they stay? They could just... leave? Maybe it was explained, but I didn't really get it.

2. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Inviso: 1
Red: 3
Johnbobb: 4
Ermine: 4
Karo: 7
Evillord: 26

Total: 45

Inviso: I mean, this is no Rango; theres a reason Spiderverse managed to break the long streak of Disney/Pixar dominance in the Best Animated Film category at the Oscars. This is a great superhero movie. Yes, we get the new Spider-Mans origin, but it still feels fresh, because Miles Morales is not going through the same spider powers, Uncle Ben dies, great power/great responsibility we saw throughout the Macguire and Garfield Spider-Man movies. Miles works as a protagonist, too, because hes out of his depth in real life, which really sells how in over his head he is assuming the mantle of Spider-Man as well. Honestly, the choice to make Peter Parker a thing in Miles universe is great, because it helps to switch up the origin, since Miles isnt forced to handle everything from scratch. Speaking of which, the introduction of the multi-verse characters is great in that regard as well, particularly fat Peter Parker, who allows for a lot of solid comedy in a movie that still has a very serious subject matter. Overall, everything just comes together perfectly in this film, and I loved watching it for the second time for this list.

Red: If there were more people participating I'd pretty much have this checked out as the clear winner. Beloved Spider-Man movie, wide range of appeal, hugely popular and successful. And mostly for good reason. You've got a bunch of different Spider-heroes from hugely varied backgrounds showing up to mostly get home while preventing the world from exploding or whatever weird interdimensional mumbo jumbo might happen. Miles is a really likeable character and the animation really works to bring all these spider-variants to life. In a world full of live action super hero movies this really was a huge standout for animation. Unfortunately it probably isn't going to help with the trend of nearly everything animated being sequels.

Johnbobb: not even gonna bother pretending like everyone on this board and their collective moms haven't already seen this one multiple times and know exactly why it's so good

Ermine: I'll just go ahead and say that I think it's impossible to hate this movie, or even dislike it.

I will say that the art style and animation took a few minutes to get used to, and that I think the side characters added in later were a bit underutilized, but that's probably all negative that I have to say about it.

Spider-Ham was awesome and I really wish there was a bit more of him.

There really isn't much I have to say about this film, it's just damn good from start to finish. The "What's Up Danger" scene is phenomenal. Other than Spider-Ham though, there really isn't THAT much for me to really attach myself to and be like holy moly I love this.

Good good stuff tho.

Karo: This is the animated origin story of the character of Miles Morales, and the introduction to the spider multiverse.
Unlike most of the other animated superhero movies made, this one actually takes advantage of the medium of animation to great effect. It has a unique visual style, hell it has several of them as many of the multiversal travelers have their own looks designed to make them seem alien and out of place.
The characters really play well off each other, particularly Peter and Miles, the latter of which becomes a spider padawan to the most useless teacher ever. The villain is complex and more than just a generic evil goon who wants money and power, his goals are sympathetic and relatable, the problem is that said goals will probably open up a black hole below Manhattan. I would have liked some of the secondary characters to get a little more development and screentime, but that is a minor gripe.
The character of Miles is exemplary, it always feels like he is a real person with real fears and feelings. Although he has these amazing powers at his disposal, it never seems like things come too easily or too arbitrarily. Plus, it is nice to see a black lead in an animated movie that doesn't get transformed into a talking animal. Don't ask me why this always seems to be a thing it just is for some reason.
Even amongst the recent glut of superhero movies Spider-Verse stands out in a way most animated films from major studios struggle to. If only more could be that way.

Evillord: The animation in this is stylish and it's fun seeing the different Spider-Men team up, but the writing is only about average for a superhero movie following a typical superhero story arc, once you look past the ultimately superficial multiverse elements. I was kind of let down by this one considering how beloved it is on the internet.

Mantis
Rocket

Yes

She isn't part of the main story and her character sucks

Outlier Rankings:

Ermine: 404
Evillord: 379
Red: 269
Johnbobb: 263
Karo: 263
Inviso: 242

3. Isle of Dogs

Ermine: 1
Johnbobb: 2
Red: 2
Inviso: 11
Karo: 12
Evillord: 18

Total: 46

Ermine: I go back and forth between if I like this film more or less than Fantastic Mr. Fox but it's so hard to choose because they are both so damn good. I think Mr. Fox is overall a stronger film but good god the highs of this one blow Fox's out of the water.

Part of why I love this movie so much is that it's a serious movie about animals... and it's done in a more tasteful way. Sure you have things like Watership Down and Plague Dogs but like... animals movies have two sides of the spectrum it seems. Downright depressing and gorey shit... and then happy go lucky nonsense and there is honestly very little in between. Isle of Dogs fits a bit closer to the first option, but still has that humor and charm that makes me just so happy to watch it over and over.

Chief is an incredible character. Never before have we had such a deep animal character be the focus of a film and I love absolutely every moment with him. What a wonderfully written character. Best dog.

The film isn't without its faults though. I think the side plot with whatsherface trying to figure out everything is kind of... um... unneeded? It was... fine, but in a movie like this, fine isn't good enough, and it actively steals scenes away from the main plot that we all care more about. Due to the fact that we had this sub plot, we got less time with the other dogs and as such, they didn't really feel like fleshed out characters at all. If the whole movie was focused on the dogs and Atari, I really think it would have benefited from it. You have to change some things around with the plot of the film, but I absolutely think it was doable.

Thankfully, we get enough time with Chief that he still steals the show and overall the movie is just a damn good time with many laughs and fantastic movies that I'll never forget.

Johnbobb: There's so much to love about this film. The way Wes Anderson's direction bleeds into each shot in a way animated films rarely ever attempt. The incredible soundtrack. The dark (at times, almost painfully so) humor. It takes the simple premise of a boy searching for his lost dog and twists it in all sorts of complex and interesting ways, and I adore it.

Red: Isle of Dogs? That sounds awesome. Actually you quickly realize the whole concept was horribly depressing and needed to be fixed. This was actually a movie I meant to watch forever ago and somehow never got around to watching until this list was approaching. But most of the dogs are great, and while they are given human voices we are quickly informed with the intiial trash fight, which was pretty funny, that they are still very much dogs. Granted, they are mostly awesome dogs and they go on an adveture to thwart an evil politician and return dogs everywhere. They also cure themselves from a dog pandemic because timing.

Inviso: Despite the fact that this doesnt top my list the way Fantastic Mr. Fox did (Editors Note: Fantastic Mr. Fox actually got SECOND on my list for Western Animation 1), this was still an extremely commendable effort from Wes Anderson. The movie has subtle humor dispersed throughout, though its largely concentrated towards the beginning, and becomes more emotional and sentimental as the movie progresses. It would be so easy to tell a story of a boy who goes looking for his lost dog and finds a different dog along the way, but I think the choice to set the movie against a backdrop of political activism and unrest really gives it a unique twist. Its especially topical when you consider the filming began in 2016, right after the Brexit vote, and leading up to the Trump v. Clinton election. Ultimately though, its a heartfelt story about a boy and his dog, that gets subverted into that same boy with a very different (yet still similar) dog, and I feel like that middle chunk of the movie is very strong for the development of that relationship. The beginning is good comedy with an all-star voice cast, of course. And the ending is solid, with the evil vanquished by the metaphorical boy samurai through line of the film.

Karo: A weird Wes Anderson movie about a group of dogs who live on an abandoned trash filled island and speak in monotone voices. The film takes place in a bizarre and culturally insensitive version of Japan that seems like something that would exist in the mind of ignorant Trump supporters or in the world of South Park and it honestly makes me slightly uncomfortable.
Basically our canine heroes have to escape and try to stop the mayor of Japan from committing doggy genocide with the help of an American exchange student and her white savior storyline (also uncomfortable).
But the big failing lies in the characters, of the five main dogs only Chief has any personality whatsoever. They are also all male for some reason. There actually is a girl dog who appears in one scene and who had a ton of personality. She is in the movie all of five minutes. Yay for sexism.
I don't feel any real connection to the cast like I did in Fantastic Mr. Fox, and while the movie has the quirky charm typical of Anderson's stuff it doesn't feel as novel in style as his first animated film.
I love dogs, but Isle of Dogs left me wanting more on a number of levels. It is different from most animated films and that is admirable, but the heart that drove Mr. Fox is MIA here.

Evillord: I don't think Wes Anderson has ever made a bad movie, but his stuff tends to feel stylistically and thematically repetitive. Isle of Dogs was fun to watch and the dialog writing and direction were well-done, but I couldn't help but feel like it was snuggling too deeply into a firmly-established comfort zone.

Mantis
Rocket

Outlier Rankings:

Ermine: 402
Evillord: 364
Red: 268
Johnbobb: 262
Karo: 254
Inviso: 234

4. Soul

Inviso: 3
Karo: 6
Johnbobb: 8
Red: 8
Evillord: 9
Ermine: 12

Total: 46

Inviso: For a long time, Pixar has been makingfor better or worsemovies that are either sequels to their previously-established properties, or movies that have a tone more befitting modern Disney than the classic Pixar style that really put the company on the map. Soul really brings back some of that classic Pixar magic, with a unique concept thats more character-driven and mature in its subject matter than anything else. I loved the characters, and I loved how the movie both takes them seriously, and takes itself seriously in creating them. Joe is a likable guy, but hes down on his luck and feels unfulfilled in his life, and he winds up dying and becoming a soul and meeting 22, who is an unborn soul that feels unfulfilled in her purpose, and together, theres just a really nice story about both characters learning to help each other grow and change. Its not the most comedic film, but it doesnt have to be, and the happy ending feels earned for both characters. It was just really heartfelt and really well-written, and I think the only thing it couldve done better was maybe having ONE post-credits sequence to demonstrate the positive changes in Joes life.

Karo: An aspiring musician ends up in the land of the dead after an accident, where he meets the personification of people's consciousnesses and Jerry as my witness I swear this is actually a new movie.
Anyway, he ends up as a reluctant mentor to an ornery soul and he has to help her find her cutie mark so he can steal her earth pass and get back to his dead corpse. When this fails, he enlists the help of some dubious spiritualists, with the result being that the wayward soul ends up in Joe's body and Joe's soul ends up in the body of a cat. Hilarity ensues.
This situation turns out to be an awakening for the both of them, Soul 22 finally realizes the joy that comes from living, and Joe kinda realizes the same thing. That chasing after a dream is not necessarily the path to true happiness, sometimes just experiencing life is more than enough. A profound examination of the meaning of existence is not what I expect to find in a mainstream animated film, but here we go.
Soul is a film that seems to be an indication of Pixar heading in a more refined, mature direction, and I couldn't be more glad. Yes, it does seem to be made from the discarded scraps of other Pixar movies, but much like an artist who builds things out of random rubbish, Soul polishes them up to become something greater than just the sum of its parts.

Johnbobb: This movie was a 5/5 for me the first time I saw it. Joe's story is compelling and touching, the music is just absurdly good (seriously, this movie has one of the best scores of the last decade), the animation is beautiful, and the message at the heart of it made me tear up pretty easily. Still, it hasn't had the lasting impact on me I expected it to, and I expect that's partially the go-to Disneyisms that hold it back. Things like Tina Fey's intentionally irritating 22 (who has a powerful ending which doesn't quite make up for dealing with the character until then) and some lame visual gags.

Red: Dead end musician almost has a fulfilling life but cartoon falls in a pit and dies and in a dumb case of confusion has to redeem a hopeless not yet soul. They have to get body swapped, he has to spend some time as a cat, and they sort of find lifes purpose isn't really a purpose. The great beyond/before are horribly disorganized for something we are supposed to believe is an incredibly well oiled machine. The later adventures in the movie in those areas end up feeling more as padding for the rest of the film. 22 can be kind of annoying and Joe consistently kind of a big downer for no reason at times. It was nice to have a good original Pixar film, even if it maybe wasn't their best.

Evillord: Probably Pixar's most ambitious film in at least a decade, Soul deals with some really heavy stuff for a kids' movie - not just the inevitability of death but the fact that some people don't want to live in the first place. I loved the parts where they were in the afterlife, and all the music-related scenes are incredible, but it did lose me a little when Joe went back to Earth in the body of a cat. Depending on your feelings toward death and purpose, this movie might end up really resonating with you - it did for me.

Ermine: A pretty good film that's brought down by its terrible ending!

I guess I wouldn't say the ending is terrible... but it's just so by the books, playing it safe. I do not think Joe should have gotten another chance at life. Sure it would be a very bittersweet ending to do... but the fact he just gets a free pass and chance again just feels... wrong? I dunno, it left me feeling just off about the whole thing.

Despite what other people say, I actually enjoyed the part where he became a cat and the whole body swap thing. I think there were a bunch of heartfelt moments that came from it and some humorous scenes as well, sure.

That being said, I was far more into the real world stuff compared to everything else.

Outlier Rankings:

Ermine: 394
Evillord: 359
Red: 264
Johnbobb: 257
Karo: 252
Inviso: 233

5. Luca

Karo: 3
Evillord: 5
Red: 5
Johnbobb: 7
Inviso: 12
Ermine: 20

Total: 52

Karo: The story of a young sea monster boy who wants to be where all the people are and walk around on those... what are they called again? Oh yeah, feet.
So Luca meets a more adventurous boy who encourages him to break all the rules and they both head on a quest to the dark and dangerous surface world to find a vespa scooter. Yes, a vespa scooter.
They get caught up in the everyday goings on of human society, make new friends, and enter into a silly relay race. Its like there not really that much going on yet it is still very interesting somehow, kinda like Pixar makes a Ghibli movie or something.
It all leads up to what I call the 'sea monster coming out scene', where the whole village accepts the boys for who they are, and then discovers that there were actually other sea monsters already living among them who reveal themselves too. It is the kind of beautiful thing that sadly could only happen in a fantasy story because fuck real life people.
This bit of allegory is certainly the closest Disney has ever come to having gay themes in one of their movies, although they wuss out by not really elaborating on the feelings of Luca and Alberto for each other (to me they seem a bit more than really good friends).
It is a very charming story that takes Pixar in a new direction of style than what we usually see from them, and I for one like where we seem to be heading.

Evillord: Luca might not be a great movie, but I love it. Yes the plot is predictable and the villain kind of disconnected from the main story, with the theme of prejudice being underutilized, but that's because the sea-monster transformation isn't really about bigotry. It's about the experience of having your whole world expanded by meeting another person. Luca's first time coming ashore with Alberto, and Giulia introducing him to science, are both beautiful scenes that bring across that child-like sense of wonder really well. All the characters are so easy to empathize with and the watery summer atmosphere is engrossing. Out of every movie on this list, this is the one that makes me happiest to think about.

Red: I'm just going to start here by stressing how much I appreciate a non-sequel on this list because I'm up higher on my list here and the disclaimer is almost a necessity at this point. We got a couple of fish people in human form making friends with a non-fish person working together to win a race from a too old jerk trying to win for the billionth time in a race seemingly intended for children. The friendship works and everyone finding a sense of belonging in the end was an enjoyable watch. Also I have to mention both Disney and Pixar now have a movie with a significant emphasis placed on being quiet and the name Bruno.

Johnbobb: JUST LET YOUR FUCKIN CHARACTERS BE GAY, DISNEY. LIKE YOU'RE OBVIOUSLY WRITING AND ANIMATING QUEER CHARACTERS IN THIS AND SEVERAL OTHER MOVIES BUT YOU NEVER ADMIT IT GODDAMN. Very cute movie, very fun.

Inviso: If I was not informed that this was a Pixar movie, I absolutely wouldve guessed this was a Dreamworks movie. I dont even mean that in a bad way, but rather it just didnt feel like classic Pixar, but rather something more standard in terms of its story. Its a nice coming-of-age tale for Luca himself, who follows the Disney princess route of living a boring life and wanting more. His parents naturally want to protect him from the surface world (which has a bizarre hatred towards the sea monster community), but he cant help but be intrigued. Meeting Alberto starts him on his path to overcoming his fears, but its the exploration of life in the surface world that leads to Luca surpassing his underwater bestie. Jealousy abounds, but Luca cant stop his character development on account of Albertos insecurities. Sure, the ending is a bit cliche, but sometimes a happy ending is cliche because it works and its supposed to work that way. In the end, Luca ends up as a very sweet and solid film, if not the best Pixar has to offer.

Ermine: This movie was never going to do that well for me. The whole idea... a more grounded and simpler story, along with its characters just isn't my jam at all. That being said it looks nice!

Luca just ends up being an average, predictable, run of the mill movie for me in the end, and despite a couple funny scenes, there isn't much for me to sink my teeth into.

Mantis
Rocket

And these are your five movies remaining!

Isle of Dogs (2018)
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
Soul (2020)
Wolfwalkers (2020)
Luca (2021)

So, is anyone surprised at all by this top five? I feel it is pretty much what I expected to be on the top going in.

Outlier Rankings:

Ermine: 379
Evillord: 359
Red: 264
Johnbobb: 255
Karo: 250
Inviso: 226

6. How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World

Ermine: 3
Red: 4
Inviso: 5
Johnbobb: 6
Evillord: 16
Karo: 23

Total: 57

Ermine: A bit of a bittersweet ending to a fantastic series brought to you by Dreamworks. I think everyone knew that this ending was going to happen after the second movie but it was still sad to watch. All good things come to an end...

There's just something about this film and the second though... they don't quite capture the same magic that the first one did. The first film just felt so grounded... real and raw... and this film just felt a lot more like the second, rather than the first.

Not that that's a bad thing! There's a lot to like about HTTYD2 and this film as well, but it's not the stuff that gets me insanely excited. Toothless is still incredibly adorable, but the film is just missing that special something.

Red: One of two movies asking for sequels on this list, this has been one of my favorite franchises on all of these lists and while this is still a fairly high ranking I will note there is a pretty big quality drop at the top of this list compared to prior lists if my recollection is holding. This is pretty easily my least favorite of the 3, a weak villain and a plot that maybe doesn't stick the landing. We were left with a cool world of dragon co-existence and in the end we get a significantly less cool world that is mostly without dragons. It kind of gives a big kick in the teeth to the relationship everone has had with the dragons. Still a good series, I'm glad it got a conclusion without being butchered in movie form, and may they not butcher it in sequels like many of the movies on this list.

Inviso: I feel bad for this movie, because even though its likely going to finish high in my overall list, I cant help but compare it to the first two films, which are two of my all-time favorite animated films. Thats not to say Hidden World is bad by any stretch (nor is it even a vast lowering of quality a la Kung-Fu Panda 3 compared to its predecessors), but it just isnt quite up to the high level of quality on display in the earlier installments. With that out of the way, this is still a very solid ending to the trilogy. Throughout the series, Hiccup and Toothless have shared a character arc, first learning to trust each other, then learning to lead their people, and finally learning to grow up and part ways. Yes, the dragons vs. hunters storyline feels similar to that of HtTYD2, but at the same time, the bad guy almost feels more menacing this time around, if only because of how brazen he is, without necessarily being able to demonstrate sheer brute strength. And ultimately, its that evolution that sells the film, solidly concluding the story and separating dragons from humans in an amicable fashion. It just works for me.

Johnbobb: I know I ranked this movie very highly, but I still don't entirely know how to feel about it. How to Train Your Dragon is probably my favorite animated film franchise (though that's admittedly not a crazy high bar, as most of the best animated movies don't get franchises). Of the main trilogy, this is overall probably the worst one, but that's not to say it's anywhere near a bad movie. The villain is mostly forgettable, but let's be honest, the antagonists and main conflict of the films are rarely what makes these good. It's always been the heartfelt relationships between Hiccup, Toothless and their friends and family that make the series compelling, and there was probably not a stronger scene in the entire series than those last few minutes of Hiccup and Toothless meeting again years and years later, with different lives but the same deep bond. This is quite possibly my all-time favorite epilogue.

Evillord: I remember enjoying both the previous two movies in this trilogy, though it's been years since I saw them. I thought this was a nice way to end the story, and even got a little teary-eyed during the epilogue. The idea that the villain was sort of a mirror-image counterpart of Hiccup, who had killed his Night Fury, was also neat.

Karo: The third installment of Dreamworks' series about the dragon riding vikings. So what happens is that an evil army wants to conquer Berk, again. It is lead by a guy who has a way to control dragons, again.
Our heroes clash with the invading forces in some generic and extremely PG action scenes before deciding to randomly abandon their home with no real plan other than to chase after an old wives tale. Hiccup, I thought you were supposed to be like smart or something. Indeed, in this film Hiccup is portrayed as such an imbecile that that I fear for the future of Berk if he is to lead them for much longer.
After both the heroes and the villains enact many stupid and incomprehensible plans, and Toothless gets himself a nice piece of tail in more ways than one, it is decided that because everyone is so ignorant and bigoted that humans and dragons should just both stay with their own kinds to avoid any conflict. Wow, that's an awesome moral guys, good job.
So the dragons retreat to their hidden dragon paradise that somehow hasn't flooded yet despite having the entire fucking ocean flowing into it. The humans return to New Berk City and wistfully remember the days gone by when they lived with dragons but now don't anymore because they just gave up. How touching.
It isnt a terrible film or anything, but honestly I am sick of the franchise, and have been ever since the second movie. They really should have just fused the second and third movies together, they both have similar plots, similar villains, and a similar tone. Or an even more novel idea, just stopping at one.

Outlier Rankings:

Ermine: 376
Evillord: 349
Red: 262
Johnbobb: 255
Karo: 233
Inviso: 225

7. The Mitchells vs The Machines

Karo: 2
Inviso: 6
Johnbobb: 9
Red: 11
Evillord: 21
Ermine: 23

Total: 72

Karo: A dysfunctional family on a roadtrip is the only thing standing in the way of the robot apocalypse, and they embark on an epic journey to save the world via software backdoors, internet memes, and esoteric screwdrivers.
Much of the combative interactions are between the father, who is a kind of midwestern Hank Hill, and his unconventional zoomer daughter, who is less than enthused that her dumbass dad decided to drive her all the way to college.
There are some good 'boomers vs technology' jokes, and some great antics featuring a pair of malfunctioning robots that assist the family on their quest.
The tone is lovably wacky, but not so wacky that the characters don't feel like real people. It has this feel of being 'different' similarly to Lego Movie and Spiderverse, and that is definitely a good thing.
It is just a phenomenal movie that has a lot of heart and quirkiness, and I hope to see more stuff from the people behind it soon.

Inviso: I dont know if its because I had this film undersold to me, but I really liked it. When it comes to the comedic films on this list, a lot of them have low-hanging fruit, and you COULD call Mitchells something similar. But for whatever reason, I feel like Mitchells benefits from being more of a unique idea. It doesnt feel like this movie was just cashing in on trends (though it follows a lot of them), but rather, it weaves the trends and modern lifestyles into the story in a way that feels fun and organic. Plus, you know me; Im a huge sucker for emotional, family stories. Especially father/child stories. That relationship was really sweet, and it had me tearing up at times (especially the reveal about what happened with the dads cabin). But beyond the sentimental stuff, I just loved how fast and joke-a-minute the style of the films comedy was. It largely hit its mark in my opinion, and I laughed a ton during the film, so Im not ashamed to say this was a really solid comedy to finish out my watchthrough.

Johnbobb: This is fuckin hilarious and I wanted to watch it again immediately after finishing it. AND WHAT'S THAT? A MAIN CHARACTER THAT'S ALLOWED TO BE ACKNOWLEDGED AS GAY WITHOUT THAT BEING THEIR ENTIRE POINT?

Red: Borderline abusive father and disfunctional family come together to stop machine apocalypse started by a dumb tech CEO. I'm sure I say this like 20 times on this list but every movie that isn't a sequel on this list was oddly refreshing and this one was actually surprisingly entertaining. I enjoy the family dynamic that is held for most of the movie, it oddly enjoyably wholesome. Some of the more running gags with people and their attachment to technology(Free wifi!) are hilariously true.

Evillord: Sometimes there's a thin line between funny and cringe, and this movie spends its entire run-time skating gracefully along it.

Ermine: I can appreciate the art style and animation that this movie went for and it actually does have a few moments that are enjoyable... but I just really don't care about most of the characters in this film and a loooooot of the jokes are misses for me. It doesn't help that the plot and villain are actual complete garbage. Like... within the first 3 seconds of seeing the "villain" I'm like... oh this is the main villain and this is what the entire plot will be.

I suppose you can argue that the villain and plot aren't what the movie's about? Fine? I guess? I mean... is it really that hard to come up with a competent story to support the character development and relationships? I really don't think it is, like... they didn't even try.

Also Pugs are like one of the worst dog breeds so I didn't even have a cute dog character!!

Mantis
Rocket

Outlier Rankings:

Ermine: 360
Evillord: 335
Red: 258
Johnbobb: 253
Inviso: 224
Karo: 226

8. My Life as a Zucchini

Johnbobb: 5
Evillord: 6
Red: 7
Inviso: 8
Karo: 14
Ermine: 34

Total: 74

Johnbobb: This is one of the saddest animated movies I've seen, and I've openly sobbed at a handful already. Super short but in a way that nothing feels rushed or overly stretched out. Bizarrely dark from the first moment, despite its distinct color palette. All the characters are heavy and surprisingly well-developed given the short run time.

Evillord: This is basically just an hour of orphans talking about how sad they are in French, which is exactly the type of thing I like. I thought the writing was really good. It was easy to sympathize with all the kids and the relationships they built and hard-won happiness they achieved felt really meaningful.

Red: It is a real shame there doesn't seem to be a great translation of this out there. From what I could tell there are two subtitle versions out there, one with an atrocious translation and one with a pretty bad translation. Luckily regardless of which you pick the general idea of the dialogue is conveyed very well. The movie tells the story of a bunch of broken kids who come to terms with their life and find a great sense of joy and belonging with each other. It is surprisingly pleasant and a great joy to see all the characters come along and escape their awful situations. We are presented with why every character is the way they are and the growth and connections they make really work. With the weird translations, this was really the surprise of the list for me.

Inviso: This has gotta be one of the best foreign films weve watched for one of these lists, at least in my opinion. It was interesting, it had an eclectic cast of characters, and it had heart and soul to it. Yes, the charactersbeing childrenacted immaturely at times, but that just made them all the more endearing when they had those moments where youre reminded that theyre not all just obnoxious brats. I liked the fact that they came from a variety of broken homes, and the foster home they lived in was actually nice and caring, rather than some horrible place that bonded the kids together out of necessity. The slow growth of Courgette over the course of the film was nice, even if the introduction of Camille felt a bit standard for these kinds of stories. I appreciated Camille though. She had her rough edges, but she had her struggles too. Even Simon winds up having that backstory to explain why he is the way he is, and you feel for him in spite of his attitude. Its a really touching and well-made film, in my opinion.

Karo: So this is a story about these kids in an orphanage and centered around a blue haired boy named Courgette (zucchini) who arrives there after he accidentally kills his abusive mother by throwing her down a flight of stairs.
We are then treated to some of the most realistic portrayals of children in cinema as the orphans grow closer and form bonds of friendship in a manner that is both endearing and satisfying. Even the background characters are vibrant and I was sad we didn't learn a little more about them.
It is a fairly simple movie, there is not much plot other than the daily lives and feelings of all these broken little kids. That may not seem like much, but the film doesn't really need any more than that.

Ermine: Just not my thing. Like... at all. I hate the art style, I dislike kid characters... I appreciate that it's only about an hour long and does what it set out to do. The plot and I suppose the characters too... it's all fine. It's a sweet story with a happy ending. And now I don't care anymore.

Whoa, it's Brohan.

I couldn't tell at first because the post had proper grammar and capitalization. :O

Yes

Outlier Rankings:

Ermine: 334
Evillord: 333
Red: 257
Johnbobb: 250
Inviso: 224
Karo: 220

9. Klaus

Karo: 9
Inviso: 9
Red: 12
Johnbobb: 18
Ermine: 18
Evillord: 20

Total: 86

Karo: The spoiled heir to a postal empire gets sent to a frozen backwater town with the ultimatum of forming a working post office or face disinheritance, and hilarity ensues.
He befriends a hulking and very familiar looking old toymaker, and concocts a plan to bribe children with toys so they will send more letters and he can meet his quota. Yes folks, this is the origin story of Santa Claus.
This setup has unforeseen social consequences, as the violent murderous inbred bigots of Smeerensberg are taught the meaning of kindness and friendship, one child at a time. Even the whiny selfish postman is slowly transformed into a decent person and decides to stay in Smeerensberg and raise a family.
The one thing I don't like is the animation, it is a frankenstein monster of a style that takes the least appealing aspects of CGI and hand drawn animation and fuses them together into something that just feels... wrong.
Nonetheless, it is a sweet and funny movie that just seemingly came out of nowhere and tells a heartwarming story that can stand with the best of Pixar.

Inviso: This was another sweet movie, and even if it was critically panned, I found it enjoyable. I like nice, sweet, emotional movies, and I think this movie accomplished that tone quite nicely. We have a ton of Christmas movies out there in the world that are either about the celebration of the modern holiday, or a general celebration of the season, or some weird story about Santas life when hes not being Santa Claus. Aside from maybe the Rankin/Bass Santa story, we dont get a whole lot of retellings about the origins of the Christmas traditions. As such, it was interesting to me to watch Jesper slowly coax Klaus into engaging in all of the gift-giving, and coal-giving, and letter-writing shenanigans that have become commonplace when it comes to the holiday. Now sure, the plot if formulaic, but it still works. Its a good kind of formulaic.

It also helps that the whole film gave off a very Emperors New Groove vibe in that formulaic plotting, and Emperors New Groove is one of my top two favorite Disney movies. Its high praise, is what Im saying. Overall, it just left me feeling happy and full of happy tears on multiple occasions, like when the little native girl learned to speak English enough so that she could write a letter and get a present, or when Klaus got to watch the joy he brought, that he could never have with his own family. It was well-written and touching, and I think its a good addition to the Christmas movie pantheon.

Red: Spoiled son of a postmaster realizes the key to a hopelessly grim town is to bribe all their children with toys. It just kind of works in a strange way and watching the town go from hopeless to hopeful along with our main characters find their way in life is kind of a joy to watch. The story kinds of falls flat in the whole Klaus aspected of it but our main characters and the town itself made this surprisingly enjoyable. When I saw another Christmas movie on the list I was honestly bracing for the worst.

Johnbobb: The last animated list we did convinced me that animated Christmas films other than The Polar Express could actually be decent. Klaus convinced me they could actually be objectively good movies!

Ermine: A serviceable movie that's brought down by its absolutely terrible villains and contrived climax. There is absolutely no reason that their stupid plan should have worked and only did so because the writers forced the characters to act in a way they shouldn't have.

I mean... it didn't work in the end because they were stopped, but it never should have even gotten past the first stage.

Main character gave huge Kuzco from Emperor's New Groove vibes... but with much less of the charm. The main characters were... fine and the story was fine... it just kind of missed the mark with everything else.

Evillord: The story arc this follows is far from the most creative, but it is actually fun to watch and the way the animation was done, which sort of attempts to make 2D drawings look like 3D models, is really cool and impressive.

Mantis
Rocket

Outlier Rankings:

Ermine: 323
Evillord: 322
Red: 254
Johnbobb: 241
Inviso: 224
Karo: 220

10. The Peanuts Movie

Ermine: 7
Inviso: 10
Johnbobb: 14
Red: 14
Evillord: 17
Karo: 26

Total: 88

Ermine: Fantastic art style and animation that is carried by Snoopy the Dog. I LOVE that the movie has a ton of him in it and his antics are always a joy to watch. Just a very pleasant and fun movie. Good stuff!

Inviso: I actually wanted to see this when it came out, but making time to go to the movies can be difficult, so this was actually the first time Id seen the film. If I could use one word to describe this, it would be wholesome. Thats not a dig at the movie, either. There are wholesome films that are dull as dishwater because theyre morality tales. But this was just nice and pleasant and sweet from beginning to end. Sure, there is a long history to the Peanuts franchise, but it all worked well here. This wasnt a kids movie that felt the need to engage in fart humor or gross-out humor to appeal to the addled minds of children. No, you just have a nice person in the protagonist role, who doesnt see himself as all that special, and even though a lot of things go wrong, they go wrong as a result of him choosing to be nice instead of selfish. And at the end of the day, hes rewarded with the respect he thought hed been lacking throughout the film. Its a good moral, and the plot is just really comforting to watch.

Johnbobb: This movie is cute as hell. This is one of the select few examples of a modern take on an old franchise that actually manages to both capture what was great about the original while still making it feel fresh and new. For a similar experience, see the 2011 Winnie the Pooh. For the opposite experience see... man, where to start. The Grinch, on this very list, but also The Addams Family, The Smurfs, every live-action Disney remake, and on and on. It's stuff like that that makes The Peanuts Movie feel like such a rare gem. It's not perfect of course; the Meghan Trainor song that plays twice reeks of the annoying trend of trying to use a movie to popularize an unrelated, generic, upbeat pop song (see "Happy" in Despicable Me 2 and "Can't Stop the Feeling!" in Trolls), and the new character, named only as "The Little Red-Haired Girl" is very clearly nothing but a plot device, but its flaws are small and don't hurt the overall experience.

Red: This is, well a Peanuts movie. It has exactly what you would expect, characters in situations you would expect, Charlie Brown being unfortunate and clumsy, Snoopy on his own made up adventure. It doesn't exactly take risks, it just kind of is exactly what you would expect. It doesn't make for a bad movie and its not a sequel, so thats a plus. It is definitely a safe movie, but it is enjoyable for what it is.

Evillord: I love the Peanuts TV specials, which made me predisposed to like this, but then on the other hand meant I would inevitably spend the whole film agonizing over minute deviations from the old version. At points it felt like too much of an empty fanservice film, running down a checklist of classic gags from Schulz' comics or repeating storylines from the specials, even if seeing the kids re-enact their dance moves from the sixties or watching Charlie Brown try to get through War and Peace again did make me smile. At other points, I thought it didn't take after the specials enough. I wish the whole soundtrack was made of Vince Guaraldi's old jazz recordings, and while the 3D models imitating the movements of the original 2D cells with some hand-drawn accompanying animation made for a cool and unique style, it also made me wonder why they didn't just make this entirely in 2D. This doesn't quite capture the wistfulness, that longing for a certain undefinable something that's missing from your life, that made A Charlie Brown Christmas resonate with me so deeply, but it was still a good time.

Karo: Charles Schultzs famous comic strip about a bunch of children who are the offspring of trombones made into movie form. For like the fifth time. But now it is 3D!
So the primary plot centers on how Charlie Brown tries everything imaginable to get the attention of the little red haired girl, except for, y'know, just fucking going up to her and saying hi. Whatever that can go wrong goes wrong and Charlie then gets emo and mopey. Repeat this as often as needed to get yourself a feature length film.
There is a side story of Snoopy imagining he is fighting the Red Baron over the affections of a cute girl dog and that is not really that great either.
As the film goes on, we get a chance to check off every little gag from the comics and it often feels more like an absurdly extended peanuts special than a real movie.
The classic style is adapted into CG in a way that looks much better than you would think, and its subtle tone is a welcome relief amidst the loud and frantic wasteland of childrens' animated entertainment. But it feels like there is not really a lot going on to justify an hour and a half of content.
Despite it being the best movie adaptation of these characters, the Peanuts gang just doesnt mesh well with the long form storytelling of cinema and they didnt quite kick the football here this time.

1. ???
2. ???
3. ???
4. The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part
5. Missing Link
6. ???
7. ???
8. Raya and The Last Dragon
9. ???
10. Onward
11. Over the Moon
12. ???
13. Loving Vincent
14. ???
15. Ralph Breaks the Internet
16. Anomalisa
17. The Red Turtle
18. Spies in Disguise
19. Trolls World Tour
20. Toy Story 4
21. The Grinch
22. The Incredibles 2
23. ???
24. Croods: A New Age
25. I Lost My Body
26. ???
27. Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation
28. The Polar Express
29. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
30. A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon
31. Despicable Me 3
32. The Illusionist
33. The Boy and the World
34. Frozen II
35. The Secret Life of Pets 2
36. Ferdinand
37. Abominable
38. Fritz the Cat
39. It's Such a Beautiful Day
40. Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius

This means these are our 10 films remaining!

The Peanuts Movie (2015)
My Life as a Zucchini (2016)
Isle of Dogs (2018)
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019)
Klaus (2019)
Soul (2020)
Wolfwalkers (2020)
Luca (2021)
The Mitchells vs The Machines (2021)

Outlier Rankings:

Ermine: 322
Evillord: 315
Red: 250
Johnbobb: 237
Inviso: 224
Karo: 204

11. Toy Story 4

Inviso: 4
Johnbobb: 10
Evillord: 15
Ermine: 16
Karo: 20
Red: 33

Total: 98

Inviso: While I dont think this movie really needed to exist (the Toy Story trilogy was fine on its own), Im actually willing to cut more slack to TS4, because TS2 doesnt really feel like it advanced the overarching plot in a meaningful enough way to warrant a spot within the original trilogy. Anyway, I think Toy Story 4 is a solid capper to Woodys time at the main character of the franchise, and it was nice to finally have things go full-circle with him, starting out the series as jealous of losing his position as favored toyto finally accepting that hes not favored anymore, and therefore needs to let go. Getting Bo back was a positive choice, since she was a generic love interest in the first two films, and though Forky brings up some weird questions about sentience among inanimate objects, hes a funny enough comic relief character.

Where Toy Story 4 really succeeds is its villain. Gabby Gabby is introduced as lording over the antique shop alongside her ventriloquist dummy army, and she feels like a retread of Lotso, with all the associated bitterness that comes with him. However, it quickly becomes clear that, while she has antagonistic goals, shes not a bad toy. She was built with a defect and has never gotten to experience the love and joy associated with being a childs plaything, so naturally thats what she wants more than anything in the world. This isnt like Stinky Pete, or Lotso, where theyre just bitter and want everyone else to suffer because they have; her motives are selfish, but more about benefitting herself, rather than harming others. And unlike those other two, her downfall isnt some humiliation, but rather having her dreams crushed. In that moment, shes not the villain anymore, and shes able to find redemption in one of the only scenes on this list thus far to make me cry. Gabby Gabby really sells this movie for me, and Im happy to rank it this high.

Johnbobb: ah yes, the life of living with your immortal porcelain girlfriend in the secret civilization under the playground. We've all had that dream, Woody.

Evillord: After Toy Story 3 seemed to wrap the series up so completely, I was worried there would be nothing left for 4 to be about. That concept kind of ended up being what it was about, which I thought was a smart way to approach it and made for a surprisingly good movie.

Ermine: A movie that didn't need to happen.

I was really let down by the fact that the movie really didn't have much of the other toys at all... IE. Slinky Dog because he's the best toy.

That being said it was still enjoyable enough and I actually found myself enjoying Gabby Gabby as a character. Best addition to the film and is honestly what's carrying it this far in my ranking. The new comic relief are whatever... we already had good characters in the toys from the previous films... we didn't need these weird plushes.

Oh! I almost forgot. Forky sucks.

Karo: Hey, remember how Toy Story 3 had this really perfect ending to the series? Naw, we're just kidding, GIVE US MOAR MONEY OM NOM NOM
So what happens is Bonnie makes a homemade toy called Forky out of a spork and some popsicle sticks. When Forky has an existential crisis and runs off, the other toys have to go on the usual arbitrary journey to find him.
Said journey gives the series exactly what it was missing, more useless background characters. It also miraculously takes them to the exact store in the exact hick town that Bo Peep somehow ended up in after being sold. Bo's personality has been completely changed with little explanation given but it is a vast improvement, though honestly I'd rather have seen her role given to someone new instead of trying to redeem the most sexist character in the modern history of the Walt Disney company. I mean we even need a flashback at the start to remind people that Bo Peep actually exists and that Woody apparently still has feelings for her despite basically not giving a shit in Toy Story 3.
Speaking of Woody, he is also a character who acts different in this movie. In every other film Woody is an egomanical moralistic prick who has a very narrow view of what it is to be a toy and tries to force it upon everyone around him but now its like 'remember all that shit I always gave you about how our own wants dont matter and we just exist to be Andy's slaves? Well that doesnt apply to me, I'm outta here to live my dreams, bitches!'. Great Woody, now you are an egomanical moralistic HYPOCRTICAL prick.
That all aside, this is actually a pretty competent sequel from a production standpoint, much like the third film it is free from the incompetent directorial stylings of John McGropey Lasseter and has a great semi-villain in the tragically twisted Gabby.
I think one thing I miss a lot is how the characters used to meet actual toys from the real world, it gave a sense of realism. We have a bunch of parodies here like not-GI Joe and not-Polly Pocket but that is not really the same.
While the ending might not be as good as TS3, it IS an ending, and Disney, please leave it at that before you Shrek the franchise to death.

Red: What do you mean the Toy Story franchise had a completely satisfying conclusion with little in the way of loose ends? We can't make money from that. What about Bo Peep, some dumb idiots on the internet keep bringing up that we forgot about her? Start writing.
There's no reason for this movie to exist, all that we went through from the previous movies about how the characters are better together is thrown out the window. Oh and you wanted all your Toy Story favorites to have an adventure together? Nah we're going to split them up. This movie basically becomes the flagship movie of this list and the demand of studios to spit out marketable sequels and I hate it. We get a generic not really a villain villain that plagues this list and we end with the writers attempting to stick the series in a hole which it can't crawl back from the depths of hell out of. But don't fear because all this has done is forced Pixar to make a weird meta-spin off to milk the franchise for more later this year.