vigo's Profile | Criticker

89 _88%

Feed the Kitty (1952) - Rated 24 Jul 2009

Feed the Kitty is director Chuck Jones experimenting with various forms of cuteness, resulting in a hilariously funny and heartwrenching cartoon. It's very tightly paced and filled with lots of clever gags, an amazing feat for its short running time of 7 minutes. Another fine example what animation is being capable of when done by real artists, exactly knowing what they are doing. If shorts like this would still be produced and shown before feature films, box office would increase even more.

92 _97%

Duck Amuck (1953) - Rated 24 Jul 2009

Duck Amuck is one of Jones' best works and generally one of the best cartoons ever made. It's a perfect example of melting art and entertainment, deconstruction of the artform while simultaneaously emphasizing its power. It's also a perfect example of Chuck's directing style, which is often based on the strong opposition between the characters walking around in his cartoons, and himself as the omnipotent creator holding all strings in his hands. A truly great example of his life work!

78 _36%

Les Douze travaux d'Astérix (1976) - Rated 09 Oct 2008

Les Douze Travaux d'Astérix is probably the best Asterix movie. It's quite unique due the fact that it's the only Asterix which is not a comic book adaptation,enabling the creators to explore animation by throwing in lots of sight gags and tongue-in-cheek references to 70's western culture, which results in a quite chaotic but nevertheless fun movie. Animation is good with lots of funny drawings, music is great. I loved this movie as a kid, and it is much funnier than all of its successors.

55 _13%

Kung Fu Panda (2008) - Rated 02 Oct 2008

Kung Fu Panda is a very formulaic movie, and mostly tries to gain cheap laughs by distorted faces, celebrity voices and lots of movie references for wannabe geeks. Some people may find that funny, but for me, those kinds of movies are the reason why animation as an art form is in constant struggle between shameless ingratiating commercialism and true, groundbreaking artism. Studios should realize that CGI isn't special anymore & should start using the art form to create something new.

84 _75%

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) - Rated 24 Sep 2008

First animated full length movie of all time, and especially considering its age, looking at the sheer talent and craft, the animation seems to have been done by superhumans. Movements are solid, rich, fluid and beautiful drawn artwork. That being said about it's importance as a visual piece of art, the story is typical Disney kitsch, and would have been totally lost if the animators wouldn't have spiced up the movie with lots of visual gags. Plus, the evil queen is a great dramatic character.

88 _80%

Princess Mononoke (1997) - Rated 24 Sep 2008

Mononoke Hime is one true masterpiece. Beautifully drawn, spiced with a rich and complex story about japanese mythologism and modern world issues like the destruction of nature through industrialization. Instead of being a stereotyped morale tale, our hero is the definition of being a neutral character, seeking for unbiased truth between the front lines. Again, there is no predetermined good/bad scheme, being really refreshing after being fed up with tiresome Disney morale tales. Truly amazing.

89 _88%

Spirited Away (2001) - Rated 24 Sep 2008

Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi is a truly wonderful movie, full of meaning and symbolism. It basically deals with growing up from a child to an adult person, while maintaining your true identity. Life itself and the people you meet come in many nuances, which is symbolized by the various different characters Chihiro meets during her journey, where each character is unique, and can not be divided into simple good/bad schemes, which makes the movie rich and authentic, unlike most modern animation.

15 _5%

Resident Evil (2002) - Rated 12 Sep 2008

Resident Evil is one rare occasion where I fully regretted having watched in a cinema. Talking about redeeming qualities of movies while rating Plan 9 from Outer Space, I instantly switched to this movie, because it has none. The perfomances range from irrelevant to utmost annoying, the action is so typical 21st century machine gun editing, and the story is forgettable. Cut the intros of the games together, and you will see a much more sophisticated movie than this abomination.

65 _19%

Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959) - Rated 12 Sep 2008

This movie is a very tough cookie. It's amateurishly made, full of even the most obvious mistakes, but it a lot of fun watching this movie. A lot of unintended humour stems from the fact that it desperately tries to take itself seriously, turning itself into a comedic farce. Plan 9 has been named the worst movie of all time, but I really can not agree with it, because it has a lot of entertaining qualities, despite its amateurishness. Truly bad movies are those which have no redeeming qualities.

80 _50%

Aliens (1986) - Rated 12 Sep 2008

Aliens, the sequel to Alien, sets up a totally different mood than its predecessor, and is one rare occasion where a sequel to a classic movie can stand on its own grounds. James Cameron made a much faster paced action movie, with great characters. The directing, cinematography and editing is excellent, so that the viewer is pulled in the story, recieving a rollercoster ride of action and horror. It reminds us, again, that mainstream cinema used to be quite skillful in entertaining audiences.

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