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Aw I was hoping for a quick review of the long halloween two parter since you are one of the few people who talk about these dc animated movies still a great list
if it means anything to you, these are the 6 oscar-submitted movies that cellspex ranked highest in this video. you can call these the true oscar nominees in your heart: Belle Encanto Flee Luca The Mitchells vs. the Machines The Summit of the Gods
"I disliked pretty much every character" yeah that sounds about right for diary of a wimpy kid. It's pretty infamous for it's protagonist being a total jackass. I'm still really impressed with how the live action movies striked such balance between him being a egotistical and dickish while still being likable enough to root for. I still think the movie should have been 2D, that would have definitely been more fitting for the books art style.
I'm just happy that they didn't do another Long Haul. Just hiring voice actors makes a lot more sense, you don't have to worry about them not looking like the characters when the characters all look like weird scribble people
I feel like they manage to pull it off because Greg being an asshole rarely benefits him, and when it does, it often results in things going incredibly wrong down the line. The live action movies, excluding Long Haul, pushed this fact and the times when Greg is happy and successful is after he has admitted to his asshole actions and makes up for them.
The movies really benefited from actually having Greg grow as a person. At the end of the first one he becomes a better friend, in the second he grows to really love his brother, and the third is all about him learning to connect with his dad. All three really show how Greg is able to grow into a likable person, while still retaining the dumb moments of youth.
Ikr? I decided to try and watch it bc I’m a fan of the books, and holy shit I was not expecting what I thought peps put looked like from a front view on a human
Greg would be hard to adapt to make likeable, like it needs to be clear hes tbe worst but also the performance needs to still make us like watching him, such things can be done but they take an effort of writing and performance disney isn't really willing to do
I’m truly happy that you’re talking about all these non-American animated releases like this. I’m an animation student and even I tend to pigeonhole myself into only watching Western cartoons. I’ll def have to give some of these smaller titles a try!!!
Why do Lord and Miller get all the credit for Mitchells vs the Machines? It was directed and co-written by Mike Rianda, one of the bigger creative voices behind Gravity Falls season 1. Please give the guy some credit.
tfw the same video downplaying their producer credit on a crappier movie just a few minutes earlier suddenly overstates it when the movie itself is better Leaves a bad taste
I didn’t know the first two people existed, I actually watched Mitchell’s vs the Machines bc I heard that someone who helped out on gravity falls since I loved it and still do
Encanto was honestly my favorite animated movie of the year, I kept expecting Encanto to follow the formula with a quest or journey and as the movie progressed I was pleasantly surprised that the plot did it differently. Then I expected a fight at the end. It was actually refreshing to see the story told without being so formulaic. We can have these different types of stories and it’s still thoroughly enjoyable.
I honestly didn't like it that much. You have shared your opinion now I will share mine. It was unique but honestly there are so many questions that could have been easily answered. Like if Dolores really heard Bruno every night why didn't she tell anyone. There are lots of songs that I feel could have been cut to develop the characters more. But thats what I think.
@@MrMule-eg5fg Dolores didn’t tell anyone because of her grandma and the family who thinks of Bruno as this paragon of Bad Luck, seriously there is an entire song dedicated about how they shouldn’t talk about Bruno basically treating him as a Bad Omen
35:29 Fun Fact: My sister was watching this movie and I walked by when this scene was on. I saw the boots, the hat, the coat, the sunglasses, and the giant propaganda banners and I was like "Fascist ponies!?"
I really wanted to like Belle more than I did. The visuals and music are absolutely phenomenal, but the plot felt so disjointed to me and I had trouble finding cohesion from scene to scene. A very okay movie for me, but I am glad there are people who were able to get more out of it than I was.
From what I understand of a Mamoru Hosoda films, is that he’s a phenomenal director with great ideas, but when it comes to writing and flow, that’s not his strong suit. Most of his acclaimed films (Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Summer Wars, and Wolf Children) were either written (screenplay) by someone else or he had help through co-writing. His weaker/less acclaimed films (like Boy and the Beast, Mirai, and even Belle) were all 100% written by him. I say he should stick to directing, and have a talented screenplay writer put his ideas to paper. That way we get a well made film with awesome writing/storytelling.
I totally agree what you say from watching Belle to much that I lost count the plot is a mess I think the first act is phenomenal and when ever I’ll re watch the first act I know is going to be the best part, I wouldn’t mine the second act as long as the third act wasn’t so messy, I feel like by the end it was rushed that it felt like it needed another 30 mins maybe an hour but probably with deadlines they couldn’t do it so it became this jointed mess. But like what you said the visual and music are absolutely breathtaking, every time I watch it the visual and songs are so mesmerizing that I forget about the story. But in the end it a messy plot that has a good message but this is my first time watching a film by Manoru Honda and to be honest i can’t wait for his next project he has.
Don’t worry you aren’t alone I felt like the story was all over the place and incomplete also the characters werent fleshed out which I get but it’s been done before now I’m being nit picky but some of the designs or character design were odd but it’s fine it isn’t my favorite but it’s ok especially because I love the main character, environments, and it’s hella funny too recomend watching Mirai on Netflix it’s so amazing and deserves love also a work from Momaro Hosoda
Yeah, i loved most of it but i feel it probably would work better as an OVA series or something, giving it more time. Sorta like how Boy and the Beast was also great but floundered at the end
As a fan of Diary Of The Wimpy Kid, and along with friend, we found the movie underwhelming, but really good at adapting the things we liked from the source material and having its mean nature, while bringing a more heartwarming message to the table.
As a basic adaptation of the first book, it's perfectly fine, if entirely forgettable. It's way too short, they definitely should have picked a book that wasn't already a movie and I would have liked to see some of the parts they cut, but the voice acting is great and it really nails the spirit of the writing. And I personally loved the animation. Letting Kinney himself do the CGI designs was brilliant.
I think the animation is what kinda doomed the movie, the story fits something more relaxed akin to live-action. But the style of animation is for exaggerated movements, it works fine in the books since it needs to portay everything in a single image. Should have mixed 3d and 2d
man, yeah it really is sad that Earwig and the Witch turned out the way it did, I really didn't like that protagonist when she herself says she only ever does nice things to get what she wants, and she "always gets what she wants" so even when she seems to be "nice" it never feels genuine because you know she's only doing it to get something...and then she ended up getting the thing and I don't feel happy for her. I will say the texturing in the overall environment isn't terrible but because there's no texture beyond "plastic" for the people with their skin and hair they look like dolls, you can kind of tell they were definitely not used to this medium
I'm happy someone finally pointed out how both MLP: ANG and Raya's conflicts were very simular. And I agree that A New Generation did a better job at getting to know about the different tribes and the characters (at least the main ones) before even starting the follow up show.
To be fair MLP had an entire decade to tell what the different races were but the movie alone already does a good job differentiating it The ending only was ehhh could have been saved for the show instead of the abrupt thing we got but ANG is still a miracle despite everyone fearing A Hasbro-Capitalist-CP mess
@@UlmDoesAnything Honestly I don't see the long-term appeal of a new generation as a lifelong mlp fan. I feel like it's much less genuine than the previous generations, especially because Hasbro is running low on monetary benefits of their franchises due to their conflicts with Mattel. The movie may have looked nice, but the story seemed way too rushed and the characters are all obviously merch grabbers (design wise) which is unfortunate. It's really obvious too that all the characters were designed separately by different people because they clash. I feel bad for the kids who are following the new gen because the quality is going to worsen.
If you're gonna do animated Wimpy Kid, you HAVE to go with the journal style 100% all the way through. You could put it into color, but DoaWK works way better in 2D.
I thought it would’ve looked great in the style of the original teaser where it had a Peanuts Movie-esque look. They kinda took the easy way out with how they did it in the final movie.
With the Wish Dragon and Aladdin comparison, may I also remind you all that even though the story was in 1001 Arabian Nights, the story is actually set in China. So, while Disney's Aladdin's setting was more based on where the 1001 Arabian Night's Story originated, Wish Dragon is accurate with its setting of the story within the story, if that makes sense.
1:13 I read that Dragon Rider book. I didn't know it got a movie. But holy shit that dragon looks terrible. I didnt even recognize it or the cat girl. To add insult to injury, the original book had its own illustrations that they could've used for designs. Yet Netflix chose to completely ignore those for whatever the hell they went with.
the animation and textures look alright tho, but thats coming from a total noob at cgi. (Jummped on the bandwagon this year, I havent made anything yet, but still trying to learn it.)
My twelve-year-old self is SCREAMING at the fact that they turned Sorrel into stereotypical furry bait. And also, what the actual heck is going on with Ben? He looks like a discount version of Hiccup. And Firedrake? Don't even get me started. Holy crap that dragon design sucks. I swear it is just Hollywood's goal to turn as many books I loved as a kid into terrible movies as possible.
I have not watched the movie, but the trailers didn't do the book justice and what I've heard about the content is... Downright assassining the source material. Cornelia Funke barely has luck with the adaptations of her work, but it was never as bad as this one.
Earwig certainly had its issues but I was pleasantly surprised after hearing the negativity. It reminded me of some books I red in middle school. And I like the Ghibli protagonist actually had more of a unique character this time around. She was meant to have unlikable qualities but you tolerate them for her circumstances and because she has smarts. But pigs eat different levels what they find insufferable.
I hated earwig passionately. even after hearing all the negative reception it was _still_ worse than I expected. I genuinely can't think of a single positive aspect of this movie.
Diana Wynne Jone's character's are famously flawed and generally unlikeable at first and often at the end too. She always, even in her books for younger people, made characters feel like actual people, and the pov character normally feels like, at least in my opinion, like how you view yourself, with all the gross and bad parts of yourself that no one else sees brought to light. This works really really well in prose or as a radio play, and perhaps someday a live action short tv show, however with Ghibli's animation it would be very hard to pull off. This is why Sophie and Howl are so different in the movie. In the books Sophie is a horse with blinkers on; she focuses on one thing, on one aspect of a person, on one task ect and cannot see the forest for the trees. This would be really hard to pull off in a movie where we can literally see what's going on around her, not just what she herself sees. Oof way off topic sorry. I just love talking about DWJ books and wish there was a good adaptation of her work. Alas it will happen the same year the Earthsea series has a good adaptation. :|
Here's an ordered list of movies mentioned in the video, with timestamps. Would love it if you could pin this or put it in the description for everyone else to use. 1:25 Earwig and the Witch 3:14 The Addams Family 2 3:53 Animated Diary of a Wimpy Kid 4:43 (Honorary) Tom and Jerry. 5:13 Extinct 5:43 Xico's Journey 5:52 Back to the Outback (Which she accidentally calls "Out of the Outback") 6:28 Riverdance 8:03 America the Motion Picture 9:16 Sing 2 10:40 Spine of the Night 11:43 Rumble 13:13 Seal Team 14:04 My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission 15:05 New Gods: Nezha Reborn 16:34 Green Snake 17:36 I am what I am 18:28 The Loud House Movie 19:46 Arlo the Alligator Boy 20:33 Boss Baby: Family Business 22:13 Ron's Gone Wrong ((Romance anime movie section)) 24:56 Love me, Love me not 25:51 Words Bottle up like Soda Pop 26:32 The Stranger on the Shore 27:19 Josee, the Tiger, and the Fish 27:58 Violet Evergarden ((Romance anime movie section ends)) 29:01 Demon Slayer: Mugen Train (Also, go watch Hilda) 30:32 Bombay Rose 31:23 Vivo 33:05 Raya and the Last Dragon || My Little Pony: A New Generation 35:55 Jiang Ziya 38:12 Wish Dragon 40:10 Flee 40:52 The Summit of the Gods 41:44 Luca 43:22 Nahuel and the Magic Book 43:29 Calamity 44:01 The Legend of Hei 44:42 Belle 47:48 Evangelion 3.0+1.0: Thrice Upon a Time 50:23 Encanto 50:50 The Mitchells Vs the Machines
See this, is why I both love and dread your top-of-the-year lists. On the one hand, the videos are great to watch and listen to and your views on each of these films is always interesting. But on the other they always drop a whole bunch of "to watch" films onto my list that I've never, and I mean NEVER been able to catch up on 😅
My only issue with Encanto was how they handled Bruno’s story. While Mirabel got her apology from Abuela and was able to get her family to see her worth, Bruno got an apology from NO ONE. Sure, Abuela hugged him and sure his sisters hugged him, but that to me just felt like one giant rug sweep of all the crap they put him through. His family and the village made him a freaking pariah because of a gift he had no say over. He gave up 10 years of his life to protect his niece and when all is said and done in ‘All of You’, he sings how HE’S the one whose got apologies he needed to say? No, just NO.
Well, Bruno was the one who left, and there was no guarantee that he would’ve known about the way that the town had treated him after he left. But yeah, he definitely deserved an apology.
Last year has not only been great for animated movies, but also shows. If I had to choose, I think my favorite would be season 2 of The Owl House and Arcane.
Arcane has genuinely made my standards for upcoming media so much higher than it should be lol. They nailed every thing they did with it and I'm so excited for more.
In all due respect, I think you misunderstood the point the MLP movie was making, the plot wasn't solved by macguffin, the crystals didn't solve anything by the merit of them being present together, but by the pony tribets finally uniting, otherwise, they were useless. I just think there was more nuance to the scenario that wasn't quite done justice by this review.
I completely agree with this, however still dislike the movie because of how unexplained the story is. The whole series about twilight and her friends was focused on how she learned about friendship and united all species, dragons, hypogriffs, jacks... and became an allicorn because of her princessworthy deeds that took her so long to accomplish. In the new movie, all of this is just... gone? The whole series and all of twilight's actions led to nothing, and while twilight had to sacrifice, learn hard spells and battle huge villains, the protagonist of the new movie just has to unite the species and say "make up" and that's it?? It just feels so empty and dumb to me but that's my opinion
@@Abandonedaccount129 The movie had to have a happy ending. Season 3 ended with Twilight flying into camera and declaring everything would be fine. The very next season immediately undermined/retconned all that. If the upcoming show addresses what you mentioned we'll just write off the ending to this too.
@@Abandonedaccount129 It's almost like the power of friendship is the more worthy macguffin every single time. "The x were the friends we made along the way!" Listen I know it's a meme but I write it every single time and it works. It doesn't just work for MLP... It would have worked for Raya.
Hey CellSpex, would you ever consider in these list videos putting a typed list of movies discussed in the pinned comments or description? As someone with not-great hearing, it helps a lot to be able to read the titles so I can look up the movies you were talking about.
As someone with ordinary hearing a constant title on the top or bottom of the clip being talked about would be amazing! I had to pause and rewind this video like seven different times when something caught my eye and I wanted to look it up. Quality of life upgrades.
I watched the dub of Belle 2021, and LOVED THE MOVIE! The English VA sounds just like the Japanese VA and I hope she has a long fulfilling career in animation cause she nailed Suzu.
I just loved Mitchells so much because I idenitified with each family member in some way. I related to Katie the most because I was going to college last year and had to move away from home and also Monchi was the best animal character of the year
Amazingly a lot of people’s reaction to the announcement of the Diary of a Wimpy kid movie was “wasn’t what we asked for but we’ll take it” and now it’s closer to a “send it back and don’t disrespect us like that again.”
It's because the very first short teaser with Greg trying to push a giant snowball had pretty good and stylized animation that was 3D but it looked 2D, kinda like the Peanuts Movie, but the actual movie has incredibly mediocre animation and the characters look off-putting as a result because their designs do NOT translate well at all into this kind of 3D. What happened? Why did the teaser look so good? Did they run out of budget? Then again, they cut out a LOT of things from the movie so I guess that yeah, they probably ran out of budget and as a result we got a chopped-up, half-baked mess that looks like it was made in a few days.
Sorry but as someone who comes from a not so great home life, the ending of Belle pissed me off with its message of "standing up" to abusive guardians. Amazing how the movie tries to say that reporting abused children doesn't mean it's all sunshine and rainbows afterwards but a teenager "confronting" a physically abusive parent will get him to back off. No offense but the lack of people listening to abuse victims how they feel about the movie while praising it for awareness or whatever leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
I thought that the abuse aspect of the movie was a last minute thing, and I was really confused by how Suzu just stood there and that immediately caused a reaction. I did wish that more of the Beast was focused on. And even though I do like the songs, I think they carry on way too long.
no fr tho the way the dad just scurried away after suzu stood there all "🥺🥺" was probably not even close to what would happen. it was a great movie otherwise but it should not be praised for that.
Yes!! It romanticized ending abuse just for the plot and honestly?? The plot was so unorganized and chaotic that it made it even more unlikeable! they needed to pick one direction and stick with it to avoid this terrible portrayal. The movie was beautiful and it could have been much better. I will never rewatch it and I'm surprised I even got myself to finish it in the first place
Kaworu is such an indecisive character for me to “like” in a general sense. He seemed to want to reach out to Shinji and possibly question his fate, but on the other hand, you have to wonder whether his unconditional love is just manipulation. We don’t know how much he knows about Shinji beforehand, so it’s extremely difficult to tell what’s stronger: His allegiance to his routes and the HIP, his own motives, a simple instinct to return to Adam, or just simply destiny. It makes you want better things for Shinji, but I can never wrap my head around Kaworu, especially since he only had one episode. I think that’s why I like him.
For whatever reason, I always get really excited when I recognise a song that I like in one of these videos, so it’s nice to hear Marilyn Manson’s ‘sweet dreams are made of this,’ a song which is always overshadowed by its music video
I liked Belle a lot but was admittedly disappointed on who the beast was, I expected it to be her popular childhood friend thus tying in the real life drama with the digital. Who it really was felt kind of tacked on and the resolution of his character was extremely vague. I liked the characters and visuals, loved the music, but the story kind of fell flat because it really should've been a romance or solely about her dealing with her grief and insecurities.
While i kinda like that they didnt go the obvious route with the Beast, her love interest really could have used something like that to flesh him out. He's just...boring.
No-just… no. We need people to stop with the “oh we don’t have 2 people want to make out, or no one will watch the movie. Oh and they have to be straight.” It’s just bullshit. Weird, homophonic, we need Waifu or shipping material, bullshit.
Totally agree! Sometimes the predicable can actually be more well-written than the unpredictable. The boy who was the Beast should've been the same character as the love interest IMO. Would've made more sense and would have gave him a lot more character than being a bland love interest. I agree that I loved the music in Belle, though. So catchy.
@@Furrito_272 Well Beauty and the Beast has always been known as a romance, so it's expected to be romantic. If they weren't going to make it a romance they really should've just cut out the beast entirely. Also there really is nothing inherently wrong with straight romance either, so I don't see your point at all. I'm curious what did you expect when you saw the trailer?
About Earwig's book, I read that it wasn't finished before Dianne Wynn Jones died and then it was published and...that explains a lot. I agree with everything you said, especially about the Mandrake. He was the best part.
The fact Cell closes this list praising the rise of 2D-like aesthetics in 3D animation, and then literally the day this is uploaded we get word of a freaking "Puss in Boots" sequel getting this treatment as well. But yeah, always love tuning into your annual list.
I really appreciate the diversity of animation you cover! You gave me so many new things to look into watching! I'm so glad you liked Belle and Evangelion! I think Belle is just stunning all around, the music, the story, the twists, the setting, everything. Evangelion is a series I only watched about 3 years ago now, I was impressed by it's completely unhinged endings, but it was so incredible nihilistic and drab I could not enjoy the story the way it was...before these movies. That final movie really surprised me, and gave an artistically insane conclusion that actually managed to be positive, while still not shying away from it's usual darkness. Really great year for media!! Great video. 😊
Yeah evangelion is a show that I really expected to enjoy because I’ve heard so many good things about it but I just could not get invested in any of the characters or the plot because of how unexplained and sacrificing a cohesive story for the sake of symbolism most of it is. I’m glad you like the rebuild movies though, maybe I’ll give them a shot in the near future.
My two favorites of the year, (Encanto and Mitchells) Both felt like they had one thing holding them back. I wasn’t the biggest fan of Mitchell’s villain and Encanto’s ending felt a little rushed. Overall I’d say Encanto is better but both are great and definitely deserve to win an Oscar.
I agree about Encanto. I did love the music and the characters were great but it just felt like the plot needed more time or something. Idk im not good at analyzing films
Love encanto, and I agree! Abeula felt like she changed waaayyyy too quickly. I’m hoping there will be so,E kind of series or sequel as there’s a lot of room for expansion in the family!
I just watched it before continuing this video, honestly, i'm not disappointed. It's pretty much the movie equivolent of the music they used. A happy little pop diddy. And the larger story beats go exactly as expected and that's ok, because a little bit of predictability is good in a happy little pop diddy. The visuals were fun and I had a few hearty laughs at the jokes. Just a good time overall.
Wow... I can't believe that MLP: ANG and Raya had eerily similar story-beats and themes once you strip away the aesthetics; makes me wonder if the current global political landscape is inspiring writers to address topics like ultra-nationalism and fear-mongering. This is why you stand out from so many other analysis channels Celly, kudos. The one thing I'll add to your final take is that the MLP movie felt like the better movie because very few people went into it expecting more than a feel-good ending where the magic was inside everyone all along, but Raya had so much more potential to be profound with its budget, world-building and Disney reputation so it left a bad taste in people's mouths. After all, audience expectation can be just as important as the literal movie.
Raya could have been a 9/10 if they gave us a bittersweet ending where Sisu stayed dead and all the party members sacrificed themselves and gave their trust to Naamari to save the world just like all of Sisu's friends sacrificed themselves and gave their trust to Sisu to save the world eons ago. Instead they give us a forced deus-ex-machina ending where everyone lives and Sisu gets revived for no reason. It really feels like Disney intentionally censored the ending because the original ending was "too dark for the kids." The bad ending of Raya actually inspired me to make an RPG based on Raya which has two endings. The normal ending is my planned bittersweet ending, and the second ending is the "golden ending" aka the ending shown in the movie which requires you collecting all 25 lucky emblems which are gained by completing achievemenhs.
Raya's writing was horrible, and so was it's message which is potentially dangerous to anyone naive enough to believe it. MLP also did the whole uniting is better for everyone thing far better. Even giving the Earth Ponies a logical safety net. Raya, on the other hand, had known assassins and con artists suddenly become friends with everybody as if their entire thing isn't screwing over people dumb enough to let them get close, which they literally did, through out the movie.
9:50 You just completely missed the entire point of Porsha's character development. It's pretty much implied that Porsha's father is neglectful and only gives her what she wants to get rid of her. Yes, Porsha whined that she wanted to star in the musical. BUT when she got fired, she realised that her father cares more about his own reputation than he cares about her, because he literally yells at her for being a failure and embarrassing him while she's already sobbing in her bed (because she assumes that she got fired because everyone hates her), then she apologises to Buster for being a brat and graciously accepts the role he recasts her as, and mocks her father mid song as a retaliation to his abuse.
I thought Luca was amazing. Easily the best film of 2021 for me. It’s a film about growing up and discovering the world. Every time Luca daydreams, it’s about something new that he learned about the world. He imagines flying an old fashioned airplane through space, vespas as wild animals, and swimming in space with anchovies to touch the moon. When he imagines flying through the sky and seeing the world on a Vespa, he only sees islands with tiny houses because that’s all he’s seen of the world. He is creative and smart. He fixes the phonograph and realizes that they can make a Vespa with stuff from the island. If you think this movie isn’t grand, think about it from Luca’s perspective. Imagine if you’ve only lived with your family and herded fish and never seen anything. We know what Italy looks like. We know what pasta is. Since Pixar has existed, it has shown us new fantastic worlds. Porto Rosso is the new fantastic world that is unimaginable to Luca. They could have easily created emotional moments like a talk between Alberto and Julia’s father, but instead they show us. We see Julia’s father go searching for Alberto which is something his own father would have never done. We see moments like Alberto telling Luca that his parents would never come looking for him. He was alone for so long. I liked the fact that Julia’s stomach got upset from eating the pasta so she wasn’t that fast. I love the villain cause he is probably my age and still competing against children just for himself and money. Parts of it did feel like a Ghibli film, the dream sequences reminded me of The Wind Rises. Alberto had lots of abandonment issues. I want everyone to realize that before he met Luca, he was alone on the island for who knows how long. He had to grow up quick. He doesn’t have a desire to go to school. I like how they went down different paths. Alberto will be happy in a community and not be alone anymore which is what he wanted. Luca gets to learn about the world. The beginning of the movie didn’t really show us what Luca’s life was like because it was boring and small compared to the outside world. There were moments when I laughed because of how it was like The Little Mermaid. The townspeople were accepting so quickly because two old women, who probably were part of the community their whole lives, showed that they were sea monsters too. Not all of the townspeople did. Some of them were intimidated by Julia’s dad and gave up trying to kill them. Then they also saw two parents coming to hug their child and say how worried they were. It was just a family. The ending of the movie was perfect. Alberto never really wanted a Vespa. He wanted to go on adventures with Luca. Luca realizes he can’t leave Alberto alone so he gives up school. Alberto gives up the Vespa so that Luca can go to school and see the world. Alberto has a father figure, not a parent because he knows how to survive on his own and is pretty grown up. Luca assumes that Alberto is coming with him to school. Alberto was with him every step of the way as he was discovering the world. Now he has to do it on his own. The last shot of Luca looking out into the ocean and the island and all he has ever known soaked in the rain in his true form shows that he is ready to discover the world by himself as himself. The credits of the movie really showed us what everyone’s lives were like after the end of the movie. This was a Pixar masterpiece. I can’t accept any different answer. I think this is one of the best films in the past few years. I think it is better than Soul and Onward. Maybe not Coco. I just know I’m going to rewatch it a million times. I can’t see myself watching Soul or Onward again.
I am an absolute sucker for a found-family trope, and Luca is basically an exploration of it. I can understand someone who isn’t a found-family fan not liking it, but I just love it.
Here is my perspective of the new animation style of the 2020's as I am living through the cartoons like 90's kids did. Beauty colorful and looks super fun to animate, I usually go nah I don't wanna be a animator because I didn't like the basic disney or anime animation style because they are much more of amazing you then entertaining you which was what I really didn't want but now I can love the idea of animating because of this new amazing style I might even force myself to make a couple animations :D
For me the dragon and Belle relationship reminded me of Tohru and Yuki relationship, while at first it seemed that Yuki loved Tohru romantically over time he grew to love her like a mother. In the lend me your voice scene Belle almost kisses the dragon but when she sees him flinch she chooses to hug him instead, and once she learns of his true identity she chooses to just hug him and his brother n order to protect them from their abusive father. This to me at least seems like a older sister helping her younger brother and showing him that it's okay or it could be about how Suzu is a sort of mother figure to the dragon by begin there and letting him open up because he had nobody to open too except his brother.
Even Mice Belong in Heaven (yes, that's a real film - can't blame ya if ya never heard of it since there's bugger all reviews for it here on YT) is one of the best animated films of 2021 Please review it
I really like Encanto! it’s just a lot of the fans don’t really get what the point or message of the film is. Most of the fans just focus on the songs and making theories here and there. Encanto is about trauma starting early in the family and being passed down in a bad way. That’s the most basic way I could put it. Besides me getting kinda mad at those types of the fans, I really think Encanto is a great film!! :)
Encanto is definitely my personal movie of the year. Yeah, it had some lower points but the heartfelt story and lack of a huge adventure but a closer look at the character dynamics just got me. The whole breaking of generational trauma is just very important to me as a narrative in a mainstream movie
This is the first time I'm hearing of the Dragon Rider movie and let me tell you, that book was my childhood and the disappointment upon seeing those few-second clips was CRUSHING. What did they DO to my boy Firedrake??
Funny you mention Next Gen with the comparisons to it with Ron's Gone Wrong, when Next Gen (which I honestly REALLY like still, Mai is still a VERY unique protagonist in an animated movie) is a bit more darker and isn't afraid to be a bit more insane.
Man, it's so refreshing to see animation channels include non-western animations on these lists. So many channels focus only on western - heck, not even western, but strictly north american animations, I feel like they forget other countries also produce wonderful films
this year too i got reconfirmed that around 90% of china's media that isn't live action is extremely stylistically a pretty box, extremely pretty even if with a bland after taste but super empthy and samey
I have to say this for the last Evangelion movie. I absolutely loved seeing rei interact with people outside if a nerv/lab setting. Seeing her actually really get to experience a normal every day life and stating what she wants for herself was so enjoyable after all this time being strung along like a puppet.
Yeah one of the things I especially loved about the movie: it gives Rei an arc where her humanization doesn’t revolve around her relationships with Shinji or other male characters like Gendo
5:49 as a Mexican I can say two things Is the plot original ? HAH! No, its enjoyable but not original, But the animation studio Ánima Estudios, is part of my childhood since quite a few movies I love are from them, including a Saga about Mexican legends They also work on the “Here comes the Grump” 2018 3d animated movie And the Top Cat movies from 2011 and 2015 (2018 in the US) movies
I lost my aunt to Covid a week before Christmas last year. Me and my sister both watched Belle (Eng dub) together in January, and the story and sound track really hit us hard to say the least. The absolute emotion in the music was almost too much to bare. But I found myself listening to “Swarms of Song” over and over and OVER for weeks to follow, and ended up sobbing almost every time. It’s kinda silly, I think I was trying to force myself to accept what had happened, cause my heart did not want to. Belle really is a great movie, and a movie I wouldn’t think would hold a bittersweet place in my heart. I hope it releases on a streaming service soon. Edit: Belle is available on TH-cam to buy now! That makes me happy
So I really want to talk about what Belle means for me personally. In Romania, where I live, anime is not really a thing even though there are so many Romanian anime fans. We had some anime that got dubbed before 2010s like Naruto and Pokémon, but then a program that followed a children TV channel after 9 pm (I think) release and we had a lot os subbed anime. But, due to complains from parents, the program gut shutdown and that failure was enough to convince any TV program to never host anime and the anime shows that already were in Romania have never gotten the newer seasons. We still have got some anime, but it's not that interesting (that Bakugan reboot is the only thing we have now). So I was so glad that after so many years we've got to se an anime on cinema theaters in 2022. That one is Belle. And it was a perfect experience for me.
I'm glad you were able to get a show you enjoyed! Sometimes I wish we all spoke one language. If you don't mind me asking, how do you watch anime (using subtitles) now?
@@Frostgiantbutsmall unfortunately, if the anime isn't on Netflix with the version I want to watch (dub or sub), I had to get it through piracy, or watch it on Stremio.
This is really confusing to me as a romanian. Animax, the program that mainly focused on anime and other cartoons with an older demographic lasted a long ass time and it was taken down to the parent company that owned Minimax and Animax not being able to financially sustain it anymore. It wasn't an exclusive Romanian channel. This combined with channels actually dedicated to featuring these shows becoming readily available in countries like Romania meant the channel got shut down. An since then Anime has been really popular over here and always getting some sort of marketing. Most libraries in the country have manga and there's marketing for it everywhere.
@@elsienova4269 for what I can recall, Animax initially started to air at 9 pm (don't remember the exact time), but some parents complained that some kids were still up during that time. So tge channel decided to push the time of airing, this time starting at 10 pm. But still some kids were still up and they had to push it even further. Those delays severely affected Animax's viewership due to a lot of its audience shrinking. This was a disaster and the channel is probably too afraid to try that again. So are most of the channels. But now, with Belle and the One Piece movie, we can hope for a better future for Anime in Romania.
@@knightatyourservice7512 this still feels very wrong. Animax not only was on for a looot of years but the first shows that aired after the 9pm time were chosen especially to be more kid friendly stuff like pokemon and that weird show with the polar bear. And again, pretty much everything and anything anime is available in Romania now.
Ah, it's that time of the year again. I somehow always end up surprised when you release one of these, even though it ought to be very predictable. Very enjoyable, as always, even though it consistently makes me feel a bit uncultured for how few of the good ones I've ended up seeing. Keep up the good work!
I have to admit that the end song of sing 2 made me tear up. It’s a man coming to terms with the truama he faced and learning how he can’t just sit in depression the rest of his life. He has to learn to live for his wife
I'm seriously torn between Encanto and Arcane. I find myself seeking out Encanto clips all the time. But I have a need to rewatch all of Arcane every so often.
44:29 Ha! Honestly that whole CalArt style argument is really so reductive and patronizing that it honestly just resembles a school yard insult. It’s not bad to want variety but don’t put people down for not conforming to your definition of “variety”.
"CalArts Style" was coined by a sex pest (John K) to refer to the mid-2000s thick line art style in things like Dexter's Lab or Butch Hartman shows. It boggles the mind that people still use it, to talk about "bean mouth" or whatever lol.
@@annelooney1090 while the stuff on K. is right, he was actually criticizing the animation of films in the Disney renaissance and films like it (El Dorado and Iron Giant for example.) Still either way, people that unironically use a quote from a pedo should have their opinions discarded immediately.
As a recent but now diehard Eva fan (got into it in like 2017). The rebuilds will never surpass the original anime and end of Eva. But the final movie felt very definitive. And it also felt like it was coming from a new perspective. A much more hopeful perspective. And as an Eva fan I do appreciate that as well.
I genuinely really love lin Manuel Miranda as an actor song writer and rapper, I genuinely hope people don’t start to hate on him just because hes in a lot of movies, I see it as he’s being recognized for his talents because he’s basically locked in with Disney now so we will probably be seeing a lot from him in the future
I watched Belle twice in one weekend. I found the conclusion of mystery 'Who Is The Beast' new and unexpected yet very heartwarming and powerful. The music was awesome (I listen to it on repeat a lot and it still hits me hard, despite a language barrier) and all the relationships felt like they had a kind and good conclusion. But I tend to value the animation and character dynamics over the plot. Belle might have been my favorite, though Mitchells, Encanto, Luca, and Wish Dragon are somewhere right behind it
My son loves Seal Team. And my wife loves that Seal plays a seal named Seal Seal who sings his own songs. According to Accented Cinema, Nezhu Reborn is pretty significant folk lore (myth? I can't remember) for Chinese culture - maybe cultural heritage really affects how one sees that film.
Ah so wonderful to see your ranking and thoughts on the animated of last year. Personally I did enjoy the My Hero Academia film along with Stranger By The Shore as some of my personal favorites. Also Wish Dragon was very good and so underrated!
I have a feeling that now that this movie has come out, we're going to find out just how many people's "thing" "Well endowed bipedal deer" IS. God help us all but at least they're having fun.
Honestly as a person who never watched mlp and expected the movie to be meh I watched it for lols but was pleasantly surprised, it definitely exceeded my expectations. Not the best movie I’ve seen that year, but also not that bad. I also like that they made the boy pony a part of the main cast and not a side character which movies of the same genre usually never do
52:02 That is also the case for some videogames! Guilty Gear Xrd, a popular fighting game, used a lot of techniques to create animation that looks alot like 2D while using 3D models and it looks great! Dragon Ball Fighterz also used that style.
Great list! I did NOT notice the similarities between Raya and MLP. I would understand more people comparing Raya with Avatar, as most people have probably seen Avatar over MLP. I will disagree with your take in Sing 2, though. I will admit that I had low expectations when I saw the trailer. In true Illumination fashion, they played virtually all of the 3rd act in it. I still decided to see it and I'm glad I did. Thus far, it is my favorite movie of 2022 (I saw it in January). It was hilarious throughout and I really felt for the characters. Johnny in particular stood out to me because I've been there. Some people can be thrown in the deep end and learn just fine. Some can't. He is clearly the latter and so am I. My heart broke for Rosita when she lost her role and I cringed along with Meena whenever Darius was on-screen. I saw more of an arch for these characters from the first and second movies. Rosita has a much more supportive family, Ash is no longer looking for the approval if a toxic boyfriend (or men, in general), Meena has conquered her stage fright, and Johnny has been accepted my his dad. Mike is also absent, which made me so happy. :-) Porsha was very unlikeable, but I didn't expect much from a spoiled brat that gets everything she wants (except love and attention from her father). Ms. Crowley will always be a queen and no one can convince me otherwise. :-D For me, the songs, the characters, and even the final act were huge improvements over the first movie. Seeing the movie in theaters, I felt the huge scale of the space performance. I definitely wasn't expecting to like this movie very much, but it far exceeded my expectations.
Yeah, now that I look back on it the 2020s have been REALLY good for animation! Only amendment I would have made would be to add the feature length Centaurworld finale 1 rank below the Demon Slayer one. It may not have been marketed as a film but with some tweaking it really could have been! With the exception of 1 fakeout death the whole finale was a tragic, intense, dark, but still triumphant and fun conclusion to one of Netflix's underrated gems.
Honestly felt that Arlo whole have been better if they trimmed the cast and added some more stakes, but everything involving him and the giantess was blessed
I wholeheartedly believe that you're seriously an underrated film reviewer on this platform (Despite the sub count) You really do your best work when you're trying your best to be as objective to these films as possible, so it feels more sincere when your opinions on certain movies are completely subjective I admire your objectivity and your professionalism
theres so much missed potential with my hero acadamia, i think that the interactions between class 1A carry the show and i would love to see a side show focused primarily on them and their interactions, giving us more background information and focus on this strong cast
My personal ranking: 1. Luca 2. Mitchells vs. the Machines 3. Encanto 4. Belle 5. Wish Dragon (so glad I’m not the only one!) 6. Summit of the Gods 7. Cryptozoo 8. Flee 9. Vivo 10. Bombay Rose 11. Raya and the Last Dragon
Huh... Holy hell, the mention of Dragon Rider unlocked some kind of ancient memory that I did indeed read that book way back in the day. Don't remember much of the details, but I do remember how they defeated the big bad by spitting on him and setting it on fire.
I remember a lot from that book actually. The big bad was an alchemical dragon creation called Goldenrod and they killed him using rain. There was also a lot of anti-human racism and in the lore all the dragons are dead and turned to stone because they didn't get enough moonlight because they were hiding in a cave from goldenrod. Also there's furries who fly planes but they're more like bundles of fur like Kuriboh from Yugioh in the books than catgirls though I like the new designs better.
Please never stop making these yearly rankings! I enjoy animation but unless it’s a Disney movie or sometimes Netflix I never really hear about them for some reason. I love finding new movies to watch and your list always gives me so many new ones to get into (and some to avoid lol). My favorite animated movie was 100% mitchells vs the machines (which I have to give you and Cinemawins credit for introducing it to me). It came into my life at a very interesting time as I watched for the first time/fell in love with it a couple months before my father passed away. My dad and I had a very similar relationship vibe as the movie aka we don’t really understand each other but love each other all the same and watching the movie before and after he passed away hit differently but was still perfect. I know this movie will be in my top animated movies maybe forever.
I wish I understood why all the animated versions of the Adams Family seem so intent on making Gomez look like some kind of awful goblin monster. Like... do they even understand who he was portrayed by in the old TV show? The man was not only handsome, but adorable in his energeticness too. But no, he has to be an ugly golem for some reason. Hot wife, ugly guy; those are the shitty animated sitcom rules and apparently we must live by them. Fuck this movie(s).
I think the animators were trying to be more faithful to the original New Yorker designs by Charles Addams, the creator of the Addams family. You should check the drawings out. They’re pretty entertaining.
So I just watched I Am What I Am and I'm genuinely sad that the Chinese government managed to create enough controversy to bury it. It wasn't the eyes, it was the plot. It shows how modern Chinese society absolutely beats the life out of you. Parents working dangerous jobs that don't allow them to see their families for years on end. Hazardous lifestyles where a boy has never worn a seatbelt. A TEENAGER with hopes and dreams forced to leave home and do dangerous, demeaning, and horribly paying jobs in the place of his parents. It showed contemporary China's reality in painful detail, of COURSE they'd try to bury this film and get people to boycott. And they succeeded. Such a pain... Such a shame... What's worse is nobody is talking about it, at all. It was really effective, I guess
I cant believe Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time’s creator actually reacted to the fan base and made a completely alternate ending. The creator knows that fan bases can be toxic so he gave them a little taste of their own medicine which i find hilarious.
This video severely underplays Luca which is deeply unfortunate. Also Mitchells doesn’t deserve to be as high as Encanto, the 3rd act betrayal as well as the resolution being more on Katie accepting and forgiving her dad sucks hard. I’m so grateful Encanto makes it clear that the responsibility is on the parents to earn forgiveness and evolve past generational traumas and biases - and I think Turning Red does it even better than both so WATCH TURNING RED FOLKS.
I love that you mentioned Belle! It shot right to the top of my list of fave movies of all time, and the songs have been playing in my head on repeat ever since I watched it. It was also the first movie in like a decade that made me tear up, which says a lot more about me than the movies I've been watching tbh.
I like End of Evangelion but I loved the final Rebuild movie to death. Honestly the way I kind of approach the Evangelion endings is none of them are truly bad, all of them have their moments (even the original TV one) but it’s kind of like a video game with Good, Bad, and Neutral endings. Or at least that’s how I approach it/explain it to newcomers. Plus that and seeing it around the same time around Everything, Everywhere, All At Once was beneficial to my mental health that was more than just a way to vent like EOE was.
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MUSIC USED
Shit Show - CXG
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Babysitters Club Theme
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Settle for me - CXG
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Simpsons Adequate
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Motorcycle Song
th-cam.com/video/QkA7iPOg570/w-d-xo.html (motot
CentaurWorld Theme
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Teenage Robot Theme
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Ugly Beautful
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Sweet Dreams Cover
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Animaniacs Monkey Song
Why cant we be friends - War
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Army of Tigers - Jonathan Young
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Friend like Me Cover Jonathan Young (I owe him so many royalties)
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Misty Mountains
Part of Your World Peter Hollins
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Beauty Beast Medley
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Into the West Cover
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Simply the Best Noah Reid from Schitt’s Creek
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😂 YUUUUS yo the crazy x girlfriend music
So what was the nezha anime called
Nice variety
Aw I was hoping for a quick review of the long halloween two parter since you are one of the few people who talk about these dc animated movies still a great list
I love the use of CXG songs, the show is amazing
This list unironically means more to me than the Oscars at this point
Certainly less biased.
Because she actually watches the movies?
if it means anything to you, these are the 6 oscar-submitted movies that cellspex ranked highest in this video. you can call these the true oscar nominees in your heart:
Belle
Encanto
Flee
Luca
The Mitchells vs. the Machines
The Summit of the Gods
Simp😐
I agree.
“A Whisker’s Tale”
Ah yes, the two stages of hating a film: actually hating it, and then forgetting what it’s called
she did the same thing with "out of the outback"
F
don’t forget “cat movie” LMAO
God the MC was something else 🙄
@@gart005 Something Wicked
It was so bad 💀💀
"I disliked pretty much every character" yeah that sounds about right for diary of a wimpy kid. It's pretty infamous for it's protagonist being a total jackass. I'm still really impressed with how the live action movies striked such balance between him being a egotistical and dickish while still being likable enough to root for.
I still think the movie should have been 2D, that would have definitely been more fitting for the books art style.
I'm just happy that they didn't do another Long Haul.
Just hiring voice actors makes a lot more sense, you don't have to worry about them not looking like the characters when the characters all look like weird scribble people
I feel like they manage to pull it off because Greg being an asshole rarely benefits him, and when it does, it often results in things going incredibly wrong down the line. The live action movies, excluding Long Haul, pushed this fact and the times when Greg is happy and successful is after he has admitted to his asshole actions and makes up for them.
The movies really benefited from actually having Greg grow as a person. At the end of the first one he becomes a better friend, in the second he grows to really love his brother, and the third is all about him learning to connect with his dad. All three really show how Greg is able to grow into a likable person, while still retaining the dumb moments of youth.
Ikr? I decided to try and watch it bc I’m a fan of the books, and holy shit I was not expecting what I thought peps put looked like from a front view on a human
Greg would be hard to adapt to make likeable, like it needs to be clear hes tbe worst but also the performance needs to still make us like watching him, such things can be done but they take an effort of writing and performance disney isn't really willing to do
I’m truly happy that you’re talking about all these non-American animated releases like this. I’m an animation student and even I tend to pigeonhole myself into only watching Western cartoons. I’ll def have to give some of these smaller titles a try!!!
I haven't watched the vid yet, but I love the thumbnail design of the character outline to match your avatar's aesthetic. Really cool!
It adds more character and uniqueness to Cellspex's channel.
Glad you like it!
@@CellSpex could you do an arcane review? It’s a big series release and you’d probably have a fun take on it
@@CellSpex I'd love to see more of this unique thumbnail art for future reviews.
@@CellSpex The OLD thumbnail, cough.
Why do Lord and Miller get all the credit for Mitchells vs the Machines? It was directed and co-written by Mike Rianda, one of the bigger creative voices behind Gravity Falls season 1. Please give the guy some credit.
tfw the same video downplaying their producer credit on a crappier movie just a few minutes earlier suddenly overstates it when the movie itself is better
Leaves a bad taste
@Spider-Venom
When she talks about America: The Motion Picture.
No
I didn’t know the first two people existed, I actually watched Mitchell’s vs the Machines bc I heard that someone who helped out on gravity falls since I loved it and still do
I did think that "It's not illegal if you're good at it!" had the same vibes as "When there are no cops around, anything's legal!".
Encanto was honestly my favorite animated movie of the year, I kept expecting Encanto to follow the formula with a quest or journey and as the movie progressed I was pleasantly surprised that the plot did it differently. Then I expected a fight at the end. It was actually refreshing to see the story told without being so formulaic. We can have these different types of stories and it’s still thoroughly enjoyable.
Encanto was a breath of fresh air and I hope we get more (I actually have a personal idea for what a series could do and be)
I honestly didn't like it that much. You have shared your opinion now I will share mine. It was unique but honestly there are so many questions that could have been easily answered. Like if Dolores really heard Bruno every night why didn't she tell anyone. There are lots of songs that I feel could have been cut to develop the characters more. But thats what I think.
@@MrMule-eg5fg Dolores didn’t tell anyone because of her grandma and the family who thinks of Bruno as this paragon of Bad Luck, seriously there is an entire song dedicated about how they shouldn’t talk about Bruno basically treating him as a Bad Omen
@@justsomeguywholovesberserk6375 oh yeah sorry I haven't watched it in months so I don't remember much
@@MrMule-eg5fg You gotta listen to we don't talk about bruno again
35:29 Fun Fact: My sister was watching this movie and I walked by when this scene was on. I saw the boots, the hat, the coat, the sunglasses, and the giant propaganda banners and I was like "Fascist ponies!?"
That scene is unironicly hallarious. I can't take Nazi ponies seriously at all. It worked in The Force Awakens, but certainly not here.
Not to mention, the angry mob literally singing: "Angry, angry, mob. Mob, m-m-mob, mob, mob, angry, angry."
The movie did satire really well.
@@krimsonkatt Well, it was portrayed to be serious in Force Awakens. The other one wasn't very threatening, more like satire.
funniest thing is that this is like, the 4th time this happend in MLP since FIM started airing.
@@elsienova4269 Imagine a pony going to art school, and as soon as they were kicked out, the swastika symbol appeared on its hindquarters.
I really wanted to like Belle more than I did. The visuals and music are absolutely phenomenal, but the plot felt so disjointed to me and I had trouble finding cohesion from scene to scene. A very okay movie for me, but I am glad there are people who were able to get more out of it than I was.
From what I understand of a Mamoru Hosoda films, is that he’s a phenomenal director with great ideas, but when it comes to writing and flow, that’s not his strong suit. Most of his acclaimed films (Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Summer Wars, and Wolf Children) were either written (screenplay) by someone else or he had help through co-writing. His weaker/less acclaimed films (like Boy and the Beast, Mirai, and even Belle) were all 100% written by him.
I say he should stick to directing, and have a talented screenplay writer put his ideas to paper. That way we get a well made film with awesome writing/storytelling.
I totally agree what you say from watching Belle to much that I lost count the plot is a mess I think the first act is phenomenal and when ever I’ll re watch the first act I know is going to be the best part, I wouldn’t mine the second act as long as the third act wasn’t so messy, I feel like by the end it was rushed that it felt like it needed another 30 mins maybe an hour but probably with deadlines they couldn’t do it so it became this jointed mess. But like what you said the visual and music are absolutely breathtaking, every time I watch it the visual and songs are so mesmerizing that I forget about the story. But in the end it a messy plot that has a good message but this is my first time watching a film by Manoru Honda and to be honest i can’t wait for his next project he has.
Don’t worry you aren’t alone I felt like the story was all over the place and incomplete also the characters werent fleshed out which I get but it’s been done before now I’m being nit picky but some of the designs or character design were odd but it’s fine it isn’t my favorite but it’s ok especially because I love the main character, environments, and it’s hella funny too recomend watching Mirai on Netflix it’s so amazing and deserves love also a work from Momaro Hosoda
Yeah, i loved most of it but i feel it probably would work better as an OVA series or something, giving it more time. Sorta like how Boy and the Beast was also great but floundered at the end
Yh I agree. I'm kind of offended that Cellspex ranked Belle over Josee The Tiger & The Fish...like what!?
As a fan of Diary Of The Wimpy Kid, and along with friend, we found the movie underwhelming, but really good at adapting the things we liked from the source material and having its mean nature, while bringing a more heartwarming message to the table.
It was unique I suppose, the animation while wasn't the best was decent and the characters were mostly true to how the were in the books.
As a basic adaptation of the first book, it's perfectly fine, if entirely forgettable. It's way too short, they definitely should have picked a book that wasn't already a movie and I would have liked to see some of the parts they cut, but the voice acting is great and it really nails the spirit of the writing. And I personally loved the animation. Letting Kinney himself do the CGI designs was brilliant.
I think the animation is what kinda doomed the movie, the story fits something more relaxed akin to live-action.
But the style of animation is for exaggerated movements, it works fine in the books since it needs to portay everything in a single image.
Should have mixed 3d and 2d
I heard Susan's mic sound like ass at least two different times.
@@onettaviator5396 Not really a deal breaker though, it was only two times and wasn’t enough to take me out of the movie
man, yeah it really is sad that Earwig and the Witch turned out the way it did, I really didn't like that protagonist when she herself says she only ever does nice things to get what she wants, and she "always gets what she wants" so even when she seems to be "nice" it never feels genuine because you know she's only doing it to get something...and then she ended up getting the thing and I don't feel happy for her. I will say the texturing in the overall environment isn't terrible but because there's no texture beyond "plastic" for the people with their skin and hair they look like dolls, you can kind of tell they were definitely not used to this medium
Which is odd because Marza animation Planet helped worked on it and they worked on the Lupin the 3rd the First and that movie looks so much better
@@zillauniverse7208 it was either a director’s choice or they just didn’t have the same budget
My only hope is that it's the first 3D Ghibli movie and also the last...
I'm happy someone finally pointed out how both MLP: ANG and Raya's conflicts were very simular. And I agree that A New Generation did a better job at getting to know about the different tribes and the characters (at least the main ones) before even starting the follow up show.
MLP more or less did everything, that's comparable between them, better. Raya's writing and message were horrible.
@@thedeathskeleton4957 agreed. That movie could've been powerful. But sometimes nice things just don't happen.
To be fair MLP had an entire decade to tell what the different races were but the movie alone already does a good job differentiating it
The ending only was ehhh could have been saved for the show instead of the abrupt thing we got but ANG is still a miracle despite everyone fearing A Hasbro-Capitalist-CP mess
I started hyperventilating at how ANG, a movie I really enjoy (minus the ending), and Raya, a movie I really don't could be so similar.
@@UlmDoesAnything Honestly I don't see the long-term appeal of a new generation as a lifelong mlp fan. I feel like it's much less genuine than the previous generations, especially because Hasbro is running low on monetary benefits of their franchises due to their conflicts with Mattel. The movie may have looked nice, but the story seemed way too rushed and the characters are all obviously merch grabbers (design wise) which is unfortunate. It's really obvious too that all the characters were designed separately by different people because they clash. I feel bad for the kids who are following the new gen because the quality is going to worsen.
If you're gonna do animated Wimpy Kid, you HAVE to go with the journal style 100% all the way through. You could put it into color, but DoaWK works way better in 2D.
I would’ve liked more of a Don Hertzfeldt style.
I thought it would’ve looked great in the style of the original teaser where it had a Peanuts Movie-esque look. They kinda took the easy way out with how they did it in the final movie.
With the Wish Dragon and Aladdin comparison, may I also remind you all that even though the story was in 1001 Arabian Nights, the story is actually set in China. So, while Disney's Aladdin's setting was more based on where the 1001 Arabian Night's Story originated, Wish Dragon is accurate with its setting of the story within the story, if that makes sense.
Wish dragon was crap because it was cheap copy of Aladdin
@@aidangarrett8170 no it wasn't , go watch the movie
1:13 I read that Dragon Rider book. I didn't know it got a movie. But holy shit that dragon looks terrible. I didnt even recognize it or the cat girl.
To add insult to injury, the original book had its own illustrations that they could've used for designs. Yet Netflix chose to completely ignore those for whatever the hell they went with.
the animation and textures look alright tho, but thats coming from a total noob at cgi. (Jummped on the bandwagon this year, I havent made anything yet, but still trying to learn it.)
I just realized I actually read the book of that as a child. Holy shit, the dragon looks nothing like the cover illustration.
My twelve-year-old self is SCREAMING at the fact that they turned Sorrel into stereotypical furry bait.
And also, what the actual heck is going on with Ben? He looks like a discount version of Hiccup.
And Firedrake? Don't even get me started. Holy crap that dragon design sucks.
I swear it is just Hollywood's goal to turn as many books I loved as a kid into terrible movies as possible.
I have not watched the movie, but the trailers didn't do the book justice and what I've heard about the content is... Downright assassining the source material. Cornelia Funke barely has luck with the adaptations of her work, but it was never as bad as this one.
Where was the actual funny dialogue and interesting story? As someone who read the original book, thoroughly dissapointed
Earwig certainly had its issues but I was pleasantly surprised after hearing the negativity. It reminded me of some books I red in middle school. And I like the Ghibli protagonist actually had more of a unique character this time around. She was meant to have unlikable qualities but you tolerate them for her circumstances and because she has smarts. But pigs eat different levels what they find insufferable.
I hated earwig passionately. even after hearing all the negative reception it was _still_ worse than I expected. I genuinely can't think of a single positive aspect of this movie.
I expected to hate it, but it was okay. Not good, but also not completely terrible.
Diana Wynne Jone's character's are famously flawed and generally unlikeable at first and often at the end too. She always, even in her books for younger people, made characters feel like actual people, and the pov character normally feels like, at least in my opinion, like how you view yourself, with all the gross and bad parts of yourself that no one else sees brought to light. This works really really well in prose or as a radio play, and perhaps someday a live action short tv show, however with Ghibli's animation it would be very hard to pull off. This is why Sophie and Howl are so different in the movie. In the books Sophie is a horse with blinkers on; she focuses on one thing, on one aspect of a person, on one task ect and cannot see the forest for the trees. This would be really hard to pull off in a movie where we can literally see what's going on around her, not just what she herself sees. Oof way off topic sorry. I just love talking about DWJ books and wish there was a good adaptation of her work. Alas it will happen the same year the Earthsea series has a good adaptation. :|
Well, imo
Fuck that movie, the CG was the worst shit I've ever seen, I despise the protagonist, the story sucked, and it is by far Ghibli's worst work
@Lumi Light @JCL Kaytwo Guys... A movie not going the way you wanted it too isn't a personal offense towards you. Calm tf down
Here's an ordered list of movies mentioned in the video, with timestamps. Would love it if you could pin this or put it in the description for everyone else to use.
1:25 Earwig and the Witch
3:14 The Addams Family 2
3:53 Animated Diary of a Wimpy Kid
4:43 (Honorary) Tom and Jerry.
5:13 Extinct
5:43 Xico's Journey
5:52 Back to the Outback (Which she accidentally calls "Out of the Outback")
6:28 Riverdance
8:03 America the Motion Picture
9:16 Sing 2
10:40 Spine of the Night
11:43 Rumble
13:13 Seal Team
14:04 My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission
15:05 New Gods: Nezha Reborn
16:34 Green Snake
17:36 I am what I am
18:28 The Loud House Movie
19:46 Arlo the Alligator Boy
20:33 Boss Baby: Family Business
22:13 Ron's Gone Wrong
((Romance anime movie section))
24:56 Love me, Love me not
25:51 Words Bottle up like Soda Pop
26:32 The Stranger on the Shore
27:19 Josee, the Tiger, and the Fish
27:58 Violet Evergarden
((Romance anime movie section ends))
29:01 Demon Slayer: Mugen Train (Also, go watch Hilda)
30:32 Bombay Rose
31:23 Vivo
33:05 Raya and the Last Dragon || My Little Pony: A New Generation
35:55 Jiang Ziya
38:12 Wish Dragon
40:10 Flee
40:52 The Summit of the Gods
41:44 Luca
43:22 Nahuel and the Magic Book
43:29 Calamity
44:01 The Legend of Hei
44:42 Belle
47:48 Evangelion 3.0+1.0: Thrice Upon a Time
50:23 Encanto
50:50 The Mitchells Vs the Machines
Thank you so much!
See this, is why I both love and dread your top-of-the-year lists. On the one hand, the videos are great to watch and listen to and your views on each of these films is always interesting. But on the other they always drop a whole bunch of "to watch" films onto my list that I've never, and I mean NEVER been able to catch up on 😅
My only issue with Encanto was how they handled Bruno’s story. While Mirabel got her apology from Abuela and was able to get her family to see her worth, Bruno got an apology from NO ONE. Sure, Abuela hugged him and sure his sisters hugged him, but that to me just felt like one giant rug sweep of all the crap they put him through. His family and the village made him a freaking pariah because of a gift he had no say over. He gave up 10 years of his life to protect his niece and when all is said and done in ‘All of You’, he sings how HE’S the one whose got apologies he needed to say? No, just NO.
Well, Bruno was the one who left, and there was no guarantee that he would’ve known about the way that the town had treated him after he left. But yeah, he definitely deserved an apology.
Last year has not only been great for animated movies, but also shows. If I had to choose, I think my favorite would be season 2 of The Owl House and Arcane.
Mine would have been season two of Amphibia, but I agree on TOH too
Invincible, maya and the three where amazing too
Arcane was really good
Arcane has genuinely made my standards for upcoming media so much higher than it should be lol. They nailed every thing they did with it and I'm so excited for more.
@@sakura_chxrry_ use The Owl Club.
In all due respect, I think you misunderstood the point the MLP movie was making, the plot wasn't solved by macguffin, the crystals didn't solve anything by the merit of them being present together, but by the pony tribets finally uniting, otherwise, they were useless. I just think there was more nuance to the scenario that wasn't quite done justice by this review.
You're absolutely right. The movie was flawless and without sin.
I completely agree with this, however still dislike the movie because of how unexplained the story is. The whole series about twilight and her friends was focused on how she learned about friendship and united all species, dragons, hypogriffs, jacks... and became an allicorn because of her princessworthy deeds that took her so long to accomplish. In the new movie, all of this is just... gone? The whole series and all of twilight's actions led to nothing, and while twilight had to sacrifice, learn hard spells and battle huge villains, the protagonist of the new movie just has to unite the species and say "make up" and that's it?? It just feels so empty and dumb to me but that's my opinion
@@Abandonedaccount129 The movie had to have a happy ending. Season 3 ended with Twilight flying into camera and declaring everything would be fine. The very next season immediately undermined/retconned all that. If the upcoming show addresses what you mentioned we'll just write off the ending to this too.
I feel like some parts of the film won't make sense unless you've got watched g4
@@Abandonedaccount129 It's almost like the power of friendship is the more worthy macguffin every single time. "The x were the friends we made along the way!" Listen I know it's a meme but I write it every single time and it works. It doesn't just work for MLP... It would have worked for Raya.
Hey CellSpex, would you ever consider in these list videos putting a typed list of movies discussed in the pinned comments or description? As someone with not-great hearing, it helps a lot to be able to read the titles so I can look up the movies you were talking about.
Yo I clicked on the desc and apparently there’s a whole transcript if that helps? Hopefully you can see it toi
As someone with ordinary hearing a constant title on the top or bottom of the clip being talked about would be amazing! I had to pause and rewind this video like seven different times when something caught my eye and I wanted to look it up.
Quality of life upgrades.
I second that motion. A listing of where to find the movies would be great to since I can't find story of Hai.
I watched the dub of Belle 2021, and LOVED THE MOVIE! The English VA sounds just like the Japanese VA and I hope she has a long fulfilling career in animation cause she nailed Suzu.
For the first time in CellSpex history, we have a 3-way tie for last place!!
I just loved Mitchells so much because I idenitified with each family member in some way. I related to Katie the most because I was going to college last year and had to move away from home and also Monchi was the best animal character of the year
Amazingly a lot of people’s reaction to the announcement of the Diary of a Wimpy kid movie was “wasn’t what we asked for but we’ll take it” and now it’s closer to a “send it back and don’t disrespect us like that again.”
It's because the very first short teaser with Greg trying to push a giant snowball had pretty good and stylized animation that was 3D but it looked 2D, kinda like the Peanuts Movie, but the actual movie has incredibly mediocre animation and the characters look off-putting as a result because their designs do NOT translate well at all into this kind of 3D. What happened? Why did the teaser look so good? Did they run out of budget? Then again, they cut out a LOT of things from the movie so I guess that yeah, they probably ran out of budget and as a result we got a chopped-up, half-baked mess that looks like it was made in a few days.
Sorry but as someone who comes from a not so great home life, the ending of Belle pissed me off with its message of "standing up" to abusive guardians. Amazing how the movie tries to say that reporting abused children doesn't mean it's all sunshine and rainbows afterwards but a teenager "confronting" a physically abusive parent will get him to back off. No offense but the lack of people listening to abuse victims how they feel about the movie while praising it for awareness or whatever leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
Bitches be like “I didn’t come from a great home life”
And then have the most fucking tragic backstory. 💀.
I honestly hope it gets better, man. ;/
God, I felt this. I haven't even gotten up to that movie yet and now I know not to watch, to thank you.
I thought that the abuse aspect of the movie was a last minute thing, and I was really confused by how Suzu just stood there and that immediately caused a reaction.
I did wish that more of the Beast was focused on.
And even though I do like the songs, I think they carry on way too long.
no fr tho the way the dad just scurried away after suzu stood there all "🥺🥺" was probably not even close to what would happen. it was a great movie otherwise but it should not be praised for that.
Yes!! It romanticized ending abuse just for the plot and honestly?? The plot was so unorganized and chaotic that it made it even more unlikeable! they needed to pick one direction and stick with it to avoid this terrible portrayal. The movie was beautiful and it could have been much better. I will never rewatch it and I'm surprised I even got myself to finish it in the first place
Kaworu is such an indecisive character for me to “like” in a general sense. He seemed to want to reach out to Shinji and possibly question his fate, but on the other hand, you have to wonder whether his unconditional love is just manipulation. We don’t know how much he knows about Shinji beforehand, so it’s extremely difficult to tell what’s stronger: His allegiance to his routes and the HIP, his own motives, a simple instinct to return to Adam, or just simply destiny. It makes you want better things for Shinji, but I can never wrap my head around Kaworu, especially since he only had one episode. I think that’s why I like him.
I love how you include more and more foreign films with each update.
The most memorable part of Spirit Untamed was seeing my mum's friend in the credits.
Oh nice!
did cell even rank spirit untamed? I don't remember seeing it in the video.
Who?
For whatever reason, I always get really excited when I recognise a song that I like in one of these videos, so it’s nice to hear Marilyn Manson’s ‘sweet dreams are made of this,’ a song which is always overshadowed by its music video
I liked Belle a lot but was admittedly disappointed on who the beast was, I expected it to be her popular childhood friend thus tying in the real life drama with the digital. Who it really was felt kind of tacked on and the resolution of his character was extremely vague. I liked the characters and visuals, loved the music, but the story kind of fell flat because it really should've been a romance or solely about her dealing with her grief and insecurities.
While i kinda like that they didnt go the obvious route with the Beast, her love interest really could have used something like that to flesh him out. He's just...boring.
No-just… no. We need people to stop with the “oh we don’t have 2 people want to make out, or no one will watch the movie. Oh and they have to be straight.” It’s just bullshit. Weird, homophonic, we need Waifu or shipping material, bullshit.
Totally agree! Sometimes the predicable can actually be more well-written than the unpredictable. The boy who was the Beast should've been the same character as the love interest IMO. Would've made more sense and would have gave him a lot more character than being a bland love interest.
I agree that I loved the music in Belle, though. So catchy.
@@Furrito_272 Well Beauty and the Beast has always been known as a romance, so it's expected to be romantic. If they weren't going to make it a romance they really should've just cut out the beast entirely. Also there really is nothing inherently wrong with straight romance either, so I don't see your point at all. I'm curious what did you expect when you saw the trailer?
@@bridgettelair370 I more mean in movies in general, it’s every single one with a usually pointless love interest.
About Earwig's book, I read that it wasn't finished before Dianne Wynn Jones died and then it was published and...that explains a lot. I agree with everything you said, especially about the Mandrake. He was the best part.
Oh, the same woman who wrote Howl's Moving Castle? No wonder they picked that book, then.
The fact Cell closes this list praising the rise of 2D-like aesthetics in 3D animation, and then literally the day this is uploaded we get word of a freaking "Puss in Boots" sequel getting this treatment as well.
But yeah, always love tuning into your annual list.
I really appreciate the diversity of animation you cover! You gave me so many new things to look into watching!
I'm so glad you liked Belle and Evangelion! I think Belle is just stunning all around, the music, the story, the twists, the setting, everything. Evangelion is a series I only watched about 3 years ago now, I was impressed by it's completely unhinged endings, but it was so incredible nihilistic and drab I could not enjoy the story the way it was...before these movies. That final movie really surprised me, and gave an artistically insane conclusion that actually managed to be positive, while still not shying away from it's usual darkness. Really great year for media!! Great video. 😊
Yeah evangelion is a show that I really expected to enjoy because I’ve heard so many good things about it but I just could not get invested in any of the characters or the plot because of how unexplained and sacrificing a cohesive story for the sake of symbolism most of it is. I’m glad you like the rebuild movies though, maybe I’ll give them a shot in the near future.
My two favorites of the year, (Encanto and Mitchells) Both felt like they had one thing holding them back. I wasn’t the biggest fan of Mitchell’s villain and Encanto’s ending felt a little rushed. Overall I’d say Encanto is better but both are great and definitely deserve to win an Oscar.
I agree about Encanto. I did love the music and the characters were great but it just felt like the plot needed more time or something. Idk im not good at analyzing films
Agreed for both!
Love encanto, and I agree! Abeula felt like she changed waaayyyy too quickly. I’m hoping there will be so,E kind of series or sequel as there’s a lot of room for expansion in the family!
I really enjoyed Sing 2 and had that within my top 7 of the year. For a jukepop musical i thought it was a great advancement of the Sing franchise
Alrighty, you do you.
I just watched it before continuing this video, honestly, i'm not disappointed. It's pretty much the movie equivolent of the music they used. A happy little pop diddy. And the larger story beats go exactly as expected and that's ok, because a little bit of predictability is good in a happy little pop diddy. The visuals were fun and I had a few hearty laughs at the jokes. Just a good time overall.
It’s definitely a bit more ambitious than your average illumination film
Sing 2 is way better than Encan’to
Wow... I can't believe that MLP: ANG and Raya had eerily similar story-beats and themes once you strip away the aesthetics; makes me wonder if the current global political landscape is inspiring writers to address topics like ultra-nationalism and fear-mongering. This is why you stand out from so many other analysis channels Celly, kudos.
The one thing I'll add to your final take is that the MLP movie felt like the better movie because very few people went into it expecting more than a feel-good ending where the magic was inside everyone all along, but Raya had so much more potential to be profound with its budget, world-building and Disney reputation so it left a bad taste in people's mouths. After all, audience expectation can be just as important as the literal movie.
I don’t think Raya left bad taste in peoples mouths even if they might have wanted more.
Raya could have been a 9/10 if they gave us a bittersweet ending where Sisu stayed dead and all the party members sacrificed themselves and gave their trust to Naamari to save the world just like all of Sisu's friends sacrificed themselves and gave their trust to Sisu to save the world eons ago. Instead they give us a forced deus-ex-machina ending where everyone lives and Sisu gets revived for no reason. It really feels like Disney intentionally censored the ending because the original ending was "too dark for the kids." The bad ending of Raya actually inspired me to make an RPG based on Raya which has two endings. The normal ending is my planned bittersweet ending, and the second ending is the "golden ending" aka the ending shown in the movie which requires you collecting all 25 lucky emblems which are gained by completing achievemenhs.
Raya's writing was horrible, and so was it's message which is potentially dangerous to anyone naive enough to believe it.
MLP also did the whole uniting is better for everyone thing far better. Even giving the Earth Ponies a logical safety net. Raya, on the other hand, had known assassins and con artists suddenly become friends with everybody as if their entire thing isn't screwing over people dumb enough to let them get close, which they literally did, through out the movie.
@@krimsonkatt I completely disagree with you. The bittersweet ending you wanted was just as awful as the original.
9:50 You just completely missed the entire point of Porsha's character development. It's pretty much implied that Porsha's father is neglectful and only gives her what she wants to get rid of her. Yes, Porsha whined that she wanted to star in the musical. BUT when she got fired, she realised that her father cares more about his own reputation than he cares about her, because he literally yells at her for being a failure and embarrassing him while she's already sobbing in her bed (because she assumes that she got fired because everyone hates her), then she apologises to Buster for being a brat and graciously accepts the role he recasts her as, and mocks her father mid song as a retaliation to his abuse.
i think thats the longest comment ive ever seen about the sing franchise
Yess!! I loved porshas arc
Second this! CellSpex kinda sold Sing 2 short here. I think it's worth more of a watch than the first one at least
YES FINALLY SOMEONE WHO ACTUALLY LIKES SING 2!!!
Sometimes I love these youtube review channels, but other times it feels as if they see 'Illumination' and zone out for the whole movie 🤷♀️.
I thought Luca was amazing. Easily the best film of 2021 for me. It’s a film about growing up and discovering the world. Every time Luca daydreams, it’s about something new that he learned about the world. He imagines flying an old fashioned airplane through space, vespas as wild animals, and swimming in space with anchovies to touch the moon. When he imagines flying through the sky and seeing the world on a Vespa, he only sees islands with tiny houses because that’s all he’s seen of the world. He is creative and smart. He fixes the phonograph and realizes that they can make a Vespa with stuff from the island. If you think this movie isn’t grand, think about it from Luca’s perspective. Imagine if you’ve only lived with your family and herded fish and never seen anything. We know what Italy looks like. We know what pasta is. Since Pixar has existed, it has shown us new fantastic worlds. Porto Rosso is the new fantastic world that is unimaginable to Luca. They could have easily created emotional moments like a talk between Alberto and Julia’s father, but instead they show us. We see Julia’s father go searching for Alberto which is something his own father would have never done. We see moments like Alberto telling Luca that his parents would never come looking for him. He was alone for so long. I liked the fact that Julia’s stomach got upset from eating the pasta so she wasn’t that fast. I love the villain cause he is probably my age and still competing against children just for himself and money. Parts of it did feel like a Ghibli film, the dream sequences reminded me of The Wind Rises. Alberto had lots of abandonment issues. I want everyone to realize that before he met Luca, he was alone on the island for who knows how long. He had to grow up quick. He doesn’t have a desire to go to school. I like how they went down different paths. Alberto will be happy in a community and not be alone anymore which is what he wanted. Luca gets to learn about the world. The beginning of the movie didn’t really show us what Luca’s life was like because it was boring and small compared to the outside world. There were moments when I laughed because of how it was like The Little Mermaid. The townspeople were accepting so quickly because two old women, who probably were part of the community their whole lives, showed that they were sea monsters too. Not all of the townspeople did. Some of them were intimidated by Julia’s dad and gave up trying to kill them. Then they also saw two parents coming to hug their child and say how worried they were. It was just a family. The ending of the movie was perfect. Alberto never really wanted a Vespa. He wanted to go on adventures with Luca. Luca realizes he can’t leave Alberto alone so he gives up school. Alberto gives up the Vespa so that Luca can go to school and see the world. Alberto has a father figure, not a parent because he knows how to survive on his own and is pretty grown up. Luca assumes that Alberto is coming with him to school. Alberto was with him every step of the way as he was discovering the world. Now he has to do it on his own. The last shot of Luca looking out into the ocean and the island and all he has ever known soaked in the rain in his true form shows that he is ready to discover the world by himself as himself. The credits of the movie really showed us what everyone’s lives were like after the end of the movie. This was a Pixar masterpiece. I can’t accept any different answer. I think this is one of the best films in the past few years. I think it is better than Soul and Onward. Maybe not Coco. I just know I’m going to rewatch it a million times. I can’t see myself watching Soul or Onward again.
I am an absolute sucker for a found-family trope, and Luca is basically an exploration of it. I can understand someone who isn’t a found-family fan not liking it, but I just love it.
Here is my perspective of the new animation style of the 2020's as I am living through the cartoons like 90's kids did. Beauty colorful and looks super fun to animate, I usually go nah I don't wanna be a animator because I didn't like the basic disney or anime animation style because they are much more of amazing you then entertaining you which was what I really didn't want but now I can love the idea of animating because of this new amazing style I might even force myself to make a couple animations :D
I love the minimalist with the thumbnail! Been watching since 2019! Keep it up!
For me the dragon and Belle relationship reminded me of Tohru and Yuki relationship, while at first it seemed that Yuki loved Tohru romantically over time he grew to love her like a mother. In the lend me your voice scene Belle almost kisses the dragon but when she sees him flinch she chooses to hug him instead, and once she learns of his true identity she chooses to just hug him and his brother n order to protect them from their abusive father. This to me at least seems like a older sister helping her younger brother and showing him that it's okay or it could be about how Suzu is a sort of mother figure to the dragon by begin there and letting him open up because he had nobody to open too except his brother.
Even Mice Belong in Heaven (yes, that's a real film - can't blame ya if ya never heard of it since there's bugger all reviews for it here on YT) is one of the best animated films of 2021
Please review it
So sorry I missed that this year, I'll put it on next year's list :)
"Yes, it was clearly supposed to be a modern take on Aladdin! That was the point!" Right, Animat and Schaffrillas?
Whether they were the best or the worst, The animated films were one of the few good things to come out of 2021.
Yes, that and having a ginormous Spider-Man crossover event.
your right the live action movies were not the best
I was praising No Way Home, not panning it.
Jimmy Crystal is a genuine villain. So satisfying to see him loathing that damn koala.
Ich 9
I really like Encanto! it’s just a lot of the fans don’t really get what the point or message of the film is. Most of the fans just focus on the songs and making theories here and there. Encanto is about trauma starting early in the family and being passed down in a bad way. That’s the most basic way I could put it. Besides me getting kinda mad at those types of the fans, I really think Encanto is a great film!! :)
You Get Mad at people Beacuse they "Just focus on the songs"? What is wrong with you?
Also cuz of Dolores and Camilo simps. Lmao
And people with a lot of not healthy head canons... example the head canon that Luisa is fucking trans...
My sister and I are Irish dancers and we were HOWLING through all of Riverdance 10/10 for enjoyment
The girls in the live action one are hot. The furry deer and the low-budget pantyhose textures in the animated one ruined it for me.
Encanto is definitely my personal movie of the year. Yeah, it had some lower points but the heartfelt story and lack of a huge adventure but a closer look at the character dynamics just got me. The whole breaking of generational trauma is just very important to me as a narrative in a mainstream movie
Wish Dragon will be one of those movies that will appear on everyone's "most Underrated films" Lists in 10 years plus
This is the first time I'm hearing of the Dragon Rider movie and let me tell you, that book was my childhood and the disappointment upon seeing those few-second clips was CRUSHING. What did they DO to my boy Firedrake??
Funny you mention Next Gen with the comparisons to it with Ron's Gone Wrong, when Next Gen (which I honestly REALLY like still, Mai is still a VERY unique protagonist in an animated movie) is a bit more darker and isn't afraid to be a bit more insane.
Man, it's so refreshing to see animation channels include non-western animations on these lists. So many channels focus only on western - heck, not even western, but strictly north american animations, I feel like they forget other countries also produce wonderful films
this year too i got reconfirmed that around 90% of china's media that isn't live action is extremely stylistically a pretty box, extremely pretty even if with a bland after taste
but super empthy and samey
I have to say this for the last Evangelion movie. I absolutely loved seeing rei interact with people outside if a nerv/lab setting. Seeing her actually really get to experience a normal every day life and stating what she wants for herself was so enjoyable after all this time being strung along like a puppet.
Yeah one of the things I especially loved about the movie: it gives Rei an arc where her humanization doesn’t revolve around her relationships with Shinji or other male characters like Gendo
5:49 as a Mexican I can say two things
Is the plot original ? HAH! No, its enjoyable but not original,
But the animation studio
Ánima Estudios, is part of my childhood since quite a few movies I love are from them, including a Saga about Mexican legends
They also work on the “Here comes the Grump” 2018 3d animated movie
And the Top Cat movies from 2011 and 2015 (2018 in the US) movies
I lost my aunt to Covid a week before Christmas last year. Me and my sister both watched Belle (Eng dub) together in January, and the story and sound track really hit us hard to say the least. The absolute emotion in the music was almost too much to bare. But I found myself listening to “Swarms of Song” over and over and OVER for weeks to follow, and ended up sobbing almost every time. It’s kinda silly, I think I was trying to force myself to accept what had happened, cause my heart did not want to.
Belle really is a great movie, and a movie I wouldn’t think would hold a bittersweet place in my heart. I hope it releases on a streaming service soon.
Edit: Belle is available on TH-cam to buy now! That makes me happy
So I really want to talk about what Belle means for me personally.
In Romania, where I live, anime is not really a thing even though there are so many Romanian anime fans. We had some anime that got dubbed before 2010s like Naruto and Pokémon, but then a program that followed a children TV channel after 9 pm (I think) release and we had a lot os subbed anime. But, due to complains from parents, the program gut shutdown and that failure was enough to convince any TV program to never host anime and the anime shows that already were in Romania have never gotten the newer seasons. We still have got some anime, but it's not that interesting (that Bakugan reboot is the only thing we have now).
So I was so glad that after so many years we've got to se an anime on cinema theaters in 2022. That one is Belle. And it was a perfect experience for me.
I'm glad you were able to get a show you enjoyed! Sometimes I wish we all spoke one language. If you don't mind me asking, how do you watch anime (using subtitles) now?
@@Frostgiantbutsmall unfortunately, if the anime isn't on Netflix with the version I want to watch (dub or sub), I had to get it through piracy, or watch it on Stremio.
This is really confusing to me as a romanian. Animax, the program that mainly focused on anime and other cartoons with an older demographic lasted a long ass time and it was taken down to the parent company that owned Minimax and Animax not being able to financially sustain it anymore. It wasn't an exclusive Romanian channel. This combined with channels actually dedicated to featuring these shows becoming readily available in countries like Romania meant the channel got shut down. An since then Anime has been really popular over here and always getting some sort of marketing. Most libraries in the country have manga and there's marketing for it everywhere.
@@elsienova4269 for what I can recall, Animax initially started to air at 9 pm (don't remember the exact time), but some parents complained that some kids were still up during that time. So tge channel decided to push the time of airing, this time starting at 10 pm. But still some kids were still up and they had to push it even further. Those delays severely affected Animax's viewership due to a lot of its audience shrinking. This was a disaster and the channel is probably too afraid to try that again. So are most of the channels.
But now, with Belle and the One Piece movie, we can hope for a better future for Anime in Romania.
@@knightatyourservice7512 this still feels very wrong. Animax not only was on for a looot of years but the first shows that aired after the 9pm time were chosen especially to be more kid friendly stuff like pokemon and that weird show with the polar bear. And again, pretty much everything and anything anime is available in Romania now.
Ah, it's that time of the year again. I somehow always end up surprised when you release one of these, even though it ought to be very predictable. Very enjoyable, as always, even though it consistently makes me feel a bit uncultured for how few of the good ones I've ended up seeing. Keep up the good work!
I have to admit that the end song of sing 2 made me tear up. It’s a man coming to terms with the truama he faced and learning how he can’t just sit in depression the rest of his life. He has to learn to live for his wife
I'm seriously torn between Encanto and Arcane. I find myself seeking out Encanto clips all the time. But I have a need to rewatch all of Arcane every so often.
44:29
Ha!
Honestly that whole CalArt style argument is really so reductive and patronizing that it honestly just resembles a school yard insult.
It’s not bad to want variety but don’t put people down for not conforming to your definition of “variety”.
"CalArts Style" was coined by a sex pest (John K) to refer to the mid-2000s thick line art style in things like Dexter's Lab or Butch Hartman shows. It boggles the mind that people still use it, to talk about "bean mouth" or whatever lol.
@@annelooney1090 while the stuff on K. is right, he was actually criticizing the animation of films in the Disney renaissance and films like it (El Dorado and Iron Giant for example.) Still either way, people that unironically use a quote from a pedo should have their opinions discarded immediately.
As a recent but now diehard Eva fan (got into it in like 2017). The rebuilds will never surpass the original anime and end of Eva. But the final movie felt very definitive. And it also felt like it was coming from a new perspective. A much more hopeful perspective. And as an Eva fan I do appreciate that as well.
It's here! I'm so glad. I just wish the TH-cam algorithm wasn't so completely inept at recommending other videos like yours.
I genuinely really love lin Manuel Miranda as an actor song writer and rapper, I genuinely hope people don’t start to hate on him just because hes in a lot of movies, I see it as he’s being recognized for his talents because he’s basically locked in with Disney now so we will probably be seeing a lot from him in the future
I watched Belle twice in one weekend. I found the conclusion of mystery 'Who Is The Beast' new and unexpected yet very heartwarming and powerful. The music was awesome (I listen to it on repeat a lot and it still hits me hard, despite a language barrier) and all the relationships felt like they had a kind and good conclusion. But I tend to value the animation and character dynamics over the plot. Belle might have been my favorite, though Mitchells, Encanto, Luca, and Wish Dragon are somewhere right behind it
My son loves Seal Team. And my wife loves that Seal plays a seal named Seal Seal who sings his own songs.
According to Accented Cinema, Nezhu Reborn is pretty significant folk lore (myth? I can't remember) for Chinese culture - maybe cultural heritage really affects how one sees that film.
I agree! I’d put Seal Team above Raya and the my little pony movie
3:56 fun fact: in this movie they actually left out a lot of the story from the original book from 2007. it was a huge underwhelming experience
Ah so wonderful to see your ranking and thoughts on the animated of last year. Personally I did enjoy the My Hero Academia film along with Stranger By The Shore as some of my personal favorites. Also Wish Dragon was very good and so underrated!
I have a feeling that now that this movie has come out, we're going to find out just how many people's "thing" "Well endowed bipedal deer" IS. God help us all but at least they're having fun.
I had no idea you could use "well-endowed" in a non-sexual context...
@@reasyrandom You're assuming anybody is going to be using it in a non sexual context.
I mean, I feel like Beastars should’ve clued us in that this is something loads of people want 😂
Honestly as a person who never watched mlp and expected the movie to be meh I watched it for lols but was pleasantly surprised, it definitely exceeded my expectations. Not the best movie I’ve seen that year, but also not that bad. I also like that they made the boy pony a part of the main cast and not a side character which movies of the same genre usually never do
52:02 That is also the case for some videogames! Guilty Gear Xrd, a popular fighting game, used a lot of techniques to create animation that looks alot like 2D while using 3D models and it looks great! Dragon Ball Fighterz also used that style.
Great list! I did NOT notice the similarities between Raya and MLP. I would understand more people comparing Raya with Avatar, as most people have probably seen Avatar over MLP.
I will disagree with your take in Sing 2, though. I will admit that I had low expectations when I saw the trailer. In true Illumination fashion, they played virtually all of the 3rd act in it. I still decided to see it and I'm glad I did. Thus far, it is my favorite movie of 2022 (I saw it in January). It was hilarious throughout and I really felt for the characters. Johnny in particular stood out to me because I've been there. Some people can be thrown in the deep end and learn just fine. Some can't. He is clearly the latter and so am I. My heart broke for Rosita when she lost her role and I cringed along with Meena whenever Darius was on-screen.
I saw more of an arch for these characters from the first and second movies. Rosita has a much more supportive family, Ash is no longer looking for the approval if a toxic boyfriend (or men, in general), Meena has conquered her stage fright, and Johnny has been accepted my his dad. Mike is also absent, which made me so happy. :-) Porsha was very unlikeable, but I didn't expect much from a spoiled brat that gets everything she wants (except love and attention from her father). Ms. Crowley will always be a queen and no one can convince me otherwise. :-D For me, the songs, the characters, and even the final act were huge improvements over the first movie. Seeing the movie in theaters, I felt the huge scale of the space performance. I definitely wasn't expecting to like this movie very much, but it far exceeded my expectations.
Yeah, now that I look back on it the 2020s have been REALLY good for animation!
Only amendment I would have made would be to add the feature length Centaurworld finale 1 rank below the Demon Slayer one. It may not have been marketed as a film but with some tweaking it really could have been! With the exception of 1 fakeout death the whole finale was a tragic, intense, dark, but still triumphant and fun conclusion to one of Netflix's underrated gems.
Did anyone else love the samurai bot-murdering mom moment in The Mitchells?
THATS MY FAVORITE MOMENT IN THE MOVIE! I laughed so hard at that scene. That and the furby invasion scene.
indeed
I love your yearly animated films lists because you always mention movies I haven’t heard of before that I end up enjoying
Honestly felt that Arlo whole have been better if they trimmed the cast and added some more stakes, but everything involving him and the giantess was blessed
I wholeheartedly believe that you're seriously an underrated film reviewer on this platform (Despite the sub count)
You really do your best work when you're trying your best to be as objective to these films as possible, so it feels more sincere when your opinions on certain movies are completely subjective
I admire your objectivity and your professionalism
theres so much missed potential with my hero acadamia, i think that the interactions between class 1A carry the show and i would love to see a side show focused primarily on them and their interactions, giving us more background information and focus on this strong cast
I am a huge MHA fan and I haven't seen the movie yet
Um why did I think Luca was 2020 film? Damn these past 3 ish years have been BRUTAL!
The Diary Of A Wimpy Kid books are basically It's always sunny in Philadelphia for kids
yesss, we finally get cellspex's thoughts on MLP ANG! time to watch this video before bed. c:
My personal ranking:
1. Luca
2. Mitchells vs. the Machines
3. Encanto
4. Belle
5. Wish Dragon (so glad I’m not the only one!)
6. Summit of the Gods
7. Cryptozoo
8. Flee
9. Vivo
10. Bombay Rose
11. Raya and the Last Dragon
33:30 “obtaining a bubbly, comedic sidekick” help, they even look similar 😭😂
I did like the mlp movie more than Raya
Can’t wait for Ice Age 6 to be in last place next year.
The scene in “out to the outback” where the barnacles pop out of the sharks teeth… I needed a few days after that.
Huh... Holy hell, the mention of Dragon Rider unlocked some kind of ancient memory that I did indeed read that book way back in the day. Don't remember much of the details, but I do remember how they defeated the big bad by spitting on him and setting it on fire.
I remember a lot from that book actually. The big bad was an alchemical dragon creation called Goldenrod and they killed him using rain. There was also a lot of anti-human racism and in the lore all the dragons are dead and turned to stone because they didn't get enough moonlight because they were hiding in a cave from goldenrod. Also there's furries who fly planes but they're more like bundles of fur like Kuriboh from Yugioh in the books than catgirls though I like the new designs better.
as someone who doesnt watch cartoons: wtf there are so many cartoons
Please never stop making these yearly rankings! I enjoy animation but unless it’s a Disney movie or sometimes Netflix I never really hear about them for some reason. I love finding new movies to watch and your list always gives me so many new ones to get into (and some to avoid lol).
My favorite animated movie was 100% mitchells vs the machines (which I have to give you and Cinemawins credit for introducing it to me). It came into my life at a very interesting time as I watched for the first time/fell in love with it a couple months before my father passed away. My dad and I had a very similar relationship vibe as the movie aka we don’t really understand each other but love each other all the same and watching the movie before and after he passed away hit differently but was still perfect. I know this movie will be in my top animated movies maybe forever.
Dang you write your scripts for your videos WAY better than how I would write a college essay 😂
I wish I understood why all the animated versions of the Adams Family seem so intent on making Gomez look like some kind of awful goblin monster. Like... do they even understand who he was portrayed by in the old TV show? The man was not only handsome, but adorable in his energeticness too.
But no, he has to be an ugly golem for some reason. Hot wife, ugly guy; those are the shitty animated sitcom rules and apparently we must live by them.
Fuck this movie(s).
I think the animators were trying to be more faithful to the original New Yorker designs by Charles Addams, the creator of the Addams family. You should check the drawings out. They’re pretty entertaining.
Ooh a 50 minute Cellspex vid? Let me go get my popcorn
So I just watched I Am What I Am and I'm genuinely sad that the Chinese government managed to create enough controversy to bury it. It wasn't the eyes, it was the plot. It shows how modern Chinese society absolutely beats the life out of you. Parents working dangerous jobs that don't allow them to see their families for years on end. Hazardous lifestyles where a boy has never worn a seatbelt. A TEENAGER with hopes and dreams forced to leave home and do dangerous, demeaning, and horribly paying jobs in the place of his parents.
It showed contemporary China's reality in painful detail, of COURSE they'd try to bury this film and get people to boycott. And they succeeded. Such a pain... Such a shame...
What's worse is nobody is talking about it, at all. It was really effective, I guess
I cant believe Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time’s creator actually reacted to the fan base and made a completely alternate ending. The creator knows that fan bases can be toxic so he gave them a little taste of their own medicine which i find hilarious.
This video severely underplays Luca which is deeply unfortunate. Also Mitchells doesn’t deserve to be as high as Encanto, the 3rd act betrayal as well as the resolution being more on Katie accepting and forgiving her dad sucks hard. I’m so grateful Encanto makes it clear that the responsibility is on the parents to earn forgiveness and evolve past generational traumas and biases - and I think Turning Red does it even better than both so WATCH TURNING RED FOLKS.
I love that you mentioned Belle! It shot right to the top of my list of fave movies of all time, and the songs have been playing in my head on repeat ever since I watched it. It was also the first movie in like a decade that made me tear up, which says a lot more about me than the movies I've been watching tbh.
It saddens me that a youtube channel dedicated to animation, hasn’t talked about Arcane yet
I like End of Evangelion but I loved the final Rebuild movie to death. Honestly the way I kind of approach the Evangelion endings is none of them are truly bad, all of them have their moments (even the original TV one) but it’s kind of like a video game with Good, Bad, and Neutral endings. Or at least that’s how I approach it/explain it to newcomers. Plus that and seeing it around the same time around Everything, Everywhere, All At Once was beneficial to my mental health that was more than just a way to vent like EOE was.