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The Top 100 – Animated Films – 40-21

The countdown moves on! This time around we go Batty for the Top 40. So join us in Episode 55 of the podcast to discover the awe and wonder that will be the GeekCast Radio Network’s Top 100 Animated Films Countdown. Be sure to leave your feedback in the various mentioned ways and as always “UNLEASH THE GEEK IN YOU!”

 

Geeks

Steve “Megatron” Phillips

Mike “TFG1” Blanchard

Kevin “OptimusSolo” Thompson

Dan “MovieRevolt” Clark

TV’s Mr. Neil

UNLEASH THE TOON IN YOU!!

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Steve "Megatron"

Co-Creator @GeekCastRadio | Creator @AlteredGeek | Voice Actor | Podcaster, Husband | Father | Web/Graphic Design | A/V Editor | Geek of Games, Tech, Film, TV.

81 Comments

    1. I really enjoy Tangled as well. It wasn’t me hating on it. It was a nice updating to the whole Repunzel thing

      1. Well, not so much hate as it being almost unanimous that you guys would bump Tangled out of the top 40. I’d bump Robin Hood WAY before I’d bump Tangled, I always thought Robin Hood was one of the lesser Disney films.

        1. I can’t remember what I said in the ep, but I’d only bump Tangled to Top 60. I really do love the film, but in a Top 100 list, and the way ours is shaping up Top 60 would be it for me. Hell right as I’m typing this I looked at my personal list, and bam there was Tangled at #65.

  1. Spirited Away outside of the top 10 is a travesty.

    Also, the amount of Tangled hate on the panel saddens me. It’s among my top five most loved animated films of all time though I wouldn’t rank it among the top five BEST, I still think it deserves to be in the top 40.

  2. Surprised to see so many classic Disney go down so early, and Spirited Away not in the top ten is a shock

  3. Surprised to see so many classic Disney go down so early and Spirited Away not in the top 10 is a shock

  4. Have to agree with the poster below about “Tangled”. I had it in the 50’s on my list but having seen it again since the voting was cast, I’d probably have it higher. Great voice cast, top animation, really good songs, and in the horse, Maximus, they have one of the all time best Disney side characters. As for the rest of the list this week? It’s about right. Looking forward to the grand finale. My number 1 is still in the hunt!

  5. Working it out in my head, the next ep will have a lot of Pixar 1995-2004, Disney 1989-1994 and a few oddities in between.

  6. Dumbo is one of my all time favorite Disney movies so I would have it much higher, glad to hear a lot of love for Land Before Time that movie is such a big part of my childhood

  7. I would say Akira and Spirited Away not in the Top; 20 is shocking, but based on the list so far they are actually higher than expected. Neil was a great addition to the podcast. Glad to hear more voices and more opinions. Awesome job guys!

  8. My personal favorite still has a chance! Let’s go Lion King. Number 1 for sure. Also I hope Jungle Book makes it. With only 20 movies left I’m worried

    1. I think a lot of people are worried about a lot of different movies at this point :)

  9. Not really getting the issue with Ratatouille? Its not my personal favorite, but just being based off rats and you don’t like it? I guess I could see that to a certain extent, but don’t know how it effects the quality of the movie.

    1. it’s the premise I take issue with. A guy can’t cook to save his life, yet here comes this disgusting rat who is the rat world’s wolfgang puck…? NO thanks, plus I guess I’ve seen too many episodes of Bar Rescue.

  10. Another great episode! It is sad to see some of the best Disney movies fall earlier than I expected. Lady in the Tap and Robin Hood are two I loved as a kid.

    Akira does deserve to be in the Top 10. Anime fan or not that movie change the game for sure

  11. I’ve never heard of Grave of the Fireflies. I’ll need to check that out.Aappears the Top 20 will be full of Pixar and Disney. Not surprising, but How to Train Your Dragon should be in the Top 20 also. It’s Dreamworks BEST Film.

  12. Tangled was a pleasant surprise. It’s right were it should be if not higher. Years from now people will look at that as the Little Mermaid of this generation that kicked off Disney taking the place as top of the Animated world again.

    1. I honestly agree with you there. Since Tangled Disney has been making better movies so maybe 10-15 years down the line people who give it even more credit.

    2. Yeah, I like Tangled a lot. I think it is worthy of being in the top 30. And it may very well be seen as a turning point for Disney, as you said.

  13. In the Despicable Me vs How to Train Your Dragon debate put me down on the side of How to Train Your Dragon. Despicable Me is cute and fun an all, How to Train Your Dragon is an epic story with amazing set pieces and sweet music.

    Also big ups for whoever laid the Sandlot reference when talking about Bambi. I was waiting for it, and I was glad to get it!

    1. Don’t get me wrong I enjoyed How to Train Your Dragon, it was just as you said. However I’ve stated in the past, that if something is hyped up to the point where that’s all everyone I know is talking about… I tend to avoid it, until later when I can enjoy it at my own pace.

      The same thing happened with the DM film. I loathed Steve Carrell as an on screen film actor. I just don’t care for his style of comedy. So when Despicable Me came along with his name on it… I avoided it like the plague!

      Then I found the Minions… who stole both the first and second film. Now I really love the franchise. Regardless of what anyone else says I love DM2… it’s a nice what happens next with those characters. I thought it was a natural evolution to the story the filmmakers were attempting to tell. Thanks for the feedback, hope you are enjoying the countdown!

      1. Your Steve Carrell aversion is the same reason why I haven’t watched any of the Kung Fu Panda movies, as Jack Black is the kryptonite to my Superman.

        1. See there are several things I do not mind Black in. But I do agree with you. Those films I do not mind him in, it’s when he’s not obnoxious or in a guest role. Stuff like The holiday (yeah you read that right!) Enemy of the State, and The Jackal!

          1. I rented DM2 for tonight, so I’ll see how it stacks up. As for Black, I agree with the ones you mentioned probably because he’s not too prominent. I also thought he did a great Orson Wells impersonation in “King Kong”.

          2. My issue with Black is he was in too much too quick. I do think he works better as a voice actor or singer than a acting lead.

          3. Can’t say that style bothers me. If it did, I’d be sick of Michael Fassbender and Ryan Gosling by now. It’s more the fact that he’s pretty much the same loud goof since High Fidelity”, apart from very few exceptions.

      2. Strange, don’t get how you could loathe Steve Carell. That guy has been in so many amazing things.

    2. I’m split between those two movies. Part of me really loves elements of both. But overall I have to agree that How to Train Your Dragon is better.

      1. I enjoyed Despicable Me more, but Dragon is very good. I am okay with them being ranked so closely because I have a hard time choosing between them. However, I do own Despicable Me and I don’t own Dragons.

  14. I was never a big Alice and Wonderland fan. It was Disney trying to do trippy and failing. Spirited Away certainty deserves higher just on acclaim, and Akira is waaaayyyy tooo low. That final action set piece is amazing even if you aren’t an amine fan you can appreciate it on scale alone

  15. I have been sitting on the sidelines just listening to the countdown. Didn’t want to say too much until I heard the entire list. Now with only 20 films left I wanted to make some comments about everything so far. For one I’ve loved this entire thing. The sheer mass of it, the discussion, and the execution have all been wonderful. So great job with
    all of that

    My only gripes, which are small, but I wish some of the opinions where more fleshed out. I understand something might have a great story, but that statement by itself doesn’t give me a great understanding of you opinion. I get many of these films you may have not seen for a while, so I’m not talking about long in-depth reviews. More just the why. Why you think it has a great story, or why you think this deserves to be placed number one. I forget who had the Batman movie as number 1, but I didn’t understand why exactly someone would place it that high. I wouldn’t by any means, and I am not saying you are wrong mind you. Just that I didn’t get a complete idea of why you would place it so high, and I would be interested to hear more of an explanation.

    More of you also need to see Spirited Away, not because of this list, but because its an amazing movie to experience. Even if you are not an anime fan I still think you can enjoy it.

    1. I did say that I ranked Wreck It Ralph #1 on my personal list because it was an awesome story. I also did say why I thought it was a good story. It doesn’t just have video game references, but tells a unique story with classic disney traits of storytelling in it. Plus the twist with Penelope’s power was a great way to turn it around. So I did elaborate a bit. In the future MWIRE will have a full review of Wreck It! Glad you are enjoying the countdown! Thanks for the support!

      1. Penelope is technically a Disney princess, albeit one that doesn’t fit the usual mould. Discuss.

        1. oh you dangled the bait out there didn’t ya! At least she is a Princess by birth, and not by arranged Froggy marriage!

          1. There is that! I thought it was a neat little twist. I also enjoyed Alan Tudyk’s homage to the Mad Hatter from “Alice in Wonderland”, plus that twist was also very clever too.

        2. The idea of Sarah Silverman being a Disney princess is something I would have never considered.

          1. I meant the character more than the voice, but I can definitely see where you’re coming from!

      2. Was Wrek It Ralph on this episode? I don’t believe I heard it discussed. I would love to hear that discusion though.

    2. Yea, the records end up fairly long so I guess we intentionally don’t get to in depth but will definitely take that into consideration for future countdowns. Thanks for the feedback and really glad you are enjoying the series! :)

      1. That is true. The time part does make it hard so I understand you why you can not go too indepth.

  16. Oh how the mighty have fallen. So many classic Disney take it on the chin. Dumbo? Man I was hoping at least top 20. Alice and Wonderland is much much higher than I expected.

  17. Akira is Top 20 worthy for sure. That movie set the standard for anime for so many people. Not to mention the pop culture impact it had across the globe.

  18. Akira should be much much higher. Same with Spirited Away. Both are Top 15 worthy for sure.

  19. I’m not sure who said it in this ep thread, but let me be VERY CLEAR! I DO NOT HATE anime, I find it is not my thing for the most part. I do not disrespect it either. HECK two of my fav 80s cartoons were based on anime in Thundercats and Voltron!

    So anime aint my bag, but I so totally respect it for what it has done.

    1. I like some anime, but I wouldn’t say I am a fan of it in the sense that a lot of others are. Still, the anime on this list are solid movies. And some of them have very good English dubs, like Princess Mononoke, which I actually believe you would like and you should definitely give it a try. Grave of the Fireflies is good, and I bought it sight unseen but I don’t know that I will re-watch it. Spirited Away is similar for me. Beautifully animated film, but not something I connected with initially. And I was impressed with Ninja Scroll. I like that older anime style and the fights are awesome. Just imagine the people as giant robots and you’ll love it. ;-)

      1. My only issue with some of the Disney english dubs of anime is how they litter the cast with big names instead of great voice actors. It’s not always bad, the worst offender for me is Billy Crystal in Howl’s Moving Castle. His performance in that took me out of the movie.

  20. I think Akira is good right where it is. It doesn’t need to be any higher.

    In the next episode, we talk about certain movies that get high rankings for being iconic. This is actually how I feel about Akira. I actually wouldn’t have minded if it was a little lower.

    I don’t hate the film at all. I’m just exasperated with its praise at times. I don’t feel that it’s be-all-end-all of anime films, and putting it in the top ten would be pants-on-head crazy. No way should it be anywhere near that high.

    1. Why would it be pants on head crazy? I disagree greatly. Also you are calling a lot of people crazy. Well to be true, based on the internet and anime fans in general that might be accurate. What do you see the top echelon of anime? I would put it there. There are few animated movies that had the impact that did, and I also love the movie.

      1. “There are few animated movies that had the impact that did”

        Whatever impact it had was relatively small. I’m not knocking the film, but I think it needs to be put into perspective. When Akira was first released in American theaters, it only made about a half million dollars (Box Office Mojo). Even the worst Disney films make more than that. Black Cauldron, for example, blows it away with a $23 million box office gross.

        I think Akira does command respect in the animation industry. It basically birthed western interest in Japanese animation. But the overall audience it drew has never been as large as what the American studios put out. Not even close.

        “What do you see the top echelon of anime?”

        Well, for starters, I’m not going to rank anime by production value. Not that you suggested this, but my experience has been that whenever I tell people what my favorite anime movies are, they immediately compare production value to Akira. There is no anime that I could rank higher than Akira that has anywhere near the production value.

        My view of Akira is that it’s an astonishingly beautiful film, but it’s so boring and esoteric. I’ve tried to explain the plot to people and only gotten confused stares. It’s not palatable for casual audiences at all. At two hours and two minutes, it’s too long for a movie that flies above most people’s heads.

        Now, if I’m going to suggest an anime which I believe is superior to Akira, one of my first recommendations is Roujin Z. It’s a movie whose plot can be summarized in two sentences. An elderly man is confined to a robotic hospital bed with an advanced, military-grade AI brain. It eventually becomes sentient and goes on a rampage through the city.

        That’s it. Once you get that, it’s an 80-minute absurdist comedy film filled with tons of light-hearted moments and silly, lovable characters. It doesn’t take itself nearly as seriously as the top anime picks that most people pick..

        The main reason I always counter Akira with Roujin Z is because it’s actually written by the same guy. It’s so completely different from Akira, and it shows that anime can be more than some heavy-handed allegory for why man should not mess with nature.

        What bothers me about anime is that every time I see a top ten anime list, it’s always Akira, Ghost In The Shell, and a bunch of Miyazaki films. And sometimes, if they want to be different, they’ll throw Perfect Blue onto the list. It just drives me crazy. They’re all beautiful, but I find most of them so boring.

        My favorite anime films are basically popcorn flicks, like Golgo 13, Project A-Ko, Megazone 23, Secret Of Mamo, Castle Of Cagliostro, Beautiful Dreamer, and even Cowboy Bebop The Movie. Most of these are kind of dumb movies, but they’re fun to watch. I prefer ANY of them to Akira.

        1. To judge a movie’s impact based on box office I’m not sure about that. Based on that logic Transformers is three times the movie as Blade Runner. I don’t know what DragonO meant by impact, but the number of total amount of people may be small, but the people it did it it hit hard. Your classic cult following. Akira is not alone by any means. A lot animation, surprised no one has said anything about Heavy Metal, has a cult following. And like mentioned in the podcast many of today’s most notable directors have indicated they have been influenced by movies like Akira.

          I see what you are saying about the plot of Akira. It’s not the most easy thing to get into, but I never found anything about it boring, and if it flies over people’s heads that’s on them not the movie. I’m all for straight forward dumb fun. I mean Dredd is one of my favorite movies of the last two years and its plot could also be summed up in two sentences. I still like it when a movie is esoteric as you say. I don’t have an issue with it if done right. Akira is done right. IHMO You can run into issues with being overly simplistic as well. Action for action sake as they say. You can have a movie about nothing. More of an exercise or just like you are watching a person playing a video game.

          Only movie you mentioned I have saw was Cowboy Bebop. I could see that making a list Not sure where though 50ish maybe.

          1. so according to your points about just simply needing a cult following and having HUGE impacts on small groups of people then you would have to argue that Transformers The Movie should also be Top 10 right?

          2. ummm no. As my point mentioned Akira has had impact on movies themselves that is far greater than that of Transformers. Transformers has fans no doubt, but the quality of that movie and Akira are not even in the same ballpark. Also the impact Akira had is a lot deeper than that of a movie like Transformers the Movie. Before you say anything I get they killed a character, but so what. So did Old Yellow, Bambi, and many other Disney movies. Akira was that first anime for a lot of people, and for many the only anime they have ever heard of. You could say that’s a bad thing I know. That it caused a lot of copycats and pigeon held anime for America in many ways. Again that also shows how much more far reaching that impact is when its effecting an entire section of the animated word. Good or bad. I don’t dislike Transformers mind you. It deserves Top 50, Top 10 is crazy crazy land.

            Not to mentioned that was only one point I made. Impact is part of Akira, but I also think its a wonderful movie. Groundbreaking or having a following doesn’t make you Top 10 worthy. (It doesn’t hurt of course) IF Akira wasn’t the movie it is in my mind I could care less about the impact it had. I love the story, don’t have any issue following it, I was never bored and always invested. Its one of those movies that made me think of the whole of animation in an entirely different light. Transformers has fighting robots, which are equally cool I’ll give you that. But its not an achievement in animation or story telling the way Akira is.

          3. I wasn’t literally saying I thought Transformers should be Top 10 ….

          4. Clearly Akira resonated within the animation industry, as I said, with both fans and creators alike. However, outside of seeing the motorcycle chase referenced in a number of cartoons, I didn’t see it making any sweeping changes in the animation industry.

            When Streamline pictures started putting out stuff like Vampire Hunter D and Ninja Scroll, those of us who were picking this stuff up were like, “Oh, there’s more of this stuff from Japan!” It was a very slow market growth, and Akira was only one component of that. But it stood out from the pack because it’s so visually arresting. Other than that, the movie just isn’t that special.

            The point you make about Transformers versus Blade Runner at the box office is largely irrelevent, because I wasn’t saying that box office absolutely determines a movie’s impact anyway. Blade Runner had a huge resurgence and is today recognized as a ground-breaking film, which is reflected in its performance in the home market. And again, Akira doesn’t even come close to it, nor does TFTM.

            The reason why I brought up box office is because I don’t think people realize just how small the anime market was, and it didn’t exactly explode in the wake of Akira. But Akira certainly drew interest. I’m not contesting that. But when someone says that something had a huge impact, a logical starting point to critique this statement is to look at box office. Sorry, but it didn’t do what people say. It was and still is a niche movie.

            And I think we dip into weasel words when we say that it impacted the small number of people who saw it. What does that even mean? You can say that about anything. Somewhere out there are people who think that The Room is brilliant satire.

            “…if it flies over people’s heads that’s on them not the movie.”

            Actually, no. That’s absolutely incorrect. It is the storyteller’s job to keep the audience engaged. I’m not saying that movies have to be idiot-proof, but I don’t know how anyone could say that it’s the audiences are at fault for their own disinterest. Like someone giving a speech, a film writer’s job is to apply structure so that his audience can actually make sense of his work.

            I think you’re letting your personal affinity for the film interfere with a more objective look at the movie, because honestly, if the movie was as grand as most anime fans say, then there shouldn’t be such a barrier to it in the west. I recognize that there was a stigma toward animation for a while, but that doesn’t completely explain why Akira underperforms. It just doesn’t resonate here, and I think it’s worth examining and critquing the film to discover why.

            If any film maker said, “it’s on the audience if they don’t understand my movie”, then that film maker isn’t going to be working for very long.

            And lastly, when people bring up the story in Akira and talk about how grand-breaking it was, I don’t think they realize just how much it cribs from the work of authors like Philip K. Dick. Ironic that you would bring up Total Recall and Blade Runner, actually.

            Not that there’s anything wrong with that. People often point to Transformers The Movie as being derivative of Star Wars. Nothing under the sun is ever new, it seems.

            But I don’t think the parts that Akira took from it fore-bearers are enough to give the movie the praise it gets. But at least I can say that Akira is worth watching. It just comes with a caveat that a general audience might find it a bit boring.

            I actually believe that Ghost In The Shell is a far worse offender in this regard, because it just straight-up rips off William Gibson’s book “Neuromancer,” as well as smatterings of Blade Runner and Total Recall. Again, not a problem for me, except that it gets credit for being a ground-breaking work of fiction. (And also because I think it’s a horrendously overrated film.)

          5. I agree with a lot of what you are saying but I had to
            jump in after reading this:

            “Actually, no. That’s absolutely incorrect. It is the storyteller’s job to keep the audience engaged. I’m not saying that movies have
            to be idiot-proof, but I don’t know how anyone could say that it’s the audiences are at fault for their own disinterest. Like someone giving a speech, a film”r’s job is to apply structure so that his audience can actually make sense of his work”

            Actually, no. You could not be more wrong (FYI just using
            strong language as it appears you tend to live in a world of absolutes when leaving comments :) ) Some of the greatest movies of all time are not going to appeal to a large audience. I don’t agree that accessibility is a requirement for achievement. In fact accessibility often inhibits achievement. Painting with broad strokes rather than taking chances. Obviously there are movies that are too ambiguous for their own good and suffer from self-indulgence. However, I’m not going to discredit a movie because people ‘don’t get it’. Nine times out of ten that is just a lazy criticism and less a byproduct of the movie and more the byproduct people use to being spoon fed.

            My question is what audience are you speaking of when you
            say it’s the filmmakers job to give them the tools needed to make sense of the work or to keep them engaged. That’s a shaky question to me. Is it general audiences, film lovers, film novices, or very astute felines with a taste for the dramatic? I agree a story should provide you’re the necessity information, but I’m also a big fan of limited storytelling and dislike the notion that movies should be one size fits all.

            Look at films like 8 ½ or Tree of Life. Two films I’ve
            watched in large audiences. My audience at Tree of Life generally loathed the movie, didn’t understand it at all, and I heard many people questioning what they just watched. I would argue this misreading or displeasure of the film is not a failure of the filmmaker by any means. People are used to getting satisfaction through narrative, and that not what Terrence Malik has any interest in. So are when then saying he didn’t provide the tools needed, or is it a failure on the audience to accept anything but the norm.

            “If any film maker said, “it’s on the audience if they don’t understand my movie”, then that film maker isn’t going to be working for very long.”

            Again I don’t think that is really true at all. Stanley Kubrick, Lars von Trier, Paul Thomas Anderson, Nicolas Winding Refn, Darren Aronofsky, Terrence Malik, David Lynch, Harmony Korine, and many more directors have made quite the career out making movies that most audiences don’t get. Kubrick was adamant about not really caring about if audience didn’t get his movies. Like his movies or not you can’t argue the power of his career.

            You will never achieve greatness as a filmmaker if you are worried you are going to leave people behind. You’ll be treading water forever.

          6. I think you’re both wrong actually…and both right. It seems one of you is in favor of one extreme and the other the other extreme. I like mine at neither extreme actually

          7. Like I said, I’m not saying that movies have to be idiot-proof and that directors have to hold the audience’s hand. I’m just saying I believe in structure and accessibility.

            I think my point is being generalized into “esoteric movies are bad”, when I had only listed that as one example of why audiences may not take interest in a film. Other factors are lentgh, pacing, character development. It’s a combination of factors. Not just being hard to understand.

            You can make a great movie out of a subject that is difficult to understand. But it’s also much easier to make a bad movie out of it.

            More than anything, though, what usually kills a movie for me is the length. It better be a damn good movie for me to sit there for two hours.

            Actually, I think most movies made today are way too damn long.

          8. Perhaps I did overly generalize your point, and I think we agree more than we realize. I guess I need clarification on what you mean by accessibility. Do you me accessible to you personally, or generally accessible to the massive. If it’s personally I have no issue, if it’s the ladder I have to disagree. I could not care less if 80% of the world despises a movie like Valhalla Rising because it’s too slow, too weird, and there’s barely any dialogue. For me that doesn’t detract from the movie at all.

            For me is about all about intentions. If a film is about characters, and is lacking in character development than of course it’s a failure. But if an auteurs is using film as medium to explore different visual motifs or deconstruct cinematic tropes or explore egocentric ideals I don’t have issue if the plot lacks structure or the characters are hallow shells. I may not always like the movie mind you, but I’m all for not abiding by expectations. Not all
            movies have interest in constructing narratives or telling a story, which is what I love about movies. The possibilities are endless. Again, this could just be me bringing in my own baggage and may have nothing to do with the point you are making, as I go off on this tangent.

            If anything I’m probably too overly patient as a movie watcher, and I find myself gravitating more and more to longer-slower movies. God I feel like I’m the old guy yelling at the kids on my lawn about their fast pace movies with all their fancy special effects. I do agree there is an epidemic recently of movies that are way too long for their own good. Why we have so many two hour comedies still boggles my mind some.

            I guess when I hear words like accessibility or structure the word that pops in my head is limitations, and I’m discovering that is a pet-peeve of mine-limiting filmmakers. Of course I’m not saying that is what you are attending, it’s just the twisted things that go on in my head sometimes.

  21. Well no Jungle Book yet. Please let it make the countdown. I didn’t expect it to make Top 20, but it hasn’t been said yet so it is either Top 20 or not on the list. If not on the list that would be a travesty.

    I’m somewhat disappointed that the Top 20 appears it will just be Pixar and Disney with many a Dreamworks in there. I was hoping more offshoots would make it higher. Hopefully Iron Giant makes it someplace. Its Top 10 worthy for sure.

      1. I can not wait for it! Is it coming out this week? Or you taking a break for Turkey day?

  22. I’ve never seen or perhaps I should say heard anything quite like this before. Massively impressed with all this. Its been a lot of fun to listen to

    1. thanks! Glad ya liked it!!! Check out the Top 100 Animated Series Countdown as well!!!

  23. Thought we would see more Pixar this episode. Saving the best for last I presume. Hopefully one classic Disney cracks the top 10 and Iron Giant needs to show up some place for sure.

  24. Great episode. I’m eager to hear the top twenty, which is probably going to be heavy on Disney and Pixar, but that’s okay. We still have The Iron Giant in there, and I’m hoping it ranks well (top 10). I wish The Secret of NIMH had ranked higher, but it’s not in a bad spot. Glad to see Mask of the Phantasm in there and getting a reasonable ranking too. Ratatouille is a good film, and I ended up enjoying it more than I expected, but I, like Dan, would say it is a middle-of-the-road Pixar effort. I need to watch it again, but it just didn’t connect with me the way that other films in their catalogue did.

    So last night I watched the Sword in the Stone on Netflix and I was not that impressed. My wife and I were pretty excited about watching it. I had never seen it and she is a fan of the Arthurian legend. So much of that movie was Merlin turning them into animals, and I expected it to take a different direction. My wife said that those were opportunities for Arthur to learn many lessons and gaining independence, but I didn’t like how they told that story. So after seeing it I would rank it back in the 80’s or 90’s. If you like it, that’s fine. Watching as an adult it just didn’t resonate with me, and it dragged on at times.

    I do want to revisit Pinnochio after the good things that were said about it by the panel. That’s one of the things I love about these shows is that it helps me (re)discover things.

    1. Archimedes is the saving grace of that film, especially here:

      And I was always quite taken with the opening song:

  25. Another great episode. It’s like clockwork. Listening to this episode was the biggest memory trip so far. So many of my favorite classic disney movies going down right after another. No issue with where they fell. Just surprised on how back to back they were.

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