Film Junk Poll: What is the Best Non-Pixar CG Movie?
I have to admit, nowadays I hold a bit of a bias against any computer animated movies that aren’t produced by Pixar. There are just so many CG flicks coming out that it’s impossible to keep them all straight, and without the Pixar seal of quality, I’ll rarely take a risk on seeing a movie if it looks like something I’ve seen a million times before. (Heck, I still haven’t seen Kung Fu Panda in spite of all the great reviews.) The ironic thing is that a lot of the other animation studios are really stepping up their game as of late. They’re no longer ripping off Pixar, instead they’re doing their own thing, and doing it well. With Bolt hitting theatres this weekend, I thought it would be a good time to survey Film Junk’s readers about the best non-Pixar CG films. Once again I had to narrow the poll down to 10 options, but feel free to add any other noteworthy titles in the comments below!
Comments (12)
Wow, that’s some slim pickin’s. To be fair, I’ve only seen Beowulf, Ice Age and Shrek. So I picked Beowulf, because I just don’t hate it as much as the other two.
Posted by Matt on November 21st, 2008Shrek by far. The sequels weren’t the greatest, but the first one was really good, especially for it’s time. I felt like it set a new bar for CG movies.
Posted by joe on November 21st, 2008I picked Monster House because that floating “continuous take” in the final sequence is one of the only full CG moments that actually takes advantage of the fact that any “shot” is possible with CG.
Posted by Ryan M. on November 21st, 2008Monster House was awesome. Shrek was one of the biggest piles of shit every made.
Posted by theman on November 21st, 2008Monster House, Beowulf, and Kung Fu Panda were all fantastic in their own rights. Shrek was good when first released, but time hasn’t been very kind to it.
Posted by MrCavanagh on November 21st, 2008“Wow, that’s some slim pickin’s. To be fair, I’ve only seen Beowulf, Ice Age and Shrek.”
When you’ve seen only 30%, maybe “slim pickens” is an unfair term, even with your disclaimer
(ratings out of ten)
Kung Fu Panda – 9/10
Happy Feet – 7/10, but in many ways I admire it more than that score. It’s a much weirder movie than I expected.
Antz – 8/10, Dreamworks’ first movie promised so much more from this company. It’s more adult and while the overcasting seemed like shades of bad things to come, in Antz it fits pretty well.
Shrek – 4/10. I friggin hate Shrek. That said, I’ve seen the first 2 and enjoy them well enough the first time, and then on second viewing they reveal how truly shitty they are. The sort of “camera work” especially compared to so many other CGI films is extremely weak.
TMNT – 6/10 – Its Ninja Turtles so I tend to bias toward them… that said I’ve already forgotten nearly everything about this.
Monster House – 9/10 – Like Shrek, I feel this could have maybe been better in 2d, but as it is, its still a pretty good, well written story, that I can go back to again and again.
Ice Age – 5/10 – the second half is better than the first, maybe even doubly so, as the first half is the most boring thing I’ve seen in this style. I’m still surprised its managed to generate sequels.
Posted by Goon on November 21st, 2008and Sean, I’d pretty much bet money that you’d love Kung Fu Panda. Its the best use of Jack Black since School of Rock to showcase what he does best and the action scenes are better than 99% of action movies. Its also pretty short and tight, it never outstays its welcome.
Posted by Goon on November 21st, 2008I love TMNT, the action is great and I love the ridiculous concept of Ninja Turtles.
I nominate The Price of Egypt, because of Ralph Fiennes, Hans Zimmer, and the effects crew. What a fucking grandiose story, beats the shit out of any pixar greedy chef wants revenge or insulted fanboy wants revenge story. But for me you could pretty much leave the non-Pixar part out of this, and keep the list the same.
Posted by Henrik on November 22nd, 2008Oh, Shrek is horrible shit, but Ice Age pleasantly surprised me. I love the DO-DO sequence, and (go figure) I got emotional the first time I watched the cave paintings sequence, but it never did anything for me when I watched the film again.
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