Most Surprising Animatied Movie

[Casual Shinji]

Tangled

After the horrendous shit that was The Princess and the Frog, and the crappy marketing making it look like a retarded snarkfest a la Shrek,
I didn't expect much of the next Disney princess movie, but Tangled was truly a return to form.

Also having one of the most tightly written scripts I've ever seen.

Kudos!

 

[otakon17]

Spirited Away. I saw some sketches in an Anime magazine once with a paragraph describing the basic premise and who's doing it. I thought it sounded childish and simple, God was I wrong. It's a damn good movie, PERIOD. An honorable mention is One Piece, since it also had a childish premise and childish character designs to boot. But, it is an adventure filled with more raw emotion and action than any other animated show being made today if you ask me.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Paprika, it sort of like a crazy version to Inception but it so awesome. It's a highly details and a colourful anime film. Don't get me started on the sound track, it so bizzzare but beautiful aswell.

 

[Terminate421]

Rio.

No seriously, that movie was great. It wasn't How to Train your Dragon or Ratatouille great but it certainly is the best from Blue Sky animation studios.

Its a nice colorful break from other crap thats been released.

Also, I like Jesse Eisenburg.

Here's a trailer as well (Do not be intimidated by "From the creators of Ice Age"):


Be warned however:

There are some cliche's
Its pretty family friendly (But hardly any possible pop cultural references)
It has songs, the intro and outro I don't count them as much because animated movies use them alot, the villian song is the actual bad one. Another is just some love song and another is just a character building song.

EDIT UNRELATED TO RIO:

How to Train Your Dragon got me back into Dream Works, after years of crap it was the most surprising movie ever from them. Better than most pixar movies. Tied for 5th on my top ten movies ever list with Ratatouille and the Toy Story franchise.

Megamind is my second favorite from Dreamworks but nowhere near my top 10.

 

[sukotsuto]

Not movies, but some Soviet-era animation. When US animation started to become really low-budget aimed for kids during the 70s and 80s, they made it into a f**king art form.

 

[[Kira Must Die]]

The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya. I went in expecting a cheap cash in, and ended up with one of the most beautiful, engaging anime film in recent years. Also, The Rebuild of Evangelion movies. I expected recaps, but got something that might be better than the original series.

On the opposite end, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. I went in expecting a masterpiece, and instead got a movie that was just "Okay."

 

[RussetRanger]

Batman: The Mask of Phantasm. It is pretty unnusal for a kid's animated film (as was the show it was based on), with a structure that did not follow conventional narrative. As well as that, there were a lot of themes that adults could grasp that would have gone over kids' heads.

Watership Down. Let's just say it aint anything Thumper would be in.

Spirited Away. Tantamount to no flaws, like Alice in Wonderlands meets coming of age.

 

[octafish]

Yes you can say it suprised me.

 

[tombman888]

How to train your Dragon

I have no idea why, i was skeptical about it since my friend showed me the trailer for it, but after watching it once, it sort of became a ritual to watch it every afternoon... God i loved that movie

 

[nothingspringstomind]

Urotsukidoji.

DO NOT go into that movie without knowing anything about it first.

 

[bl4ckh4wk64]

Obligatory Finding Nemo statement.

Other than that, the two that stand out to me the most right now are Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, and every movie every made by Hayao Miyazaki, especially Castle in the Sky and Spirited Away.

 

[That_Sneaky_Camper]

Despicable Me was a surprise for me. When I saw the trailers it came off as too campy but I was surprised when I watched it with my nephew and niece that it actually had some pretty decent characterizations, heartwarming moments, and very clever humor. I was actually hoping it would last longer by the time the ending came around and I hope they make a sequel eventually.

 

[ZiggyE]

Hand drawn for 7 strait year with a thousand animators.

Redline was exceptional.

On topic: I'm going to have to say Tokyo Godfathers. That film blew me away, even for Satoshi Kon. Might as well put Voices of a Distant Star on there to.

 

[krection]

You know what? I know I'm going to get a LOT of negative feedback for this, but I really liked Sonic the movie.I thought that was great and nothing you will say will change my mind! Flame on trolls.

 

[RussetRanger]

Urotsukidoji.

DO NOT go into that movie without knowing anything about it first.

*skims Wikipedia article*

PASS! PASS!

*shudders*