Ceasing the ill-treatment of these creatures is the life’s work of Lauren Gray (Lake Bell), who tracks down abused and injured cryptids and transports them to the Cryptozoo-a live-in amusement park in San Francisco where these beings are put on display or employed, depending on their proximity to human aptitude.
The universe presented in cartoonist/writer/director Shaw’s film-animated in a style that feels like a graphic novel come to life-is our collective memory of the ’60s counterculture movement, but with one key reality-shattering amendment: Every fabled creature from human folklore walks among us, seldom seen but perpetually hunted due to their high demand on the black market. Interested in interrogating the exploitation of fantasy and imagination for human consumption, Shaw’s psychedelic, patently adult animated feature brings daydreams into the pointedly violent and bleak reality that its genre contemporaries are privy to ignore. Encanto isn’t the flashiest or most heartbreaking of the more traditional Disney musicals, but it’s crisp and smart-and its miracles might linger with you longer than you expect.- Jacob Ollerĭash Shaw’s vibrantly animated Cryptozoo explores the oft-fantasized premise of cryptids and humans coexisting, pulling more from Jurassic Park than typical mainstream animated counterparts like Zootopia. A shockingly versatile lead performance from Stephanie Beatriz, who sings and charms and jokes like she’s been a Disney princess before, and a few great supporters (John Leguizamo’s put-down prognosticator steals every scene) keep the already light tale moving briskly along. Directors Jared Bush and Byron Howard craft a mature story of family strife that won’t scare off kids, packaging it all neatly and specifically into the Colombian jungle. Beneath the hyper-Miranda songs (“Surface Pressure” gives in most deeply to his writing tics, but “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” showcases just how good he is with catchy complexity) and the heightened realism of its characters lurks a lush fairy tale haunted not by evil witches or dastardly dragons but by the hardships of the past and fears for the future. Here are our picks for the 10 best animated movies of the year:īoth Disney and Lin-Manuel Miranda had better showings this year ( Raya and the Last Dragon In the Heights), but Encanto’s blessings-like those of Mirabel, the only member of the Madrigal family without magical abilities-are enjoyably subtle. If you simply like cartoons, we’ve got something for you here too. Nevertheless, there is something here for everyone, whether you’re looking to take a risk on something weird and delightful, whether you’re young or old, whether anime novice or hardcore devotee.
You can’t shut out the juggernaut that is Disney, but with that company’s focus shifting so decidedly to the live-action/animated blend of superheroes, it feels like their family animation and that of its subsidiary Pixar has been demoted.
But with a few incredible films in 2021-ranging from blissful mountaineering to a box office juggernaut to an oddball passion project to the end of an Evangelion era-the year of animation was also, when looked at for quality, a year of anime. It also doesn’t usually carry the same quality connotations as a bonafide Disney Product. Outside of the beloved work by Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli, anime can get a bad rap among the hardcore cinema crowd.
0 kommentar(er)
