It’s that time again: “Top 13 Lists” time!
I really enjoy making these, although they take forever to make; but the best things in life require the most effort!
What’s the topic of today’s list? Well, you know how we all have that one movie or movies that everyone seems to love, like, or at least enjoy; but we just don’t like? Well, that’s the topic of this list!
Inspired by Doug Walker of “The Nostalgia Critic” fame,
this is “My Top 13 Animated Movies That I Don’t Like, But Everyone Else Does”!
I find it an interesting subject and should lead to a fun list! But, a few cautions before we proceed:
1) I find myself switching back and forth between opinions as much as one changes clothes. So this is my list as of late February 2013. I’m sure I’ll look back at this list in a few months and wonder why my #8 wasn’t #4 or my #2 wasn’t #10 or something like that! So just keep that in mind!
2) What do I mean when I say that everyone else loves these movies? Am I referring to what critics think of the films? Or am I referring to what the average moviegoer thinks of the film? Well, I kinda take both into consideration. These are all films that critics have generally given positive reviews for and the vast majority of audiences have displayed their liking for.
and 3) Are these listed by how much I hate them? Not really! I don’t think I really HATE any of these movies, but many of them I do feel a certain level of dislike for! But, the main factor in ranking these movies is the question, “How soon would I re-watch this film?”. So basically movies near the bottom of the list I would more soon re-watch as opposed to movies near the top of the list.
With that out of the way, I hope you enjoy this “Top 13” list! Why top 13? Because I’m not superstitious!
Let’s begin!
#13: LILO AND STITCH (2002)
Yeah, I think you can all see that this list is gonna include many of your cherished loved ones! Ok, so why don’t I like “Lilo and Stitch”?
I personally found it boring, somewhat stupid, and a little bit weird. You have the story of a young girl named Lilo adjusting to life with her older sister as her guardian after her parents die in a car accident. And then you have a story of a genetic experiment gone wrong named Stitch, who escapes from capture and lands, accidentally, on the planet Earth. And then you have these two characters meeting and bonding with one another.
The story itself never thrilled me, and just seemed too simple and done-to-death and at the same time too weird to comprehend, so that’s where most of the boredom came from. I’m also not a fan of what I call Disney’s “background songs”, which are songs playing in the background like in “Tarzan”; and this film has its share of those. If I want to hear a Disney song, I expect it to be a musical, and I expect it to be sung by the characters; otherwise it bores me, as this movie did!
I also never liked the characters. Lilo was too much of a little brat,
and Stitch wasn’t all that funny or cute. He was just plain weird in my opinion. I never liked Pleakly, I never got into Dr. Jumba, and I can barely remember the side characters.
The reason that this film in all the way at number 13 is because I’ve only seen this film once. And I’m hoping that when I re-watch this film for my “Disney Canon-Forgotten/Minor Characters Project”, I may like it, similar to how I did with “Tarzan”. I had only seen “Tarzan” once, didn’t like it, but after re-watching it a second time, loved it and became one of my top 13 favorite animated Disney films!
So, this film has a chance to come off this list, but as for the moment, it remains here!
#12: WALL-E (2008)
Yeah, you’re gonna hate me by the time we reach the end of this list!
I don’t usually watch films in the theaters; I usually wait until they’re released to DVD and then watch them. But this Pixar film is one of the few that I actually DID go to the theaters to watch. And…I did kinda like it, but I don’t like it as much as everyone else did. And very soon the “kinda liking” turned into being neutral about it which turned into dislike.
I found it kinda boring and slow. The near lack of dialogue in the first half of the movie is done very well, but still didn’t hit the “amazing” levels for me! The romance between Wall-E and Eve was sweet, but give me Johnnie Fedora and Alice Bluebonnet any day!
The second half had interesting robotic characters and quite weird-looking human ones. The appearance of a live-action man really threw the movie out of balance for me.
The climax where the overweight humans have to learn to walk again seems somewhat stupid and quite rushed.
So, you may be wondering if I actually did somewhat like this movie at one time, why do I place “Lilo and Stitch” which I didn’t like AT ALL underneath this one? Well, like I said, this list isn’t really based on how much I hate the movie, but rather on how soon I would re-watch the film. “Lilo and Stitch”, as I’ve said, I have to re-watch when I get to it in my “Disney Canon-Forgotten/Minor Characters” project, and I’m actually looking forward to seeing it again to hopefully make me like the movie.
But as for “Wall-E”, I’m quite satisfied with having seen it once, don’t plan to see this again any time soon, and quite frankly, not really interested in changing my views regarding it. So with that said, “Wall-E” stays in the 12th position!
#11: KUNG FU PANDA 2 (2011)
I loved “Kung Fu Panda”! It was one of my favorite Dreamworks Animation films, definitely one of my top 5! So, when the sequel was announced, I was of course excited! Then when I actually saw the movie, I was extremely let down! Why?
Well, one thing that bothered me was what seemed to be a lack of kung fu. Don’t get me wrong, they had lots of fighting and action scenes. But the purpose of learning kung fu in the first film was for Po to defeat the villain who was a master in the art. In this film, the villain is not a kung fu master, and rather wins battles and fights through the use of weapons rather than martial arts! And when the majority of fighting has to take place between the heroes and the villain, and the villain doesn’t fight, it just creates bad and disappointing fight sequences!
“An Academy Award nomination, Lord Shen!”
Another thing that bothered me was the back story of the villain and hero. The villain gets a dream that a panda will bring him to his ruin. He then orders all pandas to be killed. One panda bear, the hero, is left somewhere safe by his mother and grows up. And in the end, the panda does bring the villain to his doom. The problem with this story is it’s the exact story of the Prophet Moses!
I’d have much preferred if the story had been 100% new and original! Or if they had to use the Prophet Moses story, they could have at least acknowledged the use of it somewhere in the credits or something!
The final thing that bothered me was the inclusion of new voice actors and characters that I think were just there for celebrity status. These included Jean-Claude Van Damme, Victor Garber, Danny McBride, and Michelle Yeoh. When I heard most of these voices, I couldn’t hear the characters, I could just hear the celebrities at the microphone pretending to be the characters. And one thing I’m not a fan of is the use of celebrities in voice roles when the only reason they’re there is just to give the film celebrity names.
I really don’t wanna see this movie again any time soon. And a “Kung Fu Panda 3” is planned for release in 2016; so I pray that it pleases me more than this film did!
#10: UP (2009)
Hey don’t blame me! I told you many of your cherished loved ones would be on this list!
When I first saw this movie, I didn’t like it. It was slow, boring, and uneventful. Then a few months ago, I decided to re-watch it hoping that maybe now that I’m older, I’ll probably enjoy it a bit more and possibly even like it! So, I watched it and…it didn’t change my perception of the film at all!
Don’t get me wrong, like I said earlier, I don’t HATE any of the movies on these lists; but I don’t LIKE them either! I was soooo surprised when “Up” was nominated for “Best Film” at the Oscars! It became the 2nd animated film to be nominated for “Best Film” after “Beauty and the Beast”, and I couldn’t for the life of me understand why.
The story about an old man wanting to fulfill his late wife’s dream of having a house by an Angel Falls knock-off just seemed so boring! The characters were likable, I agree; but the plot was boring! It was soo slow! I’m sorry that I’m repeating this over and over again, but it’s true!
Not only was the plot boring, but sometimes ludicrous! You got these dogs with voice boxes attached to them, and one of them has an “Alvin Chipmunk”-style voice as comic relief!
Then you have an explorer who the old man used to adore when he was a young boy, and somehow they’re both the same age!
I don’t know what else to say about this movie: slow, boring, and quite holey in its plot!
#9: THE GOOD DON BLUTH MOVIES [THE SECRET OF NIMH (1982), AN AMERICAN TAIL (1986), THE LAND BEFORE TIME (1988)]
Well, if you’ve been reading my posts, you know by now that I’m not a fan of Don Bluth films! I never grew up with them, so I have no nostalgic factor regarding them; and ever since I was young, I developed a sort of naive perception regarding him that he was a Disney traitor for leaving the company, taking animators with him, and forming his own, lol!
Now in Don Bluth filmography, you have two periods: his good era and his bad era. His bad era is comprised by his later films such as “Thumbelina”, “Rock-a-Doodle”, “The Pebble and the Penguin”, etc. His good era is comprised of his early films and there’s almost unanimous praise for them! I’m the reason that it’s not fully unanimous!
Let’s look at each of these films one at a time:
We start with the first film made by Don Bluth in his new studios, “The Secret of NIMH”! From what I can remember, the film is about genetically enhanced mice who develop powers to have their own civilization and dabble in science, religion, and superstition or something like that!
Yeah, I can’t quite remember this film too much, I just remember that I found it somewhat boring and there was an annoying crow voiced by Dom DeLuise.
Don Bluth’s second film and arguably his first hit, “An American Tail”, became the highest-grossing non-Disney animated film! It also out-did Disney’s animated film of the year, “The Great Mouse Detective”!
I saw this for the first and only time a few months ago, and honestly I was quite interested in it in the beginning. When it starts, the film seems to be about the persecution of Russian/Jewish mice and their fleeing to America for a better life! I was hoping to actually enjoy this film!
Then the rest of the film came and just got stupid. The main mouse gets separated from his family and has to find them back. During this search, he bumps into a lot of pointless and weak characters and another pointless Dom DeLuise character complete with a song number!
Don Bluth’s third film was the even bigger hit, “The Land Before Time”! This broke box office records and became the highest-grossing animated film EVER!
Yeah, you heard me; this made more money than any animated Disney film had ever made at the time!
And this is another film I didn’t like because I found it slow and boring as well! I saw this once years ago and from what I can remember, it’s about a young dinosaur named Littlefoot whose mother passes away and he has to migrate to the Great Valley where all the dinosaurs can live happily ever after! On the way, he makes new friends and starts the beginning of a film franchise!
The lack of dialogue and somber-ness of the film made it slow and boring to me, I think! I actually quite enjoy its bazillion sequels, but I just can’t get myself to liking the original.
The last good era Don Bluth film was “All Dogs Go To Heaven”. I didn’t include this one because, believe it or not, I actually like this one and consider it my favorite Don Bluth film!
But, knowing my opinion of Don Bluth and his films, that’s not saying much!
Anyway, Don Bluth is an amazing animator, but I don’t agree that he’s an amazing filmmaker!
#8: THE “SHREK” MOVIES (2001, 2004, 2007, 2010)
Ok, I understand that technically only the first two Shrek films are unanimously loved and the other 2 are not! But the “Shrek” characters and franchise themselves are pretty much unanimously loved by all, so that’s why I include all four movies here, instead of just the first two!
“Shrek” was definitely a big step in animation and made parody and comedy popular genres for current animation to immerse themselves in. And I think that’s why I don’t like it. It’s just too much parodying, too much comedic mocking, etc. I honestly rather prefer a heartfelt animated film that has no funny moments as opposed to a film that’s constantly a parody/comedy.
These movies also fall into the “celebrity voices” syndrome, in which celebrities who are not talented voice actors take the reins and voice characters just to give the film “celebrity credibility”, when professional voice actors are much more equipped for the job. This is especially noticed in the latter sequels when you have Larry King, Regis Philbin, and Justin Timberlake among others voicing characters.
I don’t know really what else to say. I just never liked these movies and don’t think I ever will.
#7: PUSS IN BOOTS (2011)
Well as you’ve probably guessed, if I didn’t like the “Shrek” movies, then I didn’t like the “Puss in Boots” film! Well, you’d be right, but for the wrong reasons! I actually liked the character of Puss in Boots somewhat from the “Shrek” series, and with the absence of the other “Shrek” characters, I was hoping that I’d enjoy this movie! I did not!
The movie seemed interesting during the initial 10 minutes or so, and then just went downhill from there! There was sooo much talking between the characters and not as much doing! There were sooo many back stories! There was a weak villain with even weaker motives! The ending I found to be disappointing! I can’t even remember much details from this movie! I don’t like it, that’s it!
#6: MADAGASCAR: ESCAPE 2 AFRICA (2008)
I was never fond of the “Madagascar” franchise, although I did like it a lot more than I did the “Shrek” franchise! I at least love one of the films in the franchise (Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted) as opposed to not liking any in the “Shrek” franchise! But, the second film of this franchise falls into the topic of this list: Everyone loves it, I don’t!
First of all, the premise seemed stupid. They went from the island of Madagascar to the continent of Africa, presumably Southern Africa! I mean, besides different types of animals living there, there’s not much of a cultural difference between the two places to elicit the need for our main characters to get used to this “new, unexplored region”!
Secondly, the romance between Melman and Gloria seemed stupid as well as some pointless celebrity voices such as will.i.am and Alec Baldwin. I didn’t mind Bernie Mac too much, he was surprisingly good, but the rest of the new characters weren’t!
And thirdly, this is the film where the franchise started to focus on Alex the Lion as the main characters and his three compadres as lesser companions, in my opinion at least. And I could’ve taken Melman and Gloria as minor characters, but I thought Marty the Zebra should have been given equal time and equal focus as Alex; after all he’s the reason that they’re all out of the New York Zoo and gallivanting across a new continent! They do that in the first film and they do focus on Marty in this film, but it feels much less when compared with Alex.
All in all, I don’t like this movie!
#5: ANTZ (1998)
Wow, 5 Dreamworks Animation films, well technically 8, already on my list?! That’s unfortunate!
Let me make it clear, I don’t hate Dreamworks Animation! I love them more than say Blue Sky Studios or some other company like that! I love “Kung Fu Panda”, I love “How to Train Your Dragon”, etc. It just happened that there are a few Dreamworks Animation films that everybody loves, but I just happen to not like! May I continue now?
Thank you! Now, first of all let me say that I’m not even getting into the Jeffrey Katzenberg debate about him stealing Pixar’s idea about making an animated film based on insects!
With that out of the way, let’s see why I don’t like this film! One big problem for me was the animation! This is the second fully CGI animated film after “Toy Story”, but none of the characters look real in my opinion! They look like clay models in the midway point of animating a character!
Secondly, the usual problem with many animation studios: celebrity voices! We have Woody Allen, Jennifer Lopez, Sylvester Stallone, Sharon Stone, and Christopher Walken in this film! As much as I love Christopher Walken, he doesn’t work for this film, just like the other celebrities don’t!
And thirdly, the story! I can’t quite remember the story fully, but from what I DO remember, there’s an ant who…umm…meets the princess, I think…then somehow joins the army…then they get out of the ant colony looking for an “ant haven” which happens to be a garbage area…then they go back to stop a coup d’état! It’s kinda like “Bee Movie” in the sense that the plot just keeps jumping around; but at least “Bee Movie” kept me interested and entertained!
I’ll watch “A Bug’s Life” an infinite number of times, but I won’t watch this again…probably!
#4: THE “ICE AGE” MOVIES (2002, 2006, 2009, 2012)
Again, I know this is like the “Shrek” franchise in which only a few of the “Ice Age” movies are loved by all, not all the movies; but the “Ice Age” premise and characters seem to be loved by all, so that’s why I’m including all of them in this position!
Why don’t I like them? The main reason I think is the same recurring theme of this post: celebrity voice actors! And Blue Sky Studios are the kings of putting celebrities in voice roles just because they’re celebrities! I haven’t even seen the fourth movie yet, but just hearing that Drake, Nicki Minaj, Keke Palmer, Jennifer Lopez, Rebel Wilson, Joy Behar, Kunal Nayyar, Aziz Ansari, etc. are in it is enough to turn me off!
I really have nothing else to say besides that the films and characters never did anything for me and that the celebrity voices were too darn noticeable!
#3: SPIRIT: STALLION OF THE CIMARRON (2002)
I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I promise you that this is the LAST Dreamworks Animation film on the list!
Ok, why don’t I like this movie? It’s about a horse! I don’t really get into horse movies! I tried watching “War Horse” and stopped after I got bored halfway through!
Another reason is that it’s pretty much dialogue-less! I don’t really get into dialogue-less, unless it’s like a silent black-and-white film or something!
Those are two big reasons for me of why I don’t like this film! I have pretty much no plans of seeing this movie ever again! End of Discussion! Moving on!
#2: WINNIE THE POOH (2011)
WAIT! Let me clarify! I absolutely adore the characters of the “Winnie the Pooh” franchise! I love generally all the Pooh movies from the original canonical one, “The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh”, to the ones that were released by DisneyToon Studios like “The Tigger Movie”, “Piglet’s Big Movie”, and “Pooh’s Heffalump Movie”, and even to the ones that were direct-to-video such as “Springtime with Roo” and “A Very Merry Pooh Year”!
BUT, I DON’T LIKE THE SECOND POOH MOVIE THAT IS PART OF THE DISNEY TRADITION AND CANON CALLED “WINNIE THE POOH” THAT WAS RELEASED IN 2011!
Ok, inhale!
Exhale!
Ok, so why don’t I like it? One main reason is that Disney released a direct-to-video Pooh movie in 1997 entitled, “Pooh’s Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin” in which Christopher Robin goes away to school and due to a misunderstanding, the Hundred Acre Wood characters think that he’s in danger and go off to rescue him! It then becomes a quite entertaining adventure with memorable songs and one of the few direct-to-video movies that I wish had gone to the theaters first!
Now, when Disney decided to make another Pooh movie that would be part of the Disney Canon and hence gain a theatrical release, they called it simply, “Winnie the Pooh”, and took quite a lot of elements from “Pooh’s Grand Adventure” and put them in it. In one of the stories of “Winnie the Pooh”, Christopher Robin goes away somewhere. Due to a misunderstanding, the Hundred Acre Wood characters think that he’s in danger. They then go and try to rescue him! The similarity is just frustrating!
And if copying the previous film wasn’t enough, they actually make “Winnie the Pooh” extremely weak and inferior by including songs that I personally find incredibly forgettable, possessing quite a slow and boring plot, and not making the film an epic adventure; rather much of the action takes place not far from their home!
Finally, I know that there are two more stories in this film, but honestly I can’t remember them! And the only reason that I think I remember this particular story is because of my ire that they couldn’t come up with an original idea!
One final point, which I myself am not sure whether it makes me not like this film, is the new cast of voice actors! Firstly, Rabbit is played by Tom Kenny for the first time (hopefully the only time as well),
Eeyore is played by animator Bud Luckey for the first time (hopefully the only time as well),
and Owl is played by Craig Ferguson for the first time (hopefully the only time as well)!
I don’t remember if I hated these voice choices per se, but I do remember that they are noticeable!
Sorry, I don’t like “Winnie the Pooh” and I’m not looking forward to re-watching it for my Disney Canon project!
AND MY #1 ANIMATED MOVIE THAT I DON’T LIKE, BUT EVERYONE ELSE DOES IS
FANTASIA (1940)
I know that I’m an ardent fan of Walt Disney and his canonical animated films, BUT I DON’T LIKE THIS FILM! I know that this film is an artistic masterpiece and an epic experiment conducted by Walt, BUT I DON’T LIKE THIS FILM! I know I’m lower than dirt’s second cousin twice removed, BUT I DON’T LIKE THIS FILM!
Why don’t I like it? Two reasons: LONG AND BORING! The film is pretty much dialogue-less, and aside from “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” sequence, I was bored by all the others! They just seemed to drag and drag and drag…..and drag! I prefer the package films of the ’40s over this any day! I prefer “Fantasia 2000” over this any day!
I really can’t rationalize my dislike for this film other than how I have already! I didn’t even re-watch this film for my Disney Canon project! And it’ll probably be an eon before I decide to watch this again!
Well, we’ve come to the end of the list and I’m sure I’ve made enemies because of this post!
Please feel free to leave comments! Feel free to bash me for picking on your favorite films! Feel free to give me your films that you don’t like, but everyone else does! Feel free to compliment me on my awesome genius! And feel free to give me ideas for future “Top 13” lists! I hope you all enjoyed yourselves!
The Animation Commendation 
Okay, first off, this was a really interesting post, and a really interesting concept.
Of course not everyone is going to like the same films, and while I don’t dislike any of these movies, I do agree that some of them are over-rated (The Ice Age films for example!).
If you have only seen Lilo & Stitch once I highly recommend you watch it again. I am of course bias being a lover of both Disney’s animated classics and Elvis Presley but I really like that film, and I actually really like the character of Lilo. I found it interesting that you didn’t like her because I can see both sides of it. She either comes across as a complete brat, or she comes across really spunky and independent (I think the latter which is why I am interested in her as a character).
Again really interesting post and apologies for the long essay of a comment ha! 🙂
Thanks! No worries, I quite like long essay-like comments! Yeah, I want to re-watch “Lilo and Stitch” like I said, and I’ll have to when I get to it in my Disney Canon-Forgotten/Minor Characters Project, so hopefully I’ll like it then!
When I started reading, you were right, I thought you were out of your mind, but as you got further and further up the list, I found myself agreeing with you more and more on your choices. I definitely think that you should watch “Lilo and Stitch” again … no it’s not great, but if you can get past the story problems, it really does have the feel of Hawaii which make you want to go back to the Islands. As for ‘Wall-E’, I just accepted it as a attempt to try to make people environmentally aware and I could deal with that.
I look forward to seeing what you have listed as your favorites …
Thanks for reading and commenting!
Yeah, I want to re-watch “Lilo and Stitch” again also, that’s why I put it at the bottom of the list. And I’ll have to re-watch it when I get to it in my Disney Canon-Forgotten/Minor Characters project!
I have already made a top 13 list about my favorite animated Disney (Canon) movies! And I don’t want to make a top 13 favorite animated movies in general list, because it’ll be pretty much dominated by the Disney movies and hence just be a repeat of the earlier list!
I want to do the opposite of this list though: “Top 13 Animated Movies that I Like, But Everyone Else Doesn’t”, but it’s just hard to come up with 13 animated movies that people generally don’t like, but I do, lol!
Yeah, I agree with everyone else on the Lilo and Stitch thing! You should really watch it again! It’s not the best movie, but it’s still very good. And I loved most of the minor characters, especially the aliens. And the music is so pretty!
Fantasia looks amazing, but I agree: it’s just too long! It’s such a shame, because the first few sections (the dancing colours, the flowers, fairies, mushrooms, etc.) are so beautiful! But then, you just get bored watching all these dancing hippos. Billy Connolly the Scottish comedian said in one of his shows “I love ballet, and I love opera. It’s just that it’s about two-thirds too long”. I think Fantasia is the same, unfortunately…
xxx
Yeah, I’m looking forward to re-watching “Lilo and Stitch” when I get to it for my Disney Canon project! I’m surprised nobody bashed me for “Up” and “Winnie the Pooh”, lol!
WALL-E is actually my favorite animated film ever. I personally am a HUGE fan of Silent Film. So I appreciated how the story was mainly told without conventional dialogue. Pixar was able to channel the likes of Chaplin, Keaton, and Lloyd. I’m always impressed when I watch WALL-E, because of how expressive WALL-E and EVE are, despite being robots with limited facial features. They are so expressive, and they don’t have eyebrows. So kudos to Pixar.
I’m also glad to see that there are other people out there who aren’t big fans of Don Bluths work. Besides his controversy with Disney, just the films themselves I could never get into. I also agree with you on Spirit, Shrek, and Madagascar.
Yeah, I’m weird when it comes to “Wall-E”! And you’re the only other person besides myself that I know who doesn’t like Don Bluth’s work! Glad to know you, lol!
I don’t think you’re weird about it. From what I’ve seen, WALL-E just wasn’t peoples type of jam. For me I have a silent film (and Andrew Stanton) bias. 🙂
I agree with most of your choices except Shrek and An American Tail. Wall-E was depressingly bad!
If I was going to write a list I think my most controversial choice would be The Lion King (and associated movies)! I know, I’m crazy! It just didn’t inspire me and I didn’t find it all that sad when (spoiler alert!) Mufasa died. I’ve seen it at the theatre too, and whilst the production was great, the story still doesn’t move me!
I’ll wait for the abuse now… Lol
Lol, yeah I know that there does exist a subset of people who find “The Lion King” overrated. I just whistle and walk away from you all 😉 , lol!
Finally, someone else who doesn’t really like Lilo and Stitch! It seems that everyone loves it:(
I just don’t really find the plot interesting and I don’t like films that the main character faces a problem, and something soo utterly boring/illogical/simple happened and tadaa~ everything is solved, with a boring plot:/ Its just too cliche for me! I too don’t really like Lilo as I consider her an annoying little brat!
Anyways, had to disagree with Madagascar!:)
Thanks for reading!
Well, I at least like the third “Madagascar” movie, lol!
Don’t faint: I actually agree on a lot of them…
But let’s tackle this:
Lilo and Stitch I really love…perhaps because I had so low expectations of the movie, when I heard the premise (alien experiment gets adopted by an orphan in Haiwai) I though that Disney has gone crazy, and why I actually saw it, I was blown away by the heartfelt scenes in it. It was creative, and I hope you’ll appreciate it more when you rewatch it.
12. I agree there…I think “Wall-E” would have worked way better as a short movie, in which EVE find’s Wall-E and they both leave the planet together and vanish into the universe. I hate the second part of the movie (I think the idea that humans will develop to that is really disturbing). And it’s certainly a movie I watched once and have no desire to watch ever again – I don’t mind that I did watch it, though.
11. Never even watched Part 1
10. Love it, especially the beginning…though I admit, the beginning is so strong, it carries me through the parts of the movie which might have needed some tweaking. But I mostly appreciate that it is about the relationship between an old man and a young boy, and how it highlights the generation gap, and how important a little bit of understanding on both sides is.
9. I….kind of agree….well, not really…..the thing is: Don Bluth movies have one thing in common: They are horrible dubbed in the original. But I’m German, so I have the advantage of having seen all those movie with a German dubbing (and Germany is the master of dubbings, since we dub really everything). And they are so much better. Plus, the Secret of Nimh is the movie with one of the best female characters (animated and otherwise) ever. Mrs. Brisby is just a great characters
8 and 7. I sooooo agree. I think the whole franchise is terrible overrated. I also think for making so much fun of the classic Disney story, they in the end do a classic Disney story, too. Yeah, Fiona stays an Oger, but Shrek is an Oger, so he naturally thinks her attractive either way. To me, the whole Franchise is terrible hypocritical – and not even especially clever as a parody.
6 and 4. Saw the first movie. Was okay, but a “one watch wonder”. Didn’t think that there was any reason to watch the second one.
5. I agree with every single point you made.
3. Another movie which I guess mostly fails because of the dubbing…the whole thing hinges entirely on the narrator, and Matt Damon doesn’t cut it. Another narrator with a more dynamic voice, and it’s a great movie. (Though the songs are better in English)
2. Saw the new design for Christopher Robin and couldn’t bring myself to watch it.
1. Love it…but I understand that it’s not for everyone (though…isn’t there at least one segment you like?)
Thanks for reading and commenting!
-I think you’re probably right: “Wall-E” might have worked better as an animated short film.
-I’m quite shocked that I didn’t get more of a backlash from my readers about not liking “Up”, lol!
-The German language is awesome and I desire to learn it one day. But I understand what you mean about the German dubbing. I love going on Youtube and looking up different Disney songs in German! I can sing the whole “Be Prepared” in German, lol!
-Yeah, Christopher Robin actually having eyes was quite weird!
-The only segment I liked from “Fantasia” was the “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” segment and maybe the “Bald Mountain” segment with Chernabog.
I’m currently working on the opposite list to this one, “My Top 13 Animated Movies that I Like, But Everyone Else Doesn’t”. Look out for it if you’re interested.
Up is still my favourite Pixar movie…but then, if I would make a list like this, “Toy Story” would be on this one, and “Cars” would be on the “I like but everyone else doesn’t” list. (Don’t bother putting Robin Hood on the second one, though….as far as I can tell the movie is actually very popular, it only gets some (deserved) flak for the mediocre animation.)
Oh yes, the German dubbing of Scar is particularly well done…I especially love the part when Simba tells him that he will be king one day and Scar answers “Uiiii….toll!” – The delivery is ten times better than the English dubbing (hate the voice they choose for adult simba, though, especially in the singing parts, there the English one is better). If I may recommend something: Look up the German version of “A wish is a dream your heart makes” (a beautiful voice, though I like the English version, too, it has the better lyrics) and especially the German version of “God help the Outcasts” – the German version is actually sung like a prayer, it’s wonderful.
Don’t worry, I love “Robin Hood”, but I know it’s not that hated by everyone to deem good for the other list.
I’ll have to check out those German songs.
Everyone has different opinions and I respect that, but I have noticed that you tend not to go for the more silent musical type of movie, you prefer talking or action instead of musical. Also it is hard to come up with your own ideas, like that saying “If you think of something 20 other people have already thought of it.” Or something like that.
There are certain silent films that I really enjoy such as “The Artist” and “Sunrise”, but never found an animated one that I loved.
And I do love musical animated films for the most part. Some of my favorite Disney movies are the musical Broadway-style ones from the Disney Renaissance.
I agree with you. I don’t like most of these movies either!
Glad to hear, lol!
Up is my favorite Pixar film, so I was disappointed seeing it on the list. As for the ones I dislike, but everyone else likes, those would be “Tangled,” “Snow White,” and “Frozen.” (Come at me, bro.)
Yeah, I tend to find myself alone in my dislike for “Up”.
I haven’t seen “Frozen” yet (come at ME now), so I can’t comment on that. But “Snow White” is a classic, lol; surely you can love it for the dwarfs alone!
And I liked “Tangled”, but I do feel it’s a bit overrated.
If my sister was to do a list like this, about half the canon classics would be on there. “Snow White,” “Pinocchio,” “Fantasia” (you’re not alone), “Dumbo,” “Bambi,” “Sleeping Beauty,” “Little Mermaid,” to name a few.
Hmm…is your sister young/more in tune with the current generation of films?
Yeah, she likes the more recent films like Tangled, Frozen, and Wreck-It Ralph.
I Love “UP”, Kung Fu Panda, Lilo & Stich, Mulan … Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders (LILO & STITCH) worked on HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON, which I Loooooovvvvvvvvvvvvvvvve Too :))) I don’t know what to say 🙂
Well, I LOVED ‘Kung Fu Panda’, but not the sequel. And I also LOVE ‘HTTYD’ even though I’m still not a lover of ‘Lilo & Stitch’.
Thanks for commenting!
Wow. Wall-E’s probably my favorite animated film, and I really liked Up, Kung Fu Panda 2, and the first Ice Age. But, I understand where’s you’re coming from in this. Yeah, Wall-E and Up probably do lose their charm after the first act.
But on the other hand, I’m not so into the Shrek films or Lilo and Stitch either. I’m not saying they’re bad, or anything, it’s a matter of tastes. Also, the Ice Age franchise took a big step down in quality after the first one in my opinion. Good list anyway.
Thanks for reading!
And yes, I think there’s only a handful of people (myself included) who don’t like ‘Wall-E’.
so you picked the movies that are on every to 20 movies list on the internet and said they were all boring and slow, kind of thinking maybe your just trolling everyone lol.
as long as you don’t HATE the movies I won’t rage comment you.
but not liking the land before time kind of hurt. it’s just that if you know who does Ducky’s voice you would know her dad killed her and her mom before shooting himself, it’s really sad considering people who worked with her said she’s really sweet and had a promising future.
I don’t know, ever since I read about her I grew protective of the movie.
anyway I respect how you tried to be polite and not anger anyone, even though your wrong about most of them but whatever floats your boat.
Lol, thanks for commenting! Like I said, these are the movies that everyone else loves but I just don’t see the attraction of them, so of course I’m going to end up being “wrong” about my opinions here.
And yes, I knew about the Ducky voice actress tragedy and it is a horrible sad thing indeed 😦 , but it doesn’t make me like the film although I can understand how some people can like it because of that. But if that were the reason for liking ‘The Land Before Time’, then I feel one should like ‘All Dogs Go To Heaven’ for the same reason since she was a voice actress in it also.
Anyway, thanks for reading and commenting and not “rage commenting” me 😛 !
I can get behind your argument against Shrek. They were trying too hard to be pop culture relevant instead of channelling the magical feeling of a fairy tale. It sure was a successful approach, but to me it ended up too sitcom-esque. I thought they redeemed themselves with Kung Fu Panda, because although it starts out as a parody, it ends up taking its matter seriously. Though, like you, I didn’t care much for the second movie. I was okay with Madagascar because this time they made the incoherencies part of the premise by making the characters purposefully deracinated urbanized wild animals. Plus it gave me some good laughs. But I really thought they hit the nail on the head with How to Train Your Dragon. It had a truly powerful story entrenched in its own universe.
I liked the first Ice Age movie because of the human presence. The plot had some emotional resonance while being a straight-forward ‘animals embark on an epic quest’ kind of story. The characters, various obstacles and sabre-toothed cat villain were all entertaining. The sequels might have kept the same humor, but since they solely focussed on the animals, they lost my interest.
You criticise a lot of the movies on this list for being too slow or too boring, and that I consider unfair. I believe there is merit to a slow pace. It forces you to enjoy the beauty and the feelings in every scene. Sometimes movies have an artistic value, like Fantasia, or a slightly philosophical one, that would be lost in an action-packed feature. But of course all tastes are in nature, so if you were just bored, you were just bored!
Thanks for commenting and love your username!
Well, I feel that yes sometimes calling a film too slow is unfair because like you said, sometimes it’s slow to let you enjoy the atmosphere. But if while being slow, I still don’t enjoy what I see, then I feel that the film has failed in what it was trying to do.
For example, I love the movie, ’12 Angry Men’! But to most people in my generation, they would find it slow and boring as the entire movie takes place in one scene and is just 12 people talking with each other. So yes, it is definitely slow, but the discussions/atmosphere really drag you in, hence that’s why I love this movie!
But all the films on this list that I said were slow/boring were definitely slow/boring to me!
Anyway, that’s just my opinion.
Some of your choices did rip my heart out a bit. Up is my favorite movie ever, animated and not. I even had a 3 layer cake made like the up house when I bought my house. I’m surprised you think it is boring because in my eyes it had a lot of adventure and suspense. Likable characters, humor, a good heart.
But I know there are movies I think are boring that everyone else loves (the godfather…) I did a post on my regular blog called ‘top 10 most overrated movies’ and people went nuts. It was fun but it taught me sometimes things just don’t resonate with certain people. Nothing wrong with that. 🙂
Thanks for reading 🙂 !
Yeah, I think I’m the only guy in the world who dislikes ‘Up’ and thinks it’s overrated.
Takes all types!
I even had an Up cake http://smilingldsgirl.com/2013/02/09/up-housewarmingbirthday-party/
I cant think of many animated films everyone else likes but I don’t like. I am not a fan of Shrek because I don’t like the adult humor. Also a lot of people like Gnomeo and Juliet and I thought it was awful. The whole project was misguided because they had to give a happy ending to the play. Plus all the choices I didn’t get.
I actually didnt think Lilo and Stitch was that popular. I think it is just ok but I think stitch looks like a cockroach. If we were including tv I do not like Family Guy but love the Simpsons
It’s funny how things like a movie can feel so personal. I try to not have it feel that way often but there are a few. You feel almost protective of them. Silly.
Yeah, everyone feels like that at times.
Totally agree with you on the Shrek films. So it can mock Disney films, big deal. Simpsons did that long before Shrek. But, did anyone really like Spirit: Stallion of the whatever it was? 🙂
I know some people who did.
I’m with you on lilo and stitch , fantasia, Winnie the pooh, spirit, Madagascar, and kung fu panda. The ones i name are horrible even toddlers don’t like them. You are right about those. Up is the one like hold up but everyone has there own opinion. Up caught my attention that made me look at the whole list and I became more agreeable. Ice age in my top three favorite with toy story. The last ice age weird not funny. Your list was very accurate.
I’m glad we agree on many of them.
Thanks for commenting!
I hate How to train your dragon 2. And everyone theinks I’m nuts because I don’t like it
I understand the feeling. I also think HTTYD is better than the second movie.
I find it quite amusing that someone who obviously likes animated films as much as you do find a lot of the movies that has moved the whole genre forward to be boring or stupid. Shrek is the most interesting exemple of this. The first Shrek movie is iconic. It broke some boring old rule that animated films are for children. Finally the world was blessed with a full-length high budget animated film full of clever jokes on everything from gender and race to sexuality and personality disorders. All baked in a constant flood of references to old animated films that didn’t brake that barrier. Simply brilliant and you find it too comical. In your case I guess you really can have too much fun. Personally I laughed until I cried. Sequels excluded from this line of thought since they only tried to redo that which had already been accomplished, even though the second movie had some shining moments, like the self-narrative of the omnipotent Prince Charming.
To each his/her own. Yes, Shrek may have been an important film, but it doesn’t mean I liked it. Granted, I haven’t seen it in years, so my feelings towards it might change now since I made this list, but as for now, I just remember it not being a film I liked.
Thanks for commenting!
I really hate all these movies except Spirit and Winnie the Pooh. I looooooove Spirit (especially that totally amazing gorgeous music… one of the best film scores ever!!!) and how can anyone help liking Pooh?
Yeah, I’m the only one who dislikes Spirit, lol!
I have no problem with Winnie the Pooh as a character or his films, in general, but I just really dislike that 2011 film.
That was an interesting list. Up was just an expensive ripoff of the French animated short Above Then Beyond anyway. I wasn’t a fan of the Shrek movies anyway and I thought Fantasia was overrated as well. Once I found out about the Black centaur character, I liked it even less. The rest I haven’t seen or didn’t care about that much like the Don Bluth movies even though some of the ire is undeserved.
Out of curiosity since we’re talking about movies one doesn’t like, but everyone else does, were you uncomfortable with my last comment about The Lion King on your other Top 13 list?
I haven’t heard of Above Then Beyond; I’ll havta look into it more. Glad to know I’m not the only one not into the Shrek films, Fantasia, and Don Bluth films, lol!
No, I wasn’t uncomfortable with your Lion King comment. It’s good to hear different viewpoints and perspectives.
Yeah, it was something I discovered from another blogger a year ago. It’s a short film and isn’t fully identical, but there were some uncanny parallels. Above Then Beyond was a student film and the school had a partnership with Pixar, so someone knew about it.
No problem. I wasn’t that big into the franchise anyway. I didn’t realize it was that beloved since I’ve heard about other detractors even if they were mainly anti-Dreamworks, but it’s whatever. To a lesser extent, it does annoy me when people think that “All Star” by Smash Mouth was written for that movie even though it was a huge hit before, was originally for Mystery Men, and it was even in Digimon: The Movie before the first Shrek installment came out. Don Bluth can be hit or miss with me, but I never considered myself a fan. Fantasia…well, at least the music is good. Hahaha!
I was just wondering since I didn’t get a response in my last comment on your other list. Where did you hear about the other issues I brought up with the Kimba controversy, trademark, or Mbube? It’s good you appreciate that because I’ve had some people get angry at me for mentioning the things I told you about The Lion King.
I can’t remember where I first heard about the Kimba controversy, trademark, or Mbube. I’ve known about them for years, so don’t remember the first time I came across them.
Sorry for missing this comment. I was curious how you knew about those issues. The Kimba controversy was something I heard years ago, and I didn’t find out about the trademark or the Mbube issue until 2019 due to a news video I found of the former from a Kenyan YouTuber who was rightfully furious about that issue given how Swahili is widely-spoken there and when I saw The Lion’s Share for the latter. It does infuriate me how fans defend those things, the casting of Rob Lowe in The Lion Guard despite a horrible thing he did in the past, or even the depictions of the hyenas for example since it shows some rampant denial on their part as they try to gaslight me for pointing this stuff out.