Post by Belchic on Mar 13, 2017 23:33:29 GMT -5
Here is something I shared with Trey_Vore about a year ago, but now I feel I'm ready to share it publicly.
This is kind of similar to the NC's Old vs. New series, but it is actually more like those posts that Trey made in the Disney Animated Classics Chat thread. Here, I'm going to do an analysis of two animated films that were released on a specific year and figure out which one was the best:
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1988. Not the strongest year for animated films, but there were still some strong ones. For me, there were two animated films released that year that I think stood out amongst the rest: Oliver & Company and The Land Before Time. Who Framed Roger Rabbit doesn't count.
The question is, which one is more superior than the other? Well, let's find out. This is Animation Showdown!
Round 1: The Gross
The first thing I want to look at is how well the films did financially. Now, I did not see The Land Before Time theatrically, but I did see Oliver & Company. I think that's a good thing for two reasons: First of all, Oliver & Company was not released on video the following year while The Land Before Time was, so I had more opportunities to see The Land Before Time afterwards. Second, I was probably helping out a film that was losing to its competitor financially. Now, both of these films did well in theaters, but The Land Before Time just beat out Oliver & Company by about $10 million. So for this one, it's no contest.
Winner: The Land Before Time
Round 2: The Animation
Now let's take a look at the animation. I will say for Oliver & Company, this was for its time top-notch animation, and it's well-known for being one of the first to heavily experiment with computer animation. Sometimes I consider computer usage to be cheating on forms of animation, but remember, this was the late 80's, so CG was a brand new, rarely-used thing, and in this movie, they use it the right way and not so much that it steals the show. With The Land Before Time, the whole film is fully hand-drawn. Don Bluth didn't need help from computers to make this film. The two films also show a nice contrast. Both are very colorful, and while Oliver & Company is brighter and edgier, The Land Before Time is darker and more dramatic. Either way you look at it, both films are eye candy. Though to be honest, there is a little bit of reused animation in The Land Before Time hinting that the film probably was on a tight budget. As much as I prefer traditional animation over CG, I gotta give Oliver & Company credit since at the time it was a new thing, and they were experimenting with it, and the end results showed it really paid off. It's a tough call, but I'm going to go with Oliver & Company on this one.
Winner: Oliver & Company
Round 3: The Characters
The characters in The Land Before Time are very memorable each with a voice actor who fits the character perfectly. The five main dinosaurs are all lovable, and kids can easily relate to them. We've got the brave leader, the bossy tomboy, the cute naive one, the comic relief and the Silent Bob. The mixed personalities give off a comedic genius, plus they've shown some great teamwork. Littlefoot's mother is very kind and gentle and has a very soothing voice, and she gives great words of wisdom, but it's a shame she's only around for the first third of the movie. Oliver & Company has a much larger cast of characters, and they got some pretty good voice work for this one: Dom DeLuise, Cheech Marin, Bette Midler, and even Billy Joel. Though big name actors does not necessarily make them good characters. The characters in Oliver & Company are very forgettable, hardly any of them deliver any memorable quotes, and I doubt anybody who's seen this movie can recall the names of more than two of the characters, unless you've seen it a dozen times. Well, I guess we can figure out the winner here!
Winner: The Land Before Time
Round 4: The Songs
As far as song arrangement goes, Oliver & Company is unique for a Disney film. The songs in the film are performed by big name pop artists, and they all give off that late 80's pop feel you would expect from the time. Though with that being said, the songs do make the movie feel very dated. Walt Disney would never have let this happen. Still, they are pretty awesome songs that I wouldn't mind listening to once in a while. The Land Before Time on the other hand doesn't have any songs, which I think helps this movie, as it helps focus more on the story, but I'll get to that later. I will say the film score composed by James Horner is simply amazing, and the theme song that plays at the end credits, "If We Hold On Together", has become a standard for Diana Ross. And no, the songs from the sequels don't count! This is a really tough call, but because Oliver & Company gives me more to work with when analyzing, it wins by just a hair.
Winner: Oliver & Company
Round 5: The Story
So the final thing we are going to look at is the most important aspect: the story. To be honest, neither of these films have aged well. The Land Before Time had some historical inaccuracies while Oliver & Company just feels like it's stuck in the 80's. The stories however might give some hope. Oliver & Company is basically a retelling of the Charles D!ckens novel, Oliver Twist, except it's set in New York City in the 1980's, Oliver is a cat, and Dodger and his gang are dogs. Not too much to say, except sometimes it can get hard to follow. The Land Before Time on the other hand is very easy to follow as the story is very straightforward. On the other hand, it is a story that has been done a bazillion times already. You can tell George Lucas worked a lot on the story and Steven Speilberg worked a lot on the characters. Even though the movie is short, clocking in at just barely over an hour, they make every minute count. It overall leaves a huge impact on you, and it makes you look forward to watching it again and again. Heck, I can still recite the whole movie word for word from time to time! Overall, The Land Before Time has a very strong story with fitting characters and good morals. Oliver & Company does have a good story, but not as much heart, and it sometimes tries too much to be hip. With all that said and done, it looks like we have our winner!
Winner: The Land Before Time
So with a score of 3-2, The Land Before Time wins for my pick for the best animated film of 1988!
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Hope you all enjoyed that. I plan to do more Animation Showdowns in the future. The next one I plan to do is 2016, and it's going to be Zootopia vs. Moana.
This is kind of similar to the NC's Old vs. New series, but it is actually more like those posts that Trey made in the Disney Animated Classics Chat thread. Here, I'm going to do an analysis of two animated films that were released on a specific year and figure out which one was the best:
---
1988. Not the strongest year for animated films, but there were still some strong ones. For me, there were two animated films released that year that I think stood out amongst the rest: Oliver & Company and The Land Before Time. Who Framed Roger Rabbit doesn't count.
The question is, which one is more superior than the other? Well, let's find out. This is Animation Showdown!
Round 1: The Gross
The first thing I want to look at is how well the films did financially. Now, I did not see The Land Before Time theatrically, but I did see Oliver & Company. I think that's a good thing for two reasons: First of all, Oliver & Company was not released on video the following year while The Land Before Time was, so I had more opportunities to see The Land Before Time afterwards. Second, I was probably helping out a film that was losing to its competitor financially. Now, both of these films did well in theaters, but The Land Before Time just beat out Oliver & Company by about $10 million. So for this one, it's no contest.
Winner: The Land Before Time
Round 2: The Animation
Now let's take a look at the animation. I will say for Oliver & Company, this was for its time top-notch animation, and it's well-known for being one of the first to heavily experiment with computer animation. Sometimes I consider computer usage to be cheating on forms of animation, but remember, this was the late 80's, so CG was a brand new, rarely-used thing, and in this movie, they use it the right way and not so much that it steals the show. With The Land Before Time, the whole film is fully hand-drawn. Don Bluth didn't need help from computers to make this film. The two films also show a nice contrast. Both are very colorful, and while Oliver & Company is brighter and edgier, The Land Before Time is darker and more dramatic. Either way you look at it, both films are eye candy. Though to be honest, there is a little bit of reused animation in The Land Before Time hinting that the film probably was on a tight budget. As much as I prefer traditional animation over CG, I gotta give Oliver & Company credit since at the time it was a new thing, and they were experimenting with it, and the end results showed it really paid off. It's a tough call, but I'm going to go with Oliver & Company on this one.
Winner: Oliver & Company
Round 3: The Characters
The characters in The Land Before Time are very memorable each with a voice actor who fits the character perfectly. The five main dinosaurs are all lovable, and kids can easily relate to them. We've got the brave leader, the bossy tomboy, the cute naive one, the comic relief and the Silent Bob. The mixed personalities give off a comedic genius, plus they've shown some great teamwork. Littlefoot's mother is very kind and gentle and has a very soothing voice, and she gives great words of wisdom, but it's a shame she's only around for the first third of the movie. Oliver & Company has a much larger cast of characters, and they got some pretty good voice work for this one: Dom DeLuise, Cheech Marin, Bette Midler, and even Billy Joel. Though big name actors does not necessarily make them good characters. The characters in Oliver & Company are very forgettable, hardly any of them deliver any memorable quotes, and I doubt anybody who's seen this movie can recall the names of more than two of the characters, unless you've seen it a dozen times. Well, I guess we can figure out the winner here!
Winner: The Land Before Time
Round 4: The Songs
As far as song arrangement goes, Oliver & Company is unique for a Disney film. The songs in the film are performed by big name pop artists, and they all give off that late 80's pop feel you would expect from the time. Though with that being said, the songs do make the movie feel very dated. Walt Disney would never have let this happen. Still, they are pretty awesome songs that I wouldn't mind listening to once in a while. The Land Before Time on the other hand doesn't have any songs, which I think helps this movie, as it helps focus more on the story, but I'll get to that later. I will say the film score composed by James Horner is simply amazing, and the theme song that plays at the end credits, "If We Hold On Together", has become a standard for Diana Ross. And no, the songs from the sequels don't count! This is a really tough call, but because Oliver & Company gives me more to work with when analyzing, it wins by just a hair.
Winner: Oliver & Company
Round 5: The Story
So the final thing we are going to look at is the most important aspect: the story. To be honest, neither of these films have aged well. The Land Before Time had some historical inaccuracies while Oliver & Company just feels like it's stuck in the 80's. The stories however might give some hope. Oliver & Company is basically a retelling of the Charles D!ckens novel, Oliver Twist, except it's set in New York City in the 1980's, Oliver is a cat, and Dodger and his gang are dogs. Not too much to say, except sometimes it can get hard to follow. The Land Before Time on the other hand is very easy to follow as the story is very straightforward. On the other hand, it is a story that has been done a bazillion times already. You can tell George Lucas worked a lot on the story and Steven Speilberg worked a lot on the characters. Even though the movie is short, clocking in at just barely over an hour, they make every minute count. It overall leaves a huge impact on you, and it makes you look forward to watching it again and again. Heck, I can still recite the whole movie word for word from time to time! Overall, The Land Before Time has a very strong story with fitting characters and good morals. Oliver & Company does have a good story, but not as much heart, and it sometimes tries too much to be hip. With all that said and done, it looks like we have our winner!
Winner: The Land Before Time
So with a score of 3-2, The Land Before Time wins for my pick for the best animated film of 1988!
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Hope you all enjoyed that. I plan to do more Animation Showdowns in the future. The next one I plan to do is 2016, and it's going to be Zootopia vs. Moana.