For a change, I decided to write about the movies I've watched this time around. I must say, the only thing I understand less than cinema is photography, so decide for yourselves whether you need to read this or not. For some reason, I've come across a lot of cartoons lately, so I decided to start with them.
Many people dislike cartoons for various reasons; I'm not one of them.
Often, the reason is that cartoons seem "childish", "unserious", and not reflective of real life to people. In my opinion, it's a weird complaint: the more you know, the more you realize that movies do a really shitty job of reflecting real life, too.
Besides, why should cinema reflect it at all? Sometimes you just want to take a break in a world of dreams, rather than weighing yourself down with heavy thoughts again. As I often say, life is hard enough as it is, no need to overcomplicate it further.
People make the same complaint about sci-fi: sometimes fairly, sometimes not so much. Sci-fi still often explores scenarios of the possible, the future, or very real human relationships, just in an unconventional setting.
Different strokes for different folks, though, so I leave everyone the right to think as stated above.
1.How to Train Your Dragon 2 (How to Train Your Dragon)
A sequel to a decent cartoon by DreamWorks, beautiful and with humor. Turns out, the director signed on to do a trilogy right away, rather than just one movie, because he wanted to explore the characters and the story more deeply. The jokes are a bit predictable, but it's drawn very coolly – I read they used new software, created in the process specifically for this cartoon. The villains are excellent, the dragons are presented in a fresh way, their habits often copied from cats. A mandatory watch for cat lovers!
Rating 8/10
Trailer
Download mp4 video
2. Zootopia (Zootopia)
A cartoon about anthropomorphic animals by Disney. Drawn in great detail, the characters evoke emotions and attachment, the plot could have been more complex, but it's cool anyway. The artwork in some places is just mind-blowing, definitely worth watching on a good screen. It's a stone's throw away from photorealism, and virtual reality isn't far off either.
The screenwriters changed the plot a few times to evoke a deeper emotional attachment to the main characters.
Rating 8.5/10
3. Kubo and the Two Strings (2016)
A story about a boy-mage-musician in a pseudo-Japanese setting. Magic is shown very coolly and a bit unusually, the villains are wonderful, but the protagonists aren't very fun. Otherwise, it's slightly run-of-the-mill. However, it is interesting – the cartoon is stop-motion, one of the few high-budget ones of its kind. From the same studio that made Coraline, a really awesome cartoon based on Neil Gaiman's work.
Watch it if you love magic, origami, the East.
Rating 7.5/10
4. Song of the Sea
This cartoon is European, and tied to Celtic mythology. As a result, the animation and plot differ greatly from the cartoons above. I think that's only a plus, for variety's sake. It brings to mind another European one, Mune: Guardian of the Moon, and visually it's a bit similar to Sita Sings the Blues
Rating 9/10
5. Inside Out
A cartoon by Pixar about how each of us has emotions in our heads sitting at a control panel in the form of colorful little people, and steering our behavior. Funny, original, and believable (the creators consulted with neuroscientists).