SPECIAL: The 25 Greatest Computer-Animated Movies

Image: Buena Vista Pictures

Image: Buena Vista Pictures

Chris Luckett

In the late ‘90s, it was hard to discern why exactly the golden renaissance of Disney, going so strong in 1994 with The Lion King, dissipated so suddenly. With the benefit of hindsight, the biggest reason was the release of the first feature-length computer-animated movie in 1995, Pixar’s Toy Story.

In less than a decade, computer-animated movies had become so advanced and such a box office draw, even Disney shuttered their hand-drawn animation studio down in 2004 and switched to 100% computer-animated fare.

As the cost of computer animation has decreased, more and more computer-animated movies have flooded movie theatres, with fewer being any good, but great ones still exist. Some even outshine that first Pixar feature from 21 years ago. These are the best examples of what modern animation can achieve.

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SPECIAL: The Best Movies of 2016 So Far

Photo: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Photo: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Chris Luckett

2016 is the first year in over a decade in which I haven’t worked at a video store, which has noticeably affected how many movies I’ve seen since January. As we approach the final third of the year, though, when Oscar hopefuls like The Birth of a Nation and Fences will compete with precision-crafted entertainment like Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, I’ve still seen at least ten movies worthy of strong recommendation.

These are the ten best movies of 2016 — so far, at least.

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CORE STORY: Disney sets new box office record thanks to Captain America: Civil War

Photo: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Photo: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Chris Luckett

After a slightly disappointing opening day — if you can fathom $75-million being a disappointment — Captain America: Civil War wound up pulling in $181.8-million over Mother’s Day weekend, the fifth-largest (domestic) opening weekend of all time.

That’s not the big reason Disney’s celebrating today, though. That $181.8-million pushed the studio’s domestic grosses for 2016 past the $1-billion mark — faster than any studio in history. Continue reading

REVIEW: Zootopia

Artwork: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Artwork: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Chris Luckett

After Disney’s renaissance 25 years ago, the animation titan lost its magic touch and spent the latter half of the ‘90s trying to get it back. Their movies remained very good, but just seemed a bit less in the wake of masterworks like Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King.

If that golden period consisted of the lustrum between 1989 and 1994, their more recent renaissance was the hat trick of Tangled, Wreck-It Ralph, and Frozen. 2014’s Big Hero 6 was an enjoyable romp in the moment, but lacked the imaginative spark of its immediate predecessors. It’s still too early to tell whether Zootopia marks the best of a run of “less-thans” or the beginning of a new return to form. Continue reading