From Woody to WALL-E: Top 10 CGI Animated Movies Ever
by Tom Burns

Who knew back in 1982 while we were geeking out over the light-cycle races in Tron that, one day, computer-generated imagery would completely transform Hollywood filmmaking and, in particular, the world of feature film animation? During the '80s, all we knew computers were good for was Global Thermonuclear War or a nice game of chess, but CGI technology soon revolutionized the world of special FX and opened up a whole new world of 3D animation that quickly (and, some would argue, sadly) began replacing traditional 2D hand-drawn animation as the preferred medium for big-screen animated features. In 1995, the first full-length, completely CGI-animated movie was released - an obscure little cult movie called Toy Story - and, since then, Hollywood has never looked back.

And, in the thirteen years following Toy Story, we've seen some entirely mind-blowing achievements in the world of theatrical CGI as well as, let's be honest, a whole lot of crap. While the earliest CGI features, regardless of their content, captured audiences' attention with their "how'd they do that" visual verve, after CG became more common-place and people began realizing that they could animate their own episodes of Jimmy Neutron with 600 bucks worth of equipment from BestBuy, the honeymoon was over. CGI movies became just like any other movies and found themselves judged not only by their visuals, but also on their effectiveness as films on a whole. Gorgeously computer-animated features could be ignored due to their inane stories and humorless tone (looking at you, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within), and weak children's movies with lame plots couldn't save themselves by simply investing in some kid-friendly CGI (looking at you, Chicken Little and Ant Bully). CGI animation has become just another medium for cinematic storytelling, which, to be honest, is probably the best thing that could've happened for both the animators and audiences alike.

In honor of the upcoming release of WALL-E, the highly-anticipated new feature from Pixar, the unparalleled and unquestioned kings of CGI filmmaking, The Deadbolt has assembled a list of our ten all-time favorite CGI animated movies - ten films that truly bring together fantastic big-screen storytelling with some of the most kick-ass computer wizardry this side of the Master Control Program.

THE DEADBOLT'S TOP 10 FAVORITE CGI ANIMATED MOVIES EVER:

10. Shrek

Just to get this out of the way - no, we don't think that Shrek deserved to win the very first Best Animated Feature Film Oscar in 2001, particularly since it was up against the far-superior Monsters, Inc. And, yeah, Shrek the Third was pretty disposable. But, even if you're a Dreamworks-hater, you can't deny the cultural impact of the big green ogre on Hollywood. Not only is Shrek a pretty damn good comedy, but Shrek himself is arguably one of the most memorable and recognizable film characters of the past twenty years. We love Pixar here at the 'Bolt, but, aside from Buzz and Woody, there aren't any individual Pixar characters that could probably win a popularity contest against Shrek and Donkey. They've become icons for children around the globe and, even if it annoys you that Mike Myers is just doing his same Scottish accent AGAIN, you can't deny that Shrek is one of CGI's first A-list celebrities. And, to quickly note the movie's technical achievements, the facial animation in Shrek is so flawlessly rendered that each character is nicely imbued with the respective personalities of their vocal counterparts, giving the movie a tremendous helping of charm and character that so many CG movies lack. (Once again, looking at you and your dead-faced leads, Final Fantasy.)

9. Beowulf

Unlike the Academy, we at The Deadbolt don't discriminate between "pure" CGI and motion-capture CGI. In our eyes, animation is animation, and it'd be a shame to discuss the history of CG filmmaking without being able to address certain films like the surprisingly bad-ass Beowulf. Let's hope that that no misinformed soccer moms took their seven-year-olds to see Beowulf in IMAX simply because it was created by the "makers of The Polar Express." If they did, those unwitting tykes witnessed more gore, action, and sexual innuendo than Santa is normally comfortable with. Robert Zemeckis' great achievement with Beowulf - aside from the film's gorgeous visuals - is that it essentially stands as the first "adult" CGI movie. Granted, like Shrek, it deals with legends and myths of old, but it doesn't add in any farting donkeys or singing gargoyles to soften the tale for young eyes. The original Old English poem is one of the most beautifully brutal stories in the history of literature (heck, it's one of the FIRST stories in the history of literature), and Zemeckis gave the story its proper respect by staying true to the tone of the original material and hiring two amazingly literate screenwriters (Roger Avary and Neil Gaiman) to bring it to the big-screen. One of the coolest aspects of CGI animation is that it gives filmmakers an unlimited visual canvas to work with. Zemeckis proved in Beowulf that this canvas can be used to turn some of the greatest and most expansive works of world literature into cracking good films, regardless of whether or not they'd make a good ride at Disneyland.

8. The Polar Express

And landing completely on the other end of the literary spectrum from Beowulf, we have The Polar Express, Robert Zemeckis' adaptation of Chris Van Allsburg's classic children's picture book. Before you say anything, yes, the dead-eyed little Amtrak passengers totally freaked us out upon our first viewing, but grab any five-year-old in America, mention the movie, and watch their eyes light up as they run to grab you their Polar Express DVD, train set, and pop-up book, all while screaming "Hot Chocolate, oh, Hot Chocolate!" to the high heavens. And the occasional moments of dead-eye oddness can be excused since this stands as the first CGI movie to be filmed completely with performance capture technology - meaning that Tom Hanks really did perform all of those roles (while wearing a ping-pong-ball-covered wet suit) while animators painted over his CGI-captured movements. And those captured performances really do add a vibrant pulse to the movie, creating a tremendous bond between the voices and the final character animation. The film itself is surprisingly fun and moody, standing as an extremely rewatchable Christmas staple, and it acts as a beautiful representation of Van Allsburg's painted layouts in his picture book. Probably the coolest aspect of Polar Express is that it really does look like a picture book brought to life with the animators creating a visual universe that matches with the sensibilities of the original book almost perfectly. Borrow one of your nephew's five copies of the DVD and enjoy.

7. Antz

Ah, Antz. The red-headed stepchild of Dreamworks Animation. Even though it predated Shrek by three years and stands as Dreamworks' first completely CGI feature, you never see the 'Works touting Antz as part of their catalog like they do Madagascar, Over the Hedge, or even the terrible Shark Tale. And that's a huge mistake, because Antz, frankly, rocks. OK, fine, it did get involved with an Armageddon/Deep Impact release battle with Pixar's A Bug's Life, but - even though Bug's Life is a terrifically fun kid's adventure - Antz is (and it pains us to say this) probably the better of the two films. Aside from being the first CGI animated movie to really wow us with their casting - Woody Allen? Gene Hackman? A Dan Aykroyd/Jane Curtin reunion? Stallone? Walken? - it stands with Beowulf as one of the most sophisticated and strangely adult CGI movies ever made. At its heart, this is a movie about self-worth, social rebellion, and genetic cleansing... all told with cute little ants. Antz is a gorgeously subversive little film that features probably Woody Allen's best performance since Hannah and Her Sisters. Releasing Antz as their response to Pixar's Toy Story was a brave choice by Dreamworks, even though, history seems to have proven that, in terms of legacy, it simply couldn't compete with the Pixar powerhouse and the far more accessible Bug's Life. (We've heard conflicting reports over who started work on their "bug" feature first, but nothing conclusive.) Regardless, there's more than enough room in animation history for two bug-based features, so let's finally give Antz its due.

6. Monster House

Beowulf and Monster House are probably the only two movies on this list that certain pundits might characterize as "flops" - both failed to make back their production budgets with their domestic gross, though they more than covered it when you add in the international box office - but neither deserve to be seen that way, especially Monster House. If you were a child of the 1980s, this movie was made for you. It's a brilliant callback to the heady days of Amblin Entertainment, when Steven Spielberg had a hardwired connection into the brains of teens and pre-teens around the world and, as a tribute, gave them darkly hilarious adventures like Goonies, Gremlins, and Innerspace. Director Gil Kenan taps right into that subcurrent of tween coolness with Monster House, delivering a story that could've come straight from the subconscious of any suburban twelve-year-old in America. Monster House succeeds where some other CGI films have failed because it isn't afraid to creep into some dark places and also spends just as much time developing its characters as it did playing with its deliciously high-concept idea. Lastly - and Kenan doesn't get nearly enough credit for this - but the visuals in Monster House are beyond beautiful, vastly trumping anything you saw in Polar Express, and the experience of seeing Monster House in REAL D Digital 3D was magical. THIS is how digital 3D is supposed to look.

From Woody to WALL-E: Top 10 CGI Animated Movies Ever Page 2