Obscure Animated Films

Sotiris · Post by **Sotiris** » Sat Mar 05, 2011 5:26 pm

I was wondering, which are your favourite obscure animated fims? Any ones you would recommend?

milojthatch · Post by **milojthatch** » Sat Mar 05, 2011 8:56 pm

The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones
Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night
Yogi Bear and the Magical Flight of the Spruce Goose
Rockin' with Judy Jetson
Babar: The Movie
Rock-a-Doodle
I Yabba-Dabba Do!
Doug's 1st Movie

4th Life of Thomasina · Sat Mar 05, 2011 11:16 pm

The Secret of Kells. Was absolutely fantastic

Barbossa · Post by **Barbossa** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 12:24 am

Lucky Luke: Daisy Town
Lucky Luke: The Ballad of the Daltons
(The two Disney distributed english dubbed versions of: http://www.dvdizzy.com/forum/viewtopic. ... 4f75295bc5 )

Cordy_Biddle · Post by **Cordy_Biddle** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 1:02 am

Heidi's Song.

Absolutely brilliant score (how many animated films have an actual Overture?!), and a clever expansion of the original "Heidi" story. Quite surprising that it's yet to surface on DVD.

PatrickvD · Post by **PatrickvD** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 3:10 am

An all time favorite has to be Le Roi et l'oiseau

It's gorgeously animated and a tad weird. Like a french Miyazaki film.

dvdjunkie · Post by **dvdjunkie** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 7:28 am

Allegro Non Troppo (1976) is one of best animated films when it comes to satirizing Walt Disney. In this film, from France, the director thinks he has come up with a unique idea, 'why not put classical music to animation'. When he is informed that someone in the US named "Prisney" has already done it, the director scoffs that he can do it better.

If you can find this film, you owe it yourself to watch it. It is only 85 minutes long and the animation and live action sequences are amazing.

Don't forget the name "Allegro Non Troppo". This is highly recommended.

TheValentineBros · Post by **TheValentineBros** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 7:40 am

The Thief and the Cobbler, and no, not the crappy Miramax version. It's obscure because the way that Richard Williams did was a total trip-fest. But, yeah, I highly recommend you see it. Especially the Recobbled cut.

Wonderlicious · Post by **Wonderlicious** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 9:17 am

dvdjunkie wrote:Allegro Non Troppo (1976) is one of best animated films when it comes to satirizing Walt Disney. In this film, from Italy, the director thinks he has come up with a unique idea, 'why not put classical music to animation'.

Fixed.

Flanger-Hanger · Post by **Flanger-Hanger** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 10:08 am

Mad Monster Party, but I would only recommend that to those who really adore Rankin/Bass stuff and could put up with the 90 minutes of campy silliness.

littlefuzzy · Post by **littlefuzzy** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 11:07 am

Not all of these are necessarily my "favorites", but they might be considered obscure, and someone else may discover a new favorite.

The Dog of Flanders anime (the uncut version, not the US butchered version.)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0304072/

Uproar in Heaven, early Chinese animation based on the classical novel Journey to the West (like many other things, including Dragon Ball.) There is a fan restoration available.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Havoc_in_Heaven

Princess Iron Fan (I haven't seen this, but it is another early Chinese work, from the same studio that did Uproar in Heaven.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_I ... 1941_film)

Panda Go Panda - two early OVAs from Hayao Miyazaki / Studio Ghibli (or before Ghibli, but still.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panda!_Go,_Panda!

Meet the Feebles - assuming you count puppetry as animation. I kind of do, since you don't actually see actors on screen, but rather the results of a team of people bringing a character to life. Be warned, Meet the Feebles is NOT for kiddies!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meet_the_Feebles

Persepolis - an auto-biographical story of a young girl growing up in Iran. The graphic novel was amazing, although I haven't seen the film yet myself.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persepolis_(film)

Watership Down - a dark story with rabbits.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watership_Down_(film)

Robot Carnival - hard to track down (I've got it on laserdisc), an anime version of Fantasia. Err, that is, of the idea behind Fantasia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robot_Carnival

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time - I've got this but haven't watched it yet, it is supposedly a really amazing anime.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Girl_W ... rough_Time

Osamu Tezuka's Metropolis - based on Osamu Tezuka's manga inspired by the 1927 film.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolis_(2001_film)

PixarFan2006 · Post by **PixarFan2006** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 11:45 am

Coraline

dvdjunkie · Post by **dvdjunkie** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 11:59 am

Wonderlicious Thanks for the fix on "Allegro Non Troppo", I was thrown by IMDb where it says German, France, USA and didn't look at the distributor. You are correct the film comes out of Italy.

Thanks again.

Cordy_Biddle · Post by **Cordy_Biddle** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 2:24 pm

Oh...and "Sarah: The Seventh Match" (aka "Sarah and the Squirrel"); a haunting story about a little girl's experiences during the Holocaust.

Super Aurora · Post by **Super Aurora** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 4:06 pm

littlefuzzy wrote:Not all of these are necessarily my "favorites", but they might be considered obscure, and someone else may discover a new favorite.

The Dog of Flanders anime (the uncut version, not the US butchered version.)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0304072/

Uproar in Heaven, early Chinese animation based on the classical novel Journey to the West (like many other things, including Dragon Ball.) There is a fan restoration available.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Havoc_in_Heaven

Princess Iron Fan (I haven't seen this, but it is another early Chinese work, from the same studio that did Uproar in Heaven.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_I ... 1941_film)

Panda Go Panda - two early OVAs from Hayao Miyazaki / Studio Ghibli (or before Ghibli, but still.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panda!_Go,_Panda!

Meet the Feebles - assuming you count puppetry as animation. I kind of do, since you don't actually see actors on screen, but rather the results of a team of people bringing a character to life. Be warned, Meet the Feebles is NOT for kiddies!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meet_the_Feebles

Persepolis - an auto-biographical story of a young girl growing up in Iran. The graphic novel was amazing, although I haven't seen the film yet myself.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persepolis_(film)

Watership Down - a dark story with rabbits.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watership_Down_(film)

Robot Carnival - hard to track down (I've got it on laserdisc), an anime version of Fantasia. Err, that is, of the idea behind Fantasia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robot_Carnival

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time - I've got this but haven't watched it yet, it is supposedly a really amazing anime.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Girl_W ... rough_Time

Osamu Tezuka's Metropolis - based on Osamu Tezuka's manga inspired by the 1927 film.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolis_(2001_film)

All of these are fantastic. Usually anime gives me some of the best stuff around for me enjoy hence why I usually prefer more anime than Disney stuff.

Goliath · Post by **Goliath** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 5:01 pm

Persepolis, based on the graphic novel of the same name. It's the autobiographic tale of a young Iranian girl who lives through the 1979 Revolution, flees to Europe, but returns to her family after all. You would not expect it, but this is actually a very FUNNY, light-hearted film! Yes, it covers all the problems and obstacles of life in post-revolution Iran, but it does so with a lot of gallows humor.

Barbossa wrote:Lucky Luke: Daisy Town
Lucky Luke: The Ballad of the Daltons

But... those made every fan of the comic cry because they were so bad.

SpringHeelJack · Post by **SpringHeelJack** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 6:24 pm

Well... how obscure are you shooting? I mean, I don't consider something like "Coraline" or "Rock-a-Doodle" to be obscure whatsoever, but then I have no idea what you're more or less familiar with.

I will, however, echo DVDJunkie's "Allegro Non Troppo," Goliath's "Persepolis," and 4th Life of Thomasina's "The Secret of Kells" which I don't consider obscure per se because it was just nominated for an Oscar last year and is not the sort of movie everyone can fully enjoy, but if you can, you owe it to yourself to check it out.

On a side note, should you wonder what the inside of my head looks like, I suggest "The Brothers Quay Collection" on DVD. It's dark and bizarre, but if you're into that, you'll be into this.

littlefuzzy · Post by **littlefuzzy** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 10:25 pm

I've been wanting to see The Amazing Screw-on Head, from Mike Mignola (Hellboy).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Amazing_Screw-On_Head

I've had Fire and Ice laying around for a while, I need to watch it - Directed by Ralph Bakshi (although I dislike his Fritz the Cat), it features artwork from Frank Frazetta.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_and_Ice_(1983_film)

How about City of Rott? Animated zombies! I haven't seen it myself.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_Rott

Speaking of animated zombies, did you know there is Night of the Living Dead: Reanimated? It uses the original audio, while the picture is from various animators and artists from around the world.
http://www.notldr.com/next/main.html

I've been wanting to see Rock & Rule for a while.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_&_Rule

Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem is an anime version of Daft Punk's album "Discovery",
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstella

Hamilton Mattress was directed by Barry Purves of Aardman Animations.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0314143/

The Miracle Maker: The Story of Jesus is pretty good, with some great stop-motion animation from Russia. There are also some 2-d animated segments.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Miracl ... 2000_film)

dvdjunkie · Post by **dvdjunkie** » Mon Mar 07, 2011 7:47 am

American Pop (1981) also directed by Ralph Bakshi. If you totally ignore some of Bakshi's work in the past, i.e. "Fritz the Cat" and "Wizards", then you will appreciate this great animated film. It's like "Fantasia" except it has a story and uses pop music of the times, everything from Bob Seger to Jimi Hendrix and lots of stuff in between. If you have never seen this, make it a point to find it, and watch it. You won't be sorry.

4th Life of Thomasina · Tue Mar 08, 2011 8:43 pm

dvdjunkie wrote:American Pop (1981) also directed by Ralph Bakshi. If you totally ignore some of Bakshi's work in the past, i.e. "Fritz the Cat" and "Wizards", then you will appreciate this great animated film. It's like "Fantasia" except it has a story and uses pop music of the times, everything from Bob Seger to Jimi Hendrix and lots of stuff in between. If you have never seen this, make it a point to find it, and watch it. You won't be sorry.

Couldn't agree more. American Pop is a great movie with probably the best soundtrack ever.

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