What makes a toon, or movie great?

[sun]

It has been stated in the forums, that The Iron Giant, Beauty and the Beast, One Froggy Evening, Annimaniacs are "great". What does that mean to you, what do you think is a great toon or film . For me, it is a sence that you will never forget the characters, pace, story, and the entire way that the film is put together. Sometimes, it is so memorable, that it bring on a special meaning..or a special feeling... With the Iron Giant, the exact end, right before the end titles, says it all, something solid in my mind, as well as the 6 or 7 minutes right before that..With Star Wars, I walked out of that theater knowing I had seen something wonderful, I can still fell that although it was 25 years ago..Would anyone like to add their ideas on "great toons, or films? Stuart

[Invader Dag]

i think what determines a great cartoon is:

1. Voice acting. if you don`t have good voice actors, then forget it.

2. fitting animation.

3. GOOD animation

4. good writting. imagine Chuck Jones animation with bad
writters. it doesn`t jive

5. realistic characters. i tend to like characters i can relate to

6. establishing a mood. The Iron Giant did this perfectly, it just like how the 60`s should feel to me.

7. getting all this right.

and after those 7 easy steps you`ll have a GREAT toon

[Zechs]

Good story, good characters and good acting. Just like a live action show would require.

[atari_14]

Mostly what everybody else said. Plus, movies or series have to have a good plot to them.

[Ikwig]

For me, writing is key. You can have great animation/artwork, excellent VAs, even good direction, but if the writing stinks then the whole show will not work. This holds true for movies as well. And it frankly amazes me how little attention is paid to good writing - everyone seems to think if you can do good special effects, or include some impressive CGI work, your film will be great - but if the plot is full of holes and the dialogue is limp, then it's just not gonna get my vote for Greatness .

[Christopher N. Denner]

3 things I see: animation, writing and acting.

Can't be a good movie if is doesn't move, or it moves too much.
Can't be good if there is no story or even a point to the movie.
Can't be good if the acting is subpar, or characters yell all the time.

But when they all work... they all work.

[MachSabre]

Originally posted by Christopher N. Denner
3 things I see: animation, writing and acting.

Can't be a good movie if is doesn't move, or it moves too much.
Can't be good if there is no story or even a point to the movie.
Can't be good if the acting is subpar, or characters yell all the time.

But when they all work... they all work.

And when they don't work you get DBZ!

[Magentabeams]

For me, it has to have good writing (see sig), good animation and good casting.


Sarahanne

[Nickdisk]

for me, good animation & storylines

[Singin' Stray Cat]

I guess what everyone else has pretty much said - good voice acting, good animation, and a well-written script.

But I'd take it a little further and say that if you forget for a moment that the characters moving around on the screen are just ink and plastic (or billions of pixels in some cases) - that, dare I say it, those characters become REAL to you - then the staff has truly animated something. They've taken ordinary paper, film, etc. and created a personality - given life to something, in a sense.