For the next few weeks, French Toast Sunday is celebrating its fifth anniversary with Top 5 Lists highlighting movies from the past five years. To kick things off, here’s a list of movies from a category that’s very close to my heart, my Top 5 Animated Movies.
#05 / Gnomeo and Juliet (2011)
As usual, the number 5 slot on this list was the hardest to place, with many contenders including Monsters University, How To Train Your Dragon, ParaNorman, FrankenWeenie and Megamind, but in the end I picked a little-seen English gem, purely based on how utterly insane it is. Everyone knows the story of Romeo and Juliet because it has been told countless times already, but somewhat understandably never through the medium of ceramic garden gnomes in neighbouring gardens. This all changed in 2011 when an inspired and unbelievable cast – including Jason Statham, Ozzy Osbourne, Dolly Parton, Hulk Hogan, Stephen Merchant and Patrick Stewart alongside lead performers James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Maggie Smith and Michael Caine – came together to provide a fun and in-joke laden movie that I’ve watched a great deal more times than is probably necessary. It helps that I like my Shakespeare, so I get a chuckle out of the houses to which the gardens are adjoined are labelled “2b” and “NOT 2b,” and I’m pretty sure most people would consider me insane for even considering including this, but here it is on my list nonetheless. Also, there’s a flamboyant pink plastic flamingo, which every movie should have, really.
#04 / The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists (2011)
Another British movie, and I promise the last on this list. I like to refer to Aardman as the British Pixar, and for good reason. They created one of my childhood staples, Wallace and Gromit, and have produced gold ever since, not least of which is this curio, which is more likely known as The Pirates! Band of Misfits to the rest of the world, but here in jolly old England it’s An Adventure with Scientists. As with Gnomeo and Juliet, my appreciation here comes from how silly much of it is – where most characters have actual first and last names, our hero here, as voiced by Hugh Grant, is known simply as the Pirate Captain, which is never remarked upon ever, but is the source of many a joke. Yes, the sense of humour is unrelentingly English, but that’s what I am so I love it. Also, the stop motion animation is flawless and often astounding as to just how they pulled some of it off, and there’s a monkey with cue cards. Sold.
#03 / Rango (2011)
When it comes to making movies about talking animals, it’s generally understood that the cuter the critter, the more appealing the film. In which case, Rango should never have been made, because every darn creature in this film is as ugly as sin. Extremely well animated movies are often described as beautiful, picturesque, and other synonyms thereof, but these words don’t rightly fit with Rango, as whilst the level of detail is stunning, some of the things depicted don’t exactly make you feel all warm and cosy inside. It’s also the only decent movie Johnny Depp has made in the past 12 years, so there’s that. There’s a bleak streak of humour amidst the tale of a pet chameleon lost in a town with no water, terrorised by a monstrous snake with a machine gun for a tail and an assortment of traditional western stereotypes in rodent form, and whilst it doesn’t look pretty, it’s still a mighty fine movie.
#02 / The Lego Movie (2011)
My favourite movie from 2014 had to make an appearance on here. When the concept of a movie based around everyone’s favourite highly sophisticated inter-locking brick system was announced I, along with the rest of the world, assumed it would be another shameless cash-in, attempting to monopolise on the popularity of a toy which, from its very integral purpose, cannot come with a pre-determined plot. So when every awesome thing fell into every awesome place, the result was something so unexpectedly glorious that it beggars belief. What could have been another Battleship became something truly inventive, which went even beyond itself, stretching ever further for a third act conclusion that couldn’t possibly be anticipated, and which should mean a great deal to anyone who played with the bricks in their youth, or whom still does today. It’s cool for a 27-year old guy with a mortgage to make model dinosaurs and robots instead of doing actual real-life DIY on his house, right? Anyone?
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#01 / Toy Story 3 (2011)
The number one movie on this list was a tough call. Like, really tough, because there’s a lot of animated movies from the past five years that I’ve seen countless times and will do again. The one I’ve easily seen the most, however, is Toy Story 3. I grew up at the teat of Pixar on Toy Story and Toy Story 2 (and all their other movies), and as soon as this trilogy-closer was announced I just couldn’t wait to see it. I’d say it’s probably the best of that trilogy, although any of them could claim that top spot on a different day of the week, and it tied everything together so well at the end that I really don’t need a part 4, but if there’s any potential for it being this good, then by all means I’ll let the studio get on with it. As with all great trilogies, part three introduced a bunch of new characters who I’m annoyed at because they weren’t present for the previous movies – Michael Keaton’s Ken, Ned Beatty’s Lotso, and of course Timothy Dalton’s preening, classically trained Mr. Pricklepants (yes, there’s a small plastic version of him on my desk at work, next to another one of Rex, no I don’t care what you think about that). If there’s one scene from the past five years that is the most likely to eke a tear from the corner of my eye, it’s near the end of this film, and whilst I’m not a fan of getting all emotional in movies, I’ll gladly go through it with this one.
Did I miss anything? Is Gnomeo and Juliet a really insane choice? What’s your favourite animated movie from the past five years? Let us know in the comments.