5. A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon
Wallace and Gromit may be the crown jewel of Aardman Animations, but the studio’s secret weapon is Shaun the Sheep. The British television series first lept onto the big screen in 2015, scoring a warm critical reception and a modest box office here in the states. Globally, however, the film quadrupled its budget, guaranteeing this sequel.
While the film is not entirely silent — humans and animals jabbering on — the dialogue never soars beyond the adult warble of Charlie Brown cartoons. Action and expression drive the narrative, highlighting the extreme talent of Aardman’s stop-motion animators. In their hands, they shape their own versions of Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, and Harold Lloyd. The heroes of silent comedy stand resurrected within Farmageddon‘s alien-infested Mossy Bottom Farm.
4. The Willoughbys
Mom and Dad are selfish monsters. Let’s murder their ass so we can live the rest of our lives joyfully as orphans. That’s the basic premise of The Willoughbys, a dark odyssey exploring the bleakest of endgames in the classic bad parents narrative.
Based on the novel by Lois Lowry, The Willoughbys introduces its childhood stars through the lens of their repulsive gene doners. Mom (Jane Krakowski) barely notices when her first child Tim (Will Forte) pops out of her body, and Dad (Martin Short) kindly saddles him with a name before bouncing back into the embrace of his beloved. Three more oddball children follow, and after a few years of suffering lovelessly, they hatch a scheme to eradicate the ‘rents.
The Willoughbys feels a little like a Wes Anderson film jacked up on Roald Dahl nightmare juice. It’s weird and uncomfortable and unnerving, and it takes the audience to the precipice of wrong before pulling back to reveal that it does indeed beat with a human heart.
3. World of Tomorrow Episode Three: The Absent Destinations of David Prime
With the first two World of Tomorrow segments, animator Don Hertzfeldt crammed a science fiction epic about humanity’s desperate desire to extend its miserable life into forty brutally funny and utterly heartbreaking minutes. The adventures of Emily and her increasingly deteriorating, definitely demented backup clones concluded on what seemed like a definitive statement. Three years later, Hertzfeldt returns to his (and probably our) grim future for another episode that surprisingly works independently of the other two while also reframing what came before.
At thirty-four minutes, World of Tomorrow Episode Three: The Absent Destinations of David Prime is slightly longer than the other two and will not alienate anyone unfamiliar with the previous segments. Our heroic stick figure this go-around is David, a space traveler stuffed into a tiny tin can starship, wasting his days inside the internet. After a message from an Emily clone suddenly appears in his memory, David departs on a star trek across the galaxy to retrieve a vital beacon. The catch? To maintain space for Emily’s message in his brain, David must frequently delete essential functions from his brain.
World of Tomorrow Episode Three initially supplies a barrage of knowing, comical jabs. It’s some of the best comedy of the year, but as David approaches his destination, the laughs make way for a clenching of the throat. Hertzfeldt is a gut punch champion, and he delivers one helluva wallop here.
2. Wolfwalkers
When Cartoon Saloon makes a movie, you pay attention. Their last three films (The Secret of the Kells, Song of the Sea, and The Breadwinner) were extraordinary displays of the form, refusing to cater to the traditional style of 2D animation while also exporting unique mythology overlooked by the Mouse House’s storytellers and its myriad imitators.
Wolfwalkers is no exception — well, it is an exception because it’s Cartoon Saloon’s greatest glory. Set amidst the English invasion of Ireland circa 1649, the film follows a young girl’s desire to prove her skill to her wolf-hunting father by bringing down the wild pack surrounding their city’s walls.
In her defiance, she encounters another obstinate daughter, but this one can live life as a wolf when asleep. Hunter becomes prey, prey becomes hunter, hunter becomes savior. The passion of its players reverberates through every frame, tearing at the animation, shattering convention.
Wolfwalkers‘ style morphs with emotion. The more heated and terrified the events on screen, the more jagged the characters’ shapes and lines transform. Directors Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart start from a style honoring woodblock prints but gleefully allow for expressionistic ruptures. The film burns with the will of its young heroes.
1. Soul
Those who can’t do, teach. Except, Joe Gardner (Jamie Foxx) can do. He’s a brilliant jazz pianist who blissfully falls into the zone when behind the keys. The big break never came, but on the day his middle school prepares to place him on the permanent pay role, including benefits with health care, he also catches the creative break of a lifetime. Dorthea Williams (Angela Bassett), the iconic saxophonist, offers him a seat in her band. All he needs to do is make it to the show on time.
With a plan in play, God laughs. As Joe’s head drifts into the clouds, his body tumbles down a manhole. He awakens in the afterlife with a great big beam of white-hot light inviting him heavenward. Joe turns and runs.
What will kids get out of Soul? I’m not sure. There are some cute cartoons. Free from our bodies, souls manifest as fluffy little blobs of blue marshmallow. It’s frickin’ adorable.
There’s a talking cat. There’s even a pizza rat. Plus, plenty of slapstick and pratfalls as the film spends the first fifteen minutes wandering its central hero through various Rube Goldberg deathtraps a la Final Destination.
Whether children dig on it or not doesn’t matter. This one is not for them. It’s for us, the dreamers who refuse to let go even as those around us, and the world itself, tell us to give up the ghost.
Our dream sometimes blocks our purpose. Soul acts as a slap. Wake up, look around. Your art and audience are everywhere. Validation comes to those willing to receive it.
Related Topics: 2020 Rewind, Animation
