I really enjoyed it right up until [that scene]. It completely took me out of the movie. I chatted with a couple of young women sitting behind me when the credits rolled. One was an ardent Trekker; the other barely familiar with the franchise. I asked how [that scene] played for them. They both said they were very emotional during it, even admitting to crying. So clearly it was effective with at least some of the audience. I went back a few days later to see it with my friends and found knowing what was going to happen greatly reduced how bothersome it was and I liked the film more the second time around.

But mostly, I feel like this is the movie that everyone and their mothersmurfing brother begged them to make after the reboot and I hope now that they've had it and it's out of the way, we can finally get on to something original. I did appreciate that this film had some clear political commentary. That's something the franchise is known for, but hasn't really done much in the film series to date. It was nice to be reminded of that aspect of why I love Star Trek.

Scary... I thought exactly the same thing when watching Johan Hex.

After a lot of Disney films, I got a one way ticket to midnight!

It's funny you say this because I randomly picked up season one at Big Lots just a few days ago. I watched some of it when it aired, but haven't watched an episode since then. I vaguely remember it being funny and for the price, I picked it up. Don't know if I'll get to it anytime soon, but if I have some free time, I'll pop it in.

I also picked up in the last year the Pink Panther box set somewhere cheap. That was a fairly blind buy-I've only watched a few here and there but I enjoyed what I have watched and for the price (I think it was around $11) thought it was worth the shot.

Amazon Prime Instant Video has A LIAR'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY, the multi-style animated adaptation of Flying Circus' Graham Chapman's life(ish) story. Hooray!

Yeah... I finally watched Catwoman a few months ago as the library had it (I now see that Amazon has it available for free with Prime... shame on them). And it was as awful as I'd expected and heard.

I sort of want to see Jonah, just because it exists. Who thought making it was a good idea, I wonder... but on one level, I'm really glad they did.* On most others, I wish they hadn't.


*Mining minor and obscure characters for big films is a generally positive move.
**The more flops, the worse future prospects are.

As I've been going through the list, seeing what I need to watch to qualify for the checklist, I think I've found a few more things to add. For studios to watch, Dreamworks Animation should be added along with Laika (Corpse Bride, Coraline) or Nickelodeon. They have all had several Oscar nods and a couple wins in there.

Also, for director, Nick Park (Wallace & Gromit, Chicken Run) might fit in well as an option.

And just to add it again in here so they're in one place, Rankin/Bass would work as well as a studio.

Watching The Dot and the Line right now. Interesting bit of info: The writer of it, Norton Juster, wrote a great book which was made into a fun cartoon, The Phantom Tollbooth. If you did not get a chance to see it, it is available through Amazon MOD or through their rental service. It's that watchable.

The Dot and the Line and The Phantom Tollbooth were both directed by the great Chuck Jones. If there are any reading this who are *gasp* unfamiliar with him, your immediate assignment is to spend the rest of this challenge watching his cartoons. (Believe me, there are enough to last the rest of the month.) I guarantee you won't be sorry you did.

The Phantom Tollbooth is also easily findable on youtube...

One of my grandson's favorite animations is Chuck Jones' version of Rikki Tikki Tavi. We also have the book version of that video and just about wore it out with daily readings. It's a very good video and is on the "Chuck Jones Collection" along with 5 more animations from Jones.

The ending still really bothers me, though I only saw it once. Basically I was enjoying the movie a ton and thinking it'd be the best movie of the summer, then they start the remake crap and I just couldn't get past it. No one else I talked to had a problem with it, but then none of them try to rewatch Wrath of Khan every year to fit into some kind of challenge. Maybe a second viewing would help me as it did you.

I know Fritz the Cat was rated "X," and I presume there are a slew of Japanese animated things that are "X" or "NC-17", but does anyone know of any NON-Japanese things that hold those highest ratings..?

(I thought it'd be an obvious thing to find an online list of, but it does not appear to be so. Wikipedia's Fritz page says that it inspired a number of imitators, but only lists a couple (mostly imports) and explains for each why they were not really "X Rated".)


EDIT: Wikipedia does have a list of NC-17 films, from which I take the following:

• (Clerks)
• (Evil Dead II)
• (Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back)
• (Kill Bill, Part I)
• South Park
• Team America

But only South Park and Team America definitely count - and I thought neither actually wound up as NC-17..? I think Kevin Smith's films all have animated bits, but I don't remember well enough to be sure; likewise I think I read somewhere that Evil Dead II has animated bits, but I don't know for sure. And if it's Kill Bill I (rather than II) with the anime sections, presumably it could count.

IMDB Advance search results for "Animation" rated "X".

If I looked at the list correctly there are only 4 US animations in the 13 results, 2 of which are from Bakshi.

There are *no* US entries in the NC17 category.

That doesn't include any "CGI" productions. When I did a keyword search (*any* film type/genre) using NC-17 and X ratings there were *no* results.

This is one rating I'd vote to remove from next year's checklist due to the very limited number of possibilities for this challenge - or at least make it optional as in some of the other challenges.

**EDIT**

I just looked over the list of "R" rated animations. While it *is* a larger listing (77 titles) it feels very restrictive. I'd vote to make that rating optional as well.

I went with my mother and we both had different views. She has seen "Wrath of Khan" but so long ago she only remembers the title vaguely. I have watched it but also a lot time ago, but I do remember elements of it. (I do plan on getting to it sometime this summer with Travis, but we're still on TAS). Her take on the movie was that it was great. She had no idea the ending was so close to the original. I, on the other hand, knew that it was similar, but thought it was more of a homage than anything.

I think the people most upset about this are the ones who watch the original a lot. But, I think the majority of people who watch the new movie, haven't watched the old one or have only seen it once or twice and don't have a large familiarity with the source material. The filmmakers gambled and overall, won. The few who do have a problem with how they did it, will still probably go see anything they do anyway. Win win for them!

I have no problems with getting rid of the NC-17/X ratings. I haven't had any problems with "R," though. So, if anything changes with that, I'd say at least make it optional.

Well... I watched it this afternoon for the first time. It's one of those type of kid films I've never cared for, even when I was the target audience. Again there is too much music for my tastes. Why do producers/directors of movies aimed at kids think there has to be a song every 10 minutes or so? I can see my granddaughter liking it but not my grandson. It also came off as "too educational" and frequently felt like I was in a classroom watching a video the teacher thinks is "cool". The Chuck Jones style is very much in evidence but quite a few scenes looked like they'd been lifted from earlier work. Even Mel Blanc's voice work sounded too much like his other characters (one sounded like Bugs which was very distracting). Overall I'm glad I've seen it but I doubt I'll ever watch it again.

Finished up Batman today and the series really does hold up well. It's still quite jarring to see the animation changes that happened with volume 4. Some of the changes worked (i.e. Scarcrow & Croc) and some were more questionable (Ivy & Joker). Once again we have some continuity issues since the first episode has Tim Drake as a part of the team and the second episode, which is amazing, is his origin story. Seriously, how difficult would it have been to switch these episodes?

Thankfully I remember to turn on the commentary track for "Critters" and thankfully the participants didn't sugarcoat who despised this episode is. There were some interesting match-ups here with Nightwing and Catwoman in "You Scratch My Back" and Batgirl and Supergirl in "Girls' Nite Out." Both were fun. I've always enjoyed "Old Wounds" were we find out what went wrong with Batman and Nightwing and "Over the Edge" is an awesome episode on every single level with Gordon chasing Batman and everything pretty much going to hell in a handbasket.

Now it's time for Mask of the Phantasm which I'm so looking forward to.

Really? I guess I loved the book as a kid so I loved the movie. I liked that there were numbers and letters and sounds in it. That with imagination you, too, could have an adventure like Milo. And all the puns.

I've never read the book. Comments I've read indicate the book is far better than the film and I may pick up a copy one day. I also read the author of the book disliked the film very much.

You've probably gathered by now that I'm very critical of certain types of films - musicals being one. Watching The Phanom Tollbooth felt like watching an extended SchoolHouse Rock episode. I didn't like those as a kid either (still do not) but they are "mini musicals". As I mentioned I was also constantly distracted by the feeling I'd seen major portions of the animation/character design in other cartoons and voices that belong to other characters. I enjoy material with puns but those in the film mostly fell flat for me.

Still, I'm glad you recommended the film. I'd have never seen it otherwise in spite of being a fan of the work of Chuck Jones.

Maybe I'm just a sucker for musicals and bad animation! *grins* That's probably truer than I like to really admit! But I am glad that you at least gave it a chance!

I just finished Tokyo Godfathers and liked it which surprised me. I watched a bit of it a few years ago but did not get into it at all, but this time I felt drawn into the story and wanted to see how it ended. I like how everyone is weaved in together and how they were all connected in one way or another.

There's a bit of music in this one, BobO'Link, but not a musical, I promise, if you give it a shot (if you haven't already!)

Nope... haven't seen it and don't think I'd heard of it before your mention.

We *all* have our "weak spots" for certain films/genres/styles. Mine is 50s/60s "B" SF/Horror films. I'll willingly sit and watch stuff from that era others call "crap" and would either turn off or only watch as a MST3K episode. I'm less forgiving of similar material from the 70s on but those early films are what I grew up watching *every* Saturday afternoon (and many Friday/Saturday nights). I figure it's the 10 year old in me that keeps the love going.

That same 10 year old was very critical of cartoons back then and it's just carried forward. In spite of being a comic reader I never watched The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure, The New Adventures of Superman, The Batman/Superman Hour, The Adventures of Batman, or Aquaman from the 60s because I didn't like the animation. Those are *all* Filmation series and may help explain why I've never much liked their output and by the 70s just wouldn't watch a series if I saw their name attached. I *have* (blind buy) purchased a few of their series because of strong reviews (but none of those mentioned) in spite of not caring for their animation style. He-Man and She-Ra have grown on me over the years but I also consider those 2 series to be among the best produced by that studio.

TOKYO GODFATHERS is a great movie and I could swear I recommended it to you in a past thread. If I didn't, shame on me. If I did and you forgot about it, shame on you.

All of Satoshi Kon's movies are worth watching:

Perfect Blue (1998)
Millennium Actress (2001)
Tokyo Godfathers (2003)
Paprika (2006)

His last, movie, Dream Machine, is currently in limbo (lack of cash to finish it).

I really need to watch this film. I bought it from Hastings years ago after seeing a preview for it (on the DVD of The Triplets of Belleville, I believe), but the disc was really damaged so I returned it without finishing. I really enjoyed the part that I saw, but never went back to finish it.

I actually feel this way about musicals. A few days ago, I was talking about beloved genres with a friend, and we were analyzing when and how we developed our love of particular genres. To be honest, I cannot remember a time when I didn't love musicals. I grew up on Disney and Don Bluth musical animated films, and by twelve, I had a small collection of Broadway soundtracks. That collection has only continued to grow, and I probably don't go two days without listening to at least part of a cast recording.

I have been helping friends paint palm leaves on their ceiling, so it has taken me a while, but I finally finished Wolf's Rain which is occasionally trippy and ultimately satisfying. It's an intense anime, and by the end, I was completely immersed. I do not want to say too much about it for fear of spoiling something. It was a blind buy for me so the only thing I knew going it was that it was about wolves. It requires some patience from the audience, and rewards those who trust it to weave a wonderful, intricate story.

I don't know, Bob. I have exactly the same feelings about this material as you, but I did not grow up watching this stuff. My "hunger" for it started around the time I started buying DVDs, in 1998, or whatever it was. I'm going to have to really think about this and see if I can figure out where it came from. Some repressed memory maybe!

BTW: just to weigh in, I like musicals, but I don't seek them out. Have you watched Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog? Give it a try and see if you don't appreciate the songs. Don't watch it with the grandkids though. It's available on YouTube. It's not animated though.

My only other suggestion is to read up a bit on Tokyo Godfathers before renting/watching. It might not be everyone's cup of tea. But, like I said before, I am glad I gave it a second chance!

I remember growing up with Disney as well...wonder if that's where my love of musicals come from? Though, most of my family like them as well so I grew up watching a lot of Broadway type shows and things with music in them were never shied from.

I did have to share our TV with 4 other people, so I didn't get it to myself often. I was allowed to watch a lot of the Disney stuff, and if I got up early enough on Sat., cartoons, but we only got 1 channel well, and 2 others that were very fuzzy, so until I got Nick as a teenager, and now Boom, I hadn't watched a lot of those older shows. And no late night TV for me! That wasn't my time to watch it!

I'll second this, it's not your traditional musical. The guy from Serenity that I never remember his name is in it and of course Neil Patrick Harris. It is very well done.