A Brief History of Animated Movies

From flip book animation in the early 20^th century to highly sophisticated computer generated imagery, animation movies have covered a long way in the cinematic history. Generally considered as movies for little children, they no longer just say the story of Disney princesses or talking animals. They have become a very useful medium for a story teller to showcase his wildest imagination, which can not be shown easily in a live action version. The level of emotions shown in animated movies like Up and Lion King are only matched by the fun filled action and adventure in movies like The Incredibles and Kung Fu Panda series. The extent of their reach and importance in movie world can be easily seen when even the panel members of Academy awards (Oscars) who are considered as a bunch of old people who are interested only in biopic and period pieces, realised they were not doing justice to the sheer masterpiece which are animated movies by excluding them from the best movie category. Hence in 2001, a separate category for animated movies was introduced in Oscar awards. No other genre of movies has achieved that privilege yet.

Not only majority of main stream animated movies are acclaimed by critics and audience alike, they are also a big box office draw. Frozen and Toy story 3 have earned more than $1 billion each worldwide. Also out of a total of 17 movies which have gross more than $400 million in the USA domestic market, 4 are animated movies.

The credit for bringing the animation movie at such a high level goes to a few selected movie studios which have employed the best people in the movie industry to translate the amazing stories from the page to the big screen. The most influential and popular being Disney Studios along with its acquired subsidiary - Pixar. With 9 out of 15 Oscar for best animated movies under their belt these companies also produced all 3 animated movies which were nominated for best movie Oscar award. The sheer domination of Disney studio in this genre is unparalleled since they released their first sound and color animated feature film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937 to the Oscar award winning movie Big Hero 6 in 2015.

Even though Disney can be considered as the king of the hill in animated world, other studios have also brought their own tentpole movie series into the mix. Warner Bros. with their Logo movie universe. Dreamworks and their Shrek and How to Train your Dragon movies. Universal studios with the highly acclaimed Despicable Me movies along with its upcoming spin off movie, Minions. All are fighting their way to the top while making big footprints along the way. Even if they do not have the cupboard full of awards like Disney studios, their movies are in no way less fun or interesting than their senior counterpart. Such competition is always good for the movie audience as another amazing animated movie is just around the corner.

Ultimately animated movies are the perfect combination of visually appealing scenes which are highly kid friendly along with witty dialogues and heartwarming story which is expected by an adult from a movie. These are the qualities makes them a must watch for each member of the family.

By Shantanu Gupta