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Friday
Sep282018

Posterized: Warner Animation and "Smallfoot"

by Nathaniel R

The animated comedy Smallfoot opens today. It has a 75% on Rotten Tomatoes, so a mixed response from critics but we expect audiences will like it since they're not always so picky about animated films. Plus the concept is cute and there are lots of big stars to promote it.

Let's take a quick visual perusal of Warner Brothers theatrical animated films. Warner Brothers is such a massive corporation that their subsidiaries are legion and "Warner Animation" as it is now is not exactly like "Warner Bros Animation" of the 1990s or what not but you catch the drift. The various animated subsidiaries of Warner Bros tend to have specialized in TV animation and direct-to-dvd titles which is one of three key reasons that the company has yet to land an Oscar nomination in the Best Animated Feature Film category. The second reason is quality. And the final reason is just bad luck. Surely their best film The Iron Giant would have been nominated had the category existed in 1999. And the snub of exceedingly clever blockbuster The Lego Movie ...well everything was NOT awesome when that happened, don't you agree?

How many of their 12 theatrically released animated features have you seen? The posters are after the jump...

Batman Mask of the Phantasm (1993)
Space Jam (1996)
Quest for Camelot (1998)

The Iron Giant (1999)
Osmosis Jones (2001)
Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003)

The Lego Movie (2014)
Storks (2016)
The Lego Batman Movie (2017)

The Lego Ninjago Movie (2017)
Teen Titans Go! To the Movies (2018)
Smallfoot (2018)

So how many is it for you? I really meant to see Teen Titans Go! to the Movies but didn't get around to it so my answer is a paltry three (The Lego Movie, The Lego Batman Movie, and The Iron Giant) though I do feel like I've seen Space Jam through cultural osmosis. 

Earlier this season on Posterized

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Reader Comments (17)

Only three, but they are all good: Iron Giant, Looney Tunes, Lego Movie.

Looney Tunes was better than expected. Brendan Fraser really fit seamlessly into that, and the energy was up through the whole thing.

September 28, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterCash

I've seen four. Batman Mask of the Phantasm is one of the best Batman movies.

September 28, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterTom G

Six. Mask of the Phantasm, Space Jam, Osmosis Jones, Looney Tunes: Back in Action and two of the Lego Movies. Have seen bits and pieces of The Iron Giant, but haven't done a full viewing. I'll get to that at some point (because I own it on DVD) and might try Teen Titans Go! to the Movies, if only because it sounds like the best version of that kind of thing and WAY better than the show usually is.

September 28, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterVolvagia

I’ve seen 8. Batman Mask of the Phantasm, Space Jam, Quest for Camelot, The Iron Giant, Osmosis Jones, and all three of the Lego movies. I’d like to revisit Quest for Camelot because I liked it as a kid. I love The Iron Giant. I have really no desire to see the rest that are in this list. If I hear enough good things about Smallfoot I might see it, but it will be facing tough competition from movies I absolutely need to see.

September 28, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterBrian

Mask of the Phantasm!!!! Space Jam!!!! Iron Giant (casual !).

September 28, 2018 | Unregistered Commentermikenewq

How about Happy Feet?

September 28, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterTo Be Blunt

Every time I see the space jam poster I have to laugh at bugs bunny getting top billing.

September 28, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterMike Troutman

Batman Mask of the Phantasm is brilliant

September 28, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterBVR

The films that I have seen are Batman Mask of the Phantasm, Space Jam, Quest for Camelot, The Iron Giant, Osmosis Jones, Looney Tunes: Back in Action, The Lego Movie, Storks and The Lego Batman Movie. Also Batman: Mask of the Phantasm is the best Batman movie ever! Way better than Batman 1989 and The Dark Knight which are films I like but the movie to get the character of Batman right was the animated movie Mask of the Phantasm.

September 28, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterAlex Hartsell

Quest for Camelot has an an awful reputation now, but I liked it a lot as a kid. If nothing else, the soundtrack was incredible. And I had a Space Jam-themed birthday party once. Everything went downhill after The Iron Giant though.

September 28, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterJes V.

I've seen four-Space Jam, the first two Lego Movies, and Teen Titans, and really enjoyed the latter three so I don't know why I don't see more of these films and might go to Small Foot this weekend for fun.

(I have never seen The Iron Giant...I'm aware I'm terrible)

September 28, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterJohn T

" Iron Giant" and "The Lego Movie"

September 28, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterJaragon

6-year-old me saw Batman: Mask of the Phantasm in the theater during its, what, 7-day run? I had the comic book, too. Such a dark and sad movie!

I saw Space Jam and had the soundtrack on cassette. Get off my lawn.

In 9th grade we convinced our biology teacher to let us watch Osmosis Jones in class.

September 28, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterJakey

I will join the chorus on Mask of the Phantasm being the best-ever Batman feature film... by a mile. The Tim Burton and Chris Nolan films have their moments, but no other adaptation has gotten so much about Batman as absolutely right as B:TAS and this spinoff feature.

If Warners/DC had a clue, they'd be letting Paul Dini and company write their live action films, because these guys understand Batman and his world VASTLY better than anybody else who's ever written a Batman film project. Despite being "cartoons", B:TAS was written at a level far more adult, and with more on-target psychological astuteness, than any other adaptation to date.

And Jakey, I also took my then-6-year-old son to see it during it's blink-and-you'll-miss-it theatrical release! It's only because of him and his sister that I was watching "Batbat" in the afternoon at that point in my late 30s... and I quckly discoverd that B:TAS was the best-ever Batman adaptation. It still is!

Oh, and The Iron Giant is a masterpiece too! The others, not so much.

September 29, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterDoctor Strange

I'm a 90s kid, so Space Jam is a classic for me lol.
Also remember enjoying Quest for Camelot, but mostly for Celine Dion's Prayer lol.
The Iron Giant was great too, though I haven't seen since.

September 29, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterPhilip H.

Besides Lego Movie being SNUBBED, perhaps another reason why they have yet to land that Oscar nomination is because they don’t produce enough films. 12 movies in 25 years?

October 1, 2018 | Unregistered CommenterBD (the real one)

Most of the people know it then fine, so for that I have some different thought if you want to know about animation because in today's date there are so many things by which you will be very helpful. For further about it which site I give with the name.

November 9, 2018 | Unregistered Commenterepson error code 0xf1
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