Films of the Decade - Part VIII

Animation takes center stage in this round of nominees for the best films of the decade.

To get up to speed: Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, and Part VII.

As always, comments and suggestions are welcomed as the quest progresses, and will be taken into consideration upon tallying the results.

Spirited Away – Hayao Miyazaki
2001, Japan

I’m not certain Miyazaki meant for his bizarre and often grotesque ‘otherworld’ that his 10 year-old protagonist stumbles into, to be a direct metaphor for suburbia and its uniquely violent impact on the human soul…but, hey, if the shoe fits.

Should Miyazaki choose to make another film (there’s no news of an upcoming release at this time), he will have been making ground-breaking animation for five decades now and counting.

For many, Spirited Away is considered his masterpiece. A standard wrong-turn-down-a-dark-street storyline becomes rife with originality in Miyazaki’s hands.



The Triplets of Belleville – Sylvain Chomet
2003, France, Belgium, Canada, UK

The all too rare animated period piece, The Triplets of Belleville feels as though it was cut from cinema’s early years: say, if Preston Sturges and Sacha Guitry joined forces, sneaking past the guards at Walt Disney Studios, to try their hand at animation.



When a bicyclist who has trained his whole life for the Tour de France, is kidnapped during the race, and transported overseas for nefarious purposes, it is left to his elderly grandmother, her faithful, obese pooch, and a former nightclub act to come to his rescue.

The Incredibles – Brad Bird
2004, USA

A great set-up delivered pitch-perfectly: as superhereos are forced to join the ranks of the average Joe due to constant, mind-numbing litigation, Bob Parr, formerly Mr. Incredible, pines for the action=packed good old days.

When his chance to recapture the past arrives in a cloud of ominous, government dealings, all is not what it seems, and it is only his family who can come to his rescue.



Wall-E – Andrew Stanton
2008, USA

Already considered one of the best animated films of all-time, Wall-E broke with tradition, using limited speaking roles, instead, relying on basic emotions to bring its story to its audience.

With earth long since inhabitable, Wall-E trolls its wastelands, collecting trash, until one day falls for a mysterious, female robot (this is Pixar, boy-on-boy robotic love is still light years away).

What follows is an intergalactic voyage to find love, and reclaim earth while they're at it.



Waltz with Bashir – Ari Folman
2008, Israel, Germany, France, USA, Finland, Switzerland, Belgium, Australia

How does one tell the horrifying truths of the Lebanon War to a movie-going audience so desensitized by violence, shockingly real or ridiculously fake? Answer: animate it.

After being sought out as comfort by a friend with a recurring nightmare, Ari, a film director, is surprised to realize he cannot recall any memories from his time spent in the Army during those fateful days of the early 1980s, save one.

In the hopes of finding out what his vision means, he begins a quest, looking up old friends and comrades to piece together what happened to them all: the survivors, as well as the victims.