Animated Movies Throughout the Years: 1999

Animated Movies Throughout the Years: 1999

Note: DreamWorks did not release a single movie this year.

In March, The King and I was released, based on the musical by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. I have honestly never seen this movie before, but I heard it was kind of a knockoff of Disney’s Aladdin.

April saw the release of Doug’s First Movie, though it was originally intended to be direct-to-video. Fans criticized this movie and stated it felt more like an extended episode.

In June, Disney released their final film in the Disney Renaissance, Tarzan. It was the first to use the Deep Canvas technique, an innovative CG process that the Disney animators and directors described as ‘taking a camera and moving it through a painting’. This process would also be used for Atlantis: The Lost Empire and Treasure Planet. Tarzan would also win the Oscar for Best Original Song.

Also released in June was the super raunchy and foul-mouthed South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut. It earned the record for the most swear words in an animated film, with 399 swear words and 128 offensive gestures. In the words of Marge Simpson “What kind of warped human being would find this funny?!”

August saw the release of The Iron Giant, the directorial debut of Brad Bird. While it tanked at the box-office, it is a favorite among many animation fans and filmmakers.

In October, Hayao Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke made it to the USA with an English dub from countless celebrities. Despite having ‘princess’ in its name, Princess Mononoke is a rather violent movie. While not as successful at the box-office in the US as it was in Japan, Princess Mononoke became a favorite among many, including the late Roger Ebert.

Also an import from Japan, the popular Japanese video game monsters made their big-screen debut in Pokémon: The First Movie, released in the US on November 10th, 1999. In this movie, Mewtwo, who was created from the DNA of the ancestor to all Pokémon, Mew, questions its existence. Mewtwo holds a challenge for all Pokémon Trainers across Kanto (the only known Pokémon region at the time) that puts the fate of the world in jeopardy. For those diehard Pokémon fans out there, only the original 151 Pokémon plus Togepi existed by this point. There were no Mega Evolutions nor Alolan forms yet, as well as the remaining 650+ Pokémon that have yet to be introduced at the time.

And finally, on November 24th of the same year, Toy Story 2 hit theaters and got overwhelmingly positive reviews. It became the first animated sequel to gross more than the original, earning nearly 500 million dollars worldwide at the box-office, and even won the Golden Globe for Best Picture. Believe it or not, Toy Story 2 was originally going to be direct-to-video! However, when some finished animation was shown to Disney, they felt it was suitable enough to be released in theaters. That's all I have to say for this week's Animated Movies Throughout the Years! Tune in next
week when we talk about animated movies from 2000, in which Disney released their first CGI movie with Dinosaur, Aardman made their feature film debut with Chicken Run, and two very different films based around Mesoamerica were released the same year.