Animated Movies Throughout the Years: 2002

Animated Movies Throughout the Years: 2002

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

In February, we unfortunately returned to Never Land with an unasked sequel to Walt Disney’s Peter Pan, Return to Never Land. It was about Jane, Wendy Darling's daughter, meeting Peter Pan during WW2 and having to face Captain Hook again.

In March, Blue Sky Studios released their first feature film Ice Age. The film did very well at the box-office and got the Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature. The success of Ice Age lead to numerous sequels that would gross a combined total of over 3 billion dollars worldwide.

Also released in March was the criminally underrated DreamWorks film Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron. It’s best described as an animated Black Beauty. While not as successful or as popular as Shrek, ‘Spirit’ got the Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature.

There were two animated movies released in June. The first was Lilo & Stitch, Disney’s second film to be animated at the Florida Studio. The film did very well at the box-office, earning over 270 million dollars worldwide, got great reviews, and even got the Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature. However, it lost to the Japanese-produced Spirited Away.

The second was unfortunately Hey Arnold! The Movie. Instead of feeling like a real movie, Hey Arnold! The Movie feels more like an extended episode with the overused 'save the farm' plot. This movie would ultimately tank at the box-office, and Nickelodeon focused their eyes on a new cash cow: SpongeBob SquarePants. Thankfully, when Hey Arnold! The Jungle Movie premiered on Nickelodeon on Black Friday 15 years later, it felt more like a true movie, and ended the series on a high note.

In July, Cartoon Network’s (so far) only big-screen project, The PowerPuff Girls Movie, hit theaters. Unfortunately, the movie tanked at the box-office, and Cartoon Network decided to stray away from cinema projects.

September saw the US release of the most popular anime movie of all time: Spirited Away. It got excellent reviews in every country, grossed over 276 million dollars worldwide, and rightfully won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature.

October saw the release of another anime movie, Pokémon 4Ever. It’s basically a knockoff of Princess Mononoke and The Iron Giant with some elements reminiscent to The Rescuers Down Under.

Also in October was the release of the first Veggietales movie Jonah: A Veggietales Movie. The film did modestly at the box-office, but got mixed reviews.

In November, Ron Clements and John Musker’s dream of a sci-fi Treasure Island finally came true with Disney’s 43rd animated movie Treasure Planet. Unfortunately, the film tanked very hard at the box-office because it had to compete against Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. However, Treasure Planet did get the Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature.

Also released in November was Adam Sandler’s attempt to ruin the animation industry, Eight Crazy Nights. I have honestly never seen it, but it looks disgusting and I heard it was horrible.

And finally, in December, another popular Nicktoon, though not as popular as SpongeBob or Hey Arnold, made it to the big screen: The Wild Thornberrys Movie. The film did better at the box-office than Treasure Planet and got better reviews. I know many of you will disagree with this, but I think The Wild Thornberrys (the TV series) is actually better than The Loud House! I say this because this show focused more on story than comedy, the characters were more in-depth, there were fewer running gags that would cause more harm than help, and it WASN’T mean-spirited.
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 2003, in which Pixar made a tsunami out of
Finding Nemo, DreamWorks released their final hand-drawn film about Sinbad the Sailor, French filmmaker Sylvain Chomet made his feature film debut with The Triplets of Belleville, and Disney released an underrated bear picture, Brother Bear.