Animated Movies Throughout the Years: 2014

Animated Movies Throughout the Years: 2014

Note: Pixar nor Illumination released a new movie this year.

The year unfortunately kicked off with The Nut Job in January. The film quickly became one of the worst CGI movies in recent years, yet it managed to generate a sequel.

February saw the release of the hugely successful The LEGO Movie. It became so successful that two spinoff films were released, as well as a sequel and a TV series starring UniKitty.

Also released in February was the US release of The Wind Rises, which was the final film from Hayao Miyazaki, co-founder of Studio Ghibli. The film was actually shown at a local theater in November 2013 so it could be nominated for the Oscar for Best Animated Feature, but ultimately lost to Frozen.

In March, DreamWorks released their 25th animated feature Mr. Peabody and Sherman, based on the beloved cartoon characters created by Jay Ward. Unfortunately, the film tanked at the box-office, and is somewhat underrated.

In April, Blu and Jewel returned in Rio 2. Despite receiving mixed reviews, the film managed to gross 500 million dollars worldwide at the box-office.

May saw the release of another poorly reviewed CGI movie, Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return. It was a disgrace to its original source material and tanked at the box-office. Legends of Oz also won the Razzi Award for Worst Supporting Actor, the first animated movie in 20 years to win a Razzi.

In June, Hiccup and Toothless returned for an all-new adventure in How To Train Your Dragon 2. The film got great reviews, earned over 621 million dollars at the box-office, and got the Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature. However, it would lose to Big Hero 6.

July saw the release of Planes: Fire and Rescue. It actually got better reviews than the first Planes, with 43% on Rotten Tomatoes (The first Planes has 25%). Unfortunately, it didn’t meet box-office expectations, and would end up being one of DisneyToons’ final films before they closed in 2018.

August saw the release of the rather underrated Henry and Me, which I personally recommend. Surprisingly, it wouldn't premiere on DVD until 2016, two years after it was shown in New York.

There were two animated movies released in September. The first was The Tale of The Princess Kaguya. It was the final film to be directed by Isao Takahata, co-founder of Studio Ghibli. The film got great reviews when it premiered, with a rare score of 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, and got the Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature. Unfortunately, it would lose to Big Hero 6. Takahata passed away in 2018, but his work still lives on.

The second was Laika's third feature film The Boxtrolls. Despite receiving weaker reviews than Coraline and ParaNorman, the film got the Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature.

In October, computer animation reached new lows with The Hero of Color City. The film got poor reviews and grossed only 32,000 dollars on an unknown budget. My guess is 10 million.

Also released in October was the far superior The Book of Life, Reel FX’s second film. The best way to describe this movie is like a cross between Disney's Aladdin and Tim Burton's Corpse Bride. The story may be clichéd and predictable, but the beautiful animation and likable characters make up for it.

There were two animated movies released in November. The first was Disney's blockbuster of a hit Big Hero 6. The film did very well at the box-office, earning over 657 million dollars worldwide, got good reviews, and won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature.

The second was DreamWorks' third feature that year, The Penguins of Madagascar. In this movie, the fan-favorite spy penguins have to stop Dave the Octopus from turning all the penguins in the world into mutants. Home was originally going to be released during this time, but when DreamWorks found out it would have to compete against Big Hero 6, they swapped it with The Penguins of Madagascar (which was going to be released in March). Unfortunately, 'Penguins' was yet another flop for DreamWorks, and PDI closed their doors in January 2015.

And finally, in December, from the creators of The Secret of Kells came Song of the Sea, which premiered in New York City at the time. The film got great reviews, with an impressive rating of 99% on Rotten Tomatoes, and got the Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature. Like the other nominees that year, it would lose to Big Hero 6. 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 2015, in which Pixar released two different films with contrasting successes, the banana-loving Twinkies made their feature film debut with the overrated Minions, Blue Sky released their best-reviewed film with The Peanuts Movie, and the popular stop-motion Sheep appeared in his first movie with Shaun the Sheep: The Movie.