Animated Movies Throughout the Years: 2016

Animated Movies Throughout the Years: 2016

The year unfortunately began with Norm of the North in January. The film got very negative reviews and has quickly been declared one of the worst animated movies in recent years.

Also released in January was Kung Fu Panda 3, DreamWorks' first movie to be co-produced at Oriental DreamWorks in China (now known as Pearl Studios). The film actually got good reviews and did well at the box-office, but would get overshadowed by Zootopia.

There were two animated movies released in March. The first was Disney's 55th animated feature film Zootopia. The film got excellent reviews, grossed over a billion dollars worldwide, and won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature.

Also released in March was the US release of the unique and enjoyable French 2D (but not hand-drawn) animated film April and the Extraordinary World, in which it premiered in New York. Too bad it didn't get the Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature.

April saw the release of the CGI movie Ratchet and Clank, based on the video game franchise of the same name. Unfortunately, the film actually tanked at the box-office: It had to compete against Zootopia and The Jungle Book at the box-office.

In May, the popular pig-killing wingless birds were brought to the big-screen in 3D with The Angry Birds Movie. Despite receiving mixed reviews, the film did well at the box-office and spawned a sequel.

June saw the return of the popular tropical saltwater fish with Disney•Pixar's Finding Dory. The film got better reviews than The Good Dinosaur, grossed a billion dollars worldwide, and won the KCA for Best Animated Feature.

There were two animated movies released in July. The first was Illumination's sixth feature film, The Secret Life of Pets, which was basically Toy Story 1 with animals. Despite receiving mixed reviews, 'Pets' managed to gross over 875 million dollars at the box-office and generate a sequel.

The second was, much to everyone's dismay, Ice Age 5: Collision Course. The film got very bad reviews, but managed to gross enough money to pay off its budget. Hopefully, it will be the final Ice Age film.

In August, from Conrad Vernon and Greg Tiernan came Sausage Party, the first R-rated CGI
movie. The film got good reviews and did well at the box-office, managing to outgross
'Kubo'.

Also in August, Laika took stop-motion to new heights with their fourth feature film, Kubo and the Two Strings. The film got very good reviews, with an impressive rating of 97% on Rotten Tomatoes, and even got the Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature, but would lose to Zootopia. Unfortunately, ‘Kubo’ was a box-office flop.

There were two animated movies released in September. The first was a CGI import from Belgium, The Wild Life, loosely based on the book Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss. The film got rather negative reviews, but it does have decent animation.

The second was Storks, from the creators of The LEGO Movie. Think of it like the Pixar short film Partly Cloudy, except it focuses more on comedy than story, and the storks look more like albatrosses. Instead of being animated at Animal Logic like The LEGO Movie, Storks was animated at Sony Pictures Imageworks.

On November 4th, DreamWorks released their 30th animated feature, Trolls, based on the Troll dolls by Thomas Dam. It was also DreamWorks' first musical since The Prince of Egypt. Despite receiving mixed reviews, the film managed to gross over 346 million dollars worldwide. A sequel will be released next year, titled Trolls: World Tour.

On November 23rd, from the directors of The Little Mermaid and Aladdin comes Disney's 56th animated feature Moana. It was the first Disney movie to have a Polynesian heroine. Moana got very good reviews when it premiered, though not as high-praised as Zootopia, grossed over 643 million dollars worldwide at the box-office, and got the Oscar nominations for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song.

And finally, in December, Illumination released their seventh feature film Sing. It's a bit like American Idol but with anthropomorphic animals, though much more inclusive than Zootopia. It makes you wonder what the carnivores in Sing eat for meat. 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 2017, in which Pixar went to Mexico and brought us back a wonderful gift with Coco, Sony decided to cancel plans for a CGI
Popeye movie in favor of a movie about Emojis, DreamWorks decided to let kids take the
stage for once with The Boss Baby and Captain Underpants, and Blue Sky adapted a story
by Munro Leaf into a feature film with Ferdinand.