Sunday, January 14, 2007

50 Greatest Cartoons time capsule...

I have been caught in the winter blahs of a mid-life crisis and I shouldn't be quite there yet. So, it was with a big bell over my head that I walked into this swinging list of the 50 Greatest Cartoons from 1994 (via Cityrag and Ticklebooth). The reverberations took me in a time capsule flashback with a big 'BONG' (although back then I was still sheltered and naive) and woke me back up to what is good in my life...animation and cheese.
You should dig a little hole, plant yourself down and bask in the warmth of your monitor where you can watch almost all of these classic cartoons. For example, numero 44 on the list is Frederic Back's, 'The Man Who Planted Trees' (shown above). It put a little smile on my face so I guess that makes me a 'Person of the Year'. Mmmm...spreadable.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It's trully too bad that the list contains only cartoons from North America - the majority are from the US, and there are a few from Canada. Predictable, considering that the list was compiled by American animators (I think), but I believe it was a bit arrogant of them to call it the "50 greatest cartoons of all time", as it gives the impression that the only traditional animation of note was produced in the US and Canada.

The USSR alone (and Russia after) produced ~3022 cel-animated films, and Zagrebfilm made over 600. There wasn't a shortage of material for them to choose from.

Ask animators from France, Russia or China and you'll get quite a different list - these choices are mainly based on which films everyone has seen and is nostalgic for, and this will vary widely from country to country. If the animators surveyed were Italian, you might've seen "La linea" on there. If they were South American, you'd undoudtedly see some of Juan PadrĂ³n's short on there.

"The Man who Planted Trees" is trully a wonderful film, though. #44 is a bit low, but at least it's there.