The Vintage Tempest’s Top Animated Picks of 2016

There’s plenty of animated films to look at in the new year. Some are more interesting than others and herein, I make my Top Animated Picks of 2016 to look forward to.

Top Animated Picks of 2016
By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

There’s plenty of animated films to look at in the new year. Some are more interesting than others and herein, I make my Top Animated Picks of 2016 to look forward to. Instead of glancing at the films coming out of North America, I’m looking world-wide and the movies I see offered get diverse.

But before I get to the list, the following are my honourable mentions: Just because Finding Dory is PIXAR and I loved Finding Nemo, that does not mean this movie will be excellent. Thirteen years have passed (an unlucky number for the superstitious) since Nemo went home. In another film, I’m thinking the cat featured in Secret Life of Pets is the next Garfield. For the story featured in Henchman, I’m figuring this film can easily fit in the world of Mastermind although this movie is developed over at BRON Studios.

Animal Crackers Movie Poster

Animal Crackers (TBD)

Not to be confused with the Marx Brothers film of the same name, this animated fare looks at a life of the Huntington family who finds a magical box of said crackers who can change the eater into the animal they have pulled out from the box. This film has promise when there is an all-star cast assembled to provide the voices.

What’s especially lovable is the fact that it’s tough not to love a cartoon that Patrick Warburton is featured in; ever since Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, he does a great job at voicing one of my favourite characters from Toy Story. Not to be forgotten, the other stars include: John Krasinski, Emily Blunt, Ian McKellen, Danny DeVito, Sylvester Stallone, Wallace Shawn and Raven-Symoné.

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Unwrapping The Boxtrolls, A Blu-ray/DVD Review

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Available on AmazonTop Animated Picks of 2016

Studio Laika’s The Boxtrolls is a very bourgeois film. Unless viewers know something about how European nations historically treated the lower class, some aspects of the tale will feel alien. Some explanation is offered in the home video release’s director’s commentary, but for the most part, the point of the bonus material is to show how much work was put into this adaptation of Alan Snow’s children’s novel, “Here Be Monsters!”

The story takes place in the fictional country of Norvenia rather than some real world. Anyone who has studied Western Civilization knows how some growing cities saw revolt when one social class chastised another. As a result, this film examines the problems facing the town of Cheesebridge. A baby is lost, and Archibald Snatcher (wonderfully voiced by Ben Kingsley) blames the trolls! Those who fear them stay safe in their domiciles, while the monsters and a human boy named Eggs (Isaac Hempstead Wright) skirt the city at night. These night crawlers scavenge for food and other sundries to make their life underground possible.

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