Animatedkid’s Best and Worst Animated Film list of 2014

First post of the year on New Years. So just like last year, I am covering the Best and Worst animated films of 2014, and since I reviewed all of the films on the list already, it will be easier for me to write this, and there will be more reference for you to click onto, as to why a film is placed somewhere, since I am only going to summarize my opinions on these films, instead of going in depth about it, like I did in my reviews of these films.

So the format is going to be me discussing the 5th Worst, then 5th Best, then 4th Worst, then 4th Best and so on until I get to the Worst and Best of the year. There are 11 theatrical films (and I am only doing the theatrical ones), and this is the list:

• The Nut Job (released on January 17th 2014. Produced by Gulfstream Pictures, Red Rover International, and Toonbox Entertainment. Distributed by Open Road Films.)
• The Lego Movie (released on February 7th, 2014. Produced by Animal Logic, and Warner Brothers Studios.)
• Mr. Peabody and Sherman (released on March 7th, 2014. Produced by DreamWorks Animation.)
• Rio 2 (released on April 11th, 2014. Produced by Blue Sky Studios.)
• Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return (released on May 9th, 2014. Produced by Sumemrtime Entertainment) 46%
• How to Train Your Dragon 2 (released on June 13th, 2014. Produced by DreamWorks Animation). 83% 
• Planes: Fire and Rescue (released on July 15th, 2014. Produced by Disneytoons.)
• The Boxtrolls (released on September 26th, 2014. Produced by Laika)
• The Book of Life (released on October 17th, 2014. Produced by Reel FX)
• Big Hero 6 (released on November 7th, 2014. Produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios)
• Penguins of Madagascar (released on November 26th, 2014. Produced by DreamWorks Animation)

I forgot to watch, review, and to add The Wind Rises to the list, but it is too late to worry about that. *shrug*

6th Worst and Best (6th place): Penguins of Madagascar 70%

 

Overall Opinion:

My opinion right after watching the film is…….it is not good……but it is not as horrendous as I thought it was. I like how they made one of the penguins the baby, and gave him more focus, and they attempted to give the film heart, but it seems like it is one of those 1920s shorts with little plot, and a lot of filler and meaningless pacing.

Story:

I am going to summarize the story instead of going in detail with the plot. So, 3 penguins named Skipper, Kowalski, and Rico were with the herd, and left after the herd did not want to save a penguin egg. They go after the penguin egg, and the egg hatched to reveal that it is Private. Right after the events of the third Madagascar movie, it is revealed that it is Private`s 10th birthday, so they went into a vending machine, to be kidnapped by an Octopus named Dave. This octopus hates penguins because they overshadowed him in every single amusement park, and zoo, so he wants to go after all of them, and turn them ugly with a Medusa serum. Another group called the North Wind show up, to help the “defenseless” penguins and other creatures, and there is a battle from the penguins and the North Wind, to see who is in the most control. Private feels like he is not a valuable member of the penguin team. They split up, and the penguins go after Dave, only for Private to be kidnapped. They reunite with the North Wind to try to get Private back. Long story short, a lot of penguins were kidnapped (it became international news), and eventually, Dave is defeated.

This film is in the middle of the list because while there is more heart than I expected, and there is not a lot wrong with the story, but there is a lot of predictability to it, and the pacing could have been a lot better. The story is deal-able, but you could easily feel a bit underwhelmed by it.

Characters:

This section is gong to be really, really small. The penguins were not strong enough to be the main characters of a full length film, but I like that they added more to Private`s character.  The North Wind were not the most likable, nor the most hate-able. I do not know if they were supposed to be almost as important as the main characters (if that is the case, they needed more to them, like the circus animals in the third movie), or to be more minor characters with not much focus. Dave is decent enough, but too silly to be taken seriously.

Music:

The music is the typical spy adventure music you would see in the film. There are no songs in this film, an the score does give off the sense of adventure really well, though it is definitely not the first thing that is on your mind.

Animation:

The animation is just as good as the other three Madagascar films (and I actually got a good quality video to see it), though it is not as fast paced. When they do all of the technological scenes, it makes the film look so much more sophisticated than the other films, but it makes sense, since we are not in zoos, and this is a different type of film than the others. While I wish the locations were more memorable, I am impressed.

5th Worst (7th place): Rio 2 65%

Overall Opinion:

My opinion right out of the film is that it is mediocre at best. The characterization is not that strong, the story overly and unnecessarily complex with bad pacing and focus, leaving a bit of unorganization. I do not like how over the top and so……Blue Sky-ish, with the bad humor, pop culture, and so on and so on. The film is not a complete bore, and the animation and score are nice to listen to. I was not that irritated watching this, but I was not that entertained either.

Story:

So Blue and Jewel had children since the first film, and apparently their owners found that there are more Spix Macaws int he world (they are on an expedition in the Amazon). The birds decide to go there, and Jewel is reunited with her father, her family, and all of the people that she was raised with. We get the typical story of the father not really liking the daughter’s husband, and Blue is trying to get along with him, also hating the Amazon (he is a city bird), while his wife and kids adjust as well. This plot would have been good enough, but there is also the useless talent show plot (so the side characters can have something to do), Nigel, and his frog assistant wants revenge on Blue, and there is an environmental message to it, with a group of people wanting to illegally cut down the Amazon trees. There is a lot that gets jumbled up, and the pacing suffers because of it. They needed to cut out the useless stuff, and simplify the story.

Characters:

The ones that were in the first film are reduced to generic roles, and their originality and uniqueness is dulled down….A LOT. And the new ones do not really add anything refreshing or new. The human characters are even more one-dimensional than they were in the first film, the sidekicks are even more grating, and the others are just not engaging.

Blue does not develop at all in the film (though the writing tries to trick you into believing he did), Jewel is reduced to a love interest, and a lot of her personality traits from the first film are minimized, and all of the other characters are either unimportant, grating, or not the most memorable. They are still kind of tolerable, but the jumbled feeling in the film does cause the characters to suffer.

Music:

It is the same type of South American music in the first film. There are also some pop moments in the music that does get annoying. Many of the songs are pretty useless, silly, and are meant to shove some stupidity and pointless gimmicks at children’s way. The music is in no way bad, but other than the score, it does not add to the movie.

Animation:

The animation in this film is very colorful. The textures are a bit better than in the first film, and the backgrounds and animal designs are really great to look at. The human designs are always disturbing to look at though. I really like how they bring South America to life, and the scenery of the film is really big.

5th Best (5th place): The Boxtrolls  71%

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Overall Opinion:

My opinion right after watching the film is that it is not a bad film, and it is not one of the worst films of this year but…………..it does not stop the film from being utterly boring. I struggled to watch through the entire thing, and there was not too much that I could really invest in with the characters. Maybe it is just because this film (and films like these) are not my taste.

Story:

So the story consists of a boy named Eggs is taken to a group of creatures called Boxtrolls after his father is “killed”, and is raised with them for about 10 years before he goes in the real world, and the town of Cheesebridge. Archibald wants to get rid of all of the Boxtrolls, so he can get a white hat (which signals being top class in that area). Eggs soon bumps into the mayor’s daughter named Winnie (who is hatefully obsessed with Boxtrolls, and is ignored by her father). During some large adventure, she ends up being taken to where Eggs (and the Boxtrolls) live, and she realizes that he is the missing baby that the town talks about. There is A LOT more to the story, but it all wraps up nicely.

While the film did bore me, I liked how they focused on the society of the town, and I liked how there was a lot happening in the film (though it did not interest me much). Once you understand the story, you will get more engaged into it. This is a film that you cannot watch once, and expect to catch everything.

Characters:

Now that I look back on it, what dragged the film down for me was the characters. It was not that they were horrible, but the characterization was not strong in almost every character. Eggs is an extremely flat protagonist, who is only the person to be trapped in 2 worlds, Winnie is somewhat of a brat, and I cannot really say anything about the others, because I cannot remember them all. Wait, Archibald is a pretty good villain.

Music:

The music……………..there is nothing special about the music. It was kind of fitting for the film and the theme of the film, but there was nothing that would make it stand out. The music and the score is the thing you will be thinking about the least when it comes to this film.

Animation:

The animation is very detailed for a stop-motion film. There is definitely a Victorian era style to the film, with some very nice textures. But I do wish that there was not so much grays and other plain, bland coloring in the film, because it did help add onto my boredom.

4th Worst (8th place): Mr. Peabody & Sherman 64%

Overall Opinion:

My opinion right after watching the movie is that it is a mixed bag. While it has a decent plot, and likable characters, the film lacks focus. It jumbles from plot point to plot point, and a lot of things are done for no reason. There are also the pop culture references. It has charm and beautiful animation, and I overall got what I expected.

Story:

So the story starts with the dog Mr. Peabody adopted a kid named Sherman, and when he takes him to his first day of school, he gets into it with a girl named Penny. Peabody invites her and her parents over to their house, and Penny and Sherman somehow ended up being cool, and went to their time capsule. Sherman told Peabody that Penny went into the time capsule, and the two have to go after her. They have to go through a bunch of places in history. I also forgot to mention that Sherman’s teacher Mrs. Grunion called social services to take Sherman away, because he is being raised by a dog, and is prejudice against it. There is also the issue that Sherman wants to be his own person, and is sick of his father telling him what to do, and they deal with that, and then there is the troubles that every time travelling film has.

There is a lot going on, and the storylines are not executed well at all. It seems very disjointed, unorganized, and while there is some great emotion, and an attempt to have a good story, the pacing is off. And the ending is VERY bothersome to me.

Characters:

All I am going to really say is that I am not impressed with the characters. Sherman is the generic boy who has nothing else to him, Peabody is a likable Gary Stu, Grunion is an unnecessary villain, and Penny is annoying.

Music:

The music is utterly forgettable. All I remember about it is that there are no songs, and the score is the generic adventure score. DreamWorks should have gotten their regular Powell to handle the music.

Animation:

The animation looks really nice. It is very detailed, and the movements are so fluid and captivating. Whenever the film went to a different location, half of the time, you are looking at the designs and the details instead of the characters. Speaking about the characters, they are probably the weakness of the animation; especially the human characters. It is not bad, but just generic and a bit weird. I also like the bold and bright colors.

4th Best (4th place):  The Lego Movie 73%

Overall Opinion:

My opinion right after watching the film is that it is very good and entertaining. The animation is creative and beautiful, the pop culture references are not TOO dated, the characters are likable, and it has a strong story. One issue that I have to point out is that it is too fast paced, and we have no time to explain much, or to take a breather from the fast pace.

Story:

So there are 2 people called Virtruvius and Business that are fighting, and when the former goes blind, he tells the latter that there is a prophecy that will beat him. Our main character Emmett is completely ordinary in every single way, which is why no one cares for him. He is working at the construction site, and sees a girl named Wyldstyle, who saves him from being captured by Business’ assistant, Bad Cop. She thinks he is “The Special One”, who will fulfill the prophecy against business. They soon reunite with her boyfriend Batman, and the wizard Virtruvius to train Emmett into being able to build anything, so he can defeat Business. At the same time, Bad Cop Business, and their affiliates are chasing after them. Turns out that this prophecy is fake.

I know that my opinions on this film is kind of controversial, but it is in this position because I felt like the film was going way too fast at times, and that they could have explained certain things though. Despite that, the action is really good, the plot is full, and there is character development that the story offers.

Characters:

My biggest fault with the movie was that the characters were not memorable. Emmett is generic and blah (and intentionally so), but it still does not make him engaging, I felt very disappointed with Wyldstyle, as I thought she was going to be cooler, Batman was a bit more of a jerk, Business was a cool villain, and his sidekick was cool, and Virtruvius was not that memorable.

Music:

The music is very similar to the music in Wreck-It Ralph, but nowhere near as good. There is somewhat of a game-y vibe to the soundtrack, and the song Everything is Awesome is fun at firs,t but because it is repeated so much, it does get annoying. I am not going to lie. It has its good and indifferent.

Animation:

The animation in this film is very good. EVERYTHING in it are made of legos, and despite the bad pictures above, it is very colorful, bold, and detailed. They move like the toys we have, and the motion for something like thick, clunky legos are surprisingly and brilliantly fast.

3rd Worst (9th place): Planes: Fire and Rescue 54%

Overall Opinion:

Yyyyyyaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwnnnnnnnnnnnn. Oh shit, I need to wake up. Anyways, my opinion on this film is that it is an extreme bore. It is really predictable, with a flat cast, and it rehashes the story of the first one, with some tweaks in it (and it says a lot when I barely remember any of the characters from either this film or its predecessor). It is better than the first movie, and not the worst film this year, but that is not saying much. This franchise needs to die.

Story:

So Dusty is now the hottest racer in their civilization, only to almost crash. It is soon found out that he is destroying his engine by racing (which he should have known beforehand, and would have saved us from the first film and this film), and that he needs a new engine, only for it to never come. He tries to race again, but he fails, and realizes that he cannot be a racer anymore. He also causes a fire, and he wants to help with the firefighting. We are soon seeing him train to be an official firefighter, and…………….that is pretty much it.

Not only is this film utterly boring, but the plot is unbearingly simple, and they legit copied the formula of the first film, and used it here, but they replaced him wanting to be a racer with being a fire fighter. The story did not add depth to any character at all. This film was like an hour long, but I could legit barely stay awake, and it felt like 5 hours.

Characters:

There are A LOT of characters in this film, but 90% of them have no impact on the plot at all, and are less than half dimensional characters; or jokes. The two characters that do have relevance are almost as boring as the side characters. Dusty is still the bland, flat, generic hero who has still not gotten any development, but a rehashed plot, and while Blade is a bit better, as he actually has personality, and we learn that he was an actor turned strict firefighter, he is not that much better.

Music:

The music is……………………………………………generic, and nothing more. There is no songs in the film, and the score is nothing special. Even the first Planes had some memorable and creative score sounds, but this film has nothing. If anything, the music put me close to sleep.

Animation:

Well, because of the crappy quality video I watched, it is not the best version, but I can tell that the animation is pretty decent. Disneytoons has improved with their CGI from the Tinkerbell films. I can’t say anything else though.

3rd Best (3rd place): The Book of Life 78%

Overall Opinion:

My opinion right after watching the film is that I like it and it is entertaining. The animation is really great, and right out of those spanish art books, there are some strong characters in here, and the music is good enough. While the story is predictable, and some of the twists in the film is a bit questionable, it is really nothing worth stressing over. This is the first film I liked this year since…….. How To Train Your Dragon 2, and that was the only film I really liked this year.

Story:

There are 3 children that are close friends; Manolo, Joaquin, and Maria. The two guys have a crush on Maria, but after she causes trouble in the town, she is sent away to boarding school until she is an adult. The two boys drift apart, and Joaquin is the town hero, whole Manolo is forced to be a bull fighter, though he wants to be a musician. I forgot to mention that the Lady of the Land of the Remembered and the Lord of the Land of the Forgotten made a deal as to whichever of the boys marry Maria, they will get the Land of the Remembered. The two boys compete for Maria’s affection (with her father pressing her to choose Joaquin), but she falls in love with Manlo, when he serenades her with music. She is bitten by the snake (really the Lord of the Land of the Forgotten), which causes him to make a deal with the Lord of the Forgotten to die, so he can be with her. Turns out that Maria survived, and she reluctantly goes to marry Joaquin. Manolo has to find a way to live again to reunite with Maria.

There are some other plot elements in the story that adds a lot more to the film, and there is a lot of focus on the Mexican culture, especially explaining how the Day of the Dead functions and works. While there is some predictability to the story, it is always enjoyable, and always interesting to watch.

Characters:

The characters are very enjoyable. While they are not the most original, there is some depth to each character, and they do have a lot of personality. Manolo is the musician who is being forced to be a bull fighter, and is the underdog in the town, which is not that original, but still likable. I was even impressed with Maria, and found her to be a lot more interesting than the main 2 guys  characters, since there is a lot more to her than being just the love interest in a triangle. Joaquin is a bit jerkish, but not a complete arrogant douche, and is seen to have some heroic qualities. The Lord of the Dead and the Lady of the Remembered are cool too.

Music:

When it comes to the music, I really like the score of it. There is a lot of latin roots in it, and you can tel that they put effort in it, wanting to establish more of the culture. When it comes to the song, they are fine, but they are not ones that I will remember a month from now. I do not like the pop covers that some of the cast sung, and I do feel like it distracted from the film, and distracted from the setting a lot. It was not pleasing.

Animation:

The animation is simply brilliant. They took it right out of those mexican art books, where they got those wooden designs, and they incorporated them really nicely. The colors are extremely vibrant, and this film really stood out in CGI. I was definitely impressed with it.

TIE for Worst (10/11th place): The Nut Job  46%

Overall Opinion:

My opinion right after watching this film is that it is unlikable to generic. While most of the characters are unlikable and dull, with the story being simple, and the animation being disturbing, I was never really bored by it; still does not mean it is good. It is like a worse version of Over the Hedge.

Story:

So the story is about a bunch of animals who lives in a park are suffering because they do not have enough food for hibernation. A squirrel named Andie (a girl) decides that she is going to go out and look for some food, but things go awry when a pariah squirrel named Surly crashes a nut train (he was trying to get food) into the tree that all of the animals live in. Andie bumps into Surly and his rat “friend” Grayson, and when they find a nut shop, she wants them to share half, so him and Grayson can get their nuts, and so she can feed her animal herd. She gets her animal herd to join in on the heist to get all of the nuts from a building, and……yeah.

This movie is a colossal mess, but that is an understatement. The plot is ridiculously thin, filled with a lack of a coherent and well paced story, a bunch of filler, no build up to anything, useless events happening in the film, and it is contrived in every sense of the word.

Characters:

The characters are also a mess. All of them are unlikable, boring, or both (with the main character Surley being the worst offender), and it is near impossible to feel any sort of sympathy for any of them. The voice acting was an issue, because I recognized many of them, and it was a distraction to me. And this is getting a sequel because?

Music:

The music in the film makes no sense. We are in the world of an urban 1950s-1960s, and I am hearing the bad Gagnam Style? Are you serious? It would have been somewhat acceptable if the time was never confirmed, but they confirmed it to be in the mid 20th century. The least they could have done is to play music from that era. We have a bunch of random modern music that is used for pop culture jokes or a cheap laugh that is not funny. Bad choice. I have legit NEVER seen a film with such bad choice for music….oh wait, the films tie for the worst animated film of this year MIGHT have even worse music.

Animation:

The animation in the film is a mixed bag for me. Sometimes it is good and the coloring and the light is good, but the textures on the animals and materials are terrible. I have seen A LOT better animation though. Not the prettiest to look at.

2nd Best (2nd place): Big Hero 6 79%

Overall Opinion:

My opinion on the film is that it is pretty good. I still like Wreck-it Ralph better, and it is definitely one of the best films in this year. I like the characters, I like how they handled the topic of death, and I really like the characters. While the film is predictable, it is still an enjoyable film.

Story:

The story of this film involves a 14 year old kid named Hiro Hamada, and he is wasting his life, since he is doing nothing with his gifted brain. His brother Tadashi convinces him to sign up to his science program in college, and when he goes there, Tadashi’s teacher Professor Callaghan tells him that he will decide if Hiro should be in the program after he completes the science fair. After the science fair, Hiro is put in the program, but there is a fire that ends up killing his brother Tadashi. Hiro isolates himself from everyone, and wants revenge. His brothers invention named Baymax comes alive to aid Hiro, and he wants to get the person who caused the fire. He gets Tadashi’s 4 other friends, and they form Big Hero 6 to catch the guy responsible for Tadashi’s death, and I am sure you can guess what will happen from there.

What I like about the story is that there is a lot of detail in the plot, and that there is a lot of plot. It is very well paced (though the pacing in the third act is questionable), and it focuses on the mourning process, and how to be a good person. The one thing I did not like was how predictable the film was, and how it really did not do anything new.

Characters:

I liked everyone in the cast to be very honest. I do like Hiro, and how he had characteristics that did not just involve being a child, and I like how he learned that the way he was handling Tadashi’s death was not a good way, and that he has others. Baymax is a funny and helpful character, who ties into the emotional heart of the film. From what we see of Tadashi, he was very heroic, smart, and level headed. It is sad that he had to die. I like Callaghan, and his motivation for being the villain makes a lot of sense, being unique and interesting to me. My one issue with the characters is that it did not feel like there was a “Big Hero 6”, but “Hiro Baymax, and their assistants”. The other members of Big Hero 6 do not develop, do not have a strong role in the film, and they have legit one characteristic to them. They were a disappointment to me.

Music:

Since there is no songs in the movie, there is not much to really say about the music. The score has that typical super hero theme, but it is definitely not the most memorable part of the movie. To be honest, the score is not really memorable at all.

Animation:

The animation is very good. I like how stylized the movie is, but you can still tell that there is the classic Disney style in it. The backgrounds are completely lovely, and it is new for Disney, since places like San Francisco and Tokyo are so rare to see in CGI. The characters definitely had better expressions than they did in Frozen, and it is a sight to see.

TIE for Worst (10/11th place): Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return 46%

Overall Opinion:

I do not know if having little to no strong opinions about a film is better than having pure hatred for a film. I am not saying this film is mediocre at best at all, as the characters are flat, the plot is pretty thin, and there is nothing really special about it, but it did not even ignite a strong emotion out of me. This feels like a bootleg copy of a Disneytoons film.

Story:

So Dorothy soon comes back from her past journey, but is irritated and whining when her aunt and uncle tells her that they have to move because the tornado did too much damage. She runs off, and sees a rainbow, which takes her and her dog back to the land of Oz (the lion, tin man, and scarecrow sent the rainbow to get her). Apparently the Wicked Witch`s brother Jester took over Oz, and made it into ruins, turning everyone in his path into marionettes. She goes through town to town to pick up an own named Wiser, Marshal Mallow, and China Princess to join her journey, and long story short, they free everyone, and take down Jester. Dorothy gets back home, and exposes the contractor as a fraud, causing them to not move, but repair the town.

Issues with the story include a rehashed formula from the other Wizard of Oz, bad continuity from Wizard of Oz, not reminding the audience what happened in its “predecessor”, the plot being overly boring, simple, flat, unengaging, and lacking depth.  No creativity in the writing at all, and the script is a menace to listen through.

Characters:

The characters are not memorable in any sense, and there is almost no characterization at all with the cast. No development, no depth, and just a cast of overall blandness. Dorothy is one of the worst main characters that I have ever seen, since she is literally a mary sue. The new characters are literally there to replace the older characters (the Jester=his sister Wicked Witch of the West, and the 3 new sidekicks=older sidekicks).

Music:

The music is simply terrible. The orchestrations and the voices do not go well together, the lyrics are weak, none of the songs are catchy, and half of them have no purpose in the film. It is VERY frustrating to listen through the songs.

Animation:

The animation is………unpolished. While the character designs are pretty impressive on most of the characters, and a lot of the backgrounds are right, there is like no texture in this film, outside of the china dolls. Most of the characters look like they are as tough as bricks, and there is no light shining on them the way that they are supposed to shine in animation. Because of the issue with the textures, it is a rough looking film at times, and it makes the film look aged.

1st Best (1st place): How to Train Your Dragon 2

Overall Opinion:

My opinion right after watching the movie is that it is a good sequel. It gave me everything I needed in a film, it built on the world and the characters (which I said that I wanted to see in the review of its predecessor), a lot of action, a darkness and seriousness that are not in DreamWork’s films, but I have to admit that the movie can be a bit clunky at times. I still prefer the Kung Fu Panda franchise, but this is some good stuff.

Story:

So this film is 5 years after the first film, and Hiccup tells his girlfriend Astrid that his father Stoick wants him to be the new chief, but he feels like cannot do the job. Astrid tells him that he can of because do the job, cause everyone believes him and all of that stuff. The pair and their dragons are flying, only to be captured by Drago, Eret, and their crew. Astrid and Hiccup are told that they want to capture all of the dragons, which causes the couple to escape the boat, and to fly to Berk to tell them the news. When Stoick is told the news, he is ready for Berk to go to war with Drago and his crew, though Hiccup tells him that they should not resort to fighting, which causes the young man and Astrid to fly over to Drago to handle it peacefully. Hiccup does on make it to Drago, and somehow ends up with his long lost mother, who is a bigger expert on Dragons than everyone else in Berk. I am not going to write any more of the plot, because there is so much to it, and you need to watch it to understand it all.

There is so much to this film, and to the story, which I always like. It amazes me when there is always something happening, and when there are so many layers in a film, it astounds me. Because do this, it can get so clunky, but they pace it well for the most part. There was so many surprises to me, and this film is a lot more emotional than I ever expected it to be.

Characters:

With the characters, they retained the same personalities that they had in the first film, though there is a sense of maturity to all of them, which is really nice to see. I like that Hiccup is still Hiccup, but learns a different lesson in this film, and that avoiding war and confrontation is not always the way to handle things (this is unlike Shrek, where he learns the same thing over and over again). I cannot believe that Stoick died, but he died on a good note, and he was brilliant in this film. His woman (and Hiccup`s mother) was a good addition, as she is vulnerable, but it is clear that she has been through a lot. The characters did their roles well in this film.

Music:

The music is the same as the first movie. I literally remember hearing some of the same scores, which is not a bad thing. I would not say they improved the music in this film, but it is the same, and the music in the first one is good, so overall, the music in this film is pretty good.

Animation:

Though I watched the film through a bad copy link, I could tell that the animation is pretty good. I like how the humans look a bit more realistic, but they still have the origins of their younger designs. They atmosphere and backgrounds are amazing, and they did really well with the textures. They definitely improved over the first film with their animation.

Overall List

•  11/10th. Legends of Oz: Dorothy`s Adventure/The Nut Job
• 9. Planes: Fire & Rescue
• 8. Mr. Peabody & Sherman
• 7. Rio 2
• 6. Penguins of Madagascar
• 5. The Boxtrolls
• 4. Th Lego Movie
• 3. The Book of Life
• 2. Big Hero 6
• 1. How to Train Your Dragon 2

Well, here is my list. Overall, 2014 has been a mixed year (still a lot better than the mostly negative year of last year). A lot of good and bad films. I will see you all on the Disneytoons Introductions post in a day or so.

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